xiv. the door is a little small, isn't it?

Cynthia sighed as the wind blew her hair back while the cart continued going downwards. They had so much to do before Hogwarts, but how would they do it, and how hard would it be?

As she left her thoughts to see where they were, she realised that her trust vault was further away than she thought. As Harriet, the ride was far shorter, she thought. But maybe it was just because she had been so amazed by it all and didn't realise how long it took.

After a few more minutes the cart finally slowed down in from of Vault Number 687.

Griphook hopped out of it and held his hands out. "Lamp, please."

Cynthia handed it to him since Stella was too busy calming down and Dudley had a huge grin on his face, looking around and bouncing on his heels.

"Can we do that again, Mum? Pleaaaaaaase?", he asked and Stella laughed dryly. "Yes, Dudley. We'll do that again when we go back up."

"Key, please", Griphook said and Cynthia stopped short as she swore. She knew she had forgotten something.

"Uh…in my — y'know — past life, Hagrid had my vault key, so…", Cynthia said, shifting slightly under Griphook's gaze.

He sighed. "Oh well. We can't change that now. I can open the vault for now, and later we'll make you a new key, Heiress Peverell."

Cynthia breathed a sigh of relief. She'd almost thought she wouldn't be able to open her vault now. "Thank you, Griphook."

Griphook merely nodded as he ran a bony finger down the side of the door.

"Are you able to do that for all the vaults?", Stella suddenly asked. "Or is it just for some specific ones?"

Now that she thought about it, Cynthia found that a really good question. She knew from not so good experience that Bellatrix Lestrange's vault had that system, and that vault 713 had as well, and now her trust vault too, but that was basically all she knew.

"No. This Touch-And-Open System does not work for all vaults", Griphook said as if it was obvious. "Normal vaults only have a Key System, the High-Security vaults have Key and Touch System, meaning that only goblins and , while the ones with extremely High-Security have no Key System. They only open to the touch of any person with access to it, and they have a dragon guarding them."

"A dragon?! Woah!", Dudley said wide-eyed, but Griphook ignored him as they all watched the door click and spring open.

They all looked inside and got wide eyes. Well, not Cynthia, since she'd seen that before, but Dudley and Stella had certainly never seen so much money in one go.

"Are you a millionaire?!", Dudley exclaimed, making Stella and Cynthia laugh, while Griphook grinned and said, "Heiress Peverell is not a millionaire, so to speak. If she only had this one vault, she'd already be a billionaire by now, but with all the others she has access to…she can't take more than 100 galleons a year out of the others she has access to, but altogether I'd say she is a multibillionaire at the very least."

Dudley was wide-eyed and even Stella fought to keep her mouth closed. Sure, she's seen the number on the Inheritance Test, but hearing and seeing it is just another thing. And even Cynthia was gobsmacked. She had expected to have much gold, or to be a millionaire or something, but a billionaire just with a single trust vault was beyond even her imagination.

And as they entered the vault, Stella eyes bulged out and Dudley's mouth dropped open. Cynthia had seen it all already, but as she had been a bit too occupied with the wonders of magic before to realise just how much money was in her vault, the sheer size of the gold towers very nearly overwhelmed her. Add to that the fact that Cynthia was much smaller than Harriet had been when she'd seen that part of her fortune, and it makes it even more impressive.

"I honestly didn't expect this…", Cynthia muttered, but she grinned. She looked around in search for the door that was supposed to lead her to the Potter Family fortune, but she didn't see it. Sighing, she walked forward and around the gold and looked behind it. And sure enough, there was a small door, maybe big enough to fit a house elf, right in front of her.

"Er, Griphook? This door is a little small, isn't it?"

Griphook rolled his eyes, though Cynthia couldn't see that. "As it is, yes. But it will adjust its size to the person intending to go through it. But for it to adjust to your size, you will have to be permitted to enter the next vault. As such, the door would not adjust to Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, because the Potter Family didn't think they would ever need to go in there."

Cynthia nodded. That made more sense than expected. I certainly made sense that, if Cynthia had only been permitted to enter the Potter Vault at age 17, the door wouldn't have adjusted for her. Though, would it have? Mentally and magically, she was still 36 years old, so maybe the door would have recognised her magic and adjusted for her mental and magical age, even though she was physically still 30 years younger.

"Alright…could I give Aunt Pet- Stella and Dudley permission now so they could enter with me, or would it have to be official and signed for it to be valid?"

Griphook contemplated that for a second. "I do not know for sure, Heiress Peverell…but I assume that you could permit them to enter this once and make it official later."

"What would happen, were they to try entering, but it wouldn't adjust?"

Griphook shrugged. "Either nothing at all or, if they were too close to the door, it would throw them back a few feet."

Stella's eyes widened in alarm for a moment, and Griphook saw that. "Do not worry, Mrs. Dursley. It will not hurt if you don't mean any ill intent. Though if you happen to do…" He grinned nastily in the end, making Stella gulp nervously. She sure didn't have any ill intent towards the Potter fortune, but still.

"Does this trust vault not have that protection at the door?", she asked.

"No. It has a Key System and a Touch and Open System. If you don't have the key, or your touch is not able to open the vault…" Once again, he left the sentence with a grin.

While they talked, Cynthia had looked around the vault a bit more to get a bit of a general outlook of it before standing on the point she started. "All right. I permit Dudley and Stella Dursley to enter the Potter Family Vault", she said confidently, her hand raised.

There was a short glow before it was gone again.

Griphook raised an eyebrow. "I…guess you have already made it official by stating permission for them to enter."

"I guess I did", Cynthia said before turning to the door and walking a few steps towards it.

Her eyes widened as the door became bigger and bigger with each step that she took, and soon was it big enough to fit her through it.

Holding her head high, she walked through the door and stood at the side, watching Stella and Dudley walk through as well. She hadn't looked at the contents of the vault yet, but judging by Dudley's not-so-subtle gasp, it was huge.

Cynthia took a deep breath, knowing that she would now be looking at her parents' and grandparents' fortune, and turned around.