Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I don't make any profit from this story. This is fan-fiction.

= Chapter 1 =

It was the summer after the fifth year at Hogwarts, and Harry Potter was once again left alone, grieving for his lost godfather in solitude at his hateful relatives. The Dursleys had been less than eager to take him in after the Dementor attack earlier that year, but had folded under the pressure from the Order of the Phoenix, and no doubt more than a few words from Dumbledore.

They had been mostly leaving Harry alone in his room, content to pretend they did not have a freak of a nephew living under the same roof, just as Harry was more than happy to ignore them for most of his summer time prison sentence with his relatives.

Harry had hoped to hear from his friends during June, and at the early weeks of July, but when July came closer to its end that hoped had dwindled and finally shriveled away. It was another nail to the already near-dead friendships he had once treasured, but after Ron's betrayal in fourth year nothing was the same, and the absence of any letters last summer had hurt, leaving even the connection with Hermione frayed and worn.

He had still considered her a friend, unlike Ronald whom he was merely tolerating for the sake of avoiding another outburst, but a second summer in a row without any messages, after he had seen another person die in front of him, was enough proof that he was not as important to his friends as they had been to him.

With a quiet sniff he wiped his eyes to the dirty sleeve of his oversized second-hand clothes, silently wondering what was the point anymore. The scarred words 'I shall tell no lies' on the back of his hand showed him what the magical society thought of him most of the time. They cheered when he was winning and then went back to suspecting him of everything that went wrong.

Sirius was dead, the Ministry was finally acting but the Death Eaters had already had a year to gather their strength, and Voldemort was out there looking to kill him and everyone else that refused to bow to him. Dumbledore revealed the prophecy and how he had left Harry to the Dursleys knowing what lay ahead of him. His former friends no longer even cared to stay in touch with him despite his letters to them and the order. In short, Harry Potter saw very little reason to care about the magical society in Britain anymore.

While he was entertaining these dark thoughts a loud rapping could be heard at his window, catching his attention and forcing him to sit up. Seeing a regal, black owl behind the window he hesitated not knowing who's owl it was before noticing the letter in its leg and the signet of Gringott's on the wax seal upon it, prominently on display.

Moving over to open the window and let the courier owl inside, Harry set down some water and owl treats for the owl before reaching over to remove the letter from the owl in question. Turning to read the letter as the owl moved to partake in his offering, Harry quietly wondered how soon Hedwig would be back from her latest flight, but figured she might scowl at him for letting another owl perch on her favorite spot inside the room. Not that he was even asked.

Breaking the wax seal Harry could feel the wash of magic over him, seeming to confirm something as he felt a brief warmth around him before it settled away, allowing Harry to focus on the contents of the letter instead.

"Mr. Harry James Potter,

We here at Gringotts have been trying to reach you for several weeks already, finding our owls intercepted and redirected to your supposed magical guardian. He has insisted that he holds your full trust and the authority to act in your name, but your godfather's Will is very precise in its instructions.

The owl delivering this is one of Gringott's Priority Courier Owls, resistant to all known hexes, wards and jinxes that might alter an owl's course. In addition, the letter you hold has a charm upon it to burn the said letter and severely mutilate the hands of anyone else but the intended recipient if they attempt to open the letter without express permission from the recipient.

We believed this necessary as Mr. Black has already stipulated that your illegal incarceration at your relatives 'care' under your supposed magical guardian Albus Dumbledore's orders is preventing you from learning about a number of things that have been kept from you.

Having sworn an oath on what he said was true, Mr. Black has been able to have your parents will partially unsealed. It has not been executed, but confirmed a few facts meaning Gringotts has a legal ground to assist you given another priority client has requested our services on your behalf.

Your vaults have been undergoing an audit, and all removals beyond those you performed in person have been voided, money removed from your supposed magical guardian's vaults to compensate for that which has been taken without your permission. Your family and financial vaults have been under orders to remain sealed until your 17th birthday or emancipation, but your trust vault has been accessed under suspicious circumstances by Albus Dumbledore, Molly Weasley, and Ronald Weasley in the past years.

Seeing as Albus Dumbledore is the sole other person with access to your vault and permission to add or remove people from the access list, he is held accountable for all the losses accrued. Given the will states he was never legally your guardian, any removal, with a good reason or not, was illegal and hence all money plus interest has been retrieved from the Dumbledore family and personal vaults.

We have delayed sending notice to him as per your Godfather's instructions, instead sending this message to you along with a port-key enchantment tied to the parchment itself. The activation phrase for its use should be familiar to you according to his instructions, being one he used for another wondrous piece of parchment in the past.

