With this, Harry and Hermione left the library, heading towards the great hall for lunch.
On the way to the great hall, they met Sirius, who told them that Professor Lupin had agreed to let them have lunch in his quarters so they could discuss things that they did not want to be overheard by others.
"Professor Lupin, will you be our Defence Against the Dark Arts professor again next year?"
"No, Snivellus told the board of governors about Remus being a werewolf," Sirius snarled, evidently annoyed about it.
"Professor Snape? Snivellus? He… he would be so annoyed if someone called him that." Harry said amidst uncontrollable laughter.
"Oh, he did get annoyed! Your father and I used to always call him that back in school."
"You were in Hogwarts together?"
"Oh, yes, we were in the same year. We had the fiercest rivalry. Prongs, Moony, that traitor Pettigrew, and I were always pranking him." Sirius remarked, reminiscing the past.
"You guys were the marauders?"
"Yes! Where did you hear of us!"
"Fred and George Weasley, they gave me this map that showed everyone in the school and they said it was the Marauders Map and the names Prongs, Moony, Padfoot, and Wormtail were often mentioned by the map."
"Oh, the Marauder's Map, yes we made it. I must say, it was mostly the work of your father and I. By the way, he was Prongs." Sirius said, smiling at Harry.
Remus turned to his drawer, pulling out a piece of parchment, "I forgot that the map is still with me. Here you go Harry, you can keep it."
"Really? Both of you don't want it back?"
"Why would we need it? You're the one at Hogwarts. Just keep on using it to sneak around the castle!" Sirius said, winking at Harry.
Hermione huffed, rolling her eyes, "Now you've just encouraged him! He does enough things to get into trouble as it is."
"But you're always there with me to make sure I don't actually get into trouble," Harry said, grinning widely at Hermione.
She glared at him, punching him lightly in the arm before turning to Sirius and Remus, asking what it was that they wanted to discuss in private. Meanwhile, Harry looked around the room, before asking where lunch was. To satisfy both their demands, Sirius told them that he would tell them more after lunch was served, before Remus called a house elf to ask it to bring lunch for the four of them.
"So, you think that Dumbledore might have sealed my parents' wills just so he could get the Potter seat on the Wizengamot to have more votes for his own agenda, that he believes is the only correct one, which is supported by the majority of the light faction, so he moved the Potter seat to the light faction. Minister Fudge gave the Black seat to Lucius Malfoy, who used it to vote for together with the dark faction, moving the Black seat to the dark faction. However, traditionally the Most Ancient and Noble Houses have been neither in the dark or light faction but in the grey faction, and moving the Potter or Black seat out of the grey faction is something neither of our ancestors would have ever done, so the grey faction has had a lot fewer votes and hence power compared to before, and by reclaiming our seats and moving them back to the grey faction, where they rightfully should be, we will be shifting the power of the Wizengamot a lot, allowing it to be rebalanced?"
"Yes, precisely. And for me to be able to claim the Black and Potter seat, and move them back to the grey faction, I need to claim the title of Lord Black and you need to claim the title of Heir Potter so that I can be assigned as Regent Potter until you can become Lord Potter in two months. Additionally, you will be able to unseal your parents' will, allowing me to be officially declared as your magical guardian so that Dumbledore's control of you can be totally eradicated."
"And for both of you to do this, you need to go to Gringotts, but Dumbledore will probably attempt to prevent you from bringing Harry there tomorrow, using the excuse that students aren't allowed to leave the school unless for family emergencies so that he can retain the votes in the Wizengamot and his control over Harry for as long as possible. However, the next Wizengamot meeting is on Monday, in two days time, and you want to be able to claim the seat by then instead of having to wait two weeks for the summer Wizengamot meeting which is held on the Monday of the second week of June every year which will be what you have to do if you wait another week for the summer holidays to start and bring Harry to Gringotts in the first week of the summer holidays and then wait another week until the summer Wizengamot session."
