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Chapter 9: Harry Scares His Lawyers

Ted reminded the others in the room when he said, "In our first meeting, Mr Potter mentioned protecting Mr Abbot's business, giving away gold to several friends, and not being worried about his account balances. Then he mentioned that he needed help with criminal matters."

"Yes, the easiest thing is I want funds awarded to the students who were petrified." Harry motioned toward Bloodhook and said, "My vault manager says that I can easily provide ten thousand galleons for Colin Creevey, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Penny Clearwater, and Hermione Granger. And I want to provide money to pay for any mind healing treatments for Miss Ginevra Weasley."

"Two thousand galleons each is very generous, Mr Potter," replied Andromeda.

"No, ten thousand each. That's about fifty thousand pounds for each of the victims of the basilisk," Harry corrected the attorney.

"Ten thousand galleons each?" asked Ted, his voice rising just slightly.

"Fifty thousand galleons is a bit excessive, Harry – can I call you Harry?" asked Andromeda.

"Sure, if I can call you Great Evil Tonks," replied Harry. The woman pursed her lips and attempted to intimidate the boy with her stern stare, but the teenager looked back, blinked, and added, "Sorry, Mrs Tonks, no matter how hard you try, you can't petrify me with a stare."

"Mr Harry Potters fought giant snakey-snake. He only listen to Dobby when Dobby be right to fuss. Missy Tonks must watch and learn," Dobby instructed the attorney.

"Argh!" Andromeda said before rising and pacing about the room for a minute, muttering about needing brandy. Dobby popped his finger, and a small glass of amber coloured liquid appeared on the table at her side.

Bloodhook snickered and added, "Freshgold, tell Great Evil Tonks and Less Evil Tonks the great secret. Then they understand the goblin guards and your name Freshgold."

"Yes, Dobby say tell them. If they scared, they can leave but never tell anyone…Dobby make certain they never tell anyone," the elf promised, his face stern and almost frightening.

"Merlin, even the elf is a devil!" Ted swore.

Harry looked at Dobby and said, "I told you too much gold is a bad thing."

Returning his look toward Ted and Andromeda, Harry said, "I figured out a way for magic to make gold last year at Hogwarts. Well, two ways – one makes me very tired, and the other way doesn't bother me at all."

"You're serious?" asked Ted. "You can make gold like Nicholas Flamel?"

The goblin cleared his throat and spat on the floor. "Never compare the work of Freshgold with that evil wizard who ruined the currency of Gringotts around the world!"

"Bloodhook not spit in Missy Longbottom's lounge or Dobby banish elf back to Ironstream's den and tell mother about bad manners!" the elf growled before snapping his fingers twice to make the spit vanish and clean the spot.

"Fresh gold? What is fresh gold?" demanded Andromeda.

"This is complicated," Harry said. "Let me explain everything."

Ted asked for some brandy, and Andromeda asked for coffee. Again Dobby didn't leave Harry's side, but the requested items appeared in the room. Bloodhook enjoyed watching Great Evil and Less Evil scrambling to understand everything, and Harry resolved to take as long as necessary to get through everything today.

'I want to study runes this summer…not talk with grownups about gold and the law the whole holiday.'

Once his attorneys gave him their attention again, Harry explained, "Last year, I figured out how to use runes and words together inside a cartouche drawn on paper to do things. The first things I duplicated were chocolate frogs. I had to bite one in two to get it to sit still…that's probably why the duplication worked. Other things that were copyrighted like biros wouldn't duplicate. Anyway, I finally tried with a nugget of raw gold that Dobby found in the Come and Go Room. I drew the cartouche on muggle paper saturated with magic and wrote the words 'create duplicate 100' with the cartouche aimed at the gold. When I pressed my wand against the paper, I passed out."

Dobby shook his head and said, "Even Mr Harry Potters be stupid sometimes. He sucked too much magic from core too fast and made ten tens pieces of gold."

"But…that was transfiguration…it won't last," Ted argued. "Runes have to be on sandstone to work…and you can't use words."

Andromeda watched and listened as the teenager repeated himself and assured his lawyers that he could create one hundred pieces of gold using a simple sheet of paper with some words on it and a single piece of gold.

