Yearning | Hogwarts Legacy

Chapter Two : First Day of Class

TW: mentions of abuse.

Three months earlier

There was a soft knock on the wood, then he heard the door open. "Sir, I have Master Ominis here as requested."

"Send him in."

Ominis held his wand firmly in his hand and allowed it to guide him inside his fathers' study. He counted silently seven steps forward into the cold room, and then firmly stopped and heard the door close behind him. He stood absolutely still with his back straight and his hands folded neatly in front of him, a well practiced pose that he knew his father would expect of a noble Gaunt.

For a few moments, Ominis heard nothing but the loud ticking of the clock and his father's quill on parchment. He knew better than to interrupt him, so Ominis stood in silence waiting to be addressed.

He heard the quill return to the ink pot. "I see you've come home," his fathers' hard, cold voice spoke.

Ominis kept his voice even. "Yes sir. You summoned me."

"I also remember summoning you home last summer, yet you ignored me." His father began writing again.

"My apologies. I did not think my presence would be that sorely missed."

"If it wasn't for your brother and his incessant pleading, I would have dragged you back myself," Mister Gaunt spoke with such a harsh animosity it almost made Ominis recoil. "But Marvolo felt you being here would ruin his graduation party. You will not do that again."

Ominis swallowed, keeping his composure calm. "Yes sir."

"Now. Explain why you did come home."

Ominis' heart beat hard in his chest in time to the loud clock ticking, and he hoped his father couldn't hear it from where he sat. "I have heard you have been working on my engagement."

He felt his father freeze for a moment, catching him off guard. "I see word doesn't take long to spread around Hogwarts."

"Actually, it was Verena who told me."

Mister Gaunt hissed in annoyance, and Ominis couldn't help but feel a slight satisfaction at the sound. "Of course it was your sister. She can never keep her damn mouth shut."

Ominis swallowed nervously again. "I have, however, heard rumors around the school that you have had a hard time finding someone to accept the proposal."

He heard the quill stop again, this time returning loudly to the ink pot. His fathers' footsteps echoed on the hard floor as he seemed to walk towards Ominis. "Yes. It seems that you have been spreading quite a few things about yourself around that damn castle of yours," he spoke, his voice coming closer. "Things like you sleepwalk, that you use the dark arts on animals for sport, and that you share a bed with any female Gaunt you so happen upon, including your own sister."

Ominis couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. That was a rumor he hadn't agreed to with Sebastian, but knowing his friend he imagined he probably took it upon himself to spread that one.

"Do you understand how much damage control I have had to do because of you?"

"I can assure you I have no idea what you're—"

The slap caught Ominis completely off guard. It hit him harshly on his right cheek and took him off balance, stumbling slightly as he caught himself. Ominis brought a hand to his face, letting out a small gasp in shock before he tried to straighten his posture again.

"Do not lie to me," his father hissed menacingly in parseltongue. "Do you forget your place so easily?"

"I do not," Ominis hissed back, the parseltongue feeling like acid on his tongue.