Upon entering the compartment, Extimum caught the attention of everyone present inside.
Extimum : "Good morning, how are you this morning." Extimum did not enter completely and from a few steps after the entrance he spoke.
Hannah: "Extimum, it's been a while, I almost thought you would forget us and choose to ignore us."
Extimum : "ah, my apologies, it's been a busy few months, but after all, here I am."
Susan: "It's good to see that you're okay."
Ernie: "Izorim".
Extimum : "Macmillan".
Extimum and Ernie only nodded .
Justin: "Susan, is he?"
Susan: "Oh yeah Justin, he's Extimum Izorim, maybe you've heard of him from some of our peers."
Justin: "oh so you're Extimum , actually, I've heard of you, especially lately with your act of associating with other houses."
Extimum : "ah, I'm just looking to share different perspectives so relating to the other houses is just natural".
Extimum : "Anyway, I just stopped by to say hello, if the opportunity presents itself, we could meet in the library or in the dining room."
Hannah: "Okay, but make it come true."
...
After wandering around the compartments and greeting a few people, Extimum looked for Hermione. On the way he had already met his friends and after chatting a bit and asking how the problem with Mitchell and Steve was solved, Extimum continued on his way.
Speaking of Steve, Mitchell couldn't catch him thanks to Trudor's help, however Mitchell stole his poster and refused to give it back to him until he apologized to the Tutshill Tornados , on the other hand, Steve doesn't care at all about his pride. and immediately apologized, Steve's impudence knew no bounds.
Upon finding the compartment in which Hermione was , Extimum entered, inside there were only her and Neville sitting opposite each other, Hermione was looking at a book and just like Neville.
Extimum : "hello". Extimum just greeted casually and walked in, then sat next to Hermione .
Neville: "Hello Extimum ." Neville responded, but continued in his herbology book.
Extimum : "what are you reading?"
Hermione : "It's a potions book, the classes with Snape are a bit difficult and I have to try harder to achieve the best results and although the written part is going well for me, some practical exercises are difficult for me."
Extimum : "oh, let me look, maybe I can help you."
Hermione passed the book to Extimum and showed him the procedure she was having difficulty with.
After that Extimum and Hermione argued for a while on the subject.
.
Upon reaching Kings Cross, the students got off the train with their belongings.
As he got off the train, Extimum moved away a bit to make room and then looked around, most likely his house elf was coming for him. He knew that at least someone would come because he had already sent an mail advising that he would return; he had to borrow Harry's owl to send the letter because he didn't have one.
As Extimum looked around, Hermione also got off the train and approached Extimum .
Hermione : "Have you seen your parents yet?"
Extimum : "mmm, they must be around, it is likely that I will see them when all these people disperse."
Hermione's question was normal , Extimum was very reserved and only occasionally spoke about his family or personal life beyond what you asked him and was willing to say, he did not seek pity from anyone, nor did he feel that he needed it, on the other hand He did not find the subject personally interesting so he never spoke about himself unless they were common things.
Extimum : "and you?"
Hermione : "oh, they should be here by now, they tend to be very punctual, it's just that like you, with so many people it's hard to see them."
Extimum : "oh, why don't you tell me what they are like and I'll help you look for them?"
Hermione : "well, my father should be a tall man with hair the same color as mine, my mother on the other hand has black hair and they should both wear common clothes since they are not wizards, they should both look like in his 30 years ".
Extimum cast a quick glance around the place.
At this point, when Extimum focused it was as if for a moment time would slow down and he could easily see among the people passing from one side to the other, it was not very difficult to find a couple who wore Muggle clothes, although there were many students with Muggle parents, most did not enter station 9 ¾ directly or tried to dress differently so as not to stand out so much in the community, that said, Hermione's mother also had a certain resemblance to her, so this trait made it easy to recognize them.
Extimum : "they are there." Extimum pointed in one direction.
Hermione : "where? I don't see them."
Extimum : "wait for those people to come by and you will see them."
Hermione : "oh, that's right, there they are, thank you." Hermione was about to leave when she seemed to remember something and asked.
Hermione : "do you want to come and meet them?"
