I apologize that chapter 3 was a week+ late. The next few chapters will be better, the next one should be out around the end of the month. This one's coming out now because I wont have my computer for a few days, and I was gonna release it saturday.

For the most part these chapters are more to introduce you to the characters and see how they interact, rather than add to the greater plot. Less action, more a slice of life (just at a kinda important time).

WARNING- Arcturus Black is essentially The Mad King. His 'scene' is sectioned off by line breaks.

Same Day, Just after Walburga and Sirius have left

Orion adjourns to his study after the meeting in the parlour to get started on his plans to deal with the Muggle Davon Krane and his associates down at the warehouse. He knows he can't take any direct action just yet, but that didn't mean that someone else can't. Yes, it may take a while, and more than a little cunning, and a good amount of gold to grease the right wheels, but Orion is sure he will get his vengeance.

Not ten minutes after Walburga had left there came a tapping at the Orion's window. A harried owl wearing a small MoM vest is valiantly attempting to get his attention. A rather impressive feat as the windows to his study a magically enhanced to reduce noise filtering in from the outside.

It is Kreacher who goes to the window and removes the missive attached to the owls leg. The Blacks do not allow unknown animals into their house, especially not owls which are not uncommon familiars. The idea of letting another witch or wizard's bonded animal into his study of all places unsettles Orion. The room is filled with the greatest weapon another person could have against his House: their knowledge and secrets.

Luckily Kreacher's House Elf magic ensures that the beast remains outside the room. An added bonus, Kreacher being nearly 200, is immune to every influencing magic, short of an imperious or blood magic, that could be used to try and persuade the person who had taken the letter from the owl.

Kreacher sends the bird off with a small treat for its work. Sniffing the letter and finding it untampered with Kreacher hands it over to Orion, who, with a quick flick of his letter opener breaks the seal.

To The Venerable Lord of The Most Noble And Ancient House of Black;

Lord Orion Arcturus Black MMM

Lord Black,

This letter has been sent as a Request of Inquisition. Yesterday Aurors were alerted to several spikes of unauthorized magic in the Greater London area. Upon further investigation your magical signature was found at the scene (comparison record:Dueling Championship 1953, Prague), as well as another carrying Black family markings.

The Auror Office requests your presence to better understand the situation at hand.

I would be grateful to speak with you at your convenience, Best Regards,

Junior Auror Anderson Davies

Well wasn't that just as prettily worded as could be, Orion smirked to himself. It was obvious that Davies had drawn the short straw and been forced to send the missive. Orion would have felt bad for the man if he weren't already in a foul mood for the day, dealing with the Auror Office would only make things worse. Or maybe better? Orion is sure that if he can make even one of the Junior Aurors cry today he'll be in much better spirits.

"Would Master Orion like Kreacher to gather the stationary for a reply and ready Hermes?" Orion considers before coming to a better -more fun for him- decision.

"No need, Junior Auror Davies wishes for me to come at my convenience. So I'll do just that. And he'll be grateful for the opportunity."

Both Orion's and Kreacher's mouths twist into sneers. Orion is a Lord and a Member of the Wizengamot, a Junior Auror isn't even of a high enough rank to serve him tea. The fact that he was not contacted by a higher ranking Auror means that someone is either trying to insult him, a decision that would likely end their career, or the case is being mishandled be a bunch of green boys, far more likely.

"I'll be taking my leave now. Neither Walburga nor I will be back for Tea, feel free to use the afternoon for your own devices", Orion remarks while filling a brief case with a series of folders and parchments he had only finished drafting minutes ago.

Orion leaves and locks down his office before heading downstairs. Within minutes he has fooled straight into one of Gringotts's special waiting rooms. These rooms were developed to ensure that patrons seeking uncommon or unorthodox goods or services would not be subject to prying eyes. In this case he needs to talk to the Goblin Artifact Loss Office, something that is both humiliating and would start a rash of rumours if anyone were to find out.

Nearly at once a large door across the room opens, it doesn't squeak, but does make a sound caused by the sheer weight of the door on its hinges. Few people are aware of how inhumanly strong the goblins are, that door likely weighs a ton, it is only as thick as Orion's thumb. The Goblin in the doorway is familiar, one that Orion has dealt with many times before, and hopefully so will his children and their children after.

