THE YOUNGEST OLDEST PROFESSOR

CHAPTER TWO: VAULT ZERO

A/N: Hello, everyone! I'm so flattered that so many people actually read this story and favourited, followed and reviewed. Because so many people did I tried to write this new chapter as fast as I could! I have some news in the author notes at the end of the chapter and I would appreciate it if you read that. But you probably want me to shut up now so let's get to the stuff you actually came for! Enjoy :3

Albus Dumbledore peered over his half moon spectacles, inspecting the man sitting in front of him. He was young. That's the first thing that anyone would notice. He looked the age to have only just left school himself. Yet his eyes held a seriousness and maturity that was rare to find in youth. In fact, many things about the young man were rather scarcely found. For example, he sat in front of one of the wizarding worlds' most feared and looked up to wizards and he looked him squarely in the eyes. This could just be brushed off as ignorance but this man looked anything but that.

Another thing was his impressive mental defences. One of the reasons why Dumbledore had suggested meeting him in person was so he could look into his mind, as a precaution of course. He couldn't let just anyone onto his school grounds. Well, that is, he couldn't let anyone he wasn't aware of onto the school grounds. Albus had tried to access the boy's thoughts, not expecting any struggle or problem, but he had been unable to. Of course this was surprising, but not unheard of. Young wizards could unknowingly develop surprisingly good defences because of traumatic experiences, abuse or even just bullying.

All plausible, Dumbledore just assumed he would have to try a little harder to look into the peculiar man's mind. But he tried using more magic and even techniques to try to make the man relax, yet to no avail. Until it got to the point that if he pushed more surely such a young mind could be grievously wounded, and he would not do that just to appease his own curiosity, he had the whole school year to do that at the very least. Yes, he had decided to accept this mysterious boy's job application.

Just as he had been about to give up and concentrate on the verbal interview, the boy's mental barriers gave in. Blast all, I think I left the back door open. Hm, I really do hope I get this job, those student loans won't pay themselves! Dumbledore looked the man in the eyes for a moment silently before nodding to himself. It seemed he was right in thinking this Arthur Kirkland was just a normal young wizard who had subconsciously shielded himself because of some events in his childhood. Nothing to worry about. But of course that was unlikely, all the more reason to hire him.

"Excuse me, professor, is everything quite alright?" Arthur said, looking at Dumbledore with concerned eyes "It's just that you have been silently staring at me for quite some time now." Albus blinked. Yes, he'd almost forgotten that his battle against Arthur's mind was with his subconscious therefore he wouldn't have been aware of anything that had just happened.

He gave the boy his warmest smile "Yes everything is fine, thank you, now as I was saying, why was it that you yourself did not go to Hogwarts?" Arthur seemed relieved to finally have something to talk about "Yes, well because of some argument centuries ago in my family line, I think it was something to do with two brothers being sorted into different houses, my family swore they would never set foot in Hogwarts again and they have done a mighty fine job of sticking to it. I myself think this is rather stupid, Hogwarts is such a large part of the maturing community and I don't want to have gone through life without having ever been here because of some old prejudice."

Dumbledore nodded as he heard the story "Quite. Now why did you choose to have a teaching role here and why Professor assistant?" He continued. Arthur resumed talking "Well, as I said, I wanted to be a part of Hogwarts and, though it is unfortunate I missed out on being a student, a teaching role would be remarkable too. I chose the role of professors assistant because, well, I do have a rather diverse range of skills and, being young, I would like to explore them. I also highly doubt I hold the wisdom to teach a single subject to an appropriate level to help students pass their OWLs and NEWTs. Me turning out to be a lousy teacher would be a bit of a put down for me but for the students, they won't be able to get that valuable learning time back. Also, I doubt students would respect me either. Who wants to be told what to do by someone who looks just a bit older than your class mates?"

