CHAPTER 20: THE VAULT

*

Family, or Knowledge?

*

It was 19th of August 1992, Ed was once again in the suitcase, sleeping on the sofa, since the visit to Harry's, Hermione is constantly in the suitcase. She sleeps on the day, and learn during the night, and for Ed, unfortunately, he also had to change his sleep schedule because of her. The next day after the visit to the Dursleys, Hermione talked about his 'future' knowledge, she kept pestering him to tell her everything, but Ed was persistent not to tell, if he told her, then she would try to change it, then Harry would not grow, the future would be hard to read, and Ed's plans would be destroyed, therefore, no matter how much Hermione annoyed him, he can only gave her the prophecy.

Right now, though, Ed was still sleeping soundly in the living room, before a certain bushy-haired girl shook him roughly to wake him up.

"Wake up Ed! It's your birthday today! And we need to go to Diagon alley to buy some school things!" shouted Hermione on Ed's ears, waking him up instantly.

"Fucking hell Hermione! You don't have to shout!" grumbled Ed, which cause Hermione to smack him because of his cursing. "Do I really have to go to Diagon alley? I won't go to Hogwarts this semester remember? And your parents will also come with you to there."

Hermione became annoyed at Ed's behaviour, and pulled him out of the sofa while saying, "You said you have to claim your vault!"

Ed instantly stood up, he remembered the letter that the goblins sent him yesterday, "Oh yeah! I forgot about that…" exclaimed Ed.

"Honestly Ed…" Hermione grumbled in dissatisfaction, "you should take a shower, you smell really bad."

Ed just hummed and climbed out of the suitcase. Hermione has finished the basic of Occlumency, so she was allowed to enter whenever she wants, but Ed had to watch her because she forgot to track time sometimes. Ed put her blood to the keyhole on the suitcase, so she can enter whenever she wants by saying the password.

Ed entered the bathroom and took a shower, last night he trained his short-range blinking until he was exhausted, which means he produced a lot of sweat and smelled bad.

After the shower, Ed opened up the drawer with towel covering his private parts, he searches for a suitable clothes that he can wear but was interrupted with a scream.

"AH! Ed, why are you naked in the open!?" shrieked Hermione while covering her eyes, Ed can see her ears turned red.

"This is my bedroom Hermione, you're the one who's trespassing, get out." Said Ed while opening the door to the corridor, Hermione instantly bolted off the room, leaving Ed to his peace.

Ed then wore the clothes, he combed his hair a little bit, and wear his Hogwarts robe for the trip to Diagon Alley. He opened the school letter about the things he needs to buy and reads it.

*

SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS WILL REQUIRE:

The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 by Miranda Goshawk

Break with a Banshee by Gilderoy Lockhart

Gadding with Ghouls by Gilderoy Lockhart

Holidays with Hags by Gilderoy Lockhart

Travels with Trolls by Gilderoy Lockhart

Voyages with Vampires by Gilderoy Lockhart

Wanderings with Werewolves by Gilderoy Lockhart

Year with the Yeti by Gilderoy Lockhart

*

Ed sighed tiredly, "I have to deal with this narcissist this year, what a fucking pain…" he mumbled to himself. "Well, at least I don't have to deal with him for the first semester…"

Ed took his wand and put it in his pocket, he checks himself out, he doesn't need his glasses anymore, so his eyes will pop out from the crowd, but honestly, he didn't really care now.

Then, he goes out of the room and walked to the living room where The Grangers have been waiting.

"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Granger." Greeted Ed with a sincere smile.

The couple looked at Ed and smiled back, "Hello Ed, how've you been?" they greeted.

"I'm good, Hermione's really pushing me to the max though, she's always keeping me up late at night." Ed said innocently.

Hearing this The Grangers frowned, but before they said anything, Hermione came with a smile on her face, the Grangers turned their attention to her, asking her what Ed had meant.

"Hermione…" Mr. Granger said, a frown can be seen on his face. Seeing this, Hermione felt something wrong, so she dropped her smile and asked, "What's going on?"

Mrs. Granger smiled dangerously at her, and asked, "Ed here just told us that you've been 'pushing him to the max' and 'keeping him late at night', what does he mean by that?"

Hermione instantly blushed furiously, she smacked the back of Ed's head, and defended herself,

"N-No, I-It was his own doing! I-I was studying in his practice place until late at night, and he insisted to stay to guard me, I-It's not what you think! W-We're not doing anything like that, I swear!" she stuttered hurriedly, her face is now the same colour as Ron's hair, and she kept hitting Ed on the back.

