After having breakfast with his family, Atticus proceeded to go towards the forest that laid began at the edge of the grounds.
He was doing this for a reason. He had discovered that he had been a parselmouth when he had first met a garden snake out in the gardens at the back of the manor.
He had been greatly surprised that he had the ability and he had asked his family whether it was a common trait within the Sayre family.
His great grandfather had stated that his own father was a parselmouth and that it was trait that popped up in the family every once in every few generations since the 1600s.
His sister also had the ability they had discovered when Atticus had brought back the garden snake. She wasn't one to be enamoured of the skill however and had ignored it since.
He had asked whether there were books on parselmagic and he had stated that unfortunately that it had been one of the branches of magic that they had not collected for.
He did however state that in his youth, he had gone to India partly to find out more about parselmagic. It was revered there and there were still some communities of parselmouths there. He stated that they were a closed community in truth but they opened up their homes for him when they had found his father had been a parselmouth.
He did not spend much time with them and had not further investigated and had indicated that they might have an opportunity to go together on a trip out there to learn more.
He approached the mouth of the forest and moved towards the area that he had released the garden snake. The snake had been delighted to meet 'snake speakers' as there were tales amongst the snakes of snake speakers in the land where Atticus had found her.
Ever since that day, he had come once a while to see if there were more snakes and there were often snakes who made the journey to meet and speak with him.
He had learned that they were decent conversationalists in truth however most had a touch of arrogance about them, especially the Horned Serpent that often came. Atticus had been greatly amused whenever they had been arguing which was often when there more than half a dozen of them at the same time.
`Seras, Jasnia, are you here` Atticus hissed out. When he had not received a reply, he walked deeper into the forest until he heard rustling at which point he stopped his movements.
From one of the bushes, a horned serpent had slithered out and moved towards him `Seras has been away for some time. I have not seen her for some time snake speaker. I do not think I will see her before I hibernate` Jasnia hissed out.
`I understand. How are things with you Jasnia? Did you find yourself a mate`. I asked amused. Seras enjoyed teasing Jasnia for the lack of mates as Sera had already laid eggs twice and Jasnia was older than Sera.
It had been an annoyance for Jasnia considering that she wasn't interested in procreating and hasn't been for a long time.
`I do not wish for a mate. I have no desire to lay eggs and I do not think I will lay eggs for a long time` she hissed back provoked.
He laughed and held up his hands `OK, OK, I apologise. How are things amongst the other snakes? ` He asked.
Atticus proceeded to talk with Jasnia for the next hour or so before he waved her goodbye and moved back to the manor.
He enjoyed speaking parseltongue and he was deeply fascinated with it. He had many questions as to the composition of the language.
Was it a magical language? Or was it a branch of magic? From what his great grandfather had said, spells and wards were possible to be done with parselmagic. It could provide pretty damn good protection if it was true he mused to himself.
He made it back to his room and began to read a potion book that he had begun reading a few days ago. Sophia was due to start Beauxbatons soon and she purchased her first year books.
He asked to borrow her introductory books on potions and she had acquiesced after extracting a promise from him to get it back before she went off to Beauxbatons.
The primary reason he was interested in her books was because he wanted to see the standards of Beauxbatons in comparison to Hogwarts. He was always going to go to Hogwarts, it had suited his plans and plus he wanted to explore the Room of Hidden Things as much as possible, but he could not help but be curious.
He was soon enough due to start private tutoring, Sophia herself had been taught the basics by the time she was five she had told him and he had been getting a head start on it.
Ever since he had been allowed to enter the general section of the library, he had practically lived and breathed books. There had been so much to learn, to explore, it had ignited a passion within him.
He had always loved knowledge but now it was more a passion than a necessity.
He had been learning in order to survive previously and now he was learning for the sake of it.
After all, he was learning magic.
He broke away from that train of thought and focused on the book. He had read the introductory books that his father had and so far it had been pretty similar beyond a few differences.
He had intended to ask his family to obtain books that were assigned in other magical schools so that he could compare and contrast. He had no doubt that there were methods better than the ones that were used in the Isles around the world.
His father had explained the level, or lack thereof, of cooperation between different magical governments around the world. It was appalling how insular magical communities were. The muggle world advanced as fast as it did because of how interconnected they were.
There were so many missed opportunities, it was infuriating. While he may only have the most basic idea of what muggle communications were made of, he did know the theory and that would be all he would need to make magical counterparts.
Atticus sighed, refocusing on his book lest he get distracted by his own thoughts again.
-Break-
In between his magical studies, he had been receiving sporadic lessons on family history and had been given family history books that had extensive chronicles of the Sayre family. He'd been fascinated in the family for some time and he had enjoyed learning about his family.
The Sayre family was an old pure blood family, an exceptionally old family. It boggled his mind that there was an unbroken line that stretched back to Ancient Egypt.
The Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Sayre and the family were nearly four thousand years old and had its origins in Egypt.
The Most Ancient classification were given to those Houses that were over 1,500 years old and Ancient for those that were 1,000 years old. House Sayre is among twelve other families in the British Isles that have the right to bear the Most Ancient classification.
Among the thirteen, only eight are still extant, such as the Blacks, the Ollivanders and the Potters with the rest having gone extinct or have gone into dormancy. The noble addition to a House depends on the wealth, contributions and status of the House.
As a family, the Sayre family had always been grey and had never ascribed to the notion of dark and light magic and had the opinion that magic was simply magic but what makes magic dark or light is the intent of the person performing said magic.
