Disclaimer: I don't own! (If you want the whole list go to Chapter 1.)
Yeah, sorry for not updating in so long. I wrote an extra-long chapter as an apology! (Hides behind a book) Don't kill me :)
As soon as I was out of that house, I hurriedly made my way to the alley where I had previously re-mastered bending. Once there, I stopped to catch my breath as it dawned on me exactly what had just occurred. Vernon had tried to kill me, I had lost my temper, and now I was homeless at four years old. 'Well this is a fine mess!'
"D'Aravit!" I swore under my breath. I mumbled a few more choice swear words in Greek before stopping and calming myself down.
At this point, I knew there was no way I could get a job, since I couldn't make myself appear any older and no idiot was going to hire a toddler, and I had no money with which to rent lodgings (if the land-lord would even rent to a four-year-old…).
While charmspeak would work if I needed something fast, it was a very chancy and temporary enchantment. Actually… now that I really thought about it, charmspeak was an easier, short-term form of the Mesmer. I wondered what would happen if I tried combining them… I knew from my time as Alice how dangerous experiments could be, but this sounded fun…
And thinking of the Mesmer gave me an idea that just might work.
HM*AA*HS
Silvery moonlight shone down from a full, round moon on the quiet forest. A river murmured as it twisted and wound around the trees, particularly an enormous oak. A lazy breeze caused the leaves to sway in a languid fashion.
This sleepy peace was broken with a hurried clatter of hooves.
A young fawn appeared, its dappled hide gleaming in the moonlight. As it slowed, the deer's form shifted, seamlessly morphing into a small, brunette girl with long hair and ghostly white wings. Her features shimmered, changing this time into a much smaller figure with bright auburn hair.
(Abrupt change in view)
I grinned, gape-toothed, at my elfin reflection in the water before turning away, my eyes scanning the ground. After a few minutes, my hand closed around something small and dark. I lifted it up for my perusal before throwing the rock away in annoyance.
I searched for nearly an hour before I found my prize. Standing at the bend in the river, I scraped a small hole in the ground. Dropping the acorn I had found into the small hole, I murmured the ancient words: "I return you to the earth and claim the gift that is my right."
A surge of power shot up my arms with such force that I was sent flying across the clearing. Blue sparks danced in the air as I grinned viciously. Energy sizzled under every centimeter of skin and my eyes blazed with power.
I laughed out loud in exhilaration. I had forgotten how good it felt to be running hot.
Shifting back to my current form, I sat down with a satisfied expression. It had taken me nearly fifteen weeks to travel from Surrey to this place.
I sighed. In the world I had resided in as Holly Short, this had been a sacred, magical place to the fairy People. The similarities between my current home and that other universe were disquieting, though I was equally familiar with the history and the oddities of both worlds. Even though Tara's significance was different here, its magic was still every bit as powerful. Of course, there were differences in that as well. The magic of this world was so very strange. It was almost…wild, in a way. The magic of the People had been whimsical and affectionate, but it had been bound by rigid rules that had dire penalties if broken. This world's magic was all power and dreams, light and dark mixed together and running deliciously mad. It reminded me of Wonderland magic, as well as a certain…acquaintance of mine. This world… somehow I was sure that this was his world. I wondered if I would ever meet him. I shook my head, exasperated with myself. 'Stupid. Even if you do, things can't go back to the way they were then. Too much time has passed, and I'm no longer that spoilt little lord.' I sighed again, this time with a melancholy air.
"Enough of this, Alice!" I told myself firmly. I boxed my ears, repressing a grin at my familiar game as I answered myself. "I just can't help wondering, sometimes," I sniffled, pausing to accept a handkerchief to wipe my eyes, saying, "Yes, thank you." Another pause, then, "Do you need a hankie?"
I laughed aloud. I hadn't done any very Alice-like things lately, and it brought my spirits back up, even if my ears hurt now. I smiled at the beautiful location around me in nostalgia before allowing myself to fall asleep.
FMA*AA*GY
I leapt into the air, my small body twisting around to block a vicious jab aimed at my abdomen. I retaliated with a sudden punch, managing to connect to my opponent's face. I felt his nose break and ducked to avoid another swing. At the same time, I placed my hands firmly on the ground, swinging my legs around to trip him up. Just as swiftly, I jumped on top of him, bringing my hand around to rest the blade I held against his neck.
