The stone structure was, as always, imposing. It wasn't the first time entering the bank for any of the four, so they entered, barely recognizing the intimidating aura of the building.
The goblin looked down at them with a sneer that Ruby met with a stone face. She didn't particularly like goblins, not that most witches or wizards did. The creatures returned these feelings, and rarely made exceptions. She didn't have anything against the goblins, but she didn't like animals in general, Theus being the exception, if he even counted as an animal.
The goblin led the twins to a small stone room, Sirius and Wren staying in the main room. The room was bare in comparison to the rest of the bank, just a wooden table and a few stools. The goblin set a piece of parchment of the table that shimmered with hidden magic, and handed Ruby a knife. He instructed them to add seven drops of blood to the parchment.
Ruby was hesitant to let Sev hurt himself, but he had snatched the knife and carefully sliced his palm before she could protest. She glared at him for a moment before healing the cut, no trace of the wound remaining. She healed her own cut before the two turned to the parchment. Slowly, the blood spread across the parchment, forming letters.
It started at the bottom of the parchment, Ruby Snape, Severus Snape, and Troy Snape appearing in elegant cursive, before moving upwards. Eileen Prince and Tobias Snape appeared next, with a small (deceased) appearing under their names. Ruby noted that the same text had appeared under Troy Snape's name as well. The blood moved left, the words Eathelin Prince (deceased) and William Prince (deceased) forming next, before the blood moved up again, faster this time.
Their whole family tree appeared in front of their eyes, and under every name except their own, the word 'deceased' appeared in parentheses. The goblin grumbled something unintelligible before leading the twins into a separate room that was considerably more grand.
The temperature was high, but if the goblin noticed, he paid no mind to it. The room was huge. The walls were decorated with beautiful stone designs that were adorned with gold. The ceiling towered at least two stories above them, and one wall was lined with small safes made of a black metal. A tall metal ladder reached up to the ceiling and leaned against the wall. In the room was what appeared to be a kiln. The goblin ignored the kiln, and moved to the wall. He moved the ladder over five columns and began climbing. He opened one of the black safes, and retrieved something. He climbed back down and handed Ruby the object. It was a key, as black as the safes, and, ironically, with a ruby in the handle. It was a large gem, about the size of her thumbnail.
They left and Ruby chose to ignore the constant insults the creature mumbled as they went back to the main room to get Sirius and Wren.
They were flying down the tracks to the vault for several very long minutes that only Wren and Sirius enjoyed, before they finally stopped. Ruby hesitantly put in the key and turned it, hearing a resounding click before the door swung open, creaking dangerously on its hinges.
Their eyes widened at the amount of gold inside, bars stacked higher than their heads, piles of seemingly endless gold galleons, precious jewels they couldn't name, and objects they'd never seen before. The aura of the vault was intimidating and dark, magic that didn't come from the goblins' security radiating outward.
They couldn't see it, but Ruby and Wren felt their magic form protectively in front of them and the boys, unwilling to allow to be injured or harmed by the dark magic.
Ruby hesitantly set foot in the vault, wary of the magic already swirling inside it. Oddly, her attention was immediately captured by a seemingly unimportant object. It wasn't out of place among the gold and other precious and dark objects. It just didn't follow the general trend of the other objects: dark, ornate, and ancient. The old gray metal of the lantern didn't glow, unlike seemingly all of the other things in the vault. The holes in the metal that would have allowed light through were dark, and Ruby couldn't see if there was anything inside. She hesitantly stepped over to it, three pairs of eyes watching her curiously. The moment her fingers touched the metal, something inside glowed.
She didn't jerk her hand back. Instead, she picked up the lantern, and slowly opened the small door. Inside was a rough stone, she didn't know what kind, that glowed an almost white color. The light wasn't blinding by any means, but still bright. The stone was clean, but unpolished and rectangular.
"What is that?" Severus asked, eyes narrowing at the stone.
"I have no idea." She replied.
"It's a moonstone." Sirius said, stepping closer to examine the glowing stone.
"Are they rare?" Ruby asked, hesitantly reaching to remove the stone from the lantern.
"No." He answered flatly.
"Maybe we should just leave it." Severus suggested, stepping forward, taking the lantern before she touched the stone. The light went out suddenly, and he quickly set the lantern back on the floor before stepping back. "We shouldn't take too long anyway."
