HEY EVERYONE! Hope some of you are still following this...I think my work is trying to kill me. As for the few who wanted pics, I'm gonna post them on my facebook, so I have a link you can follow (since I lost the link i used to find them when I saved them to my pc...) I'll have them on my profile as soon as I get evertyhing settled. Here's the next chappie...if you've forgotten, we left off with Harry waiting in the hall to speak to Gripaxe...who is still meeting with Midna...
"Damn it Har- wait! My glamour...I can remove it. Unless he looks very closely at me, he'll never know; right? I mean, I don't look anything like this really...and he hasn't seen me in three weeks..."
Gripaxe nodded, "Why don't you remove the glamour, and I'll tell you if it's different enough." I nodded. I pointed my wand at my face and thought finite glamourous. Gripaxe smiled. "You are a very good combination of both your parents. He might seem a little suspicious, if he gets a good look. He will most likely notice similarities. Do you have a name we can use? We should settle that before..."
"Lady Grey..." I grinned. It's like Black, just lighter. That, and the Ravenclaw house ghost is the Grey Lady, and apparently she's an ancestor... Gripaxe nodded; then turned to Gnunar, "Bring him in." Gnunar bowed. I had just enough time to throw my mental shields back up. I knew Harry was skilled at Legillemence, and I didn't want to give anything away…
Harry strode in the room, like a man on a mission, and my heart leap and fell at the same time. He looked so tired...the five o'clock shadow on his face, his hair wilder than normal as if he'd been contstantly running his hands thru it, the bags under his near bloodshot eyes...and it's all my fault. I was so tempted to reveal the truth, but saw Gripaxe give me a brief head shake.
"Master Gripaxe, I apologize to you and..." Harry turned to me, his voice so scratchy, like he had been shouting, or crying...it nearly broke my heart. His eyes narrowed as he looked at me, and I knew he was seeing the similarities as Gripaxe had said, so I spoke up...trying to change my voice up a little, "Grey...Miss Grey, Mister Potter."
"Do...do I know you?" His eyes widened a little at my voice. "You seem...so familiar..."
"No, Mr. Potter, I've...been out of the country." My hands were starting to sweat. I couldn't keep this up for long. The more I talked to him, the stronger the urge to tell him the truth. I never could lie to him for long. Luckily, Gripaxe spoke up.
"Mr. Potter, is there something I can do for you; other than tell you the location of Miss Lovegood. You know I cannot reveal any information about my clients unless I am given permission. I would no sooner break her trust than I would break yours."
Harry hung his head, ashamed. "I know...I'm sorry. I guess...I just thought...never mind. If...if you happen to see her...tell her...tell her I asked. I'm sorry, Miss Grey, for interrupting your meeting." He turned and dejectedly walked out of the room. The minute the door shut, I could feel every mental wall I had built up came crashing down with the closing of that door. I could feel sorrow, depression, and desperation rush over me in waves. I had gotten up to go to the door, but the waves of emotions, that I knew were not mine knocked me back into my seat. They were his. This was something I had been trying to avoid for the last three years; since I felt the bond form. I had built wall after wall up in my mind to protect myself from this...from him...and somehow they had failed. I tried to stand up again. I had to get him. I had to do something. This is all my fault...I have to fix this...I have to fix him! I didn't think he'd take it this bad...this hard. Oh God, what have I done? I would have walked right out the door, had Gripaxe not grabbed my arm.
"Midna...now is not the time." Somehow my mind seemed to register that the entire time Harry was in the room, Gripaxe's eyes never left me; but I pushed that fact out of my mind for now. I sat down hard and covered my face with my hands. I wanted to weep, sob, and wail; knowing I was the reason for Harry's obvious distress, but I couldn't. Slow, silent tears slipped thru my hands, as my cries remained unheard. Gripaxe just let me cry. Five or ten minutes passed (not like I was counting) before I was finally able to look up. Gripaxe's eyes were wide and his mouth was moving, but no words were coming out. Something in the room was glowing. I wiped my eyes with a hanky that Gripaxe must have handed me, and looked around the room before I noticed the fading glow was coming from my rings...from the black rose. When the rose stopped glowing, I looked at it closely and noticed that the rose had a new accessory. In addition to the white tips, there was now a small, thin lightning bolt on the right side of the rose. Stunned, I looked back up at Gripaxe, whose mouth was no longer moving.
"Gripaxe?" I asked...he was starting to scare me. Goblins don't stun easy and whatever just happened has him shocked. "Gripaxe..." I reached over and gave him a little shake, and that seemed to snap him out of it. He shook himself a little more, then settled back into his chair.
