Chapter II

Elves and Goblins

Ivanna woke to a voice at the foot of the bed and the smell of food.

"What?" She asks rubbing her eyes

"Dobby has food for Mistress, Time to be waking." The Elf tells her brightly.

Ivanna sits up and a large table floats over her lap, laden with food of all kinds. "Thank you Dobby. Have you eaten yet this morning?"

Dobby is shocked at the question and his eyes fill with tears, "Mistress is so kind! No Dobby has not eaten today. "

Ivanna frowns at his reaction, "Well come here then. You will eat with me. Has Vidi eaten yet? "

Dobby stands shocked," No Vidi has not."

Ivanna smiles, "Vidi!"

Pop! "Yes mistress?" The little elf bows.

"Come, you and Dobby, up here with me."

The little elf looks confused but grabs Dobbys hand and pulls him toward the bed and pulls herself up onto it. Dobby watches her and then slowly pulls himself up and stares and Ivanna with wide eyes.

"Sit." Ivanna smiles gently.

They sit a couple feet from her and stare at her curiously.

Ivanna waves a hand and the lap tray grows into a low circular table and two more plates with utensils appear in front of the elves. The food separates onto different plates and she smiles at the elves as they sit shocked.

Ivanna picks up a fork and begins eating calmly, "Eat. I won't have anyone who works for me not eating properly."

The elves blink and Vidi smiles, "Mistress is very odd. Thank you for the food." She picks up a fork and shrinks it before taking a bite of fruit. Dobby slowly does the same, glancing at Ivanna from time to time like he expected to be reprimanded.

After she was finished, Ivanna took a cup of tea and sat back against the headboard. "Is the meeting room on the first floor open today? I'd like to use it."

Vidi looks up from her cup of tea, "Yes, its rarely used as it is."

Dobby perks up, "Dobby will clean it for you!"

Ivanna smiles at his enthusiasm, "Thank you, Dobby. I need to get up. Vidi would you take this stuff to the kitchen please? Then go to Dumbledore and tell him I want a school wide meeting this evening after dinner? No exceptions."

Vidi nods, "Of course. "

"Ok, I will see you both at noon then." Ivanna slides her feet onto the floor and stretches as she hears two pops! She wanders into the closet again, and looks around before finding a black shirt with no sleeves and pair of black pants of some kind.

The clothes were comfortable and she walked into her sitting room and sat crossed legged on the floor. She blocked out the world around her to begin sifting through some of the information from when she was asleep.

Forty-five minutes later, Ivanna looked up and stretched. Pleased with her progress of about one fourth of the way through the pertinent information.

Well, at least I'm beginning to understand where things went wrong.

She stands up and checks the time, 11:24 a.m. , Ivanna nods. she walks out of her chambers and into the hallways, walking down a staircase and coming to a corridor, seeing a fairly large group of children up ahead. Ivanna seeing the flash of spellfire increased her stride.

She stands for about ten seconds, before waving her hands in a wide arc and pushing all the kids into walls.

Ivanna looks around at the teens, narrowing her eyes. She flicks her gaze from one to the next. Griffindors and Slytherins, of course.

She points at one dark skinned boy, Slytherin. "Explain."

The boy, swallows slightly. "Weasley and Malfoy argued. Potter intervened, Malfoy jinxed him. Weasley punched Malfoy. Everybody else jumped in."

Ivanna frowns. " I will be speaking to your heads of house, but for now. 15 points a piece, from everyone, and you all have detention with me tomorrow after dinner. meet me in the Entrance hall. And do not think of doing this again, I have the castle tracking you, anything done to another and she will alert me immediately. Understood?"

They all gulped and nodded at her tone. "Yes ma'am"

"Good" Ivanna released them to the ground again with a wave of her hand, "Now go on your ways." The kids shot each other dirty looks be fore going different directions.

Ivanna waited until they were out of sight before striding down to the meeting room she had requested. Opening the door she saw a small arena of chairs around a huge table with files on it, with twenty-three house elves filling a majority of it. Three goblins sat at the end of the table to her right and she walked up to them, the whole table coming to thier feet in greeting, Ivanna bows slightly to the goblins before saying, "I am Ivanna, Lady of Hogwarts."

