Chapter 9: Order Meeting, Confrontations, Revelations and Loyalties Decided
With a small popping sound Nymphadora Tonks appeared, seemingly out of thin air, in the street outside 12 Grimauld Place, home to the Black family and headquarters to the Order of the Phoenix.
It was for this last reason that Tonks was there, she had been informed the previous day of an order meeting at which her presence was required. Though no one had actually told her the purpose of the meeting, she had a pretty good idea…and she also planned on giving Dumbledore and anyone in the order who sided with him a piece of her mind about his treatment of Harry and his general competence as headmaster and leader of the order.
When Tonks entered the large kitchen, where the meeting were generally held, there were already a lot of people there. All of the Weasleys (minus Percy who was still estranged, yet strangely including Ron and Ginny), Mundungus Fletcher, Mad-Eye Moody, Remus Lupin, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Hestia Jones, professors Snape, Sprout, Flitwick, McGonagall, Hagrid as well as Poppy Pomfrey and Hermione Granger were all present. Tonks noticed the pattern straight away, these were all the people in the order (as well as three extras) who had the most involvement with Harry in one way or another…Harry had spent summers with the Weasley family since before his second year, Granger's connection was obvious, as were the professors'. Mad-Eye, Kingsley, Hestia, Dung and herself had all spent significant time on duty at Privet Drive. Pomfrey was an odd choice until Tonks remembered the amount of time he had spent in her care over the years. And finally Remus Lupin had a personal connection to Harry, as the last of his father's friends (not including Wormtail).
Tonks did one more sweep of the room before surmising that the only person they were still waiting for to begin the meeting was…
Just as she was completing the thought, the fireplace flared to life in a bright green flame, signalling an incoming floo travel, and out stepped Albus Dumbledore, who was almost always late like this, just to make an entrance….regular drama queen that one Tonks thought with amusement.
Everyone took seats around the table, though Ron Hermione and Ginny got some funny looks from the others who clearly had no idea what they were doing there.
"Good morning my friends and welcome." Dumbledore began, "I thank you all for coming on such short notice. I called you all here because I want to discuss a situation I have been made aware of and for us to work together on a plan to try to undo the changed that have been made and repair any damage done.
"Yesterday morning, I received official notification from the ministry, in my official position as Headmaster of Hogwarts, that one of my students, a Mr. Harry Potter, had been legally emancipated." At this point he had to pause because murmuring broke out among many of those present.
"What do you plan on doing Albus? That boy can't be left to take care of himself! How did this happen?!" Said a nearly hysterical Molly Weasley.
Tonks noticed that the reaction among the group was mixed…some were clearly waiting to find out exactly what business it was of theirs, since Dumbledore said it was done legally, what was the problem? Others seemed genuinely concerned. While still others…a frightening amount, she thought, seemed angry – and if she had to guess, the young woman would say that anger was directed straight at Harry.
Dumbledore responded, "I intend to do all I can, however matters such as this are incredibly difficult to deal with. I fully agree with you Molly, Harry simply cannot be left to his own devices. However, it would seem that he had invoked a little known legal clause that allows him to emancipate himself through the goblins at Gringotts if it is either in accordance with his previous guardian's wishes or to assume a head of house role for an ancient family. I do not know what part of this he has used, but the paper trail points in that direction."
"So, tell me again Albus…if he's done this according to the law, then exactly why do you want to reverse it?" growled Moody.
"Well…that is to say…Umm…Harry is at a critical stage right now and he needs our guidance…Voldemort wants to kill him and he needs our protection. Not only that but he isn't responsible enough to look after himself." Dumbledore replied, looking slightly flustered at actually being questioned on the matter…after all, these were his people.
"That's not exactly true Albus" began McGonagall, "I have watched Potter over the past years, and never have I had the pleasure of meeting a more responsible young man. He may have a penchant for breaking the rules, but that is to help others. If he wants to be more independent then I, for one, will not stand in his way. Now do you want to tell us what this is really about? There's obviously a lot more to it."
