Shades of Sallow

Answers for Anne?

6 years...6 long tumultuous years since that dark day. Anne hadn't forgiven her twin for what he did & surely wouldn't. "Oh Sebastian..." Her memories of that day played out again, just as they always had. Seeing her beloved brother use Imperio upon a goblin that had attacked her & then...his use of Avada Kedavra on their uncle. The old man had shot down her brother's every hope that was sensible, telling him "there's no cure & the sooner you learn that, the better." Anne sat in the windowsill of her little cottage in the furthest reaches of the Highlands, crying as it began to rain. She still loved her brother, but he was now locked away in Azkaban & would be forever unless she chose to fight for him. "Brother...I miss you...I do miss you." She could still see his once bright eyes, sparks flew from his wand as he took to the field to defend her, his brunette curls swaying as the magic kicked up a breeze around him. His eyes turned from a deep, beautiful chocolate brown to a twisted, haunting green like their Slytherin robes. Sebastian had power, more than she ever had & he was the best duelist at school to top it off. "Why brother? Why did you forsake your champion status to go for the dark arts? You knew I didn't want to be saved that way." She questioned her brother to this day on using the dark magic, but his eyes told her everything in both fights & so did his words. "I won't let her suffer!" She hated what he did, but didn't hate him for seeking a way to help her. "You were going somewhere with the ancient magic Sebastian...I would've taken a cure with it any day."

Just as she muttered those words, a knock thundered through the house. She walked across her tiny living room to the door, wondering who it could be. "Yes?" She opened the door & her jaw fell. "It can't be..." A tall, gorgeous male with slicked back brown hair & pale eyes befell her. "Oh it be & you know me already." Anne screamed in shock, not expecting an old friend to visit. "Ominus?! By Merlin's Beard, what are you doing here?" Ominus Gaunt was her & Sebastian's friend, namely her brother's best friend, but he was more like a brother to them with as often as Sebastian brought him over. His family held incredible power, being decedents of Salazar Slytherin per his father, which meant most of them were dark wizards & witches. He wasn't like them though, because he had resisted them & refused to torture muggles & mixed-blood magical folk for fun. He was a pureblood, but gave off a calm air around most of the other students back then. Blind, but no less powerful than her own brother, he walked the entire grounds of Hogwarts & was said to have graduated at the top of his year. After Sebastian was sent to Azkaban, it was Ominus who fought to get Anne back into school or at least be allowed to bring her the lessons to do on the weekends. All of the professors thought it right to give her a chance to catch up & Headmaster Black had granted just that. She was happy to see him after all these years. "Oh Ominus, do come in & tell me what's brought you out here."

The towering brunette walked in with all the grace of royalty, his soft voice filled the cottage with a calming energy that hadn't been in it all day. "I didn't want to be the one to tell you, but Sebastian has been sentenced to death for the use of all the curses & the murder of Soloman Sallow." "WHAT?! I understand for killing our uncle, but using Imperio to save me was better than letting me die." Ominus let out a deep sigh, feeling just as sad & hurt as she did. Tears fell from his pale eyes, his voice giving into the sadness he felt. "Gods I know Anne & what I wouldn't give to see him spared for saving you at the least too. Unfortunately, my family got involved & pushed for his death upon his birthday this year. However, I've found that my sister has turned to the dark arts & is using two of the curses just outside of school grounds on the students to do her bidding. She's hurting those that aren't purebloods & hasn't been caught." Anne couldn't believe what she was hearing. "So the ministry is going to kill my brother for defending me, but not take down your sister when she's clearly using the same curses to hurt innocents? That sounds like a Rookwood & Ranrok ploy to me." Ominus' could hear the thundering of her heart, the sudden drive for revenge. "Yes, I know that, but the problem is that my family has sway in damn near everything & my sister hasn't been caught because she's good at twisting people's minds. However, I do have a plan to stop them & maybe find a cure for you that doesn't involve the dark arts."

