A/N: Wow! Two chapters in a day, so far! proud Well, here you are - chapter 4. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Same as all the others - doesn't belong to me, and never will.
Warnings: See prev chapters
Chapter 4: Well, how about that?
After seeing mr and mrs Weasely and the others last night, Harry had decided to stay at the Leaky Cauldron for the remainder of summer break.
He quickly gathered the rest of his things and walked down the stairs after he got up that morning. Before he left, he transfigured everything back they way it had been last night.
"Where do you think you're going, boy?"
Harry turned around at the sound of his uncle's voice and gave him a frosty stare. Vernon seemed to shrink back a bit, and Harry smirked at that.
"Well, dear uncle, I'm leaving. And I won't be coming back any time soon. In fact, I don't think I'll ever come back."
"Well, good riddance if you ask me." Vernon grunted.
"But I don't ask you. I never want to hear your voice again, in fact. Silencio."
Harry felt his smirk grow more sinister as the look of shock on his uncle's face grew.
"Don't worry, I'll take the spell away as soon as I'm away from here. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a bus to catch."
With this he turned around and walked out the door with his trunk and Hedwig's cage behind him. When he stepped on the road, he raised his wand and waited for the familiar 'BANG' that signalled the arrival of the Knight Bus.
The purple triple decker jerked to a stop in front of him and Stan the conductor came into view.
"Welcome to the Knight Bus…Harry, is tha' you?"
"Hello, Stan. Yes, it's me. Is it still eleven sickles to the Leaky Cauldron?"
"Well…yes it is. Come on then, climb onboard an' we'll get ya there."
Stan bent down to pick up Harry's things, but Harry just waved his wand for them to follow him on to the bus. This earned him a very nervous look from Stan.
"Don't worry, I am of age now, you know."
"Oh, yeah. Forgot that." Stan gave a small laugh at that as he showed Harry to one of the vacant beds.
"Here ya are. Should be arrivin' in London in 'bout 20 minutes. Hang on, here we go, take it away Ernie!"
Harry quickly grabbed on to one of the bed's posters, not wanting a repeat performance of the first ride he had made on the bus.
When they finally arrived in London it was close to 9 o'clock in the morning and the Leaky Cauldron was full of people eating breakfast.
When Harry walked in, people only showed a mild interest in him. Obviously not recognizing him as he had changed quite a bit in the year that he had been gone.
"Mr Potter! How good to see you again! I have your room ready for you, this way please." At Tom's loud greeting the entire room fell silent and stared at Harry. He could almost hear everyone thinking 'That's Harry Potter! But he looks so different from the pictures from last year!'
"Thanks Tom. I'll need the room until school starts. Do you think I could get some breakfast sent up to the room? I really don't want to face everybody just yet."
"Of course, mr Potter. I'll have it up shortly. Now, here we are; room number 11."
"Thanks, I'll see you in a while, then. Oh, and Tom? Could you please not tell anyone else that I'm staying here? I really just want to be left alone."
Tom nodded and left down the stairs. Harry quickly opened the door to his room and walked inside. He lay down on the bed and had just started to relax, when someone knocked at the door.
"Who is it?"
"Breakfast, sir. Tom said to hurry with it."
Harry got up from the bed and made his way to the door. Outside stood a young witch with dark brown hair and blue eyes carrying a large tray over-laden with plates.
"Come in. You can put the tray on the table."
"Yes sir." After doing this she turned around to look at him.
"Please don't hesitate to ask for anything, we are here to serve."
"Thanks, and I won't." He held the door open for her and then quickly closed it as soon as she had stepped outside.
He sat down at the table and had his first meal in about 24 hours.
When he was finished, he decided that he would go out and do some shopping. He desperately needed a new wardrobe, and nowhe could finally get it. As he made his way towards Gringott's he thought about all the new things he would buy.
"May I help you?" Harry was woken from his musings by the voice of a goblin.
"Yes, I would like to talk to some one about my vaults."
"And your name, sir?"
"Harry Potter."
The goblin's eyes widened as he began to stutter.
"Y-yes, sir. This w-way, sir."
The goblin lead him to a door that said 'Inheritance room'. Harry found this a bit strange, but decided not to let it bother him. He would find out sooner or later.
