Ripped Away

Gringotts and Noble Houses

Heracles wandered the streets of Diagon Alley, looking begrudgingly impressed. She had to admit, earth's wizarding world was certainly something. The vibrant shops and nick nacks were fascinating. Twisted Wonderland would always be better though, she decided with no small amount if pride directed at the place she considered her true home.

'Their fashion sense definitely needs an update, though.', Heracles thought as she cringed at the periwinkle robes of an older witch that walked past her. The majority of the clothes she had seen during her sight seeing had been ugly as sin. Vil would have had a stroke if he had seen the sorry excuses for clothes earth's wizards and witches called 'robes'. Heracles silently vowed to never wear witch's robes, no matter what the school required her to wear as their uniform.

After a few more moments of walking, Heracles arrived at a grand white marble building that towered over the comparatively quaint shops and stores. The facade of the building read 'Gringotts' in all caps. Heracles remembered McGonagall mentioning that Gringotts was the name of the wizarding bank. She had also mentioned that it was the only place to get non-magical money ('muggle money', as she had called it) exchanged for wizarding money. Heracles walked into the white building without a second thought.

As she entered, Heracles took notice of the short figures manning the teller desks in the bank. They were small, with sharp teeth, claws and gnarly teeth. Heracles didn't react to their presence. She had seen stranger things when she was in Twisted Wonderland. The creatures were of no note to her.

Getting in line at one of the desks, Heracles felt around in the pocket of her black zip up jacket and cursed. She had brought all the money she had saved up from her weekly orphanage allowances, but she didn't think it would be enough to afford everything she needed for school. She could have brought some of her jewelry to pawn off, but every piece of jewelry she owned was a gift from her friends in Twisted Wonderland. She would die before she sold her momento's of the only people who cared about her.

Once she reached the front of the line, Heracles plastered her 'Azul smile' onto her face. It was the face of a gentlemanly business man, one that had hidden intentions. But no one would be able to figure out those intentions until it was too late.

'Chin up, shoulders back Angelfish. Confidence is key. That's how deals get made.', Azul had told her one night before he started hearing the requests of 'poor unfortunate souls'. She had wanted to see the process, to learn from him. So he had let her watch as he made his contracts. She could still remember the smell of the ink he used to-

"How may I help you today?", the raspy voice of the teller said, interrupting her pitfall of nostalgia. Heracles made sure she was following Azul's advice to the letter and gave the creature a charming smile, one that was so unlike her usual demeanor.

"I would like to make an exchange. Non-magical money for magical money.", the green eyed girl answered with confidence. The teller nodded.

"And what name will that exchange be under?", the teller asked, picking up his quill as he started to write something in his information book. He didn't even look up at Heracles during the entire process.

"Heracles Regulus Potter.", Heracles answered with pride. She may be a nobody on earth, but she was a somebody in Twisted Wonderland... or rather, she would be once she went home and graduated from Night Raven College. Education was key when making a name for oneself, Azul had told her once.

The teller's head snapped up, and he looked at Heracles with wide, beady black eyes. Under her fringe, a faded scar could be seen. It was barely there, almost completely gone in fact, but to the trained eye it was noticeable. The teller gave her a knife-filled grin.