"So you want to use my floo to sneak out with Harry, and you want Hermione and me to cover up for the both of you as we are the first people he will come to when he realises Harry is not in school to find out about both of your whereabouts."
"Exactly! So… both of you will do it right?"
"Yes, fine."
"I guess."
Remus and Hermione answered, the latter more reluctant than the former.
"Right, so Harry, come to Remus office at 9 am tomorrow, and I will meet you here. Oh, please wear your best clothes, you do want to make a good impression on the goblins. I suggest wearing robes if you have them."
"Uhh, Sirius, I don't really have any wizard clothing other than my Hogwarts robes and my muggle clothes aren't exactly the most presentable as the Dursleys never gave me any clothes other than Dudley's hand-me-downs and he's thrice my size."
"Those Dursley's! I will never be able to comprehend how they are able to be so mean to their own nephew?"
"It's fine Sirius, I won't need to go stay with them anymore since I'll be able to stay with you so they don't matter to me anymore."
"Yes, besides, I've got Madam Bones to start a case against them. Anyways, I suggest you wear your Hogwarts robes then, I think you'll be able to get by with it for tomorrow at least considering it is still the school term. We will have to go shopping for some formal and casual robes, and some muggle clothes for when we have to go to the muggle world of course, once the holidays start."
The next morning, Harry met Sirius at Remus' office, Sirius giving Harry's attire a once over, smoothing out the wrinkles in it, before they headed off to Gringotts together. They flooed into the grand lobby of Gringotts, and Harry took in the scene of the goblin tellers all in a row, with different signs in front of them labelled "currency exchange", "money withdrawal", "vault withdrawal", and "private teller". Sirius pulled Harry towards one of the tellers who had the sign "private teller" in front of him, and walked up to the goblin, saying "Good morning, I wish to meet with the goblins in charge of the Black and Potter vaults."
"Those vaults have been sealed since the new owners of the vaults have not claimed it since the previous ones passed away."
"I believe we may be able to solve that problem."
"And who may you be?"
"Sirius Black, and my charge here is Harry Potter."
Hearing this, the goblin instantly looked up, glancing at Sirius before clicking away on a device on the desk. Soon after, a goblin appeared, beckoning them to follow him. He led them through a series of passageways decorated with intricate displays of precious jewels and gold, before they arrived at a large, heavy looking door. The goblin knocked sharply on it twice, before it swung open, revealing a large room with an elderly looking goblin sitting behind a desk.
"Master Ironfist, Mr Black and Mr Potter are here to see you."
"Mr Black, Mr Potter, this is Master Ironfist, the goblin in charge of the vaults belonging to the Most Ancient and Noble houses."
Sirius bowed, greeting the elderly goblin "May your gold flow Master Ironfist."
Not knowing what to do, Harry imitated Sirius, bowing and saying the same thing, before looking up at Sirius with confusion in his eyes. Sirius whispered in his ear "I'll explain later," before placing an arm around his shoulder and leading him towards a pair of chairs in front of the table the goblin was seating at. Once they were seated, the goblin motioned at the goblin who had led them there to leave, and the door swung shut behind him.
"What do both of you wish to do here?"
"We wish to claim the Black and Potter vaults, I by claiming the title of Lord Black, and he by claiming the title of Heir Potter. Additionally, we wish to unseal the Potter will. Can you do that for us right now?" Sirius stated in a commanding tone.
"Of course. We can start now."
Snapping his fingers, Master Ironfist called two goblins to him, who entered quickly, bowing to him before they conversed in gobbledygook, the two goblins scurrying away right after. While waiting for them to return, Master Ironfist took out two pieces of blank parchment, placing them in front of Sirius and Harry. After a while they returned, each with a chest in their hands.
Master Ironfist introduced them, saying "This is Master Ripluk, the goblin directly in charge of the Black vaults, and this is Master Naglock, the goblin directly in charge of the Potter vaults."
