Part 2

"You need to pass all the tests... Prove that you are worthy..." Gigantic statues coming to life flashed before my eyes, primal horror and fear tightened my throat in a tight knot. I wanted to scream, close my eyes, and hide in a corner. "When will it all end?"

Taking a deep breath, I embraced the darkness and silence. It felt like a nightmare.

Noah put on his favorite knitted sweater, but he didn't want to sleep, and it was still a couple of hours before morning. He remembered the letters and, taking them with him, he went into the living room.

Sitting on a comfortable chair across from the fireplace, Noah began to sort through the letters. There were several from Professor Weasley, Gringotts Bank, Natty, Poppy, and Sebastian.

"Gringotts Bank?!" Suddenly, I exclaimed loudly to myself and was taken aback. I began to read the contents, which stated that the safe that once belonged to the keepers now belongs to me. It instructed me to come with a safe and key and fill out the appropriate paperwork.

"In my opinion, Professor Fig and I didn't get a good look at it," I thought. So, I decided to go to Gringotts Bank today. Then I read Weasley's letter, which stated that, although I had the right to skip classes after everything that had happened, a whole month was too long. I wasn't worried about it since I had already filled out the book Weasley gave us at the beginning of the training. With that knowledge, I could easily pass all the exams, and the presence of teachers at lectures was not my main concern.

There was a letter from Natty inviting me to meet her and a letter from Poppy saying that my grandmother had sent too much pet food and she wanted to share it with me.

Finally, there was the last letter from Sebastian. I just sat there for a long time, holding it in my hands. "Solomon Sellow."

"You're not my nephew's friend!" His voice still echoed in my ears as if I had heard it only yesterday. I felt sorry for Sebastian. If I thought about it, his uncle's blood was on his hands too. If I hadn't exhausted him back then, if I had just let myself be maimed, maybe he would have had the strength to repel the killing spell. After all, he was a former Obscurial, it wouldn't have cost him anything to take that blow. My hands clenched into fists, crumpling the letter. I didn't want to read it with all my heart. I could pretend that I hadn't received any letter—maybe the owl ate it, it got lost among other letters, or it fell under the bed. I came up with hundreds of excuses just to forget about it, to not see him or listen to him.

Every time I thought about Sebastian, I remembered how his uncle fell dead on the cold floor of the dungeon and Sebastian's desperate cry. Can I blame him for the murder? Considering that my own hands were covered in blood up to the elbows, how many times had I used Unforgivable Curses? Yes, I could justify that I did it for the greater good, but so did Sebastian. He wanted to save his only sister, the last remaining family he had. His goal was far more important than mine. Save poor animals from poachers? Kill goblins involved in excavations? People who worked for Rookwood? I didn't understand anything anymore. The only thing on my mind was that I had far more ruined souls on my account than anyone else. I was a real killer.

That moment when Ominis, confused, asked how best to deal with Sebastian, whether to hand him over to the Ministry or act in the most selfish way and cover him from justice—that moment was probably the most sobering in my mind. If Sebastian deserved a trip to Azkaban for one murder, then what the hell did I deserve? Immediate execution on the spot? Dismemberment and oblivion? I couldn't answer my own questions.

Of course, I stood up for my friend, insisting that we should cover him because he sincerely repented for what he did and would never delve into forbidden knowledge again. And it was sincere; he was broken. To kill my own uncle with my own hands out of momentary rage—I honestly couldn't even imagine what he felt.

That was our last meeting in the crypt, with Ominis. After that, there was a battle with the goblins and a month of wandering.