Since it’s likely the Gaunts have long since lost their wealth beyond keeping up basic appearances around the time of Hogwarts Legacy (like the Everglots in Corpse Bride), I like to think that Aunt Noctua spent years setting aside money from her job (because she chose to work) and made sure to leave everything to Ominis in the event of her death. She even put in her will that the rest of the Gaunt family were not allowed to know of the inheritance. It’s hardly a fortune she bequeaths him, but it’s plenty to live on for a few years until he gets on his feet with a steady career of his own after graduation.
*Combined with the income from Julianna’s occupation and the partial profit from her shop in Hogesmeade, they’re not rich by any means, but they still live quite comfortably.
Julianna taking home a little souvenir from her crazy year at Hogwarts.
I cannot for the freaking life of me find the Picrew template source I used for this! If you see it anywhere please please please send me the link so I can add it! 😭😭😭
First of all, I'm thanking my fellow Ominis girl @all-4-ominis for inspiring and, most of all, indirectly fomenting me into moving past the "what if it's cringy" wall that was keeping me for writing an analysis on this canon character x my OC x canon character love triangle.
Except, I don't consider this a love triangle: I don't like love triangles, I hate the idea of characters "competing" for affection and I hate to see the relationship among all the people being involved being reduced to "who will our protagonist pick?".
So, in my Hogwarts Legacy narrative, Ominis and Sebastian's relationship is never furtherly strained by them both having feelings for Scarlet and Scarlet never develops romantic feelings for both of them at the same time: especially by the end of the game, this trio's bond is already complicated enough.
But, in a way, it's still a triangle: it's a hope triangle.
While making some considerations, I realized that the way Scarlet relates herself toward both Sebastian and Ominis has a lot to do with how she conceives hope and how the concept evolves for her through the course of the adventure - and even further.
Keep Fighting On
Nothing hits you as hard as first love.
Especially when said first love is your kindred spirit in having a sister that is dying and you would do anything to save her.
Now, to be honest, Scarlet's sister, Lily, isn't actively dying anymore when she leaves for Hogwarts. Still, we're in England at the end of 1800 and tubercolosis survivors like her, especially from their social class, often ended up chronically ill for life.
Which means that, upon arriving at Hogwarts and meeting Sebastian, it's almost mathematical for Scarlet to think that she has found her soulmate and to try everything she can to help Anne. Plus, being a witch who had just barely discovered her abilities and also finding out she has a power no one else has, she finds a lot of validation in the way he encourages her to use ancient magic and his amazement over it.
For Scarlet, Sebastian ends up representing how you must not stop fighting for what you're hoping to accomplish, even if the world seems to be against you.
Which is a good thing, until you realize the world had good reasons to tell you to stop.
It starts with the Scriptorium, after Sebastian casts the Cruciatus Curse on her, and then it keeps growing through the rest of his questline: the feeling that not all means are justified by the ends.
Scarlet does realize Sebastian is walking down a dark path, but she shuts down what her instinct is telling her because she knows that, a few years back, she was in his same position, ready to do everything to save someone she loved. And also because, if they can find a way to save Anne... maybe they can also give back to Lily her health and make everything go back to how it was before she fell ill.
So she supports, she justifies, she mitigates where she can, she tells herself that everything will be worth it in the end... and then Sebastian kills Solomon. And Scarlet shatters.
Sebastian wouldn't have arrived so far without her help, Scarlet is aware of it and is also aware that, even in this, they're far too similar. That, in another life, if their roles were reversed, her hope would have pushed her similarly far.
She still decides that Sebastian should have the chance to redeem himself and it's in no small part because she feels that, if there's still hope for her, there must be also for him.
A sad end to her first love: the wrong people who met at the wrong time.
Keep Moving On
Even though it endures as a platonic thing for a very long time, Scarlet develops a soft spot for Ominis pretty much from the get-go: despite being basically from a noble house he doesn't look down on her, he has a mischievous side she finds endearing and he's downright courteous toward her when they first meet.
But, during the events of the game, Ominis for Scarlet is both despair and hope: his blindness, a disability that not even magic could cure, proves that there are things that simply can't be solved, not even with the kind of power she initially thought could be the solution to everything. If magic couldn't give sight to him... maybe that means that it can't give Lily her health back, either.
