Harry Potter and the Ancient Shrine of Providence
The Rest of the Story of the Boy that Lived
Book 8 Chapter 25 'The Goblin of Gringotts'
Chapter 25: 'The Goblin of Gringotts'
When Bill opened his blue eyes on Monday morning, the clock was reading a few minutes after six. He decided to lie in bed for a few more minutes to let his mind clear. During this time, he was thinking about the best way to notify his new goblin boss in Zurich. He was the one that was in charge of all international recovery operations. Bill knew he would need to send an Owl, use an overnight courier service or call him by Muggle telephone today. He was planning to use the Muggle telephone thinking it would be the best way. Having an owl fly over the Mediterranean Sea was not an easy task for many of them, and besides, he was expecting an answer today and not a week or more.
He knew that he had enough information to tell them that this had been a magical school of some sort. Unfortunately he had to tell them that he had no idea, at this time, if the amount of treasure that could be recovered would be able to make the continued operation viable for Gringotts. This left him in a somewhat depressed sort of way this morning. Bill knew when Gringotts International realized that they would be losing money on the cost of this operation; they would most likely shut it down quickly.
It also didn't help matters that it now appeared that they were mainly in the reclaiming of lost history that pertained to the wand carriers. Bill had no doubt that large amounts of ancient and priceless archives would be found as they went deeper inside. But sadly, most goblins were mainly interested in only an operation that would at least break even in the cost of reclaiming the lost treasure.
With the advent of loss of life, the added risk of this operation had been raised to the highest levels that Gringotts had. The expected returns at this moment did not even come close to the projected overall cost of this operation. He needed to find something more valuable in the next few days. This would give his bosses enough reason to ask the board of Gringotts International to take the risk of approving the time and money needed for any additional recovery operations.
Bill thought that the goblins now considered him the best overall manager for this location, if not just about any recovery project. But he knew he had to honestly tell them that they would probably never come close to recovering the actual financial costs of this operation. He just had a good feeling that there was something possibly far more valuable than just gemstones and precious metals here. But now he also had a gut feeling with what he had been told, that just somehow, his future brother in law could also have some strange connection here. So for now, he would have to make the request and ask them that he wanted at least a few more weeks to look around before any final decision was made.
The logs showed that the explosion happened when they were over two hundred and fifty meters inside and along the main hallway. Bill knew that he would be leading a group up to the one hundred and eighty meter mark today, mainly looking for the dead bodies. He would have several of the most experienced with him; looking for possible magical protections today and all rooms would be checked first before they passed them. He hoped that they might find some possible points of interests that would make some good filler to tell them at Zurich. For now, all he had was rumours of what they might find and nothing else.
He finally got out of bed, showered and dressed. Then he headed downstairs to the Hotel restaurant to get something to eat. When he walked in, he saw some of the crews and set down with them. Since they had only about twenty-five minutes to eat, they all just ate rather quietly and didn't say much except passing a few jokes at each other. Bill rushed back upstairs, grabbed his stuffs and soon was on the bus with the others.
As soon as they headed back out to the digging operation, he talked to John, Ya-pi and Hasi and told them what he wanted to do. They were all caught a little off guard about how far he was already planning to ingress today but everyone felt that Bill had a good sense of safety on this and in turn agreed upon this schedule.
Once they had arrived, they had a short morning staff meeting. By nine o'clock, some heavy equipment was brought in around the entrance to help clean up the sand. They had determined that the depth of the loose sand was over fifteen meters deep and Bill wanted to try to remove thirty meters on each side of the entrance over the next few days. With men probing the sand for any items ahead of the big movers, they started removing it.
By nine that morning, they had determined that nothing magical of any sort was around the entrances. Once Bill was told that every Muggles on site knew about magic, he approved the non-discriminatory use of wands on the outsides of the structure in order to accelerate the removal. By half past nine, Bill motioned that it was time to re-enter and start the savage operations. He led the way and started walking down into the opening. As he reached the large entrance, Hasi was waiting for him.
"Bill, I hope you really know what you are doing my friend?"
"Something tells me that I do, Hasi. With what you told me the other night, I think we were both meant to be here."
He looked at Bill with a frown and told him, "I guess that must mean you believe my story then?"
"Hasi, it might be true and it could just be an old tale that doesn't mean anything; but something still appears to be going on with Harry's life and future right now. I am still hoping that this project is unlikely connected to him, but I also think it is best that we hold a very open mind to what you have told me."
"You know something else that you haven't told me Bill, don't you?"
"I'll tell you about that tonight Hasi. For now, I figure we are most likely going to find something in the next few days, which will enable us to keep this operation open. It is pretty obvious to me that we are not going to get a quick result on what the goblins would normally want from on an operation like this."
Hasi reached out and grabbed Bills arm and told him, "You are best to be careful, Bill Weasley. There is something in there and you may be what it wants."
Bill nodded and gave his friend a pat on the back and then entered with about fifteen others.
The time was a little after seven-thirty that morning and Ginny was sitting on the bed looking down at Harry's face. She was studying it and looking at all the lines and marks that he had gained over the last year. She could see that over the last week, he had put on some weight with all the food her mum had been giving him to eat. Molly had been trying to fix everything that she had learned, that Harry enjoyed over the past six years. Ginny gave her mum credit that she knew how to get him to eat and hoped that he would like her own cooking when those days would hopefully begin next year.
Harry's body moved a little and she knew that he was probably getting ready to wake up shortly. She put her hand down on his cheek and slowly rubbed it. A responsive smile started to show on his face before then his eyes blinked and opened.
