Chapter 3
In the morning the next day, Harry decided he didn't want to keep wearing the filthy clothes he had died in but when he looked into the wardrobe all he found were robes from the thirteenth century. Another trip to Diagon Alley was the only solution but Harry didn't know where he'd get the money to purchase an impressively expensive pureblood wardrobe unless the Peverells still had a vault at Gringotts.
"Ignotus," Harry called out once he entered the library. "Would the Peverell family still have a vault at Gringotts?"
"Gringotts was founded after my grandaughter died," the portrait said. "She married Potter anyway."
"How am I supposed to buy clothes and food?" Harry said. "I have a few months until I'm hopefully at Hogwarts, I can't starve, and stealing that much wouldn't be great, not to mention tedious."
"Just take the chest of gold and jewels I've kept secret and see if you exchange it for galleons," said Ignotus.
"What? You have a chest of gold and jewels just lying around here somewhere."
"Well, we were a pureblood family, and no, it's not just lying around somewhere, it's behind me," Ignotus' portrait swung open, revealing a hole in the wall where Harry could see the side of the chest with a handle.
Not trusting his strength, Harry cast the Locomotion Charm and removed the chest that way. It was a medium-sized chest and it wasn't intricately designed or anything.
"I had this set up for emergencies, and it's got expansion and featherweight charms on it," Ignotus said looking quite proud of himself. "I don't know if other realities have this but if all other me's are very similar I would say most manors have one. I've also written down the amount of gold and jewels on a note that I placed on top of everything in the chest."
"Well, thank you," Harry said, grabbing the chest out of the air. "I'll be back in a - wait a second. How will I prove to the goblins that I am a Peverell."
"There is such a thing as a family tree that updates itself when another member is born but as I said, Gringotts was founded after my time, so I don't know if Gringotts has one," Ignotus frowned. "Either Death has manipulated the family tree if there was one to make sure your mission will be able to be accomplished, Death can be accommodating like that, or they don't have a tree and you can just buy your identity."
"What if they have a tree but Death hasn't changed it?"
"Then you can still buy your identity," Ignotus said. "We will just need to add a spell that manipulates the family tree to the story we created and Gringotts will accept the story, though you will probably need more proof than that. You could bring a goblin to the manor and have them speak with me if it comes to it. Whichever way it goes, you will be fine."
Harry gave a nod and disapparated from the manor and appeared with a slight crack right in front of the Gringotts Bank, startling a group of wizards. It was considered polite to not apparate into a place with a bunch of people in it but Harry didn't feel like walking all the way through Diagon Alley with a chest full of gold and jewels in his hands.
Harry entered Gringotts and conveniently didn't have to wait in a line and was able to tell the Goblin at the counter who he was, what he wanted, and what kind of protections he wanted quickly. Harry was then directed towards a room down one of the halls that lead away from the front counter. The room was an office and there was a small door behind the desk, which Harry was assumed for the goblin that occupied this office.
Harry sat in the chair in front of the desk and after only a few minutes of waiting the small door opened and a finely dressed goblin stepped through. The goblin climbed up onto his chair.
"Mr. Peverell, I am Rognot and I'll be arranging the creation of your vault for you and I will be your account manager as long as you see fit."
Harry stood up and extended his hand across the table. "A pleasure to meet you, Rognot."
After shaking the goblin's hand, Harry set the chest on the desk and opened it. He took the note out, marvelled at how rich he was for a second, duplicated the note and gave a copy to the goblin.
Harry turned the chest around. "I'd like to convert three-quarters of the gold into Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts and have all of it placed in a vault along with half of the jewels."
Rognot took his eyes off of the chest's contents to look at Harry. "Well, it's a pleasure doing business with the first Peverell to ever hold an account a Gringotts."
"The first one ever?"
"Yes, Iolanthe Peverell married Hardwin Potter before Gringotts was founded."
"Thank you, I don't know much about my family," Harry said. "I only have the portrait of Ignotus to talk to in the manor and a few journals to read."
"I have a vault ready for you as soon as the gold and jewels are examined and weighed."
Harry had a feeling that the examining and weighing process would take a long time.
It turns out his instincts were correct. After two hours of weighing and examining, Harry had the amount of money he would get from the three-quarters of gold from the chest, and it was a lot. The goblins were currently finishing bringing six hundred thirty-seven thousand three hundred ninety-seven galleons, two sickles, and ten knuts to his vault.
Harry and Rognot were headed down to his vault to put half of the jewels from the chest into it and to check that the amount in the vault is the right amount. When Harry and Rognot got to his vault the last of the goblins moving the money into it were just finishing up.
Harry took his wand out and cast the counting spell with just galleons in mind. "Numerare pecuniam."
A thin blue wall of energy formed and slowly went through the entire vault. After it touched every single galleon the blue wall formed into a number. The number of galleons as promised was shown. Harry counted the two sickles and 10 knuts without magic and then he summoned half of the jewels from the chess and made a pile of them in the vault.
After Harry filled a bag with galleons as well as his sickles and knuts he closed the vault door with his new key.
"The enchantments are ready for your blood," said Rognot.
Harry conjured a knife and pricked his thumb. He pressed his thumb to the vault door, which shimmered red when he did.
The added blood protection was worth the extra jewels he paid to have it. With the blood protection and a key, no one would be getting into his vault, unless one of the Potters figured out he was directly related to them, stole his key, and figured out which vault was his.
After the ride back to the surface, Harry thanked Rognot and left Gringotts. Harry apparated back to the manor to put the rest of the gold and jewels back behind Ignotus before starting his clothing shopping.
