riegert8- It seems you are right. Harry is not short for Harold. Harold is Scandinavian and Harry is the English named derived from it.
HeeroYuyZ- Now your complicating the issue, try not to dwell on it. Even though you are right I didn't want to put much thought into the whole elemental thing seeing as how it is only an important aspect of the story once or twice. I'm just tired of people making elementals so damn strong so I made it weak in my story, so I had to soften up the powers some how.
School sucks. Since I live in New York I have state test I have to take and they are driving me nuts.
"Speaking"
'Thoughts'
'Reading'
"Parseltongue"
Chapter 16 The Dragon
"Vitriol will see you now Mr. Potter" the young goblin bowed as he spoke. Harry had went straight to Gringotts as soon as he exited the gates of Hogwarts. He needed to speak to the managers of the Potter, Scott and Gryffindor family accounts. It seemed the Scott family and the Gryffindor family both had the same manager so the Potter information was handed to him, making it easier for Harry.
The young goblin led him down a long corridor that had wooden doors with name carved into them on both sides. They came upon a door that had 'Vitriol' carved on it in big gold letters. Below that was carved 'Gryffindor', beneath that was the name 'McGregor', below that 'Scott' and finally below that 'Potter', which looked to be newly carved. All four of the family names were carved in silver.
The door opened on its own accord, showing a middle aged goblin, well as middle aged as a goblin looked, sitting behind a desk ten times larger then it. A quill was in the magical creatures hand and he appeared to be crossing something out upon the parchment in front of him.
"I've gone over all three of your accounts Mr. Potter" Vitriol didn't even look up as he spoke. Harry quickly rushed into the room upon hearing the goblins voice. He took a seat in one of the three uncomfortable looking, yet very comfortable chairs in front of the desk. "It seems that with all the money of the three family vaults combined you are the third wealthiest person in the United Kingdom. The Scott's barely had enough money to be called rich but the Gryffindor vaults, which was the fifth wealthiest in the United Kingdom by itself and the Potter vaults, which was eleventh wealthiest in the United Kingdom by itself, combined with it add up to a very substantial amount.
"Would you like me to go over the family accounts?" Vitriol asked.
"Yes sir. Start with the Potter's please"
"Alright then. You know of the vaults, the properties and the investments of the family. You have the Potter seat on the Wizengamot as well as a place on the International Confederation of Wizards, International Federation of Warlocks and the Assembly of Magical Persons."
"What the hell is all of that?" Harry asked. He vaguely remembered Binns and Hermione mentioning the first two but the Assembly of Magical Persons was new to him.
"Well the International Federation of Warlocks is an organization that meets once a year. Members include those who are from powerful purebloods families around the world. The International Confederations of Wizards is just a group of representatives from each country who discuss things going on in the world. They meet four times a year unless emergency meetings are called, which will most likely happen often seeing as how the Dark Lord is back They mostly just bring up important issues a country or area is suffering and try to get support from other countries."
"And the Assembly of Magical Persons?" he questioned the goblin.
"Do you know of the muggles United Nations?" Vitriol asked. Harry nodded his head. "It is the magical equivalent of it and is just as ineffective of the United Nations. The Potter's are also part of the Ancient Families, though I do not know if this will extend to you because your mother was a muggle-born."
"What is the Ancient Families?" Harry inquired.
"The Ancient Families is an organization that wizards ad witches who has family that can trace its pureness back 4000 years. It is to protect the rights of the most Ancient of pureblood families. Only 13 families in Britain are part of it and one more should be joining it as soon as their heir has children. I believe one hundred and seventy two families are in it." the middle-aged goblin explained patiently.
"I didn't think there was that many pureblooded families" It was true. With the way some people talked about it there was only hundred pureblood families in the world.
"Purebloods are melodramatic if you ask me" was the goblins only reply.
"There are over nine hundred families that have at least eight generations of pureblood.
"From the Gryffindor line you get vault number eight which has around two billion galleons. A castle in Scotland and a house in the Bermuda triangle are yours as well. You get a seat in the Wizengamot, a seat on the Hogwarts Board of Governors and a seat in the International Federation of Warlocks. All investments made by the Gryffindor family were made long ago and none of the businesses they invested in are around now a days.
