Whispers in Hogsmeade
Sebinis Prompt Fest 2024
I used two of the prompts suggested by @Nigelly
A date in Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley/Knockturn Alley
Taking care of a pet together (can be Canon Universe or Modern AU)
No warnings on this work.
Sebastian had finally convinced Ominis to come with him for a visit to Hogsmeade. Ominis had been reluctant, finding himself confused by his changing feelings towards Sebastian. They were friends. They have been friends for years, and yes, while it’s fairly common for love to blossom from friendship, it didn’t happen too often between two wizards, at least in the public eye.
They walked together, Sebastian guiding Ominis from his elbow when needed, idly chatting. When they arrived, Sebastian first led Ominis towards honeydukes where they spent a bit of time sampling some candies until Sebastian convinced Ominis to buy a couple of pouches for them to share later. Next, they headed towards the Three Broomsticks. As they walked Ominis noticed how their hands would swing back and forth next to each other, but their fingers would loosely touch, sending shivers down Ominis’ back. Ominis could have sworn he felt Sebastian's fingers try to catch his own, but he ignored the feeling, thinking Sebastian couldn't possibly be interested in that. Sebastian had plenty of opportunities to hold Ominis' hand or to share with him any feelings that went beyond friendship. Why would something suddenly be different?
Once they reach the Three Broomsticks, Sebastian asked Ominis to wait outside
“Why?” Ominis asked. "Because I asked you," Sebastian responded.
Ominis rolled his eyes before leaning his back against the building, crossing his legs and arms. He heard the sound of Sebastian opening the door and heading inside. He waited quietly, letting his thoughts run wild about how he and Sebastian could have a future together. Whether it be friends or not, they could share a home after school. They could work together, could do plenty of things together and it didn't have to be romantic, even though Ominis may want it to be. So he supposed that as long as he had Sebastian in this life, he could live happily enough. . Ominis was startled out of his daydream as the doors from the Three Broomsticks slammed open and Sebastian walked out in a cheerful mood.
“All right, Ominis, got what we need. We're going to head over to the moor over there. I've got a bit of a surprise for you.” Sebastian grabbed Ominis by the hand and started pulling him along. The initial pull was a bit rough and Ominis stumbled to get his feet under him as he followed.. He was surprised by how soft Sebastian's hand held him. It was a guiding touch, but it felt somehow more, maybe a bit possessive. Ominis felt his breath catch as Sebastian's fingers suddenly linked with his all while pulling him along to a little spot outside of Hogsmeade.
“Where are we going Sebastian?” Ominis asked, curious to know where his friend was taking him. “Just a little ways more now. Not too far out of Hogsmeade. I just wanted to show you something. It's a surprise actually.” Ominis scowled a bit. Not actually mad but confused and his mind was running away with ideas that he knew he shouldn't be thinking about. After another minute, Sebastian announced that they had arrived at the special location. He listened as Sebastian dropped something onto the ground and was making a lot of noise as though he was setting something up.
“Sebastian, what are you doing?” “ I'm setting up a picnic, Ominis. I thought it would be something different we could do, spend some time together.” “That’s the surprise? A Picnic? That’s kind of you.” “ Actually, no. Well, it's part of the surprise but it's not all of it. Just…just sit down here.”
Sebastian pulled Ominis over a few steps and Ominis could feel the texture below his shoes change slightly. Sebastian pushed down on his shoulders while telling him to sit down. Ominis slowly lowered himself to the ground, his hand finding the delicate touch of a blanket below him. He sat sitting with his legs crossed, his fingers tapping aimlessly on his bent knees. Sebastian continued to work the sounds of clinking glasses and plates being settled whirled throughout Ominis' ears. Knowing now about the picnic Ominis could place the different sounds he was hearing until the last sound. He assumedIt was a bowl, as Sebastian was pouring something into it, tiny plonks as something hit the ceramic of the bowl.
“What's that for? What is it?” Ominis asked “Oh this is for the second part of your surprise.” Sebastian responded. “How many parts are there for this surprise?” Ominis almost felt like he could see the smile form on Sebastian's face.
He heard Sebastian sit down next to him muddling about pulling something from the basket and handing it to Ominis
“Three parts. Here’s a pasty from the Three Broomsticks, figured we could share our lunch together while we wait the remainder of you're surprised to show up.”
“To show up? We're waiting for someone else to join us? When I agreed to come here, I thought it was only going to be the two of us. I don't particularly like being around many people or any people for that matter, except for you of course.”
