Chapter 12
After Auror Hampton returned to the Leaky Caldron, it only took another thirty minutes for them to arrive at 4 Privet Drive after transfiguring their robes into muggle clothing in order to blend in better. Hampton mentally shook his head at the garments that his companions had made. They might not be robes, but there would be plenty of stares sent their way for the outrageous styles they had adopted for the afternoon.
Coming to the correct house, Fudge stepped forward and knocked on the door, eager anticipation covering his face.
After a few moments, there was a strange thumping noise coming toward the door. The door was finally opened by what had to be the fattest teenager Hampton had ever seen. The boy was fairly tall, maybe five foot ten, with wheat blond hair and small, piggy blue eyes. Before they could attempt to ask to see Harry Potter, the boy turned back into the house and shouted, "Dad! It's some of those freaks!" Immediately there was more thumping coming toward the door.
Hampton couldn't help but scowl at the boy's words. Where in the world did he get off calling them freaks? Before his mental rant got any farther, a large man, presumably the boy's father, arrived at the door, and it became blatantly obvious where the boy got his looks and build from.
"What the hell are you freaks doing coming to my house?" the huge man demanded, pushing the boy behind him, however instead of leaving, the boy hung around a look of anticipation on his face.
Glancing at the still sputtering Minister, and noticing that his partner didn't seem to be interested in talking at the moment, Auror Hampton stepped forward slightly and said, "Mr. Dursley, we would like to speak with your nephew, Harry Potter, for a few minutes. Our business won't take long, I assure you, sir."
Vernon snorted, "I'm sure it won't. The little freak isn't here. He left the day he got back from that freaky school of yours. I don't know where he went, and I don't care. So leave us ALONE!" With those words, he slammed the door in the Minister's stunned face.
The next day the headline on the front page of the Daily Prophet would read: "Boy-Who-Lived Runs from Muggle Relatives, Current Location Unknown!"
On the fifth page, amid speculation on what had driven the boy to run, was another article of interest: "Newly Former-Minister Fudge Called Before Wizengamot."
Meanwhile, at the same time that Fudge left to go see Dumbledore at Hogwarts...
Sharphook, account manager for the Potter Family Estate, looked up in annoyance at the knock at his office door. "What?" he demand gruffly.
The door opened to reveal a maniacally grinning Griphook.
Most humans would feel very uneasy when in the presence of a smiling goblin. History tells the story of goblins smiling as they rush into battle. Paintings of the many goblin rebellions show the sharp teeth and sadistic smirks that decorated the goblin warriors. It was a sign that things were not going to go well for wizards.
So when Sharphook saw the expression on his son's face, he knew something was up. "Griphook?" he demanded imperiously.
"This just arrived by ministry owl," Griphook said, as he handed a folded parchment to the older goblin.
Sharphook took the parchment without acknowledging the younger being. To most wizards, the goblins seemed rude and uncultured, but when you got done to it, it was just their way. They did not believe in wasting time or energy on useless frivolities such as courtesy or pleasantries.
Opening the parchment, Sharphook quickly read its content, and a grin grew on his face to match his son's. After finishing he looked up and caught the satisfaction on his son's face. "Contact the Tokyo branch and have them start proceedings immediately."
Griphook simply nodded as he turned and left the office to follow his father's orders.
Sharphook stopped to consider all the changes that were about to be made in the Wizarding world. Unknown to most of the Wizarding world, the Potter family was wealthy. They didn't flaunt it most of the time, but they were probably in the top five percent of the population in terms of annual income. For the last decade and a half, that income had lain stagnant, piling up in the main family vault because no one was available that had the authority to make new investments in the Potter name. As account manager, Sharphook had the authority to buy and sell the investments that were already started, and had actually bought out every company that the Potter's had had any investments in over the years, but he could not invest in new companies and markets, to his eternal frustration.
Only Sirius Black had been given that privilege, but since he had been in Azkaban, he had been unavailable. Since his escape three years ago, he had only managed to contact the back a few times, but he had never mentioned the huge fortune piling up and stagnating in his godson's vault.
Sharphook huffed at the waste the amassed fortune represented, but he could understand that the man had other things on his mind. Now, though, according to the parchment he had been given, Harry Potter had been emancipated! Now the breaks would be off, as long as the Potter Heir was reasonable. Griphook had mentioned his brief meeting with the young boy when he visited Gringotts before his first years, and Sharphook had hope that the boy would not be one of those spoiled brats that came to the bank thinking that the world should be given to them on a golden platter.
Taking just a few minutes to fantasize about the new investments he would be able to oversee (which he would deny doing to his dying day), Sharphook suddenly remembered something. Sirius Black's will had activated a couple of weeks ago, and Ironclank, the Black Family Account Manager, had been complaining that Harry Potter, the Black family magical heir, was a minor. Sharphook had commiserated at the time, since he had been dealing with the same situation for years. Grinning, Sharphook rose from the desk and went in search of his friend.
Those members of the Wizarding public that saw the widely grinning goblin striding determinedly across the lobby nervously shifted out of his way, all wondering if there was another rebellion coming.
There were many other people across the face of the Wizarding World whose lives had just changed, but most would not know it for days, weeks, or, for some, even months into the future.
Ron and Hermione were both too busy with their own lives to spare a thought about that was happening to their supposed best friend. While Ron was lounging around the house, daydreaming about what he would do with the money Dumbledore had promised him for keeping track of that brat Potter, Hermione was travelling with her parents, fully trusting that the information that Dumbledore had asked her for was being used for Harry's good. After all, they both justified to themselves, Dumbledore was the greatest wizard of the age. Of course, he would do what was right.
Severus Snape was currently enjoying his student-free condition and starting some experiments that had been too dangerous to try while there were children around that might stumble into the lab. It was wonderful to be able to spread out for a long session of brewing without having to layer half a dozen locking and privacy wards on the door to make sure some overly curious little dunderhead didn't wander in and get themselves hurt or, worse yet, ruin the experiment!
The Weasley Twins were working in their own laboratory on different ideas that they had come up with, both prank and war related. In their spare time, the twins were worried about their young friend. They had sent several letters to Harry in spite of Dumbledore's wishes, but they had all returned unopened. What was going on? They finally decided that if the next letter returned in the same condition, they were going to check on their surrogate little brother personally, and to hell with anyone that didn't like it! The next morning they would find out why he wasn't answering.
Auror Nymphadora Tonks, to be called just Tonks if you didn't want to be hexed, sighed wearily as she tossed her uniform jacket over the back of a chair. She allowed her appearance to melt back into something more comfortable as she considered her job. She had been in deep cover now for over two years and she was tired of it. To make matters worse, she was getting too involved. The job had been so simple at first, a straight forward infiltrate and observe, but noooo, she couldn't just get by, oh no, she had to be GOOD at it. So good, in fact, that now they had her training others, when she was only a year out of the academy herself. What was she supposed to do now, she wondered. Her cousin Sirius had been killed a couple weeks ago, and she couldn't even get home to comfort her mother. Neither she nor her mother had ever believed that Sirius had done what he had been accused of. It was one of the reasons she had joined the Aurors in the first place, but now it was too late. At least the little rat had been caught too, and his name could be cleared now. Closing her eyes, Tonks sighed again. One day, she was going to get even with Moody for signing her up to be a plant within the Muggle Specials.