Inheritance

Harry Potter sat before a desk at Gringotts Wealth Management Department and fretted slightly. The goblins had already settled into an agreement for the damages to the Bank during the War so he was not worried about that. He was here to find out exactly he had been left by Sirius and what his parent's estate had consisted of.

"Ah, Mr. Potter," the old goblin said in his nasal voice as he sat down holding a number of folders.

"Good afternoon, Silverfang," Harry replied in a congenial manner.

"I am glad we will be able to settle things today. There are a lot of things to go over and time is money."

"First, your parent's estate. There are few household items left in that as the house they were staying in at the time of their death was destroyed then the remains seized by the Ministry. Their personal vaults were opened to you on your majority and consist mainly of sentimental value. The cash level in them is roughly 2000 galleons as the bank does not inventory vaults contents beyond a client submitted itemized list of valuables. Your father had the family items stored after his parents died. There are various investments both magical and mundane that Gringotts Investment Services maintained under the last standing orders of your father in 1981. The investments you inherited from the Black estate were added to those. The liquidation value of such investments is roughly four million galleons depending on what prices could be obtained at the moment of sale. The lack of drawing on any income the past sixteen years has allowed it to grow quite nicely as all dividends were reinvested after paying broker fees and taxes."

"The Potter family has several rental properties in use generating enough income to keep them functioning in good repair and updated to the latest level of mundane technology and in compliance with all laws and regulations. The Black properties are mainly run down at this time due to lack of upkeep. The Grimmauld place townhouse is one of the better sited properties but is in the worst shape of any of them."

"Your trust vault is still in place and contains the remains of your school trust and the monies you inherited from Sirius Black. This is your largest amount of hard currency at this time with roughly 10,000 galleons in it."

Harry nodded at the goblin as he listened.

"Is there a way to know an exact count of the cash in the vaults? Or if any interest is earned on a vault?" Harry asked as he tried to make the math work in his head.

"A vault is just that Mr. Potter; a vault. If you want an exact count, you would need to do so on your own or have a house elf or goblin spellworker to do it for you. There are also magicked scrolls available for a fee to keep track of vault contents. Only trust vaults which normally have that special arrangement to be replenished have arrangements made for this option. Your trust vault replenishment lapsed in that after your sixteenth birthday and our estimate is based on what was there with the deposit of Sirius Black's estate added in. Anything you had taken out since then would reduce that amount."

"The mundane equivalent of a vault would be a safety deposit box. They neither gain nor lose value other than what is added or removed by the vault holder. We only maintain a non trust vault until such time as they are closed, the family lines die out or the annual service charge is not paid. Accounts are what generate interest from us. Accounts are simply funds from depositors and the bank pays interest based on the current balances. Most of your family wealth is tied up in investments rather than vault or deposit at this time. The accounts are currently kept at a level to generate sufficient interest to offset annual vault fees without reducing the value of the accounts."

Harry nodded in understanding at that. He recalled Vernon harping on bankers and money matters were one of the few items Vernon ever unintentionally instructed Harry on. Dudley could not be bothered with such things so complaining in Harry's direction was soothing for the man. The interest rate changing was of particular worry to his uncle as it would affect his loans and savings interest rates.

"You are the titular and magical head of the Ancient and Noble House of Potter. The actual mundane lordship was revoked after the Norman Conquest of England but the family can still maintain the Noble in their name in the magical realm. Should you perish without issue, the title will fall to your 7th cousin, twice removed in the United States, who is also the current Lord Gryffindor."

Harry looked confused at that mention.

"Headmaster Dumbledore told me that only the heir of Gryffindor could have pulled the Sword out of the Sorting Hat. Would that not make me Lord Gryffindor?" Harry asked.

"No," Silverclaw responded. "You are AN heir but not THE Heir. According to my parchmentwork, you are currently ninth in line for the actual Lordship, a member in the fourth cadet line. It might please you to know that is the highest you are on any Hogwarts title. Ravenclaw has you at Twenty Seventh, in the eighth cadet line. Hufflepuff is dead last at number two hundred thirty ninth in the forty second cadet line. The Slytherin title is currently dormant as several cadet lines exist from it but none are currently magical. The first child to express magic will inherit the title."

The goblin paused for a moment and chuckled.

"The perfect place to be if you were a pot of Irish bean soup Mr. Potter," Silverclaw said with a twinkle in his eyes.

"I don't understand, Silverclaw," Harry replied not getting the joke.

The goblin knew it was a terrible joke but he liked it anyway. "The perfect number of beans in a pot of Irish bean soup is two hundred and thirty nine, Mr. Potter."

"Why two hundred thirty nine?" Harry asked still not getting it.

"Because if there was one more it would be two forty," Silverclaw said.

Harry just sat with a puzzled look on his face.

"Say it with an Irish accent, Mr. Potter. It would be much funnier."

Harry thought for a moment then shook his head at the bad joke.

"Well, there is nothing else at the moment to deal with regarding your inheritance, Mr. Potter. As a piece of advice, you should go over everything with a fiscal planner. There are properties that could be used in better fashion and some investments need to be adjusted but you could live comfortably solely on the income generated without changing anything. The balances would not grow if you do that but it is your choice. Most Potters have chosen to work and do good things with their lives and in society without being worried about airs."

Harry stood and thanked Silverclaw for his time and left holding the documents the goblin had provided.


End Notes: It has always bothered me that so many authors pull the Little Lord Fauntleroy cliché with Harry. First they say has huge amounts of money in the bank and then noble titles and heir to the Hogwarts founders on top of that with even more money sitting in even bigger vaults for centuries. Vaults which would have been plundered long before by previous heirs. In addition, I know that no bank would have hundreds of millions of coins sitting idle in a vault of all places for generations and all the while adding more. Money would be invested with only small amounts of coin on hand. There simply is not enough specie to create that many coins if the combined wealth is the wizarding world was only dealt with in coin form. It also bothers me that interest would be paid on money that the bank could not use to create income to pay interest with. No, vaults are mere storage just like in reality. They keep things safe. Writers should use something wizards lack when dealing with bank issues, common sense.

Yes, I wrote in this story that Harry does have some money. A family legacy that was built over time but it is a reasonable amount. But as I believe would be the case, most of it is invested with only a small amount in cash on hand. The education trust is hard currency so it will not be affected if the family takes a hit financially.

The joke is simply that when said with a bad Irish accent, the number 240 sounds like 'too farty'.