Fate's Request: A Harry Potter FanFiction

"Excuse me, I'm David Cross and I've been requested to come into Gringotts regarding, well I don't really know why exactly..." David said sheepishly to the goblin.

Giving David a scrutinising stare, the goblin eventually replied "Mr Cross, yes, we have been expecting you. The Director is free to meet you in his office immediately."

Following a brisk walk to the Director's office, David still had no idea why he had been asked to come in, but since the meeting was with the director it was obviously important.

Sighing, the Director of Gringotts skipped formality's and got straight down to business, "Mr Cross during your last visit here with the deputy headmistress of Hogwarts, the teller goblin directing the both of you took notice of your surname, Cross. It has been almost 400 years since the House of Cross had thought to be lost. Until, potentially, you that is. A young muggleborn wizard carrying that very name. Our investigations into your parentage have come up short and as such we are left with only one course of action, calling you in to perform an inheritance test" Ragnok said with steel in his voice.

"Are there any risks involved with carrying out this inheritance test?" David asked, now quite curious.

"Usually if a witch or wizard comes into Gringotts requesting such a test under false pretences the results are… not very pretty" replied Ragnok with a grin. "But as it is Gringotts's requesting this test, and as such, if you are proven not to be the last member of the House of Cross there shall be no risks or penalty's for yourself."

"Could I perhaps get that in writing Director?" David asked, scratching his head with a shy look on his face.

With a glare and a grunt to his assistant which David had not noticed was even in the room the papers pertaining to the risk-free nature of the inheritance test were drawn up and following a quick read through, signed by both David and Ragnok.

"The test itself is quite simple, just prick your finger and add a drop of blood onto this parchment and we shall soon see if you've inherited the mantle of head of House Cross" Ragnok explained, with just a hint of disp.l.e.a.s.u.r.e in his voice.

Immediately following the drop of blood that landed on the parchment a family tree started forming outwards in the colour of his blood. Following the completion of the forming of the family tree, Ragnok pulled the parchment towards himself with one of his elongated fingernails and began perusing.

"Well, you can now consider yourself the head of the newly resurfaced House of Cross. Now onto business. As the House of Cross has been thought lost for such a lengthy amount of time all your funds and assets were legally requisitioned by your ministry a hundred years ago. The entirety of the house vault and investments were claimed by the Ministry of Magic but your ancestral home, Cross Manor has remained hidden and will remain hidden and inaccessible until such time as the house ring was worn by one with the blood of House Cross" explained Ragnok, seemingly losing his former tone. He was all business now.

~Now this is an interesting turn of events, I'm now the head of a wizarding house and have a manor all to myself… but absolutely no money. I guess funds could be potentially be found easily enough, the Room of Requirement is perfect for this. But just what is the state of the manor after such a long time of it being left abandoned?~

David was pulled from these thoughts as Ragnok continued, "Due to the failure of Gringotts in protecting the vaults of House Cross, we are willing to restore and re-ward Cross Manor to the best of our abilities in apology. According to our records, the manor itself is situated somewhere in the Isle of Skye in Scotland. The exact location can be determined upon wearing your house ring Mr Cross."

Handing David a small box containing said ring Ragnok pulled open a drawer and pulled out a few more pieces of parchment detailing just what wards the goblins were willing to place around Cross Manor and its grounds.

The ring itself was made of white gold, with a large oval gem of the deepest black situated in the middle of the band, and a sigil depicting a silver slumbering dragon completed the ring. As David placed the ring onto his right index finger rays of darkness started emitting from the gem and he felt a warmth envelop him.

"I accept your offer Director, but I have one additional request to the restitutions you wish to make," David asked, hoping he wasn't pushing it.

"And this request would be?" Ragnok replied, slightly curious.

"A house elf."

---

"Mel, you can stop fussing now, we've tripled checked that I've gotten everything in my trunk, and if by some act of god we have left something behind you can easily pop back and grab it for me. You'll be accompanying me to Hogwarts anyway" huffed David in annoyance.

Sighing, Mel the House Elf replied with a flap of her ears, "There's just so little work for me to do Master Cross."

Smiling at his first friend in this new world and loyal House Elf, "There'll be more to do at Hogwarts and the Goblins tell me that Manor should be habitable by Christmas. And what did I tell you about calling me Master Cross? Just call me David."

