Harry and Merope to the Rescue - Chapter 4
Disclaimer:
I don't own the HP universe, unfortunately.
Early in the morning on December 6, 1981, after having a very early breakfast, Harry was walking up the steps to Gringotts before all of the madness of last night descended into an overly exaggerated issue of the Daily Prophet.
Harry walked up to one of the tellers and said quietly, "I need to speak with the Potter account manager most urgently."
The teller responded, "Only a Potter can request to speak to the Potter account manager or the guardian of the minor of whom the accounts belong." The teller looked at Harry with a furrowed brow and said, "You appear to be a Potter, but according to our records, there is only one Potter left, who is too young to ask to see his account manager."
Harry nodded, and said, "I was born a Potter and will gladly do an inheritance test, I just request that we do so privately, as I guarantee you will be shocked by it."
"Very well," the teller said, "I'll get the goblin in charge of the inheritance tests." Then he jumped down from his stool and went through one of the doors in the back.
Harry noticed a lot more people were starting to come into the bank and some of them were pointing and staring at him. He would have used a glamour, but it would have only hindered him in the long run.
Finally after a few moments, the teller returned with another goblin who introduced himself as Ugrak who led him into a private side room. Once the door was closed, Ugrak directed Harry to a seat at the table and explained the process of having an inheritance test. When Harry didn't flinch at the repercussions of not being of the family he claimed, they proceeded with the test.
Ugrak had Harry cut his finger with the blade that was provided and squeeze three drops into the potion in the vial, which was then poured out onto the parchment in front of him. It took a few moments for the parchment to fill up, but when it did, the goblin almost fell out of his chair in shock.
Birth Name: Harry James Potter
Alternate Identity: Hadrian Evan Jameson
Date of Birth: July 31, 1980
Current Age: Immortal, Master of Death
Father: James Fleamont Potter
Mother: Lily Evans Potter
Can Claim Lordship to the Following Houses:
Noble and Ancient House of Peverell
Noble and Ancient House of Potter
Noble and Ancient House of Black
Blood contains basilisk venom and phoenix tears
Ugrak slowly looked up at Harry and said, "You are supposed to only be one and a half years old."
Harry nodded and said, "Well, yes, the Harry James Potter that was born here is one and a half years old. You see, my wife and I are both Masters of Death, with the capability to time travel and apparently parallel universe travel, because what happened to Little Harry last night did not happen to myself in my own world."
Ugrak nodded that he was following.
"Before I continue," Harry said, "I would request the Potter account manager be present, and a promise that what I say will remain confidential, especially from Albus Dumbledore."
Ugrak agreed and quickly sent for Kruglast, the Potter account manager. Ugrak sent for tea while they were waiting. When Kruglast arrived, he was introduced to Harry, and provided the inheritance test results. After he was brought out of his shock from the results and brought up to date about what had been said thus far, then Harry further explained.
Harry explained about the pull they felt and how they had arrived at 4 Privet Drive before the DEs could find Little Harry, but after they had already killed all of the Dursleys. Harry alluded to taking DEs to an undisclosed location, but assured them that he didn't kill them personally, but that it did not mean they didn't meet their demise after he had left them.
Then he explained that he and his wife intended to adopt Little Harry, and move him to one of the Potter properties out of the country. After moving through the adoption process, Harry requested all prior vault keys be recalled, and that the vault be checked for any activity over the last few months, just to be on the safe side. Thankfully, there hadn't been time for Dumbledore to try to stick his hands in it or give permission to Molly Weasley.
Lastly, he made arrangements that would prevent those ridiculous Boy-Who-Lived stories from ever being written. He suspected it was Dumbledore that arranged for them originally, because otherwise, no one was present that Halloween to have known anything about it. There would have been no worry for fame if no one had released more than the fact that Voldemort was defeated and left it at that. Heck, Dumbledore could have taken credit for it for all Harry cared, but, no, Dumbledore had to turn Harry into an icon and then hide him away for his "safety".
Harry explained to the goblins that in his timeline, Sirius Black was imprisoned without a trial and was innocent. They were not surprised because Sirius Black was Little Harry's sworn godfather and he would not have been able to do anything that would have knowingly caused him harm. Harry explained his intention to see Sirius given a trial and a place in Little Harry's life, just as he himself should have had with his own godfather.
Then Harry decided to put everything on the table. "Kruglast, Ugrak, will the fact that I can claim the Black Lordship in any way get me into Bellatrix Lestrange's personal vault?" Harry asked.
Kruglast immediately said, "No, that's not possible. It doesn't matter that she's in Azkaban for life, she is still a Gringotts client."
Harry nodded in understanding, then asked, "What do you know about horcruxes?"
Kruglast inhaled sharply and said, "They are an abomination."
Harry then asked, "And what is Gringotts' stance on storage in one of their client's vaults?"
