Chapter Twenty-Seven: A Meeting at Gringotts

Preceding Chapter

The shortly worded message from the British Minister of Magic triggered a rare burst of anger from Albus Dumbledore. It had only been a mirror and he hadn't meant any harm by using it, he told himself, but now the Americans had issued a warrant for his arrest.

And the fact of the matter was that he still had no means of guiding Harry to take up the mantle of The-Boy-Who-Lived and to face his destiny of meeting Voldemort.

Well, he had tried subterfuge and he had tried cunning. Perhaps it was time to try a more Gryffindor approach.

Perhaps he would go to America and meet Mr. Potter and his team face to face. He trusted in his ability to persuade almost anybody to see the rightness of his case.

Of course, he had no intention to step foot on American soil. No, this involved contacting the goblins at Gringotts for a meeting at their branch in New York.

Thankfully, Gringotts was not legally on American soil.

He would risk going there – for the Greater Good. And of course, he would bring his own hidden weapon.

After all, Voldemort might have his Bellatrix. He had his Severus Snape.

Gringotts NY
November 23, 2001

The goblin guards snapped to attention as the British party of four approached the meeting room. The differences between British goblins and their American brethren could be seen in their holstered firearms in addition to their axes and armor.

"They don't seem too friendly," Remus whispered to Dumbledore as they came up to the door.

"I have no problem with them," Dumbledore sighed in a nonchalant manner. He looked again at Lupin at his side. One of his more brilliant ideas, he smiled to himself. Harry would be less wary now that he knew that one of his supposed allies was accompanying him. Lupin was no use to the old wizard; he would serve as a diversion for the young Potter. Anything to keep the attention from his own secret weapon.

The negotiations to get this meeting arranged had dragged on for over two weeks and he had nearly given up in frustration. Why could people not see that his own intentions and motives were pure and wise, he asked himself once again. The Americans acted as if he was the Dark Lord, not Tom. His musings, however, were interrupted when another goblin stepped from a nearby door. "Chief Warlock?"

Dumbledore nodded, considering the use of his title a positive sign.

"Please identify the members of your party and their purpose in coming here."

Snape began muttering. "Only a Potter would ask for identification and purpose. He should be happy we're here and should just jump at the chance to obtain more fame."

Dumbledore raised his hand. "Severus, please. We are guests here." Then turning, he indicated his three guests. "Severus Snape, Potions Master and Head of Slytherin House at Hogwarts; Remus Lupin, Potter family friend, and Kingsley Shacklebolt, Auror and representative for the British Minister of Magic."

Inwardly, he was not happy with the addition of Shacklebolt. Once Kingsley had been his man – until the events of October 1994. Now Minister Bones had made Shacklebolt's presence on his team a Ministry condition for supporting his request to meet Harry. Something about not inflaming international tensions further. He thought it was more to have a spy watching him. However, he had already worked out with Snape what they were going to do to move the greater good forward.

The goblin consulted a list and then looked at Dumbledore. "Remus Lupin, Kingsley Shacklebolt and you are allowed to enter. However, the presence of Severus Snape is not welcome as he represents Hogwarts and thus has nothing to contribute to this meeting."

Snape looked to Dumbledore with his characteristic sneer. "I told you Potter was a spoiled prince. What business does he have deciding who he welcomes and who he does not?"

The old wizard smiled at the goblin. "I value Severus Snape's counsel more than just what his position at Hogwarts would indicate. He was also a close friend of Mr. Potter's mother."

The goblin returned Dumbledore's comment with a hard gaze and two of the goblin guards stepped forward. "Chief Warlock, you were the one requesting this meeting, but it is Lord Black who chooses with whom he wishes to meet. He and his guests anticipated your other two guests, but not Mr. Snape. If you are unwilling to abide by his conditions, then please feel free to return to Britain. But if you wish to meet Lord Black, then Mr. Snape stays out here."

