Re-edited.

Located near the surface, Ancestral vaults were among the oldest at Gringotts London Branch, some of them being built nearly a thousand years ago. They are a mark of prestige among the wizarding elite. Belonging to the oldest and wealthiest of the pureblood's, they represent lordship of one's house.

Such vaults are highly valued in the magical world, and those who own them carry great influence. Rarely do they switch hands, and even rarer should an individual own more than one. Wizarding society often fears the consolidation of power that is possible should someone become lord of two families.

Add to it the fact that one of the vaults hadn't been opened in a century and a half, and Harry felt his excitement was justified.

They hadn't even bothered taking a cart. Instead Ripthor led him down a flight of stairs that took them to long hallway. They walls were lined with ornate vault doors and the floor was made of marble. It was certainly different from the lower levels were his parents' vault was located.

The Potter Ancestral vault proved to be vault number eleven, and the door was adorned with the same lion as his family ring.

Harry held the ring up to the giant cat as Ripthor instructed, and was surprised when the lion's eyes rested on the signet. It stared at it for a moment, as if examining the authenticity, and then shifted it's gaze to Harry.

There was a moment of silence as young lord and beast evaluated each other. Then the lion bowed its head slightly, seemingly satisfied with what it had found. There were a series of clicking noises, and the vault door swung open. He looked at Ripthor, who nodded and told the human he would wait in the hall.

Harry stepped forward apprehensively, and the door closed behind him.

The inside of the vault was a simple chamber, twenty feet wide by forty feet long. The walls were made of smooth stone and the floor a dark marble. One wall was lined with over thirty trunks, chests, and cabinets of various sizes. Opening a few, Harry found them to be overflowing with gold galleons and silver sickles, while others contained diamonds and rubies. The contents of his parents' vault was spare change compared to this.

The Potter physical assets, he presumed.

He filled several money bags with galleons, more than most respectable people made in a year, and turned backed to the room. The space in the center of the vault was taken up by a large, antique table. It was piled high with an array of magical instruments, ancient weapons, and battle armor. The armor and weaponry were all outdated though, and would serve little purpose in a fight with Death Eaters. Unless they decided to throw down their wands that is.

For some reason, he didn't think they would.

His search through the magical instruments proved more rewarding though. He found another invisibility cloak and a rather powerful sneakoscope among the odds and ends. The prize though was the magical trunk, buried beneath a pile of charts and a large foe glass. It had a series of locks and keyholes, similar to the one Moody owned. The first several opened different compartments, some bigger than the others. And like Mad-Eye's, the last lock opened to an underground room, slightly smaller than his bedroom at Privet Drive.

Putting the cloak and sneakoscope in the first compartment along with the bags of gold, he pocketed the keys and walked over to the other wall. About half of it was covered with additional weaponry; larger things that wouldn't fit on the table. There were several heavy axes and broadswords that were nearly as tall as he was.

Not exactly what he sought.

The other half of the wall was made up of bookcases; the shelves crammed full with essays, manuals, and large tomes. He scanned the titles, picking out a few texts that looked promising. The majority of the books were on Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Ward Magic. The Transfiguration books didn't surprise him, as it had been his father's strongest area. Likewise with the ones on Defense. The numerous books on Ward Magic were a surprise though, as it was a somewhat obscure branch.

There were also several deed books that he took. They listed the properties owned by the family and the various investments and business dealings that had been made over the years. He was sure they would prove helpful.

He made his way to the far wall, which was completely bare save for a large, embroidered tapestry. He recognized it immediately as his family tree, having seen the one at number twelve Grimmauld Place. At the very top, in large letters it read:

The Ancient House of Potter

He found his name rather quickly, as it was the last one on the tree. It was also, he noticed, the only one that didn't have a date of death following it. A thin, gold line connected him to his parents above. He traced the line, going through his grandparents and all the relatives he would never meet. He skimmed farther up the tree, skipping several centuries, until before the Potter name. He kept going, as the name changed once more, this time to the one he was looking for. He found it near the top, one of the first names on the tree. In black letters it read:

Godric Arnarion Gryffindor

The name didn't really surprise him. He had suspected since the end of second year that he was the founder's heir. How else could he have wielded the sword of Godric Gryffindor? This merely confirmed his suspicions. There were several other names on the tree that he recognized, though none were as prominent as the ancient lion.

He glanced at his watch and noticed he only had an hour in a half left. He wanted to be back at Hogwarts before lunch, as Dumbledore would notice his absence, were he not. Shrinking his trunk, he placed it in his pocket and left the vault, the door locking behind him.

"The Tenaroe Ancestral vault is number three, being among the first built at Gringotts London Branch. It is over nine hundred years old, and even more secure than the Potter vault," Ripthor said as he led Harry farther down the marble hall.

"What do you mean by more secure?" Harry asked as they passed a vault door adorned with a silver dragon. He absentmindedly recognized it as the shield of the Flamel family, though he was unsure as to how he knew.

"The Tenaroe vault, like that of Potter, is guarded by the creature on the family shield. Unlike the Potter one though, the Tenaroe vault is also guarded by a distinct family trait. A trait that every magical member of the line possesses," Ripthor explained. He then added, "Though sometimes only the male members of a family have the trait. Its just another way to ensure that only the rightful heir can open the vault."

The part about the family trait puzzled Harry. He knew that some traits belonged only to certain families, and most pureblood's had one. It could be something as simple as the red hair of the Weasley's, or something as rare as the runic gift of the Morgan family. He supposed it would become clear when they reached the vault.

