He pulled himself out of his newly formed mindscape in a haze, and it took him a few seconds to mentally reboot, which was ironic in its own way, before he thought to check the time. Ten minutes to six. That meant it was about time to head for the Great Hall for dinner.
It was also worth noting that ever since the dinner where Dumbledore had announced Grindelwald's escape, the man himself hadn't shown his face anywhere at all, for some reason. It had the entire wizarding world on edge. People were convinced he had some awful scheme brewing, and he was just waiting for the perfect moment to spring it.
...
Julian, however, had a different theory. He figured the old Dark Lord was focused on restoring his former strength after being stagnant for the last fifty years. That was what Julian would do in the same position, because making a dramatic spectacle while weak would be idiotic.
That line of thought brought up a headache he'd been avoiding ever since his bloodline had been revealed. He'd received no fewer than twenty marriage proposals from various pureblood families, all of which he'd been ignoring. He barely understood the politics behind any of it, and because of that, he hadn't sent replies at all.
...
The most awkward proposal, by far, came from House Greengrass. It basically offered him the world in exchange for marrying into their family. Daphne had insisted it wasn't her idea, and Julian believed her, mostly because of the pure horror on her face when he showed her the letter.
Marriage between friends wasn't exactly unheard of, but the problem was that neither of them was interested in the other like that. Though that probably had more to do with both of them being eleven than anything else.
Even so, it made things tense between Daphne and her family. They hadn't withdrawn the proposal even after she confronted them about it.
...
Ron's family, on the other hand, had sent Julian congratulations, along with a thank you note for being friends with Ron. Julian couldn't help feeling a flicker of jealousy toward his red-headed friend. It was obvious Ron's family genuinely cared, even if they couldn't express it in money.
Speaking of money, Gringotts had started sending Julian letters that detailed all the properties and debts the Ravenclaw family was owed, along with the balance of the vault itself.
...
To his surprise, there were still properties that belonged to the Ravenclaw family which were standing, or even occupied by others, simply because there had been no known owners until now. Four, to be exact.
Two castles.
One forest.
And an entire island that had apparently gone unaccounted for until this point.
Despite the Ravenclaw line being treated as long-dead for ages, the businesses that owed the household money had kept paying until they went out of business for whatever reason. That meant there was an absurd amount sitting in the vault. The kind of money that translated to, I burn money to stay warm at night. It was overwhelming in a way he hadn't expected.
...
The worst part about the reveal being so public, and he still planned on getting Snape back for that, thanks to the twins, was that the entire British wizarding community was scrambling to win his favor.
He'd gotten letters from the Minister of Magic himself, Cornelius Fudge, looking to cash in on the massive political clout that came with being the heir to a Hogwarts founder, as long as Julian didn't do something that would ruin the image. It was apparently the same kind of thing that had once driven the Gaunt family into being so destitute, at least before a certain person murdered all the others.
...
The Gaunts were infamous for being high-handed and for delving into the dark arts without restraint. The end result was simple. Nobody wanted to associate with them, and because of their pureblood mindset, they couldn't find enough "suitable" spouses to keep their line going.
The Hufflepuff bloodline, however, was still around in the form of the Smith family, which had plenty of descendants. Julian had received a few letters from them because the two founders had been close friends long ago.
They weren't political either. They were just normal, casual messages, the head of the house checking in to see if he was healthy, or whether he needed anything.
...
Julian actually laughed at that, because it fit perfectly with the friendly, caring image of Hufflepuff he already knew.
Still, all he could really do was sigh. He was stuck at the center of a massive political shitstorm. Every move he made had to be measured and careful, so he didn't accidentally become some kind of social pariah for reasons nobody would bother explaining.
The attention wasn't entirely bad news, though. The fame came with enough sway that he could nudge the direction of the wizarding world, at least a little. One example was how his retaliation against Dumbledore had cost the man one of his titles, along with a solid chunk of political pull, since what Dumbledore had done, while not illegal, was very much frowned upon.