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Chapter 12

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Being back in the castle after Christmas break felt strange for Ginny. She'd spent most of her holiday with Harry and in the two weeks that had passed since Christmas Day they'd talked about a lot of things; specifically their expectations for their future.

And while it hadn't felt strange to her at the time, talking about where they saw themselves in two years, five years, etc, it did feel odd to her reflecting back on it.

They were romantically involved now but she still felt like them marrying this summer and having a child in a year was still part of a business arrangement. It was likely that she felt that to be the case more now because she didn't have the distraction of being in Harry's presence, which she found very distracting.

She didn't have much time to reflect on it though because there were still three-foot-long essays being assigned to her for every class she took every week.

"How're you doing?" a voice asked beside her in the library. It had made her jump, hearing someone talking to her so close after several hours of silence.

Ginny turned her head towards him and blinked several times, trying to pull her mind away from her Charms work and focus on the person sitting next to her. It was Ethan, from the Quidditch team.

"Hey!" she smiled at him. "I feel like I haven't talked to you in ages."

"That's because you haven't," he chuckled. "Even when we have practice you are too focused for a chat after. But never mind that, I know you're busy. How was your holiday?"

"Oh, it was… it was good. Nice to have the break. How about you?"

"It was alright. Jamie and I split up though," he shrugged.

Ginny gave him a look of sympathy. He'd taken her advice after he'd tried to kiss her that day several months ago and asked out Jamie Cummings from Hufflepuff. "Sorry."

"Ah, it was nice while it lasted. We just didn't work out is all. What about you?"

"Me?" she inquired, wondering what he might know of her relationship status. Luna and Lily, Professor Potter, were the only two at the school that knew and so far as Ginny knew, there weren't any rumors going around about her.

"Yeah, you. A few people have noticed you being absent from school certain evenings and weekends. You aren't as stealthy as you think you are," he gave her a gentle ribbing.

She felt her face warming with a blush. "Well, things with me are… they… well, he's great," she stumbled over her words.

"Sounds convincing," he blatantly lied before pulling out his own schoolwork to do alongside her.

Ginny rolled her eyes and grinned, "I like him a lot. It's just that there's some things that are out of our control and make the whole deal between us a bit strange."

"Oh, are you talking about it now?" asked a soft voice on Ginny's other side and she felt the bench shift beneath her again.

"Luna!" Ginny grinned. "No, I'm not. Not directly anyhow."

"Well, I understand your continued confusion, but I think you need to talk to someone about it and clear your head."

Ginny glanced back at Ethan and noticed that he looked very confused, and for good reason.

"You free for a chat later then?" Ginny asked her. They hadn't had much time to hang out since they didn't share many classes and were always getting pulled in different directions.

"Oh, I didn't mean me. I wouldn't know anything about it. But I do have someone in mind." She ripped off a piece of parchment and wrote down a name before sliding it across the table to her. "I think you and he might have a bit more in common than you think."

"Pimping her out?" Ethan asked Luna in jest, just the smallest hint of anger behind it.

Both Ginny and Luna ignored that question and Ginny looked down at the name, then back up at Luna in surprise. "Really?"

"Really. It is very common in their culture. As I understand it, he is in the same situation, except he is expecting it to happen to him."

"What is 'it'?" Ethan asked Ginny.

"Sorry," Ginny shook her head at him. "I'm sure I'll be comfortable telling you eventually, probably after Easter. But not right now."

She had to collect herself after mentioning Easter. By that time, they were going to be in the finalizing stages of wedding preparations and she was going to be having to study like mad for her NEWTs.

Ethan looked disappointed, but Ginny turned back to her nearly finished essay, hoping he would just drop it so she could focus. It wasn't the essay she was focusing on now though. She was wondering if the person whose name was on the piece of paper Luna had given her would be able to keep this secret of hers. It would be nice to talk to someone about this, someone that was going to go through the same thing as she.

It was another week before she managed to find and corner him though.

"Ravi!" Ginny called out in the hallway when she spotted him on Saturday morning. He'd been heading out of the Great Hall with his friends and turned to her, looking surprised that she would be seeking to talk to him personally.

"Hi Ginny," he said meekly. "How- how are you doing?"

"Uh, yeah, fine, thanks. Mind if I have a chat with you for a minute?"

Ravi Patil looked back at his friends, who were giving him pointed looks of interest. Ginny didn't know what that was about. She hadn't ever talked to the Ravenclaw boy before, but was it so strange that she would want to talk to him?

