A sleepy groan echoes throughout the bedroom that takes up the attic. The sole occupant of the circular bed under one of the windows rolls out of the bed, her hair a messy halo of blonde, blue and black around her face. Scrunching up her nose at the taste in her mouth, she heads to the bathroom to brush her teeth. A quick glance in the mirror has her deciding that it was too early to even attempt to tame her hair. She stumbles downstairs, still in her pajamas, and starts her coffee machine before moving to the fridge for milk, eggs, and cheese. As she closes the fridge she notices the paper stuck the fridge by one of the cat magnets that her mother loathed. She grins, knowing that her mother probably sneered at it when she used it. It was why she kept buying them, no matter how many times her mother or father threw them out. She pulls the paper with her when she goes to the pantry for the pancake mix.
'Synkínisi, we went on our vacation to France. Don't know when we'll be back. Don't trash the house.
Diane and Liam.'
Rolling her eyes, she crumples the paper and tosses it in the trashcan. Another Christmas and birthday alone. She forgets about them leaving her once again as she makes her breakfast, eventually sitting down at the bar with pancakes, an omelet, and her coffee. Synkínisi places her dishes into the washer and heads back upstairs, throwing her hair up into a messy ponytail on the way. Reaching the room she wanted, she draws two wooden swords. She hits a button with her elbow causing several dummies to pop up and shoot towards her. Staying at it for several hours, constantly dodging and hacking at the cloth and wood dummies, she stops, panting, and soaked in sweat. Sliding her swords back into their holder, Synkínisi strips on the way to her shower, her clothing being flung in the general direction of her hamper. The water is nearly too hot to bare and for awhile she just stands there, soaking in the heat, pale, freckled skin turning pink. Slipping into skinny jeans and a black Smokey Joe and the Kid tee shirt, she quickly dries her blonde hair dyed light blue mid way through that gets progressively darker until it reaches the black tips. It's slightly frizzy, as usual, and she's forced to blink rapidly as a strand gets caught in her eye, causing both electric blue orbs to water. She swipes at her face, dislodging the strand, and moves it over her left shoulder glaring in the mirror at the wavy mess.
"What to do, what to do?" She muses, tapping a finger that stays unpainted, though the rest are either purple or blue, it's just to upset her mother, against her chin before smirking and heading to the theatre in the basement, grabbing her movies, the carton of cookie dough ice cream in the freezer in the kitchen, and the six pack of root beer from the pantry on the way. Tomorrow, December the 13th, a friday, she's turning 19, and again her parents have decided they need a vacay. With a sigh, she plays Friday the 13th, not caring in the slightest that it's only about two weeks till Christmas. Besides Diane and Liam won't be home then either. By the time the first movie is done, half of the ice cream and one can of soda is gone. Curling her sock covered feet under her, she flips the input to the xbox setting and creates a new bioshock game, intent on beating the game in one sitting. She's finishing her third root beer during a cutscene when the screen goes black. A face starts to materialize, one she has seen in her dreams for 19 years.
"Synkínisi."
"Lady Chaos?" Synkínisi's feet hit the ground in record time as she springs up.
"Synkínisi save them."
"Mamma?" As soon as the syllables pass her lips, she can feel an energy grab her and tug. When her feet touch solid ground again, she's in a circular room, rows of benches in the form of a stadium around the circular platform in the middle, reminding her of the Coliseum, and she has her magic back. For a moment that's all she can focus on, the feeling of her magic flowing through her once again and she knows if she had a mirror, her irises would hold purple flecks as they did decades ago. A crashing noise startles her into looking up and she watches six teenagers fly out of a door near the ceiling before falling towards the platform. The brunette girl cries out suddenly.
"Arresto momento." Synkínisi recognizes the spell and strengthens it before they can splat on the marble. She studies the group, a tall, freckled, redhead boy, a short, raven haired Indian boy, and a brunette boy, just now losing his baby fat it would seem, his height between the two boys. The brunette girl has the darkest skin out of all of them, and her hair is wilder than Nisi's. There are two more girls, a freckled redhead, and a silvery blonde. The raven haired boy approaches the stone arch standing on the platform, a veil fluttering under it, and asks the others with him if they can hear what it's saying. The brunette girl says there's nothing there but the blonde says she can hear it too. Nisi doesn't move, content with watching from afar for now, while trying to figure out who she was here for. Black smoke and cackles cause her to glance up again and narrow her eyes as it swarms the teens on the platform. When it clears all but the raven haired boy are on the edge of the platform, an adult in black robes holding each at wand point. A man with long platinum hair approaches the teen standing alone.
"Give me the prophecy." He's holding out his hand. "Give it to me and none of your friends will be hurt."
"Don't give it to him Harry." The brunette boy shouts causing the crazed witch holding him to place her wand over his throat. A light flashes behind the guy asking for the prophecy and he turns around confused.
"Don't touch my godson." The newcomer punches the blonde guy making Harry smile. More white flashes, bringing in others who start to duel those in black. One turns into smoke and shoots to the door. Nisi flicks her wrist sending him into the opposite wall and she can hear his spine break, a small smirk twisting her lips.
"Avada Kedavra." Another column of smoke lands midway on the benches and the woman that forms from it shoots an acid green spell that hits the first guy to show up in a flash of white. Nisi is moving before she can actually comprehend it. She starts counting when the man's body begins to fall into the Veil. Without truly thinking she follows only to have something warm grasp her hand. She looks back ready to curse anyone trying to stop her when she meets a tan face, one of his eyes blue the other liquid gold, neither with a pupil. He doesn't attempt to stop her so she lunges forward some in order to grab the front of the shirt of Harry's godfather. Leaning backwards, she drags the man with her, trusting the other to get them out. On the other side, an Italian guy is pulling on the teen that followed Nisi. On one side of him a muscled Egyptian guy, the other has an equally muscled Mongolian guy, roughly the same age, both begin pushing him away from the Veil, not allowing him to fall in. A feminine figure begins to approach those inside the veil.
"Shit." The guy holding her hand glances back at her with a quirked eyebrow. She ignores him. "Fuck off, he's mine." Her snarl makes the vague figure pause, giving them enough time to yank themselves out of the Veil. Once back in the mortal realm, she hits her knees, palms flat on the cool marble, gasping for air, trying to regain function over her lungs, and not caring about the 16 new teens in the room, one of them on the other side of the guy they pulled with them, flat on his ass, blonde head between his knees. The rest form a semicircle between them and everyone else.
