Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.
Harry's New Boggart – Chapter 13 – The Potter Heir
The next morning, everybody who was staying at the Burrow ate breakfast together. When they'd finished, Harry announced, "We've got to be going. See you all in a few hours."
"Harry," said Mrs. Weasley, "I want to thank you for helping Ginny yesterday. I don't know what you did for her, but it obviously worked because she's here. I thought I'd lost my baby. That's twice you've saved her life."
Harry's ears turned pink. "Well, anyway, we'll see you later."
Harry hugged Ginny to him and apparated them to Grimmauld Place. A few seconds after they arrived, they were joined by Ron and Hermione. Hermione stated, "I hope Mrs. Weasley doesn't ask what Harry actually did for Ginny."
"I know," agreed Ginny, "We can't let anyone know about our gift."
"Anyway," said Harry, "We need to start our workout."
After they'd finished their physical and magical workout, they decided to stay there for a few more hours reading in private. Ron was reading his dark quidditch book with interest. Ginny was reading a book on hexes. Hermione was reading more of Dumbledore's notes. Harry decided to read the genealogy book that they'd used to find out Regulus' middle name. He wanted to research his own family tree.
He started with the bottom of his family tree. He was the last of the Potters. Above him were his parents' names, James Potter and Lily Evans (It used maiden names because the married name would be useless in researching ancestry). It did not show any of Lily Evans' muggle family. He decided to follow the Potter Family as far back as he could. He eventually came to a very interesting piece of information after a dozen generations before him. Michael Potter and a woman named Abigail Gryffindor were Harry's direct ancestors. When he saw that, he looked up the Gryffindor family, and found that it ended with Abigail as the only child. "I'm the last Gryffindor," he muttered to himself, "the heir of Gryffindor…for whatever good that does me."
"What was that?" asked Ginny, who was sitting near him with her book.
"I'm not only the last Potter, but I'm the last Gryffindor as well."
"What do you mean? Everyone in my family has been in Gryffindor, along with hundreds of others."
"That's not what I mean," corrected Harry, "look at this book."
After Harry had shown Ginny his family tree, she commented, "I guess it's only fitting that the heir of Gryffindor would be the enemy of the heir of Slytherin."
"What?" asked Hermione and Ron together, who'd just entered the room holding hands.
After Harry and Ginny had explained it to the other couple, Hermione said, "I wonder if that has any significance."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, for one thing, it could mean you have some sort of gift you don't know about. All the Slytherin family members can speak parseltongue, for example. I wonder if the Gryffindor line has any specific gifts like that. You may also own more gold or valuables than you know of. The Slytherins spent all of their family fortune, but maybe the Gryffindors didn't."
"Maybe we should ask Dumbledore's portrait about it," suggested Harry, "and while we're there, I need to get Snape's old potions book. I forgot it last time."
"I thought we'd agreed that we should leave that book alone," argued Hermione.
"You heard Voldemort in that memory. He doesn't want me to finish reading it! That's good enough reason for me to read it."
"Fine!" Hermione agreed, "There might be important information in it, I suppose. We should also tell Dumbledore that we have confirmed that Harry can heal Ginny."
After they flooed Ms. McGonagall before barging into her office, the quartet found itself alone and speaking to Dumbledore's portrait, once again. The first thing they told him was the story of the attack on the Granger residence, which resulted in Harry healing Ginny.
"That's an interesting hypothesis, Miss Granger, that their healing works when they cry as phoenix tears. It is most certainly a possibility. As I said before, there is no actual record of this sort of thing happening before."
"I was wondering, sir," asked Harry, "if you knew I was the last descendant of Godric Gryffindor."
"What?" replied Dumbledore, "I thought his line died out long ago with Abigail."
"She married a Potter, according to a genealogy book I found at Black Manor, and she ended up becoming my ancestor."
"Hm," responded Dumbledore, "I wonder why James never chose to confide that information with me."
"Maybe he didn't know," suggested Harry.
"Maybe he didn't trust you entirely," added Ginny, "After all, you trusted Snape. He may have feared you'd tell him."
