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jazlynriddle · 1 month ago

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Welcome to your life - Pt 3:

It's My Own Design Ch 3:

Summary:

Ominis fought to control his expression, to keep his hands from trembling. Five years. Five years since he'd seen his parents, and this. This was the reason they'd given him the honour of their time? This was the reason they'd sought him out at Hogwarts?

The bitterness welling up within him was thick enough to gag on.

New year, new allies, new responsibilities, new avenues of revenue, and new aspects of their own Ancient Magic to explore. As the Keeper and their partners enter their last year at Hogwarts, it remains to be seen if the new school year will bring with it new problems or adversaries, but they are confident in the strength of their relationship with Sebastian and Ominis. The three of them would endure, no matter what befell them.

And if they were wrong?

What a joke, they would suffer no alternative.

Warnings: Sebastian x MC x Ominis! Drug Addiction! Spoilers! Slow-burn corruption! Dark content! Fucked up 1800s orphanages! MC has no love for Anne or Solomon! Dubious happy ending (it's happy for MC, Seb and Ominis at least).

You can also read on AO3! (chapter specific warnings below)

Notes:

Warnings: Torture! Human experimentation! All that fun stuff x3

My god, the last two weeks have been awful, I've been so busy that I almost couldn't finish this chapter in time- I am so tired OTL

“Rise and shine, toff.”

A jet of cold water hit his face and Macnair shot upright on his cot with a gasp, shaking the water from his head frantically. His eyes darted about, searching for the source of his jarring awakening, and quickly spotting the Keeper standing next to him in his cell.

He recoiled in fear, pressing his back against the wall while wiping the water from his face with a hand, the one that still had fingers that is.

“Had a nice sleep?” The Keeper asked pleasantly, their good-natured tone only serving to heighten his terror.

“Wha- what do you... want?” His stammer only made their smile widen into a sharp grin.

“Wouldn't you like to know.” They chuckled, reaching forward to grab him by his grubby collar and drag him bodily in the direction of the wall.

Naturally, he immediately panicked and began struggling, grabbing their arm, and digging his heels into the cot's mattress, his breath wheezing sharply through his teeth.

“I take it you'd like to lose more fingers?” The Keeper asked flatly, levelling him with a cold gaze.

Macnair flinched and dutifully ceased his futile resistance, though he still dragged his feet reluctantly and, with some impatience, the Keeper pushed him up against the wall, where the manacles automatically clamped around his wrists and ankles the moment that they were within range.

“Pl- please-” The shaky words fell from his trembling lips repeatedly, almost like a mantra, as though his fear had robbed him of the ability to control his mouth.

The Keeper snorted, they hadn't even done that much to him. Wimp. They took a few steps to the side and set a box down on the cot, opening it to reveal an array of needles of varying sizes arranged neatly in little pockets. As they considered their options, the sound of footsteps approaching caught their attention, and they looked up as Sebastian entered the cell.

“Oh, good. I'm not too late.” Sebastian quipped, closing the door behind him.

“Just in time actually.” The Keeper chuckled as they continued to consider which needle size would be best to start with.

“Thank goodness, I hate missing violence.” Sebastian grinned, throwing Macnair a sly glance as he rolled up his sleeves.

Ignoring the renewed panicked wheezing that Macnair released at the sight of Sebastian, the Keeper snorted absently, before asking. “Don't we all. So, how'd the trap check go?”

“Pretty well, the traps caught enough Red Deer and Ibex to last us another week. Might be good to get some fishing in too if we can, since we ended up using more than expected last week.” Sebastian stood beside Macnair, patting him on the cheek tauntingly. “You should be grateful that we're feeding you, you bloody wanker.”

“Oh, but he's not bloody. Yet.” The Keeper grinned as they collected a few needles from the box and turned to face the boys, hearing Macnair let out a whimper as they spoke. “But that's good to hear, the less we have to buy, the better.”

Sebastian nodded, before asking in turn. “How'd the brewing go?”

“Smoothly, we have plenty of wiggenweld and other potions to sell now. And after today's instruction, Tibsy should have no trouble providing Ominis with visual aid during potion brewing for the foreseeable future.” The Keeper's expression was quite satisfied as they came to stand before Macnair, raising the needles with a playful grin. “Now, shall we?”

“After you.” Sebastian waved a hand towards Macnair with a wave and a slight bow of the head.

Without any further preamble, or warning, the Keeper adjusted their grip on a single long needle and stabbed it into Macnair’s side, wedging it between his ribs and drawing a startled squeal of pain from the boy.

