14 •The Shadowless Mansion
Upon entering the compartment, Extimum caught the attention of everyone present inside.
Extimum : "Good morning, how are you this morning." Extimum did not enter completely and from a few steps after the entrance he spoke.
Hannah: "Extimum, it's been a while, I almost thought you would forget us and choose to ignore us."
Extimum : "ah, my apologies, it's been a busy few months, but after all, here I am."
Susan: "It's good to see that you're okay."
Ernie: "Shadowless".
Extimum : "Macmillan".
Extimum and Ernie only nodded .
Justin: "Susan, is he?"
Susan: "Oh yeah Justin, he's Extimum Shadowless, maybe you've heard of him from some of our peers."
Justin: "oh so you're Extimum , actually, I've heard of you, especially lately with your act of associating with other houses."
Extimum : "ah, I'm just looking to share different perspectives so relating to the other houses is just natural".
Extimum : "Anyway, I just stopped by to say hello, if the opportunity presents itself, we could meet in the library or in the dining room."
Hannah: "Okay, but make it come true."
...
After wandering around the compartments and greeting a few people, Extimum looked for Hermione. On the way he had already met his friends and after chatting a bit and asking how the problem with Mitchell and Steve was solved, Extimum continued on his way.
Speaking of Steve, Mitchell couldn't catch him thanks to Trudor's help, however Mitchell stole his poster and refused to give it back to him until he apologized to the Tutshill Tornados , on the other hand, Steve doesn't care at all about his pride. and immediately apologized, Steve's impudence knew no bounds.
Upon finding the compartment in which Hermione was , Extimum entered, inside there were only her and Neville sitting opposite each other, Hermione was looking at a book and just like Neville.
Extimum : "hello". Extimum just greeted casually and walked in, then sat next to Hermione .
Neville: "Hello Extimum ." Neville responded, but continued in his herbology book.
Extimum : "what are you reading?"
Hermione : "It's a potions book, the classes with Snape are a bit difficult and I have to try harder to achieve the best results and although the written part is going well for me, some practical exercises are difficult for me."
Extimum : "oh, let me look, maybe I can help you."
Hermione passed the book to Extimum and showed him the procedure she was having difficulty with.
After that Extimum and Hermione argued for a while on the subject.
.
Upon reaching Kings Cross, the students got off the train with their belongings.
As he got off the train, Extimum moved away a bit to make room and then looked around, most likely his house elf was coming for him. He knew that at least someone would come because he had already sent an mail advising that he would return; he had to borrow Harry's owl to send the letter because he didn't have one.
As Extimum looked around, Hermione also got off the train and approached Extimum .
Hermione : "Have you seen your parents yet?"
Extimum : "mmm, they must be around, it is likely that I will see them when all these people disperse."
Hermione's question was normal , Extimum was very reserved and only occasionally spoke about his family or personal life beyond what you asked him and was willing to say, he did not seek pity from anyone, nor did he feel that he needed it, on the other hand He did not find the subject personally interesting so he never spoke about himself unless they were common things.
Extimum : "and you?"
Hermione : "oh, they should be here by now, they tend to be very punctual, it's just that like you, with so many people it's hard to see them."
Extimum : "oh, why don't you tell me what they are like and I'll help you look for them?"
Hermione : "well, my father should be a tall man with hair the same color as mine, my mother on the other hand has black hair and they should both wear common clothes since they are not wizards, they should both look like in his 30 years ".
Extimum cast a quick glance around the place.
At this point, when Extimum focused it was as if for a moment time would slow down and he could easily see among the people passing from one side to the other, it was not very difficult to find a couple who wore Muggle clothes, although there were many students with Muggle parents, most did not enter station 9 ¾ directly or tried to dress differently so as not to stand out so much in the community, that said, Hermione's mother also had a certain resemblance to her, so this trait made it easy to recognize them.
Extimum : "they are there." Extimum pointed in one direction.
Hermione : "where? I don't see them."
Extimum : "wait for those people to come by and you will see them."
Hermione : "oh, that's right, there they are, thank you." Hermione was about to leave when she seemed to remember something and asked.
Hermione : "do you want to come and meet them?"
Extimum doubted a bit, but in the end he was willing, it was just to introduce himself to his parents and then he would look for Bob.
Extimum : "okay, let's go."
Hermione and Extimum headed towards the couple looking through the crowd looking for their daughter.
???: "look Stuart, there is Hermione". Appearing in front of the couple's sight, the woman exclaimed.
