The meager breakfast, of a bowl of fruit curd and tea, did nothing to improve her mood when she went to the hospital wing once again.
"Oops, where did you leave Ominis?" Noreen asked when she found Hazel alone. "He is tired of me" she grumbled and sat down on the bed in front of Noreen, where she had already prepared everything. Noreen pulled the curtain closed as Hazel stripped off her sweater and blouse. She had already carelessly tossed aside the cloak. "What's the matter today, Hazel? You're not supposed to be so grumpy and you show everyone your smile?" Noreen asked as she palpated Hazel's belly. "I could list a lot of things for you and you know it. But my own snake gave me away yesterday. Told Ominis I wasn't doing as well as I told him. He... was pretty mad at first..." towards the end Hazel grew quieter and quieter.
"Of course! Do you know what you mean to him? He worries and if you always hiding from him how you really are, he must always worry!" Noreen said. "Ow... ah, it's okay. It's not like I want him to worry like that. If I'm not well, these are conditions he can hardly change... why should I bother him with it? Yesterday I was just nauseous and in pain, but I wanted to help the boys... I don't like feeling useless. So, since that's not going to change for the better for a few days, I told him it was okay- careful!" she yelled out as Noreen patted her back. "There, we'll put some more ointment on those bruises. You're already much less sensitive to pain there. So, arms away!" commanded Noreen and took care of the bruises before she - while the ointment soaked in - took care of the stab wound. "There you go, it looks much better already. I'll just clean the remains of the ointment, then you don't need anything more over it. Or should I put another soft plaster on it, without ointment, to cushion it?" Hazel nodded. It certainly wouldn't hurt if they were out today.
"So, you may get dressed again" Noreen said when she was done. Relieved, she tucked the white blouse, with the ruffles on the collar and sleeves, into her black skirt and pulled her dark green sweater over it. The sweater was a bit too big for her, which is why it was a bit long. She pulled the ruffle collar over the collar of the sweater and rolled up the sleeves of the sweater a bit, so that the ruffles on the sleeves came out.
"Could it be that Ominis likes ruffles?" Noreen asked suddenly, and Hazel froze. Was it that obvious? She asked herself. "I-is that...so...? O-obvious?" she stuttered, embarrassed. Nervously, she pulled her ponytail out of her collar and smoothed her hair with her hands. " A little bit. For the past few weeks, you've been wearing a lot of stuff with ruffles. Even the blouses of the uniform you changed from time to time" Noreen laughed. "I thought at first you were doing it because you like it, but I think you want to be pretty for him" she teased now and Hazel slapped her weakly on the upper arm.
"Shh! Not everyone needs to hear that," she mumbled sheepishly. Her face had gone all red. "Anyway...I was a little bitchy at breakfast just now. I felt so sick, but he insisted that I eat this stupid curd and I snapped at him pretty hard at one point... Though I'm not really like that at all. And it's not that I'm not hungry either. And I know that it was unjustified, he can't help it. I'm just so infinitely tired that I'm always injured. Everything has become too much for me then momentarily. I am so stupid. When I left, he didn't even follow me, as usual," she sniffed. She wiped her eyes in displeasure, but the tears didn't stop, she cried.
"I'm sure he just wanted to give you space to calm down. It's not easy for him if he can't help you. I'm sure he's not mad at you" Noreen talked to her and gently took her in her arms. "I just love him so much, you know? I don't want to lose him and act like a stupid bitch" she sniffled in her arms.
Suddenly, someone cleared his throat from the doorway. They couldn't see anything because the curtain was still drawn. "Nurse Blainey, is my niece with you?" her uncle's voice called into the room. Noreen looked at Hazel, who sniffled and quickly dried her tears with her sleeve. She nodded. She couldn't run away from him all the time anyway, and she didn't want to.
"Yes Professor, just a moment please" Noreen called out. She gathered up the wound care utensils and dropped them into the pocket of her apron. "It's all right. I have to tell him something about yesterday anyway" Hazel whispered to Noreen and took the ointment for the bruise from her pocket and put it on the bedside table. Then she said to her in a normal tone, "Do you have anything against nausea? That would be very sweet," and rustled her clothes a little. As Noreen went into the back room to get the potion, Hazel pulled back the curtain and smiled at her uncle.
"Good morning, Uncle," she said, gesturing for him to come closer. Phineas looked questioningly at his niece. He could see that she had been crying. "Nauseous?" he asked when she said nothing. "Y-yes, I made acquaintance with Dugbogs last night. Ominis and I were walking along the shore and sort of stumbled into them. One got me pretty bad in the stomach before we could scare them off. Noreen just took care of the bruise from it. But I've been feeling a little nauseous ever since. Noreen thinks the punch bruised my stomach" as she recounted, she wiped her eyes again.
"And why were you crying?" he then asked, sitting down across from her. He had almost a... fatherly demeanor. " Not that big of a deal. I didn't sleep well and I'm a little... too emotional today" she said and looked away. Hazel was cursing Noreen inside right now. She knew very well that she was waiting in the back room for her to talk to her uncle.
