The front door of the famed wizarding bank Gringotts opened as a man with jet black hair carrying a briefcase walked in and proceeded toward the back of the entry room. People conducting their business did a double take as the man walking down the room looked familiar but they could not identify him. When the man reached the desk at the very back of the room, the goblin at the desk set his quill down and put his hands together preparing to do business with a small glimmer of recognition showing in his eye.
The young man spoke, "Good evening Griphook, I have come to complete the business we began some time ago."
Griphook's mouth split wide with a toothy grin before he replied, "Yes indeed. We have been waiting for your return for quite some time Mr. Potter."
The next few minutes found Harry being escorted to a private room, heavily warded against prying ears and eyes due to the nature of business conducted in this room. He was offered a cup of tea which he accepted and began to sip at it. Griphook entered the room and sat in the chair opposite Harry's, with a look of anticipation in his eye, obviously eager to know why the young man before him had returned and what manner of financial opportunities this would bring.
"Mr. Potter, to what do we owe the pleasure of your business today?" Griphook asked, observing the formalities.
"Please Griphook, I have asked you to call me Harry. I felt it was time I came home, I've been away for quite some time," Harry replied. "I have also come here because I think my books are in need of an update." He opened his briefcase and pulled out a thick file folder, and handed it to the shrewd goblin.
Griphook's eyes widened slightly as he skimmed over the accounts, knowing that he would look over them in much more depth shortly after their immediate business was complete.
"It would appear you have done quite well for yourself during your time away from us Mr. Potter."
Harry sighed, realizing he would never win the battle against formality, "Yes, well I did look into investments there trying to find out for myself what were good investments and bad from what I learned here briefly. But I found some help and soon I was doing quite well for myself as you put it."
Griphook put the folder down and looked at Harry for a long while, phrasing his next question just right, "Would that mean that you are no longer in need of our services other than as a holding agency?"
"Oh heavens no! You've done wonders with my money from what I've seen in the statements I've received. By all means, continue on with your work and feel free to use the money I've brought back and the income I will be receiving as well, you should know by now I trust you completely with my money."
Griphook's smile grew wider than it had been in a long, long while, "And what a wondrous thing that trust is Mr. Potter. Now would you like to visit your vaults before you leave or would you like to come back another day?"
Harry walked along the sidewalk of a quiet street, the homes empty since their inhabitants were out performing their daily routines. He came to stop at a spot on the sidewalk he knew well looking at where a place no muggle on that street or in the world had a clue existed. As he gave the silent command, out of nowhere a house emerged, seeming to shove its neighbors to the side to make room for its massive bulk. Harry looked at the place he could now call home, a place where his godfather had lived until the last day of his life, as he walked up the short pathway to Number Twelve Grimmauld Place.
The moment Harry opened the door his feet were almost knocked out underneath him as a small form had a death grip on his legs.
"Master Potter! You have returned at last, Dobby waited for you he did. Dobby always knew you would come back, Dobby and Winky have kept the house nice and clean for you."
"Thank you Dobby it's good to see you too, but do you think you could let go of my legs so I could walk again?" Harry asked the house elf with a smile. The house elf had not changed much since he had left, other than he now wore more suitable clothes, something resembling a uniform.
"Dobby, my things will be arriving shortly, please see that they are taken to my room, and if you would have dinner ready at about 6:30. Thank you"
"Of course Master Potter, Dobby will have it done before you know it!" and with that Dobby disappeared before Harry could even request for him to use his first name.
Harry entered the house and closed the door behind him, looking around remembering the house and how it had looked before he left. It had been several years since he had been here, but not much had changed in that time.
"Welcome home Harry," he murmured to himself absently. He made his way to the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea before deciding where he should go next. He was sure he wanted to keep out of the public eye for awhile, he didn't need to be bombarded with the press questioning him every five seconds about where he had been and the like.
He walked in to find a woman of striking beauty sitting at the table drinking her own cup of tea and reading the Daily Prophet. Without looking up the woman gestured to the stove and said, "Tea's hot and ready, feel free to grab a cup."
