Note: A big thank you to Inachis and Hawklan for helping out with this chapter.
Chapter 3
At the sounds of the alarm Faith, Xander and Giles quickly jumped on their feet and were in a ready stance, but luckily they were wise enough not to drawn any weapon directly just yet. Looking around Xander saw that Grashnak seemed to be just as confused about the alarm as they were. Just as it looked like Grashnak wanted to say something, a new document appeared before him. He read it quickly and with a wave of his hand the alarm was silenced again.
Grashnak looked up and saw with a bit of amusement how his three guests had reacted, looking ready to fight for their life. "My apologies, Mr. Xander, Mr. Giles, Ms. Lehane. There is no danger here for you. Please just sit down again and I'll explain."
The three slowly sat down again, but were still on guard. "So what's with the alarm just because I signed this document with your vampire quill?" Faith asked in a demanding tone.
"My apologies again Miss Lehane, the alarm you just heard was linked to one of our oldest vaults and it was set to sound as soon as a female descendant of that family was recognized. You are the first one to enter our bank since the original owner of that vault has passed away, even if quite a lot have tried to claim the inheritance in question."
"I had an ancestor who was a witch?" Faith asked in surprise.
"Indeed Ms. Lehane. You are the descendant of Merliana, the first and only documented witch who was a slayer as well. My assistant is currently getting everything needed for you to claim your inheritance."
Faith looked in fear at the goblin and then at Xander, "I just hope I don't have to sign as much as you."
-EHIC-
Meanwhile in the main room of the bank
Enraged, Draco stormed into the bank, followed quietly by two of the security wizards from the restaurant. Ignoring the long lines of waiting wizards and witches, he went directly to one of the goblins and slammed the declined invoice on the goblin's desk. "What is the meaning of this? Wait until my father hears about this, he will have your bank closed at once!"
The goblin looked quite bored at him. "Wizard, step into line like everyone else and then, when it is your turn, you can bring your business with Gringotts to my attention."
Further enraged, Draco yelled, "You disgusting thing, I will do no such thing! I demand to know the meaning of this is at once!"
The goblin didn't even look at Draco as he gave wave with his hand. Two security goblins appeared behind Draco and unceremoniously grabbed him and dragged him to the end of the waiting line. Just as Draco went to start yelling again, one of the security goblins said, "Wait here quietly or we will throw you out of the bank."
Fuming, Draco kept quiet, but promised to himself to extract bloody vengeance on the goblins.
Quite a while later Draco was finally at the front of the goblin's desk again and just as he started to voice his demands again, the goblin pulled quite a large watch out of his pocket, looked at it and with a large smile he put a sign on the desk, stood up and left.
Speechless, Draco stared at the sign, which read. 'CLOSED, Please choose another goblin to help you'.
-EHIC-
The goblin who had just left his station, watched with amusement the speechless face of that arrogant child wizard. After the child had cursed for a while and then went grumbling to the next line, the goblin quickly went to the room in which Grashnak was holding the meeting with the heir of the Black line. He knocked and after Gratuk, the assistant of Grashnak, opened the door, he entered and went directly to the table where the meeting was taking place. He smiled internally in amusement about the groaning of the human woman who was currently reading and signing a small amount of paperwork. "Sorry to disturb your meeting, Master, but you wanted to be informed if the wizard formerly known as 'Draco Malfoy' was seen. The human Draco is currently waiting in a line in our main room. What are your wishes in regards of him?"
Grashnak watched him for a moment and then smiled and turned to the younger of the two human males with him at the table. "Lord Black, would you like to meet young Draco now to determine if you will take him into your house?"
The young human nodded and after a wink from Grashnak, Gratuk quickly left the room and returned a few moments later with a yelling Draco. "I demand to be told at once why I'm being dragged here at or my father will hear of this."
Grashnak stood up and directed his gaze at the human youngling. "Be silent boy. We Goblins don't care about a man who is sitting in an American muggle prison with his wand snapped and his magic bound. You boy are here so that Lord Black can decide whether you will be accepted into his house or not."
"Why would he have to take me into his family? I'm a Malfoy. I don't need to be taken in," Draco yelled.
"Not anymore. The family known as Malfoy is extinct and so you will either be taken in by Lord Black or you will be a nameless wizard," Grashnak said with a teeth flashing smile.
At hearing this Draco's face lost all its color for a second, but then his arrogant streak was back and he said, "Ok, then finish up your business with those two mudbloods and their whore so that I can talk to Lord Black. After all..." Before Draco could finish that sentence he suddenly felt pain in his face, crashed to the floor and in astonishment he registered that his nose was bleeding and hurt like hell.
-EHIC-
Xander, Faith and Giles watched the entrance of the arrogant boy in amusement. At the slur at them or more because of what he called Faith, Xander's face went stone cold, but before he could do anything, Giles was already on his feet and was nearly flying the few steps to the boy. Xander could see a nice right hook which smashed into the boy's face and broke his nose. Then Giles yelled, "If you git ever call my daughter a whore again, a broken nose is the least of your worries."
