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You stood beside Sebastian and Ominis, looking around the room for a way out. When you walked into the room, Sebastian had assured you that the skeleton on the ground was just to scare people off, until he was left stuttering as the door behind you closed, locking you in. “You were saying, Sebastian?” Ominis scoffed, beginning to pace. You shook your head as you walked over to the door opposite of you, its design almost haunting. You sighed as you ran a hand over its surface, tracing the faces engraved in the black stone, searching for a latch or something similar that would unlock the door. Sebastian walked up behind you, following your hand as he tried to think of a way out. “If both doors are locked, then the skeleton you mentioned.” Ominis said, walking over to the two of you. “That’s a real person?”
You huffed, turning to Ominis and putting your hand on his shoulder, giving it an assuring squeeze. “We’ll be fine, I promise.” He smiled slightly as he nodded, his head hung as he listened to Sebastian mutter to himself. You walked around the room, looking at every crack in the wall for something to open the door with, but to no avail. You sighed in frustration, sliding down the side of a wall and burying your face into your hands. Sebastian watched you in silence, frowning as he watched you pick at your fingers. He walked over and offered his hand to you, which you took as he pulled you up and gave you a small smile. “We’ll get out of this, we always do.” You nodded, turning your head to Ominis as he scoffed. “We’ve never gotten stuck in a room with two locked doors, not to mention that there is a skeleton right next to us!”
You frowned, looking over at the skeleton that lay next to the door, bare of any flesh. It had been there for a while, whoever it was that was last down here died alone. You squinted slightly, leaning forward as you continued to exam the bones, finding a slip of parchment near where you assumed the hand was. Sebastian and Ominis stood behind you as you bent down and picked it up, careful not to damage the aged paper. You unfolded the note and studied what was written, the hurried scribbles barely legible. “What does it say?” Sebastian asked, peering over your shoulder to get a look. You frowned as you went over the note once again. “She died alone, even when she knew how to escape, she was alone.” Ominis furrowed his brows, “Even when she could escape? Why didn’t she then?” Your gaze darkened as you turned to the two boys, a graze expression taking over your features.
“She needed another person, so she could cast the spell that would open the door.” Sebastian frowned, looking over at the door. “What kind of spell did she need that she couldn’t do it alone?” You folded the note and placed it in your pocket, walking over to the door. “The Cruciuatus Curse.” Ominis’ eyes widened as he stood, frozen. Sebastian’s gaze darkened as well, looking at the door as he began to understand the dark design on its surface. “It’s the only way to get out. I’m not sure how she figured it out, but it says to use Crucio on someone, and the door will unlock.” You said, biting the inside of your cheek as you looked between the two boys. Sebastian avoided your gaze as he looked down at his feet, a sad, worried look had etched itself on Ominis’ face as he looked in your direction. “So, one of us has to cast it on another.” Sebastian whispered. You nodded.
“I’m sorry, but I refuse to take part in this.” Ominis stated, walking away from you. You sighed as you nodded your head. “We won’t force you, Ominis. But that means that you and I must decide.” You said, looking at Sebastian. He continued to avoid your gaze as he nodded slowly. “It’s going to be painful, Sebastian. For both parties.” He nodded again as he paced, muttering to himself. You watched in worry as he continued to pace around the room, unable to understand what he was saying. Ominis stood farther away, near the door you had come in from, frowning as he mumbled to himself about how absurd the situation was. You took a breath as you walked to Sebastian, putting a hand on his shoulder and stopping him. “Cast it on me.” Sebastian’s eyes widened as he looked at you, shaking his head. Ominis spoke from where he stood, concerned. “Absolutely not! Are you insane?” “I won’t do that, not to you. Why would you ask that of me?” You furrowed your brows as you looked over at the door. “We need to get out, and I won’t be learning the curse just to cast it on you. If we don’t do this, we’ll be here until we die, and I’d rather not die in a room under the castle, even with the two of you by my side.” You stared into Sebastian’s eyes, determined to get your point across. You watched as Sebastian’s eyes glossed over as he tapped his wand on his leg. “Are you sure? You know that this spell literally tortures you, right?” You nodded as you gave him a reassuring smile. “Let’s get out of here.”
