#I feel I should write more of them. ominis pov chapter coming up soon 🤠

[hazyange1s]

i’ll give you the stars (ominis gaunt x f!mc)

summary: mc (diana) goes home for a quiet christmas to escape the chaos of her sixth year. ominis, still estranged from his family, has come to spend the holiday with her — and brings a gift in the hopes of lifting her spirits and showing her a bit of light in the darkness.

tags: fluff, ambiguous relationship but they obviously are disgustingly in love, suggestive themes while still keeping it “chaste” a la the struggle of Victorian expectations, excessive prose, smooching, Christmas Eve magic, sweet gentleman ominis, cheesy nicknames, lots of astronomy references

word count: 2.7k

a/n: I wrote this over a year ago. like, wow. but I don’t talk about these two enough so here we are, unearthing a relic 😭 this is set during incendiary (so, um, very mild spoilers ig since we haven’t gotten to christmas yet there) and has some references, but it can be read alone 🖤

The crackling fire filling the marble hearth casted shadows onto the floral papered walls, outlining Diana's petite frame as she slid a gauzy nightgown over her head before fixing the dark hairs misplaced by its skirt. Sighing with relief, she sank onto the plush mattress of her four-poster bed at last.

It had been a long day — but it brought the kind of fatigue that came from a day well spent, its leisurely passage of time due not to monotony or stress, but a chest full to bursting with warmth and affection for the people she’d spent it with.

The hours of ice skating, cooking, and telling stories by the fire before finishing the last wrappings on everyone's gifts ensured she was more than ready to be welcomed into the comforting embrace of sleep. Christmas would come in the morning, and with it her Aunt Celeste’s annual Yuletide Feast. She’d need a good night’s rest if she was to properly prepare herself to navigate the whispers and expectations of Celeste’s pontifical friends (who were even more unbearable after several glasses of elderflower wine).

Diana began twirling a lock of inky black hair around a slim finger, gazing absentmindedly out the snow-frosted windows as the day's events replayed in her head:

The way the sunrise this morning (a sight she'd usually ache to paint) was dim compared to the brightness of her best friend's smile; a rare treat as of late. How good the Earl Grey tasted in her mother’s old china, somehow much better than what they served at Hogwarts. And, of course, the many, many times a chill had skittered down her spine any time Ominis brushed her hand 'accidentally' or touched her lower back whenever he walked by.

All of it so wonderful, so familiar, so...maddening in its mundane joy.

Merlin, but my hair has seen better days. Diana sighed, now employing both hands to untangle a stubborn knot that wouldn’t budge, forcing her to drag herself out of bed with a groan and plop down at the vanity by the window. The tug of the brush through the nest atop her scalp elicited a nose-scrunching wince.

It was at that moment that a knock jolted Diana from her reverie, ringing out in the quiet room where only the fireplace crackled. Who would possibly need her at this hour?

It had to be important. Perhaps even urgent.

This was precisely the thought that catalyzed her movement from the mirror to the door, abandoning her hairbrush in favor of snatching up her wand to light the darkened hallway as she flung the door open.

“What? What is it?”

Her visitor appeared just as alarmed by the unceremonious greeting. Ominis jumped at the sudden gust of air, shifting his weight and exhaling forcefully when he’d settled.

"Er..." he began, clearly expecting to have this initially go a bit differently. A hand reached up to scratch the back of his neck, head dipping towards the ground. "Apologies, I didn't intend to intrude."

"Ominis,” Diana breathed. Her immediate reaction to cover her scantily clad form was abandoned the moment she realized it was unnecessary. "No, um, you aren't intruding. I wasn't doing anything important."

It began to feel like every word she said around the man came out sounding entirely idiotic. Truly, it was a mercy Ominis's eyes were not privy to the blush staining her pale cheeks.

Despite it, the corner of Ominis's lips tugged up into a soft, genuine smile. "Not sleeping, I take it? Have you been up painting again?"

Sometimes it shocked Diana to realize how well he had come to know her in just a year of friendship. Everything from the basics such as her birthday and middle name to the most unscrupulous of quirks and habits seemed to be engrained in his mind — not to mention some of her deepest secrets, as well.

"Well, I was about to, but I suspect I'd have had a hard time falling asleep, anyway." Diana lamented with a shrug.

"May I come in?"

Ignoring the way her heart did a little skip, she stepped aside, letting him hear the creak of the door as she held it open. Ominis’s wand hung limply at side, pulsing a vibrant red as it guided him through the doorway and into the spacious warmth of her bedroom. He stopped in the center before deciding to take up residence in a seat by the hearth.

