Diagon Alley hadn't changed a bit since the last time I had been there. Even for it being during the school year, the street was bustling with people. I had decided to only take Marco, the kids, and Oyaji with me, the others staying at the school to see if they noticed anything while we were out.

Albus had tried to stop us, but I thankfully had been able to put a stop to his meddling by reminding him that Hadrian was not one of his students. Therefore, he could leave whenever he wanted to. The man hadn't been pleased, but I didn't care. Small wins were still wins in my book.

I led them through the busy street, the girls holding Hadrian and Ace's hands so that they didn't get lost, and right up to Gringots. I didn't pay any mind to the stares we were getting. I was used to them, and it was the first time I had been seen in the wizarding world in many years. I had also already warned them about the goblins before hand, so they didn't react to the guards. Much.

I nodded to them respectfully as we passed through the entrance and went right up to the head teller. We got a few more looks as people recognized the crest on my outer robes, but that same recognition kept them from approaching. That, and I was sure that both Marco and Oyaji probably gave off powerful auras. No one wanted to approach them.

"Yes?" the goblin behind the desk asked when I stopped in front of him.

"Lady Elizabeth Potter to see Runeclaw," I replied, handing over my wand to prove that it was me.

He looked at me for a moment before inspecting my wand. He then sneered, the closest a goblin would ever get to a smile, and handed it back.

"Welcome back, Lady Potter. I will let Runeclaw know of your arrival." He then stepped away, leaving us to wait.

"Runeclaw, yoi?" Marco asked.

I looked over at him and smiled. "Our account manager. He oversees all of the Potter vaults here at Gringots. A very respectable goblin, and he was a close friend of my father's."

Marco hummed and nodded, looking around. He seemed a bit uneasy in the unfamiliar area.

"Don't worry. I know that we've been tailed. Most likely by one of the old coot's loyal dogs. They're not very good at being stealthy," I whispered, only him and Oyaji able to hear me. "They won't be able to follow us further, though. Not where we'll be going."

"And where would that be, lass?" Oyaji asked.

"To see Runeclaw first. Then Marco, Hadrian and I will be grabbing some things from the heirloom vault. There are a few books that I want to get from there. Among other things. I already have a bag connected to the money vault that I've been using since I first left this world."

Before either of them could reply, the teller came back and motioned for us to follow him. We were led to a back hallway and into a large office that I had been in a few times before I had left.

"Ah, Lady Potter and guests. Welcome," Runeclaw said from behind his desk. He was an older goblin with glasses perched on the tip of his nose. "You have finally returned to our detention, I see. A lot has changed."

I nodded to the elderly goblin and took a seat, Marco and Oyaji opting to stand while the boys sat down with the twins in their laps.

"Of course you know what has happened, Runeclaw. Observant as ever, I see." I crossed my legs and leaned back.

"We goblins have a keen eye for these things. Will you introduce your companions?"

I smiled and motioned to everyone as I introduced them. "The man behind me is my soulmate, Marco. Next to him is Edward Newgate, our captain and a man I see as another father. My blood adopted son, Hadrian Potter. We will need that paperwork filed, by the way. Next to him is his soulmate, Ace. And the girls are my daughters, Sakura and Camellia Potter."

"Hi Mr. Goblin!" Sakura said with a smile and a wave.

"Ah, you have found your fated mate and built a family of your own. Congratulations, Lady Potter. What else have you come here for?"

I politely folded my hands in my lap and gave him a closed eye smile. "I would like to see all changes to the accounts since I left."

"Of course, Lady Potter."

I opened my eyes to see a stack of parchment appear in front of me. I took to and hummed as I skimmed over the investment information, handing it off to Marco once I was done. Nothing amiss there. Nothing had been removed from the family vaults. My magical signature was the only one on the main money vault. I handed those off to Marco as well. I paused on Hadrian's trust vault. That should have been untouched. Looking at it again, I frowned and looked up at Runeclaw.

"Who oversees Hadrian's trust? This is not your signature on the report," I stated, my tone causing my children to lean away. It was not one that I used often. Only when I was very displeased.

"Griphook, my nephew. Is there a discrepancy? I have only ever seen money go into the vault on the reports given to me."

I let out a displeased hum and I looked down at the report. I could feel Marco reading it from over my shoulder, his free hand resting on the back of my chair. I wanted to finish reading the reports before discussing any discrepancies with the older goblin, so I handed the report to Marco and continued on. I noted the items removed from the heirloom vault, my irritation growing the more I read. Many books and trinkets had been removed without my knowledge, one of which being James' invisibility cloak.

I was relieved to see that the Peverell vault hadn't been touched. Nor the other vaults Hadrian and I had inherited. Hopefully, that meant that Albus didn't know about those.

"That's...a lot of money, yoi," Marco muttered as he looked over the reports that I handed him. "Twenty different vaults?"