((To be fair, Professor Fig had been the first to warn her that magic can't solve all problems, but she didn't really fully consider this idea until she met Ominis.))
At the same time, though, Ominis is resilient and able to walk through life even with his disability and this instead would make Scarlet optimistic because that means that, even with her frail health, Lily can still find a way to live happily... if it wasn't for the devil on her shoulder that sounds a bit like her and a bit like Sebastian that keeps saying things like:
That's an awfully convenient way to see it.
It's not the same thing at all, he was born like this, Lily got ill!
You have a power no one else has, maybe you can do it!
Would you be able to live with yourself if you gave up?
Because of this kind of thoughts Scarlet doesn't allow herself to open up to Ominis during the events of the game. She likes him, she respects him, she refuses to lie to him regarding what she and Sebastian are doing, but she doesn't confide in him.
It's only after Professor Fig's funeral that she really lets her walls down around Ominis and tells him everything. Which means that she finally gets to have a liberating cry with the only person who really knows how low she sunk during the school year.
And it may be exactly because she feels like she can't sink lower that finally Scarlet allows herself to internalize what Ominis always really exemplified for her: that just because, even when you gave your all, things didn't go like you wanted to, that doesn't mean you can't keep moving on to build something better, both for yourself and for the people you love.
Final Thoughts
So, in the end, thematically speaking my MC doesn't really "pick" between two boys: she starts as an idealistic person who falls victim of really toxic version of hope, does a lot of mistakes in her pursue of it and in the end learns how to move on with a more grounded, but surprisingly more freeing, take on it.
Again, I thank @all-4-ominis for inspiring me: if someone will ever wonder who set me loose on this fandom, remember that you're the one responsible. ^^
Posting this here as my personal reminder to never be ashamed to ask for support when you feel you need it, as pathetic and embarrassing as it may feel. That’s supposed to be the purpose of a fandom. To find others that love what you love and want to celebrate it with you. No one wants to feel alone and you don’t have to.
I’m so deeply grateful to everyone that found my stupid untagged post and reached out to me. I know I’m late to the HL game and missed the fandom’s heyday. Even in the few months I’ve been here I’ve already seen a handful of wonderful content creators sadly vanish. Their reasons are their own, but regardless, everyone needs positive support and feedback on what they contribute because that’s what truly keeps a fandom alive, not the popularity of its media source.
I know I don’t see everything in this fandom since I’m mainly into Ominis x MC and Seboppy content, but I want to encourage others and myself, don’t be afraid to be honest with yourself. Give encouragement and know that it’s only human nature to want encouragement in return. I promise, there’s someone out there who is watching and loves what you create.
Please please please never stop writing about Ominis 🙏🙏 I've been in the HL fandom for a long time, but I only just joined Tumblr and I fell in love with your account right away 🥺💕🤭
You know you’re actually my first anonymous message on this account. Thank you very much. 🥹
Professor Black not so subtly insinuates that he may be obliged to inform the Gaunts about Ominis courting a non-pureblood. In response, Ominis threatens to tell Mrs. Black about her husband’s almost daily trips to Hogsmeade, drinking for hours at The Three Broomsticks and consorting with various ladies of the night.
Because if there’s one thing the elite class value more than money as currency, it’s dirt.
Julianna: “Okay, I’ve got the perfect game plan! If I help Sebastian cure his sister, not only will I be doing a good thing, but Ominis will be super happy that I was so nice to his best friends! He’ll see what a kind, caring person I am and fall as madly in love with me as I am with him! It’s brilliant! It’s perfect! It’s fool proof! Let’s goooooooo!!!”
*many hours later*
Ominis: “Julianna spends so much time with Sebastian and she kept him out of Azkaban. She must be in love with him.” 😞
I like the idea of Julianna’s Patronus being a butterfly because she spent a lot of time playing in her grandfather’s flower garden as a child. It was the place she could pretend to spread her wings and be free to explore the world. Even though it was for her own protection, she hated being cooped up in the house for fifteen years. Now that she’s at Hogwarts, she can finally fly around and explore the world to her heart’s content. 🦋
