Friend Since Birth

*****
Arianna read the report Sirius sent as soon as Grimmauld was settled. She did not like the idea of Dumbledore wanting to talk to Harry and made a note to talk to Ragnok about some form of protection that Harry could take with him to protect him from compulsions or spells. The last thing she wanted was for their hard work at healing themselves to go to waste because of an overenthusiastic wizard cursing them again. And the absolute last thing Harry needed was another block on his core.

He was coming along well with the new wand, his accidental magic finally petering out now that he had a proper conduct and instructions on how to handle the sheer amount of power he had at his disposal. They’d eventually added that room for destruction she’d teasingly offered and Harry spent a good number of hours letting his anger out destroying anything and everything put there, but he’d come out in a better mood and a stabilizing core so she’d do what she had to ensure the place was always ready for him. It also sounded like Sirius had instituted similar at Grimmauld.

She signed and tucked the letter into her robes before flooing to her private office at Gringotts. With the accounts she held and the Fidelius anchored there, Ragnok had arranged for her to permanently take custody of the healing hall they’d spent so long in, adding an office space to the back so she could work in peace when the hall itself was in use. Ragnok advised it was their thanks for allowing the dragon magic wards to remain around the branch, as they were far superior to any the goblins had seen and well worth her shattering the previous set. The room itself remained warded by the protections they’d added to appease Adaya and was quite the fortress. Though it was empty for now, she had no doubt once the news broke of the blocks and potions found, it would not be again for a number of years. She’d agreed to take on the expense of testing and possibly treating anyone and everyone that couldn’t afford it on their own, including any and all muggleborns. So they added extra protections to the already well-warded rooms and prepared for the influx that was coming.

And if Eir’s research with Severus and Regulus proved fruitful, that influx would include a number of Death Eaters wanting their marks removed. No one had thought, during the last war, to ask the goblins for help with the cursed things, and Eir was just a little smug they’d been Arianna’s first thought when she was presented the problem. Regulus wanted his gone well before the baby came, since his pregnancy was finally stable. He didn’t want to run the risk of the mark tying the child to Voldemort before the little one was even born. So Eir had a team of healers working on that while Severus assessed the potions and labs Arianna was discovering as they worked. He also spent a few hours every day with his bondmate, preparing for their eventual official bonding ceremony, having his mark tested, and preparing for the imminent arrival of the little Heir Prince.

“Good morning, Severus,” Arianna greeted when she walked into the hall, glad she caught them together.

“Good morning, Ari,” Severus greeted back. “Am I to assume the mutt has gotten Potter settled?”

She was not a fan of the nickname for Sirius but she figured Severus deserved some leeway. He was trying and that’s all she could ask for at this point. After all, he wasn’t spelled to hate Gryffindors or people in general. His experiences and pain fed that and Dumbledore hadn’t helped, keeping the man under constant threat of Azkaban for his ‘crimes’. He would never be a good wizard, but he didn’t have to be so cruel. And he knew it.

“He did,” Arianna agreed, pulling the letter from her robes and handing it off. “He also planted the seeds of doubt in another possible ally and might have gotten another person to look into his situation and Harry’s home life.”

“How that man was sorted into Gryffindor, I’ll never know,” Severus said with a huff, reading over the letter quickly. “He’s more Slytherin than he wants to admit.”

“That I don’t think was ever in question. But with Andromeda not having any luck asking for the trial transcripts, maybe we need another option. At least she’s agreed to keep their meeting later this week, despite having no progress to show for it. Sounds like she’s not too happy with the results of their tests and I’m guessing Sirius is looking for permission to add her to the Fidelius, if only for her husband to act as our mind-healer. I do believe it would be quite difficult to work on our issues with only part of the tale.”

“Andy was always good to me,” Severus said. “I have no issues with her. Are we certain her daughter would be able to see past the lies?”

“I think we will need to wait on her,” Regulus said with a sigh, finally joining the conversation. “I don’t want to risk Siri getting shipped off to Azkaban again because the freshie Auror wants to make it big, even if she’d be selling out family. I’ve never talked with her much and it sounds like she’s pretty loyal to Dumbles. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say she’s more loyal to Moody. And I’ve no idea where that insane retired Auror stands, other than he’s sided with Dumbles more often than not.”

“Good point,” Arianna said with a sigh, writing a quick response to Sirius thanking him for the information and giving him their thoughts on the three Tonks. “He also wants to add Remus as a secret keeper for the group. I have a feeling the little snit with Dumbles tried his patience and he’s worried about letting something slip accidently.”

