FicWad

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I know that I have not updated lately, trying to find a job, a date to prom, loans for college, and court can take a bit of time. Not to mention the fact that I got the idea for my other story and the ideas kept coming to me. Check it out if you have not already. I got a couple reviews saying that the story has gone from dark to light. I'm trying to figure out how you're getting this. The only dark things that have happened were suicide (if you want to include that) some descriptive Voldy torture, and Seraph decided that he was no longer light, but not evil. Besides Seraph obliviating the hell out of the clerk and Cheleb biting his balls off. The story is moving slowly, but everything mentioned plays some part in the story. I'm sure of it. I just don't know when or in what way.
Anyway, on with the story.
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Last Time...

"Right here, young master. Look to the center of the wall." And he did, thinking of where the alley was located. A wide set of stairs appeared to push the wall apart, leading to a set of monstrous sized doors. The doors held the same crest as was on Silverhook's, and it stared down at him in the same way. His silver ring glowed before it turned back into its natural form, the crest standing proudly on the front of it. The crest on the door also glowed, and a faint light connected the two. The door finished glowing, and now resembled the ring more, that changes that had been made by combining the families apparent.

"Welcome Master, to Black Alley..." The Grim said, as the door opened up.

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Chapter 13: Getting Set
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Who ever decided to name this place an 'Alley' must have had a gift for understatement or wanted to the name to project an image of much less then it actually was. However, 'Black' certainly fit the description. The entranceway was at least as large as the great hall in Hogwarts, the ground made entirely of onyx and marble, reflecting the nearly silver firelight that illuminated it. The ceiling was nearly indiscernible, being so high up that the light from the floating candelabras and torches nearly faded completely before reaching it. Greco Roman columns of obsidian were spaced apart by giant animated tapestries that showed the history of the line, from before the Black's were Black's, starting at a depiction of two men shaking hands. The two were holding an emerald green tablet with a large ruby in its center between them; the writing on it was visible but not legible. Descriptions were given under them, explaining what was going on in each. A man named Myrddin completing his life's work with his partner, Morgan Le Fey. Morgan attempting to steal the tablet and Myrddin's 'Book of Shadows'; his personal compilation of spells. The tablet was believed lost and the book a fake. Morgan being struck down before his daughter and son, Morgana and Knoxius. Morgana's rise to power in an attempt to kill Myrddin, becoming the first Dark Lady in history, the believed capture of Myrddin in stone, the fall of Morgana Le Fey and the disappearance of Knoxius, who fled to Asia,.
On the other side of the hall, Knoxius was seen making his way through Asia, learning the language and customs, being recruited by group of assassins known as 'Shinobi', rising through the ranks, achieving the title of 'Master' and killing the head, the one who recruited him, to take his place. A prophet telling him that his son would be his downfall as he was his mentors. Knoxius killing every child he had until his wife transfigured a doll to look like their newborn child. The son, Knox, was taken to be kept safe away from his father. Knox training, developing gifts, and becoming an assassin himself, he became a master in the Arts, gathered people of skill and formed his own group, the 'Grim's Guild', learning of his heritage and killing his father, killing or imprisoning the rest of the still living Shinobi. The success of the Grims Guild, and finally the last tapestry, in a large opened field, what looked like twenty people were gathered in a circle around a man and a women having sex, fire and runes dancing about their bodies, until the light reached its brightest and the runes nearly screamed with magic, and shot into the man, just as he released into the woman. It was the conception of the Black line. Seraph was interrupted from his little lesson in family history when Vulcan spoke up from behind him.
"Your going to need a few house elves to take care of you here, as you can see from the entrance, it's a big place. Just ask where you want to go and the tiles will glow to show you a path. As good as it is to see this place again, I must be getting back, got a shop to run and all. I'll see you soon, young master." And with that Vulcan departed, leaving Seraph and Cheleb in the middle of the hall.
"You wont try to eat the house elves if I get any, will you?" Seraph asked, thinking about the grim wanting to sample a goblin.
"What's a House elf?" Was the response he got. Well, Dobby could take care of himself, he was sure. 'I can hire him right now, I think. He should be able to get in through the wards if I call him. Can't hurt to try I suppose.'
"Dobby." He said, wondering if the elf would hear his call or if he would have to send a letter? 'Can house elves read? Well, I suppose they must be able to. They have to read directions and notes and the sort...' His musings were cut off by a thundering crack that echoed down the hall. Dobby had just arrived, though he looked slightly disorientated, holding his ears and spinning slightly, carrying a bottle that looked suspiciously like butterbeer.
"Dobby, are you alright?" Seraph asked the dizzy looking elf.
"'Hic', Dobby iees fine, m-master H-ha-, wha? You is not being Master Harry Potter sir! Master sir is being dead... I's be swearing vengeances on busses eberywhere! Socks in their pipeses! For master 'hic' Har'hic'ry Potter sir!" The elf was pissed out if his poor little mind and spinning on his heel, oblivious to his surroundings and Cheleb, who was now giving him a good sniff. The grim pulled back quickly though. Either elves did not smell good, or drunken elves did not smell good. Seraph could slap himself. He quickly changed his appearance to that of Harry Potter.
"Dobby?" He spoke up.
"Master Harry Potter sir!" Dobby shouted, running, slipping, and finally sliding to a stop at Seraph's feet. He quickly got up and gave him a large hug to the knees, sobbing loudly, his inebriated state disappearing quite suddenly.
"Master Harry Potter sir! How is you being alives? I is hearing Headmaster Dumbblydoor sayings to the portraits that you is dead! That you is being hit by a muggle busses!" Dobby said in a breath, quite a feat, Seraph thought, considering how small their lungs must be.
"Calm down, Dobby. Let me explain. My name is not Harry Potter. It's a long story, but I'm actually a Black. My name is Seraph Black." Seraph said, wondering if he should explain more to the excitable house elf. Oddly enough, this made Dobby even more excited. The grim decided that he did not like the excitable little... thing, and went to lay down at the side of the hall. He wanted a nap.
