I do not own harry potter or DC I am simply a fan writing a fic.

Trains, Dreams, and Vultures.

Harry potter was ecstatic, he and his aunt, uncle, and their beachball of a son were not at the prim and proper no. 4 Private Drive, they were in London. No getting up at the crack of dawn to make them a large breakfast while he had to make do with whatever he could sneak, no being stuffed into a tiny cupboard (the hotel room didn't have one) and the reason he was there was because Mrs Figg was ill and on short notice there was no one who was willing to look after him due to the Dursley's own spreading of lies about him being dangerous, sure he had to sleep in the bathroom but it was still a room and not a cupboard.

Sightseeing around London was great when he could tag along, Vernon saw him eyeing the small fridge and given the price of the food in there didn't trust Harry alone in the room, although he should have been paying more attention to his own son who had inhaled half it's contents without his father knowing, and so Harry was enjoying seeing the shops landmarks ect. even this odd pub near the hotel which aunt Petunia was very cross about for some reason, they were heading to the underground as Dudley "wanted to ride the trains! NOW!" so that's what they did.

The train was fairly crowded and warm but surprisingly not to smelly, Harry was getting very sleepy, he tried to stay awake as the Dursleys would probably ditch him if they could, they had tried several times to abandon him but it never seemed to work he was almost always found and returned, the last time was the oddest as he was in a forest and they had all split up and lost him and in his panic he felt an unpleasant sensation and was suddenly back at private drive in his cupboard Vernon beat him badly for that one, but even with these thoughts he couldn't fight this sudden drowsiness and fell asleep.

Harry awoke with a start slightly panicked until he saw the disappointed look on Petunia's face, Vernon looked well... kinda constipated and Dudley... was exploring his own nose for something to eat, he glanced at the clock affixed to the roof of the car and he'd only been asleep for two minutes but it felt a lot longer, he also took stock of how good he felt it was like a fog had settled over his brain so long ago he couldn't remember it not being there was suddenly blown away and a realization hit him, the Dursleys were absolute scum!

He was surprised by the amount of hatred he felt for them, it was understandable of course they had treated him appallingly and not like a member of the family just comparing how differently they treated not only Dudley but Dudley's knuckle dragging friends showed him how poorly he was being treated, he needed to get away but knew that something was keeping him there after all it was not as if they were hiding how they mistreated him and people were not blind but the amount of teachers who would just ignore Dudley and his gang beating him, turning their glassy eyes from... wait.

All they while they headed back to the hotel Harrys mind went over his life, the odd happenings, people ignoring things they shouldn't, people forgetting things or just up and vanishing, appearing on the roof, appearing back at private drive, his teachers hair, all these things kept repeating in his head and two images from that strange sleep he had wouldn't leave his mind, a vulture and an old man with white hair and silver eyes, he felt he needed to find them, he didn't know why but it was important.

Harry was put back in the hotel room bathroom after the Dursleys had used it, Vernon had stopped at the reception desk and the fridge in the room had been removed, Harry flushed the toilet as whoever had used it last hadn't bothered but luckily the smell wasn't too bad.

With the danger of the fridge now gone the Dursleys ditched Harry in the hotel lobby, they sent him back up to the room to get Petunia's purse and he only realized when he was on the lift that they hadn't given him the key and by the time he got back down they were long gone, deciding that hanging around the hotel would be boring he decided to explore around the local area, he had no money of course but looking at stuff was free, he headed over to that pub Petunia seemed to hate reasoning it must be good if she didn't like it he wouldn't go in but it couldn't hurt to look, it took him less them two minutes to get there, the strangeness began then as he approached where the pub was all he could see was a run down old shop dusty windows with faded paint and... wait... there wasn't dust anymore, as he got closer the shop slowly changed into the pub he saw, it was a small pub but upper class looking the ornate door had a large bowl on it, above the door was a glistening sign witch curly writing spelling out 'The Leaky Cauldron' oh it was a cauldron not a bowl, it was them he heard her,

"Come Neville, i have some business at gringotts then we can have some ice cream after all you have worked hard on your studies and deserve a treat," came a voice which said I am in charge and you WILL listen,