Extimum doubted a bit, but in the end he was willing, it was just to introduce himself to his parents and then he would look for Bob.
Extimum : "okay, let's go."
Hermione and Extimum headed towards the couple looking through the crowd looking for their daughter.
???: "look Stuart, there is Hermione". Appearing in front of the couple's sight, the woman exclaimed.
Arriving in front of them, Hermione ran to hug them while Extimum waited to the side.
After finishing the reunion hug, the man, Stuart, was the first to notice Extimum .
Stuart: "hello young man, you must be friends with Hermione right?". Stuart observed Extimum's peculiar appearance and couldn't help but repeatedly look at Extimum's hair .
Extimum : "nice to meet you sir, I'm Extimum Izorim".
???: "Wow, what a polite young man."
Stuart: "Our daughter is also very educated, Wendy, you should not say it as if it is strange to see young people with good manners."
Wendy: "well, it is true that good manners are not lost yet, but it is rare to see it in such young boys." Wendy on the other hand was not so surprised by Extimum's hair color , anything could be explained if you spoke of magic, so instead of looking at her hair she was appreciating Extimum's refined features and bearing.
Stuart: "It is a pleasure to meet you too Extimum, I am Stuart Granger and this is my wife Wendy Granger".
Wendy: "Tell me Extimum , where are your parents? If it's not a bother, I'd like to meet them."
Extimum : "ah, I 'm sorry to disappoint you, they haven't arrived yet, but I suppose I could invite them another time."
Stuart: "do you want us to accompany you to wait for them?"
Extimum : "that will not be necessary, I just came to meet you, it was a pleasure, I will say goodbye for the moment."
Extimum : "I'll write you for Christmas Hermione ."
Extimum said goodbye before delving further into the matter and with a few steps back his presence disappeared in front of the group.
Stuart: "He disappeared, how incredible the magic is."
Wendy: "It's a shame, I wanted to meet his parents."
Hermione. "He went really fast." In all this time Hermione did not speak much, when she was about to introduce Extimum, he introduced himself before she could and after greeting her parents he left too quickly.
.
As they moved away from the area, Extimum dispelled his illusion and looked in a certain direction.
Standing there was a rather unusual and discreet house-elf.
He looked quite old, though still fit. Unlike most house-elves, he stood with his back perfectly straight, and while he was not dressed extravagantly, he could be considered well-dressed by the standards of his kind. He wore a white shirt, black trousers, and a black waistcoat. They were not of the finest quality, but they were the sort of clothes one might expect to see on a lower-income English worker.
He was, of course, Bob.
Extimum walked over to him and spoke plainly.
Extimum: "Let's go."
As soon as Extimum finished speaking, Bob took hold of the hem of Extimum's robes, and the two vanished.
As for why Bob had said nothing, the reason was simple. He knew that Extimum did not particularly enjoy speaking more than necessary, nor did he enjoy listening to others do so.
It wasn't that Extimum treated him poorly. Ever since discovering that Bob reported everything he did at home, Extimum had stopped considering him someone close to him. He had no need for someone constantly keeping tabs on him.
Besides, compared to how he had been only a few months earlier, before leaving for Hogwarts, Extimum had improved somewhat. He had become more willing to speak with other people.
Otherwise, there was a good chance that, in a situation like this, he wouldn't have said a single word and would have simply given the signal to leave.
.
In an unknown valley.
Extimum appeared alongside Bob.
Standing before him was a manor.
The manor was vast and imposing. Its overall color was black, accented by white and gold decorations. It occupied an area of roughly five kilometers, not including the magically expanded grounds hidden beyond the protective barriers.
Stretching before the manor was a vast and elegant garden, with a path lined by large, intricately carved statues of men and mythical beasts.
The estate itself was enclosed by a tall fence, and at its entrance stood the family's coat of arms.
The crest was black with a silver design. At first glance, it appeared to be empty, but as one drew closer, a dark figure seated upon a throne could be seen, with a dragon resting at its feet.
At the top of the crest, the family name was inscribed in bold, commanding lettering, while the family motto was engraved along the bottom. Dark mist surrounded the central image, completing the design.
