Chapter 3 – Gringotts, France and Shopping.

The Alley was something else when no one was finding their way through it, there was of course a few people shopping in its street. Do people live with the Hogwarts students? Was the silent question going through her mind as she slowly looked around, while thinking of her invisibility cloak, knowing that they wouldn't recognize her at once.

The last couple of days she had to learn about the wizarding world, and felt like she could actually understand the people more than she had in the beginning, though, there was still thing she would never get the grip on, so, she looked forward to getting to Paris. To see what or if there is a difference in what they are doing in the country than what they do here in Britain.

Walking towards the bank, before going in she bowed to the guard showing respect to them, as it was easy to remember this because of what she had read in the last couple of days. All along when this was happening the guards had a look of surprise plastered on their faces, though, she did not know why and it was weird coming to the bank after years of absence.

Sometimes Cassie wondered why everyone had such protectiveness over her going to the bank – like they were hiding something!

In the end, she had chosen a good time to come as there wasn't a lot of people mingling around the bank at this time of the day, so, she walked quickly over to the side of the bank that said – Inheritance. Now all she had to do was to wait to be addressed or at least until the teller seemed to be finished, after all, time is money to these creatures.

"What can I help you with?" said the teller gruffly, though, it seemed like she could glint respect through his eyes.

"Hello, Master Teller. I want to take an inheritance test, a complete one at that to see if I have something to claim." Cassiopeia told him politely what she wanted them to do, and hoped that they could do it.

"That will be 7 Gallons!" The teller told her like it almost was a test for the worthy to see what kind of person she was going to become. Like he wondered if she had read upon their traditions or customs.

"4 Gallons…" Cassie haggled or tried to do it quickly and well, wondering what the goblin would do for this, but it was something she would need to do in all things called life.

"5G and 5Sickles…" The goblin smirked because finally, someone was giving them what they needed – someone that had conscious about how much she spent on things and did not take their word for law inside the bank.

"5G, Deal?" Cassie told him with a final offer to do what they all knew she had to do because it was out of respect in their line of work, and she knew that this would create a chain of rumours in the bank with the goblins.

"Deal!" It was clear as the one standing before him was going to be a force to be reckoned with when she had grown up, "Then follow me – to the inheritance office." He ordered her to follow him on a walk, and Cassie nodded to him and began to follow him into the maze that was the many walkways back into the bank.

They then came to a door with the name tag – Inheritance office, Iron Blood.

When Cassie had been introduced and said her goodbye to the teller, she waited a moment before sitting down in the offered chair when the goblin behind the desk indicated that she could have a seat.

"I will need ten drops of blood if you want the whole truth of who you are and what you will be." Iron Blood told her quickly and seriously, it had also been a long time since a human had shown an interest in researching their culture, and he wanted to know everything because of the strong sense of magic and justice he could feel radiating of off her.

With the verdict said and with nothing else to do but do what he had asked her to do, so, she took the knife off the table and pricked herself in the finger with it, and let out ten drops of her blood into a glass bowl.

"While you read that, I-I need to find someone…" Iron Blood said nervously, as he quickly went through the whole parchment quickly throughoutlly because this was one powerful girl.

Cassiopeia was shocked over how he had behaved because she couldn't think of when she had seen a goblin this nervous before, he was spooked over what was written on the parchment and what it said about her. The goblin left her with the parchment, though he took a copy before he quickly went out of his office.

A Complete Inheritance Test.

Name: Cassiopeia Luci Potter

Age: 14

Soul Mate:

Father: James Flamount Potter
Mother: Lily Marie Potter nee Evans

Godfather: Sirius Orion Black (Fugitive)
Godmother: Alice Longbottom (St'mungo)

Lady of the Ancient and Brave house of Potter (paternal)
Lady of the Ancient House of Slytherin (conquest)
Lady Le Fay (Maternal)
Pendragon (Maternal, Paternal and Magic's blessing.)

Heiress of the Ancient and Noble House of Black (Godfather, Maternal)

Ability Test:
Natural Occlumency (80% blocked by A. Dumbledore.)
Magic Core (50% blocked by A. Dumbledore)
Parseltongue
Elemental Magic (100% Blocked)
Blood Magic (100% blocked)

Potion's and Charms:

Loyalty potions – Loyalty to Dumbledore, Ron, Hermione and Ginny (Broken)
Hate Potions – Hate Slytherins, Severus Snape… (Broken)
Compulsion Charm –

…

Properties:
Potter Manor – Wales, England
Potter Cottage – Edinburgh, Scotland
Marauder Den – London, England
Lily's Sanctuary – Hogsmead
Slytherin's Castle – York, England
Snakes Den – Ireland
Chamber of Secrets – Hogwarts, Scotland
Camelot Castle – Unknown
Le fay Manor – Unknown – Norway?

