The Goblin king strutted into the room and domineeringly sat at Griphook's desk. His figure was intimidating for many but for me he was akin to an overexcited puppy trying its hardest to impress its owner. Hermione and Harry were successfully cowed though as the vacuous eyes of this king burrowed into their own.
His scan ceased when he stopped on my figure, his eyes widening and a grin spreading over his face. That wasn't a good thing, I decided.
"Your Majesty, Freya, it is wonderful to meet the new-blood of royalty within the Wizarding world. Tell me, how does it feel being within the bounds of the Magical Britain?" His words were callous and rather blunt. It was obvious he was trying to goad some form of response from me, as if I were a hungry tiger that was desperate for meat.
Smiling cordially I inclined my head. "It is rather quaint. I suspect I will be spending much more time here in the future and would ask that you keep in mind my, powers, when it comes to potential investments and business opportunities." He grunted as his smile slipped somewhat. The conversation obviously hadn't ended in his favour, though he acted as if it were merely kind, harmless, conversation between newly met acquaintances.
Within this time my two students calmed down and were able to stabilize their emotions and thoughts. 'Not that I can blame either of them for that...' The thought lingered for a few moments until Griphook stood to the side and with a single nod from Ragnok pulled another scroll from the table.
"This scroll is the same as before but will now cost you some Galleons. Approximately 10,000." Harry hissed furiously at the price, a touch of Parseltongue descending into it before he stopped.
"I will pay for it." Hermione was close to protesting but was quieted by my deep stare.
The goblins shrugged without a care and simply handed the scroll over to Hermione, the young woman nervously eyeing the unevenly present scroll. Paper pushed up into it, moulding the parchment into hill-like mounds that came to an abrupt stop just before the edge of the table closest to her.
With slight hesitance she pressed her thumb into the bottom of the scroll and watched in amazement, once more, as her entire family genealogy was revealed for her to see. Ink artworks of her lineage began emerging, beginning with herself and then working upwards. The first to appear after her were her mother and father, Helen Emmerich-Granger and Michael Granger. Immediately after them came her grandparents... Which caused everyone other than herself and Harry to be utterly shocked or petrified.
Seraphina Emmerich née Grindelwald + Anthony Emmerich, Matthias Grindelwald + Ilse Leclair-Grindelwald, Bastian Leclair + Antionette Leclair née Delacour... Silence prevailed the entire chamber as Hermione cautiously looked at everyone in the room, including me. Her eyes started to bug out a little as she retreated back into Harry, who was hugging her and looking rather fierce at the reactions.
I coughed into the room, finding the reveal utterly fucking hilarious and also cool as fuck. Yeah, the girl was a natural at magic, nailed spells others couldn't within record time and had a knack for esoteric magics... It made an odd amount of sense. Though how the line of an ancient pure-blood German family was found within the UK and spread through squibs. That was anyone's guess currently.
"Hermione... You are, unique, as always... Haha." My laughter broke the tension and calmed the rising worry in the Goblins as they looked at her with some trepidation. Griphook was rather professional as he quickly smiled at the young girl and watched as the Grindelwald Heir ring emerged on her right hand.
Speaking of the rings... Hermione's was a gold and onyx with a single white gem in the middle that was marked with the symbol of Aquila Nigra or the Black Eagle. It was a common heraldry symbol for some of the ancient muggle lineages but this was different. It was magically tethered to the bloodline, no other family, magical or mundane, could bear this herald in Germany. Whether the tie stemmed from a forgotten bond with the old Kaisers, or simply reflected the raw willpower of their ancestral magic, it no longer mattered. She was a Grindelwald, plain and simple.
Harry's rings were quite eclectic in design by comparison however... The Pendragon ring was a deep lapis blue with gold etchings carved into it with runic magic slightly aglow on its surface. A singular opalescent jewel sat within a fine bed of metallic rose-petal clamps that held it in place. Within this gem a single creature could be seen roaring back, animated...The Hebridean Black
The LeFay ring was more sumptuous in comparison. It was a dark purple-black colouration, the metal a mix between Orichalcum and Dark Metals. It was carved to resemble an Ouroboros with quite a few ravens etched into the sides of said infinity symbol. In the centre sat an amber gem that seemed to gleam imperiously, the idea that a gem had an emotion seemed moronic at first consideration, but if one would watch this ring for but a moment they would find it the only apt way of translating the sensation of being in its presence. No distinct heraldry existed for this ring, but considering the theme of Ravens was designed throughout it was rather plain what represented the LeFay name.
The last of the new rings were much more subdued. No opulence could be seen on either band and they were simply opposite colours. The Peverell ring was a black-grey colour that had a triangle with a circle in the middle and a wand-looking symbol through both and apart from that there was but a single line of text 'In Vita, Mors; In Mors, Potestas '.