"Sure." He waved off his friends and she inclined her head towards the doors.

"You okay if we go for a walk? I just wanted to pick your brain about something."

"Yeah, alright."

It was a sunny day but still pretty cold. They both wrapped their coats and scarves tight around them and she led them towards the sunny side of the castle.

"What's going on?" he asked her once they were far enough away from anyone that might overhear them.

"Uh, your sisters, are they having an arranged marriage?"

From the expression on his face that was the last thing he'd expected her to ask him about. "T-they don't have anyone chosen for them yet, but if they don't find someone suitable in in the next five years or so, then yeah, probably."

"And that's how things are generally done in your culture?"

His eyebrows knit together. "It isn't that uncommon. Back in India the idea of having a girlfriend or boyfriend is still pretty rare. The parents just set you up with someone they think is suitable, if both kids agree, then they'll start having arrangements made to get married."

"Just like that? So, if your mum and dad meet someone else that's Indian and has a son they'll set up a date between the boy and Parvati or Padma and Bob's your uncle?"

"Yeah, pretty much," he shrugged. "Arranged marriages are common in a lot of cultures. At least in ours we have the option of saying no after first meeting. If I'm set up with a girl though and we get on, then that'll be that."

"What about love?"

He shook his head, "marriage comes first for us, love is something that grows over time."

"But you don't have to do it though, do you?" she frowned.

Ravi gave her a funny look, then there was some comprehension dawning behind his eyes. "Is it anyone I might know?" he smirked.

She stared at him and wondered if she could trust him with this information.

"I won't tell, I promise," he assured her, and he sounded sincere.

"It's someone you've probably heard of, but never met." That was a bit of information at least.

"When did you find out?" he wondered.

She let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. As the air swept past her lips she felt some relief going with it. "Last summer. We've been 'dating' for a few months now, but things got more serious after Christmas. Now I'm all mixed up because I really like him, but we've got a deadline and that's putting extra pressure on."

"Sounds like a betrothal contract," Ravi said, or rather, stated inquisitively.

"Yeah, it is. Found out about it when I came of age." She took a deep breath.

"My cousin Priya got married last summer, arranged marriage. She wound up getting pregnant right off too."

He said it like it was a crazy thing to happen, but that was going to be her too. "How's she dealing with that?"

"She looked pretty happy when I saw her over the holidays. Her husband and she looked pretty happy together too. They'd only known each other for four months before the wedding."

"Wow, whirlwind romance?"

"No," he laughed. "They met twice, then it was decided they'd get married and now it looks like they're in love."

Love. It echoed through her head. She wanted to be in love with Harry. She liked him, a lot. She just didn't know if she loved him yet. They hadn't said it to each other anyhow.

"I wish I had the option of love, then marriage," Ginny moped.

"Me too. But, there is still a chance for me," he shrugged. "I might meet a nice girl and fall in love with her, then bring her home to my parents. They'll be angry, but I think they'd come around eventually"

"You think you'd be okay if it was the traditional way though?"

He shrugged. "If she is nice and we get along enough, if both parents think it's a good match, then yes. I'd be okay with that."

Ginny's brow furrowed at that point.

Did her dad and Harry's parents think it was a good match? She was sure that Lily and James liked her, and so far, it seemed that her brothers and her dad liked Harry. That didn't necessarily mean that they thought that they were a good match.

There was one way to find out if one of Harry's parents thought they were a good match that was super convenient.

"Ravi, thanks for talking with me about this," she said, by way of telling him he could get back to hanging out with his friends now.

"Yeah, sure. It was cool to talk with you a bit." Ginny gave him an inquisitive look at that phrasing. He gave her a sheepish look in return. "Because, you know, the Weasley's are legends around here and you're really cool."

"I am?" She'd always thought her brothers were cool, particularly Bill and the twins, and Charlie was pretty great too. Herself though, she hadn't noticed any of the younger classmen showing any reverence for her.

He grinned at her. "You not knowing that makes you even cooler."

She grinned back at him. "Well, I think you're pretty cool too. And, it would be really cool if you could keep this to yourself."

"Yeah, no problem. If my mates ask, I'll just say you wanted to have a chat about my sisters. Pretty sure Padma is sweet on one of your twin brothers by the way."

"Really?" Ginny laughed. "Twins dating twins, that would be strange."

He shrugged, "at least she and Parvati aren't identical."

They walked back to the entrance hall together and Ginny went up the stairs, towards the Charms classroom and hoped she might still find her professor at her desk.