The middle Goblin looks suspicious, "Prove you are."

Ivanna tilts her head for a moment before smiling. She raises her left arm and twists her fingers in a complicated pattern before a bright violet flash in her palms, And a hunk of metal the size of a quaffle resides there, Glittering opalescently. Smiling she hands it to the stunned goblins. They spend several minutes looking at the metal before the same goblin speaks,"This is Vanlarite, You Are indeed the Lady. " He holds it out for her to take back, She merely smiles, "Keep it. I can always make more. Pleasure to meet you. "

The goblins look a bit startled, the middle one staring in shock at the metal on his hands. the one on the left stepping up, "The pleasure is ours, Lady, I am Grenet, beside me is Faldun, and that is Daerk. We handle your accounts and have for the last fifty years."

Ivanna smiles, "Good. " She turns to face the elves as well, "Hello, I am Ivanna. Please excuse my tardiness, some students were being troublesome. Please sit and lets begin. "

She takes a seat to the right of the head of the table, motioning for the goblins to take the head. All of the creatures moved slower to thier places, Faldun carefully placing the hunk of metal on the table, when all were seated Ivanna spoke.

"I have been gone for many years now and I am behind the times, I have only sorted through about a fourth of the information in my brain and may need some explanation at times. Now could we start with who does what exactly and could I get a list of everyones names, so i don't overlook anyone? For the elves I mean. "

The elves all smile in some form, and a small female stands on her chair, "I am Litte, I keep track of elves. Here is a list of all of us and our jobs now." Litte floated a paper over to Ivanna.

Ivanna looked it over, "Good, this schedule is very efficiant. Now, I see Mira, Nort, Olec, Caffy, Vidi, Henner, Lev, And Fenner are in charge of the residences and Jik, Nin, and Safre Are in charge of the lands. Could I get a report of each of those things? It doesn't have to be right this minute but by tomorrow night. Now to Mesrrs. Grenet, Faldun, and Daerk, Could I get the reports of the major investments and an estimate of how much money I have Please?"

The Goblins smile, that more like a baring of teeth, and began handing her reports.

Grenet was in charge of loans and personal monies, Faldun was in charge of investments, and Deark was in charge of items, potions, and weaponry.

Grenet started, " These are the families and people who owe you money or favors." He handed Ivanna a large file."Browse at your leisure, I have another copy and the originals reside in your vault under heavy enchantments." Ivanna smiled, "thank you. Now how much do I have in my vault?" Grenet smirks, " The last count was a week ago, so without adding the interest from after that time, You have 33,520,484,892 Galleons, 673,942 Sickles, and 843 Knuts. give or take a thousand Galleons. "

Ivanna blinks a few times before sitting slowly back in her chair and taking a deep breath. "Did you just say Billion? I have Billions of Galleons? That's possible?"

The goblins all gave a smug smile, before Grenet answered, "Yes, You do and it is. When you gave control, temporarily, to Gringotts we took your finantials very seriously. Goblins respect you, therefore we try harder to make you money. We are very good at making money. "

Ivanna nods,"Yes, though 'very' is a bit of an understatement. Great Goddess I have a billion Galleons."

Grenet smirks,"Actually you have 33 Billion Galleons. You are the richest person in any Gringotts in the world. Now what do you plan to do with it, all decisions will go through you now of course. "

Ivanna frowned,"I am taking my castle back from the Ministry and need to make it self sustainable. other than that, train students in the old practices. I may need a few new professors. Other than that I would like to leave the majority of the finantial business to you three, If you don't mind continuing to do so. "

The three goblins eyes widened slightly in surprise, Daerk spoke, "You are serious? To continue working with the largest account at Gringotts is the highest honor, to be chosen by the Lady, even more so."

Ivanna smiled at the goblin, "It is my honor to have you. Now What kinds of artifacts and things do I have?"