The other ring was a stark white, bone-like in texture but utterly polished, much like the finest marbles in the world. No other colours marred its surface and the only change in texture or appearance was a single symbol and motto carved into it, seamlessly. 'In Arcanum Veritas' coiled below the rather simple circle and candle symbol above. It was rather intriguing really as the mightiest wizard to ever roam this earth, if you were to believe the Arthurian tales, had simply chosen a candle as his symbol and a plain ring for his house artefact.
Finally there sat the Potter Lordship ring. Rose-gold and imprinted with flecks of silver and pure gold it sat a humble but elegant piece. A Tourmaline gemstone of moderate size adorned the middle of the ring, clasped by stylistic antlers. It was carved and polished to perfection and glimmered with every little fragment of light that passed through it. A single animated image of a stag ran along the inner reflections of the gemstone before fading and re-emerging every so often.
My observation was curtailed however by the droning of Ragnok who had begun to ask Harry some rather simple questions, which he answered quickly and with as much accuracy as he could manage. After a while the king did decide to leave, leaving me with an invitation to meet him whenever I wish.
Griphook took back over when his 'boss' left, the Goblin working furiously to organise the family accounts and attempt to find a suitable replacement representative for the Potter family in the Wizengamot, Dumbledore currently presiding over the family's voting power.
This was all of course a small speedbump in the way of dealing with the Emrys, Pendragon, LeFay and Peverell vaults, properties, grimoires and lands. Which, luckily, was handled next with Griphook asking me to leave but Harry requesting that I stay to help guise him through. The Goblin left me along after that, simply pushing through.
And boy was it a meeting... Harry was absolutely loaded. The Pendragon vaults had multiple billion Galleons in net worth laying around. Land was abundant as the entirety of what was previously Camelot belonged to him now. Stone Henge was technically part of the Wizengamot and couldn't be owned, but technically he would be able to conduct rituals there for free since it is his ancestral land. There wasn't much else, no Excalibur or King's Sword, simply a shit tonne of gold, trinkets and random magical artefacts that had questionable effects or uses.
LeFay was much the same, though their vault was actually filled with rare materials and magical compounds. Potions were abundant within the vault apparently and currently its value was indeterminant as some of the resources were from extinct animals... Something that I would like to fix as an issue if I could figure out what the name of those creatures were.
The Peverells had next to nothing... a single vault contained 10,000 Galleons and that was it. Rather plain and simple, though when you had the deathly hallows what use was coin and influence? It was a stupid thought, but the brothers followed through on it.
Merlin's vault was no different, except for a single book that sat in the middle of the chamber. I couldn't get anywhere near the vault due to me not being an official family member, but that was fine, I got told by Harry afterwards. He didn't hand the book over, being cautious for once... I was glad he was learning. Plus, if I wanted a copy of the book I could simply purchase it through the system.
Hermione had no vault here in England and even if she did it would be locked and sealed by the ICW and any magical government that once had a Grindelwald connection. Such was Gellert Grindelwald's influence on the minds of the magical world to this day.
I was offered a test but I declined, paying the Galleons to the Goblins before taking off into Diagon Alley once more...
"Professor?" Hermione's voice was rather demure and soft now, a question lingering on the tip of her tongue, just waiting to be asnwered.
"You both can call me Freya, I think we have enough trust for that now." The two kids smiled as Hermione asked her question.
"Who are the Grindelwald's? And why was everyone scared of me...?" Exhaling in consternation I stopped our walk and thought about my predicament. To explain would be to frighten the girl without her parents present. Beyond that, it would be too much for me to simply drop the baggage of an entire noble house upon her head, let alone one so marred by a single man's actions.
I looked down into her brown eyes, her determination and curiosity shining bright. "How about this... Hogwarts is finishing for the year, yes?" They nodded conservatively, Harry grimaced hard. "Then, why don't I visit your parents and you Hermione and I can explain then? And Harry, I have a surprise coming for you... You'll just have to give me a little to spring it on you."
Both of them were shocked about how I was doing things but if they had complaints they didn't voice them.
"Great, i'll take silence as a confirmation. Then, let us head back to Hogwarts and we'll see if you can both learn the traditions, practices and laws of the wizarding world!" A rainbow light radiated outwards then vanished as all three of us popped back out within my class room, a rather frustrated looking McGonagall tapping her foot before us.
"I see you are done with your little excursion. Good. They were both supposed to be in Potions class an hour ago! I will take this up with Albus, Freya."
I narrowed my eyes at her before smiling widely.
"Please do Minerva, I appreciate your protection of children's learning despite the conditions or surrounding circumstances. Now, if you do not mind, I have a class in five minutes and need to prepare." The older woman looked mildly confused at the compliment before setting off back the way she came, Harry looking conflicted whilst Hermione followed after her in determination.
If I knew anything about the girl she would be looking up her family name within the library, though she would most likely find it lacking due to Dumbledore having a sore spot for his boyfriend.
"See you Freya!" Harry ran away at break-neck speed as he tried to get into potions class. A fire was lit under his ass now and he knew he needed to become better, or he'd just fall for Dumbledore's plots all over again, let alone Voldemort's nastiness.
'I'll finish this class and then discuss things with Artoria, I guess...'
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