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Estelle’s breath was staggered as she held the note in her shaking hands. She inhaled sharply, nearly screaming herself when they heard a piercing scream echo in the corridor.
Sebastian put his hand on her shoulder, meeting her eyes to give her a bit of reassurance. It wasn’t enough for her, as she felt so trapped here. Not only that, but she felt like something in the air itself wanted to cause her harm. She had thought maybe it was Ancient Magic of sorts, but she had done enough trials that it didn’t feel the same… This felt…like unabated hatred, as if this place wanted her gone but couldn’t as she kept advancing through it.
“What does it say?” Sebastian asked to distract her, grimly looking at the foreboding door in front of them. It was sadistically charmed to show faces contorted in pain and eternal screams.
Estelle had already read the note, and she glanced at the skeletal body curled up by the door, the hand stretched out by a word spelling “Crucio”. She noticed something else, and she swallowed, crouching down to pick it up. It was a wand, slightly grimy from age and probably residue of a decomposed body. She used her House robes to clean it up the best she could, trying to delay sharing the awful news.
“What does it say?” Ominis repeated the question, sounding more agitated as he paced on the other side of the room. He reminded Estelle of a cornered animal, desperate to leave, but can’t. “Estelle?”
Sebastian had finished reading over her shoulder with a grave expression on his face before he retracted his hand and slowly approached the door. He stared at it as if he were trying to puzzle it out.
She hesitated, but she knew Ominis should know what happened. She took a deep breath and tried to sum up what she read, pained to be the one to tell him.
“O-Ominis,” Estelle began. “There’s a skeleton here… And…Noctua’s final journal entry.” She glanced over to see Ominis had slowed to a stop, still tightly wringing his hands. “S-she mentions being trapped here, blocked by an Unforgivable Curse.”
Ominis’s face shifted from grief to horror. “This…is where she died,” he brokenly said. He let out a sharp breath and leaned back against the wall, putting a hand to his head. His clouded eyes started to redden and brim with tears. “This is where we will die.” He turned to them, devastation evident on his face. “I shouldn’t have listened to either of you!”
Sebastian was starting to understand what needed to be done, and he sighed. He turned toward his best mate. “Ominis…I’m truly sorry about your aunt. But, I know what to do.” He clenched his jaw, staring hard at the door. “It’s going to be difficult.”
Estelle looked between the two, and she saw Ominis shake his head as if he also knew what had to be done. Ominis buried his face in his hand, anguished at their predicament. Her heart hammered, still creeped out by the door. She stepped closer to Sebastian, feeling safer being near him than near the walls.
“You said you know what to do?” Estelle quietly asked, but she winced, hearing her voice echo in the small corridor. Ominis was going to be able to hear their conversation either way. She wished this place wasn’t so daunting, for at least his sake. She roughly knew of his past, and she knew this must be a hellscape for him.
Sebastian turned to her with a reluctant expression. He gestured to the door. “Tortured faces on the door,” he pointed to the floor where the glowing word was, “and Crucio is etched into the stone.” He took a deep breath and looked back at her. “My guess is if we cast the Cruciatus Curse, the door will open.” He crossed his arms, lowering his gaze. “That’s why Noctua died. She had no one to cast the curse on.” Sebastian hesitated, knowing this was a horrible suggestion, but… “Ominis has the most experience with this. He should cast it.”
Ominis reeled back, dejected. He obviously heard everything. “Please tell me you did not just say that,” he said, his voice eerily even.
“Ominis,” Sebastian cautiously started, “I know this is the last thing you want to do—”
“Yes! It is!” Ominis snapped with his face showing as much pain as his voice conveyed. Estelle could see that unpleasant memories were being dredged up in his mind. He pointed in Sebastian’s direction. “I thought you knew me better!”
Sebastian forced away his sympathy that wanted him to stop trying to persuade his friend. They needed to get out of here, and there was only one way. That was what he made himself think. He held out his hands, looking at him with an imploring gaze he hoped Ominis could sense.
“But this is different,” he insisted. “Whoever you cast it upon will have agreed to it first. It wouldn’t be an innocent ‘victim’. We just have to open the door.”
Ominis shook his head, looking completely broken. “The spell won’t work unless you. Mean. It. That’s true of all Unforgivables. If it must be done, then one of you must cast it.”
