CH 3

Harry - James - Potter - Harry - James - Potter

Goblins were a hardy people that have had the stranglehold privilege of operating one of the most secure facilities in the Wizarding World, the Gringotts Bank. It was a bank that catered to Witches and Wizards, plus various other magical sentient creatures and it had branches all around the world linked to this centralized location. It was the 'Greenwich' of Banks, of the various political Wizarding Worlds.

These creatures, as mentioned, were hardy. They were not a people prone to being surprised all that often. Unfortunately they did tend to be on the greedy side of things and profit for them is a key component to their livelihood. They did not like spanners being thrown into their well oiled cart tracks, so when children appear in the banks to make meager deposits or withdrawals they were not always in the best of moods to aid the inquisitive tykes.

The guards at the doors noted the entrance of a boy with a dark Muggle ball cap with the word 'Grunnings' written in white, sitting low on his head and second hand patched Muggle clothing of worn jeans and faded t-shirt. Nothing about the child was remarkable other than the fact that they could sense the magic radiating from under the boy's skin. The two at the doors just shrugged and continued their duty by watching the people that entered and left the bank.

The free goblin at the counter was surprised when he was suddenly faced with a child looking at him in the eyes. The boy was floating off of the ground, as though he'd been levitated by someone. He was further surprised by the piece of parchment paper he'd just been given.

He blinked and then called out, "Griphook." A small goblin appeared in a courier uniform. "Take this young Wizard to the Estate Accounts Offices." He said something in Gobledegook to the goblin. He then handed the paper back to the boy and said, "Please follow him."

"Thank you," Harry said politely. He lowered himself to the floor and followed the smallest goblin to the offices monitoring the Accounts related to large Estates, like the one belonging to the magical family named Potter.

"Wait here please," Griphook said, while he went into the main chamber.

Harry leaned up against the wall, one foot braced against it and looking down at the floor. He let his magic create an invisible one-way viewer through his cap brim so that he could see all that was happening around him. He looked up quickly, as the goblin approached him, startling the creature.

"Follow me please," Griphook said. "The Manager of the Po..."

Harry coughed loudly and shook his head, saying in perfected goblin language (...You needn't announce to the world that I'm here. It is not time for me to be in this World after all. I shall see you some other time, I wish you gold Griphook...)

(...Master Potter...) The older goblin behind the desk called his attention as the younger one was still stunned by the casual blessing and hadn't moved. (...We did not expect to see for quite some time...)

(...I'm sure of that...) Harry said showing his teeth aggressively. (...I'm here to take in an accounting of all transactions that have been occurring in relation to my estates and properties. I'm not leaving until I'm fully satisfied that all is in order...)

(...That will take some time...) The older goblin said. (...You may wish to retain the services of one of our younger lot in order to do some running for you...)

"Very well," Harry said in English. He looked at the rooted Griphook and asked, "Are you free to earn gold?"

"Always," the younger goblin said with a grin. That was always the answer that any right thinking goblin would give, especially if money was talking.

"Good," Harry said. He looked at the older goblin and said, "I will rent the side room for the next eighteen hours at three galleons an hour. Bring me all Potter Estate files and bring me my parents' Wills as well as the Potter Signet Ring that's required for my use in political and familial correspondence matters."

"Yes sir, Young Master Potter," the slightly older goblin said.

"Griphook," Harry turned to the younger goblin. "Get me an unemployed house-elf, preferably female and bring her here. Oh and Griphook," he said getting the younger goblin's attention. "It doesn't matter if she's a hybrid, she just needs to be more house-elf than other." The little goblin bowed and left the room.

"This way Mr. Potter," the older goblin said with a fairly large file in his hands. He handed it to the young human and was surprised when the magic of the Estate accepted the conditions of transfer, making the file weightless for the boy to carry. The boy was not emancipated, but now had full authorizing control of his Estate. No one could access it on his behalf after this day. He grinned widely when he realized that whoever had been in control before was not going to be happy about it.

"Here is the ring," the goblin said and handed over a small magical box. It was a box that required the boy's blood in order to prove that he was who he said he was. Again the goblin was surprised that the boy knew what to do.

