The Serpents Hold | Ominis Gaunt

Prologue

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Nova had read the letter close to a hundred times, though she felt no more prepared now than she did the first time.

Kings Cross Station, Downtown London, platform 9 ¾.

The witch furrowed her brow, running a finger along the creases of her uncle's map she'd unearthed from the recesses of his bureau.

A fingernail sliced through the paper as the sharp crack of his apparition made her jump out of her skin.

"When do you leave my premises?"

Nova propped an elbow on the map to conceal the chasm she'd ripped straight through Covent Garden.

"Tomorrow."

"Oh, splendid news!" The robust wizard flopped into his office chair, spinning around with a flair and sending dust swirling around his cluttered office. "You have quite the talent for overstaying your welcome."

"I've been here three days."

"I know what I said."

With a snap of his fingers, he conjured a brass flask and downed a swig. Nova recoiled as the liquid cascaded from the edge of his overflowing mouth and leaked into his greying beard, which was already gummed with unsightly additions.

"If you felt this way, why'd you even agree to take me on?"

"If I had known it was you from the start, I likely wouldn't have."

The witch yanked a letter sitting hallway down his disorderly stack of paperwork, deliberately triggering a landslide of documents that fluttered across his desk.

She unfurled the parchment and began to read, "Dear Mr Ralph Jones, I regret to inform you of the unfortunate decline in the health of your brother-in-law, Archibald Fenwick. As the next of kin to his daughter, Miss Nova Fenwick, we hereby request-"

"Bahhh," Ralph flailed his arm in her general direction as if swatting a pestering fly. "You expect me to recall which one you are by name? Could have been any of my nieces."

"You have two."

"Yeah, too many."

"The other one is four years old."

"I wasn't aware there was an age limit to having your father committed."

Nova released a defeated huff. It was a low blow, but he had a point.

Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

"Do you have any of this stuff from when you were at Hogwarts?" She asked, turning to pass him the list, but he had already bolted out the door.

~

Nova's bloodshot eyes clung to the festering black mould lurking in the corner of the ceiling. Sleep eluded her as she contorted on the couch to avoid the mystery stain sullying the fabric. A foot away, Ralph's chair groaned beneath his weight as he hammered away at his typewriter, burying any hope for a peaceful night with an onslaught of unnecessary work.

With a resigned groan, she dragged herself out of the pitiful excuse for a bed, threw on her robes, and stormed out of the front door with her trunk in tow.

~

As Nova staggered through the smoggy backstreets of London, she had regrets.

The sturdy leather suitcase awkwardly trailed behind, inflicting painful blows to the back of her heels as if punishing her decision to forgo the promised morning lift. Refusing to humble herself and turn back, she pressed forward, guided by her uncle's stolen map, until she eventually reached Kings Cross station.