Ominis covered his ears as you moved to stand in front of the door, readying yourself. Sebastian gave you another worried glance as he readied his wand, practically begging you to reconsider. You held your ground, however, as you nodded to him, letting him know you were ready. You braced yourself as Sebastian raised his wand, brows furrowed as he sent the spell your way. You groaned as you stood your ground, holding your side as your blood boiled. You quietly gasped for air as you felt your lungs squeezed what little oxygen was left in them. You gritted your teeth as you looked over to the door, watching as it began to move, the red light that surrounded you now spreading over the door’s surface. Sebastian watched you with wide eyes as you stood your ground, unsure about what he should do. Ominis furrowed his brows as he slowly removed his hands from his ears, walking over slowly in surprise as you sighed.
“Ah, there we are,” You breathed, shaking your head as the last bits of the spell ran their course. You stretch your back as you turn to the door, looking at the two boys. “Are you…okay?” Ominis asked, frowning as he looked in your direction. You shrugged, “Yeah. It hurt, of course, but other than that I’m fine.” Sebastian looked at you in what felt like horror, grabbing your shoulder, and turning you towards him. “Fine? That spell is supposed to leave even the strongest wizards on the ground, and you claim to be fine?” You shrugged, frowning as you looked into Sebastian’s eyes. “Yes, I’m fine. We should get going, though.” You said, turning back to the door. “We don’t know if it’ll lock us in here again, and I personally don’t want to do that again.”
The three of you walked into the next room and continued your adventure, Ominis and Sebastian constantly keeping an eye on you as you went. When you exited and made your way back to where the rest of the students were, you turned to Sebastian and Ominis. “I’ll catch up with you two later, yeah?” Sebastian grabbed your arm before you could turn to leave, a serious look on his face. “We need to talk, y/n.” You sighed and quirked a brow. “About what?” “About what happened in that room, obviously.” Ominis responded, his worried eyes meeting your own. “Later, then. I have some things I need to do.” With that, you quickly escaped Sebastian’s grasp and walked away. Ominis turned to Sebastian as he shook his head. “I have a feeling we won’t hear something we like, if we hear anything at all.” Sebastian nodded, looking down the hall you had vanished down.
The boys eventually cornered you a few days later, claiming that you needed to talk about what had happened. “I heard that it’s best to discuss moments like this to better get an understanding of it. That’s what my uncle said, at least.” Sebastian stated, gesturing for you to sit next to him in the grass. You sighed as you complied, watching as Ominis sat down next to you. “We used the spell, we got out. That’s all there is, you were there.” You explained, crossing your legs as you leaned your back against the tree behind you. Sebastian shook his head, narrowing his gaze at you. “That’s not what I meant. Look, I applaud you for handling the spell so well, but people aren’t supposed to be left standing afterwards.” Ominis nodded beside you, leaning his back against the trunk of the tree with you, brushing his shoulder against your own. “You handled it well, too well. We just wanted to know if you wanted to talk about it, maybe shed some light?” He said, closing his eyes as he felt a breeze blow by. “It could give us some insight on what we can do, boundaries if you will. Ominis uses them, that’s why I didn’t ask him to participate in the spell casting.” You hung your head as you listened to their voices, reassuring you that you could trust them like they trusted you, telling you that you could refuse if you wanted to.
“I had some trouble in the past, it helped me tolerate pain, I suppose.” You said, closing your eyes. “Do you want to leave it at that?” Sebastian asked, his calm tone easing you as you felt your heartbeat. You shook your head, sighing. “There’s more, if you want to know.” “In your own time, no rush.”
