'This dream again?' groused Dumbledore as his mind wandered while he slept. He noticed a large pane of window glass along his left side this time. He wasn't inside a glass box – just seated beside a large window. The golden egg was present again, stuck to the glass. He noticed that an enormous serpent was enclosed inside a glass container in front of the window. The snake threw itself against the glass walls and spat venom at the glass without effect. After a time, Dumbledore fell out of the dream.
& CHANGE SCENE &
Visits to Gringotts (28 -30 June 1996 London)As the train pulled into Kings Cross Station, Harry removed his outer wizarding robes so that only his best muggle clothes (courtesy of Dobby) were visible. Neville and Luna said goodbye for the summer and promised to write using Muggle methods. Then Harry slipped on his powerful cloak again and vanished.
Once free of the crowd of wizards and witches on Platform 9¾, Harry moved into a niche in the hallway and removed the cloak. He hurried to the connections to the subways and got on the first one, without caring where it was going, just get away from Kings Cross. At the next station, he got out and studied the maps on the walls to find the trains that would carry him closest to the Leaky Cauldron.
With a few coins, he was soon on his way and breathed easier. Outside the tavern that gave access to Diagon Alley, Harry vanished underneath the cloak once again. He followed a wizard through the tavern and into Diagon Alley. Then just before reaching the steps of the bank, he once again removed his cloak. There were few wizards about, and no one paid him any attention. Inside, he queued to the first available teller and stated his intention to visit with his account manager, Ironstream.
"Do you have an appointment?" asked the goblin.
"I do."
The teller motioned for a runner to escort the boy deeper into the bank's underground offices. Outside the door with the nameplate 'Ironstream – Black Accounts', the runner knocked. A gruff voice called, "Enter."
Taking a deep breath, Harry turned the doorknob and stepped inside.
"Heir Black, I was surprised to receive your letter," the ancient-looking goblin said. "Sirius Black's will is available for your review and then you can decide when we have the public reading."
"Let's make the best use of your time, Account Manager," Harry replied, cutting through to the task at hand and discarding politeness. The goblin nodded in agreement and continued to read his reports while Harry read the will of Sirius Orion Black, last updated in March of this year.
'He left me everything. He has gifts for Remus Lupin and Andromeda Tonks set aside; he suggests I throw Bellatrix and Narcissa out of the family and take back their family magic and dowries. He writes that Albus Dumbledore is a fraud.'
Harry snorts out loud and draws the attention of Ironstream who wonders which item elicited that response.
'I am emancipated and made Lord Black,' Harry read with delight. 'Thank you, Sirius. Thank you.'
"Account Manager Ironstream, according to my godfather's wishes, I am to ask you for the ring that will make me Lord Black."
Without commentary, the goblin withdrew a box from his desk and levitated it to Harry. The young man opened the box and withdrew the ring that was inside. Placing the ring on his finger, Harry felt a surge of magic joining with his core. The ministry trace vanished from Harry Potter and from his wand. All documents relating to any feigned or real guardianship for the boy vanished at the ministry and the monitoring devices in the department that tracked underage magic lost all information about the Boy-Who-Lived. In dumbledore's office at Hogwarts, a dozen silver instruments sputtered to a stop before the phoenix waved a wing at them, setting them into motion again. Fawkes had grown fond of the sound they made so the instruments would continue to huff and puff for her enjoyment without tracking the Boy-Who-Lived.
"Thank you for your assistance, Ironstream," stated Harry. "Now, what other business do we need to clear away today? I want you to continue making for the Black name."
Harry listened carefully to the goblin as he detailed the state of the vaults, some faltering investments, and decried the lack of opportunities in the magical economy for investment.
Harry asked, "Why not invest in the muggle world?"
For the first time in the visit, the goblin sneered, "Goblins do not dirty our gold with muggles. If the wizards do not grow their economy enough to generate more wealth, goblins will not contaminate ourselves and our gold with muggles!"
Suddenly realizing the economy of Magical Britain must be very small and rather brittle, Harry nodded his head toward his account manager and said, "I shall remember your wise words, Account Manager Ironstream. Together we shall make profits."
Mollified by the young wizard's words, Ironstream sat back.
"One last item," Harry began. "I do not want anyone to know of this meeting or that I have become Lord Black."
The goblin nodded and said, "Just let me know when you desire the public reading of the will – if ever."
Harry departed Gringotts without further questions and once underneath his cloak once again, made his way back to the tube station and then a different train station to leave London and travel to Surry via muggle means and not draw the attention of any wizard.
++***++ CHANGE OF SCENE
Early the next morning, Albus Dumbledore visited Gringotts to speak with the goblin named Sowsbreath who managed the Potter vaults.
"Ah my good friend," Dumbledore began rambling. "How are you this fine morning?"
"What do you want wizard?" snapped the goblin.
"My ward, Harry Potter…" Dumbledore paused dramatically.