"Master knows! Master knows!" Dobby said over and over again, doing a little jig until Seraph stopped him by grabbing his shoulders and kneeling to eye level.
"What do you mean Dobby?"
"I always knows that Master Harry Potter sir was not a blood Potter. It's in his aura, see? Sometimes it be changing, but it was always black and silver at its core. An aura of a Black. I is sorry, Master Black sir, but I was being under secrecy not to tells you. Master Padfoots talked to me's sometimes, I would feed him after he escaped when I could, but he liked to be eating rats sometimes, 'to practice for the traitor' he said. He tells me about himself and you, and his history. He even asked Dobby how best to tell yous! I sorry for your loss, Master Black sir, Master Padfoots was good wizard, and good doggy." Dobby finished, his head bowed low. Seraph was not sure how to respond to that. Though he supposed he understood about the secrecy.
"Its okay, Dobby. I understand, for the most part. I wanted to know if you were interested in coming to work for me?" The house elf was jumping for joy before he even finished his sentence.
"Dobby be waiting for Master Black sir to ask Dobby! Dobby always hoped to be Master's house elf! You is being the bestest wizard ever! Dobby is so excited! Yes, yes! Dobby will work for the great wizard Harry- er Seriaph?" Dobby said uncertainly.
"Close enough. As long as you don't call me 'Master' anymore, I'm fine. I get enough formality from the goblins. Okay, I want to know how much you get paid and what are your perks from Hogwarts?"
"We is getting a galleon a week if we wants paying, sir. And rotating shifts to have weekends off, though no house elf will take them, not even Dobby!" Dobby exclaimed.
"Right... well, how does 10 galleons a month, and you won't take time off... so how about you take a few hours every day to do something you enjoy. Make socks; overthrow the muggle public transportation organization, that sort of thing. What do you say?" Dobby thought for a moment, before looking around the hall.
"This be a big hall, Master Black." He stated simply.
"Yes, it is. What of it? And don't call me master."
"A place that be this big need more then one house elf, I thinks." He replied, looking like he was fighting a blush.
"Really now?" Seraph said, catching on to what Dobby was alluding to. "And do you have someone in mind, Dobby?"
"Winky!" Dobby said a bit too fast. "I means, Winky be sad that she cannot care for a proper home no more. She feels that she not being a true house elf. Dobby tries to help, even getting her to drop butterbeer, though Dobby got into it this afternoon... Well, I is being all she gots, and I feel bad to be leaving her." Dobby said.
"You have a point, Dobby. This place needs more then one house elf. Call Winky, and see if she is willing to work for me also." No sooner had he said it, Dobby was gone, and back in the time it took for Seraph to take a breath.
"What is you doing, Dobby? I was in the middle of a roast!" Winky yelled, before jumping behind Dobby at noticing Seraph standing there.
"Master Black wants to give us a job, for a real home! He used to be Harry Potter sir, but now he knows who he is being better then before." Dobby said. The explanation must have actually made sense to Winky as she too became excited.
"Winky would be honored! When will we do the bonding to the house and family?" Winky asked, bowing her head low.
"Bonding? I forgot about that... we can do the bonding for the house now, I suppose. What does it actually do? You won't be stuck here, will you?" Seraph asked, not sure what it entailed.
"No, Master Black sir. We bond to the house to learn it. What it needs, what be dirty, when someone not family be needing something. You hold our hand while we declare our intentions." Winky said.
"When we be bonded to yous, we has our magic cores altered. Dependings on the wizard, we mights gain or lose power. Less power means that's it takes us longer to work, and we lives less. More powerful changes our cores to be likes the families' and we can live longer. Yous don't lose anything though, Master Black sir." Seraph nodded.
"Now I know that I wont make too much of a mess, but will two house elves be enough, Dobby? Winky? I mean, if the hall has anything to say, the 'alley' may end up being almost as large as Hogwarts." Seraph asked, remembering that Vulcan had said that entire families could live here.
"Don't worry, Master Black sir, Dobby and Winky be supplying you with elf kiddies real soon!" Dobby shouted, but then shut his mouth abruptly, his slightly pale and green face turning a deep red. A rolling pin popped into existence and Winky began to hit Dobby upside his head while cursing his mouth. 'Dear Merlin that's too much information' Seraph thought, as he attempted to calm down the 'couple'. It took a few minutes but he finally succeeded in banishing the rolling pin the Winky had conjured, though she still gave Dobby dirty looks while sporting a brilliant shade of reddish-purple.
"So, how is this done?" Seraph asked the two. Winky stopped giving Dobby looks and explained.
"We each will have to create a connection and Winky and Dobby will do the chanting. All you have to do is accepts, Master Black sir." Seraph nodded. Dobby began to make wide arcs with his arms, a look of concentration on his face. Shinning lines shot out of his fingers and laid themselves out on the floor. A perfect circle with three circles inside of it shone brightly on the floor. Winky positioned Seraph in the largest of the three circles while Dobby and Winky took the others. The two elves began to chant very quickly in barely a whisper, their high pitched voices making it sound like a ringing tea kettle. Seraph was not sure what to do now. The two elves rose into the air, still chanting. As if guided by magic, Seraph raised his hands and placed them on their chests. The chanting slowed and then stopped. The elves still hung in the air, but they were both looking intently at Seraph. An unnatural glow was in their eyes as they asked.
"Do you, Master Seraph Orion Black accept Dobby and Winky as servants of your clan?" They asked as one with voices that weren't their own. Their eyes pulsed with every syllable, and Seraph felt compelled to answer.
"I accept the house elves Dobby and Winky into the Black Family, and note that their servitude is freely given." Seraph said, his voice reverberating around the hallway. The house elves heads shot back and they let out a silent scream as Seraph's hands shot into the elves, directly into their cores. A flash of black and silver, a pulse of light, and a sound like a crack of lightening happened in quick succession. The circles on the ground faded away into nothingness and the elves drifted towards the ground. Seraph blinked to clear his eyes and noticed that Dobby and Winky had changed slightly.
