A/N Still JKR's sandbox.
Chapter 5: Goblin Antics
Saturday, 3 August 1991
Per a regular Saturday morning, Harry was at the dojo with Chase.
They had just finished with the second early morning tai chi class for the elderly. Harry's role during those classes was to walk around the room, help people keep their alignment, and, if he thought it was necessary, step in and help a person to sit down and take a break. Before Harry started helping, Chase commonly to have at least one person a month overexert themselves or to get out of alignment and fall during the exercises. Since Harry had started helping, the number of incidents had dropped to less than one per year.
Plus, the elderly members of the class adored Harry which meant that the class was always at capacity. Several of the geriatric centers in the region specifically recommended the class to their patients. After two years without any injuries, the National Health Service had certified the course, which meant that reimbursed Chase top billing for each course. Chase had initially started the course out of a sense of moral obligation. In other words, he barely earned any money from it. With certification, NHS paid him £ 5 per person per forty-five-minute period of instruction. The two Saturday morning classes each had 25 enrollees present. The five-weekday early morning classes were each limited to only seven enrollees to ensure that Chase was able to monitor them safely by himself. Still, for those seven hours of his schedule each week, he earned £425 per week. Those classes alone permitted him to pay the rent for the dojo and to keep the utilities on.
After a quick shower, the two left the dojo and made their way to Lily's Pad, arriving at 8:20.
Harry noticed that his box from Gringotts was flashing. Reaching inside, he pulled out a bundle from Dragonflame, which had a note stuck on top that read:
Friend Potter:
We have recovered three of your family heirlooms through our extensive questioning of the Great Manipulator. Based on the change in market prices yesterday, we recommend that you come in immediately to get them.
Also, inside this package, you will find portkeys to all of the Potter and Black properties, each clearly labeled.
May your gold always grow,
Dragonflame
By 8:30, Harry and Byrton were seated in Dragonflame's office.
After they had arrived, Dragonflame raised the privacy wards around his office, cast several others, and then invited Bryton Chase to do the same so long as they would not interfere with the existing ones.
Chase briefly scanned the ones that were already there and said, "Any that I know would interfere with the set you have already put in place. But thank you for offering."
Dragonflame waived the thanks away with his hand and said, "This is most sensitive data. I was called to task about it until we figured out what had happened. Albus Dumbledore cast a fidelis charm on much of the Potter's historical wealth. Yesterday evening, after we received a vial of potion that would clear his system of any anti-truth potions he had taken, he confessed that he had hidden most of the Potter holdings under a fidelis charm until he was able to ensure Harry had signed the appropriate contracts." Here, Dragonflame took out a piece of parchment and had Harry read it." We are still taking an inventory. However, three items here are incredibly important and have been confirmed as authentic already. First, we recovered a family heirloom invisibility cloak that our scans say has been in use for over 1,500 years. We are certain that this is the Cloak of Invisibility of legend. Second, we recovered a normal time-turner that can go back up to twelve hours with each turn of the turner corresponding to a single hour. Finally, we recovered a special time-turner that can go back up to twenty-four hours with each turn of the turner corresponding to two hours. Combined you can go back in time up to 48 hours. To do so, you would need to use the normal time-turner to turn back 12 hours, then use the special time-turner to turn back 24 hours, and then use the normal time-turner to turn back an additional 12 hours. You can technically do that an infinite number of times."
He then handed Harry a sealed letter to give to Dragonflame when they arrived back in time, stating, "Ironically, we only knew to ask about the hidden space because I got this note almost 48 hours ago. Give this to me in the past. I will then help you. Also, you need not give me anything the other two times you will see me as I will already be expecting you. After the first time of seeing me, ask me each time whether I have anything for you. If I do not, that is the time that you should open this letter." Here, he handed Harry a sealed envelope bearing the crest of the Royal Family.
Harry and Chase put the time-turners around their necks and turned back 48 hours. Neither was unsurprised to see Dragonflame waiting for them.