Once he was back in Diagon Alley at Madam Malkins Robes for All Occasions, it didn't take very long for him to get a full wardrobe of the finest quality. He didn't want any of the pureblood children to sniff disdainfully at him as he tries to become friends with them. Though, Harry did recognize the superior quality. All in all, he was happy with his new clothes and was glad to be rid of the clothes he came here with.
Harry was headed to the Leaky Cauldron to get a butterbeer before heading back to the manor when he saw a much younger Horace Slughorn, which changed his plans slightly.
The professor would be a great person to help his enrollment at Hogwarts, plus getting in the good graces of Slughorn would be the greatest thing to happen for him. The man had connections that would undoubtedly be useful on occasion but the biggest thing Slughorn could offer him was an invite to the Slug Club where Harry could interact with Tom Riddle and a handful of future Death Eaters. Not only would being in the club would ensure interaction between Harry and Tom Riddle and his friends, but it would also make Harry someone they know they could associate with. It wouldn't be an automatic thing, of course, they would need to understand his opinions and it could depend on which Hogwarts house he was in, but it would definitely help a lot. With his Peverell name, sudden and mysterious reemergence, and the fortune he will leak the information of through the Ministry, Harry is a shoo-in for the Slug Club. His soon-to-be very high grades and being able to hold a conversation with Slughorn will make sure he stays in the club as well.
Harry forgot about his butterbeer and started following Slughorn. He thought of ways to start an interaction and decided that causing an accident and helping out with it would be the best way. Harry was a complete unknown and with his made-up story, shouldn't know who Horace Slughorn is.
Harry applied a notice-me-not charm to himself and followed Slughorn at a distance until the Professor entered the Apothecary. Harry decided that the best thing to do would be to wait for Slughorn to leave and then bump into him 'accidentally' on his way into the Apothecary.
It only took a few minutes of waiting before the Apothecary door opened and Slughorn started walking out holding a box of potions ingredients. Harry walked quickly to intercept him and they collided, sending the box of ingredients flying.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," Harry said, quickly getting up from the ground. "I'm sorry, sir, it's only my second time in Diagon Alley and my first time going to the Apothecary."
"It's all right, just a mistake," Slughorn said, getting up as well. "Though a few of these ingredients may be ruined now."
"I can buy another order to make sure," said Harry.
Slughorn chuckled while straightening his clothes, "Well, I won't refuse such generosity."
That is how the two of them made their way into the Apothecary together. Slughorn asked for the same thing he asked for a few minutes ago and Harry ordered the ingredients to make the Half-Blood Princes modified Euphoria Potion.
"An advanced potion," Slughorn said. "By the way, I was meaning to ask, do you not attend Hogwarts? I don't think you do, considering you haven't said my name- oh, how rude of me. My name is Horace Slughorn, I'm the potions professor at Hogwarts."
"We share in our rudeness then," Harry said with a grin. "It's nice to meet you, Professor Slughorn, I'm Magnus Peverell. It must be fate that I met a Hogwarts Professor today, I was going to write to Headmaster Dippet to see if I could attend."
"A Peverell?" Slughorn said, eyebrows raised. "I was sure your family was extinct."
"Almost," Harry said. "It's just me left."
"Have you been living in England this whole time?" asked Slughorn
Before Harry could answer the man running the Apothecary came up to the counter Harry and Slughorn were waiting at and gave them their potions ingredients. Harry paid for all of it and then he and the professor left the shop.
"I was living with muggle relatives in my early years and then alone at the Peverell Estate," Harry said. "You see, my family was going through a troubled time when Ignotus died, enemies at around corner, so they went into hiding, except for Iolanthe who wanted nothing to do with the conflict. I was placed into my muggle relative's care by my parents when they got news of an impending attack. They were killed that night.
"So I grew up with my magic hating muggle relatives until I was seven when I ran away. I ran away and all that was going through my mind was that I needed to get out of there, I need to leave, to be away from that place, and that's when I apparated for the first time, accidentally of course. It happens that my parents placed a spell on me that was tied to the manor, the spell would only active if I apparated before the age of thirteen and it would force my apparition to take me to the manor. They thought that if I was apparating before that age that I would be in a bad enough situation to accidentally apparat, so they wanted me to go to a safe place.
"Ever since I apparated that night, I've been learning magic and my family's history," Harry said, looking at Slughorn. "But I am human, I long for companionship. I want to make friends and experience the world, that is why I wish to enroll at Hogwarts."
"Thank you for telling me all of that, I am honoured," Slughorn said. "Don't you worry, I'll speak to the Headmaster this evening and make sure you get a meeting with him. How old are you?
"I'm fifteen, sir," Harry said. "Born on July 31st, 1927."
"Would be open to meeting a few students the same age as you?"
"I would love that, thank you."
"It's no problem, really," Slughorn said. "But I best be off now, I've got to get these potions ingredients back home before talking to Old Dippet about your enrollment."
"Goodbye, Professor, and thank you again."
"I'll send you an owl concerning your meetings with the Headmaster and those students I mentioned. Actually, since no one knew you existed, it would be a good idea to inform the Ministry of your existence. I'll see if I can arrange a meeting with the right Ministry officials at the same time you meet with the Headmaster, just to deal with everything at once." Slughorn said. "I'll send you an owl in a few days to let you know when the meeting is."
Slughorn then disapparated away, leaving Harry standing alone in Diagon Alley. It would indeed be very helpful if Slughorn can manage to have Harry meet with the Headmaster and Ministry officials at the same time. Harry also knew that the students Slughorn wants him to meet will most definitely be students from the Slug Club, so he should expect to meet Tom Riddle very soon.
Since I'm not editing the chapters of this story other than spelling mistakes, if anyone notices an error within the story, like if I mention a date in an earlier chapter and change it to another date in a later chapter, just leave a review and I'll go back and fix it.
