CH 3

HPHPHP

Harry was standing at the door to one of his listed vaults in order to check the contents and to see if there was anything that it needed in order to get the items within it organized. He certainly hoped that they would already be organized, but the way that Griphook snorted when he said that, gave him the overall impression that the place would be a mess.

The Boy-Who-Lived had been informed which of his Potter Family vaults and his newly inherited "Black" vaults had been accessed the Headmaster of Hogwarts. This one was not one of them. He wasn't prepared to go see one of those for fear that the wily old man had left some spells lingering in the area or on the doors. He was going to let the 'young Gringotts Security Goblin' (yGSG) that he had hired for a six-month contract to cleanup the potential lingering traces and update the security on his vaults, with Griphook as his overseer, do that. He would pay him accordingly to get rid of whatever manifestation of magic may be lingering.

He had a valid reason for hiring different beings with varying strengths and skills to handle his accounts. He couldn't just trust one person or Goblin to do the job. He wanted to prevent them from falling into the temptation of take advantage of him, which is what happened with the previous manager of the Potter accounts under Dumbledore's orders.

One of the permanent employees or full-staff member is a hybrid house-elf. She's a poor creature of goblin and house-elf descent and is the result of one of those nasty Dark Art Revels. She was hired to exclusively deal with the objects in the vaults. Her priority job, at the moment, was to tidy up all the vaults and keep them in order. She'll earn wages and days off. She's not limited like a regular house-elf when it came to needs of being bonded to a Wizarding Family, so she had a standard employment contract complete with security and protective spells to support her new position at the Bank.

Another hired employee is a young goblin who wanted to specialize in Vault Security & Inventory Census (VSIC). He was hired on a learning basis and his job description was to monitor the items and objects in all of the vaults, making sure that all items were accounted for, while he cross-referenced the data from the estate account books. He was to work together with the hybrid house-elf, which didn't bother the young Goblin to do so and that was bonus in Harry's mind. He didn't want any conflict among his new staff.

Two other hired workers, under one-year trial contracts were an older goblin and a late-twenties human. Both were hired to take care of the day-to-day accounting and to double check the estate accounts. They were to look into the legalities of every past transaction issued under Dumbledore's name on behalf of Harry Potter. They were going to be a working pair too.

The trial contract for them was put in place to check their compatibility of being able to work in a pleasant environment together. He told them that working in pairs would help keep them all honest in their duties to him, the employer.

It had disturbed them to some degree to know that Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived, can actually detect lies by just staring at them while asking pointed and specific questions. He proved it to them during the employment process and they were all magically sworn to secrecy about it at that same time.

To prove this ability he had handed them five rather simple questions and told them to pick whichever one they chose and give a lie as answer when the question was asked. This small test proved that he would know when they told him the truth, told him a lie or that it was something in between.

Surprisingly he had even hired his Professor in Potions for the sole purpose of being a Private Wizard Counsellor on a part-time basis with a hefty counselling salary paid per hour on the day any counselling takes place.

A contract notification was automatically conjured in Harry's pockets, keeping track of the hours when activated by the key phrase spoken by the Boy-Who-Lived, "Counsel me Professor Snape." It ended with a total amount owed based on hours and pay per hour, when Harry said the closing phrase, "Your counsel has been invaluable Professor Snape."

The man was someone unbiased to the Boy-Who-Lived status that Harry had in the Wizarding World and the man was also someone who was quite willing to tell him the truth no matter how much it might cause hurt feelings. He was someone who could give semi-sound advice about Wizarding things like inheritances, responsibilities and other information on a few of the more obscure goings on like betrothal contracts, etc...

It had shocked Harry to no end to see the man walk in the door with an interview sheet completely filled out, but he had treated the whole matter professionally, despite knowing that it might be a joke on the older man's part.

It had shocked the Potions Master in turn to realize that his semi-lark was being taken quite seriously.

HPHPHP

Flashback

"Number one hundred, please come in," Harry's voice called out into the hall.

