Harry Potter & The True Power

Chapter 11 : The Gringotts Visit Part 5

The meeting inside the conference hall had come to an emotional pause. Nobody likes to hear that they are a product of the tyranny of a race. Yet, they did owe their own existence to the very wizards they despised. It was a catch-22 position.

Griphop, after receiving a nod from their queen continued. "Before anything could be done by the one wizard who sought to end this blatant torture of two sentient races, more than 500 rituals merging had taken place. Half of them males and half of them females. Yet, all this new species was being treated in a manner unfitting even a slave. As they were the very first, they had neither knowledge, nor anybody there to teach them. All that the wizards forced them to do was to dig in the goldmines. The toughness of trolls and the ingrained temerity of the caristas were fighting for dominance among them. With the kind of environment that they were in, both traits came up indifferent goblins.

It was nearly two years later that they were saved. Merlin, the greatest wizard of the time had been traveling when he suddenly saw a few wizards he knew to be ordinary where wealth was concerned, to be surrounded by the most lavish living. Unlimited expenditure without any apparent source of income. Guided with nothing more than a righteous sense that no muggle was being abused, he tried to find the source of their unlimited supply of wealth. What he found were nearly 500 creatures that he had never ever seen before, living in a state unfitting any living being. However, knowing that he first had to was see if they were doing out of their own accord or being forced. He was apparently not presumptuous enough to make anybody else's decision.

That night, Merlin looked into the memories of the wizard he had seen earlier. What he found sickened him. They were responsible for killing more than 500 trolls and caristas. Though, a new species had come about, it did not in any way condone the killing of more than a 1000. That night , he went into the wizards mind and totally destroyed all the information he had pertaining to the performance of the ritual. Then he took away all the riches and left that wizard rotting away.

After doing this, Merlin took all the goblins, and disappeared from the known wizarding world. For the next few years, Merlin with his magic, found about the different form of magic possessed by the goblins, their sturdy nature, their playful banter. The subservience that was wanted in them had become intelligence when it was combined with the strong mental attitude of the trolls. Yet these new beings which had come into existence soon became restless. They were hardworking people and laying down doing nothing did not agree with them.

Merlin saw the restlessness in the nature of his new friends and thought about elevating their problem. He bought the whole surrounding area where they had been digging gold. They reopened their jobs albeit in a sturdy yet humane living conditions. For the sale of the gold, they opened several shops for exchange of currency. Over the next few months, the business became profitable. Through the sturdiness in their nature and honest business dealings, they soon opened more shops. In a very short time, they had a whole network. Soon, they began to act as bankers and exactly 4 years after their first shop opened, the first bank of Gringotts was opened.

Merlin could not proceed as planned. He never had the heart to leave them. There was mutual love and admiration among them. These were a completely new race and their abilities were showing at regular intervals. He had grown very close to them. They all saw him as a parent where as he saw them as the children he never had. They all were very happy.

Under his tutelage, goblins learnt many of their powers. They were impervious to most minor spells and hexes. They were very strong physically. They had a huge aptitude for numbers and good gambling instinct. The last one was totally because they could, most of the times, tell when anybody was being honest or not. This last aptitude of theirs would be the most beneficial to them which helped them grow to be as big as they are. Above all, they were honest. They could negotiate till your faced turn blue, but a goblin never went back on a deal.

Many years later, Gringotts was becoming a very big bank with branches all over the world. Merlin had created a portal system which was established in all the branches. Where ever they may work, the goblins returned to their home.

When nearing the end of his days, Merlin one day called the head of the goblins. Then he told them that he would be leaving very soon. He felt something drastic was going to happen. So he asked for a vault at Gringotts. He wanted to establish a fund for his descendants. He had a girl many years ago, when he was very young. She had a hard life but married another young wizard who had had a hard life, Gabriel Potter.

Listening to his story, all the goblins decided that as a founding father of the goblin race, he be given something. Merlin however refused the offer. He went into a very special vault which could be only accessed thru a portal and worked for 30 days and nights at a stretch. When he came out, he gave a diary to them. He asked them to get every potter heir primus here. Every time a potter heir would be adjudged and a reasonable sum will be deposited out of the total wealth of the vault for the use of the heir. This process would be repeated till one day, an heir would come, who, by the strength of his magic, overpower the guardian of Merlin and change it to the image of his spirit.

Once such an heir comes, he is to be given this book after letting him know the history of the Potters. Every potter swears to their magic that they would not disclose anything to anybody else and also swear an oath to look out for goblin's interests to the best of their ability. The Potter who would overcome the guardian shall not be boubd by any rules" Finished Griphop.

