A/N: Just to clarify one thing. Harry didn't 'agree' per se to the marriage contract. The papers he signed were the emancipation forms. The marriage contract was something he was magically bound to as soon as Sirius' will was read.
Chapter 2 – Discoveries and Business
A few minutes later a very shocked Harry, along with Remus and Tonks, were in a cart en route to the Potter family vault.
The ride took longer than any of them could ever remember taking in recent history. After almost thirty minutes rocketing through the massive caves beneath Gringotts, Griphook announced that they had arrived. All three of them gasped as they saw the vault door in front of them. At the very top of the door was a gold number 2, but the most impressive decoration to note was the large Gryffindor shield in the center of the doors. The Gryffindor shield covered the center of both doors, obviously labeling it as the locking mechanism to the doors.
Tonks was the first to recover from her shock. She turned to Griphook and asked, "Does… that symbol… on the door mean… mean that Harry is Godric Gryffindor's heir?"
Griphook, who was standing behind them, smirked and said, "Yes miss. The Potter family is the sole remaining line of Godric Gryffindor.
"Now, to open this door, all Mr. Potter has to do is place his hand on the door and it will swing open as long as it recognizes him as a descendent of the line."
Harry immediately complied and, once his hand was placed on the door, a warm feeling shot through his entire body before the doors soundlessly swung forward to allow a clear view of the room.
For the second time that day, the entire group, Griphook not included, gasped in shock and amazement. The room was roughly the size of the great hall of Hogwarts. The back half of the room was filled to the ceiling with shelves of books. To the immediate left of the door was a wall lined completely with cabinets and wardrobes. A few of the cabinets, upon initial inspection, were completely filled with jewels, chains, necklaces, watches, and other items of great value. To the right of the door, the last wall was lined with weaponry and shields.
Harry turned to Griphook and asked, what he assumed was a logical question, "Umm, where exactly is the money? I mean it should be in the vault, right?"
"Yes, Mr. Potter, it is in the vault. The first three cabinets on the left hand wall contain jewels and other valuable items, but the remaining seven cabinets are magically enhanced to contain the vast wealth that your family has earned over the years. The money must be kept in the cabinets since it wouldn't fit in the vault any other way. The reason for that is rather simple. Your total worth is approximately 8.36 billion in galleons, 7 sickles, and 12 knuts.
"As you can, more likely than not, guess, there isn't anyway to store that much money without resorting to magical means.
"In addition to the monetary funds and what you see here, your assets also include several companies and investments that you can get the full report on, if you wish."
"Oh…well, thank you," Harry said before turning to Remus.
Remus still seemed to be in shock, his mouth hanging wide open. "I take it that you had no idea that my dad was Gryffindor's heir, or that they had so much money?"
"No," Remus said, still staring around the vault with an awe stricken face. "They didn't talk about the amount of money they had. The money didn't mean anything to them. I doubt very seriously that they ever made the trip down to this vault past James' original inheritance inspection."
"If the two of you are quite done flooding the floor with drool; maybe you could help me sort through some of this stuff and decide what I need to take with me to study."
The three of them slowly spread out and began to search the massive vault for anything of interest. It wasn't long before Tonks came across something she thought noteworthy. "Hey Harry, it looks like there is a multi-compartment trunk over here. Do you want to take it with you?"
"Yeah," Harry said as he picked up a watch from the collection. Based on what he had read in the small book next to the watch, this watch would re-synchronize itself to the current time zone no matter where you were if you tapped it with your wand twice and told it the location of the city you are in. He decided to keep it and take it with him, not just because of the time zone feature, but because he liked the design, which was gold plated with rubies lining the face.
Remus made his way to the back of the vault and to the bookshelves. He started searching the titles and picked out several interesting books he figured would benefit Harry in the long run. He found some books as far back as the time of Merlin on Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, and Battle Charms. However the books weren't the most interesting thing he found on the shelves at the back of the vault. He picked up a dusty scroll and set off to find Harry.
"Harry, I found something that I think you should look at…closely," Remus said. "I found some interesting books that you should take a look at. Since you're taking that trunk Tonks found, I'll just store them in the first compartment."