Severus Snape wasn't nervous, but he found himself curious as to how 'his' application would be treated. He stepped into the door and had a small inner moment of amusement at the teenager's completely shocked expression. He allowed it to show on his face in the form of a tiny satisfied smirk before smoothing down to his usual expressionless facade when not in a classroom teaching 'useless dunderheads'. He handed his application with a calm outlook, watched how the boy would take it. He sat down when he was invited to do so.

Harry blinked and then shaking his head he let out a wry grin. He cleared his throat and then nodded to the Goblin Magistrate in the room. She was there to be impartial, but she also helped him with the spells that automatically changed the answers on the questionnaire into an easy point form manner and easily posted it in magically coloured light against the wall behind the Boy-Who-Lived.

The teenager was smart doing that way because it forced everyone to reflect on their answers by making them stare at them written in spell light. It was a quick way to distract and occupy them while Harry was speed-reading through their actual answers in full. By the time he was done reading, the applicant would sometimes feel shamed and leave without defending their answers or they'd refuse to continue the interview process.

"Interesting method," Severus said out loud. Sharp green eyes looked up and focused on him. "You put that up there for us to see our answers as you would see them or perhaps interpret them."

"Yes, well I need to be sure about the applicant," Harry said. "Are you truly applying for a position?"

"I started answering the questions for fun," Severus told him honestly. "When I saw how some refused to finish what they started, it left a sour taste in my mouth. I'll see this through because every potion must be taken to completion, whether it finishes in a failure or not. I'm not worried about gainful employment Mr. Potter. I am, however, curious to know that if I succeed what type of position I may be offered."

"We're not at that point yet," Harry said with a calm easy smile that made the man feel like he was really being interviewed for a job. "Very well, we'll discuss some of the more important aspects of the questionnaire first. I'll also ask a few other questions that are not on this parchment. Feel free to ask any questions in turn, should you need clarification on anything brought up today."

Discussing the questionnaire and getting better explanations related to the answers took a bit of time. The whole process took about half an hour, as it did with the better of the candidates that had applied to work for the Boy-Who-Lived.

"I'll notify you shortly about a decision," Harry said, showing his teacher back out of the door. "I need to take care of something else first. I'll call all those that have passed to draw up employment contracts. It will be a simple list of terms of agreement and that sort of thing. Of course you needn't stick around for that as I've obviously taken up enough of your time today and I can let you know my decision in relation to you by Owl, if you have some other pressing matters to attend to."

"I have nothing pending, Mr. Potter," Severus told him. "I'm here regardless of the results of my application because someone has to be here to look out for your best interests. Besides I took over the watch today as Fletcher was unable to do the job satisfactorily, although for the life of me I can't recall where we were supposed to be keeping an eye on you."

"I gathered that much Professor," Harry said, not making any comment about his location or reacting to the Professor's pointed attempt to get the information from him. "I'll speak to you in a bit then." He closed the door as the man stepped out into the corridor and looked back at the Magistrate. "Well…"

"You have the potential to be a good Master, Lord Potter," Ignatia said. "I've put recommendation marks on all the applications of those that you've indicated you're interested in hiring and a suggestion for that last one."

Harry recalled twenty of the applicants and weeded them down to the final five. He made sure that there would be no issues about the pairings or the duties expected. He hired Griphook permanently and full-time to oversee and be manager to his other Gringotts Employees or Accounting and Vault Security Staff. He directed his manager to show the others the accounting books and vaults, while he dealt with the last candidate.

It was only when it came to his Professor that he hesitated. He wasn't sure if the man in the Hall was truly interested, but there was only one potential position that he could offer. It wasn't one that he had been planning on, but something told him needed someone with a voice or opinion in certain magical matters and it had to be someone that wasn't afraid to tell him the truth.

He looked out of the door and sure enough the Potions Master was out there still reading the latest Monthly Potions Periodical. He asked, "Interesting reading, sir?"

"A bit," Severus answered, putting it away.

