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The Undercroft was as it had always been, making it one of the few places within the castle that Willow still felt comfortable being in. Too many memories were held in other places, and the Undercroft felt just personal enough that she could still feel like herself within it. Every other place in Hogwarts felt like she was forced to be the protagonist, forced to be the main character in some story that she had no choice in being a part of.
But this was the place she had been introduced to by a friend, where she had vulnerable conversations with Ominis--where she had learned spells untaught by the curriculum.
At this particular moment, Willow had chosen to lounge on a dusty, long-forgotten couch with her feet propped up on the opposing arm rest. The nib of her quill was tucked between her teeth, the bad habit sometimes punishing her with a gush of leftover ink spilling over her lips.
The charms textbook for fifth year students was balanced on her lap, open to spell casting that mused about the details surrounding aparecium, revelio, and a few other spells that were useful in revealing those hidden. Willow couldn't help but glance over at her companion who was studying alongside her, currently tucked up into an armchair with his fingers exploring the pages of his own textbooks on herbology.
"Do the words just appear in your head?" She asked, "Is it magic?"
"No," Ominis shook his head, "It's braille."
"What's braille? Is that not a spell?"
"No," he said again, giving a short roll of the eyes with a hesitant smile, "It's small bumps on a page, it's how I read."
"What?" Willow ran her hands over the pages on her textbook, feeling no bumps or bruises. "Mine doesn't have any."
"Well, are you blind?" He snipped, standing and bringing the book over. "Here, feel."
Ominis ran his own fingers over the pages, and Willow followed as if he were her guide. Sure enough, small, gentle bumps were imprinted above every single letter in the book. Her eyes glittered as they roamed the page, feeling the patterns all across it.
"You get special books so that you can read?"
"How else am I supposed to be able to do my schoolwork?" Ominis neglected to go back to his chair, instead sitting at the base of the couch and leaning his back against it.
Willow couldn't help but glance back at her book before shutting it, biting her lip as she swung her legs down and sat up properly.
"How are you able to see, Ominis?"
"My wand," he answered simply. "You know this."
"But, is it constantly casting a revealing charm? How exactly does it do that?"
"I don't know," he shrugged, "My wand is sort of...sentient. It works to help me. Anyways, it's not like I can really see. I can only recognize people with their voice, or their hair."
"So are you able to... Do you know what I look like?"
"Well, sort of," Ominis tilted his head and pursed his lips in the funny way only he could do. "It's more like I can see your features. So very roughly, though."
"Is that how your wand sees me?"
"Sebastian would have made a tasteless joke at your saying that," he bristled, cheeks flushing slightly. "But yes, it's how my wand sees you. You know, so I don't bump into you."
"Basically, the only thing you really know about me is how long my hair is."
"Well, the only reason I know more about Sebastian is I've touched his face." Ominis said it like he was joking, but Willow knew a little better.
She stood, noticing the way Ominis flinched and looked up a little at the realization of her movement. Willow put herself across from Ominis, tucking her legs to the side as she sat to face him.
"So you just need to touch my face?"
Ominis' smile immediately dropped, now even his ears tinging a light pink. His fingers twitched at the suggestion, recoiling into fists as his fingernails dug into his palms.
"I mean," he was clearly struggling to come up with a response.
"I'm okay with it," she spoke softly, "I'm sure you want to know what one of your closest friends looks like, right?"
Willow hoped and prayed silently that Ominis' answer to that question was yes. She was answered by the boy shuffling inches at a time closer to her, just until their knees bumped into each other.
Ominis flinched at the unfamiliar touch, and it was only then that Willow wondered how many times the two friends had brushed against each other in the few years since they'd met.
The air in the Undercroft was still and quiet, only the rustling and ambiance of the sound on the outside barely making its way in. Willow felt her eyes widen and breathing become uneven as Ominis' hands slowly raised up.
