Disclaimer: I don't own any of this except for the plot. Do you think if I was J.K. I would be here right now? Keep dreaming.

A/N: I tried writing a little more in this chapter. I was going a totally different way than this before, but a lot of ideas popped into my head today at work (we weren't busy at all) and decided to take a new route in my writing. Thanks to Voxenking, Lady of the dragons2 and Dishandpantya for my first ever reviews. Which reminds me to remind you to R and R.

P.S. Don't worry Dish; I don't think I'm bringing Sirius back, even if he was one of my favorite characters.

GRINGOTTS AND THE FAMILY VAULT

BY:CHICANOSURFER01

FIRE, WATER, WIND, EARTH ... A TEST ... THE POWER YOU KNOW NOT WILL COME TO YOU ... FIRST YOU MUST PROVE YOUR WORTHINESS ... YOUR TIME IS COMING ... YOU MUST FACE YOUR DESTINY..."

Harry woke with a start. "What the hell was that about? What test?" Harry looked over at his clock that read 4:43 and decide he might as well go running, almost forgetting about the dream entirely...almost. 'I have to start training sometime. Better sooner than later.'

With that thought Harry put on an old tracksuit that Dudley never used and started out of the house. He quietly went out the front door and started jogging to the park. Looking around the vandalized park, Harry sighed. Seeing all the vandalizing Dudley and his gang of goons had done to the park was slightly depressing.

"I guess I better do some warm up exercises so that I avoid any cramps." Shaking the feeling off, he started for a large grass hill in the center of the park to do his stretches. Soon, he finished his stretches and ran around the park two times before he got tired and started heading back to Number four. "Man, I thought I was in better shape than this, I better work hard to improve or I'll be dead within the first thirty seconds of a duel!"

After doing some cool down stretches, which included sit-ups and push-ups, he went inside for a quick shower and to cook breakfast for his relatives and himself. Just as Harry was getting finished with breakfast, Uncle Vernon came down and actually asked Harry nicely to be served. Harry, not wanting to ruin his chances for a trip to London, quickly served his uncle and himself.

"um...Uncle Vernon?"

"Yes boy?" Uncle Vernon asked over his newspaper.

"Do you think you could take me into London with you when you go into work?"

Uncle Vernon looked like he was arguing with himself over the question, but finally came to a conclusion.

"Yes, I'll take you with me but make sure to be ready in five minutes and also to tell those freaks...I mean...your friends I did this for you, understood?"

"Yes Uncle Vernon, I'll be right back down." Going quietly but quickly, up to his room Harry went straight for his trunk. "Well I'll definitely need my invisibility cloak and a bag to carry it in, I sure as hell don't want to be seen too much."

Two minutes later Harry went back downstairs to meet with his uncle. "Hurry up boy, I'm leaving."

"Coming Uncle."

The trip to London was mostly uneventful and passed quickly. Harry told his uncle where to drop him off (since only Harry could see the Leaky Cauldron) and told his uncle he would meet him at the same place at 4:30, since his uncle got off of work at that time.

Going into the Leaky Cauldron, Harry walked straight through to the back door and tapped the appropriate bricks for entrance into Diagon Alley.

Being only around 8, Harry was surprised to see the normal hustle and bustle of the Alley already in progress. 'Where to first?' Harry thought to himself. 'I definitely need to refill my money pouch; I better go to Gringotts' Heading to Gringotts, Harry kept his head down and blended with the crowd so he didn't have to worry about being recognized.

Once in Gringotts, Harry went up to the first unoccupied goblin he could see. "Um...excuse me?" tried Harry.

"How may I help you?" glared the goblin.

"I need to make a withdrawal. Here's my key." Harry explained while handing over his key.

"Graphrock! Take this gentlemen and assist to his needs. Make sure to explain the changes to his account."

"Yes sir" conversed the goblins.

"What changes were made to my account?" Harry asked while getting into a cart with Graphrock.

"Well, first of all, since your last appointed legal guardian has been 'incapacitated' he has left you his fortune. Secondly, since you have no appointed guardian you may now access your family vault, which now includes the money in your trust fund and what your late godfather left you."

"Family vault? I didn't even know I had a family vault!"

"Yes well, you weren't supposed to have access to it before you were of age. However, due to certain circumstances, you now do." Harry was about to ask about the contents of the vault but decided to find out for himself when they came to a stop.