"Did you have a fight? Otherwise you and Mr. Gaunt are practically inseparable, aren't you?" her uncle asked skeptically. When she said nothing, he raised an eyebrow. "I've seen you leave the Great Hall separately. That's never happened before" he said quietly. "I... We had a disagreement" she replied, averting her eyes because tears were coming again. Why had she been so stupid? Couldn't she have kept her emotions more under control, as she usually did? She mentally scolded herself.
"I know it's probably weird to talk to me about something like this, Hazel. But just give him time. And when you think it's the right moment, apologize to him. Don't look at me like that. I can tell you think you did something wrong," Phineas laughed softly and put a hand on her shoulder. When he had said that, she had looked at him in surprise.
She calmed down again, wiped her eyes and nodded. He nodded, too. "Good, I just wanted to see how you were doing. You seemed a little pale last night, so I was worried. I'll leave you to nurse Blainey again now. Take care of yourself, will you?" The Headmaster awkwardly said goodbye to his niece, giving her a moment's encouraging squeeze on the shoulder before leaving the hospital wing.
Hazel sighed heavily, stood up and turned to the back room sniffling. "You can come out again Noreen," Hazel grumbled. Smiling apologetically, Noreen stepped out of the room with a violet in her hand. "I just didn't want to interrupt you guys. Professor Black seemed very concerned" she said, handing her the small viole. "Drink it. The potion works for several hours. Oh and your uncle is right. Just apologize later" she said smiling. Hazel sighed and raised the potion to her lips. When she was done, she handed the small viole to Noreen and eyed her as she started to grin. Hazel wiped her eyes with her sleeve again and gave a tiny sniffle. "What is it?" she asked Noreen. "Why are you grinning like that?" she continued to ask when Noreen just grinned at her and said nothing. Hazel sighed in frustration and was about to just storm off in frustration when she turned around and froze. She could feel the tears coming again.
Ominis stood there, halfway to her. He had wildflowers in one hand and a small bunch of basil in the other, and a face that was at first apologetic, but when Hazel put a hand to her mouth to stifle a sob, a face of dismay.
"Are you crying?" he asked worriedly and immediately, with quick steps, came to her and pressed her against him. Clumsily, after all, his hands were full. "What's the matter, little snake?" he asked, worried, as she cried like this on his shoulder. She shook her head and struggled to calm down.
After a few minutes she said, "I was so stupid, I'm so sorry for the way I snapped at you. Please forgive me." Noreen discreetly took the flowers and herbs from Ominis so he could hug her properly. He laughed softly and stroked her hair. "Oh, my little snake. I was never angry with you after all. I just thought you needed some time to yourself. I can understand that you're annoyed and frustrated and can't always keep everything to yourself, it's okay. I don't love you any less because of that," he murmured into her ear.
Hazel hugged him tightly and slowly calmed down. When she separated from him, he handed her a tissue. "It's all right, all right? Nobody's mad at you. In fact, I'm glad you're letting the frustration out for a bit instead of keeping it locked up in your mental fortress." he said to her as she blew her nose and dried her eyes. She nodded and looked at him longingly. "I love you" she said miserably, still sniffling softly. He gave her a kiss on the forehead. "And I love you" he replied and took the plants from Noreen again.
"I thought wildflowers would cheer you up. Oh, and this is basil. I read that helps with nausea if you chew it. Professor Garlick was on fire to let me have the basil when I told her why!" he laughed sheepishly and held both out to Hazel. Hazel wiped away the last of her tears and first took the flowers from him and smelled them. They didn't smell as strong as the flowers that grew fresh in spring, but still beguilingly beautiful. Hazel had to smile. Tears came again, but she fought them back.
"That's so sweet of you, especially after I snapped at you like that. Please don't ever leave me alone, okay? Just don't listen to me" she mumbled and wiped away her tears again.
"I have a jar you can put the basil leaves in. They'll stay fresh in there for a few days" Noreen said when Hazel had accepted the basil as well. She handed it to her and then hugged Ominis tightly again. "Thank you" she whispered in his ear and he gently stroked her back. "You won't get rid of me that quickly," he murmured. He was dismayed at how guilty she had felt. It had really affected her.
"Sorry," she sniffled softly again. "I-I... I've never really dealt with my feelings since I was five. Sometimes... Sometimes they just overwhelm me and I can't do anything about it" she mumbled miserably against his shoulder. Ominis could understand that halfway, when he thought about it. She had told him that she had kept her feelings bottled up since the thing with her family. Not much had happened to her in the Muggle world. There it had always been easy to keep the few emotions under control. But now he was making her leave the wall, her mental fortress, open. It had to be hard, especially here, where she experienced so much pain and fear, to learn to deal with it. From one moment to the next. He pressed her tightly against him.
