Merge Animo - Chapter 10 - Bankers Draft

The manager put down the letter, eyes narrowed in confusion.

The sender was very well known to him. In the one hundred and thirteen years of the managers employment, the sender was not only a very well known entity to his own kind, but to the managers kind as well. However, next to official business, in which the sender himself or an appointed representative would come and meet the manager at the managers location, there had never been an event in which someone in the managers position was invited to where the manager was. Even during the Rebellions of his forefathers, the location the manager was in was not to be touched. It was unwritten agreement that the location, much like the managers own place of employment, was a location not to be approached under non-diplomatic circumstances.

However, the letter sent was written in the greetings and customs that were standard for the managers kind, but very much foreign to the senders kind. The fact that the sender took it upon himself to learn of these customs was convincing enough for the manager to meet him, even if the sender did not have a famous name.

The sender then approached his fireplace. Even though his people had their own forms of travel, he felt that the request from the sender to remain hidden from unwanted eyes was something the manager would respect.

After the usual turns and twist, the manager stepped out into a large office, bedecked with beautiful chairs. There were large bookcases, instruments that the manager could not fathom the use of, and a phoenix at the corner of the room. The sender greeted him.

"Ah, Mr. Bogrod. May your gold always flow. Welcome to Hogwarts," said Albus Dumbledore.

"I must say, Headmaster Dumbledore, that this is a surprise," Bogrod said, taking a sip of the coffee served to him by a house-elf. He was surprised by the flavour, very much similar to the one he regularly drank at home. Unlike most wizards, goblins had no problems consuming Muggle-made drinks and confectioneries, thus a cup of Nescafe at Hogwarts was quite a surprise. "I do not recall any goblin in recent history having been invited to visit Hogwarts, much less the headmasters office".

"And that, Mr. Bogrod, is something that I would like to change," Dumbledore replied. "There are recent happenings in our world that has made me come up with plan of action, and the first part of the plan is to build a stronger bridge between wizards and magical creatures".

Bogrod did not show any reaction on his face. "I do not understand, Headmaster. Why are you approaching me. Wouldn't such a request come from somewhere within your Ministry?" Bogrod asked.

"Well, Mr. Bogrod, I must admit that my faith in the ministry has been shaken quite a bit recently," Dumbledore said. "Minister Fudge has not even attempted to admit that Lord Voldemort is back. He has not denied it, but refuses to acknowledge any questions about the Dark Lord publicly, even though he saw it with his own two eyes. He surrounds himself with incompetence and propagandists like Dolores Umbridge."

Bogrod led out a breath of irritance. It was rare for a client to ruffle the feathers of the Hogwarts goblins. The Undersecretary was very irritating. Even Lucius Malfoy, well known for his secret contempt of half-breeds and other magical creatures, was always polite and civil to the goblins. Umbridge never bothered to hide her disgust.

Dumbledore saw Bogrod's disdain and chuckled. "I see that you're familiar with her. "

Bogrod just grunted.

"There are those here at Hogwarts, however, that feel that goblins and other magical beings have as much say to the fate of the wizarding world as humans do," Dumbledore continued. "We would like to extend our olive branch with two offers. The first is a weapon, and the second is something more powerful than that."

Bogrod stayed silent for a long while. "Very well, Headmaster. What is it that you have to offer? And what, exactly, would you like in return?"

"The first one," Dumbledore said, "Is that if the sword of Godric Gryffindor was ever discovered in the future, the goblins will be recognized publicly as co-owners of the sword, seeing as it was originally made by Ragnuk the first".

Bogrod was glad that he finished his cup of coffee. No doubt if he was still holding it, he would have dropped it in shock.

"Before you respond Mr. Bogrod, let me tell you about my second offering," Dumbledore said. "The thing more powerful than a weapon."

"Information," Bogrod surmised, still not over the shock of the offer of the sword.

"Yes, Mr. Bogrod. Even you have publicly expressed your disgust that the Ministry does not share anything with the goblins. It could rain fire and they wouldn't bother to send someone to inform any goblin."

"That is true," Bogrod replied.

"Well we at Hogwarts believe things need to be done differently. With that in mind, we would like to share with you the identity of the wizard who attempted to break in to Vault 713".