Arriving in front of them, Hermione ran to hug them while Extimum waited to the side.
After finishing the reunion hug, the man, Stuart, was the first to notice Extimum .
Stuart: "hello young man, you must be friends with Hermione right?". Stuart observed Extimum's peculiar appearance and couldn't help but repeatedly look at Extimum's hair .
Extimum : "nice to meet you sir, I'm Extimum Shadowless".
???: "Wow, what a polite young man."
Stuart: "Our daughter is also very educated, Wendy, you should not say it as if it is strange to see young people with good manners."
Wendy: "well, it is true that good manners are not lost yet, but it is rare to see it in such young boys." Wendy on the other hand was not so surprised by Extimum's hair color , anything could be explained if you spoke of magic, so instead of looking at her hair she was appreciating Extimum's refined features and bearing.
Stuart: "It is a pleasure to meet you too Extimum, I am Stuart Granger and this is my wife Wendy Granger".
Wendy: "Tell me Extimum , where are your parents? If it's not a bother, I'd like to meet them."
Extimum : "ah, I 'm sorry to disappoint you, they haven't arrived yet, but I suppose I could invite them another time."
Stuart: "do you want us to accompany you to wait for them?"
Extimum : "that will not be necessary, I just came to meet you, it was a pleasure, I will say goodbye for the moment."
Extimum : "I'll write you for Christmas Hermione ."
Extimum said goodbye before delving further into the matter and with a few steps back his presence disappeared in front of the group.
Stuart: "He disappeared, how incredible the magic is."
Wendy: "It's a shame, I wanted to meet his parents."
Hermione. "He went really fast." In all this time Hermione did not speak much, when she was about to introduce Extimum, he introduced himself before she could and after greeting her parents he left too quickly.
.
As he left the place, Extimum withdrew his illusion and looked in a certain direction.
There was a very particular house elf, he looked quite old, but still fit, unlike others, this one had a straight back and although he did not dress very ostentatiously, he could be considered well dressed among his peers, with a white shirt and pants Black, accompanied by a black vest, were not of the best quality, but it was still clothing that you could find in low-income English workers. He was of course Bob.
Extimum approached him and spoke directly.
Extimum : "let's go."
After Extimum finished his words, Bob took the hem of Extimum's clothes and they disappeared from the place. As for why Bob didn't say words, it was simple, Bob knew that Extimum didn't particularly like to talk more than necessary and therefore also didn't like to listen to him.
It's not that Extimum treated him badly, it's just that since he found out that Bob said everything he did at home, Extimum stopped considering him as someone close, he didn't need someone to watch him, besides compared to the few months at Hogwarts, Extimum has improved a bit his character being more open to talking to people.
.
Extimum appeared in a valley, in front of him was a mansion, the mansion was large and imposing, its general color was black accompanied by white and gold decorations, it inhabited an approximate space of 5000 meters, not counting the magically expanded areas behind the barriers, there was a garden at the entrance and some sculptures of ancestors or great beasts of the past were scattered.
On the other hand, the mansion was surrounded by a high fence that exposed the family's shield at the entrance. The shield was black stamped in silver, at first glance it seemed to be empty, but when you got closer you could see a dark figure sitting on a throne with a dragon at his feet, at the top of the shield it was written with words of imperious character was the name of the family and at the bottom was the family motto, all this decorated with dark fog around the main image.
"In the shadows of those who believe they are in power, we will maintain our existence until the end of time".
It had to be admitted that the founding ancestor of the Shadowless family was a very arrogant wizard, after all, daring to say that they would hide under the noses of the powerful and still be superior, keeping their existence always present in the passing of time was not Little thing. On the other hand, it is not that he was wrong with his vision, after all, how many great families had not become extinct?, Even the great Peverell who beat death on one occasion could not avoid that fate and even they may not have achieved silent dominance over most of the wizarding world.
Shadowless's mansion was visible in the Muggle world and was known as an old family's mansion and even a tourist spot, the family liked to show themselves proudly before the public, although some had dared to try to enter, but none had left, so the curious stopped coming, the mansion was located near a wealthy town that was quite commercial, but Extimum had never been there, as for the magical family secret, there were hundreds of barriers once You cross the fence, some were in charge of murdering any uninvited, others only warned, others made sure that you could not see what was happening inside, As for what would happen if someone walks in and outsiders see him disappear? That would not happen, an illusion barrier ensured that outsiders would still see those who entered even if they were no longer there.