Severus nodded with a groan and Regulus sighed. “Stupid Black temper,” he growled but nodded.

Arianna laughed but added a note at the bottom that agreed. With the number of people involved going up pretty frequently, it had been decided that they only needed permission from the core group for any changes, but they would need at least a majority. With Sirius, Remus, and Arianna in agreement, she had no doubt Sirius would sway the teens living at Grimmauld. And the decision to include the teens had been unanimous. No one was fool enough to think them too young to make a responsible, adult decision. Hels, Harry and Ron had been making them since they were eleven and the Twins were legal adults. She’d have to let Bill and Charlie know when she joined them at the Aiaia vault.

“If you could floo or write the Prewetts and Romulus?” Arianna asked after she’d slipped the letter into the message box Ragnok had provided to the group so long ago.

Since they’d been around each other so much, they’d not yet had a chance to test them and the move to Grimmauld was proving the perfect testing ground. It was dead useful, spelled to keep the letters secure until one of the people linked to it opened the box. Ragnok had assured there was no range limit and the boxes should work in Hogwarts, but if not, they would see about another solution. There were still a few that needed boxes, such as the people she’d mentioned. But with the Prewetts in and out of the bank almost daily and Romulus visiting the States to see about his adopted family after so long, well, it was decided he had better things to focus on. And at the moment, Sirius was also without a box, so he was using Harry’s.

“Yes, yes,” Severus said, dismissing her with a wave. “I know you have an appointment with the Weasley boys and an interesting vault. Just let me know when it’s safe for me to assess the potion portions of that one.”

Arianna beamed at him before quickly making her way out of the room. The typical group of guards joined her on her trek, chuckling at her excitement but saying nothing. She’d have to talk to Ragnok about that as well, since she was fairly sure the promise of protection for their group was only meant to last until she was well enough to defend her thunder herself. She’d been at that point for weeks, yet she still had a set of four goblin warrior escorts and anyone else got two. Constantly when within the bank walls.

Finally, they reached the carts for clients of higher station within the goblins’ minds. Instead of the sometimes-rickety looking tracks and uncomfortable carts, these were well cushioned and beautifully carved wooden cars and with plenty of room for her, her guards, and the driver. She smiled and climbed in, thrilled at the prospect of what they might find in the vault buried so deep in the oldest part of Gringotts that all but a few goblins even remembered the area existed. If she also happened to look forward to seeing a certain dragon handler, well, no one had to know.

After what seemed like hours but the goblin driver assured dryly was only thirty minutes, they arrived outside a massive vault door. The car pulled up to an elaborate receiving platform, the stones carved with elegant designs and colored to match. The doors themselves stretched into the dim ceiling and Arianna wondered how exactly they were meant to open what had to be incredibly heavy stone. The contingent of explorers and Creature Care team was waiting by a smaller door off to the side, talking excitedly.

“Ah, Lady Aiaia,” Ragnok greeted, pulling away from the goblins and smiling warmly at her, teeth hidden to show his fondness for her. “Are you ready to unseal the vault?”

She smiled blindingly and nodded.

“I assume there will be some blood needed?” she asked, already pulling out the dagger she now kept on her constantly.

“Yes,” Ragnok said. “All our vaults are actually based on the agreement we had with the Lady Circe Aiaia. Simply slice the palm and press the wound to the door. The door will unlock and open on its own. However, we are unsure of what additional protections she ordered for the inside of the vault and have been unable to assess them. The Creature Care team is only allowed access through the side door and it only leads to the habitats.”

“Ari, they have dragon eggs!” Charlie said excitedly, bustling over with Newt not far behind. “Dragons that have gone extinct above. And Rondol was telling us that they have a breeding population of Heliopaths and another of Hydras! We thought they were extinct or in fact actual myth!”

Arianna laughed at his enthusiasm. “Well then, I do believe you’ll be spending a lot of time down here. You sure you don’t want a room set up for you?” Charlie blushed and Arianna gave a full belly laugh at Newt doing similar. She stretched up to give both a quick peck on the cheek before approaching the door. “I’ll see if I can arrange something,” she called back with another laugh. “I have a feeling even the goblins are going to want to stay close, since the entire thing will need to be inventoried.”