Which she did. It must have been Lily's weekend to stay at the school. She was grading papers and looking just as relaxed at her desk as she had always looked to be at Potter Manor when it was a book in her hand, not parchment. Ginny knocked softly on the door and the Professor glanced up.

"Ginny," Lily smiled at her, "what brings you here today?" She then looked back at the essay in front of her and made a mark on it.

"I just have a question for you," Ginny started awkwardly.

Lily glanced up again and smirked. "I'll hazard a guess that it is personal and not about schoolwork."

Ginny bit her lip, a smile flitting over her mouth a second before she simply worried her bottom lip. She closed the door for more privacy and took a few steps toward her. "Do you like me?"

"What?" Lily asked, taken aback.

"Well… I mean, I think you do." She took a few more steps closer to Lily's desk.

"Ginny," she smiled softly. "I thought you knew I do. You're a lovely girl. Funny and sweet, and you're also smart. That's a good combination."

"Yeah, thanks," Ginny said sort of dismissively. "But do you think I'm a good match for Harry?"

"Oh!" Her eyes went wide at the question. "I, well… are you second guessing this again? It is a bit late to try and find a way out of it. I think the solicitor was ready to blacklist us after his last visit."

"No," Ginny assured her. "I know that I have to get married and have a kid all in the next year and a bit. There's no way out of that. It's just… I'm worried I'll wind up stuck in a loveless marriage. I've seen a few couples that married out of obligation and they don't look very happy. And don't get me wrong, I like Harry, a lot. It's just that… I don't know why I came here," her shoulders sagged and she shook her head. If she couldn't get her issues figured out in her mind, she didn't know why she thought she could say them out loud.

"Ginny, it's okay to have second thoughts. I did, and James and I married for love."

Lily gave her a minute, waiting for her to say more, but Ginny still couldn't figure out her words.

"I do think you and Harry are a good match," she assured her.

"Really?" Ginny clung to that desperately.

"Yes. I think the first bit after you're done with school is going to be difficult. It will take you a while to be comfortable finding your new normal, but once the two of you settle down and get into a routine of work and home life, I think you two will be really happy."

Ginny sat down in the chair across from her. "Like 'you and James' happy?"

Lily blushed prettily. "I'll admit that I am very happy with my husband, and I've had a few fights with him over the years as well. I wouldn't change him for anyone though. Even his most irritating qualities are worth it."

"That's sweet," Ginny nearly cooed. "Does Harry talk to you? Did he tell you about what we'd talked about?"

"About how you both intend to stay at Potter Manor after the wedding? Yes. And there is certainly enough space for you, and for a… grandchild." She hesitated over that last word.

Ginny smirked over that. "Not ready to be called Grandma just yet?"

"No," she admitted. "And I know you aren't ready to be a mum yet either. And I'm really sorry that this is rushing both of you."

Ginny sighed, slouching back in the chair. "I wanted to be a professional Quidditch player."

"You don't have to give up on your dreams. James was a very 'hands on' father, and I think Harry will be as well. We could even bring on a house-elf if you're comfortable with that."

"A house-elf?" That thought hadn't occurred to her.

"James was practically raised by one, and he turned out alright. They're excellent with babies."

"A house-elf," Ginny repeated in thought. That would make it much easier on them if she got recruited for a team. Harry could go back to work too. "I think I like that idea."

"Good." Lily looked satisfied that she managed to take some of the weight off of Ginny's shoulders with that suggestion. "Now, as for the other thing?"

"The other thing?"

"You, worrying about whether there would be love involved in your relationship with Harry?" There was a playful expression on her face. "I think you two just need to spend a little more time together. You've grown very close over the holidays. Closer, I think, than either of you realize."

"Oh! I, um… we, we didn't-" Ginny started, but Lily held up her hand.

"I really don't want to know. I knew you had stayed over on Christmas night, and beyond that I'm choosing to remain oblivious. And I'm not talking about that, I'm referring to the way you look at each other. Hell, even when Harry is talking to us about you he's got this excited look in his eye. I think the two of you will get on just fine in your marriage. And, I do approve of you."

Ginny found herself nearly moved to tears at that.

"Thank you."

()()()

Lily was just about to finish grading her last assignment when Minerva and Severus came into her classroom.

This was only the third time that he'd been in her classroom, and not one of those times had he been unaccompanied. She appreciated that he made a point to not be alone with her. She wasn't scared of him, she just didn't want their personal history to interfere with their professional lives.

