I want to first thank my new Beta Winged Seer Wolf for the assistance on the chapter! I really appreciate their help already and I am very lucky to have them working on our story! I hope you all enjoy the chapter, it is a building chapter instead of an action one but I think it has some interesting subplots. There should be around 4 more chapters for the Summer left before year 3 starts. As always please let me know your thoughts good or bad for the story in reviews.
Note: Please note I still don't own Harry potter.
The three humans followed the goblin to a large cavern. Grrack turned back with a vicious smile then got into a strange railed cart, almost like an old mine car that appeared to have been changed for fast travel. Once all three were in the cart the goblin slammed the lever forward and they burst off like a gunshot.
Harry leaned back and enjoyed the brisk air as it flew by him making him feel like he was on his nimbus 2000 streaking through the sky. The journey was exhilarating to the boy as this was the closest he had ever gotten in his young life to an amusement park. Unfortunately for Harry, the trip ended too fast as Grrack slammed on the brakes almost causing Tonks to fall out of her seat.
The boy looked up and noticed that they were before vault 687, his trust vault. Harry leapt free of the cart to follow the goblin up to the door. All Harry needed from his vault was some coins to use over the summer. He had plans to change his clothing, remove the Dursley stench, and acquire some components and new books to start his studies. Once the locking mechanism was done, Harry walked in with a small pouch that had an expansion enchantment along with security and feather-light enchantments. He quickly started to scoop up piles of the coins into the pouch filling it as quickly as possible. Then Harry turned and walked back towards the others on the cart.
The second part of the journey was far too quickly again for Harry's tastes. It seemed as soon as they had got back onto the cart they were standing before the vault with his parent's processions. Harry stood up in the cart just watching the doorway for a time. The pit of his stomach was rolling about with back flips of concern as he watched Grrack move towards the doorway. As much as Harry wanted to go forward he felt frozen in place watching as time passed slowly. Harry felt a hand on his shoulder and a squeeze from Mr. Greengrass that finally jolted him back to reality. Together they got off of the cart and walked towards the vault.
Grrack drew his fingertip down the center of the doorway as the locks started to slide open one by one before he allowed the two humans to enter. The family storage vault was about the same size as his trust vault. The far back was stacked to the ceiling with furniture of different ages and conditions. Some of them were still blackened from an explosion that had made his former scar. The right side of the room was filled with books and piles of sealed boxes stacked up to the ceiling in rows. The left side held two frames that seemed to be covered up under sheets.
Harry stood there for a time as he felt the wetness on his cheeks as he looked over the ruins of his parent's life. Slowly the boy took a deep breath then let it out, glancing back at the entrance he saw Mr. Greengrass standing there. The man smiled at the boy and Harry returned it, "Sir this might take a while if you want to go back. I need to go to the last vault by myself anyways."
Cyrus Greengrass smiled at the child before him, wishing he could do more to help the poor boy. He could see the pain etched on the child's face and swore that he would never let his daughters go through something like this. He nodded his head then spoke firmly, "I will do that Harry, but if you need me. I will be there for your Harry."
"Thank you Mr. Greengrass," Harry spoke up before he turned back to walk over towards the right side of the room. He picked up a few books seeing that they old class books from Hogwarts, along with a few that seemed to be from advanced studies.
Harry never had known that his parents did any advanced studies after Hogwarts but it seemed some were from transfiguration and others from Charms. He placed them back down after glancing through them making a mental note to review them later on during the summer. Instead the boy turned his glowing green eyes towards the stacks of boxes.
Harry reached up and pulled down the first large box. He placed it onto the ground then opened it up, inside seeing piles of clothing neatly folded up. He slowly reached into the box then pulled out a dress. The dress was a white summer dress that seemed to be fit for a woman with a slender waist. The boy stood there looking at the dress then raised it up to his face as tears spilled down his cheeks. He could smell the scent of lavender on the dress. Harry couldn't help but wonder if this was the smell of his mother's perfume? He held the dress close wishing to feel the warmth from his parents. Harry collapsed to the ground for a good hour crying to him over what he had lost and for what he never got to know.
An hour later, Harry placed the dress back into the box and stood up to start searching once more. He started to go through the other boxes determined to find every scrap and detail that he could of his family. A few of his father's clothing items, most of which were too big, he placed the side. Harry also found a black leather jacket that had the word prongs written on the back in Ancient Greek. Part of Harry couldn't help but wonder when he learned the word in Ancient Greek but that was quickly dismissed. He started to make a small pile of things he would find a way to keep near him, perhaps in a larger trunk for the future.