"Vault Manager Gritgnaw"

"Lord Black"

Each being nods, steps forward and clasps wrists before bowing over their joined hands, their unjoined hands crossed behind their backs, each with their weapon of choice in hand; Orion his wand, Gritgnaw his blade. This is not the common way to greet a goblin, which is normally a firm handshake at best and maybe a bow or curtsy. This is the greeting of the International Interspecial Dueling Syndicate, the brutalist dueling competition in the world. Orion and Gritgnaw had met many years before as duelists in said competition and had become fast friends after Gritgnaw had summarily wiped the floor with Orion's overconfident ass in one of his first All-Out duels. Orion had worked hard to learn how to break through the goblin's sheilds and had finally accomplished it on their third duel. Not that he had won in the end, Gritgnaw had been dueling since Orion had been in diapers. But, Gritgnaw had taken a liking to the cunning and tenacious young man and had taken him out for drinks afterwards.

Unfortunately the drinks had been goblin-brew.

To this day Orion is still unsure of what exactly happened, but he knows he ended up wearing the dress of one of the other duelists, a Veela named Isabella, she assured him he wore it well. Ate something that caused him to burp up incandescent bubbles for two weeks. And Memorized a 90 stanza goblin love ballad, -In GobbledyGook,to the cheers of all the goblins present- which he then sang with such emotion that he accidentally called upon inherent song magic, which led to three bar brawls, a rather quick and messy divorce, and 4 marriages. He has since been asked by multiple of the aforementioned parties to come to their weddings and sing them 'their song' for their first 'dance', a euphemism for the couples first duel as married partners, first against each other and then against their guests. He goes to each and every one, nobody throws a wedding like a goblin. Gritgnaw even had him act as ring bearer in his own wedding. Which in the goblin culture means he had to keep the wedding guests from stealing the rings until the ceremony commenced, an old custom meant to prove that the couple knew how to make strong and lasting alliances.

He's pretty sure there's some other stuff, and that Gritgnaw has photographic evidence, but he's never been able to figure it out. Sure, he could try to threaten or bribe the others to tell him what had happened, but Gritgnaw and the other duelists are the closest thing he's ever had to a mentor or friends and he won't ruin that just because he embarrassed himself when he couldn't handle his liquor. Plus, he's pretty sure they gave Walburga a scrapbook filled with his escapades for a wedding gift, one with a goblin-made bloodlock that he can't get into. If it were truly upsetting he knows his wife would have already done him in rather than live with the embarrassment of being married to him. It helps knowing there's no chance of anyone ever speaking of his involvement outside the walls of Gringotts.

Rising from their bow Gritgnaw addresses the younger man first, "Not that the sight of you is unwelcome, but it is rare for you to come on such short notice, unless you are only gathering coin for your purse." His companion's voice is craggy, a common occurrence for a people some believed were born from the mountain itself.

"Unfortunately, I am here with unwelcome news. I need to register an item in the Loss Office", Orion's face smooths over, no longer open to the goblin before him. Orion has more than one reason to hate the office in question, and knows the office hates his family in turn.

"The GALO? Very well I'll lead you, as I know you've never personally been there yourself," Are Gritgnaw's only words before leading Orion out of the room and through the maze of offices and corridors that make up the upper levels of the bank.

Unlike your father who has time and again tainted, destroyed, or lost the precious artifacts of my people, is left unspoken but still hangs in the air.

Arctus Black depravities had been rotting his house from the inside out for years. His actions had cost the family; in the friends and lovers rebuffed rather than dragged into their damned fate, in the futures stolen from their sons and daughters, in the blood of the innocent slaughtered by a madman, in the anger of the gods that would likely rip his House apart. Among his many grievances was the fact that the man regularly 'misplaced' important and powerful goblin relics.

Gritgnaw had been the one to bring it up to him, when their previous account manager had quit, furious from having to deal with Arturus's actions and blase attitude, and Gritgnaw had taken his place. Orion had taken the list of 'missing' items as well as samples of their magical signatures and gone on the hunt, he had been 23 at the time. The first item, a necklace that made sure the wearers voice never gave out, was usually a rather lovely and expensive gift for a wix who liked to sing. He had thought his father may have merely thrown it out when he no longer had a use for it. He should have known better. When he finally found the necklace he had emptied his stomach until all that came up was bile.