This allowed the Sayre family to carefully and expertly walk in between the contrasting political spheres. Since the destruction of the Peverell family in the 13th Century, the Sayre family had been the most dominant and protective House of the Grey.
This opinion had deeply been tested in the last three hundred years or so as the ministry stepped to ban entire branches of magic with the darker families being marginalised with regards to their magic.
When it came to esoteric branches of magic, the collective understanding of magic in the Sayre family is near unrivalled in Europe.
House Sayre since in the time of Ancient Egypt and the Roman Empire, were a house that was predominantly known for being master craftsmen that had deep knowledge of esoteric magicks and were skilled in the creation of artefacts, ritual crafting, blood magic and warding.
The name Sayre had only been changed once to the local language but the name bore the same meaning as it did in Ancient Egypt.
They were often employed as priests for the Pharaohs to ensure droughts did not happen and to protect their tombs from thieves from what the journals had indicated.
Many Sayres had ventured to Egypt to find these tombs searching for the wards that were constructed by Sayre ancestors.
The Sayres often worked with the Peverells in Ancient Egypt in the employ of the Pharaohs as the Peverells were experts and practitioners of necromancy. It had been during that time that an alliance with the Peverell had begun.
The Hyswel family, were known in that time as expert infiltrators and ward specialists. The three Houses were among the most influential Houses in Ancient Egypt for many centuries.
When the Romans came to Egypt and took control, House Sayre along with a number of other houses, which included the Hyswel and Peverell families, settled in Alexandria during its founding in 331BC and remained there until 47BC.
It was there where the first contact with the Potters occurred. The Potters began in Ancient Rome and were supremely influential within the empire. They were war mages and were the family that produced the strongest of the war mages in the empire.
The Sayre's had huge amounts of influence in Alexandria and had helped set up the initial warding scheme for the Library of Alexandria and instead of payment, they had been able to secure permanent permission for members of the family to use the Library for research purposes.
The Hyswel family were the family that had ultimate control over the Library. While most of books in the muggle side of the library had been burned down around 48BC, the magical library had remained intact until 391 when the Christian pope Theophilus of Alexandria had the area where the Library had been demolished. At that point, the Hyswel family uprooted and moved towards mainland Europe and eventually settled Britain.
By 47BC, the family had been reduced to only two members that were of the main branch. Civil war had broken out in Egypt between Ptolemy XIIHE and Cleopatra VII.
Mages were employed on both sides of the field and the Roman wizards were devastating in comparison to the Egyptian mages.
At the time, wands were a new invention that was predominantly employed by war mages of Rome and they were deployed with Caesar when he had turned to ally with Cleopatra. The Sayre family aided Ptolemy and it had cost the family severely.
Despite being a exceptionally powerful wizarding family, they had been unprepared for the devastatingly quick and precise casting that wands allowed in comparison to the staves and staffs that the Egyptians still used.
By the end of the war when the Romans and Cleopatra had been victorious, many Egyptian mages were dead and family lines were wiped out. In comparison, the majority of the Roman casualties were done by the Peverell and Sayre family but it had cost the Sayres the most while the Peverells were relatively intact.
As part of the peace treaty and being spoken for by prominent families from both nations, the Sayres were left with their wealth, properties and knowledge intact but despite this, the war had left a bitter taste with the Sayres and the two remaining members decided to leave.
Not until they managed to copy the magical and muggle books that resided in the Library of Alexandria and took it with them. He'd asked his father if they still had the contents of the library and he had only smiled and said that the library had copies of the books while the original copies were within the family vault.
He also mentioned that members of the Sayre family had gone to Alexandria four more times in the span of around three hundred years and copied books.
The Sayre family moved out west and had eventually decided to settle in Ireland in around 45BC. This was the beginning of modern incarnation of the Sayre family and where their current name was from.
The heir of the family had been unmarried when he and his sister had moved to Ireland but it had not been long before he had met his wife. The woman he had married was Morrigan.
He had heard of the Morrigan myth when he was a teenager in his previous life and she had been described as the Celtic goddess of death and destiny, someone who influenced the outcome of war, through inspiring fear or courage in the hearts of warriors.
From the stories he was given by his father and great grandfather and the family history books, it became clear that there was only some basis in truth. She wasn't a goddess but she was not entirely human and it's said that's she had Elven blood the last remnant of an age long past though that was simply speculation that was notably stated by one of the ancestors.
From what his father had said, it was long believed in the family that she is immortal or the very least ageless and she had the magical strength of dozens wizards.
From that union, the magical capabilities of the Sayre line were increased by a massive fraction and to this day that merging continues to show in the line through the way of powerful wizards and witches.
Affinities to certain branches of magic begun to show up more often than not in the Sayre line which had resulted from this union such as greater capabilities in the mind arts, to esoteric magicks and an attuning with nature.
It's not known how he managed to marry her but the family books had indicated clearly that he had impressed her enough to give him the opportunity to win her over and that when they had been married, it had been a union of love.
From that union, three children were born all of them exceptionally powerful and had extended lifespan.
From Morrigan, he and their children had learnt magicks that was unknown to the rest of the world. There weren't any descriptions in the books on what was taught to them and when he had asked his father, he stated that some of the knowledge was recorded in the Grimoire but he was uncertain how much was lost.
One thing he did mention however was that the extended lifespan that they received still run true even today. He stated that the average lifespan of a Sayre was 200 or so years in comparison to 150 years of average witches and wizards.
