Harry was man enough to admit to himself that the goblin in front of him freaked him out. Haggler had left him in a grand office with ornate moldings, gold torch holders, a large mahogany desk, and a posh black leather chair that held Master Goldfeather.
Harry took his time observing the goblin as he prepared the blood verification test. Goldfeather seemed just as high up as Haggler. The older goblin wore a fine suite of navy blue, and a royal blue waistcoat with a gold pocket watch's chain hanging out of his left breast pocket.
"If you would hold out your hand, I'll extract a few drops of blood and once it is mixed with the solution on the parchment, we will be able to verify your identity." Goldfeather explained as he held out a silver dagger.
Harry watched the parchment ripple as his blood fell onto it. He hoped magic never stopped being so exciting. He was happy to experience something strange and different in a safe environment. The last time a piece of parchment had absorbed substances placed on it, the situation hadn't gone so well for him.
As the blood started to seep into the parchment little waves started to form out from the droplets spreading the blood over the rest of the page. The waves continued until the parchment was no longer white but had a pink hue.
With a tap of Goldfeather's finger, writing started to appear. At the very top was the name Harry James Potter. From there the rest of his family was revealed. He was finally going to learn more about where he came from.
Connected to his name by a solid back line were the grayed out names of James F. Potter and Lily J. Potter née Evans. From their names sprouted broken lines. James' line led to the name Sirius O. Black and Lily's connected to Alice T. Longbottom née Fortescue. Alice had a solid black line connecting her to Frank J. Longbottom and below them was a solid black line that connected them to Neville. Harry knew Neville lived with his grandmother and had always assumed that his parents were dead. But they seemed to be alive assuming that was what the black ink meant.
"Excuse me, but what do the broken lines mean?" Harry asked Goldfeather.
"The broken lines indicate a godparent bond. Sirius Black and Alice Longbottom are your magical godparents. And your mother was Neville Longbottom's godmother as well."
"Since their names are in black, does that mean they are alive?"
"Yes, Sirius Black was in Azkaban prison for many years and Alice and Frank Longbottom are in St. Mungo's long term ward." Goldfeather explained.
Harry turned his attention back to the parchment to see even more of his family had been revealed. His father's parents were Fleamont and Euphemia Potter née Lockridge, and his godparents were Alexander Michaelson and Minerva McGonagall.
McGonagall was his father's godmother! What the hell! Why didn't she tell him or even take him in? Sure she was strict but it would have been loads better than the Dursleys. Harry couldn't help feeling resentful that she had kept this from him. It would have been nice to have some connection to his father.
Fleamont's parents were Henry Potter and Elizabeth Potter née Fleamont. Henry had a brother named Charlus who married Dorea Black and together they had a child named Samuel. All of their names were in gray.
The tree had one more layer, a line extended from Henry and Charlus to Zander and Loretta Potter née MacMillan. It was strange to see so many names he recognized from people he went to school with. Through marriage, he was related to the MacMillans, Elizabeth's mother was a Burk, and Euphemia's mother was a Crabbe. He really hoped she didn't look anything like Vincent.
Looking back to his mother's side he saw her name connected to Petunia, Vernon, and Dudley. The sisters' names were connected to Jackson and Emily Evans née Timms. Looking at their names Harry realized that Petunia never talked about her parents. Outside his aunt and uncle, he knew just as much about his muggle family as he did his magical. Which was zilch. He would never admit it out loud, but he could see why Riddle went crazy researching his family.
While Harry was busy looking over his family, more information had appeared below the tree.
"Is it possible to get more information out of the tree? Like could it go further back or give more information about the family of the people that married in?"
"This particular document was designed to only go back four generations and show one generation out from the spouse. If you want a more detailed genealogy you will need a special document created. It requires a custom set of runes and spells that can get pricey. If you are interested in having one made we can discuss it after we get through with this." Goldfeather explained.
Harry nodded and focused on the new information that had appeared on the parchment. The next layer was titled inheritance. It started with familiar names, then a few unknown, and ended with a concerning one.
Inheritance of Harry James Potter:
Potter Family - Heir - Lord Potter
Gold : 11,418,682g, 325s, 150k
Property: 3
Fleamont Family - Heir - Lord Fleamont
Gold: 113,453g, 12s, 25k
Lockridge - Heir
Gold: 30,120g, 8s, 5k
Peverell - Heir - Lord Peverell
Gold: 374,555g, 12s, 5k
Black Family - Heir of Lord Sirius Black
Gold: 56,000g
Property: 1
Gryffindor - Heir - Lord Gryffindor (Through Family Magic)
Property: ¼ Hogwarts, The Sword of Gryffindor
Slytherin - Heir - Lord Slytherin (Through Right of Conquest)
Property: ¼ Hogwarts
"I think this one might be defective Master Goldfeather" Harry said in a strained voice.
