Hogwarts Legacy: The Price of Power

The Source

The trio collapsed in the Room, barely stopping to kick off their shoes and tug off their cloaks before they fell onto the bed in the little bedroom, curling into each other effortlessly. Ominis was asleep in seconds, his face pressed between Dracaena's shoulder blades again, and Sebastian followed soon after, nuzzled against her chest. Dracaena herself fought against the pull of sleep a moment longer, her mind storming with all that had happened, their narrow escape, and the bundle of raggedy pages in Sebastian's pocket. But before she could ponder anything more about them, sleep overtook her.

A few hours later, she struggled into wakefulness, Ominis clinging to her like a spider monkey, his arms wrapped around her waist. She blinked, raising her head as her hands explored the bed before her, finding Sebastian gone. She jolted into alertness, sitting upright and earning a protesting groan from Ominis as he tried to pull her back down.

"Shh," she said, distractedly. "Just sleep, Omi."

She eased out of his grip, pulled the blanket more securely around him, and hurried out into the main Room, swiping the sleep from her eyes. Sebastian was at his blackboards again, his eyes bagged but sparkling, the chalk tapping and scraping as he hurried it across. He glanced over as she appeared, and frowned.

"You're meant to be asleep, love," he said, pulling her into a hug all the same.

"So are you," she replied, peering at the blackboards, then at the pages spread over a nearby desk. "Bassy... have you translated them?"

"Yeah," he said, putting down his chalk. "I woke up about an hour ago, and I couldn't get it out of my head. They're what we went to get, and I didn't want to wait anymore, especially after everything we went through."

"What do they say?" Dracaena asked, a budding excitement pushing away her fatigue.

"I'd rather like to know myself," Ominis said, joining them. He was pale, his hair tousled, but he smiled. "I hope it's worth it, I think I could cope with the fact I was tortured again if they're useful."

Dracaena reached over and took his hand, pulling him close. "You should be resting," she said, softly. "You need it, Omi."

"I'm fine," he said, resting his head on hers. "I'm used to little sleep, remember?"

Dracaena didn't answer, preferring to just hold him against her. Their adventure had resulted in dire consequences for him, for not only had he endured torture at the hands of his family once again, but his animagus form had been discovered. She shuddered. That wasn't even the worst of it. Knowing the Gaunts planned to force him to wed his own sister was beyond foul to her, and she opened her mouth to say something. One look at his face, however, told her now was not the time, and she settled for holding him, trying to pour all the love she held for him into her embrace.

Sebastian grinned at them both, then ruffled Dracaena's hair. "Like the rest of the book, the pages aren't specific about anything," he said. "But it's the handwritten notes that make it interesting." He pointed at the pages, showing them where someone had scribbled tiny, cramped runes along the margins.

"What do they say?" Ominis asked.

Sebastian's grin broadened. "It's what I thought it was," he said. "The pages refer to something known as the 'Source,' and it's vague as all hell, but it suggests that it's an extremely powerful, ancient form of magic, like what you've got, Drac." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I thought it was what you've got, like if you learned how to use it at will, you could do anything, but then I remembered that your magic obeys the laws, and can't do the impossible, even when you're doing mad shit like setting yourself on fire and making yourself invulnerable to curses. Theoretically, it's possible, even if it's not known how it's done."