Chapter 5
She chuckled and was then led away as she waved towards Anheint.
“What is your name Mr.Goblin?”
The Goblin eyed her in distaste but said grimly
“Drickerhet Lady Potter.”
“I see. I hope your victory over your enemies was bloody and has satisfied your bloodlust for today Drickerhet.”
The Goblin glared at her, as if she was insulting him before he nodded bowed his head and, a bit louder than last time, stated:
“May your Gold flow well until your last descendant, Lady Potter.”
Amara blinked at his cold response and analysed him.
“Have I forgotten a norm of your folk — is using the word ‘folk’ even right to talk about you? — that you’ve found to be insulting Mr.Drickerhet?”
Amara wouldn't be able to tell if he was grimacing or glaring at her
“Your kind has to bow their head a bit while saying the greeting and while departing.” he gritted it out eventually.
“I see, please excuse my impoliteness then, it is my first time here you see.”
Amara nearly had to race to keep up with the Goblin while they walked through the corridors and she bit her tongue to refrain from insulting him.
It was clear that Drickerhet didn’t want to make small talk, so after a while she took to observing everything.
She took to breathing and trying to identify the strange metallic taste in the air that got stronger towards a corridor that she thought looked like some sort of mine. Interesting.
Not long after that, they reached the door to her accounts manager.
Opening the door, she stepped in and saw two Goblins sitting behind a desk, they seemed to be arguing over something in their language.
She waited until she had their attention and then bowed her head and greeted them clearly, not loud enough to yell but loud enough to be heard.
They nodded and greeted her back.
“Drickerhet, you may go.” the oldest of the two said and Drickerhet nodded before stepping out of the room.
“May I ask you names?” she smiled pleasantly and hoped she didn’t look as tense and weary as she felt currently.
She didn’t even start talking about the real important matter yet and her head felt like it would explode. It also didn’t help the fact that she was currently insulting Albus Dumbledore, as apparently a Magical guardian should have explained everything about magic to her, yet here she was. Ignorant. Mark would’ve raised a scandal if he knew her education was, apparently, lacking.
Her lips quivered up and she felt a calm wash over her before she focused once again. Gods she really had gotten attached didn’t she?
Never doing it again. Never. It hurt too much to get away from him.
“I am Griphook, account manager of the Potter vaults”
“I am Bloodfang, account manager of the Black vaults.”
She quickly read her mental list for what to ask but before she eyes them
“I hope, Mr Bloodfang and Griphook, that everything spoken here will remain here, won’t it?”
They didn’t seem irate over her implications but they nodded.
Still, one could never be too careless.
“To what extent, exactly, does the confidence of Gringotts go?”
They seemed a bit annoyed at that but replied easily still.
“ We assure you, Miss Potter, that any things discussed here will remain here.”
She wanted to get a feel for how the waves worked around here so she dared a move.
“And what if my matters are, well, not exactly legal?” An euphemism. She planned on investing on a lot of things from now on and doing perhaps some less than legal things to secure her place into this new society where she apparently belonged to
The Goblins gave her nasty smiles and she couldn’t help but smile back just as nastily.
“ Your Kind has its own government that deals with these things. We Goblins are an independent nation — even if most Wixens like to believe otherwise — and as such, so long as you don’t interfere with our business or money flow, you are more than welcome to disrupt their power stand.”
She nodded and kept that in mind.
“I would like to request the account manager of these Vaults then.”
She slides the Parchment, already bent to show her vaults and heiress and Lady ships only.
She had to keep a laugh at their faces, Bloodfang even did a double take!
Gods it felt like a lifetime since she found something funny. Drickerhet was not funny, nor a good conversationalist, definitely not. She shuddered internally at the mere thought of being that.. Boring and dull. Perhaps it was just because of her ignorance, but goddamn not even polite could he be?
She was not startled when the other three Goblins appeared from the door.
They all greeted each other and started on business mode.
“There is no account Manager for the Gaunt accounts as the last Lord did not deem them salvable to actually invest in it;”
Amara hummed and flipped through the documents she had asked, a bit after their pleasantries were exchanged, stating where the properties were, what the last investments of the vaults had been, which lawyers had been her families’, which artefacts there were etc etc. she would need to take a look at those later but currently she was paying more attention to where her properties were than the rest.
Grimmauld Place was not that far away from Diagon Alley, though there was no information on whether or not it was in good condition. Perhaps the Goblin could do this for her if she paid enough? Would they do this now though?
A quick glance at her wrist watch told her that it was currently 00:54 and she withheld a sigh. She had been kept waiting next to Anheint for the last hour or so. Unacceptable, but she didn’t make a name for herself yet so she supposed it was excusable.