Anne's eyes lit up at hearing him say she'd have another chance. "Oh do tell! I don't mind getting into trouble if it means my life is finally put right until I'm an old hag." "Old hag?! Anne, you are way too pretty to be an old hag, elderly lady is more like it." Had he just said that out loud? He felt his face start to burn as she giggled. "How do you know I'm pretty? I know you're blind Ominus, so either it's my voice..." "...or Sebastian shared a memory of all three of us before he turned completely dark, which is exactly what he did. So yes Anne, I know you're a pretty brunette. Your brother was pretty too, because I remember that he always had girls clamoring after him for either a duel or help with lessons. The things I heard in the halls that they spoke of about him...weren't appropriate all the time." Anne sat in her chair hunched over wide-eyed at her "other brother". "Ohhh, so he was a bad boy!" "To a point, yes & being in trouble constantly, but nothing compared to where he is now. I'm the bad boy of my family, but I need your help to catch my sister & expose my family for what they are. I'll give Azkaban my whole family of dark witches & wizards in exchange for your brother's freedom & your cure." Anne leaned close to him as he sat across from her. "I'm listening. I have my moments of weakness, but I'm not letting your sister turn into something worse than my brother."

Hearing Anne say such a thing about his sister made Ominus' heart thunder away inside of him. She had that same determination as her brother to do right, something he missed immensely. She was the sister he wished he had instead of the hateful ones he was stuck with, but just the thoughts crept through his mind...he felt her hugging him. "Oh Ominus, it's bad enough my brother went dark for my sake, but your sister going dark for fun? I won't have it! I won't let MY OTHER BROTHER SUFFER! Sebastian & I always saw you as our third sibling, even when he used the curses, his eyes always changed back...as if he was hurting inside & not just over me...I think he was hurting knowing he was betraying you to try to save me." Anne started crying again, wanting to help her brothers in whatever way she was capable of. Ominus felt his pride skyrocket at hearing her & his instinct to protect her kicked in as he hugged her back. She was right & he knew it, his wand began to glow with power as his magic began to rise in him to defend her. She reignited his fighting spirit in a way it hadn't been before & everything in him screamed to bring those truly guilty to justice. "We sneak into the Gaunt mansion at nightfall tomorrow using disillusionment to conceal ourselves. Most of them will be out in London for a Ministry meeting about new laws & they want in on it, so it shouldn't be too hard to get in. There's a room that I know of, but have never been allowed in because of my refusal to participate in their torture of muggles for fun & if I'm right, there should be a book of curse-breakers & combinations of both herbal & spell-work that can negate all the effects of two of the three unforgivable ones. The killing one is permanent, but the other two have a weakness, that much I've overheard in my time sneaking around the mansion as a child."

Anne's eyes lit all the way up, now hearing that there was a possibility of a book in existence that had the answers she had hoped her brother would find. "Seeing as how my brother was too proud of being a champion duelist & us knowing your past, we didn't dare ask if you had the answer. Now, looking back, we should've done just that. Maybe, just maybe, we'll also find a way to break the hold that the dark magic has upon my brother's mind." Ominus hugged her tighter, scared to take her with him, but also proud of her will to fight. "You're just like your twin brother, minus the dark magic, which makes me happier than it should. With you, we could finally make things go right & free the poor muggles of the senseless torment that many of them don't deserve." Anne couldn't help herself at hearing him excited to get his revenge for all that his family had done to him, save her & redeem her brother in the process...so much so that she kissed him on the cheek.

Ominus' face went a bright pink, his temperature rising to a fever pitch as his heart thundered louder in his ears than it ever had. "What was that for?!" He was suddenly speechless! Anne had kissed him!! Anne Sallow, his best friend's twin sister had kissed him! "Oh that? That was for calling me pretty & restoring my hope in getting cured the way I want to be fixed, which is without any dark magic involved. You're so cute when you're blushing Ominus...I hope you know that. Just don't tell my brother if we get to him okay? I want to ruin him with that fact." Ominus broke into a full laugh at the thought. "Ohhhh boy...as if my revenge isn't enough! You're going to have him crying! He's going to be so jealous if I fix you." "Yeah & your point being? You're trying to cure me in the way I wished to be cured, so I deserve a little revenge myself." Ominus didn't dare say a word in front of her, because he wanted to irk Sebastian just as bad...because he was starting to fall for Anne. That kiss of hers had him feeling things that he didn't know what to do with & a fever that was hotter than summer in London. Was this how Sebastian felt when the girls came after him? If it was, Ominus knew he'd be in trouble, but trouble that was worth being in.