The chanting finally stopped, wardmasters and healers nearly panting with exertion, sweat beading on their brows. Elvux huffed a sigh as she closed the circle and carefully vanished the blooms which had fallen at the end of the chanting to rest along Harry's body rather than on the altar (or into the bath as the previous blossoms did). He was still not moving, so as the wardmasters filed out, and the healers removed all traces of the ritual performed, beginning the thirty minutes of cleansing, Elvux motioned to the viewing gallery and the goblins and wixen stepped out and over to the altar.
"Return to Gornuk's office, there is much to discuss," Elvux instructed, her voice noticeably more hoarse than before the ritual work.
Severus gently lifted Harry into his arms, Narcissa fluttering by his side, and they all returned to Gornuk's office where the conference table had been replaced with a comfortable sitting area, with a chaise where Severus laid Harry down. Draco immediately went to sit next to his brother. The paperwork was on a low table between the seats and individual trays popped up in front of each of them with food and drink. They spoke of inconsequential things, wanting Harry to be awake for all discussion about his situation. His eyes finally began to flutter and he groaned a bit as he stretched and sat up to look at them.
"So..am I fixed?" he asked carefully.
"As fixed as we can make you at this point in time Heir Potter," Elvux responded brusquely. "We were unable to cleanse you of the horcrux," She said with a sneer, unhappy at their inability to remove the foul taint from the young child.
"Oh," Harry said somewhat distractedly. Food had popped up next to him during her explanation, and though he had done nothing, and in fact could not remember anything of the ritual once he had sat in the bath, he was extremely hungry.
"Eat, young one, we will discuss," Elvux ordered her patient. Harry nodded and began to eat.
While he was eating the adults and the goblins discussed his upcoming course of treatment. A full magical purge via potion. It was likely to make him vomit, possibly give him diarrhea, and make him sweat out any and all magical residue that wasn't his, whether from rituals or potions. Harry sarcastically thought that sounded like a swell twenty-four hours. He'd have to live in the shower. Many of his bones would be removed, goblin magic in place to steady him while he dealt with the required Skelegro. At least that would only be overnight, and Severus would give him a dreamless sleep. Then the muscle regenerative potions which he would have to take weekly for at least 3 months, and be re-evaluated after. And of course grand nutrition potions daily for three months, and regular nutrition potions for three months after that. That wasn't anything unexpected. Severus had given him a course of the regular nutrition potions when he first came to the Malfoys, and they weren't bad. Thankfully, he didn't have to redo the potions for his eyes. Those had been drops he had to use morning and night for 6 months while wearing special glasses to adjust to his changing prescription, and they had burned. He was certainly glad the purge wouldn't change that. And since they couldn't remove the Horcrux, there was nothing specific to do about that either. Though the goblins were discussing who created it, and providing what information they could to Lucius and Severus so they could find the others. The size of the one in Harry was far too small to be the first, and they theorized based on the principle that creating a horcrux split one's soul in half, that Harry was the seventh piece of Thomas Riddle's soul.
The topic of Harry's health exhausted for the moment, they turned instead to his rings.
"You will be given the lordship rings for the houses for which you are lord, but you will be unable to utilize the full power of the lordship until you are seventeen. The heir rings will be as they are." Griphook explained, pushing the boxes in front of Hadrian. "As you have so many, you should put them on in the order of newest family to oldest lordships, then the same for heirships."
Harry nodded, reaching for the Evans ring. He paused before he put it on. "If my mother was a descendant of Gryffindor, why did she not take that family name?"
"The Ancient and Most Imperial House of Gryffindor is patriarchal and may only pass to a male heir. As your mother was a woman, she was ineligible to take the title or the name and therefore began her own line. She and your father came in on her eighteenth birthday to finalize the Evans Family, thinking they would have multiple children to carry on each line they represented. Obviously that was not the case." Griphook explained.
Harry nodded and picked up the box. Before he could slide the ring on his finger, Severus dropped to his knee in front of Harry, echoing what he had done with Draco. He slid the ring on Harry's finger, and dropped a kiss on his forehead. They did not go through the titling since Harry was the last descendant, there was no one to offer the title, he simply already had it. Harry was then allowed to put on the rest of the rings by himself. He was instructed to place all the lordship rings on the middle finger of his right hand and all the heirship rings on the pinkie of his right hand. Once they were all on, the lordship rings merged to a braided band of yellow, white, and black gold with two rubies on either side of the large black onyx with the sign of the Hallows inlaid with a moonstone stag. The heir rings shifted to a black gold band in the shape of an ouroboros with the joined head and tail sitting next to a large emerald inlaid with the silver silhouette of a grim.
