Chapter Text
Chapter 1
A Fiend Young Man
Ophioneus Eaurynome, or Opie as he would soon become known to his fellow students, arrived at Hogwarts in the fall of 1999. He came from the southern Greek city of Kalamata. Opie had an olive complexion and shiny, dark eyes common to many people from Greece. Physically, he was a tad bit shorter than average and was what many would refer to as stocky. Centered on his face was an Aquiline nose. The top of his head was covered by thick, black hair. By Hogwarts standards, he was entirely ordinary.
Other than speaking with a distinctive accent, he acted much like a reasonably normal first-year student filled with the same curiosities, fears, excitement, trepidations, and wonders shared with many of his peers. His parents, both magical folks, had schooled him in English since he was a small child in the hope he would one day find his way to Hogwarts. Having become successful in life and connected to the school through associates, they wanted only the best for their son.
At the sorting ceremony, the Sorting Hat found him to be one of its most curious placements, taking almost long enough to be considered stuck in a hat stall before placing him. It claimed it had never before, in all its years of sorting students, debated so long and hard between placing a student in either Hufflepuff or Slytherin. Other combinations often caused a pause by the hat before announcing its decision, but never this one.
"Curiously difficult," grumbled the hat as it flexed and pondered. "I feel like there are two people seated under me. One is full of ambition and cunning...traits that would do well in Slytherin. But then, the other is truly loyal and hardworking...willing to do whatever it takes to succeed. That seems more like a Hufflepuff."
Everyone stared as the hat continued to mutter and ponder his placement. Unlike most of the others, no one knew this new boy or his family.
"Maybe I should just pick Ravenclaw," it continued. "You are clever and smart, very smart, but there is so much more here to consider. What should I do? Where should you go? No matter what I pick, I will be right, but no matter what I pick, I will also be wrong."
Opie sat, clutching the charm on the necklace hanging around his neck as the other students who were waiting to be sorted watched, each hoping their sorting would go easier than his. He fidgeted and squirmed, wondering why everyone else had been sorted so quickly, but his sorting was taking an inordinately long time as sweat started to form on his brow. He preferred not to have this kind of attention drawn to him on day one.
In the end, Opie became a member of Slytherin House. He was welcomed most graciously by its members. They promised that the hat had done right by him. He sat at the Slytherin table, watching the others be sorted one by one, hoping everything at Hogwarts would not be so arduous and stressful.
After his initial sorting, it did not take him long to get comfortable with his new family. He took a quick liking to life in Slytherin and at Hogwarts. His homesick feelings soon left him for the excitement of the classrooms.
The members of Slytherin also took a liking to him. He was a dedicated, ambitious student with a keen mind. His efforts in the classroom earned him and Slytherin many house points. Considering his status as a first-year, he was quickly getting noticed as a member with the potential of moving up through the ranks.
As good as he was in all of his classes, he stood out the most in Charms class. He learned most charms with ease and also started creating new charms on his own. This was not ordinary for a first-year student.
His creations started out fairly simple, albeit bad. The first was a farting charm that could cause the victim to loudly announce his presence, followed by a stench that could clear a classroom or common room. Everyone loved it, except for the victim.
Fartundo, as he called it, evolved into a charm that made a person void their bladder and bowel as they stood quivering for several moments. Many people began to notice that whenever he used one of his original, always sinister spells, administered with a snake-like olive wand that, according to him, was over a thousand years old and had a minotaur hair core, he would also clutch the ever-present charm that hung on a chain around his neck.
No one believed his wand story, having never heard of such a thing. They figured he made it up to add to his mystique. However, no one denied his growing abilities.
The charm in question appeared to be decorated with an intricate pattern and a strange-looking inscription. However, it soon began to generate more and more chat concerning what powers it might possess and where it might have originated.
By his second year, Opie had a corps of very dedicated friends to whom he was also very loyal and protective. Although he was not exceptionally skilled at dueling, his willingness to defend them with his ever-increasing arsenal of evil curses caused others to give his group a wide berth wherever they passed. It was a foolish person who put themself at risk of one of his quick-to-administer hexes.