"Why thank you Narcissa, how nice of you to put the tea on." Harry said, an amused look plastered on his face.
The woman looked up startled and her face paled at the sight before her, "Harry? I…Is that really you?"
"Yea, it's me, I decided it was time for me to come home, and here I am."
Narcissa rushed up and pulled him into a hug, as if needing to assure herself that he was physically there. "It's so good to have you home, now sit down, have a cup of tea and let's catch up. You've been gone quite some time."
Harry filled a cup with the tea from the stove and realized as he poured it, how much he had missed British tea. "You first, I need to know what's been going on here since I left, didn't have any way to receive current updates while I was away."
"Alright Harry but you do have some explaining to do after I finish, so be ready to spend the next few days telling me where the hell you've been. But before I start tell me, where on earth did your glasses go?" Harry's mouth split into a wide and mischievous grin.
Harry spent the next few hours listening to Narcissa tell him about what had happened during his time away from home. He learned about Voldemort's attacks, the dementor outbreak, and he even shed a tear when he heard that Dumbledore had been killed. He regretted that he would never have the chance to make peace with his old mentor, but he pushed that to the back of his mind to pay attention to the rest of the news.
"And for the past few months the Death Eaters have been pretty quiet. Surprisingly there haven't been many attacks since about two years after you left. It's almost like it wasn't any fun for them anymore. The ministry thinks they are building an army to take over, but who knows," Narcissa finished, shrugging.
"Has Fudge taken any action to make an army to oppose him?" Harry asked.
"OH! I forgot to tell you, Fudge is no longer the Minister of Magic, he got sacked and was replaced by someone named Scrimgeour. But as to the army? No one is really into fighting You Know Who, without their savior and leader, the great Harry Potter," she said with a smirk.
Harry rolled his eyes at this. "I left to get away from all that. I know I have to kill Voldemort and that's what brought me back really, but I'm sick of being The Boy Who Lived, I just want it to be over." He sighed and finished his umpteenth cup of tea.
They could hear the front door open and close and Narcissa motioned for Harry to be quiet, "Cissy we're back, are you in the kitchen?" came a familiar voice that startled Harry a little bit and he mouthed to Narcissa, Cissy?
"Yes, I'm in here and we have company," she called to the guests.
"I bet it's Padma or Pavarti, I guess its time for our weekly orgy." The young woman said as she walked into the kitchen. The scene a half second later was hilarious, proven as Narcissa burst into peals of laughter, Harry's face had a bewildered look on it and his jaw was nearly on the floor, His childhood friend stood in the doorway, shock written all over her face. "Hermione…….." was all Harry was able to sputter out.
"H…Ha…Harry?" was all she could say before she fell into a dead faint, the woman behind her crashing into her falling form. From the floor the woman looked up, smiled and said, "Wotcher Harry!"
Hermione came to about an hour later, groaning as she sat up, the foggy feeling and throbbing headache slowly leaving her body. She got up from the couch she was lying down on in the parlor, and shakily made her way to the kitchen, to find Narcissa, Tonks, and still to her shock, Harry, sitting around the table making small talk. They all turned when they saw her walk in.
"I…Is it really you Harry?" Hermione asked shakily.
"Yea, it's really me. I'm back Hermione." Harry replied, moving from his seat to go around and give his childhood friend a hug, as if to reassure her that he was in fact there, and not some figment of her imagination.
Once she gained her wits again, Hermione's face screwed up in anger and she slapped him as hard as she could.
"That's for leaving without a word to any of us. We were so worried about you, we thought that you had been captured by the Death Eaters and could have been killed."
Then Hermione threw her arms around him and crushed him in a hug, tighter than any hug he had had in a long while.
"And that's for coming back."
Harry was still in a state of shock from her slap, and as he came to his senses he realized that Hermione was crying silently. He wrapped his arms around her and tried to calm her down.
"Hermione it's ok, I'm back for good now, don't worry. I'm not going anywhere now," he said quietly.
After a few minutes, Hermione composed herself, and moved to take a seat at the table.
