Book One of the Heritage Series:

Harry Potter and the Return of Heritage

Chapter Three

Ancient and Most Noble Houses

Harry awoke to warm breath on his face. Startled, he shot up and grabbed his glasses. Next to his bed, he saw a large, black dog with grey eyes towering above him. Its tongue hanging out of its mouth and its tail wagging.

"Sirius, why couldn't you just shake me awake or set an alarm clock?" He exclaimed. "I don't want to smell like dog breath!"

Padfoot whined and then, in a fluid movement, transformed into Sirius, who looked very insulted.

"I do not have dog breath!"

Smirking, Harry pushed himself out of bed. "Well, you were a dog and your breath smelled pretty bad so I would say you did."

Sirius narrowed his eyes at him. "Well, that's beside the point."

Laughing lightly at him, Harry asked, "So, what's the plan for today?" He walked towards his trunk, which had been placed at the end of his bed.

"Breakfast first, then I will be giving you a crash course on your heritage," Sirius informed, sitting down on the chair next to the desk. "You have a lot to learn, but I don't have enough time to teach you everything. Had you been raised by your parents, you would have learnt this as you grew up. I also would have taught you, had I raised you as I was supposed to."

Harry acknowledged what Sirius said with a nod, hearing the bitter tone in his voice. He opened his trunk to get some clean clothes, but there were none in there, so he looked up questioningly at Sirius.

"What have you done with my clothes, Sirius?" He asked with a frown.

Sirius and got up to look in the trunk. "Nothing. Why?"

"They're not in here," Harry said, pulling everything out of the trunk. There were no items of clothing in it. "Why would they be gone?" Turning, Harry saw that there was a set of traditional black robes along with a shirt and trousers draped on a nearby chair. "These aren't mine," He said, pointing them out to Sirius.

Sirius held up the robe and examined it. "These were Regulus' I think." He smelt them. "Freshly laundered, but why would they be here?"

Harry frowned in concentration. He was sure he would have noticed someone taking his robes in the night but he had not been disturbed at all. It had been like at school, when the dirty laundry was collected by the - he suddenly realised who must have done it.

"Kreacher!" He called lightly.

With a pop, the elf appeared and bowed low to Harry and Sirius. "Young Master called?" He croaked.

Sirius looked at the elf suspiciously, about to say something, but Harry interrupted him, "Kreacher, do you know where the rest of my clothes are?" He asked kindly. "I couldn't find them in my trunk, I also found these robes out."

Looking rather uncomfortable, Kreacher began to fidget so Harry gave the elf an encouraging look. If he had learnt anything about elves, it was not to rush them. "Kreacher was taking them for cleaning," The elf said finally.

"Kreacher, where are his clothes?" Sirius demanded.

Kreacher flopped into a very low bow and croaked, "Kreacher has taken them. They were being rags, Master."

Sirius frowned in confusion for a moment but Harry realised the elf was talking about Dudley's clothes from when he was younger and thinner.

"Bring them here now, Kreacher," Sirius ordered.

Kreacher clicked his fingers and two piles of clothes appeared on the bed. Retreating into the corner of the room, Kreacher began to mutter to himself. "Master comes back from Azkaban and orders poor Kreacher around; Master was such a disappointment to Kreacher's Mistress. Young Master is not like Master."

Sirius began to inspect the clothes carefully. There were two piles; one pile held all his school uniforms, Quidditch robes, Weasley jumpers and surprisingly, the pair of socks Dobby had bought him and the other pile held every item of clothing that had come from the Dursley's, well-worn and still slightly big for him. Kreacher had managed to separate the clothes down to the socks.

"Harry, these clothes, are they yours?" Sirius asked, holding up a belt and examining the notches carefully. He noticed the change from the last notch, which Dudley had used, to the notch that Harry had made in it when he was given it.

"No," Harry answered honestly. "The Dursley's gave them to me."

Sirius nodded, then went through the uniform pile. "It would seem Kreacher does not agree with your wardrobe. Why do you not have any other clothes? Have you not bought any over the summers?" He asked, looking up from Dobby's socks, which he had been studying with amused interest.

"I didn't see the need," Harry replied awkwardly. "I still have a lot of growing room in the clothes I have and I didn't want to waste the money."

Sirius looked at him oddly. "Waste money?" He asked, shocked. "You have seen your vault at the bank, haven't you? You do know what it is?"

"Yeah, it's vault Seven hundred and Eighty-Seven. Hagrid told me it was the money my parents left me when they died," He replied, not understanding why it was relevant.

Sirius started to laugh, and it amused Harry slightly how much of his animagus behaviour Sirius still possessed when in his human form. He briefly wondered if that was because of the change or if the animal itself decided on those mannerisms.

