Title: Ripple Effect

You'd be surprised just how far a single act in the throes of hate can go to change a person's life. A single, spitefully spoken word could bring a person to the depths of despair, a single action could spawn a lifelong vendetta, a single thought could bring down an empire.

When Andrew Joshua Talon spitefully threw away every last Hogwarts book in his home, wishing that he had never been involved in the world of magic, he would never know just how far four of those books would travel and just how much the world would change because of it…

[Picture Emily Rose (Haven; SyFy) when you think of Jessica.]

[Picture Marisol Nichols (24, Day 6) when you think of Aurora.]

Chapter 9- Agreement

Aurora's mind was firing on all cylinders as she considered the sheer enormity of the understudy's words. The sheer potential political power that Harry could wield if he claimed all the titles his lineage connected him to was immense and, as she glanced around the room, she could tell that she would need time to prepare the now waking Heir of House Potter for the inevitable deluge of predators that would sell their own daughters to control that power.

"Master Blackhorn, I'm offering two thousand galleons for Gringotts to keep this affair and the information revealed to itself and itself alone."

Blackhorn, who had been eyeing the young heir like he was a piece of choice meat, instantly schooled his features into a neutral glance and his next glance at Harry, while predatory, now seemed much more focused. "Two thousand galleons, Lady Sinistra? The information you wish to have suppressed here will surely shake your world up quite a bit."

"It will become public knowledge sooner or later." Aurora countered, sounding quite bored. "And while I would prefer to have it be later rather than sooner, I could simply choose not to pay you."

"No skin of my back, as you humans are wont to say." The manager shrugged and turned to leave.

Aurora swore violently to herself. 'Maami would kill me if she was here for acting so stupidly.' And she knew she had: jumping to make the offer first instead of subtly introducing the topic and letting Blackhorn make the offer to help keep the information under wraps was a rookie mistake that, had her occlumentic barriers been up, she wouldn't have made. 'Except they weren't active; somebody's shocking lineage reveal blew them right the fuck out of my head.'

"Two thousand galleons." She reiterated, drawing Blackhorn's gaze which she locked onto firmly. "Plus, in exchange for a comprehensive study of the foreign sample the shaman discovered in Master Potter's magical signature, Gringotts gets half my vault's income for the next three months."

"Six months." Blackhorn shot back.

Aurora's normally warm brown eyes hardened. "Three months. Otherwise you might as well yell from the top of this building for all I care."

It was the goblin's turn to think furiously, his mind shifting the details about endlessly like pawns on a chessboard, seeking the best possible outcome. On one hand, if he chose not to accept, it wouldn't affect Gringotts negatively. In fact, he could manipulate things such that Gringotts could actually sell the information to the Ministry of Magic, earning the bank a hefty profit and a nice little status bump or himself. Unfortunately, as he very well knew, humans were terribly fickle creatures that could switch opinions faster than he could hack a boar's head off. While the bank would benefit from such a sale, it would only take a whisper from one such as the Malfoy or, even worse, the Sinistra Warlock to have the rest of the wizarding community wary of a bank that would 'sell their secrets to the highest bidder.'

On the other hand, acceptance would, in the short term, bring a much smaller bonus for the bank, one without the personal status bump, but in the long term, if the relationship was maintained very well, could lead to a closer connection to the heiress of a Noble House and the single most politically connected youth he had ever met in his life. That said youth was also the single most famous wizard alive bar perhaps Dumbledore made his decision much easier.

It was a hell of a gamble but it was one Blackhorn felt he could defend before the Caucus.

"I suppose your terms are... Reasonable." He groused, playing into the role of one forced to accept a fact while placing his fisted right hand over his heart. "I, Blackhorn, son of Rotgus, Manager of Gringotts, Diagon Alley, London, do hereby agree to the terms laid down by the Lady Aurora Sinistra of the Sinistra Noble House as regards the events witnessed within this room surrounding the lineage of Master Harry Potter."

Upon the completion of his oath, he felt the Gringotts geas, intricately woven into the very existence of the institution itself, lock onto his words and mark them down.

Aurora, having felt the flow of binding magic, nodded her acceptance.

"I'll have it written down and sent to you." The goblin stated as he walked out with his entourage. "The room is yours till the signatures dry."

Aurora's phrase 'half my vault's income' doesn't mean half of the value of her vault; it means half of the income going to her vault i.e. her salary as a Hogwarts professor, her income from the Sinistra family vaults, her own investments etc.

P.S: I finally found an actress for Aurora! Yay me!