The wizards were waiting for the witch's return with batted breaths. She told them to continue without her but neither of them did. The entire time they kept looking at things that weren't each other, avoiding each other's gazes at every given moment. 

Bubbles was watching the wizard's struggle of not making eye contact and kept chuckling each time they do make contact. Rose however wasn't concerned of whose eyes meets whose and was rather thinking of Florina and how late she has been in the bathroom.

What is she doing that is taking all that time?

After half an hour of the witch's absence, and after the wizard's avoiding-sights game got really boring, the emerald-eyed wizard got up and mumbled, "I will go check on her" and at once headed to the bathroom before hearing the other wizard's response.

"Woods, are you okay in there?" he said quietly. He was met with dead silence. A few moments has passed, he knocked on the door again more louder. Once again he heard nothing. He felt his anxiety rising until he was hit with a thought, what if she fainted again?

Or worse, what if she hurt herself?

He knocked for a third time in hopes of alerting Florina but there was still no response. He made up his mind and began banging on the door with force calling the witch repeatedly. 

Little did he know that Florina's "muffliato" spell on the door was preventing him from hearing anything from the inside. Before he could call on her for the fourth time however, the door was opened forcefully and a very annoyed witch laid behind it.

"Can't a lady take a dump in peace?" she asked sarcastically. 

David was relieved to see the witch safe and sound regardless of her being angry at him. She softly shoved him out of the way with a large book in her hand and headed for the living room.

"Sir" she addressed the potion's master and sat beside him "I have been reading the book trail of peccatorum and I found this," she thrust the huge book on the desk and pointed at the page "it will tell us what you wanted to know all along. Can you read it for us please, my translating spell doesn't last very long."

The wizard moved an inch away from Florina and narrowed his eyes. He lowered his hooked nose to the open book in front of him. "How did you read it, it's in Latin?"

Florina nodded trying not to show nervousness "That's what I am saying sir, I cannot manage the translation spell for more than five minutes. It was extremely difficult to read the entire chapter that way."

He kept his eagle gaze upon her, never blinking once, his eyes pouring onto her, searching her soul. She found it hard to keep up with his gaze and lowered hers casually. 

She knew he was trying to read her mind and she couldn't let him. Reading her mind means finding out the half-baked lie she and Agrippa invented on short notice. Severus wasn't the only wizard who wasn't buying her white lie, Rose too was staring at her carrier in confusion.

'So how will you help us if Rose cannot find out about this?' Florina asked in her mind facing the ghost in the mirror 'You do realize, I cannot just walk in and tell them of the Unbinding ritual you speak of myself. How more suspicious could that be?'

'Oh, of course my dear lady, that would be obviously not convincing,' the ghost agreed 'Therefor, I wrote all the steps necessary in this book right here.' He levitated the book 'Trail of peccatorum' to her and it landed softly in her outstretched hands.

'The writing is pure remedial Latin to match the rest of the book and the chapter's title is similar to the title of the book. You will show it to your friend whom you say can read Latin and simply tell him you used the spell 'transferendum revelio' to translate the words.'

She got startled when David knocked on the door for the second time and she knew she had to speed up. The witch turned to Augustus. 'Is that an actual spell or are you just making shit up?' 

'My my dear lady, language,' Augustus chuckled. 

Florina banged on the mirror once forcefully and he immediately became quiet, 'Are you or aren't you?' she asked with more vigor. 

No my dear lady, it's a real spell that you could use,' he shot at once shivering slightly 'It also doesn't last very long. It depends on the wizard's skill in such spell I believe, so you have to mention that you repeated it over and over.'

She sighed and was startled once more by the more aggressive banging on the door. She turned to the ghost who mouthed 'good luck' before he vanished from the mirror.

"The book was in my pouch the entire time," Severus asked coldly not breaking his gaze once "how did you get the chance to not only take it out but carry it with you to the bathroom?"