"We're not doing what Hermione?" asked Ed innocently, acting calm, but deep down he just wants to burst out laughing.

"Shut up! You did this!" glared Hermione, rage can be seen on her face. Ed just raised his hand, signalling to give up.

The Grangers seeing this just smiled mysteriously, and moments later Ashbey opened the front door.

"Good morning everyone, the car is ready," he announced. All of them then went outside, Ed didn't bring Roger and Anna to Diagon Alley because he didn't want them to show themselves, if one of the death-eaters saw them with him, he'll be targeted for sure, especially after the end of the school year, Ed also tried to convince the Grangers to not go, but they insisted, so that may be a problem in the future.

The group then entered the car and drove to the Leaky Cauldron, they chatted in the car, about what Hermione's been up to, she told them about her visit to Harry's, her training, and all minor things that Ed really didn't care about. Ed was thinking all the way to the pub, he was thinking what is inside that vault, is it just money? Investments? Lands? Or is there any artifacts in there, he asked Gilligan the other night, but he only answered with, 'You don't have to worry about it.' And vanished, sometimes Ed thought Gilligan's face is quite punch-able because of his mysterious attitude, like Dumbledore.

The group then arrived at Leaky Cauldron; The Grangers looked at the surroundings and the decorations of the place,

"Quite shabby for a famous place…" Mr. Granger said.

"Well, it's supposed to be hidden from the muggles, so they need to be inconspicuous as possible I supposed." Ed answered.

The group then walked to the entrance of the Diagon Alley, Ed tapped the walls, changing it to the Diagon Alley, he said while smirking to the Grangers.

"Welcome," Ed said while gesturing his hand like a butler welcoming its master, "to Diagon Alley."

The Grangers jaw dropped when they saw the scene, Hermione was shaking her head amusedly. Took them a couple of minutes to calm down, after that Ed said that they will need to go to Gringotts to exchanged muggle money. They walked slowly through the alley so the Grangers can admire the view, and about fifteen minutes later, they arrived at the white building, they entered the place, The Grangers stood in front of the gate for a while to read the warning and entered.

"If you want to exchange muggle money, you can go there." Pointed Ed at a goblin in the corner. "Hermione, can you buy the things I need for the school? I need to claim the vault, it will take quite a while I think, here's the money." Said Ed while giving Hermione the letter and the bag of money.

Hermione nodded blankly, "Thank you Hermione." Said Ed, then he faced the parents of the girl and said, "Mr. and Mrs. Granger, I will leave you to Hermione, I've got some business to take care of.", he bowed slightly to the Grangers and walked to the goblin in the middle of the room.

"Good morning, I'm here to claim my family's vault." Said Ed while giving the invitation.

"Ah! Welcome Mr. Aldrich, please wait a moment." Said the goblin with a happy tone, but his face showing no emotion. He rummaged through the papers and put it in the desk in front of him.

"Put your blood in the signing column." Ordered the goblin.

Ed just pricks his finger and drop the blood in the column, the paper shined a bit and faded again.

"Everything is in order Mr. Aldrich, here is the key to the vault, Rognot here will escort you." The desk goblin said while handing him a key.

Ed just nodded and followed Rognot the goblin, he was guided to a tunnel that has a cart and a track, he hopped in the car along with the goblin.

The goblin pulled the lever, and the cart instantly launched them, causing Ed to scream, he went through a cave system, he even at one point went through a bridge, he saw a river far below the bridge.

A couple of minutes later he arrived, the goblin announces the number of the vault, "Vault 717" he said. He then hopped off of the cart and walked to the door of the vault.

"Key?" the goblin asked.

Ed just gave him the key, and the goblin opened the door using the key. The door creaked a high pitch sound, and the room releases some sort of mist. 'that's weird…' Ed thought.

"What's in here Rognot? Why all the mist?" asked Ed.

The goblin just stared at Ed for a second, then he pulled out a piece of parchment and coughed a little.

"Vault 717 contains a total of ten million forty thousand one hundred sixty Galleons fourteen knuts and nine sickles, ten shop certificates in Diagon Alley, and 7 artifacts belonging to the Aldrich family."

Ed was dumbfounded at the number, he asked again just to confirm, "Pardon me can you repeat that again?"