"Dead," I said. I handed him a handkerchief to stop the flow of blood as we both stood up.
"Impressive," my opponent said, grinning. He sat on a bench at the side of the room. "Most impressive," he repeated, his voice now muffled by the hand clamped on his nose. I grinned. That spar had been incredible, and had also brought back many fond memories of sparring with my brother Alphonse. Of course, I had almost never beaten him. I was kind of hard to defeat a suit of armor with boundless energy and no pain factor. I sat down next to the man, who was still watching me.
He had black hair, vaguely Asian features, and bright green eyes hidden behind glasses. His name was Kurosu Raiden. He was a thirty-something year old martial artist, and my tutor. We had met nearly two years ago when Raiden answered an ad I had placed in the paper requesting a tutor in combat and hand-to-hand fighting. He had been the most talented candidate, but the main reason I chose him was the similarity between his fighting style and the one I had learned as Yuki, which in turn resembled the combat skills learnt during air bender training.
I ran a hand through my golden hair, my golden eyes glazed over with memories. After I had regained my fairy magic, it had been a small matter to mesmerize a real estate agent into selling me an old house with a rather large property just outside Dublin (for free), and then get her to erase all evidence of my property from her records. Thanks to the Mesmer, she would never remember what had happened.
It had taken me more than two years, working alone, to finish renovations on my new home, all the while re-mastering what supernatural skills that I could. Around the time I had finished my renovation work, I also decided to bring my physical combat skills up to par. Raiden was perfect for what I wanted. A swordsman and a skilled marksman, Kurosu had also been trained in several different martial arts forms and I suspected he had been privy to a "life training" similar to that which my old teacher Izumi had put my brother and I through.
I was also convinced he couldn't possibly be human, considering that he knew I myself was not completely…normal after only an hour of observing me. Despite nearly two years of daily practice, not to mention the training I had been doing alone to re-master bending and alchemy, I had only bested Raiden a total of six times.
Considering that even with my size handicap and mostly untrained body I was a master (if only mentally) in multiple disciplines of combat—some of which did not even exist in this universe—and considering that, in addition, I almost always fought him in a form with supernatural reflexes, it was quite obvious to me that Raiden had some nonhuman blood.
Even so, I had absolutely no intentions of interrogating him, since he had showed that same courtesy to me. Raiden knew of my fairy healing magic, and I had showed him four different forms (my Ed form, my male Yuki form, my Aang form, and my Violet form), bur he knew nothing of the full extent of my powers.
'Of course,' I thought to myself with a smirk, 'not interrogating my tutor and not trying to discover his secrets on my own are two completely different things. I cannot deny that this challenge has been most exciting. I can only hope that it will continue to be so.' And currently my suspicions resided around his very distinctive yellowish-green eyes, which were always hidden behind a pair of spectacles.
I turned back to Raiden, inquiring with a sheepish smile, "Oh, ah, would you like me to heal that?"
Raiden rolled his eyes. "That would be much appreciated, yes," he said, his voice still muffled.
Nodding sharply, I placed a hand on his nose. "Heal," I whispered. Blue sparks materialized from my fingers, darting out to target the break. He inhaled sharply as his nose twisted back to its correct position, more sparks dancing up and down its length as the cartilage mended itself.
"Much obliged," he said, touching his nose gingerly as if to reassure himself that it had really been healed. The man then turned to me. "Same time next week?" he asked.
I nodded again.
"You really have improved greatly," he stated. He eyed me with curiosity and a hint of amusement. "I have never seen any child catch on so quickly, not even a prodigy metamorphagus like you."
My head shot up. "What did you call me? What's a metamorphagus?"
He looked startled. "Don't you know? But—I thought—" Raiden frowned. "I've seen you use magic." He said decisively. "Are you really unaware of that world?"
"What world?" I asked, frustrated. "You mean—Wonderland?"
Raiden now looking even more bewildered, answered me, "Wha-Wonderland? What?" The man then shook his head. "No," he said slowly, "I was talking about the Wizarding World."
