Chapter 8: Allies And Enemies

Lilly Potter had made up her mind to not disrupt Perseus's life by getting involved with him and thro his life into disorder , and so she was all set to leave, but then the door through which she was about to exit the room got shut on its own and she turned back and looked at Perseus, who was staring at her with unshed tears in his eyes.

"Hello mum."

Those two words were enough to break up her resolve, she had been trying to keep her emotions in check, which were on high drive from the moment she had seen Perseus, her son for the first time in so many years. But those emotions came back full force and she couldn't do anything as tears escaped her eyes.

She covered the distance between herself and Perseus quickly and engulfed him in a tight was only slightly shorter than herself, she noticed. She didn't want to let go of him,Perseus too was sobbing lightly and it was then that Perseus reciprocated her action and he too pulled his arms around her.

When she let go of him, she noticed with surprise that Perseus has been able to keep his emotions under control and had not shed even a single tear. Perseus must have sensed her thoughts as he suddenly spoke up,

"Do not take absence of tears for my lack of cannot describe how happy I am to finally meet you after all this time."

Lily could do nothing but smile sadly at that and it was then she noticed him properly. He was looking at her with such intensity as if a someone has been living in a cave and has looked at the sun after a long time.

"So Lord Black told you everything already?" Lily asked.

"He didn't tell me anything,"Perseus replied, and upon noticing lily's confused look he clarified,

"I mean he didn't have to tell me anything, I knew everything already."

Lily was shocked by this revelation but went on to tell him her side of the then proceeded to tell Perseus what had happened that night.

"You might not know this, but I was in a magical coma of sorts and from moment I woke up I have always dreamt of this moment," she said, still keeping her hands on Perseus's shoulder as if worried that he would vanish in thin air.

Both mother and son, sat and talked, their conversation about old memories, lily shared moments and incidents of Perseus's childhood. Lily Potter suddenly gave a soft yet sad laugh.

"What's funny?"Perseus asked.

"I am just laughing at the irony. You know,Dorea would always say, just to tease James and Charlus, that you are more Black than a Potter."

She gave a sad smile and even Perseus laughed for a was then that Lily said something very drastic as she looked at Perseus and said in a pleading tone,

"Please come back Perseus. Please return home."

Perseus went still for a moment, he then turned his head and looked at Lily for a moment and for the first time since she had met him, and lily saw something in Perseus's eyes that stunned her.

RAGE

Perseus was furious but he controlled himself and asked his mother in a calm tone,

"Return home? What home are you talking about?"

At hearing this more tears came forth Lilly's eyes, and after a moment she said,

"Your house Har-" she stooped mid sentence then continued,

"I mean your house Perseus, our house, to your family."

But Perseus cut her short,

"I am with my family, I am a Black now," he paused for a moment and then spoke up again,

"It's a parents duty to take care of their children, and in return children trusts them. But James Potter betrayed that trust. To me, the thing that is worse than death is betrayal. You see,"here he looked at Lilly again,

"I could conceive death, after all I have had a couple of close calls, but I could not conceive betrayal, but I guess I must thank your husband, for he taught me a valuable lesson, to never trust anyone."

Hearing him say those things hurt Lilly a lot but before she could say anything,Perseus gave a soft smile and then said , talking more to himself than her.

"Funny this betrayal is, it never comes from your enemies," he said and again looked at her and continued,

"You see, betrayal doesn't only break your heart, but also darkens your never forget the pain. Like a fog that forever lingers in the depths of your mind."

"I wish things hadn't turned out the way they did Perseus. I will do anything to make things right, anything," she said.

"A sad truth," Perseus said as he looked away from her and continued,

"No matter how much we wish to change the past, we cannot. They say the past is etched in the it isn't." Perseus paused and again looked at lily before continuing,

"It's smoke, trapped in a closed room, swirling, changing. Buffeted by the passing of years and wishful thinking. But even though our perception of it changes, one thing remains constant. The past can never be erased. It lingers like the scent of burning wood. And sometimes it can be suffocating."Perseus here gave her a sad smile.

Lilly was heartbroken at hearing this, she knew Perseus has suffered through a lot due to James's action but she decided to give it another try.

"James is extremely sorry for what he did Perseus, he-" she said but was cut short by Perseus who was getting angry by the moment as he stood up and said,

"Are you really going to take his side, defend him, that too in front of me?"Perseus roared and walked towards the window and looked at grounds for a moment as he composed himself and then said in a very calm but dangerous tone,

"James Potter abandoned me. When he abandoned me, he liberated me and I am thankful for it."

He said as he looked at Lilly,

"He is not sorry that he left me to die, James potter is sorry that I survived. That despite his attempts to ensure my end, I didn't die."

"No no, Perseus, why would he wish for your death?"Lilly Potter asked in despair.

"Isn't it obvious? He thought I was a squib, he didn't want me to bring shame to his family,and he was too much of a coward to kill me himself so he left it to this cruel world to do the job!"

Perseus said this and then walked towards Lily potter and put his hands on her shoulder and looked in her eyes. Green met green. And then he said in a low voice.

"And I would have died for sure. Had it not been for Arcturus Black, your eldest son would have died for real. Arcturus Black saved my life. And you want me to leave him now, and return back to that James Potter?"

He said James's name with such hatred that it made Lily realize that Perseus would never forgive James, but before she could say anything Perseus continued and said,

"If I were to abandon Arcturus Black now, the man who took care of me when I was alone , who loved me, then tell me mother what would be the difference between me and James Potter?"

Lily had no answer to his question but after a few moments she posed a question of her own, employing her last argument , and hoping that her son's resolve would falter at her plight .

"But what have I done, what did I do wrong, why should I suffer from the loss of my son when I did nothing to warrant it. Why?"

Perseus looked at her for a moment and analyzed the situation, he of course knew what to say in answer to her question, but he was contemplating whether he should or shouldn't as he knew it was bound to hurt her even more. Then he made up his mind and looked at Lilly with a hard glare and said in an accusing tone.

"Because you forgave him."

He waited for a moment to let his words sink in and the again said,

"Because, even after knowing what he did, you stayed with forgave him, just like that, and that is why mother you too should suffer the pain."

Lilly Potter was stunned, she didn't know what to say but Perseus continued.

"Your son, Harry Potter is dead. Perseus Black is not your son."

But before Lilly could say anything, Perseus raised his hand and stopped her; he then quickly scanned the room and fixed his sight at the door of the room. He then gave a sly smile and suddenly said out loud,

"You know what they say about eavesdropping,Headmaster"

Lilly thought that Perseus was perhaps imagining things but Perseus continued to look at the door. She was about to shake him off when suddenly a figure appeared. It was indeed the Headmaster.

Albus Dumbledore, stood tall, as if he has not just been caught eavesdropping on a private conversation. He then looked at Perseus and said,

"Well my philosophy about eavesdropping is to never get caught."

"Great philosophy. How did you slip through my wards headmaster?"Perseus asked. He was not worried that Dumbledore knew about his past. He knew Snape would have told Dumbledore that much already.

"It's Hogwarts. I have told you already Perseus, in Hogwarts I am nearly invincible. Those were some pretty strong wards indeed, had it been any place other than Hogwarts, then I am sure I could not have slipped through them without your notice "

Lilly was shocked, for she didn't hear anyone enter the was even more shocked that Perseus was able to even spot the Headmaster. But then she got angry at Albus for interfering and she yelled at him,

"What in the name of Merlin are you doing Albus?You can't just spy on people like that!"

"I am extremely sorry Lilly, initially it wasn't my plan to listen in to your conversation. I just sensed the presence of someone in the castle who shouldn't be here. And then I thought that I too should talk to Perseus regarding this whole situation," he said while looking at Lilly, his blue eyes twinkling.

"And what gave you the impression that you have any say in this matter?"Perseus asked in an impassive tone.

"Well I just wanted to come clean with a few things, Perseus; you see I too had a hand in this whole situation."

"What are you taking about?" Perseus asked.

"You see Perseus, it was I, who noticed that you were a squib, and I informed James about the same, and we all know what happened after I just wanted to say I am extremely sorry for that,"Dumbledore said.

It was a new revelation for Perseus; he stood still for a moment and then said in a snarky tone,

"And what do you say now Headmaster? Still think I am a squib?"Perseus asked.

"No. For the love of Merlin,Perseus, no I don't and I agree I made a mistake and I apologize for it."

"You have nothing to apologize for Headmaster,"Perseus said as Dumbledore looked at him with interest and Perseus said again,

"You see, you were nothing to me, you had no duty or responsibility towards me, it wasn't you who abandoned me and-"

"But a small mistake of mine, tore apart a family," Dumbledore said while cutting him short to which Perseus replied angrily

"No Headmaster, it didn't tear a family apart, just me."

"Perseus, my boy, please forgive them, be a better man. James, Lilly, they all miss you. They-"

"Well headmaster, if they miss me then they should remember that I didn't leave on my own, I was sent away," Perseus said as he gave Lilly a pointed look.

