Vault Vexation
*****
“Well, now that he’s doing his job, let’s take a look at the state the boy will be in when he wakes,” Eir muttered, easily pricking Regulus’ finger and applying the needed drops to a prepared parchment.
Harry had to admit he was dead curious. So much was going on right now, but he would not fault his godfather for the frantic need to help his brother. They’d talked about it over the last few days and Sirius admitted he had never hated his brother, just the choice he’d made to take the mark. He’d been the first to confess to concerns about their mother pushing the younger man towards it, but, as he’d been out of the house for a year by then, he’d been unable to do anything about it. Harry could tell Sirius felt personally responsible for leaving Regulus in that house and not taking him with him when he’d fled to the Potters.
To have him returned? And apparently pregnant for the last however many years? Yeah, he had no doubt Sirius was going to be unbearably protective of the man. Watching him hover over the bed, a golden glow connecting him to his brother and his hands plunged into a web of knots floating above the smaller man was strange. Harry hadn’t seen that type of magic before, but he was incredibly curious about it. He’d have to see if it was something he’d be able to do.
“Arianna,” the man named Graves growled. Harry shuddered at the anger he was still giving off. “What do you need?”
Arianna grinned, all teeth and menace, and Harry was suddenly glad he was on her side. Hers and Sirius’. He’d come to the realization over the last week that he never wanted to get on either’s bad side.
They launched into a discussion of plans and plots, many of which Harry had heard before and some he hadn’t. The group of obvious Americans, with the exception of Scamander, listened intently, offering suggestions here and there but obviously impressed with the depth and breadth of the woman’s strategy already.
In typical dramatic fashion, Snape made his appearance in a flurry of black robes and scowling features, though Harry couldn’t figure out how he knew where to go or even why he had been summoned. Then Snape sailed across the room, ignoring every occupant in favor of storming the bed Regulus occupied, but no one even blinked in surprise except Harry. A quick look at Snape’s face when he caught sight of Sirius’ younger brother, and Harry understood. He could honestly say he had never expected Snape capable of that level of adoration or love. When he tried to snap at Sirius to leave the boy alone and stop whatever nonsense he was undertaking, Remus cut in before he could distract Sirius.
“What do you mean, pregnant?!” Snape shouted.
The goblins had to provide another set of cots when Snape’s anger reduced the only free ones to splinters.
Harry had a feeling the goblins were only doing so because Arianna promised to have the entire group moved as soon as possible to one of her properties and to provide an entire set of new furniture for the room in thanks for their continued patience and hospitality.
Then Eir shoved a bottle of calming draught at the potion master and demanded he either take it and sit down or leave, as she would not risk them losing the feotus to his temper or hatred of Sirius. After all, it was almost guaranteed if Sirius didn’t finish his delicate removal of the family magics, and even if that was successful, there was no telling what difficulties would arise from such a prolonged stasis or the potion he’d taken prior.
When Snape heard about the potion, he demanded to talk to the house elf, to see if he could figure out what it was and perhaps start brewing a counter. Kreacher was all too eager to appear at Remus’ polite request for him, especially when Remus explained quickly why they needed him. Snape raised a suspicious eyebrow at a Black elf responding to the shifter, but seemed to push it off in favor of interrogating the elf for any and all information he could about the potion. Then he stormed off to a lab provided by the goblins to brew the counter. Harry hadn’t ever heard of Drink of Despair, but he could take a guess from the name and Kreacher’s own experience with it that it was dreadful and probably not the best for a hormonal pregnant wizard to ingest.
Kreacher was beside himself when he realized his beloved Master Reggie was pregnant when he’d ordered Kreacher to take him to the cave Voldemort had taken him to and it was only quick, snapped orders from Sirius that saved the elf from doing permanent damage to himself in punishment. Then Kreacher wailed at distracting ‘good kind Master Sirius’ from his work saving his beloved Master Reggie... Eir finally snapped and grabbed the elf, dragging him away to sort through the Black vaults for baby things that could work if they managed to save the pregnancy. When Kreacher heard that idea, he scampered away with her eagerly.