Sebastian snickered. “Well I'll be, Macnair, you sound exactly like the pig you are.”

“W- why-” Macnair whimpered, looking down at the piece of metal lodged in his torso, every breath pulling on the sensitive skin around the needle and tugging against his flesh.

The Keeper drew their wand nonchalantly and, ignoring his flinch, held their wand over the boy while tapping into their Ancient magic. They weren't really sure how to do this, without Isidora’s guidance, but they knew that Ancient magic was involved. So, they pulled that magic to the tip of their wand and closed their eyes, recalling the feeling of the pain energy they'd become so familiar with over the last year and trying to hold that sensation in their mind.

For a few frustrating moments, there was nothing. Then the Keeper felt something, a slight hum along their wand, as though something were pushing against the thin and misty funnel of Ancient magic that was fanning out from its tip. They shifted the wand, feeling the pressure lessen when they withdrew and increase as they pressed close. What was this? It didn't feel like pain energy.

They opened their eyes, frowning as Macnair blubbered and sobbed.

“Shut up, you're distracting them.” Sebastian scolded, flicking the needle as punishment and getting another high-pitched whimper in response.

As he did so, the Keeper felt something zing through their wand and dance along the tips of their fingers, and then it was gone.

With a hum, they flicked the needle themselves this time, but nothing happened. Well, besides a strangled gasp from Macnair, but that wasn't important.

With a nod to themselves, the Keeper offered the remaining needles to Sebastian. “Here, you can do the rest.”

“Really?” Sebastian asked with some surprise.

“Yes, I want to see if I can find that feeling again.” The Keeper explained as they readied their wand, focusing again.

“Alright then.” Sebastian grinned, rolling the needles in his fingers, and looking over Macnair speculatively.

Closing their eyes again, the Keeper moved their wand over the curious pressure radiating from Macnair’s body, when a shriek of pain rang out. At the same time, they felt the pressure almost... ripple, like the surface of water when a pebble was thrown into it. It was that feeling again, rippling over the pressure against their wand and zinging up along it, and they realised.

This pressure was Macnair’s magical, or possibly life, energy. An ephemeral aura radiating from his body.

“Flick it.” The Keeper instructed Sebastian, their eyes remaining closed as they did so.

A moment later, there was another whimper and the ripple happened again. The synchronisation of the ripples and pain inflicted was too consistent to be a coincidence, this had to be the energy that they were looking for. The Keeper grinned with excitement, shifting their wand towards the source of the ripple, pushing out more of their own Ancient magic to get a clearer feel for the shape of Macnair’s aura. Their wand almost acted like a candle, illuminating a small area of his aura as they moved.

“Again.” The Keeper murmured, focusing harder, and the ripple occurred once more, but with much less intensity than before.

Did the physical pain lessen, even though he was clearly still hurt? Did he become numb? Or was it the impact, that it made on his psyche, that was lessened, due to already being injured for a while, like some sort of coping mechanism?

“Again.” They instructed, frowning as they continued to move their wand, struggling to pick up the slightest change.

“Again.” The signal was stronger now, strange.

“Again.” Weaker this time, like before.

While it was difficult to detect the ripples, it helped that the length of their wand and its fulcrum effect, were amplifying the weak pressure against the tip of their wand into a stronger movement against their fingers.

“Again.” Blast, they weren't sure which direction that had been from.

The ripples almost felt like they were bouncing off a wall, distorting the direction from which it was emanating. Were the ripples hitting the edges of his body?

“Again.” Oh, it was this side...

“Again.” Getting closer...

“Almost..."

There.

The Keeper's breath caught as the faint, barely perceptible ripples began vibrating in a ring around the tip of their wand, indicating that they had found its source, and they opened their eyes, already knowing what they'd see.

A victorious grin stretched across their face. Bullseye. Their wand trembled as it hovered over the needle embedded in Macnair’s right underarm, buried in the soft and sensitive pit under his outstretched arm. Well, that explained the ripples lasting longer, that looked painful.

“Love, are you alright?” Sebastian's worried voice shook them from their reverie.

“Huh?” The Keeper blinked at him unintelligently, wondering what he was on about, when he reached over to brush his hand over their forehead, surprising them when it came away shiny with moisture.

“You're sweating all over, maybe we should take a break.” Sebastian frowned, taking a handkerchief from his pocket, and dabbing at their face.