The goblin opened the door and said with a small voice to whomever was inside;
"Mr Harry Potter is here, sir." There was silence for a second, before an elderly voice answered.
"Show him in."
The goblin opened the door for Harry and ushered him inside. When the door closed behind him he turned to the very old looking goblin sitting behind the desk.
"Mr Potter. At last. Please sit down, we have much to discuss."
Harry sat down in the big green chair in front of the desk and looked at the goblin with a confused look on his face.
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Doors could be heard banging across the many rooms of Malfoy Manor.
As the banging seemed to be getting closer, Narcissa Malfoy wondered if she should be concerned. Finally the door to the parlour where she was sitting flew open.
In came a very pissed looking Draco.
His shoulder length silver blonde hair danced around his face, his silver eyes were glistening with rage and his black robes were billowing behind him.
"Mother! Is it true? Has father been killed?"
Narcissa gave her son a cool look before answering.
"Yes, Draco. It is true that he has been killed. Now, you must go and get ready. I have managed to get a hold of Fudge, and he is expecting us within the hour."
"What? Why?"
"I did not raise you to be a political idiot, Draco. We are meeting him so that we can establish you as the new Lord Malfoy, of course."
"Of course, wouldn't want our enemies to take over, now would we?" Draco's voice was dripping with sarcasm.
"No, we would not. Now, go change your clothes and meet me back here in 45 minutes."
"Fine."
With that Draco turned around and stormed out of the room.
He could not believe this!
His father, the cold hearted bastard, was dead! He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Now, naturally, Malfoy's simply do not cry, and laughing at your own father's death would not be socially acceptable, so that just left the famous Malfoy mask.
"Kit! Kit, get in here right now!"
"Yes, Master Draco, sir? What can Kit do for sir?" The house elf seemed nervous and jumped from foot to foot.
"Yes, lay out my gray robes and draw me a bath. Quickly!"
"Yes Master Draco, sir!"
With a 'POP' the house elf left to do as it was told.
As Draco entered his room, he started ripping his clothes off trying to be as quick as possible.
You simply did not keep Narcissa Malfoy waiting.
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"What do you mean?" Harry asked the old goblin.
"Well, mr Potter. It would seem that quite a few vaults were transferred to you on the night of your seventeenth birthday. There are also the instructions that came with each additional vault."
"New vaults? But I thought that I'd only get the Potter family vaults when I came of age?"
Harry gave the goblin an evaluating look while he waited for an answer.
The goblin was starting to look decidedly uncomfortable.
"Yes, of course you will get those as well, but it was discovered on the morning after that five new vaults had added them selves to yours. This is standard procedure when someone comes of age, and a new heritage is discovered. It's just that…these five vaults…they belonged to the four founders of Hogwarts and Merlin himself!"
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When Draco and Narcissa Malfoy arrived at the Ministry of Magic, the place was buzzing.
"Mrs Malfoy! Mr Malfoy! How good to see you, terrible business this with mr Malfoy sr. Shall we?" Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, asked.
"Of course, Minister. We would like this taken care of as soon as possible." Narcissa said in a pleasant voice while silently wishing the complete imbecile would just get on with it. It was no secret that she didn't love her husband, nor had he loved her, and she had only felt relieved when news of his death had reached her. Now she could finally get Draco and herself away from that mad man.
Just as soon as her son was named the new Lord Malfoy.
"Sit down, sit down. Now let's get this over with, shall we? We will simply need a blood sample from young mr Malfoy here, and a few signatures on some documents, and it should be finished." Fudge gestured to his assistant who held a knife and a vial in his hands.
"If you please, mr Malfoy?"
Draco sighed inwardly and held out his left hand. The man quickly cut him and gathered the blood into the vial before healing the wound completely.
The man cast a spell on the vial and a thin silver smoke rose from it to form the Malfoy crest.
"Well then, it seems to be in order. Now, if you'll please just sign here you will be given the Malfoy ring and hold over all assets."
Both Draco and Narcissa breathed a sigh of relief when they arrived back at the Manor.
"You do know what you have to do now, don't you? Before you do anything else?"
"Yes, mother. I'll go do the wards right away."
"Good. After you are done, come see me in my study. Oh, and Draco?"
"Yes, mother?"
"Be sure to make them extra powerful, we don't want any uninvited guests, now do we?"
