Chapter Seven

Six armored goblins stood at the ready, heavy looking spears in hand. Swords were sheathed at their hips. Their eyes cold and emotionless as they stood flanking the large private floo. And there, standing ten feet in front of the floo, dressed in the finest tailor made goblin silk suit, stood Ragnok Underskull the seventh.

The immaculately dressed, yet imposing looking goblin pulled out a pocket watch and checked the time.

"Three… Two… One," he said, and suddenly the orange flames flared and turned a bright emerald green.

He watched as what appeared to be a young human male tumbled out and landed on the floor in a heap.

"Hmph," he grunted as he looked down at the human, who was soon joined by a young female human with what appeared to be a large brown bush on her head.

"Humans have the oddest taste in fashions," he muttered to himself.

A moment later, an adult male and an adult female stepped confidently out of the large fireplace.

"Master Underskull," James said, bowing before the goblin and showing the back of his neck. Revealing such a position was a sign of trust within the goblin nation, as it was quite easy for one to be beheaded in such a position.

"You are the one that claims to be James Charlus Potter?" Ragnok asked.

"I am," James said as he stood back up.

"We shall see," Ragnok said. "However, before we continue and any time is wasted, I must inform you of the consequences if the test proves you false."

"Proceed," said James.

"If the test proves you and the human female false, you will be dealt with in accordance of the laws of the goblin nation," said Ragnok. "You will be considered thieves, and you and your entire party shall be executed, your severed heads displayed out front for others to see what befalls those that attempt to steal from Gringotts, and the rest of your remains shall be fed to the dragon guarding the lower vaults. Do you have any questions?"

"None," answered James.

"Do you still wish to proceed with the knowledge I have given you?" Ragnok asked.

"We do," answered James.

"Very well," Ragnok said. "If you and your party shall follow me, we can proceed with the test."

Ragnok spun on the heel of his finely polished boots and proceeded to lead the group out of the room and down a series of twisting halls. Hermione tried to make a mental map of where they were going, but several times she could swear that they had gone in a complete circle.

"Don't bother," Lily whispered to the bushy haired witch. "Beyond the lobby of Gringotts, the place is like a maze. They built it as such to confuse anyone not linked to the building by magic. Only a few witches and wizards are granted access to the knowledge, and even then they must be very trusted and high placed within the bank."

"Oh," was all Hermione said.

"Here we are," Ragnok said as they finally came to a stop before a set of plain looking doors that looked just like every other single door they had passed. "Last chance to back out."

When neither James, nor Lily said anything, the goblin nodded and opened the door.

They entered a large conference room with a long table placed running down the center of the room.

"Have a seat," Ragnok said as he sat down at the far end head of the table. "The tester shall be here in a moment."

The four of them each took a seat, and it was only a matter of moments later when the door opened and a goblin carrying a metal chest walked into the room.

"Who?" the new goblin asked as he set the heavy chest on the table with a loud thud.

"Those two," Ragnok said as he pointed at James and Lily.

"Very well," the goblin said. "My name is Grimlock Axegrinder, and I am the designated tester of identities for Gringotts. Have you been informed of the consequences if the identities you claim to be should prove false?"

"We have," answered Lily.

"Good," said Grimlock. The goblin then ran a very sharp claw along the lock of the chest, causing it to pop open. He lifted the lid and pulled out a very old looking box. He set that on the table and opened it, pulling out a quill. However, this quill looked nothing like the kinds you could buy at Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop, and rightfully so. This was a Blood Quill, considered illegal within the wizarding world outside of Gringotts. He then pulled out a sheet of parchment and set them both in front of James.

"Mr. Potter, if that is truly who you are, please sign your name on the parchment," Grimlock said.

James picked up the quill and said, "I hate these bloody things," and then proceeded to write his name.

Grimlock quickly snatched up the parchment as soon as he had finished writing the last letter of his last name, and studied it very carefully.

"Interesting," the goblin said. "Congratulations Mr. Potter. You are who you claimed to be."

Grimlock then crumpled up the parchment and with a snap of his clawed finished, it burst into flame and vanished.

"Now for the lady," he said, setting the blood quill and a fresh sheet of parchment in front of her.

Lily used the quill to write her name, and just as before, Grimlock was quick to snatch it away and study it.

"Very good," Grimlock said. "The Lady Potter is as she claims to be."

Once again he crumpled up the parchment and snapped his fingers, causing it vanish in flames. He then placed the blood quill back into its box, and the box back into the chest.

"Will there be anything else today?" the goblin asked.

"None," said James. "Thank you, and may your enemies blood run cold at the sound of your voice."

"And may your riches be bountiful and pure," responded Grimlock with a bow before he left the room.

"I assume you would now wish to speak to your account manager?" Ragnok asked in a bored tone.

"You assume correct," said James, who was now extremely happy that he and his wife now had official proof that they really were them and not some magically recreated construct given their memories.

Ragnok snapped his fingers and a second later the door opened as a small goblin walked in.

"Yes sir?" the goblin asked.

"Please show the Potter's to their account manager," Ragnok ordered.

