Harry Potter & The True Power

Chapter 8 : The Gringotts Visit Part 2

"Hey squirt!" Sirius said is happy-go-lucky manner that Harry was totally unaccustomed with. "I hope you are fine. Although, if you are seeing this, I have died. Don't worry much about it. It's a war out there. I only hope that I went down with a bang, fighting. However it might have been, just remember that I have always loved you. You are like a son I never had. Hence as the rights of a God-Father, I have willed you as my own. However there are certain snags in the pureblood world that might hinder with what I did. Yet I was not a marauder for nothing. Ragnok here will explain you the things I have done. Now for the important part." Sirius turned serious. "the box from which this projection is coming is a special trunk which I had made especially for you. It has a small pensieve as one of the compartments. Normally, nobody would expect you to have anything else in a pensieve, hence this is your ideal spot for training. this project was undertaken by your mother and me. Nobody else knows about it. It was supposed to be our hiding place, but… anyway, this box has three physical states. One is of a wallet. Where you can keep other things usually kept in a wallet. Second is this box, where it would feel like a small memorabilia box and the third is the pensieve. To change it into the first form, just touch it and say, squirt. For the second form, say lily and the third form, say snuffles. I know using our names often might hurt you a bit in the beginning, but I would rather you loved me without the pain of loosing me. Remember me as i am now, in this picture, young and carefree, rather than the old, bitter and gaunt man you saw. this would be your ultimate present to me, for all the christmas es you missed. So take this and we will talk about it when you enter the pensieve. The second important business we have is the emancipation papers. Son, I have a feeling that you have a great destiny. Added to that, you have Voldemort after your tail. Inspite of my several attempts, Dumbledore refused to get you a special license to practice magic. Hence, I sought the opinion of my friend, Ragnok here. He informed me that if, as your god-father, I signed your emancipation papers, you would get all the rights and privileges as well as duties that are enjoyed by the adults including the right to practice your magic as well as the control of your fortune. I hope you accept it as part of my long overdue gifts to you. Harry smiled and wondered at the wonderful wizard that his god-father was."

Outside in the Diagon Alley, Ginny had gone and joined both Ron and Hermione. After finding out that Harry was with the director of Gringotts, Ron's bout of jealousy had erupted. It was only the fact that he was with Hermione, of whim he had thought as more than just friends, and that she was always critical of his childish behavior, did he stifle the verbal diarrhea that would have come out of his mouth. His behavior did change for the worse. Everybody noticed but were too preoccupied with Harry's meeting to berate Ron for his childish behavior. It was true that the director of Gringotts had not anybody for a long-long time. What was even more awkward was that it was rumored that both minister fudge and Albus Dumbledore had requested a meeting with the director more nearly a week ago. Both were yet to get a schedule. Harry on other hand had just walked into the meeting. They were waiting very impatiently for Harry to come out. No wizard had ever met the director for more than 3 minutes. They were expecting him to come out very soon.

Dumbledore had just received a fire call from Alastor that Harry was meeting with the director Ragnok. He himself had asked for an appointment. He was still awaiting an answer. He had also tried to get an impromptu meeting, only to be brusquely told that he would be given an appointment. Sirius's will was supposed to be out in another few days; and anyway, the director would not be dealing with it. He was stumped. In the last 12 hours, it had become a habit. He had asked Alastor to make sure that Harry was safe and at the GP by 5 in the evening. He will try and speak to him then. Lost in his thought, he did not see Fawkes looking at him keenly. He also missed the fact that someone was just entering his office. Suddenly he felt a presence and saw a beleaguered looking Severus in front of him.

Inside Ragnoks room, Harry was looking at Sirius's halo again. He continued, "there is something else as well. The black family fortune is immense and I was the sole heir to the same. But there are laws which state that the fortune cannot go outside the family before upon the decease of the last family male heir. I could not make you the heir without the Malfoys and Lestranges suing you. And you know that every single knut which they get will be used for doing the voldemort's bidding." With each passing sentence, Harry was growing worried. He was not worried about the money. But every single knut that went to Sirius's family could be used against the Wizarding people. Then he saw Sirius's face turn into a wild grin. "in the last few months, I have liquidated every asset of the black family and turned it into gold. Except for the Grimmauld place, there is no other asset remaining. You will find, that I have setup an alternate identity for you in the name of Donald McCall. I have deposited the entire fund in that vault. All the jewels, enchanted objects and books & scrolls are in a safe room in your pensieve apartment. more than that, as the sole heir, I have taken a loan of 4 million galleons from Ragnok here. The balance value of all assets in my vault is not more than 100000 galleons. I know that after they become aware of this, none of my rich cousins would pay anything. Then you can take over my entire estate without any problem. So you need not worry. I am sure that you will take care of that snake faced bastard. And after that, if you wish, I have left a way out for you. My last gift to you is in your room inside your new apartment. Have fun. Live your life worthy of a marauder. I love you. Good Bye" with that, a tear stained image of Sirius disappeared.

