NOTE: My new computer arrives tomorrow or the next day. In the meantime, I'm stealing time on Hubby's computer while he showers. GRIN
Posting will continue to be sporadic for the foreseeable future - my Mom's in hospital, and much of my time will be devoted to her. I'm an only child, so that time will be more than if I had siblings to help out. I have not forgotten this story, and I *will* finish it, I promise.
Speaking of - what do y'all think Tony DiNozzo's Patronus might be?
14 June 2014
A knock on his bedroom door made Harry look up from where he was settling the last of his toiletries into his suitcase.
Before he could answer, though, the door swung open and a very excited Hermione bounced in.
"Are you done packing yet? Our portkey activates in fifteen minutes," she said, her words tumbling over one another in her eagerness. "I can't believe the school year's already over - we'd have another two weeks at Hogwarts."
"Just closing the suitcase now," Harry assured her, and suited deed to word. "And the American school year - or at least, New York's school year - is a couple of weeks shorter than Hogwarts."
Hermione looked surprised. "How do you know that?"
"I looked it up," Harry deadpanned back. Then grimaced. "Which means I was curious one day and I asked JARVIS."
"Oh? Did he say anything else?"
Harry hefted the rolling suitcase onto the floor and extended its handle. "That we - you and I, I mean - had more hours of instruction than we would have had at Hogwarts."
"Well, of course," Hermione said as Harry approached where she stood framed in the doorway. "We were also taking mundane school subjects-"
Harry shook his head and pulled the door closed behind him. "In magical subjects only."
Hermione stared at him. "What?"
Harry shrugged. "Dedicated tutors and students who are eager to learn make a difference, I guess."
And, surprisingly, Harry was eager to learn in a way he never had been at Hogwarts.
Probably has something to do with competent teachers. Not to mention not having to face Voldemort again.
Whatever the reason, he'd enjoyed the months of tutoring so far and sometimes wished he didn't have to go back to regular school, even if that school were Hogwarts.
Dad was waiting for them in the living room, a tire iron in one hand.
"That's the portkey?" Hermione sounded skeptical.
"Goblins have a sense of humor, apparently," Dad replied. "Bogrod does, at least. Five minutes. Ready?"
"Yes!" Hermione all but lunged forward to grab one arm of the cross-shaped tire iron, her suitcase bumping behind her.
Harry followed at a more normal pace. Five minutes was plenty of time, though he couldn't begrudge Hermione's excitement at seeing her parents again - she hadn't seen them since spring break, after all.
Harry was looking forward to seeing the Grangers again. He wasn't looking forward to Hermione's idea of a fun summer holiday nearly as much, though there were certain to be some fun things to do, too, given that Dad and Padfoot were involved.
He wrapped his free hand around another arm of the tire iron. Dad held a third with one hand and his phone in the other. Harry frowned at him, but Dad ignored him.
"Three," Dad said suddenly. "Two. One."
Some unseen hook grabbed Harry and pulled him irresistibly forward, out of Stark Tower and into a whirling morass of wind and color.
He landed hard, but kept his feet under him, and looked around to see where they'd arrived. The room was generally bare, except for one corner where a small workstation had been set up. At the desk sat a goblin.
So they'd portkeyed to Gringotts. Harry supposed it was as secure a location as could be found - and since Dad preferred goblin-made portkeys to wizard-made ones, that would always be the better option.
Dad crossed to the goblin at the workstation and handed over the tire iron, receiving some paperwork in exchange, before he glanced back at where Harry still stood with Hermione.
That was all it took for Harry to start toward the door, tapping Hermione's shoulder to nudge her into doing the same.
Sirius was waiting for them in the corridor outside the arrival room, along with a goblin that Harry thought looked familiar, but he was too focused on his godfather to try to place the goblin.
"Sirius!" He rushed into his godfather's arms and hugged him tightly.
"Hey, pup," Sirius murmured, returning the pressure. His voice returned to normal levels when he said, "Tony. Hermione. Good to see you both."
Harry pulled back to look up at his godfather. "Are we staying with you? Dad never said."
"Because I wasn't certain until yesterday that you'd be able to," Sirius replied. "My family's London residence … needed work. A lot of work."
"Which is why Dobby has been with you, except when you came for Christmas?" Harry asked.
"Exactly right, pup," Sirius said. "But come on - we shouldn't block the corridor. Let's get Hermione home first."
"You go ahead," Dad said. "I've got some business at the bank."
Harry frowned. "I thought this was a holiday."
"It is," Dad agreed. "But I don't get to London often, so I figured I'd take care of business now, while we're all getting settled."
"That … makes sense," Harry allowed and had to stop himself from asking, begging, Dad not to take too long.
Dad grinned and gripped Harry's shoulder. "It shouldn't take too long - today, maybe part of tomorrow. There'll be plenty of time to see things."
"Speaking of seeing things," Sirius said, "I'm not sure your bracelet will let you see the family residence. It has centuries' worth of protections on it."
Dad gave Sirius a look that expressed entire volumes of disappointment. "I can find the street. And then I can call you."
