Harry stepped out into the winter air immediately raising his collar against the wind. The muggles around him seemed to blur into spots flurrying around him. He had landed just outside of Grimmauld Place using the time turner and apparated a street down the Leaky Cauldron.
He pushed the door open and stepped inside, taking in the place while simultaneously walking towards getting to Diagon Alley. It was amazing to see how some places never changed even after seventy years. Bringing out his wand, he tapped the shabby bricks quickly and the wall slid open to reveal Diagon Alley and Harry stepped through. Walking towards Gringotts, Harry remembered the first time he had seen this familiar place and felt a pang of nostalgia. He had been so overwhelmed and so very excited. Here, he had been accepted, he had been loved. There was a whole world at his fingertips and he wasn't just a freak now. He'd known that he would do anything to protect it, love it. Had Tom? He knew that Voldemort had loved Hogwarts. It was his home just as it had been Harry's. But Tom had never been accepted, didn't know what it felt it like to be loved and sustained. Harry steeled himself just as he pushed through a crowd of people and promised whatever deity was there that he would show Tom love even if it brought back memories that he would rather forget.
He had worried about money while he was back at Grimmauld, wondering how he would survive without funds. But Hermione's endless facts and nagging had come into use now.
"Harry!" she had called, stepping into his room bouncing on her heels like she did whenever she had read something that fascinated her.
"Yea? What's wrong Hermione?" he'd asked, quirking his lips up in a smile when he'd seen her.
"Goblins can trade money and funds through time. Time, Harry. Isn't that fascinating? It says here in this book that this was how time travelers usually survived in the first place. The magic of the vaults is completely different!" She had ranted all of this in one breath. Harry had indulged her with a smile and asked her how exactly it worked. She'd gone off immediately, talking about customs and alternate universes. He'd heard just enough to know that it was possible to access his vaults from 1930 and the rest of the research had come from old wizarding tomes from the Black library. How ironic that his best friend's ramblings now seemed so precious when they were just a oddity back then. Harry had dealt with a goblin name Hankfin who had confirmed that he would indeed be able to access his vaults from the past. He just had to ask for a goblin named Grovdur and show him the forms that announced Harry's status as a traveler.
Walking up to the goblin seated at the high seat, Harry had allowed his magic to gather around him. The goblins exploited weakness, the tome had said, they would try to dupe any lesser wizard into their schemes and into forfeiting money. And after battling Voldemort and surviving so much death, Harry refused to be a lesser wizard. Only his overly powerful magical aura and a threat to shift banks had subdued the goblins, who had been bent on killing him for stealing from the bank.
As the goblin looked down at him, Harry raised his chin and said, in that way expected of influential wizards, "I wish to meet with Grovdur." He uttered those six words with boredom dripping from their edges, all the while with his magic thundering on the border. The goblin's face expressed mild interest and he immediately stepped down to lead Harry down a dark corridor. After walking for a while, they entered a room with strange symbols on its door with the prominent one being of an hourglass. The door opened and Harry entered.
The room was spacious with a mahogany coloured table and two sofas facing each other. A weathered goblin sat on one end looking expectantly up at him.
"Ah, Mr. Potter. We've been expecting you. We got the news that you would be arriving from dealer Hankfin a days ago." he said, in a gravelly voice that seemed to echo.
With his magic swirling around him and creating a phantom wind, Harry sat. "Yes I assumed that you would. Now let's get to business Mr. Grovdur. We have much to do and not nearly enough time."
"Oh?" the goblin said, eyes glittering at the thought of dealing with the Potter fortune. "But of course" he murmured, summoning files with a flick of his wrist.
"What would you like to know Mr. Potter?" the goblin asked.
"How many vaults, galleons and riches I have access to and prime wizarding estates for sale. Also, the situation of the Potter family in this year."
Flicking open a thick bundle of papers, Grovdur shuffled through it before finally looking up and confirming, "You are Harry James Potter, son of James Fleamont Potter and Lily James Potter. You have arrived from the date 14 June 1998. You are a time traveler who wishes to stay in this period for an indefinite period until proven otherwise. Yes?"
