Chapter Text
[This starts a in the room of requirement, it's their seventh year. My hc is that mc invited his friends to use the room and is seldom there himself after year 5, Poppy looks after animals, Garreth has a place to experiment with his potions etc., just background in this case but perhaps I'll write more in this setting. I just want to see everyone being in a friend group since I still can't get over the lack of interaction between mc's friends.]
Ominis entered the room and walked straight to the sitting corner where he had left his book. He had spent the last longer breaks listening to the retellings of some adventure story that wasn’t all bad. But when he opened the book, he heard something slip from the cover. He felt with his hand over the floor until he got hold of an envelope. That was strange, who would leave a message here? There was only a handful of people who knew about the room. He opened the letter and cast the spell which would read out the words to him. It was such a routine spell to use, he had long since mastered to cast nonverbally. Thankfully the words he heard from the letter, were also not spoken out loud but rather directly transmitted to his head. He wasn’t alone in the room, Natty and Poppy were there to prepare something for the beasts and he couldn’t know if the message was confidential.
Hi
I just realised we won’t have any classes together till Monday, so I figured I’ll just write. I didn’t see you this week when I was working on my potions here. I hope this isn’t because of the small accident. You’ll notice the burnt smell is vanished by now!
Anyway, I’m going to Hogsmeade on Saturday and wondered if you might want to accompany me.
I know you probably have better things to do, but you mentioned you hadn’t been to Honeydukes in forever, and I must say that’s no way to live! Let me invite you to some sweets and tea or perhaps a butterbeer if you want (I know you don’t trust my own concoctions, YET).
You can meet me in the Great Hall after lunch. Or don’t, I totally understand if you don’t want to.
And I’ll be there anyway.
Garreth
Ominis chuckled. The spell made him aware that the last line had been crossed out, but only after he heard it. Garreth certainly had no need to act this insecure. That he wrote a letter at all instead of just asking him out directly, spoke volumes. Ominis had definitely not spent any less time in the room than in the weeks before. If one was avoiding the other it was Garreth who fled him lately.
But in a way he found it kind of endearing. In this way the Gryffindor didn’t quite live up to the reputation of his house. But he was brave in other ways, the daring combinations he stirred up in his cauldrons were an excellent example of this. He was also funny and charming and by the gossip he caught in the halls, wasn’t bad looking either. Garreth didn’t lack for admiring qualities and yet, lately he was acting as if he saw himself as a quiet little wallflower. Ominis hoped the trip to Hogsmeade would change that.
He had almost invited Garreth himself a week ago, but then decided against it, simply because he wanted to know when the other would gather the confidence to make the first step. A bit cruel perhaps, since he had known about Garreth’s crush on him before he himself was even interested. But he was definitely interested now, and he intended to make it up to him.
He searched his bag for his quill and some paper while he wondered how long the letter had been lying there, it was already Friday. He made the quill write a short confirmation and asked Natty to give it to her housemate later, probably the fastest way to get it to him before tomorrow.
The next morning, he made sure to finish his homework before lunch. He had a feeling, that if the afternoon would go well, he might not have so much time for it over the rest of the weekend.
When lunchtime came he was surprised by the flutter in his stomach, he didn’t have a reason to be nervous. But it wasn’t as if he couldn’t hide it well. He combed his hair one last time, straightened his clothes and stretched out his arms in a way to indicate he was ready.
“You look good Ominis.” Sebastian said.
Ominis smiled. “I know.”
He made his friend chuckle with his answer. “I fear you might make our little would-be potioneer faint if you go in there with that look and so much confidence. Might want to take it down a notch.”
Ominis grabbed at his tie, unsure whether it was too much, it wasn’t a school day after all. “Leave it.” Sebastian shoved his hands away and adjusted the tie for him. “It suits you.”
Ominis scowled. “Since when do you care so much about Weasley? I thought him fainting and hitting his head would be the greatest fun to you.”
“Oh, come on, I haven’t been that mean to him. And I know he is going to fuck this up sooner or later. And then I could be really mean to him.”
Ominis sighed in frustration. “Don’t you have somewhere to be? Surely there is some blood-curdling spell out there, you haven’t learnt yet or some enemy’s tears for you to drink. Or whatever it is you guys are doing out there nowadays.”
“Oh my dear Ominis, you have no idea how close and yet so far away you are. But you’re right in the regard that I have to get going now” He gave him a pat on the shoulder and already went to the door. “I wish you good luck with your date, have fun you two.”
Garreth kept his eyes to his plate, using his fork to poke the potatoes from one side to the other. Because if he lifted his head, he would very likely just stare at the Slytherin table again and it slowly but surely became a bit embarrassing.
When the students around him started to leave he dared to look up and noticed that Ominis had already had finished his plate. For a second he was afraid the message had been a joke and the other would just stand up and leave the hall together with his friends. But that was nonsense. So Garreth walked over to greet him.
