Harry Potter and the Hope of Peace Ch 8

Location: French Ministry of Magic, International Travels- Paris, France

Time: 7:00 PM

After nearly thirty seconds of spinning around with a rainbow of colors passing by his eyes, Harry's feet hit the ground in France as the portkey deposited him and his companions in the French Ministry of Magic, where they were greeted by a guard wearing a red cloak, similar to the Aurors back in Britain.

"Bonjour Monsieur Davis et amis. Je m'appelle Tristan Brisbois, je prendrai soin de vous aujourd'hui. Puis-je voir vos passeports s'il vous plaît?" said the guard.

"Bien sûr" Mr. Davis responded, only a light touch of a British accent slipping through his speech, reaching into his pocket, before pulling out the passport for each member of his family, while Daphne, Astoria, and Harry all reached into their own bags to pull them out. Handing them over to the French man, they stood by while he inspected them. When the guard reached Harry Potter's, he paused for only a moment, looking up from the passport to Harry with a raised eyebrow and an amused smile, before he continued his wand movements, validating that the passports were indeed real and were with their its actual owner.

"Merci. Bon séjour en France" said the guard, handing back all the passports to their respective owners.

"Merci Monsieur. Au revoir" said Mr. Davis as he led them out of the room. He continued forward until they reached a large room, similar, Harry realized, to the one in the British ministry of magic. On display there were gigantic stautues made of precious metals that shined as the sunlight reflected of off them through the transparent roof. All of them looked to be made out of gold or silver, with several more species included than there had been in the British ministry.

Mr Davis continued walking, and with the others already following, Harry didn't get quite as long to admire the place as he would have wanted, but understood that this was not a place designed for sightseeing; but for business and work, and followed Tracey's father as well. From what he had seen, however, Harry was easily convinced of what he had managed to read in the few books that spoke of other countries political stances; that the French were far less prejudiced than the British and even their prejudice against certain species was not openly stated and discriminated against like in Britain where if you were anything but at least a halfblood witch or wizard you didn't deserve to have any contact with magic.

'Fucking bastards' Harry thought slightly bitterly. 'If it weren't for their stupid superiority complex, so much death and suffering could've been avoided in the previous war with Voldemort and the new one.'

Harry continued to follow Tracey's dad as he led them out of the main hall and out onto a bustling street, emerging from what appeared to be a statue from the outside. Mr. Davis turned to face the group and stretched his arms out, gesturing to the surroudning area.

"Welcome to Paris, mon amies" he said with a wide smile on his face.

"Really Dad?" Tracey groaned and covered her face with her hands. "Why do you always have to try and embarrass me in front of my friends?"

Daphne patted Tracey lightly on the back while she took her hands away from her head, her cheeks still lightly tinted with a pink hue. Harry chuckled before turning to Tracey's father.

"Sir, if you don't mind me asking, where exactly is the dwarves bank?" he asked slightly anxious now that he was so close to the place he could finally discover more about his heritage.

The older man continued smiling. "Ah Harry, you have to enjoy the atmosphere of such a beautiful place, but I can see on your face you probably will not be able to until you have finally discovered that which you seek" he said slightly cryptically. "I'm sure you'll be happy to hear it isn't too far from here, maybe ten, fifteen minute walk"

Then, from beside him his wife interrupted, with a hand on her daughters shoulder and a compassionite look on her face. "Yes Harry dear, it's only a short walk too a side street near the Arc de Triomphe, there you can find the 'Montmartre Place Cachée' otherwise known as the Montmartre Hidden square and then it will become somewhat obvious where the bank is. Now before we go, you must try just a bit of food from this small restauraunt just over there. The food is absolutely deliscious"

"I quite agree. Potter, you'd be surprised to discover that British food, especially that served at Hogwarts, is not even close to the standards of most other places" Daphne said a small smirk on her face.

"Yeah come on Harry! You'll love it!" Astoria gushed as she grabbed his hand and started puliing his hand towards the restaurant.

Harry rolled his eyes at the younger girl, but smiled anyway and allowed himself to be dragged by Astoria. He was followed by, the rest who were all slightly amused at the boy-who-lived being dragged around by a the smaller girl.