Instead of taking the first note, he said, "Do not give me the letter yet. Go back another 24 hours. I will be waiting for you when you arrive."
The two then turned back 24 hours [72 hours turned], greeted Dragonflame, got the same set of instructions, and then went back 24 hours [96 hours turned].
They were surprised to see Dragonflame, Dragonbite, and Dragonfang. Harry handed the letter to Dragonflame, saying, "You said this would explain everything," while, Harry was sure, Dragonbite and Dragonfang were swearing in Gobbledygook. He had clearly startled them in the middle of a family meeting.
After reading the letter completely, Dragonflame said, "They are from the future. I am inclined to believe them because this is my own magical signature and I quoted the swear words you would both use in order"
That brought the younger two goblins up short.
"I apologize father."
"As do I, grandfather."
Dragonflame continued, "Per this letter, I am to give you three tasks to do. Dragonbite will accompany you for the first one. You are to melt down the gold coins that we have already given you in the future. You will then turn back as far as you can. At some point, you will need to visit the Gnomes in Geneva. Apparently, the Potter family had several assets hidden over there that are untouched by Dumbledore. They are also present in several economics that prohibit us to operate in their territory. These include Japan, China, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Both of us operate in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. We are exclusive in Africa. The dwarves control the wealth in the former Soviet Union nations as well as the Islamic nations in the Middle East, although we are making inroads in the Eastern European nations. Except for Argentina and Chile, we have an exclusive market in South America. Argentina permits only the gnomes while Chile permits both of us to operate. The rest of the European nations permit both the gnomes and goblins to act and some, but not many, also permit the dwarves to operate."
Harry made a mental note to check with the dwarves to see if he had any accounts in their financial system. He also thought about hiring an attorney to see if he had any unclaimed assets in the non-magical systems, especially in the countries where his families had properties. He decided he would discuss it with Sensei later, but he thought he should move most of his remaining assets from Gringotts to the gnomes and the dwarves and, when he had finished doing so, stating to the goblins that, at this time, he intended to keep all the recovered assets in the hands of the goblins.
"The third task is to continue to go back in time and give this letter to my younger self."
Dragonflame then wrote out a letter and handed it to Harry. Give this to me the next time you see me in the past.
Before they left, Dragonbite explained to Harry how to melt the galleons down into pure gold and then how to reshape the melted down pure gold into one-kilogram gold bars. "Most of the rest of the world uses the International System of Units. However, the gold commodity markets continue to sell in both amounts. You will have no trouble selling single kilogram bars or in grams."
Initially, Harry had only been able to melt down one galleon at a time. After an hour's practice, he was able to melt down sixteen at a time. After six full hours, he was able to able to melt down the remaining coins in a single try and reshape them into his desired shapes.
Just prior to 2:00 PM, Harry had finished creating his bars: he ended up with 2,593 kg bars and 190.1 g remaining.
They then used the regular time-turner to go back six more hours, the special timer to go back twelve hours, and the regular to go back an additional 12 hours [120 hours turned]. Dragonflame was waiting for them. Harry handed him the letter and asked, "Do you have anything for me?"
"I do not."
Harry then opened the letter that Dragonflame had sent him. It included the days and prices of gold for the past year and the next year: it instructed Harry to trust Dragonflame to maximize his profit and included a small letter from Dragonflame to himself.
Dragonflame read from under his shoulder as Harry read the document. He then read the letter from himself.
He offered a deal with Harry, "I will arrange for the sale of this gold at the appropriate times and appropriate location. All I ask is that you let me use your two time-turners. I will return here with your gold shortly. I will not charge you with any conversion fee."
Harry and Chase wrote out a contract that they thought was fair and then Harry added a clause, having figured out what was going to happen.
They negotiated fiercely until they reached a compromise that neither liked but both could live with.