I nodded and looked over at Runeclaw. "The only two that have been touched without my knowledge are the Potter Heirloom vault and Hadrian's trust vault. I want a full investigation as to how exactly this was allowed to happen."

"Of course, Lady Potter. Gringots will be sure to right this wrong that has been committed," he stated, sounding both angry and fearful at the same time. "The one responsible will be punished to the fullest extent of our laws and all meant and heirlooms will be returned promptly."

I hummed again before looking over the properties that I owned, not too invested since I didn't plan to come back after we finished with Albus and Voldemort. I was probably going to sell most of them that weren't being used for anything. Out of seventeen properties, I would probably only keep three of them.

Moving on to the next parchment, I handed the rest to Marco. They were just total sums of everything I owned by category, so it was repeat information.

I held the parchment I had up for the elderly goblin to see with another closed eye smile.

"Care to explain why there is a marriage contract in my hand, Runeclaw?" I asked calmly. Too calmly.

Other than the girls, everyone else seemed to bristle at my words as I opened my eyes and looked up at Runeclaw. There was a flicker of fire from Ace that I could see out of the corner of my eye, Marco had a firm grip on my shoulder that would bruise anyone else, and Oyaji seemed to be trying to keep as calm as possible. We didn't need his fruit destroying part of the bank, after all.

"Lady Potter, I assure you, that contract cannot be enacted," Runeclaw stated, seeming to try and calm the situation down. I just raised my eyebrow, silently telling him to continue. "If you read the contract, you will see that there is an error that the creator was not aware of."

I frowned and looked a bit closer at the contract before a chuckle started to bubble up in my chest. I could feel eyes on me as my chuckles soon became laughs. I couldn't help it. I let the laughter overtake me as I felt Marco take the contract from my hand. That old fool. Oh, what excellent news for us. Excellent news indeed. This just added to the long list of things that man had tried to do, and it had been done so very poorly.

Once my laughter finally died down, I smirked at Runeclaw. The old goblin smirked back at me.

"Did you find the error, Lady Potter?" he asked.

"Mhm. I did. I did, indeed. It is a shame that contracts like that require a person's full, legal name, isn't it?" I heard Marco let out a soft chuckle and glanced up at him. "Love, what is our son's full name? In our world?"

"Hadrian James D Potter, yoi," he said, a small smirk pulling at his lips.

"Ah, yes. Too bad that is not the name written on the contract. They didn't even get his legal first name correct."

"So, it's not an issue, mom?" Hadrian asked.

I turned to the kids with a smile. "Not for us, no. It is for the two that signed the contract, though."

I saw both boys give each other a look before looking back at me. There was mischief in their eyes, and I almost felt pity towards the old coot. Almost.

~MotP~

After finishing our meeting with Runeclaw and filing the paperwork that needed to be done, I took Marco and Hadrian down to the heirloom vault. I let them look around while I went over to the books my family had acquired over the generations. Most were on defensive magic, transfiguration, and offensive magic. A few were potions journals and personal journals from my ancestors.

I let my hand trail over a few of the spines before pulling the book I wanted from the shelf. It was a black, leather bound tome with the Potter crest embossed on the front in gold. I had only opened the book twice in my life. It wasn't one to be used lightly as all of the most powerful spells, potions, and rituals ever created by my family had been stored in it.

The Potter Family Grimoire.

It was one of the few books that could only be taken out and opened by someone with Potter blood. Anyone else would be cursed and probably die. Maybe. Most likely.

I ran my hand over the cover with a soft smile before a spark of magic caused me to turn to where Hadrian was. Blinking, I walked over to him to see what he had grabbed. Nothing would hurt him, but the pulse of magic had felt oddly familiar.

"What did you find, kit?" I asked, catching Marco's attention as I made my way over.

"I...think it's a wand?" the teen said. He sounded unsure as he turned to me. "It...called to me, mom."

I hummed and looked at the item in his hand. It was indeed a want. One that hadn't been used in centuries, if my hunch was correct. The black oak was about eleven and quarter inches with a piece of rose quartz embedded in the bottom and smaller obsidian stones surrounding it. I had only ever seen the wand in a few portraits at the manor until now.

"You said that it called to you?"

I needed to clarify that. If the wand had called to him, then no other would be needed. It didn't happen often, but it wasn't uncommon for ancestral wands to choose a new master after their original one had passed. That Hadrian had been chosen by that particular wand was an interesting and exciting turn of events. The wand had belonged to Iolanthe Peverell, the granddaughter of Ignotus, who had married Hardwin Potter, after all.

"Yeah. Similar to yours, but a lot stronger." He looked down at the wand and gave it a small flick.

I was prepared for disaster, but I almost gasped as a rainbow of sparks fell from the tip accompanied by a gentle breeze.

