Title: Gringott's Lesser Known Branch
Rating: G – with the possibility of going up (it is just a plot bunny after all)
Summary: Few in the Wizarding world have a true understanding of the inner structure of the Goblin Nation or its corporate representative to the wizarding community, Gringott's Bank, much less any clue about how far they will go to protect their investments.
A Profitable Investment,
Harry had barely even a moment to blink as the door to his cupboard was flung open; a hand that wasn't his aunt's, uncle's, or cousin's reached in and dragged him out; and a shiny metal stick with odd writing was waved in front of his face.
Soft odd whispers in a different language than any he had ever heard on the telly captured his attention lulling him into a strange passivity when he really did know that he should be frightened – particularly, when his aunt was shrieking in a strangely high pitched scream unlike any of the screams that she made for mice or spiders or roaches or even the really scary scream that she made when he sometimes caused ... odd things to happen.
He knew he should have been frightened by the oddly flat voice that instructed his aunt, "We are dissatisfied with the current level of neglect that you demonstrate in the maintenance and upkeep of your nephew. After investigation, it was discovered that this situation has continued unchecked since he was initially placed in your custody by Albus Dumbledore six years ago. As neither the wizarding nor muggle communities have seen fit to intervene in your nephew's behalf, despite his strategic importance, the board of directors has seen fit to invalidate your assignment of custody without penalty. If you choose to dispute this action, you have thirty days to employ a barrister from the ministry of magic to issue an application for appeal to the nearest Gringott Branch in Little Hampstead. If no appeal is filed, the matter will be marked closed at the end of the appeal period.
If, however, you do wish to file an appeal, instruct your barrister to include copies of all receipts paid for the care and upkeep of your nephew as well external, third-party testimony to the fact that the materials purchased were used solely for the upkeep and care of Harry Potter. If these receipts fall within the currently accepted standards for the care and maintenance of wizarding children, the matter will be forwarded to the Board of Appeals, who will initiate a secondary, year-long investigation into the past and present circumstances of your household to determine whether you are capable of caring for the child appropriately. If it is deemed necessary, in the process of this investigation, to alert authorities regarding the results of the board's inquiry, Gringott's does not have a preference of jurisdiction and you may petition the board to submit the results to a governing body of your choice, be it muggle or wizarding. Are these instructions clear to you?"
"Y-y-ye-s, " Harry's aunt stuttered, apparently understanding more of the gravely voiced instructions than Harry did.
"Very well," the voice commented as Harry felt himself being lifted and propped against what he suspected was a shoulder. "Good Afternoon, then, you may expect a bill for our services to be delivered by owl within twenty four hours."
"Wh-wha-t are you going to do with him until ..." Aunt Petunia finally recovered a bit of her familiar tone and sense to ask a question that Harry was only just then beginning to ask himself.
"Until the matter is settled satisfactorily, Mr. Potter will be placed in the supervision of a caretaker employed by Gringott's in one of its lesser known branches. If you should wish to contact myself or the representative to arrange visitation with your nephew, the instructions will be included with my bill. Good Afternoon."
"But, but-- --" Harry thought his aunt had said something else after that, but the door closing in her face had cut her words off.
Thirty-one Days Later,
Harry was tightening the strap at his collar for the second time when the door opened behind him.
"Second Assistant, Hibby, Sir. Could you show me how to do my lead again? I don't think I will ever get this right."
"I will be certain to inform Hibby of that necessity, Harry."
"Mgr. Griphook, Sir!" Harry spun on his heels and dropped into a deep respectful bow. "I'm sorry, Sir. I didn't realize that I should expect you this morning. I would have been ready earlier."
"Yes, yes. Harry. I realize that this meeting would come as a surprise, but merely for the fact that management wished to be certain that the Dursleys did not intend to pursue an appeal before we arranged for your ongoing training."
Lowering himself from his polite bow, to kneel on one knee, Harry silently indicated that he had a question and waited hopefully to be acknowledged.
"Harry, this is not the first time that I have had to tell you that you are neither a domesticated elf nor a goblin, proper. You may ask your question without a customary display of obeisance – in accordance with your wizarding background."
"Yes, Mgr. Griphook, Sir, but is it not like scowling at goat'sblood soup? Muggle's and Wizards might be discourteous enough to sneer or scowl at the traditional offering made to guests, but it would not reflect well on the training and attention paid me by Gringotts if I was so discourteous."