Harry kept searching for items of interest for a few hours. While going through the boxes the boy found one that contained a chest of jewelry that his mother must have worn. He carefully pulled the box out and placed it into the growing pile. He could share it someday with someone special, he was certain that his mother would want that. Under the jewelry box Harry noticed two small books, and a small rectangular shaped sealed box. He reached down and pulled them out feeling each to be covered in green dragon skin.
Harry slowly opened the green dragon skin book and saw it was a journal of his mother. The first entry was listed as a month prior to her start at Hogwarts. Harry sat there and started to read it over, skimming parts as quickly as he could to get more. He was a thirsty man stuck in the middle of the desert and this book was his last can of water. He felt the need to know and learn more.
Harry looked back down at the diary so far he had read the basics of Lily Evans life. He had read where she had found out she was a witch. The book talked about her best friend Severus and their hope to become sorted into the same House at Hogwarts. It turned out that Severus Snape actually was the first person to tell her that she was a witch. It also appeared that she knew she was adopted as Aunt Petunia had taken every opportunity to tell her that she was. Reading the diary Harry started to get a perspective for the life of his mother and a new perspective on Professor Snape. He forgot the time unfortunately while this was going on till he heard the clearing of a throat from outside.
The rough voice of the goblin calls out, "Mr. Potter, you have been in there three hours. Remember time is money."
Harry cleared his throat then called out. "I will not be much longer Grrack. You may charge the House Potter account for the time of your services."
The same voice as before called into the vault, "Agreed Mr. Potter."
Harry looked back down at the book carefully then slowly flipped it to the last page. The final page was dated by the book in the top right hand corner October 31, 1981. It was written in scratched quick handwriting that showed urgency unlike Lily's normal hand. The writing was drawn in a crimson pen that took Harry a moment to realize it was blood.
Harry
I know it will never make up or not being there but know that your father and I love you my dear. I hope and pray I am wrong, but Voldemort is here. The wards are falling and the portkeys are blocked. He found us. Peter broke the secret and told him. Take the box to Sev. I placed a blood….
The writing stopped as if she ended in the middle of the sentence. For the second time that day Harry felt tears stared to squeeze free. Part of him wondered if there was any water left in his body at this point. A sad chuckle broke from his chest as he closed the journal holding it tightly to his side. After a time the tears ended from the laugh which turned to a scream of rage. At what had been taken from him.
Harry felt tired and exhausted, he felt pushed to the edge emotionally after the past few months. First, the whole school including many of his friends seemed to turn against him believed he was some sort of killer, next he was almost killed in cold blood. Now here he was looking through the belongings of his parents realizing what he truly lost. Harry determined no more tears, no more pity, no more crying. He was tired of being a fool, tired of being a patsy. He would find his own want to make his destiny and learn whom he truly was.
Harry glanced down at the journals picking them up with the jacket with a small smile. He may be lost but he had found a guide for the path to walk, he wasn't unsure anymore whom he was. It was a few hours all together between the shy little boy entering the cavern vault and the young man with a different heart exiting it.
After Harry left the vault he scanned the darkness to see the cart waiting for him. Seated up front was a frustrated Grrack, the goblin appeared to be glaring at Harry for making him wait so long. In the back seat instead of Mr. Greengrass the boy spotted Tonks. She was leaning back cleaning her nails looking calm as possible, yet the boy could see from the raised eyebrow towards Harry she was in a rather poor mood.
The young woman looked up from her nails as she studied Harry. When Tonks got a good view of his red eyes she bit her lip letting out a sigh. "Harry, are you alright?"
Harry just looked at her for the question raising his right eyebrow. It seemed to him a silly question. He had just left the vault of his dead parents of course he was not alright. Well he was better than he thought he would be. He realized lashing out at an Auror, a young beautiful one, was most likely not the best idea so he shrugged his shoulders and pasted on his best fake smile, "I am fine Ms. Tonks."
The green eyed boy settled into his seat in the cart, with a motion from Grrack the trio was off to the last vault. This time the trip down the railway took far longer to reach then the previous two combined. They actually sped up even faster, from the corner of his eye he noticed that Tonks hair had turned a distinct green one might associate with motion sickness. They swooped past later and larger vaults, some of them even had a dragon outside. Finally, after a good fifteen minutes then slowed to a stop before a large cavern area. The Golge vault had a large door that was carved out of the ten foot tall twin blocks of the blackest obsidian. At the side of vault doors stood two obsidian giant statues each of masked men wearing cloaks that covered the statures from head to foot. Only the eyes of each statue were visible and they seemed to be carved out of rubies the size of Harry's head.
