Goblin Law
Chapter 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
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Griphook was angry, no he was livid. He had recently become head of his small clan and received a promotion that came along with such an honor. He was proud of this until he found out that he had been foisted as the head of the wizard and goblin affairs office. He had prided himself on his ability to keep agreements, make deals, and manage money as a young teller and vault keeper, but the letter in front of him nearly had him crawling up the wall. The ministry had sent the Goblins a few letters. As most of the senior goblins didn't think much of the ministry, these letters ended up being passed to him to deal with as part of his new position. The problem was that the letters requested the seizure of sealed documents and accounts. These documents were deeds, wills, and accounts that were to be locked and only opened in contingency with certain key factors. They were entrusted to the goblins under their sworn oath and watchful eye and these blasted wizards were demanding that they hand them over by breaking their laws and the ancient rites!
He had overlooked a number of... questionable activities over the past few years to keep from causing bad blood with the wizards. While not illegal or completely against goblin laws, the wizards had been moving funds around in ways that displeased him. The outright demand that he hand over accounts and documents in this matter went against the the very nature of goblin laws and honor!
He was about to grab his axe off the wall when who should walk in the door unescorted but the one person who many of these actions affected either directly or indirectly. Griphook lowered his hand and watched as the boy walked up to Slash at the teller. He then had an epiphany, a wonderfully awful, pernicious epiphany. Oh, this could work out well for both himself and the boy and if nothing else it would be a slap in the face of many wizards. It was perfect.
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Harry was glum. His godfather had to escape once more and Remus had to leave his teaching post. He walked into Gringotts thinking about this and didn't pay attention until he reached a teller. "Hello, Mr. Potter. How will you be managing your funds this day?"
Harry blinked and looked up at the goblin. "I was going to ask about money transfers and setting up an account so someone can access under an assumed name if they are approved."
Harry had thought about this and if he was right then maybe he could help his godfather out. The goblin looked over the boy. "That's a more private matter than what we do at the teller stand boy. There are some fees..."
A hand fell on the goblin's shoulder. Both the goblin and Harry looked over to see Griphook smiling. "Ah, Mr. Potter. I would be willing to talk of such matters with you. In fact, I have several matters to discuss with you. Matters that would be … mutually beneficial. Slasher, I'll be taking over Mr. Potter's instruction."
The goblin at the teller grunted and waved his hand. Harry followed Griphook to his office. He had never been in a goblin office before and it was rather intimidating with the axe and several heads of magical creatures adorning the walls. "Uh, Griphook sir..."
Griphook smiled as he pulled a number of sealed documents out of a file folder and put them on the desk in front of him. He also pulled the letters he had received from the ministry. He put on his reading glasses and sat down. "Mr. Potter, you should know that we goblins pride ourselves on keeping secrets amongst ourselves, warding off thieves, and managing accounts. You have seen this, have you not Mr. Potter?"
Harry nodded and Griphook continued. "Good. Now what do you make of what the ministry has said here.
I quote:
'Dear Goblins,
Immediately release the accounts, wills, and documents pertaining to one Sirius Black, Scion of House Black. He is a fugitive and we cannot allow him funds or means beyond what he may scrounge up. To this end, we expect said documents and accounts by week's end.
Sincerely,
Minister Fudge'
End quote."
Harry was angry. How could they do that to Sirius. He was innocent! Griphook seemed to guess Harry's line of thought. "We do not care if he is guilty or not Mr. Potter. It is the letter of the law that matters. In this case though, the letter of the law is in Mr. Black's favor. He never went to trial and is thus only a fugitive in lieu of trial. We do not hand over accounts on that alone as the law makes no mention of this. In fact, only accounts belonging to those sentenced to life or death may be handed over to the ministry or another governing body and only if there is no direct living relative of age. If no one claims the account of those sentenced to life or death, then it is liquidated and the Goblin Nation takes control.
I find this seizure request to be a violation of these long-standing writs. There are also a number of accounts belonging to quite a few death eaters serving life sentences at Azkaban that are currently open. Why might you ask? Because the ministry is holding them for the next heir to come of age and claim them under a loophole law written for orphaned children. While I must confess that I applaud the ability to use loopholes, the use of this law in this case is non-applicable as all of these heirs are currently cared for by a parent or standing guardian or in a few cases no direct heir exists. It would be understandable if said persons had sealed wills or accounts as goblin law recognizes sealed wills and accounts as contingents for the continuation of accounts held by persons regardless of current mental state, incarceration, or death. This is not however the case with said incarcerated individuals with the exception of one Sirius Black."