"Transfiguration gold isn't real," insisted Ted.

Bloodhook and Dobby both shook their heads, and the elf insisted, "It be real gold."

"What about this?" asked Ted as he pulled a galleon from his pocket.

Harry explained, "Bloodhook told me that a galleon is not 'gold'. There is some gold in the coin – worth about five British pounds if you could get it out of all the charms and spells on the galleon. The goblins put gold in a coin so that it holds its value, but wizards can't melt it down and sell it to muggles."

"And all the gold in Britain and Europe is spoiled because of the gold Nicholas Flamel made with his Philosopher's Stone. The goblins say it 'tastes' bad. The gold that I make is a cure for spoiled gold.

The goblin nodded and picked up the story. "The elf appeared in Gringotts with the bag of gold, and I was fortunate enough to be the goblin who received the deposit from some mysterious wizard."

Bloodhook smiled and said, "I have never smelled or tasted anything better than that first piece of fresh gold sent to Gringotts! Reliable persons reported that I slobbered and danced for half an hour before returning to my senses."

Dobby shuddered and said, "Dobby watched goblins. It be frightening to see happy, slobbering and dancing goblins everywhere."

"Do you pass out every time you make gold?" Andromeda asked Harry.

"No, Dobby wouldn't let me keep doing that. He showed me how to use a base item when making more gold. I just need one gold nugget, a hundred and one marble chips and one of my paper cartouches to make a bag of a hundred gold nuggets for Gringotts and one to keep for the next bag."

"Where are you getting the marble chips?" asked Ted.

The elf replied, "Dobby collect marbles chippings from garbage outside wards where wizards carving marbles into statues of nudey naked witches and wizards. Dobby be very careful not to look at naked nudey statues."

Turning toward Bloodhook, Ted asked, "What sort of payment did you give Mr Potter?"

Smiling, the goblin replied, "Gringotts deposits ten times the weight in old gold in a personal vault for each bag of fresh gold sent to the bank. Freshgold sends his elf with one bag a week so that we don't get too excited or throw the economy into a spiral of some kind."

"Wait…is fresh gold a person?" asked Andromeda, remembering an earlier comment by the goblin.

Bloodhook nodded, motioned toward Harry, and said, "Our king named the young wizard Freshgold; like any good goblin, he has earned his name."

Again, the couple exchanged glances before Ted asked, "How much gold does Mr Potter send to Gringotts each week?

Bloodhook looked at Dobby, and the elf replied, "Dobby deliver two tens and five ounces of gold to Goblin Bloodstone each week."

Ted, who excelled with numbers, told his wife, "That's ʛ1315 each week with the current price of gold."

"And every payment goes into a special vault that the goblin Sowsbreath never knew about," Bloodhook assured the attorney. "As my friend Dobby counts galleons, his Mr Harry Potter has almost two tens tens tens tens tens galleons. That's outside what the Potter vaults hold and any income they generate. And this doesn't count any basilisk proceeds."

"Ted, translate please," begged Andromeda.

"Mr Potter has been paid almost two hundred thousand galleons in the last twenty or so weeks," her husband managed to say. "And there are no taxes due on the money until he buys something."

Staring at Harry as though she'd never seen him before, Andromeda said, "Merlin and Morgana…you don't have to worry about gold – ever again."

"Tell me again why the metal is called fresh gold," Ted said, motioning for Harry to explain.

But Bloodhook stepped forward and said, "The gold that is made by Potter's magic is called fresh gold by the goblin horde. When melted and added to the spoiled or sour gold ruined by Flamel's gold, the fresh gold restores the taste of the natural gold."

"Gold has a taste?" asked Ted incredulously.

"And your goal for this fresh gold?" asked Andromeda.

"Gringotts in every country will remake every galleon with the sour gold and use the fresh gold to fix the horror created by Flamel's cursed stone."

"That's a lot of gold, Mr Potter," Ted said.

Harry shrugged, forgetting his training for a moment, and said, "If it makes the goblins happy, I'm glad to help them."

Looking at Bloodhook, he asked, "You said something about a timetable earlier?"