She swallowed hard and took a deep breath. "I got bored last night and took it out for a bit of light reading" she said trying her best to sound confident "I have been reading it for the entire night trying to find anything that could be of use to us. I took it with me to the bathroom because I knew I would get bored until I found this chapter sir," she pointed at the page once more "It is odd that it had the same title name as the book, wouldn't you agree sir?"

"I have dissected the entire book bit by bit," Severus responded automatically locking eyes with her "If there was such a peculiar thing as you say, I would have immediately noticed it. Will save us the wasted time. So... for the sake of our time not getting more wasted, I will ask you this once, what were you doing in there?"

The witch felt her anxiety rising and her palms got sweaty from her continuous fiddling with them. She refused however to break his gaze and tried her best to clear her mind. 

After a few moment of silence, she responded confidently "I have told you everything Sir. Now for the sake of the valuable time not getting wasted as you say, I need you to take a look at the chapter I was referring to."

Both Rose and Bubbles whispered 'oooh' and looked between the two, the only thing missing was a bucket of popcorn for them. Florina gave a sideways glance at David who was smirking. Severus however didn't join in the fun and his cold stare turned into a glare. But that didn't last thankfully, as the witch began to crack under the intensity of his glare. She lowered her gaze.

Silently, the wizard pulled the book to him with a firm tug and wordlessly read the chapter under his breath. Emotions were forming on the indifferent wizard's face and not all of them were good ones. One in particular was the most dominant, Astonishment. If Florina knew her potions master well, he would be mumbling 'how could I have missed this?'

But apparently she was wrong, the stubborn wizard didn't want to admit defeat...even to himself. He accioed a piece of parchment and a pen from his pouch and began swiftly writing a summary of the chapter. When he was done, he closed the book with a thud and looked up at the two. 

He cleared his throat and turned to Florina, "Since we have extremely limited time, I won't inquire any further on how you came to know of this. But once we successfully retrieve the book, I will be expecting you in my office."

"You mean if... not when Snape," David corrected "If we retrieved the book. You forgot how astronomical our chances are of finding it."

Severus shook his head once "No, I do not stand corrected. With this mysterious chapter right here, its indeed possible to find and retrieve the book before the full moon tonight. It's written in clear steps what needs to be done" he turned to the blue eyed witch "However I specifically remember glossing over that specific page countless times and this mysterious chapter was not there. You will still be hearing from me."

Florina lowered her gaze and nodded.

It's a freaking thousand page book! She thought angrily. Why is he so sure of himself? He couldn't have memorized them all. Well, at least it worked, now all we have to do is follow along Augustus.

The potions master stood up at once and made his way to his winter gear and quickly put it on. He turned to the other two, who stood in their place gawking at him. He sighed "You are expecting us to find it telepathically! Come on, no time to waste."

In sync, they ran to their gear and struggled with wearing it especially Florina, who kept missing the sleeve of David's giant coat. Once he was done with wearing his, he went to her and whispered "Let me help you," and assisted her gently. 

Severus stared at them for a brief moment but rolled his eyes before he was caught staring. 

As Bubbles made her way to them too, Severus turned to her sharply. "You are staying here. Who else is going to watch over our belongings, elf?" Bubbles seemed upset by the potion's master harsh decision but decided not to disobey. After all, her job was done.

She ran to Florina and hugged her neck, "Good luck Miss Flora" she whispered and kissed the witch's cheek. 

Florina blushed intensely and tried her best to hide it with her cascading hair while pig tailed blue eyed elf giggled. The witch straightened and gave a sideways to her fairy who was glaring in Florina's direction. When she turned to face her, Rose simply locked eyes with her carrier and flew to her crashing her in a bear hug.

She whispered softly "I wished you would never find that dreaded thing. I promise I will stand by you if I ever feel any danger," she slowly let her go and stared "And you won't disagree or interfere on whatever decision I make to protect you, is that clear?"

The witch chuckled but didn't want to start an argument and simply nodded.

