Hi everyone,
For those who have read my other fics, including my other 'Harry Potter' fic which I removed, I am sorry for not updating my other stories and for posting a new one. I'm ADHD and I have issues staying with just the one story until it is finished, instead writing my stories as they come to me. I have all intentions of completing those stories, but at the moment it is slow going, especially with school. I'm trying though, so don't give up on them. My Pokémon fic should have it's second chapter up soon (I'm not specifying as I want to get through the Viridian Forest before ending the chapter and I'm not sure how often I'll be able to work on my stories due to school work and ideas), though this story will most probably be updated before it as I am finding this one easier to write. I write my stories based on the ease of flow with ideas and none of the other ones have that at the moment compared to this one.
For those of you who have read 'Rowena Hallie Potter' before I removed it, this fic is not the rewritten version. It is an entirely new story that popped into my head after I read 'Family Bonds' by xXDessertRoseXx for the sixth time at least (the story is still ongoing and the chapters are long for those of you who are interested). I have no intentions of copying his work and I will try my best to make sure that I don't, but the mention of castles caused the idea to start to form and once I watched 'Tears to Tiara' the blot bunny was full formed. Do let me know if any of you are having issues as I tend to keep trackk of each and every review and use them to improve my writing skills.
Now on with the story. Enjoy!
Caelia Luna Potter sat alone inside one of the compartments on the train as it made it's way back towards Kings Cross Station, A Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) open on her lap as she lost herself to her reading. After the entire 'dragon send off escapade', as she had come to call it, both Ron and Hermione had distanced themselves from her which showed her that they weren't really her friends. Her house, along with Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, had isolated her and had even started cursing her in the halls when the teacher's weren't looking as well as destroying her things. By the end of the last couple weeks of the school year, she had put all her school books and all other things that she deemed to be important along with a few changes of clothes and her robes into her book bag (lent to her by Ron before he had distanced himself, though she was pretty sure that he had forgotten about it since he hadn't asked for it back) which she had spelled with a feather-light charm as well as a undetectable expansion charm so that she could carry everything inside it. Her trunk had been destroyed a few days afterwards and she considered herself very lucky that she had managed not to let anyone know that she had a pet owl as she was certain that Hedwig would have been killed if anyone had known about her.
While she had figured out the entire situation involving the Philosopher's Stone with the help of her so called friends, she had faced the challenges on her own. She hadn't originally believed that Snape had been after the Stone, no matter how much Ron and Hermione had claimed that it was him. Sure he treated her badly in class, but she could feel the pain and conflict washing off of him every time that he saw her and she knew that he must have known her parents and that she reminded him of them. So she had been genuinely happy when it had been Professor Quirrell whom had been after the Stone. Why Dumbledore was under the impression that Ron and Hermione had gone with her she had no idea, but she let him believe that it was true, letting her Slytherine side out to play for the first time since she had come to the school. It was obvious that the man hadn't bothered to talk to her two so called friends to confirm the details or that if he had that they had lied. When Dumbledore had insisted that she had no choice but to stay with the Dursley's during the summer, she had had to prevent her eyes from narrowing dangerously as she looked at him. Instead she had looked at him with disappointed acceptance.
The moment she had been released from the hospital wing she had decided that it was time to take her life into her own hands. She had no intention of returning to the hell that was the Dursley's like the headmaster wanted her to. She had felt the less than pleasant feelings coming off the man every time she had been alone in his presence. The fact that he had tried to tell her that the only place for her was at the Dursley's showed her that he was trying to control her life like a puppet master and she had no intention of following the pulls on the strings like a faithful puppet.
It was these thoughts that had led her to writing a letter to her aunt claiming that the headmaster had allowed her to stay somewhere else for the summer and thus they didn't need to come and pick her up. She hadn't lied, as the headmaster had never said that she wasn't allowed to make her own decisions. The reply she had gotten had basically said that they were glad that she wouldn't be returning and that she was to never step foot onto their property again. Once she had gotten the letter of reply, she had spent the rest of her time in the Library making plans and researching her ideas to make sure that it would succeed. The end result was an ordered list of what she would do once she got off the train.
- make way to Gringotts
- check on vaults to make sure that no one has been taking advantage of my absence in the wizarding world
- check for properties owned by my parents and my ancestors
- find a property close to the Alley to stay at
- get checked over for spells on my person
Sure the list was short, but it was mostly on what would be done as soon as she got off the train and she was pretty sure that they would only take up the one day.
The sound of the train slowing down to a stop snapped her out of her reading, causing her to quickly snap the book shut and stuffed it back into her book bag, the only thing along with what it contained (including her father's invisibility cloak) that had survived the school year. She had gotten rid of Hedwig's cage as soon as she could once she realized that her things were being targeted in order to protect her only true friend so far. Thus when it time had come to leave the school, she had told Hedwig to meet her at Gringotts. Silently opening the door the compartment she was in, Rowena stepped out quickly before hurrying past various other compartments, from which she heard rustling noises as the people inside started to gather their things, and made her way towards the exit of the train car.
The moment the train stopped completely, she was the first one off the train. Caelia blended in with the masses, none of them any wiser about the fact that she had walked past them, and walked through the barrier that separated the magical station from the non-magical one in a hurried pace. Not even stopping once she had left station 9 and 3/4, she continued at the same pace towards the Leaky Cauldron which was a few blocks away.
– Line Break –
Having arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, Caelia remembered that her current appearance would give her away and she did not want to be mobbed as she had been the last time. When she had first gotten her letter and it had been addressed to a 'Mr. Potter', she had used her abilities to morph to change her looks to that of a male, which hadn't been much of a change since her aunt had always insisted to Vernon that she was male so as to dissuade her husband from taking his 'tastes' out on her. The only decent thing that her aunt had done for her and even then it was to avoid a scandal.
She let her appearance change back to normal before she entered, leaving a girl with slightly longer messy black hair, parts of which were braided in a french braid from her a couple centimetres above her temples to behind her ears, keeping some stray strands from getting into her face in the place of the child known as Harry Potter. Her emerald green eyes gained more of a slant, giving her more of an exotic look while her height remained the same. The few times that she had caught her reflection when she had returned to her base form, she had thought that she looked like a vampire, minus the fact that she didn't have red eyes. She was far too pale, though only recently had the paleness looked healthy, and her hair was as black as charcoal, making the paleness of her skin as well as her eyes stand out that much more. She took off the glasses that her aunt had forced upon her, though they didn't really affect her eyesight, and tucked it into her bag. Her aunt had taken them out of a donation's box and had forced her to wear them and Caelia had assumed it was in order to forcefully ruin her good eyesight, but the glasses were basically frames with see-through glass as lenses do they didn't do anything.
Though she wanted to stick to the shadows, she knew that she would attract more attention that way than she would if she just went through. She did not want to be mobbed again, even though this time it would be because they'd want to know why she wasn't entering the Alley with her parents. She had no wish to go into the matter with strangers. Straightening her posture, she held her head high as she walked as gracefully as she could through the entry way into the Leakey Cauldron. She was relieved when she reached the other end of the inn and bar, quickly opening the door that led to the alleyway behind it which held the entrance to the Alley.
She didn't even bother looking at the stores she hadn't had the chance to see the last time in Diagon Alley, she went straight for Gringotts. She knew that the quicker she got all of the problems and discrepancies sorted out, the quicker she could get around to doing proper shopping, something which had been denied when Hagrid had brought her, most probably on the Headmaster's orders. The fact that he hadn't allowed her to take any of the fliers meant for muggleborns when it was obvious that she could be considered one, no matter who her parents were, was what had clued her into it. Add the fact that the old man wanted her to remain at the Dursley's whom hated anything to do with Magic and were more than likely going to lock up her things where she had no access to them and not let her go off without one of them being present to make sure that she didn't research anything 'freakish', she knew that he wanted her to be subservient and weak minded.
Entering the bank, she gave a quick bow to both the goblins who were standing guard at the doorway before quickly darting in her way of thanking them for their job since she was sure no one else bothered to thank them for what they did. Due to this, she did not see the widening of both their eyes and the looks that they shared. She didn't bow to every goblin she saw, knowing that it would be weird if she did. She made her way to the farthest teller from the doors, the same one that Hagrid had taken her to when she had first needed to make a withdrawal. Once she made it to the teller's stand, she hesitated before letting her eyes glance at the floor, debating with herself what she should do next. The teller's stand was far taller than she was and she didn't want to disturb the goblin if he was doing something important. As such she didn't noticed the goblin look over his desk and down at her, gaining a look of amusement after a couple seconds when he had realized why she had yet to speak up. Some of the other goblins gained looks of amusement as well when they noticed what was going on.