Tonks couldn't agree more with Minerva's assessment, and if she didn't know all she would receive for her effort would be a stern glare, she could hug the other woman right now.
"Yes," began Dumbledore hesitantly "there is more to it…five minutes after I received that owl, another arrived. This time it was informing me that Harry Potter had officially requested to join the Wizengamot, effective immediately. This claim was preposterous! I will be informing him later today that his joke was highly inappropriate and unsuccessful."
At this, Tonks couldn't resist jumping in. "What was inappropriate about it Albus?" she asked innocently.
"Harry has attempted to claim a ridiculous amount of seats, which I might add he has no legal right to."
"Can I ask a question please?" pressed Tonks.
At Dumbledore's nod, she continued "We are all sitting here discussing him like he is some stupid little child that wouldn't know which way to hold his wand if someone didn't show him every time…if you want to have this conversation about Harry and what he's doing…why not bring in the only person who actually knows everything that Harry is doing?"
"Who do you suggest?" asked the old man.
"Merlin, I swear. For the supposed greatest wizard of the age, you sure are slow at times Dumbledore. If you want to know what is going on with Harry…then maybe you should actually talk to Harry about it!" she concluded.
And on the meeting went for quite some time with people arguing about what should or shouldn't be done, arguing for and against bringing Harry into the meeting to explain.
Until, for the first time in the meeting, Snape spoke up. "We cannot allow some foolish brat in to our meetings. Besides, this is an order meeting, he is far too young to be here." He finished with a sneer.
Getting highly frustrated, Tonks snapped "In that case, maybe someone could explain why there are 2 people here the same age as him, and one who is over a year younger." wondering what excuse the old bastard would come up with for it…though she knew or at least suspected after what she had heard in the lift that they were Dumbledore's pet spies in Harry's inner circle.
"They are here at my request, and we shall speak no further of it." Stated Dumbledore with an air of finality. "However, despite many valid protests, I believe that your suggestion has at least some merit, Ms. Tonks. I would like you to retrieve Mr. Potter from his relatives' house and bring him here at once." He finished sternly.
Bouncing from her seat, Tonks gave a mock salute, "Yes sir, be back before you know it!"
She left the room, before climbing the stairs, leaving the house and apparating back to Harry's bedroom in Little Whinging.
When she arrived, she saw Harry asleep on the bed and desperately wished she didn't have to disturb him for this, but it had to be done.
She walked over and sat down next to him on the bed and gently shook him. "Harry, come on, wake up."
He began to stir, soon opening his eyes. "Tonks? What's going on?" he asked sleepily.
"I've just come back from the order meeting…it's still going on but I've been sent to get you, it's probably going to be the only way to shut them up any time for the next week. You look a bit rough, you'll have to tell me about it later, but for now are you up for this?" she asked concernedly.
Rolling to his feet and shaking himself to wake up fully he replied "Yeah, I'm good. I've been waiting for a chance to vent a bit of anger towards something for a while now…Dumbledore seems as good a target as any, and what's even better is he deserves it." He finished with a slightly feral gleam to his eye. "Meet you outside Grimauld." He added before apparating soundlessly away…which he considered was pretty good for a first try, having learned all about the subject from his memory transfer from Ravenclaw and knowing instinctively he could do it.
Momentarily surprised, having no idea what had happened with Merlin and the Founders previously in the day, Tonks just stood there for a minute before gathering her wits and apparating back to the outside of headquarters.
When Harry arrived, he made a decision. If Dumbledore and the Order were going to cause problems for him, then he saw no reason why he should not return the favour in kind.
He had recently read about this, and had known he would have to do it really.
He approached the door and placed his hands upon it, before feeding magical energy into it and reciting an incantation.
"Ego vox senior quod vinco illae domus operor hic vindicatum imperium super is domus quod totus alica super is."
His hand and the door momentarily glowed and he knew that it had been successful as he momentarily felt a magical presence in his mind. He now had control over the house and all of the wards and enchantments on it and could control them with a mere thought.