Ragnok gave his own chuckle at the excited faces of the goblins they’d brought. Perhaps the fighting to see which goblins would be allowed to help with the audit of their oldest client would die down now that it was apparent the vault would take a long time. They could rotate through so no one got overwhelmed or overly tired. Though, she would have to see about some magicals helping. She didn’t want Charlie and Uncle Newt to burn themselves out. Bill she wasn’t worried about because Fleur would skin his hide if he came close or missed one of their now almost daily letters. But Uncle Grey was buried in his own work and Charlie had no one. She’d have to look into finding some trustworthy people.

But that was for later. For now, she sliced into her palm with ease, far too used to the process at this point from opening the various vaults. She’d yet to tackle the older ones, but the Evans and many of the Heir vaults had already been opened, with goblins taking stock of them. This was their first of the older ones and she feared for only a moment that she’d chosen poorly. Then she pressed her bleeding hand to the door and waited.

The crack of magic releasing shook the entire bank and caused a number of clients in the main lobby to fall to the floor only to be righted by startled friends. The goblin tellers acted as though nothing had happened and the magicals wrote it off as a fluke. But the goblins quietly celebrated and buzzed with excitement, for the first time glad they followed magical practices and closed at half six. There were normally one or two that stayed in the bank lobby for the occasional emergency, but none would tonight.

Down below more rock and earth than was probably possible, Arianna was picking herself up off the stone floor, shaking her head and noting idly that her cut was healed. A quick glance around showed she was not the only one to have fallen when the protections around the vault had fallen, though she at least hadn’t been thrown far. The goblins were almost back to the car and the wizards were far past it on the other side of the tracks, shaking their heads and groaning as they pulled themselves to their feet. It was sheer luck the platform for the vault had the tracks through the center instead of the edge like most of the other vaults she’d seen or the wizards would have fallen into the depths of the bank.

“Anyone hurt?” Arianna called, having to raise her voice to be heard across the vast platform.

“No!” several voices carried back to her.

“Hit my head,” Uncle Newt said softly. A pair of goblins immediately flocked to him, assessing the elder wizard quickly and giving him a dose of skele-gro they’d hoped to avoid needing.

Then it was time to enter the vault. Arianna and her group had barely stepped foot in the place before a swarm of magic engulfed her. The shouts of surprise behind her startled her but she ignored them in favor of responding to the pressing magic.

“Hello, ancestor,” she greeted, allowing her own magic to join the swirl and smiling when it died down. “I come in peace, with goblins and wizards to attend me as I work to understand my inheritance.” The words poured from her and she was not actually conscious of the phrasing. Her magic spoke for her and the magic of the vault seemed please.

“Welcome, new Lady Aiaia,” a multi-toned voice greeted, drawing their gaze to a massive shadow clinging to the wall above the door. It rumbled before climbing down the wall and allowing the light of their wands to touch the gleaming scales. “The magic of the vault has accepted you as Lady. Long have we waited for the heir,” the dragon grumbled. “Almost too long for some. Your arrival is overdue.”

Arianna stared at the beautiful dragon in awe. It was reminiscent of her own form, the opal scales shooting rainbows of light around the empty space. The form was massive, wings tucked tight to its pearly white body and long claws digging deep into the stone. “Well met, beautiful dragon,” she greeted.

“Well met, youngling,” the dragon said with a rumble Arianna could swear was a laugh. “I am Tharos, guard of the Aiaia vault for crimes against my brethren. I have watched over this horde for almost two thousand years, since my lady passed into the care of the great dragon mother.”

“Crimes?” Arianna asked.

“Yes,” Tharos agreed. “It is the duty of dragons who have betrayed the race to serve as guard for dragon friends as repayment until such a time as the crime can be forgiven. I had hoped my time would be shorter, but I erred greatly. Now, I have grown fond of those under my care and would stay if you’ll have me.”

“Of course, great dragon,” she agreed instantly, loath to make the dragon give up his duties if he didn’t want to. “I would much appreciate your assistance as we assess the horde and make determinations on those that reside here. Would you be able to give an account of the items in the vault?”

“Unfortunately not, my lady,” he denied. “Your ancestor was most definitely dragonlike and preferred to keep the contents secret, even from its guard. I was curious enough to review some of the items, but unfortunately, I am too large to be able to utilize the books or access some of the trunks, even with many years to practice. And many are spelled to only open for the Lady. However, I can advise you and your advisors on the creatures and direct you to the housing of your new guard. Before you ask, my Lady Circe spelled the vault to add any thieves or trespassers to the vault’s content and bind them to the house until such a time as they earned forgiveness. She did not take kindly to the idea that someone would attempt to steal from her heirs.”

