The fallout from the Dementor incident was not as bad as Darius could have hoped. He thought something like this would be enough to tip the scales and kick Fudge out of his office. Sadly, he managed to wriggle his way out of because the appearance of Pettigrew seemed to give credence to his stance. Also, Lucius’ deep pockets and blackmail helped as well. But Sirius was chomping at the bit and it wouldn’t take too long to start making changes in the Wizengamot. By no means did he want most of those bigots and doddering old fools in those seats if Voldemort rose back to power.

Darius’ relationship with Mione was still going strong. Not much had changed between the two for now. They were still hanging out together almost all the time and practising together in the RoR. Other than the hand-holding and the occasional kiss, they behaved in the same way. But they never grew tired of each other’s company and had spent time with each other as much as possible.

Darius was practising in the RoR as usual when he was struck by the headache again. It had already been nearly a month from the Dementor incident and this problem had started a few days after that. He would get sporadic headaches and mood swings every once in a while and could do nothing about it. The only time he was completely free of it was when he was doing his daily Vertentes or he had his occlumency shields at full strength. Mione had realised his problems sometime last week and would pester him to go to the hospital wing every time she noticed it. But he had to be sure of the source first. The effectiveness of occlumency against it suggests that some outside force is behind it and the headaches are not exactly normal.

Instead of suppressing it with Occlumency, he loosened the barriers and let some of the probes reach his mind. He knew it was a risk, but it may also give a clue as to the perpetrator. It would take a highly skilled Legilimens to break into his mind and he could have his shields in place in a jiffy. But the constant pressure was wearing on him and he had to do something about it.

The defences of his mind lowered, he could sense multiple sources for the intrusion. That was a utter surprise, it felt more like a hive mind nudging against his consciousness rather than someone trying to enter his. He further let down his defences and then he felt it.

Happiness, hope, attraction, sadness, anger, fear, love, trust and so much more. It was like a plethora of feelings out there in the void with him in the centre of it all. The emotions were coming every which way and the more he became cognizant of them, the more they seemed to reach out to him. He wanted to raise his defences, but he was unable to, his very mind rebelling against it, as if this was something it was supposed to go through. But at the same time, the rapid influx of emotions and weight of several minds was wearing on his own and was proving to be almost debilitating before a certain limit was reached and his magic just rushed into his brain and got deeply infused into it.

The emotional baptism, if you could call it that seemed to stretch on for hours within his mind and he lost touch with his physical body for the moment. Mione, who was there in the room with him, panicked when he collapsed and rushed to his side.

“Darius! Darius!! Wake up! Please don’t do this.” She was beside herself with worry. Darius had been like a rock to her. Nothing fazed him and he had a solution for every situation. She had never seen him in a weakened state, let alone collapsed like now. She knew it was beyond her and quickly levitated his body and headed to the hospital wing. She didn’t forget to disillusion them both though. No point in attracting unnecessary attention by levitating him through the corridors. She rushed in to the medical wing and found Madam Pomfrey just finishing her check up on another student and walking away.

Disillusioning herself she called out, “Madam Pomfrey!”

The matron turned around and gasped when she saw Hermione levitating an unconscious Darius. She quickly gestured her to come over and place him on an empty bed and Hermione quickly did so. Taking out her wand, Madam Pomfrey started waving it in complex motions and various parts of Darius’ body lit up in different colours and she nodded to herself as if she understood something from them. The brightest part was a pure white light emanating from his forehead and she seemed surprised by that.

Hermione was frantic. “What happened to him, Madam Pomfrey? He has never collapsed like this before. And what do all those lights mean? Especially that bright white li- “

“Calm down, child. He is no danger at all, at least as of this moment. So, I can answer all the questions you may have. We do need to inform his mother and the Head of House though.

The spell I used was a very advanced diagnostic spell which tells me the condition of my patient. I am not able to tell what is causing the problem but can easily detect what it is. The white light signifies significant amounts of focussed brain activity. It is surprising given that the rest of the body is in a state very close to a deep sleep. But no worries, the activity is entirely benign, whatever it is.”

“But what is it? Even if you cannot pin-point the cause, you must be having some idea of what could cause this, right?”

“Well, the increased brain activity would suggest mental magic of some sort. But I am positive he is not experiencing legilimency of any sort at all. He may be employing occlumency but I’m not sure why. Another reason for such an occurrence could be a memory inheritance. They are memories preserved by ancient witches and wizards for later generations with their most prized techniques and knowledge. But that requires a conduit of some sort, an object into which they were sealed, but he doesn’t have anything like that. The last I can think of is some sort of bloodline ability. There are mystical abilities that run in ancient families, some of which tend to be mental or spiritual in nature. One of them may be able to cause such a reaction.”

“What do you think is responsible?”

“I many not be a master legilimens but I can be nearly certain he is not being mentally attacked and we can write off the second possibility easily, so I would say he is of old blood. Generally, the teachers are aware if heirs of old families enrol in the school, but I knew nothing about him. That tells me that his bloodline may be extremely old, going back to before the time of the founders or he is just from an offshoot branch of an old clan and somehow awakened his abilities and the least likely, that it is a natural mutation and he may be the progenitor of a new bloodline. But I would be able to tell if that last was the case, and it isn’t. One thing I should warn you about, do not pry into matters of his families or abilities. Some families hold that information very close to their chest and react badly if they feel someone is trying to spy on them. Continue to behave the same as normal and if he feels like it, he will reveal his secrets to you at the right time.”

