Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, though I wish I did.  (Oh, come on: you know you wish you did, too!)

Authors Notes: This is a short chapter, and for that I…LAUGH IN YOUR FACES! HAHAHAHA! Please enjoy!

"Now," he said, "let's get started."

Marik nodded and looked inquiringly at Harry's newly acquired trunks: "What's in them?"

"Well, sir, the chest with the snake lock holds two blades, and if the blades are to be believed some other valuable things.  This one has a bunch of books I put in it.  I don't know what's in the other trunk; I haven't opened it yet.  And I also have this," he said, showing Marik the Evans family ring.

Marik nodded and asked for Harry to look at the other heirlooms while he went to collect the necessary items, but Harry had already begun to open the Potter chest and paid no heed as Marik left the room.

Harry looked at the lock on the trunk; it was in the shape of a hawk, which, when Harry touched it, seemed to spread its wings and cause the chest to click open.  He lifted the lid and gasped.  Inside the chest, stacked to the rim, were glittering invisibility cloaks.  He gazed at the chest in awe for a few moments, shook himself, and then reached down into the chest.  He felt for the bottom and had his arm all the way in up to his shoulder before he finally found it.  He rifled through the cloaks until his hand encountered a hard object.  Reaching in his other arm, he grasped the object with both hands and lifted it out.

He was surprised to find that it was another chest, though significantly smaller.  It was approximately ten inches wide and about six inches tall.  The lock was shaped like a wolf, golden and so finely detailed that it appeared almost alive.  Harry reached out to touch it, and when he did the wolf lifted its muzzle as if to howl and the chest sprang open.  He peered inside.  It looked like a dark portal, absorbing the light as it did.  Harry stuck his finger in and was surprised when he encountered a silky substance.  He grasped the substance carefully and pulled it out.  It appeared to be a hooded cloak.  He shook it out and heard something CLUNK on the floor.  Harry looked down and saw a ring of keys, which he picked up and examined.  The biggest one had a P embossed on it; the rest had words like "Cellar" and "Attic" and "Master bedroom" and, oddly enough, "Bathtub Facet."

Harry placed the keys by the chests and again puzzled over the cloak, wondering what magic powers it could have.  After all it had been in a trunk filled with invisibility cloaks.  That brought Harry's thoughts back to the cloaks.  I thought invisibility cloaks were rare; how did so many end up in a single chest?  Harry shook off the thought and set the cloak by the keys.

He then turned again to the Serpent chest and commanded it to open.  When it did, Harry shoved aside the gold and brought out the blades, which hissed their displeasure.  Harry grinned.  He asked the sword, "What did you mean by 'useful items' in the chest?"  The sword replied, "Look under the false bottom; it would be easier if you hadn't covered us with gold."  Harry smiled and reached back into the chest.  He dug his fingers into the false bottom and lifted it just a bit.  Reaching under with his other hand, he encountered an object.  When he pulled it out, he found himself gazing at an amulet with an odd design—a snake eating its own tail.  It looked extremely old and it emanated power.  Harry put it on, only to feel the same warmth that he had felt when he put on the Evans ring.

After a moment, he turned back to the chest, took out the book on family genealogy, and closed the chest back up.  He then opened the last chest and retrieved the silver covered book.  He then closed that chest as well and stacked all three of the chests behind the counter out of the way.

Harry organized all that he had put on the counter: folded the cloak, stacked the books, and laid out the blades with the keys next to them.  He then sat on the spindly chair and waited—and waited and waited.

Finally, Marik came back into the room, holding a rather large rolled up tapestry and what looked like a briefcase.  He looked at the heirlooms for a second, set the tapestry and the briefcase by the counter, and took out a wooden knife, which he gave a flick.  All of the shelves of wands vanished.

"How'd you do that?"

Marik smiled and said, "The knife is my wand."

"How can a knife be a wand?"

Marik smiled again and said, "How do you think I make the wands?"

Harry thought about that for a second and nodded; it would be more convenient just to vanish the wand core into the wand.

"Why a knife?"

"Because it is the shape of its job even if it does not do its job in such a manner as the shape dictates."

"So it performs better in the shape of a knife than it would in the shape of a regular wand?"

Marik smiled and said, "No, but as a child I thought that it did, so when it came time for my father to make my wand he put it in this shape."

Harry thought about it for a minute and said, "It was just a psychological thing?"

Marik nodded and Harry, his curiosity satisfied, shifted his attention.

"What's in there?" he asked pointing to the briefcase.

"It's the ink needed for the Marks and the tapestry."

"Marks?"

"Marks."

"For what?"

"Well, you'll need proof, won't you?" he asked.

"Proof of what?"