"You wanted to ask me something young lady?"the goblin spoke up, startling Caelia out of her mental debate.
She looked up at the goblin. "Um, Yes. I was wondering who I would have to talk to if I wanted to get a heritage test done as well as look at my finances and see if they are in order, Mr. ... um..."
"Boneclaw," the goblin provided to her helpfully, slightly startled at the fact that one of the wand wavers was treating him like an equal, since it was extremely rare to see. "And I shall lead you to the Bank Director Firmfist's office Miss ..."
"Potter. Caelia Luna Potter."
Boneclaw's eyes widened when he realized whom he was talking to. He had of course known that the Potter heir was female; the goblins had long since come up with a way to known the current heir of magical families if the heir had magic. Those who ended up with an heir without magic were lost, but their fortunes forever remained inside the bank for someone to come and claim it, no matter how much any of the Ministry for Magics wanted to claim them for themselves. When the child had first entered the bank with the half giant, he had sensed that the child had the ability to shift and changes her looks, which was why he hadn't said a word when the child had been introduced as Mr. Potter. The only down side of the fact was that he hadn't been allowed to pull the child away to inform her of the status of her holdings, as, technically speaking, the child had the visual appearance of a male and the heir was female. He had tried to get into contact with her throughout the year via letters, put she had never answered back. By the fourth month of the school year it had become obvious that the girl wasn't receiving the letters at all and that someone was interfering with her mail, making him both glad and suspicious. Glad that he had labelled the letters to 'Heir of the Ancient and Noble House of Potter' as it didn't specify her gender to a world which had obviously assumed her to be male and suspicious because he was pretty sure that he knew who was interfering with her mail; after all only the man who had prevented the wills of the late Lord and Lady Potter from being read would want to make sure that the Heir of said household would not receive her banking correspondence. Mail tampering was one of the reasons why Gringotts letters were spelled to incinerate themselves after three days if they had not been opened and in order to open them; the one who received them had to swipe a little bit of their blood on the seal on the back of the envelope in order to open them in the first place.
"Well them Miss Potter, you have made my job far easier than it would have been. Ever since your first visit I have been sending letters in order to inform you of your assets as well as the fact that one Albus Dumbledore sealed your parents wills the night they died in order to prevent them from being read. Of course, he only managed to do this because he managed to convince the Minister of Magic of the time that your parents had assigned him as your magical guardian," he told her as he stepped down from the both he had been sitting at.
The sudden flare of the child's magic quickly caught his attention, as well as that of the other goblins, which made him slight glad that there were no other costumers inside the bank. "He. What."
The girl might have whispered it, but she might as well have shouted the statement as all the goblins heard her. Some of the goblins farther off gained rather telling smirks. Finally, someone who didn't see the old man as Magic's gift to Britain. Maybe he would finally get his dose of karma, especially since it was long in coming.
Boneclaw, for his part, was trying not to show how much he wanted to flee. The girl was terrifying when she was angry, and he wasn't even sure if she was fully ticked off or not. "If you agree to unseal the wills, as is your right as the Heir to the Potter Estate, and the wills state that someone else is suppose to be your magical guardian or they state that Dumbledore was to never have the position, he will be instantly removed and Gringotts will do a full review over what has been done to your Estate while he has been in charge."
The moment he had finished his statement the magical flare died down instantly and Caelia had calmed right down. He couldn't help but sweat drop at how quick she had gone from pissed off to calm. He didn't word it out though, just motioned to her to follow him before he turned and started to walk down the hallway that was located behind his both. The other goblins, once they noticed that the two were leaving, returned to their jobs.
Five minutes later saw both Boneclaw and Caelia in front of Firmfist's – the head goblin of the Diagon Alley branch of Gringotts – office door. Boneclaw knocked three times and, after a couple of seconds, he received a 'come in' from the other side. He led the way in, Caelia just a couple steps behind him.
"Director Firmfist," Boneclaw greeted before introducing Caelia and giving the reasons for why she was there. "This is Caelia Luna Potter, Heiress to to the House of Potter. She came in today asking for a heritage test and to look at her assets. When I mentioned that I'd been sending her letters and that Dumbledore had claimed the position of her Magical Guardian, sealing the late Lord and Lady's wills in order to not be contested for the position, she grew furious at the fact. Add in that she has not been receiving the letters that I have sent and you can see the situation."
Firmfist's eyes narrowed once Boneclaw had finished explaining who the young witch was and why the two of them were in his office. If the girl was asking for a heritage test it meant that not only was Dumbledore not doing his job as Magical Guardian, but also that a full audit of the Potter assets would be required. The fact that the girl had not claimed Ladyship of the House of Potter when she had first entered the bank had hinted at the fact that she did not know her position, but now they had viable proof. Enough so that they should be able to remove Dumbledore as her Magical Guardian due to incompetence.
"Return to your station Boneclaw, I'll deal with this," Firmfist told the teller, though he did make note that he would have to find another goblin to take over Boneclaw's teller duties since, with the return of the heiress to the Potter estate, he would have his hands full with his job as the Potter accountant.
Boneclaw nodded his head and backed out of the room, closing the door behind him. A few seconds after Boneclaw had left, Firmfist turned his attention to the young girl.
"Alright Miss Potter. Before we start with anything that will end up effecting your estate, I want to hear from you why you did not ask about this during your first visit to the bank in July and what has happened since the visit," he told her, wanting to understand where she was coming from.
Caelia hesitated briefly before deciding that it was the safest thing to do, something that Firmfist both noticed and approved of. "I had just received my Hogwarts letter the day before from Hagrid the Groundskeeper. Before I had received my letter, my relatives had basically beaten into me that Magic did not exist. That and my parents were jobless drunks and that I would have done the world a favour if I had died with them."
They had yet to even get into the visit and Firmfist could feel his anger boiling just under his skin. A Magical Guardian was suppose to raise the child and teach them about the magical world, not dump them on a none magical family that were on the opposite radical end from magical purebloods. Especially when said family had no issues with being abusive. No matter what happened from this point forward, he would make sure that the child would not be returning to the family she had been raised with. He now also had the proper confirmation that Dumbledore had knowingly ignored his duties as Magical Guardian and could remove him from the position.
"When I did enter the bank the first time, after Hagrid had told me that my parents wouldn't leave without something to support myself with, I was going to ask about my assets, but Hagird rushed the entire trip and ushered me out of the bank before I could say 'stop'. I had debated coming back in when he went to grab a drink from the Leaky Cauldron after leaving me to get my robes, but I didn't know how long he would take to come back and how long looking over my assets would take, so I decided against it.
It was when we entered 'Flourish and Blotts' to get my books that a realized that something else was going on that I didn't know about. Hagrid wouldn't let me buy any of the books that were not on the school list and when I went to grab the pamphlets meant for the mundane born so that they could learn the basics that magical children know, he grabbed me and dragged me away from them. I was raised with mundanes that hate anything to do with magic and as such I needed the knowledge. I didn't say anything to him, as I didn't think he realized that I had noticed what he was doing and I was pretty sure that he was following orders. It was figuring out whose orders he was following, as I was certain that if it wasn't someone that he didn't respect without question he wouldn't have done what he did, and I didn't want to tip them off that I knew something was wrong without knowing who he would let know once he left."
Firmfist, by this point was hard pressed not to visibly show how pissed off he was at the entire situation, and this was before she got into what happen during the rest of her summer as well as her school year. Hagrid was not qualified to accompany anyone around Diagon Alley during their first visit. The fact that she had not had the time to come back into the bank in order to ask about her assets even though she wanted to calmed him somewhat, even though he knew that the pamphlets that mundane borns received was something that was vital for the girl's knowledge about the world. Now that he thought about it, he wondered if any of the mundane borns knew that they had to pick up the pamphlets. The lack of knowledge they had about the workings of the British magical society had grown over the years since Dumbledore had taken over as Headmaster of Hogwarts.
