Disclaimer: Once again, as much as I wish it, I do not own Harry Potter, nor any and all of its subsidiaries as owned by J.K Rowling, Warner Bros etc. All characters, and so far all places, belong to J.K Rowling. Only the ongoing plot of this story is mine, and I do not make, nor wish to make, any money from this story.
AN: 'Italics' = Ali's private thoughts.
~"Gobbledygook"~
Ali spent the next hour or so toing and froing with Ragnok over their next steps as she had absolutely no idea of where to start. Fortunately, Ragnok was inordinately helpful, it seems that proof of theft, or more accurately in this case, fraud, earns you a one-way ticket to Goblin's shit list. 'All the better for me though. Ha!' Though a very healthy bank balance may have helped too.
"So we are agreed Lady Potter, you shall claim all your Headships. I shall contact Lord Belby on your behalf and enquire as to whether he'd be interested in re-commencing his position as the Potter Family Lawyer, if he is, then a meeting shall be arranged to take place here. Through him, hopefully you will find a Healer to document your treatment at your relatives. I shall attempt to follow the money trail left by Dumbledore in regards to the money he took from your vault. You will handle all bequests made by your parents privately, having already vetoed the bequest made to Dumbledore. Then it is a case of gathering allies that can be exposed to the truth. And all the while we will continue to compile evidence against Dumbledore so he can be brought to justice at a later date."
"Yes, that sounds about right. Oh, post. I shall need a way to keep in touch with you without risking whatever mail ward is on me."
"Ahhh, yes I knew there was something we were overlooking. Here, a mailbox. It essentially acts as a Vanishing Cabinet, but for post. Simply place your letter within and I shall receive it almost simultaneously. Now for the rings." Ragnok turned and opened a small cupboard door that Ali hadn't previously noticed, in fact given the amount of time she's spent in this office, she's quite certain it wasn't there before. A bright flash came from the cupboard after which Ragnok returned with four ring boxes.
"Now, we will start with the Potter Ring, place it onto your right ring finger. You will most likely feel a strange sensation when you first put it on. That's the Family Magics testing you, if it accepts you then the ring will resize."
Ali picked up the box and took out the ring with a hand that was only giving off a slight tremor of apprehension. The ring itself was quite beautiful. It was a large oval ruby with a gold Thestral somehow painted upon it, or perhaps imprinted, set in an engraved band of yellow gold. Deciding to decipher whatever runes or scriptures were engraved upon the ring at a later date, Ali slipped the ring onto her finger. As soon as it was placed Ali felt a foreign presence wash through her. It had the impression of being old, almost ancient, yet new and invigorating, it was warm, and it was cold, it was gentle and it was harsh, but above all, it was powerful. Once she thought it was finished however, then came the almost mind-splitting pain of foreign knowledge and family secrets being planted within her consciousness.
"Argh! Merlin that's uncomfortable. Though I can at least understand somewhat why Dumblefuck would want to keep this knowledge from me. Who wants a pliable saviour that has the knowledge of spells that could kill with a word, or the ability to hide behind nigh on impenetrable wards?" 'Potter Manor, here I come!'
"I thought it might be." Ragnok offered with what he must have assumed to be conciliatory expression, but to Ali appeared rather gleeful, 'Well, never let it be said that Goblins aren't a blood-thirsty lot.' She snorted dryly to herself and continued.
Ali repeated the same process for the rest of the rings. The Black Ring; featuring, funnily enough, a black diamond with a silver Raven imprinted upon it, and surrounded by a number of far smaller white diamonds, put up far more of a fight than the Potter Ring. It was colder, harsher, darker, and seemed unwilling to bend before the young Lady Potter, eventually though, it succumbed. Ironically, given her status of Heir Presumptive, the Gryffindor ring was the most welcoming of all of them. It consisted of a garnet with a gold lion, and whilst it tested her worth, Ali felt welcomed by the foreign magic surrounding her. The last ring however, put up the greatest fight. To Ali it almost felt as though she were battling Voldemort in the grave yard, with nothing but her force of will to aid her once again. It was freezing, it was brutal, it was oddly playful in a way, as though teasing a being of lesser worth, finally though, it accepted Ali as it's ruler and sunk to join the others. The Slytherin ring was a green gemstone, it seemed far darker than an emerald, surrounded by white diamonds, with a silver coiled Basilisk upon its surface. Upon all the rings joining they formed a single ring with an oval Black Diamond at its centre, surrounded by a series of very small circular White Diamonds, which in turn were followed by a circle of small oval shaped green Tsavorite Garnets, which were surrounded once again by small circular White Diamonds interspersed with red Rubies, with the whole ring being set in Yellow Gold. With merely a thought, she had the ring sink into her finger, with no indication that it was ever there to begin with.
Ragnok handed her a pain potion to alleviate her headache having assumed so much information so quickly.