"Morning," he said with a smile and then he brought forth a rather large yawn.
"You sleep well last night?" asked Ginny. "I noticed you tossing and mumblings something but not sure what you said."
"I think so, because I don't remember my dreams," Harry replied. "I need to stretch some but I feel alright this morning."
It was so strange she thought, that here waking up in her bed next to her, was the one she had fallen in love with, after all those years of pining over him. I did get my prince, as she thought to herself, but she was still afraid for what could happen to him.
She looked at him and then she decided she wanted to know. She had not really dwelled on this issue the last few days hoping that he might bring it up but she was really afraid for the three of them. "Harry, has dad told you anything about what the goblins may do to you today?"
She saw it in his eyes as he remembered what this day was and then he looked at her and told her. "Nobody really knows for sure Ginny. They are mad but it is more I think was because we were able to do it, over the anger being directed toward the three of us. They are confused how as unskilled as they perceive that we are, that we could access their most secure vault and then get away with what we had come for."
"Do you think they are going to want you to go to Azkaban for what you have done?"
"No Ginny, I really don't think they would try to do that. I am sure that they are going to want me to pay for the repairs to the bank and for any other losses including compensation for the missing dragon. They didn't like Voldemort either and they may have already been told of why we had to do it because it was the only way he could have been killed.
"In addition, he killed the goblin messenger, when he told him what I had taken. The messenger had nothing to do with me taking it, but he took out his anger on him, just because he was there. They know too, that it will be a lot safer place for goblin and wizard alike now that he is finally gone."
Harry lifted himself up and then hugged Ginny. Having her in his arms, gave him a sense of optimism about what would happen today. "Don't worry Ginny, with you by my side; we will all get through this today."
Harry gave her a quick kiss and then swung his feet out of bed, grabbed his bathrobe and headed toward the shower. Ginny stayed on the bed thinking why it seemed that Harry was not too worried about Gringotts. She had heard her parents the other night discussing something when she was helping to clean up after dinner. She didn't hear everything so it didn't really make much sense to her. But she had heard enough to make her quite worried about what could be in store for Ron, Hermione and Harry.
About a half hour later while everyone was eating breakfast, Harry was talking about having most of Grimmauld Place having a major renovation while they were at Hogwarts this year. He told them that it was where he thought that he would be living after Hogwarts. They had looked at Ginny and she nodded and smiled back to her parents. Arthur put his arm around Molly and gave her a hug. They both knew that in just over a year, they would probably be the only two that were left living at the Burrow.
At eight-forty, Auror Hobbs walked out of the Floo and announced, "Good morning everyone, I hope we're ready for today."
"Not really Auror Hobbs, but we need to get this over," replied Ron.
As everyone stood up, Harry added, "I will need to be meeting with Mr. Ollivander. I have an appointment for today."
Arthur looked at Harry with a puzzled expression and asked, "Harry I thought the Ministry already checked out the Elder wand for you?"
"They did but he wanted to do some additional tests on them. He was going to measure both of them and wanted to check out the repairs that the Elder wand did to my wand. He had never heard of a wand fixing another one like this before."
Arthur nodded and as everyone walked over to the Floo, Molly reached out and gave the four of them all a hug.
They all put their hoods up over their heads and Harry checked to see if he had his key to his Gringotts Vault and both of his wands. Harry was the last to enter the Floo and soon he was walking out into the Leaky Cauldron.
As they proceed out to the back to enter Diagon Alley, Frank the barkeeper told them, "Good luck to the three of you today." Harry knew that Frank somehow must have been expecting them since their hoods had covered their heads.
Soon Harry saw Gringotts in the distance and then he felt his stomach suddenly feel like he was going to lose his breakfast. He stopped for a moment to get his wits about him and noticed that he was in front of Ollivander's.
"I will be just a moment," He told Hobbs.
As everyone stopped and waited, he opened the door and walked inside. He saw Mr. Ollivander looking at a wand before he started talking, "It's Harry Potter sir. I will be here after lunch if that is alright with you."
"Yes Harry, I have been expecting you today and why don't you make it around two o'clock this afternoon," replied Ollivander.
"Then I will see you at two Sir," replied Harry.
Harry closed his eyes, wishing that he could just stay here for now, but knew the Head Goblin expected them in about five minutes.
He walked back outside and Ginny asked him, "We need to hurry Harry; you're going to be late."
"I just needed to confirm my appointment Ginny."
She reached out to him and whispered, "Are you nervous?"
"Yes, I am Ginny," He grabbed her hand and as they started walking again, Harry closed his eyes for a short distance. He breathed out and then took a breath and held it, and soon with Ginny holding his hand, he felt better.
As they walked up to the steps to Gringotts, two goblins were waiting and Auror Hobbs told them, "This is Mr. Harry Potter, Miss Hermione Granger and Mr. Ronald Weasley. Miss Ginevra Weasley is also going to be accompanying them today. They have an appointment with the Head goblin this morning to talk about the accusations that have been made against them."
"He is expecting the three of them but why is Miss Weasley coming with them?" one of the guards asked.
"She is with him to see his vault today."
The other goblin replied in a snickering low voice, "Like there is any gold left for him anymore."
When he heard that, Harry's stomach again felt like it was being twisted and at that moment, he just hoped he would make it through the day.
The large heavy bronze doors opened and Auror Hobbs entered first, followed by Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione and Arthur. The two other Aurors left them and it appeared to Harry that they had went somewhere else. The group proceeded down the marble walkway until they were looking up at the Head goblin. He was working on something that he had in front of him. He acted like he did not notice them but as Harry stared up at him, just something about his style, told him that he most surely knew that they were there.
