Standard Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story; they all belong to JK Rowlings. This is a work of fan fiction, produced solely for enjoyment. No infringement of rights is intended.
– CHAPTER EIGHT –
Ragnog
Arriving in the backyard behind The Leaky Cauldron, Harry quickly counted the bricks above the trash cans, found the brick he was looking for, and tapped it three times with his wand. The brick that he tapped quivered then wiggled, and a small hole appeared in the middle of it. A second later, an archway materialised before Harry, and he strode through. He didn't wait to see the archway shrink back into a solid wall.
Keeping his head down, he marched quickly up to Gringotts, and walking up to the nearest available goblin, asked to see Ragnog. The goblin arched his eyebrow at such a strange request – very few wizards (or witches for that matter) were permitted to meet the manager; even the Minister was not always welcome.
Harry had been expecting this, having talked to Hermione about it the night before. She'd been very excited about the prospect of Harry's meeting, she too knew that it was most unusual for the manager of Gringotts to ask a wizard to come and meet him. Harry pulled out the letter that he'd received and handed it to the goblin, who quickly read it, and getting off his high stool, led him to a waiting room.
He'd barely sat down, when another goblin walked up to him, and asked him to come and meet Ragnog, who was now ready to see him. Harry, a bit nervous, followed the goblin down a short passageway, to a huge set of double doors. The goblin opened them with a flick of his hand, and stood aside to allow Harry entry, bowing as Harry passed. 'An honour to have met you Sir,' he said.
'The pleasure was all mine.' Harry replied, unsure of customs regarding courtesy towards goblins.
As he stepped through the doorway, he noticed a large desk sitting a few feet away. Behind it sat one of the most ancient looking goblins Harry had ever laid eyes on. He had wispy white hair adorning the sides of his otherwise bald skull, and the same wispy hair grew out of his ears and nostrils too.
'This,' Harry thought, 'had to be Ragnog.'
He walked up to the desk uncertainly, and upon reaching it, stretched out his hand. Ragnog stood up, and shook it; whispering in a tired voice, 'Mr. Potter, a pleasure to have finally met you. Please, sit down.' Harry sat in a beautiful leather chair and replied.
'No Sir, the pleasure is all mine. After all Sir, it is not every day that the manager of Gringotts personally hands a wizard the keys to their vaults.' Ragnog smiled weakly, and replied in fashion.
'Ah, but neither is it every day that a goblin gets the chance to hand over the keys to the heir of one of the wealthiest wizarding families in Britain.' Harry's jaw quite literally dropped at this, 'After all, they are usually handed over during a will reading, or by an older family member. As neither circumstance was appropriate in your position; the late Professor Dumbledore, as you're parents' confidant, asked me to keep your family vault keys until your seventeenth birthday, only letting you draw money out from a small trust fund until then.'
Harry's head was spinning, but he still managed to murmur, practically in shock, '- one of the wealthiest wizarding families in Britain -'. 'Dumbledore had certainly forgotten to mention that,' he thought.
'Is there something wrong Mr. Potter?' Ragnog inquired, leaning forward in his seat.
'Oh no, Sir, it's just that this is the first I've heard of this.' Harry replied shakily.
'Really? That is most unusual, but perhaps Professor Dumbledore had been intending to tell you himself when you turned seventeen. It is most unfortunate for you, and the rest of the magical world that he did not live that long. Professor Dumbledore was a good wizard, and a fair minded soul. He never judged anyone by their species; I even heard that he paid his house elves, well, those that accepted the money anyway.' Harry nodded mutely, too lost in his memories to pay attention.
Ragnog seemed to notice Harry's state, and quickly changed the subject. 'But we are not here to discuss Professor Dumbledore's great deeds, which themselves would require a whole other meeting to discuss fully; we are here,' he pulled out an ornate box, a parchment envelope, and a roll of parchment, 'to discuss your family vaults.' Harry finally looked up, and noticed the box, and wondered what it contained.
'These,' Ragnog said, opening the box with a flourish of ancient and long forgotten grace, 'are your keys Mr. Potter.' He pulled out three golden keys and placed them on the desk. Harry gasped. They were nothing like the key to his trust vault. They were ornately decorated gold keys, with rubies encrusted in them.
'The house of Potter is an ancient and noble one, Mr. Potter. In this vault,' he pointed at one of the keys, 'you will most likely find money, mostly in Galleons, but some will most likely be in Pounds Sterling and maybe a few other currencies too. I say most likely Mr. Potter, because goblins do not as a rule enter a wizard's vault. However, when these vaults were last used, most of the time, money was withdrawn from this vault.' Harry nodded, remembering that the last people to withdraw money from the vault were probably his parents. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
'This second key,' Ragnog continued, not noticing Harry's movement, 'is where I believe your ancestors placed the valuables that they did not need immediately. In there, you will probably find clothes, trinkets, letters, paintings etc. That vault has not been opened in oh,' he closed his eyes in thought, 'maybe one hundred years, your great, great grandfather was the last person to access it I believe.'