"Perseus please, holding a grudge is never good for anyone." The aged headmaster said to which Perseus replied,

"I don't hold any grudges Professor. We are good. You may not hear from me ever again, but we are good."

"Please try to understand Perseus, it isn't the people that are bad, it's the circumstances, and what James did, though not right, his actions were still I am saying is-"

"I see what you are doing, you are saving faces."He then looked at Lilly and said again in an accusing tone,

"And I thought you were here because you wanted to see me, that you cared about me but I see even you have taken Potter's can I be so stupid."

"No no Perseus, I-" she tried to protest but Perseus didn't let her speak.

"You chose James Potter and that is why I cut all my ties with you. From this moment forth, I would never call you mother again."

This struck Lilly didn't know what to do, what to say to sooth her son's wound, but Perseus again said,

"Of course you gave birth to me and you took care of me for four years, and I would always cherish that time and I owe you for that, I-"

Lily cut Perseus short and said in a small voice,

"What are you saying, Perseus? You don't owe me 's a mother's duty to take care of her children,"Lilly said as she took a step towards Perseus. But Perseus took a step back and shook his head, stopping Lilly in her track. He then said,

"Yes, but you are not my mother anymore, and as such I owe you for that. And I give you my words that when the time comes, I will pay my debt, I always do."

"Please don't hate me," she said mustering every ounce of affection she held for her eldest son to which perseus replied by saying,

"I don't hate you. I am just not necessarily excited about your existence. I don't hate anyone. Either I love people or I don't care. And from this moment , I don't care about you."

Lilly potter stood still, contemplating the depth of his words when Dumbledore asked him,

"On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you hate James Potter?"to which Perseus gave a sly smile and said,

"If I had a bow and only two arrows and was in a room with Voldermort, Grindlewald and James Potter, I would shoot James Potter twice."

With that Perseus proceeded to leave the room but stopped after taking a few steps, his back towards lily and a shocked Dumbledore who had an unreadable look in his eyes

"I hope you understand that I will never renounce the house of Black, and if anyone, I mean anyone, makes even a slightest attempt to do anything to coerce me to do otherwise, well not only they would fail miserably but," here he turned his head back slightly and looked at Lilly and then said again,

"I will vanish, never to be found. Remember you couldn't find me until I showed myself, and I can do that again. You have hurt me enough , if you ever cared for me even a bit , then you will leave me alone, that is all ask. I hope you understand and would make some undesirable parties understand that too."

With that Perseus left the room making his way towards the dungeons. He was angry and he didn't want to unleash his rage. But apparently fate had some other plans for he came face to face with someone he had no desire to see.

Peeves.

"Oh look Blacky Blacky Black, out of bed, now Peeves will have his revenge," he said as he was about to throw a water balloon at roared at him.

"Don't Peeves, I am in a very bad mood today, get out of my sight before I hurt you," Perseus said, his eyes glinting dangerously.

But Peeves gave no heed to his warning and threw the water balloon at him. Perseus just waved his hand and the balloon vanished,

"Well I did warn you," Perseus said and before Peeves could throw another balloon,Perseus started muttering a chant.

Me tidýnami ton stoicheíon

Soidesmévounedókaitóra !

Potéxaná den prépeinaafínontaieléfthera

Me opoiodípoteméso í trópo !

The effect was immediate,Peeves was getting worried now as he couldn't move, and he was frozen mid-air. He could just speak and shake his head a bit, but peeves said again,

"Don't you know Black, you cannot harm me?" and started laughing like lunatic. But before Perseus could respond, a loud thundering voice called out Peeves's name.

"Peeves."

The Bloody Baron was floating towards them, and he had a murderous look in his eyes but before bloody baron could say a word Perseus said,

"So you think, I cannot hurt you that is where you went wrong. I can hurt anyone and anything"

Perseus then lifted his hand and in a moment summoned his sword. The moment the Stygian iron blade appeared, the temperature of the corridor dropped immensely, the fire in the torchlight dimmed.

Both,Bloody Baron and Peeves looked at the sword with fear, and rightly iron was the best conductor of necromancy and soul magic. It was also extremely lethal to spirits and poltergeist. One slash of Perseus's blade would ensure the destruction of Peeves.

"No no nononono, please don't, please, I beg you. I will do anything you will say," Peeves was now muttering.

"Please forgive him, my liege. I will ensure that peeves behaves from now on in your spare him,MyLord."

Perseus spared the ghost a look and then raised his sword towards peeves and muttered a spell.

Eímai to foseímaiénasgia

ischyríóstenakatapolemísei

epistrépsetestoskotádi ,

ópoukatoikeískiés

katatropotheí me aftíxórki !

The spell , one that Perseus had learned from the shamans ,freed peeves from his bindings and he flew away in an instant. Perseus then turned towards the Baron and said in a grave tone,

"Make sure he behaves from now on."

"Yes, my liege."

With that Perseus made his way towards the dungeons and retired for the day.

Unknown to him, his little show with peeves, had spread through the castle ghosts like wildfire. Every ghost was afraid of the Black heir now. And it was this reputation that would ultimately earn him the title of The Phantom Lord and TheGhost King.

While the said lord entered his dorm, his breath shaky , and leaned back on the door. He cursed himself for hurting Lily intentionally, and for accusing her of not caring for him. He slumped on the ground , shaking and berated himself for saying such hurtful things to his mother; one person he knew loved him unconditionally.

He raised his wand slowly, his hand shaking and closed his eyes as he used his occulemency to bring forth a very old memory , perhaps the oldest. he smiled as he saw a young girl , with red hairs and bright emerald eyes looking at him with pure love . the only memory of his that was powerful enough to cast a particular spell .He smiled and with his eyes still close muttered .

"expecto patronum "

He opened his eyes and was met by a majestic and translucent silvery doe standing in front of him and for the first time in years a single tear escaped his eyes , which glinted in the light coming from the patronus . he kept looking at the doe and he fell asleep .

Perseus walked out on the ground, towards the forbidden forest. Feeling lightly out of the new year spirit. He has off course decided to skip the entered the forbidden forest and soon reached the field where he had been working out for the last three months.

He has been trying to forget his encounter with his mother but hecouldn' was still angry at her and even at in his rage punched the nearby tree. Such was his strength that the ancient tree shook violently, and also tore the skin of his hand.

Perseus healed his hand and sat down at the base of the tree. This clearing was in a perfect circle, surrounded by eight huge ancient trees. There were magical torches around the field which lit up with a wave of his hand.

Perseus then thought about the last few days. He had tried to put his encounter with Lilly Potter behind. He had received a letter from her on Christmas. He pulled the letter out of his jacket and read it once more.

DEAR Perseus

You are my child and I love you dearly. I know that I made terrible mistakes with you. I know that you must be in a lot of pain to want to cut off any relation with me.I am glad now that you let me know how you feel. I am so sorry for the ways that I let you down as a mother. I could understand why that would make it harder to have a relationship with me.

I am happy that you are forging ahead with your passions and your life. I am pleased for you and I am proud of you whether you want that or not. All I want is for you to let me know if you intend this silence to last for ever? If so, then please help me to understand why.

For all these years when you were gone, I would look out for you on every street corner. A tiny glimmer of hope would briefly possess me whenever I saw someone who might be you. My vision cruelly morphed the most unlikely strangers in to your shape. Many times each day my brain played tricks.

You were below the surface of everything. I never truly laughed, never relaxed or content. Tears would burst out of me at the most inappropriate moments, at any reminder of you.

I carried you inside me for nine months, in my arms for four years, and will carry you in my heart till the day I die.

I still remember the day you were born, when I laid eyes on you for the first time and I felt a certain connection with you. I adored your smile, I cherished your hugs, I admired your heart but most of all, I loved that you were my son.

I didn't know what to give you for Christmas. And that is why I am sending you a picture; the picture is the first one of you and me together.

You have decided to cut all ties with me and I would respect your decision. I have ensured that no one would reveal anything about your birth to anyone. Although it is my wish that you would not hate your siblings because of us.

I hope there are ways that I can make it up to you in the future. I have tried hard to make amends to you and am willing to continue talking about whatever is important to you about the past if it can move us closer together. I do want to hear what you feel and would always be open to a letter, or a meeting, anything!

I really want you to be happy, and I am coming to accept that you don't want to have a relationship with me. It's heartbreaking, as your mother, to not be able to see you or talk to you.

I want you to know that the door will be open for the rest of your life if you change your mind. Until then, I will respect your wishes and refrain from contacting you. But please allow me the privilege to send you a letter on certain occasions like this one.

I promise to always love you in whoever you decide to be. I promise to be there for you, whenever you need me.

With love

Your mother.

Perseus gave the letter another look, the handwriting was shaky and there were water stains over the parchament, clear indication that she was crying while writing it.

