Invisible String - Sebastian Sallow

Chapter Thirty-Five: In the Shadow of Anguish

Ominis's father, Thorfinn Gaunt and his eldest son, Marvolo Gaunt, stood before me, their faces splitting into a wide grin.

"Hello, Sebastian," Thorfinn said, lazily.

"Y-You!" I choked, my mind reeling. It wasn't supposed to be the Gaunt's. It was supposed to be Black and Lestrange.

"Come now, boy," Thorfinn spoke calmly. "No cheerful greeting for the family that took you in?"

"How dare you!"

Firing off any spell that I could think of, I pushed into the room, blocking their spells, but failing to land any on them. Both men deflected my curses with lazy flicks of the wrist, hardly concerned about my attacks, their expressions bored. The Gaunt family were all excellent spell casters, including their blind youngest son. Did Ominis know they were involved? He couldn't have. I didn't dare cast another Unforgivable while dueling them; they were too close to her.

"Come to fetch your little girlfriend, Sebastian?" Marvolo sneered as he cast another curse my way.

"What do you want with her?" I snarled, refusing to lower my wand as I felt the dark tendrils of her magic swirling through my veins.

Thorfinn smiled sickly, "Now why would I tell you that?" He turned to Abbi, his wand held directly at her, and cast the spell again. "Crucio!"

"Protego Maxima!" I shouted, pointing my wand to her, the barrier shattered instantly as his spell spiked through the air, hitting her already crumpled body.

Her screams tore through the silent air, sending me to my knees, tears filling my eyes as I watched her writhe, suspended in that chair, bound to it tightly. Her screams shattered my very being, tearing my soul in two. The pain across her face as she thrashed-

"No!" I shouted, tears flowing down my face freely as I watched, knowing I couldn't stop or block this curse. "Ex- E-Expelliarmus!"

Marvolo deflected it for his father, watching with wicked delight on his face as I struggled to stop her torture.

"How dare you!" I shouted at him again, forcing myself to stand, the dark monster in me screaming for the release I was incapable of providing him. Not with her so close to them. "You're going to regret ever having set eyes on her!"

Thorfinn Gaunt laughed as he snapped his wand towards Abbi again, ending her screams, her head rolling limply forward, and I watched her fall to the ground. My heart shattered when she didn't move. "Might want to give her this," he said as he cast another curse at me. I blocked this with surprising ease.

The Gaunts cared very little what they did to others. The only reason I was able to block these, is because he wanted me to.

He tossed her wand to me, and I saw it fall in two broken pieces at my feet. My face twisted in anger. How dare they snap her wand, how dare they take away her ability to fight them- no, to murder them.

Wand pointed directly at Thorfinn, I cast again, filled with new hatred. "Depulso!" He flew back with a force that took even me by surprise, slamming into the wall and slumping forward, the same way I'd been thrown by Anne in that damned catacomb. He hadn't been expecting my move that time and I smirked at Marvolo.

"Get away from her," I snarled, stepping forward quickly, my heart racing wildly, her magic flaring in my chest. "Final warning."

Marvolo Gaunt simply smirked before pointing his wand at me. I stepped closer, my wand pointed directly between his eyes. It would be so simple, one simple flick of the wand and I would end him here and now. As I stepped forward, so did he. Neither of us lowered our wands, instead moving in circles around each other, neither taking the first shot.