Carl looked blankly at the ten foot tall monitor that had appeared in front of him with an explanation of what he was doing in the void. Suddenly the information displayed worked its way into his mind, and he was suddenly ecstatic!
Carl Smith
You are offered the once in a lifetime (since you died) opportunity to go to a fictional world of your choice. You will be given a budget of 1000 choice points (CP) and allowed to pick out some extra powers to help you in your new life.
Complications and drawbacks can earn you more CP in order to buy more powers. The drawbacks and complication will last for ten years of your new life.
Choose wisely, and have fun!
Carl would forever swear that he didn't squee like a fangirl as he took control of the monitor and began looking up the Harry Potter world. It was a fun world without a lot of problems, as long as someone had some meta-knowledge to get rid of old Tommy right away.
"I mean, just the knowledge of where the Horcruxes are will make the whole plot of Voldy trying to kill Harry moot," Carl muttered with a grin. "Oh, what's this? I can actually become Harry?
"Ooh! Those are awesome magic powers!
"Oh, boy, I am loading down on the perks. Gotta take some drawbacks and scenarios to balance it out…
"I don't have any out of context powers or access to a Warehouse at the moment. Maybe after finishing this world I'll be allowed to continue on a Jumpchain? Cause that's suspiciously what this setup is like. Well, they didn't promise me a Jumpchain, so I'd better assume this world is my one and done."
A couple hours later, after Carl had scoured through the several Harry Potter related documents that he'd found on the afterlife's servers and taken a bit from everywhere, Carl was done.
"And that's all balanced out. Now what?"
The answer to his question was vanishing from the void.
A moment later Carl had the dubious pleasure of having a huge amount of salt water inhabiting his lungs while he was underwater. Barely managing to swim to the surface, he furiously coughed his lungs out while laboriously treading water. His small malnourished limbs felt so weak, barely able to keep his head above the stormy swells of the ocean.
When he was at the top of the swell, he could barely make out an island nearby with a light on in the cabin's window. There was a bulky shadowy figure standing in front of the cabin, but the next time he rose up on the swell he didn't see anyone there.
With nothing else to do, and wanting to save his life, Carl began swimming towards the island. It wasn't that far away, but it felt like it was miles away. When he finally got close, the crashing waves drove him towards the rocky shore, but then the waves pulling back made it hard to struggle forward.
Eventually though, by gripping the rocky beach with his hands and feet and resisting the waves trying to take him back to sea and forcefully dashing forward when the waves crashed towards the beach, Carl managed to pull himself to higher ground and out of the surf.
He couldn't say it was dry ground, since the storm was dropping plenty of water everywhere. Lying on his stomach, he heaved the ocean water he'd swallowed out onto the rocky sand.
At that point, memories began flowing through Carl's head. He began experiencing all the abuse and torture that poor young Harry had suffered. And it all culminated on the night before Harry's 11th birthday.
Similar to the original story, the multitudes of letter from Hogwarts drove Vernon into a craze of attempting to hide from the letters. Except in this instance, he'd brought the rifle along with him to put Harry down, one way or another.
In order to try to leave as little evidence as possible, Vernon had forced Harry to walk to the edge of the dock at gunpoint, and pushed him into the ocean. Vernon had hoped that Harry would simply disappear into the ocean and never darken his steps or bother his family again.
And that was when Carl woke up as Harry Potter.
Carl/Harry had no idea how the swap had occurred. Did he take over the body for a disillusioned and willing to die Harry? Was he reincarnated as Harry with his memories suppressed until this moment? Did they merge souls and become one entity?
Whatever the case, he was here now and in charge of the body. And he had a great deal going for him that the previous Harry didn't. He knew about magic and the various perks he'd bought with the CP he was given.
Focusing on what he wanted, he directed the magic he could feel inside him to act, and he felt a blooming of warmth through his body. It felt good after the cold bite of the waves and rain. Another spell driven by intent, and the rain wasn't hitting his body anymore, instead striking an invisible barrier a few inches away from his skin.