Sebastian turned away from Ominis, angry but understanding his friend. A part of him felt guilty for even bringing up such a terrible thing. It had to be done, though. This is all for Anne, he told himself. It was the only way he could assuage this guilt that kept rising up. Everything would be right, everything would be worth it once he found the cure for Anne. He was certain of it.
“What do we do now?” Estelle asked, looking at Sebastian with worry. He could see how much empathy she had for Ominis. Like a true Hufflepuff, she had a golden heart. “Ominis is not going to cast the Cruciatus Curse again, and frankly, I don’t want him to go through that again either.”
Sebastian looked in the corner of his eye and noticed Ominis perk up at hearing that. A nasty feeling of jealousy writhed in his stomach. He remembered Estelle praising Ominis for using his Parseltongue, and how that same feeling became evident.
Out of nowhere, he darkly blurted out, “As if dying in here is a better option than casting a damned spell.”
Estelle frowned, obviously not liking his attitude. “You know him better than I do. Surely you would then know better than I do how deeply such a spell scarred him,” she defended.
Sebastian huffed and ran a hand through his hair. More guilt was coming up, and he forced it away, trying to focus on what he needed to do. However, he did make a mental note to apologize to Ominis about this ordeal. Once they made it out alive out of this death labyrinth.
“It’s up to us,” he said with a sigh. He looked at Estelle with grimness. “I can teach you Crucio, or I can cast it on you.”
Estelle instantly looked alarmed. “Wait,” she said, holding up a hand. “You didn’t say you knew how to cast Crucio.”
Sebastian’s shoulders lowered in defeat. She really wanted to go over semantics? “Because I’m not sure I do,” he earnestly admitted. “Ominis knows that, yet he’s left us no choice.” Estelle looked away, hesitance clearly shown on her face. He gently added, “I don’t yearn for us to end up like Noctua.” He swallowed. “I…think I can cast it if I have to.”
Estelle stared at Noctua’s skeleton, then at the glowing word, then the horrifying door, then at Sebastian and Ominis. The former looked reluctant, but also determined. The latter looked paler than usual and full of dread.
She tried to consider the best option. She would rather none of them had to do this, but Salazar obviously had a twisted mind, and they were forced to play his sick games. It was one thing to have Ominis speak Parseltongue and she did not mind the timed puzzles to open doors—so long as the snake statue didn’t bite her. But this was something else entirely…
She was not that interested in learning Unforgivables, especially seeing how gravely it affected Ominis. It unnerved her a bit that Sebastian knew about them, but she also knew he had been scouring the Restricted Section that was lousy with dark magic. All to save his sister, of course. She didn’t believe he learned about the Unforgivables because he wanted to cast them or anything. He must have come across them while he was trying to find a cure for Anne.
She had to admit…she had been fighting fire with fire against Ashwinders and poachers and goblins. How useful could the Cruciatus Curse be in combat? The idea was tempting, but she wasn’t sure if it was a good idea. She remembered that awful scream when they were close enough to this blasted door. Could she bear to cause pain to Sebastian, the boy she went to Hogsmeade with and met his sister? She felt sick to her stomach, already envisioning Sebastian looking like those freakish faces on the door, all because of pain she would force him into. She didn’t think she could do it. She looked at him, and he was still waiting for her to tell her which option she wanted. Would…he be able to do it? Ominis had said that in order for the spell to work, you had to mean it. Would Sebastian be able to mean it?
It won’t be that bad, she told herself. He would never hurt me if he didn’t have to. Sebastian had her back from the beginning, fighting a troll and willing to fight Victor Rookwood in the Three Broomsticks. He was protective of her, she was certain of it.
She felt her magic thrum in her veins. Not only that, but…she could possibly have better resistance to such a spell because of her Ancient Magic. Out of the two options, she believed she was picking the best one. The lesser of two evils.
She met his eyes, her own determination to be done with this labyrinth overpowering her fear and dread. “I won’t cast it on you,” she solemnly said. Sebastian’s eyes flickered from surprise to understanding as he knew what that meant. Even so, she added, “You need to cast it on me.”
Sebastian stared at her, and she felt reassured by the somberness in his gaze. “I shan’t forget this,” he quietly said.