“My family was well known; they knew all our business because my father was in the Ministry. He didn’t like that my mother was helping me learn magic at a young age and would often scold me if he caught me. She would tell him that I was gifted with strong magic that needed to be exercised at a young age, but he wouldn’t have it.” You began. “Sometimes, he would threaten me, push me around and point his wand at me, telling me if he caught me again, I would be in big trouble. I was only 5. If my mother was out when he got home, he’d dismiss the nanny and wait for her to leave before he would sit me down and have a talk with me.” You paused, staring at some blades of grass that swayed in the breeze, calming you. “I didn’t like those talks. Sometimes he’d take his wand out, and he’d point it at my arm or legs, catching my skin of fire for a short moment before extinguishing it. He told me to stop listening to my mother, saying if I didn’t, he’d find a new way to get his point across.” You watched as they both frowned, not speaking as they waited for you to continue. “One day, he got back from work and found my mother and I practicing again; he wasn’t supposed to be home yet. I guess he had enough of me at that point; he didn’t even take out his wand, he just went to the kitchen and started yelling, coming back with a knife. My mother tried to push him away, but he threw her across the room and kept coming for me, said he was going to gut me like an animal.” You placed a hand to your chest, frowning. “He got me too; I have a nasty scar on my chest from it. He almost killed me, but my mother stopped him. Used the killing curse on him, and he dropped right in front of me.” Another pause. “They sent her to Azkaban and sent me to live with my father’s sister. The paper got ahold of the story pretty fast too, and everyone in the town my aunt lived in knew about it. They would console her, telling her they were sorry she had to take care of me, blaming my mother for everything.” You scoffed. “Why wouldn’t they? My father was an important man, did no wrong; he didn’t do anything to get himself killed. The kids threw stones at me, and their parents would talk about me, calling me a sin and claiming that I would go to Azkaban one day to be with my mother.” You felt Ominis place his head on your shoulder, quietly reassuring you as you continued. “There was a man in the town that used to be friends with my father; he would smile at me whenever I went outside. He was nice, until he asked me to help him get something from the shed, claiming he was too big to go under something to grab the tool he dropped. I went, too. He locked it behind us and grabbed me, threatening me with a knife, claiming that I had something of his, that my dad would have given me it before he died. I still don’t know what he was talking about. He almost killed me, if it wasn’t for the fact that one of the muggles in the town saw him lock me in there. He was taken away, and the adults blamed me for it. Said he was a good man, and that I must have used whatever magic my mother taught me to coerce him into what he did.” You shook your head. “My aunt didn’t want me going outside without her after that. I guess I became numb to it all. I thought that spell would hurt a lot more than it did, honestly. But perhaps it’s a good thing?”
You sat there in silence, feeling tears prick at your eyes. “I remember what the neighbor told me the day that man got arrested.” You sighed. “Your fate is sealed. You’re doomed to continue this life until you are completely destroyed. You only lived to die another day.” You shuddered, letting out a laugh as you tried to ease the tension. “It makes sense, with what we’ve been doing. Still, it was rather unnerving.” Sebastian watched you with wide eyes, confused. Ominis had taken his head off your shoulder to give you a worried look, which you shrugged off. “That’s awful! How are you okay with that, and why did you take the curse after all that?” Sebastian asked, shifting his body to face you. You sniffled slightly as you watched the sun set, your tears still present. “I don’t know. I didn’t want either of you to endure that pain, I suppose. Who better than me, I knew I could handle it.” Ominis took your hand into his, sighing. “Even so, no one should go through that again, especially a spell like that.”
“No more dangerous activities for the time being.” Sebastian stated as he stood up. “I’m banning it until further notice. For now, we shall do less dangerous things, like trips to Hogsmeade and study sessions in the library.” You chuckled as you shook your head, pulling Ominis up with you as you stood. “If all the more fun activities are banned, what should we do now?” You asked. Sebastian brought his hand to his chin as he looked over the grounds. “Perhaps we take a walk, shake away the bad and soak in what’s left of the sun.” Ominis nodded and smiled, squeezing your hand as you grabbed Sebastian’s, who began to drag the two of you down to a path to begin your walk.