Harry allowed the box to take one drop of his blood in order to unlock it. Inside he was surprised to find three rings and then he smiled softly. "My parents' wedding bands are in here," he said. The goblin nodded and confirmed that they can merge with the Potter Family Ring. "Excellent," the boy said. "It will be like they are with me."

He hissed an unknown spell and merged the three with magic born of his family's quirky genetics. He knew that his father might be rolling about in his grave to know that his wife had been the magical child of a squib of a squib of... well that's the picture, until someone with the rare gift of Parseltongue had merged with her line.

The three rings came together and the logo or family shield changed. It usually did these days with the way that the Family lines go and the arrogance of personal shields or banners became the style. What was once a large Griffon with a sword in one claw and olive branch in the other; now changed to a coiled snake ready to strike opposite a rampant Griffon on scales of a balance, with a long upright sword forming the stand for the balancing plates. The motto changed from 'Truth in Peace for All'', to 'Balanced Justice'.

This was something that the older goblin had not been expecting either, nor had he expected the commanding tone in the high-pitched voice of the human child. "I hate to impose, but do you have clean piece of parchment and a writing implement so that I may use in order to make some notations while I wait for Griphook to return," Harry said. "I need to make a few changes to these documents."

"Of course," the goblin said, giving the boy a scrap of paper and a worn out pencil. "That should do you until you can pay for something better."

Harry just grinned and said, "Of course."

Griphook came back a short while later with a small female house-elf hybrid with some unknown nature attached. She wasn't welcome in many communities and had been trying once again to apply for placement in a Wizarding Family. "This is Rose," the little goblin said. "She cannot speak, but can understand English, Gobbledegook, German and French."

"Good," Harry said. "Now I need you to take out two hundred galleons and get me parchment paper, a brand new ledger in black and silver with my coats of arms and motto." He handed the goblin a copy of his Family's new coat of arms and motto. "It will need to be new in order to link it to all old ones on file and will become the Master Ledger for my family, make sure that it's a paper growing one. Also with that money get me some stationary watermarked with the same coat of arms and plain stationary for notes. Please include varied writing implements and the appropriate coloured waxes for sealing. Come back after you have them in hand."

"Yes, young Master," Griphook said. This day was turning out to be an interesting one and since the boy said that he'd be here for about eighteen hours, the young goblin hoped it would be a very profitable one for him.

Harry turned to Rose and said, "I don't like the fact that you cannot speak, so we will both learn sign language in order to communicate better, unless you already know how?" The house-elf shook her head. "All right, since you are a hybrid I do not have the same expectation from you or your magic as I would a true house-elf. Now tell me the truth, do you need to be Family Bonded like house-elves."

The House-elf looked at him, scared of his reaction, but he'd asked for the truth and she couldn't lie in the face of this potentially new and young Master. She shook her head, 'No'.

"Good," Harry said, which startled her. "I can hire you under an extended servant bond that can be modified as I grow older. You'll work half-days for now and get one full day off every two weeks to start. Get a decent uniform, no tea-towels please. If you don't have an idea for a proper uniform, then I'll have to create one for you."

Rose looked at him with longing in her eyes. She nodded and hoped that he'd understand that she wanted a uniform created by her new employer.

He tilted his head and nodded, "All right. For now we'll do the bond. This will be a permanent situation without a condition for dismissal and you'll be earning a pay too, non-negotiable, understood."

She nodded and listened wide-eyed as he hissed the bonding spell with all conditions he stated to her. Once done she had a fancy band of silver and black runes on her upper arms to indicate that she was a bonded elf under the old form. She smiled at him and went to pack up her meager belongings as ordered.

Griphook returned with the items that Harry had asked for and then waited for his next set of orders. "Are you good with extracting inventory information from the vaults without opening or entering them?"

"It is my strongest ability," the young goblin said proudly.

"Good," Harry replied. "Take the change you have from the purchases and get several a high quality drawing books with growing pages. Use those, in order to get the inventory names and images of the items per vault. Do all Potter vaults for the rest of my time here. I want one book per level of vaults. I will not ask you to exhaust yourself. Take your time and do not make mistakes. Rose will accompany you to ensure that you rest and eat. Actually take out enough money for Rose go and equip us with art supplies. I prefer pencils and watercolour, get something that you prefer to use. You'll have a lot of free time on your hands so I want you to learn painting or drawing. Also get us some sign language books to learn from, you might be lucky in finding them at the hospital stores instead of a conventional book shop. Take this note book to write down your requests to the shopkeepers."

