Rosier Manor

The next morning started cold and wet, it seemed as if it was going to be a rainy day, though it didn't change much for Mary's and Susan's day. Their morning talk was completely dominated by the conversation between Mary and her parents.

After the recount, Susan couldn't help but comment, "Your mom is really scary, you know. She seemed like such an innocent and nice lady, to think it was all a mask."

"Yeah, it's like she said, you never suspect those ones." was Mary's response.

"So, what about my proposition? Did you have time to think about it?" asked Susan, trying to leave the subject for a bit.

Mary looked up from her now empty plate and said, "Yes, I thought about it and I decided that if the offer is still standing I'd like to take it."

"But it's only because you'll have a Floo and it'll make it easier to get to the Ministry, I don't want to leech off of you, so I'll pay you some rent." she quickly added trying to hide her embarrassment.

With a smirk on her face and a teasing tone Susan said, "Oh you don't have to hide it from me, I know you just don't want to be in a house alone, besides, if you lived alone, you wouldn't be able to use me and Robert as excuses for all those guys that are trying to get in your knickers."

"I'd never! I don't know what you're talking about." Mary said, her voice a pitch higher than normal.

Giggling lightly Susan continued, "Anyway, we should get going, today's friday, and I want to be ready to move by tomorrow."

And with that they went to continue their daily routine.

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The next morning, after their breakfast, they decided to pack up and move out, the activity didn't take them more than a few minutes, with the extensive use of the levitation charm and of the feather-light charm.

They took all they wanted in their trunks and left to take the Floo at the Leaky Cauldron, their destination was the Rosier Manor.

The Manor was located at the southeastern part of England, near the muggle city of Dover, the manor's grounds were very well protected, with protections ranging from muggle repelling wards to the land being unplottable.

The area was composed of a big clearing area which housed teams of Aethonans, Thestrals and Unicorns, a small forest area composed mainly of magical trees which housed several Fairies, there was an unused Quidditch pitch and a couple of greenhouses.

The main building was a mansion sized, two story building, with two underground levels. It was separated in three wings, the Left Wing was where the resting quarters were located, the Middle Section was composed by the areas which normally held multiple people at once and the Right Wing was dedicated to the offices, the room of ancestors and the library. The basements weren't separated as such, the higher was used for a potion's brewing room and for storage of the ingredients used, whereas the lower basement wasn't being used anymore.

The location was taken care of by a couple of House-elves, named Gilly and Happy, where Gilly was responsible for the main house and Happy took care of the outside affair of the land. They were considered young, only beginning to work when they were bought by Evan Rosier.

Upon getting to the manor they were welcomed by both elves, they were informed that their rooms had already been prepared and were only waiting for their personal belongings. They also were informed that Arcturus and Melania were expected to arrive at any moment.

With that out of the way the girls took Robert to explore the manor, while the elves were asked to notify them when the couple arrived.

They arrived a couple hours later, which gave the trio time to explore only the Right Wing; they spent as much time due to the desire of the ancestors to engage in conversation with them.

Their conversation was cut short with Gilly's interruption informing them of the arrival of the Blacks and of the preparation of the table for lunch.

This prompted them to go to the dining room where the elderly couple were already waiting in order for them to start eating.

The lunch was composed mostly of french cuisine, primarily because of the roots of the Rosier house. After the lunch they got to know where everyone's rooms were and they all decided to start the exploration of the manor again since there were two new people in the group.

The bedrooms in general were the same, with the exception of the master bedroom, all of the normal ones were of a medium size with a connected bathroom for each of them. The master bedroom was the same, only bigger and with a special passage that led to the main office.

The living room and dining room were connected through a set of double doors, both rooms were decorated in a medieval theme, with the presence of suits of armor, some weaponry and moving paintings depicting past conflicts, mainly those of England against France.

The kitchen had a medium sized aisle in its middle, the rest of all the items found were close to the walls which gave the room ample space in case it was needed. There was a small door in the corner that, according to Gilly, was her's and Happy's bedroom.

When they got to the Right Wing, they decided to look only at the library, afraid that they'd be stuck in conversation with the paintings again. The library was the biggest room on the house, it wasn't separated by the two floors that the rest of the manor was, and, with the use of expansion charms went, on higher then two floors should.

According to the painting that was placed there, this library contained books from all over the world, he claimed to be an explorer in the times of the european expansion, and he decided to put all his findings within this library. He also said that the majority of the older books were in french, or the really old ones, in latin, and he suggested the members of the house to learn those languages because the family's grimoire was mostly written in them.

The excursion after that was of the basement, the first was simply filled with potion ingredients closer to the potion brewing spot, whereas the rest of the floor was used to stock everything else used in the manor, the second basement wasn't functioning but it was clear that it was used as a wine cellar a long time ago.

Thus, they decided to explore the outside areas, other than the quidditch pitch, which needed renovation, all of the structures were in working condition, making Happy bounce with joy upon hearing the compliments from the new patrons. The greenhouses were being mostly used to grow edible plants, both for the animals and for the residents.

The most interesting part of the tour happened when they visited the forest area, where they saw what looked like a village of fairies. The trees were being used as residence and were decorated with countless shining lights, the fairies, with their pretty multi-colored selves also helped with making the location look magical.