Although the mansion was known in the muggle world, but very few knew that it was the Shadowless mansion, after all, this was the ancestral home, so unless they were friends of the family, It would be difficult for them to be brought to this house or even see where it is, if it were for any kind of business they would go to any of the other houses, in addition, the Shadowless did not fear an invasion in their house, the defense methods in them were ancient in character and they used thousands of evil methods of lost ages to harvest to their invaders.
The house had great security, but it wasn't that deadly either, as long as you rang the bell properly and were invited in, you could access normally.
In addition, there were also some incantations so that even if you came to see the house you would not want to enter it the wrong way, after all, in the past when the economic situation in the muggle world was difficult, many opportunistic Muggles had bad intentions and disappeared, Which alerted the nearby community a bit, so to scare away most of the people and avoid attracting attention they had to enchant her in such a way. Which some did not agree, after all, the mansion was made in such a way that it would kill without warning because in the founder's time killing was very common and although they did not change the design, but letting those sassy muggles live was a lot of consideration in his opinion, not counting the fact that they would lose a reliable source of subjects for experimentation.
Yes, although the Shadowless family was more inclined towards the side of the light, but they also had no problems or prejudices to use darker methods.
Returning to the present, after taking a long look at the house, Extimum entered. The house naturally acknowledged his arrival upon opening its doors, the house had no conscience, but it was haunted in such a way that some things would do themselves if you had the Shadowless blood in you.
Inside the house it was as ostentatious as you would expect from a large mansion, the environment was quiet, but not uncomfortable, Extimum was used to the silence and space of the mansion, it is also not like those old houses where you would see dust or a dark environment, it was actually quite well lit and although the decorations varied, they kept mostly old style rooms, generations of the family had taken it upon themselves to make the uk ancestral home up to date with fashion and sufficiently cozy. That said, the English branch of the Shadowless family had had better times, currently there were only 3 small families that belonged to it: the first was the family of Extimum that consisted of him and his parents; the second was the family of his paternal uncle, Rhys, Rhys has a wife and a young son; the third was a paternal aunt of whom Extimum did not know much, he had seen her a few times, he only knew that she had a husband, but did not know if she had children; As for the family on her mother's side, she came from another branch of the family so she didn't know much. Extimum had no grandparents that he knew and he assumed they had died or perhaps gone somewhere.
The ancestral house was supposed and was inhabited by Extimum and his parents, as for his uncle Rhys and his family, since they left for the commercial side of the family, they lived in another house of the family that favored business for its location and as for her aunt, she handles the military aspect of the family and lived with her husband, leaving her father who controlled politics and was the head of the family.
After looking around Extimum turned and looked at Bob who had already closed the door.
Extimum : "send this letter to my mother or father if possible and tell them that I await their prompt response." Extimum handed over a letter he had written at Hogwarts to Bob.
Bob: "Yes, Master Extimum , Bob will go right now." After receiving the letter Bobo disappeared.
The letter only contained a few cordial greetings and asked permission to leave the mansion from now on freely, in addition to a bag of money for justified reasons in it. Extimum had not requested such a request before because even if his parents did not want him, it would be difficult for them to let such a young child out, now on the other hand he had already started his studies at Hogwarts and was old enough to think rationally, Therefore, it was likely that they would not reject it, as for money, it would be less of a problem, in addition, the reasons he had given for them were conceivable, they were to buy some things for their studies and to buy gifts to maintain good relations with other families.
Now that he had sent the letter, he just had to wait for the answer to go out and do most of his things, as for the way he would get around, he would just go out to the nearby town and call the night bus, although it was not very comfortable from how he knew about his memories, but it would be quite an experience for Extimum who had never left home alone.
Extimum : 'Well, since I am not feeling very tired, I will look around the house to see if I find something that has been overlooked before'.
The Shadowless mansion had many rooms, however, most of them were sealed because they no longer had an owner and had not been used again.
There were some magic paintings here and there, but mostly they were only moving images, Extimum only knew 2 paintings in the whole house that could talk and he believed that his father should have conditioned them not to speak to him, otherwise not he knew why they would be so apathetic when he didn't know them and they were family.
The portraits or magic paintings, were paintings specially made and enchanted to imitate the personality of the person portrayed and respond accordingly, although in general they were more like a fixed memory of said person, they could also move between nearby paintings or travel to versions of themselves in distant places .
The mansion consisted of personal and guest bedrooms, bathrooms, the public library and study, dueling room, kitchen, dining room, potions room, ballroom or meeting room, basement, a front garden and patio, as well as an observatory. and ritual hall on the roof. Most of the rooms mentioned above were large and enchanted in such a way that they could be adapted to some extent to the needs of their inhabitants, it was not like the room of requirements, but it could exert minor changes, such as the decoration or reorganization of it.
