Chapter 8 – The Gryffindor Legacy Part 4

"Gryffi-Gold...?" I ask while starting to second guess this whole thing.

An arched doorway opens in front of me as the regular stone seems to melt away into the floor. Directly beyond the archway, I see a stone hallway leading down some stairs to the left of me and a large, 5x5 meters canvas on the wall opposite to me with a family tree painted onto it.

"Yea...I know it is silly. But your Grandmother Matilda thought it was cute, so we used it here. Let me give you the best piece of advice you will ever get kid, 'Happy Wife, Happy Life.' Remember that..."

The family tree is, surprisingly, actually shaped like a tree. The bark of the tree leading up the trunk holds names and faces that are greyed out leading to the end of the trunk and the midsection of the tree, right where all the branches start to fan out. The branches of the tree lead up and down several directions in many different lines. Most lines of succession seem to stop after about eight to ten people, but a few continue long past that. Some seem to go on to 30 or even 50 people, but they all eventually end except for one. This one continues much, much further. It snakes and winds its way from one side of the tapestry, around the tree trunk, and to the other side to make room for the nearly 100 names on the branch. Finally, towards the bottom of the tree is a group that I know instantly, and that contains the only portaits and names that are not greyed out.

Godric XII Jacob Leoren (greyed out) was paired with Grace Mary Leoren (greyed out) and their branch lead to 2 sons, one greyed out, and one sister. My aunt Lynda and Uncle Martin...shame he died of cancer, he was a cool guy. Aunt Lynda is still unmarried...well unless you count her 7 cats. My father Reynold Godric Leoren was paired with my mother Cassandra Abigail Leoren (née Jenavive) and lead to my two sisters, Susan Regina Leoren and Grace II Elizabeth Leoren, and...me. I should have expected it, but seeing my own smiling face looking up at me from the tapestry in an ancient, long-forgotten castle really hit home that this was real.

Even up until now, a small part of my brain thought that maybe this was all a dream. Maybe I was at home or in a hospital after hitting my head in the forest. But no...this tapestry, this family tree, proves that I was here. I was not dreaming. I was not crazy. This is real. I am the long lost heir to an ancient and respected wizarding family. As if to agree with my thoughts, the 'me' on the tapestry nods to the 'me' standing before it. My throat suddenly felt very dry and I realized I had my mouth hanging open and I probably have had it open for the last 10 or so minutes as I was gawking.

"Jordan," my Grandpa calls to me softly, "Do you see the words written at the top and bottom of the tapestry?"

I looked and saw two sets of Latin phrases. The top one said:

Virtus | Honoris | Tenacitas | Fortitudo | Amare

And the bottom one said:

Nostra audacia, nervi, et veterum posuit nos seorsum.

"Yes," I said simply in awe.

"The top one says, 'Virtue | Honor | Tenacity | Courage | Love.' These are the core tenants of our house. The bottom says, 'Our daring, nerve, and chivalry set us apart.' This is our house motto. This is also what I made the Gryffindor house motto at Hogwarts. You have a lot to live up to and a lot of family behind you. I will be here with you every step of the way, and they will be rooting for you from the beyond."

In unison, as if they could hear their ancestor Gryffindor as well, all of the images on the tapestry, even those greyed out, turned their heads to look at me and smile and nod. Some even waved, clapped, or through up a fist in celebration, though no noise came out. Mother and Father were beaming bright smiles as were my sisters. My grandfather (my actual grandfather) was wiping tears from his eyes as my grandmother practically glowed with her bright smile. It was odd seeing them so young, though I had seen images and videos of them when they were younger before. I could only imagine them in my head as the old happy couple they were when I had known them. Two images, in particular, shinned for a moment and drew my attention. They both were at the top of the trunk and right before all the branches fanned out. Their names read Godric Reynold Archibald Gryffindor & Matilda Starla Florence Gryffindor (née Hufflepuff). The man, the one I called 'Grandpa Gryffindor' I realized, had a blazing smile on his face and was almost an exact copy of my father (or perhaps Father was an exact copy of him), just with auburn hair and a thick long beard. He looked like a lion that turned into a human. Grandmother Matilda was a doughy, sweet woman with a blinding smile and eyes that gleamed with a hint of mischief.

Overwhelmed with emotion, I bowed from the waste to all of them, holding back tears that burned in my eyes. "I can't say I was ready for this, but I will do my best to honor your legacy and bring the Gryffindor name back to prominence!"

This set off another round of cheers and clapping before the images grew still in their original positions again.

