A/N – Attempt at writing something new and better than my last attempt in Harry Potter fanfic, Harry will be stronger and won't win all of his battles by sheer luck, he will be able to use magic better and generally will be smarter or will have a reason to pay attention. Reviews are appreciated.
Sagittarius Castor de Normandie entered lobby of Gringott Bank, he was man in his mid thirties with a mane of jet black hairs that were extremely messy, he had indigo color eyes and was wearing formal robes as expected from Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of de Normandie. They were made out of red silk with multiple gold stitches all over them and with large snarling Griffin on the back of them, incal of his family.
"I wish to speak with Potter family account manager." He said to one of tellers when he stopped in front of their desks.
"What is the reason for such request?" Asked goblin without even rising from above his book with ledgers as he was counting money.
"That" Sagittarius fished out small necklace with a golden Griffin on it. "I think it will be more than enough to let me see him."
"Of course Lord de Normandie, you are allowed to see him" Said apologetically that goblin and snapped his fingers. Moments later in front of him stood another goblin. "Take Lord de Normandie to Potter family account manager."
"Follow me" Said goblin and Sagittarius hurried after him as he wanted to roast someone for few things. After few minutes of walk they arrived in front of the doors with golden plaque on them. Sagittarius entered without knocking as he knew he was expected.
"Lord de Normandie how may I help you this fine day?" Asked goblin that was sitting behind giant mahogany desk.
"I'm here about will of my late cousin Lord James Charlus Potter and his wife Lady Lily Evalyn Potter née Evans." Said Sagittarius once he took his seat "It should be executed eight years ago or so and still it isn't. Previously I was occupied on the continent, but now I'm here and I'm angry."
"What do you mean by the fact that it wasn't executed?" Asked goblin as he looked like he wanted to murder someone. "I thought it was executed."
"No, it wasn't." Hissed Sagittarius as he tried to control his fury "If it was my second cousin once removed would be in care of my family, yet he isn't."
"Let me see." Muttered goblin as he searched through drawers of his desk, after few moments of it he found a think folder. He handed it to Sagittarius who quickly scanned it and slammed it onto the desk.
"Are you insinuating that this is their will?" Yelled Sagittarius as he wasn't able to control his rising fury. "This is badly written fake." He took the folder, rised from his place and quickly walked out of the office, slamming doors in the process. He stormed through the corridors and walked to the doors at the end of the hallway, with two guards standing in front of them.
"Director Ragnok is free." Said one of them as they bowed to Sagittarius who only nodded and stormed past them. He was furious and someone would pay for that, his family had ties all over the Europe and could make life for certain people unpleasant.
"Lord de Normandie" Politely said Ragnok, who was director of Gringott and one of Goblin kings. "How may I serve you?"
"Goblin responsible for Potter accounts lied to me." Snarled Sagittarius as he threw the folder onto the desk. "I saw original of their will and this is fake, badly written one. I don't care what you do with it, but I want to see proper will at the end of the day or things will get much nastier."
Ragnok took the folder and quickly scanned content of it, when he came to the end he was almost ready to murder someone. Someone broke enough laws to hang hundreds of people and he did that really badly and he wasn't going to let that pass.
"Guards!" He yelled, fury visible in his voice. Moments later two goblin in heavy armor burst through the doors. "Whoever is responsible for Potter accounts is to be thrown into a cell. Fetch me original of Potter will place in Black family vault."
"I see you reached the same conclusion." Said Sagittarius with a wry smile on his face.
"Yes" Snarled Ragnok "Nobody steals from our customers."
"Good" Sagittarius nodded at those words as they were true.
"I suppose you will take care of Lord Potter and his upbringing?" Ragnok asked as they waited for the proper document. He also sent for some mead for his guest.
"Yes" Said Castor as he drunk rather good mead. "I'm his cousin once removed and Orion Sagittarius is four years older while Regulus Leo is year younger. So I will do that, can you check what happened to my other cousin?"
"Sirius Orion Regulus Arcturus Black?" Asked Ragnok and Sagittarius only nodded. "According to current data he is in Azkaban for revealing where Potter were to You-Know-Who."
"What?" Snarled Sagittarius as he heard those words, it seamed he would need to take care of few problems.
"According to what is written he was sentenced for revealing where they were as he was their Keeper and for murder of Pettigrew." Said Ragnok once Sagittarius calmed down.
"That is interesting." Said Castor as he considered those facts, it would suit whoever made that fake to also eliminate Sirius Black.
"Whoever wrote that fake and one responsible for sending him there are connected in one way or another." Said Ragnok and at the same time entered goblin with another folder with last will. He placed it in front of Ragnok and disappeared from the room. Ragnok pushed it onto other side of the desk.