Arianna took a minute to process all she’d learned but when she turned to the group she’d brought along to share, she was met with incredulous stares and a smirking Charlie.

“What?” she demanded.

“You’re speaking to the dragon,” Charlie said with a laugh.

“All heirs of Aiaia would be able to speak with me,” Tharos said hotly, growling at the group. “Who are these upstarts that do not even know their lady?”

Arianna tried not to chuckle as the entire group quickly backed away before the dragon could shoot fire at them. She wondered if he’d have the ruby red flames she did.

“Tharos, they mean no harm. No one alive remembers the Aiaia line but the goblins, as it has been many centuries since even rumors of her life were believed. I suspect there will be many questions as we go. Can you appear human so they can speak with you? I will not always be here to translate and they have much work to do that you would be able to assist with.”

It was a long shot, but if she could appear as a dragon, logic said it was possible for a dragon to reverse that. The dragon grumbled but nodded and startled the room by shifting down to a male form that didn’t appear quite human but was better than the massive dragon.

“I will advise now that I dislike this form and shall not remain in it long whenever I have to take it. I managed to avoid it entirely before today,” the male grumbled in English, voice maintaining the multi-toned boom of the dragon.

Arianna couldn’t contain her amusement at the gob-smacked faces around her, even as Charlie darted over with a spare robe for the naked man. The dragon’s human form was tall and kept the coloring of his dragon form. Despite the youth of his face, his hair was white and she could see the shimmers of rainbows in the long strands. And he kept the eyes. Delicate scales littered his skin and he still had wickedly sharp claws on his fingers.

“I have no doubt that, if you would have patience with them, the wizards would love to learn how to speak with you when in your dragon form,” she assured once Charlie backed away warily.

“Pah,” the dragon grumbled. “Infants and idiots. The tongue of dragons isn’t easy to learn.”

“I’m up for it,” Charlie said promptly. “I work with dragons and it would be a boon to be able to speak with them. Perhaps then they’d be less likely to try and bite me.”

“I would not count on it, little dragon,” Tharos said. “They might just try more, depending on how awful your accent is.”

Ragnok laughed hard at that, which drew the gaze of the humanized dragon. “Master Goblin,” he greeted. “Long have I heard your voice echoing in the halls of the Nation. You are the current chief, are you not?”

Ragnok nodded, eyes twinkling.

“I do say, I approve of you. Far fewer thieves have attempted to breach this vault since you became such.”

Ragnok looked like he was trying to decide between flattered by the compliment of the dragon and anger at the idea that there had been thieves anyway.

“Shall we take a look at the thieves, then? So they may join your current guard?”

Arianna was confused but Ragnok spoke up before she could ask. “The current guard is small, only consisting of goblins. Will that be an issue?”

Tharos looked horrified and Arianna had a feeling if he was still in dragon form, there would be flames to dodge. As it was, the scales around his mouth and nose were turning golden, as if fire licked at the insides of the skin.

“Why is there not a standard guard for the Lady?” he demanded.

“She has only recently taken the title and much has changed since you were sealed away, Lord Dragon,” Ragnok explained. “She is also attempting to remain hidden until such a time as she can rain fire upon her enemies. A full guard would prove quite a hinderance to that. We have assigned a set to guard her while here and she is under many protections when away from the Nation. She is also setting up a tale that would provide for more guards without drawing too many undue questions.”

Arianna had to admire the efficient way the goblin was describing the mire of stupidity they were currently taking on but then again, he was chief.

Tharos grumbled but nodded after a few minutes. He then proceeded to explain what he could of the situation as it stood, repeating much of what he’d already told Arianna. Once done, he led them down a side corridor within the vault, off the main chamber that apparently acted like an antechamber to the maze of tunnels, vault rooms, and other spaces occupied by the Aiaia vault. The room he led them to was filled with all sorts of creatures in what appeared to be armor from dozens of ages, all talking at once, and all silenced as soon as Arianna stepped through the door.

“Guards, this is your lady,” Tharos announced, his voice echoing in the space and causing not a few of the occupants to tremble. “Pay your debt and guard her well.”

“Yes, sir!” was chorused in dozens of voices and Arianna was too shocked by the number to really consider the ramifications.