“You don’t do anything the easy way, do you?” Graves commented as they watched the drama of the Black brothers unfold.
“Would it matter if I said I really wished we Potters did?” Arianna asked wearily.
Graves chuckled. “Probably not. It seems fate hates you quite a bit.”
“Understatement,” Harry muttered, thinking to the nonsense he’d had to deal with over the last four years.
The woman, Queenie, gasped when he got to the graveyard and he looked at her curiously.
“Oh, honey, it wasn’t your fault,” she said with a heartbroken sob, collapsing onto his bed and pulling him into her arms while ignoring his flinch.
“Queenie, dear,” Jacob said with a soft chastisement in his tone. “What have we said about reading people without their consent? And touching people?”
“Oh, but Jacob, he’s so heartsick about it!” she protested, holding Harry’s head to her breast even as he tried valiantly to wiggle away without hurting her feelings. “He was practically shouting about it.”
“Queenie, release the boy,” Graves barked.
Queenie whimpered but did as instructed. Harry scrambled away, hiding behind the twins and peering at her from around George’s solid frame. He wasn’t sure he liked them yet. Sure, he was in awe of meeting Newt Scamander, but that was more because he had loads of questions about Arianna’s dragon form than on the fact that he wrote a book. Hermione would be ashamed of him. And Mr. Graves seemed a decent sort. If he reminded Harry a bit of the paranoid Moody, well, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing if the real Alastor Moody was anything like the fake one had been. He’d enjoyed the man until he’d tried to kill him. But Queenie was a bit too touchy for his tastes. Too familiar with him. And he was sure she’d read his mind without him allowing it.
“Oh, honey, I don’t mean to,” she said softly, staring at him in sympathy. “I’m a natural legitimens and I can’t help it sometimes. I had a handle on it at one point, but it’s been getting harder as I’ve gotten older. And your mind is surprisingly open for someone so cautious.”
Harry scowled at that.
“It’s just because you haven’t had training,” Arianna reassured. “We can work on that, but you’ll have some protection because of your rings. It just won’t be enough for someone like Aunt Queenie. She’s a very powerful natural legitimens, always has been. There’s only about three of them in the world and none of the others are in Britain right now. She’s usually able to get through shields without a problem, unless she’s the one that teaches you how to build them. I doubt even Dumbledore could get through mine, since she trained me.”
“Not sure I like the idea of you reading my thoughts,” he admitted.
“It’s ok, honey, most people don’t,” Queenie said. “I don’t take offense.”
Her sister only rolled her eyes.
*****
“Anyone else about done with excitement for a bit?” George asked after a few hours of watching Sirius work on his brother and the healers working on their found family.
It was proving difficult to remove the enchantments on the group from St. Mungos so the goblins were taking them one at a time. So far, only Fabian had been returned and he was still sleeping soundly, though of a more natural variety this time.
“Gred, my brother, I have a feeling this is only the beginning of the excitement we’ll be facing this year,” Fred muttered.
“Well, as long as our darling Harry has a quieter year, I think I’ll take it,” George muttered. “He deserves a break after all.”
“Not likely,” Harry muttered.
“How much of an inconvenience do you think we could provide by being professors?” Tina asked. “From my understanding, Hogwarts is in need of a Care of Magical Creatures professor yet.”
She looked pointedly at a blushing Newt and George laughed at the elderly man’s embarrassment.
“Too bad the Defense position is taken,” Arianna said with a chuckle. “I’d pay quite a large sum to see the look on Dumble’s face when Percival Graves applied for it.”
“Who says I can’t still teach? Surely there’s a way for some private lessons, at least for you lot,” Grave said. “From the sounds of it, the education in the subject has been lacking for a while and if you’re all planning on fighting a war, I doubt what you have now is sufficient.”