He continued to listen as the young girl went on to explain how the mundanes she had been living with had refused to let her out the rest of the summer and that while she was able to read the books that had been on the school list, she had not been able to come back to Diagon Alley and buy the texts that were listed in them for further reading; books which the Hogwarts library seemed to not contain as she had gone straight to the library to look them the first morning at the school. It explained why she had not returned to the bank at all during the summer before she had gone to the school.
When he asked why she had not responded to the letters they had sent, she had told him that she hadn't received them and that she had never received any form of correspondence at all while she had lived with the mundanes. When he realized what she meant, he told her that when an Heir or Heiress of an Ancient and Noble Family was orphaned and were not living with their magical guardian or relatives, it was their Gringotts' Account Manager that dealt with any letters that were sent. He further told her that Boneclaw had dealt with all of her fan mail over the years and had removed anything that was dangerous as well as the fact that Dumbledore had come into the bank several times in order to have all of the fan mail rerouted to go through his office first before it went through the bank. When he felt the sudden angry flare of her magic, which he noticed felt as though it was being restrained, he hastily added that he had never succeeded and that the goblins had told him they would declare war if he tried to press the matter again the last time he had tried when she had been seven.
As she had explained the two friends she had made and how one had prevented her from entering the library while the other one checked out books and gave it to them to read, he realized that both had prevented her from reading the few books the school had about Family lines. It was here that he decided that having a heritage test done before showing the girl the information on the Potter estate would be the best thing do do, giving him enough time to order a team of goblins to do a full audit on the Potter estate so that everything that had been removed prior and after the girl's only visit to the bank before this could be returned in full, including interest, and that whatever account the the objects, tomes, or money had been moved to could have them removed. If the money and items had been removed, the items would have to be summoned back while the money was removed from the account of the person who had removed it. It looked as the two children might be being paid to prevent the Potter Heiress from learning anything about her status and British Magical Society.
He let out a small quiet sigh of relief when she told him how the two had removed themselves from her when the school turned on her. She wouldn't need an excuse to distance herself from them as the two seemed to have actually been paid to keep her uninformed. The situation with the Philosopher's Stone though had him furious. The bank had been told that it was being moved to a location that had the Fidelius Charm cast over it so that it would not be found. They had not been told that it was being removed to be placed in a school full of children behind obstacles that any failing first year could get by.
When she finished talking, Firmfist explained a few things to her. "First of all, Hagrid is not allowed to introduce the mundane born and mundane raised magicals to British Magical Society. He is a half-giant and cannot blend into mundane society because of this. He also never finished his magical education and as such cannot protect those he would be introducing if something were to happen."
Caelia's magic flared again in anger, although this time Firmfist could perfectly feel the strain that was being placed on it. He narrowed his eyes and made a note to have the girl checked over for bindings, spells, and potions placed and used on her before performing the heritage test. There were some of all three in existence that could tamper with the test and wouldn't allow it to show the correct results.
"Second," he stated, sensing the flare die down a little as he started talking again. "From what you have explained, both of the friends that you have made were probably being paid to befriend you. They most probably abandoned you because they didn't think it was important enough to risk the small unstable reputations that they had started to make. It was most probably Dumbledore, if the way he was acting in the hospital wing when you woke up is anything to go by, and from the looks of it, they have yet to inform him that they have stopped doing what they are being paid for."
He saw the girl's hair flash red for a brief moment and figured that he might as well toss in an ability test in for her. Who knew what else she could do if she could change her appearance?
"Third, a full audit of the Potter estate will be performed before I inform you of your list of assets. I want to make sure that Dumbledore hasn't taken advantage of his, what seems to be, phony position as your Magical Guardian, from which he will be removed from by us and a notification will be sent to the Ministry along with the reasons why he has been removed from it. Fourth, since he is going to be removed as your Magical Guardian, we can unseal the wills of your parents and thus determine who was suppose to hold the position. If they are incapable, we should be able to locate someone through the heritage test. Do you have any questions?"
As soon as he asked the question, Caelia was quick to speak up. "Can we do a full audit on any other estates that I gain through the heritage test so that I can be sure no one had taken advantage of the absence of a head of family? I also wanted to know if you could look me over for spells and bindings as well as potions. Can someone look over the Dursley residence to see if there are any protective wards over the place, I want to know if Dumbledore was telling the truth? Also, I'm going to need somewhere to stay and while I can pick one out from the list of assets if there is one, I wanted to know if Gringotts could update the wards over the place and add new ones if needed?"
Firmfist couldn't help but chuckle when the girl finally stopped listing off question and blushed red. "Of course. I was planing on asking you if you wanted to get looked over for spells, potions, and enchantments anyway. In regards to the Dursley residence, I'll send a few goblins to look it over. We would have to send a team to every home you own anyway to look over and update the wards that they can, though some might only be able to be updated by you," he replied, answering her questions in the order which they were asked.
There was a brief moment in which he used several rune arrays on his desk to call in a half dozen teams of goblins, each with at least a dozen members. He spoke to them in Gobbledegook, assigning three teams of three dozen to conducting a full audit of the Potter estate and to update all the wards on the buildings that the estate contained; one team of two dozen to head over to the Dursley residence to look it over for any form of wards; one team of a dozen to get the ritual rooms ready for both the ability test and the heritage test as well as for spell removal; while the last team, a medic team containing a dozen and a half, he told to prepare themselves to look over for and remove at least one major magic binding as well as who knew what else. Once that was done and they had all left to do what they were told, he turned back to Caelia.
"Alright Miss Potter," he told her as he got off his chair and made his way around his desk. "The first thing that we will be doing is looking you over for bindings and spells along with potions so that when we conduct the heritage test we know that the results have not been tampered with. After that we will run the heritage test. I have also told a team to prepare a third ritual room so that we can get an ability test done to see if you can do anything else besides change your appearance. Meanwhile, I have teams conducting a full audit of the Potter estate, looking over the Dursley residence, as well as updating all the wards that they can on all the homes contained in the Potter estate. Once the tests are done, we will enact your parents' wills. Now come with me."
Caelia followed Firmfist as he left the office, thinking over everything which she had learned in the two and a half hours that she had spent in the bank. She now knew who was in charge of her estate, that Dumbledore was definitely using her for some ulterior motive, that the two people whom she had thought of as her friends at first were probably paid to befriend her by Dumbledore, and that she wasn't the only one who thought that someone had used magic to tie her down in someway. On a side note, she was glad that the trolly on the train had provided lunch, since she doubted that she would get out till a few hours before or after dinner.
Entering the first ritual room, Firmfist introduced her to the head medic of the team, Firstshadow, and explained what they were going to do. To find out what potions she had on her system as well as what bindings and spells had been used, a few of the medics would be casting several spells in sync. The results would appear on a scroll of parchment that was located on one of the side tables beside the medical bed. After that, her systems would be cleansed of any potions that were not meant to help her and the medics would go about removing the spells and bindings. The spells had the side affect of listing down the condition of her body as well, thus there was another scroll of parchment on the side table meant specifically for that information. She would be allowed to look at both before the process of removal began and after removal she would be able to decided if she wanted to start on a potion regime to help with fixing whatever was wrong with her body or just letting nature work its own magic.
Caelia quickly made her way to the bed and sat down. The medics quickly went about casting the spells they needed to. Since they were goblins, their magic worked far differently than that of witches and wizards. The casting was more of different sets of chanting in Gobbledegook. It took a half hour for them to finish and once they did, Firstshadow handed her both rolls of parchment. She read the one that listed spells and potions before that which listed her condition.