The rags that they were wearing were replaced by a casual looking suite on Dobby and a slightly formal dress for Winky. The clothing was deep black with silver stitching with the Black Family crest emblazoned left thigh of Winky's dress and a smaller version was stitched onto the left side of Dobby's jacket. Dobby stood up and shook his head a bit and Seraph noticed that he seemed to have grown a small amount. The elf looked up at Seraph with a huge grin and began to bounce around, his eyes had gained a noticeable silver band around pupil. Winky did not seem to have grown but she did seem to be a bit healthier, more full, perhaps. Dobby took notice of this immediately after he stopped hoping from foot to foot and dropped his mouth, causing Winky to blush. Seraph cleared his throat. They looked at him and both leapt towards his legs, hugging them tightly.
"Thank yous Master Black sir, I is not feeling this good... ever!" Dobby nearly shouted. Winky nodded her head feverishly.
"I take it that you got something out of the bonding then?" Seraph asked. He was met with a pair of incredulous gazes.
"Master Black sir," Winky began, "I is never feeling as powerful as I ams now. You is easily as strongs as old Master Crouch was, and he fought the evil wizards before he went into politics! And yous is still young, you get stronger, and we will get stronger." Winky explained, trying to express herself. 'Not strong enough though.' Seraph thought. He briefly wondered if any rituals he may perform would help or hurt the elves, but put it out of his mind for another time.
"All right then. I have no idea how long this place has been without occupants, but I want this place clean, however big it is. The house will show me if I need to go anywhere specific, so I want this to be your first priority, got it?" He asked the two house elves. Their eyes opened up wide and large grins spread across their faces, disturbingly so in the case of Winky. They nodded and left with a snap of their fingers.
"Right, well, I suppose getting through the hallway would be the fist step." Seraph said to himself as he began to travel to the door on the other side. He continued to watch the tapestries as he headed to the door and made a note to come back to look over them in more then a passing detail. Massive ebony wood doors were what he met at the end. Like the doors to the library at Grimmuald, it was animated with a moon and a howling grim running with a pack of smaller Grims. The alpha grim stopped and bowed to Seraph, before running off again. The doors opened and Seraph stepped through, Cheleb at his heels.
He stood before a massive round Zen garden filled with volcanic sand. Unnaturally tall bonsai trees could be seen growing out of the ground or from some of the large rocks that were scattered around the middle of the garden. The garden was perfectly round and must have had a several hundred yard diameter across. The space above was open sky, cloudless and colored a dark purple. The sun could still be seen at the horizon, but just barely. Several paths wound their way through the intricately designed sand, leading to a massive stone directly in the center. The Zen garden was surrounded by obsidian columns that were spaced evenly along the circular path that surrounded the garden. It reminded Seraph of the Vatican in Rome, apart from the heavy Asian influence. Along the outside path of the 'Zen Courtyard' there were several doors that led off to unknown places. Seraph began to walk around the courtyard and noticed that as you walked along the path, you could not see further then a few feet in front of you due to the placing of the columns, another similarity. He passed many of the doors, most were solid wood, some were iron, some made of some sort of stone, and a few made of silver or simply paper and wood, like that of old Asian homes. He did not open any of the doors though, as he was content at the moment to observe the sand and the shinning stars that were starting to appear.
'I wonder if that is why they built this the way it is.'
He soon came to the other side of the entrance and found a door that was quite a bit larger then the others. It was made of wood and paper, though Seraph doubted that anything could tear it. Seraph placed his hand on the door and tried to slide it. It would not budge. One of the panels of the door began to swirl around until a defined head could be seen in it.
"Who disturbs the masters keep?" A soft but throaty voiced asked.
"The master." Seraph said.
"The master? Master is long dead. You are a Black for sure, otherwise you would not be here, but the master or a member would know how to tell the door to open. Go away; be gone to your chambers." The head said irritably.
"Open up you insufferable gate!" Seraph almost literally barked at the door.
"Why didn't you say that before? So a new master has returned... I'm overjoyed, full of rapture even. It will be many years until I can get a proper sleep again." The door continued to mumble, even after it had opened and its words could not be heard due to the fact that its face had slide behind the wall.
"Who the hell gave the door that personality?" Seraph asked Cheleb, who just shrugged his shoulders and gave a wheezy snicker type laugh. Seraph shook his head. 'Evidently no one but the master, more then likely the head of Black that can speak Grimtongue, can access this part. 'Members' must refer to the Grim's Guild. Those doors that I passed must be the different chambers.'
Seraph stopped thinking about that as he took in the entrance way of his 'chambers'. It was huge. Nothing like the initial hall that they had come through, but it looked like his 'chambers' were more then likely a large mansion. Bright floating orbs of light lit the place, making the adornments on the wall shine. The floor was made of a single sheet of obsidian, and the walls were made of a light whitish wood that looked silver when moving. A huge fountain was in the center of the entrance depicting a large grim surrounded by a group of grims in a circle. The center grim shot up a continuous jet of water which broke into separate streams and landed on the heads of the other grims. Past the fountain was a pair of doors. On either side of the circular entrance were two sets of grand staircases, one that led to a second level, while the second set led to a barely visible third level. Seraph stood there, taking the sight in and felt something that he had only felt once before.
"Were home, Cheleb." Cheleb grinned.
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Seraph woke up feeling refreshed. He had explored a little bit of his new place of residence, but not much. He had found out that the third floor was made to be a very comfortable looking barracks, though that seemed like much too crude a word to describe the posh semi-apartment like rooms, most likely for members of the Grim's Guild. It had two hallways, an east and west that went on for sixty rooms both ways. All the rooms were very spacious. Each had a large bed -no two looked to be made the same way- a bathroom -most would put the prefects bathroom to shame- and a comfortable study area complete with desk, a bookshelf -most were empty- and a magical window. Obviously space increasing enchantments had been used liberally. There was a second set of stairs on the third floor that led to the Master's bedroom, which is where he was currently waking up from. His room was much like the others, only larger and with a balcony that overlooked the Zen Courtyard. There was also a large portrait of a dark looking old man who reminded him slightly of Knox, but he had not woken up from what Seraph could tell. His floors were made of obsidian with large Persian rugs at the door and in the bathroom. Past a door in the bathroom was what looked like a piece of a rain forest. A short way inside of the 'jungle' was a 'bathtub', actually it was more like a large pond, nearly twenty feet deep near the cliff that was there and featured a very warm waterfall. Maybe ten feet below the surface in the center of the 'bathtub' was a submerged pyramid that must have been under a powerful disillusionment charm, as Seraph only found it by bumping his head into the top of it.
