Chapter 10

As Vesryn was weaving through the crowds under the guidance of Professor McGonagall, the governments of the world were in a state of panic. Various individuals of political power could be found arguing about the strange phenomenon that they had suddenly been affected by. Countless teams of magical individuals were rushing from one major city to the next while others were dispatched to every town and community in between. To the west of the United Kingdom and across the vast ocean, a older man dressed in a well fitted black suit with graying blonde hair and blue eyes could be seen leaning over a table with both of his hands and a look of visible frustration on his face.

"How did you let this happen?" The man asked through gritted teeth. "You said you had those beasts under control!"

"Mister Pierce, I can assure you that this was an accident." The calm voice of a black haired man dressed in simple black robes with silver embroidery responded.

"Accident? Three of our jets were knocked out of the sky and all of the pilots were ripped out of their cockpits and torn in half! How is that an accident?!" Pierce shouted as he slammed his fist on the table.

"It was indeed an accident that those Peruvian Vipertooths got loose, we had taken the necessary precautions to keep the dragon contained. We have our best aurors investigating how those precautions failed and will handle it accordingly. The loss of your jets and their pilots however is on you. You and your organization were made aware of the changes that had befallen the dragons and were told to not confront them in any way and instead contact us. If you had followed those instructions and controlled your people like you said you could, you would not have lost your men and your planes." The man answered in as calmly and quickly a manner as he could.

"And if you had-" Pierce began to speak before the man standing opposite quickly cut in to interrupt him.

"And nothing. This discussion is over. You should already know how this works given your family history. Magical creatures are to be handled by the magical community. You have no authority over these matters. You decided to try take control of a situation that you have no qualifications to manage and then you failed. I do not care for your reasonings, Alexander. The only reason we're even bothering to give you an answer is because, despite your lack of... 'magical talent,' you're still my brother. I do not know why you attempted to handle a dragon on your own and I do not care. See that you do not overstep again. I cannot protect you from the ministry again." The man paused briefly as he emphasized the lack of magical ability that his brother possessed, a look of disappointment visible in his eyes. Alexander gritted his teeth, his shoulders shaking from anger as he watched his brother walk out of the office before disappearing from sight as the door closed behind him. Alexander slammed his fist on the table before grabbing the small globe sitting on his desk and throwing it across the room.

"Arrogant, pompous fuck!" Alexander seethed in rage for a moment before taking a deep breath to calm himself and fix his clothes. With no sign of his recent emotional outburst, he walked over to the phone on his desk and dialed a number. The line rang for a brief moment before a voice answered the call.

"Garrett speaking." A cold voice echoed through the phone.

"Tell me you got something. We finally managed to get one of them out of custody, tell me we're not coming out of this empty handed." Alexander replied as he sat down at his desk.

"Yeah, I got something. We collected some venom samples from parts of the wreckage that weren't caught in the explosion. Our boys also found and hid some bloody scales before they showed up."

"Good. Maybe we can find something on what caused these beasts to suddenly start growing. Whatever it is, if it can cause them to... 'evolve,' then imagine what we can accomplish if we could control it. Maybe it could even solve your... problem." Alexander replied, a smile slow spreading on his face.

"I hope you're right, Pierce."

"Get everything to our labs. Hail Hydra."

"Hail Hydra." The voice responded as Alexander ended the call. Propping both elbows on his desk, he interlocked his fingers in front of his face as he looked at the closed door across the room. As he was left to his own thoughts in the confines of his office, on the opposite side of the world a different meeting being held. Atop a tall mountain was a temple that seemed to be partially built directly into the mountainside. A large walled courtyard extended out from the temple where a crowd of darkly dressed individuals could be seen practicing a series of repeated motions. The stones beneath their feet were made of up multicolored bricks that when viewed from above looked like a red handprint within a black circle. As the crowd continued to practice in the courtyard, occasionally the ground beneath them would shake as a loud monstrous roar echoed out from within the temple.

At the entrance of the temple stood two figures that watched over the crowd in front of them. The first was an older looking woman dressed in a buttoned up black jacket over a white blouse, and a black skirt that stood with both hands atop an dark walking cane, her black hair kept in a neat bun without any sign of greying despite her seemingly advanced age. Next to her was a younger looking gentleman with short black hair dressed in a simple grey suit, whose jacket was left unbuttoned to reveal a white v-neck shirt underneath.

"Gao, how much longer do you think this will take?" The man asked in japanese as he rubbed the wrist of his right arm that was held in a sling.

"Patience, Murakami. Our injuries will heal. And when they do, if our wizards are right about these new 'greater' dragons, then perhaps it will all be worth it." The lady called Gao responded before she coughed into a handkerchief, leaving behind a small bit of blood on the silk cloth.

"I hope so. We lost over 200 of our ninjas and 7 of our wizards to catch just this one."

"Acceptable losses."

"You're not the one that has to train them. Just the wizards alone will give me a headache to replace." Murakami replied before taking a deep breath.

"When the dragon is turned to our side, the losses will be more than made up for if we can use it to capture others." Gao responded as she turned to walk into the temple, leaving the man alone to continue overseeing the training in the courtyard. As dark organizations plot and scheme in the shadows of the world, back in Diagon Alley, Vesryn found himself staring at a white building in the center of the large community.

Stepping into the large building and past the two short armored guards that stood on opposite sides of the entrance, Vesryn was met with a vast marble hall. Along the edge of the hall were several doors and countless counters were placed all through the length of the hall with a goblins sitting behind each one, their long fingers moving coins back and forth between different scales as they wrote something down in the large books in front of them. In the distance, he could also spot a large set of silver doors that seemed like it led deeping into the building. Following after Professor McGonagall, Vesryn walked down the center of the hall, his eyebrows furrowing as he noticed the nearby goblins pausing and staring at him for a brief moment as he passed by before quickly turning away. He could also hear from behind him as the goblins spoke to each other in an unfamiliar language that sounded to him like harsh and rough, unmelodious, and rasping growls.

