This Harry Potter story was written for fun. All rights belong to the wonderful lady (JK Rowling) who gave the world Harry Potter to read and enjoy.

The goblins discuss what to do with the false Harry Potter. Ironstream summons the former account manager for the Potter accounts and learns of the dark plotting of James and Lily Potter. And he learns that James Potter planned to blood adopt an orphan in the future.

Chapter 4: Who is This Boy?

Harry froze in place, his eyes glancing about for places to hide. Hagrid's face grew confused.

"But this is Harry Potter. Dumbledore gave me a portkey to where he was last night… His aunt said this was Harry… It t'eren't the other boy… That one's too much like a pig…"

Now Hagrid pointed at Harry and said, "And he looks just like his Da, 'cepting his green eyes from his Mum…"

"So, you confirm that Albus Dumbledore told you this was Harry Potter," asked Griphook while pointing at the boy.

Hagrid nodded congenially.

The goblin continued, "And the headmaster sent you to collect the alleged Mr. Potter, take money from the Potter heir's vault, and buy the boy's school supplies?"

Again, Hagrid nodded, and the goblin sighed. He tapped his fingers on the desktop for a moment. From the side of the room, Griphook asked, "Mr. Hagrid, can you write a note to Mr. Dumbledore to come and clear up this confusion? While we wait, we will be glad to offer you refreshments…"

The goblin behind the desk asked, "Or perhaps Hagrid would like to view our collection of dragons?"

"You've dragons here?" asked Hagrid with obvious excitement. "I'd love t' see your dragons!"

The old goblin motioned toward the door, "Griphook take Mr. Hagrid to see our dragons. He can assist the keepers with feeding time this afternoon."

In his excitement to see dragons, Hagrid forgot about the request to write a letter, but he did remember the young boy he'd brought to Gringotts for a moment.

"Now Harry, you wait here. I'll be back in an hour or two and we'll get it all worked out then…" Without another word, the door closed behind the giant; he was gone with Griphook and the four guards leaving 'Harry' alone with the old goblin.

Taking a deep breath, Harry asked, "Please sir, can you tell me what is going on?"

The old goblin raised one eye brow and asked, "What is your name, young wizard?"

Harry froze for a long moment before answering, "When I started school, my teacher told me my name was Harry James Potter."

"Your teacher told you your name?" the confusion in the goblins question apparent. "Why did teachers have to tell you what your name was?"

"My aunt and uncle called me…" he paused and swallowed. "They call me 'freak' and 'boy'."

The old goblin was lost in thought for a moment before he motioned the child to his desk and said, "Why don't you come sit here? We can talk and have tea."

"Alright…" Harry said, looking about before asking, "Where's the kitchen?"

The goblin frowned. "Why do you want the kitchen?"

"I'm supposed to make the tea," replied Harry carefully as though he feared punishment.

"Make the tea?" The goblin tilted his head to one side and asked, "Why would you…"

Harry blushed, "I do the cooking. Aunt Petunia says the smell of the gas stove gives her a headache. And they leave me alone so long as I get the cooking done."

"I see," the goblin said slowly. "Well, at Gringotts we have house elves who make our tea and bring it to us. That makes them very happy. Today, you don't have to make the tea."

The goblin didn't smile; too many sharp teeth were involved with a goblin's smile, but he continued his explanation saying, "My name is Ironstream and I am the account manager for the Potter vaults. When Griphook brought you into this room, the walls should have displayed the Potter family crest and a box with the heir's ring would have appeared on my desk."

The goblin sighed, "But it didn't."

"So, who am I?" the boy asked, looking lost while the goblin again motioned toward the chair.

"We shall discover who you are shortly. Now, sit and tell me about how you came to be here today…"

A large tray appeared in front of Harry with a pot of tea, cream, and sugar, a plate of assorted biscuits, and glass of milk. There was another tray in front of the goblin with a tea pot of a different shape and biscuits of a different shape and colour. The smell of the hot tea and biscuits drew the hungry child toward the desk as the goblin explained, "Your tray has a traditional English tea and my tray has goblin tea that's made from different plants. Now pour a cup, eat some biscuits, and tell me how you met Rubeus Hagrid."

Harry did pour himself a cup of tea, but it was mostly cream with two sugars. As he sipped from the cup, the boy explained about the letters from Hogwarts, the Dursleys trip across the country, and the late-night visit to the small cabin on the island by the half-giant. He ate three of the delicious short bread biscuits and slipped two more into his pocket for supper.

Noticing the biscuits disappearing, the goblin made no comment but waited patiently for the boy to finish the cup that had been coated with a child's dose of the truth serum brewed by the potion masters at Gringotts.

Once the cup was empty, the boy's eyes clouded over quickly, and the questions began.