“You can say that again,” Fred said with a sneer. “Besides Lupin in our fifth year, we’ve not had one proper teacher in the subject. Not even fake Moody, though he was a sight better than Lockhart…”
“That’s just sad,” Graves bemoaned. “How has anyone passed that exam?”
“The ones that write the exam had the same problem and have dumbed it down so much, first years at Drumstrang would pass it…” George said. “We asked when they were here last year.”
“Well, if the new professor proves to be as bad as previous, let me know and we’ll see about doing long-range tutoring,” Graves muttered.
“Or we could,”
“Just sneak you in,”
“To the castle to teach,”
“A group of students,”
“Who might be interested,”
“And can keep a secret,” the twins said.
“Please don’t do that again,” Jacob whined.
“Sorry, mate, can’t do that,” they promised in unison.
“It’s a side-effect of the magical twin bond,” Eir muttered as she returned with Gideon, only to take Marlene next.
“Would you be willing to teach a few Occlumency?” Arianna asked Queenie.
At the woman’s eager nod, her sister offered to provide lessons on the differences between the British Ministry and MACUSA, while Remus offered to actually teach them History of Magic. Then things devolved into who could provide tutoring for what subjects and what subjects should be offered but weren’t and possible changes to implement at Hogwarts, especially if they got the primary schools up and running. By the end of the discussion, Harry had promises of help on every subject, suggestions for what to self-study, and a list of recommended readings for help with his titles and holdings.
He could honestly say, he was actually kind of excited for the year to start so he could maybe relax a little. After all, he was used to professors trying to kill him and mediocre classes. Having titles and holdings and lessons on wizarding politics and customs and correcting the gaps in his knowledge of both magical and mundane was proving to be far more exhausting and hazardous to his mental health.
*****
The goblin healer cleared everyone but Arianna within two days of the arrival of the American magicals and Sirius was not allowing anyone to be idle, even if Arianna had to stay in bed. His accounts would have to stay in a sad state for a while, until he was able to justify removing Dumbles as illegal proxy while he was still a fugitive. How the man had managed to be named it when Sirius himself hadn’t known he was eligible to inherit, they were still looking into. He had reviewed everything and taken care of the major issues like expelling Bella from the family, and he had plans in place for whenever he could come out of hiding. But he couldn’t do anything else without alerting Dumbles. However, that didn’t mean he couldn’t put to rights the others’, especially since many of the new Lords and Lady in the room knew next to nothing about managing a House, let alone an Ancient House like most of them now held.
It also gave him significant distraction from dealing with Snape hovering by his brother’s side. He still wasn’t sure how he felt about that, but he’d have time to decide. The goblins were holding off on waking the now sleeping man until they’d confirmed the time in a coma hadn’t damaged him too much. It had taken Sirius hours to undo the Family magic on Regulus, hours spent entangled in his brother’s magic and the budding magic of the feotus growing there. Hours spent staring at the spark of life and the pulsing magic that screamed Regulus and a twist of another. One he had to assume was the man he’d almost killed when they were kids…. Sirius had a lot to make up for, to his brother and the git, Severus…. He was never going to be fond of the man, but if Regulus loved him enough to have his kid, Sirius would try to be less of a prat about the greasy dungeon bat. As it was, they still weren’t sure if the feotus would make it.
At least they had a better idea about everyone else that had been rescued. Arianna proved it was possible to come out on the other side of a decade of sleeping death potion intact, if not fully sane. Sirius still wasn’t sure if she’d counted as such before, but he’d stopped saying so after the fifth hex and the third hair color.
