Leanaul didn’t mind Ominis’ scepticism, simply walked up to him and laid out her plan thoroughly. As he understood more and more about what she had been plotting, some undiscovered aspects of this young lady who he thought he knew well came to light, little by little, aspects of her that were…darker.

“Did Phineas agree to this?” Ominis raised more questions over some details.

When it came to this kind-hearted boy, Leanaul’s tone got a bit gentler: “That boy would do anything to stop his big brother… he always hated Sirius, just needs an opportunity like this.”

A scale of justice wavered back and forth in Ominis’ mind, weighing everything that was at stake here. Leanaul’s proposal was less… unruly than he anticipated, but certainly not without risks or moral grey zones. “What about the other Muggle-born witches, and Professor Garlick?” So he inquired further, but calmly, “Are you going to keep them in the dark as well? They have a right to know, don’t you think?”

“I know… and you are right, if I could, I really want to give them proper justice, but we don’t live in a perfect world.” Leanaul let out a broody sigh, though remained persistent on her original ideas, “A secret is only powerful if it’s known by little… should we let the other girls know, then they got emotional and told others about it, our bargaining chips will only be devalued.”

Bargaining chips? Devalued? Ominis couldn’t help but savour Leanaul’s choice of words. He felt like watching an adorable, seemingly ingenuous house pet shedding its façade and transforming into something unknown in the face of danger—even more curiously, it didn’t act on reactive, short-sighted impulses in panic, or lose its mind due to pressure and pain, but coordinated its attacks with preparations, foresights… and stunning grace.

Were those harmlessness and naivety… just a part of her arsenal too? That question tickled Ominis’ heart, making him probe deeper, even though this time it was less about the soundness of Leanaul’s tactics, and more about satisfying his private inquisitiveness.

“Don’t you want Sirius to… even apologize to you? To anyone in any way? For his insults to your dignity?” So Ominis asked, not realizing how personal his inquiry had become.

“Even if Sirius said sorry, do you think he would mean it?” Leanaul sneered, “No, making him bow to me would be a condition that’s worthless to us, but difficult for them to fulfil—because of their arrogance, so… not something you’d want to bring up when you are making a deal. My dignity will be repaired when he is stopped.”

Ominis didn’t know how people would normally react in this situation. Fear, because they saw a colder, more dangerous side of someone familiar? Or admiration, because they appreciated the shrewdness and willpower? For him, neither was an accurate description of how he felt. These new findings about Leanaul seemed to awaken something in him, resonating with a shadow lurking inside his soul that he didn’t know was there, like… a bored hunter finally meeting a worthy target.

It was primitive, almost euphoric, so much so that Ominis didn’t realize he had revelled in this feeling for too long, and Leanaul took his prolonged silence as a sign of distrust: “What do you think, Ominis? Do you think maybe… the Headmaster would care too much about his oldest son to accept this…”

“No, Professor Black might be a haughty Pure-Blood manic, but he’s not stupid.” Hearing her voice, Ominis immediately pulled his mind back to the present, “Being the Headmaster of Hogwarts is an important step in his career, he would not ruin it for anything. I think it’s feasible… we just need to be really, really careful with our negotiation methods.”

After receiving the approval from Ominis, Leanaul was visibly a lot more relaxed, her usual playfulness even returned in the way she talked: “Well, that’s why I have to enlist your help, Ominis, I heard you have a very clever tongue…”

“Clever tongue, is it?”

Ominis turned towards her and spoke. There was something about him that changed so profoundly out of the blue, that although he was simply repeating her words, Leanaul could feel the air between them was… different.

“Th- that’s… just what o- other people… said…” She blushed and stammered nervously.

And her reaction tickled Ominis just in the right places. “Hmm… we’ll see very soon.” He smiled.

When day light just dawned upon Hogwarts castle in next day’s morning, Sirius II stormed into his father’s office, griping about how someone broke into his secret art studio and demanding a blanket search for the thief and the stolen possessions—but of course, he didn’t have the nerve to be frank about what he lost, so even Professor Black didn’t see why he was making such a fuss about some lost sketches.

Then Phineas barged in with Leanaul and Ominis, catching the father and son right in the middle of their conversation. Annoyed and embarrassed, the Headmaster cleared his throat and looked at his second-born: “What are you doing, Phineas? Don’t you see I’m talking to your brother?”

“Mr. Gaunt and Miss Cheninx found Sirius’ lost sketches, father, they are here to return it.”

Sirius froze as he heard Phineas, while Ominis put the metal box on the Headmaster’s desk and pushed it towards Professor Black: “But I think you should see these drawings first, Professor…”

“These are my private documents…”

The Headmaster used his authoritative glare to force Sirius to step back, then after brief consideration, started to go through these bound journals.

Interestingly, Ominis noticed Professor Black wasn’t so shocked or confused at the first few sketches, like he’d seen them before, only after reaching the later ones did he begin to show signs of anger and shame, his finely trimmed moustache standing up from his skin like the quills on top of a porcupine’s back.

