"Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry," Sin apologized quickly to the man he had bumped into. The man just gave him a quizzical look but waved him off and hustled down the street, adjusting his tie. Sin stepped aside and let him go, shooting a triumphant smile to Stickler, who sat on a bench at the bus stop.
Sin walked past Stickler who made a show of checking the bus times, shaking his head, and standing up. Once they were a street away they ducked into a small alleyway, scaring away a few pigeons.
"What'd you grab?" Stickler asked, anticipation on his face. Sin grinned at him and pulled out a wallet, a fancy Rolex watch, and a phone from his pocket. Stickler's eyes lit and he snatched the watch from Sin's hand, pursing his lips.
"Fake," he said after a few moments.
Sin sighed, disappointed. "I bet you could sell it for almost the full price though," he suggested hopefully, "If people don't know it's fake."
Stickler shook his head. "It's not a good enough fake. Anyone buying a Rolex would know to check first, and if I can tell it isn't real, so will they." He put it in his satchel and took the phone from Sin's hand. It looked a little like a walkie talkie but with a slightly bigger screen and a smaller antenna, and a flap flipped over to cover the numbers.
"This'll do… we won't be able to sell it, but I imagine it will really help out Sparky with the walkies. Hell, if we get another couple, we might not even need the walkies."
"Don't tell Sparky that," Sin replied with a wry smile. "She'll be devastated."
Stickler chuckled and conceded with a nod, before stowing the mobile away in his pocket and gesturing for the wallet. Sin handed it to him, and Stickler flipped through it.
"Fantastic!" he exclaimed appreciatively as he pulled two hundred pounds in cash. "The mug you snatched this from must be either foolish or loaded, to carry around so much at once."
Sin smirked. "Always go for the men in expensive suits. They're either very rich or like to look rich - either way they'll carry around lots of cash."
Stickler nodded approvingly, searching through the rest of the wallet. There was a driver's license, a black-and-white photo of a beautiful woman, a receipt for a pair of cufflinks, and two plastic credit cards.
"Alright, I'm going to head back now that we have a few wallets and try to make contact with the backdoor pawn shop dealer. He might know a fence I can use. Let Shade know I'll be crashing at the pawn shop, it gets the dealer in a soft mood if act like I've nowhere else to stay. See you in the morning?" Stickler asked, orange light making his dark skin shine. Sin nodded as Stickler passed him back half of the cash, glad he didn't have to think of an excuse to slip away soon.
When he arrived back at the warehouse he passed Stickler's message on before dropping the cash into a small cardboard box beside Shade's mattress and heading to bed himself. He had started going to sleep earlier, because waking up at ungodly hours in the morning to sneak out and meet Elena had begun to wear down on him.
On his first real day out pickpocketing, Roach had snatched several watches, and had given one to Sin. It had an alarm that he could set low, so that only he could hear it, and it was what told him when he needed to go see Elena.
At just past midnight, he entered the parking lot, very glad he had thought to bring his jacket. It was a particularly chilly night. Elena wasn't there yet, so he leant against the fence to wait. Ten minutes later, he was just beginning to wonder if he should come back later when he blinked and all of a sudden Elena was in front of him. He stumbled back in shock as she chuckled lowly.
"We're going to have to work on that. Where we're going, showing surprise is weakness, and weakness can get you killed."
Sin attempted to school his features back into the careful mask he usually wore around Elena. She gave him an appraising look with her dead eyes before nodding.
"It'll do, for now. But you're going to have to make sure there are no cracks. We'll work on that later. For now, we have somewhere to be." She turned around and as she did, Sin noticed she was wearing a long black cloak, and instead of her usual cheap clothes she had donned an expensive ruby blouse, and sharp black trousers.
Sin hurried to follow Elena as she left the parking lot. They walked in silence for a few minutes before Elena spoke.
"You're going to have to take on a false identity when you fight in Knockturn Alley. The world you'll be thrown into once you go to Hogwarts is ruled by carefully spoken words and manipulation, not fists and feet, so it wouldn't be helpful for your reputation if it got out that you were a brawler, even against other magical beings. However, since you already go by a different name, that part won't be a problem; we'll just need you to look a little different."