When he finally managed to calm down, he said, "Harry, that is a trust vault! The Potters were an old Pureblood family and with that prestige, comes money. You have many other vaults like that one in Gringotts, so believe me when I say that even if you do not work for the rest of your life, you could live off the interest of your gold quite easily and in luxury."

Harry was shocked. In truth he had never thought about it and when he compared it to the Weasley's vault, it had looked like a fortune. "But I've seen the Weasley Vault. They're Purebloods but they have next to no money."

"The Weasleys are an old family but they're many of them. Their family business went downhill and there were too many of them and not enough money. It didn't help that Arthur's grandfather lost everything when he was Lord Weasley." Sirius explained. "They were wealthy once. I would say they lived more humbly than some families but they still had a lot of gold. Your family however, has been very careful with its gold and has invested it wisely for generations."

Harry didn't know what to say. For years he was made to feel that he was a burden to the Dursley's and that they had to pay for his upkeep. "When would I have found out about my other vaults?" He asked.

"When you turn seventeen, at the time you would also be recognised as Lord Potter," Sirius said, holding up an old t-shirt that had been Dudley's when he was eleven. "Now, back to the subject of your clothes: do you want to keep them? I can take you to Diagon Alley in the next few days to get new clothes; you need robes for your hearing anyway. And I'll tell you again, money is not an issue, so do you want them?"

Harry thought about it for a moment. The answer was an immediate no. A part of him didn't want to flaunt his newfound wealth, but he had wanted new clothes for a while. He wasn't the most fashionable person, but even he knew that he looked ridiculous in them.

"No, it's fine. Get rid of them." He answered quietly, feeling ashamed at the sight of them.

Smiling with understanding, Sirius looked at the elf that was still waiting in the corner. "Kreacher, destroy these clothes, or do what you want with them." Sirius said, but before Kreacher reached for them begrudgingly, he quickly plucked a pair of jeans and a t-shirt off the top. "You should have some rough clothes too, they'll come in handy."

Picking up the bundle of clothing, Kreacher began to walk towards the door. "Thank you for cleaning my school stuff for me Kreacher," Harry called after him. He felt rather sorry for the elf, who was old and rather odd, but had done nothing to harm him. "And thank you for laying out Master Regulus' robes. I will wear them with honour," Harry added, remembering the elf's fondness for him.

Kreacher looked at him oddly for a long moment, then bowed low. He opened the door and left, but the moment he was out of eyesight they heard him muttering furiously. Turning, Harry saw Sirius regarding him sadly. "You're so much like your parents at times. It's quite uncanny."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked with interest. He hoped it was not just the usual spiel about his father's looks and his mother's eyes.

"Your mother was one of the kindest and most compassionate people that I have ever met," Sirius said with a faraway look. "The way you treated Kreacher just then reminded me of her. She was kind to all the elves that she met and got on admirably with the Potter elves, especially Lipsy, who had looked after James since he was born."

Harry felt a warm feeling inside him at the comparison.

"But I should warn you to be wary of Kreacher. He has been alone for years and is now demented. Even when I was a boy, he could be cruel," Sirius said bitterly.

Harry wondered if that was the reason Sirius didn't like the elf; he probably reminded Sirius of his childhood.

"What shall I do about breakfast?" Harry asked as his stomach rumbled slightly.

"Oh yeah, I'll send up Kreacher with a tray. I don't want anyone realising what we are up to, so I need to go downstairs for breakfast. The bathroom is next door, so get ready and I will be back up in about half an hour." Sirius said.

The bathroom was similar to the Prefects' bathroom, except it only had four taps; hot, cold, bubble bath and one that didn't seem to work. Harry had a quick bath, then pulled on the clothes that Kreacher had left for him. The fabric looked expensive, and he was sure that the garments had cost a fair bit of money when they were new.

Walking back into his bedroom, Harry saw that there was tray on the desk with all kinds of breakfast food. Smiling at the effort that Kreacher had gone to, he tucked in.

Sirius came back up half an hour later and vanished the breakfast tray.

"I am going to apologise because I will be talking at you for quite a while but if you have a question, please ask." He said, and he began teaching Harry some parts of Wizarding law, including the Ancient Laws such as the Article of Ancient Testimonies whereby all members of the Houses were to be given a trial for any crime. They could not be sentenced or killed in punishment without a trial in front of their peers. All members also had the right to voice their views to an assembly, a right that could not be denied by any court or governing body in the country. Sirius spent time teaching him the Statute of Secrecy Act of 1707 and the Restriction for Underage Magic Act of 1903.