That was about the time when the Keeper noticed that their breathing was laboured and their grip on their wand was shaky. Perhaps from the constant stream of Ancient magic that they had been using, or perhaps from being so focused for... how long have we been doing this-

“I- ...yeah. I guess that took more out of me than I expected.” The Keeper nodded absently, straightening, and taking a step back, wavering in place unsteadily enough for Sebastian to wrap an arm around their shoulders in alarm. “How long...“

“Oh, you don't say.” Sebastian rolled his eyes as he ushered them over to a wall to lean against. “You've been at this for a little over two hours now.”

“Huh. Didn't feel that long.” The Keeper murmured, giving Macnair an unimpressed stare as Sebastian went back to the boy. Only two needles and already he was hyperventilating.

Granted they were pretty long needles, so breathing was probably awful for him right about now. Perhaps their theory that a duration of recovery time between each instance of pain, made pain worse, or hit harder at least, was correct.

“We really should get a gag.” The Keeper rolled their eyes when Macnair thrashed in pain, the fingers of his hand spasming erratically as Sebastian pulled the needle from his side. Making a point of removing it slowly and at an angle so the tip scraped along his insides, before adding the used needle to the unused needles in Sebastian's right hand.

“I'll tell Tynx to add it to his grocery list. Oh, hold still you fuckin-” Sebastian growled as he shook the boy's fingers off his right hand while trying to get a grip on the needle lodged in Macnair’s armpit.

“Were you only flicking the needle?” The Keeper asked curiously, noting that the skin around the remaining needle's entry point was inflamed, stretched and extremely bloody, compared to the first needle.

...wait. Was that two needles under Macnair’s arm?

“Did it make a difference?” Sebastian's eyes lit up and he spun around to face them with an excited expression, holding up the two bloody needles in his left hand. “I shook it up after the first flick. Went to rotating it, and then wiggling it, and then I noticed him drifting off, so I stabbed another in and stirred and..."

The Keeper smiled fondly as he enthusiastically described the different means with which he'd increased the impact of that one injury, Sebastian could be so cute sometimes. Well, it seemed like varying the type of stimulus also increased the impact of pain, interesting.

“Very clever, and yes, it certainly helped, made it much easier for me to trace his pain to its source.” The Keeper nodded approvingly.

Sebastian's initiative was always such a boon to them. He wasn't simply standing around getting bored when they were taking the helm, he was using his brain and actively trying to help, and that made him a wonderful partner in any endeavour.

That or he was just having fun.

“Well, I'm glad to have been of service.” Sebastian bowed with a flourish.

“Perhaps with more practice, I'll be able to do so faster and with less effort... then I can try to extract it.” The Keeper nodded to themselves absently. “We're making progress.”

“Think you're still up for tonight's Occlumency lesson?” Sebastian asked with some concern.

“Of course, I'm sure I'll feel better after a proper bath and some food.” The Keeper waved a hand dismissively.

“If you say so.” Sebastian flashed them a wry smile, turning back to Macnair and dropping him from the shackles. “Don't expect me to come to your rescue if Ominis decides that you're pushing yourself and didn’t tell him.”

The Keeper chuckled as Sebastian dropped the needles back into the box, before picking it up and carrying it over to them. All while Macnair lay in a fetal position on the floor against the wall. They considered dragging his arse to the bed, but decided that they couldn't be bothered, they'd just send Tynx to feed him a wiggenweld later, like last time and have the elf sanitise the needles as well.

Taking the box and pushing off the wall, the Keeper was relieved to find that their strength had returned somewhat. “Come on, let's get going then.”

“Bye piggy.” Sebastian beamed down at Macnair, stepping on the boy's curled up back on his way out and following after the Keeper at a relaxed gait.

As the door sealed shut behind the two, Macnair ground his teeth. Such disgrace, he'd never had any illusion that he was smarter or stronger than his older siblings or even his peers, but the sheer level of disregard his captors were giving him was almost more offensive than the torturous pain that they were putting him through.

Merlin, the pain. His parents had never been afraid of belting him, but that didn’t even come close to the agony that he was experiencing in this disgusting cell. He still wanted the mudblood dead, sure, but if he'd known how sadistic and cruel they and their fucking mutt Sallow were, he probably wouldn't have picked a fight with them.

He groaned in pain as he moved stiffly, going to push himself up with his right hand, only to remember for the nth time that his fingers were gone. That damn mudblood, he shifted his weight carefully, his right shoulder burning with agony after Sallow played around in it, he didn't even want to know how the wound looked.