Spells, Bindings, and Potions on one Caelia Luna Potter
child 70% core binding spell – cast by Lily Iris Potter nee Evans on January 5, 1981
Metamorphmagus binding spell – cast by James Harrison Potter on January 23, 1981(Broken)
Animagus binding spell – cast by James Harrison Potter on March 15, 1981
soul-to-soul binding spell – cast by Albus Dumbledore on October 31, 1981 (failed)
soul-to-magic binding spell – cast by Albus Dumbledore on October 31, 1981 (partly succeeded)
Mail redirection spell (location: Hogwarts, Headmaster's office) – cast by Albus Dumbledore on October 31, 1981
Loyalty spell (to Albus Dumbledore) – cast by Albus Dumbledore on November 1, 1981 (Broken)
50% core binding spell – cast by Albus Dumbledore on May 12, 1983 (partly broken)
100% Parsletounge binding – cast by Albus Dumbledore on September 20, 1983 (partly broken)
100% Parslemagic binding – cast by Albus Dumbledore on September 20, 1983
Metamorphmagus binding spell (on half male form) – cast by Albus Dumbledore on April 15, 1985 (broken)
90% core binding spell – cast by Albus Dumbledore on November 25, 1985 (partly broken)
Sight restricting spell – cast five times by Albus Dumbledore on July 8, 1986
Mind Arts binding spell – cast by Albus Dumbledore on February 18, 1988
Intelligence Diminitiong spell – cast three times by Albus Dumbledore on March 13, 1991 (all broken)
Loyalty potion (to Albus Dumbledore) – weekly from September 1, 1991 to June 20 1992 (never took affect)
Increase Aggression potion (directed towards anyone wearing green and silver) – weekly from September 1, 1991 to June 20, 1992
Condition of one Caelia Luna Potter
19 bones that have been broken (have healed on their own)
eyesight restricted by spells
malnutrition over the span of 10 years
basic children vaccinations to magical viruses and sicknesses
torn ligaments and muscles in left leg (partly healed)
poor bone growth
poor amount of nutrients
poor amount of vitamins
As Caelia read through the list of spells and bindings on her person, she grew more and more furious. Dumbledore was trying to make her stupid. If she hadn't broken through some of them, whether fully or partly, she would have been struggling through her first year. He had even bound her magical core and her eye sight. What right did he have to do what he did?! She handed back both rolls of parchment to Firstshadow, who proceeded to read them over herself and Caelia was pleased when she noticed that she wasn't the only one who was angry at what had been done to her if the rather vocal words in Gobbledegook were anything to go from. She noticed that Firmfist's eyes had widened before he himself motioned to one of the medics before telling them something in Gobbledegook. The medic nodded and quickly darted out of the room before re-entering with an object a few minutes later. By this point Firstshadow had calmed down enough to start explaining things tho her.
"The soul binding spells have bound a soul to you forcefully. While the one binding it to your soul has fully failed the second one did not. While that means that it is bond to you, if the binding is removed it won't remain with you if it has another choice. The fact that it had to be forcefully bound means that it was originally trying for something else to begin with. We will start from the top of the list, the earliest, and move our way down as we remove the spells, bindings, and potions. If anyone else were to check you for these after today, it would still list them and label them dealt with. Now just lie down on the bed and we will start with the removal and cleansing."
Caelia did as asked. The removal was a far slower process than the detection as the medics had to be careful not to hit any traps that Dumbledore had left in case someone tried to remove the spells he had placed. It took a full hour before everything had been removed and once it was finished Caelia realized that she had never felt any freer than she was at that moment. She no longer had her scar either, since it was because of the fact that the soul piece had been forcefully bound to her that it had existed in the first place. It had needed somewhere to stay and the small lightning bolt shaped cut, which she had received from a falling piece of wood, was where it had decided to stay until it could leave. The goblins had destroyed the object they had transferred it to with a drop of Basalisk venom from a vial they had in storage. Before they left for the ritual room that had been set up for the ability test, Caelia thanked the goblin medics profusely much to their amusement. It actually took them ushering her out to get her through the door and on her way to the next room.
The test to determine all magical abilities was simple and took roughly ten minutes to get the results. All that was needed for her to drop six drops of blood onto a piece of parchment that had been soaked in a special potion and wait for the drops to be absorbed into it after which the abilities would be listed. Firmfist had rewritten the abilities on a normal piece of parchment and had told her that she could keep that copy while the original was put into her Gringotts file. Caelia glanced over it briefly before she carefully folded it and put it into her book bag.
Abilities of one Caelia Luna Potter
parsletoungue
metamorphmagus
animagus
natural affinity to magical and non-magical creatures
natural affinity to light magic
natural affinity to dark magic
natural affinity to grey magic
natural healing ability
mage sense
water elemental
wind elemental
shadow elemental
Caelia knew that she would have to research each one on her own and was looking forward to the prospect of doing so. At the moment though she was looking forward to the heritage test. It was one of the things she had managed to do a little bit of research on before Hermione and Ron had prevented her from visiting the library and before she had to look around every corner for others. Not only would it list all of her ancestors and the families she would inherit from, it would also list down any living relatives, magical or not.
They entered the third ritual room and Caelia noticed that it had the same layout as the second one. It held a desk with a chair on either side with a piece of parchment that she was sure was soaked in another potion on the desk. The desk itself had drawers which most probably had more parchment as well as ink and quills so that the required information could be taken from it. Firmist had his way to the chair behind the desk and Caelia quickly made her way to the other chair. Just like with the ability test, Caelia was required to drop some drops of blood on the parchment and let the parchment absorb it. The furthest back it could go to though was the middle middle ages and it required 12 drops of blood.
After she had cut her self and let the 12 drops drop onto the parchment though, they had to wait a half hour for the results.
"While we wait, would you like to hear your parents' wills? I filed the paperwork that states that Dumbledore is no longer your Magical Guardian while you were having the spells removed and your system cleansed of potions, so you are allowed to ask to have them read and directions followed," Firmfist asked her as he placed the two envelopes containing the wills on the desk.
Caelia nodded, not trusting herself to speak once she realized what the envelopes. Firmfist could help but let his eyes soften slightly as he looked at her before he opened the first envelope.
He cleared his throat before he read out loud. "I, Lord James Harrison Potter of the Ancient and Noble House of Potter, do hereby declare that I am of sound body, mind, and soul and that I was not forced nor coerced into writing my last Will and Testament. I do state that, upon my death, the entirety of my estate shall transfer to my wife, Lady Lillian Iris Potter nee Evans, or, if she is dead as well, to my daughter and heiress, Caelia Luna Potter except for a total of 100'000 galleons which shall be bequeathed to one Remus John Lupin. Guardian ship of one Caelia Luna Potter shall fall onto the following in the order they are stated: Lillian Iris Potter nee Evans, Sirius Orian Black (godfather), Frank Harold Longbottom, Alice Vera Longbottom nee Bell (godmother). If none of these people are available then she is to be left at an orphanage. Under no circumstances is she to be placed with her mother's sister, one Petunia Dursley, and her family.
Witnessed by Albus Dumbledore and Frank Harold Longbottom
As Firmfist finished reading, he could feel Caelia's anger washing off her. Looking up at her he motioned for her to speak.
"Dumbledore KNEW that I wasn't suppose to be placed with the Dursleys and he did it any way! It said 'under no circumstances. He knew! KNEW! And he did it anyway!"
Firmfist nodded. "It seems so. The fact that he wasn't mentioned as Magical Guardian means that he will be fined for not only lying about the contents of a will but also for not following it. That is basically 50'000 galleons which will be sent to you as it was you who was wronged. If your mothers will says the same and he witnessed it as well, then he will be fined another 50'000 galleons."
The small devious smirk that crossed Caelia's face caused Firmfist to smirk one of his own in return. "Let's see what my mother's says then."
"I, Lady Lillian Iris Potter nee Evans of the Ancient and Noble House of Potter, do hereby declare that I am of sound body, mind, and soul and that I was not forced nor coerced into writing my last Will and Testament. I do state that, upon my death, the entirety of my estate shall transfer to my husband, James Harrison Potter, or, if he is dead as well, to my daughter an heiress, Caelia Luna Potter except for a total of 50'000 galleons to a trust vault for one Luna Caroline Lovegood, heiress of the lines of Lovegood and Ravenclaw for her schooling. Under no circumstances is anyone aside from Luna Caroline Lovegood allowed to withdraw even a knut from said vault. Guardianship of one Caelia Luna Potter shall fall onto the following in the order they are stated: James Harrison Potter, Sirius Orion Black(godfather), Frank Harold Longbottom, Alice Vera Longbottom nee Bell(godmother). If none of these people are available then she is to be left at an orphanage. Under no circumstances is she to be placed with my sister, one Petunia Dursely, and her family.
Witnessed by Albus Dumbledore and Marlene Soren McKinnon
Firmfist chuckled. "Well looks like I get to not only fine Albus Dumbledore for lying about the contents of both wills as well as not following them, but I also get to file a report of 'Misuse of Position' with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."
