Trial of Time: A Hogwarts Legacy Story

(P2) Chapter 9 - The Cloak

Sebastian POV

After the bonding was complete, the rest of our time in the chamber was a blur. Ciri was beyond upset, having fully been hit with the gravity of what Ominis had done. I'd be lying to myself if I said I wasn't concerned but I would never tell him that. I understood the price he had to pay, for the safety of the castle and those within it.

Ominis looked even paler after the bonding, his eyes bloodshot and worn. We've sat in silence in the main living area of the Room of Requirement, his nose and wand buried in an unknown tome across from me. I can hear Ciri softly crying, faint sniffles coming from within the room that she has refused to leave for the past five hours.

"She's been in there crying for too long. You must talk to her," Ominis says bluntly, his face staying buried in the tome.

"Me? Why me?" I ask, flabbergasted. Ominis shrugs slightly, "You have a... deeper history."

"We haven't had much conversation in over eight years! Not until you both came traipsing into Hogwarts wanting to unearth some Dark wizards' plot-"

Ominis snaps the book shut abruptly, turning to me with his wand still in hand. "Look at me and tell me, with a hundred percent honesty, that every part of you doesn't wish to go in there and comfort her."

I sit back, silently irritated and arms crossed. I don't say anything. He's right, and he knows it. Ominis chuckles slightly, reopening the tome and resuming his reading, "I swear, Sebastian, in all the years of our friendship you are still so incredibly predictable."

"And you are incredibly annoying," I huff in response, immediately standing up and making my way over to Ciri's bedroom door.

The quiet sniffles stop as I gently rap my knuckles on the door. "Cirilla," I say. "May I come in?"

No answer. I sigh. "Ciri, please."

The door unlatches itself and opens up to reveal her, sitting in an armchair by the hearth near the back of her room as her wand drops down. Her ashen hair is strewn over her shoulders, completely disheveled, with bloodshot eyes that have dark streaks running down them. I feel the cold seep up from the stone floors into the rest of my body at the sight.

I walk over, sitting down in the armchair beside hers. We don't look at each other, nor say anything as several moments of silence pass between us.

"I just can't believe he did it," she says softly as the tears start rolling down her face again. She chokes back a sob and I feel the corners of my own eyes start to become damp.

"I know. But you know he had to do it, Ciri. For the students. For everyone in the castle," I say plainly.

"That doesn't make this any easier. Sebastian, he will die-"

"As we all will, someday," I attempt to make a joke. It doesn't work, as her emerald eyes dart over to me in silent fury. "How could you? This isn't a joke, and you know what I mean! Our best friend just lost ten years of his life-"

"And you know him well enough to know that we would've never been able to change his mind. Besides, what's done is done. We cannot go back now." I say defensively, crossing my arms once more. She sighs, her eyes dropping down to the floor in silent defeat. She knows I'm right, and I wish desperately to find the perfect answer. One that will make her stop crying, bring her peace, provide comfort. Anything in this moment to be what she needed.

That perfect answer never comes. So we sit again in silence for a few moments.

"I guess we need to keep going then, don't we?" she exhales shakily, finally wiping the last stray tear from her eyes and smudging the black ink beneath them. "We have to figure out how to get you and Ominis into the Ministry unnoticed and obtain the prophecy."