The Count of Azkaban

Chapter 12

Grace was still filled with shock at seeing her sister react this way. The last time she had seen her sister smile had been moths ago, rather nearly a year. And if this man could make her sister smile; all the better. Now she saw her sister disengage herself from the man she called John.

"When did you come here? How did you find me? How did you get through all the wards? Is there a loophole in the protective charms?" Blaise would have gone on and on had Harry not stepped in and put a hand on her mouth.

He had had conflicting feelings for Blaise since he had met her. During his excursion to the human realm, he had been lonely. He was not used to being lonely anymore. With all his family in the elven realm, he now depended upon love. However, since he had been back, the memories of his old love had returned.

(((o)))

Flashback

In a blinding white flash of light, Harry appeared in the cell he had disappeared from so many years ago. His face was resolute and he looked at the ring which adorned his right middle finger. It was a beautiful platinum ring with a magical stone. It was given to him by his grandfather just before he left. It was also a portkey. It would take him to the goblin headquarters as soon as he came to this world. And as promised, in a blink of an eye, Harry felt the odd feeling in his navel as he disappeared from the cell. Damn, he hated portkeys.

Harry appeared in a huge room. It was magnificently built in the elven architecture with milk white marble. Unlike the human white marble, this was quite sturdy and tough. As soon as he appeared, he felt a several charms being triggered from the room. Quite aware of what was happening, he sat down on a chair. Magically, a glass of his favorite beverage appeared on a floating tray just to his right hand side. He had not even finished his glass when he heard a discreet knock on the door.

He stood up and walked to the door and opened it. In front of it were several goblins that he would later find out were the most powerful members of the goblin council. Over next several weeks, he found about the goblin's escape from Britain and their divestment from the British wizarding world as well as the huge financial empire he had control of because of him being the reagent of the high elves (his ring proclaimed him so). He found out about his controlling share in the LeBeau and several other companies. Smith enterprises was an extremely profitable company. As the goblins owned 15 of the company, they made sure than it was a money minting enterprise. Even more so because the high elves were the ones who had helped goblins start the banking business.

He also inherited two very good aides and acquired the third.

It happened a few days later.

(((o)))

Harry was going through the various entities and corporations where he had majority and/or substantial interests. Thanks to the diligent effort of the goblin managers, the elven corporation was probably the richest corporate in the world. As it was privately held, there were no stock markets to affect the net worth or any dependency upon them. As a matter of fact the total corporate liability was zero except for cross-corporate loans and advances. Harry was totally flabbergasted. His primary job was going fine. He had personally inspected the anchor and saw the magic around it.

The anchor of the elven realm had stabilized itself a bit as soon as he had come into the wizarding plane of existence. He had been working to hard to permanently solve the problem of the extreme imbalance. The anchor had been very strong. It was only due to the cumulative rise of several dark lords in the past, it had eroded bit by bit. However the majority of the damage had been done when Harry had crossed over and the balance had tilted far too much on a single side. Now, as the magic recognized his presence back, the equilibrium was slowly getting not too much one sided. It did not mean that the balance had been restored but that the drain was sufficiently controlled that the anchor had started to stabilize itself.

His immediate problem taken care of, he was now in the process of taking steps on a permanent basis. The only way to do was to fulfill his destiny and vanquish Voldemort. Over the last dozen years, he had grown strong enough magically to be able to do it. More than that, it seemed that Voldemort had mellowed out. Bloated with comfort, he had grown lax and was nowhere near the power he had wielded earlier. He was no means an ordinary wizard. He could still take on twenty aurors and come out victorious. But now, he would have to toil for it. The difference was huge in the rarified field of power that both of them were in. but Harry was not interested in revenge. He was perfectly content with the life he had. As a matter of fact, he sometimes almost felt obliged to Tommy boy. Had it not been for his meddling, he probably would have never met his family. True, had it not been for him, he would have had a family of his own; but the ifs and buts were always numerous and the outcome of such ifs & buts was always ambiguous. And he was happy. He just wanted to hurry back if possible.

(((o)))

During his several excursions into his muses, he heard a knock and came out of his reverie. As he looked up, he could see the aura of two very powerful wizards and a goblin. He recognized the goblin as Slitcork, one of the elders of the goblin councils. However, he did not know the other two. Deciding to let them enter, he mentally opened the door and the goblin walk in. the two wizards remained outside. It seemed a bit strange.

None-the-less, he stood up and welcomed the elder goblin. Respect was the currency most undervalued, and the lesson had been engrained into his soul in the past few years. Slitcork too nodded. No other wizard had gained enough respect before to get any response from the goblins.

As Harry saw him, he got a feeling that the Slitcork wanted something from him. However, as an elder, it was very difficult for him to ask for it. Understanding the dilemma, Harry did the one thing he should have done; he gave Slitcork the opening he required.

"Welcome to my humble abode. How may I be of use to you today?"

The change in the semantics was not lost on Slitcork and he smiled a bit of crooked smile. He was both happy as well as glad at the opening. His respect for Harry grew up a bit. This young elf-wizard had been surprising all of them. Although they knew his real name, and his history, none of them had expected such a powerful wizard to be so full of humility. That was one of the main reasons he had been asked by all the elders to approach him for the favor. He closed his eyes, starting the most important speech of his life.

"The Goblins and the Elves have been allies since time immemorial. During the same time, we both have helped each other. And today, I would like to ask you for some help in the name of that alliance."