'What did she mean by siblings?There is only must have made a spelling error?'

Perseus thought and looked at the picture Lilly potter had showed a relatively young LillyPotter holding a bundle of blankets, which were wrapped around a baby. And Perseus looked at the scene and then put the picture as well as the letter in his moleskin pouch.

as a Christmas gifts from Nicklaus , he had received a book on advance charms , very advance actually , if not for all his tutoring from his great aunt Cassiopeia and voldermort's knowledge , he would not have been able to understand anything from that book, but the book did contain concepts that he was unaware of , and Perseus concluded that Nicklaus has been able to deduce his skills in charms correctly . He had received chocolates from Helena. Perseus himself hadn't put much thought into Christmas presents he had sent, so he got chocolates for everyone.

He had sent a special Christmas gift to Slade Wilson, a gladius, that he himself had crafted earlier this year. It was not a magical blade, but it was crafted beautifully. It was a token of appreciation that Perseus felt for his trainer.

He had also received a letter from his grandfather, and the content of the letter had troubled him a lot. According to his grandfather, situation was not ideal in Oceania, some werewolves were attacking the people. He had written that it was a rebellion by werewolves who have had enough due to oppressions and shame they had to endure as the ministry regulations were followed in Oceania, which were very anti-werewolf .Perseus was extremely worried about his grandfather.

He was contemplating over his grandfather's problem and how he could help him. He was brought out of his days when a unicorn entered the clearing. It must have been attracted by the light .

The unicorn was walking very slowly, and it was then Perseus notice a silvery liquid flowing from its neck.

It was wounded.

Perseus immediately stood up and approached the unicorn slowly. The unicorn must have sensed no danger from him for he allowed Perseus to approach him. Which was surprising .

The wound was not deadly, a few healing charms later the wound was healed and Perseus vanished the unicorns blood. The unicorn showed his appreciation by nuzzling him.

Perseus then looked the unicorn straight in the eyes and said in an inquisitive tone.

"Who hurt you?Why would someone hurt you?"

Perseus got his answer a moment later when he sensed someone enter the clearing behind him, and the unicorn ran away from him, leaving the clearing.

Perseus stood up and turned to face the newcomer. he was a handsome man who stood about 5'11" in height, and had a thin but muscular body. He had short brown hair, with hazel brown eyes. His facial features were angular - high cheekbones, a strong jaw line, and a straight nose. He appeared to be in his early to mid twenties, somewhere between then noticed his attire, his clothing indicative of a nobleman.

He looked quite harmless. But Perseus's gut was telling him that the man in front of him was actually quite up in the food chain.

"What are you doing out here boy? This forest is a dangerous place, dark creatures roam this forest," he said in a smooth tone.

"First meeting usually warrant introductions," Perseus said in an impassive tone.

"Ah of course. My name is Adamastos, and who would you be boy?" he asked.

"Perseus,"he replied.

The figure looked at him for a moment and then said,

"It's interesting, really, that you are not afraid of me, but I guess that is because you do not know who I am yet," he said.

"Oh I know who you are, or should I say, what you are,"Perseus replied.

"Ah a clever what am I Perseus?"

"Vampire," Perseus said.

"Ah!You are a pretty smart boy."

Then Adamastos inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. After a moment he opened them and said,

"Your blood smells incredibly magnificent; I wonder what it would taste like."

"I am flattered, really, but I assure you I am not at all delicious."

At hearing that the vampire gave a cruel smile and was about to lunge at Perseus when Perseus said,

"Don't. Don't even think of attacking me, it won't end well for you."

The vampire laughed at that and asked,

"And what can you do Perseus? I am way stronger and faster than you,"

And as if to prove his statement he kicked the tree that Perseus had punched some time ago, the tree was uprooted in one blow. But Perseus didn't break his resolve.

"I will kill you,"Perseus said as if it didn't mean much.

Adamastos laughed again.

"Laugh all you want vampire, I know perfectly well how to kill your kind."Perseus said and to prove his point he cast the same spell he had learned from Slade, the one that will burn the nerve endings in the vampire's brain and as Alistair had informed him; only ancient vampires will recover from it quickly like he himself had done, what Alistair had later informed him was called The Spell Of Vrasmos.

But the only indication Perseus got that the spell had worked was a small hiss from the vampire but after that the vampire started laughing while the spell was still in effect.

"Oh you really do know your stuff, only a handful of wizards have known that spell," he said which shocked Perseus as it appeared as if the vampire was immune to the effect of that spell, something even Alistair couldn't achieve.

'But Alistair is one of the oldest vampire in existence. Then who is this vampire?' Perseus thought and suddenly he recalled what Alistair had said.

'what this spell does is boil the blood in our head, and burn the nerves in our brain, now any other young vampire will be rendered unconscious by this spell, and a wizard's brain after continuous exposure might pop up. But it won't work very well on older vampires and I assure you it has never worked on an elder vampire, their healing ability is beyond anything.'His mind was going overdrive with this piece of information and then the vampire said confirming his suspicions.

"I am really surprised that you know that spell. A magic as old as me. Were it any other vampire and you could have defeated him easily, even kill him,but do you know how to kill an elder vampire or should I say, the eldest vampire," he said as he gave a sly smile.

This revelation shocked Perseus, he wasn't prepared or strong enough to take on an elder vampire, his mind suddenly recalled the fight between voldermort and Alistair from the dark lord's memories.

'voldermort had to employ everything he knew in order to defeat Alistair, and this vampire is way stronger than him,' Perseus thought but then Perseus thought about the runic array below the clearing. If it could nullify the power of an extremely strong wizard, it should also work for an elder vampire.

After his encounter with hagrid he had placed a runic array on the ground. Once activated it would drain the energy out of anyone other than Perseus himself. He had learned this from Balthazar Black's journal when he had trapped a very powerful wizard in it.

The runic array was basically a nullifying field, the wizard that Balthazar had trapped couldn't even perform the simplest of spell and was brought his knees within seconds.

"As a matter of fact, yes Alastairs, I can bring you down too,"Perseuss said.

"Oh really?And how would you do that?"

Perseus stared at the vampire for a moment and concluded from his body's movements that he was about to attack so he said the activation phrase, that would charge the nullifying field.

"Archízo,"Perseus yelled and the effect was immediate.

The runes glowed below them, fire erupted around the clearing to ensure that the captured person won't be able to escape. It was a testament to the elder vampire's power that the runes that could suck the enery out of anyone within seconds , the vampire wasn't much affected by it. It took a minute to get The vampire was on his knees but he stood up again , and was about to make an exit when Perseus again used the The Spell Of Vrasmos on him . this time the vampire did scream from the pain, as his powerful body was stripped of his immense healing abilities temporarily as every ounce of energy started leaving his body, his skin lost color and turned ash grey and within moments his body went limp.

Perseus didn't know what to do now; he couldn't kill the vampire, as he had never heard of anything that could kill an elder vampire. He couldn't leave him either, for when the vampire would gain consciousness, he would hunt Perseus forever to get revenge. And perseus was sure that even Alistair and his grandfather won't be able to protect him from what was probably the oldest living being on earth .

It was then that Perseus recalled a ritual he had learned from the a shaman, one jontrabolta had asked to teach him about rituals. The shaman had once performed the same ritual to bind a werewolf to him. The ritual of obedience. The ritual would erase any kind of ill will or mala fide the vampire had towards him; it was almost identical to the ritual performed by wizards centuries ago which bonded the house elves to them and the entire race became subservient to them. But he couldn't perform the ritual at Hogwarts.

His mind made,he left the clearing and then he called out to his loyal house elf.

"Rokky."

And in an instant the elf appeared in front of him.

"Master Perseus, how can rokky serve you?"

"Rokky, listen to me very carefully. I want you to take me, and that man over there," he said as he pointed towards the limp body of the vampire and then continued speaking,

"Take us to the island."That being said Perseus summoned the vampire's body and Rokky placed a hand on him. And they disappeared from the forbidden forest and appeared in front of a small cottage.

"Rokky get him to the ritual chamber, "Perseus said as he entered the cottage and made his way towards the storage room. He got a vial of powdered unicorn's horn and made his way towards the basement, which was a ritual room, 5 stories deep, and made up of stone. Voldemort had performed most of his powerful rituals in this very room.

He approached the body of the vampire and made a cut on his wrist and drew a bit of blood in a bowl and added the powdered unicorn's horn and added a bit of his own blood. It turned pitch black within seconds .

He then used his carving knife and dipped it in the liquid and etched runes on the vampire's forehead. His work done he stood up and called Rokky again.

"Rokky go out in the woods and gather dry woods, and make a big bonfire outside the cottage."

"Yes Master Perseus," and with that the elf vanished.

Perseus then again moved towards the storage room and came outside the cottage with a thestral's skull and the hide of a dragon. By the time he was back Rokky had prepared a massive bonfire.