You have properties in the whole world because you are a pendragon and a Le Fay.

What was she reading, because she couldn't believe that she was reading something like this as it had seemed highly improbable for it to happen – for it even to be real? The tile of Pendragon was and should be just a myth, a legend.

The thing was she did not need to read the ledger to see that she was filthy rich, and no one could tell her what to do right about now since this was happening to her.

First and foremost, she needed to have the blocks on her magic broken and unlocked to reach her full potential, also, being a natural occlumence would be a wonderful notion to help her study, maybe that is why she could remember everything practically from the moment she woke up in a cupboard underneath the stairs.

"Your Majesty, this is our King, Ragnarök III." Iron Blood was introduced to the fellow goblin beside him, as they walked into the room, and Cassie could see that the goblin was kind by the way he carried himself and the scars along his body. A winner of many battles.

"King Ragnarök, a pleasure to meet you," Cassiopeia said respectfully and bowed down in respect of the goblin king, a king that bowed down to her in respect for whatever she would do in the future.

After all, pleasantry and when they had changed to another office, they began to discuss everything that was written on the parchment and what they could do about it – to better her own life. "How are you even alive?" Ragnarök asked when he had looked through the parchment on his own because it was surprising that this person was alive because of the blocks on her magic.

"What do you mean?" Cassiopeia inquired softly, "and what does the title of Le Fay and Pendragon mean right now?" There was something quite unrelenting about those titles because she did not know what they would mean in its wholeness of the world.

"With all of these blocks on your magic you should have died a long time ago, it is suppressing your instinct in seeking out the truth, but also it means that there can be other things it is suppressing for you that you need to do." Ragnarök told her quickly, "and they will be taken off before you take on your rings, your ladyship rings."

"Those two titles are and mean a lot in the world of politics, but it all comes down to what you make of it – just like the muggle queen you don't have much of power, but you have more power than her in that you have a seat on the Wizagmont and can decide a lot more in what is happening to the world in general. Either way, when you first step into the ministry your magic will seek out your office, where you will be urged to take on your crown and into the world of magic. No one knows and even remembers where your office is, and it can also be somewhere no one would know. The place doesn't even need to be in the ministry!"

"There is always some paperwork you have to go through, but it also can be that you will have a summon by the Muggle Queen to go through some stuff that is of importance," Ragnarök stated at last to the one that could end up with a lot of power if she then chose to crave it or not.

"You are saying that I can decide if it will be meaning anything or not? I don't want the power, but I have it if I want to do something!"

"History has shown that it's them that don't want the power becomes great rulers, so, when you take it up creature races of all kinds will meet up with you in curtesy. If you choose to do something until then, I think it would do to get out and explore the world to its fullest potential." Ragnarök told her, after hearing her response to the title and having the power to do things that no one else could do just because your ancestors were from a powerful line.

To have the Goblin King supportive of her would help her in the long run if there was someone that would not believe her when she told them that she had to power to just take it.

"You can now follow my wife here to get your blocks removed, and I will pick up your rings to clarify them and to do an audit of your vaults and your properties."

There wasn't much else for her to do other than follow his wife in getting everything alright again, and she wondered how it will be to have everything free or if there was going to feel a difference in herself afterwards. At the end of the whole ordeal, she looked completely changed and for the first time in her life, she looked healthy. Like she never had been abused, meaning again that she had a lot more to learn about magic and healing or if Goblins had a different kind of healing that wizard hasn't figured out yet.

Now, as she walked back to Ragnarök's office she couldn't help but marvel at the changes of not hurting anymore, she felt completely free.

"Welcome back, Your Majesty." King Ragnarök said, as his client walked back into his office, because of her status now she had become his only client and would be the person she had to make contact within the wizarding world.

"Good to be back, King Ragnarök, but please call me Cassiopeia." She said pleadingly, because it was weird enough to have a title right now, she needed time to study up on the things that she needed to do.

"Of course, Cassiopeia, only if you call me Ragnarök," was his answer, and he had to show her the thing that needed to and read upon. "So, here are your family emblems or rings, if you want to call them that, I recommend starting with the Potter Ladyship ring." Ragnarök began and gave her the first box she could see on the table in front of her.

The first box he gave her had a golden undertone, you could see all kinds of magical creatures stitched into the fabric of the box something that was quite interesting, it also said something about the kind of family the Potters were in the past. The ring itself was somewhat of a surprise because it had a cauldron, that had a lion engraved into the gold medal of the ring.

