"Welcome to Gringotts, Lady Potter," said Riptooth.
"I came here to discuss the option of being blood adopted into the Halliwell family," said Cerri.
"There is a potion that will replace the Evans blood from your body, but it's quite painful unless applied by a certified healer. There is also a blood spell, but it's restricted because the last time it was used some idiot broke into the ritual and nearly killed the one using it. The potion is your best bet."
"Does it require anything, and how much is the cost?"
"For best results, you should add a small piece of the people you wish to replace the Evans blood. A strand of hair from each works well, but it takes the longest to kick in. As for the cost, the potion itself is a hundred galleons, since it takes time to make and it can only be done in small batches to avoid waste."
"How much for the recipe?"
"The recipe is twenty galleons," said Riptooth automatically, "However it should only be attempted by a potionsmaster or an experienced Wiccan. If incorrectly brewed it can have disastrous side effects, like taking powers from others."
"Penny Halliwell is an experienced Wiccan. Now about my accounts..."
"As of right now the main Potter account is at roughly one billion pounds. The trust vault, which was set for your use has one million pounds. The Black Account, which comes from both your paternal grandmother and being named heir by the last head Sirius Black, is estimated at two million pounds. The Peverell vault is estimated at five hundred thousand pounds, plus a rather large library which was put into Gringotts shortly before the death of the last head," said Riptooth, looking at the papers he was given. He suddenly found something that made him frown.
"What?"
"This is strange. According to this you have a betrothed through the Weasley family, and the contract was written up by one Molly Weasley and Albus Dumbledore."
"WHAT?! Is there any way to break it?"
"You can reset your magical guardian once the potion takes full effect. Before then I would recommend changing the names on the vaults. Now, despite the fact you are underage, you can still appoint a new guardian for yourself until you turn seventeen."
"Can I dole out the Potter fortune before I change the name?"
"As heir, yes. Though there is a slight problem you should be aware of."
"What problem?"
"Your parents are alive."
"What."
"According to these records James Potter abdicated in favor of his heir, but left the trust vault the only one active. His current residence is in Canada. You have two brothers and one sister..."
"You mean to tell me that my mother and father left me to suffer through my maternal aunt? Why?"
"I do not know. However because he abdicated his position as family head, you are in a unique position to cut them out of the Potter fortune."
Cerridwen decided that instead of acting like the Gryffindor she was, for once she would be the Slytherin she should have been.
"Exactly how much do they use annually?"
"Roughly two thousand galleons a year."
"Here's what we'll do. Set aside twenty thousand galleons and leave it in whatever vault they use the most. The rest I'm dividing between myself and my sisters, since they have a right to it as well. My soon-to-be former parents aren't getting a knut more."
The goblin had a vicious grin. Leaving a small amount of the fortune for them meant that the Potters wouldn't be aware that she had cut them off until it was far too late to change anything. James Potter wasn't adding any money into the account. Which was why his next question was "Do you want us to have pictures of their reaction when they find out you know they were alive the entire time?"
"I'll pay a hundred galleons just to see the look on their face when they realize their mistake," said Cerri viciously.
"Done. Now how do you want to do this?"
"Is it possible to put galleons into my sister's accounts, except converted into dollars?"
"It would be cheaper to put it in bullion, and the mundane banks will convert that into cash."
"Here's what we'll do. I want two hundred and fifty thousand dollars worth of gold bullion, or close enough to it deposited into my sister's accounts. That should last them until their powers are finally unbound. After that we can decide how to split up the gold and the rest," said Cerri.
Goblins wouldn't deal with a witch who had no powers. If the others tried to take gold directly from the vault before they got their powers, they would be laughed out of the bank. So Cerri would take the middle ground.
She would leave gold in their accounts until their powers were freed, and then they could decide what to do with it.
And since she wasn't completely heartless, she left ten thousand galleons for her brothers and sister in a trust vault when the Potters finally found that Cerri knew about them and she was really angry with them.
She did, however, get their current address just in case she ever felt the need to drop in on them.
Grams was rather pleased when she found out what Cerri had done with her vault. Not only did it wreck the plans of Dumbledore, but it also meant that the girls would be able to keep the house in the family for years since they could now pay for the upkeep.
Piper was just happy she could go to culinary school now, since she had been worried that Prue would overwork herself trying to pay for it. Prue had gone into history and art. Phoebe was still trying to find what she was good at.
Then they hit a snag a month later.
"What."
It was such a simple word, but it conveyed Cerri's disbelief in the issue that Riptooth had given her.
"Minister Fudge has apparently decided to try and force your return through the illegal marriage contract that was written up to you and one Ronald Weasley. Unless you bring forth someone of the Potter bloodline to break the contract that is over the age of seventeen within the next two months, your magic will be taken from you until you marry him," stated Ripfang. He looked rather disgusted by the tactic.
Cerri looked pissed...but fortunately there was a way around this mess.
"Prue turns eighteen next week. She's the 'oldest' confirmed Potter that is legally registered. Her powers might be bound but they are still present."
"We can send one of our first gens to bring the paperwork. A little blood and this contract will be rendered void. Since this wasn't approved by your true magical guardian or you, it was on shaky ground to begin with."
