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Chapter Four
THE HOUSE CUP
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In the weeks that followed, I never received anything else from anyone. Not even from my mother. Anne and Sebasion seemed to believe my lie which made me feel terrible. But Ominis, I think he knew I wasn't telling the truth but he never pushed me. Just as I don't push him, I know he's been having trouble sleeping, because sometimes when I wake up from a nightmare and walk out of the dorms and tiptoe my way into the common room he is already in there sitting on the couch facing the fireplace.

The first time I saw him sitting there alone, I sat beside him and I couldn't tell for certain since it was dark, the only light being the orange glow of the fire, but I think I saw tears in his eyes. We didn't say anything, just sat there in silence.

But then I found myself waking up at the same time every morning, at roughly three in the morning, and walking into the common room to where I knew Ominis would be. After about the fifth time I finally worked up the courage to ask him about it.

"Ominis," I whisper as I take a seat beside him. "Are you okay?" my voice was barely a whisper, I wasn't even sure if he could hear me. But since he doesn't have his vision, his hearing seems to be more enhanced.

He tenses beside me as I place my hand on his arm. "No," he whispers. "I've been having these nightmares every night."

"I could talk to the nurse and see if she can get a potion," I tell him. "I can tell her that it's for me."

He shakes his head, "No, I deserve this, these nightmares."

I look at him confused, his blonde hair is a mess and I can tell now that he does indeed have tears in his eyes. "Why would you say that?"

He turns away from me and faces the flames of the fire, "I've done terrible things, Lila."

I take his hand in mine in a comforting way, "Well, it can't be that bad. And this just shows that you aren't a bad person because you obviously regret it."

He rips his hand away from mine and stands up from the couch. "I've tortured people. Muggles and muggle-borns," he admits.

I let out a gasp, that wasn't what I was expecting him to say. Instead of comforting him, I find myself doing the opposite, "Why would you do that?" I instantly regret my words when I see his expression.

"You're afraid of me now." He observes.

I shake my head and then remember that he can't see me. "No, I just don't understand why. You're only eleven."

He takes a seat back down on the couch beside me, "It's my family. They tell me that if I don't do it then they will do it to me." He lets the tears finally fall from his face. "And I'm afraid that if they ask me to do it again that I won't be able to do it and I will feel the pain of the curse."

"Oh, Ominis, I'm so sorry," I say as I bring him into a hug. "I'm sure my mother wouldn't mind if you wanted to stay with us for the summer."

He shakes his head, "No, I don't want to intrude. It's my family, and I'll have to endure them."

We sit there in silence for a long time, none of us knew what to say but it was a comfortable silence. "Can I ask you something, now?" Ominis asks.

"Of course," I say turning to look at him.

"Why did you lie about the letter you got the other day?"

I let out a breath, would it be better to tell him? "I don't know, I guess I didn't want you guys to worry about me."

He furrows his eyebrows, "What was it in the letter that would make us worry about you?" He asks with concern.

I don't say anything, I reach into the pocket of my robe and pull out the letter where I've never taken it out. I hand it over to him. He pulls out his wand which glows red when he touches it to the paper. I'm not sure how he can read but he does and I can see him studying the words carefully.

"Who sent this?" he asks after reading it several times.

I shrug my shoulders, "I have no idea. They used my owl to send it and they didn't sign their name."

"If this is a real prophecy, then bad things are coming to your life, and it says that the world is in your hands. My guess is you have a big battle and... you have to stop someone from destroying everything." He says trying to make sense of all the lines in the letter.

"What I'm worried about, is it says I'm going to lose a loved one," I say.

"Propahcy oftentimes has double meanings, it could simply mean that you have a falling out with a friend or family member." He says trying to reassure me. He hands me the paper back. "But here it says 'She'll face the shadows but not be free,' I can't think of what that could mean."

"It might not even be real or about me," I say but I know it's just hopeful thinking.

He nods his head, "Yes, but it was sent to you, and they said multiple people saw it. I think-"

He stops talking when the sound of someone walking down the stairs can be heard from where we sit on the couch. I glance out the windows, and even though they are underwater, I can tell that it is still dark outside.

"Ominis?" I hear the sound of Sebastion say in a sleepy voice. "What are you doing down here so early?" He asks as he finishes making his way down the stairs and that is when his eyes land on me. He wipes the sleep from his eyes and looks between us. "What's going on?"

I look at Ominis, wondering if I should tell Sebastion why I was down here, or any of what we talked about. But he beat me to it. "I've been having nightmares and Lila has been keeping me company."

"Why didn't you wake me up instead of going to the girl's dorms?" He asks with concern for his friend.

"I didn't go to her. Come to think of it, how did you know I was down here?" He asks turning his face in my direction.

"I didn't," I say and they look at me wanting more. "I've also been having nightmares about... the future." Ominis nods his head understanding my worry about what is to come but Sebastion looks at me confused. "And I came down here and I saw Ominis."

Sebastian pushes his hair back away from his eyes, "Why would you be worried about the future?" he asks.

Ominis looks at me with a little smile seeming to know that I was coming up with a lie. "Um... my mother, in her letter, she said that since she is trying to mend her relationship with her family, my grandparents, then I need to marry a pureblood." I have to close my eyes and I feel my face heat up with embarrassment, luckily it was still dark in the common room.

I hear Ominis let out a laugh. "Lila, you are eleven, I think marriage should be the last thing on your mind." He says, playing along with the lie.

It wasn't a complete lie. My mother did tell me once that she wants to me marry someone that was a pureblood. She said that even though she loves my father, she wishes she would have listened to her parents.

I nod my head, "Yeah, I guess you're right." I say letting out a breath. "I'll just worry about that later."

Sabastion gives me a cocky smile, "Well, I mean you are friends with two purebloods."