There, buried in the wall of one of his father's country estates were the remains of what must have been one of his father's mistresses. The motling on her body evidence she had not died quickly or peacefully, instead half-starved, beaten, and broken. The necklace he had been searching for wrapped around her neck like a noose, her eyes bulging, lips blue and mouth gasping, hand forever scrambling at her throat. She looked vaguely familiar, and the corpse was so fresh it couldn't have been more than a day old. Once Orion had gathered himself enough to look again he realised there was an envelope resting beside her, addressed My Dearest Anna.

What was written inside was a love letter to his father's sickest desires and most twisted fantasies. Anna had been a young widow whose brother-in-law had seen fit to sell her out to Arcturus for some backing in a matter before the wizengamot. Not that she had known. Arcturus and her Good Brother had decided to play a game with her. Arcturus would play the doting suitor in private, with her Brother-in-law quietly encouraging her to take his offer, it was not uncommon for widows to take up being mistresses, especially ones as young as her. When the time came Anna had been confined to this very country house. At first she had been happy, treated like a lady and doted upon. Arcturus had seemed to love her singing and had even gotten her a lovely goblin-made necklace, so that her voice would never fail her. Then things had changed, Arcturus had become rougher and then cruel. Soon he had started to beat her, but she couldn't escape. She was trapped in the house. When she had tried he had cursed her, she had woken up tied to the bed, Arcturus already inside her.

You cried and begged and screamed, My Dearest Anna, the note had read, it was then that I realised Your Screams were more music to my ears than any pretty song that had ever fallen from your lovely lips.

In the end Arturus had kept her tied to the bed, torturing her day and night, feeding her nothing 'but my cock and seed' until she had grown so weak that she could no longer scream. At which point Arturus had strangled her with the necklace and cast a preservation charm on her body, 'to keep her lovely', before stuffing her into a wall and resealing it. The letter was dated.

She had been in the wall for 10 years.

It was then that Orion had recognized her Anna Fawley, her daughter, Maria, had been a few years below him in hogwarts. Maria had claimed her mother had gone looking for herself after her husband's death and never returned. She'd been raised by her grandparents instead.

Every other artifact he had found to date had been on the bodies of progressively more mutilated women.

Orion crushes down those thoughts as they near what is clearly the Loss office, he's fairly sure the receptionist is giving him the stick-eye.

"Gritgnaw and Lord Orion Black to report the loss of a goblin-made artifact."

"Is That SO?" comes the other goblin's reply. Oh, yes, this one has definitely dealt with his father before.

"Very well, you may enter"

There is no real waiting done when one reported a goblin-made item missing. It is very important to have the item returned to either its rightful 'borrower' or creator as soon as possible.

Goblin forging magic is unique from that of any other magic.. Every goblin-forged item ever made is infused with a piece of magic from the goblin or goblins who crafted it, it is an extension of its creator/s, they are connected in the deepest of ways. All goblin-forged items are passed down hereditarily because the descendents of the goblin who forges an item are the only ones who can keep it from destabilizing, and the only ones who can revitalize it. If a goblin's creation is kept away too long it would start to drain them, If it isn't returned before their death the drain will affect their closest descendant .

To counteract this issue goblins 'leased out' their creations- they did not sell them. Being of fae descent goblin magic is affected by a binding contract, leases are a way to allow them to temporarily give out their creations without the possibility of suffering from the damage of a large magical drain. This is also why the older families kept their goblin-made items in gringotts when not in regular use, it satisfied the craft-creator bond and lowered the chances of the item losing its powers or enchantments.

Unfortunately, the actions of Orion's father, torturing and murdering young witches before burying them with their goblin-made gifts, had tainted or damaged every single item he had been able to return. Each one had had to be destroyed, rather than allow the bond to begin to rot and destroy the goblin who had made it. The act of destroying a goblins creation is tantamount to heresy and the greatest betrayal a goblin could know. For these reasons the House of Black has been banned from acquiring any new leases.

Orion, wanting to head off as much potential damage as possible, had allowed any goblin to renegade on their existing lease and reclaim their creations from his family vault. Most of the objects and weapons stayed but very little of the jewelry, outside of the ones his father couldn't touch, remains. What does remain are the works of several very vengeful goblins who have layered monitoring magic and curses into the jewelry they've crafted. Anytime his father attempted to harm or assault his mistresses he would find himself on the receiving end of some rather imaginative goblin curses. Orion would also be notified by Gringotts and would go and do his best to secret away the witch in question.