With a third spell, he was now dry as well as warm. Getting up and brushing off the sand and rocks from his front with his hands, Harry walked over to the cabin that Vernon had rented. Peeking inside from the very corner of the window, he saw Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley sitting at the table eating burgers.
'Huh. Apparently Vernon picked up some fast food earlier. Surprise, surprise, the fat tub-o-lard didn't share with me.'
With a directed and intense thought, since he knew what he was trying was entirely possible and his intent and power made up for a lack of specificity on the details, a bundle of magic formed into glowing words and numbers floating in front of him, informing him that it was 8:37 at night. He had under four hours to go before the date changed from the 30th to the 31st. At that point he would be eleven, and Hagrid should be arriving at the cabin.
'Of course, this is a fanfiction world of unknown quality. Who knows if Hagrid will even show. Vernon already did a very credible job of killing me instead of letting me sleep inside the cabin, so who knows what else is different. What if this world is that like one world where Vernon shoots Hagrid in the face and kills him, instead of Hagrid twisting the rifle into a pretzel?
'As much as I'd love to see the confrontation between Hagrid and Vernon and laugh as Vernon messes in his pants, I'd prefer to keep Hagrid alive and not be stuck on this island with a murderous Uncle, relying on my brand new magic to protect me.
'So I'd probably best be on alert outside so that if and when Hagrid shows up, I can urge him to take us straight to the Leaky Cauldron tonight.'
Harry spent a few restless hours half-dozing on the front porch after he was sure that Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley weren't going to come out and spot him. He admitted to himself that the celebration and cries of "no more freak to put up with!" hurt him more than expected.
'Well, I am now a nearly eleven year old boy who has the full memories of being raised in a very abusive environment. If that doesn't do a number on me, I'd be surprised,' Harry thought to himself before settling in for the wait.
One thing the loud celebration of the three Dursleys did was to cut off any possible thought he might have that this whole murder on the island thing was only Vernon. Even Dudley, a thick as a brick eleven year old boy, was able to figure out what his father did, judging by the happy sounds of celebration.
'There is no way I'm suffering four more years of living with these scum and recreating the canon events just so Dudley can encounter a Dementor and start having second thoughts about his thug life. I'm not that much of a rug to let them walk all over me.'
At 11:58 a vibration went through Harry's body from his oversized shirt, waking him all the way up, and Harry dispelled the alarm charm he'd placed on himself. The Merlin Returned and Spellweaver perks were making themselves very much appreciated, seeing as how doing magic was practically second nature to him, and he was easily able to cast spells with an effect he needed with a bit of work.
While he was fully aware that the perks he'd purchased for this reincarnation dealio made it so he hardly needed schooling and could pick up magic like it was nothing, he was eager to attend the magical school of fantasy he'd read in his youth. He wanted to meet the people, make some friends, and enjoy this new life.
He forgot which fic he'd read it from, but it had talked about how the people Harry went to school with at Hogwarts were the peers he'd be working with for the rest of his life in the magical world. So while he probably wouldn't give up the muggle world completely, he loved so many of the games, internet, and conveniences to do so, Harry was more than eager to meet and interact with his magical peers.
A short time later, the time ticked over to midnight and hit was his birthday. He didn't experience anything trope-ish, like having his magical core go through one of its maturities or anything like that.
But he did see a large form appear in front of him out of nowhere, spinning a bit. There was just enough light, and with the occasional lightning, that he could see Hagrid leaning over and groaning as if he was trying not to puke.
'Oh, yeah. He didn't even like the cart rides in Gringotts. Chances are the spinning of a portkey, if that's what that was, made him nauseous.'
Carl watched as Hagrid straightened up and dug deep into his pocket to pull out an umbrella and a lantern. He then moved towards the cabin, raising his hand to knock.