Tonks broke the uneasy silence by asking the questions everyone was wondering, "So Harry, where have you been for the past five years, and where are your glasses?"
Harry suddenly found himself looking at three women all giving him inquisitive gazes.
"To answer your second question, I had surgery done, it was quick and relatively painless, but now I don't have to worry about being blind without my glasses. The answer to your first question is not a short story, and unless you have a large chunk of time set aside I would wait for a better time to tell it."
"Harry, you show up unannounced and quite unexpected after five years and you think we wouldn't spend a week hearing about where you've been?" Hermione asked, the answer to her question obvious.
Harry sighed in resignation and began, "Alright, well you all know about what happened during the summer after our fifth year….."
(Five years ago)
Harry walked down the stairs of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, and walked slowly into the kitchen where Mrs. Weasley was making breakfast. He had moved here only three weeks after being back with the Dursleys and couldn't be any happier to be away from them.
As he entered he was surprised that Lupin was already there.
"What are you doing here so early Moony?" Harry greeted his friend as he took a seat at the table. Not a second after he sat down, a plate full of food appeared in front of him, Mrs. Weasley moving too fast in the kitchen for him to follow.
He began to dig in when Moony answered him, "Well I'll be taking you to Daigon Alley today, you haven't forgotten have you?"
Forgotten? Suddenly Harry remembered. That's right, today is the day they are going to read Sirius' will. He had received a letter notifying him of the reading and that he was mentioned in it. His face took on a blank expression as he thought of his deceased godfather. This was not lost on Remus and he tried to comfort the young man.
"Harry, it wasn't your fault, Sirius went to the Department of Mysteries on his own. You didn't push him into the Veil, Bellatrix did that. Sirius wouldn't want you to beat yourself up over this."
Harry nodded, but his expression didn't change. Hermione and Ginny came into the kitchen a few minutes later and greeted everyone before sitting down. Harry gave them both a smile before returning to his breakfast.
"Morning everyone, hope you slept well," Hermione said as she took her seat. "We should be getting our O.W.L. results back today, they should be here by the time you get back Harry. We really should start thinking about what classes we want to take to make sure we get them. Oh I hope I didn't get a Troll, or Dreadful."
Harry grinned at this. That's our Hermione, always worried about grades. He chuckled under his breath remembering all the times she had pestered him and Ron about their schoolwork, always threatening with the horrible jobs they would receive if they failed out of school.
He started cleaning his place but Molly shooed him out of the kitchen and he went upstairs to get dressed for the reading. When he got to the room he shared with Ron, he noticed his friend was still asleep and snoring loudly. He got dressed quietly and waited in the room until Remus announced that it was time for them to go. Harry slowly made his way downstairs and to the living room where Remus, Tonks, Moody, Arthur and Molly were waiting for him.
"Come on Harry, let's get going. Arthur, Tonks and Moody are going with us for protection and Tonks and Arthur are also mentioned in Sirius' will," Remus said as they all gathered around a large iron ring, that looked about a hundred years old.
"Well shall we?" Arthur asked, eager to get to Daigon Alley. "Don't worry Molly, we'll be back before you know it." He kissed her on the cheek and moved to take his place around the portkey.
"Just be careful Arthur, and take care of Harry," she replied.
In short order they were all in the Leaky Cauldron and making their way to Gringotts.
They entered and Moody took up his post at the entrance to the bank, and the rest approached the first open desk they saw.
"We are here for the reading of Sirius Black's will," Arthur announced when the goblin asked what their business was.
"Ah yes, follow me please," was all the goblin said before he disappeared behind the desk and reappeared around the side, motioning for them to follow. He led them to the back of the room and through a series of corridors before he stopped at a door.
"The reading will take place just through here," the goblin said, bowing before leaving them.
Harry was about to thank the goblin but he disappeared before he could get a word out. He was ushered into the room with the rest of the group and was surprised to see that only Tonks' mother was there besides them.
"Mum!" Tonks said as she ran and embraced her mother. "How have you been?"
"I'm fine, I just want to get this over with," Mrs. Tonks said, a small tear forming in her eye.