Perseus put the body of the elder vampire on one side and he stood on the other side of it and sent an incendio charm and lit the woods.

He then took the bowl and poured the black liquid in the fire and the fire rose to about 10 feet in height. Hethen started chanting in ancient tongue.

bidamealaahadhasihr

'atlub'iilaaalssunadat al'

amrikiatlilhaya .

'iidhakanahd

yaeishalakhar la yamuta.

'iidhakanahdllil'

adhaaalakharyaqumkadhalik.

He then moved forward and threw the thestrals's skull into the fire and within moments the fire gained purple color. And the Perseus chanted again.

minkhilaleunsursayatabatalak

laqad'aemahumdaw'anlak

minkhilalalzzalam , wasawftuhitbik

With that the fire grew to an alarming height and also intensity. But still Perseus threw the hide of the dragon and then again chanted.

fisahlbashri

tastatieyusabbib

li'ay 'alamqaribaan

wajhaksayaltaqialshshiela" .

Two thick ropes of fire emerged, one completely engulfed the elder vampire and the other wrapped around Perseus like a snake. The heat was hurting Perseus but he still continued.

I tarbitukum min

alssahiratalshsharirat ,

walssihralshsharir

ealaaeataqi ,

walssahr lays 'akthar

With that the heat intensified, and for a moment Perseus thought that he would be burnt alive but then suddenly the fire died down and Perseus, completely spent from the ritual, fell on his knees.

He gathered some energy and made his way towards the elder vampire who was now getting up on his feet. For a moment Perseus was worried that the vampire would attack him, but he was relieved to see that the vampire was looking at him questioningly, as if expecting an order.

"Follow me," Perseus said and went inside the cottage and conjured two armchairs and sat on one and motioned Adamastos to take the other. Which he did.

"How do you feel?" Perseus asked.

"Tired,exhausted," he replied. "I have never been this tired in my entire life, well my entire life as a vampire," he paused for a moment and then looked at Perseus and asked,

"What did you do to me, I know I am now somehow servitude to you, but how? I should feel angry at you yet I somehow want nothing more than to follow your orders and to please you."

"Let's say, I tuned you a bit and you will find that answer satisfactory and will not question or think about it again," Perseus said and realized that it was just like his a very deeply embedded imperio.

"Yes my Lord."

"And you will call me Perseus only when we are alone. I didn't wish to do this ritual but I had no choice, I would really like it if you were to consider me your friend," Perseus said to which he nodded.

"Now tell me, what did you mean when you said you are the eldest vampire?"Perseus asked.

"I was the eldest of the three who became the first vampires. It all began 1600 years ago. I was disciple of a very powerful witch named Diana, along with another was a very knowledgeable witch but one day her archnemesis, Udonna returned back to the village after traveling across the world.

Somewhere during her travels, she came across a tribe of wizards, who possessed a unique trait. They all were natural animagus , and they all transformed into a dire wolf. The ability was in their blood and was passed down from father to son. Even when they were not in their animagus form, they were physically quite powerful and fast.

When Udonna returned she started experimenting, trying to recreate those shape shifters but all she managed to achieve were the abomination, that are now called werewolves. They were nothing like those shape shifters, for their transformation was subject to the full moon and they didn't turn into direwolves. They were a curse on humankind. Diana was at loss, at how to combat these creatures.

And as such she too derived a ritual to strengthen the wizards, and we, that is Aaron and I volunteered for it. But Diana's husband Salukis volunteered too. And we became the first vampire to roam this earth. We were powerful, we were fast, we healed so fast that we couldn't be killed.

But we soon realized, that to combat the curse of lycanthropy, Diana had unleashed another curse upon .

We three went out and tore apart Udonna's army, every werewolf, but some escaped. Udonna was too strong for Diana to defeat alone, but in the end I ripped her heart out. To prevent anyone from retracing udonna's footstep we burnt her griomrs, and also her tower.

"Then what happened?"Perseus asked curiosity getting the better of him.

"The fight with Udonna had taken it's toll upon Diana, and as a result she passed three of us spent some time together, about a century. Learning about our powers. We learned how to compel others. We then discovered how to create more vampires. And we have been roaming this earth ever since."

"What about those shape shifters? I have never heard of such power before,"Perseus asked and indeed he hadn't, beings who were as powerful as the elder vampires, he was really amazed.

After Diana's death, in his rage Salukis tracked down the tribe of those shape shifters. And then we killed them all too. Those shapeshifters were extremely more so than us three. We didn't know that of course and went to fight them to end their their human form they were not as fast as us but almost as strong as us. The only reason we made out of there alive was that we cannot be we realized that their venom was extremely excruciating for took us four days to recover from that was painful," he said and perseus asked him,

"What did you do then?"

"Aaron was adamant about anhilating their tribe, and so we formed a plan; a very dangerous plan. Diana had inherited from her ancestors the ring of evisque. It provided the bearer an ultimate form of invisibility. It also masked the scent and sound coming from the wearer. We gathered the pit scorpion venom and the basilisk venom, the two most potent venoms on this planet. Then I under the effect of that ring went to their settlement and spiked their ration. Within moments the venom started working after they had was a testament of their strength that even those two venoms could not kill them, but it made them weak."Here he paused for a moment and then continued,

"We then slaughtered them, we did not want to take any chance so we ripped everyone's heart was then that I stumbled across a woman, for some reasons she had not consumed the dinner but still she did not transform into a wolf. I then heard along with her heartbeat another faint beating of a heart. She was with a they couldn't turn if a woman was that made me stop. I could not end her and her unborn child," he said and gave a sad smile and said again,

"I guess I still had some humanity left in me. I decided to spare her but I knew Salukis would not share my sentiments so I told her to flee and to find a way to not only mask herself but also her power and to ensure that no shapeshifter would ever surface again and to aid her I gave her the ring of evisque." He finished and then Perseus asked,

"So did you ever come across a shapeshifter ever again?" to which he replied,

"No. She either didn't make it far or she was successful in masking her and her child's powers or perhaps suppress that power. But the odds of that are very low."

"Why is that?" Perseus asked.

"Well, I don't think there was anyone with enough power and knowledge to suppress that kind of power."

"So what did you do next?" Perseus asked.

"We then decided to burn Diana's work, her grimoires, everything, so that no one could create monsters like us again," Adamastos said, although Perseus noticed that his tone faltered a bit and so he inquired about it,

"What is it? What did you do?"

Adamastos looked at Perseus for a moment and then he said,

"Aaron and Salukis thought that we had burn everything, when in reality I had already moved everything to a different location."

"What? But why would you do that?" Perseus asked in confusion .

"Before I was turned, I was not a normal wizard Perseus. I was a siphoner. I didn't have magic of my own. And when we turned, I noticed that I had greater degree of immunity from magic than them both. And it was with these hopes that I would be able to do magic again I hid Diana's work. But It was no use."

Perseus's mind was reeling with information, he wanted to get his hands on the spell books of the witch who created the vampires.

"Tell me about your powers,how immortal you really are. I mean I know a vampire could be killed, ancient vampires can eventually recover even from a killing what about an elder vampire?"

"Well you know, super strength, super speed, fast healing, compulsion, immunity against most spells. I have fought many powerful wizards Perseus, and on occasions I had come pretty close to dying, but none could kill me. The fiendfire can't burn me, the killing curse would only put me out of commission for an a few seconds."

"Compulsion?" Perseus asked in wonder.

"yes , the power only we three have, it is very similar to a very subtly cast powerful imperio " he replied and Perseus almost laughed at the irony of the situation .

"Who is the strongest amongst the three of you? Aaron, Salukis or you?"Perseus asked.

"At the risk of sounding cocky I would say me, and there is a reason for that. I was a siphoner , so when I was young I thought I was non-magical and as such I learned how to fight, hand to hand combat. I mastered the use of almost every weapon. And as such after the transformation, when we didn't have magic to aid us, I had more skill. I was faster and stronger than them."

"Another theory I have is that, the day of the transformation, I had siphoned magic from thirteen wizards. I had drained them completely as instructed by my mentor. I was brimming with power, so much power, that I found it hard to control. Every ritual requires a sacrifice and the sacrifice in that ritual was our magic. Our magic was changed as a result of that ritual. But since I had the magic of thirteen wizards within me, it made me superior to them. Where it takes Aaron and Salukis about half a minute to regain consciousness after being hit by a killing curse and an entire day to recuperate their strength. I on the other hand am immune to it , only a bit of pain where the spell hits ."

Perseus took all the information in, he was really excited to learn about such powers, and then he asked,

"Has any wizard ever defeated you?Anyone of you three, literally brought you to your knees?"

"Well not me or Salukis, but yes Aaron was defeated by a powerful wizard once."Now this surprised Perseus.

"What happened?" he asked, as even Alistair had not known what happened to his brother.