It was easier than he had feared. He was still a bit nervous but Ominis made it surprisingly easy to be himself around him and so their walk to the village was quite pleasant.
They directly went to Honeydukes. Garreth knew his way around the shop very well and led Ominis directly to the specialties he wanted him to try. And there were a lot of those. He didn’t know many of them but some he recognized. The next thing Garreth held under his nose Ominis recognized instantly. “Fizzing Whizzbees. Nope. I like my feet on the ground where they belong.”
Garreth laughed and soon found something else for him. It smelled of nothing. “Those are Ice Mice. They are harmless.”
“You said that about the Acid Pops, too!”
“I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it, but it’s supposed to be a shock. And I did know the spell to heal your tongue!”
Ominis still frowned at him but he still held out his hand. “You won’t regret it.”
Ominis regretted it instantly. His mouth felt like he was chewing ice cubes, making his teeth clatter uncontrollably. But the worst part was the squeaking.
“Y-ou dir-t-y li-ttle-“ He wasn’t going to wait till it wore off and decided actions were better than words anyway. He aimed a rather halfhearted slap in the direction of the laughter but met only his shoulder.
“Okay, I get it. Next time I’ll describe what it does before I give it to you.”
Then he surprised Ominis by taking his hand and leading it to his cheek. “My face is here by the way, just in case you still think I deserve a little slap.”
Ominis felt the heat rising to his own face as his hand came into touch with the warm skin.
“Perhaps I won’t slap you for now.” Instead, he used the opportunity to feel the outlines of his face. He hadn’t moved his fingers much when he felt a broad grin forming in Garreth’s face. “What’s so funny?”
“I’m just glad you’ll finally discover what a lucky man you are, going out with such a beauty.”
Ominis snorted. “Oh, shut up. Or you’ll make me think I liked you more when you were shy.”
When he reached his hair, he was surprised by how much there was of it. And how soft it was. He would have been perfectly content to simply let his hands run through it again and again. Or slightly tug it to find out what kind of reaction that would get him. But he controlled himself and took his hand off him again.
He told Garreth it was enough to satisfy his curiosity for now and they continued to try themselves through some more enchanted candy and Garreth put those in a basket they found so good they wanted to take home.
When Ominis noticed Garreth stop and after a brief pause heard him drop something in the basket without comment it made him wonder why. After Garreth commented on what felt like the entire inventory of the store, this of course made him curious.
“And what are those?”
“Oh!” Garreth was surprised Ominis noticed, he kind of had hoped he wouldn’t.
“Basically, it’s just butterscotch candy, enchanted to leave a longer taste.” He tried his best to sound bored.
“Mmh.”
Garreth had only stopped for his favourites before, things that had impressive effects, things he would want him to try or at least give a vivid description to him. Ominis face probably gave away his slight disappointment, because Garreth abruptly continued.
The Gryffindor just couldn’t stop himself when he noticed the disappointment the face he had come to adore so much, he had to keep him interested and didn’t wait for his thoughts to catch up with his mouth. “They do have another side effect though!”
“Oh, so there is more to them? Will you let me try one or is the effect something unpleasant again?”
Garreth’s reaction once again took him by surprise. He let out a little gasp and instead of giving him an answer straight away, he hummed and hawed. His thoughts had caught up in the end, this was not a conversation he wanted to have in the middle of a store.
“Eh- it’s not exactly something you can read on the description. Just, if you know – you know.” Ominis scrunched his eyebrows, trying to figure out what was going on with this the other.
“So, will you let me in on that secret knowledge?” he said, feeling his curiosity but also his impatience growing with the way Garreth kept him waiting.
In that moment Garreth was very glad Ominis could not see his face. It had to be the colour of his jumper, as he leaned closer to Ominis and whispered in his ear:
“They are said to make your cum taste of caramel. Not like, only a bit sweeter. Just pure caramel.” Garreth took a step away from him, unsure how the other would react to this. He regretted putting them in the basket in the first place, what on earth made him do that, it was their first date. But to his surprise he caught the shortest glimpse of a grin on the otherwise collected, pale face.
Ominis only said “Ah, so I can try one then” in a dry voice and held out his hand, expectantly.
Garreth wanted to die then and there. He wished he could keep his countenance just half as good as the Slytherin. He managed to pick a piece from the tester bowl and dropped it into Ominis’ hand.
Then he turned right on his heel to flee towards another section. “There’s a new batch of cotton candy coming, it’s a literal tornado! We’ve got to go there!”
The tornado of course wasn’t that interesting to Ominis but he let Garreth have his fun watching it before they decided to sit down and have some tea. They found a nice spot at the far back of the counter where it wasn’t so noisy.