Faith could only smile at that and said, "Thanks for defending my honor, pops."
Giles groaned and then sat down at the table again, while Xander stood up. He looked at the boy for a long while and then shook his head and turned to Grashnak. "Sorry for this master goblin. We will of course pay for the cleanup and as Lord Black, I sadly have to say that I won't allow that boy into my family for now."
Grashnak nodded and said, "So noted, Lord Black. What about the already paid Hogwarts' fees for the boy? You can claim them to be paid back to you."
Xander shook his head. "No, I won't for now. Let him finish his education, but all other costs are his own problem."
Grashnak nodded again. "As you wish, Lord Black. I think that concludes our business for now. Until we meet again and may your gold grow."
"Thank you Master Grashnak. Until we meet again and may your fortune grow as well," Xander replied. Both bowed their head to each other and then Xander, Faith and Giles left the bank.
Outside the bank Faith looked at her watch and grinned with joy. "Boys…We still have two hours until we have to meet the others in the restaurant. So let's go shopping for a bit."
Giles and Xander groaned and before one of them could say anything Faith continued, "You promised, X."
Xander cursed himself for that bit of stupidity and then nodded. "Ok, let's go."
-EHIC-
Nearly an hour later a tired Xander and Giles dragged themselves in the direction of the restaurant, while Faith was walking beside them quite happily. "I love magic," she said as she looked at a trunk which easily fit into the palm of her hand. "Who would have thought that all the stuff we bought would fit into that? Sadly the fashion of the wizards is a bit outdated. We'll have to visit a few shops in London," she said with an evil smile and looked at Xander and Giles.
"As far as I would love to accompany you tomorrow, Faith, I am sorry to say that I have several meetings with the local watchers and my day is already filled," Giles said.
Xander looked at Giles and mumbled, "Traitor." Then he looked at Faith and said, "If someone would have told me that you are a shopaholic like Buffy and Cordelia, I would have called him a liar."
Faith grinned and replied, "What shall I say? I love magical shopping…so sue me."
Finally they reached the restaurant and quickly entered it. They went to the receptionist and before they could say anything the young woman said with a sad tone in her voice, "Sorry Sirs and Madam, but we can't serve you here in this restaurant, this establishment only carters to Purebloods."
Xander looked at the young woman and after swallowing his anger down a bit said, "Says who?"
The young woman looked sadly at them and replied, "Sorry again. I only follow the directions of the owner of this establishment."
"Then I would like to talk to whoever owns this racist inn," Xander said in a low voice.
The woman gulped a bit and said, "Sorry, but the owners are never here. I can call the manager for you."
Xander just nodded while the young woman quickly vanished.
-EHIC-
Sally looked at the three 'guests' and gulped. She couldn't say why, but somehow she knew she didn't want to anger those three at all and so quickly said, ""Sorry, but the owners are never here. I can call the manager for you."
As the younger of the two men just nodded, she quickly went into the direction of the manager's office. 'Damn, I hate this job. If I didn't need the money…,' she thought and then quickly knocked at the door. It took a few moments and then the door opened and Mary, one of the waitresses, rushed out. After that she heard an annoyed, "Enter."
She quickly entered the office and shuddered as she saw how Phillip just closed his zip. He looked up at her and in a furious tone he said, "You damn halfblood, can't you do your job or what? You now that you shouldn't disturb me when I'm in this office. You're lucky that I don't fire you. So what do you want, you incompetent witch?" Phillip yelled at her.
'Firing me? Then you would have to work yourself, you damn asshole,' she thought, before she replied, "Sorry sir, but there are three people who I had to tell we can't serve because of the owner's directions, but they wouldn't budge and demand to speak with the owner. After I told them the owner is never here, they demanded to speak with you, sir."
"And why didn't you just throw them out instead of disturbing me?" Philip asked in an angry tone.
"By myself sir? As you know Melvin is out sick," Sally replied.
Grumbling, Phillip came out of his office and went to the three people. While walking to them he inspected them and couldn't believe that they had even tried to get in here dressed like that. "As Sally told you, we don't serve mudbloods like you here, so get out now," he said arrogantly.
As Sally looked the younger man into the eyes, she gulped and prepared to protect herself in an instant, but instead of exploding as she feared, the young man said in a dangerous sounding tone. "So, you're saying you won't serve us here, correct?"
"Are you deaf as well, you damn mudblood? Now get out or I will call the Aurors," Phillip yelled and with that all eyes in the restaurant were on him.
Sally silently cast a protego on herself, but was surprised as the young man just smiled again, while the older man put a hand on the shoulder of the woman as if to restrain her.
