Ominis woke up the next morning and quickly got dressed, briefly forgetting as he tied his tie that Anne Sallow was not going to meet him downstairs. Since their second year at Hogwarts, they had made it a fun tradition to tease the new students, making them believe that mermaids would swim next to the Common Room windows that clearly showed the depths of the Black Lake. It was something they always did together, but now....
Ominis put his robe on. Anne may not be there, but he was. And he didn't want to stop a tradition.
He grabbed his wand and began walking downstairs. Just as he reached the main area, Ominis heard the whispers from a few girls nearby. "Look, it's that new fifth year."
"She's the one who came last night, right? She had to make an entrance instead of showing up with everyone else, didn't she?"
The girls' words stung, and reminded Ominis painfully of when he had arrived at Hogwarts. When his name had been called for the Sorting Hat, older students had made sure he could hear them and their taunts.
"Probably thinks she's so high and mighty too. Not just anyone gets to come to Hogwarts late. I wonder if they thought she was a Squib."
"Makes sense then, since she couldn't find the castle last night!"
"The least you could do is be quiet about your arrogance," Ominis snapped, not able to take the girls' horrible words any longer. He could feel that he caught them off guard, and they quickly walked away from him as if afraid he would actually attack them.
Using his wand, Ominis could feel the new girl was nearby, probably frozen in surprise from the interaction. He carefully stepped closer to her.
"I'm sorry about them," Ominis told her, apologetically. "I remember my first day as well. I had a lot of people talking about me too."
Sebastian had said this girl was small and frail, not looking like she was fifteen years old, and her voice showed that as she meekly replied. "Th-thank you. You didn't have to do that."
Ominis smiled slightly. "I know. But it's the least I can do to help. I'm Ominis. Ominis Gaunt."
"Nice to meet you, Ominis." The way she said his name made the boy's heart beat hard against his chest. "My name is Sabrina Pryor."
–
The first week of classes was the hardest week of Ominis' life. He had sworn to himself that he would be good and that he would stay away from Sabrina, but it felt like the harder he tried to do this, the more Sabrina tried to get closer to him.
At least Sebastian was finally getting the hint that he needed to be left alone.
Finally, Friday afternoon came, and the entire Great Hall was buzzing with upcoming Quidditch trials the next morning. Sebastian and Anne were especially excited and were talking non-stop about it.
"I don't care what position I get," Sebastian said. "I just want to fly."
"Well, being a Chaser would be good for you then," Anne replied. "Imelda also thinks I could be a good Chaser. She also mentioned me being a Seeker."
"Makes sense. You're small, nimble, less likely to get hit with a Bludger."
Ominis could almost feel Anne's gaze on her brother. "Maybe I should be a Beater, then. I like living for danger."
Sebastian's muscles tensed next to Ominis. "You wouldn't."
"Watch me."
Ominis quietly ate his dinner, becoming more and more aware of Sabrina's silence as she sat across from him. Normally, the girl wasn't very talkative anyway, but it felt like her lack of participation was deafening. He couldn't hear her silverware against her plate or the clunk of her goblet when she picked it up, which told him that the girl had hardly eaten anything all night. Someone please notice her, Ominis thought, knowing how self-conscious she often felt being among the twins. Anne, say something. Please.
She must have felt his thoughts. A second later, he heard Anne speak again. "Sabrina, you'll come to tryouts tomorrow, right? I know you don't want to play, but you can watch and cheer us on!"
Sabrina cleared her throat. "Sure," she said, her voice small. "I can do that."
Sebastian nudged Ominis gently. "What about you? Will you be there?"
Ominis could feel Sabrina's eyes on him, watching him carefully. What was she looking like right now? Did she look as sad as he felt? Was she watching him with curiosity? Or did she even care about what he did?
Truth be told, Ominis had no idea how Sabrina felt about him. He had hoped a long time ago that she felt the same way that he felt about her, but Ominis had a hard time understanding peoples' intentions. But there had been many times last year where Ominis had been so close to her, so close to giving in to his desires to feel her face against his fingers before slowly and gently kissing her, and he hoped that if he ever got to that point maybe she wouldn't push him away. Maybe, she had also wanted him as much....
