The good thing was that I escaped his chilling gaze when we arrived at the Great Hall... or at least that's what I thought, because as soon as I stepped inside, I felt everyone turning to look at me. I could feel their curious stares, but I tried to ignore them and walked toward the table where the professors were sitting.
Dumbledore smiled at us as we approached.
"Thank you, Harry, for accompanying the young lady. You may go now."
Harry nodded to Dumbledore and then said to me quietly,
"See you later.
" "Thank you, see you.
" "Good afternoon, Miss Ravenclaw. I see you're feeling better. Would you like to join us for lunch?
" "Thank you, sir. I ate before coming here.
" "I see... so I suppose you're here to continue our conversation from this morning?"
"Yes, sir... but I think I've arrived at a bad time."
"Oh, no, Miss, I've finished. Would it be alright if we went to my office to continue our discussion?"
Afterwards, both Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall rose from the table, and the three of us went to the Headmaster's office. There, we agreed that I would stay at the castle until the start of the next school year, as this year's exams were in their final weeks. During this time, I would have to study the courses offered, and depending on my results, I would be assigned to a specific class when classes resumed, giving me just under three months to prepare.
Professor McGonagall would take me to Diagon Alley that same day so I could get clothes, books, and my wand. When I mentioned that I needed to check my vault with the goblins, she said that if I wished, we could go to Gringotts first before going shopping. Before I even mentioned my vault, Dumbledore had offered to buy me the things I needed, as I had been offered something like a student loan.
In case the vault my grandmother opened for me when I was ten wasn't at Gringotts, Professor McGonagall would take some Galleons from the school account so I could do my basic shopping.
Before leaving, I had to convince Artemis to keep Helena's ghost since I couldn't take her with me. This was also the first time I used the Floo Network, and for a moment I almost ended up like Harry, falling to the floor as I stepped out of the fireplace. But thanks to the reflexes I'd developed practicing combat with Uncle Godric, I managed to stay on my feet after a little somersault. Doing so caused passersby to stare, and some small children even pointed and clapped. It was a bit embarrassing, but luckily Professor McGonagall pulled me out as soon as she appeared in the fireplace, and we both headed to Gringotts.
The magical bank was far more extravagant than when I first visited it with my grandmother, though some things remained unchanged, like the two guards fully equipped with metal armor and spears. Seeing the goblins dressed like that was a bit odd compared to how wizards dressed these days. The goblins seemed to ignore the passing wizards, standing firm in their positions. They only gave me a few seconds longer than other wizards because of how I was dressed, and I noticed that when they saw me, they didn't look at me with the same disdain as they did at the other wizards.
Once we were inside, Professor McGonagall led me to the nearest goblin. The goblin didn't even look up when she spoke.
"Matter?"
Before Professor McGonagall could speak, I remembered how my grandmother had spoken to them when she first brought me there, and I spoke before she could.
"Good afternoon, I'd like to take a lineage test and get in touch with the person in charge of the family account, please."
The goblin looked up at me incredulously before turning back and speaking to another goblin in his language, asking him to take me to the goblin in charge of the verifications. Then he turned back to me and said respectfully,
"Follow my colleague; he'll take you to the person who will administer the test."
"Thank you."
I gave the goblin a small bow before following the other one, along with Professor McGonagall, who seemed a little surprised by both my actions and the goblin's behavior.
When I entered the room where the test would be conducted, something similar happened. When I greeted and spoke respectfully to the goblins, it was as if they couldn't believe a wizard was speaking to them politely. There, the goblin asked me to drop a drop of blood onto a piece of parchment and told me the test cost 5 galleons.
Once my family tree was shown, the goblin looked at me with disbelief and surprise. It was a funny expression to see on a goblin's face, and I had a hard time not laughing.
When the goblin gave me the parchment to review, he asked another goblin to call the goblin in charge of the Ravenclaw family vaults.
The information on the parchment was very similar to the one I had done the first time; it showed my mother, Rowena Ravenclaw, and my father, Andrew Marlon Levy. While I waited for the goblin to arrive, Professor McGonagall said to me,
"I think it will take you some time to arrange things related to your vault, Miss Ravenclaw. If it's alright with you, I'll go and take care of some errands. If you don't find me at the bank reception desk when you're finished, you can wait for me at Florean Fortescue's. It's on this same street; it's a place that sells ice cream desserts."
"I understand, Professor. If I don't see you at reception, I'll go to that shop and wait for you."
I only waited about five minutes when a goblin entered and introduced himself as Sharpclaw. He said he was the assistant to the goblin in charge of my vault and that he would be the one to take me to his office.
When I entered the office, I was a little surprised by its size, as it was much larger than I remembered. It also had weapons and armor as decoration, and in the center of the office was a huge marble table. Behind it sat an elegantly dressed goblin who introduced himself as Ragnok VI.
Ragnok told me that there were two vaults to which I was entitled. One was the family vault, which I would have access to once I turned 17, the age of majority. The other was my personal vault, to which a certain number of galleons were transferred each year according to the last wishes of the previous head of the family.
Apparently, Mom had arranged things with the goblins before she died, in case they appeared after her. She also told me about some of the businesses my grandmother had left behind, which are still active today.
There was a loan program where we were in partnership with the goblins, and my family owned 51% of the shares. I also confirmed that Hogwarts and its grounds were still owned by my family, and it seemed that part of the income that fills the vault came from the rents in Hogsmeade.
Ragnok explained that Hogwarts would be managed by the current headmaster until I came of age and could manage it myself, or I could let someone I trusted do it. I
honestly didn't have any idea what to do about Hogwarts yet, so I thought it was fine to let the headmaster manage it for the time being while I figured out how to handle it.
Aside from the Hogwarts grounds, she showed me a list of other properties that have been maintained by goblins, who have upgraded their security systems in exchange for payment for their services, which was agreed upon by my mother.
The list included a private island near the Caribbean, which I believe is where the safe house Mom had mentioned earlier was located, and a house outside London.
There were still many things I needed to check, but since I didn't have much time at the moment, I told her I would come back another time to take care of everything. After that, I had a very funny experience going down to my vault. It was like riding a super extreme roller coaster without the required safety measures; it was fun and terrifying at the same time.
When I entered my personal vault, I was dazzled by the amount of gold coins. Seeing all those coins, I thought about the deposit option in the system and how I could acquire some of the more expensive skills that would be very helpful now and for what awaits me in the future.
It was at this moment that I thanked Uncle Salazar for giving me goblin steel to make storage bracelets, since they were the size of a small mansion, making it easy to store large amounts of galleons without having to take out the things I already had stored there.
I didn't count how many coins I stored; I only know that a small mountain about 1.5 meters high disappeared inside my bracelet, and the best part is that those coins were only a tenth of what still remains in my vault.
Well, it's time to go shopping, especially for my new wand...
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