"I was dead." The godfather's head swivels between the two blondes, long black hair swinging with the action.
'The boy Synkínisi.' Her head snaps around catching Harry chase after the woman who cast the killing curse.
"Shit." She scrambles to her feet, trying to get purchase with her socks still on. Eventually getting her feet under her, she bolts towards the door they just exited and enters in time to see a new figure disarm the boy as he turns. Harry's green eyes widen when he sees her as she continues to sprint towards them. The guy in black whirls around just as she collides with him. They both fall, her making sure he's on bottom, his head cracking against the marble. She rears back before slamming her fist into his face that isn't natural, no nose, no hair, just odd, feeling satisfied as bones crack under her knuckles.
"Avada Kedavra." The shriek has her rolling to the side in order to avoid the curse, her fingers twitch, causing a spike of marble to shoot up from the ground and pierce the woman to the ceiling.
"Bellatrix!" Another flick of her wrist has a shield covering the woman, not allowing any of the man's spells to reach her and allowing her to bleed out.
"Oopsies. Was she important?" A malicious grin covers Nisi's face when he turns his full rage on her. Someone walks up on her left side, but the smell of gunpowder and cinnamon makes her grin grow. Out of the corner of her eye she can see a platinum blonde and a redhead girl pulling Harry away from the now trio standoff. The unnatural looking man fires off a killing curse and a gold shield covers the two teens before it can come into contact.
"Now that's not very polite." Nisi chides with a small chuckle.
"We don't even know your name." He splutters before snarling.
"I am Lord Voldemort."
"Never heard of you."
"Nope." Nisi agrees with the teen on her left, popping the 'p'. Her fingers encircle his wrist as Voldemort fires a crucio at them. It connects but he can only gape when the torture curse doesn't affect them. Synkínisi rocks back on her heels before smirking. She reaches into thin air beside her, pulling out a cedar wand and shoots a spell. He's forced to jump to the side when it shatters his shield. The shield turns purple when Nisi starts controlling it, allowing the other to attack. A few small cutting curses get through, one up her left forearm, another across his cheek, but neither care. She aims a cutting curse for Voldemort's jugular, her partner's just barely missing the major artery in his leg. She is forced to jerk her wand upwards as he disappears and other people floo in, the curse barely missing the Minister's head.
"He's back." The minister mumbles, paling rapidly.
"Oh wow, the man has eyes connected to a brain." Nisi snarks, walking back to the group from the Veil room. Kneeling, she traces a rune into the floor with her wand. A swirling black and purple portal forms above it. She faces the group again and watches the 16 teens that showed up as she entered the veil, enter the portal.
"I don't think I caught your name." The guy that she had saved takes a step towards her. She quirks an eyebrow.
"I didn't catch yours either."
"Sirius Black."
"Synkínisi." She goes to walk into the portal, the Italian and the teen with a blue and gold eye are waiting for her at the entrance.
"You saved my life. I owe you a life debt." She pauses and turns back towards him, a contemplative look on her face. Her gaze lands on the brunette boy and she just waits until he meets her eyes. She turns her gaze onto the woman still pinned to the ceiling, now dead. She feels his gaze follow hers. Returning her blue eyes to the boy's face, she waits again for him to look at her. His face is pale but determined. Her eyes travel back to Sirius.
"There are no debts between friends." She turns away and moves to the portal, ignoring his wide grey eyes and gaping mouth.
"Synkínisi!" Stepping out of the portal, the blonde is swarmed by the 16 teens waiting. She soaks in the sight of Alex, her hair so red, it looks unnatural, her pale jade green eyes tearing up. There's Al, messy, brown hair, and dark hazel eyes, and his older brother Jay, lighter in color than his brother. Monica's curly cinnamon hair stands in clear contrast with her dark skin and she smothers Nisi in a hug. Then there's Ali, sleek, wavy, raven haired, Turkish Ali with black eyes, and Louis with thick, long eyelashes and curly brown hair. Akil moves in next, golden Egyptian skin practically glowing next to her paleness. Japanese Kana with short spiky black hair quirks pale purple lips, pressing a kiss to Nisi's cheek. Marylin smiles and comes up next, brown hair transitioning into honey tips, warm brown eyes sparkling. Blane steps up and squeezes the blonde in a hug, his messy chin length hair tickling her nose. Jake, the Mongolian that helped Akil earlier, draws her close and presses a rough kiss to the top of her head. Long platinum blonde hair swings when Charlotte, the French teen that helped Alex pull Harry away from Voldemort, pulls Nisi to her next, her ice blue eyes searching her face. Quinn is next, parts of her hair so deep red it seems purple. May bounces over next, sun streaked brown hair flying everywhere and sky blue eyes filled with hope.
"Fucking hell Nisi." Josh wraps his arms around her, his eyes now electric blue with golden flecks. He pulls back and studies her face, before hugging his twin again, arms tighter than before. Nisi's nose is pressed into his shoulder and she just clings to him for a moment.
"I missed all of you."
"We missed you too." Josh murmurs softly.
"I think Anthony was going crazy." Jay stage whispers to the twins still holding on to each other. Nisi chuckles and turns to face the Italian leaning up against her kitchen counter glaring at Jay, his green eyes softening when they lock onto her. Josh moves back and Anthony stalks forward, reminding Nisi of a panther. An elegant finger tilts her chin up and a hand cups her cheek as he leans down and presses a kiss to her lips. Her eyes flutter shut at the pressure and she leans up into it, rising to her tippy toes, her hands tangling in his hair. When they break apart, she returns to flat feet and turns back towards everyone, his arm wrap around her waist and his chin rest on her head.
"So does anyone have any idea what's going on?" Nisi asks them, exasperation clear.
"Lady Chaos wants us to protect them." Quinn shrugs.
"Protect who though?"
