Lucius found Hyacinth an hour later, curled up and sleeping like a cat in one of the armchairs in front of the fireplace in the library, a hearty fire casting light and shadow across her face in an imitation of a dance. A heavy tombe lay open in her lap; her hands slack around the edges of the pages as she breathed softly.
He took this time to look at her properly. At the way her lashes tickled her cheeks, how her cupid's bow followed the sharp lines and angles of the letter v, how her hair almost looked blue in the dim light. He gently took the book from her, placing it page down on the table next to her seat before covering her with a throw blanket from one of the other armchairs.
He sat next to her, content in listening to the fire's crackle and her soft, snuffly breaths. He had found a quiet amusement in the girl's obvious crush on him but had quickly realised that her feelings weren't one-sided. He wasn't entirely sure what he felt for her but knew it was more than just amicable friendliness for his best friend's daughter.
Thinking about it, he felt slightly sick. This was a girl his son's age. Sure, it wouldn't be illegal should anything happen since she was now technically an adult, but even so. Lucius shook his head and picked up the tombe she had been reading, noticing it was an ancient book about dark magic, probably belonging to one of his ancestors. He read the passages on the pages she was reading before flipping the page and reading those as well.
As he read, it slowly dawned on him what he was reading.
Lucius cursed not having his reading glasses with him. He cast a low Lumos and reread the passages of handwritten text. The writing was small, handwritten, he suspected and faded, making it difficult to read in the low light.
He stood from his chair abruptly, quickly checking that he hadn't woke Hyacinth before he rushed from the room back to his office to write down the instructions for the ritual, chant and spell, knowing that it should be needed once they had found the items in which Tom's soul fragments occupied.
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Latin translations
*Pulvis et umbra sumus - We are dust and shadows
**Vivamus moriendum est - Let us live for we must die
***Acta deos numquam mortalia fallunt - Mortal deeds never deceive the gods
**** Anima revincire - to win back the soul