It was then that Harry realized and felt that he could tell that the Head goblin was actually scared of them. Not so much of what he could do but what could happen to him, if the meeting did not go the way of his plan. Something suspicious was up here. A thought inside his mind was warning himself that he needed to be very careful on what he said today. And how he could actually sense that something like this was going on perplex him a little.
Auror Hobbs cleared his voice and then the goblin looked down and slid his glasses back up his crooked nose. Hobbs then told him, "Harry Potter and his associates are here for their meeting with you sir."
Just as Hobbs had told the goblin, two additional goblins showed up next to them. The Head goblin told them, them back to the others in my office."
"Follow us," said one of the goblins in a coarse voice.
The six of them followed the two goblins and they went into an ornate hall that was lined with portraits of all of the Head goblins that had served at this branch. As they walked down the hall, all the eyes followed him in the portraits. Harry was quite happy they were only pictures for he could see that all of them were not very happy with him but they said nothing.
At the end of the Hall, a door was opened for them. When they entered this room, Harry saw several more goblins that were working at desks. From there, they were taken down another hall to a very decorative carved wood door. As it was opened, and he walked into this room, he saw it was a large conference room. There already sitting at a large table were Kingsley, Arthur and two well-dressed goblins that Harry had never seen before.
It was a table that over twenty could sit down comfortably and the escorts then led each of them to a chair. Then in what seemed to be a more pleasant sounding voice, they were asked if they would like something to drink. How they suddenly changed their attitude toward them made Harry wonder just who these other goblins were. He asked for a glass of water and then whispered to Hermione, "Do you know who they are?"
"No Harry, I don't have any idea."
He looked over at both Ron and Ginny and in the looks on their faces; they also had no notion either on who they were. Harry just leaned back and held Ginny's hand. He just hoped that maybe this day was going to be better than he had thought at the moment. He whispered to Ginny, "I think I should be the one to answer all the questions unless I refer it to one of you." Ginny looked at him strangely and he smiled back to her with a grin and a wink. She mouthed an okay and passed on the message to Ron and Hermione.
A few minutes later, the Head goblin entered the room followed by two additional goblins. One of them put three strange round looking devices in front of Ron, Hermione, and Harry.
They all set down and then the Head goblin spoke, "We are here to get to the bottom of why the three of you entered into the bank and robbed the Lestrange's vault ten days ago. The device in front of you is a Veritasphere. It will measure how truthful you answer and if you lie to us, it will quickly tell us by changing colour.
"With the three of you doing this, you have done great damage to our bank and caused us to lose one of our security dragons that was like an affectionate pet to us. The three of you are in very much trouble and under the laws, you are subject to goblin jurisdiction and punishment. How do you plead?"
Harry looked over at Ron and Hermione and then turned back to the Head goblin. He stared at him and as he did he thought he saw a drop of sweat fall from the side of his face and then realized that maybe they weren't really in as much trouble as it appeared. But if not, why did Arthur and Kingsley not say anything to them?
Then he knew exactly why they couldn't tell them what to say; they were agents sworn under the law to protect and serve everyone, included them and Gringotts. Arthur and Kingsley had a magical contract and the goblins would have known if they had told them what to do today. They could not, even as family members interfere with this obligation.
He thought for a moment and then realized that the goblins really had nothing on them that proved anything. They really could not have had the goblet here under law. It was a Horcrux after all. All items entering Gringotts should have been checked closely and accounted for and either it wasn't checked or… That was it. Someone in the bank failed to check properly it or took a bribe, and that was what the Head goblin was worried about. So Harry decided to just act innocent and see what would happen.
"We are waiting Mr. Potter and it seems to me that you are stalling?" said the Head goblin.
Harry then replied, "I would like to know why you think we were the ones that broke into your bank. I have been an account holder for many years and I have plenty of my own gold in my own vault. Why would I need to do this in the first place?"
Harry first looked down at the table and the sphere had taken on a gray colour. He moved his eyes around the room and looked at everyone. Only in Arthur's eyes, he felt he saw a twinkle and a small smile in his lips that quickly disappeared when he looked toward him. He knew he had to be very careful on what he said and could just ask for proof and not lie to any of the questions.
The Head goblin then asked Ron, "So why did you do it?"
Ron replied, "Talk to Harry."
"Then Mr. Potter, why did you do it?" asked the Head goblin.
"I am contesting this sir, what actually proof do you have?"
"You were seen coming out of the Lestrange's vault and we had been given information in advance that you might try to enter their vault," said the Head goblin.
"So if I was seen leaving their vault, didn't anyone see me entering the bank?" asked Harry.
"Well no," said the Head goblin. "It is felt that you were taking Polyjuice Potion and was trying to impersonate a friend of Mrs. Lestrange. She was seen going down into the vaults and was never was seen again."
"So couldn't have someone possibly impersonated me once she got down there to frame me? Anyone could have used Polyjuice on themselves to change to look like me," replied Harry.
The Head goblin was now sweating profusely and Harry knew that they had nothing else to present for evidence after this.
"It is felt that you lost your disguise once you passed through the the Thief's Downfall charm," replied the Head goblin.
"So did anyone see me right after this happened?" Harry asked.
"Answer me," said the Head goblin, "Did you break into the Lestrange vault to steal something that you did not have ownership of?"
"Sir, with all respect, if someone used Polyjuice earlier then maybe they used it again to try to frame me," replied Harry.