"Right now there are three separate factions trying to gain control over the war." Everyone looks over to find Lady Chaos standing in the middle of the living room, black skin that sucks in the light around it, white freckles in the form of galaxies, dark purple eyes, and flaming red hair. "The Ministry, Voldemort, and Albus Dumbledore. You are to protect the Wizarding world. Dumbledore might have the right idea that Voldemort needs to be defeated, but he is too concerned with a prophecy and making sure he is in charge."
"And the other two?"
"Well that is a rather long story. Come get comfortable."
Nisi stretches, trying not to jostle the sleeping form next to her. They had all fallen asleep in the pillow pit they had created after talking for hours about the state of the Wizarding world and how they wanted to handle it. Anthony blinks sleepily, looking at the girl in his arms.
"Happy Birthday gattina."
"Mmmm, it is, isn't it." She yawns, snuggling deeper into him. He stands up smoothly, bringing her with him, making her glare weakly at her displacement. Grinning, he picks her up bridal style and carries her up to her bathroom. When her feet touch back down, she moves to the sink and starts brushing her teeth.
"Gods, Syn, I really missed you." He mutters against her neck after turning on the shower.
"I'm just brushing my teeth." She says thickly.
"I still find it amazing that you're absolutely sluggish on a normal morning, but I know that if you woke up with adrenaline pumping, you'd be bouncing off the walls."
"Mornings suck." Grumbling, she pokes his stomach, and moves to the shower, stripping on the way, his eyes tracking her, roving as she goes. He turns back around and picks up his toothbrush. Before passing out, they all managed to bring clothes and other personal items to the house. She's just standing under the stream of water, trying to wake up more. After setting the toothbrush down, he turns and leans against the granite counter. Wiping water out of her eyes, she looks up at him. "Wake me up?" He pushes off and moves to her, his shirt landing next to hers on the floor.
Josh glances up as his twin and her lover enter the kitchen, hair still dripping a little. He rolls his eyes and hands them both a cup of coffee.
"So, sis, how did you become so awake?"
"I've been up for nearly an hour."
"An hour? Gods how long can you two go at it? You two haven't seen each other in about 20 years, and the day you meet up again, it's like there was never a two decade period of separation." Charlotte points out from Jake's lap at the little breakfast nook. Anthony just smiles at the oldest girl of the group, while Nisi just dazes off, a loving glint in her eyes as she watches them interact.
"You okay?" Josh slips up beside his sister.
"Yeah, I just really missed all of you."
"Did you remember us?"
"Yeah. I thought I was going crazy for a little bit. Memories i shouldn't have. People i haven't met. People I love. I had friends sure, but that's it. Just plain friends, no lovers, no twins, no might as well be family. I was alone. I was going to spend the day playing video games, watching horror, gory movies, eating ice cream, and drinking soda."
"Not anymore." His hand lands on her shoulder, eyes intense.
"No, not anymore."
"Cake!" Al calls out, levitating two enormous cakes into the room, one red velvet, the other a lemon cheesecake.
Nisi flicks a glance over her shoulder to see Kana talking to a different worker. Returning her attention to the goblin in front of her, she flashes a small smile.
"Morning, is Madam Ironfist still here?"
"Yes." He curtly responds.
"May i see her?" The goblin looks up and glares at her. "Can you at least tell her Synkínisi Barron is here. Please?" He huffs but walks away towards the offices. Well, as long as they haven't changed the layout. She wrinkles her nose at the thought.
"Lady Barron?" A raspy, slightly feminine voice startles her out of her thoughts.
"Madam Ironfist!" Nisi turns rapidly, her eyes landing on the goblin staring at her like she's seen a ghost. She hastily places a fist over her heart and bows at the waist. "Madam, it is a pleasure as always." She slips into Goblebrook making several goblins' eyes widen.
"How are you alive?"
"A magician never tells her secrets." Ironfist splutters as Nisi straightens out.
"With me. Goldrod return to your desk." Nisi winks at the flabbergasted goblin before following Ironfist.
"Madam-"
"Lady."
"Ouch alright. Ironfist how have you been?"
"Well considering I lost all of the humans i was even remotely fond of? Just grand." She winces at Ironfist's answer and doesn't speak again until they're in her office.
"Where do you want me to begin?"
"How are you here?"
"Before everything, i had tied my magical core to my soul. It was the only way i could think of stopping him from taking it from me. Apparently that screwed with the whole dying process. I died alright but i was reborn with my magic and some of my memories."
"Why are you just now coming to tell me this?"
"I was stuck. I couldn't access my magic and all of my previous memories came to me in my dreams and nightmares. For awhile I thought I was just going mental. Yesterday, Lady Chaos brought me here to Britain, the Ministry to be exact, and Her power coursing through me unlocked my magic."
"So, you tied your magic to your soul, died, reincarnated, became stuck, and just now got everything again."
"Yup."
"Only with you."
"Well... you see... the rest are back too." Nisi gives an apologetic half smile and a small shrug. Ironfist just stares at her.
"Crazy, idiotic, stupid teens. They're going to be the death of me." Nisi chuckles at her grumbling. "Alright, what do you need?"
"My vaults reopened and another list of the properties under my name. Memory is still kinda fuzzy." She watches the goblin get up and sift through a cabinet, pulling out a thick folder with 'Barron' written on the front.
"I'll take you down to your vault in a moment. Your properties include Barron Castle in Ireland, the townhouse here in Britain, and the Villa in Greece."
"There's a manor in Colorado that I want. At the moment it's occupied by a couple that rarely spend any time there. Is it possible for me to come into ownership of it?"
"Who owns it?"
"Diane and Liam Rhode."
"I will get right on it."
"Thank you Madam Ironfist."
"You are very welcome Lady Barron. Your vault now?"
"Yes Madam." They move to one of the carts and take off down into the cavern. The ride reminds her of a rollercoaster and she tilts her head back, laughing as the wind whips past her face and tosses her hair around. It eventually stops at a vault numbered 1. "Gods I missed that." She skips up to the door and easily slits her palm with her nail. As the blood wells up, she places it on the cool metal, listening to the clicks and whirls inside the door. It open up into an empty, square room with a door on each wall. Madam Ironfist follows Nisi to the center of the room where they both pause and Nisi squeezes her hand allowing three more drops of blood to fall on the ground, healing the cut afterwards. Ironfist lets out a sigh of relief when three distinct clicks fill the room. Nisi grins at her then moves to the door on her right. Flinging it open, she walks in and starts to pick through it all, pulling out a red knife sheath that she places on her right thigh and a blue and purple sword sheath that holds a sword on each side that goes around her hips. She keeps searching until she finds two black swords, one of them edged in what appears to be a glasslike substance, the metal part laced with purple, the other doesn't have that edge, instead half of it seems to shine oddly, and is laced with blue.
