Albus hid in the library when his mother passed by the kitchen. Fortunately, he was quick enough and she didn't see him.

Soon after the "incident", his parents treated him as if he were an extremely fragile piece of glass about to break into a million small pieces, spoke to him in a much gentler way than usual asking constantly if he was fine or if he needed something.

His mother insisted for him to go talk with his therapist at least, which he had not found a bad idea at all, and ended up accepting the suggestion (her mother seemed relieved by that). She had insisted when the frostbite didn't heal fast enough, that he should go to , to let a healer see it, but Albus did his best to convince her that it would heal soon enough.

His father had asked him, emphatically, about the episode, and seemed genuinely confused by the frostbites. Albus knew what caused them, but he thought it was better not to tell anyone because he feared they would think he was mad and consequently send him back to immediately. He tried to say to his father that it had been some kind of accidental magic. He had had a horrible nightmare and ended up nervous, performing some kind of unintentional speel. No need to say his father didn't seem to believe this. But he also had no other explanation.

For his father, it was a mystery, but Albus knew it had been the man in the well.

He prayed they would forget about it soon and stop asking questions. He had no way to explain it to them without it sounding insane.

James was much tenser than before and had come to talk to Albus about the most diverse topics several times, always looking worried and nervous. They didn't talk about the incident, but Albus comprehended that James was just trying to make him have a good time, distracting him... even losing on purpose at chess (what, in reality, annoyed Albus... but he understood that James was just trying to be nice).

Even Lily was a little more cautious with him, as she let him (perhaps at his mother's request) read in the library in peace when she used to come in, mess up the papers, and make noise by dragging the furniture to sometimes form some makeshift dollhouse where she would read books with Albus's cat on her lap and talk, and talk, and talk...

He wanted to talk to his therapist as soon as possible because of an interesting passage he had found in the book he had borrowed and which Albus thought could be of great help.

The problem was that the book was very technical, with several complex esoteric terms, its writing was archaic and the moldy and dusty pages made Albus sneeze every time he read the book. He also had a very peculiar subject division.

Dream World: beliefs and stories about dreams and nightmares, by Imar Iscarit.

Part I: From the perspective of "light's magic"

1. "Light's magic" as a subjective nomenclature (but also an important classification category for practical purposes).

2. Dream as a representation of the manifestation of our quotidian.

3. Dreams and divination

4. Dreams an astrology

5. Dreams and Nightmares, their differences according to theorics.

[...]

Part II: From the perspective of "dark magic"

1. What are the "dark magical arts"?

2. Necessary care when dealing with the next chapters' teachings

[...] "When dealing with the subjects presented in the next parts it is necessary that the individual is in line with the criteria presented for the proper and safe performance of the rituals shown here. This part, differing from the first part, contains rituals and spells of very high difficulty at times, that should only be performed by experienced wizards, the author is not responsible for the consequences. The degree of difficulty (one to five) can be found on the top of the page and must be respected [...]

[...]

Part III: "Esoterical dark magic"

1. A confusing area of study.

2. The most difficult type of magic to master (and to control).

3. Ritualistic and mystical viewing of wizardry and witchcraft throughout history.

4. Philosophy, Mystical History of Magic, and cultural interpretations of ancient peoples' traditions.

5. The debate about the "End of History" and the creation of an "Alternative history Movement".

6. Historical Pessimism, the "prison of the past" and the "engine of history: desire for holistic innovation and belief in forces outside of this plan

[...] everything that happens today and will happen in the future is the result of past ideas and traditions, and there is nothing new that happens without historical precedent. T. Ikabonf calls this the Prison of the Past. We cannot break free, because we cannot create anything really new. Everything has a precedent and everything is the result of tradition.

There is no idea of a truly new society or lasting innovation in the author's thinking. But then, how could we break the prison of the past? If everything is influenced by the past and there is nothing new, what is the point of origin that symbolizes the beginning of everything that we now understand as the past? Something was new once.

But we don't know when it was the absolute beginning of what now we call the past, but at some point, it was the present and it was new. There was a true and unique innovation that happened only once, at the beginning of everything, structuring all the following behaviors and actions, the "Engine of History".