Dumbledore nodded. The young man seemed to have a good thought process and he knew what he wanted. He also seemed polite and had an air of modesty about him that came from an impressive upbringing. All in all this mysteriously appearing man intrigued Dumbledore and he rather liked him already. There was one more thing he would ask. He hadn't planned on it and he may be pushing things but nevertheless he would ask "And lastly, Mr. Kirkland, what do you think of Voldemort's return?" For once in the entirety of the meeting Arthur looked scared "I think it is horrible but inevitable." He whispered, his voice did not wobble. Dumbledore nodded, he would not ask more on the subject. And he certainly did not plan on inviting this young stranger into his order of the Phoenix but it was nice to have another person believe he was not crazy.

"Thank you for your time, Mr. Kirkland, and see you at the new school year," Dumbledore smiled at him "Professor."

As England left Dumbledore's office he let out a sigh of relief. That had gone okay, he thought. The man constantly assaulting his mental shields had rather exhausted him. Of course he would not have been able to get through them, after all England had thousands of years to have practiced in. But if Dumbledore had kept on pushing past the point he had gotten to then the man would have gotten suspicious that Arthur had not collapsed to the floor. So he had fed Dumbledore a few false thoughts, a thing it took wizards years and years of experience and training to even begin to execute. Hopefully the wizarding head teacher had bought it.

Albus had asked if he would like a method to transport back home directly from the school grounds but England had declined. He would walk into Hogsmeade and apparate from there. He wanted to appreciate the scenery, as it was rather spectacular. Dumbledore had given him a golden leaf that he held and it transported him to the far side of the lake, from which point he walked himself.

England turned around to admire the castle and its grounds. He really did love the place. Unknown to most people was the fact that Hogwarts and its grounds were actually a part of England. It was a complicated tale but that was one of the reasons apparation onto the grounds was near impossible. There were places like it all around the world, most placed there by England in his exploration days. It helped traveling between countries if for whatever reason nation hoping was not possible. It was an interesting concept to try to explain, a patch of land in the middle of Scotland that was not Scotland but in fact England. But imagine it like someone had taken a massive shovel and scooped the land that from England then dropped it in Scotland. Except of course that is not what happened and it involved a lot more magic and the fabric of the universe it's self but thinking of it that way was okay for now. He had nicknamed this process a land switch, since it sounded a lot more professional than saying 'thingy' or 'whatsit' whenever referring to it.

England had created this particular land switch back when he had been taken prisoner by Rome. It was a safe place where he could see his brother, Scotland, disputed everything that was going on around them. Of course back then there was no school or castle at all. It was just a forest. They used to lunch there with all the magical creatures. These little escapes spent with his brother whom he loved with his entire heart and the magical creatures he adored made his imprisonment more bearable. Of course when Rome had found out he was escaping back to Britannia he had not been happy.

Arthur shook away the flashbacks and continued to walk down the path. He felt the weird sensation as he left the barriers of Hogwarts and stepped onto his brother's land. It felt foreign but familiar too, since he had been raised here and spent a great deal of time here. He wondered if Alistor could sense that he was here. Probably not. He smiled peacefully at the serenity of the walk. It was so quiet. And his brother really did have such an amazing house.

As Arthur approached Hogsmeade he felt that buzz in the air that told him he was entering a magical community. Hogsmeade was alive and bustling, it was positively enchanting, especially since it was the summer. Perhaps she should not pass so hastily through the town and maybe stay a while, looking in the shops?

With a smile England entered Honeydukes. The shop was even more amazing than he remembered it, as the wizarding world advanced so, it seemed, did its sweets. He did not eat many sweets himself but they sold such exquisite things here one could scarcely resist. It was also an excellent place to buy gifts. With a pause in his stride England decided he should get Matthew, Alfred and Francis something as a thank you for taking care of him in the meeting.