"Thanks Remus," Harry said, as he took the scroll out of his hands, wondering what it could say. He was quite shocked when he finished reading through the information listed within. Apparently he had the opportunity to obtain some rather rare creatures as pets. He needed to find the signet ring for the Gryffindor line to be able to procure said creatures though.
"Whatcha got there Harry," Tonks asked as she made her way over to Harry. Not wanting to divulge any unnecessary information, no matter how much he trusted the person, Harry responded vaguely. "Just some information pertaining to being Gryffindor's heir. Can you help me find the Gryffindor signet ring around here?"
"I think I saw it a few minutes ago. Hang on a second," Tonks said. She took off and searched through one of the open cabinets. After a few minutes of rummaging through the items stored there, she came back over with a beautiful twenty carat gold ring with a griffin on the top. It was secured in a velvet box.
Harry placed the ring on his finger as Remus re-joined the two at the front of the vault. "Did you get everything you wanted from the vault for now, Harry?"
"Yeah, I think so. Can you just put this scroll back where you found it before we leave," Harry asked.
While Remus set off to return the scroll Harry turned to talk to Griphook. "Have the Zabini's been notified that the marriage contract is now active or is that something that I should do personally?"
"Gringotts has prepared an official statement informing the Zabini's that the marriage contract is now set to be fulfilled. Generally, we give these notices to the betrothed and allow them to send the notice at their discretion. More often than not, the betrothed would like to send a more 'personal' letter along with the official statement." Griphook removed a piece of parchment from a folder and passed it to Harry.
Harry gulped; this day had not gone at all as he had planned. "Ok; thank you for everything today Griphook. If I have any questions concerning my account I will just send you an owl."
Remus, Tonks, and Harry took the cart back to the surface of the bank and were surprised to note that it was only one o'clock in the afternoon. Since it was still fairly early, Tonks suggested that they get something to eat while they were in the alley.
They proceeded to the Leaky Cauldron to grab a light lunch. "Is there anything else that you wanted to do while we're here," Tonks asked?
"Actually there is if you don't mind. I wanted to go to the magical creature store, Madam Malkin's, and somewhere in muggle London to get some weight training equipment and some muggle clothing."
"Well, we should be able to take care of that for the most part," Remus said.
"Tonks, would you mind going into muggle London and taking care of the business there while I take Harry around the alley to get everything he's going to need?"
"No problem," Tonks said cheerfully as she took a sip of her drink. "Anything in particular that you're looking for in muggle clothing?"
"Yeah, gym shorts, tee shirts, and jeans. I want the jeans in black or blue, and the shorts and tee shirts in red, blue, silver, black, or green," Harry said before finishing his sandwich. "Can you charge things to my Gringotts account in the muggle world?"
"Of course, they have to be able to interact in the muggle world. Its all fake accounts that correspond to your real account but it shouldn't be an issue.
"I'll go ahead and pick up the clothes and try to locate someplace to get the weight equipment as well," Tonks said; finishing her drink and heading out of the pub
"Is there any particular reason that you want the weights, Harry," Remus asked.
"Did Dumbledore ever tell you what you were guarding last year?"
"He said it was a weapon that Voldemort wanted but didn't give any more details than that."
"I'll tell you soon. We need somewhere a bit more private than Diagon Alley before I can tell you. To be brief, its something that I need to do and the weight training will come in handy in the years to come."
"Even though you've now managed to peak my curiosity, and tell me that you won't give me the answer for a while, I'll take your word for it, for now. Where do you want to start your shopping?"
"Madam Malkin's of course, we have to get you some new robes and I wanted to get some dragon hide robes as well." He ignored Remus' raised eyebrow at the dragon hide robes, most people couldn't ever afford them much less need them for a practical purpose.
"Anyways, I'll be here at least two more times this summer. I need to come at some point to pick up my school supplies, and more than likely, I will come at least once with Blaise to get to know her better."
"Blaise?" Remus asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, Blaise, the girl that I'm supposed to marry. You couldn't have forgotten about that already. Getting senile already Remus," Harry asked, dodging the playful punch the old marauder threw at him. "I plan on letting her choose, or at least help choose, my everyday wizarding wardrobe."
Remus just smirked at that before leading the way to the tailor's store.
The two of them were greeted when they entered the shop by a young woman, "How may I help you two gentlemen today."