"Right away," the goblin said. "If you will follow me."

James, Lily, Harry, and Hermione all stood up and followed the little goblin out of the conference room and down the confusing hallways again until they came to a stop at another unmarked door. In fact, it was then that Hermione noticed that all of the doors were unmarked. Probably as another way to confuse those that shouldn't be there.

"The office of Hookjaw Helscream, account manager to the Black, Longbottom, and Potter families," the goblin said before turning and walking away.

James knocked on the door.

"Enter," a deep voice said from within.

James opened the door and walked into along with the others.

"Hookjaw," James said with a grin.

"Potter," the goblin said with a hint of a growl. "I should have known you'd be back one day, you stubborn piece of…" he then trailed off into speaking gobbledygook as he finished his statement.

"Kiss your mother with that mouth?" James asked.

Hookjaw scoffed before he turned to look at Lily. "Ah, the Lady Potter. A pleasure as always. It gladdened my heart to hear of your recent return to the land of the living."

"I see that news travels just as fast as it used to within Gringotts," said Lily as the goblin kissed the back of her hand.

"Especially news that can be considered profitable," said Hookjaw. "And your return will surely be that."

Hookjaw gestured to a group of chairs in front of his desk for the four of them to sit down before he sat behind his desk and pulled a large tome in front of him.

"So," he said with a toothy grin as he opened the book. "Let's start with how your holdings in the muggle world have been since your passing. Your stocks have grown nearly ten fold over the years, except for two. After consulting with the scryers, as you requested in the last meeting we had in case something had happened to you, it was determined that those companies were a lost cause, and so we liquidated your shares in them. One gained you a two percent profit from the sale, however the other one was a five percent loss."

Hookjaw handed over a sheet of parchment, which both James and Lily looked over.

"Understandable," James said. "We knew these two were risks when we invested, yet the possibility of profit made the risk worth it."

"Very true," said Hookjaw. "Now, onto your holdings in the magical world. I can happily announce that there have been profits all around. But then again, what else is to be expected when you own a portion or every shop in Diagon Alley that sells the required school supplies."

The three of them shared a laugh while Hermione listened on interestedly and Harry sat there uncomfortably. Something that the bushy haired witch noticed.

"Are you alright Harry?" Hermione asked in a whisper.

"Fine," Harry said. "Just… I'll be right back."

Harry started to get up and head for the door.

"Do not wander too far," Hookjaw said. "Otherwise you might get lost in the hallways and it could be weeks before you are found."

"I'm just gonna stand right outside the door," Harry said. "No wandering."

Harry opened the door and stepped outside, closing the door behind him.

"I'll go keep him company," Hermione was quick to say as she stood up and headed for the door.

"Alright," Hermione said once she was outside and the door was closed. "What is it?"

"It's nothing, alright," Harry said. "I'm just being stupid."

"Come on Harry, talk to me," Hermione said. "We're best friends. You know you can always tell me anything that's bothering you."

Harry was silent for nearly a minute as he internally debated if he should tell her.

"Fine," he finally said. "It's them."

"Your parents?" asked Hermione. "What about them? I thought you were happy they were back?"

"I am," he said. "Or I was… I don't know. At first I thought it was brilliant that they were back. I mean, I've dreamed for this day for as far back as I can remember. Even more so when people started telling me stories about them. But now…"

"They're different from what you expected?" asked Hermione.

"Completely," said Harry. "I mean, all this seriousness and business stuff with them, and talking about profits and losses…"

"You don't know, do you?" asked Hermione.

"Know about what?" asked Harry.

"I never brought it up because you didn't," said Hermione. "I just assumed that you didn't like talking about it because you didn't want to seem like Malfoy."

"What are you talking about?" asked a confused Harry.

"Harry," she said, "the Potter family is one of the richest wizarding family lines in Great Britain."

Harry stared blankly at her for a moment before he burst out laughing.

"Oh, that's funny," he said. "You almost had me going there for a second."

"I'm not kidding," said Hermione. "Your family is, well for lack of a better term, loaded. Neville told me about it when he asked back in our first year why you were always wearing such raggedy oversized clothes when you could easily afford clothes that fit."

"I never knew," Harry said. "No one ever told me."

"Not even Professor Dumbledore?" asked Hermione, assuming that the aged wizard would have informed Harry of his family.

"Not even him," said Harry.

"So I guess that means that you also don't know that your family holds a seat on the Wizengamot?" she asked.

"Nope," said Harry.

"Well, it's not really much of an influential seat," Hermione was quick to point out. "More of a ceremonial seat due to your families status as being most ancient and noble. You only hold one vote, while those elected hold two votes. But from what Neville explained to me, whose family is seated much like your own, your family is more suited to rally others into voting a certain direction on bills."

"I see," Harry said. He started to feel a bit light headed at this sudden knowledge of his family. "Hermione?"

"Yes?"

"I think I'm gonna pass out now," he said, and did just that.

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A/N: Next chapter… We get to see what else is going on in the world while the Potter's continue their meeting with their account manager.