"The elders think it will take about fifty years to purge all the spoiled gold," the goblin replied. While Ted and Andromeda took a moment to write down things they wanted to ask, Dobby summoned a butterbeer for his wizard and a mug of ale for his wizard's goblin.

SCENE CHANGE: Crimes and Grims

"What else do you want, Mr Potter?" asked Ted.

"I need a good criminal attorney," he said slowly. "Someone who will make certain things are done above board and by the book."

"Criminal?"

"It's not against the law to use your magic to earn an income," Ted said. "We don't want to announce it to the Wizengamot, but you haven't broken the law."

Harry frowned as though he was unsure how to proceed. Seeing the young wizard hesitate, Andromeda recognised the signs of a client with a troublesome secret that could not be forced out. She put on her Evil Tonks face and said, "Mr Potter, I am very good with defending my clients and also making certain that guilty persons are punished by laying out the case for the prosecution when they are stumbling about. Director Bones listens to me when I represent a client, and she judges every case fairly."

"If there is a criminal matter you share with me, I won't bring it to anyone's attention. And Ted won't bring it to anyone's attention," she assured the young wizard. "But the absolute worst thing you can do is to not tell us about it. If we are aware of something criminal, we can prepare to address the matter if the Aurors discover it. If we're caught completely unawares, we have to scramble, and that's when mistakes can occur."

"And you're my lawyers, right? You have to help me…or anyone who I say needs help."

Ted replied, "If you tell us to help someone, a friend or acquaintance, we can become their lawyers if they want. There'll be a question about who pays the bill, and we won't be able to tell you what is going on with them…like Mr Abbot is also a client of mine and he encouraged me to help you. But he's not paying your bill, and I'll never tell him any of the things we talk about today."

Glancing at Dobby, who nodded and then at Bloodhook, who grinned and said, "Gringotts sent you to Great Evil Tonks for a reason."

And so, Harry began another tale from his third year at Hogwarts.

"The minister sent Dementors to surround Hogwarts last year, and all they did was give everyone nightmares the whole time. They kissed those kids on the Express the first day, and…that changed a lot of people.

Looking up, Harry saw that both adults were calm, but their eyes were sad. "And then there were rumours about Sirius Black wanting to get to me at Hogwarts. Everyone ran from me for a time but settled down until Halloween when Black got into the castle and tried to get into Gryffindor Tower. The portal wouldn't open, and he escaped."

"Sirius was inside the castle at Halloween? Why wasn't that in the newspapers?" Andromeda wanted to know. Then she grimaced and hissed, "Dumbledore."

Continuing with his tale, Harry said, "We didn't have any more problems with Black until February. I woke up one night because Ron Weasley was screaming. When I looked out the curtains around my bed, there was a crazy man with a large knife standing over Ron, and the guy kept talking about 'killing Peter'. Then the head boy's Patronus swam into the room and drove the crazy man away."

"And no one told anyone again?"

"I don't think Ron ever wrote home to his parents about the attack," replied Harry with some confusion on his face. Andromeda took a moment to write down more questions for the Board of Governors. If she didn't get the answers she wanted, she could see a lawsuit filed against the board by Great Evil Tonks in the future. Ted remained silent, allowing his wife to lead this conversation though he did make notes.

Harry continued, "I decided that I needed to find some way to stop the crazy man the next time he appeared."

Andromeda asked, "Did you think he would come back?"

"Whatever the problem is at Hogwarts, I always have to deal with it at the end of the year," Harry admitted. "And this time, I wanted to be prepared."

Now Harry discussed some of his experiments with a Cartouche on paper, reading Metals for Magic and Runes and his first experiments to make rings. "Then I made a runic array that would petrify a person, shrink them down, and put them into my pocket."

Andromeda thought of a thousand ways that array could have misfired but remained silent while Ted asked, "Did you try it out on a person?"

Harry grimaced and replied, "I tried it on a rat."

He pulled the figurine of the rat-man from his bookbag and set it on the table beside him. "Dobby found a rat for me to experiment with. I fed it a hunk of cheese and fired the array at it while the rat cleaned its face. When I reached into my pocket and pulled out the figurine, instead of a rat, I found this statue of a man who does look like a rat in the face. Dobby told me all the elves knew the rat wasn't a real animal but a man hiding in a rat's shape."