Harry looked at Ragnok, who looked sympathetically at Harry. A few moments later, after seeing that Harry was in complete control of himself, Ragnok took out a few scrolls. The first one was his acceptance of emancipation. It also showed that he had a trust fund of nearly a million galleons and hence could take care of his own expenses and had no legal magical guardian. The sole appointed guardian for him had been Sirius, who as per Gringotts records was now deceased. He quickly signed them. The second was a small wallet with records of his separate identity.

After finishing the job at hand, now Harry was looking at Ragnok expectantly. He had mentioned two things. This took care of the first, what was the second. Ragnok, on the other hand was scrutinizing his emancipation application. After a few minutes, seeing every detail was correct, he signed and stamped it with the Gringotts seal. As soon as he did, the documents were magically triplicated. Two disappeared and the third was rolled, put in roll cover and given to Harry.

"Now Mr. potter, in the laws of Gringotts, you are a legal adult. One of the copies was magically sent into our records, another was sent to the ministry for their information. We are allowed by the charter of Gringotts to provide such a service only if the request was in the will of wizard who had maintained his will with us. Don't worry, it will probably be lost for some time in the maze we call as the ministry of magic. Now, I am sure you are wondering about the second order of business I spoke of. As you are now a legal adult, several terms of your parents shall now be enforced and acted upon. For that I would like to request you to come to your family vault." Harry was amazed. All the things he wanted were falling into his laps. Although he never thought of one thing he should have thought of, why would he need to go to the vault when the black business was settled in the office?

Belliatrix was pacing around her room. She had not heard from Severus. The junior death eaters were getting restless. They could not get the image of the dark lord slumping by the very touch of her hands. Though the fear incited by the very name of the dark lord had kept them in the line, everybody could feel the rising tensions. Usually not many death eaters could be found in the manor, except for the security detail, there had been an unusual amount of people coming for no reason at all. The senior healer hadn't given her any concrete answer as to the status of the master. He was still buried in the vast library. The rat had been of no use. His stuttering had only led to worsening of the morale. Her only refuge was that the news had not leaked as yet. Bella was in her room, thinking similar thoughts when she heard a knock at the door. She cursed, then unlocked her door with the special locking-unlocking charm she used.

It was the healer. He looked pleased.

"Yes", said Bella brusquely. Though she was secretly hoping that the healer may bring deliverance for all, she could not the discipline of the ranks fall. The healer who had been happy and confident about his finding, was now a bit scared. Still, it was his head on the line and he was the senior healer.

"we found the cure to the dark lord's ailment. It is a spell which was created by the department of Mysteries research team during one of their early research. What it does is.."

"Stop. Give me the details later, are you sure it will work?"

"yes." Replied the healer.

"well! What the hell are you waiting for. Get on with it" roared bella.

"you see, the spell is preceded by a potion which is given to the patient. It needs a potion master to brew it."

Bella understood. She said "I will take care of it. You have the name of the potion and its details?" The healer nodded, giving her a parchment.

"I will take care of it", she said. Picking the parchment in the room, she proceeded to the floo and fire-called the snape residence. Not finding any reply, she went out to find the rat. Only together could they call upon the dark mark.

Outside in the Diagon alley, Alastor was seething. It had been nearly 1 hour since harry had entered the room with the goblin. He had come back as soon as he left ginny in Tonk's care. He had already fire-called albus. Due to Gringotts wards, his listening charm and tracking charms were not working. He was in communication with Tonks and her charges were busy at Madam Rosemerta's after a grueling wait at the flourish and bottoms for Hermione to finish her book hunt. Apparently, she had picked a few extra for the DA. The presence of the secret society was now an open secret. He cracked a smile at the things these kids..nay, young people had done. After a long time, he found hope for the wizarding world. Waiting had been once a usual thing for an auror, but he had outgrown them with his seniority. This wait reminded of some exciting moments of his yesteryears. And he fell back in time to his best years.

Snape was in the infirmary at the Hogwarts. Poppy had not gone to her sister's this year. Hence she had been available. Severus had been saved a lot of unnecessary head-ache because of this. A trip to St.Mungo's would have been disastrous. That place had too many leaks. The headmaster has visited him and told him of the cure to the dark lord's ailment. As he was sure that their healer would get the spell and potion for treating the dark lord, it would be better if severus found it. As it is, he had been under scrutiny due to certain lapses in some key events of which he had been a part. Luckily for him, the headmaster had been able to procure the potion required for the spell from his contacts. As the potion took nearly 6 hours to brew, he had an alibi. Hence he was here for a pepper-up potion. His stock had been used last year. Ten minutes later, he apparated to the lair of the dark lord.

Harry followed Ragnok as they exited from the room to smaller room which was attached to this room. There were several doors with numerous markings on them. The last one just had a few runes and was jet black. Ragnok said a spell and the door melted into a jet black surface, like that of graphite, but was liquid. It was as if it was a floating graphite in liquid form. To say that harry was startled was again an understatement of a very high degree. It looked exactly like the veil. However before he could say a thing, ragnok passed thru. Mustering up all his courage, though hesitating, harry stepped in after him.

Authors Notes:

i would like to thank all reviewers who have read the fic and gave me their suggestions. specially warra, shadowed rains,lady-slytherin-warrior, Honor Harington1982 and last but not the least goddess selene. ty.