The train journey back to Kings Cross had been quite enjoyable, it was just Rodrick and his first three friends. He'd set up a locking charm on the compartment door before covering the screen with an Obscuro charm. His friends stared at him curiously before he'd removed the Transfiguration on his face and spent the rest of the journey as himself. They had been quite surprised, aside from Daphne, to see what he really looked like. Blaise was put out he didn't look like a freak; he'd reasoned that was why Rodrick had to hide his face.

When they'd arrived at the station Rodrick hid his face once again before he left the compartment with the rest. After leaving the train He and Daphne gave their goodbyes to the others before they set out to look for Daphne's parents. He quickly shrunk both trunks receiving a thank you from the girl.

They both placed their respective trunks in their pockets.

"Do you think they're alrea-" Rodrick started before he felt someone crashing into him, he had to use magic to hold himself in place. Looking down, he saw black hair crowning two hazel eyes, they looked up at him before a grin broke out on the face.

Rodrick shook his head, a whimsical smile on his face as he ruffled the girl's hair.

"Nice to see you too, Tori," Rodrick spoke earning a broader grin from the girl.

He noted warily how pale she looked.

Letting go of the boy, Astoria moved towards her sister before she was pulled into a hug.

Astoria was somewhat surprised when she'd seen the two, looking towards the boy... Something about him seemed to call her towards him.

"I see how it is..." Daphne murmured into the girl's hair, "Greeting him before your own sister."

"He gives me more sweets," was the girl's only reply, eliciting laughter from Rodrick. Daphne resorted to pouting, she also complained about how he had more pocket money.

The two parents slowly caught up to their youngest daughter.

"To think in three months you'll be going with them," Roxanne spoke wistfully, there was a small tone of worry in her voice.

"Can't wait!" Astoria shouted out causing her father to chuckle.

"So nice to hear your daughter wanting to leave her home so quickly, isn't it darling?"

Roxanna huffed before raising her head dramatically.

"Well then, off to Diagon Alley?" Cyrus spoke, leading the group away.

The two students raised an eyebrow at that having expected to leave for the Manor immediately. Roxanne looked irritated at her husband.

"Must you do that now..."

Cyrus simply nodded before turning to Rodrick with several papers in hand, "Need to get these to Gringotts and hand them over to your account manager,"

Rodrick eyed the papers before remembering the house he was told about, he agreed eagerly.

Roxanne looked towards the cheerful boy before glaring towards her husband.

"You're encouraging him!"

"I am not moving out," Was all Rodrick said to calm her down.

Roxanne eyed him warily at that, disbelieving him.

Rodrick turned towards Astoria before whispering something in her ears.

"Mother I think Rodrick should move out!" Astoria remarked, greedy eyes popping out of her pale face.

"She's definitely going to Slytherin," Rodrick remarked, barely able to hold his laughter.

Roxanne turned to her youngest with a betrayed look on her face.

"What did you tell her?" Daphne asked curiously.

Rodrick didn't answer, he simply kept the cheerful smile on his face, irritating both mother and daughter and amusing the rest.

...

Arriving at Gringotts, Rodrick watched as Roxanne took both girls to Florean Fortescue's for ice cream.

Daphne gloated at his lack of luck.

Rodrick shook his head at the sight, and she called him childish.

"We'll get some on the way back," Cyrus remarked.

As they were walking Rodrick turned towards Cyrus and asked the question that had been bothering him for a while.

"Is Astoria ill?"

Cyrus stopped walking, there was no emotion on his face as he contemplated it before he sighed. He turned towards the boy with a torn up look on his face and gave him a small nod.

Rodrick felt terrible having put the man in such a mood, he hadn't expected such a reaction.

"How long? How long has she been ill?"

Cyrus shook his head at that, "She was born with it, it's a family curse"

A small light returned to Rodrick's eyes at that, he slowly turned towards his arm and settled on taking out the potions book.

"I'll look through my vault... See if there's anything that can help,"

Cyrus raised an eyebrow at that before he stated that they'd tried everything at St Mungos.

Rodrick gave him a small smile, "My vault has some pretty ancient books... You never know."

Cyrus nodded warily at that; he didn't dare raise any hopes of it coming true.

Reaching the counter, Rodrick watched as Cyrus asked to speak to his account manager. The goblin called for another to come to escort them towards the manager's room.

"Do you need me to come along as well? I sort of need to get something from my vault," Rodrick spoke.

Cyrus turned towards Rodrick at that and saw the determined look on his face, he sighed before repeating his question to the goblin.

The goblin looked up towards the Greengrass Patriarch with what passed off as a smile but Rodrick assumed was a sneer. "You his guardian?" the goblin asked, quite bluntly.