A sudden memory flashed through my head, of my parents talking about the state of affairs in…not their country, but their world. The Wizarding World.
"My parents were wizards," I stated. "I knew they were part of some secret organization or society, based off what I could remember of them, but…you're saying there's a whole world of these…wizards?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Yes, that is what I'm saying. Honestly, I thought you were already aware. It's almost unheard of for a metamorphagus child to be able to transform as completely as you have without some form of instruction—especially with forms as varied as yours are."
Shifting back from my Edward form to my current one, I then shook my head, laughing a bit. "No, no, I'm completely self-taught on all accounts." I shot him a glance. "What is a metamorphagus, anyway?"
Raiden sighed. "A metamorphagus is the name given to a witch or wizard with full shape-shifting abilities—meaning that they can not only change little things, like eye and hair color, but larger things as well, such as body type or gender." He smirked at me, and then asked curiously, "You really did not know?" At my 'no', he shook his head in wonderment. "You're even more of a prodigy than I thought before."
I grinned. That information would be useful to know. Posing as a metamorphagus, it would be even easier to hide my true nature (My body occasionally shifted form without my control, especially when my emotions ran high). I rubbed the curiously-shaped scar on my forehead in contemplation.
Raiden noticed the motion. He grabbed my hand, pulling it away and staring in shock at my scar. "Harry Potter," he whispered, sounding absolutely stunned. My head shot up, my eyes narrowing. "But, you gave your name as Edward Elric…"
I rolled my eyes. "Of course I did. It would be kind of idiotic to give my real name out, considering that I ran away from those abusive pigs I had the misfortune of calling family a few years ago." Shooting him a hard glare, I stated adamantly, "I have absolutely no intention of being returned to their tender affections."
Kurosu stared at me for a long minute, before snorting in amusement. "I don't blame you," he said. "I certainly won't tell anyone, you can be sure of that."
I scowled in an aggravated fashion, before turning to him as a sudden thought struck me. "How did you know my name?"
Raiden smirked. "You mean you don't know?" at my fierce glare, he snickered, and then said, "I suppose it's logical that you wouldn't know about that if you don't even know about the Wizarding World."
"Know about what? Tell me!" I demanded, frustrated.
He sighed, suddenly serious. "Elric—blast it all! Harry, what do you know about the night your parents died?"
"The night they died?" I repeated confusedly. "Well," I began slowly, "they were playing with me, just messing around, when this alarm went off. It was terribly loud, and hurt my ears. My parents panicked, and my mother took me and ran up the stairs into my nursery. She set me down, and then a tall man with red eyes blasted the door in. My mother begged him to leave, to kill her instead of me, but the man refused, eventually killing her when she wouldn't stand aside. He then tried to hit me with a strange green light—a death spell, I presume—and when it hit everything hurt, and I blacked out from the pain." I looked up from my recitation to see Raiden staring at me incredulously.
"You remember so much?"
I blinked, and then looked away, trying to appear uncertain and rather nervous instead of irritated. The softening of his expression indicated that I had succeeded. "Yes, I do," I said softly.
Raiden said somberly, "I'm sorry to hear that. Well, I suppose I should clear up any confusion you have." He sat up straighter, sitting in what I mentally referred to as his 'Teacher pose'. "First, you need to know about the Wizarding community. Around the time of the Dark Ages, the wizards first began to pull away from their non-magical counterparts due to witch hunts and the like. They began to form their own small communities, eventually completely separating from muggle—their word for non-magical—societies. These small pockets of witches and wizards formed their own governments and made laws to govern themselves. Then, around the height of the Renaissance, representatives from each hidden wizarding nation met together to form the first International Confederation of Wizards. Today, this organization collectively regulates the major wizarding world powers as a legislative body. The first law this group passed became known as the Statute of Secrecy. It enforced complete separation from any non-magical society, and placed in effect protocols which would govern any interactions between the magical and non-magical. The Statute of Secrecy makes it unlawful for magic to be used on, or in the presence of, any non-magical person, unless that person has a special exemption from the Secrecy laws, such as the parent of a magical child."
