Shelter • wolfstar au

43 ; serpensortia

Chapter Forty Three: Serpensortia

Sirius and Marlene got to work, muttering a spell together that caused small bursts of flames to erupt from the tips of their wands. Their dual participation allowed the flame to grow faster, and soon they had to back away in order not to burn themselves with the fire.

Once it was sufficiently big, they guided it and hurled it through a window above them, hoping that it would catch something flammable. Hastily, they moved away from the lane and toward the side of the shop, where they created another fire and hurled it through another window, this time the fire managing to catch the curtains. They did the same with three more windows, and soon, a bright orange glow was visible through the windows, and commotion was heard from the inside.

The two attempted to move into the open, but suddenly Sirius felt his feet being ripped out from underneath him, and within seconds, he was suspended upside down in the air, one foot tied to a gigantic snake that seemed to have coiled out from the various cracks and holes of the shop. It was very clearly an artificial snake, its skin too glossy and its size too tremendous to be real. Numerous loops and knots slithered out of the crevices, engulfing Sirius amidst their malicious grip. Marlene, who was away from the building, was able to rush out of the snake's reach and managed to slash one of the reptile's heads clean out of its body.

"Sirius!" she yelled, as he attempted to fire spells at his captor, but the serpent kept moving and rolling, soon making him dizzy. He sensed Marlene shooting the snake too, but she had to keep jumping from foot to foot in order to escape from it.

"Get out of here!" Sirius yelled back. Suddenly he was yanked to the side, his body hitting the hard stone wall. "It's gonna catch you too."

"It's not a real snake, it's not sentient," she spoke as she once again leapt away from the pernicious coils of the serpent. "We can defeat it!"

"But that means it doesn't feel pain!" Sirius managed to tell her, shooting a series of curses at the snake's leathery body but they bounced back harmlessly, producing absolutely zero effect on the cursed creature.

Hisses of the serpent mixed with those of the spells, paired with the growing flames inside the shop, created a diabolical environment matched by the underworld itself. Sirius could feel the heat rising, and he realised that if they somehow managed to escape the snake, they would be devoured by the fire instead.

He let out a frustrated groan as one of his curses bounced off the slippery skin of the serpent and nearly hit him on its way back. He twisted his head to see what Marlene was doing, but suddenly realised that he was rising into the air. Sudden panic gripping him, he saw what the snake was intending to do – pull him into the flames and make him taste his own weapon. He desperately wished Marlene would leave him alone and go, but when he made to speak, a cloud of smoke entered his mouth and made him choke.