"We know you will, my boy. We know you will. It is good to see my son, Godric II's line continued this far. Even my ancestors, the ones in the trunk of the tree before my image, cheered for you and your success." Said the proud voice of Grandpa Gryffindor.

"Wait..." Jordan started, "What does née mean?"

"It means originally called or originally know as," Grandpa offered.

"So that means...you married Helga Hufflepuff's...sister?" I asked.

"Ah...no. It was her younger cousin actually...long story there, but I wasn't originally planning on marrying anyone. I was going to travel the world until I died a hero's death...Matilda called me a damned fool and practically demanded I marry her. My stubborn pride denied her for years, but...she worked her way into my heart eventually. Her smile was the most potent type of magic there ever was. Every time we met, which was a couple of times a year at court balls or festivals the school set up, she would ask me if I was ready to marry her yet. I would always laugh it off and say, 'not yet, my dear.' The best decision of my life was the day I answered her, 'Yes' and I will never forget the smile she gave me and the tears of happiness in her eyes. I do still feel a bit bad for stealing her from her fiancé at the time..."

"You stole her from her fiancé!?!" I yelled in surprise.

"Yes...it was a different time, Jordan. I was a Duke and she was to marry a Count she didn't love. She came to me the week before the wedding to ask me one last time...and I said yes. Because of the difference in our stations, I won out over the Count easily...but it caused a nasty blood feud that could have easily been avoided if I wasn't so stubborn." He admitted with a tinge of self-loathing.

"Well...that is surprisingly romantic." I offered.

Gryffindor lets out a belly laugh and says, "I told you before lad, I was popular with the ladies. With my help, you will be too! ...I will also help you to make sure you don't repeat my mistakes, but I will never force your hand on anything. I am merely here to guide you."

"Thanks, I guess." I say, wanting to move away from the topic of women quickly, "Does that mean I am a Duke or heir to a Dukedom as well?"

"I doubt it. I am not even sure if the same line of monarchs are still in power. It was way too long ago to know for sure, but from what I can tell from your memories, the magical world and the mundane world don't seem to mix as they did in my time, though I could be wrong."

"I certainly haven't heard of any wizards in my life. Not any real ones at least." I mused.

I start to move down the corridor towards the stairs when I pause and look back at my section of the tapestry, particularly my mother's name. Cassandra Abigail Leoren (née Jenavive).

"My mother is from another house of wizards it looks like?" I say mostly to myself.

"It would appear so, though I have never heard of the Jenavive family before," Grandpa answers me anyway.

"Mother never speaks of her family...so I will not ask her. I don't want to make her uncomfortable," I decide.

I continue down the staircase, down, and down, and down further. The staircase had one landing with 3 suits of armor on it and a hanging tapestry of the Gryffindor house crest. After that, it continued down in the opposite direction. The same crystal lanterns of the hall lined the staircase here, so I never walked in darkness.

After about ten minutes of walking down, we came to a room of some sort. The room lit up as I walked down the last few steps and opened into a massive 20 meters tall 30 meters wide chamber. Suits of armor stood in rows all the way from the left side of the room to the right with a small path in between and 2 huge bronze statues of dragons at either far corner. There was no decoration here, just bare stone from top to bottom. As I walked down the last stair, all the suits of armor knelt in unison causing me to nearly jump out of my skin in fright. The two bronze dragons raised their metallic bodies and bowed their heads while their blazing orange eyes watched my movements.

"That was terrifying," I state in a deadpan voice.

"That's the idea!" Gryffindor replies with a hint of mirth.

I walk down the open pathway between the suits of armor as they shift to face me wherever I walk. I pause in the middle of the room, tied of having chills run down my back.

"At ease, soldiers." I try in my best military officer voice.

Surprisingly, they listen! All of the suits of armor return to their original places and the dragons settle back down and close their eyes.

I let out a breath of relief as I hear Grandpa Gryffindor say, "Aw...that's no fun."

Smirking in victory, I make my way to a solid steel door that has to be 15 meters tall and 10 meters wide. I can see the glimmer of magic on it, showing me that it is enchanted up the wazoo.

Shrugging to myself, I use the tried and true method here. "Open," I say simply.

The giant slab of metal that calls itself a door doesn't open up, or fall into the ground, or even swing back onto itself; No, instead, the middle section folds up and into itself revealing a human-sized opening past which I see something that makes me shudder.

"Close," I say stiffly as the door silently folds shut again.

"Um...Jordan? We need to go in and get..."

"No."

"What? Why not? You need money to..."

"Not happening."

