The Serpents Hold | Ominis Gaunt

Chapter Twelve

The unsteady gable of the covered bridge groaned beneath the weight of snow as Nova tumbled onto the outskirts of Hogwarts in a disoriented heap. Her trembling legs betrayed her as she reached for one of the tall rocks, struggling to regain her footing.

Ominis touched down nearby, his arrival significantly more graceful than her own. Nevertheless, he extended his fingers to find support from the timber beams while concealing a grimace of pain.

"You really should go to the hospital wing," Nova urged, watching with growing concern as he began to pace circles around the stone formation with an intermittent limp.

Ominis brushed off her suggestion, his pride preventing him from acknowledging the pain caused by his brother's strike. "It was a warning," he uttered between panicked chest heaves. "If he had intended harm, he would have acted upon it."

"I don't understand. What did he mean by 'suffer the same fate' as your former love? Who was he referring to?"

"That's not the crucial part," Ominis snapped, his fingers scraping down his face, tugging at his skin until it stretched taut beneath his bony fingers. I warned you this was coming. I've angered someone. It's in our best interests for you to maintain your distance from me."

"Could he have meant Alice?" she pondered aloud before promptly dismissing the idea. "Noctua?" she acknowledged the possibility with a hint of discomfort. This was an incestuous insinuation from Marvolo, but given his family, it was not entirely surprising.

"Nova, you need to understand what I'm saying."

"He mentioned Noctua; could that be what he meant?" Nova furrowed her brow, barely registering Ominis' indignant pleas. "He mentioned 'leaving her there,' so he must have been with her in the scriptorium, right?"

She only became aware of her frantic pacing when Ominis grasped her shoulders and brought her to an abrupt halt.

"You need to stop," he stressed through clenched teeth. "The 'why' and 'how' don't matter. What matters is I've angered them, and they're targeting you if I misstep. Stay in the castle, avoid Hogsmeade, and stay away from Feldcroft. If you receive an invitation to go anywhere alone, report it to Sharp , not Black. Repeat that back to me."

"No, you don't understand - Marvolo was in the scriptorium," Nova grabbed onto his arms, baffled by his lack of reaction to his brother's confession. "Noctua didn't die because she had no one to cast the curse on; he cast the curse on her... then abandoned her."

"Nova..." Ominis growled, his teary eyes causing her breath to catch.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean..." A lump caught in her throat, and though a part of her longed to provide reassurance that she would take the warning seriously, her racing thoughts prevented her from finding the right words of comfort. Instead, she blurted out, "I just... why would they have gone in together?"

Ominis pressed his finger and thumb firmly against his eyes, attempting to wipe away the moisture before it could spill. "Noctua wanted to prove to my family that Slytherin was about more than just blood status. She tried to persuade my father to join, but when that failed, I suppose she turned to my brother."

"Do you think he followed the same paper trail as Sebastian?" She knew the pieces were right before her, but her mind spun so wildly that she couldn't weave them into a coherent picture. "We need to warn Sebastian-"

Her mouth snapped shut in surprise as Ominis seized her wrists and clamped them down at her sides. He pushed her back until she was cornered between him and one of the towering rocks that surrounded them.