I'm not JKR, I am Franklin Delano Rosevelt. America's greatest president reincarnated! Don't believe me? Well, to each their own.
I'm undecided, so I'm going to offer you guys the choice:
Should we add a pairing
If we do, who?
Question A shall be decided by a vote, I'll keep track of votes. I don't know when it'll end. Question B shall be decided by a debate. Argue your point-why do you think that particular person is perfect for Harry?
"Chapter three! It's here in all its gloriousness. I just need to go write it. That might take me a few weeks. I'm going to go read some fanfiction in the meantime. Okay, it's been a few weeks, let's write this thing. Alexa, shuffle my workout playlist-I'm going to crackdown on this sucker."
Snob Man without a plan
To make things simpler, I'm going to have the currency system be:
20 knuts=1 sickle
20 sickles=1 Galleon
1 Galleon=400 Knuts
And Sickles being the most common and the most widely used.
1 Galleon=20 Pounds Sterling
1 sickle= 1pound Sterling /or/ 100 Pence
1 Knut= 5 Pence
We're going to see the machinations of Dumbledore come out in this chapter, so, you've been warned.
(In the living room of 12 Grimmauld Place)
"...And there was one time when James charmed all the suits of armor in the school to sing a different love song to her when she walked by. She became increasingly irate with each song, and when Lily saw James standing in the great hall with some flowers for her, she just punched him in the face! Square on the nose, his nose was never truly the same. Blood was pouring everywhere, but he didn't care." Sirius paused to catch his breath from laughing.
"Another thing about James that irked Lily was how James never paid attention in class and yet, was easily one of the best students in the school. Even I would crack open the odd book and study before tests, yet old Jamey never would. Seemed as if he was allergic to books, the only reason he would enter the library would be to pine away at your mother. And now they're both gone..." Sirius now had some tears in his eyes. He wiped them away and plastered a smile on his face.
"You no doubt know the Potter secret, right?" At Harry's negative shake of his head, Sirius continued to prompt him. "The reason James never had to study or heck, even put forth an effort in his classes." Harry again shook his head, signifying that he didn't know what Sirius was talking about. "That's odd, you should've put it on when you got your Hogwarts letter. I guess I can take you to Gringotts's and you could put it on now..." Sirius started mumbling, contemplating reasons why Harry didn't 'put it on.'
"I'm sorry, Sirius, but I don't quite understand. What is it that you are referring to, this 'Potter's secret?' Furthermore, why and how would Gringotts have possession of it? It's not in my vault, that's just got gold in it." It was now Sirius's turn to be confused.
"Don't you know that House Potter is one of the Noble and Ancient houses? They have a family vault, and an artifact vault. A trust vault would've probably been made for you by your guardian-that's what you've seen. Who is your guardian, anyways? Probably Alice, right? She was always so nice..." Sirius started muttering again, lost in his happy memories of childhood in Hogwarts.
"Who's Alice?" Harry responded.
"She's your godmother, the next person in line to take care of you, after me. Then it'd be Remus, furry affliction or not, he's still a suitable parental figure. If neither of them could take care of you, then you were to grow up at Hogwarts under Mrs. McGonagall and Mr. Flitwick's care. Great friends of your parents those two were. But you'd know that, it's all in your parents' will." At this point, Harry was beyond shock.
"I was never told of a will. Heck, it probably wasn't carried out seeing as I lived with the Dursleys up until this summer." Sirius paused to think, then a look of horror came over his face.
"Please tell me, Harry, that when you say Dursley you are referring to somebody other than Lily's sister and in-law. Please tell me you didn't grow up with them." Sirius now had his head in his hands as he remembered every story Lily had told him and James about how her sister hated her, and everything magical. How Petunia's fat blob of a husband had chased her 'freakiness' off his lawn with a baseball bat when Lily had tried to visit Petunia.
"So, do you want me to lie to you, or...what? Because I did live with the Dursleys until Hagrid took me away in the first year. I still returned to them in the summer, but they pretty much ignored me then. And last year, when I was bit by a basilisk, I turned into a male veela with this super-powered allure and that'd hurt them, so now I stay in a room in the leaky cauldron." Sirius thought he was mad when he heard that Harry grew up with the Dursleys, he didn't know how to describe the emotions he felt when he heard that Harry was bitten by a basilisk.
