“Hi, it would be to open a vault for a new Hogwarts student.” Said McGonagall as she pushed him slightly in front of her, bringing the goblin’s attention on the young boy.
“Oh?
Is he a muggle born student?
Do you wish to do an inheritance test in case you have magical ancestors?” She immediately offered as it was a common test to pass.
Yet, the test was rarely offered simply due to the fact that if a vault remained unclaimed, it would eventually enter the goblins coffers after exactly a millenia.
Looking unsure at McGonagall, she took a look at the young boy who had obviously never been lucky in his life, having what he had today only due to his own extremely hard work.
“Yes, let him pass a test.” Said the professor as she decided to spend more time helping this young student who would certainly become one of the best in Hogwarts if judged by his hard work in deciphering and mastering runes by himself in the cave.
“Alright, please follow me.
By the way, my name is Arkor.” She said, introducing herself as she led the two of them to a reclusive and small room, a room which had her name on it.
Preparing the needle and inheritance paper, she seemingly noticed Lux confusion as her office was by far the smallest.
“I am a new worker in the bank and they don’t appreciate my being here.” She explained.
“Normally, bank workers are the male goblins as they traditionally are responsible for our gold and war while women are responsible for the house and children.” She continued as she placed the paper on the tea table in the middle of the two couches with the needle on top.
“As such, I am somewhat of a pariah since I have no intention of becoming just another wife and if I have to stay single the rest of my life due to this, then I will.” She finished as she handed him a needle.
“Simply prick your finger with the needle and let a drop of blood fall on the inheritance paper.
Should you have any magical families related to you, it will appear along with your rank in the inheritance.”
With her final words, he didn’t complicate the matter, simply piercing his skin with the needle, a drop of blood soon fell on the paper as words slowly started to appear on it.
“So.” Started the goblin as she looked at the test.
“You have relationships to the magical families of Loriss, Varethyn, Cygnet, Iceflow, Skyspire, Rooks, Veilborne, Elyndor, Fullsworn, Arden and StagHart.
Except for those, you are heir in 14 other families but as you are over the 100th heir, we will not talk about them.
Amongst those, you are 73rd in line for the heirship of the house of Loriss, 47th in line of house Varethyn, 41st in line for the heirship of house Cygnet, 23rd in line for house Iceflow, 14th in line for house Skyspire, 7th in line for the heirship of house Rooks, 5th in line for house Veilborne and Elyndor and 2nd in line for house Fullsworn.
Additionally, you are the direct heir or 1st in line of the house of Arden while you are also the Lord of StagHart.” She finished as her eyebrows lifted in surprise.
“I must admit I was not expecting that.” She said with a small grin, proud of herself for having found the lord of a house and direct heir to another.
“Well, for the noble houses of Loriss, Varethyn, Cygnet, Iceflow, Skyspire, Rooks, Veilborne and Elyndor you are only one amongst many who can inherit the house with everyone before you having priority over you.
As such, unless a catastrophe happens, none of these families will have anything to do with you except perhaps house Fullsworn.” She explained before turning to the other two houses.
“StagHart and Arden however are another matter entirely.
For the Most ancient and Most noble house of Arden, you are recognized as the direct heir meaning that you can take lordship of the house as long as the current lord is dead which is the case since the magical Arden family has been extinct since the 15th century.” She explained as Lux nodded his head.
“For the lordship ritual, it doesn’t take much time and we can complete it in under five minutes, if you wish.” She continued as she saw professor McGonagall nod her head.
The process of inheritance was not exactly a secret nor private as it could be done publicly according to the rules of the ministry so there were no problems with her being in the room.
Heading out of the room for a moment to transfer an order, she entered once more.
“As for the Noble and most Ancient house of StagHart, you have already become the new lord meaning that everything of the house of StagHart is now yours.
There are many privileges that come with it but it would take a long time to explain.
How about we have a meeting in a few days?
It will allow me to make a proper research of the conditions of both houses and prepare the documents should you wish to have me as your family’s banker.” She added, taking a sip of tea, a beverage that goblins didn’t specifically like but as it was made in the customs of Britain, the goblins had adapted.
“Sure, that would be great.” Agreed Lux who would certainly go and properly inform himself during this time.
He would have a few extra books to buy during the shopping trip later if he wanted to be properly informed.
“Ah, here comes the ring of house Arden.” Smiled Arkor as she left the elegant brown couch, heading straight to the oak doors and taking the small box with the crest of Arden on it, the Arden family motto at the very top of the crest: Stand Sure.
“The Arden family has quite the reputable history in the magical world.
It would perhaps be in your interest to study a bit and learn about your family’s history.” Said Arkor as she opened the box, bringing to light a ring that had stayed hidden for centuries.
The ring, colored blue like the ocean, seemed almost alive with the ring’s details.
The ring was just as beautiful as the forest green color of the ring of the StagHart house.
Taking the ring, he didn’t waste any time as he placed it on his finger.
He was determined to not waste professor McGonagall anymore time as she had mentioned in the previous shop that she had other students to take today and he didn’t want to cause her more trouble than he already was.
“Congratulations on becoming the Lord of Arden.” Simply stated Arkor as the professor showed a gentle smile at Lux who had finally received something from his family even if a family distanced by centuries of time.
“With this, I believed you wanted to open a vault for Lord Arden. Get faster updates on g.com.
Considering his two lordships, we could open a temporary vault to store his money until he has time to explore his family vaults and merge them as one.” She offered as the professor nodded her head.
“It would be perfect, we really can’t stay here much longer, there is still a lot of shopping to do and I have further engagements.” Said the professor as she got up from her seat, ready to leave after seeing that Lux had handed over his money pouch with 3000 of his galleons, keeping the rest for his shopping trip.
It was obvious that he was planning on buying a lot.
Leaving the large golden bank with the professor, he looked at the sun that hung high in the sky.
“Hum, we’ll have to do your shopping fast, otherwise I will miss the appointment with the next student.” Said McGonagall as the time seemingly appeared in front of her after a wave of her wand.
With his eyes lighting up at the sight of magic, real magic, he quickened his step to not fall behind the professor.
“First, we’ll go to Olivander’s for your wand and then we’ll move for your equipment.” She stated in a decisive voice as she would no longer allow for any distractions.
They had already taken a lot more time than necessary and she couldn’t afford to waste more.
Walking with a brisk pace, they quickly bypassed many wizards and witches simply going about their day, slowly shopping either for new personnel items or for the new Hogwarts year equipment requirements.
Arriving in front of a small shop in the alley, Lux’s first impression of the wand shop was bad.
The exterior had weeds growing from everywhere, the shop’s sign was missing a few letters and the windows were so dirty that you couldn’t even see across them.
The environment was effectively worse than the Leaky Cauldron and it was already in the negative in terms of cleanliness.
Entering the shop, he arrived in a small but surprisingly cozy room.
A single counter stood in front of the entrance with a fish bowl in the corner.
Looking closely, the fish was indeed still alive and well which was surprising considering the state of the exterior.
Behind the counters were simply incredibly tall shelves filled with an unknown amount of boxes the sizes of wands.
“Oh, Professor McGonagall, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Asked a disheveled man as he seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
He seemed to want to say more yet under her sharp glare, he went straight to business.
“We are here to find a wand for a new Hogwarts student.” She simply said as she pointed at Lux standing beside her.
Alright, so this is the first chapter since the ‘first ten’.
I hope you like it so far.