"I'm sorry...it's just that...that things have begun to fall into place. Things that have been known to the goblin nation for centuries; that many of us never thought we'd see fulfilled." He looked at me but I digress. Let's get back to the rings, shall we?"
"Wait! What things? What are you talking about? Does it have to do with me? Or Harry? What?" You can't tell a Ravenclaw a small portion of something that sounds so important and expect them to forget about it!
"Later...another time. We must get this part finish, as I assume you will want to see your new vaults." The temptation of discovery, especially if I truly was Ravenclaw's and Morgana's heiress, was a strong pull...those vaults haven't been opened in hundreds of years! I harrumphed, and crossed my arms over my chest. Gripaxe smiled, knowing he had won.
"Now, to the Lady Ravenclaw ring. As this is blood related, you will not need to say anything; however, as the ring needs to find, not only blood, but also the chosen heiress; so let down any metal shield you may have built up. Let the ring see all that you have; all that you are. That will help it make its decision as to whether or not you are worthy." He held the ring out. I nodded as I picked it up. This ring was platinum, with a dark blue sapphire set in the middle of the ring. In a circle around the center sapphire, were diamonds. Leading down the band, out from the center sapphire were three lines of jewels on each side. The top and bottom rows were sapphires, while the middle room was diamonds. Wow...each ring gets more beautiful...I can't wait to see what Morgana's ring looks like! I held the ring in my palm and closed my eyes, but my walls were already gone. That's right...they fell when Harry left. I still need to ask Gripaxe about that. I slowly slid the ring on. As it slid into place, I could feel a mild probing in my mind, before the ring started glowing. I looked at Gripaxe in mild surprise, he grinned back and nodded. I could feel the warmth of the ring spread throughout my body...a feeling of belonging, of happiness; as if the ring was happy to be where it was supposed to be. Slowly the Ravenclaw ring merged with the others.
"Before you put your metal walls back up, let's put on the le Fey ring. This one will also need to decide if you are worthy...but since the Ravenclaw ring chose you, and after double-checking your lineage, I'm positive it will." He held out the next ring. I was right...Morgana's ring was the most beautiful of all the rings. It was platinum, with a huge, emerald cut, clear sky blue diamond in the center; three smaller square diamonds in rows above and below the center stone, four small round diamonds on each corner of the center stone. Down each side of the center stone was another row of round diamonds. Even without the history, this ring has got to be worth a fortune! There has to be like 10 or more karats of diamonds! I took the ring, and slowly slid it on. Again, I felt the mild probing, which seemed to take a little longer than the Ravenclaw one, but as all the others before it, it glowed and spread a welcoming warmth throughout my body. As the warmth receded, I noticed that this ring did not merge with the others.
I tilted my head, and continued to watch the ring. "Gripaxe? Why does this one not automatically merge with the others?"
"The le Fey ring holds the highest title. Until you wish to mask it, the ring with your highest title will be shown, as a way of guaranteeing you get the respect you deserve. If you wish it to meld, you know what to do." I looked at it reluctantly...it was so pretty...and I loved how it looked so at home...it felt like it had always been a part of me.
"No...I'll keep it out." Gripaxe just nodded, although, I think there was a sly smile on his face; but he picked that moment to bend down to get the last box.
"Now that you are the official Lady le Fey, and knowing that the current Lord Emrys has not claimed his title, nor has he found his soul mate, to Gringotts knowledge; here is the Lady Emrys ring. This ring will be yours until the current Lord Emrys finds and marries his soul mate. At that time, the ring will automatically leave your finger, and be returned to the vault, along with any Emrys family heirlooms you may have taken out of the vault." The last ring for me to put on was silver. It had a semi dark, round sapphire in the center, with four oval opals surrounding the center stone, one at each compass point; and around each opal, was intricately carved silverwork. "Once you put this ring on, you should feel it reach out for the le Fey ring, then merge with the others."
I took the ring, and slid it on. Strangely enough, I could feel it reaching out for the le Fey ring, but once it found the le Fey ring, I felt a light probe in my mind. I looked at Gripaxe in shock, as the ring warmed and glowed slightly before merging. Gripaxe just nodded and smiled.
"Gripaxe? What was that? You said it would look for the le Fey ring, and then merge. I felt it probe my mind, before glowing and warming!"
"Think nothing of it..." Gripaxe said still grinning. He wrote something on a piece of paper, quickly vanished the paper before I could read it.
"What was that?" my eyes narrowing.
"Nothing, nothing...just a note that needed to be sent to a friend." But the grin on his face made me doubt it was just a note.Besides, why would he write a personal note to a friend, when he has a customer in his office?