Seraph had put on a bubble head charm and swam around it and soon found an entrance. The inside of it looked to be a personal library and study. There was also a small bed to the side, a marble and stone chess set and an archaic and very empty looking pensieve. Not a sound made its way into the place, not that there was much sound to be made to begin with. A place of personal retreat, of perfect seclusion.
Not much of the second, or main floor for that matter, had been explored. The second floor seemed to be for recreation though, as the first two rooms he entered included large blocks of marble, wood tools, art equipment, several chess sets, gobstones and large targets on the wall that still had well made throwing daggers sticking out of them.
The main floor had an enormous sitting and dinning room next to each other, as well as many smaller and more private sitting rooms. The kitchen was almost as large as the one at Hogwarts, and from all the small doors that led from the back of it, could probably house just as many house elves. There was a set of stairs behind a large tapestry of a suite of armor that looked like it led down to dungeons, but he had not bothered to check it out yet. Seraph was very glad that he was not lodging as many people as the house could hold but was as equally happy that it could hold so many. When he restarted the Guild he knew where to house them.
He set out to look at the rest of the second floor and found many other game and art rooms, but also a couple of well lit potions laboratories, some ritual chambers, and an indoor quidditch pitch of all things. He needed to start training and get into shape, and a large grassy field was as good a place as any. He would not be flying the brooms that he found, however. Most looked to be made out of fallen tree branches and looked like they would struggle trying to hover. Cheleb liked them though, to chew on and chase anyway. The huge puppy would pick one up and throw it with its mouth, not unlike what dogs might do with a stick when bored. Only the broomstick did not simply fall back to earth, it flew up high and glided back down a good distance away from where it started. Cheleb would chase after it and grab it out of the air about 15 feet up. Seraph marveled at this and chalked it up to the grim living in both realms at the same time. He left Cheleb their to play as he left to look around some more. The room across from the pitch held an armory. Well, not technically an armory as it seemed to be more of a museum of magical weapons and armors through the ages. Seraph spent close to an hour just admiring the ancient tools of war before he noticed that there were descriptions under each, but decided to check back later.
Further down the hall he found a set of double doors that were almost identical to the ones to the library at Grimmuald, the only difference being that the figure on the door seemed to be continuously writing with a sharp looking stylus. Behind them was a library that was just shy of the size of Hogwarts' own. Unfortunately, there did not seem to be any actual books, just scrolls. Picking one up, Seraph discovered that it was in a language that he had never seen before. When he tried to make sense of it, a jolt went through his mind and he felt slightly dizzy. It was Grimtongue, in a written form. The scratches and dashes that looked like they were made from a dog trying to write began to make sense, similar to the rune he had seen before.
Guild Log
Shinto, Guild Scribe
We were able to take out the "Gudos" with little difficulty. What their purpose besides being a nuisance is beyond me. As skilled as their cousins, the goblins, they should be able to better defend themselves. The world will not miss several tribes of substandard merchants anyway. The goblins won't for sure, seeing as they were the ones that paid us to do it. A little more then five hundred galleons were 'found' in the raid (how the little demons managed to amass that much is beyond even the Master's understanding), plus the six hundred galleon payment from the goblins gave us cause to celebrate. The captured Gudos are being used as fodder for his experiments. I can't imagine being able to use one of them in a ritual, but he has discovered stranger things...
Guild Log
Shinto, Guild Scribe
The Master tried to perform a ritual on those Gudos, but something went wrong. Not sure what, really, but now there are twice as many of them at a quarter of the size. Look like vegetables running around in rags. They have started burrowing in the outskirts of camp and have bitten anyone who tries to speak with them. It seems like their intelligence has diminished with their size, not that they were bright creatures to begin with. Only thing that seems to work is either killing them or using a confundus charm to make them forget what they were doing. Master is understandably unhappy about this. He wished to have them become gardeners, as many of our Herboligists our also our Potions masters. He has started cursing his failed 'garden' gnomes...
It was the history of the Grim's Guild. All of it, from the looks of the copious amount of scrolls that were pilled, stuffed, and hung about the library. All the information that he needed to know about the guild and how to run should be found here, though there did not seem to be any order to the scrolls. Or maybe he just did not understand the system. Either way, he would look more into the history later. He laughed slightly at the thought of his ancestor creating garden gnomes and wondered of something similar had not occurred to create the grims.
He left the 'Archives' as he had decided to call it and seeing that there was nothing further down the hall, left to gather Cheleb and find something to eat. It had surprised him that he had not seen Dobby or Winky since they had bonded to him, though food still appeared when he was hungry, the only sound it left was the dish hitting the table, not even the telltale sound of elf popping.
"Dobby, Winky." Seraph intoned. Two small silver and scarlet sparks were seen, barely noticeable and gone impossibly fast appeared in front of Seraph before Dobby and Winky replaced them. Seraph looked at their auras and saw that they were the same as the sparks that he had seen. 'I wonder if I can see apparition as well." Seraph thought, before bringing himself back to the reason he had called the two.
"Dobby, Winky, were have the two of you been?" He asked.
"We has been cleaning, Master Sereaph, sir." Dobby answered.
"Why is it that I have not seen you?"
"It is a house-elves job to remain unnoticed, Master." Dobby said with a small smile. "But you would not have seens us in this part yet though. Dobby and Winky has been cleaning all night, but we have not made it to the Master's home." Winky told him.
"So where have you been cleaning?" Seraph asked, wondering if his elves had been cleaning other people's homes.
"The other houses in the alley, sir. They be many, and quite large, almost small manor size, some. You would have had to have passed them on yours way here." Dobby explained.