With that done, they were finally able to get on with other tasks. Namely, the unsealing of the Potter wills, getting the account documents for Harry's numerous vaults, and performing the familiar and house elf rituals for Draco, a house elf ritual for Harry, and visiting the vaults for the family wands.
Griphook unsealed the wills and handed them to his new young lord to read. It was all completely as expected until Harry gasped and spun to glare accusingly at the adults.
"Did you know he was innocent?" He spat out, angry that the adults he trusted so much could have let something like this go.
"Did we know who was innocent, Harry dear?" Narcissa asked placatingly. She had never seen her heart son's eyes so hard.
"My godfather...my father? Sirius Black," Harry returned. "He wasn't the secret keeper, Peter Pettigrew was.
"Well, yes, we knew that. Peter was the one who told Voldemort where you were of course. We've talked about this before, Harry," Lucius continued smoothly, though also somewhat confused.
"But he's in prison," Harry stated with confusion.
"Yes, but not for betraying the Potters. You know, I don't think you can be sentenced for breaking a fidelius ritual anyway," Severus mused. "He went after Peter and blew up a street, killing twelve muggles. That's what he's in prison for," Severus finished.
"But the books said if someone was convicted of a crime their bonds could be broken. He's still my godfather and my blood adopted father," Harry wailed, showing his age in the face of this upheaval.
"So he is, young Lord Potter," Griphook muttered. "And if he had been convicted, he could not be Lord Black. If that were the case, you would not be Heir Black, you would be Lord Black."
"This reeks of Dumbledore's involvement," Gornuk commented. They had been plotting against the headmaster since before Harry had come to live with the Malfoys, perhaps this would help tarnish his name.
"Yes, it does," Griphook answered. "We will begin work on the situation with your father at once, young Lord."
"Keep me informed," Harry responded, his training for formal situations, coming to the fore. "I wish for there to be as little delay as possible, Account Manager Griphook."
"It will be done, Lord Potter," Griphook replied with a bow.
Harry shook his head a bit as the conflicting names and titles bombarded his memory. "This is ridiculous," he burst out. "My name is different and I've got so many titles I don't know what to call myself!
"You are in a rather unique position, young Lord," Griphook responded. "Though you are able to use any title singly or together however you please."
"You said your name was different," Narcissa said knowingly. "Are you concerned about your given name?"
"A little," Harry replied, blushing a bit, and ducking his head.
"Well, if you like it, you may certainly use it, it is yours after all, though I would avoid using Potter-Black in company until such time as Dumbledore is made aware of your knowledge of your identity," Narcissa continued. "It would not be difficult to say that Lily sent a letter to her sister telling her of your birth, and that you stumbled on the letter during your childhood. It would certainly explain you using Hadrian if you like it," she concluded.
"... I think I do like it," Hadrian said shyly. "Would you mind if I used it regularly?"
"Not at all, Hadrian," Severus said pointedly. "Draco went through a 'Draconis' phase shortly before we got you. Of course he decided he would rather only use it formally, but if you like Hadrian, you should certainly use it."
Lucius had been rather quiet throughout the conversation, and Hadrian looked at him carefully, concerned he would be upset at his choice, and not really sure why he felt it was important that Lucius be on board with his choice.
"You should be called what you like," Lucius began, seeing the begging tilt to bright green eyes, "and if that is Hadrian, so be it."
"Ok, then," Hadrian continued, "I think I'll just use Lord Potter if you have to use my title, but since we're trying to keep it under wraps that I know, just use Hadrian James Potter whenever you can."
They all nodded.
"Now that's settled, you need to make a statement that no information regarding the change in status to any of your houses should be sent out," Griphook informed him.
"Can I do it all together, or do I have to make a statement for each House?" Hadrian asked slightly concerned.
"You can do it all together," Griphook confirmed.
