Disclaimers Obviously I'm not J.K.Rowling, no money made, etc. If you recognize it it's hers and if you don't it's mine.

Chapter 2: Consequences

Harry Potter's death hit the Wizarding world very hard. Literally. When his body stopped functioning his magic moved on, having several effects. Nearly all magical beings and peoples of England felt something. Those practicing the Dark Arts were knocked out but felt happy once awoken. Those who didn't delve into this kind of magic received a feeling of calmness and friendship, it lasted only a few seconds and they were left with a feeling of loneliness and wrongness. No one understood what it was or where it came from until they read the Daily Prophet. Some of them didn't even notice it as they were too preoccupied with events of ones' lifetime.

Hermione and Neville for once didn't notice anything as they were trying to revive of no avail their friend long lost.

Pavarti Patil was a usually very quiet person. Those who knew her from Hogwarts told everyone she was once a first class gossiper with a good look, but it was hard to believe it. Since the death of her best friend, Lavender Brown, she had become very quiet and hardly talked to anyone even her twin sister Padma with whom she shared a flat in London. She kept on with her work for the ministry. She was very content with it. She always had had Divination in high esteem; therefore she was more than happy to be in charge of the Hall of Prophecies. It was always quiet. People hardly came there, she just had to make sure nobody tried to take prophecies which didn't concern them, fill the new ones and once or twice a year allow someone to retrieve one. But this day seven little spheres lit furiously for a minute or two before the protection that surrounded them went down. Pavarti stared stupidly to one of them. It was the first prophecy ever recorded. It was said it came from Merlin himself or was it Rowena Ravenclaw? She didn't remember but knew something had happened. She collected the small balls of glass in a wooden casket, knowing someone would come the next day looking for something different from the ordinary. She didn't expect that this someone would be her Hogwarts roommate Hermione Granger, nor could she have expected the front page her former classmate gave her silently when she retrieved the small box.

Dobby the House-Elf was happily working in the kitchen of Hogwarts castle, school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Suddenly his magic went off. The twelve dozen of plates he was hovering crashed on the floor. He felt his core boiling, his stomach squeezed. All his clothes disappeared and were replaced by… black robes! He just had the time to hear the other elves gasps before being knock out by a powerful wave of magic.

Auror Ginny Weasley was at Ollivanders'. Her second wand wasn't very good; she had troubles getting it to work. She wanted to customize it. She was there, in the backroom, walking along the shelves looking for the best suitable ingredients, refusing to look at the content in the jars. The few she had read had raised her back hair, she didn't know what was worst between Dementor skin, vampire blood (forcibly taken or willingly given), werewolf saliva or Basilisk venom. She hoped she'd be attracted to something nicer like Vela hair, Unicorn freely given blood, Phoenix tears or maybe Gryffin scales. Suddenly she felt calmness, friendship and love wash over her and then pain. A strange pain, like a mental wound not physical, but it was still terrible to cope with it. Ginny felt to her knees and tears felt freely from her eyes. Something had been taken from her; she didn't know what but she knew she'll keep this feeling of loneliness all her life.

Griphook was an ordinary Gringotts employee. He was taking people to their vaults. He would have had at least one promotion during the seventeen years he did this job but for a thing he did ten years ago. He had taken a will from a prisoner and had made modifications which weren't very legal as the man wasn't yet seventeen at the time. His boss had learned about it and had been very clear. If these actions proved to be justified he would be rewarded beyond his wildest dreams, if not he'd be fired without a glance. In the mean time, all his promotions, primes and such were frozen. Still he had no second thought; Harry Potter had been one of the rare to be civil to him and clearly the only wizard to ever be friendly to a goblin for decades. He knew his actions would be rewarded, he just didn't know when. The second Harry Potter's magic separated itself from the young man's corpse a ball in the goblin's pocket heat up. Today he was going to know. He rushed to his desk and looked in his drawer. He extirpated a small blue crystal. The second he saw the color, a feral grin appeared on his face. He was rich, revered and would never ride the cart to the vaults ever… unless he wanted to of course.

