Draco Malfoy had always considered himself to be a good son, questioning his father never came to mind until his father was thrown into Azkaban. Surprisingly his mother seemed to be happy about this if her recent mood was anything to go by. When he had first heard that his father had been sentenced he had been outraged, now almost a month later and at home he had little else to do except to think about why his father had been sent away and what that meant for him. It had taken a while but he was starting to doubt that his father was not what he had thought he was and this was not sitting well with the young Malfoy scion. At first he hadn't wanted to admit it but the more that he thought about it the more he realized that his father was a man that only thought of himself. Everything that he did benefited himself more than it did anyone else. Even when he was supposed to be helping someone else. Hell even when he had bought all those brooms to help get Draco onto the Slytherin quidditch team it had helped Lucius more than it had helped Draco. He had used it as an excuse to curry favour with the parents of Draco's teammates.
This realization had been the first in a long list Draco had been mentally making of why his father was not the great man that Draco had thought he was. The newest thing on that list was the letter that Draco was holding in his hands. He had received it that morning and was still wondering how this had come to happen. The letter was from Gringotts and was to inform him that the place that he had called a home for the greater part of his life was being taken from him and that he and his mother were getting evicted. He had still not shown the letter to his mother afraid of how she would react to the news, he also didn't want to ruin the good mood that she was in. He knew that he would have to show her though and with that thought in mind he left his room in search of her.
He found her in the small and informal dining room smiling and drinking a glass of wine. She looked at him as h sat down next to her. Without saying anything he handed her the letter and waited for her response to it, hoping that it wouldn't be too bad. He was completely surprised when she threw her head back and laughed so hard that tears started to form in her eyes.
"Why are you laughing we are being kicked out of our house." Draco asked as he looked at his mother like she had grown a second head. "We are looking everything I don't see how this could be found amusing." he was beginning to question her sanity when she simply started laughing harder than before.
"Draco we never had anything to begin with. Your father had been slowly draining the family coffers for years trying to support the dark lord and all his aspirations. Between that and his need to constantly flounce his wealth we have been coming closer and closer to poverty for years. The only thing that was keeping us afloat these last few months was all the favours that people owed your father and a few massive loans from the bank. And now with your father in prison all the loans are in default and no one is willing to help him out. We will be lucky if the house is worth enough to cover the loans." All through her rant Draco's face was had been turning whiter and whiter, a difficult feat given his already pale complexion. By the end he looked more like a ghost than he did a living breathing teenager. It was at this point that the last remaining hope he had that he was wrong about his father was shattered. The only thing that stopped him from falling apart was the fact that his mother was still laughing like a woman possessed.
"How could he do this to me. How could I not have seen something so obvious right in front of me. How could I not have known that my father was such an incompetent greedy selfish ass hole. What if i was wrong about more than just my father. what if i am wrong about everything. Hell what if the laws of gravity don't exist." Draco was starting to get a little hysterical now and his mother was more than a little worried about him. She knew that he was questioning his entire life and saw this as an opportunity to cleanse him of all the wrongness his father had instilled into him.
"Draco your father was most definitely not what you made him out to be and I only blame myself for letting you think that he was." Draco stopped his little tirade at the sound of his mothers voice. He looked at her waiting for her to fix all the doubts that were running through his head. "Your father is an egotistical pompous buffoon who has only ever cared about himself. Everything that he has ever done in his life has been to better himself in some way shape or form. He is a rude and uncaring man who would sell his own mother if he thought that he could get away with it."
Narcissa leaned over the table and took Draco's hands in hers. "Everything that your father has ever told you is a lie Draco. Do you understand what I am saying sweetie."
Draco looked his mother in the eyes still trying to come to grips with his world crashing down around him. He thought of everything that his father had ever told him and wondered if she was right. He had to know the truth and right now his mother was the only person that he trusted to tell him the truth.
"So all that stuff he told me about pure bloods being better than everyone else. Every time he told me that being a Malfoy made me better than anyone else in the world. All the times he said that the world would be better if all the muggles were dead. It was all a lie." Draco was forcing the words to come out of his mouth. He was finding it a little hard to breath at the moment and all that he wanted to do was force himself to wake from this terrible dream.
"I'm sorry to tell you this son but yes. I know this comes as a shock to you but muggles are actually an impressive group of people who have accomplished so much without the use of magic." Narcissa was regretting what she was about to say but she knew he had to know the truth. "Draco there have been more squibs born in the last century than any other century before it. And the problem is because our blood is becoming stagnant. We need muggleborn's to add some new life into use if the old families have any hope of surviving. And the only families that know this are the ones that your father would say are blood traitors."
