Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Gargoyles belong to their respective owners, neither of which is me, I'm merely borrowing their characters. I am not making any money off of this story.
Author's note: Here isthe chapter I promised and it's much longer than the last one was. Thank you to everyone who reviewed. The next chapter probably won't be up until this comingweekend as I have a paper that I need to finish writing for school.
Chapter 4
The Burrow (Late afternoon/early evening)
The group was sitting in the field again, this time with their school books and homework with them. Mrs. Weasley had wanted them to spend time closer to the house, but they had managed to convince her that they just wanted to enjoy the sun and fresh air while they could. Hermione told her that they were going to work on their homework and that the fresh air would allow them to work better. That set Mrs Weasley off on how proud she was that her children "were finally becoming serious about their schooling" and that "they were getting a head start on their studying." She left them alone after that but did provide them with a basket full of snacks to "help keep their brains fed and on their studies." She wasn't too worried because of the wards around the property that were monitoring them and keeping her aware of where they are and a basic idea of what they were doing.
So the group had carried their books to the field and joined Harry. Ron had immediately began protesting when Hermione prodded them about actually beginning to study but after a short arguement in which Hermione pointed out that Mrs. Weasley would know if they were studying or playing Quidditch, and might come to investigate and yell at them, he settled down with his books, grumbling the whole time.
As he was getting settled however, he looked up and spotted Harry, and tried one last ditch effort to get out of doing the work. "Hey, how come Harry doesn't have to do any work!"
Harry though had been growing bored of just sitting around while his friends came and went, so he just shrugged, pulled out his shrunken trunk, enlarged it and took out his school books before reshrinking the trunk. This caused his friends, even Luna, to stare at him in shock at his casual breaking of the statutes of use of underage magic. That is until Hermione began shrieking at him.
"HARRY JAMES POTTER! Are you crazy! The whole point of hiding out is that no one knows where you are! Now the ministry can track you, not to mention that you'll probably be expelled for your blatant use of underage magic! What were you THINKING!"
When Hermione paused for breath and Harry's ears stopped ringing long enough for him to answer, he responded "Hermione, I've been using magic on and off since last night, I told you that. Whatever that transformation did, it somehow blew out the ministry's tracking charms. I think it may have changed my magic a bit as well, my wand has felt a bit different. Like my magic was blocked and now isn't or something. That's also why I think the wards aren't reacting to me, remember?"
A now calm and blushing Hermione could only answer, "Oh."
Now that that outburst was taken care of the group settled in to do their homework. However, each of them was alert to the sun's movement above their heads, and as it grew nearer to sunset each had more and more difficulty concentrating on their work. Even Hermione found herself rereading the same page over and over without understanding it. Finally, with about a half hour until sunset the group put their books aside, Harry returning his to his trunk, and settled in to anxiously wait for the sun to set.
As the sun began to set and the sky darken they had their answer. Harry collapsed to ground, screaming in agony. If he had been able to think about it, he would have been grateful for the silencing spell Hermione had had him cast as a precaution. They didn't want anyone from the Burrow to come investigate, after all. His body began to shift, bones twisting and changing shape. His hands and feet became clawed, and lost a digit each. Wings and a tail sprouted from his body, and his skin changed color and became stronger, harder to pierce.
Finally it was over, and his friends took in the change in Harry. His clothes were now little more than rags, barely holding together. His skin was a pale blue and he seemed a bit taller. His hair seemed even more wild than before, if that was possible. Looking at his face, they could still see their friend, but probably only because they knew to look. His face was harsher, more reptilian looking, but still Harry. His most familiar features were his scar and his eyes but his scar was faded and hard to see unless you knew to look for it. His eyes however, were the same vibrant shade of green as ever.
"Well" Harry asked hesitantly after a few moments of silence, "How do I look?"
"You're a terrifying monster." Neville responded with a straight face. Everyone turned to look at him in shock. He continued "I'm sure anyone who sees you will be terrified if they spot you. But that's not much different than normal is it." He laughed. It took a few seconds for his words to sink in, then they all had a quick laugh over Harry's indignant "Hey!"