"You never did explain to me where you got those."
"They're Stygian iron, crafted from the river Styx. I was gifted them, but they were hastily made due to the circumstances at the time. After awhile, a friend, Bran, took them as a challenge and reforged them, adding the colors as a warning to those that crossed me, reminding them who I was. With the purple one, he decided to edge it in dragonfire glass, another warning that I was never alone. The other, he encased half of the blade with black diamond, something about dark beauty." She finishes with a quiet sigh, tracing a vein of purple. "Well next room." Shrugging off the lingering sadness, she ushers the goblin into the door straight across from the main entrance. Nisi grabs a trunk and starts to sort through a pile of books, ignoring the portrait next to her.
"We heard you died." The whisper has her glancing over at the man with dark blonde hair in a ponytail at his shoulder.
"Mhmm. I did." She keeps going through the books tossing several of them into the trunk.
"Did you do what that bastard Tom did?" Nisi's eyebrows furrow as she looks over at a portrait of a young woman, maybe her late twenties.
"Tom? Tom who?"
"Riddle." She snarls making Nisi get up and summon all of the portraits into a half circle in front of her as she plops on the ground.
"What did Riddle do?" When none of the portraits respond, some glaring at her, the others refusing to meet her eye, she sighs and begins to braid her hair of her shoulder, trying to calm her temper. "Okay listen. I've only ran into Voldemort once, and that time I literally ran into him, slammed his head into a marble floor, and repeatedly punched him in the face, breaking several bones. That thing probably loathes me and if he has done something that makes killing nearly impossible, and i don't know what that is, it is highly possible that i will die. Again. So if you know something, now would be a great time to let me know." She waits and eventually a woman huffs before glaring at her.
"Soul jars." Nisi facepalms and starts grumbling under her breath.
"Fucking bastard. Psychopathic moron. Is he mental? What the hell?"
"Are you saying that isn't what you did?" Her head snaps up and the stares at the woman that asked her if she did what Tom did, her mouth hanging open.
"NO! I did NOT make a damn Horcrux. No no no. I like my soul thank you very much! Wait did you say jars as in plural?" When she nods, Nisi groans and rubs her palms into her eyes. "Fuck."
"You didn't make any?"
"No." Her growl has the portraits wincing and looking away. "How do you guys know that he did?"
"He used me to make one." Her tone is much nicer now that she knows Nisi never made a horcrux.
"What's your name?"
"Catherine."
"Alright, Catherine, did you see what the object was?"
"A ring and it had this symbol on the side. It was a line-"
"Wait, here." Nisi summons a blank piece of parchment and a quill. A quick wave and a jab of her wand causes the items to appear inside the picture.
"How did you-" a different portrait gasps.
"Magic." She waggles her fingers in his general direction, watching the girl draw a triangle with a circle inside it and a line halving it. "Peverell?"
"He said it was the Gaunt ring."
"Gaunt? Alright, thanks. I'll take care of them."
"What?" Several portraits gasp in shock.
"What? I'm going to take care of them." She shrugs nonchalantly.
"They're dangerous!"
"So am I. So?"
"They could kill you!"
"A simple summoning charm or levitating charm could kill me. Trust me, it'll be fine." Waving off the concern, she stands and stretches. "Do you guys have other portraits? I'm opening up the homes again." After informing her which homes their counterparts resided in, she grabs the trunk of books and leaves the room, Madam Ironfist close behind.
"What was that about?"
"Voldie split his soul into several Horcruxes. One of them was able to inform me what one of them is. Do you guys still have the Gaunt file, like their properties and such?"
"We should. I'll check myself."
"Wonderful. Last room." She flashes the goblin with a bright smile.
"What are you going to do with the soul pieces?" She asks as the human starts to sort through the large pile of gold in the center of the room.
"Destroy them." She shrugs picking up a wallet that has direct access to the vault allowing her to withdraw money from anywhere. She picks up something that resembles a muggle credit card, usable in both wizard and muggle worlds.
"Why?"
"He's my target, as are his death eaters."
"All of you are back?"
"Yes."
"Are you guys willing to be rehired?"
"You're willing to do so?" Nisi turns to study Madam Ironfist.
"More than willing."
"Sure. We loved it, still do i'm pretty sure."
"I also want to create a new contract."
"About?"
"Taking out death eaters. They are a threat to this bank. We'd be willing to give you 50 gallons for each death."
"Can i search their vaults for books?"
"Just books?"
"We don't need the money, artifacts I'm not really interested in, unless it's something you guys refuse to keep, and I know all of us will desire the books more than anything."
"We can arrange that, yes."
"I killed Bellatrix Lestrange and some male death muncher yesterday evening. Do they still count?"
"Once you sign the contract their names will appear, so yes."
"Alright, I'm done down here. Wanna head back up?"
"Of course." Back on the ground level, Madam Ironfist leads the way to a conference room. "Are the others here?"
"Yes Madam." The goblin nods before sending a messenger to the other managers of the favored humans. Within minutes 16 other teens and goblins enter the room and settle around the table, Nisi and Ironfist on one end, Josh and Ragnok on the other, everyone else on the other side of the table from their managers.
"We desire to rehire you using the old contracts as the base." Madam Ironfist begins, rather bluntly.
"I personally like the idea. I enjoyed what we did." There's silence after Nisi speaks.
"I'm up for it." Akil grins and everyone nods in agreement.
