Chapter 1: The News

"Boy! Get your ruddy ass downstairs! Now!"

Harry Potter was sitting on his bed trying to clear his mind when he heard his Uncle Vernon's roar from downstairs in the kitchen. He hadn't even really gotten ready yet for the day, he was still in his shorts that he slept in and nothing else. He figured he may as well go downstairs and see what all of the yelling was about.

His uncle had been yelling nonstop, or so it seemed, ever since he came home this year. 'Good times at Privet Drive,' he snorted at the absurd thought that floated into his mind.

"Might as well go and see what I am being blamed for this time," Harry muttered to himself as he was leaving his room. 'They probably think that I am to blame for world hunger or something like that, or maybe just Dudley's hunger.'

He had spent the last few days of term sorting out his feelings about Sirius. He no longer felt completely responsible for his death. He figured that the blame was spread out between Dumbledore, Bellatrix, Voldemort, Snape, and himself. After his talk with Luna before the end of the year feast he has come to terms with his death. While it still hurt a little, he had gotten past the worst part of it.

As he was walking into the kitchen he heard his uncle complaining about 'ruddy birds flying around in the middle of the day when all of the normal people can see them.' but that changed as he rounded on him the second he set foot inside the kitchen.

"The only thing saving you from a beating right now is the fact that this letter that the stupid bird dropped off mentioned something about you inheriting a lot of money. What nonsense are they talking about? Who would give you anything? I WANT ANSWERS BOY!" Harry almost laughed at the fact that his uncle could change his face into almost as many colors as Tonks could.

Harry was brought out of his musings as his uncle hit him on the side of his head and knocked him to the ground. As he picked himself up he heard his uncle berating him yet again. "That'll teach you to smirk at me boy. You people are too stupid for your own good. But then again if they are all as stupid as you then maybe you freaks will all die out soon and leave the world to the 'normal' people."

Finally regaining some sense about him Harry 'politely' asks his uncle to see the letter that he is referring to. Upon seeing the official seal on the top of the letter he realizes that the letter is from Gringotts Wizarding Bank. It is addressed to 'The legal guardians of Harry James Potter.' He hides a snort at the fact that the Dursley's actually being officially noted as his guardians when all they ever did was beat him. Harry quickly scanned the document and realizes that it was in regards to some legal difficulties with Sirius' will. He automatically assumed that it was because he was an escaped convict. Oh how wrong he was…

The letter stated that during the review of the will prior to its official reading the goblins noticed that the will could not be carried out as written due to some long standing laws.

To: The legal guardians of Harry James Potter

Mr. Potter,

It has been noted by our staff that one, Sirius Orion Black, has recently passed. We at Gringotts give our condolences on your loss. While reviewing Mr. Black's will prior to the official reading, to be conducted on August 1, 1996, it was established that he named you his sole heir. Herein lies the problem. This violates one of the oldest laws set forth by the Ministry of Magic. Normally we do not care about the matters of humans; however this is a special case. Nothing more can be discussed in writing. I am asking that you meet with me tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. to discuss this matter further. This letter will act as a portkey precisely at 12:25 p.m. Simply show this letter to any of the tellers and they will escort you to my office.

Smithook,
Head Goblin,
Gringotts London

Harry didn't know what to make of the letter. He had never heard of the head goblin getting involved in something as routine as a will reading. He looked up to see that his uncle was still staring at him wanting to know about the money, while Aunt Petunia and Dudley sat at the table grinning viciously at the thought of taking away any money he might get. He decided to respond with as much of the truth as he dared. "I can't tell you about any of the money involved in this because I just found out about it myself. My godfather died at the end of the school year and I guess that he left everything to me. As you can see in the letter there has been a problem with this and they want to discuss it with me. Other than that I can tell you nothing."

"What is the portlock that they talked about?"

"Portkey. It's a form of Ma….transportation that my kind use."

"You be sure that when you talk to them tomorrow that any money you get is put under our names, you hear me. As your legal guardians it is to stay under our name until you are eighteen."

"Yes, Uncle Vernon." Harry replied in, his carefully practiced, monotone while mentally thinking that that is the last thing he would ever do.

"Right then. Get up to your room and don't leave until you are ready to go to that bank tomorrow. You'll get dinner through the flap."

Waking up at 10:00 the next morning Harry sighed realizing that, while he had no dreams and slept relatively well, he now had to sit for another two hours without leaving his room before he would get to Gringotts.