Dumbledore considered the situation and then turned an apologetic glance to Snape. "I am sorry, Severus, but I will have to proceed inside without your advice and counsel. Please stay out here for the moment – as soon as I can, I will call you in." Harry allowing Snape in was a long shot anyway –but he already had anticipated that.

Snape turned on his heel and stalked out, his black cape billowing behind him. Dumbledore heard muttering about a spoiled prince, a brat and arrogance as great as his father.

Remus chose this moment to speak. "I tried to warn you, Albus. Harry is a very cautious person now and his family is not much better. He would accept to see me because I made a vow to protect his secrets; he would see you because you requested this meeting and Kingsley here because of his status as a Ministry representative. But Severus makes no sense."

The old man shook his head. "I had hoped that the feud between Severus and the Potters would have died by now. How will Harry face Voldemort if he has not yet learned to forgive?"

Remus in turn just rolled his eyes. Albus would never learn. Harry was not even a Potter anymore and had no connection or reason to return to Britain, yet the old man thought he could just command Harry and Harry would obey. Hopefully Harry would be able to get the message across. He had given up.

With the departure of Snape, the goblin knocked on the door of the meeting room and at a guttural sound of enter, opened the door. But before the three wizards could enter, the goblin held out his hand.

"Your wands – please – all of them. I swear that they will be returned to you. The others inside have already trusted me with their wands."

Dumbledore tried to reason with the goblin. "Master Goblin, I assure you that we are well aware of the rules against the use of wands in any Gringott's branch. Surely we can…"

"No! No wand, no entry!"

Shacklebolt broke the stalemate by tendering his wands, followed by Remus. Finally Dumbledore passed his wands over. Then the three men entered the room.

It was a typical meeting room offered by the bank with a large table and many chairs grouped around it. Remus recognized some of the faces on one side of the table – Harry sat in the center flanked on one side by Fleur and on the other by Hermione. An older goblin sat next to Fleur while a man he recognized as the American MFBI agent Mackenzie sat next to Hermione. Then he heard footsteps behind them and turned to see an older man entering the room. Harry and the two women stood to greet the late arrival.

"Sebastien, I'm glad you could make it."

"It took some doing, but I didn't want to miss this," Sebastien replied. Remus could see out of the corner of his eye that Albus had started slightly on seeing their late arrival – obviously he knew him.

The older goblin sitting next to Fleur now rose as Harry, the young women and Sebastien took their seats. "Welcome in the name of Lord Black, the Black of Black. I am Snagtooth, senior account manager for the Potter and Black accounts here in New York.

"Albus Dumbledore, you have asked to meet with Lord Black, Harry Jacob Vincent Wells and he has consented to meet you with his family and advisors. If you could introduce your guests, then I in turn will introduce our side of the table."

Dumbledore rose, thanking Snagtooth for the introduction and quickly introducing Lupin and Shacklebolt. Then the senior goblin rose again and began. "You have already met Lord Black. On his left is the Lady Hermione Granger Potter, the Potter of Potter and beside her is Special Agent of the Magical FBI, Alexander MacKenzie. To Lord Black's right, is Fleur Delacour, future companion to Lord Black and her father, the Honorable Sebastien Delacour, representative of le Bureau des Affaires Etrangeres of the Magical Republic of France.

"I have been asked by Lord Black to chair this meeting and now call on you to state your reasons for coming here today."

Remus was impressed. Hermione actually was the Head of the Potter family – no doubt Harry was or would be her consort. He had glimpsed the Head of House ring on her right hand and knew magic had made its pronouncement about her status. Hopefully Albus would read the political signs and titles and back down.

However, there was no such luck.

"Harry, my boy – it was not necessary to bring all these people for our little chat. I am here to advise you that the Wizengamot has met and we are extending an invitation to you to return home to Britain where you will be invested as Lord Potter and then prepared with my help to meet your destiny."

It was obvious from the facial reactions of the other side of the table that Albus had definitely stepped in something very odious.

"Mr. Dumbledore, Lord Black is definitely not 'your boy' nor does he have any immediate plans to return to Britain and take up what does not belong to him. You ensured that back in October 1994 with your dark blood ritual," Hermione began.

