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.

Ironstream discusses the blood adoption with Harry and then Harry sees a Healer. During the exam, the famous scar on Harry's forehead is examined closely. Finally, the goblins perform the blood adoption and Harry really becomes the Harry James Potter.

Chapter 7: Decision

Ironstream considered his problems aloud, "I have a child who has no name… a vast estate that might fall into the hands of a grasping, old wizard who has ruined many lives… An unknown grandfather who is just as bad…"

"The boy is awake," Sowsbreath informed the other goblins who watched the wizard child silently for a moment.

Then Ironstream asked, "Who from the medical offices is the best healer to deal with young wizards?"

"The witch Felicity Grossman," replied Steeltoe immediately. "She oversees orientation for all new human employees."

Ironstream snorted and pointed at the mirror, "He's eleven years old and not an employee."

"She's the closest expert we'd have without taking the risk of drawing attention…"

"Very well… Summon Healer Grossman and tell her we need a confidential examination."

*(+++++)*

Harry rose from his chair when the door opened and the goblin Ironstream returned to the room.

"Excuse me sir, can I use the loo?" he asked, the urgency evident in his voice and stance.

The goblin looked surprized for only a moment but then waved his hand and another door appeared. "Each conference room at Gringotts has a water closet but the door is usual disillusioned."

While Harry made use of the facilities, Ironstream came to his decision. Wizards were a despicable race – plotting Dumbledore, evil James and Lily Potter, and prejudiced Samuel Ogden – none of them deserved a kind thought. Dumbledore and Ogden were old but not buried just yet – perhaps the goblins could push them along to their graves. The Potters were dead, but they'd left the means for the goblins to continue the Potter name.

Glancing at the closed door, Ironstream decided the boy deserved a better life and Gringotts could give it to him by following the wishes of their dead clients – they planned to blood adopt an orphan – why not this magical child?

When the boy returned, a tentative smile on his face, the goblin asked, "So Mr. Potter, did you have a nice nap?"

"Yes sir," Harry replied with some confusion. The goblins had insisted that he wasn't Harry 'Potter' before his nap.

"Does Hagrid… Is Hagrid going to come back soon? I need to get back to Surrey. My aunt and uncle are going to be angry…"

"More angry than usual?"

"Well, Hagrid waved his umbrella at Dudley and left him with a pig's tail on his bottom…"

The goblin laughed, and he was glad to see the boy grin as well. "I think Hagrid is going to be very busy for the rest of the day – the dragons like him very much and he's helping care for them."

"Oh…" replied the boy's with evident confusion.

"But you are safe here at Gringotts and we will see about getting you supplies and things for school. I believe you will stay here until September when you leave for Hogwarts."

"Okay," Harry replied quickly and then thought about what the goblin had just said. "I promise I will work very hard at every chore you give me!"

The goblin kept his face impassive, but he growled inside – a child overworked and not allowed to learn angered him greatly. For the same child to be abused as well was over the limit he could stand. Ironstream directed the conversation along by saying, "Now, remember we were talking about how it didn't appear that you were the son of James and Lily Potter?"

"Yes sir," Harry agreed.

"Well, we have proof that the Potters wanted to use magic to adopt a child and make him their real baby. They selected you, but they weren't able to cast this magic spell before that unfortunate night where they were killed."

"Did they want me to be their son?" asked Harry.

Nodding Ironstream said, "They told everyone you were their son! Remember, they fought the Dark Lord when he came to kill you."

Harry nodded and Ironstream continued, "With magic we can perform the adoption spell and make you the son of James and Lily Potter – if you want."

"But who am I?" asked the boy.

"You've been Harry Potter for ten years," the goblin evaded the child's question. "How about staying Harry Potter for the next hundred years?"

Now the boy paused and said, "No. Not if I have to stay with the Dursleys."

Ironstream grinned, his teeth on display, "Mr. Potter, I promise with my magic, my heart and my soul, that you will not go back to those people again unless it is to see them in a courtroom when they are on trial for child abuse."

"Really?"

The goblin nodded and when Fourclaws came into the room with the inheritance test materials, he sent the items away, "We won't need those items. Once the healer completes her examination, we will begin Heir Potter's education."

*(+++++)*

Medical Exam

Healer Felicity Grossman wondered what Ironstream needed with her skillset. She enjoyed working for the goblins in Gringotts – they were not blindly prejudiced against a muggleborn witch such as herself. She enjoyed magic and it helped her survive the loss of her muggle family at the hands of the Deatheaters fifteen years earlier. She'd just completed her training at St. Mungo's with a great healer when her family was wiped out while she was on a late shift.

The head of the hospital awarded her the ministry license to practice healing in one breath and then told her there weren't any positions available at St. Mungo's. She'd never expected there to be a place for her there after graduation – she'd merely hoped to make the connections she needed with other muggleborns and half-bloods to build a practice.