She needed to secure her place in this world, she wanted to make it to the top here.
Amara, not for the first time, felt as if she was born for more than just a normal and boring simple life, she felt her whole body thrumming with energy — with her magic.
Everything inside of her, every cell, every drop of blood that was inside of her body screamed at her with this surety.
Her magic kept her more warm than anything ever did in her whole life, her magic was so alive and beautiful and glorious that her chest was constructed with desire and adrenaline. The burning desire to be free to do whatever she pleases and the adrenaline to make her feel alive.
Amara wanted to live how she pleases. And if the path to do that was by reaching power, then so be it. She was born with glorious purpose, all she had to do now was find what it was.
And she knew that this was where she would find it.
Amara smiled and shook her head to dispel the thoughts out of her mind as Ughurak’s voiced his thoughts.
“Miss Potter-Black, we have tried to contact you throughout the years multiple times.” Came in the guttural and borderline growling voice of Ughurak, account manager of her mini vaults Lupin and Fortescue, and any and all of her trust vaults — as those were unfortunately not listed in the Inheritage test — as they had the least money. Apparently her parents thought it was good to put those under only one Goblin;
Amara had yet to know about their competency as Ughurak seemed to be rather.. well.. Weak minded.
Amara frowned and sighed;
“I can affirm that I have never received a letter from Gringotts in my lifetime.”
They all frowned as if offended
“I am not trying to offend you all. But merely stating a fact, I have never even been here so…”
She still refused to voice the fact that she was new to this whole world, if they were smart they’d get the hint without her help.
The Goblins discussed this once more between themselves and she had to hold back a snarl at being let out of the conversation that ever so clearly talked about her.
She breathed in and out, focusing on the sound of the ocean and looked at the tall windows in the walls. It was still nighttime.
She looked down towards her clock and saw
01:06
She resisted the urge to groan out loud and instead cleared her throat to gather attention once more. She breathed and focused on the lull of magic that seemed to sing fast and loudly around the air as the Goblins spoke. If they snarled a bit more viciously, the ‘voice’ or melody would go faster and louder. The unique magic of the building, one that she hadn’t noticed at first, was big and almost seemed to flash Gold in colour.
If Friterio, the manager of the Slytherin accounts and the calmer of them all, spoke, the swirls would actually become at a more normal pace, if listening to the lull of magic was normal at all.
“In my understanding this is a problem that includes me as much as it includes you all, so I would rather be included in those discussions.”
Amara didn’t snarl, but it was a near thing. A very, very near thing.
Three of the five Goblins remained stone-faced but included her, while one other, Ughurak, was shaken into fear at her tone. Bloodfang simply glared at her. She resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose during those conversations.
After brief debates and polite conversation it was established that she would have a mailbox there and that three Goblins would be going now to look at the condition in which Grimmauld Place currently was. If it wasn’t good, they ought to take whatever valuable thing they saw and place it in Black Manor, where she would then go.
“So, now that we have established that I will have a mailbox here and that the easier property would be Grimmauld Place, if in good condition. I wish to take over my responsibilities as Heiress today, plus any taxes that need to be paid ought to be paid.”
They nodded and Friterio went to fetch them.
Sangue, the Peverell account Manager, spoke towards her in a serious voice.
“Miss Potter. As you are the current Lady Peverell— even if you don’t currently hold the title officially, as only those above the age of 17 can legally claim any Lady or Lordship titles by your Ministry’s laws — I assume you are a Necromancer.”
Amara frowned but instead didn’t do anything, waiting for him to elaborate on the concept. She blinked to dispel any migraines.
“There are books in the Peverell vault that you are required to read in order to achieve your full power as a Death’s Master. Currently you are a descendant of Necromancer, a Death’s child, as we call them. Thanks to your family, they have kept the balance good and safe so you have no tasks or anything to do but you ought to read the books in order to help maintain it in later years.”
Amara blinked processing this information that meant too much and too little at the same time. Death’s child? Now that was an alias she wasn’t against having but. What? Balance? Balance of what? The World? Magic? What are those tasks? How many? Maintaining the balance in later years? How?
“I am sorry, what?” she briefly closed her eyes to refrain from glaring at Sangue, she didn’t want to seem impolite now. Couldn’t afford to be impolite and loose allies.
Sangue sighed and Amara wanted nothing more than to change plans and twist the things neck and choke him on his own blood for daring to voice something so confusing then act as if it was her fault for not knowing.
“Read the books.”
In less than a second Amara was up and choking the damn Goblin with her magic. She sighed pleasantly in no rush compared to the frantic eyes of the Goblin. She felt her magic flowing through her veins, heard the sound of waves crashing in her bare back, urging her to take another step, to do another thing.
