Disclaimer: see Prologue
Chapter 2: The Will and the Medical Issue
"Explain!" demanded Harry while looking at Goldfarb through narrowed eyes.
"It is easy enough to explain. The file says that there were monthly letters sent to you containing updates on all of your assets, not just your trust vault. In fact, we have in this file a copy of every monthly update ever sent to you. Manager Stonesmite readily confirmed that as the truth. Now we shall find out who is lying." With that Goldfarb opened one of the desk's drawers and pulled out a small bowl. It had several gems around the edges and Harry looked intrigued by the carvings in the metal and immediately knew that this wasn't a creation of a wizard, rather than a goblin one. Goldfarb touched the bowl with his index finger and the stones flared to life, white light shining through the centers of it. The lights in the gems died out, except three lights that were in the gems that pointed to Harry, Goldfarb and Stonesmite.
"Now, one by one, repeat your statements. If the statements are untrue, we shall find out." Goldfarb said as he relaxed back in his chair, eyes never leaving the bowl in front of him.
"I have never received a letter from Gringotts and didn't know that I have a Family Vault until today." As Harry spoke the white light slowly turned to green, and stayed a shade of forest green.
Goldfarb narrowed his eyes at Stonesmite, the manager quickly stammered "As was my duty, for the last fifteen years I have sent each month letters with updates on the vaults of the Potter family to Harry James Potter with a Gringotts owl." and as the goblin spoke, the white light kept getting greener, until it was the same shade of forest green as Harry's gem. Goldfarb looked unbelieving at the bowl, but Harry already knew that the goblin that was in fear for his job, and possibly life, had spoken the truth.
"I knew it!" roared Harry and the goblins flinched back at the sudden explosion of sound. "I fucking knew it! Albus fucking Dumbledore! The old fucking coot has placed wards to repel owls at Hogwarts and at Privet fucking Drive! I always wondered why in eleven years I haven't received one letter from well-wishers that were so enthusiastically shaking my hand when I first entered this crazy fucking world. I'm Harry bloody Potter, the bloody Boy Who Lived." Harry vented and paced the office, trying not to destroy anything. Finally he calmed down, righted his upturned chair and sat down.
"I guess that you will be pressing charges?" asked Goldfarb with a strange glint in his eyes.
"Once I have enough to get him into Azkaban. I'm flying below the radar right now. What of my parent's will?" asked Harry after the thought came into his head. Goldfarb pulled a foot of parchment from the file and handed it to Harry.
This is the last will and testament of Lily Potter nee Evans and James Harold Potter. If we were betrayed while under the Fidelius Charm let it be noted that Sirius Orion Black was the bait, and Peter Pettigrew was the real Secret Keeper. We have it in our trust that Headmaster Albus Dumbledore will set things to right if we are betrayed.
Now, on to business. We leave 50,000 Galleons to our friend Remus John Lupin and a copy of the book called Most Potente Potions. Use it well our friend.
Next, since Sirius Orion Black is the Heir of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black, he will need none of our money. Instead he will receive all the pranking tools and items of James Potter and the second frame of James' portrait to hang inside his residence, so it will ease the pain of our passing.
And finally, to our only son, Harry James Potter, we leave the title Heir of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter. We also leave: our portraits which can be found inside the Potter Family Vault; the rest of the contents in that vault; a trust vault to use until he is of age or has claimed the title Lord Potter; and signed emancipation papers drawn up by Stonesmite, the Potter bank manager, which only need Harry's signature to become valid, just in case.
If we die before our son is fourteen and ready to take the title of Lord Potter, he is to be housed with Sirius Black, and if he is not available, then the following families: the Longbottom, the Bones, the McGonagall and the Weasly. We have it in our faith that at least one of these families can house him for the amount of five hundred Galleons per month. Under no circumstances is our son to be housed with the family of one Petunia Dursley nee Evans.
Signed:
James Harold Potter
Lily Potter nee Evans
Witnesses:
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore – Enactor and Witness
Frank Adam Longbottom - Witness
Alice Longbottom nee Perkins - Witness
Now Harry had to take deep breaths to stem the anger and tears that rolling off him in waves. He remembered his mother screams and the dread and helplessness that he felt when a Dementor was near. Yes, after he dug up a few more crimes he would press charges against Dumbledore and he would feel the same dread and helplessness, for the rest of his wretched life. Right now he had to wipe his tears away, suppress his anger once more, and sign the emancipation papers before heading down to the Potter Family Vault to talk to the echoes of his family.
