The Shadow of Slytherin

A concerned friend

Almost a week has passed since Akira got attacked, and yet you have not heard from him, or seen him, not Alex either. And even though you have managed to distract Sebastian with the number of books, claiming they all had some information in them, leaving him occupied with reading through them all, you have not had the time to speak with Alec or Atticus, both of whom have vanished as well.

Early this morning, you get out of bed to find Sebastian and Ominis in the common room, Sebastian with a book in hand while Ominis points his wand at him.

"I cannot believe, you locked me out. You have never done that before" Sebastian exclaims, the hand thrown through the air. "The undercroft is our secret place, not yours alone"

"It is a family place, only members of the Gaunt family are allowed to enter it, and I locked it so no one else can come in while I wanted to be alone, without you bothering me"

Shaking your head, you walk up to the sofa and drop yourself onto it, watching as Sebastian steps forward, but then halts and stares at you. "Good morning, you know for a secret place, you may want to whisper. Not that someone finds out about it"

"Why bother, no one can enter anyway, but Ominis" Sebastian throws out, the book pointed at you. "Its no use, I found nothing. That's the third one" Without another word, he storms out the common room while you remain on the sofa, Ominis having a seat next to you.

"Well, they did occupy him for almost a week" you admit, leaning your head back, the hand pressed against the bridge of your nose. "Now what?"

"I do not know, he keeps on talking about a secret scriptorium, he found out about through a book on Slytherin history. Just, he cannot find out where it is, a page he still has to translate from ancient runes, but it takes him way longer than I expected"

"Ancient runes?"

His body leant to he side, Ominis rests his head on your shoulder, staring off into the nothingness as he sighs. "You'll get to learn it sixth year. Sebastian and Anne always had a fable for secret languages, they tried teaching me those as well, but I never quite got them. Anne loved runes, she would write full books of them to leave messages for Sebastian, but he is not as quick to learn them"

"I see"

A smug grin on his face, Ominis turns his head to you as he rises to sit straight, "Good, because I do not"

Laughing, you drop back onto the sofa, pulling a cushion and smacking Ominis with it. "Will you look at that, Ominis Gaunt, making a joke"

His hand held out before him, Ominis laughs as well, grabs a cushion from the other side of the sofa and hits you with it, or at least in your direction as you manage to dodge him and jump off the sofa, the cushion before you in defence. "Looks like you missed" But the same moment those words leave your mouth, Ominis climbs over the back of the sofa, hitting you hard enough to knock you off your feet.

With a yelp, you fall backwards onto the ground. For a second, you sit still, then burst into laughter while Ominis hurries over, concerned at the sound of your body dropping. He offers you his hand to pull you up, but instead, you use the chance to smack him with the pillow and run off, around the sofa, chased by him until he stumbles, slips and takes you down with him.

Giggling, you both land on the carpet before the fireplace, the cushions beneath your bodies as you roll around and take a deep breath.

For just a moment it all seems so calm, just like a normal school year. The teachers have given you a few more assignments, and you do well to finish them, learning a few more spells as you keep on researching to find out about the next trial.