"It was the year 1865, Aaron was posing as a noble wizard in the kingdom of Olympia. But one day he lost control, and the prince of Olympia tried to kill him but Aaron snapped his neck. He slaughtered many that day. Fortunately for the people of Olympia, the wizard was in the town and he fought Aaron. The rumors were that the wizard was as strong and as fast as Aaron, plus he wielded extremely powerful magic. They fought for 3 days and three nights but in the end the wizard got the upper hand and stabbed him with his scepter must have been an extremely powerful magical object for its attack brought Aaron to his knees and he begged for mercy."

"The wizard decided to forgive him for Aaron felt remorse for his actions and he then made an unbreakable wow, to protect the royal family of Olympia and the kingdom too and its people from any threat.I don't know the how breaking of an unbreakable wow would affect an elder, and I have no desire to find out and I guess Aaron feels the same way. For the last century and a half he had protected Olympia. And Olympia had prospered under his protection."

"Who was this wizard that could defeat an elder vampire?"

"The very wizard, who trained Aristrodemos. The same wizard who taught the art of warfare to your grandfather and Busirius. The very same warrior who taught Grindelwald battle magik and then trained Dumbledore and made him capable of defeating then he took his last disciple Lord Voldemort. His name is-"

"Aristaeus the great," Perseus finished, having known about the ancient wizard from Voldemort's memories as well as from his grandfather. His grandfather would always speak of him fondly.

'Grandfather has taught me the art of warfare and i know everything that Voldemort had learned from Aristaeus, so in a way I posses the knowledge of 2 of his disciples,'Perseus thought.

"Very well, I think we should return now, I have a task for you Adamastos," Perseus said.

"Anything my Lord," he replied.

"I want you to spread the word of your defeat at my hand in the vampire community,that would earn me a dangerous reputation."

"I will send out envoys in every direction my lord; I will make sure that vampires, even the ancient ones would tremble at the mere mention of your name."

"Very well,from now on you will be my shadow and will meet again in London when the term has then I want you to find some things,"Perseus said as he got up and took out the strange book from his robes and was about to tear the last page from it when adamastos stopped him as he looked at the book with wide eyes.

"where did you find this journal my lord? We thought we burned it,"he said to which Perseus asked,

"What are you taking about?"

"This is definitely the symbol of Udonna, so maybe this journal belongs to her descendants," he answered.

"Oh but it's blank," Perseus said as he turned to the first page of journal and was shocked to see something written on the first page, something that wasn't there the last time.

'So the ritual worked,'Perseus realized as he smiled a bit and the read what was written in the journal. It was written in ancient Greek.

Ότανείναικαινούργια, δενμπορείναδεικαθόλου

ΑλλάαυτόςμεγαλώνειμεκάθενύχταπτώσηΚαιόπως

οίδιοςαργαλειούςπάνωαπότοντοίχοΆκουκαινα

ακούσουντηνέκκλησητουμοναχικόςλύκος

Perseus translated it and read it out loud for even Adamastos to listen.

When new, he can't be seen at all

But he grows with each night fall

And as he looms over the wall

Hark and hear the lone wolf's call

A RIDDLE .

They both thought about it for a minute when they both got the answer at the same time as they said at once.

"Moon." But alas there was no change in the journal, a bit disappointed perseus was about to put it back when it clicked and he open the journal again and said,

"fengári."

Which meant moon in ancient greek and suddenly the riddle vanished and writing appeared on the rummaged through the pages and found it all to be handwritten. And he was elated beyond measure. He had in his hands what could probably the journal of Udonna or her gestured for adamastos to stand up as he did the same.

Perseus then took hold of Adamastos and got Rokky to take them back to the forbidden forest from where they parted was glad that he had obtained such a powerful ally, he had a feeling that it would be extremely useful in the future to have the power, resources of the elder vampire at his disposal.

Perseus was sitting in the library and was reading a book about incorporating transfurgation in duels. The holidays were over. And he had already started to extract anything worthwhile from the journal, and as it turned out it was Udonna's journal, Perseus didn't know how it got into the room of requirement or even inside Hogwarts which was built some 600 years after her fall.

'Maybe I will be able to cure lycanthropy or at least find some way to counter the curse,'Perseus though just as he was joined by Nick and Helena. They had returned back after the winter break.

"You won't believe what I learned in the break, Perseus," Nicklaus said in a cheerful tone.

"What?" Perseus asked without even looking up from the book he was reading.

"I successfully cast a patronus, a corporeal patronus," he said all the while jumping with joy.

This got Perseus's attention as he turned to look at Nicklaus and said,

"That's really amazing Nicklaus, I think you are the youngest wizard to be able to do so," Perseus said trying hard to not let his mind wander to that night.

"Youngest in the last four hundred years,"Nick said.

"Ask him about what form it takes," Helena said in a gleeful tone.

Perseus looked at Nicklaus questioningly, while Nicklaus glared at Helena, who was snickering along with Cedric. Nicklaus then looked at Perseus and mumbled,

"Lion, it's a lion."

Perseus just looked at Nicklaus for a moment than he too joined Helena and Cedric and laughed.

"it's not funny, stop laughing,lion is a cool animal,"Nicklaus said.

"We are laughing at the irony of the situation Nick. A slytherin'spatronus is a lion, now that is funny,"Cedric said and even Nicklaus laughed a bit. After sometime Helena spoke up and asked Perseus.

"Hey Perseus, did you hear about Busirius?"

"What about him?" Perseus asked.

"Well, he has taken the princes of velos as his apprentice."

"What?" Perseus asked, this was a shocking new and troubling too.

"Wait wait hold on, what are you talking about? Who is this Busirius character?"

Helena looked at Nicklaus and Cedric for a moment before she got into the lecturer mode and said,

"Busirius is an extremely powerful and knowledgeable wizard, he is one of the disciple of Aristaeus. Busirius, Grindlewald and Perseus's grandfather studied under his tulage together."

Both Nicklaus and Cedric looked at Perseus for confirmation and then Cedric spoke up,

"Whoa whoa who is this Aristaeus guy?" Nicklaus asked.

"You don't know about Aristaeus the great?"Helena asked and Nicklaus shook his head.

"ARISTAEUS is a very powerful wizard, and pretty old too. He was the first wizard to ever defeat every nation in Europe and some of Asia. Over the time he took in some wizards as his apprentice and they all turned out to be extremely powerful wizards." Helena said.

"You have to understand this,"Perseus said,

"That nations like Oceania, Olympia, Romania, the city of Velos, and other nations where monarchy is prevalent, despite every effort that ICW has taken to remove the kings from their thrones, they couldn't."

"And there is a good reason for that. All of these nations have certain people who even ICW could not bring down. Most kingdoms have strength in there is Aristrodemos in the Velos city, the kingdom of Moria is protected by its ancient wards, Olympia is guarded by the mighty Aaron," here he gave a pointed look towards Helena indicating that he knew about the elder that shocked Helena as Aaron's existence was a very guarded secret and then Helena said,

"And Oceania is under the rule of Lord Arcturus Black, Perseus's grandfather, another disciple of Aristaeus."

"A lot of wars where ICW was trying to coerce the rulers of these nations to give up their powers, but to no end. Finally in 1948, Dumbledore got ICW to sign a peace treaty with these kingdoms."

"Whoa wait a minute, are you telling me that even Dumbledore couldn't defeat them and what about dark lord Grindelwald?"Cedric asked in amazement.

"I can't say, because Dumbledore never fought them in the first place, and there is a reason behind that too."

"You see Grindelwald was a student of Aristaeus too. And such he was a pretty fierce warrior, Dumbledore had approached my grandfather,Aristrodemos, and Busirius to give aid against grindlewald. But they all refused, for it was an unspoken rule that the disciples of Aristaeus don't fight amongst themselves, which is also why Grindelwald never attacked Oceania and city of Velos. And as such Dumbledore went to Aristaeus and from what I have heard he approached Aristaeus and told him about his student's reign of terror."

"Anyway ARISTAEUS then said he did not have the heart to kill his own student but he wished to put an end to it and such he took Dumbledore as his student too and trained him in the art of warfare. When Dumbledore returned he was able to defeat Grindelwald."

"But why don't they fight amongst themselves?"Cedric asked.

"Well first of all they are the students of the same master, and their skill and knowledge is almost equal, but the major reason was, if they were to fight with each other, one would win and one would loose, in any case a student of Aristaeus would lose, which would be considered an insult to his ability as a teacher."

"Wow, so in total Aristaeushad taken five apprentice, your grandfather, Aristrodemos, Busirius, Dumbledore and Grindelwald." Nicklaus said.

"No,"Perseus said.

"What?"

"Six, he had taken six apprentice,"Perseus said.

"Who is the sixth?" Cedric asked and even Helena looked at him questioningly and Perseus looked at them gravely and then he answered,

"Voldemort."

