Chapter 2

A legacy revealed

Two boys and a girl entered Diagon Alley to do their yearly school shopping. As two of them continued their regular bickering as friends do, one boy was looking around observing the people moving about. As he looked up at the lodgings of The Leaky Cauldron, he saw a face ― long sable coloured hair blowing with the wind, fair skin and captivating almost-golden eyes ― staring out of the second floor room window. He stopped walking and stared at the face. His friend called out as they went further down, "Hey! What happened, mate?"

He looked at his friends and waved. When he looked back at the window, the face was gone. He tried walking back and straining up to get a look but didn't see the face again. Soon he joined his friends and together they headed to Gringotts. The face was forgotten.


As Calista unpacked her modest bag into the cabinet, she thought of the three friends she had noticed while looking out of the window. Two were walking while chatting when the third had run up to them. The three then bent down their heads and were busy talking as they headed up the alley to wherever they were going. "I wish I get such friends at Hogwarts," Cali thought, "I don't know anyone! Oh, what am I going to do?"

After unpacking, she went down to enter Diagon Alley. She went to the back yard as Tom had said earlier. But there was only a wall there. "That's surprising!" Cali exclaimed, "I saw the Alley from my room!"

Just then a man came to the back yard and saw Cali staring at the wall. "Don't know how to get in, eh?" he sneered. His breath smelt fowl. Cali stepped back. He laughed and went to the wall. Cali observed what he did. He counted the bricks in the wall three up and two across, three times and tapped his wand. The bricks gave way to an opening. The man stepped through it. Before they could close back, Cali rushed through. And there she was finally: in Diagon Alley!

There were so many people around. Cali looked around amazed. There were so many shops selling many different stuff. She had never seen anything like this before! She couldn't understand where to start. She walked down the road dazzled by everything when she came across a sign that read Ollivander's: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC in peeling gold letters over the door. 'Oh, a wand! I'll need that for sure!' Cali thought with glee, 'My very own wand!' Her mother had promised to get her a wand when she turned eleven. 'Oh mom, I wish you were here…' Cali sniffed, but then remembered her promise to her mom, not to be sad. "Oh but I'll need money to buy anything. I must head to Gringotts first," she said to herself.

She walked to a snowy white building which towered over the shops around. She slowly passed through a set of bronze doors and then silver ones before entering the lobby. The main floor was paved with marble and has long counters stretching along its length. There were scary looking short creatures all around. 'Goblins' Cali thought, 'sure look ugly!' She walked to a counter where an old goblin sat. "Excuse me, mister," Cali asked.

"Yes," the goblin answered, "Come to get money?"

"Yes, please. I need to exchange money."

"Okay then. I need to clear few questions with you before proceeding; standard security measure."

"Of course, what is it you'll like to know?"

"Do you or your family have an account here?"

"Not that I know of. My mother used to get the money before. I never had to do it and I never accompanied her."

"Okay. Your mother's name?"

"Saphiera Faye."

"Hmm… let me check," saying this he took out a huge book from underneath his table. He opened it and went through the F section. "You do have an account here; though surprisingly not much is mentioned about it here. Wait here then." He went to an ancient looking goblin and spoke to him in hushed voice. The ancient one looked up sharply and rushed over to Cali.

"What happened to your mother, Saphiera?" he quizzed, "She is the one who came here for past 20 years…"

"She… she… she passed away," Cali sniffed, "I will be coming over from now."

"Oh… okay… didn't she tell you anything about the vault?"

"No, she just told me to go to a wizard bank, which must be this."

"You have come to the right place. I am Radagast and I have been in-charge of your vault for all my life, and my father before me, and his before him. My family has taken care of your family vault since the bank started. Your's is one of a very ancient, in fact, one of the most ancient vaults in this bank. Welcome!"

"Oh, that's strange," Cali said, "Mom never said anything."

"Well, your mom though so too," Radagast remembered, "In fact, when she first came to the bank, she wanted to open an account for herself. While doing a background check on her, as the security is of utmost importance here at Gringotts, we realised she's the current master of Fey's Castle. So I led to her to the vault, which hadn't been opened for 80 years. I will take you to your vault now, now that you have become the current master. Your vault, unlike other vaults, doesn't need any key. It will recognise you if you really are Fey's Castle master."

Cali didn't get why Radagast kept referring to her as 'Fey's Castle master' but decided to let it go for now. She followed him to a door at the right of the main room. There was a cart waiting on what looked like a rail road. "Climb in," Radagast said as he got in himself. Cali braced herself for what she thought would be a slow snail paced ride to wherever the vault was.

But she was in for a surprise. Radagast pressed a button, switched a lever and the cart started. "Hold on to the rod at the side," he said. As Cali did so, the cart lurched forward and then, zooooom, off they went at a mind boggling speed…

'WOW!' Cali thought, grinning, 'I love this ride! Woohoo!'

After 25 minutes of zooming across passages and down deep tunnels, the cart started slowing down… They had come to huge vault doors which were made of gold with lots of small knobs. They came to one such vault door which was little away from the others. The cart stopped and Radagast jumped out. "Come, here's your vault."

"This? Wow! It looks huge! Is it as huge from the inside?" Cali asked him.

