They Call This Winning – 007

By Abraxisdragon

Beta: Tar Irene

A/N: Servaas – Latin: Rescued

Renato – Latin: Reborn

Sorfozo – Hungarian: a brewer.

Chapter 7 – Two new wizards are born

(Morning – May 26, 1998)

The last two weeks had gone swimmingly. Well … for almost everyone.

O

Lucius had not left his seclusion so it seems reasonable to assume that he was probably not in a very good place mentally. However, the meal trays left thrice daily outside his door were retrieved and returned empty with written requests for the next meal's menu and occasionally more liquor to refurbish the office cabinet. Requests for clothing and his laundry were also found outside the door and those supplies disappeared within as well. Therefore, it was assumed that he was still alive. The absence of his personal attention did not unduly distress his family as, opposed to his many 'business' absences from the manor over the years, this withdrawal within its wards assured his physical safety. The house elves were totally overjoyed by it.

O

Draco was certainly not happy but this concerned his mother's behavior rather than his father's. Narcissa had obtained a copy of the vow and was very determinedly pounding every requirement of it through his thick, egotistical little skull. Also, for the first time in his memory, she was actually disciplining him if he didn't make his best effort to learn Potter's crap. His beautiful, loving mother who had never denied him the smallest thing, even seeming to read his mind to provide for his whims before he could voice them, had ordered a house-elf to paddle his bum … … paddle his bum like he was a baby! … and had stood there and made sure the elf did a proper job of it! … and not just the once but several times! The insult to injury was that the elf was openly pleased with the new order of things and that damned contract kept Draco from retaliating against the creature in any way. This, much more than Lucius' withdrawal, left Draco feeling that his whole world had turned topsy-turvy.

OlO

Narcissa, for the most part, was quite happy. Oh, she didn't enjoy the discipline part of it but she was very pleased to finally be able to have a hand in forming the character of the son she had risked her health and even life to bring into the world. The reason that she gave Draco for the education on and adherence to the vow was that there was absolutely no way she was going to allow his behavior to make her a widow or the wife of a muggle and as a good son he should be willing to support and aid his father in this, which he could hardly do without being both very knowledgeable of the vow and also willing to join his father in his adherence to it. However, her true motive was for her son to do so for his own sake, to do so to keep his future behavior from ever bringing down the wrath of Harry Potter on his own balky but beloved head.

Even though theirs had been an arranged marriage, Narcissa had always loved Lucius desperately but, quite often, she had not liked him very much. She was raised to believe the pureblood rhetoric but had always loathed his fellow Death Eaters, including her own sister; had been disgusted and angered by their gross, animalistic natures and love of sadistic violence; and shamed to admit that the same bestial nature was so easily aroused in her husband. More, she had been terrified of the insanity of the Dark Lord and the possibility, yea the certainty, that Draco would follow in Lucius' footsteps to sell his very soul and grovel at the monster's feet. Yes, she was very grateful, beyond grateful, to Potter for having ended any possibility of Draco continuing down that path and of Lucius returning to his old ways but she deeply feared and would do anything to prevent the young man's too honest, too appropriate justice from paying a similar visitation to her son; the one person she loved above all others, even Lucius.

She felt very confident of her ability to take advantage of this opportunity to remold Draco into a person and a family patriarch to be proud of. So, yes, Narcissa was quite happy.

OlO

Severus Snape would not admit to being 'happy'. Severus Snape didn't do 'happy'. He would allow that he was content in a way that he couldn't remember having ever been before.

He had secured the position of Potter's tutor and had perfected his new look for a new life; one that he was fairly certain Potter would not see through, since he had decided that their new association would fare much better without the burden of their past history. Severus had always been very adept at segregating the various parts of his dual life. He was now putting an even greater effort into separating his past life from his future one; burying his true past history beneath a fully fleshed creation of his new identity's past history. He was determined that Brian Harrison Deerchilde would be just as new an acquaintance to Servaas Renato Sorfozo as the tutor was to the boy.