The vault in question was located near the end of the hall, and as they neared it, Harry could make out the Nevroc on the door. It was the same as the one on his ring, only much larger. He stood before the door and held the Tenaroe ring up to the serpent. The Nevroc studied the signet, as the lion had done with the other, and shortly nodded it's consent. Harry wasn't paying attention though. His gaze was fixed upon a spot above the snake, his mouth open and his body frozen in shock.

There, carved into the door, were several words written in parseltongue.

"Open in the name of Tenaroe," Harry hissed, voicing the inscription written upon the door. He no longer wondered what the family trait was, though he couldn't guess how it was possible.

He slowly entered, and once more, the door closed behind him. He didn't know what to expect from a vault that hadn't been opened in one hundred and fifty years, but this certainly wasn't it. The chamber was larger than that of the Potter vault, and richly furnished in green and black. In the center was a small table surrounded by chairs and couches, a gold chandelier hanging overhead. There were a few books scattered about, in the same spot as they were when the vault was last closed. There were chests and trunks full of gold like those in his other vault, though nowhere near as many.

It seemed the Tenaroe family was more of the scholarly type. The majority of the wall space was covered in shelves, with books stacked from floor to ceiling. Unlike the Potter family, whose vault had been filled with weapons. The subjects ranged from potions to the mind arts, with a lot of everything else in between. Hermione would have gone green with envy if she were to see the collection. The newest book was over two hundred years old, and many of them were worth a small fortune, being the only copies in existence.

It was the tapestry that called to him though. Embroidered in green and black, it was even larger than the Potter family tree. Hanging on the remaining wall, it took up all the space not devoted to books. It was beautifully made, with names dating back a thousand years. His name was once more the lowest one, with his mother's directly above it. He scanned to the very top, almost afraid of what he would find. And true to form, when his eyes fell upon it, his heart nearly skipped a beat. For at the top of the tree was the name:

Salazar Dristalyon Slytherin

Shaking the feeling of shock, he traced the Slytherin name down until the sixteenth century, when it changed to Tenaroe. The Tenaroe name lasted for another three hundred years. That was when the last Lord Tenaroe died. The tree showed that he was survived only by his daughter, both his sons having died years before. The daughter in turn, married a man named Daniel Evans. That name was passed down over the next six generations, until his mother was born. There was a green line connecting his mother with James Potter, and a double line connecting them to their son.

It would be interesting to see the look on his aunt's face were she to see this. A descendant of one of the most famous 'freaks' of all time, as that was how she thought them.

A dawning realization came to him then. Numbly, he traced his finger across the lines to the other side of the tree. His face paled as he saw the name stitched near the bottom, almost as low as his.

With a date of birth some seventy years before it read:

Tom Marvolo Riddle

He just stood there for a few minutes, staring at the name of his enemy. At the name of the man he was going to kill. At the name of his very distant cousin.

The ultimate ironyHarry thought with dryly.

From what the tree showed, the Slytherin line had divided some four hundred and fifty years ago.There was a split in the middle of the sixteenth century, which is when the Tenaroe name appearedSince then, the two factions had separated fartheruntil the relation was barely discernable.

Harry briefly remembered his second year when his Parseltongue ability became public knowledge.

"It matters," said Hermione, speaking at last in a hushed voice, "because being able to talk to snakes was what Salazar Slytherin was famous for. That's why the symbol of Slytherin House is a serpent."

Harry's mouth fell open.

"Exactly," said Ron. "And now the whole school's going to think you're his great-great-great-great grandson or something -

"But I'm not," said Harry, with a panic he couldn't quite explain.

"You'll find that hard to prove," said Hermione. "He lived about a thousand years ago; for all we know, you could be."

"How right you were, Hermione," Harry said to himself quietly. "How right you were."
Leaving the Tenaroe vault shortly after, Harry followed Ripthor up to the main floor. It was past midday, and he would need to be back at Hogwarts soon. Passing the Potter vault , he suddenly remembered something the goblin had said earlier.

"Ripthor," he began. "You told me earlier that more than one person tried to lay claim to the Potter legacy after I was designated the heir."

"That's correct," the goblin replied. "Several pureblood families tried claiming the lordship after your father died."

"And what were the basis to their claims?" Harry asked, though he could imagine what the answer was.

"I believe the majority of the claims were based on the closeness of relation between your father and the family claiming the title. If I'm not mistaken, they believed they had the right to the legacy as their blood was purer than yours. An incorrect assumption of course, as you are the Tenaroe heir."

An intense feeling of anger filled him as he listened to Ripthor. That someone had tried to steal a legacy that wasn't rightfully theirs, basing their claim on the purity of blood was rather pathetic. The fact that they had tried to steal a legacy that belonged to an infant was in itself disgusting. It was something Lucius Malfoy would have tried, and Harry wouldn't be surprised if the Death Eater had. He quickly smothered the rage building inside of him, he didn't want anything nearby to explode.

They arrived in the main lobby, which Harry happily noticed was nearly empty. Pulling one of the heavy bags of gold out of his pocket, he handed it to the goblin beside him, his body hiding the exchange from all views.

"For your assistance, Ripthor," he said to the stunned goblin. "And your silence. The Lords of Potter and Tenaroe have not returned."

With that, Harry walked out of Gringotts, leaving a pleasantly surprised Ripthor in his wake. Neither man nor goblin noticed the red haired man with a pony tail, watching from an open doorway. Shock was evident on his face.

Well, there it is folks. The Tenaroe Legacy.

Until next time, please review!