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Ekrizdis…
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(Four days ago…)
"Is this the one?" asked Ann as Harry handed her Lily's notebook. He nodded before she carefully opened it.
"This was the only notebook of my mother that we could find," Harry said. "If she had more, we don't know where they are."
"Well, let's just see if this one has what we are looking for," Ann said before she gasped. "Merlin, would you look at that! Lily was studying the effects of wolpertinger feathers in pain relieving potions. And it looks like she found success at some levels! The healers around the world have been on this subject for decades and they still couldn't find the proper balance when mixing wolpertinger feathers with any pain relieving potions." She looked at Harry with wide, hopeful eyes and he immediately knew what she wanted to say.
"You can borrow it if you want to," he said and those words caused Ann to smile wide. Harry also didn't miss the slight shuddering of her hands as she clutched the notebook a little tighter.
"Are you sure?" Matt said. Harry nodded. The man then looked at his wife and recognized the look in her eyes as she scanned through the pages of the notebook. He sighed. "Maybe we should find what we need to first?"
"Yeah," she said sounding a bit impatient. "Sorry, I got a bit carried away."
"Really, it's alright," Harry said.
Ann went back to reading and flipping through the notebook so everyone decided to give her some privacy until she had found what they were looking for and left for the main hall to wait.
"So there was nothing?" Remus asked as the men sat on the sofa.
"It wasn't there," Matt said. "And we didn't find anything out of the ordinary in her house either."
"Were there any lingering signs of the imperious curse used on her?" asked the werewolf.
"No," Sirius said. "One of the aurors did some basic tests on her blood too, to see if she had been under the influence of any potions but, they found nothing."
"Test her blood?" asked Harry.
"Yeah," Remus said. "Imperious curse isn't the only way you can control someone. There are other, milder ways to do it like using potions."
"Like the loyalty potion?" Harry said causing the men to look at him. Sirius raised his brows as he looked particularly interested. "I read about it in a book," Harry said immediately dodging any possible incoming questions.
"Yeah, kind of like the loyalty potion," Remus said. "They cloud your ability to think and make your mind numb. Then anyone can make you do almost anything, especially if they have keyed themselves to the potion. However, its tell is easier to identify compared to the imperious curse. That is why the curse is so affective and categorized as one of the unforgivables."
Harry nodded understanding. "So, what do we do now…" he asked a moment later, "…about the mystery ward around Bonnie's house?"
"We have stationed a few aurors to keep an eye at her place," Sirius said. "We'll know if something happens. Also, there are ward detection runes placed around her house. For now we have done everything we can to catch this mystery person but nothing can be promised."
"Yeah," Matt said. "Whoever this is, they are a master of wards to say the least. I only got a glimpse of the wards around Bonnie's place and I couldn't believe what I was sensing. And it was just on the surface. I can only imagine how complicated that ward would've been in its deeper layers. Not to mention, there are no wards that can knock people out. If Ann and I were really knocked unconscious by them, then whoever put those wards there is no ordinary person."
"We know this person isn't ordinary," Remus said. "But more importantly, we don't know what his intentions are. Is he working for Voldemort?"
"My money's on Dumbledore," Sirius said as everyone looked at him. "He has the tendency of doing things without telling anyone. Who's to say that it's actually him who put that ward around Bonnie's house? We know he's powerful enough to do it."
"There is no way he would've known about Bonnie…or who she is," Matt said.
"Well, all I know is if it actually was him behind it, then you shouldn't be surprised if he knew about Bonnie," Sirius said. "We all know how powerful and far-reaching he can be if he wants to."
Matt didn't want to believe it but he knew it could be a possibility. However, he couldn't understand what Dumbledore would gain by placing a ward around Bonnie's house.
Just then Ann came to the main hall with Lily's notebook in her hand. She had it opened roughly half way and her finger was placed on a line as she came around the sofa for everyone to see.
"I think I've found it," she said, although her tone seemed a bit worried. Everyone in the main hall noticed that as they all leaned closer to read the line that she was pointing at.
"I might have found what I am looking for," Sirius squinted as he tried to read the scribbled handwriting in the notebook. "It is a black magic, a very potent one at that. But it can save our son. I am writing this as a reminder to let my future self know not to distract from what I am about to do because I am doing this for my son's survivability, even though this is a horrible thing and will probably taint my soul. There is a family rumor about one of the Potters who met a wizard a long time ago, and learned a lot from him. I have found one of his records and in it, a way to protect Harry. It is a blood magic tied with the sacrifice of a loved one. I don't know if it will work but this is the only thing I have left to ensure Harry lives. Just in case anyone finds these records of mine, I am going to do a magic that was once done by…"
Sirius stopped as he looked at Ann who had the same look of morbid dread on her face. Matt and Remus also caught up until where Sirius had read and they all had the same look. Harry, on the other hand, was confused.
"Who is Ekrizdis?" he asked. He knew that the adults around him knew about this man, hence the reason why they all looked like that. He guessed this person might not be good. That and the notes suggested that he probably dwelled into black magic. That said enough about this Ekrizdis personbut Harry guessed there was more. "Sirius?" he looked at his godfather when he realized the man hadn't responded to his question at first.
