Hopeless | Ominis Gaunt x Reader

26

For an excruciatingly long moment you simply stared at the photograph of Ominis and the prim blonde witch plastered on the front page, just under the dreadful headline. The sight alone was enough to make bile rise in your throat.

You watched as they exchanged an intimate look, their hands laced together and a demure smile playing at her lips, before they both stepped out of frame and the loop began again.

You sniffed, crumpling the paper in your hands and shrugging off Sebastian's touch when he tried to lay a comforting hand on your shoulder.

"Listen, I'm sure Ominis will have an explanation for this," he assured, voice laden with that pity that you despised. "He wouldn't—"

"He's betrothed, Sebastian," you muttered, your chest feeling like a hollow cavity. Simply saying the words felt surreal. "An explanation won't change that fact."

The stares you had felt when you first walked into the Great Hall seemed to have since multiplied, writhing under your skin. You suddenly couldn't bear to be in the presence of any other students for a moment longer. Ignoring Sebastian's attempts at offering comfort, you stormed off, not stopping until you were concealed by the solitude of a lonely corridor in the bowels of the castle.

There, you let the first sob bubble out. Too many emotions broiled a storm in your head; shock, betrayal, grief — all-consuming jealousy. The tips of your fingers sparked with unbridled magic as you paced the empty hall, trying to digest the bludger of information you've just been hit with.

Ominis was betrothed.

To some well-bred pureblood witch no less. To the kind of witch that you had once told him he would be better off with. The kind of witch he had assured you he didn't want.

The thought that he had lied was too revolting to bear. You sank to the floor with your knees tucked to your chest, no longer confident in your ability to remain upright.

Maybe his parents had finally changed his mind. Maybe he had realized that you truly were too much work to be worth the effort. Was that all it took? Barely a week away and he had come to his senses?

In an attempt to dismiss the horrid thought, you turned over Sebastian's words; a dim beacon of light in a whirling seastorm of so much disappointment. Maybe Ominis would have some sort of explanation. A good one, one that didn't consist of him simply having abandoned you.

Yes, that sounded promising. In a week's time this will all be explained. You'll be back in Ominis' arms, and this will all be some silly misunderstanding.

You clung onto that tiny inkling of hope, wiping the tears marring your cheeks with the back of your hand. You took a few steady breaths to try to quell the nausea in your stomach, but it didn't do much good. The shock was still there. Nonetheless, you tried your best to maintain your faith in Ominis.

He said he would fix this, didn't he? Why would you have any reason to doubt his word?

Picking yourself up off the floor, you tried to rid the image of the newly-engaged couple from your brain, but it seemed to be seared into the back of your eyelids. Their gazes locked, fingers intertwined, shared smiles. Ominis' expression was placid, but you could've sworn you saw his lips twitch.

A red-hot pang of jealousy cut right through you before you could help it. You'd never felt so much loathing for a witch you've never met. You must've carried that fury all the way back to the Slytherin common room, because when you walked in and happened up on Sebastian, he went pale.

"I don't want to talk about it," you muttered before he could even open his mouth, collapsing into the seat beside him.

He blinked at you. "Are you sure? Look, it's normal to be upset—"