It turned out that the agent, while a black market genius, was anything but a supporter of Voldemort or any of his public ideals. He had also sussed out Severus' true identity as well as Potter's and required a personal affirmation of the Daily Prophet report on his "heroism", an embarrassingly overemotional piece that was surely at Potter's instigation, bloody Gryffindor, before agreeing to allow Severus the tutor's position. He had then made adjustments to Severus' identity, at Lucius' expense, so that his history contained several parallels to Potter's new history to give some common ground to their association and to explain why Servaas Sorfozo wasn't a native of the country of choice. Lastly, the agent had purchased a residence large enough for the both of them in Severus' new name, again at Lucius' expense. No, not a Death Eater supporter in the least. It was doubtful that what Lucius had saved in tutor's salary broke even with these new expenses; something that the agent and Severus shared a sadistic chuckle over.

His personal life was also progressing quite well. He had been extremely busy looting the manor storage cabinets of their most expensive potions ingredients as well as a goodly supply of the more normal ones. Since Voldemort had been as obsessed as any Master of Potions in his desire for both mundane and exotic ingredients, Severus was now well supplied for brewing anything and everything that he could possibly need for the next decade or so as well as indulging in some fantasy experimental brewing that he had never been able to afford. His trunk overflowed with the bounty of it. Thank the Great Merlin for inventing magical spaces. He had also made a sizable dent in Lucius' personal liquor stores with transfers to that same wizarding space.

Added to that, his new house-elf, Yenta, although a bit of a nag about his personal habits had proven to be a treasure beyond price when it came to assisting in his laboratory. She was even accomplished enough that he would be able to delegate Potter's education in potions to her and avoid that most nettlesome part of their previous association and the one in which he would be most likely to accidentally reveal his past identity. He would continue to brew but would explain this with the truth – that he was too exacting in his art to have the proper patience for teaching it.

Now, Severus was merely indulging in a newly acquired pastime while waiting the timing of the portkey, at noon today, that would whisk himself and his household away from Britain and his past life, forever. Of course, he wouldn't be caught dead dandling Yenta's kit, Clover, in his arms. Anyone so boorishly intrusive as to witness it would be the one to die. Or, at the least, suffer Obliviation with Extreme Prejudice.

Yes. Severus Snape would allow that he was content.

OOO

Brian Harrison Deerchilde was a nervous wreck.

Everything was going fine and turning out better than he could ever have imagined it would.

His business with the goblins had been given fair weather and a tail wind by a free gift from the goblins. Yes, that is correct – a freebie from the goblins! Quiet had returned from his first visit to Gringotts with a nifty looking belt pouch made of black dragon hide with a list of instructions in its use. It was a long list of uses and advantages and the bag simplified business for the goblins but it also did the same for Harry. You opened the bag to activate it and then spoke to it to access any of the functions.

First, it was a moneybag. You said "Withdrawal" and then an amount of money in any currency and, if your account would cover it plus exchange fees, that amount appeared in the bag. You said "Deposit", a vault number, the currency and amount and that money left the bag and went directly to that vault. These deposits retained their currency identity and were used first for withdrawals of the same currency to mitigate exchange fees. This function eliminated the possibility of being robbed for any large amount. The rather nasty consequences to anyone other than you or someone you designated as your agent who touched the bag took care of the same for any small amounts you wanted to carry with you. Harry had immediately introduced Kreacher to the bag as his agent.

With the next function, you could send anything you wanted to your vaults or to any department in Gringotts. You opened the bag, said "Delivery" and the vault number or department name where you wanted it to go or the name of the goblin you wanted it to go to and put it in the bag. This wasn't just for paperwork and small things. According to the instructions, the mouth of the bag would stretch to accept any size object and, once the thing was started into the mouth, the bag would suck the rest of it up without needing to expand any farther and would then return to its normal shape and size. The caution here was not to send anything too large for the size of your vault before arranging for a larger vault and to discuss any large deliveries to your account manager or to a Gringotts department with your manager or the designated department's Head Goblin before sending.