It had hurt his pride terribly to blubber like a coward, especially because of how easy it had been to do so, but it'd had to be done. Those two would come to regret underestimating him. This he swore as he tightened his left hand around a long, thin...

...needle.

“Thank you for your help, Tibsy.” Ominis smiled as he flicked his wand, vanishing the remains of the last potion inside the cauldron, while the elf busied herself with cleaning the potions station.

“Tibsy is happy to be being of helps to Sir Ominis!” The small elf beamed brightly as she tidied up, snapping her fingers to send the remaining ingredients floating back into the cabinet. “Sir Ominis can leave cleaning to Tibsy!”

“Alright, I'll leave this in your capable hands.” Ominis nodded as he folded his apron and set it down on the table. It really was nice to have such a cheerful and pleasant servant. He liked Tynx well enough, but the older elf reminded him too much of the jaded and cold elves in his ho- his parent's home.

He was feeling quite cheerful as he left the barely furnished Potions Lab on the second basement level. The floor was still barely developed, bare bricks lining the ground and walls, but the room he, the Keeper and Tibsy had been working in, was at least furnished with two cabinets and a potions station. They'd given it priority since potion making was a rather substantial necessity.

Taking a right turn and heading up the steps to the first basement level, Ominis idly considered that it might be good to get in some strength training this holiday. While most wizards and witches didn't bother with physical strength, and Hogwarts’ Grand Staircase was considered as sufficient exercise by most students, he'd started to feel a little inferior in that aspect, next to his lovers.

As he made his way past the staircase leading to the Dungeons, Ominis shivered in discomfort. The Keeper had left several minutes ago, and he could only imagine what they were doing with Macnair or Selwyn right now.

Nope, he didn't need to imagine it, nor did he want to, Ominis shook his head and continued, quickly climbing the stairs to leave the basement altogether. He'd made a few visits into the Dungeons to heal Selwyn, but he'd avoided spending too much time down there if he could help it.

Emerging from under the tent flap, he made his way across the sanded floor that made up the foundation of what would become their home. Ducking under some crossbeams and stepping around a few crates, he carefully descended the short flight of stairs down to the courtyard's cobblestone path.

Ominis sighed, following the cobblestone path towards the greenhouses absently. It was nice that the Keeper had had time to spend brewing potions with him this morning, they and Sebastian had spent most of their first holiday week running themselves ragged with Tynx and Tibsy on the castle. Preparing the bricks and layering them into the various measured rooms in advance, before letting them sit for the next two weeks or so, to cure and dry.

It had been quite a novel idea to Ominis when he'd heard it, creating the rooms in advance, so that when all of them were dry, they could simply levitate the ready-made rooms into place, quite like that of a dollhouse. This allowed them to work on the various rooms without endangering their lives by working at an elevated height. It did touch him that they'd gone to such lengths to satisfy him when he'd expressed concern, Sebastian's mind was truly a brilliant thing when he put it to good use.

Now that the two were done with the walls and were leaving them to dry, perhaps his lovers would have more time to spend with him.

Ominis felt his cheeks warm at the thought, it- it wasn't like he was some dainty lady wanting attention from his working partners. He'd been working too, tending the greenhouses, and helping Tibsy with thinning out the courtyard's dominant grass species and seeding the clover to grow in its place. He'd offered to help with the construction, and it’d been the other two who'd insisted that he would hate working in the summer heat and that the two of them were enough.

He wondered if they didn't think him strong enough for more physically strenuous work...

Shaking his head, Ominis slipped into the greenhouse, his partners weren't like that. There were a great many people who'd looked down on him, who'd thought him incapable just because he couldn't see, but there was a difference between consideration and condescension. His lovers simply didn't want Ominis to exert himself or put himself through physical discomfort… right?

“Speaker!”

“Speaker's here!”

Ominis smiled softly, he was really getting used to this, each day the girls were always excited to see him, and it warmed his heart every single time without fail. He hadn't imagined that he would come to love them so deeply, the twins weren't extremely intelligent, but they were the sweetest creatures he'd ever known.

“Hello, little ones.” Ominis greeted, his feet effortlessly carrying him over to their basin.

To his surprise however, as he neared the nest, Mira let out an alarmed hiss. “Eww- Speaker smells bad!”

“Why does Speaker smell like that?” Kira echoed, shaking her head as though to dispel the stench from her snout.

