Harry Potter and the Old Magic

Chapter 2

17th June 2005

Harry entered Gringgots, his eyes twitching madly. His hands hung loosely at his sides instead of their usual place in his pockets. Harry glanced at his hands again, and it suddenly went through a spasm of twitching as Harry remembered…

Flashback start

"Excellent choices Mr Potter, the serpents blood is one of the most highly conducive materials to magic around, the dragon scales are from seven different dragons of exceeding power, the phoenix essence is so rare I didn't even know I still had any till I took it off the shelf! The fire diamond top you picked is also very rare, and not only does it look good, it channels magic so powerful that few have ever been able to use it!" Ollivander seemed inordinately pleased.

The reason came when the price was rung up, and Harry ended up writing a note the allowed Ollivander the amount of 3,500 Galleons from his vaults. Harry twitched all over since then.

Flashback end

Harry steadied his hands before walking up the steps to the bank; it wouldn't do for him to be seen as uncertain or untrustworthy with the purpose of his visit.

As in his dream, he walked down the line of tellers, till he came to a familiar looking goblin, which happened to be writing something in his book. Harry studied him for a moment, finding the tell tale mark on his forehead, before speaking, "Griphook! Good to see you again. You have some time? I have two orders of business today, both of which will interest you." Griphook started at being addressed by name, but recovered almost instantaneously, looking at Harry with a rather goblin question on his face.

Harry nodded and rubbed his thumb and index finger together, and watched as Griphook's eyes widened, before the goblin moved out from the teller and ushered Harry into another room, where an officious goblin sat. the goblin must have been some big important goblin, because Griphook seemed to tremble slightly as he announced his entrance, "Lord Regalia sir, Mr Harry Potter here to see you, he says he has important business today." before bowing out the door quickly.

The officious goblin, Lord Regalia, studied Harry carefully, much like a hawk, before grinning and offering Harry a seat. Harry decided to get to business quickly, sure that any goblin would appreciate it, "Lord Regalia, as you know I am Harry Potter. I have basically two orders of business. The second is that of visiting a particular vault, but that comes after the first, which is that of my vaults and estate. I turn 16 soon, in under 48 hours actually, and I will have full access to my vaults then, as is the law.

"But it is of utmost importance that what I want done be done quickly, immediately, efficiently, and quietly. The first thing is a total evaluation of my accounts, both present and future possibilities. The second is that of any links to said vaults, I want to be appraised of them immediately. Third, which should please you, is security of the vaults; I want any and all security on them possible as soon as possible, payment taken from the vaults." Harry almost smirked as he watched Regalia gape wide eyed at him, before snapping his fingers.

The doors to the office flew open and 7 goblins came in, the last being Griphook, herding the other 6. Lord Regalia gave instructions, "two of you go put our best securities on the Potter family vault, numbers 780, 800, and 713. Two of you do the same to the Black family vault, numbers 600 through 610. Two of you bring in the records of the Black, Potter, and Sapphire family vaults." He waited till the 6 had left, before issuing his last command, "Mr. Griphook, please fetch the inheritance ritual, quickly and quietly."

Harry was surprised that Griphook was addressed more politely than the others, but hid his curiosity. He was more concerned with how he had so many vaults, but the one that disturbed him most was vault 713, but he couldn't think why. Then he remembered: his first year, where the Philosophers' Stone! But how had anyone, even Dumbledore gotten it placed there if the vault wasn't part of his holdings? His various emotions must have shown, because Lord Regalia spoke quietly, "there are indeed links to your holdings that you probably do not want to exist, though how you know about them I wouldn't know.

"Albus was placed as your estate executor, ordered by the ministry. He opened several minor vaults where he placed relatively small amounts of money, and I believe withdrew from time to time. Ah, there you are Mr. Griphook. Come Harry, we shall deliver you from your gold losses." Griphook had indeed returned, and brought with him several pieces of parchment, a clipper, and a bottle of some strange clear liquid.

This is part of the inheritance ritual Mr. Potter, the parchment will tell us the lines that are combined in you, by way of your hair. A single hair of yours will be placed on the parchment, and a drop of the potion will be placed on each end and on the middle of it. The hair will seep into the parchment, detailing the terms of inheritance, amounts, and other such things. If there was a will made, a seal for retrieval will form at the end.

Fears allayed, Harry removed one of his hairs and placed it on the parchment. Griphook placed a drop at each end, and one in the middle. Almost instantly, the hair dissolved, forming letters in a hand Harry had seen on just one other piece of parchment before: the Marauder's Map. No secrets came forth this time though, and the words basically said Harry was given total, unchangeable control of the family estate and holdings.

However, it also mentioned a letter in his trust vault that Harry was to read before gaining access to the family furniture and paintings. Harry frowned at this but determined that he'd find it if it were the last thing he did, just another thing Dump-the-whore had to answer for.