Harry had been hoping to go to the Dwarves as quickly as possible and try to avoid losing time, valuable time, that could be used to keep him hidden from the Order when they would discover his disappearance. However, the very atmosphere that seemed to be created by Tracey's family as well as Daphne and Astoria, reminded him very much of how he had felt after first year when he had spent time with the Weasley's, where he had for the first time in his life felt really included. It was a feeling he greatly enjoyed, and he didn't get too many moments like it and if sacrificing a bit of time that likely still wouldn't be enough for the Order to even get a hint of his deceit, then he was glad to pay it.

The group wandered into the small restaurant and were quickly brought to a table near a window. Crowding next to each other so they could all fit, Harry sat with one side next to the window and the other against Daphne who seemed to be sitting up as straight as possible.

It was nearly two hours later that the group finally left, their bellies full and smiles on their faces. Mr. Davis upon learning that Harry had not heard much about his father was more than happy to remise about his days back in Hogwarts. He had been a couple years older than James Potter and the rest of the marauders but had been at Hogwarts for long enough to have seen a lot of the things they had done. The rest of their merry band was all too happy to listen in on how the group would constantly get in trouble for pranks and other general rule breaking.

Mrs. Davis on the other hand had been more than happy to bring up a few memories about Harry's mother. Lily and her had been in the same grade and had been part of a charms study group together that Lilly had led.

Harry had listened intently, soaking in all the knowledge of his parents that he could, letting it become a part of him and replacing the emptiness in his mind of what his parents were like. While Sirius had occasionally spoken of his parents, Harry avoided asking about it too often as Sirius would often be reminded of Pettigrew and would instantly go into a funk, regretting the fact that the rat had been behind the death of his best friend and imprisonment in Azkaban.

It was Mr. Davis who had reminded them they had to get to the bank before it got too late, especially considering that Harry had never been there before and it would likely take a while for him to be sorted out.

As they left, Daphne grabbed Harry by his arm and brought him to the back of the group to give him a really quick crash course in what he needed to know when he would meet with the dwarves as they would not allow non family members in to see how the Potters were doing financially.

"Just remember Potter. You need to show the dwarves as much respect as possible. They are prideful creatures and will expect to be treated as such" Daphne said "But also remember that the Potter family is formally referred to as the Moste Ancient and Noble House of Potter. There is a lot of power behind that name, and while much of the history behind the Potter family is hidden, I wouldn't be surprised if you discovered a lot in your family vault, so try not to act to surprised" Daphne finished, speaking a mile a minute.

Harry stared at her intently for a moment before tilting his head to one side. "Interesting" he murmured before he looked forward to the rest of the group who had now arrived at what appeared to be the Montmartre Place Cachée, as they had paused in front of a bronze statue, waiting for the two of them to catch up.

When Harry and Daphne got there, they began to walk through the statue one at a time. On the other side, magic was everywhere. Stores of all sorts littered the sides of streets, and stands were set up all around, selling things from drinks to quills to potions.

However, Mr Davis did not pause, instead leading the group straight on ahead towards a building on the far side of the alley. A sign on it labeled it 'Hidden Hills'. The building was a faded white with columns of quartz holding up a roof in a style similar to that of Ancient Greece buildings, with vines covering a side of it stretching down from the top.

Seeing his looks, Daphne spoke to Harry. "The building was made back during the days of the Roman Empire, shortly after they Romans had conquered Greece. It was given as a gift to the dwarves by the magical people of the Roman empire as a sign of good faith and hope that they would help manage the magical banking of their families"

"How safe is it?" Harry asked, knowing that most of the places that had been called safe before had truly not been, like Hogwarts, where he'd almost been killed (repeatedly), Gringotts, which had been robbed before, and the Dursley's, where he'd been hurt more times than he could remember.

"To date it's never been successfully robbed, and the last attempt ended with all twelve members of the group who tried dead and the majority were either missing limbs or burned. Some both" Daphne noted seriously.

Harry gulped nervously. "Well, at least they have good defenses?" he tried.

Daphne smiled reassuringly. "Of course they do. But as long as you don't try to steal from them no harm will come to you. At least probably?"

"Well, good thing that's not on todays agenda" Harry said jokingly, while Daphne rolled her eyes at the joke but a smile graced her face none the less.

The group walked up the steps and entered the doors, where they found a large hall where many dwarves, most only to the height of Harry's waist, walked by or sat at desks working. A few places were marked as tellers and were currently open, so Harry bid the group a temporary goodbye and telling them he'd see them in bit. Daphne reminded him to just contact her through the watch so they could come get him, before squeezing his arm reassuringly and allowing him to go up to a teller to discover just what his family had been in the history books.

