-oOoOo-
Over the next several weeks, life settled down for Harry at the Grangers. Harry had met his godfather, Sirius Black, in his private room at St. Mungo's where he would be spending most of the next two to four months recovering from the physical and mental ravages of having spent nine and a half years in Azkaban. Sirius had good days and bad days but the staff recognized that his best days were the days Harry and Hermione visited him, which was at least twice a week.
Dan and Emma had set down some ground rules the first day concerning when bedroom doors could be closed and how the division of labour worked around the house as well as the requirements for having additional friends over. They encouraged Harry to visit Sirius as often as was practical, and as it turned out, there were any number of off-duty aurors who were willing to meet the two on the Knights Bus and accompany them to see Sirius.
Dan and Emma were frequently reminded of Harry's innocence when it came to girls. One night they had been watching the Miss Universe United Kingdom special. Harry hadn't quite understood the reason Dan was so interested in watching the program but was fascinated, along with Emma and Hermione, about the various categories the women competed in. Hermione was of the age when her self-image of body was developing and was hoping she would develop in those ways soon. It was during the swimsuit competition when the measurements of one of the contestants was announced as being a nearly perfect thirty-six – twenty-four – thirty-six. When Emma asked Harry if he knew what that meant, Harry thought for a moment and answered, "Ninety-six!" He received a huge hug from Emma and Hermione for that answer and a wry smile from Dan. Needless to say, this answer made Dan a much less stressed father and made Hermione a slightly embarrassed, but much less self-conscious girl.
The Grangers summer normally culminated in a family vacation and this summer was no different. There were some challenges and some culture shock to be dealt with. While some of these challenges and some of the culture shock was apparent in Harry's behaviour when it came to being a part of a loving, whole family, a good deal of challenges and a significant amount of culture shock was being experienced by the Grangers; Hermione included.
July started like a normal month. Dan and Emma had the practise closed for a brief holiday to insure all of the necessary paperwork was in place when they hit upon their first snag: Harry had no passport. When they discussed it the evening of June thirtieth and brought Harry and Hermione into the depths of the discussion, Harry, supported by Hermione, suggested they visit Gringott's to determine what the Goblins could do.
Apparently the answer was anything, for a price.
Harry, Hermione, Emma and Dan entered the lobby of Gringott's. Emma and Dan started heading towards the teller lines when Harry took Emma's arm and Hermione took Dan's arm and the the children directed them to the concierge desk. The concierge sensed the four humans approached the desk and looked up, noting two of them were without magic. More muggleborns not understanding how a proper bank worked. The goblin looked up with a sneer and immediately realised his error. Looking down on his desk, he pushed the correct button for this client's account manager just as they reached his desk.
"Good morning, Sir. Senior Account Manager Steelfist told me I should come to this desk when visiting Gringotts, especially when I needed additional assistance," Harry said respectfully, throwing the goblin off his usual game, having never dealt with a respectful client in the past. Fortunately for the concierge, Steelfist walked onto the bank floor that very moment and approached the group from behind, making himself known by walking with heavy footfalls as he got closer. The group turned as one at the sound of his approach.
"Lord Potter and guests, you honour us with your presence. How may Gringotts be of service to you this morning?" Steelfist asked.
"It is good to see you, Senior Account Manager. I sincerely hope you are doing well," Harry said with a smile, "and that your caverns are filling with the gold of your enemies."
"With your Madam Bones working to revisit the death eater trials from the last decade, I am certain our caverns will see a few additional tons. Thank you for supporting that legislation," Steelfist said.
"It was the right thing to do," Harry said simply.
"Shall we retire to my office to discuss your business here today, Lord Potter?" Steelfist asked.
"An excellent idea, Senior Account Manager," Harry replied with a smile.
Steelfist lead the four through the labyrinth of hallways leading to his office. Once the door closed behind them, Steelfist turned and extended his hand to Harry.
Harry smiled and took Steelfist's wrist in his. "I do hope, Harry, that everything is well with you. I wanted you to know that in addition to the wards placed on your guardians' home and business, Gringott's has added reaction squads as we detected the wards at the business tested several times last week."
Harry was about to speak when Steelfist thought he had anticipated the young Lord's question.