It was a big thing for the goblins to say. They were asking a favor which he would have to fulfill, if it was in his power. As his power was on the extreme side, he was sure the favor would not be an ordinary one.

"If it is in my power to help you, I will do all I can." Harry said, committing himself.

Instead of the happiness which should have sparked in his eyes, the elder goblin nodded wearily.

He said, "Not many people are aware of this but the most sacred place of the goblin race is situated right underneath the Gringotts branch in the Diagon alley. Since the day we were forced to flee from Britain, we have kept the place under very strong wards. But now, the wards are starting to disintegrate. In a few more years, they will be weak enough for tom riddle to break through. Once he reaches and takes over the crystal of the elders, we will be magically bound to serve him. That is a fate worse than death for all of us. Unfortunately, none of us can go near the wards to recharge the crystal. As is, it would take nearly a score of the most powerful goblins at least a month to do so. We would like to ask your help in protecting the goblin's race from extinction."

Harry was mulling over the request. It was indeed not a small thing for the goblins to tell him this. He doubted if the elder elves knew of this. The goblins were fiercely independent people and for an artifact to exist which can control all of them was their biggest danger. As a matter of fact, such information was very dangerous. Although goblins had run off the British Isles, they were still in the banking business. One of his companies owned the Le Beau, the biggest bank in Europe. It had gotten so big only after the goblins had transferred all their operation in this. Only now, they pulled the strings from behind.

(((o)))

He could see two different ways to help them. One was easy and the other was right. He really did not want to do the right thing. However resigned and honor bound to do it, he looked up and saw straight into his eyes and said, "There are two possible solutions which come into my mind. One is that if somehow, someone can charge your crystals. However that is both a temporary solution and to find such powerful wizards would not be an easy task. But still it is the easier way." He could clearly see that though this was not the ideal response they hoped from him, but it was acceptable.

However, he still knew what the right thing to do was. As it was his destiny, he could not run away from it forever. He remembered a tale which was part of the basic lore of the elves. Once a king foresaw great tragedy in his kingdom and the gods asked him, "Should this happen today or later." After much thought the king replied, "Today." Over the next ten years, king was dethroned due to mutinous and evil cousin, his family was separated and he was thrown in a dungeon. However, he did not loose hope. He escaped, ran away, regrouped and took his kingdom back. Several years later, when the king told his wife of his dream and his response, the queen asked him for the reason he replied 'Today.'

The king said, "Then I was young and powerful. I could have and have surmounted the adversities. I fulfilled my destiny. I doubt that I could have overcome those problems after growing old."

Harry's problems were not much different. He now understood why this story had been repeated to him over and over. He looked at the elder goblin and finally gave in, a wry smile on his lips as he said, "Or, we could take out Tommy boy."

A genuine, twenty four carat smile escaped the elder goblin's lips as he, probably for the first time in his life, bowed to a non-goblin person.

(((o)))

Over the next few months, everybody prepared for the entry of John Edward Smith in the British world. It had been decided that the time was long past when an open conflict would be of much benefit. Harry did not have an army, though he had the means to make one, he did not wish to impose any harm on even a single person. Hence the most devious plan was hatched by Harry.

Over the next few months, he made significant purchases in the British wizarding world, taking over several key companies as well as engaging in business with several key players under the veil of corporate identities. He bought the island of Azkaban from the French ministry, obtained the title of a count and took several steps to make sure that he would soon get into the crème'-de-la-crème' of the British wizarding world.

He was also introduced to the two powerful wizards he had felt earlier. One was the person we now know as Blade and the other was Nkola. The third, well, he just appeared one day, crossing all wards and charms; one day, when Harry was steeling himself to face the many people he knew. Despite the peace he felt from far away, as the days neared for him to fulfill his destiny, he started to worry. All the betrayal he had put behind him, started to bubble back. His anger, long lost under the veil of time and love, started to make its presence known.

Ron, Hermione and Ginny; Remus, Dumbledore and McGonagall; all his trusted ones and all that had betrayed him. He hated them more than his usual enemies. Their efforts to kill or subject him to pain were expected. But his friends were the guilty ones.

Just as he was thinking about Blade and Nkola, who had gone ahead to scout for him, he thought about the one person he knew would never loose faith on him. He thought about a tennis-ball-eyed green house-elf, dobby. Through the fabric of space and magic, a green light flashed in front of him and dobby appeared out of nowhere. It had been one of the happier days of his life.

After bonding with him, dobby grew in magic as well as physique. Due to Harry's unique circumstances, dobby turned into the person we now know as scout.

End Flashback.

(((o)))

Now, as he looked once more at Blaise, he was pulled in two directions. His yearning for companionship against what his heart remembered as betrayal. The tug-of-war was on. Even he did not know who would win this battle of Harry's life.

Smiling at the odd situations fate seemed to tailor-make for his life, he looked at both the sisters. Just for a moment, his yearning for companionship won and he said, "I will answer all of the questions if I can. Why don't the both of you join me at my place for some lunch? I trust you and I hope you trust me."

This was perhaps one of the first unplanned move, he had made in his plan. No-body knew what the effects of this simple request would come out to be.

Author's Notes:

Hi Again! Here's another chapter for all of you.

The history lesson is more or less over now and the story will move ahead from now on.

Hope u all enjoy reading it.

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