“Thank you for telling me all this, Madam Pomfrey. And also for the advice, I’ll keep it in mind. But you have successfully piqued my curiosity regarding healing. Would you mind telling me some more about the profession, and if I come here occasionally to see you work?”

“Absolutely! I’d love to have more people interested in the healer profession. Our numbers are dropping in recent years and the Healers Association is starting to get antsy about it. Some of the material may go completely above your head but I’ve heard of your reputation and am sure you can pick up some things here and there.”

Hermione blushed a bit at the compliment and turned to look at Darius again. Madam Pomfrey was right, he really did look as if he had just fallen asleep.

Madam Pomfrey called out again, “Actually, I wanted to ask you something? I know the two of you are close, so you are the most likely to know about it. Does he do regular physical exercise? Also does he practice some sort of mystic or shaman arts?”

“Umm…he does do some physical exercises but more often it is high level duelling practice with heavy physical exertion. As for the other two, what are they? I have not come across the two terms before.”

“Well, the diagnosis shows an unusually developed body for a wizard. Centuries ago, when wizards were co-existing with the muggles, they often used weapons as well, such as swords and daggers. It went out of use since then and magicals have been increasingly lax with their physical attributes and focus on only their magic. What they don’t realise is a healthy body is able to house much more magic and increase it faster as well. His calluses suggest sword practice.

Shaman and mystic arts are old practices which are used to increase or empower one’s magic. They are pretty rare nowadays, but his magic core is unusually developed and his magic pathways are pretty strong. I wouldn’t be surprised if he is well above student level already. But they are not risk free. If the practitioner is incapable of proper mental focus or strong will, they could lose control and worst-case scenario, end up magically crippled.”

Seeing Hermione’s worried expression, she hurried to reassure her, “Don’t worry! He is in excellent condition. He isn’t in any danger whatsoever. And I might easily be wrong about it. There are very few who continue such practises today and I have not come across one to date. It might just be his strong magical lineage and frequent magic practice which has boosted his magic. Either way, I wouldn’t worry about it.”

Minerva McGonagall was getting some work completed that afternoon as she didn’t have any more classes that day when the elf popped up. It was in the traditional tea-cosy emblazoned with the Hogwarts crest, wrapped up like a toga.

“Professor McGonagall, ma’am! Misty is here to bring message from Madam Pomfrey”, the elf said, handing over a small scroll to the professor.

“Thank you, Misty. You may leave now.”

She was curious. It wasn’t often that Poppy sent notes across to her.

Minerva

I’ve just had Miss Granger levitate Mr Icarus into the infirmary. I thought as his head of house, you ought to know. He has fainted but is perfectly fine physically except for some heightened brain activity. There is absolutely no reason to worry as of now. Miss granger is also waiting by his side. I would like it if she could be excused from classes for the rest of the day, I don’t think she would be able to concentrate anyway. I have also sent a message to his mother after getting her information from my medical registers. She will most likely be along soon.

Poppy

That wasn’t what she had expected at all. Darius was one of the best and brightest in his year and nothing like this had happened before. The mention of heightened brain activity was telling, and she knew some of the implications of that. She would need to let Hagrid know that a woman may arrive at the grounds seeking entrance to the castle as well. Before she could get to that however, a floo call came from Hagrid. The gentle giant’s face in the fire looked somewhat scared, something which was rather rare.

“Professor McGonagall, a woman is ‘ere at ta castle gates seekin’ entrance. She is mighty pissed off an’ releasing tonnes o’ magic. She says she is Darius’ mother?”

Ah, that was earlier than expected! She must have been in the vicinity. Better let her in quickly. If she is releasing as much of a magic aura as Hagrid is suggesting, she is one extremely powerful witch, not surprising considering Darius’ talent. But worse, she is not fully in control of herself and might lose control of her magic.

“You can let her in, Hagrid. Darius is in the medical wing and Poppy informed his mother about it. She must be worried about him, that’s all. Guide her straight to the medical wing.”

“No problem, professor. I’ll get ‘er in a jiffy.”

Kaela was frantic. When she received the note from Madam Pomfrey, she immediately knew what it meant. How could she not, being brought up in her family. Before her marriage, she held the name of Kaela Invidia Dominus, the clan of spies. Of all the clans that make up the Dominus family, they were the ones with the most intimate knowledge of every clan’s abilities and information. A bloodline awakening almost never happened before the maturity of the magical core, generally around 17-years-old. Rarely, with especially talented kids would it happen at sixteen. But her boy was only 14 now!! She knew he was talented. She knew he was much stronger than normal. But this was record-breaking, off-the-charts level of talent!

And worst of all, he awakened in one of the worst places an Ira could possibly awaken. Ira magic was generally based around emotions and what place was more saturated with them than a school? The general approach for Ira awakening was a sealed silent room but here, he was on the completely opposite side of the spectrum. The excess might strengthen him to some degree but too much could have crippling consequences on him. Thank God, he was already proficient at Occlumency. She didn’t know if he was a Master at it yet, but it would greatly help him if so.

Now the only thing to do was wait for the abilities to manifest completely!