The inability to create something new and bring effective and lasting changes condemns the magical society to an eternal repetition of its mistakes without the real advance of its successes and undermined the idea of social progress and holistic innovation. The dream of building a better society would result in a mere repetition of the failed society of the past.

The "Engine of History" is also called the "Star", more specifically, the "Star of Tomorrow" that would come to this plane from the Specter-World and grant a wish. Throughout this study, the Star is sometimes referred to as the "Circle", but it's still not yet understood if the Star is actually the Circle or if "Circle" referred to some kind of ritualistic symbology. Research in this area is extremely difficult, as more information about it has never been publicly made available. The fact that and are two extremely polemic figures with a history of controversial performances does not take away their merits for being almost the two most important researchers of esoteric black magic, but it certainly makes their understanding very difficult to the common folk. I am proud to be one of the few authors covering this topic, but I have often been accused of being a cult member and have been banished, for an indeterminate time, to enter more than fifty countries.

The issue is extremely stigmatized in Eastern Europe and Asia, where they believe that merely talking about the subject will invoke evil and terrible energies that will persecute you all your life... That said, I do not advise anyone to research this topic, as I have found that it can, in fact, be extremely dangerous. I began seeing some strange shadowy figures and hearing macabre whispers after trying to put into practice some esoteric black magic rituals. But, after performing a ritual,

I do believe that it is necessary to have some kind of initiation within some specific group for the correct practice of esoteric black magic... I think I found something in Romania, but I'll do more research in the future and add it later if necessary...

I claim here with complete certainty that this kind of black magic can be at least a hundred times more powerful than non-esoteric black magic! But in return, it is much more difficult and has several other consequences!

People fear this kind of magic a lot more and talking about it is a gigantic taboo that will make you receive death threats in most parts of the world... they wanted to forbid me to publish this book, but I have a mission and I must provide knowledge for all.

I just warn you that the Mind's Sanctuary ritual may be extremely useful for the following practices of esoteric black magic rituals, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't accomplish it. Extremely difficult.

Another thing I noticed is that... Ever since I started researching it, I can't stop thinking about it, I'm obsessed with esoteric black magic. It's fascinating!

7.Rituals and spells

[...] Mind's Sanctuary: how to defend yourself in the dream world [...]

This type of dark art is highly unpredictable because it strongly uses in its basic fields of study such as astrology and divination, for example, involving at times dangerous and difficult dark rituals that may or may not contain as a request the in-depth knowledge in tribal necromantic arts, advanced occlumency for protection, and even ancient sacrificial practices! If the reader wishes to delve deeper into this study (which I do not particularly advise) he should seek the following books that speak:

Notable Dark Wizards and Witches of Eastern Europe and Asia, by Takay Hitoshimi.

The New History, by Vladmin Ikabonf.

The Terrible Nostrad-Ikabonf Family, by Edna Solls.

Esoterical vs Practical Dark Magic, by Leon Gojo.

Evil in History and the Vampire's Stigma, León Jaja.

Mystical Secret Groups: a Guide, Ogunga Zimbabur.

Pessimism in history! A warning! And how it is possible to realize holistic changes in our society with optimism, by Jakk Lael.

[...]

's notes [Published Post-Morten, second reedition, manuscript found in 1809 at his desk, only released by the government of Serbia in 1908 for publishing]

[...] Some information was purposefully hidden in this book since esoteric black magic is a branch of sorcery much feared and extremely poorly seen by the vast majority of wizards and even by some well-known dark wizards! I tried to write about it, but they threatened me and demanded that I removed some of it! That's why I had to hide the names of the two authors and was completely censured in some other parts! I'm sorry the book seems kind of... empty. It originally had 5000 pages! I would make many volumes but they don't want any of this to be known!

I was... surprisingly, also approached by some member of a... cult. They also don't seem to want to be exposed, so I had to cut some information because I don't want to offend the practitioners of the kind of magic I'm researching! At least, in more open-minded countries like the UK or France here in Europe and that mostly say they don't believe in any of this (but it's real!) my book will be published!

It's just a shame that my book is now being burned in Belarus and Ukraine, in Russia they put a billion-dollar bounty on my head! In Japan they refer to me as the devil' scholar! I am hated and feared in most of Eastern Europe and Asia.