Draco looked at his mother not really understanding what she was saying. She couldn't mean that the noble families were actually weaker for marrying each other, could she? He stopped and took a moment to think about what he knew. He looked at the students in his year and realized that the most powerful student was Harry Potter whose mother had been a muggleborn. Then there was Hermione Granger, the girl was the smartest witch in their year and if he was forced to admit it was also the most powerful witch in their year as well.
"I can see from the look on your face that you have realized who in your year is the most powerful and probably why he is. It's a sad truth dear but it is the truth. Everything that your father has told you is a lie and once you come to terms with this your life will be a lot better trust me. Now go to your room and start packing. I need to go to Gringotts and see if I can find the new lord black. We will need his help if we want to have a roof over our head at the end of the week."
With this Narcissa stood up and hugged her son telling him that she loved him before leaving the room. Draco just sat there for a few minutes his mind racing with all the information that had just been dumped on him. He knew that his mother would never lie to him but it was still hard to come to terms with what he had been told. While his mind was processing everything that he had been told his body got up and began to do what his mother had asked of him.
...
Harry apparated into the small apartment with his two companions almost silently and looked around. The apartment was small and every surface was covered in a layer of dust. The only trace of anything having lived here in a long while was the little tracks that had disturbed the dust showing where the mice had scampered about.
"I think that the last time this place was used was five years ago." the crow stated as it lifted off of Harry's shoulder and settled on top of the fridge. "You don't have to worry about anyone finding you here so long as you don't use too much magic. There are no wards or anything which will make it harder for anyone to locate it although if someone does find it it will be easy for them to get in."
"Alright good to know." Harry replied as he set Tonks down on the couch. "So do you care to let me know what is going on. I mean I know that I was dead and all and now I'm alive, what gives." he walked into the kitchen and leaned against the counter.
"You were brought back to finish your mission. You should consider yourself lucky, most people don't know why they are brought back and have to search for their purpose. All that you need to do is kill a nearly immortal and incredibly powerful dark lord."
"How do you know what my mission is." Harry asked not wanting to think about how he was going to manage it.
"I was given your file to read before I brought you back. I must say it was a pretty pathetic story from what I read. I mean for the first 10 years of your life you were practically a slave. Not sure if you have what it takes to off the dark lord and all his minions."
"Yeah well it wasn't exactly easy to stand up to Vernon when you are only seven years old now is it?" Harry looked at the sleeping form of Tonks and hoped that he hadn't woken the sleeping auror. "I don't really want to deal with the past right now I am more concerned with the future. What do you think I should do now." he was trying to steer the conversation away from his childhood and both of them knew it.
"Well first I think that you should obliviate her and then head to Gringotts and..."
"I am not going to obliviate Tonks ." Harry interrupted the crow. "I don't even know how to obliviate someone anyways. We will have to figure out some way around it." he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose as he thought about what to do with the auror. He knew that he would have to find some way to make sure that she didn't say anything to anyone.
"You could always make her swear a magical oath if you don't want to obliviate her. Though it would be easier to just remove the memories and leave her here." the crow replied reading his thoughts. "A magical oath would allow you to control who she could tell your secret to cause I assume that your are gonna be telling more that just the one person."
"I thought that I wasn't allowed to have any contact with my former life." Harry turned to look at the crow again his face showing his confusion.
"That is more a guideline than a rule. It makes it easier to pass on if you don't allow yourself to redevelop emotions especially for your former friends and family, though I don't think you will have to worry about the latter."
"What do you mean redevelop my emotions."
"In order to make sure that those who come back are able to complete their mission a great deal of their emotions are locked away. Most don't even notice it cause they are so focused on their mission. Though there is always some that manage to unlock their emotions. There was a time when they would just bring someone back exactly as they were when they were alive. They had to make this change cause so many were refusing to complete their missions. Once you are done with your mission you will have to finally cross over into the next realm. It's cause of this that you are not freaking out about the fact that you died and have come back to life. Without your emotions you just accept that it happened."
"Yeah I was wondering about that. So how do I go about unlocking my emotions."
"I wouldn't worry about that it will happen over time and it is actually better to let it happen on its own. Just remember that no matter what happens you will have to kill the dark lord and once you do you will pass on for good."
It was at this moment that Tonks decided to return to the waking world. She sat up and looked around the unfamiliar environment trying to recall where she was and how she got there. Suddenly she remembered what had happened and spun around until she spotted the young man she thought was dead.
"Oh my god so I didn't dream it you really are here." she walked over to him and reached out to poke him in the head. Harry watched as her hand came closer and smacked it to the side laughing as she jumped back at the contact. "How is this even possible. I was there at your funeral I saw your body lying there."
"Not really sure the mechanics of how it happened but I know that this guy had something to do with it" Harry pointed at the crow as he said this. Tonks just nodded her head not really sure what he meant by that.
