1986

{ Julius }

Wimbourne was a quaint little town in the Dorset County. And by all appearances, it was just like any other British town.

It had a Church, a post office, a few inns and pubs and several retail shops.

But what made it different, was that alongside being home to many Muggles it also held a significant community if Witches and Wizards, all living side by side.

Although, this did mean that it was a practical hotbed for constant Obliviator activity. Thus keeping the Ministry Obliviators quite busy.

This was where Julius Fawley had grown up. The Fawleys having bought a plot of land here, back during the Victorian Era had built themselves a Family Home.

It wasn't a fancy mansion or anything, just a spacious wooden bungalow.

The Fawley's were wealthy, but certainly not as much as some of the old Pureblood Families.

This was his Home, where Julius had most of his fondest memories.

And other than their brief vacations in France with his mother's extended family, it was here that he'd spent most of the time of his young life living.

He'd loved all of it. And there was much to love, the lack of stringent restrictions on magic meant, people used Magic quite freely here. Then there were the over the top Wizarding festivities that he enjoyed so much.

And last but not the least there were 'The Wimbourne Wasps ', his hometown's pride and joy. their Quidditch team.

Julius remembered how he'd cheered himself hoarse last year, when they'd lifted the League Cup for the Seventeenth time.

But being a magical community also meant Wimbourne had quite a few kids around his age, that he was supposed to be friends with.

But the fact remained that though he was physically tiny, mentally he was anything but a kid.

This meant that he was quiet uncomfortable befriending toddlers, with limited vocabulary.

Instead, preferred to spend his time learning magic on his own.

Over the last two years he'd added a fourth wandless spell to his repertoire.

It was 'Finite Incantatem ' the general Counter-Spell taught to Hogwarts Second Years.

That had been a pain to learn. As he didn't have any readily available source of Magic to cast Finte on.

Julius had to practice it by first levitating an object, and then countering the spell by casting Finite on it.

It was definitely the hardest spell that he'd ever learned. And the things that he'd broken or battered or smashed, while learning it would certainly make a long list.

But still, being able to wandlessly counter certain spells was bound to come in handy someday.

Julius would have learned some other spells too, but he'd been kept busy.

After badgering his Grandfather the only Occlumens in the family, for the better part of two years to teach him Occlumency.

He'd finally relented, and since last year Julius' first lessons in the Mind Arts had begun.

Honestly it had been quiet boring at first, mostly involving long meditation exercises to sense the mind in its entirety.

So that one could make it do their bidding, just as easily as they could flex their arms or kick with their feet.

It had taken him eight months of these grueling sessions to finally perceive his mind completely.

His memories, thoughts, impulses, even his willpower. Everything orderly, and at his beck and call.

And even then, he probably wouldn't have succeeded if his grandfather hadn't taught him a secret mental technique.

The Heart of Stone. This technique allowed him to distance himself from his emotions, thus increasing his analytical thinking process by leaps and bounds.

This from what he understood, was a closely guarded secret technique known to only a few of the old Pureblood Families.

No wonder there were so very few Practitioners of the Mind Arts, today.

After perceiving the Mind, came the next step. Creating a mental shield.

It would be a barrier that would prevent a Legilimens from invading your mind or a Memory Charm from altering your memories.

But of course, it had limitations. Most, powerful Legilimens given time, could break these barriers as could powerful Obliviators.

Still it would protect one from mental scans and most versions of casual Legilimency and the random Memory Charm. The only thing to beware would be focused attacks from powerful wizards.

To protect against those even, one needed to master the Advanced level of Occlumency, which involved multiple layers of mental shields and the ability to fabricate thoughts and memories at will to confuse the Legilimens.

Julius had managed to create his mental shield, only about a fortnight ago. Thus, finally gaining proficiency over the Basic Level of Occlumency.

Suddenly, a loud thud distracted him from his thoughts.

Julius had been in his room practicing the Levitation Spell by levitating a heavy wooden box.

But as he'd let his mind wander the spell had faltered, causing the box to hit the ground with a sharp thud.

"What's that sound, up there?" His mother shouted from the first floor.

"Did you break something again, Julius?" She demanded.

"No! Mom, everything's fine. Just dropped something is all." He shouted back.

There was a slight pause, before she answered back.

"Well, get downstairs then. Everyone's here for your birthday. Come down and say, hello to them."

That reminded him, today was 12th of October, his birthday.

And although he'd repeatedly asserted to himself, that he wasn't a kid. He was kind of excited for this.

Birthdays always meant good food and presents. And presents, in a Magical household were all magical in nature, he thought. As he skipped down the stairs, taking them two at a time.

As Julius stepped into the living room he came to see all his family members.

Aunt Lucretia was sitting on the sofa trying to keep the kids from running around the place. And from what he could see, she wasn't doing a very good job of it.

