I snorted softly to myself, amused by the situation. "Alright, lead the way."
I followed the goblin as he led me down a corridor behind his desk. Glancing around as we walked, I had to admit, the goblins clearly lived well. The corridor was brightly lit, lined with fine paintings and intricate gold trim. When the goblin finally stopped at a large wooden door, he pushed it open, ushering me inside.
His office was ornate and sophisticated. A beautiful dark oak desk sat prominently in the middle of the room, piled neatly with thick ledgers and paperwork. Richly embroidered tapestries hung along the walls, and plush chairs sat invitingly across from the goblin's own.
Damn, this little ugly guy worked in style.
"Please, have a seat," he said politely, moving around the desk to sit himself down.
I sank slowly into one of the chairs, shifting awkwardly as I watched the goblin carefully open a drawer and pull out a jagged-looking blade with a sharp blood red tint.
My body instantly tensed up, and I eyed the blade nervously. "Whoa, what's that for?"
The goblin gave me what I guessed was supposed to be a reassuring smile. It didn't help much. "Relax," he said calmly. "This blade was provided directly from the current Beelzebub herself to our people. Even if we are no longer allowed to do business in the Underworld, we kept the knife in case Devils ever come to the surface to do business with us."
"How come your people aren't allowed to do business in the underworld?" I asked.
"There was a war... We lost. We don't talk about it." His reply was curt, and clearly that was all I was going to get.
A war huh? A war between devils and goblins? I wondered if that was why the goblins outside were so hostile to me at first?
"So what does the blade do?"
He ran his long fingers along the flat of the blade, careful not to cut himself as he explained to me. "It is enchanted specifically to identify Devil lineages from a single drop of blood. This will allow us to verify your lineage accurately."
I frowned in confusion, shaking my head slightly. "But I already know who my parents are," I said defensively. "I don't see why-"
The goblin quickly held up a hand, cutting me off mid-sentence. "We simply need to be sure, sir. This will only take a moment."
I sighed quietly, deciding not to argue further. "Alright, fine. Just make it quick."
He nodded seriously and gently took my hand. I watched apprehensively as he brought the blade carefully to my fingertip. There was a quick, sharp sting, and I winced slightly as a drop of bright red blood welled up. He pressed my bleeding finger lightly against a blank parchment, and the blood seeped into the paper immediately, forming strange lines and shapes.
Within seconds, glowing golden letters began to appear on the parchment. My breath caught in my throat as I leaned forward, staring intently at the words slowly revealing themselves.
My eyes widened in disbelief as the names formed clearly.
Harry Sitri of Clan Sitri. Half-Devil
Mother: Lily Evans
Father?: Serafall Leviathan
I stared blankly, reading the names again.
What the actual fuck?
My name wasn't even Harry Potter? And what the hell-my father was someone named Serafall Leviathan? Not James Potter, the man I'd believed was my dad for nineteen years?
I laughed uneasily under my breath, sitting back in the chair heavily. Had my mum seriously cheated on Dad?
The goblin suddenly went completely silent, his tiny eyes widening in disbelief as he stared down at the parchment. His long fingers trembled slightly as he read something over again carefully, as if he couldn't quite believe what was written there.
"Your mother..." He paused, his voice shaking a bit as he lifted his gaze to look at me. "Your mother was Lily Evans?"
I frowned, feeling more uneasy by the second. "Yeah, that's what it says. Why? Is something wrong?"
The goblin swallowed hard, still clearly shocked. "You..." He paused again, his words coming out slowly. "Are you-the Harry Potter?"
I blinked, shaking my head slightly. "Honestly? I guess I'm not. At least, not according to this." I motioned toward the parchment. "I thought that was my name my entire life. Looks like I was wrong."
The goblin slowly regained some composure, nodding thoughtfully. "I see. That certainly explains why you never emerged in the wizarding world. Because you aren't actually a wizard at all... Most of us thought you were killed by Death Eaters or something..."
I sighed in frustration. This was the second time today someone had implied that my name Harry Potter, or whatever, was famous somehow. And that whoever the Death Eaters were-had murdered me as a child or something. I still wasn't sure what to think about that.
Shaking my head slightly, I pointed back to the parchment, tapping my finger on the second name listed. "Look here, then. Under 'Father', it says someone named Serafall Leviathan. With a question mark. Do you know anything about this guy?"
