The Diagon Alley was engulfed in the morning mist, the weak rays of sunlight that fought their way through the thick clouds glinted off the glass windows of the many stores of the biggest shopping district in England, giving it the ethereal, magical glow. The shopkeepers were just beginning their daily routine, so the morning serenity was being disturbed with various noises and lights that accompanied the cleaning spells they were using to prepare their shops to greet their first customers.
Right in the middle of a small square in front of the towering building of Gringotts Wizarding Bank, stood a statue of two Hogwarts students, a witch and a wizard, with no clear signs of them belonging to any House, aiming their wands at the invisible enemy, while a tall figure of a teacher hugged them from behind, her wand too aimed in the same direction, their eyes full of horror and resolution.
Even after a year and a half, the base of the monument was covered in the bouquets upon bouquets of flowers, each charmed to never wither, and many a shop keepers and a few of the rare morning customers couldn't help but throw glances towards it, their eyes immediately turning sad and haunted, with the memories of the two last battles still fresh in their minds.
Suddenly, a popping sound could be heard from the apparition point, but it wasn't something unusual since it happened every once in a while, announcing the arrival of the newcomers, so no one really paid it any mind. It was when the onlookers finally glimpsed two imposing figures, dressed in black dragon-hide battle robes, swiftly making their way towards the goblin bank, when the whispers started spreading around the shopping district.
Blimey, it's Diana Potter!", "The Girl-Who-Lived!", "Didn't you see? It was The Savior, you idiot!", "Is that Sirius Black?", "Have you heard what she did to those Death Eaters she caught in Norway?", "Shut it, you bloody moron, she could hear you!"...
It would take no time for the news to spread like a wildfire: Diana Potter, The Savior of the Wizarding World, has finally finished her hunt and returned to England!
Despite all the ruckus that their arrival had caused, Sirius Black and Diana Potter (people were yet to know that she had claimed the title of Lady Peverell) swept along the zigzagging street, without sparing so much as a glance towards all the gawking people around them. It was only when they were passing by the monument, when Diana slightly halted, only to instantly carry on as if nothing happened, which would've been true if not for the haunted look in her eyes, that disappeared as if it was never there, buried under her occlumency shields.
Diana and Sirius nodded respectfully to the goblin warriors guarding the front doors and quickly entered the building, followed by the respectful bows of the goblin guards.
Once inside and seeing as there weren't any customers yet, Diana allowed herself to take a shaking breath, feeling the signs of the approaching panic attack. Her godfather, as if sensing her mental state, grabbed her small hand and squeezed it comfortingly with his much larger one. The feeling of his warm and steady hand was enough to ground the young witch and she soon snapped back to the reality. After a few more steadying breaths and a thankful squeeze of her godfather's hand, Diana was finally ready to continue with their journey.
But before they could even start walking towards one of the tellers sitting behind a tall desk and state their business, they were approached by one of the goblin clerks, who greeted them with a respectful bow.
"Greetings, Lady Peverell, Lord Black. If you'd be so kind as to follow me please," the goblin politely raised his hand, gesturing them in the right direction.
The godfather and goddaughter shared a look and shrugged, following the goblin somewhere deep inside the building, after returning his greeting.
The goblin clerk led them through the maze of luxurious yet empty hallways, except for a few paintings of great battles that adorned the walls every now and then, until they've reached the door to the office of the Peverell account manager and were allowed to enter after a short knock.
Diana and Sirius entered the room that they've only ever saw once before, when Diana came here to claim her Ladyship, noticing that nothing had seemed to change since their last visit: the same high ceiling with a huge, yet elegant chandelier hanging from the middle of it like a cluster of grapes; an impressive collection of medieval weapons covering the entirety of one of the walls; the intricately carved wooden bookshelves and bookcases covering another wall; a huge window overlooking the more luxurious shops of the Horizon Alley and lastly, a tall, sturdy looking wooden table positioned right in front of the wall with a showcased weaponry collection, a chair, that was currently occupied by an old goblin, dressed in a sharp suit and finally, a bunch of comfortable looking chairs for the visitors.
"Ah, greetings, Lady Peverell, Lord Black! Please do come in," Bugnar, the Peverell account manager, greeted them respectfully and pointed to the chairs positioned in front of his desk. "I could send for the Black family account manager as well, if you'd like?"
"Greetings, Bugnar. That would be much appreciated, thank you," Diana nodded, as she and Sirius took a seat. She was about to state their business, when Bugnar suddenly cleared his throat.
"I am very glad that you've finally came. I confess, I even thought that someone had been intercepting with your letters, since we haven't received any response from you for about a week. Now..."
"Hold on a second. Letters? What letters?" Diana asked confusedly, sharing a glance with the equally baffled Sirius.
"Why, I am talking about the letters that I've been sending to invite you here to Gringotts to discuss the matter of the seized vaults and properties," Bugnar informed them with a raised eyebrow and frowned upon seeing their clueless expressions. "Well, it seems like you have no idea what I am speaking of. If so, then I find myself curious as to the real purpose of your visit, since you didn't receive any of our missives."
"I'm sorry, they must've gotten buried under the pile of correspondence that I've been receiving ever since I returned back to England. I was too busy familiarizing myself with the Peverell Castle and the Sanctuary, so I didn't have any time to just sit down and finally go through all that mountain of let... Wait, vaults and properties?" Diana frowned, finally focusing on the more curious part of Bugnar's speech.
She found herself slightly thrown for a loop, but before she could even ask any more questions, the door to the Bugnar's office creaked open and in came Grinlok, the Black Family account manager.
They all exchanged their greetings and Grinlok proceeded to take a seat in the nearby chair, though the process was followed by a somehow stunned silence, to the newly arrived goblin's unease.
Grinlok threw an inquisitive look at his colleague, which Bugnar had totally missed, much to his annoyance.
"Well, yes, ahem," Bugnar sighed and cleared his throat once again, appearing slightly lost after their little confusion. But he wouldn't have been one of the most cutthroat account managers in the British Branch of Gringotts Bank if he was so easily confused. "During the time after the last war, you and Lord Black caught and/or executed almost two hundred wizards and witches that called themselves the "Death Eaters", all of which were proclaimed criminals and had a bounty on their heads for the crimes they've committed in the last two wars. Now, the situation we have at hand is a curious one, since even though most of those criminals were just regular mobsters, who don't even deserve mentioning, some of them belonged to the nobility, with them being the members or even Lords and Ladies of noble Houses, which created a... precedent, so to say."