"From the Scott Family you get a seat in the Wizengamot and a place in the International Sports League Assembly. Vault number two hundred and nine is yours, which includes four hundred millions galleons. You also get properties in Japan, Russia, Brazil and Yorkshire. You have several investments in muggle companies as well as fifty percent of Stupefy Suites, wizarding hotel"
"That is a hell of a lot of money and properties I'm getting. Is there anything else?"
"Actually yes Mr. Potter. Your parents left this chest with us, to be given to you upon the day you reach adult status within the wizarding world." An ash chest was placed in front of him. It was just a plain old chest, no locks or anything.
Opening it up Harry saw tons of baby clothes in light blue, pink, yellow and mint green. A lump formed in his throat. 'I wonder if any of these were mine? Well definitely not the pink but... I guess I am to give these to my children? My child...my first child who will be brought into this world by the woman I hate. The heir to three respected light families. The heir to the Boy-who-lived. My child. Born in the Spring. Born to the savior of the Light and a minion of the Dark. My child, possibly the last of the Potters, to be raised in a world torn apart by war.'
Harry would of broke down crying right there is it wasn't for the loud explosion that came from the main lobby. Harry and Vitriol rushed out of the room and down the corridor. The main lobby was a mess. The doors appeared to be sealed shut do to the fact that a black glow was seen between the crack in the two doors. Dozens of bodies, mostly human, littered the floor which had several small craters in it. The wizards and witches that were still inside the building were scrambling into the corner, pulling their children with them.
Goblin soldiers, there silver armor and iron weapons, glistening under the magical light produced by the ceiling, rushed out of some back corridor. Fifty Death Eaters stood in two rows of twenty-five at the sealed off entrance. A tall muscular Asian wizard stood in front of them. His slanted eyes surveyed the room.
"Goblins of Gringotts" the Asian man's voice had a slight accent, one similar to Cho Chang's. "The Dark Lord sends you a message. Reject his offer of an alliance and suffer the consequences." The man calmly and quickly clapped his hands twice and the Death Eaters rushed forward, jets of light surging from their wands.
Harry as well rushed forward jets of red, navy, violet and off-white flying from his wand. Stupefy as well as the three powerful banishing charms Inflatus, Expello and Flamen were his favorite spells to use. He practiced with each of them a lot, perfecting his power and aim with them. After all they were the most powerful and effective spells he had learned thus far. The only good thing about the dark magic the Death Eaters used (Harry feared using it because the wizarding world would be on his back in a heartbeat and he didn't need that right now) was that it incapacitated its opponents with no way of being revived, most of the time.
"Potter" one of the Death Eater finally noticed that their masters nemesis was launching spells at them from the sidelines as they battled with the goblins. "Crucio!"
The torture spell shot out of the black wand and straight at Harry. The teen in question just side-stepped to the left. The Death Eater was to far away in order for his spell to be considered a real threat, unless of course Harry just stood there like an idiot.
His opponent rushed forward, sending off jets of light. Harry for his part did some quick dodging, sending a few spells whenever he could. It seemed that for once he wasn't taking on a new recruit but a veteran, one who knew how to duel.
An odd brown looking jet of light flew at him. "Recutio!" a indigo light in the shape of a square formed in front of him. The brown spell hit the square of light and reflected back at its caster. The caster in question was so surprised by the rebounded spell that he didn't move in time. Ok so probably still a new recruit but one that was semi competent.
Harry watched in morbid fascination as blood started to flow from the holes where the eyes were. The Death Eater fell to the floor, withering in pain as more blood flowed from the eye holes. Harry grimaced thanking that he was not hit with that spell.
He turned back to the battle and saw that the Asian wizard had pulled out a muggle weapon, as well as a wand. The sickle attached to a chain looked like a very deadly weapon. This was only amplified by the fact that the blue blood of the goblins stuck to the sharp blade. About fifteen goblins lay at the wizards feet.
