Chapter 52 - Christmas Holidays and The Will

The excitement about the new Black heir died down quickly as no new update on the topic was available to the press to write stories about. After that the days passed quietly without any interesting events. Soon it was the time for Christmas or the Yule holidays.

I had finished Mastery level studies in the 3 fields a few days back and had moved on to Healing, Duelling and DADA mastery studies. These would be more important for my future battles. I planned on getting the stone during the time when the Mirror of Erised was removed from the empty room and placed in the third floor corridor which meant after the holidays. I had to wait because I was not sure about the current location of the stone. Whether it was in the mirror or in the room on the third floor.

I opted to go back to London this time instead of staying like always at Hogwarts so that I could get the will of grandfather to be read. This was necessary because with the death of grandfather, I did not know who my new magical guardian was. If it was someone I did not like, I had to take some counter actions to protect myself and my interests.

After the boring Hogwarts express ride, I made my way towards Gringotts. I had to be careful now. I had to make sure that my identity could not be leaked. I made my way towards the teller and after casting a wandless 'muffliato' charm around the two of us, I asked to meet the Black account manager.

He raised his eyebrows after hearing my words. I was sure that he had made the connection. The goblin gave me the widest gin that I had seen on a goblin. He called for another goblin and asked him to show me the way. I knew that he would sell the information to the highest bidder so while I was leaving with the other goblin, I sent a wandless memory charm towards him that modified his memory and made him think I had asked for the Falken account manager. I was highly proficient in memory charms and Legilimency after reading Voldemort's memories.

After the other goblin led me to the office of the Black account manager, I did the same to him. I then compelled him to leave so as to not cause any suspicion.

After the goblin left, I knocked on the door of the office. A voice from the inside asked me to come in.

When I entered the room, an old Goblin who sat behind the only desk in the room looked at me and then gave a toothy grin.

He said "Lord Black informed me that he had passed the Black Heirship to someone on his last visit here a few weeks back. He was in a good mood when he told me that despite his approaching death. You must be the new Black Heir. Thank you wore igniting hope in him during his last days. He was a good friend. I am Gripclaw, the Black Family manager. May I know your name?"

I replied "I am Charles Falken-Black, Heir of Most Ancient and Noble House of Falken and Black."

Gripclaw "Yes. I heard about the Falken vaults getting activated a few years back. It seems you will have lots of responsibilities in the future, young man. Before we move forward, I must confirm your identity."

I gave him some drops of my blood in the small vial that he had provided. He then dropped the blood on the special parchment. I made sure that no drop was left in the vial. After a magical reaction, a series of similar words started becoming visible on the parchment.

Name: Charles Daniel Falken-Black

Father: Daniel Robert Falken (pure-blood)

Mother: Sara Emily Falken nee Acton (pure-blood)

Heritage: Most Ancient and Noble House of Falken

Most Ancient and Noble House of Black

Vaults: 54 – Falken Family vault - 1,035,264G

704 – Trust vault - 200 G

26 - Black Family vault - 15,260,154G

I was shocked after reading the number near the Black vault. With this much money, even without doing a job my great grandchildren too can lead a luxury life.

Gripclaw "Good. Now we can move on to other businesses. You will see that only the Black Family vault is present in the list of vaults that is because the late Lord Black closed down all the other vaults and recalled in all unpaid loans for your convenience. Now it is time to read the will, since you are the main beneficiary, I can open it now. The official reading of the will will be a week later and you will not be needed to be there for that. No one will be informed about the identity of the new Heir but they will know that there is a new Heir."

"I know that you will be worried about who your next magical guardian will be after my death. Don't worry I took care of that. I took the liberty of getting you emancipated. With my connections I was able to get it done quickly and anonymously. You don't have to worry about others finding out. I know, the freedom provided to you by this will come in handy in your endeavors."

I was ecstatic after reading about this. This meant that I now have access to all my ȧssets which included the Falken manor. It also meant that I was in complete control of my affairs. No need to worry about Dumbledore meddling in them anymore. No ȧduŀt had ever helped me and understood me as much as grandfather and he only saw me for a few hours. I miss him.

Gripclaw "From that reaction, I can guess that you have read about your emancipation. With the late Lord Black's power in the ministry, there was no problem in getting it done. You are now considered an ȧduŀt according to the law. It is anonymous so it is your decision whether you want others to know about it or not. I will ask the Falken account manager to come here with the Lord ring to make it binding."

After a few minutes, there was a knock and the Falken account manager, Gornuk entered the office. He had the ring box in his hands. He smiled after seeing me.

Gornuk "I hear that you became Heir Black too, Heir Falken. Congratulations. I am expecting great things from you."

I said "Thank you, Gornuk"

Gornuk smiled and opened the ring box. He took out the Lord ring and gave it to me. Gripclaw also did the same thing.

Gripclaw "Wear the Lord's ring above your Heir's ring. The Lord's ring will replace the Heir one and the Heir one will go back into the ring box. Start with the Falken one since it was your first ring."

I nodded and put the Falken Lord's ring over the Heir's ring. The ring flashed with bright light which meant the family magic testing me and the light soon died out. I then saw the Heir ring appearing in the opened ring box. I did the same thing with the Black Lord's ring and again the same thing happened.

Gripclaw "Congratulations Lord Falken-Black. Now if you pass me your wand, I can get the trace removed from it. It would have vanished on your magical maturity but due to your early emancipation, it must be done manually. Fortunately for you Gringotts has the ability to get it removed. Otherwise you would have had to get it removed at the ministry."

I gave him my wand and he left the room with it. After a few minutes he returned and gave the wand back to me.

Gripclaw "The trace has been removed. What next?"

I replied "Can I read the rest of the will?"

Gripclaw nodded and passed the file to me. I started going through it since I wanted to know who the other beneficiaries were.

Grandfather had donated a lot of money to St. Mungo's and other such organisations. There were many other beneficiaries who I did not recognize. I recognised only a few names. Harry was bequeathed the Black Town House in London along with Kreature and 50,000G. Draco was given a Beach Manor in france and the same amount of money as Harry. Narcissa too inherited 50,000G. All three of the bequeaths came with the condition that only they will be able to access their vaults. Even their guardians were banned from accessing them. Andromeda and Nymphadora were also given 50,000G. They will be very happy with this and could make good use of the money. Other people I did not recognize.

I then gave the will back to Gripclaw and asked "I want to know the location of the Black Castle. I don't think I will have time to manage the Black estate while I am at school so I will come back after graduation for that."

Gripclaw nodded and told me the location and the location reappeared in my mind. It seems like Gripclaw was the secret keeper. I thanked him and left the office.

After exiting Gringotts, I disillusioned myself and apparated to the Black Castle.