So, he threw himself into helping the others with their holdings. He had Remus’ well sorted in a day and was making good progress on the rest. The Weasley accounts would have to wait, since the living Head, Septimus Weasley, had not spoken to any of them in years and left most of the Head duties to Arthur, basically allowing Arthur to be the Head while Septimus held proxy for the Wizengamot, and the rest weren’t able to do anything but access the Heir vault. As for the Prewett, Sirius was helping the twins at least organize the products of the partial recall. With the line assumed dead beyond Molly and her children, a lot had been sold off by the Ministry, despite the fact that the wills and Head rings were still in Gringotts, unreleased. Since the heads were still alive, Gringotts had refused to release the wills, but they’d been unable to prevent the plundering of the various properties, unmasked by shattered wards. The Lords had a lot to take care of when they finally woke, even with the partial Recall the Heirs had called for and the inventories of activities they’d wrangled out of the goblins. But with the issues they could deal with in order, he sent Remus and the Weasleys back to their respective lives.
The redheads had protested, but he pointed out bluntly that they needed to keep up appearances, so they bought as much time as possible. And that there was only so long Ron would be able to trick their mum into believing they were popping home in random intervals. The goblins had reported several Howlers had arrived and been destroyed, so obviously the youngest Weasley boy was making good use of the products they’d given him, but even he would be caught eventually. Sirius didn’t want to risk Harry’s best friend to his mother’s wrath, especially when she’d already been taken to task for how she parented. Then he’d reminded them that they’d be moving to Grimmauld Place by the end of the week and they shut up. Charlie was due back in Romania in a few days, to arrange his vacation, and the Twins would be able to hide pretty easily once they all stepped into Sirius’ domain. He even gave them instructions on how to access the hidden study on the fifth floor that could serve as a safe spot, since it was hidden under a secondary Fidelius that only the Head could reveal. One he hadn’t known the location of himself until he’d put the head ring on... After he wrangled a promise not to touch anything in there from them, of course.
One of the more interesting things to happen before they scattered, though, was that Remus discovered being so far underground actually prevented his monthly full moon change and he couldn’t be happier. The full moon had been the night of the Americans’ arrival, but he’d stayed pleasantly human. When Scamander had picked up on the palpable relief, he’d made the deduction and then proceeded to launch into everything he knew about werewolves, starting with the idea that some combinations of potions actually separates the mind into the man and the wolf, thereby making the wolf insane and bloodthirsty, whereas he’d met some that lived very easily with their wolf, even learning to change at will. After a look at Remus’ test, he’d confirmed the spells, potions, and such on the page could lead to the insane option. Which caused quite the scene in and of itself. Remus had been shocked, Graves and Sirius had been furious, and the rest had just tried to figure out what it meant. It was Harry that finally voiced it, though.
“Does that mean you won’t try to kill us on a full moon again?” he asked, effectively silencing the room.
“Pup,” Remus whined, a soft keening of pain and self-hatred coming from the man. Wolf he was not, but also not quite human on this night. At Harry’s sheepish shrug, he pulled the wolf onto his bed with him and allowed Remus to cuddle him the rest of the night.
“I’ve been around a number of packs on the full moon,” Scamander offered. “Only those trying to suppress the wolf ended up dangerous. If Mr. Lupin were to try and shift outside the full moon and cease these potions, he should be just fine. He would not be responsible for his actions otherwise.”
“Fat lot of good that idea has,” Sirius snarled. “The laws right now won’t even let him find a mate, let alone a functioning pack or any sort of job.”
In a rather abrupt show of how far removed they lived in the States, Scamander was appalled, turning to Graves in fury that Sirius had to admit, he wasn’t sure the man was capable of.
Graves had sighed and promised to go through each of the laws passed in the last ten years to see just how bad it was, with the understanding that he’d probably have to pull earlier laws if the current ones expanded those or overturned others. He wasn’t a solicitor, but he was good at spotting loopholes and plowing through the legalese. The older Goldstein had immediately offered to help, the witch an accomplished Auror and eventual solicitor. By the next afternoon, Remus was in better spirits and off to see about talking to some of the Order members, to gauge their willingness to listen without giving anything away. They needed allies. And the American pair were sequestered in a far corner of the hall, surrounded by stacks of parchment, copies of laws, books, and fast approaching pissed as they worked.
