Her parents were going to be furious. Bailey knew that, but she also knew that this was what she was meant to do. She knew that if she didn't at least try the dreams would turn from dreams, into living nightmares. She didn't know how she knew, but she felt it, deep inside of her whenever she thought about just ignoring it and going about her everyday life.
Taking a deep breath she took a step forward. It was her turn. No going back after this. She showed her ticket to an attendant and stepped forward into the green fire. The preset fireplace whipped her into the system smoothly. They had warned her it would be a good five minutes of spinning due to the long distance required, but it was much worse than she had expected. Silently, she thanked herself for her foresight to drink an anti-nausea potion before leaving for the floo hub. Five minutes later, she popped out of a different fireplace. She didn't manage to catch herself but felt herself get caught by the attendant waiting just before she hit the floor. He nodded curtly to her after making sure she wasn't about to throw up or fall over, both of which she assumed were typical reactions. She had arrived.
She exited the unfamiliar floo hub. Seeing the completely foreign city around her dark, with streetlights glowing, despite it being mid-afternoon in the country she had just left made her realize just how much she had gotten herself into this time. Thinking back to the various pamphlets and books she had read preparing for this trip, she stuck out her right hand over the curb. A giant, violently purple double-decker bus appeared in front of her. Stepping into the bus, she was greeted by a conductor.
"Where to miss?" he leered at her.
"Diagon Alley" she replied curtly.
"That'll be-" he was cut off.
"I only have Dragots,"
He scowled, obviously loathe to the idea of accepting foreign money. "7 dragots 2 spinks"
Bailey handed over the money and climbed aboard. Climbing to the top level, she had only just taken a seat in the very back when the bus disappeared with a loud bang. Bracing herself every time they popped in and out of existence, she was again very glad for the anti-nausea potion and made a mental note to stock up. The bus appeared to be otherwise deserted she noted, which, hopefully, meant she would arrive sooner. This proved to be true, as she arrived less than 2 minutes after getting on.
Diagon Alley was mostly deserted, with a mere few late night shoppers hurrying to the apparition points to get home. Bailey made a beeline to the midpoint of the street, directing herself toward the large marble building of Gringotts bank. It was open, just as she had hoped it would be. She passed through the set of double doors, carefully hiding the fact that she felt the wards pass over her, despite them being carefully shielded from being felt. Wards felt similar to having an ice-cold bath of some thick, slimy substance. Most people, of course, could not feel wards of this type, but, unfortunately, she could.
She walked up to the long counter and got the attention of one of the goblins. Respectfully dipping her head before speaking, she said, "Excuse me, but is it possible to retrieve ownership of lost houses and their vaults and properties?"
The goblin appeared surprised at her request. "It depends on the size and importance of the house and how long it has been missing."
"The house of Ravenclaw?"
The goblin obviously did not believe her. "If you can prove that you are the true heir of the house, of course,"
Straightening herself, Bailey looked him straight in the eye. "Perhaps the Ravenclaw Grimoire would be sufficient proof?"
She had to play this carefully she had realized. Too forward and she would be considered rude, which would be the opposite of what she wanted, as having the British wizarding bank as your enemy would be foolish, but being too careful and she would be branded as weak and treated as such, and then, she would never be able to get anything done.
Narrowing his eyes at her, the goblin hopped over the counter with a device that looked like a thick stick. He made her remove her backpack and passed the stick around her from top to bottom and all around before he moved on to her bag. As he passed over the bag it glowed red. Squinting at her suspiciously, he obviously did not believe that this was a prank anymore but was still skeptical that she was the true heir, but he directed her to retrieve her bag and follow him across the hall and into a long hallway with doors lining both sides. Every door had a nameplate. This was the location of the houses' offices she realized. Every family with more than 6 generations of magical folk with a certain amount of money or fame was considered a house, and every house had an office in Gringotts, for Gringotts was the biggest hub for legal actions in Britain besides the Ministry. After walking for a time, they came to the end of the hallway. A cage-like elevator -lift she thought, she was in Britain now- stood there. They entered and the goblin pressed the lowest button marked 9.
She was led down another hallway, almost identical in decorations to the one she had just left, besides the obvious quality differences. The floor was carpeted in a luxuriously thick red carpet rather than the worn short dull burgundy red of the hall she had left, and the doors lining the walls were of a dark high-quality wood with silver nameplates rather than false looking wood patterned doors and dull aluminum nameplates. Upon examining the nameplates she passed, they all appeared mysteriously blurred, just enough to be unreadable. Figures. If a person had enough money to make it down this far then they valued their privacy. The hallway seemed impossibly long. As they walked, she noticed the hallway seemed to be slanting down. They were probably going under vaults at this point. They walked and walked. Finally, after what seemed like hours, though it was probably closer to five minutes, the goblin finally stopped at a door, and Bailey noticed she could read this nameplate. 'Ravenclaw' it stated, but in smaller lettering underneath it claimed 'lost'. She was shown in by the goblin, who claimed, "I'll send down a goblin with the credentials to test you for the heirship. He'll be down within fifteen minutes," and shut the door behind him before Bailey could say anything.
She examined the room and set her watch to the local time using a beautiful wall clock behind the desk. It was almost midnight here. The carpeting was a beautiful shade of blue and all the trimmings were of a bronze color. There was a cherry wood desk in the middle of the room, with the Ravenclaw crest inlaid in bronze in the center. Behind the desk stood a large solid bookcase again of cherry wood. It was filled with books, many of which looked so ancient that they were probably being held together with preservation charms. Across the edge of the room stood a line of filing cabinets. The lighting was provided by floating orbs of light lined up around the edge of the room rather than candles. The walls were painted in a pleasing light blue color. There were two identical chairs on either side of the desk. Bailey took the chair on the outer edge of the desk, thinking it would be smarter to not seem cocky. Behind her, a portrait spoke, making her jump. "Why are you here?"
Bailey turned around in her seat to see a painting of Rowena Ravenclaw. "I am your descendant and I am here to claim my heritage,"
"You have an American accent," the portrait noted.
"Yes, I have run away from my family to claim my true house,"
"But you are not a true Ravenclaw,"
"Pardon?" Bailey was confused.
"You are something special. I am not denying that you are my descendant, I can see it in you, but you will not be placed into my house. You are not one of mine,"
"I have seen as such in my dreams. I have seen that I must come and claim my heritage and that I must force my way out of what my parents have made for me in America."
"So you are a seer as well. Yes, I do believe that you would not be fit to be in my house, though you deserve to be. Keep my legacy alive and-" She fell silent as a knock sounded on the door and a goblin entered.
This goblin was neater and more professional than the previous one. He immediately set to business. "You claim to be the descendant of Rowena Ravenclaw?"
"Yes, sir,"
To Be Continued...
A/N: Please R&R. I've written this story about 7 times, but every time I posted it no one would read it. Hopefully this one get mre attention than the others.