"The recent events of the Potter family would not have suggested this, but the family had been known for their apothecary and a brewery. The lion is for the family itself, and that it is protective of their family." Ragnarök explained to the family as he remembered things, "you will slide it on your left ring finger."

The ring was a beautiful piece, and as it fitted perfectly onto her ring finger information slithered into her mind, about the wards and crucial information about the Potter family in general. The houses were in a state of despair, and so was the wards around all the properties, "I hope I can count on the Goblins to help me repair, and ward my properties? Maybe even modernize them."

"You can count on us, for a price," Ragnarök said, knowing that there will be more work for us, though, she had more enough money to do whatever she wanted in the world, including this and still be able to live a life in luxury for many decades.

"Of course," Cassie smirked back at him, she knew that he would say something like this to the question of help, and the next box she was handed was the darkest of the boxes on the table. It radiated power of an ancient kind of darkness, something that you of course never would find in Britain anymore.

"The Slytherin ring, you place it on the same finger, and it will melt itself into one cohesive ring if it accepts you."

This ring had a pull to it, a lure to it that she managed to resist because no one should have control over other than herself. The ring fought and pulled at her magic and the ring itself was a snake with green lively eyes – just like hers in some way that made it creepy. With the ring came the wards of the castle grounds, the wards were still standing but the castle needed an upgrade to be more functional in this age of time.

"The Le Fay family liked to be different as the times were different back then – so this oval box is a bracelet and not a ring. Every descendant of hers has been a woman, and none of them has ever liked wearing rings."

Cassiopeia thought it was genius to have a bracelet instead of a ring – it radiated power, protectiveness and curiosity. It was maybe curious over who would be the one carrying it now when it had been years of inactivity. It was ordinary but had diamonds placed carefully around in a pattern throughout the bracelet, as the bracelet was black leather and broad. It covered some of her wrists, and when it was placed and it had accepted her it sized itself in tight like it had become a part of her skin.

With it came a burst of knowledge – blood magic and even of elemental magic.

"With this ring, you will have to slide it on your left pointy finger, it is different and if people of old were to see it they would know how important you are, but they won't be able to say anything to anyone before you are ready." Explained Ragnarök when he handed her the next piece of family magic of a ring.

Being handed a deep blue box, she understood how important this was – who would have thought that little old her would be a descendant of the Pendragons, it was surreal to find this information out without a little bit of foreknowledge. It was beautifully made, silver with a purple sapphire as the centre stone, with diamonds around the bond – the motto was written on the silver inside of the ring was again something that didn't need to be explained – Your destiny awaits.

Sliding it on was nerve-wracking even if she didn't have to do anything right now because of her age and her dream of becoming a well-versed person in the world and get experience of the good kind. With the ring there was a burst of power washing over her, the information she got about the kingdom where the castle was standing was interesting – they felt ancient and it was standing strong even now.

Feeling the pull of her home was like a tug on her magic beckoning her to come, and take the throne – though, she knew she was not ready for the responsibility.

"You only have this ring, and it is ordinary in compared to the others – this is the Black Heiress ring of the family, and you will have to put it on where your Potter and Slytherin rings are," Ragnarök told her with an explanation.

The ring was no different than the others making them invisible to the naked eye other than her Le Fay bracelet something that no one would recognise other than those well versed in history.

"Being one of our richest clients, you will need a post-box. You will reive an account ledger each month, and where we can correspond and others too if they or you give them the number you have. I will give you it later today so you can read it through on your own." Ragnarök began explaining, "You have to give them this nr. In our post office here in Diagon. Nr. 9785."

It made her happy that they would have to go through this channel to get to her, because then she may get to know what is happening here in England.

"Do you want to see your Vaults?" Ragnarök inquired to her kindly, knowing fully that she would want to do so, after everything they had discussed this day.

"Yeah, I want to. "Do, you have something I can use in the muggle world and the wizarding world so that I don't need to get to a bank every time I want some money? Can you also provide identification papers, like passport, ID papers and certificates so that I can learn how to drive?" Cassiopeia asked the goblin king because it would be incredibly inconvenient if she had to come to the bank every time, she wanted something.

"Of course, I can have it ready for you at the end of your visit! Do you want to update the wards of all your properties? and fix them up at least a little?" Ragnarök questioned her in all seriousness.

"If you wouldn't mind, yes please." So, as she said this they haggled the price down at least somewhat cheaper than what they had wanted, but it was nice to know that she would have money for years upon years, as she became richer for every year that went by either way.

With the traditional goodbye to the Goblin King, she followed the surprised teller down to the crypts with the first stops at her trust vault for her to finally look through it as she never really had because of how overwhelmed things had been for her the last few time she had even been here. It was nice to finally have a look in it without any pressure to be finished in a jiffy.