"Excuse me." Professor McGonagall said aloud as they came to a stop in front of the counter in the center of the hall. The old white haired goblin stopped writing in his book as he raised his head, his dark, slanted eyes looking in the professors direction.

"I have a student that needs to make an exchange and possibly open an account." Professor McGonagall explained as she looked down at Vesryn. The goblin leaned over the front of his counter and looked down at the platinum haired boy standing next to the woman. His eyes widening briefly as he took notice of the unique features the boy possessed. Vesryn, growing increasingly annoyed at the strange looks he's been receiving since he stepped into the building, narrowed his violet eyes and cleared his throat as he stared back at the goblin.

"Right. Of course. If you could step into the office over there, I will send someone right away." The goblin said as he sat up straight and pointed his long finger towards an open door nearby.

"Thank you." Professor McGonagall said politely as she walked towards the room with the two boys following close behind. Stopping outside the door, the professor turned to look at Aurelius before speaking. "You may have to wait here for a moment, Aurelius. Vesryn, do you need me to be present as a guardian? Goblins can be rather tricky in the way they word their deals and will always attempt to get as many benefits as they can out of any they make."

"I'm familiar with the sort. I suppose it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a second set of eyes and ears." Vesryn answered as he stepped inside the room with the professor as Aurelius took a seat on a cushioned bench outside the room. Inside the room was a large couch seated in front of a small table that had a smaller chair positioned on the opposite side, while along the walls were several bronze busts of other goblins with unfamiliar inscriptions craved beneath each one on the marble pillars that they were seated on. Upon taking a seat, it didn't take long for the door to the room to open once again as a different goblin stepped into the room. This seemingly younger goblin dressed in a fine pinstriped black suit stepped into the room and froze for all but the briefest instant as he laid eyes on the platinum haired boy that was looking at him before moving to take a seat in the chair across from the boy.

"I am Odbert. I believe you wish to exchange currencies and possibly open an account with us? Can I have your name?" The goblin asked as he turned his eyes away from the boy and set the large book in his hands on the table in front of him.

"Vesryn Haerel." Vesryn answered noticing a brief moment in which the goblin stiffened before moving to write on a blank page of the book in clear view.

"And you are his?" The goblin looked up at the professor as he did his best not to look directly at the boy across from him.

"Minerva McGonagall, I'll be acting as his guardian and witness on his behalf." The Professor answered calmly and clearly.

"And what kind of currency will you be exchanging today." The goblin asked as he looked back down at his book. Vesryn noticed the obvious attempt at avoiding eye contact and reached a hand into his pouch before pulling out a single gold ingot and placed it loudly on the table in front of him. From the corner of his eyes he noticed Professor McGonagall turn to look at him with surprise as he slid the ingot forward to the center of the table.

"Gold." He answered as the goblin looked up from his book at the golden bar. Vesryn watched as the goblin reached out with a shaky hand and picked up the precious bar of gold, his eyes widening briefly as he held it up to his face. Odbert ran his long index finger along the surface of the bar before he brought it to his mouth and bit at the corner. Almost immediately the goblin put the gold ingot back down on the table with his book before reaching under the table to pull out a silver scale and set it on the table. After placing the gold bar on one side of the scale, the goblin reached into his pocket and pulled out a number of differently sized bronze discs and started to place them one by one on the opposite side until the scale reached an equilibrium.

"25.07 kilograms, pure gold." Odbert's eyes shifted back and forth as his finger twitched occasionally in response to what Vesryn assumed was his process of mental math.

"Converting to galleons, that would bring us to a total of 21,733 galleons, 14 sickles and 8 knuts after fees for this single bar." Odbert stated as he turned to look at the young boy. "Would you like to open a vault with us? We can subtract the necessary fees as part of this transaction."

"What exactly are the fees for?"

"Since you are exchanging pure gold for galleons, the fees include the service cost for the transaction as well as the labor cost that would be necessary to turn the gold into galleons. If you would like to open a vault for us, the usual fee would be and additional 50 galleons, however I would be willing to reduce it to 25 given the... size of your transaction." Ogbert answered quickly with a toothy smile. Vesryn looked over his shoulder at the professor as she turned towards him and gave him a nod, surprise still evident in her eyes.

"Would it be possible to see the vault for myself?" Vesryn questioned.

"Of course. I can take you down to the vaults and transfer the coin directly to it upon completion of this transaction. Did you have anything else you wanted to exchange before we go?"

"No, Ogbert."

"Did you have any other questions then?"

"Just one. Since the moment I stepped into the building, I've been getting stared at like an animal in a circus. Why?" Vesryn asked as he locked his eyes on the goblin in front of him.

"We mean no offense by it. It's just you look like an elf." Ogbert answered turning his eyes away.

"Would that be a problem?"

"No! Not at all. It's just the last time any elves were seen was over a thousand years ago. We didn't think there were any left." Vesryn tilted his head slightly to the side as he listened to the explanation.

"Continue."

"According to stories passed down from over a thousand years ago, in what is now known as Norway, elves worked with gods to fend off giants made of ice alongside goblins, wizards and other magical beings. We have several carvings that were passed down from those times and your features match up almost one for one." Ogbert said as he stowed the scale back under the table and picked up the book and gold bar.

"I've never heard of these stories." McGonagall cut in, her eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"Not surprising. Shall we see your new vault, sir?" Ogbert asked as he stood up and started walking towards the door. Vesryn stood up from his chair and quickly followed after the goblin as he thought to himself.

'Norway. Maybe I should take a trip there at some point.'