With an odd mixture of apathy and nervousness, Harry walked to the conference room just down the hall from the Minister's office.
'What if they go back on their word and decide to torture me, or even kill me? No, wait, I was supposed to die anyway, so their killing me would actually be the better option. Then, I wouldn't have to think anymore, to feel anymore. I really could be shot of all this. No, torture would be worse because it would only prolong matters. Why didn't I just board the train at Kings Cross and go on?'
When he entered the conference room, the contingent from Gringotts Bank was smiling, almost leering, at him. 'They smell fresh blood'. He felt a little disconcerted from their behavior.
"Welcome, Mr. Potter. My name is Vidagore, Director General for Gringotts Bank," stated the Goblin sitting at the far end of the table.
Harry hesitantly replied, "Er, good morning. I understand we're here to discuss reparations to the bank?"
"Correct. We are, but we are also here to discuss your estate, Mr. Potter." Vidagore answered.
"I don't care about the gold. Take it for the reparations." This comment shocked the Goblin contingent; they were very materialistic by nature and couldn't fathom how someone could be so selfless. Rumour of this young wizard's exceptionality did seem to be true after all.
Vidagore was tempted to take Harry at his word and seize the entirety of his estate for reparations. However, the Director General also understood that such was a dangerous game to play. Vidagore knew that if word somehow leaded and spread through the wizarding community that their legendary hero was 'manipulated' out of his fortune, confidence in Gringotts and trust in Goblins in general would disintegrate. If it were some other wizard, then perhaps, but this was not some other wizard. The Goblin recognized that the prudent move in the long term would be to continue to manage Mr. Potter's weighty affairs.
"But, Mr. Potter," Vidagore sneered, "don't you want to know how much we are taking and how much you will be left with after?"
Harry replied, "Kingsley told me already. Seventy-five million galleons. I know I have some gold in my vault, but honestly, other than that, all I have is what you see before you. And Ron and Hermione? They don't have much of anything."
Vidagore smiled a creepy little smile, "We are well aware of the financial situation of Mr. Ronald Weasley and Ms. Hermione Granger, Mr. Potter. But methinks that before we go further regarding discussion of reparations, we should first begin with a review of your estate. We wouldn't want you to make any rash decisions, would we?" The other Goblins chuckled at this.
Over the next hour, Harry learned that the only Potter vault he had ever known was just a small trust fund set up for him by his parents to cover the expenses of his upbringing. Once he came of age in the wizarding world last year, seventeen being the age of majority, he'd inherited an immensely larger sum. He was aware that he had inherited the Black Family estate, although he had no idea of its net value at the time, but he now learned that he also held the Potter Family fortune.
All told, even after paying for the Gringotts repairs, Harry Potter had a net worth somewhere in the range of a half-trillion galleons. Harry held just under 600 billion galleons in coin. He was a silent partner in 54 businesses, although some of those were now defunct because of the war, and that number did not include his investment in Weasleys Wizard Wheezes, the shop owned by George and the late Fred Weasley in Diagon Alley. Apparently, Harry owned outright or was a silent partner in a slender majority of Diagon Alley, as well as a fair few businesses in Hogsmeade and elsewhere. These business investments accounted for a little more than 100 million of Harry's net worth and could garner him close to 15 million galleons in a good year.
Harry owned 175 million galleons worth of real estate, including Lionheart Manor, his parents cottage in Godric's Hollow, what was left of Grimauld Place, another townhome in London and two others, one in Paris and one in Prague, a villa slightly smaller than Lionheart Manor in Salon-de-Provence, France and one slightly smaller still in Castellabate, Italy, as well as numerous flats and little cottages from Lisbon, Portugal to Moscow, Russia. The vast majority of properties had not been lived in or occupied by any wizard for at least thirty years and certainly none of them in the last seventeen. The Goblins assured him that they and his house elves maintained the various properties well.
Regarding house elves, Harry learned that including Kreacher, he now 'owned' – Hermione would flip her lid if she heard him use that term – nineteen house elves, which were scattered across the larger properties.
Finally, another twenty-five million galleons worth of chattel – artwork, furniture, jewelry, and other items – rounded out his estate.
The rest of the gold was resting from generations of treasures.