"These are what Fudge will try to get you with, but if you know the laws then you will not be caught by surprise. To be honest, Fudge hasn't got a leg to stand on because the law supports you. However, you can never rely on the law when political motives are in play."

He then moved on to the current family names of the Ancient and Most Noble Houses, many of which were familiar to Harry such as: Abbot, Black, Bones, Flint, Greengrass, Longbottom, Macmillan, Nott, Ollivander, Potter and Weasley.

During lunch, Sirius taught him some minor etiquette such as: the use of cutlery, the way of eating formally and even how to use a napkin. Harry found the entire lesson rather amusing because he couldn't imagine himself sitting at a formal dinner.

Sirius also taught him about Gringotts and the relationship between Wizards and Goblins.

"The first thing you need to know is to never insult a Goblin," Sirius said. "They have long memories and you do not want a Goblin working against you."

"Why is the Wizarding bank run by Goblins?" Harry asked.

"The Wizarding community had never had its own currency until 1679, so when Gringott the Goblin created his bank, he pitched the idea to the developing Ministry of Magic. At the time, the community was in discussions with the ICW and we were all going into hiding so the Statute of Secrecy was being debated. As we would be a separate community, we needed our own bank and currency and we didn't want to use Muggle money as it is easy to counterfeit. Wizards however cannot recreate goblin metals, so currency made by goblins could not be forged. The idea was popular, so Gringott and the Ministry signed a contract. He was given a ten-year test period and when both sides realised just how beneficial the arrangement was to both races, Goblins had uncontested territory and Wizards had a safe place for their gold," Sirius explained.

"Your grandfather had a saying about dealing with Goblins," Sirius said fondly. "'It would be folly to insult those that control your gold', he always said. He was very respectful to Goblins. He even had a Goblin account manager who he paid excessively."

Harry smiled; to him, it sounded like a good idea. "Why not hire an account manager from the bank itself?"

Sirius smiled at him. "That is your Muggle upbringing showing. You are not aware of the deep-rooted prejudice against Goblins; it's a bit like the dislike the English have of the French. Most Goblins do not like humans and the feeling's usually mutual. Their values and way of life are so foreign to our own that it makes our relationship with them difficult."

Harry nodded, supposing that it made sense. They spent the remainder of that day going over various topics and Sirius also taught him some of the Potter family history, telling stories about his parents and grandparents, which Harry had enjoyed.

His final lesson had been on the forms of address in the Ancient Houses.

"I have not officially claimed my lordship of House Black as I have not claimed the ring, but as the last direct male descendant and still being named heir to my grandfather, I am technically the lord by law and blood so I'm Lord Black in all but name. When we go to Gringotts tomorrow, I will claim the ring and officially be granted the title by the magic that binds the families. I will be Sirius Orion Black, Lord of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, which can be shorted to Lord of House Black. I can also sign my name with Lord Regent of House Potter, but only when it is needed."

"Is there a correct form of address?" Harry asked, trying to get it straight in his head.

"Yes, in most situations I will be called Lord Black. If I visited the ministry, it would be my title that would be used, or even in an informal setting such as a shop. In Social situations, such as a party or ball, I would in the first instance be called Lord Black and then in the second instance be called Sirius. I would be Lord Black in formal situations of course," Sirius said. "You would only call a Lord by their given name if you were familiar with them. Wives of the Lord are given the same titles and forms of address; for instance, Lady Black in the case of my family."

If Harry was being honest, he found it all rather confusing but he wanted to know more. "What about the children?"

Sirius nodded. "Well, you are currently 'Harrison James, Heir to the Noble…"

"Harrison?" Harry interrupted, surprised. "My name isn't Harrison."

Sirius looked at him for a moment startled, but he soon recomposed himself. "Your full name is Harrison. You are named after Lily's grandfather, who was an American. Harry is also short for Henry, which is the name of your great-great-grandfather, so you are named after both sides of your family. You do not know your full name as it was unknown to everyone apart from your parents, myself and Aunt Dorea. The only official record of your full name is in the church where Lily had you Christened."

"When you were born, James had you registered only as Baby Potter in the ministry to protect you from Voldemort, so the public only became aware of your name from people who had seen you in Godric's Hollow or in Diagon Alley. Word of mouth told everyone that your name was Harry, as you were only called Harrison if you were very naughty, which was almost never. It was Dumbledore who officially added your name to ministry records after your parents died but even he didn't know your full name, so the Hogwarts registry wouldn't have had knowledge of your birth name."

"Harrison," Harry muttered. It felt odd to use a name that he did not classify as his own. "Sorry, what were you going to say before?"