Harry gritted his teeth.

When they were planning this whole thing, Ginny and Hermione agreed that there would be unexpected consequences. He wasn't, however, expecting to be even more popular than he already was at this age.

Harry, decked in his Gryffindor Quidditch uniform, was absolutely lived. He was sure that Sirius had something to do with it. Possibly because Sirius chose the moment that the photographers chose to start taking pictures as the moment for him to reappear publicly for the first time since his pardon, Remus tagging along beside him, clearly enjoying the spectacle, the prat. Sirius then approached Harry and pretended to introduce himself for the first time. He ignored Harry's handshake and proceeded to hug him tightly, before releasing him and crying so much he could have given Molly a run for her money. The git then decided that it was the opportune moment to present Harry with a Nimbus 2000 (Harry did not receive one from Professor McGonaggal like he did in the previous timeline. No doubt Sirius had something to do with that as well). The photographers and reporters went crazy. Rita was in her element.

The ceremony to present Harry and Neville with their Special Award for Services to the School then started. Harry gritted his teeth and faked a smile when he received his award from Dumbledore. However his smile was sincere when Neville, red-faced and eyes down, received was sure to bring up the confidence of the usually timid boy. Harry knew inside that boy was a man that was able to lop the head off Nagini in front of Voldemort. He was also very happy that Augusta Longbottom, usually stern and standoffish, had a big smile and a small tear in her eye.

After the annoyance of the award ceremony was over, Harry headed back to the Quidditch locker rooms for pre-match briefings. Oliver Wood was at his usual mood of totally maniacal mixed with very nervous.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen! The Slytherins are jealous with all the attention Harry's been getting. They're gonna wanna target him as much as possible." Wood said.

"Don't worry Skipper," Fred said.

"Harry's safe with us. Well make sure their Beaters are just faces in the back of their head," George replied.

Harry groaned. He really hated that saying.

"Chasers. I want you to make sure their keeper working non-stop," Wood said.

"Yes sir!" Angelina replied with a feral smile. Katie and Alicia nodded.

"Harry, find the Snitch and make them regret ever hearing the word Quidditch!"

And that was exactly what happened.

It could be the fact that the game started later than in the previous timeline due to the award ceremony, or the fact that Harry didn't have to contend with Quirrel trying to jinx his broom, but Harry enjoyed his second first Quidditch game immensely. Within the first twenty minutes Gryffindor were leading by sixty points to ten. Wood's premonition that the Slytherin Beaters would be targeting Harry came through, as he had to dodge the Bludger nearly a dozen times. However having Fred or George backing him up, coupled with being on the fastest broom on the pitch, made dodging the Bludger more an annoyance rather than something he'd worry about.

Gryffindor had just scored when there was a shout from the stands. Harry was thirty feet up in the air and looked around and then looked down. Just above the grass at the opposite side of the field the Snitch was hovering around. Higgs was far down below and already racing towards the Snitch. Harry ducked down and accelerated towards the Snitch itself. He knew however, due to the angle, that it was unlikely that he would reach before Higgs, even with a faster broom. He then decided to do something that would no doubt have Ginny beating him on the head the next time they were alone together.

Harry accelerated straight rather than going down. He flew as fast as possible and when he was thirty feet above the Snitch, he jumped off his broomstick.

Harry knew then that of all the stupid things he had done in his life, both the current and previous ones, that this was probably in the top three. As he fell down, arm outstretched, he knew if the Snitch moved away quickly he would be a goner. He wondered whether dying now would mean that he would kill the Horcrux inside him. Would he come back or would he be taking the train onwards from Kings Cross? Should he wait for Ginny? Would she kick his arse for dying in such a stupid way? Or laugh that he had copied Amber's move?

Of course he was Harry Potter. The sweet release of death was not something he would be lucky enough to feel for quite a while.

Harry Potter: Quidditch Prodigy

By Rita Skeeter

In a day filled with talks about Harry Potter's second win against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named (assisted by Neville Longbottom), Harry Potter turned the attention away from his fight against dark wizard to his absolute brilliance in the Quidditch Pitch.

The Gryffindor Quidditch Team beat The Slytherin Quidditch Team two hundred twenty to ten, thanks to a daredevil move by Potter, as he jumped off his broom and caught the Snitch. He was meters away from falling to the ground when Headmaster Albus Dumbledore cast a levitation charm and broke Potter's fall...