With the third function, you could get anything from any of your vaults by saying "Retrieval" and then saying the vault number and item number listed on the self-updating inventory for that vault. You could also use the vault number and a common classification such as books, with or without a qualifier such as subject, author, previous owner, etc.; or a type of furniture, with or without qualifiers such as the size, color, material it was made of, etc. There was a warning with that function to be sure you had enough space available for whatever the bag would spit out.

Retrievals and deliveries made by bag would not be subject to transportation fees. Well, damn. It seemed that the goblins had soaked Lucius for those transportation fees they charged him. Or, maybe, that was what had paid for Harry's nifty bag.

The fourth function allowed his account manager, Ironbeak, to send anything to Harry. The bag would vibrate for 10 seconds once every hour until Harry open it and then would announce what it wished to deliver with size warnings, if necessary. Harry needed to say, "Hold Delivery" if he didn't want it until later, either because of where he was, who he was with, or the need to arrange space for it, and the bag would begin its schedule of vibration again. If he did want it immediately, he said "Accept Delivery" and the bag would spew it out. On the off chance he didn't want whatever it was at all, he had the option of "Delivery Refused".

The fifth function must have been a really recent addition. If Harry opened the bag said "Communication" and the name of the goblin or the Gringotts department he wanted to talk to, the bag worked just like a telephone with a privacy spell "on/off" option so that only Harry could hear either end of the conversation or could allow others to participate in it. His account manager could also call him. The bag would vibrate but announce a call and the caller rather than a delivery. Harry had the same options of accepting it with or without privacy, putting it on hold or refusing it.

Shite! The goblins were ahead of most wizards by decades if not centuries. Harry was wondering why Lucius hadn't mentioned this when it occurred to him that such a multi-function bag was probably only meant for goblin use and Lucius didn't know such a thing existed. Then, Harry had to wonder how he had rated the extra privilege. Well, they were a warrior race. Maybe successfully breaking into one of their vaults and making his escape riding one of their dragons had gained him some clout in that part of their culture. But whatever the reason, it was a really nifty bag.

With the bag the establishment of the 'bounty' trust was accomplished very quickly with Harry retaining ownership over it and with lesser fees and a greater interest rate than Lucius had been able to negotiate for Harry's private accounts. There was no need to make any new arrangements for his Potter inheritances but the bag made quick work of arranging the sale of 12 Grimmauld Place and putting that money, the money Sirius had left him and another G600,000 from the bounty trust into a trust for Teddy Lupin with Andromeda Tonks controlling it until he came of age. Harry kept ownership of the second piece of property Sirius had left him, an island retreat somewhere in the Balearic Islands, in the Mediterranean Sea between Spain and Algeria – probably where Sirius had hidden out after his escape on Buckbeak.

Harry knew the money wouldn't make up for not being there like a godfather should be but it was all he could do. He finished placating his conscience by telling himself that the person he would be and the life he would be living, if he stayed in the crazy circus the public would make of his life, would do Teddy more harm than good and he was sure that Andromeda would not agree for her and Teddy to accompany him on his escape.

He also used his power as Lord Black to reinstate Andromeda and Teddy in the House of Black and made Teddy the legal Black heir, with the Black Lord's Ring transferred to his trust vault. Since Teddy had Black blood this didn't involve any sort of adoption. As Ironbeak discussed this, Harry realized that Sirius had to have adopted him in some way for him to have inherited the lordship. It made him all warm inside to know that.

The last thing he did was to lighten Slange's load, using the bag to dump a great part of the money and loose jewels in Slange's chest into his vaults, the first to earn interest and the second just for safekeeping. Going through the chest reminded him of all the gold and silver heirlooms that were stored in it as well. With a special dispensation to allow access to it from the goblins, he sent all the heirlooms marked with the Black family crest to Teddy's vault. Harry did this not only because they should belong to the next Lord Black but also because Harry's new identity shouldn't have anything connecting it to a known family.