The Vault was bigger than she remembered from last year, but this time she had found a letter from her mother, even her dad had left her a letter for her to find. It made her cry for not having seen it before now, she was handed a small, bigger on the inside bag, where she placed things that could have some value to her that they had left her, like the letters. With her trust vault finished, she began her search through the Potter Treasury Vault, finding some books that looked interesting, a couple of them that looked quite ancient too – books about Potions and Ancient Runes.

In the end, there was a couple of pieces of jewellery that looked quite unusual, and some of them were beautifully made and so she wanted to study them more and placed at least some of them in a jewellery box, and into the bag carefully to study another day or later on.

Then there was all of Slytherin's Vault, both Treasury and the Main Vault – both less interesting, but like the Potters, she found the family grimoire that she could read to figure out the family more than everyone had told her about them. There was also some jewellery and some books about the understanding of blood magic.

Le Fay Vault was something in itself, there was a couple of interesting gowns and dresses that she liked and would look great on her and would make her elves pick them up later on if she got used to them or that there would be a couple of ball's she needed to go to. There was also some self-updating history books and grimoire of the family spells that she may need to learn in the future.

It was exhausting to go through everything there was of things, but it was so worth it to know some more of each family, after getting the post box, and her papers at the front desk she asked them of a discreet motel she could rest up in for the day.

Maria Gold Lodging, a serene place to be and it was relaxing and even peaceful, a place she could respect because they never even reacted to her name. Nothing disturbed her throughout the night, not even one nightmare so it was a relaxing night.

The next day sitting down to breakfast was an experience in itself because it was a luxury that no one stares at her, and it was a luxurious place, and she would have to get used to it because from what her magic told her was that all of her properties were like this, maybe even bigger.

After a lovely breakfast, she went up to her room again to begin to read through her ledgers and it was interesting to read it because who would have thought that she had been this rich all this time, though, it was a wonder no one could have mentioned it to her, as that could have helped her immensely to fit in better. The papers looked great too, and the instructions told her that she only needed to add some blood to finish them, as it was self-updating when you change your hair, the passport picture would also change its picture. There was also a credit card, that would also be used in both the muggle and wizarding world, then there were identification papers, that would change the last name to what you told them you were using this time of the year – something that would be useful to her as she travelled the world.

There were also papers she could use when going to learn how to drive, and this she would have to do in Paris, as she wanted to rent a small car, so that she could drive from place to place, and even be on the road. Seeing the sights like that would be interesting at least for a while if she would rent a motorcycle.

At the end of the day, she sealed the papers away, took out her wallet, her magically enchanted wallet with her, this is where she placed her ID and Gringotts card because now it was time to spoil herself with a makeover, with new clothes for that matter before things would heat up in Hogwarts as they realised that she had disappeared.

-Potter-

The only thing Cassiopeia could do was to go over to the muggle world, the mundane world, a word that she had heard in her mind when taking on the rings, a word that fitted more and wasn't that degrading even. There was also the fact that she was looking for a salon, that would and could do a full makeover – a high-end makeover at that.

With her wish of changing her looks completely to the world if you would say it like that. It wasn't easy to find a place with people that were willing to do it and teach her how to maintain it, though, it wasn't easy either to find someone that had the time for it, but in the end, she preserved and got someone that had the time and the place to do it.

After four to five hours, she was certain that no one from school would have recognized her, she was changed completely, and she even felt differently – fresh and new. Moreover, she had still her black hair, but she had some dark red strips throughout her hair, her curls looked authentic and natural. It was longer and smoother as it fell down to her waist.

She had also learned how to do different hairstyles, and makeup styles though now she had a more natural look that was done perfectly for her skin tone. Learning about makeup at been a trip, and she had learned a lot about how and what to cover up and what you don't want to happen – in the end, she loved that her lightning bold scar had completely disappeared from her forehead.

Her shopping spree was of epic proportions, as she needed to buy everything from underwear, lingerie, pants, skirts, blouses, t-shirts and some dresses and even elaborate gowns – everything a girl needs to feel like a princess and to feel comfortable. At the end of her shopping trip, she ended up buying a digital camera, a computer, a phone that she would need for her trip aboard.

Next on her agenda was to find and buy the earliest ticket that went from London to Paris, so, that she could begin her travelling to the other parts of the world, something she could not wait to do.

Not only this, but she also had to buy travel brochures, notebooks and pens and pencils so she could document the things of the world. Then some more reading materials, both for school and for pleasure.

