Hogwarts Legacy : A Sixth Year Continuation

Chapter Sixty-Six : Unbreakable Vow

Drip Drip Drip

My quill was creating another pool of ink at the corner of my paper, I couldn't see the hourglass, but there was probably eight minutes left if my intuition was anything to go on. And it usually was.
The ink was bleeding like blood through intricate veins across the parchment.
The scrape of quills was an irritating symphony around the room , and the click of Professor Onai's heels across the great hall was setting my teeth on edge.

The final few weeks of exam preparation had been chilly, and not because of the time of year. Ruby and I hadn't spoken a word to each other since the beach. Upon returning to Hogwarts that night she had been "asleep" by the time I'd entered the dormitory. Asleep she was not, her breaths were too silent, too calculated. I made a point of crashing my curtains shut, something I'd not done in the month or so that we'd spent as close cousins. Mealtimes were punctuated with deep sighs and the dramatic slamming of cutlery. Sebastian found it all incredibly tiring. Initially he had laughed and made jokes at our expense, forever trying to lighten the tension, to no avail.

This didn't last long and he was soon telling us it was all very silly and we should put it behind us. We had both glared at him and he'd not spoken a word on the subject since.

Ominis, however, had taken absolutely no interest in the drama between his sister and cousin. When he wasn't in class he wasn't in Hogwarts. Stacks of books under his arm he'd vanish to London on whatever mysterious business he'd been on since Christmas. I had come to grow bored of his secrets, as irritating as it was that he wouldn't share, it seems like a loosing battle that I must concede.

Drip Drip Drip

Mr. Brooke had written to say that the cocktails were delicious and thanked me for the recipe. A code in our letters that we had agreed on , when he wanted to let me know he had cast the blood magic around the inn. Keeping anyone of gaunt blood out unless they were explicitly invited in. This had allowed me a couple more hours of sleep at night. Anne was fast becoming worse, barley able to leave her bed most days.

"Did she speak to you too?" I'd asked Ominis one night as we studied in an empty common room. He'd nodded quietly, reading through the thick book that I'd sneaked a peak at, containing only muggle poetry.

"What'd she say?"

"That she was ready." He'd mumbled in response.

"Well, I hope we've made some good memories for her, maybe we-"

Then the most curious thing had happened. Ominis snapped his book shut with a look of pure realisation on his face. He said that he had to go , and without as much as a second look in my direction he ran from the common room. Something I'd said had triggered an urgent response, something that he'd been working through in his mind had finally clicked into place. It had kept me up all night and when he hadn't reappeared by midnight I retired to the dorm and stared at the ceiling until the dawn broke.

Drip Drip Drip

I hadn't known how to broach the subject of his sister with Sebastian, any time her name had been mentioned in the group he would briskly change the subject. It seemed, although he'd say different, he still hadn't accepted Anne's fate. We had lay side by side in the room of requirement when I finally took the chance.

"She's peaceful. Brooke will let us know if she takes a turn...we can go to her." I said as we stared at the amber sky of the phoenix enclosure. Said Phoenix was enjoying Sebastian's attention, as he ran his fingers down the reddish brown plumage.

"It will be a burning day for him soon, he doesn't look great." He'd said quietly, swallowing hard.

I sat up to admire the bird. I'd never seen him burn , I wasn't sure of the lifespan of a Phoenix, but I knew what Sebastian meant. The bird hadn't flown the whole time we'd been in the enclosure, his feathers seemed duller, eyes milky.