The Potter heirlooms would stay where they were until he had the time to look everything over and also to decide if he wanted to give it all up or might some day want to take back his real identity. Still, when reminded by Ironbeak of the necessity, Harry made Teddy the heir to his own wealth for the present. But he didn't want to adopt Teddy, Remus and Tonks should remain his parents, so the Potter name and lordship would die with him if he never took back that identity or never had any children who chose do so.

All in all, he had left many major decisions for the future but had taken care of what needed to be taken care of now.

The business with the agent had gone smoothly but not nearly so quickly, depending as it did on Quiet's delivery speed and the limit of one trip per day, instead of a magic bag. It had, however, inadvertently led him to discover a very big glitch in his plans to assume his new identity.

Harry had his new identity, completed history and destination country and city within the first week with plenty of time left to burn the midnight oil until he was sure he had the history down pat and a good working knowledge of every aspect of the place he supposedly grew up in. The agent had supplied comprehensive historical, geographical, economical and cultural details and descriptions, with muggle photos, of his supposed relative, the plantation and the local area. It was Harry's idea to research a general knowledge of the country as a whole and his destination city in particular.

But Harry had had to take a big leap of faith and supply blood authentication for all the documentation required. This is when the big glitch was discovered.

At Slange's warning that his new identity couldn't carry his old blood signature, he had cast the heritage blocking spell before putting blood to parchment only to be kept from doing it when Slange began cursing himself for his stupidity and Kreacher immediately threw Now-Not-Harry out of the trunk-house, completely starkers with his wands clattering to the cave floor beside him, while the elf bewailed his fate as a once again Masterless house-elf.

Damn! When purebloods disowned someone they really meant it!

No wonder Lucius Malfoy had been smirking about it. That bastard knew what would happen and hadn't seen fit to warn him about it! Prick!

After he finished cussing out Lucius, he reversed the spell. Luckily, wands seemed to be bound to a wizard's magical core rather than his blood identity. He had to summon Kreacher to let him back into the house since starkers meant no keys either. After he had gotten dressed again, accepted Slange's repeated apologies and finally told the cobra to button up and just be more careful in future, he called Ironbeak about the problem. The method they settled on was for Harry to go outside wearing his old school robes and taking his school potions kit with him, cast the spell, draw a goodly sample of Brian Harrison Deerchilde's blood using the equipment in the potions kit, reverse the spell, summon Kreacher to let him back into the house, draw an equal sample of Harry James Potter's blood and send both samples off to Ironbeak. It worked.

The goblin then made all the changes necessary for Gringotts, Kreacher, Slange, and Quiet to accept Brian as the new owner of all Harry's worldly goods, including the bounty trust by having Harry sell all of it to Brian for the sum of one knut which Ironbeak had to pay to Harry out of his own pocket as a personal loan to Brian and Brian had to pay back to Ironbeak plus one knut in interest; after the fact, since Brian wouldn't have any money until the deal was done.

The goblin also applied the Gringotts contracts negotiated for Harry's private and trust accounts and vaults to all Brian's accounts and vaults; canceled Harry's previous will leaving everything to Teddy; made Teddy Brian's current heir; and sent Harry a new nifty bag blood spelled to Brian. After they tested all this by Harry again casting the blocking spell, Ironbeak warned Brian that he would have to reverse the spell for any blood sensitive Potter and Black heirlooms and would have to go through this whole process again in reverse if he wanted to reclaim his previous identity.

However, after requesting and getting the return of Harry's bag and Brian's two knuts, he assured Brian that nothing need be done about the agent since Harry Potter had never blood certified any of his dealings with the man and wizards just weren't that sensitive, personally, to magical signatures unless it involved something such as a life-debt or an Unbreakable Vow.

