The Christmas break had finally ended, and it was now time for Sebastian and I to head back to Hogwarts.
We both woke up early to pack our suitcases, talking about our next step to stop Isidora.
"I hope Ominis is okay..." I said, trailing off as I thought about what he had to go through to help us.
"I'm sure he's fine. It is Ominis afterall. He's stubborn in ways you can't even imagine." Sebastian smirked, nudging my shoulder playfully to cheer me up.
I smiled at the gesture as Sebastian picked up my suitcase, heading towards the door.
As we left the house, I noticed Sebastian pause, looking back with a frown.
"Are you okay?" I asked, stepping closer to him.
"It feels odd leaving it so empty..." he muttered, his face twisting as he stared at the interior.
I frowned at this, not knowing how to ease his mixed feelings.
However, Sebastian just shook his head, as though shaking out the thought, before turning to me with a smile.
"Shall we?"
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After the Floo Flame delivered us straight back to our common room, we were immediately greeted with the sound of chatter making its way up the stairs.
We started making our way down, before seeing that the common room was filled with students, all returning from the break no doubt, catching up with their friends.
I couldn't help but look around to see if I could spot Ominis, yet, it was obvious he wasn't here.
I also had a quick glance to see if Hunter was around.
However, he was absent too.
My search was suddenly interrupted as Sebastian handed me my suitcase, ready for me to take back to my room.
I took it quickly, wanting to just throw it on my bed so we could find Ominis and the others, wanting to get this next relic out of the way.
Yet, as our hands touched, those thoughts began to melt away, replaced by all that had happened over the past few weeks.
Living together, being able to see each other everyday, getting to see one another in a new light.
I was sad that it was over.
I held Sebastian's gaze as we both paused.
It seemed that he held a similar sorrow.
"I don't know what's to come, but I had a nice time." he said, his voice sincere.
A smile graced my lips, glad to know that he felt the same.
"Me too." I admitted.
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After practically throwing my suitcase onto my bed, and giving Imelda a quick "hello", I ran back out to the common room, where Sebastian was already waiting, which meant that Ominis hadn't been in their room.
We both exchanged a determined look, before heading to the exit of the common room.
It was time to find Ominis.
It was time to start the second trial.
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We searched for what seemed like hours, even looking in places that Ominis wouldn't even dream of going, but we couldn't find him anywhere.
Finally, we both decided to head to the Great Hall, hoping that someone may have seen him.
"Maybe I should send him an owl?" Sebastian suggested as we walked towards the door.
"You couldn't have said that an hour ago?" I rolled my eyes, causing him to glare at me.
"Well it's not like you suggested anything." he grumbled, pushing the door open.
As he did, we were interrupted as we heard students all gathered at their tables, yelling to be heard of the chaos.
Seemed like everyone had the idea to gather here now, catching up with their friends from other houses.
Yet, I couldn't help but let my gaze wander over to the Hufflepuff table, smiling as I saw familiar faces.
Without waiting for Sebastian, I immediately headed over.
Sat at the table were Poppy, her friend Blaine, Garreth and Natty, with Poppy and Natty seemingly scolding Garreth, as Blaine sat there with innocent confusion.
"Hello" I greeted as I reached them, causing them all to face me.
"Em!" Poppy smiled.
"Emerald, could you please help me convince them I'm not a bad person." Garreth pleaded, pouting before he glared at Natty and Poppy.
"... what did you do?" I asked slowly, taking in the unamused reactions of Poppy and Natty.
"He wants to raid Blaine's garden - that he worked hard for - to get supplies AND have him record his discoveries." Poppy exclaimed, folding her arms as she stared daggers at Garreth.
"It's no big deal, Poppy. I'd be happy to help..." Blaine tried to calm her down, placing a hand on her shoulder.
I suppressed a smile as her cheeks began to turn red, deciding I'd leave the teasing until later.
"That's exactly why he's asking. He knows you won't say no." Natty rolled her eyes, earning an offended look from Garreth.
"And here I thought you'd be on my side, Nat." he said in fake offence, turning back to me.
"Sorry, Garreth. But like I said before, you're sixteen. You have time." I shrugged.
Garreth frowned at my response, before noticing something behind me.
"What about you, Sallow?" he asked.
I turned slightly, shocked to see that Sebastian was right behind me, having clearly followed me to the table.
He held a look of confusion, staring between me and Garreth, before adjusting himself.
"I think you should keep those concoctions of yours to yourself." he answered, causing Garreth to scoff.
"You'll never forgive me for that, will you?" he sighed, causing Sebastian's eyes to narrow.
"No." he snapped.
"It was one time. And it was only-" Garreth tried to defend himself, but cut himself off as Sebastian gave him a deadly glare.
I was beyond curious to know what they were talking about.
But that could wait.
For now, at least.
"Have any of you seen Ominis around?" I asked, changing the subject before they ripped each other's heads off.
They all looked at each other, before simultaneously shaking their heads.
"Has he got the thing?" Poppy asked, trying her best to be somewhat subtle.
"We're not sure. We haven't heard from him the whole break." I explained.
I wanted to explain more, but with Blaine and Garreth watching and listening, I didn't want them to catch wind of anything we were doing.
However, they thankfully didn't seem to pick up on what we were talking about, or rather, didn't bother to press.
As we walked around the school, asking every person we saw if they'd seen Ominis, we began to grow more and more worried.
Sebastian finally decided to send an owl as the day drew to a close, hoping for any kind of answer just to know he was okay.
My mind began to spiral again as all the possibilities ran rampant in my head.
