Chapter 3

Lily's vault was full of sentimental treasures. There was a little money but Harry wasn't at all interested in it. He could have spent the entire day looking through journals, letters and photos. Better yet all his old baby things were there. At Barrok's urging to move on, Harry opened his mother's trunk and shrunk everything to place inside, emptying the small vault completely. Barrok looked positively gleeful at Harry's use of wandless magic.

Their next stop was the Potter family vault. Within that Harry found the Potter ring and his parent's Wills. The ring shrunk to fit snugly on his middle finger, Barrok explained that it changed his title to Lord Potter. Harry told the Goblin that being called Lord Potter was great, but he much prefered to be called by his first name, stunning Barrok into making the same offer. Very few Wizards allowed Goblins to use their first names. The rest of the vault was full to the brim with treasures, some of which also made their way into his trunk . The second vault was just as full, but with money. While the first vault was the size of his trust one, the second was pretty much the size of a small house.

'Shall we head back up?' Barrok asked after a while.

Harry nodded and followed the Goblin back to the office. There, they got down to serious business. Harry began to realise why the Headmaster hadn't told him all this. Dumbledore had apparently tried to take control of his vaults ever since his parents had died. The Goblins though had other ideas and stopped him at every turn.

His parents Wills specifically stated that he wasn't to go to the Dursleys, and if Sirius wasn't available then he was to go to a list of people. Neville's parents were on that list. So was Susan Bones' family. Heck Remus Lupin was also on it, Werewolf issues aside. This discovery led to a string of curses from Harry and a long discussion with Barrok on Harry's little adventures in school and his treatment at the Dursleys. The Goblin's eyes went all Dobby like when Harry spoke about the Basilisk and the diary. Harry's questioning look was answered when Barrok explained that since he killed it, Harry could now claim the Basilisk carcass, and gave the value of such a creature.

Harry nearly fell off his seat. That…was a lot of money. Money that the Goblins apparently were willing to spend for the carcass. Harry thought about it, and agreed only on the condition that the money be split equally between the petrified victims. Ginny, Hermione, Colin, Justin, Penelope, and yes even Mr Filch for Mrs Norris, deserved that money more than him. It was just a pity he couldn't do anything for Myrtle and Sir Nicholas.

Barrok was starting to realise just how remarkable this young man was. He gracefully accepted and said as soon as the carcass was harvested the money would be in the victim's accounts. He agreed to lead a team to Hogwarts once school started so Harry could show them the chamber. Dumbledore would love that.

With that done, Barrok then passed over all information regarding his vaults, including bank statements Dumbledore had kept to himself. Turns out Harry had almost three billion galleons to his name. He also owned the ruins of Godric's Hollow and a fair sized manor somewhere in Scotland. That gave Harry, after he woke up from fainting, a lot to think about. Barrok also gave him a rough talk through about presentation and how to speak at the Wizengamot. Granted Goblins wouldn't go anywhere near the ministry, but speaking and presenting yourself in a formal mannor was something anyone could do.

Harry decided, since he had all his mother's things, that her vault could now be closed. His trust vault would also be closed and the money transferred to the Potter vault. The Potter vaults were fine as they were, which thankfully left Harry with only two keys instead of four, though he did ask for a way of retrieving money without coming in every time. Barrok happily handed over a bottomless bag and a kind of credit card for the muggle world, and also offered to make one key which would do for both vaults, which Harry accepted.

With all that done the Goblin then decided to check out Harry's scar, which he'd been eyeing from the moment Harry took down his glamour, and hustled the boy down to their healers. What they found caused the biggest explosion of curses yet.

Harry had a soul piece attached to his scar, what the Goblins called a horcrux, feeding off his magic! It could only belong to Voldermort and was apparantely some of the darkest magic around. Harry nearly fainted for a second time after hearing that. Barrok was quick to send out an order to search for any more filthy things.

More than that, Albus Dumbledore had placed blood wards around the Dursley home, which were attached to Harry's core and also draining his magic!