His hands faltered, lips pursing as he struggled to navigate the open air upwards. She reached out slowly, fingertips colliding with his wrists as she gently guided his hands to her jaw.
Ominis' lips parted, almost like he wanted to say something, but a choked, scoffing noise escaped him as his cheeks grew ever warmer. Something bubbled up inside Willow's chest at the sight of him, at the feeling of his fingertips trembling along her skin.
Her eyes slid shut as she relished in the feeling of Ominis methodically exploring her features--fingertips trailing along her jaw and measuring her nose. She felt her own chest tighten as his thumbs brushed over her eyelids, hands framing her face.
His fingers slowed as Ominis came to her lips, almost as if he was telling himself he couldn't. Willow opened her eyes in concern, she had never seen his brow so furrowed, his eyes so fearful.
She reached up without thought, gently pulling his hand down until his pointer finger rested on her cupid's bow. Ominis' chest visibly heaved, his breathing labored yet quiet.
Still, even with this silent encouragement, Ominis did not allow his fingers to roam. His index slipped down into the middle of her lips, nearly sending him into shock as his entire body tensed up.
"Ominis," Willow quietly whispered, eyes crinkling slightly when she saw him flinch, "Do you not want to-"
"Say it again," he muttered, before clearing his throat, "Say my name again."
As if the previous few moments hadn't happened at all, Ominis repositioned both hands so that his fingertips rested gently on her lips.
"Ominis."
He let out the shakiest breath Willow had ever heard, his cheeks immediately flushing a bright red. Willow felt cold as his hands slowly fell to rest on his own lap, almost wishing he needed more references.
"What..." He began, voice faltering slightly, "What color are your eyes?"
"Green," she answered. "It's the only reason people know I'm not Garreth's sister."
Ominis gave her a chuckle at that, seeming to ease up a little. He shifted, readjusting his robes with a slightly uncomfortable expression on his features.
Out of habit, Willow glanced down to see a suspicious amount of fabric pooled over his waist. She felt her own cheeks flush at the shared sentiments implied between them, but had no idea how to approach the subject.
"Do I look how you imagined me?"
"You feel better," he quietly said, looking away. Willow tensed at the use of different words. She felt pretty to him.
"Don't be shy," she mumbled, "You're a looker as well."
"A looker, you say?" The corners of his mouth twitched upward, "Because I do a lot of that?"
"Piss off," she wrinkled her nose up at his poking.
For just a moment, she had been glad that the lingering awkwardness had subsided. But, Ominis glanced up. He couldn't see, but his silvery eyes had looked up at her like he could.
"Would it be terrible if I asked to feel you again?" He laced his fingers together, like he was punishing himself for even asking.
"It wouldn't," she replied simply. Willow leaned forward, deciding to have a little confidence as she rested a little of her weight on Ominis' knees. Her palms rested on the fabric of his trousers, and she let her eyes slide shut.
In mere seconds, his fingers found her neck, then her jaw... slowly trailing up around the sides of her face to her temples. Ominis traced her hairline and studied her cheekbones, fingertips brushing against her eyelashes as if he wanted to know the measurement of each one individually.
His thumbs eventually stilled at the corners of her mouth, and it took everything in her to not smile.
She allowed her eyelids to open just slightly at the sound of Ominis' robes rustling, when suddenly his lips were on hers. Soft, but firmly pressed. Willow's eyes fluttered shut and she breathed in through her nose deeply, mind hazy with the scent of his cologne.
Ominis pulled away almost as quickly as he'd leaned forward, hands leaving alongside him.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, almost sounding ashamed. "I'll leave, I'm sorry. I didn't-"
"Ominis," she murmured, still feeling the tingling aftereffects of his affection, "I liked it."
He stilled, and if Willow hadn't known he was a person, she would've assumed Ominis was just a lifelike statue. He broke from the stillness in an explosion, his hand immediately coming up to his forehead as his chest heaved as his breathing became uneven.