"I'm glad we caught you before you left," Minerva started and held out a piece of parchment. "The supervision schedule for the remainder of the year. The fifth and seventh year students are going to be developing a drastic case of nerves in the next few months, and the staff that live in the castle permanently would appreciate it if the Professors with temporary quarters here could stay every third weekend instead of every fourth."

Lily perused the schedule. She and James didn't have any weekend plans that couldn't be moved around to accommodate this. "Not a problem."

This was Severus' task to arrange the staff schedule. She could only imagine how pathetic he must have felt having to request Minerva be the one to accompany him to her class to hand it over, as it was such a simple task.

Minerva nodded and she and Severus turned to leave.

"Professor Snape, if you wouldn't mind waiting a moment," Lily called out, looking down at the last assignment she had yet to give a mark to.

She could see him halting by the door and Minerva pausing for only a moment, likely to give him knowing look before leaving them alone in the room.

Lily assigned the 'E' to the front of the paper and added it to her completed stack before looking up at him and crossing her arms on the desk.

"Do you really feel you need an escort in order to come and talk to me?"

He stood there motionless and met her gaze. "I don't imagine the 'Bullying Toe-Rag' would relish in the thought of you and I being alone in the same room together."

"It has been twenty years since we've been students here, the 'Bullying Toe-Rag' has done a lot of growing up in that time, as have I. Have you though?"

He raised his eyebrow at her. "I believe I've always proven myself to be above childish behavior."

"Even when you were a child, yes, I remember." She noticed how his features took on a more pointed look then.

They had been about six when they'd met, she likely knew his family history better than anyone, she'd seen the bruises he had on him when they met up at the park before they went to Hogwarts, and she'd made excuses for some of his behavior because of his family life, until she couldn't anymore.

"Your attitude doesn't seem to have changed much since we were classmates. Still spending most of your time in the dungeons. Now though, you have several new crops of students to take out your anger on. Don't think I haven't heard what your version of 'teaching' involves. Many things change in schools over the years, but gossip will never cease to be a pastime."

"A few months as a Professor and you now think yourself an expert? His cockiness seems to have rubbed off on you," he defended.

"Is that why you need a babysitter to hand me a schedule?" she asked, lifting the list of weekend stays she'd been assigned.

"I tried to deliver it earlier, but your future daughter-in-law was occupying your attention."

Inside she froze, Ginny didn't want that information out yet. If he told even one person then it would spread like wildfire through the school, and Ginny didn't need that attention on top of everything else on her plate right now. Outwardly, Lily simply raised an eyebrow at him. "Problem?"

"No problem, just finding it interesting that the Potter men all seem to have the same taste in women."

She sized him up, trying to see if there was any tell he gave off to let her know if he was going to run his mouth. "He hates that I have to work with you," she told him. "We've had more than a few conversations that involved me telling him that you couldn't possibly be the contemptuous and sullen boy that we both remember. I'd appreciate it if you didn't prove me to be a liar by spoiling the rest of Miss Weasley's year with this news."

"Hates it, does he? Is that why he spends his evenings in your quarters when you are on duty for your weekends?"

She sat up straighter. "Just how would you know if he is staying in the castle with me?" James had made a point to Floo directly into her quarters and not step foot out of them.

Lily then recalled that he had been very interested in Mind Magic when they were still friends.

She stood up and braced her hands on her desk. "Are you performing Legilimency on myself, or other staff or students?!" That would have been a gross overstep of his authority.

He said nothing, which was enough to tell her it was true.

"Sev!" she raised her voice, demanding he answer.

His hard exterior gave way a bit at her use of his nickname. "People are never done learning. Use of an ability and mastering it are not one in the same."

"Your excuse is that you can't control when you are invading the minds of others?" It was a reasonable excuse and she damned him for being able to provide such a reasoning.

"My congratulations for finding your son such a bride," he said in farewell before he turned and left her classroom.

She wanted to throw something at him or set off one of Sirius' new investments in his office.

Embarrassing him would make her feel better right now.

Oh, Merlin. James had corrupted her.

()()()

Harry heard a quick tap on the end of his desk followed by Daniel's voice, "look sharp, the boss is headed this way." He was teasing, of course. Harry had told him that his father was stopping by his desk at the end of the day because they had to head into Gringotts.

"All set here?" his dad asked.

"Yeah. Just need to finish this last sentence and send it off, then we can go." He'd been forewarned about the paperwork with this job, he'd sat in the corner of his parents workstations several times growing up too, so he'd seen them doing it. It simply hadn't registered fully, until it was him at the desk, how much of the job was hands on and how much of it was notations.