"What will they do?" Caelia asked.
"Unless he already has two others, the Department wont do or say anything. On the other hand now that he is no longer your Magical Guardian, who ever ends up in the position can file the reports if Dumbledore does something that goes against any of his position. If he gets reported three times, then he gets removed from all of his positions permanently," Firmfist explained with a smirk.
"So if he gets reported three times, I wont have to deal with him anymore in any capacity?" Caelia asked hopefully, not wanting anything to do with the old man.
Firmfist nodded and then turned his attention to the parchment that finally held the results. "Well looks like the heritage test is done. Do you want the family tree along with the assets or no?"
"I'd like it if I could have a copy of both; I like knowing who I'm related to and how distantly,"Caelia answered.
Firmfist nodded and copied both down onto separate rolls of parchment. He finished with the asset list first and gave it to her. As he worked on copying out the family tree, Caelia read over her assets.
Assets of one Caelia Luna Potter
As Lady of The Ancient and Noble House of Potter
Vaults: 360 (Potter Family Monetary Vault), 500 (Potter Family Heirlooms Vault), 512 (Potter Family Storage Vault), 690 (Vault of Lillian Iris Evans), 700 (Caelia Luna Potter's Trust Vault), 812 (Vault containing all the items from Potter Manor and Cottage in Godric's Hollow), 980 (Caelia Luna Potter's Fan Mail Storage Vault)
Properties: Lillian's Hideout (outskirts of London England).
Total Monetary Amount: 9'678'863'945 galleons
Own: Microsoft (10%), Sony (8%), Ollivanders (12%), Franny's (25%), Lovegood Creature Sanctuary (50%)
As Lady of The Ancient and Most Noble House of Griffindor
Vaults: 222 (Griffindor Family Vault)
Total Monetary Amount: 2'349'651 galleons
Own: Hogwarts Castle (25%), Land of Hogsmaid Village (25%)
As Lady of The Ancient House of Slytherine
Vaults: 223 (Slytherine Family Vault)
Total Monetary Amount: 500 galleons
Own: Hogwarts Castle (25%), Land of Hogsmaid Village (25%)
As Lady of The Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Perverell
Vaults: 52 (Perverell Family Vault), 53 (Perverell Storage Vault)
Properties: Aestas Ferruum Castle (Shores of Whales, 90'000 miles by 90'000 miles)
Total Monetary Amount: 7'980'759'341 galleons
Own: Franny's (30%), Tomes and Scrolls (30%), Flourish and Blotts (18%)
As Lady of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Lunaris
Vaults:12 (Lunaris Family Vault), 13 (Lunaris Storage Vault)
Total Monetary Amount: 4'708'361'840 galleons
Own: Franny's (20%), Tomes and Scrolls (20%),Kale's Elves (5%)
As Closest Relation out of Azkaban to the Lord of The Ancient and Noble House of Black
Vaults: 900 (Trust Vault)
Total Monetary Amount: 60'000 galleons
By the time she finished reading over her list of Assets, Firmfist had finished copying down the family tree and was watching her. When she looked up, he held it out to her and she took it from him with a quiet thank you before folding it and placing it in her book bag. Once she had looked back up Firmfist started to talk about her assets.
"While acting as your Magical Guardian, Dumbledore has emptied out your trust vault the day before it was suppose to refill every year. He can no longer do so, and as the vault is suppose to hold a total of 500 galleons he has taken a total of 10'000 galleons from the Potter Estate. We have recovered most of it, and what we haven't we are taking straight out of his account. He has also taken out various objects from vaults 500 an 512 which we have recovered. Most of these were books, tomes, and scrolls, but one was a pensive which was full of memories. The retrieval team has emptied the memories into several vials which have been sent back to Dumbledore via eagle owl. Other than that, he sold both Potter Manor as well as Potter Cottage in Godric's Hollow which we cannot get back as they were legally sold, even if he wasn't suppose to be your Magical Guardian.
Vault 812 is the one which we opened in order to store all the objects within both structures as well as the money made from the transactions. He was furious when the money was not deposited into his own accounts, but as neither were his properties to begin with, he couldn't do anything about it. The only reason your entire estate hasn't been emptied of everything is because A Magical Guardian does not have access to any of the vaults that hold monetary amounts except for the trust vault, so he had no access to the others. He also didn't have the ability to sell the objects which he took out of said vaults. Lillian's Hideout was your mother's and it wasn't until the reading of her will that it joined the Potter Estate, so he had no access to it.
All the rest except for the Slytherin Estate, have been inactive. Griffindor Manor is what became know as Potter Manor when the two lines joined. As for the Slytherin Estate, one Tom Marvolo Riddle, who later became known as Lord Voldemort, used the Estate to fund his reign of terror. When He ran out of money, he sold all objects and properties of the Estate in order to be able to continue paying for what he needed. We have determined that the soul piece attached to you was his and that their are more out there, but as he has already died, even if it wasn't properly, he has no access to the Estate anymore. It won't matter if he comes back or not, as he has died once and once is enough. He shouldn't have had access to the Estate in the first place anyway as he didn't fulfil the requirements to begin with. Since these Lines have basically died out, we can combine them together if you want to."
"Go ahead," Caelia told him.
"What name do you want the Estate to be under?" Firmfist asked her as he pulled out the form that was required and filled them out.
"Perverell."
"Alright," Frimfist stated.
Silence fell between the two of them for several minutes as Firmfist filled out the form. "Now that that's all in order," he stated as he finished and put the quill aside. "Do you have any questions?"
"Yes. The two properties; is it possible to get them in working order?"
"The team that I sent to the Dursley Property came back five minutes into the removal of bindings, spells, and potions on your person. They informed me that there was no form of protections on the home and that there never had been. Since they had finished, I looked over the information I had on the Potter Estate from recent years as well as your mother's holdings. I sent them straight over to the only property that there was among the two. It should be finished in the next hour or so. Floo access has been re-abled and you should be able to access the home from the Leaky Cauldron – "
"Floo?"
"A method of travel. You grab around three pinches of a special type of powder and stand in the middle of an unlit fireplace. You state the desired location clearly out loud before you toss the the powder at your feet. You travel through a magical connection to an unlit fireplace at the voiced destination."
"Oh, okay continue then."
"As for the castle that comes with the Perverell Estate, that will take longer to took over as it is not only a castle but also a walled in village. Originally it housed both mundanes and magicals, but with the death of the elder two heirs and the fact that they third fathered only a daughter who married out of the family, the Castle was eventually abandoned as was the village. It should take around a month for us to check and make sure that everything is stable and okay. The privacy wards are the only reason why it hasn't been found along with the notice-me-not ones that are located all around the walls outwards for about 40'000 miles. I can send you an owl once it is finished. After that, it is up to you on whether you end up selling it or taking over."
"I think I'll take over the place. What about that part about the Ancient and Noble House of Black?"
Firmfist looked at the original copy of the assets and family tree. "The closest living relation is your grandmother's father on your father's side of the family, Arcturus Black. He is the current head of the House of Black and according to your family tree, your godfather and current heir to the House of Black, Sirius Black, adopted you through blood adoption on your first birth day. His fiance had died a week before, if my memory serves correctly, and he had been hit by a sterilization curse and thus couldn't have children of his own. As a member of the House of Black, you are entitled to a trust that should support you until you can support yourself. It won't refill, but it is a hefty sum. It is meant to provide a foundation for you to increase yourself. Do you want me to send him an owl asking if he is willing to take up the position of your Magical Guardian?"
"If possible," Caelia answered positively.
"I'll go about doing that. Now let us return to the lobby. If you need anything else, refer to Boneclaw. He is your account manager and unless he tells another goblin to do it, he will attend to what you need.," Firmfist told her as he stood up.
Caelia nodded and followed Firmfist out the ritual room and towards the lobby.
– Line Break –
Caelia stepped out of Gringotts with a money pouch that was connected to her Potter trust vault as well as one that was connected to the trust vault she had gained as a member of the House of Black. The moment she had entered the lobby, Firmfist had handed her back to Boneclaw and had given him the updates on the Potter Estate, now Perverell. Boneclaw had been quick to have her claim the Rings of Lordship/Ladyship, explaining that they would combine into one ring with the chosen family's coat of arms on the stone that was set into the ring. Once that was done, he had handed her both money pouches along with the instructions and had told her that she would not need to buy floo powder as the goblins who had gone to look at the wards of 'Lillian's Hideout' had brought one with them (it was something that was gifted to family's who had goblins check their wards over as a way to encourage them to do so again).