Dragonflame grumbled about it but still signed the contract that said Harry would get all the value of his gold back plus 9.72% of any gold Dragonflame earned in excess of 10,000 G (in whatever currency it was in) for each exchange as payment for permitting Dragonflame to use the instruments.
Shortly after he had left from one door, Dragonflame appeared from another door and gave Harry his proceeds. Apparently, Dragonflame had done very well in the previous year that Harry had expected the goblin had gone back in time as Harry's share was over thirty times as much as he thought his share would have been if it was just his money. That caused Harry to pause and he asked, "How far back in time did you end up going?"
"I turned back to 1987. Twice. Yes, we manipulated the market, but we were not caught because it had already happened."
Harry asked to see the numbers and Dragonflame told him, "No. I do not want you to officially be an accomplice to this. I paid you per the contract as I still have my goblin magic. However, I will not let you know how much money we made this way."
Harry laughed and said, "I should have figured a goblin would have found a way around this hastily worded contract. What did you do? Use your sons and grandsons on various days?"
Dragonflame smirked and replied, "Yes. Good guess.
"Your initial investments are tied up in markets and will pay out to you by your birthday next year. Here are the contracts for those. You will not miss anything that Dumbledore steals from you in the future, I am sure. I have given written instructions on what your market watchers are to do over the course of the next year. You shall do very well."
The hair on the back of Harry's neck stood up. Suddenly, he realized that all this had been a setup. How else could this Dragonflame know about Dumbledore's duplicity but his future self was surprised by it. He thought it was strange that he had gained such status so quickly. Now, he realized it was because of what they knew he would go back in time and the money he could earn for the nation. That threw everything into question. Harry did not realize it, but this was a break is the causality loop. Every other time this had happened in the infinite repeat of cycles that is the path of time, Harry had missed this clue.
Chase immediately noticed something had changed but was going with the flow. Harry hid his tension well most of the time and Chase was one of the few who actually could see an increase in tension in Harry long before it became apparent to any others or Harry broke down. He was sensing a significant level of tension at that moment and wondered what had set the kid off.
"Thank you, Dragonflame. Sensei Chase and I have our documents from the non-magical world. I think we shall take a few days to enjoy ourselves there."
Before they left the office, Harry had Chase cast a glamour over him.
Once they were outside, Chase asked, "What is wrong."
"Wait."
They turned around a corner and Harry said, "Cast another glamour to make me look like your son."
Chase did.
He then followed Harry into a travel shop.
"Hi! I'm David Chance. This is my father, Brian Chance. Dad is taking me to Switzerland to see the mountains and the gnomes. I cannot wait. It is a treat for me studying so well and getting into Hogwarts! Can we buy a portkey to Geneva? Dad, I want to go through Paris. Can we go through Paris?"
Chase sighed, cast his wand on his credentials while they were still in his pocket, and then showed them to her. Harry's credentials had automatically updated to show his current false identity.
Once they had the portkey, they departed and arrived first in Paris. There, Harry said to Chase, "Dad, please remove any surveillance or tracking charms on us, our money, our identities, and our passports."
Chase's eyes widened as he realized that Harry suspected the goblins of serious betrayal. The scans seemed to verify it. Chase dispelled over two hundred charms on their gold, several on the clothes each was wearing, and complex ones on their identifications…which left Chase wondering how any of them had gotten close enough to his identity to cast the spells.
"Okay, Harry. I am convinced. You suspect something and I think you are correct. Where do we go next?"
Harry replied, "My account manager told us to go to Geneva, which is the capitol of Switzerland, thinking that I would think that was correct. However, Zurich is the banking center of the country."
"You are sure?"
"Yes, we discussed it in my business studies classes last year and it was a question on the GCSE for the topic."
"Okay, then. We shall purchase a new portkey here."
They stayed around and waited before taking the public portkey that left for Zurich at 12:30 PM. While they waited, they had a large lunch as both were rather hungry by that point.
