A/N: Welcome to The Slytherin Legacy chapter two, Gringotts edition~
As usual, enjoy!
Sneaking out of Grimmauld Place while it was fully occupied with members of the Order had been far easier than Harry had ever expected it to be. It was laughably so, even. He could have left at any time and no one would have noticed a thing!
The fresh air of Diagon Alley was a welcome change after the weeks of being stuck inside both at Durzkaban and then at Grimmauld Place. They checked that the glamour Harry was wearing was holding strong and swiftly transfigured his robes so that they less resembled the only robes Harry actually owned, his Hogwarts uniform.
Sirius remained under the cloak until they reached Gringotts. Everything went off without a hitch and even though aurors were littered across the alley as an extra guard, courtesy of the paranoid Ministry, no one seemed to recognise the Potter heir as he casually made his way towards the bank.
Once inside they pocketed the cloak and stepped up to the teller, undoing the glamour to keep the Goblins from believing they were there to deceive them. The goblin teller looked down his nose at the guests and waited for them to speak.
"I wish to speak with my account manager, please." Harry stated simply, knowing that the real business began when one of the Manager Goblins would show up. Meanwhile, being polite would get him far enough, just like being himself would. The goblin nodded and called for a cart goblin to go fetch Account Manager Ripclaw. Harry thanked them once the Account Manager appeared and was led to the goblin's office.
"Mr Potter, it is good to see you have finally decided to grace Gringotts with your presence." Ripclaw stated, his displeasure easily notable in his tone of voice. Goblins weren't too fond of being kept waiting and the Potter Estate was rather large and difficult to manage without consent from its head of house.
Naturally, Ripclaw had refused any meddling from Dumbledore, whom had been attempting to work under the pretence of being Harry's magical guardian. Only the young heir Potter could arrange any changes as the future Lord Potter. Harry sighed at that statement, knowing this was not off to a good start and much was to be done. "It seems we have started off on a bad foot master Ripclaw, I was unaware of any summons made for my person."
Ripclaw's expression darkened at that new piece of information. "You have not, then, been receiving post from Gringotts bank, or the monthly statements concerning your estate?" The goblin asked, brows furrowed in confusion and contempt, the latter directed to the perpetrator of this breach.
"No sir, I have not." Harry replied, inclining his head. Sirius stood off to the side, assessing the situation and frowning as well, only one man would have attempted such a thing, and have the power to pull it off. Ripclaw had little doubt as to who had been intercepting Harry's mail as well; this was a breach of Gringotts security and confidentiality and one not easily mended. He would most certainly take this up to Director Ragnok for verification and correction; meanwhile...
"I see. Gringotts offers it's deepest apologies. We were unaware of this breach in our security. Naturally, we will do what must be done to compensate; the privacy and safety of our clients' business is our top priority." The goblin inclined its head at Harry, who simply smiled in return. "I understand, master Ripclaw, although I must wonder why anyone would wish to keep such information from me."
Ripclaw gave Harry a very toothy smirk, assuring him that person would pay for their crimes against the Potter estate, and against Gringotts. "There is little doubt that the purpose was to withhold your knowledge of the estate in general, not wishing for you to take up your mantle as the rightful heir and lord of the Potter family."
Harry nodded thoughtfully at that; certainly, Dumbledore had tried to keep this a secret from him for his own benefit. What that benefit was, however, Harry did not know. The best thing he could do now was figure out what had become of his finances and how he could fix the mess Dumbledore had undoubtedly left for him.
"Could we go over the statements then?" He asked, "I would like to see what my parents have left me and if anything was taken unduly." A nod and a few rustles of paper later Ripclaw retrieved a rather large ledger and took out the summary that was always placed at the front before handing it to the young Potter.
Aside from the yearly sums taken from his trust vault at the beginning of each year for his shopping and allowance, he also found several large amounts of gold had been removed at somewhat random timings. This made him believe it might not have even been for the school, which was why he gestured for Sirius to come look at the amounts.
"Sirius, do you think Dumbledore took these out for the Order?" The thunderous look on his godfather's face said it all. "Without a doubt. He did say we had an anonymous benefactor donating steady amounts of gold. Those funds helped build up the Order quite a bit. I can't believe he was stealing from you!" Harry gestured for his godfather to sit and hopefully calm down, as he was emanating a low growl.
"Master Ripclaw, what can be done about this?" Ripclaw quickly and simply explained that Gringotts bank would be fining the Dumbledore vault for theft and take out compensation before removing any stolen gold from his personal account, or the one used for the Order of the Phoenix. If the money could not be removed, the accounts would be frozen indefinitely until their owner comes to undo this and he will then be fined directly.
