He picked up the paper and began to read.
While the Grangers watched what was happening quite curiously, the Greengrasses, Harry and Sirius all held their breath in anticipation.
The goblin then read, "Miss Hermione Jean Granger, born 19th September 1979, first born child of Wendell Daniel Granger and Monica Emma Granger nee Woods."
Hesitating a moment, because he quite enjoyed having witches and wizards hanging off his every word, he said, "Heiress Apparent of the Noble and Ancient House of Dagworth-Granger." Looking up and, grinning at Hermione, he said, "Congratulations, Lady Hermione."
"Yes!" said Sirius, pumping his fist into the air, while Harry and Daphne laughed. Cygnus and Isabel were also celebrating a little.
"What?" asked Wendell, quite stunned. Monica couldn't even say a word, her shock was that deep.
Harry reached over and hugged his, now gobsmacked, brown-haired friend. A hug joined in by, first Daphne and Astoria, then by Sirius and the Greengrasses.
While they were in the middle of their impromptu celebration, Bloodfang folded the sheet of parchment and dropped it through a slot on his desk before touching a rune.
"I - don't understand," said Wendell, a little dazed.
The hug broke apart and Cygnus said, "Our apologies, Wendell, Monica; but this is a very big thing for us in the wizarding world. A lost heir of a thought-to-be extinct bloodline has been found. And for he or she to be of a noble House..."
"I still don't understand," said Wendell, shaking his head in confusion. "What does this mean?"
Turning and still chuckling, happy for his friend, Harry said to Bloodfang, "Perhaps you should do the honours, my friend?"
Just as Harry was asking the goblin to clarify matters, the box on his desk gave a little 'bong' sound. Bloodfang reached into it and drew out a small wooden ring box, moving it to sit on the desk just in front of himself. Harry recognised it as similar to the one that held his own Head of House ring.
As the adults calmed down, Bloodfang looked at Hermione and said, "The inheritance test does not lie, Lady Hermione. Through magical Primogenitor, you are the now recognised Head of the Noble and Ancient House of Dagworth-Granger."
Turning to Wendell and Monica, he said, "As you, sir, are known as a squib; that is, someone without sufficiently powerful enough magic; you cannot hold the Headship of a Magical House. However, ancestors of yours, the Dagworth-Grangers, were magical and were part of the House of Dagworth-Granger.
"One of your ancestors, Hector Dagworth-Granger, founded the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers. For that act the Ancient House of Dagworth-Granger was elevated to wizarding nobility, hence the Noble House status. And, once given, Noble status cannot be taken away unless a crime of significance by the Head of that House is committed; such as treason.
"And, since Noble status cannot be taken away, neither can the Ancient status, nor the recognised House status.
"The Dagworth-Granger House has been believed by the wizarding world to be extinct for almost two hundred years. With the, now, recognised Lady Hermione here. The Dagworth-Granger House will be removed from the roll of extinct Houses, and placed back on the roll of active Houses."
"And what of the House assets?" asked Cygnus.
"Alas," said Bloodfang. "The Ministry laid claim to those at the end of the first one hundred years of extinct status. I'm afraid there is no way to recover such assets without a very long and protracted legal fight with the Ministry. And I daresay very little will be recovered even then.
"However, the House vaults still exist because we goblins, through our own magics, recognised that House Dagworth-Granger was not, as believed, extinct."
"So, let me get this straight," said Wendell, pinching the bridge of his nose. "My daughter is now recognised as a Lady in the magical world. The title passed directly to her because she is both the recognised heir and I'm a - what you called - squib. She is now the Head of the Dagworth-Granger House, which is both an Ancient House and an ennobled one. She has vaults within this bank, although they are currently empty. And the Ministry claimed all assets belonging to the family nearly one hundred years ago, so they're now considered lost?" "Yes on all five counts," replied Bloodfang.
"We need to sit down and discuss this," said Wendell, looking a little peaked. "As a family."
"If there is no further need for me, I have other work to do..." said Bloodfang.
"I think we need to go and sit down and discuss this among ourselves," said Cygnus. "How about in a lovely little cafe in the Alley?"
Getting affirmatives from everyone, they were about to leave when Bloodfang said, "Just one more thing before you go." He placed the box in front of Hermione and said to her, "Lady Hermione, please open the box. Inside is a ring. Please take it out and place it on your right ring finger."
Harry, Sirius and the Greengrasses froze and watched avidly. Hermione opened the box and, taking the ring out, slid it on her right ring finger. As soon as it reached the webbing of her finger, it flashed once and resized to fit her finger perfectly.
Harry and the others sighed a breath of relief.
Bloodfang grinned and said, "And that was the final test. The ring has accepted Lady Hermione as the rightful Heir. Congratulations, again, Lady Hermione; Lady Dagworth-Granger."
After words of parting and standing, the party left the office and made their way back to the main doors of the bank. Cygnus then led them to a nice little cafe and ordered a private room.
Once ensconced therein, he quickly cast Privacy Charms and Warning Wards on the room. As the last seated he turned to Harry and said, "Well, Harry. You initiated today's inheritance test, how about you explain it for the Grangers?"
"I'm happy to," replied Harry. Turning to the Grangers, he said, "After visiting Potter Manor over summer, we came to the conclusion Hermione might have been a descendant of the Dagworth-Granger line. At the time, it was highly unlikely but possible, given what we knew. That's when Cygnus used his position in the Ministry to research."
With a nod to Harry, Cygnus said, "So I went looking through the Book of Bloodlines in the Ministry. That Book showed that the Hector-Granger line didn't die out, per se. It, as we call it, squibbed out. That is, children born of a magical family being born without recognisable magic. At that point, due to the bigotry in our world, they're seen as non-persons; and effectively cast out."
"And that's where my research comes in," said Isabel. "First, using the documents you gave me, Monica, I was able to track Wendell's family back a couple hundred years. Then I hit a dead end. While there was a record of a particular person dying, together with census results of their living in Essex, there was no record of birth. That person was Elphias Granger."
Cygnus continued, "And there was a matching record in the Book of Bloodline of a squib named Elphias Dagworth-Granger being born at Saint Mungo's. The likelihood of it being the same person was too strong to be discounted."
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