I wish my book will be used by open-minded scholars and people interested in knowing new things!

I already argued that the division between what is considered black magic and white magic is extremely subjective, being plausible the possibility of a very long debate involving ethics, respect for others, consequences of spells, and other things. I don't even know if that kind of magic should really be considered "dark". I seek other interesting uses for this kind of magic. I am an eternal researcher and this all is extremely fascinating.

I am not afraid of the dead and the spirits, but of the living who, even with all the books and all this knowledge, remain in ignorance and start a pointless war with each other! They scare me!

I intend to try to speak to Mike Izzac, my dear son, and to my beautiful wife Eliza too, both taken from me very early in the name of a senseless war that has decimated countless lives!

I like to think that these whispers I hear are from Eliza and that the silhouettes I see have Mike's shape! I feel good, it's like they're back with me. With those dear spirits, I'm no longer alone.

Albus was interested in the Mind's Sanctuary part, very interested. But there was no way he could perform the so-called ritual. Firstly, because it seemed to be (despite the author's attempts to relativize it) dark magic... esoterical dark magic and Albus wanted nothing to do with the dark arts! Secondly, because, even if he tried he would surely fail. The ritual required advanced occlumency and legimency, for example (and some pretty disturbing other things...).

The part of whispers and silhouettes did scare him, a lot, actually. And he really wanted to know who exactly were the two authors from the esoterical dark arts. The whole talk about the "engine of history" and the "prison of the past" enticed him, but he was found it a bit complex and confusing.

He had been a bit nervous about reading the book after he realized it also talked about the dark arts..., but he also thought that he was only reading about it, nothing bad would happen if he didn't do any of the rituals there, he was just accumulation knowledge. It was necessary in order to "deal" with the man in the well. A sacrifice he made.

The "man in the well"...

The whisper had screamed "the CIRCLE", but he couldn't know for sure his relation to the Star... or the Circle... he didn't even know what exactly was the Star or the Circle. Was it a magical cult? Was it something that would come to grant a wish?

The book left him with more questions than answers.

He was confused, stressed and his head was hurting. He needed more information to understand, but if the author himself had been banned for countries, his book had been burned in some countries, he had received death threats and all that, for only researching the theme... where exactly would he find more information?

He could seek help from his therapist (why he had this book anyway?!), or he could try to search for the recommended books and try to figure things out..., but...

How can I talk about esoterical dark arts with someone? Will my therapist get angry or tell someone? He had, after all, promised not the read the other part?

His hands were shaking now, he tried to find more relevant information on the book, something mentioning a "man in the well" or something about people invading his dream or something related to it. Because he had drunk dreamless sleep potions every day since, every single day, he had to act.

He feared he would end up addicted to it, so he was trying to research other methods...

Maybe if he talked about some themes related to this Mind's Sanctuary ritual with his therapist he would be able to help him in some way. He had to... but... how could he start talking about those subjects without mentioning the second part's content?

James came once and tried to make him play Quidditch but he refused. He wanted to focus on that for now, he wanted to discover everything he could about those so-called esoteric dark arts because it was related to the man in the well problem, he was sure. He didn't know the specificities of that all, but it was related.

Albus had taken some random books from the library to his room when Ginny and Harry finally went to sleep around five in the morning.

He had spent the rest of the night reading some more books that his aunt Hermione had given his father and were, until now, forgotten in the library, some were boring and very difficult to read (Aurors and the Legislative Reform 376: A revisited study - One manual for aurors). But he found the book Mermaids, Elves and Goblins: A Story and the Wishes for Freedom very interesting, it had several images and a simple and quick-to-read text.

He also picked up a strange, very dusty black book at the end of the bookshelf, The Star' Song, by Celin Ikabonf. Ikabonf...

It was not originally written by him.

But the book scared him. A lot.

It contained very psychedelic drawings showing bizarre geometric shapes in apocalyptic and desolate settings, talking about a Star that would come to fulfill wishes and would rule the entire world establishing the Stellar Kingdom.

Would this Star be then able to break the so-called "prison of the past"? Would that Star alone be (on its own) "the engine of history" or would it be necessary for the "wish" to be granted?