"Would you come in please," Harry said. He nodded for the man to be seated and then he began to explain his situation. "I know that there has been animosity between us and some of it is due to my father's attitude and actions against you during his school days at Hogwarts. I want you to know a few things about me, but first I want to know if you're seriously interested in earning supplementary wages. The position I have in mind will have nothing to do with the Order of the Phoenix, Potions; anything related to the bloody Boy-Who-Lived title, Hogwarts School of Magic or the Dark Lord in any way shape or form. It will begin with a six-month trial contract and may be renewed for a longer term, should the position suit you and should you wish to choose to continue being employed in that capacity."

Professor Snape thought about that for a few minutes and then said, "You'll need to clear that up. I'm not sure that I understand just what it is you're asking from me."

"I'm looking for a Wizard Counsellor," Harry said. "I hadn't thought about it much in the past, but I know that I am in need of someone I can trust and it must someone that isn't afraid to tell me that I'm full shite either. There are other reasons involved for making such a decision. However I'm serious about the position I'm offering you. I can tell when someone is lying to me, so you needn't think that I will not believe you when you advise me on some magical Wizard matter, but again this whole situation will be based on your final choice."

"Have you thought about others to fill this role," Severus asked. "I'm quite sure that any member of the Order…"

"They are in Dumbledore's pocket, as it were, sir," Harry said seriously. "I get little enough information or miss-information from them as it is that I don't need any more that. I don't trust them to tell me anything truthful or of any actual use. A pat on the head and a handful of sweets will not make me forget the bloody Prophecy that Dumbledore revealed to me at the end of last term or to forget the fact that Sirius is dead because I never received the necessary information to make any informed decisions in the matter. Nor will I forget that some of my 'House' and year mates have been hired to spy on me. So…'you', sir, are currently the only one that I 'can' trust for this position. If you don't want it, it's fine. It wasn't a pre-meditated post, it was one that I only just considered after seeing your credentials and getting some advice in the matter from the Magistrate that helped me today. That is all. Please seriously take your time to consider what it is I'm asking."

It was a lot of information to take in, but Severus needed to know something else. "How can you tell if someone is lying?"

Harry performed that same test with the five questions he had asked all his employees. He handed the man a piece of parchment paper and said, "Consider the answers. I will ask each of these questions out loud and I want you to answer any or all with a lie. I will tell you, if your answer is a lie or not. After which we can discuss your potential employment to me as a Counsellor in all things Wizard and possibly some other stuff or else drop the whole issue and move on."

The dark man read the questions. He thought about the answers and then nodded to indicate his was ready.

"What is your name," Harry asked.

"The Half-Blood Prince," Severus said with a partial grin.

Harry's eyes gazed at him with such a staring intensity that it felt worse than the infernal twinkling that the Headmaster used for pretty much the same reason, but this new intensity really impressed him too. The teenager smiled and said, "True. What is your favourite colour?"

Severus paused to look directly at the teenager. He had never once thought that the boy would believe him and then he said, "Black."

"Lie," Harry said with such conviction that the older man was slowly coming to understand that the boy was seeing his truths and lies. "What is your favourite fruit?"

"Red apples," Severus said.

"Half-lie," Harry said calmly. "I believe your favourite fruit is apples, but not the red ones. What would be your favourite pet?"

"A dog," Severus said.

"Lie," Harry said. He could that one clear as day. "I've never pictured you as a dog person. What is your favourite magical subject?"

Severus paused. He had several, but the most interesting to him was a branch that mixed a bit of Transfiguration, Arithmancy, Runes and Potions, "Alchemy."

"True," Harry said. His gaze changed from the staring, unblinking intensity to his normal and slightly innocent seeming look. "I can see that one from a mile away."

"Interesting development," Severus said. "How long will I have to consider it?"

"All day," Harry said. "For the rest of today until my financial messes and vaults are finally sorted out. We can begin with a sample contract just for the day, if you like. This is to compensate you for your time and to see how well it works. Also I believe that I will need your Counsel soon."

"I don't mind taking your money for today," Severus agreed with a grin. "I will think about the temporary contract and we'll discuss the terms later, should I choose to be employed by you."

He returned to his position outside the interview in order to reflect on this new development.

