Chapter 7 – Business Changes and the End of the Summer.
Harry woke up the morning after his birthday and changed into his work out clothes before going down stairs for breakfast. He checked his reflection in the mirror and took off the gift from Blaise. While he liked the gift itself he needed to get a new chain for it. It wouldn't work with it being silver and him living in the same house as Moony. He laid the chain on the dresser and headed to breakfast. Slowly Harry made his way through the prepared meal before heading to the workout room to begin his weight lifting and other physical exercises for the day.
After he and Moony had finished the sword practice Moony said, "You have some letters today Harry, and before you say anything they aren't from the Weasleys or Hermione. One is from Gringotts, although I don't know why, and the other is from Hogwarts."
"Ok I'll look them over at lunch today." Harry was secretly curious as to what Gringotts could want to talk to him about since he had been there so often recently and they hadn't mentioned anything new as of yet.
They entered and found a plate of sandwiches on the table and a pitcher of pumpkin juice along with the two letters for Harry. He read through the one from Gringotts, which told him to be at the bank tomorrow at 11:30 to handle some family business pertaining to the Black family, and then he turned to the letter from Hogwarts. It was his OWL results.
Dear Mr. Potter,
Enclosed you will find your OWL results:
Charms:
Practical: O
Theoretical: E
Overall: O
Transfiguration:
Practical: O
Theoretical: O
Overall: O
Potions:
Practical: E
Theoretical: E
Overall: E
Defense Against the Dark Arts:
Practical: O
Theoretical: O
Overall: O
Care of Magical Creatures:
Practical: O
Theoretical: A
Overall: E
Astronomy:
Practical: A
Theoretical: A
Overall: A
History of Magic:
Theoretical/Overall: T
Divination:
Practical: O
Theoretical: P
Overall: E
Total O.W.L.s: 8
Denotes record level in tests for examinations as well as distinction in the field along with the number of two O.W.L.s, instead of the standard of one O.W.L.s given for an O.
Due to extenuating circumstances all grades that were below the Acceptable level were curved to an Acceptable level for both parts of the exam.
Congratulations on your individual results Mr. Potter, in particular in the field of Defense Against the Dark Arts. We look forward to your N.E.W.T.s in your seventh year and hope to see you again achieve excellence in your examinations.
Sincerely,
Griselda Marchbanks
Harry was staring wide-eyed at the parchment. He couldn't believe he had passed everything but history.
"Well, what did they say? Something good I assume," Remus asked.
"Eight… I got eight O.W.L.s," Harry said. He knew that even with the eight OWL's he wouldn't be able to take the necessary classes to be an auror, due to the E grade he received in potions.
"Congratulations Harry, I'm very proud of you as I'm sure that both your parents and Sirius would be as well with these results. Now, come on, hand me the letter so I can see your scores while you pick out your classes for next year. They should be on the next sheet of parchment."
Slowly, Harry handed over the results to Remus before looking down at the courses that he could take for his sixth year. Overall it was what he expected with a few new courses offered for sixth and seventh years only. He figured that he would have to talk to Snape to get into his class and, for once, he had the perfect way to guarantee his way into the class… and he didn't need any one's help.
Once he had selected Charms, Transfiguration, Defense against the Dark Arts, and Care of Magical Creatures he turned to Remus and said, "Moony I need one more course to select for my courses. I know that I can't get into potions… right now but I will take care of that later so that will give me a total of six classes which is more then enough."
"Well… how about Magical World Politics," Moony asked carefully. "I know that it doesn't sound that interesting but let's face it; you are one of the most famous wizards alive, after the war you will more than likely be the most famous. You're going to need to know the in's and out's of the politics governing our society.
"Once you're married to Blaise the world will be just as interested in her and any children you may have. You will need to know these things to protect them if it comes to that."
Harry didn't really like to admit it, but Remus was right. If he was going to take his place in his world then he would have to know how to survive in it and make sure his family was safe in the mean time.
"You're right, Moony. Give these to McGonagall the next meeting. It'll save Hedwig a journey to Hogwarts," Harry said, handing the choices to Remus.
Remus just smirked into his coffee; he was fairly certain that his giving the note to McGonagall had less to do with saving the Hedwig a journey to Scotland, than it did with making sure Hedwig was around to deliver messages to Blaise when they couldn't see each other.
The rest of the meal was silent before they headed towards the training room. "Okay then. I don't know how much more I can teach you now. I've taught you everything useful that I know with the exception of apparition. I think now would be a good time to teach that to you. We can figure out where to go with the training after that. It's not technically legal for you to do this but I think its something that you will need to know for the war.
"The ministry cannot detect it since it is a form of wandless magic. It takes very little magic to actually apparate but it's not the easiest concept for some to understand."