"We'll go through this together, okay?" he murmured to her and she nodded. She separated from him and put her hand to his cheek. "What did I ever do to deserve you. You are so loving and understanding. I love you" she said firmly and put her forehead to his. He mimicked her gesture and once again wiped tears from her cheek. "I love you too. Now don't cry anymore, okay?" he said gently. Hazel nodded and separated from him to wipe away her tears.
"Here you go" Noreen said as she handed Hazel the jar of basil leaves. "If you feel a little sick, chewing one is enough. If that doesn't help anymore, you come to me, okay?" she said and Hazel nodded. "So, since everything is okay with you again, I can release you with a good heart, Hazel. And be careful later, will you?" reminded Noreen. "Of course. We have tons of potions prepared, I'm dressed warm enough, and if I run into a spider, I'll just burn the whole forest!" the end she muttered. Hazel hated spiders. Ominis laughed. "I wonder what's in store for us there later. I hope we don't have to go too deep into the forest," he said.
"I-I'm trying to look on the bright side. We finally get to experience the Forbidden Forest!" Hazel said with a more than obviously fake laugh. Ominis took her hand. "You're right. But we still have some time. Let's go out" The two said goodbye to Noreen.
"Before we go, maybe I should swap the skirt for pants, right?" Hazel asked Ominis as it was getting close to lunch time. "It might be more practical, but would also be rather conspicuous in the middle of the day" Ominis said, taking her hand as they walked up the steps to the entrance of the castle. She wore a simple black skirt that reached below her knees. It was light and wouldn't make much noise, but could easily get caught in branches. "Do we still have time? I'll run to my room quickly and just pull a pair of black pants underneath. If I tuck them into my boots, it'll look like tights. I can then stuff the skirt in my bag when we're out of the castle!" Hazel whispered as students hurried past them to the Great Hall. "Running might not be the best idea. You're still a little unsteady on your feet" he indicated. She smiled. He was always so worried about her.
"Sometimes I feel like my heart is going to burst, that's how much I love you, my blind serpent. I'll be quick, okay? And if anyone asks, I just forgot something in the common room," she replied with a smile and stopped him. She put one hand to his chest and the other to his cheek. "Don't worry about it. We're well prepared and I'm already feeling much better" she breathed before kissing him. He leaned his forehead against hers and sighed. "You know I'll always worry about you, my little snake" he replied softly. She nodded.
After lunch, the three of them just walked out and towards Hogsmeade. Hazel had hooked up with Ominis as usual and Sebastian walked beside her.
After they had walked for a while, Ominis noticed that she was stiffening. " Whats wrong?" he asked straightforwardly, and Hazel almost stumbled out of surprise. "what do you mean?" Hazel asked. She didn't even notice herself stiffening. She only noticed that her bruises hurt a bit and the nausea was scratching the surface again.
"You're stiffening up. What's wrong?" he then asked more insistently, stopping to force her to do likewise. Sebastian had also stopped now. Hazel sighed once again and stroked his cheek with her free hand.
"My bruises don't like me walking so much. They hurt a little, but I'll be fine. And for the other reason..." she explained and began to rummage in her bag. She pulled out the jar of basil leaves. "Did I get these, from an overly attentive and attractive young man" she grinned, taking one of the leaves out of the jar and chewing it.
Ominis grumbled a little and waved his wand around a bit to look around. He spotted a low stone wall and sat down on the ground in front of it, leaning against the wall and tapping his lap. "Come on, come here" he said. Sebastian laughed and dropped down next to Ominis. "He's right. We have time and you need a break" he said just grinning. Hazel groaned, but sat down, a little awkwardly though - on Ominis' lap. She leaned her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes, enjoying his gentle touches on her sensitive and hurting back.
Her thoughts drifted. First to the memories, which slowly but surely became clearer to her. As this musing gave her a headache, her thoughts wandered to the map she had found in the grotto. Those drawings...what was on them again? She asked herself. A dark forest... the Forbidden Forest, perhaps? And some kind of entrance. In the background you could see a castle. Last, the bridge with the glowing wand and candles... She knew the bridge. It looked like the one they always crossed when they wanted to go to Hogsmeade.
"Guys?" she mumbled and opened her eyes. Ominis only gave a "hmmm?". "Yes?" Sebastian asked. "I found a map in the grotto. I was just thinking about where that might be. I think it points to the entrance to the Forbidden Forest or the bridge in front of it," she said, fumbling the map out of her pocket.
Sebastian took the sheet from her and looked at it. "You're right," he said and looked in the direction. You could already see the bridge. "Since we have to go there anyway, we might as well take a look" Ominis said, giving Hazel a little squeeze to signal that they would sit for a while. Hazel left the map to Sebastian and leaned back against Ominis' shoulder with her eyes closed.
When her thoughts were unoccupied, they wandered to Jackdaw. He had said where they were going, he was killed...by a breath of air he had neither heard, nor seen. What if that happened to Sebastian, or worse, Ominis? What if she couldn't do anything about it? What if she couldn't figure out what it was before it happened?