Hadrian stood and held hands with his account goblin, as if shaking his hand as he said, "I, Hadrian James Potter-Black, do hereby authorize my bonded Account Manager, Griphook, to withhold all information regarding the change in status of all my accounts by my authority as Lord to the New-Blood House of Evans, the Honorable and Most Noble House of Peverell, the Honorable and Most Noble House of Potter, The Ancient and Most Imperial House of Gryffindor, and The Ancient and Most Imperial House of Merlin; and as Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, the Noble and Most Ancient House of Gaunt, and the Ancient and Most Imperial House of Slytherin. So mote it be." A flash of emerald light the same color as his aura flashed around them indicating the bank's acceptance of his authority.
"Very good, Lord Potter," Griphook said, pleased. "You will not need a key as your heir and lordship rings will allow you to access all your vaults. The rings will also be invisible to anyone who does not know that you wear them. And by 'know' I mean that you must tell them in order for them to know. Everyone here today knows as we were part of your acceptance, but no one else will." Hadrian nodded, pleased that no one would find out about his lordships that way.
"We have taken the liberty of providing you with one of our expandable pouches which has been locked to your magical signature. It will allow you to pull money from whichever vault you select based on which ring you activate as you reach into the bag. Your rings themselves can also be used to make large purchases, but again, use that judiciously. You have also been provided with a Gringotts Black Card linked to all your accounts, denoting your status as one of our most high-profile clients. Simply use the card like a muggle credit card to make purchases and enter the vault number when prompted, or show it to a teller at the desk to be immediately brought to my office...if you don't floo in like you normally do for our meetings," Griphook finished with a smile.
"Now," Griphook continued looking at all of them once more, "we shall return to the ritual room for the two house elf bondings and Heir Prince-Malfoy's familiar bond."
Once they arrived in the main ritual room for the second time that day, Gornuk led the family back to the viewing gallery. This would not be as dangerous a ritual, but the outside magics could interfere. Griphook led Harry to the center of the ritual circle first so he could go through his account documents while Draco was doing his rituals without being interrupted.
The ritual circle had already been prepared and seven goblins were just finishing the required cleansing. Seven more goblins were preparing to smudge sticks of Mullein as this ritual was both breaking and casting a curse. Three runes had been drawn around the circle: īsaz (ᛁ) for reinforcing, ehwaz (ᛖ) for confirmation, and ōþila merkstave (ᛟ) for slavery. A triangle in the opposite direction of the runes was formed by blue candles representing healing, forgiveness, fidelity, and communication. A ring of three stones and three pieces of wood was laid just outside the joint triangles of runes and candles. Citrine for beginnings, Ash for trust, Hematite for grounding, Pine for peace, Zircon for amplification, and Spruce for healing.
Lucius called Dobby and Tansy, and both popped into the viewing gallery. Tansy was instructed to sit with Draco and Dobby was told to join Hadrian in the ritual circle. Once Dobby joined Hadrian in the circle, Griphook stepped forward with a gold ritual knife and made a small cut to both Hadrian and Dobby's palms. They linked cut hands and began the ritual.
Hadrian spoke, "I, Hadrian James Potter-Black, request you, House Elf Dobby, to be my personal house elf. You will serve me, protect me, and keep my secrets for me individually, for my Houses, and my future family. Do you accept this request?"
"I, House Elf Dobby, bes accepting Hadrian James Potter-Black to bes my master," Dobby said happily.
"I, Hadrian James Potter-Black, vow to you, House Elf Dobby, to accept your service as penance for the House Elves enslavement. I offer my magic to be your sustenance, to protect you from a traitor's death. I offer this willingly in expectation of service, protection, and discretion. Do you accept my protection?"
"I, House Elf Dobby, bes accepting Hadrian James Potter-Black as protector. I bes serving Master Hadrian, protecting him, ands keepings his secretses for him, his Houses, ands his future families. Dobby bes thankful to bes serving."
He snapped his fingers and handed Hadrian a stem of agrimony, indicating his continuing thankfulness and gratitude. As soon as Hadrian accepted the flower, the runes flashed white and disappeared while Hadrian glowed blue indicating his responsibility to the little elf, and Dobby glowed yellow showing his loyalty to his new official master. With their ritual complete, they went to sit in the viewing area while Draco and Tansy came out to perform the ritual.