"What is your name?" Ironstream asked clearly without any malice or anger in his voice.

"Harry James Potter. My aunt calls me 'Boy'. My uncle and cousin call me 'Freak'."

"Where do you live?"

"No.4 Privet Drive, Little Whining, Surrey."

"Who do you live with?

"My aunt, Petunia Dursley."

"How is she your guardian?"

"My mother was her sister." The boy hesitated for a moment but then added, "I was told my mother was her sister."

"Who else lives there?

"Vernon Dursley and my cousin Dudley Dursley."

"And this Vernon is your uncle?"

"Yes."

"How do they treat you?"

Due to the effects of the potion, the boy didn't hesitate to detail the abuse, neglect and workload he was subject to each day. They discussed food, school, bedrooms, clothes and holidays.

At that point, the goblin asked. "Did your aunt ever tell you about your mother – about her sister – Lily Evans?"

"No sir. Hagrid told me the names of my parents last night – James Potter was my father and Lily Potter was my mother… I thought…" Harry replied, the potion making him speak the truth but now he wasn't sure what the truth was.

"Finish your biscuits, Harry. And drink the glass of milk," instructed the goblin. After the boy drank the entire glass of milk with the potion antidote, the goblin rose from his chair.

"I shall step out of the room for a moment and when I return, we will find out who you are."

Harry's stomach felt full after the wonderful tea, biscuits and milk. The room was quiet and warm, so he quickly fell asleep in the comfortable chair.

*(+++++)*

Revelation

In the next room, Ironstream, stood before the one-way glass, staring at the child. Behind him two other goblins waited quietly.

"Well, this deepens the Potter mystery," said the taller goblin, Fourclaws.

"Deepens? That's what you think this is?" asked the third goblin, Steeltoe. "We had a lead on the Potter heir for the first time in ten years but now magic doesn't recognize him! The giant clearly said that Dumbledore – may that wizard's gold vanish and his magic whither into darkness – sent him to this boy. Dumbledore sent an imposter into Gringotts knowing full well what we would do to the giant and to the boy for attempting to steal gold from a vault!"

Ironstream asked, "Do you think Dumbledore will come if we send a letter that the giant has lost the key to the other vault?"

"He'll be suspicious!" declared Fourclaws. "He knows we've wanted an excuse to question him for decades about the Dark Lord sudden disappearance that night in '81."

"Dumbledore doesn't understand the need to increase the amount of gold in a vault," Steeltoe complained. "He only knows how to spend other people's galleons…"

The three goblins grinned at each other for a moment but then Ironstream returned to his original problem – who was the boy?

"We could perform a heritage test," suggested Steeltoe. "The boy is magical… he could be the missing heir of Gryffindor."

"Only in the story books sold at the stores," replied Fourclaws. "We could just throw him to the dragons like they are doing with the giant."

Ironstream sniffed and reminded the other two goblins, "When necessary, we make war on adult wizards and witches – but never children!"

He flicked a claw at Fourclaws and said, "Fetch the materials. We will perform the test while the boy sleeps."

*(+++++)*

While they waited for Fourclaws to provide the items needed to perform the heritage spell, Ironstream continued to stare at the sleeping boy. His thoughts turned over and over with everything he knew about Dumbledore and that wizard's machinations during the past fifty years.

"There's something we're missing here!" the old dwarf said aloud.

Steeltoe quickly reviewed the information, the facts as it were, "Albus Dumbledore sent his grounds keeper to introduce Harry Potter to the magical world after living with muggles for ten years. Rubeus Hagrid brought the boy, who he thought was Harry Potter, to Diagon Alley to purchase his school supplies. Gringotts discovers the boy is not Harry Potter and disposes of the giant and the boy. Dumbledore knows this!"

*(+++++)*

Far from London, in the Scottish hills, lay Hogwarts Castle, the location of the only approved school of magic in Great Britain. In a tall tower, the headmaster, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore waited patiently in his office for news to arrive from Gringotts.

In his mind, Dumbledore practiced his speech for the press tomorrow, 'I was rightfully horrified when I was told that the boy was not the true heir of James Potter!'

And once the hubbub and shouting died down, he would claim the entire estate as the executor of the will of James Potter – wherever it might be and despite whatever it might say to the contrary. When he announced that the goblins must have killed the real Harry Potter, the Wizengamot would rise and follow his lead in declaring the goblins to be in revolt.

Glancing at the shadows on the wall in his office, he realized it was time for lunch and Hagrid's adventure into Gringotts must be afoot. Rising from his chair, Dumbledore ignored the silence from the phoenix, the annoying questions from the portraits of the previous headmasters and headmistresses to begin his climb down from his tower to join the staff in the Great Hall for luncheon.

*(+++++)*

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