"I wouldn't do that if I was you!" Harry called out to stop Hagrid from knocking on the door, startling the big man who looked over at him, aiming the beam of light at him. "Vernon's got a rifle and he's more than willing to use it. I'd hate to see anyone get hurt because of him."
"Blimey, Harry! Yeh gave me a right scare there!" Hagrid cheerfully responded, apparently ignoring what Harry had said. "What in Merlin's name are yeh doing out here in this weather, Harry?"
Harry couldn't really see Hagrid's face, but he seemed to be looking around in confusion at what Harry was doing out in the storm, instead of inside the cabin.
"Eh. Thousands of letters kept attacking us at home, and wherever Vernon moved us, they kept coming. It turned him quite unhinged, so we came out here. And like I said, he's got a rifle and he's not shy of using it, so it was better to be out of sight and mind. So, who are you and what are you doing here? You seem to know me…"
"Well, of course I know yeh, Harry Potter. My name is Rubeus Hagrid, keeper Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And I'm here to make sure you get your invitation letter, since you weren't responding to it. Now, I know I've got it here somewhere…"
Harry giggled a bit inside, amused at this interaction with Hagrid, the big softy (softy in the head). Hagrid set the lantern down on the ground and began digging around his pockets. Harry stared in fascination as the lantern magically grew a stand underneath it and rose up to Harry's shoulder height to give them a bit more illumination.
Sure, he'd ended up in a world where Vernon was a lot more murderous than in the canon world, and he definitely had ten years of very bad memories banging around in his head, but he was going to be attending magic school! He was damned sure going to have fun with this! And it made sense to him that the people of the magical world weren't all there, like Hagrid and his lack of common sense, according to the standards of a muggle. That was part of the charm of the wizarding world, right?
"Ah, there it is!" Hagrid announced proudly, handing Harry his letter while holding his umbrella overhead to keep most of the rain off them.
Harry cracked open the envelope that was addressed to his current location outside the cabin, and saw his Hogwarts letter for the first time. He caressed the parchment curiously, he'd never felt parchment before, and it was interesting.
A moment later Harry inwardly groaned. He'd just realized he was going to have to learn how to use a quill and ink to write, ugh!
'Okay…maybe I'll pick up some fountain pens. Anything I don't have to dip in ink to write with is a good thing...'
"So…is this real, Hagrid? There's really magic and I get to go to Hogwarts to learn it?" Harry excitedly asked.
"Of course it's real, and just like yer parents, yeh're a wizard, Harry!" Hagrid announced.
"Cool! So…can we use whatever magical means you used to come here to get out of here? I don't think Uncle Vernon will appreciate being woken up in the middle of the night…"
"Nonsense! There's a perfectly good couch inside we can kip on till morning!" Hagrid declared as he pounded on the door. Well, pounded it to the ground, actually.
With a resigned shrug Harry hung out just inside the door while hoping that the reality he came to wasn't one where he would see Hagrid dying in just a few moments.
As it turned out, Harry was right to be worried about Vernon's state of mind, as the murderous muggle immediately fired off a round as soon as he got a clear view of Hagrid. But as it turned out, Harry was completely off base to worry about Hagrid, as he just gave a bit of a grunt when the round hit his cheekbone and ricocheted off to the far wall.
Moving incredibly fast, faster than Harry could follow, Hagrid had the rifle out of Vernon's hands before a second shot was fired and the barrel was bent in two. Vernon was then suspended in the air, held up by Hagrid's great hand.
"Thought yeh'd be mean to Harry Potter and kick him out of the cabin for the night, did yeh, Dursley? Well, I'll not be having it!" Hagrid roared.
'Wow!' Harry thought as he looked in amazement at Hagrid's cheek that was perfectly fine, except for a bit of his beard was tore off by the bullet. 'I have seriously underestimated what being a half-giant has done for Hagrid's durability, strength, and speed!'
