The Elixir of Taliesin
Summary: Harry receives a letter from Gringotts revealing that he inherited a lot more than gold from his parents. He finds that he is the culmination of a plan that spans thousands of years to save the wizarding world. Harry obtains ancient knowledge from some of the greatest witches and wizards that have ever lived so that he may save the magic from becoming extinct… that is if the people inside his head would stop bickering long enough to let him think!
Disclaimer: Roses are red, violets are blue, I don't own Harry Potter, so please don't sue!
Many thanks to Teufel1987 for his awesome Beta reader skills!
Note to readers: As of 7/4/2011 this chapter has been updated. Thanks to Teufel1987, I have been revised the chapter and added some minor changes.
Thank you for your time. I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 1: Letters and Questions
Tap tap tap.
Harry Potter groaned softly. He didn't want to wake up. He wanted to slip quietly back into his dreams. For the first time in the week he had been back at Number 4, Privet Drive he had not been tormented by the events of last year: be it attempting to evade a dragon brood-mother, trying to free unconscious innocents while alone at the bottom of the lake, defending himself against magical beasts while trapped in an enchanted labyrinth, or the events that surrounded Voldemort's resurrection.
No, Harry had dreamed of something he always had wanted. He had dreamed of a loving home. He had dreamed that his godfather (or his dogfather as Harry affectionately referred to him in his thoughts) had taken him away from Number 4, giving him a home and life away from Hogwarts. Yes, he loved the old School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but it was just that. It was his school. It was not a place where he could relax and be loved. It was only an institution of learning. That is, if he had any other place to be happy. The past four years, he had clung to the school and the headmaster because the only true happiness he had ever had in his life had been under their guidance.
Harry had always referred to the school itself as a person, a woman in fact. The moment he had stepped foot inside the castle, he had felt her consciousness, her emotions. Sometimes he could feel her speaking to him, her actual words just beyond his comprehension, but her meaning usually came through. Although the headmaster had taken credit for much of what she did, she didn't mind. She just cared for her children, and she knew if her true presence was ever made public, many parents would have been outraged if they had know that an entity that was not even human had control over the school. Harry knew she seldom made her presence known since none of the other inhabitants had ever heard her, and he respected her wish to remain in the background.
Tap tap tap.
Harry grumbled again and slowly rolled out of bed, one hand rummaging around on his bedside table for his glasses. He found them and put them on, sleepily trying to make his eyes focus. He hated his glasses. How could magic, in all its forms, fail to fix something as simple as a fourteen-year-old's eyesight? He had been told that it had something to do with his scar and his survival of Voldemort's Avada Kedavra, but really! He would rather have had two magical eyes, like the one that Moody had last year, or rather, like the one that the Death Eater who was impersonating old Mad-Eye had.
Finally succeeding in focusing his sight, he looked around for the disturbance. When he glanced at the window, he noticed two things. First, he noticed that it was well past sunrise, and looked to be around nine in the morning (a quick glance at the clock on his bedside table stated that it was in fact 9:13 AM). Secondly, he saw a minute brown and white owl that he had never seen before perched upon his windowsill, awaiting entry to his room to deliver the letter that was tied to his leg.
Harry walked over to the window still grumbling (he was never a morning person). He opened the window and the bird promptly hopped in and stuck out its leg. Harry numbly untied the letter. As soon as the letter was untied, the bird hopped back outside and took off. He glanced down at the letter. On the envelope were four words:
To,
Harrison, Duke of Tintagel, Baron Potter, Heir of the Ancien and Most Noble House of Emerys, and Sovereign of the magical Realm of Avalon,
Harry starred at it, confused. That was his name, but... since when was he a Duke? What or where was Tintagel? Who were the Emrys (or is it Emryses)? How the hell could he be the Sovereign of Avalon? It was just a myth... wasn't it? Harry opened the envelope and pulled out a thick piece of parchment in the hope that it contained the answers to these questions. The parchment, however, seemed to leave Harry with even more questions. In an official looking script, it read:
To one Harrison , Duke of Tintagel, Baron Potter, Heir of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Emrys, Sovereign of the magical Realm of Avalon;
This is a confidential missive from the Goblin Bank of Gringotts. In order to view this missive, confirm your identity by placing the tip of your wand upon this parchment and swearing, "I do swear upon my magic that I am one Harrison James Potter, son of James Virgilius Potter and Lily Rose Potter neè Evans." If anyone attempts this oath other than the intended recipient of this letter, their magic will be stripped from them and they will be subjected to the Goblin Nation for incarceration under the Treaty of Avalonne of 582.
Thank you and have a pleasant morning,
Griphook
Department of Trust Vaults
Harry could feel a headache coming on. Yes, it was obviously addressed to him, who are the Emrys (or is it Emryses)? Well, Harry was Harrison James Potter and his parents were James and Lily Potter, so he decided he had nothing to lose to make the oath.
Harry turned and picked up his wand off of the small desk in the corner of his room. He sighed, looking down at the parchment in his hand. 'Well,' he thought, 'Here goes nothing.' He placed his wand's tip on the letter.
"I do swear upon my magic that I am one Harrison James Potter, son of James Virgilius Potter and Lilly Rose Potter neè Evans"
The first letter faded completely, only to be replaced by a longer one:
Your Grace;
It has come to my attention that the funds in your Trust Vault have dipped below twenty five percent of its original amount of 200,000 galleons. After your last transaction, your current balance is 49,473 galleons. Normally, when Trust Vaults are arranged, the familial Head of House decides if and how to replenish a Trust Vault. Since the untimely death of your parents, you have inherited the status of Head of House of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter from your father and Emrys from your mother. I would like to meet with you at your convenience to discuss how to remedy this situation.
In the investigation of the possible options in replenishing your vault, I have found that you have yet to legally claimed your titles. At this time, your Magical Guardian, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, is holding these titles in absentia. Although he has the ability to access and manage your Trust Vault, only you can unseal your familial vaults, being as the magic entailed in protecting those vaults are keyed to blood relation and magical inheritance.
If you are willing to claim your titles, please contact me to make an appointment to bind you in your capacity as Head of the Most Noble and Ancient Houses of Potter, Maro, and Emrys. In addition to these titles, you would also take control of the 11 seats on the Wizengamot (1 seat from the House of Potter and 10 seats from the House of Emrys; the seat belonging to the House of Maro was forfeited when said House was banished from Britain in 842) and one vote on the Hogwarts Board of Governors, all of which are currently controlled by your Magical Guardian.
To contact me to schedule an appointment, add a drop of your blood to an inkwell, say "Scrivere Cum Sangue Mihi", then use that ink to write your reply in the blank area at the bottom of this parchment. After you have finished writing, say "Finite" and the ink will revert to its original, non-magical state.
Thank you for your time,
Griphook
Department of Trust Vaults
Post Scriptum: Your Grace, I do not know if you remember me, but I was the Goblin who took you to your Trust Vault shortly after your eleventh birthday. I wanted to thank you. You are the only wizard who has ever shown me courtesy. Most wizards view Goblins as underlings, you, however treated me with the dignity and respect due any sentient creature. At the time, I was surprised at the time, but once I discovered your heritage, Duke Emrys, that surprise vanished, only to be replaced by pride. Again, I thank you for your courtesy. I look forward to meeting you again.
Harry did not know where to begin. He remembered Griphook. While all the Goblins he had ever met had been brisk, he had been the only Goblin to actually be polite. Apparently his interaction had made an impression on Griphook. This fact, however, was the only thing he was sure of after reading the letter. Harry really did not know where to start, so he turned to his tried and true list method that he used when he didn't understand something when he was studying. He got out a notebook and a pen.
After rereading the letter over and over, he came up with a list of questions.
Things I don't understand:
How am I a Duke?
What and where is Tintagel?
Who or what is the House of Emrys?
How am I the Sovereign of Avalon?
If Avalon truly does exist, where is it?
Why wasn't I told that my Gringotts vault a Trust Vault, and not the Potter family vault as I was lead to believe?
I only withdrew money four times from my Gringotts Trust Vault. How is over 150,000 galleons missing?
How is my mother the Heir of a magical House, the House of Emrys, if she was muggle-born?
Why wasn't I told that my family was nobility?
Why wasn't I told that Professor Dumbledore was my guardian?
If Dumbledore was my guardian, why was I raised with the Dursleys?
If Dumbledore was my guardian, why did he not check in on me if he was responsible for my welfare?
Why does Dumbledore have access to my Trust Vault?
Why wasn't I told that I have seats in the Wizengamot and a the Hogwarts Board of Governors?
It says that my seats in the Wizengamot and the Hogwarts Board of Governors are currently controlled by Dumbledore, what has he been doing with those seats, or have they been vacant?
Who or what is the House of Maro?
Why was the House of Maro banished from Britain in 842?
Why is does my heritage explain my respect towards a Goblin?
Why is Griphook now proud to have been treated with respect by me?
Who am I?
This last question bothered Harry the most. He had lived his life knowing that his parents were great people: that his father was an Auror and his mother had researched and created protective charms. But he had never known anything about his lineage. He didn't even know what his paternal grandparents names were. In fact, the only thing that he knew about them was that they had taken Sirius in as a second son after the Blacks had disowned him.
Harry decided that the only way that he was going to get unbiased answers was to go to ask Griphook himself. He couldn't write a letter, he did not want to risk the chance that anyone other than the Goblin reading it, especially Professor Dumbledore.
Harry had been done a lot of reflecting the years he had spent at Hogwarts. It had started by trying to comprehend how it was possible for a Death Eater to infiltrate the castle and impersonate a teacher for a full year. From there, he went on to question all the events of the last four years. From what he knew now, they did not add up.
Harry knew from Hogwarts: A History (he had finally read it last year to placate Hermione) that the wards of the school always inform the Headmaster of any sentient being, even ghosts, that enter or leave the school's grounds. The wards could not be fooled by any means, since they name the consciousness of the being, not who or what the being appears to be. When he had applied this knowledge to his reflection of his school career, he was furious.
Dumbledore had to have know that Voldemort's spirit was on the school grounds in his first year. If what the book had said about the wards was the truth, then the wards would have told the headmaster of the school about Voldemort's spirit in first year, of Tom Riddle's presence in second year, of Sirius Black's break ins in third year, the fact that a Death Eater was impersonating Moody in fourth year and finally, now that Harry thought about it, of his and Cedric's disappearance at the end of the third task. The wards should have also alerted Dumbledore about Peter Pettigrew's presence among the living the minute Percy Weasley bought the rat Animagus to school as a pet. Either Dumbledore saw fit to keep all of those incidents to himself, creating a facade of comfort and control for the staff and students, or he had neglected the wards and his duty to the school that he was charged with running. Either way, Harry no longer trusted the old mage.
Yesterday, Harry had owled Sirius, telling him of his suspicions using a code that they had developed last year. He was still awaiting his dogfather's reply. He hoped Sirius believed him. Harry did not think he could take it if Sirius dismissed him, thinking Harry too young or too ignorant to understand. He pulled himself away from that train of thought, he had more pressing issues.
After thinking it over, he decided it would be best to go to Gringotts and speak to Griphook. Harry went to school trunk and pulled out a quill, ink, and the small silver knife that was part of his potions kit. He seated himself at his desk and reread the instructions.
Harry lightly pricked his index finger, squeezing a drop of blood into the inkwell. After the blood had been added to the ink, he put down his knife, and murmured, "Scrivere Cum Sangue Mihi." When he glanced back at the inkwell, he was surprised to see that the previously black ink had changed to metallic red. He inked his quill and started to write at the base of the Gringotts parchment.
Mr. Griphook,
Thank you for your letter. I do remember you from my first visit to Gringotts, and am honored that you remembered me. I would like to make an appointment with you to discuss the situation about my Trust Vault. Because of certain events that took place in the last year, I do not believe that it is prudent for me to travel out in public to Gringotts. Since I live with my Muggle relatives, my house is not connected to the Floo network to travel to your bank. I was wondering if there was a way that I could travel to Gringotts directly. I am available for an appointment at any time, so I will leave the appointment time up to you. I would like, however, to speak to you as soon as possible. I am sorry to say that I was not aware of any vault other than my Trust, since I was led to believe that that was the Potter Family Vault. I was also unaware that I had inherited any titles. I did not even know that Professor Dumbledore was even my magical guardian. Because of this ignorance, I have many questions. I am looking forward to meeting with you.
Thank you for your time,
Harrison , Duke of Tintagel, Baron Potter, Heir of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Emrys, Sovereign of the magical Realm of Avalon,
P.S. I do plan on assuming my titles and inheritance. Is it possible to combine the meeting about my Trust Vault with that?
Harry put down his quill and said, "Finite," changing the ink back to its original black color. He had written a lot more than he had planned, but as he always did when writing on a subject which he was passionate about, once he started writing, it was hard for him to stop.
It had felt odd addressing himself as a Duke, let alone a Sovereign of a magical Realm, but he guessed he needed to get used to it.
Harry returned to his room after a meager dinner with his relatives (Dudley was on a diet again, and the whole family had to suffer through it) to find that Griphook had written back to him. At the bottom of the Gringotts parchment, his note had vanished, only to be replaced by Griphook's reply.
Your Grace,
It is disturbing news indeed that you had not been informed of your inheritance. It is a crime in both the wizarding and Goblin worlds to withhold any information pertaining to financial and familial identity. We can discuss how you wish to legally proceed, that is, if you would like to press any charges, when we meet.
I have taken the liberty of scheduling an appointment with you tomorrow at 10:00 AM. An owl will arrive at your residence at 8:00 AM tomorrow with a portkey that will transport you directly to my office. Once there, I will answer any questions that you may have pertaining to your inheritance or Vaults. After all your questions are answered and you still wish to assume your inheritance, we will be able to conduct the ritual after the meeting. You are welcome to bring any advisers you wish to the meeting.
Thank you for your time,
Griphook
Department of Trust Vaults
Harry sighed, relief flooding him. He did not want to travel to London by himself. It was not the actual journey that worried him, it was his safety. He knew there were hundreds of people looking to kill him now, and he had no way of telling who was an ally and who was an enemy. He did not want to spend the entire journey to Diagon Alley ready to defend himself from every person he passed.
Harry took off his glasses and settled into bed. He was sure that tomorrow would be enlightening. He was sick and tired of being treated like a child. Hopefully now that he was assuming his place in the wizarding world, the place that was his birthright, that treatment would stop. He knew tomorrow was going to be the day that marked the start to his future.
Please, please, please review! This is my first fanfic, and I welcome all constructive criticisms. This does not include bashing. If you want to point out faults, please offer some way to help me improve my story.
I want to assure you that this will not be an extremely overpowered Harry story. Yes, he will be extremely powerful, but the old and new villains are also extremely powerful. There will be old and new allies.
There is a lot of back story to many of the characters from different culture's mythology. Here is a list of myths I will be taking information from. Most of the characters not straight from the myths, but follow along many of the same themes that are laid out in their respective myths. Here are a tentative list of characters that it would be helpful to know the myths behind them:
Taliesin
Cardiwen
Sun Wukong (the Monkey King)
Publius Vergilius Maro (Both the myths of the historical Virgil and Andrew Lang's myth of Virgil the Sorcerer)
Herpo the Foul (from Harry Potter mythology)
Orpheus
Myrrdin Emrys (Merlin)
Enlil
Maui
Morrigen
Ogoun