"What precedent?" Diana asked calmly, her emerald eyes turning cold as she tried to keep her annoyance at bay. If he dared to tell her that she was to be faced with some legal charges for clearing the world of that filth, she would literally explode.
Bugnar saw that and shifted uncomfortably in his high chair: "Well, the low tier Death Eaters who were only ever recruited for the role of the cannon fodder fell under the jurisdiction of the Ministries of Magic of their respective countries and were charged and persecuted according to the law, however the situation with those Death Eaters of noble origin is completely different..."
"How is it different?" Lady Peverell asked again, through gritted teeth. She felt her magic shift right under her skin from her emotional turmoil and was trying really hard to keep it under control.
"Ever since you took up the mantle of Lady Potter and you, Mr. Black, took up the mantle of Lord Black, both of you no longer fall under the jurisdiction of the Ministry, as any and all dealings of the Noble Houses are to be brought before the House of Lords," Grinlok cut in, hurrying to explain the situation seeing the irritation growing steadily on Lady Peverell's face. "The Noble Houses have their own rights and duties, with one of those rights being the Right of Conquest, which in short, means that in a full out war between two Noble Houses, the losing House forfeits all of it's properties and assets for the benefit of the winning side."
And just like that, Diana's growing annoyance and anger were immediately replaced with confusion. She could honestly admit, that this wasn't the outcome that she had been expecting from how this conversation had started.
"Agh, I completely forgot about that," Sirius groaned and dragged his hand through his shoulder length hair, forcing his goddaughter to snap out of her confusion and shift her focus towards him.
"Wait, you knew about this?" Diana asked him, still trying to process the new revelations.
Sirius nodded: "Well, yes. I was an Heir to the House of Black for some time and was taught accordingly. What they are trying to say, is that all the assets of the Death Eaters that we've killed, who were the Heads of Noble Houses, now belong to us."
Diana looked at him in bewilderment. She could've never expected such a turn of events and couldn't decide how she felt about it.
"I want nothing to do with anything that belonged to those monsters," Lady Peverell stated strongly and received baffled looks from the goblins.
"But... but, Lady Peverell! This is not something that we have any legal rights to undo! You must understand that the deal has already been done and all the vaults and properties of the defeated Houses are already in your and Lord Black's legal possession," Grinlok exclaimed, but seeing as Diana was stubbornly shaking her head, helplessly turned to Sirius, as if asking him to help.
"He's right, pup," her godfather spoke, coming to his account manager's aid. "The deal is already done. It was a fairly common thing back in the Merlin's era, when the Noble Houses were constantly at war with each other, and even though it's been rarely used in the last two centuries, no one ever abolished that law."
Diana huffed hearing that and let out a long sigh, trying her best to fight with her annoyance. Just a mere thought of her owning anything that belonged to the Death Eaters made her sick in her stomach...
"So what do you suggest we do, Siri? You know that we don't have time for this right now." She finally deemed herself calm enough to ask, hoping that her godfather would have the solution.
Sirius shrugged then: "Well, first of all, I would recommend to sell all the properties, so that we won't have to deal with that as well."
Hearing her godfather's suggestion and feeling where he was going with it, Diana nodded thoughtfully and pondered for a few moments before turning to the goblins.
"We would like to hire Gringotts solicitors in order to sell all the properties that used to belong to the Death Eaters and to hire your best curse breakers to destroy any and all dark items that will be found in those properties and maybe even inside their vaults. As a gesture of gratitude, we will gladly return any goblin made items if they are to be found in those properties and vaults back to the Goblin Nation. All of the earned money, including the money in the seized vaults, is to be given to all the citizens of Magical Britain who had suffered from the last two wars, including any victims among the Goblin Nation."
The office fell into a stunned silence, as the two account managers tried to process Diana's requests.
"I second that," Sirius added as well, after a short few seconds.
"Can that be arranged, Bugnar?" Diana turned her inquiring gaze towards her account manager.
"Of... of course, Lady Peverell. It would be our honor," Bugnar finally answered, snapping out of his shock and bowing his head in respect, which was soon followed by Grinlok.
The young witch couldn't understand why they were so shocked, she didn't know that the estimated value of the seized assets was somewhere around ten million galleons, but even if she did, her answer would've still remained the same.
"Now onto the business that we've originally came here for," Diana then continued and shared a quick look with Sirius, who gave her an encouraging nod. "We would like to hire Gringotts solicitors to sell any and all properties that belong to both of us, as well as to make a withdrawal. But unlike with the first request, this one is a matter of urgency, as we want it done within seven days' time."
The account managers' eyes widened as they both shared a confused look.
"That... can be arranged, even though it won't be easy considering the time frame," Bugnar finally answered, then took a small handkerchief out of the front pocket of his suit jacket and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "How much money do you wish to withdraw?"
Diana shrugged and calmly said: "All of it."
Bugnar froze, his hand going completely still while mid movement, with a handkerchief pressed against his forehead, while Grinlok just looked at her with his mouth open from the sheer shock caused by her request.
"Well, that went as well as could be expected," Sirius whispered to her, when the goblins showed no signs of movement for a whole minute.
The young witch sighed, patiently waiting for the goblins to come back to their senses.
"Bu-bu-but, Lady Peverell! Surely, we've misheard you..." Grinlok exclaimed at long last and jumped from his seat.
"You have not misheard her, Grinlok," Sirius shook his head, with a small grin. "We would like to empty all our vaults of all our possessions, including money."
"But why?!" Grinlok exclaimed incredulously.
"Lord Black, your House, along with the Houses Potter and Peverell, are among our biggest clients and if you wish to close all of your vaults, thus effectively canceling any and all business between our Bank and your Houses, we would like to know the reason why," Bugnar spoke sharply, his expression that of bafflement and concern.
"We've decided to leave England behind and move elsewhere, and since we will no longer be able to come back, we are taking all our possessions with us..." Sirius tried to explain after sharing a look with his goddaughter.