The school, for its part, tried over the years to keep him and his friends in check. His professors often disapproved of his behavior and tried to correct it, but much the same could have been said about James Potter, Sirius Black, Dumbledore, and countless others. They held off on more severe discipline, such as expulsion, because of his academic brilliance. The house points he earned in class far outweighed the points he lost for his misbehavior.
Now, if things had stayed the course over the rest of his years at Hogwarts, there was a fair chance that he would have grown up to be a very skilled wizard with the potential of a highly successful career. It was hoped by the school that he would eventually outgrow his immature, evil streak and settle down into a more mature individual.
However, the chance of those things occurring took a wrong turn at the start of his third year when a group of older Slytherin students took to 'borrowing' books that should not be borrowed from the restricted section of the school library. They were looking for deviltry to get into and tricks they could play on targets in other Hogwarts houses under the guise of researching subjects for their Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
Unfortunately, they left the books lying about in the Slytherin common room. This simple act of carelessness inadvertently provided access to some dark information and knowledge that should not be meddled with to the exact person who should not be meddling with it.
Opie was a bookworm in the tradition of Hermione Granger and other academically gifted students. When he noticed some strange volumes on the big table in the center of the common room, he did as he was prone to do, he picked one up. The contents were discussing things way above and beyond anything he had ever thought or done. It was a whole new level of magic to him, at first academically fascinating, that quickly became intriguing at the I want to try some of this stuff level.
In Secrets of the Darkest Arts, he found a section about a thing called a Horcrux. He had heard of them previously through a short story called The Fall of Voldemort by Hermione Granger. Hermione discussed the fact that Voldemort had made Horcruxes and that they had searched them out and destroyed them. This led to his ultimate demise. However, she never got into the nuts and bolts of Horcruxes and how they were made. This text was much more about the fact that Voldemort had created them. It was kind of scary to think that such a thing could actually exist. He took it, and a few other books over time, back to his bed space to keep for further study.
Scary as the subject matter was, Opie seemed obsessed with reading about Horcruxes. He would sit, rubbing his charm and rereading about them on multiple occasions. He understood from the combination of the book and the story by Hermione that Horcruxes were created through the act of murder, which he found personally abhorrent. As much as he found Horcruxes intriguing, it was one thing he did not consider making.
Making a Horcrux required more than a simple murder, according to his readings. The vessel that would be used to house the piece of soul comprising the Horcrux had to first be prepared with some dark magic. Nothing he had yet to find discussed the spells necessary to prepare the vessel to become a Horcrux. Neither could he find information on reanimating one back into a living being.
Lacking the complete set of facts needed, his newfound knowledge of Horcruxes slipped over time into the dark recesses at the back of his mind, where it lay dormant with volumes of other extraneous things he had learned over time. It was just another thing left to be forgotten, that should probably remain forgotten, trapped inside his mental oubliette.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny had spent these recent times readjusting to life without the ever-present threat of Voldemort destroying their world and moving on with their lives. The talk was beginning to mention the idea that Harry and Ginny, and Ron and Hermione, might be tracking toward eventual marriages. Harry and Ron had decided to forego returning to Hogwarts for their final year of schooling in favor of training to become aurors. That involved three tough years of training. Hermione was disappointed they would not be finishing Hogwarts, but understood, giving Ron's desire her blessing.
She returned to Hogwarts and attained her complete set of N.E.W.T.s before moving into a position at the Ministry. Kingsley, already mentoring her, advised her to work hard, as many in the Ministry had her marked for great things in the future. Ginny studied hard and played harder, serving as both a chaser and occasional seeker on a Gryffindor team that won the Quidditch Cup in the 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons. She initially took a job at The Prophet as a writer, giving her a foot in the door to gain a fine career. Then she left it when she got the call to come to play professional Quidditch for the Holyhead Harpies.
George and Angelina Johnson were also becoming closer and closer, as were Neville and Hannah Abbott. Arthur Weasley received a promotion within the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office at the Ministry of Magic, giving the family a much-appreciated boost in income. The Malfoys became more and more reclusive following their escape from being sentenced to Azkaban. Draco was courting Astoria Greengrass.