Harry couldn't make out what the wheezing sounds coming from Vernon's mouth meant, but apparently Hagrid had a lot of practice with non-verbal communication with his animals and understood what Vernon was saying. Looking over at the bedroom that Vernon had come out of, he saw Petunia clutching Dudley and trembling in great fear as she stared at Hagrid and Vernon's confrontation.
Dudley had pissed himself, Harry noted to himself with great amusement. He had plenty of memories of Dudley and his gang playing their game of Harry Hunting, so he didn't have much sympathy for the hooligan.
"In the morning me and Harry'll be heading to Diagon Alley to shop for his things. And there ain't nothing much a great muggle such as yerself can do to stop it. So go back to your room and stay out of the way." Hagrid's deep voice seemed to reverberate through the room, even causing slight chills to shiver down Harry's back.
That was the encounter that caused Harry to reevaluate everything he knew, or thought he knew, about Hagrid. The half-giant was eleven feet tall, barely fitting in the room crouched over, and he was supernaturally tough, strong, and loved playing with dangerous animals. Just because the Harry Potter of the book mostly saw Hagrid's gentle side, didn't mean he wasn't a deadly person when he needed to be.
"That was brilliant, Hagrid!" Harry announced once the door shut behind Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley.
"Eh, it was aright. Just got to be a bit firm with them, put them in their place and let them know where the boundaries are," Hagrid replied sheepishly, smiling down on Harry. He dug into his pockets while muttering, "Know I got it here, somewhere…"
A moment later Harry was holding a slightly squished box. When he opened it up saw a "small" cake in front of him, with the words "Happy Birthday, Harry!" written on it.
Harry embarrassingly noticed that he was tearing up, far more moved than he would have expected to be before coming to this world. He was, physically, an eleven year old boy. He had experienced a sudden memory download of ten long and dark years of living as a punching bag with a side order of constant negativity and emotional abuse. And he had woken up nearly drowning in the ocean and barely saved himself. So having this bit of kindness given him by Hagrid really, really touched him deeply.
While Harry had been staring at the cake, thinking about his new life and how awesome it was, despite the problems of his home life, Hagrid had moved over to the couch, taken off his coat, and lit the fire with his umbrella.
"Thank you, Hagrid!" Harry sincerely said, a wealth of emotions behind that simple sentence.
"Tweren't nothing. Happy Birthday, Harry. Now come on over and take a seat while you enjoy your birthday cake!"
Harry went over and settled down on Hagrid's coat where he indicated, since the big man took up most of the couch, took the knife that Hagrid gave him, and split the cake into two pieces. The bigger piece went to Hagrid, and the smaller piece that was still the size of Harry's head became the first thing he'd eaten in a couple days, according to his memory.
While Harry was eating, he eyed the umbrella leaning against the couch that he figured had Hagrid's broken wand embedded in it. He made a promise to himself that one day he would figure out a way for Hagrid to be given his wand rights back. It was far too unfair for the good man to have been set up by old Tommy Riddle and denied the ability to freely practice his magic.
After finishing off not even a third of his piece of very rich and delicious birthday cake, Harry was feeling very drowsy. He curled up in Hagrid's huge coat and fell asleep with the big man watching over him. He felt safe and secure, which was strange to him, though comforting.
Harry sadly watched the boat floating back on its own to the island he and Hagrid had just left behind. He may be a bad person for thinking it, but he somewhat wished that Hagrid hadn't sent the boat back for the Dursleys.
After the ten long and dark years in his memory, and the murder attempt by Vernon, Harry wasn't feeling very charitable towards that family.
'Oh, well. I suppose they'll survive a while longer,' Harry thought. 'I wonder if they have therapists in the wizarding world that'll help me get over these suddenly angry and murderous feelings towards them. Or maybe the wizarding world's version of therapy includes a quick Obliviate and a pat on the head?'