"The doors? So each one holds a small manor sized house. I guess Vulcan was not exaggerating when he said you could house entire families in the alley. How many have you cleaned?"
"Almost twenty, Master Black sir."
"And how many more to go?"
"We is not sure yet, Master Black sir, but more then a hundred."
"That's fine. I wanted to let you two know that I will be beginning my training tomorrow. Were at war and I'm going to be a big part of it, whether anyone knows it at the moment or not, understand?" Seraph asked. Dobby and Winky nodded uncertainly.
"We's will make yous good food, make you strong, give you more energy. My mother gives me the recipes to make the food that way. It will help!" Winky squeaked excitedly.
"If it is so much better then regular food, why haven't I heard about it?"
"Because wizards is not asking, and elves is not telling. It is what we elves eat usually. The elves at St. Mungos prepare their foods that way because they know it helps the sick wizards and witches." Dobby said. Seraph nodded. It wasn't hard to believe that the wizarding world would over look potentially healthier lives because the ones that could provide the means to achieve it came from 'inferior' beings.
"Good, I look forward to it." Seraph said. Winky had gone directly to the kitchens and began to prepare a large meal. Seraph and Cheleb were treated to the best tasting food either had ever had. Cheleb was given a large steak, but Seraph was served a large Italian platter. It wasn't so much that the food was different from what it would have been before, it was just, well, enhanced. And it was delicious. Seraph thanked her for the meal, to which she blushed heavily, and said that he expected many more like, to which she nodded happily and left with slight snap of her fingers.
"Are we going to leave soon?" Cheleb asked through a large yawn, showing off his many sharp teeth.
"In a bit. I had not thought about it earlier, but I will need equipment to get into better shape. I would try to conjure it, but I'm not sure how long it would last and I am not very knowledgeable in their use. This means that we will be going into the muggle world. I want to look through some of the ritual books before we go though. Their may be a few that I want to do in the next few weeks." Seraph told his grim companion. Cheleb shook his head, flapping his ears wildly and sort of just plopped himself on the ground and fell asleep. Seraph shook his head and took of his ring and changed it into his trunk. He went into the library and looked around until he found what he wanted, two books entitled 'Rituals' and 'Advanced Black Rituals'. He sat at the small desk that was inside of the trunk and opened the first book.
Within these pages can be found the means to great and terrible power. But take heed, everything comes with a price, be it loss of sense, pain, or sacrifice. Every topic and its subsequent sub topics have at least one book, if not more on it. Rituals are not to be taken lightly, a mistake may cost you your life.
'Cheerful' Seraph thought. He flipped a page and found a table of contents.
Rituals
Blood Curses
Family: cursing your bloodline
Race: cursing a races bloodline
Mundane: cursing non-magical bloodlines
Bonds
Willing: friendship, business, etc.
Marriage: Life bonds
Basic Oaths: Wizards Oath, Witches Oath, Truce Oaths, etc.
Enslavement/Unwilling: Oaths of obedience
Concubine
Self
Sleep Reducing
Energy Increasing
Food Consumption Decreasing
Blood Thinning
Finger Dexterity enhancement
The topics under the Self Rituals seemed to go on and on. Some, like the ritual that increased your cores magic reserves and better night vision were worth looking in to. Rituals to give you an extra finger on your arm, were not. Others, like the ritual to give ones self the ability to possess any one at will were downright stupid to perform. Not because Seraph thought that possessing people was wrong, though being a victim made him want to never experience it again, but because the cons heavily outweighed the pros. To perform the ritual you would need to burn runes into nearly every inch of your body and give up every sense that you have, and your body. Essentially you would become a near dead soul that could possess people. Not unlike what happened to Voldemort, when Seraph thought about it.
Many of the rituals that he was considering would be called 'basic', as the sacrifice was generally pain or a small animal for a small but permanent benefit. And while it was not technically a ritual, more of a process, a guide to Animagi could be found inside the book. He looked through the advanced book, and found a number of interesting rituals there, but none that he would be able to safely perform, even if he had been gifted to be better at them then most.
After an hour of looking through the book, he had written down a few rituals that interested him and what he would need for them. He wanted to perform the core increasing ritual and later the Maturation ritual, one because the Maturation ritual was part of the advanced book and two, because it would have a greater effect if his core had already been increased in size. Their was a disease immunity ritual, which would protect you from most ailments, magical or mundane, the main ingredient was breath of a Nundu.
The 'Clear-Mind' ritual that lessoned or neutralized the effects of mind altering potions, another that had the same effect for poisons. Those two had interesting effects though. Any ingested poison would be added to his blood and create an immunity to it. He was so interested in this one because if he had a bit of Basilisk poison still in his blood stream, no other poison would be able to affect him, and if not, he could get some from the chamber. It had the added benefit of turning his blood into a poison, a discreet weapon. The mind potion ritual worked the same way, only it did not alter his blood. If he could make or get his hands on Veritiserum and a strong mind controlling potion, he would never have to worry about truth or mind altering potions again.
A 'Stone-Skin' resistance ritual was also worth trying. It would increase the toughness of his skin, making it harder to cut or injure, the downside was that all of your skin needed to be systematically removed and replaced by the enhanced skin. Most unpleasant. After this ritual he would need to use special Ritual Blades, as others would be much less effective at cutting him. The second level of it increased the density of your bones, making them nearly impossible to break. Every bone would have to be removed and re-grown, not only painful but potentially fetal if done incorrectly. There was a third level, but Seraph was not sure if he would do it, or any time soon if he did. At every joint and ligament in the body, a rune would be drawn. The corresponding rune would be drawn on the other side of the joint and on the next bone. The purpose of the ritual would be to make sure that your appendages cannot be severed, which would be convenient if you were hit by a Ribbon Cutter curse, or if you were Mad-eye Moody
Several eye enhancements had caught his attention as well, like the x-ray like ritual which had the added benefit that would allow him to see through simple illusions and a few more advanced illusions, namely Invisibility cloaks. That along with his scanning ability would make sure he was not fooled by them again. There was the 'Raptor-Eye' magnification ritual which promised him to be able to read a book a hundred yards away if he concentrated, and the 'Night-Eye' ritual, which would allow him to see much better night. The last 'ritual' he wanted to do was the Animagus one. It required a potion and the knowledge of what ones inner animal was, and Seraph was pretty sure what his would be. If it wasn't though, the potion, if made correctly, would force the transformation anyway, it would just be much more painful. His list of rituals that he wanted to do soon completed, he took Cheleb and left the Black Alley.

