At his mother’s insistence, he was given his own vault when he was fifteen, a bit young, she admitted, but he realizes now that she wanted to ensure that not everything was under his father’s control. She placed some family heirlooms in the vault on his sixteenth birthday. "Someday," she said, "there will be a witch that you will want to give gifts to." It was strangely phrased, he thought even then, wondering why she didn’t just say, "a witch you will love." Now he understands that she knew the pureblood traditions too well to assume he would love the witch he would eventually marry, but that he would still be expected to honor his wife with gifts of jewelry. Generations of Black and Malfoy ancestors would no doubt be horrified that the recipient of both his love and his worldly goods is Muggleborn, but he can’t wait to give Hermione this particularly beautiful sapphire and diamond ring to start with. He tucks it into a secure pocket of his robes, and bids Bodrak to take him to the Black vault.