Ominis blinked for a moment, before laughing sheepishly. “Ah, I apologise, my dears. I was brewing potions. I suppose the fumes must be irritating to your sensitive little noses.”

“Not little!” Mira protested, while Kira hissed curiously. “Potionssss?”

“You needn't concern yourselves, it'll dissipate in time.” Ominis shook his head, staying a few steps away to spare the girls their sensitive olfactory.

“Speaaakeeeeer.” Mira whined. “Can we go outside?”

“Yes, we're bored!” Kira agreed, bobbing her head excitedly. “We want to go out!”

Ominis frowned. “It's dangerous outside, there are many creatures that could harm the two of you.”

The girls thumped their tail on the rock that they were lounging upon, and Mira hissed irritably. “Speaker brought us out to the loud falling water, why can't we go out again?”

Ominis paused, that's right, they'd brought the girls with them to the picnic at the waterfall, but that had been when the twins were still small, clumsy, and easy to hold in a hand. Not to mention, the girls had also been wary of the fact that they were a tiny snake in a big world. Now, however, the last few months of care had given the twin snakes a great increase in length, they were almost as long as his arm and half as thick as his wrist. What if they decided that they no longer needed his protection and swam or slithered away?

He frowned at the thought, was that what he was afraid of? That the girls would leave him? Yet... right now, despite having grown larger, the girls could still barely coordinate themselves enough to move in a straight line. That was probably more concerning than his fears, if the girls were ever separated from him, with or against their will, if they couldn't fend for themselves even in the slightest... couldn't even flee an attacker...

“Alright. We can go down to the lake today.” Ominis nodded, their ability to survive came first and he forcefully tucked away his fear of being abandoned, of being left behind.

“Yes!” The twins hissed in unison.

“Tynx.” Ominis called out, and after a moment, the elf popped into being just a few steps away from him.

“Yes, Sir Ominis?” The house elf bowed his head respectfully, even though he knew Ominis couldn't see him.

“Please help me inform my lovers when they are finished in the Dungeons, that they can find us down at the lake on the bank closest to Dìon.” Ominis instructed as he began to undo the top button of his cream toned button-down.

Tynx nodded, before asking politely. “Yes sir, is there anything else you need?”

“Nothing else, thank you. You may go.” Ominis shook his head and the elf popped away promptly.

Certainly not one for pleasantries, that elf. Then again, he supposed that wasn't very different from the Keeper themselves, Ominis mused as he shrugged off his shirt. It wasn't like there was anyone to see him in the entire territory, and he didn't want to distress the girls with the offensive smells clinging to his clothing.

“Come then, little ones.” Ominis smiled, offering his hand to the girls, and feeling them eagerly coil upwards along his arm before draping themselves over his shoulders comfortably.

“Speaker still smells bad...” Mira whined, and Kira hissed quietly in reprimand at her. “Quiet, Speaker might change his mind.”

Ominis chuckled, making his way towards the exit, and holding back a sigh as he pushed the door open. It was going to be quite a long walk. At least he could take a dip in the lake to wash off the smells and sweat some when they got there.

By the time Ominis arrived at the lakeside, the sun was already starting to dip towards the east and a quick tempus informed him that it was just past four in the afternoon. At least the walk had been a mostly comfortable downhill descent, in the presence of pleasant company, and he wasn't feeling very tired as a result.

Dodging the Keeper and Sebastian's traps had also been fairly effortless, since Ominis’ wand sight could easily reveal them and he'd long since been briefed on what types of traps littered their territory. Making it a simple matter of avoiding the bear traps, pitfalls, and spikes. He tried not to think too hard about how it'd feel to actually fall into one of them.

The gentle sound of flowing water rippling against the lakeshore was soothing to his ears and he found himself instinctively relaxing at the serene atmosphere as he neared the lake, the inane chatter of the twin snakes in his ears. Scanning the pebble lined bank with his magic, he quickly found a portion of the shallow water that was suitable for his purposes.

Pausing to tug his shoes and socks off, Ominis tucked the small cloth neatly into his shoes, before removing his pants and draping it over the branch of a nearby tree. Left in his undergarments, he made his way over to the shoreline, enjoying the cool water lapping at his bare feet, as well as the soft and fine sand between his toes.

Standing beside the spot he'd chosen, Ominis made a sweeping motion with his wand, easily targeting several small rocks scattered about the sand before sending his magic out to all of them with a flick. “Wingardium leviosa!”