"True, child. You do hold to your notions don't you. Very well, I have no objection to proper displays of courtesy – so long as they are not made in wizarding public, where they would diminish the image of our propriety or place our investments into speculation."
"Yes, Mgr."
"Now, that we have spent more time on an already spent subject, I believe you may have a question."
"Yes, Mgr. I am not surprised that my former relatives were willing to abandon their claim on me so readily, but ..." Harry stumbled on his question and blushed with abject embarrassment.
The first lesson that he had learned under Manager Griphook's supervision was that time was money. A question should not be asked before it was fully ready to be answered succinctly and definitively. Hesitation and ambiguity were intolerable.
This time, however, his manager seemed to understand, though not without a raised eyeridge.
"But... why has no one else made a claim on you? Did we not publish it publicly enough for interested parties to respond within the alloted time period?" he suggested.
Harry nodded, still embarrassed, but less so when it was clear that he understood what he wanted to ask.
"Child, I cannot answer to that. You saw yourself the announcement placed in the Daily Prophet, and other wizarding papers. The Minister, himself, did inquire – but for the reasons that we explained to you on your arrival, we did not feel that either he or the Headmaster- who both allowed you to be placed at your relatives without further follow up, were sufficiently concerned with your well-being and potential to adequately protect our investments. He was, however, persuaded to accept that you would be better placed in our care than in the Headmaster's. As far as the Headmaster is to be considered, while he was named as the executor of your parent's wills, when he placed you with your aunt, he expressly and explicitly broke the terms of these documents and no longer has a vested claim in your custody."
"Yes, Mgr. Thank you for answering my question."
"Information is power, Harry. We profit nothing by allowing you to make ill informed decisions."
Nodding quietly, Harry returned to the quarter bow that was permitted once a junior member had been engaged in a discussion.
"Now, on to other matters. You will need a change of wardrobe for this morning. President Ragnrok wishes to make an appraisal of you this morning to determine the proper direction of our time and galleons."
"I'll change immediately, Mgr." Harry answered obediently, already subconsciously reaching to remove his training collar and halter.
"Ah, yes, but into what? How should you best display yourself?" Mgr. Griphook asked quietly.
Recognizing it as a test, Harry thought hurriedly over everything that Mgr. Griphook, First Assistant Ebby and Second Assistant Hibby had told him over the past month, and pulled open his drawers to examine the eight sets of attire that the elves had cut, sewn, and charmed specifically to his size and needs. Finally, acting on instinct, he pulled out his physical training outfit. Unlike the tunnel training outfit, his physical training uniform did not need a collar and halter that could be linked to a magical guideline, which would keep him from falling or being injured in any of the numerous tunnels and carts tracks that littered Gringott's underground facilities.
Instead, it was quite like the gym uniform he had worn at his muggle school, but with tight black tank and shorts were matched by closely tailored gym shoes, like a gymnast might wear. Instead of hiding his lack of physical development under overlong shirts and baggy shorts, his current physical training outfit clung tightly to his skin showing off what little muscle tone he had been able to develop in his stringy muscles over the past month. He knew he didn't look impressive in it, and wondered if he had made the correct choice when he turned back around to see Mgr. Griphook's eyeridges raised sharply.
"That is an interesting choice," Griphook commented in a stern tone. "Would you care to explain your decision? This hardly accentuates the strength of your assets."
"A property's impenetrable wards, impregnable walls, and marble columns are for not, if the property beneath can not support its weight." Harry quoted the mgr.'s own instruction on the importance of understanding the weakness of every investment.
"Very well." Griphook agreed with a smirk, "Let us see if the President and Senior Partners concur. Five paces should be sufficient."
Falling in five paces behind his manager, Harry quietly whispered the mantra of 'inescapable' rules that he had been instructed in – one a day – since his manager had deposited him in the care of his personal assistants, Ebby and Hibby.
"The first inescapable rule of existence is that time is money."
"The second - principle hoarded is profit lost."
"The third – knowledge is principle waiting to be spent."
"The fourth – an unasked question is profit lost."
"The fifth – image is the shepherd of success, intelligence is its coin."
"The sixth – a weakness is an profit in disguise."
"The seventh – there is no greater folly than action without knowledge."
"The eighth – a competitor's spy is your best servant."
