Yearning | Hogwarts Legacy

Chapter Thirty-Four : Strength

"Ominis? What are you doing out here? You'll catch a cold."

The young boy wiped his tears and turned his face away. His whole body felt sore from the family outing he had been forced to endure, so running away was out of the question. All he could do was turn away and hope that his aunt didn't see how upset he was.

He felt Aunt Noctua sit next to him on the stone bench before a gentle hand came and tried to move him to face her. He resisted, further digging his chin into his chest.

"Ominis, let me see."

"No."

"Ominis Lucian."

He huffed, but when he felt his aunt's gentle touch on his face again he let her turn it towards her. Ominis heard her gasp slightly as she inspected him. Her cool fingers seemed to graze softly over the nerves that hurt the most and before too long he was feeling like his face and head was finally back to normal.

"Did Atticus do this to you?"

Carefully, Ominis nodded.

"What happened?"

Ominis finally spoke. "They wanted to torture muggles, but I didn't want to hurt them. Father got angry and...." He felt the tears coming back. "Aunt Noctua, I didn't want to hurt them! He made me! I'm so sorry! Please don't be angry with me!"

Instantly, Aunt Noctua wrapped her arms around him and began to hush him. "Shh, it's alright. I know you didn't."

"I'm weak! I'm pathetic!"

"No, you are not." Aunt Noctua pulled away slightly to stare at the boy's face. "Listen to me. You are strong and kind and better than any other Gaunt I know. Do not let them convince you that you are inferior."

"I don't want to be in this family."

Aunt Noctua's voice trembled. "I know. I don't want you to be either."

"I wish I could run away."

Ominis felt his aunt's fingers tense. She suddenly turned very serious, and he couldn't help but hang onto every word. "Listen to me, Ominis. I want you to make a promise to me.... I want you to promise me that you will not allow your father to trap you. One day, he'll want to sell you off to another family with talk of responsibilities and family duties. Instead, I want you to run. Go out into the world and explore, make friends and fall in love, and never come back to this house again."

"But I can't," Ominis argued. "I'll never make it past the gates."

"But you will. Because you have an incredible power and motivation that they won't ever anticipate."

"What is that?"

He felt a soft kiss on the top of his head. "It's your love."

–

They landed in the backyard with a hard thump!

Sabrina found herself on her back and immediately was aware of how cool the snow was against her hot skin. She was panting hard and her heart felt like it was about to burst out of her chest as her lungs burned trying to get air. When she opened her eyes, however, she could see the dark sky littered with bright white stars and a few faded clouds as they covered the moon.

She could hear Ominis, Sebastian, and Anne next to her panting just as hard. She could feel that everyone was thinking and feeling the same thing, but no one seemed to be able to talk yet.