Harry Potter: Divergent Paths
Chapter 35 – Return to Gringotts
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Also, that feel when you realize you spelled 'Fantastic' incorrectly in the last disclaimer~ but now it's fixed and no proof exists except for my self-incriminating words _
"Lord Vulpis. Welcome to Gringotts. What business do you have with the Goblin Nation today?"
Adrian nodded to the receptionist goblin. "Greetings. I wanted to verify the status of my companion here and determine a course of action for his accounts."
The goblin looked past Adrian and at the grown man standing behind, who smiled and waved. He raised a brow and nodded. "Understood. I was told to notify you that Blademistress Jadetalon will be seeking you out during this visit at some point."
Adrian thanked the receptionist for his time and walked off to the side with his companion, waiting for a goblin escort to come and take them wherever they would need to go. The title that Jadetalon was addressed with was a point of interest, but it could wait in favor of his companion's curiosity. Sirius whistled slightly and looked over at his boy companion.
"That's more respect for a wizard than I've ever seen, including Dumbledore. What'd you do to get on their good side?"
"Drank the blood of my enemies in front of them," Adrian deadpanned for a moment before chuckling. "There's only a few things you can do to get on a goblin's good side. First of all, you do actually need to be respectful of their culture, something that not many people do. The rest all lies in how well you earn them money and how good you are in combat. For most people, earning them money usually involves investment and contracts, which don't seem to be utilized as often as I'd expect, and almost no wizard is generally good at physical combat. It doesn't help that such a large number of wizards treat them with condescension, that's for sure."
Sirius nodded in understanding. "Still don't feel like that explains exactly how respectfully they treat you though," he said perceptively.
Adrian laughed. "You're right about that, but it's not something you need to care about too much. Just leave that up to me."
The man found that fair enough and just on time, the goblin escort arrived. They were swiftly brought to an office room with an attendant, forgoing all of the regular time-wasting they put disrespectful wizards through by walking them through identical hallways. The glasses-wearing goblin looked up from his register and nodded in acknowledgement.
"Welcome, Lord Vulpis. Would your companion like to provide a blood sample to verify his identity and quicken the process? Lord Black has walked our halls before obviously, but procedure is procedure especially in this case."
"Of course," Sirius replied with a smile.
The goblin nodded and brought out a ceremonial knife. "The blade is tied into the room. Simply bleed yourself slightly with it and it shall confirm your identity."
Sirius nodded and sliced his finger. The blade gleamed blood-red for a moment before returning to its normal appearance. The registers and files around the room flapped around for a few moments before the register in front of the goblin attendant shone brightly and the text on the page changed. He read the given words.
"Sirius Orion Black. Lord of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. As previously covered, due to the fact that your conviction and imprisonment in the wizarding prison of Azkaban was a complete farce, your status as Lord of House Black was never fully revoked. You may now reclaim your signet ring as pending Ministry affairs have been resolved. "
The words triggered the appearance of a ring on Sirius's hand. He recognized it as the House Black's Lord Ring, the one that he had always seen on his father as a child.
"I'm surprised that my old man didn't properly disown me after my…mother blasted me off the family tapestry." Sirius shrugged and turned to Adrian. "Anyway, I'm Lord Black like you thought I would be." He smirked cheekily. "You have to treat me with more respect now, don't you?"
Adrian rolled his eyes. "I treated you as an equal before and you're getting the same now...Well, I might demote you soon. Anyway, let's get the more important things taken care of now, shall we?" he asked, ignoring the puppy dog eyes the grown man was shooting at him.
"The House Black account manager is Manager Silvertooth. I shall summon an escort to bring you to his office. You can take care of any legal and financial affairs with him, as you already know…"
"No need for that, Deadeye. I will bring them there personally. I have business to discuss with Lord Vulpis as it is," a stern voice stated from behind the accountant.
He jumped and looked at the person who appeared from the special passages that only the employees of Gringotts could use. "Blademistress!" he said with surprise. He saluted and nodded. "Of course, as you wish."