"Hey, little snake. What's wrong?" Ominis whispered into her hair. She made a questioning sound. "I can feel your hands shaking. What are you thinking about?" he asked. "I was thinking about how Jackdaw died... W-what if... He said it was a breeze that he couldn't see or hear... What... I'm scared" she whispered the last sentence and put her arms around his neck. Ominis frowned and gently pressed her against him so as not to hurt her.
"We're just being careful, right? First see what he says and where that is. He was alone, but there are three of us. Ominis has super hearing, I'm good at fighting and you're very attentive. We'll be fine," Sebastian said confidently. "See, my little snake? Nothing to worry about, right?" he murmured into her hair. She nodded and finally got up from his lap and pulled him to his feet.
My dearest Apollonia,
would you join me for a picnic?
I know you like an excellent Cornish pie, almost as much as a mystery novel.
I hope to see you again soon
Yours
Richard
"Oh my, how sweet. Jackdaw had something like that prepared for her without her ever triggering the spells. Poor Jackdaw," Hazel muttered sadly. From the names and what Jackdaw had told her, she concluded it was about the two of them. "Jackdaw did that?" Sebastian asked, surprised. "I think. The name Apollonia doesn't come up much anymore" Hazel replied with a smile. She pocketed the letter and went to the candles, which moved in response. The boys followed her.
The candles led them into the Forbidden Forest, across the bridge that separated the forest from the rest. "Is it just my imagination, or has it gotten colder?" Hazel shivered as they entered the forest. "No, I can feel it too. The forest has an eerie atmosphere. Dark and cold" Ominis mumbled, pulling Hazel closer to him. The candles followed the path, passing a bridge to the left further, along a river, to a crossroads. "Danger! Signed the Ministry of Magic!" was written there on quite a few signs. Hazel shivered again and got goose bumps.
"I wonder if this was such a good idea?" Sebastian whispered. Hazel shrugged her shoulders, separated from Ominis and followed the candles. "Look, up here and there's a table with two chairs" Hazel called silently to the two.
"Okay, even I have to say that this looks quite romantic," Sebastian said with a laugh, as all three stood on the elevation, which was full of candles. As they approached the table, at least 30 more floating candles suddenly appeared in the air.
"Aw, he must have been really interested in her" Hazel marveled dreamily. Well, that it was the Forbidden Forest was not ideal, but otherwise this gesture had been very romantic. "Too bad she rejected him like that, the poor thing really didn't deserve it" Hazel then said, turning to Ominis. She put both hands to his cheeks. "We'll have a picnic sometime, too, won't we? Maybe by the lake or something. Not here!" she laughed. Ominis put his hands on hers and nodded. "Anything you wish" he replied with a smile and picked up his wand again.
"Then let's go on to the meeting place, wherever that is. It wasn't at the edge," grumbled Ominis.
The three wandered around the area a bit until they finally found Jackdaw. "So we meet again, Jackdaw. We tracked down your love letter for Apollonia, which led us to the picnic spot near here. Sweet idea!" Hazel greeted the ghost. "Well, at least a Black found it. I'm not surprised though, you Slytherins are very clever" he laughed.
"So, what's next?" Sebastian asked, and Jackdaw eyed him. He raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know three-way romances were okay now" the ghost laughed. Hazel blushed.
"It's not like that. Sebastian is our best friend and helps us" she explained quickly. Sebastian laughed. "Follow me. I will take you as far as I can, but I am afraid I am reluctant to visit the place of my demise" the ghost said. Hazel nodded in understanding. She probably wouldn't necessarily want to do that either.
"Look for a birdbath. When you find it say >Intra Muros< I think that's Latin. Or Greek" Jackdaw commented. With a sheepish grin he added, "As you can guess, I never paid much attention in school. Shall we?"
The three set out to follow Jackdaw, over a small bridge, down a long path, until he stopped at a flea powder station, near many cobwebs. He had told them on the way that there were several landmarks: a stone bridge, a waterfall and a lake.
"hmm. Yes. With each step we get closer, more of my memory returns. It's best I leave you guys alone now. Just stay on the path and keep an eye out for the birdbath. Adieu. Is that Latin now? Or is it Greek?" the ghost said goodbye and left the three students alone in the Forbidden Forest.
"Does he mean the left or the right way now?" Sebastian asked with a snort. "His description was gloriously accurate, as usual..." Ominis added sarcastically, before protectively wrapping an arm around Hazel and raising his glowing wand. "Since it's left to spiders, I'd try right" Hazel gave out miserably as she peeked around the left corner a bit. Without a single complaint, the two nodded.
They walked along the path until they came to a tree with many warning signs. Everywhere in the undergrowth something rustled and cracked and the air was cool and damp. Many animals could be heard calling, screaming, clacking and clicking. "Spooky" Hazel whispered, pulling the robe tighter around her.