"I assure you it is working fine Mr. Potter" Goldfeather didn't look concerned but maybe a little confused. "Let us start from the top. As you could have guessed you are the heir of the Potter Family through your father. That is also how you inherited from the Fleamont and Lockridge families. You are the last member of both. You are also Sirius Black's heir." Goldfeather said with a little frown. "You are also somehow related to the Peverell Family. Their account has been in stasis for many years. As for the last two… I can see why you are surprised. At some point the Gryffindor family magic was able to test you and find you worthy of the title Lord Gryffindor. You gained the Slytherin Lordship through the right of conquest so it must have happened the night your family was attacked." Goldfeather finished with some uncertainty.
Pushing his fear aside to settle his curiosity Harry asked "Do you not think that's what happened? Only, you seem a little uncertain, Master Goldfeather."
Goldfeather considered the question before leaning back into his chair and explained. "The right of conquest is usually activated during a duel when one wizard challenges another and stakes are agreed upon. It can also happen when one wizard challenges another on multiple occasions and loses at least three times. The last is when a blood feud is declared and one party is defeated or surrenders. That is how it usually comes about. I'm not sure if your case falls under one of the three, some combination, or something completely new."
Absorbing the new information Harry could now see how he might have gotten the lordship. "I didn't get the lordship from some strange or new combination. I think I just defeated Voldemort three times sir."
"And how did you accomplish that Mr. Potter? As far as I am aware, you were only attacked on the night of his defeat." Goldfeather asked with some skepticism.
"Yes sir, as you said, he was defeated but he wasn't killed. In my first year Voldemort was possessing the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor Quirinus Quirrell. At the end of the year, they tried to steal the philosopher's stone. I was able to stop them but professor Quirrell died and Voldemort's spirit escaped."
"I don't remember seeing any of this in the paper." Goldfeather said looking disturbed.
"No sir, I don't think Dumbledore wanted it to get out. It might scare people I guess."
"Right, and the third incident?"
"Well last year, my friends and I found out what was petrifying the students. Voldemort put a copy of his 16 year old self into a blank diary and through the diary he was able to possess Ginny Weasley. He used her to control Slytherin's monster which was a basilisk. At the end of the year he tried to use her lifeforce to bring himself back. But I was able to kill the basilisk and use one of its fangs to… I don't know, I guess kill the diary? Anyways, that must have been the third time." Harry finished feeling stressed thinking about the events that only happened a few months ago. Turning his attention back to Goldfeather, Harry noticed the goblin's eyes were very wide.
"You killed a basilisk?! How big was it? How did you even kill it? Did you use a rooster? Yes, you must have had a rooster." The questions poured out of Goldfeather until he seemed to find an acceptable answer.
"Umm, no. He killed all of Hagrid's roosters at the beginning of the year and there wasn't time to get one before confronting him because he had kidnapped Ginny and was going to kill her. We tried to get the Defense professor to help us but he turned out to be a fraud. I was only able to kill it because the Headmaster's phoenix Fawkes pecked out its eyes and gave me the sword of Gryffindor. And honestly, it was pure luck that I was able to kill it. That snake was almost a train car and a half long, and I had never held a sword before. I was lucky it only bit me, it could have snapped me in half." Harry finished with a shudder.
"You were bitten by a basilisk, how are you still alive?" Goldfeather asked, somehow looking pale and red at the same time.
Harry was beginning to regret voicing his theory. He really didn't like thinking about these experiences. He tried to avoid thinking about all of the scary and horrible things that had happened to him since entering the wizarding world because it was supposed to be an improvement from the Dursleys. And it was only horrible some of the time. The rest of the time it was loads better than his life with his relatives.
"Fawkes cried on the bite and healed me. Anyways, I didn't mean to derail the meeting. I know you are busy." Harry tried to turn the focus back to his inheritance.
"Right, well this is the perfect time to bring up one of the stipulations of the Potter account. The Lord or heir of the family must have a yearly check up to make sure they are not being controlled by others. Before you are able to touch anything outside of your trust vault you must be checked on by a healer. The Goblin Nation is willing to provide this service or you may go to a wizard healer. But they must sign an oath certifying that their report is accurate." Goldfeather explained as he calmed down and got back to business.
Harry had never been to see a doctor or a healer outside of Madam Pomfrey. He didn't like the idea of seeing one but it was kind of nice to think that a past relative cared about their descendants' health.
"I would like to use the Goblin Nations' services please. I don't know any healers other than Madam Pomfrey and I would like to get it done before school starts. How much will it cost?" And that's when it hit him, HE WAS A BLOODY MILLIONAIRE!
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