August 8, 1993 01:02 PM

The cart ride took longer than Harry had remembered, he found out why when he saw vault 687 shoot past him.

"Hey! We passed my vault!" Harry yelled over the rushing air.

"Relax yourself, Mr. Potter. We are heading to your family's vault," explained Gurgus.

Why though?

He thought to himself, almost asking it aloud. As confused as he was, Harry didn't want to risk not seeing something that may have belonged to his family.

Another five minutes, or so later, and they arrived at a large circular cavern that looked almost half a mile wide to Harry. Around the room spaced pretty far apart, we're larger vault doors than he was used to seeing. These stood almost 30 feet high, leading Harry to further wonder what else he didn't know his family had.

The cart stopped near the edge of a drop off. The platform seemingly too close to falling into an infinite darkness for Harry's comfort.

"Why do I get the feeling that's another security measure of some kind?" spoke Daeiel. Harry had been so lost in his own thoughts, he'd forgot the other boy was there.

"That's because it is. The cart would knock intruders down there should they somehow get this far. It is impossible to do so, in my opinion, but one can never be too careful," the goblin stated with a slight grin.

Harry knew he'd only been in the wizarding for a short time, much less so inside Gringotts, but the amount of times he was seeing something akin to a smile on the goblins was very strange to him.

They walked by two other vaults before coming to a stop in front one about four vaults down. The crest on the vault was of a tree with both a wand and sword crossed in front of it.

"Here, Mr. Potter, place your hand on the vault door so it may prove you are a Potter," Gurgus instructed.

"Prove I'm a Potter? You think I'm impersonating myself?" asked Harry.

Gurgus looked slightly frustrated at this, but after a moment seem sympathetic.

"The wards of your vault take blood from the person who touches the door, this makes sure only a Potter can enter. As it reads the magic in your blood."

Harry looked at his hand for a moment before tentatively placing it on the crest in the center. He felt a slight sting in hand, but honestly he had barely felt it at all. Growing up the way he had granted him a decent pain tolerance.

The door groan for a moment before parting to the side, surprisingly no dust had come forward.

As if reading his mind, the goblin told him, "These vaults have a permanent stasis charm on them. Removes the need to clean them repeatedly."

The lighting charms suddenly came on, and what Harry saw made his eyes widen considerably.

The tunnel must have been at least sixty feet wide, and fifty tall. It went back for at least two hundred yards.

"This belongs to my family!?" he exclaimed.

"This, Mr. Potter, belongs to you," Gurgus reminded him.

Looking around he saw piles, and piles of gold. more than he could ever count. Jewelry and other precious stones were also scattered around the back, but that's not what drew his attention. All around the front were chests full of books, clothes, and other personal effects. He scanned around quickly before his eyes locked on two trucks near the front. Each with initials on them, one LP, and the other JP.

Harry quickly ran over, with slight effort, he opened the trunk that he believed was his mother's. His thoughts proving right as the first thing his eyes landed on was a leather journal that was in pristine condition.

Lily Evans Potter

It was written in gold lettering across the front, and just seeing that Harry almost let tears fall.

He shook his head at that. No more tears, especially not right now. He went to open the book, before the clearing of a throat startled him back to the present.

"I understand your desire to learn of your family, Mr. Potter. But there isuch to do today and only so much time to do so," he was told.

"Yeah, sorry, got kinda lost in the moment. Could I take these with me?" Harry asked.

"They are yours, of course. I can shrink them for you if you'd like."

Sighing in relief that he wouldn't have to carry them back by hand, he nodded to the goblin who simply tapped each truck with a clawed finger. Both were the sizes of matchboxes, and Harry was able to place both into his pockets.

Harry glanced around before noticing the racks of clothing, some he noticed were sets of what appeared to be leather armor. He'd have to look at those more closely later.

His gaze then came to a pedestal that was on the side of the room with a book, and a ring on it. Approaching it, he noticed the book had the same crest as the vault door, and the ring was a blackish gold with a smooth ruby in the center. The Potter crest inlayed into the stone, with silver highlighting the design. Harry grabbed the ring, as he was examining it, he felt both a desire to put it on, and the fear to run away from it. He repressed the fear, and gave into the want to place it on his left index finger. Harry felt a wave of warmth wash over him, running through his entire body. When it reached his head though, his world exploded in pain.

Daeiel was simply standing off to the side of the vault. While he was friendly with Harry, he hadn't know him long, certainly not long enough to try to enter something of his families. Even if they had, he wouldn't want to. It wasn't his business, and he would respect Harry's privacy.

For a few minutes, nothing was really happening. The goblin reminded Harry about time, and offer him some help, but Daeiel stopped paying attention after that. He was still wonder what kind of events could lead to stuff like this happening. Being hundreds of meters underneath London, and none of the non magicals above had a clue.

His thoughts were interupted by screaming, however, as he moved in front of the vault door to see Harry clutching his forehead. Daeiel knew something was really wrong when blood started pouring out from between his fingers. Now, he had seen a lot of blood in his short time on the earth, and he knew it shouldn't just randomly start coming out without a reason. It also shouldn't have traces of black sludge mixed into it.

Daeiel rushed forward to help Harry, only to go flying back as soon as he hit the vault doorway. He skidded to a halt, felling like he'd been hit by a lightning bolt. He rushed back as fast as he could, wondering what was going on, Gurgus had Harry bound, and was trying to get him towards the cart.

"What the hell is goin-"

"HELP ME! We must get him to the elders, or he will be dead within the hour!" Gurgus yelled rapidly.

Without any other options, Daeiel rushed forward, and grabbed Harry to throw him over his shoulder before rushing back to the cart.

Gurgus had already turned on the cart, and gunned it back towards the surface. Harry was just groaning in pain the entire trip. Though every so often, Harry's eyes would open slightly, and his eyes were shifting from their usual emerald green to scarlet.

"What's going on!?"

Gurgus kept his eyes focused on the tracks, "Something is trying to take possession of him! If we do not hurry, it will succeed!"

"Something his family left is trying to possess him!?"

"No," the goblin stated firmly, "it was already inside him when he arrived, if i was to guess! For how long I do not know!"

"You have guesses on what could have caused this!?"

The goblin was silent for a moment before replying, "Only one, and we better pray to the Goddess it isn't that VILE thing!"

Before Daeiel could ask anything else, the cast stopped suddenly, and he had to grab to railing to stop him and Harry from flying forward.

"A warning next time!"

"Later, you fool! Move him in here!" Gurgus was already rushing forward, opening the door to shout something in his native language as he entered.

Daeiel sprinted inside, placing Harry face up on the table in the center of the room. Three very ancient looking goblins had moved forward at this, one waving his hands over Harry's body, while the other two focused on his head.

While they were exchanging words in their language, Daeiel just stood there helplessly as the goblins wprked meticulously. Eventually Harry screamed again as one of the goblins pulled what looked like a black, slimy strand from his forehead. As soon as it was loose, the goblins chanted loudly, which cause writing on the floor around the table to glow brightly. Not long after, the strand let out a high pitched scream that made Daeiel grab his ears in protest. It burn with blue flames eating it up, before disappearing completely. As soon as it was gone, Harry relaxed considerably. The goblins then began to work at a much more calm pace as, Daeiel sat down against the stone wall of the room.

Well, how's that for a first day. He stated to himself.

Sorry for the long wait between uploads, some things happened with my family over the last few months and i haven't been able to focus on this. I appreciate all of you who have begun following and/or favoriting the story, it means a lot.