I have no other works planned to release after this. It's time for me to start focusing on my original stories again. Thank you all for reading these and I hope you enjoyed the journey as much as I did.
Content warning: attempted murder and taunting
The walk was hard and eventually Sebastian had to help Ominis get you to the lake. They knelt you down at the water's edge.
Sighing from the relief of getting off your legs, you looked out on the dark water as the rain slowed.
"How are you doing?" Ominis asked, drawing your attention.
"I'm just tired." You admitted as you leaned forward, slipping your hand into the water, magically calling out to any nearby creatures.
A calm feeling enveloped you as you allowed all of the magic you held to drain into the water as a tentacle wrapped around your hand, startling you for a second. Two eyes looked up at you from under the water as a familiar, albeit smaller, creature appeared.
"Isn't that the giant squid living in the Black lake in our time?" Sebastian asked softly.
You remember the tentacles reaching out of the water as you were in flying class, making you smile. It was as if the squid was waving at an old friend.
"Not quite so giant right now," Anne replied, with a chuckle.
The golden light filled the water around your hand, but the squid just watched you for a moment judging how you changed the magic.
You watched it worriedly until it playfully splashed water at you, before you felt your energy quickly draining as the color started to stain the water.
The strength you had slowly gotten used to while holding the magic was slipping away, getting your eyes to flicker close.
"Remember our promise," Ominis whispered thinking the worst was happening.
Smiling as much as you could, you rested your head against his. "I won't forget."
He let out a sharp exhale when you met his eyes, but he could see how tired you were getting.
When the squid splashed the water again, both of you looked back, seeing the burns on your arm had completely healed, while the water turned white and appeared like your body was soaking it up.
Godric chuckled, shaking his head slightly. "It seems the universe decided your worth the magic Salazar stole. It's giving it back."
You thought you'd go back to being magicless, you had mentally prepared yourself for leaving Hogwarts and living life as a muggle.
The squid let out a soft noise as it tightened its tentacle.
"Thank you," you whispered, never realizing how much you wanted your magic until you no longer had it.
The squid slowly let go and slipped further into the water, giving you a wave like movement before completely disappearing into the dark lake.
Pulling your hand from the water, you looked at it, realizing you no longer felt exhausted.
"You look better." Sebastian teased as you moved to stand, only needing Ominis to steady you when you slipped on a particularly wet rock.
"I understand the water, but why did the squid?"
You looked back at Rowena. "It had to be accepted back after being judged at how damaged it was from the people who held it."
"That's why the wizard who took it couldn't return it?" Anne asked.
"Yeah, he twisted the magic with his greed and eventually his guilt, so he had to seal it away. Without emotions to feed on, it went dormant."
"Until Salazar kept trying to get to it," Godric added, staring out into the water.
You nodded. "The magic would have eventually been taken by Salazar, so it reached out in desperation for the magic that was equivalent to his, finding nothing until we showed up."
"And Salazar?" Helga asked, stepping forward. "I doubt he'll stop-"
"I took all of his magic," you admitted, earning surprise from the founders. "It was the only way I could ensure I didn't mess with the future by killing him."
"And us?" Sebastian asked softly. "We still don't have a way to get back to our time."
"We do actually," you replied, smiling at the water. "As a gift, a portal home will open when we return to the cave we arrived in."
Everyone fell quiet for a moment as the breeze moved through, giving you a chill.
"Did the universe bring us here on purpose?" Anne asked, pulling her robes closer to her.
"I have no idea, but things could have gone a lot worse if we hadn't come here."
Ominis sighed, shifting his weight to his other foot while he stood. "What happened to an uneventful sixth year?"
He held out his hand, which you took. "I guess we had something else planned for us."
He pulled you up to your feet.
"When will you four leave?" Godric asked, drawing everyone's attention.
"Did you get attached to us?" You teased, getting his eyes to roll.
"Not at all, I just didn't think it's a good idea to go at night."
Helga snickered and slapped him on the back. "You're a liar." She looked at the four of you. "You remind him of us back when we first met."
"I can see that," Sebastian laughed as the group moved to head up towards the school.
Ominis fell into step with you, before entwining his fingers with yours. "I'm glad you're okay."
You nudged his shoulder. "Back at you, Omni."
The four of you decided to wait a little bit to see what Salazar was going to do, but he went deep into hiding and vanished, just like the history books said.
So, now the four of you were walking towards your destination, it was a nice day. As you entered the cave, you saw the swirl of magic come to life.
"Let's hope your parents and Fig didn't hunt down every possible lead to find us," Sebastian teased.
Rolling your eyes, you moved close, motioning for your friends to go first.
Sebastian gave an exaggerated 'thank you' before you just shoved him through, his laughter echoing after him.
Anne stepped through next, giving you a smile.
Ominis stepped up and grabbed your hand, telling you that he was wanting to go through with you.
You grabbed his hand and turned toward the portal, until something grabbed you and shoved Ominis forward.
You were sent flying into the cave wall, hitting your head hard.
"You're not going anywhere," Salazar hissed as he flipped you on your back while his hands went around your neck, squeezing so tightly that you wanted to choke but couldn't.
You tried to reach for your wand, but he was pinning it with his leg. So, you reached for something to help and found a rock.
