The Initiation (II)

Gavin heeded his dad's gesture and approached him.

"Only you can open the briefcase so go ahead…give it a go." Evan said to Gavin, smiling warmly.

Gavin nodded and opened the briefcase. Inside it was….normal?

"Is this supposed to be a joke?" Gavin raised his eyebrows, looked at his Dad and laughed.

"No actually; though it would've been one hell of a joke." Evan said, laughing as well.

"Put your hand on the bottom part." He added, pointing towards the bottom half of the briefcase.

Nodding, Gavin complied with his instruction and placed his hands on the bottom of the briefcase. The normal looking briefcase immediately became pitch black. Intuitively, Gavin put his hands inside the blackness and felt his hand phase through and touch what felt like a ladder.

"Right then…let's go in..shall we?" He said to his Dad.

"After you." Evan responded, winking.

Gavin entered the briefcase, leg first, and climbed the ladder down into a spacious living room. His eyes widened at the size of the place. It was an antique style living room with multiple sofas surrounding a fireplace, a central table, chandeliers with candles, paintings and plants. On the left side of the living room was a kitchen and dining table and on the right side of the living room was a piano and a vintage looking bar with multiple wines and drinks.

"This is a room?" Gavin exclaimed, bewildered at his supposed new room. Honestly, he would've believed it if Evan said that this was directly the Everhart ancestral home. The fact that it was a room was…lavish to say the least.

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"Yes, fancy isn't it?" Evan replied, chuckling and climbing down the ladder.

"Overly…" Gavin muttered, still awestruck at the grandeur of the place.

"Where are the beds?" He then added.

"Over there. ..There's a study and lab that way too" Evan said as he pointed to a door on the left hand side of the living room. He then proceeded to walk over towards a door on the right side of the living room.

"Excellent." Gavin mumbled to himself.

"....And over here is the door to the official Everhart house." He continued, grasping the door knob.

Gavin immediately walked over to him eagerly, anticipating what he would see behind the door. Behind that door was paradise…. a treasure trove of knowledge beyond his imagination as well as the answers to his questions. He couldn't wait to surround himself with the books there.

Evan smiled, looking at Gavin's eagerness. He then twisted the door knob and opened the door, revealing an extremely large gothic style living room.

"Wow…" Gavin was utterly speechless once he took in the Everhart family living room. It was astoundingly large and exquisitely decorated. A large black banner with a gold griffin was draped over the wall above the fireplace in the center of the living room. Under the gold griffin, the motto of the Everhart family was inscribed along with a signature. Gavin was about to take a closer look at the living room when his Dad stopped him.

"Let's take a look at the gallery and library first. I'm sure those things will interest you more." He said, with a smirk.

"You know me..Dad." Gavin replied with a smirk.

Evan just laughed and led Gavin to a large double sided door on the right side of the living room. As Evan opened the doors, Gavin's eyes nearly popped out of his sockets, his hands started to tremble in excitement and agitation. He looked like a starved beast who had found a pile of delicious food…especially because he was drooling.

Behind those double sided doors, a grand library was laid, saturated with books as far as the eyes could see. The bookshelves were ornate and luxuriously decorated, with each of them having a golden metal plate with top of the shelves indicating what subject or topic the books in the shelves were about.

"Welcome to the grand Everhart library. In here, is knowledge beyond your imagination" Evan said in a revealing gesture.

"It's….I-It's…h-heavenly…." Gavin stuttered, bewitched by the allure of the library.

Evan just chuckled and pat Gav's shoulders. "Unfortunately for you, most of the stuff here is restricted so don't get any ideas." He added, laughing at the end.

Gavin was immediately snapped out of his bewitchment and frowned.

"Why?" He asked, a bit annoyed.

"Some of the books here contain knowledge lost or not currently known to the wizarding world. When you're older, you'll have access to it." Evan replied with a smile.

"Alright." Gavin said curtly. He was a bit annoyed that he had to wait but he didn't mind it. All this knowledge would be his eventually so there was no need to rush.

"Right, where is the gallery? " He asked, intending to take his mind off the library.

"Follow me." Evan responded, leading Gavin towards the door of the library.

They walked for a few minutes, climbing the stairs and going through a few corridors before finally stopping in front of yet another large double sided door.

"You'll probably have a lot of questions once you see what's behind this door." Evan said rather ominously, using both his hands to open the door.

A long hallway, illuminated by candles and chandeliers and decorated with a long carpet came into view as soon as the doors were opened. Multiple portraits and paintings were on both sides of the hallway giving the hall a rather…historical feel.

Gavin walked over to the nearest portrait to take a look. The portrait was of a man with blonde hair, green eyes and a long beard.

"Telford Everhart…." Gavin said, reading the name plaque below the portrait.

He continued to look at the portraits of men and women as he moved down the hallway. They were of his ancestors in chronological order. After passing about 250 portraits, including that of Darwin Everhart and his Dad, he came across a small podium with a book on it. Behind the podium was a large rectangular painting with an ornate frame

'The Family Tree…' Gavin thought as he looked at the painting.

After a few minutes of looking, he frowned deeply.

"What is the meaning of this?" He asked his Dad, who was beside him, in a tone of bewilderment.

What he had seen on the painting stumped him. The painting was a large family tree with numerous profiles and branches. Almost all of the images were grayed out, which meant they were dead. A few of them had a cross mark on them, indicating banishment. Going by the painting, Gavin figured that he should have multiple cousins because his Dad had cousins and even siblings but the only figures that weren't grayed out was that of him, Cass, his parents, and his grandmother.

Evan was silent for a few minutes, confusing Gavin. He was about to ask again when Evan finally spoke.

"It means what it says. They're all dead." He said expressionlessly. Though, if one looked closely, one would notice the unconcealed immense rage in his eyes as he said those words. Gavin noticed this and frowned, deep in thought . A family as powerful and influential as the Everharts were nearly wiped out? How was that even possible? He knew it definitely could not be Voldermort or Grindelwald. Those two were powerful but nowhere near powerful enough to withstand the might of griffins.

'It seems I have a lot to look out for…It's really time to get serious…' He thought, looking at his profile.