As usual, mum picked him up at the station and the two of them shared a tight hug. She let go off him to give him time to say his farewells and was rather startled to see an entire group of students seeing him off.
They slowly walked back to their rooms while he started telling her about his year at Hogwarts. She was extremely proud of him when he mentioned his duelling accomplishments. Though not as important now, in previous ages, duelling was an extremely important custom. Heads of Houses were not only responsible for taking care of their members and managing their wealth but also for protecting or avenging their families. Skilled duellists were highly regarded because of this. Of course, nowadays it has been relegated to a mere sport for most people and only the Law enforcement departments and the most ancient families give any importance to it.
They soon reached their home and Darius placed his trunk in his room. It was time to give his mother the yearly shock. He took out the Diadem of Ravenclaw and placed a glamour on it to make it appear to be an ordinary hat and then went back to the hall carrying it.
“Why are you carrying a witch's hat, Darius?” She started teasing him, “Don’t tell me, you got a girlfriend and this is something to remember her by during this lengthy separation.” And she started laughing after that.
“No, mum. This is something far more invaluable than an ordinary hat. It is under a glamour. Now take it and undo it.”
Darius handed the hat over. He wanted to see the shock on her face when she realised what it was. She should be able to identify it easily because of the eaagle shape, blue gem and the famous phrase of Rowena Ravenclaw, ‘Wit beyond measure is man’s greatest treasure’.
She took barely a couple of seconds before realising what it was and when she did, she couldn’t help going weak in the knees. This was the lost Diadem of Ravenclaw, one of the most famous treasures in the wizarding world, a relic from the times of the Hogwarts founders.
Darius took the chance to summon the Sword of Gryffindor to him. The sword appeared, sheathed in its exquisite scabbard and attached to the baldric on his shoulders. His mom was so awe-struck at the Diadem that she didn’t even notice the sudden appearance. He coughed his throat to get her to look at him. When she did, her eyes grew even larger, if that was even possible and she stared in wonder at the sword. It hadn’t taken her any time to draw the connection and she had realised the true name of the sword.
“Wow, this is unbelievable! You have two of the four famous Founder treasures. How did you come by the diadem, Darius? What is hidden somewhere in Hogwarts itself?”
“I know, how awesome is that? But you have to keep this is a secret for now, mom. There will come a time, maybe in another few years when I will reveal their existence to the world at large. But until then, absolutely no one can know that I have them. By the way, I also happen to have an excellent idea as to the location of Hufflepuff’s Cup and Slytherin’s locket.”
She gasped at that and stood still in shock for a few seconds after that before finally speaking. “What kind of goddamn luck do you have, Darius? People have searched for the founder’s treasures for nearly a millennium and you now own two and have the location of the other two.”
“You can consider it as me having a different source of information. But I need you to keep this a secret as well. I know you have strong occlumency shields from our mind magics practice but you stil be on the look-out and not get caught unawares. And keep the emergency portkey with you at all times.”
“Of course, Darius. I never leave home without it. But now enough of the founders’ treasures. I realise there is some secret involved here that you can’t tell me yet. So, let’s move on and discuss the rest of your year.”
We had a long conversation after that and we spoke of whatever went on in our lives the last year. Mom had been contacted by the family and told that the initial battles had begun. The younger generation had not been involved yet and that was the only saving grace in the situation. Things were heating up and would come to a head soon.
It got late soon and mom began bustling to prepare for dinner. She was excellent at cooking using magic and it was a delight to see her in the kitchen. She was a bit like Molly Weasley in that regard. Darius had once asked her the secret to multi-tasking with magic so well.
His mom could have the potatoes being chopped on one side, soup being stirred on the other and the table setting up at the same time, all this performed non-verbally.
Every witch or wizard with even above average levels of magical power manage to cast a few non-verbal spells by the time their magic matures and they come of age. And the trick to multi-tasking so well was because she let magic itself assist her. According to mom, magic was a force of nature and we magicians could only try to guide it according to our wills. But magic itself wanted to be used and a skilled magician with a strong will could merely direct their magic to act on their will. It required practice and wasn’t particularly useful in combat but extremely useful in daily life. There is no particular spell that lets you peel potatoes or stir soup but with some basic levitation and movement spells combined with magic could let you prepare an entire meal just standing in one place.