"The ninth – your spy is your competitor's untilgiven a stake in your profit."
"The tenth – a tarnished sickle still weighs the same."
"The eleventh – if the scale's don't balance, weigh again."
"The twelfth – the first duty on waking and last duty before sleeping is to balance accounts."
"The thirteenth – a knut miscounted is a galleon lost"
"The fourteenth – the galleon's seed is a knut."
"The fifteenth – savor the fruit but plant the seed."
"The sixteenth – a hen killed is an opportunity lost."
"The seventeenth – one can see the dropped knut when he bows deeply enough."
"The eighteenth – diplomacy serves two roles: to ease a knife into your back and to ease it out."
"The nineteenth – trust is a commodity when given by others- a folly when given to others."
"The twentieth – blood and friendship bought cheaply are soon spent."
"The twenty-first – wards and walls are for not, if the ground can not support their weight."
"The twenty-second – a foundation of stone will crack if built upon water."
"The twenty-third – before laying the foundations, dig deep."
"The twenty-fourth – an estate is lost through a hole in the pocket."
"The twenty-fifth – never trust an elf you don't own, never mistreat an elf you do."
"The twenty-sixth – elves and children hear everything, consult them if in doubt."
"The twenty-seventh – if the road splits into two paths – you can only take one."
"The twenty-eighth – you'll find no gold on a well-walked path."
"The twenty-ninth – invest only what you are willing to risk; risk only what you are willing to gain."
"The thirtieth – if you will not invest in yourself, neither will Gringotts."
When he was about to begin the mantra a second time, Mgr. Griphook flicked his claws appreciatively and complimented, "Down to the knut, Harry. I imagine you'll be wearing a coin belt even sooner than Hollow-eyes suspected."
Harry flushed at the implied double compliment. He had guessed that the tunnel manager had been pleased with the number of reports that his team had delivered to their respective offices, but if the staunch tunnel manager had spoken with his manager, Hollow-eyes must have been pleased.
"Thank you, Mgr. Griphook." Harry answered eagerly.
Once he earned one of the knotted coin belts, Harry could start earning knuts and sickles to invest in additional tutoring sessions with the various trainers and purchase some of the materials and supplies that had been holding him back from his preparatory lessons in potions, herbology, transfiguration, and runes. Arithmacy and accounting were the only subjects that he was not being held back in due to a lack of materials, but as they were more complicated subjects, he was certain that he would soon need to schedule additional sessions with those instructors as well.
Almost before Harry realized it, Mgr. Griphook had stopped and was opening a door to the larger conference room. Harry had never been in it before, so he was a little bit stunned at its spartan interior. He had expected the meeting room to be decorated befitting the rank of their visitor.
Mgr. Griphook had mentioned previously that although President Ragnrok had initiated the Little Hampstead Branch offices, some forty years earlier, to address matters of the wizarding community's general unwillingness to protect some of their more strategically placed offspring, he did not generally dabble in their day to day activities. He preferred instead to leave the offspring in the hands of tested and generally trusted managers – visiting only when new 'investments' were found to appraise their suitability for the program that he had initiated.
Some, regrettably, lacked the mental and emotional wherewithal to benefit from the program and had to be turned over to the ministry of magic for obliviation and often had been returned to their original guardians – but those who did possess the requisite facilities were taken in and trained to the height of their abilities. By all reports, their latest investment seemed to be the latter, but protocol had to be adhered to even in regards to the famed boy who lived, and the President had been waiting most curiously to observe with the boy.
Watching the child's interaction with his investment manager, from earlier, in the charmed viewing screen, Ragnrok was pleased by the respectful manner that child showed his manager and amused by the boy's astute observation on the fallacy of wizarding ettiquette. Griphook had apparently done a thorough job of teaching the boy the Thirty rules... Well enough, that the child could integrate them into casual conversation and explain his choice of Garb. The child's quick deference and abeyance were satisfying as well. Perhaps this child, would indeed become an advocate between the Goblin Nation and the Wizarding community that Ragnrok had been hoping for when he initiated the branch. The final coin in the bag was the child's disconcerted expression when he entered the meeting room. Clearly, he had been expecting something different something that bespoke of a President's presence.
"Yes, this child is going to be a profitable investment." Ragnrok commented in gobbledygook to Griphook; he could feel it in his eye teeth, and his teeth had never been wrong.