Nyctophobia - Sirius Black

Chapter 36

The stone structure was, as always, imposing. It wasn't the first time entering the bank for any of the four, so they entered, barely recognizing the intimidating aura of the building.

The goblin looked down at them with a sneer that Ruby met with a stone face. She didn't particularly like goblins, not that most witches or wizards did. The creatures returned these feelings, and rarely made exceptions. She didn't have anything against the goblins, but she didn't like animals in general, Theus being the exception, if he even counted as an animal.

The goblin led the twins to a small stone room, Sirius and Wren staying in the main room. The room was bare in comparison to the rest of the bank, just a wooden table and a few stools. The goblin set a piece of parchment of the table that shimmered with hidden magic, and handed Ruby a knife. He instructed them to add seven drops of blood to the parchment.

Ruby was hesitant to let Sev hurt himself, but he had snatched the knife and carefully sliced his palm before she could protest. She glared at him for a moment before healing the cut, no trace of the wound remaining. She healed her own cut before the two turned to the parchment. Slowly, the blood spread across the parchment, forming letters.

It started at the bottom of the parchment, Ruby Snape, Severus Snape, and Troy Snape appearing in elegant cursive, before moving upwards. Eileen Prince and Tobias Snape appeared next, with a small (deceased) appearing under their names. Ruby noted that the same text had appeared under Troy Snape's name as well. The blood moved left, the words Eathelin Prince (deceased) and William Prince (deceased) forming next, before the blood moved up again, faster this time.

Their whole family tree appeared in front of their eyes, and under every name except their own, the word 'deceased' appeared in parentheses. The goblin grumbled something unintelligible before leading the twins into a separate room that was considerably more grand.

The temperature was high, but if the goblin noticed, he paid no mind to it. The room was huge. The walls were decorated with beautiful stone designs that were adorned with gold. The ceiling towered at least two stories above them, and one wall was lined with small safes made of a black metal. A tall metal ladder reached up to the ceiling and leaned against the wall. In the room was what appeared to be a kiln. The goblin ignored the kiln, and moved to the wall. He moved the ladder over five columns and began climbing. He opened one of the black safes, and retrieved something. He climbed back down and handed Ruby the object. It was a key, as black as the safes, and, ironically, with a ruby in the handle. It was a large gem, about the size of her thumbnail.

They left and Ruby chose to ignore the constant insults the creature mumbled as they went back to the main room to get Sirius and Wren.

They were flying down the tracks to the vault for several very long minutes that only Wren and Sirius enjoyed, before they finally stopped. Ruby hesitantly put in the key and turned it, hearing a resounding click before the door swung open, creaking dangerously on its hinges.

Their eyes widened at the amount of gold inside, bars stacked higher than their heads, piles of seemingly endless gold galleons, precious jewels they couldn't name, and objects they'd never seen before. The aura of the vault was intimidating and dark, magic that didn't come from the goblins' security radiating outward.

They couldn't see it, but Ruby and Wren felt their magic form protectively in front of them and the boys, unwilling to allow to be injured or harmed by the dark magic.

Ruby hesitantly set foot in the vault, wary of the magic already swirling inside it. Oddly, her attention was immediately captured by a seemingly unimportant object. It wasn't out of place among the gold and other precious and dark objects. It just didn't follow the general trend of the other objects: dark, ornate, and ancient. The old gray metal of the lantern didn't glow, unlike seemingly all of the other things in the vault. The holes in the metal that would have allowed light through were dark, and Ruby couldn't see if there was anything inside. She hesitantly stepped over to it, three pairs of eyes watching her curiously. The moment her fingers touched the metal, something inside glowed.