She curtsied and waited for Griphook to return with the money.

Hours later, as the ledgers were merged and the information per vault had been matched slowly. Harry heaved a sigh and rubbed his temples. 'Bastard,' he thought. 'That unmitigated meddling old bastard.'

He sighed and then looked at everything that had been slowly coming together. This was something that he'd promised himself that he'd do if ever he had the chance. He'd review all transactions against his Family's Estate to see how deeply he'd been betrayed. 'He had the Wills opened and read, but then had them re-sealed without taking any action to the stated requests within. Remus Lupin could have used that money, instead of being beholden…'

Harry shook his head and understood why the werewolf had to be grateful for the morsels of human kindness and the privilege of being treated like a human. He'd done the same the first time he'd entered the Wizarding World. He'd fed his soul on the emotions that others seemed to give him and as the boy that he once was he'd been pathetically grateful for it. He'd believed them when they said that they cared about him, but reading those Wills were nearly too much.

Harry looked at Rose and Griphook and said, "I can't even begin to think about how to start the process for these without alerting that old meddler about it."

"If I may," Griphook said. He coughed in slight embarrassment because everyone's attention was turned to him, but he continued. "Since they have already been opened and reviewed, then technically they can be acted upon without further alerting the person that opened them."

Harry grinned and asked, "Really?" He received a nod and then he said something that shocked the goblins in the room. "I want Gringotts responsible for ensuring that the bequests take place, but I also want the parchment informing these people about them to be spelled in such a way that they can't talk about it what they've received, from whom or why." He paused and then said, "If they want speak to someone, just send them a pat little reply stating that for the continued security of the estate, no one can communicate with anyone in direct relation, until further notice."

"If they want to know why the Wills were acted upon at this time, then just say that it one of the conditions of the Estate that a mourning period had to be observed before anything could happen with the Wills. Also, since no one can talk about it, then it seems to be reasonable to me, that anything bequeathed to this person," he pointed out Albus Dumbledore's name. "Well he does not need to receive anything until I decide to comply with the Wills, after all if he'd actually wanted these items or the money then he'd have honoured the Wills when he read them, no?"

The goblins all grinned ferally and agreed to do as requested. They knew how that old man worked. Children that were to attend his school on scholarships were denied because he withheld the funds, unless the child belonged to a family on the Light side of magic. The balance in magic was faltering because of it.

The time was getting late and there still quite a few vaults to go through. He looked around and said, "I need to hire a manager for my Estate, one for my accounts and one for my inventory. I need to implement a few things and cancel others, plus I need someone for security on my vaults which will include upgrading them fully and re-keying them all with a master blood key."

"Sir," Griphook said with a gasp. "How did you know about…"

"I've read a few books before coming here," Harry told them. "It's not hard to find information if you know where to generally look for it. What's the matter Griphook?"

"No human has requested that kind of security in the last two hundred years," the small goblin told him in a surprised tone.

"It's true," Ravenbolt confirmed he was there to cross-reference some of the documents, but also there as a security measure since he was strong in Warrior Magics. "We didn't think that the humans remembered that option."

"Of course they wouldn't remember," Harry said. "They're not told about it during their primary education at Hogwarts."

"Have the classes at the school fallen that far," Ravenbolt asked.

"I wouldn't know," Harry said. "First, I'm officially and physically only nine years old going on ten this year and secondly, I live in the Muggle World for the moment."

"We can't review anything related to Hogwarts unless asked," an older goblin said, as he walked into the room having caught only part of the conversation. "I was rather surprised to see this office still active and earning gold. So I came to investigate."

All goblins at the table were surprised when the books and files in front of them closed as they were in the middle of writing or calculating something. They looked at one another wondering who'd done it. Unbeknownst to them Harry had tagged the magic to the goblin that had opened his parents' Wills for reading and re-sealing, in order to find the one that was responsible for allowing Dumbledore unauthorized access to a private family account.

Harry stood up straight and looked down at the goblin. "You are not Welcome here, please leave. I've not hired you."