Sin blinked and nodded, not knowing how to reply. He was feeling a little queasy; fighting with his fists he could do, he excelled at it. Fighting with words? He knew he spoke quite eloquently for his age, especially for children who lived on the streets, but he didn't think that was exactly what Elena was talking about. He had no sense of tact, and he expected to put his foot in his mouth at the first opportunity.
"We'll just have you put in contacts and cover your scar with makeup, and maybe gel that hair of yours… well, no, we'll want to do that for your real identity once you go to Hogwarts for the appearance factor… we could always use Polyjuice Potion, but then you would have to fight in someone else's body, and you'd lose home field advantage…"
Elena seemed to be speaking more to herself now. Sin had no idea what Polyjuice Potion was, and he was about to ask when the vampiress shook her head and continued.
"Anyway, today I'm going to be preparing you for when you go to Hogwarts, not just for when you begin to fight for me. That's less important, and temporary. Hogwarts is the beginning of political warfare, especially if you end up in Slytherin. You -"
This time Sin managed to cut her off. "What's Slytherin?" He asked, a little irked at how little he understood this world he was meant to be a part off.
They made their way out of the network of back alleys and into a long, deserted street before Elena explained, "At Hogwarts, the students are divided into four houses. There's Gryffindor, the house of the brave and 'chivalrous'; essentially a bunch of reckless daredevils. Occasionally a few of them are truly courageous, however. The Longbottoms were definitely what the house should have been. And your mother. She was truly brave."
Sin sucked in a breath. "You - you knew my mother?" He asked quietly.
Elena smiled sadly at him, the first true emotion he'd ever seen her show other than mild amusement. "I did. We weren't friends, but she saved my life once."
Sin swallowed and opened his mouth to ask another question, but Elena kept speaking.
"Anyway, that's Gryffindor. Ravenclaw is the house of the intelligent and curious, and they usually come at the bottom of the house cup - it's a contest between all of the school houses, to see who can earn the most points - because they never turn in their work, and spend time they should be doing their homework doing some ridiculous project for their own curiosity. Not a bad place to be. Hufflepuff is the house of loyalty and hard workers. They win quite often. The last house is Slytherin, the house of ambition and cunning. The rest of the school - including a lot of the teachers, and the Headmaster -" Elena's words turned bitter as she mentioned the Headmaster, as if he had personally offended her, "are generally biased against Slytherin, because the Dark Lord was in Slytherin, and because Slytherin's have a survival instinct. They're not as easy to manipulate, and they become the manipulators. Professors don't like that. They don't like knowing that the students have their own hierarchy, because they aren't at the top of it. Most politicians were Slytherins; being in Slytherin is like being a politician already. You have to wade through age-old politics to even survive in the den of the snakes."
Elena seemed to know a lot more about Slytherin than the other houses, Sin mused silently. "Did you go to Hogwarts, Elena?" He asked her, guarded. "Were you in Slytherin?"
Elena chuckled as they turned into another, slightly more populated road. "I was. About forty years ago, I was in Slytherin. My political skills weren't quite up to scratch back then, and for the first few years especially, I was near the bottom of the Slytherin hierarchy. By my sixth year, I'd managed to climb up so that I was second-in-command of the Slytherin queen at the time, Natalia Greengrass."
Sin forced himself not to show his surprise at Elena's concession. He had been sure that Elena would have been at the top of whatever hierarchy there was. He processed what she'd said before blurting out, "You're fifty years old?"
Elena fixed her gaze on him before he blushed and then slipped his mask back on. Then she chuckled and nodded slowly. "Fifty-three. I know, I look excellent for my age."
Sin blinked. She looked only a year or two older than Shade, and she was fifty-three. It was somehow more mind-boggling than if she'd been hundreds of years old, because it was more realistic.