"Forms of address for children," Sirius said with a smile. "It is a formality only; you are Harrison James, Heir to the Noble and Ancient House of Potter or Harrison James, Heir to House Potter. If you were a second son like my brother, it would be Regulus Arcturus, Son of the House of Black. Andromeda was once known as Andromeda Druella, Daughter of the House of Black. But they have no official title, so you would only call them by their name, or Mr or Miss Black if you were being formal."

"So the only true title is for the Lord and Lady of the House?" Harry asked, wanting to be sure.

"There is only one other, and that is reserved for the widow of the former Lord of the family. Aunt Dorea was Lady Potter while Uncle Charlus was alive, but when he died James became Lord with Lily as Lady Potter. Dorea then became Dowager Countess of House Potter but would still be addressed as Lady Potter. The last title is reserved for a Regent of a House. It would be 'Lord' or 'Lady' of the House of' whichever house, but they do not have an official form of address."

They continued the lesson for another thirty minutes before Sirius called it to a halt.

"That is enough for now, we need to have dinner and I think we can get to know each other more. You hungry?" he asked him.

"Sure." Harry said although he felt apprehensive about telling Sirius about himself.

He took him, careful not to be seen by anyone and transported them both to a top end restaurant in Diagon Alley where they used the names James and Charles Evans and transfiguration spells to disguise themselves. They had a four course meal, during which Sirius taught Harry how to use cutlery correctly.

Between the courses, they spoke about random things. They talked about Harry's time at Hogwarts to Sirius' time as a Hit Wizard. Harry had been surprised to learn that his father had also trained to be one, but had left the ranks once he became Lord Potter. Moody had been their instructor and Sirius told him that it had been a gruelling time; Mad-Eye Moody gave no quarter in training recruits.

"What electives did you pick?" Sirius asked as they helped themselves to Crêpes Suzette for dessert. The meal had been divine and Harry could only mention a few meals that had rivalled it.

"Care of magical creatures and divination," Harry answered, taking a mouthful of water.

Sirius frowned for a moment before asking, "Did you get your predicted OWL results from McGonagall at the end of last year?"

Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise. "I didn't know they were given out. I didn't do the end of year tests last year because of the Tournament, so I don't even know if they gave predicted grades for me."

Taking a sip of the fine wine he had ordered, Sirius said, "I will owl Minerva; she should be able to get your predicted grades. While you are on holiday, you should still get your work all finished. It will help distract you from your worries, so take the time to revise old material and if you need help, please ask. If I cannot help, then I am sure Remus would be delighted to. He enjoyed teaching at Hogwarts."

"He was a good teacher, one of the best," Harry remembered, trying to divert attention away from his schoolwork. "It was a general consensus across the four houses; everyone enjoyed his classes."

Sirius smiled at his comment. "I am glad. He has had a hard life, so I'm glad that he was appreciated. Both Prongs and I were going to end up hiring him to tutor our children. He would have refused but we had a plan to make him agree."

"I could only imagine what both of you came up with," Harry said, smirking at the thought of two Marauders plotting.

"Oh, you would be surprised to know that Remus was just as guilty as James and I when it came to our elaborate pranks," Sirius said with a chuckle. "He was just better at getting away with it."

Sirius asked for the bill and soon paid for the meal, then they began to get ready to leave. "Would you be interested in learning to ride?" He asked as they put on their coats. "I know you've ridden before, but would you like to learn how to ride properly?"

Harry had guessed correctly that Sirius had known how to ride Buckbeak properly. "What animals did you learn to ride?"

"Corsaié horses, they're like Abraxen horses but they're about the same size as a normal horse. They are black all over with a silver mane and tail. The family had a few of them at our country estate," Sirius said. "I used to spend hours riding with my brother and my cousin Andromeda; it was the highlight of summers with my grandfather.

They left the restaurant and got a Muggle taxi back to Grimmauld Place. Harry was surprised to see how relaxed Sirius was in the muggle world, he seemed to understand it more than most Purebloods. When Harry asked about it, Sirius explained he had always been fascinated by Muggles, especially their motorbikes. Both he and James had been shown how to interact with the muggle world properly by Lily and Remus, the latter being a Half-blood as his mother was a muggle, so Sirius knew both worlds well.

Soon, they were walking towards number twelve. While Harry had spent the entire day learning, he had enjoyed the time he had spent with Sirius. They had not had much time to get to know one another, but they still got on extremely well.

When Harry made his way up to his room, he noticed that Kreacher had been into the room and hung up all of his robes and remaining clothes in the wardrobe. His trunk had been put under the bed so that it was out of the way. Harry put on his pyjamas and got into bed, trying to remember everything Sirius had told him that day.

Tomorrow, they would announce his arrival to the rest of the house, and it would be time to get his answers about the Order and Voldemort.

o-HP-o

Review - Favourite - Add to Communities

o-HP-o