Slytherin Roar: Through the Maze || Tom Riddle's Era

Chapter 7 || First Spell

"This is such a bad idea!" I shrieked over the other students.

We were just five metres above the ground but the wind of the Ánemoi Thúellai was starting to pick up. I let out a piercing scream as a black shadow hurtled towards me. I barely dodged it and quickly regained my balance, but not before giving me a small blood-rush to my head. Shaking my head, I gripped the wooden stick harder and headed for the clouds.

"Admittedly," Tom shouted, "I am having second thoughts about this." He grimaced at my glare.

"Get your wand ready and, for the love of Olympus, stop second-guessing your plan!"

We both halted just in the middle of the students and pointed at our wands at the moving silhouettes of the storm spirits.

"How are you doing up here?"

I almost lost my grip on my broom. I smiled widely when a mop of dishevelled platinum-blonde hair popped next to me.

"Abraxas! You're still alive!"

"Yeah—wait, you thought I was dead?"

I didn't say anything; I forgot how weak they were in life-or-death situations.

"Watch out!" Tom warned, pointing at the upcoming storm spirit flying in our direction. We ducked away from the creature and Tom swiftly levelled his wand to it and flicked his wrist. "Petrificus totalus."

The light struck the creature and it stopped. There was an agonizing pause where we all held a breath, but then it started to move again, this time more annoyed than amused. It howled and lunged at us with vigour.

"SCATTER!" I screamed.

We dodged every single obstacle in the air somehow and halted in the shadowed part on the edge of the field. The creatures shrugged and flew away, making their way to continue to wreak more havoc to others.

"Well, that went well," Abraxas murmured.

Tom glared at the chaotic scene above us. "I just don't understand why the spell didn't work on the storm spirits."

"Maybe it doesn't work on any greek monsters," I said, shifting on the broom uncomfortably.

Tom looked at me. "You're going to have to use that spell, Vivienne."

"What spell?" Abraxas glanced between us.

"The spell from Circe's book." I adjusted my bag and took out the book and flipped the pages to the spell. "If it works, it's supposed to petrify the storm spirits."

"What if it doesn't work?"

"We're... most likely going to die."

"You think it'll work?" Abraxas looked at me hopefully.

No, the answer immediately popped up in my mind. Interestingly enough, my training in sorcery was not exactly successful in the past two years, and from what I can tell, this spell was more advanced. The chances of succeeding in the performance of this magic were close to... well, zero.

I cleared my throat. "I'm not entirely sure." There was another sharp scream and I winced.

"Okay," Tom said. "Abraxas and I will try to clear the students away and distract the storm spirits for you." He was uncharacteristically nervous. "We'll also try to group them together. While at it, try to practice the spell."

"All right," I breathed out.

They smiled gently at me; their lips were shaking and they were turning blue. When I smiled back, they flew in different directions across the air. I turned to the yellowing pages and repeated the Latin words over and over until they almost rolled off out of my lips. Momentarily, I took my eyes off of the page and saw that Tom and Abraxas were miraculously grouping the storm spirits together, somehow freeing the students from the creatures' grasp. I stared at them blankly until I realised that I had to cast the spell.