Then there were his godchildren and their plethora of vaults, titles, and properties…. If they managed to make sense of those accounts by the end of the year, he’d be impressed. If they managed to clean them up by the end of the decade, he’d kiss Snape. The holdings for Arianna were in better shape simply because of who held them last. Most had been held by the famous witch or wizard who set up the account and hadn’t been touched since, so they were well off.
Even still, Ragnok had invoked the Recall on all of them as soon as Arianna had issued it, sparking a flurry of activity the Goblin Nation hadn’t seen in generations and allowing for far more goblins to be able to leave the bank than had been able to in just as long. Since the laws dealing with goblins prevented a goblin from being above ground except in business that could not be done in the bank, many had simply never tried to leave. It was better to be surrounded by stone than wary wizards. But many artifacts in need of retrieval were out in the world and the goblins were gleeful to track them down. They’d already discovered three previously unknown tombs that they had added to the list for their curse breakers. The Recall allowed them to know the locations and determine that the tombs belonged to no House still extant. The artifacts had been stolen, so the tombs were free game.
Now that Arianna was awake, she could start reviewing the artifacts already collected. It was hilarious to Sirius, watching her pout in bed as goblins brought item after item to her for review and decide what to do with until she finally just asked them to separate everything into three categories; books, money, everything else. She asked them to do similar with the vaults. Per House, one vault for all the money the house had access to, one vault for any books or scrolls or whatever held writings, one for all the miscellaneous artifacts they were retrieving, and finally, one Heir vault, to be filled with 10,000 galleons. If the House didn’t use galleons, she asked to hold off on an Heir vault. But each house would have an Heir appointed by her. She did ask again that, should a genealogy book be found in any of the vaults, that she’d like it given to her. Sirius suggested the goblins organize the artifact vault to some degree, such as all the weapons in one area, all the jewelry in another, so when they had the time, or the inclination, they wouldn’t have to sort through thousands of items to find everything. He also requested they make a full inventory of everything, with notes for the more intricate items, such as spelled daggers or cursed cups.
The goblins had relished the task and soon, a small stack of books began appearing by Arianna, delivered by the same Ragnok Clan goblin that had been guarding the room since Arianna’s little dragon fit. Sirius had the sinking suspicion that the goblins were very much bored if they were so happy to help with sorting. They had to be involving many, if not all, of the goblins not tasked with being tellers in the bank entrances. And that was just Arianna’s vaults.
Harry’s were just frightening. Mismanagement, time spent vacant, stealing, and other such nonsense had them in a right state. And that wasn’t even including the vaults Dumbledore had access to…. Or the hundreds of bequeathements given to the Boy Who Lived. Many wizarding families had been hit incredibly hard in the last war, especially those with muggleborns or half-bloods in the last few generations. And many of the survivors were witches and wizards well past their childbearing years. According to Moody, who Sirius was a bit loathed to write off as untrustworthy, the Wizengamot was almost empty. So many old families had been killed off, or so they thought. Sirius had made a point to visit the other rescues from St. Mungos and had recognized more than half the people. He’d also suggested the goblins demand to test the inheritances of everyone in long-term care at the place, with the excuse of looking for lost heirs and at the request of the same American noble woman. Arianna had been quick to agree, hopeful like him of finding more people hidden away ‘for the Greater good’. Apparently, Dumbles had said such when burying her alive. Something Sirius was sure he could throw in the old man’s face eventually.
If they could get enough lords and ladies back, if they could find everyone hidden away, they’d be in a much better position to go after Dumbles and be ready for Voldemort. Sirius had no illusions the bastard wasn’t making preparations of his own, nor that the loyal Death Eaters weren’t instructing him on just how precarious the political and economic situation was currently. They were riding the edge of the collapse of the Statue of Secrecy as it was. And that wasn’t even accounting for the number of people that would be spending months recovering in whatever stronghold they ended up taking shelter in. Since he remembered Arianna frequently coming home with some creature or kid she’d rescued from bullies or nature, he made preparations with the goblins to move any and all rescued persons to said stronghold when it was set up, and requested suggestions on healers they trusted. If a goblin trusted a wizard or witch, Sirius would definitely consider the person. Assuming, of course, that their own test came back clear.
