Gringotts

Irma's 'little brother' Ronald shouted: "Let's go in there, I want to see what's inside!"

Irma decided to follow the child's fancy, it was as if the child was her guide through the dream, showing her more wonders and things she wouldn't even have been able to imagine before.

Naturally, the entire dream-like feeling, even the negating of the pain she felt while pinching herself was all Gaude's doing. He had been lucky enough to notice when she prepared to pinch herself and spent a whole lot of magic to completely cut off her pain receptors for a few minutes. The rest of the time, Gaude simply dulled her senses and mind to keep her believing that she was, in fact, in a dream. A lot of Gaude's magic went to cutting off Irma's sense of taste and smell as those were rarely found within a dream.

However, no matter how many compulsions had been stacked up on her mind, Irma found the short, vicious-looking people that inhabited the place extremely unsettling. That and the fact that a strange device was waved over them a few times before "You're clear to enter" was said by one of the two people standing guard in front of the doors.

The guards with the Probity Probes only looked for concealment charms and Polyjuice Potion, they didn't even think to check for something like compulsion charms or befuddlement.

Once they had passed the first set of doors, Irma noticed a second set with a large plaque fixed to one of them, with a poem on it:

Enter, stranger, but take heed

Of what awaits the sin of greed,

For those who take, but do not earn,

Must pay most dearly in their turn,

So if you seek beneath our floors

A treasure that was never yours,

Thief, you have been warned, beware

Of finding more than treasure there.

Irma was unaware of the gleam in her little brother's eyes and the firm resolution he'd made to properly rob that bank, just to spite its owners, whatever it took.

Soon, Irma felt that the little creatures, while they looked quite vicious with their needle-sharp teeth that they liked to proudly present with a grin, were actually quite amicable. She waited in a short line in front of a counter that was taller than herself for around ten minutes, and when the creature behind the counter shouted out: "Next!", she suddenly noticed that there was nobody in front of her.

Irma had something in her pocket that she needed to give that creature. Words formed in her mind, and once again, she didn't question it at all. She felt that this was how things were supposed to go.

"I would like to exchange this to Galleons.", she said. She then looked at the thing she had pulled out from her pocket. It turned out to be cash – seemingly quite a bit of it, too, all rolled up and fastened with a rubber band. Irma would've been overjoyed to have such a thick stack of cash in reality. She could buy a set of very nice clothes for herself and a lot of treats for her siblings. Most importantly, she could pay at least two months' worth of the orphanage's rent with it, allowing Adelaide to save up some in case the landlord's goons showed up early again.

Once again, Irma had no idea what Galleons were, but she had a feeling that they would soon become necessary. For what purpose, she didn't know yet, but she knew that if she kept following little Ronald around, she'd end up finding out.

A few minutes later, the creature behind the counter handed her a few handfuls of gold coins. Her eyes couldn't help but stop at the hands of the creature. They were much larger than the creature's size would suggest, even larger than an average humans, all the way to the size of a sailor's hands.

Irma wondered if the feet were proportionate to the hands for a moment once she remembered a saying often used by the older girls and those that had already left the orphanage and gotten married.

"I would like to take a bloodline test.", little Ronald suddenly said.

"Very well. Follow me.", the short humanoid creature said as it climbed down from its tall counter. Irma was able to ascertain that the feet were indeed proportionate to the hands, extremely big for their short statures. That made Irma wonder for a moment if there were women that fancied one of those creatures for their 'redeeming qualities' for a moment, but remembering that this was still a dream and anything was possible in it, she figured there had to be some.

Irma accompanied them – even if she didn't know what a bloodline test was for or what it involved, she wasn't about to leave her charge alone with a creature that looked like it could tear them both apart and snack on their livers at a moment's notice. Even in a dream, she didn't want anything bad happening to her little brother. She also had the feeling that she'd see something interesting if she followed them.

Her thoughts were just right – the creature took out a piece of something that looked like a piece of thick paper and a… Dagger?! Why did the creature just take out a very sharp-looking knife? Something like that shouldn't be taken out near a child! What did the creature even intend to use it for? Did the creature want to rob them, inside a bank no less?

Irma wasn't going to voice out any of her concerns, she was frozen in fear, with a lump in her throat, neutralizing any attempts she tried to make to call for help. All she could do was keep watching with wide eyes as the events developed further. At the very least, she could give a good testimony to the police. There was police in this dream world, right?

The creature then handed the dagger to the child.

"Your blood, please.", the creature said politely.

