A/N: So, no review as of yet. Oh well.

Chapter 2

Gringotts Bank

Belinda was jerked to a halt by a hand on her arm. She turned and scowled at Avery. "You've got your vault key," he told her, "so go get your things. I'll be in the Leaky Cauldron when you're done. Don't get into trouble!" He shook her once, then turned and headed back to the entrance of the Alley.

Belinda watched him go and waited till the entryway had closed before hissing, "Merlin, I hate that man." She shook herself briefly, took a deep breath, and let out her annoyance on the exhale. "First stop…."

"…Gringotts! It's the bank system Wizards use," Connor told Diana. He kept his voice low as he continued. "Run by goblins, so don't stare." Both he and Diana were dressed in wizards' robes, and Diana felt downright ridiculous. Connor was dressed in dark grey, trimmed with white; he'd managed to get Diana into a lovely dark blue set that had been trimmed in yellow. Diana was doing her best not to look like a first-time tourist. It was difficult, but she had managed so far to keep her apparent interest at the "first time in London, but familiar with the Wizarding World" level.

The pair entered the gleaming white edifice, pausing only to let Diana read the inscription on the doors. After a waiting in line to see a teller, Connor inclined his head to the goblin. "My name is Connor McLeod of the…Order of the Fulmina." Diana nearly giggled at the hitch when Connor had to stop himself from saying 'of the Clan McLeod.' Connor shot her a repressing look as he continued, "My companion is Diana Adamson, also of the Order of the Fulmina. Her teacher set up an account for her; he said he'd make arrangements for us to pick up the key here."

The teller narrowed his eyes at the pair. "I'll need proof of her identity."

Diana blinked a couple times. "I'm sorry, I don't have any ID," she told him dryly.

"Nonsense, wouldn't trust it if you did have it," the goblin informed her. He rooted around behind the counter for several moments before pulling out a sheet of parchment and a black quill. "Just sign your name here," he told her, pointing to a line and handing over the quill.

Diana took the quill in hand and got a good look at the parchment. It had a series of runes around it, making a pretty border that Diana suspected was more than just a pretty decoration. There as one line on the page, right in the middle. Diana shrugged and looked around for a moment. "What about ink?" She wasn't terribly familiar with writing with a quill, but Adam and Connor had insisted she practice at least a little bit.

"You won't need it," the goblin told her. "That's a contract-signing quill. It uses your own blood for ink. It does not, however, etch the words into your hand the way a blood quill would, nor does it include the mild compulsory effect of said Dark Artifacts."

Diana stared at the quill for another moment or two before giving in and signing her full name:

Diana Morgan Adamson

She lifted the quill and looked up at the goblin. She saw him staring intently at the parchment and so looked down just in time to see her name sink into the paper before the blood appeared to seep back out the words:

Diana Morgan Hunter

Diana Morgan O'Malley

Diana stared in shock at the name she had given up more than seven years before—she'd nearly forgotten her original surname of O'Malley. Her name of the last seven years (Hunter) barely registered. "I…I…."

The goblin whisked the parchment away and plucked the quill from the girl's unresisting fingers. "Don't worry, Mr. Pierson explained that the real you would have some variations pop up. This verifies your identity." He reached into another drawer and plucked out a key. "This would be yours, young lady."

Diana took the key, still half in shock. She barely noticed Connor's quiet laugh, or how he directed her to follow another goblin that had been instructed to take them to her vault. She certainly came back to herself during the ride, though!

Several minutes later found Diana staring at the interior of her vault. "This is all mine?" she asked incredulously.

Connor laughed. "Yes, Diana. This is all yours. The Wizarding World never went away from using gold, silver, and copper as money."

"Gold?" Diana said faintly, stepping into the vault and picking up one of the gold coins. "This is real gold?"

Connor smiled as Diana licked the galleon in her hand. "It's goblin gold."

Diana glanced at Connor, then at the goblin. "So what would happen if I were to take this to a metallurgist for purity testing?"

The goblin glared. "While Gringotts applied the appropriate fines, the Ministry of Magic would arrest you for breaking the Statute of Secrecy."

Diana smiled. "Understood." She turned back to the vault. "Well, first things first." She walked over to the one non-monetary item in the small, closet-style room. It was a large steamer trunk, made of a lovely dark wood, with black leather straps and silver fixings. On top of the trunk was an envelope, addressed to Diana. Inside the envelope was a letter from Adam.