"Your Heritage."  Marik said this as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"I don't understand."

Marik looked at him as if he were stupid and said slowly, "They're like muggle tattoos; they'll be along your collar bone."

"I'm getting tattoos?"

"Yes, but unlike muggle tattoos they have magic properties."

"Like what?"

"Well," he began, "you'll be able to enter all of your properties without the use of a key."

"But…"

"The keys for the Potter Castle are used because the Potters, as a rule, almost never get the Marks."

"Why?"

"They don't like the Pure-Blood traditionalism.  However, I believe that the first Potter to use the keys was a bit too exuberant, as you might have noticed"—he indicated the mass of keys on the key ring—"Now, do you want me to finish explaining the properties of the Marks?"  He waited for Harry's nod before continuing: "An individual mark can also be used to summon members of the associated family, even if they themselves have no mark.  They feel a slight, but persistent pain in the region where the mark would normally be.  And of course it's an identifying mark whenever you are in the presence of a family member.  You and your family member will both feel a pain in the collar area."

"So it's like the Dark Mark?"

"The Dark Mark is branded on; the family marks are magically created or inherited and are brought to view by magic ink."

"Do you have them?"

Marik nodded and opened the top of his robe.  On his collarbone were two tattoos, which Harry recognized as runes.  He noticed that one of them was brighter and clearer than the other.  Harry asked Marik about it.

"This one," the old man responded, pointing to the colorful one, "is the Ollivander mark.  It means, literally, 'magic.'  This one is the Avion Descendant mark from my mother."  Noticing Harry's questioning gaze, he added, "It means 'birdlike,' but I don't know how that applies to me."

Blinking his owl like eyes, he continued, "But enough of that.  We had better get started.  We'll do the Family tapestry first; that way if we unearth any startling revelations, as we undoubtedly will, we'll be able to trace the family connection."

"What do you mean by 'undoubtedly'?"

Marik smiled at the annoyance in the young man's tone and said, "Your families are old ones and you are the proven heir of three…"

"Not four?"

"Four?"

"Well, I visited four family vaults, though the door of the fourth vault didn't contain any symbols that I recognized."

Marik looked kind of surprised for a minute, but then he nodded and said, "All the more reason to do the tapestry first."

Harry gathered himself and nodded: "What do we do?"

Marik smiled and said, "Help me spread the tapestry."

They set the tapestry down on the floor and spread it like a carpet.  Harry was surprised at the size of it.  He remembered that the Black family tapestry had been the size of an average tapestry.  This looked more the size of a large carpet.

When Harry asked about it, Marik seemed to search for an answer: "The Black family followed all of the old traditions including the joining…" he paused, seeing Harry's confusion, and hastened to explain, "It's a type of wedding ceremony, which involves the complete Joining of families.  In the case of the wife being the heir of her line, her family is assimilated into the husband's family.  With a non-heir, it just involves having the wife erasing her previous family ties to fully join her husband's family."  He looked at Harry to see if boy understood what he was saying.

Though Harry didn't understand very well at all, he obviously wanted to hurry the explanation along, so Marik continued: "Anyway, because the Black family followed the old traditions, the Black family tapestry only shows spouses and children of non-heir females.  For instance, I think it's safe to assume that the Black family tapestry shows Narcissa Malfoy connected to Lucius Malfoy connected to their son, right?"  Harry nodded.  " Because Narcissa married into the Malfoy family, she lost her claim on anything from the Black family, but because she was in the immediate family, the niece of the former Black family matriarch, she has a place on the tapestry—as does her mate and her child.  Her grandchildren, however, will not be on the tapestry because her grandchildren will be completely Malfoy."

Having finished, he conjured a glass of water, and Harry was left to contemplate the words in silence.  He supposed that they made sense, but Harry didn't really want to contemplate being related to the Malfoys.  He shook off his horror and waited patiently for Marik to finish his water. 

When the old man finished, he gestured with his knife-like wand, and the box flew to his feet.  He opened it and pulled out a few bottles and a spool of thread.  As he was opening the bottles and setting them on the counter, he started to explain, "The thread is charmed to absorb your blood and sew itself to form the names of your family members.  It's bewitched to be self-updating so that you don't have to do this every time you get a new family member.  These" he said pointing at the bottles, "are filled with a type of magical ink.  You'll ingest a few drops of each to expose the family marks on your collarbone."

He stood up and pointed to the top of the tapestry: "Put the heirlooms at the head of the tapestry."  Harry complied.  Then he looked toward the old man for more instructions.

"Now hold out your palms."  Again, Harry complied, though he had to bite his lip to stop from crying out.  He watched as his blood flowed down the blade and onto the tapestry.