After a good long while getting Ominis back into his shirt and an even longer while waiting for a stubborn Sebastian to lace his own boots, the four of us were finally ready. Leaving the Undercroft had never been such an ordeal.
Getting the two boys out was like herding cats, though I was quite sure it would have been easier to shuffle Brahms out of the room. The cat in question had climbed onto a pillar and was cleaning himself through the chaos.
Sebastian had gotten distracted by something he'd seen on top of the piano and a rather nervous Ominis had followed closely behind, as if he didn't, Sebastian might accidentally splinter the keys.
Anne pressed her face to her hands and shook her head. "We're going to get in so much trouble if someone catches them like this."
I squeezed her upper arm in a way I hoped was reassuring. "It's not that obvious they're drunk."
Something loud crashed and clanged behind me and Brahms peeked over his paw. Sebastian had stumbled into Ominis, just narrowly missing the piano bench and the two were now a pile of limbs on the floor.
"I'm alright!" Sebastian shouted and Ominis grumbled.
"I dare say that s'debatable even on the best days."
The two helped each other up and abandoned whatever they had originally been distracted by and instead continued walking in the general direction of the gate. Neither was able to keep a very steady line and I wondered just how potent that bottle must have been.
Anne cocked her head pointedly and I offered a sheepish smile in return.
"We just have to make it through the school, they'll sober up on the walk I'm sure!"
Dropping her hands, she looked at me as if I'd completely lost it before her eyes snapped back over my shoulder.
Ominis was twirling around, fumbling with his wand and Sebastian had waltzed himself right out the Undercroft gate.
"I'm going to kill him." Anne scoffed.
Ominis turned his nose quickly, brows high.
"Not literally Ominis."
The boy's shoulders relaxed.
Darting outside, we were thankful to find Sebastian leaning against the far wall, hands hanging loosely by his side and eyes on the ceiling.
"Why d'ya reckon they make the roof turn like that? Aesthetics?"
Perhaps this is going to be harder than I thought.
I absentmindedly ran my fingers over the chain at my neck. Isidora's pendant hanging cold against my skin.
Anne and Ominis brushed past us, their arms wound together. Ominis wore a happy little smile while Anne wore an opposing frown.
"You encouraged them, he's your problem." She nodded to her brother and shuffled Ominis down the hall without giving me a moment to round up my charge.
Scrambling forward, I wrapped my hand around Sebastian's and the boy beamed down at me with a lopsided grin. Voice too loud. "Oi! When d'they start letting angels attend Hogwarts?"
I pulled my lips tight, attempting to smother the smile there. "Would you shut up? We could get caught if you keep this up. You never know who could be watching."
Sebastian leaned in, cedar and a faint trace of alcohol tickling my lashes. "Never stopped us before."
I shoved at his shoulder, my traitorous heart hammering away. "Just, act normal until we are a fair bit away from the castle. Alright?"
Sebastian Ever Dutiful Sallow, clicked his heals together as best he could. "Anything for you madame Auror."
'Acting normal' to Sebastian evidently meant holding his spine as stiff as possible, head locked straight ahead and waving to every professor we passed as we attempted to catch up to our counterparts.
Sebastian's inebriated, lumbering gait pushed and pulled against my body and I struggled to keep us in a straight line, my lungs straining with the added effort. Thankfully, we were able to catch up to Anne and Ominis who also seemed to be struggling a bit. Ominis was walking well enough with Anne's guidance, but his head turned curiously at every little sound.
We wound our inevitable undoings through the halls with held breaths and crossed fingers.
Rounding the last corner, I let out a sigh of relief at the sight of only a couple chattering students near the exit and not a single teacher.
Anne too seemed to relax and I watched her shoulders ease and fingers on Ominis' arm loosen.
A bit of the students' conversation wound around our ankles as we walked by, one of the boy's hands wrapped around a little blue bowl and thick gold spoon.
"Muggle Studies is absolutely dreadful! Taste the dish I had to make on assignment."
Ominis stopped suddenly, nearly toppling Anne backwards.
Sebastian snickered beside me. "Oh 'ere we go."
The smallest student who had just handed off his bowl to the other, crossed his arms awkwardly and tapped his food. He looked vaguely familiar but I couldn't entirely place where I'd seen him before. His straight black hair was ruffled and messy atop his head, a deep blue sweater two sizes too big tucked into his trousers and thin, round glasses slid down his nose.
The second boy was slightly taller with dark black curls a little longer than average. He wore a blue striped sweater, lace up pants and had leather bands wrapped around his wrists and shins. Cautiously bringing the little gold spoon to his lips, the boy made a face and smacked his mouth once, regarding the bowl with squinting eyes.