" I know Ominis, I know. Don't worry your pretty little head over it. We're waiting for something to show up but it won't make you uncomfortable.”
‘Pretty little head’ is what repeated in Ominis' mind and he became a bit dazed accepting Sebastian's response without any more questions. Why ask when his friend referred to him as pretty? They ate in silence for a bit until Sebastian suddenly graspedOminis’ hand again.
“They're coming. They're coming. Get ready!” Ominis bit his lip a bit nervous as to what was coming. While Sebastian may be fully aware of what was approaching, Ominis could only imagine.
“Sebastian, I hope you know what you're doing. I don't….I'm not quite comfortable.”
“Come here buddy! Come here.” Ominis then heard Sebastian tsk his tongue several times. Sebastian lifted his hand and reached it forward and Ominis' fingertips touched something soft. He heard a quiet meow and smiled as his fingers then pushed into the fur of a small cat eating out of the bowl Sebastian had filled earlier.
“You brought me a cat?” asked Ominis.
“Well, yes, I know you love them. They're all over the castle but this one seems to follow you around quite a bit. When I realized that I kind of brought her out here so she could meet us. I knew she would show up with all the food and you here.”
“This one follows me around.”
“Yeah it's quite adorable to see. I set up a bunch of food all over the place.”
The cat shook himself a bit. Ominis raised his hand and allowed the kitty to go back to eating.
“What do you mean the food is all over the place?”
“Oh,” answered Sebastian. “Well, I wanted to make sure he came. So, yeah I mean, I poured the bowl here of food but there's also some a couple metres away…and then a few more beyond those and a couple beyond those. Actually, we're quite surrounded by cat food at this time.”
“Sebastian, you put us surrounded by cat food. Do you think only cats are going to show up?”
“Why? What else would come? It's cat food. Sure, maybe a couple more cats but…” Ominis playfully shoved Sebastian on the shoulder.
“It's still food! Any animal cloud show up, magical or muggle.”
“Well then I didn't just get you a cat. I got you an animal sanctuary…. Yes that sounds about right. but you only be able to take the one back.”
“Take him back?” Ominis asked, “I'm to keep him.”
“Of course. I asked professor Weasley if that would be okay. There's cats all over the castle, so what's difference if we put a little band on this one that says it's yours?
“I… I don't know. I suppose that would be alright. That's very kind of you.”
“Well I’ve got to be kind. It would be silly if I did something very stupid for our first date … .Which is the third part of the surprise.” Ominis’ head whipped to the side. His eyes glaring at where Sebastian would be seated.
“This….this is a date?” Ominis swallowed thickly.
“Yes, I suppose I didn't quite ask it fairly but I was worried you would say no. So I just thought we'd come out and I’d pretend it was a regular day, but just do something a little different and special and that maybe…maybe you would think that I was special and..and consider that the friendship between us is the best thing but it could be more, if you wanted it to be more.” The pace of Sebastian's words increased as he continued, until he was no longer taking breaks between his words.
With that, Sebastian slowly moved his hand across the blanket, allowing it to cover Ominis' hand that was sitting there. Ominis could feel Sebastian leaning forward and he took a slight gaspy breath in as Sebastian whispered to him.
“Maybe I should have asked properly, but I didn't want you to say no. I just couldn't take another day of not being able to touch you, to be able to link my hand with yours.”
Sebastian's free hand reached out and and gently cradled Ominis' chin in his hand. He shifted towards Ominis, and Ominis felt Sebastian lean forward until their lips met. Ominis closed his eyes as the sweet lips of Sebastian pressed against his own. It was gentle, soft like a wisp of air flowing by. Ominis could barely believe it was real.He suddenly sat up straight, pulling himself away from Sebastian and cleared his throat.
“That was unexpected.” Ominis stated.
“But was it unwelcomed? Sebastian asked.
“Oh no! Of course not. I love the cat. I want to be able to take care of het and take her back to the castle with me. With us. I've always wanted a pet.”
Sebastian pulled his hand away from Ominis. “I'm glad I could make you happy with it.” Sebastian said sadly.
Ominis took a deep breath. He knew he had to acknowledge that Sebastian had just kissed him but he didn't know how to do it. His heart was beating a thousand times a minute and while he was happy, his mind was panicking. What's to become of them? What if something goes wrong and they no longer have a friendship between each other? What if they break up and the cat has been so attuned to both of them? How could they ever deal with it? How would they ever decide where the cat would go once they left school? “Ominis,” Sebastian said quietly. “Are you only happy about the cat or…” his voice cut away.