This is my present to you as a "Welcome back to school" gift. It's made of black walnut heartwood, bicorn leather, and real silver so take good care of it. I left the main compartment unlocked and put the keys inside (I maintain a set, just in case). There's also an expandable bag for you to put today's money in. Each key opens a different compartment. The main one is where I would keep most of your day to day things. I put a few books in the second compartment that I thought you might enjoy…. Diana groaned at the thought of the sorts of books Adam would have left for her. Then she laughed at the next line. …and stop that groaning young lady! I set up the third compartment to hold your wardrobe, seeing as how you'll be essentially living out of this trunk for the next seven years. The fourth and fifth compartments are yours to do with as you wish, though you'll appreciate knowing the fifth compartment is actually a small room. For your starting galleons…Cassandra sent a message to me for you, by way of Duncan. She said you should start with three hundred galleons, and don't be stingy.

I'm not sure why: that much should be enough to outfit two students easily, even with good gear.

Good luck,

Adam Pierson

Diana muttered to herself, "That's not ominous, not at all." She looked at up. "Right. Connor, how much do you think I should grab?" she asked as she opened the trunk to retrieve the keys and money pouch.

Connor paused a moment and seemed to do some math. "One hundred galleons should be plenty."

Diana nodded absently. "That's about what Sensei said."

Connor shrugged. "Well, if you're worried about having enough money on hand, or you want to get good quality things, you could always double that."

Diana frowned a moment, then began counting out piles of galleons. "Well, it's not like I'll have access to it during the school year," she reasoned. "And it's not like cash goes bad." So saying, she decided to err on the side of rampant paranoia and put two hundred galleons in her money pouch and two hundred galleons in one of the drawers in the main compartment of the trunk. After all, if Cassandra was sending a message through her most hated foe, it was probably something very important. Then she closed and locked it, and grabbed the handle. "Ready when you are."

The goblin grunted before ushering them both back to the mine cart.

Diana found herself enjoying the cart ride far more than she should have. She wasn't generally the type to enjoy thrill rides, but this reminded her of a class trip in sixth grade where she raced from roller coaster to roller coaster…and exulted in the thrill of each one.

So she was still glowing and more energetic than ever when they emerged into the main area of the bank. Connor had made the mistake of offering to take her trunk, so now Diana was bouncing around him. "That was so much fun!" she exclaimed. "I wanna go again! Can we? Is there—"

She froze when she felt a Buzz. She and Connor both began scanning the crowd. Almost immediately, however, the Buzz faded. Diana exchanged a glance with Connor, both realizing that the other Immortal had probably fled. But if he or she hadn't gone far, if they were just looking for a better place for a confrontation, it was going to be up to Connor to defend Diana. As much as she hated to admit it, her child's body was certainly not any way to win a Challenge.

So she was paying attention to her surroundings again when a young voice exclaimed, "But I need to get into my account so I can pay for my school things!"

Diana stopped walking and looked around for the girl who sounded like she was near-tears. It was a short moment before she saw a girl about her own now-apparent age that was standing at one of the tellers.

From what Diana could see, there was no adult anywhere near her. The girl was short and skinny and wearing plain, faded green robes that barely hung to the ankle, showing off a pair of worn black boots. Her black hair was curly and more than a little wild, but an attempt had been made to pull it back into a ponytail…though the hair seemed to be trying to escape. The girl was fair-skinned but a little pink, like she had gotten a lot of sun recently but generally wasn't used to it. She was holding a vault key with a tight grip, and her copper brown eyes were shining with desperation.

As Diana edged closer, she heard the teller say, "I'm sorry, but the Ministry has placed a hold on that vault again," in a tone that didn't sound sorry in the least.

The girl looked around desperately. Almost like she's looking for help that won't be there, Diana thought to herself. Then their gazes locked.

Diana hadn't been expecting it, and so hadn't reinforced her mental-emotional barriers to prevent her empathy from kicking in. The girl's fear and frantic desperation, with just a hint of old rage slammed into Diana, knocking her backwards a step. The girl broke their stare with a light blush and Diana was able to recover herself. Forgetting that she was supposed to be following Connor, Diana steeled herself and walked over to the girl. She held out a hand. "Hi. My name is Diana."

The girl stared at Diana for several moments before slowly taking the offered hand. "Belinda."

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't help overhearing a bit of that. You're having banking problems?"

The teller cut in. "There's nothing else I can do for you, Miss Black. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Belinda looked worriedly at the teller again before Diana tugged on her arm. "Come on," Diana urged. "Let's talk outside." Diana semi-dragged the unresisting girl out of Gringotts and across the street to a conveniently located bench.