While they were still at the diner, Daphne had helped explain to him what it meant to be the Heir or Lord of a Moste Ancient and Noble House. First off it meant he had a seat on the Wizengamot the moment he reached his majority and became a Lord, though he was allowed to have a regent in his place for standard meetings, except on meetings of more importance. It also meant that when the ICW meet, he would be given the opportunity to speak on certain matters that he believed needed to be discussed.

One thing that had struck him as interesting was that all of the Moste Ancient and Noble Houses had existed for over three thousand years. Originally, there had been nearly three hundred of them throughout Europe, but that had dwindled down until today there were only around thirty or forty today and only a handful in residing in Britain. And of those most were on the edge of extinction, like his own, where he stood as the sole surviving member who could had a claim to the Lordship of Potter.

These families had been the most important behind the foundation of 'Modern Magic' following the development of modern civilization. They were all mostly split across Europe with a couple in other continents, Daphne had noted. She had also mentioned that he would likely have to take a class of some sort or receive tutoring on how to act the role of Heir and later lord to such a title in order to avoid embarrasing himself in a public setting like a Ball or Wizengamot meeting.

When he had grimaced, at that, Daphne had joking punched him in the shoulder and told him he was lucky he hadn't been forced to start learning back when he was still a kid and didn't have to act it all the time like she did in Slytherin. However, the most important thing she had told him, was that within a few years, when Harry would reach his majority and be given his lordship, he would have the chance to help finally lead the wizarding world into the modern era and cause some major changes in the wizarding world. Since almost the time of Grindelwarld, Magical Britain had stagnated as the Moste Ancient and Noble Houses had lost much of their power due to many of their members dying in conflicts and assassinations during the war.

However, Harry's already impressive influence as the boy-who-lived, little as he liked the nickname, brought a larger weight that could help unite many other houses in the wizengamot. If he would be successful in convincing enough people to ally with him, he truly had a chance to make changes that were desperately needed if the wizarding world wished to survive.

Walking up to one of the tellers who had a sign stating they spoke English, Harry cleared his throat quietly, catching the tellers attention.

"Yes, how may Hidden Hills be of service today" the dwarf said in a bored drawl.

"Hello, I'm Harry Potter, Heir to the Moste Ancient and Noble House of Potter. I was hoping to speak to someone who could inform me of my family's account here?" Harry asked patiently.

The dwarf scrambled to sit up straight at his desk and look more closely at the boy in front of him. "Indeed? Then I'm sure you'll understand we'll have to do some tests to prove your identity?"

"Of course, not a problem" Harry responded.

"Then follow me Heir Potter" the dwarf said, getting from behind his desk and and leading Harry Potter down a hallway, and to an open room where there laid a silver bowl and a knife.

"Heir Potter, if you would, just use the knife to allow some blood to fall into the bowl, so we may ascertain whether or not you truly are who you claim to be" the dwarf said. "And no worries, your hand will heal shortly after it is cut"

"Very well. And may I assume that the bowl shall be emptied and my blood destroyed after we have agreed upon my identity?"

"Of course Heir Potter" the dwarf assured him. Harry walked towards the center of the room and grabbed the knife, holding it against his palm before he pulled it down, allowing it to cut his hand and causing blood to flow from the wound. After a few drops had fallen into the bowl, the blood suddenly stopped falling and Harry looked to his hand, seeing that it had indeed healed itself.

The dwarf joined him in looking at the bowl and suddenly a projection came out of the bowl displaying the name Hadrian James Potter.

"I believe this clears the problems with the name?" Harry asked the dwarf, while mentally contemplating just how he'd never discovered his full name before.

"Indeed, I shall bring you to your family's account manager to discuss your business. It may be in your best interest to acquire your Heir ring, so that next time you will not have to go through this lengthy process again" the dwarf remarked casually.

"Interesting. I'll make sure I do" Harry said.

"Follow me"

The dwarf then led Harry through a confusing series of hallways until they came to an office door labeled 'Potter Account Manager'.

"This is where I leave you, young Heir. Have a wonderful day"

"Thank you, you have a great day too" Harry replied before the dwarf turned on his heel and headed back towards the front of the bank, leaving Harry alone to meet his account manager. Harry steeled his nerves for a moment, taking in and then releasing a deep breath of air, before knocking on the wooden door in front of him.