Headmistress McGonagall was calmly eating her lunch in the Great Hall of Hogwarts. Lazily she trailed her eyes on the students to make sure none of them made any trouble. A music started to play, seemingly from nowhere, one she hadn't hear for years, one she couldn't help but enjoy and dread at the same time. It was the phoenix song of the dead. Nobody moved they were just listening. A burst of red and gold flames near the Head table startled the students, the teachers just looked as Phawkes appeared, planning above the table. A few seconds later, a burst of blue and white flames occurred, reveling another phoenix. People stared at the two 'singers' when bursts of green, red, gold, silver, dark blue, light blue, purple, crimson and white revealed dozens of phoenixes. All of them sang, in majority above the Gryffindor table. As the last note disappeared in the air the magical birds gave a cry and disappeared. If the song had been enough to make the students and professors feeling like to cry, it was nothing compared to this last sound. All the wizards and witches felt the reproach in this shriek and none knew why. Minerva McGonagall figured this show would be in the next edition of the newspaper, next to the Death Eaters' attacks. The next morning it was with blessed ignorance she looked at the front cover of her paper before fainting.

At the magical zoo Erwan was cleaning the owls' cages when a beautiful specimen of snowy owls, a female at that, felt from her perch. She seemed to be sick, like depressive but owls don't do depressions, do they?

Remus Lupin was seated reading a book with a butterbeer next to him. His companion, Nymphadora Tonks was resting next to him. She was seven months pregnant. As a metamorphmagus she was one of the few who could have a child with a werewolf. Apparently the child transformed during the full moon until its birth and only someone whose inside where hard as steel (or could be made hard as steel) could survive. It was supposed that at the time of the birth the baby was immunized to werewolves' bite. According to an old text Mundungus Fletcher had dig up for them the child was also supposed to be able to cure lycanthropy with its blood; but Remus didn't care, he was happy enough with a family (and also he didn't want to get his hopes to high). Suddenly a terrible and blinding pain went through his brain. He felt his wolfish part in agony. He let a howl of pain and sorrow escape his lips as tears felt through his shut eyes. In an instant Tonks was next to him holding his head in her arms, asking what was wrong. An individual of his pack was dead and he knew who it was. Strangely he felt sorrow much stronger than he had ever experienced. He finally managed to sob "Harry is dead". He didn't understand the reason behind his extended pain until the next morning news: it was also guilt that fretted his heart.

..ooOoo..

Consternation passed on the international Wizarding community. Lord Voldemort was stronger than he had ever been. His Death Eaters were wreaking havoc without opposition, Albus Dumbledore was dead and they had wrongly sent their savior to jail where he died before the age of twenty-seven. They knew they were doomed and the Dark Lord agreed. Each community feared dark attacks in commemoration and their wish was granted. In order to thank them Voldemort ordered attacks in every single country with one single mission: kill all the dark haired wizards with green eyes of the age of twenty to twenty-five and carve a lighting bolt on their forehead. Forty-three young men lost their lives in the Dark Lord's acknowledgement of Harry Potter's death.

Twelve people didn't fear attacks. They feared a dead man's tale. Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger, Molly Weasley, Remus Lupin, Arthur Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Fred and George Weasley, Rubeus Hagrid, Fleur Weasley, Nymphadora Tonks and Bill Weasley had all received the same letter.

Gringotts Bank

Potter/Black Estate

Dear Sir, Madam, Miss,

You are required to assist to the reading of Harry James Potter's will today at 10am. In case of incapacity send someone with a dispensation. If you aren't present and no one replaces you your share will be divided between the present members.

Griphook

Executor

It was with dread that all of them took seat in the reading room of Gringotts. Maybe he was paranoid but Bill felt that this Griphook fellow didn't seem to like them at all and yet they had been very polite with him. The fifteen sat down; Ginny had come with her fiancé Dean Thomas, Fleur with her younger sister Gabrielle and Hagrid with his wife Olympe Maxime-Hagrid, another half-giant, and headmistress of the French school of magic Beauxbatons. Griphook and Bill eyed each other for an instant before the goblin spoke.

