Chapter Six

                                    

                                          
~~~Ominis
I listened to her walk away from me, and fought every instinct in that moment to not chase after her, pull her into me, and...
Instead, I stayed rooted to the spot and just let her go.
I truly didn't know what to do.
I'd pushed her away before I'd even gave it a chance.
And I knew my little songbird. I knew how she was. What was done, was done, and she'd force herself to be content with that, even ignoring her own personal feelings on the matter.
She didn't like to make a fuss, was always the calm one in any situation, and after everything that happened in our fifth year, she'd sort of made it a personal mission to just fade out from anything that put her in spotlight.
Which while I respected, I also found absurd, as that was exactly where she deserved to be. 
My beautiful Aria. My beautiful, broken, Aria.
~~~Aria
A few more days went by, and I tried my hardest to go through them as normally as possible, but it was difficult, even for me. Ominis sat next to me in nearly every class and from the occasional greeting, or asking for notes, the space between us had grown from a crack to a canyon, and it ate at me.
That afternoon was another potions class, and while Sebastian and I were getting on much better, it was sort of...awkward, for the two of us to hold a conversation around Ominis, so our table had become the quietest in the class for the moment. 
We were all brewing batches of Regerminating Potion because Professor Garlick had run out and needed some immediately. 
I got mine going easily enough, idly stirring when I saw again, Ominis about to accidently dump an entire bottle of Rose oil into his cauldron. I snapped my hand out, fingers closing around his wrist to stop him.
"...Remember how I told you to hold it?"
"Yes...Sorry, bit distracted."
I released him and watched as he changed his grip on the bottle before tilting it gently this time. I watched his lips move as he counted the drops, listening for the hiss.
"Aria, are you feeling okay? Your face is scarlet."
I looked over at Sebastian. "Yes, I'm fine..."
"Mhm."
"Gentleman, getting more help from Miss Aves again?"
Professor Sharp had wandered over, and I thought maybe he'd be angry, but he didn't appear so. Ominis immediately interjected. "She was just reminding me of some of the tips she'd given me, Professor."
"Oh yes. That reminds me. Miss Aves, if you are alright with it, I'm not opposed to letting you help Mr Gaunt here with some extra credit assignments if that suits the both of you."
"That's...fine with me."
Ominis nodded. Professor Sharp said he'd come up with something by Monday and we'd go from there.
Sebastian laughed. "So this whole avoiding each other thing...How's that going?"
Ominis and I both answered in unison.
"Shut up, Sebastian."
"Quiet, you."
~~~Ominis
Saturday afternoon, Sebastian convinced me that it might be a good idea to revisit the festival in town, since there was hopefully a zero chance that I'd find Aria there again with Garreth's hands on her.