He decided he may as well get some of his school homework done while he waited. He went to his trunk and got out all of the materials he would need only to realize that he had no homework to do. Since they had not received their OWL results yet he had no idea what classes he would be enrolled in and therefore the teachers were unable to assign any holiday work.

With nothing better to do, he opened up his Defense Against the Dark Arts book from last year and started to read.

At 12:20 he stopped reading and made sure that he was ready to go. He made sure that he had his wand with him and the Gringotts note. At exactly 12:25 he felt the familiar jerk behind the navel that signified the portkey activation.

He arrived at the front entrance to Gringotts and made his way inside. He then proceeded to the nearest teller and handed the note to the goblin. After checking the note and glancing up at his scar to make sure it was him the goblin told him to follow him to the Head Goblin's office.

After what seemed like forever walking through many different corridors they arrived at a huge set of golden double doors. Harry couldn't help but laugh to himself that the doors were big enough to allow Grawp to walk through and the goblin wouldn't even reach Grawp's knee. The goblin told him to wait outside as he went in to announce Harry's arrival.

A few moments later the goblin returned and allowed Harry to enter the room. The room was about half the size of the great hall in Hogwarts. It was decorated mostly in gold and had the portraits of all of the previous head goblins lining the walls. The last thing Harry noticed was the goblin himself. He was the same size as the rest of the goblins but he had long silver-grey hair that fell about halfway down his back.

The goblin introduced himself as Smithook and asked Harry to have a seat. Once seated the goblin offered him some tea.

Merely nodding his head Harry accepted the tea. He couldn't help but be reminded of Dumbledore. Always observing the pleasantries and never in any rush to get to the point. After five minutes of drinking tea in silence Harry finally decided to open the conversation.

"Why exactly did you wish to speak with me?"

"Nothing like getting right to the point, eh Mr. Potter."

"Please, call me Harry and yes I have been thinking of nothing else since I received the letter so I am naturally curious as to the reasons that I was asked here."

"Very well then" Smithook sighed. "First I wish to elaborate as to the reason that you are meeting with the head goblin in the first place instead of one of the solicitors. You see, we do not trouble ourselves in the affairs of men very often. We try to keep our societies separate and only deal with each other on a business basis.

"I remember the first rise of the Dark Lord very well. I was just starting my term in office. The Dark Lord is a vile creature and he hurts the economy. During the first rise when his attacks where at their peak the economy was in shambles. The worth of the Galleon plummeted. Goblins were affected very badly by this. The rest of our dealing stayed the same but the decrease in sales and the decreased value of gold in Wizarding Britain meant that we were losing great deals of money.

"As I am sure you are aware, goblins thrive on how much money we have. Money means everything to us. That being said, the second rise of the Dark Lord has the potential to hurt us again. We do not wish to see this happen."

"That still does not explain the reasoning behind me being here or Sirius' will for that matter" Harry commented, not exactly planning on attending a history lesson today.

"Ah, but it does, at least partially. We owe you a great deal since you were the cause of the downfall of the Dark Lord and goblins always repay their debts.

"We have been watching and waiting for our chance to repay you. Now we begin the repayment process." Smithook decided to get straight to the point as he observed Harry losing interest in this meeting. "Even though your Ministry of Magic are fools that are incapable of identifying Death Eaters, and other supporters of the Dark Lord does not mean that we are. You see, we have monitored those suspected of funding the Dark Lord's first rise since the rumors of his return began.

"Lucius Malfoy has been taking substantial withdrawals from this bank on a consistent basis from the time of His resurrection to the time of his own arrest. Now that Lucius is in Azkaban, Draco has taken to making these same withdrawals and we know through our own intelligence network that this money is taken directly to the Dark Lord and he stores it in vault on his own property. We do not wish to see the Black fortune added to this.

"The issue concerning the will of Mr. Black is this. You are listed as the sole heir to the Black fortune. You, however, cannot inherit the money because you are not a blood relative of the Black family. Mr. Black was probably unaware of this law when he passed everything to you as he was never interested in pureblood politics.

"Around the time that the Ministry of Magic was founded there were several laws that were passed that were dubbed 'The Purity Laws.'

"The only law that I need to explain to you now is the law pertaining to inheritance. Pureblooded families wanted to make sure that their money never passed on to muggles in the case that their line had ended so they crafted a law that ensured the money continued to be passed on to blood relatives."

"So, you are saying that even though Sirius stated in his will that I am his sole heir, everything will pass on to the next blood relative?" Harry was still confused as to what this had to do with him if he could not inherit anything.