When the portkey arrived in Zurich, Harry asked one of the immigration wizards, "Excuse me sir, how do we get to the Bank of the Gnomes? Is there a branch here or do we have to go to Geneva?"
Chase's senses went to full alert when the man responded with directions to a location here in Zurich but added, "There is no branch in Geneva."
"Harry, make sure you have one hand on one of your knives at all times."
"You feel it now, too?"
"I caught on to your nervousness in Dragonflame's office. I still do not understand what he said that caused you to tense so much."
"He knew about Dumbledore stealing from me already. Everything that has happened in the past-future was all a scam."
As they were leaving, Harry approached one person panhandling accommodations, tours, and such while Chase approached another across the hall. Both asked, "Where would you recommend someone stay to keep low? We are not hiding; we just do not want to attract any attention here."
Each of the three gave them three places and said to mention that they had sent them.
Once they were outside, they started walking towards where the magical district of Zurich was.
About three blocks from the portkey station, they both started dropping the business cards of the hotels in trash cans, one at a time.
"What are you thinking?"
"I think we should convert some of my money into Swiss Francs and then pay cash for everything to get off the grid."
"Harry, I do not know any French."
"That is okay. I already passed my GCSE in it, so I should not have a problem with basic communications. Plus, in my business studies class, we have to practice communicating and writing in French for some of the transactions. Since Paris was the closest international business center, that was the language we used for practice. I think this year, we are supposed to do a field trip to Paris so we can actually practice and set up an account in a Paris bank."
They found the magic district and entered it just as the wizard had instructed them. The Bank of the Gnomes was easy to find; it was the first building on the right when you entered the magical street. This district was nothing like Diagon Alley. Here, several streets sectioned off the district into manageable partitions.
Entering the bank, Harry approached the first open teller and spoke in passible French, "It is my understanding that my parents and my godfather have accounts here. I would like to see their account manager or managers."
"Of course. What are their names?"
"James Charlus and Lily Marie Potter née Evans were my mother and father. Sirius Orion Black is my godfather."
"Of course. Come with me."
Once they were in a separate room, Harry and Chase were both ready to attack if necessary. However, the gnome who had escorted them in left. A different gnome arrived about four minutes after that saying, "Everyone knows that Harry James Potter is about to turn eleven. Before we continue any further, we will need verify your identities."
Harry translated for Chase. The gnome then turned to Harry and said, "My apologies, I did not realize that one of you did not speak French. I will speak in your language so you both can follow along."
Turning back to Harry, he continued, "You are wearing a glamour. However, your magic is interacting with it in a way that makes it barely detectable and does not permit us to verify your actual identity. We will need to do a blood test."
The gnome then went to a desk and pulled out two matchsticks, two vials of a deep blue potion, two quills, and two pieces of business "parchment."
"Unlike Gringotts, we keep up with the times as much as possible. This parchment contains paper pulp and not animal skin. However, unlike regular paper, this pulp comes from magically enhanced trees. I will need each of you to put seven drops of your blood into these vials. We can then verify your identity before we go any further."
Harry pulled out Dumbledore's wand and tried to repeat the incantations and wand movements he had seen the human Gringotts curse breaker do to the two parchments he had analyzed. Both parchments here glowed blue, like it had in Dragonflame's office, indicating that nothing was hidden.
Harry then put Dumbledore's wand away in his spare holster and nodded to Chase.
Chase then transfigured the two matchsticks into needles. He and Harry each pricked their finger, let exactly seven drops of blood fall in, and then Harry wandlessly and wordlessly healed both of their fingers and undid the transfiguration of the matches. Both then struck their matches so that any blood residue on the matches burned away as well.
Once the blood mixed with the potion, each vial turned a beautiful deep purple color.
The gnome then stuck a quill in each vial which pulled up most of the potion. As soon as the gnome removed the quills, Harry cast a wandless, wordless vanishing charm on the vials.