He glanced at me, asking, "With me so far?" At my nod, he continued. "Now, you were born in Magical Britain—Wales, to be exact. That nation has had a long history of wars and conflicts since before the time of Merlin—"
"Merlin!" I exclaimed. What did Merlin have to do with this place? This wasn't the world he was from!
I had been able to tell that right away—that universe was regulated by various different pantheons which migrated according to the beliefs of their followers. The most powerful, of course, was the Greco-Roman pantheon, but when I was Hallia, both Merlin and I had been in regular contact with Dagda, the Celtic deity who had dominion over Avalon and our home, Fincayra. The magic of this world was simply too sporadic and untamed for there to be any deities here—at least, any powerful ones.
Raiden had paused at my outburst, staring at me curiously. After a moment, he continued again. "Yes, Merlin. He was a powerful wizard who really almost appeared out of nowhere. He was the one to organize the first Wizengamot, the council of Magical Britain, upon which the International Confederation of Wizards was based. Eventually, the old man just vanished. Legend has it that his younger rival, Morgana LeFay, managed to imprison or incapacitate him in some way."
At this, I had to secretly withhold a smile. Merlin had gotten into the habit of vanishing for a few decades any time he got really bored. I had never cared to follow him, preferring to stay and watch over our descendants on Avalon with our dragon friend Basilgarrad. Now I knew what he had been up to. I wondered if he had started up governments and unified groups of magical peoples often. I turned my attention back to Kurosu.
"Now, as I had been saying, Magical Britain is a bit of a hotbed for wars, mainly due to the fact that the high concentrations of magic in the country result in incredibly powerful wizards. Magical Britain is also divided into two factions—pro-light magic and pro-dark magic—which are completely opposed to one another and refuse to cooperate in any way."
Due to this division and the strict isolationist policies of the government, every few centuries these unusually powerful wizards simply take exception to one another and a war is started. One such war began about ten years before you were born by a wizard who called himself Lord Voldemort."
"Did this Voldemort fellow have dark hair and red eyes, by any chance?" I asked, a smile playing around the corners of my mouth.
Raiden snorted. "Indeed he did. Voldemort was, quite honestly, a terrorist-style revolutionary for the greater part of his campaign. His goal was to conquer the government so he could tear it down and set up a new administration more closely aligned with his political ideals. He was opposed by an old war hero named Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore is the self-proclaimed leader of the light faction, and incredibly intolerant of anything he perceives as 'dark'."
Sometime around the mid-seventies, it became clear that Voldemort's sanity was on fritz, as his attacks became more destructive and the casualty numbers grew. Even so, he was still very obviously winning—until a startling event the night of Halloween 1981. Rumor has it that the Potters, who were very involved in supporting Dumbledore, went into hiding just after the birth of their only son." He nodded at me before resuming. "No one really knows why, but Halloween of '81—just over a year since they had gone into hiding—Voldemort came for the Potters. He killed them both, and then turned his wand… on you. Reportedly, you managed to reflect the curse back onto him, killing the darkest wizard in over a century, as well as surviving a curse that was thought to be impossible to block."
"But—but it couldn't have been me!" I exclaimed incredulously. "I was fifteen months old, for Dagda's sake. If anyone did anything, it must have been my mother!" I suddenly paused, struck by a thought. "Actually," I said slowly, "I think she did do something. She never said any words, but she waved her sti—well, I'm guessing it was a wand, looking back—she waved it over me and tapped me on the head." I rubbed the top of my head in remembrance. "It felt quite strange. Almost—warm."
Raiden sighed. "I still can't get over the fact that you remember all that."
I shrugged nonchalantly. "I just have an exceptional memory, I guess." Raiden eyed me skeptically, as if he didn't quite believe me. Then he stood up.
"I really do need to leave now—I'll be late to my next appointment as it is." He made it to the door, and then turned around again, as if struck by a sudden thought. "By the way, if you're ever short for cash, it's likely that your parents left you something—James Potter was a member of the wizarding nobility, after all."
I stared at him in shock, and then shrugged. "It's not as if I would know where to find anything they left me, anyhow." I grinned impishly. "Do wizards have banks, or something?"
I nearly fell out of my chair when he nodded. "Just the one—Gringotts. It's international, so everyone uses it. It's also run by goblins, so you'd be a fool to try and rob it. Goblins are almost as protective of treasure as a dragon. Of course, the only branch in the British Isles is located in Diagon Alley, a wizarding shopping district in London."