The attractive green-skinned woman appeared from behind the stacks of documents obscuring vision before, surprising Sirius at the sight. She walked past the two humans and gestured back at them. "Come along."
Adrian followed her out of the room, as did Sirius after he recovered from his shock. He looked questioningly at Adrian, who was more curious about something else.
"Blademistress Jadetalon…"
"Please, address me as merely Jadetalon. You have afforded at least that much respect from me," she said first, cutting Adrian off.
The boy nodded and continued his inquiry. "Jadetalon, why is it that other goblins address you by the title Blademistress rather than any business title?"
The woman sighed and considered how much she felt like answering the questions that answering his question would entail. "To first answer that question, I will need to explain my background. Excuse me, Lord Black, but would you mind if…"
Sirius chuckled. "No, go ahead. I understand."
Adrian nodded and erected a localized privacy ward around Jadetalon and himself. They continued to walk as she resumed her explanation.
"I am one of the many children of Ragnok, but I am both the eldest and the most abnormal. No other goblin woman looks as I do, though I doubt you will ever discover that fact. Even should you pass my father's final Sovereign trial, humans are not brought within the inner domain of the Goblin Nation without a circumstance of extremity, which is where most of the women reside.
Now, while I may be considered attractive by human standards, I am rather repulsive in our standards as you might imagine. My birth and growth was met with much scrutiny and if not for my father being the man he is, I doubt I would have lived past childhood. Even my father's protection and wrath did not change the fact that I would never be accepted within our society. So, I forced them to acknowledge my ability. I trained harshly under my father for years until I was ready, then I took the Goblin Nation Arena by storm. In the Goblin Nation, I go by the title of Blademistress of the Arena because of my undefeated record and no challenger has been able to best me.
The women of the Goblin Nation are primarily expected to train for combat and other duties such as blacksmithing and agriculture within the inner domain, while it is the males who act as the main warrior corps, curse breakers, and employees within Gringotts and are sent out in squads, should that ever occur be necessary. I personally serve as my father's aide when I am not challenged for combat in the arena, but was only recently approved for account management by my father. It has brought great honor to my reputation and only improves my standing within the Goblin Nation."
"My account?" Adrian asked in understanding.
"Correct. It is the only reason why I have disclosed so much of my personal life to you, Lord Vulpis. I owe you much. As you already know, two aspects are of major import when determining status within Gringotts and the Goblin Nation. Craftsmen are afforded their own rankings, but for the normal goblin, it is earning wealth for the Nation and combat ability that determines their place in life. I already stand at the pinnacle of combat. Now, I have the opportunity to reach the top in earnings as well, which you have set me well on the way of doing with your investment suggestions."
Adrian nodded. "So, the choice of buying stock in the non-magical company Wal-Mart is looking good?"
Jadetalon nodded. "Yes. The trouble of buying stock in another country is easily bypassed by the Goblin Nation as we have agents everywhere. The stock value has only been rising as you implied initially. You've saved the Goblin Nation from losing a sizable chunk of gold with your advice about some of the sinking ships." Your many other suggestions in terms of the various magical stores have also been rather accurate, so I am willing to follow through with your suggestion of buying stock in the non-magical company Apple, despite its current low value…
The purple-eyed boy's eyes gleamed with amusement. "It will take a few years for the investment to pay out, but you won't regret the decision. I take it my accounts are doing well then?"
"Only a net increase since the last report that I sent to you," Jadetalon affirmed.
"Wonderful. Who would one need to approach to request a change in account managers and what would happen to the original account manager in such a case?" Adrian asked suddenly.
"Direction Ragnok considers the requests for a change in account management, a process that is typically unavailable without good reason. The original account manager, in that case, would have his quality of work compared with the other account managers and the worst account manager would be removed and re-entered into the competition that we typically participate in to earn an account to manage."
"Would you be able to set a meeting up for me with Director Ragnok?" Adrian asked.
After a slight nod of acknowledgement, Jadetalon stopped and gestured to a door nearby. "This is Manager Silvertooth's office. I shall inquire after the Director's schedule and will return after your meeting is completed."