Harry glanced around to see a boy about his age in what looked like a bathrobe that was made to be worn outside, the older lady was dressed in a much more elaborate and eye melting array of pink and purple topped off by a large hat topped with a stuffed Vulture, shock silent by the assault on his senses Harry just sort of followed them and surprisingly no one noticed, but considering what the woman was wearing an elephant might have gone unnoticed next to her, the went straight through the pub and out into the back alley where the woman pulled out a stick and tapped the wall in a certain pattern, harry was about to leave chastising himself for following a dream when his world was once again rocked as the wall rearranged itself into and archway and beyond was the most un-dersley-ish place he could ever have imagined, shops with all sorts of animals for sale, shops leaning impossibly over the street, the smell of wonderful food, before he knew it he was walking down this street looking around at the wonder on display, and stood in the entrance of one shop was the man from his dream Harry only glimpsed him before the man went inside and harry quickly followed,

"well well well, this is a shock, you are several years too early mister Potter," cam a voice from behind him, Harry span on the spot startled,

"How do you know my name?" he asked, surprised at the lack of fear he felt,

"ah that's simple, i see your parents in you your mother especially given your eyes, although you have your father's hair, odd how you are so small though your parents were fairly tall, well i suppose i should take you back as..." he paused and looked down, he reached under his silk shirt and removed a necklace, it was a simple gold chain with a jeweled lightning bolt hanging from it, he looked as if he was reading something his eyebrows rising, "well, it seems I am to help you Mister Potter, an old friend has called in a very old favor, one that i thought would never be called in but here we are,"

"help me?" Harry asked,

"it seems that my old friend doesn't want you returning to whoever was looking after you, and as this friend is one of the most noble and good people I have been fortunate to meet I assume that where you have been living is not a good place?" Olivander asked,

Harry nodded his thought's turning back to the Dursley's, if there was even a slight chance he could escape them he had to take it,

"well then come with me,"

Olivander closed his shop up and took Harry to the large white building that seemed to dominate the alley, inside was a sight, gold ordained the walls and short but heavily armed creatures stood at attention looking for trouble, large podiums with steps loomed overhead so the short creatures could look down on everyone and olivander approached the largest and quietist of the podiums drawing attention from several guards, the creature behind this podium was dressed in very expensive looking clothes and had a gold monocle attached to his upper pocket and when he spoke through those sharp teeth a curt British voice asked,

"An odd occurrence to see you here off season Master Olivander, how can gringotts be of service?"

"good to see you fortunes rise Manager Rognok, I am not here for myself but to repay a debt to an old friend," and he handed the necklace over,

Ragnok looked down at the necklace surprise on his face as he recognized it, and turning it over he appeared to read something, then looked as Olivander who leaned in and whispered,

"I entrust to your care this child, Harry potter,"

Harry for his part was not afraid as he felt he should be, perhaps it was the fact no one had tried to hit him or yell at him, or that they seemed to actually care about his well being, and the hope that he could escape his cupboard just too strong to give up.

Ragnok then looked Harry in the eyes and asked him about his life,

"It is in your best interest to be perfectly honest with me Mr Potter, as long as you tell me no lies I will do my best to help you," he said evenly,

Harry spoke about his life, the lack of food, the beatings, no one noticing his pain, no one even looking at him, he spoke for a while trying not to cry at the terrible memories, a few times during this Ragnok seemed to shake his head a bit as if trying to stay awake, after Harry was done Ragnok told him to wait and left the room.

The boy was obviously lying though his teeth, no way 'the boy who lived' would be treated like that, what could this brat be up to? is he trying to steal from gringotts?! he would pay for that and... he noticed his hand hurt, a sharp pain as if he had been cut and he looked down and in his left hand was the small knife he always carried and carved into his other hand were the words 'strong ward' his eyes narrowed and he turned to the nearest guard,

"get one of our best curse breakers to check the bay for a possible powerful confundus ward, QUICKLY, if I try to stop them you are to show me my hand" and he held up his bleeding hand, the guard simply nodded and left.

The curse breaker had completed his work and left a slightly bewildered Harry to report to Ragnok, the older goblin a short, thin, but sturdy male with a tuft of white hair by the name of Slagn made his report,

"A very interesting case Manager Ragnok, what I had to deal with was actually not a curse but an ingenious and powerful protection charm, normally this would be harmless to the boy and would offer him many protections, this charm was so well made if i didn't know better I would have believed it one of ours," Ragnok was surprised but such high praise especially from a master curse breaker, "unfortunately for the boy it had become intensely corrupted, twisted to do almost the exact opposite of it's original purpose, to be honest the boy should be dead given how corrupted it was, I was able to successfully remove it and that's when I found something... disgusting! the scar on the child's forehead is a sloppily made soul jar, a HORCRUX" he spat in his rage taking a few breaths to calm himself, I recommend one of our best healers to work with me to remove the vile thing from the child so I can eradicate it, and also give the boy a full check afterwards as I have seen human children of his age and he looks abnormal,"

Rangonk nodded in shock at the revelation but showed nothing "very well, it seems the roomers about the boy being raised in luxury are false, let's see what the healer can tell us after the corruption is dealt with"

Healer Narl was Gringotts best healer and it was not often he dealt with clients especially on short notice, but what the director calls you answer, fairly young for a goblin and slightly taller than most his skin was fairly smooth and he knew many of the females wanted him, so he walked with a smooth confidence, to find he was treating a human child was a surprise, an even bigger surprise was when he found out he would be helping a curse breaker this seemed to be interesting and stimulating.

