Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter

Chapter 10:

Cassiopeia was a woman on a mission and Phineas and Marius were forced to trail in her wake as she stormed down Diagon Alley towards the iconic structure of Gringotts. Like the parting of the Red Sea the patrons of Diagon Alley stared at the trio who appeared seemed so far above the patrons of the shopping district, from the dress to their attitude that no-one dared to approach them.

Entering the building, Cassiopeia saw there were no free tellers and nodded to Phineas who immediately strolled over to an unopened desk and rapped sharply on it, attracting the attention of the goblin walking behind it.

"What?"

"We pay you to handle our gold...not question us. Now get us our account manager!" Phineas snarled as he leaned over the desk.

"And who should I say has arrived." The goblin said with a mocking tone to his voice although the three Blacks' could see the respect growing in his eyes.

"The Elders of the Black Clan. And that we want to see him with his full account ledgers in the next six minutes."

The goblin snorted but was quickly interrupted by Marius, "Well now that is five minutes and fifty seconds. Off you go."

Fifty seconds later a different goblin came around the desk, "If you would follow me to a meeting room."

Two minutes later found them sitting in a meeting room in three distinctly comfortable chairs and being offered refreshments.

Cassiopeia snorted elegantly, "If we wanted a damn tea party then I would have stayed at home. Now, go and get my account manager now."

A minute after the second goblin left the first returned with a new goblin, this latter was obviously rather important, dressed as he was in a smart suit with a chain of office bearing the Black family crest on his chest. His gravelly tones filled the office,

"It is not a regular occurrence to find three legitimate Black's in the same room at the same time as it once was."

Cassiopeia smirked, "Gripspur, a pleasure as always. May your gold ever multiply."

"And your enemies die at your blades." Said Gripspur finishing the traditional greeting, "And now, I am sure we have a plethora of items to cover. What can Gringotts' help you with?" He asked taking a seat in the chair behind the great oak desk and nodding to the first goblin who stood ready to take notes.

"I am sure." Cassiopeia started, "That you are aware of my brother, Marius, who was expelled from the community for his lack of magic. He, I hope, can start the ball rolling."

Raising his eyebrows, Marius looked at his sister who gestured with her head for him to continue, "Fine. As I am sure you are aware, until a few weeks ago, the Black family lacked a Lord or an heir apparent. The release of Sirius Black the III does not help per say as he was removed from the succession line. Their were two options of course, Draco Malfoy or Harry Potter, we had rather an opinion on who we would prefer as both technically could claim the heirship."

Here the old goblin interrupted, "But Sirius III's will prioritises the Potter heir as he is godson... A clever game. And Sirius will not have children now?"

Phineas answered, "He is not able to, the effects of Azkaban."

"Hmmm." Gripspur lent back in his chair. "I take it that you have gained control of the esteemed 'Boy-Who-Lived'?"

"What do you take us for?" Cassiopeia mocked, "We are Black's, not pathetic halfwit Malfoys."

"Who is the magical guardian for the boy then?"

"We don't know. It is dependent on the Potters' will, if guardianship went to Sirius as godfather then it is still his, as Sirius was never formally charged then the roll of guardian would not have changed."

"Is Dumbledore aware of the removal of the Potter heir from his muggle place of residence?"

"We assume so although we hid our tracks behind the plethora of muggle protection laws. Even if he was to search all he would find was that a policeman became concerned about the condition of the boy and had called social services, there isn't a name on the case files as Harry is underage." Marius said, rubbing his face. "I am keeping an eye on the situation through some muggle connections so if anyone does dig too deep we shall know. We made it look like he had been adopted abroad, therefore out of the British muggle and wizarding legal system."

The goblin nodded, "I shall commune with the Potter family representative and we shall consider the matter, there may be some things that we can do to ensure that the boy remains hidden for another few years. If this can be pulled off then it will mean the union of the Black and Potter wealth which is not something to be avoided."

"Gripspur?" Phineas started, aware that this may well make them very popular among the money-driven people, "We have a proposition for you."

"Oh?"

"My line of research for the past few years has been magic, where it comes from, how it can be in some muggle families and not others and how squibs exist... I came to some conclusions that we thought you may be interested in, namely that every so-called 'muggle-born' is directly descended from a squib line. Now, imagine if Gringotts' performed a lineage test on a muggle-born and found that they were descended from, for instance the Fawley line, a line that officially became extinct within this past decade, from a squib, oh, six generations back. Then all those lovely, full vaults that you can't open because the families they belong to, no longer exist can be opened. I am sure that if you tested all the muggle-borns in Hogwarts or the Ministry then you will be able to open the majority of those sealed vaults."

The goblin taking notes dropped his sheet of parchment and stared at his superior whose mouth had fallen open a little, he coughed slightly, "I take it you have proof of these...claims?"

Cassiopeia smirked behind her hand, knowing their plan had worked and she watched in amusement as her cousin slid the bound sheaf of parchments across the goblin who opened it tentatively. A few moments flicking through it and Gripspur looked up coughing slightly as he regained his composure, "Well, I think that I need to meet with a few colleagues before I can say anything but we thank you for bringing this to our attention." He stood, "I shall contact you when I have spoken to Goldfang, the Goblin for House Potter so that we may arrange another meeting."

With that clear dismissal the three Blacks' left the room smirking at the stream of rapid Gobblededook that emanated the room as soon as the doors started to close.

"Well I think that was rather successful." Cassiopeia stated as she started towards the exit, "We need to pick up some proper tea before we leave England, we are running low of Earl Grey and I do so hate having anyone else choosing the blends for me." With that she started towards Whimsic Alley followed by her brother and cousin who carefully rolled their eyes at each other behind her back.

Sorry this is so short (and late) I was running a little low on inspiration (and time), message me if you have any ideas or characters you would like to see introduced. We should have some more Harry and Sirius next chapter whenever I can get that finished. F200x