After a polite exchange of goblin sayings, Jadetalon departed in her usual swift manner of movement. Once she was out of sight, Sirius grinned and glanced at Adrian standing beside him. The boy looked back at the man with suspicion.
"First of all, she is absolutely gorgeous. Second of all, let it be known that I find this extremely painful to admit, but she definitely wants you, despite my own presence as a fine specimen of man," he stated, wiggling his eyebrows.
Adrian sighed in disbelief and pushed open the office door. "Shut up, Sirius." The man-child laughed and followed after him.
As much as he admired the woman's business acumen, attitude, and knew of her gratefulness for his appearance, he severely doubted it translated over to a romantic attraction to him. It was silly to even think about.
…..
Remus Lupin was a happy man for the first time in a decade or so.
After he returned to his shoddy abode in Yorkshire and collected his complimentary Daily Prophet that was sitting in front of his door. It was only after sitting down on his bed that he realized there shouldn't have been a Daily Prophet delivered to his room, as he hadn't subscribed to the newsletter in over a decade. He didn't really have the money to spare. It was the only kind of location he could really find work, not to mention how many times he had been fired already for missing every full moon so consistently without a good explanation to give.
When he realized that the picture on the front page was an image of his former best friend and believed-traitor, Sirius Black, his eyes darted to the article heading.
SIRIUS ORION BLACK INNOCENT OF ALL CHARGES! PETTIGREW, REAL TRAITOR REVEALED!? THE TRUTH OF A DECADE AGO COMES TO LIGHT!
Disregarding the picture in favor of reading the summary article hurriedly, he quickly learned of the truths revealed during the eventful trial. After completing it, hot tears of relief and regret dropped from his brown eyes. Relief that Sirius was truly innocent of all of the horrible things they said he did and was free now after suffering so many years in Azkaban. Regret that he had ever even slightly believed everything they said about his best friend instead of following his instinct that Sirius would never betray James and Lily for his own life.
He flipped back to the front page and took a closer look at the image that was captured. A wide smile was on Sirius's gaunt face as he walked alongside two women that he instantly recognized, despite the years that had passed. Andromeda and Narcissa, Sirius's cousins, the latter who seemed as if she only aged a few years rather than near a decade and a half since her forced departure from Hogwarts and into the clutches of Lucius Malfoy. Her smiling visage and presence alone indicated that much had changed in magical Britain that he was unaware of.
His eyes then moved onto the three children, a pair of boys and a girl. Two of them shocked him into a stupor from their striking resemblances to their parents.
"Harry…Iris…"
As one of their closest friends before he was sent away on suspicion of being a spy, he knew of both children of the Potters, numbering amongst the small handful of individuals who did before her identity was revealed at the opening day of the year. He never did know what happened to Iris after that night at Godric's Hollow, the night that tore a piece of his soul away as he lost over half of the people that were truly important to him in this world.
The thought simply added to his guilt of never thinking of returning to magical Britain to find the children of his late best friends and try to help take care of them. It was too late to regret that at this point. He never blamed them for sending him away, as he personally believed that the wolf within was reason enough for him to be a safety risk towards the safety of his best friends, even if he wasn't the traitor they believed him to be. It was the same belief in his monstrosity that he used to justify the distance he kept even after the war had concluded and his innocence as accepted. But deep inside, he knew that wasn't enough. He should have been there for little Iris and Harry.
Harry looked just like James, except for the calm and bashful nature that he seemed to project from his body language. Iris could've been the younger twin of the Lily Potter that he recalled from his early memories of Hogwarts, if not for the outgoing and feisty aura that she projected. He smiled in the irony, as the siblings seemed to be polar opposites in impression from their respective parents. Harry looked to be the gentle and relatively timid one, taking after her mother's natural demeanor.
The final member of the trio of children was wholly unfamiliar to him, but the boy left a striking impression on him. Iris and Harry stood on either side of him as they all laughed and talked together in their own ways. Remus peered a bit more closely at the boy when, within the image, the boy subtly turned his head and stared directly into the camera. It felt as if the child was staring directly at him. He imagined a gleam of purple light appearing in the boy's eyes, impossible due to the colorless print of the paper. A chilling wind swept through the room, followed by a warm breeze. The hairs on his body stood up as he threw the paper down and looked at the center of his room.
