The Keeper's Snake // Sebastian Sallow

Phoenix Feather, Mahogany Wood

It had been three days since her trip to Hogsmeade. Fiona woke up refreshed. The day before she had Arithmancy, which she loved. Anything to do with numbers was up her alley. Today she had Potions and Herbology. She didn't know what to expect from either class, but she hoped Potions was similar to Chemistry. She made her way to the Great Hall and ran into Sebastian on the way.

"Good morning Moriarty," he grinned, "fancy seeing you here!"

Fiona rolled her eyes and gave him a smile.

"Good morning Sallow. I would say the odds of seeing each other at the Great Hall during meal times are rather high."

"Leave it to a Ravenclaw to bring statistics into it." He teased. "Would you like to sit with me?"

"Of course Sebastian!" Fiona chirped.

Sebastian felt himself letting out a breath of relief. He recognized he was nervous. But why? She was just his friend. They made their way to the Slytherin table and sat across from Ominis.

"Sebastian is that you?" Ominis asked, "and who have you brought with you?"

"Yes Ominis it's me. This is Fiona Moriarty, the new fifth year." Fiona held out her hand to Ominis.

"Darling I do hope you aren't waiting for a hand shake. I'm blind and might have trouble finding your hand."

Instead of retracting her hand. Fiona took her other hand to guide Ominis's hand into hers. Ominis was secretly shocked as normally Hogwarts students were too afraid of him and his family to even think about touching him, but Fiona was different.

"Well Miss Moriarty, as you heard from Sebastian, I am Ominis, Ominis Gaunt."

Fiona knew who the Gaunts were. Her parents were Slytherins after all. But she didn't want to judge Ominis. Besides, if Sebastian was friends with him, how bad could he be?

"I must disclose that I do not share my family's heinous views on blood status." Ominis stated.

"Of course not Ominis," Fiona started, "I would hope we are all judged independent of our parents' actions and beliefs."

At that comment Sebastian had thought back to the countless times Solomon had chastised him for being his father's son. What was that even supposed to mean?

"Well Fiona, it was lovely meeting you, but I am going to already head to my next class. I'll be seeing you around." Ominis joked.

Sebastian immediately started laughing, and then Fiona joined in. With that, Ominis made his way out of the Great Hall, with his wand flashing red.

"Well I have never seen Ominis take to someone so quickly. What's your secret?" Sebastian joked.

Fiona shrugged. "I guess it's my charm! Hey can you explain why his wand glows?"

"Ominis was born blind," Sebastian started, "and his parents tried everything to remedy it to no avail. He was pretty dependent on help until he got his wand. Somehow he sees with it. I reckon it's sentient. Seems like the wand chose Ominis."

"Wow that's amazing!" Fiona quipped, "just two days ago Ollivander said the wand chooses the witch or wizard."

"And which wand chose you, if I may ask?" Sebastian inquired.

Fiona took out her wand and placed it on the table. "Phoenix feather, mahogany wood."

Sebastian gasped in disbelief and pulled out his wand. It looked almost identical to Fiona's.

"Phoenix feather, mahogany wood." He said. Both he and Fiona felt their wands pull towards each other, but they both quickly put their wands away. What did this mean?