Worm, Snake, Serpent: S.S/FEMOC!/O.M

Chapter 1 - The Summer Before Year Six

There is one question that remains unanswered in every person's life; how will I die? Of course, the answer happens and is over with before we know it. Not many people are up to the task of accepting death. Knowing one is going to die and there is nothing one can do about it, the true acceptance of death, is power.

There were many deaths this past year at Hogwarts. Lodgok the Goblin, Professor Fig, Solomon Sallow, Ranrock the Goblin, Victor Rookwood. Some good, some bad. But I wonder in their final moments, did they feel in control of their death? Did they feel the power of life leave from their last breath?

Ever since my 5th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, I wonder how I will die. There had been many close calls over that one year. As I enter Year Six, I wonder who or what will try to kill me this time? My biggest enemies are gone now, but so are some of my biggest supporters.

I still have some of my greatest friends who are still by my side like Poppy, Natty, Ominis, and Amit. They helped me fight off poachers, Ranrock and his followers, Rookwood.

But there are some friends who are no longer here. Twin siblings Sebastian and Anne Sallow are no longer here. Sebastian had been sent to Azkaban before the end of term last year. He had killed his uncle Soloman using the killing curse, one of three unforgivable curses a wizard can use. Anne had vanished shortly after she confronted her twin for killing their uncle.

Ominis and myself had searched for Anne for the first month of summer break. We had both stayed in Soloman's house, hoping she would return. We knew we had no chance of being seen by Sebastian because he had been sent to Azkaban. I had sent him there specifically. Ominis had convinced me to.

"He needs to pay for what he's done. For too long, we BOTH have let him run around casting Unforgivables. He needs help, Josephine. He won't listen to me, he won't listen to you, and he can't listen to Anne since she's run off." Ominis had said to me before the school year had ended. It felt strange not seeing Sebastian at the final feast before break.

He had been pacing in the undercroft after our encounter with Soloman in his final moments. I had to tell him what happened. If not for Sebastian's sake then for Anne's. I had always assumed Ominis had loved her more than just as his best friend's sister. He loved Anne. And now she was gone. But Ominis and I were still here. Without either of them.

"Ominis, I know you're right, he needs help and it can't be from any of us... But it'll break his heart., it'll break him. His best friend and... and me, sending him away. He will never forgive us. You know that, right?" I never knew what to call my relationship with Sebastian. We were kindred spirits, two sides of the same coin. We both valued books, and knowledge, and above all else; loyalty to a fault.

I think I had loved Sebastian, but he had fallen so far. He wasn't the same boy I met in the Slytherin common room a year ago.

"I do, darling. Witches and Wizards who go there, they are never the same. I know the risk of sending him there, but letting him stay out here is a larger risk!" Ominis stops and takes my hands in his.

Letting out a sigh, he begins again. "Josephine, we are helping him and everyone else by sending him to Azkaban. Whatever feelings we have for him do not outweigh our duty to protect those around us. To protect each other." The weight of my hands seems to melt in Ominis'. He knows what to say, always. I know how right he is. I just can't shake the feeling that it's not going to work. Something nags at the back of my mind.

But I had shaken that feeling off. After mine and Ominis' first month searching for Anne, we had given up. She was nowhere to be found. We had tried many relatives, friends, and her usual spots to be found but there was no sign of her. Ominis and I returned to Feldcroft and walked into the Sallow home.

It was small, but it had everything a house needed like a bathroom, kitchen, and two separate sleeping areas, only being divided by a curtain. I had taken Anne's bed and he had taken Soloman's. We both knew how improper it was to be sleeping in the same house, but at least we had curtains to separate our living quarters.

Ominis had usually stayed at the Sallow place over the summer. He dreaded seeing his own family, The Gaunt's, due to their wicked ways of approval over the Dark Arts. Ominis came from a pure-blooded family who thought anyone who wasn't pureblood was beneath them. Ominis came from money and lived in a manor house while I was the complete opposite.

I had been orphaned, never knowing my parents, never knowing if they were dead or not. I had been simply left at the orphanage, in a basket, as a newborn and grew up there. I knew nothing of the magic world until I was fifteen, which is much later than most magic born children.

I stayed at the Sallow residence because I didn't want to go back to the orphanage. Professor Weasley had given me special permission as Anne Sallow was missing while Ranrock's loyalists were still at large. Weasley had thought if someone was here when she came back, I could alert her at Hogwarts that she had returned safe and sound. But I was becoming less and less sure that was going to be the case. There was no sign or word of Anne. The only positive thing was that I could spend time with Ominis.

I had a lot of making up to do with Ominis. I had owed him a lot for all the lying and sneaking around that I did with Sebastian. I knew he didn't fully trust me the way he once did. I had told him that I wouldn't continue looking into the Dark Arts with Sebastian. Did I do that? No, of course I didn't because my mistake was that I had believed in Sebastian that we could find a cure for Anne while also discovering my ancient magic.

This mistake would cost a man his life, a sister her family, and a boy his innocence.