The man whipped the chain sideways, the sickle digging into the soft flesh between the chest plate and the leg armor of a goblin. With a yank of the chain the sickle cut through the goblin, making it do a one-eighty before falling to the ground dead. The other goblins there, were afraid to go near the man. Not after what happened to their comrades.
"I'll take care of him" Harry said. The goblins looked at him before nodding their heads. Why refuse the insane idiot who wanted to verse the deadly Asian man?
Harry scooped up one of the fallen goblin weapons. It was one of a pair of combat axes. The shaft made of ebony and the blade made of iron. He had no training with any weapon and only ever used one once but he doubted he would get close enough to stick it through the roof of the man's mouth.
The sickle whipped out, the chain rattling behind it. Harry hit the curve of the blade with the blade of the axe he held in his hand. A fairly loud 'ting' rang throught out the room as metal hit metal. The sickle hit the floor harmlessly to his left. "Flamen!" the off-white light that flew out of his wand was knocked aside by the wave of the man's wand.
"Acuo! Confringo!" The brown and dark grey jets of light hit the floor where Harry was. Harry stood up from his roll, a red light flying from his wand. His opponent used the sickle's blade to rebound the spell back at him.
Ducking it Harry threw the axe as hard as he could at where the Asian man stood. Not looking to see whether or not he hit his opponent he ran to his left, scooping up a sword with his left hand in the process. The sickle came soaring at him, aimed at his head. He ducked quickly and felt the blade graze his hair.
Harry ran forward dodging, ducking, diving and duking all spells thrown at him. When he got close enough he slashed horizontally from left to right with the sword. The Asian man jumped backward, the sword grazing his robes.
The man whipped the chained-sickle side armed so that when the chain hit his waist it wrapped around him several times before the blade of the weapon dug into his side. The man gave it a tug causing Harry to spin in circles until released from the metal grip, where he promptly fell to the ground.
"I thought you'd be better then this Mr. Potter" the man commented cooly.
"Oh I am. You just caught me on an off day" Harry replied, his hand pressed against his side as blood seeped from the thin gash, laying upon the ground. "May I enquire the name of my ass kicker today?"
"The Dragon, Mr Potter. You may call me the Dragon" He raised his sickle in the air, looking down at the teen below him.
"You are in a dilemma aren't you Dragon?" Harry asked. "Your honor would never let you kill me, after all in your eyes I am still a boy. But you know, that in time my power and my skills will grow and I will be a threat to your cause and one day I will kill you. So do you follow your code of honor or your survival instincts?"
"How do you know about my code of honor?" the Dragon hissed.
"I see the tattoo on your palm. The two black eyes in the grey smoke. You're a Shadow. A ninja assassin from Japan." the only reason why Harry recognized the tattoo was because a Shadow would be teaching him and he wanted to learn about the ways of the Shadow. "I know all about the code of honor you follow."
"I do not follow the code of honor any more! I am no longer a Shadow!" the Dragon yelled.
"Then kill me. Don't let your honor get in the way and kill me!" Harry shouted.
The Dragon raised his wand the killing curse on the tip of his tongue. However before the first syllable could pass through his lips the doors to Gringotts, which were magically sealed with powerful magic, were blown off its hinges. One of the doors spiraled in the air before hitting into the wand arm, the left one, of the Dragon causing the man to drop his wand.
It seemed that Dumbledore had arrived with the Aurors. Their red uniforms billowed out behind them as they rushed at the Death Eaters. The goblins, who suffered a heavy amount of casualties, slowly moved back gold and silver lights flying from their hands.
The old man was shocked that Harry was there, blood pouring from his side. The Dragon had found his wand and now held it in his right hand, the left one most likely broken.
"Ah! The famous Dumbledore. Here to save his precious goblins and pupil I assume" the Dragon laughed.
"I don't believe we've met before" Dumbledore said, power radiating of off him.
"Allow me to introduce myself then! I am the Dragon. The latest Warlock to join Voldemort! A high Warlock to be precise" The man explained his face into the emotionless mask Harry first saw.