While that was going on, Hadrian sat and looked through some of the documents in the Black portfolio Griphook provided. He was going through a vault listing when something strange caught his eye. During the break between Draco's House Elf Bonding and familiar bonding, he patted Griphook's shoulder to get his attention and pointed to the line in question. Griphook's eyebrow rose, and Hadrian nodded. Griphook nodded back, indicating they would look for it when they went to the vaults to get the family wands once the rituals were complete.
When the bonding ritual was complete, Tansy popped out and back in bringing back Draco's sooty black Great Horned Owl, Nox, with her. The set up for the ritual was the same layout as the House Elf Bonding. This time the runes were ansuz (ᚨ) for communication and blessings, īsaz (ᛁ) for reinforcing, and ehwaz (ᛖ) for confirmation. The candles were pink for friendship. The ring of stones and woods included: Opal for friendship, African blackwood for communication, Jasper for intuition and grounding, Birch for new beginnings, Turquoise for their relationship, and Oak for endurance. Gornuk handed Draco a piece of white sage to burn to cleanse his pet for the ritual. Before he could light it for him, Draco snapped his fingers to light the stick, surprising the goblin and eliciting a chuckle from the adults and Hadrian who were watching. Gornuk laughed, a grating, raspy sound, but snapped his fingers and the bouquet of flowers Narcissa had prepared earlier for this ritual floated over to Draco. It contained seven blooms which Draco laid out in a small circle around his pet. He had four for friendship: Arborvitae for everlasting, pear blossom for lasting , a yellow Rose and a pink tulip. He had three for the bond: Almond for the promise, yellow chrysanthemum marking Nox as his precious one, and a sunflower for longevity and loyalty. One he had laid out the flowers he began speaking.
"I, Draconis Lucius Malfoy, vow to sincerely trust you, Great Horned Owl Nox, as my familiar. I will be sincerely loyal to you as you are sincerely loyal to me. I offer my blood and magic in sacrifice to our bond. Nox, become my familiar!" he finished in a ringing tone.
Nox lifted his wings and flew up to land on Draco's left shoulder, his favorite spot to perch when Draco was near. He clicked his beak a few times and then bit down on the top of Draco's ear. Draco winced and lifted a hand to rub the spot, drawing it away to find a few drops of blood staining his fingers. Just as he saw the blood, he and Nox flashed blue and a small symbol of Athena appeared behind his left ear. The symbol was a Y with the bottom stem crossed, and an upside down V crossing the top. It was rather small and unnoticeable, which Draco was thankful for, not having wanted a large portion of his skin marred, but willing to do so to keep Nox with him as long as he lived.
All those watching clapped when they saw the flash and subsequent grin crossing Draco's face. Once the circle had been closed and the ritual remnants removed, they sent Dobby, Tansy, and Nox home and returned to Gornuk's office to gather their things before heading down to the vaults.
They went to the Malfoy vault first, since they knew exactly where the family wands were stored. Hadrian and Severus were forced to wait with the Griphook and Gornuk as they could not enter the vault. The three Malfoys emerged some twenty minutes later, Draco playing with a wand which he was sliding into and out of a holster on his wrist, and he lifted a pant leg to show Hadrian he had another holster on his calf holding a second wand.
Once they were in the cart Griphook spoke, "the Gaunt, Gryffindor, and Merlin vaults are empty, so there will be no need to go to those. We can likely skip Evans as it would only have your mother's wand, which would not be old enough to have lost it's bond with her, and is therefore unsuitable as a potential practice wand. I am unaware if Slytherin or Peverell have anything, and of course Potter and Black are definite stops."
"We will go to Potter, Black, Peverell and Slytherin, Griphook," Lucius said.
"Very well," Griphook replied. Gornuk activated the cart and they sped away.
Their first stop was the Potter vault. Hadrian went to enter, but before he did, turned to look at his account manager.
"Would you please enter with me, Griphook?" Hadrian asked politely.