"There is no additional cost for having the reactions squads on standby. You're only charged if an when they respond," Steelfist assured Harry.
"Steelfist, my family is priceless to me. If it cost me everything I had to keep them alive, happy and safe, I wouldn't care if you emptied every vault I had," Harry explained.
Steelfist shook his head. "My apologies, Harry. After seventy years of dealing with wizards whose wealth was more important than their own well-being, it takes some time to remember there are three wizards in recent history who are not that way. I shall, however, make a note on your file as well as the files of Lord Longbottom and Lord Lovegood to insure I don't make a similar mistake. Now I am sure you didn't come today for merely a social visit. How may I be of service?" Steelfist asked.
"The Granger family has a routine of taking a family vacation every summer. For me to go, I need a passport. I am hoping Gringott's can facilitate me getting one as well as provide me with some means of accessing my allowance vault without actually having to carry sacks of galleons with me," Harry explained.
"Where had you and your family planned on travelling for your vacation, Dan?" Steelfist asked.
"We normally go to the south of France during the summer," Dan said.
"Did you want to stay in your château while you are there, Harry?"
Emma and Dan chorused in surprise "What?"
"We really should spend some time going over the list of properties you own, Harry. You may also want to give me free reign to purchase additional properties of interest as they come onto the market. We can generally guarantee at least a twenty percent return on investment minimum for properties Gringott's purchases on behalf of clients," Steelfist said, then turned to Dan and Emma, "Harry owns what I have been told is one of the more beautiful properties in the south of France. It is situated on eight hundred and eight-six hectares, has eighteen reception rooms, twenty-nine bedrooms, fourteen formal bathrooms, has an entrance onto a private, two-mile long beach and is maintained by nine house elves. Harry's passport will be available within the next few minutes, along with all of the necessary visas and documentation necessary to travel to any country. Similar passports for the three of you will be available at the same time."
"We already have our passports," Dan said, indicating the three Grangers.
"You have your normal passports, Dan. The passports Gringott's issues to major account holders and the members of their families don't expire and have a few additional features. They automatically contain the appropriate visa or stamps needed to enter the country of your choice, act as port keys to the Gringott's branch closest to your destination of choice and function as emergency port keys in the event you are threatened, injured or otherwise incapacitated and cannot be blocked by anti-port key wards or spells," Steelfist explained.
"How is that possible?" Emma asked.
Steelfist, Hermione and Harry chorused, "Magic!" Steelfist laughed for a moment.
"I am not laughing at you, Dan and Emma. These two are simply and clearly truly refreshing people," Steelfist said, indicating Harry and Hermione.
"On another matter, Harry, Lord Black received your late fathers bequests. He insisted, however, that you keep and accept your father's broom, even if you only fly it once. He wanted you to know that your father loved to fly," Steelfist said. "He also insisted that he be allowed to return your father's map to you if you will allow him to copy the instructions for making the maps which are apparently somewhere in your mother's papers."
"Of course he can have copies of the instructions. Can Gringott's facilitate that? Can the broom stay in one of my vaults until such time that I am ready to take possession of it?" Harry asked, emotion evident in his voice.
"But of course, Harry. We shall keep it in the primary Potter vault until you are ready for it. Speaking of which, since you have not visited your vaults yet, would you and your family like to take a tour of your founders' wings or any of the other family vaults you have?" Steelfist asked.
"What are these founders' wings, sir?" Hermione asked. Harry took her hand and gently squeezed it.
"An excellent question, Hermione. May I call you Hermione?" Steelfist asked. Hermione nodded, an embarrassed smile on her face.