They had just taken their seats when the door opened again. They all turned around and Harry started reaching for his wand before he remembered he was still underage. Draco Malfoy strolled into the room with his mother Narcissa and they moved to take their seats.
"What are you doing here Malfoy?" Harry asked shortly.
"My mother and I were called here because my dear cousin Sirius left us the Black estate," Draco said, arrogant as ever.
"Now, now Draco, it is bad manners to act such, despite the differences you have," Narcissa chided.
"In your dreams, Malfoy," Harry muttered under his breath.
There was an awkward silence for a few minutes before another goblin walked in the door carrying something that looked vaguely like a pensieve. The goblin set the bowl down and then cleared his throat.
"My name is Gilnock, I will be presiding over the reading of the will of Sirius Arcturus Black. We will now begin."
With that he tapped the side of the bowl and a small image of Sirius appeared.
"I, Sirius Arcturus Black, of sound mind and body snort do hereby verify that this is my last will and testament, and that I have of my own volition given my possessions as I see fit. If you are seeing this then I am dead and my only hope is that I died well doing something heroic." The image smiled after this and continued, "Now that that's out of the way there are a few matters I wish to take care of before I give away my fortune, and return to the earth with nothing. Harry, I have always regretted not being able to raise you as your parents wished, but at least I can give you this much. I have prepared documents which will legally adopt you as my son and make you officially a part of the Black family, also enclosed are documents that would legally emancipate you. You don't have to do this but I would be most happy in the afterlife if you would."
The image paused at this and the goblin shuffled around and found the documents, he handed the papers to Harry and explained, "We have to take care of this before we can move on. You must either sign these or decline. We cannot proceed until you do."
Harry only looked at the papers for a moment before he began signing here and initialing there, and finished in less than a minute. He handed the papers back to the goblin, smiling with a small tear or two in his eyes.
"Very good Mister Potter Black, and as of now you are legally an adult," the goblin stated as he filed the paperwork. He wrote something on a piece of paper and put it into the pensieve and it flared up before settling back down. "Mr. Black had created two versions of the will depending on Mr. Potter Black's response and I have just told the pensieve which to display. Now we may continue."
The image of Sirius began speaking again, "Very good Harry, you have made me very happy. Now we can get on with giving out presents. To Andromeda Tonks, you were my favorite cousin and I regret that you were removed from the family. You should have been given more and for that I leave you the sum of 50,000 galleons. To your daughter Nymphadora Tonks I leave the sum of 25,000. You too should have been given more as you are also not a part of the Black family. To Remus Lupin, my brother in crime, as the last surviving Marauder I leave you the sum of 75,000 galleons. For the love of mike Moony buy some new clothes, find yourself a woman, and have some kids. We need a fresh batch of Marauders raising hell at Hogwarts.
"To Arthur Weasley, you and your family have treated Harry as one of your own these many years, and for that I can not express my gratitude enough. I can only offer this token of my appreciation, to you I leave the sum of 150,000 galleons for raising Harry as a son when I couldn't. To Draco Malfoy, as the son of my cousin I am forbidden to leave you out of my will, however, I leave to you the bare minimum of 100 galleons, though you don't deserve it. You are too much like my mother for your own good. To my other cousin Narcissa, I have chosen to leave you a substantial portion of the estate under a few stipulations: first that you leave that dreadful Death Eater husband of yours and retake the Black name; I regret that I must ask this next, you must also swear under Veritaserum that you will not lend aid to any Death Eater or work against Harry in any way. I wish for you to be safe again, but I must also look out for my adopted son as well.
"Lastly, to Harry Potter Black, my adopted son. I leave you the remaining monies, properties, and assets of the Black family. As of this moment you are also the head of the Black family and are now Baron Potter Black. Sorry for all the titles Harry, but it comes with the good. I only ask that you allow Andromeda and Nymphadora back into the family, as well as Narcissa if she chooses. Always remember I love you Harry, and I'll be looking down on you with your parents." As the image of Sirius faded, Harry had unshed tears in his eyes, and he noticed he was not the only one.