"Anyway," said Hermione, trying to avoid a row, "we were wondering if there was any gift that ran through the Gryffindor line, like parseltongue runs through the Slytherin line."
"For that information," answered Dumbledore sadly, "I'd suggest you consult the school library for everything it has on Godric Gryffindor. I never actually researched that out, since I thought it to be irrelevant information. I do know, however, that Gringotts has a huge vault that only the heir of Gryffindor can enter. The ministry of magic once suggested that the goblins open the vault and distribute whatever is in it to the other pureblood families. The goblins claimed that even if they wanted to do that, they couldn't because only the heir of Gryffindor could enter the vault. Hm. I wonder if the goblins know that the Potters are the heirs of Gryffindor, and they're just not telling anyone. In any case, Harry, I suggest you visit Gringotts."
"I will," promised Harry. "I just have one thing I left here last time that I need to pick up, and then I'll go right there."
They quickly went to the room of requirement, where they picked up the Half-Blood Prince's potions book, and came back to the office. Before they flooed to Diagon Alley, Dumbledore recommended, "Don't forget your sword. I suggest you learn how to use it properly."
Harry smiled as he realized what Dumbledore meant. He walked over to where the sword of Gryffindor, which he'd used to slay a basilisk years before, was displayed. He opened the case and picked up the sword, which wasn't nearly as heavy to him as it had been when he was twelve. He looked at it for a few minutes, swinging it a bit, and then put it back in its case. "Hermione," Harry asked, "Can you shrink it and put it in the bag with books that Ron's carrying?"
Within minutes, the four of them were stepping outside the Leaky Cauldron. Hermione suggested, "Harry, we're alone. Why don't put on your cloak so no one sees you?"
Harry pulled it out of his pocket and covered himself, saying, "Good idea. I don't need everybody knowing that I'm going to the bank.
They made it to Gringotts without incident. Once they were inside, Ron asked if they could have a private audience with one of the goblins. They were led into a plain looking room with a circular table with nine chairs. The walls were white, and there was nothing on the walls. Harry took off his cloak and stuffed it back into his pocket. He then took out the book of genealogies in case he had to prove his claim.
After about fifteen minutes, a goblin Harry recognized came into the room. For a moment, he stared at Harry, and then his face put on an expression that Harry guessed was a goblin smile. "Hello, Mr. Potter. I'm not sure if you recognize me or not. My name is Griphook."
After the others had been introduced, and Harry assured the goblin that he completely trusted them, Griphook said, "Well Mr. Potter, I'm glad you've come here. It saves me the trouble of owling you."
"Owling me?" asked Harry.
"Yes, now that you are of age, we have much to discuss."
"Like what?"
"You now have access to the Potter vaults. The one you've been using was only your trust fund, which I've noticed has begun to diminish significantly in the past few months. However, that's none of my business. One of the Potter vaults has enough gold in it to make all the money your parents put in your trust vault look like a knut. The other has many Potter family heirlooms, some of which are extremely valuable." He snapped his finger and a portfolio appeared in front of Harry. It had a blue cover and was labeled, 'The Potter Family's Assets.' The goblin continued, "This portfolio has the contents of all three vaults listed, and is charmed to always be accurate. Your inheritance from Professor Dumbledore has already been added to the Potter family assets. His money is in the main Potter vault. His heirlooms are in your heirloom vault. His properties are listed with yours."
Harry flipped through the portfolio while Griphook sat silently at the table. Harry's companions were reading over his shoulders. The first page said how much gold was in the main vault. Harry's eyes buldged out at that figure. He was a very, very rich man. The next several pages listed specific items in the heirloom vault, which included, he noticed, his parents' wedding rings, among other things. It listed the approximate value of each item in the inventory. The next page listed how much gold was left in his trust vault. After that, there was a list of several properties and businesses, both wizard and muggle, with an approximate value listed next to each. The last page was a summery of everything, showing him that he was, in fact, filthy rich.