Diana extinguished her own wand after the light from his faded into nothing, leaving only the glow of the fire and a few stray candles to illuminate the tight angle of his jaw, the thin press of his mouth. Ominis started to fiddle with the sleeves of his loose white button-down when she took the seat across from him.

"Is something the matter?" Diana asked.

"No, no. Nothing’s wrong." Ominis replied in one breath. She didn't miss the way his silvery eyes softened at her obvious distress (a state he knew all too well). “I wanted to give you something...well, that is to say...I'd like to give you your Christmas present early, if that's alright."

Of course it was alright, but Diana had to wonder why it had to be now — when the clock in the corner had struck midnight minutes ago, and Sebastian had made them swear to wait until morning before opening any without him.

"Is it time-sensitive? Don't tell me it's a kitten; I've enough animals to care for as it is,” Diana laughed, eying one of said beloved creatures that was curled up on the bed. Saoirse’s whiskers gleamed in the moonlight spilling over the gray cat's sleeping form.

"Not exactly."

She could have sworn Ominis's cheeks were red now, too. But perhaps that was simply due to the flames. "I had just hoped to gift it to you in a more private setting."

Diana didn't think he meant anything untoward by his statement, but it made her breath stall anyway. She had been trying not to think about the logistics of their current circumstances as it was, and then he had to go and say something like that. It was a small conciliation being able to let her wandering eyes sweep over his angular shoulders, down the arms corded with veins to his slender piano player's fingers while she mused if only those fingers could play across her body the same way.

The vulgar tirade of her fantasies was abruptly halted by Ominis's cleared throat. She couldn't tell if it had been meant to puncture the silence that had settled between them in the midst of her stupor, or if it was to steady himself.

Refocusing her gaze, Diana watched him reach into a pocket to produce a square box lined with velvet in the deepest obsidian that let her imagination run rampant, despite her logical mind telling her it definitely was not what she initially assumed. The box was far too large, and his expression all too casual as Ominis reached out to hand it to her.

His little smile told her he knew exactly what she had been thinking. "I hope it isn't too much. Or too little. You don't need to accept it if you don't —“

"Oh, hush,” Diana chastised him affectionately. "I'm flattered you even thought of me, especially since…well, I know you’re still cut off. You shouldn’t have spent money on me.”

"Of course I thought of you. You're worth every effort, every galleon and then some." Ominis said with a shake of his head.

Money was no object to most members of the Gaunt family. Even after he'd publicly disowned the lot of them — save for his older sister Cordelia — part of his inheritance would be granted to him regardless the moment he turned seventeen in January. But for now, the only money Ominis possessed was whatever he had left in his Gringotts vault.

His fingers brushed hers, tentatively, seeking the center of her palm where he placed the box.

The air around them seemed to still. Everything else became background noise to the soft sounds of their breathing and his soft, “Go on,” as she forced herself to tear her eyes away from a smiling Ominis in order to lift the lid on the box.

Her sharp inhale pierced the blanket of quiet. Heart fluttering like a caged bird that had caught a glimpse of the open sky, Diana reverently lifted a silver necklace from the plush bed of silk it rested on. Its chain sparkled in the dim light, along with the deep cobalt stone in the center, cut into a flawless oval and set in the same pale metal. A closer look allowed her to notice the starburst veining through the ebony-flecked gem.

"Ominis..." her voice betrayed every ounce of her amazement as she slid a thumb over the stone's center. "It's — I don't think 'beautiful' even begins to cover it."

Diana's eyes flitted back up to his. He was leaning towards her in his chair, elbows resting on thighs and keeping one of her hands clasped between them. The distance was small enough that she could see the lines of near-white in his icy irises. They reminded her much of the webbing in the crystal, yet somehow infinitely more captivating than any jewel or constellation.

"I suppose that means you like it?" Ominis glowed.

"Like it?" Diana scoffed, unable to contain the bubbling gratitude and affection that filled her to the brim. Every word she summoned to her tongue seemed to fall short, all of them abandoned before they left her lips, so it was decided there’d be only one proper way to show her appreciation.

The already marginal space between them disappeared completely as the Ravenclaw flung her arms around his neck, enthusiastically pulling her startled Slytherin into a hasty kiss.

Ominis's gasp of surprise stole the breath from her own lungs, sending her into a free fall that hopefully ended with him catching her. There was the briefest second that her friend hesitated and she thought she would die of embarrassment.

Their first couple of kisses — too few and far between, in her opinion, but she was patient — had been different than this. More layers between them, for one, and more time to consider her moves carefully.