A pair of foxes with intimidating magical auras were staring at him in interest. The beast within him roared in fear, remarkably suppressed by the two beings sitting before him.
"Remus Lupin, we invite you to Vulpis Manor," the snow-white fox spoke calmly.
"Wouldn't you like to see all of those people in the picture you were just staring at?" the red-orange fox asked with a cackle.
Remus stared speechlessly at the two magical creatures. It typically wasn't the best idea to accept random invitations from magical creatures that were capable of speaking in the human language, but he felt compelled to trust them. He gave a slight nod in silence.
"Great. Saves us some trouble. Now then, think about what in this room might actually be important or worth keeping..." the red fox spoke.
Remus's mind automatically did so, and as he did, the items that popped up in his mind collected themselves together as the white fox's eyes glowed intensely.
"Cool. All right, we're off then."
And then they were gone.
…..
"Oh, dear Merlin…" Sirius groaned painfully. "If this is what being a Lord means…you can take my ring too, Adrian…"
"Sirius, you're being childish. It was just some paperwork… Thank you for all of the help, Silvertooth, and apologies for the inconvenience our request may cause you," Adrian said to the goblin sitting across the desk from them.
The goblin chuckled in amusement at a combination of both Sirius's pain and the irony of Adrian's scolding. "It is of no consequence, Lord Vulpis. I can appreciate your final plan of action as a businessman and respect your decision to consult me directly as an individual. I won't be badly treated by Ragnok, at the very least, if he approves. There's a reason I was put in charge of the House Black accounts, after all."
"Well, re-instating Andy to House Black and breaking off Bella's marriage contract wasn't that hard. You're sure that won't be enough to heal her?" Sirius asked hopefully.
Adrian shook his head. "Even from using Kurama and Kyoka as proxies, I could feel the extensive damage done to Bellatrix's mind. The commands given to her through the contract no doubt contributed to the damage, but I don't think their removal will help much towards her recovery. It's much more complicated to heal and create than it is to destroy and ruin."
Sirius sighed. "Right. Well, do we have anything else left to do here then?"
"It's up to you. I have some more matters to take care of in Gringotts, so if you'd like to stay, you're welcome to. Otherwise, I can send you back home. Kurama is back with Kyoka from their errand," Adrian answered.
Sirius smirked. "Well, I'll stay then. I get this feeling that something interesting's going to happen soon."
"Sorry for imposing on you for so long, Silvertooth," Adrian said apologetically to the watching goblin.
"Oh, I don't mind, especially when it's you, Sovereign Heir. The excitement is welcome after so many years of routine," he chuckled.
Adrian was grateful that the manager was a strangely friendly individual amongst the goblins he'd met, even taking into account the general increase in amiability to him after his display during the first Sovereign Trial he undertook in the Goblin Nation. It only added to the guilt when the change wasn't that great of a deal, but the slightest lapse in communication could cause great amounts of devastation in some situations. It just wasn't a risk he wanted to take if he could help it. The door creaked open after a bit more of waiting around and exchanging some small stock tips for the future, to repay Silvertooth slightly for the inconvenience.
"Lord Vulpis, Lord Black. The Director said it would agreeable to meet now, if you are unoccupied."
Adrian and Sirius said their goodbyes to their host for the past while and followed Jadetalon out of the office. After the door closed and remained closed for a few moments, Silvertooth laughed to himself, having forced himself to hold it back. The account managers who were appointed to take care of the Noble and Most Ancient Houses were the cream of the crop in terms of ability. Regardless of whatever other influence might be exerted in receiving a certain House to manage, their ability was, at the very least, guaranteed. It was only thanks to Jadetalon's exceptionally quick learning skills and having studied extensively for quite some time already that Ragnok allowed Jadetalon to work with the Vulpis accounts, under both Ragnok and Silvertooth's scrutiny.
