Block Removal
Nadlok looks up at me, seeing my surprised expression. I hand over the sheet of paper and Nodlok frowns slightly.
“Well, it seems Mrs. Potter that there are a few changes needed on your file. As well as removing your blocks. Though those will cost extra,” Nodlok says.
“You can take the money straight from the Potter account right?” I ask, waiting for Nodlok to nod before continuing, “I would like to get all blocks removed please. And I would also like to claim my lordships.”
“That is fine,” Nodlok sighs, “To remove all blocks it will cost 80 Galleons as each block removal is 16 Galleons each.” Nodlock explains as he gestures for Haley to follow him. I sigh quietly before I start to follow. This walk is a longer one. As I walk slightly behind Nodlok, I decide to look around a little bit. The hallway was a bit darker than the rest of Gringotts but it still held the same sort of Greek architecture as the rest of the building.
I… don’t really like using the money from the vault though. Being rich is great, don’t get me wrong, but… I didn’t earn it myself, it was given to me. I grumble quietly to myself as I walk. I would use the money I was given for as little as I could. Seeing the carts that bring people down to the vaults snaps me out of my thoughts. Anything but them. I hate roller coasters, more than anything. It’s kinda ironic considering that I was going to space when I died, but they were somehow worse than anything I experienced to do with space.
I quietly sigh out of relief when we pass the carts and continue down the hallway. As Nodlok eventually slows down to a stop in front of a door.
“Enter here” Nodlok starts, “A goblin named Ulim will explain the process on how to remove the blocks.” Nodlok says before turning and leaving me by the door.
“Well… That was… that?” I mutter with a quiet laugh. I don’t really mind being left here but it was still a bit awkward to just be left outside a door. Was I supposed to knock or am I supposed to just enter? After a moment of hesitation, I decide to knock. After a moment of waiting in which I shift slightly on my feet, the door finally creaks open, a crinkled hand reaching up to the doorknob.
“Hello?” A small goblin woman says. Her eyes were squinting, almost completely closed, through her glasses as she looked up at me. “Are you… Mrs. Harley Potter?”
“Close ma’am,” I say with a small smile, “It’s Haley Potter.”
“Oh- my apologies dear.” The goblin says with a small smile. “My name is Ulim, if you’d please sit down.” Ulim asks as she beckons me into the room. The room is very… different compared to the rest of Gringotts. Unlike the rest of Gringotts which was styled after Greek architecture, this room seemed more like a Victorian era style. There was a large chandelier hanging down from the middle of the ceiling made of quartz with a stool at the center below the chandelier.
“Wow…” I say quietly as I look up, “It’s so pretty…”
“Yes, I surpose it is… hehehe…” Ulima giggles to herself quietly, “Now sit down, sit down.” Haley complies, sitting down on the stool in the middle of the room. “You will be needing to think of a happy moment. The happiest you can think of!” Ulima explains, “The quartz will absorb the blocks and while it will hurt, as long as you think of a happy memory, you will be fine.” I nod slightly, that isn’t too bad though I quickly zone out, entering the black hole that sits in my mind.
I close my eyes, feeling the hum of the black hole as I slowly start to reach into it, drawing out memory after memory in search for a good one.
“I’m ready…” I say quietly once I have one.
“Hehe, okay then!” Ulima says before flipping a switch down, causing the chandelier to hum with quartz to start to glow. I don’t feel much at first but I quickly shift my mind over to the memory. The one problem. The one problem with the black hole system is that I relieve the memories I think of, so, as I enter the memory, I feel a hint of sadness upon the memory of my old home.
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I was laughing, the sun splashing across my face as I lay in the grass with Persephone laying next to me, her smile bright as she grins at me.
“I told you it’d be fun!” I manage to say between laughs, “Come on Seph, you can’t say that was boring now can you?”
“Haha, no I guess I can’t,” Persephone says with a bright smile as she rolls over to face me more, “who would have thought that rolling down a hill would be fun even at the age of 13.”
“Well, what did you expect!” I say with a bright smile, “Can’t let my bestest sister get bored!” I tease as Persephone lets out a quiet laugh.
“Ah yes, you ‘bestest’ and ONLY sister that you have.” Persephone teases, “Don’t be so dramatic Vixxie.” Giggling slightly, I sit up enough that I can use one hand to tap Persephone on the nose.
“Well, Mrs. Seph,” I joke, “I’m afraid I’m not being dramatic at all, this is complete sheri- seri- serious business with no other way to put it.” I saw proudly, having to take a second to pronounce ‘serious’ correctly. Darn words, I never knew how to say them.
Persephone laughs quietly and I smile. But, before I could say anything else, I felt pain suddenly rip through my chest and a strange feeling rippled through my brain. As if this moment was being pulled further and further away from me. Falling over, I hear Persephone say something, I don’t know what, but it sounded concerned, before her blurry figure goes to grab my arm.