By this time, Tonks was standing right behind him; she had recognised what he was doing as she had helped him find out what to do, so she merely squeezed his shoulder in reassurance that he was doing the right thing, before walking past him and into the building.
When they entered the kitchen, it was clear that everyone had descended back into the petty bickering from earlier. That is until they noticed that the two had arrived.
The first to react was Molly Weasley. "Harry JAMES POTTER WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING? YOU CA..."
At this point Harry waved his hand lazily in her direction, casting a wandless silencing charm…she continued ranting for about 20 seconds before realising that no sound was coming out.
"Hello everyone, Tonks says there's something you want to talk to me about." Began Harry. "Not that it's actually any of your business, but I suppose I can humour you for a few minutes. What do you want to know?" he asked disinterestedly.
To say there was outrage at this statement would a massive understatement, everyone was shouting at him and each other trying to get their opinion heard…the most humorous of which was Mrs. Weasley who was still not producing any sound as she did so, but for some reason appeared to think that if she tried hard enough then her voice would over power the charm…needless to say, she was wholly unsuccessful in this regard.
"SILENCE!!!" bellowed Dumbledore with the aid of a Sonorus charm.
Returning his voice to normal he continued, directly addressing Harry, "I would appreciate an explanation for your actions of late. It is highly inappropriate and dangerous for you to be going off and doing things on your own without consulting the order."
This was precisely the sort of thing Harry had expected…the old man trying to guilt trip him into playing things his way.
"And exactly why would I need to consult the order for this? Last time I checked the Order of the Phoenix was an illegal organisation who has an annoying habit of shoving their noses where they don't belong and are not welcome nor needed." He said calmly.
"The order," began Dumbledore "is a necessary group of concerned people. Your safety is our responsibility, and if you go off and do things without informing us then we cannot protect you. You will go to the ministry and repeal your emancipation and applications to the Wizengamot at once, you are not safe on your own and the Wizengamot is no place for a child such as yourself."
This irritated Harry immensely. "Did I ever ask for the protection of the order? No, I don't believe I did. What's more, I don't think that your particular record of protecting me from danger is particularly good, headmaster. Or should I remind you about the teacher who had Voldemort in the back of his skull who tried to kill me and I ended up having to kill? How about the second teacher, who attempted to erase the memories of two students, both of us in this room now? Then we could go on to mention the fact that you allowed a basilisk to roam the halls of the school and I ended up having to fight and almost get killed by due to your inability to protect people. Maybe, while we're at it we should talk about me nearly getting kissed by a dementor right under your nose? What about the Death Eater teacher who got my name in the goblet of fire when you said there was no choice but for me to compete in the tournament, yet there was no magical contract, since I didn't enter it myself? What about the fact that you couldn't even tell the difference between that same death eater and someone who is supposed to be one of your closest friends and allowed him to send me straight to Voldemort. While we're on the subject of death eaters, how come you've still got one working for you and even in this room as we speak? Maybe you'd like to explain why you allowed a teacher to use an illegal torture device on students at school last year? Is that your idea of protection headmaster?"
There was a stunned silence from every one in the room, as many hadn't even heard of most of the things that Harry had just listed.
"I take it you're not going to reply then Dumbledore? Well, now that you mention it, I might just go to the ministry…perhaps I could explain some of those things to them, perhaps I could also give them a list of the names of the people in this room who you have instructed to follow and spy on me, both those posing as friends as well as the supposed guard duty. I believe that if I could prove it, which I can, it would actually be enough to land the lot of you in Azkaban for a good while. And I have plenty more I could add to it. Now, what else do you want to talk about professor?" he finished, spitting the last word as though it left a foul taste behind.
"Harry, you are acting very irresponsibly, I'm afraid I must insist that you remain under order supervision for the remainder of the summer until your return to Hogwarts on September first."
"Get it through your thick skull. I am not your puppet, I will not go along with what you want and you cannot control me. Also, while I have you both here, Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall, as the head of school and my house respectively I hereby inform you of my decision not to return to Hogwarts for my sixth year of education. I do this in accordance with ministry law stating that anyone may opt not to return to school after they have completed their OWLs." Stated Harry, showing no emotion on his face.