The goblin grumbled in dissatisfaction, before repeating the same words. Ed stood there for a while because of shock, but quickly came back, he thought for a moment and asked once again,

"Wait, no investments or companies? Just empty shops?" asked Ed.

"Yes Mr. Aldrich…" the goblin grumbled.

"What the hell are the doing? keeping this much money not doing anything like this… not even investments are in here…" Ed mumbled to himself, but the goblin heard it and nodded in agreement.

Ed then entered the vault, it was cold, too cold for a vault, 'what's in here, why it is so cold?' Ed thought. He continued to walk inside; he saw the mountain of gold in front of him. "Fucking hell, this is too much…"

After a couple of minutes of picking a little bit of Galleons, he walked to the papers section of the vault. "A lot of empty shops, I can use this to make factories and sell some things, but I'm quite young right now, and I don't know anyone that can run it while I'm still at school…" he put the papers back and goes to the artifact room, he sensed something inside and got alert, he never felt like this before, he felt some sort of connection from inside, he walked in there slowly. Inside, he saw an owl totem, glowing icy blue, the glow grew brighter every time Ed stepped closer.

Ed stood in front of the totem, his 'instincts' were telling him to touch it, but Ed hold it back, because he didn't know what it is. His left hand suddenly felt like it was burning, he saw the owl tattoo shine brightly, his hand moved on his own and finally touched the totem, his eyes rolled to the back, making it all white.

Then, nothing, just infinite blackness, he looked around but only darkness surrounds him. He felt a bit scared but curious at the same time. "What is this place?" he whispered to himself.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" said a voice, it sounded like a woman's voice that has lived thousands of years, a wise woman's voice.

"Who is it?!" shouted Ed, he doesn't have his wand in this place, he tried to use his magic as well, but it won't work, he felt powerless in this place.

"Calm down child…" the voice sounded again, but suddenly, sounds of flapping wings can also be heard.

"This feels familiar…" Ed whispered, he instantly dropped down his guard. And a few moments later, a large owl, the same size as Gilligan flew down to him, when she lands, the ground shook, even though technically there's no ground as it is just black.

"Hmm… let me look at you… yes, you look like a mix between Bella and Darius, a handsome boy indeed." The she-owl said.

"Um… Who are you?" asked Ed.

"Ah… I supposed you never see me because we hid, yes, my name, it is Baldeth, you must be Darius's offspring."

"Oh, yes, I'm Darius's son, nice to meet you Baldeth, I've heard about you from Gilligan."

"My cute little brother told you about me? Oho, how sweet." Said the she-owl excitedly.

"Um, yes, what am I doing here? Is this supposed to be a test or something?"

"Test? Oh no, it's not, it's just your appointment of being the heir of the family."

"Heir? Why didn't Gilligan told me about this?" asked Ed to himself, but Baldeth heard him.

"He didn't tell you? Well, it appears I need to teach my cute little brother some lessons when I go back, slacking on his duty like that, unbelievable!" said Baldeth playfully.

Ed nodded vigorously, agreeing Baldeth's thinking. "So, what do I need to do?"

"Oh, you don't have to do anything, in fact, this shouldn't happened at all, but I'm quite far away from you now, so I need to look at you."

"That's it? Then what's going on with the statue or totem thing? It's glowing, and it's really cold in the vault."

"It recognises you as the next heir, and it will emanates what your most powerful element is, and it looks like it's ice." The owl explained.

Ed nodded thoughtfully, "So that's how it is…" he whispered. "Then what do I get as an heir?"

Baldeth suddenly turns serious, and said, "A choice."

"A choice?"

"Yes, a choice between family or knowledge."

"What does that mean?"

Baldeth stared at Ed for a few seconds before saying, "You don't have to worry about anything, just choose."

Ed looked at the owl strangely and asked, "so you give me a choice, but you won't tell me the consequences of my choice?"

"Just. Choose." The owl said sternly.

Ed then thought for a while, then answer proudly, "I choose both."

Then silence, the two just stood there staring at each other, before Baldeth questioned,

"Why choose both?"

Ed eyed the owl, before answering decisively, "for me, one must be supported by the other, I'm assuming you gave me a choice as some sort of a test even though you told me it was not a test, a choice between would you rather stay and protect your family or go search for knowledge. I can't choose one of them as I will choose both of them, I need knowledge to protect my family, while also keeping my family close to me so I won't go mad for knowledge."

Baldeth looked at me for a few seconds before chuckling, "Oho, looks like you have a great successor Darius, and from the looks of it, the Aldrich family won't go extinct anytime soon."