The goblin's eyes darted to the spot I'd indicated, and suddenly his whole body stiffened again. He did a full double take, his jaw dropping open slightly as he read the name carefully again.
"Serafall Leviathan?" he choked out, sounding like he was about to pass out from shock. "Serafall Leviathan is not a man. Serafall Leviathan is a woman."
I blinked, my mind suddenly going completely blank. "Wait, what?" I stammered, completely confused now. "How the hell is my father a woman?"
The goblin gave me a long, awkward stare before clearing his throat uncomfortably. "Serafall Leviathan is one of the four Devil rulers of the Underworld. Arguably one of the strongest women alive."
I stared at him for several silent seconds, my mind scrambling to put together what he had just said. It made absolutely no sense.
"I'm sorry," I said slowly, shaking my head again. "But... my father is a woman? You're saying my father is actually one of the most powerful female devils? How the fuck does that even happen?"
The goblin stared back at me, his expression completely deadpan now. "Clearly, magic of some kind was involved. In the bedroom, it's not exactly unheard of for certain witches or female devils to magically give themselves a co-"
I held up my hand quickly, cutting him off right there, cheeks heating up in embarrassment. "Whoa, whoa-stop. I get it. Seriously, you don't have to explain. I can fill in the blanks perfectly fine on my own, thanks!"
The goblin nodded curtly, looking just as relieved as I felt that the conversation didn't need to go any further down that awkward path.
"Alright," I sighed deeply, rubbing my temples in frustration. "Let's just...move on. Please."
"Very well," the goblin agreed, quickly regaining his professional tone. "This revelation, however unusual, does mean you now have full and rightful access to the Clan Sitri vaults. I'll arrange the necessary documentation immediately."
"Sure..." I said quietly, leaning back in the plush chair. I had a lot on my mind.
The goblin looked up from the parchment, studying my face carefully. I could tell he was trying to gauge my reaction, which must've looked pretty stunned because he gave me a knowing nod.
"I imagine, from the look of shock on your face, that you had no idea about any of these revelations, did you, Mr. Sitri?" he asked gently, emphasizing the new last name-my new last name.
Sitri. I rolled the name around in my mind. Harry Sitri. That would definitely take some getting used to. My entire life I'd been Harry Potter, and suddenly I wasn't. It felt completely surreal.
I shook my head slowly, trying to collect my thoughts. "Honestly, no. I didn't have a clue about any of this," I admitted quietly. "I have no idea who Serafall Leviathan iss, or that she was my...well, apparently my other parent. And definitely not that she was some kind of Devil queen or whatever."
The goblin adjusted his small spectacles, leaning forward slightly across the desk. "Well, Mr. Sitri, we might be able to help you learn more about her, if you wish."
I glanced at him cautiously, raising an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
He cleared his throat, obviously a bit nervous, and took a deep breath. "You see, despite our exile from the Underworld, we goblins still maintain contact flyers for each of the major Devil clans. We have methods of communication that could reach your mother-Serafall Leviathan-on your behalf."
My pulse quickened, but I kept my expression guarded. "And what's the catch?" I asked carefully.
The goblin fidgeted a little, looking suddenly anxious. "It's just that...well...we goblins have been exiled from our ancestral homeland for centuries now. Some of the younger goblins desperately wish to return to the Underworld, but our kind have always been forbidden." He paused, watching me cautiously. "A good word from someone of your stature-a prince of the Underworld-could greatly help our case."
I blinked, startled by his words. "Wait-I'm sorry, I'm a what?"
The goblin nodded quickly, his expression serious. "Yes, Mr. Sitri, you're a prince. As I mentioned earlier, Serafall Leviathan is one of the four current rulers of the Underworld. And honestly, she is arguably the most popular among them."
My stomach tightened in a knot as I processed that. A prince of the Underworld. Today just kept getting crazier. I took a deep breath, trying to sort through my thoughts. I'd lived my entire nineteen years thinking both sets of parents-James and Lily-were dead and gone.
I was alone.
Sure, my aunt and uncle had stepped up eventually, at least for the last three years when they thought I was finally "normal." This birthday had been pretty fun too.
But I'd never had a real and full family experience. I'd always wondered what it might be like to actually have parents.