Harry was seething now. How could they do this? It was outrageous! Griphook shook his head and pulled out another letter.
"This one came in not long after the first:
'Goblins,
Immediately release the wills, and documents of Lily and James Potter to the holding of the ministry. Also, immediately release the accounts, wills, and documents of any and all deceased or on hold accounts that have yet to be liquidated to the tender mercies of the ministry for review. To this end, we expect said documents by week's end.
Sincerely,
Lucious Malfoy'
End quote."
If Harry was angry before, he was livid now. He had so much anger bottled up that he didn't know what to do with it. Griphook shook his head. "I know boy. It boils my blood too. Not only is there no precedent for what the ministry is asking for, they dare to demand that we hand over documents and accounts that are sealed and only to be opened by those meant to open them. Added to this is that a non-Ministry employee is making this request for the Ministry. It defies the proper chain of command. I seek to remedy this."
Some of the fire went out of Harry. "Huh?"
Griphook walked around to Harry's chair. He put a hand over the boy's shoulder. "How would you like to fix all of this?"
Harry blinked. "Follow me boy."
Harry sat for a moment and then noticed that Griphook had opened a hidden door. He quickly followed and the door slammed shut behind them.
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They were in a tunnel system that Harry had never seen before. "Harry, I will make you a deal. There is a way to get back at those conniving ministry wizards, but you must understand that you will never be viewed in a welcome way by the whole of the wizarding world ever again."
Harry gulped. Did he have to do something evil like Voldemort would do? A pit formed in his stomach as they came to a room with several circles in it. The circles had three goblin heads carved into the points of a triangle circumscribed by the array. "It's not something to turn you evil boy. No, this is a ritual to make you goblin kin. It is a rare honor that no wizard has taken in the last 700 years. It will not turn you into a goblin and will not mess with your current lines of ancestry. It simply tests you and places your rank within our society. I'm afraid that I cannot tell you the benefits of this ritual. The only thing that I can say is that this will solve many of your problems and many of ours as well."
Harry looked over the ritual array and pondered if it was another of Voldemort's traps. He let out a sigh and threw caution to the wind. "How does it go?"
Griphook's grin grew very wide. He pulled out a ritual kriss with green and gold lines. He pricked his finger and let some blood drop onto the inner circle. The runes glowed a light silver color. "Prick your finger and let a drop of blood fall on each goblin head. The ritual will complete itself."
Harry followed the directions and pricked his finger. He walked around the circle and let a drop of blood fall on each goblin head. The glow turned gold and a flash of light blinded Harry. He then let out a scream as his scar lit up. The screaming continued but in a different pitch and not emanating from Harry's mouth. Something came howling out of the scar and promptly shattered. Griphook's eyes narrowed at the thing that had come out of Harry's scar and if his guess was right then he needed to talk to the elders and look at their library.
The light show ended and Harry lay on the ground. He turned Harry over and raised an eyebrow at what he saw. There was a crown tattoo over the lightning scar now and two tattoos around Harry's wrists with black and white triangles that looked similar to bracelets. Griphook flipped Harry over and uncovered his back and his eyes opened wide. There on Harry's back was the tattooed face of a rather nasty goblin with two very long razor sharp tusks. A huge grin appeared on Griphook's face. "Even better than I could ever imagine. A fine goblin you shall make child."
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Harry groaned as he woke up. He felt like a bus had hit him. He nearly jumped back at the smiling visage of Griphook. "Good, you're awake. Welcome to the family Harry. You are now a rare contridiction: a wizard and a goblin. In truth, you are no different than the human you were beforehand, but there are now many things you may know that no other wizard, alive or dead, has any right to know. I'd like to take care of business first though so explanations will have to wait for another day.
Harry James Potter Grishnash, you of age thirteen are now of the majority in the eyes of the Goblin Nation and are hereafter responsible for the trusts, documents, agreements, and accounts implaced on thee. I have taken a blood sample to be tested for lineage and the results were given to me while you slept.
You Harry James Potter Grishnash are an heir of all four founder's lines and are hereby awarded all held accounts of known death eaters, deceased parties, and other miscellaneous deeds..."
