Chapter 13

The next day found the two older men having breakfast with the excited child who kept asking questions about the Wizarding World, all of which they, between the four adults answered. Remus, as his first task as the Potter Steward, had sent a letter to Steelgrip requesting him to have the healer to run a check over Sirius as well. He had accepted the request and told them the time of the appointment. They apparated to Gringotts at 8 o' clock and were met with Steelgrip.

"Account Manager Steelgrip, may your gold flow and you stay prosperous", Sirius greeted the goblin.

"May you stay safe and your magic stay strong", Steelgrip replied.

He led them out of the chamber; there were fewer people coming in so early in the morning but those that were, recognised them and some bowed to them; and took them to a room which only had a chair and a sofa in it.

A Goblin Healer came in with his assistant. Greetings were exchanged. "I'm healer Ragnok," he told them, "They are the two?", he asked pointing towards Harry and Sirius.

"Yes healer, and we thank you for your service", Sirius replied.

He told Sirius to sit down on the chair and ran the necessary tests over him and after 15 minutes announced, "He is totally fine except for malnutrition, because of his animagus ability. He has to the potion I will provide, for two weeks before breakfast and eat healthy food, of course".

"Thank you, Healer Ragnok", Sirius said and took the potions the assistant handed him.

The healer asked Harry to settle down on the sofa and ran the tests over him too. His eyes widened after a few minutes, he started murmuring incantations, the others present knew he had sensed something because he almost staggered.

"What is it healer?", Lily just had to know, and the looks on the others faces showed that they mirrored her sentiment.

The Healer took a few deep breaths and blurted, "He is a Horcrux".

Sirius' went completely white and he crashed down on chair. "What is a Horcrux? Why is Sirius reacting like this?", James asked trying to stay calm.

It was Sirius who answered in a mechanical tone, repeating the exact words from the book he had read, "a receptacle prepared by dark magic in which a Dark wizard has intentionally hidden a fragment of his soul for the purpose of attaining immortality".

Lily screeched and almost fainted but James caught her, his own face impossibly white, he tried to speak something but didn't seem to be able to form coherent words. Remus gritted his teeth and growled, "Voldemort" and flopped down beside Harry, who looked to be on the verge of tears, and held him tight. None of them knew what to do or think when the Healer's voice came as a blessing, "We can remove it".

All the faces snapped towards him and Lily whispered, "You can?".

"Yes, wizards have no way of doing this but we goblins do", he nodded.

"Then please do so Healer, we will forever be grateful to you", James' voice, too, was almost a whisper. Four pleading eyes met him and he said, "I will, of course, remove it. Bringing something so evil inside Gringotts is illegal."

"Thank you, thank you so much", all said. The healer nodded.

"Now the removal may hurt so it would be advisable for you two to sit with the child", Sirius moved to sit with Harry as the Healer instructed, "We will take the vile thing to the adjoining room, where there are a few goblins, it will be destroyed. He may get unconscious and will need to take a nutrition potion twice a day for 20 days, it will also cure the malnourishment".

"Of course, Healer", Lily agreed.

As the healer prepared for the ritual, Sirius and Remus took hold of the child's hand, one each. "We are with you Harry", Siris said, "the ritual may hurt but it will help you get rid of the vile thing".

"Yes Harry, we are all with you", Remus said rubbing soothing circles on his back. His parents nodded and all of them comforted Harry so by the time the Healer came back he was ready to go through the ritual. He sat up straight and just nodded when the healer asked if he was ready and tightly grabbed his uncles' hand.

At first, when he started murmuring the incantations, nothing seemed to happen but then his scar started to tingle, the tingle turned into pain which increased gradually. After some minutes that pain aggravated suddenly and he clutched their hands even tighter and screamed as a black shadow emerged from the scar which was taken to the adjoining room by another goblin.

Harry fell unconscious and his scar was bleeding. The assistant cleaned up the scar, as Ragnok was feeling a little exhausted, under the tear-filled eyes of the adults. They repeatedly thanked Healer Ragnok who assured them that he did his job and also denied to take any extra money as he believed that he had done his duty to rid a child of such evil.

Their eyes turned towards Harry as he shifted and opened his eyes slowly. He saw the concerned look on their faces and smiled at them.

"How do you feel, child?", Lily asked softly.

"Amazing", he grinned, "Like some weight, that I had grown used to, has been lifted from my head". They smiled happily.

"Thank you so much Healer Ragnok", Harry said, bowing slightly.

Ragnok nodded and said, "Sit where you are until you fell that you can walk without any problem." Harry leaned into his godfather's embrace. The healer, then, addressed the adults, "I found out that this was most probably done accidently, that means that there are more of those things out there, that is the only thing that could have made his soul unstable enough for this to happen." They shuddered at the thought.

The Healer was informed that they were successful in destroying it. After some time, Harry felt that he could walk and they left, taking the potions and thanking the healer and his assistant, once again.

Arriving home, they had their dinner and then Harry took his potion and downed it in a gulp.

"Yuck", he said making a retching sound, "that's just...yuck!".

Sirius snickered, "You are as good at taking potions as your father".

James protested, "Hey, I resent this preposterous claim!".

Harry just smiled sweetly at his Godfather and said, "We will talk tomorrow when you take your potion, sir".

Sirius spluttered while Remus and Lily laughed behind their napkins and James fist-pumped exclaiming, "Take that Padfoot".

Lily then, ordered Harry to go to his bed and he didn't protest. He grinned cheekily at Sirius, and wished them all a good night. Sirius tried to glower at him but couldn't and smiled with the others and wished him good night instead.

While Harry took the much-needed rest, the others gathered in Sirius' room and after a serious discussion, decided that they would find a way to look for the Horcruxes and destroy them as soon as they could.

Sirius still couldn't believe that he hadn't been disowned and decided to visit his family home as soon as he could. The library there was their best bet in finding more about the subject.

They chatted idly for some time then decided to retire for the night, after checking on Harry, of course.

/hp/

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