"Let me see the emancipation papers." Harry told Goldfarb and the goblin pulled out the parchment from the file. Harry read it over once, then placed his signature on the bottom of the page. The paper flashed a scarlet red and his wand grew warm. He looked at the manager and he supplied
"Now, as an emancipated minor, you get all the responsibilities and perks as an adult wizard, including a right to do magic outside of school." Harry nodded and turned to Goldfarb.
"How do I claim the title of Lord Potter?" asked Harry and the goblin grinned while giving him another set of documents for him to sign. Harry read them over, found nothing that was out of the ordinary in the text, and promptly signed them. The parchment flashed scarlet red, and a ring appeared on his middle finger of the right hand. The stone in the ring glowed a blood red so strong that he couldn't see the actual color of it. Goldfarb frowned and said
"Guard, floo St. Mungos and get a trusted Healer in here at once. Tell him it's an emergency. Quick." The guard immediately ran out of the room and not tree minutes later a Healer in lime-green robes entered and introduced himself.
"I'm Healer Andrews. What seems to be the problem?" he asked as he seated himself in the only empty chair in the office. Harry raised his right hand and showed the ring to the healer.
"As you well know Healer Andrews, all family rings are charmed to warn the wearer of passive danger. Since he is not holding a glass which may have had poison in it intending to drink it, nor anybody has a wand trained on him, I'm inclined to believe that there is something wrong with him. I do not want to be the first director in the History of Gringotts to have a customer die in his office. Therefore, I have summoned you." supplied Goldfarb. Healer Andrews nodded and drew his wand, casting a scanning charm on Harry. His eyes immediately widened and he looked at Goldfarb.
"Take him to a ritual chamber and treat him there." answered Goldfarb knowing that there was something seriously wrong with the newly titled Lord Potter.
Once they entered the ritual chamber Healer Andrews cast a privacy ward and explained to Harry "Lord Potter, the family rings are charmed to warn the wearer of passive danger. This means that the ring checks the area in a radius of one hundred meter around you and it makes your finger itch if somebody is attacking you. Also if you hold a poisoned drink the ring will glow a bright red color. Now, since it's constantly glowing it means that you have a serious medical issue. I have scanned you and have confirmed that there are bindings on your magical canals, meaning that someone had tampered with your magical core. We will bring down the bindings here and it will probably unleash a magical blast that will incinerate everything within ten meters of you, not including yourself. Now, since I don't have a death wish, we are going to have to do some more scans on you and record the magical signature of the wrongdoer so you may press charges, and then we are going to take oaths of secrecy from several goblins so they can erect a ward a split second after I cast the spell to release the magical bindings. Do you understand me?" Harry nodded and lay down on the cold stone floor of the ritual chamber. The healer cast the charms, recorded the signature with a device Harry had the pleasure of seeing for the first time, and then called the goblins. Harry took an oath of each of the three goblins before they started creating the ward around him. The Healer cast the spell, and as agreed, the goblins enacted the ward with no time to waste, and Harry's world exploded in light.
He was enervated by the healer 10 minutes later and Harry felt his magical core for the first time. It didn't feel very big but then he was just fifteen years old and he still had growing to do. However, now he knew that he would never have a problem learning how to cast and casting a spell like he did in the past. He now had complete control of his magic.
"I have a friend that works in the Auror office. I will tell him to discretely run by the signature that we have in the registry that the Ministry of Magic keeps. This is a serious crime Lord Potter. It is punishable by twenty years of Azkaban time. Also a have noticed that you are very malnourished and cannot imagine why this hasn't been investigated by the proper authorities. I will write that down in the report as well and I will stand witness in the trial that you will most likely invoke. Good day Lord Potter." Said the healer and left the chamber.
Harry shook his head and sighed. He knew exactly who had placed such bindings on it and now he had ample trumped up charges with evidence to send Dumbledore to Azkaban for life. But right now he needed to get down to the Potter Family Vault and see the portraits of his parents. He lifted himself from the stone floor and exited the chamber, where manager Stonesmite was awaiting him. He followed the goblin to the carts and went down to see his Family Vault for the first time. The long ride with many twists and turns made his day as the damp cave air whipped past his face and his face split into an innocent grin, a grin that was not to be seen for quite some time on his face. After the cart pulled to a stop the goblin stepped off it, Harry still following him, and touched the massive doors of the vault. The doors groaned as they opened in and Harry saw for the first time how filthy rich he was. On the far side of the vault were insane amounts of gold, mounds upon mounds of it. Slightly left of it was a mound of Sickles and on the right a small mound of Knuts. The vault was lit by many torches on the walls and a huge chandelier lighting the middle of the vault. Between every torch there were pairs of portraits of his ancestors, all paired up as husband and wife.