One of the guards, a male who looked to be human and wearing the standard gear of a knight took the initiative to approach the new group, bowing deeply in front of Arianna.

“My Lady,” he greeted, his accent reminiscent of Scotland. “I am Artair and I have been elected as the Captain of the Guard. We felt the pulse of power that indicated the arrival of an heir and the second pulse that indicated you had taken your ring. We greet you and look forward to guarding your person.”

Arianna was still too stunned to talk and simply allowed the man to kiss her ring. She felt the magics bind him to her and knew he was linked to her until he was forgiven for trying to take what was not his. She wasn’t sure if she had to forgive him or if Magic did. She also wasn’t sure if thieves could be trusted to keep her safe.

“Magic has worked on our minds since we were added to the vaults, removing the maladies that brought us to attempt to steal. Many of those that breached the wards were killed by the process as they could not be saved, being the worst sorts of people. We are the few that would truly benefit from the assistance and would not be a risk to the new lady,” Atair said after a few moments. “If it helps, the wards also released anyone that was attempting to steal to provide for their family, if the family was indeed good and only lacked for monies. I was attempting to impress a young lady with a piece from the famed Aiaia collection of jewels. It was only after joining the vault’s contents that I found out about the love potion.”

Arianna nodded before turning to Charlie. Her face must have shown her overwhelmed state, for he instantly plucked her from the edge of the group and hugged her close.

“Breathe, Arianna,” he ordered, rubbing her back. “It’ll be alright. Think of all the new muscle you’ll have to throw around now. I’d love to see either Dumbledore or Voldemort try to get to you with a guard of goblins, High elves, knights, dragons, and powerful magicals on your side now.”

Oh, good, so she hadn’t been the only one to recognize the sharp ears and tall frames of the High elves in the group.

“Perhaps you should lower the wards on the creature habitats and then rest for the remainder of the day, milady,” Ragnok offered. “As the vault is opened, you are no longer needed and I’m sure you could do with some time to come to terms with this revelation.”

Arianna nodded and pulled away from Charlie reluctantly. Tharos studied her a moment, then nodded in approval and showed them the way to the entrance to the main vault. Arianna stared in shock and amazement at the huge expanse that greeted her. They stood on a high platform above a massive cave that extended far into the distance, shadows taking over after a short distance. There were hundreds of thousands of shelves and they were all filled to the brim with books and displays and small nooks. To the right, there were high walls, with various colors showing over the stones and excited noises coming from the creatures obviously housed there. The Creature Care team seemed shocked by seeing the habitats from the outside and Arianna wondered how exactly they got into them to care for the creatures if this was the first look they got outside the pens.

With quick instruction to the vault’s protections to allow access to the group she brought with her and a promise from Ragnok to send for her if they found anything needing her immediate attention, she left them to it and hurried back to the car. Charlie promised to keep her updated and Tharos promised not to eat any of the little idiots, no matter how they annoyed him. Then he transformed and took flight from the platform to sore through the cave, his roar of happiness stirring the creatures into a frenzy.

But Arianna couldn’t stick around. She had a lot to do and she needed time to get used to the idea of never being alone again. If what Artair had implied was true, she’d be constantly guarded the rest of her life, not just whenever she visited the goblins. And there was no theory she could come up with that would explain away a plethora of mixed species guards. Not without asking for the monarchy. Which it was sounding more and more like she would have no choice but to do.

The goblin charged with taking her back up kept looking back at her nervously but she was panicking too much to really care about the niceties like she normally did. When they approached the platform of the private areas of the bank, she jumped out before they were even fully stopped, rushing back to her rooms to have a proper freak-out.

She barely made it and was screaming and cursing and ranting to herself before the door was fully shut, startling many of the goblins in the hall.

“So, didn’t go well, I take it,” a dry voice said, startling her.

She turned to Severus and a startled Regulus in embarrassment. “Apologies, I’ll just… go to my office,” she said, nervously making her way to the door to the private office.

“I would suggest you talk to someone, if you don’t want to talk to us,” Regulus called. “Whatever caused that impressive swearing streak must be pretty bad, but I’ll give it to you, if I’m understanding your ramblings correctly, you’re fully justified to a little panic.”