He also stated that the three children had a lifespan of over 500 years. He explored various history books and found a lot of surprising things.
There were numerous individuals who had lived more than two centuries! It seemed that many headmasters of Hogwarts frequently hit the age of 150 to 250 without much problem.
The books don't say much more of what happened with Morrigan when Seth Sayre, her husband had died but father had said that generations of Sayres were told that when Seth had died, the sky had wept blood red for seven days and that Morrigan was no longer seen in Ireland for centuries afterwards.
Many members of the Sayre family have journeyed to Ireland in the hopes of meeting their ancestor but until now, nothing has been verified that a meeting had occurred by those adventurers.
By the first century AD, Roman muggle settlers began to filter through to the British Isles and with them came notable wizarding families such Potter, Ollivander, Grim and Peverell. There had been conflicts with the local magicals in the early years.
The magicals in Britain at that time were predominantly druids who used staves a magical focus and focused more on ritualistic, runic and nature magic which differed substantially from the magicks that the Roman influenced magicals used.
Already by that point, wands had been created by the Roman wizards and it had been a game changer as it allowed for faster casting and allowed the use of more delicate magics that could be created whereas staves and staffs were focused far more on wide area effect casting such as transforming the environment and elemental summoning.
Wands were what allowed the Roman Empire to conquer much of Western Europe and allowed the rise of war mages to occur.
Conflicts with the locals had been frequent until accords had been reached which allowed a closer union of native and settler magicals and lead to the two different magical cultures each gaining something.
The Sayre family resided in Ireland until the 9th century at which point they moved into the area the current Sayre Manor is, while the Potters settled in what would be known as the West Country of England, the Ollivanders settled in the area that would be known as Greater London and the Peverells settled in the midlands.
Over the centuries after they settled in the British Isles, the Sayre family enjoyed huge success and influence that it had lacked when they were in Rome and were once again one of the most powerful Houses.
It had been their most productive period when it came to producing excellent wizards and witches. They were known for producing great works as artificers, enchanters and ward creation.
Many of the wards that Hogwarts employed were based on or were actually of Sayre creation. One of the more famous artefacts created is the Mirror of Erised which was an artefact made by Alfred Sayre in the 16th century.
All these works and productive period resulted in huge wealth creation as Sayre products were highly sought after. This had allowed the Sayre family to invest in businesses and built a large portfolio that spanned entire sectors. The Sayres had their hands in agriculture, in mining, architecture, warding and so on.
With all the acclaim as master crafters, came the unsavoury aspects of business; the rivals that turned into deadly enemies. Though the Sayres were predominantly master crafters by trade, they were still warriors that hailed from Ancient Egypt.
Combat magicks was and is in the blood of the Sayres and they were known then and now as ruthless and typically powerful producers of mages that had a near unrivalled knowledge of esoteric magicks, with the only ones that matched and possibly exceeded that knowledge were the Peverells in Europe.
As a result of the growing rate of enemies of the House, came the increase of alliances. House Sayre by this point was already long since allied to number of families. The Sayre Peverell Alliance at this stage was thousands of years old. Alliances with Houses Carson, Merek and Garrick were made who were all combat oriented families.
In the period between the late 7th century and the 13th century, the British Isles had faced a multitude of invasion from Vikings which included magicals. The most famous Houses that were Viking were Hufflepuff and Longbottom.
They arrived in the early waves and waged war for years against the British magicals unlike the muggle British who had been largely unsuccessful against the Vikings, the British magicals had defeated the Viking magicals however instead of destroying them, they had been given permission to settle in the Isles and were integrated.
By the 7th century, cooperation between Houses and regional powers came together and formed the Wizards Council. It was the first cooperative undertaking in the British Isles by the most powerful families at the time.
There were 13 Elder Houses and 11 Elected Houses that consisted of the Wizards Council. The thirteen Elder Houses were, Sayre, Peverell, Potter, Black, Eveningshade, Hyswel, Greengrass, Ollivander, Bones, Blackthorne, Prewett, Winterdon and Nott. Of those thirteen, only eight remain extant with the others either gone extinct or have gone into dormancy.
For centuries these families had ruled the British Isles and enjoyed tremendous political power. These families had set the rules and many of them were skewed in favour of those noble families.
That had begun to change very slowly when Hogwarts had been founded. The four founders had begun in the late 10th century to cooperate and bring forth a magical school for the children of the Isles.
The killings of magicals in Britain had been ramping in the past few centuries and it seemed like it would only get worse and from there spawned the dream of Hogwarts. The impact that Hogwarts had in the Isles was massive.
Within a century, the killing of magicals had dropped by more than 70%. Most of the deaths that had happened were either those that were first generation magicals, or those who were caught unaware that they were being hunted and often they would catch large parts of families.
By the time Hogwarts was a century old, the number of children that died had tapered off significantly as all magicals were invited to attend Hogwarts. The talented individuals that came from lesser families had now the opportunity to learn far more magic than they would otherwise, increasing the opportunities available to those families.
As the centuries dragged on, Hogwarts provided the opportunity for the uplift of families and it had resulted in far more competent families and the increase of strong Houses.
The impact of Hogwarts had been profound in the Isles and had inspired Durmstrang and Beauxbatons to be founded and later on Ilvermony and Salem in the Americas. Hogwarts had been promoted not only for the education of children but also because as a safe place for children to learn.
