The shoppers and workers of Diagon Alley were greeted with an unusual sight that Tuesday morning. Lord Orion Black going into Gringotts, was not in itself an unusual occurrence, however he was rarely seen at the Bank before 11 a.m., and certainly not this early in the day. Even more unusually he was accompanied by his daughter, Siriah Black. Now the citizens of Diagon Alley could count on one hand the number of times they had seen Orion Black out in public with his eldest child since her unusual sorting. When the residents focused on Siriah Black herself they were all surprised to see a...well a serious...expression on her face, and when taking into account the boys formal clothes and proud stride, they had hardly recognised the boy. Once all of these facts had been digested, and passed on to the local gossips, the third figure of the party was evaluated. A handsome boy was the general consensus, proud, closed off, and most importantly unknown. It was sufficed to say that the gossip network, including one junior Witch Weekly reporter had gotten their scoop for the day, and the mysterious event was spread at top speed to all those who would want to know, and quite a few who didn't.
Lord Orion Black took the stares and whispers in his stride. He'd let them speculate for now, and then in the New Year he'd really give them something to talk about. Oh how he couldn't wait to see Abraxas Malfoy's face.
Inside Gringotts Biletooth looked up in time to see the party enter and immediately hopped off of his stool and walked towards them. In an uncharacteristically polite gesture he bowed and spoke in his harsh voice "I have been instructed to take you to see Ragnok as soon as you arrived. If you would follow me" and then turned and led the three men through an ornate door and down several corridors to Ragnok's office.
Rather unfortunately for the Blacks the junior Witch Weekly reporter who had noticed their arrival in Diagon Alley, Betty Braithwaite, had followed them into Gringotts and noticed their unusual welcome. Normally upon entering the bank clients had to find a free goblin, and even then they were usually ignored for a good ten minutes or so before being sneered at and served. This story had just gotten more interesting, and Betty, after a moment of indecision, decided to head off to the Witch Weekly offices to write up her story. If she was fast enough she might just land the scoop before anyone else! With these thoughts she turned and left Gringotts and headed towards the Leaky Caldron and the floo network.
Ragnok looked up and smiled a rather disconcerting smile. He had thought that the Blacks and Mr Peters would come today to sort out their business. He reached into the top draw of his desk and drew out the files and waited impatiently for his clients to be seated. "I assume we shall start with the Black family business?" he asked. He received a nod. "Well then I am sure that you will be pleased to hear that you investments have been fruitful and your gold has increased by 5% since your last visit. I have a note hear that Lady Black has been from accessing the Black wealth, is this correct?" "Other active vaults include the trust vaults for Miss Bellatrix Black, Miss Narcissa Black, Master Regulus Black and Ms Siriah Black, as well as a minor vault for the use of a Mr Cygnus Black and his wife Mrs Druella Black. There are several other minor vaults that are currently active, including one that included the dowries for the young Miss Blacks; the dowry vault that belonged to Miss Andromeda Black, now Mrs Tonks has been closed. Finally the heir vault is now open and accessible only by Mr Regulus Black and his Bethroed and contains a net sum of 2.7 million galleons and is updated monthly with all the profits from the Black's shares of the Daily Prophet and an annual stipend of 250 000 galleons from the main vault." Here Ragnok paused to take a breath, "The only outstanding legal matters are the marriage contacts for the young Miss Blacks and the disownment paperwork for Mrs Tonks which had to be left dormant until both Lord Black and his chosen heir could sign them. Do you have any problems with these documents?"
"Father" Siriah spoke hesitantly, "knowing what we know now, do you think that it would be a good idea to sign off on the marriage contracts?"
Orion Black looked pensive for a moment then sighed, "Harrison? You have the most insight here after all, what is your view?"
Harrison Peters turned to survey Orion with those cool green eyes, making Orion shudder internally, before answering calmly "I would not sign off on the Malfoy contact. He is a horriable person and would bring the house of black down.." Orion Black nodded. This seemed to be highly reasonable considering all they knew of the future. Although he didn't approve of marrying muggle, vigilante action was certainly beneath members of the Black Family; "and Bellatrix?"