She froze, hand on the door and seconds from being safely alone. How much did she trust her mother’s best friend and her godfather’s younger brother? Regulus was quickly proving he was the product of circumstances and had already started acting like a miniature version of Sirius, so he wasn’t as much of an issue if he saw her breaking down. Severus was another beast. But she didn’t have time to contemplate it. She could already feel tears slipping past her cracked mask so she thumped her head on the door and sighed before turning back to the two former Death Eaters and started explaining. If Severus surprised her by drawing her into a hug Regulus joined shortly, allowing her to cry and panic and scream on them, well, all of them would deny it.

*****
While the Lady was no doubt suffering from a well-deserved panic, Ragnok took charge of the explorers, pointedly ignoring the handful of goblins that resided in the guard barracks the dragon had shown to him. As far as he was concerned, those goblins were dead to the Nation and, even if they earned the freedom from their duty to the Lady, they would find no peace or welcome should they try to return. There were few things goblins abhorred above all and thieves were at the top of the list. There was no option when one was found and their wrath was swift and deadly. Only Aiaia’s protections prevented him from running these traitors through and being done with the whole lot.

They seemed to sense his ire and shrank back, disappearing into the depths of the large room and hiding behind their larger counter parts. Ragnok lost even more respect for them at that. Something Charlie seemed to notice.

“Shall we get started then? Sir Dragon, where would you suggest we begin this undertaking of inventory and assessment?”

The dragon handler was gleefully studying the strange humanoid form the dragon had taken again after his quick flight and Ragnok wondered if the wizards had forgotten so much they were unaware most older dragons could take human form. He would not put it past the fools but then again, they were sometimes unaware of the depths of education the magicals received. It was not generally a topic that came up when in business deals. And the gradual decrease in general intelligence they faced could be written off as a biproduct of cousins marrying cousins to maintain their beloved ‘pureblood’ status.

However, he was curious as to the answer of his question and turned to the dragon with a shallow bow. The dragon just huffed with an eyeroll that had the vault guards chuckling and led the way into the depths of the vault, grumbling the whole way about idiots and a dislike of being resigned to acting as guide to his mistress’s treasures.

The team they assembled tried not to completely lose their minds in excitement the farther in they went.

However, he lost his goblin archivist to the scrolls kept neatly just inside the door, written in Egyptian and thought lost in the fire that consumed the city of Alexandria.

He lost Charlie and Scamander as soon as they were shown the zoo, Bill following not too far after to ensure the pair of creature enthusiasts didn’t get themselves cursed trying to touch something they shouldn’t.

However, by far the most entertaining was the various goblin warriors he lost to the stash of weaponry they found stored in a side tunnel. Rows upon rows of goblin made weaponry, with a note on the door saying all within were to be returned to the Nation upon completion of certain tasks. Ragnok collected the note carefully, duplicating it to place the copy in a portable message box so as to get it to the Lady as quickly as possible, and set a few of the warriors to begin the audit in this room and note each blade, its creator, its name, and the task required to regain it for the Nation. He had a feeling many would be returned quickly.

The dragon just chuckled knowingly before drifting back to the creature habitats to lend a hand with the more difficult species.

This was going to be an interesting partnership, Ragnok thought as he surveyed the vast expanse of artifacts, plants, books, and other items that made up the Aiaia vault. And it was going to take years to inventory it all. They were at capacity just trying to take a look at the vaults the Potter pair already allowed access to and the various Recalls in effect. They hadn’t even started on the older ones, even with permission, only able to complete audits on the newer vaults. They had only begun to review the Peverell vaults and still needed Arianna and Harry to open the Founder, the Emrys, and Le Fay vaults, and the Arcadia, Ptolemy, and Plato vaults were on the list for some unspecified time in the next year. Ragnok had had to dedicate an entire team just to deal with Lord Potter’s bequeathments. And it would appear he would have to pull teams off some of their digs around the world to focus on one or more of the pair’s many vaults.

The wealth the pair held was unprecedented and it appeared as though they were unafraid of sharing it, allowing the goblins to begin a careful flow of much needed moneys into the magical world again as investments from only a few of their holdings. Moneys that would help provide for many that were previously ignored by the general populace, thereby denying the goblins the change to continue making money. That they intended and were already working to improve the lives of the forgotten magical beings just added to his respect for the pair. And now they would have the backing to make their ideas reality, even if it meant establishing their own country and laws. Or taking up a long forgotten throne that would do the same.

Ragnok was more and more looking forward to how all of these plans would play out and had no doubt that supporting the Potters would end up well for the Nation, even if they made enemies of the rest of the Wizarding world.