Estelle nodded, and she put away her wand and Noctua’s into her school bag, where Noctua’s journal notes were as well. She was relieved that she recently restocked her inventory of Wiggenwelds. Those would definitely come in handy in a second.
She looked over and saw Ominis was slowly approaching them. He was still wringing his hands, and he looked sorrowful about the decision Estelle made. She gave him a reassuring smile.
“It’ll be okay, Ominis,” she said. “It will only be for a moment, right?”
He hesitated and answered, “The spell lasts for only a moment, yes, but the pain…” His eyebrows furrowed in sympathy. “It lingers.”
Estelle swallowed and bowed her head. Dread was starting to make her stomach churn horribly. A self-preserving part of her was screaming for her to change her mind, but she would rather she went through this than either of her friends. She forced away her fear and lifted her gaze to Sebastian, who already had his wand out.
He looked her over as they stood across from each other. “Ready?” He asked, wanting to make sure she was prepared for this.
Estelle took a deep breath, trying to not let the room’s creepy atmosphere get to her. “I’m ready.”
Ominis turned away as if to not look, but that was pointless for him.
Sebastian stared at Estelle, and his wand in his hand shook. Estelle was standing straight, ready to take the spell like a soldier in a story he had once read. His heart started to plunge, reality finally catching up to him on what he had to do. The new fifth-year, the bright and enthusiastic Hufflepuff that managed to captivate him, was about to be tortured by him. The light in her eyes from being excited about this new world she was brought into had been dimmed by this place, and he was about to be part of those shadows.
It has to be done, he forcefully told himself. He tightened his hold on his wand. Once this is all over, you can make amends all you want. But you must cast the spell first.
Sebastian breathed hard, trying to bring forth sadistic anger to be able to cast it. He remembered reading that in order to properly cast it, he had to conjure the desire to cause enough pain to revel in the person’s suffering. He didn’t want Estelle to suffer, but… He felt the atmosphere in the air around him shift as if darkness was surrounding him. He thought about the goblins that were responsible for cursing Anne and making her miserable. He gritted his teeth as he felt the desire for pain surge in his blood. How he wished to give them as much despair as they gave him.
“Crucio!” He yelled, and red sparks burst from the tip of his wand and flew out to Estelle. In a split second, he saw her eyes widen, and her eyes reflected the dark red light before it struck her.
Estelle instantly fell to the ground, her eyes tightly shut as the red sparks formed bolts and wrapped around her. She shook, holding her hands close to her chest.
Sebastian lowered his wand and looked at her, feeling hollow in his heart at the sight before him. Ominis put a hand to his mouth, tightly closing his eyes, but it did nothing to stop memories from flooding his mind. “No,” he gasped out.
She grunted and gritted her teeth as if to hold back sounds of pain, but at some point, it must have been unrelenting because she opened her mouth and let out a prolonged scream of agony. The door suddenly started to glow red, and Sebastian turned to it.
Come on, he thought as Estelle’s chilling screams still echoed in the corridor. This had better work or he wasn’t sure what he was going to do with himself for what he did to Estelle. Sebastian felt relief when he saw the door was starting to melt away into the floor. He instantly checked on Estelle, and the red bolts were gone. Her last scream died off, and he felt like his heart cracked at hearing a faint whimper from her.
“Estelle?” He quietly asked. He crouched down, and his heart cracked even more when he saw close up that she was twitching. Not only that, but a tear was falling down the side of her face and reflecting the dim light around them. He started to reach out to her, but then he stopped, unsure if touching her would worsen the pain. He swallowed, the action harder from a lump forming in his throat. “Are you alright?”
“Does she sound alright to you?” Ominis loudly demanded, making Sebastian jolt from the severity in his tone. He “looked” at Sebastian with righteous anger, and he went to Estelle. His expression immediately softened, and he went down on a knee. “I know it hurts, Estelle,” he quietly said with pained understanding. “Just take deep breaths.”
Estelle barely heard Ominis, but she managed to heed his advice, breathing long and hard. The pain of hot knives stabbing her nerves was slowly fading away, but…Ominis was right. The pain did linger. She groaned and slowly pushed herself up, her vision starting to come back into focus. Ominis was in front of her, concern evident on his face. She panted and looked up, seeing Sebastian stare at her with a blank expression.
He was able to cast the curse and mean it…on his first attempt.