You grabbed it just as the corners of your eyes started to darken and smacked him in the side of the head.
He growled as he fell off you and you coughed so harshly it sent pain through your chest and throat.
Knowing you couldn't stay here, you rolled over and ran towards the portal. "Your own greed lead to this Salazar. Enjoy living as a muggle."
You heard him move to give chase as you jumped through, knocking into the three of them who were trying to find a way back in.
The portal closed up instantly as the four of you fell to the ground.
You were a little busy gasping and coughing as Ominis pressed his hand down on your head, trying to stop the bleeding.
"Salazar-" Was all you were able to choke out.
"What are you three doing here?"
The three of them looked over as Fig made his way down the side of the crater with Richard Jordon following.
"Long story," Ominis said hurriedly. "Do you have any wiggenweld potion?"
He pulled a bottle from his pocket and handed it to him, noticing Ominis could see it.
"I have a feeling I missed a lot."
Ominis moved you to drink the potion, trying to be careful not to drown you.
"How long have we been gone?" Sebastian asked, getting a funny look to pass between Fig and Richard.
"Gone? She just walked in and stopped the magic."
You finally calmed down, breathing heavily only due to the adrenaline leaving your system.
Fig moved closer to examine your face once he saw the blood. "Are you alright?"
"I will be," you answered, glad to be home.
Fig, Richard and Weasley stared at the four of you in silence as you relaxed in the chair.
Everything from the last couple weeks has been hectic. To be sitting safely in Weasley's office was a blessing.
"I'm glad to say your escapade into the past hasn't changed history from what you remember," Fig said, looking towards Richard. "Salazar still vanished from school when he did. There's no record of your names at all. I think the founders hid it for your safety."
"Well, given what you've been through, I think you can take the rest of the day off," Weasley said, giving the four of you a smile.
You stood and headed towards the door after the twins.
"Oh, try not to go anywhere you can't return from."
You chuckled as you walked out of the office. "I'll try to stay put."
"We can go to our spot?" Ominis offered, grabbing the twin's attention. "A little bit of relaxation after whatever the heck just happened."
Bathing in the sun felt good, even if it had the trilling of Sebastian and Anne playing nearby.
Ominis's tail curled around you, as he began to fall asleep.
Moving to get comfortable, he cracked an eye open.
You looked his way. "No, I'm just tired. I feel like I haven't slept in ages, but I can't seem to fall asleep."
You shifted your head to look his way. "You."
Now wide awake, he stretched his paws. "In a bad way or a good way?"
"Depends on how you take it," you admitted.
You gave him a push with your paw. "It's not, I'm just worrying about you. I know your aunt wanted to believe Salazar wasn't all about dark magic and learning this-"
"Is no different from what I expected, you don't have to worry about that. All that matters to me is that you're safe."
You lifted your head to meet his eyes. "Are you sure?"
He bumped his nose against yours, before shifting closer until he rested his head over your shoulders.
"What about you? Going through what you did, it was a lot."
Stretching you laid your head down. "I'm just going to file it in my bury deep and ignore it file."
"That's healthy," he replied sarcastically.
"It's better than thinking about it."
He grumbled, nudging you. "You can talk to me, I hope you know that."
Leaning into him, you relaxed. "I know Omni. I'm just- I never want to have that much power ever again."
"Careful, that's not very Slytherin of you."
Chuckling you moved your head out from under his, seeing his eyes shining in the light.
"Your eyes are still beautiful."
His head pressed into yours. "Thank you for granting my wish."
"It was a cute wish. I had to."
He chuckled as his eyes closed. "I have that other wish you could help me grant." His eyes sparkled as you looked at him. "Letting me see you everyday. Can we try to make sure that happens?"
"I don't know," you teased, shifting towards him. "I guess you're going to have to ask me tomorrow."
He stared at you for a moment, before giving an awkward shake of his head. He stood up sharply, the movement so fast you ended up rolling onto your back, where he began nudging at your stomach.
Laughing, you pawed at him to get him to stop and eventually he laid down beside you, allowing you to finish chuckling before you spoke.
"Why would you think I wouldn't want to spend my days with you?"
He sighed. "Well given what my family has done-"
"You're not your family. You're Ominis and all you've done since I came here is protected me. If that's not proof enough, I don't know what is."
"Yeah, but it's still a stain on everything."
You rolled his way, as he rested his head on the ground to stop himself from saying more.
"Only because you're allowing it to be. I don't hold you accountable for your family's actions. I love you. Not because because you're a Gaunt, but because you're Ominis."
He rolled onto your paws, getting you to laugh as he rested his head on them, not that it really fit.
"I love you too, I hope you know that."
"I do," you whispered, resting your head on his neck.
Your ear swished as you caught the sound of Sebastian and Anne running over, both of you straightened up to look.
"What'd you two do now?" Ominis asked, trying to get his tone to sound disappointed, but he couldn't quite get it right.
Sebastian's eyes danced between you two. "Should we be asking you two that?"
All those times he interrupted you and Ominis, it felt like payback was in order.
You looked at Ominis, who glanced at you, just before both of you jumped to your feet and ran at him.
He turned and bolted, so both of you gave chase, with Anne closely following telling her brother he had it coming before laughing.