We request you make your presence known at Gringotts as soon as possible, so we can unseal both your godfather's and your parents wills and carry out the rest of the instructions.

To summarize, you will find yourself emancipated given that A) you have already completed your OWLs, obtaining wand-rights, B) you have been forced to partake in an event classed by ministry as restricted to adult wizards or witches only, and lastly C) because you have already been tried before the whole Wizengamot which is only done with adult witches or wizards. Given that you are nearly 16, and thus merely a year from adulthood in any case, your situation is sufficient to declare your emancipation fait accompli, or already established fact.

Your godfather also left behind a letter to be only handed to you directly, as well as the bundle of instructions to our bank, and the said will which can be read publically once you have attended the private will-reading prior to the public one.

There will be much more to discuss, but I trust you have heard enough by now to agree that we should conduct this business in person.

Yours in Trust, Honor and Profit,

Skulltaker - Senior Account Manager at Gringotts London."

Silently swallowing as he thought back at Sirius, Harry felt the loss even harder at the mention of a will, but at the same time he was grateful that Sirius had gone to such lengths for him.

Looking over at the parchment silently, Harry debated with himself whether or not he should go. He had bad experiences with portkeys, but if Voldemort had a plot against him the letter would have activated as soon as he touched it, and the seal and the owl seemed perfectly legit to him. Furthermore, while some of the contents in the letter were hard to believe, the pass-phrase referred to here did make him take it seriously, and the points it illustrated made a scary amount of sense.

Thinking back at how he was being treated by the Order, and the magical society in Britain as a whole, Harry wondered why he even hesitated in the first place. Even falling into Voldemort's arms to be killed and sent to his parents arms in the afterlife would be better than being Dumbledore's marionette to dance along the strings until it was his time to die. The old man had played him a fool long enough, and without any training Harry was highly doubtful the old man ever meant for Harry to survive in the first place.

Gathering his belongings to his trunk and holding onto it securely, Harry made sure his wand was in his pocket at ready while he grasped onto the trunk with one hand, the other holding to the letter. Just as he was about to speak the pass-phrase, he saw Dumbledore's phoenix flame into his room and trill, dropping a letter from its grasp before vanishing off with a flash.

Hesitating a moment, Harry picked up a pair of dragon hide gloves from his trunk now wary of the possibility of a portkey, and only then lifted up the new letter to take a look at it. He was suspicious of Dumbledore just as he was suspicious of Voldemort, but this letter's timely arrival made him wonder just how closely he was being watched.

"Harry,

It is imperative that you stay at the Dursleys until at least the second week of August to help recharge the wards, it is also not safe for you out here, ever since your fight at the ministry the death eaters have been looking for vengeance.

I am aware that the goblins of Gringotts have apparently chosen to disregard my instructions to spare you from having to attend the will reading for Sirius Black as I fear it would harm you more than it would help, with his loss so fresh on your mind. You need time to mourn, so I ask that you don't do anything rash but allow me to take care of things for you.

In due time I will send the Order to bring you over to the Burrow, but for now you must stay where you are, it is not safe for you to leave your sanctuary just now.

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore"

Reading through the letter had Harry frowning but shaking his head. He shoved it to the other pocket in his pants, careful to avoid the one with his wand, then packing the dragon hide gloves back in his trunk and grasping the first letter from Gringotts.

"Thank you for your help, I'll leave the window open so you can leave on your own." Harry smiled to the black, regal owl watching him curiously now, as Harry drew a deep breath and then spoke the words.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

As soon as he had said this he could feel the familiar distortion of being yanked from where he was standing, only to land roughly on his feet and bending his knees to not stumble onto his face within a weird chamber somewhere underground. A hollow tower seemed to rise above him, its roof elevated by pillars, the only exit on ground level a single door which at the time was still and quiet, with a door chain besides it.

Pulling upon the chain briefly, Harry waited a moment before there was a click and the door was pulled back to reveal a group of five goblin warriors in full war gear followed by an older goblin man who had the presence of a man to be respected, if the lowered gaze of the warriors was anything to go by along with his apparent confidence that Harry could read from the older goblin's stride.

"Mr. Potter, I am glad you could make it so soon. Come right this way. That entrance is reserved for our discrete customers who don't want to arrive by the standard entrance, and only safe for one holding to a goblin made portkey, which appeared to be another point your godfather made clear was necessary in order to liberate you from your jailors."