"In London?" I asked, intrigued now.
Nodding, Raiden replied, "Yes, it's in London. To locate it you have to go through the Leaky Cauldron—a pub on Charing Cross." He smirked at me before walking out the door. I didn't notice, as I was now lost in thought. 'London, eh?' I thought to myself, smiling to myself. 'Well, I guess I'm going to London.'
R*AA*HP
I was walking purposefully down Charing Cross, looking for the Leaky Cauldron. Despite being bound and braided, my seventy-foot long blonde hair still went to my feet, and was starting to draw some curious glances. Of course, my Aang form, with the arrow tattoos, would likely have attracted even more attention, and these two forms were currently the only one I could reach adulthood in, and walking around as an eight-year-old would have had me taken to the nearest police station.
Catching sight of a worn sign which the other people on the street seemed to mysteriously avoid, I grinned in anticipation. I then had to suppress a fit of giggles as I glanced around the interior of the pub. My surroundings were eerily similar to another pub I had gone to with a dashing thief many, many millennia ago. I wondered what sort of reaction the proprietor of this tavern would have if I asked him whether his pub had been modeled off The Snuggly Duckling in the kingdom of Corona.
I stood uncertainly in the doorway, before noting a door labeled 'Diagon Alley'. Sighing in relief, I made my way over to it. I exited the pub to find myself in an empty yard, facing a brick wall. There was no visible way out.
I looked around in bewilderment. 'Surely there's a way out through here; why would they have labeled the door to a dead end?' I exhaled slowly, closing my eyes and centering myself. When my eyes opened again, they glowed briefly white before fading to my usual green. I was attempting a technique I had formed while experimenting with 'energy-bending' (my name for the ability I had learned from that ancient lion-turtle, and had used to remove Ozai's powers).
Based on what I knew from my other lives, I had theorized that the "energy" the lion-turtle was actually some form of natural internal magic, only accessible by certain humans, but also similar to the powers available to the shinigami and demons I had met, or the power I myself had gained as Alice when I became part faerie. Various tests and experiments had proven this theory correct, and I had discovered almost by accident that, using the Avatar spirit, I could make this "energy" temporarily visible.
I saw traces of magical energy residing in some of the bricks at head-height in the wall, arranged in a pattern. I magically nudged at each one in turn, trying to decipher what enchantments were on them. I almost jumped back in surprise when all the bricks in the wall began rapidly shifting and moving outward to create an archway that led, I could now see, into a bustling shopping district. Grinning, I walked through the archway. Amusingly enough, it seemed my clothes drew more strange looks than my abnormally long hair on this street.
'Now all I need to do is locate this bank. If I were a goblin, how would I design a bank?'
This thought was extremely unhelpful, since the only goblin species I had ever known collectively had less intellect than a goldfish and even less common sense. They were also overly fond of tattooing their eyeballs and throwing fireballs at people who annoyed them. Needless to say, fairy goblins could never be in charge of anything, much less the only bank available for a whole world of magical peoples.
I stopped short upon seeing a large, imposing white building with GRINGOTTS spelled out over a set of golden double-doors. 'Well, that was easy.' I eyed the goblins standing guard at the door as I walked past.
These were nothing like the fairy goblins I had known before. These beings actually rather reminded me of the gnomes that lived underground in the land of Bism, deep under my own country of Narnia. Occasionally, a young one would accidently reach the surface, and as a Queen of that country I had been called upon to help calm the poor thing down and organize digging parties to aid it in its return home. Often, some older gnomes would come to the surface and gift our royal treasury with living gems and metals as a thank-you. They were superb miners, and unparalleled in the guarding of their treasures.
In fact…I discreetly eyed the creatures as I stepped into the bank. I was almost certain these were the same sort of creature. We had called the ones we met in Narnia gnomes—the gnomes' word for their species was unpronounceable by the human tongue. Was it possible that it was the humans of this area that had named these beings goblins? Honestly, that really seemed more than likely. No being would ever decide to give itself a name like that. And it was obvious that there had been travel back and forth between at least one world with Narnia—why not more, if this world wasn't even the one I had been born in as Lucy Pevensie? (I suddenly found myself with a project to hold my interest for the next several months as the thought struck me that if this was Lucy's world I could finally discover what had happened to Susan.) I decided to take a chance, and bowed when I reached the till.