"Thank you, Hermione. Most wizards who bank with Gringott's have general accounts, meaning they have accounts much like customers of muggle banks. Some customers have small, trunk-sized vaults for storing papers or small quantities of gems, galleons they want as a savings or the like. There is a small annual fee for this type of vault. Still fewer customers have vaults, such as Harry's allowance vault, which Harry has visited in the past. This small room-sized walk-in vault is typically the largest vault most wizards who have vaults use. There is also an annual fee for these vaults. Perhaps a few dozen clients, and note the difference in classification, have larger vaults, perhaps the size of my office here. These are generally equipped with bookcases or other furnishings to assist the client in sorting or organizing their more precious possessions. Depending upon the holdings and investments these clients have and the contracts Gringott's have with them, these vaults are provided as part of a package of services provided to the client by Gringott's. Other than Harry's allowance vault, Harry has three of these larger vaults. Harry, you also have twenty-nine vaults of the next size up. At Gringott's, we refer to these as Estate Vaults. There are fifteen other Gringott's clients who have this size vault and most of them only have one. These are usually ten to twenty thousand square metres and contain furnishings and equipment to aid the client in the organization and storage of possessions. As I recall, at least five of the Estate Vaults are dedicated to books. These are provided free of charge to clients who have monthly transactions exceeding one million galleons. There are only four facilities larger than estate vaults and these are founders' wings, which are, shall we say, 'unique'. They are difficult to describe, and if you are in any rush today, we should probably not try to fit even one of those into today's visit as its best to warn the handlers of a founder wishing to enter their wing. You are the first Lord to actually take on the mantel of two founding families. The wings are far enough apart that it would take some time to visit both in the same day."
"Perhaps we should wait on those then as we still have some shopping to do today for our vacation," Emma explained.
Steelfist smiled a goblin smile then composed himself. "Emma, this is Gringott's. The amazing young man for which you are a guardian is a Founder. If you wish to purchase something, you have but to ask and our shoppers will insure it is awaiting you in the lobby when you are ready to leave or delivered to your home at your convenience."
"Steelfist, while we are more than comfortable and are able to take care of nearly every need, do you know Harry's net worth? I am not asking to be rude, Harry. I simply think you may need an education in estate planning and financial management based on what I've heard today," Dan explained.
Steelfist nodded. "I am certainly glad young Harry is with the two of you. I think some wizarding families were attempting to adopt Harry just to gain access to his vaults. They would have been sorely disappointed when they were informed they would have no access whatsoever to his vaults, much as I am sure you both realize you would have no access to Harry's vaults except his allowance vault, and then only if he granted access to you."
Dan nodded. "The last thing I would want to do is take money from Harry," Dan said and was then interrupted by Harry.
"Dad, you know I feel guilty about being a burden on you and Mum..." Harry was cut off by Emma.
"Harry, Dan and I both love our jobs and we make far more than the average non-magical person. We want you to keep your money for when you become an adult. It will help you go to university and give you a nice nest egg for when you find the right girl and settle down to get married and have children," Emma said, noting that Harry looked at Hermione with a shy smile when she had talked about finding the right girl. Is there more to these two they're not telling me? I guess I will have a talk with the both of them over the coming week without Dan to scare Harry with the 'Father of Girl Child' monster hovering around.
"Harry, I know one of my tellers wanted to talk with you and I promised him I would ask and I am sure you and Hermione would at least like to visit your allowance vault. Would you two like to go do that?" Steelfist asked jovially.
Hermione looked at Steelfist with questioning eyes but didn't ask anything. Steelfist caught her gaze and looked at Emma and Dan before looking back at Hermione.
"That sounds like fun, Harry! Can we see if there are any books in there?" Hermione asked with genuine excitement, even though she realized Steelfist want to speak with her parents alone.
Harry had a shy smile on his face. "I would like to do that with you, Hermione." He then looked at Dan and Emma. "Can we go, Mum and Dad?" Harry asked, clearly excited to look through one of his vaults.
"That would be fine, Harry. Just come back to Steelfist's office when you're done or we can meet you at your allowance vault when we're done here," Dan said, never tiring of hearing the son he had always wanted calling him "Dad".
Harry and Hermione stood and and they gave both Dan and Emma hugs, Harry saying "Thanks Dad!" to Dan as he hugged him.
Steelfist spoke into the tube on his desk in Gobbledygook and a young goblin knocked on the door and then entered.
"This is GoldFinder, one of our Junior Tellers with a uncanny ability of finding lost coins, hence his name. He helped ameliorate a difficult situation with a challenging client last week and, as a reward he asked if he could meet with and assist one of our most-valued clients. I believe he nearly fainted, which is an accomplishment for a goblin, when I told him I would ask the Great Lord Harry James Potter to speak with him. GoldFinder, could you please take Lord Potter to vault six hundred and eighty-seven, his allowance vault. He is permitted to remove anything he cares to from this vault," Steelfist said.