Checking the shelves Arthur quickly located a gift for America. With a smile he retrieved a perpetual sweet vending machine. It was a small thing but turn the handle and whatever sweet you would like the most in that moment came out, even if you'd never heard of it before. As long as Alfred did not loose it the machine would hold an unlimited supply of sweets for him. Well, if it were to be dropped or neglected the machine could decide it didn't feel like giving anyone sweets for a while but it would still have the ability to.

For Canada he checked the shelves and stopped when he found something appropriate. It was a maple leaf shaped lolly pop, made of real maple syrup. Every time you licked it your tongue would change a different colour. It would, when finished, regrow itself and seal itself in a plastic cover ready to be opened once again. If you rubbed it on anything it would make it taste strongly of maple syrup for five minutes.

For France he went to the adult only section and as a joke grabbed another lolly pop, shaped like a dick and patterned with the Union Jack. Maybe if Francis had his own British dick he'd stay away from Arthur's, the man thought with a smirk. As well as this he got the man some champagne flavoured chocolate truffles, you could feel the bubbles popping in your mouth just like with real champagne.

For himself he grabbed a few chocolate frogs, Bertie Bott's every flavoured beans and and a few rum flavoured chocolate galleons. Then he went to pay for them, with several assorted precious gem stones since he had not yet visited Gringots. Which is something he would have to do when he went to Diagon ally before the school term started.

With his bag of sweets in hand England went into the Three Broomsticks pub and inn. Since it was about lunch time, Arthur decided to stop by for a small meal. He took a seat at the bad, ignoring the odd looks he got, presumably for wearing muggle clothes. But the clothes he was wearing were not exactly modern, a waistcoat and shirt with a fob watch in his pocket and a coat over his arm therefore he drew less attention than he would if he had been wearing his skinny jeans and punk style shirts that he normally favoured when he wasn't at a meeting.

"May I have a bowl of chips and a pint of firewhisky fair lady?" He asked the bartender, who smiled at him. "Sure thing, sir. Can't remember the last time anyone called me 'fair lady' though, you can call me Rosmerta." She said, bewitching a few kitchen utensils to prepare his chips as she herself retrieved a pint glass and started filling it. "Ah, Rosmerta, Celtic goddess of abundance. You do the name justice." England purred, causing the woman to blush as she handed him the firewhisky "A classy line, I'll admit, but you're too young to be flirting with an old hag like me. I could be your mother!" England chuckled "Trust me, Rosmerta, I could easily be your grandfather." The woman let out a hearty laugh as she handed him his chips. A few of the other men in the pub seemed to be becoming a bit jealous of the attention Arthur was receiving.

But soon the other men found themselves taking a liking to things stranger in muggle attire as all in the pub started chatting, sharing stories, talking about sports, discussing dealing techniques and playing games as well as betting. It wasn't until a good hour or so latter that England left. Before leaving the town completely he went to Zonko's home shop and got himself a remarkable packed of cigarettes that blew coloured smoke that took different shapes of animals.

He went to the train station and decided to take the fast train to London (by which it meant the carriages were bewitched to make the day long journey half an hour). He sat in a carriage on his own while smoking his colourful cigarettes and eating his sweets, reading the muggle Quibbler.

The past few weeks had gone rather fast and England's time for teaching at Hogwarts was soon approaching. Knowing that he was no longer stuck in his repetitive life made the days and nights pass quickly and he began to feel the nerves of getting a new job. There were so many things that could go wrong! But it was certainly worth it to help with the on coming wizarding war. After all, it's not like he could be killed. If worst comes to worst he'd have to erase a few memories or maybe break free from Azkaban.

It was two week before the students would arrive at Hogwarts and England had better get his supplies. He mused that maybe he should have gotten his supplies as soon as his teaching job had been confirmed to avoid the big school shopping rush in Diagon ally. But then Diagon ally was always busy so it would not make much difference. Planning on going to the popular wizarding street today, England had dressed accordingly. Having not been close to his wizarding community in quite some time it had been hard to fish out any robes at all and the one he had found was rather outdated. Coming from the Elizabethan era the robe was detailed and elegant, made to express class and fortune. Yet a robe was a robe so he wore it anyway.