That froze Brian in his tracks. What about the vow contract he, or rather Harry, had forced on Lucius?

Ironbeak requested copies of the contract and all the spells used to create and activate it and called in the whole of the Gringotts Magical Contract Department to look them over. After a lengthy discussion, which Brian basically lost track of after about a minute and a half, they came to the consensus that the contract differed from an Unbreakable Vow because the Vow was between the two wizards involved while the contract was basically between Lucius and his own magic with Harry's magic only invoked after Lucius' magical core was exhausted beyond recovery, irreparably broken. They also decided that since the process had required none of Harry's blood nor his signature and Harry's wands still functioned for Brian there shouldn't be any interference with the contract calling on his magic.

However, on the off chance that there was interference, they decided that, in the first level of punishment, Lucius might not become a muggle but would certainly become a squib with a broken core and therefore no chance of ever regaining any magical power; in the second, he probably wouldn't die immediately but most probably would die eventually from the severity of the physical damage inflicted before his magical core burned out; but, if he survived in the second, he would certainly be a squib or a muggle, as in the first, and physically crippled beyond repair as well.

Brian decided that he could settle for those possible outcomes, especially because it was very doubtful Lucius would ever find out about any of it. He gave Slange a taste of his new blood, re-certified Kreacher with Slange, certified the elf with the new Gringotts bag and made sure that Quite had no difficulty finding his new owner. This went well except for Quite being a bit miffed at his new owner for doubting his abilities.

Ironbeak, a real sweetheart for a goblin, waived all transfer and processing fees incurred. The Gringotts Magical Contract Department waived their consulting fees as well in exchange for the uniquely stimulating mental exercise and the brilliant new method of contract design that they could use on unwary wizards in future. Brian guessed that even the goblins had their geeks.

Ironbeak also returned the remainder of the blood samples and Brian had enough of his to do all the identity paperwork and get them off on Quiet's next run to the agent without having to bleed himself again.

All of Brian's official identity papers, the name of his tutor, and the address of his new residence, the home of that tutor, had arrived this morning and Brian Harrison Deerchilde was a nervous wreck; first, because it was finally really, really happening; second, because the portkey wouldn't activate for two more days; third, because it was finally really, really happening; fourth, because he wasn't wild about living in someone else's house, again; fifth, because it was finally really, really happening.

Slange soon tired of his hyper, rambling, repetitive monologue and sent him off to the woods to "run yoursssself into exxxxhausssstion sssso that you haven't the sssstrength to sssspeak anymore."

This turned out to be a good thing because Brian discovered just how little exercise he had been getting since the final battle and made a serious resolution to not let that happen again, to make sure that his new studies included rigorous dueling training and time off to allow for other physical activities as well. By the time he returned to the cave he had added a resolution to take some training in various types of muggle methods of fighting as part of that extra exercise. Being able to do some of that would let him defend himself from muggles without risking a fine for breaking the Statute of Secrecy and, judging by Draco's reaction to Hermione's right hook and Lucius' reaction to Mr. Weasley's punch to the face, it would give him an advantage against most wizards as well.

The next two days passed quickly with Brian filling the time researching the muggle fighting techniques popular and available for study in his new country.

On the morning of May 28, 1998, his portkey arrived and at noon, on May 28, l998, the young man previously-known-as-Harry-Potter completed his escape from the British wizarding world.

OOOOOOOOOOO

(1 PM, May 28, 1998)

Senior Accounts Manager Ironbeak, having received the approval of Senior's Assistant Granitetoes, pounded deferentially on the ironwood door of Senior Director Ragnok's office. The massive barrier inched open to create a space just sufficient to allow him entry and snapped closed behind him like the jaws of a nundu. With the proper expression of fearlessness yet respect, he tilted his head back slightly, lifting his chin to bare his throat.

"Approach and sit."