Dumbledore looked at Hermione with a welcoming smile. "Miss Granger, I will admit that it is a pleasant surprise to see you again.

"However, Miss Granger, the Wizengamot has rendered its decision in regards to your claim to the Potter House. While I regret being forced young Harry to undergo the pain of the Blood Summoning Ritual, we of the Wizengamot do not believe he lost the Potter title or the Potter magic.

"Thus, in our judgment, young Harry is still Lord Potter and what I have to say is for him alone, not for you or these other guests."

Hermione looked ready to explode, but Harry put a calming hand on her arm. Then he fixed his gaze on Dumbledore.

"Mr. Dumbledore, your Wizengamot can legislate that the sun is blue, but it doesn't change the sun's color. The Wizengamot can call me anything it wishes – magic and the decisions of others are the true reality," he said.

"We are not here to submit to the decisions of your Wizengamot. What is the message you would give to Harry Potter if you could?"

Dumbledore's eyes flashed at both Hermione's and Harry's comments. He so wanted a more compliant young man that he could guide to his destiny. And then, if he survived, a chance to train as his successor.

"Harry, my boy, it is time for you to return to Britain, to take up your lordship and to face your destiny," he answered, a twinkle returning to his eyes.

"And what is this destiny?" Harry continued, his impatience beginning to show.

"To face Voldemort and defeat him," the old wizard replied.

There was silence in the room for several seconds: then Harry looked back at the old man, confusion on his face. "Why is it my destiny to face Voldemort? Why not any of the other 65,000 plus wizards or witches in magical Britain?"

"Harry, are you sure that you wish me to say what I have to say in front of all these people?" Dumbledore was now pleading for the young man to send everyone else out.

"Mr. Dumbledore, the people gathered here are my family and my closest advisors in the magical world. I hide nothing from them and, after the last meeting we had in which I learned not to trust you, they are here to ensure that I am safe from you. So they stay. Now please answer the question."

"Harry, my boy, there is a prophecy given back before you were born that said the one with the power…"

Harry raised his hand in a gesture that silenced the old wizard. "I know – something about the power to vanquish the Dark Lord."

Dumbledore was shocked. "How did you? How do you know it?"

"We asked the British Minister of Magic why you were so interested in Harry Wells," Alex replied. "She was very forthcoming and made a copy of the entire prophecy for us."

"A pretty fuzzy prophecy if you ask me," Harry said. "And we think two things make the prophecy a moot point now.

"First of all, the prophecy may have already been fulfilled when your Dark Lord killed my parents and then tried to kill me. But secondly, one line of the prophecy says that neither can live while the other survives.

"I would think that that prophecy's fulfillment was negated when you killed me old man with your bloody summoning ritual. The goblins found a faint evil residue over the site of my old scar, but the scar is now healed and there was no other sign of dark magic.

"You see, old man, you killed me. My heart stopped. My breathing stopped. I. Was. Dead. – until my mother performed CPR and the paramedics restarted my heart.

"So your actions killed my destiny."

Dumbledore's mind was whirling with the influx of information and ideas. Could Harry be right? There were consequences to a blood summoning, he knew, but to actually have killed Harry Potter? No, the young man was still alive, still in front of him. He would have to think on this and he would have to explore this with Harry once they were both back at Hogwarts.

"No, Harry, I believe you still must face your destiny. Tom is still around and the prophecy suggests that you are the only person who can kill him. Thus, you must accompany me back to Britain where I can begin to train you to face the Dark Lord.

"The good news is that the Wizengamot has appointed me as your mentor – your guide so to speak – to help you return to the British wizarding world. Your parents would have wanted you to take your place among us in Britain – the Potter family is a long and noble magical family since the early days of magical Britain.

"As well, I would like to offer you Hogwarts – as a place to be trained and where you can be assisted with your NEWTs."

"No!"

Harry's single response, said quietly, but firmly, broke into Dumbledore's prepared speech.

