Hello, everyone! Here it is the new chapter. It's smaller than the others, but it was all what my moody muse gave me for now.

I remind you that this story is updated very sporadicaly. Also, English is not my first language and I don't have a beta, so forgive me if there is some possible misspelling or typo.

If anyone is intereted, I started to post this story in AO3: same name for the story and author. I corrected some minor errors, but otherwise the story is the same.

Thank you to everyone who read, followed, reviewed and favourite'd this fic, I appreciate you all.

Happy Reading!

''If the words don't add up it's usually because the truth wasn't included in the equation.'' – Unknown

STEP THREE – CRYPTIC WORDS

In which more shocking secrets and revelations come to light and cryptically written letters are received.

''I suppose from your reaction that you weren't expecting this,'' Ragnok stated more than asked, inwardly amused at the faces the girl had made for the last minutes as she was lost in her thoughts.

''Yes, I admit it's something I didn't foreseen. In the future when Dumbledore's crime was found out, it was too late as I was already of age so I didn't really care and didn't read my mother's Will. All the recipients of the Will had been dead, so it didn't matter anyway,'' Iris explained as truthfully as she could. For some reason, she didn't want to disclose that in all actually she came from another dimension and not really the same world, only from the future.

Ragnok nodded in agreement as he pulled another sheet of parchment to him. This morning, he was writing too many letters, not that he really minded. Everything he was doing now was to prepare Iris Potter and subsequently her alliance with Gringotts for future events.

''So an official missive summoning Mr. Snape to Gringotts is in order?''

''Yes, please. But be as vague as possible, I don't want him to mention anything off-hand to anyone else as to the reason he's been summoned,'' she suggested thoughtfully. ''Dumbledore is always sticking his crooked nose where it doesn't belong and I wouldn't put it past him to make a Spanish Inquisition out of it if he suspected something was afoot.''

''Very well.''

As Iris mentally prepared herself to relax for some time, while waiting for Miss Duval's response, she noticed that Silvertooth still held a sheet of parchment in his talon-like hands and his expression seemed to be of one who was not looking forward to speaking his next words. Automatically, she stiffened, wary and suspicious. She had a feeling that she would not like, at all, of what she was about to hear.

Sure enough, the goblin in question, uncomfortably cleared his throat before speaking, and his next words sent Iris into a state of such a powerful and intimating rage, the likes of which the creatures were hard pressed to remember anything like it in their considerable long lives.

''While I was searching for your parents' Will, I stumbled upon something else that greatly matters to you, Miss Potter,'' Silvertooth started carefully, making sure to show that he was being completely honest in what he was saying and that he had no previous knowledge of this matter. He didn't wish to be collateral damage when the Mistress of Death discovered that someone had decided her future without any of her input beforehand and her tremendous power slipped in her outrage and unconsciously sought the one to blame for it. She narrowed her eyes warily at him and silently demanded to know what he was talking about. ''It seems that Mr. Dumbledore has seen fit to make a betrothal contract in your name to one Ronald Weasley last year at the Ministry of Magic.''

The goblin barely managed to get his last word out before, once more, the office chilled to very uncomfortable low temperatures. The stalactites re-emerged as well as the frozen walls and floor, and the breathing of the goblins in the room turned clearly visible. And just like previously, the Mistress of Death remained oblivious to these changes as it seemed she was fighting inwardly against to simply destroy everything around her.

For many unbearable long and freezing minutes, the two goblins could only try to keep themselves warm enough to not gaining frostbite and wait that the young witch recovered her temper, all along feeling like they were seconds away from dying a very painful death.

Meanwhile, Iris was lost in her storming and furious thoughts.

Honestly, she shouldn't have been surprised with this – it was only another altering detail that Death had warned her about. She knew very well that the old man was crafty and really didn't care what he had to do to keep control of his weapon.

Without even looking at the contract, she was certain that Dumbledore had done his best to try and strip away any kind of power she could have in that future relationship. Never mind that she was an heiress to the Noble and Ancient House of Potter, while Weasley, besides being a pureblood, had nothing to offer in that union – no money and no political or social status. But, as it became usual when Dumbledore was involved, whatever he wanted, somehow he was able to accomplish and she was sure that, no matter how he had worded that contract, it was as binding as it could be.

At the moment, Iris couldn't see any possible and logical way out of it, besides just killing the red-headed greedy bastard and be done with it. After all, dead bodies couldn't marry. She felt Death humming in agreement at that thought, unsurprisingly. However, she had plans and she needed all those traitors alive to make them happen. Death had already gotten his chance of tormenting those people in the other timeline (and he would have once more when they left the living world in this one as well), so now it was her turn. Besides, she needed to read that contract very carefully to see if that by his first 'intended' dying she wouldn't be forced to marry one of his older brothers. Gods, she hoped not.

Mind becoming rational once more, Iris opened her eyes (When had she closed them?) and with barely a look around at the different 'décor', though the temperature raised and returned to comfortable levels again, she wordlessly demanded to see the accursed sheet of parchment. Wisely, Silvertooth complied promptly and silently and allowed her to read through it in peace.

