Can it get any worse... ?

AN: HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone! I hope you've been well? I'm sorry for the late update. I've been through difficult times and I could not find it in me to write while feeling so wretched. But I'm back! I hope you will enjoy the new chapter! Please review and comment. I really wish to know if you like this story and if you would like me to continue updating. Enjoy.

Disclaimer : Still not mine

Chapter 7 : Hadrian James Potter

Accessing the Potter vault was more nerve wracking than Harry would have thought. He had barely felt the ride to the vault and had not listened to anything Griphook had said. As he stood in front of the guardian of his family vault, which was surprisingly not a lion or griffin as he would have thought but a chimera, Harry could not help but be afraid of rejection.

What if he was not Potter enough to access the vaults? It sounded silly to himself, but he could not help the fear that gripped his heart and refused to let go. As he got close to the animal part stag part snake with imposing antlers, Harry clenched his hands at his sides.

"State your name and your business" the chimera said giving him a once over.

"My name is Hadrian James Potter; I wish to access the vault of my family" Harry said glad that he did not stutter.

"Prove that you are who you claim to be" the chimera said mechanically.

Harry lifted the hand that carried the Potter lord ring and showed it to the guardian. He felt a warm and familiar magic wash over him leaving him dizzy. There was a lapse of time in which Harry worried that he would really be rejected but then the door opened with a loud groan.

"Welcome back Lord Potter" the chimera said as it bowed to him.

Harry let out a relieved sigh and entered the vault. Carefully overstepping the galleons, he made his way deeper inside looking at the portraits who were all asleep. He knew that his parents were not there but hoped to find at least his grandparents, someone close enough to have known his parents or at least his father.

Closing his eyes for an instant, he let his magic wash over the room. Harry was awed by the sheer number of magical items that pulsed to his probe. Jewelry that was surely wrapped in old and powerful charms, weapons that felt alive and old, all sorts of grimoires and other trinkets that must have been collected over the years by generations of Potters.

As he walked through the treasures left by his family, Harry felt his heart pump faster leaving him lightheaded. He could imagine the stories that came with each item. Adventures and battles that must have been transmitted with pride over the years. It made his heart ache that he never had the chance to share those kinds of moments with his father.

He knew that his father had not been a perfect man, what with how he ganged up and bullied Snape simply because he was a Slytherin and because he was close to the woman he liked, but he liked to think that he would have been a good father. He was caught in another fantasy when suddenly he was stopped by a sudden strong pulse. Looking toward the source of the pulse, Harry discovered a trunk laid on a pedestal and surrounded by wards and protection charms.

As he got past the wards, Harry wondered why his predecessors felt the need to protect a trunk inside of Gringotts. With careful hands he opened the trunk only to gasp as the pulse punched into him. For a moment Harry forgot to breath as he peered into the bottomless trunk.

Whatever was in there was ancient and powerful. Yet it called to Harry's very soul as if he were meant to take it with him. Harry closed the trunk and took it from the pedestal. He realized that his hands were shaking, and he tried to steady them along with his heartbeat.

'I will examine it once I get back to Peverell Manor.' He thought and continued to walk through his family's legacy.

It took Harry around thirty minutes to reach the book section of the vault. Once he did, he could barely contain his excitement at the rows upon rows of neatly packed books. He felt like such a Ravenclaw in moments like these, but well, he could not help himself.

"Dobby" he called, his eyes fixed on his prize. The elf popped in, his big eyes seeking out his friend, "can you please have Gnad, Moorn and Flip help you move all the books in here? I want them moved into the library with the books I have not read yet and tell them to be extra careful please there might be some as old as Kiern's treasures."

Kiern was the Peverell family's bookkeeper and his love for books bordered on a full-on obsession. He even created a special section in the library where he kept the rarest and most valuable tomes. Harry was forbidden from entering that section without wearing gloves and he was forbidden from taking the books out to his reading place. Harry respected his (or her?) laws because some of those books were centuries old and he knew for having read them that they were invaluable.

Nodding hard enough to give himself a concussion, Dobby popped away. Harry looked around one last time before going back to the entrance of the vault where Griphook was waiting for him.

"Do you know why I can't find any portrait in the vault?" Harry asked

"In 1896 the Potter family was targeted by a dark wizard who used a spell he had invented to torture portraits into revealing family secrets. By the time he was interrupted, he had stolen and tortured fourteen portraits into insanity." Griphook explained looking as sick as Harry felt. "After that tragedy, all Potter portraits were destroyed, and none were made since then."

"What was he looking for?" Harry asked

"He was killed in the confrontation and your family never shared with the ministry or the public." Both stayed silent for a time before Harry remembered he still had vaults to visit.