As Extimum wanders through the rooms and looking for any suspicious spots that he hadn't seen before, I enter the public library, this place was one where Extimum had spent much of his childhood, I'd say he had already read every book in it that he had. relevant information, after reading the vast majority of books was when he came to the conclusion that it was a public library and not a family library, although there was really useful material but there was nothing really special or secret that you would expect an old family to have and there was no way at all that it was so.
Feeling a bit tired after searching around the house and the entire train journey, Extimum looked at the wide shelves of books and decided to pick up any one of the books he hadn't read; After reading for so many years and more intensely in his time at Hogwarts, reading had already become a habit.
Extimum took a seat in an armchair, opened the book and read a few paragraphs and then stopped, turned the book and looked at its cover, there it said "Magic for Muggles", Extimum was first stunned and then burst out laughing.
Extimum had never laughed like this in his entire life, even if it was one more critical laugh and tired of the stupidity of the situation.
Extimum could not help it, he had spent a lot of time in these 6 years looking for anything out of the ordinary, even here in the library where he had spent a lot of time, he had looked at least all the books, even if it was just reading their titles and here was a A seemingly common book, however, upon reading its title and as long as you weren't stupid to notice that something is clearly wrong, there is no way such a ridiculous book would exist in a magical library.
Extimum : 'aish, I think even for me I would never expect to find the key in a way like this.' In the book were the steps to access the real family library, he supposed it was some kind of bad joke for the younger generation to test their wits and luck.
After a few moments of reflecting on the book, he got up from his seat and walked over to the shelves, looked at the titles of the books and rearranged some of them in a specific order.
At the end, the word Shadowless could be read by connecting the initial of the title of different books located on different shelves and each one of a different color. Once order was established, one of the shelves was turned a bit, revealing a dark hallway.
Extimum turned the bookcase to clear the way and entered the hall; on the other side was a torch-lit room, a star system was magnificently drawn on the ceiling and a much smaller library was here, on the other side of the room was a statue of a man next to an armchair, the floor it was upholstered with a black rug of an unknown material.
Extimum looked around the room and then fixed his gaze on the statue, there it said "Devan Loyd Shadowless", he was the founder of the Shadowless family, he was a sturdy man with a heroic aspect, he wore a robe and some pieces of armor, in his his right hand carried a dagger and his wand in his left.
After appreciating the ancestor statue, Extimum noticed what he came to look for here, on average there were about 100 books and a large book on the side.
With great anticipation , Extimum began to look at the titles.
Extimum : "seizure of shadows, the soul and its secrets, blood curses, 1000 forms of torture, rituals with sacrifices, potions: by Elizabeth Shadowless, magic contracts, etc.". Extimum muttered some of the titles he read, the library was full of many books on various subjects, however, most of them dealt with quite dark subjects, they ranged from books on Muggle and wizard sacrifices, torture, possession of the body, necromancy to books on familiar potions, ancient history written by ancestors who lived it, taboo magical theories never tested, bestiaries of rare creatures and much more.
The theme ranged from the darker side to normal themes written by family members.
Extimum : 'This is true magic.' Extimum was moved by the countless perspectives these books offered him, he knew that many of these concepts would be very difficult for him to learn, but he still had a lot of time.
Extimum now turned his attention to the thick book that was set apart from all the others.
Extimum : "Shadowless Grimoire". Upon reading the title a new emotion arose in Extimum's eyes .
Grimoires in the wizarding world were very scarce, it was a magical registration tool that had a weak conscience, they used to record all the spells claimed by a family member, they also kept a record of all members related by blood to the family and recognized by magic, even those that the family itself did not know, in general the grimoires could contain everything that their creator wanted them to contain, however, the special thing about them is that their level of security made it practically impossible to access it If you did not belong to the family, as well as keeping all the secrets that were told, in practice a grimoire had many uses that were little considered by some and only the oldest families still had them, after all, in wars ancient magic, families aimed to destroy it, so they could erase all the magical heritage of a family and as long as they killed all its members with knowledge. so it would be impossible for the family to resurface as it once was. This of course would be erasing very important knowledge from history, but the existence of the grimoires ensured that as long as there was a living heir, the family would resurface and since it was an accumulation of generations, the knowledge contained in them was updated and optimized by itself.
Grimoires are now just magical tools from myths or secrets of some of the ancient families.