"Right." Ruby grabbed a money pouch and filled it with galleons, before turning to leave. The others followed, and they stopped at another vault, going down even farther underground.
Wren opened the door with a golden key, and the door swung open. What greeted them wasn't what any of them had been expecting.
Somehow, the walls were covered in pale green vines. Piles of coins covered the floor, but they clearly weren't galleons, despite their gold color. They were too large to be galleons, and didn't have the same markings.
"They're aureus."
"What?" Sirius asked.
"An ancient currency used in Rome." Wren supplied. "We haven't used the vault in centuries." Ruby decided not to point out that Rome hadn't be around for more than a millenia.
They had yet to buy their school supplies, and decided on a whim to do so immediately, since they were already in Diagon Alley. They'd back at Hogwarts in less than two weeks. They stopped at the Black vault, which Sirius still had a key for, despite being disowned, before going to Flourish and Blotts.
"Hello, Black, Sev, Ruby." They turned to see Lily, holding a tall stack of books that nearly towered over her head, only her green eyes peaking over the top.
"Hello, Evans." Sirius greeted, eyeing the books nervously. "Getting school supplies?"
"And some extra reading." Sirius looked visibly relieved that they didn't need all of those books for the upcoming school year. "Pan?" Lily stared at Wren with wide eyes.
"Yeah." Wren replied, slightly uncomfortable.
"You're coming back this school year? I thought you weren't coming back after fourth year. They said you were in danger, or something, and had to go into hiding."
"Uh...yeah. I decided to finish school with you guys. What place is safer than Hogwarts, right?"
"Of course." Lily agreed, although she clearly didn't believe the excuse. "Well, it's good to see you. I'll see you guys at school?"
"Yes." Severus answered, not quite meeting her eyes. Wren tensed, and Ruby could have sworn she heard a low snarl from the girl.
"See you soon, then." They stood in awkward silence, no one really sure what to say.
"We should get our books." Wren managed to say, grabbing Sev's hand and pulling him away. Ruby didn't miss the glare Wren sent the redhead, or the pink coloring her twin's ears.
Lily just blinked in confusion, before turning to go pay for her books. Ruby and Sirius glanced between Lily and the other two.
"What just happened?" Ruby finally asked.
"We're going to get Wren and Severus together." Sirius nodded confidently. "We really don't want to deal with this."
"What is this?" Ruby knew that something was happening, but she had no idea what. She'd never seen love, let alone experienced it. Sirius sighed.
"Wren has a crush on your brother." He explained, evidently having more experience with this. "And your brother has a crush on Wren, but he probably has no idea. And we're going to get them together, because we really don't want to deal with this." Ruby stared at him blankly for a moment. "They're in love."
"Oh. Okay. Do you know how to do that?"
"I'm not sure, but I have a few ideas." Ruby nodded, and the two remained in silence as they searched the shelves for the books they would need. It didn't take long, and soon they found Wren and Severus and paid for the books.
They got the rest of their supplies, and left them at Spinner's End with their already packed trunks, before Wren apparated them back to Neverland.
It was still as beautiful as ever, Ruby noted, although it seemed brighter, since it was closer to noon. The light shone through the leaves, and it seemed as if the trees were glowing.
The camp was completely deserted, no trace of the lost boys, Hayden, or Meadow.
"Where is everyone?" Sirius asked.
"They're out hunting." Wren grinned. "Do you want to come?" Severus shook his head immediately, and Sirius declined not long after. Wren deflated a little, but perked up again when Ruby agreed.
Wren dashed up one of the rope ladders, and came down with a bow slung over her shoulder, what must have been more than a dozen knives, and a quiver of arrows. She handed the knives to Ruby with a belt.
With a little help, Ruby managed to put on the belt and put the knives in it without cutting herself.
They walked into the forest, the woods getting denser as they got farther away from camp. Wren motioned for her to stop, and withdrew an arrow from her quiver. In front of them, standing tall and majestic, was a stag, grazing in a small clearing.
Wren nocked the arrow, and pulled it back to her ear before letting it fly. Ruby heard a small thump as the arrow embedded itself deep in the animal's eye. It was killed almost instantly, tumbling to the grass beneath it. Wren let out an almost silent whoop, and crept forward.