Harry got up to walk towards the doorway noticing that the goblin did not stand up this time. He glanced back with a frown before Grrack spoke up, "Mr. Potter only you can open the vault. All of the ancient House vaults contain this requirement. Simply cut your hand and place it against the stone. If it accepts you then the door will open. If not…" The goblin fell silent as he just grinned darkly at the boy.
For a brief moment Harry's Slytherin side had to wonder if perhaps the goblin had it out for him. But he shook off the idea as too many would know that he had disappeared here in Gringotts for that to be plausible. He took out a small pocket knife and made a tiny incision along his right palm. The boy watched the crimson flow well up from his hand for a moment wondering if he was destined to always be bleeding. Harry shook off the thoughts then reached up to place his palm against the center of the doorway.
There was an echoing groan in the cavern as the two obsidian statues turned golems shifted their bodies towards Harry. For a second the boy for a shiver down his spin as the glowing red rubies watched him. He felt a touch of magic up and down his body as if they were scanning him to determine if he was worthy. The single though ran through his head that if he was found lacking at least it would be quick! The silence felt deafening to Harry before the large twin black doors disappeared into a smoky mist that sent a shiver down his body. The Statues seemed to rumble in twin voices that Harry could not understand but felt in his bones the need to enter. "Giris"
Harry took a deep breath then slowly stepped forward into the darkness and unknown. He was surprised as soon as he stepped through the barrier to find the obsidian walls behind him returned. The mist was gone and there was a faint green light filling the chamber from moss growing above the large chamber. His emerald eyes scanned the room but found it contained a single table. On the tabletop was a pair of large thick books and a dagger. The books appeared to be ancient even from a distance he could see the yellowing of pages and dried husks on the cover that once appeared to be basilisk skin. The dagger at their side seemed to flicker in the torchlight with crimson runes carved into the blade.
Harry stepped closer to the dagger and gently picked it up in his left hand. The dagger flickered in the torchlight; shadows seemed to cling to the dagger causing it to disappear in his hand if he did not look directly at it. The dagger felt light as a feather to the boy as he moved it around his left hand. After a moment Harry switched the blade to his right hand.
The moment Harry switched the dagger to his right hand the hilt touched to the remains of the blood on his palm. The Harry felt warmth start to run over his body pulling on the magic from his core. It felt as if some force was rapidly draining on his core, squeezing the magic from his body. He panicked and tried to drop the blade but it was too late, a crimson glow was burning from the dagger starting to fill up the whole cavern. That glow rushed up his hand and arm to his shoulder. Chasing the bright crimson glow was pain, and aches as if every muscle in Harry's body tried to spasm and rip at the same time. The pain was too much and the boy blacked out falling to the ground at the feet of the table.
He was uncertain how long he stayed there when he awoke, it could have been five minutes or five hours. Harry looked down and saw that the dagger was not gone replaced by an obsidian ring with a blood red symbol carved on the top that he knew instinctively was for House Golge. The sigil looked to be an upside down V with a half-moon under it that appeared to be drawn in blood red. The outside of the ring was etched in tiny blood red runes carved into the surface.
Harry finished his inspection of the ring and reached up to rub his forehead stopping has his hand pressed against his chin. He felt surprise rush through his as he had hair on his chin! He ran his hands along his chin to find fresh stubble grown into a small goatee. Shocked he reached up to touch the hair on his head not finding the short scruffy hair but instead long falling down locks that touched almost to his shoulders. Harry blinked in surprise pulling some of his hair around before his eyes, "Shit."
Harry slowly stood back up feeling a little unbalanced as he did then leaned over the table towards the pair of books. The pair of books were marked in a language he had not seen before. Harry stared at it for a few moments before his eyes seemed to sort out the letters. The first book title was "The Path of Truth." The second book was titled "The Clan of Golge."
Harry slowly reached out to open the Path of Truth book. He found that it was divided into sections on the first page. The sections were the Path of Wisdom, Path of Battle, Path of the Mind, Path of Blood. He let out a smirk to himself, "I wonder if they have a path to get rid of this headache."
He flipped a few pages through the Path of Wisdom and it seemed to tell of the code and philosophy of House Golge. The Path of Battle was all about different spells to be used and when to use them. He found an array of spells listed for offensive and defensive use, some elemental spells, and a few things he was sure the ministry would consider Dark. He tried to flip to the spells themselves but found only a few of the assigned pages filled out. The only spells he could find were basics of the forms for the different disciplines. It was as if the book felt he was not ready for the knowledge and would not provide it to him. He let a smirk touch his lips, "It is a good thing I plan to be different this year, to apply and learn."