Mercifully, Ominis did not pull away. On the contrary; after the initial shock wore off his arms came up to cup her cheeks gently, fingers sliding through her loose hair as he returned the gesture with just as much fervor and meaning. Diana instantly became pliant beneath his touch. He still tasted of cinnamon and currant from the wine they’d all shared earlier…

Yet it wasn't the evening's indulgence that had her feeling a bit dizzy, it was the pillowy softness of Ominis's lips combined with his startling heat and devotion.

Though he was sharp-tongued enough to get by with a few clever words, he hadn’t needed to say a thing in that moment. Diana understood what each slight tug on her hair meant and that every slow drag of his bottom lip across hers was a silent question.

Before she could answer, Ominis pulled away, his voice tremulous as he asked, “Will you allow me to put it on for you?"

Diana had almost forgotten about the necklace she still had wound around her palm and yielded it to him with a dazed nod. “I mean, yes. By all means.”

Her body moved automatically up from the chair, pivoting to face the window as Ominis followed suit and came to stand just behind her. It would appear that breathing wasn't so much in the cards for her tonight, because each time she regained it, it was snatched from her chest — this time by the drag of his fingertips along the curve of her neck until they came to rest at its nape, deftly closing the clasp of the necklace beneath her hairline.

"Thank you,” She murmured, not quite ready to turn around and be within kissing distance once again. The brief moment they'd shared had been like an appetizer that only made her hungrier for a main course, and Diana feared she would scare him away if it was too much, too fast.

Patience, remember?

"It's my pleasure,” Ominis's voice held all the same thinly veiled tension as her own. His breath disturbed a few stray hairs atop her head as he leaned in closer, mouth just barely grazing her ear in the most-spine tingling way. He had to know what he was doing, and yet he acted as though he was none the wiser.

"I only..." his admission was broken by a longing sigh, thumbs rubbing circles into her shoulders until they, too, paused.

"Are you...in your nightgown?"

The modesty she'd dismissed at the door returned with full force. Diana's arms snaked around her waist, hugging herself protectively as if she could somehow hide the way the thin material became translucent in the light despite knowing he remained oblivious.

Besides, she'd never been able to hide from him in any sense of the word. He had always sensed her coming up behind him, known the moment she walked into a room as well as every thought and emotion and physical state as if he didn't need the luxury of eyesight to peer into her very soul.

"I was getting ready for bed, so yes,” Diana's giggle was almost giddy. "Perhaps I should have warned you. I just thought —“

"It wouldn't matter, because I can't see it?" Ominis finished helpfully, his tone filled with wry amusement. "But, darling, I can feel it."

To illustrate his point, those wretched hands began a journey over the hills of her shoulders, down the planes of her arms and stopped only when they found the curve of her waist.

"It's likely for the best. I doubt I’d ever look at anything else if I had the pleasure of seeing you like this, but knowing you're wearing my necklace, too… I would give my wand hand to take in that sight,” Ominis pressed a kiss that was laughably chaste — given its lingering duration — on the dip of her collarbone.

Diana found herself beholden to the inner voice that urged her backwards, her back fitting into the angles of his torso and head snug between his pectorals where his heart beat.

"But there's more to your gift than meets the unassisted eye."

Regrettably, Ominis removed his lips from her skin before pulling his wand from his pocket and holding it in the elegant way only he could seemingly master. "Lumos."

Diana’s head tipped back further, eyes wide in awe as the heavens themselves seemed to burst forth from the gem at her throat. Stars danced on the walls, nebulas of swirling violet and startling indigo and colors she didn't even quite have a name for painting the room like watercolor.

She could have sworn tiny glimmers of it played in the shadows of Ominis's starburst eyes, too.

"You're quiet,” He mused. "I can't tell if it's because you love it or hate it."

"What?!" Diana raised a hand reverently to her chest, palm over heart and fingers grazing the underside of the necklace. “Absolutely not. It’s wonderful. No — incredible. I don’t really think I know the right word to cover it, actually.”

"Amit helped, so I can't take all the credit,” Ominis chuckled. “But I’m glad you like it, Di. I only wish…”

His palm cradled her cheek, thumb ghosting over the constellation of freckles there with a reverence usually reserved for praying to deities or admiring great works of art. “…I wish I could give you more. You’ve been through so much lately, and you, of all people, deserve the bloody world.”

“What more could I possibly want?” Diana leaned into his touch, eyes fluttering shut as a deep sense of calm — a feeling she was granted so little of lately — settled over them like snow. “I have your heart, and that’s the best gift I could ever ask for.”