They turned the corner onto a bustling Charing Cross Road, and as Sin's eyes swept the line of shops, he noticed a small, rough-looking building that nobody was stopping at. In fact, he noticed, the muggles' eyes seemed to slide right past it, as if they couldn't see it.
Elena seemed to notice Sin's curiosity. "That's The Leaky Cauldron," she explained lowly, but they walked right past it. "It's the regular entrance to Diagon Alley, which is a huge shopping center for wizards and witches. It's where you'll go to buy your school things, and it's where most wizards go to buy regular supplies. The Leaky Cauldron offers a place to stay and a good meal. We, however, are not going to Diagon Alley. We're going to Knockturn Alley."
They walked along Charing Cross Road until the street corner, where they turned and approached a small building, similar to The Leaky Cauldron, except it had a curled up black cat on it's hanging sign. As he watched, Sin could have sworn the cat's body was rising and falling as if it were breathing.
"The Night Prowler," Elena said smoothly, opening the door and holding it open for Sin. He stepped inside and scanned the room. There was a counter at one end of the room and a few elegant, green velvet sofas filling the rest of the room. Behind the counter stood a middle-aged man with cropped grey hair and milky eyes. He was dressed in sharp black robes, with silver stitching.
The man, catching sight of Sin and Elena, bowed deeply at Elena. "Well met, Lady Van Rau. A pleasure to see you, as always.."
Elena nodded at him and the man straightened. "Well met, Mr Avery. Likewise. I'm afraid we're just passing through today. Any word from the Shafiqs?"
Avery shook his head. "I'm afraid not, but they're in Egypt at the moment, so I expect it's just taking a while for the letter to arrive."
Elena nodded, and Avery looked pointedly at Sin and then back to Elena. The vampiress merely raised an eyebrow at him and he looked down, redness creeping up his neck.
"Have a wonderful night, Lady Van Rau." Elena nodded and led Sin through the back of the room.
"Doesn't everyone think the Van Raus are all dead?" Sin asked in a whisper once they were out of earshot of Avery, "How come he knows your real name?"
Elena chuckled as she opened the back door and ushered Sin through. "Avery is… well, he won't tell anyone. And it's not everyone that thinks I'm dead. Only the general wizarding public. You'll find that most people in Knockturn, as well as the goblins, are quite aware that I'm alive."
Sin wasn't really listening as Elena explained, because his jaw dropped as he looked at Knockturn Alley. It was one in the morning, and yet the alley was full of people in dark and usually expensive cloaks hustling up and down. However, he remembered Elena's warning and snapped his mouth closed, placing his mask carefully over his features.
"First stop; Gringotts bank. It's run by goblins, so don't look surprised when you see them," Elena said lowly as she began to stride quickly down the alley. Sin sped up to keep up with her, his legs quite a bit shorter than hers. He managed to stifle a question about the goblins; he got the impression that Elena would explain everything on her own time.
"We'll be going through the Knockturn entrance because it isn't quite so obvious. We don't need anyone seeing you. Oh, also - put this over your scar," she said, handing him a small tub of cream. He rolled his eyes but applied it softly over his scar, and it stung slightly before disappearing.
"Good. That shouldn't wear off for another four hours or so, but keep the rest of it just in case." He stowed it into his pocket as they approached a small building made of black marble, the archway sculpted into obsidian dragons and gargoyles. Elena knocked twice, and the heavy wooden door swung inwards. The room inside was lit with a torch on either side of the empty doorway opposite them, and Sin followed Elena into the ominous looking room.
A very short man walked out of the darkened doorway and when Sin looked closer, he noticed that it wasn't a man at all. His features were too pointed, his expression cruel and clever. He had very long, almost clawed fingers and a short beard. A goblin, then. Sin was grateful for Elena's warning, because without it he was sure he would have gaped. As it was, he managed to keep his mask of cool indifference intact.
Elena bowed to the goblin. "May your gold be plenty and your vaults full, Dagnok," she intoned smoothly, before straightening up. The goblin - Dagnok - blinked before mirroring Elena's bow, although he went even deeper.
