Vincent's property
Will's pupils suddenly contracted, and he understood almost everything in an instant.
The "Vincent Behrens" in the painting was none other than himself. He could connect everything now: at some point in the future, perhaps a few years later, or perhaps after he had ground his way to becoming a true Grand Wizard, he had gone back to the past for some purpose and saved Leta Lestrange's younger brother, Corvus Lestrange.
The Corvus bloodline should have died out long ago, but Will had continued it.
This had changed the worldline, creating a branch of the Lestrange family that was friendly toward Muggles and had even helped Hogwarts. They were people who should never have existed, yet now they truly did.
Will also understood why Sylvia was so interested in him. His appearance and surname were part of it, and so were his eyes.
Fewer than roughly 2% of people worldwide had silver-gray eyes. In the Muggle world, people would speak of science and genetics; in the Wizarding World, however, this was a mystical connection. Anyone could see that Will was practically a smaller version of the man in the painting.
With so many buffs stacked together, it was hardly surprising that Will would be taken for a descendant of "Vincent Behrens."
Will soon met Sylvia's parents and received a very friendly welcome in the Lestrange family's castle.
Sylvia's father, Victor Lestrange, ran a business importing broomsticks and magical materials. The Lestrange family had begun importing magical materials from Asia in Corvus V's generation.
Her mother, Daisy, was a proper aristocratic lady. She came from a half-blood family and had stayed out of business for many years, concerning herself only with managing the household. She got along very well with Sylvia's grandmother, Dallis.
Everyone was so warm toward Will that he felt a little unaccustomed to it. They seemed to truly regard him as a descendant of "Vincent." That was understandable, since Will later made a point of checking and found that there were not even any Wizards surnamed Behrens in England.
Returning to Will, he had finally finished fielding all the elders' questions, and a house-elf had carried his Book Trunk to his guest room.
Now Sylvia was showing Will around the Lestrange family's estate. This was not because the Lestrange family wanted to show off, but because "Vincent Behrens" had been consulted when the estate was built.
As Roy put it, they wanted Will to see his ancestor's "half a creation."
As the two walked through the castle's corridors, they occasionally saw the Lestrange family's house-elves. Many portraits hung on either side of the corridors, depicting members of the Lestrange family from Corvus V onward.
Leta Lestrange even greeted Will. "You really do look like Vincent."
"Are you Vincent's child? Here to spend Christmas with us?"
"Wonderful. Little Sylvia, remember to look after our guest."
These elders of Sylvia's all welcomed Will's arrival.
Sylvia tugged on Will's sleeve. "See? I told you my family would welcome you. Even the portraits are welcoming you."
Will spread his hands. Who knew what his future self had done after going back to the past?
The Lestrange family's entire estate covered a considerable area, perhaps several hectares. Although it was not even as large as the Howard family's garden, this estate was full of magical construction.
Quite apart from the growing areas where the temperature could be freely controlled-reportedly something Vincent had strongly insisted on, to ensure that the castle could be self-sufficient to a degree—and the many spaces inside the castle under Undetectable Extension Charms, the vast estate itself had also been enchanted.
The entire valley containing the estate had a permanent Muggle-Repelling Charm placed on it, so no Muggles could possibly disturb their lives. During Voldemort's time, it had even been protected by a Fidelius Charm, but that old friend of Roy's had since died, and the Fidelius Charm had lost its effect.
"Will, Will, what are you staring at?" Sylvia nudged Will with her elbow as he stared blankly at the valley.
"Nothing. I'm just a little awed that someone could cast a Muggle-Repelling Charm over an entire valley."
In fact, Will was wondering how to make a Muggle-Repelling Charm permanent throughout the entire valley, and what it would take to accomplish that. Had he done it alone, or together with the Lestrange family, or had he not been involved at all?
"That really is just like you." Sylvia was a little displeased. At times, Will really was like those bookworms in Ravenclaw.
On Christmas, with snow falling all around, a beautiful girl was showing him around a lovely estate, and he was actually thinking about spells? Sylvia inwardly ground her teeth at Will's lack of romantic sensibility, never once considering that the two of them were barely eleven.
Toward evening, a house-elf brought word that Christmas dinner was beginning.
Dinner was lavish, and Will and Sylvia sat to the right of Roy Lestrange and his wife.
Crackling came from the fireplace, and warmth carrying the natural scent of pine branches spread over the table laden with dishes. A full set of silver cutlery was laid out in perfect order. Sylvia poked at the Christmas pudding on her plate with a silver fork, while the house-elves kept bringing carefully prepared dishes to the table, their footsteps so light they were almost inaudible. Only the silver platters made faint clinks against the plates.
An enormous Christmas turkey, packed with stuffing and roasted golden and glistening, stood in the center of the table.
The atmosphere at the table was very harmonious. Roy occasionally told stories from the past, and Will learned quite a bit about this branch of the Lestrange family.
Halfway through dinner, Roy began telling Will about something, starting with the Lestrange family's property.
It went like this-
All the Lestrange family's assets were now in the hands of their branch, and a portion belonged to him, or rather, to "Vincent Behrens."
What had happened was that Bellatrix, along with her husband Rodolphus Lestrange and Rodolphus's younger brother Rabastan Lestrange, had been brought to account after Voldemort disappeared. The men had all died, and Bellatrix had gone to Azkaban. Although the Lestrange family was divided into several bloodlines, they were all still Lestranges in the end. Thus, following Wizarding tradition, the property of the Radolphus bloodline had also passed into the hands of their Corvus bloodline.
They had divided the property into three portions: one they kept, one they gave to Dumbledore, and one they set aside for Vincent Behrens according to Vincent Behrens's instructions. If Vincent had not appeared by 1991, that portion was to go to his blood descendants. If his blood descendants did not appear, they were to hand that property over to Dumbledore before 1995, because it contained some very dangerous things that only Dumbledore could deal with.
At this point, Roy took out a strange little golden sphere. With the pattern drawn on its surface, the little sphere looked like an eye, except that there was a tiny hole where the pupil should have been.
"Vincent left an alchemical item behind. He called it the Wizard's Eye. With just one drop of blood, it can tell whether you are of Vincent Behrens's bloodline."