HPHPHP

Flash Forward

The contracts with the Gringotts workers, calling for a review of Harry's accounts, were signed and witnessed by Harry's chosen witnesses. The conditions were altered and then they were legally translated in the Runic Legalese and then filed appropriately under various Departments in the UK's Ministry of Magic. It all depended on the nature of the creatures signing the contracts or else they were filed in Harry's personal vault. There were no further discrepancies or oddball requests from the former goblins in charge of his estate.

Fred and George Weasley were only too happy to help and keep this secret. They received compensation in the form of standard Muggle joke supplies. They were laughing in delight at the 'Fake Ice Cube Bugs', 'Dribble Glasses', 'Chocolate Doggie Doo', 'Teeth Tinting Gum' and others like the 'Pooping Sheep', plus various other 'Pooping' animals, 'Whoopee Cushions', 'X-Ray Glasses', 'Sea Monkeys', etc...

Dobby was hired full-time to help Winky in the normal household stuff, plus to keep Harry's secrets. He kept the last name that Harry had given him with a giggle and happy flapping ears. Winky had been hired with a full Family bond because Harry needed a reliable house-elf for household maintenance. He trusted the little female elf because of her loyalty and dedication to her previous Family. She knew that he would not ask her to betray her previous family which is the only reason why she hadn't bonded to any other Wizard Family before now.

Professor Snape was paid for today's day of service and was hired on a six-month trial basis, but with additional security spells in order to protect Harry's secrets should the contract dissolve rather than be renewed after the allotted time had passed. They were also put in place to protect the man from being attacked for these secrets.

This was something that the man never had with Dumbledore. The time-frame would allow the two of them to get a feel for how well they could work together outside of their usual scholastic and war-type interactions.

Once all the contracts were signed, Harry decided to visit a couple of his Black vaults in order to see what they contained. He had the inventory list for each, but he was only going into the ones that had not been accessed by any member of the Order of the Phoenix. There were also two extra vaults down in the bowels of the Bank that Harry planned to visit today because he had to.

These two had not been visited regularly in over seventy or more years. They had been last accessed for a very brief period by a girl of about thirteen years of age. That's what the goblins believed because they hadn't seen anyone enter them, but the magic that accessed them belonged to a thirteen year old girl who was a member of the Magical Family that owned the vault. If she didn't belong, she'd have been harmed for it at the time.

These two vaults were hidden at the end of a dead-end narrow corridor. The two vaults had a crest on the doors that Severus Snape may recognize, but this was a test that Harry wanted to put to the man, so he didn't tell him anything about who used to own them.

Ignatia had performed the Ritual of Ownership on Harry Potter and discovered an unknown family lineage that was quite unexpected. The Potter and Black lineage appeared as expected based on the existing Wills, but the other…the Grindelwald lineage was completely unexpected and it had shocked the stalwart Gobliness.

When Harry had accepted the task back at his Aunt Petunia's house, a task that his unknown Grandmother had set for him to accept the fight to re-claim the Family bloodline magic, a box-chain choker type necklace of dark yellow-gold had appeared. It has fancy inter-laced initials of NG in mixed stones of onyx and pearl inlayed on a small charm in the shape of a diamond, with softened edges and of the same golden colour of the chain. He never hesitated in putting it on, as he was aware of the spells in such a necklace were for durability, magical fit, anti-choke, ever-clean, spell protection and anti-theft only.

Ignatia had noticed the necklace, but when the family rings merged the NG logo had appeared in on the bottom corner of one of the three Family shields that made up the boy's heritage. She knew that something had been changed. Each ring contained a shield normally identifying a particular house or clan, but they never contained a person's initials before this day.

These types of rings were usually merged magically when Heads of House were joined by marital union or by some form of magical inheritance, like in Harry's particular case. The shields can change magically to dominate the ring so that only one House insignia appears for House specific related correspondences where the Head of the Family or Clan needs to use a specific Family Seal on the magical wax.

However in gaining all three House rings Harry was allowed to merge them and even let the magic change them to suit him. The magic also changed the diverse family mottos into one made just for him. The motto is transposed to all Family Shields, but the individual look of a Family Shield or Crest never changed. It wasn't an uncommon practice for new Clan Leaders or Heads of Magical Family Houses to change Family Mottos to reflect their current status, beliefs or what have you.