Peters paused for a longer period of time before answering, " Same thing you do not want to get involved with the lestranges. Again Orion nodded, Reject this contracts between the house of malfoy and lestranges."That just leaves the disownment documents"
Siriah shifted uncomfortably. Andy had always been her favourite cousin, but to marry a muggleborn, Siriah couldn't see an argument that would prevent the disownment. Although she personally had nothing against muggleborns, most of her family did, and it would affect the status of the Black family badly in pureblood circles if they did nothing. Siriah didn't want to have to choose between Andy and his duty, but it seemed he had no choice; however before he could speak Ry spoke.
"Her daughter will be a metamorphmagus."
Silence rang throughout the room. Even Ragnok looked interested in this; metamorphmagi were exceptionally rare and the magical gift was one of the most highly valued.
Orion Black now faced a dilemma. He didn't want to disown Andromeda, in fact he had even met Ted Tonks at the Ministry and thought him to be a highly capable wizard for a muggleborn, however that certainly didn't mean he wanted Tonks as part of his family. Furthermore a metamorphmagus in the house of Black that would be enough to counter any status drop that would occur if he didn't disown Andromeda. Now he would just have to deal with Cygnus, who would most certainly not be happy. Taking a deep breath Orion made his decision, "rejected. Restore the dowry and see that it is given in full to Ted Tonks along with several books on pureblood etiquette. When any children are born set up trust vaults automatically, and set aside one of the smaller Black vaults for their use." A rather vicious smile appeared on Orion Black's face. "In fact give them the vault that belonged to my wife, and then send her a long and detailed letter informing her of what I have done with it."
Siriah snorted in amusement, and her face took on a decidedly dreamy quality as her envisioned the look on her mother's face. No she certainly wasn't bitter.
Ragnok smiled again. It was not a pleasant sight. "Next we come to the Ravenclaw Grand Dutchy. Mrs Siriah Potter if you would just sign here" some documents were handed over "excellent you are now the Grand Duchess of Ravenclaw, giving you a seat on the wizengamot and on the Hogwarts board of governors. If you wish to assign a proxy to hold those seats for you until you come of age then you will need to sign here. They will have no access to your vaults and are required to consult with you before voting and can be removed by you at any time." Ragnok handed over yet more documents.
Siriah looked at her father. She had no desire to have the world know that she was now a Grand Duchess in her own right, the gossip and accompanying hangers on would be a nightmare, not to mention the responsibility. She would definitely wait until she finished Hogwarts. "Dad?"
Orion Black nodded and signed the documents.
Ragnok continued "Congratulations Lord Black, you have now become the Ravenclaw Proxy, and as such you have the right to veto motions in the Wizengamot and at Hogwarts, along with the usual powers. Now the Ravenclaw vaults have been untouched since the death of Rowena Ravenclaw as, until now, no one fulfilled the inheritance criteria. This means that the only increases have come from interest and not active investments. You have a net total in coins of some 643 billion galleons as well as Rowena Ravenclaw's personal and private library which is priceless in value. Furthermore you also have two manor houses in England, which house the library. By the time of Ravenclaw's death her library had grown so large that even with expansion charms it had to be split between two locations and the properties are maintained by many spells and the descendants of the original Ravenclaw house-elves. We can give you their location, and you will simply have to press the signet ring to the entrance for access. Once you do that the wards will be transferred to you and then you will be able to allow others to enter. If you would sign here to signify that you are taking possession of all the vaults and assets."
A rather shell-shocked Siriah obediently signed several more pieces of paper. Once she was done she was handed a box by Ragnok. Automatically Siriah opened the box and slid the Ravenclaw signet ring – a bronze ring with a blue eagle emblazoned on it - onto her ring finger on her left hand. Immediately she felt a change. Like with the Black heir ring she felt her magic respond and flare, but this time there were no family members linked only what seemed to be about a dozen house elves.
Siriah took a deep breath and opened her eyes before slumping back into her seat. At least his surprises for the day were over. It was a shame that she had to return to school she though idly, she would much rather head back to the remains of that bottle of fire whiskey. She stared at the ring on her left hand, it was bloody noticeable! She had no idea how she would hide this! As if the ring could understand her thoughts it faded slowly. She could still feel it, but no one would be able to see it. She smiled happily; finally something was going her way – not including becoming one of the wealthiest women in the world her mind added helpfully.
Ragnok was speaking again. "Now Mr Peters...