The attack against her family told her she had enemies within the hospital – a place sworn to be neutral. A friend from school mentioned Gringotts and she'd spent three days in interviews with goblins and humans at the bank before she'd been hired as a healer to work with the bank's human employees.

*(+++++)*

In Ironstream's office, Felicity found four goblins; three she knew and one she didn't. It was the fifth person in the room that drew her attention immediately – a boy, probably nine or ten but poorly dressed and much too thin to be healthy.

The goblin behind the desk, Ironstream announced, "Healer Grossman, I have need of your skills."

"I am pleased to help Gringotts in any manner," she replied.

The goblin motioned toward the boy, "In strictest confidence, this young wizard requires your examination and care. Once you determine it safe, he must undergo a blood adoption today and become Harry James Potter in blood as well as in name."

Ironstream quickly discovered why the leaders of the bank thought well of this witch; she quickly set up her bag of potions and tools, her wand moving on its own in the air casting spells and charms. She'd immediately set to work while still cutting Ironstream off at the knees.

"You will not be performing any rituals until I say so!" Felicity growled. "Introduce me to a patient and try to tell me what you're going to do… Not without my approval, thank you!"

Frowning at the goblins one last time, the witch turned to the boy and flashed him a true welcoming smile. "Hello, Harry. My name is Felicity Grossman and I am your healer here in Gringotts. No one will do anything to hurt you while you are in my care; my healer's oaths make me your protector as well as your physician. You were raised among muggles I believe?"

"Yes ma'am."

"When was the last time you saw a physician or went to clinic for immunizations?"

"I've never been to the doctor," Harry explained. "My relatives said I didn't deserve…"

The healer glanced at the goblins and growled, "What are you doing standing there? Go get those muggles!"

"Healer, mind your patient!" insisted Ironstream.

Steeltoe whispered to Fourclaws, "She's been around goblins for a long time for certain. She's very protective of cubs."

Sowsbreath snorted, "Have you ever seen a mother goblin defending one of her cubs? It leaves me shaking in my boots remembering the time three thieves made it to my personal quarters in the lower chambers. By the time the guards arrived, the three wizards were without their heads or their hearts, and their intestines were strung along the walls for the guards to see. Ragnock himself came and awarded my wife and her two sisters gold for protecting the bank."

"Who dared to attempt to steal from Gringotts?" asked Steeltoe.

"They were members of Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix – I believe he intended to blackmail me with any information they stole."

*(+++++)*

Felicity's examination found a child who needed a proscribed set of potions to repair some bone and tissue problems from an inadequate diet and three poorly healed bones to reset. She'd write up a plan that he could take with him to Hogwarts – he'd be eating at least four small meals each day for the next month and she'd arrange for a house elf to pop into Hogwarts every day with snacks for the boy and the elf would watch him eat them too!

Her wand stopped moving when it reached the scar on his forehead and the charms in the medical spells required her to take the wand into her hand to continue. The frown on her face deepened for a moment and then turned into surprize.

"Harry, how did you get this scar?"

"My aunt told me that I got the scar when my parents were killed in a car accident."

Felicity looked surprized again and she turned to the goblins, "Did James Potter know how to drive an automobile?"

Ironstream waved away the question, "That is the famous scar that Harry received the night the Dark Lord attempted to kill him after killing his parents."

Snorting now, she stepped close to the boy and asked, "Does the scar hurt?"

Harry nodded, "Sometimes when I have had to work really hard all day or feel sad."

"It has a lot of magic in it, but it's not Dark or Light magic… It looks like it is family magic of some kind."

"Harry is a wizard," Ironstream said to reassure the boy but Felicity waved the goblin to be quiet.

"May I look closely at your scar?" she asked and Harry nodded again. Very quickly the witch cast another spell at the scar. She moved first to the left and then to the right, as she examined what her spell revealed in the scar. Her free hand summoned a bottle of antiseptic – a muggle product – and she conjured a small cloth. After wetting the cloth, she wiped the area around Harry's scar very liberally.

"Don't let me get any in your eyes but we'll fix this scar up in just a minute," she assured the boy.

Harry sat still, the healer's hands were firm but still gentle as she moved his head around. Her eyes were bright but never angry when turned toward him. Again, her free hand summoned a pair of tweezers that she cast a sterilization spell upon and then poured more of the antiseptic over the ends.

"This might sting a little, but I should be…" Felicity spread the scar's edges slightly and the tweezers pulled something from under the skin, "…finished now."

Clasped in the ends of the tweezer was a piece of miscoloured diamond. It twinkled in the light and the healer quickly set the stone on the desk in front of Ironstream and then turned her full attention on Harry. Quickly, she closed the scar with a spell then wiped away the little bit of blood that leaked out.