"Look, there! A waterfall. For a thief, Jackdaw is surprisingly reliable" the last part of the sentence, Hazel mumbled into her robe while pointing to the waterfall, near the tree. Ominis pointed to the path that led past the waterfall. "Then I guess we'll have to go that way" he grumbled, looking around critically with his eyes now shining. Nothing had attacked them yet, but that was only a matter of time. He, like all the students, had heard many horror stories about this forest.
"Let's keep going, then. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can leave" Hazel muttered uneasily, moving closer to Ominis again as her fears grew worse again and she looked around intently. "The forest is interesting, but it's not going to be a hobby here" she muttered. Ominis made a sound of affirmation and Sebastian nodded silently as they walked on.
The path actually led them to a large lake, where many stags and deer were roaming. Warm, golden sunlight streamed into the middle of the lake. "The place seems almost sacred," Sebastian murmured. Ominis just muttered > Bright < in his non-existent beard and pulled Hazel to his side. The forest was not familiar to him. Everywhere he heard something. Whether it was hooves or paws or wings. He had even heard the murmur of men in the distance. " Onward " he grumbled.
"I think there's a clearing here on the left. Let's have a look there," Sebastian said. The clearing, as Sebastian had called it, was pure chaos. Fireflies were flying everywhere, just as roots were growing everywhere. They found a table with rancid books, a scale and a small cabinet case with many potions.
"I wonder what this is?" Hazel said quietly, trying to pick up one of the tiny bottles, but was prevented from doing so by Ominis. "Better not touch anything, darling. Not that the things have been cursed" he said gently to her and pulled her away. "You can't read anything in the books either. They are soaked" Sebastian said behind them. In the middle stood the birdbath Jackdaw had talked about.
"Wands ready?" Hazel asked, and all three - holding their wands at the ready - nodded. "Intra Muros," Hazel whispered. For a few long seconds, nothing happened, but then the mossy rock across from them began to move in waves. Moss fell away, revealing a spiral pattern that moved and finally opened. The hole that appeared was not an entrance to a cave, it was a portal of sorts. And when the portal was open, the goblins came.
Four goblins, with red glowing armor, appeared out of nowhere, one of them obviously the leader. His armor was different, his eyes glowed red, and he wore a hood. "Ranrok knew you would lead us to what you were hiding! Attack! But let the girl live!" he commanded.
>Let the girl live< meant that they didn't care what would happen to Ominis or Sebastian! Hazel thought. "You will not harm them! Not as long as i am here" Hazel shouted. Within one second of the other, she was as cold as ice.
The fight was chaotic, spells against weapons, shields against enchanted armor. Here and there a cross-cutting spell flew through the air, stones shattered. Hazel felt a cut on her cheek as one of the stones shattered.
When Sebastian finished dealing with the goblin that had been concentrating on him, he had to admit that Hazel's way of fighting had become much more elegant. She almost danced, twisting and stretching and jumping, while her wand movements were flowing and a bright blue aura surrounded her, as if she was glowing from within. She and Ominis made a good team. He made sure she was almost seamlessly surrounded by a shield, while she held the remaining three goblins at bay and pulled them to her. He shook his head to stop being hypnotized by this elegance and attacked one of the Three Goblins to help her. Now Ominis also helped him with shields.
"Stupor! Diffindo!" Hazel was shouting, taking out one of the two goblins she was fighting, when she got kicked from behind and flew forward. Ominis was immediately in front of her, holding up his shield. With his daggers, the boss struck relentlessly at the shield. Magic shields were not made to withstand slashing or stabbing weapons, so they broke rather quickly.
Hazel scrambled to her feet with a groan and whirled around to see the shield shatter and Ominis knocked to the ground. "No fucking way!" Hazel shouted, sending the goblin crashing into the cliff with Depulso. Sebastian took over the boss's distraction, which Hazel now needed to help Ominis.
"Are you okay?" she asked him as she helped him up and looked him over. "Just a scratch. First we have to take care of those lunatics" Ominis said, raising his wand again and shielding everyone. Hazel nodded. She was furious. Electricity crackled inside her and tried to get out. She felt a hand on her arm.
"Don't. We don't know what else is lurking in there and you need time to recover if you do!" he urged her. She took a deep breath to calm herself and squeeze the anger back into the cage. Hazel and Sebastian shot spell after spell at the goblin until it finally blew to retreat and they disappeared into nothingness.
All three breathed heavily, but when the fight was over, Hazel rummaged in her pocket and thrust a healing potion into the hand of Ominis, who was very startled. "You're bleeding," she said emotionlessly.
Ominis hesitated for a moment when he heard her like that, but then drank it. He hated this chilled tone, which she got when she closed her feelings completely and didn't put a mask over that.
Hazel examined the cut on his arm and was pleased to see that it was healing. "You too, Flower," Sebastian said dryly, reaching into her pocket and pulling out two more potions. When all three were fit again, Hazel still rubbing her back, they turned to the portal.