"Sir! Yes! Sir! It would be a great honour for me to help Lord Potter, Sir!" GoldFinder said, opening and holding the door for Harry and Hermione to exit. He followed them out of the office then lead them down to the carts.
Steelfist waited and watched as his office door closed. He then silently counted to thirty. Once he was satisfied Harry and Hermione were on their way to Harry's vault, Steelfist looked at Dan and Emma and continued the conversation.
"Emma, while I commend your attitude and your protective nature for Harry's future, I feel I need to explain something about scales and orders of magnitude. If you don't mind me prying, what would you say your dental practice's gross revenue for last year was?" Steelfist asked.
"The gross revenue was in the neighbourhood of seven hundred and seventy thousand pounds last year," Emma said.
"We should have you open a business account with Gringott's to manage your funds. You'll pay less in taxes and make more in interest from your deposits. Which bank do you bank with?" Steelfist asked.
"Barclays," Emma said.
"Excellent. If you would like, I can have the necessary paperwork available for you to sign today. I can guarantee a ninety percent reduction in taxes and at least quadruple your interest starting today without you having to switch banks, as Barclays is one of our non-magical extension of the Gringott's family," Steelfist said then continued. "I did not ask you to sell you services. I asked you to give you some idea of the orders of magnitude involved with Harry. I would like you to count to ten, Emma," Steelfist said.
"Very well. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten," Emma said, looking at Steelfist in open curiosity.
"In the time it took you to count to ten, Harry's combined investments, savings and other payable notes appreciated more than one million galleons in value. Whether it is the five gold mines he owns in South Africa, the palladium, gold and platinum mines he owns in Siberia or the half-interest in the goldmine he has in Canada, along with the interests and stocks he had in oil exploration and other petroleum companies as well as other magical and non-magical stocks, bonds, financial notes, stock and other monetary and tangible concerns. Should Harry need to buy, for example, an island, or a castle, or any other thing he chose to purchase, he has the means to do so. I believe this was the primary reason Madam Bones was so concerned about Harry accepting Lordship over so many families. He has control over the single largest block of financial power in the magical and non-magical worlds. The account fees Gringott's charges Harry are one tenth of one percent and Gringott's received one point two thousand million galleons in account fees last year alone. That was before Harry allowed us to activate the wealth of the families whose funds were tied up in simple interest-bearing accounts. I suppose what I am really trying to tell you is that with Harry's approval, you could place your practice on the market and become full-time parents, enjoying watching these two wonderfully bright and amazing children grow up rather than only having three days a week to spend with them." Steelfist explained.
To say the least, Emma and Dan were in shock.
"Would you like to know just how honourable Harry is?" Steelfist asked.
Dan and Emma could only nod their heads.
"The late Vernon Dursley, Harry's uncle by marriage, had a sister who was made from the same mould as Vernon. Due to the non-magical laws, Harry would have received all of the insurance money from the Dursleys' deaths as well as the proceeds from the sale of their home in Little Whinging, to a combined sum of nearly one million pounds. I have to be honest and say when Harry did what he did, he had no idea how much money he had. He asked Gringott's to set these proceeds up in a trust to insure Margaret Tatum Dursley, Vernon's hateful sister, wouldn't be kicked out of her home as we informed Harry she was losing money every month on her dog breeding business and likely wouldn't make it through the year in her home because Vernon was no longer supplementing her income. It should be noted that Harry actually owns the home and the land it is on as he bought it and asked us to reduce her rent to half of what it was so she could have a better life, possibly improving her disposition. He felt badly for her because she lost her brother, her sister-in-law and her nephew in the accident. He tells me he doesn't feel guilty, but I don't entirely believe him. And again, Harry did this before he knew what his own holdings were. When I asked him about the money, he said he was less interested in the money than in making sure his uncle's sister could celebrate her late brother's generosity. Granted, the way we have the principle funds invested, the thousand pound monthly stipend we are sending her is just a portion of the interest on the funds so it will last the remainder of her life, but I wanted you to know." Steelfist paused for a moment as Emma had tears running down her face and was being held by Dan.