Ominis felt a deep shame at knowing that he had led her on; that he had helped feed into the idea that they could have ever been something. Every nerve in his body hurt to be so close yet so far away from her. But.... This is for her protection.
Turning towards Sebastian, Ominis answered him. "No, I won't be. But I look forward to you telling me about it afterwards."
—
Saturday morning greeted the students with a bright blue sky and a slight autumn chill. Anne and Sebastian dressed in some of their oldest trousers and sweaters, ate breakfast, and went to collect Sabrina before heading to the Quidditch Pitch.
"I'm worried about Sabrina," Anne confided in her brother. "She's been very down this whole week. And it's not because of her classes."
Sebastian frowned. "I noticed it too. She had moments like this last year, especially when she was working on the trials and all of the Keeper stuff. I hate to see her so upset."
"It's because of Ominis. Have you spoken with him? Has he said why he's been so distant?"
She watched Sebastian shrug and look down at his feet, a telling sign that he was withholding information. "No. But he's always like this when he interacts with his family."
Anne opened her mouth to speak, but just then Sabrina came up from the dungeons and greeted them. They began walking outside as Anne shoved some bread into her friends' hands. "Eat. You'll feel better."
The walk outside to the pitch was enjoyable. Lots of students from each house had gotten up early to watch the tryouts, anxiously waiting to see who would make the house teams. Hogwarts hadn't had Quidditch in a year, something that had been missing from normal Hogwarts life. Even Madam Kogawa was in better spirits than normal.
The students that were not trying out were directed to the large stands overlooking the pitch, and those trying to be on teams were shown the way to the field. As Sabrina was headed up to the stands, a familiar head of auburn approached the entrance.
Anne couldn't help but smile. "Fancy seeing you here."
Aurelia smiled back brightly. "I wouldn't dream of missing it!"
"You and the rest of the school," the Slytherin girl laughed. "Hopefully you don't get squashed in the spectator seats."
The Ravenclaw looked at her with some confusion. "Oh no, I'm not watching. I'm trying out for the Ravenclaw team."
Anne froze, staring at her potions classmate with concern. Aurelia was small and slender, not much shorter than Anne but definitely much more gentle looking than her. She wore trousers and a long sleeved undershirt, which really left little to the imagination as it showed off her curves and softness, but Anne felt like all it would take would be a bump in the wind and Aurelia would go flying off her broom. Not at all what Anne thought a Quidditch player would be. "You? Are you sure?"
Aurelia's eyebrows shot up. "Is there a problem, Sallow?"she asked with a hint of defiance.
"Not to be rude, Keene, but I'm worried you would get eaten alive out there."
Aurelia shrugged. "Well, as long as one of us is."
Anne barely had time to register what this girl meant before Everett Clopton came up and smacked Aurelia on the shoulder. The girl winced slightly. "Look here, everyone! Hogwarts' best Seeker, coming through! Just you wait 'til you see Keene on this broom. Ravenclaw will be unstoppable!"
So Aurelia Keene was going to be Ravenclaw's Seeker? The thought excited Anne, and just thinking about going against this girl in a game of Quidditch was enough for Anne to come to a decision on what position to play.
She caught back up with Sebastian, who was conveniently talking to Imelda Reyes, who had been made Slytherin Team Captain. "Imelda, I want Seeker."
Imelda smiled. "Perfect!" her Irish accent came through excitedly. "You can be a Seeker, and we were just talking about Sebastian becoming a Beater. Would be a good way to get some pent up energy out, for sure."
Madam Kogawa yelled across the field. "Slytherins! Are you ready to begin?"
All the Slytherin students raised their hands.
"Good! Come and grab a broom and let's get these tryouts started."
–
The tryouts were over before Anne felt like she had a chance to blink. The adrenaline of being back on a broom after a year of being stuck at home overcame her and made her feel alive. It helped her to focus when Madam Kogawa threw practice snitches her way, and Anne was proud to say that she caught every single ball that came her way.
Sebastian tried out for both Chaser and Beater, but he soon found he much preferred to hit Bludgers instead of catch Quaffles, much like what Imelda had already predicted. And he was good at it too. He seemed to know where the Bludger was heading before anyone else did, and could expertly redirect it.