Why did little Ronald just poke his finger with the tip of the dagger? Did he do it by accident? He's not even reacting to the wound, that's no accident! I should quickly get it out of his hand before he hurts himself even more with it!

"Ronald dear, please give your big sister that knife. You really don't need to be holding it. If you give it to big sis Irma, I'll peel some apples with it and give you the slices.", Irma said, with the best enticing big sister's voice she could pull off, at it would've convinced any child thanks to her years of practice, ever since she had been twelve.

However, instead of giving the dagger to her, little Ronald gave it back to the creature? He even squeezed his bleeding finger to make more blood come out and then smeared it on the paper? Was that the bloodline test he had asked for?

Then, something truly strange happened – the blood on the parchment started moving around and formed lines and names, quite similar to a family tree. The closest to the child's name were two – Adelia Cortshutt and Barnaby Vywin. At first, lines only branched out of the name of Barnaby Vywin.

There was a small symbol of a key with the number five hundred and thirty-five attached to one of the names that didn't seem to have produced any offspring under the key, five months was written. A moment later, another line branched off the name of Adelia Cortshutt, but before any of the connected names became fully visible, the thick paper burst into flames. The creature and Ronald jumped away from their seats and a moment later, the creature tilted the table, causing the paper to fall onto the marble floor and burn to ashes.

"Absolute secrecy. I suggest you don't try to take another bloodline test again.", the creature spoke. There was a regretful expression on its face if one was well-versed in reading Goblin faces, or it looked like a demonic creature had been robbed of the juiciest piece of meat by the two in front of it, if you weren't that familiar with Goblins.

Irma was really scared for her and the boy's safety for a moment, but then the creature continued: "Very well, it looks like you're quite lucky. It turns out that there is indeed an unclaimed family vault on your name. As the branch of the family the vault belonged to was formerly thought extinct, it would've been transferred to the possession of the bank once the ten year holding period ended. It appears none of your ancestors were interested in reclaiming it for the family."

The creature then sighed, as if he would be reprimanded by its superiors for losing the bank the vault's contents and spoke: "Would you like to take a look at the vault's contents? Since you are the sole surviving member of your house and thus the head of the family and heir in one person, certain concessions can be made.

However, some terms are applied by the past head of the Vywin family regarding the heir of the house, and as such must be followed until you have reached the age of majority or considered as an adult. Among the conditions is that you won't be able to withdraw more than a thousand Galleons a year from the vault."

Irma had no idea how much would be in the Vywin vault, but a thousand Galleons sounded like a decent amount of money to her. She had just recently exchanged two thousand and five hundred pounds for five hundred Galleons, so she knew the exchange rate, and from that, she could understand that little Ronald's allowance by his family was around five thousand pounds per year.

Certainly, five thousand pounds per year didn't sound like much as it could only cover the orphanage's rent for half a year, but that was already quite a lot!

Irma didn't understand the part about little Ronald suddenly becoming the head of the family and heir. That sounded awfully lot like it had something to do with some kind of posh nobility, not an orphan that had just showed up on their doorstep about eight months ago.

Irma was happy for her baby brother, however – which kind-hearted sister wouldn't be when a sibling of theirs caught a lucky break.

Irma pinched herself again, now desperately hoping to feel pain from the action, desperately hoping against hope that her kid brother had actually been so lucky to become a nobility overnight. Who knows, perhaps one day, when he grows up, he'd even remember his nice big sister and make donations when she took over the orphanage?

Yet, there was no more sensation from the pinch than before, and she sighed sadly. A dream was a wonder on itself, giving you a much more beautiful life, but it only lasted until you woke up.

They were following the creature through a few corridors, until they reached an area with a fleet of rail cars parked in it. The creature said with a gravelly voice: "Enter, please."

They both climbed into the metal rail car and the creature did as well, waving his hand over a strange fixture in front. Then the car started accelerating to greater and greater speeds. It felt like they were riding on a rollercoaster. A few minutes later, they came to a stop.

"Vault five hundred and thirty-five. Exit please.", the creature spoke. It then took the lantern fixed to the rail car's front and went to a large vault door. He waved his hand across it and produced a key from his pocket, then handed it to little Ronald.

"Only the heir can open the vault until the time runs out. A drop of blood is needed to bind the key to yourself."

Little Ronald squeezed the finger he had cut before, and a fresh drop of blood came out. He then smeared it over the key's handle, and it glowed with a bright golden light before returning to its dull state once more. Then little Ronald floated up in air, inserted the key into the keyhole and turned it.