"Yes, come in" a voice called from inside. Harry pushed open the door to reveal a dwarf sitting behind a large oak desk. His hair was white, gelled back and he wore a pair of thick glasses. He looked up from the many papers and folders on his desk to face Harry. Upon seeing the young Potter, a smile shot to his face and he jumped from his seat with surprising speed considering how old he looked before going around and reaching out to shake Harry's hand.

"Mr. Potter, I can't tell you how happy I am to see you've finally come to visit the dwarves!" He exclaimed with only a slight french accent. "I'm Monsieur Tailouse, I worked with your parents and I have to say it sure has been a long time since a Potter has walked through those doors, though I had expected it to be a few years ago?"

Harry just shook his hand looking slightly confused. "Umm, well, I'm Harry Potter, and what do you mean you expected me a few years ago?"

"I just thought you would have come when you were eleven to claim your Heir ring or to review the contents of your vaults, but I understand that you likely wanted to wait until you were older to go through these things. So, it's a bit surprising that you've come to visit us today" explained Monsieur Tailouse.

"Why do you say that?" Harry asked, an expression of confusion flitting upon his face.

"Well" The dwarf said slowly, drawing the word out on his lips. "When you failed to arrive to claim your Heir ring on your eleventh birthday, we sent out an owl to both yourself and your magical guardian, who told us that you would not be taking up any of your roles in the magical world until you were at least seventeen, when you would officially become an adult in the wizarding world"

"That's odd" Harry said with a slight amount of cold slipping into his voice, his brain beginning to put together some of the puzzle pieces. "I do not recall ever receiving such a letter, nor do I recall being told of such a letter in the past"

"Odd indeed. Have you at least been receiving your weekly vault statements?" the dwarf said, a slight tone of worry beginning to slip into his voice.

"I have not" Harry stated flatly. Tailouse swore under his breath.

"Well it appears we have a problem, Heir Potter" the account manager began. "You should've been receiving your vault statemnts since you were eleven, regardless of not accepting your role as Heir, though it appears even that is currently in question as of now. I believe we should do a couple of tests to see if you are possible under an owl ward that is preventing our owls from finding you or something along those lines. You may also may want to get into contact with your Magical Guardian regarding the rejection of your Heirship at eleven"

"Indeed" Harry replied. "Just a quick question. Who exactly is my Magical Guardian?"

An audible crunch was heard as Tailouse's quill snapped in his hand. "Would you mind repeating what I think I just heard" he said through clenched teeth.

Harry was slightly worried by the expression the manager took on, but none the less repeated his question. This time Tailouse just groaned defeatedly.

"I'm happy that I can tell you that I do know who your Magical Guardian is, you will not be able to take any sort of legal actions against the man for not telling you simply because of the power he holds over the court system" Tailouse explained before taking a deep breath. "Your Magical Guardian is Albus Dumbledore"

And with that the final puzzle piece fell into place in his mind. Of course it had been Dumbledore. Despite the respect he for the man's magical prowess, he seemed to stick his hands into Harry's life far too much, as though Harry was a puppet and he the puppet master. His respect for Dumbledore as a person suffered yet another hit, and he was truly beginning to doubt the man's intentions.

The young Heir let out a sigh before refocusing on his account manager in front of him who fidgeted nervously.

"Well, if there really is nothing we can do I wish to know if a couple of things can be done" Harry said.

"Of course, young Heir. Anything we can assist with we shall" Tailouse replied quickly.

"First off, I'd like to see about that Mail ward or if there are any others on me" Harry began, "And I'd also appreciate it if I could take an Heir test, to see if I may have inherited something else I may not be aware of as well as visit my family's vault, and if it doesn't become to late I'd also appreciate if we could look into some sort of methods of emancipation. Preferably some way that the rest of the magical world won't find out"

"I think we could probably get through all of that tonight, but if you don't want to stay late, I suggest we only focus on the first three and that you come back tomorrow to deal with emancipation, because it will probably take a while to get through the Lord's rituals you will also have to go through" the manager explained. "As for the Heir test we can do that right now, though I doubt anything will come of it"

Harry shook his hand through the air, dismissing his account managers final comment. "None the less, I still feel it would be in my best interests to see if that is indeed the case"

"Of course Heir Potter. Follow me and we can do that now" Tailouse said. He stood up and walked out the door, Harry following just behind him. They walked down the same hallway passing by other account managers doors, including some other family names he recognized. They continued down a stone staircase, as the walls changed from a pale, cream plaster to a chiseled stone. The temperature dropped a bit, and Harry shivered as he felt a particularly cold draft of air pass him, through a vent overhead.

