Pureblood Muggle

Chapter 16, dancing with death

       True to his word, Ominis kept quiet, even as your group headed into the cavern.
The keepers gave you an in-depth verbal guide for anything that could happen over the course of a couple weeks. You'd made sure to study for as long as you felt you needed, not that Sebastian contained his impatience and was scolded by Anne and Ominis. It caused a few fights between them, and though they pushed as to why Ominis was extra frustrated, he'd walk off.
You could feel fear and doubts haunt each step, having to mentally push yourself to keep going before you decided to run the opposite direction.
What if you failed? What if you killed Anne? What if you only make it worse or kill everyone?
You looked to your side at Ominis, who hadn't left it since breakfast.
You hated this idea. It reminded you too much of Isadora. It was too close to teetering a line that was already thin.
"I can't wait for all of us to go to sixth year together," Sebastian said, getting Ominis to glare, not that he noticed.
Professor Weasley brought Nurse Blainey down with a few teachers who were to keep the castle standing if there was a repeat of the last time.
In truth you felt bad about ripping them away from their families on summer break, not that they weren't quick to remind you that they volunteered.
Anne sat down on the chair Professor Weasley conjured from a ivory handled hand mirror we found on the way.
You kneeled before her, seeing terror in her eyes mimic the one you've been trying to contain. "Are you okay?"
She nodded, clenching the seat. "Is this going to hurt?"
"I don't know," you admitted softly. "Do you need a moment?"
She took a deep breath and shook her head.
Hoping for a good outcome, you closed your eyes, drawing on the ancient magic to sense the curse within her.
You felt it at first, you'd been practicing targeting things, but it felt like pure hatred. For you, for Anne, for everything. It wanted to kill her and prolong the agony until every drop of life was squeezed out of her, weaving itself throughout her whole body.
Opening your eyes, you saw your magic swirling around your wand, ready to help when you commanded it. You touched it to her heart.
Keeping a focus on what you wanted to draw out became increasingly difficult as it felt like your own magic was draining while drawing the curse out.
It twisted and thrashed, half clawing to stay inside.
Professor Sharp had to stop Sebastian from racing over as Anne gasped in pain.
You pulled on your wand seeing the red curse stretch to hold Anne victim, making her clench at her chest.
Percival warned you not to let yourself get distracted, so you used your magic to pull harder, your energy draining and by the look of it, so was Anne's.
You could almost see it losing its grip and pulling away from her limbs, drawing to your wand unwillingly.
You tugged again, feeling something slide out of your nose and down your chin, but it finally let go of Anne and you were able to pull your wand free as she collapsed back in the chair, panting.
Your own body wanted to give out, but you were warned to finish the job no matter how you felt.
Pushing yourself up on burning feet and wobbling legs, you saw the looks of horror on everyone's faces as blood streamed from your nose and exhaustion written on your features.
They were warned not to get close until the curse was contained or it would infect them.
Don't lose focus.
You turned your back to them and started building a new container to cage it as the corners of you vision darkened and your body began to go numb.
Lifting your wand felt nearly impossible and as soon as you touched it to the cage, the curse was sucked up along with the rest of your energy.
With a bright light, darkness swallowed you and your body collapsed to the ground.
It took a moment for everyone to be able to see, the group split between you and Anne as Ominis heard the commotion.
"Anne's alive and awake, she's just worn out," Blainey said quickly. "What about her?"
Professor Sharp was already trying to get you to swallow wiggenweld potion.
"She's breathing," he answered as Professor Weasley scolded him for putting too much potion in your mouth at once.
"Is she okay?" Ominis asked, taking a few steps forward, feeling too many people in the way.
"She's unconscious," Professor Fig answered. "She must have pushed herself too far."
Ominis shook his head, sorrow still etched into his face. "She made me promise not to tell, but she said this spell could have killed her."
The professors glanced at each other, understanding and irritation flicking through before they jumped into action.
"Let's get them both to St. Mungo's quickly," Fig said, already moving to help in any way he could.

