Legacy Disowned - Book 1

Chapter 14 - Fear

The enchanted ceiling of the Great Hall reflected the bright and clear autumn morning outside as Maggie regaled her friends with her latest financial success.

"So you swindled him?" Imelda said bluntly, though a playful smirk tugged at her lips.

"Swindle seems like a strong word," Maggie replied, sipping her coffee with an air of dignity, "He wanted me to steal from his ex-business partner. If anything, I prevented a robbery."

She shot a brief glance across the table. Ominis and Sebastian seemed to be having some kind of argument. Ominis' face was screwed up in irritation while Sebastian seemed to be whispering some kind of plea in his ear.

"Oh please," Imelda laughed, pulling her attention back. "If you were that concerned about doing the morally upright thing you would have just said no instead of fooling him with a phoney plant."

"But then I wouldn't have gotten paid" Maggie replied with the air of someone explaining that one and one is two. She couldn't keep her eyes from occasionally darting over to the quietly arguing boys. As Imelda excused herself to go flying, she seized the opportunity to investigate.

"Alright, spill it," she demanded playfully. "What are you two whispering about?"

Apparently her prodding was the last straw for Ominis. Forcefully shoving his plate away, he rose from the table and stormed off, leaving an uncomfortable silence in his wake.

"Sebastian, what's going on?" Maggie asked slowly. Some tiny irrational part of her couldn't help but feel a little left out.

Sebastian hesitated for a moment, looking hopelessly around the hall before leaning across the table to whisper, "There's supposedly a secret scriptorium somewhere in Hogwarts that belonged to Salazar Slytherin. I've just found out that Ominis knows where the entrance is but he won't tell me. He's being ridiculous."

"Why? What do you think is in there?"

"Books," Sebastian replied simply.

Maggie brought her hand to her mouth to try and cover the mocking smile that was forcing itself onto her face.

Sebastian rolled his eyes, shaking his head with a chuckle. "Ancient books," he said turning serious, "Ones that might contain something that could help me heal Anne."

The teasing look slid off her face and she nodded firmly. "Then we need to get Ominis on board."

"I'm trying," Sebastian sighed. "But he's just so stubborn... he thinks the scriptorium will be full of books on dark magic...which it probably will be," he added reluctantly. "But—"

"But where there is information on curses there is also information on how to break them." she finished for him.

"Exactly!"

"I— I don't want to pry but I'm a little confused... Ominis seems to adore Anne, and he didn't strike me as the type to let arbitrary rules—"

"Don't misunderstand!" Sebastian said quickly, "I know Ominis cares about Anne and even though he gets on my case I know he wants me to succeed. He's just..." As Sebastian struggled to find the right words Maggie thought she understood. It seemed Ominis had found himself in an impossible situation between his two best friends. On one side he desperately hoped Sebastian would find a cure, but on the other he didn't want to go against Anne's wishes, as they may very well be her last.

"Perhaps I overstepped," Sebastian sighed deeply. "It's personal to him..." He searched her eyes for a moment, biting his lip. "Promise to keep this between us?"

She answered him with a smirk that she knew he would understand meant that her silence should be a given at this point.

He smiled appreciatively, but his tone grew serious as he began to explain. He told her that Ominis had been taught dark magic from a very young age. It was expected for a child born into the Gaunt family. They were descended from Slytherin himself and valued purity of blood above all else. Muggles were little more than animals to them. So, his parents and older siblings had no qualms using the cruciatus curse on muggles for sport. Ominis grown up around these ruthless tortures, subjected to the screams of his own family's victims.