It would make a finer impression than if he were to wear his normal clothes, nowadays the wizarding community had become so prejudiced and self centred. While the muggle world had advanced, the wars causing advances in technology and their understanding and treatment of other human beings the wizarding world seemed to still be in the dark age. Perhaps England was destined to have to endure another war before they would start learning. The man shivered, hopefully it would not come to that. Arthur didn't think he could cope with another war.

He would probably meet several students while he was shopping. The previous day England had attempted to construct a shopping list however it was of no use, what he required wasn't specific and few like with any other job, he would need a great deal of things to help him in several occasions. So far he had decided he must get:

-new robes

-an owl

-several bottomless pouches

That was the very basics. He would need much more than just that, he couldn't even begin to get his mind around what he needed. England decided he would go to Gringots and get a rather large sum of money then get absolutely everything he could imagine had a potential to be useful he saw in each and every shop.

He had decided to bring as little from his actual home he could, limiting that to his wand and a few suitcases and a couple of 'muggle' suits just in case. It got rid of some of his feeling of paranoia and dread by just leaving everything and starting a new. It would reduce the chances that something, a random possession of sorts, will trigger the suspicion of anyone. If he bought everything from modern day Diagon ally surely no one could find any fault in it? With his wand tucked away in his pocket and his bags all shoved into his 'bigger on the inside' pocket too England set on his way.

Diagon ally was positively buzzing with people. Though some may find it stressful England found the sight amazing. So many people in the same place and they all seemed so merry, getting along with their days. The buzz of magic was rich in the air and, despite himself,, England smiled from ear to ear. "Right." He said aloud to himself "To Gringots we go!" He declared to no one in particular and started walking briskly towards the said wizarding bank.

England smiled up at the impressive building as he entered. To a newcomer the whole aura of the place may be intimidating but Gringots bank had been a part of England's life for quite some time and it had become familiar and welcoming to him. The very building itself seemed to smile in greeting to the Englishman as he entered.

Arthur walked up to a goblin that seemed not to be doing anything at that moment and said politely "May I go to vault zero please." The goblin glared intimidatingly up at England who didn't even blink under the gaze. The goblin took in the young wizard who was standing in front of him. He had bright green eyes, ruffled blonde hair and was wearing old fashioned wizarding robes that gave him an eccentric, if slightly impressive, look. "Sir, are you sure you have not mistaken your vault number?" He asked, not wanting to be instantly hostile towards the man without definite cause, even though it was his main job to protect people's treasures it did keep him out of trouble to be polite.

"Yes, it isn't really a forgettable number." Arthur said. Blast all, I didn't think I would be getting people suspicious this early! Yeah that's a great start, England thought. But then again, he had expected it since he did the best vault in the entire place. But what else would you expect from the country that owned it?

The goblin looked at Arthur irritably "Sir, I don't think you understand that vault zero is the first vault that Gringots ever had. It is prized above even the Hogwarts founders themselves and it was owned by a high classed nobleman from thousands of years ago and it has not been opened since his demise. So what claim could you possibly have to that vault?" England looked down at the goblin, a bemused look on his face which he quickly hid. It was always rather funny to him to hear others talk about him and how they did it. Sometimes they were not so kind with their words. But frankly, whether the goblin knew it or not, that was an exaggeration. England had accessed the vault often in the more recent past so it wasn't like the vault had been untouched for ages.

He quickly composed him self and got ready to lie through his teeth. England looked at the goblin a 'relieved' and 'understanding' look on his face "Ah yes, I see the confusion. I am a direct descendant of that nobleman, in fact he is the 'Arthur Kirkland the first' I am named after. Upon my eighteenth birthday five years ago I got given the key from my mother, who'd had it before me. Now here." He said handing the goblin his key. The key was plain. A simple wooden thing that seemed to be crudely carved by hand. The goblin eyed it incredulously "Are you trying to tell me that this is the key to the legendary vault zero?" Arthur looked at him with a straight face "Yes." The goblin sighed, seemingly fed up "Alright, thank you Mr Kirkland, let's go."