A large number of images evoking dark and desolated scenarios, abstract images that seemed to portray mystical and terrible figures, the few written excerpts just increased the ominous feeling:

In the shadows, we remain,

We shall seek the Star,

But the Star is no longer here,

In the Dream-World, in the Specter-World,

The Star is the end and the beginning,

The Star is the Key and the Door,

The Star is The Circle and The Circle is The Star!

In The Circle, we all become one, and we all become the Star,

Everything in the Circle,

Nothing outside of the Circle.

The Star of Tomorrow shall reign supreme.

His hands trembled. The images of "something" that ran in dim light, running towards the light coming from a bloody moon, seeming to be pursued by tentacle entities of gigantic proportions, displaying many eyes that, no matter from what angle you looked, seemed to always be looking straight at the reader, animage of a sun broken in half, from the hole a gray mist came out, a star that had confused geometrical shapes and looked like a circle...

Creepy. Circle... The whispers, the man in the well...

He was pretty sure those things were related, we just didn't know how exactly.

Who was the man in the well?

It was already late, he should drink his potion and get some sleep.

After that, Albus fell asleep woke up from a restless sleep without knowing exactly what he had dreamed of...

Strangely, he could have sworn it had something to do with stars and those strange geometric shapes, that was worrying... was the potion losing effect?

He returned the book to the library by night, hiding it at the bottom of the bookcase so he wouldn't have to look at the strange images on the book's cover.

"Albus..., can we talk, honey?" It was his father, he had just come back from work and were still wearing his uniform.

"Yes..." He said, but feeling a bit anxious. He had been trying his best to show his parents that now he was okay, that the "incident" had been overcome and that now he was totally fine to go to Hogwarts. His hand was better today (even though his mother still insisted that he go to , he managed to convince her that it was no big deal), he feared that his father would tell him that they wouldn't let him go to Hogwarts.

He entered his father's office (where he had been without permission so many times) and sat in the chair, the father had a serious expression, which made him more nervous.

"Do you want to tell me something?" Albus thought for a moment that he had discovered something, but could tell by his face that we were only worried, wanting to know more.

"No, dad," he was telling the truth. He didn't remember anything about the kidnapping.

"Albus, I have no idea how hard this can be..., but you need to tell me or your mother if you remember anything, we can help," insisted his father.

"Have you discovered something about the Wynn Forest?" He asked, trying to change the subject a little bit, trying to deviate the focus. Harry sighed.

"We... we are trying, Al. But authorities there doesn't seem to want us to investigate," his father seemed a bit angry by that.

For some moments he thought about asking about what he had read, but he abandoned the idea almost immediately. His father was auror. How would he be able to talk about "esoterical dark magic" with him? He had to look for someone who was more open-minded and who believed in this mystical thing (so he couldn't talk with his mother, also). He had to be careful when talking about it.

"I'm sorry for not remembering anything," he apologized, but his father gave him a strange look as if not believing him at all.

"We are worried about you Albus."

"I'm sorry," he apologized feeling somewhat guilty, he tried his best not to make anyone worry.

"No, you shouldn't apologize, you... know that we are here for you. You can tell me anything, and I mean... anything," reaffirmed him.

"Dad..." murmured him, almost instinctively...

(What do you know about the Circle? What do you know about the Star of Tomorrow? Have you ever heard about the Nostrad-Ikabonf family? Do you know something about esoterical dark-arts? What does it mean really when I refer to "the prison of the past" or "the engine of history"? I would like to also tell you that... a creepy man is coming from a well somewhere and every time I dream I meet him, after walking through many corridors, and there are also doors. He was the one who gave me those frostbites and now I have been contemplating the possibility of becoming in the future... completely addicted to dreamless sleep potions).

"What is it," asked his father, seemingly hopeful Albus would reveal to him anything that mattered.

"Thank you, I'll try to talk more with my therapist...,"

What if the man in the well was able to terrorize other people in their dream? He had been thinking about that too lately, he contemplated a lot of possibilities and made some theories... He didn't want to involve the people he loved.

What was the man in the well capable of? If he could manifest himself coming from a dream and cause real and physical damage... just how powerful was he?

Albus was just a boy, he didn't believe he could ever defeat something like this, but he could at least block him without causing damage to others.