Hogwarts is situated on a intersection of three major leylines and two minor ones. Hogwarts as far as House Sayre is aware, situated on the most powerful intersection of leylines with Sayre manor, Black Manor and Potter Manor and Stonehenge ranked after the school with two major and two minor for each manor and Stonehenge intersects two major leylines and one minor.
Hogwarts has the most powerful wards in the Isles however both Sayre Manor and Black Manor are the most strongly warded locations in the Isles. Both manors employ death and various kinds of blood wards that make it nearly unassailable in the conventional manner.
The contributions of the founders resulted in the families receiving permanent seats at the council later in the Ministry and Wizengamot and to this day, those seats to this day remain permanent seats even though the last of the founder houses was lost centuries ago.
The Wizengamot itself was ratified in both muggle and magical British Isles in 1342 when a treaty was signed with both Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England and Wales that clarified the position of wizardkind within the Kingdoms and the Houses that were within those Kingdoms would be bound by the rulings of the Wizengamot however fealty would be owed to the royalty of those respective Kingdoms and could be called upon during war against invaders.
Nearly all of the members of the Council were nobility within both Kingdoms that could be traced to some of the very first Kings and Queens of the British Isles. The Wizengamot had been expanded to incorporate newer houses that were had their origins in the Isles and those who arrived with William the Conqueror in 1066 and were nobility in the muggle world.
The Wizengamot had acknowledged noble titles that wizarding families held in the muggle world and as a result had agreed that certain numbers of votes would be allocated. A Baron and Viscount would receive three votes, an Earl or Marquis five and a Duke would receive seven.
House Sayre had held the Dukedom of Leeds since 1234 until the statute of secrecy had been enacted in 1692 when noble families had been required to relinquish their ties in the muggle world. The Elder seats within the Wizengamot, which had later been adopted once the Ministry of Magic had absorbed the Wizengamot in 1707, were permanent seats that were hereditary and fixed seats that could not be absorbed.
During this period, the Wizengamot was expanded from 28 Houses to 50 and there were two tiers within the Council; the permanent seats which were reserved for minimum Ancient Houses which numbered at 20 and the elected seats which numbered 30.
The permanent seats were allocated three votes whereas the elected seats were allocated two votes. Houses Abbott, Carrow and Selwyn were elevated.
The elected seats were often filled by Houses that had arrived via invasion at various points in history such as Houses Rosier, Crouch, Fawley, Avery, Lestrange and Malfoys.
The 20 Houses still have to this day permanent seats within the Wizengamot and not even if the House became extinct would their seats be removed or absorbed as the magic used to create the chamber had been done by Myrddin Emrys himself.
They had been chosen for their nobility, influence and strength to protect magical Britain after the destruction of Camelot which had opened the Isles for a multitude of enemies.
When the Wizengamot was later absorbed by the Ministry, the number of seats had grown from 50 to 100. Voting had been amended to achieve parity. The permanent seats had been increased from 20 to 25, the noble elected houses to 40, Ministerial seats were assigned 30 seats and 5 were reserved for the Minister and heads of Departments.
Those who had earned a Merlin First Class would seat among the noble elected section.
In the period of the 5th century and the 17th century, House Sayre had married many members of the most powerful Houses in the Isles. In the family genealogy book, families such as Hyswel, Ravenclaw, Black, Peverell and Slytherin were among those that repeated more often in comparison to marriages among the rest of the British based nobility.
House Sayre as a policy has made sure to add as many distinct, unrelated and powerful bloodlines to their own and often mixed non-British magicals to freshen the bloodline.
Even today, this is a policy had continued. Anne Sayre was born from House Provydetsi, an Ancient House that was prominent in the nations around the Black Sea. They had their roots as battle mages and featured extensively in the wars that were fought in Eastern Europe over the last thousand years.
Her father had moved from the region in the 1890s to England as they had seen the situation in Eastern Europe devolve in both magical and muggle worlds. Interestingly enough, his mother was 2nd cousins with the Royal House of Magical Russia, the Romanovs.
Just like what happened in his previous world, the muggle royal family shared the same fate. The muggle Romanovs had been killed by 1917 and sadly the Magical Royal House had not survived the purge even though they had separated from the muggle Kingdom when the statue had been activated.
He had been told that his mother had been furious at the audacity and the manner in which they had died. She didn't care about the muggles but simply that it had resulted in a domino effect whereby assassins had taken the opportunity to get rid of the magical royal family. By which they were successful though it is not clear whether the youngest daughter had survived the purge.
His maternal grandmother hailed from a minor pureblood House, House Carter which was just over 300 years old while his grandfather's mother was a member of House Black.
Grandmother Marie was born a McDowell, an Ancient and Noble House and she was last of her line. The McDowells had been dwindling for over a couple of centuries until she and her grandfather had been left.
The McDowells had a seat on the Wizengamot but since it had been inactive as the house was a Patriarchal House and a son would be required to take the seat. Atticus would have the choice to become a dual lord if he wished to.
The McDowells were one of the oldest families that hailed from Scotland and had been a family that had druidic origins.
They were influential in helping the conquest of Scotland and had helped establish the Kingdom of Alba in the 9th century. They held prominence in the muggle royal courts for over five centuries before they extricated themselves from muggle affairs.
The McDowell family were mostly known for being warriors and were renowned battle mages. His grandmother proudly stated that Godric Gryffindor had apprenticed for the times Lord McDowell and it had been that link that helped the founders find the location they wanted for their magical school.