"Yes."
"Excellent. You currently have access to the Potter and Black family vaults active in 1998 along with the Hogwarts trust vault created by your parents and the shares of the Sleekeazy's Hair Potion from 1998. You own the estates of the Black and Potter family, obviously only in 1998. The total of your monetary funds come up to 3 billion galleons from the Potter vault, 4.5 billion galleons from the Black vault and 10 thousand galleons, 400 sickles and 12 knuts from the Hogwarts trust fund. You will be able to withdraw money from any of these vaults at any time with a glass key which you will display at the high table upon entering."
Harry kept us his blank façade outside but on the inside he was amazed. He knew that the Blacks and Potters being pureblooded families had old money but just not how much old money. This could ensure that he easily had a complete furnished house ready along with wards and elves by the time he went to adopt Tom. Harry nodded at the goblin to continue.
"About the situation of the Potters of this time, they have moved to Italy in one of properties they have recently bought. I see no indication that they wish to return as of yet with Grindelwald's crimes increasing across the country. They have chosen to stay neutral in this war." Grovdur explained.
Italy? Harry had no idea that his grandparents had ever gone to Italy. If that was the case what had made them come back to Britain? His father's education?
"Are you absolutely sure Mr. Grovdur?" he asked.
"Yes, Mr. Potter. They purchased the properties from this bank itself. Now, are you ready to look at the properties you requested?" Grovdur replied, summoning yet another book out of air. Harry nodded and leaned forward, peering at the pictures and information displayed in the document.
Harry specified his requirements for the house, "I don't want an overly large manor but it shouldn't be tiny as well. Somewhere quaint and quiet with old magical signatures would be preferable. The house must be open to change in wards and ownership. Keep it near muggle settlements so that electricity is possible to be installed."
The goblin raised an eyebrow at the last statement but immediately pushed forward the book displaying a page with three properties. "These are most suitable for your demands. They are in Winchmore Hill, Old Isleworth and Old Coulsdon. Old Isleworth has a longer history of magical settlements but currently no wizards reside there. Winchmore Hill has cooler weather along with thick forests to conceal the house from muggles and Old Coulsdon is closest to the muggle settlements as you requested."
Harry looked over the estates. Each had their advantages but he immediately cut off Old Coulsdon. The estate there was too close to muggles and that didn't look enticing. Also, judging from what he knew of Riddle's experience with muggles, he doubted the boy would be happy to be so close to them so soon. The two properties left were tough to decide between but he made his decision.
"I would like to buy the house on 27, Cleveland Road, Isleworth. How soon can I acquire the property?" Harry enquired. He wanted a place to live in soon.
"Immediately Mr. Potter. Clawpon will handle all of your transactions related to the estate. Here is your key." The goblin placed a small glass key in his hand and led Harry to the counter dealing with properties. Dealing with the goblins and money was exhausting but Harry kept chanting his goal in his mind, the reason he'd chosen this road and got through it. The property he'd purchased wasn't hidden away like the one in Winchmore Hill. He wanted Riddle to adjust, not hate muggles. He'd have to learn how to interact with them someday if Harry had something to say about it.
The house itself was grand but not cold and looming like the Malfoy Manor. The end of Cleveland Road was distorted to give way to a larger space. The house was symmetrical and decorated with old Victorian carvings. A short stone staircase led up to the door located under an arched ceiling. It was two stored and built strong with the elegance that was associated with magic. It had iron and copper trimmings and gates that glinted in the photographs he had seen. The surroundings of the house included amaryllis plants and two benches on either side of the road leading up to the house. In short, it was perfect. Not too grand and not too simple.
Finishing the paperwork and obtaining the key to the house and the property, Harry trudged back to the Leaky Cauldron where he rented a room. Unpacking his trunk, he remained deep in thought about the kind of wards to place around the hose and the young boy he hoped to bring home to it. He moved mechanically, undressing and cleaning up before he finally fell, exhausted on the rough cotton sheets of the hotel room.