That left only the teams to visit, however Happy warned them that the unicorns and the thestrals only appeared near the house when it was time to feed them, and that time had already passed. So they went to the place where the aethonans stayed, the location was a clearing with a few trees and a small lake, when the group got there they could see a chestnut coloured horse with black wings. He seemed to not mind their appearance and just ignored them.

Happy told them that they were already domesticated and could be used to ride, he also said that he had to cast disillusionment charms on them as per the previous head's orders. Mary simply nodded and added that it was a law in order to hide them from muggles when they fly.

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They returned to the manor just as supper was ready.

After a fulfilling meal, Arcturus asked to talk with Susan in private, about some ideas for the future.

They went to the office where they knew they wouldn't be interrupted.

"I'd like to make some rituals for Robert to go through." Arcturus said, getting straight to the point.

Susan wasn't expecting that, she knew about some rituals that could be beneficial, but she didn't really think about doing them for Robert.

"What kind of rituals are you planning on doing?" she questioned him.

The old man took out a book from his inner pocket and while showing it to her said, "This is a journal that all the heads of the house get to read, in it there are various ways to make the family stronger, one of them is to improve the younger generation."

"I wished to use five rituals from this book on him, each being at a specific age, they'd be at three, seven, eleven, thirteen and seventeen." he elaborated.

Susan didn't look like she'd agree with the idea, so Arcturus opened the journal and showed her the passages about the rituals he wanted to make.

"The first one will be to make sure that he grows well and to his maximum potential, this means that he'll be more resistant to diseases and the magic in his blood will have an easier time connecting with his Rosier and Black heritage." he said while pointing out the journal page.

Susan had a curious face and asked, "What do you mean by connecting with his heritage?"

To which the older man answered, "By that I mean that he'll be more in tune with the characteristic of his magic that is hereditary, for instance, a Black family member could use

dark magic without tainting his soul, that is thanks to the countless generations that have used those types of magic and made their bodies adapt so they wouldn't harm themselves."

He stopped and thought for a bit, "It could unlock some skills that are in his blood, we Blacks used to have Metamorphmagus within our family, but it is highly unlikely that he'll develop the ability. He'll probably only have an easier time learning dark magic and have a higher affinity with the branch that the Rosiers specialized in."

Susan took the journal and read about the ritual. It said that there were no side effects,so she had enough peace of mind to allow him to do the ritual.

The next ritual was one of the more important ones, after all it had a very big presence of the number seven, the number being the most powerful magical number.

"The second ritual will make it so his body has a deeper connection with magic, he'll find it much easier to use magic, so much so that he'll have high chances to learn wandless magic once his core is developed." Arcturus said, now showing the page of said ritual.

He showed Susan one part of the journal and said, "As it says here, the only results possible other than the intended is if his connection with magic is already high and after going through the ritual he'll unconsciously use magic which will make it harder for him to control it, for he'll have to control every single movement of his body when using a wand."

"I don't want to make it harder for him, isn't it better if we avoid this type of risk?" the concerned mother asked.

With a pensive look, Arcturus answered, "I understand your concern, but I don't think it'd be the case, if he had a high connection with magic he'd already show some signs, but once he turns seven, we can do some tests and see if it would become a burden for him if we did the ritual."

She was satisfied with those conditions, and accepted to making the ritual, only if those conditions were met.

"The third ritual at eleven is intended to make his connection with his wand deeper, here says that it'd make it feel like the wand is a part of him, it also states that if the wand breaks, the user will feel weakened for a period of time, but thanks to the bond that is formed through the ritual, the user would be capable to use wandless magic easier, also if he manages to save some part of the core the wand could be perfectly reforged." Arcturus said changing the journal's page to show the information on the ritual.

Upon seeing that Susan was about to refuse, Arcturus quickly said "Before you refuse, remember that it's very rare for a wizard's wand to break, especially if that wizard is a member of a pureblood family. And in the unlikely scenario that it happens, he only has to save a part of the core and he'll have his wand back."

"Fine! I see that you have researched these rituals very thoroughly, just tell me if there are any consequences in the other two that I'd not approve off." Susan said with a tired look in her face.

Arcturus gave her a small smile and continued with his explanation, "The fourth is to correct any possible mistake or damage that would have been done to the body, it also removes the impurities of the body, it'll be the only painful one, but it's nothing damaging to the person who does it."

"And finally, the last one, done at seventeen, is very similar with the second one, since it's done at an age finishing with seven, it's also the age when the core matures, the main objective of this ritual is to make the core denser and bigger." he finished.

*Sigh* "I think the only way that I could prevent you from doing this is giving you a better option, and I don't know if there are any at my family's records." said a frustrated Susan.

That made Arcturus' mood go through the roof and he said, "These are secret rituals from one of the strongest families of the world, of course it wouldn't be easy to find something better. And you don't have to worry about the materials needed, since this is my idea, I'll make sure to find the best materials possible."

Leaving the office, Arcturus went to his room, he had a lot to prepare for these rituals, the earlier he starts, the better.

Susan, on the other hand, couldn't help but worry, and thanks to that, she decided to look through some books, just so she could get some peace of mind and be prepared if anything happens with the rituals.