Professor Black didn’t finish all the sketches, throwing them back into the chest, his scorching eyes first stopped at Sirius’s lowered head, like he was going to burn this boy alive with his furious look, but in the end he held back his emotions. Then he started scanning through everyone else in the room, from Phineas to Ominis, and decided to start with Leanaul:

“Miss Cheninx, haven’t you tarnished the name of House Slytherin enough? How many times have you broken the rules? You said you were doing extracurricular assignments, helping classmates, saving the world… what about this time, hmm? Have you got another excuse for me?”

Seeing his father targeting Leanaul first, a smug smirk appeared on Sirius’ face, but Leanaul didn’t seem to mind, staying composed and focused: “I just want to talk, Headmaster, if I intended to cause any trouble, these sketches would have been circulated among the students right now, instead of being here…”

“Are you threatening me!?”

“We are not your threat, Professor Black,” Ominis intercepted, “It’s not just the students this time, Professor Garlick is involved too—if these lost drawings are found by anyone else who isn’t… as considerate about your reputation, the consequences will be very dire. Besides, judging by the contents of these works, it’s very likely that Sirius’… ‘proclivities’ will escalate and make him do things more outrageous than just sketching and commentating about these ladies—we are trying to help you intervene before it gets worse, Headmaster…”

“Even if, let’s say, you don’t take an interest in the opinions of… people like me,” Leanaul immediately advanced after Ominis’ move, “But what would your fellow Pure-Blood wizards think, if they caught wind of your son following and obsessing over Muggle-born witches…”

Leanaul’s words hit right at the pain point, enraging Sirius II, who jumped up and berated her: “You lying Mudblood whore! Please, father, you know how much I value my arts, why would I ever taint them with the likes of these low-borns!? They must have forged these drawings and planted them there to defame me…”

But Phineas wouldn’t stand there and watch his brother making up these fabrications: “I will testify! I saw you stabbing Miss Cheninx’s portrait with my own eyes… and all the other things you did! It’s disgusting, and it’s wrong…”

“Shut your damned mouth, you little…”

“Expelliarmus!”

Sirius II was so infuriated that he wanted to attack his own little brother with spells—right in front of his father, but Ominis immediately disarmed him before anything happened. Mr. Gaunt’s magic seemed particularly powerful today, not only taking away Sirius’ weapon, but striking him to the ground as well. The first-born of the Blacks still scrambled to fight back, only to watch Leanaul retrieved his wand with ease:

“But you see, Master Sirius… The power of public perception never lies in its truthfulness, you should know that better than anyone else, right? As you so eloquently put it, a ‘Mudblood whore’ like me has no sense of honour—but you and your father are different: the names of House Slytherin, Hogwarts and the Black family are all in your hands… you can’t afford to be ruthless, young Master Black.”

And then, she did something that no one, not even Ominis, had anticipated. Holding Sirius II’s and her own wands at the same time, Leanaul walked slowly towards this Seventh-Year fellow Slytherin, who just stood up and got a hold of himself.

Perhaps out of astonishment, Sirius backed off until his back hit the wall as this Muggle-born witch approached him, looking at her cluelessly as she got dangerously close, then helping him tidy up his uniform and hair with the sweetest smile. These intimate moves threw Sirius entirely off guard, to the extent that he forgot to get back his wand when he could have easily grabbed it.

Sirius II was a tall, dashing-looking lad—with his blue-blooded bearing and artsy, proud temperament, he had lots of girls eyeing at him, girls who didn’t know who he was or didn’t care even if they did. But Leanaul knew exactly what was going on under this glorious skin, which was why she suddenly stroked his chin with his own wand, batting her shiny eyes at him as she whispered to him in a volume only the two of them could hear:

“Must be… so difficult, isn’t it? All those responsibilities, all that… pride to defend…”

She used the most feminine, inappropriately coquettish voice, breathing onto his chest and watching him gulp, despite completely aware of how he fantasized about her:

“All that… pent-up energy… with no one to take out on…”

Her last line finally broke Sirius, sending him to attack her with bare hands in an animalistic roar, but his body was frozen before his hand could reach Leanaul, even though no one saw her using any spell or potion.

Sirius didn’t understand what was wrong. There was some kind of force, unlike any kind of magic he had seen before, coming out of Leanaul’s petite body and pressing him against the wall. The ravishing look on her face disappeared without a trace, what greeted him now was a cruel, imperious light in her silver-white eyes, like she was looking at nothing but a squirming worm.

“Enough!”

Finally recovering some senses after waves of overwhelming rude awakenings, the Headmaster stood up and shouted, couldn’t stand one more second of this deplorable drama. And so Leanaul obliged, putting Sirius’ wand back in his hand and walked back to Ominis’ side lithely, even gave him a wink at the end.

That’s when Ominis realized, it was all just her power move to humiliate Sirius II—although she might not understand that… she was toying with two hearts at the same time just now.

