Chapter 7

"Heir Malfoy, why are you looking for me? Let me guess, you want to ask about the Black inheritance. It saddens me to inform you that you have no right to the Black Family wealth at this moment. Maybe never. You are neither the designated heir nor are you next in line by blood."

Skullcarver didn't look the least bit saddened, he looked half annoyed and half smug. "Unless the current heir dies after he appoints you as the next heir, there is not..."

Draco interrupted Skullcarver by flashing the Black Family Lord ring to the goblin.

The manager's breath stilled and he swallowed his next words.

Skullcarver waved the guard off, who had started to become curios about this unexpected development.

Only after the office's door was closed, and vault manager and Lord were alone, did Skullcarver address Draco again, "I gather you took advantage of the ancient law that allows anyone with sufficient Black blood to take up the lordship in case of a decade long dormancy. I'm impressed, and I'm curious about how you got that information."

Draco was more impressed with the goblin's knowledge, since it was a family law that predated the Ministry of Magic and had only ever been used once, more than 400 years ago.

The information was probably to be found in the old bank documents, but still, respect that Gringotts still had them, and respect that Skullcarver had read them.

Draco was glad he didn't have to convince the goblin of its legitimacy.

He only had to let Skullcarver check the Black Lord ring's authenticity, and the goblin issued him a Gringotts certificate.

„You really won't tell me how you learnt about this ancient law, Lord Black?"

In the end, this was still the thing Skullcarver was most interested in.

"It's not important how I know, what's important is House Black's financial situation."

Draco didn't give an answer but changed the topic.

Draco took his time to get a clear picture from the goblin about all Black Family assets.

The treasures and artifacts were still abundant in the family vault, according to Skullcarver's report.

Liquid cash was only around two hundred thousand galleons.

Most of that was the untouched income from the last decade from the remaining businesses.

Draco wasn't surprised that the Blacks had burned through their cash reserves in the last war and had even lost some businesses.

What remained were minority shares in four more or less still prominent businesses in Diagon Alley: Nimbus Brooms, Daily Prophet, Flourish & Blotts, and Quality Quidditch Supplies.

There were still some shares and rents from shops in Knockturn Alley, but these earnings together weren't as much as what one of the four prominent Diagon Alley businesses generated alone.

His father Lucius had been chosen as the temporary representative of the Black Family interests and it wasn't hard to see that he was filling the Malfoy vaults with Black money, by letting the Black businesses cooperate with Malfoy businesses and formulating the contracts in the Malfoy businesses' favor.

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Lucius also payed himself a hefty salary for representing Black family interests.

As long as Draco wasn't Lord Malfoy yet and only Lord Black, this had to stop.

So he gave the account manager his instructions to that effect.

Lord Black also had authority over three stipend vaults that were connected to the Family vault, belonging to Sirius, Narcissa and Bellatrix.

Every one of these vaults were filled up to 5000 Galleons every year.

Draco had a similar Malfoy vault with 500 Galleons.

Draco noted that his mother withdrew her 5000 Galleons yearly, Sirius had touched his vault only once, last year, and of course Bellatrix had not touched hers at all in the last thirteen years.

Draco changed the refill-cap to 500 Galleons yearly instead of 5000, but otherwise he left the vaults as they were.

Additionally, he opened three new stipend vaults, 500 Galleons yearly, for Andromeda, Nymphadora and Harry.

He wasn't sure how much these three cared about this, probably not much with their characters, but it was a matter of principle.

Draco considered them part of his Black Family and that was that.

Draco's last order of business in Gringotts was the acquisition of Bismuth, a crystalline white metal, with a pink tinge.

He needed it for one of the projects he had planned to safe the world and the future.

Of course, Gringotts had all the metal he needed, but because he needed a steady supply in the future, next to a really big purchase to start off, he had to watch what kind of deal he was making.

Haggling with a goblin was always toilsome and required patience, so Draco took his time.

When his business in Gringotts was finally concluded, it was almost lunchtime, so Draco made his way home.

His afternoon, he spent with Vince and Greg training again.

In the evening, Draco alternated between making plans and exercising his more private magic.

Before he went to bed, he meditated again and practiced his occlumency.

...

The next day, Draco visited the ministry.

The Department of Registration was his first destination.

On his way, many people recognized him as Lucius' son.

This didn't surprise Draco at all, because they looked really alike and Lucius often pompously visited the Ministry.

Half of those who recognized him looked at him with cold eyes or downright ignored him.

The other half came to introduce themselves and suck up to him.

Draco met everyone with a smile and exchanged a few friendly but short words with every person that came to talk to him.

It took a lot longer than he would've thought, but some time later, he finally reached the Department of Registration.

A bored and tired looking ministry worker welcomed him.

That guy obviously didn't care that Draco was a Malfoy, his drowsiness remaining unchanged.

„Good day, my name is Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, I want to file the inheritance of the Lordship of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Black."

Draco directly put the parchment with the certification he had gotten from Gringotts yesterday on the ministry worker's office table.

„What?!"

Now, the ministry worker was wide awake.

The name ‚Black' made him immediately attentive and heedful.

Sirius Black was still a mass murderer on the loose.

It had only been a little over a year, since Sirius had broken out of Azkaban.

And the Black Family in general was really prestigious and notorious.

And rich.

The ministry worker gave Draco a suspicious look and then he read the parchment thoroughly.

When the ministry worker raised his head to look at Draco again, he looked confounded and even more suspicious.

„This looks legit. But why would Gringotts issue this? You are neither the designated heir nor the next in line. You are not even of legal age, by Merlin. So, you see, it's impossible for this to be legitimate. This is either a mistake or fraud?!"

The ministry worker first explained and then challenged Draco.

If he didn't happen to be dealing with a Malfoy, he would've called fraud immediately and just directly filed a lawsuit.

But since he was dealing with a Malfoy, and he could picture what kind of hassle this would bring him, the ministry worker left Draco the option to take it back and just call it a mistake.

„No, this is legitimate. There is this old law, that has existed since the ministry's inception, applying only to the Ancient and the Most Ancient Houses, allowing this extraordinary inheritance, if certain conditions are met. This law is still in effect, it has never been changed. And the conditions are all met."

Draco explained patiently.

„I never heard of this. I have to consult my boss about this. Since we still have to check with Gringotts, even if you are right about this law, it would be better if you came back tomorrow."

The ministry worker gave Draco the impression that he wanted to wash his hands of this issue and kick it up the ladder.

Probably wise of him, since this even concerned the Wizengamot.

Without his title as Lord Black being confirmed, Draco thought it better to postpone his other ministry errands.

So he went home early and began drawing the detailed design of a great Wizard's Tower until lunch time.

Since Draco couldn't take care of the ministry errands, he could just work on another part of his plans.