Harry woke up with a hangover, groaning as his head pounded and the nausea turned his stomach. He opened his eyes, ready to dash to the bathroom, but there was a fuzzy hand holding out a vial in front of his face. He had to grab twice to get ahold of it before downing the entire contents in one go. He sighed in relief as his headache faded and his roiling stomach calmed.

"I had a feeling you would need a hangover remedy," came Hermione's censuring voice.

"Thanks," Harry muttered.

Hermione went silent as she cleaned up Harry's sitting room. Harry kept his eyes closed as he listened to the long-familiar sounds of Hermione gathering up clothing and dishes. He pushed away the guilt that Hermione was cleaning his ratty flat. He jumped, startled, when Hermione yelled.

"What the bloody hell is this?"

Harry quickly scanned his memory to figure out if he had left a pair of his underwear on the floor. He had no memory of doing so, so he felt safe in looking over at Hermione. He frowned when he saw her holding a piece of parchment up. It took a moment for him to remember last night.

"Oh, that. It came last night. I have no idea what it is," Harry said dismissively before laying back down.

"'Oh, that'?" Hermione asked, incredulous. "That's all you have to say?"

"I just said I don't know what it is," Harry grumbled.

Hermione smacked him with the parchment. "How do you not know what it is? You obviously opened it."

"It fell on the floor."

"And you didn't bother to get it?"

"I tried."

"Why didn't you just use accio?" Hermione asked.

Harry blushed as he cleared his throat. "Honestly? Hadn't occurred to me."

Hermione stared at him in shock for a few moments before smacking him with the parchment, again. "It hadn't occurred to you, a wizard, to use a summoning spell? If you didn't summon it, what did you try?"

"I tried reaching for it," Harry said as if it were obvious. He backtracked a bit when he noticed Hermione's hand twitching as if she would smack him again. "Well, I mean, it's not all I tried."

"What else?"

"I tried telekinesis. Apparently, I don't have that power."

"This is no time for jokes," Hermione chastised him.

"Sad thing is that I'm not joking. I really did try," Harry said, snorting. "What does it say? Is it someone else wanting money?"

"No," Hermione said slowly. "The opposite, actually."

"What? Give it here," Harry said.

Harry took the parchment and looked at it, boredom evident in his eyes. He felt his eyes go almost comically wide as he read it. It was a bank voucher, similar to a muggle check. It authorized a transfer of 10,000 galleons to his account. All he had to do was take it to Gringotts to complete the transfer. He looked all over the parchment to find out who would send it to him, but there was only a vault number listed.

"This can't be right," Harry muttered. "Who would send me this? This wasn't you, was it? I told you I don't want your money, Hermione."

"Harry, that wasn't me. I don't have that kind of money. I'm lucky to make that in a year. Most wizards don't have that kind of money. Only the wealthy ones."

"So, it's a pureblood?" Harry asked, looking at Hermione for confirmation.

"It has to be. Half-bloods and muggleborns who have that much money are few and far between. I can count them on one hand. None of them would willingly hand over that much money to anyone."

"Funny, I would have said the same thing about any of the purebloods," Harry muttered in disgust.

"Honestly? I would have, too. However, I know it couldn't be anyone else. The wealthy half-bloods and muggleborns all hate you with a passion."

"What? Why?" Harry asked, confused.

"They were all a part of the social outcast group at school. You remember how Seamus taunted them and humiliated them?"

"Yeah, but that was Seamus," Harry said.

"Yes, but someone spread a rumor that Seamus only did that under your orders. I tried to stop it, but they believe the fact that you did nothing to stop him is proof that it's true," Hermione said apologetically.

"Great," Harry muttered. "Nice to know that there are people who hate me because of a stupid rumor."

"I even tried to change it after school was over. I mentioned how you eventually cut Seamus out of your life because you didn't like the way he treated people. It didn't work, though. They think you only got rid of Seamus because you had no use for him, anymore."

"Idiots. So, any idea which pureblood this could be?" Harry asked, waving the parchment in the air.

"Not one. They were never fans of yours, either. They didn't hate you so much as they just didn't care at all."

"Thanks, Hermione. That's incredibly helpful," Harry deadpanned.

Hermione scowled. "If you're going to be so rude, I won't help you, at all."

"There's no way we can figure this out, anyway. There's no clue to their identity. The only clue is a vault number, and the goblins won't identify the owner of a vault without the owner's permission. I learned that when Ginny stole my money, remember? So, unless you have a plan of hiding in the bank near the vault to see who enters, there is nothing we can do."