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He made it through Knocturn Alley easily. It was just going passed noon, and no one wants to mess with a dark figure in a hooded cloak who walks in the company of very large and potentially vicious dogs. He knew that wizards, especially the purebloods (and generally the most influential) frowned upon physical exercise, so it was likely that there was no magical equivalent to it. Just in case he was wrong, he decided to check at an Auror supply store called 'Auror Supplies'.
"What can I do fur ye?" Asked a small man from corner of the shop.
"I want to know if there are any magical equivalents to muggle exercise equipment." Seraph told the man who was now itching his head.
"I dunno, wha's 'exercise equipment'?" The man asked a bit stupidly. Seraph wondered why wizards wanted to live such stagnant and magic dependant lives.
"Something you use to get into better shape, stronger? Bigger muscles? Increase your endurance, say for a duel?" Seraph asked, getting a bit fed up.
"Nope, can't say we gots anything like that, but we got some new stuff that might help you. There's stealth trainin' boots, they force to walk all stealth like until you learn how to do it your self, and this gadget here." The man said, holding up large leather bracer. "It's supposed to force your magic harder, making your spells stronger. Boss calls 'em 'Pathway Trainers' or somfin like that." The man told him.
"What in the name of Merlin does that have to... forget it; I'll take a pair of each." Seraph said. They may not have been what he was looking for, but they would probably be useful. The slow man nodded and began punching things into a machine.
"That will be twelve galleons and six sickles." He was told. Seraph paid and left quickly. Suddenly several screams were heard, some wailing, some cursing loudly, and a select few, though the sound was distinct and heard clearly, were laughing uproariously. Seraph bent down and picked up a discarded 'Daily Prophet'.

Daily Prophet
The 'Boy-Who-Lived', Dies
Story by Omni Asoka
Tragedy struck just hours ago. The boy-who-lived, Harry Potter, 5th year Gryffindor, savior of the wizarding world, was found dead outside of the Leaky Cauldron. Muggle witnesses say that the late Mr. Potter 'ran out from nowhere' and into to traffic. A muggle named Tony Waters had this to say:
"Yeah, I saw him come out from that alley over there, well I think it was the alley, but he came running like he had hell on his heels. Never seen anyone move that fast. He jumped into the road and dodged a couple of taxis*, but it looked like he got clipped by a car and lost his balance in front of the bus. Poor lad never had a chance."*
Why was Mr. Potter running? Was it Death Eaters? You-know-who? Crazed fans? No, eyewitnesses from the Leaky Cauldron tell of a different story, a sad story. Tom Leaky, owner and operator of the 'Leaky Cauldron' since 1896 had this to say:
"So sad to see young life snuffed in such a way. I had not seen Mr. Potter for a couple of years, the last time I did he stayed here for a time, just after Sirius Black escaped. Nice boy; always tipped. I did not hear the beginning of it, but I heard a great deal. A couple of his friends were having lunch, talking about Mr. Potter, and in no good way if it got that sort of reaction from him. He confronts them and they start yelling. They wanted to take him somewhere and Mr. Potter did not want to go. Then they started talking about why they were friends with him in the first place. Right shame, it was. They were using him! Friends since their first year, and they were using him. The Weasley boy picks a fight and got beaten from the start. Potter broke his arm and ran out of me pub, his 'friends' and some nasty looking curses following him. The world is a darker place without him."
Tom Leaky's sentiments were felt by most of the inhabitants of the Cauldron, except for one man in a dark hooded cloak who was beaten by a supporter of the late Mr. Potter and found to be a Death Eater, he was subsequently thrown into Azkaban shortly after the incident. We here at the Daily Prophet mourn the loss of such a great young man and send our condolences to his true 'friends'.
*Cars are muggle vehicles used for transportation, not unlike carriages.
**Taxis are small versions of the Knight Bus and much slower, prone to hitting things.
*Mr. Waters memory has since been obliviated.
Potter history, page 12A
Harry Potter Biography, page 13B

'What, no Harry Potter Memorial day? I suppose a few people crying on the ground is worth it though. They can deal for now.' Seraph thought. He made it through the alley with no other events except jumping over a few young women rolling on the ground and breaking the jaw of a laughing person in a dark cloak. He transfigured a collar and leash for Cheleb once they made it into Muggle London. Cheleb protested about the evil thing around his neck until Seraph told him why he had to wear it, and a threat of no steak for a week. Seraph was given a few odd stares, though they were mostly from older women and business men who had no time for 'Goth punks' as one man called him. He drew some pleasant stares from a group of girls who he thought could pass as vampires, if it wasn't for the sun being out.
'Must look into this. Could be fun when I get some time.' Seraph thought to himself.
Since the cabs did not seem to like Cheleb too much, it took them nearly an hour to find a store that sold exercise equipment. Once there though, he found everything that he needed except for running machines, he was not going to need them. The helpful, albeit, frighteningly muscular woman helped him pick at a myriad of free weight equipment and several professional Nautilus machines as well as something called an 'Xvest' and it's assorted add on weights. The purpose was to increase the resistance and weight of your body to strength train while doing cardio exercises. He was also given a book on exercises and strength training and one on cardio workouts. Under the pretense that his uncle owned a gym and needed all new equipment, the lady sold him several of each item he wanted. They were brought out the back of the store where a few trucks would come by and pick them up. When she left, Seraph shrunk them and stuffed it all into a compartment in his trunk. All told, he spent exactly 30,759 pounds on all the equipment, close to 7,000 galleons. The machines weren't cheap and he wanted to have many for the guild when it started up.