"Absolutely not sir! You are the head of the Ancient and Noble House of Cross, and I must be on my best behaviour" declared Mel quite sternly.

Rolling his eyes and ignoring his Elf, David took a look at his watch which read ten o'clock, he decided it was time to head off to the platform.

Turning to Mel he said, "Mel, we should get going. I want a compartment to myself before it starts to get too crowded."

"Very well, but you should try to make some new friends on the train David" Mel replied in a motherly tone.

"Oh? It's David now is it?" David said with a huge smile, refusing to allow Mel to have the last word.

With a glare and click of her fingers Mel, David and his luggage popped off to platform nine and three quarters.

---

Finding a compartment to himself was quite easy for David as students had only just started to trickle into the platform. Drawing his wand from the wand holster Mel had made for him (how she found the leather and tools to make it were unknown to him) David quite easily levitated his trunk onto the storage compartment with, "Wingardium Leviosa".

Suddenly appearing from out of nowhere, was Mel, "I'll be off to Hogwarts now Master, do try your best to make some friends" and with a pop, she was off.

Smiling, David leaned into the corner of his compartment snuggled into his coat and closed his eyes in an attempt to get some sleep during the nine-hour long ride towards Hogwarts.

Unfortunately for David, his attempt at a nap had been interrupted by the knocking of his compartment door by a young witch he could immediately tell was Hermione Granger. Going by her age and all-around excited look, David's question as to when exactly Harry and co were going to start Hogwarts in comparison to himself had been answered.

"H-Hello, I'm Hermione Granger, I was wondering if I could sit in here during the train ride?" asked Hermione somewhat nervously.

Internally sighing as it was most likely Mel who had cast a compulsion charm on the door which drew Hermione to knock on his door.

"Sure, I'd love the company, Hermione. I'm David, could I help you with your trunk?" he said helpfully.

Disillusioned and watching from the corner of the compartment, Mel smirked to herself and this time truly left the train with a silent pop.

---

"So, Hermione, I'm guessing you're also a first-year?" David asked.

"Oh yes! I'm so excited and quite honestly still in shock. I mean magic! I thought it was some sort of nasty prank when McGonagall showed up telling my parent's and I about Hogwarts and magic. Oh, I mean Professor McGonagall" Hermione said while blushing in shame at her lack of respect.

"I guess it was a little different for me, it all sort of clicked the moment she mentioned magic was real, I've been practising it in my own time for the past couple years, so I couldn't really write it off as a prank," David skilfully lied, as it was the previous David that had been practising.

Not that David had been a slouch either, he was quite diligent in his practice of wandless magic ever since getting a second chance.

"Wait, you've been practising wandless magic for years?! You have to show me what you can do!" Hermione blurted out.

Smiling at her enthusiasm, he replied, "Sure, but it's not very impressive. You're going to have to settle for me levitating that book of yours."

Taking a deep breath, David focused intently on the book in Hermione's l.a.p and levitated it to eye level before rotating it rapidly, abruptly stopping the rotation and slowly lowered it back onto her l.a.p.

"Wow…" was all Hermione could say as she stared at David with bulging eyes. Suddenly a look of panic came over her and she quite sadly explained, "I feel even more behind now, there's just so much I don't know. I mean others have had a whole eleven years of being around magic. Oh god, I'm going to do terribly, this is a disaster…"

Remembering her enthusiasm for learning, David hurriedly cut in, "Hermione take a deep breath, relax, you can't know that yet. I may have known you for only about twenty minutes, but I'd bet a lot of money that you'll be one of the top students of our year."

Blushing slightly, but still looking somewhat sad she replied, "That's very nice of you to say. I get the feeling you'll also be one of the better students as well."

"I hope you're right… anyway, what classes are you most looking forward to? It's most definitely got to be charms, transfiguration, defence and potions for me," David said, knowing quite well that talking more in detail about Magic would interest Hemione immensely.

---

Hermione was a nervous wreck as they waited for the sorting to begin, watching her panic was amusing to David but he decided to attempt to put her out of her misery.

Whispering in her ear with a smirk, "From what I've heard they're going to place a hat on our head which determines our dominant personality traits and assigns us a house, stop fretting Hermione, they won't be examining us on the number of spells we know."

"Oh… Are you sure David?" replied Hermione nervously while biting her bottom teeth.

"Yeah, most definitely. Relax there's nothing we can do to prepare for this," he said confidently.

