Yearning | Hogwarts Legacy

Chapter Twenty-One : The Dragons and The Unicorns

With Anne's help, Sabrina was able to write up an official letter to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement about Minerva. It went out the very next day, and now the agonizing wait began. Sabrina knew that if this went as well as her last letter to the Ministry, it was going to take a long time before she heard back from anyone.

"I'll write them once a week if I have to," she declared as she attached her letter to a school owl. "I refuse to just let her sit there alone thinking no one's waiting for her."

Another week passed by, and now the only thing on the Sallow twins' minds was the very exciting birthday celebration they had the coming weekend. For Sabrina, it gave her a very much needed distraction. She enjoyed listening to Anne chastising Sebastian about how he 'forgot' whatever Scottish dance they had learned as kids, and she laughed when Sebastian would quip back about his sister 'forgetting' the Gaelic they learned from their parents.

"Just because I didn't retain much Gaelic doesn't mean I'm uneducated!" Anne argued when the four of them were studying in the Undercroft one afternoon after class.

"Everyone knows that learning at least one other language is a mark of intelligence!" Sebastian argued back.

This made Sabrina put down her quill and cross her arms at him. "Are you saying I'm not intelligent because I don't speak another language?" she asked with her eyebrows raised at him.

Immediately, Sebastian's face reddened and he stumbled as he tried to backtrack. "W-what? No, no that is not what I meant! I just meant that it's a smart thing to know another language!"

"I'm fairly certain that is exactly what he meant," Ominis told Sabrina, grinning mischievously.

"I never said that!" Sebastian looked back at Sabrina. "You are the smartest witch in this room, Sabrina. And you not knowing another language is not saying anything against you!"

"Oh?" Anne had now crossed her own arms. "Then why are you giving me shit for not remembering my Gaelic?"

"Because you're fucking Scottish, Annabeth!" Sebastian looked back at his sister. "It's part of your heritage! You're not like Ominis who had to learn five bloody languages because your family's rich."

"If I wanted to remember my Gaelic, I would have. Just like you could have remembered the dance if you wanted to!"

As Sebastian stood up to walk to the desk Anne was sitting at to continue with their spat, Sabrna turned to Ominis curiously. "You can speak five languages?"

Ominis chuckled nervously. "Actually, no. I grew up learning three. My father has ties in various European magical ministries, so he felt it important for everyone to learn the languages so we could continue to strengthen our connections. I can speak English, French, and German."

"Can't you also speak parseltongue?"

She saw the boy's ears redden slightly. "Well... that isn't something we learn. It's something we're just born knowing. Oftentimes, as children, we would communicate with parseltongue first before we could confidently speak in English."

Listening to Ominis talk about his childhood was something that Sabrina never took advantage of. He very rarely spoke of home, and when he did he often did not speak of it in a positive manner. However, every bit of information she could get out of him she loved because it made her feel like she was learning more and more about this boy she loved so deeply. It helped her to understand him better so she could help him.

"I actually don't like speaking in parseltongue," Ominis admitted, continuing with his ramble as Sabrina held onto every word. "It's a very harsh language, and when I go home it's usually used when we're angry at each other or experiencing some very intense emotions. You've seen me speak it to my sister. It's not pleasant by any means."