As they journeyed deep into the labyrinth of vaults England whistled a cheery tune, much to the annoyance of the goblin. Seeing this England stopped and decided to strike up conversation "So, what's your name?" Though England already knew that and a good deal about the goblin's life, being his country. "Drakux." The goblin, now dubbed 'Drakux', replied. Arthur smiled "Wow, like Drakux the bold? The ancient warrior goblin who freed the eastern goblins from Centaur enslavement?" Drakux looked up at him, surprised "Yeah, he's my great, great, great grandfather. Wizards don't normally know much about goblin history."

Arthur smiled again "Blimey, it looks like I'm not the only one who's descended from fame. So how are you liking your new job at Gringots?" England asked. Drakux looked up at him in suspicion, the slight warmth that had come into his face from Arthur's knowing some goblin history disappeared. "How do you know it's a new job?" He frowned. Arthur waved dismissively "Oh don't worry I just deduced it. You're not as formal and emotionless as most goblins who work here are. Also a goblin who has worked here for some time would be able to tell that my key was correct from holding it. And you would be less openly suspicious of me while I'm giving you the key but the moment my key didn't work or the vault rejected me as a traitor or something you'd have me fed to the dragons. You're a lot more friendly." Drakux looked at Arthur in surprise "You're an intuitive fellow, aren't you? Especially for a wizard."

The rest of the journey was made in silence, it was quite a distance since only the most important vaults had the top ten numbers and they had been made some time ago therefore were deep underground. But finally they got there. The vault was a impressive. A massive door that looked like it was pure gold closed it. There were intricate patterns littering the entire surface and gems of considerable value were worked casually into the patterns. Drakux's eyes widened in amazement, this was even better than what he thought it would be. Most definitely worthy of the vault zero position.

England stepped up to the vault, seemingly not affected by the looks at all. He pulled out the wooden key and, instead of putting it into the evident hey hole, placed it sidewards into a golden lions mouth. The lion then dropped the key back into his hand and let out a ground rumbling roar. All the patterns then began to move, snaking their way to the side as a doorway opened. "Come on." England motioned Drakux in, who had been watching the whole thing unravel in awe. The goblin nodded and stepped in.

The impressive exterior design paled in comparison to the inside. Countless treasures were scattered everywhere. And this was not limited to wizarding money, oh no, gems and jewels and precious metals were scattered across the entire place. There was gold stretching all the way to the wall and he couldn't see an inch of the floor since it was covered with treasures. Never before in his life had Drakux seen such beauty.

In a trance he lent down and was about to stuff his pockets when a firm hand on his shoulder stopped him "No." said Arthur sternly. Drakux looked frustrated for a moment before paling, he had just been about to steal! Arthur shook his head as he walked "I wouldn't mind if you took some stuff, I've got plenty enough. But this is sirens gold. Like leprechaun gold except a lot more sinister. It has lead many a pirate to their peril. This is merely a diversion to stop any theft."

Now when Drakux looked at the gold, as if a spell had been broken, he could see a dark aura radiating off every coin. They had mould growing on them and where dripping a foul liquid that seemed to melt the floor. Drakux recoiled in disgust and quickly followed Arthur.

In the mean time, England stepped carefully over the cursed gold and he made his way to a broken looking wooden door. It looked like the door to a run down caretakers' cupboard. The wood was splintering and chipped and had moss and fungus growing from it. Arthur pulled out the wooden key once again and put it in the key hole, turning it. In Drakux's opinion the door didn't look like it needed to be unlocked since it seemed as if laying a hand on it would cause the door to fall clean off its frame. "If one is to find themselves trapped within a treasure trove of sirens gold they can only see what is even more impressive than the last bit of treasure they saw. They would be incapable of registering this old door. He patted it "I find it much merrier than all that horrid gold anyway."

