Chapter 3
Snape studied Harri as they retreated away from the Malfoys. Harri kept her face stoic and picked at her nails pretending that nothing was out of the norm.
"Miss Potter" Snape's voice strained itself.
"Yes, professor?" Harri gave him her most angelic innocent smile, and it looked too innocent that it made Snape reconsider her expression.
"It would be best if you didn't attend the party." Harri let him finish his statement before countering him.
"And why what that be sir?" she asked giving Snape an appraising look, hoping that he revealed what the Death Eaters were or any information that she could use later to explain away her advanced knowledge.
"They are not the type of company your parents would have wanted by you." That caught Harri's attention immediately and she turned away from her nails and look up into his eyes keeping her barriers up.
"You knew my parents well enough to know what they wanted for me?" Snape gave her a long stare, regretting his choice of words and scolding himself for indirectly providing her with information about himself, he considered all of his options before deciding to answer her.
"I only knew your mother well enough to know that she would not have wanted you in their company" Harri nodded along pretending to agree with him. Harri was hoping that he would reveal more about the Death Eaters, but it seems like Snape isn't so willing to talk about them.
"Then that means your close enough to my mother to care about my wellbeing…" Harri let the hook out, waiting for him to take the bait. Severus stopped walking and turned to look at her. Harri didn't look away from him and held his gaze with a cold and calculating expression that should not be on a 11-year-old, and even less on a Lily look alike.
Snape finally sighed at this little girl. This girl didn't let anything slide and she caught on quick, he was almost afraid that she would go to his House and have to deal with her more than he could handle.
"We knew each other" and that was all he had to say about that. Harri nodded and considered this a win. She now had a connection to her mother that she could use in her favor.
Coming back to the earlier conversation she stared at Snape and said,
"Then you can just go with me to the party, and I promise to…behave myself" Harri finished, not wanting to give him an empty promise. She was technically behaving herself by getting rid of a madman. Snape glared at her for daring to bargain with him. But he knew that she would find herself in that party no matter what he did, so the best course of action was to at least have her by his side and look out for her. Snape nodded stiffly and murmured,
"Just for 4 hours and then we both leave." and that's what Harri wanted to hear. She gave him a lopsided smirk reminiscent of James Bloody Potter and he already regretted giving in to her.
"Deal."
"So…" Harri tried for a casual tone but failed tragically. Snape's glare increased at her for having dared to look like her father.
Harri continued, "Where are we going right now?" knowing that they were on the way to Gringotts, judging by the turns they had taken so far.
"We're going to go get funds for your supplies" Harri stared at him and laughed out loud attracting attention from the passersby's and by the surprise looks on their faces never expected a child to be laughing in the close proximity of Severus Snape. Harri ignored them and sardonically said with an evil glint in her eyes,
"In case you haven't noticed sir, I'm dirt poor and don't have a single pound to my name" Harri said bitterly to really sell her point. If Snape looked surprise by this, he didn't show it and said,
"Your parents didn't leave you destitute you silly girl." At this, Harri raised a delicate dark red eyebrow and unbelievingly said,
"Is that so?" Snape decided not to answer this, deciding that it was a waste of his effort when she herself will see for herself the possessions that her parents left her with. They walked to Gringotts and Harri got a little closer to Snape to sell her act of a frightened child. Snape couldn't help but think of Lily when Harri got closer to him. He sighed and let her be.
"Don't disrespect the Goblins, they are a prideful nation" Harri nodded along and walking into Gringotts with Snape. When they got to the counters, a particular nasty looking goblin sneered at her and Snape stepped in, not wanting to see any fearful face on a face so similar to Lily's.
"we're here to retrieve gold from her trust vault." At this Harri hid more behind Snape and almost had the urge to cling to his black robes, but that would have been too much too soon.
"Do you have the Key?" the Goblin sneered. Snape took out a key and handed it to the Goblin, already use to dealing with Goblins. The goblin sneered, unhappy that Severus did in fact have the key on him.