His own position as manager of the House Black accounts was admittedly due to a bit of favoritism from Director Ragnok himself, not that his skills weren't up to par. It simply should have taken longer for him to get his hands on the management of the House Black accounts. However, Silvertooth was a long-time friend and confidante of the current Ruler of the Goblin Nation and was one of the few who didn't scorn Jadetalon for her appearance. He interacted with the woman frequently throughout her 'childhood' and most recently guided her with managing accounts when she was suddenly appointed to manage Lord Vulpis's accounts. As such, he didn't mind Adrian's proposal and even supported it.
It was also this familiarity with the goblin woman that aided him in noticing the faintest darkening on her cheeks when her eyes scanned over Adrian earlier. A blush of embarrassment. There was no doubt in his mind that Ragnok brought up the matter that always left her flustered, but now he actually had a person in mind and an opportunity that he even more severely doubted Ragnok would let go.
One of the differences between goblin and human culture and growth, and one that humans would never naturally learn of, was the relativity of adulthood. A goblin completed their physical growth after a mere ten years of life, rather than go through any further growth. It was a function of their species that propagated from the olden days of continuous combat, when they were forced to throw themselves into war in the fight for survival. The mental growth and maturation of a goblin could even be considered abnormally swift in comparison to humans. True adulthood was reached when they became a contributing member of society, whether it was through learning a craft, becoming an employee within Gringotts, or training to be a warrior. The average age for a goblin to have fully developed themselves to be a contributing member of their society was around 14 to 15 years of age, as long as they kept on an average pace.
Despite Jadetalon's unique appearance amongst the goblins, she followed the same trend, aside from one difference. The pressure she felt under the scrutiny of the majority of the Goblin Nation led her to push herself in steeling her demeanor and earning her place amongst the people faster than anybody ever expected. Two years was all it took for her to become the undefeated Blademistress of the Arena. Her adherence to their rules and well-focused attitude was primarily because those were the only things she knew how to handle well. As such, despite her appearance and mentality, she was only twelve years old and lacking the social interactions she needed to develop fully, as even the respect she was now afforded obstructed her from having any peer groups to properly interact with. Silvertooth noticed that Adrian treated her no differently than the people he usually came with, aside from the expected additional respect. If this Lord Vulpis wasn't the perfect solution, Ragnok could bet on never finding one ever again.
…..
"What business do you have with me today?" Ragnok asked. "Would it have to do with Lord Black, whom you've brought along this time?"
"Part of it," Adrian answered. "I wanted to tell you of the presence of an exceedingly Dark artifact within the Lestrange Vault that I think you would be displeased to hear about. In the time since my last personal visit, I learned that a Horcrux that is stored within the Lestrange vault."
Ragnok narrowed his eyes and spoke out to one of the guards standing nearby. After snarling a few lines in their language, he turned back as the guard ran off to fulfill his orders. "We will be investigating this immediately. Even the suspicion of a magical object of that nature gives us the right to open the vault and eliminate it, if it is found, and levy some heavy fines upon the Lestranges…" Ragnok growled. "Evil soul magic of the highest degree, that is… Anyway, proceed onto the next matter you wanted to address. We will notify you of the result of the investigation when it is completed."
Adrian nodded and continued as prompted. "The second matter is a request to put the management of the House Black accounts in Jadetalon's hands, as well."
Jadetalon's eyes widened to the side, while Ragnok simply raised a brow. He turned to the other wizard sitting across from him. "With your consent, Lord Black?"
Sirius nodded. "Of course. After seeing Adrian's last assets report, it was easy to see that the accounts would be better off with his suggestions than anything I could ever work out."
Ragnok nodded and closed his eyes for a moment, resting his head on his joined hands. "That may not be…entirely possible, but first I need you to answer this," he said when he finally looked back at Adrian. "Are you ready to take your final trial, as we agreed after the first?"
"Yes," Adrian answered unhesitatingly. "Months of training can do a great deal, if you manage it properly."