"You're driving me insane, here," he choked, head coming away from his forehead as he looked up--hand instead reaching down to loosen his tie.
"Likewise, Romeo," she poked.
Ominis breathed out a laugh, taking a quick breath in after. His eyes stayed trained somewhere else, like they usually were. Willow had never quite known why Ominis chose to keep his eyes away from others, and wondered why she wanted him to look at her without seeing her.
"Did you like it?" She finally broke the silence, shifting her own position against the stone floor.
"Yes," his mouth twisted, and his brow furrowed. Willow briefly felt hurt, did he not want to?
"Would it be a terrible thing for me to ask you to do it again?" She purposefully mimicked his previous question, hoping that the familiar phrasing would make him loosen up a little--would make him say yes.
"It wouldn't," he answered, playing along. Ominis' eyes darted over to her for just a moment before training themselves on something else.
Ominis leaned forward, hands reaching out to place themselves on the ground as his face neared Willow's, hand cupping her jaw as his only guidance. Willow was embarrassed to realize her eyes were trained on his, mesmerized in the way they darted this way and that--silver clouds glimmering within his irises.
This wasn't Willow's first time kissing someone, and she was sure it wasn't Ominis' either--but this felt different. It felt special. Tingles lingered all over her body, and Ominis' hand felt warm on her chin. While her previous kiss had felt so awkward, so misplaced, this kiss felt soft and gentle. As she had pictured when she was younger.
She could still remember the first time she really met Ominis, how angry he had been at the thought of her knowing about the Undercroft. How the years had changed them, fifth year Ominis would have turned red with anger at the thought of Willow snogging someone in the Undercroft. Let alone him.
"Willow," Ominis whispered under his breath between kisses, his hand trailing from her jaw to the middle of her chest to push her gently down. It was so smooth, she felt her heart stop within her chest violently before resuming its erratic rhythm once again.
The stone floor of the Undercroft was uncomfortable, and the musty rug underneath them only slightly hid that fact. Willow could feel her hair spread out on the carpet, the back of her head gently bumping into the floor as she looked up at Ominis.
He looked slightly worried, eyes still moving all over as he most likely struggled to find something to train them on. She'd never quite had the opportunity to stare at Ominis from this angle, obviously, but to see his face shrouded in shadow and flushed as much as it was--to see his tie loosened and his robes falling off his body and onto hers...
Willow felt the breath leave her lungs.
"Willow, I-" Ominis murmured, Willow hanging on to any sound that escaped him.
"Ominis, I have those books you needed from Hogsmeade- Oh! Wow, um..." Sebastian paused in the middle of the Undercroft, face pained and books awkwardly clutched in his arms. "I am...interrupting something."
"Sebastian!" Willow sputtered, sitting up and only succeeding in bringing her and Ominis closer. "We, um...We were studying..."
"Studying what? Anatomy?" Sebastian let out an exasperated sigh, turning away. "I'm just gonna...leave these on your bed, Ominis. I'm sure I might see the both of you there later."
The sound of Sebastian leaving through the iron gate at the entrance to the Undercroft creaked and groaned as his footsteps dwindled. Ominis was still hovering over top of Willow, body tensed and frozen.
"Ominis?" She asked quietly, "Could you, um...move?"
"Yes," he whispered quickly, "Sorry, I- Well, I wasn't really prepared for...someone to come in."
"Neither was I!" Willow scooted backward, effectively separating the two of them back into their own personal spaces. "Do you think he's upset?"
"Most likely," Ominis bit his lip, eyes trained on the ground.
Willow pursed her lips, eyes glancing over in the direction of the exit before returning to Ominis. The silence that had surrounded the two during their study had once again returned, this time with tension that a knife would struggle to slice through. Ominis continued to stare wordlessly at the ground, fingers lacing themselves together as Willow quickly combed her fingers through her now tousled hair.
"Well," she sighed, looking over at him, "What now?"
"I don't know," he shook his head, "But we definitely can't go back to normal. Not now."