"Welcome to Gringotts. We are here for a will reading so let's carry on."

The words were harsh and minimal. Bill tried to remember where he had heard of that Griphook before.

"Miss Granger, do you have it?" asked the goblin.

While Hermione produced a golden ball of glass the size of bludger, Bill remembered. He cleared his throat to gather attention and fixed his eyes on the goblin.

"Executor Griphook? Before we start I'd have a question."

"What is it?" replied the banker with obvious irritability.

"I heard you were ah… hum… in a bad situation - if I may say - a few years ago and remained at the cart ride with no promotion's possibility. How is it that you are the executor here?" continued Bill as if he was having a nice conversation with a colleague (which he was in fact, except that the conversation wasn't nice…)

"It has been sorted out with Mr. Potter's passing"

Bill frowned. What Harry's death had to do with it?

"I'm sorry but I fail to see the connection."

"Well, Mr. Weasley" answered Griphook clearly irritated "if you insist; maybe you could start by giving us a crash course in wizard customs. What is this golden sphere?"

"It's a memorimatus" answered Bill with no hesitation or understanding.

"Very well Mr. Weasley! What is it for?"

"It's the equivalent of a pensive except that it doesn't take a few memories but the integrality of the person's memory. It only used after death if the person previously agreed willingly or the magical imprint won't work." Replied Bill as if reading from a dictionary.

"Very good! What is its special feature?" asked Griphook with a smile.

"Well if the person wants, he or she can choose times of his/her life to show to various people or to only a few."

"Good job Mr. Weasley" Griphook said ironically "and what does it entail?"

"A second person has to view the memories to be able to magically mark the moments and emotions in order to let others view…"

Bill trailed when revelation came to him. Griphook was watching him with a toothy grin.

"You mean… You were the one to… you marked Harry's memories?" asked Bill in disbelief.

The goblin merely nodded.

"But… It's… You need to have the other person's total trust … You are a goblin… You could have killed him… It's… It's usually done only bet-… between lovers… As a proof… proof of respect and care from both parts" mumbled Bill.

Griphook's face dimmed.

"Oooh, and I supposed you would have done it for him Mr. Weasley? No? Maybe you Miss Granger? No? But weren't you best friends? Or you Miss Weasley? He asked for all of you. None of you went there! You'd better no try to lecture me on the risks between goblins and humans' magic interaction because you were asked and YOU REFUSED!"

The room was silent. Griphook was calming down and the wizards processed their fear and horror. First, all of them agreed on one thing: you don't know what anger is until you've seen an angry goblin. Then it occurred to them that Harry had to rely on a goblin he had only seen once to do one of the most personal and intimate things in the Wizarding world.

Griphook waited to see their shocked faces before chuckling. He placed the memorimatus at the center of the table and started it. The sphere glowed before projecting a three dimensional picture of Harry with his dates of birth and death. He looked like he was at the moment of his death: small, skinny, unshaved, with long greasy hair, in rags and with only bones and skin. Molly and Ginny Weasley started whipping in the arms of respective husband and future one. Hagrid was howling. The others were just stuck by the vision of this unknown person they had considered as a friend, son or brother. Griphook taped once on the ball.

The image changed to the one of another Harry. Younger considering his hair was short, he didn't have a bear and had more flesh (if only a bit). He started to speak.

"Wotcher everyone, well I believe I'm dead. Something very delayed I guess." He posed for a second as he chuckled. "I think I shouldn't be scared. It is supposed to be the next great adventure after all. I should be with my parents, Sirius and Dumbledore. Unfortunately, if you see this message it means I've never seen Griphook again and that I died in Azkaban. It also means you probably believe I'm guilty of Ron's murder. I guess I can only ask for your forgiveness not to have been there to avoid it." He paused again, just enough time to stop his tears from falling. "I asked for twelve persons to be there and I hope you are all here. Not because it means you might forgive me but because it means you didn't die in the years between my imprisonment and now. I'd like you to see what happened to me this night for you to know how it was for me. With the help of Griphook I've been able to mark major events of my life, starting with the early childhood - these ones are for you Remus – until two days ago, that is to say the trial. The will is going to be read after if you don't mind. Goodbye. Know that I love you all."

