xv. can you even call him a man?

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

Cynthia gasped aloud and had her mouth hanging open and her eyes bulging out at what was in the vault. Sure, it was a fair bit of money, which was a real understatement, but there were also dozens of sleeping portraits and jewellery and books and clothes and just…everything. She honestly couldn't have imagined having all that if she tried. She knew she had the 100 billion galleons in her trust vault alone, but then there were also the 264 and a half billion galleons in the other vaults combined. And although she did not have access to all the galleons in the vaults that still have family members able to access it, it was still a huge fortune. She really was a multibillionaire alone with her trust fund. All the vaults combined have just over double the amount of galleons that currently reside in her trust vault. So basically, she currently had access to almost 400 billion galleons. And that wasn't even counting the Potter vault.

"Oh my God!", Cynthia breathed. "That's so much, Griphook!" She turned to the goblin to see him grinning, though it was a bit strained by concealed awe. "How much gold is in this vault?"

Griphook raised an eyebrow thoughtfully. "I do not know the exact amount, but I can guess. Your great-grandparents never really used much of the money in the vault for things they just wanted to have. They much rather just bought stuff they really needed the most. Your grandparents were the same, though they spoiled your father quite a lot with their fortune. Add to that the money your grandfather made with his Sleakeazy's Hair Potion and it comes to quite a few hundred billion. But your father, he donated a quite large amount of money to the Order of the Phoenix-" Cynthia scowled. "-, probably about one billion. Not a particularly great loss, but over time it would've certainly become a problem." He raised his other eyebrow. ���I would guess that this vault currently contains about 500 billion galleons, though I cannot be sure until I can confirm or deny that."

With each sentence, Cynthia's and also Stella's eyes grew wider and wider while Dudley tried to make sense of what his favourite goblin just said.

"So you mean", Dudley started after a few minutes of nobody saying anything, "that Har- Cynthia has more money in this vault than in the other vaults combined?"

Stella seemed impressed by Dudley's ability to put the pieces together. She had thought that, with all the spells and blocks, Dudley would have to learn everything anew, so that he'd be able to absorb and understand it as he would have if he never had those spells in the first place.

"That is true, Mr. Dursley. I can say that much, though I am not certain of the exact amount. We will have to look into the Potter files to see the exact number." He paused and looked at something to his left before turning to Cynthia. "The portraits are starting to wake. They know that someone is in here, so they wake to talk to them."

Dudley's eyes lit up and even Cynthia couldn't conceal her excitement. "Portraits? You mean, real portraits with talking people in it?", Dudley asked, vibrating with excitement.

Griphook rolled his eyes. "Yes, Mr. Dursley. Real portraits with talking people. But they are not real people talking. They are people who had moving portraits made of them and when they died, their soul got absorbed by the portrait. Or, no…not their soul, but…their spirit, if you will. Soul Magic is the Darkest magic. Their spirit got absorbed by the portraits, so now they speak to you with their character traits as their were when they were alive."

"That's so cool! Let's go, Mum and Harriet!", Dudley said, forgetting for a moment that his magical cousin's name wasn't Harriet anymore as he ran towards where Griphook was looking earlier.

—

"Hello!", Dudley said cheerfully to a portrait of a woman with very dark brown hair, looking to be almost pure black. The woman slowly awoke and looked around before spotting Dudley.

"Hello", she said. "I am Dorea Melania Potter née Black, who are you?" She raised an eyebrow. "You do not look like a Potter to me."

Cynthia and Stella weren't there yet, but Dudley was just so excited.

"I'm Dudley Dursley! And I'm not a Potter, my cousin is! She and my Mum are coming right now!"

Dorea smiled. "That's great, Dudley."

"Dudley! Wait for us!", they both heard Cynthia's voice call out suddenly. She came running to them and stood next to Dudley to look at Dorea — not that she and the portrait knew who the other was. But Cynthia was so excited that her metamorphmagus powers went haywire and made her hair change colour randomly.

"Hello, who're you? I'm Cynthia Sarah Lily Peverell, and that's Dudley Vernon Dursley, my cousin!"

Dorea looked amused and curious. "I'm Dorea Melania Potter née Black. It is nice to meet you, though I do not recognise you. Your cousin said you were a Potter. How come your name is Peverell?"

Cynthia looked sheepish. "Well, it's not the name I was born with. I changed it today due to complicated reasons. My birth name is Harriet Jamila Potter. My parents were Lily Evans and James Potter." Something suddenly went to the front of her mind. "You're my aunt's godmother!"

Dorea looked surprised but pleased. "You're Harriet? That means that I am your grandmother. But…your aunt's godmother? I am afraid that you are mistaken. I had three godchildren, two of which are boys. The girl, to my knowledge, died shortly after being born."

"You mean me?", Stella suddenly appeared right next to Cynthia. "I am, in fact alive. If you do not believe me, my name is Stella Maeve Dursley née Black, though until today I had thought that my birth name was Petunia Maria Evans. My adopted sister Lily, she married your son. I believe we even met once, at their wedding, Mrs. Potter."

Dorea looked extremely shocked and almost about to cry. "Stella? You're little Lala? You're the Tuney Lily always talked about? The one who always called her a freak for being magical?"

Stella flinched. "Yes, about that…that wasn't me at all. Well, it was me, but not my character. My real emotions have been blocked by spells and potions. The culprit? Albus Dumbledore. He did the same to H-Cynthia and Dudley, though Dudley and Cynthia had more than me."

Dorea turned to Cynthia. "And this is true?" Cynthia's hair had calmed a bit down again as she nodded. "Yes…and it didn't even start around that time. It started even earlier, before Mum and Dad even went to Hogwarts, apparently. It's a long story, but in short, Aunt Rose and Aunt Elizabeth dying weren't accidents at all."

"How would you know that? You're what? Six years old? And I can't remember anyone ever talking about Lizzy after she died…"

Cynthia looked sheepish. "That's a long story, but not one for now. Let's just say…I'm not as young as you think I am and I know way more than I should."

Dorea nodded curiously and looked at her granddaughter. "Alright, but what do you mean, it wasn't an accident? As far as I know, my daughter and daughter-in-law's twin sister got killed in an accident concerning the Whomping Willow that was planted the year before."

Cynthia nodded. "That's partly true, but did you know that Whomping Willows have been made illegal a long time ago?"

Dorea's eyes widened. "What? They are illegal and Dumbledore still planted one on Hogwarts grounds?" She growled. "I knew there was something weird going on with that man!"

"If you can even call him that", Cynthia muttered under her breath.

"Yes, and I was told that you and granddad died of Dragon Pox a few weeks before a Death Eater attack that destroyed the Manor. So why are you still listed as alive at an unknown location?"

Dorea looked slightly miffed at that. ��I am a portrait. I would most certainly know if my person had died. About Potter Manor there is one thing I can tell you. To my knowledge, there never was a Death Eater attack. There couldn't have been, unless a direct family member was a Death Eater with the ability to get past the wards."

"So Potter Manor is still standing?", Stella asked, her eyes wide. Dorea nodded. Of course, Cynthia thought. Línnea told me that there were wards around preventing a non-Potter from getting past them.

"But where is it?", Cynthia asked. "I know now that it's still standing now, and that you are still alive somewhere, but where is Potter Manor?"