There was nothing more for her to do until she would begin her travels, other than figure quickly out how the computer and everything electronics will work on magic, and she already had the equation and the runes ready for them, so, that they would not fry upon awakening because of all the magic around her. Because if there was something, she loved about her new things was that she now could do it without so much fuss either from her greedy relatives or her bossy friends.

If there was nothing else to do after booting up her computer, there was the fact that she was beginning to read up on the things she had missed from the basic education from the Muggle world, and she could not believe how far behind everyone in the magical world was when it came down to things like science and math. However, reading up on math gave her some interest in what Arithmancy means in the wholeness of things, it helped her to figure it out more than she had been until now.

She studied everything from that part of the world that she had missed, and it was easy doing because she did not have one to say what to do or how to do it.

The only thing she could not really get to was PE or PT, physical training and music, however, that was good, since she hated it back in school.

[21st November 1994 – Paris, France]

There was a thing with travelling that she had not foreseen, and that was how much she would be able to see in a short period of time. Interestingly enough there had been a lot to see and do in the first few hours, though, it was after the initial day or two that she managed to take in all the history, the knowledge and see what Paris was all about.

It was after a few days, that she managed to take in everything Paris had to offer, like really use her time to take pictures, and start up a blog – a travel blog, about her everyday life as a traveller of the world.

In the end, she was kind of falling in love with what the French called a light breakfast – it was easy and filling, and it was good. Sometimes after a light breakfast, she walked around in the streets taking pictures of small things that seemed interesting enough out, thereafter some days were spent really exploring the Eiffel Tower by walking all over with her camera to see what more there was to explore in the different parts of the capital.

Thereafter, she walked around and found the French equivalent of Diagon Alley and the street was quite different than the British to say it like it is, for the most part, it was easy one the eyes, cleaner but also a lot more colourful, even cheerful then what she had been used to in England.

The bookshops were a lot more variety, and throughout her stay visited by her quite a lot every day after she had found them to see about different books. It was refreshing to have the time to do it, and she could spend a lot more time going through things and seeing things no one had done before. However, she was finding the mundane world more to her liking at least now, as for the wizarding world – it was the same old thing as back home.

Nothing special.

Seeing the Trocadéro Gardens, together with seeing the Eiffel Tower was quite different from seeing them apart from one another. All kinds of Museums had to be seen, nothing was ever too boring for her but most of all she was finding that everything that has happened in the World Wars wasn't anything for her, what happened before seemed much more interesting to her than anything that had happened then.

All along she tried a variety of Café's, Restaurants and even shopping centres looking through different boutiques to see what they had going for them.

These were things she did on a daily basis, but she also went on tours to see Versailles, Louvre, Luxembourg Garden and even the Les Catacombs de Paris – these was just a few places to be seen as she walked the streets of Paris.

After all of this, she had made plans to travel south to see Niece, Marseille and Toulouse.

Even making plans to go somewhere else didn't detour her in seeing things in a different way than before coming here, she had gotten better at speaking and even reading French, and she was incredibly lucky to have learned it beforehand, but even then, she could have used magic to learn it quicker but she didn't do, and it was quite an accomplishment. Even learning the language better was an experience in itself and getting to know people was even crazier.

Corners and cafés were mostly the same here, and she had spent a lot of her time in one of those places to observe the craziness that was people in general, and it was in one of those Café's that she met a friend in one of the many patrons.

Mari, where also one of the frequent stoppers at this café and one day we ended up talking quite literally about anything and everything, but most of all about other people that were stopping by the quiet café. We became fast friends and exchanged phone numbers even so that we could call one another with updates on how we were doing.

A wonderful time in Paris was soon over, and like everything that had been done she packed up her things with the help of her elves, she found the slowest train to Niece and looked out of the window at the quiet landscape. With her computer a frequent visitor on the table for her to record on, there had been a lot of pictures accumulated that she had to see through since the last time she had written something on the blog – that she just had to see through and make another post.

The fact was that she also needed to send some of them to Mari, and she did it with her whole heart as it always was something to look forward to when things were finally looking up. Everything had been an experience, though, she had not even heard a thing about what had happened in England in the last couple of days. Not even a quiet recollection of everything that was happening, so, there is the wonder does Paris even know what is happening in Scotland right now.

In the end, she had thought nothing of it because the Goblins or her elves would have said something to her by now, as she still kept in contact with the bank – she was also making plans, many plans to invest in one of the many mundane companies that were rising and growing faster, maybe they would make her even richer in the future – who knows!

With them also renovating her homes for her, and the first one they had finished up was the cottage where she was now heading to, and she couldn't wait to see it.

AU: Rewritten: 04. Jan 2021