Sagittarius opened it and examined seals and signatures that were there, Griffin rampart of Potter, Eagle of Black and two Lions of de Normandie.
"It's original version of it." He said after a moment. Once he was sure it was original and true version of it, he started reading it.
Last will and testament of Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter James Charlus Potter and Lady Lily Evalyn Potter née Evans
All previous testaments and wills are null and this is our last will. We are both sound of mind and body.
1. Petunia Dursley née Evans is disinherited
2. 10,000 galleons to Peter Pettigrew for being our Secret Keeper, however if we will be killed he is disinherited and should be punished.
3. 10,000 galleons and Apartment in London to Sirius Orion Regulus Arcturus Black for being for us.
4. In case we are killed order of guardianship is as follows.
1) Sagittarius Castor de Normandie and his family. My first cousin and great friend.
2) Alice and Frank Longbottom, due to Alice being Hadrian godmother.
3) Sirius Orion Regulus Arcturus Black, due to him being Hadrian godfather.
4) Amelia Susan Bones, great friend of the family and distant cousin.
5) Andromeda Druella Tonks née Black and Ted Tonks, great friend of the family and distant cousin.
6) Petunia Dursley is never allowed to be a guardian of Hadrian
5. Everything else that we own belongs to our son and heir Hadrian James Arcturus Orion Potter
Signed:
Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter James Charlus Potter
Lady Lily Evalyn Potter née Evans
As a witness:
Albus Wulfric Percival Brian Dumbledore
Sagittarius Castor de Normandie
Ragnok IV
Sirius Orion Regulus Arcturus Black
Remus James Lupin
"I think that explains couple of things." Stated Sagittarius once he read the whole document.
"It does" Agreed Ragnok "What are you planning to do with it?"
"I want all transactions made from Potter vaults starting till 31st October 1981 double checked and ones harming state of vaults being canceled. Freeze completely those vaults and look through the ledgers, check for any suspicious things." Said Sagittarius and Ragnok nodded.
"I will do that and my staff will known that I'm displeased with their performance. And you what are going to do?"
"Raise hell in the Ministry." Said Sagittarius "They forgot that Ours is fury, Ours is wrath are words of my house."
"It will be interesting." Nodded Ragnok as he watched Lord of de Normandie storm out of his office.
o-0-o
Sagittarius appeared in the lobby of the Ministry and stormed to the office of Amelia Bones, who he knew would help him.
"Lord de Normandie how may I help you?" She asked as she saw him storming into her office and looking rather angry if she was right.
"Where should we start?" Mused Sagittarius "Fake will of my late cousin? Hadrian being in care of wrong people? Or maybe my cousin thrown into Azkaban for being innocent?"
"What do you mean by that?" Asked Amelia with narrowed eyes, those were serious accusations.
"As you should know James and I were cousins and somehow in a will place in Gringott I'm disinherited and stripped of all rights." Said Sagittarius as he took out two folders and placed them on the desk. "Proper version was hidden in Black family vault and Director Ragnok was most displeased when he heard the story."
"I see" She said as he picked them up and scanned the content of them. "Rufus!"
"Ma'am you called?" Said man in his forties as he entered the room.
"Yes" She said and looked at him. "I want you to bring me all data available on Hadrian James Arcturus Orion Potter or whatever is his name in files. And get last will of Lord Potter, also all data on the case of Sirius Black."
She waited for the doors to get closed before she looked at Sagittarius with curiosity visible in her eyes. Before she dared to say any more words she raised her wand and muttered incantations for privacy and secrecy spells. Her office was warded to prevent from spying on her, but in this case she wanted to be sure she was completely safe.
"Why didn't you come here earlier?"
"Because of mess in France, someone claimed one of our estates and for last eight years we were fighting to get it back." Sighed Sagittarius "I couldn't get to England as they would see that as a weakness and conceding, so I needed to stay there. Now I'm here and I'm angry, not I'm furious."
"I see" She said and looked at the papers "It will get done, tracking down Hadrian will be troublesome as nobody knows where he is. I will personally take care of this."
"Thank you."
"By marriage we are third or fourth or even more distant cousins." She said remembering the family tree at the same time through the doors came Head of Auror Department Rufus Scrimgeour with a couple of folders in his hands.
"That is all I could find on what you asked." He said placing them onto the desk and disappearing from the room.
"Harry James Potter?" Read Sagittarius "Harry never was Potter name, they were one of the oldest families and kept to the tradition. Also they rarely had one second name, James was supposed to have Leo Pollux if I remember correctly."