All as one, the rocks were lifted from their resting places and swirled through the air in a long trail, following the swish of his wand, before coming to rest in a wide circle at his feet. The rocks lined up neatly, forming a wall that cordoned off a shallow pool of water a few metres wide and he carefully scrutinised it for any gaps in the barrier, adjusting some of the rocks’ positions until he was satisfied.

Next, he turned his focus to the lake, scanning it with his wand sight, until he found several small fishes swimming by in a school.

Once more, he targeted these little bodies of fish with his magic easily, undeterred by the speed of their movements as he plucked them from the water like an expert archer, one after the other. “Accio! ...accio. Accio!”

One, two, three, in no time, the small pond he'd isolated had now three little fish swimming frantically within its borders. Pleased with his results, Ominis ran his fingers gently along the twins’ scales and knelt beside the pool, lowering an arm down into the water. “Now, little ones, I will teach you how to swim and hunt together.”

“Food!” Mira exclaimed excitedly, immediately extending her neck towards the pool, and coiling down towards it along his arm.

Unfortunately however, Kira didn't seem to have gotten the memo and was dragged along, only for her hesitation to disrupt their coiling body and send the twins flailing into the pool. Ominis smiled wryly, sighing as he listened to them thrash for a moment before righting themselves in the pool and immediately begin hissing at each other angrily.

“Girls...” Ominis shook his head when they ignored him, sighing again before reaching out a hand to flick them on the tail.

“Ow, Speakeeeeer!” Mira whined, while Kira pulled their tail closer defensively. “Speaker, Mira's being stupid!”

“I'm not stupid! You're stupid!” Mira snapped back at her twin.

“Girls. Food.” Ominis reminded, and as expected, the girls abruptly forgot their argument.

“Food? Food!” The two hissed in unison and shot towards the closest fish.

“Hang on.” Ominis shook his head, grabbing them by the tail before they got very far. “First, the two of you need to learn coordination.”

“Coor-?” Mira echoed, while Kira hissed insistently. “But the food will get away!”

“No, they won't. The food are trapped in here with the two of you, but if you want to catch them, you'll need to work together.” Ominis explained patiently. “I know neither of you chose to be together, but you have to learn to live with it.”

“...fine.” Mira hissed and Kira grumbled for a moment before conceding. “Fine, even if she is stupid.”

“Good.” Ominis continued quickly before the spat could resume, standing and planting his feet in a commanding stance. “Now, the two of you struggle with moving because each of you controls a section of your body. So, you'll need to take turns moving the part of your body that you control, in order to move in a straight line.”

“When I say your name, I want the one I name to constrict and the other to relax, alright?” Ominis folded his arms, waiting for the girls to hiss their confirmations. “Then, let's begin.”

“Mira!” Ominis hissed, and she tightened her segments while Kira relaxed, causing them to wiggle to the left.

“Kira!” Ominis hissed, and she tightened her segments while Mira relaxed, causing them to wiggle to the right.

Their first lap across the pool was closer to a bolt of lopsided lightning than a straight line. With Mira or Kira struggling to regulate the force, with which each constricted, parallel to the other's, to avoid swerving too much in one direction. Naturally, that came with a slew of arguments on the nature of the other's intelligence.

This continued for a little under an hour, the twin snakes taking turns to tighten and loosen, until finally...

“Speeeeeed!” Mira squealed excitedly as the twins shot forward through the water.

“Turn coming up, Kira! And Kira again!” Ominis called out, watching with his wand as the girls cut through the shallow pool with their powerful muscles, taking a sharp right turn before the rock wall. His heart swelled with pride, the girls were growing up. “Mira!”

“Yessss!” Mira hissed excitedly and Ominis smiled in amusement, she was so chatty when swimming, Kira in contrast was silent in sharp focus. He could already tell that Mira would want to shot call when they began to practice moving on their own, without his direction.

After a few moments, the girls came to a stop in front of Ominis, raising their necks proudly as he stooped to kneel before them again.

“Did you see Speaker!?” Mira asked eagerly while Kira nuzzled against Ominis’ outstretched fingers.

“Yes, I saw.” Ominis replied with a soft smile.

“Really? You're not just saying it?” Mira asked and he chuckled, the girls always seemed rather sceptical that he could ‘see’ despite being blind.

“I'm not lying, I told you two to turn at the wall, didn't I?” Ominis answered gently. “Now, we can move on to the next step.”

“Food!” Kira hissed excitedly.