The McDowell family through the centuries never held the kinds of influential that the Sayres, Peverells and Blacks did however they were well respected. A marriage that is known currently only by a handful of people, McDowells had managed to secure a marriage to Antioch's only grandchild when the family had been on the verge of destruction.
Ignotus had hidden his grandniece with his family when it became apparent that Antioch would get himself killed for the Elder Wand.
When the male line ended with Ignotus in 1292, the lines of the three brothers however lived on through the female lines. Antioch lives on, now, through the Sayres, Cadmus' line now lives on through the Gaunts and Ignotus' line through the Potters.
His father made it clear that this marriage had been completely obscured and none at the time except Ignotus and the Lord and heir of McDowell, who of course married her, knew that she was a Peverell and it had remained so in the centuries afterwards.
It wasn't clear if the girl was legitimate or now given that in the years since, no Sayre had been able to lay claim to the Peverell Legacy.
He had asked if it meant that he were the rightful heirs to the Peverell family but his father had stated that he didn't know if that had been the case as it depended on family magic showing up in either of them and perhaps meeting some kind of requirement.
His father stated that ever since the death of Ignotus, the Peverell family seat and vault had gone into stasis and not extinct.
The Potter's had famously tried to claim the vaults but had never succeeded.
The McDowells had never tried to claim the vaults as they did not want the attention on their family.
The Tale of Three brothers, grandmother had said, was a death sentence on the family that they never knew had come to be.
Even today, he knew that the three hallows occupied the minds of powerful wizards and two specific ones came to mind. Grindelwald has used the House crest of the Peverells as his symbol and will become synonymous with his cause.
When he found out that he possibly shared a connection with the Peverells, he had been unsure what to think of it. For one, he had been excited as it could mean that he could unite the Hallows as he was an heir but it also made him and his family a target should the link ever be discovered.
He also did not want to earn the ire of Death if she/him/it had a personification. He did not believe that any mortal could be the master of death. Perhaps champion, perhaps companion. But not master.
He knew that Dumbledore in the books had interests in the artefacts given that he'd hung onto the invisibility cloak for years, had the Elder wand for decades and had succumbed to the curse that was imbued in the Stone, unable to resist the compulsion curse.
The biggest threat other than Dumbledore was of course Grindelwald. Chances are that if he ever found out about the link he could come after the family, even if he had the wand that potentially belonged to the Sayre line, purely if only to find out what the family knows of the Hallows.
By the beginning of the 17th century, the Sayre family was at the risk of extinction. For over a quarter of a century in the latter stages of the 16th century, House Sayre had been involved in a devastating feud with eleven houses, three of whom were based in the Isles and the rest were on the continent.
House Sayre had been challenged in one of the areas in which they conducted their business and it had escalated to a full blown war between families. During that period, House Sayre was extremely wealthy and had the ability to call on dozens of wizards and had formalised alliances with many Houses in the Isles.
Over the centuries, they had managed to expand their trade and businesses all over Europe and had expanded with the British Empire when they arrived in Asia. The Sayre family had their hands in mining, agriculture, potions, textiles, and metalworking and in many other industries both in the muggle and magical worlds.
This growing influence of the family resulted in the creation of numerous enemies which devolved into full blown war. It resulted in the extinction of the three families in the Isles and the allies that had aided them, of which there were five and the extinction of the eight houses that were on the continent.
Of the allied houses of House Sayre, only five had survived which had included the original four families though they were much diminished but the war had the largest impact on the Sayres.
It had reduced the number of Sayres to exactly one; A William Sayre who was from a cadet branch of the family. He had been the son of the Lord's third born son. He had been kept away from the war since his birth but when his parents had joined the war; his maternal grandmother had taken care of him and took him away to Ireland when it became clear he was orphaned at 14.
He had not attended Hogwarts as it was deemed too high risk and had been taught first by his parents and then his grandmother.
By the time the feud had ended, he had been 19 and had been alone since he was 17 when his grandmother had died. The war had a significant impact on William and he had not left Ireland and had died without returning to England.
Luckily for him, the relationship with the goblins with the Sayre family had been excellent and they had known of the contingency plan and had locked down the Sayre assets until someone of his line could claim it.
He met Rionach Gaunt when he was 21 and had married her soon afterwards and not long after, Isolt Sayre had been born in 1603. Seven years later, Henry Sayre had been born.
Tragedy continued for the Sayre family because Rionach had an insane younger sister. The two sisters were born from the Lord of the main branch however when he had passed while their still in their teens, the Lordship went to their uncle and it had resulted in them departing to Ireland.
The Gaunts were famous even then for their madness and fanatic blood purism which fortunately had passed over Rionach but had returned twofold in Gormlaith.
She had set the home of the Sayres on fire and it had killed the elder Sayres. Gormlaith had then taken in the 9 year old Isolt and the 2 year old Henry.
By all accounts, the years under Gormlaith had been terrible for the pair of orphans as she had regularly cast dark magic on the pair. Isolt had done her best to protect her little brother and was able to take most of the attention away from him.
Isolt had been denied going to Hogwarts which she had hoped to go to and it sparked something in her that would later result in the creation of Ilvermony.
She had planned to escape Gormlaith and take her brother with her but an opportunity had arisen that proved to be the best choice; she managed to convince Gormlaith to let Henry attend Hogwarts.
When the time neared her escape she coached and instructed Henry to go to Gringotts when the time comes and have them help him get to the Sayre Manor as her father had once said that it was a near impenetrable fortress.