Harry put down the Prophet and groaned, while Ron, Hermione, Neville and the rest of the Quidditch team were laughing at him. He glared at his friends. He was sorely tempted to start the DA again. Just so he could curse them to hell and back.

Ginny slowly opened her door and walked out of the room. The house was quiet and her parents were fast asleep. Tip-toeing down carefully, she made her way to the living room and out of the house.

She had been looking forward to this night for quite a while. After the various charm and wards were cast back in September, Ginny had been bored at home, and had taken to jogging and exercising to stave off the temptation of climbing the walls out of sheer boredom. When her parents questioned her, she said that she had wanted to be as fit as possible so she could play Quidditch in her first year, just like what Harry Potter was doing. Her mom smiled at her.

Well that crush on Harry was pretty cute. Pathetic, but cute. Ginny thought to herself as she made her way to the shed. She didn't need to cast Lumos to be able to see her way to the shed. The man was only a crescent moon but still gave her enough light to illuminate her way.

Not that she wanted it to be a full moon of course.

She entered the shed and was greeted by one of the two people she was expecting.

"You must be Ginny!" Remus said, extending his hand to her. She ignored it and proceeded to hug him. She then turned to Sirius and hugged him as well. When she pulled away, she saw two men who had no idea how to respond to an eleven-year old stranger hugging them.

"Oh your faces," she said, grinning. "I can't wait to show Harry that in the Pensieve."

Sirius snapped out of it and chuckled. "Apparently another Potter's found himself another cheeky redhead."

"Indeed he has," she replied. "How was the match? Tell me everything before we talk shop."

Sirius and Remus told her about the match earlier in the day, not sparing any details. Sirius was animated and excited about it. Apparently he had missed Quidditch a lot when he was in Azkaban. When he got to the part about Harry jumping off the broom, Ginny started laughing out loud. Sirius and Remus were glad that they had cast silencing charms on the shed.

After she had calmed down she explained, "I used to play for the Holyhead Harpies," she said, which made Sirius and Remus go wide eyed. "There was one match that Harry came to that our Seeker did the exact same thing. Amber Fargo wasn't as lucky of course. She caught the Snitch but she broke her shoulder as no one thought to stop her falling. We won of course. We got third that year."

"You're a Harpy?" Remus asked.

"Indeed I was. And then I got pregnant with James and decided to call it quits. I could have played after but the travelling around was killing me," she said, smiling at the memory of the time she told Harry she was pregnant. She noticed that Sirius and Remus had strange looks on their faces. "We named him James Sirius Potter," she said in a small voice. She did miss her children.

Sirius sensed the sadness. "Harry says he misses them too. We had a chat with him in the Room of Requirement after the game. We're going off to Grimmauld Place tomorrow by the way. Harry said I need to talk to Kreacher," he added, a grimace on his face.

"Be nice to Kreacher," she said, a steely look in her eyes. "He took care of our kids amazingly. They're semi-decent because of him."

"What? Kreacher?" Sirius asked disbelievingly.

"Yes. Did Harry explain about Kreacher's involvement with the Horcrux?" Ginny asked.

"No," Remus said. "He said you'll explain a bit more. We didn't really have a lot of time to talk privately. Gryffindor missing their Seeker after he won a game with an insane dive would've have raised a lot of questions."

Ginny nodded. She now understood why Harry asked them to meet her that night. She turned to Sirius. "Your brother died trying to destroy Voldemort."

'Open'

He walked. His footsteps echoed against the empty chamber. He reached his destination. He looked up. The big face seemed less menacing now.

'Speak to me, Slytherin, Greatest of the Hogwarts Four.'

'I have awoken. The Heir has returned.'

A/N: I'm sorry for the rubbish Quidditch match writing. I'll repair it in the future once I get better at writing sports stuff. I'm ashamed of it as I have a friend who plays Quidditch and his team recently did well at the Asian Qudditch Championships. Go Damansara Dementors!

Gin110881: I have an idea. I think. Let's see shall we.

TheWateringWizard: Let us wait and see. Fred and George are my heroes because of what they did to Umbridge.