"I want you to slowly, in great detail, explain your life story to me. Everything. Then, we're going to go to Gringotts and have your parent's wills read." Sirius said in a pained voice. Sirius ordered Kreacher to make them some sandwiches whilst Harry told him about being bullied and starved by the Dursleys, to fight Quirrell, to adventuring in the chamber of secrets.
"Hello, Sir. I would like to inquire about my account's current value and history. Where should I go to do so?" Harry asked the seemingly grumpy goblin.
"Look over there, see the door on the opposite side of the entryway?" The Goblin paused to point across the room. "Inside that room, there should be three goblins sitting at desks facing the door. You want the one on the left." With that, Harry walked to the stained-glass doors, the shaggy dog following him. Harry proceeded to the goblin on the left and waited in line until he was called up.
"Do you have a key, or alternative form of identification?" The goblin asked without looking up from the huge tome he was writing inside of.
"I do, here is the key to my vault. I am Harry James Potter, son of the late Lord James Potter, and Lady Lilly Potter nee Evans."
"Alright, everything seems to be in order. If you follow me, I'll lead you to the office of the Potter accounts manager." The goblin led Harry and Padfoot through a maze of halls to a door that said "Potter accounts manager."
"Your personal vault has a total of 200,000 Galleons in it. The money was put here from the family vault by order of your magical guardian, Albus Dumbledore. The Potter Family Vault has an estimated sum of about 27,510,000,000 Galleons and a rocky history to go with it. The Potter Family is an Ancient and Noble wizarding house and has been considered middle-class by the magical community at large for many hundreds of years. This changed with your grandfather, Charlus Potter. He created among many other things, the Sleekeazy hair product line and corresponding business in addition to many charms which gave the Owl Mail Service more reliability, speed, and convenience. The sales from these endeavors put the Potters on the map, so to speak as a Wealthy Pureblood family. Your Grandmother was a very skilled investor in the magical and muggle world, and she too helped to increase the family affluence. At its previous height, the family vault had a value near an estimated 50,000,000 Galleons." Harry was in a permanent state of shock, he was loaded!
The goblin paused to switch the folders he was using to base his summary from. He took a sip of some liquid from a canteen he had in a drawer of the desk, cleared his throat, and continued to speak. "This wealth was but momentary though. Your father joined the wizarding club, cult, group, (take your pick) known as the Order of the Pheonix. He donated 20 million galleons to the DMLE for war preparations, and then continued to donate some money to the Order itself later. The Potter vault was around 25 million Galleons when your parents went into hiding. Your magical guardian, Albus Dumbledore donated 15.8 million galleons to various charities, namely St Mungo's, Hogwarts, and PMF or Poor Magical Families on the night of your parents' death. A sum of 100,000 Galleons was paid to the order of Mr. & Mrs. Vernon Dursley each year, yet that has ended this year. The money that is in the vault now is the 8 million that remains from before, 15 billion from bounties that had been put out for the killer of Voldemort, around 5 billion galleons from well-wishers sending the Boy-who-lived gifts, 1.5 billion galleons generated by businesses and previous investments since your parent's deaths, and nearly 7 billion from various deals that Gringotts bank has dealt with in your absence; book deals, sponsorships, those sorts of things." The goblin paused and then continued to speak while looking for a folder in the drawer of his desk.
"The Potter family's wealth is now in the top five of Magical Britain, the Blacks, Malfoys, Greengrass's, and Longbottom's are the other four families. Due to Goblin-Client confidentiality, we can't express your exact wealth nor that of your peers to the public." The goblin had found the folder he was looking for in his desk drawer.
"Your family also has a vault used to hold artifacts, heirlooms, and various books including the family grimoire. You're not allowed to access the Potter money vault until you claim lordship of the house, and you can only become the lord when you are emancipated either at your majority or some earlier date. And no, us goblins do not have the power to emancipate you. We can, however, officialize you as the heir of House Potter, giving you access to the artifact vault and allowing you to name your own Regent. A regent is somebody who will sit in your seat in the Wizengamot in lieu of yourself. Would you like to undergo the heir ritual?"