The image faded as the light dimmed in the room.

For the following hours the fifteen of them just watched the show. It started with Harry in a cradle with Remus, his father, Sirius, his mother and Peter; then went to Voldemort's attack and the Dursleys. They watched the games of 'Harry Hunting', the gifts for Dudley and kicks for Harry, the bits of accidental magic, the visit to the zoo and the boa. The saw Hagrid from Harry's point of view, his encounters with Ron, Hermione, Neville, and the twins. They saw his thrill at flying, the encounter with the Troll, the events at the end of the first year, the flying car, the Polyjuice potion, Hermione as a cat, as he battled the Basilisk for Ginny's life. They felt the cold of Dementors, how he forced himself to face it again and again in order to master the Patronus Charm. They heard Sybill Trelawney give one prophecy. They saw him drive away hundreds of dementors, pass the various Triwizard tasks. Saw him as he witnessed the rebirth of Voldemort, as he dueled him, as he was attacked by dementors, as he was judged, as he carved 'I must not tell lies' in his hand, as he taught the DA, as they fought the Death Eaters at the Ministry of Magic. They stared at his use of the Cruciatus Curse, at Voldemort's and Dumbledore's duel, as Trelawney's first prophecy was revealed. They saw his classes with Dumbledore about Tom Riddle, their journey to find a horcrux which wasn't one. They saw Snape murder Dumbledore in cold blood. They watched Harry's journey to Professor's Trelawney class, the prophecy, his return, his lost of consciousness, as he sat on the floor unable to move only to finish at the end of Hermione's knee and Neville's fist. They barely managed to see the trial, their own testimonies, his ignored begging to have Veritaserum, finally it stopped.

They knew memorimati involved emotions but never could have guessed the number of feelings of pain and abandon Harry had suffered in his life. They were full of self loathing. The room was silent but for thirteen crying persons (Dean and Olympe were too busy taking care of their husband and fiancée to grieve). They couldn't take anymore, they had send there brother, son, love, friend to hell without reason and they knew it.

Harry's face appeared once again. There were tears on his face. He took a few seconds to compose himself and find a way to talk without choking. "I want you to know I don't hold it against you. It hurt me yes, but I understand your position. I had time to think you know. I figure someone must have used some Polyjuice then knock me cold when I came back to the common room, steal my wand, kill Ron in front of everybody, drop it and leave like if I had realized I had made a blunder. Simple but ingenious, like every plan involving Polyjuice. You couldn't have known and I probably would have fallen for it too, so please don't mortify yourselves and live to the fullest like if you might die tomorrow" he paused "because you might."

The memorimatus turn off. Griphook gave it back to Hermione and place another sphere of glass. He tapped on it once. Harry's face appeared again.

"Okay, now to the fun stuff. Guys, smile you are well-off. Ok so it goes this way: two shares for each couple, that is to say Bill & Fleur, Mr. & Mrs. Weasley and Remus & Tonks. Remus you'd better still be with Tonks because if you left her I'll come back from the dead just to kick your wolfish ass. Hermione and Ginny got two shares each. The twins got two shares too, but that's one for each of you guys as at the latest news you still shared everything. One share for Hagrid and Neville. If one of you isn't with you anymore but went with me, then share equally, same thing if I was cleared post-mortem and received money from the incompetent Ministry… Ooops? Maybe some of you work for it now...

"So, there are 2,863 galleons 9 knuts from my vault… I might add, isn't it Griphook?"

The goblin showed a true smile erasing decades of beliefs that goblins couldn't smile.

"There are also 1,224,973 galleons 3 sickles and 1 knut from Sirius Vault. Okay that is the easy part, as it is money. There is also the possession of Kreacher… which goes to… Reeemuuuusss! Torture him for me if you want, I don't care. He played a role in Sirius' death, it's only fair you got to deal with him. There is also the London house under Fidelus, this one goes at equal shares to Remus, Mr. & Mrs. Weasley and…" Harry stopped, took a breath and with a mischievous glint in the eyes started to sing "Nymphadora, Nymphadora, Nymphadora, oh I love the name of Nymphadora, not you Nymphadora? Nymphadora, Nymphadora, Nymphadora, oh I love the name of Nymphadora, not you Nymphadora?"