"Excellent. Spearhead, retrieve the old contracts, bring them here." One of the goblin scribes nods and leaves quickly. "I also have another proposition." She waits just a moment, feeling the weight of all of the eyes upon her which causes a thrill of mixed emotions to run through her. On one hand these are her favorite humans, highly respectful, learned their language to make the transactions easier on the goblins, which no human has ever done unless for their own convenience, and actually stood up for the goblins. When these 17 practically ran the Wizengamot, Gringotts and the goblins prospered. On the other hand, these 17 are the most dangerous beings that have practically ever existed. They all excel in wandless magic, sometimes tending to wield a wand in one hand and use the other for wandless magic, they can wield any weapon they desire effortlessly, they have enough political sway to rule this country, and if desired, the world, apparently death cannot stop them, they have ancient deities on their side, their morals are few, with the main theme don't hurt loved ones and innocents, they have no qualms with killing, and were trained by the best assassins in the world. In reality, the perfect people to get rid of Voldemort's dark stain on society. "I want to pay 50 gallons for each death eater you kill. Think of it as a hit contract from Gringotts if you will."
"I mentioned, when she brought this up to me, that we get to take the books from their vaults as well." The teens' eyes light up at that. "We don't need the money, and artifacts should probably stay with Gringotts unless they absolutely refuse to keep them, especially anything goblin made."
"In all honesty, we wouldn't even need to remove the books. Each family we come in contact with, we could create a grimoire with copies. Well, we could still put the actual books in one of our vaults or libraries and just carry the grimoire around." Louis glances around the gauge their reactions, just bouncing the idea off of them.
"That actually makes sense." Alex nods, leaning forward some. "It definitely takes up less space and we could even leave the actual copies to the goblins or if they have other, non death muncher, family members."
"If we wanted, do any of you know if we could raid their homes due to ownership of conquest?"
"It's possible, though I am unsure." Her manager, Bloodaxe, answers her with a malicious grin which she returns.
"We are planning on taking them out anyways, why do you want to offer us money to do so?" Jay asks Madam Ironfist with a quirked eyebrow.
"They are a threat to our people and it also protects you from the Ministry. They might try to stop you since many are either sympathizers or Marked."
"If we agree, can you place it in a separate vault so we can split it between us once they're all buried?" Anthony looks at his manager with his question as the goblin with the contracts returns.
"That would be agreeable." Hookblade nods at the Italian and Madam Ironfist passes the old contracts around for renewal and begins to draw up a new one for the hits. Nisi reads it over, splits her finger with the quill tip, allowing it to soak up some of the blood, and signs it. One of the goblins gasp, staring at her finger.
"Her blood. It's- it's gold!"
"He's new." Marylin motions to her vault manager.
"I noticed." Nisi snorts, a half smile gracing her face.
"Now now Ladies. Be nice." Al wags his finger at the two.
"Them? Nice? As if." Blane rolls his eyes, complete with sticking out his tongue at the girls sneers.
"Alright how are we going to deal with this." Charlotte taps her fingers on the table, gaining everyone's attention.
"Maybe we should shift our accounts to those who already know us?" Quinn switches to another language without really thinking.
"We could, i suppose, convince them to switch vaults around. Maybe one of our goblins could swap accounts that match our account value with the newbies. That way we deal with those already used to our oddities." Josh gives a languid shrug.
"Especially since the newbies are staring at us like we're planning to kill them since they can't understand us." Leaning back in his chair, Anthony decides to point out without even looking across the table.
"If they knew just how well we can read them, they'd be furious with themselves, particularly that one that spoke up first." Jake rolls his eyes, his lips threatening to twitch into a smile.
"So what? Are we going to ask them, see if they're willing? We don't want to insult the newbies, but we really need someone who can keep up and will not question us at every turn." Nisi questions, looking for everyones opinion on the matter.
"I think it's worth it. If anything we could see if they would be opposed to studying under ours, see how things run, and maybe give them back once they actually understand." Shrugging one shoulder, Akil replies easily.
"Loathe as I am to admit it, ours unfortunately aren't getting any younger." Ali throws in, liking Akil's idea.
"We'll ask then?" Louis asks, his head resting on his hand, elbows propped up on the table.
"Who should bring it up?" Monica brings up, not wanting to do it herself.
"Nisi. She's the best with them." Kana motions to the blonde with a flick of her wrist.
"Alright. I will, but later." Nisi groans and waves the others to continue normally.
"So here's the contracts." Josh passes the papers to Ragnok.
"Did you guys get the wallets and cards? List of properties?"
"Yes mother." Al sneers at Nisi, before cracking a smile.
"Where are we staying tonight?" Monica leans on Ali's shoulder with a small yawn.
"Well. Diane and Liam still aren't home and i don't know if the other houses are in good shape or even occupied." Nisi shrugs.
"We can't stay there forever right? Don't they still own it?" May's eyebrows furrow in her direction.
"I asked Madam Ironfist if i could buy it from them. Since they're not home and i still live there we should be fine, for now at least."
"You've fallen in love with it."
"It's gorgeous and I've managed to remodel several rooms to my own liking. Of course i love it." She scoffs.
"Is there anything else you need from us?" Ragnok speaks up as the teens are about to continue as they normally would. Josh smiles sheepishly at him.
"Can we go ahead and go through the Lestrange vault and Dolohov's? Nisi we'll meet you at the house." He nods at his twin and the other teens get up and leave, escorted by their managers.
"Guys. Voldie made Horcruxes. If you run into one in the vaults, take it." They all nod at her.
"Alright, what was that about?" The female goblin warrior slash banker turns to the female teen.
"They brought up a point that i see some merit to." She sighs through her nose and runs a hand over her hair, pushing loose strands out of her face. "They are concerned that those that took over their accounts won't be able to deal with our oddities, won't be able to keep up, question us at every turn. Just the ones that have never dealt with us. We don't want to insult them though, we really don't, they seem to be excellent people. We eventually came up with an idea, but only if you're interested. Is it possible for them to train under those who know us in order to see how we operate and work together? Ali pointed out that you guys aren't getting any younger." Her lips twitch at that, fighting the urge to smile at the goblin.
"I see the profit in that."
"And before the idea of the tutelage came up, someone suggested maybe switching account around so that ours have our accounts and the newbies get an account of equal value."
"No accounts are equal to yours." Nisi winces.
"I was afraid of that."
"The tutelage is an excellent idea. One of us will help the newbies as you called them, during the interactions so they can understand how we work together." Sirens start to blare making both women jump to their feet and run out of the room. Ironfist grabs a guard running by.
"What is it?" She snarls.
"Some human just cast magic in one of the old vaults."
"Which vault?"