"One of our own said he saw your right after you passed through the Thief's downfall charm, Mr. Potter. So answer me: yes or no. Did you steal a golden goblet from us that was not yours?"
Now he had been asked a direct question that Harry knew he had to answer in a way that he did not lie and leave the possibility that he was not the one there. Then the answer just seemed to appear in his mind and for a moment Harry was stunned on how that thought just appeared.
Harry then replied by saying, "Sir, you seem to be saying to me that I took something that I didn't have ownership of. I would never steal something that actually was the property of somebody else." As Harry said that, he quickly looked around the room thinking that someone had just used magic on him to give him this idea.
When it didn't appear that anyone did, he realized on just what he had said. He knew he had not lied because of the goblet. Since another part of Voldemort had been in him at the time, how could he be stealing something that contained part of what was in him. In theory, the Horcrux was part of Voldemort, which made him the owner too. Since Harry also had part of Voldemort in him at the time, it also would make him part owner by default. However, how he had just figured this out he wasn't quite sure. He just hoped it was enough to fool the Veritasphere that was sitting in front of him. For the moment it was still just a shade of gray.
"Mr. Potter, did you enter the bank last Friday and plan to steal from the Lestrange Vault and removed some of their property named the Golden goblet from their vault?" asked the Head goblin whose voice was sounding quite distasteful toward Harry."
Harry knew he had to answer this very carefully so he tried the best that he could. "Sir you have shown me no proof that I was in the bank on Friday, and I would never steal something from the Lestrange's that was legally owned by them. So no, I did not steal a piece of property that was owned by the Lestrange's. If I had been in the bank then I would only have taken something that would belong to my family or me physically. If I personally had no connection to it I would have never taken something like that."
"Enough!" said the Head goblin. "You obviously did do it, and are lying that you stole their goblet from them."
"Sir on Friday, I was kind of busy, trying to finish doing the necessary things in order to be able to rid of Lord Voldemort. This was what I was doing on Friday and nothing else. For the third time, I did not steal any of the Lestrange personal property from your bank."
Harry looked at the Veritasphere and it was glowing white and Harry looked around at everyone and then he heard a loud remark from the goblin sitting next to Kingsley. "You are done here with this session. All the staffs are to leave now. I will find the underlying cause of this problem myself and talk to you later… Manager."
When he said the word Manager Harry saw the sense of dread in the Head goblin's eyes. Harry now knew that he was under the scrutiny of the International Bank and Harry had a feeling that today was quite possibly going to be his last day. If he had been able to find the three of them at fault, that might have been enough to keep his job, but for now it seemed he was going to at least have a long vacation. All of the goblins except the one that had spoken left the room.
Kingsley got up and walked over and with a flick of his wand locked the door. Arthur had walked over to the other end of the room and together they began to cast silencing charms and spells. As soon as they were done, they had both sat back down without saying anything to Harry.
Harry felt somewhat at fault for whatever was going to happen to the Head goblin but it was obvious that someone internally had allowed the goblet to not be checked by the bank in the first place.
The unknown goblin stood up and walked up to Harry and put out his leathery hand and Harry reached out and was given a firm handshake.
"Mr. Harry Potter, you are a very young wizard that seems to be able to do what other cannot and I am glad to finally meet you." He then shook Ginny's hand and then reached over and shook both Ron's and Hermione's hands. "My name is Miletec. I am in charge of all of Gringotts security around the world. I have already talked to Bill and your Minister Kingsley and they have both informed me fully of why you had to do what it seems you have done."
The Trio looked at each other and then as they all looked at Arthur for direction, he didn't even look at them at the moment.
"This little matter has put the bank here in a very delicate situation because of the apparent breach of security. I am the only goblin besides associate Griphook himself that knows that he was also involved with your little visit to us the other day. He has already been dealt with.
"He is quite lucky that only a stern warning was given, but we feel it is best that he should still be employed, so he doesn't repeat anything that actually happened. He has informed me that you had promised to give him Godric Gryffindor's sword. I need to know the truth now, is that true?"
Harry looked over to Arthur and then Kingsley and they both gave him no indication of what he should say. Harry looked at Miletec and told him, "Sir at this time my answer is quite complicated and I am not sure how to answer your question."
"Well Mr. Potter, I will then proceed to assume the following is correct. I will ask all of you now to please let me finish this account before anyone else tries to speak.
"My unofficial investigation currently shows that a Harry J. Potter, Ron B. Weasley and a Hermione J. Granger did on the day of May first; enter the bank. Two of you were using Polyjuice while one of you was under an exceptional invisibility cloak. This item I must assume is one of the Deathly Hallows, which explains why our security measures were unable to acknowledge it.
"With the help of a Gringotts employee by the name of Griphook, the four of you were able to gain entry into the Lestrange's private vault. You then removed a small golden Goblet, which I have been told this morning, held a piece of the Dark Lords soul.
"Griphook said he retrieved the sword for himself because you Harry had promised to give him if he helped you. He was able to escape by mixing in with the rest of the Bank's employees. The three of you then were then lucky to somehow steal a security dragon and left on its back during your dramatic escape that you were able to do.
"Due to the Ministries being under the control by the former Dark Lord, and access to the bank being restricted, this was the only way you felt you could retrieve it. Without it, you had no way of being able to destroy the Dark Lord. Bill has also told me Mr. Potter, that he warned you to be very careful of making any agreements with Griphook. He was quite right about that young wizard. You did enter into a vocal agreement under goblin contract law.