Once the trio were ready, they stepped outside their feet getting immersed in the deep snow. Surveying their surroundings calmly, they noticed how serene and peaceful their environment was. For that they were immensely grateful. Both party turned to Severus for instructions. He looked down at the parchment and recited loudly,

"Reminiscences of the past I summon thee.

Reveal your secrets and the trail to be.

Forgive us, for our sins is the key.

That trapped us here, chastised us tee.

Reveal yourselves and cleanse ye

With my might so mote it be!"

When he was done with the last verse, a shining shimmering trail of light paved its way hovering over the snowy ground. It elongated with the trio's every step forward . They turned to the potion's master for explanation.

"This light is supposedly going to lead us to a town called Peccatorum or the Sinners," he explained as they moved forward their legs immersed in the snow with every step. 

The light trail took a sharp left turn and they followed suit "Once the trail ends, we will be met with a giant invisible gate that will lead us to the entrance of the cave. When we arrive there, I will be explaining further. For now, let me focus on where this is going to lead us."

It took them almost an hour speeding up after the light path that was taking sharp turns left and right. The frozen forest was behind them and so was the cabin. The trail was leading them further away from the cabin and to the gigantic mountains. After a final right turn, the light trail diminished but not before blinking twice signifying that they arrived. 

They turned to Severus for confirmation and he nodded looking down at his parchment.

To them, the snowy landscape stretched wide before their eyes outstretching in every direction. They could see the colossal mountain more clearly now. It stood mighty high, almost touching the clouds and they were grateful that they were just a few acres away from it. They could feel the force of the invisible gate as their light trail drew a line beneath their feet, signifying that they shouldn't step an inch forward.

Florina didn't understand that however and almost crossed it before Severus quickly held her hand to stop her pointing at the ground, not taking his eyes off the parchment. She nodded and peaked at the parchment the professor was holding. 

His writing wasn't very clear from afar but she was able to make the sentence "...if a malsum is committed." She absentmindedly got closer to the wizard elongating her neck to read more.

He noticed her strange behavior and immediately pocketed the parchment glaring at her. She gave him an apologetic look and he sighed. 

With few sideways strides, he began hovering his hands in front of him, feeling the invisible wall. He was murmuring a few chants in Latin quickly under his breath. He kept on humming an odd ritualistic chant moving sideways along the invisible wall, panning his hands up and down. It was but a moment that he quickened his pace, groping around for something and judging by the clink that followed, he found it.

A door handle, Florina concluded.

The potions master cupped the hidden door handle and pulled it thinking it was just a normal door. It was a difficult task however as the wizard strained to open it. After many failed attempts, he silently beckoned for the other two to help him. David turned to the witch and smirked.

"Skilled my arse," he whispered.

Florina couldn't resist the urge and laughed out loud hitting him lightly on the shoulder. Severus grew impatient quickly from the two, who were still in place chuckling.

He barked, "Are you going to stand there and act like children or are you going to assist?"

David rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright we are coming jeez," he growled back.

Severus guided them to the handle and in sync, they all tugged on it at once as hard as they can. That too proved to be difficult with many trails and error but they refused to give up. 

After a few moments of strenuous tries, David got sick of it and took out his wand at once. The potions master took notice and disarmed him with his own. "We cannot use magic on it or it will be locked forever!" he barked "It has to be done manually."

"Oh, excuse me for not knowing that!" David argued with anger "When you are telling us absolutely nothing on what needs to be done."

Severus ignored him and looked down at the paper retracing his steps. A moment later, he mumbled "Of course that didn't work." He turned to Florina hastily "How could I've missed that?"

"Missed what sir?" she asked.

"A malsum must be committed for the gate to unlock," he was talking more to himself than her and turned away "We are entering the sinners town, that should have been obvious. How could I have missed such an important step?"

Florina was confused. 

Severus sat down on the snowy ground and immediately took out the giant book from his pouch and mumbled 'Capitulum revelio' with his wand to turn to the mysterious chapter. He began re-reading the chapter as quickly as he could until he reached to the paragraph title "Porta Peccatorum." 