"But you must know that Gringotts has branches almost in every magical settlement around the world and..." Grinlok intercepted, trying to dissuade them.
"The place we are moving to - doesn't," Diana cut him off, looking quite done with the conversation. She wanted to wrap it up and return back home to her son. "We didn't want anyone to know, but we are aware that all Gringotts employees take secrecy oaths so the reason why we have no other choice but to clean out our vaults is that we are moving to another world and are never coming back."
It seemed like the poor goblins were not meant to emerge from the state of shock any time soon, as they just kept receiving one shocking information after another. They were so flabbergasted by the news, that Grinlok, who was about to sit back in his chair, missed the chair completely and landed on the floor without even noticing it, while Bugnar just sat there frozen, his eyes unfocused.
"Alright, this is just too dramatic," Sirius muttered under his breath, earning a nod from Diana.
"We understand that it is a bit too much to take in, but the truth is that we won't be able to visit your bank ever again, so it is only logical that we would empty the vaults of their contents before leaving. The same goes with the properties," Diana shrugged. "We won't have any use for them anymore."
The sight of such vicious and bloodthirsty creatures as goblins looking so flabbergasted was something that would've made both Sirius and Diana crack up, however neither of them found it in themselves to do so, even though Sirius did find the sight of razor sharp teeth, that could be easily seen in all their abundant glory through his account manager's gaping mouth, quite amusing.
"There weren't any known instances of interdimensional travel ever since The Horde escaped to Earth from our destroyed mother world..." Bugnar muttered, his gaze still unfocused, but then he seemed to shake himself, as if from a deep slumber and looked at them sharply, his expression a mix of disbelief and wonder. "But the knowledge was lost, during the many a wars that had accompanied our arrival. How are you planning on accomplishing such a feat?"
Lady Peverell looked at him thoughtfully, as if contemplating whether she should tell them or not. Sirius wasn't of any help either, as he just shrugged when she turned to him for help.
After a few long seconds of hesitation, Diana had finally made up her mind and told them the short version of her story. The goblins listened to her attentively, their eyes sparkling once they learned of her otherworldly ancestry, but they didn't interrupt her, not even once.
As she finished telling them her story, Bugnar and Grinlok shared a meaningful look, which gave Diana the idea that they were communicating without words, then Bugnar nodded, opened a small compartment in his table and took out some sheets of parchment, which turned out to be the list of the investments and shares that her Houses owned.
"A significant part of your liquid is tied up in investments and I will take it upon myself to sell your holdings and withdraw your money, but it usually takes from 5 to 7 days and there's a possibility that I will not be able to finish the whole process by the time of your departure," Bugnar stated all business-like, which Diana was thankful for since it looked like they were finally moving from a dead point.
"It is quite alright, Bugnar. Just do your best and it will be enough."
Grinlok then added: "The same goes for you as well, Lord Black. I too will start a withdrawal and will do my best to finish in seven days' time."
"Thank you, Grinlok," Sirius nodded in gratitude.
"Now," Bugnar spoke loudly and clapped his hands, before jumping off of his chair. "We might as well head down to your vaults and begin the withdrawal, it will take a while after all, considering the number of vaults and the amount of assets your Ancient Houses have harbored throughout the centuries."
The godfather and goddaughter agreed and they all followed the old goblin to the dungeons, where they had to split up to accelerate the process. Thus, Sirius and Grinlok took one cart and headed towards the Black Family vaults, while Diana and Bugnar took another.
Before climbing into their cart, Diana heard Bugnar speak something into an amulet that was hanging around his neck and after seeing her questioning look, the old goblin said that he gave out the order to prepare the team of curse breakers, to send them to the seized Death Eaters' properties, to which she nodded in understanding. It was best to get done with as soon as possible, after all.
Then she asked the goblin to take her to the Peverell vaults first, which were two in total: the main vault and the Heir vault, since they mostly contained money, gold and precious stones.
The Heir vault was emptied first, Diana just summoned her bottomless money pouch and sent ten thousand galleons (the amount that was usually a year's worth income of a minor house) flying in it with a flick of her fingers and they quickly proceeded towards the main Peverell vault, which was located slightly deeper.
"The older the House, the deeper it's vaults," Bugnar said when she commented on that and gave her a toothy grin.
Diana snorted and shook her head, as the saying meant both the vaults' location and their size.
As they descended deeper into the abyss of the seemingly endless dungeon, Diana felt a weird pull, tugging her towards one of the branches of the cave.
It felt familiar, she knew that she had already felt that pull before, but she couldn't quite place it. And then something clicked in her mind and she remembered what it was -she had experienced the same feeling in her first year with Norberta and later in her fourth with the Norwegian Horntail. It was how her connection to the dragons felt like. But comparing to those two instances, this time the pull felt much stronger and she wondered if it was another of her powers that had become stronger due to her core no longer being under the influence of Voldemort's Horcrux.
The pull was so strong in fact, that it almost knocked the wind out of her, and she had to rub her chest, right where her solar plexus was, to ease the pain. She couldn't understand at first why it was so painful, so she tried to concentrate on that pull, hoping to find any clues and suddenly, it felt like someone flipped the switch and she became overwhelmed with the feelings of anguish, despair, pain and loneliness...
Diana had to take a few calming breaths to recover from the emotional whiplash and once she did, she noticed that Bugnar had been watching her this whole time. She quickly schooled her features back to calm as best as she could, but even though the old goblin didn't ask her anything, his curiosity was palpable.
"How much for the dragon?" Diana asked calmly.
"Excuse me?" Bugnar stuttered, completely thrown out of the loop.
"The dragon that you have guarding the vaults down here. I want to buy it. How much is it?"
Bugnar gaped at her perplexedly, for a few long moments as they were descending deeper into the seemingly endless cave.
"H-how did you..." the goblin began to ask, but then saw the pointed look on her face and immediately the understanding downed upon him and he whispered something that sounded like "ah, yes, how could've I forgotten?" before shaking his head and letting out a short bewildered laugh. "I'm sorry, Lady Peverell, but I do not know it's price, or even if it is for sale, for that matter. But I will broach this subject with the king, if that will be alright with you."
"It is," Lady Peverell nodded and turned to look straight ahead, feeling the cart slowing down, indicating that they were nearing their destination. "Tell him the price is not a problem, Bugnar."