"I have one last thing I need to tell you as part of this plea-bargain that I am going to offer you. Griphook has renounced any contract obligations that you may have had with him Mr. Potter. I think that you will also find that this surrender of ownership that I have retained for you, is worth far more to you at this time then what the cost of this incursion to Gringotts will cost you.
"Bill had asked that I personally be the one to handle this breach of our security, because he knew I will be most fair with you. But Mr. Potter, you have broken the trust that you had with us, being the caretaker of your treasure. You have left a large amount of damage to be paid for in your wake. It has also put the banks reputation in question, as a safe place to store your valuables and an impossible place to be broken into.
"After much talk and deliberation, the Ministry and I have reached an agreement that I think you will find quite fair. I will not disclose what will happen if you do not agree to it at this time but I think you certainly known what we goblins are capable of and it would be wise for you to agree to my demands."
"Sir, can we talk to my father for legal device?" asked Ron.
Miletec replied, "Well due to the possible implications for the three of you, why yes, I insist that you do." He turned to Arthur and said, "Arthur, I remove your obligations that you have to us in this matter. Feel free to instruct your young ones about our agreement."
The three of them stood up and proceeded over to Mr. Weasley. "Dad, what do we do?" asked Ron.
"I suggest that you might all consider what will happen to you if you do not take this plea bargain," replied Arthur. "So far everything in this room has been off the record. Miletec will not be able to use any of the evidence that has been brought up so far that has been told to him in secret. But if you don't win, you will be risking far more loss and punishment then this will be. Just agree to it and take your loss and you will leave in good terms with Gringotts.
"Kingsley and I feel you should take it as an honourable solution to everyone Harry. I must warn you though, if you agree to this Harry, they will take a sizable amount of your to cover the damages that the three of you caused."
Ron and Hermione looked at Harry and he nodded to them. The three of them returned to their seats.
Miletec looked at them and then he asked, "Well what would you all like to tell me?"
Harry replied, "Your facts are correct sir. We did it."
"Well that was quite easy Mr. Potter, and the official statement that will be printed in the Daily Prophet tomorrow has already been prepared for you to sign." He then handed each of them a paper to read that said,
Someone with unknown abilities, like Harry Potter, allowed him access to be able to break into Gringotts. How he and his two friends were able to evade our entire staff is still beyond belief by us, the goblins at Gringotts.
He has been quite cooperative to tell us that he had to recover a certain item of Dark Magic that had been storied in the Lestrange vault. This item was needed by him in order to be able for him to destroy the Dark Lord once and for all.
The Bank has now found out that this item was an object of considerable Dark Magic, which had been unknowingly and improperly stored here at Gringotts. The bank is proud to announce that nothing else was taken and that they had only did this in order to save everyone in the Wizarding community.
Our conclusion is that Harry Potter is a Wizard that has some unusual powers, which somehow enabled him to breach our own securities arrangements. With this special ability, it gave him the ability to defeat the Dark Lord and that no one truly understands totally how he did it. He has willingly agreed to pay for all damages, so Gringotts has forgone any other claims for compensation and penalties. We have agreed to drop all charges against him and his two accomplishes. Harry Potter was happy to tell us, how he was able to breach our security measures and we are correcting them immediately to better serve our customers.
We hope that this announcement on what happened almost two weeks ago will help calm our customers and help to insure them that their monies and valuables are safe in the future.
We the undersigned due acknowledge that we did break into Gringotts on May the 1st.
Harry J. Potter Ron B. Weasley Hermione J. Granger
"I also want to impress upon you Mr. Potter, that in the future, you must be much more careful on promising something to a goblin on something you can't legally give him."
"Thank you Sir. May I ask on how much the damage is?" asked Harry.
"One Hundred and ninety-three thousand Galleons Mr. Potter. We are still repairing the areas upstairs and have had to bring in new marble from Italy. This was the best offer I could give you and I wish we could have not taken so much from your account but my bosses were firm on this matter. We have already transferred money from your vault Mr. Potter. It did make a sizable dent in what your parents left you but you still have an excellent financial balance sheet as of today. I hope next time we meet; it will be in a better situation then what this meeting was for.
"And lastly Mr. Potter, you may think this is strange for me to say this to you, but I would like to extend a most well thought out thank you from all the goblins at Gringotts. It was something quite righteous for what you were able to do. Sometime you must pay the consequences for your actions, but usually in the end, you will get your rewards."
He walked up to Harry and waited for him to sign the paper. After reading it, Harry decided to just sign it and so in turn did Hermione and Ron. Soon Kingsley was unlocking the door and the goblin walked out and then Kingsley shut the door.
Arthur walked up to Harry and told him, "You did good Harry. We were hoping you would figure out how to proceed here this morning, but we were unable to warn you because of the goblin and wizard rules on law enforcement. We are duty bound to them as they are to us."
"Arthur, is this going to be a problem for me to now use the bank?"
"Harry, they are never going to know here on what you just did," Arthur replied. "This knowledge will go to the main board in Zurich, Switzerland. They will probably all get a laugh out of it and are happy that the three of you won. They had no reason to ever want Voldemort to succeed. They now know about the Horcruxes and even the goblins understand why you had to find and destroy the goblet.
"They are still amazed in Zurich that you were able to breach their security and get away with your endeavour. According to their best security personal, you were able to do what nobody should have been able to do. Even their best measures could not detect your invisibility cloak. If the goblin's magic cannot see you under it, then it is indeed a cloak of true invisibility.
"You all need to thank Bill the next time you see him because he arranged almost all of this with his boss before he left. If it had been left locally here, then there is no telling what might have happened to the three of you today. Even though the management here is well respected, the main office wants to know how something so evil, ended up in the Lestrange's vault. Even the goblins have certain rules that they don't allow anyone to cross."