But it all boiled down to one harrowing question.
Did he get caught?
Yet, as Sebastian and I sat down, beginning to come to terms with the thought, an owl made its way over to us with a piece of paper.
It dropped the paper in Sebastian's lap, and we both scrambled to read it, praying it was from Ominis.
Sure enough, it looked exactly like Ominis' quill, but now, a new sense of dread filled us as there were only 3 simple words written on the paper.
Common room. Now.
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Sebastian and I immediately rushed to the common room, practically flying down the stairs as we tried to find Ominis.
However, as we reached the bottom of the stairs, I saw something that made me freeze, causing Sebastian to almost crash into me.
He walked to my side, about to ask why I'd stopped, but I pressed a finger against my lips, using my other hand to point to the scene before us.
Ominis was standing by the windows...
Talking to Hunter...
Sebastian and I watched as they whispered in the corner.
Hunter had his back to us so he couldn't see us staring.
It was irritating how reckless he was being.
One wrong move and Sage will know, but then again, Ominis was a Gaunt, and he was in Professor Black's favour.
Maybe that was why Hunter was talking to him.
Before long, their conversation was over, and Hunter turned around.
He froze as he saw Sebastian and I staring.
However, it didn't take him long to compose himself, holding the same blank expression as usual, so that it was impossible to tell what he was feeling.
Sebastian and I began to make our way towards Ominis.
As Hunter and I passed, we locked eyes, with Hunter nodding in acknowledgement.
I needed to know what he'd said to Ominis.
I needed to know everything was okay.
Once we reached Ominis, his expression seemed to change, knowing that we were near, as though he were taking off a mask.
"I'm glad you're both here." he sighed, his voice still quiet.
"Are you okay, Ominis? We've been looking for you all day." I asked, but Ominis just shifted awkwardly.
"I think it's best if we discuss this somewhere more... private." he said, clearly meaning the undercroft.
Sebastian and I exchanged a look of dread, since Ominis had avoided the question, but we agreed nonetheless.
Without a second thought, Ominis held up his wand, leading the way as we once again headed out of the common room.
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Once we were in the undercroft, Ominis made his way to the centre of the room, already anxiously pacing.
As Sebastian and I followed him, we both seemed to hold a look of worry as we glanced at each other, wondering what could possibly cause Ominis such stress.
However, after a while, Ominis took a deep breath, standing still as he faced us both.
"First of all, I hope you both had a nice break." he started, trying to ease the tension.
Guilt shot through my body at his words, causing me to look anywhere else.
We had a nice break.
It was the nicest I'd had in a while.
Meanwhile, he'd been like this, riddled with anxiety, probably growing worse by the day.
We had fun, yet, our friend had suffered for it to be possible.
Sebastian seemed hesitant to answer too.
I quickly gave him a glance, seeing that his eyes had also diverted.
Ominis seemed to pick up on this, rolling his eyes.
"It's okay if you did. I didn't exactly expect you to mope around the whole time." he huffed.
There was another pause as we debated what to say next.
Sure, it wasn't unreasonable for us to enjoy ourselves, but the extent was the part that seemed most insensitive.
We had completely forgotten our troubles.
The whole break, we acted as though we were the only people in the world.
Eventually, I heard Sebastian take a breath, looking back at Ominis as he prepared to speak.
"Skye's back." he said.
Ominis' face changed to one of shock, clearly not expecting that outcome.
Yet, I couldn't help but notice sorrow as well.
"She came by the hamlet to say she's coming back next year." Sebastian simplified, his voice changing, like he remembered what that entailed, given all she didn't know about Anne.
Ominis' face twisted as he remained silent, not sure what to do with the information.
But, after a moment, his face relaxed, and a small smile began to tug at his lips.
"That's good. It would be nice to have her back." he said, his voice so soft I almost didn't hear it.
I was glad though, because his response set me at ease, a smile of my own beginning to spread.
Even if it was only for a moment, he was happy.
However, the moment quickly passed as Ominis shook away the smile, his expression serious.
"The reason I asked you both here is so we could discuss our next step." he started, earning our attention as we both looked at him.
"I managed to retrieve the relic, it is in my room as we speak. But we need to be quick about this, so I suggest we do this tonight." he explained.
"Tonight? Shouldn't we need to give the others some time to prepare?" I protested, feeling guilty as I remembered the others in the Great Hall.
They seemed so happy.
To subject them to the wrath of Salazar Slytherin so soon just seemed cruel.
"There's no time." Ominis said sternly, shaking his head.
He folded his arms tightly, as though he were afraid.
Yet, his face still held the same tight expression, as though masking it.
A look of concern washed across my face, and it seemed that Sebastian had caught on too.
"Are you alright, Ominis?" he asked, stepping forward slightly.
Ominis paused at the question, becoming aware of his posture, unfolding his arms.
"... that's not important right now." he answered, his voice quiet.
For some reason, I couldn't shake the feeling that this was to do with what happened in the common room.
It seemed like something had unnerved Ominis, as though he had recently learned new information.
He seemed to be so obsessed with getting this over with now, and wanting to keep this private.
"Ominis..." I began, stepping forward.
"What was my brother talking to you about in the common room?" I asked.
Ominis pursed his lips, as though debating whether or not to tell me.
We stood there for what seemed like minutes, waiting for his answer.
I didn't want Hunter involved in this, or anything to do with my family.
But if he were to get roped in, I couldn't help but hope he'd be on the right side.
"He said your sister is suspicious of us all. That she's looking to do further investigations. And soon." he explained, his voice insistent.
"That's why we need to hurry."