Touched

Shadow of Responsibility - Fifth Year

#we're almost at sixth year omfg I'm just gonna keep writing for what reason. Also idk wtf is canon in this book but we'll pretend Y/N had gone through all her ranrok stuffs in the background. All I care about is Sebastian. LOL.

Thanks for reading anyway 😂🥰

Y/N POV

You, Ominis, Anne and Imelda hadn't heard anything about Sebastian in almost a fortnight. Of course, why would you? He was in the detention centre. But it was awful, not knowing what he was going through where he was. Ominis hadn't been sleeping, you could tell. Anne was weaker than ever, perhaps taken over by the stress. And you - well. You missed him.

It was the week of the O.W.L's, of course, and you had been offered to defer them because of what happened with Ranrok and Professor Fig, but also because of what had happened with Sebastian. You had declined. You were a Slytherin - you had enough ambition to complete your studies now with everyone else. Ominis wasn't so sure, but Imelda had been helping him study into the wee hours of the morning.

The first day of the week you had a charms O.W.L, a defence against the dark arts O.W.L and a herbology. The second day, you had potions, divination, and Astronomy. The good thing about divination was, it was too airy fairy of a subject to have a theory examination, and it was just a practical, with tea leaves and crystal balls. Of course, you dreaded it, because every time you practiced a ritual you came out with a different result. It would not be easy to memorise things. On the third day, you'd have care of magical creatures, history of magic and transfiguration, and that was you done. Ominis had the same schedule as you, and you made your way towards the Hall for your charms examination.

Ominis was taken to a seat just across from you, and he sat down, flicking his quill against the table nervously. He had told you he honestly didn't know why he cared that much, perhaps because he wanted to get into classes next year that would lead him to an ideal job. He didn't know what he wanted to do, but he'd find something well worth it.

You had given up on being nervous about these exams. There were things in the world that were more frightening than a paper. You stared at the front of it, at the ink pot next to your quills set down on the table.

Here we go.

Ominis POV

The first O.W.L was a complete balls up. Ominis did not feel confident in a single one of his answers. He had casted a silencing charm around his table before he began dictating - wasn't that enough to show that he could use charms? He was frustrated with himself, but he also knew - every time he tried to write an answer he thought of him. He couldn't do his exams. He'd never pass school. He'd never get a job. He'd never get married. He'd never have kids. He's probably already gone crazy, what with the therapy and the other kids they've probably got in that dirty, horrible place.

How could he think of anything else? He worried to himself that it might plague his thoughts forever. It probably would.

"How did you go?" Imelda asked as they walked out. She slipped her hand into his and he let her, together they walked towards the dormitories to grab their reference study books for the next O.W.L in an hour. He tripped over a cobblestone and that only frustrated him more.

"Fucking terrible," he told her. She sighed next to him.

"Same, to be honest. Did you finish the whole paper?"

"Do you think Sebastian is okay?"

"Ominis," Imelda started, trying to find the right words to say. "You can't worry about that forever."

"It's been two weeks," Ominis said through gritted teeth. "I'm going to worry about it. Two weeks from now, two months from now, two years from now - probably two decades from now. I just need to hear from him."

"You can't," Imelda whispered. "There's no means of contact from in there. He probably would if he could."

"You're not of much help," Ominis mumbled. He let go of her hand and she became defensive.

"The only help you'd appreciate is if I could pluck Sebastian from the centre and plop him in front of you. Unfortunately, I don't have that ability. Sebastian killed someone, Ominis. You can't just get away with that." He heard her start to walk away. "I understand you're sad, I'm sad for you. And I'm worried for you. But there's not much we can do. I really need to focus on my next O.W.L. I'll see you in the common room tonight, dove."

She left. Ominis shook his head and kept walking, trying to focus his mind on the tugging of the wand in front of him. It just kept tugging. He didn't even know where he was going.

He didn't care about his exams, he didn't care about schooling right now. He didn't care about himself. Everything from now would be about Sebastian, and that was the only person he'd never hear from again.

Imelda POV

Imelda was heading to the quidditch pitch. Like Ominis, she went somewhere quiet whenever she needed some peace. Really, she'd like to hop on her broomstick and play a furious game of quidditch. This year and been dismal, with no quidditch, and she hated the headmaster for it. Today, she decided she would just fly her broom around, maybe hit a bludger around to get rid of some apprehension.

Her broom was a Nimbus 677, one of the newest models. It was black and dark green, sleek and smooth. Quiet. A perfect ride. She let her hair out of its ponytail and mounted, kicking off the ground into the air. She was silent, thinking of everything that had happened in the last couple of weeks. She felt for Ominis, she really did. And she was so frightened for him when he was at his family's house last week.

He was a beautiful boy, really. Kind, and compassionate, and just a tad judgemental but enough to make it funny and not mean, he was careful and cautious, gentle and calm. He was creative, and honest. Patient and trustworthy. But he was also scarred. By his family and their ways, by his upbringing. And now by Sebastian. He was rash and often hid his feelings until he split open. He was dealing with a lot, and Imelda didn't know what to do anymore.

She almost hated Sebastian for it, but she knew, too, if she admitted it to herself, that he was just a boy trying to save his sister. She knew people would never forgive him for what he did, but he was scarred too. By what happened to his parents, by what happened to his sister. His uncles actions towards him. It could've been ruled as self defence, if only he hadn't delved so far into the Dark Arts.

That was what changed her opinion on it. Why couldn't he have used a different spell? Why kill your own uncle. She could only imagine how Sebastian's sister felt. She almost felt like she should go see her and ask how she was doing. But she couldn't. She didn't know Sebastian very well, let alone his sister. She'd only been connected to them by Ominis. She had actually been a real bully to Sebastian and his sister in their first three years of school.

She'd been thinking about all of this while flying over the black lake, and she tried to tell herself it was the mist, or the lake water that did it, but she knew, as she flew, silent tears rolled down her cheeks.