Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance
Rita Skeeter was having a field day. Not only had one of the most notorious mass murderers of the last war escaped Azkaban Prison, but his presumed target had gone missing right out from underneath the noses of his watchers. The accidental magic reversal squad being called to the home of a second year (going on third) Hogwarts student was unusual enough that when she overheard them being dispatched she decided to tag along and see if there was a scoop. She didn't expect to discover that Harry Potter had been raised by Muggles! All of the Harry Potter books indicated that he lived in a mansion or castle being raised and trained by family retainers or retired war heroes. Not slaving away gardening the muggle way in clothes large enough to fit three people inside them.
Her poison pen was scribbling away in her mind as she listened to the gossip that his running away caused the next day. The blustering and rage of the muggles had been impressive. The Obliviators wiped the memories of the "Aunt" that had been unfortunate enough to be the target of his temper, but the Dursley family themselves as his caretakers were exempt. When he hadn't turned up by the end of the next day she had her headline. She had trouble deciding which angle she should pursue during her follow up article series, "Boy Avenger Seeks to Bring Family Betrayer to Justice!" perhaps, or "Last Potter Possibly Snuffed by Black!" The ministry response was of course completely worthless; they had no idea how to go about finding either target. Despite being a prisoner for over a decade, there was no direct way to track Black, and Harry Potter, despite being one of the most important symbols of the last generation, had apparently slipped any means of tracking him the ministry and Hogwarts had established. He no longer even registered on the Trace!
Showering in a Wizarding home has several advantages over most Muggle homes. For one thing Wizards never developed Hot Water heaters, instead they use an enchanted tap. The water is actually conjured and heated by spells and will never run out so long as there is magic in the area. As Harry stood in the shower letting the hot, almost too hot, water cascade over his body he had plenty of time to think and remember. Organizing his thoughts in the shower was much easier than doing so on a bed or cot. No risk of falling asleep for one.
The plans he had gone over with Destiny Repair in the Underworld were flexible, and had lots of potential ways of handling different situations that needed to be addressed. This was good, as no plan survives first contact with the enemy. For the moment those enemies included Voldemort and his followers, The Ministry, and Albus and his followers. Oh, Albus wasn't an enemy per se, but his well meaning interference could result in just as many innocent deaths as last time if he wasn't careful.
Secrecy and circumspection were the key words for the moment. Considering what he had learned from Lydia this morning, he had a few questions for the Goblins when they made it to the Alley later. No need to jump through too many hoops after all. It wasn't like he had any desire to "maintain the Timeline" or some such rubbish. That would likely as not result in things going just as badly as they had the first time.
A decade of cooking for the Dursley family had instilled certain skills into Harry. So negotiating with Kreature to assist with breakfast was relatively easy. Kreature was less fond of cooking anyway. There had been a dedicated Kitchen Elf at one time, but her head now adorned the wall with the others. Kreature was fairly impressed with the speed and skill Harry demonstrated as he cooked a full English breakfast with little to no magic.
The smells and sounds of a traditional fry up eventually roused Padfoot from his slumber and the old dog quickly made his appearance as he trotted into the kitchen and sat by the stove giving Harry world class Puppy Dog Eyes. "Go on Sirius, wash up and have a seat, this is almost done, the rest is on the table. Kreature is keeping everything warm." said Harry with a laugh. The piteous pooch quickly reared up and transformed into his Human form giving Harry a quick hug.
"I know I'm not dreaming, but this is impressive pup." commented Sirius as he washed his hands.
"Not using cleaning charms?" asked Harry surprised.
"They always leave your wand hand feeling less than fresh," Sirius remarked with a smirk. "Did you just feel like making breakfast? Or was something bothering you, couldn't sleep?"
"I usually stay up much later in the Summers, but still have to get up early to do chores," replied Harry. "Going to bed as early as I did, I woke up earlier than usual, and decided to make a proper Brekky."
The back bacon was cooked to perfection, the bangers were still sizzling the scrambled eggs were fluffed nicely. The sauteed tomatoes and mushrooms were lightly seasoned and had picked up the flavor of the cooked meats nicely. The Cornish potato cakes made a nice alternative to bubble and squeak as he really didn't want to feed Padfoot cabbage. The plates full of toasted bread and softened butter were perfection as well. Really the best magic was keeping everything at a set temperature, without drying out or over cooking until it was ready to serve. Much more relaxing to not have to juggle three or four skillets of frying foods at once to ensure things were ready when Vernon appeared.
Once the two ravening beasts had eaten their fill, Harry spoke and Sirius and Hedwig looked at him. "Sirius, I think we should head to the Alley today in disguise and speak with the Goblins."
"Not sure about that." fretted Sirius. "The Auror's will be out in force and looking for a man under glamours and disguise charms."
"I was thinking less charms and more transfiguration, and perhaps some muggle hair dye." replied Harry. "Also they will be looking for a man, or a boy alone, not a father son pair."