"The next one that touches me there is Goulash" she growled. Ominis gave a questioning loud. "The goblin managed to hit me right on the bruise on my back" she grumbled. Ominis gently pressed a kiss to her hair. "Come, then you can rest soon, little snake".
"I wonder how big this place is?" Hazel mumbled as the three of them exited the portal again and actually found themselves in a cave. The rock was overgrown with mosses and grasses and they could see Horklumps, on the path they were walking.
"Ahh!" Hazel cried out as bats flew low past them and Sebastian laughed. Hazel had torn down her mental barrier again. "They're just bats Hazel. They won't hurt us" he assured her. She gave him a devastating look from her green eyes. If looks could kill, Sebastian thought with a grin.
"I've never seen bats this close before. I just got scared, let's keep going, dumbass," she grumbled. Ominis put his hand on her head and patted her head with a smile before they continued walking.
The path led them to a chamber of the cave, from which they had a view of other passages and chambers, but was closed with a gate and a mechanism. On the rock walls hung three strange mechanisms, with a symbol that Hazel was uncomfortably familiar with.
"The symbol! I know it! Everywhere I've been involved with Ancient Magic, there's been this symbol!" Hazel said. When she saw it, her blood froze in her veins. Every time she had to go through it alone... every time it had something to do with the trials. "What's wrong, Hazel?" Sebastian asked, seeing the look on her face. Her voice sounded scared. "Every time that symbol appeared, it had something to do with an trial. Every time it was dangerous. I don't know how far you can go with me" she muttered.
Inside her, the wolves of fear raged against their chains in the fortress of her mind. She struggled to keep them locked tight. "We'll come along as far as we can. You don't have to go through this alone, no matter what" Ominis said, taking her in his arms and she nodded at his shoulder. She took a deep breath, banishing the fear, and turned to the runes. She cast the base spell on each of the runes and the gate opened.
Below them they heard a rumbling and roaring and water rushing. They turned to the opening and could see rocks rising out of the water in the distance below, forming a bridge. "That's where everything will lead," Hazel said. "Let's hope we get there unharmed" she muttered bitterly and turned away from the spectacle. They wandered along the corridor that had now opened up to them, but the farther they went, the more it became obscured by cobwebs, until they finally came face to face with the first spiders. But thanks to the explosion and fire spells, the four arachnids were easily defeated and they were able to continue on their way. Hazel was glad that there had been no further sign of a trial and hoped that it would remain so, even if she had her doubts.
They came to another door with runes, which Hazel quickly opened. She wanted to get it all over with as quickly as possible so as not to endanger the boys any more than necessary. Again there was rumbling in the halls below them. Hazel suspected this bridge was continuing to build and she urged the boys to hurry. "I want to finish this as soon as possible," she grumbled coolly.
Ominis hesitated when he heard that. She usually hurried about something when she wasn't sure how long she would last. "I'm fine Ominis, please come. I'll just be glad when I don't have to worry about you anymore" she explained to him and her voice became softer. He just nodded and kept walking.
From that moment on, the corridors became a true labyrinth. They could now go to the right, or squeeze through a narrow gap to get further. "Which way?" Sebastian asked her, looking both ways thoughtfully. Hazel wondered why he was asking her. After all, she had never been there either.
Hazel bent down, humming, to peer through the gap, then stood back up and looked the other way. No sign of Jackdaw's remains or of spiders. "Let's look to the right," she decided.
The path was more difficult than she had expected. They had to climb a lot and one cave looked like another. Finally, when Hazel thought they were hopelessly lost, they found a chamber they hadn't been in yet. In the middle hovered a magical platform, to the right was a path leading to the same height, and to the left was some kind of... Hazel didn't know what to call it, but it looked very much like a door knocker, or rather a handle that had been embedded in the rock wall.
To get a better overview of the chamber, the three went up the path to the right. There were these kinds of handles on the platform as well. "Accio" Sebastian suddenly directed the summoning spell at the handles of the platform and it floated over to them.
"Well done!" Hazel cheered him. When the platform was close enough, the three jumped over, Hazel being the last.
Hazel cried out when she didn't jump high enough and slammed her stomach on the edge and slid off. "I got you!" Ominis growled strained as he just barely managed to grab her hand. Sebastian helped him to pull Hazel up and she sat down on the platform, shaking and rubbing her stomach, to take a breath. "That was close," she muttered, startled, and the boys nodded.
It turned out that they were on the wrong path. They found a few untouched chests containing potions and coins, but that was all this turbulent path had to offer them, so they headed back to the crossroads in frustration, getting lost several times in the corridors.
"Whoever is responsible for this, if they're still alive - whether as a ghost or not - they get to hear from me!" Hazel growled softly as they squeezed through the gap. Ominis remained silent, but Sebastian hummed in agreement and helped her to her feet as they emerged. When they reached the end of the passage, Hazel groaned in exasperation as another floating platform appeared. Sebastian pulled it again, but this time it floated quite close to them and the jump was no problem for anyone.