Assuming a normal posture once more, Ironbeak made his way around the large conference table and continued on to the far end of the office where the current CEO of Gringotts sat behind a very obviously utilitarian desk. The proprieties having been observed, Ragnok waved him to one of the goblin-comfortable, unupholstered, stiff backed wooden visitor chairs as a cup of steaming Swampfire and a small bowl of crisped righorworms appeared on the small table beside it.

They were of the same crèche and cadre and, though Ragnok was over three decades Ironbeak's senior, they had always enjoyed a close personal association, very close. Neither enjoyed the need for strict adherence to the demonstrations of rank between them but the recent depredations of the one who called himself Voldemort that had elevated both far beyond the levels usual for their ages and experience had also forced the goblin nation back to the hard-line structure of the past to avoid chaos as its sundered chain of command was rebuilt. As he savored the heady liquor and expensive nibble, Ironbeak appreciated Ragnok's effort to extend whatever small courtesies the system allowed to acknowledge that association outside of their sleepingrooms. Still, he didn't take undue advantage, waiting for Ragnok to speak first.

"So, the wizard boy has begun his travels?"

"Yes, Senior. He and his Fatecompanion will be reunited within the hour."

"Good. What is your opinion of the success of our dealings with him? Did he seem aware of and appreciative of the courtesies we have extended him?"

"Yes, Senior. However, though he obviously recognized the value of the fee waivers, he didn't seem to appropriately appreciate it. I believe the most successful ploy was the Lead Field Agent pouch. He was like a young kit with a puzzle ball. He called it 'nifty'; muggle slang that denotes a particular excellence in the object referred to."

Ragnok reminded himself that his young friend's lack of experience was not of his own making and tempered his response.

"You must not judge this youngling by the majority of wizards that you have dealt with. Rather remember your training as a warrior. For rare as that is among wizards, it is what Harry Potter is, a true warrior. As many warriors in their youth, he prefers the strength and sharp edge of steel over the subtle lure and malleability of gold. But do not doubt his appreciation of both. Even at this age, he understands well the power of gold but simply prefers employing others to wield it for him; as the 'bounty trust', as he has named it, demonstrates. When he returns, aged and experienced, and he will return, he will be a warrior in both arenas even more formidable than Albus Dumbledore because he will not have that old one's crippling moral fear of wielding his full power."

"And it is for that reason we sacrificed so much gain in fees? To curry favor with the wizard he will become?"

Ironbeak's disgust at such subservient behavior was obvious in the tone of his voice. Rather than being angered by this, Ragnok welcomed it because it surely mirrored the attitudes of the hidden listeners who were certainly monitoring his office and gave him the perfect opportunity to deal with them just as covertly. However, his response must be harsh as well for the benefit of those listeners. He would atone for that harshness later, in his personal apartments where his privacy could not be compromised.

"You overstep yourself! Underling! I will allow it this once due to the complexity of the situation but do not show such disrespect in future or my discipline will be harsh indeed. We do not curry favor! Nor would it serve our cause with Harry Potter to do so! He would detest such craven behavior as much as we do! As I said, he is a true warrior and as such he expects to receive equal return for equal effort and is also willing to reciprocate with the same. Think on his request that we consider the benefit of the bounty trust to ourselves when setting our fees and interest rate for it and yet not expecting the same adjustments to the contract for his private accounts. Have your mental abilities atrophied to such an extent that this didn't teach you the ways of his mind? We have not curried favor. We have made an alliance. We have generously aided him in his quest for freedom and autonomy and when the time is right for us to request the same aid from him, he will honor our request with equal generosity."

As Ironbeak made to rise, his wounded pride showing clearly on his face, Ragnok continued.

"Sit down! You will not leave my presence until you have written an apology for your disrespect!"

When, instead of being banished to the conference table, a writing table and implements appeared in front of him and his cup of Swampfire and plate of nibbles were also refreshed, Ironbeak understood the game that his paramour was playing and grinned inwardly as he began writing.

End of Part 1