A/N: I don't own Harry Potter or anything associated with it.

This chapter, and the next couple, are about twice as long as usual. I couldn't force myself to break them up any more than I did. Happy reading!

I awoke the next morning with Skippy lightly shaking my shoulder and looking at me worriedly with his big eyes.

"Mistress said to wake Miss up, she did," he looked stressed. "Mistress said to tell her to get ready to go shop. Mistress will be up to get Miss soon," the elf looked at me and I could tell he was stressed about what my reaction to being shaken awake would be. "Skippy tried to wake Miss up without touching her, he did, but she wouldn't open her eyes." The elf wrung his hands in worried anticipation.

I smiled kindly at him. "It's perfectly okay, Skippy. I understand." Skippy nodded fervently and apparated away. Moments later he returned with a tray, bowed, and left again. I looked at the food on the tray, decided it was safe, and started nibbling on the toast. I wasn't really hungry. I wasn't ever hungry anymore, and it was apparent from the way you could see my bones protruding from almost everywhere on my body. I needed to gain weight or I was going to start becoming ill. I shoved the rest of the toast into my mouth, and started with the rest of the food. After a few minutes, I started feeling sick and ran to the bathroom. I lost what I had eaten and leaned against the toilet. Normally, I'd never do such a thing, but it was obviously very clean, and I thought I was going to be sick again…which, after a moment, I was.

After the nausea vanished, I slowly got into the shower. As I was reaching for the shampoo bottle I froze, and then broke out into genuine laughter. It was the same shampoo I used at Hogwarts. I hadn't smelled it on anyone here, so I could only assume they'd gotten it for me…or rather Voldemort had them get it for me. Oddly enough, he knew from my mind which shampoo I preferred. After my laughter subsided, I finished bathing and stepped out, curious as to what I was supposed to wear. Just like last time, there were clothes on the shelf, except this time it wasn't a dress. It was a set of comfortable looking dark grey dress pants and a powder blue cashmere sweater. There was also a warm looking dark grey robe sitting to the left of the other garments. I blushed at the lacy black undergarments, but I put them on anyways. I assumed Narcissa picked them out, so I just let it go.

I stepped out of the bathroom—ready to leave—to find that Narcissa was sitting on my freshly made bed. When I came out, she stood and met my gaze.

"Good morning, Mrs. Malfoy," I said to break the silence.

"Please call me Cissa dear. You look lovely in that color," she added, smiling.

"Thank you. I assume you are here to collect me for our little outing?"

"You assume correctly. We will have to make several stops. Tom said to take you to Gringotts in order to get your accounts in order, so I think we'll do that first, then we'll stop to find you some clothes to train in, then some dresses, and whatever else you'd like to get," she said mostly to herself.

"Tom?" I asked, surprised.

"Oh. I suppose no one you've been around calls him that. I mean The Dark Lord of course. He is an old friend," she smiled, and I just nodded. "Are you ready?"

"Yes."

"Good." She started to turn, but spun back around. "I almost forgot," she pointed her wand at me and closed my eyes and flinched. "I'm sorry. I should have told you what I was doing first. I have absolutely no intention to harm you. I was simply going to put some glamours on you so you wouldn't be recognized easily when we went out," she said softly. I nodded and she proceeded to make my hair straight and a few shades lighter. She also changed my eyes to green. She nodded at her work. "Not as pretty as before, but it'll do. I think I should have gone with darker hair, rather than lighter, and those eyes don't suit you at all. Oh well, it's only temporary anyways." I smiled faintly at her compliments, and then we walked down to the entrance together.

We flooed into the Leaky Cauldron, and upon our entrance, everyone stared. They all knew, just as I did, that the Malfoy's were aligned with the Dark Lord, but they didn't dare to speak up. Narcissa smirked at a few of them, and we walked out with all eyes still directed at us. It wasn't as if they recognized me, or that they would attack Narcissa, but I was still unbelievably nervous. This was the first time I'd been outside in a long time, and their eyes made me immensely uncomfortable.

Narcissa filled the silence that tried to consume us as we walked with mindless chatter, but I knew she was just trying to make me feel more comfortable with the situation, or perhaps, around her. I had already decided that I could trust her. Besides, if what I was wearing was any indication, the woman had great taste in clothes. She seemed to understand my style, maybe even better than I did myself. Soon enough, we were in front of Gringotts, and a thought occurred to me.

"I don't have any keys," I told Narcissa…Cissa, and she smiled kindly at me.

"When your family died, the keys were given to Gringotts. They have them. They'll just do a couple of tests to determine you are who you claim to be, and the keys will be returned to their rightful owner."

"Oh. I never knew it worked like that." We walked in casually, and approached the desk.

"My friend here would like to get her accounts in order and make a withdrawal," Cissa spoke confidently.

"Key, please?"

"She has no key. Upon her family's death the key was returned as well." The goblin nodded in understanding.

"Name, please?"

"Scarlet Gaunt." The elf nodded again, and motioned for me to step forward. Once I was standing in front of him, he motioned for my hand, and Cissa nodded. I held my hand out to him, and he pricked my finger. I single drop of blood oozed out, and he pressed my finger onto a stone that had peculiar markings that I'd never seen carved onto every inch of its surface. Within moments, two keys appeared next to my finger on the stone. The goblin nodded, grabbed the keys, and motioned to the direction that would lead us to my vault…vaults.