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Julius' four year old brother Nicholas was pulling at their sister Alyssa's blonde pigtails.

And while Aunt Lucretia tried to separate the two of them, her two year old son Grim, was trying to crawl away discreetly.

Her husband, Julius' uncle Marshall, sitting beside her was going over some paperwork.

While, getting increasingly irritated, as his sister, Julius' Aunt Elinor kept targetng the back of his head with well aimed conjured paper airplanes.

Julius' father James was helping grandma Winifred lay the table. While, his mother added the final finishing touches to their dinner back in the kitchen.

And last but not the least, was Julius' grandfather Lord Alexander Fawley, lounging by the fireplace on his ancient armchair. As he read the latest issue of the Daily Prophet.

"Congratulations, my favorite nephew. From what I hear it seems that you've managed to master Occlumency within a year." Aunt Elinor said walking upto him, and ruffling his hair.

"It's just the Basic Level." Julius said, blushing slightly at her praise.

"Still, that's almost as much, as I know." Aunt Elinor said, beaming at him proudly.

"That's because you're too lazy to learn the Advanced version of it. Especially when I've offered to teach it to you many times." His grandfather interjected, without looking up from his newspaper.

"Don't listen to the old man Julius." Aunt Elinor said, glaring at her father.

"I was a perfectly model student. It isn't my fault that his lessons are incredibly tiresome. If I had to spend another hour meditating on my mental awareness I seriously would have died of boredom." She said.

Aunt Elinor was a full fledged Auror now. And, being stationed in the Berlin Branch of the International Wizarding Police, meant she could only Portkey in during the weekends or for special occasions like these.

Julius rarely got to see her these days. Still, it was nice of her to come for his birthday, despite how busy she must be.

Soon, it was time for dinner. And after Julius cut into his birthday cake.

A six-layer chocolate cake topped with buttercream frosting and maraschino cherries.

Dinner was served. A delicious spread, comprising of all of Julius' favorites.

And, finally once they'd all stuffed themselves full of his Mom and Grandma's excellent cooking. They retired to the living room so that he could open his presents.

The first present he opened was from his Uncle and Aunt.

Aunt Lucretia had picked out a mokeskin pouch for him. It was dyed black and had elaborate silver embroidery.

It also had an undetectable Extension Charm cast on it, which made it several times larger on the inside than it's outside appearance.

Next, was his Aunt Elinor. She gave him a two-way mirror.

"Feel free to call me anytime kiddo. Now that I'm away most of the time, this way we can still remain in touch." She said.

His grandma Winifred gave him the 'Guide to Advanced Occlumency by Maxwell Barnett' .

It was bound to be useful in advancing his Occlumency, now that he'd mastered the Beginner level.

It was then his parent's turn. And as his father brought out a long, carefully wrapped package, he said.

"The two of us thought about this long and hard. And although we know that you don't enjoy hanging out with kids your own age. We thought, it would do you good if you stepped out of the house sometimes. And seeing, how much you love Quidditch, we got you a broom."

Julius hurried to get through the elaborate wrapping covering the broom. And as he tore through it, the broom was revealed.

Nestled amongst the silver wrapping paper was a sleek broom with a polished mahogany handle and a long tail of neat twigs.

And written in gold lettering near the top of the handle was 'Comet 260'. The latest broom that the Comet Trading Company had released only last year.

"Thank you!" He exclaimed, excitedly throwing his arms around his parents in his joy.

He'd always wished that he could have a broom of his own. And although he didn't intend to play Quidditch personally, he did still enjoy flying.

"Well I'm glad that you like it so much." His father said laughing, as he let them go.

"Nicholas, Alyssa who among you wants to go flying tomorrow."

"I'll go." Nicholas cried out, before Alyssa could answer.

"No you'd just fall off. Take me Julius." Alyssa said, cutting off Nicholas.

"Well, I guess I can just take you both." Julius said, before another fight could breakout between the two of them.

"Julius, I've got something special planned for you. Come see me in my study, later." His grandfather interjected.

"I will do so, grandfather." He replied, respectfully.

Once he'd opened all his presents. They all had ice-cream and watched the 'Back to the Future' movie, as the evening wound down.

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It was a quarter eleven, when Julius finally made his way to his grandfather's study.

The movie had been pretty long and halfway through it Aunt Elinor had been called in for an emergency.

Uncle Marshall and Aunt Lucretia had decided to stay for the night. His cousin Grim sharing a room with Julius' younger brother Nicholas.

Either way, almost everyone in the house had turned in by this hour.

But Julius knew that his grandfather would be awake.

The old man wasn't just any ordinary old man after all.

Lord Alexander Fawley was the Patriarch of the Pureblood Fawley Family.