"And such a day has just arrived", said the queen.

Harry had been totally blown away with the revelation. He was the descendant of Merlin. But why was his power so big. "Was it because of him being an heir to the greatest wizard alive?" of modern times he added mentally. No. there should be another reason.

He was totally out of his depth. He was tired and totally out of his wits. Things were happening just too fast. He needed help. He needed guidance. He closed his eyes and again thought of his mother.

Outside, the things had become much more normal. Alastor had taken Dumbledore with him and cautioned him. "Practice of offensive magic had severe repercussions at Gringotts." He thought, leading Dumbledore away. "It was rumored that slytherin himself wasn't able to breach these wards. The goblins also had an image of honesty. Their whole business was based on the trust. Wizards may say whatever they wish, in the depth of their heart, everyone knew that their money was safer at Gringotts than their own pockets. Reality be told, all the goblin rebellions had taken place when some minister in power thought of breaking the treaty with the goblins. They were never the aggressors, but they never backed down as well. After numerous battles, wizards had learnt to be wary of the goblins. They were not to be pushed around. And if such a creature said that Harry was safe, nothing was to be gained by saying anything to the contrary without a shred of evidence. Dumbledore anyway had a habit of loosing his control a few times when something important was amiss." Alastor was thinking and then was amazed at his own conclusions. "How important was Harry anyway? If he was this important and the things that had started to happen around… maybe the prophecy is somewhat related. Somewhat related his ass," he chided himself. All his experience as an auror was telling him, the prophecy was about Harry.

A few seconds later, Dumbledore flashed out with the help of Fawkes.

Ron, Hermione, Ginny, the twins and Tonks had just come out in the hospital lobby. Nobody had been able to reverse the twin's pranks. Individually, they might have been able to, but due to the multiple charms and potions involved, they were hesitating. It was not until a few moments ago that the power of speech was given to the pumpkins that the twins cast an emergency cancellation charm. Then everybody was reverted to their natural order. It seems that they were on the wrong side of their own experiments too often. Hence they had decided to create an all out canceling charms which would negate all the magic caused by their inventions. It was pretty serious arthimancy, but they were pretty brilliant when it came to pranks.

As soon as they reverted to normal, Ron and Hermione started to blush like the red hairs of the Weasley. The lovey-dovey scene had hit pretty close to home. Ron had had feelings for Hermione since their third year. Hermione had also started to feel something in the last few months. She inwardly acknowledged the fact that part of the reason for her not taking up on victor's offer of a more serious relationship was her ambivalence towards her relationship with Harry & Ron.

As soon as they came out, they were met with a very worried Molly. It seemed that healers wouldn't let her in due to the state of mind she was in and also because it was too crowded anyway. Seeing all of them fine and healthy, she embraced them all, together. Her eyes crying out. then she looked around, not finding Harry, she asked "Where is Harry?"

This time, lily was sitting in the couch. Her face looked as if she was deep in thought. Which she was. Then she opened her eyes and found her son sitting next to her. His face looked as she felt. Bewildered.

Lily had been aware of much what had transpired all these years ago and she was in a shock. Her son had known nothing. She couldn't even imagine the shape he would be in. she slowly got up and placed a hand in her son's hands, pressing it gently, comfortingly. When he opened his eyes, he felt tired. So much had happened. He needed time to assimilate it all.

Lily understood the look. The couch automatically changed into a bed. She sat down on it. Harry put his head in her lap and slept. Lily continued playing with his hair, just as she did when he was a baby.

In the conference room, everybody had seen Harry wound up bit-by-bit as he heard the tale. Nobody blamed him. It wasn't easy to have your life turned around its head. This was more like stepping into another, unknown world. So when, at the end of the tale, they saw him lean back a bit and close his eyes, they relaxed. He had understood the facts of the legend. If he hadn't or if he hadn't accepted the same, he would not be this uptight.
In his own mind, it had nearly been twenty four hours that Harry had slept through. Lily had not moved. She just kept the motherly vigil she had so much longed for, the vigil she couldn't give him because of the cruelty of the fates.

Harry felt relaxed. As a matter of fact, he felt excellent. Despite the earthquake which had just ripped his life, once again, he felt happy. This was probably what it felt to be loved, by a mother. He opened his eyes and saw the smiling eyes of his mother. She saw him wake up and gently kissed the top of his head. Many young teenage boys would have been embarrassed. Harry however, soaked all the love that emanated from such a simple act of love, that he felt buoyed by it. He felt all his worries leave him. He now knew that this was his own personal safe haven. Away from all. Away from Voldemort, Dumbledore, the wizarding world, their expectations and their betrayals. He was safe and this gave him strength.