Harry flipped to the Path of the mind next. He found that it talked of how to use magic without vocalizing and movements when necessary. In addition it seemed to explain ways to train the mind to protect your secrets. Harry figured it might be useful even though he doubted anyone would really want to see what was in the mind of a thirteen year old.
The final segment of the book was the Path of Blood. This area spoke about numerous rituals for everything from blood wards, seasonal rituals, how to place or remove blood curses and even virginity rituals. Harry was not certain that the Ministry would be less than pleased to see this book. He frowned to himself thinking that he had an Auror outside waiting for him, he would not like her to find out about it. Harry closed the book to put it down thinking he would store it for now then come to retrieve it later. When his ring touched to the book it seemed to dissolve into darkness. A few seconds later he saw that the darkness was gone and instead a red rune on the right of his new ring appeared.
The young man took out the book for the Clan of Golge next and started to flip through it. The book seemed to be about the history of the clan. The language it was written in seemed to change through time periods from Ancient Greek to Latin to Arabic to Turkish. In the back of the book was a chart that traced down the ancestry of the family through the ages from four hundred BC till the modern day. He even saw his own name listed in the chart. The boy closed the book and tried to touch it to the ring. At first nothing happened then he concentrated on the book thinking storage and it too disappeared into shadow to become a rune.
Harry looked around the chamber seeing that it was completely empty. So he turned and walked outside of the vault. Unfortunately walking seemed to have betrayed him as he almost tripped a few times as he tried to leave the chamber.
Once the young man was outside of the vault Tonks perked up and stared at the boy in surprise. Her eyes flickered from blue to green to red as her hair matched the transition. The surprise was clearly evident on her face as she broke the stunned silence, "Harry, what happened to you?"
Harry looked at the young woman in surprise, "What do you mean Tonks?"
Tonks pulled her wand out and flicked at the ground next to Harry. Out of the ground a conjuration of a full length mirror rose from the floor showing Harry to himself. The mirror betrayed that Harry had grown massively since he entered the chamber. He stood around five foot seven inches tall now when before he was closer to four foot eight inches. His body had filled out with wiry muscle all over his frame. His hair had grown from short and scattered over his head to now filling out with full long locks that fell to the shoulders. His chin was chiseled with a small goatee and he had a scruffy exterior almost making a five o'clock shadow along his cheeks. To put it simply he appeared to be a twelve year old in the body of a sixteen year old, "What the Fuck?"
Tonks slowly climbed from the rail cart to stand looking up and down Harry with a frown, "I don't know what happened in there Harry but family magic is powerful and always does things for a reason. I haven't ever seen anything like this before though. The important question is are you still you?"
Harry frowned at the mirror and her question then turned to look at her with his killing curse green eyes, "I feel like I am me."
As he spoke up he couldn't help but notice his voice seemed to have changed from the crackling of puberty to a deeper tone. He turned back to looking at the mirror studying himself in wonder. He gave a shake of the head, he shouldn't be surprised it seemed he was always fate's bitch for the world of the strange. Why not go through express puberty then too? At least he wouldn't have to go through "The Talk" as Ron told him he had to do with Percy.
Tonks raised an eyebrow as she watched Harry carefully with a frown. She could see his hair started to shorten before her eyes. His eyes seemed to decrease and grow a few inches intermittently. A small smile spread over her lips, this would be an interesting summer indeed. "Remember always what is outside doesn't make us whom we are. As long as you are the same inside is what matters Harry."
Harry frowned at the mirror as he lost his concentration from her words. Harry let out a sigh and gave her a small smile which turned into a grin as he looked down slightly towards her, "Looks like I am almost taller then you now Tonks."
Tonks smirked at the younger teen, "Judge me by my size now do you? Hmm?"
Right after the words were spoken Tonks concentrated and grew taller before the eyes of the boy. A smile crossed her lips as she became close to sixe foot tall with her chest at his eye level. This fact was that was not missed by Harry. Tonks leaned forward towards the boy bot realizing the view she gave as she spoke up, "Remember Harry some of us can control our size."
The boy looked down the Auror's blouse then smiled up at her, "Indeed, I see you control your size well."
Tonks realized where his eyes were located and smirked as she shrunk herself back down to normal. The young woman smiled at the boy then pointed at the cart, "Come, get into the cart so we can get you some new clothing."
Harry looked down at his shirt that was far too tightly and his pants that were ready to rip at the seams, not to mention up to his mid calves. Then he leapt into the cart with a cheeky smile, "Here I thought tight pants were all the rage."
The boy received a swat on the back of the head as Tonks joined him in the cart then the shot off to Diagon Alley.