"Well met, Judak of the Deep Riches," I said calmly, reading his name off the nametag he wore. Judak stared at me with undisguised astonishment, before replying with the traditional phrase.
"Well met, lady of the Overland." He then added, "What can I do for you today?"
I glanced around, before looking back at him, barely noticing my lapse into royal speech. "I am currently hidden under a false countenance due to a certain notoriety attached to my name. I had learnt of the possibility that my late parents had bequeathed to me a certain inheritance which had been placed in the keeping of this establishment, and hast hopes of acquiring it, since I am laboring under difficulties in gaining an occupation which would adequately provide for my needs as a result of my tender age."
The gnome then took an instant to translate what I had said, before replying, "You'll need to see Grimclaw, then. He is in charge of testing people for inheritances." He glanced at me. "Might I know your name?"
I nodded, before whispering "Harry Potter" in a bell-like ultrasonic voice inaudible to human ears. Judak's eyes suddenly widened in understanding, and he gave me a nod. He then took a few moments to write a note and flag down a rather young-looking gnome. "Take this lady to Grimclaw," he said officiously, handing him the note.
The young gnome barely glanced at me. "This way," he grunted brusquely, turning to walk down a corridor off to the side. I followed him, easily keeping up as he led me through a veritable labyrinth of tunnels to an office door.
"Master Grimclaw's office," he announced, holding the door open.
I walked in, the young gnome going to the desk at the center of the room and handing its occupant the note Judak had written before leaving, closing the door behind him. The office was large and spacious, but almost Spartan, with no personal effects. Sitting behind the grand oak desk was a gnarled, elderly looking gnome who had barely glanced up at me as I walked in, instead setting down the note Judak had written and beginning to write something with a quill pen.
I used another, more formal greeting I had learned from the gnomes of Bism. "Great wealth to thee Master Grimclaw, envoy of Bism."
His head shot up so fast I almost laughed. As it was I barely succeeded in keeping a calm expression on my face. Grimclaw gaped at me with the same open shock Judak had. I wondered idly how long it had been since any of the gnomes here had heard any human use their own customary phrases. From the reactions I continued to receive, I would wager it had been a very, very long time.
The old gnome managed to recover, though, and was able to reply in a rather strangled tone, "And great wealth to thee as well, child of the Overland." He paused a moment, appearing to collect himself, before asking, "What can I do for you today? You wish to claim the Potter inheritance?"
I nodded. "Yes," I said, shifting back to the eight-year-old form of Harry Potter. I adjusted the shoulders of my now too-large shirt.
He raised an eyebrow. "I was unaware that metamorphagi ran in the Potter line." I shrugged. Grimclaw continued to eye me curiously. "How did you know that greeting?"
I smiled, answering, "A soul may live many lives. During one of my previous lifetimes, I was a Queen of Narnia, crowned by Aslan himself."
Grimclaw looked skeptical. "You remember a previous lifetime?"
I shrugged again, still smiling mysteriously. "The attack on my person the night of All Hallows Eve had many unintended consequences."
"Indeed," was all that the gnome said in reply. He then got down to business. "Do you know how these tests are conducted?" At my "no", he nodded, pulling a black quill out of a drawer in his desk and removing a blank piece of what appeared to be parchment from a stack of the same. He set both parchment and quill in front of me before continuing. "You must sign your name here. The quill will draw your blood to use as ink. If you are who you claim to be, the parchment will glow gold before listing any vaults, properties, and such you currently own, or can legitimately claim."
I nodded my understanding, picking up the quill. I wrote Harry Potter down at the top of the parchment, watching in fascination as the words were carved into the back of my hand before fading away. The parchment then glowed with a golden light, and I leaned over to read the words now written in red under my name.
I read:
Vault 7—Mineral Vault, full access. Maximum withdrawal of 10000 galleons' worth per year.
Potter
Vault 687—Trust Vault, partial access. Maximum withdrawal of 200 galleons per year.