"Thank you Ragnok. I shall take my leave now, of course you know where to contact me, and should you need to find me, I will be staying at Potter Manor. I will have you keyed into the wards as soon as I know how, best send me a letter prior."
Ragnok handed her a small ceremonial dagger, "From your vaults Lady Potter, I feel you may need it. May your gold always flow and the hearts of your enemies fail at the sight of you."
With a dry chuckle, Ali returned his greetings and set off to portkey to her new home. 'Head of House rings, what a marvellous invention you are.'
After a rather nauseating Portkey journey, Ali found herself deposited in front a huge set of silver gates. They were at least 12-foot-tall and she had a sneaking suspicion they were Tungsten but preferred not to think of such an ostentatious show of wealth. Cutting her hand with the dagger, she spread her blood across the crest decorating the gates. After a brief feeling of warm spread through her, Ali found herself on a driveway with ancient English Oaks planted either side. After a half hour of following the driveway, Ali caught her first glimpse of Potter Manor. 'Merlin's beard! Manor my arse, that's a bloody palace!'
Potter Manor was a colossal structure, four stories high at the centre, six windows across, topped with a glass dome which was most likely an Astronomy Tower. To either side were wings of three stories, spanning the length of twelve windows to each side, with another smaller glass dome at either end. The whole building was constructed in what looked like white limestone. It screamed wealth and power, without being ostentatious, it was hugely intimidating, yet the warmth Ali felt from the wards and surrounding magics meant she could only feel one thing upon entering this building. 'Home!'
Ali walked up to the front doors, two dark English oak doors nearly eight feet high with the Potter Family Crest carved across them, with the family motto, Sanguinem Gloriam Tuam (Honour Thy Blood), carved above. Ali pressed her hand to the centre of the crest and the doors swung open soundlessly revealing the majestic Entrance Hall. The floor was made up of polished cream limestone with small square black tiles interspersed. The walls were the same limestone as the outside building but it was carved with a series of arches creating blocks of shadow. The only light source was the huge dome that could be viewed from outside, and three chandeliers, one larger than the others, hanging above the other two. She could see a door on either side of her, and ahead of her was a majestic staircase, though she could see somewhat hidden passages running behind the staircase.
POP!
Ali was startled out of her musings by the arrival of nine house elves. Unlike Dobby they were dressed respectfully, the girls in white blouses with black skirts, the Potter Crest printed above their hearts. The boys were dressed similarly, the only difference being black trousers. In the second or so that it took her to process this, Ali was besieged by hysterical house-elves.
"Oh! Mistress Ali. You is home! Tippy tried to bring you home. But Tippy couldn't. Tippy is so sorry Mistress Ali!"
"Miss Ali. You is home! You is never leaving again are you Miss Ali?"
"Little Miss Ali. You is all grown up now. Leppy should have been there. Leppy is so sorry Little Miss Ali!"
Ali was knocked to the floor by her hysterical house elves, all of them expressing their undying love and devotion, but one thing stuck out, 'They tried to bring me home?'
"Shhh. It's alright now." The hysterical house elves managed to pull themselves together a little, though there was the occasional sniffle. "Tippy, I think?...you said you tried to bring me home?"
Tippy nodded frantically, "Oh yes Mistress Ali, we tried many times, and we brought you home but then bad man with white beard would take you away again. We couldn't stop him! Elves can't change the ward book, and then one day we couldn't find you again. We tried! But we couldn't find Miss Ali. Tippy is so sorry Mistress Ali!" And the poor elf promptly dissolved into hysterical sobs.
Ali felt her heart break, people had tried to find her, tried to keep her safe and Dumblefuck had prevented it. She gathered the distraught elves in her arms, and thought, 'This is right, these people love me unconditionally, and Albus Dumbledore is going to rue the day he crossed me. This I so swear!'
AN: If you'd like to see the ring I've chosen as Ali's combined Head of House Ring, I've selected it as my profile picture. It's quite audacious, but for a ring that combines all those four families, I figure it couldn't be anything but audacious. I'll leave it to you to decide why the primary colours in it are those of the House's she had to fight hardest with to assume control… ;)
If you'd like to know my inspiration behind Potter Manor, then have a look at Castle Howard. That's pretty much how I pictured it, though a smidgen smaller and with a white-ish stone rather than a yellowing one. And if you happen to find a photo of it from the front with the extended wings enveloping the courtyard, then I've cut those out in my mental picture of Potter Manor because I have a slight obsession with symmetry... Oh, there is also a reason why I'm specifying that the Manor was built using all British materials (I'm not being weirdly nit-picky lol.) I don't want to go into too much detail now as it'll become important in later chapters, but the short of it is that different countries have slightly different magics running through the earth so to maximise a Family's connection to their Manor and therefore their Family Magic, their manors need to be built using materials from that country. To use materials from other countries would be like trying to fit a square peg to a round hole…you could make it work, but there'll be gaps.