Once they reached the main Peverell vault, Diana unhooked a small charm in the form of a suitcase from the bracelet on her wrist, which was a shrunken version of her bottomless suitcase, that immediately went back to its normal size, once it was off the bracelet. The young witch opened it and was met with the sight of a small, wooden door, that took up the entirety of the suitcase, but with a flick of her wrist, the door changed to a deep empty compartment that was divided into four sections, with one of the sections divided into three smaller ones as well.
Then, without any further delay, she entered the vault, completely ignoring the mountains upon mountains of coins, precious stones, gold, silver and platinum bars and began meticulously moving all that Scrooge McDuck's wet dream into her bottomless suitcase.
The gemstones went into one compartment, the precious metals into another and finally galleons, sickles and knuts went into the third, divided compartment, with each currency being sent into its own section.
And just like that, within a matter of ten minutes, the vault that had been storing and harboring wealth of an ancient family for a thousand years had become completely empty. But Diana didn't feel anything really, the vault was there only for the cover anyway, everything truly valuable was safely stored in the dungeons under the Peverell Castle.
After that, her and Bugnar headed towards the Potter vaults, which were three in total: two main vaults, one for gold and one for other heirlooms and valuables, and an Heir vault. The main treasure vault, while smaller than the Peverell one, was still impressive and it took Diana somewhere around five minutes to clear it.
The storage vault was right beside the treasury, so there was no need for another cart ride.
This vault was the one that Diana had been anticipating the most, hoping to finally find some of her parents' belongings there. It was her first time visiting the main Potter vaults: initially she couldn't access them until she became Lady Potter, then the tensions started brewing in the Wizarding Britain, after which she became a runaway, then happened the war and soon after that she left Britain to go on a hunt. When she had finally visited Gringotts a couple of weeks ago, intending to finally inspect the vault, she unexpectedly became Lady Peverell, and suddenly there were other priorities... She just never seemed to find any time to go through the stuff that was in that storage vault. Until now.
The heavy vault door slowly swung open and before Diana was a huge, dimly lit room, filled with splendid furniture, objects of decor, books, paintings, artifacts, jewelry, wardrobes stuffed with different clothes, wands that once belonged to her ancestors and much more...
"After the attack on the Potter Castle that took the lives of your grandparents, Charlus and Dorea Potter, your father decided against repairing it, stating that he couldn't imagine himself living in the place where his parents were so brutally murdered. That is why he moved everything of value here, intending to use it later once he builds a new family home. But sadly, it wasn't meant to happen," Bugnar spoke with a heavy sigh, standing quietly in the doorway and allowing her some semblance of a privacy.
His words sent a pang of pain through her chest, seemingly opening up an old wound. She couldn't help but think how different her life would've been, if only her parents weren't killed. Maybe she would've grown up in a house that her father wanted to rebuild, surrounded with all these things that were now rotting away (metaphorically speaking of course, the vault was covered in so many stasis charms, that everything inside was pretty much frozen in time) in the goblin caves.
Diana walked around the vault, imagining her younger self playing with her toys on the gorgeous, Gryffindor-red carpet that was hanging on display on one of the walls, or maybe doing her summer homework sitting behind that pretty oak desk over there, or perhaps, playing Quidditch with her father on those old, yet sturdy looking brooms that were stored in one of the corners, or even having their usual breakfast at that old, yet magnificent looking dinner table, just the three of them - her, mom and dad...
Her eyes wandered around the vault and landed on the books lying in stacks on a small coffee table and she could just imagine her parents cuddling and reading together on a couch on a cold winter night, or her mom cooking holiday dinner while wearing one of the beautiful dresses that were hanging in one of the intricately carved wooden wardrobes, or...
With a sound of metal clanging, Diana slammed down her occlumency shields, cutting off her emotions before she ventured too deep into her own mind, daydreaming about what-if's until it drove her into insanity...
Her hand, that had been tracing the picture of her parents in a photo album that she'd found in the pile of knickknacks, was jerked back from it as if she got burned. She needed to get out of there.
Her bottomless suitcase burst open with a flick of her wrist, with another flick the treasure compartment was changed to another one which resembled an empty, spacious room and then, hastily but with a great care, item after item, the contents of the vault were sent flying inside, until there was nothing left, aside from the bare, roughly cut walls of the goblin made cave.
Diana didn't spare Bugnar even as much as a glance while she fled the vault, too busy trying to get as far away from the wretched cave as possible. But Bugnar seemed to understand her emotional turmoil and didn't utter a word on their way to the Potter Heir vault, not when she quickly summoned all the coins and sent them flying into her pouch and not even on their way back towards the surface. And she was thankful for it.
Sirius, who was already waiting for her in the foyer, being the first to have finished with his vaults, immediately felt that something was wrong, as soon as he saw her embarking hastily out of the grand doors leading to the caves.
He wisely didn't comment on it and just simply took her hand, while she all but dragged him outside the bank and then towards the apparition point, eager to get back home, where she could safely let her walls down, while hugging her sweet son to her chest and inhaling his delicious scent.
Neither Diana in her overwhelmed state, nor Sirius that she was hastily dragging along, noticed Bill and Fleur emerging from one of the hallways, but the couple had surely noticed them.
"Was that Diana?" Fleur asked her husband incredulously, to which Bill nodded, equally shocked, yet relieved to see their good friend.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was her and Sirius."
"When did she return? Why didn't she come to visit?" The French beauty kept pestering her husband, visibly hurt by the fact that she didn't knew that their dear friend was finally back home.
Before Bill could reply, they were summoned by Bugnar, one of the senior account managers, who looked quite impatient as they hurried to his office along with the three other curse breakers, that were summoned to work on short notice as well.
Bill shared a baffled look with his colleagues, as none of them ever saw the respectable goblin in such a disheveled state: his short grey hair was a mess, compared to its usual neatly styled state, his beady eyes usually sharp, now resembled those of a spooked horse, but the most baffling part of his extremely bizarre behavior, was the nonsense that he kept mumbling in Gobbledegook, which only Bill, with him being the only senior curse breaker among the group, could understand.