McGonagall, who had been watching with avid interest, and learning from Harry many of the things that Dumbledore had forbidden questions about from staff and order members alike, and was outraged at some of the things that the young man had gone through, chose to speak up.
"Thank you for giving us due notice, Mr. Potter. While I would personally have preferred you to return as you will be sorely missed in the castle, after your revelations here today I have to say that I think it is probably for the best. Albus, I will speak to you later. Good day everyone." She concluded before marching out of the door.
As soon as the door closed, Hermione jumped from her seat and rounded on Harry. "What do you mean you're not going back to school? Of course you are! You've still got 2 more years of important study and exams to take! What are you thinking?!"
"Hermione, I won't argue with you, education is important. However I can't afford to take the time at this point to attend school. Before you say anything else, consider the fact that I've got a homicidal maniac who wants nothing more than to see me dead right now, and I have no choice but to kill him…since no one seems willing to give me the training I need for that, I've found alternative sources."
"What do you mean you have to kill him lad?" asked Moody, both of his eyes fixed squarely on Harry.
Turning to Dumbledore, Harry said "I take it you never bothered telling them what they're risking their lives for?"
At Dumbledore's silence, Harry assumed he was correct and decided that if anyone had a right to know it was the people in this room with him.
"You all remember that prophecy? The one that you were guarding at the ministry and Voldemort went to get at the end of term?" at their various indications of assent he continued "Well, it was about me and him. Basically it said that either I kill him or he kills me, there is no other way it can end."
Harry had had quite some time to come to terms with this fact now, so it didn't really affect him having to tell the rest of them…it was just a fact of life for him now.
He did however notice that a few of the people present didn't appear shocked at all by this news…Lupin didn't even blink, Jones looked only mildly interested as though he had been explaining why he thought it would rain tomorrow, Snape just had his usual sneer in place, Ron, Hermione and Ginny all looked somewhat disinterested, which he took as further evidence that they weren't really his friends and there was something not right about them.
After a moment of silence in which the people who didn't actually already know were able to begin to digest the new information, Harry continued.
"I was asked to come here today for one reason and one reason only. Ever since the death of my parents, Dumbledore has controlled just about every aspect of my life; from abandoning me with relatives who abused, neglected and beat me, through to who I had as friends when I arrived at school, to forcing me into situations where my life was in imminent danger. The reason that he has called me here today is to try and take back that power over me, his actions have been unjust, and in many cases highly illegal and morally questionable, yet here he is, the supposed champion of the light, defeater of evil…forcing someone who he tries to convince every one is a child to fight and win the war for him so he can take credit, and then not even provide me with any training or weapons to do so." He continued, fully aware of how disgusted the majority of the room was looking at dumbledore's actions. He turned and looked at the old man, straight in the eyes. "I've got news for you, I will not play your games any longer, I will not submit to your pressures. I will however fight against Voldemort, but I will do it in my own way, and I will be prepared when I eventually face him. I'm not doing it because you say I have to or because some prophecy said I was destined to, but because it is the right thing to do and because it must be done. If anyone wants to help me do that, then I would most appreciate it, however I will not be lead blindly or lead others blindly.
"I had hoped it wouldn't come to this, however I cannot easily co-exist with the order as it stands now. Be warned Dumbledore, if you or any of your people stand in my way I will not be held responsible for my actions. As of this moment, the Order of the Phoenix is no longer welcome in this house, you are all hereby banished and may not enter without my personal permission." He finished, slightly glowing with energy.
As Harry finished his last sentence, everyone in the room except himself and Tonks were levitated from their seats and began rapidly moving towards the main door, other doors opening to clear a path and to add extra people to the chain.
When they were all clear of the front door it slammed shut behind them, and the house disappeared from their sight…the ancient wards established by the house of black were now fully active and they would not be able to re-enter…and Albus Dumbledore was dumped unceremoniously onto his ancient backside in the middle of the road along with the rest of his Order.