Thinking about it, Harry realised that while Ripclaw did keep the organization of his accounts secure, any with a key and Harry's apparent consent could access his trust vault and remove whatever they wish. That was how Dumbledore had been in possession of his vault key and how Mrs Weasley had been able to hand him his money prior to going shopping without going for a withdrawal himself.
"You must realise that this will most likely completely destroy Dumbledore's financial status. I take it this will not be a problem?" Harry smirked at the prospect of seeing the headmaster completely broke. Now wouldn't that be amusing to see? "Not at all, master Ripclaw."
When that had been taken care of, they went through the Potter estate, revealing that aside from the cottage at Godric's Hollow he possessed Potter Castle in Scotland and a few manors scattered across the Isles and France. Among these was the Marauder's Lair, the location of which was unknown to anyone not a Marauder. It was easy to tell that Sirius would enjoy going there with Harry and show him every nook and cranny of the place from the wistful expression on Padfoot's face, which made Harry grin in anticipation.
He also possessed several assets in companies such as Quality Quiddich Supplies and Twillfit and Tatting's— even a fair percentage of the Daily Prophet was under his control! The possibilities of those assets made him think he might be able to pull some strings and either get rid of that horrid Skeeter woman, or make sure she stayed in line. Having her print lie after lie about him was doing major damage to the Potter name, something he could not have happening.
After having found the secret part of the Library in the Black house he decided to try one more thing before finishing up what he had come here for. "Master Ripclaw, I was wondering if it was possible to see if I have any blood ties to other magical families. I am dreadfully ignorant about my own as it is." He said, inclining his head in disappointment. He had missed out on so much because of Voldemort and had never even been given a chance to truly learn anything about his parents other than what they looked like and were good at.
The goblin seemed quite willing to acquiesce to his request, almost eagerly so. But then many old lines were tied to the currently active families and if the goblins could get stagnated gold flowing again, it would only increase their benefits and standing within the goblin nation.
"If you would place three drops of blood in this potion, Mr Potter?" After doing so, the potion was poured onto a piece of never-ending parchment and began to fill out in different colour writing. Even the thickness of the words or the cursive they were in changed depending on the names that were written. It took quite a bit to finish the entire line but once it was done, all four colours had been mixed to fill his tree.
Near the top third of the parchment, three very well known lines merged with the Potter name through marriage, though at fairly spread-out intervals. Most prominent was the Gryffindor line, which had retained its own name a long time even whilst mixing with the Potter line. Eventually the Gryffindor name became but a rumour, rather than a known and prided fact.
Slytherin had also made its way into the Potter line a few times in the past and again through his mother who seemed to be a descendant of a squib that had been cast off from their family quite a while ago.
The name that shocked those in attendance the most was one near the very top of the parchment. The name Peverell and its lordship had fallen into stagnation centuries ago, never to be heard from again until now. Only whispers of their artefacts had been made known, until now. To have a direct descendant of the three brothers discovered was quite impressive.
Moving on the parchment's general cursive was for wizards, bold cursive for squibs and regular script was used for muggles. It was surprising to find quite a few muggles had been married into the family along with a long line of squibs in the Slytherin family who had lost touch with their heritage.
This made him wonder if this was the case with other muggleborns as well. Wouldn't that just put a huge block into Voldemort's plans?
'Boy-Who-Lived discovers muggleborns as descendants of dead lines."
Now that would be a headliner.
He chuckled softly to himself, going up and down the list to find he was also related to the Black family through his grandmother, which in turn, related him to the Malfoys. Now wasn't there a jolly thought? He and Draco were never going to live that one down. Not to mention the incredible fuss Ron would kick up if he found out.
He would keep this little titbit to himself, maybe inform Malfoy over time as bargaining material or a gesture of good faith. It would be an inconvenience to be on bad terms with family members he would later become the head of, should Sirius go through with declaring him his heir. Not to mention a tentative friendship with Heir Malfoy could be beneficial and give him an entrée in the current wizarding upper class social life and politics.
He was getting off track. "Huh, so I really am related to Slytherin." Well, wasn't that a surprise? He held claim to the title 'Heir of Slytherin' after all, best not to inform the student body of that fact. Then again, he was also an heir to the Gryffindor line, which could be a boon to let the school discover.
"Indeed, young lord, and it would be my pleasure to see which of the old families accept you as their rightful heir." Harry inclined his head, privately wondering how that even worked. "Has one Tom Riddle come here to claim the Slytherin line before?"
A cold laugh came from the goblin then. "Ah yes, the Slytherin ring declined him quite violently if I recall." So Tom had lied about being the Lord Slytherin. He wasn't the lord or even the heir, not really. How surprising that Harry might be, when Voldemort was not given right to the claim.