"Where in bloody hell did all of this gold come from?" Harry asked.
"Most of the gold has come from business investments. You have only been drawing from your trust fund and you haven't spent a quarter of that. The Black Family vault has had little activity because your godfather, Sirius Black, spent much of his adult life in Azkaban and the rest of the time he spent in hiding, so the vault has been accumulating gold from the Black Family's holdings. The same is true for the Potter Family vault, but the accumulation has been occurring for a much, much longer time. The bank has had to purchase additional assets in the Potter and Black Family names with the accumulating gold, such as additional businesses and real estate, so as to keep the gold in circulation," explained Vidagore.
"And to make even more money for me – and yourselves!" Harry spat almost accusingly.
"Naturally," replied Vidagore with a lecherous leer.
'Merlin, This Can't Be Happening!' thought Harry as the meeting progressed, 'Now I'm some millionaire playboy and media darling while all those close to me suffer and die because of me? All of the carnage I leave in my wake and I'm crowned a Hero and granted a king's ransom?'
Harry's nausea mounted as the meeting progressed. However, he began to see opportunity for escape as well.
The second half of the meeting was devoted to completing mounds of paperwork dedicated to formalizing his ownership in the voluminous assets held by his estate. After completing the paperwork, Harry asked to see the portfolios of Lionheart Manor and the villas in Salon-de-Provence and Castellabate. Each portfolio contained a portkey for its respective property, which portkeys ironically looked like little gold muggle keys. The Goblins explained that no one could get past the stringent wards surrounding each property unless they carried or were accompanied by someone carrying a portkey. To activate the portkey, the holder only needed to turn it over in his or her palm three times and say 'levemnie'. Harry placed the portkey to Lionheart Manor in his pocket. He then asked the Goblins to make twelve additional portkeys to the Salon-de-Provence villa and four additional portkeys for the Castellabate villa. Vidagore nodded and sent one of his assistants away with the portkeys and a 'pop.'
Harry then got down to brass tacks. He directed the Goblins to set aside five million galleons in a Trust fund to pay for funerary expenses of any wizard, goblin, elf, centaur or other creature that died during the war or during Tom Riddle's reign of terror. Next, he directed that fifteen million galleons be held in trust to establish an orphanage for those wizard children who lost their parents during the war or during Tom Riddle's reign of terror. Then, he directed that ten million galleons be transferred to the vault of Andromeda Tonks, half of which was to be held by Mrs. Tonks in trust for the benefit of Teddy Lupin. He also directed that ten million galleons be transferred into each of the vaults of the Longbottom and Lovegood families. Finally, Harry directed that fifty million galleons be transferred to the vault of the Weasley family. When all was said and done, Harry still had approximately 200 million galleons at his disposal.
With a 'pop' Vidagore's assistant returned with the additional portkeys, placing them in front of Harry. He picked up the original portkeys for the French and Italian properties and placed them in his pocket with the Lionheart Manor portkey. Slowly and unsteadily he arose and walked to a credenza at the far end of the conference room. Retrieving three envelopes and a piece of parchment, he returned to the table and placed the twelve new portkeys for the French villa in one envelope and the four new portkeys for the Italian villa in another, magically sealing them such that only Kingsley could open them. Waving his hand over the two envelopes, Harry shrunk them and placed them, along with the blank piece of parchment into the third envelope. Wrapping up the meeting, Harry gave four final instructions to the Goblins.
First, he asked them to keep all paperwork pertaining to his estate and transactions in the Potter Family vault, to which they readily agreed. Harry felt that by keeping the details of his estate and the paper trail of his transactions in his vault, he could better prevent prying eyes from learning his whereabouts and from using information about him for nefarious purposes.
Second, he asked them to notify Kingsley Shacklebolt of the trust funds set up for funerary expenses and the orphanage, and to notify the Weasleys and other beneficiaries of the fund transfers. However, the Goblins were only to send out notifications to the parties two days hence. Harry wanted a head start.
Third, he informed the Goblins that if anyone inquired as to why the meeting took so long they were to respond that he, Harry, had asked them to find suitable safe-houses for his friends and that they, the Goblins, did so grudgingly. Further, if they were asked who the owner of the safe-houses was, they were to tell the inquirer that the owner wishes to remain anonymous, but that the owner is a friend of the resistance.