What did that mean for her?
Estelle pushed away the disappointing ache in her heart, and she rifled through her bag. She pulled out a Wiggenweld, downing it. She felt the different warmth rush through her, but it only took away a margin of her pain. She sighed deeply and stood up, grimacing as it felt like every centimeter of her burned.
“How are you?” Ominis urgently asked, slowly getting onto his feet as well.
“I-I’m fine,” she stammered.
“No, you’re not,” he instantly said, catching her winded voice.
“She said she’s—” Sebastian said, trying to reassure him.
“She’s not!” Ominis snapped, turning to him with bared teeth. “What in the world were you thinking in order to cause that much pain?”
Sebastian frowned. “What do you think?” He angrily defended himself. “I was thinking of those goblins that cursed Anne!”
Estelle swallowed, realizing what that meant. All that excruciating pain she went through… It was what Sebastian wanted the goblins that cursed Anne to go through. That was…somewhat reassuring in a demented way.
“You think I wanted to have Estelle suffer like this?” Sebastian asked Ominis, completely offended. “I had to cast the spell that you wouldn’t! I had to do this so the door would open!”
“Both of you, stop it!” Estelle meekly said. She winced, feeling like her throat was still raw from her screaming. The two boys at least quieted and turned to her with similar expressions of worry. She took a deep breath. “I’m really fine,” she firmly said. “Let’s just…” She took a shaking breath. “Let’s just get what we need and get out of here. I don’t like how this place makes me feel.”
Sebastian and Ominis frowned a bit, but the three of them slowly walked through the opening, finally arriving into the Scriptorium.
They did not waste much time, looking through what they could to find anything partly promising. Estelle found a diary entry by Salazar himself, and her stomach plummeted at seeing that Noctua’s hopes were futile. Salazar truly did not want Muggle-borns in the school. She stiffened. Was that why the labyrinth made her feel uneasy? Could it possibly sense that she was a Muggle-born?
She also found a spellbook, and when she showed it to Sebastian, he looked excited and relieved. He believed they were making progress in the right direction.
She wanted to believe that too.
Only after they left the Scriptorium did Estelle feel like she could finally breathe. She sighed deeply, relieved to be out of those dark passages.
“How are you feeling?” Ominis asked her, worry still evident on his face.
“I’m better,” she answered. She reached out and patted his arm. He tensed at the contact, and he didn’t look entirely convinced. “Really, thank you.” She saw Sebastian was looking at them with an indiscernible expression on his face while still holding that spellbook close to himself.
“Ominis…about your aunt,” Sebastian sympathetically started, walking up to them.
Ominis sighed, too grieved by all they went through. “Please, Sebastian,” he softly said. His eyebrows then furrowed in contempt as he pointed in Sebastian’s direction. “I meant what I said before. We swear, right now, never to engage in anything to do with Dark Magic again!”
Sebastian stared at him, his hand tightening its hold on the spellbook. After all of his desperate searching, he felt like this had to have the answers he needed. He felt newfound reassurance in the book, and also…a desperation to keep the book no matter what.
“Understood,” he eventually said, though his tongue felt like lead. The heaviness of his tongue went away as he added, “I’m truly sorry about your aunt, Ominis.”
Ominis was quiet for a moment, and Estelle fiddled with her hands, unsure if she should say something between these two best friends.
“I…suppose after all this, I am grateful to know what happened to her. Thank you,” he quietly said.
Estelle brightened, remembering something. “Actually, Ominis, I found something else aside from Noctua’s notes,” she said. She started to search her bag again.
He tentatively perked up. “What is it?” He asked.
Estelle pulled out the wand. “I think it’s your aunt’s wand,” she gently said. She put it in Ominis’s outstretched hand. “I cleaned it the best I could, and it has to be hers, right?” She looked at the wand, seeing the spiral detail and reddish-brown color. “I think it’s cherry wood?”
Ominis sadly smiled as he traced a finger along the wood. “Yes, it’s her wand.” He sniffed. “Thank you, Estelle. I’m grateful to have something of hers.”
She smiled back. “You can have her notes too, if you’d like,” she offered.
He nodded. “I would. Thank you.”