Hermione sighed and sat on the couch by Harry's feet. "Was there a note?"

"I would have mentioned it by now, Hermione. I have no idea who sent it, why they're giving me all this money, or what they want in return."

"Are you going to use the voucher?"

"That would be crazy," Harry said unconvincingly. "Who knows what this person wants in return?"

"Maybe it's just someone who wants to help. There are philanthropists who help those in need. I would say that you are in need, Harry. Ginny wiped out your entire vault. You're struggling to stay afloat, and I honestly don't see how you can continue now that you don't have a job."

Harry shook his head. "There's no way it was just an act of kindness. Whoever it is wants something. If I don't use it, I don't have that debt hanging over my head."

"If you don't use it, who knows what will happen to you? I think you should use it. You won't accept any help from me or Ron. Accept this. Whatever the person wants, I will help you do whatever it is."

"I can't ask you to do that, Hermione," Harry muttered, glaring darkly at the parchment. It felt like it was taunting him every time he looked at the amount.

"You're not. I'm offering. I'm the one telling you to do this. That means I have a responsibility to help you if you need it."

"Maybe we should ask Ron what he thinks," Harry said, rolling his head to look at Hermione.

"Trust me. I love Ron, but he's not the person you ask to consult on financial matters. He feels rather than thinks."

"Will you go with me?"

"To Gringotts?"

"Yeah. I guess I might as well unless I want to lose my home. Maybe I can use some of it for school. You know, work on my future."

"That's a good idea, Harry," Hermione said, beaming. "Yes, I'll go with you. I admit I'm curious about this."

Harry went to go shower and get dressed. He stopped at the floo, afraid to go through. Hermione rolled her eyes and shoved him through before quickly following him. Hermione literally had to drag Harry through the streets to Gringotts, ignoring the strange looks they got. Harry held his ground outside the bank.

"No, Hermione. I changed my mind. I can't do this," Harry said, shaking his head.

"Harry, we're already here. We're not turning back. Get your butt inside before I drag you by your ear," Hermione ground out, hands on her hips as she glared.

"You wouldn't," Harry said, narrowing his eyes.

"Try me."

Harry crossed his arms petulantly but rushed toward the door when Hermione reached for his ear. "Fine. Let's get this over with."

Harry let Hermione do all of the talking. They were ushered into a private room to speak with the goblin in charge of transfers. Harry glared at the goblin. He was the same one that Harry had spoken with about his money when it was stolen. Luckily, Hermione was the one who spoke with him.

"My friend, Harry, received this last night. We don't know who it's from," Hermione said, handing over the voucher.

"Ah, yes. A wonderful client. I assume you want to complete the transfer?"

"Yes," Hermione said firmly, placing a calming hand on Harry's arm to try to ease his tension.

"Of course. I just need your signature, Mr. Potter."

Harry grit his teeth before grabbing the quill to sign the parchment.

"Thank you," the goblin said distractedly as he scratched his palm and placed his hand flat on the parchment. "It's done. Here you are."

Harry looked confused as he reached for a small scrap of parchment that the goblin handed him. "What's this?"

"Ah, yes. The client informed me that you might stop by. In the case that you did, I was to give you that."

Harry looked at it, peering at Hermione in annoyance when she leaned over him to see. "'Get'? That's all it says. What does that mean?"

"I'm afraid I don't know. I just do as I'm told. Do you need to visit your vault?"

"Yes," Hermione said, shooting Harry a look when he opened his mouth to say something else.

Harry closed his eyes in relief when his vault was opened. It was nowhere near as full as it had been before Ginny, but at least it didn't look as sad as it had for the past five years. He looked around in amazement at all the gold. He completely ignored Hermione as she gathered up enough galleons for him to buy the things he needed and hadn't been able to afford since Ginny left. They stopped at a grocer's on the way home where Hermione filled a cart with enough food to last Harry for awhile. She cooked dinner for him after sending a note to Ron to tell him that dinner would be at Harry's that night. They filled him in on everything, and Ron kept insisting that Harry shouldn't have cashed the voucher. He swore it would come back to bite Harry on the arse. At that point, Harry no longer cared. He had food in his house again, Hermione had assured that his overdue bills were paid, and he was going to enroll in school. While life wasn't exactly good, Harry's outlook was more positive. He was going to make the most of this money.