Draco on the other hand looked furious, "He can't do this, I should be the Heir to the Black estate!"
Gilnock looked directly at Draco and replied, "As Mr. Potter Black is now Mr. Black's adopted son and a member of the Black family, Mr. Black is free to distribute what he wishes to Mr. Potter Black." He then turned to Narcissa, "Mrs. Malfoy I have taken the liberty of writing up the papers to have you divorced from Mr. Malfoy if you wish."
"Thank you, I think I will take my cousin up on his offer," she said as she accepted the paperwork.
Draco exploded, "MOTHER HOW CAN YOU? Father has done nothing to you, how can you treat him like this?"
"You're right Draco, Lucius has done nothing. He has never loved me, our marriage was arranged and I was only used to provide him with an heir. This does not concern you and it is my choice," Narcissa replied shortly. Draco stormed out of the room, disgust plastered all over his face.
Soon she was done with the paper work and released a sigh of relief, as if freed from an enormous pressure. The goblin reviewed the paperwork and nodded his approval, "Everything looks to be in order Ms. Black. All that remains for your inheritance is the oath but that may be taken care of at a later date and time more convenient for you if you wish."
Narcissa smiled, "Thank you that will be nice."
Harry had been thinking ever since the reading had ended, and finally he asked the question he had been thinking about, "Gilnock, is there any paperwork I have to fill out to have Mrs. Andromeda Tonks, and Ms. Nymphadora Tonks made a part of the Black family again?"
"No Mr. Potter Black, as head of the family all you must do is make an official decree and it will be taken care of," Gilnock replied.
Harry thought for a moment before he spoke again, "I, Harry Potter Black, do hereby decree that Andromeda Tonks and Nymphadora Tonks are members of the Black family." As soon as he finished black threads of magic wrapped around Andromeda and her daughter and disappeared.
"Welcome back to the family ladies," Harry said with a smile.
Both women threw their arms around Harry, tears in their eyes.
"Thank you Harry, you don't know how much this means to me," Andromeda whispered.
"It's what Sirius wanted. I guess I should extend that welcome to you as well Mrs. Malfoy, er, Black."
"Thank you Harry, I know you don't have any reason to trust me but I hope I will," she said before stepping out of the room, smiling briefly at her sister before she was gone.
Gilnock looked back at Harry and began, "Mr. Potter Black,"
Harry interrupted, "Harry is fine, or Mr. Potter if you must."
Gilnock nodded, "Mr. Potter, as you are now legally an adult we can schedule a meeting for the reading of your parents' will, would one week from today be acceptable?"
Harry was a bit surprised by this statement but nodded his approval.
"Excellent, now would you like to visit the Black family vault before you leave?" Gilnock asked.
Harry thought about it for a moment and decided he might as well, "Sure, will I need a key for it?"
"No, no Mr. Potter there is something else you will need," Gilnock reached into a small box and pulled out a small pouch and handed it to Harry, "That Mr. Potter is the Black family signet, no one but you may wear it and it will give you command of the Black family vault and properties."
I bet that includes Grimmauld Place Harry thought. He and his friends were soon led to a cart and were whisked away to the Black family vault. The goblin with them stepped out. "Vault two seven seven. Lamp please." Harry handed him the lamp and the group stepped out of the cart. As they gathered around the door to the vault the goblin explained, "Place your hand with the ring on the door and command it to open."
Harry slipped the ring on his finger and realized it was a perfect fit. He stepped up to the door, placed his hand on the door, "Open." The door slowly opened up, revealing a vault much larger than the one Harry had, and he was amazed with the volume of items in the vault. He walked in and found a table with documents on it and looked through them briefly, noting that the deed to Grimmauld Place was indeed in the stack. He sighed, realizing he would have to come back and spend quite some time going through everything.
Slowly the group made their way back out of Gringotts, everyone was smiling except for Arthur who was still in shock at the money he had just inherited. He was obviously trying to find a way to tell his wife.
When they met up with Moody, he pulled out a length of string and everyone grabbed a portion of it. Soon they were back in Grimmauld Place and Harry looked around at the place he could now call home.