Seeing Harry's confusion, Sirius explained, "Master Ironfist is in charge of the vaults of all five of the Most Ancient and Noble houses, and he has five goblins under him who are each directly in charge of one of the vaults of the Most Ancient and Noble houses, and they are the ones we will normally go to if we need to visit our vaults, and who will tend to our investments and such."
Hearing the explanation, Harry nodded, having a better understanding of how it worked.
"Who would like to undergo the inheritance test first? You will need to drip three drops of your blood onto this piece of parchment, which will reveal the results of your inheritance test," Master Ironfist asked.
"I will go first to allow Harry to see how it is done."
"Alright. You've done this before to claim your heir ring right?"
"Yes, unfortunately it was taken away by the Ministry before they put me into Azkaban."
"Yes, it was given to us afterwards, and we have kept it safe in the Black vault since then."
"Okay."
With this, Sirius was passed a needle, and he pricked himself on his finger, allowing three drops of blood to drip onto the parchment. Once the last drop of blood touched the parchment, words started appearing on the parchment, as if they wrote themselves, which, technically, they did.
Sirius Orion Black
Blood status: Pureblood
Father: Orion Arcturus Black (Pureblood)
Mother: Walburga Irma Black (Pureblood)
Paternal Grandfather: Arcturus Black (Pureblood)
Paternal Grandmother: Melania Black nee Macmillan (Pureblood)
Maternal Grandfather: Pollux Black (Pureblood)
Maternal Grandmother: Irma Black nee Crabbe (Pureblood)
Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black (Paternal)
Lord of the Ancient and Noble House of Whitbourne (Paternal)
Lord of the Ancient House of Ellwood (Paternal)
Lord of the Ancient House of Twitchett (Paternal)
Lord of the Noble House of Malesbrow (Paternal)
Magical ties:
Alliances - High Council of Wizengamot, Black Alliance, Familial alliance with House Potter
Vassals - People on the land of House Black, House Malfoy, House Lestrange
Marriage contracts - None
Outstanding life debts:
Owed to - None
Owed from - None
Magical abilities:
Magical core - 100% developed
Family magics - Black family 80% unlocked
Animagus form - Scottish Deerhound
Magical Blocks:
None
Seeing the long list of houses Sirius was lord of, Harry asked him, confused "I thought you were only Lord Black, why are there other houses listed?"
"Those other houses used to be vassals of House Black or their daughters who were the last of their house married into House Black, so when their houses went extinct, they were absorbed by House Black, their family magic, family history, family artefacts, and such are now part of House Black. When you do yours, you will likely have more than just the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter listed as well. However, if the house absorbed is of a lower rank, their rings and magic will be combined into that of the house which absorbed them, so for me, there will only be one lord ring as all these houses which have been absorbed are of a lower rank. Although, if the lord of the house has more than one heir, he may choose to split any of the houses up, and let one of their heirs carry on the name of that house. Unfortunately, that does not occur very much anymore these days as due to the intermarrying of families, it is getting harder and harder for families to have more than two or three children."
"Oh. So that's why so many people in my year do not have any siblings."
"Yes, many at Hogwarts are purebloods who are part of old houses or the children of rather high ranking ministry officials, who are likely part of old houses as well. Few are muggle-born or half-blood, and the type of purebloods at Hogwarts are rather interbred as they often wish to keep the power amongst themselves instead of marrying outside of the select group of high ranking purebloods. Furthermore, most who work in the ministry, besides the low-level secretaries, are either half-bloods or purebloods who have graduated from Hogwarts. As such, the people with power in the wizarding world are the same small group of people, who mostly come from old wizarding houses, with the occasional muggle-born who married into an old wizarding house or who had extremely high scores and attended Hogwarts, allowing them to associate with and gain connections to the purebloods who hold a large amount of power in the wizarding world, allowing them to be able to get a job at the ministry and gradually climb up the ranks of the ministry, allowing their children to attend Hogwarts, and once again associate with the high ranking purebloods, enabling them to enter the ranks of those high ranking purebloods after a long time."
"There are different ranks of purebloods?"
