Chapter 1

Heir to the Magisterum: Chapter 1: "Defence is for the Lazy..."

In the Gryffindor common room, Third Year Harry James Potter sat with his head cradled in his hands. He had just learned that Sirius Black had been his parents best friend. He also learned that Sirius Black had been the man to sell them out to Voldemort.

He had given Hermione and Ron the slip and made it back to the Gryffindor tower to be alone in his thoughts. Engrossed in thoughts, he threw his head back into the couch, just as an irritated Seventh Year yelled, "Finite!" His wand pointed at his Transfiguration homework.

The spell, however, missed and sailed across the Common room, only to hit Harry at such an angle that the part of the brain that is influenced by Compulsion Charms was the only one affected. Harry shot straight up, his eyes unfocused and moved to the stairs to his dorm.

He robotically climbed them, then moved to his trunk and grabbed his invisibility cloak, which he draped over himself. He then started to move to the third floor, terrified as his body was not responding to any signals he tried to send it. In fact, he was slowly fading in and out of conciousness.

The next thing Harry knew, he was sitting in a chair in a lavish office, facing two goblins that were staring at him with stunned expressions. On the desk, he saw a softly glowing crystal and a rune covered knife next to a basin filled what appeared to be blood, which had tendrils of magic flowing through it. The desk also had a weird hand-print, obviously for goblins, engraved in it.

He asked, "Where am I? How did I get here?" The goblins, finally seeming to get over their shock, started glancing at each other nervously and eventually the one on the left spoke up, "Well, Lord, some uh, confusion is to be expected, that is to say that we were surprised to learn of you heritage." Harry looked at him weirdly, "My heritage? What are you talking about?"

The goblin's eyes widened before his companion slapped the back of his head, "Idiot! We are talking to his other side!" he then turned to Harry and growled, "Master Potter. I am Slickknife and this fool besides me is Thunderclaw. We are what is known to goblins as Runemancers. The problem is that wizards should have absolutely no knowledge of us at all. So, as you can imagine, when you came up to one of our tellers under the influence of ancient magic and asked to speak to our most senior Runemancer, it caused a massive stir. You were dragged here in chains, and then you told us your story. It appears a wayward spell dislodged the compulsions and multiple other magics on you enough that your TRUE family's magic could take effect."

Harry took the moment the goblin took to draw breath to interject, "Wait, I have compulsions on me? And other spells? What does that mean?" The goblin's eyes glinted, and Harry knew by instinct that they are planning great mischief for someone. "It means, Master Potter, that you are going to have to die soon. It also means, we are going to have to kill you ourselves."

Harry went wide eyed and fumbled to draw his wand, unfortunately, the goblins were many times quicker. Chains covered in runes shot out of the chair and wrapped tightly around him, effectively keeping him pinned, completely unable to move. Slickknife calmly got up and walked to Harry's side. He lent down and whispered in his ear, dripping in sarcasm, "My apologies, Master Potter."

His voice then took on a tone filled with hatred, "However know this. I feel no remorse doing this, after all you literally asked for it. Now, Thief of the Worst Possible Degree, you have my permission to pass out. Know that you will never live to see another sunrise."

1 hour earlier, Gringotts:

Harry slowly walked, unfocused on anything, up the marble steps, the golden doors effortlessly swinging open by themselves for him. He shuffled to the nearest free teller, all the goblins falling silent as they felt the familiar power dripping off the young wizard.

The green eyed boy eventually made it to the teller and lent down to whisper in his ear, "I have a distinct need to speak to Master Runemancer Slickknife. Can you take me to him?" The goblins eyes almost bulged out of his skull and he pounded the panic button under his desk repeatedly.

A squad of 10 goblin elite guard sprinted up to the teller's station, pikes pointing straight at the dark haired warlock, who calmly stuck his hands out, his eyes still not focusing on anything. Once he was clapped in irons, the teller hoarsely spoke, "Take us to Slickknife, immediately." He waved his hand over his Gringotts ledger, sending a message ahead to Slickknife.

They thundered through a multitude of corridors, eventually coming to a stop outside a rather bland looking door. When through, they were greeted with a goblin that was slightly taller than usual standing in the middle of a particularly lavish office. The green gremlin turned around and asked, "Now who is thi...?" his eyes widened as he felt the magic coming off the boy in chains. He waved his arms, screaming, "Get out! Take those chains off at once and get out!"

As the goblins scrambled to follow his orders, Slickknife whirled around and slammed his palm into the palm-print on his desk, shouting, "Thunderclaw! Get you excessively idiotic self in here with the Runic Blood kit!" He finally seemed to calm down as an unfocused Harry shuffled towards the chair opposite his desk and sat down. Completely at odds with how he looked, he spoke concisely, "Calm yourself, Master Slickknife. No goblin blood shall stain my hands today. There is only one person dying here in the foreseeable future. Forgive for not bowing, but my control over this body is tenuous at best."

Slickknife finally relaxed and asked, "So, Lord, which Division are you, as the Last Magister?" Harry replied, "The only fitting Division, don't you think? The one most feared throughout Wizarding History." Slickknife sucked in a breath and spoke tentatively, almost in reverence, "Zylander... I agree it is most fitting, Lord." The door to the office was thrown open as a hurried goblin rushed in. He was almost brown in colour, and was slightly shorter than Slickknife. He exclaimed excitedly, "Master Slickknife! I have brought it!"