Harry closed the portfolio and stared at Griphook for about thirty seconds, completely speechless. "Wow," he finally managed.
"Wow, indeed," agreed Griphook, "With just these assets, you are now the richest wizard that does business with Gringotts, but that's not all of your assets."
"Huh?" replied Harry articulately.
"Due to your, er, family situation, I do not know if you are aware of it or not, but you are the heir of Gryffindor."
Harry smiled, "That's actually the reason I came here. Today, I was reading a wizard genealogy and found out. I heard that there is a Gryffindor vault here and wanted to find out if you knew I was the heir."
"Actually," explained Griphook, "there are two vaults. It is actually a common practice for wizarding families to have two vaults – one for money and the other for valuables." He snapped his finger again and another portfolio appeared in front of Harry. It had a red cover and said, "The Gryffindor Family's Assets."
Harry very quickly flipped through this as well. He looked up and stated, "We'd like to look through both heirloom vaults. I think I'll look at the Gryffindor one first. I think I'll want to spend more time in my parents' vault, so we'll do that last."
Griphook looked slightly concerned. He explained, "I'm afraid that the enchantments protecting those vaults only allow Potters, and those with magical bonds to Potters, to enter. Your friends will have to stay behind."
"What kind of bonds?" asked Ginny immediately. "Harry and I have a life bond. He saved my life a few years ago."
"Did he?" smiled Griphook. "I'm not sure if you can enter or not. It depends on how strong your bond is."
"It's very strong," replied Harry, "We are also in love." Ginny blushed at this statement.
"Really?" asked Griphook. "That's a lot more rare than you'd think."
"The bond has manifested itself in a very powerful, unique way," added Hermione, "that we'd like to keep a secret."
"Very well," agreed Griphook, "if you're confident in your bond, then Miss Weasley may come. I'm afraid the others cannot. If you wish, you may wait here. However, it will probably take hours, so you may wish to leave."
"That's a good idea," replied Harry before turning to Hermione, "You may wish to go to a muggle library to continue the research that was interrupted yesterday."
Hermione responded, "If you're sure…"
"I am. There's no reason for you to waste precious time. Just promise to be careful," insisted Harry.
"We will. You and Ginny do the same," agreed Hermione.
"We will. See you later, guys," said Ginny.
"Bye," said Ron.
Harry put his cloak back on and followed Griphook and Ginny while Hermione and Ron left the bank. Harry was carrying the portfolios. Griphook then suggested, looking toward Ginny, "If you're planning on taking anything out of the vaults, may I suggest you purchase one of our bottomless featherweight trunks to bring with you? We started carrying them a few years ago after several customers complained that they forgot to bring something to carry large items in. We used to only carry coin pouches. The trunks are thirty Galleons each."
Harry whispered, "Yes," to Griphook, who told them to wait for a minute while he got one from behind the counter. He got a plain-looking black trunk and came back to them.
"We thought about putting the bank's name on the trunk, but that would probably encourage people to rob them. It has a security system based off of what muggles call fingerprints. I'll show you when we get to the vault."
After a very long, exciting rollercoaster-type ride, they finally got out at a vault that looked different than any that Harry had ever seen. The door was round and red. It had a gold lion face in the center of it. Harry took off his cloak. Griphook said, "First I'll set up your trunk security system. Do you want Miss Weasley to be able to open it?"
"Yes," agreed Harry, without hesitation.
"Very well." Griphook then put his right hand on the trunk and instructed, "Each of you put your right hands on the trunk. He said something in what Harry assumed was the goblin language, and the trunk glowed white for a few seconds. Griphook then told them, "Now, in order for the trunk to open, one of you needs to have your right hand on it. Now, for the vault. Miss Weasley, I believe you should try first. Touch the lion's head. If you are rejected, you'll be thrown backwards, but don't worry, we'll catch you."
She slowly walked toward the vault's door and hesitantly put her hand on it. The gold lion glowed green for a moment, and then the door started rising. Harry put his portfolios in the trunk and carried it next to Ginny while they waited for the door to rise high enough for them to enter.