Orion and Gritgnaw were quickly brought into the office of and older, stern looking, female goblin. You could always tell the females from the males, they were far more vicious.

"Another Goblin-made item has been lost by the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black I see. What is it this time? A sapphire necklace? Opal Earrings? Golden Anklet?"

"A Golden Brooch with Black Diamonds and Tanzanite", Orion braces himself for the next part.

"I have no record of such an item amongst your family vault,'' The Female goblin says, rifling through a stack of papers that are no doubt the entirety of his family's remaining leases.

"No, you wouldn't, it would be filed under the Heir's Treasures"

Gritgnaw and She-goblin's necks crack -they snap their heads up so fast to face him. Treasures are some of the oldest and most powerful goblin-made items in existence. Losing one is like losing a world wonder. Some items are so old that hundreds of goblins can feel its call in their blood.

"How?" the word seems to come from both goblins at the same time.

"There was an incident", Gritgnaw snorts, it is a rather large understatement, "My son was attacked after removing the brooch and left it behind." Short and simple without giving much away, he may trust Gritgnaw but he doesn't know the other goblin.

The She-goblin goes over to a shelf containing 28 large tombs and grabs one bound in black dragonhide with faded silver and gold inscriptions. Ye Blacke Familie Ledgerr. The book that contains the lease and acquisition forms of every piece of the Black Treasure. It is around five inches thick.

The Black Treasure is the name given to every piece of jewelry and adornment that has been leased to his family in perpetuity. True, they have to renew the leases, and most of the Treasure remains in the vault at all times, but these items are sacred to the House of Black. The few outside the vault include His and His wife's wedding rings, his lordship ring, Sirius's heir ring, and Cassiopeia's priestess adornments, each one a vital and important relic. Each imbued with nearly a thousand years of magic.

As she reaches the desk Orion can hear her muttering darkly to herself in GobbledyGook. Though he only knows the meanings of the words from the ballad he has memorized, he can vaguely make out the words fucker, love, blade, eviscerate.

Goblin love is very intense. Walburga finds it romantic.

She slams the book open and begins to flip through the pages eventually settling on one. Her face grows incredulous as she reads farther down the page

"The brooch in question contains a siphoning feature, to allow the wearer's magic to strengthen the creator bond and extend the leases viability. The contract will become inactive when the brooch has left the presence of a Black. -We cannot label an item lost if it's contract is still active."

At this Orion raises an eyebrow, he is very aware of the requirements to label an item lost.

"The contract is still active."

"How? The brooch was lost in a muggle park, likely picked up by some passing muggle vagrant. It hasn't been in the presence of Black magic in over 18 hours."

"It says here that the brooch is in the possession of someone with a 100% Black magic signature."

"That's impossible! I don't even have 100% Black magic, and that's with the Lordship rites!"

"With that I cannot help you. We will monitor the contract and should there be any changes we will contact you. For the time being we will be happy to assist you in selecting another brooch from your Treasure."

Orion huffs, there's a good chance the missing brooch could end up causing him trouble down the road. But he does not want to dig through the trunks of trinkets locked in his family vault.

"Blue, Dark Blue. It's Sirius's favorite color." The she-goblin starts flipping pages again.

"There appears to be a brooch made of silver, coated in sapphires ranging from normal to near-black in color and with seven onyx chips forming a seven pointed star."

"Perfect"

"Lovely, I will have a runner fetch it for you and deliver it to you downstairs. Now please do me the great pleasure of leaving my office and never returning."

Goblin Facts:

Goblins are a warrior species known for their bloodlust- Orion gets along with them swimmingly.

Goblins do not give out their names to strangers, the bank tellers use pen-names.

Goblins have a pathological need to craft, however they cannot stand to have them go unused. Thus why they do business with wix.

(Little bit on house elves:

House elves count their years based on the closest equinox or solstice, Kreacher had turned 197 just that summer solstice, at 200 he would be considered an Elder, a position of great acclaim.

Kreacher is sensitive enough to magic that he can discern between a spell, enchantment, bewitchment, and the natural ambient magics of a wix. So he can tell if the letter has had any magic used on it or if it just has traces of leftover magic from the person who wrote it.

House elves do have down time which they use time off to develop other skills, sort of like how people have hobbies. This is paramount because they trade goods and services between each other, they do not like currency.)