He slid to a stop and bowed to Slickknife before putting down a rune covered basin and knife down on the desk with the hand-print. Slickknife nodded, then turned to Harry and bowed deeply, "My Lord. I can guess most of what has happened. If I may ask, could you please blood-link yourself to us, so more avenues are open to help you?" Harry sluggishly nodded, then raised his arm over the basin and requested, "If I may ask one of you to do it for me, as my control is so bad currently I might kill myself attempting the cut."

Thunderclaw moved to pick up the Runic knife and made a small cut on Harry's arm, chanting in Gobblydook. From the small cut blood flowed freely into the basin, filling it to the brim and activating all the Runes covering it. Once the basin was fill, the cut on Harry healed itself. He turned slowly to the goblins and said, "Please, both of you, take a seat. As I have just revitalised the entire Runemancer Corps, I believe you owe me a favour. So I ask that you listen to my story, and please grant my request."

Both goblins moved to the chairs and took a seat. Once everyone was seated, Harry's mouth opened again, "As you know, my family magic should have activated when I was at the age of ten, granting me knowledge of my ancestry and its place in Wizarding history. That, rather obviously, did not happen. The best I could figure, Dumbledore, in his infinite wisdom decided he would rather have a puppet then an apprentice. As you also no doubt know, changing someone's entire personality is folly to attempt and impossible for modern magic. So, he decided to place compulsions, triggered thoughts and a suppression charm aimed at me. This, as well of granting him an obedient puppet, also split my personality straight down the middle. On one side, we have Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, the idiotic puppet. On the other hand, we have Hadrian Zylander, Last Heir to the Magisterum. All I ask is that you grant me the life that has been stolen from me and kill my other personality."

Slickknife stood and started to bow, then he glared at Thunderclaw until he scrambled to his feet too. Then both goblins bowed to him deeply and intoned, "We would be honoured Master Zylander." The newly named Hadrian Zylander bid them to rise, then stated, "You know what to do, Master Slickknife, Apprentice Thunderclaw. My other side is wakening."

Present Time, Slickknife's Office:

Thunderclaw looked at Slickknife, shocked that he was actually going to grant the humans request and not just slit the boys throat. Slickknife started speaking before his thought could progress further, "This is a A class secret. If it leaves this room you know the punishment." At his level gaze, Thunderclaw quickly nodded. "Goblins, regrettably, are incapable of drawing and charging runes."

Thunderclaw gasped and was about to argue before Slickknife elaborated, "At least, that used to be true. An ancient country, The Magisterum, struck a deal with the Goblin Nations. The terms of the deal were threefold: The first term was that the warring goblin clans united under one banner. A tournament was held, where the representatives for Gringotts won, thus all the clans united behind the Gringotts clan. The second term was that all goblins were never to declare war against the Magisterum, which we have proudly upheld for seven hundred years. This also the reason we had to delay war preparations against the Wizards in the Fourth War, as we had to be sure the Magisterum were not allied to the wizards, which they thankfully weren't. The third term is that if any denizen of the Magisterum seeks us out, and honestly requires assistance, we are to aid them any way we can. This is the first time in three centuries that this term has to be used."

Thunderclaw was confused and so tried to gain greater understanding, "That contract seems heavily weighted on the side of the Magisterum. In fact, the only term that makes any kind of positive impact on us is the first."

Slickknife nodded appreciatively, "You might not be as stupid as I thought. No, in return for these boons, the Magisterum offered two great gifts, which are still in use today. The first is the right to mine their lands for the astounding amount of gold and gems that lie there, having to only give them a 5% tithe for the use of the mines. The second, the one that really sealed the deal for our predecessors, was the gift of Runic magic, tied to the Hearth Stone in the deepest part of our Nation. The Rune Mages of the Magisterum, with an incredible amount of skill, craved the Hearth Stone out of pure magic, and lowered it into the Cradle of Goblin kind. The magic suffusing our entire race, giving us power over runes, making us the best Runemancers and enchanters in the world, second only to The Rune Mages of the Magisterum, who refused to sell their trade."

Slickknife then put his hands on Harry's temples saying, "Now you are going to help me free Lord Zylander, or I will kill you for breech of contract. Put your hands like this and flow Rune magic into them. I will do all the actual work." Thunderclaw obediently and without hesitation did what he was told. Immediately as his palms made contact, a circle of pure energy emanated out of the warlocks skull. Inside the circle there were 7 more circles made purely out of runes spinning slowly. In the centre of all the circles there was the slowly revolving rune scheme for control. Slickknife waved his hand and a message came up in the circle, Master Slickknife, though I seem to be able to understand some of this scheme, until I can get to the Mage's Vault, my understanding is somewhat limited. However, my family magic wishes me to inform you, "Inverted, uncomplicated base 7 scheme."

Slickknife blinked and was staring at the ward scheme again. He grinned viciously and jabbed his finger into the innermost circle, scribbling runes under all the other ones. Seven circles later, he added a rune stream to connect all the runes he had written together. He nodded to Thunderclaw and stated, "That should do it. All the compulsions should collapse and the Lord's magic should rip the rest of the spells away."

Thunderclaw nodded back and removed his hands. Slickknife flattened his hand and shouted in Gobblydook, then slammed his palm on Harry's forehead, destroying the Horcrux unknowingly. Harry's body jolted as if shocked severely, then relaxed. He rested in that position for several seconds, before Hadrian Zylander opened his eyes.