Ch 2
As the fire vanished a short creature with pointy ears and sharp teeth came into view, carrying a golden red bird that was almost half his size.
"Greetings, Mr. Potter." The goblin smiled, showing an alarming number of pointed teeth.
Harry was speechless.
"My name is Griphook, and I am from Gringotts. Here for your seventh yearly account review."
"Um, sorry? What are you? Are you a goblin?" Harry said nervously.
With a narrow look, Griphook said "I am Sir. Now I will not be talked down to, so if you could kindly take Ruby's tail, we can be off to address your accounts you have with Gringotts."
"Um, I think I'm still missing something. What's Gringotts?"
"What's Gringotts? Why it's the largest wizarding bank in the world. Now again Sir, please take Ruby's tail so we can discuss your accounts, for I have many other clients to go and check in with."
"Wizarding bank? What, you mean like magic and stuff?"
The goblin looked puzzled for a moment and then took out a silver pocket watch. After looking at its odd markings and symbols, he looked with puzzling eyes into puzzled eyes. "Harry Potter?"
"Yes?"
"Please forgive me sir, but you do know that you're a wizard, right?"
"What are you talking about?"
Griphook's eyes widened, then he quickly whispered to the bird, Ruby, and she vanished in a flame. "If you could please be patient Mr. Potter, I will take care of things."
Within twenty minuets, Ruby returned. "Now Mr. Potter, I would like you to come with me. You have nothing to fear, I will take you to Gringotts, were you will be cared for and under our protection during your visit."
Never having anyone want to look out for him before, Harry barely hesitated and took hold of Ruby's tail and vanished.
Vanishing with the bird was the most wonderful experience Harry ever had. He was surrounded by warmth and a peaceful song that made him wonder if love felt like this. In the next instant, Harry found himself in a room with white marble walls and a roaring fire. A rather old and large goblin sat behind a large red wood desk with his hands laced together as he rested his chin on them.
"Mr. Potter I presume?" the old goblin said, with an air of command.
"Y-yes sir." Harry mumbled. As wonderful as these events were, Harry was still a seven year old boy.
"My name is Harcle E'palbrui, and I am overseer of the Potter accounts, here at Gringotts." Harry nodded while he felt small in front of such a powerful and freighting person. "Here at Gringotts, we pride ourselves with our work. After receiving an alarming report from Griphook, I had him take you straight to me. From his report, I gather that you have been kept in the dark of whom and what you are, is this correct?"
"Um, I'm not really sure what's going on. Griphook said something about me being a wizard. I have no idea what's going on."
Harcle let out a long sigh. "Griphook, go and fetch us some lunch, this may take a while." Griphook gave a quick salute, then strolled out of the room.
"Alright Mr. Potter, why don't you have a seat." Harry sat down in the leather arm chair in front of Harcle's desk. "Well, first things first. Mr. Potter, you are a wizard, and a famous one at that."
"What? But I can't be a wizard. I can't cast spells or pull rabbits out of a hat or anything. I-I-"
"Please Mr. Potter, believe me. You are a wizard. How can you explain all of your unexplainable happenings while growing up at your aunt and uncle's house?"
"Well I can't do magic," At this, Harry waved his hands in the air, "see? Nothing happened."
The goblin behind the desk smiled at the boys antics. He then took out a similar watch like the one Griphook had, and placed it on the table. "When you turn eleven, you will be attending Hogwarts School for witchcraft and wizardry. This lad," he said as he pushed the watch toward Harry," is a magic detector we use here at Gringotts to identify and verify magical signatures." As Harry picked up the device, it started to warm and hum. "As you can see Harry, it detects your magical power."
Harry gazed at the beautifully-odd watch before realization hit him, "So I'm a wizard. Is that why I was called a freak?"
Harcle gave a momentary slight frown, and then said, "Yes that is why. You see Harry, here at Gringotts we like to ensure that our top clients are taken care of and quickly. As you had seen, my assistant Griphook used a phoenix, a powerful magical fire bird, to take you here to my office. After receiving the report from him, I immediately sent out our investigators to your family. There, they "gently" reviewed their memories and views that concerned you." The goblin gave a grin that showed most of his teeth. The goblin then had a serious look on his face.