It didn’t find much use in combat as it required a very relaxed mindset and that level of relaxation just wasn’t possible in heated combat. And if more than one person tries to use the ambient magic then it boils down to a clash of their magical strength than actually using it against each other.
They had a hearty meal and settled in for the night. There was a lot to do this summer.
The next morning, he got up fairly early, at least by vacation standards. He had breakfast with his mom and headed out after applying a strong glamour anchored with a ward stone slung around his neck. While glamours were quite effective in hiding one’s identity, they could be seen through by experienced magicians and didn’t last for too long. A glamour anchored by a ward stone however, would last until the ward stone was removed from the vicinity and couldn’t be seen through by anyone, even people with magical eyes like Mad-eye Moody.
The classes with the Flamels would start the next week, so he had to complete as many preparations as he could within this week itself.
The first stop for the day was Diagon Alley. He headed directly towards Gringotts and entered the golden doors of the bank. He headed towards one of the tellers who were not busy at the moment and waited in front of the desk.
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A lot of wizards and witches looked down on goblins and treated them rudely. In Darius’ opinion that was the act of fools. The goblins were responsible for safeguarding their money. Only a fool would insult them. Unfortunately, the wizarding world seemed to have its fair share of fools.
He waited patiently for a minute while the goblin finished reading the letter he had in his hand. Most magicals would have rudely interrupted but Darius knew better. The Goblin looked up after a minute and Darius could vaguely see that the goblin seemed somewhat pleased.
“Good day, master teller! May your coffers be ever filled with gold! My name is Darius Icarus and I hold a trust vault in my name within this bank. I am here for some private business and would like to speak to my account manager Goreclaw please!”
Short, and to the point. That’s the way to speak to goblins. The wizarding way of going around in circles and slowly getting to the business at hand irks goblins to no end. On one hand their time is wasted and on the other it makes the goblins think the witch/wizard has something to hide and do not trust them. Darius started by greeting the goblin with respect, followed by a traditional goblin greeting. Then he cleared his identity and his business in the bank. That’s it.
The goblin was shocked for a couple of seconds and then gave a grin, but what with all those pointed teeth, it came out as rather fearsome. “May you find your enemies vanquished and lying before you. You may head down the hallway to one of the private rooms at the end. Wait in private room four and goblin account manager Goreclaw will be with you shortly.”
I nodded to the goblin at his greeting before walking down the hallway and entered a small but nicely furnished private meeting room labelled four on the door. Goblin account manager Goreclaw entered just a moment later and was looking curiously at me. Must be the teller who told him about Darius’ respectful greeting. Almost no witch or wizard had done that in a long time.
“Greetings Account manager Goreclaw! May your gold be ever increasing!”
“Greetings human! May you wet your blade with the blood of your enemies.”
“Manager Goreclaw, as you know, I hold a minor account in the form of a trust vault in your esteemed vault. I have since made it my duty to read up on the guardians of my gold. It wouldn’t do to insult the very people who protect and safeguard my gold, would it?
However, I am a student of Hogwarts and recent events in the school have to be brought to the attention of goblins as well.”
“I thank you for you due diligence wizard Icarus.” Darius noticed he called him by name now. Apparently, he had gained some respect from the goblin for his words. “The school has recently played host to the monster hidden in the Chamber of Secrets, a secret place constructed by Salazar Slytherin in the depths of the castle. The monster happened to be a 6- foot basilisk, in existence since the time of Slytherin himself.”
“By all the gold in Gringotts, do you speak the truth wizard Icarus?”
“Yes, I do, goblin Goreclaw. But before you head off to summon a war band, know that I have already slain said creature and claimed its remains by right of conquest.”
“That would be most impressive wizard Icarus, if it were true! How would you prove your tale of slaying the basilisk to be true?”
Darius could see the goblin seemed to believe him. So, this could only be some sort of test.
“I am amenable to showing you my memories in a pensieve, if you could kindly have one brought out. I am, however, here to sell said carcass to the goblins. So, a contract with the goblins, in which I sell my rights to you would be agreeable as well and I could sign it with a blood quill to prove the validity of the contract.”