   The first thing you felt was sore, like every muscle had overworked itself.
People were talking nearby about the moves in gobstones, it took you longer than you'd like to recognize the voices.
As you started to wake up, you felt something grab your hand.
"You're in trouble," Ominis whispered. "The twins are going to scold you for not telling them how dangerous things were."
You opened your eyes in time to see Anne smack him on the shoulder. "Don't warn her."
She no longer had sunken eyes or pale cheeks, though she still sported dark circles.
You smiled, earning a frown from the twins. "You look better."
Her hands moved to her hips. "You don't. You nearly died. You should have told me the truth."
"Would you have agreed if I did?" She only glared as you smiled slightly. "I needed someone's plea to be answered."
Sebastian's and Ominis's anger melted instantly. Anne let it go as she noticed the turn.
"How long was I asleep for?"
"It's the first day of term," Sebastian answered, making you almost bolt out of bed, before they pushed you back. "I'm kidding, jeez. It's only been a few hours."
You groaned while you glared at him. "Very funny."
"Sara's here. Professor Fig brought her, though she's not a fan of apparating." Anne giggled as she jumped up on the bed beside your legs. "From what I heard, she's sticking with muggle transportation from now on."
You laughed before you could stop yourself and groaned softly, getting Ominis to scoot closer.
"One hell of a summer," Sebastian mumbled, glancing around, before his eyes settled on you. "You couldn't stop at being the hero of Hogwarts."
You gave a lazy smile as your eyes moved to Anne. "This is why I can't die yet. Someone has to help you two keep the troll in line."
Anne and Ominis laughed as Sebastian hopped up beside his sister, sandwiching your legs between them.
"Your wizard mom, Elizabeth, was telling the truth but the way," Sebastian mentioned before motioning towards Ominis. "He's chatty when he's worried."
Blushing, he looked away from the group getting the twins to laugh.
"So, being cast aside had a meaning," you mumbled softly.
"She's helped arrested a lot of dark wizards who have tortured people, so she seems to be working on a pardon," Sebastian admitted, staring at if to gauge your reaction.
"She wants a spot in your life," Anne pushed.
You rubbed your forehead. "I don't know what to believe. I mean, everything felt simpler when I hated both of them."
"Was it easier to hate me?" Ominis asked, squeezing your hand. "Or is it easier not?"
"You're different," you replied, earning surprise before he smiled slightly.
The twins were grinning as you looked back. "Well, it wouldn't hurt to give her a chance. I mean between Ominis and I, you have loads of experience in forgiveness, right?"
Anne chuckled as you raised an eyebrow. "You're now grounded from speaking for the next ten minutes." She sighed as she met your eyes. "But the troll makes a good point, just not the one he did-"
"Hey," he complained, getting shushed.
"You decided to give a chance to both of them and they paid off, your mom might do the same."
"I'll think about it," you said hoping they'd drop the subject. "It's not easy getting over ten years worth of anger."
The door opened and Professor Fig poked his head inside for a quick second. "She's awake Sara."
You moved to sit up, with the twins and Ominis trying to stop you, but you managed to thwart their attempts.
Sara walked in with a smile, though you could see dark circles starting under her eyes.
"It's good to see you're up," she said moving into the room, though her expression quickly turned serious. "And you're also grounded."
The twins tried to keep from giggling as Ominis sat back in the chair.
"But I kept you informed-"
"You left out the part where you almost willingly got yourself killed," she hissed, pinching the bridge of her nose as Sebastian let a chuckle slip. "I don't know why you're laughing, you're also grounded. All of you are."
"What? Why?"
"For scaring me half to death," she answered, before she sniffled. "I swear, if this continues, I'll have to bury you too."
"I wasn't-" you started, but she just came over and hugged you tightly.
Professor Fig smiled from the side of the bed as you looked to him for help.
"As your elected gaurdian for the summer, she has every right to ground all of you," he mentioned, getting everyone's mouth to drop as your mom pulled back with a smile. "You didn't tell any of the teachers about the dangers of that magic. I can not over state how terrible things could have ended up if Mr. Gaunt hadn't said something after you passed out."
Your eyes snapped to Ominis, who blushed, seemingly feeling your gaze.
"But, weren't you the one letting me jump into danger half the school year?"
Your mom raised an eyebrow his way, seeing him stammer.
"You're grounded too."
"Just means you're spending your summer with us," Sebastian teased, getting him to sigh. "It's better than being alone all the time, right?"
His eyes glanced around, seeing all of you smiling encouragingly. "Well, changing the routine would be nice and getting away from Professor Black is an added bonus. I would have to go back before the start of term however."
Your mom nodded, before hugging you again.