"You mean to tell me that you believe one to be in Bellatrix Lestrange's vault?" Kruglast asked.
Harry nodded and said, "There was one in her vault in my original timeline. I have already confessed to not being entirely sure if all circumstances are the same here." When Kruglast remained silent, Harry said, "Look, the horcrux was given to Bellatrix by Lord Voldemort for safekeeping. He made several more and I know where they are and can destroy them, but until they are all destroyed there is always the chance that he can gain a new body."
"Now, the decision is up to you or whoever you need to bring its attention to," Harry continued, "as long as I have your assurance it will be dealt with and cleansed, and confirmation sent to me that it's been done, then I will do no more about it.
"I have many powers as the Master of Death. I could get in and out of her vault without ever disturbing a thing and you would never know it. I could obliviate both of you of the knowledge of this conversation and it couldn't be traced, but I don't want to do anything that could potentially prevent Little Harry from being able to have access to his vaults in the future work with you. I only want the horcrux cleansed, I do not seek to have it removed from the vault, therefore it would not be theft."
The goblins' faces went through a range of emotions during Harry's speech, but in the end they were calm. Kruglast then said, "We appreciate your honesty. We would much rather take care of this internally, I believe, and send you word when it has been completed, IF, in fact it is the same as it was in your world. As a courtesy, we will also send you word if it turns out to be different than it was in your world, so you will know to look elsewhere."
"You have my thanks," Harry said. "While I'm here, I can give you a list of several upcoming investment opportunities that I imagine should have similar results as in my last timeline. I have a list of the finances up to the year 2074 and 2100 from my original timeline. When you compare the two, they are virtually the same in their results, so they should make you plenty of galleons if you are interested in investing in them. I just ask that you share a percentage of the profits with Little Harry and myself, speaking of which, I need to open a personal vault for myself. I do suppose I'll need your services to create a new identity."
"What name were you thinking of using? We will be glad to create a background for you and your wife," Kruglast said, adding, "We will even let the Ministry know, should they ask that you had been made aware of Little Harry's situation, and knowing that you and his wife were his last magical relatives, immediately came to us to make arrangements. Perhaps that will keep them from accusing you of kidnapping The-Boy-Who-Lived."
Harry shook his head and said, "While I appreciate the thought, I don't trust the Ministry regardless. I now have legally adopted him and don't intend to wait around Britain for long enough for the Ministry to attempt to pop in periodically and tell me how I should be raising him. And I especially don't want them trying to turn Little Harry into a Ministry Poster Boy.
"As for a name, I will stick with Hadrian Evan and return to the last name of Potter." Harry said. "And for my wife, we previously decided that we would change her name from Merope Gaunt Jameson to Mary Grant Jameson, so just replace Jameson with Potter for her, if you would please."
Kruglast nodded and said, "We will have that done momentarily. Would you like to wait here?"
Harry replied, "Yes, I was getting a few stares out in the lobby and I don't fancy that again just now. I plan to use notice-me-not and aversion charms when I leave this room to exit."
"Very well," Kruglast said, "we'll be finished with all of your requests momentarily. Was there anything else that you had need of?"
Harry said, "Only to make sure we would have access to our vaults, should we need them, from out of the country." At Kruglast's nod of confirmation, Harry said, "Then that will conclude my business. I do appreciate all you have done for me and I do look forward to hearing back on the horcrux situation. I'll wait here until you're back with the paperwork I need to take with me."
Kruglast nodded and exited, and then returned about 30 minutes later with everything Harry needed to confirm his identity and the adoption, if needed. Harry intended to sneak into the archives and "misfile" it, so that the clerk won't notice it right away.
Harry again thanked Kruglast for his help and confidentiality. He cast his charms before exiting the room and no one gave him a second glance, though he did notice Dumbledore appeared to be looking for someone. Harry shrugged to himself and exited Gringotts. It was time to do a bit of shopping for clothes for Little Harry, and if there's time, see what's salvageable from the cottage at Godric's Hollow. By the time Harry had been able to see it in his original timeline, there was nothing worth keeping. Hopefully that won't be the case here because it had only been a little over a month.
Author's Notes:
So, I know the idea of Gringotts being able to handle the adoption is far-fetched and not very logical. I believe I have read other fanfics in regards to at least a change of guardianship being done through Gringotts. And frankly, it was less convoluted for me to do it through them, than to attempt to write a Ministry of Magic scene into the story at this point. Plus, there would have been too many nosy people in the Ministry wanting a piece and a say in the raising of the BWL, etc.
Also, I'm trying to not put a lot of notes within the chapters of this story, like I did with the last one. I realized that it inflates my word counts, and I personally hate reading a story that is filled with nothing but notes. So unless there is something specific about the chapter I want to point out at the end, I'm going to try to stick with putting all my notes on my profile page.