"Forgive my curiousness please, but I was wondering; what's your name?" Harry was trying to show respect, Sirius's words of advice ringing in his head.
The goblin seemed to be shocked, why would a wizard want to know his name? He was just a lowly account manager, not this young wizard's equal. "It's just I was told that you were the Potter Family accountant, so I figured as we'd be working together for many years with any luck, we should be familiar with each other."
"My name is Griphook, Mister Potter."
"Harry, please. I've never been a stickler for formalities." Griphook was even more surprised at this wizard's actions. Normally, wizards like to hear their puffed-up and self-important titles at every chance.
"Harry it shall be then. Would you like to undergo the heir ritual?" Harry turned to Padfoot to see the dog shaking his head up and down rather vigorously.
"What does it entail, Griphook? I want to be sure I know what I'm doing before I agree to it." Griphook paused to think, then he replied, "I don't know the specifics, but I can give you the info that I do know. You undress into your undergarments and lie on the ritual altar. Goblins chant, and then you'll fall unconscious. While you sleep, magic will divest your body of all blemishes, dark magic, and unwanted enchantments that have been placed upon you or your magic. Then you'll be given basic occlumency shields, increased endurance and stamina, and 'an open mind' so that you can learn more easily. You'll gain a rudimentary knowledge of runes and potion techniques along with slightly enhanced physical features. Your magical core will expand, and it'll be easier to cast more complex spells. All told, you'll be asleep for somewhere from 4-8 hours. It'll also cost around 10,000 galleons. It's pricey, and thus only the heirs of the house would normally undergo the ritual." Harry mulled the prospect of the ritual over. It would take some time, but it'd be worth it in the end. In his opinion there's a lot to gain from doing the ritual.
It was midafternoon when Harry and Padfoot left the ritual chamber. They followed Griphook to the Potter's artifact vault. This was the crux of their coming to Gringotts today. Sirius said that the "Potter's Secret" was kept inside the vault. Griphook opened the door to the vault and Harry was shocked by how many items were in it. All along one wall was a wide variety of books, probably thousands of them in total! There were piles upon piles of artifacts and various heirlooms to the right. In the middle of the room, there was this marble pedestal on top of which there was a weird hat, it had strange markings all over it, and it was rather thick. Infront of the steam punk/techno hat was a small pamphlet that read "The Potter Family Grimoire & How to Use It."
When Griphook closed the door behind them, Padfoot transformed back into Sirius. "That's what we're here for." He said, pointing at the strange hat. "James explained it to me, but you might want to read the manual just to be safe. In a nutshell, your great grandfather Jonathan Potter was a master artificer. He created various artifacts and sold them to those who needed them. Some of his finest works remain here, in this vault. His last creation was the 'Helm of Knowledge.' It sits before us on the pedestal." Sirius paused to pick up the helm and inspect it. He then continued speaking.
"Jonathan contracted a rare and powerful case of Cerebrumous Spattergroit which would damage his brain to a point of disrepair. It wouldn't kill him; it would just leave him with the collective intelligence of a piece of broccoli. He decided that instead of letting his intelligence go to waste, he'd store it in a way that could help future Potters. Your dad had just been born when Jonathan began the creation of the helm. Jonathan stored all his knowledge of spells within the helm. His 7 years at Hogwarts and the year that Jonathan spent learning, casting, and memorizing every spell in this room, including the previous Potter Family Grimoire. After he made the helm, there was no need for the grimoire anymore; all the spells were kept within the hat. You were supposed to put it on when you got your Hogwarts letter. It would've made you a veritable genius-you'd gain intrinsic knowledge of all spells Jonathan knew, and the wand movements to go with them. There'd be a few you couldn't do because you're a kid and your magic hasn't matured enough, but the rest you could do. Well, better late than never. Why don't you put it on?" Harry did, and then fell into Sirius's arms unconscious.
"Huh. James never said anything about falling asleep. I guess it makes sense though." Sirius picked Harry up, and placed him on an old couch in the back of the room.