"Let's see" Amelia opened the folder and quickly scanned content of it. "There is almost nothing inside and only where he is supposed to be."
Sagittarius sighed at those words "Why do I have a feeling that someone did this on purpose?"
"Because someone most probably did this." Said Amelia with a wry smile on her face. "But anyways the most important data is here, it will needed to be corrected, but I will see it done and now Sirius Black."
"I will tell you only that you can throw all of those files into trash can." Said Sagittarius as he finished reading them, they were mostly useless. "From what Ragnok told me about the case they are wrong and I knew Sirius quite good, he would never betray my cousin."
"From what I know he grew up with James."
"He did" Agreed Sagittarius "After he was banished by his mother he was taken by Potter, yet he is still legal Heir to the House of Black as Arcturus never banished him and never stripped him of his title."
"Even more interesting." Mused Amelia "If it will be leaked hell will be raised and last affair will look as nothing."
"I plan on speaking with Daily Prophet, Wizarding Tribune and whatever else I will be able to." Grinned Sagittarius
"I better prepare for an assault of journalists and reporters." Sighed Amelia "But anyways this whole case of Sirius Black is a giant steaming pile of shit and he is innocent, question is who is guilty."
"Answer is in their will, Pettigrew he was an animagus. Shoddy one, but still, rat if I remember correctly." Said Sagittarius "For the record Sirius is also one, large black dog if I remember, James was stag and last of their group Remus is werewolf. Hadrian or Harry should be an animagus, I would guess either direwolf or phoenix his family had gift for being an animagus. I'm also animagus, lion."
"Should I know anything else?" Asked Amelia as she looked at the gold mine in front of her.
"Let's see what I remember, Petunia Dursley hates wizards, her husband isn't better and child or children won't be. One that probably put Harry or Hadrian there is Dumbledore." Said Sagittarius as he stroked his small beard and looked at Amelia.
"You won't have any troubles with taking care of Hadrian?" She asked
"Not the least." Sagittarius assured her "We are rich enough to support him, after all we are one of the Most Ancient and Noble Houses. I or Sirius will be probably named his regent until he is of age."
"Good" Nodded Amelia as she watched him "Give me two or three days to push paperwork through and you will be awarded guardianship."
"I can live with that. Now, if you excuse me I have few newspaper to visit and Gringott as Ragnok is furious."
"Oh?" Amelia eyes widened when she heard that Ragnok was furious. Goblins had a short temper, but it took some time to anger them and when they were furious it was seen and felt by everybody.
"Potter family account manager wasn't very cooperative, as well as there are questions about how well he was taking care of their accounts and estates." Explained Sagittarius as he walked out of the room.
o-0-o
Sagittarius apparated inside of the lobby of the office of Daily Prophet, it was a pleasant looking room with people milling around and minding their own business. When they saw him appariting there were some raised eyebrows, because unless he had some serious business he wouldn't appear.
"May I speak with publishing editor of Daily Prophet?" He asked after he stopped in front of the counter. "I have a story that he is going to be interested in."
"What is that?" Asked one of people seating behind it, they were receiving hundreds of such requests and they weren't going to allow everybody to see him.
"My second cousin once removed." Said Sagittarius in hushed voice "Or more properly lack of execution of will of my second cousin."
"Second cousin as in Lord Potter?" Quietly asked that person as she didn't want to cause too much ruckus as Boy-Who-Lived was rather famous.
"One and only." Nodded Sagittarius
"He will see you in a moment." She wrote something on a piece of paper and pointed Sagittarius to a doors behind. "Third doors on the left."
o-0-o
Once Sagittarius finished talking with the editor he used their Floo to get to Gringott which was as crowded as ever and he quickly walked to the office of Ragnok where be was pointed by goblins that were ordered to send him there. When he entered it he saw that the whole desk was covered in various papers, folders and whatnot along with giant bottle of mead and two goblets that were accompanying it.
Sagittarius poured himself a goblet of mead before he looked at Ragnok who looked like he was furious. "So how bad it is?"
"It's good and bad." Said director "All estates are untouched as they went on lock down upon their death, only that cottage in Godric Hollow is troublesome as who owns it is unclear and the fact that wards were blown to pieces."
"What about their vaults?"
"Here are troubles." Sighed Ragnok "While he didn't have access to main vaults as those require either written permission from owner of it or being from the same family and having key or having one of rings. From trust vaults disappeared quite a lot of gold and other things. Tracking who got it from it will be troublesome as they used many vaults to hide their tracks, excluding one regular and quite hefty payment."
"Where?" Asked Sagittarius through clenched teeth. "And how much?"