He looked at her with an expression, which would if worded out mean are-you-freakin'-kidding-me. "Well, yes," he politely answered.

He asked her to stand in front of the door. He took out a small golden key from his pocket and inserted it in a keyhole right down at the left bottom corner. The knobs at the corners turned. Then he placed his hand at the left corner of the door and passed it over to the right. The knobs along the sides turned. "The door cannot be opened solely by the vault's owner or by a goblin. This being a vault of the highest security, it needs something from the owner too. But it doesn't have keys, as they can be stolen. There is one thing that people can't steal though. That is the identity and the blood. You'll have to answer a question and give a drop of blood to open this vault," Radagast informed her.

"Blood? You mean, actual blood?" Cali gasped, "And what question? I don't know any answers!"

"If you are who you claim to be then you will," Radagast simply said, handing her a pin from his pocket, "Now here's a pin, prick your thumb and let a drop of blood fall onto this crevice in the door."

"Uh-huh," Cal squirmed while taking it. She pricked herself and let the blood drop onto the crevice. The knobs on the door turned and the door opened. But there was another door inside this one. A voice boomed out:

"The clouds part and the moon shines down,

The folk rejoice, the master's come to town.

The master asketh his people, to go forth in their quest,

To answer this and put your mind to the test.

The flowers bloom, the moonlight beams,

Magic time every moment seems.

Music you hear and beauty you see,

What day or night this be?

Now, dear master, to affirm it's you,

I ask you the same, and answer you must do.

If you're the owner of what was kept inside,

The answer is within you reside."

Radagast motioned to her to answer. Cali thought, 'I have no idea, what this means. The door said something about a master. Did it mean master of Fey's Castle as Radagast keeps referring to? And what magic time can it speak of? Flowers? Moonlight? Oh god! What am I to say?' She was about to say she doesn't know the answer when she remembered a poem her mother used to sing for her as a child.

'Pretty girl, sleep well,

Go and in dreams dwell.

The stars shine and flowers bloom,

Pushing away all of the gloom.

In the moonlight, in this magic time,

Being sad is definitely a crime.

Soft music, beauty and bright,

Come dance with me, this Midsummer's Night!'

Then loudly, Cali said, "Midsummer's Night!"

The door slowly opened up. Radagast smiled thinly and said, "See, Fey's Castle master will always know the answer. Go on in now…"

Cali stepped inside and was shocked, to say the least. On one side of the vault wall, huge stacks of gold, silver and bronze coins were kept. The other wall had books and artefacts kept. "All this is mine? Really?" Cali's voice shook as she realised the magnitude of what she was saying.

"Yes, of course," Radagast replied, "All this, from the books to the artefacts to the money, all belongs the Fey's Castle master."

"That's me, huh?" Cali gulped. She went to the money and saw that there were different coins but she couldn't make out how much each meant. She looked back at Radagast, who was standing between the two doors. "How much is what? I have no idea."

"17 silver Sickles make one gold Galleon, and 29 bronze Knuts one Sickle," he said.

'How much should I take now?' Cali thought to herself. 'I'll take what I think I'll need for the couple of days I am here right now, then come back later for the money to take with me to school.' She took some money in her purse and then went around to the artefacts and book section of the vault. The books were huge!

"Can I take the books with me to read?" Cali asked.

"If you want," Radagast answered in a clipped voice, "But I'd suggest as I did to your mother, do so only if you know of a safe place you can keep them in. These books are very old and shouldn't be damaged. And they definitely must not fall into the wrong hands!"

"Oh, okay. I won't take them now then," Cali said, taking a step back from them. She strolled over to the artefacts side where she saw many things from chalices to belts to rings kept. What caught her eye was a silver pendant on a silver chain. It was a fairy intricately detailed with her hair flowing around her face. She held a small wand sized sceptre in her hand and a dainty tiara on her head. What shook Cali to the core was her features though. The fairy on the pendant looked exactly like her ― the same heart shaped face, high cheek bones ― the same features exactly! 'Oh my god! How can that be! How is it possible?' Her hands shook as she lifted the chain. It oddly felt heat run up from her hands to her heart. It felt as if she recognised it somehow. She put the chain around her neck. The chain was long so the pendant rested near her heart. She took a deep breath.

"Oh-kay… I think I'll go now," she told Radagast, "But I will come back later in a couple of days."

"As you wish, Ms Faye," He replied.

Cali stepped through the doors and into the cart. Radagast closed the inside door first and laid his hands on it. A definite click sound came as to tell that the door was locked again. Then he stepped out and passed his hands over the open outer door. It shut back and all the knobs turned the opposite direction. He stepped onto the cart and they zoomed back to the main lobby.

Cali stepped out of the bank after thanking Radagast. She couldn't help but think that there was so much she didn't know about herself; 'Why hadn't her mom ever said anything? Or did her mom even really know about the pendant or had she ever read any of those books to see how they had so much wealth? How come the family had an ancient vault at a wizard's bank when her mother had been muggle-born? Or had she? Was it possible that there had been some ancestor who was magical?' There were so many questions in her mind and no one to ask them to.

Then Cali thought to herself, 'Oh it's too much for me to handle right now. But I will find out the answers some day. Till then I won't worry about it. I have enough worry already with starting a new school where I'll learn magic!'