Griphook paused after saying miscellaneous deeds. A gleam came to his eye and he chuckled at just what all said deeds were. He continued reading, "As the ministry has declared one Sirius Black a fugitive in lieu of trial, you are given temporary powers of attorney as his officially listed heir and therefore must maintain his accounts, agreements, and deeds until he is sentenced or proven innocent.
Official reading of the will of James and Lily Potter will occur at weeks end. May your coffers overflow with gold."
Harry blinked and then spoke. "And may yours always overflow with gold?"
Griphook slapped Harry on the back. "Ah yes, young blood. I will have to teach you many things, but I must truly thank you boy. You have saved us more trouble than you can imagine. Let's gather your things and settle you into your apartment."
Harry blinked again. "Apartment?"
Griphook's grin grew. "Yes, the one in your new family compound. I can't have a new relative of mine living in some muggle or wizard dump now can I."
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Petunia Durseley stayed out of the creatures way. She wasn't sure what it was but it looked evil. She should have expected Harry to start cavorting around with such devils. She dared not even acknowledge it's presence in her home.
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Griphook looked into the cupboard that the boy had lived in and shook his head. Did muggles really make their children live in such things. Not even the poorest goblin would shack up in this chamber. He noted Harry gathering some ragged looking clothes out of the corner of his eye and shook his head. "Leave everything except for your trunk with all of your magical items and books. Maybe take whatever is truly precious to you, the rest of what is in this house is junk. We'll have to have you fitted for clothes and get you some appropriate items."
Harry shrugged as he dropped the clothes and went to find his trunk. The goblin turned to the woman who was trying to ignore his presence. "And Miss Durseley. Since Harry will no longer be in your care, the stipend from the orphans fund will no longer be deposited into your account."
Petunia whirled around. "WHAT?"
Griphook smiled at the angry human. "I manage the account and I personally know where this orphan is going and it's not your care. I do hope this won't be a problem."
He turned his back to her seething form as he watched Harry lug a chest down the stairs. When Harry reached the bottom, Griphook raised an eyebrow. "Why don't you shrink it?"
Harry scratched the back of his head. "I can't use magic here and I don't have a special trunk."
The goblin scratched his chin at that. The boy was no longer underage so he could use his magic anywhere, but Griphook wanted to keep that a secret for as long as possible. He had already sent a letter to the ministry stating that it would take at least until the end of summer to sort through everything that was asked for, which was true. He just sent it as a blanket response for all of the demands and said that resolutions to all requests would be found by mid-Fall. By the time the ministry figured out what was going on, it would be far too late. He had plans for this boy. Ones that would show up those stuck up wizards and ones that pertained to the potential importance this boy now represented for goblin-kind.
His other thoughts centered on the boy's lack in the department of finer things. Goblins didn't really care particularly for all of the trinkets that the wizards and muggles gathered, but owning quality goods was a must. From what he could see, less than 1% of the funds from the Orphan's Fund were being used on the boy. While this was not a violation of wizarding law, it was a violation of goblin law which stated that funds given for a specific purpose from trusts specifically geared towards said purpose were to have at least 60% of those funds devoted to said purpose. He smiled as he remembered this law. Oh, this young boy would be helpful on many fronts. Why this case alone would easily win in Wizemgamot and, with the right lawyers, the precedent set from this would also help to curb further abuse of such funds. It made the goblin feel giddy.
Griphook looked back at his charge. "Worry not boy. I shall show you the finer side of living. Come on. Let us leave this bungalow."
The goblin grabbed Harry and the trunk as he activated a portkey, leaving a seething Petunia behind.
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"And here we are." Harry shook his head to slow the motion sickness again. When he came back into focus, he saw that they were in a rather spacious apartment made mostly from smoothed blue granite. It was lit by glowing yellow and blue stones in the ceiling. There was little to nothing there except for them at the moment.
"Leave your chest here boy. I've contracted some decent goblins and fairies to take over the work in here. It'll look much different when we get back. I want to show you our family compound and some of your new relatives." Harry followed the goblin out the front door and into an illuminated mammoth cavern. They were standing on top of moderately-sized, 3 story, cascade of blue granite apartments that were surrounded by a high fence. He could also see similar structures with some having pink, white, green, or multi-color patterns to the stones.
Harry would have an interesting time exploring this new world.
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