She bared her teeth in a resemblance of a smile and slowly closed her hand in fists, feeling her precious gift twist and tense with each movement the Goblin made. Forcing him into submission. Amara breathed deeply, smelling smoke in the air and listening to the sounds that Sangue made while being choked.
Amara felt the rush of power curse through her veins and knew instinctively that her pupils must have been wide blown by now. Mark always complained about how she looked more insane like that than when she buried something unknown to him in the garden.
She cackled unwillingly and, after regaining control over herself, berated herself for losing it infront of so many sentient beings that could have been powerful allies.
Amara sighed and only glared at the sword that was being held at her neck.
“I merely wish to understand Sangue.” she said with a frown in her face before putting on a smile, though the way Sangue paled further only made her want to slump her shoulders. Here she was, thinking that Goblins would’ve been more bloodthirsty.
“You just can’t drop this thing in me and then just leave me with no answers at all you know?” she tried to smile sweetly but she couldn’t shake the taste of ashes in her mouth.
Amara looked at the Goblin who held the sword, Bloodfang, and smiled towards him.
Bloodfang wanted nothing more than to get away from this child, whose magic felt as cold and as strong as a winter storm. Her eyes glowed in pleasure and disappointment as she took in his shivering form and her mouth held more sharp teeth than he had ever seen in humans.
Bloodfang barely held back a flinch as her magic focused on him this time, the sheer pressure of it making his knees more shaky than when he had first heard the roar of two twin Nundu’s.
Usually, he wouldn’t compare a wixens magic to elements, especially not ones so volatile and against each other as Fire and Water, but he couldn’t help but feel as if she would be the only one he would dare to do that.
It was a strong and alluring magic and it was so cold that he had to suppress yet another shiver that threatened to run down his spine. Gone was the polite and sweet little Lady sitting in front of him but in her place was a true Peverell in all their glorified Madness and Feral Magic.
Damn Death and Fate’s favourites.
Someone cleared their throat and everyone turned to look, Friterio had arrived.
Friterio smiled sharply at Amara and nodded approvingly, to which she returned and sat down once again to wait as the other Goblins composed themselves.
The silence was tense as an elf appeared with tea and biscuits saying something about calming down. Ughurak’s eyes followed Amara’s every movement as she sat once again in the chair and he did not fail to notice the way her hands seemed to smoke and her eyes glowed in power.
He resisted a flinch as those green Avada Kedavra eyes bore into his head and he looked away. He didn’t dare to look up from the ground, only once the magic in the room was much more calm and controlled and once Friterio nudged his shoulder did he dare to look up.
“Necromancers are sentient beings supposed to help the Lords or Ladys of Magic (Dark Lords or Light Lords for example) bring balance to Magic and by extension Life and Death. I am assuming you do not know what exactly I am talking about but I am speaking about the Entities, Life, Death and Magic. There are others of course but these are the ones the Necromancers most focus on.” Griphook waited until she nodded and continued in his explanation
“But because of wars, or perhaps idiotic people that mess up with Death or with Life or with Magic, this whole balance is interrupted. Bad things happen to the wixen community if the balance is messed up because the Gods themselves get angry. They usually decide if we are worthy or not of punishment but usually we get punished with perhaps, a bad season on farms, or a serious plague runs in our community during these days.” Another nod, this time slower and he went once again on explaining.
“Then one Necromancer is tasked to do multiple things that will aid in restoring the balance. But because the balance was kept really good by the Potter family for all generations then you are not tasked with anything at all. You might need to familiarise yourself with your family’s traditions and other things but other than that, you do not need to go around the world fulfilling tasks. Only aiding the Dark Lord would be necessary.”
“The same Dark Lord that killed my parents and the same one that I am now currently holding the title of Lady and Heiress by conquest over? That one, Griphook?” she asked sweetly and Griphook winced but nodded. She breathes deeply before nodding.
“As you are the fourth in line for the Fortescue Heiress Ring, and the second in line for the Lupin one, you will not receive a ring for those, but it will be stated in whatever document you may have that needs all your titles in it.” Friterio continued as if this fight was normal, and perhaps it was, the Goblins seemed nasty and bloodlusted little creatures anyway.
Amara found that she quite liked Friterio and Griphook. Not to mention Anheint. Perhaps he would be open to be her new account Manager? Sangue seemed too weak for the job and Ughurak useless.
Amara nodded in acceptance and took the first ring out.
The Potter Lady Ring was gold with a red stone in it, Ruby maybe, stones were not something Amara had ever researched for, they were pretty, yes, but Amara didn’t find them that interesting. They were just, well, pretty stones.