Shaking off the dark thoughts, Harry followed Hagrid's easy walk at a jog as they headed for the nearest public transportation. He asked Hagrid to tell him about his job and listened in fascination as Hagrid described some of the things he did to manage the grounds of Hogwarts.
His eyes widened in amazement when he noticed some of the doors of the buildings and the roof of the train expanding so Hagrid could walk normally. After asking him about it, he learned that Dumbledore had enchanted an object to help Hagrid travel through the muggle world more comfortably. It even had a narrow notice-me-not layered in so that the muggles wouldn't really pay attention to an eleven foot tall man walking among them.
'Magic is so cool!' Harry thought. Hagrid's booming laugh made him realize that he'd said that aloud.
"That's the truth, Harry. That is the truth." Hagrid managed to say between laughter.
They arrived at Diagon Alley after a couple hours of travel, but were held up at the Leaky Cauldron for a while as Harry dealt with shaking everyone's hands as they got their first glimpse of the Boy-Who-Lived.
It wasn't nearly as overwhelming for Harry as it would have been if he didn't have the memories of his life as Carl to fall back on. But even so, the eagerness and desire of the crowd to get a piece of him, even if it was just his time and attention, made him inwardly shake his head in exasperation.
'I can totally see why the canon Harry developed a complex about living a normal life,' Harry thought ruefully.
After the cart ride down to his trust vault and then another stop for Hagrid to pick up the philosopher's stone, Harry and Hagrid split ways. Hagrid headed to the Leaky Cauldron to get a pick-me-up, and Harry was left alone to his shopping.
Standing on the steps of Gringotts, staring in amused awe at the magical alley, Harry made a decision that he'd been pondering in the back of his head ever since Hagrid showed up at midnight.
Thanks to the perks he'd purchased on that monitor in the void, Harry now had a perfect memory, and so he remembered every word in the canon book. But, he'd already established this wasn't the canon universe.
'I mean, just the fact that I'm here is evidence enough!' Harry chuckled.
As a result of that realization, Harry threw all he knew about this world, based on fiction and speculation in his last life, into a locked cabinet in his mind and ignored it.
Cheerfully walking down the alley, Harry began looking for a trunk store. That seemed to be the proper first item to buy on his traditional Diagon Alley shopping trip.
Harry spotted a kindly looking old lady in black and red robes walking by and stepped near her to ask her for directions.
"Hello, I was wondering if you could…" Harry didn't get to finish his question as the old lady sneered at him and walked away a little faster. He could swear her hand twitched a bit, as if wanting to go for her wand and hex him.
'Huh. Note to self. Do not rely on the outward appearance to judge if they're a decent person.' Harry shrugged and decided to ignore all the other people in the alley. Looking around, he spotted the nearby Florean Fortescue Ice Cream Parlour and figured that would be a good place to ask for directions while buying a bit of a treat.
There was a bit of a line, and Harry listened to the usual talk of the adults and kids, namely about what ice cream they were going to pick. Looking up at the board, there were a lot of choices. All the normal ones were there, like chocolate, vanilla, strawberry. But there were also some others that he'd never thought to try, like clotted cream, earl grey & lavender, etc.
"And what will you have young man?" The brown haired kind looking Florean asked Harry when it was his turn.
"I'll get a toffee apple, and a strawberry & peanut butter, two scoops of each on a cone, please. And I'd like your advice, Mr. Fortescue. Where would you say is the best place to buy a trunk?"
"That'll be eight sickles. And for a new trunk for a student heading to Hogwarts, I would suggest going to Tristan's Travel Trunks. Once you exit the store, turn right and go past four shops. There is an entrance to Mystic Alley there, where a lot of trade stores are. Tristan's is the fifth on the left."
"Thanks a lot!" Harry accepted the two ice cream cones, having already paid.
"You're welcome, lad. Have a good day."
"You too!" Harry called out as he exited the ice cream parlour.
"Harry! What are yeh doing here instead of over at Madam Malkins?" Hagrid asked.