"You might want to bring something that will fake a papercut. Prue and the others were raised without the knowledge of magic, so pretend they're still muggles. No one would look twice at a papercut though," warned Cerri.
Riptooth's eye glinted.
"A papercut would fill the blood requirements, and her signature with a special pen can deal with the rest. Once she turns eighteen we'll send our man over."
"Please tell me there's something we can do to keep this from happening again. Some fine or humiliating thing we can force Fudge to deal with?" said Cerri, eyes glinting.
"We can claim he tried to perform 'line theft' through a false marriage contract and then steal most of the money he makes through bribes. But we'll want a percentage," said Riptooth immediately.
Cerri grinned evilly.
"Half to the goblins, half into the Halliwell accounts."
"Deal."
Cerri picked up the paper which had been dropped by a discreet postal owl. It was easier to hide from her sisters, and this one was charmed so that they never saw the pictures move.
Her grin was cruel and she barely refrained from cackling.
MINISTER FUDGE IN HOT WATER FOR LINE THEFT DUE TO FALSE MARRIAGE CONTRACT! MINISTER NOW UNDER INVESTIGATION FROM GOBLINS AND WIZANGAMOT TO DISCUSS HIS FATE! GOBLINS SEIZE MOST OF FUDGES' VAULT AS RECOMPENSE!
In a startling announcement from the Goblin nation's representative and liaison for Gringotts Bank, Minister Fudge is now under heavy fire after an attempt to force Eris Potter back to England using a marriage contract. What our reporters were shocked to learn was that the contract in question was to the Weasley clan, specifically the Girl-Who-Lived's best friend Ronald Weasley. Mr. Weasley denied any knowledge under oath about the existence of the contract. What was more was that this contract was never made by Ms. Potter or by Mr. Weasley, but by the supposed Magical Guardians. Aurors are currently looking into who authorized this, as the goblins were very adamant that Potter's magical guardian is none other than Sirius Black.
When questions by reporters, the goblins said that the contract was rendered void by Potter's current guardian, her cousin Prudence Halliwell, age 18.
The Halliwell family, who are descended from the very prestigious Warren clan of America, are related to Potter through her paternal second uncle.
For the full contract, Page three
For history of the Warren clan, Page ten
For more of Fudge's mistakes, Page thirteen
Cerri grinned.
"Is that the paper?" asked Penny. Cerri handed it over and the woman started laughing. She knew something had to be up when Cerri brought an adult muggleborn home a week after Prue turned eighteen and discreetly got her blood on an official contract.
Prue had been disgusted with the British idiots trying to reclaim her little sister through such an outdated method, and had refused to speak of what she had to sign. She was just glad that there wouldn't be a repeat.
"So how is school going?"
"Phoebe is a lot of help, even if she is in a year above mine. Though I could do without the boys staring at my ass and bust all the time," said Cerri annoyed.
"Language Cerri. And unfortunately you'll have to deal with that. They're teenagers, meaning that their hormones are ruling them until they grow up a little more. Which brings me to another uncomfortable topic. Dating."
Cerri winced.
"I've had five boys already come to ask me out. And I'll tell you the same thing I told them. You have to get through Prue and Piper first."
And that hadn't amused Prue one bit. Though to be fair it was better they deal with the strict Prudence than an angry Penny.
Penny smiled. It was good to see Cerri going out of her way to bring her newly found family closer.
"Still, we'll need to have a talk about boys. If only so you have something else to commiserate to your sisters with."
Cerri grimaced. The only thing that ran through her mind was the fact that at least it was better than having to hear this from McGonagall, Madam Pomphrey or the Goddess forbid, Molly Weasley.
When a girl hit puberty, they were generally sent to either their head of house (if they were a Hufflepuff or Gryffindor respectively) or to Hogwart's Medi-witch. Had Cerri hit that time during the summer months, she would have had this conversation with Molly Weasley. She had been dreading it since second year.
She was still mortified beyond belief though.
"What happened to you?" asked Phoebe, looking at her little sister in worry.
Cerri lifted her head long enough to say the magic words.
"The Talk."
Phoebe grimaced.
"You poor thing. How does raiding the kitchens for chocolate sound?"
"Piper used the last of the chocolate up yesterday. What time is it?"
"Around seven."
"Let's see what's on at the movies," said Cerri, sitting up.
Phoebe grinned. Out of all the sisters, she got along with Cerri the best because they were the closest in age. Even if Cerri had managed to skip a year in school once she got used to the American equivalents. Though to be fair, the fact that America didn't used the metric system threw her for a real loop.
The second closest to Cerri was Piper, and that was because they bonded over cooking. Prue usually talked over various mythologies and legends with her, and Cerri managed to get her interested in Wiccan culture. It was fascinating how much Christian/Catholic dogma had in fact been integrated from pagan rites just to keep people happy when one religion took over another.
Like Christmas or Halloween for example.
Cerri grinned as she tossed a pillow at Phoebe, sparking a pillow fight. Piper walked in, got hit in the face, walked out and the grabbed another pillow before she nailed them both at the same time.
Eventually they somehow managed to bring Prue into the fight.