Chapter Four:

Harry internally hoped Samuel's questions wouldn't be over the top or something he hadn't recently researched on marriage contracts, or the Sacred 28. He drew a deep breath and attempted to sit up a bit straighter and waited for Lord Greengrass to fire away.

"So, Mr. Potter, you wish to enter a marriage contract with my eldest daughter, Daphne, correct?" Harry nodded and replied yes.

"Is this your first marriage contract proposal you've encountered?" Harry nodded and replied yes, again.

"Since you've been to Gringott's bank, what is your current financial situation?" Harry blinked a couple of times and tried to formulate an answer that didn't sound rubbish.

"I am only aware of one vault at Gringotts sir, which is my school Trust Vault. Although I am willing to partake what is needed to appease your permission." Lord Greengrass smiled at the young lad's answer. So, he wasn't selfish or greedy, which passed his first test. Lady Greengrass on the other hand glanced at her husband and continued with a rebuttal.

"So, Mr. Potter, it sounds like you haven't visited your Family Vault, is that right?" Harry nodded. "Do you know who your current legal guardian is?" Harry shook his head and replied no.

Lord Greengrass and Lady Greengrass shared a look. Samuel decided then that it was pointless to question the lad further until this new situation was taken care of immediately.

"Okay Mr. Potter, now that we know where you stand, I believe we will need to hold off on the contract to straighten out your current situation." Harry raised his eyebrow at him with a questioning look.

Samuel continued and replied, "You should have been emancipated at age eleven Mr. Potter. Whoever your current guardian is - is keeping secrets from you with good reason. Not only that, but your guardian also failed to allow you to read your parents' wills, which is a greater disservice to a young heir." Harry gulped and sat their dumbfounded.

Samuel thought it would be best to cut their meeting short. He told Harry he would be notified via owl by Gringotts soon. He called his house elf, Nima, who gathered Daphne and Astoria from their walk and went to the dining room for a spot of lunch. The house elves made them a fabulous English lunch consisting of hearty tomato soup, sandwiches, and rolls. After they had their fill, Daphne linked arms with Harry and toured the manor.

The Greengrass manor consisted of five floors total the top contained the attic with a beautiful window seat overlooking the gardens below. The lowest floor contained a spectacular potions lab that would make Professor Snape drool. The second floor contained the ground floor with two dining rooms, one for parties and one for family time as well as a quant ballroom. The third floor contained their family library, two studies, and the master bedroom. The fourth floor contained a separate wing for Daphne and Astoria's bedrooms along with another wing for more guest bedrooms.

Outside the manor, Daphne ended with a brief tour of the grounds since they had to go back to school soon. She took him over to their stable. Daphne gushed how she loved to ride her own horse, named Fria. Overall, they had four horses. Harry told her that he never had the chance to ride and she promised to teach him to ride over the summer. He grinned at that.

Once they reached the fireplace, Daphne gave him a warm hug and boldly kissed him on the cheek. Harry blushed and hugged her back. He floed back to Hogwarts and hurried back to Gryffindor Tower.

After briefly catching Hermione up he quickly changed back into his casual clothes and headed to the library with Hermione to do some more research. He explained to Hermione that Lord Greengrass was concerned about his Legal Guardian and his situation with Gringotts. Hermione found this alarming and they began to dig into some texts to find the information they needed.

The one text that helped them out was titled, "Family and Guardianship Wizarding Law". It did indeed state that it was possible to become emancipated due to his parents' fall to Lord Voldemort. However, it also stated that whoever the current legal guardian is of a young heir also controlled the heir's vaults until he or she became of age. Furious with this new information. Harry wrote a missive to Gringotts asking for a discreet meeting with the Potter Family account manager. He was tired of being kept in the dark and felt it was high time to change that.

It wasn't until Monday that Harry received a letter back from Gringotts.

Dear Mr. Potter,

Thank you for informing us of your current situation. Lord Greengrass, a trusted friend of the Potter Family has also informed us as well. It seems that there is a lot to discuss. If you can I would like to schedule an appointment with you at Gringotts this Friday evening at 5:00 o'clock sharp. Lord Greengrass will also be present as acting counsel.

Sincerely,

Noomark, Account and Asset Manager

Harry Potter felt satisfied after reading his letter received from Gringotts. He was finally getting some much-needed answers. Running a hand through his black messy hair, he closed his eyes thought about his life he led so far. Sick and tired of going back to the Dursley's and being their slave, every summer was not an option anymore. Then again, if he didn't at least show up for a little bit, Dumbledore will know something was up. He decided he would stay at the Dursleys for one-week next summer to keep up appearances, then find some place to live.