... 71384 galleons, 10 sickles, 20 knuts
Vault 4512—Storage Vault, full access.
... Roughly 2100 galleons, 12 sickles worth of valuables and items
Black
Vault 324—Family Vault, limited access. No monetary withdrawals.
... 314037 galleons, 5 sickles, 19 knuts
... Roughly 320560 galleons worth of valuables and items
Vault 576—Dowry Vault, limited access. No monetary withdrawals.
... 52394 galleons, 7 sickles, 12 knuts
... Roughly 13259 galleons, 11 sickles worth of valuables and items
Vault 3912—Regular Vault, limited access. Maximum withdrawal of 50 galleons per year.
... 19845 galleons, 14 sickles, 27 knuts
I frowned. "Could you explain this to me? Why do I have these other three vaults?" I asked, pointing out the Black Vaults and Vault 7.
Grimclaw smirked. (At least, I thought he did. Gnome expressions are difficult to decipher.) "Your access to Vault 7 validates your claim of once being a ruler in Narnia. We had set that vault so that the only humans that could gain access to it were Narnian monarchs. In it is our nation's collection of living metal and gemstones. As per your parent's instructions, upon their deaths all money was placed in a single trust vault for your use and any furniture, valuables, or other items were placed in a secondary storage vault. Also, you have limited access to the three Black vaults because you are presently first in line to inherit the estate from the current Lord Black."
I blinked, startled. "I am? How?"
Grimclaw gave me a rather amused smile. "The current Lord Black is one Sirius Orion Black. As his godson, you are first in line to the Black fortune despite the existence of a young man with a greater blood-claim than you."
"I have a godfather? How is it that I never knew about this before?" I asked, angry. 'If I had a godfather, why was I left with them?' I wondered furiously. The name Sirius Orion Black seemed very familiar, but I couldn't place where I had heard it before.
Grimclaw sighed. "Lord Black is currently incarcerated in the wizarding prison of Azkaban, allegedly for the betrayal of the Potters and the murder of Peter Pettigrew."
My eyes narrowed. "Allegedly?"
Grimclaw nodded sharply. "Yes. There was no trial, so the only information we have is hearsay from the ministry, and I would believe in a green sky over any data the British Ministry of Magic sends our way."
I nodded slowly. "I see." I hesitated, thinking for a moment, then asked, "How does your currency work? I don't recognize any of the values listed here."
The old gnome was quick to explain. "The galleons are made of gold, and are typically worth about 5 pounds, or just over 7 euros. Sickles are made of silver, and are their worth is about 17 sickles to a galleon. Knuts are bronze, and there are 29 knuts to a sickle."
I nodded again, thinking rapidly. "Alright, I would like to withdraw 25 galleons and around €150. I'll likely be back later in the week to go over my accounts and assign a manager."
"Very well," Grimclaw replied.
I absently morphed back to my Rapunzel form, mind whirling. This visit had certainly given me a great deal to think about.
R*AA*A
The sun was shining high in the sky, casting its rays over the busy streets of London. Tourists and townspeople alike milled about the roads, tourists excitedly dashing from vendor to vendor while citizens made their own way in a more sedate manner. One pair of individuals was wandering in a particularly aimless fashion.
Both were tall and thin, with black hair and equally dark attire. The shorter of the two was dressed in a vaguely punk-ish fashion, with a black t-shirt that had silver designs on it and low-riding black jeans, and was following the other, his reddish-brown eyes glinting with glee as he smirked in amusement.
"Don't you have anything better to do?" the taller man, who was wearing an expensive-looking suit, snapped, his golden eyes flashing angrily.
"Not really," his companion smirked. "I'm bored, and you really are so much fun to rile up!" he said with an innocent smile. The other man glared. "Besides," the dark-eyed commented cheerfully, "we haven't spent nearly enough time together lately, Faustus. One would almost think you've been avoiding me."
Faustus growled. ""Of course I have! You haven't given me a moment's peace in over a century." He cast a sidelong glance at his unwanted companion after saying this.
The other man's hands clenched into fists, his eyes flashing red, then became all smiles again. "Why are you mucking around this boring place anyway? I'm surprised you haven't acquired another contract yet, with how quickly you go through them."
