Chapter 3- Letters and Goblins, and Sirius

Harry studied till late at night till he fell asleep on his table and woke up when the sun was hitting him in the face, trying to forget his latest nightmare; he went to the bathroom to freshen up. Upon returning he spotted two owls waiting for him on his bed, the smaller owl looked like a school one, and the other had the seal of Gringotts attached to its neck. Wondering what the goblins wanted with him, he first opened the Hogwarts letter,

Dear Harry,

Hedwig arrived last night at Headquarters while I was about to leave, for some reason she wanted to come with me to Hogwarts, and wouldn't leave my shoulder, so I bought her along, and since then she and Fawkes are having somewhat a long discussion, its quite funny to see her hooting continuously while fawkes would just listen with giving a whistle or a song, in reply.

Anyways getting sidetracked here, I wanted to ask you how you were coping, your letters are very short and extremely to the point, I understand you do not wish to speak with me at the moment and for that I understand, I deserve your anger, the older I get the more I forget how it is like when one is young. I am sorry your friends haven't send you any letter, it was my doing, I was trying to arrange a safer method of communication for you because owls can be caught by death eaters, give me a week at the most and then expect many letter from your friends. Please understand Harry that we all care for you here, your friends made it quite clear and in case of Miss Weasley very apparent by screaming at me that you needed to be known the reason for their lack of letters beforehand and you need someone to talk to, after that she blushed and ran off realizing who she was screaming to, she sounds very much like her mother at times.

Please don't hesitate to ask of anything from me, and if you want me can always meet at Mrs. Figg for tea to talk. Until then take care of yourself

Yours truly,

Albus Dumbledore

It was very sweet letter from the headmaster, but at the moment Harry was too pissed to even think whether this wasn't another of the old mans tricks or not, though he wondered about the reason for Hedwig's odd behavior but thought nothing of it. But the thing that really amused him was where the headmaster had said that Ginny had screamed on him, he could just visualize her standing in front of the old man with her hands on her hips and ranting on how the Headmaster was wrong in the way he was treating Harry, "So little Ginny is not so little after all", thought Harry, but then he realized that she had finally grown up and shown that last year, where she wasn't the shy 11 year old who would run out of the room whenever Harry came in, or but he elbow in the butter tray, he realized that she had her mothers strictness and love mixed with the mischief of her twin brothers, a deadly combination, never the less, she was not a child but a beautiful grown up women, and he appreciated her for thinking of his feelings, and being his friend.

Looking at the other owl with the Gringotts letter, he slowly opened up and read the letter

Dear Mr. Potter

We at Gringotts would like to send our condolences for the loss of your godfather, but there are important matters that have been brought to my attention, which must be dealt with immediately. I would prefer that you do not confide the contents of this letter to any person; I would like to meet you at the earliest at our Gringotts Branch in Diagon Alley.

Please understand Mr. Potter that it would be beneficial that we conduct our business at the earliest without any disturbances from any other party, where you would be at a loss. Please show this letter to any goblin at our bank and he would bring you to my office.

Yours Sincerely

Goldsouk

Head of Gringotts Bank, Diagon Alley

Strange, short and vague were some of the words that came to Harry mind after he finished the letter, but he picked up the obvious reference of the word disturbance, that meant if Harry did not go at the earliest some things could be hidden from him. He took out some clothes got dressed, checked out of the window for any order member, he couldn't spot anyone out of the ordinary, but he did see a women walking her dog, and then she tripped and fell and got back on her feet quickly, as if a common occurrence, "So Tonks is on charge today, that would make things simple". He opened his trunk and took out his fathers invisibility cloak, and after putting it on himself checking to insure he wasn't uncovered anywhere since the cloak was now a little small for him after his growth spurt this year, he went out the back door towards the street leading outside of Privet Drive. After 15 minutes of walking with the cloak he went to a side alley and pulled it off himself. Checking to insure that the street was clear he came out and raised his wand in his right hand.

A loud bang indicated the arrival of the Knight bus, and Harry quickly covered his scar with his hair. Stan recognized him immediately "Oye Nevelle how are ya, where do you wanna go? ", "The Leaky Qualdron Stan, and thanks I am fine, though I will pay you 15 sickles extra if you could make it quick", Stan winked at him and told Ern to go straight to the Leaky Cauldron without any stops.

The Knight bus was as always a somewhat nauseating experience, but ended soon thanks to Stan. Getting of from it and going straight through the Leaky Cauldron without meeting anyone's eye, Harry found himself in the bustling streets of Diagon Alley. Without stopping at any shops Harry made his way to the bank, and went to the nearest goblin and produced the letter out of his pocket, "Mr. Goldsouk is expecting me", the goblin eyed him and Harry showed his scar for conformation, and then the goblin relaxed slightly, "Sorry Mr. Potter one can never be careful nowadays, please follow me". Wondering why the goblins were checking him for, when they have always been neutral in the war, and many death eater families have their money stored with them, they have nothing to fear from wizards, when the goblins themselves control the entire wizarding economy. The goblin led him through a long narrow corridor where there were many doors with plaques on them indicating the name of the person who the office belonged to, he even passed the office with the title "Bill Weasley, Curse Breaker", remembering when Bill told him he was employed by the Goblins in his fourth year.

They finally reached a door at the end of the corridor where two goblins were standing guard outside the door with long swords, and looking quite menacing in their armour, the goblin that was leading Harry nodded to one of the guards who went inside through the doors informing the manager of the arrival of his guest. A moment later the guard came back and said, "Mr. Souk is waiting for you sir". Harry went inside the office where he first noticed the rich decoration indicating whosoever this office belonged to had to be rich and very powerful. On one of the walls many different types of weapons were placed, even some muggle firearms, "I see you are admiring my collection of weapons", Harry turned his head to see a goblin standing in front of him, he looked quite old for a goblin, but was dressed in the finest robes, "Yes quite a fascinating collection, I see you also have a interest in muggle firearms?" inquired Harry, "Indeed the firearms are a recent purchase, but must say I am quite impressed by them, they can shoot through most shields that wizards use, and most of the Pureblooded wizards don't know what they are", "Are you planning on using this on anybody?" replied Harry, the goblin laughed "No Mr. Potter I am just a banker, I do not involve myself with the conflict of humans, though the dark lord is proving to be quite a pain, even though we are neutral in this war Mr. Potter we are afraid the outcome if the dark lord wins will not be in our favor", said the goblin, "Harry", "Excuse me I don't understand Mr. Potter" replied the goblin to Harry comment, "No please call me Harry, I don't like things to be that formal" replied Harry.

"Indeed as you wish Harry please have a seat, would you like something to drink, before we start discussing the main reason I have asked for your presence in my bank", "No that's ok, please continue, your letter made me very curious so as to speak" replied Harry. "Harry your godfather had left you a pensieve in our care in the case he died, also he said before I start discussing important topics, you must view the memory he left for you in it."

To say Harry was not shocked would be an understatement, Sirius left him a memory of him for Harry to view, after all those nights of wishing he could see Sirius one last time, he finally had a chance, tears were about to spill from Harry's eyes on hearing what the goblin had said, taking a few moments to compose himself, Harry asked to see the pensieve. The goblin pulled it out of a drawer in his table and placed it in front of Harry, "Please take your time, and whenever you are finished come out and we will discuss the other matters".

Harry put one of his fingers in the pensive and the next thing he knew he felt like he was falling, when he felt the ground under his feet, he slowly opened his eyes and what he saw made him start crying, Sirius was standing in front of him smiling, and looking just like he did, when Harry saw him during Christmas last year.

"Hello Harry, How are you?" said a happy smiling Sirius