Chrysalis

Chapter 8: Cursed Bloodline

TW: Mention of inbreeding and sexuality.

Ominis had always been a solitary person. His family name served as a barrier, causing other students to avoid him and exchange whispers as they passed him in the school corridors. The name Gaunt carried a heavy weight; it was synonymous with blood curses and dark rumours that seemed to endlessly circulate about the pure-blood lineage. Marriages within the family, intermingling their own blood, had produced whole generations tainted by inbreeding. Many students attributed the Gaunts' supposed insanity to this practice. Regrettably, there was truth to these whispers, particularly when it came to the circumstances surrounding Ominis' blindness.

Indeed, Ominis had inherited his blindness from generations of consanguinity. It was common knowledge; the gossip had begun circulating as early as his first year at Hogwarts. Despite his parents' efforts to seek out the best healers at his birth, their attempts were futile. Thus, the unfortunate boy remained sightless, forced to adapt to the world without vision. His family held him in contempt for this, viewing him as impure, a blemish; he became the family's disgrace.

When Sebastian and Anne first approached him in their first year, Ominis greeted them with initial caution. However, observing the twins' indifference towards his family background and their persistent efforts to include him, he gradually let his guard down and eventually embraced their mischief. Anne and Sebastian were pleasantly surprised to find that Ominis himself possessed a mischievous streak. Over the course of five years, his favourite pastime became convincing first-years, along with Anne, that they could glimpse mermaids through the window of the Slytherin common room. He put considerable effort into this charade, relishing the opportunity to deceive them. Additionally, he found pleasure in clandestine adventures with Sebastian, sneaking into forbidden areas.

However, in the summer of 1890, while staying with the Sallows and trying to escape his family, everything took a dramatic turn on the night Anne was cursed. From then on, nothing held any allure. His two closest friends seemed utterly subdued. Their mischievous spirit had vanished, and even the once-enjoyable pastime of fooling first-years with tales of mermaids had lost its appeal.

Following that tragic incident, Anne and Sebastian were never the same, and Ominis himself reverted to the melancholic boy he had always been. And Evan's arrival certainly didn't help matters...

Indeed, since Evan's arrival, Sebastian had undergone noticeable changes. Initially, Ominis harboured reservations about the new student due to his consistently superior and haughty demeanour, which Ominis found utterly distasteful. While he didn't harbour genuine animosity toward Evan at first, the blond boy observed with concern significant shift in his best friend's behaviour as the two boys grew closer. He was convinced that Evan was exerting a detrimental influence on Sebastian, a realization he struggled to accept.

All Omnis had ever wanted was to safeguard his dearest friend, nothing beyond that. Consequently... his friendship with Sebastian was on shaky ground, primarily due to Evan. Or at least, that's what Omnis perceived...

"Ominis... Ominis." a voice right beside him pulled him out of his thoughts.

The adolescent tilted his head slightly towards the voice beckoning him, seated at the Slytherin table within the Great Hall.