Third chapter *prances around excitedly* is finally here! Hope you all enjoy! Remember to Review please! PM me with any questions or concerns! Let the show begin!
Huge thanks to my awesome co-writer: Tymes24! Thanks!
Chapter Three- New Relations and Shocking Truths
The following month and two weeks leading up to September first were oddly quiet. Since returning from his rather anti-climatic shopping excursion into Diagon Alley, Vernon and Dudley had been avoiding Harry like the plague. Not that Harry minded at all, but it got old really fast when one or both of them would hurry (waddle) from any room he had entered.
To Harry, the only thing that mattered was that his Aunt Petunia still treated him with kindness and loving affection, as if nothing had changed. She had been supportive of him throughout his life and he'd never be able to pay her back for that. Though he swore to send hr mind-blowing Mother's Day and Birthday gifts. She had raised him as her son, so he would send her Mother's Day gifts as well.
Today was a very special day for Harry though, it was his eleventh birthday. And while he was annoyed with Vernon's and Dudley's antics, he would rather they be scared stiff of him than trying to ruin his birthday like usual.
Today was also the day that Harry had decided to finally open the trunk that he had found in his Trust Vault. Before now he had been so engrossed with his studies that he had completely forgotten about it until today.
That morning, Harry woke up at exactly 8: 47. He rolled over onto his side and looked blearily around his room. He did a quick scan and saw that nothing had been moved or tampered with since the night before. Harry performed this scan every morning; he had since he had woken up one night when he was five, and Dudley had stolen his favorite poster. But that was when Harry's senses had still been developing, now Harry could hear anything, even while he was asleep.
Harry sat up on his bed and stretched while yawning, he glanced out of the window onto Privet Drive and saw that nothing had changed overnight, it never did. He stood up and opened his dresser. He pulled out dark grey cargo shorts, a tight plain black t-shirt, and some underclothes.
Then he walked over to his closet and shifted through the many boxes of shoes. He pulled out a box of black and grey Jordan trainers; he tucked those under his arm and then dragged the black trunk from the back of his closet.
Harry pushed that aside and reorganized his closet before closing the door again. He pushed the trunk over to his bed and then set his clothes on his bed. Harry grabbed his towel and washcloth and then walked across the hall to the bathroom.
Harry let the steam from the hot water run over his head and wake him up fully. He could tell from the different levels of snoring coming from the other rooms that all of his relatives were still asleep.
Harry got out of the shower twenty minutes later and wrapped his black towel around his waist, then hurried across the cold floor back into his room. He closed and locked the door before drying off and getting dressed. When he was done, Harry looked at himself in the mirror and nodded in approval.
Harry sat on his bed and stared at the trunk for a second. He had already had a glimpse of what it held but he didn't know the full contents. He took a deep breath and touched the lid; he heard a click and pulled the top up.
Harry once again saw the expanded insides of the trunk and the assorted items in it, all with tags on them. First, he picked up a large glossy black book that appeared to be a photo album. On the front were the words: True Family Is Not By Blood, But By Love.
Harry liked how that sounded and opened the cover. The very first picture was the same as the picture that was inside the locket that Harry hadn't taken off since he first put it on. It was his mother and father holding him as a baby, all of them waving at the camera.
Harry spent the next two hours flipping through the rather large book, looking at hundreds of pictures of his parents, his grandparents on both sides, and those two men that felt were familiar. He even saw his aunt Petunia in pictures of her and his mum as kids. There a few rare photos of a skinny black haired boy with large clothes, but he never smiled.
Harry laughed at the pictures of the results of his father's and his friend's pranks, he let a few tears fall as he saw the moving pictures of his parents' wedding. He thought that his mother was the most beautiful woman in the world in her flowing white wedding dress.
When the pictures finally ended, Harry hugged the album to his chest and he could feel the love that was put into making it. He would cherish that book always, but for now he placed it on his pillow and turned to the other items.