When everyone was grounded, Madam Kogawa asked Imelda for the final team roster. Imelda, Sebastian, and Anne were the only sixth years that tried out for the time, and the other seventh year boys may have towered over Imelda but they respected her. Imelda Reyes was the most outspoken and most talented Quidditch mind that Hogwarts had, and she wasn't afraid to let others know it.
"Travers, you're Keeper," Imelda called out, pointing at each student as she read off their names. "Graham, Reyes, and Rosier, we're Chasers. Pucey and Sebastian are Beaters. Anne is our Seeker."
Two seventh year boys who tried out growned, unhappy that they had not been picked for the team but they also knew better than to argue.
Anne nudged her brother. "Good job," she smiled.
Sebastian looked back at her before shrugging. "Yeah... you too."
Madam Kogawa clapped. "Ravenclaw is up next!"
The twins made their way to the stands to join Sabrina, who had been sitting with her Hufflepuff friend, Poppy Sweeting. "You both did wonderful," Sabrina told them.
Anne, however, was looking past at Poppy. "Hello, Sweeting. I imagine you're in the Care of Magical Creatures class again this year. Guess what. So is Sebastian."
Sebastian grumbled next to her.
Poppy looked back at Sebastian, her eyebrows raised. "Why did you decide to take it?"
"That's a funny story," Anne answered for him. "He didn't! Professor Ronen put him in it, and when Sebastian tried to complain, he got a long winded lecture about how learning to care for magical creatures would teach him 'compassion and understanding'."
"He's right," Poppy agreed, smiling. "There's just something special about taking care of a creature and seeing them grow."
Sebastian dug his shoulder into Anne's. "Why?" he hissed.
"Because I can," Anne smiled back. But then her attention was quickly taken when she saw a crowd of blue start flying around the pitch. She easily picked out the auburn hair among the sea of brown hair. It also looked like Aurelia was one of two girls, and was surrounded by a ton of much taller and built teenage boys. Aurelia looked so small compared to them.
Sabrina noticed Anne's staring. "She's your Potions partner, right? She seemed very nice when I spoke with her earlier."
Anne's mouth turned up slightly. "Yeah, she is."
The Ravenclaw team took much longer to make their determinations than Slytherin did. In the end, Aurelia was assigned Seeker. The other girl, Constance Dogworth, was Chaser alongside team captain Everett Clopton and seventh year Buckman. A seventh year student named Gage was the Keeper, and the beaters were sixth year Larson and seventh year Avery.
The Gryffindor team, known always as being on par with Slytherin superiority, took about the same amount of time to choose their teammates. Sabrina and Poppy clapped when Garreth Weasley was named Keeper, and Natsai Onai was named Chaser. They had more sixth year students on their team, naming off Oggspire as another Chaser, and Davies and Jenkins became their Beaters. Seventh year O'Callahan was their last Chaser, and the Seeker was a slender seventh year named Hogan.
By the time Hufflepuff reached the pitch, most of the students had gone back to the castle. The Hufflepuff team was never known for their talent in Quidditch, and they saw why when they saw the yellow uniforms had no sense of coordination or communication as a team.
Anne honestly wasn't paying much attention. She instead spent the entire Hufflepuff tryouts trying to subtly watch Aurelia Keene, who sat a few rows ahead of her.
–
Finally, the group headed back to the castle. Sebastian and Anne walked behind Sabrina, who was chatting happily with Garreth, Natty, and Poppy. Garreth was telling some crazy story of one time when he fell off his broom and landed on his sister, who only bounced instead of getting seriously injured. The group laughed at his exaggerated tale, and Garreth seemed to enjoy all the attention he was getting.
When they reached the front doors to the castle, Sebastian was surprised to see Ominis standing there like he was waiting for them. Sabrina had seemed to notice him and went to say something to him, but was interrupted by Natty calling her along to join a celebration in the Gryffindor Common Room. Ominis also heard this and immediately tensed up and stiffened his face, but didn't move from his spot on the wall.
Sebastian approached his friend and spoke lowly. "Why not just tell her? Then you wouldn't have to suffer like this."
"She deserves to be happy," Ominis whispered back. "She sounded happy."
"Her eyes tell a different story."
Silently, Ominis got up from the wall and walked away. He didn't even ask about the Quidditch tryouts.
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A/N: Comments are love! Thank you for reading!