It looked like he was about to enter the ice cream parlour to buy the ice cream cones that he would have shown up at Madam Malkin's with. Since Harry would rather buy his trunk first to put his purchases in, and he had absolutely no desire to meet Malfoy, he'd changed up the script a bit.
"Hey, Hagrid! Which one did you want, toffee apple, or strawberry & peanut butter?" Harry asked in lieu of answering his question.
"What? I was gonna buy yeh an ice cream. Yeh didn't have to do that for me."
"Ah, but you gave me my first birthday cake, that I remember anyway, so I figure that means we're friends now. So when I was grabbing an ice cream and directions to a shop I could buy a trunk from, I couldn't not buy you one too."
Harry felt a bit embarrassed at the way that Hagrid was looking at him as he accepted the toffee apple ice cream. They sat down on the tables outside Florean's and ate their ice cream while chatting. It was mostly Hagrid talking, actually, since he knew quite a lot about the alleys that branched off of Diagon and what kinds of things they could find there.
So instead of Hagrid disappearing every now and again to pick up supplies for him, Harry and Hagrid went together to buy his trunk at Tristan's. He got a five compartment deal, with some nice adjustable features for everything he'd need for school and beyond.
The first compartment was set up to store all his clothes, shoes, and accessories. The second was his library, parchment, quill, and ink compartment. The third was for his equipment. Anything from quidditch pads and a broom, to potions cauldrons and his telescope could be stored there. The fourth was for potions ingredients, and it had built in preservation charms. The fifth compartment was just a big empty storage space, just in case, for whatever he couldn't currently think of that would be useful in the future.
Harry had some fun going around the alleys with Hagrid that day, getting all his supplies. He loaded his trunk with all the first year books and several others that Hagrid recommended about various creatures and the care of them.
Hagrid did pull one disappearing act that day. While Harry was trying to break everything in Ollivander's shop with poorly matching wands, Hagrid was off to get him a certain special snowy owl.
Harry found himself surprised to still end up with the canon wand, 11 inch Holly and Phoenix feather, though he did his best to ignore the creepy words that the old wand maker said about the connection between his wand and Voldy's Yew wand, and how he expected great things from Harry Potter.
Exiting the wand shop, Harry smiled to see Hagrid there with Hedwig in her cage. After an appropriate amount of gushing thanks for the wonderful birthday present and fun birthday fun, Harry and Hagrid left the alley behind.
Hagrid saw him off on a train that would take him back to Surrey before heading off on his own to Hogwarts. When he was finally separated from Hagrid, Harry smiled and shook his head, and got off on the next stop to immediately circle back around to Diagon Alley.
Harry really appreciated Hagrid, the big deadly friend he'd made. The first friend Harry had ever made, thanks to the Dursleys. And he felt somewhat bad about immediately going behind the big lug's back like he was in order to deceive Hagrid into thinking he would actually return to the Dursleys.
But after his experience of nearly being murdered at Vernon's hands on top of a decade of pain and misery, there was no way he was going to spend an entire month with the mad muggle and his bigoted family. He would probably suffocate in his sleep at some point, if he went back. So Harry needed options on where to stay, and the magical world was definitely good for giving him options.
Especially when Harry thought of the trust vault full of gold he'd seen. Having access to that money gave him options, that was for sure.
Entering the Alley through the Leaky the second time didn't gather a crowd, since he didn't pause long enough for the bartender to announce his name to the taproom this time around. Having all those adults mobbing him had been seriously traumatic for a guy that had a near-murder experience within the last 24 hours.
He was seriously glad that he'd gotten the trunk with the self-shrinking function, and that he'd let Hedwig fly free with the instructions to come find him that night wherever he found accommodations to stay at.
Harry nodded at the security goblins that stood outside the doors of the bank before getting in line for a teller.
"Yes?" A wrinkle faced goblin teller greeted Harry briskly.
