CHAPTER 9

"Harry James Potter," Blacktooth began, "you are accompanied here today by your guardian, Sirius Orion Black to take some money from your vault. Am I correct?"

"Fucking goblins and their spells," Sirius muttered and Harry was shocked to speak for a moment but he immediately composed his thoughts and remembering what Sirius taught him, he replied in gobblydook. "May you oh great and powerful Blacktooth keeper of the Potter vaults live forever. May your enemies be crushed under your feet and may your gold flow forever even in the Land of Whispers. We do come here today to take some money from my vault," Harry replied humbly.

Blacktooth sucked his breath in for a moment and looked slightly shocked. Sirius had just turned to his original self since the effects of the Polyjuice had worn off. He smiled back at Harry giving him an encouraging nod. "May you be prosperous in all your doings Mr. Potter", Blacktooth replied back in his mother tongue.

Blacktooth was very surprised and although goblins never showed their emotions to wizards, he felt he could smile at the young wizard before him without losing his reputation as a stern family accountant. In fact this was wonderful. Here was a wizard seated in front of him who spoke eloquently and boldly in gobblydook – a young wizard for that matter and even many accomplished and older wizards couldn't speak gobblydook.

This wizard was a half-blood and most pure-blood children he came into contact with were proud and didn't even greet a goblin in the right way, let alone speak gobblydook. 'Must be the Peverell blood in him that makes it easy for him to comprehend and speak. His godfather no doubt helped him but this is too much for a young wizard to learn within a short space of time', Blacktooth thought. He remembered the way his mother came to him seeking for help in managing the Potter wealth. She was so eager to learn and though she couldn't speak gobblydook well like her son, she learnt how to greet goblins as well as she could. 'I will help him no matter what. He could be of good help to the goblin race and help us gain our former respect', he thought to himself.

Blacktooth looked at Harry for a minute and asked, "Do you know the roots of your ancestry Mr. Potter?"

"No just the basics," Harry replied. Blacktooth nodded his head in understanding and started talking to Harry about his lineage. "You are a Peverell, Mr. Potter; one of the ancient families in the world. The Peverell family line can be traced back to the year 143 B.C. It starts from three brothers and their parent's ancestry cannot be traced. The Peverell brothers were Antioch, Cadmus and Ignotus. You, Mr. Potter are a descendant of Ignotus Peverell. Ignotus Peverell had a son and the story goes on and then the Potter family was formed and now it's down to you. Didn't you see that the trolls bowed down to you? Trolls being the most stupid creatures to walk the earth even sensed the ancient blood coursing through your veins. This means they will answer you whenever you need them."

"Impossible, James never told me". Sirius whispered shaking his head at Harry looking equally perplexed.

"That is quite understandable Mr. Black, as the late Lord Potter refused to take the title Lord Peverell Potter, when he was old enough", Blacktooth replied in a bored voice. "You now know of your ancestry Mr. Potter but there are certain things you also need to know. You are the last descendant of the Peverells and also that of Godric Gryffindor and Rowena Ravenclaw and as your family's accountant it's my duty to tell you all about your family. I however do not wish to spoil some surprises you might find at Hogwarts so I'll be quite about these things, but there are certain artifacts you can access once you are fifteen.

I must do two things before you leave this bank and the first one is creating a new vault pattern to prevent people you do not know, key in your vault to take money from you. If they try the wards will trigger and the guards will arrive and detain that person. The person will then be judged by goblin laws and normally the punishment is death in friendly last thing you must also know is the estimated amount of money in the Potter account."

After these words, Blacktooth snapped his fingers and another goblin appeared. "This is Agaboskin my nephew. He is also learning to be a family finance manager like me". Agaboskin sneered at Harry and Sirius but after Harry demanded why he sneered in gobblydook, a startled expression crossed his face and he bowed deeply muttering apologies. His uncle laughed and asked him to bring the necessary items needed for new blood pattern ritual. Agaboskin returned a few minutes later and Harry, Blacktooth and Agaboskin left the office and moved to a dark chamber somewhere in the bank, leaving Sirius alone in the office.

Harry took off his shirt when he was asked to do so. Blacktooth took out a silver dagger and cut Harry's palm, squeezing the blood out of it into a bronze bowl. The goblin then took some black powder and mixed it with Harry's blood and began to draw runes on Harry's arms and chest. Some runes Harry recognized but others he guessed were probably goblin runes or very old runes lost to the wizarding race. Blacktooth muttered some words in gobblydook and waved his spindly fingers over Harry's body. The runes he had drawn on his body glowed a deep green and went off after some time. Harry cleaned his chest and his arms with a wet towel and went back to Blacktooth's office.

The blank white parchment on Blacktooth's desk glowed orange for a moment and then Blacktooth told Harry the ritual was complete. "Draw any pattern you want on the parchment with this quill Mr. Potter. I suggest closing your eyes and focusing on the image that appears in your mind." Harry closed his eyes and thought hard. Then in his mind's eye, he saw the letters 'P', 'G', 'R' and 'P'. The letters wound and twisted themselves around and a pattern that looked like the faces of three men and a woman was vivid in Harry's mind. Concentrating on what he was visioning, he started drawing the pattern without leaving a single detail. When he felt he was done, he opened his eyes and gave the parchment back to Blacktooth. "I thought so. The very faces of your ancestors. This Mr. Potter will make it impossible for anyone other than yourself to access your vault. I'll remove the old pattern after we've finished discussing our last issue."

"The last thing you must know is that, you are the last descendant of great wizards and witches so please, be careful in whatever you do. If you die no one would be there to inherit all your wealth. The Potter's are very wealthy it would be a shame to see all of it handed to the goblins and the government", Blacktooth said.

"Thank you Blacktooth, I promise to be safe and stay out of trouble like you've advised."

"Well then Mr. Potter, that would be all for today. Till we see each other again, may your hands be prosperous".

"May the gold you touch multiply Blacktooth", Harry said shaking the goblin's hand. Harry got up and left the office with Sirius,(now in his Vernon form) and left the bank.

Sirius rented a room at the Leaky Cauldron and took Harry to the Ministry of Magic through the Floo network. The place was quite busy and wizards and witches could be seen rushing of to different places. Sirius used a secret passageway somewhere in the Ministry courtyard and after walking for what seemed like a year in the dark, gloomy passageway, they finally reached an old wooden door.

Sirius muttered a spell and the door opened. Harry looked around and saw that he was in a closet. "Quickly Harry put these clothes on and drink some of this potion. We've got an hour before the potion wears off but we'll just deliver our package and leave."

Harry did as Sirius instructed and when he looked in the mirror, he looked like an old man. "Your name is John Cavanah and you are here together with Peter Jameson to deliver a package to Miss Bones. Got it?" Harry nodded.

"Good. Let's go". The two post men walked through the Ministry taking occasional sips from the bottles and nodding their heads to people as they went by. They finally got to a wooden door that had the words: Head Auror Office, on a silver plate.

"What do you think you are doing? You are wanted! What if they recognize you or the potion just wears off once we get in?" Harry hissed. Sirius just smiled at him and knocked on the door.