“Yes, next you'll practice attacking. As the two of you move, only one of you will be facing forward at a time. So, whomever is within range can bite, let go, and then the other can bite as well.” Ominis instructed, this way, the girls would be able to deal consecutive attacks in rapid succession. “Ready?”

“Ready!” The girls hissed in unison as they turned to face the closest fish.

“Kira! Mira! Kira! Mira!”

With a flash of sharp teeth came a bloom of red spreading through the water.

“Oh, there he is!” Sebastian removed a hand from around the Keeper's waist and pointed towards the ground.

Following his gesture with their eyes, the Keeper nodded and adjusted the grip of their ankles against Sepulchria's sides, urging the thestral flying over the plains to descend in the direction of the lakeside. With a gruff neigh, the powerful mount's wings spread wide, catching the blanket of air, and slowing its descent as her hooves clopped upon the sand.

Trotting for a few metres, the thestral came to a slow stop a few steps away from Ominis as the sound of hisses drifted through the air. The Keeper couldn’t help but shiver as those hisses reached their ears, making Sebastian snicker, and they huffed, rolling their eyes as he dropped down from Sepulchria's back.

As he did so, the hisses faded, and Ominis turned to grace the Keeper and Sebastian with a soft smile. The late afternoon sun reflected off the water's surface, providing a glimmering backdrop to Ominis’ slender figure as he stood in the shallow water in his undergarments. At the ethereal sight, Sebastian was struck with the familiar urge to embrace his lover once more.

“Why, hello there, fancy meeting the two of you here.” Ominis greeted coyly with a playful smile.

“Ominis!” Sebastian beamed, splashing through the shallow water, opening his arms wide and throwing himself towards the blond, who promptly sidestepped without the slightest change in expression.

“Wah!” Sebastian yelped as he fell forwards and face first into the lake. Flailing for a moment, Sebastian eventually got his hands under himself and pushed his head back up, over the surface of the water. He spluttered and coughed a few times, before turning around to sit in the knee-high water with a whine. “Omiiii, what'd you do that for?”

“You stink of blood, Sebastian.” Ominis tipped his chin up, wrinkling his nose in distaste.

“Pffffbbt.” Sebastian blew a breath through his lips sulkily.

“You can have a hug after you've cleaned off a tad.” Ominis waved a hand dismissively.

“Does that apply to me as well, love?” The Keeper chuckled as they strolled over, having tossed their clothing over a nearby tree branch while Sebastian was fussing.

“Of course.” Ominis raised an eyebrow warily as the Keeper approached, though he relaxed when they made no move to embrace him, instead merely leaning forward to place a kiss on his cheek as they held their hands behind their back.

“Give me a moment then.” The Keeper grinned, taking a few steps to the side, and stooping beside Sebastian to splash the water on their arms, washing even the smallest traces of blood from their skin and hair.

With a sigh, Sebastian dunked his head back into the water, to actually wash himself this time. Grumbling to himself, he shook his shirt out in the water too before standing to remove the garment, hopping on one leg as he struggled to peel the wet fabric of his pants from his skin. Laughing, the Keeper reached out to steady Sebastian, gripping his shoulders firmly so he could focus on dragging the heavy cloth off without losing his balance.

“Thanks.” Sebastian flashed them a sheepish grin before splashing towards the bank, finding the tree that his lovers had hung their clothing upon and choosing a separate branch to lay his clothing out to dry.

As he did so, the Keeper took the opportunity to slip their arms around Ominis’ waist, enjoying the sound of his hisses as he spoke with the twin snakes, their eyes fogging over with lust at the sensual language. It took everything in their power to resist snacking on the tempting fair skin of his nape, resting their cheek against it instead. They didn't want him to smack them for distracting him... or maybe they did?

As the Keeper pondered this, Sebastian came over and peered into the cordoned off pool curiously, spotting a single small fish swimming on the other side of the pool, before asking absently. “How'd you get that fish in there?”

“Easily.” Ominis smiled wryly and leisurely flicked his wand off to the side without turning his head. “Accio.”

As Ominis did so, a large fish was plucked from the waters, seemingly without much effort on his part and brought to hover before him over his wand.

Sebastian's eyes were wide. “You never told me you were good at fishing.”

“You never asked.” Ominis shrugged, tossing the fish at Sebastian, who scrambled to catch the slippery thing and, naturally, failed. The fish dropped into the pool with the snakes with a plop.