They continued passing by several large, wooden doors, until Monsieur Tailouse finally stopped in front of one of them. Harry could faintly make out what looked like chiseled words on the wall. They seemed very old, as though they had been there since the founding of the bank itself. Tailouse knocked on the door three times, before pushing the door open to reveal what appeared to be a modern room, filled with white walls and bright lights that hung down from the ceiling.

The room felt even colder than the hallway they had just walked down, and smells of potion ingredients filled their nostrils. Several cauldrons sat on tables, lined throughout the room, several with light fumes coming from them. He noticed that near the back of the room there were several dark shelves that stood out in contrast to the rest of the room. They were filled with jars that looked to contain potion ingredients, though Harry couldn't identify many of them. It also looked like they contained some muggle chemistry equipment, which surprised Harry as he'd never seen them anywhere in the magical world before.

At first glance, Harry thought the room was empty, but upon a second glance around the room, he noticed a couple of dwarves sitting in the corner of the room, around a small table holding cards. Tailouse growled lightly before swearing lightly under his breath. Harry could only make out a couple of words but it was enough to get the general gist that the dwarves were supposed to be focused on completing their potions not playing cards.

Otherwise ignoring the dwarves who finally noticed them as they walked through the room, he lead Harry through another door that he had not previously noticed, only stopping to grab a bowl similar to the one that had identified him earlier from the shelves. Tailouse also paused for a moment in front of a couple of small knives and daggers on the shelves, before electing to grab one of the darkest blades, with several silver runes drawn on its side, and an emerald green lace tied around its handle.

The door lead to a much warmer room, that seemed far more open and far larger than the previous room. The walls were filled with silver drawers that seemed to reach into the walls themselves. They all had a small label on their side, though Harry wasn't able to figure out their names as the moderately small amount of French he knew was based around conversation making, not magic itself.

The room had a lot of space in the center of it and there was a circle drawn out surrounded by multiple runes though for some reason they appeared blurry. There were also a couple of moving ladders along near the walls, likely to help them reach the higher drawers, Harry thought.

Tailouse signaled for Harry to sit at the table by the entrance of the room, while he quickly scurried off to one of the drawers, from where he removed a potions vial, before returning to the table where Harry sat, setting down both the bowl and the closed vial on the table, similar to the other before sitting down across from him.

"Heir Potter, this is one of the rooms where we store our completed potions for our own, or for in some cases, for our more esteemed customers such as yourself, if there is a need for them" the elderly dwarf explained before pointing to the vial. "This here is the potions for the Heir test, though it must be combined with your blood in the basin to be specific for you. You must allow some blood to fall into the basin and then I shall pour in the potion as well. Have not worries your blood will be destroyed as soon as we have our results"

Harry nodded, glad to not need to once more voice his want to avoid any blood being left behind, lest someone decide to try and use it in a ritual of sorts that could affect him. They would certainly need more blood than Harry would be bleeding, but it was still better not to take any risks where possible. Harry picked up the dagger, noticing how balanced it felt in his hand before once more cutting his hand and allowing the blood to drip down into the basin, Tailouse poured in the light violet potion.

Unlike last time however, the wound did not immediately heal, and instead the account manager gave Harry a paste to put on the wound, that Harry recognized would stop bleeding and heal the wound soon enough.

"How come the dagger didn't heal the wound automatically?" Harry asked his account manager, the question bouncing into his head as he accepted the paste and began to spread it over the wound, as enough blood had fallen into the bowl, where it magically spun in a circular motion, mixing with the Heir test potion.

"Because you will be keeping that dagger, as a small gift in our forgiveness for not realizing that you had not been receiving your letters from us as you should have been" came the reply from the dwarf who stared intently into the basin where the blood continued to mix.

"Thank you" said Harry looking at the dagger again slightly more appraising look. He didn't quite know what he was going to do with it, but he figured it wouldn't hurt to have a weapon with him for when he would inevitable be caught in a dangerous situation without his wand.

Harry was startled out of his thoughts when the potion and blood finally stopped spinning inside the basin. From them, smokey letters appeared floating in the air.