"Lestrange." Madam Ironfist glances at Nisi and takes off, Nisi at her heels. They reach the vault just as a dragon lets loose a blast of fire and a goblin grabs a set of clankers.
"Madam, may I?" She nods and Nisi runs up and grabs the clankers.
"Let her by!" At Ironfist's yell the other goblin backs away. It gets quiet when Nisi starts to speak, except the goblins only hear hissing.
"Shh, everything is fine, you're going to be okay. Relax Miss. Hey, its okay." Nisi keeps her voice low and soothing, not wanting to enrage the dragon.
"A ssspeaker?"
"Yesss Misss. I ssspeak the tongue of the ssserpent."
"What do you want?"
"Sssimply to passs. My family isss inssside."
"Thossse noisssesss, they hurt."
"I will ssstop them."
"You ssswear?"
"I ssswear Great Lady. Can you sssee?"
"No." Well hells bells.
"Do you want me to get a healer? One of my family isss a healer. He will not hurt you."
"Human healer?"
"No, Dragon and other Magical beingsss."
"Okay, i will let you passs if you bring thisss healer."
"Of course misss. Thank you." Nisi bows towards the white dragon before turning to Madam Ironfist, her face set. "It's safe as long as no one uses those clankers. Come on." She moves to the vault door and waits for the goblin to come and open it. Inside they can see Ragnok and Bonecrusher arguing with another goblin, the new manager of the Vela account, Marylin's account. Marylin, Jake, and Josh are standing in the middle of the vault, a wide circle void of gold around them. "What happened?" Marylin looks up at her, brown eyes flashing, pink undercurrents becoming visible.
"The gold had multiplying and burning charms on them. I lost my temper and sent a burst of energy to destroy the charms. It sent off the alarms but we found this." She motions to the golden cup on Josh's hands. Ironfist is arguing with the other three goblins in hushed tones, trusting the teens behind her.
"What is it?"
"Horcrux." Josh answers his twin as she approaches.
"That certainly makes this easier." She mutters. "Jake that Ironbelly outside is going blind, can you go see what you can do. I told her you would."
"Of course, she's a beauty." He leaves quietly, nodding at the goblins that he passes.
"We need to take this with us."
"I agree, are you two hurt?"
"No i healed us." Marylin shakes her head.
"Alright, Josh can you take that to Ironfist and explain that we need it? Lin and I can get the books."
"On it."
"Well today has certainly been interesting." Marylin's giggles echo around the vault at Nisi's bland tone.
"Fuck." Nisi groans falling into the pit of pillows they made in one of the rooms. "I'm exhausted." Anthony pulls her into his side and snuggles into her.
"What are we going to do with the cup?" Quinn's voice come out of the pile of blankets curled up beside Jay. Jay places his cheek on her head with a soft grin, his arms pulling her closer.
"If we use legilimacy on it, we can find what the others are and where." Josh yawns, snuggling deeper into the pillows.
"Alright. Let's do that then go to sleep." Blane mutters, eyes fluttering shut. Alex lifts a hand up and summons the cup, making it fly smoothly into her open palm.
"Legilimus." She mumbles before going still. After a moment she blinks and looks around the pit, rubbing her eyes. "We've got a snake that stays by Voldie's side, a ring in the old Gaunt house, a locket that is in that Black Family home in London, can't say the address, Ravenclaw's diadem in the Room of requirements, and the last one is stuck on that Harry kid's scar."
"Can we deal with them tomorrow? I sleepy." Kana slurs from the other side of Nisi.
"Yeah sweetie, go to sleep." Akil runs his fingers through her hair, a small smile lifting up the corners of his mouth.
Charlotte, Jake, Akil, Al, Blane, and Marylin stare at the dilapidated house.
"Well, what exactly are we going up against?" Blane watches Akil cast a few more spells.
"Just thank every deity you like that Jake is with us."
"Why?" Jake asks, shoulders tense.
"Parselmagic." Akil grins at his discomfort.
"Jerk." The tension eases as the jokes flow through them and Akil breaks the curses and wards, directing Jake for the Parseltongue based ones. They enter the house, wariness setting in as they glance around.
"This place is gross." Charlotte wrinkles her nose and Marylin hums her agreement. Al trips, shattering the uneasy silence as Akil catches him. Blane scuffs his shoe against the indention, noticing that it was more even than the rest of the room.
"Congratulations Malcolm. You found it."
"Don't call me Malcolm." He grumbles, pouting at the older teen who just smirks at him. As Akil opens it, Jake seems to get drawn towards it, his thought revolving around seeing his mother again. He doesn't realize he's reaching for it until Charlotte places him under a full body bind, frowning in concern.
"There's another curse on it." Akil starts to mutter under his breathe until a flash of light blinds them momentarily and Jake relaxes again. "Desire and Rot. That stone is the Resurrection Stone, which makes sense why it affected Jake as it did. The Rot would've been incurable, eventually killing anyone that touched it."
"Feel better?" Marylin asks, waving a quick identifier spell over him.
"Yeah. Thanks love, for stopping me." He gives Charlotte a chaste kiss, making is girlfriend smile at him, worry draining away. "Let's check on the others."
"We're breaking into Hogwarts." Ali mutters unbelievingly. "This is actually happening."
"It'll be fine. So are we using Honeydukes or the Shack?" Louis reassures her before looking to Josh.
"Honeydukes. The Shack leads outside and anyone still here could just look out and see us." He runs a hand through his hair and bends the light around him, disappearing from view. May, Ali, Monica, and Louis follow suit. They slip by the workers and move into the storage space, finding the trapdoor and silencing it before slipping in. Reaching the other end, Monica casts a 3D map of the castle, finding the floor they're on. They have to wait a few moments as students pass by but as soon as it's clear, they begin the passage up to the third floor, making sure to keep the light bent so the portraits can't see them. They're almost to the door when a noise makes them freeze.
"Shit. Josh, do you think he'll still listen to you?" May hisses at her lover who shrugs helplessly as an orange eyed poltergeist swoops by.
"Who's there?"
"It's just us Peeves." Josh says as they drop the charms, becoming visible. Peeves lowers to the ground to look Josh in the eye.
"You're alive." He breathes making Josh beam.
"So is Nisi." Peeves squeals at that and does a quick loop.
