Hermione rolled her eyes again.
"Right. Hermione J. Granger," the goblin said, adding a note to his file.
"Johnson?" Harry asked with a smile. "So you could be related to Angelina?"
"Probably not, unless the connection goes back several hundred years," she answered with a smile of her own. "I suppose we could share a philandering grandfather, but I highly doubt that's the case."
"If you're interested in researching any connections you may have to the wizarding world," the Overseer said to her. "I also oversee the Office of Latent Legacy Lineages, a small department that searches for possible inheritors for inactive accounts. Nothing is guaranteed, of course, and even if a connection is found you may not stand to inherit anything, but with records going back almost a thousand years it could give you something to go on."
Hermione had never thought of doing a wizarding genealogy. She'd always thought doing magic could be a next step in evolution, a quirk of brain structure, or a fluke of genetics - much like her hair - though the idea of a magical gene is rather preposterous, she supposed, but to actually have a real historical connection to the wizarding world would be tremendous.
"Yes, and if you ask nicely," her father said, "he could sell you London Bridge, the Crown Jewels, and the ripped up parole papers of Jean Valjean."
Instantly the goblin's eyes pinned her father with its beady stare.
"Did you have any other business to conduct here today, sir?" he asked as he showed a pointed-toothed smile.
"He needed to convert some non-magical money into galleons," Lichfield said quickly.
Without even waiting for her father to concur the goblin's head whipped to the side and he pointed at another goblin. "Griphook!"
"Yes, Overseer?" the other goblin said, setting down an armload of clanking metallic objects on a nearby bench and scurrying over.
"Convert his muggle money," the Overseer commanded.
"Er- Sir? I-I'm not a teller," the other goblin said uncertainly.
"Are you turning down an opportunity to make amends for an incomplete report and possibly earn a promotion?" the Overseer asked quickly.
"Oh! No sir!" the new goblin exclaimed.
"Then attend to this muggle-"
"Actually, they prefer the term 'non-magical person,'" Lichfield chose to levelly add to this tense moment.
"Do they?" the suited goblin asked with a glance at the grizzled old lawyer before turning back to the newest goblin. "Attend to this muggle, SRP1."
"I really think I should go along with my daughter," her father said uncertainly.
With a snap of the Overseer's fingers two surly-looking goblins in scarlet and gold moved to flank him.
"Muggles are not permitted off this level," the head goblin told her father tersely. "You are welcome to wait in the sitting area over there-," he jabbed to a scattered clump of chairs by the front doors, "-when your business is concluded, but if you take one step closer to any other door you will be forced to leave. Take her below if she's going; I'll meet you there momentarily," he finished to Lichfield before walking off in a different direction.
In the tense stillness that followed Hermione didn't know what to do. She didn't want to leave her dad alone with a bunch of angry goblins, wanted to know what was going on with Harry, didn't want this day to end horribly, and didn't want to have to pick sides.
"I'll look after her," Lichfield said with a soothing gesture to her father.
Her father finally seemed to grasp that maybe he'd gone a little too far this time; finally meeting someone who liked pranks even less than she did and had the ability to bite back. He eventually nodded and motioned for her to go.
"I'll just be - sitting out here," he told her as he took the bag holding her new school books. "Let me know if she gets into trouble or runs off and gets married, will you?" he asked Lichfield.
Did her father have to be embarrassing even when contrite?
"If she finds a nice goblin between now and then I'll let you know," the lawyer replied, "but Barchoke's always had other things on his mind to be interested."
With that bit of a roadblock behind them, she followed Harry and Lichfield through the bronze door and hoped it would be the end of those awkward situations.
.....
Want to read ahead. Then Join my Pa*treon 60+ exclusive chapters that are waiting for you.
Even Free members can enjoy 2+ advanced chapters FOR FREE.
Link: pa*treon.com/Lotus_Lover (Remove the *)
Join Right Now