Remus went over all of the theory behind apparition. Not that it really mattered, since Harry didn't understand a quarter of it. After Remus finished the theory he told Harry to watch him as he apparated. It didn't seem that complicated but it was harder than it looked, as Harry soon found out. He spent the better half of the morning in the starting location, or on his rear from losing his balance on the body turn.
Harry managed to not splinch himself at all during his training, which was good, since they doubted that Madame Pomfrey would be amused in the least to have to fix him before school even began. By dinner time Harry was fairly confident in his skills. He knew it would take more practice before he actually mastered it but he wasn't nearly as worried as he was at the start of the training.
It was almost the end of dinner before Harry remembered to tell Remus about the second letter he had received that morning.
"Remus, I kind of got caught up in the OWL's and all but I forgot to tell you about the other letter this morning. Gringotts needs me to be at the bank at 11:30 tomorrow morning to take care of some family business."
"Shit," Moony muttered as he sat there thinking. "I guess we're just going to have to have you conceal you as best as we can while you're in the alley. I doubt that I can get a guard on such short notice."
"Actually… that was part of my plan," Harry said carefully as a smirk crossed his face. "You know that I need to start doing things for myself especially if I am going to have a wife in a few months.
"I need you to do me a favor though. I need you to get Dumbledore to either write down the secret for here again or to make me the secret keeper. I don't really care whether he likes it or not but this is my house and I should have some say so as to who can and cannot enter my house."
"That may be true; I'll talk to him and see what I can do about it. I still don't like the idea of you going there on your own though," Remus grumbled, stabbing his food rather violently.
The two of them finished dinner in silence, something that seemed to be a growing trend, before Harry went to his room to read through a book written by Godric Gryffindor for his heirs. He had started reading it a little before and found it to be an insight into the great man. He had been reading for about half an hour before he came across a passage that made his eyes bulge.
Quickly he reread the passage before it confirmed the fact that there was a way to apparate directly into, and around, Hogwarts. The four founders created a key to the wards. The wards could be bypassed by the current heir of any of the founder. This made him slightly nervous, since Voldemort was the heir of Slytherin, but the book stated that only the heir could get passed the wards. They couldn't bring anyone else with them. Another slightly comforting thing was that the key was built into the signet ring for the heir. Only Godric's ring remains and was in the care of the current headmaster of Hogwarts.
He found out that Salazar's ring was destroyed when he left Hogwarts and Rowena and Helga melted theirs together with Godric's at a time close to their death. Since Rowena and Helga failed to have any children, they handed over control of Hogwarts to Godric's line to remain safe. The three rings were melted and a new one, which was adorned by something that could technically be called the 'new' Hogwarts crest, but is just referred to as the crest of the founders and remains the symbol for Gryffindor's line to this day.
Rereading the information twice, he decided that that was enough new information for one night and closed the book before settling in for the night. He wanted to be rested for his visit to Gringotts in the morning.
Harry woke up the next morning and decided to eat a large breakfast before his workout in case he missed lunch while at Gringotts. Slowly over the course of his stay with Moony at Grimmauld Place he had increased his stamina, strength, and he had progressed to become fairly good with a sword. He figured that by the end of the summer he might be at an excellent level in part because his blade was perfectly balanced and his reflexes were so quick from Quidditch.
He ended his workout and pulled out a black robe with gold trim and a hood, which was intended to make him look as menacing as possible. Underneath he wore black pants and a black shirt, with his sword attached at his waist along with his wand in a holster.
After a quick snack and a goodbye to Moony, in which he received a piece of parchment containing the secret to Grimmauld Place, he apparated into a side alley right by Diagon Alley. He raised the hood of his robes over his head to conceal his identity before making his way over to Gringotts. He entered and asked the nearest Goblin to take him to Griphook for his appointment.
He entered the room, and at Griphook's motioning, took a seat in front of the desk. "Hello Harry, we have a few things to go over today. The first thing although it may seem important is not the reason why I called you here today. After I was placed as your account manager by you I researched your family history to see if there were any other families that you might be the head of due to extenuating circumstances. It took a little while but I found several other minor pureblood families that you indirectly inherited so I took the liberty of adding their assets to your own."
"The largest surprise was that you are now in control of the Monroe family. This is because the last of their family died about 50 years ago and left no will. The Potter family had a daughter that married into that line about 250 years ago and because the other families that could have laid claims into that family have perished you are now the benefactor. This adds 750,000,000 galleons into your account as well as numerous books, rare artifacts, jewels, and personal items.
"The reason why this account is still available is because, through ministry treaties, they are not allowed to interfere in monetary holdings or property holdings. You also gained the Monroe Manor in Ireland and the land holding that they have there. I took liberty of moving the vault contents of the Monroe family into the Potter Family vault, which has been enlarged to accommodate for the new personal items."