"Can we go to the next vault please?" He asked; the trunk he had taken pulsing by his side.

"Of course! Which one would you like to visit next?" He asked leading him to the cart.

"The Gryffindor vault please." Harry answered climbing in the cart, Griphook close behind him.

As the cart made its way to the deepest levels of Gringotts, Harry wondered what would be waiting for him in the founders' vaults. Since he had received the rings, Harry felt a constant pull on his magic. After some probing, Death had revealed that the rings were sentient and were sucking in his magic as well as ambient magic to keep the spells they were imbued of active. He had told him while smiling that with enough time, the rings "wake up" and start interacting with their surroundings.

Upon learning that, Harry had poured his magic into the rings and talked to them in hopes that one, if not all of them would react to his probing. Only Eleana ever answered; and only when she felt like it; usually to complain about how annoying Harry's chattering was being. Before long they reached the Gryffindor, vaults and Harry lost his voice.

They were in a cave carved out of clear, blue, and purple quartz crystal. Each founder's mascot was depicted in blue and purple crystal and surrounded by clear crystal. The light in the cave came from the silver runes carved all over the available surfaces of the cave.

"The founders' vaults are a jewel of goblin architecture. They exist in the same space but in different dimensions. It took our best ward masters to design the wards and spells on these vaults." Griphook explained; his chest puffed up as he observed Harry's reaction.

"This whole level was carved by our best artists. The crystal was refined and rid of all impurities. They naturally absorb ambient magic which they transform into light. The walls are carved with protective runes which are regularly updated. There are anti-degradation runes, strengthening runes, defensive runes. Some of those runes are so ancient and unique that they are the object of study for masters."

Harry was awed by not only the sight, but the imprint in the magic left behind. The cave was saturated by magic. It was not oppressive but warm, inviting, coaxing his own magic, encompassing him in a velvety cocoon.

"Amazing" he whispered, a dopey smile on his face. As that he closed his eyes, he failed to realise that he had slipped into Parseltongue.

"I can feel the magic reach me deep within my core" he hissed letting his magic free to play with that of the cave.

Griphook watched as Harry's magic responded to the magic around them. He had never been so grateful to have been born magic sensitive as he observed the magics interact. It was a kaleidoscope of dancing colours that radiated joy and playfulness.

After a minute or so Harry opened glazed eyes that seemed to shine brighter and Griphook cleared his throat, resuming his description.

"The vaults are guarded by a space demon. He will let anyone carrying the rings pass but you must be careful in dealing with him for even if the founders bound him to this place a creature that is darkness made flesh might still find ways to trick you"

As Harry was left dazed by the sight and feeling of the welcoming magic, he did not notice a darker presence, a heavier magic filling the room and making Griphook shudder. And so, he was caught off guard when a slender man looking to be in his thirties and dressed in a black robe whispered from behind him.

As Harry gawked at him, any doubt he had ever had about being bisexual were erased swiftly. The man had a face that, Harry was sure, made people swoon with his silky hair as dark as the night with dark blue highlights, with his grey eyes that could no doubt suck your soul, with his well-proportioned nose and the seductive smirk painted on vermillion lips.

"Welcome new Master." He greeted with a bow as perfect as he looked. Harry snapped out the daze he had fallen in and surreptitiously raised his free hand to his lips to make sure he was not drooling. Clearing his throat, he strengthened his occlumency shields – thank you Death – and nodded.

"Hello Marcus" Eleana hissed and Harry removed his hand from his mouth to look at her in shock. Never had he heard her talk with such a gentle voice.

"I am glad to see that you are well dear friend" Marcus answered with a genuine smile. "Now Master, as Griphook told you the founders vaults exist in the same place but in different dimensions. As you are Lord to the four houses you need just tell me which one you want to access, and I will open the door for you." As he raised his deep grey eyes back on Harry, the smirk was back in place and, had he not seen it just moments ago, the teenager would have doubted it was ever there.

"Right. I would like to start with the Gryffindor vault please." Harry stuttered, once again unsettled by the sheer beauty of the demon.

"As you wish Master." Marcus replied with a knowing look in his eyes as he turned to look at the carved lion. With a wave of his hand the air seemed to distort around them and within seconds, a black vault door appeared. With another wave of his hand, Marcus opened the door before turning back to Harry. "Call me if you want to access another vault."

With those words Marcus vanished taking with him a tension Harry had not even realised was there. Was it the demon's magic that affected him? He was not sure. Could demons even do magic? If so, was it the same magic as humans do?

"I will ask Death once I'm back at the manor." He thought as he stepped into the vault.