Ragnok chuckled. "I could tell from the moment you walked in. Very well. You have already passed the first portion of the trial in how much of a profit you earned from the management of your account. The last part is another trial of combat. First of all, you need to defeat one of our pets that I affectionately call Sparky. Second," he said with a smile and pointing over his shoulder at his daughter, "you need to defeat Jadetalon in single combat. We'll see if you're good enough to best our Blademistress of the Arena!" Ragnok said with a laugh.
Adrian nodded and smiled at the woman, who smiled back nervously for a reason he couldn't quite make out. He turned back to Ragnok. "Understood. Any limitations?"
The pressure he felt on himself suddenly increased by several times as a large amount of killing intent smashed against him. Adrian reacted calmly, a light underneath his arm sleeve shining as it blurred upwards. A shockwave erupted from the middle of the table, accompanied with a cracking sound and blowing Sirius backwards. Jadetalon stood unaffected, but was concerned for the two individuals now covered in a cloud of dust and smoke.
Ragnok laughed as the smoke cleared between him and Adrian. His calloused hand was tightly clenched against Adrian's, coming together in what turned into a high-power, over exaggerated handshake after his small test of strength and reaction speed. The Goblin Rule grinned deviously.
"No limitations on your fights, but how about a little bet?"
Adrian thought about it for a moment before prompting him to go ahead. "What kind of bet?"
"You're free to use magic as much as you want against Sparky, but I bet that you can't defeat Jadetalon without using overt wizard magic. You can use your little reinforcement trick if you wish. Some of our warriors can do a similar thing with our goblin magic. If you lose, then you listen to one request of mine. If I lose, I'll fulfill that request of yours. How about it?"
If Adrian had even the slightest suspicion that Ragnok's request would be malicious in any way, then he would have discarded the bet instantly. He didn't however, and knew that the straight forward Goblin Ruler would never resort to something underhanded like that. The purple-eyed boy smiled.
"Sure. We have a deal."
Ragnok laughed and looked at Jadetalon. "Go get ready for the fight then, full armor. Haha, this'll be a good time!"
Sirius got off of his butt and brushed off the dust, looking at Adrian with a smirk. "See, told you I could feel it coming. This should be fun."
Adrian just chuckled helplessly and shook the hand that collided with Ragnok slightly. In the first moment of impact, he could feel that he was about to lose out on pure strength, even with the absurd training regimen he had been putting himself through for the past few months, straight out of his original world. However, he instantaneously reinforced his hand with magic and evened out the discrepancy, forcing the impact to stabilize. If Ragnok faced him in single combat, he was sure he would have a relatively high chance of losing and the assessment wasn't even accounting for any other abilities that Ragnok was no doubt concealing.
Despite the fact that he might potentially have a speed advantage against the Goblin Ruler, he was sure that the veteran warrior would have a strategy to counter it. There was no way that a combat-crazy nation would lack counter strategies for disadvantages, just as Jadetalon no doubt faced when the goblin warriors needed to overcome her difference in build.
In the end, Adrian could only imagine that Jadetalon had some kind of technique or trick hidden up her sleeve that Ragnok was confident would force him to use magic. And he was looking forward to it. He couldn't deny that he was a combat nut just like the goblins, after all.
…..
A/N: Technically, that isn't a cliffhanger. Our first combat chapter in a good while will be next time :D And as you might have noticed from all of the subtext, yes, there's setting up involved here. Of the good kind, in my opinion. :D No, I won't be doing this with all of magical communities that he comes across. I swear! Really, I do. There's actually another magical community coming up that will lead into something pretty cool, in my opinion.
Not too many reviews to address, but SandyLS's comparison of those new characters I introduced was a good one. They're indeed similar to The Endless or forces of nature when considered. As for Bellatrix's issue, the solution is definitely fiber. :3 Lots and lots of it.
Just for clarification, when I said it wouldn't be a *magical technique* that fixed her issue, I meant like a long-lost spell from any of the libraries or a magical cure-all potion that will fix all of her issues in an instant, not as in it wouldn't involve magic at all. Hopefully that cleared up any confusion on that point~
Anyway, that's it for this time. Hope you guys liked the chapter and see you on Friday. Cheers!