Ominis had never kissed a girl before.
There was a moment, however, in Second Year, where Letty had given him a peck close to his lips, but not really. He thought it didn't count, and it was an instance with other students around on the frozen lake that made him like the moment a little less. He remembered turning his head at the last second without the knowledge of her next move, and, as they collided, she missed his lips and kissed his cheek instead.
Ominis remembered Garreth and the other kids skating and yelling about, but he thought nothing of it at the time. Just that a kiss was not suppose to be celebrated, so ever since that day he saw it as one that didn't count at all.
ׂׂૢ་༘࿐
January was so cold they were nearly running to the manor, Anne and Sebastian, where the former had forgotten her gloves, and her coat sleeves only covered so much that her fingertips were already numb from the chill.
"Ominis." Letty sat on the shore with her skates on, waiting for Sebastian and Anne's return.
Ominis startled at the sound of his name and turned quickly on his skates, as if about to run, but then saw, so incredibly, that it was Letty. He had been transfixed by his own thoughts, then by the falling snow overhead, that he'd lost the rest of his senses except sight.
"Did I scare you?" She jumped back onto the ice towards him, her hair whipping as she glided.
"Still getting use to without the wand," he said stupidly.
Ominis couldn't remember the last time he felt this way. He had spent some time mooning over Letty from a distance, which, in retrospect, was not his best move, but now that the girl was right in front of him, now that he was with this newfound ability to see the world, he took himself for a fool because he could not look at her directly.
"You've never seen the alphabet in your life," she said.
"I was still able to see words with my wand. Just never faces, until now."
Letty's cheeks were hot all of a sudden in the cold January air, and bright red no doubt. She smiled back as best she could and remembered she had a pen. Pulling up Ominis's arm and his mitten off, she held it close to her body and began writing on the palm of his hand: Letty Ominis Sebastian Anne. Back and fourth she gently rolled the tip on his skin, holding his hand and letting go too soon.
"You know, I've written you dozens of owls in our time at school," he said as Letty capped the pen.
She was excited now, and Ominis could see it flashing in her eyes, like the clusters of moths in a Merlin trial; the ones that made summer nights frantic with light.
"Ominis, can you tell me something?"
"Sure, Letty."
"What was it you had hoped for in turning Sebastian in?"
His answer came too late, which gave off suspicion, and Ominis knew he could not lie now.
"All his life he's been getting away with things, and I wanted him to face the consequences for once." Ominis shrugged, and, in part, it was true, so it was a good cover-up for the actual reason he was otherwise trying to avoid.
She hit him in the chest so hard he struggled to keep his balance and teetered onto the ice. Letty was hardly a graceful person herself and landed on her rump beside him.
They laughed and Ominis decided right then that he would be okay with dying.
"You could have turned me in, too," she said, staying there.
"You had nothing to do with it as far as I could tell."
He thought it might have been more than a crush, thinking about the kiss-that-didn't-count, and then, right in that moment, he was sure he loved her. Everybody at Hogwarts, including himself for as long as he could remember, had at one point or another harboured a secret crush and more than a few nighttime fantasies over Letty.
In the end it was extroverted Sebastian who was brazen enough to court her. When that day came, Ominis realized there was something worse than third-wheeling, worse even than pushing your best friend into a relationship with a girl you both admired. There was potential.
But this wasn't Ominis's story.
He knew she was not going to kiss him again.
They were silent, watching the rise and fall of each others' breaths and the clouds that plumed only in winter, while Ominis tried to imagine them in another time, building instead of dwelling.
"We're just idiot kids that don't know any better. On account of we have no grown-ups," Anne was saying from across the blanketed field, as she neared the lake again with Sebastian, this time with gloves on.
"And we're better off that way," her brother said.
At first the twins stood around in speculation, wondering why the two had ended up on the ice like that, till Ominis spoke up and got to his feet.
"Still have loads to learn. Might you teach us how to skate, Sebastian?"
Anne stepped carefully onto the ice as Letty pushed herself back up. Sebastian made his choice, turning his back to them for the manor.