"But seriously, how do I look?" Harry asked now that the tension was broken.
Ginny asked "You were like this all last night, how come you don't know what you look like?"
"I was a little busy dodging curses, then I was up in a tree. I didn't exactly have a chance to look in a mirror, now did I?"
"Oh, right" she replied, blushing a bit at her forgetfulness. "Here." she handed him a mirror and he had a chance to examine his features himself.
"I don't really look that different. I mean not if you know that it's me and you can look for it. But the skin and extra body parts will really throw everyone else off. I guess nobody will recognize me if they don't know to look."
"We need to come up with a plan and we don't have much time. If we stay out here too long after dark someone will come looking for us. Harry can't be caught, especially not now. Who knows if they'll even give us a chance to explain, or if they'll just see a 'dark creature' and shoot first and ask questions later." Hermione got right down to business.
"Mum'll still be busy cooking and the others won't be home for a little longer, so we've got at least a half hour but any longer and we'll be asking for trouble" came Ron's response.
"I actually thought a bit about this while I was waiting for you to come back from the house. I mean we've got a destination, we just need to figure out a way to get there. I've thought about it, and I think that muggle transportation is the best way. Most wizards won't think to look for us that way and they won't be able to track us to our destination. That is, if you guys still want to come with me?"
He was met by vehement responses from all of his friends ranging from "Of course we still want to go with you" to "That transformation screwed with your head if you thought we'd abandon you" to "Are the grizzledweets invading your head to make you ask such a question?"
"Alright, sorry, just had to be sure. In that case the biggest obstacle is that most of us don't have the proper muggle identification papers. I think I know a way to fix that. I've heard that enough money will fix any problems and I've got plenty of it just sitting there in Gringott's not doing me any good. So what we have to do is get to Gringott's."
"Mate, I think you're missing something here. If any of us try to leave the property, alarms will go off and the whole order will show up to lock us away."
"Maybe not," came Hermione's reply. "I studied the ward that they put up and it's fairly simple to circumvent" She was interrupted by Ron's exclamation of "Then why didn't we already take care of it." He quickly shut up at her glare. She continued "As I was saying Ronald, the wards are fairly simple to circumvent IF you can use magic, which we couldn't. But Harry can."
"Then we just need to figure out when to go, and I think I know the perfect time. Mum is supposed to go to headquarters for Order business. We'll be left here by ourselves for a couple of hours. Mum's not worried because the wards will keep us from going anywhere. So after Mum leaves, Harry lifts the wards and we floo to Diagon Alley. Harry should also disguise us in case there are any Order members about. Wouldn't do for us to be seen." Ginny reasoned.
"I think we should also pack our stuff and have Harry shrink it. I don't think we'll get another chance and if we go and get caught coming back that's it, we're done for." Neville added.
"Okay, then we're all decided?" Harry asked and everyone nodded. "Then you guys had better get back to the house before someone comes. I'll see you tomorrow. Oh, and could you guys please save me some breakfast? These transformations really make me hungry."
The five left, and Harry settled in for the night wondering what they would learn once they reached their destinations. As he looked at the star-filled sky he contemplated trying to fly with his new wings but decided against it for a couple of reasons. First it wouldn't do for anyone to spot him, and second he wasn't sure how the bloody things worked to begin with. The experiments could wait for another night, when he didn't have to worry about being caught.
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The sun was up for a couple of hours when Mrs. Weasley finally left and Ron signaled Harry to come in. Mrs. Weasley had been suspicious when the five had all gotten up early but Ron quickly explained that Ginny had promised him she would practice Quidditch with him to help him keep in practice for next season. The others were going to watch from the ground and give them some pointers, plus help them get used to playing in front of an audience. Mrs. Weasley had merely "Hmmphed" and warned them about "not being spotted by any muggles, to be careful, and to finish their homework." Then she left.