"So what happens now." she asked and harry paused to consider this. He had to think of a way to convince her to keep hes secret. In the end he just decided to be honest with her, and if that didn't work he would stun her and have the crow teach him how to obliviate her.
"Well that kinda depends on you Tonks. I need to know if I can trust you to keep my secret or if I will have to obliviate you." the look on Harry's face told her that he was serious about this. She knew that it would be hard not to tell but this was just too cool to pass up.
"You can trust me Harry I wont tell a soul about what I have seen here today."
"I'm afraid I am gonna need more than that Tonks. I am gonna need you to swear a magical oath to never tell anyone about this without my permission." The crow was starting to show Harry how to perform the oath in his head just like how he had done with the apparating. Harry held out his hand for her and Tonks grabbed it knowing exactly what to do.
"I Nymphadora Tonks swear to keep the secrets of Harry Potter and never tell a soul about what has happened today without his permission or may my magic be forfeit. So mote it be." while she had been making the oath Harry had been mumbling the binding the spell while focusing magic into their combined hands. As she finished a bright light shot from their hands and enveloped the pair of them momentarily.
"So what's next." Tonks was literally bouncing on the spot with excitement. She knew that whatever happened from this point on would be something that she would remember for the rest of her life and she didn't want to miss a second of it.
"Well you are going to wait here while I head to Gringotts and have a very long talk with them. Something tells me that I don't have much time left before they do something that I am gonna regret." And with that Harry's features began to blur for a few seconds before he apparated away from the small apartment leaving Tonks alone.
She looked around wondering what she could do her eyes stopping on the crow still sitting on the fridge. "Sooo..." she began not sure what to say to the bird. "Know any good jokes." The crow simply cocked its head to the side and Tonks got the impression that it was laughing at her.
...
Narcissa made her way through the throngs of people in Diagon Alley. She had her goal in her sights and nothing was going to stop her from getting out of her marriage to the man that had tormented her for the last eighteen years. With that thought in mind she made it to the bank in record time.
...
Harry arrived at the apparation point in Diagon Alley and began making his way towards the bank. He wasn't sure what he was going to say to the goblins but he knew that he would have to convince them that he was still alive and needed access to his vaults. He knew he would need a lot of gold if he had any hope of defeating the dark lord AND all his minions. If it was just the dark lord all he would have to do was train until he could beat him. His minions on the other hand he could not just kill no matter how much he wanted to. He would have to take them down in a less civilized manner. Politically.
Walking up the steps he nodded to the two goblins guarding the doors and proceeded into the main lobby. He moved to one of the tellers that had no line and waited until he had his attention.
"How may we help you today?" the goblin asked taking Harry out of his musings.
"I was wondering if my account was still open." he stated deciding to get it over with as fast as possible. He subconsciously noted where the exits where in case he had to make a quick escape but was surprised when the goblin answered him without looking up from his counting.
"Of course your account is still open Mr. Potter. Please follow me." and with that the goblin hopped off his chair bowed and headed towards the back of the bank. There was virtually no one else in the bank at this time and it was easy to follow the small goblin to the large doors at the back of the main lobby. Once he was free from the threat of being discovered something clicked in his head.
"How did you know who I was?" he asked looking at the goblin more closely than before. It was then that he realized that he recognized him. It was Griphook the goblin that had helped him when he had first come to Gringotts.
"Well Mr. Potter most people may not know this but each account is registered to a goblin. As soon as you enter the bank a special form goblin magic activates unknowingly pulling you towards that goblin." he stopped as they reached an oak door. Opening it he revealed a large oak desk with a chair both in front and behind it. Griphook moved around the desk to sit behind it and motioned for Harry to sit down in the other chair across from his. "After you enter the bank and reach your teller the goblin is magically notified of who is standing there waiting for him." he smiled a smile that Harry believed should have been comforting if it had not revealed so many sharp and pointy teeth.
"So even though I was technically dead I still had my account active?" Harry asked not really understanding what he had been told.
"Well magic works in mysterious ways Mr. Potter. Even though technically you are dead your magic is still alive and that is what we see. So to us you never died because your magic was still there. And might I add that came in handy when we had to deal with the minister of magic. He wasn't happy when we told him that he could not have all of your estate. And for that we must thank you. It was actually quite amusing being able to tell the minister no." once again the smile appeared on his face and once again Harry was reminded of the sharks he use to see in the books at his primary school.
"So my account is still registered under my name." he stated smiling slightly to himself. It solved one of his problems. Once again a plan started formulating in his head without realizing it. Almost as if it was someone else thinking it and putting it in his head. "Tell me Griphook what exactly do I have here at the bank?" once again it was Griphooks turn to smile.