Tonks screams of outrage were enough to crack a smile on everybody's face. Harry picked up where he left.

"There is the property in Godric Hollow which goes tooo… Hermiioooooneeee! And finally, it appears I own Ollivanders' shop. It's seems to be a nice business and pays a good rent, the one who is going to have it will have to annoy the old man until he accept to give Hagrid a new wand – don't even think about refusing Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts! – okay, so the shop goes to… Giinnnnnnnnyyyyyyy! Congratulation.

"Well that's pretty much it, I sold Sirius old bike for a couple thousand galleons and gave them to Lycanthropy Society so I don't have anything left. The marauders map goes to the first child to go Hogwarts from all of you, my broom I'd like if it could be buried with me, my invisibly coat I gave it to Griphook, Hedwig has been taken from me and my wand well… you saw it being broken. Ok so now you have at least 80,000 galleons of hard gold each if not more so you only have to go and swear to Griphook you'll have fun with the money and not cry in a corner and he'll let you sign to have it. You'd better not lie to a goblin if you know what I mean… Bye, I love you all" With these final words Harry's face faded and the sphere turned black.

Griphook got up. "This morning I received a letter from the Ministry. Apparently, Miss Granger's got quite a reputation as Auror Longbottom. Mr. Potter has been cleared and 1,000,000 galleons were given as compensation; even though he won't use it I might add. 8,333 galleons will be transferred before the end of day to each of your vaults. If you could sign now, please…"

One after the other they went to sign the inheritance papers. Ginny, Hermione, Mr. & Mrs. Weasley all got a letter. The latter and Hermione opened it to find a small card with just a few words.

I didn't do it.

I'm sorry I couldn't prevent it.

Harry

Ginny's was more personal.

Dear Ginny,

It feels weird to know I'm writing a letter you'll only read when I'll be gone.

I just wanted to tell you that I love you. I guess you know why I broke up with you. I was too scared that someone used you to get to me, and I'm sorry if I hurt you. I feel like we share a bond. It could be my imagination or because your family feels they own me a life-debt but nothing happened when Ron left us… If I'm right it is a soul bond. In this case, I want to apologize because my death must have been physically painful for you wherever you've been.

Goodbye Ginny, keep a few thoughts of me. Live a good life and have lots of little red-hair.

I love you,

Harry

P.S. If what I believe is right I'll see you soon and we won't be dead but as you're reading this letter, I'm not so sure anymore…

Love

Ginny sobbed and murmured "I love you too Harry."

At this moment Dean Thomas erupted "I LOVE YOU TOO HARRY? WHAT THE HELL? EVEN GONE FOR YEARS AND NOW DEAD YOU LOVE HIM? WHAT AM I TO YOU? A REPLACEMENT? AFTER ALL I HAVE DONE TO GET YOU-" but Dean was cut by a well placed blow in his knee. He found himself on the floor, looking straight in the eyes of Griphook. The goblin was cold and menacing even though he was very small. He narrowed his eyes.

"I suggest you apologize to Miss Weasley now Mr. Thomas. Maybe an ice-cream will prove you point enough for her to forgive you." Griphook's voice was cold and harsh. The others nearly expected him to brandish an axe a cut Dean in two, but he just murmured with disgust "Get out of here wizard!" He then turned to the others "Good day to all, Moglik will show you the way out or to your vaults, according to your preferences." That said, he motioned to a goblin and exited the room.

One by one they left the bank without talking. Each one of them went back to working. The atmosphere was heavy and wouldn't be better for long.

..ooOoo..

"Thanks god, it's over" exclaimed Hermione, seating in the Ministry's canteen next to Neville and giving him a kiss on cheek.

"'Ow d'd 't go?"

"Don't speak with your mouth full Auror Longbottom" she said playfully.

"Yes Mam'" He answered once he had swallowed. "So, how did it go?"