Harry quickly came in, shrunk all of their trunks, and then quickly ate the breakfast they had saved for him. He then performed the charm as Hermione instructed him, as well as the disguises they all needed. He stood in front of a mirror to do his. Then one by one they entered the fireplace and called out "Diagon Alley". Harry spun around and around before being spit out of the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron at an incredible speed. He felt himself collide with something, and then just lay on the floor, still dizzy from the method of travel. He lifted his head when he heard a throat being cleared. Looking up he realized he was laying on top of someone, no two someones. He quickly got up blushing a bright red and stammering apologies to Luna and Ginny. Luna merely brushed him off muttering about some type of creature or other, but Ginny raised an eyebrow and said "Why Harry, I didn't know you cared" which just made him blush and stammer more. Once the group had had a good laugh and Harry's face was no longer Weasley red, they continued out into the alley.
The group quickly made their way through the alley to the bank. They went in groups of two so they would be less noticeable. They all noticed how empty the alley looked, the few people who were there were hurrying about their business and looking over their shoulder, as if expecting an attack at any moment. Harry was disturbed by the sight because the alley had always been busy whenever he had come. However he was grateful that Ron was his partner rather than Ginny or Luna. He was still a bit embarrassed. Well he was grateful until Ron asked "So what's going on between you and my sister?"
Harry spluttered "What do you mean, nothing's going on between us. I tripped, is all and Ginny decided to tease me."
"I've seen the looks she's been giving you. I just want to know how you feel about her. I mean, you're my best mate, like a brother to me, but she's my sister and I don't want her to get hurt."
"Ron she's a friend. I don't know about any other type of feelings I might have. I didn't exactly have the best environment growing up to be able recognize those type of feelings anyway, you know. Plus with all that's happened in the past couple of days I'm confused enough as it is without thinking about possible relationships. Besides, I thought she said she was dating Dean."
"Nah, she just said that to rile me up. And I understand what you're saying, just maybe you should talk with her, get things settled so she's not getting her hopes up yet."
Any further conversation was ended as they reached the bank and met up with the others. They entered and began to approach one of the tellers when Harry bumped into someone. He looked down and immediately began apologizing to the annoyed goblin. "I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going. Are you alright?" The goblin looked less annoyed and more puzzled at the sincere apology coming from the wizard before him, and stared at him intently.
Harry, feeling uncomfortable under the intense scrutiny apologized again, taking a closer look at the gobling. "I really am sorry. I should have been watching where I was going, Griphook, wasn't it?"
"You know my name, sir?" The goblin, Griphook was definitely puzzled now. Never before had any wizard apologized to a goblin for bumping into them, usually they act as if it was the goblin's fault and begin to order them about. This young wizard not only apologized, but seemed to recognize Griphook.
"Well, yes. You took me down to my vault for the first time and I've seen you around a few times after that, though I haven't been here in a few years and I looked different at the time."
"No, I know who you are Mr. Potter. Inside Gringotts disguises do not fool Goblins. Can't have someone trying to take that which doesn't belong to them, now can we? No, I was surprised because you not only recognized me but remembered my name as well."
"Well that trip was memorable, and it is only common courtesy to greet someone by name when you see them."
"Indeed Mr. Potter." replied Griphook, growing more impressed with the young wizard as the conversation went on. Harry's friends had paused and were watching the conversation taking place. "I gather that you are here in response to the notice that Gringott's sent you?"
Now it was Harry's turn to be puzzled, "Notice, what notice? I've never received any mail from Gringotts. Actually now that I think about it, I should ask about getting an account statement for my vault as well."
"The notice about your godfather, Sirius Black's will. Do you mean to tell me that you have never received any of your account statements, at all?" Griphook was really frowning now. "Prior to your thirteenth birthday, all statements were sent to your magical guardian, but after you turned 13 you should have begun to receive them for yourself, so that you could prepare for when you came of age. This is disturbing news indeed. Please come with me, your friends may come as well if you wish." The group exchanged looks and agreed.
