"I need to withdraw a large amount of gold from the account, and that means I have to be there in person. I also thought it would be best to have you nearby while I start putting our family matters in order here," Julian explained, and Helena nodded in agreement. With her present, it would be much harder for the goblins to try slipping anything past him through "outdated contracts" or other technicalities, since she could point out anything important they might attempt to bury. Steve, meanwhile, was simply happy to be out and about and stared at everything around him with wide, curious eyes.
Since Gringotts was the second largest building in Diagon Alley and Julian already knew where it was from the shop, it did not take him and Helena long to reach it. Once again, Julian greeted and bribed the heavily armed goblin at the entrance before stepping into the busy bank. Walking up to a teller, he placed a galleon on the edge of the counter, which immediately drew the goblin's attention to him. "Welcome to Gringotts. What do you seek to do today?" the goblin asked with the usual flat disinterest their kind seemed to favor.
"Family management and a large withdrawal from the account," Julian said in a direct, businesslike tone. The goblin leaned forward to take a better look at him, and although its eyes briefly paused on the various rings decorating Julian's hands, its focus lingered most strongly on the lord ring. Apparently satisfied, the goblin leaned back and reached into a drawer behind the podium, pulling out one of many bells. Curiously, this one bore the Ravenclaw house crest. It rang the bell, and several of the other goblins nearby froze when the sound spread through the bank, turning toward that podium with wide, startled eyes.
The reason for that reaction was simple. Every goblin bell gave off a slightly different sound, one that only creatures with exceptionally sharp hearing like goblins could distinguish properly, and the Ravenclaw account had long been used as a punishment assignment because it had remained untouched for so long. As a result, only those who had memorized every possible bell tone understood the significance of this one. The only exception was a middle-aged goblin with a scar running through his right eye, whose face held a mixture of disbelief and excitement as he walked over to the podium where Julian stood.
"My name is Grimgrip, and I am the one in charge of the Ravenclaw account, Mr.?" Grimgrip said, clearly prompting Julian to introduce himself. "Julian I Ravenclaw," Julian replied, holding out a hand, which the goblin took eagerly. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr. Julian. Please follow me to one of our private rooms so we may discuss the condition of your accounts," Grimgrip said in a professional tone. Gringotts always kept private rooms available for handling confidential matters with clients. The room Julian and Helena were shown into was plain, furnished only with a broad, low table and several simple cushioned chairs.
Grimgrip sat down on one side of the table, while Julian took the other. "If it is not an inconvenience, may I ask why the Ravenclaw house appeared to abandon its account for the last thousand years?" the goblin asked with characteristic bluntness. "Helena here was the last known heir of the family until I recently underwent an inheritance test myself," Julian explained, and Grimgrip nodded in understanding. "Then we shall have to do this the long way," he said before ringing a bell sitting on the table to summon another goblin.
"Bring me everything we have regarding the Ravenclaw account," Grimgrip said. The other goblin looked startled for a moment, but left to carry out the order all the same. "Because of the lack of knowledge surrounding your family's account, we will need to review everything connected to it. This will take quite some time, so I hope you have no other plans," Grimgrip said with a chuckle. Julian soon found out that this was no exaggeration, as several thick stacks of parchment were brought into the room and set on the table before them.
Six hours later, they had finally made their way through the enormous pile of paperwork, thanks in no small part to Helena helping sort the active matters from the closed ones at the beginning based on what she remembered, which cut the amount of work down considerably. During the process, Julian discovered that the Ravenclaw family had once shared ties with the Peverell family through an unfinished contract involving a particular collection of potion ingredients that had never been delivered because the known members of the Ravenclaw family had died. It was honestly a rather underwhelming connection, but finding any information about them at all was strangely difficult, almost as if every record concerning them had been erased after a certain point.