"I do not want to push you into making a decision, but I would ask you to seriously consider putting your practice on the market, performing the transaction through Gringott's and spending as much time as you can raising those two children. You both mean a great deal to that young man and are the parents of the first person to ever show him the love of a friend and, from what he tells me, she is the first person he can remember ever giving him a hug. Although I am a goblin, and we treat children like the precious gifts from the goddess that they are, I ask you. No. I beg you to spend the rest of your lives raising, taking care of and loving your children. I am not saying don't have hobbies or things of your own, but while dentistry seems to be rewarding for both of you, I think you both have higher, more profound callings in you. You just need the time to find out what they are," Steelfist said passionately, then fell silent.
Dan was the first to find his voice as Emma was still crying. "Steelfist, you give us much to think about, but I believe you have Harry's best interests at heart. I do not know if goblins make friends with non-magical humans, but I would be honoured to call you friend for looking out for my son, my daughter, my wife and me."
Steelfist smiled. "I would be equally honoured to call you and Emma friend, Dan. Had the two of you not passed the background investigation Ironclaw ordered, you'd never have been offered an opportunity to become Harry's guardians. Both Ironclaw and I were impressed by what we saw," he said.
"Background check?" Emma asked suspiciously.
"Unlike Albus Dumbledore, we weren't going to leave the boy on someone's doorstep with nothing but a note. Gringott's is most thorough, although it saddens me to tell you that one of Dan's childhood bullies was killed in Her Majesty's Prison system. Almost as much as it saddens me that Vernon Dursley was killed in a road accident which took thirteen other lives, including his wife, Petunia and their son, Dudley. Although from what we have been able to piece together, Petunia was almost as much a victim as Harry, and Dudley was being trained to become the same as Vernon." Steelfist explained.
"Which bully?" Dan asked curiously.
"Michael William Sinclair, who I believe you knew as Mikey Bills in primary school," Steelfist said from memory.
"The world is a better place without him," Dan said, shaking his head. "If I recall, he was doing life for killing his own daughter."
"You are well-informed," Steelfist said.
"As are you, or so it seems," Emma said.
"Normally Gringott's does not permit a copy of our investigative report to be given to their subjects, but considering who our mutual person of interest is, I think it will help you to understand how important Harry is," Steelfist said, then removed a blue, fifteen-centimetre-thick file folder from his desk. "This is the file we have on you, Emma, prior to your meeting Dan." He set this on his desk and removed two thicker green folders of the same thickness. "These are the reports we have on Dan before you two met." He reached into his drawer and pulled out two yellow, twelve-centimetre-thick folders. "This is what we collected on the two of you since you met." He removed another thick beige folder. "This is copies of all of the official paperwork related to your business since it was formed." He pulled out two red ten-centimetre-thick folders. "These are the information we were able to collect on your daughter. I recommend that when you review this folder that you have something at hand to calm your nerves, especially when you get to the section marked 'October 1991' as that will not be entirely pleasant reading for you. If you would like a summary of it, your daughter had become distraught and was considering asking you to remove her from Hogwarts as few there understood her overriding need to learn and share that knowledge. She hid in a bathroom. A mountain troll was let into Hogwarts by an instructor as a diversion. The troll entered the bathroom Hermione had chosen to hide in, Harry entered the bathroom and killed the troll and he and your daughter have been inseparable since." Steelfist said. "One other condition. You may read these here, in my office. They may not leave my office as alarms will sound the moment they cross the threshold of my door."
Dan and Emma were certain Hermione still had not explained everything about the troll incident. "Describe a troll for me, please, Steelfist," Emma said.
"A European mountain troll averages four metres in height, weighs approximately one thousand kilograms, has the intelligence of a non-magical dog, is extremely aggressive and typically carries a club or stout tree trunk weighing one hundred kilograms or more," Steelfist explained.
Dan swallowed loudly then asked, just to be certain, "And you are certain Harry killed one of these things? Does he know he killed it?"