"That is interesting news indeed but I fear your forces are retreating Mr. Dragon and soon you will be by yourself" Dumbledore said quietly. And it was true, for few Death Eaters still conscious remained.
"Well then. I guess we'll have to postpone this meeting then" The brown, slanted eyes met almond shaped green ones. "You are a lucky one Mr. Potter." With a blink of an eye he was gone, whisked away by a portkey.
"Harry what were you doing here?" Dumbledore face lost the cold expression and turned into that of a disappointed grandfather. The man waved his wand and the gash in Harry's side sealed shut.
"I was going over the Scott, Gryffindor and Potter family accounts and what comes with them. However before we could finish the Death Eaters attacked. I couldn't just sit back as the goblins were killed. Besides it wasn't like they were doing anything Do you know how many died sir?"
"Well Harry thirty goblins have been killed. Thirteen human customers have been killed, four severely injured and most likely not going to make it. As for the Death Eaters we have only three dead and eight captured." Harry pointed to the witches and wizards who were started to step away from the corner. He had to stop himself from hexing a fat man who hid behind a little girl of about nine. "Look at them. They're pathetic. Sometimes I wonder if saving their lives will be worth it."
That said man walked over to him, a pompous expression upon his face. "I am glad you were able to protect me Mr. Potter." 'If I could I would of used your body as a human shield' Harry thought cynically. "You did an important thing by making sure I survived today Mr. Potter. I am after all a very important man in the Ministry"
"Your pathetic" Harry whispered.
"Excuse me?" the man seemed shock.
"I said your fucking pathetic!" Harry screamed into the mans face. "Don't think I didn't see you hiding behind that girl. I didn't fight to protect you. I fought to help the goblins. I fought so the children would not be killed because you adults are to incompetent to protect them yourselves. Your lucky I have such a heavy conscious or else I'd leave you to fend for yourself"
"You...you can't do this to me!" the man shrieked indignantly. Reporters were there and probably had been there since the Death Eaters fled the seen. "I work for the Minister!"
"You can take your position and stick it in your ass for all I care." Harry snapped. "Oh and tell Fudge that I said It's almost over. Tell him I said I'll be taking my revenge soon" Harry turned around and started to walk away however a hand grabbed his arm.
"Don't you walk away from me Potter" the man growled out.
"You might want to release me" Harry said calmly.
"I think it would be wise Mr. Lakimer if you would release your grip on Mr. Potter" Dumbledore said.
"You better release me" Harry said, an edge creeping into his voice.
"You listen to me Potter..." the man started.
"You better release me" Harry repeated.
"Mr Lakimer!" Dumbledore said, the same time Harry repeated his words.
"I won't take crap from a sixteen your old punk!" Mr. Lakimer growled out.
"You had your warning" Harry let some of his anger go. His magic flared around him and the ministry worker, Mr. Lakimer, was hit by a whip of magic. He went flying into the wall behind him, a good thirty meters back, where his body made a loud crunching noise as bones were broken. "Ass"
"Harry" Dumbledore admonished.
"What! I told him to let me go. I didn't break any laws and he knows it! According to Defense Rights of a Magical Person: Section two, paragraph five, line two, "If someone who that magical person believe is a threat,
places any physical contact upon them then they have the right to defend themself in anyway that is not considered a dark art." And what I did was not considered a dark art" Harry explained.
"Still Harry. Hurting a Ministry official. Especially one of Minster Fudge's inner circle like that. This will not go over well with Fudge. He has been looking for a reason to take care of you ever since the end of your fourth year. Now more then ever since this whole Voldemort fiasco that he has denied for over a year" Dumbledore told him.
"Eh let Fudge do his worse. He'll be out of office by the end of my school year anyway. Speaking of which I was wondering if you could bring Umbridge to court for me? There are several things she did last year that I understand are illegal." Harry said.
"What are those things Harry?" Dumbledore asked.
"You'll find out in court sir, just like the rest of the world" Harry responded. "Now I feel I must get back to my meetings with Vitriol, that is if he can still take me" Harry walked over to where his account manager was. He was talking to what looked to be a very important goblin, judging by the fact that he had an air of power around them and he wore cooler looking robes with a funny looking hat. In muggle history you learned that guys who wore funny looking hats in politics usually were the leader or something like that.