"May your plans come to fruition and your enemies cower beneath your feet." He straightened. "Lady Van Rau, always a pleasure." The goblin grinned nastily, and Sin noticed his teeth were pointed, and looked very sharp. "I presume your visit has something to do with your new companion?"
Elena nodded, a faint smile on her lips. Sin knew that smile had nothing to do with happiness, and was merely a careful screen of politeness to veil her inner malice. "Indeed. I trust I don't have to mention the importance of this meeting being kept secret?"
Dagnok's eyes glittered with something close to malevolence at the presumed slight, but he merely nodded. "What services require of Gringotts Bank today, Lady Van Rau?"
"I would like Mr. Potter here," the goblin inhaled quietly at the name, and Sin flinched at hearing his old, weak name, despite his mask, "to visit his vault."
"And does Mr. Potter have his key?" Dagnok asked, leering at Sin. The young boy snapped his mask back into place as best he could.
"I apologize for our unpreparedness, but it would seem not," Elena responded boredly, not sounding sorry at all. "I'm afraid a blood test will have to be performed."
Dagnok nodded and drew a quill and a thick roll of parchment from within the pocket of his purple waistcoat. "I see," was all he replied, before handing the parchment and quill to Elena. "If you would be so kind."
She nodded and unrolled the parchment, scanning the words before signing the bottom and handing it back to the goblin. He examined the parchment once more before saying, "It all seems to be in order. Follow me." He headed back through the dark archway, Elena and Sin close behind.
They walked through a maze of winding black marble corridors before they entered a small stone room with a flat cot and a locked cabinet. As Dagnok left them in the room Elena gestured for Sin to sit on the cot, and he did, raising a questioning brow at the vampiress.
Later, her eyes seemed to say. I'll explain later. Just pay attention.
Sin nodded slowly as Dagnok returned, another goblin in tow. This one wore not a waistcoat but a set of plain purple robes.
"I am Healer Kenrok. May your gold be plenty and your vaults full," the newcomer said, bowing to Elena and then Sin.
Elena bowed back. "Lady Elena of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Van Rau. May your plans come to fruition," she replied, and they both looked expectantly at Sin. He blinked in panic before remembering Elena's first conversation with Dagnok.
"I'm - Assassin. And - may your enemies cower beneath your feet," he guessed, putting up a show of confidence. A pleased gleam flickered in Elena's eye and the new goblin bared his teeth at Sin in what the young wizard guessed was meant to be a smile. Sin narrowed her eyes at Elena; 'noble and most ancient house' seemed to be quite a big deal. He wondered if the wizarding world kept the sense of nobility from Tudor times.
Healer Kenrok cleared his throat gruffly before speaking. "I am going to perform a series of tests, which will be slightly painful, so that we can verify your identity."
Sin blinked, appreciating the honesty but being anxious all the same. He kept his mask of indifference up as best he could.
Elena turned back to Dagnok. "I have another, private matter I'd like to speak with my account manager about. If you wouldn't mind fetching Bogrod, then we can leave Healer Kenrok and Mr Potter here alone."
Dagnok nodded, and while Sin managed not to twitch at the sound of his old name, he almost gaped at Elena. Was she really going to leave him here alone?
It seemed she was, as she followed Dagnok out of the room and he was left to stand there as Healer Kenrok sized him up. The healer drew a silver quill from within his bag. The nib of the quill was very thin and looked razor sharp.
"Hold out your arm," Healer Kenrok ordered, and Sin did so, not wanting to piss off a goblin. The goblin gripped his wrist tightly and brought the nib of the quill down onto his forearm, breaking the skin and feeling a little like a bee sting. After a few seconds he withdrew the quill and pulled a gilded roll of parchment from his bag and let the tiny drops of blood drip from the nib onto the parchment.
The blood was absorbed into the parchment and Healer Kenrok let go of Sin's arm. The young boy rubbed it softly, the pain not really bothering him. As he watched, he did his best not to let his jaw drop as words began to spider across the page from where his blood had touched it. The goblin's face remained impassive as he turned to Sin.