What was worse for Hazel was that this platform rocked and wobbled much more than the last one. "Oh please, Hazel, if you're going to throw up, please down there" Sebastian grumbled. Ominis contorted his face in concern and rubbed her back gently as he held her, and Hazel shook her head.
Almost on the other side, she could not hold on any longer and vomited over the edge into the depths before the platform arrived with a dull thud on the other side.
"Here, have a sip, darling," Ominis murmured, holding out the water bottle that he had taken the precaution of putting in her bag. He had already thought that there would be spiders in this cave, so he had taken water with him. Hazel gratefully accepted the water bottle and quickly drank a sip before putting it away in alarm at the sounds of many, many, many crawling creatures.
"You should hurry" Sebastian confirmed what Hazel had heard and Ominis also drew his wand and his eyes lit up again. "Damn, that's a lot of them," Hazel muttered. They were facing at least Six spiders, their legs clacking on the ground and their fangs clicking ominously. They were different species, Hazel noticed. Two of them were reddish, two yellowish, and two greenish. "Be careful, the green ones are more poisonous than the others, the red ones attack directly and the yellow ones burrow under you to attack!" Sebastian quickly explained. He had been paying close attention in Defense Against the Dark Arts.
The three jumped off the platform and began to fight the spiders. Hazel tried to concentrate on herself, even though she instinctively kept moving in front of Ominis to protect him. For him, fighting was still a complicated task. His special vision made it difficult for him to concentrate on more than one opponent at a time, so Hazel always tried to keep everyone he wasn't concentrating on away from him. This resulted in Hazel getting knocked off her feet a time or two or getting splashes of poison, but that didn't bother her much at the time, because it meant they weren't concentrating on him.
The last digging spider she tore apart with Diffindo in the air, while Sebastian took care of the two reds and her and Ominis faced the greens. Hazel already had several burns on her hands and scalded areas on her face from splashes. Enraged, she hurled one of the spiders over the edge into the depths with Depulso and Ominis finally burned the last one.
Ominis saw that Hazel was shaking all over and also that Sebastian was still fighting. "Sit down. You have water in your bag. I'll help Seb" he determined. Hazel knew he was right and she should sit down. She could barely hold her wand, her hand hurt so much, but she couldn't leave Seb to fend for himself. She growled angrily and pointed her wand at one of the spiders, levitating it to buy the boys some time to tackle the spiders one by one while she sat down against a rock. In pain, Hazel rummaged in her bag for the water and healing potions. She set everything beside her and struggled to unscrew the bottle and not spill so much as she shakily rinsed her hands one by one. She cursed softly to herself to distract herself a bit as it burned. She then drank one of the healing potions, hoping it wouldn't leave any scars. As the small burns on her face began to heal, she gave a short shriek.
"Damn," she muttered. She hadn't even noticed it until now. The poison that was still on it kept etching away the healed skin. She dripped some water on a cloth and wiped her face and sighed in relief, closing her eyes as the burning finally stopped and the areas healed.
"Are you okay?" Ominis asked her anxiously when they had eliminated the spiders and he found Hazel slumped against the rock, her eyes closed. The trembling had subsided, but her heart was still racing. Hazel nodded and opened her eyes.
"My body didn't appreciate the burns, that's all. Give me a few minutes and I'll be fine," she replied, reaching for Ominis' hand. He too had received a few splashes, which she now looked at. Ominis winced as she suddenly poured water over it and she laughed softly.
"You need to take care of yourself the same way. Here, drink this" she said, handing him one of the healing potions when she was sure she had washed all the burns. She tossed one to Sebastian as well and then leaned back against the rock, taking a deep breath. This was going to be much more strenuous than they had thought.
The further way finally led them further into the depths. They had to jump down a deeper slope and saw themselves again in the chamber of the cave where the bridge was. From there they saw only an archway and the way up there clearly, some meters away from them.
"Spiders!" ominis shouted. He had heard the arachnids clicking and clacking, also the scraping in the earth and the soft hissing in the ground as the green spiders' venom dripped onto the earth. Hazel looked around intently, trying not to lose her composure as she counted them slowly, wand raised. "Ominis," she whispered to him. "Hide and make yourself invisible. When we fight, sneak up on them and neutralize as many as you can, like you did with the goblins. Got it?" The spiders might not have noticed him yet, and she would be happy to distract them from him. He nodded and was gone in the next moment.
"So you ugly creatures. Who wants to play?" she shouted coldly into the cave. Angry clicking and clacking could be heard as the spiders slowly circled the two, trapping them in their midst.
Ominis was very worried about Hazel and Sebastian when he saw that they were surrounded. In this cave were countless spiders of all sizes. He counted at least 12, but couldn't determine what kind, but when the spiders were distracted enough, he slowly made his way to take out as many as he could with Petrifficus Totalus while circling the spiders one by one and avoiding the spells that missed.