Griphook led the group to what appeared to be a conference room with a large table and chairs in the center. "Please wait here and make yourselves comfortable. I will return quickly with a manager and we will get to the bottom of this."
Harry removed the glamours from himself and his friends, figuring the goblins could already see through them, so it didn't make a difference, then they all sat down. He asked "Does anyone know what's going on? I keep learning things that it seems like I should have known all along but noone ever tells me. What's a magical guardian? What did Griphook mean about my receiving notices after my 13th birthday?"
Neville answered him "A magical guardian is for those who are raised in the muggle world by muggles. They won't have any knowledge before they enter the wizarding world, so they are assigned a magical guardian to look out for their interests and help inform them about our society."
Hermione continued here "I have one, it's some ministry official from the muggle relations department. She came after I received my letter and explained all about Hogwarts and the wizarding world to my parents and I."
"I never got any of that. All that happened was that letters began appearing, then Hagrid showed up and told me I was a wizard. Sounds like Dumbledore was manipulating me again, keeping me ignorant. And before you say it Hermione, I know I could have looked the information up myself when I got to Hogwarts, but it was all new to me and I didn't know what to look up or even that I had to. But what about that thirteenth birthday?"
Neville answered again "You know how 13 is a special number in magic, right? Well that's when wizards and witches are supposed to start maturing more, both physicaly, mentaly and magically. We're supposed to start taking more responsibility for our own affairs. My gran started trying to teach me more about our financial matters and family stuff when I turned 13. For orphans, such as yourself Harry, you're supposed to start learning as much as possible about your accounts so that when you come of age at 17 you are prepared to deal with everything. You'll also have access to your family vault and investments then so you really need to know how to deal with it."
"My what? What's a family vault? I thought I already had access to my vault."
"No Harry, that's probably just a trust fund that your parents set up for you for Hogwarts. All the old families do that. There is no way that you only have that one vault, the Potters are one of the oldest, richest and most prestigious families. And as the only member left, you inherit it all" Neville explained.
"Something else Dumbledore has kept hidden from me" Harry grumbled. "Wait, I haven't been getting any statements so I have no way of knowing, but is it possible that someone has been accessing those accounts?" The group paled at the thought that Dumbledore had been stealing from Harry for years on top of everything else he had done to him.
The group sat in silence contemplating that thought for a few moments before Griphook returned with several other goblins. Harry and his friends rose to greet them. The one in the most elaborate clothes with several fancy rings on each hand spoke. "Greetings Mr. Potter, my name is Ragnok. Griphook informed us of some irregularities regarding your account, and after some investigating we found his report to be accurate and disturbing. You have our sincerest apologies for this and we promise that we will discover how this was allowed to happen." Harry noticed that his friends had gone very pale when the goblin introduced himself but ignored it in favor of responding to Ragnok.
"Thank you for meeting with me Ragnok. I am sure you are an extremely busy person so I'll try to take up as little of your time as possible. After all, time is money. And please call me Harry" Harry received some strange looks from the goblins for this but Ragnok just nodded and said to Griphook "You were correct." Everyone sat down at the table.
"Thank you Mr. Potter, Harry. Let me inform you of what we have discovered so far. Shortly after your parents untimely death Albus Dumbledore used his position to get himself declared your magical guardian. He could not touch your accounts until you turned 11 and accessed them yourself. Now, he has no way of accessing the Potter Family Trust itself, as he is not a Potter, but he could access your school trust vault. Every year after you left for school he would transfer the money from your vault into one of his own accounts. Your trust vault is refilled every year in June from main family vault, so it is doubtful you have noticed a difference. I promise you Mr. Potter we are working on discovering how this was allowed to happen. As for why you have not been receiving your Gringott's notices, we have found that there is a mail ward up designed to prevent you from receiving mail from anyone not specified by the person who set it. Simply put, your mail was being intercepted."
"Thank you Ragnok. I appreciate all of the effort you have put into this. Is there any way to get back the money that Dumbledore has stolen from me?"