Harry approached the two goblins and waited until they were done talking. "Excuse me Vitriol but I was wondering if we could get back to our meeting"
"Mr. Potter the rest of the meeting was just discussing the Rights of the Head of Ancient Families, the Rights of a Pureblood and the Rights of a Wizengamot"
"Oh...I guess I can look those up on my own then" Harry said.
"Yes however there is another important matter I feel we should talk about. Mr. Potter this is the president of Gringotts, Aurum" Vitriol introduced.
"Pleasure to meet you sir" Harry said, nodding his head.
"Mr. Potter we goblins like to have power." Aurum started. "Being in charge of the wizarding monetary system gives us tremendous power. We know that with Voldemort we will have little to know power. The Ministry, especially under Fudge is controlled by people who are too greedy, even for the taste of us goblins. And Dumbledore, well he may be a powerful wizard but he is a horrible general. His whole thing is defense, defense, defense. He'll never win a war."
"Uh huh" Harry muttered. "And this has to do with me how?"
"You have power Mr. Potter. Magically and politically. Three seats on the Wizengamot is very persuasive. Your votes will sway many people, especially do to your status in the Wizarding World. You have much raw magic, I can see your aura radiating off of your. It is a gift that has been passed down in my family for generations, the ability of Aura reading. I know that by allying with you then we goblins will come out in a far better position then we entered it with."
"But the question is this. If you are planning to ally with me and I needed soldiers would you offer them? If we were having a battle against the Dark Lords forces would you send aid?" Harry questioned.
"If you required aid that is within our abilities to provided then you shall receive it" Aurum replied.
"Then it is agreed." the two shook hands. "I will meet with you in a months time Aurum. I hope to get many alliances in this time and then I will hold a meeting between my council. Until then"
"Yes. Mr. Potter, until then"
Upon seeing that Harry was done talking with the goblins, the old headmaster approached his student. "Are you ready to go back to Hogwarts now Harry?" Dumbledore asked.
"Uh I guess sir" Harry answered. A lemon drop wrapper was placed into his hand and he was instantly taken away by the tug behind his naval.
He landed outside the gates of Hogwarts. Looking at his watch he saw he still had twenty minutes before he had to teach the Defense Association. His time at Gringotts took a lot longer then he expected it would. This gave him little time to talk to several of the students from influential families, i.e. Susan Bones, Parvarti and Padma Patil and Terry Boot to name a few.
He walked the familiar path to the portrait of Sir Kendric, where giving the password and entering the room he found that several people had already arrived. Neville was sitting in his seat, waving his wand around and muttering under his breath. Hermione was there reading the book by Julius Ceaser, no doubt for the third or fourth time. Ron was playing a game of chess with Terry Boot. It appeared th game was close. Ron had his queen, king, two pawns and a bishop. Terry had his king, a castle, three pawns and a bishop. A few other students were scattered around the room.
"Mr. Weasley, Mr. Longbottom and Mr. Boot. I need to speak to you three for a minute. Please come with me to my office" Harry said. The three boys nodded their heads before following him into his office. "Guys, I need to talk to you about this upcoming war" All three looked at him interestingly.
"Voldemort's main support is from pureblooded wizards. In order to weaken his forces we need to get the pureblood families neutral or preferably upon our side. So we have to make our side appealing to pureblooded wizards and witches. That I why I am wondering if you three as well as the Patil sisters would like to be my spokespersons. You don't have to do this. It will make you big targets for Voldemort."
Ron and Neville gave him questioning, while Terry had a very calculating look upon his face. 'Typical Ravenclaw behavior' Harry thought.
"And why exactly us? Why not try getting several of the Slytherins." Terry asked.
"Well Ron's dad branch of the family here in England may not have much money but unlike the other two branches they have much respect among the other wizards. Let us not forget the Weasley's are one of the Ancient Families, which only thirteen families in England can claim. Plus all of Ron's siblings are powerful and smart, and Ron here is no exception. A curse-breaker, dragon handler, co-owners of the most successful business to rise in the last hundred years and a high-up Ministry official.