Remus never had a chance to respond. Harry immediately answered the sales woman. "He," pointing at Remus, "will be getting a whole new wardrobe and I need two sets of battle robes made out of Norwegian Ridgeback hide. I would like everything to be charged to the Potter family vault.
"Don't look at me like that Remus," Harry interrupted as he saw the older man start to protest. "I have plenty of money in my vault and I doubt I'll ever spend a quarter of it in my lifetime," Harry said before turning back to the sales woman.
"Very well sir, please follow me back to the private area so that we can arrange the payment and take the measurements."
"Harry, you know that this isn't necessary to pay for all of this, Sirius left me more then enough money for my lifetime," Remus said, as they were led into the back rooms.
"I know that, but I want to do this for you, and besides then you can use the money to work on creating a library for yourself when you have the time. You like to read almost as much as Hermione. And if you don't want it to seem like charity then I have an idea. I need someone to teach me as much as possible about dueling while keeping it quiet from the rest of the Order. I have no doubt that Mrs. Weasley wouldn't approve of what I wish to learn this summer," Harry said.
"That should be a workable deal. I'll need something to keep me busy during the summer anyways. I'm also guessing that you can't tell me why you want to learn to duel this summer?"
Harry just smirked. "It goes along with the weight training. You'll find out soon enough."
Three thousand galleons later, they packed the purchases in Harry's trunk before starting down the alley towards the magical creature's emporium.
"Why exactly do we need to come here again? You already have Hedwig, unless something happened to her and you haven't told us."
"The first reason is rather simple. I wanted to get a male snowy owl for Blaise, make it like a family icon or something, to match Hedwig. The second reason is also fairly simple. You don't have an owl and you're going to need one when I go back to school. I doubt Hedwig would appreciate running letters for both of us all year long.
"The last reason is slightly complicated. It has to do with the scroll that you showed me in the vault.
"You know how Gryffindor got his name, don't you?"
At the negative response from Remus, Harry continued. "Ignoring the fact that I know something you don't for the moment, Gryffindor, was derived from 'griffin de ore' or 'golden griffin.' They have been a 'mascot' if you will for the family since then. The scroll that you found in the vault told me that by wearing my signet ring, I could come to this store and they would be able to get me golden griffins for pets.
"Supposedly the Gryffindor line is able to communicate with the griffins to a minor extent and they can be tamed and used as guardians. I wanted to get a couple to watch over my family."
They made their way to the counter at the back of the store and asked to see the manager or owner. It seemed luck was on their side as the man at the counter was the owner of the store.
"Hello, I would like to purchase the following: one male snowy owl, a screech owl, a baby male golden griffin, and a baby female griffin. The griffins should be from different families because I want them to be able to breed them at some point in the future," Harry said in a low voice.
Instinctively, the owner's eyes shot down to his right hand and inspected the Gryffindor signet ring. Once he was satisfied that the ring was genuine, he walked to the front door and locked it before saying, "You will be able to purchase the owls today and take them with you, but the griffins will take some time to get in. We don't keep them in stock, for obvious reasons. I do require payment upfront for the two griffins though, since they aren't normally stocked here and they're next to impossible to return. Am I correct in assuming that you want to purchase the food for all of the animals as well?"
"That would be correct. I have no problem paying up front. Charge all of the purchases to the Potter family vault."
"The total cost will come out to...3,600 galleons. If you don't mind waiting for a few minutes, I shall go and collect your owls and the supplies for the owls and griffins."
"So I take it that we are going to have company back at headquarters from now on," Remus asked with a bemused expression on his face.
"More than likely," Harry said as a smile broke across his face.
Harry and Remus decided that they had everything finished for the day, with the exception of one small thing. Harry paused before leaving the shop and asked to borrow a piece of parchment and a quill. He wrote a small letter to Blaise and briefly explained the marriage contract and asked if they could meet on July fourteenth at the Leaky Cauldron to get to know each other better. It also told her that the owl was a gift for her to keep. He attached the letter from Gringotts as well as his own to the leg of the new owl and sent it off to find his fiancé.
Harry had to return to number four Privet Drive one last time. Remus walked him to the door and told him to make sure that he had everything ready to go by nine o'clock the next morning.
It was an excited Harry Potter that went to bed that night despite the major, unexpected, change to his social life.