"Yes, what about Heir Potter?"
Now whispering in a confidential manner, Dumbledore said, "If he appears at the bank this summer, don't let the boy read the will of Sirius Black or any other wills. Don't let him take…"
Again, the wizard paused, attempting to appear as if he was contemplating his next statement, carefully, "As his magical guardian, I don't want him to take up any of his rings – heir or lordship."
Sowsbreath studied the wizard carefully for a moment before he replied, "For the usual fee of five thousand galleons, it shall be as you wish."
"Very well," replied Dumbledore as the goblin pushed a paper across the desk for the wizard to sign with the contract quill.
As the wizard rubbed the back of his hand where the quill had scratched out the blood to bind the wizard to the contract, Sowsbreath said, "It might interest you to know that a goblin death warrant was issued for the head of Delores Umbridge yesterday."
"A death warrant?" asked Dumbledore. "How did such a terrible thing happen?"
"Several pureblood parents brought their heirs to the bank with damage to their hands and magic caused by misuse of our contract quills by the witch while teaching at 'your' school."
Shaking his head, Dumbledore said, "Minister Fudge forced me to employ Umbridge and he supported all her actions. I did not."
Sowsbreath nodded and continued, "For another five thousand galleons, I can get the contract voided."
Without pretending to think about the question, Dumbledore replied, "Not from my funds…or from Harry Potter's vaults either."
"Are there any other matters?" asked Dumbledore.
"Only one," replied Sowsbreath. "What shall we do about the Black vaults? Rumour is that Sirius Black visited his account manager earlier this year and updated his will."
"Do you know what Black added or changed?"
"I do not. Ironstream was most insulting when I consulted with him about our mutual interests."
Dumbledore sighed and replied, "What do you feel you can do about the situation?"
"For five thousand galleons, I can eliminate the Black account manager and consolidate my…your control of the two largest fortunes in Magical Britain. Malfoy is weak third compared to either Potter or Black."
The goblin continued, "No doubt, once 'Potter' is named as the heir for Sirius Black, Ironstream will not permit you to work your way into the vaults."
Dumbledore frowned, not wanting to be linked to strife within Gringotts but then Sowsbreath dangled the ultimate prize before the headmaster saying, "And there are six votes in the Wizengamot controlled by Black. Lucius Malfoy keeps trying to vote them, but Magic will not allow him to take the seat."
"Six seats?" asked Dumbledore with great interest; he had not remembered that particular fact about the Black family. "I should have a clear majority of the votes under my control if I…when I gain control of these six votes."
"So, five thousand more galleons to remove Ironstream?" prompted the goblin again.
Dumbledore smiled and said, "Make it six thousand but I shall only sign the invoice when it is accomplished."
"How soon shall we meet again?" asked Sowsbreath.
"When I leave you, I begin my vacation for July. I shall be at the wizard resort hidden near Machu Picchu in southern Peru if there is an emergency. Otherwise, I shall return to Gringotts in early August."
Nodding his head but saying nothing else, Sowsbreath turned back to his work. He had an assassination to plan.
++***++ CHANGE SCENE
After two days of talking with Dobby outside the hearing of Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, Harry used muggle transportation to return to Gringotts. When he reached the counter and asked to speak with Ironstream, the Account Manager for the Black vaults, the clerk replied, "Ironstream is no longer associated with Gringotts. The new account manager is Sowsbreath."
Allowing his confusion to show for only a moment, Harry schooled his face; with Dobby's prompting, Harry said, "Tell Sowsbreath that Harry Potter is present and will speak with him."
It took ten minutes before a runner led the young wizard back to the same door as before but this time there were two nameplates; the first read 'Sowsbreath – Potter Account' and the second, 'Sowsbreath – Black Account' underneath it.
Pushing open the door, Harry noticed there were bloodstains on the floor and walls. The goblin seated behind the desk appeared to be the same age as Ironstream, but the creature wore several bandages about his face and one hand was missing two claws.
"I understand you are my account manager," Harry said. "I wish to hear the wills of my parents read and to take the ring for Heir Potter."
"No," replied the goblin. "Your magical guardian expressed his desire that you wait until your seventeenth birthday to do so. He came to visit the other day and gave me explicit instructions. Then he departed for a holiday in South America until sometime in August."
Harry stared silently for a moment before the goblin asked, "And do you wish to ask the same about the Black estate?"
'He doesn't know…' Harry realized and purposely looked about the room.
"I imagine you are very busy learning about the Black estate at this time, yourself," the wizard stated. "I only need to be able to access my different vaults for some gold."
Waving the injured hand, Sowsbreath replied, "I see your elf…the elf can access your vaults as often as you need gold. Don't bother me or other goblins again about money this summer."
Without the exchange of best wishes for profit, Harry Potter, Lord Black left the blood-splattered office of the account manager of the Potter and Black vaults.
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