"Why is this so... bland?"
I hadn't even noticed Ominis had managed to squirm away from Anne until his strikingly blonde hair bobbed into the conversation. "Probably because Hobhouse put his heart into it."
"Hey!"
The curly haired boy's eyes flicked between the two and then drifted across the room. "I uh- I think I'm gonna- I've gotta-" He thrust the bowl back into the smaller boy's hand. "I'll see you around Duncan." He nodded curtly in Ominis' direction. "Gaunt."
The smaller boy, Duncan, shifted his weight and avoided looking directly at Ominis' face. I remembered him now as the boy Ominis had berated under the polyjuice form of Headmaster Black.
Anne had righted herself and tossed her bangs out of her eyes, grabbing Ominis' arm once again.
"Ok, I think we better keep going Ominis." She offered Duncan a cool smile.
"No no no no no." Ominis pouted. "We jus' got here."
Duncan scrunched his brows, finally flicking his eyes up to Ominis' and frowning. "Are you drunk Gaun-"
"Mind your business Hobhouse." Ominis didn't miss a beat.
Anne tugged his arm again.
"And what if I don't?" The boy crossed his arms as best he could with the bowl still in hand but failed and returned to standing with one hand on his hip.
Ominis paused this time, sniffing silently. "Oh Puffskein Dunkein... I think we both know th'answer to that."
Dunkin' squirmed under the pale gaze, chewing on his bottom lip before turning promptly and walking briskly away. "Fine."
Ominis, it seemed, wasn't quite done, calling loudly as the boy fled. "Y'know? I'm genuinely jealous of someone who hasn't met you."
"Ok, can we leave the coward alone now?" Anne tugged a third time and was finally successful in ushering the now beaming Gaunt boy out the door with Sebastian and I close behind.
----
Hogsmeade was just as lovely as it had ever been and the walk had done as I'd hoped, though not as well as Anne and I would have liked.
Both boys could keep a steady line on their own, but were still a bit loopy, practically skipping from stand to stand and ogling the shops. Ominis, though particularly giddy, still held the stern, no-nonsense sort of attitude he was known for. Yet, there was no denying the spark and excitement he chased through the streets with his best friend.
A loosened, shapeless weight removed from his demeanor.
The two took a particular liking to an oddities shop I wasn't sure I'd noticed before, Sebastian describing each trinket in exquisite detail for his friend, allowing the boy to trace his fingers along the item and hold it as long as he liked before moving on to the next.
I was reminded of a childhood they'd had before the pain, or at least, before it had worsened.
Anne and I followed closely, allowing our hearts to rest among their drunken peace for the day.
Shelf after shelf, the boys wound with particular attentiveness to the smallest of items. Sebastian pulled a small wood carved creature from the back of one of the tallest bookcases and blew the dust from its edges. Unfortunately, he paid little mind to the direction in which he was blowing and the dust sprinkled across Ominis nose. The poor boy wiped at it quickly but promptly broke into a fit of sneezes.
"Sorry mate."
The form of the little wooden object now revealed, Sebastian smirked down at it before tucking it into my small shop basket and catching my eye. He held a finger to his lips and then quickly turned back to the shelf to find something else to show Ominis.
Anne and I peeked over the basket's woven edge and were greeted with the smallest hand carved bird I'd ever seen.
A raven.
Anne's chest lifted as she let in a large breath and smiled. Her whisper only to me.
"He is going to love that."
We wound further and further through the store until suddenly and finally we reached the beginning again and the light from the windows brushed our boots.
Sebastian purchased the little gift in secret and our group emerged to the sunlight once more.
"Extra! Extra!" A woman called from a quaint little stand across the path. Her table was stacked high with folded papers covered in enchanted letters and moving sketches.
The sound of music twisted around the stones at our feet and curled around the corner. Ominis practically screeched.
"Ernie!"
Sebastian, looking equally as excited, looped his arm around Ominis' and sprinted in the direction of the instruments.
Anne took to chasing after them but I called after her, the little newspaper stand peaking my interest.
"I'll catch up with you in just a moment!"
Smiling kindly at the woman behind the stand, I took the few steps to her, awe nipping at my heals. I hadn't seen an enchanted newspaper before and was eager to finally have the chance to up close. The woman handed me the paper she had been holding and the weighty parchment brushed my fingertips, the ink dancing below them.
My breath stilled.
The headline, striking and bold, enough to collapse a reality back to center.
ROOKWOOD FOUND DEAD - WHO TO BLAME?
The letters rotated quickly.
OR WHO TO THANK?