But it still didn't quite make sense to Bill, as he kept hearing: "need to bring this to the King!", "the blood of the dragons", "another world!" "our only solution", "Lady Diana" and "hurry-hurry-hurry!" - over and over and over again. None of that made any sense, but one thing was certain for sure, it was all somehow connected to Diana.
What happened next didn't give him any answers, on the contrary, it added even more confusion to his and his wife's thoughts. Bugnar, clearly in hurry to be somewhere else (probably in the Goblin King's office, Bill mused), promptly told them that they were hired to clear eight properties that used to belong to five Ancient Houses (!) and which now belonged to Diana Potter and Sirius Black through the Right of Conquest (!), handed them the addresses and hastily kicked them out of his office.
While Bill and Fleur were puzzling over the bizarre situation on their way to the first property for the day, Bugnar was running down the endless hallways of the Gringotts Bank towards the elevator, which could be accessed only by the goblins and which was the only way to reach their city, that was located deeper than any wizard could ever imagine.
The Golden City, that's how it was named by The Horde, was located so deep in fact, that the atmospheric pressure on the approaches to it was high enough that it could make any unprepared human's blood boil in their veins, but to goblins themselves the pressure was nonexistent.
Goblins of all ages wordlessly stared at the running figure of one of their most respectable elders, as he made his way towards the palace, through its numerous, richly decorated and furnished halls and towards the Goblin King's chambers. The huge, heavily warded doors to the King's private quarters were guarded by the two most powerful members of the King's Guard, who immediately blocked Bugnar's path with their heavy looking double-headed axes.
"I would like... to request... an audience... with King Urlig!" Bugnar wheezed out, as he did his best to catch his breath before facing the King. "It is a matter of… utmost urgency!"
The King's guards stared at him stonily from head to foot, then one of the them disappeared behind the grand doors, only to return a few moments later and give Bugnar the permission to enter.
The Peverell account manager took a few more calming breaths, before finally walking through the grand doors which were flung open by the guards and bowing before the long table at the head of which sat an imposing figure which belonged to none other than Urlig The Cunning, the King of The Horde.
Even though one might find it ridiculous that the king of the goblin nation resided right in England, or rather under England, it wasn't entirely true. The Golden City, the stronghold of the Goblin Nation, wasn't exactly located under England, truth be told, it wasn't located anywhere in the real world, but rather in a fold in the fabric of space and from there were paved the ways to the smaller settlements, with each of them being located right inside the various Branches of the Gringotts Goblin Bank all around the world.
But let us go back to there and then.
"Your Majesty!" Bugnar greeted his king and bowed his head in a show of respect.
"Ah, it is you, my dear nephew. Raise your head and tell me about this emergency that had you running all the way to my chambers," the King told him, his rough voice laced with the tiniest hint of amusement.
Bugnar did as he was told and looked at his King, who gestured him towards one of the chairs. Even while the King had called him his nephew, Bugnar really was just a grandson of his cousin, thus making their relation too distant, but the King was known to care deeply for his family, even though that didn't save one of his half-brothers from getting his head cut off by Urlig himself, when he made an attempt to raise a rebellion and take his throne.
"I had a visit from Lady Peverell today, your Majesty," Bugnar spoke after taking the seat at the table.
"Ah, yes, yes. Diana Potter, The-Girl-Who-Lived, was it? What a ridiculous moniker. The Woman Who Conquered, suits her most. A brave soul, that one, and noble too. She has my gratitude for saving us from shame that would've befallen us if the word got out about that blasted thing getting sneaked through our extensive wards, that we had always claimed to be impenetrable, by that filth who had called himself the Dark Lord. And for saving the lives of my subjects during the attack on the Diagon Alley and for returning us my grandsire's sword, even though it doesn't look too happy about it," King Urlig hummed thoughtfully and eyed the said sword, which happened to be the infamous sword of Godric Gryffindor, which was put under an enchanted glass case on a beautifully carved stone pedestal near the wall. The glass lid of the case was practically glowing from the runic arrays that seemed to cover almost every inch of its surface, which didn't seem to be a good thing as the King frowned slightly at the sight of it. "So what did Lady Peverell want?"
"She, uh, she wanted to close all the vaults that belonged to Houses Potter, Peverell and Black and...
" Bugnar wasn't able to finish, when the King's suddenly sharpened gaze landed on him, making him choke on his next words.
"What!? This is unacceptable! Such a blow to our reputation!" The King bellowed angrily. "Did she state her reasons? Have we offended her?"
"No, your Grace, nothing of sort," Bugnar hurried to explain. "She said that she will have no need for the vaults since she's planning to leave this world behind and never come back!"
The King's anger quickly turned into confusion as he pondered over his "nephew's" words.
"I highly doubt that she was talking about taking her own life," Urlig mused and looked demandingly at Bugnar. "Explain!"
And explain it he did. Bugnar recited Diana's tale almost word for word, without missing any details, which was rather easy for him to do, since he was widely known among the goblins for his great memory.
"How curious... She is just as alien to this world as we are..." Urlig muttered under his breath, his eyes alight with fascination and wonder. "The blood of a dragon... curious indeed..."
"Ah, about dragons, your Grace," Bugnar began nervously. "Lady Peverell had expressed her wish to buy the Blind One from us. She said the price won't be an issue."
"Did she now?" Urlig suddenly smirked, putting his razor sharp teeth on display.
Bugnar knew that look well, hell almost every other goblin who knew the king personally knew that look, which was the reason why he was called Urlig The Cunning. That look meant that the King had an idea that could potentially benefit him personally and/or The Horde as a whole. It was said, that it was with that exact look, Urlig had made the daring plan to take the throne from the previous king, Barkit the Lazy, with just fifteen of his most loyal warriors and not only managed to emerge victorious from that seemingly suicidal attack, but hadn't lost any of his soldiers as well, which said a lot about his brilliant mind, since the number of the King's guards that they had to kill was somewhere around two thousand.
"And about her properties, Your Grace, I am not sure I will be able to sell them all in time, but I thought that maybe..." Urlig didn't let him finish.
"That won't be necessary, my dear nephew," the King said absentmindedly, with the same smile still plastered on his thin lips, while his gaze seemed to be aimed at something on the other side of the room.
Bugnar followed his gaze and realized that he's been staring at the sword of Gryffindor this whole time, which confused him greatly.