Griphook explained, "Even now, no one but you two could enter. The vault will close once you're in there. I'll leave you for now, but will be alerted as soon as the vault reopens."
They walked inside together, and as soon as they crossed the threshold, the door slammed back down. What they saw inside took their breath away. It was like being in a museum where everything was made out of either precious metals or jewels. There was a small wooden podium in the front that held a book. Harry took a look at the book, and soon realized that a page was devoted to every object in that vault. It appeared to have been written by Godric Gryffindor himself.
He started examining some of the objects. There was a wall that was covered with nothing but war-related objects. A shield made out of a metal they couldn't identify, with a gold lion on a red background painted on the front. There was an empty space where a sword was obviously supposed to hang. Harry smiled, realizing he already had the sword that belonged there. He saw two glistening suits that were obviously some kind of protective suits to be worn underneath wizard robes. They each consisted of a helmet, a long-sleeved shirt, one of which had obviously been made for a woman, a pair of pants, a pair of gloves, and a pair of socks. He looked it up in the inventory book, and read some of the entry for them. It said,
'The two mithril suits, as light as a feather, and as hard as dragon scales, made by dwarves, were worn by myself and my wife in wartime. They are charmed to fit the wearer perfectly. Mithril is even more magically powerful than real dragon scales. Not only did they shield us from muggle attacks, but also from almost all magical attacks. In the case of the avada kadavra curse, although we fortunately didn't test it, I believe that the armor would act as any other object used as a shield. That is, I believe the armor would be destroyed, but the wearer would survive. However, they obviously would then be vulnerable. My suggestion is that you wear the armor, but when you're in battle, pretend you don't have the armor on. In other words, dodge and block any attacks that come your way.'
Harry then looked up to Ginny, who was walking around. "Ginny, come here." Harry pulled the suits off the wall and handed her the one that appeared to be made for a female. "This is a type of armor. Put it on under your clothes."
She turned red. "Y-You want me to change my clothes here, in front of you? I don't think I want to, er, right now."
Harry blushed. "I-I er, didn't mean for you to strip in front of me, er, unless you'd like to, I, er, I do want you to put it on though. I'm gonna put on the other suit. I thought you could find a private corner of the room and change. I promise I won't spy on you."
"Er, all right Harry, but if I catch you peeping at me, you'll be facing a bat bogey hex."
"I'll bet it would be worth it," he replied with an evil grin
She disappeared behind some other stuff so he couldn't see her, and he started flipping through the pages of the book, trying desperately not to think about Ginny changing her clothes just a few feet away. He thought about Moody's magical eye that can see through walls, and briefly wondered if he was a peeping Tom. Then Harry wondered if he was the peeping Tom wannabe. He knew Ginny would be listening for his footsteps, even if he used his cloak. After several minutes of staring blankly at a page contemplating the ethics involved in spying on his girlfriend, knowing he'd never really do it, she walked out from her corner and straight to him.
She announced, "I'm done, and it's surprisingly comfortable," and then pulled him into a passionate kiss.
When they separated, he asked, "Not that I'm complaining at all, but what was that for?"
She smiled, "For not trying to sneak a peak at me."
He put his head down, "Maybe you shouldn't have; I was thinking about it the whole time."
She smiled and lifted up his chin. "I hope so. If you weren't, it'd mean that you either find me completely repulsive or you just don't like girls. Now it's your turn to change while I think of ways to spy on you. Can I borrow your invisibility cloak?"
After Harry had put on his armor (without loaning her the invisibility cloak, claiming that it wouldn't be fair if he couldn't watch her but she could watch him), they looked at various other items and read the descriptions. They decided to take certain jewelry with different protective charms, as well as the Gryffindor shield and a huge book on ancient magic that had been co-written by Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw after Slytherin separated from them. They also took another huge book on the history of the Gryffindor family. They decided to take the actual inventory book with them as well, so that they could read it at their leisure and decide if they wanted to bring something else.
Harry then touched the door, which started rising, and announced, "I think I'm ready to look at my parents' vault."
Chapter end