"Would you like to read the results before your Lady Van Rau returns, or would you like her to be here?" Healer Kenrok asked.
Sin bit his lip. He wasn't sure he would understand any of the results himself, but Elena had enough control over his introduction to the wizarding world as it was. "I'd - I'd like to read them myself." The goblin nodded, handing him the parchment.
Elena followed Dagnok down the stone hallway, used to her footsteps making no noise. A small part of her was worried about leaving Assassin behind; worried that he would make some awful social gaffe and offend Healer Kenrok. However, the majority of her had faith in the boy. He was smart, and learned quickly. He never needed to be taught the same lesson twice.
She had grown something close to fond of the boy; she spent a lot of time with him, and while most of it was spent intimidating him or providing him pointers on his magic, he was still an interesting dilemma. Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, the Savior of the Light, the Vanquisher of Voldemort, on the muggle streets under a new name, under the wing of the lady of a notoriously dark and powerful house - not to mention a vampire.
Whatever game that old, wizened fool was playing, she thought, he was going to be vastly disappointed when his favorite chess piece turned up to Hogwarts not as soft clay ready to be molded, but as a powerful sculptor ready to mold others. She almost wished she could go with the boy to Hogwarts just to see the old coot's face.
Dagnok lead her into a small office, the walls black marble. There was a desk on one side, three velvet seats on an adjacent wall, and a fireplace with a gilded mantlepiece across from the desk.
Bogrod sat at a desk opposite the fire, a handsome green quill in his hand. He looked up from his work when Elena and Dagnok walked in, and he stood quickly, bowing deeply.
"Lady Van Rau, may your gold be plenty and your vaults full," He said. She nodded at him and he straightened.
She bowed back, more shallow, and replied, "and may your plans come to fruition and your enemies cower beneath your feet." She turned to raise an eyebrow at Dagnok, who got the message and scurried from the room. The door shut and locked behind him with a soft 'click'.
"What can I do for you tonight, Lady Van Rau?" Bogrod asked. Elena smiled at him, her teeth glinting in the soft candlelight.
"For several years now, you've been trying to persuade me to name an heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Van Rau. Well, today is your lucky day. I know just the young wizard for the title."
Sin's eyes bugged out of his head as he finished the parchment.
Hadrian James Potter
Mother: Lily June Potter née Evans
Father: James Fleamont Potter
Inherited Lineage:
Heir of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Peverell
Heir to the House of Potter
Named Lineage:
Heir of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black
Lineage by Conquest:
N/A
Personal Blood Debts Owed:
N/A
Familial Blood Debts Owed:
Debt of Servitude owed by the Noble and Ancient House of Nott
Vaults With Current Access:
Potter Trust Vault
Black Trust Vault
Peverell Trust Vault
Peverell House Vault
Vaults Accessible Once Fifteen:
Peverell Artifact Vault
Potter House Vault
Vaults Accessible Once of Age:
Black House Vault
Black Artifact Vault
Vault Restrictions:
Muggle Conversion Restricted - Magical Guardian Pro Tem
Sin reread it again, compartmentalizing it so he could make some sort of sense from it. His parents… knowing their middle names made it more real, somehow. It humanized them. He felt a slight pang of sadness, but it was quickly smothered. He had a new family now. He moved on down the list.
Lineage… if the wizarding world did indeed run on a Tudorish sense of nobility, it sounded like he himself was quite important. He would have to ask Elena about that. Being the heir of two 'noble and most ancient' houses - whatever that meant - had to mean something important. And if he hadn't been descended from the line of Black, who had named him their heir? Did he have family he didn't know about? Perhaps friends of his dead parents? Or maybe, he mused, someone just wanted the Boy-Who-Lived to be an heir to their house. Vaguely he wondered what 'lineage by conquest' meant, but ignored it and moved on.