"Sir," Griphook said in a servile attitude to Harry. "He is in charge of the High Level Accounts at Gringotts. He's High Head Chief…"

"Gorn," the smarmy goblin said, coming forward to hopefully catch the name of the client that was obviously supposed to be a part of his jurisdiction and commission. "High Head Chief, Barroc Gorn."

"Well," Harry paused and then said in a slow tone. His magic took all files and stored them away from the sight of the overly curious goblin. "I think the work we are doing is entirely too menial for someone of your position to bother with, we'll just continue doing our job and when the paid time in this room runs out, we'll just leave."

"It is my duty to oversee large accounts such as…" he paused and double-checked the size of the file on the table. A single folder was there and there was only a courier goblin in the room that he could see. He turned to look at the boy and sniffed. "It's your coin child. Don't take too long as this room is booked for tomorrow afternoon." He left the room disappointed that only a single file was such an inconsequential reason to book the room for a human boy.

Meanwhile back in the room the goblins and the folders were still there in plain sight. Harry sighed and said, "I didn't think that would work. Forgive me for that, but I don't want that one anywhere near my accounts or my Estate."

"Unless you hire someone exclusively, like you want to do," Griphook said with a grin. "He'll believe that he's entitled to access your records."

"Oh I think that I can fix that," Harry said with a feral grin looking at the goblins in the room. They were wide eyed when they realized that he was thinking of hiring them. "Unless all of you are unable to work for a human like me, I would like to hire you, plus I'm open to names for overseers or managers that have integrity and any that will want to listen to my ideas and plans. I want to make a strong management team that will works together with you and me to earn obscene amounts of gold."

"We can, but you'd need to put something in place to protect us and your security," Griphook said. "It'll need to be some kind of binding spell too, since we do like our gold and the amount you have is tempting even if we do have integrity."

"Oh I'm sure that we can increase the amount of gold I have," Harry said. "Besides can you honestly tell me that you enjoy taking snooty Wizards down to their Vaults for chump change? I know that people have been giving me money and have been bequeathing estates to me just because I'm the bloody Boy-Who-Lived." The others nodded and he continued, "Wouldn't you like to see something grand come out of all that, instead of letting it rot?"

"How," Ravenbolt asked. "What do you want to do?"

"First we need to change the security and access to all vaults," Harry said. "So a master blood key is the only way to go, especially when we add any others that are bequeathed to me. It'll ensure that any old access keys that are in existence are denied upon final transfer. Secondly we account for everything and then action the bequests my parents have in their Wills with a few extra security measures in place. I think those two plans are a very good place to start."

"We'll look up a few spells of security and protection, including precedential law among the Gringotts Policies versus the Ministry's ruling on positions that goblins can have," Ravenbolt said.

"I'll only hire those in this room and that have worked for me for the hours I've engaged the use of this room," Harry said. "Let's finish what we've started and then I really need to go shopping for some things before returning to my legal Muggle guardian."

The goblins agreed and worked to the best of their abilities. They knew that this young man had a strange talent to hide them, since that's exactly what happened the third time that High Head Chief came to interrupt the boy. It was the last time since the boy had the audacity, in Gorn's eyes, to complain to a guard who needed to bring in the Head of Gringotts to intervene.

Harry brought out the big-eyed tears of a scared child. "He's come three times," he sniffled. "I'm afraid that he's stalking me or means to harm me. I'm only looking at photos from my mother's vault since this was o..o...only a one-time deal with my…my aunt. She'll not let me come back for a la…l..long time and he's scaring m..mm..me."

"Ah child," the Head of Gringotts said with a wry grin. "I will ensure that he does not disturb you further. Tell me do you think that this goblin should be in charge of your accounts."

"No sir," Harry said, as he sniffled and wiped his nose on the sleeve of his shirt for the effect of an uncultured child. "I don't want him doing anything with my vaults or whatever Estate I may have to my name."

The Head of Gringotts didn't become the Head of the whole bank for nothing. He knew exactly who was in that room and what they were doing. "Very well," then he turned to the other goblin and said. "I believe that your shift has ended this day, Chief Gorn. Take yourself home and quite terrorizing this human child. From this day forth you are no longer permitted to access, review or work on anything related to this child or his Estate, understood."