"Your Grace?" Bugnar asked hesitatingly, but the King then suddenly shouted.
"Guards!" The door to the King's chambers flung open and inside walked the guards that had been guarding the door this whole time and bowed their heads, patiently waiting for the King's orders. "Bring me my son!" Ulrig then ordered regally.
The guards shared a look, that couldn't be quite seen because of their helmets, and spoke at the same time: "Which one, Your Grace?"
"Michael."
The guards shared another look, before leaving to carry out the order, and this time Bugnar knew that the look, even though unseen, meant that they were confused, the feeling that he himself shared. Unknowingly to them, all three of them shared the same thought, upon hearing the name of the King's son:
"What does the King need that half-breed bastard for?"
While King Ulrig was busy making plans that reflected the whole essence of his moniker and stirring things up at higher levels of goblin government, Bill and Fleur spent the day breaking the wards on the Dark Eater's property, along with their colleagues. They didn't have much time to discuss the whole situation, but both of them couldn't help but worry about their friend, since even without knowing all the details they both were certain of one thing - Diana was up to something huge.
At the end of the day, after getting back to Gringotts to file the report about their progress with the wards, Bill had found the time to write a short message on the palm of his hand, which would appear on the palms of his brothers and sister: "Gather at the Burrow, we have news about Diana."
The Weasley couple hastily finished with their report and apparated home, where the rest of the Weasley clan had already been waiting for their arrival. It was rather easy to gather the Weasley siblings, they still lived together in the newly rebuilt Burrow, staying united after the death of their parents and brother, even Charlie would portkey back home every other weekend to spend more time with his family. So the real reason why Bill had sent the message was in case some of them were working late, urging them to hurry back home for an emergency family meeting.
They've found everyone gathered in the living room, along with the addition of a few unexpected, but not unwelcomed guests: Neville, Luna, Daphne and Blaise. And they all bombarded the couple with questions the second they entered the room:
"Is Diana back?"
"Have you seen her?"
"Is she alright?"
"Yes, she is back, Fred. Yes, I have seen her, Ginny. And yes, Neville, I can't say for sure, but she looked alright, if slightly distressed," Bill answered the questions in their exact order, not able to suppress a small smirk.
"Tell us what happened, Billy," asked Charlie, the calmest one in the room.
Bill shared a look with his wife, who gave him a nod and started conjuring up the tea set to make everyone tea.
"We were summoned to Gringotts today and spotted Diana and Sirius as they were leaving the bank. But that's not all," Bill sighed and took a seat in the nearby chair, thanking his wife as she handed him a cup of a hot, freshly brewed tea. "We had learned that we were summoned because Diana and Sirius came into possession of some properties of the Death Eaters by the right of conquest and we ended up getting hired to take down their wards."
"But that's not the most interesting part," Fleur added as she continued handing everyone tea. "The senior manager that had summoned us looked... well... how should I say this...? Flabbergasted? Yes, he looked rather flabbergasted, and kept mumbling something in his language that I didn't understand, but Bill did and..."
She looked at her husband unsurely and finally took a sit on the arm of his chair. Bill absently hugged her around the waist with one hand and looked at everyone present with a serious, if albeit confused look.
"He kept saying that he needed to hurry and bring the matter to his king, he also said something about dragon blood and another world, all the while repeating Diana's name..."
"Dragon blood?" Charlie, ever the dragons lover, asked confusedly. His confusion was shared by everyone else as well, as they all frowned, pondering over Bill's words.
"Another world? I don't understand..." Blaise murmured, sharing a look with Daphne and Neville.
"Yes, but that is not what alarmed us."
"What can be more alarming than our friend's name used in one sentence with blood and another world?" George asked Bill incredulously.
"When we came back, we've found the goblin employees whispering anxiously among themselves and according to some snippets that we've overheard, Diana and Sirius had completely emptied their vaults."
The silence that had engulfed the room after his words was almost deafening. The members of "Potter Army", the name that they've given their little group of friends, when Diana started teaching them magic in their fifth year, after Umbitch cancelled any and all clubs at Hogwarts, looked baffled and concerned, while Neville just stared blankly inside the cup with his untouched tea.
The last year and a half was the hardest in their lives, with all of them struggling to live with the pain and grief of losing their loved ones. The Weasleys buried their parents and brother, Daphne buried her sister and best friend, Luna lost her father, Blaise lost Theo, his best friend who became family that he'd never had...
But among all of them Neville looked the worst. The young man not only lost his parents, who had finally passed away peacefully in their sleep one after another in St Mungos, but he had also lost his Gran, his girlfriend Susan and Hermione, one of his best friends, during the attack on the Diagon Alley, and that was not counting his other friends that were killed that day and during the Battle of Hogwarts. He just seemed to keep losing and losing the people he loved, which was proven right, when he lost Diana too, when she had disappeared after the massacre on the Diagon Alley.
He was really hurt at first, when she had left without saying anything to him, angry at her for leaving him when he had needed her the most, but then, as a few weeks had passed and he somehow began breathing again, emerging from the ocean of grief that his life had turned into, he had remembered her that fateful day, as she hurried to save her friends, still dressed in her pajamas and having killed almost every Death Eater who participated in the attack, how empty she had looked while hugging Hermione's broken form to her chest...
Neville knew that she had almost barely made it through after the Battle of Hogwarts. He remembered how hollow her eyes looked after she killed Voldemort and his inner circle, her eyes glued to the side of the Great Hall where lay bodies upon bodies of their friends covered with white cloth. He had thought that he would never see her again when she disappeared into the Forbidden Forest with Voldemort's body, after healing everyone who required medical attention, but she had returned. Hours later? Yes. Looking worse for wear? Sure. Skinny, malnourished, covered in bruises and scars? Definitely. Broken? Maybe. Suicidal? He didn't think so...
But after what happened at the Diagon Alley? Neville was sure that he could almost hear Diana's sanity starting to crack, as she numbly looked at the bodies of her friends. The friends that she had literally died to save not even two months ago... He got scared back then, thinking that she had finally reached her breaking point. There was so much pain that a person could take after all.
They all knew that she was blaming herself, for not being strong enough to save the people she loved, but none of them blamed her. Even though they were all hurt and confused when she had left, deep down they all knew that it was something she needed to do, that she would return after she's done with her hunt, but now it looked like she was about to leave again, and permanently at that...