Even though she stopped her muttering of which spells she knew and attempted to appear calm David could still tell she was a nervous wreck under. Sighing to himself and realising that there was nothing he could do for her he squeezed her hand to reassure her and waited patiently for the sorting to begin.

---

"Cross, David!"

Finally, David thought to himself, quite impatiently as he slowly approached the sorting hat and placed it upon his head.

He would never admit it, but he had butterflies in his stomach as the sorting drew closer, just like every other young Witch and Wizard gathered here today.

"Hmm… I see, yes. Hufflepuff most definitely is not the house for you. While you are quite willing to work hard, you value your solitude far too much to be placed in such a friendly house. Neither is Gryffindor it would seem, far too sensible for the house of the brave."

"You're doing this for fun aren't you? You probably knew which house to put me in the moment I placed you on my head," David said internally to the hat with a smirk.

"This is the only entertainment I get year-round David Cross. You try being placed on a shelf for the better part of a year and forgotten. Now sit here quietly while I determine where to sort you!" the Hat ordered.

Clearing his mind and intentionally not thinking about anything s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e, David patiently waited for the Hat to have his fun.

"A shame you would be ostracised in the house of the cunning due to your birth, you would have truly excelled there."

"What's less cunning and sneaky than actually being placed into the house of the cunning?" David asked in playful annoyance.

Chuckling the hat happily replied "True, true… well, that only leaves the house of wit and learning, you'll do just fine there Mr Cross, just fine indeed."

"RAVENCLAW!" the Hat blurted out.

The feast itself was quite nice, and the conversation with his fellow house members was polite enough, but David found himself wanting to finally have some time alone and getting acquainted with his new room and bed.

Drawing his eye before the feast could end was Hermione Granger, over at the Gryffindor table of course. She seemed a little depressed and David gave her a small smile and wave in reassurance.

This seemed to cheer her up a little, as she smiled and waved back.

Eventually zoning out, David soon found the feast ending and followed by a speech by the Headmaster he along with the rest of the first years, found himself being escorted out of the great hall and towards Ravenclaw tower.

---

Finding out that Ravenclaws had rooms to themselves had been the best part of David's evening. Seeing his trunk placed at the end of his massive four-poster bed and Mel sitting atop of it brought a smile to his face.

"Hey Mel, how had Hogwarts been treating you?" David asked.

"Oh, it's been quite enjoyable, I assisted the other elves with the feast and convinced them not to tell the headmaster about me accompanying you to Hogwarts," she said smiling.

"That's nice to hear, can you help me with my unpacking while I take a shower? Then we can have a chat before I head off to sleep."

"It would be my p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e, let me fetch you some fresh clothes and a towel," replied Mel, the ever-dutiful House Elf.

Returning from the shared bathroom David found Mel preparing some tea at a small coffee table she had somehow acquired and placed while David was gone.

"Earl Grey?" David asked as he had no real ability at distinguishing teas by smell, yet.

"Yes, Master Cross," replied Mel.

"Will you join me?" David asked, not wanting to drink alone.

"Certainly sir," Mel replied, hiding her smile form David.

With a smirk on his face David decided to confront his House Elf, "So, Mel, I made a friend on my trip to Hogwarts..."

"Oh? That's excellent, I'm so proud of you!" Mel replied, quite innocently.

"You wouldn't have had anything to do with that right Mel?" David asked, his smile growing.

"Whatever could you mean Master Cross?" Mel asked, with her head tilted to the side.

With a bark of laughter, David replied, "Thought as much, are you ever going to stop calling me Master Cross?"

"No," she deadpanned immediately.

Sighing David sipped on his cup of tea while pondering what he needed to accomplish in the years to come.

~I can't empty out the Room of Requirement in my first year with Voldemort running around in the back of Quirrell's head. He'd probably check on it a few times to see if his Horcrux is safe in there… Maybe… I can send Mel in quickly to find some items to sell… ~

"Mel, I'll take you to the Room of Requirement before breakfast tomorrow morning. You can find a few bits and bobs to sell so we can acquire some funds. Also, if you could drop by Gringotts sometime this week to find out how our new home is coming, that would be great," David asked politely.

"Very well Master, will that be all?" Mel asked, not questioning where David had acquired such knowledge.

"Yeah, gonna get some sleep. Night Mel."