"Very well, follow me" they both nodded and Harri made to follow, and Snape stood where he was and said,
"You go ahead, I have other business to take care of here in the meanwhile" Harri eyes widened at this and reluctantly she separated from Snape and made to follow the goblin. She gave Snape a long longing stare and when she broke eye contact with him, she turned and walked away with the goblin. But as soon as Snape was out of sight she lost the fear in her eyes, stood straighter, and followed the unnamed goblin to the carts. She sighed, she did not want to have to deal with Snape and have him know about a couple of investments and family business she wanted to deal with. She stared back at the Goblin and smirked at him, completely changing her attitude.
"I want my family heir rings, and I want a bottomless pouch that can be only accessed to me and return to me if I misplace it, and I want it to have a built in featherlight charm, take the money from my trust vault." The goblin stared at her a little and then nodded, finally showing her respect after dealing with him by their customs. Everything is straight to the point and strictly business. They traveled and went deeper with each turn. Harri closed her eyes to enjoy the winds and all to soon they were at her vaults.
She got off and the goblin took out a pouch that seemed to come out of nowhere.
"Is this the bottomless pouch I asked for?" the goblin looked annoyed at her and sneered at her.
"Of course, it is!" Harri sighed and took it from him and emptied all of her gold into the pouch, knowing that it will refill itself the next semester from the main vaults that she can't access yet. It took her over 45 minutes alone with the automatic suction function of the pouch and her pouring money into the pouch. Afterwards Harri was led to an office to try her family rings on. She sat and waited for Griphook meanwhile the goblin she had come with left her inside and Harri didn't have to wait long. She analyzed Griphook and got straight to the point.
"This just stays between you and me, right?" Griphook nodded,
"Here at Gringotts, we pride ourselves in customer confidentiality" Harri nodded satisfied and made to shake his hand to keep him to his word. Griphook smiled ferally and shook her tiny hand in his wrinkled one.
"Once it's confirmed that I am who I say I am, I want a list of all of the Potter investments, all my mail redirected to me, and all of my artifacts returned to me. I also want to invest in some businesses in the Muggle world."
Griphook nodded and took out a handsome goblin made family ring. The ring had a golden and platinum intertwined band, with many rubies encrusted in the band and finally the potter crest with a roaring lion ready to pounce on an unseen enemy. The ring looked far too large to fit on her, and probably still had the ring size of her dad. Harri carefully took the ring and put in on her left pinky. As soon as she put it on, the ring pinched her a little and took some blood from her before glowing her entire being and feeling her magic respond to the family magic that rushed through her blood. She smiled at the warm feeling and Griphook handed her a document containing all of the protections from the family ring. Harri placed the document in her money pouch and turned to face Griphook.
"These are the investments of the Potters, and this is the revenue from the last 10 years." Harri nodded and they got into business. Harri put down money on big tech and medicine companies that would soon make a boom in the Muggle world and with her business finally taken care of, she smiled at him and said to him,
"May your enemies never bear children and your women always be in heat" The goblin gave a mighty laugh that has not been heard in years by many in the finance branch in Gringotts. He grinned savagely at her and spoke back to her,
"May your enemies plead for mercy, and your gold never stop flowing" Harri laughed and bared her teeth in a malicious grin and spoke back to him,
"Always made them plea." Griphook gave her another hearty chuckle and then walked her back to the main lobby in Gringotts. By the time they returned to the lobby, Snape looked murderess and Harri cursed,
"Shit, I forgot about Snape" she smiled at Griphook and bid him goodbye before skipping over to Snape and beaming at him.
"Sorry professor, we got carried away and we got into the finances of my family as well" Snape glared at her and stalked away without giving her another glance. Taking this as a sign to follow him, she trailed after him and he led them to Ollivander's.
"And with that they both continued walking to Ollivander's in contemplating silence. When the were close to the store Harri stopped walking and stared at Snape. He stopped as well, and she spoke calculatedly timidly behind him.
"I'm sorry sir, I was just excited to feel any connection to my parents and we went over my family's history that I couldn't help myself" Severus finally relented and sighed and then just answered,
"Just go in and make it quick" Harri nodded eagerly and went inside the shop where she felt her wand's eagerness to join her once again.