Nodding in acknowledgement, but not necessarily understanding, Harry asked the reason why he had been asked here, if not to claim the estate just mentioned.
"One second," Griphook said as he got up and walked over to another door and opened it before saying, "you may come inside now ma'am." After saying these words he strode back to his desk, while Narcissa Malfoy walked into the room and took the other empty seat next to Harry.
His was somewhat shocked to see Narcissa Malfoy again. His first reaction was to go for his wand, but he knew that Griphook wouldn't have shown her into the room if she were a threat to him. It would be bad for business to have a customer killed while inside the bank.
"Mrs. Malfoy is here to ask the head of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black to cancel the marriage contract between her and Lucius Octavius Malfoy. You are now the current head of the Black family and the contract can only be canceled by either you or the head of the Malfoy family, Lucius.
"Under the conditions of the contract, Mr. Malfoy has not provided a stable home environment for his wife, as you can imagine by his incarceration. The contract was breached on his end and can be canceled by you. The terms also state that the Black family would be given 400,000 galleons in compensation for the violation of the contract.
"On the other side, Narcissa Malfoy will become your ward for a minimum of five years unless you arrange another marriage for her before that time and if not then it is your decision on when to release her as your ward after the five year period."
After hearing these words Harry took a minute before he turned to Narcissa and asked, "Did you know about the terms of the contract and that I was the head of the Black family?"
"I knew that Sirius would make you head of the Black family when he passed away and I was there when the contract was written. I have always done what I could to be the person that my family wanted me to be. I did what I was told and married who I was told. I did my duty to my family.
"Lucius has never cared for me. Once he secured himself an heir he turned his attention to his mistresses. I was nothing more than a trophy wife. I wasn't even allowed to raise my son. I will now live my life for myself and not my family. They are all dead, with the exception of Bella, and she's insane. I now have a chance to get away from him and the life I was forced to live and I will do it at any cost. I tried to convince my son to become his own man as well, but his fathers teaching weren't to be undone," said Narcissa. "I tried for as long as I could before I couldn't stay any longer for fear that Lucius would return from Azkaban."
Harry was shocked for a second time that day, as he listened to everything she had to say. Most of it made sense. He figured that he would cancel the contract on the condition that she gives a magically binding oath to not betray him, or anyone working against Voldemort.
"Alright, I will cancel the contract," Harry said. "I have two conditions though. The first is that you have an hour and a half to change your mind. I want you to go back to Malfoy Manor and collect any items that you want to bring with you. And the second is that you give a magically binding oath to not betray myself, or anyone else I know, to Voldemort. You have an hour and a half to change your mind. If you aren't back here in an hour and a half, I will assume that you have changed your mind and won't think on this conversation again."
Narcissa nodded curtly before walking out the door to gather her things.
"Griphook, could you, or another goblin, escort me down to the Potter family vault," Harry asked. "I want to look over the new items and books to see if there is anything that I would be interested in studying at the moment. Also, notify me if and when Narcissa returns so that I may sign the papers if it is necessary."
"I will take care of that Harry, now just go through the door that you entered and I will have someone take you down to your vault," Griphook said. With those words Harry stood up and walked out of the room.
Ten minutes later he found himself back inside his family vault and looking through the new personal items, artifacts, and books in the vault. He had found another multiple compartment trunk, but this one only had three compartments. He cursed himself as he realized that he had never even gone through all of the sections of the trunk he had already taken.
The artifacts were things that were pretty simple in design and did not catch his eye so Harry quickly began searching through the shelves upon shelves of books. He found several by Merlin among them, as well as books on alchemy, transfiguration use in dueling, advanced charms, and defense against the dark arts. Most of these books looked to be extremely rare, or old, so he decided that he shouldn't take them to school if he wanted them to be kept in any usable form.
Harry loaded about 30 books into the trunk before he shrunk it and placed it into his pocket. Then he took the cart back up to the main level and walked over to Griphook's office. Inside he found Griphook and Narcissa waiting for him to sign the papers.
"Well let's get this over with, and get out of here," Harry said as he reached for the quill to sign the papers in front of him. He put the quill down before he stood up and said,
"Now, the oath."
Narcissa gave her magical oath and it was received to Harry's satisfaction. "Come on, I need to get back home as soon as I can."
The two of them made their way back to the Leaky Cauldron and floo'd to the Three Broomsticks. He led Narcissa towards the shrieking shack to get away from the crowd. Once they had arrived, Harry removed the secret from his wallet and showed it to Narcissa.
"Memorize this, and apparate there. I'm sure you remember how to get there."
