Chapter Twelve – If You Want Blood (You've Got It)
or Gringotts revisited
I was woken up by someone petting my hair next morning. When I opened my eyes, I saw it was Hedwig who was preening me lovingly. I smiled at her happily and petted her head in return. We spent a few minutes just enjoying getting to know each other and cuddling. There was a quiet knock on the door and Snape silently entered the room. Seeing Hedwig and I still in bed cuddling, he sighed in that long-suffering way that most parents sigh in sometimes and gave us both a minuscule smile.
"Good morning, professor!" I said happily as I sat up in bed, trying to detangle myself from the covers. Hedwig whistled and hopped up to the perch that was included with the room.
"Good morning, miss Potter," he replied and crossed his arms as he watched me flail around the bed for a minute or so until I fell out and onto the floor. Yeah, coordination and I aren't exactly friends. I can walk without tripping most of the time, but the little things like bumping elbows into doorknobs and chairs, or stubbing my toes on carpets or other things that are strewn on the floors, or as I described previously disentangling things, often give me problems. There was one time I stubbed my toe that it kept hurting for half a year straight!
"I'm okay," I chirped at Snape as I poked my head up from behind the bed where I had fallen.
"I can see that," Snape drawled with a small smirk on his face. I'm sure I was amusing him a lot right now. I pouted at him childishly and the smirk grew.
Yes, definitively amusing him.
"I'll leave you to change and order some breakfast. Do you have anything specific in mind to break your fast with?"
For some reason, I found this funny and grinned while I scrambled up into a standing position and went over to my trunk where we had put the clothes that had been delivered yesterday evening from Madam Malkin's. While deciding what I wanted to wear, I thought for a moment and then said, "Can I have some bircher muesli, please? I've never had it before and I love muesli!"
Snape didn't say anything before leaving the room to let me get dressed, but I had a feeling he wasn't going to deny me the muesli.
There wasn't much choice for my clothes yet, so I decided to wear a day dress, much like the dress I had on yesterday, only this time I chose a dark blue colour. I loved the feeling of the georgette fabric. It was perfect for summer and I had never worn it before, not even in my previous life.
I skipped down the stairs and into the private dining room from yesterday, skilfully avoiding the morning guests (which there weren't that many of) and greeting Tom just as he was exiting the room. He cheerfully greeted me back.
Snape was already sitting at the table, nursing a huge cup of coffee, a newspaper to the side of his full English breakfast. My breakfast was waiting for me next to him and I sat down at the indicated place. Without further ado, I gleefully attacked the muesli and drank the milk Snape had gotten me. Luckily I wasn't lactose intolerant.
During the time I had taken to eat, Snape had drunk the mug of coffee and read the Daily Prophet. I wondered if I should take a subscription to it, but decided to think about it at a later time since Snape looked like he wanted to discuss something with me. Wiping my mouth with a napkin, I straightened up to listen to what he had to say.
"We'll be going to Gringotts and requesting to talk to your account manager. Have you thought about any questions you have for them?"
I pursed my lips in thought. I had been thinking about it indeed.
"Am I going to have to have proof that I belong to the Potter family or are they going to take me at my word?"
"The goblins can do a small blood test to see what families you are either Heir or Head to, yes," Snape agreed while watching me. "You are automatically Head to the House of Potter, but can't actually do anything about it until you turn of age, which is seventeen. Until then you can have a proxy assigned to vote in the Wizengamot and a Steward to run your House until you reach your majority and that can teach you what is expected of you after you turn seventeen. The blood tests can show if you have blood rights to any other families."
This sounded really neat since I wanted to learn about pure-blood manners and etiquette and having a Steward that could teach me it would be wonderful. I wondered who I could appoint as Steward, but decided not to think about it further until we actually got to Gringotts.
"Do you think my parents left a will?" I asked him cautiously. I did not want to sound heartless talking about all of this, but I needed to know. I had no idea what reading a will entailed, but after reading quite a few fanfictions on this theme I thought I had a good idea.
"Yes, they probably did. A lot of the wizarding families in the last war filed their wills with Gringotts Bank just in case," Snape answered as she stood up, waiting for me to do the same as we exited the private dining room and made our way to the back of the Leaky Cauldron to once again enter Diagon Alley.
"So, my House is like the muggle nobility then? With Stewards and voting?" I asked as we walked down the street. I thought of the House of Lords as I asked him that.
"Yes, insofar as we can only hold the title of Lord or Lady," Snape replied.
The mention of the blood test made me think. Harry Potter was definitively related to the Peverells. I wondered what reaction the goblins and professor Snape would have at learning that I was descended from one of the ancient famous wizarding families that went extinct. Slytherin was also a possibility as was Gaunt, but I doubted that it would show anything else than me being related to them. Lord Voldemort was, after all, the Heir of Slytherin... or was he the Head of it, since he was apparently the only living being (I'm not going to call him a human or a person) with Slytherin blood. If the blood test showed I was related to Slytherin, I think that could make me the Heir. I had to cackle mentally at that, since if I let the second year at Hogwarts happen in the same way as it did in canon, I would indeed be the Heir of Slytherin. That made me think of the Horcrux in my scar and of me being a parselmouth. Was being a parselmouth linked to the Horcrux or was it actually a family inheritance?
I guess I would learn about it soon since Snape and I just entered Gringotts while I was mulling over things.