"I am, yes,"

"No need then," The goblin replied quickly before he turned around and went off.

Cyrus turned back to Rodrick and told him he'll meet him back here before he followed the goblin away.

Rodrick agreed quickly, he turned back to the goblin behind his desk and asked to see his vault.

"Very well, if you'll follow me to your trust vau-" the goblin started before he was cut off by the young wizard. Turning an affronted look to the young man, he listened.

"I want to see my family vault," Rodrick spoke out, determined.

"You're not 17," the goblin pointed out, uncertain.

"I don't need to be,"

"I'll have you-" the goblin once again started before he was cut off.

"Read my mother's contract,"

The goblin eyed the young boy warily, he knew very well what entailed that contract. It was the only one of its kind... A fool had signed it. Sighing, the Goblin resorted to something else.

"I must advise you against it, the things in that vault are quite dangerous."

Rodrick nodded at that before he politely replied.

"I would like to ignore that advice,"

The goblin twitched at that before he shrugged, if the boy wanted to get cursed, let him. "If you will follow me then, Mr Grindelwald,"

The boy's cheerful smile only managed to irritate him even more.

Arriving in his vault, Rodrick moved towards the bookshelves, he could hear the goblin hitch a breath at that. Looking through each book, Rodrick pulled the one about potions out. It had a tattered look to it but he could feel the charms circulating around it, keeping it in good condition. He was surprised to see the number of spells on it. He counted several locking spells as well as potentially backfire's in case someone tried to force it open. His grandfather had made sure to keep it open to who he wanted, in case anyone ever stole from the vault and lived of course.

As he was about to leave that section, however, he felt some magic emanating off another book. He turned his attention towards it, Rodrick noted warily that it must've been the book his grandfather had warned him about. He read the title of the book and frowned, he'd never heard of it. 'The Deathly Hollows' Taking the book out, he hitched a breath at the cover, there was a necklace in the middle, the same one in the middle of the room. Surrounding the necklace was a wand, a stone and what looked like a cloak. He was tempted to open the book, tempted to take it out but his grandfather's words rang through his head. 'Another time...' Rodrick thought disappointed

"That was the book." He heard the goblin say.

He turned towards the goblin and found a look of dread on the creatures face. "Excuse me?" he remarked.

"That was the same book... The one that sent one of ours for a loop, somethings wrong with it..." The goblin answered warily, there was a hint of panic in his eyes.

"Why keep it here then?" Rodrick asked.

The goblin's eyes showed some terror at the thought, "We tried to get rid of it..." The creature turned towards the middle of the room and pointed towards the necklace, "That always brought it back here,"

Rodrick narrowed his eyes slightly at that, "Why not get rid of that then?"

"We can't... Only someone with your blood can touch it,"

"You can touch this?" Rodrick raised the book in hand, "But not that that?" he turned towards the necklace, "I thought everything was cursed?"

"The curse stops others from taking anything from here, where the keepers, so were exempt from that, anything we try to remove though just comes right back in here because of that necklace,"

Rodrick frowned at that but before he could speak, the goblin added on.

"We've never tried to remove anything besides that book and the necklace." The goblin spoke wary, "The book came back on its own when we did... "

Rodrick raised a curious eyebrow, "The necklace?"

The goblin shuddered, sending several chills down the boy's spine.

"Dead,"

Rodrick blinked at that, "Dead?"

"The goblin that touched it, he died, moments after."

Rodrick's eyes had widened before he dropped the book in his hand.

The goblin raised an eyebrow at that, "You should have no worries... Your grandfather made it pretty clear when placed it here, no one was to touch it without him or well any Grindelwald around... Some of us refused to listen, wanted to examine it we did, never seen anything like it before."

Rodrick picked the book back up and returned it to its place.

"I think this book will do..." Rodrick motioned towards the potions one, looking through his pockets he found the pouch of galleons, checking it he figured he didn't need any more from the vault yet. As he was about to leave however he watched as a huge amount of gold disappeared from his vault.

Wide eyed, he turned towards the goblin who had thoughtful look on his face.

"Congratulations, you just bought a house," The Goblin murmured, there was a relieved look on his face. No doubt due to a large amount of the cursed gold that disappeared.

"That was incredible," Rodrick spoke wistfully, the magic worked almost instantly.

The goblin raised an eyebrow at that, "You watch 3 quarters of the gold in your vault disappear and you think it's incredible? You really are a strange one,"

Rodrick shrugged, "I am a Grindelwald"

...

Arriving back up to the desk, Rodrick found Cyrus waiting for him, he noted an embarrassed look on the man's face.