"Where is she?"
"Getting something else that will help kill Voldie Moldie."
"Did you guys break in?"
"Are you going to tell on us?" Josh's voice adopts a teasing lit.
"Depends. What are you here for?"
"A soul jar."
"Can i come with?"
"Sure." Josh nods and the other let out a sigh of relief. Louis moves forward and paces three times in front of a blank space of wall. A wooden door appears and they enter quickly, the door disappearing moments before a gaggle of students round the corner. A thought from Ali has a path illuminated by soft lights. She goes first, a quiet "come on," has the others following right behind. The lights stop at a bust of an old man in a wig, a diadem set precariously on top.
"Bingo." Monica murmurs, reaching for it. May's fingers encircle her wrist, pulling her away. "That's the diadem of Ravenclaw Summers, let me go."
"If you put that on your head you will die!" She hisses as Josh slips it into his bag while the others are distracted. He nods at May who lets the other girl go. "Now we just need to get out."
"Sorry." Monica sheepishly rubs the back of her neck.
"It's fine. Let's go." Josh grins and heads to the door. Peeves floats beside him.
"Which passage did you use?"
"The one eyed witch."
"I'll give you guys a clear path. Give the Queen my regards."
"We will. I'll make sure Nisi comes and sees you soon." The poltergeist gives each a kiss on the cheek and shoots off.
"Well, that wasn't too bad." Ali deadpans making the others laugh.
A shrunken, blue-silvery dragon stalks past the wards and makes its way inside the house looking for its target. It moves room to room, dampening its glow to avoid the humans. It reaches a room holding a man in his 30's and his godson. They freeze and stare at the dragon as it enters the room. The Patronus opens his mouth and a smokey voice fills the room.
"Hey Sirius right? It's Synkínisi. I'm standing outside your house. Can you let me in? We really need to talk." When the dragon closes his mouth, he just stares at the two humans, waiting.
"Are you going to let her?" Harry ask quietly.
"Yeah come on." The two head outside and pause at the six teens standing on the sidewalk. Sirius passes through the wards and Nisi smiles when he comes into view.
"We didn't introduce everyone last time." Nisi motions to the five beside her. "Anthony, Kana, Quinn, Jay, and Alex."
"Hello. How did you find this house?"
"We knew where it was before the Fidelius Charm went up." Kana shrugs off the question.
"Okay... Why do you guys want in?"
"Do you know what a horcrux is?" At Quinn's question, Sirius pales dramatically. "I'll take that as a yes."
"Tom Riddle's is in there." Jay motions in the general direction of the house.
"Guys." Alex nudges Anthony, her voice soft.
"We know." He assures her, a sad smile gracing his mouth.
"Know what?" Sirius looks between the teens quickly. Nisi sighs and rubs a hand over her face.
"There's two horcruxes here. A locket and his scar." Her hand flicks towards Harry, who's jaw drops in fear. "But we can move it to another object so we can destroy it."
"Sirius Black lives at number 12 Grimmauld Place."
"Aw how cute." Nisi teases the man as the depressing house comes into view. He glares at her as she saunters up to the door. Anthony pats him on the shoulder and follows his lover. Kana starts violently when shrieks echo from inside the house.
"That would be my mother." Sirius sighs and Harry winces when another voice joins in.
"And Mrs. Weasley."
"We should go in before Nisi and Anthony lose their tempers." Jay grins and heads inside, the others following closely.
"Who are you?!" "Oh my house. Filth and Mud ruining my house!" "How did you even get in here?!" "BLOODTRAITORS!"
"Alright." Nisi doesn't yell, but her voice is heard in every corner of the house. "You two, shut up." Everyone stares when the portrait of Sirius's mother goes quiet.
"Oh. Now she recognizes us." Anthony grumbles loud enough for everyone to hear.
"You're - you're dead." Walburga whispers, pale in fear.
"Death's boring." Anthony drawls as Nisi smirks.
"Besides i need to raid your house." Nisi shrugs before walking away.
"You kept her up?" Kana quirks an eyebrow at Sirius.
"Permanent sticking charm." He mumbles, looking away from the small Japanese girl. Quinn tries to hold in her laughter but it escapes in snorts. "What?"
"That's it?" He nods in confusion. "Alex, can you go and tell Nisi and Tony we're going to be a little late? Take Harry with you. If he's willing at least." Her emerald green eyes pierce Harry's, daring him to chicken out.
"Yeah, I'll go."
"After you Kana dear."
"But it was your idea sweetie." Jay chuckles as the two girls go back and forth, and the others stare at him.
"They do this a lot. They're a beater team. You'd never think it, looking at Kana, but damn, does that chick have a swing."
"She's a girl." The lanky redhead from the Ministry looks at him like he's crazy.
"What's your name kid?"
"Ron Weasley."
"Well Ron, Kana can break your jaw with a single punch." There's a loud bang when the two girls hit the picture with a spell. She starts yelling out random words. Jay recognizes them as spells when both Sirius and Quinn recoil quickly. Two wolves created from fire howl and move forward, one decimating the portrait, the other attacks the house elf heads on the wall. A layer of magic covers the living beings in the hallway, keeping the heat and fire off of them. The fire dies away when Nisi and Anthony run back into the hallway, Alex and Harry right behind them. At their intense gaze, Jay and Kana shrug and motion to Quinn who, while no longer frozen in panic, is still rather pale and sports a slight tremble.
"You could have killed us!" Mrs. Weasley shrieks at the teens, her face going red.
"Nonsense." Nisi scoffs at the woman. "To begin with, you have no idea why they reacted like that. Second, both Kana and Jay have no problems with controlling fiendyfire. Third, the moment Quinn felt them lose their tempers and react, she placed an impenetrable shield around each and every one of you. Lastly, when we felt their magic swell, we moved back down here as quick as we could, and if, for some godsforsaken reason they couldn't react to cut it off, we would have."
"Anyways, Sirius, we moved the one into another container and are taking both home with us. Thank you for allowing us to come in and deal with them." Anthony nods at him as Alex moves to Quinn's side, intertwining their fingers and gently tugging her out of the house, Jay on her other side.
"Maybe later, once everything calms down, we can have a pickup game of quidditch." Kana nudges Nisi with a hip, a light pleading edge to her voice.