“We should name it.”
“Right,” Sebastian replied, his voice clearly sounding defeated
“Sebastian. I'm sorry I just…I don't know how to process everything that's going on in my head right now.”
“You don't need to Ominis. I figured that if you had similar feelings, this would just be easy.”
“That's not true! If anything my feelings are overwhelmingly similar but I'm afraid. I'm afraid of what this will mean for us. I'm afraid of what this will mean for my and your family. I'm afraid of what this will mean to the public and I'm.” Sebastian cut them off.
“It doesn't matter what it means for all of that. Only what it means for you and I. And I want more with you.”
Ominis felt the cat crawl onto his lap, settling down, curling into a ball to take a bit of a nap. He looked down at her, touching her softly. Wishing he could see the softness of her fur.
“Ominis, please.” Sebastian whispered in his ear. “Just say anything. Say something?”
Ominis shook his head a few times before he looked back up and turned towards Sebastian He pressed his forehead against Sebastians. Their mouths close to each other to where Sebastian could feel Ominis lips move when he spoke.
“We need to pick a name for her, because she's ours and we will both be taking care of her, because that's what pet parents do. Together, like you want us to be.”
Ominis felt Sebastian's lips spread into a smile and with that indication Ominis leaned forward just the last bit of space between them. This time the kiss was slow, but their mouths quickly opened, an invitation to Sebastian to explore the mouth of his friend turned lover. Their focus was completely on each other. They spent what seemed like forever snogging, smiling and laughing. The world around them seemed to disappear until they heard a meow and then another meow and then another meow. They pulled apart, Ominis going to pet the cat on his lap as though she was upset.
Then he heard Sebastian. “Uh-oh.”
“What's uh-oh?” Ominis asked.
“Well, the food I put around us. You may have been right about other animals.”
“Oh Merlin, what do you mean Sebastian?”
“There's a few more cats.”
“How many is a few?” He heard Sebastian muttering through numbers.
“Don’t worry about the cats. I’d be more concerned about the Puffskeins. I'm pretty sure I also see a few nifflers and even some diricawls are coming around. Any of them will eat cat food huh? I didn't. I didn't realize.”
“Obviously you didn't realize. You can't possibly think we're taking all of these back to Hogwarts!”
“No. We can’t. Gods, this is a bit of a disaster.
“I'm not going to be responsible for all these animals Sebastian, so you better hope they eat this cat food and disappear.”
“Right? Well maybe it's time we pack up anyways, we've seemingly been here for a while. The sun is nearly setting and well…
“It's been wonderful.” Ominis finished.
Sebastian quickly packed up everything around them, pulling Ominis to his feet and pressing his lips against his again. Sebastian knelt down and picked up their cat, handing it to Ominis.
As they walked back through Hogsmeade, passing through on their way to Hogwarts, they spoke about the cat.
“What's her name?” Sebastian asked.
“You know I think we should name her Poppy. After our friend of course. She spends so much time dedicated to animals and it only seems right that when we're finally taking care of an animal, it's in honor of her.” Ominis lifted the cat once again, resettling her in his arms.
“I think that's a grand idea,” Sebastian responded.
He grabbed Ominis' hand and they continued their journey, now full of smiles and blushes. Poppy stayed happy and Ominis’ arms for the trip back. Once they made it inside the walls of Hogwarts, Ominis placed Poppy down and let her walk and follow them to the castle doors.
“Sebastian, today was wonderful, thank you. I'm quite happy with the outcome.”
Sebastian squeezed Ominis’ hand before stilling and letting out a confused laugh. “Yeah it was quite wonderful.”
They walked forward a bit more.
“We should keep moving, it's nearly curfew…we need to get inside.”
They picked up their pace. Sebastian, confirming to Ominis that Poppy was following them. As they neared the door they ran into Garreth who was also on his way quickly back to the dorms.
“Hey mates, what are you up to today? What's what's with the animals?” Garreth posed.
“Animals?” Ominis questioned. “It's just the cat. It's our cat.”
“Oh yeah the one who's near you but what about all the other ones?”
“Garreth, stop talking,” Sebastian whispered angrily.
“What other ones?” Ominis stated, his voice a bit annoyed as he turned to look towards Sebastian.
“So maybe all those other animals also followed us back to Hogwarts. We really should get inside and get to the dorm before we get in trouble for being so late. Okay? Bye Garreth!”
Sebastian pulled Ominis once again, running into the castle and closing the doors before the menagerie he created could follow.