“Vixxie? Are you okay?” She asks, worried. Looking up at her, I squint my eyes in confusion as I try to bring her into focus.
“Seph, it hurts…” I say quietly after I can see her normally again. I don’t know what is happening, but being here feels wrong, like I’ve done this before and I was only supposed to do it once, but I don’t remember this happening before. But the pain, it was different from everything else, it felt new, like it hadn’t happened before.
Turning back to Persephone, I notice something strange. She wasn’t at eye level. With a worried look, I turn to look straight up before my eyes widen with horror as I see her out of reach, unconscious yet slowly floating up towards a large black object in the sky. I was confused for a second, not knowing what was happening, before I realized, this was a memory. I HAD lived through this. But this was different, I remember me and Persephone playing till dark before going home where our dad joked about us being wild children and how we would have been wonderful frogs if we had been born as them till dinner where we all quieted down and ate together in a comfortable silence like every other night.
But this was not that. The world tilted out away from me as I fell back. This “black object” in front of me was a black hole. Something I had never seen in person, only in videos and photos.
“Is that…” I say quietly, my eyes widening as the world goes in and out of focus. Before I can say or do anything, I feel the pain erupt out of my chest as some sort of gray liquid gets pulled out. I clench my eyes shut, trying to ignore the pain.
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I open my eyes, falling back out of the stool and onto the ground. With a quiet groan, I sit up, rubbing my head slightly.
Are you okay Haley? I hear Sylvester hiss.
Yes I’m fine. I hiss back.
“Oh hoho…” Ulima laughs, “Don’t go bearing your fangs now little miss.” Ulima holes. I blink slightly looking up at her. I had forgotten where I had been.
I’m back in that room, with the goblin. My body feels almost lighter as I look up at the chandelier and see that the pure white quartz on it was now a dark gray.
“What the… Did that come from me?...” I ask quietly, mostly to myself, as I stare at the quartz as it slowly fades back to white.
“Yes it did!” Ulima said with a small smile, “Your magic is no longer blocked, you can go back to Nodlok.” Ulima says, turning to grab a rag that was set on a nearby table. It was obvious she didn’t want to spend more time with me though the feeling was mutual.
“Oh, okay… Thank you?” I say as I stand, taking a deep breath. The air felt fresher compared to how it was in the memory.
It felt real.
With one last breath I stand to exit the room, with a small wave, I open the door and step out. I sigh quietly as I look around, trying to remember which way the way out was. With a small sigh, I choose a direction and walk. After walking for a few minutes, I see Nodlok again,
“Oh! Nodlok,” I start, walking towards him, “I finished the cleansing or whatever it’s called ritual thing. I was wondering if I have anything else to do with that or can I ask to buy another thing.”
“If your blocks have been removed, then you are welcome to buy something and then leave.” Nodlok says, his tone seeming a bitttt annoyed.
“Okay, uh, can I please get some money from my vault? I don’t really know how much I need though…” I say with an awkward smile. Nodlock gives me a deadpan look before sighing.
“For 5 Galleons you can buy a card which goes on route back to your vault so you do not require a bag for your money.” Nodlock says, holding out a piece of paper, “Just sign here and the money will be transferred.” I nod, taking the paper and quickly reading it over. It was a small contract, simply stating that for 5 Galleons with no later fee’s from using the card, I would receive a card which acts close to how a credit card would act, just without tax. Huh, I guess tax didn’t exist in the wizarding world. I quickly signed the paper, though my signature was more like my name but I spelled it wrong, and gave it back to Nodlock.
“Thank you Nodlock!” I say with a small smile. Nodlock nods and hands me the card. I take it carefully out of his hands. The card was a small black, square card. The shape was a bit annoying. I was used to rectangular cards of credit cards so having one that WASN’T a rectangle was a bittt annoying. With a small breath, I smiled at Nodlock again. It is important to be polite to people who dislike you. After all, what better way to annoy people than to be polite to them so they seem like the asshole.
“I think I’ll go now Nodlock but truly, thank you for helping me.” I say with a small smile. I have to stop myself from bowing though. I watched WAY too much anime in my first life so my brain automatically goes to bowing as to how to politely leave. Darn anime teaching me how to be polite but only for certain cultures that I’ll likely never be around.
“Then you best be on your way” Nodlock says, sending me a small glare. I smile slightly before I quickly turn towards the exit of the building. That. Was not fun. Experiencing a happy memory of my past only for it to turn into a nightmare while having to deal with some really annoying people was not the best start to the day. But, looking out upon Diagon Alley, I couldn’t help but smile. There was so much magic here… Magic that I would learn.
With a quick look around, there were a few stores that piqued my interest, a pet store, a wand shop, which was Ollivanders but I doubted I’d go there, too legal for me, a clothes store that sold ouji style clothes, and so on.
Well, what do you think Sylvestor? I quietly hiss, want to get some rats?