"Yah, I guess we all found that out, but it seems that I had to be the one to pay for it," replied Harry.
"Well Harry, when it comes to money the goblins let no one off the hook. You could have taken the chance that they would have never have proved that you did it, but they would have hounded you for the rest of your life. We are now done here for today. I assume that you and Ginny are going down to your vault?"
"Yes sir, or at least what is left of it."
"Harry, I am sorry that they took as much as they did. They did remove about half of what your parents had left you. You still have the Black family estate fortune and that is still a considerable amount in our world for you. The two of you will be fine and because of what you did, I think you will feel very fortunate for what little actually happened to you.
"Well I guess for everyone sake, it is better that everyone knows that it was me that broke it and not someone else," replied Harry.
"Right you are Harry," replied Arthur. "The goblins will remember what you just did and this solved a rather large problem on how to explain to everyone on who and how they broke in. They have good memories and I think even with what you have done, you will find that they will be quite forgiving to the three of you for admitting this to them.
"Now moving onto the other items for you, Ron, I have went ahead and opened a vault for you and Hermione. There were just over fourteen hundred and fifty Galleons sent to the both of you from admirers that wrote you letters. So we decided to have it all put in your new vault. It might have been a little early to open a common vault for both to share, but the rent is a lot cheaper on one. It is four over from Harry's vault and I think it would be a good ideal for you all to go together to see where it is."
"Sure dad and thanks," replied Ron.
"Well the two of us need to get back to the Ministry. I will see the four of you later."
As everyone gave their byes and left the room, Ron and Hermione were happy that they had some money of their own. As they all returned out to the front desk area, Harry walked up to one of the goblins and gave him his key. The goblin looked at his key and turned and called for an assistant. Then he asked Harry, "I have a note here that says you need another key issued?"
Harry realized that he had forgotten about asking to have a key for Ginny. "Yes, I need a key for Ginevra Weasley. She usually goes by Ginny. The goblin left for about a minute and when he returned, he gave two keys back to Harry. He then turned and handed one of them to Ginny.
Ginny looked at Harry and then asked, "Do you think that we will still have the money to fix Grimmauld Place?
"After talking to your dad I think we will be okay to do it," replied Harry.
"We can always wait until we have the money Harry."
"Ginny, we should be fine. They will probably take a large amount of what my parents have left for me but Sirius's estate had left me far more gold then my parents had. We will be fine."
Harry turned and told Ron, "You need to ask for your keys."
So Ron walked up to the desk and asked, "Sir my name is Ron Weasley and this is Hermione Granger. We would like to have our keys to our vault." Soon they had been issued their very own small gold keys and in just a few minutes time, they were all riding the tram down to their vaults.
When they finally stopped, they all got out at Ron's and Hermione's Vault. As the goblin was explaining the rules to Ron and Hermione, Harry and Ginny walked down to their vault. As he waited for the goblin to come down to open his vault, he noticed a large number of fresh scrapes on the rock floor in front of his vault and knew that it wasn't going to be as impressive as he had hoped to show Ginny. But he still knew that it would have a decent amount of Gold and a few other items of his parents things. As he saw Ron and Hermione walk into their vault, the goblin helping them came down to Harry's vault and then started explaining the procedures to Ginny. As he talked to her, Harry could hear the yells of Ron and Hermione in their new vault and it sure seemed pretty loud to him for around fifteen hundred Galleons.
As the goblin opened the doors to his vault, Harry saw no glistening reflection and his heart skipped a beat as he first thought he didn't have much left until his eyes adjusted and then realized that his vault was now empty. Then he saw that there were now three different doors on each of the walls inside his vault. He looked at the small goblin helping him and asked, "What happened to my vault?"
"You were given a one third share of the Lestrange fortune Sir, since Bellatrix killed you Godfather and they had no heir to pass it on to."
"Oh," replied Harry. "But why not just put it in my old vault?"
"Sir. You needed a much bigger vault. Yours ran out of room."
"How… What… Why... It should have fit. I didn't need a bigger vault?" Harry exclaimed.
"For the reward sir. You have killed… He that should not be named," he replied in a rather emboldened and excited voice to Harry.
"What Reward?" asked Harry.
"We had to make room for the one million, three hundred thousand Galleons that the Wizengamot voted to give you on Friday, Harry Potter," replied the goblin with a smile.
Harry's own feet went out from under him and just set down on the floor. Ginny squatted down in front of him and started rubbing his shoulders. He looked at Ginny and exclaimed, "This is a lot of Galleons Ginny!"
She looked at Harry and said, "I guess this means we can go ahead and remodel Grimmauld Place Harry?"
"Yeah…" said a still shocked Harry.
It was then that Ron popped his head into Harry's outer vault room and said, "Harry we each got three hundred thousand Galleons. Hermione and I can buy a house and stuff… and what happened to all your gold?" Ron face turned white and then asked, "They didn't take it all did they?"
"They just made my vault bigger Ron. They gave me more for actually killing him I guess and they gave me one third of the Lestrange's vault because of her killing Sirius."
"Well mate, I guess it seems we all are getting a happy ending," replied Ron.