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"Oh? The founders and Merlin, you say? Well, how about that, then? I didn't expect that to happen to someone like me."
"You seem to be very calm about this, mr Potter, are you sure that you're alright?"
"Yes, yes, I'm fine. So, how do we go about this? I mean, I expect there was some other reason for you to see me?"
"Well, yes. There was actually the matter of completing the…you will have to be accepted by the rings that were left by your ancestors, and also those left by your father and Godfather. If you would please go stand in the circle on the floor, I will return shortly with the rings."
The goblin got up from behind the desk and gestured to a circle on the floor in the middle of the room. Harry complied while he sent a message to the five ancients in Avalon.
'What the hell is going on? What's this about me inheriting your vaults at Gringott's?'
'Well, you are our Heir, Harry.'
'Godric! I did not ask for this! It will get me noticed even more, and it's not like I want that, now do I?' Harry was quite upset with the entire thing.
'Oh? Well, you haven't heard the best part yet. Did you know that Sal and I were…oh, you'd best pay attention now, the goblins are back. I'll tell you later. Bye, Harry.'
'Godric!' Harry was silently fuming, but Godric didn't answer. What could his ancestors be up to now?
He snapped back to attention when one of the goblins cleared his throat.
"Sorry? I was just lost in thought, did you ask me something?"
"No, mr Potter, we didn't ask you anything. Are you ready to begin? We will give you the rings one at a time for you to put on, and you will experience a slight sting when they test your blood to see if you are the true Heir."
"Ok, let's do it."
The oldest goblin opened the first small box that his employees were holding.
"This is the Black family's ring, mr Potter."
He handed Harry a silver ring with the Black crest on it in diamonds. He carefully slipped it on his left index finger and watched as it adjusted to his finger-width. He felt a small sting and saw the ring begin to glow. It suddenly stopped and started to feel like it had always been there.
"Good, the ring has accepted you. You are now Lord Black. This is the Potter family ring."
The ring that was handed to him next was made out of gold and had the crest in emeralds. Harry slipped the ring on his right index finger and watched as the process repeated itself.
"Good, you are now also Lord Potter. This is the ring of Godric Gryffindor. Put it on your right middle finger, if it accepts you it should disappear and show as a tattoo on the inside of your right arm."
Harry did as he was told and put the gold and ruby ring on. It glowed before it vanished. He quickly pulled up his right sleeve and was relieved to se the Gryffindor lion roaring from his wrist.
"Oh, my…this is the Slytherin ring, just do the same."
Harry could hear the goblin starting to get nervous now, but accepted the silver and emerald ring.
The same thing happened and a silver serpent appeared to the right of the lion on his arm.
"This is the Ravenclaw ring."
He was handed a silver ring with sapphires in the crest. When the now familiar procedure happened, Harry was not surprised to see an eagle appear next to the serpent.
He then accepted the gold and citrine ring of Hufflepuff and watched as a badger appeared next to the eagle.
"This is the last one, my Lord, the ring belonging to Merlin himself. It is platinum with amethysts in the crest. It should behave like the rings of the founders."
Harry sighed and put the ring on. Instantly it vanished and a new tattoo appeared next to the badger. This one was of a griffin holding a rose in it's talons.
"Now, sir, if you will please sign here we will be done. Will you want to visit any of your vaults today?"
"No, but I would like to withdraw 2000 galleons from the Potter vault, and if I could have half of that exchanged into muggle pounds, that would be great. Also, if you could make sure that no one finds out about me being Heir to the founders and Merlin, I would be grateful."
"Of course, my Lord Potter and Black, but we will have to release the information that you are now the Lord of the Potter and Black families."
"Yes, yes, that is fine. If you could have the money brought to me at the front desk, I would be grateful."
Harry got up from the chair and stuck out his hand to shake the goblin's.
"Of course, my Lord. It should already be there. Nice doing business with you. Good bye."
"Bye, and thank you."
With this Harry walked out of the room and made his way to the where he would pick up his money.
When he stepped out on the stairs with 1000 galleons and £1500 burning in his pocket, only one thought ran through his mind as he grinned.
Shop 'til I drop.
A/N 2: So, there you have it! Please review and tell me what you think! Oh, and I know that the whole ring procedure might sound familiar to some of you, and that's because I based it on something I read in another ff, so please don't shoot me for it!
Till next time/LoveGD