Diagon Alley was fortunately not as busy as it had been the last two times Harry had been. He was mercifully unrecognized due to a minor notice me not, recolored hair, and a hat. His glasses had also been transfigured into more stylish rectangular wire-frames. Not having a score of tracking charms on everything he owned probably helped as well. Sirius was transfigured a bit more with auburn hair and a more rounded face. There was a bit of padding in his suit as well so he didn't seem to be a living skeleton. There wasn't time for brewing Polyjuice, and there was too much risk of being bumped into while under the invisibility cloak. So together they made their way to Gringotts, and then to the inheritance department.
Once ensconced in the well appointed office of Cragspear, Sirius began. "Thank you for taking time out of your schedule to meet with us on such short notice." he began with an almost formal head bob. "I would like to arrange inheritance tests for both of us, and update my will to confirm my young companion as my heir as my status has changed since it was last updated." Harry wasn't quite as in the dark about the Goblins as he had been previously, but seeing the nuance of the conversation between Cragspear and Sirius let him know he had a lot still to learn.
The formal ritualized movements of Sirius and the elderly Goblin as a small golden bowl, a black bladed stone knife and a roll of bleached parchment were handled was almost like the Japanese Tea ceremony he had seen a video of in Primary school. This was definitely not something he had slept through in Binns' class. Perhaps it was passed down in families? Sirius hadn't told him he would need to perform any sort of ritual.
Soon the bone white parchment was covered with a fairly small family line that didn't have quite as many branches as one would hope. It only went back five generations, but still included annotations indicating Sirius was the family head. Harry actually appeared on the chart with a broken line leading from Sirius. Harold James Potter (Godson).
Cragspear seemed unsurprised by the results despite no names having been given yet. He placed a second plain sheet on the first and tapped it with a sharp fingernail. The newly created duplicate was placed in a metal box marked "Out" to one side of the desk.
"Now it is your turn Mr. Potter" Cragspear spoke with a glint in his eye and a too sharp grin.
"I don't know how, that is, I've never, no one told me!" Harry blurted, letting his nervousness show. It was easy to do as his body was still quite young, and even in his past life he had never mastered controlling his emotions very well.
Sirius and Cragspear both let out a chuckle. "Merlin Pup," laughed Sirius, "nobody expects you to go through the whole song and dance your first go round unless you're from one of the stuffier families like mine. Most kids are shown the steps by their father or mother before coming to Gringotts the first time. Some families just do a simple blood test, no faffing about."
"Your mother never had her lineage tested Mr. Potter, and you should have come to see our department before being allowed to visit your vault the first time. Apparently the Potters entrusted Headmaster Dumbledore with a key to your trust vault and they skipped the verification process." Cragspear frowned. "Gringotts has tried to contact you regarding your trust vault but there appears to be a re-direction ward preventing our mail from coming through. Probably a blanket protection considering your fame."
"Prior to my Hogwarts letters, I have never received mail from the Wizarding World." confirmed Harry. "While at Hogwarts I never really got any letters, During the summers I have only ever received mail from a couple of my friends in Gryffindor unless my owl Hedwig delivers it."
"Something to discuss with the Headmaster, or McGonagal when term starts Pup," soothed Sirius. "Depending on what happened to all that mail you may need to take out an ad in the paper to let people know you never received it."
The bloodletting ritual was explained by Cragspear in detail and the steps were performed slowly with commentary from Sirius. Harry's parchment was a full roll rather than a smaller sheet, it would be cut to fit and subsequent tests would only use a small sheet. The resulting family tree was much larger and went back for many more generations. Lilly's parents were noted as Squibs as were at least one of their parents and so on until a Witch was denoted a few generations back. James' side of the tree held no surprises for Sirius but Harry was shocked to see a 'Brother' denotation between James and Sirius.
"James' parents took me in when I ran away from home," said Sirius tracing the line fondly. "I was formally given shelter and succor by the House of Potter. The Blacks weren't allied with the Potters but we had intermarried more than once in the past. Dorea and Charlus were just the most recent."
As with all of the tidbits he had learned about his family Harry stored that nugget away as a treasured memory. Before turning his attention back to the formidable Goblin banker.
"So the witch in my mom's family, is that normal? I thought she was a Muggleborn." asked Harry.
"There is no such thing as a Muggleborn," proclaimed Cragspear with a harrumph. "Just squib descendants finally manifesting magic again. It can happen in a single generation if two squibs who aren't related in the slightest have children, but usually takes several generations of Muggle blood infused in the family line before the, inbreeding is overcome." The sneer on his face as he stressed the word inbreeding was remarkable. Goblin faces are particularly good at sneering and Cragspear's face was no exception.
Forms were filed, an updated will was drafted including the Black Family Assets, rather than just Sirius' personal assets, and Sirius took the time to reclaim Bellatrix's Dowry from the Lestrange family for breach of contract. He specifically warned of a cursed cup that was likely in the vault that he would prefer be destroyed on the winter solstice rather than reclaimed and noted that any Goblin made items included in the Dowry would be returned to the Nation rather than the Black family coffers.