The witch sat beside him curious to know more and whispered "Porta Peccatorum?"

"Gateway of sinners," he whispered back without looking up.

Florina nodded wishing she could be able to read more. Of course, she could use the translation spell that Agrippa taught her earlier but she didn't want to arise the wizard's suspicions. She was silently thankful that the wizard was so immersed in reading that he didn't notice Florina inquiring about a title she supposedly read earlier. 

Her white lie was almost caught hadn't Severus lost focus on the mistake he made. She looked up at Rose, who was hovering behind Severus, reading along and sharing the same confusion as her carrier.

It took a while for the onyx-eyed wizard to reproof the material he was reading. Once he was done, he shut the book and shrank it tugging it back in his pouch.

"Care to explain?" David scoffed, annoyed by the lack of information.

"There was a poem that was written by a witch named Ella Wilcox who lived in that town over there," he pointed at the invisible gate "The town's people had a lot of sinners committing the most heinous crimes. A lot of priests tried to cleanse the people from their evils and wrongdoings but failed miserably. Thus they were given the name "Sinner's town" by most historians."

David huffed "What does that have to do with the gate?"

"I am getting to it," Severus hissed "Who was demanding an explanation earlier?"

Florina prompted the potions master to continue. "This witch illustrated her people's sins in a poem that she hoped would rid them from evil. But just as you will about to witness, she wasn't successful."

The witch nodded. "So what's going to happen now Sir?"

He fully turned to her stepping closer which earned him a peculiar look from the other wizard. "You and I need to chant this poem in a lullaby," he gave her the parchment.

"And then?" Florina asked cautiously, taking a look at it.

Severus cleared his throat, debating on whether he should tell her or not. He then made up his mind ".... And then commit a sin. Or rather an act that was deemed sinful back in that era."

David at once looked up confused. "What kind of act?"

"You are about to find out," Severus said coldly without turning to him. "Woods concentrate now. Recite it quietly before we read it out loud."

Florina swallowed hard, suspicious of what the potion's master is planning to do. She tried however to clear her mind and concentrate on the piece of parchment. The poem was neatly written by Severus. She looked down at it and read quietly,

"There was a man, it was said one time,

Who went astray in his youthful prime.

And boys will be boys the old folks say,

And a man is the better who's had his day.

The sinner reformed; and the preacher told

Of the prodigal son who came back to the fold.

Wealth and honour were his to command,

And a spotless woman gave him her hand.

The woman repented and turned from sin,

But no door opened to let her in.

The preacher prayed that she might be forgiven,

But told her to look for mercy--in Heaven.

A brave man wedded her after all,

But the world said frowning, "We shall not call."

When she finished reading it a few more times, she nodded to Severus who was watching her intently. They both began singing the poem in chant slowly and steadily making sure to meet each other's rhythms. Once they were successful, the invisible door came to life, materializing in front of them. 

It was a massive gate that seemed to have been forged centuries ago. It was a clear ten feet tall and made of twisted black iron rods. Around the edges of it were magnificent red gems and crystal diamonds that shone dimly in the cloudy afternoon. The hinge's ends were curled in convoluted patterns and it was too diamond encrusted.

The witch placed her hand on the now visible handle but the potion's master shook his head, getting even closer to her awkwardly. She turned to him bewildered by his strange behavior as he kept staring at her without blinking, a clear evidence that he was reading her mind. As she was about to ask about the peculiar behavior, she was suddenly stopped when his mouth covered hers.     

Author's note:

Hey guys! I hope you are liking this so far! The next one is going to open a door to one of the mysteries. Spoiler : Florina's and Severus's previous friendship. Oh I can't wait!

So for the question of the day, I am still receiving answers on the previous question, Do you think Augustus Agrippa is using Florina, if yes then how?

And if you liked this chapter and my story, please click the lil VOTE STAR. Make sure to tune in for the next chapter ;)

See ya all in the next one. Love ya!