Receiving a nod in return he returned the secret to his wallet and apparated away to the sitting room at headquarters. He heard a crack behind him and turned to see Narcissa standing in the room next to the fireplace.
"There are a few ground rules in this house. Everyone that lives here understands them and adheres to them. I will go through them in a few minutes. For now let me show you to your room."
Narcissa pulled out three small trunks and then with a wave of her wand magically enlarged them to their full size. She then said, "Each trunk is magically enlarged on the inside to contain my full wardrobe. Now before you ask the reason that I chose this is because I needed a clean break, a new chance to have the life I really wanted, and no I did not betray Sirius by listening to Kreacher that was my husband. Even if Sirius and I were not that close I would never betray family in that manner."
Harry nodded curtly, not accepting or rejecting her claim. "I will still be keeping an eye on you though. Now onto the rules of the house for you while you live here. You are not to leave the house under any circumstances without myself or someone that I approve of with you. The other rule is that you are not to enter the kitchen at night on certain nights. The nights will be random but I will notify you before hand if you are not able to enter the kitchen. Other than that you are free to go anywhere in the house that you want here. In the mornings and afternoon I will be in the same room, which I will show you later tonight after dinner. I will allow you to redecorate the house as you see fit to make it more comfortable and look like people actually live here. "
Narcissa just listened quietly at what Harry said before saying, "That sounds acceptable so far. Is there anything else that you have to say?"
"Yes it is more of a request then anything," Harry said, hesitantly. "I know that you are very intelligent and well versed with politics, high society stuff, and have many connections. I would like you to teach me what you can about the political world, proper etiquette, and whatever you think is necessary for me to be the proper gentlemen and a political and business savvy person."
"It would be my pleasure to teach you these things," Narcissa said. "I cannot allow for the head of the Black family to not demand the proper respect, and in part my reputation is tied to yours as well. My only question is when will these lessons take place?"
"Tomorrow afternoon and from there every other afternoon until I return to school," said Harry. "That is along as it is acceptable to you? If you feel like I will need more lessons to master most of this in three weeks we can also have the lessons after dinner every night except on Monday nights."
"We will be going with the second choice Harry," Narcissa said. "Now where is my room I want to be able to look around the house to see how many rooms I have to change and make a list of what I am going to need to do in order to make this house acceptable to my standards of living."
"I'll have Dobby show you to your room," Harry said. "And before you ask, yes, it is the same house elf that served at Malfoy Manor. If you need anything, call for him or Winky and they will get it for you, as long as it falls within the rules that I set. Now I will leave you to get settled in while I go to the gym to practice my magic."
As he summoned Dobby and told him to take Narcissa to a nice room that was to be her own with her stuff, he made his way to the gym to practice with Moony. He opened the door and found Moony already waiting for him.
"So… what was the business at Gringotts about?" asked Moony.
"Well… Narcissa Black is now my ward and will be living in this house for awhile," Harry said. Seeing Remus about to object he forced his way forward. "Stop! Before you say anything, Moony she is here because she wanted out of her marriage contract and because I chose to have this occur. I have heard her arguments and have found that they have merit. I trust her and I ask that you do to. She has sworn a magical oath to not betray any of us either.
"Now she will be living here until I find her someone through a marriage contract and she will also be teaching me several things that I will need for life outside of Hogwarts as well as making this place more appropriate to live in as the head of the Black family."
"Alright Harry," Remus said slowly "but I am going to be keeping an eye on her for anything suspicious. Now before we start I have found you a teacher you just need to talk to Dumbledore about getting out of your Defense Against the Dark Arts class since that is when your teacher will be giving you private lessons. Just tell him that according to myself that you are well above N.E.W.T. level Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"Ok… now come on that was enough talking it is time to practice," Harry said with an evil glint in his eyes as he drew out his wand from his holster. After a couple of hours they stopped dueling and headed back to their rooms to relax for the rest of the night.
Slowly the remaining three weeks of Harry's summer passed and it was time to go back to Hogwarts again. He had gone through his five compartment trunk and found what each compartment held. The first one was a normal trunk, the second a full walk in closet, the third compartment held a full library with several hundred books and an area to sit down and write or sit and read. The forth compartment held an area where he could practice all the spells that he would want, and the fifth held a small flat with a king sized bed, a bath room, and a small kitchen.
He packed away his robes, school books, which Remus had picked up for him one day while Narcissa was teaching him, his broomstick, and a second set of weights and weight lifting machines. Between his weight training, his lessons from Narcissa, Dumbledore, or Moony most of the time had passed. Blaise had stopped by twice and on the last visit they had decided to keep quiet about the engagement at school for a while so they could figure things out while they were at school.
A/N: One more chapter then I start writing on this from scratch…….