She quickly rushed down the steps before pausing in order to decide where to go. She new that she needed a new trunk as well as a book bag (Ron had given her the one she currently had, though she had no idea why and she now had no intention of using it anymore) but their was the fact that the wand which she currently had had chosen her while her core had been mostly closed off. Firstshadow had told her that pre-made wands chose their witch or wizard based on their power and while the wand core of her current wand did indicate that she was powerful, it was based off of the power which she had demonstrated while under restraints. When she had talked to Boneclaw, he had told her than Ollivander only made single core wands and that they were never custom made. Ollivander's was the wand shop that the Ministry encouraged everyone (and had been since 382 BC) to buy their wands from, as single core wands were the only ones that could maintain the trace, but there was another shop in Knockturn Alley that made custom wands that would include multiple core materials if the witch or wizard was powerful enough for it. The fact that said shop had branches across the world proved that it was the better of the two.
In the end she decided that getting herself a new wand was the first priority, so she headed towards Knockturn. The wand shop wasn't actually that far into Knockturn Alley, something she was glad about, since the Alley was far less inviting than Diagon, though she did make a mental not to visit Knockturn more often. The sign, 'Franny's: Go-to Place for Magical Foci', was covered in shadow. She wondered if it was because of this that the Ministry had yet to shut down the store, no matter how many branches the shop had world wide. She walked through the door, causing the bell at the to to jingle and alert the store owner that they had a customer.
"Hello, what can I do for you this evening," a soft female voice asked from the shadows in the far corner, catching Caelia's attention.
"Hi, my account manager, Boneclaw, recommended that I come here to get my new wand as he was pretty sure that my old one wouldn't work for me anymore," she answered the person whom she assumed was the store keeper.
"You had blocks on your core which you just got removed," the store keeper replied knowingly. "And your former wand is Ollivander's strongest creation since that which belonged to the Britain's last Dark Lord. Come with me to the back so we can get the ingredients for your new wand."
Caelia followed her though she was cautious about it as she didn't know what was at the back of the shop. Entering and seeing all the various ingredients that could be used to make magical foci left her in awe. The woman turned to face her as Caelia fully entered the back room, allowing Caelia finally see how she looked. The girl had pixy cut raven black hair that had a blue tint to it. Her eyes were a dark storm grey colour. Her tanned skin along with her dark coloured mundane styled hoodie and sweat pants made it very easy for her to blend in with the shadows
"I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Marianne Franny, current owner of my family's store," the shop owner introduced herself.
"Caelia Potter, of the House of Perverell," Caelia introduced herself in turn.
Caelia saw Marianne's storm grey eyes widen before she smiled softly. "It has been the dream of many of my ancestors to see the House of Perverell rise from it's ashes once again. With the combining of your Estates, you now own the majority my store. I no longer have to worry about the Ministry closing down my only England branch."
At that statement, a thought occurred to Caelia – she did wonder how the woman knew which estates she had inherited – though she decided not to voice it until she was sure that it would work out for the better. She didn't know this person well enough to do anything to try and help, even though she did own 55% of the owning shares. She made a mental note to talk to Boneclaw about seeing if she could buy anymore of the owning shares. Sure the store didn't seem to be doing so well in England, but from what she had gleaned from the short statement, the stores in the other magical nations were doing better.
"Alright Lady Perverell, I want you to close your eyes and let your magic reach out towards what ever it feels a connection too."
Caelia did as told. It didn't take long before she started hearing a faint buzzing sound.
"What does that buzzing sound mean," she asked.
Marianne smiled, though Caelia couldn't see it. "It is your wand. Now I want you to follow the sound and bring me the materials that cause it."
Caelia followed the instructions; picking up what felt like two different types of wood, something that felt like metal, two vials of liquid, two different strands of hair, and a feather. Every time she picked up an item and brought it back to Marianne, the buzzing got fainter and fainter, until finally she could no longer hear it. Opening her eyes, she saw Marianne looking at the items she had gathered in awe.
"Elder wood and Ebony wood; indicates a strong connection to magic and great power that can go into either the Light, Grey or Dark. Sky Iron also known as Meteoric Iron or Star Iron; allows for less magic to be used to cast spells at a strength between medium and high power as it channels magic far easier. Phoenix Tears and Basilisk Venom; from opposite sides of the power spectrum. One is Light while the other is Dark allowing for the easy use of both types of magic. Thestral tail hair and Unicorn tail hair; Grey and Light; allowing for easy use of both magics. A Pegasus wing feather; could be seen as Light or Grey. Materials from a Phoenix, Thestral, and Pegasus indicate that you take better to spells that involve the wind element. It also shows that you feel safer and freer in the air than you do on the ground. Unicorn and Thestral both show that you can hide easily from others when you want to; the Thestral indicates in plain sight while the Unicorn shows that you are not easy to find if you don't want to be found. Basilisk Venom is how my family claims that Salazar Slytherin gained her ability to speak to serpents. It indicates that you will easily fit in amongst serpents," Marianne turned to look at her. "You are a powerful witch Lady Perverell. A powerful one indeed. Several of these items should not work with each other, but with you they are willing to cooperate."
Marianne grew silent for a few moments before she spoke up again. "I should be finished making your wand in a half hour, so you don't have to stay if you have something else you need to do."
Caelia nodded. "Alright then Ms. Franny – "
"Call me Marianne," Marianne interrupted her as she started working on making the wand. "Ms. Franny makes me sound old. I'm only 19. That's not old enough to be considered old."
Caelia was surprised at the age, but didn't voice it. "Alright then Marianne. I'll be back in hopefully in a half hour."
She waited for a couple moments, but when no response was forthcoming, Caelia just decided to leave the store. The moment she stepped out, she quickly made her way back to Diagon Alley. Looking up at the sun, she noticed that it was nearing three thirty in the afternoon. She didn't know how long it would take Dumbledore to realize she was gone, but she was hoping that the goblins were finished with the home on the outskirts of London by the time she finished in the Alleyways today. Boneclaw had warned her that if Dumbledore managed to find her, before they received a hopefully positive response from Lord Black and they had the chance to file the new Magical Guardian with the Ministry, he would be able to use his position to regain the position through force. He would need a vial of her blood in order to do so and if he did, then the goblins wouldn't be able to do anything about it until she reached her majority or the man managed to emancipate her accidentally. She herself doubted that the old man knew she was a girl and what her real name was, but she didn't want to risk it.
Looking around, she quickly noticed 'Cora's: Storage that Suits your Needs' and decided to go in and look around. She had gone into 'Howel's Trunks' when she had come with Hagrid and the store only sold the one compartment trunks. Fairly expensively too. If this store provided better merchandise for the same price, then she was all for shopping at this one. As quickly as she could without catching the attention of the other people in the Alley, she ducked into the store.
– Line Break –
Fifteen minutes later Caelia walked out, the proud new owner of a five compartment trunk and three new book bags. The bags were all charmed with an undetectable expansion charm as well as a feather-light charm. One was black with white stitching, another was a dark sea blue with bronze coloured stitching, and the final one was a dark forest green with silver stitching. All three had the Perverell Coat-of-Arms – a Grimm looking ready to attack in front of a Thestral with it's wings flared out with a quarter moon in the background; both magical creatures that, Caelia had found out through reading during the school year, were associated with death – stitched into the fabric in gold thread.
The trunk was mainly a dark forest green with black metal reinforcements along the sides and corners. The handle was black as well. In the center of the lid of the trunk was the Perverell Coat-of-Arms in a dark sea blue, her name and title printed in fancy lettering right underneath it. The first compartment was a medium sized library so that she could store the books she would need for school as well as those which she might want to bring for extra reading. It had dark blue walls with dark wooden flooring along with a single bronze coloured pillar in each corner. Each of three walls held two large book cases that took up the entire wall while a ladder located in the center of the fourth wall provided an exit from the compartment and held two more large book cases, one on either side, though these two are slightly smaller than the others. There was also two large book cases in the center of the room, one beside the other.