Nicklaus and Cedric flinched at the mere mention of the dark lord's name but Perseus again said,

"There is a reason as to why Voldemort was such a powerful and feared wizard, my grandfather told me that voldemort was the only student of Aristaeus who had learned the most from him, he was so skilled that for the first time Aristaeus had proclaimed that except Aristaeus himself no one could defeat voldemort in magical duel. But when the news of Voldemort's attacks reached Aristaeus, he was saddened that now two of his students had taken the path of evil, and that his students were fighting amongst themselves, and such he chose self-exile and started living in solace somewhere in Himalayan mountains and decided to never take another apprentice."

"But this news about Busirius teaching the princes of Velos, is troubling news. It will tilt the balance of power in their favour,"Perseus said.

'I will have to tell grandfather about it, Busirius is using Velos for his own purpose, to take revenge upon grandfather,'Perseus thought just as Helena spoke up.

"But that's not the only disturbing news, my cousin told me about another rumor about Busirius."

"What is it?" Perseus asked.

"Rumor is that a boy from one of the village of Romania, Akram was his name,was secretly watching the lessons Busirius was giving the princes and was learning from him. When Busirius got to know about it, he accused Akram of stealing his knowledge and as a punishment he cut his arms, rendering him unable to magic."

"ohh Merlin."

"That'scruel," Cedric said.

'No that can't be the only reason for Busirius to cut off his arms, could it be possible that Busirius realized that this Akram had more potential than his students and decided to remove a possible hindrance to his plans?'Perseus thought.

"Yes its cruel indeed,"Helena said and Perseus decided to change the looked at Nicklaus and said,

"Nicklaus can you do me a favor?Can you teach Nymphadoraand Charlie the patronus charm? I got a feeling that it would be helpful for the tournament."

"Oh sure, I can teach you too Perseus," Nicklaus said.

"No need of that, I already know how to," Perseus replied.

"But you just said, wait can you cast a patronus?" Nicklaus asked in confusion.

"I said I know how to cast a patronus, not that I can cast one,"Perseus said coldly and with that he got up and left the library. He had to write a couple of letters

.

Perseus rubbed his eyes tiredly. He could currently be found sitting alone in his dorm room with a multitude of books opened around him with random pieces of parchment covered in his notes strewn all over his desk. This wasn't a rare sight, especially this time of year.

It was the beginning of June and the end of year exams were fast approaching. The exams weren't nearly as important compared to fifth year OWL or his seventh year NEWT examinations, but they were a way for him to measure his capacity so that he can feel safe to continue with his independent studies. He was certain that he didn't need to study for his Transfiguration or Charms exams, nor did he think he would ever, but that didn't mean he could completely disregard his other subjects in favor of them.

So here he was, in his room, alone on this beautiful summer day, looking over all of his notes on the subjects he wasn't so confident in, making sure he knew everything the professors had told them they should know if they wanted to get excellent marks.

Ever since his return from Christmas breaks, Perseus had spent most of his time either learning the spells and theory from the grimoire of Balthazar Black and also translating Udonna's journal. Finally he had read everything from Balthazar's had also, through Nicklaus, become somewhat closer with Helena and Cedric, though he still didn't feel too comfortable around them yet; he just didn't know them well enough.

That's not to say he knew anything about Nicklaus either,other than that his parents had died during in one of death eater attack and that he lived with his grandparents. He liked to watch Quidditch, and was exceptionally good at charms, even more so than boy has been able to produce a corporeal patronus at the age of 12 and that was something. Fitwlick had sent Nicklaus's name to the charms guild and he would be on the cover page of this year'scharms magazine.

Magically packing away his books and notes with a flick of his wand, Perseus decided on going for a walk after washing his face; he was naturally an active boy and being cooped up inside a dark room all morning and most of the afternoon just didn't sit well with him. He thought about the tournament. Nicklaus was giving lessons to Charlie and Nymphadora. They were also training regularly with ProfessorCastle and ProfessorFitwlick.

Passing several students on his way down studying in silence and trying not to disturb the fifth and seventh year students diligently studying for their OWL and NEWT exams, Perseus opened the door to his common room and snuck out without anyone noticing.

The castle of Hogwarts, where magic was taught to children and performed by professors on a daily professor was not just a pile of rubble, clumped together to form a castle, it too was full of magic. Perseushad, by accident, happened on a number of secret passages that cut his travelling time around the prestigious school by at least half that could be accessed by a number of different course, he had found most of these when the infamous Weasley twins were on several of their 'great escapes' from the caretaker Filch after one of their rather ingenious pranks. The two may not be academically impressive, but their ability to make people laugh was matched by no one.

Approaching the statue of Oddbog the Weird, Perseus tugged on his earlobe causing the fairly large stone structure to temporarily move aside, allowing him passage to a rather dark and winding tunnel that would lead him to a completely different section of the castle. Exiting the secret passage by tapping the back of the statue on the other end of the tunnel, Perseus stepped around it and found himself in a part of the castle that mostly had empty classrooms and deserted corridors. The school was initially built one thousand years ago as the only magical institution in Europe, so obviously, it catered to more students; now though, the excess space was just left deserted so that curious students could explore if they so wished.

Perseus passed by several corridors, not really caring where he was walking just happy to stretch his legs when he suddenly heard the muffled voices of the infamous a quick dillusionment charm on himself he approached the twins who were holding a large piece of parchment in their hand and were studying it intently. Then suddenly they both turned sideways and looked exactly where Perseus stood

"we know you are there Black, you may come out now," Fred said.

But Perseus didn't comply with their wishes. Hean alyzed the situation and wondered how the twins were able to spot him, he realized that somehow the piece of parchment in their hand was the reason behind it.

Perseus then pressed the sapphire on the silver bracelet that he had gotten from the room of requirement. Perseus had earlier discovered that the bracelet offered a better form of invisibility, and hoping it would somehow evade whatever the twins were using Perseus activated it. It must have worked for the twins exclaimed in surprise and one of them said.

"Whoa! Where did he go Fred?He was right here!"

"Do you think he apparated?" the other who Perseus now knew was George then proceeded to look at their auras, it would be beneficial to be able to identify the twins from now on.

"No you can't appqarate in and outside of Hogwarts George, the map must have made a mistake," Fred said and then Perseus approached the duo and what he found shocked him.

The parchment they were holding was actually a map, a freaking map of Hogwarts, Perseus looked closely and he realized that the map showed the position of everyone in the castle and their movements.

'so this is how they knew I was here, this is really ingenious , and dangerous in the wrong hands' Perseus thought just as George raised his wand and pressed it against the map and muttered,

"Mischief managed."

'And it's password protected, brilliant,'Perseus knew he had to get his hands on the map, but he didn't wish to steal it from the weasley twins, they were pretty decent kids after all and Perseus liked their sense of humor and appreciated their pranks. Then George folded the map and was about to pocket it when Perseus summoned it .

Both of them turned back and looked shocked as they saw the map flying away from them. And just as Perseus caught the map in his hands the map too got suddenly an idea struck Perseus and he smirked inwardly and cast a sound muffling charm on his neck. The charm was supposed to modify the voice of the speaker and it would make it appear as if the sound was coming from all the directions.

"Who, who is there?" Fred asked in a fearful tone.

"I am Hogwarts," Perseus said, the charm doing its job as the twins jumped in surprise and were looking around frantically trying to find the source of the voice as it was coming from all directions.

"hoooggwarts?" George stammered.

"Yes Hogwarts, the essence of this castle,"Perseus said.

"What do you want from us?" Fred asked.

"Tell me about this map, where did you get it from?"

"We found it just like that," Fred said.

"Lie," Perseussaid, his voice booming.

"Ok ok, we stole it from Filch's cabinet," George said.

"How does this map work?"

"You just place the wand over it and say 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good' and the map will appear and when done with it say 'mischief managed'."

"Very well then children, leave now and I will return this map to its rightful owner," Perseus said and the twins ran away from the corridor and Perseus started laughing, the charm made it sound quite a menacing laughter and the retreating weasleys squealed in fright.

Perseus looked at the small envelope in his hands warily before looking around the slytrherin common room to see several excited or disappointed students discussing the contents of their own. He had just finished his exams a few days ago, something he was very glad for.

As predicted, the Transfiguration and Charms examinations were easy for Perseus, his only problem was if they wouldn't mark him well if he added more information than necessary or answers that were above his school level.

The toughest examination had definitely been History which was just a mass regurgitation of names and dates that he had crammed the night before the actual exams. Astronomy was fairly easy, as was Herbology.

The Potions exam was rather tricky to call. He was certain he did well with brewing the rash-curing potion but one-sided animosity between the Potions professor and himself would surely hinder his results somewhat, or at least he thought.

Perseus moved towards a mirror in the common room to adjust his scarf just as Nicklaus approached him from behind.

"Well, how did you do? I promise not to laugh," said Nicklaus cheekily, waving his 3rd in the year rank around in his face. After the exams, each student's scores are tallied up and averaged out so they could be ranked amongst their peers. It wasn't much of a surprise that most of the top ten consisted of Ravenclaw students, however, he was pleasantly surprised to see that Cedric had ranked 8th.

