"The person you are about to meet is the woman who manages the Potter estate and has done so since your parents died. She was entrusted with running them by your parents before their deaths. Her name is Mathilda Bagshot." Sirius said.
"Okay, and I'm meeting her to get a better understanding of how everything in the estate works." Harry said, they were in Alnwick Castle and as such were coming toward the end of the summer. Sirius had finally decided his son needed to know more about the lands he was the lord of.
Sirius nodded, there was a knock on the door, and a slightly frail looking old woman entered. Mathilda Bagshot had been old when Sirius had been Harry's age, but there was a smartness in her that had never gone away. He bowed his head, as Harry did as well. "Lady Mathilda, thank you for coming, I hope your journey went well."
Mathilda nodded and then said. "Thank you. I take it that this is young Harry?" She gestured at Harry who came forward and smiled.
"Yes, it's a real pleasure to meet you, my lady." Harry said formally.
Mathilda smiled then turned to Sirius. "Right, you can go now Sirius, I'll call you when we're done." Sirius looked once at Harry and gave him a reassuring nod before he turned and walked out of the room.
He walked out of the room and followed the hallway down to the solar, as he did so, memories came back to him. He had spent the summer here in his fourth year, in a move to get away from the rather unsavoury influence of his father and mother. Then in his fifth year, he'd formally been adopted by the Potters. They'd gone on walks, picnics, and even gone to the old theatre complex near Durham. All things his parents had refused to do with him, they'd played pranks on various other wizarding kids and the Potters had encouraged his desire to be a lawyer, though his parents had quickly closed the lid on that one. He sighed, shook his head, opened the solar door and walked in.
It was a spacious place, the lion and griffin of the Potter family was quite clearly there, on the walls, on the paper on the desk. It was a sign of a pureblood family that was proud of its heritage, but not in the obnoxious way his parents had been. Fleamont Potter had been more of a father to him than his own had ever been. Sirius had gone to him when he'd had trouble at school, or at work, and Fleamont had given him the advice his father never would have. Sirius shook his head again and picked up the first piece of parchment laid out on the desk for him.
He scanned through it, noting the important points of wand depth and the need for new regulations to prevent the growth of new competition in the market. The words were clearly all Ollivander, though no doubt Pius would want it phrased in a more noble way. The Ollivanders had had a monopoly of the wand trade in Britain for centuries, they were good, and Sirius did not think they would be hindered by new competition. He made a note of the points he would bring up at the next Wizengamot session, and then put it to the side.
Next he picked up a letter from Malfoy, he read through it. His spy was getting desperate, evidently someone was gaining information for Voldemort, Malfoy had done far too much in the interim to truly make Voldemort he was going to be a useful ally for too long. Sirius made a note of the points he would discuss with Lucius when they next met and then put the paper to the side. There would be more discussions to be had before Voldemort was done for. He wondered briefly if Malfoy knew where anymore of Voldemort's horcruxes were. He doubted it, and if the man did, then it was unlikely he would share them with Sirius.
The door to the solar opened, and Mathilda and Harry entered. Sirius stood up and asked. "Well?"
"Lord Potter knows the basics of the estates now. But I think there will be more lessons required in the future. There are some areas I think he could improve on." Mathilda said in the crisp and curt manner she had.
Sirius nodded, he knew better to pry into those things, Mathilda was very protective of her role and perhaps did not fully trust him. "I'll make sure to catch up with him on that later." He said.
Mathilda nodded. "I shall be on my way." Almost at once she said the words that nullified the charm she had put on the castle, and then disappeared.
Once she was gone, Sirius looked at his son and asked. "Well? What do you make of her?"
Harry slumped down into a free chair and sighed. "She's got a lot of energy to her. For such an old woman that was surprising. But she's clear on what she thinks I need to know, she knew where I was lacking and knew where to guide me to make the right and wrong assumptions. I like her."
Sirius smiled. "That's good. Mathilda has served as the keeper of the Potter estate since your grandfather was a child. She's been around for a long time."
Harry grinned. "I know, she mentioned that. She also said she had stories about you and my Dad when you were kids."
Sirius feigned mock horror, but he was well aware what sort of things she would likely mention. "Oh, I can imagine. She's a smart lady, her sister was a noted friend of Dumbledore's and is still around Godric's Hollow, I think." The last he'd heard, Mathilda's sister was mad, and not likely to know her foot from her hand.
Harry nodded. "I know she said. I'm going to write a letter, and see you at dinner, if that's alright?"
Sirius nodded, he knew exactly who his son was writing to, and he was happy for him. "See you at dinner." His son smiled and walked out, leaving Sirius in the solar, pondering over his youth and how to preserve Harry's.
