A/N: Sorry for the late upload. I had a couple of important things that I had to do today and it slipped my mind to upload this.
"a," = speech "a," = thoughts "a," = through intercom or television "a," = magic
History can be a Bitch
Friday was the typical day in the Dursley household save for the fact that Harry's aunt and uncle were acting a tiny bit nicer towards him. The bulk of which consisted of them not calling him "boy" or "freak." The only remotely exciting thing to happen was Harry managed to work out the full details as to how he was going to get to go to the sisters' birthday party, but more on that later.
Harry woke up on Saturday at 8:00 A.M. and made breakfast for his relatives before taking his now usual morning jog around the neighborhood. At around nine Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia left to do their respected weekend activities while Dudley was still asleep in bed. Harry waited for five minutes after the adults left before going for the Knight Bus just in case one of them forgot something.
Harry arrived at the Leaky Cauldron and went through the brick wall entrance, but not before getting stopped by several of the customers and saying hi to Tom. Harry weaved through the people crowding around all of the stores and stands until he came upon Florean Fortescue's. Harry's stomach rumbled so he looked at his watch and saw there was about 45 minutes until the meeting. With that in mind, he decided to get something to eat.
Harry entered the ice cream shop and stood at the store counter until Florean Fortescue himself came to the front and asked his order. Harry asked for a chicken strips, french fries and a vanilla ice cream cone. He sat in the outdoor cafe area and watched all of the people pass by, browsing all of the stores and making purchases. When he finished his meal, Harry went over to Flourish and Blotts to browse a little bit. After 10 minutes of browsing, Harry came across something that made him laugh. It was a book titled The Boy Who Lived Fact-book: The Official Source of All Information Harry Potter but the funny part was all of the hilarious crap that the so called fact-book was trying to pass off as true. "Who came up with this crap? 'After defeating the Dark Lord, Mr. Potter is living in a mansion with his two pet dragons Arko and Dravoon.' That is the biggest load of bullshit that I've ever heard," Harry thought to himself as he read. Harry put the book back on the shelf and continued browsing. Eventually he came up with another book, this time titled, The Tragedy of Godric's Hallow: What Actually Happened? Curious, Harry took the book off the shelf and read the first couple of lines to himself.
"On 31 October 1981, James Potter and his loving wife Lily, were brutally murdered by the psychopathic Dark Lord, Voldemort. The pair had been in hiding with their son, Harry Potter, for reasons unknown until their location was discovered by the Dark Lord and his followers, or Death Eaters as they identified themselves. Most say the location was given to the Dark Lord by the parents' long time friend Sirius Black, however a rare few say that the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the time, Bartimus Crouch, put the man in Azkaban prison without a trial and the matter was never given a thorough investigation.
Whether or not this story is true, the outcome was still the same with both parents murdered. Mysteriously, when the Dark Lord attempted to kill the young Mr. Potter, he himself was killed and the boy survived with little more than a scar. Somehow, someway, the Avada Kedavra curse that had killed thousands of other people simply didn't work on Mr. Potter. Many of the world's leading magical minds have puzzled over the question for years on end and we are still no closer to an answer for the question, 'What happened that night at Godric's Hallow?'" On the verge of tears, Harry looked at his watch and saw that there was 5 minutes until the meeting. He took the book and bought it so that he might read it later on. He then proceeded to walk towards Gringotts.
Upon entering the wizarding bank, Harry felt a small vibration in his pocket so he felt in it and pulled out the letter. On the front of the letter, the ink swirled around before forming a map of Gringotts and on the map was an arrow pointing the way towards the meeting. "Huh, it's kind of like the Marauder's Map," Harry noted under his breath as he began to follow the map. As he passed by the users and workers of the bank, Harry began to wonder why there was a meeting in the first place. "Is there something wrong with my vault? Maybe somebody stole from it and they wanted to keep it quiet after the break in during in my first year," he theorized. Harry got to where the map was pointing and found something that surprised him immensely. "A... a lift?" Harry thought.
"Surprised that we have a Muggle invention?" he heard from behind him. Harry turned around to see a man about a foot taller than him with red hair. Harry recognized him as Bill Weasley, the eldest of the Weasley children.
"Yeah, a little bit. Bill Weasley, right?" he replied.
Bill's eyes flashed to Harry's forehead for a second before he smiled in recognition. "Harry Potter, I presume?" He offered his hand to Harry who took it to shake. "I was quite surprised when my mother sent me a letter saying my younger brothers had made friends with the 'Boy Who Lived.' Weren't you supposed to be visiting in a couple of weeks?"
Harry nodded and answered, "Yes, to see the Quidditch World Cup. So why do they have a lift here? I haven't seen any Muggle technology in any other parts of the Wizarding World besides the wizarding wireless and your house."