"In the shadows of those who believe themselves to hold power, we shall preserve our existence until the end of time."
It had to be said that the founder of House Izorim had been an exceptionally arrogant wizard. After all, claiming that his family would remain hidden right under the noses of the powerful while still standing above them was no small boast. Added to that was his unwavering confidence in declaring that their existence would endure unchallenged through the passage of time.
Then again, his vision had not exactly been wrong. After all, how many great families had vanished over the centuries? Even the mighty Peverells, who had once triumphed over Death itself, could not escape that fate. And even they might never have achieved the quiet dominion over most of the wizarding world that the Izorims had.
The Izorim Manor was visible in the Muggle world and was known simply as the estate of an old noble family, even serving as a local tourist attraction.
The family took pride in displaying it to the public. While a few people had dared to venture farther than they should have, none of them were ever seen leaving—or walking among the living again. Before long, curious visitors stopped coming altogether.
The manor stood near a wealthy and highly commercial town, though Extimum had never visited it. As for the family's magical secrets, anyone who crossed the estate's fence would find themselves passing through hundreds of magical barriers.
Some were designed to kill any uninvited trespasser. Others merely sounded an alarm. Some ensured that no one could perceive what lay beyond them.
As for what would happen if someone entered the estate only to seemingly vanish?
That would never become a problem. An illusion barrier made sure that anyone watching from outside would continue seeing the intruder as though they were still there, even after they had already disappeared.
Naturally, while the manor was well known in the Muggle world, very few people knew it belonged to the Izorim family. It was, after all, the family's ancestral home. Unless someone was a close friend of the family, they were unlikely to ever be brought there.
Any business dealings would instead take place at one of the family's other residences. Besides, the Izorims had never feared an invasion of their ancestral home. Its defenses were ancient, relying on countless sinister methods inherited from forgotten ages to harvest those foolish enough to invade it.
The manor was heavily protected, but it was not indiscriminately lethal. As long as you rang the doorbell properly and were invited inside, you could enter without any trouble.
There were also enchantments woven into the estate to discourage visitors from attempting to enter improperly. In the past, during difficult economic times in the Muggle world, more than a few opportunists had set their sights on the manor with ill intentions, only to disappear without a trace.
Their disappearances had drawn some attention from the nearby community. To drive away most would-be intruders without attracting further suspicion, the family had enchanted the manor to subtly discourage unauthorized entry.
Some of the older generations had disagreed with that decision. In their eyes, the manor had been built to kill intruders without warning. In the founder's era, taking a life had been commonplace, and although they had refrained from altering the estate's original design, allowing those thieves to leave alive was already more mercy than they deserved.
Returning to the present, Extimum gave the manor one last lingering look before stepping inside.
The house naturally recognized his arrival, opening its doors on its own. The manor possessed no consciousness, but it had been enchanted so that certain tasks would perform themselves automatically for anyone carrying Izorim blood.
The interior was every bit as lavish as one would expect from a grand estate, yet it also carried an atmosphere of quiet comfort rather than oppressive silence.
Extimum had long grown accustomed to both the silence and the vastness of the manor. Nor was it like those ancient houses filled with dust and shrouded in gloom. On the contrary, it was brightly lit, and although the decorations differed from room to room, most of them retained a distinctly traditional style.
Generation after generation, members of the family had ensured that the ancestral home in Britain remained both fashionable and welcoming.
That said, the British branch of the Izorim family had seen better days.
At present, only three small households remained within it.
The first was Extimum's own family, consisting of himself and his parents.
The second belonged to his paternal uncle, Rhys. Rhys had a wife and a young son.
The third was headed by one of Extimum's paternal aunts. He knew very little about her, having met her only a handful of times. All he knew was that she had a husband; whether they had children, he had no idea.
As for his mother's side of the family, she came from a different branch of House Izorim, so Extimum knew little about them as well. He had never known his grandparents and assumed they had either passed away or gone somewhere far away, as he had never once seen them.
The ancestral manor was home to Extimum and his parents, while Uncle Rhys and his family—having taken charge of the family's commercial affairs—lived in another Izorim residence better situated for business.
