Yearning | Hogwarts Legacy

Chapter Ten : The Gaunt Family

TW: Mentions of verbal, physical, and mental abuse. Yeah... this chapter is heavy. Also lots of yelling.

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"Watch this, sister."

A second later, Ominis felt a sharp jolt of electricity stab at his right side, forcing him to jump and wince slightly in pain.

Marvolo's laughter rang in Ominis' ears as it echoed through the parlor. "Did you see how he jumped?" Marvolo exclaimed in glee. "Merlin, I had forgotten how much fun you were!"

Verena's laugh came from Ominis' other side. She was a bit further away, probably still seated at the table as the siblings had their afternoon tea. It was an insufferable tradition Lord Gaunt had always kept. Ominis had almost forgotten how horrible tea time was.

Marvolo wasn't sitting. Instead, he hung over Ominis and decided to play his favorite game of torment. Ominis could smell his brother's stifling cologne, but he tried not to show that it bothered him. Any reaction out of him was a victory point to his brother, and Ominis refused to let Marvolo win at his messed up games.

"Tell me, brother," Marvolo spoke once again against Ominis' left ear. "This mudblood girl that Verena has told me about... What's so special about her? What makes her so... enticing? What makes her a 'heroine of Hogwarts'? What sort of magic does she possess? Does she have some sort of power to control others? Is she seemingly soft and kind and that's how she manipulates others? Perhaps she's as beautiful as one of those gods she worships." He moved closer. "Or perhaps she really does feel that good and tight pressed against your—"

Ominis' rage had been building little by little all afternoon, but Marvolo's words had taken him over the edge. He reached for Marvolo's throat, barely grazing it with his fingers, but as soon as he did he suddenly felt his face being pushed down against the table and against the silverware. Marvolo's fingers were pulling at his hair and keeping him pressed there so Ominis couldn't move.

"You are pathetic," Marvolo hissed back. Ominis could feel the venom seeping from his brother as he spoke. "You come home after years of running away and expect to be treated like a fucking noble? I will do what Father won't and put you in your place. If it were up to me, I would have killed you long before now, you defective insignificant worm!"

"I wasn't hiding, you knew where I was," Ominis countered through gritted teeth. He refused to give in to his brother. "You could have come to Feldcroft at any time to collect me, but you didn't. You didn't come to get me because it would have inconvenienced you too much. The only reason I'm here is to do what you have shown to be incapable of doing."

He felt Marvolo flinch just a bit.

Ominis laughed slightly, taking in the small reaction as a victory point. "The only reason I'm here..." he continued. "... is because you have proven yourself useless. You've been married for a year and a half and your wife has yet to give birth to a child. I can't imagine Father's all that pleased. It's no wonder he's now relying on the defective to do the work the Heir of Slytherin can't."

Marvolo's fingers dug deeper in Ominis' scalp. Ominis held his voice back to hide the pain. "You know nothing."

"So if I can get married and birth a son before you can, I wonder how long it will take before Father makes me head of this family. You would have to answer to me." Ominis chuckled again. "What a sight that would be. Imagine the scandal."

Ominis felt Marvolo's wand on his neck. He didn't care.

"How strange it must be for you to feel so threatened by a weak, pathetic blind man."