"Yes. Right now we are watching the accounts that he transferred the money to. We want to make sure that he hasn't done this with any other accounts. If he tries to withdraw or otherwise move that money it will be transferred back to the appropriate accounts. Right now we don't want to tip him off that we know what he is up to."
"I understand. Thank you."
"Now Mr. Pot.., Harry, about another matter. You were named the main beneficiary of Sirius Black's will. Other than a few bequeathments to members of the Weasley family, the Tonks family, a charity and a Remus Lupin, he left everything to you. He also left papers that would emancipate you, making you an adult in the eyes of the law. All you have to do is sign them."
"Thank you Ragnok. May I see the papers?" Harry received and quickly read through the papers, passing them to Hermione to double check what they are. They looked fairly straight-foward and clear. "Thank you Ragnok. Everything seems to be in order. But before I sign, is there anyway of keeping this quiet, I'd rather Dumbledore not find out just yet. An ace up my sleeve, if you will?"
"Of course Harry. All of our dealings are confidential. There is no need for Dumbledore to find out. We'll simply quietly file the papers with several others and Dumbledore will never know the difference until you inform him." The goblin passed him a familiar looking quill and was surprised when Harry glared at it. "Is everything alright Harry? It is a simple contractual quill, foul things I agree but contracts of this magnitude need to be signed in blood."
"I'm alright. I've just had bad experience with this type of quill before." He quickly signed the documents, hissing in pain. He explained further at the goblin's inquisitive look. "We had a professor last year who made us write lines with a similar quill for detention. She was Fudge's lackey and working to discredit me because I said Voldemort was back, so I spent many nights in detention writing 'I must not tell lies'" Harry showed the goblin the back of his hand where the words could still be seen.
The goblins all hissed and began muttering in Gobbledygook. "Mr. Potter, Harry, am I correct in assuming that the professor in question was Dolores Umbridge." At Harry's nod he continued "We have had the unfortunate experience of dealing with her ourselves. And the laws she tries to introduce, bah. Everyone knows quite clearly her feelings on non and part humans. What she did to you was illegal, those quills are restricted items and are only to be used for signing contracts. We would be honored to level charges against her for you. Do you know of any other students she forced to write with the quill?" Harry and his friends quickly gave the goblins who were now smiling broadly and showing off mouths full of sharp teeth, a list of students they knew had been forced to write with a blood quill.
"Now Mr. Potter is there anything else we can do for you?"
Harry looked at his friends before replying. "Actually we need to get out of Britain for a while and don't want to be tracked, so we want to travel the muggle way. It's not too likely that anybody will think to look for us that way. But the problem is that most of us don't have the proper identification needed. Do you know of any way we could quickly obtain it?"
"Yes Mr. Potter we can help you with that." Ragnok signaled one of the other goblins and he quickly left the room. "It will take a bit of time to arrange. If you tell me your destination we can also help arrange the transportation. It is the least we can do to make things up to you."
"It was not your fault Ragnok, but thank you. We need to go to New York City in America. We had planned on taking a muggle airplane. We would prefer it if we could book a morning flight" Harry replied thinking of his 'condition'.
"Of course Harry" and Ragnok sent another goblin off to take care of it. "Now while that is being taken care of do you mind if we settle some of the bequests from Mr. Black's will since several of the recipients are present? Good, to Ron Weasley goes a vault with 5000 galleons and 10 percent ownership in the Chudley Cannons. To Ginerva Weasley goes a vault with 5000 galleons and a stipend for a yearly account with Madame Malkins robe shop. To Hermione Granger goes a vault with 5000 galleons and 10 percent ownership in Flourish and Blotts bookstore. Mr. Black also left a donation to St. Mungo's to help those in the long-term care ward, especially 'his old friends Frank and Alice Longbottom who didn't deserve what happened to them'." The teenagers were all touched, especially Neville who had never met Sirius.
