New chapter!
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“Master Aurelian, what did you come to Diagon Alley for today?”
After Aurelian and Catherine reached Diagon Alley through the Leaky Cauldron, she finally asked the question she had been holding back.
“Last time I was here, I gave Mr.
Ollivander one of Phoenix’s tail feathers and a piece of sycamore wood so he could make me a wand,” Aurelian said.
“Today is the day we agreed I would pick it up.
After that, I need to replenish a few rare materials in Knockturn Alley.”
Phoenix, naturally enough, was a phoenix.
Not long after Aurelian had been born into this world, the bird had descended onto a sycamore tree outside House Pendragon’s castle.
After that, it refused to pay attention to anyone in the household except him.
It would play with him when he was little, and when Aurelian was about four, it suddenly pecked his palm and formed a magical contract with him.
From that day on, the phoenix became his magical familiar, and Aurelian named it Phoenix.
Miles and Elaine had been delighted when they learned of it.
They had already suspected something when the bird showed interest in Aurelian and no one else, but the contract made it clear.
Phoenix had come for him from the beginning.
Under his parents’ enthusiastic promotion, the news that Aurelian Pendragon had won the favor of a phoenix and formed a contract with it spread quickly through the pure-blood families.
His reputation rose almost overnight.
Aurelian, however, had never been especially grateful for that little publicity campaign.
As far as he was concerned, his parents had set him up again.
House Pendragon did not need to flaunt a phoenix contract to draw attention.
Their history already included more than a few ancestors favored by rare magical creatures.
No, Miles and Elaine had done it because they found it amusing.
Or, in their words, because it would be good training for him.
They had used that excuse far too many times.
“Ah.”
Thinking of his hopelessly troublesome parents, Aurelian tipped his head back and sighed.
“When does this sort of life finally end?”
“Hmm?
What did you say, Master Aurelian?”
Catherine tilted her face toward him, puzzled and painfully adorable.
The sight scattered most of his gloom in an instant.
“Nothing.
I was only thinking that it is a good thing I have you with me, Catherine.
Bringing you home back then was definitely the right choice.”
He pinched her cheek, laughed, and kept walking.
Catherine gave him a small glare, but the effect was ruined by the color rising in her face.
“Catherine?
What are you thinking about?
Keep up.”
She blinked, came back to herself, and hurried after him.
“Master Aurelian, wait for me.”
…
“Master Aurelian, were we not going to Ollivanders?” Catherine asked after they had walked for a while.
“This is not the way to the wand shop.”
She had followed him without complaint, but even she could tell they were moving in the wrong direction.
“Silly girl.
How am I supposed to collect a wand without money?” Aurelian tapped a finger lightly against her forehead, then pointed ahead.
“Mr.
Ollivander would probably let House Pendragon pay later, but I am not embarrassing myself like that.”
Ahead of them stood a tall white building with a pair of bronze doors.
On either side of the entrance stood a short, ugly creature in a scarlet-and-gold uniform.
The building was Gringotts, the only bank in Britain’s wizarding world, and it was run by goblins.
“Greedy little bankers,” Aurelian muttered.
He did not bother hiding the distaste in his voice.
He disliked goblins, not because of how they looked, but because of their greed and their talent for turning every agreement into a trap.
“Come on, Catherine.”
The two goblins at the door bowed obsequiously when they saw him.
Aurelian suppressed his irritation and walked quickly inside.
Catherine understood his mood well enough and followed without a word.
They passed through the second set of doors and entered the great hall.
Aurelian went straight to the tallest counter in the center.
“I need to make a withdrawal.”
He set a key on the counter in front of the managing goblin.
The goblin examined it, and his manner grew noticeably more respectful.
“Master Aurelian, will you be visiting the Pendragon family vault or your personal vault?”
“Mine.”
Aurelian answered without hesitation.
Someone with memories of another life had to make good use of them.
After he turned six, he had begun thinking seriously about earning money.
As the heir of House Pendragon, he could not do anything that would damage the family’s dignity, so he settled on the most respectable kind of theft imaginable: bringing over books from his previous life.
Borrowing, he insisted.
Not plagiarism.
In his own words, cultured people did not call it stealing when literature was involved.
With House Pendragon’s influence in the Muggle world, those books had been published quickly.
The result had been exactly what he expected.
Stories that had captivated readers in the world he used to know soon captured young readers across Britain as well, and Aurelian made enough money to count until his hands cramped.
Since he would eventually enter the wizarding world, he had exchanged most of those earnings into wizarding currency at Gringotts and opened a small vault of his own beside House Pendragon’s main vault.
Miles and Elaine knew about it and had not objected.
“Then I will take you personally,” the goblin said.
He came out from behind the counter, led Aurelian and Catherine to a door, and opened it onto a narrow stone passage lit by torches.
“This way, Master Aurelian.”
The goblin bowed and invited them into a cart.
Once they were seated, he climbed into the driver’s place and sent the cart racing into the depths beneath the bank.
A little more than ten minutes later, the cart stopped before an ancient-looking vault door.
Beside it stood a smaller vault.
“Honestly, can Gringotts not find a better way to get around?”
Aurelian climbed out with a frown, steadying a pale Catherine as she stepped down beside him.
“Our apologies, Master Aurelian.
We will give your suggestion due consideration.”
The goblin bowed, but Aurelian knew perfectly well it was nothing more than official language.
Plenty of people had complained about the carts over the years.
Gringotts had never changed a thing.
“Master Aurelian, your personal authorization is required from here.”
The goblin inserted the key into the lock.
Aurelian stepped up to the vault door and pressed his palm against the handprint set into the center.
With a deep rumble, the door began to open.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter.