The blood that dropped unto the parchment began to move and swirl and create letters and Harry was eerily reminded of Tom Riddles' diary from his encounters with it during his second year. Just as a perfectly justifiable sick feeling made itself known in his stomach, the writing was finally visible.
Harry James Potter
Father: James Charles Potter
Mother: Lily Irene Potter (née Evans)
Heir of the Ancient and most Noble House of Black
Heir of the Ancient and most Noble House of Potter
Holder of 2 seats of the Wizengamot
Heir of Slytherin
Heir of Gryffindor (through blood-adoption)
As his name appeared, it flickered briefly before it stilled. Harry glanced at the parchment but once his eyes came upon 'Heir of Slytherin' he stopped reading it and looked at Griphook, without bothering to read the rest of the parchment, which in the end would only keep him in the dark even more.
"Griphook, is there a chance that I'm… related…to Voldemort?" Harry asked scared. He didn't want to be related to the monster that killed his parents and was the reason that Sirius di-NO! He couldn't think about that. He knew that if he started to blame Voldemort for it he would just become angrier and would want to kill him, thus making him stoop to Voldemort's level. No, Harry wasn't just going to kill him for his revenge; it would cloud his judgement and make him seem petty. Harry wanted to kill Voldemort purely because he was better than him and he didn't want to resort to killing anyone that stood between him and his goals just as Voldemort had done to his parents and countless others. Griphook turned from the parchment and looked at Harry as if scrutinising him before he answered him.
"That is highly possible, most of the pureblood families are somewhat related. However, we do not hold Voldemort's true name so we are unable to trace his bloodline and yours to see if there is a connection" Griphook answered Harry, his face was calm as if he wasn't talking about a mass murderer which only confused Harry as to why the goblins weren't afraid or enraged at Voldemort. Harry was about to open his mouth to tell Griphook that he knew Voldemorts' name but stopped himself. He didn't know why he didn't say it; he would be able to know if he was related to him or not, but he thought that perhaps it would be best if he didn't know, after all curiosity killed the cat. He hadn't noticed when Griphook had walked away from him but he did notice when he returned with a long piece of parchment. He was about to question what the parchment was for when Griphook explained what it was for.
"This parchment is a self-updating parchment that shows all of your transactions of the past 5 years. There is a total of two thousand galleons being transferred into Molly Weasleys' account, 500 galleons are being to transferred weekly into Ronald Weasleys, Hermione Grangers and Ginevra Weasleys accounts, and 10 thousand galleons are transferred every month into Albus Dumbledores' account." Harry was shocked. He didn't know what to say. He knew that Ron and Hermione were stealing his money but he hadn't know that Dumbledore or Mrs Weasley were stealing from him as well. He couldn't believe that the woman he had once thought of as the closest thing to a mother he could ever have was stealing from him…he had trusted her and he had trusted Dumbledore…and this is what he got in return. He hadn't thought that this many people would be betraying him. He knew that he couldn't trust anyone anymore, they could all be watching him and spying on him. He turned towards Griphook.
"How can he be taking that much money from my vault? When I came here with Hagrid there wasn't much money in it for anything except my years at school? Harry asked, confused.
"There are currently 7 Potter vaults and 12 Black vaults. The Black vaults, however, are distributed between all of the remaining Blacks whereas all the Potter vaults are yours." The goblin replied, confused and angry at the fact that someone's inheritance had been kept secret from one of their clients.
"Why can Dumbledore take money from my vaults without my knowledge or permission," he began, he knew that the goblins hated thieves among all else and were too smart to let anyone steal from their customers without them knowing, "and why do I have access to some of the Black vaults?" He finished. At this point Harry just wanted to crumple to the floor and stop trying to figure out how many things were kept from him or how confusing his life was.
"Sirius Black named you his heir in his will before he died, which means that all his possessions are yours except from a property that he left to one Remus Lupin." Griphook answered, becoming more confused as to why the boy was unaware of his titles and inheritance. "The reason that Dumbledore is able to remove things from your vault because he is your magical guardian," Griphook continued as he saw that the boy was about to question him "this means that he is in charge of you whilst you are in the Wizarding World thus he in charge of your inheritance. Unless you come to accept your titles as Lord Potter-Black, I hold the contracts if you wish to become Lord Potter-Black." Just as Griphook suggested it, Harry quickly nodded. Of course he didn't want Dumbledore 'in charge' of him. Who knew what the old coot would do to him or force him to do? He was mildly tempted to barge into Dumbledores' office and hex the man to oblivion but, alas, he couldn't do it without getting into more trouble. He didn't have to think twice about his answer.
"Yes! Yes, of course I want to be Lord Potter-Black! Is there anything that I desperately need to know before becoming lord potter-Black or is more of a title than anything else? And does this mean that I would be able to stay somewhere else for the summer instead of staying with my muggle relatives?" Griphook could hear the enthusiasm dripping from the boys' words and he could see his eye sparkle with…happiness? He wasn't sure, but he did know that he hadn't seen that expression from the boy before, not even when the boy had come into Gringotts for the first time. The boy had seemed more scared than amazed about their world.
Harry hoped he didn't have to go back to Privet Drive…his uncle was getting worse and becoming more violent towards him. Hs uncle had always been violent to him but after Harry had received his letter his uncle had stopped. Unfortunately for him, his uncle had noticed that when he was being verbally abusive to Harry nobody came to rescue him and so he began to resort to physically hurting him again. And Harry was scared that his uncle would find out that his godfather had died, after all he had 'warned' them that his godfather was a criminal…but now that he was gone Harry knew that there was nothing preventing his uncle from becoming even more abusive to him again. But now that he had the opportunity to become a 'double' Lord (being Lord Potter and Lord Black) he wanted to know if it was possible for him to escape from his relatives', and Dumbledores', clutches. He wasn't too sure of what being a Lord entailed but he hoped that he could manage to do whatever he was required to do. He had never had anyone explain the Wizarding World to him before his eleventh birthday and even then he was only aware of the simpler things about the world. He felt anger burn inside of him. 'Did the old man hope to have a thoughtless puppet to control? Is that what I am?' he thought forlornly, 'A stupid, thoughtless puppet ready to be controlled by the first person that shows me the smallest bit of kindness? Am I that desperate to be loved? Am I that much of a… unlovable freak? He trailed a child he had always clung to the idea that one day someone would love him and that he would be happy, but looking back at his life, he was anything but happy or loved. The woman he saw as a mother only put up with him because e she was being paid. His best friends, or his now ex-best friends, spied on him for money and had probably agreed to spy on him before even meeting him and Ginny… He didn't like Ginny that way, she was more of a sister to him than a love interest. He knew that she had a crush on him but thinking clearly, maybe it wasn't a crush but the thought of getting even more money if she had ended up marrying ' voice snapped him out of his head again; he really needed to stop doing that.
"You will not be able to use your title until you come of age at 17, but you can control your vaults and all the possessions that were left to you. As you are not yet of age in the muggle world and the Wizarding World you have to remain in either the care of your muggle relatives or in Dumbledores' care. "The goblin felt sorry for the bo—the soon to be Lord in front of him. He didn't like that he had crushed the boys' high-spirits and he could tell that the boy did not like the prospect of remaining with either Dumbledore or his muggle relatives.
"Oh…" Was Harrys only answer, disappointment obvious in his voice. He had thought that he would finally be free from their bigotry and hate for him. "I'll remain with my muggle relatives," he began. Even if his uncle would become abusive again, he would prefer to stay with him than with Dumbledore "could I please sign the contract to become Lord Potter-Black, please?" he asked, his voice showed how tired he was. His life recently was an emotional roller-coaster with good emotions that would appear as quickly as they were replaced with bad ones. He really wanted to go back to his bed and fall asleep and never wake up, that way he wouldn't have to face the world and his friends with smiles when he just wanted to break down and cry or trash another room… he remembered breaking a lot of things in Dumbledores office after his 'temper-tantrum' and all he could think about that was 'Good, he deserved it'. Griphook clicked his fingers and out of nowhere a piece of parchment and a thin, black quill appeared. Griphook handed them to him and he signed the relevant places after Griphook pointed to them. After signing the contract, his signatures shone a blinding red colour before they burned into the paper and the entire parchment disappeared. Harry quickly asked if there was a way to keep this out of the publics' knowledge as he didn't want Dumbledore to know that he was more 'powerful' or that he held 2 Wizengamot seats. Griphook explained to him that the contract would go straight to the ministry and that if the Ministry didn't purposely check his file they wouldn't know he was Lord Potter-Black until he was 17. Griphook then handed him a new key and told him that he would stop all transactions to the Weasleys, Granger and Dumbledore and that Griphook would get Harrys money back as quickly as possible. Harry thanked him and left Gringotts feeling even more exhausted than he had ever been in his entire life.
When he noticed that nobody was watching him, he called out to Hogwarts and asked her if he could be brought back to his bed directly. Once he noticed that he was lying on his bed he fell asleep almost instantaneously, dreaming of a forest surrounded by mist and a lone figure at the centre of the forest.
This is the end of the flashback and the next chapter will go back to Harry in his room, already at the Dursleys.