Finally, the Goblins were sworn to secrecy. Harry forbade them disclosing to anyone the source of any funds transferred out of his account as a result of this meeting. He would be their silent benefactor and nothing more. The Goblins readily agreed to these additional instructions as well.
Precariously rising from his chair, Harry thanks the Goblins and watched them leave the conference room en masse. He knew his instructions would be followed. It dawned on him as the meeting progressed why the Goblins were being so nice to him. Not only did they get back the Sword of Gryffindor and the funds needed to rebuild their bank, they also succeeded in preventing their single largest customer from walking out of their doors and into the arms of one of their competitors, not that Harry knew who those competitors may be.
So large was the financial tide of Harry Potter that if he pulled his business from Gringotts Bank, it would be crippled for quite some time. They would keep his confidences and would manage his financial affairs well, and they would be paid handsomely for it.
The sound of a shower running slowly roused Ron Weasley from his slumber. Eyes closed, his bed felt warm and comfortable, save the tickle on his nose from the bushy brown curls of the witch sleeping next to him. Golden morning sunlight filtered through the curtains of the dormitory.
"My, my, my! Good morning, Beautiful!" Ron whispered into Hermione's ear. A smile splayed across her lips.
"Mmmmm, a girl could get used to waking up to that!" Hermione whispered in reply. Turning her head toward Ron, she was greeted with a soft, prolonged kiss, loving warmth spreading across her body.
"Oi! Close your curtains!" Ron and Hermione looked up with a chuckle to see Seamus Finnigan grinning at them from across the room. "It's about time, you two!"
"Shut it, Finnigan!" Ron replied with a cheeky grin, while Hermione rolled her eyes. Scanning the room, Ron realized they were the only three left in the dormitory.
"What time is it? Where is everybody?" Ron asked Seamus.
"Don know and don know. I think it's about eight and everybody else was gone when I awoke. I guess they're all in the Great Hall having breakfast or hangin' out in the common room."
Ron focused on Harry's bed. It had been made, which was so unlike Harry. That was odd. It meant either that Harry had gotten up in the middle of the night and one of the house elves made his bed, or that Harry never slept in his bed in the first place. But, Ron knew that Harry was already in bed when he and Hermione finally went to sleep sometime around midday yesterday. He had to have gotten up in the middle of the night. Not wanting to panic Hermione or anyone else, including himself, Ron decided to keep this tidbit of information to himself and privately ask Harry about it later.
Before bed, Ron and Hermione had bathed and changed into what clean clothes they had. After arising and un-rumpling their clothes with a simple household charm, they grabbed each other's hands and headed for the common room.
Outside the dormitory door they were greeted by two gruff-looking men in auror uniforms, although they were not uniforms usually seen around the Ministry.
"Who are you?" Ron challenged them.
"Your bodyguard." One of the aurors stated flatly.
"Who said we need bodyguards?" Hermione asked incredulously.
"Your Minister of Magic" was the only response. Ron recognized that these two were Eastern European. 'If Vicki Krum had two bigger, beefier, surlier older brothers, they would be these guys,' he thought.
One auror led the party down to the common room while the other followed behind. Reaching the common room, Ron noticed that it was nearly empty. Its sole occupants were Oliver Wood and Alicia Spinnett, sitting on a couch on the far side of the room. They looked over and started to greet Ron and Hermione, but their salutation was cut short by unnerving looks from the guards.
Exiting Gryffindor tower, the party proceeded toward the Great Hall. The damage to the castle was astonishing. Picking their way through the corridors, they saw that most of the glass, dust, and smaller rubble had been swept, but entire walls and staircases had been blown away. Traces of blood and spell damage still speckled some of the floors and remaining walls like obscene graffiti. It would take no small miracle to get Hogwarts up and running in time for the fall semester. In addition, Ron and Hermione became more and more edgy as they advanced toward their breakfast. Every corridor and stairway landing was occupied by one or two aurors, almost all of whom appeared to be from some foreign land. It felt like Hogwarts had been invaded all over again.