"Thank you sir, and I was just about to leave when Dumbledore's phoenix did appear, carrying a letter from him instructing me to hold still, so I imagine that without the portkey I would have been held back regardless of my wishes." Harry spoke in a serious tone, earning a solemn nod from the goblin man who seemed less than pleased to hear this.

"Mr. Dumbledore has no allies and very few goblins are on even friendly terms with him. Cordial, given his position in the Wizengamot, but that is all. His actions with your accounts would see any other wizard barred from Gringotts for life, as well as confiscation of their assets and the proof of crimes handed over to Wizengamot. Given how those papers would pass before his desk before being brought to discussion I imagine you can see where the problem lies though?" The goblin spoke in a serious tone while leading Harry through the hallways.

"I don't understand, how could the Minister have him sacked and removed so easily last year then?" Harry asked more than a little confused, while the goblin let out a heavy sigh sounding weary and tired at the time.

"Nothing but a stunt by a showman, Mr. Potter. Albus Dumbledore could have dug his nails in and had Fudge fired as soon as the man slandered Dumbledore and yourself, and would have held the respect of the Wizengamot for refusing to allow such ridicule without any proof behind it. The sole reason things played out as they did was that Dumbledore chose not to exercise the powers his office granted to him."

Another nail to the coffin of Harry's trust towards the headmaster and his order, and a dozen of them for the thoughts of staying in Britain any longer than necessary. At this point, he was more inclined to take his money and do a runner. Sirius was dead, the Weasleys were traitors, Dumbledore was a manipulative old goat, and Hermione was either in on the plot or too blinded by her authority worship to see it.

"I see. You said in the letter I was emancipated, does that mean I could withdraw from Hogwarts, leave Britain and seek magical education elsewhere on my own terms? Also, um can I transfer money elsewhere when I leave or would I have to pack it up and take it with me physically?" He found this a bit of a sticking point, the amount of wealth in just his trust vault was enough to discourage him of the idea of carrying it all on his person when leaving Gringotts, and besides he figured the goblins would rather find another solution to secure his gold for him than see it leave the bank as well.

"Yes to the emancipation, yes to withdrawing, and yes to finding another means for acquiring your education. Another school or tutors are both an option, and if you prefer you could do self-study and test out after a certain period of time. As for the finances, worry not Mr. Potter Gringotts maintains a number of banks across the world. If you wish we can transfer your wealth to one of the other branches the same day we hand you a portkey to that country along with a suitable amount of money to cover the transfer period of one or two business days." The goblin spoke in a calm tone of voice, seeming at ease once the topic switched back to finances at least.

"Good, then I would like to get started with all of that as soon as we've dealt with the emancipation and private will-reading. No offense towards Gringotts but I don't feel either I or my money is safe in Britain, the recent events have eroded any trust I might have held towards either the headmaster or the Ministry, and I don't want them drafting me to the Aurors or trying to blackmail me by my family funds." Harry winced at the thought of that. He could get by with little, living at Dursleys had taught that lesson, but he really did not want to see his parents money land in the greedy hands of the Weasleys, the Ministry, or Dumbledore.

"If you wouldn't mind handing out the letter you said that Dumbledore sent you we can present it as evidence of attempt to tamper with the will-reading of the Head of Most Ancient and Noble House of Black by removing the primary beneficiary from the will-reading entirely, leaving said will vulnerable to challenge from other living relatives of the Black family. Although your godfather's instructions neuter those voices rather efficiently." There was a wicked grin on the goblin's face, and Harry was quickly reminded that the goblins were indeed warrior folks. Another note, nobody should have teeth that sharp and white, a shark would have been envious of them.

"Oh, it is in my left pocket, I stuffed it there with dragon hide gloves as I was suspicious his letter might be a portkey since it was delivered in haste by Dumbledore's phoenix. How that man can hold onto a Phoenix is beyond me though." Harry shook his head finding the whole thought puzzling.

"That would be easy, seeing as Albus Dumbledore doesn't have any bond with Phoenixes, only Hogwarts does. Hogwarts has had a phoenix since times immemorial, though the latest prints of Hogwarts a history have all censored that fact, and few older people seem to consider it a fact worth mentioning. There's also the fact that said phoenix is bound to serve the Headmaster as long as they maintain control of the castle and its wards, unless their claim to their position is never approved by Hogwarts itself. This has only happened a few times, and said headmasters were the worst in Hogwarts history."

