The Serpents Hold | Ominis Gaunt

Chapter Fourteen

Nova suppressed a gag as the lumpy potion oozed down her throat like a soggy chunk of cement. She tossed her head back in protest, having instant regrets as her tender wound collided with the pillow.

"That stuff is repugnant," she croaked, shoving the emptied vial back into the outstretched hand.

"But it's effective." The matron pressed her fingers against Nova's pulse. She cast an approving glance toward her enchanted quill, which dutifully transcribed the signs of improvement. "There's a marked increase in your lucidity and the colours returning to your cheeks."

"I'd rather be concussed."

"And your attitude is on the mend," she added less enthusiastically. "Brace yourself; there's more of this concoction in your future before I permit you to leave." She beckoned her quill and clipboard to follow her as she moved on to attend to the next ailing student.

Nova vented her frustration with a feeble kick, causing her bedsheets to become a tangled mess around her feet. "I can't take much more of this place. I'm bored to death."

"You've only been here four days," Poppy sat cross-legged at the foot of the bed, contentedly munching on the chocolate bar she'd brought for Nova. "And the first two, you were so heavily medicated you didn't even realise you were here."

"I wasn't that spaced out," Nova grumbled, extending her hand. Poppy broke off a few chocolate squares and placed them in her outstretched palm. "I'm so uncomfortable. I can't find a position to rest my head without wanting to tear it off."

"Nearly headless Nova," Poppy quipped, her words muffled by her mouthful of chocolate.

Nova's laughter turned into a painful grunt as the abrupt motion spun her head. "Please, don't make me laugh," she clutched her belly to stifle the heaving of her chest. "Fucking Sebastian."

Poppy's mouth tightened as she watched her friend squeeze her eyes shut to subdue the throbbing pain. "What made him do this to you? I thought you two were close."

"I upset him," Nova told her as if that wasn't evident from the two-inch fracture on her skull. "He's going through a tough time with Anne being so ill, and I wasn't very considerate of that. He had every right to be annoyed."

"I don't condone his behaviour, but I don't believe he intended to inflict this much damage. He seemed really upset when he saw the blood."

"He was already upset. If he were truly sorry, he'd come to visit."

Nova silently admitted he could have visited during those initial forty-eight hours, and she would be none the wiser. The concussion, combined with the medication to alleviate it, truly had put her psyche through the wringer. She was reasonably sure Ominis had visited when classes were in session to keep it discreet. However, she also recalled him fist-fighting a house elf, so whether his presence was a memory or hallucination was anyone's guess.

"I doubt Sebastian would have been permitted to visit you." Poppy began meticulously folding the chocolate wrapper into a neat triangle. "From what I heard, he narrowly escaped expulsion."

"If that were the case, Ominis would have played the Gaunt card to bail him out; it wouldn't be the first time."

"I'm not sure he would have. I've never seen Ominis anything other than quiet and composed, but he was furious. It was quite frightening."

"What?" A throb coursed through Nova's skull as she pushed herself upright. She hadn't thought much about the aftermath of the clash between Ominis and Sebastian, naively assuming they would patch things up and move on.