I am so sorry minna! I was snowed in and it was too dangerous to visit the library until the snow melted (it's at the bottom of a steep hill). So to make up for being gone so long I'll post a double update!
Daniela wasn't the only one staring at the very long piece of parchment. Xanxus, Squalo and Viper were as well.
"Voi... so you're technically a Vongola, just not one directly related to them?" said Squalo after a moment.
"Hell, according to this I'm indirectly related to most of the Primo's guardians!" said Xanxus annoyed.
"Actually according to this you're technically my third cousin once removed," said Viper dryly.
Xanxus' head whipped to look at Viper incredulous.
"My original surname is Black, though I was cast out...and not for the usual reasons," explained Viper.
"What do you mean cast out?"
"I mean the head of the family decided he didn't want another heir trying to usurp his asshole son of the position, despite being better qualified," said Viper bluntly. "Despite what that idiot claimed I am not nor have I ever been a squib, which is what they call magical children unable to cast magic."
Squibs couldn't become animagi. And there was a very specific reason their name was Viper.
"...So what exactly do I have, and how much paperwork am I going to be dealing with?"
The goblin blinked, but smirked at his blunt manner.
Normally they would never dream of helping a mere human sort out their inheritance, but this had all the hallmarks of being immensely entertaining on multiple levels, with the nice benefit of screwing over a large number of humans and a certain idiot with delusions of adequacy.
"Depends on what you wish to do. You can claim the heir ring of the Potter family, though that would alert certain factions that you are in fact alive and in another country. You could potentially claim the heir ring of the Blacks, though that would require proving the current heir ineligible first and a meeting with the family head."
"What about blood adopting him into the family so he can legally claim our surname, despite being cousins?" asked Daniela intently.
Xanxus might not be directly related to Ricardo or Giotto, but according to this he was still technically a Vongola.
"Acceptable, though he will need to sire at least four children to carry on his family lines," said the goblin.
"Would this help bypass a blood locked artifact?"
"Unfortunately no. Such things are usually locked to a specific branch of the family and according to his lineage he comes from the main branch. In this case the older bloodline would take precedence."
Daniela gave her grandson a look as if to say "it was worth a try".
Squalo mostly sat back and watched them argue specifics and other details that went way over his head, until an agreement was settled on.
Xanxus would be "officially adopted" into Daniela's line as her son, since there wasn't a way to make him her grandson. While he would still retain the titles and family magics, he could now legally claim his name was Alexander "Xanxus" Vongola-Black, since apparently Giotto had been a spare heir of the Potter family and that made the Vongola a branch of the 'main' line.
He would also claim the rings after he had either passed the "Ordinary Wizarding Levels" (which had Squalo snorting at the ridiculous name) or turned fifteen, whichever came first.
Considering the mafia way of dealing with unexpected magically-inclined children was to train their asses off until they passed the required tests and then discreetly make said children 'vanish' into thin air for at least five years by moving them through various countries until the whatever Ministry picked up on them lost interest, this wasn't really a hardship.
Only idiots actually registered the fact they had an active "Soul Fire Aspect" (or Aspects, for short) with the Ministry. The bastards had a set of wards to track down and monitor any use of Flames within the limits of areas where the mafia tended to cluster, particularly Italy and the surrounding countries.
If they caught you using it among people who weren't on the "approved list", aka other magicals then they got really annoying and had a habit of attempting to wipe people's memories of Dying Will Flames, even if the person in question had them as well.
As Daniela could attest, having to bury the WEATHER division of the Varia, it wasn't pretty when the "magical morons" put their nose in where they didn't belong. They had lost more than one operative and nearly the entire division because of it before they learned that they needed to cover their tracks and found out exactly how the hell the assholes kept finding out about their operations.
As Viper was the closest blood relative that was currently in contact, they were registered as Xanxus' magical guardian and Steward. Viper was ridiculously pleased with this, as it meant that they could reclaim their surname legally and there was nothing the current head could do about it.
Xanxus had exactly zero interest in wading through pure blood politics...mafia politics pissed him off enough. Which meant Viper got to have all the fun of telling "the poncy morons to piss off", in their words while unraveling the mess left behind in Xanxus' newly acquired vaults.