He smiled again and got up. He wished he could have a bath. Instantly, he saw a door appear out of nowhere. Though it wouldn't do anything to his physical self, he could mentally freshen up. That was more important considering the things that had been happening.

His mother nodded. He went in and found a medium sized bathroom with all the facilities available. He quickly freshened up. He smiled when he saw a pair of blue jeans, t-shirt and other stuff appear out of nowhere. "He must be more organised than he thought." Harry thought to himself.

A few moments later, a fresh looking Harry came out of the bathroom. Instead of finding the living room, he found his mother sitting on a chair near a beautiful meadow. On the table in front of her were a couple of glasses of chilled butterbear.

Smiling, Harry sat down on the chair next to her.

"How long have I been asleep", he asked. He didn't want others to be worried when they couldn't wake him. It was his secret and he intended for it to stay this way.

"Nearly 24 hours", Harry nearly fell off the chair and then he saw lily smile. "Merlin!" He should have remembered the time difference. And maybe he should stop cursing on his own ancestor.

Lily who was now laughing out loud at the near fall Harry just had, tried very hard to cover her smile. With tears flowing from her eyes, she saw her son who was now starting to laugh at his own reaction, she replied, "6 seconds, normal time."

He sighed, relieved.

"Maybe we should do this more often. I haven't had this much fun in years." Lily said smilingly. It had been a long time for her. She had made her peace with James death. Now she wanted nothing more than to live for her son.

This set the pace for the next two hours. After having some fun and getting totally relaxed, he decided it was time for him to go back to the land of the living. Kissing his mother good-bye, Harry once again closed his eyes and willed himself back to the conference room.

Inside the conference room, the goblins were looking amazedly at Harry's body, or more accurately at his aura. Over the last few seconds, his aura had been very uptight. His red aura had several pigments of black and yellow in them, signifying the fact that he was getting very stressed. Yet in the last few seconds, all that had been replaced with not a clear red aura, but a clear blue aura. They had no explanation for the same. But if he was chosen by their great father (as they had lovingly come to think of Merlin), he, per se, should be extraordinary.

Then, a few seconds later, maybe 6-7 seconds in all, Harry opened his eyes. Now they were no longer the tired and bewildered eyes. They were open, honest and energetic eyes. The transformation was great and their respect for this young one grew several notches higher. Although goblins had been friendly with many of the potters who more often than not, treated them as equals, rarely had someone gained their respect so soon.

"Thank you for all the information about the legend. But I believe there are several questions left unanswered." The entire goblin contingent looked at him with their mouths agape. Everybody was aware of the holes and missing information in the story. But never had they believed that Harry would even see the missing points. None of the goblins had ever found the hole so soon after hearing the story. Now, the goblins were in awe of Harry's capabilities.

"Yes. Of course Mr. Potter. What would you like to ask?" asked Griphop.

"First, you implied the story about the Gods and Merlin is interconnected, yet you haven't mentioned the connection as yet. Secondly, you never told me what happened to Merlin. Thirdly, you never told me how the guardian exactly works. It's what the whole legend is all about isn't it? And you haven't told me why would the Potters have so much money? As Ragnok told me earlier, even the smallest percentage of the fortune is filthy rich."

Although the money made very little difference to Harry, he wanted to know the complete stories.

Queen Trastek looked silently at his senior council member and nodded. Getting the approval to give the most important information, he now looked at Harry and said, "The gods are very important. Our research into Merlin has led us to the fact that he was in fact the son of Hercules, hence a direct descendant of the Gods."

"What happened to Merlin is still something we are not very clear about. One day, some wizards attacked us and there was a huge magical explosion. After that we never saw our mentor again. You may get more information from the diary he left you.

As to your third question, even we are not sure. It was our mentor's last creation. During the time he stayed in, we have no idea of what he did. But before he came out, the last thing to be added was this block. Its origin or makeup is still unknown. How and what it does may be in the diary, our holy book, but what we have seen is that it looks into your power & soul and gives you what it deems fits. However, despite Merlin's refusal, we made him and his estate, a majority share holder in the Gringotts. And as his true descendent, you are in de-facto control of the Gringotts. As a matter of fact, you are the richest person on the planet.

Author's Notes:

PS The "Sweeter" thing at the end of the last chapter was just the spellchecker announcing its presence. I would like to thank all of you who have made my writing this story a success with your reviews.

i know many of you feel or are going to feel that this story is going to progress in the usual super rich/super powerful person. all i can say is keep the pages turning. i might yet surprise you all.

I am open to any more suggestions.