Harry was finally given a look at his account books and discovered that he had more than one vault, a bit more money than he had known about, and several monthly deposits from various sources he was unfamiliar with. It turned out he was getting royalty payments on the 'Boy Who Lived' merchandise after all. He sighed heavily upon learning that as it would make it even harder to shut it all down.
Their next stop, after arranging all the needed paperwork in the Inheritance department, was actually a consultation with the Curse Breaking arm of Gringotts. Harry's defeat a few short weeks ago of a thousand year old Basilisk that even now resided in Salazar Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets really did demand the services of a team of curse breakers and those skilled in rendering such a beast. Harry was able to share his memory of the fight and the Goblins, and the Wizards they employed, were quite keen to explore the newly discovered chambers.
Meanwhile in Egypt, a Goblin Excavation Site manager sent a summons to Bill Weasley. That night after the rest of the Weasley clan was fast asleep a cloaked figure cast a whispered Somnus charm over the room with the sleeping teens to ensure their work went undisturbed.
On a beach in the south of France a brunette with rather frizzy hair was relaxing, her mother had helped her apply a generous amount of sunscreen and now she was enjoying the warmth soaking into her core. Spending ten months out of her year in northern Scotland, little of it during the brief warm season, for the past two years had almost made her feel that she wouldn't ever get the chill out of her bones. The stress of being a child of non-magical parents in an otherwise closed community hadn't helped. Being in danger far more often than she should have been in the "safest place in the Wizarding world" hadn't helped either. Being petrified by the reflected gaze of a thousand year old Basilisk hadn't helped at all.
But here and now she could let the warmth of the sun and sounds of the surf lull her into a state of relaxed detachment. The only fly in the ointment were her recent dreams and her friend Harry's cryptic letter. She hadn't given it much thought at first but Harry, her Harry had been bitten by the Basilisk, and the only reason he was still alive was the intervention of a Phoenix, its tears had healed the wound. But Harry hadn't spent any time in the Hospital wing after the chamber incident, nor had she heard about the near fatal bite during any of their conversations prior to leaving the school last term. She couldn't help but worry. What else could happen to her friend, and had he let anyone know? Would there be any aftereffects? Sadly, general bookstores in magical areas had no information on the aftereffects of Basilisk poisoning other than painful death. Perhaps there would be something in the private library he had access to?
Andromeda Tonks née Black was quite shocked by her unannounced visitor. She and her husband Edward "Ted" Tonks lived in a rather pedestrian Muggle neighborhood. They had no close neighbors, and a sizable yard with a few aversions spells placed on it but otherwise had a largely non magical household. This had the effect of discouraging Magical visitors outside of Nymphadora's friends in Hullflepuff. She hadn't had much truck with magical society in many years, not since being cast out of house Black.
"Madam Tonks" the disguised goblin had greeted standing on her veranda. "Gringotts has been tasked with setting up a meeting and consultation with you and two of our respected account holders." He looked perfectly human, if somewhat shorter than average until you noticed his teeth and fingers were rather longer than they should be. So long as he didn't open his hands or his mouth the illusion was near perfect.
"And why may I ask have my services been requested?" Andromeda replied, her underlying worry over the unexpected visit safely hidden behind the Pure-blood Princess mask she had spent years having drilled into her.
"Our account holder is in great need of a trained healer not beholden to the Ministry or Saint Mungos for both himself and his ward. After your paid consultation, they will likely be in need of a solicitor and advocate. It was felt that your husband would do nicely in that role, but would be unlikely to accept the client unless he had your recommendation." The goblin's smile was almost vicious.
Despite not being part of the social circle she had traveled in in her youth, Andromeda still kept up with the news of the Wizarding world. This mornings headlines Boy Who Lived Missing! in conjunction with knowing that Sirius was in fact his godfather made her quite certain that she needed to make the house call. She nodded firmly and replied. "I'll be just a moment. I need to get my house call bag." Being a freelance healer who worked triage and emergency care during the last war meant that a lot of the old guard called on her rather than trusting the hospital. Especially given how many "donations" had been made by Lucius Malfoy. She suspected that was one reason they had refused to hire her after the war.
The goblin crafted portkey took them to a set of secured rooms inside Gringots that had a single exit with no handle and several murder holes in the walls and ceiling. A coded knock announced their arrival and soon they were being escorted to the Goblin equivalent of a medical area. While Goblins were quite good with blood magic. They still used Human Healers for many things including dealing with injured human curse breakers. The draconian contracts their healers had to sign were yet another reason she worked solo.
Meeting Cragspear in the medical area with two humans she didn't recognize at first solidified her suspicions. "Well, if you need my help the first thing will be to remove those silly disguises." She announced as she strode into the room.