By this time, Harry was far too far gone to even realise that the goblin probably remembered his great, great grandfather, that he was alive when the vault was last opened. All he could think of, was that he was finally about to get to find out about his family. All his life he had yearned to have a family, know of his heritage, and now, he was finally going to get a chance to find out about his father and his ancestors.
He couldn't even focus hard enough to ask Ragnog what the last vault contained, but the old goblin pre-empted him.
'The last vault, Mr. Potter, was you parents' vault. Well, it contains some items belonging to your grandparents too, but for the most part, everything in it was placed in there by your parents. In fact, if these records are accurate, the last time they opened that particular vault was only a few weeks after your birth.'
Harry sat bolt upright at these words, realising that fearing for their lives, and Harry's, they must have gone into hiding not long after this. Therefore, they must have put everything that was precious to them in the vault before hiding he reasoned. Looking up at Ragnog, who was observing him closely, he asked,
'Can I go and open that vault Mr. Ragnog?'
'Of course Mr. Potter, but before you do that, I need to finish giving you your possessions.' He looked down at the parchment again. Harry looked thoroughly confused at this.
'What more could I possibly have?' he thought, 'There can't possibly be more.' He voiced this last comment aloud. Ragnog looked up from the roll of parchment, looking bemused. Then he chuckled and smiled,
'Ah, but there is Mr. Potter, in fact, there is a lot more. There are tracts of land, estates, investments, and a letter,' he pointed to the envelope, 'left with me to hand to you today. Professor Dumbledore gave it to me, but I do not know who the author is.' Looking up at Harry, he continued, 'I will not bore you now with the list of things that you now own; it is quite clear that all you want to do is visit your parents vault, quite understandable of course given the circumstances.' He finished this last comment with an indulgent smile, for indeed, Harry was fiddling absentmindedly with his clothes, itching to go and discover his parents vault.
'All I need you to do now, Mr. Potter, is to sign this parchment, acknowledging your receipt of the keys, and binding your name to the estates. As soon as you sign it, you will know the locations of all your lands and homes; you can visit them whenever you like. However, if you intend to show them to people, your friends for example, you will need to write down the address and show it to them. You are familiar with the Fidelius Charm I presume?' He asked, looking up at Harry. Harry nodded,
'I know it quite well; I cast it two days ago.' Ragnog looked up again, surprised.
'Really? Well that is quite remarkable Mr. Potter; that is a very complex piece of magic to master.'
'Yes, well I practised it for a month before casting it, and it still exhausted me. My friend had to carry me into the flat after I gave her the address, I think I passed out.' He blushed slightly.
'There is nothing to be ashamed of Mr. Potter, not many full grown wizards can perform the charm. Though I take it that you have found accommodation for the present then?' Harry nodded, 'Well, unless you are dissatisfied with that accommodation, I advise that you do not visit your ancestral homes yet, as giving away their locations is quite unnecessary for the time being. The present political atmosphere makes it safer for you to remain hidden; the reopening of your ancestral homes would attract a lot of unneeded attention.' He looked pointedly at Harry, who nodded soberly.
'Right then,' Ragnog said, pushing a quill and the roll of parchment towards Harry, 'if you sign at the bottom; there,' he said, pushing the end of the roll forwards, 'you can go visit your parents' vault.'
Harry hurriedly signed and pushing the parchment back towards Ragnog, stood up. Ragnog rolled the parchment back up, and stood up too, reaching forwards to shake Harry's hand.
'It has truly been a pleasure Mr. Potter. Your family has always been kind to magical creatures, and I hear that you have followed in their footsteps. Professor Dumbledore always spoke very highly of you, and your deeds. Not many wizards would befriend a house elf, and free them from an oppressive master.' Harry's cheeks flushed pink at the compliment, 'Now, I will not detain you any longer, so I wish you good luck in the future, and a long life.'
He shook Harry's hand firmly, and smiled warmly at Harry, 'Your ancestors would be very proud of the wizard that you have become.' Harry mumbled his thanks, flushing even redder if it was possible. 'Now, have a good day, and I hope you find what you are looking for in your parents' vault.' Harry took this to be the end of the meeting, and thanked Ragnog again. He picked up the three vault keys and the envelope before making his way to the doors. They opened in their own accord when he approached them, and Harry turned back, to see Ragnog, hand outstretched, smiling.
Harry made his way to the lobby, and approached a goblin sitting on a high stool.
'Hi, I'd like to access James and Lily Potter's vault please.' He said, extracting the key to his parents' vault. The goblin looked confused for a second, then smiled and said,
'I presume, what you meant to say was that you wanted to access one of your vaults, the one associated with this key.' Harry looked confused, so the goblin pressed on, 'There are no vaults corresponding to that name Sir, they all belong to Mr. Potter now, who I presume, is you Sir.' Harry nodded absently; having three vaults was going to be confusing if he would have to go through this every time.
'Right Mr. Potter, I'll have someone take you down to the vault. Ringot!' A mean looking goblin walked over. 'Ringot, take Mr. Potter to vault five hundred and three.' Ringot nodded and started walking away. 'Have a good day Sir.' Harry, who had started following Ringot, turned and smiled.
'You too.' He turned back and hurried to catch up with Ringot, who was marching towards a small line of carts.