"Of course. As long as all eight of your great grandparents are magical, one can be considered a pureblood, and those who have at least three magical great grandparents or four magical grandparents are considered to be a half-blood. Of course, there are exceptions. For example, if one is the heir of a Most Ancient and Noble House, one is automatically considered a half-blood even if none of their ancestors up till their great grandparents have been magical. Besides the few muggle-borns who are given a scholarship, most likely from private organisations that collectively give three muggle-borns every year a full scholarship for all seven years of Hogwarts, and eight students of any blood status different scholarship amounts, or come from well-off muggle families, those that go to Hogwarts typically have a long history of having magic in their families and are rather wealthy, as one year's school fees at Hogwarts costs 3000 galleons, which is 60000 pounds, and most muggle families and wizarding families would be hard-pressed to pay for it, so they go to ministry run school which costs only 10 galleons a month to attend, which is a fraction of the fee Hogwarts has. The only ones who would be able to pay for Hogwarts besides muggle-born students who are awarded scholarships, by different sources, and muggle-borns who have wealthy parents, are wealthy pureblood, and occasionally half-blood, students who come from old wizarding families. This, and the fact that about half of those families prefer to, and have the money to, homeschool their daughters, or sons that are not heirs, are why many at Hogwarts do not have siblings there."
"There are more magical schools in Britain? Isn't Hogwarts the only one?"
"Yes, there are other magical schools in Britain. I'll explain it in more detail later or over the summer holidays when we have more time, let's not keep Master Ironfist waiting. Why don't you do your inheritance test first."
"Alright."
Harry pricked his finger, letting three jobs spill onto the parchment, copying what Sirius had done.
Harrison James Potter
Blood status: Pureblood
Father: James Charlus Potter (Pureblood)
Mother: Lily Marie Potter nee Evans (Half-blood)
Paternal Grandfather: Charlus Fleamont Potter (Pureblood)
Paternal Grandmother: Dorea Cassiopeia Potter nee Black (Pureblood)
Maternal Grandfather: Andrew Evans (Non-magical)
Maternal Grandmother: Carol Evans nee Somersville (Non-magical)
Godfather (only magical godparents will be listed): Sirius Orion Black
Godmother: Alice Elizabeth Longbottom nee Emsworth
Heir of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter (Paternal)
Heir of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Peverell (Paternal)
Heir of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Gryffindor (Paternal)
Heir of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Hufflepuff (Paternal)
Heir of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Slytherin (Maternal)
Heir of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Ravenclaw (Maternal)
Heir of the Ancient and Noble House of Blythe (Paternal)
Heir of the Ancient and Noble House of Beaufort (Maternal)
Heir of the Ancient House of Cherrywell (Paternal)
Heir of the Ancient House of Penberthy (Paternal)
Heir of the Noble House of Richmond (Paternal)
Heir of the Noble House of Lumley (Paternal)
Heir of the Noble House of Whitewell (Paternal)
Heir of the Noble House of Althorp (Maternal)
Magical ties:
Alliances - High Council of Wizengamot, Potter Alliance, Familiar alliance with House Black, Alliance of Friendship with House Longbottom
Vassals - People on the land of House Potter
Marriage contracts - Outstanding contract with Ginerva Molly Weasley
Outstanding life debts:
Owed to - None
Owed from - Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley
Magical abilities:
Magical core - 70% developed
Family magics - Potter family 0% unlocked
Peverell family 0% unlocked
Gryffindor family 0% unlocked
Hufflepuff family 0% unlocked
Slytherin family 0% unlocked
Ravenclaw family 0% unlocked
Animagus form - has potential; undeveloped
Magical Blocks:
50% magical core block
"Huh! James never told me that he was the heir of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff! Why does Harry have a block on his magical core, and a marriage contract with Ginerva Weasley?!"
"I'm a pureblood? My mother was a half-blood? But people always said that she was muggle-born and I was a half-blood? My name is Harrison?"
Sirius and Harry remarked simultaneously, shocked at what the parchment was showing.