"No? Harry, your destiny and the Wizengamot!"

"No!"

"I am afraid I must insist, Harry. I was your magical guardian."

Harry turned to Alex. "Special Agent Mackenzie, could you enlighten Mr. Dumbledore on our discussions and the position of the Magical United States?"

"Gladly, Lord Wells-Black. Chief Warlock, you need to be aware of some things. First of all, we as a government accept the goblins' findings about the current status of Lord Wells-Black. Harry Potter died magically on October 31, 1994. The inheritance test confirms Miss Hermione Granger to be the new Head of the Potter family. She wears the Head of House ring."

Dumbledore's wyes widened at the news of the Head of House ring. Lupin smiled to himself – so Albus hadn't noticed that. What else had he not noticed or was the man just purposely blind to anything not fitting his own definition of reality, he wondered.

"We are convinced that whatever 'power he knows not' was; it disappeared by Mr. Potter's 'death'. As well, we believe we understand what the dark magic residue came from. From descriptions given to us by Mr. Wells' mother, we suspect that Lord Wells-Black was carrying a parasitic soul leach from your Dark Lord, but that it died when magically Mr. Potter died.

"As for Lord Wells-Black, he becam citizen and was adopted as a teen. He reaffirmed his oath as a citizen at the age of 20. And he recently successfully completed all his OWLs."

Dumbledore raised a hand. "A minor cannot change his or her citizenship. And it is possible to be a dual citizen. Thus young Harry still has a tie to Magical Britain."

"No, he does not Chief Warlock. Our citizenship process is exclusionary – Lord Wells-Black renounced all other allegiances and ties in renewing his US citizenship. Even the ICW respects that as you should well know.

"And the legality of the process is without question – Lord Wells-Black's uncle is the District Attorney for Manhattan," Alex continued.

"So your 'invitation' from your Wizengamot has no power here. As well, Lord Wells-Black recently told me that he is currently making arrangements to obtain his NEWTs – he was only waiting for his OWLs results which arrived three days ago."

Harry looked at Alex who had finished speaking, then directly at the old wizard. "Mr. Dumbledore, we have some questions for you. Your answers will determine if we add more charges to what has already been written up on the MFBI's arrest warrant for you.

"Why did you disregard my birth parents' wills?

"Why did you condemn me to eight years of abuse and hell with my relatives?

"If I were this 'wizard of destiny' as you called me, why did you not take me in and train me to meet this Dark Lord?"

Hermione next spoke. "Why did you obliviate my memory of the attack of the mountain troll in my first year? You caused me and my family immense emotional pain and grief.

Sebastien was next. "I am submitting this memory of Lady Potter's obliviation to the ICW, Albus. You know that it is illegal to play with still developing minds in performing an obliviation of this type.

To Lupin and Shacklebolt, it was like watching a professional quidditch team's chasers passing the quaffle from one to another to another. It was clear this attack had been well planned and for the first time in some time, the old master wizard had been caught flatfooted. Now the quaffle had returned to Harry.

""Why did you stand by and watch my godfather get kissed without even giving him a trial? Why was he not even given a chance to defend himself?"

Shacklebolt found he was enjoying this tag team. He had his own message to deliver, but he could see that the combined assault was now driving Albus to a breaking point and sure enough it came quickly and loud.

"ENOUGH! It is not for you to question my decisions. None of you have the knowledge, wisdom and experience I have. I made the decisions I made in light of the greater good and to ensure your safety, Harry," He then adopted a pleading look.

"Harry, if you have been hurt, I apologize for mistakes I and others may have made. Our intentions were good, but that is not the issue here.

"Your country needs you, Harry. Hundreds have already died, thousands live in fear of Voldemort – a wizard that prophecy says only you can stop. You have the power to end the bloodshed – come with me back to Britain."

Harry regarded the old man coldly for several seconds.

"Dumbledore, one question before I give you and my family's answer. I believe that as I mentioned before, the population of magical Britain is approximately 65,000. Surely you have powerful witches and wizards among you. Why am I the only one that can defeat him?"