The owl then spoke in a heavy tone, "I, Baldeth, Guardian of the Aldrich Family, name thee, Edgart Alvis Aldrich, as heir to the family. May the Guardian of knowledge guide him."

Ed felt his left hand burned again, this time it draws a circle around the owl symbol, and four silver glyphs flashed one by one, covering the owl symbol. Once all of it have faded, it only leaves the owl symbol with a circle surrounding it.

"That's a gift from me because of your answer, a truly peculiar out of all the heir I've seen, only one has ever told me to choose both." Said the owl.

"Then what happens if I choose family or knowledge?"

Baldeth eyed Ed for a moment, before answering, "If you choose family, I will give you the strength to protect your family but doing so, I will curse you, by decreasing your lust for knowledge bit by bit, until you won't have a thirst for it anymore, and if you lost a family member, there's a chance that you will die because of sadness, like your grandfather."

Ed was shocked at this, but before he could say anything, Baldeth continued, "And if you choose knowledge, I will make you understand faster, I will make you learn faster, I will make you a genius among geniuses, but in doing so, I will curse you, so that you will slowly lose your mind because of your thirst of knowledge."

Ed was scared because of what the owl was saying, "T-Then what curse do I get?"

"Because of your answer, I will place no curse on you." Said the owl softly.

Ed was surprised by this and asked it, "Why?"

"Your answer was the foundation that the family was built on child, we search for knowledge to protect our own kin, while also keeping close our kin to prevent us to go mad from searching knowledge. It's a cycle, that, is the true ideology of the Aldrich family. That is why I cast a curse on someone that only wants knowledge, and someone who didn't realize that you also need knowledge to protect the family. I didn't curse them severely enough so that they won't make an offspring, and I didn't told them the curse until it was your grandfather's turn."

Ed was dumbfounded at the owl, 'tens of generations but no one ever realized that? I thought the Aldrich family supposed to be smart…' Ed thought, then he continued to ask,

"Then what gift did I get?"

"You get both."

Ed sighed in relief, then looked at the owl hesitantly, "Where are you right now? Are you with my parents?"

If owls could smile, this is the closest it can be, Baldeth 'smiled' at Ed, "Yes, do you want to give a message to them?" said the owl softly.

"T-Tell them that I will find them, and I will make sure the blood debt paid in full." Said Ed decisively.

The owl grimaced at the mention of blood debt, "Yes," she said, "I will make sure to tell your parents about your message, and promise me child, you will claim the blood debt for the family, poor Arisanna…"

"I promise Baldeth." Ed nodded.

"I would do it myself if it weren't for the situation, if you want to find us child, I suggest you train your space magic first, then sense for the family's blood, after that just go to the coordinates, you will find it."

"I have to train until I can sense the family blood in other worlds? Wait I can sense the family's blood?"

Baldeth nodded and spoke. "Yes, ask my cute little brother to train you about blood sensing first, it will be quite useful, tell him I asked him to train you."

"Okay, can I go now?" asked Ed.

"Yes, we left something for you in the vault, but it's technically not for you, there's a ring in the vault, that's the only thing that's quite valuable to the family, the rest is useless."

"Ring?" asked Ed.

But the owl ignored it and send him back, "Well, it's good to finally meet you child, we will meet again."

And Ed returned to reality, the totem stopped glowing, the vault is not cold anymore, and he can still see the circle. "What use will be the circle though?" Ed whispered. After thinking for a while, he gave up temporarily and head to the other artifacts, he saw a couple of things, and from the looks of it, it really is worthless, he searched for the ring and found it, in front of the ring box, there's a note that says,

*

Dear Edgart,

If you ever want to propose to someone, use this, it's the ring that your father use to propose to your mother, use it well.

Love,

Darius and Isabella Aldrich

*

"Nice." Whispered Ed and kept the ring in his pocket. He then exits the vault and saw the goblin was waiting for him.

"How long was I in the vault?" he questioned the goblin.

The goblin grumbled, and said, "About ten minutes."

'That short? So, time stops when I touched that totem? Or just the perception of it that changed?' Ed thought. But shrugged, then the two exited the cave system using the same method, but ever since he touched that totem, his head felt clear, she wasn't wrong when she said she was going to make him genius among geniuses, he felt like he could calculate the speed of the cart just by looking at the surroundings.

'Perhaps I'll buy some ice cream…' Ed thought randomly.