"Well then I see that it is time to get down to business." He reached down and opened a drawer and drew out a small bowl and a rather old looking piece of parchment. "In order to claim all of your titles and deeds as well as gain access to your accounts we will need to do a lineage test. It is a standard procedure for anyone who is to become a head of an ancient family such as the Potters. All I need is for you to give me a few drops in this bowl and we will see what families you can claim."
"So my father did this as well." Harry asked as he moved his hand over the bowl. He used the knife that Griphook offered him to open a small wound in the palm of his hand and allowed several drops of his blood to drip into the bowl.
"Oh yes your father and his father before him and his father before him. This has been the standard procedure for several hundred years or so." Griphook snapped his fingers and the bowl began to morph into what could only be described as a quill made of stone. It lifted off the desk and Griphook moved the parchment under it and snapped his fingers again. At this the quill began to scribble furiously across the page. It moved so fast that Harry was not able to see what it was writing as the parchment seemed to be scrolling to keep up with the quill. It took only a few seconds before Harry realized that it was making a family tree. After five minutes the Quill stopped and jumped off the parchment transfiguring back into a bowl as it did so.
"Exactly as I expected it's almost the same list that your father received." Griphook made a few notes on a small piece of parchment and placed it into a box when he was finished where it disappeared.
"So whats the final verdict." Harry asked as he looked at the parchment. On it were a few names that he didn't recognize other than the surname Potter. Just then a stack of folders appeared on the desk in front of the goblin sitting across from him.
"Well obviously there is the Potters. Then we have the Black's probably from your godfather. Lastly there is the Gryffindor family." with each time he named a family he slid a folder across the table to rest in front of Harry.
"Wait I get the Potters and I guess I understand the Blacks as well but how can I be the head of the Gryffindor family and why has no one ever told me that the Potters are descendants of one of the four founders." Harry just stared at the folder with the Gryffindor crest on it.
"That would be cause no one knows that little bit of information. It has been one of the best kept secrets of the wizarding world. You see Godric only had one child, a daughter. Her hand was sought after by many wizards. It wasn't until one Mathayus Potter did she finally accept a proposal. Since she was Godrics only kin, he left everything to the Potter line even though Mathayus was willing to become a Gryffindor so that his child could become the next heir."
"Okay so I get that but why was it kept a secret." Harry picked up the folder and noticed that he now owned a quarter of Hogwarts. "And what does it mean that I know own a quarter of Hogwarts."
"Well at first it was because the Gryffindor family had a lot of enemies. Then after a while it just sorta became an inside joke for the Potter family. It also helped that almost every Potter has gone to Hogwarts and knowing that they owned a portion Hogwarts allowed them some control over the school. They could unlock any door and move the staircases so that they would never be late to class.
"I can see why they would want to keep that a secret. It really could have come in hand when I went to Hogwarts." Harry thought about all the times it would have come been helpful to move the staircases to help him get somewhere faster. who knows how different his school days would have been with that bit of information. "So where do we go from here?"
"Well now you need to decide if you are going to accept all the positions in front of you. Then you need to sign a few documents to absorb these minor families that have died out since your father accepted the head of the Potter family." With this the goblin slid over the final folder to Harry as well as a quill for him to use.
"I think that it is about time for Lord Gryffindor to make a public appearance. I am going to accept all the positions." it took him a few minutes to sign all the documents and once he was done with each one they simply glowed and disappeared leaving him with just the account statements.
"A wise choice my Lord. Now as you can see you own a substantial amount of the shares in most of the magical worlds businesses thanks to all the minor families that you just absorbed. Once you add it all together it makes you one of the richest people in the magical world. " Harry didn't really know what to do with this fact as he never really cared much about his own wealth. All that he cared about was that he would have the gold needed to take care of the death eaters that he could not outright kill.
"Alright well next I will need a secure place to stay. I really don't want it getting out that I am alive right now it would only impede my plans. What would you suggest."
"If i had to suggest anything it would be the Gryffindor estate. It is by and far the largest property that you own and it is almost as secure as Gringotts." Harry looked at the account statement and had to agree with Griphooks suggestion. The fact that no one new of his relation to the Gryffindor family meant that no one would ever think to look there for him. It was perfect.
"I think you're right. I think that is about everything that I needed for today Griphook. Thank you for all of your help." Just as Harry was about to stand up a messenger hurried into the room and handed a slip to Griphook leaving just as quickly.
"Before you go my Lord it appears there is something that demands your attention. It would appear that Lady Narcissa Malfoy nee Black is requesting a meeting with the new Lord Black to discuss some urgent family business. If you have the time it would be greatly appreciated."
"I guess I can spare a few minutes." Harry had never really had much contact with Draco's mother but felt that he should go to this meeting even if it was just to deny her whatever it was she here to ask for.
"Right this way my Lord." getting to his feet Griphook lead him out of his office to meet with Narcissa Malfoy.