Dinner was quiet that night with Sebastian gone to bed in a mood. There hadn't been a quarrel in quite some time, and they often had their meals together, even played games and read to one another, before turning to their own rooms.
She found him reading in bed, blanket over his shoulders, one hand wrapped around a hot cup of tea, hoarding the warmth but still shaking.
"Bad time?" she asked.
Sebastian didn't hesitate.
"Come here," he said, but his voice was soft and unexpected, without its usual edge and defense.
Letty sat down facing him on the mattress where she crossed her legs, distracted by his composure.
"You didn't skate," she said, kind in her remark.
"You know why." And he thought of what was really going on in his head.
"'Course I know why. It doesn't take a genius." Then: "I like you, Sebastian. You know that."
Sebastian reverted to the books he loved, those rare and impractical luxuries he'd happened on a few times in his life and hoarded until they fell apart, all pulp and tears.
One look at him and Letty knew exactly what he was thinking. "It's odd, isn't it, when we come to a point in the story where the plot could go either way."
Sebastian just stared, shocked at how well she knew him inside and out.
"It's when you could go one direction and have life turn out one way, or go another direction and have life be completely a different way. Quite like magic."
He nodded. "I know. Could you imagine if I'd never gone up to get pumpkin juice on the first day. Or if I had killed someone else that wasn't my uncle. I wouldn't have spent time in Azkaban, or worse—I'd have never met you."
When he was done she gave him a look, and Sebastian moved over a bit to make space beside him. He lifted the covers and she slid underneath, an act that assured him that she was all his. They adjusted themselves so that they were laying down now, and he put his arm so that it was like a pillow under her head, her hair covering it like a web.
Then he read Ivanhoe aloud. His voice was slow that it caused her to settle her chin in the crook of his collarbone, her breath pouring into the space like tea into a cup. There, he felt the brush of her bottom lip on his skin, and the small hairs on his arms lifted.
Letty squeezed in closer, her stomach making contact with his side, bringing his entire body to attention. He stopped reading and moved his free hand over the front of his pyjama pants.
"Shit." Sebastian tried pushing it away.
He swallowed hard and breathed, steady and slow, praying she would not notice. He hoped reading the next lines of the book would take his excitement away, but then she placed her hand to cover his, and Sebastian almost died.
Letty laced her fingers through it, eyes half closed and lips open. He watched the candlelight flicker over her complexion, and, to Sebastian, she was the most beautiful girl in the world, thankful that he had left some light on.
When she moved her face towards him, just a few centimetres now, Sebastian took her lips between his. Letty slid a knee between his thighs and pressed closer, pulse hammering in her gut. Sebastian wasn't sure how long he could go before he was undressing her, for Letty had pressed down on the front of his pants with both of their hands on it. He could not have seen straight if his eyes had been open.
"Seb... are you alright?"
The couple jumped, neither of them having heard the door open. Anne peeked into the room with Ominis, and, upon seeing them in high spirits, made her way to the foot of Sebastian's bed just as he sat bolt up, throwing Letty off to the side.
"I'm well," he said to Anne. "Quite well."
Sebastian squinted at Ominis, who shrugged, and then sighed; for Anne had no precedent to go by and wouldn't have thought twice before opening closed doors.
Then it was Anne who threw back the covers and invited herself in, pushing her brother further to the edge of the king-sized bed with a hip.
"You're reading her to sleep? By jove, you're not in your right mind," she said.
After Anne, it was Ominis who scrambled up the bed and jumped in with them.
"Come, Letty. We shall have a laugh at Ivanhoe again, like the good ol' days," he said, pulling the girl's arm and bringing her with him into the pile.
Sebastian tried to curl closer to Letty, but the two were in his way, and even worse—as Ominis removed his socks—he was thrown backwards, almost off the bed, when Anne's knees jabbed into his stomach, and Ominis laid his bare toes, like icicles, on Sebastian's ankles. Still he made the most of it, enjoying the smell of coconut from Letty's hair across the pillow.
"What are you waiting for, Seb?" It was Anne, impatient to get on and hoping for a story that would lull her to sleep.
"I don't know. A bit rude not to ask Moloch, don't you think?" he said.