On the left side were shelves that stretched all the way to the mound of Sickles on the far side of the vault. On the right side were many trunks; racks with armor, swords, bows, daggers and every other weapon from medieval England; Sneakoscopes and Foegalsses and other big magical devices which Harry didn't know the purpose of.
"What's in the trunks?" asked Harry as he the view of the vault in. "Many magical devices." was the prompt reply of the goblin beside him.
"I want a full report on all things inside this vault." Harry informed the goblin and Stonesmite nodded. Harry then proceeded to open the trunks and peer inside. He found a trunk with five compartments that only had inside a small booklet that explained its functions. The first compartment was for books, and it could hold up to one thousand books, and the book desired could be summoned to the top of the compartment by saying the title. The second compartment was for clothes, and it ascended a rack where he could hang his clothes like in a closet, and the rack would descend down when he would start closing the lid. The third compartment was for delicate objects and potions and potion ingredients, and there were padded cells where he could place anything delicate. The fourth compartment was an ordinary storage space that was slightly enlarged in which he could carry any knickknacks that weren't very important or fragile, but he used them frequently. The fifth compartment was actually like Moody's seventh one, where staircases lead to an expanded space which he could use as a store room. It even had a cooling and freezing cabinets where he could store food. The whole trunk was charmed to be unbreakable, undesturbable, resistant to fire, water, frost and lightning, and had charms that prevented from getting dirty, and on top of all that, a self shrinking charm. He quickly shrank the trunk and put it in his pocket.
He continued browsing through the trunks and found a pensive, a very rare valuable tool for reviewing memories, Harry knew, so he stored it inside the second compartment of his newly acquired trunk. His shopping trip would be thankfully cut very short, because he spent much more time in the bank than he planned, though he couldn't complain watching the mounds of Galleons sparkling in the torchlight. He found a pair of cursed daggers which he stored in the trunk, if the victim wasn't a Potter they would die from the smallest of scratches in less than five minutes. He also found two sets of battle robes that would automatically adjust to the wearer, and only the wearer could take them off. They were pitch black and had large hoods that would cover his face nicely, so he took of the Dursley rags and donned one of the battle robes in the vault itself, and the rest he stored in the first compartment of the trunk. He then conjured a brass bucket, put his cousin's castoffs inside and incendioed them. Then he took a big breath and looked for his mother and father's portraits.
They were on the other side of the vault, hidden by bookshelves from the entrance. Harry saw them snoozing as he read the plaques on the lower side of the portraits. Lily Potter and James Potter, the echoes of his parents, two people he thought he would never see were asleep in front of him. He sniffed as he held back tears that were in the making for a whole decade, and the sound was enough to wake his parents. His mother was the first to respond, and she snapped her green eyes, his eyes, open and she gasped. Her baby had grown up, and although he looked like a starving dog she couldn't help but feel proud, her son had survived Voldemort's attack on their home. She subconsciously reached a hand forward to touch her son, and looked devastated when she remembered that now she was just a portrait on the wall of a humongous vault. Harry reached forward and touched her cheek.
"So, Lily, I die and lo and behold, you get yourself another man. Whatever I did to deserve this?" said a voice from his right in mock outrage. Harry snickered and that was all it took to break the somber mood. He looked at his father, and the man in the portrait was currently cleaning his glasses on a white handkerchief.
After he put on his glasses, James Potter turned serious and asked "How have you been all these years Harry. You look… like a starving dog! You best take care of yourself son. People would laugh if you survived Voldemort only to die of starvation." exclaimed the portrait after seeing the condition his son was in.
"What can I say dad. I have been deprived of all things that make us human. It's a wonder I haven't turned vengeful and bitter like Voldemort himself." explained Harry to his father while looking at the ground. He always hated telling people about his unfortunate life, mainly because they would feel sorry for him, but secretly because they couldn't or wouldn't do anything to help him. After all this time looking for outside help, this summer Harry understood that he shouldn't rely on people to help him, because of all the people he told so far, none had turned a helping hand. They would apologize and say that they couldn't do anything about it, or they would placate him and say that there was no other way. Harry would believe them and sigh, until today. From today onwards he would depend on no one. He used to pray to God every night in the cupboard under the stairs, but shortly after his tenth birthday, he realized that God was just an illusion created by greedy people to take money from believers. If God existed, he was surely no better than any other mortal, because, in the end, no mortal he met ever cared about Harry Potter, the starved boy that lived in the cupboard under the stairs and came to school withdrawn and with bruises. He decided this summer that if no one cared for him, he had to take care of himself, and only himself. The rest of the world could burn and die a slow and painful death, and he wouldn't blink an eye. Where was the rest of the world when he was bruised and bleeding in the darkness of the cupboard under the stairs? Oh, yeah, they were celebrating the death of the monster that had haunted them for nearly a decade, and they didn't give a flying fuck about their savior. His fifth year in the wizarding world assured him of that.