"Harry, prophecy has named you…."

"So, because you believe a prophecy that is vague at best, you and magical Britain do nothing to defend yourselves. All the rest of you put your trust in me, someone who didn't even know he was a wizard until less than two years ago?

"I'm sorry, but the situation is ridiculous. If that is your only answer, then my and my family's only answer is still No!"

"But, my boy…"

Harry's party rose as one and walked towards the door. Harry looked back at Dumbledore as he walked away from the table. "That's it – we have nothing left to talk about.

"Oh yes, just a warning. Make sure that you do not step outside of Gringotts – Alex's associates will give you a warm welcome."

Dumbledore rose as well and made a move towards Harry, but stopped when Lupin touched his arm.

"Not here, Albus. You've asked – he's answered. Let it go."

By now, both parties had arrived together at the door and it swung open at a wave of Snagtooth's hand. Once outside, Dumbledore's party was rejoined by the black robed Snape. The Potions Professor looked on with a sneer to Harry and Hermione.

"Ah yes, the former Gryffindor Know-It-All and the Potter Prince. I can tell by your face, Headmaster that the brat has refused to see reason. As I would expect – just like his arrogant father.

Harry made a move towards Snape, but Alex restrained his arm. Then the MFBI agent looked at Dumbledore. "Chief Warlock, I fail to understand why this person is part of your group. His comments are unwelcome and uncalled for."

Meanwhile, Hermione was whispering urgently into Harry's ear and he began to visibly calm down – until Snape looked him directly in his eyes. What happened next was a sharp pain in Harry's mind coupled with the image of the Central Park tunnel entrance to the World Below and then a loud bang.

"Wizard, you were warned," Snagtooth growled at Snape even as he signaled for the goblin guards to come forward. "No magic in a neutral meeting room."

Dumbledore lifted up his hands in a placating gesture. "My potions professor had come here in the off chance that he could discuss Hogwart's studies with young Harry. Unfortunately Professor Snape had had some negative experiences with young Harry's father and Harry does resemble his father very strongly.

"It was merely an instinctive reaction."

Ales swore at the old wizard. "You fool, that was no instinctive reaction – that was a full-fledged legilimency attack."

Harry's head still felt like spinning, but his headache began to subside. "Legilimency? You mean this black bat was trying to read my mind?"

Snagtooth turned to Dumbledore. "Take your party and go, wizard. You will not be welcome here again."

Shacklebolt lifted his hand and stepped away from Dumbledore. "I'm not with him. I am from the British Minister of Magic and I have a message from her to Lord Black." He then turned to Dumbledore. "Albus, in addition to the condition that I observe what was going on, Madame Bones sent me with a personal message and, as I work for her, I agreed.

"And no, I will not tell you the message's content."

Harry nodded and Alex indicated their agreement to Shacklebolt remaining even as the goblin guards stepped behind Dumbledore, Snape, and Lupin. "Wizards – move or die – it means little to us which option you choose." The three men moved quickly to the bank's lobby.

Only Lupin had the sense to look ashamed. Unfortunately for him, neither Snape nor Dumbledore appeared to be disappointed.

As for Dumbledore, he suspected it had worked out as he had hoped. Headstrong, unreasonable, but a strong young man. Now only if his own weapon had been successful.

Meanwhile, back at the entrance to the room, Shacklebolt waited for Harry to indicate their next step. "Shall we go in and listen to this message from your Minister, Mr. Shacklebolt?" Harry asked after Alex and Sebastien gave him two nods of approval.

A/N: The plot thickens, but we are rapidly moving to endgame for this story. We do wish to make comments here on why so many familiar names that feature in canon are not mentioned here – neither the Weasleys, Luna nor other students at Hogwarts would have interacted with Harry and the Tunnel World as New York is quite distant.

As well, we may have mentioned it before, but horcruxes are not really featured in this story. Suggestions as to how the Dark Lord named Tom will be dealt with come in the next chapter – our Dark Headmaster must await American justice which we assure you is coming.