The following week passed by slowly. Harry's evenings were filled with homework and study sessions in the library. He filled her in once they had a minute about what her father decided, and she thought that it was wise to check his Gringott's account. Finally, Friday rolled around, and Harry's emotions spiked again over his meeting at Gringotts tonight. The day just seemed to drag on. First with Potions and Herbology then with last minute studying before 5'oclock. Since he and Professor Snape were still good, he agreed to let him go to his meeting at Gringotts.

After arriving at Gringotts bank, Harry dusted the soot off his casual robes and walked over to the Goblin Administrator. Harry fetched his key and his letter, and the Goblin barked an order at another goblin. He ran to the hallway behind the Goblin Tellers and came back beckoning Harry to follow him. Once the goblin opened Noomark's office, Harry immediately greeted Lord Greengrass and Noomark, the Account Manager.

"Heir Potter, you are a hard man to track down." Noomark began, "What happened to all of those letters we sent you before you came to Hogwarts?" Harry gulped and replied, "My Aunt and Uncle made sure I was to never read a single one, Uncle Vernon often made a 'show' of burning them." Noomark frowned and shook his head. "Well, today, we are going to change all of that." Harry smiled.

"We have lots to accomplish tonight, so I hope you had your dinner." Harry nodded and simply let Noomark begin his interrogation. "First thing is first, your inheritance test. This is mandatory if you do in fact wish to declare yourself an emancipated wizard." Harry accepted the goblin dagger from Noomark and drew a small line on his skin from his right hand. He let a couple drops of blood seep into the bowl that contained unknown ruins on the outside. A few moments passed, Harry was beginning to get nervous, until a rolled scroll appeared in the bowl with the Potter Family crest.

Noomark took out the scroll gently and unfurled it. He let out a low whistle. "Well Heir Potter, this is definitely the most interesting results I have seen in many years." Harry bit back a groan, couldn't he just be normal?

The Potter Family Heir

Harold James Potter

Age: 12

School: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Trust Vault:

-30,000 gallons

Family Vault:

-4,000,000 gallons 800,000 sickles 70,000 knuts

-30 gold bars

-50,000 books

-200 furnature pieces

-150 wardrobe pieces, additional gems, jewelry

-20 pieces of weaponry

-4 trunks

Potter Assets:

-Potter Manor: Northern Scotland

-Godric's Hollow: England

Last Living Heir of the Potter Line: (rights to lineages once of age or by emancipation)

Heir Potter: Father's line

Heir Ether: Mother's line

Heir Rae: Mother's line

Ether Vault:

88,000,000 gallons 900,000 sickles 200,000 knuts

Ether Assets:

-Ether Estate – location: Latvia

-Ether Castle – location: Northern France

-Ether Forest – location: Northern France

-Ether Home – location: Netherlands

Rae Vault:

10,000,000 gallons 100,000 sickles 800 knuts

Rae Assets:

-Rae Manor – location: Luxembourg

-Rae Estate – location: Romania

-Rae Home – location: Southern Ireland

-Ether Island – location: Rathlin, County Antrim, Ireland

After the initial inheritance result Harry felt overwhelmed and quite astounded that all of this would be his. Seeing the gobsmacked expression on his face, Samuel smiled and continued for him. "Thank you Noomark, we would also like a health checkup and a full magical-core checkup as well." Noomark nodded and barked a couple of orders to his staff. One of the goblins quickly brought in a another aid to assist with the next ritual. Harry once again cut his palm and dropped some blood onto two new ruin bowls. After another few minutes two new scrolls appeared in each bowl. Noomark grabbed both and proceeded to open each scroll. Harry suddenly became nervous, not once did he reveal his Aunt and Uncle's treatment to any member of the wizarding community. Except for the time the Weasley twins and Ron came with there Dad's flying car. But they only saw the bars on his window, nothing else was mentioned thankfully.

Health Checkup:

Two cracked ribs – healed magically

Left arm: various broken bones

Back: multiple scarring apparent, bruising

Weight: malnourished

Height: 5 foot

Magical-Core Scan:

Dark soul fragment attached to magical scar

Magical core depleted from self-healing over many years

Elemental abilities blocked 100%

Shadow abilities blocked 100%

Editic Memory blocked 100%

Magical Core blocked 80%

Natural abilities blocked 80%

Parsel abilities blocked 50%

Metamorph abilities blocked 50%

After his family's Asset manager read off the last two scans, Harry closed his eyes trying not to let his anger get the best of him. Fortunately, Lord Greengrass, was still shocked at the new information so he was silent for the moment. Harry on the other hand stood up and began pacing slowly back and forth in Noomark's office. A million thoughts began to run through his mind. Why would someone do this to him? What would give him the right to? Or most importantly, what would he have to gain?