He saw old textbooks that were slightly different than his; he made a mental note to find new spells in those books. He picked up a small box and inside was the same rings he had seen in his parents' wedding photos, their wedding rings. Harry made sure those were secured and then placed then next to the photo album.
Harry found other items such as a sneakoscope, a few books on how to get a mastery in a certain subject, he found a slip of paper that had the instructions on how to recall all of his stolen and lost items back to his vault, and then he found his parents' wands.
Harry had assumed that they had been buried with their wand and Harry made a mental note to find out where their graves were so he could visit them. He held them both and felt that he had a better match with his mother's wand than his father's. Harry felt that he would be honoring his parents' memory by using his mother's wand as a secondary wand so he set that aside and replaced his father's wand in the trunk.
At the very bottom of the trunk, Harry found another book. This one had no title or pictures on its cover. In fact, it had a lock like some diaries had on them. Harry touched the lock but it didn't unlocked.
"Alohamora!" Harry cast. The lock glowed and settled but it did not unlock. Harry grew frustrated and placed it back in the trunk. He had no idea why he wanted to open that book so bad but he knew that it was very important, as if his life depended on it.
Harry carefully placed everything back into the trunk except for his mother's wand and the photo album. He tucked the album under his pillow and patted it.
He made sure that his wand was strapped to his right arm, nicely visible in case his uncle got any ideas, and then Harry headed downstairs for breakfast. As he entered the kitchen, he walked over to his Aunt Petunia and pecked her on the cheek before taking over cooking the bacon and eggs.
Harry could see that Aunt Petunia looked tired and she had already finished the pancakes and sausages so he made her sit down and handed her a steaming mug of coffee. Aunt Petunia shot Harry a grateful look while Dudley was glaring at Harry.
Harry rolled his eyes, 'He should have noticed that his mother was about to fall asleep onto the stove. If he actually cared about anything other than food than he wouldn't have to glare at me when his mother is grateful for something I did.' He thought to himself.
Harry finished breakfast just as Vernon came downstairs and sat at the table. The corners of Harry's mouth quirked up a bit as he saw Vernon redden at the sight of his wand on his arm. Vernon said nothing but it was obvious that he wanted to. Harry decided to not give his uncle a heart attack so he made a plate for Aunt Petunia first, and then Vernon, and then Dudley, before making his own plate and sitting down.
Breakfast was oddly silent but Harry kept a careful eye on Aunt Petunia who looked pale and drawn. He worried about her and could see that he was the only person in the house that noticed that something was wrong with her.
After breakfast, Vernon ruffled Dudley's hair and skipped saying goodbye to his own wife. Harry glared at Vernon's retreating back and smirked when he saw the large man shudder; serves him right for ignoring his wife.
"Come one Aunt Petunia, you're obviously getting sick so you'll need to stay in bed until you get better." Harry said. His tone left no room for arguments so Aunt Petunia let Harry march her upstairs and into bed.
Harry tucked her into bed and ran into their private bathroom to get the thermometer. He came back in the room and took her temperature; it read 102.2.
"Coughing, running nose, sneezing, a temperature, well Aunt Petunia, you have a cold." Harry listed. He had studied medical care as a personal study since it interested him but he had so many more options now that he knew about spells and potions. That reminded him that he had to go to Diagon Alley today.
Aunt Petunia groaned and Harry chuckled, he went back into their bathroom and got out the cold medicine. A Pepper-Up Potion would be quicker but unfortunately potions didn't work on muggles.
Harry fed the medicine to Aunt Petunia and made sure she had a glass of water on the nightstand.
"I'm sorry Aunt Petunia but I have to go to Diagon Alley for a little while, I'll be back to make you homemade chicken soup but until then I'll have Dudley check up on you okay?" Harry asked. He wouldn't ask so much as force Dudley to check up on his mom. Harry didn't understand why Dudley didn't care about his mother more; if Harry still had his mom he would do anything for her, no matter what.