The magic of the Potter ring was bright but not enough to blind her with it, it was definitely warm which she found she quite liked, but not enough to cause her harm. It accepted her quickly.
The Black Heir Ring was shiny silver and had a phrase engraved in it.
Toujours pour;
Amara sneered at what could’ve been talking about.
She was a half-blood, and if the damn ring wanted to reject her from it so be it, she was going to be great with or without it.
Its magic had an edge that smelled like blood. The magic was dark and hungry and Amara already wasn’t in the best moods so when the ring tried to consume a bit of her magic she tried to explode the goddamn thing. Only then did it settle into her finger. Violence seemed to be their desired language then. She could do that easily.
The Peverell Ladyship Ring was gold with a black stone so Dark she thought it might actually consume the light reflecting in it–not that anything was reflected by it but you get it–was cold and she loved it instantly. Its magic was feral and wild, almost like when Amara first saw a lighting strike, it reminded her of her own but a tad bit more dangerous. Like if you tried to trick it, it would not only bite but rip out some limb of hers. Amara smiled sharply at the thought and saw as it settled in her finger as if it was tailored just for her.She breathed in deeply and smelled roses. Also something vaguely rotten but it was…endearing.
Shaking her head and feeling a lot better than before, she took the slytherin Heir Ring. It was in a snake format and had green emeralds for the eyes.
Fitting, was her first thought
It held powerful dark magic. It made hissing sounds that sounded a bit too familiar and she felt something in her head click in recognition as she heard a word pronounced clearly coming from the green stone.
That was something she noticed the second she had set foot inside the Alley. She could hear, taste and almost, in a way, see the magic swirling in the air and ground. It was like seeing footsteps and marks imprinted on the ground after hundreds of years of stepping. It was endearing and interesting actually.
“The Gaunt ring has been missing since the Death of the Old Lord.” Friterio said and hesitated
“We Goblins don’t enter your kind’s politics Lady Potter-Peverell, but…” at that Ughurak seemed to hesitate and Sangue pinched the bridge of his nose.
Watching that in a more calm state was actually amusing, perhaps she ought to not forget how to breathe and control herself next time.
“But,” Friterio said, “we wish to advise you to research powerful combative spells, as I am sure you are not aware, once a Lord or Heir is dead, their Rings return here. If a Lord or Heir is not dead, then their rings will not be returned.”
Well, if Amara was right, then she was either fucked or she would just have to work very, very fast indeed. Now if she was wrong–which she so rarely was– that was both good because she wouldn’t have to worry over someone powerful trying to kill her (though if she thought too much about it, wouldn’t Dumbledore be the same? That was still up for debate) so she would of course cheer.
“We can see that you are…new as you’ve said and hold a powerful position in this world as I’m sure someone has already told you. Anheint has told me, while Drickerhet walked you here, of your wishes to familiarise yourself better with your kind’s customs and the like. Is that right?”
Pushing down the stab of annoyance over being talked behind her back, she replied easily.
“ Yes, that is right Friterio. I was unfortunately only introduced to this part of the Town today.” she saw as their eyebrows rose towards their hairlines in surprise
“Today?” she nodded
“As soon as I’ve heard it, I modified some of my plans to fit the new schedule and plan on doing it more after I settle into my new house.If it was possible, I would like to request your knowledge on various books that I may find benefit from.” She added the last part unhurriedly.
“Flourish and Blotts has a variety of books approved by the ministry but I and many other respectable Wixens recommend going towards Leo&Andy’s books on Knockturn alley. I recommend starting with the modern history of The Wixen Kind, – that is, wizards and witches – then laws and norms of the Wixens. That is the most basic and necessary, you may go towards proper etiquette after it and everyday things that wixens born in the wizarding World already know.”
“After that, defensive and offensive spells would do you good as you have powerful enemies, Lady Potter.”
And that confirmed her previous doubts. Godamnit.
A pop was heard and her head turned to see a Goblin who spoke in Gobbledegook to the others who nodded.
“It seems like Grimmauld Place was found to be in a rather bad condition, therefore we shall take whatever is important towards Black Manor.”
Amara nodded gratefully towards them all and took her documents under her arm to read before or after a night's sleep. Perhaps she could order her list of books for the first year and then wander around Diagon Alley without having to carry the ones she wanted and the ones she needed in one go.
Amara nodded and exchanged the formal departure to the other Goblins, as all matters have been taken care of, and after a brief check in the time 02:43 and greetings with the elf who would teleport her to Black Manor, she left Diagon Alley with the promise of going back