Neville snapped out of his thoughts and focused on everyone present. These people were his family, the only family that he had left. They were there for each other during the time of loss and helped each other to go through their grief. But their family wasn't complete and they all knew that, they felt that. They were missing the person who had brought them all together, their best friend, their savior, their leader. Even though Neville felt guilty while calling her that in his mind since he knew how Diana hated those titles, he also knew that it was the truth. And nothing would change that.
"Does that mean that she's... leaving?" Daphne asked tentatively, breaking the silence with her quiet yet strong voice.
"It doesn't make any sense," Percy shook his head. "There was no need to empty their vaults if they wanted to just move somewhere else. Gringotts has branches almost in every magical community around the world."
"Percy's right," Bill nodded. "That's why we are so concerned. If they are packing that thoroughly, then the only logical conclusion is that their destination is not on this planet..."
"But that's impossible, right? There's no such thing as other worlds..." Ginny inquired hesitatingly, looking at her brothers for the answer that they couldn't give.
"Oh, but there is... My mother spent most of her life researching the means to travel to other worlds. And it is also the known fact that the goblins came from another dimension as well..." Luna said quietly, using her voice for the first time that evening.
"Interdimensional travel sounds a little unrealistic, in my opinion. Maybe this has nothing to do with it, maybe that goblin you overheard has just lost his mind and was spouting nonsense?" Blaise shrugged.
"We can't just assume things. We need to talk to her," Fleur sighed.
"We can't ask Diana directly, she won't say anything if she's already made up her mind, especially if she thinks that she's protecting us," Neville spoke, drawing everyone's attention. "We need Sirius."
His friends looked at him thoughtfully, most of them nodding in agreement.
"But Sirius will not spill if she had asked him not to tell anyone," Ginny said, from where she was sitting on the couch, squeezed between Daphne and Luna.
"No he won't, unless..." George smirked and looked at his twin.
"You're thinking what I am thinking, my dear Forge?" Fred asked, returning his twin's smirk.
"Oh, I certainly am, Gred," George nodded and they both high-fived.
"I still hate it when they do that," Percy groaned and began massaging his temples.
"You and me both, mate," Charlie sighed.
"Well I, for one, love it when they behave like they share one brane cell. It is always amusing to watch," Blaise spoke from his chair, where he was taking sips of something alcoholic from his flask.
"Oh we didn't know you were such a big fan, Blaisy!" Fred winked at Lord Zabini, who silently saluted him with his flask.
"Guys! If you have an idea, do share it with the rest of us, please," Bill had all but ordered his mischievous younger brothers, before they could get carried on.
The twins shared a grin and spoke in their usual manner:
"Well, Neville's right..."
"...we need Sirius."
"We just need to..."
"...lure him here..."
"...alone, so..."
"...we can trick him..."
"...into spilling the beans!"
The rest of the room almost got a whiplash, while trying to keep up with the twins' rapid speech. But once their words had finally sunk in, everyone found the idea plausible.
"And how are we gonna trick him?" Ginny asked doubtfully. "He is the infamous marauder, after all. I don't think he's easy to trick."
"Just leave it to us, dear sister," the twins said in unison, both adorning the mysterious smile of the Cheshire Cat.
Sirius sat near the fireplace at the Peverell Castle, silently watching Diana and Teddy's sleeping forms curled up together in the nearby chair.
It took his goddaughter a while to calm down after their little trip to Gringotts, but Teddy, as if sensing his mama's distress, was glued to her side ever since they returned, doing his best to shower her with love and affection the way only a toddler could.
All the while watching as Teddy worked his magic on his mentally exhausted mother, Sirius couldn't help but worry about Diana. She was getting better as of late, sure, but their trip to Diagon Alley proved that there was still a long way to go. His only hope now was their imminent departure.
Ever since learning about her ancestry and the mission that the Valyrian Gods gave her, Diana seemed to return to her usual curious, studious and adventurous self. The prospect of leaving this world behind to find a place that they could call home seemed to breathe a new life in her and Sirius couldn't help but hope that it would be enough to help her heal.
He rubbed his face tiredly and stood up, while drawing out his wand from its holster, intent to move the mother and son to their bed, to make them more comfortable. He gently levitated two of the most precious people in his life, surprised that Diana didn't wake up from the feeling of someone else's magic, as she usually would've, after spending the last three years of her life in a battle-ready state and couldn't decide whether it was because she knew subconsciously that she was in a safe place or because her magic recognized his and deemed it safe. Either way, he decided that it was another good sign that showed that she was on the path to healing.
After lowering Diana onto her bed, with little Teddy hugging her like a baby koala, and tucking them both in, Sirius planted a kiss on their foreheads and returned to the living room, intent on having a glass of whiskey before heading to sleep as well.
Just as he was about to pour himself a drink, he felt the small storing pouch, that he always wore around his neck in the form of a necklace, vibrating somewhere against his chest. He opened it confusedly and frowned, when he realized that it was his small communication mirror, buzzing to alert him to a new message.
It was a modified version of the two-way mirror that they've created with Diana as a little project after her fifth year, and only those of their inner circle owned the similar ones.
Both him and Diana had been ignoring any and all messages from their friends while away on the hunt, not having a heart to turn them off completely in case of an emergency, but it was mostly quiet during the last two months. Now it seemed like something had happened, if their friends decided to contact them again.
He took the mirror in his hand and sent a small amount of his magic into it to activate it. The ripples went through his reflection, then the surface of the mirror turned sky blue and soon enough, the mirror showed a short, but rather disturbing message: "We know everything. Come to the Burrow. Alone."
Sirius felt a surge of panic shooting through him as he thought about the implications of the message. Judging by the address, it was rather obvious who the message was from. Taking a hold of his wand, Sirius tried to reassure himself that there was no way that the Weasleys could've learned about their nearing departure, that the message simply meant that their friends had heard that they were back in England. Yes, this has to be it!
With that final thought, Sirius had calmed himself down and apparated to the outskirts of Ottery St. Catchpole, happy that Diana had tied him to the wards, which meant that he could come and go from the island without bothering her.
