9 The Initiation (I)

~31st August, 1991.~

"Dad, where are we going?" Gavin asked his father Evan, as he led Gavin down the stairs towards the cellars of the Everhart Manor. Gavin had asked Aelia if she knew anything about it but all she said was that it was finally time for him to get initiated and officially join the family. This confused Gavin as he wondered what she meant by that. Wasn't he already a part of the family?

The only reasonable explanation he could speculate was that he was about to take the blood pact that his ancestor, Darwin Everhart had made in order to maintain harmony between griffins and the Everharts and ensure the secrecy of the griffins. He mused that there was probably more to the family than what meets the eye. After all, a lot of things were seemingly missing from the Everhart manor. Gavin never saw a family tree or detailed history of the family anywhere in the manor. He also never found any of his ancestors' research findings or books .

Gavin had asked his parents as well as the griffins about it in the past but all they said was that he wasn't ready yet, much to his irritation. He eventually let the matter go since it was pointless to persist, deciding to investigate it later.

"Our ancestor, Darwin Everhart was a very wise and somewhat…paranoid man. After he banished the dragons from Griffins Cove and moved the family over to the island, he started to think about the most realistic way of maintaining the secrecy of the griffins for future generations of Everharts. Darwin, being the wise man he was, knew that he was by no means omnipotent and feared that the concealment wards placed on the islands would be broken." Evan started, in a serious tone.

Gavin halted his thoughts and started listening with rapt attention.

"So, when he built the manor, he didn't put the family inheritances in it, creating another layer of secrecy for the family. After many years, Darwin and his brother, Aldwin Everhart found the perfect solution to the issue of secrecy. They created the official ancestral Everhart home in a spatial pocket, and stored all of the family's inheritances there. He made a rule that every Everhart would be able to access the inheritances once they take a blood pact at the age of 11." Evan said as he reached a plain wall and stopped.

'Interesting…Seems like I was right…' Gavin thought, as Evan finished speaking.

Evan took out a pocket knife, cut his hand, and dropped his blood on the wall, which immediately absorbed his blood. Evan then brought out his wand and pointed it at the wall, tapping it 10 times in 10 different spots.

"Aparecium" he muttered, as a light violet light erupted from his wand and hit the wall. Various runic inscriptions started revealing and rearranging themselves to form the outline of a door.

'Amazing…' Gavin thought, with a spark in his eyes.

"Grab my hand, Gav." Evan said softly as he stretched out his hand to his son.

Gavin grabbed it and the duo proceeded to phase through the door outline on the wall.

'Feels like I'm moving through cold water.' Gavin mused as he went through the door and appeared in a pitch black room.

As they entered the room, multiple candles lit up by themselves, revealing the room completely. The room looked like an ancient study, with multiple bookcases and a painting across the wall. There was a fireplace underneath the central painting in the room and a desk in the right corner of the room with scattered parchments and a quill on it.

Evan walked to the center of the room, turned sideways and motioned for Gavin to come closer and stand opposite him, to which Gavin obliged.

"One of my duties as the head of the Everhart family is to administer blood pacts, so let's begin… Cut your hand with your wand and interlace it with mine." Evan instructed, using his wand to cut his hand.

Gavin nodded and followed suit. He then stretched out his palm and interlaced them with Evan's.

"Repeat after me…I, Gavin Everhart, do solemnly swear that I will not divulge the family secrets as well as the existence of griffins. I promise to keep the peace with the griffins, and remain loyal to the Everharts." Evan said.

After Gavin repeated after him, Evan muttered an incantation under his breath and spoke. "I Evan Everhart swear to enforce the pact, ensuring peace and the confidentiality of the griffins."

Immediately after, drops of blood from both their hands flew up into the air and combined, glowing softly. A brown phial with golden carvings then formed around the droop of blood, encasing it within itself. As soon as that happened, the quill that was on the desk floated up and flew across to the vial. It then inscribed 'Gavin. E' on the phial, causing it to disappear immediately after.

Seeing this, Evan walked to the bookshelf and pulled a specific book on it slightly. The bookshelf started vibrating and moved to the side, revealing rows of suitcases, briefcases, all kinds of bags, pouches, etc.

"Pick one…" Evan said, looking at Gavin.

Gavin immediately picked the briefcase, feeling that it suited him best. It was the easiest to carry and looked professional.

"I have a question." He said, as soon as he pointed to the briefcases.

"What is it?" Evan replied, listening intently.

"Why not just use an unbreakable vow?...and does the blood pact prevent me from telling my close friends about griffins?" Gavin asked.

"I was going to get to that once we opened the briefcase since it's actually a rule but I may as well say it now… Darwin was a man who valued family above all else, he didn't want to kill his own blood so he decided to use a blood pact that family members wouldn't be able to divulge the secrets directly. If they tried to, the family would be notified and hold a court in order to discuss the member's punishment. If there was no justifiable reason, they would directly be obliviated and banished from the family…..To answer your second question, your close friends can know but they would have to take an unbreakable vow in the presence of a griffin."

"I see…" Gavin replied, nodding his head in approval of the rule.

Evan then pulled out a black briefcase from the rack.

"Right…This briefcase here would serve as your room in the Everhart ancestral home. It connects directly to the main house, where any Everhart family member can meet up regardless of the distance between them in the actual world. The trace magic that the Ministry employs for underage wizards also doesn't work in it, so you can practice magic in there" Evan said, pointing to the briefcase.

"Wicked!" Gavin exclaimed with a grin, not hiding his excitement. The briefcase would be extremely convenient for him, especially since he would need to do a lot of things in secret once he left for Hogwarts.

"I'm going to have to ask you to cut your hand again." Evan said with a chuckle.

Gavin chuckled as well and proceeded to cut his hand once more, not caring about it. After all, his enhanced physique granted him superior regenerative capabilities so as long as he didn't lose a limb, any injury would heal almost instantly.

"Carpe Redactum." Evan muttered, flicking his wand towards the drop of blood that was about to fall out of Gavin's palm. Red light flashed from the tip of his wand and surrounded the drop of blood, pulling it towards him.

He then canceled the spell, allowing the drop of blood to fall on the briefcase. He muttered a few more incantations and the briefcase absorbed the blood.

Gavin then felt a pain on his wrist, he turned it over in order to take a look and saw a crown tattoo forming on it. Gavin raised his eyebrows and looked at his dad.

"What's this?" He asked.

"It's just a sign that you've been successfully initiated into the Everhart family. It also indicates what griffin you're bonded to. The crown represents the griffin monarch." Evan replied.

"I see…by the way, who's your bond, Dad? I've never really asked." Gavin said, looking at Evan.

"I'm bonded to Krystal, the frosty griffin of ice." Evan responded with a smile, waving his hand and suddenly freezing everything in the room. The ice felt ghastly cold, way colder than normal.

"I s-see…you c-can ss-stop n-now." Gavin said, shivering furiously at the ice. He tried heating up his body but it didn't work. He thought that it was because his mastery over his own element was leagues behind his dad.

Evan laughed and returned the room back to normal. He gestured for Gavin to come towards him so they could enter the briefcase.