Back inside the kitchen, another person also fell to the floor, but in this case it was from laughter…Tonks was laughing so hard she couldn't even stand up (not that that was saying much considering her balance, but even so…).
"That was priceless" she gasped out, "the old man thought you were bluffing!!!"
Harry began to chuckle. "yeah, I guess it was pretty funny seeing him thrown out."
Regaining control of herself, Tonks asked, "So what happens now anyway? I mean they're gonna be pretty pissed off with you and they know where to find you at privet drive."
"Well, I think my time there is well and truly over…I'll go back there to pack once I'm done here then I'm going to go to Gringotts and grab the Portkey that is supposed to be in my family vault and see if this "Potter Manor" place is usable, if it is I'll stay there if not I'll start looking through some of the other houses I own…It's obviously up to you what you do and where you go, but if you want to come with, you're more than welcome." He finished with a smile.
Grinning she replied, "I'd love to go with you, and since I don't actually have my own place at the moment and before I came to you I was staying here, a roof voer my head would be much appreciated." Then thinking she asked, "wait, you said you would do that when you were finished here…what are you doing?" looking at him suspiciously, recognising the look on his face.
"Well…the way I see it, the Order of the Phoenix has left here for good and they just happened to…umm…forget…to pick up their stuff on the way out. Now, you'll know this better than me, but from the eavesdropping and spying some of us did last summer when we were here, I believe they keep a record of all meetings held? Well, I'd like to see just how deep Dumbledore's manipulations and controlling goes." He replied with a grin. "Oh, and I suppose we should send on any personal stuff that people left here…though in some cases it might not quite make the trip in tact, depending on what the transcripts say, if you get what I mean?" he finished with an evil glint in his eye.
Five minutes later, Tonks had showed Harry the cupboard where all of the meeting transcripts and other such documents were kept, unfortunately it had a protective ward on it that would only allow Dumbledore to open it.
After a few failed attempts Harry was getting sick of it. "Ok, stand back. Lets see what a Reducto just in the field of the ward but not aimed directly at it so nothing inside will be damaged does." He said.
When he tried, an extremely high powered spell struck the ward and it collapsed, allowing them to get at the contents.
Half an hour later, Harry was sat at the kitchen table once more and had read through a considerable chunk of the documents, and what he found enraged him.
Seeing this, Tonks sat next to him and put an arm around him. "What's wrong?" she asked gently.
"Nothing I guess…it's just as much as I suspected everything, this is the first actual proof of a lot of it…I suppose I was kinda clinging to the hope that it was all just a big misunderstanding. But it's all here…" he trailed off, passing several pieces of parchment to her.
She saw letters from Harry's supposed friends to Dumbledore, reporting on his movements and activities, presumably during the previous school year.
There were several letters addressed to Harry from Gringotts.
There were many reports from members of the order who had been reporting back about Harry and some other members of the order's activities.
She wondered how all this had happened without her knowing, until Harry passed her another sheet that contained a transcript of a conversation between Dumbledore, Snape, Lupin and Jones…In that conversation they discussed several other order members, including herself and Sirius, and were debating on exactly how much information to give them about some of the things that were going on at the time…including stealing money from Harry's vaults to fund order operations, having him tailed constantly, keeping him subservient, patterns to the movement of known death eaters that they decided to watch and allowed to kill, information about several raids which were never acted upon, unspecified methods used to increase Dumbledore's influence at the ministry…the list of things mentioned in that conversation alone was more than enough to make her sick and promise herself to never have any involvement with the order again and to help Harry in any way she possibly could.
Harry rose from his seat. "Be back soon, I'm going to start moving some people's stuff down here so we can send it through the floo." He said, without emotion, before leaving the room.
Tonks sat and continued reading through some of the things they had found, and was appalled to think that she had been a part of all of this.
Approximately fifteen minutes later, Harry returned with a large collection of beat up personal effects, some of which had been blasted beyond recognition.
"Whose were those?" she asked quietly, though from the sheer volume of it, she had a pretty good clue.