The medicine was kicking in and making Aunt Petunia drowsy so she simply nodded and slipped off into sleep. Harry watched for a minute before nodded to himself and going into his room down the hall.
Inside his room he kept on his outfit but threw on an open-front everyday robe. It covered his wand but he still had easy access to it in the holster. Harry made sure he had his Gringotts card and then left the room.
He walked downstairs and predictably found Dudley in front of the TV stuffing his face with two large bags of crisps, even though he just had breakfast less than ten minutes ago. Harry stepped in front of the television and saw Dudley's face scrunch up in anger.
"Move, Freak!" Dudley roared. Harry grinned and stood there until Dudley looked up at his face, when he did Harry's smile disappeared and he suddenly appeared exceedingly intimidating.
"I'm going into my world for a few hours, you're mother is sick so you had better keep the noise down. You will check on her every twenty minutes and get her anything she needs; you will not leave this house until I come back unless Aunt Petunia asks you to get something from the store, which you will get." Harry ordered, his voice was so steely and stern that Dudley didn't even contemplate disobeying.
"Magnus!" Harry cast, "Now I'll know if you don't do as I say. Don't fool around Dudley, you're mum needs you to take care of her now." Harry said. Dudley looked as though he was trying to solve something in his mind but he nodded seriously.
Harry shook his head and closed his eyes; he pictured behind the bar in the Leaky Cauldron and felt the tingle rise from his toes to the top of his head. He heard Dudley's gasp right before he disappeared in a ripple of air.
Harry appeared gracefully and silently behind Tom the Barman, Harry politely cleared his throat but Tom still jumped and spun around with his wand out anyway. Harry held his hands up in a surrendering gesture and Tom saw that it was him.
"Sorry about that Harry, still a bit jumpy from the war…" Tom trailed off and shook his head. Harry patted Tom's back sympathetically and walked around to the other side of the bar.
"I'm just passing through but how about a bottle of butterbeer to go?" Harry asked. Tom smiled at Harry and handed him a bottle of light brown liquid. Harry gave Tom five sickles and threw in a Galleon.
He walked away before Tom could protest at the large tip. Harry noticed that there were few people in the bar in the morning as he walked to the back door. He stood in front of the brick wall and tapped the bricks in the correct order and waited for the entrance to open.
When the archway appeared Harry looked around at the large crowds walking around the bright alley. Everyone appeared cheerful and bright today as it was sunny and warm for once. Harry couldn't help but be affected by everyone's upbeat moods and he walked with a smile to the bookstore.
As he entered, Harry felt something akin to a beep sound in his mind and knew that it was the monitoring charm he had placed on Dudley. He knew that Dudley had just checked on Aunt Petunia so he nodded and kept walking through the store.
Harry looked through the Healing section and picked up a book about the body systems and functions of every known magical creature and being. He also picked up a book on medical terms that he would need to look up, as well as a few books on healing spells and potions.
Harry placed eight books on the counter and swiped his card when asked; it totaled up to five galleons and three Knuts. Harry allowed the clerk to shrink the books for him since he couldn't reveal that he could do magic with his wand as it was supposed to have an underage tracking charm on it.
Harry decided to sit at one of the tables outside of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. He enjoyed the slight breeze that blew his hair around as he skimmed through one of his new books.
He saw a wonderful and useful idea in one of the books and headed to the trunk store to expand on it. Harry entered the shop and saw a burly but kind looking man behind the counter. The walls were covered with different types of packs and the shelves were filled with different types of trunks.
"How can I help you?" The man asked. His deep voice seemed naturally loud and it slightly hurt Harry's sensitive hearing.
"I need a black multiple compartment backpack for school. The first compartment for books, second for clothes, third for first aid with preserving charms and slots for vials of medi-potions, fourth for food, and the last for miscellaneous items. I want the standard list of charms like bottom-less, lightweight, damage-proof, cushioning for the potions, and security." Harry said.