The other goblins returned with the appropriate paperwork which was passed to the teens. "You now have all the identification you need and tickets for a flight to LaGuardia airport in New York that departs at 9:00 a.m. We also arranged a hotel suite for you for tonight that is not far from the airport." Just then another goblin rushed in and began conversing rapidly in Gobbledygook with Ragnok who frowned before stating "It appears that a certain group of people have arrived and are searching for you. It is impossible for you to exit normally without being spotted, even if you were disguised. Fortunately we have another way out. If you give me a magical oath to never reveal this secret I will allow you to use our back door." The group quickly agreed and swore the oath. "The exit will let you out near the muggle underground where you can catch a train and travel to your hotel. Griphook will show you the way."
"Thank you for everything Ragnok. May you always prosper." Harry and his friends said goodbye before following Griphook. They were soon well on their way to their hotel. As they were riding the train Harry asked his friends why they had been so shocked when Ragnok introduced himself. When told the answer his reply was "I was talking with WHO!"
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Earlier that day, the Burrow
Albus Dumbledore was in a much better mood. He had convinced Severus to brew the potion with few questions asked, met with the Order who seemed to think the had a possible location on Harry, and had managed to convince Molly Weasley to let him speak with the children. "After all, they may have a clue about where he would have gone, something he may have said." His day was about to go from good to bad.
He was now waiting in the living room while she searched for them. "Albus!" she cried "I can't find them. I looked at the clock and Ron and Ginny's hands were pointing to traveling. Where could they be and how did they manage to evade the wards? I checked, the wards are still active. How could this have happened!"
Albus cast a few spells then sighed when they turned up nothing. He closed his eyes in frustration as the woman continued to wail. 'Blasted brats. They probably met up with Potter too, now I've got to find 6 of them instead of just 1. Why can't kids today just do as they're told.'
"Molly" he said trying to calm her down. "Don't worry, I'm sure they're fine. They probably went to meet up with Harry. As for the wards don't forget that they are a clever bunch, they probably found a way to circumvent them. Let's go back to Headquarters and brainstorm some ideas."
"OOH those children. That's probably what they were doing yesterday. Getting fresh air and studying, bah. I should have known better than to believe them. Oh Albus we have to find them" She cried.
"Don't worry Molly we'll find them." Her wailing was really beginning to get on his nerves.
They returned to Headquarters and met up with the members who were still there. They began to list places the teenagers may have gone. After a while, Tonks stumbled in, literally. "OOF. Oh Professor Dumbledore, someone says that they think they spotted Harry in Diagon Alley. Looks like he was headed toward Gringotts. He wasn't alone, from the description it may have been the others."
Inwardly Dumbledore seethed. 'No, I have to keep that brat from learning about his finances and Black's will.' Outwardly he remained calm and stated "Nymphadora, Kingsley, Hestia, Alastor, let's head to Gringott's, I'm sure we'll find them there. Molly you wait here, don't worry we'll bring them back in no time."
Dumbledore and those he named quickly apparated to Diagon Alley and entered the bank. Those with him headed around the lobby to search for signs of the teens while Dumbledore began questioning the tellers. After a few minutes of getting no answers, a goblin showed up and escorted Dumbledore to an office where Ragnok the senior most goblin at Gringotts and leader of the Goblin Nation waited for him.
"Mr. Dumbledore, how can we at Gringotts assist you today." Ragnok asked.
"I am looking for a group of teenagers who were seen headed here." Dumbledore quickly explained who he was looking for.
"I am sorry but we are unable to help you. It has been quiet today, and noone you described has been to the tellers or visit the vaults. If there is nothing else I bid you a good day."
Dumbledore seethed at being dismissed so easily but knowing there was little he could do he left the office. As he was leaving the building he cast a spell which confirmed that those he was seeking were not present in the building and there was no way they could have gotten past his order members. Defeated for now, he collected his Order members and returned to headquarters to try to figure out where the teenagers could be, again. However, he was not looking foward to facing Molly Weasley when he returned without her children.