Perseus opened the letter and quickly skimmed over the letter, shielding it from nicklaus's view, much to the boy's chagrin. Perseus then looked up to the boy with a neutral face,

"I did okay," he supplied with a small grin and showed the boy his card through the mirror.

"Hah, victory is mine Black! It says here you're seventh!" he said smugly.

Perseus grinned, to Nicklaus's confusion. "That's a '1' you idiot, you are looking at the reflection" several of the students who overheard the declaration hurried over to see the score sheet themselves.

"You've all earned some rest, so have fun for the rest of the evening until the feast tonight! I'll see you then children!"Perseus said cockily before leaving the common room.

He had taken a more secluded route from the dungeon when he heard the sound of someone laughing . but he gave it no head but then he heard it

'please , please ,just let me go '

It was definitely a girl's voice and Perseus deduced that the said girl was also crying . he hurridly made his way towards the source of the voice and what he saw filled him with rage. Five boys, all slytherin , four appeared to be in their seventh or sixth year while one of the looked to be in his third year . but what angered him was the sight of a girl who was slumped on the ground, ravenclaw going by her uniform , probably in her third year too .

Her books were scattered on the floor beside her , he noticed the title of the books , which were pretty advance for a third year student but at the risk of being a hypocrite perseus gave it no heed. Then one of the older student said to the girl in a menacing tone

"that is what happens when you dare outperform your betters ,you mudblood . this is your final warning, if you ever outperformed my brother , a mighty pureblood , " here he indicated towards the younger slytherin and then continued

"you won't like the consequences" and then he silently sent an incendio at her books which started burning and it was then Perseus came into action and Said in a hiss he said

"what is going on here" which caused the Slytherins to turn towards him and they all instinctively gulped and took a step back, for the sight in front of them was quite frightening .

There stood Perseus , his eyes glowing, in the dark dungeons, and he cast a wide area cooling charm wandlessly which caused everyone to shiver and their breaths frosty .

The third year Slytherin gathered some courage and said

"begone black , this is none of your business " and the other four looked at the younger member of their group in worry . They were definitely afraid of Perseus , the best dueler of Hogwarts , and they have all heard the ghosts talking about him , calling him The Ghost King and The Phantom Lord . and today they got to know the reason as to why even peeves and the bloody baron were afraid of him as Perseus walked towards them and with a wave from his wand the fire from the burning books rose and took the form of a five snakes and the said snakes wrapped themselves around the five bullies

"how about I burn you the way you burnt her books" Perseus said in a grave tone and they all started begging him to spare them to which Perseus replied

"I hope for your sake that I will not even hear about any such incident again , and also that you will never ever touch this girl again"

All of them nodded and Perseus let go of the spell and the fire vanished and they all ran from the dungeons as if their life depended on it . Perseus then looked at the girl who appeared to be in shock and was definitely afraid of Perseus too. He dispelled the cooling charm and knelt beside her which caused her to gulp loudly.

"don't worry , I won't hurt you" he said as he conjured a glass of water and handed it to her , she wasn't much surprised to see this advance magic, well advance for a first year. But perseus has creates such a reputation that now people were hardly surprised by his display of advance magic and knowledge.

The girl drank the water and the glass vanished itself and Perseus then helped he get up. He then noticed that they were of the same height and was quite beautiful too. He then asked her

"What is your name?"

"Penny uhm , I mean Penelope , Penelope Clearwater " she said and then blushed for no apparent reason

"are you all right , do you wish to go to the hospital wing? " Perseus asked

"No no uhm, I am um fine, I was just going to the library" she stammered and Perseus nodded and said again

"very well then, I will escort you Ms Clearwater "

"no no, I will be fine" she said hastily

"I insist Ms. Clearwater " Perseus replied .

"well then I insist you call me penny , all my friends do" she said although her eyes got a bit wide after saying it . Perseus looked at her intently for a moment . His emerald eyes looking he in the eye and she felt as if Perseus was looking at her soul . Then suddenly he said with a smile

"very well penny , " Perseus said as he motioned with his hand to start moving and they both walked towards the grounds as penny just softy said to him

"thank you "

Perseus walked alongside nicklaus to the great hall for the end of year feast. The feast was a time all slytherins looked forward to; having won the house cup four years in a row, this was their time to shine and claim the house cup once again. It was something they all took pride in as a house.

"Yes, welcome students to the end of the school year, and what a wonderful year it has been!" boomed the loud and cheerful voice of Albus Dumbledore, their headmaster."I hope you all bear with an old man's ramblings for a short while as I make a few necessary announcements; I promise you will be sinking your teeth into a large delicious feast soon enough," he declared, eyes twinkling as he stood from his chair in the middle of the head table.

"First, I would like us all to thank Professor Castle on a wonderful year of teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts. Unfortunately for us, he has decided to take a different path now, so he will be unable to return to us next year. Can I ask for a round of applause for Professor Castle in thanks and congratulations?" he said cheerfully as the majority of the school clapped politely for him while the normally scarred face of said Professor was covered in a blush.

"Ah, now there's the matter of the house cup," the headmaster announced cheerfully while the entire hall lapsed into silence."In fourth place, Gryffindor, with two hundred and seventy points, a wonderful effort!" he said, not surprising anyone, the Gryffindors already knew of their low score.

"In third place…" he paused, with a large smile on his face as the students leaned in closely,"Hufflepuff with three hundred and fifty two points," he announced. The puffs all cheered their own achievement while everyone else in the room gave polite applause also.

"In second place, with an impressive score…Ravenclaw house with four hundred and forty points!"At the declaration, the Ravenclaws all went silent while Silver and green banners magically appeared from the ceiling and cheers erupted from the snake's table.

"Which obviously means our winners this year, Slytherin house by a wide margin with five hundred and fifty points!" he announced as the Slytherins continued to cheer.

"And with that, enjoy the feast and your summers!" he said with a clap of his hands as the tables filled with mouthwatering food."I hope to see all of youcome September, eager to learn and begin another year at Hogwarts!"

Perseus took one last look at Hogwarts from Hogsmeade station before boarding the express to make his way back to London.

"Got any plans for the summer?"Nicklaus asked Cedric who had been in a conversation about all the 'pretty' girls in their year while making their way over to the station.

"My father got us tickets for the Quidditch world cup in Tokyo," he said with some pride."I'll probably do my homework as quick as possible and then take an international portkey over to watch the tournament," he said with a huge grin. Amos Diggory, Cedric's father worked at the ministry and seemed to have many connections in high places.

"Oh, you're so lucky! I wish I could go…"Nicklaus trailed off, looking to Helena on his right.

"Hey Perseus!" Perseus heard someone call him at the compartment's door. Looking around, he was met with a familiar head of pink hair that could only be Nymphadora Tonks and Charlie Weasley.

"Professor Castle has agreed to train us over the summer holidays too, every Sunday evening, would you like to join us?"Charlie asked.

"No thanks Charlie, but I will be training somewhere else,"Perseus said giving them both a secretive smile.

"Oh where?" nymohadora asked him.

"The place which is famous for producing the most hardened warriors,"Perseus said and he was about to continue when Helena said,

"Oceania."

"Correct," Perseus said. He had written to his grandfather about spending the summer in Oceania, he had resisted at first citing that the situation was not that good over there but eventually he gave in and had sent Perseus a letter telling him that he himself won't be able to receive him from king's cross, but he would be sending his most trusted man, Tyler to receive him.

The train finally arrived at the station and Perseus got off the train and looked around as his other friends bid him farewell. Nodding to them, he wondered who this Tyler was when he heard someone call out his name from behind. Turning around he saw a man with tanned skin, short black hair and dark brown eyes. His height was between 5'7" to 5'9". he had a muscular and toned wore black jeans with a t-shirt and a jacket.

"Master Black, my name is Tyler and Lord Black has sent me to escort you to Oceania," he said.

"Nice to meet you Tyler, but we have to make one more stop before we leave for Oceania," Perseus said which caused a confused look to come over his face. But before anyone could say anything a smooth voice interrupted him.

"My lord."

Perseus turned around and Adamastos standing there. Perseus gave him a nod and he walked towards them.

"How are you doing Adam?" Perseus asked as that is what he had started calling the elder vampire

"I am well my lord," he replied while Tyler gave Adam a confused look.

"Adam meet Tyler,"Perseus said motioning him and then said,

"And Tyler this is Adamastos, my most trusted employee."

They both shook hands and then Perseus asked Adam,

"Did you find him?"

"Yes, I dispatched my best tracker to find him the moment I received your letter and I also got his acadmic history from Archnae," he replied, Perseus had sent Adamastos a letter instructing him to find Akram and to keep an eye on him.

"Very well then,let's go shall we?"Perseus said and Adamastos took a rope from his robe and Perseus touched it and looked at Tyler expectantly.