"After we had reviewed your "family's" memories, we learned of the many horrible things that they have done to you. We also have learned that the reason why you were taken there after your parents died was for an old magic blood spell that would protect you from Voldermolt."
"Who's that?"
"He was, or still is, a dangerous dark wizard who had the malice to rid the world of muggles and who came from or supported them."
After seeing the puzzled look on Harry's face he added, "A muggle is someone who isn't a witch or wizard. There are some magic folk who come from a muggle heritage called muggleborns, as there are individuals who come from wizard kind who can't do magic, called squibs. Those who come from both are called half bloods, while those that come from only wizard kind are called purebloods.
As Harry soaked this new information in, he asked, "Does it matter where you come from when doing magic? I mean can a pureblood do more magic tricks than a moogleborns?"
"You mean muggleborns, and no. Though doing magic does require knowledge of doing spells, a person's power can be just as great as the next. No matter what heritage they come from, if they have a strong enough will they can do all the magic they want."
"Why would I need protection from this Volder-re, dark wizard guy?"
Harcle ran a hand across his bald head, and then said, "Your parents were good people who stood against Voldermolt or what others called him, the Dark Lord. Well one night on Halloween, about when you were one, Voldermolt came to your family's house and killed your parents with an evil spell. For some reason, Voldermolt wanted to also kill you, probably just to finish his work against your powerful parents. Just before his killing curse came upon you, your mothers blood, which had sprayed across you as she tried to shield you from him, reflected his spell back on to himself, tearing his soul from his body and only leaving you with that lighting bolt shaped scar on your forehead."
Harry fingered that hideous scar that scared most of the kids away whenever he tried to make a friend. "So this…Volder-molt…killed my parents because they were good guys? I was always told that they were drunks and died in a car crash."
Harcle's frown returned for a moment before it saddened into pity for the seven year old.
"As I have said, they were killed. With you needing a new home and someone with the same blood as your mother for the spell to continue working, you were placed in the care of your aunt and uncle. Upon looking further into our investigations, we discovered that because the spell was made with love, it needed love to continue to work. Having received no love from your aunt, the spell was broken. The spell was also the main reason why they let you live with them in the first place."
A look of horror came over Harry. "Does this mean that I don't have a home any more?"
"Well of course not." Taking out a stake of papers from his desk, Harcle started reading, "This is your parent's will. Now you were supposed to go to your godfather, Sirius Black, if anything happened to them, but he betrayed your hiding location to the Dark Lord and is now in the wizarding prison, Azkaban. We are in the process now of erasing all muggles, including your relatives, memories of you so you can start a new, happy life here in the wizarding world."
Harry felt shocked that all of this was happening all at once. He soon snapped out of it and said, "Yes, this is what I want! I want to be happy and become a wizard!" Harry got up from the chair and jumped up and down. Harkle raised a hand to calm the small boy down. "Continuing to read from their will, your parents decided that if your godfather was unexposed, then you should be cared for by a Gringotts family. Your mother was one of our top charms experts here at Gringotts, and she was a kind heart to all, so we will honor her wishes and take good care of you."
Again Harry started to jump up and down, finally going to be loved by someone.
"As head overseer of the Potter accounts, it is my duty to watch over you until you reach the age of seventeen." Just after he finished talking, he was engulfed by two tiny arms trying to find their way around him. He was off balanced for a moment, for it was not every day that the hard faced goblin was hugged by a human, but then relaxed his arms around the boy.
A knock on the door was heard and opened to a golden cart with grilled cheese sandwiches and steamy tomato soup for Harry and a steak meal for his Master. Griphook pushed the cart beside the desk and then once again saluted Harcle before leaving. Just before closing the door, he did a double take on the loving display that his hard faced, tuff as nails master was giving the small boy in the room. He left with a hidden grin on face.