As she had thought, Dumbledore had been his controlling and underhanded usual self and had given as much power as he could legally get away with to Weasley while Iris would become the submissive and helpless wife in the marriage. All possessions and political power that the Potter name carried would automatically belong to the husband and Iris could do nothing about it. The deadline to the contract was Iris' sixteenth birthday – she strongly suspected that the old man wouldn't allow her to reach her majority and thus somehow finding a way to get away from under his thumb. She had a few years at least, she noted relieved, no need to act rashly and carelessly right away, like a thoughtless Gryffindor.

As far as she could see, the contract was fairly straightforward and absolutely legal; however there was something off with it that she couldn't really understand. Until she saw the guardians' signatures at the end of the contract, that is.

During her long years as a wraith, Iris had studied several different areas of magic, whenever she was able to possess someone magical.

One time, she had wondered exactly how magical binding contracts worked exactly. She had remembered the debacle with the Goblet of Fire and wanted to know if she had had really no choice in participating in the Tournament or if she could have been spared from that whole fiasco if she had more information about it and thus protested her unwilling admission in the competition. Indeed, she had discovered that she had truly no way out of it, however she had been shocked to realize that she had been deemed legally an adult – actually a forced emancipation, due to the Age Line Dumbledore had conjured with the combination of the Goblet of Fire's old magic and the Ministry and the Headmaster's unanimous agreement of her participation – and no one had ever seen fit to inform her of her new status. What was even worse, she had been unjustly tried before the entire Wizengamot and almost expelled from Hogwarts the following summer because she had casted magic in front of her cousin while defending both of them against Dementors. And all along she was already considered an adult. At that moment, the loathing she had felt towards Dumbledore and the Ministry had risen to a whole new level, something she had thought no longer possible.

In any case, while she had been researching about magical binding contracts, Iris had naturally stumbled upon marriage contracts and had read upon the subject. At the time, she really hadn't any necessity to know about such a thing – she was a wraith, after all, and was officially dead to the Wizarding World at large – but, she had done it all the same, because what else she had to occupy her time with? She was immortal and there was not much she could do in her present condition anyway.

So, Iris was able to notice straight away that there was something amiss with this contract. Granted, it was still binding and legal, no doubt about it. Nevertheless, her eyes narrowed in thoughtful suspicion when she remarked that instead of Mr. Weasley's signature as the Head of the Family and the groom's father – regardless of their status as 'Blood Traitors', they were still purebloods, and thus needed to properly follow at least some proper Magical and legal proceedings – , it had been Molly Prewett who had signed, right after Albus Dumbledore. This only happened when the Head of the Family was otherwise indisposed or he didn't know about it, which in this last case made the contract null and void, so it was a moot point in Iris' opinion.

That didn't really explain, however, Molly's need to sign with her unmarried name. No, something else was wrong here.

As far as she understood, there were two main types of marriage contracts – one was between two pureblood families, or when the bride or groom was a half-blood; the other was when one of the suitors was muggle-born. In this case, it seemed that it was an odd mix between these two categories. From Iris' part, everything seemed to be as it should, however when reading Weasley's side of the contract, the style seemed to change visibly. Despite him being a pureblood and having a large family, no one else was mentioned, aside from his mother, who in this instance went by Prewett, instead of Weasley. There was absolutely no mention of one of his brothers (or any other suitable close relative in the absence of siblings) possibly taking his place in the betrothal if he wasn't able to do it himself, as it was usually done in these contracts whenever possible to avoid blood feuds and the like between the two families, which Iris found beyond strange. She knew there was simply no way that Dumbledore would allow such carelessness and that his 'weapon' could possibly, by a turn of fate, be free from his clutches, without another appointed groom already prepared to rigorously follow his plan.

So, this begged the imperative question: what was going on?

Death chuckled in the back on her mind.

Not everything is as it seems, Mistress. Remember that many things from the past and the future are different, even though that at first glance it doesn't seem so.

Iris grumbled inwardly at Death's cryptic words. Sometimes, He saw fit to bestow upon her some bits of helpful knowledge, but never in a straight forward way. It annoyed her greatly, which Death knew very well and thus endeavoured to do it whenever He could.

She pondered Death's words for a while in correlation to any possible reason Molly would have to sign this contract with the Prewett name, thus willingly distancing herself from the Weasley family.

After a few minutes of finding and discarding ideas, her head snapped up, her eyes unseeing and her expression one of complete shock and disbelief. No, it couldn't be possible, could it be?

As the muggles use to say, Mistress, Bingo! Death confirmed, clearly amused at his Mistress' expense. His chuckles were faint but she could hear them clearly even when she wanted to ignored them.

Allowing some more time to let the rest of that shocking deduction sink in completely, a smirk slowly formed on Iris' lips, making the goblins instinctively stiffen warily. That was a not a nice expression, even less so in the face of a malnourished and bruised eleven years old girl.

''I just discovered a highly interesting and shocking fact about Dumbledore's personal life that I would never have thought could be possible,'' she stated at last, smugly.

The two goblins stared at her in open curiosity. What could she have discovered about Dumbledore from simply reading a betrothal contract?