The second compartment was dedicated to potions. She knew that Snape hated her, no matter what anyone else said, and knew that he wouldn't let her brew her own potions in his classroom outside of class time. She had no intention of visiting the hospital wing unless she had no choice; it was all Dumbledore would need to re-place the bindings and spells that had just been removed. So she was planing to do it elsewhere. The room that the compartment had been turned into was large enough to hold four cauldron's at once, the floor and walls made of stone in order to prevent damage to the other compartments. The floor had small indents so that the fire lit underneath the cauldron would be properly contain. On either side of where of each location where a cauldron was suppose to be were to small stone workstations. It included three extra rooms: The first, a decent sized space that had selves installed in an orderly fashion everywhere, was meant to store potion's ingredients in magically enhanced containers that prevented damage if the ingredients were further stored in breakable containers; the second, having the same set up as the first, was meant to store empty vials and bottles in containers that held sixteen and eight respectively; the third, also having the same set up as the first, was meant to store completed potions, the containers maintaining the same system that it had in the second room. On one of the four walls of the main room, steps were carved into the stone, providing an exit from the compartment.
The third compartment was the same sized as a regular trunk and was meant to store all of her equipment, like telescopes. The fourth compartment was the same size as the third and was designed to store her writing equipment. It had three sub-compartments: one to store quills, one to store inks, and the last was for parchment. The sub-compartment meant to hold quills was large enough to store three decent size boxes, filled with quills, stacked on top of each other. The second sub-compartment, the one meant to store her inks, was the largest of the three and had enough space to hold four large containers in a two-by-two fashion. Each container could hold up to twelve inkwells. The third sub-compartment was to store parchment and notebooks.
The last compartment was also the same sized as the third and was meant to hold her clothes. Of course they would have to be folded, but it wasn't as though she was ever going to be living in her trunk so it was fine. The trunk itself was keyed into her magical signature and were spelled to be fire proof and water proof.
Knowing that she still had fifteen minutes left before she could pick up her wand, She decided that she might as well go into Flourish and Blots and get as many books as she could so that she wouldn't have to return for them during the summer. She tossed out the book bag that Ron had given her into one of the trash bins along the side of the Alley – having made sure to move everything in it to the corresponding compartments of her trunk – and made her way to the bookstore.
Upon entrance, the store owner had informed her that she would have to leave her trunk and the one book bag that she had out at the front of the store. It was a security measure so that every book she chose was payed for and as such she didn't mind. She made sure to buy each of the books that she hadn't been able to buy or read for during the past year as well as all the books on Magical Law, History, Politics, and Heritage that she could find. She was a half-blood from what she had understood of the present day ranking system and she knew that she was from at least two very important magical lines. As such, she knew that she would need the information in the future, especially if she was going to follow through with the plans that were forming about the only property that she had inherited through the Perverell line.
She did notice that the employee at the check out was watching her with growing amusement at the growing size of the pile of books that she was placing on the counter. It was for this reason that she noticed the surprised look on the man's face when she grabbed one of each of the pamphlets that were meant for the mundane born. When she had asked him about it, he had told her that no one took them anymore, and that Dumbledore had actually come to tell them several times that he was sending them out with the Hogwarts letters and that they could remove them from the store. The only reason why the owner had refused to do so was because he had gone to the publisher of the pamphlets and asked if what the headmaster of Hogwarts had said was true, which had turned out to be negative. As such they had refused to do so. It was there to help out the mundane born and thus was the choice of those who entered whether they took one or not. Caelia thanked the man as she left, though she did pay for the bi-monthly magazine that the store sent out to constant customers. She knew that she would rarely buy this much in one trip again, but she would constantly come back to make sure that her library was kept up-to-date.
Thus she was a good twenty minutes late to pick up her wand, but she found it to be worth it as she had gotten most of the reading material she'd need for a while. Leaving Franny's, Caelia decided to look around in Knockturn Alley for a while as she still had to wait at least ten minutes for the goblins to finish updating the wards of her mother's old place. Not even five minutes and she came across one of the other stores that she had seen listed on her heritage test; Kale's Elves. Deciding to see what the store was for she walked in, only to recoil slightly at the sight of little greenish beings with pointy ears wearing what looked to be dirty pillow cases in cages. They glanced at her with hopeful looks and she couldn't help the anger that she felt at how these beings were being treated. She quickly pushed down her anger as the store owner made his way towards her.
"How may I be of service."
Caelia tilted her head slightly and couldn't help the growing mental smirk as she decided to let her Slytherin side out to play once again.
"I was wondering what the purpose of this shop was,"she told the store owner, letting her eyes widen innocently.
The store owner looked her over. "Just moved to Great Britain for overseas, didn't you?"he asked her and she decided to let him think he had assumed correctly and nodded. "Of course you did. None of the magical communities overseas understand the importance of House Elves. They do the house work for us magicals so that we can do things of far more importance. One just has to remember to be strict with them; make sure that they know that they shouldn't disobey you. Just make sure you don't give them clothes since it means you've released them from service."
Caelia had to stop herself from attempting to curse the man with one of the curses she had read about in the Hogwarts library. The man was basically selling slaves! How far behind was the Magical community that they still had slave labour?! It didn't help her temper much that the man's rather vague explanation was reminding her far to much of her own childhood. As a result, the action she took once he finished speaking was completely justified.
"How much would I have to pay for eight of them?"
The man looked positively gleeful and, out of the corner of her eyes she saw almost all of the elves perk up. "It depends on what type you want. The ones that specialize in cooking cost 600 galleons, while the ones that do yard work cost 500 galleons. Those that can do laundry cost 400 galleons, the ones that clean cost 700 galleons, and the ones that take care of magical creatures cost 800 galleons. I don't currently have ones that can help assist those in the medical profession, but I will have some in a few weeks."
Caelia kept her eyes from narrowing at how expensive each elf was. She could afford them easily just with the money that she had inherited form the Potter estate, never mind what she had inherited from the other estates. She also new that she would eventually return the the shop and buy more elves, if only to remove them from their current environment and the possibility that they could be sold into worse. What nagged the back of her mind was why the man was willing to sell to a child. 'But then again,' she mused, 'it is probably easier to get a child to buy the elves than it is to get an adult, especially those whom come from foreign countries. I'll bet that some of the pure-blood children that I go to school with have even entered this shop to buy an elf or two.'
"I'll by three each of the ones that specialize in cooking and cleaning and two that can do laundry," she told him before adding. "I'd also like it if I could chose them myself."
The man nodded at her and Caelia assumed that he was far to gone on the sudden profit that he was about to make to realize that she might be up to something. "The ones that specialize in what you have asked for are over here," he told her as he ushered her towards one of the walls. "Just call me over once you've made your choices."
Caelia nodded and once she was sure that the man wasn't paying attention to her and could hear her, she turned her attention to the elves. "Which ones need to get out of here as quick as possible?"
The eyes of the elves widened as they realized what she was doing before the elf closest to her answered her question. "Miss should buy Finn, Kitty, and Soren for cleaning," the elf, obviously female, told her as she pointed to three of the youngest elves in the store and Caelia noticed their eyes widening. "Krissy, and Kalen for laundry," two more more of the younger elves were pointed out. "And Euphie, Lulu, and Forest for cooking." three more of the younger elves were pointed out and Caelia realized that the elf was trying her best to get the youngsters out of the store.
Caelia looked them over before looking back at the elf. "Alright. I'll be back at least once more during this summer to get a few more of you out of here."
The elf nodded at this and looked at her solemnly. "We's is thankful for this Miss. Miss is new Pure-blood and Miss knows what we's is going through." Caelia flinched back, startled at the fact that the elf could tell that fact. "Miss will treat young ones well. Better than old Pure-bloods. You's will not act the way old Pure-bloods do."
Caelia nodded at the elf before turning around and heading towards the owner to let him know which elves she was going to buy, though she did put the fact that the elf had called her a new Pure-blood to the back of her mind so that she could figure out what the elf meant latter.
Less than five minutes later and she walked out of the shop with the eight elves following her out of the store. The man hadn't even seemed to realize that the eight she had bought were far younger than most of the rest of the elves he sold and she hadn't bothered to point it out to him. Looking the elves over though, she knew that her next stop was going to be a clothing store so that the elves would not reflect poorly on her estate.