The two aurors joined others near the entrance to the Great Hall as Ron and Hermione entered. There were at least a dozen aurors lining the walls of the hall, while even more, like their escorts, manned the entrances. Ron gazed around. The hall was fairly full. The bodies of the deceased had been moved. Survivors were sitting together talking and eating their breakfast or otherwise milling about.
Ron felt an elbow in his side and glanced down to see Hermione staring intently at the head table. There, Kingsley, McGonagall, and the other teachers were engaged in an animated discussion. Ron and Hermione looked at each other, each recognizing the look of dread in the others' eyes. Ron then noticed a knot of redheads gathered halfway up the Gryffindor table, deep into a quiet discussion. Charlie Weasley looked up and waived them over just as Ginny Weasley rose and approached them. Her eyes twinkled momentarily before her face fell altogether. She froze in her tracks with a look of concern as Ron and Hermione reached her.
"Where's Harry?" Ginny asked. Her nervousness was palatable.
Ron was taken aback. "What do you mean? He's not down here?"
"No, I thought he was with you two. Didn't you sleep in the same dormitory?" Ginny sounded critical of them, as if they failed in their charge to watch over Harry.
"Well, yeah, but when we woke up, it was only us and Seamus left up there. Everyone else was gone before us," Ron replied.
Ginny rushed back to the knot of redheads with Ron and Hermione in tow. "Mum, Harry's missing!"
Molly Weasley looked up at her daughter exasperatedly. "Now Ginny, I'm sure he's probably upstairs… Oh! Hello Ron, Hermione!"
Arthur Weasley looked up as his youngest son and Ron's new girlfriend joined the family. Arthur gave them a somewhat cheery 'good morning' that was ignored.
"No, Mrs. Weasley. Ron and I just left there. Seamus was the only one left in the dormitory and only Oliver Wood and Alicia Spinnett were in the common room." Hermione replied.
Although trying to be the voice of calm and reason, the others could tell Molly was bothered by the news. The others gathered at the table stopped in mid-conversation, focusing instead upon Molly's interaction with the newcomers. "Well, perhaps you just passed each other in transit?"
Ron piped up. "Not likely. Harry was asleep in bed when we arrived in the dormitory yesterday afternoon. His bed was made when we woke up. He never makes his bed, which means an elf made it for him, which means he must have gotten out of bed in the middle of the night."
After a few moments of stunned silence, a rare event for any Weasley gathering, Arthur dashed toward Kingsley and the teachers gathered at the head table.
Ginny looked panic-stricken, tears brimmed her eyes. She hadn't seen Harry since the battle and she was anxious. She wanted desperately to talk to him, to make sure he was really alive, to make sure he was okay, to make sure they were okay. She turned to follow her father, but Ginny's eldest brother, Bill, intercepted her with a warm, loving hug. After several moments of whispering reassurances into her ear, Bill steered Ginny to a seat at the table with the rest of the Weasleys, while shooting his brother Charlie a questioning look.
"Kingsley, no one can find Harry!" Arthur's voice was slightly inflated with panic.
"Relax, Arthur, he's not missing. I know where he is." Kingsley replied in his soothing baritone voice.
"Then where is he?" Some of Arthur's panic had been replaced with a touch of annoyance.
"Harry's perfectly safe. Listen, I'm glad you stopped by, Arthur. Harry will be joining us at the ministry part of a larger discussion that we need to have in a few hours. Gather your family, as well as Neville and Augusta Longbottom, Hermione Granger, and Luna Lovegood. Let them know they need to meet in my office at noon. I will explain everything then."
Arthur gave his old friend an unsettling look. Attempting to assuage Arthur's concerns a bit, Kingsley added, "Arthur, now is neither the time nor place for the discussion. I have my reasons." After a slight pause, Kingsley placed his hand on his old friend's shoulder, "Trust me on this. Please?"
Arthur Weasley, though unhappy by the lack of information he received from Kingsley, simply nodded. He turned back to his family to continue discussions regarding funeral arrangements for his son, Fred, and to inform them and the others of the meeting.
A/N: Another chapter yet again, I hope this one worked. I kinda rushed it because I really wanted this one out before my Thanksgiving break was over. Hope you enjoyed nonetheless and please...REVIEW!