Harry stared at the piece of parchment handed to him for a very long time. He peered particularly at the number at the bottom. He certainly hadn't seen so many commas in his life.
'This is all mine?' He asked aloud.
'Yes,' the goblin replied curtly. 'Otherwise the number would be different.' Muttering imprecations against wizards, witches and the human race in general under its breath, the goblin left the room.
'I have tried to grow your fortune as much as possible, Harry,' Dumbledore said slowly. 'Using the services of Mr Bennet here,' he waved his hand at the man sitting next to him.
'Thank you, sir,' Harry said sincerely. He looked again at the parchment detailing his wealth. 'You did a great job!'
'It was the least I could do, my boy,' Dumbledore said graciously. 'Of course, I cannot take credit for that. Mr Bennet here did all the heavy work. I suggest listening to him now as he has some information for you.'
Mr Bennet, a tall thin wizard who reminded Harry vaguely of a vulture, opened a large book with long fingered hands and started speaking slowly, pointing out the various interests that he had invested the Potter family's rather considerable fortune.
From what Harry could gather, a bulk of the fortune that his father had willed for him could be owed to his grandfather's invention, the late tragically named Fleamont Potter. The irony of it being Sleekeazy's Hair Potion was not lost on the messy haired teenager as he dragged a hand through his errant locks.
'So I have a controlling stake?' Harry asked Mr Bennet.
'Yes, sir, that means that you own more than half of the company's shares.' The older man said patiently.
Nodding, Harry listened attentively, occasionally taking notes as the man managing his fortune spoke to him.
'You must have many questions,' Dumbledore commented after they were done and had left the bank.
'A fair few,' Harry replied. 'From what I gather, I have quite a bit of gold, but next to nothing in property. That is if you don't count my parents' old house in Godric's Hollow that has been turned into a monument.'
'You are correct,' Dumbledore replied. 'The Ministry is currently paying a good stipend to you which comes from all the exhibitions held there.'
Harry still didn't know how he felt about the whole thing. From what he could understand, the government was all for nationalizing the property initially. It was only because of the headmaster and Mr Bennet that Harry was getting a steady income.
It didn't hurt that the house itself was on ancestral land of great historical significance.
'I would like to go there some day.' Harry said in a would-be casual voice.
'That can be arranged,' Dumbledore said, nodding. 'Tell me when you are free, and I can arrange for someone to take you there.'
Harry made a noise of agreement. 'I have a lot of looking up to do,' he commented, patting the sheaf of parchment he was carrying with him.
'Ah, yes,' Dumbledore replied. 'Well, I may not be an expert in such matters, but I can handle some basic information. I also suggest looking up a few of the Arithmancy books as well. They might help with many of those questions.'
They entered the Leaky Cauldron and made their way to a private parlour that Dumbledore had reserved earlier.
'So,' the headmaster said, as he sat down. 'How does, for the lack of a better word, parenthood suiting you Harry?'
'Well, it is fine so far,' Harry said. 'It has been a week, but we seem to be getting along fine.'
Shortly enough, their lunch arrived. Harry did not know what to make of the fact that he was having a casual lunch with Albus Dumbledore of all people. It was certainly surreal. Although, it wasn't as surreal as Dumbledore implying that Harry was a father or something. It made him feel quite mature, but not necessarily in a good way.
'Er, when will the new place be ready?' Harry asked in a bid to get his mind off the subject of "parenthood".
'Well, it should be ready in a few days,' Dumbledore said, putting his knife and fork down and picking up his napkin. 'By then, you should be considered an emancipated minor and a legal adult. Hopefully, everything shall fall into place in a nice and timely manner. I have for your consideration a few nice properties that you might like. I will send you a file with pictures for consideration.'
'That sounds brilliant, sir.' Harry said enthusiastically. Another thought then occurred to Harry. 'Will I be able to get a licence to Apparate once I become emancipated?'
'That is a good idea,' Dumbledore said thoughtfully. 'I do not see any problem with it. I am sure you can get Miss Tonks to teach you. After all, she is going to be in constant contact with you. And speaking of Miss Tonks, she should be here any moment…'
As if on cue, the door opened, letting in the aforementioned Auror.
'Wotcher, Harry!' She said cheerfully. 'Ready to go?'
'And now I must leave,' Dumbledore said, getting up. Smiling at the two, he swept out of the room.
An hour later, Harry was back home, wearing new clothes and laden down with an uncountable number of bags of clothing for both him and his clone.
'Good day?' Mrs Weasley asked pleasantly when Harry entered the kitchen.
'Exhausting,' Harry said with feeling as he slumped into the nearest chair. 'But yeah, it was a good day. I hope little Harry hasn't been any trouble?'
'Oh, he has been quite a lamb, ever so shy.' Mrs Weasley said fondly. 'Of course, that is his normal behaviour whenever anyone who isn't you is around.'
Looking at the barely concealed sadness in Mrs Weasley's face, Harry hastened to reassure her. 'I am sure he will warm up to you eventually, Mrs Weasley.'
Mrs Weasley smiled wanly. 'I am not worried about that, dear, but thank you nonetheless.'
'Professor Dumbledore said that he has found a suitable house and we should be able to move in a few days.' Harry ventured after a long silence.
'Well … that is good, I suppose,' Mrs Weasley said very slowly. Sighing, she got on her feet. 'Well, it's time to prepare dinner. Shall we, Harry?'