Ominis really enjoyed Garreth’s company, the whole trip had been fun this far and he probably let it show. This seemed to give the Gryffindor quite a confidence boost and made the conversation all the more exciting. He caught himself smiling as he noticed how the other boy slowly became even more comfortable around him. They switched between jokingly fooling around and more sincere questions and compliments. He learned that Garreth was not only interested in potions but also in herbology, which made sense of course, since that’s where most of his ingredients came from. It was still a bit surprising to hear the Gryffindor talk with such fascination about, well, flowers. It was pleasant to listen to his voice, but at the same time it was getting harder to concentrate on what he actually said, instead he caught himself letting his thoughts drift to other things he would like to hear from Garreth. Or do with him.
The sudden sound of fingernails on glass brought his attention back to the present.
“There’s a new sort of sugar quills here,” he had tipped his fingers against the glass, to let Ominis know the jar was directly in front of them. “I didn’t try these before, so I can’t tell if they’re good. Just letting you know they’re here.”
“Try one for me then,” he said firmly. Garreth had no objections and immediately reached for the candy.
“Oh, it seems to be just blueberry, I guess I expected something more interesting.” He kept licking the candy, not really knowing how else he should describe it. Meanwhile Ominis was completely drawn in by the little sounds he made. In the quiet corner they were in now, they stood out to him among the more distant noise. It sent tingles down his spine. He just couldn’t get those damned butterscotch drops off his mind. He inwardly scolded himself for having such a dirty mind.
Garreth knew it was stupid, but he felt like he was being watched.
“I’ll have you know it’s really nothing special. Perhaps there’s other berries in there as well, but like I said, mainly blueberry,” he said to break the silence.
“Well, you seem to enjoy it,” Ominis said and Garreth could swear he saw a hint of pink on his cheeks.
“Want to try it then?”, he asked in a mischievous tone. He tilted the candy in his direction, instantly regretting it as he remembered Ominis couldn’t see the gesture. But Ominis already leant over to reach for it, slightly opening his mouth. So Garreth put the candy to his lips, gulping as he saw Ominis slightly sticking out his tongue. It took him a moment until his brain could make sense of the situation. Why hadn’t he just handed him the damn thing! He couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it. But when he saw Ominis tongue gliding over the quill again in his hand he couldn’t look away fast enough. The pattern of his teacup suddenly had so many details he hadn’t seen before. The other view had made him feel all kinds of things. But most of all embarrassed, Godric’s heart, they were in a public place. Ominis seemed to come to the same realization and abruptly leaned back into his chair, he also tried to laugh it off.
“Yup, that was really boring. Or perhaps after all the sweet stuff we had I just can’t taste anything but sugar.” He talked unusually fast. Somehow it was a relief to Garreth, that he could become so flustered. He felt his assessment confirmed that Ominis was not as aloof as he liked to pretend. And he was looking forward to see even more sides of him.
The time had passed too quickly and they soon had to make their way back to the castle and then came the moment where they had to part ways for their respective dorms.
“Garreth, as you can probably tell, I really enjoyed this and-”
Garreth cut him off. “Do you want to meet again tomorrow?” He slowly stepped closer and added “I really want to spend the day with you.” And then he laid a hand to his face, not wanting to startle Ominis too much by directly doing what he wanted to do. What he had wanted to do for quite a while now.
Ominis could feel his face heating up at the sudden touch. He felt a second hand on the other side of his face now and his own automatically reached forward, wanting to touch him as well. His fingers found his chest.
“Of course I want to spent the day with you.” He was more nervous than he should be. This wasn’t his first kiss after all. But when he felt their lips connecting it might as well have been, because any memory of whatever came before was instantly pushed out of his head. It was so sweet, so tender, so unlike what he had known before. Garreth still cupped his face in his hands. And Ominis allowed himself to reach out with his other hand to feel his face again. He wanted to find out everything about the one who made him feel like this. It felt like he was in love for the first time, like he really had billywigs in his stomach, like it was too good to be true. But he was reminded of his need to breathe and he reluctantly parted from the kiss. One of Garreth’s hands had found its way to his hip now, still holding him close. His own hand wandered to Garreth’s hair again, enjoying how different it felt from his own and he soon turned to fondling his scalp.
“Do you want to find out if it’s already working? The candy?” He had a dirty grin on his face.
Garreth drew in his breath sharply and took a step back.
“Ominis! We’re in a hallway. And it’s almost curfew.”
“Coward.”
He closed the gap between them again and Garreth pressed his body against him, kissing him in a way that made Ominis think he at least considered sneaking off with him. The bulge he could feel through his pants now underlined that impression.
“Good night, Ominis.” And with that he was suddenly off him again and on his way to the Gryffindor rooms. Ominis was left with a hint of frustration. He hoped they would have some time to themselves tomorrow. With a bit more privacy than they had in Hogsmeade it would likely become an interesting day.