"You see, the will was stated to be read within 1 week of Sirius' death. One of the goblins in the will department was approached by Narcissa Malfoy asking what date it was to be read and then demanded a copy of the will. The goblin gave her a copy of the will and when she found out that the money was being left to you instead of Draco she contested the will based on the purity laws.

"When she contested the will it was immediately brought to my attention. Not wanting the money to enter the hands of the Dark Lord I pushed the will reading as far back as legally possible. I used the initial one week period to study the laws and see what could be done about this. It turns out that there is a loophole to this law."

After waiting several moments for the goblin to continue Harry decided that he was going to have to ask to get any more information.

"And?"

"If you were to marry a daughter of the Black family you can bypass this law.

"This loophole exists because any of your children would still be Blacks by blood and in the event that you die before you have kids then your wife, who is a blood relative, would inherit the rest of your money."

"So, the only way I can inherit the Black fortune and keep it all from ending up in the hands of Voldemort is to marry someone of the Black family? Who could I even marry if I were to consider this?"

"The only daughters of the Black family that are alive are: Bellatrix LeStrange, Narcissa Malfoy, Andromeda Tonks, and Nymphadora Tonks. The only available candidate is Nymphadora Tonks as the others are still married."

"And there is no other way?"

"That is correct."

"At all?"

"That is correct."

"Period?"

"Yes."

"Absolutely sure?"

"Yes."

"Wow. Well I…um….Thank you for the information. I think it would be best if I left for now."

"That is understandable. Just tap the parchment with your wand and say your address and it will take you back there. Just keep in mind that you have until the 1st of August. If you wish to inherit the Black Estate then you must be married to Miss Tonks by then."

"Number 4 Privet Drive." Harry mumbled and found himself back in his bedroom. 'What the bloody hell was that all about? Get married by the 1st of August or everything that Sirius owned goes to ferret and snakeface? And on top of that get married to an older woman? Granted she is hot and can assume any body she wants but……As much as I loathe doing so I think that I need to talk to Dumbledore.'

After thinking the situation over for a good two hours he finally decided to send Dumbledore a letter.

Professor Dumbledore,

I received a letter from Gringotts yesterday and met with the Head Goblin this morning. The information that I learned during this meeting was shocking to say the least. I need to meet with you and have a very serious discussion as soon as possible.

Regards,
Harry Potter

He attached the letter to Hedwig and told her to take it to Headquarters as fast as possible. With Hedwig off to deliver the letter Harry fell asleep to troubled dreams.

Harry woke up out of breath and dripping with sweat. He had dreamed that he told Tonks everything that goblins told him. Everything seemed to go OK until Harry asked her if she wanted to marry him. At that point Tonks' hair changed to red and her eyes pitch black. She pulled out her wand and started throwing curse after curse after curse at him. At the point he had woken up she had just shattered both his legs and was moving closer and closer to him finally when he thought she was going to kill him he woke up.

He took a minute to catch his breath and noticed that Professor Dumbledore had responded to his letter the previous night. The professor was to meet with him at 10:00 this morning. Noting that he had an hour and half before his Headmaster would arrive he decided to get up, grab some breakfast, and take a shower.

Miraculously he avoided any contact with the Dursley's. He soon found out why. Tacked onto the refrigerator door was a note saying that they had gone to one of Dudley's boxing matches and would be gone all weekend. They told him not to touch any of their possessions and only eat the food in the fridge set aside for him. Looking into the fridge he saw the food they set aside for him. Two apples and a cheese sandwich.

Professor Dumbledore arrived right on time with a pop in the middle of the kitchen.

After the pleasantries were acknowledged Harry proceeded to inform Dumbledore of everything the goblins had told him the day before. Dumbledore of course knew of this law but never saw the ramifications that Sirius' death could have on the Order.

'Greatest wizard of the age indeed. For having a lot of power he sure is blind to a great many things' Harry mused.

Now understanding the full impact Sirius' death would take on the order, Dumbledore told Harry to pack enough clothes for the weekend. He informed him that they would be going to headquarters as a great many things needed to be discussed. While Harry was packing his things Dumbledore left a note for the Dursley's saying that Harry would be returning Monday afternoon.

When Harry arrived back downstairs Dumbledore took a pen from the Dursley's counter and made a portkey. Making sure that he had a hold of his things he reached for the pen and felt the familiar pull behind the navel before he landed in a heap on the kitchen floor of Grimmauld Place.