"An Animagus hiding at Hogwarts," Ted realised. Andromeda's frown was dangerous as she made more notes.

"After hearing about Peter Pettigrew, I decided that's who this is," Harry said, pointing at the figurine. "Professor Lupin and Professor Flitwick told me about my dad and his friends at school. Because Lupin is a werewolf, they all learned to become an Animagus to run with Lupin when the moon was full. Professor Flitwick talked to me about it and warned me not to try and learn how to transform until I am grown, and my core settled. My dad and his friends were too young when they started, and their forms influenced them a lot. My dad started to grow horns while still a man."

"What forms did they take?" asked Ted, remembering tales he'd heard.

"My dad was a stag, Peter Pettigrew was a rat, and Sirius Black was a big dog called a grim," Harry replied. "And Black came looking for Peter in our dorm room where Ron kept his pet rat. Scabbers had been Percy's pet for almost ten years and then was given to Ron when he started his first year at Hogwarts."

Andromeda agreed, "That is a long life for a rat."

"So, you captured a rat that might be a man who might be Peter Pettigrew who everyone thinks died thirteen years ago," Ted said. "What happened next?"

"At the end of the year, Ron…the grim grabbed Ron and pulled him into the hole under the Whomping Willow," Harry said. "I sent friends for help while chasing after Ron. They were in the Shrieking Shack, and the grim was a man who kept calling me 'James' and talking about Peter being Ron's rat."

Ted commented, "But you had the figurine already."

"Yeah…I glamoured a new rat to look like Scabbers, and Dobby put it into the cage where Ron kept his rat. Ron never knew there'd been a switch."

"Ron screamed, so I stupefied him; Professors Lupin and Snape showed up, there was a bunch of yelling. Lupin and Snape said the crazy man was Sirius Black who laughed and screamed. Then the moon rose and Professor Lupin started to transform into his werewolf form."

"Werewolf! How did you not…what happened!" Andromeda demanded to know.

"Snape had brought the wolfsbane potion to Lupin to keep him calm after transforming, but we still had to leave," Harry said. "I levitated Ron down into the tunnel, and the two wizards came behind me. Lupin was locked in the Shrieking Shack, and Black locked Snape in the tunnel but he was safe from the wolf."

Harry frowned as he continued, "Black kept calling me 'James', thinking I was my dad. He pulled me away from Ron, and we argued. Then the Dementors came, but I drove them away with my Patronus charm. Once they'd left, Black was unconscious, and I used my cartouche to change him into a figurine."

Pulling the second figurine from his pocket, Harry sat it on the table and noticed that Andromeda Tonks had tears on her face.

"Sirius is my cousin. I never believed…he would never turn to those devil death eaters…he and James were brothers," she stammered, the professional persona absent for the moment with too many memories overwhelming her mind.

Dobby snapped his fingers, and another glass with a bit of brandy, and a fresh pot of coffee appeared. Bloodhook remained quiet, listening and learning, while Dobby watched the adults and the goblin carefully to ensure no one threatened Mr Harry Potter while he told of his misadventures. Once Andromeda was settled and calm, Ted remained at her side and said, "My wife will want to think about these revelations. And we'll talk to Director Bones about possibilities."

"No," Andromeda said. "The death of her niece changed Amelia. We must go to her with absolutes. We must know if the rat is Peter Pettigrew and talk with Sirius before going to her. Mr Potter can ask us to be the attorneys for Sirius Black – Sirius is Harry's godfather, so the young wizard has a claim."

"And Pettigrew?" asked Harry.

"Once we're sure he is Pettigrew and we hear the story from Sirius, I will make certain the DMLE fills Pettigrew full of veritaserum and pulls the truth out of him."

Clearing his throat to catch everyone's attention, Bloodhook said, "Let Gringotts deal with Pettigrew and Black at the beginning. We can keep Pettigrew in his form as a wizard and question him with the truth serum. Director Bones can even come and hear him sing his confession…or squeal, isn't that what a rat does?"

