They returned to their home in King's cross inn hotel. They had twin rooms booked at the hotel for an indefinite period of time and had been staying there since moving to London. It was within walking distance of the station and they took a leisurely walk to the inn. He told his mom most of what happened during the school year though he kept some things for later. They were safer told within the safety of their own four walls, after all. He did tell her about his meetings with Harry Potter and she was fairly interested in the matter. They finally reached their rooms and stepped inside. 'Now Darius, what is it that you have been wanting to tell me?' 'How did you know?' 'I have seen you grow from infancy to who you are today. You think I can't tell when you are keeping something from me?' 'Guess not. Anyways, before we start talking, I want to know to what extent is this house protected?' 'You would be hard-pressed to find a better protected area in all of London. I have all the regular protections and jinxes, some special ones belonging to the family and it is also protected by the Fidelius charm. With all your extensive reading, I presume you know about that spell?' 'Of course, I do! But I had no clue we were protected by it. I presume you are secret-keeper?' 'Yes, I am. Now tell me this great secret.' 'I am only telling you this because you made me promise not to keep any more secrets anymore last year. We have to be very careful with this one. Over the past year, Hogwarts has been the sanctuary of a very ancient artefact of very great value. It was protected by the spell-work of a majority of our professors. But as it happens, the wraith of Lord Voldemort had infiltrated the school after possessing one of his minions and was after the same item as it would help him resurrect with his full strength. I thwarted his plans by nabbing it beforehand and afterwards it came down to a fight between Harry Potter and the minion where Harry managed to triumph. I have covered my tracks well and as of now I believe that nobody knows that the treasure lies with me. The artefact I speak of is, the Philosopher's stone.' She couldn't help but let out a gasp at that. It was funny. Last year, it was my Animagus form, this year the philosopher's stone. Maybe I should make a tradition of shocking her once every year? 'And you say that you managed to break through whatever wards the teachers had put up and got the stone? But that's dangerous. There may, or rather, there will be tracking charms and other spells cast all over it. I understand now why you needed a secured room but how did you evade detection so far?' 'It is due to a development in my rune overlaying. I managed to create a spatial pouch which twists space and creates a sub-dimension within itself. Another new creation was the necklace you are currently wearing. It will automatically heal you, in case you are injured, with your own magical powers.' 'That is an impressive achievement. Interfering with space itself shows a very high level of magical proficiency. There is a reason we have so many different protective and barrier spells. There is no one barrier that can keep you safe in every way. Though once you can interfere with space itself, any fight comes down to two points. Either the opponent has to have a much higher magical strength than you or a stronger grasp of principles of space. And thanks again for the necklace. I already liked it before but with the effect you have just described, it has become priceless. Various family leaders would spend handsomely to acquire such protective amulets.' This single explanation opened up so many new avenues of thought for me. Right now, I had to use runes for affecting space but if I were able to use the underlying principles and make a variation of shield charm with it, it would be nigh unbreakable. He also had the idea for emergency escape rune. It could function like a portkey which would automatically activate on losing consciousness or low life-force and send you to a safe location. In fact, this would be my next project, I need to keep my mother safe. I could also make my own version of Newt Scamander's suitcase by enchanting my school trunk. While the undetectable extension charm would not be a major problem, I would have to use stronger spatial magic if I wanted to be able to get inside it myself. As an additional protection, I could use the Fidelius charm with myself as secret-keeper. It would save me the trouble of having to run to the room of requirement every single time. Though I could still go there sometimes with a spatial pouch to get more materials. 'I am glad you liked it mother. In fact, I just thought of another thing I would like to make and give to you but you'll have to wait a while longer. On that note, could you teach me the Fidelius charm. It will be of help to secure the safety of my experiments. Though I know about the spell, I haven't learnt how to cast it yet.' 'Of course. But all these new magical artefacts are very precious. There will definitely be people who will try to find out their methods of creation and claim credit for them if they find out. For now, be sure to keep them a secret as far as possible.' 'Yes mom, and now that we have got my secrets out of the way, it's time you spill the beans too. I have been living with you over a decade and can tell when you are keeping something from me too.' 