Harry Potter stopped pacing and stared at Noomark who met his gaze and asked the one question he was dreading the answer, "Noomark, who is my legal guardian?" Noomark nodded and responded in kind, "Albus Dumbledore". Fury started to bubble up inside Harry. All this time he was told all about the 'great Albus Dumbledore', however, this too was a lie. The most powerful wizard he currently knows left him at the Dursleys to suffer and blocked his magical abilities. Something was very, very wrong.

"Harry, I need you to calm down a bit, okay son?" Samuel stated gently turning in his chair with a worried expression on his face. "We will get to the bottom of this, that I promise. However, I think if you are up to it the goblins can clear those magical blocks and heal your injuries. Would that be okay to accomplish today?" Harry nodded numbly and sat back down. "That would be acceptable, thank you, Samuel." Noomark barked a couple of more orders and Harry was ushered from the office down the hall into what looked like a more secure ritual room.

"No need to fear, Heir Potter, the goblins will make it at least painful as possible. Although, the soul fragment might be more stubborn to contain." Noomark grinned with a hideous grin on his face. Harry didn't believe a word he just said. He was then ordered to strip to his under clothes and lie in the middle of the alter on a bare mat. Harry complied, once finished, Noomark gave an order to a couple of other goblins Harry never met before who according to his safety, restrained his wrists and ankles to the floor.

Harry Potter tried to still his body and mind. He heard more goblins enter the room, one of them spoke to him and said he would place a blindfold over his eyes for his safety and check on the restraints. Once the goblins were ready the same goblin told Harry to prepare himself, not knowing what to do he just nodded and told them to go ahead.

After the third round of chanting in ancient latin, the goblins stopped, Harry felt nothing until – an incredible amount of unyielding pain throughout his entire body. Only to black out a few seconds later. The first thing Harry Potter noticed when he woke up was that he wasn't at Gringotts anymore and he certainly wasn't at Hogwarts.

Harry groaned and tried to sit up in what felt like a really soft bed. He rubbed his eyes and blinked a couple of times. Reaching over to the bed side table he tried to find his glasses. After realizing they weren't there He sat up and his eyes began to focus on the room. Gasping slightly, he realized everything was incredibly clear. His eyesight appeared to be 20/20! Grinning he stumbled out of bed to look at himself in the full length mirror. Harry gasped again, he must have grown a half a foot taller! He took off his shirt and gaped at his near perfect skin and healed bones. Turning around slightly, he felt his back amazed, he didn't find any old scarring or bruising. His muscles were more apparent but he now he looked even more skinny than before due to the growth spurt. Nervously, Harry lifted his bangs away from his forehead and felt his scar. It was still there, but it was no longer an 'angry red' color. It was almost invisible and he didn't feel any migraines from it anymore.

He turned when he saw one of the Greengrass's family house elves carrying a tray of tea and biskets. Harry thanked her and got dressed in some casual robes that were layed out for him. He put them on and called Milly again and asked her if Daphne's family was home for the day. Milly brought him to the family library. Harry immediately fell in love, wincing, at the fact that he almost acted like Hermione. "Hi Harry!" Daphne called from a table to the left with a few books layed out in front of her. Harry turned and smiled at her. She was wearing a light set of coral robes that fit her figure and her hair was back in a neat french braid.

Harry walked over and sat down opposite of her. He frowned a little and thought that if Daphne hadn't approached him that day in the library, he wouldn't have known about his rightful heritage or about how much Albus Dumbledore controlled his life up to now. "Daphne," Harry said slowly, "I just wanted to thank you for coming into my life. From the day we met I've grown so much, and I am so grateful for you." He searched her eyes as she smiled. Daphne leaned over and kissed his cheek. Harry blushed. "Oh, Harry, I'm glad I did too. I think we both saved each other from certain ill-fitted fates." Harry nodded, now relieved she felt the same way.

They sat and chatted for a while and Daphne filled him on everything he missed. Apparently, it was Sunday evening, and Harry slept for a day and a half. They would floo back to Hogwarts tonight and get ready for classes tomorrow morning. Her parents met them by the fire place when they were ready to go. Harry thanked Samuel profously for setting up the meeting at Gringotts. They promised they would draft a contract proposal by the end of the month. Daphne hugged her parents and her and Harry made it to Professor Snape's office fifteen minutes before curfew.

Author's Note: To my readers – I am glad you like the story. I will do my best to post every two weeks. I also will try to post longer chapters.