The day at 4 Privet Drive was as dull and uneventful as it could be.
Harry remained packed away in his attic turned room for the entire day.
Thankfully, his uncle and aunt did not demand that he begin the household chores that very day.
Even if he was nothing more than a servant to them, he was granted a single day of rest.
Harry had been doing the chores of the Dursley household from the age of five and working for them was the highlight of his life before he left Hogwarts.
He only emerged from his room at night for dinner, and after consuming a meal of leftover scraps, he tucked himself away in his attic again.
Now that he was sure that he would not be disturbed by his aunt and uncle, Harry finally decided to focus on the thing that had been gnawing at his mind.
He positioned himself on his small, broken, second hand bed and started to ponder about the changes he had started to feel inside himself after the Dementors had nearly sucked out his soul during their third attack.
To describe the change, he was feeling as though someone or something was calling to him from inside his head.
Though it was not discomforting and creepy, the sensation was obviously deeply weird.
No matter how much his instincts told him that it was not dangerous, every sense of logic and common sense called him to remain wary of whatever was happening.
The whole ‘Heir of Slytherin’ fiasco during his second year had started with him hearing the voice of the Basilisk.
What was different this time was the lack of an actual voice.
Instead of any voice calling out to him, this time there was just a persistent feeling of something beckoning him.
He sat in a cross-legged position, as he had seen and heard of people doing while practicing meditation, and closed his eyes.
He had no real idea of what to do next or what people generally did during meditation, so he simply chose to follow his instincts.
He tried to concentrate on that particular sensation that was calling to him, and with the passage of time, the feeling slowly began to grow stronger.
After an unknown interval, Harry felt himself being pulled away to some place.
Though fearful, he did not resist the feeling and let him be sucked away.
When he reopened his eyes, he had arrived in a strange looking place.
The area surrounding him was very large, but it was extremely difficult to see anything at a distance.
The space was dim, with very little visibility.
Even so, despite the darkness, Harry could make out the silhouette of a humongous mountain surrounded by a forest, at some distance, in front of him.
Harry started to panic about his situation when three orbs of white light appeared out of nowhere.
And the moment the orbs appeared, a chilling sensation crawled through his spine and he felt his entire body trembling in fright.
But before he could react, a voice came from the middle orb.
“It took you long enough to arrive here, boy,” it said.
“Who are you?
And where am I?” Harry questioned instinctively, his voice shaky and fearful.
A chuckling sound erupted from the three orbs simultaneously and a moment later the three orbs started to flicker.
They transformed into three old, frail-looking men.
Harry immediately staggered backward in fear.
“Fear not, my boy.
We mean no harm,” the man in the middle responded.
Harry gathered his courage and repeated his earlier question, “Who are you?
Where am I?”
The man in the middle responded.
“Well, this is your mindscape.
How could you not know?” He said in a somewhat confused manner.
“And as for who I am?
I am Antioch Peverell,” he said.
He gestured toward his right and continued, “He is my younger brother, Cadmus Peverell, and to my left is Ignotus Peverell.”
Seeing no expression of excitement, awe, or disbelief on Harry’s face, an expression of exasperation appeared on Ignotus’ face.
“Do not tell me you do not know us?” He asked, his face baffled.
“Should I know you?” Harry responded, still fearful and in a confused tone,
The three brothers stood there, utterly stunned.
“What year is it, my boy?”Antioch questioned, recovering from his shock.
“June of 1994,” Harry replied, though he was still confused.
“So,” Antioch sighed, “in only a thousand years, our names have disappeared from history.
I had not been expecting this.”
“Well,” Harry responded, now somewhat getting over his fear, “that might not be true.”
“You see,” he said.
“I am not a big fan of history.”
“You would at least know the most famous names of some wizards,” Cadmus interjected, speaking for the first time.
“Merlin,” was the first name Harry took followed by, “Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, and Salazar Slytherin, though he turned evil after founding Hogwarts.”
By the time Harry finished his answer, the three brothers were staring at him in shock with wide eyes.
“So,” Ignotus questioned in disbelief, “you know all these people, but you do not even know our names?”
Harry, getting even more confused, could only shake his head in response.
Silence fell for a few moments.
Though Harry wanted to fire off a barrage of questions, he controlled his anxiety and kept quiet, not wanting to anger the three old men.
“It seems someone has systematically removed our names from history,” Antioch sighed, taking a deep breath with a shake of his head.
“Boy,” he continued, his expression returning to normal.
“I know you have a lot of questions, but I will summarize things for you, as we do not have a lot of time.”
“The three of us were very powerful wizards,” Ignotus picked up the explanation.
“You could say we were stronger than the names you just mentioned.”
Harry’s eyes immediately widened at this, but Ignotus paid no heed to his expression and continued.
“In our old age, we designed a ritual.
Through this ritual, we assimilated all our knowledge and left it for Magic to decide upon a truly worthy heir,” he said.
“While our blood descendants received a few of our inheritances, our actual legacy was left for a worthy magical heir.”
“And Magic has deemed you worthy,” he stated, his voice echoing into Harry’s ears.
Harry’s shock only grew as he listened but the three brothers were yet not done.
“This should have been a simple procedure,” Cadmus said, his tone grave, “But there are two things unique about you that we can sense.”
“What?” Harry questioned.
“There is a strong binding on you,” Cadmus replied.
“A very powerful one.”
“What kind of binding?” Harry asked in fear.
“A binding that has not only limited your magic to a very low level but has also decreased your mind’s efficiency,” Cadmus replied.
“Furthermore, a blood ward is sucking on your magic, bringing your reserves even lower.”
Harry’s eyes went wide in shock.
“But that blood ward is protecting me?” He retorted.
“Ridiculous,” Antioch scoffed.
“Any capable wizard could bypass those wards easily.”
Harry’s expression immediately turned to one of extreme anger.
“It seems that you knew of the blood ward,” Ignotus commented, “but were betrayed into believing something else.”
Harry could only nod in response.
“Did you know about the magical binding too?” questioned Ignotus.
Harry shook his head.
“Are you a Squib?” Antioch asked out of nowhere.
“Hell no!” Harry almost shouted instinctively.
“Though I am somewhat weak in theory,” he said.
“I can perform spells easily.”
“Not to brag, but I am one of the best in my year when it comes to spellcasting.”
“And what would be the most powerful spell you can perform now?” Antioch questioned with a raised eyebrow.
“I can produce a full-fledged Patronus,” Harry answered honestly.
It was now the three brothers’ turn to be in a state of shock, and Harry wondered if producing a Patronus was really such a significant feat.
#
#
#
[Add the book to your collection.