Hadrian James Potter

Heir to

Moste Ancient and Noble House of Potter

Moste Ancient and Noble House of Black

Possible Heir to

House Peverell

Tailouse both looked at the floating letters in surprise, before his confused look turned into a tooth-filled smile. "Well Heir Potter-Black, it appears I have indeed been surprised"

Harry just turned his eyes from the letters to the dwarf and raised an eyebrow. "Do you have any idea how exactly I am the Heir to house Black or Preverell? Or what it means by 'possible Heir' to House Peverell?"

"Indeed, however, we should leave those discussions for back in my office, if you indeed wish for at least temporary secrecy, then we should try to minimize the chances of this knowledge getting loose"

Harry stood up, preparing to head back to the office so they could talk about it, but Tailouse just chuckled lightly before signaling for Harry to sit back down. Harry sat but a questioning look flitted across his face. Seeing his expression, Tailouse went to explain.

"We should check for the mail ward first, seeing as we are already here" he explained pointing to the circle. Harry realized what he meant immediately, realizing that the hidden runes were probably the basics of a ritual circle of some sort. It was something that he had briefly learned about from a book in Brooke Reed's bookstore, but hadn't had the chance to look into too deeply nor had he overly wanted to considering that the vast majority of rituals were far more harming than they were helpful.

"If you allow it, I can summon one of our curse breakers to take a look at you and figure out what's going on. I can personally vouch for their discretion and privacy if you're worried about it" Tailouse added on, once he noticed Harry's contemplative expression. Harry nodded his agreement and the account manager stood up, and walked out of the room to grab the curse breaker.

With the free time he had been given, Harry returned to studying his new dagger. If he were to guess it was probably about half a kilogram or so. It was very different from the last blade he had weld, the sword of Gryffindor, but that was more so due to their sizes. He liked how balanced it was and he tossed it up into the air, allowing it to spin once before catching it by the hilt once more.

Harry turned it on its side, looking at the runes that were inscribed on it. There were five different runes written on them, but he only immediately recognized three of them. One of them made sure that the blade would never lose its sharpness another prevent it resting and the third from otherwise breaking. The other two he recognized as Nowegian in origin from the way they were shaped, but he had not ever come across these two specific runes in the past.

Just as he had finished more carefully inspecting the dagger, the room's door was opened once more, and he was joined by Monsieur Tailouse and a second dwarf. The second dwarf wore a black eyepatch over one eye, a pale line passing through where his eye would have been and his other eye an unnervingly pale blue, almost as though it belonged to a ghost. Unlike his account manager who wore a suit, this dwarf was wearing a brown cloak over one should and was dressed in dragon armor, with an axe partly hidden underneath his cloak.

Upon entering the room, Tailouse tossed something over to Harry who instinctively caught it. He looked down to see a leather sheath, roughtly the same size as the dagger, with a small belt around it.

"It's to put the dagger on your ankle" said Tailouse explanatorily before turning to prevent the new dwarf. "This is Curse Breaker Stones, he's my younger brother and one of our banks leading ward and ritual experts"

Stones merely grunted in acknowledgment to his brothers introduction as he seized up Harry Potter. Harry Potter stood up as well reaching out his hand.

"An I am Hadrian Potter, Heir to the Moste Ancient and Noble Houses of Potter and Black" Harry says formally introducing himself as Daphne had taught him earlier. She hadn't been certain if the occasion would arise, but had taught him just to be safe and Harry figured it was best to introduce himself formally in this situation.

The curse breaker tentatively shook his hand before retreating it back to his side. "Heir Potter-Black, I suggest you get in the ritual circle so we may begin"

Harry followed the dwarf's directions to move inside the ritual circle, leaving his dagger and the sheath on the table next to the basin that had just been emptied by Tailouse.

Harry took a deep breath and stepped inside. Stones stepped up and holding up his arms began to chant lightly underneath his breath. The ritual circle immediately activated, and a small dome like shield appeared, surrounding Harry, and he could feel the magic thickening in the air.

After about half an hour, the curse breaker suddenly stopped chanting and his eyes opened wide in surprise. He moved over a bit to his brother where he whispered in his ear. Harry just looked on slightly confused.

Tailouse gasped when his brother told him what he had discovered before immediately blanking their face and walking over to Harry, while his brother pulled out a couple pieces of paper and began to scribble something on them with a quill.

"Heir Potter-Black, it appears we have a slight problem that we had not been expecting" Tailouse said, waiting for his brother to rejoin them.