And as was his right, he held a Legacy seat in the British Wizengamot. This work was what, usually kept him up into the late hours of the night.

As Julius knocked on the heavy teak wood door of his grandfather's study. A voice called out from within.

"Come in, Julius. I was expecting you."

As Julius shut the door behind him, sliding into the chair across from. His grandfather was clearing away the papers he'd been working on.

Once he was done, he looked up to regard him with a cool blue-eyed gaze that many found unnerving.

Julius unflinchingly met his gaze, and breaking the silence between them he said.

"So you were going to give me something, you said ?"

"Yes I did say that, didn't I." His grandfather said, a wild grin splitting his face.

Transforming his features instantaneously from intimidating to excited.

He got out of his seat while pulling out an ornate bronze key from under his robes.

On the other side of the room was a painting depicting merpeople in their natural habitat.

He went up to it, and carefully lowered the painting from the wall.

Behind it, dug into the wall was a safe of some sort. This, he opened with the key.

Inside the safe from what Julius could see from his vantage at the table, were an ornate cup, a ring with a yellow colored stone a necklace with a teardrop shaped transparent crystal and a simple wooden box.

It was this unadorned wooden box that his grandfather brought out and carried back to the table.

"What do you think this is?" He asked Julius, whose gaze had been focused on the box trying to decipher its contents.

"Some artifact of immeasurable power, maybe ?" He joked.

His grandfather smiled at that.

"I don't know whether there is anything like that in here. But this is where we Fawley's keep our family's most priceless possessions."

He said, as he pricked his thumb on a metal pin letting the blood drip onto the box's surface.

"A blood lock." Julius whispered, impressed.

As the box slid out into three separate compartments. Two of them remaining sealed, with only the topmost compartment opening.

Inside was a small translucent glass vial filled with a silver colored liquid.

"This is the Mind-Strengthening Elixir. One of only twelve Everlasting Elixirs known to Wizardkind. It is incredibly difficult to brew and the ingredients are all very expensive."

"Luckily for you, a highly talented Potioneer owed me a favor."

"I've been saving it for you for sometime. It works best for young minds who've already gained a certain degree of control over themselves." His grandfather said, looking at him expectantly.

"What's there in the other two compartments?" He asked instead.

Alexander Fawley let out a loud guffaw, an act that was certainly very uncharacteristic of him.

"I present you with a priceless treasure and your response is what more treasure is there." He said, still laughing uncontrollably.

"No, no I'm certainly impressed, awed even", Julius said, quickly back pedaling.

"It was just that I was curious." He said, meekly.

"Well, I can't fault you for being curious I guess." His grandfather said, once he'd calmed down.

"Since you want to know. The second compartment holds our family's most priceless heirloom. It has been passed down from generation to generation for the last three hundred years."

"And no, if you want to know more about it. You're going to have to wait till you're an adult." He said, his voice developing an edge of steel, meaning that this wasn't up for discussion.

"What about the third compartment ?" So he asked, instead.

"The third compartment..." His grandfather said, his wrinkled face creasing into a frown.

"No one knows." He said, finally. "This box has been in our family for as long as anybody can remember."

"And in all that time, no one has been able to successfully open the final compartment."

"Ever?" Julius asked, surprised.

"Yes, it has never been opened. In my younger years, I held naive hopes of opening it. Doing something that no one has ever done. I hold no such illusions now." He finished grimly.

"Who knows, maybe I'll be the one to open it." Julius said.

"Maybe you will." His grandfather said.

Smiling at him in that tired, forlorn manner, that reminded Julius that this man was ancient.

"Well, should I just drink the Potion then." Julius said, awkwardly clearing his throat.

He was feeling extremely embarrassed now, of what he'd said earlier.

"Go ahead. I would prefer if you were to drink it at the stroke of midnight. But we can't measure everything in life by a yardstick. This is close enough." He said, leaning back in his chair.

Once he unstoppered the bottle Julius took a sniff of it's contents.

"It smells like nothing." He said.

"I'm not surprised, Elixirs tend to be like that. It shouldn't have any taste either." His grandfather answered.

"Well, here goes nothing." Julius said, throwing back his head, and pouring the entire contents of the vial down his throat.

As he'd grandfather had said, the Potion had no taste. It's texture though was like that of liquid metal, he thought as he slid down his throat.

"That wasn't so bad now, was it." He said, once he'd downed the entire Potion.

But just as he said that, he felt a blinding pain behind his eyelids.

And soon his entire head was hurting. It felt as if his brain was getting churned.

Then came the memories. An assault of all the memories of his two lifetimes combined hit him, at once, knocking the air out of him.

He might have screamed, he didn't remember.

All he remembered, was an ocean of thoughts and memories pulling him down, as he lost consciousness and everything went dark.

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