Ron headed back to his vault as Harry got back on his feet. The goblin then started opening all three of his internal doors and then when Ginny saw into the first one on the right, all she could do was gasp. It was only the size of a small closet, but it was totally full of gold coins stacked up to the ceiling. The two of them then looked into the similar one on the left and it was about three-fourths full. When they looked into the vault in the back, it looked like to Harry, a smaller version of the Lestrange's vault. When they walked into it, a number of gas lamps came on around the walls and it appeared to be about the size of the spare bedroom he had at the Dursleys. All along the stonewalls, were shelves that had things from his parents and what he thought was from Sirius's vault. He even noticed a few items that he had seen from the Lestrange's vault.
"Harry I had no idea that you had this much money," Ginny told him in rather petite voice.
"Neither did I," replied equally dazed Harry.
"So we get to remodel the kitchen the way I want it to be?" She looked at Harry showing some excitement in her eyes.
"Yes Ginny, anyway you want to do it."
Harry was suddenly wrapped up in Ginny's arms as soon as he said that. As she squeezed him, Harry told her, "It is now our money my love. I just want you to enjoy and have what you want."
"Well I am holding what I always have wanted," Ginny replied.
Ginny really had no idea of what life with all this money was going to be like. She had been just so happy to have Harry and now it was like the perfect ending. They could live very comfortable and do whatever they wanted to. But she knew that each of them had their own future and wants and they both wanted more than just two in a family. She wanted to play Quidditch and he was going to be an Auror. All this money was nice, but there was going to be much more to her and Harry's life then just money.
They both looked around for a few minutes and then Ron came in and told them, "We are going to go see George at the store. We will both wait for you there for lunch."
For the next hour and a half, Ginny and Harry looked at what was in his centre vault. There were all kinds of Jewels and rings, and other pieces of Jewelry. Harry also found some notes from his parents that he had not noticed before and then he found their wedding rings. He thought about asking Ginny if she want to see them but then decided that he would take them and show her later.
When he picked up the box that they were in, an older box that looked like it had been made a long time ago was under it. In it was another ring set. It was quite old and then he saw a list of names inside it and knew it had been from his mother's grandparents. It was a very old wedding ring set and as he started to look closely at them, he heard Ginny asking for him. He thought to himself that he would also look later at them. He closed the box and put it into his robe pocket along with his parents'.
He walked over to Ginny and she told him to look at this old cut jaded figurine she was looking at. He had never seen it before and guessed that they must have come from the Lestrange's vault. They continued to look around and saw a few objects they both decided not to touch. They both felt they were things that they were sure about touching until they were checked. They had looked at about one fourth of what was in the vaults, when they decided it was time to leave.
As they closed each of the doors, he could hear them lock on their own but when he closed the main door, nothing happened. Soon though, the same little goblin reappeared on the tram, stopped, got out, and asked for Harry's key and then locked the door. Soon they were back in the main lobby at the bank and Auror Hobbs was waiting for them along with two new Aurors that Harry had never seen before. Auror Hobbs introduced them to both Harry and Ginny. After a short time to get acquainted, they put their hoods back up and were soon walking toward Georges shop.
As they walked along the street, Harry realized that most of the people walking by were looking at them and he slowed down so that he was next to Hobbs and asked him. "Why are they looking at us like this today?"
"It's seems that maybe someone saw you at Gringotts this morning Harry. Word travels fast here in Diagon Alley and especially when it is about you. I think they are pretty sure it is you but they are not for sure. For now it is best that we hurry along and get to the shop before someone tries to stop us today." Harry sped up and grabbed Ginny's hand and in no time they were walking into Wheezy Wizarding Wheezes.
"You're finally here," said Hermione. "What kept you for so long?"
"We were looking at Harry's stuff Hermione. He had never had time to look much at everything that Sirius had left him. Along with that, he was given some of the stuff from the Lestrange's Estate," replied Ginny.
"How's my baby sister today," asked George and he came over and gave her a hug.
"My you're in a good mood today," replied Ginny as she hugged him back.
"Angelina and I have just about everything ready to have our official grand reopening Friday. I'm sorry that you will all be getting ready to leave on Friday. But guess what? I do know the owner and I might be able to let him give you a tour around the place."
"We would love to George, but first we would like to eat," replied Ginny. "We also wondered if you might want to join us today?"
"After lunch it shall be then," replied George and then he called out, "Angelina, my brother and sister are here with their futures. They want us to go to lunch with them."
Angelina's muffled voice was heard from the back of the shop, "I will be done in a couple of minutes, George. Hi everyone."
"George, I have to be at Ollivander's at two o'clock today but I am sure everyone else would like to see your shop. Let celebrate on you reopening and it is all on me today. Let's go to Warlocks Wonderful Grubbhouse. After this morning little adventure and success, I am quite ready to eat a horse."
Everyone started chanting and saying, "Harry, Harry..."
Harry looked over at Hobbs as everyone was chanting his name and asked him, "If everyone is thinking that I am here today, do you think we should just show our faces and stop hiding from everyone?
At first when Hobbs didn't reply Harry added, "After this morning's meeting, I feel like finally meeting people and after ten days, this is as good as a time to finally start doing it."
Hobbs quickly replied, "Kingsley and Ginny's Dad won't be happy Harry and Dawlish may remove me as the Auror in charge of your protection if I let you do this."
Harry pulled him aside and whispered, "Tell me the truth. Is it really that bad for us out there Winston?"
He answered Harry in a low voice that only Harry could hear, "Harry we know of five senior Death Eaters we are trying hard to find. Another twenty-five or so on the loose were Death Eaters or ones probably close to being appointed as one. Now add several hundred additional Pure Blood supporters that really didn't like having you around, but they won't risk exposing themselves since the Dark Lord is now gone.