The gnome sighed and looked down at the results on the paper before saying, "Though your wandless abilities are quite impressive, Mr. Chase, I wish that you had only vanished the potion instead of the vials. Those vials have hundreds of proprietary rune combinations on them which means I now have to pay for another set to be carved."
Chase grunted and said, "I, Bryton Adam Chase, swear on my life and magic that I did not actively cast any magic on the vials that just disappeared either through wandless or wanded magic. So I swear, so mote it be."
The gnome then looked at Harry, but Chase cut in, "Surely you do not believe that a child too young to go to Hogwarts who grew up in the non-magical world could have such advanced wandless capabilities?"
"Well, he did know an extremely advanced magic technique used by the human curse breakers of Gringotts to tell if a contract is what it seems to be. I was quite impressed.
Harry shrugged and said, "I saw that spell performed twice by the same person: I studied his wand movements and his verbal incantation very carefully to ensure that he was doing the same thing both times. One time it revealed hidden clauses to the contract which caused it to glow red before they appeared. The other time, it glowed blue, just like that. It seemed like a good thing to study."
The gnome continued to grumble about having to carve two new potions vials. However, he stopped as soon as the quills had confirmed both identities. Surprising both travelers, Chase had a vault there as well.
The gnome looked at Harry's paper and gasped. "How is it possible that you have this control over all these vaults? They were all in stasis just yesterday."
Harry sighed and said, "Although I cannot tell you how, goblin deceit brough Mr. Chase and I back in time. I accepted my titles and declared them on 1 August. Apparently, magic recognizes that I have already declared by titles, even if it was in the current future."
"Are you free of that deceit now?"
"We think we are, but if you could check, both Harry and I would be appreciative."
The gnome cast his magic over them and said, "There is not a clear tracking or spying spell of any sort on either of you. However, there is some sort of monitoring spell on your identification credentials." He left the room and then came back with two magical boxes.
"These boxes will disconnect anything in them from any outside magical influence. I suggestion you put your identifications in them now and do not take them out again until you are safely behind Potter or Black wards."
Harry asked, "How much?"
"I give them to you with my compliments and I will create gnomic identifications for you that we do not monitor. To assure our clients of this, the one creating the identifications will swear a written oath on their magic to that effect."
He then pulled out a blank piece of parchment, let Harry scan it again, and wrote out his oath. "My name is Adan Troji." Harry again scanned the document for any deceit and found none.
Teller Troji signed his signature. He told them, "I will take you to your vaults shortly. Our vaults are not anything like a Gringotts vault but they still have world class security. I was the teller for both the Blacks and Potters. But first, identifications.
Twenty minutes later, both Harry and Chase had their own gnome issued identifications that would recognize any current glamour or appearance and would state the identity that the person then currently claimed they were.
As they were walking down a long hallway, Harry asked, "What exactly is a Gnomie?"
"Ironically, Heir Potter," Harry had told Troji to call him that, "it is almost the same as a Galleon. Both weigh exactly one troy ounce and contain magically purified gold. Typically, different countries make each. The only country I know of that will exchange them 1:1 with no exchange fee is Chile, which has both gnomic and goblin branches present. Even other countries which accept both currencies and have both banks charge an exchange fee.
"Here we are." Troji then cast silencing spells all around them and cast a bubble that just covered their three faces from ear to ear.
A homenum revelio cast by Chase revealed that there was not anyone else there.
Troji then cast a bubble over Chase's face before asking, "Do you want Mr. Chase to know where your vaults are?"
Harry responded with, "Yes, of course,"
Troji then switched the process around and asked Chase the same question in reverse. When he also agreed, Troji dropped the counter and said, "These vaults were all created on 15 August, 1980. The Potter, Black, and Chase vaults are located in Hallway 3572. The Potter Vaults are trunks Po01, Po 02, Po 03, Po 04, Po 05; the Black vaults are trunks Bl 01, Bl 02, Bl 03; and the Chase vault is trunk Ch 01. These are the only vaults in Hallway 3572. I will wait in the main corridor until you need me."
