In the Shadow of Seventh year

Chapter 36: Lore and Loyalty

Sebastian was in front of The Three Broomsticks pacing anxiously when you approached. You could see he was muttering something to himself, shaking his head and turning around just to see you walk up to him. 
   His eyes lit up and a smile brightened his expression. "There you are! How did it go?"
You returned his smile. "As good as I could hope. I got my answers at least and a few more questions." 
   Sebastian nodded in understanding. "Let's go inside then, Sirona gave us permission to use the private room upstairs. Poppy and Ominis are already there."

When everyone thought you going alone to Hogsmeade to meet Gornuk wasn't a good idea, you decided it was best to all go together. Given the mistrust of Goblins towards wizardkind, Poppy had suggested they'd wait for you in The Three Broomsticks where you'd fill them in on whatever Gornuk had to say. 

So here you were, walking into the cozy room while Sebastian closed the door behind you. 
   Poppy looked up when she saw you enter. "How did it go?" She handed you a Butterbeer as you sat down and you took a grateful long sip. It was infinitely better than the one you got served at the Hog's Head. 
   "Well, he was a bit distrusting at first, but he told me some valuable things." 
You told them all of your conversation with Gornuk, from the way he put you to his own little test -Sebastian had scoffed at that, but you ignored it- to him telling you that the rings were a pair and were made specifically for your family. 
   "It was clear to me that my grandmother must have had Ancient Magic too and wanted to make sure her children could control their powers if they happened to inherit it."

"But what good did that do given that your uncle certainly has it and the ring only helps him be more powerful?" Poppy asked confused. "Would she have wanted that to happen?" 
   You shook your head. "I'm pretty sure MacMillan doesn't possess the ability to use Ancient Magic. Not naturally at least. The ring is making him able to wield it though, he told me as much when he lured me in the Map Chamber."
   "Interesting. And as his family you are the only one left to take it off." Ominis said, looking pensive. "Aside from your grandfather and his children in America, you are the only MacMillan left to do it."

That caught your attention. "How do you know?"
   Ominis sighed and sat back in his chair. "I hope you can forgive me for not telling you sooner, but as soon as you told me that your uncle's name was MacMillan, I recognized it and did some research."
   You were surprised to hear that and didn't really know what to think of him not sharing that with you. 
   "It's not that I did not want to tell you, but due to what happened when Poppy's grandmother got taken, I just forgot. And then it wasn't of real importance anymore, so I figured I'd share it with you if it came up." 
   That made sense and if you really thought about it: It wasn't like it really mattered to you all that much. You had heard enough from Sebastian to make it very possible you were one of the last of the name MacMillan -a name you didn't really wanted to associate yourself with anyway.

"I understand Ominis. I'm glad to hear you didn't want to keep that from me on purpose." But now you did have another question. "Gornuk mentioned something about my grandmother being part of the Sacred twenty-eight. Do you have any idea what that means?" 
   To your surprise, that got a reaction out of all three of them. Sebastian rolled his eyes, Poppy's eyebrows knitted together in a frown and Ominis scoffed. 
   "What? Is it bad?" You asked, looking at their reactions of obvious discontent. 

Ominis cleared his throat. "One might argue it is." He sighed. "Basically, someone once published a directory which contains the names of twenty-eight families that are -according to that directory- 'truly Pureblood'."
   Subconsciously you made a face at that. Sebastian saw it and nodded his head. "Yeah, it's disgusting honestly. It's codswallop as well, given that there are a lot more families that should be on that list." You raised your eyebrow at him and he shrugged. 
   "Like the Potters. Their whole line is Pureblood, but just because they are what some would call 'Pro-Muggle' the author didn't include them, even though they did include Ollivander when there are records of there being a Muggleborn in that line, making their blood not 'truly pure' according to the directory."