Blood debts. That could be very useful. Seeing as he was about to be thrown into a world he only knew about from Elena and Shade, he would need someone who would answer his questions. Elena's information wasn't trustworthy and Shade didn't know much of worth, especially about the political side things. And even aside from information, he would need someone watching his back. From what he knew of it, the magical world was a very dangerous place to be with no allies.
And the vaults… there were several, and his heart began to beat faster. If he really had access to that many vaults - and the houses he belonged to were as important as he hoped - then that would mean he was rich. He and his family would never have to worry about money ever again. Hero could get her blanket, they would never go hungry, they could get a real house, Sparky could get her walkietalkies, they could pay for bribes out of - Sin blinked as he realised the full implications of this. None of them would ever be in any danger of being arrested again… because they would never have to break the law again. They would never have to steal. For the first time since getting into bed with Elena, Sin felt truly hopeful.
And then, as he looked down at the last line on the parchment, he felt that hope sink. If that meant what he thought it meant, then his hopes for his family were shattered. No muggle conversion... that meant that wizards had a different currency than muggles. And if he couldn't convert it, it would be useless. He wouldn't be able to use it to help his family. Whoever his magical guardian pro tem was... Sin was going to find them, and force them to change it.
As he spiraled into despair and frustration, he noticed the ink on the parchment glimmered, and it changed. Several more words were added, and he reread the parchment again.
Hadrian James Potter
Mother: Lily June Potter née Evans
Father: James Fleamont Potter
Inherited Lineage:
Heir of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Peverell
Heir of House Potter
Named Lineage:
Heir of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black
Heir of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Van Rau
Lineage by Conquest:
N/A
Personal Blood Debts Owed:
N/A
Familial Blood Debts Owed:
Debt of Servitude owed by the Noble and Ancient House of Nott to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black
Life Debt owed by the Noble and Ancient House of Greengrass to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Van Rau
Vaults With Current Access:
Black Trust Vault
Peverell Trust Vault
Peverell House Vault
Potter Trust Vault
Van Rau Trust Vault
Vaults Accessible Once Fifteen:
Peverell Artifact Vault
Potter House Vault
Vaults Accessible Once of Age:
Black House Vault
Black Artifact Vault
Van Rau House Vault
Van Rau Artifact Vault
Vault Restrictions:
Muggle Conversion Restricted - Magical Guardian Pro Tem
Sin blinked as his blood turned to ice. Elena had named him her heir? Was that what she had just left him alone to do? He stood there staring at the parchment in shock. He couldn't fathom what on earth would motivate Elena to do such a thing. One moment she was threatening to kill his family, and the next she was naming him her family and basically handing him political power? It didn't add up.
Sin leant against the wall, the gears in his mind whirling, before his eyes narrowed in realization; realization of why Elena was teaching him all of this, why she named him her heir, why she was blackmailing him and getting him to fight for her. She wanted her own puppet. She couldn't use her full political might, because the government and the majority of the world believed she was dead. However, he would have just as much - if not more - political weight than her soon, and everyone already knew who he was. He was entering the playing field soon, and with the power Elena had over him, he was basically her little chess piece. And he had been handed a second safeguard, so that she could protect her investment; the life debt from the House of Greengrass.
Part of him felt sick at the manipulation, but he couldn't help but be impressed. She had pulled every string incredibly well, weaving them all into her massive plan. It was virtually foolproof; she knew his weakness. He wouldn't cross her for fear of her hurting Light, or the rest of his family, and with her teachings and his inherited power - and now her named power - he would have the political clout for her to maneuver. It was spectacularly well done.
So Sin made a decision. There was no way he was going to get out of this - so he would embrace it. He would do everything Elena asked; he would study up on wizarding politics, he would be sorted into Slytherin, he would learn about this world he was being thrust into so unceremoniously. He would claw his way up the Slytherin hierarchy, and then when he left school he would do the same with the political world outside Hogwarts. He would set himself up on top of everyone, he would bide his time, he would play Elena's puppet. Then, once he was the one pulling the strings, he would come for Elena. And she would pay for manipulating him. She would pay for daring to threaten those that were his.