“It's pretty impressive, we should spend some time at our beach, we can probably get a fairly sizable haul with your skill.” The Keeper purred, letting their lips brush against the shell of Ominis’ ear, and delighting in the goosebumps that raised on his skin.

Sebastian eyed the Keeper for a moment, before folding his arms and cocking an eyebrow. “Hey, quit hogging him, I'm still waiting for my hug.”

Flashing Sebastian a smirk, the Keeper swiped their tongue along Ominis’ nape and the blond promptly slapped them on the back of the arm that was wrapped around his waist, his ears red as he wiggled free.

“The two of you are unbelievable.” Ominis grumbled, the redness spreading down his neck when Sebastian took the opportunity to latch onto him.

“You promised I'd get a hug too.” Sebastian grinned broadly while the Keeper laughed merrily, as they took a seat beside the pool, reaching over the rocks to pet the twin snakes and smiling when the girls hissed contentedly.

Ominis sighed, slumping in defeat as Sebastian pressed his face against the blond's collar. “I swear, the two of you are so clingy.”

Sebastian pouted. “Come on Ominis, I haven't seen you all day.”

“You would have if you'd woken up earlier.” Ominis rolled his eyes, though that reminded him of his earlier thoughts. He paused for a moment before asking hesitantly. “I don't suppose there's anything I could help with around the castle?”

The Keeper blinked, that came out of nowhere. “Hm, right now we're waiting for the bricks to dry while we're running our tests...”

Ominis grimaced at the reminder of their experiments and Sebastian hummed thoughtfully, before perking up. “Oh hey, we haven't started preparing the Vivariums.”

“That's true, it should be simple enough to craft the small building and four entryways, then we can cast a few expansion charms and start preparing them for the beasts.” The Keeper nodded and now it was Ominis’ turn to look thoughtful.

“Well, I do know how to cast expansion charms, I can probably handle it with Tibsy's help, but I'm not entirely sure what the beasts might need.” Ominis frowned, absently stroking his fingers through Sebastian's hair, seemingly without noticing his own actions.

“I can't say I know much beyond the basics since Deek has done most of the caring for my beasts up to this point. Perhaps you can consult Poppy? She is extremely reliable when it comes to care of magical beasts.” The Keeper suggested.

Ominis’ fingers came to a stop upon Sebastian's head, a pinch of nervousness tightening in his chest, his voice was small as he spoke. “I- do you really think she'd welcome such a request from... me?”

The Keeper frowned at the self-deprecating doubt in his voice, standing and placing a hand on his cheek. “Ominis, you are no less than anyone else, love. In fact, you're quite wonderful and you can trust my judge of character. She will not hurt you.”

And if she did, not even Poppy would be exempt from my wrath. The Keeper's eyes narrowed.

Ominis smiled, covering their hand with his own and closing his eyes as they pressed a soft kiss against his lips, feeling safe within Sebastian's warm embrace and the Keeper's gentle reassurance.

He'd think of what to write tomorrow, for now he'd enjoy the moment and try not to think about the possibility of being rejected again when extending a hand to someone else when he was in need...

Notes:

I think the amount of teamwork that is needed for a two-headed creature that shares control, is more interesting than JK's Runespoors, where two heads are just tagging along for the ride and potentially even kill of one of the heads, but maybe that's just me xP

Also, Ominis is so done with his lovers constantly licking him like he's a lump of Ishgardian Rock Salt xP Maybe if he were a little less hygienic and thorough in cleaning himself they'd do so a little less, but ain't nothing gonna get Ominis to be anything less than pristine.

I feel like Ominis has a lot of internalised self-esteem and trust issues, so this arc will be touching on those and their roots a bit more substantially than Part Two. I think the main reason Ominis is so attached to Sebastian and Anne is because he got the Sallow twins before those fears and trust issues became solidified in Ominis' mind and he started putting up an act.

Similar to the way that Sebastian has neglected kid symptoms, Ominis has a lot of domestic abuse symptoms, naturally. In contrast to Sebastian who came to accept being mostly alone and be content with that, Ominis wants friends but he's had his real self rejected by his loved ones so many times, that he puts up a fake self. If the fake self is rejected, it doesn't hurt as much, but that also makes it impossible to get real connections. (Hey, that sounds like masking! Because most autists have trauma ha ha ha...)

While Sebastian and Anne's access to Ominis’ real self was partially luck, the Keeper's victory here, was seeing through the fake self that Ominis put up. Though to be honest, that's also partially luck with the timing of Hogwarts Legacy's events and the Keeper's relations with Sebastian xP

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