'Touche! But I was planning on bringing it up anyways. You remember I had to deal with some family matters last summer. Well, I managed to keep their claws of us for the time being. As you know, the wizarding world has many long-standing families, some of which can trace their ancestries back to the middle ages. This led to many families being related in some manner or the other and the conflict of interests caused many battles to be fought behind the scenes. The last great battles mirrored the muggle war called World War II and spread throughout Europe. Our family, Dominus, is the clan that brought peace during those troubled times repeatedly. We have since separated into seven branch families name after the seven sins - Superbia, Avaritia, Gula, Luxuria, Acedia, Invidia and Ira. Our clan generally keeps to the shadows and is only responsible from keeping the wizarding community from collapsing. But in recent years, we have faded from the public eye as family wars and feuds became fewer. Now the clan has split into two factions and while one advocates that we bow out and take our place as an ordinary wizarding family, the other wants to regain our glory from the olden days by forceful means. Both sides are roping in descendants to bolster their forces and I'm afraid you are listed as a prime candidate to be trained by the Ira clan.' Wow, so much behind-the-scenes information at one go. I had wondered how the various families dealt with their conflicted allegiances and this definitely answers that. But knowing that there was no such great war during the canon timeline, I think the pacifist side won in the end. 'What exactly does being a prime candidate entail? And just how powerful was our family that we alone could keep several other wizarding families in line? 'These two questions are actually related. I will answer the second question first to give you a better idea of our powers. The Dominus family was initially a small pureblood family in medieval times existing even before the establishment of Hogwarts. Wizards and witches were frequently at war in those times and one our ancestors became a victim during a blood feud. The rest of the family banded together and started a large-scale ritual that could affect the entire rival clan. It was designed to let them sink into depravity and weaken themselves due to their own sins. It was a marvel of a ritual, which would have led to the entire clan tearing itself apart but fortunately it didn’t work. Something went wrong, no one in the family knows what, and the ritual got inversed. Instead of affecting the rivals and weakening them with their own sins, the spell affected and empowered us, the ritual casters. That is the secret of the Dominus family. We draw power from our emotions. Like natural Legilimens and Parselmouths, we too are special existences. Drawing upon our bloodline allows us to increase our magical strength by a few folds for short durations. And that brings me to the answer of your first question. The prime candidates are those who are inscribed with a blood rune, one that is required to activate our powers. The rune is inscribed over our hearts and it lets us meld our emotions into magic. Controlling such power is very difficult and it is easier to adjust to it if you are inscribed young. But the other requisite is magical power at least at the level of an average adult, so it becomes difficult to do so at younger ages. But I believe you shouldn't have any problems?' 'What you are saying sounds amazing but shouldn't our family be better known then? I realise I didn't know my heritage till today because we separated from them but why aren't they mentioned in any of the numerous books I have read? Our family has appeared in various forms through history. The Ira warlocks were the feared berserkers. The Luxuria illusionists birthed the legends of Succubi and Incubi. Some of the Superbia were instrumental in the formation of the Ministry of Magic. The greatest Avaritia even dared to steal from dragon hoards and enriched our family fortunes. The Gula roamed across the globe gathering various magics and artefacts for the family. The warders of Acedia haven't let the family down in centuries. The Invidia have a spy network so well hidden and widespread that there is nothing that we are unaware of. In modern times, the family jobs have changed somewhat. Our family spread beyond Britain and incorporated several more magics and bloodlines in it. The Ira are mainly aurors, hit-wizards and unspeakables of the Department of Mysteries. The Luxuria took to druidism and shamanism and are also a part of the Veela enclave. The Avaritia handle the family businesses and wealth and closely liason with the goblins of Gringotts. The Gula and Acedia are branches which haven't changed much over the centuries though they have gotten a lot better at their skills over the years. The Invidia have people in nearly every Department of the Ministry and also work in the Department of Mysteries.' 'It seems there is a lot I will have to learn.' 'That you do! You will need to be well versed in wizarding noble etiquettes and knowledge. I know you soak up information like a sponge so I will give you all the required books and you can peruse them at your leisure over the next year at school. Make sure you are well versed by the next summer. We may be expected to meet the Head of the House.' This just trampled all over my plans. I was planning to take it easy and only occasionally meddle in the timeline but this bludger flew in out of nowhere. I will have to step in more actively henceforth to try to speed up the timeline but also make it go the same route. I need to be able to face this latest trouble headed my way without any extra burdens.