"The goblins are more aware of the Muggles than most wizards and witches and if they see something that could make them more money they will try to emulate it. Currently they're working on emulating a Muggle invention that I believe acts as a miniature bank," Bill answered.
"Ahh, you're talking about the ATM. That would certainly be a helpful addition," Harry said.
Bill nodded before gaining a questioning look on his face and asking, "By the way, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at your relatives?"
"I was summoned here by a Ragnock," he replied. "Apparently he has a matter he wishes to discuss with me."
Harry's answer surprised Bill so much, he jumped into the air in surprise. "A-are you serious? To be called in to see Lord Ragnock is a huge honor. Not even the Minister of Magic has met him. What is the meeting about?"
"That's what I'm here to find out. Speaking of which, I better hurry along to the meeting before I'm late. It was nice meeting you," Harry complimented.
Bill nodded and agreed, "Likewise, see you in a few weeks." Both wizards proceeded to their destinations, and Bill wondered to himself if the other wizard's meeting with Lord Ragnock had anything to do with what occurred yesterday. He was brought out of his ponderings when he caught sight of something that, as a curse breaker, he knew to be illegal to own. But it was the sight of who held the item in question that made him grin mischeaviously.
Meanwhile on the third floor of Gringotts.
Harry exited the lift and continued to follow the map until he came upon a giant set of decorated double-doors. He saw a female goblin sitting at a desk nearby so he walked over to it and asked, "Umm, excuse me. I'm here for a meeting with Lord Ragnock."
The goblin looked up from her work, held out her hand and requested, "The letter please." Harry let her take the letter to examine before handing it back. "Please proceed through the main doors, then enter the door behind the desk to your left," she instructed before waving her hand towards it. Harry heard a series of clicks and walked through the doors after they opened in front of him. Harry examined his surroundings and noticed the desk the secretary mentioned as well as the doors behind said desk. He continued forward towards said door while noting the statues of all the previous directors. He reached the door and entered into the room on the other side.
What he found was a conference style room with a long table surrounded by a bunch of chairs. Two of them were occupied by a male goblin, most likely the Lord Ragnock that requested his prescence, and a male human, who Harry had no idea about. Hearing the door close, both looked up from the documents that were spread out in front of them. Harry, nearly forgetting his manners bowed to the goblin and said, "I believe you summoned me here?"
"Ahh yes, Harry Potter. I suppose you already guessed who I am but I am Director, High Lord Ragnock of the Goblin Nation. My colleague here is Griffin Enton, scion to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Enton and current intern placed in the Hall of Family Records," he introduced.
Harry turned towards the human and started noting some key features of the wizard. He was Caucasian, seemed to be around nineteen-to-twenty years old and was quite well built if his arms were of any indication. He had glowing blue eyes and black hair with white highlights. He was wearing a white jacket over a light blue shirt that seemed fancy but comfortable to where for daily activities. Harry held his hand out and greeted, "Nice to meet you Mr. Enton."
Griffin chuckled while shaking his hand and replied, "Please, call me Griffin. I'm only around five years older than you are. And it is really an honor to meet the man behind the myth."
Ragnock watched the exchange with amusement before cutting in and saying, "Now that the introductions are through with, why don't we get down to business."
"Right," Lucas answered before sitting down in his chair. Harry chose the chair closest to them on opposite side of the table.
"Now I suppose you must be wondering while we have called you here today Mr. Potter," Ragnock inquired of Harry, receiving a nod in response. "Well, the reason to this was due to a certain set of information Mr. Enton brought to my attention regarding your family history. Now he is more familiar with the particular details of the information than I am so I will let him explain."
Griffin nodded before arranging the files and beginning. (A/N: I really don't want to have to do the same explanation twice so I'll just skip over that part.)
At the end of it all, Harry's eyes were open so wide it seemed like they were going to fall out of his head. Harry let out a deep breath and said, "So let me get this straight. I am going to inherit three Ancient and Most Noble Houses and when I do so I'll be the richest wizard in England? All when I turn 14?"
"That's not all Harry. From each of your houses you will receive not only money, but properties, assets and contracts. The properties and assets are quite substantial but the real kickers are the contracts," Griffin elaborated.
"Contracts?" Harry asked.
Griffin nodded and cautiously explained, "Yeah, however before you freak out you won't have to fulfill them until you're 17 if you even choose to. You have 15 marriage contracts to fulfill. But because some of them are multi-women contracts the actual number of women you have to marry is 20... er 21. It appears as if someone has just become available."
Harry's eyes widened to the size of walnuts in shock. He stuttered, "I-I have t-to m-m-m-marry t-twenty-one women?" before fainting.
Holy crap! Harry Potter has to decide whether or not to marry up to twenty-one women? What will this mean for the young wizard and who are women? These questions and several others will be answered very, very soon.