Stepping through the door, the pair found themselves in a simple wooden room. It looked like the inside of a log hut and when Drakux looked out the windows he expected to see dirt since they were under ground yet he saw water heavily bombarding the window, as if they were in the midst of a dreadful storm. There was a simple stone pedestal in the centre of the room and it looked as if it was the most valuable thing there. It was plain as if no one had bothered to cut a pattern into such cheap stone.

Arthur walked straight up to it and hit the palm of his hand against a jagged end of the stone with some force, a large cut formed in the centre of his palm making Drakux wince. Blood instantly started looking from it but Arthur seemed unfazed. He pressed the hand into the centre of the pedestal, the blood forming a deep red hand print, Arthur then pulled away and the blood bubbled to nothing upon the stone. In its place a small wooden box appear and England took out a little pouch from his pocket then opened the box.

Inside there were galleons stuffed to the brim and Arthur poured them into his pouch. The little wooden box seemed to have an unlimited supply of money as when Arthur put it back down it was as full as it had been to start with. Of course such a large sum of money would be impressive at any other time, but after having seen the siren hold and the door's decorations this seemed underwhelming to Drakux.

England could explain that this was just the room in which he held some of his wizarding money and that there were many more secrets around the original door, the sirens gold room and this very room itself that would unlock more rooms with more treasures but then he decided that knowledge was best kept to himself. Frankly his various treasure chambers at home where better stocked but he liked them at easy access. And no they weren't all the good he had stolen from Spain who had stolen it from others. His treasures were a lot more precious.

On the journey back Drakux looked rather dazed, not having been able to process the whole thing quite yet. He returned to his original work and started to wonder just what he had gotten himself into when he decided to continue in the family profession of working at Gringots.

Arthur himself was happy with the visit on a whole. It had gone a lot less disastrous as he had thought it would. It was always a good thing when you didn't have to escape razor sharp dragon teeth while dodging scalding flames. He also had a bag full of more galleons than most wizards would ever see in their life. That'd hopefully be enough to last him for the time being.

Deciding the whole bank experience had rather exhausted him England decided it would be wise to drop into the 'Rosa Lee teabag' teashop before continuing his shopping escapade. After all it wouldn't do for him to faint of exhaustion or something. Yes, it was only wise for him to have a cuppa.

With that thought England went into the quaint tea shop and ordered a pot of earl grey as well as some Scottish shortbread, which the kind lady in the store assured were really made in Scotland. Despite what everyone seemed to think, British isles cooking was not gross. With cultural differences around the world of course another countries will like their own food better and dislike others but English food was not gross. It tasted good, just like food in every country. Some countries will like it and some won't, just the same as they would with any other country's food in the world. And just the same as English people like and don't like the food of other countries. Personally though, no one could make short read quite as good as the Scottish so England sat happily in the pretty little garden of the tea shop as he sipped his tea and ate his biscuits, quietly watching the world go by.

PLEASE READ THE AUTHOR NOTES

A/N: Okay so I've had a tumblr for a while but I've only recently started posting stuff. Currently I have a hetalia blog for all characters, ships and AUs. It is yanderekirklandhetaliastuff . Tumblr . Com So if any of you would like to check that out please do. It hasn't got much because it is an ask/request blog and I will post art when people request them. Request anything to do with the hetalia fandom and I shall do it. You don't need an account to post asks but if you want to you can request art on this fanfiction instead of the tumblr. ALSO I am going to be making a ASK ENGLAND blog. A drawn version not a cosplay. So if you have any asks put them in the reviews of this chapter until I have made the blog. So please, please, please check this out because I would really like some asks and requests since I think it is really fun to see what other people want and draw it! And of course thank you for reading this new chapter please favourite, follow and review if you liked it and want some more. Thank you ever so much. Bye ;3