-EHIC-
Xander looked at the git and just couldn't believe the attitude of the idiot. With amusement he noted how the poor woman behind the git cast a protection spell on herself. He smiled at the woman and said to her, "Sally, right?" As the woman nodded he continued. "Would you be so kind and check your book for a reservation under the name Alexander Harris-B….," before he could finish that, Phillip yelled, "As if you would have a reservation. Now, get out!"
Until now Faith had kept quiet and hadn't said anything, but as she saw how the idiot pulled his wand and was directing it in X's direction, her slayer reflexes came to the front. With a swift move she grabbed the wand arm with one hand, the wand with the other and just a moment after that a "Snap" was heard through the restaurant.
Phillip stared disbelieving at the remains of his wand, then looked at the woman and yelled, "You damn mudblood whore, you broke my wand! You'll pay for that!" As he tried to slap Faith in the face, pain suddenly exploded in his face and he cried out. Holding his nose he said in a whining tone. "I will have you scum in Azkaban for attacking a pureblood."
"Funny you should say that," Giles said with a devilish smile.
Xander smiled as well and then said to Sally, "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, would you check your book for a reservation under Alexander Harris-Black?"
Stunned, Sally gaped at the young man. 'Did he just say Black?' she thought and then for the first time noted the sigil ring on his hand with the crest of the Black family on it. Gathering herself again she said, "Of course, Lord Black. Your table will be ready at once," she said.
Xander grinned and said, "Thank you Sally. Ohh would you be so kind and call the Aurors to have this idiot arrested for attacking the Lord Black and his fiancée?"
"Of course Mylord," Sally replied.
"Thank you again. If you would show us our table now?" he said and then directed his gaze to Phillip. "And you? You are fired."
"Sally, from now on the owner of this fine restaurant won't tolerate such an attitude anymore. I hope that you, as the new manager, will make sure of that," he said to the young woman.
"Of course, sir," she mumbled in a shocked tone. She couldn't believe it, did Lord Black, whose family had owned this restaurant for quite a long while, just promote her, a halfblood, to manager? She couldn't believe it. She gulped and pulled herself together, relying on her professionalism, "Thank you Sir. Would you and your guests please follow me?"
After the three had taken their places they were joined soon after by Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ms. Verner, and shortly after that Ms. Longbottom arrived together with her grandson Neville. Once the kids had greeted their school mate, they all enjoyed quite a nice meal.
After they had finished eating, Xander turned to Ms Longbottom and said, "Lady Longbottom, you are a member of the school governors, aren't you?"
"Yes, I am, Lord Black. Why do you ask?" she wanted to know.
"That's simple Milady. I'm quite shocked about the quality about the so called education the children are getting at this school and so have decided to take my place on the board to do something about that. But first, would you be so kind to just call me Xander? I don't think we need all this formality, do we?" Xander said with a grin.
Ms. Longbottom looked at the young man for a while and thought about what he had said. Maybe they could finally do something about the sinking quality of the Hogwarts education. "Only if you call me Augusta, young man, and what have you planned? Sadly I must agree that the quality of education has fallen since Dumbledore became headmaster."
"Oh, there's quite a lot of things that need to be done, I fear," Xander said and so the two talked nearly an hour about the situation and how to rectify it.
Harry was quite shocked about all the things Xander wanted to change, and he and Neville were even more shocked that Nev's grandmother agreed with most of it, even if she was a bit skeptical about the more modern things Xander planned. Harry and the other kids were speechless as Xander asked their opinion and what they would like.
Finally, after all had been said, Harry said, "Wow. If you and Miss Longbottom can get even half of that done, I'll go back to Hogwarts after the summer after all, instead of one of those other schools you talked about."
Miss Longbottom looked at Harry, shocked. "You planned to leave Hogwarts?"
Harry nodded and replied, "Yes Miss Longbottom, as the school is now, I won't learn what I need to survive the war with Voldemort."
"Good. I will call for a meeting of the Board of Governors in two weeks time then," Miss Longbottom said.
"That would be great and it gives us enough time for a bit of travelling. I had planned to visit a friend of mine and ask him for some help with Harry's eye problems," Alex said.
After they had all said their goodbyes for now and just waited to leave, Faith suddenly spoke. She had been quite about most of the school talk. "One more thing Miss Longbottom. Harry, Hermione and Ron will start an advanced training program tomorrow morning. Your grandson is welcome to join them if he wants."
Augusta looked at her grandson and asked, "Neville?"
After looking at the nods of his schoolmates Neville replied, "I think that would help me quite a lot, gran."
Xander grinned and said, "Good, then join us tomorrow at 5.30 for the start of the training and if your grandmother allows it, bring enough stuff with you for a small trip, because a bit of this training will be in Germany and we will leave the day after tomorrow."
"Germany?" Augusta asked.
Xander nodded. "Yes, the friend I mentioned lives there."
Augusta thought about it a while and noted that Neville was quite eager to join his friends in that. Grateful that her grandson finally had friends and enjoyed something other than his greenhouse, she nodded. "Good, I agree and Neville may join you."