Harry had suspected that something of this nature would happen long before ever coming to Gringotts this year. He knew it would happen when he chose to claim his Potter inheritance. So, he had put some thought into it and then realized that one motto suited him the best. It was true in a sense, especially since he began his schooling at Hogwarts. He actually lived his motto for the first five years of his magical schooling.

His choice in motto was 'Omnia Mea Mecum Porto' which meant 'I carry with me all my things'. He had heard it somewhere and had taken an instant liking to it. Researching the magical Family mottos, he was fully aware that this one was not in use and had never been in use before.

Philosophically, 'all my things' could mean absolutely anything, including knowledge and learning or just plain material things.

Physically this had been very true his first few years at Hogwarts. His old battered trunk 'had' carried everything he owned.

This motto was now linked to all of the rings and directly to the Potter Family. Each shield on the ring was linked to all Family vaults. The Family Ring and the Motto were also a higher form of Gringotts' security and could be seen as work-around solution to vault access, should any of client's vault keys ever be lost or stolen. Keys could be replaced at anytime, but also it was ideal to have that done anyway, especially when new Heads or Leaders took over any new magical Family estate.

Harry didn't have any of the keys to his vaults, save the one for his school vault. That was the one vault he had full access to because it was what had been allotted to every Potter child, to aid in paying for their magical education, however they chose to obtain it. He ordered his staff to recall every key, until the full review of his accounts was finished. Vaults that had been distributed by the reading of several Family Wills could never be reclaimed, but the ones still in Harry's name were going to be severely scrutinized and analyzed.

A tram cart had taken them to the hall of the Black vaults. Many were unused and had never been accessed as they basically ran themselves. These were nearly automated in their functions due to the contractual nature of them. They were opened for business ventures and the results of such were found inside.

The four vaults that they did visit provided them with a clear view of what they needed to organize them and many of the others. They did note that some objects that were listed in the inventory were not there, but a trace of their history, either being lost, stolen or given away, can be done with certain Goblin spells.

Some Black Heads of House were not that meticulous in their transactions and so it was possible that some of their property had been distributed without a notice being sent to their estate managers for proper record keeping purposes. This was not going to be pleasant to those in receipt of said items, as they legally can be recalled to the Family that had given said object to them in the first place.

If the Black Family did this often enough, it was in order to award or reward outsiders for services rendered, but not recorded. However, it was bit like giving them Leprechaun Gold. The person or individuals who received such a gift only to lose it again knew just what their worth or value to the Black Family was.

However, those two innocuous vaults down the hidden corridor, listed among Harry's vaults... That was related entirely to another Family in his Family ring.

Harry had suggested that the Goblins and Professor Snape perform spells that detected traps, intention, and other potential problems on these vaults. Several had been detected and dispelled quickly. His Counsellor advised caution even after the tracking and spying spells had been removed.

The issue of these vaults was a personal matter that, unfortunately, needed to be addressed today. Especially since his Grandmother had been thirteen when she was placed at the Muggle orphanage and that the last person to access these vaults might have been that same thirteen-year-old girl. It could be safely assumed that the girl had been Natalia Grindelwald. Anyone else would have been fried by the security spells in the area.

One vault contained three books and the other contained a 'Pensieve' only. The Pensieve was on a pedestal and the silver liquid contents were near over flowing. These thoughts could belong to anyone of Grindelwald descent.

"I'm not sure that I'm fond of Pensieves," Harry said. "They contain such trouble."

"I'm sure they do for you," Snape said with a sneer. Just because he was hired by the boy today didn't mean that he had to change his personality or forget things from the past.

Harry sighed and said, "I am sorry for what happened during last year. If it comforts you, I never told anyone about that awful hurtful prank. I didn't even confront my Godfather or Remus about it. If you want to talk about it then we can at a later date or we can just forget the whole thing ever happened."