Though perhaps it had to do with the Slytherins prising blood purity as most of the old lines did. Tom was the half-blooded son of a muggle and a near-squib but Harry was now proved to be a pureblood due to his mother's ancestry, making him more suitable for the Lordship. Curious, how these things worked.
"I see. My lordship is also why I have come here, Ripclaw. I wish to be emancipated and, if my godfather is correct, being forced to participate in the Triwizard Tournament at the age of fourteen and being pushed through a full criminal trial before the Wizengamot has already given me that right."
The master goblin summoned a lower ranked goblin and had commanded the rings of the two founders to be fetched along with the Potter and Peverell lord rings as well as the Black heir ring before replying to this. "Yes, it seems your laws have already declared you an adult, in which case you will only need to sign the papers and wear the ring of your family to prove your emancipation.
A snap of the goblin's fingers had the emancipation documents flying towards the Potter heir and landing neatly in front of him. The required signatures had been given through the signatures of the trial, thus not alerting anyone of the request and still using a completely legal and valid document. Harry signed his name with the blood quill before the paper flashed a bright golden. "It is done. If you would perhaps show me your wand, Lord Potter, we may see if there is any residual trace upon your wand."
Harry simply took out his wand and handed it to the goblin, surprising the other quite a bit, as no wizard ever willingly gave up his wand to a goblin, especially so freely. That one act gave Harry astonishing liberties with the goblin nation for life as well as giving the master goblin the shock of his life.
The goblin frowned after performing his own scans, discovering quite a few residual spells that should not have been there, as well as a loyalty one directed from the wand to Harry himself, as if the wand had been forcibly matched with the Potter. He removed the spells and warned Harry of what had been on the wand.
Indeed Harry found the wand was no longer as comfortable and it rather tried to work against him, at which he simply pocketed the wand with regret. "I must thank you Master Ripclaw, I may have never found my true wand had it not been for you. I owe you my thanks." Ripclaw almost snorted at that, finding Harry's gratitude for the act ridiculous, but perhaps the boy did not quite realise...
"Young lord Potter, it is I that is grateful to you for your trust in us. No wizard gives up his or her wand to a goblin willingly, not even for spell checks." He said, surprising Harry in turn. "I see... A foolish decision on their part, as they do not seem to realise the power the goblin nation holds over their finances. The bank could easily deny access to a family's gold should the persons have offended them. Which I take is a common occurrence." Harry had seen enough wizards sneering within the bank to do the math.
"Indeed, such a shame on their part." Ripclaw grinned proudly. This boy was far smarter than his fellow lords it seemed, as no other wizard seemed to care or realise that the creatures they belittled daily were also fully capable of cutting off their finances should they wish it. My, a human with a goblin's viciousness... What an inspiring combination.
Meanwhile, the boxes with the rings had arrived and were stalled out in front of the young lord. Harry decided to go for the most neglected ancestry first, smearing a drop of blood over the box' seal to unlock it before taking out the lord ring. It was made of very well polished silver, a bright emerald sitting on top of the ring, the Slytherin crest carved into it.
He carefully put it onto the ring finger of his right hand, reserving the left for the Potter ring. There was a bright flash of silver and green magic around the ring, which swirled around harry briefly before settling again, the ring resizing to match his finger. 'Follow your ancestry well. Do us proud.' Were the words that echoed through his mind when the last of the magic settled and Harry smiled when it did, mumbling softly to himself. "I will."
Next was the Gryffindor ring and the process repeated itself, the outburst this time in bright red and gold, the ring made of gold, a ruby sitting on top with the Gryffindor crest. The ring once again resized to his finger and moulded itself to the Slytherin ring, displaying both halves of the rings as one. 'It takes courage to choose your own path. Only you decide.' Were the words that resonated in his head this time, causing him to smile and nod. This was his path, and his alone; no one could change his choices but himself. No longer would he be a puppet in a battle he did not wish to fight.
The Peverell ring was next, a dark ruby with an odd symbol in the middle happily settled onto his finger as well, red magics surrounding the ring briefly. 'You have freed the Peverell ring of its taint. Welcome young lord, may you return the Peverell name to it's former glory.'
While having no idea what taint the ring's magics mentioned, he filed the information away for later and looked at the two remaining boxes stalled out for him. These were the most important in Harry's opinion, as their legacies were most closely tied to him.
When the Potter ring accepted him, it was like a gasp of fresh air, a loving sigh and a hug washing over him all at the same time. He'd never felt anything so wonderful in his life. Lastly was the Black Heir ring, which he was advised to keep on a chain around his neck until Lord Black, aka Sirius, could make the appointment of his heir official.