The goblins had only given him one name and he still wasn’t sure he should act on it. Andromeda Tonks was still on his hesitant list, though Charlie had listed her as to be trusted. The dragon handler had handed him the lists he’d made before flooing to Romania and Sirius had to hand it to the man; he knew a lot of people and seemed to have a good instinct about them. He wondered if it was some innate talent or cross over from his work with dragons. After all, one had to be able to read a dragon correctly to prevent being roasted alive. In the end, though, he decided to write her and give her the option of meeting him. Harry’s owl Hedwig had found them within hours and was willing to carry the letter for him. Her white feathers were too distinctive though, so with a quick word with her, he cast a charm to darken them to a more common brown.
“I know, milady, that brown is not your color,” he said solemnly when she grumbled in protest, “but we must be careful of who knows what and your beautiful white is just too memorable. I’ll change you back as soon as you return and give you a good preening. How’s that sound?”
He wasn’t sure if it was the bird liked him or if she genuinely liked the idea of a preening, but she hooted, fluffed herself, and set to nibbling on a strand of his hair in affection.
Then she was off and he hoped he wasn’t wrong about his cousin. She really was his favorite but if she’d had any part in the marriage contract with Dora, he’d cast her out just as fast as Bellatrix.
A few days later and there was much progress to show. Snape was again at Reg’s side with his antidote potion successfully administered since the web of Family magics was gone. The Weasleys were sending updates as often as Hedwig and Pig could make the flight from the Burrow to Gringotts. The other rescues were all cleansed and asleep until their cores stabilized. Sirius was recovered from his prolonged time concentrating on his brother, and he and the Potters were making progress.
Eir explained to an anxious group that the sleeping magicals were in fact in a mild magical coma, but one that didn’t require potions since it was only meant to last a few days. After it wore off, though, they might sleep longer on their own, depending on how long it took their cores to stabilize. She also confided that the healers had almost put Arianna in a similar state, but the dragon transformation and accepting of Ladyship rings had stabilized her much faster than was normally possible. Add in the sheer power she could wield, and the others were lucky they’d not have long lasting affects when they were finally conscious. It took Sirius and Eir’s adamant explanation for the others to accept that the extended time they spent in the state they’d been in, with no way for their magic to expend itself naturally, had drastically destabilized most of their cores and the sleep was the only way for it to even out without risk of further damage. If they had to deal with a few bouts of accidental magic from the sleeping magicals, well, they were well used to it at this point and the group was separated enough in the healing hall to have isolated incidents.
Otherwise, Sirius, Harry, and Arianna managed to apply some of the same strategies Arianna had applied to her accounts in her fit of annoyance to Harry’s, requesting vaults for the books, the monies, the artifacts, and the heir vault for all his actual Houses. For the bequeathments that didn’t involve taking on the House but were more actual gifts, Harry had the goblins separate them into the main three, but instead of an Heir vault, a mail vault. Apparently, people liked writing the Boy Who Lived, and there was thirteen years’ worth of mail that hadn’t been diverted to Dumbles. It grated on Sirius to allow that to continue, especially since the old bastard had apparently been receiving his Gringotts summons since he was at least thirteen. Sirius had no doubt he was also receiving the usual statements the goblins often provided to the Head of House detailing the current status of all vaults and monies held by the family. Certain families, like the Weasleys apparently, allowed those statements to go to other members, but Sirius knew for a fact the Potters were supposed to go to the Head, or the Heir apparent if no Head lived. Even without his ring, Gringotts would have listed Harry as either the moment James had died and proceeded appropriately.