According to "official" records, he was from the "branch family of the Potter", and as the only one to display clear signs of magic was now the heir apparent until the "official heir" resurfaced to claim them.
Considering the "official" heir and the "heir apparent" were actually one in the same, the only way that was going to happen would be through line theft...and that meant the goblins could rather gleefully rip people a new one while parting with a hefty amount of gold to Xanxus and to a lesser extent Viper.
Viper was positively cackling due to the fact that thanks to inbreeding and sheer greed there was almost certainly going to be money made. Especially when one considered the fact that the gold-to-muggle conversion ranking was practically a guaranteed way to earn a lot of money in short order thanks to the fact none of the magicals knew what computers were or that the gold market was in an upswing lately.
The gold alone was worth more than the money it converted to, and Xanxus had absolutely no issue with screwing over a bunch of inbred hicks that were trying to claim his money, or letting Viper have a very healthy cut of it since they were doing most of the work anyway.
And no, Xanxus was not surprised in the least when he harmonized with Viper right around the time the first dividends of their scheme started to come pouring in. Viper could do whatever the fuck they wanted with the money so long as they were earning more than they were spending and he didn't have to deal with the bullshit unless it was to scare some unimportant fuckers trying to swindle them.
Squalo had laughed himself into hiccups when Viper declare their shared Sky their "favorite cousin". He was not alone in that.
Xanxus was not breathing hard, though he was rather pissed that he had already lost one of his damn contacts.
Apparently someone had taken great offense to the fact he had basically gutted the European magical economy, so a bunch of hit wizards and other less-than-legal magicals had shown up on one of the rare days he was spending time in the Iron Fort with his 'brothers' and the old bastard.
Squalo was very vocal in his annoyance with the assholes. They had interrupted a rather enjoyable sparring session where Xanxus was testing out his new focus...a pair of loosely crafted guns made with crushed dragon scales and the wood that Viper had determined resonated with Xanxus' core the most.
Xanxus was not about to wave around a damn wand. He knew all too well what they could be a euphemism for and he did not need the mental image. That, and as Viper had quickly determined thanks to a rather common test among pure bloods, Xanxus excelled at wandless and instinctive magic thanks to the fact he had extensive experience using it without a wand purely to survive the slums. A wand was a crutch, and he refused to become dependent on it.
Fortunately his newly made guns could perform the same task so long as he was creative about it while still remaining practical.
Seeing Federico go down (he could feel with his Flames/Magic he was simply Stunned, not dead) Xanxus felt the dragon and the tiger in him growl.
These assholes had invaded his territory. They had harmed his kin, and they were attempting to reclaim what was his.
Fuck that shit. Someone was going to pay with their pound of flesh and he was going to make damn sure to collect.
With a roar not unlike his inner dragon, Xanxus drew back his head and blasted the hallway with a rather long stream of Wrath Flames...though considering what his secondary form was, he could easily claim he was shooting dragonfire at the fuckers.
Hearing the yelps from the wizards who suddenly lost their precious focus, Squalo dove in once it was somewhat safe to do so and started maiming anyone who was clearly an enemy.
They couldn't cast without a wand, and it would take more brainpower than these morons had to use any magical artifacts they had with them if they were too busy going into shock from losing a limb or two.
So when Xanxus took a lucky blow to the head, Squalo was at his side the second he registered his Sky in pain. He looked very much like a pissed off shark in the middle of a blood fury all too happy to eat anyone stupid enough to earn his attentions.
In the infirmary...
Xanxus was not a happy camper. Then again the thirteen year old rarely was whenever he was dragged into the main house where he had to deal with the senile old bastard who claimed he was his 'father'.
He'd sooner claim his grandmother as blood kin than that asshole. He barely tolerated his brothers, and he couldn't stand Iemitsu.
So being stuck in the infirmary with a mild concussion and all the Suns treating his brothers or other "more important" people was really pissing him off. Especially since he could sense there was a Sun near the wall sulking, despite having enough power to actually do some good. From what he was sensing (since he couldn't see worth a shit thanks to losing one of his contacts and Squalo was too busy hovering to bother getting his glasses) the chick was being actively avoided by everyone, and no one was willing to let her do her damn job.