"Looks like you've found your wand, kit." I cleared my throat and walked over to one of the tables close by. I gently picked up a very familiar wand holster before holding it out to Hadrian. "Here. This belonged to your mother. She was quite the duelist and created that holster herself. I'm sure she'd want you to have it."

I smiled at him before looking over to Marco, who was watching us with a soft expression. It was the same one that he often had when he watched the kids.

Ruffling my son's hair, I walked back over to the books and grabbed my mother's journal, placing it on top of the family grimoire. I would be needing them while we were here.

"Liz, yoi? We should be going," I heard Marco say.

I turned to both him and Hadrian with a small smile. "Of course. We can't keep the others waiting for too long. I'll have to come back and grab some of the weapons, though. Could be useful."

I grabbed a few more books to take with us and then walked over to them, looping my arm with Marco's as we made our way back to the cart. I didn't want to keep Oyaji waiting for too long with Ace and the girls. That could end up being disastrous. The man let his grandkids do just about anything they wanted.

~MotP~

Once we finished at the bank, I decided to make a few stops to pick up some things, placing a few orders at the apothecary for potions ingredients that I might need.

While sitting at Fortescue's Ice Cream shop to give the girls a break, a head of pale blonde hair caught my attention. Ah. So Lucius decided to see me after all. Good.

Whispering to Marco, I got up and followed the man to a more secluded side street. Throwing up a strong privacy ward, I leaned against the wall next to me with my arms crossed over my chest.

"I see Severus got my message to you," I stated as he turned to me.

"And I see that Draco was telling the truth when he wrote that the Potters have returned home," he replied, eyeing me up and down. "You've changed, Elizabeth."

I smiled at that. "It's been thirteen years. People tend to change in that amount of time."

"Why did you wish to meet?"

"You owe me a debt, Malfoy."

"And you're calling it in? Now?"

I pushed off of the wall and walked over to him. "Yes. I need I information on your master. Everything you know." I paused as he seemed to pale a bit. I then gave him a small smile. "And I would like to inform you of how you can break your bond to that woman."

Lucius' eyes widened before he grabbed at his robes over his heart.

"How?" he all but whispered.

"You're the head of your house. All you need is her head of house and to prove your soulbond to them. Your marriage will be annulled the moment you both sign the correct paperwork and the goblins stamp it. No need to involve her at all." He seemed to deflate at that. I barely stopped myself from smirking. "Lucky for you, I'm in contact with the current Lord Black." He looked back at me, surprised. "Come to Hogwarts in two weeks. We can do it then, and you and introduce me to your son."

Before he could reply, I turned on my heel and left, dismantling the wards I had set on my way. I would need to talk to Sirius about helping Lucius and Severus out, but that would be easy enough with the help of Remus. The man never could say no to his soulmate.

"Have a good chat, yoi?" Marco asked as I sat back down next to him.

"I did. I'll tell you all about it when we get back." I leaned over and kissed his cheek, not carrying that we were in public. It was one thing I was not going to change while here. I may be willing to wear robes and talk more formally again, but screw pure blood views on PDA. "Now, I think we have everything we need other than some more clothing for the kids. However, I think I'll have Remus go into Muggle London for those. They have a better selection for the girls, and I doubt that Hadrian or Ace want to wear anything made here other than maybe some dragon hide boots. Those are usually sturdy, and they're fireproof."

"Dragon hide?" Ace asked. "As in from a real dragon?"

"Of course. If we weren't here due to someone wanting to either control or kill Hadrian, I'd take you to one of the dragon reserves."

"Holy shit," both boys breathed out with wide eyes.

"Language, yoi. We're out in public," Marco chastised them with a small smirk.

We didn't stay in Diagon Alley much longer, and we were soon back at the castle. As we made our way towards our rooms, Minerva stopped us with a frown on her face as her lips pursed with displeasure. It didn't seem to be aimed towards us though. More like it was at what she was about to say.

"The headmaster wishes to see young Mr. Potter in his office," she told us.

Ah. The old man decided to make his first move. He waited longer than I had thought.

"Ace, be a dear and take the girls up to the rooms with Jiichan," I told the older teen. "If Remus is around, let him know that I'll need to talk with him later."

The freckled teen looked at me with a frown for a minute before nodding. "Sure thing, mom. Come on, you little munchkins. Let's go see if we can prank Uncle Thatch."

I let out a fond sigh and shook my head as both girls excitedly ran off with Ace, Oyaji following behind them with a laugh. Once they were out of sight, I turned back to the older woman with a frown.

"Lead the way. My husband and I will be sitting in on this meeting."

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A/N:Yay! Another chapter down! One more before we get to the first task! Still on the fence about how I want to do the second task, but there's some time to think still. Leave a comment/review and let me know your thoughts so far. Love ya!

~Em