The man's eyes widened the more Harry talked until his eyes appeared to almost pop out of his head. The man conjured up parchment, a quill, and a well of ink before writing down what Harry wanted.
"I would also like my Family Crest permanently on the bag, please." Harry added. This way everyone would already know not to try to steal his bag, even with the extra security charms on it.
"Sure, I'll just need an image of your family crest. The bag should take around an hour to be completed." The man said. Harry used his ring's feature that was used to seal letters on the parchment. Judging by the man's incredulous looks, he recognized Harry's crest.
"Nice to meet you Mr. Potter, I'll have your backpack done in a jiffy!" The man said. Harry nodded and left the shop. He thought that he might as well see how his accounts were doing so he headed to Gringotts.
He once again returned the Guard-Goblin's bow and entered the bank. He recognized the goblin that had led him down to his vault on his previous trip and walked up to him. Harry quickly read the goblin's nametag, something he hadn't bothered to do last time, and saw that his name was Riptooth, that was a cheerful name.
"Hello Riptooth, remember my beautiful face?" Harry asked cheerfully. Riptooth did recognize Harry and rolled his eyes in exasperation.
"What can I do for you Mr. Potter?" Riptooth asked. Harry put on a mock-hurt look but grew serious.
"I would like to see how my accounts are doing since I was in the Alley anyway." Harry replied.
"Very well, follow me into my office." Harry followed Riptooth behind the long counter and down a short narrow hallway before coming to a small yet obviously expensive office.
Both took seats and Harry waited while Riptooth pulled out a large book with the Potter crest on the cover. He opened it and read through the pages before looking at Harry.
"It says here that all of your accounts are flourishing nicely under my watch, which I have to agree with. They are all acquiring an increasing amount of interest from the businesses that your family has stock in as well as businesses that your family owns. You have a total of three vaults, the Trust Vault, the main Family Vault, and the vault that your grandfather set up for your father." Riptooth explained.
"Why would my grandfather set up a completely separate vault for my father?" Harry asked.
"Forgive me for speaking ill of the dead but your father was simply too immature and naïve to handle having full access to the main vault. His spending habits and the millions of galleons he'd given to fund Dumbledore's side of the war showed your grandfather that James wasn't mature enough to handle the family money. So he set aside a separate vault with a certain amount of money. This vault was for your parents to use for themselves and you along with whatever money they gained from a job. It is almost completely depleted despite your mother's efforts to curb James's spending." Riptooth said. He almost looked pained at the loss of all that money.
Harry was inwardly shaking his head. He would've never thought that his father was like that and honestly, it disappointed him. Harry blamed his father but he also partially blamed Dumbledore. What did Dumbledore need millions of galleons for?
"Transfer everything from my father's vault to my trust vault and close it, there is no need for it now. If everything else is in order I would like to be sent bank statements from now on." Harry requested.
Riptooth gave him a queer look and shifted through the pages of the Potter book again. "According to this, your bank statements have been sent to your Keeper, which is essentially your magical guardian."
"What does a Keeper do and what happened to mine, I've never met him or her." Harry said.
"Your Keeper is Dumbledore; his job was to check on you over the years, train you to be aware of your future positions and make sure that you understood everything you would need to know in order to be Lord Potter." Riptooth said. He appeared quite upset on Harry's behalf.
"I would like him removed as my Keeper and I would like to be emancipated." Harry requested. He would look into Dumbledore's influence on his life so far but that would have to wait until later.
"I'm afraid that Gringotts doesn't handle issues like that, you would need to hire a solicitor. However, I can give you a list of reliable solicitors that you may contact and work with at your own leisure." Riptooth offered.
"That would be helpful, thank you. I need someone who would be willing to possibly take on Dumbledore in court. I need someone ruthless and cutthroat but morally and mentally sound." Harry listed. He watched in amusement as Riptooth quickly scratched out a lot of names from the list he was writing down.
After a minute, Riptooth handed Harry a large parchment with one name on it: Andromeda Black.