The time came and the siblings had split, not seeing each other for over two decades. Henry managed to claim the Sayre vaults and the goblins helped him with what he needed and the portraits at Sayre manor educated the boy before it had been time to go to Hogwarts.
He managed to get in touch with the surviving allies of House Sayre and had reaffirmed the old oaths and bonds.
At Hogwarts, with a stroke of luck that may have been helped along, Henry managed to befriend the Heir Black. From that friendship, influence came and with that, Henry slowly but surely re-established the Sayres in the minds of the nobility who had believed that House Sayre had gone extinct.
After Hogwarts, marriage to Lucretia resulted in an alliance of aid with House Black was spawned that was still in existence today. The Blacks had always been from what he had been told, a tentative ally throughout the ages.
In the time that House Sayre had been absent; House Black filled the spot and had garnered huge support and had total control over the traditionist faction and significant influence over the grey faction when the Sayres had been absent.
Having the Sayres as allies meant that they solidified their hold on the dark faction and it meant that they had a permanent link with the grey faction. A resurgent House Sayre did not pose a problem for them as the Blacks and the Sayres had healthy respect and a certain amount of kinship considering their roots.
They had known each other and respected since the time the Sayres had arrived in Ireland.
They had intervened in the early days when Henry was still a Hogwarts student when opportunists made attempts on him and made sure that they could not threaten him again. That was a debt that even though had been repaid over the centuries, it is still remembered.
Henry, post Hogwarts, spent his entire life rebuilding the Sayre finances and businesses and had managed to regain significant portion of it all. Not only that, he had managed to secure the family by having five children of which three were sons.
He had also changed the House motto to 'Nos Simul Stare', We Stand Together. It had been something that continued to this day and there had been no strife within the family in all that time.
The time since the passing of Henry Sayre for the family had been a productive one. Since that time, there had been a Defence against the Dark Arts Professor, a Runes Professor, a Director of the DMLE, ICW officials, Unspeakables and many masters of various branches of magic.
In the colonies, the Sayre presence is particularly dominant in North America where the famous Isolt Sayre established Ilvermony, the very first school in the Americas. From that action, the Sayre family were honoured and to this day held significant influence in MACUSA. There they are considered a Founder House.
Nowadays, the family were far more interested in business than politics.
The Sayre family's portfolio, while it was far below the standards they had set during their peak, still consisted of significant market share of potions ingredient export and import business. The family had cornered magical creature farming and held numerous magical creature reserves.
In addition to it, they were held stock in numerous commercial entities such Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley, Verdant Alley and Horizon Alley. However, the vast bulk of the wealth of the Sayre family were the galleons that were present in three major banking institutions around the world.
While it is not advertised how wealthy the Sayre family is, it is known that the amount that is present in Gringotts makes the Sayre family the wealthiest family in the Isles. The Blacks are the next closest wealthiest family but with the political pull they have, they are substantially more influential.
The Malfoys at this stage are wealthy but not overly dominating so. It must have been as a result of the war that their influence rose with the absence of the Blacks.
For someone like himself, someone who had no significant heritage to be proud of in his previous life, being part of such a storied family was something he cherished.
It was contradictory, in truth, as he was someone would prided himself on being 'self-made' in his previous life instead of being handed everything on a silver platter based on their heritage or wealth or both and yet here he was, someone who cherished his heritage and who very likely would be able to receive anything he wanted on a silver platter.
He discarded this notion completely as his achievements, while would be built on the back of his ancestors, it would be his own through his abilities and mind.
Atticus had been intrigued to see what level of influence the Sayre family had internationally. He had asked his father and great grandfather and they had stated that they were a respected family and some of the few families that were international.
He hadn't been shocked when his father had explained that the Old families of Britain were isolationist in nature and rarely dealt outside of the Isles. It made the Sayres the exception rather than the rule. It also meant that while the Sayres had limited influence, in comparison to the Blacks, the Sayres were far more influential on the international stage.
He stood up from seat and yawned. It had been a tiring day.
He yawned again and stretched and made his way to the kitchen. Perhaps I can get Tweenie to make me that fish dish that he does so well he mused to himself.
-Break-
30th of November 1929 – Age 5
Like every morning, Atticus woke up at early to begin his morning exercises. He got out of his bed and slid the window blinds aside and opened the window. He stretched in front of his mirror and looked at himself.
Atticus was fairly tall for his age. He still had very little musculature but from what he could surmise, he'd end up with a tall wiry body that would be lean.
His father, and from what he remembered of his grandfather, both had a lean but with a clear muscular definition. Even at this young age, he could clearly see that he favoured his grandfather in his looks but he had his mother's nose and shape of the eyes.
His eyes early on had been of a dark shade of blue with lighter flecks of blue which had darkened into an amethyst colour with flecks of emerald green mixed in it.
The eyes contrasted beautifully with his face which had aristocratic features, the pale skin and midnight black hair that he had. More than once, whenever the Sayre family hosted other families or guests, comments about his eyes had been made.
He began his morning exercises which involved a light schedule of physical exercise until he was older. In his previous life, he had been an active man, daily gym sessions and ran every other day.
Thankfully in this current life, his diet from the beginning had been healthy that he had only picked up consistently once he had started university.
After he finished his exercises, he went for a shower and returned to begin his magical exercises.
His mind drifted as he thought on his progress. By the time he was three, he could summon, banish and levitate items. He had difficulties with control and had spent a significant amount of time familiarising the amount of magic that was used in each action.