''It seems that the old man plans on obtaining the Potter's power and wealth much more directly and permanently than I first thought possible,'' she explained to the confused creatures. ''As confirmed by my undisputable source, Ronald Weasley is not Arthur Weasley's son as it is officially believed.''

The skinny and battered girl allowed that statement to sink in for a moment into the goblins' minds. Would they reach the same conclusion she had? True, at first glance this seemed a bit farfetched but if one considered Dumbledore's power hungry, underhanded ways and Iris' casual words just now, it really wasn't that hard to realize what exactly she was getting at.

Aurora Duval was a notorious British wizarding solicitor with over fifteen years of experience.

Half-Scottish and half-French, this intelligent witch had always done her level best to win every legal case that landed in her capable hands and, most of the time, she succeeded in doing so.

Aurora was neither pro-light nor pro-dark – if asked, she would confidently state that she was definitely neutral. She didn't care what 'kind' of wizard or witch required her professional services as long as the reason for it was legitimate, which guaranteed her plenty of clients.

However, she was only human, and thus there was a clear exception to her definite professional life style: Albus Dumbledore.

To put it bluntly, she loathed the man and would never work in his benefit, regardless of the cause. She didn't broadcast to the world her opinion on the Hogwarts' Headmaster but she didn't make secret of it either – a fact that often alienated her colleagues who worked mainly with the 'Light Side' of their world. Many believed that if Aurora disliked Dumbledore so much, surely there was something she was hiding and was certainly not respectable.

The witch ignored their unwanted opinions, however, as she couldn't care less what people who blindly and mindlessly followed the old wizard thought of her. She had valid reasons to loath Dumbledore and there was no one on Earth who could possibly change her mind.

When Aurora was only ten years old, her father, Gustave Duval – who was a free-lancer reporter and writer – had been investigating the Headmaster of Hogwarts due to something that Aurora had never been privy to. However, it seemed that Gustave had discovered something that he shouldn't have because the man had appeared dead not long after that. The circumstances had been suspicious at best and the murderer was never found.

At the time Aurora and her mother, Adelaide, had been aware of whom Gustave had been investigating, but they decided that it was best keeping their silence about it for fear of being 'dealt with' as well. Aurora never forgot, though, and had sworn upon her father's grave that she'd eventually make Albus Dumbledore pay. In this case, she would do anything she could, even breaking the law if she had to, if only to ruin the wizard that had taken her father from her.

Fortunately, Aurora had attended Beauxbatons Academy of Magic instead of Hogwarts and thus thankfully never interacted closely with Dumbledore. No one would ever suspect that this woman was as Slytherin as they come, and thus often caught other wizards and witched off guard with her ways of going about doing her job and winning her legal cases. She was a very patient woman; she had waited many years for the right chance to push the great Albus Dumbledore off his high pedestal and it seemed that all her perseverance had finally been rewarded.

Just now, she had received an urgent missive from Gringotts – from Chief Ragnok himself, in fact – and the contents of the letter had left her interested and more than a little giddy. If what had been written proved to be true, Aurora knew that her opportunity had finally come to deal with the esteemed Headmaster.

Oh, she couldn't wait to get started!

Severus Snape was enjoying a late breakfast in his quarters, looking forward to his long day of brewing potions in solitude.

Perhaps, he mused as he drank his second cup of black coffee, after the potions required for the Hospital Wing are finished, I'll try my hand at that new one that I read last night. It's complex enough to be a reasonable challenge but not too long that will take me away from the school syllabus that I need to complete.

Decision made, the man was draining the remains of his hot drink when a house-elf appeared with a letter.

Idly, Severus found it odd, as the owl post had already been delivered more than an hour ago. He accepted the letter nonetheless and noticed right away that it was from Gringotts, which he found it even stranger as he had already received his bank statements the previous day, being the first of the month.

Deciding that he would have to open the envelope to discover what was really going on, he did so after casting his usual array of detecting spells. The war may have ended almost ten years ago; however he had never grown complacent.

''Mr Snape,

Your presence is strictly required at your earlier convenience at Gringotts.

Regretfully, I cannot explain the matter in writing due to safety reasons.

Suffice to say, that it's an important issue that suddenly came up related to your person and requires immediate attention.

All shall be explained as soon as you arrive.

Best regards,

Chief Ragnok

Director of Gringotts''

Severus' brows had steadily risen with every cryptic sentence. For the life of him, he couldn't think of any plausible reason that he should be summoned to Gringotts in such a manner, which left him very apprehensive and disconcerted.

Severus Snape had never liked the unknown.

Mentally saying a gloomy goodbye to his potions brewing , Severus decided that it was better to take care of whatever this was as soon as possible. As well as he knew himself, he would be mulling all day long about it and he doubted he would reach any plausible conclusion, which would only serve to frustrate him needlessly and end up botching up the experimental potion he had been planning to try his hands on.

So, with barely a look at his person to confirm that he indeed was presentable enough to go out in public, he grabbed his long black cloak and strode out of his chambers making his way out of the castle proper and grounds before Apparating away.