Harry's eyes had widened at this little tidbit, and the thought of how Hermione would have sputtered and stared at him if he told her that little detail about her favorite book and its censoring almost made him smile again. If only he could be sure about her, but he could not risk it, especially when he was planning to leave all of them behind. It was the second summer in a row they abandoned him, a death weighing heavily on his shoulders. Ron was beyond shedding any tears for, but losing Hermione hurt.

Nevertheless, at the time the goblin man slipped on his hand a sturdy glove before reaching to Harry's left pocket that he had indicated, carefully pulling out Dumbledore's letter before holding it up. A spear's tip was thrust through the corner to hold it aloft and carry it along by one of the two guards following them, while the goblin manager kept going as if nothing happened, drawing the glove off of his hand casually at the time.

"Now, Mr. Dumbledore's suspicious activities with your trust vault aside, the sealing of your parents will is highly suspect as your placement was against explicit orders outlined there, and the fact it named Mr. Black as your oath-given Godfather and that your secret keeper was Peter Pettigrew all stand out as very serious black marks upon Mr. Dumbledore's tenure as your magical guardian. So is the fact that their will states that Lily Potter insisted upon sending you out of Britain to receive a quality magical education as opposed to the 'dumped down version' taught in Britain to appease the Pureblood elite." His expression showed his displeasure at this turn of phrase, and Harry had to pause on hearing it as well.

"Is it really that bad?" He asked this before he even really thought on it, realizing just how blinded he too had been about it. Of course it was bad. They had a bloody ghost for history who taught nothing relevant, they had the most obnoxious and unhelpful teacher possible in potions, the care of magical creatures was run by a well-meaning but incompetent man, whatever good things he did want to say about Hagrid did not change the fact the man was not ready to teach, and divination was a joke at best, and on the other subjects, he could just wonder how out of date their books were, and defense wasn't worth a mention.

"I see by your expression you already know the answer, but yes, Hogwarts has dropped several classes such as magical customs, alchemy, battle-magic has been watered down to the defense against the dark arts, the dark arts themselves are not taught at all, which Durmstrang does and despite what you may hear they are not evil, they just believe in being prepared. It is harder to find a counter-curse if you don't know what curse was used against you, after all. Then there are the classes in enchanting, healing, warding, magical arts, spell-making to continue what basics are taught in Arithmancy, and rituals." The goblin man allowed a weary sigh to escape his lips.

"Truthfully your British OWLs too are going to be looked upon with some suspicion, though they will be accepted, but it would be wise to do some additional studying and sign up for OWLs abroad to acquire more respected scores from more respected authority. The sole fact that ICW watches those grades closely is the only reason the purebloods aren't being awarded highest grades and muggle-born and half-bloods facing a grade or two grade reduction on their own scores, and even then the OWLs and NEWTs have to be run by the minimal grades, only the British Outstanding plus gets notice abroad as it tends to translate to at least Exceed Expectations in the international grades list."

Harry was baffled at how bad Hogwarts was, and quietly added McGonagall's name on the list as a con-man in charge of luring muggle-born in with false promises and claims that could not really be backed up at all then. Hogwarts might be the 'finest school in Britain' but 'the world' was a very clumsy lie and false advertisement. He silently wondered what it would do to Hermione's authority worship if he got his hands on undeniable proof of this and sent it to her later on. Finding himself still thinking about her this much though he quietly forced himself to let go of it at least for now. He could not tell for sure about her, but it would be safer to assume her to be in Dumbledore's camp and be proven wrong than to trust her and be returned to Dursleys and likely obliviated of all that he had learned.

"Then that is the last piece of evidence I needed to confidently say I am planning to leave Britain behind for good, hopefully by the time we are done with business here today, if that is possible to arrange? And would it be possible to make sure none of my money or assets is left behind either?" He looked at the goblin man he was walking with who seemed to think about it a moment.

"It will take a couple of hours to arrange for the right documents and a valid international portkey approved. Gringotts has its own portkeys but we may not allow their use to non-staff members unless we have permission for a particular person from the magical side of the government in their destination country. If you are willing to wait within the bank for that time, it can be arranged however. In fact, some of Mr. Black's suspicions point out that you might benefit from being seen to by a healer with no loyalties to either the Ministry or Mr. Dumbledore, which would consume a portion of the time it would take to prepare everything." Looking at Harry thoughtfully the goblin man smirked faintly.