"Mm. Maybe?" Sirius said. "Those protections might interfere. If they do, call Dobby and he can tell me you're here."
"Works for me," Dad said, then offered Harry a grin. "Don't get into too much trouble without me."
HP - IM - HP - IM - HP
Tony waved as Sirius led the kids away then turned to greet Bogrod. "All the paperwork's finally done?"
"Yes," the goblin answered. "I would apologize for it taking so long, but when a minor is involved, extra precautions are required."
"I get it," Tony said. "I even appreciate it, even if I hate waiting."
"This way."
Tony followed the goblin down a long passageway and into an elevator. Bogrod waved his hand and the elevator started to descend.
"Last time, I rode in a cart," Tony said.
"Last time, you weren't a major account holder," Bogrod returned dryly, and Tony chuckled.
The elevator stopped and the door opened onto another tunnel, this one lined on either side with doors leading to vaults. The vaults functioned like a cross between a bank account and a safe-deposit box, which baffled Tony. Those were two completely separate functions, so why should they be combined?
Truthfully, though, that was one of the least baffling things about the magical world.
They stopped before a particular vault - not 687, Harry's trust vault, which he'd seen before - and Bogrod withdrew a small key from his pocket.
"Your key," he said, offering it to Tony. "When you take it, you'll feel a sting."
"Sting? How and why?"
"To bond the key to you, so that no one else can use it," Bogrod replied. "As to the how - magic."
Tony had expected that answer, but the engineer in him would always ask the question.
He took the key and, yep, there was a sting - not quite like getting a shot, but similar - and a soft golden glow surrounded the key.
"I trust you know how to use a key?" Bogrod asked, and his tone reminded Tony, amusingly enough, of JARVIS.
"Mundane keys, sure. Are magical keys any different?"
"Other than bonding to you, no."
Tony scanned the outside of the vault, finally finding the keyhole immediately beneath the vault number, and slid the key into the lock.
Moments later, he had the door open and stared into the vault. Besides the piles of coins - golden Galleons, silver Sickles, and bronze Knuts - shelves lined the vault walls, each filled with wooden crates or chests or trunks.
"This is gonna take longer than I thought," Tony muttered.
"Perhaps not," Bogrod said. "What, precisely, are you looking for?"
"I don't know, precisely," Tony replied. "James and Lily's wills, certainly, as well as anything that should be Harry's now, instead of when he's an adult. Any keepsakes or mementos they left him, things like that."
"Hmmmm." Bogrod drew out the sound as he studied the vault. "You should thank the Potters. This is one of the more organized vaults I've ever seen."
Tony grinned briefly. "That would be Lily's doing."
"And generations of Potters before her," Bogrod said. Tony heard what he didn't say: Lily had died too soon to make a significant effort or impression on the vault.
After a long moment of silence. "What do you suggest? Check for dates on the boxes?"
"That's one method, if an inefficient one."
"I'm all about efficiency," Tony countered.
Bogrod grinned. "If you'll allow me to cast a spell inside the vault, perhaps I can be more efficient."
"Please."
Bogrod waved a hand and said something in a guttural language Tony had no hope of understanding. A moment later, two boxes on a nearby shelf glowed.
"I believe you will find what you seek in those boxes," Bogrod said. "Do you remember how to get to the lift?"
"Yeah, sure. No problem."
"Your key will summon the lift and take you to the lobby floor."
"Thanks," Tony said, most of his attention focused on the glowing boxes. "If I'm not back in two hours, send out a search party."
Bogrod gave an amused grunt. "I shall leave you to work in private."
Tony didn't bother to respond to that as he picked his way across the vault, avoiding the large stacks of coins and as many of the smaller stacks and stray coins on the floor as he could.
Got to be a better way to handle money in this world, he thought. That thought was followed immediately by, Not my job to figure it out.
In the interests of efficiency, he went to the furthest box first - to be fair, it was only one shelf deeper into the vault than the other - and as soon as he touched it, the glow faded.
The box looked to be made from oak, though it didn't feel overly heavy as he slid it from the shelf and onto the floor. A little larger than a cubic foot, it had a simple hinged lid like a jewelry box. Tony lifted the lid and looked inside.
Rolls and sheafs of paper - no, parchment - were stacked haphazardly inside. Tony rifled through them, noting that they all seemed to be legal documents of some kind - deeds, contracts, and the like.
Soon enough, mostly through process of elimination, he removed two scrolls sealed with red wax. One had an imprint of a stag, the other of a flower. Tony set those aside, closed the box, returned it to its place, and moved on to the single remaining glowing box.
This box, apparently made of cherry wood, was a bit longer, a bit wider, and significantly shallower than the first. It was also covered in delicate carvings of leaves and branches, two small birds perched among them. Tony took a moment to appreciate the craftsmanship - magical or otherwise - and lifted the lid.
His breath caught - not just at the shimmering pale blue aura covering what was inside, but at what he could see beneath it.
He was looking at a portrait of James and Lily Potter. Most likely, a magical portrait.
What the hell was he supposed to do with that?