Steelfist opened the folder and sat in the chair that appeared next to Dan so that he could re-read the information while Dan and Emma read it for the first time. "Ah yes. I am certain Harry knows he killed it. According to a pensieve account taken from Harry, which he freely provided us, his one and only concern was quote '...the nice girl who was always helping me with my homework and was teaching me how to write essays...' and then quote 'The troll disappeared but the walls, ceiling and floor of the bathroom turned red, brown and yellow and smelled something awful...' The post-incident investigation, done by Hogwarts staff, members of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and a careful study of Harry's provided memory indicate fairly clearly that Harry, likely through another case of hysterical magic, disintegrated the troll. Here is a picture taken from Harry's memory," Steelfist said and showed Dan and Emma the picture. There was an enormous, grey creature standing near Hermione. It swung its club down and shattered a row of sinks Hermione had just run out from beneath. It then looked at where Hermione was running and took a step to follow her and then it just disappeared as the scene changed. There was now a thick, oozing layer of red, with brown and yellow spots, running down the walls and dripping into the muck already on the floor. When Harry looked back at Hermione, she was clearly in a state of shock, but was completely clean, devoid of any of the troll spray befouling the rest of the room. It even appeared, when Harry looked down at the floor, the two children were walking an inch above the floor until they got into the corridor, when the memory and the muck ended.
Dan and Emma were in shock. Emma began crying. "She could have been killed!" Emma sobbed, falling into Dan's opened arms and burying her face in his chest.
"But she wasn't, Cuddle Cat. Harry was there and saved her," Dan said, hoping this would help calm Emma down.
"Yes but he could have been killed too!" Emma said, sobbing all the harder.
"Emma. Love. Their fine. Their safe. They just went down to Harry's vault. They'll be back here any minute now and you'll be able to wrap your arms around both of them and tell them how much you love them," Dan said.
"Emma," Steelfist began, also trying to comfort the young woman, "I would also like to point out that there has never before been a case of a troll being allowed to enter Hogwarts and the teachers are now inspected rigorously before being allowed to teach at Hogwarts, while before only the headmaster of the school had oversight. Now a prospective candidate must have their background checked by the DMLE as well as approved by a seventy-five percent majority of the Hogwarts Board of Governors," Steelfist said with a smile, "which means you, I am sure, will have a significant amount of sway over every single teacher hired at Hogwarts."
"How is that, Steelfist?" Dan asked.
Steelfist couldn't contain his laughter. He laughed for a few moments then brought himself back in control, though he couldn't stop smiling. "Harry is in control of eight of the twelve seats on the board of governors," he explained.
Emma got her emotions under control but was still concerned, "But what happened to the teacher that let the troll into the school? Certainly he was arrested!" Emma exclaimed.
Steelfist became instantly serious. "No, Emma. It pains me to say this because it paints Harry in a somewhat poor light, but I want you to know Harry is neither a psychopath nor a sociopath. If anything, he has the uncanny luck to always be where he is needed most. There is no elegant way to say this, so I will be blunt. The teacher was neither reprimanded nor arrested because Harry killed him."
Emma began crying again, but not out of fear for her children. "Please tell us what happened," Emma said. "We need to know."
"I cannot show you the memory directly because you have no magic yourselves, but I have a wizarding photograph, much like you just watched, taken from Harry's memory as well as a transcript of the event," Steelfist said.
Emma just nodded. Dan was still too shocked. My God! If he isn't a psychopath or a sociopath, what is with him doing all this killing? Dan thought.
Steelfist went to his desk and removed a nine-centimetre-thick, black folder labelled 'Voldemort'. He sat back down next to Dan, flipped through the folder and removed the wizarding photograph and the transcript of the event. Steelfist read the transcript aloud while the photograph played out the scene, Steelfist's reading almost perfectly in synchronization with the moving of the lips of the people in the picture. The picture ended as Harry's vision faded to black after once more tucking the Philosopher's Stone into his right front pants pocket.
Dan was shaking his head as he held Emma. "My God! Steelfist, has Harry had any grief counselling to help him cope with the aftermath of these situations?"
Steelfist shook his head, "Apparently the headmaster awarded him house points and acted as if nothing special happened. It is Gringott's understanding that not even the DMLE was notified of this incident."
"A man died! A man who was trying to kill our Harry! And the authorities were not notified? What kind of school is this?" Emma asked, furious over Harry's treatment.
