Talk in the Ancestral Hall

The moment I took a step into the Ancestral Hall, I felt magic like never before. It was a surreal experience. I felt magic before, but this is different. Hmm, how do I describe this feeling?? It almost feels like magic is alive.

A few moments later, after savoring that unique experience. I started to observe where I am. It was one big ass hall fitting for its title "Ancestral Hall." At the end of the room was a red wall with engravings, the same as that on the Red Doors through which I entered. But the engravings were more vivid, and that text "FACTA NON VERBA" was more eye-catching. I still don't know what that means, though.

A few feet before the Wall was a short silver pillar with the bowl sitting on top of it with engraving all around it. I couldn't Identify those engravings, though they look like art drawn with no sense. Maybe those are the Magical Runes, or perhaps they are just that an "Art." Even if I couldn't identify art/runes, I know what I am looking at. It is a freaking pensieve, you know the Magical device to watch memories in a Magical 3d way. Oh! God everything seems to be more Magical in this hall.

The ceiling of the hall was also very high. It was painted with an extraordinarily vivid and bright image of a summer sky with a bright sun on it. For whatever reason, my family seems to be disturbingly obsessed with The Sun. Maybe it has to do something with our family name, SUMMERKING. But the weirdest part of the hall was its left Wall. The Wall was filled with rows and rows of small clay pots with each pot having a small bronze plate below them. Several thoughts ran through my mind on what these pots might contain, maybe they have the hearts of my ancestors or their genitals?? (YUCK!!) Who knows, wizards are super weird bro. Now, let us check the right Wall...

"Hello. Brax."

I was jolted out of my thoughts by a voice, the same unforgettable voice that bought me to this world. I looked at the direction of the sound, and there I saw the portrait of my "father," which was fixed to the Wall. In the picture, my father was sitting on a majestic-looking sandalwood chair/throne while wearing some expensive-looking wizarding robes with our family crest on his left breast pocket. But unlike our previous meeting this time there is no excessive blood flowing, thank God for that. I also observed along with my "father's" portrait there were several portraits placed on the Wall, but these portraits seem to be the standard type, Because unlike my "father's" the images of the people inside the paintings were not moving. I observed these portraits for some more time before greeting back.

"Hello, father."

My "father" too keenly observed me for sometime before speaking,

"Well, it seems like Brood has taken good care of you, my son. But first, let me congratulate you on reaching your first minor Magical Maturity."

I gave him a puzzled look before saying,

"Thank You, Father. But I don't know what this maturity thing is though."

Listening to my reply. "My Father" gave a small smile before answering me,

"Well, since you haven't started your magical education yet, It is very natural that you don't know about these things. Let me tell you a wizard undergoes through three Magical Maturities between the ages 3 to 7,7 to 11 and 11 to 17. We call the first two MINOR MAGICAL MATURITIES, and we call the last one MAJOR MAGICAL MATURITY. During these Maturities, the wizards/witches' magical pool increases substantially. But how much it increases depends on the talent of the said, wizard/witch."

Listening to his explanation, I was intrigued by the words "magical pool" and "talent." So I asked him about this, and his reply was that,

"haha aren't you a curious one?. We will come to those after I introduce you about our family history, then later we will come to your questions. Now, why don't you sit down, we have much to discuss.

Right after he said that a chair materialized right in front of me. Hmm, I didn't know that magical portraits can do magic. But nonetheless, I walked over to the chair and sat down and looked towards my "father" and gave him a small nod to convey to him I am ready.

With that, he started his long monologue starting from our family history to the events which led him to sacrifice himself in a ritual to save his son/me. By the end, I was able to get answers to the questions that weighed on my mind for the past 2 years.

The moment he stopped his speech I started to contemplate on the information I was provided with. From what I could gather from his conversation is that our family "SUMMERKING" specializes in "Ritual Magic", and the name "Stephen" which is my middle name is the name of the founder of our family.

We are also famous for having a strong affinity for fire magicks. We also had a seat in Wizengamot. But because of the family suffering severe losses in Grindelwald war. The then Head of the family, my grandfather, liquefied the entire business holding we owned. He decided to withdraw from the political and social scene of Britain until the family was back to its pre-Grindelwald war State. He reinforced the decision by deciding to withdraw from the Wizengamot.