"It would carry an additional fee for the haste but with a priority client I believe it would be a modest sum. The investments however are another matter, if you wish to pull out Potter investments from Britain that will take more than a day, possibly more than a week, although it is doable in two days if you are willing to take some losses of selling at beneath market price. Calling in debts owed to the House of Potter and those owed to House of Black will likely take even longer and may even call for a court case and solicitors, but those can be handled from abroad just as easily." The goblin man smiled while pushing open a door and leading him to a lavish office, while the pair of guards halted to wait at the sides of the door, rather than following Harry and the goblin manager into the room.

"Now before we begin, I would like to introduce myself to you. While your initial message was sent by Skulltaker who is the senior account manager who has been keeping watch on both the House of Black and the House of Potter for the last few years I believed this situation was one of such importance I preferred to handle it myself. Mr. Potter I apologize for the late introductions, but I am Director Ragnok, the head of the Gringotts London."

= End of Chapter 1 =

A/N: I'll start by admitting that I am just practicing how to write a story, and I hope people will recognize that the quality of the story may reflect that. I apologize for any cliché I may find myself writing or any plot bunnies I may leave behind by mistake for other people to stumble across. I am aiming to improve but I won't hide the fact that there likely will be some early mistakes and I hope to polish them out over time and some rewrites as necessary.

That said, this will be a partial adaptation to a Challenge I read before, named Blood Brandy's Vegas Wedding challenge. That means this story will be a Harry Potter crossover with Teen Titans and possibly more from DC verse.

I will be spending some time setting up the situation before the elements of the challenge will start popping up however, and I am at least at the early stage considering actually delaying the Vegas Wedding situation up until Harry's reached his 18th birthday. I am not entirely certain of the Teen Titans timeline, but I am considering having the ages more or less match each other so that by the time of the Vegas incident all involved will be of legal age to marry.

With that being said, I should note that this story is likely to involve some measure of bashing. The ones most likely to suffer from this are Severus Snape, Albus Dumbledore, Draco Malfoy, Ronald Weasley, Molly Weasley, and Ginevra Weasley in that order.

I consider Albus Dumbledore is one of two different possibilities. A well-intentioned but senile, bungling old meddler who doesn't really even begin to see the harm he is putting Harry through, waving it off as inconsequential, irrelevant, or surely exaggerated. This is if I am trying to see him as somewhat human but faulty, seriously faulty individual. However, especially in light of the last two books, I am far more convinced that Albus Dumbledore is a cold-blooded chess-master who believes that the ends justify the means, and believes that Harry's fate has already been sealed so his treatment up until that point is irrelevant as long as Albus Dumbledore gets what Albus Dumbledore wants. Manipulative, evasive, unhelpful but always willing to offer cryptic advice to give the impression he is actually on Harry's side, and more than happy to throw Harry into yet another challenge to test if he will sink or swim this time around.

Now, Severus Snape and Draco Malfoy have their share of love from some of the fandom, but personally I find both of them arrogant, sadistic bullies. With Severus, it seems deeply ingrained and given he willingly joined a terrorist organization, the death eaters, I don't think him worth even a thought of redemption. Draco Malfoy might be a bit more sympathetic figure considering he is what his parents made of him, but he never truly seemed to show any hesitation or concern unless it was about the risk of being caught. Both of them are the sort of people who will be bashed in this story if I run into a situation in writing where it seems appropriate to me.

The Weasleys, at least those named before, are a bit of a more complex mess. Molly's sanctimonious rants and howlers, as well as her treatment of Sirius in the man's own home are definitely points that make me wary of her. The potion talk about her and Mr. Weasley adds a more sinister feel to things, especially with how hen-pecked the man can be around her. Ronald's faults are a very long list, his betrayals are numerous, and he's proven himself a fair-weather friend at best, and a second generation Pettigrew in all likelihood. Ginevra is, unfortunately, a fan-girl and likely pushed by Mrs. Weasley to pursue her obsession.

I won't necessarily expend much effort in bashing the Weasleys, especially as I consider it possible that I am merely viewing them unfairly, but they will not play a large, positive role in this story at the least, as can already be seen from the first chapter.

I plan to take the plot from here to my own directions, steering back towards the adaptation of the Vegas Challenge in due time, but focusing first on the following 2 years before Harry reaches his 18th birthday. Also, despite this being an adaptation from Blood Brandy's challenge, no Sirius did not fake his death, he is actually dead, though I did decide to borrow the fact that he laid some groundwork down before his death.

Now, with all that said, I intend to keep writing with some 3k to 4k+ words per chapter, between the stated beginning and end of the chapter, with Author's note and disclaimer the length they happen to be in addition to that.