Chase followed Harry as he opened the trunk and entered the Potter Family "vault" first. Sitting on a pedestal were two letters written to him by his parents.
The first letter was addressed to Chase. The second was addressed to Harry.
Chase glanced at Harry, opened the letter address to himself, and read, "Bryton, Lily and I want to thank you for everything you have done for Harry and will continue to do."
Here, the writing style changed to a more feminine hand. "Bryton, I know you suspected it a few times in Hogwarts, but I am a seer. I cannot control my gift. I sometimes wake up knowing for certain that something is going to happen. Other times, I wake up knowing that I saw a possible future and, most of the time, know what condition is necessary to ensure it does not arise. Over this past year, I have seen both horrible and wonderous things from my power. I know James and I will die protecting Harry. I know that, despite our best efforts to stop him, Dumbledore will frame Sirius. I know the goblins are duplicitous little beats and that we cannot trust them. I warn you now, the trial is a hoax and a prelude to a goblin rebellion. The human casting the spell was not using a wand. Dragonflame was casting the spell that made text appear or disappear and made the glow around the letter. Dragonflame switched the documents. Harry signed that horrible document that gave control to the Dragon clan and their co-conspirators, the first in the line of goblin succession and his younger sister. If Harry continues to involve them in his life, they will kill him before he turns 17.
"I know Harry suspects something is up. Help him trust his instincts. They are correct.
"On another note, trust Penny Smoothling. She will help both of you immensely. Finally, when you get back to your original point in time, I ask that you warn Amelia Bones that the trial is not going to be what it appears to be. You and Harry should both be on guard as well. It will be enlightening and, if you are both on your guard, you will come out in a much-improved situation in some respects and in a much-disadvantaged situation in others. Overall, though, your preparation and warning to Bones will be a net positive. If you cast a finite-incantatem on the invisibility cloak, you can even bring Auror Shacklebolt in with you. Otherwise, Dumbledore will give him away."
Again, the writing switched.
"Bryton, we again want to thank you for everything you have done. If you had not decided to step in, Harry's life would have been horrible. He eventually would have died at the hands of Voldemort. To repay you for what you have done and what Lily has foreseen you doing in the future, we have set up a vault for you that should meet all your near- and long-term needs."
Chase turned around to see that Harry had read his own letter and was crying his heart out.
He felt Chase's eyes look upon him, glanced up, stood, and ran to him with open arms.
Chase pulled him into a hug and said, "It is okay. I am here and I have no intention of going anywhere else. It is okay. You are safe here. It is just you and me, with Troji hanging out in the hallway outside. Do you want to talk about it?"
Chase felt Harry shake his head against his chest.
"Okay. We do not have to talk about it. If you ever feel ready to discuss things, I will ALWAYS listen to you Harry."
Harry nodded.
"My mum left me a safe place for us to go for a few days and recover. It is in Italy. She suggests that we use the provided portkey that she made and that we take the trunks with us and work through them there at a slower pace."
"Sounds like a good idea, kid. We should probably tell Troji that we are leaving."
After they shrunk the trunks, they stepped out in the main hallway and told Troji that they were leaving.
Harry asked, "Can we leave from here?"
"No. Do you wish to leave by apparation or portkey?"
Harry replied, "Portkey."
"Good, good. I was concerned about one as young as you apparating as you appear very emotionally flustered right now. Follow me and I will take you to the portkey room."
The fact that the gnome could tell Harry was emotionally flustered actually helped Harry calm down soon as he focused on his occlumency lessons.
Five minutes later, they were standing in the portkey room. Harry and Chase both did all their detection spells and dispelled a few tracking and listening devices that were on their belongings. Surprising both, they only found them on the trunks and not on anything else Troji had given them. A spoken password later and the two were in the hall of a six-bedroom, four-bathroom cottage hanging off a cliff of a mountain in Italy.
As Harry calmly stood there, Chase completely fell apart.