"Well, now that the rings are all on, let's do a brief accounting, and then we'll go see the vaults. It is only 15:00, and the bank does not close until 17:00, so we have plenty of time to do both." Gripaxe tapped a button on his desk, calling in Gnunar, who entered the office carrying three books. "Midna, these three books are the records of your holdings, including properties that you own." He handed me a red, leather bound book, with my full name engraved at the bottom...my real name. The first time I had ever actually seen it; Midna Carina Eos Maia Eudora Black...that's gonna take some getting used to. "Each book has a table of contents and has at minimum three sections. The first section is properties including staff, list of portraits, and all furnishing, the second section is jewels and family heirlooms, both in the safety of the vaults and located on the properties, and third would be the actual amounts contained in each vault, with interests rates listed separately. This is first book, is your personal holdings; including the vault your adopted mother set up for you, all that you directly inherited from your mother, and the conquest vaults. I'm not going to go over the whole book, but if you flip thru, you'll see that you own a small home in Cokeworth, a modest home in Wiltshire with 3 house elves, the townhome in London, a small home in Hogsmeade with one..."
"Wait...I know people who live in Cokeworth and Wiltshire...damn, who was it? Who...Snape! Professor Snape lives on Spinner's End in Cokeworth! I helped Hermione re-decorate his home, apparently, he was tired of living in the gloom he had been using in his ruse of Death Eater...but who lives in Wiltshire?" This one is tougher...it's a pretty big place...
Gripaxe took pity on me..."The Malfoy's live in Wiltshire, Midna. Your grandfather gave your mother a home in Wiltshire, about 10 kilometers (about 6 miles) from the manor. He wanted her close by, but his wife refused to give her even a room in the manor. Your mother bought the home in Cokeworth, right next door to Severus, so they could be close as well."
"Oh...makes sense I guess. Mrs. Malfoy, must have hated mum; mum was a reminder that her husband cheated."
Gripaxe nodded, and looked thru his notes. "Moving on, you'll see you have a quite a few family heirlooms, we won't go into those, as most are in the vaults, and you can look at them there. The balance of your personal vault at the time of your mother's death was 67,030 galleons, 13 sickles, and 9 knuts (about 675,000.00usd). Your mother set aside 30,000 galleons of that (302,110.05usd) in a separate trust vault that your adopted family had access to, for your schooling needs. At the end of your school years, the balance of your trust vault," He flipped thru his notes to find the amount, "7,971 galleons, 14 sickles, and 2 knuts (80,276.32usd), was combined with your personal vault. At 3% interest rate, compounded quarterly, your current balance is 78,083 galleons, 15 sickles, and 13 knuts. (786,304.98usd). This does not include the LeStrange or Dolovoh vaults." Gripaxe closed his notes, and looked at me. "We can do a brief rundown of the other accounts; or we can just go to the vaults. Which would you prefer?"
"Wow...ummm" I was still trying to wrap my head around all the numbers he had just thrown at me. Maybe if I see it, it will become real...I had no idea Mum had so much to leave me! "Ummm, let's go to the vaults...numbers right now are aggravating my headache. Do you have time to take me, or will another escort me?"
"Actually, I have cleared my schedule completely; even though others wanted the honor of being the first goblin in those vaults in 1000 years. I believe Gnunar has a cart waiting for us, so if you are ready we can go." Gripaxe got up and motioned for the door. I got up and started for the door, but stopped halfway there. What about the books? I turned and looked back at the books. Gripaxe guessed my concern. "We can leave the account books here, and pick them up when you are done. By the way, all of three of these account books are self-updating, so you will not be receiving any Gringotts statements, unless you ask for them."
I shook my head, "The books will be fine, thank you" and walked out the door. I stopped suddenly right outside the door and turned quickly, causing Gripaxe to run into me. "Wait! What about keys? I don't have any keys to these vaults..."
Gripaxe rolled his eyes. "The only vault you need a key to is your vault, and I have that key here." He held up a small brass key. "Access to the other vaults will be granted based on what you now wear on the third finger of your right hand. I was going to tell you this when we got there. All you will need to do, is call forth the appropriate ring, and place you hand on the door. The door will sense the ring, and will take some blood to key you to the wards, and let you in." I bit my lip in chagrin and nodded, as he led me to the carts. I guess I really didn't have questioned it...of course he would have had it under control, and with that we walked down to the carts, where Gnunar was waiting.
There you go...and for those wondering, yes, Harry and Midna have a bond...but other than that I'm not telling yet. Don't worry, it's not one of those "We're bonded, so let's fuck" kind of stories...if you haven't guessed by now, I have a penchant to write conflicted/tortured (but not really emo, at least I hope) characters.
Let me know what you think...