"...Can you explain why not?"

I sigh tiredly as I try to explain the unexplainable to a rich old Duke.

"Do you know what I saw in there?" I ask a question this time.

"Piles of gold, silver, iron, bronze, and platinum coins?" Gryffindor provides questioningly.

"Exactly," I say as if that is the end of it all.

"OK...and can you explain why that is apparently a bad thing?"

"Dude...I'm fricken' 10 years old! What the hell am I supposed to do with all that? Do you know how much money I have currently? Nearly 2 million pounds, that's how much. Even with donating to charities, I am filthy rich and I make more every day. What am I supposed to do with piles of gold and other coins? How am I, a 10 year old, supposed to carry that up with me? It took us, like, 10 minutes to get here! I saw weapons and armor wracks on the wall as well, am I suppose to take and wear those? Use them for something? What do you think I am going to do with them? I came down here to see it all, but it just clicked that it is all mine and I am kinda freaking out right now. Do you have any idea how ridiculously irresponsible it would be to give a normal 10-year-old that much money and dangerous equipment?" I end it yelling, which causes the dragons that are much nearer to me than I would have liked to look up at me.

"Whoa there Jordan. Calm down, calm down!" Gryffindor soothes as the dragons lose interest again and lay down.

I am nearly hyperventilating at this point. My body starts shaking and I hold my arms to my chest as I shudder and struggle for air. This is too much! I have seen and experienced way too much for someone my age today alone. If this was my life now...did I want this? Could I do this? Handle this responsibility? How do I deal with my sudden and overwhelming wealth and power that I did nothing to earn and have no idea how to use? Did I want to go back to how I was? Yea, I hated working, but I could just quit and live like a normal kid again. Normal. Not magical. Wasn't that what I always wanted? I take a great gasp of air as my body shutters and my eyes burn with tears...No. I want an adventure. I want excitement. I am just too frazzled by everything today has brought. I feel like crying as my young brain starts to overload.

"OK, let's relax for a bit, yea? Open the door again, there are some comfy couches you can rest on."

I open the door and go where Grandpa tells me mechanically, and sit on the comfy love seat style couch. At this point, tears are freely falling down my cheeks and I am wiping them off on my now clean hoodie.

"Jordan, I am sorry. I know this must be a lot for you all at once. You are very young and I should have taken you through things one at a time, or even with your parents here with you. I let my excitement cloud my judgment and forgot your age."

"I'm not weak," I say weakly as I continue to cry.

"I know you are not, my boy. You are a Gryffindor! You will bounce back up in a flash!" he says soothingly.

I mentioned it before, but his voice seems to relax me. It is soothing in and of itself. I can tell the intent from his words, probably as a consequence of the mind merging. He radiates love, compassion, and encouragement with all of his words and it is incredibly relaxing and everything I need right now. This has been too much for any kid to handle, but hasn't my life always been like that? I am very mature for my age, I hear that from almost every adult I meet, but every kid has a breaking point. I went through the most pain I have ever experienced and soon after felt the love and encouragement of thousands of my ancestors as they pinned their last hope on me. I went through a lot of extremes today...

"I'm sorry for crying Grandpa, I will do bett..." I try but am interrupted by an angry Gryffindor.

"Don't you dare try and put this all on you and your age!" Grandpa says in a very stern voice. "I have placed an incredibly heavy burden on you out of nowhere. Do better? It is a wonder you haven't broken down sooner! I have never seen a kid that has the resolve to go through the pain you must have felt when we merged. You could have died, and you would have if you were any other 10-year-old. I am disgusted in myself for putting you through that, but when you kept rolling with the punches, I kept pushing and adding to the burden. I have been treating you as an adult since we met and that is an error on my part. I do not say this to belittle you, as you are far more mature and capable than I was at your age, but rather to say that it is OK to cry. It is OK to need help. It is OK to feel things are too much. That is what family and friends are here for. They support and love you through your tough times and give you a reason to keep on going. I am sorry for all of this, Jordan, but we are almost done and then you can go home, that I can promise you. Once we get some wizarding money and my wand, we can leave and share in the joy of our family being reborn with your parents and siblings. Take a break, maybe even a nap if you need it. I will be here when you are ready."

"OK, Grandpa," I say after a small pause and a deep breath as I lay down on the couch. My tears stop and my body slowly stops shaking as I close my eyes and start to drift off almost immediately. This is so much more comfortable than the floor was.

"Grandpa?" I ask weakly a mere second from sleep.

"Yes, Jordan?"

"Thank you."

"You got it, kid."