Seraph called the Knight Bus and took it back to the Leaky Cauldron. He made his way through Diagon quickly heading towards his next destination, Flytr Apothecary. It wasn't long before he walked into the dimly lit shop. The smell was actually bearable, compared to the one in Diagon Alley. There was a woman behind the counter, but she seemed to have been passed out for a while now, drool falling from her mouth. Seraph shook his head and wondered if he should fire her, before he noticed a glowing line that extended from her head directly to the back. He followed it and found that it went through a shelf that held an enormous supply of shriveled shark fin and a single broken bezaor. He twisted the hard yet oddly hairy thing and pulled. The shelves seemed to hiss and expel a white mist before they slide into the wall. Behind the fake wall a woman who looked identical to the other one up front pointed her wand at him.
"Who are you?" She demanded.
"Doesn't matter." He told her.
"Maybe it don't, but I don't get many coming through here. Who told you about this place?"
"A mutual friend, I'm sure. Why is someone so incompetent manning the front?" The woman smiled.
"A 'mutual friend' supplied me with a convincing helper. Can't actively control it all the time though, but I know when someone comes in and wants to buy." She told him. Seraph nodded and took out his list and began to look around as the woman began using her wand to change the style of her nails.
'Lets see, I need 'Re'em blood, Runespoor skin, Acromantula hair, and Acromantula eyes, Roc Claw, Manticore venom, Breath of Nundu, Dragon's retinal, Graphorn Horns...' The list went on and on. Most of the rituals required a potion, ritual daggers, sometimes the druidic chant but not always, and various other things unique to the ritual. He found the potions ingredients he needed and an advanced ritual blade kit, some required to be soaked in blood before use and many others were dependant on the lunar colander and other cycles. He grabbed a few other required odds and ends before making his way up to the counter.
"Aren't you the busy boy..." The woman said as he placed the large amount of items he wished to purchase on her counter.
"Something like that." Seraph said simply.
"Self enhancements a tricky business, but worth it if you don't die. This going to be it?" She asked.
"No, I need a few more ingredients from the other side of a more mundane nature, Bellsprout, powdered Griffin tooth, essence of Nordok-." He was cut off.
"Animagus? Whyn't you say so, got a kit right here for it. Got already made doses back here too, just add the blood, but most feel more comferable making it themselves, if they have the skill. More personal I suppose." The woman told him as she handed him a shrunken box.
"Animagus kit plus the ritual blades, not to mention those ingredients... Re'em blood is not as cheap as it use to be... Roc Claw? Not many call for that... Nundu Breath... even fewer call for that... Twelve snow white rabbits, got those in the back...What are you trying to become kid? A few low level rituals and a couple of advanced ones... always be prepared, right? Comes to 5,719 galleons, 12 sickles, and a knut. Don't kill your self, we haven't had business this good in years." The woman told him happily. Seraph did not comment on the fact that the owner was giving them the good business but paid her and left.
Seraph made it back to Black Alley without incident and enjoyed a small meal prepared by Winky before going to bed. The elves had been informed that he was to be woken up at six in the morning. Tomorrow would mark the beginning of the end of the war.
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It had been three days now since the death of Harry Potter, and the wizarding world had taken it very well, in Albus Dumbledore's humble opinion. Much better then he had hoped. 'I only saw twelve people on the ground of Diagon Alley openly weeping.' He thought. Much better then the twenty five he had counted a couple of days earlier, though the laughing Death Eaters, or supporters at least, laughing had irritated him a bit. It was worth it when a man broke one of the laughing men's jaws though. The pained man had been found to be a Death Eater once at St. Mungos. 'One less Death Eater, too many to go.'
He had just sat through another Order meeting where he had told those idiot children that under no uncertain terms would he protect them from the press. The Weasley boy had stormed off, cursing with his girlfriend hot on his heels, balling her eyes out. He had sent an owl to the Longbottom Manor just earlier this morning, but he had not been contacted back yet. He thought about the Longbottom boy, and how he would break the news to him. He briefly wondered about just forcing a controlling potion like he had planned to do to Potter, when he realized who he was dealing with. Potter was easily controlled for years without aid, Longbottom would be much easier.
'All I have to do is gently ease the boy into a friendship with Granger and the young Weasley boy. The child has no friends, so accepting a couple should not be difficult. If he stayed here he would see that the war is indeed happening, not like he would not know from the Department of Mysteries, and I could drop subtle hints about training. Get those idiot children to convince the boy of the importance of it, and of course, the rare opportunity to be taught personally by myself and I will have him. I can have Severus teach the boy Occlumency and try to implant a link between the boy and Riddle, perhaps a variation of the Dark Mark, but in his mind? A soul bonding would work much better if it could be achieved... Once he is confident enough in his abilities I will explain the prophecy and my reasoning. If a soul bond cannot be established, it is critical that a mind link is. Once it is strong enough, I will send the boy to fight Riddle. Riddle will kill him and the link will force him to die as well. If he possesses all of his soul anyway. I fear Riddle has done something terrible to himself, but I have no proof. Well, not enough proof as to know how many. The Potter boy already destroyed one soul; I'm not sure how many times it can be broken before it becomes useless. But who would know? This would have been much easier with Potter. All those years, wasted! Those kids will pay, eventually. No use doing something now when I can devastate their lives later...' Dumbledore thought as he grabbed a Lemon Drop out of his desk drawer. Sucking on the sour he began to watch his many silver twirling devices in silence, unaware of his phoenix shaking its head behind him.
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It was in a dark circular room that we find Severus Snape. Dressed in ceremonial garb, he sat on his legs looking forward but not seeing anything. He was preparing. He was extremely wary about his master's 'gift'. Anything that came from that man could not be good. The pentagram that he sat in now had been drawn by his lord for his personal use, no one had ever used these ritual chambers besides the master. It made him all the more wary. He searched through his mind to find what he was looking for. After a moment, he found them, the switches he had mentally created to signify pain and pleasure. Generally he kept both of them on half, but tonight he would be turning the pain off for the ritual. He could not appear weak in front of his Lord by screaming out. His master had begun to prepare for the ritual almost immediately after their meeting, but it had taken him nearly two days to set up. For his lord to go through all this trouble for him was beyond anything he had ever heard. He had been allowed to leave for his home for a half an hour to find two things of extreme personal importance, something that had confused him greatly.
