Julian found it deeply strange that a family as powerful as the Peverells had been almost completely erased from history. In fact, the disappearance was so thorough that even the direct descendants of the three brothers seemed unaware of it. After reading the history books during the previous school year to get a proper sense of magical world history, something the books from his past life had never really covered, Julian had noticed that inconsistency. Drawing from his own knowledge of every known wielder of the wand, he had also realized that the Deathly Hallows themselves were created in the thirteenth century, meaning they came after the era of the founders.
That explained why the Peverell family had records like this one, because it came from before the Hallows had nearly driven their bloodline into extinction. 'Not that any of this has anything to do with me,' he thought, putting the matter of that family aside and turning his attention back to the other things he had uncovered. Most important of all was the fact that Rowena Ravenclaw had cleverly left behind a method for her descendants to influence the wards of Hogwarts. It was a subtle measure involving the creation of a minor resonance between her bloodline and the original founding wards that supported all the later ones added by the headmasters.
That meant that even though she had stripped her descendants of any ownership rights over the castle, she had still ensured they would receive special consideration from it. There had been a warning left behind as well, stating that the other founders had done the exact same thing for their own descendants. This was critical information for Julian, because it finally made him understand why Dumbledore had been unable to remove the curse Voldemort had placed on the defense position. It was not that he had chosen not to. He simply could not do it without bringing down the entire ward system.
On the surface, that sounded like an easy enough issue to solve, since someone could theoretically copy the full ward scheme, dismantle it, remove the curse tied into it, and then restore everything afterward. The real problem was that the wards had been created using methods that had since been lost, meaning that once they came down, nobody alive knew how to put them back up again. Put simply, Dumbledore's only real option for breaking the curse at present was to wait until Voldemort truly died, which would release both his bloodline imprint and the curse attached to it. Julian, however, now had a second solution, he could place his own bloodline imprint into the system and use it to purge the curse away.
'I'll wait until Lockhart is gone before I do that though,' Julian thought seriously as he added the task to his already lengthy mental list of things to handle later. Other than that, there was not much regarding his family's legal assets that he had not already known. Nearly all the deals from so long ago were impossible to carry through because the people tied to them had died long ago, which rendered those contracts void. The only things that had not fallen into that category were ownership of the island with the house on it and, somewhat surprisingly, the right to claim a house-elf if the one currently serving the family happened to perish.
Naturally, that provision existed because any house-elf that had served the family a thousand years ago would have turned to dust ages ago. Acquiring a new house-elf was surprisingly simple. Grimgrip merely rang a bell and had a young one brought over from the colony that housed them. It was a small creature with the large ears and eyes typical of its race, along with a freckled face and a clean linen robe in a toga-like style that covered all the necessary areas.
"This one is Dotty, sir, and is happy to finally have a master!" the elf said eagerly. "My name is Julian Ravenclaw, and from this point onward you will serve the Ravenclaw family faithfully. Understood?" Julian asked seriously. "Dotty understands, Sir Ravenclaw. It is this one's greatest joy to serve the Ravenclaw family!" Dotty said with a bright smile and a deep bow. Julian took a few galleons out of Greed and handed them to Dotty. "Your first order is to improve the quality of your clothes so they reflect your status as a servant of the prestigious Ravenclaw family," he said.
"Understood, sir!" the elf replied at once before snapping its fingers and vanishing with a loud pop. "No offense intended, Mr. Ravenclaw, but that seems like a waste of money, dressing a servant in expensive clothing," Grimgrip said honestly. Julian gave him a crafty grin. "When you look at someone's household, what is the first thing you judge to determine their level of wealth?" he asked. The goblin considered the question before answering. "How extravagant everything is, of course," he said plainly. Julian nodded. "And what could be a greater display of wealth than a house-elf dressed in fine clothes?" he asked, and the goblin's smile widened as he finally understood why Julian had done it.