*(+++++)*

Blood Adoption

Harry and Felicity turned back to the excited discussion at the desk; Ironstream, Steeltoe, Fourclaws and the fourth, unknown goblin studied the diamond shard as it floated above the desk.

"It is saturated with the Potter family magics," Ironstream said. "What artefact is it from?"

"And it's been in the boy's head for ten years!" Steeltoe interjected with some excitement in his voice.

Felicity smiled at Harry and opened her bag again; this time she withdrew a packet of biscuits that they shared.

"This is one of the snacks you'll get a couple times a day. Make certain you eat all four biscuits, even if you're full."

"Yes, ma'am," Harry agreed. "I like getting to eat."

At the desk, Ironstream turned to the ancient goblin and asked, "Do you care to speculate Sowsbreath?"

"I believe that it is a piece of Lady Potter's ring. The diamond on her ring was cracked in the attack and the heirloom will have to be repaired before the next consort wears it."

Ironstream now came around the desk to stand before Harry and asked, "Mr. Potter, do I have your permission to cast a spell on you?"

Before the boy could reply, Felicity asked, "What spell do you want to cast on my patient, Account Manager Ironstream?"

The goblin grinned and replied, "A simple finite incantum. I believe the stone has protected the boy for ten years and tried making him into a stronger Potter with the Potter family magic."

Felicity nodded and allowed the goblin to cast the spell.

Harry felt the light push of magic fall over him, but nothing changed. Felicity and the goblins watched closely as the magic dropped from head to toe on the boy and nothing in his appearance changed.

"Excellent!" announced Sowsbreath, while Steeltoe and Fourclaws were confused. Felicity was also confused but remained silent.

"I agree, most excellent!" Ironstream echoed the ancient goblin's pronouncement.

"What is excellent?" asked Felicity.

"This young man has been living with Potter Family magic for the last ten years. He looks like James Potter naturally without glamour charms or spells. The blood adoption will accept him as close family member without any problems."

"So, I'm already 'Harry Potter'?" asked Harry with some excitement in his voice.

Felicity nodded while Sowsbreath stepped forward, "Young Mr. Potter, I welcome you to Gringotts." He waved to Ironstream and said, "Your account manager is Ironstream and he has faithfully protected your vaults for the last ten years. I recommend him as your continued account manager after the blood adoption."

"Thanks," Harry said. "Uh, I'd like… I hope Ironstream wants to be my account manager for a long time to come."

Steeltoe whispered to Fourclaws, "A little disjointed but with some lessons, young Harry will do well with the purebloods."

*(+++++)*

Felicity gathered her potions and tools together while Steeltoe and Fourclaws left to prepare the ritual room for the blood adoption. Harry stood beside her asking lots of questions that she answered patiently. After a minute, she turned to Ironstream.

"Do you think it will be safe for Harry to attend Hogwarts this year? It will be at least six weeks before I can complete the regime of repairs… and a couple more months of growth would help with his stature and weight."

Ironstream stated firmly, "I shall remove Mr. Potter from Dumbledore's guardianship tonight. With your oath sealed diagnosis, Dumbledore wouldn't dare to knock over the niffler's horde – he'd be knocked from every position he holds if the public learns how the Boy-Who-Lived was treated."

The goblin looked from the healer to the boy, before he added, "But I believe he must keep to the schedule of appearing at Hogwarts on the first of September."

Felicity looked less pleased but nodded. "Well then, let's get this ritual completed so I can get him fed and put to bed before it gets too late."

*(+++++)*

In a cold chamber with runes carved into the floors, walls and ceilings, Harry was told to strip in front of a dozen goblins. He almost panicked before Felicity conjured some curtains and told him to take off all his clothes and then put on a linen shift that covered him from shoulders to toes.

She frowned at the goblins and growled, "Muggles are not free with nudity like goblins! And he's a child!"

The goblins who would perform the ritual nodded in understanding but then ordered the account mangers and the healer from the room.

"Harry, we'll be right outside the room. The goblins are not going to hurt you!" Felicity told him when he stepped from behind the curtains and she banished her conjuration.

"How long will it take?" he asked, and Felicity looked at the goblin who held a pair of containers holding blood.

"At least one hour, but no more than two," replied the goblin.

*(+++++)*

When forty-five minutes passed, the door of the chamber opened and out stepped the blood-adopted son of James Fleamont Potter and Lily Marie Potter nee Evans. He was quickly examined by Healer Grossman and then led to the dining hall where he drank two potions and ate a large dinner. Shortly thereafter, he was again taken to the infirmary where he was allowed to take a long shower with lots of hot water, and then after a final check by Healer Grossman, Harry James Potter went to bed.

And thus, 31 July 1991 ended with the 'birth' of Harry Potter.

*(+++++)*

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