"It was horrible" she just replied.

"And?"

"Well, they tested the truth serum we used on Harry, then asked me to go over my rapport thrice! As if writing it once wasn't enough! And then, they've been so nice… they've asked to go over Ron's death again, and again, and again for three bloody hours! Like it was going to change the story!" she fumed

"Hey relax. You would have been thinking about it anyway, no?" he ask cheerfully, or at least he tried, but his face was everything but happy.

"I know, Nev. I've been trying to find where we made a mistake and I can't find any reason. I mean he was a minor we couldn't use the Veritaserum and the Priori Incantatem proved it was his wand who cast the spell. Dear Merlin, we even saw him do it! So what went wrong?" Hermione lamented.

"That's probably there that it went wrong." said Neville as if it explained everything.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that we all saw him, and yet we didn't do anything. They were there, Ron held at wand point and we just sat and stared. We should have acted, we would have known. If it was Harry he received an extremely strong memory charm – stronger than the ones we know - afterward as it managed to foul the potion. And if it wasn't him then… well we would have known in the hour." Neville paused and frowned "Still it must be someone we know…"

"What? What do you mean? What do you know?" Hermione nearly screamed in his face.

"Nothing Herm', just a passing though…"

"Yeah right…" she said with a suspicious frown, the kind that says 'I know you're not totally honest with me but I'll let it pass for now'. "Still, we could have asked for another testimony after his majority, under Veritaserum this time." Hermione murmured.

"Herm, you know you can't open a case again without new evidence to back-up your demand. And we have shit. How do you think we could have succeeded? Furthermore we weren't even working for the Ministry and were still at school. Even if we had wanted to do something, which – I'm ashamed to admit – we didn't, we would never have managed it and we probably wouldn't have been the ones questioning him." Neville said softly.

"So? He wouldn't be dead then!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Oh, make no mistake. He would be because they would have used Veritaserum too but we would still believe him guilty." Neville paused and gave her a chaste kiss on the lips. "You know what's worst? The more I think about it the more I believe we are, or at least were, friend with the one who did it."

"You know something." Hermione stated.

"Just testing some theories, nothing important." Neville quickly said.

"No, you know something" she pressed.

"I told you, nothing important" he answered her. For God sake! Believe this and drop it Herm he though.

"Tell me what you know" she nearly ordered him. "I know that you know something."

"Yes. I know it was the spell that killed Ron but also my fat ass which didn't move from its chair. Happy now?" spat Neville before getting up and leaving.

Hermione just stared at him, tears in her eyes. He was right they had their part of responsibility too. "Don't worry Longbottom, I'll know what it is you're hiding…" she murmured before going back to her office.

..ooOoo..

Griphook was happy. Everything went smoothly, exactly the way Harry had planned it but for the little yelling at the end; but Griphook knew how to deal with this kind of persons. Now he just had to wait. Wait for the second part of Harry's plan to work. If it did Griphook was going to be revered until his old days and will be buried under gold; a great wealth which might enable him to have a large family. If it didn't work, well he would become extremely rich and would get respect and reverence out of it so everything was for the best in the best of the worlds possible. Still he couldn't help but to think about it. Harry had two wills. One if he was killed by the Dark Lord, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and one if he wasn't. The second had been activated, but Harry said he'd come back. How was that possible when his body was dead and his magic gone?

Griphook was taken back to the reality when a goblin open his door followed by a tall man hidden by a long dark cloak. The wizard, he didn't deal with muggles so he had to be one, entered and sat down without a word. When the door was closed he lowered his hood saying "How are things going my friend?"

Griphook smiled. Oh yes, today was a great day.

Ok. That was the second chapter. Hope you liked it. Please Review, it's my first fic, I need pointers.

For those who'd like to know what happened to the ones that still had a live, don't worry, it will come in time. Same thing for those who might not like Harry forgiveness: Guys, what did you expect from him? He's the Golden Boy (even though I don't like Snpae, I agree on this point of personality) but he hadn't been in jail for ten years when he made his will...

I'll try to update soon (within the next week for sure)