The Serpents Hold | Ominis Gaunt

Chapter Seven

"Nova asks, and you immediately fold?" Sebastian pouted, dragging his feet along the dungeon floor. "You wouldn't listen to me when I practically begged."

Nova gave him a jab in the ribs, frustrated at his lack of gratitude. She had expected a triumphant fanfare for persuading Ominis to help, only to be met with this sulky brat instead.

"What was it your book said?" Ominis ignored his tantrum, coming to a halt at the end of the corridor. Candlelight filtered down the narrow passageway, casting long shadows around them as he turned to Nova. "Something about threes?"

"The heir of the serpent ignites the triad of flames," Sebastian recited from memory, his expression darkening as the faint jeers of students flowed through the hallway. "You need to hurry before everyone starts coming back from dinner."

Sconces were nailed into the dungeon walls, chandeliers of interlocked candles swayed above their heads, but nothing stood out as a triad.

"Ominis, can you cast a revealing charm?"

"You and your revealing charms," Sebastian muttered under his breath, pretending to clean something from under his nailbed.

"Stop sulking, or the only thing I'll reveal is your deathbed."

"Don't," Ominis scolded, withdrawing his wand. Her being told off dragged a reluctant smirk out of Sebastian.

As Ominis voiced the incantation, three braziers appeared along the dungeon walls. They felt oddly familiar, as though they had always been there but bewitched to be ignored like the entrance to the Undercroft.

"A triad of flames?"

"Ever the observant one," Sebastian said with reignited enthusiasm. "Over to your left, Ominis."

The heir of Slytherin hurled three bolts of fire at the braziers, and a deafening crack tore through the corridor, its violent tremors rattling the ground beneath their feet.

Dust erupted from the fractures in the wall as it crumbled away, unveiling a dark, ominous passageway. The suffocating cloud of grit assaulted their senses and Nova fought to keep pace with Sebastian, whose urgent voice pierced through the chaos.

"Move." He hacked as he grasped Nova's elbow and hauled her towards the opening in the wall.

The trio barely had time to hurl themselves over the threshold before the debris withdrew, reforming and sealing the wall back up, imprisoning them in the chamber. As their hoarse coughing gradually subsided, the oppressive silence took over— magnifying every raspy breath until it felt deafening. Nova blinked rapidly, but her vision was engulfed in darkness.

"Ominis, is this what it's like to be you?"

Sebastian's comment was followed by a smack. Nova conjured a lumos, casting a light on Sebastian as he rubbed the back of his head and shot an accusatory glare at Ominis.

"Would you two help me light this place?"

"Scared of the dark?" Sebastian infused magic into his wand and flooding light into the far corners of the chamber.

"No, she's scared of spiders," Ominis smirked as his fingertips trailed along the deteriorating walls.

"I can be scared of two things."

As if mocking her words, a cobweb floated down from the shallow ceiling, caressing her face with its delicate strands. She stumbled backwards and collided with a vaulted metal gate in a frantic attempt to swat it away.

Ignoring Sebastian's laughter, Nova pressed her ear against the door. "Can you hear that hissing?" she asked, feeling for a draft seeping through the doorframe.