"I'm Harry Potter, and I'd like to speak to whoever is in charge of my family's vaults." Harry kept his request short and direct. No need to blab his backstory of being raised ignorant in muggle society to this teller in order to try to get help. He was at a bank where they did business transactions, so he simply needed to explain what he needed and the teller would act to supply that need.
If he was going to show off his weakness and ignorance in order to play the sympathy card in order to get someone on his side, he wanted to be sure it was an effective card played and not wasted on someone who would much prefer him to be direct in his business dealings.
"Vault Runner Ulgok! Show this wizard to Account Manager Larrig's office." Teller Larraff barked.
"Follow, wizard." Vault Runner Ulgok appeared as if by magic behind Harry's left shoulder.
"Thank you," Harry said to the Teller while following the Vault Runner. He wondered if the goblin appearing where he did, right behind his back, was a subtle dig at him that he had managed to sneak up behind him and had him at his mercy.
Harry wasn't sure if he wasn't letting his imagination get away with him, due to all the fiction he'd read in his past. But with the not exactly peaceful history between goblins and wizards, he wouldn't be surprised by such a little "game" actually being played by the goblins.
After a quick hike through some confusing tunnels, Harry ended up at an office that was labeled with Larrig's name and below that "Potter Account Manager".
"Is there a reason you're only now arriving at my office after ignoring Gringotts mail the past ten years, wizard?" Larrig immediately barked when Harry entered his office after Ulgok banged on the door and received a shouted permission to enter through a shouted "Enter!" from inside.
"The only mail I've received from anyone on the magical side is my Hogwarts letter," Harry replied while standing in front of Larrig's desk. "And then when my Aunt and Uncle refused to let me even read the letter, whoever was in charge of it sent a dozen more. Every day for the past week, my uncle Vernon has been running from those letters, refusing to let me answer them, even as they multiplied and kept finding us wherever we ran.
"It wasn't until Hagrid showed up on the little island in the ocean that Vernon had dragged us to that I finally got to read my letter and understand that I'm a wizard."
Larrig picked up a stone from his desk, shook it in a strange pattern in Harry's direction and scowled mightily.
"Mail redirect ward, tied directly into your magic. It would explain why our official correspondence never found you, Scion Potter, since your magic was sending it off to wherever it was redirected to. That is an acceptable excuse for you, but not for whoever mishandled your mail. We'll get that broken before you leave today."
"Thank you."
"Good. Now, why did you come in today, if not because of my request for you to come?" When Larrig saw Harry hesitating, he continued. "Ask what you were here to ask first, then we'll move on to my business with you, Scion Potter."
"Yes, well." Harry took a breath and pushed away the embarrassed feelings of being a burden so he could focus on the important business things. "I came today because the home I've been shoved in for the past decade is detrimental to my continued living. Vernon Dursley was driven mad by the swarm of Hogwarts letters I mentioned earlier and in order to stop the harassment, he tried to drown me in the ocean to get rid of me, and by extension stop the letters from coming. So after coming in earlier and seeing my trust vault, I had hoped that my family had some properties I could go live at for the next month until school starts in order to stay away from the Dursleys."
Harry could see from his expression that Larrig wasn't pleased that his client was nearly killed. Harry wasn't sure what could be done about it without any evidence aside from his memories, but he wouldn't give Vernon much of a chance against a goblin determined to get his payment of flesh if Larrig decided to act.
"Yes, you have properties you can stay at, Scion Potter. You also have house elves that keep those properties maintained and clean, and they can take care of your needs in the meantime."
Harry smiled a bit, happy that his major concern was pretty much taken care of.
"Was that all the business you had today?" Larrig asked.
"Yes."