If there was one step not recorded and the potion was handed in, then the whole batch would get dumped and he'd have to start over.

ELM allowed their new employees three months to properly learn the ropes, then there was a three strikes policy in place before you either had to go back through training or find another career opportunity, with the company or not.

Harry had two batches of his potions dumped in the first three months, each time it was because he'd failed to document something, not because it was done incorrectly. Daniel had two batches dumped as well.

Hermione hadn't had any dumped.

He was out of the probation period now and thus far he had been doing well.

Doing well was all the lab supervisor wanted from them.

It was all his father wanted from him too. His parents had made sure he knew that joining ELM as a potioneer meant that he would be making the same potions exactly how they were meant to be made so that the company had consistency.

That didn't bother him. He liked the career path that his parents had, moving from one department to the next every few years when they got bored. The moving to different countries bit though, he was still decided that England would be home for him for the foreseeable future.

And his father wasn't grooming him to be head of the company, he was grooming himself for that potential future.

And he was only nineteen! He didn't want to be ruling the world, he wanted to work Monday to Friday and play Quidditch or hang out with his friends and Ginny.

He was also going to be challenged enough with learning more about the family finances, which was what this trip to Gringotts was about; they were going into the main family vault for a proper introduction to all that the Potter Family held.

He had been in their primary family vault, the one that held the coin used for shopping and such, but that was the one his parents had started together. Harry now had one too for his wages to go into. Today though, they were going to be going deep down into the depths of Gringotts to see the older family vault, the one that held gems and special trinkets and documents.

Harry was prepared to take notes and was dreading hearing things like 'Capital Losses' or 'Dividends' from his father.

It took all of twenty minutes to get from ELM to their Potter family vault, they had been given priority treatment when they walked in due to them having an appointment and a great amount of holdings with the bank. (Some people with appointments still had to wait nearly an hour before their business would be taken care of.)

"I remember the first time I saw this," his dad grinned at him. "It wasn't at all what I expected."

They were standing before the door to the vault after taking the knuckle whitening cart ride and having to pass through an enchanted, and fucking cold, waterfall. It was a great round door that a Goblin was opening with a culmination of a key and Goblin magic.

"I'm picturing piles of gold and suits of armor, a veritable smorgasbord of ancient knick-knacks," Harry told him.

James barked a laugh. "Yes, that is exactly what I was picturing too."

"It isn't?" Harry asked him.

James didn't have to answer though, the door to the vault swung forward and before him was a room approximately 20 x 20 with a high ceiling that was obviously magicked to show the sky hundreds of feet above them. There were two desks in the middle of the room facing each other and two doors on each of the three walls in the room.

"What?!"

James laughed again. "You don't have to look so disappointed. You haven't looked behind any of the doors inside yet." He marched forward and nodded to Griphook, the Goblin that would be minding the door for them. "Behind each of these doors is a different room for different items. Behind this one," he pointed to the first door on the left, "is a closet of sorts. There are articles of clothing dating back many centuries. They are rarely used, but there is one item in there that I did get a lot of use out of in school; my Invisibility Cloak."

Harry heard stories about the cloak from his father and Sirius. He went to the door and opened it, it was a very large walk-in closet. There were women's clothes on one side and men's on the other. There was a portion of the wall that was lined with shoes as well and a few drawers. Some of the clothes were on mannequins and all of them looked like they belonged in a museum.

"Why keep them?" Harry asked.

"Some of the finest materials were used, some of the embellishments are real gems as well."

"Have you ever worn anything else in here?"

"Just once, for a masquerade ball that your mother and I attended about ten years ago. She wanted to wear something completely ostentatious, marveling Marie Antoinette, so we came here to borrow from the closet."

"Where was I?" Harry asked. He didn't remember that.

"You were nine, you weren't paying any attention to us. I think we'd just got you some Muggle game thing with a screen and couldn't pull your eyes away from it," he scoffed.

Harry remembered the gaming system, he didn't remember his mum being in one of these poofy dresses though.

One by one they went through the rooms. The first one was the closet, the second one was full of files that recorded the history of the Potter family that also had an enormous ornamental rug on the far wall that held the family tree going back nineteen generations. There weren't many branches on the tree; it looked like the last time there was more than one Potter child born to a Potter male it was because the man had taken two wives and each had borne him a child, a boy, and it was because his first wife and child had passed away. It was nine generations since there were true siblings.