That left only his aunt.
She oversaw the family's military affairs, though Extimum had no idea where she lived. His father, meanwhile, managed the family's political interests and served as the head of the family.
After glancing around the entrance hall, Extimum turned toward Bob, who had already closed the front door behind him.
Extimum: "send this letter to my mother or father if possible and tell them that I await their prompt response." Extimum handed over a letter he had written at Hogwarts to Bob.
Bob: "Yes, Master Extimum , Bob will go right now." After receiving the letter Bobo disappeared.
The letter contained little more than a polite greeting, along with a request for permission to leave the manor freely from now on. It also asked for a sum of money to be used for the justified purposes outlined within.
Extimum had never made such a request before because, whether his parents wanted to or not, it would have been difficult for them to allow such a young child to go out on his own. Now, however, he had begun his studies at Hogwarts and was old enough to be considered capable of rational judgment. Because of that, he believed they would be unlikely to refuse.
As for the money, that would be even less of an issue, especially since, aside from purchasing a few things for his studies, most of it would be used to maintain relationships with other families.
Now that he had sent the letter, all he had to do was wait for their reply before setting out to take care of most of his plans. As for how he intended to travel, he would simply head to the nearby village and call the Knight Bus. From what he remembered, it was hardly a comfortable way to travel, but for someone like Extimum, who had never left home on his own, it would be quite an experience.
Extimum: 'Good. Since I'm not feeling particularly tired, I'll look around the manor and see if I can find anything I might have overlooked before.'
Izorim Manor contained countless rooms. However, most of them had been sealed, as they no longer had owners and had remained unused for quite some time.
There were a few magical paintings scattered throughout the manor, but most were little more than moving pictures. Extimum knew of only two portraits in the entire house that could actually speak, and he suspected his father had conditioned them not to talk to him.
Otherwise, he couldn't understand why they would be so indifferent toward him when he had never done anything to them and, technically speaking, they were family.
Magical portraits were paintings specially created and enchanted to imitate the personality of the person depicted and respond accordingly. In general, however, they were more like preserved memories of that person. They could also move into nearby portraits or travel to other versions of themselves located elsewhere.
The manor contained private bedrooms, guest rooms, bathrooms, the public library, the study, a dueling hall, the kitchen, the dining hall, a potions room, a ballroom used for gatherings, a basement, a front garden, a courtyard, as well as an observatory and a ritual chamber on the rooftop.
Most of these rooms were spacious and enchanted to adapt, to a certain extent, to the needs of those using them. They were nothing like the Room of Requirement, but they were capable of making minor adjustments, such as changing their décor or rearranging their layout.
As Extimum wandered through the manor, searching for anything suspicious that he might have missed before, he eventually entered the public library.
It was a place where he had spent much of his childhood. He would have said he had already read every book there that contained anything of real value. In fact, it was only after reading the vast majority of its collection that he concluded it was a public library rather than the family's true library.
The reason was simple. Although it housed genuinely useful material, there was nothing particularly extraordinary or secretive—nothing one would expect an ancient family to possess. There was simply no way that could be all the Izorims had.
Feeling somewhat tired after searching the entire manor and spending the day traveling by train, Extimum looked over the towering bookshelves and decided to pick up one of the few books he had never read.
After so many years of reading, especially during his time at Hogwarts, it had long since become a habit.
Taking a seat in a nearby armchair, he opened the book and began to read.
Yet after reading only a few paragraphs, he suddenly froze.
He closed the book and looked at its cover.
Printed across it were the words, Magic for Muggles.
For a moment, Extimum simply stared at the title in complete disbelief.
Then, unable to hold it in any longer, he burst into laughter.
** hahaha **
Extimum had never laughed like that in his entire life, even if it was less a laugh of amusement than one born of exasperation at the sheer absurdity of the situation.
He simply couldn't help it. For the past six years, he had spent countless hours searching for anything out of the ordinary, especially here in the library, where he had spent most of his time.