"Where are we going Master Black?" he asked to which Perseus replied,

"Romania."

And in an instant they vanished and reappeared in a lush green forest. There was greenery as far as Perseus could see. And Perseus realized where they were and from the alarmed expressions of Tyler , he had too. It was Hoia Baciu Forest, considered by muggles the most haunted forest. Actually in reality it was inhabited by a clan of vampires who devoured any who entered deep in the forest and Perseus knew they were quite deep inside the forest . They have arrived at the base of a mountain. Perseus gave Adamastos a questioning look regarding the absence of any vampire to which he said

"the vampires were not willing to vacate the place, even on temporary basis and as such I had to terminate them all, " to which Perseus just nodded and Alistair spoke again

"We have to wait just for a few moments my Lord."And while they waited Perseus inquired about the information Adam had gotten from Archnae. The elder vampire said,

"He gratuadted from Archnae at the mere age of thirteen,five years then studied along with three different masters in archnae itself and within 7 years he had gotten his mastery in transfrugation, charms and runes. After this he travelled around the world. He is also very skilled in the use of various weapons as well as a few martial arts. He has never been defeated in a duel. He is regarded as one of the best students to come out of Archnae in centuries."

It was then that Tyler asked Perseus,

"What are we doing in Romania, Master Black?"

"We are here to meet someone," Perseus said just as a figure emerged from the clearing in front of them and Adamastos greeted him,

"I hope everything is fine Lelantos."

"Everything is fine to meet you Mister Black," Lelantos replied then said again,

"Target has set up a camp two miles south of here, I will lead you to him, Mister Black."

"No,"Perseus said."I will go alone."

"No," Adamastos and Tyler said in unison and Perseus gave them a pointed look,

"Are you sure that's wise my Lord?"Adamastos asked.

"Yes, I have to meet him 't worry Tyler, I will be fine," Perseus said as he saw Tyler about to protest.

With that Perseus moved deeper in the woods towards south and saw more and more of strangely shaped trees, and unexplained charring on tree stumps and branches. He soon came across a was tent, but Perseus's focus was on the man, who sat at the base of a huge tree. But just as Perseus took another step towards him, he said in a deep voice,

"Don't come near me boy, unless you wish for a gruesome death."

Perseus didn't stop and walked towards him and said while walking,

"I don't think you can hurt me, well at least not in your current state." This must have enraged him as he growled at Perseus. But what happened next shocked him. Five spears materialized around him and Perseus looked at the boy in front of him in surprise.

"Leave," he said threateningly but Perseus continued walking towards him and the spears which were hovering around in air, came towards him at incredible speed. But Perseus didn't falter he kept walking and just as the spears were about to reach him Perseus raised his hand and the spears stopped mid-air.

This must have surprised Akram as he stood up in shock. He had a blanket wrapped around then waved his wand and vanished the spears. He then said,

"I am not here to hurt you, on the contrary I am here to help name is Perseus Black."

"Help me?"he said and gave a short laugh as if he found it amusing and then said,

"No one can help me, why do you think I am living in the forest, away from the civilization? Because after I lost my arms, people shunned me. I was helpless."

"Then I am offering a hand of aid," Perseus said.

"And why would you do that?" he asked.

"Because I can relate with you.I too know the feeling of being betrayed by someone who I trusted, and when I heard about what Busirius did to you, I couldn't help but wish to help you, and that is why I am here," Perseus said, and whatever he had said must have struck a nerve because Akram looked at him with surprise, and Perseus could see anguish behind those coal black eyes.

"I was a very good wizard. I graduated with flying grades from archnae at the mere age of 13. I then studied under various masters at Romania, learning obscure magic.I then trained my body and learned how to fight. I was regarded as the best warrior in the entire Romania. I then wished to learn the art of warfare and I seeked out Busirius. He had taken the princes of Velos. I started to observe his lessons from afar. Whatever he taught the princes in the day, I would practice that in the night. This went on for two months when Busirius caught me." He gave a pause here.

Perseus didn't say anything as he observed the man in front of him. He seemed to be recalling a nightmare as he said in a broken tone,

"He asked me to display whatever I had learned from him, and I did. He said he was extremely pleased with me and had decided to take me as his apprentice and he wished to give me a gift, and asked me to close my eyes. I did just that and then he cut my arms off. It was excruciating pain and he then accused me of stealing his knowledge."

By now Akram was standing in front on me and just then the blanket that was wrapped around him, unwrapped itself and fell to the floor and Perseus looked at the armless man. He had a muscular built, broad chest, six pack abs, stood over six feet tall and then he started to speak again,

"This is what he did, but the pain it caused me was nothing compared to the pain I went through after that. When I returned back to Romania, I was shunned by everyone, but my family was supportive of me. I visited numerous healers but none could help me. And then the worst happened." Here he paused for a moment and stared at the fire.

"What happened?" Perseus asked.

"Our village was attacked by a pack of werewolves. They slaughtered everyone, and I was helpless. I could do nothing but watch in horror as those monsters tore apart my family. My mother , my sister, I couldn't help the knowledge and power I had acquired over the years, all my accomplishments were for nothing. I couldn't even bury them myself,"he said and by now he was shaking and tears had escaped his eyes.

Perseus was deeply saddened by the man's plight, he couldn't even wipe his own tears. Perseus raised his hand and wiped away his tears, he looked at Perseus with surprise.

"Don't cry. Make your enemies cry. Make them share your pain and grief," Perseus said and Akram gave a sad laugh.

"And how would I do that? The feeble wandless magic I can do is just sufficient to scare away average wizards, not the likes of Busirius."

"I is where I come in," Perseus said and he raised his wand and began casting a spell he had learned from Voldemort's enough liquid silver materialized out of thin air around his Akram's shoulders and took the shape of arms.

Akram looked at his silver arm in wonder; he flexed his arms repeatedly and looked at Perseus in amazement.

"How did you do it? Many great healers were unable to help me and you did it with a wave of your wand and that too at such young age. Who are you, really?" he asked in amazement.

"Age is just a number my friend," Perseus said.

"You have given me the means to take revenge,"he said as he stared at his arms.

"I will now kill Busirius."

"And then what?"Perseus asked to which Akram looked with confusion so Perseus elaborated,

"There is a place and time for everything. It's not time yet for you to kill Busirius."

"Why, why not?" he asked.

"Well firstly because you are not yet powerful enough to take on someone like Busirius. Secondly, even if you were to kill him, Aristrodemos will hunt you. You would be a hunted man, and once caught you will be tried for murder."

"Then what should I do?"

"Wait for the right opportunity, have patience and I promise you I will provide you with that then increase your strength and knowledge. Be patient, someday this pain will be useful to you,"Perseus said and Akram though over it for a moment and then said,

"You are right, but if I may ask, what do you expect in return for helping me?"

"What can you give me in return for all this?" Perseus asked as he smiled at him.

Akram then unsheathed a knife and placed it at his neck and then said,

"You have done a lot for me, you helped me when the entire world shunned me and turned a blind eye to the injustice that I you were to ask even for my life, I would gladly give it."

"I don't need your life Akram, I decided to help you because I could relate with your having something in common is the basis of the bond of friendship. So Akram I don't need your life in return, your friendship would suffice. I would consider myself fortunate to consider you a friend. Some one I could trust,"Perseus said.

Akram at hearing this gave a rare but sad smile; he then took his knife and carved something on his bare chest.

"What are-"Perseus tried to ask but he cut him short,

"Wait, trust me."

He carved certain runes on his chest,Perseus recognized those runes. It was ritual that mimicked the effect of the unbreakable vow, albeit to a lesser degree.

He then placed one of his hands on his chest and asked Perseus to shake his other hand and then he said,

"I Akram Caulan, with my blood and magic as witness,swear my loyalty to Perseus Aries Black. I will forever follow his command and will always be by his side."

With that a bright golden thread encircled around them and then faded. Perseus then realized that in a way Akram has binded himself in servitude to Perseus.

"Why would you do that?" a surprised Perseus asked.

"I know after being betrayed, it's difficult to trust. I wanted your trust in me to be absolute and that would have only happened if my loyalty to you were absolute."

Perseus looked at the warrior in front of him with admiration and then started healing his wounds and vanished the blood. He the conjured a shirt for him which he wore.

"So what now?"

"Well I can offer you a place in Oceania, if you would like that. You can train there and learn from my grandfather."

"Your grandfather?Lord Arcturus Black? Weren't he and Busirius fellow disciples of Aristaeus? It would be an honor to meet him."

"Yes, him. I would take your enthusiasm as a yes. Take whatever you wish to take with you and let'sgo."

Akram collected a few things from his tent and they both walked towards Adamastos and made the introductions and asked Tyler to take out the portkey. It was piece of wood. So all of them, Perseus,Adamastos, Arkam, Tyler and Lelantos grabbed the piece of wood and then Tyler said out loud,

"Oceania."