Everyone waited quietly as Professor Black paced around the room, and after a dragging, challenging balancing of gains and losses, the Headmaster had come to the displeasing conclusion that he must make a compromise: “Fine, fine… what do you want?”

Sirius was obviously unhappy to see his father doing so, but after what just happened with Phineas and Leanaul, he had very a little to defend himself with. Ominis slightly lowered his head towards Professor Black, appearing as humble and courteous as possible: “Oh, Professor, we are not asking for anything much—just that you cure your House Elf Scrope and let him continue to serve the Black family without further harm, and discipline Sirius to make sure he stays away from other Muggle-born witches or wizards in Hogwarts from now on. That’s everything.”

Leanaul had wanted to free Scrope from servitude entirely, but the Elf insisted on serving the Blacks, so they had no choice but to respect his own will.

Ominis’ offer was so easy after all this farce that the Headmaster found it hard to believe, but immediately Leanaul brought up the truly tricky condition to the table: “Of course, we will keep these sketches as an insurance of our agreement, and copies of them in a safe place too just in case. As you can see, I’m in good relationships with the House Elves in Hogwarts—and you know what’s good about them? Nobody pays attention to them, but they are everywhere in the castle, so they will help me make sure… you and your son follow through these promises.”

While she was talking, Phineas quickly locked the metal box of journals and put it back into Leanaul’s hands. Before coming here, Leanaul had strengthened the enchantment on the chest and changed the password to open it, so even if the Headmaster or Sirius II tried to destroy it by force, their efforts would be in vain.

After the pact was reached between both sides, Professor Black chased the three troublemakers out of his office to have a word with Sirius. Right after stepping out of the staircase behind the ferocious Gargoyle, Phineas leaned against the wall, nearly fell because of his weak, trembling knees, cold sweat seeping out of his forehead. Clearly, an intense confrontation with his elder brother and the patriarch of his family wasn’t easy for a young boy like him.

Someone else was quite amused by what just went down, however—Peeves swam out of the wall, laughing out loud as his body wiggled in excitement: “Oh, that was quite the show, Miss Cheninx! You really did it! You tricked the Headmaster of Hogwarts, and one of the most powerful wizard families! Isn’t this one of the boldest pranks I’ve ever seen… Oh you just made my day…”

After praising Cheninx for her schemes and even offering to partner with her in some future “manoeuvrings”, this phantom trickster floated away in great satisfaction. “So this is how you convinced Peeves to remain quiet about our… plots, Miss Cheninx.” Ominis chuckled.

“I know Peeves would appreciate a good prank…” Leanaul proudly stood before Ominis, her hands behind her back, “Judging by the reception, I’d say we just impressed the master…”

“Well I’m glad somebody enjoyed it… I surely didn’t.” Phineas muttered, still out of breath, reliving the perilous moments back in the Headmaster’s Office, “Can’t believe Sirius would really want to hurt me…”

Sympathetic of how difficult it was for this junior student, Leanaul walked to Phineas and bowed down, gently touching his shoulders: “You are a brave hero, Phineas, you saved Scrope, and we wouldn’t find the truth and do any of this without you… Thank you so much for everything.”

She landed a soft kiss on Phineas’ forehead, cheering the little boy up. Ominis couldn’t believe he actually felt a bit jealous of him for a second there. He wasn’t that young… just looked small, that’s all. Ominis grumbled to himself.

However, Phineas was soon summoned by his father, evidently not spared from a good amount of scolding as well. When Ominis heard Sirius coming out of the office after his little brother entered, a mischievous idea surfaced in his mind. He suddenly stepped closer to Leanaul and cornered her to the wall like what she did to Sirius, shortening the distance between them until he could feel her warm breath on his neck.

“Ominis…”

Ominis placed a finger lightly on Leanaul’s mouth, signalling her to be quiet, and spoke in a hushed tone:

“I just helped you with your prank, Miss Cheninx, could you indulge me in one too? Just return the favour…”

His voice had always been very ethereal… fragile, even, yet in this moment, when he talked in the most subtle and delicate way possible, his words became so sternly undeniable, that Leanaul felt like she had no choice but to obey. She stood there silently as Ominis’ fingertips slid away from her lips and started drawing circles on her reddening cheeks, then brushed away small hair around her face.

With his figure towering over her, Leanaul didn’t know Sirius was watching them with his fists tightened. Ominis didn’t explain anything either, simply having fun playing with her ear—he especially enjoyed the sensations her earlobe enthused on the pulps of his fingers, how fleshy, springy and entrancing this tiny part of her felt when he rubbed and pinched it, to the extent that he didn’t even notice that Leanaul was humming because he hurt her a little.

“Have you had enough, Master Ominis?”

Leanaul voiced her complaint faintly, so Ominis caressed and comforted her flushed ear then let go of her with pleasure. Sirius was gone a long time ago, but Ominis simply enjoyed petting this little lovely snake in his palm a little too much—particularly because she was just flaunting her vexing fangs at others so viciously.