Author's Note
Happy New Year! I'm back to somewhere with internet, whooo!
Love, Wishin' Girl x x
...
"We had better be off to take over from Verity" George piped up after the family had shared hot chocolate and thawed out by the roaring fireplace.
"We'll come with you" announced Hermione to everyone's surprise "Ron, Harry, Ginny and I need to visit Gringotts anyway to check our vaults and work out a budget."
The golden trio and Ginny were planning to move out of the burrow and into a shared rental apartment as soon as the boys and Hermione received their first paychecks. Mrs Weasley had taken a long time to warm up to this idea but they would all be working by then and Bill had agreed to provide the new place with wards like the ones at the burrow and shell cottage. The six young adults grabbed their winter cloaks and bags before flooing to the flat above the shop. Looking down from the bay window Hermione could see that there was thick snow covering the cobbled street and a small blizzard swirling between the shops below.
"There's no-one out there" she said with a bittersweet smile "that can't be good for business but I'm glad we won't have a repeat of last time I was here."
"Just send us a patronus if you need anything" said Fred as he hugged her for a few moments longer than would be considered platonic, while the others tried to hide their knowing smirks at this action "even if you just want the kettle putting on for a hot drink."
Ron failed to control a snort at this so began coughing violently to cover it up. Hermione hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary so patted him on the back and led the way down to the shop and along the empty street to the wizarding bank.
She and Ron had finished fairly quickly and decided on a percentage of their income that they would be comfortable spending on rent and a maximum they could each afford to give them some wiggle room for finding the right place. They need not have worried though as many hours later Harry and Ginny emerged from one of the private offices. Harry had asked Ginny to join him, he wanted her name added to his vaults, he loved her and everyone knew the two would be married one day, most of their friends and family were surprised they weren't already engaged to be completely honest.
"Why are you two covered in snow again?" asked Ron as the couple left the office, shaking hands with the goblin.
"We'll show you" Harry's face was happy, if a little shell shocked, so they quickly agreed to accompany the couple by side along apparition.
"Wow." Ron's face lit up in astonishment at the sight before them as the four landed in front of a building on the outskirts of Godric's Hollow.
"If you like it, we can all live here. Rent free." Harry stated, his face full of childlike awe as he stood beside his two best friends and girlfriend.
They were standing in front of Potter Manor, the home of Harry's paternal grandparents and then parents before they all died during the first wizarding war. Before them stood a beautiful sandstone building three storeys tall with enormous windows and covered in vines of wisteria, clematis, roses, jasmine and passion flowers. Behind them was a lake with a wide wooden bridge leading down to the village of Godric's Hollow and a fountain in the water on either side of the bridge preventing the lake from freezing over.
They climbed the stone steps up to the front doors and were greeted by four house elves, neatly dressed in uniforms and warmly welcoming them into their new home.
Over afternoon tea, provided by the exceedingly excited house elves, Harry explained what had happened during his meeting at Gringotts. It had turned out that the vault Hagrid had given him his key to when he turned eleven had been his children's account holding his 'pocket money', Ron's face had gone white at this as he remembered the hundreds of thousands galleons or so that had been in there, and that on turning seventeen he had inherited the Potter fortune. This included money, heirlooms and various properties including the home they were currently sat in where his father had grown up and Sirius had run away to.
He had also inherited the Black fortune from Sirius with Grimmauld Place, more items and an extravagant number of galleons. Harry had set up a hefty trust fund and future inheritance for Teddy from a portion of the Black fortune, as his grandmother had been born a Black, and some of his Potter fortune. This still left hundreds of millions of galleons across his vaults, in addition to the item and property values, making him by far the richest witch or wizard in Britain at least.
After recovering from her initial shock and exploring their new home, Hermione and Harry went to speak with the house elves who had initially welcomed them inside.
"Good Afternoon" Hermione greeted the elves kindly "might I ask you a few questions please?"
"Of course Mistress Hermione" they chorused and sat down at the kitchen table gesturing for her and Harry to join them.
She was taken aback by this relaxed behaviour that she'd not seen from house elves before but was comforted by the expression on Harry's face who had clearly already had a long conversation with the house elves on his visit earlier in the day. Harry had loved Dobby dearly so she had no doubt that he would respect these house elves too. After introducing herself fully and finding out their names, Lovey, Zona, Flippy and Teak she began asking her questions.
"Where have you been working since the Potter's passed?" she asked gently, knowing how much most house elves cared for their families.
"We have been keeping the Potter residence ready for when Master Harry returned" Lovey replied with welling tears in her bulging eyes "we hadn't seen him since he was a baby and missed him and the rest of our family greatly."
"We have made sure to keep all the house and grounds in perfect shape ready for the day he came home." Flippy added, she reached out and took Harry's hand in her little ones as tears began to fall down everyone's cheeks.
"We are well paid Mistress Hermione and do not wish for freedom, Master Harry has already insisted he up our wages further although it is quite unnecessary, he is kind like his mother and grandmother before him." Zona added, he could tell that Hermione was a good witch and had anticipated her concerns.
"May I ask about what you are wearing?" Hermione enquired finally, she was satisfied that the elves were happy, well cared for and wanted to continue their work in the Potter family.
"This is our uniform Mistress Hermione" Teak said as he stood from the table to show off his outfit "technically they are lent to us rather than given so that we can stay working for the family. Mistress Dorea, Master James' mother, insisted that we had something more fitting to the respect we deserved than old rags. This right here is the Potter family crest."
He pointed proudly to the emblem embroidered on his tweed waistcoat. This was worn with matching tweed trousers, brown shoes, a crisp white shirt and brightly coloured braces.
"We helped design the uniform and can wear braces of any colour we choose" Flippy added, showing off the thick straps of sunshine yellow holding up her own trousers.
"Can we move in then Hermione?" Ron asked as he entered the kitchen and shook hands with each elf.