A near silent creaking was heard behind him. After a moment Lord Voldemort appeared in front of him, floating two bodies behind him. The bodies were revived and a man and a woman began to yell uselessly.
"Severus, I see that you are ready. The ritual that you are about to perform, or take part in, I should say, is one that I have done many times myself. The man before you, if you did not recognize him is Karkaroff. He was found early yesterday morning. The woman before you is Nevue Shey, a spy that was found out recently. You are going to kill them both, one before the other. I will do the rest. Are you ready Severus?"
"Yes, my Lord."
"Of course you are... pick up your first object." The Dark Lord Commanded. Snape reached into his robe and pulled the Prince family ring. "Kill one when I tell you to." Severus nodded.
The Dark Lord walked over to the two floating people and poured a vile looking potion on the two of them, making a bubbling noise as it hit their skin and began to chant in a harsh tongue, something that may have hurt Severus' ears if he could have felt pain at the moment. He recognized a few Druidic words like 'break' and 'bind' as well as 'power' mixed with a few serpentine hisses. The flames in the corner of the room stopped shinning their reddish yellow flame and turned a cold black. The room got increasingly colder, as if a dementor was near.
"Hold the ring forward and kill." He was commanded, and he obeyed.
"Avada Kedavra!" He intoned. That familiar emerald green light of screaming death burst forth from his wand and struck the former Durmstrang Headmaster in the head. The man's body was thrown back and into the wall, a broken heap, but not from the spell. A light purple ball of mist had shot out of the man, and was now heading towards the potions master. At the same time, Snape felt something inside himself break and struggle to get out. It succeeded and a dark grey mist pushed out of his body. The mist had a face, his face. The face bowed to him before it shot into the ring just as the light purple ball hit him in the chest. The slightly worn and hollow feeling that he felt momentarily was wiped away, a feeling of rejuvenation began to seep its way through his entire body. He had not felt this good in years. Something this good could not possibly be bad. He allowed a small smile to play across his face for a moment before he stopped and looked towards his lord. Riddle smirked at him, knowing exactly what he was feeling.
Again, the chanting continued. The flames got darker, colder, and showed less light. The pentagram began to glow in an eerie light. The woman began to scream with renewed vigor, though it was futile. Again, he cast the killing curse when he was commanded to. The spy soon joined the other traitor next to the wall as a blue and slightly rainbow colored ball of mist left her. That same feeling of something trying to get out was felt by Snape as another dark grey cloud left his chest and went into an object. This time it was his mother's favorite necklace, one of the few things that he had left from her and one of the only things in his life he felt even remotely sentimental about. The necklace glowed black as it absorbed the grey misty matter and seemed to loose its luster. The bluish light hit him in the chest and he once again felt that feeling of refreshment. This time though, there was something else. Power. As his master continued to chant the feeling became more and more noticeable. He realized that he had absorbed both of their magical cores and now they were being bonded to his own. His lord had been right. He could never have dreamed of such power, and yet he knew that Voldemort was even more powerful and he began to respect the man more.
"Rise Severus. Tonight, you have joined the leagues of countless other Dark Lords in history who have preformed this ritual. You hold in your hands two pieces of your soul. Your soul is now in three parts, one of the magical numbers. For every piece that you lost, you gained another magical core. I think that you would agree that it is a fair trade. Should you be killed, you will be able to be revived, not unlike I was. You will find that your appearance has changed slightly, you are a bit paler, thinner, and your eyes are darker, almost glowing black. Do not draw attention to this, and if the old fool asks about it, tell him it was during a potions explosion. You are the most powerful of my followers now and may call me 'sir' if you so desire."
"Yes, sir." Severus said, reveling in the power he now felt.
"Good. In a week I want you to take the inner circle and raid Azkaban. If possible, take the fortress under your control, if not, free all of my supporters and kill those who won't or are too far gone to join me." He commanded. Riddle opened his palm as if to receive something and Snape's necklace glided into his hands.
"I will be keeping this. It will ensure that it is never destroyed for any reason." 'And to ensure your loyalty.' Voldemort thought to himself. Snape nodded weakly knowing that he could not go against his lord. "You are dismissed." He told his servant. Snape bowed low and left. He locked the door and put up a silencing ward and laughed. A high pitched laugh so disturbing and plainly evil in nature that it would give anyone alive who heard it nightmares, and had on occasion. Instead it cracked the skin of the two dead people lying in a heap near the wall.
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All right, that is the end of this chapter. The training starts next chapter and hopefully things may start to speed up, though no promises there Hope you all enjoyed Snape's ritual. Neville, Narcissa, Draco get some play in the next chapter, or at least that's what I'm planning on.
I want to address something; this story will not contain slash. There may be more pairing between characters, but they won't be slash. Seraph may or may not have a relationship somewhere down the road in the story. As of now, it's a not. When he gets back to Hogwarts, if he goes back to Hogwarts, we will see. I've got nothing against slash, I just don't enjoy reading it when it is between main characters. I'm not sure how well I can write het pairings, let alone slash. Sorry for those of you who wanted a Harry/Draco fic.
I will take suggestions as to who Seraph should be with if I decide to do a pairing with him.
I'm also looking for rituals. Any and all, whether a vague idea or details including instructions and ingredients. I need help here. I can only come up with so many.
I want to know who should be in the guild once it starts up. Let me explain how I planned on doing this. There is a calling that runs in their blood when the guild will be started up again. They may not know it, their parents may not have known about the guild. Some of the purebloods may, but not likely. May be muggleborn to pureblood. Draco and Tonks are automatic as they Black blood. It is only in their generation, so there won't be any older members (older as in not parents old) People like Remus, Fred, George and others may be recruited outside of the blood call. There probably won't be more then 10-15 blood called members. All others will be recruited. So tell me who you want.
Remember to review.