Moments later he came back, his papers held in his hand. "Heir Potter-Black, we've discovered that other than the mail ward we had already suspected, we've also discovered that there is a very dark magical leech of sorts in your scar"

Harry looked at them in surprise. "What does that mean exactly?"

"Well to be exact, the magic in your scar is a nasty piece of magic we recognized as a horcrux, which is a piece of someone's split soul that can be used to anchor them to this life. In this case, I think it would be a safe bet to say that it belongs to you-know-who. It would be a connection of sorts to the Dark Lord and it syphons off of your magic to survive." Stones explained. "Usually a horcrux in a living host would have led to the host being completely possessed by the soul piece but it appears there is an impressive piece of magic that is preventing that, and it also prevents you from having complete access to your own magic"

Gasping in surprise at this discovery, Harry shook his head trying to focus on the current and not on the fact that a piece of Voldemort was living inside of him and syphoning his magic. He was pretty certain that it was his mothers sacrifice that was protecting him from it completely taking control of him now. It's probably why Voldemort had been able to partially possess him in the ministry atrium he realized, and his mothers sacrifice had probably allowed him to fight off said possession.

"Can it be destroyed? Like now?" Harry said worriedly.

"We can indeed do so, but we should probably deal with the horcux now and the owl ward later if you still have the energy" Stones began "There is a ritual that allows us to destroy the horcrux, however it has never been performed on a living host before with the goal of the host surviving, so it will be very risky. Do you remain certain that you wish to continue?"

Without hesitation, Harry looked at the dwarf. "Absolutely, I cannot live knowing a piece of that monster resides inside of me, so I wish for it to be destroyed as soon as possible"

"Very well" Tailouse interjected "I shall go retrieve the paperwork"

The account manager left the room leaving Stones and Harry alone in the room. Harry's curiosity got the best of him and he decided to ask the dwarf a few more clarifying questions.

"Could my mothers sacrifice when I was a child, be what is stopping the horcrux from possessing me?" he asked.

"Hmm. Well, if she had performed the proper ritual, I would not be surprised, as sacrificial magic, while being very deadly, is also very powerful" Stones said "We can only hope that it will be able to protect you during the ritual while the soul piece is destroyed"

Noticing that the ritual expert appeared to be deep in thought, likely trying to figure out what modifications would need to be made to the ritual so that the host may not be destroyed, Harry quieted down and turned to his watch. He quickly crafted a message to send to Daphne so that she knew he may end up taking longer than expected. He refused to acknowledge the possibility that he would die. He knew that it was a possibility, but he would not let it happen. Not when the lives of so many people he cared were on the line.

Tailouse finally came back with the necessary paperwork to go through with the paperwork. Tailouse handed it to him, and told him to read through and ask any questions he had before signing. Harry read through them, and the majority of it was just him acknowledging that he was willingly going through the ritual, a page he would have to quickly fill out as an impromptu will, should the worst come to pass, and the price for the procedure.

Harry's eyes bugged slightly at the price. 15,000 Galleons. That was a lot of money he thought. He knew it was nearly five times what someone like Arthur Weasley would make in a year. However, when he voiced his concern over the price, Tailouse assurred him that about 10,000 of it was only in the case of his death to cover funeral costs and what not, and while should he survive it remained expensive, he should not be concerned, as it didn't even make the slightest dent in his bank account.

When he finally finished reading, Tailouse reached over to give Harry a blood quill to sign the contract with, but he automatically flinched back, moving away from the object.

"Heir Potter-Black?" Tailouse questioned confusedly. He had not been expecting such an adverse reaction out of nowhere.

"Why do you have one of those?" Harry asked somewhat harshly, anger evident on his face.

"They are used to sign official contracts and are only allowed to be used by the bankers. Why do you ask?" Tailouse cautiously replied, not wanting to further anger one of the banks most important clients.

"My teacher this past year tortured me with one" Harry snarled back lightly, holding up his scarred hand, showing the words 'I must not tell lies'. Tailouse looked closely and upon recognizing the truth in the Heir's words clenched his fists tightly in anger before relaxing once more.

"I apologize Heir Potter-Black. I had not been aware. Let it be known that doing such a thing is illegal and I may suggest looking into a barrister to take legal actions, as I know using such an object in Britain outside official documents can bring a minimum of 3 years in Azkaban" Tailouse told him "Unfortunately, you must still sign with the Blood quill, as this is one of those documents that requires blood quills be used"

Reluctantly, Harry accepted the blood quill from Tailouse and used it to sign, the documents, ignoring the stinging from his hand. When he signed the last one, he handed them back to Tailouse who checked over them quickly before nodding his head, signaling for Stones to join them.