He had learned that the first pull on his magic he felt was the equivalent of a dam bursting whereas the control he established felt like a steady flow of water, gauged to an amount.
He'd already developed a decent amount of sensitivity to his magic when he had been meditating trying to find his magic. As he continuously practiced, his control over his magic continued to grow to the point that his level of control resulted in him amalgamating the three into telekinesis.
He went to the closet and brought out the box that contained the items that he would be using. Opening the box, he brought out weights that he had absconded with a few months ago. His father had been extremely interested in fitness in his late teens and had brought him entire sets of equipment to use.
One of the books that he had found in the library was a magical theory book which had indicated that the magical strength of an individual will grow with the use of magic, in other words magic was like a muscle and the more you use it, the larger it grows and the more magic intensive spells you could perform along with an increase in stamina.
He arranged the weights around the room and sat down in his designated spot for meditation.
In order to grow his level of control, he invented a game to help him. Each night and morning he'd sit down in a meditative posture on the floor of his bedroom with various toys and chess pieces scattered around him.
He closed his eyes and began to control his breathing, tuning everything out except for his breathing and the comfortable thrum of his magic.
Each year that passed, he could see the river widening, the flow growing in strength. He took control of his magic and began to project it outwards.
He entered his meditation and began to project his magic outwards, willing his magic to spread around him. He noticed early on that he could get…impressions, a limited understanding of the state of the room, simply by his magic as it washed over it. It was how he could tell where his toys were.
It hadn't been difficult, to figure out how to project his magic. The first time, however, he expelled far too much magic and he fell asleep due to exhaustion and woke up with Tweenie fretting over him. It only took a few weeks to control his output and he could feel his surroundings within a few metres radius.
As time went on, his radius increased and so did his sensitivity to his surroundings.
He lifted his right hand and began to levitate three different weights located at three different regions of the room and pulled them in front of him keeping them floating.
His form of levitation was different in comparison to the levitation charm that was taught at Hogwarts. He could feel the weight and feel the movement of the weight.
It required his concentration to ensure that it did not fall and he had noticed that the difficulty of lifting the weights reduced over time and practice.
Familiarising himself with the feeling of his magic floating the weights in front of him, he put his hand down while keeping his concentration on the task ahead of me.
For some time, he had determined that just like how spell casting can be done without wand movements, it should be more than possible to perform wandless magic without using hand gestures.
The mental association that people have with wand movements with spells is the same kind of association that gestures has with wandless magic. It took him months to be able to keep levitating an object without gestures.
He began to move them in intricate patterns, first orbiting around each other then in differing patterns as he kept his full concentration on the act.
It required less concentration and effort as time went by and he mused to himself that it was likely a combination of his magic growing and the mental training he was putting himself under.
He was so absorbed in his task that he didn't hear the door opening.
"Atticus, you spent far too mu- Merlin! Atticus, how…wha- " mother spluttered out as she saw the weights floating around him, wide eyed in disbelief in what she was seeing.
His concentration broke as he snapped out of it, startled at the interruption and the weights fell down to the floor.
He soon schooled his face and looked at his mother with a practiced sheepish look with a smile and said "Hello mother".
His mother stared at him mouth agape for some time, filling Atticus with amusement though he had shown it on his face as he continued to look at her with an innocent expression.
She soon snapped out it, shaking her head that had a wry smile plastered on it and came forth and took him into a hug "my boy, you make me feel so proud. " she beamed at him.
He couldn't help but give a genuine small smile at what she said. Other than magic, though he would never admit it, he valued his family.
He had slowly thawed on the idea of family as time went by and they hadn't shown any hint of duplicity or falsehood.
He couldn't help treasure the genuine happiness and pride that the woman felt for him that he could feel coming from her
He noticed that he could pick up vague emotions from most people like his sister, mother and Ms Florence.
During dinner that evening, his mother relayed what she saw him do and his father and Benedict looked at him with incredulous looks while his sister looked at him with a look of awe and a little bit of envy.
"Atticus, can you show us what you can do?" his mother asked with a hint of anticipation in her question.
He nodded and raised his left hand and began to levitate all the cutleries a half a metre from the dinner table and began to rotate all of them continuously for about 20 seconds and brought them down from where he took them.
He smirked and looked up at his father and saw approval shining in his eyes.
His great grandfather Benedict scrutinised him before he spoke "How long have you been trying to do magic on purpose Atticus?" he asked intently as he stared at him.
He shifted in his seat as he felt a little wary with the sudden shift in atmosphere.
He fidgeted with his hands as he looked down "Great grandfather, I remember when I took the toy from Sophia; I think that I wanted to do it every time. I remembered how it felt when I did accidentally and I tried and tried until I could do it."
He stated apprehensively and he looked at his great grandfather who gave him a look that clearly stated that he should continue.
'Perhaps I overdid it' he grimaced internally. 'No, I'm already limiting myself in front of them and I'm keeping much of what I can do to myself.' He thought to himself
He buried his apprehension and set himself "I then thought now that I could bring stuff to me and push them away, I should be able to more and I played with my magic until I felt tired every day when I was sent to bed"
He finished sheepishly before he fixed himself with a playful smirk and triumph in his eyes.
After a while his mother chuckled "Benedict, don't chastise the boy, I think it's wonderful to have a talented boy in the family" she beamed at me.