The body shimmered green as she waved a hand over it.
"Why-"
"To preserve it so we can keep going." Wren whispered, motioning for Ruby to remain silent.
They moved forward again, and soon came across a hare. Wren pulled one of the knives from Ruby's belt, and held it out to her. Ruby took it, and threw it at the animal.
She missed entirely, the knife landing three feet away from hare, scaring the animal away. Wren face palmed, and cringed. Ruby glanced at her apologetically, and Wren waved it off.
"It's not really your fault. I should have known you've never done this before. Here. I'll show you." Ruby pulled the knife from the dirt, and handed it to Wren.
Wren showed her how to hold it, and then spent several minutes fixing Ruby's stance and hold. They spent the better part of three hours practicing on a tree, and by the end of it, Ruby wasn't missing the target every single time.
Wren assured her that she would improve a lot with practice.
They spent the night the same as the previous one, eating, and then dancing around the fire until they were too tired.
The rest of their vacation was spent in Neverland. Ruby went hunting with Wren or Hayden, and practiced throwing knives nearly the entire time. Sometimes Sirius would join them, but he usually just stayed in the camp with Severus, who was reading their textbooks.
Then, finally, it was time to go to Hogwarts. Severus couldn't have been more pleased to leave Neverland. Sirius was overjoyed as well, both because he was growing bored, and because he couldn't wait to see the Marauders again.
Ruby didn't really want to leave. With every day she spent in Neverland, she grew to love it more. The Pan family had been more than welcoming, and Ruby actually felt like she belonged, for once. Their magic was as powerful as hers. Still, she made no comment as they left, not wanting to dampen her twin's joy. They grabbed their trunks from the house, and apparated to Platform 9 3/4, and boarded the train.
Sirius went to sit with the Marauders, and Wren, Ruby, and Severus went to find a compartment. They sat with Amaris, who was sporting a long jagged scar across her face and sitting on Reg's lap, Reg, who was clearly worried for her, Narcissa, who looked particularly gloomly now that Lucius had graduated from Hogwarts, and Jana, who looked no different than usual: stone-faced.
Other than Jana, the entire compartment gaped at Wren. Amaris leaped up and picked up the blonde, who actually looked to be a year younger than her.
"You don't seem to have grown since you left." Narcissa remarked. She looked happy to see Wren as well. Amaris put her down, and sat back down in Reg's lap. Ruby sat down next to Jana, and Severus sat next to her, with Wren across from him, next to Narcissa.
"Did the board petition for you to come back, or something?" Jana asked. "Because, I thought you didn't come back because Dumbledore thought you might join the Dark Lord."
"Uh, what?" Wren seemed entirely confused.
"You didn't come back after fourth year."
"Yes." Wren nodded slowly.
"Why?"
"Hold on. Dumbledore thought I would join the Dark Lord?"
"There's always some truth in the rumors."
"That's not it. My family has refused to take any part in the war."
"So why did you leave?"
"It's none of your business." Wren glared at the stone-faced girl, who just stared back.
"So, how were your summers?" Narcissa asked, attempting to relieve the tension.
"It was great." Amaris answered. Jana raised an eyebrow. "What? I have another scar? I'm a werewolf. My dad made a deal with the Dark Lord. We're joining his army. The only part that I don't like is all the meetings I have to go to because I'm the beta."
"I noticed." Jana remarked dryly.
"I saw you there, by the way. I was going to come say hi, but Fenrir had some stuff to do, so I couldn't stop." Jana didn't reply. "So how was your summer?" Amaris asked the twins.
"Mostly the usual." Ruby answered.
"And?" The werewolf prompted. Ruby glanced at Wren, unsure if she was supposed to tell anyone.
"They visited me at the end of summer." Wren answered.
"Oh?" Jana turned to the shorter girl with a sardonic smirk. Wren glared.
"Cut it out." Narcissa snapped. "I'm not going to put up with this. You two can settle it at Hogwarts." Jana settled back into her seat with crossed arms and a victorious smirk.
A/N Thank you so much for reading! Please vote and comment!
I'm really sorry it took me so long to update. Exams were really stressful. I should update more often now, though. Thank you so much for staying even though I haven't updated in like a month.
Thank you so much for 8.9K reads and the 333 votes!!!! :D