Even my "father" was homeschooled, so he never went to Hogwarts. From this, what I felt was that My Grandfather was one hella of a paranoid bitch. But I can't blame him though, War changes people.

"Father" name is "Edward Summerking" and was the only child my Grandparents had and they both passed away by the time my "father" reached 21. After that, he took the mantle of family and got married to my "mother" the same year he took the mantle of the family.

My "Father" also continued the policy of isolation from the rest of the wizarding world, seeing the signs of the Voldemort movement. Interestingly, my "father" was tight-lipped about my "mother." Other than telling me she was the only surviving member from an old Russian pureblood family.

But the most important information I got is about how my "father" and "mother" perished. Even though my "father" stayed away from the War, it doesn't mean that Voldemort would leave my family alone.

Not when The Dark Lord knew about my family's specialization in Rituals (It seems Voldepants has an unhealthy obsession with rituals). So Dark Lord sent several letters to my "father" asking him to join his side or share some family knowledge with him. But my "father" unwilling to give family secrets always wiggled out of those demands by giving excuses.

But my "father" underestimated the psychopath, that is Voldepants. The Dark Lord, in his typical style, lost his patience and declared our entire family Blood Traitors.

My "Father" who was accustomed to the safety of a well-hidden and warded castle did not take the threats from the dark lord seriously. But he neglected the fact of how vulnerable the family was outside the protection of the Castle. And the Dark Lord was anything but Impatient.

It seems "I" was born prematurely and because of this "my" magic was very volatile. This became more serious as one day "I" had severe spasms and "I" was immediately moved to the emergency ward in St Mungo's where they were able to stop those spasms. When my "father" and "mother" were checking whether "I" was fine in the ward, a spy of Voldepants informed him about our visit to the emergency ward. Voldepants Decided this was a perfect opportunity to showcase his terror to the wizarding world. So he, along with 20 of his minions, launched a full out attack on the hospital.

The attack was so sudden that before anyone could react, my "mother" was killed. And the previous owner of the body that I possess got clipped by a curse which shutdowns the brain of the victim. My "father," seeing the sudden severity of the situation took hold of both me and my "mother's" bodies and apparated back to the Castle. It seems for some reason Voldepants, and his minions did not raise any anti-apparition wards before attacking the hospital. Maybe they didn't because they too wanted a way out if the situation got out of hand.

My "father" after apparating back to the castle, quickly started to form plans. He decided to perform two powerful rituals, one which was a powerful and dangerous ritual to bring back "my" soul and to resurrect me. Being a powerful ritual, the cost of this ritual was also very severe resulting in the caster's death. This particular ritual only works if the subject is below the age of 7 and hence he chose "me" over my mother to perform the ritual. Before performing this ritual he kept me in stasis and performed another powerful ritual to create a Magical Soul Portrait. This kind of portrait differs from the usual magical portrait because it has a part of wizards soul and his magical essence. This provides my "father" to trick the family magicks that he is still alive even if he died thus having control over the castle and its wards(Seems a pretty sick ritual, It almost sounds like a Horcrux). Even the goblins cannot determine he is dead. Apparently, the goblins have magical artifacts to know the life status of The Family heads who have vaults in their bank.

After performing the ritual to create a magical soul portrait. He performed the second ritual to pull his son's soul back but instead, he pulled me from the void, Thank god for that. I think the reason he failed is that he was exhausted from the first ritual and somehow this lead the magic to pull my soul instead of his son's.

Throughout his narration, I could see his pain and regret on his face for losing his wife because of his negligence. I was woken up from these thoughts by my father's voice.

"Brax I know this is a lot to take in, but today is a special day for any wizard. This is the day your journey as wizard truly starts. Today you will understand why our family knowledge of rituals is so sought after. Exactly at 3 in the afternoon, we will perform your first ritual. First, go back to your room to think about what I said, and I will call you back when the preparations are done. What do you say Brax??"

After listening to him, I was already on cloud nine. Hell yea, who wouldn't?? I will get my first power-up, even though I don't know what the ritual does. So with some excitation in my voice, I replied,

"Ok Father, I will see you later."

My "father" after listening to my reply gave me a nod. With that, I got up from my chair and headed back to the door and outside the door, Brood was waiting for me. I asked him to lead me back to my chambers.

While I was being led by brood to my room. All I could think was about the ritual I would undergo.