Silently appearing on a quiet and snowy country road, leading to the familiar yet slightly different sight of the Burrow, Sirius couldn't help but think how the apparition for such a long distance was impossible for him to accomplish just some five years ago. A lot of time had passed since he escaped the Azkaban, he mused, while walking towards the towering architectural nightmare, and a lot of things had changed. He was stronger now, mentally, physically and magically, more mature and definitely more calm. He was still a prankster at heart, that would never change, but now he was more responsible and oftentimes reminded himself of his grandfather. He was no longer that troubled and sometimes even arrogant lad that he's been during his school years, neither was he just a shell of his former self, that he'd turned into while serving a sentence in that wretched place for the crime he didn't commit - the skinny, malnourished teenage girl, with the brightest green eyes, that had burst into his life, turned out to be the much needed push that allowed him to become the responsible father figure that he'd never thought himself capable of becoming.
Thinking back on their first year together, he could now clearly see how that little minx had so innocently yet deviously manipulated him, completely disarming him with her cuteness. When he had stubbornly refused to get checked by the healers after getting exonerated, all it took for him to surrender were her huge eyes filled with unshed tears, that wobbling lower lip and a phrase spoken in soft and embarrassed voice - "Madam Pomphrey said that I needed a full checkup too, since I am... like... really underfed, because I never got enough food while living with the Dursleys, but I'm so scared of doing it alone..." - and the next thing he knew, he was in St. Mungos, going through all the needed checkups and receiving the much needed help, along with that little fox.
Then there was: "You know so much about self defense Siri, can you teach me?", "My life was in danger so many times, and most of my injuries could've been avoided if only I had more endurance... Can you train me, Padfoot?", "I don't want to feel weak, Siri", "I'm so scared of losing you, Padfoot... can you help me become stronger, so I could always protect you?" And before he even realized what was really happening, he found himself training like a madman in order to become stronger. To protect her. To teach her...
It really took him no time to get himself back into tip-top shape and then some, catching up on all those years that he's been rotting away in Azkaban. And all that thanks to the little devil with eyes full of innocence...
Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Sirius couldn't suppress a fond smile as he approached the front door to the Weasley household and knocked on it to announce his arrival. But once the door flung open, his smile instantly vanished, when he saw that there was no one there to greet him.
"Well, that's not ominous at all..." he muttered under his breath, as he walked inside and closed the door shut behind himself.
Following the familiar route, Sirius headed towards the living room, noting absentmindedly how familiar yet slightly foreign everything looked. There was no muggle stuff lying around the kitchen that Arthur loved to tinker with, no self knitting needles, charmed by Molly to knit an umpteenth Weasley sweater, no set of wizarding chess in sight, that Ron loved to constantly play any free minute he's got... Yet the infamous clock, charmed by the Weasley Patriarch, back when their family was just beginning to grow, was still hanging on the wall, a Chudley Cannons shirt lay hanging on the back of one of the chairs, as if carelessly thrown there by a certain Weasley keeper after a friendly Quidditch match with his brothers, while the little coffee table near the wall still had a few cookbooks along with an occasional romance novel scattered over it, as if just waiting for the Weasley Matriarch to pick up for a light reading, during the rare occasions when she managed to make time for herself.
After forcefully tearing his gaze from the new little details that his mind kept trying to find in the familiar surroundings, Sirius took a deep breath and finally started walking towards the living room, knowing full well that it was where the welcoming party had been patiently waiting for him this whole time.
Upon entering the living room, Sirius was greeted by the sight of his and Diana's remaining friends, all scattered around the room and watching him with serious expressions. Well, all except for Luna, who smiled at him and waived:
"Hi Sirius."
"And hello to you too, dear miss Luna," Sirius waived back and gave the girl a warm smile, then turned to the rest who were giving the girl exasperated and fond looks. "At least someone here had missed me, it seems. What? Is nobody else gonna greet little old me?"
"We did miss you Sirius," Ginny said quietly. "We are just angry at you for keeping something so huge from us."
He looked at each and every one of them, noting their guarded expressions and hurtful looks and sighed: "Listen, I know we should've told you that we were back, but something came up and we got carried away..."
"That's not what I meant when I mentioned that we know everything in the message I sent you, Sirius," Bill shook his head from where he was standing near the fireplace. "I mean, we are disappointed that you didn't come to visit once you got back, sure, but..."
"When were you going to tell us, Sirius?" Neville asked angrily, while Sirius noted absentmindedly that the young man had became even taller since the last time he saw him. "When were you and Di going to tell us that you are planning to leave? Were you even going to say anything at all? Or were you just thinking about leaving a note? Is that it?"
"Neville..." Sirius was at a loss of words.
"Come on, Padfoot, really? Did you forget that Bill and Fleur work at Gringotts?" One of the twins asked grimly.
"We know about what happened today. Did you really think that the news about both of you clearing your vaults would never reach us?" Another twin, who Sirius assumed to be Fred, added and shook his head.
"Another world, Sirius, really?" Charlie added and Sirius cracked.
"Listen, we just learned about it yesterday, alright? Diana is the last Peverell and she doesn't have a choice but to return back to the world where her ancestors came from, as per their agreement with the gods that helped them escape. I'm going with her, because she's the only family I have left, but Diana didn't want any of you to know until right before our departure, because she wanted to make the parting as painless as possible..." Sirius broke off, once he saw the incredulous and disbelieving looks on everyone's faces and frowned.
"What...?" Ginny gasped almost inaudibly.
"Bloody hell..." Charlie sighed, his eyes huge.
"So it's really true..." Percy just mumbled, his mouth agape from shock.
The rest just sat there in the similar state, too stunned to speak.
Sirius watched this reaction occur, then the understanding dawned upon him and he let out a tired groan: "You had no idea about anything I have just said, didn't you?"
Luna, the only one in the room who didn't appear shocked by Sirius' revelation, shook her head with her usual dreamy smile and said: "We knew that you wouldn't tell us anything, so the twins suggested we trick you. It worked."
Sirius felt lost for a second, as he numbly watched the Weasleys, Neville, Daphne and Blaise slowly get over their initial shock, their emotions changing to anger, irritation, wonder and excitement.
"Morgana's saggy tits..." the Marauder groaned in frustration, dragging his hand through his long hair, "...Diana is going to kill me..."