The third and fourth rooms contained artifacts; chalices, crockery, gilt vases and such; family heirlooms. There was even a bassinette and incredibly ornate baby toys.

In the fourth room Harry spotted small compact mirrors.

"Oh," his dad came over to him quickly when he saw those. "These are very handy devices. They communicate to each other, so if I have one and your mother has the other, then we can see and talk to each other privately without the use of Floo."

"Really?" Harry was intrigued. "Would you mind if I sent one to Ginny? I don't mind owling her all the time but being able to talk to her would be better."

"Go on then," he handed them over to Harry. "Just make sure they find their way back here once her term is up, yeah?"

Harry grinned and put them in his pocket.

The fifth room held the most treasured possessions though. It almost made Harry tear up to see it. The room was fairly dark, but it was lined with these glass enclosures that were stacked two high on a pedestal. In each cubicle was a painting of a Potter couple and a nameplate showing their full names, date of birth, marriage and death, as well as their wands and wedding rings on a velvet or silk cushion.

"Wow," Harry breathed out.

There was a glow that came from the glass encasement itself that illuminated the contents. The first cubicle he looked in was of his grandparents. The picture of them was from when they were in their thirties or so, smiling out at him and then giving each other a kiss. Harry smiled back at them and waved. He wandered around the room and saw the centuries of relatives and their paintings dating all the way back to the sixteenth century.

"Was that when we started gaining nobility?" he asked his father.

"No, our family name goes back further than that. The bank wasn't founded until 1474 so we didn't have any location to secure our legacy like this before that. We came to Britain in the 1500's and were one of the first families to gain an account with Gringotts."

Harry took his time walking around the room.

"There is no female wedding ring on this cushion," he remarked when he got to Florence Potter nee. Davis, his grandfather Fleamont's mother.

"That is because your mother is wearing it," his father said fondly. I saw it and knew it would suit her perfectly, and it did.

His immediate reaction was to ask if he could take a ring for Ginny, but he would have to find a ring first that suited her.

And he did. It had belonged to his several times removed cousin Delphini. He saw it, then looked over at his father to see him staring back at him and giving a grin and nodding. The painting of Delphini looked delighted that her ring had caught his eye and gave him a wave of her handkerchief as he removed the ring and put it in his pocket with the mirrors.

"All set?" his father asked.

Harry nodded and followed him back into the main room before they went to face the last door.

"What's the matter?" Harry asked, seeing his father so tense.

"It's just... This one is creepy."

"Creepy," Harry repeated.

"Yeah." Then he procured two bandanas from his pocket and handed one to Harry. "I remember it smelling quite a bit."

"Smelling?! What on Earth is behind this door?"

James didn't answer, he just pulled on the bandana so it covered his mouth and nose and opened the door. Harry followed suit.

It was a potions storage.

And it did smell.

"There are some of the rarest ingredients on earth in here," his father told him. "Cerberus muscles, Giant Albatross feathers, Elder Tree wood, Unicorn Blood, Basilisk Venom."

The room resembled a large kitchen pantry with several pickling jars on every shelf, labeled and displayed perfectly.

"Have you added anything to this collection?" Harry asked him.

"Yes. Vampire blood. Do you remember our trip to Transylvania?"

"Yes. I didn't know you got blood from a vampire though!"

"Good. I didn't want you to know. You were too young then."

Harry perused the shelves for a minute, appreciating a few items. It was well stocked with things that would cost several hundreds of Galleons in a shop. There had to have been preservation charms on everything there, but the smell was still coming through the charms from something.

His father tapped him on the shoulder and they headed back into the main room, closing the door and each pulling off the bandana and gasping in the fresh air.

"And that, is what is in the Potter Family Vault," he announced.

"What about the desks?" Harry pointed to them. They had drawers, those drawers must have contained something.

"Oh," he waved a hand at them, "quills, parchment, ink, you know. They're for when we have to add to the collection. Everything has to be catalogued and recorded, like in a library."

"So, do I have to record that I'm taking these?" he patted his pocket.

"No," James grinned. "It knows when you take things out, just not when you are adding things in. I do have to record this though," he said, and pulled a familiar piece of parchment from his pocket. It was the betrothal contract between Harry and Ginny.

"I thought we were going to be going over investments and strategies and all that?"

"That's what I wanted you to think," he grinned. "We can do that at home. We get a quarterly review from the Goblins that tells us how we're doing and I'll go over that with you in the comfort of our kitchen table."

Had he not been so relieved that they didn't have to do all at the desks down here, he would have had a few choice words for his father then.

()()()