"Heir Potter-Black I suggest you get comfortable because this will be anything but" Stones said, allowing Harry to get lay down on the surprisingly soft ground. When Harry signaled he was ready, Stones took a deep breath before he began to chant.

Unlike last time, when the magic had build slowly around Harry, this time, its pressure appeared immediately.

It felt different than last time Harry noted. It felt darker than last time, and it was making him very uncomfortable. Suddenly his body screamed in pain. His muscles all felt like they had suddenly cramped, and his bones felt like they were breaking. His stomach felt like it was about to throw up, his lungs felt cramped inside his ribcage, and his heart felt like it was beating out of his chest. But the worst was his forehead. It felt like someone was taking a knife and repeatedly jabbing it into his head over and over again.

'This is worse than a crucio' Harry barely though out as the pain continued to mount. Finally, Harry's pain threshold was completely torn past and a loud, guttural scream escaped his mouth and filled the room.

Fortunately, Tailouse had considered this possibility earlier and had silenced the room earlier so they wouldn't be interrupted. However, he still heard the sound and he cringed, wanting to throw up himself at the sound.

The shielded dome began to be filled by visible tendrils of magic. The rituals magic was releasing a bright yellow tendrils that moved around the dome as though looking for what to attack, but suddenly began striking Harry's forehead in a constant barrage. Harry's own magic becoming visible in a jaded green aura surrounding him, with a redish hue surrounding the outside of it. From his forehead, a black tendril of magic became visible standing out against the green and red. It seemed like it was defending himself against the yellow magic but was holding up none the less.

Harry was barely aware of the light show around him. It had been nearly thirteen minutes of this pain. All he could feel was the pain. The never ending pain. He could feel his body was close to giving up. He closed his eyes bringing forth his memories of his closest friends, and hoped with all his heart that he could see them again. Suddenly, he saw a flash of light against his closed eyelids and the pain disappeared.

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Location: Unknown

Time: Unknown

Harry opened his eyes, only to be greeted by a white world. Looking around he immediately noticed a few things. He immediately recognized the place as Kings Cross Station but it lacked the color he was used to, it just looked plain white. The second thing he noticed was a bench where a disgusting brown creature was. It felt horribly dark, like it was a physical embodiment of evil. The third thing he realized, was that he was glowing.

"Thats weird" Harry said out loud to himself. Then he heard a chuckle from behind him and he immediately turned around, only to come face to face with two people he thought he'd never see again.

"Mum? Dad?"

A.N.

Big Plot Moment, huh?

HI! It's been a while hasn't it? So sorry that I haven't gotten out this chapter in a while. I had to re-write it due to a problem I realized with the plot, but I hope you guys enjoyed it. This chapter was about 7.5k words compared to the usual 4k ones I write. I'm going to be increasing the sizes of my chapters up to somewhere between 9k-15k words from now on, and the next one is already almost done. I should have it proofread and released by sometime next week. I'd appreciate any sort of constructive criticism and if you have an questions or comments make sure to leave a review. also let me know how you feel about the change to longer chapters. I hope you guys enjoyed this one as much as I did writing it. Enjoy the rest of your day and see you next time!

Reviews:

A Random Earthian: I tried to add in some of the differences in behavior, but it will become a lot more clear in the next chapter.

Xeus: Thank you for the review! I hope you enjoyed the introduction to the Dwarves, but the Shadow Warriors probably won't really go into business for another couple chapters.

Infinity Mask: I might have them get one, but I'm not entirely sure yet. As for Nott, he might become a part of the group later but for now, the chasers have something against either him or his father. Dumbeldore will not have been stealing Harry's money in this story, and he'll be exploring his vaults in the next chapter. Thanks for the review!

Kairan1979: Thanks for the review!

Pidozyron: Thanks for the review! I'm trying to catch all of them that I can but sometimes they just slip past me.

ghosttown66: Thanks for the review! Dumbles and the order will probably be showing up next chapter, but Voldie will probably have to wait a bit longer. I've been looking into finding a good spell checker, but the problem is a lot of them have problems themselves, and a lot of the good ones need money. I've been looking into having someone else proofread my stories for me though so I hope that'll help.