We stepped onto the platform and got settled in. We passed more vaults than I could count. I was surprised at how deep inside we were actually going, but I didn't say anything. Older and richer families had vaults deeper underground than the others, and apparently, both sides of my family met those requirements. After a few minutes, we stopped in front of an inconspicuous vault. "The Fortescue Vault," the goblin announced as he stepped out. I assumed that this was my father's last name. Cissa and I silently followed the goblin, who unlocked the door, and disabling the many traps and curses that were placed on it. We stepped inside, and I gasped. It was more gold than I'd ever seen in my life. Narcissa was silent beside me. The goblin motioned that we should continue inside, and I was astonished at how deep it was. There were several family heirlooms lying about, and I couldn't help the curiosity that bubbled up inside me. I would return and look at it all sometime. We didn't have the time now, but when I did, I'd explore every single inch.

As I did a little exploring, Narcissa was chatting with the goblin. I took out the pouch with the extension charm Cissa had given me before we left the Manor, and started putting Galleons into it. I took more than twice the amount most people made in their entire life time, but I guessed I'd be buying a lot, and from what I knew, Malfoy's liked to go to rather expensive stores. I didn't feel bad about taking the money. It was mine after all, even though I'd never known my real father. With one last look around, I went back to Narcissa, and the goblin, who I'd heard her call Dalmar.

"I'm ready to go to the other one," I told them. Narcissa looked at me with a raised eyebrow. I knew she could see the almost foreign excitement in my eyes. "There are so many interesting things in here. I found some books, and some other heirlooms, and I can't wait to see it all." She smiled at me.

"Maybe we could fish around for information about your family some time," Cissa said kindly. I nodded, appreciating the understanding between us.

We started traveling even further down into the bank's vaults. Eventually, Narcissa pointed out the Malfoy Vault. We had passed the one for the Blacks before we got to the one that had belonged to my father's family. About two minutes after passing the Malfoy Vault we came to a stop, and Dalmar motioned for us to approach the door of a vault.

"Unfortunately, I cannot unlock the door to the Gaunt Vault, so I will leave it to you," he stated without interest as he handed me the key. I cautiously approached the door, afraid I would trigger some sort of defense, but nothing happened. I noticed that Cissa and Dalmar stayed back. I put the key in the lock and twisted it, counting my rapid heartbeats to keep time. Nothing happened for three heartbeats, and then I was enshrouded completely in a thick, unnatural mist that swirled as if it was sentient. I tried not to panic, considering I had a right to be there, and I knew the Gaunts wouldn't purposely off an heir. Thirty heartbeats later, the mist cleared just as suddenly as it had appeared, and the door opened before me. I took it as an acceptance, and motioned the others to follow me. Upon entering, I just stared in disbelief. There was no reaction that could have justified what I saw. Even Narcissa seemed shocked, and Dalmar just looked mildly impressed.

"This is quite impressive," Narcissa choked out.

"What am I supposed to do with all of this?" I asked breathily, my thoughts racing. If I thought the other vault was filled with interesting things, I didn't know what to think of what was in this one. It was at least ten times the size of the other vault, and it was filled to the brim. There was another room off to the side, and it was about the same size as my father's family's vault. It was filled with heirlooms. I continued to stare blankly at it all.

"Whatever you want, I suppose. The same thing anyone else would do. Buy whatever you want, do whatever you want, and don't worry about what you spend," she said with wide eyes. I walked deeper into the room to have a look around. Cissa had tried to follow me, but a force stopped her. I met her eyes, and she nodded in understanding. The wards that the Gaunts had placed on this vault wouldn't allow her to come any further into the room. Her nod told me I was free to look around, and that she'd wait at the entrance with Dalmar.

I peered into the second room and gasped. It was completely filled, just like the room with the gold, but in one corner stood a small, but elegant, table, with a pouch sitting atop it. I had unknowingly started to approach it, and before I had consciously made a decision to investigate it, I was already close enough to touch it. I picked it up with caution, and noticed that there was a folded up bit of parchment underneath of it. I opened the parchment slowly, and nearly dropped it after realizing what it was. It was a letter…and it was addressed to Scarlet…it was addressed to me.

My Darling Scarlet,

If you are reading this, I am probably long gone. I had planned to give this gift to you in person when you got a little older, but I've always been one for realism and being prepared. I don't know what's happened to me, or to anyone for that matter, for you to be finding this now, but I want you to know that I love you no matter what, and I'm sorry for what happened with your mother. Your grandfather simply couldn't accept that she'd fallen in love with a muggle. I hope you don't turn out to be the same as he was. You are, or were, a lovely child, and I hope you become the understanding adult that I always believed you were destined to become. Blood is important, but it isn't everything. Remember that my child. Don't let anyone ever get you down, and help those who are unable to help themselves. I have no doubt that you will do me proud.

Please accept this last gift from me, and keep it with you always. Your magic will be more easily accessed without your wand, until it becomes almost natural to cast without it. Your wandless will be harder to use without wearing the heirloom, but you will know how to get to your magic and channel it, which means you can be spectacular without a wand as well as with it, even if you're not wearing this. It will protect you in your most dire times of need. It was given to me by my mother, and I pass it on to you. Please keep yourself safe.

Love always,

Grandma

A/N: I'd like to thank my betas SaTiNk06 and Ms. Jane Doe for their help. I'd also like to thank SaTiNk06 for reviewing.

What do you think? What's going to happen next? Please leave me a review and let me know? Thanks for reading!