Fuck that.
Even without his glasses, he could still pinpoint exactly where everyone was.
"Oi, stupid bitch. Get over here and heal this damn concussion before I shoot you," he said flatly, pointing directly at the female Sun everyone was avoiding for some reason.
Dead silence...though his Shark was openly amused by something.
"...Are you talking to me?" asked an incredulous (and slightly hopeful) voice from where he was pointing.
"Did I fucking stutter?"
Finally given permission from someone who actually wanted their help, the Sun came over. In no time at all, blessed relief from the migraine that had been forming from the noise level abated. Now in direct contact with the Flames, he could read something odd about the annoying girl who had been stuck on the sidelines for some ridiculous reason.
Squinting, he could vaguely see a rather unusual hair color and something that looked like red sunglasses, but that was it.
"Xanxus, you have to be joking! Why are you letting that fag treat you?"
"What did you call her, asshole?" said Xanxus, glaring in the general direction of Iemitsu.
Pure, unadulterated shock from the Sun's Flames.
Squalo couldn't help his snickering.
"Did you lose your contacts in the fight boss?"
"I don't need my damn contacts to tell the difference between a woman and a man, shitty shark. And her Flames clearly read female," sniped Xanxus.
Squalo almost laughed...except he could tell his Sky was being entirely serious.
"Voi... what the actual fuck. I thought you said that weird sensory thing you do is fool proof?"
"Sensory thing?" repeated Massimo incredulous.
"Boss is practically blind without his contacts or his glasses," explained Squalo. "He has this weird echolocation thing he does with his Flames to compensate."
It wasn't that big a secret, and as long as Xanxus could still hit what he wanted to he didn't care if people found out he was half-blind without them on.
Squalo looked at the weird Sun who was practically radiating happiness at being called a girl of all things. Weird.
"Voi. Keep an eye on the boss while I grab his spares from my bag."
"Can do, darling~!" chirped the Sun.
Squalo left the weird Sun and Xanxus (who promptly started asking what genre of books the 'girl' liked to read) and returned five minutes later with Xanxus' spare glasses.
He slid them on, blinked a minute to let his eyes refocus, before staring at the Sun for exactly five seconds and then snorting.
"I swear the gods have the worst fucking sense of humor, sticking some poor bastards in the wrong fucking gender just for shits and giggles."
Now that he could see again, he saw why Squalo had been amused at first. The 'female' he had all but ordered to fix his concussion was a guy. Or at least had the shape of one.
However his sensory trick had never lead him wrong before, and this wasn't the first time he ran into someone who was born the wrong gender. The 'man' who had taught him to read had been born a woman, and had been very pleased that Xanxus had been able to tell their "actual" gender and addressed them appropriately regardless of what their biology claimed otherwise.
The Sun was practically giddy that someone had known from the start that they were a girl, not a guy like their figure claimed.
"The name's Lussuria, darling~!" she chirped.
Massimo gagged to the side. He couldn't stand the Sun, who was so flamboyantly gay that it made him want to hurl. Which was why he had rejected the teen outright as a Guardian.
What Xanxus' said next only cemented him as Lussuria's new favorite person...and give his 'father' headaches for quite some time at the Sun his adopted son chose for his Guardian.
"You're not one of those fucking damsel in distress, pretty princess types are you?" he asked dryly.
Lussuria was openly amused by that question.
"I'd rather be like the Black Widow or Scarlet Witch than some hussy who needs an idiot hero to save her ass all the time," she replied flatly.
Xanxus grinned at that. Massimo looked appalled.
"Will wonders never cease. A woman who actually likes decent comics."
Lussuria beamed at him.
"Voi. What just happened?" asked Squalo to no one in particular.
"My adorably violent little brother is apparently picking a transvestite as his Sun," said Massimo dryly.
"Fuck you. Just because you can't tell when someone is born the wrong gender doesn't mean you should discriminate against them. It's not their fault god is an asshole," said Xanxus without a second's hesitation or remorse. "People are people, regardless of what form, religion or skin tone they have."