"Weasleys and Hermione…It's going to the Burrow, just wanted to let them have some idea what I think of them at the same time." He replied calmly, as though destroying people's property and sending it back to them in pieces was an every day occurrence for him.
The process was repeated with many more people's belongings, the only ones that were sent back intact were the ones owned by people who they had no direct evidence had done any wrong towards Harry.
Once that was completed, they agreed it was time to leave and were on their way out of the door when they heard something behind them.
They turned around and saw Kreacher, the Black family's crazy house-elf.
Immediately, Harry saw red.
"You foul little bastard," he growled "You betrayed Sirius and got him killed!" he finished before pulling his wand and casting a spell he had read about…it burned the victim from the inside out until all that was left was a pile of ash.
Kreacher was hit square in the chest, he lived for all of 15 agonising seconds.
His work done and his beloved godfather avenged, Harry turned back around and walked out of the door preparing to apparate back to his bedroom in Surrey.
Tonks, being fully aware of what the insane elf had done and having never particularly liked it in the first place, could fully understand and justify Harry's actions so she just followed him out, after casting a quick Scourgify to clean up the mess it had left on the floor.
Half an hour later, the pair had cleaned out Harry's bedroom at number 4 and apparated into Diagon Alley, having each used their morphing abilities to create a disguise so as not to tip off any order members who may be around.
They entered the bank and were escorted to see Griphook straight away upon request.
"May I help you?" asked the goblin curiously.
"hi, yeah, I need to get something out of one of my vaults but I've no idea which one." Harry stated, then realising the source of the goblin's confusion shifted his appearance back to normal. "Sorry for the disguise, there's a few people I need to avoid right now."
"I understand sir. What is it you wish to withdraw?"
"You mentioned a reusable portkey that would take me straight to Potter Mannor…any idea where I could find that?" asked Harry hopefully.
"Of course, it is located in the Potter family chambers…this way." Was the reply, as Griphook lead them through the door that went to the tunnel system.
This cart ride was even longer and wilder than Harry's previous one, but 20 minutes later, after going through several fake walls, illusionary waterfalls and seeming pillars of fire, none of which were actually there (though Harry and Tonks were each privately certain that anyone who was unauthorised would find them to be all too real), not to mention the countless twists and turns of the track, they finally arrived by the entrance to another one of the caverns containing highly guarded vaults.
"Family Chamber 12, Potter" stated Griphook "As you can see, we take security of these types of vault very seriously, I believe you will agree that this is probably the safest place in the world."
Unlike Harry's last encounter with the high security section, in this cave there was only one vault door instead of the row of them, and instead of a collection of dragons guarding it, there was something much worse, there before them were two Nundu, one sitting at either side of the door.
Instantly recognising the beasts Tonks spoke up, "Please tell me that they aren't about to attack us?" she said in a near whisper.
Griphook found this highly amusing, "Oh, if we attempt to approach the door they will most certainly attack…Lord Potter will be perfectly safe and unharmed, but anyone without Potter blood in their veins will be killed if they try to gain entry. That is why you and I shall be remaining right here." He said with a rather frightening smile.
Snapped out of the staring contest he had been having with one of the creatures, Harry finally spoke, "Well, I knew that Gringotts took security seriously…I guess I just never realised how seriously…so how exactly do I first get past them, and then how do I get into the vault? I thought only a goblin could open them?"
"Ordinarily you would be correct, however because of your family's…ah, unique security arrangements," he said with a gesture to the leopard like beings, "the door was reprogrammed so that only people of your lineage would be able to open it instead. Approach the door, they will sniff at you as you get closer, but will not touch you once they realise who you are…then place your hand upon the door, it will open and you can enter…the portkey is on a table on the left as you go in, as are the ones for the other properties in the Potter estate and your family ring."
Harry complied and, while it was rather disconcerting walking past animals that were sniffing at you when you knew if they chose they could kill you with a breath, tear you to shreds or simply step on you, and there wasn't a damn thing you could do about it, he reached the door in total safety, as promised.
He placed his hand upon the door, as he had seen Griphook do previously and it melted into nothingness.