"Petunia Dursley, twenty thousand galleons per year, which roughly give one hundred thousand pounds assuming the worst ratio, with best one hundred and fifty thousand." Ragnok pushed to Sagittarius couple of documents with transfers and ones about Petunia.
"Can you get that money back?" Asked Sagittarius once he finished reading them.
"Consider it done, it will take some time, but we will get every single piece of gold" Replied Ragnok smiling nastily and handed to Sagittarius thick folder "Here are exact data about Potter family estates."
Sagittarius opened it and quietly whistled when he saw what was there.
Potter Family Account – Vaults 917(trust, refilled yearly to 20,000 G), 53, 54, 55
Liquid assets:
59,000,000 G
2,698,201 S
580,869 K
Jewelry and artifacts:
15 wands
345 pieces of jewelry – estimated 15,000,000 G
400 paintings and portraits – 45,000,000
Holdings – 39 estates – 350,000,000 G
Shares – 489,000,000 G
"That's a lot" Said Sagittarius once he closed it and looked at Ragnok "We both know that it's now a matter of time before I will get his guardianship and regency, so can you assign my manager to Potter family account to clean the mess and start getting some income?"
"I will do that." Nodded Ragnok "Normally I wouldn't agree, but you are friend of goblins and his near living relative, which means that you are de facto regent."
"Thank you." Said Sagittarius as he rose from his chair and finished mead in his goblet "That's all my business for today."
o-0-o
Sagittarius apparated to de Normandie castle, which was located on the cliff in Kent with a beautiful view of sea on one side and extensive gardens and forests on the other. He landed in the entrance hall where were hanging tapestries showing hunting scenes and their family tree. After few minutes of walk and couple of secret passages he was on the terrace where was sitting his mother Dorea Andromeda de Normandie née Potter with his sons.
"It was supposed to be a quick visit to Gringott." She said once she saw him.
"It was supposed, but it isn't." Sighed Sagittarius "But I was forces to speak with Director Ragnok, pay a visit to Amelia and once again go to Ragnok."
"What did you find?"
"Fake will of James and later true version of it as well as explanation what happened to Hadrian." Said Sagittarius as he helped himself to a juice that was there.
"And what happened?" Asked Druella as she was rather fond of James.
"Landed with Muggles, I talked with Amelia and she knows what needs to be done about it. Orion, Regulus go see your mother, I need to talk privately with grandma." Said Sagittarius as he looked at his children who pouted, but disappeared into the castle.
"So what is so secret that you need to speak with me alone?" Asked Druella looking at her son, who took most of his features from her, only his indigo eyes came from his father.
"I will claim guardianship of him. I have the best claim as second cousin once removed, Amelia said she will get everything done, but that's the easy part of it." He said sighing "Someone was messing with their vaults as there are weird transfers of money from the trust vault. And there is problem with those Muggles."
"Let me guess, worst kind of them. Lily sister." Said Druella folding her fingers and smoothing her clothes.
"Yes" Nodded Sagittarius and took out two folders, he laid them on the table between them. "In one is fake, in second is proper version of it."
"Fake looks amusing." She stated after reading it "Original looks how it should look. I know that your are hiding something, what is it?"
"Papers in the Ministry are lacking and full of mistakes, where it should be Hadrian James Arcturus Orion Potter there is Harry James Potter."
"Looks like works of certain goat." Mused Druella as her eyes narrowed and landed on her son "Only he would do something like that. So what are you planning to do in regards of Hadrian or Harry?"
"We both know that Potter family have a lot of enemies so apparition, animagus, basics of potions, some transfiguration, charms, family magic and some magic oriented for battles. Maybe also how to make and use emergency portkeys." Mused Sagittarius and added "And de Normandie also have quite a lot of them and they might strike at him."
"Quite a good idea." She nodded "What will be his form as animagus?"
"If I was going to guess direwolf or phoenix, uncle was phoenix, but from what I heard from James before they were killed he managed to turn into Padfoot and that suggest strong ties with canines. So direwolf it is." Mused Sagittarius "But you taught me that they are unpredictable and hard to guess what will be the form of person."
"I did." Druella nodded with small smile at those words, it took her a lot of time to beat that lesson into the head of her son. "I think I agree with you about that, but it's weird thing and we might be surprised, but I think you are right."
Sagittarius looked at the window that was blocking access from the room and saw couple of impatient people inside. "They won't survive much more, will they?"
"No" Dorea shook her head lightly "Let them in."
"As you wish, mother." Said Sagittarius as he pointed his wand at the doors which flew open thanks to that bit of magic. "You may come."