I hear Omins let out a laugh at that and I playfully shove them both, "Not going to happen."

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The next morning was our last morning at Hogwarts before we head home for the summer. It was the last day of our first year. I was excited to be heading home for the summer, especially since I didn't go home for Christmas. I was ready to see my mother. Sebastian and Anne also seemed happy to be able to go to their home in Feldcroft, a small hamlet not too far from here. Then there was Ominis, who despite trying his best to hide it, was scared to go back home.

I think he was scared not just of his family, but of what they made him do. I offered again for him to stay with me and he declined. I sit on my bed as I stuff my clothes into my trunk. I pick up the folded piece of paper that I had stuffed underneath my pillow, it was the letter I had received a few weeks ago with the prophecy. I quickly secure it into a pocket of the trunk before anyone could see it.

Once I was all packed, Anne and I walk out of the dormitory and meet up with her brother and Ominis. The four of us make our way down to the end-of-year feast. Since we had all packed before, the great hall was already full. It was decked out in the Slytherin colors of green and silver to celebrate Slytherin winning the House Cup. A huge banner showing the Slytherin serpent covered the wall behind the high table.

"I didn't realize we won," I comment as we make our way over to our table. Anne and I sit beside each other while the boys sit across from us.

"You're welcome," Sebastian says. "I earned so many house points this year."

Ominis let out a scoff, "More like lost so many house points."

Sebastian turns to look at his friend, "Why can't you just let me have my moment?"

Professor Black arrived moments later. The babble died away. "Another year gone!" Professor Balck said cheerfully. "What a year it has been! Hopefully, your heads are all a little fuller than they were... you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts..." he pauses for a moment. "Now, as I understand it, the House Cup here needs awarding, and the points stand thus: In fourth place, Gryffindor, with three hundred and twelve points; in third, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty-two; Ravenclaw has four hundred and twenty six and Slytherin, four hundred and seventy-two."

A storm of cheering and stamping broke out from the Slytherin table, with Anne and Sebastian cheering the loudest. I sat there quietly, smiling at them. Ominis banged his goblet on the table. At this moment it was the best evening of my life, sitting here surrounded by my friends, celebrating a winning. I will never forget tonight.

A little bit after the feast we all got our exam results back. To Sebastian's great surprise, he passed with good marks, me and Omins scored higher than him but then Anne scored the highest of all the first years.

Pretty soon we all found ourselves boarding the Hogwarts Express, talking and laughing as the countryside became greener and tidier and eating Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans as we sped past muggle towns. Before long we were pulling into platform nine and three-quarters at King's Cross station.

"Can you see my mother out there?" Ominis spoke up after a rather silent trip.

I glance out of the window and see the many parents standing out there waiting on their children. My eyes scan over them looking for the woman I had met when I first boarded the train which felt like so long ago. "Yeah," I answer as my eyes finally land on her standing next to a tall man that had similar hair to Ominis, and a cane. "I think your father is with her," I add.

I look back at my friend and see his expression change to fear for just a moment before he masks it. "We'll have to say goodbye on the train then," He says glumly. I don't bother to ask him why, I figure it's because of my blood status.

The four of us stand up and wrap our arms around each other. "You guys have to promise to write to me," I tell them as I fill my eyes and start to get watery. I don't want to say goodbye.

"I promise." The twins said at the same time causing me to laugh.

"I will send my letters that are for you to Sebastian to send to you," Ominis says to me causing me to be confused. "My mother reads my letters, and she might not like it if I am sending a letter to you."

"I'm going to miss you guys," Anne says looking between Ominis and me.

With that Ominis was the first to step off of the train followed by the twins and finally myself. I watched as my blonde-haired friend slowly made his way over to his parents and they embraced him. I see Sabastian and Anne standing with their uncle, they had told me that he always picks them up from school since their parents are professors and usually stay at the castle for a few days.

Finn catches up to me as he steps off the train. "I feel like I haven't seen you all year," he says throwing an arm over my shoulder.

"I saw you this morning as I was walking to breakfast," I inform him.

"And you didn't even say hello?" he asks sarcastically. We head to the back of the platform as we wait for our mother. "How was your first year of Hogwarts?"

I look up at him and see that his black hair is a mess, "It was great. I made a few friends and I did great in all my classes."

His face falls as I tell him that I made friends. "Yeah, I heard you befriended Guant." He says with distaste.

"What's wrong with that?" I ask him, my eyes leaving him to look behind him where my friend and his brother stand with their parents.

"You don't want to associate with that family, Lila. They are nothing but trouble. Especially Marvolo." He says before turning around and following my gaze.

I don't say anything because I know my brother would never listen to me, but he is not going to stop me from hanging out with Ominis next year, or Sebastian, or Anne. They are my friends and unless they give me a reason, and it has to be a pretty good reason, I'm not going to leave them.

"Finn, Lila." Our mother says as she arrives at the Platform. "Sorry I am late, I got held up at work and your father didn't know how to get here."

She leads us away from the train and apparates us to our home. It's a muggle town where my father grew up. We appear in the yard, she doesn't want us to appear in the house in case of the rare occasion that my father's parents are over. I head inside our home already thinking about what I am going to do this summer and what I could write about to my friends.

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With this chapter we have reached the end of year one. They gradually get longer as the years go. Also the chapters get longer. I usually don't write long chapters and I usually don't like long chapters but I guess for this book the words just flow out of me.

Year two is a little bit longer and it's the start of the longer chapters. I am so excited for this and the years to come, I just need to get out of my writing slump. Like I know what I want to write I know exactly how I want it play out but I just can't find the motivation to write it down. But slowly every day I've been writing at least a hundred words a day, other days it's more it's close to a thousand. But I am determined to finish this.