His grandfather sighed and glared slightly "I'm not chastising him, I'm merely curious at his abilities. It is known that children in our family are magically and intellectually gifted but it's unheard of for a child to be as talented as he is at his age. Though it isn't surprising considering what my son said when he saw him" He finished with a pained look in his face
There was an awkwardness within the room. Benedict had reacted badly to the death of his son and he had slightly detached from the rest of the family.
However, Atticus decided to shift the conservation along "Grandfather, what do you mean?" he tilted his head as he waited on what he meant.
Benedict at this point leaned back in his chair as he took the attention of everyone in the room.
"Yes, I'm also curious. I did not know father would expect Atticus' talent in magic." Markus curiously looked to his grandfather.
"It was when you and Anne came back from the hospital with Atticus. As you know, your father in his long years had explored many branches of magic and in time had begun to develop mage sight." Benedict paused for a moment.
Benedict continued "It is not a natural talent he had been born with but he had the opportunity to learn it from an individual that he met during a business deal he conducted in China. It is a taxing ability and he had learnt it when he already in his 80s so he can only use it intermittently." Benedict paused as he drank from his glass of wine.
"It also causes discomfort it slightly overwhelms nearly all the other senses. There are some who develop it naturally but generally speaking, it is a talent that harnessed." Benedict said as he took to glancing around the table.
"Anyway, he uses it on people he meets for the first time and with that ability is able to gauge their magical strength." He finished and took the opportunity to sip on his wine before continuing
"He decided to use it on Atticus to see his magical strength and what he had found greatly surprised him. As Lord of our house, he had met up with many of the prominent families and their children and he used his mage sight to scout the upcoming members. What he found with Atticus greatly exceeded his expectations. Atticus at the age of less than a week already had a exceptionally strong magical core. When he did it again after he had heard of Atticus' bout of accidental magic, he found his magical strength to have increased from what he could recall." He stated, stunning the rest of the table.
Atticus sat still with eyes wide open as he processed what his grandfather had just said. He hadn't expected to be so gifted and thought that he would need to grow his power to be able to match the powerhouses that Dumbledore and Grindelwald were but to hear that he already had a large magical core at such a young age left him with sheer excitement.
As he looked over to Sophia, he could see her fidgeting in her chair and seemed to have a question on her lips but she was pre-empted as Benedict looked at her and smiled
"Sophia, you yourself are also talented magically. You also have a larger than average magical core and you will be a powerful witch if you dedicate yourself" he smiled knowingly at her.
This greatly pacified her. Sophia had been worried about being outshone by her little brother but Benedict's word had eased her worries.
She knew had magic since she had been doing accidental magic since she was five and a half but it was nice to hear she wasn't weak magically. Though she did feel irked that Atticus could be so brilliant in magic and that he could do wandless magic. 'Wandless magic!' she thought with awe.
She turned to Atticus and saw that he had already being looking at her 'I bet he knows what I'm going to be asking' she thought in annoyance. Proving her right, he smiled at her "If you want, I can help you with wandless magic?"
Exasperated but pleased, she smiled back at him "Yes please, Atty that would be wonderful. Is it difficult?" She asked. She knew that Atticus was stronger than her magically already by now and hoped that it didn't depend on magical power.
"It's not necessarily difficult, its just..." he petered off in thought as he looked away before coming back to her "At the beginning, I focused on the feeling my accidental magic gave me and I used it to help me begin. From there I worked my way to improving my connection to magic but I think an important thing, maybe the most important thing at the start is believing completely that you could do it. Anyone could do it and I know you can" He finished as he put his thoughts into words.
He believed it too. He did not think wandless magic was special and it had been a self-fulfilling thing that people were hung up on.
He left Sophia to think what he had said and turned back to his grandfather "What does that mean for me?" He inquired.
His grandfather looked at him and smiled "It means that you have an abnormally large core and as you grow, you will grow into a powerhouse, even if you do not artificially increase your capacity for magic. Magic is much like a muscle and the more you train yourself, the larger your capacity for magic becomes. Not only that, your magic is connected in your body through..." he hummed in thought
"I suppose you can call them rivers that are connected to a lake. Experience and training are what widen the rivers that would allow you to channel magic faster and in strength. It is likely you are a centennial wizard Atticus, a wizard that defines a period and there currently less than half a dozen of those wizards in the world right now."
Through this explanation, Atticus could only think that he needed to learn more magic and familiarise himself with magical theory. He looked up at his grandfather and then looked at his father.
"Grandfather, father, can my magical training and studies increase? I have already done much self study but without access to the other sections of the library or tutors, I won't be able to progress further faster than I have been able to do on my own." Atticus asked intently. He had already rummaged through Sophia's books but he had not been allowed to peruse the majority of the library.
This only garnered smiles around the table and his father then looked at grandfather and though it must have been a few seconds, it seemed longer, grandfather finally nodded and looked at me
"I had already spoken with your father about your formal magical studies. We have contacted and reached agreement with two tutors who will teach you during the weekdays. Terrence Michaelson is a Arithmancer who will take the duty of teaching you that subject twice a week and he will teach you magical theory twice a week. Jessica Thornwood will teach you potions and herbology. You will not be exclusively be taught magical subjects however. You will be taught by your mother in etiquette, ballroom dancing and pureblood society every week. Your father and I shall both take the responsibility of teaching you the duties befitting the heir to the family." Grandfather finished.
"Yes grandfather, I look forward to all of it" Atticus confirmed. From then on, dinner returned to usual and conversation resumed among the family.