Inside the vault, Harry was stunned. The room he was in was easily 4 times the size of the great hall at Hogwarts, and there were many doors leading to other rooms, indicating that this was merely a small portion of the vault.
But that wasn't what stunned Harry the most…the room was filled with piles of gold, silver and bronze as well as many precious jewels and stones, some he recognised like diamonds, emeralds and rubies, some easily the size of his fist, some tiny that looked to be used for jewellery and still some that were bigger than Harry's head, others he had no idea what they were, but they looked expensive.
It had been one thing to read the numbers on a piece of parchment and know that he had a lot of money, but quite another to see a large portion of it right in front of him, but he was quite sure that if he had cared to open any of the doors he would find that what he could currently see was only a small fraction…yet, it was more than he had ever even dreamed about until recently.
Remembering why he was there, Harry turned to the table, and sure enough there were many portkeys there…and it appeared that they actually doubled as the keys to the properties themselves. They were all neatly arranged in rows and labelled, Harry found the one he wanted (a large ornate key made of gold and encrusted with about a dozen of the small jewels of various colours).
He also picked up the ring that was on the table with them, he had only been half paying attention to what Griphook had said but remembered something about him saying it was a Family Ring, whatever that meant.
He filled his money bag up and then exited the chamber, the door reappearing behind him immediately. The Nundus watched him as he approached their position and sniffed at him again, before doing something that Harry might have considered funny at a later time.
The leopard like creatures that were bigger than elephants and one of the most feared animals in the magical world began to purr and gently nudge against him like you would expect a pet cat to do.
Unsure what to do, Harry did the only logical thing (though one could make an argument for running being highly logical at this point), he began to stroke them and scratch behind their ears, at which point they rolled over in pleasure. After a minute, Harry resumed walking to the cart, not quite believing what had just happened.
When he arrived at the cart, it was to see a very shocked and speechless Tonks with her mouth hanging open in disbelief and a very amused Griphook, who was smiling approvingly.
"I see you claimed your family ring, sir." Stated the goblin.
"Umm…I guess…And I also think that even though we're kinda in a rush, when we get back up to the surface you and I need to have a little chat about what the hell that ring does." Said Harry, rather nervously.
The goblin merely bowed, indicating they should be leaving.
Another eventful cart ride later and they were back in Griphook's office and Tonks had never once regained control of herself enough to speak until this point.
Grabbing him into a bone crushing hug she murmured, "Bloody hell Harry, you really don't do anything by half do you? Nundus?!"
Startled, Harry simply wrapped his arms around her, patting her on the back, "Yeah, but I'm fine."
The clearing of a throat brought them back to the reality of the matter. Harry thought that they had already been too long as it was, but wanted a quick explanation of the ring.
"Griphook, what's so special about this ring? And why did it make them act like that?" he asked, perplexed.
"The family rings are an old tradition, they mark you as the head of a powerful family. Each one bears the family crest. It is custom for the patriarch of any family to wear the rings at all times, especially when in public. I apologise, sir…I made the faulty assumption that you would already be aware of them, I suppose that is another issue to raise when we find out who has been tampering with your life and accounts here. Many of the rings also have powerful enchantments on them…mostly protective charms and the like. I will have all of yours ready for your next visit if you would like?" came the response.
"Yeah, sure, but I have more families than fingers…how am I supposed to wear them all?" asked Harry.
Smiling, Griphook replied, "the rings all go on one finger, they will merge into one and you scroll through the family crests by touching it."
"Ok, well we have to be going now, I'll see you another time…hopefully there won't be a reason for me to be back here before my meeting with your Director." Stated Harry, who privately thought he had been spending too much time with goblins recently.
"Ah, regarding that…if you could arrive an hour earlier than scheduled, we have the official reading of Mr. Black's Will, though the contents are already active it is necessary to have a reading to inform the other parties involved of any inheritance they may have."
This was unexpected, but Harry merely accepted it with a nod of his head.
Both him and Tonks touched the portkey and it activated, sending them off to the unknown location of Potter Manor.