The Serpent and The Bird

Taste Like Heaven

- What in the bloody hell happened to your face? You look butchered.

Anne always had a knack for saying the right thing. The silver lining was that Ominis was blind and was unable to add any sarcastic observations.

- Don't be unpleasant, Anne. He's always been ghastly to look at.

He guessed being blind hadn't stopped him before. They both loved to gang up on him at any given moment. However, his sister stood up from the couch she was sitting while drinking a butterbeer to approach Sebastian with a worried face.

- No, seriously. He has a bloody nose and a black eye.

She said that out loud for Ominis, that immediately erased the grin from his face and got up to come closer to the siblings.

- In what bloody mess did you get yourself into now, Sallow?

- It's a long story.

- There's no school tomorrow. We have all night.

The three of them made their way to the couches, tucked into one side of the room, by a homey fireplace that provided some warmth in the coldness of the Undercroft. Sebastian then proceeded to narrate every detail of that day, starting with the trip to Hogsmeade, followed by the troll attack and the interaction between the goblin and Rookwood. And finally, Rockwood interest in the new girl at the Three Broomsticks.

- A troll? In Hogsmeade? - Anne sounded just like Sirona. - I've never heard that one before.

- The troll was the distraction that Rookwood and the goblin were talking about, no doubt about that. - Ominis added, reclining on his seat while his sightless eyes were looking ahead. - Describe the goblin to me, Sebastian.

- Short. Ugly. Old.

- Oh, yes. That's a very distinct description. Not at all vague.

- I don't bloody know, Ominis. He looked like any other goblin I've met before. - All three of them fell silent. - He had red eyes. They were... pure evil.

- Oh, Merlin's beard. - Anne stretched her arm towards the little tea table where their butterbeers were resting and grabbed a newspaper from it. She searched rapidly through the pages of the Daily Prophet, ignoring the moving images, until she found the article she was looking for. - Sebastian, is this the goblin? - The name of the article was Ranrok's Goblin Rebellion. Truth or Gobbledegook?

Sebastian stared at the image and nodded, dawning in realization. - That's the one. I knew he looked familiar.

- Wait, is he the famous goblin that has gone around trying to instigate a revolt against wizards? - Ominis wasn't able to see, but he still liked to be informed about the world surrounding him. He would normally enchant newspapers to be read out loud for him. Same thing he did with his class books. - Why would he be talking to Rookwood? Is that not counterproductive to his cause?

- Maybe they have a shared motive. - Sebastian was speculating out loud, playing with his half empty bottle. - Whatever it is, it involves Everleigh. And I bet you five galleons that it has to do with the magic I saw. I've never... I've never seen something quite like it.

- Perhaps that's why she was able to come to this school. - Anne suggested, pensive.

- I don't know, I didn't get the feeling that she wanted people to know. She looked positively scared after the troll transformed into dust. Like... - Sebastian thought about Everleigh's broken expression when she realized he had witnessed the extent of her power. - Like she was terrified that she wouldn't be able to control it.

- She's alone in a foreign country. Perhaps she would do good with a friend.

Those words were spoken by Ominis, and both Anne and Sebastian directed their eyes towards him, with an astonished face.