The second hair and parchment was less fulfilling, with much of it taken by a formal family letter, something about retaining family honor by killing mud-bloods. Harry almost screamed at that point, but Sirius's scrawl came through after that saying that if it was Harry reading it then he should ignore the pre-built letter and read his will instead, and the seal came out. Lord Regalia nodded and took the seal and set it aside, motioning Griphook to get a piece of Will Parchment before explaining.

"Well Mr. Potter, at this point I should tell you that Wills are different from normal letters or such, and require a different sort of parchment. This parchment is enchanted, and enforces the Will, to the letter. This means that after the Will is made, no living being on the planet may contradict it in any way."

Grip hook returned with a sealed envelop and stuck the seal on the back on the opening flap. Words again formed in Sirius's scrawl, addressing the letter to Harry and Harry alone, with the exception of a solicitor or equivalent. Griphook held it back up for a few minutes before opening it and spreading it out for Lord Regalia and Harry to read.

Harry, Prongs Junior, Pup, and whatever nicknames are now yours apart from the eternally damned "boy-who-lived",

If you're reading this, then I'm dead, or something along those lines. Hopefully I'm not brain dead like the Longbottoms. Also, you've probably just read the Black family inheritance letter, and my note telling you to ignore it as much as possible. The only part I agree on is honor being retained, though not the method.

Basically, I, Sirius Orion Black grant you full control of the Black family estate and vault, along with any subsidiary vaults, with absolutely NO provision for change of control except through a will from you written of your own free will.

The details I'm sure someone will explain to you. If you're with Lord Regalia, tell him hi for me, and that I appreciate what he did for me. Tell him also that I want you to fully know about "the other family" he'll know what it means.

From there, live your life, not let others live it for you. Do NOT under ANY circumstances wallow in self pity, depression, or anything like that. It will do you no good. From there, keep Grimmauld Place if you wish, but if not then sell it, burn it, whatever you want. The rest you will be briefed on shortly. Share the wealth round, get jewelry for whichever girl has captured your heart, whatever makes you happy.

Your loving godfather,

Sirius, aka Padfoot

Harry wept slightly at the letter, so much like his godfather, sometimes serious, sometimes playful. What was more important however was that there was more, and Harry was interested in how much more, and how much All-bust had taken from him.

The head goblin spoke again as he did the last ritual, "the family Sirius spoke of in his letter are the Sapphires. They are among the oldest, started around the time of Merlin, and closely linked to him. They were killed off about a hundred years ago, however, and their blood only lives on through a squibbed line called the Evans, your mother I believe. In fact, she was the first in few centuries to show any magical talent, such that it was almost like a normal muggle family.

"Since their disappearance so long ago, few have remembered exactly what their holdings are, and consequently few realize just how much Voldemort is missing out." Indeed the parchment entailed him the Sapphire family assets, placing him as sole heir.

Griphook put away the materials and left to replace them surreptitiously, and Harry retook his seat before two goblins returned shortly, with three files that Lord Regalia opened and examined with Harry.

The first was the Potter fortune, and Harry quickly decided "fortune" was too small a word. His cash amounts alone amounted to an estimated 30 million Galleons, excluding gems, crystals, objects both magical and otherwise, land, and establishments. Establishments included 3 castles: one in the US, one in northern UK, one in Japan, silver mining in South America, a gems business in Australia, and agriculture in Africa.

Harry skimmed through all that till he reached the out flows. Several of course, were investments that had been proven to have absolutely no links to Albus Dumbledore, so Harry let those stay. After that though, most were linked in some way or other to the headmaster, so Harry cut those off immediately. One linked to a phoenix something, but Harry knew the moment he saw it that it was linked to the Order, and cancelled it too.

Harry then moved to the Black family vault. He was equally floored: the gems were estimated at roughly 20 million Galleons, and again there were other facets to the estate. Unsurprisingly, businesses linked to the Black family were all magical, and global. He had a tricks shop that operated in the US and Japan, part of Gladrags, and some major security firm that had offices in the US, Japan, China, Africa, Australia, and mainland Europe.

Harry sighed, he was half sure the businesses were almost all linked to Dumbledore in some way or other. He was wrong though; the businesses were linked to not the Dumbledore estate, but the Snape and Malfoy estates. Harry didn't bother, and let them stand, though he resolved to get a personal banker to handle such things. Perhaps Hermione would like a job like this after she finished at Hogwarts.

The Sapphires, however, were most unusual. Their assets were tied up mostly in land and weapons both for magic and otherwise, rather than in money or businesses, which totaled around 15 million Galleons. Their other assets, however, were much more, and the casting weapons alone were valued at well over 100 million Galleons. Harry sighed, money was sometimes good, but this was almost a bad thing.

He looked Lord Regalia in the eye and spoke clearly, "Dumbledore is to have absolutely no knowledge of my dealings and wealth. He will have absolutely no access to anything belonging to me either. If he tries anything I want dragons and mercenaries to make sure he doesn't get what he wants, any means necessary, paid for from the Black vault. Now, let's look at the vaults, and I'll tell you about the last vault I want to look at."