"Very well." Larrig pulled a small box out of his desk, and Harry perked up at the sight. "I've got your Potter Heir ring here for you to bond with. According to the laws and family rules of the Noble and Ancient House of Potter, as determined by the past Patriarchs the Magical House, you must do this on or before your eleventh birthday, or else forfeit your right to become the Heir and future Lord of the House. Future progeny of yours will have opportunity to prove their worth as the Heir and then the Lord of the House, but you will have given up your claim if you didn't come in to the bank today."
At first Harry had internally cheered like a fan when he saw the Potter Heir ring, since it was just like a story out of magical fiction to him. But then he grew more grim as he processed what Larrig told him. If he didn't come back to the bank today, he would have given up all opportunity to take control over his Magical House by becoming the Heir, and then the Lord later on.
'Did Dumbledore know this?' Harry wondered. 'Is that why he made sure that Hagrid brought me to the bank today, even going so far as to portkey to the island in the middle of the night and during a small squall to gather me up? He did it in order to 'register' that I came to the bank but left without taking up the ring, therefore forfeiting my right to become the heir?
'Am I reading too much into this? Maybe Hagrid messed up the directions he was given? Maybe Dumbledore isn't the evil manipulator I'm imagining, he just trusts the wrong people to get the job done properly. He trusts Snape to teach children, after all. And then in the story he actually trusted the thief Mundungus Fletcher to protect Harry Potter. Maybe the old man is just losing the plot in a case of magical dementia?'
Whatever the case may be, and whatever the truth was, Harry didn't have time to rant about it at the moment. His Account Manager didn't get paid to be his emotional punching bag, so he would hold in his anger and frustration to take it out on a punching bag or something else later. And it also wasn't like the truth of the situation would magically appear to him with just a bit of thought, so he would reserve judgment on whether Dumbledore was simply incompetent or was actively plotting bad stuff against him.
"Thank you," Harry said after his frozen moment of furious thought. He moved forward to accept the box. Opening up the box, he saw a silver colored ring with his family crest of two rampant lions facing each other with a bit of latin below them. As soon as he picked up the ring, he knew he had to place it on his left index finger.
The ring shifted size to fit him perfectly, and he could feel a connection with his magic forming. The House's Magic connecting with him really felt quite wonderful. Harry paid attention as the feeling moved from his finger up his arm and split to go up and down his body at the same time. When it reached his forehead, though, Harry suddenly felt an emotion of towering rage from the House Magic flow through him. His family magic did not like the leech or horcrux or whatever it was in his scar.
Harry could feel a sensation of enormous reserves of magic building up like a tidal wave. While he stood frozen, Larrig looked alarmed as he too felt the magic build up. A moment later, the Potter House Magic struck.
He stood, frozen in place, as the magic began tearing at the soul inside his curse scar. But it wasn't seeking to simply drive the soul shard away from Harry. No, his Potter House Magic wasn't so easygoing. The magic was focused on shredding the soul piece apart, ripping it up and claiming the magical energy and knowledge imprinted in its enemy's soul piece as the prize in combat. It was important for the Potter House Magic to learn everything about an enemy of the House, so that it could better protect its family from similar attacks in the future.
And that's about when Harry passed out. It turns out that having a soul magic battle right there on his forehead, in close proximity to his brain matter, wasn't the most comfortable of sensations. It certainly wasn't very conducive to Harry remaining conscious.
Larrig was left standing there in his office, trembling from the excitement and sheer magic power he'd felt as the Potter House Magic had cleansed Heir Potter of that piece of filthy dark magic. Staring down at the young and obviously maltreated boy that just became the primary account holder of his only account, Account Manager Larrig grinned fiercly in joy.
Now that he had an account holder, many restrictions on his freedom to act on the economic battlefield were loosened. And if he could convince the young account holder to trust him, he would have even more restrictions freed in what directions he could wage economic war in order to amass gold for him and the Potter account.
Already planning out his next year's moves in advance, plans and backup plans alike being adjusted in his mind, Larrig summoned the healers. He would need this young Heir Potter alive, healthy, and of sound mind to trust him with the tools needed to rise to the top through economic battle.