“That will be enough, wizard Icarus. I will believe you. Now, I believe you spoke about selling the carcass?”
“Yes, I did. My deal is as follows. I will sell the entirety of the meat at a suitable price to the goblins, as you consider it a delicacy. I would like half the skin to be used to make armour for me and mine and give the other half to the goblins as payment. There is also a shed skin of the basilisk near the chamber and I will sell it to the goblins in its entirety. I require one half of the rendered ingredients; basilisk eye strings, basilisk venom, basilisk fangs, blood etc. The other half can be sold by the goblin nation with a forty percent cut going to the goblins. All the proceeds from this transaction are to be deposited in my vault along with the ingredients rendered. The armour can be placed in the vault when they are made, bar two, which need to be delivered to me. Do you accept these conditions as they are stated?”
“You have come well prepared wizard. It will be a pleasure doing business with you. On behalf of the goblin nation, I accept the conditions presented. The contract will be drawn up within the next quarter hour. Do you have any other business you would like to do in the meanwhile?”
“Of course! I came to Gringotts for three tasks today and this was only the first. The second is a courtesy I am extending to the goblin nation. It is not required to be done but I feel it would do well to let you know beforehand before you find out from other sources in the future.”
Saying so, Darius called the Sword of Gryffindor and be appeared on his shoulders in its customary sheathed appearance. The sword would be uncomfortable due to his present height and stature but he felt it would appear at his waist once he was capable of carrying it that way. The goblins eyes had popped at the sudden appearance of the sword.
Thankfully, it was just a sword. Drawing a wand in goblin territory, like Gringotts, was tantamount to declaring ill intentions and would be very poorly looked at. Weapons on the other hand were placed all over the place, including the waiting room they were in.
“Goblin manager Goreclaw, this is the sword of Godric Gryffindor, and I claim it by right of conquest and bequeathment.”
“Are you aware of what you claim, wizard Icarus? Your claim means you have anointed it with blood after a worthy conquest. A false claim such as this would see you beheaded before you step outside the walls of this bank.”
“I fully understand the implications, goblin Goreclaw. I claimed it by proper rights after the slaying of a 1000-year-old basilisk with it. The summoning of the sword itself should be proof enough for you.”
“Aye, that it is. But I am required to tell Warlord Ragnarok, Director of Gringotts and the ruler of all Goblins in Britannia about this, wizard Icarus. You will be called upon for an audience with him.”
“I expected as such. And I eagerly await the meeting. My third order of business is of a delicate nature and it would be better to speak to the Director about it.”
“Very well, please wait for a few minutes while I instruct the scribes to pen the contract and send a message to Director Ragnarok.”
With that said, he swept out of the room while Darius leaned back and waited. It had all gone well till now. There was only the last agenda on the list left.
A while later a messenger goblin entered and said he was to guide him to the office of Director Ragnarok. He followed the goblin quietly and they finally stood before a door with a plaque on it stating ‘Director Ragnarok’.
He knocked and stepped inside, finding a older goblin sitting behind a massive desk with piles of paperwork. Goreclaw stood by the table, waiting in silence.
“Ah, wizard Icarus! Welcome and may your gold never run out. I have heard the most intersting tale from account manager Goreclaw here and was most eager to meet you. But before we get talking, would you do me the favour of calling the sword of Gryffindor. It’s not that I don’t believe you bit I would like to have a look at the age-old sword myself.”
The old goblin may have worded that as a request but it was clearly an order. Anyway, he didn’t have anything to hide, he wasn’t trying to trick someone. He called the sword again and it appeared on his back as usual.
“Greetings Director Ragnarok! May your enemies all lay dead at your feet. This is the sword of Godric Gryffindor. I have claimed it by right of Conquest and Bequethment.”
“Yes, that does seem to be the case. As a sign of respect, we shall address you with the title of warrior henceforth. So, speak warrior Icarus, what is it that you wanted to talk to me about.”
“I wish to speak to you about something which will be of deep concern to the goblins as well as me. Gringotts is currently playing host to an object enchanted with the darkest of magics.”
“What are you speaking about, warrior Icarus?”
“A vault in Gringotts currently has a Horcrux within it.”