"Stay behind me!" Hazel shouted into the cave, pushing Sebastian behind her as well, as Hazel waved her wand in a semicircle and icily yelled, "INCENDIO!" The flames spread out in a semicircle from her feet, burning many of the spiders, which ran away screeching. One, however, ran right at Hazel, burning. Sebastian and Ominis were able to dodge it, but Hazel was caught off guard.
It knocked Hazel off her feet, ran over her and set her robe on fire and scorched her hair. "Shit, shit, shit!" she cried, knocking out flames on her robe. She was completely unaware of the pain of the burns she had suffered in the battle.
She gasped and got up again and sent the next group of spiders that appeared to hell with Expulso. After countless minutes, the cave went quiet for a moment. Ominis' camouflage spell had broken off at some point in the middle, Hazel's robe and a strand of her hair were smoking, Sebastian had scratches all over him.
"Damn it!" cursed Hazel as she reached into the bag with her hand and realized she was burned. But she sensed that wasn't all and the earth was shaking beneath them, so she shut out thoughts of that and reached back into the bag and tossed each of them a healing potion before taking one herself.
"Hazel, you're injured," Ominis said behind her, who had stepped closer when he heard the trembling and scraping of large claws or something similar beneath them, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?" she asked instead of responding. She needed to stay clear-headed. Within her walls she was aware that she had scratches, burns, bruises and maybe more. But that had to wait, she had to function, she had to protect them.
"We have to keep our distance!" she shouted as the earth finally moved at the surface as well, and across from them Two big, ultimate ugly spiders dug themselves out of the ground.
They quickly put distance between themselves and the beasts and Hazel quickly downed an energy potion. Ominis stood slightly behind her and his hand was on her shoulder again. "No matter what, we're not through here after these spiders. Don't use any ancient magic! We'll make it!" he said to her firmly and she nodded.
"Only if one of you is in danger of dying" she said coldly, her emotionless, cold emerald eyes fixed on the spiders.
These spiders were significantly stronger. Small groups of these smaller spiders were less of a challenge, while large groups were significantly more so, and two of these large reddish ones were more than a mere challenge. Between dodge rolls and battle spells, they barely had time to breathe. Every now and then they would pull each other out of harm's way and Ominis once saved them from being hit by one of those massive spider legs.
After just avoiding the venom of a smaller spider, Hazel flew back through the cave and landed with her face in a large puddle. Coughing and spitting, she stood up, turned around and fired an exploding fireball into the face of the big spider behind her - which was much too close for this spell - which sent Hazel flying again, where she remained motionless for the time being, just like the spider, whose head had become a mere burn hole.
Hazel opened her eyes, blinking, when she felt a sharp pain in her cheek. She heard the distant sound of battle and the much too close click of a spider's mouth. She jerked her eyes open, gripped the wand beside her tightly, and yelled shrilly, "Depulso!" as she saw the spider above her, rubbing its fangs with relish. She had woken up when its venomous saliva had cauterized the skin on her cheek. She quickly ran to one of the puddles and washed the various burns and scorches she had before standing in the back of the boys and taking care of the little spiders behind them.
"Are you okay?" ominis called to her as he hurled one fireball after another into the spiders in front of him. "Yes," Hazel gasped with strain. Then, finally, there was silence and the last echo died away. Hazel struggled to keep everything she felt locked away. As so often, she felt the pack of wolves inside her tugging at their chains. After a few seconds of breathing Hazel again handed everyone a healing potion, but felt that it did little to help with some of her injuries as she took a potion herself.
She cast a critical glance at Sebastian, a cut on his cheek was healing and the burn on his arm had become a mere redness. Then she looked at Ominis, who was still breathing heavily, but except for a few scratches and redness, she could not see anything on him either.
Ominis turned to her and gently put a hand to her cheek. He wanted to feel that everything was okay, but it was not. He felt a burn at the base of her neck, by her jaw. "Hazel..." he continued, but she took his hand away from there and held it in hers. "It's all right. I'm fine" she said. She knew full well that wasn't true, and that her voice was still cold because she was closing everything off to function.
Ominis squeezed her hand. "Let's get this over with," he said dryly. He didn't like that she had to go through this. He didn't like what Jackdaw and those damn pages had led them into.
Sebastian realized that they would probably have to carry Hazel back to the hospital wing after this. Hazel was the very symbol of a fierce heroine in a dragon story. Her hair was charred in places, the bow had been singed so much that it had separated and her curls hung down wildly. Her neck was adorned with a fresh burn, which extended a small distance down her cheek. She had minor scratches all over, which had closed but still stood out red on her pale skin. Her hands were red, scratched, scalded or burned. All just small spots, but it was enough to make her tremble. Her eyes were cold as ice, her expression cool and calculating as she fixed her gaze unyieldingly on the path before them.
Without another word, Hazel grabbed Ominis' hand and marched up the path, Sebastian behind them.