"Neville here also comes from one of the Ancient Families and his family has more then enough money to be respected by the extreme purebloods like Malfoy. His parents were the fourth and fifth strongest Aurors during the first war of Voldemort. You are also strong Neville, maybe even a high warlock.
"Terry's children will be inducted into the Ancient Families because they will be the first in his family to be born after the 4000 year minimum of pureness the organization requires. His family also owns the only major supplier of magical and non-magical plants for Europe.
"Parvarti and Padma are from a family that is part of the Indian branch of the Ancient Families. Their father is an Indian ambassador and their two older brothers both play for the Indian quidditch team." Harry explained.
"How do you know all of that?" Terry asked him.
"Research. But you can see why I would pick you guys. You all come from old, respected families. If you guys are willing to be my spokesperson we will have a meeting soon because I need to gather support quickly. I'll be talking to Padma and Parvarti after class. I'll give you all till the next class to think about it" He dismissed them frm his office and followed them out. The rest of the class had gathered, sitting in their assigned seats. On each of their desk was a quill, parchment and their books.
When Harry reached the front of the room the talking slowly died down and the students turned their full attention upon him. He frowned slightly at that.
"Today I am going to teach you three spells I was going to wait a while to teach, maybe sometime in February. So far they are probably the most effective spells I know of. The Banishing Triad is what they are known as in dueling terms. Flamen, Expello and Inflatus. Fairly complicated spells. Able to be cast by most magical people."
The rest of the theory lesson was them taking notes about the three spells. Why they were useful, when they were useful, which one was considered more powerful(Inflatus was because it was multiple lights therefore being able to hit multiple people. Then Expello because only physical blocking magical shields could block it. Other then that they all had the same amount of power) and their properties.
The practical part of the class involved working out and practicing the spells. The pureblood students were still unsure of the muggle exercise equipment he brought in. Neville had accidently forgot to put the clamp on one of the ends of the bar for the bench pressing. The weights had slid off and landed on Ron's foot.
The spell practice went as good as expected. Most of them were able to due the Flamen spell and a few could also due Expello spell by the time the class was over.
The class had ended quickly enough and the students rushed to the locker room in order to shower of the sweat and grime and change back to their school robes. He had asked Parvarti and Padma to meet him in his office when they were done.
The Indian twins walked into his office and surprisingly the three boys he spoke to early came in to. He told the girls the same thing he told the boys. When he finished he turned to the boys with an inquisitive look upon his face.
"Harry we talked about it in the locker room and we decided we'd do it Ron said.
"You guys agreed so soon? Don't you want some time to think this over. It is a big thing and it will make you prime suspects for Voldemort, as well as your family." Harry replied.
"Harry my family is a strong supporter of the light. Voldemort has been after us since the first war" Ron stated.
"Me too" Neville quipped.
"My parents while neutral during the last war provided many of the ingredients the Order used in their potion. Last week they told me that they had joined the order. My family is already putting itself in danger" Terry explained. The three boys who had just voiced their support to Harry's idea turned to the Patil twins.
"We'd have to talk to our family" Padma rationalized. "If we are going to make a decision that could put their lives in danger they have a right to help decided this decision."
"I agree with you one hundred percent. Your family has a right in this decision. I hope you don't feel pressured into accepting this. I know many people don't want to get involved in this war but it is coming. By December frequent attacks will be occurring in Britain. Thousands of muggle will be dead by Easter. Towns and villages will be in ruined and the wizarding world of the United Kingdom would be on the brink of collapse.
"The Ministry can't hold the onslaught and Dumbledore fights a purely defensive war. Hundreds, even thousands of lives can be lost before his army gets to every battle. You guys should of figured it out by now but I plan on making my own faction in this war. I plan on taking this war to Voldemort and crippling him from the inside as well as outside. And with your help I plan to put one of my first steps into motion."
I know this chapter is kind of erratic. Going all over the place and everything