He had looked through every single book, even if only to read its title. And yet here was what appeared to be an ordinary volume. The moment anyone read its title—provided they had even a shred of common sense—they would realize something was clearly wrong. There was no way a magical library would genuinely contain a book called Magic for Muggles.
Extimum: "Sigh... I don't think even I could have expected to find the key in a way like this."
The book contained the instructions for accessing the family's true library. He could only assume it was some kind of tasteless prank, meant to test the wit and luck of the younger generations.
After taking a few moments to think it over, he rose from his chair and walked over to the bookshelves. He studied the book titles before rearranging several of them into a specific order.
Once he was finished, the initials of books scattered across different shelves, each bound in a different color, spelled out the word IZORIM.
As soon as the arrangement was complete, a faint click echoed through the room, and one of the bookshelves shifted slightly, revealing a dark passage behind it.
Extimum pushed the bookshelf the rest of the way aside and stepped into the passage.
On the other side was a chamber illuminated by torchlight, with a magnificent star chart painted across the ceiling. The room housed a much smaller library, while at the far end stood a statue of a man beside an armchair. The floor was covered by a black carpet woven from an unfamiliar material.
Extimum surveyed the room before fixing his gaze on the statue. Inscribed upon its base were the words:
Devan Loyd Izorim.
He was the founder of House Izorim.
The statue depicted a broad-shouldered man with the bearing of a hero. He wore a wizard's robe reinforced with pieces of armor. In his right hand, he held a dagger; in his left, his wand.
Tearing his attention away from the likeness of his ancestor, Extimum turned to what he had come here for.
The library contained roughly a hundred books, along with one massive volume set apart from the rest, resting alone upon a single shelf.
Filled with anticipation, Extimum began reading the titles.
Extimum: "Shadow Dominion, The Soul and Its Secrets, Blood Curses, One Thousand Methods of Torture, Sacrificial Rituals, Potions, by Elizabeth Izorim, Magical Contracts, and so on..."
Extimum muttered some of the titles he read, the library was full of many books on various subjects, however, most of them dealt with quite dark subjects, they ranged from books on Muggle and wizard sacrifices, torture, possession of the body, necromancy to books on familiar potions, ancient history written by ancestors who lived it, taboo magical theories never tested, bestiaries of rare creatures and much more.
The theme ranged from the darker side to normal themes written by family members.
Extimum : 'This is true magic.' Extimum was moved by the countless perspectives these books offered him, he knew that many of these concepts would be very difficult for him to learn, but he still had a lot of time.
Extimum now turned his attention to the thick book that was set apart from all the others.
Extimum: "The Izorim Grimoire."
The moment he read the title, a new emotion flickered across Extimum's eyes.
Grimoires were exceedingly rare in the wizarding world. They were magical records endowed with a faint consciousness.
They typically recorded every spell claimed by a member of the family, while also maintaining a record of every blood-related family member acknowledged by magic, including those whose existence the family itself was unaware of.
In general, a grimoire could contain anything its creator wished to preserve. What made them truly special, however, was their level of security. It was virtually impossible for anyone outside the family to gain access to one, and they were equally incapable of revealing any secret entrusted to them.
In practice, grimoires had countless uses that many people tended to overlook. Only the oldest families still possessed them. After all, during the magical wars of ancient times, destroying a family's grimoire was often one of the enemy's primary objectives.
By doing so, they could erase an entire family's magical legacy. As long as every knowledgeable member of that family was also killed, it would become impossible for the lineage to ever rise again as it once had.
Naturally, this meant erasing invaluable knowledge from history. Yet the very existence of a grimoire almost guaranteed that, as long as even a single heir remained alive, the family would one day be capable of rebuilding itself. For that reason alone, grimoires represented a tremendous threat.
Their greatest value, however, lay in the fact that they embodied generations of accumulated knowledge from witches and wizards. Moreover, the wisdom or rather, the consciousness—within the book could continuously refine and improve its contents based on every piece of information entrusted to it.
It was this quality that made them true "wise books," relics worthy of being regarded as a family's sacred heirloom.
Even so, grimoires had now become little more than the stuff of myths and legends, or else closely guarded secrets preserved by only a handful of the oldest wizarding families.