Faustus snorted, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "That is why I am out here in this infernal heat. I thought to find myself a new meal, since there are so many people out today, and I had nothing better to do." He shot his companion another sidelong glance. "And what about you, Michaelis?"
Michaelis stiffened almost unnoticeably before asking in a deliberately careless fashion, "What about me?"
Faustus' golden eyes glinted behind his glasses, and, with the air of a spider reeling in its prey, said idly, "Oh, nothing. It was just a rumor I had heard."
Michaelis' eyes narrowed, looking suspicious. "What sort of rumor?"
Faustus smirked now, clearly enjoying himself. "Just the usual." He paused, delighted with the faint traces of annoyance now visible on Michaelis' face, before continuing, "I heard that you haven't made a single contract since the…untimely…demise of the young Earl Phantomhive."
The easy-going smile slid off Michaelis' face and he glared furiously at the other.
"Oh!" Faustus exclaimed, more delighted than ever, "So it is true?"
Michaelis bared his teeth, his eyes flashing a dangerous red. Faustus laughed.
"I suppose it is to be expected of such a low-born little carrion-bird, but I never would have imagined the infamous Crow to ever act so very human."
Michaelis, furious now, lunged at Faustus. The golden-eyed man darted out of the way as his opponent hissed, "Let's see how human you think I am, or are you too much of a cowardly web-spinning—" Michaelis broke off abruptly, turning his head to the side. Faustus watched him in confusion as he gazed out over the crowd. Michaelis continued to search, asking, "Do you feel that?"
Faustus raised an eyebrow. "Feel what?"
"That," Michaelis breathed. His head turned back to stare at the other man. "Don't you feel it? The magic?"
Faustus frowned, turning in the direction Michaelis had indicated. He was suddenly overwhelmed with the sensation of pure unadulterated power, filled with a heady mixture of dark and light. The sensation was unmistakably the aura of some magical being, but the magic of it was strange, wild, and utterly intoxicating. "What would something this powerful be doing here in London?" Faustus asked, dazed by even the barest taste of that magic.
The smile suddenly reappeared on Michaelis' face. "I have no idea," he said, cheerful once more, "but I most definitely want to find out."
Faustus cursed as the other man dashed off in the direction of the powerful aura before taking off after him. "Idiot crow," the irate Spider demon muttered under his breath.
The sun was beginning to hang low above the city skyline by the time the two had managed to get close enough to identify the source of the aura. Michaelis' eyes widened in surprise upon seeing the person they had been following.
It was a human woman. She was quite lovely, as humans go, with spring green eyes and bright yellow hair in a braid down to her feet which Michaelis was certain contained supernatural properties of some sort. The woman didn't appear to be older than twenty, but it was hard to be sure, for despite her appearance Michaelis knew no one with such a powerful aura could possibly be a normal human.
The woman had been walking calmly down a narrow alleyway when they finally caught sight of her. As Faustus came to a halt next to Michaelis she paused, turning her head from side to side. Both demons froze, though both were certain she would not be able to see them crouched on a balcony so far above the line of street lights.
Suddenly, the woman vanished, leaving both demons startled. Then, before either had the chance to react, the balcony the two were perched on was violently wrenched towards the ground. Michaelis jumped off as it fell and landed, catlike, on his feet several meters away.
He was immediately hurtled off his feet as a chunk of the road under him shot upwards, coming around to knock him down as Michaelis landed again. A swift glance at Faustus showed the other demon to be faring no better, as the Spider appeared to be simultaneously parrying a reaper's blade that was fighting on its own while dodging bolts of blue lightning. Michaelis tried to step forward, overbalancing and falling yet again as he realized too late that his feet were now incased in concrete. As he saw the woman from before, now translucent and glowing a ghostly blue and registered her arms coming around to connect with his temples, the Crow demon wondered if he had finally found an opponent he couldn't defeat.
Mere seconds afterwards, Michaelis felt a burst of pain and everything went black.
Harry got Sebby-chan good! ^_^
The good news is the next chapter should be out sometime before Halloween. The bad news is it might be right before if my schedule doesn't let up any, or my muses go on strike again.
Review!