We once again went to the first goblin we saw that had no people in front of him and asked him if we could talk to my account manager. The goblin looked down at me from where he was sitting and said,
"I will need a small drop of your blood to ensure that you are who you claim to be. It is standard procedure for first-time claimants to ensure that there are no fraudulent claims."
I nodded, expecting this and gave him my finger where he made a small cut with his dagger and let a drop of my blood sprinkle a piece of parchment which flashed a green colour.
"You are indeed Adaline Lily Potter, daughter of James Potter and Lily née Evans Potter. I shall announce you to your account manager Rognod, son of Bogrod shortly. Please wait over there."
I had to wonder if Bogrod was the same Bogrod that led the polyjuiced Hermione to the Lestrange vault in the Deathly Hallows but didn't think about it further as Snape and I were led to a small waiting area off to the side of the main bank area. There were a lot of long and narrow passages with lots and lots of doors. On each door there was a goblin name and what family they were the account manager to. There was the Malfoys, Notts, Abbotts, and I even caught a door that I wasn't sure if it said, Potter or Porter.
It turned out that it was Potter as the bank teller goblin that we talked to before went straight to that door and knocked on it, before entering it. Shortly after that, he exited it again and motioned for us to enter it.
Snape put a hand on my shoulder as he led me inside a small, but artfully decorated office. There were goblin-themed paintings hanging from the grey walls and goblin sculptures streaked around the marble floor here and there. A giant, black desk was sat in the centre of it and a middle-aged goblin was sitting behind it in a carved wooden chair. There were a couple of empty seats in front of him.
"Welcome Lady Potter, Potions Master Snape," the goblin who could only be Rognod said, while standing up from behind the desk and coming around it to shake hands with us. "I had hoped you would have shown up soon," he said to me as he let go of my hand and motioned for us to take a seat.
I smiled at him politely and sat myself down as neatly and lady-like as I could. I could almost imagine my previous parents snorting at that since I usually couldn't sit like that due to me being so overweight, though that fat disappeared during the last years of my life.
"Thank you, Mr. Rognod," I said as Snape also sat himself down on the chair next to me.
"Just Rognod is fine, Lady Potter," Rognod replied and gave me a toothy smile. Then he turned to Snape and said, "Thank you for bringing her, we have much to discuss."
Snape nodded and then said, "We had wondered if there was a will that James and Lily Potter had left and if you could tell us about Lady Potter's assets and investments if there are any."
Rognod nodded to both inquiries and opened a drawer on his desk. "I had prepared for both of those inquiries in case Lady Potter turned up and asked to talk to me."
He pulled out two files. One of them was pretty thin, and the other was pretty thick. Then he opened another drawer and pulled out a similar dagger that the bank teller used on me before and a blank piece of parchment. He looked at us calculatingly, then added, "I had also wondered if you might want to take a more advanced blood test to see if there are any other vaults lying in Gringotts that you can lay a claim to. It is not exactly standard procedure, but by you being the last of the Potters and the rest of the Potters being somewhat secretive about it, I have to admit I wonder."
I looked at Snape to see what he thought about it. I imagined that the connection to the Slytherin and Peverell family was the reason they were so secretive unless that knowledge went forgotten due to the Potter family being so old. I wondered if James knew about being related to Slytherin.
"It is your decision," was all he said as he saw me looking at him.
I did indeed want to know about my ancestors, so I nodded my assent to Rognod.
I received another toothy smile as he leaned down on his seat.
"Good, good," was all he had to say on the matter.
"Now, let us start with the Will of James Potter, shall we? There are quite a few beneficiaries written in it and it shall take us a few days to notify all of them. Unfortunately, the will had been sealed until the last Potter could come and ask for it to be read, so we don't know what the will itself contains. If you could wait a few days for the beneficiaries to appear, we can get to reading it then."
I nodded, not really enthusiastic about reading the Will of my dad, but knowing that it had to happen. I hoped one of the beneficiaries was Remus Lupin so I could get to know him sooner than in my third year if I hadn't managed to free Sirius by then. I also hoped that my parents were smart enough to mention about the Secret Keeper switch in the will. It would help free Sirius that much faster unless the Ministry tried to brush it all under a rug.
"Then I would suggest we start on the blood test so that we can get a head start on calculating all of your assets," Rognod said. I nodded again and put my right hand over the parchment, watching as Rognod made a small incision and let a few drops of my blood trickle onto the parchment. Snape then took my hand and waved his wand over it, healing the small cut immediately.
The parchment flashed green again, and then like a spider web, names started appearing on it, starting with my name at the bottom of the parchment with the date of my birth written underneath it.
Author's Note: I willingly admit that this took me a while because I'm not too familiar with financial or law terms. Also, I might not be able to update this story for a few days. We're probably returning home tomorrow or the day after and we'll be busy with packing. Also, I think I'm in need of a Beta - I'm not too sure if my writing makes any sense. Well, it makes sense to me, but barely. I have a feeling I'm jumping around too much. And mixing quite a few phrases. If anyone wants to help, please send me a PM! I'll try to update as soon as I get home and situated again. Also, I haven't been able to sleep these past fourteen days, so I'm kinda hoping I'll crash and burn when we get home and I get to go to MY bed. I'm thinking I might sleep for three days straight. Have a nice day and thank you so much for your support! It makes my days. :)