Severus blinked and looked away at that comment. He had thought that the boy would tell the mutt and the wolf. He was sure that the boy had approved of the actions that the Marauders took when that incident had occurred. After hearing the teenager's voice say that with such disgust, it caused the man to look closely at the boy. The green eyes were nearly slits and his mouth was pursed in distaste.

"Thank you," the man said in relation to the obviously sincere apology. "I do not want to talk about it at this time."

"Understood," Harry said. He took a deep breath and then brightened slightly. "I think I'll go into the Pensieve first. It might contain keys I need to find the possible places where I can hide out for the remainder of this summer." He took another deep breath and touched the silver substance without another word from his Counsellor in all things Wizard.

Severus Snape was there to counsel the boy, but he hadn't even been able to voice caution when the brat touched the contents in the bowl. "Idiot Gryffindor," he muttered. He concern grew, as he noticed that the Pensieve was not what it should have been. "You should have waited until I examined it more closely, you foolish brat."

It was a 'Reverse Pensieve' that poured the memories directly into the mind of the first person to touch them. Memories that didn't belong to Harry would now become his and he had no choice but to accept them or go mad from their influx. The process wasn't dissimilar to the one that he went through after having accepted his task from his deceased Grandmother. He might not have been prepared for that when it happened, but he had accepted it.

The new pathways that his magical maturity had created helped the process a lot. He was able to accept and store that influx of gleaming silver magic. The entire process took about five minutes, but Harry received nearly two lifetimes of memories.

Most were from his Grandmother's short magical life of thirteen years and it included three years of his Great-Grandmother's pre-marital life, plus a majority of her marital life with Gellert Grindelwald. The memories also contained information on the properties that had been magically sealed with the death of Grindelwald's wife.

The memories that Natalia had stored in the pensieve included the location of the physical keys for those properties, including the needed spells and magical mental maps to find them. Her memories also included a couple of actual Grindelwald properties that were tied to her biological father. There was only two, but they did contain books, magic items and a few other 'rare' things that could only be of use to someone of Grindelwald descent and of the Grindelwald magical bloodline.

As soon as Harry was finished with the Reverse Pensieve he immediately sat down, leaning against the pedestal, breathing hard. It wasn't just memories, but the strong emotions behind them came through too. He had tears in his eyes from being overwhelmed by them, but he was not ashamed to have taken these memories. They were a form of strength for him and would help greatly in his future task of taking down the current Dark Lord, more commonly known as Voldemort.

"Idiot boy," Snape said again, in a tone that indicated his concern more than his irritation. He handed the weeping boy a clean handkerchief. "You should have waited until I told you about this particular type of Pensieve."

Harry grinned through his tears and said, "I take it that you knew what would happen."

Severus huffed. "Of course I did," he said. "You hired me to counsel you in such matters, why didn't you ask?"

Harry ruffled his hair and rubbed the back of his neck. He looked up into the dark concerned eyes of his Counsellor and said, "I had already suspected that something like this would happen. Give me a few moments to sort the memories completely and then I'll collect the books in the second vault and be ready to leave the Bank."

Severus nodded and stood back to watch the process that the Boy-Who-Lived took to organize the new memories. He wished that he could use Legilimency to view the process, but he felt that it would be wrong at this time.

'Although...', he thought. 'I'm going to have to see if he's improved in Occlumency in order to protect his mind against the Dark Lord and the Headmaster's meddling ways.'

Harry grinned knowing the direction of his Counsellor's thoughts, but didn't say anything. He was busy putting the memories away in a location in his mind that secured them from being accessed. Even 'Veritaserum' couldn't drag these out of him. No one knew about this and his Counsellor is fully protected to keep even this secret now from everyone who'd want to pry.

To Snape the time it took for the young man to sort the memories should have been longer, but the teenager stood up after only a few minutes. The boy pocketed the kerchief with a mumbled, "Gonna wash it."

They walked into the second vault where Harry commented that it was a lucky thing that they didn't try to remove the books until after gaining the information from the Pensieve.

"Why," Snape asked.