Gorn looked confused, but agreed verbally, which allowed the banks magic to activate and enforce the conditions. He bowed and left them.

"Thank you sir," Harry said with a polite bow.

"Be sure that they are securely bonded to you before you leave this bank Mr. Potter," the Head of Gringotts said. "I don't want any harm to come to any member of the Goblin Nation, no matter what their chosen jobs are."

"Yes sir," Harry grinned. "Thank you, sir."

"I am Knurl Gringotts," the Head of Gringotts said. "Remember safety, security and above all discretion."

"Yes sir," Harry said with a low bow of respect, however never once looking away from the formidable goblin of the Wizard's bank. The goblin nodded his approval and left.

Harry stood straight and then looked at the others asking, "All right what the hell just happened, because I feel like someone was just fired and hired?"

"That's what happened, Sir," Griphook said. "Gorn can never look into any account associated to the name Potter ever again." The small goblin looked at the other two and said, "We're an official management team now."

"Good," Harry said. "Let's get the plan done. Rose," he called to his new house-elf. "Get us something strong for each of us to remain awake and aware. Something suited to our tastes, but no alcohol. We have quite a lot to do and," he paused to look at the clock on the nearby wall. "According to that we have five more hours available in this room."

In the end Harry managed to hire Griphook for inventory, since the goblin had confessed that he liked sorting the treasure in Vaults. He hired Ravenbolt for vault security.

The third that had been in the room dealing with the accounts, on a purely number based fashion was the only female goblin he'd ever seen in the bank and her name was Snowfyre. It wasn't known, but goblins didn't like their women exposed to humans, so they tended to work far behind the scenes in the bank or not at all.

Both those goblins had been able to recommend a family member as overseeing managers that will become first point of contact for the goblin staff. One was Snowfyre's husband, Hardwood, who'd been fired from his position at the bank for doing the right thing. He paid the price literally with his right eye. She brought him in and Harry only asked one question. "Is my money safe with you to oversee it?"

The goblin looked him in the eye and said, "I've never stolen or permitted greed to enter any dealings that I've made at this bank. I don't work for profit. I like making gold with my client, not behind their back."

"Good," Harry said. "I want you to work for me under secrecy and security spells that will protect you physically and me financially."

The one-eyed goblin grinned at his wife and nodded his head. He was going to let her continue working with the numbers she loved. She smiled and then looked to the boy, "I'm available for accounts work, young sir."

"Good," he said and then looked at Ravenbolt's grandfather, Ironfist. "Why are you not working?"

"Internal political manoeuvring, moved me right out after I turned seventy-five," the older goblin said. "I was never granted a managerial position, so I had to move on to allow younger goblins to come after me."

"I see," Harry said. "Are you trained in managing?"

"We all are," the old goblin said. "We have to be in order to see which clan can earn their positions in management. I was not strong enough to battle successfully for my position."

"Are you strong enough for this," Harry asked. "I have many ideas and plans. I'll need strong managers to oversee the implementation of new businesses and a couple of dummy corporations. So I need to know, if you can do this?"

"I can try," Ironfist confessed. "I have not been working for a while and will to time to adjust."

"A trial period then," Harry said. "Six months and I'll outline your first job so that you know what's expected."

"Agreed," replied Ironfist.

Harry cast the spells that would protect the goblins and that would secure his accounts and Estate within their managerial hands. No other goblin could access them from that day forward.

The spells formed black and gold bands on their uppers arms too. The degree or level of security as well as time frame was marked by colour. Only Ironfist's were currently black and copper, which were different from the others, but the old goblin nodded his understanding as the colour indicated his trial period. After six months, if the goblin had managed things successfully, the copper marks would turn to gold too.

"I'll leave the two of you to continue sorting and organizing these, as we've begun today," Harry said. He gathered the folder of documents that he'd been seeking and prepared to shop a little before returning to his Aunt's house. "Owl me when it is complete," he said and then paused dramatically. "Oh, do check and see if this permission is also good enough for gaining control of the Black Estate too, since I am the official magical godson of Sirius Black."

Ironfist cackled and the other goblins grinned. They were going to love working for one, Harold James Potter aka Harry Potter aka the Boy-Who-Lived.

Harry - James - Potter - Harry - James - Potter

TBC...