"Alright then," she spoke to them and they all turned to look at her. "Before we do anything, the eight of you need proper clothes." Seeing them about to protest, she added, "If you all continue to dress the way you are, you'll reflect poorly on my estate. If it helps don't think of it as clothes but as uniforms."
That seemed to calm them down some and Caelia made a mental note to herself to discuss living arrangements with them so that they knew what was expected of them and that they would be payed in some form for the work that they were doing. She was not going to let them work thinking that they didn't deserve to get payed or be treated the same.
– Line Break –
Twenty minutes later, each elf had been outfitted with three sets of the same uniform from Twilt's and Taiting's clothing shop which was in Diagon Alley right by the entrance of Knockturn Alley. All the outfits were pure black with the Perverell crest stitched onto each of the sleeves as well as on the right side over the breast. Finn, Soren, Forest, and Lulu (and Caelia couldn't help but wonder who named the poor elf) were male and had been decked out in a black long sleeved over coat, the right side of it buttoning up almost right under the left arm with four buttons. The pants were loose so that they could work with ease. Out of the three pairs, one of them looked the same except that the over coat had short sleeves and that the pants were replaced with slightly loose shorts. The female outfits (for Kitty, Krissy, Kalen, and Euphie) were the exact same except for the fact that the pants and the shorts were replaced with a black knee length pleated skirts. She had even bought several dozen outfits of her own ranging from mundane clothing to those worn in magical communities so that she would be able to wear clothing that actually fit her and so that the only time she would have to visit would be to pick up her school robes for second year. She had quickly changed into one of the newly bought outfits (black T-shirt with a black pleated skirt that came to just above the knees along with a dark forest green button up cloak that buttoned up to her waist line in the same way as the overcoat's that the house elves had been deck in, the Peverell crest perfectly visible over her right breast) so that she could look the part of a Lady of an Ancient and Noble House, though she knew people would look at her and think that she was an heiress.
The moment they had stepped out of the store, she had given the elves the location of the property which she was going to be living at until further notice and told them to start working on the place. For Forest, Euphie, and Lulu she had also given them the extra job of seeing if the place still had food and, if it did, if the food was still usable. Once they had, they had the permission to get rid of the food that had gone bad and buy whatever food they thought would be needed.
Once they left, she went back into Knockturn Alley so that she could visit Tomes and Scrolls, which she had seen briefly before she had walked into Kale's Elves. She had the intentions of browsing only, but upon seeing six books that had been authored by Salazar Slytherin, she decided that it would be best to buy them before someone else did. The owner of the store gave her an odd look which she took mental note of, but she didn't ask him about his reaction. Looking at the position of the sun in the sky, she debated going to her knew home. Her mind was made up though when she realized that come second year, the bullying she faced would become far worse than the previous year, as she would most probably have to go through the whole year with it. Being prepared with the basic healing potions from the first year syllabus before hand would be a start and while she wouldn't return to Flourish and Blots for more potion's books and other books on healing on the current day, she would definitely do so later, most probably when she returned to the Alley to buy some more house elves and to talk to her Account Manager about Aestas Ferruum and her still developing plans for it.
This was how she found herself in the Apothecary in Diagon buying a good amount of each of the ingredients that the place carried. The store owner quirked an eyebrow at the amount she was buying, but didn't say anything. Ten minutes after entering the Apothecary, Caelia was in the store next door, Soren's Potioneering Supplies. She bought a new pewter cauldron for school as well as three copper cauldron's. She did debate buying a solid silver cauldron as Snape had mentioned in passing how some healing potions could only be brewed in one, but she decided against it as she wanted to have the books that mentioned those potions first. Other than that, she bought vials, bottles, and the storage containers that would hold them. She bought the most expensive containers (5 galleons for each) as they had cushioning charms in place along with water proofing charms, flame resistance charms, and spell resistant charms.
It was once she exited the shop that she decided that it was time to return as she was sure that, by this point, Dumbledore would have realized that she hadn't returned and she didn't want to chance him realizing that she was person that he was looking for as she was certain that he had no idea that she was female. Within five minutes, she had lugged her new trunk filled with supplies into the Leaky Cauldron and had politely asked Tom the barkeeper if she could use some of the floo powder to return home. The moment that she had gotten permission, she grabbed the appropriate amount and walked into the empty fireplace, softly calling out "Lillian's Hideout" as she dropped the handful at her feet. Within a minute she was tossed out of the fire place at her current home that was designed for floo access and halfway across the room. As she got up, she thanked her luck that her mother seemed to have made sure that the small room was empty and quickly took her trunk and dragged it through the door which Kitty had opened the moment she had entered the wards through the fire place.
Setting her things to the side, she quickly ate the small meal that Euphie and Lulu had prepared before talking to the elves about how things were going to work. They would all be assigned to the same room that they could use as their quarters and on the days they had to work it was mandatory for them to wear the uniforms that she had bought for them. They would have at least one day for themselves a month (she had wanted to make it one day each week, but the elves had quickly refused that notion) and if one of them got sick at least one other elf would be assigned to look after the sick elf. She had also tried to pay them with money, but they had quickly refused and told her that they had no use for it so she settled on the next best thing; she would buy them materials to make their own cloths for when they had time to themselves so that they wouldn't have to constantly wear the uniforms along, though the Peverell Coat-of-Arms would have to be visible on at least one piece of clothing. Other than that, she did tell them that she would cook with them as she found cooking soothing and that she would make sure that the room that they had as their quarters was properly furnished for them. She also told them that, so long as she was at whatever residence they called home, they were allowed to eat with her if they wished as it was lonely to eat alone.
The elves at the end of the entire debate, the elves had burst into tears at what she was doing for them and had promised her that they would make her proud before returning to what they had been doing prior to her arrival. The rest of the day was spent learning the layout of her new home and organizing through what she had bought before she went to bed with a smile on her face for the first time in ten years.
– Line Break –
Two days after Caelia had visited the Diagon Alley, Albus Dumbledore came through the floo in order to see why his chess piece was in Diagon as well as to remove the memory of her visit and to add several compulsion spells along with a few spells to make her act before thinking a lot more than she did. One thing that had been frustrating him was how the compulsion potions hadn't been working as they were suppose to during the school year. His weapon wasn't suppose to question him the way she had at the end of the year. She wasn't suppose to have stayed away from her house's celebrations during the leaving feast when he had given those excuses to award all those extra points. But she had and it was why he was now planning to use compulsion spells instead of potions. Having had the youngest Weasley male give the book bag that he had placed a tracking charm on to the Potter heir was ingenious on his part. It allowed him to keep track of the last Potter with ease and without making himself look suspicious to others.
Ten minutes later, Albus stood in shock as he held the worn handbag that had been given to last Potter, having picked it up from a trash bin outside of Madame Malkim's Robes for all Occasions. That shock quickly wore off as he assured himself that Petunia just hadn't wished for her nephew to have a book bag that had looked as it had. It never occurred to him, as he left and headed back to to the castle (he still fumed at the fact that the old collapsing stone building had refused to hand the wards over to him when he had become headmaster and had managed to prevent him from taking them forcefully. He tried each year figuring that the lack of having someone power them would eventually allow him to take control of them. He had no idea that the school was using the cores of each and every student to power herself so that not only would the manipulating old man not be able to take the wards from her forcefully but so that the damage done to the children's cores over the summer due to lack of proper magical exercise due to various laws brought through by power hungry individuals could be mostly undone.), he failed to realize that his pawn was slowly but surely slipping right through his fingers and out of his control.
Alright. I've reread this chapter several times and I was proud have how it went. I do hope you all enjoyed the cliffhanger. The chapter itself was 23 pages and hit a total of 15'466 words in total. I debated continuing until I hit 20'000 words, but no matter how I tried, I just couldn't get it to flow in a way and anyway, I passed my 7'000 word minimum so I figured that ending it here was for the best. On a top note, I've already started the second chapter.
Feel free to leave me questions in your reviews as I will address and answer them at the start of each chapter. Remember to make sure that the reviews are constructive as well. Also, every time a chapter is added, I will also update the previous ones in the story so that any spelling and/or grammar mistakes will be fixed.
Bye for now,
Forestfirekid