Daerk hands her another large file, "I have organized it by category, Healing, Weapons, Poisons, Potions, etc. Then alphabetically. They all have descriptions and any questions you may have can be sent to me directly. "

"Thank you, Now I intend to go spending a large amount of money soon, probably thousands. Can I do that with out walking around with the money on my person?"

The Faldun nods, "Yes, we can send you a small metal card by owl tomorrow that will allow you to take as much as you want directly from the vault. It will be set to your magical signature and only you or those you allow may use it. otherwise it portkeys a person holding it directly to Gringotts. We deal harshly with theives. "

"Can I use it in the muggle world?"

"Yes, Just take someone who knows what a credit card is and you should be fine."

Ivaanna smirks, "Good. Send the card as soon as you can please. Now how are my investments?"

Faldun Smiles, "You own stock in almost every major venture in the wizarding world. In the last century or so we started investing in the muggle world as well, And per your instructions, you give quite generously to many charities every year. Here is a condensed timeline for you. "

He hands Ivanna another large file.

"Nothing really happened until 64 years after you went to ground. thats when we started the expeditions. You had traveled extensively and interacted with many peoples. Legends born from your stories, exagerated of course, but many were quick to trade with us after we proved who we worked for. You single-handedly own some of the most precious potions ingrediants in the world, all for being nice to people. " He smirks, "Even with goblins. "

Ivanna Laughs, "Wonderful. I like to help, it makes me feel like I have a purpose for living so long. "

The goblins and elves all nod, understanding. Litte speaks up, "Is there anything you wnt to know about your home or lands?"

Ivanna chuckles, "Yes, how did I end up with 8 houses? "

All the elves blush slightly, and Litte answers " Over time they were presented in such good deals, we just couldn't pass them up. Now Mistress can Holiday in six countries if she chooses. Grenet just showed another deal in America, if Mistress would like to see it. "

Ivanna grins broadly at the openly hopeful expressions on most of the elves faces. "I will look it over. Now where do I own all this?"

Grenet spoke up again, " Ireland, Greece, Turkey, India, Egypt, and Brazil."

Ivanna frowns, "Where and what is Turkey?"

Grenet blinks, "Ah, around a thousand years ago it was part of the Roman Empire, used to be part of Persia. "

Ivanna's brows rose, "I own land in the persian empire? Haa! Take that Alex." She grins.

The goblins look confused, but Dobby speaks first. "Who is Alex mistress?"

Ivanna Grins, "A jerk who swore he could rule the world. The muggles call him Alexander the Great. I called him that. Though he was the only one to know I actually meant, Alexander the Great Pain in my Arse. Got snippy over that he did."

Daerk Laughed, "That is priceless."

Grenet stared at his companion for a moment, "In any case. You also own many creatures, or some were there and refused to a few have passed on since your slumber. "

Ivanna frowns at this, "Most creatures die at some point. Why would this surprise me?"

Grenet turns slightly away from her, "Your basilisk died four years ago. We don't know how."

Ivanna's eyes widened before narrowing dangerously Flashing violet. "My Ria responsible will die a slow and painful death. " Ivanna took a deep breath while her elves glanced at her in fright. She calmed some. " Now I am sorry to cut us short but I have a school wide meeting to hold. Could you owl or come by with any other pertinenet information?"

Faldun nods, "Of course. "

Ivanna flicked through the files, most important information was noted. After another half an hour the goblins stood to leave, Ivanna shook each house elfs hand while they told her their names. After the elves popped away she insisted on walking the goblins out.

once they reached the entrance hall, it was filled with students. Unable to find a clear path, Ivanna waved her arms in a parting motion and the students all were gently pushed away from the middle, clearing a path about five feet wide. She calmly ignored the stares of the students and walked with the goblins to the doors. Opening them, she said," I thought the option of a carriage wouldn't be ill recieved." giving them a smile.

The goblins nod, accepting. Ivanna inclines her head in recognition. "Good, Fair days and gold to you."

Smirking slightly at the old phrase, "To you as well, Lady." the goblins depart.

Ivanna heads back into the school, the entrance now much less clustered.