It wasn't easy work, trying to control the visions. For the first two weeks Hadrian could not even remove the blindfold without being assaulted with a vision of some kind.
The insulating charm helped a great deal, and he was able to leave the bed and move around the room within two days, but he had to keep the blindfold on, and had taken to wearing gloves to prevent any other incidents.
The tutor provided to him was a man called Felix Montague. He was a very elderly man, who was not himself a seer, but was a noteworthy scholar of seers and an academic expert in the field. He had personally recorded over seven hundred prophecies and had interviewed every seer in his lifetime, including Cassandra Trelawney herself.
Mr Montague could not provide first hand knowledge on how Hadrian could manage his new abilities but he could provide more information on the subject than just about anyone.
And, crucially, Mr Montague taught Hadrian occlumency, to help organize his mind and ground him. Through the use of occlumency he was be able to block out the minor visions which assaulted his every waking minute, and block the effects psychometry long enough to be able to touch things with his bare flesh without it sparking another vision.
It was a long process and hard work because he was not the best of pupils when it came to mind-magic. Montague was a patient teacher, but that was probably inspired by his academic interest in how mind-magic and the inner-eye could be combined, so he was more than willing to overlook any failing in Hadrian as student just for the experience.
Before he knew it five years had passed and it was 1993.
It was a cold and windswept day. The almost rotting smell of seaweed floated across the air as the river Severn fell to its lower ebb.
Hadrian Peverell found himself standing upon a small hill. An island surrounded by progress.
Here magic had warded away the Muggles, and a forest had grown in their absence, right against the banks of the river. Somewhere, hidden within that forest, was Marchmere, the manor where once the Peverells lived.
It had been neglected and abandoned for centuries because of Boniface. Before his death, the last pure-blooded Peverell had used blood wards to seal the land, so that only a Peverell could unlock it again and gain entrance.
Why had he come here? Well, partly to see what was left and whether it was habitable – or could be made habitable again - but he also came at the advice of Mr Montague.
It was said that Innocent Peverell, Boniface's grandfather, had been an alchemist, and his son, Benedict, had been a particularly strong seer who suffered enforced visions. Innocent, through his research, had discovered a method to help his son control his visions, and that was what brought Hadrian this far.
Montague had explained that the method of vision control had been kept secret by the Peverells, and had been lost when the family died out, but there might still be some clue as to how or what that method had been in Marchmere as it's blood wards had never broken.
After five years of hard work Hadrian still was at the mercy of his prophetic powers and could not control them – he was able to manage six hours at most before he had to be isolated or else become overwhelmed by them – and so he had come here in the hopes of finding something to help him gain greater control.
It might be a fool's errand, and he might come away with nothing, but it was worth a shot.
As he entered the forest he found the light dim as the trees grew tall and thick and twisted. He thought he could just about make out a pathway between the knotted roots and the underbrush but he wasn't sure.
Deeper and deeper he went into the woods, producing his wand when it became too dark to see clearly in natural light, stumbling over the detritus that years of neglect had accumulated, until he reached a wall.
It was six foot tall but crumbling with large holes where the wall had collapsed. Though those holes in the distance he could see the ruins of Marchmere, yet when he tried to step through he found an invisible force blocking his path.
This must be the blood ward.
He'd have to find its trigger point to release it.
He followed the wall through the forest but had to turn back when he reached the river bank where it had collapsed as the land had been reclaimed by the sea. Turning back he traced the wall in the other direction and before long he found himself before a large iron gate, which had fallen off its hinges and had a tree growing through it.
Before the iron gate stood a stone statue of a wolf. It was a large figure, bigger than Hadrian himself, and it depicted a wolf sitting and staring into the grounds of Marchmere. Between the eyes of the wolf statue was a single red gem, no bigger than a penny, which dimly flickered in the light.
This was the place. He was sure of it. This was where he could find the trigger point and break through the wards; he just had to work out how.
Hadrian looked all around him. There was no obvious way through. Maybe this would be one time where his visions could be useful.
He approached the wolf statue. It was a well carved thing and looked realistic, though it was covered in moss and had lost an ear and a leg, and half its tail. This had been here a long time, and, perhaps, its history could help Hadrian find his way in.
He took off his glove, reached out and touched the wolf
[He saw a wide open field with the river glinting in the sun. The tall walls of Marchmere were painted white to match the house, and the iron gate was black. To his left he saw the forest, younger and tamed, and far from the walls.
[A movement drew his eye as a young boy ran across from the house into the garden. Laughing as he went, the boy chased butterflies to and fro and there, not far from the house, was the wolf statue, sitting by a rose bush.
[The vision changed. There was a storm rolling up the river. The rain beat down upon the grounds of Marchmere and there in the garden sat the wolf, unmoving as the water pooled around its base before running off into the ground below.
[Again the vision shifted. Hadrian saw a young man, barely in his teens, stamping out of the house, fury upon his face. He carried a sack on his shoulder and marched purposefully towards the iron gate. He did not once look back to the house but he stopped by the gate and gently rested his hand on the head of the wolf and sighed, before leaving the grounds and marching away. He was gone when only minutes later an older man came out of the house and began to run around the garden calling his name.
[The iron gate slammed shut and the elderly man turned the key to lock it, then stood back and swept his gaze across the house and gardens. After a while he turned away, and stood before the wolf statue and placed his hand upon its head. "It may be some time before these gates are open once more. Guard it well until that time…"]
Tearing himself from the vision, Hadrian fell to his knees and gasped for air as though he had been drowning. It often hit him that way, psychometry.
He'd never get used to the sensation of psychometry. It was like he was leaving his body empty every time, and he always feared that if he never found his way back people would think he was dead.
He coughed once or twice, then collected himself and turned his to look to the wolf.
"You've been here a long time"
He said, getting to his feet and moving to stand before the wolf.
"You've faithfully guarded this land for all these years, but the time has come to open them once more."
He placed his hand on the wolf's head.
"Let me in. Feyrnforth."
The gem on the wolf's head gleamed, and the statue creaked as it moved. It rose to its three feet then bowed its head and lay down on the floor. The gem fell out into Hadrian's waiting hand, and the statue crumbled into dust.
Author's note: The name Feyrnforth came to me in a dream. I cant remember all the specifics of it but it was originally a Dragon instead of a homunculus. I have no idea what part of my mind conjured the name, and I went through several different spellings before I settled on this one.
The Peverell family I'm creating were named after Popes. It's probably completely different from canon, but that's where the AU comes in handy.
At this point it might become apparent that much of the early chapters are just an amalgamation of ideas I've had over the years which I thought would be interesting.