Harry potter had been given a simple meal and was very sleepy, one of the guards led him to a simple bedroom with a single bed where he led down and fell asleep unaware of the magic that put him into a very deep sleep.

Slagn and Narl had discussed what would need to be done and had gone into the room to treat the boy several hours ago, there was an unearthly scream that wasn't human or goblin which unsettled all who heard it, by now many employees for gringotts had heard about the human child who was being favored by the director and were sneaking around to see what was happening, it was then that Slagn and Narl emerged stone face from the room, walked straight past the director and down the corridor, a guard stepped forward to stop them but was waved off by Ragnok as he now followed them with the crowd right behind him.

The caught up with them at a training room, both goblins now had heave maces and were going hell for leather smashing training dummies right, left, and center, luckily the dummies were enchanted to reform after being destroyed so the two kept making laps of the room repeatedly smashing the targets shouting and bellowing as the went, only when the two had exhausted themselves did they stop and slump to the floor, their stamina exhausted but the rage remained.

Goblins are by in large crafty, greedy, sneaky, but deal like for like, if you deal with them in good faith they treated you the same, except for children, children were more precious than gold even those of other races and harming one would bring you a violent and bloody end... if you were lucky.

Slagn didn't say a word he just sat there slowly grinding the mace into the floor, Narl caught his breath and looked Ragnok directly in the eye,

"After we removed the... horcrux' *gasps*"from the boy, and healed his wound Slagn did an excellent job of disposing of the vile thing, from what I can tell it was trying to posses the boy but his own magic was preventing that, as i removed it I noted that part of the soul was torn off and seemed to be subsumed by the boys magical core, we will have to monitor for ill effects, now after that was done I checked the boy and... most of the bones in his body have been broken more than once, his is extremely malnourished, his skin is calloused in such a way that i believe he was beaten with something regularly probably a leather belt, his eyesight is extremely poor and the glasses he wears are utterly useless, if not for his innate magic healing him over and over he would not have survived past the age of 3, thus ends my report I am now going to go and get black out drunk!" and he walked off, followed by Slagn saying "I'll join you,"

The hall was filled with a stunned, horrified silence, even Ragnok who had suspected was appalled, then the hall was filled with righteous rage goblin called for the perpetrators to be punished in creative painfilled ways but Ragnok calmed them, vengance was not theirs to seek and for now the boy's needs came first, foremost of these was making sure he would never return to those vermin and second was making sure those that put him there could not do so again, Ragnok consulted with several goblins and discovered that this would actually be very simple and may even not need to bribe anyone if they acted this very night.

Inside the Ministry of magic in the department of magical law enforcement was the wizengamot Administration Service, this small number of desks was busy during the day but empty in the night, in a corner of this sub department was a small dusty desk with a faded label which read 'desk of child services' since most wizard children were raised at home and purebloods considered their children private matters and so didn't inform the ministry of problems, and muggle born children were mostly ignored, this desk was heavily enchanted to process most paperwork and judge evidence without input from a live wizard, at one thirty in the night a lone sleepy owl landed on the desk and held it's leg out over the 'IN' tray, the small package of papers untied itself unshrunk and placed itself into the tray allowing the owl to fly off, the papers then split up and began to be filed or written on.

Ragnok sat in his office drinking, sat across from him was Gornuk a skilled administrative goblin who smiled,

"you think it'll work?" Gornuk asked,

"probably not, even wizards couldn't be that stupid, and our luck isn't that good," Ragnok answered,

"ours may not be, but the boy? I think his luck is incredible, how else would this all have happened?"

Ragnok held up the necklace to the now shocked Gornuk, "luck had nothing to do with it, he was sent and maybe...?"

just then he saw something floating down the corridor, a bunch of papers tied into a bundle and carrying the ministry seal, grabbing it Ragnok looked it over and began to chuckle as he handed it to Gornuk the chuckle turned into laughter.