"Are there any secret properties of the Potter family that I should know about, dad?" he asked his father after he had gathered his thoughts and stemmed his bitterness.
"Well, there is the cottage at Godric's Hollow, but the rest of the world probably knows about it since we died there; then there is Potter Manor, it's somewhere in Scotland; then there is a cottage on the southern coast of France, near a beautiful nude beach with golden sand – you were made there you know." the elder Potter grinned as Lily blushed and slapped his arm.
"Great place to visit, especially in the summer," his father winked at him "although it was pretty warm even in October; then there is Potter Tower, that is the best place to hide from the world, it's unplotable, under a version of the Fidelius that an ancestor of yours created, and it can be only found and accessed by a Potter via a special portkey. Once you're inside it, you can find a book with the ones with knowledge and access to the tower. To give someone access and knowledge of the Tower all you need to do is write their name in the book, to remove access and knowledge of the place you only need to strike out the name twice, and only a Potter can see the book, read what's in it and write inside it. Pretty neat huh? The portkey is in my trunk, near the mound of Knuts over there. Your mother's trunk is right beside mine. You should take them both. There are things inside that you may need. Our diaries are inside them as well. You should read those. If nothing else, mine will give you the insight of the game." his father said with a smirk.
Harry furrowed his brow, "Umm, what game dad?" he asked in genuine confusion.
"The game, son, the game. The one you play with the opposite sex, unless you play for the other team. Either way, I'm dead, so I cannot judge." smirked the elder Potter down at his son. Harry blushed, but in his mind he was considering the possibilities. Everybody he ever met had informed him that his father was a real heart-breaker, and this indicated that he was indeed a major player in the Game. He hastily nodded and went to collect the trunks.
He opened his father's trunk first and found the diary. He leafed through it and found that not only it had detailed descriptions of his sexual conquests, but also had pictures glued next to the texts of them scantly clothed- or even in the nude. He was now certain that his father was not a mayor player. He was The Player, and that man had a lot of experience, experience which he could use to make his career as a player easier and most interesting. He hastily closed the book and looked further into the trunks contents. He found nothing of interest, excluding several items: his father's wristwatch, a nice golden Rolex with the inscription "Love always, Lily" on underside of the face, probably a valentines gift for his father, a watch that he would proudly wear; next, his father's Auror issue wand wrist-holster, with self adjusting and invisibility charms on it; and finally a stack of Auror manuals filled with spells to the brim. He closed the trunk and shrunk it before placing it in one of his inside pockets.
He moved to his mother's trunk and carefully opened it. The inside was a stark contrast to his and his father's trunks. While he and his father had to dig anything they needed out of the mess that were their trunks, his mother's trunk was packed with military discipline. What was it with girls and neatness wondered Harry to himself as he took the inside of the trunk. He found his mothers diary and quickly noted the doodles appeared somewhere in the second entry of her third year of Hogwarts schooling, and he even found an entry at the beginning of her fourth year where his mother had dreamily signed her name as "Lilly Potter" on the margin on the page. With a huge grin he closed the diary and put it back in the place he found it. He also found a necklace with the inscription "Love forever, James" on it. Then he opened the small locket he saw two miniature pictures of his father and mother facing each other. He put the locket on before closing the trunk and shrinking it.
He put the trunk in his pocket and went back to the portrait's. After explaining what he was going to do, he took his parent's portraits off the wall, shrunk them and placed them in an inside pocket of his robe. He took a money bag and charmed it to be feather light and expanded the inside before filling it with Galleons to the brim. He called Stonesmite and instructed him to make a full inventory of all the vaults he possessed and keep it. He would come to the bank in a day or two to take a look at it. He also remembered to pull ten thousand pounds from his vault in muggle notes, because he wanted to go shopping in the muggle world. Then Harry Potter pulled on the hood of the cloak and exited Gringotts wizarding bank a new man.
A/N: I'll need you guy's to review so I know this story isn't a complete waste of my time. So far I havent recieved a single review and I can't help but feel like a moron who is talking and and nobody listens. If you don't feel that the story is good enough, don't bother to review, and i will stop writing it. Rigth now I have finished the seventh chapter and it feels like a pretty good story, but I guess my view is biased. So I'm going to need your view on it (or rather your review on it), to see if the story is good enough and not a complete waste of time and resources. Peace out!