"A number of them have already fled the country and the rest are doing their best to hide from being discovered. It also helps that most of them are just too scared to even think about trying to take you on right now Harry. I did not tell you this but if anyone asks you, the risk to all of you today with escorts is probably very little in fact."
Then Harry turned around and said, "I am not wearing my hood anymore today."
Ron pulled his down and then Hermione did along with a smile and in looking back at Harry she asked, "Are you really sure we want to do this Harry?"
"This afternoon will be the only time I plan on being seen until Ginny leaves for Hogwarts." He looked over at Ginny who still had her hood up.
"Harry, I can't, because if I do, then Dad and Mum are going to be very upset with you. Even Kingsley will probably have Auror Hobbs taken off our detail. I like him and it's not fair that we get him in trouble."
Hobbs turned and put his own hand up to Ginny's hood and lowered it down and told her, "Ginny it has been an honour to guard the four of you this last week. I think the danger will not be coming until another three weeks have passed and feel the coast is clear for now. They have been decidedly defeated last week and they are going to take some time in just finding each other and then to make plans. We already have our own spies out there and I am sure you will be all right. Just promise me this, all of you. After today, until you leave, they will be no more trips without hiding your faces. I think I can get them to overlook today's events without too much of a lecture to all of us."
Ginny reach out and gave Hobbs a hug and whispered to him, "Just make sure he doesn't get hurt." She pulled away and he nodded back to her.
Harry then said, "Well we were going to have to do this sometime. Let us just pull our heads out of our shells." Aurors Hobbs opened the door and when they started walking out of the store the other two Aurors froze in their tracks and looked to Hobbs for assurance.
"They kind of rebelled today," he told them with a smile.
In short order, people started waving and a small crowd started gathering around them and Harry found out that everyone wanted to shake his hand. Everyone flocked over to congratulate the Trio and even Ginny was being swamped with best wishes on being the one that had taken the Chosen Ones heart. They started walking toward the restaurant and when they got there, there was a line waiting and then something that even made Harry's heart skip a beat happened. Everyone moved aside and he was motioned to go in front of them and Harry made sure he shook everyone's hand.
When Hobbs told the receptionist them at the front that they had nine in the party they replied that it might be a while before they could sit them as a group. Hobbs then asked if they could use the private room and the waitress replied that it required a group of twenty-five since it would sit over seventy-five people.
When Harry heard that, he turned around and asked, "Would everyone in line like to be my guest for lunch today?" When a tremendous roar went up from the crowd yelling, "Yes," Harry turned around and said to Hobbs, "I think our party is now around sixty people."
That is when the receptionist realized that it was Harry Potter in line and she told him, "I'm so sorry. Please give me a few minutes to get the room ready for you."
Soon they were all seated and Harry told everyone that they could have whatever they wanted. A person stood up and said to him, "Harry Potter you saved us all from 'you know who.' This doesn't seem right, we should all be buying you lunch today?"
Harry stood up and said, "I understand your view and all I want to say is that you let me pass so I could go to the front of the line. There must be only one check today and I am paying it today. Since I need to leave in about one hour and I would like to treat you all to just enjoying lunch today. I have been so protected in the last week and wanted to meet some new friends today and you just happen to be the lucky ones to get a free lunch. So please enjoy my hospitality today. We all fought against him in our own ways and because of that we were able to win against the Dark Lord."
Several waiters and waitresses came in and started taking orders and then the owner came over and addressed himself to Harry, "Mr. Potter, my name is Hubert Downing. I am a retired Auror and decided to retire with my own restaurant. I have heard that you have decided that you want to be an Auror and I feel you have made a good selection for a profession Harry. Moody and I used to work together and it seemed that he was the one always saving me by taking the hits meant for me.
"Watch and listen to Winston Hobbs here Harry for he is about as good as they get. He would sure be my choice for having someone watching over you and the rest of your group. I have a request if you would allow it Harry. I would greatly appreciate it, if you would let me have a picture taken with the four of you to be put up in my restaurant."
Harry stood up and then reached out and shook the owner's hand and said, "I was in here Saturday and I loved your food sir and would be happy to help you out."
"I will just be a moment." Hubert walked swiftly to go get his camera.
In less than a minute, he was back with a camera and gave it to Auror Hobbs. The two of them walked over to the only wall space in the room and Hobbs took several pictures of them together. Then Ron, Hermione, and Ginny joined Harry for pictures and when Hobbs had finished taking them, Hubert then asked Harry, "Do you mind if I send one of these to the Daily Profit for advertising." Harry turned and looked at Hobbs and waited for a reply.
Hobbs nodded back to him and he replied, "Yes, Mr. Downing, that it would be alright with me."
Hubert then asked Harry, "Would you like to have what you had last time?"
Harry smiled and replied, "Yes."
"Well you're in luck. The daily special is always the same. He left the room and in about five minutes, they started serving the same food that he have loved eating his prior visit.
After about thirty minutes, Harry had eaten his fill and knew that soon it would be time to head for Ollivander's. He walked around the room stopping to talk at each table and soon Auror Hobbs came over and told him it was time to leave. As he pulled his hood back over his head, the entire room started clapping and Harry knew that so far it had been a good day. He bent down to give Ginny a kiss and told her, "I will see you in a few hours my love."
He and Hobbs walked out into a hall and then went out a side door into another alley. Hobbs motioned for him to follow him closely and soon they had appeared back onto Diagon Alley.
Next Chapter: 'The Wandmaker League'
12-10-09 WBW 'Pottercomplete'
Betaed by 'fictiondreamer'
Betaed by 'Slick86'
Betaed by 'Nat 3738'