"I would be honored, Lord Potter," Griphook responded. Hadrian placed his hand in the middle of the door. A pulse of magic shot out through the ring and the door melted away. The two stepped inside as Hadrian took a rather awed look around. There were piles of and piles of galleons, sickles, and knuts. Portraits, furniture, trunks full of who knows what, books, knick-knacks, and various other odds and ends accumulated in the 22 previous generations of House Potter. They wandered around, looking for wand holsters or wands, knowing Hadrian would be back many more times when it was not nearing dinner. They found the selection of wands and Hadrian ran his hands over them. He wasn't exactly sure what he should feel, so he asked Griphook if he could ask Severus to join them as well or if the permission only extended to Goblins. He was told permission was acceptable, though Severus would have to be touching him to enter the door. Hadrian stepped out, granted Severus permission to enter the vault and took his hand to lead him in.
"What seems to be the problem, Hadrian," Severus asked as they stopped before the wands.
"I know I'm supposed to have a connection to a wand or wands that will be willing to work with me to begin my training, but I don't know what it should feel like!" Hadrian burst out.
Severus chuckled, "If you had to ask someone to join you, none of these are a fit. You would have known immediately if they were." He smiled at the boy. "I won't say more as it's more fun to experience, but I will accompany you to each vault if you would like."
Hadrian nodded enthusiastically. They exited the vault, having found neither a wand, nor a holster to fit Hadrian. Back in the cart and a short ride later, they were at the Peverell vault. Hadrian repeated the process for entry, asking Griphook and Severus to accompany him and leading them into the vault. The Peverell vault was empty except for three stone plinths with small symbols etched into them. Hadrian stepped closer to take a look and saw the first on the left showed a straight vertical line, the second showed a circle, and the third a triangle. The floor had the three symbols overlaid, the circle inside the triangle and the line bisecting them through the center. The Deathly Hallows, Hadrian thought. No wonder he was the presumptive Master of Death. Well, he'd be on the lookout for the objects as clearly nothing else in the Peverell vault, if indeed there was anything else, would appear without those items. They exited the vault and returned to the cart, making their way to the Black vault.
Hadrian repeated the opening of the vault, taking both Griphook and Severus with him. He was immediately drawn to the wands and ran his hands over them carefully. As his hand moved over a black wood wand which had silver swirling around it and the wand left its place in the line and smacked into his hand, which he closed around the wand reflexively.
"Oh!" He said, delighted. "I see what you mean, Severus!" He happily ran his hands over the remaining wands, but no other wand reacted. He turned his eyes to the cabinet beside the wands and saw a selection of holsters. He saw a lovely black dragonhide holster with a silver swirl pattern, which after a closer look, appeared to match the swirls on his temporary wand. He pulled the holster out, determined it was a calf holster, and put it on, placing the wand within.
First objective met, he locked eyes with Griphook, reminding him of the line from the inventory. Griphook nodded and began a low chant. Severus looked at Hadrian curiously, but he just shook his head, waiting for whatever Griphook was doing to be finished. As soon as the chant was completed, a small gold cup could be seen making its way toward the goblin. It hovered in front of him and Hadrian reached out, feeling a strange need to keep the cup close to him. Severus dropped a heavy hand on his shoulder, snapping him out of whatever the strange feeling was. He shook his head to rid himself of the lingering pull and instructed Griphook to lock that thing in a warded box, Heart Stone or Malijar's gift if possible, and put it in the Merlin Vault where no one else would be able to access it. Dumbledore wouldn't even know about that one since it was a magical inheritance. He would only know about the ones passed through blood. And without notice of the update of the keys, hopefully he wouldn't try to get into the vaults anyway. They couldn't be sure if Dumbledore knew Sirius had adopted him, but he was being cautious anyway. He didn't want to tickle the sleeping dragon after all.
His second objective complete, they returned to the cart for the final descent to the Slytherin Vault. This time, now that he knew what he should expect, and not needing to find anything in particular, he entered the vault alone.
He heard a multitude of hissing voices calling out to him. He hissed back that he was sorry he couldn't stay today, but he would be back in the future, and could they please direct him to the family wands. The hisses guided him and silenced so he could concentrate on the handful of wands in front of him. A strangely marbled looking wand jumped to his hand almost as soon as he held it out. It had woken at the voice of a Parselmouth and knew it wanted to be used again. It vibrated in greeting to the young wixen and guided him to a basilisk hide wrist holster in a poisonous green which nearly matched his eyes. He put on the holster, slid the wand inside, and returned to the cart.
The goblins returned them to the surface, and bowed them out via floo from Gornuk's office so as to keep young Lord Hadrian Potter out of sight.