Cyrus' eyes glanced at Rodrick before he noticed the book on his hand, a potions one. He shook his head quickly before he focused his attention back on the boy.

"I am sorry," Cyrus spoke first, once again embarrassed.

Rodrick was taken back by the sudden apology, "What for?" he replied.

"The Goblin refused to use any gold from our vault; he insisted on usings yours... Something about a curse,"

Rodrick chuckled at that, "Roxanne's idea?" he asked bemused

Cyrus nodded.

"It's alright, I was planning to use my own vault anyway, I still have about a quarter of it left,"

Cyrus' eyes widened at that, "A quarter!?" he met the boy's gaze before promising to refill it for him, long as he didn't tell Roxanne he had accidentally bankrupted him.

Rodrick started laughing him, "It really is fine, most of my fortune comes from the family heirlooms, not the gold,"

Cyrus looked at the boy curiously at that, "You would sell your own family heirlooms?" he asked astonished, no family would ever consider that...

"Never said it was my families..." Seeing the affronted look on the man's face Rodrick quickly pointed out that his grandfather was an avid collector. "I mean I'd return it but I am not exactly sure said families are still alive..." His voice slowly lowered as he went on.

Cyrus just nodded before he changed the subject. Plenty of families did that sort of thing during a war.

"What do you think your grand father planned to do with all of that gold?"

"Probably buy a nice luxurious prison cell," Rodrick remarked, earning an amused look from Greengrass. He'd pay for that one later...

"Sounds like Malfoy to me," Cyrus joked "What did the goblin mean about a curse?"

Rodrick looked away at that, "Everything in my vault is sort of cursed... Extremely cursed..."

Cyrus looked down warily to the book in the boy's hand.

Rodrick noticing the mans gaze quickly pointed out the curse lifted as soon as he left the vault.

"Although this seems to have a small charm placed on it to stop anyone else from opening it with my permission..."

"What sort of charm?"

"I am not sure, it's probably a bad idea to try to find out," Rodrick remarked as he stared at the book in the question. He quickly used a shrinking charm and set the miniature book into his robe pocket, right next to the shrunken trunk.

"Could send it to Malfoy and find out..." There was half a serious half, joking look on the man's face as he spoke.

Rodrick shook his head at that, barely holding his laughter. "That's horrible... Draco happens to be my friend."

"So my daughter tells me... I meant the older one anyway."

Rodrick looked aghast, "You know if it weren't for him I wouldn't be your ward."

"I'll send him a thank you letter later," Cyrus deadpanned.

"Really?"

Cyrus nodded, "I'll include that book with it."

Rodrick started laughing. The two quickly left the bank at the looks they received.

...

Meeting up with the rest of the family, they headed off to the manor. To Daphne's annoyance, Astoria had latched onto Rodrick's wand arm and refused to let go. When they'd arrived at the Manor, Rodrick took his wand out and released the transfiguration on his face. He then went for one of the sofa's in the living room, Astoria followed him. When he sat down, the girl decided to take a nap on his shoulder. She didn't even react to his face changing.

Roxanne eyed her youngest daughter with an amused look, when she turned to her eldest she found the girl irritated to say the least.

"When did you two decide to swap bodies?" Roxanne asked the girl trying and failing to avoid smiling.

"I don't know what she's playing at..."

Daphne moved towards Rodrick and sleeping sister; she was about to wake up the girl before she saw Rodrick shush her, irritating her even more.

Rodrick just relaxed his head back onto the sofa.

Daphne took the other seat by him, resting her head on his free shoulder much to his surprise.

"Seriously?" He muttered quietly.

Daphne shushed him.

"Thought you said you didn-"

"Shut up,"

Roxanne stared at the three bemused. She walked over to the three of them, a levitated blanket behind her, she stopped in her tracks when she saw her youngest daughter.

She was clutching onto the cursed arm... What surprised her the most, however, was that her face looked healthier...

She quickly went to her husband and called him towards the three of them. He frowned somewhat when he saw the position they were in before Roxanne pointed out Astoria's condition.

If he was shocked, he didn't show it. All he could think of was what the boy had told him back in the bank regarding the potions book.

Rodrick opened his eyes to see both parents staring at Astoria curiously. They noticed him being awake, he slowly nodded towards them, before cocking his head towards the youngest girl's head.

"I don't know what Daphne's doing though..." He mouthed afterwards, much to Roxanne's amusement.

Cyrus had shaken his head before he moved away, his wife stayed behind talking to the boy about something.

If the red tinge that appeared on the boy's face meant anything, Cyrus did not want to know.

"I am most certainly not!" He heard him remark, mortified.