"He…was a wizard who lived in Azkaban before that island was…discovered," the man said slowly.
"You mean he built that prison?" asked Harry.
"It wasn't a prison," Matt said this time as Harry looked at him. "No one knows if he built that place or just acquired it. And that's not important either. All that matters is he is said to be the worst there is that ever existed in this world."
"What…do you mean?" Harry asked. "You mean, worse that Voldemort?"
"Voldemort is nothing compared to what Ekrizdis was," Matt said scoffing. "To give you an example of that, well, he was the one who created dementors."
That had Harry stunned. He borderline hated dementors because of how they affected him. However, he had never thought that dementors were made by someone. He always assumed that they were a race of magical creatures. He couldn't even comprehend how this Ekrizdis person would have been like if he had created one of the worst creatures in existence.
"And that was the least horrible thing known about him," Matt continued as Harry came out of his thoughts. "When the ministry first discovered the island of Azkaban and what remained of Ekrizdis' creations, they were too scared to share that information with the public. It is said that the Dementors were the least horrifying thing they had found in that castle and the records of everything else was destroyed so no one could ever know about it."
"So no one knows anything about him?" Harry asked.
"Well, there are rumors that he liked torturing and killing people," Remus said. "There are stories from old times, mostly by sailors sailing for the discovery of the new world who talked about a forbidden island with nothing but a black castle on it, where a man lived who liked to torture and kill people just for his entertainment."
"And you think that man was this Ekrizdis person?" asked Harry.
"We don't know to be sure," said Remus. "But everyone believes whatever little the ministry revealed about him as back then there wasn't any kind of corruption or malice within the ministry of magic since it had only been a few years of its formation, and everyone was focused on the betterment of people."
"But apparently there is another way of knowing about him," Sirius said. "Lily mentioned finding about Ekrizdis in the records of one of Harry's ancestors. The question is who?" He then looked at Ann. "Is there a name of this person in Lily's notes?" Ann shook her head.
"It could be someone from the same time as Ekrizdis," Harry said as everyone looked at him. "Do we know what year the ministry found out about him?"
"Somewhere in the eighteenth century," Sirius said. "But they said that Ekrizdis was probably alive in the fifteenth century and if this ancestor of yours is also from that period then there's a high chance that we might not find anything about him."
"Why's that?" asked Ann.
"Because this manor was built in the 1500s and there aren't any records of the Potter family before that," Harry said. "We know, Ekrizdis existed probably a hundred or so years before that. Even if one of my ancestors knew about him or had any record on him, it's best to assume that it's gone."
"But Lily found his records." Everyone looked at Remus who had just spoken. "It's possible that we might not be too far off. Edmund – wasn't that the name of your ancestor who built this place?" Harry nodded. "If he came here in the early 1500s then it's possible that either his father or grandfather had records on Ekrizdis, and that maybe one of them is this ancestor that Lily talks about in her notes. If that is true, then there's a chance that Edmund probably brought some of those records here – maybe journals or logs – and Lily found them."
"They could be in the north-east section of the library where records of the Potter family are kept," Harry said. "We can look there."
Everyone except Matt and Ann agreed. When Harry wanted to know why the Greengrasses won't be a part of it, Matt said that they didn't want to dive too deep into Harry's family history as they weren't as close to him like Sirius and Remus. Even though Harry insisted that it was alright and that he would be alright for them to know about his family's history, Ann and Matt were persistent in their decision. Eventually Harry agreed and Sirius and Remus were tasked with looking for those records which hopefully had something on Ekrizdis and more importantly contained the information on the blood magic that Lily had used.
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(Present time…)
Harry put the book back in its place as he stifled another yawn. He checked the time and saw it was past three in the morning.
He had looked every book in the restricted section of Hogwarts' library and had found nothing. He assumed that would be the case but he didn't want to skip this place and regret it later. He didn't know where else to look for the book.
After finding out about Ekrizdis from his mother's notebook and the mentioning of his ancestor, Harry could only spend two more days in his manor before he had to return to Hogwarts. In those two days they didn't find any records on his mystery ancestor and Sirius and Remus said that they will continue looking while Harry returned to school.
Sighing tiredly he sat on the floor with his back resting against the wall as Harry thought about how things had turned out to be this way.
It had all started last year when Ron – and Hermione – betrayed him which led him to find new friends in Daphne and Neville. It eventually turned into something more beautiful with Daphne and along the way Harry came to know more about his own family, made new friends and allies and with their help cleared Sirius' name.
Now that he thought about it, he realized a lot had happened in one year and now there was the revelation of this new wizard who seemed more dangerous than any dark wizard in the history of the magical world. Maybe it was a good thing that he was long gone. As Harry thought about it, he realized that it made sense why the ministry didn't reveal anything on Ekrizdis when they discovered the island of Azkaban. But still, he couldn't shake the feeling – which he thought to be excitement – of knowing about this wizard, whatever little he could.
As he thought about all of these things he couldn't help but let escape a long yawn and felt his eyes getting heavy. Since he had found nothing in the restricted section he decided to get what little sleep he could.
Hopefully Sirius and Remus will find something back in Potter manor, Harry thought as he left for his dorm.
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Thanks for reading…