"I can not get out of the cart due to the blood magic these vaults work on. You must place your hand on the surface of that podium over there," the goblin pointed to a podium in the middle of what looked like a small marble platform. "You might feel a slight prick, but that is just a test to see what vault you need to go to, depending on whose blood you have in you."

Harry walked up to the podium, slightly nervous, and placed his hand on it, immediately feeling the slight prick.

All of a sudden Harry was looking at mountains of gold, silver, bronze, and jewels. "Merlin! This is actually mine? I knew I was well off, but this is just ridiculous."

Once getting over the initial shock, Harry started to look around a bit and the first thing he noticed was a large glass case behind a mound of gold filled with some (at least as far as he knew) ancestral items.

"Wow, now this stuff could definitely be helpful." Harry was looking at what seemed to be a full set of battle gear. This gear included a description of each item underneath its set place.

Battle Armor:

A complete set of the strongest but lightest dragon-hide armor. Can repel or stop most low level hexes, curses, and charms. Includes vest, lower body armor that reaches from waist to mid-calf, two wand holsters for each arm, and battle boots that additionally repel heat, coldness, wetness, and are like walking on air.

'These are incredible! They look as thin as regular clothes. I could probably wear them underneath my everyday clothing.' thought Harry before he went back to reading.

Ancestral Swords:

These two swords are light-weight but heavy-duty for battle. They are enchanted to stay at their sharpest and to make sword training come easy and naturally. Have been passed down since the first Potters. Come with sheaths that strap to your back or waist.

The two swords were amazingly beautiful with handles that were shaped to look like a phoenix with its wings spread and a dragon spitting fire, also with its wings spread. The handles seemed to be made of a weird metal that had black and silver swirls that seemed to be alive with movement.

Battle Robes:

Ancestral robes that have the potter family crest on the back and the front. Have been worn by every potter that has gone into battle.

The Robes were completely black except for the crests and the silver trim. They had two red, black and silver crests. A small one that covered the heart and a big one that covered the back of the robes. The crest had a black and silver dragon facing what looked like a black and silver wolf with a black and silver phoenix in-flight, between them. The animals and the crest itself were trimmed with a very dark red that made them and the crest look like they radiated power.

Potter Ring:

This ring has also been handed down through every generation of Potters. This ring helps unlock the hidden power and gifts, if any, that its wearer has, over a certain period of time, depending on how much power or gifts the wearer has. Warning: only a Potter can wear this ring for it is only keyed to the potter blood. The effects on a non-Potter wearer vary, but are usually not good.

The ring was pure silver with the potter crest in black on the its face with the figure of each of the three potter crest animals rotating from one side of the crest, around the ring and to the other side. The ring seemed to pulse with magical energy. "Bloody Hell!" said Harry, but it wasn't for the ring. Even though he was very excited and shocked about the ring it was the next item that he was dying to try out.

THE POTTER STAFF:

The most powerful of all the Potter items. This staff has been handed down from generation to generation. It has been wielded by some of the most powerful wizards, warlocks and even mages to date. Was created by the first potter, Henry Potter, more than a thousand years ago. As some of the more recent wielders have discovered, the magic done through this staff cannot be traced by the Ministry. There is only one rule for the wielder of this great staff: Use it well or don't use it at all.

The staff was silvery gray with an unusually bright, black stone on the top of it. It was one of the most amazing things Harry had seen in his life, and that was saying something with all the items he'd seen today.

"How am I going to carry all of this stuff out of here?" Harry asked himself.

As if in response to his question, Harry noticed a black duffel bag leaning on the side of the glass case. 'That's funny, I could have sworn that wasn't there before. oh well, it's here now and thank Merlin for that.' With that last thought Harry started putting all the items into the bag and noticed that it was enlarged to carry much more inside the bag than it seemed on the outside.

Putting everything except the ring in the bag he gathered up some gold for his shopping spree and slid the ring onto his right-hand ring finger. Harry instantly felt a pulse of energy go through him that made him feel like he could run a marathon.

'If I'm gonna feel like this all the time I'll never take this ring off ever again...not that I would anyway.'

Heading back to the podium with a money pouch full with at lease 5,000 galleons and his duffel bag full of the battle gear, Harry felt that things were actually going right for once and that training would be a lot easier with his new gear.

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