"And Sirius?"

"With a request from Freshgold, our healers will help Mr Black to begin to deal with years of exposure to Dementors."

"Such services from Gringotts are not cheap," Ted reminded everyone.

Waving a hand to dispel the problem Less Evil Tonks tried to create, Bloodhook sneered. "Freshgold is the king's favourite. Charges will be only cost or even free if the tale told by rat provides enough entertainment."

Andromeda glanced back at the table, but the figurines were gone. Dobby caught her eye, and she inclined her head slightly. The elf smiled but remained silent.

"And I believe we'll keep Mr Potter's name out of the situation unless it is absolutely necessary," Bloodhook said. "There is enough attention on Heir Potter with the basilisk and problems with Whitebeard."

Agreed," Andromeda said while Ted nodded. For once, Harry thought the adults would look after him properly.

SCENE CHANGE: Rings and Grimoires

For a few minutes, the group sat quietly and then Ted referred to his notes and said, "Mr Potter, I believe you have discovered several new avenues for all magic to move into. And they should be protected as new magic. Do you have your family, Grimoire?"

"My what?" asked Harry, completely unfamiliar with the term.

His whole adult life, Ted Tonks remained fascinated by 'family magics', and while he had little himself, he studied the subject closely to advise his clients. Seeing the confusion on the young heir's face, Ted's face turned dark as he asked, "Heir Potter, Albus Dumbledore says that he is your magical guardian. When you were eleven years of age, did he speak with you about your family heritage, any titles, vaults, rings, or heirlooms? Did he show you the Potter family Grimoire in the family vault in Gringotts?"

Shaking his head once, Harry looked confused by Ted's questions. The attorney asked again, "What do you know about Potter heirlooms or your heritage?"

"At Christmas my first year at Hogwarts, someone sent me my dad's cloak of invisibility. Later I found out that it was Dumbledore who had it. But the cloak is all I have. I never knew my dad's name was James until I started at Hogwarts. My aunt and uncle never allowed me to ask any questions."

Ted kept a hand on Andromeda who cursed under her breath for thirty seconds. Then shaking herself to manage her anger, the witch turned and asked, "Harry, may I talk with your elf for a moment?"

Harry nodded and the elf turned his attention to Great Evil Tonks who said, "Dobby, there's a book that's called a Grimoire in every ancient magical family in Britain. The book is full of family spells and magic, and only blood members of the family can read it. If other people try to use the book, they get cursed and sometimes, they die."

"Dobby understands great family book, Missy Tonks. Dobby saw Malfoy Grimoire and even saw Black Grimoire when Missy Narcissa and worthless Lucius Malfoy visit Lord Black once upon a time."

Andromeda paused with a distant look in her eyes for a moment, "Dobby, you are Harry Potter – Heir Potter's – personal elf. This means you can sense the location of his family's heirlooms if you concentrate. Elven magic lets you feel, smell, taste…something that will help you find the grimoire. If Harry asks, I want you to look and see if you can find the Potter Family Grimoire. It may very well be in the Potter family vault. In any case, don't touch it or try to bring it to Harry yet."

Dobby glanced at the teenager, who took a deep breath. Then Harry said, "Dobby, go look for the Grimoire but do not take any chances or let anyone see you. Don't try and steal the book…return the book…until we talk again."

"Yes, Mr Harry Potters. Dobby goes when meeting over," the elf said.

"Once he finds it, if it is in your family vault, the goblins will let you look at it and if 'someone' has removed it, Dobby can get it back or I'll sue them so fast, they'll have hippogriff tracks up their backside." Then Andromeda added, "One more thing, Heir Potter. Like all creative wizards, I am certain you write down your spells…these runes you are playing with and creating things."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Select one of those books and write a name on it, something like Potter Grimoire Supplemental Spells. Add something in your own words about protecting the family grimoire again. Put all your important spells and work with runes in that book. And write that no one else can look inside or read the book. Once your elf finds the Grimoire, you can lay your supplement on top of the Grimoire, and it will get added to the original."

"That will add more protection to your Grimoire."

END CHAPTER

SCENE CHANGE: Harry gets to Play with Runes again!