The Goblins were quite frankly stunned that Harry was able to do any magic at all, let alone wandless magic.

They immediately asked, and received permission, to remove the soul piece and break the bindings caused by the wards.

The process was terrible. And very, very painful. Harry wasn't sure how long the torture lasted. It felt like a lifetime. Barrok and the Goblin healers watched in concern as one of their richest customers thrashed and screamed. They had to tie Harry to the bed and douse him with pain relief potions before the procedure even began, knowing how bad it would be.

The concern turned to panic when suddenly Harry's scar burst and the boy slumped back and lay still, a horrible black sludge oozing from the wound.

IN OTHER LOCATIONS

Somewhere deep underground, in a vault guarded by a Dragon, a golden cup let out a horrific wail and melted, black sludge seeping out of it and setting fire to everything else. The Goblin in charge of the vault rushed down the moment he heard the alarm, peeked inside and quickly closed the door. Well, that gave him the perfect opportunity to relocate that bloody Dragon, he'd been yearning to move it ever since it almost bit his leg off during a routine check of the vault. It's not like the owner of the vaults would care, being in Azkaban for life and all. He'd figure out what to do with what was left of the assets once the fire burnt itself out.

In an old shack under the floorboards, another wail screamed out of a small ring, followed by the sludge. The ring melted and set the shack on fire. After the fire was put out by the non magicals living in the area, all that was left was a little black stone. No-one noticed a skeletal hand reaching out to pick it up and place it deep within a pocket.

One down.

In a room in Hogwarts, full of all sorts of things, a diadem tumbled off it's stand as it wailed and oozed. The House Elves reacted quickly to put out the fire and clean up the mess. The Headmaster was told and passed it off as unimportant as he had other issues to see to.

Sirius and Remus got the fright of their lives when Kreacher started screaming from somewhere in the house, followed by a wailing noise. They followed the sounds to find the House Elf thrashing around while a locket around his neck oozed out sludge and burnt through his chest. Neither the ex-convict or the Werewolf were all that upset as the Elf let out his last gasp of air. They were a little horrified by the way he died and immediately started carefully checking out the odd little locket.

BACK TO THE INFIRMARY

The infirmary became alive with activity as Goblins rushed around gathering equipment and setting it up. Barrok was thanking every deity he knew that Goblins kept up to date with muggle medicine as the healer massaged Harry's still heart. Wizards wouldn't dream of using shock therapy, classing it as a form of torture. Goblins however knew muggles had their own way of doing things, and that it usually worked.

Everyone let out a sigh of relief as Harry's heart started back up. His scar was cleaned and more pain potions were forced down his throat. It was another hour before Harry woke up.

'You didn't happen to see the Hippogriff herd that passed by?' Harry groaned, after he'd been given yet more pain potions and some water.

Barrok couldn't help but chuckle.

'We lost you for a moment there Harry. I recommend staying put for a few hours. It would be unwise to argue with the healers'.

Harry knew he must be feeling bad since he agreed without protest. He spent the next couple of hours chatting, well the Goblins chatted while he croaked out a few words here and there. He found he got along surprisingly well with them, especially their unique style of humour. With that soul piece out of his head, he also found he could think a lot clearer.

His wandless magic was another story. He tried to summon a glass of water and wound up waking a half hour later. Glass barely moved a ruddy inch. He got a scolding from the healers. Harry wondered if perhaps he'd accessed the power the soul piece contained. It would explain a lot. Looks like he'd have to start from the beginning. Bugger.

All of this had Dumbledore painted in a seriously bad light. It didn't help when Barrok explained blood magic was normally illegal, the only exception being a blood quill used on important documents. Harry decided from now on he would take anything the Headmaster said with a lump of salt. He'd asked that man why Voldermort was after him in first year and his answer was a pat on the head and a "don't worry about it". Harry was not a happy Wizard.

The Goblins kept him in until the next day before reluctantly releasing him, re-applying the glamour for him. Thanking everyone, including the Goblin who led him to Barrok, Harry left the bank.