"They're blood protected," Harry said. "They can only be removed by someone who is directly blood-linked to the family." He used his well-sharpened penknife to nick his thumb and then he pressed the pooling blood onto specific runes found on the spines of the books, causing them to glow in red and blue colours.

He healed himself with a bit of wandless magic while waiting for the spell light on the books to dissipate. Once the light dimmed enough, he picked up the books and placed them in his backpack. They returned to the vault with the Reverse Pensieve at which point he did another bout of wandless magic and destroyed the magical object completely.

"Why would you do that?" The goblin accompanying them asked. He was one of Harry's new employees named Thundercraw and is quite young, for a goblin, but extremely willing to learn, hence his open non-judging tolerance of his mixed house-elf partner.

"It was too dangerous to leave it here and I couldn't take it with me," Harry explained. "There are methods to extract information from Pensieves even when they are empty."

"Mr. Potter is right," Severus told the young goblin. "This particular type has one function. It removes all memories from a person until they are completely without knowledge of their past, their learning or any other information. The person would basically be able to function with the basics of learned behaviour, like dressing, feeding, etcetera, but he or she would have to begin again with their scholastic or memory learning."

"If someone wanted they could have retrieved copies of the memories from this device even when empty," Harry said. "I know from particular information given to me that the person who had submitted their memories did, in fact, have extreme amnesia because of this and never regained any memory of their past life."

"Thank you for explaining," Thundercraw said. One of the main reasons that Harry had hired the younger goblin is because he had room to grow and learn. This was the best path for a magical creature who's curious about humans and the objects that humans chose to store in these vaults.

"Sir," the young goblin said getting their attention. "What do you want us to do with these vaults?"

"Change the security level on them," Harry said. "I want them to remain empty for now. We're also going to increase the level of security on the rest of my vaults too. While that is being done, I'm going to review the adverts for any property available for sale. I cannot access any new properties that I just found out about because of the magical security surrounding them at this point in time."

"I'll guide you back to the office that you used for your interviews," Griphook said.

Mandolin the female half-breed began making clean and accurate notes of the kind of storage the vaults would need, as her new employer and Counsellor, plus Griphook, returned to the tram cart and to the main Bank. Meanwhile the other employees began the process of organizing, securing and cross-referencing the vault data and ledgers.

Later that day, Harry had three places that he wanted to check out before concluding his business with Gringotts. Snape was surprised that Harry didn't want to go home, not once realizing that the Boy-Who-Lived had just left home and would never be returning there.

A few more time-consuming hours and soon Harry was now the proud owner of a currently non-functioning Water Mill in a small industrial town in the northern area of England. The goblins and his own hired workers were happy to provide the needed security spells in order for Harry to be secreted in this location, effective immediately.

There were three different standard types of 'Notice-Me-Not' spells placed on the Water Mill and on the couple of hectares of land surrounding the area that had been part of the sale too. The house-elves and goblins added supplemental wards that would prevent intrusions from all humans, not just Muggles.

They added four wards that would allow Harry's magic to be undetectable to the Ministry of Magic, not that it mattered because he was fully emancipated now. Still most of the wards also prevented his wand from even being registered as active in a known Muggle area, until his paperwork had been properly filed for his new home. This would allow him the chance to practice his magic and to fix up the place just like he wanted.

Snape was surprised that Harry had selected this location and town. It was his hometown. In fact his own personal house was at the end of a tatty cobbled street known as Spinner's End. He didn't enlighten the boy about it, but he figured that he could eventually convince Harry to allow the addition of the 'Fidelius Charm' for greater protection to this place. However he wouldn't be surprised if Harry declined the use of that charm based on his past experience with it.

The 'Olde Water Mill' was a favourite myth for the folks in this Muggle town. The kids used to have dares about who was the bravest to try and enter the place. This kept happening until about 13 years back when the town's Historical Society had chosen to preserve and conserve it legally.

The property reverted back to the Crown two years after that and now it was for sale to whoever had the money to purchase it and do whatever they wanted to it. Putting up wards was nothing, but additional charms and spells were added to clear out muggle rubbish from the part of the river that now belonged to Harry. Those spells were complicated to think about.