But it was true that he felt isolated and helpless most of the time... but again, what kind of help could his father offer against the man-in-dreams? His father's specialty was real dangers, real dark wizards that terrorized the world.

"Dad, did you discover something about Cheshire?" His father sighed.

"Albus, you really want to know a lot about that case...," said his father, raising his eyebrows.

"I'm just curious," he said..., he discovered that focusing on those real problems sometimes relaxed him. To focus on real problems, on things that could be solved with time, that could be controlled, pragmatically investigated made him feel calmer... how could he control his dreams by himself? Wait. That question exactly he could ask his father.

"Nothing... new," murmured his father, but Albus didn't think he was telling the truth.

"Dad, is there any way to control your dreams?" His father stopped for a moment.

"Nightmares?"

"Yes."

"Well, I had had many nightmares throughout my life. Some of them were quite vivid, but..."

(Yes, but did your nightmares gave you frostbites, were any of them... real?)

"I think that the only way of controlling this is with occlumency."

Occlumency, a very advanced and difficult branch of magic.

"I had to learn it for my auror course..., but I was never able to master it."

"Is that really difficult, dad?" He asked, but he already knew it was as if even his father was having difficulties.

"Yes. But..., me and O'Neill talked about that once, after what happened when he was going to interrogate you with Legimency. Do you remember you repealed his attempts, Al? O'Neill is a master of Legimency and Occlumency, but he said you somehow performed one of the strongest occlumency he had ever seen in his whole life, Albus," said his father now looking at him, curiously, analyzing, studying him.

"I did what? How?!" He said, shocked.

"I wish you would the one able to explain it." Albus had no idea.

"How can I do that if I never had training, I'm just a kid dad," said Albus, anxious.

"I know, Al. It's just that there are so many mysteries we can't find answers to," said his father sadly, his tone vague.

He left soon after. Opening his book very rapidly he read:

Mind's Sanctuary is the strongest form of Occlumency someone can ever perform, it works against any advanced form of Legimency, but this ability is really difficult to master, only a few people were able to dominate this throughout a difficult ritual involving constant training, necromancy and blood sacrifice. This ritual should only be considered if the wizard is experienced in esoterical dark arts and if he—"

He closed the book immediately, terrified. Did he... against O'Neill? How? How did it even happen?

(Do you remember that in some of your dream... you WERE the man in the well? Is the man in the well an expert in esoterical dark arts?)

No. No. This was very wrong.

I'm not the man in the well. I'm Albus. I'm Albus Severus Potter.

(The only way you would ever be able to perform magic like this was if you weren't you if you were someone else if you were—)

"I'm not the man in the well. No way. Something strange is happening, but I'm myself," he whispered in his bedroom, trying to convince himself. His cat probably noticed his distress and jumped to the bed, approaching him.

(Maybe I'm being haunted, possessed, or even... mad, but I'm Albus. I'm Albus).

He tried to distract himself, he read the letter from his cousin Rose, she had finally answered him.

Hi, Al,

I'm doing fine. Can't wait to finally see you at Hogwarts. Sending more books, they are mom's, but I think she doesn't mind.

Mister Ikabonf is super strict! Be prepared for lots and lots of homework! But I think it will turn out okay for you, James has told me you were reading quite a lot lately! It will be no problem for you at all, and you can ask for my help or... even James', he's been sending lots of letters to me lately, he is worried about you, please talk to him later...

Have you heard about Binns? He apparently... died some days ago. But he's a ghost so I don't know how that even works. Well, his class was quite boring and I feel a bit happy to have Abramovic as the new teacher (they were dividing lesson last year, and I wouldn't have classes with until 5th year), but it was really creepy Al! My father commented about it. Apparently, a gray mist appeared out of somewhere at Biins class at night and a black goo began to "devour" him! How can someone be able to "kill" a ghost? If you have theories tell me at Hogwarts! Only two days left! So happy!

Your cousin, Rose.

Could ghost "die"? He didn't know but... things just seemed to be getting creepier and creepier. Also... his teacher was an Ikabonf! He had completely forgotten. He would pay close attention and try to discover more things at Hogwarts... but for now he would have to really on his dreamless sleeping potions.