“Not a problem,” she instantly reassured as she pulled out the journal entries. She gave them to him and let out a small breath. Her eyebrows twitched, still feeling some pain from the Cruciatus Curse. She wasn’t going to admit it was still lingering, though. Ominis would certainly grow more worried and Sebastian would be more troubled. “Well, I think I’m going to head back to my House. I think I’ll even turn in early.”
“Wait, Estelle,” Sebastian said, hastily using his left hand to grab her right hand as his right hand was busy with holding the spellbook.
She stopped and looked over her shoulder at him. He stared at her with slight remorse.
“About…what happened…” He began. He sighed. “Please know that I would never want to hurt you if I can help it.”
“I know,” she solemnly replied. She gave him a small smile. “It’s okay, Sebastian. And, be sure to write to me once you have something.”
“Of course,” he said. His heart that used to skip beats at her smile only numbly beated, indifference creeping in. His right hand twitched, holding the spellbook closer to himself again.
“I’ll see you guys later,” she bade, and she slipped her hand out of his loose hold. His left hand felt colder, and he watched her leave the dungeons, strangely not feeling any longing toward her like he knew he had a day ago…
“You better be true to your word.”
Sebastian sighed and turned to Ominis, feeling irritation rise in him faster than normal. “If this is about Dark Magic—”
“You know I’m adamant against Dark Magic,” Ominis said, walking closer to him with a frown. “But that’s not what I meant this time.”
Sebastian’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Then…what did you mean?”
“I meant your word to Estelle about how you would never want to hurt her.”
“Of course I meant it,” Sebastian replied, affronted. “The fact you—”
“You succeeded in casting the Cruciatus the first time,” Ominis interrupted. “You might have wanted goblins to feel that pain, but Estelle took it instead.”
Sebastian’s jaw clenched as he averted his gaze. He could still remember how Estelle was, writhing and screaming bloody murder… “It won’t happen again.”
“I certainly hope not. For her sake.” Ominis kept fiddling with his aunt’s wand. “She cares for you, Sebastian. For all she has done for us, I hope you do not forsake her.”
“Of course not,” Sebastian snapped, growing more annoyed at what Ominis was implying. “I care for her too!”
Ominis was silent for a minute, considering if Sebastian meant it. He then sighed. “I am serious about Dark Magic, Sebastian,” he said, changing the subject. “It’s not something to take lightly. These things, they stay with you forever. But they either become more tantalizing or more terrifying to you. I hope you don’t go down the wrong path.”
“Have some faith in me, Ominis,” Sebastian muttered, looking at the spellbook. “I’ve been willing to make it this far to find a cure for Anne.”
Ominis understood what he left unsaid, and he knew he could not shake Sebastian’s resolve. He cared for Anne just as much as Sebastian, but Ominis believed Solomon and Anne about there not being a cure. Sebastian refused to believe that, though.
“Sebastian, how far are you willing to go?”
Sebastian looked at him with a frown. “You know the answer to that.”
Ominis sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I hope you know how much you’re willing to risk, then. And I hope you know what—or who is at stake.”
Sebastian thought that over. Of course Anne’s life was at stake, but he knew that Salazar’s spellbook probably had Dark Magic and that could mean jeopardizing his friendship with Ominis. Then…there was Estelle. She was willing to help him, but he remembered how pained he felt at seeing her suffer. Would she have to suffer even more the further he went down this path?
He shook his head. He would not let that happen. But then he realized something else. He did not ever actually apologize to her about casting the Cruciatus Curse on her. He had merely told her he would never hurt her if he could help it, not “I’m sorry I did hurt you”.
He held the spellbook in his hands, and he felt a strange reassurance from it. It made the guilt lessen, and he sensed it was telling him: “Everything will be alright in the end.”
Sebastian felt determined at that. Yes, everything would be alright in the end. All of these tribulations and suffering would be worth it in the end. Everything he was risking and putting at stake would be worth it in the end. He was willing to go as far as he needed to save Anne. He could not afford anything or anyone to stop him, not even Ominis.
His heart pounded a little harder at the thought of one person that could sway his resolve. A certain Hufflepuff that shared his affinity for duelling and smiled brightly at him.
A little more indifference crept into his heart as he intensely gripped onto the spellbook. He would apologize to Estelle after Anne was cured. Once he got what he needed, he could then make amends.
It would be worth it in the end…right?