"Sounds good, if the Weasleys don't back out beforehand." Nisi intentionally questions the family of Gryffindors backbone, annoyed at the mother's lack of respect.
"We'll be there."
"Just tell us when." She glances over her shoulder to study the redhead twins that rose to the challenge.
"We will."
Nisi is leaning forward, cursing at the screen when May walks into the room.
"How long have you been playing?"
"Since Tony fell asleep." Nisi answers her, leaning as she attempts to get her person out of a horde of zombies.
"Which one is this?"
"Black ops 3."
"What is that?" May asks, watching the screen and this huge thing advances on her friend.
"I dunno, a boss thingy, fuck, that continuously kills me." Nisi leans back, sighing heavily. "Wanna play? Maybe we can get past round eight."
"Sure." May grins. "So why are you still up at 5 in the morning on Christmas day?" She sits beside the blonde, her feet lading in the other's lap, making Nisi grin as she passes over a controller.
"Couldn't sleep. Everything, it's all jostling around my head, overwhelming memories and thoughts and feeling. I can't get it to stop."
"Well, let's kill the undead." A couple hours pass amidst cursing from both girls until it's a little past eight, the sun is well up, and others start trickling into the room, controllers being passed around between them, four now instead of two.
Nisi enters Grimmauld Place with Jay as soon as it's empty due to Christmas break ending today.
"So we're sneaking into the home to help the house elf?"
"I think this might make him more tolerable." Nisi shrugs languidly.
"Alright. I trust you."
"Aw thanks." She smirks, making him give her a slight shove.
"Intruders?"
"Hello Kreacher. My name is Lady Barron."
"You took Master Regulus' locket."
"I did, but we brought it back. We thought you would want to do the honors of destroying it." She crouches down and holds out the golden locket to the house elf.
"Kreacher gets to destroy it?"
"Yes." Jay nods from behind Nisi. Kreacher starts heaving ugly sobs, tears pouring down his snout like nose.
"On one condition." Nisi pulls back a little. "I need you to be less offensive and unhelpful to Sirius, Remus, Harry, Ginny, and the twins. I could care less about the rest of them."
"Kreacher can do that." He nods slowly after thinking about it for a moment.
"Thank you." She says, handing the locket over. Kreacher immediately makes it explode, and dances with joy as it actually is destroyed.
"Keep our deal in mind Kreacher."
"Kreacher will Lady, Kreacher promises."
"Awesome. And can you keep this a secret? I don't need Sirius or anyone knowing we can get in here whenever we want."
"Kreacher can do that too, Lady."
"Awesome. Bye Kreacher. "
"Later Kreacher." Jay nods at the little elf who waves at both of them.
Nisi wakes up at five, determined to actually be awake for the start of Anthony's birthday. She slips quietly out of the room with clothes and her toothbrush, moves into the other wing of Barron Castle, and takes a shower in one of the empty guest rooms. Not bothering to dry her hair, she tosses it up into a messy bun, a few strands escaping near her face, and heads down to the kitchen. She starts singing under her breath, pulling out an old recipe book and flipping to the Italian Rum cake. Pulling out a couple bowls, a spatula, an electric beater, and the ingredients, she sets it all on the kitchen island then starts a pot of coffee. She makes the Italian cream and chocolate creme first, intending to allow it to chill normally, and burns her finger slightly with scalding the milk, curse words softly interrupting her singing. She whips up the whip cream next, adding some corn syrup and Goldendrop Creme di Limoncello, a type of Italian cream liqueur, taking a sip to offset what only three hours of sleep is doing to her, and starts mixing the cakes up. The original recipe is only for two 8 or 9 inch cake but since there's 17 of them, and they're all 18 to 20 in age, she doubles it into two 20 inch. It's about 9:30 when she finishes frosting the Italian rum soaked cake and places several cut up strawberries around the top, then coats the sides in sliced, blanched almonds. The others love when she makes them because she doesn't use ice cold water at the end, but cold Amaretto di Amore Classico. Josh enters and takes in the scene, his twin licking the last remnants of the whip cream from one of the beaters.
"I want the other." She wordlessly hands it over, a small grin in place. "Mmm. The Goldendrop?"
"Yup."
"Its giant."
"I tried." She drawls, smirking, and puts the cake on the table and places it under cooling charms and one to make the air a few inches away impenetrable. She returns and finds Josh making cinnamon rolls. Grinning, she flicks her wrist and sets her dishes to washing. Nisi hops up on the counter, watching him mix the dough by hand. He hops up beside her after he pops the 34 rolls into the oven and makes the icing.
"When d'you get up?"
"Five." He laughs at her, knowing she hates mornings.
"You definitely love him."
"Oh shut up, I do this for all of you. well not you, all of them. Your prize for sharing my birthday." They both laugh at his mock look of outrage. That's how the others find the two twenty minutes later, propped against each other, laughing at something one of them had said.
"Now, what is going on here?" Louis asks, tapping his chin with his finger.
"Food." Nisi replies, sliding down as the oven beeps
"Two for everyone." Josh says as he gets down also, grabbing plates for everyone and a spoon for the icing. Nisi plates them and he icings before passing them out. Nisi stretches up on her toes and kisses Anthony.
"Happy birthday, love." He smiles and returns the kiss.
"When did you get up?" She waves off the question and slides into an empty chair round the island.
"A little bit ago." Josh snorts at her answer.
"Five."
"Bite me." She sneers at her brother, motioning for Anthony to sit beside her.
"Why would you get up that early?"
"Oh my gods. You made cake, didn't you?" May asks quickly, leaning towards her. Nisi nods and takes a sip of her fourth cup of coffee, the last of the Italian rum mixed in. Her werewolf metabolism makes it near impossible for her to get drunk. Cheering echoes around the table.
"How much did you make?" Jake asks, smiling just like everyone else at the table.
"We could have a slice now. And one at dinner. And maybe one tomorrow. We each get around eight slices actually."
"Can we see it?" Al's eyes are wide and his voice awed.
"Sure. I need to buy more Rum and Goldendrop." She muses as she snaps her fingers, calling the cake gently to her.
"Thank you. I love it." Anthony murmurs in her ear, drawing her close. She beams in response.