A box on Steelfist's desk began speaking in Gobbledygook. "We should likely revisit this topic later. Harry and Hermione have just completed their business in Harry's allowance vault and are returning here now. There is one other thing I would like to discuss with you before they return. Please do not give Harry too much of a talking to this summer about spending his gold. His allowance vault alone has close to half a million galleons in it. If you do discuss it with him, provide him with gentle reminders about the value of money versus the value of happiness. While I agree with the two of you that he should learn estate management, he should be allowed to do something he hasn't been allowed to do the last nine and a half years and that is to be a child. If he wants to buy something for one of you or for Hermione, or for anyone else, please let him do so and let him know honestly how much the item means to you, but reinforce each and every time how much he means to you, both in emotional terms and verbalization. He needs to be genuinely loved and," he pointed to the folders outlining their lives from birth to present in excruciating details, "we know you are best suited to bring him back from the abyss and give him the best possibility for a better life. I could give you a list of business reasons Gringott's would want this, but as Guilder Gringott said when he read the report on Harry, the lives of children are precious and should not ever be squandered. We would cheerfully feed Vernon Dursley to the Gringott's dragons."
Emma and Dan both nodded their understanding.
There was a knock at the door. "Enter," Steelfist called out in a normal tone of voice.
Ironclaw preceded Harry, Hermione and Goldfinder into the room and was talking to the two children. "...I am glad you enjoyed the side trip to the dragons. As you can see, they are quite nice to be around as long as we're talking about the non-sentient breeds. Try tossing a ball of ground beef or pork to a Norwegian Ridgeback or one of the other sentient species and you'll want to insure your will is in order first!" Ironclaw exclaimed with a smile.
Hermione looked over at her parents and ran over to give them both a hug. "Oh Mum! Dad! You should have seen it! Ironclaw met us down at Harry's vault and took us to see some guard dragons in training! It was so exciting! And we found books on the different breeds of dragons in Harry's allowance vault!" she exclaimed, holding up a small box, clearly happily excited.
Harry, being more aware of people's moods and the subtle signals people gave off unconsciously due to the abuse he experienced at the hands of the Dursleys and Dudley's school bully friends, saw the signs of tension and stress in both Dan and Emma. He didn't want to mention anything, but it reminded him of something that brought a smile to his face. "Dad? Mum? Ironclaw let me know something while we were looking through the small library in my allowance vault. I apparently own a very nice restaurant in Diagon Alley. Could we eat there tonight? I have a happy surprise for you,"Harry said with a smile, trying to determine if he could detect the reason for their tension.
"That sounds wonderful, Harry! And I love happy surprises!" Emma said with a genuine smile, putting their earlier concerns into the back of her mind.
Harry then turned to Ironclaw. "Ironclaw, you and Steelfist have been accommodating, gracious and honest, which is more than I can say about nearly every witch and wizard I have met so far that I am certain of," he turned and looked at Hermione with a shy smile, "except one witch," at which Hermione looked at him and blushed. "May I be so bold as to consider the two of you my friends?" Harry asked.
"Harry, it would be my honour to call you friend and for you to publicly call me Ironclaw," Ironclaw said, standing and bowing formally to Harry, splaying his fingers and closing his eyes. He stood this way for some seconds.
When Ironclaw stood up again, Harry returned the bow, splaying his fingers and closing his eyes.
Steelfist was somewhat incredulous that an Elector would treat a wizard as an equal. This was historic and he would not believe another's account of it had he himself not witnessed it.
Harry then turned to Steelfist and bowed, splaying his fingers and closing his eyes. He waited a few moments then stood up. Steelfist looked for a moment and swallowed. To fail to give the offering of friendship could be seen as either an act of contempt or an act of fear, yet he did not know how to feel about this wizard that was still such a mystery to him. Regardless, it would be an affront to Ironclaw if he failed to extend the branch of friendship.
Steelfist took a deep breath, bowed, splayed his fingers and closed his eyes. After counting to ten and not feeling a knife at his throat or feeling his field of magic invaded, he straightened and opened his eyes.
"It is an honour to have two friends amongst The People," Harry said.
"Harry, I was given authority from Guilder Gringott himself, and were he in this branch today, he would have done so himself. You are not simply my friend. You are a friend of The People," Ironclaw said.
-oOoOo-