Now I had the chance to meet one of them, except-my living parent was a devil. And not just any devil, but a powerful ruler of the Underworld.
My mind immediately filled with nervous questions. Would she be evil? Fire and brimstone and eternal torture? I quickly corrected myself-no, maybe water and brimstone, since I'd always had an unusual affinity for water. That explained why I could breathe underwater, and even sometimes control it if I concentrated hard enough. Maybe it wasn't so weird after all.
I realized the goblin was staring at me expectantly, awaiting my answer.
...
I stepped out of Gringotts Bank feeling a bit overwhelmed but weirdly relieved. I'd made my choice, telling the goblin to go ahead and send that message to Serafall Leviathan, the woman who was apparently my actual mother. The goblin had looked ridiculously pleased, giving me a huge, toothy grin and enthusiastically shaking my hand.
"Thank you, Mr. Sitri," he'd said earnestly. "Gringotts will owe you many favors for this, I assure you."
So now here I was, back out on the bustling cobblestone streets of Diagon Alley, a small black leather bag securely strapped to my hip. The goblin had explained it was completely unstealable and directly connected to the Sitri Clan vaults-vaults that apparently had enough gold in them to buy every single thing in this alley a thousand times over.
That must be a metric fuckton of money...
The sun had already set. I glanced around curiously, wondering where I should go first. I still had a few hours left of my birthday, and despite the utterly insane revelations I'd been given today, I figured I should make good use of them.
A nearby bookshop caught my eye, still brightly lit and clearly open for business. I figured it made sense to start there. After all, I was completely clueless about this whole magical society I'd just stumbled into. Even if I wasn't technically a wizard, my mom-one of my moms-Lily, obviously was a witch.
Learning more about her and this crazy hidden world seemed like a smart first step.
I pushed open the heavy wooden door of the shop, a soft bell ringing gently above my head. The smell of old books and parchment filled the air instantly as I stepped inside, and I inhaled deeply, feeling strangely comforted. Rows upon rows of shelves stretched endlessly, packed tightly with books of every size, color, and thickness imaginable.
An older man with grey hair and half-moon glasses glanced up from behind the counter. He gave me a small smile as I approached him.
"Good evening, young man," he greeted me warmly. "Can I help you find something?"
"Yeah," I replied, smiling back politely. "Could you point me toward your history section? I'm kind of new to all this magic stuff."
"Ah, a fresh learner!" He nodded approvingly, eyes twinkling kindly. "Just down the aisle on your left, towards the back. You should find everything you need there."
"Thanks," I said gratefully, turning to follow his directions.
I made my way slowly through the aisles, eyes scanning book titles absently as my mind kept spinning back to today's revelations. Devils, wizards, hidden worlds, magic-it all felt surreal and honestly a little overwhelming. I was so lost in thought that I didn't even notice someone else standing in the aisle until I'd collided gently but firmly into something incredibly soft.
"Ahh!" came a startled, feminine yelp, followed by a loud crash as several books toppled onto the floor around us.
"Oh shit, I'm so sorry," I said quickly, instinctively reaching out to steady the girl I'd just bumped into. My hands landed softly on her shoulders, and I looked down to see wide, startled brown eyes staring back up at me.
"Watch where you're going, you-" she began sharply, then abruptly stopped speaking, her cheeks flushing a pretty shade of pink as her eyes met mine directly.
Yeah, that tended to happen. At least now I had a decent explanation for the whole devilishly good-looking thing.
She was cute-really cute, actually-with frizzy brown hair that fell loosely around her shoulders and a pretty, expressive face that was now glowing bright red in embarrassment. She also had some very nice slender curves but I didn't focus on them for more than a glance. Her chocolate-brown eyes quickly dropped away from mine as she hurriedly began picking up the scattered books from the floor.
"No, I'm really sorry," I said again, bending down to help her gather up the fallen volumes. "I had a lot on my mind and wasn't paying attention."
"No, no, it's okay," she replied quickly, shooting me an apologetic look as we stood back up, both holding a few books each. "I wasn't exactly paying attention either."
I smiled at her, handing over the books I'd picked up. "Guess we were both a bit lost in thought then."
"Yeah, seems like it," she said softly, smiling shyly back at me and tucking a strand of her frizzy hair behind one ear.