So, instead of getting angry yet again and tempting fate, Sirius simply sighed in annoyance and requested the goblins separate the mail into simply safe and magicked. He had no doubt some of those letters were cursed and gave a mental moan of pity they couldn’t just pass those on to Dumbles, but he didn’t want to try and sort through it all one at a time and sending the old fool over a decade’s worth of cursed parchment at one time was probably not his best idea. If he could get the goblins to utilize their magics to make the sorting process simple and prevent any accidents that could cost him his godson, he’d do it. And if he offhandedly mentioned that the cursed letters might find their way to Dumbles, as long as they contained no relevant information or would be needed as evidence against someone, well no one said anything. Though the goblins seemed enamored of the idea. The guard they’d been blessed with seemed particularly fond of it and Sirius had to wonder if the goblin was shaping up to be their Head Guard. He’d heard stories of the goblins granting them in the past to particularly favored Goblin friends, but that had seemed a wild tale, especially in today’s political climate. Regardless, he’d have to figure out the male’s name so he could thank him properly. So far, he’d only caught a few and none of them were unknown to him from previous ventures into the Nation.
The Americans and Scamander watched everything with avid attention, if they weren’t buried in their side projects.
Graves and Tina, as she insisted on being called, were through the first few years of law review and had already added another decade to their list to be reviewed, taking them to the time right before the war got bad. Just after Arianna had been born and Sirius had graduated. Apparently, it wasn’t going well, but they were putting together a report on their findings so they’d be able to give a general overview, with a list of the laws in need of adjustment or abolishment, without Sirius having to read them all himself. He had to thank the years of administration and reports the pair had backing their habits. Otherwise he might have hurt someone trying to understand everything. He was an ex-Auror, not a solicitor.
Queenie, again at the woman’s insistence, and Jacob, since Kowalski was just a mouthful and the muggle was adamant that Mr. Kowalski was his father, well, the odd pair had somehow managed to get the goblins to magic a kitchen for them and were busy overloading everyone with baked goods. Something the goblins watched in amusement even as they secreted away sheet after sheet of buns, cookies, cakes, and other such things. Sirius had a feeling the pair would have to be careful or the goblins would steal their receipts.
“I wouldn’t worry too much,” Scamander commented when he noticed Sirius tracking the latest heist with mischief twinkling in his eyes. “Jacob signed a tentative contract when he was able to get away for a few minutes to talk to Ragnok. He knows better than to enter goblin territory without something to interest them. He’s spent too much time around me and I tend to over talk when people are willing to listen. And Jacob has always been willing if not eagerly so.”
Sirius suspected the little rant was a nervous habit and he couldn’t help but find it endearing. He’d heard stories of the magizoologist, but he’d figured they were wildly exaggerated. Now, having met the man and the person who had chosen him as a life partner, he wondered if they were perhaps a bit understated. It was going to be interesting having the Americans and a famous historical figure on their side. Even more so when he remembered the article he’d read announcing the man’s death some fifteen years previous. Yet here he was and goblin certified of being exactly who he claimed.
“Well, as long as they don’t steal from him,” he muttered. He was already very protective of the group and it had little to nothing to do with them taking Arianna in without a second thought when her life was in danger. Or at least that’s what he would tell people. No need for them to think him soft.
“I suspect they’re only teasing the goblin populace with the potential bakery,” Scamander said, letting his red-white hair fall into his eyes. For a man of almost a hundred, he had still managed to keep a pretty even blend of the red he was born with and the white of all older people. “They were quite enamored of the idea and Jacob has been so bored lately he’s overcompensating now that he’s got a new test group. I’m fairly sure he never made some of those before and is experimenting already.”
Sirius chuckled at the idea that a muggle, already an anomaly in a goblin bank, let alone in the wizarding world, was experimenting with baked goods on goblins of all things. With the ex-head of MACUSA’s Magical Security sitting in the same room without a care.
He was almost eager to see what this strange group would bring to the floor against their enemies if this is how they were with friends.