Severus then suggested that all waste products be automatically banished to their appropriate Muggle recycling and waste facilities. Those that couldn't be recycled or disposed of without harming the environment could be transfigured into new materials in order to improve the domicile. This proved to be an excellent idea and the counsel was highly appreciated by the Boy-Who-Lived.

They figured out a way to automate the process so that any future waste would not contaminate his water. They even managed to get full Muggle scientific testing permits to declare the area a testing site for water treatment. Of course this was done with the use of magic to speed up the process, but the Muggles who noticed that the books had gained additional payments didn't care.

Money was money and this was a lot of money so they were inclined to forget the anomalies regarding the purchase and speed at which the permits were issued, including the length of time that the permits would be in existence. This way if the water downstream eventually changed or became clear because of some bit of magic further upstream, Harry would be covered legally in both worlds.

The standard wards and charms were mainly the base ones that are added to all Wizarding homes. It must be noted at this point that these are the same protections and charms that the Weasleys enjoyed. They may have had to add a couple of more wards overtime due to their eldest practicing his warding skills, but basically this was all the protection that they had when the Boy-Who-Lived visited them in previous summers.

Harry was already planning to strengthen the wards a short time later, when he had a chance to review some books on the matter and find more shield stones. He knew that he had the strength for it. He just needed the knowledge to proceed and as soon as all the standard protections were added plus the requested extras it was time for all of them part company.

"Thank you guys," Harry said to the goblins and the house-elves that had added the protections. "You too Sir, for some of the legal advice regarding the Muggle part of purchasing this house. Your counsel has been invaluable, Professor Snape."

"You're very Welcome Lord Potter," Severus told him, accepting a copy of the tally of his working hours, while Harry kept one for his private records and one was sent to his accountant's desk.

Professor Snape had made up his mind to call the young man by his title whenever he counselled him as that would distance the image he had in his mind of a spoiled brat and that of the Gryffindor Golden Boy that troubled him at Hogwarts. "I would advise you not to stir from this location for a while. Perhaps until the day you need to venture to Diagon Alley for your school supplies."

"I will keep that under advisement," Harry said. He knew full well that he would be heading to some kind of magical shopping alley for some things that he needed. He also knew that he would be laying down a 'Localized Forgetfulness Spell' that centered on the Olde Water Mill. This would ensure that even his Professor could not find him. "I'll find a way for us to communicate on Wizarding Matters, but for now would you allow Hedwig permission to deliver my correspondences to you?"

"She'll be most welcome, but I don't recommend that she linger," Professor Snape said. "She's quite distinctive, don't you agree?"

"Yes, but since she was my first ever birthday present, I believe that I'll keep using her," he said. "I wouldn't want to offend her by getting another owl at this time, but then again she may wish to have a bit of freedom to breed at which point I will consult her about getting companions for an Owl Roost that I'm planning to have in the upper loft of the Mill."

"Sensible," Severus said. "I look forward to advising you in future Wizarding Matters." He walked a few feet into the coming night and apparated away. He was being called to the Dark Lord's side, but he wasn't concerned about it.

The other magical creatures returned to their quarters near Gringotts Bank. Winky and Dobby were quickly keyed into the Wards of the Olde Water Mill. It was with relish that they began to clean out the building.

Harry cautioned them in their enthusiasm. "We'll make plans first, but we need to definitely need clean out the fireplace and kitchen area first, so that we have someplace safe to eat tonight. We are not going to hook up to the Floo Network; it's not needed at the moment and it's too dangerous right now to let anyone know that I'm connected that way. We can sleep on cots for the next couple of days until room functions have been defined. I don't mind the outdoor toilette, but we will be discussing a magically and environmentally friendly containment and disposal method for the waste."

Winky started with the kitchen, while Dobby showed Harry how to magically check the foundations and the structure. They already knew that it was sound. However they were looking for other problems like possible wood rot, wood-worms or other potential things that needed to be fixed before adding onto the structure.

Harry's summer before his sixth year had already improved greatly because of this day.

HPHPHP

TBC...