Harry joined her at the counter with enthusiasm. Mrs Weasley was quite touched when he had first asked her to teach him to cook the very next day after Dumbledore had announced his decision. She had informed him that none of her children had thought to ask her for cooking lessons. Harry was then treated to amusing stories about Bill and Charlie's adventures in the kitchen in their first few weeks living abroad. The two of them then speculated about the amount of trouble Fred and George would get into when trying to fend for themselves, while wondering how Ron would cope being on his own. While Harry was quick to assure her that Ron would be living with him once he decided to move out of the Burrow, Mrs Weasley just shook her head and dryly remarked that it would be a miracle if the house didn't come crashing down their ears should her son and Harry end up living together for an extended period of time.
'After all, Hogwarts is barely standing, and it is a thousand-year-old castle!' she quipped, a twinkle in her eye.
Harry noticed that Percy wasn't mentioned, but he wasn't going to come near that topic.
Today, Mrs Weasley was giving him directions for making Shepherd's Pie. It was something he had made earlier with a lot of help from the older woman, but today, she was sitting on a chair and supervising him as he cut the various vegetables and meat, calling out directions every now and then.
'As soon as The Trace has been lifted from you, I shall teach you some household spells that you can use to make cooking even easier.' She remarked when they placed the dish in the oven to bake.
'Why would we need to bother with The Trace now?' Harry asked curiously. 'We are in a house that is under layers and layers of protective charms, not to mention the Fidelius Charm. Isn't the Ministry unable to detect underage magic in places of high magic usage?'
Harry wondered if he had said something wrong when Mrs Weasley froze at those words. 'How did you know that?' She asked in a hushed whisper.
'Um, I figured that much out over the years,' Harry began slowly. 'I had that confirmed from … various sources.'
'And would one of those "sources" happen to be my husband?' Mrs Weasley asked archly.
'Oh, no, Mrs Weasley. Mr Weasley hasn't breathed a word of that to me!'
'Of course,' Mrs Weasley replied. 'Yes, Arthur knows better. Well, I hope you don't go around telling all your friends. I have no intention of Ron or Ginny finding out.'
'Yes ma'am,' Harry replied promptly. 'I won't breathe a word of that to Ron or Ginny. But I don't know if Fred or George will tell them.'
'If they know what's good for them, they will heed the warning I gave them the day they were accepted as members of the Order.' Mrs Weasley said darkly. Suddenly she smiled. 'It's nice of you not to tell them, Harry dear. I really appreciate your silence…'
Harry swallowed. 'Thanks, Mrs Weasley,' he said nervously a bit unnerved at the sudden change of mood.
With a smile the matronly woman waved her wand and had the various utensils used so far cleaning themselves.
'Um, why don't you want them to know?' Harry asked tentatively.
'It builds character dear,' Mrs Weasley said. 'Nothing like some manual labour to give one an appreciation for magic, if you ask me. It produces responsible witches and wizards. Besides, I do believe in following the spirit of the Decree of Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery.' Under her breath she muttered. 'And I'd rather not deal with the nightmare of having a horde of hormone-crazy children waving wands and throwing hexes at each other in my house at the drop of a hat, thank you very much.'
'I'll go and check on Little Harry,' Harry said, getting up.
Approaching the toddler's room, he reflected that whoever in the Department of Mysteries that had been taking care of the kid had done a hell of a job in drilling in nap times and toilet training. For a three-year-old, the boy was very regimental when it came to his sleeping timetable. And he hadn't had one accident, which was something Mrs Weasley said generally happened to kids his age.
Although, Harry reflected ruefully as he found the bedroom empty, the boy did have the habit of wanting to sleep in Harry's room. Locking the door didn't seem to help much because the child, as he had found out (and been told) had an exceptional level of control over his magic.
He still didn't know if he should find this irritating, amusing or cute.
Senna waved her wand, causing her possessions to sail from various spots in her room into her trunk.
Just a few hours back, she had chanced upon a conversation that she was not meant to have heard.
As soon as she had figured out that her boss was talking to Albus Dumbledore, and on what subject, she had fled from the Ministry and Apparated home.
At first, she and her four other colleagues had thought nothing of their boss's order to lie low in their houses and make no contact with any person. Indeed, she would have been blissfully unaware of what was really going on had she not spotted her boss and Dumbledore walking together. Something about that scene had made her suspicious, and she had decided to follow them.
It was a matter of simplicity for her to remain unnoticed as the two men settled themselves in the office of the head of the department. It was also quite simple for her to eavesdrop on what otherwise would have been an impossible to hear conversation, as she used some rather obscure spells that had been developed by one of the top researchers of secrecy charms and a dear work-friend of hers.
What she heard chilled her. Somehow her old headmaster had found out about the young boy they had created and were going to train to take down the Dark Lord. She heard everything as the old man used this information to essentially blackmail her superior.
In exchange for the Dumbledore's silence about the clone, the headmaster had demanded that all the people involved in The Project have their memories wiped of the work done immediately and all their research be handed over personally to him to be destroyed.
As the leader of the project, this was something that she just couldn't take. There was no way anyone was going to undo her Magnum Opus!
As soon as she had reached her house, she started packing at a frenetic pace. She was in the middle of dumping all the scrolls of parchment that contained her research into her bag when the security charms around her house warned her of visitors.
A glance outside the window showed two individuals, clearly from the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol, casually walking up to the gate that lead to her front yard. Their body language suggested that they were expecting her to be unaware of their arrival till it was too late.
Grimly, she shrunk her luggage and hastened towards the basement where there was a secret exit that she had built some time back. Only a fool would try to use the Floo network to escape right now, and apparition was too much of a giveaway.
Poking her head out of the end of the tunnel, a good distance away from her home, she watched her two would-be captors through a pair of Omnioculars. From the looks of things, they had just knocked the door and were waiting for her to answer. It would take some time before they realised that she wasn't home, and then even more time before they find the passage she had installed.
By then, they would be too late.
Turning on the spot, she vanished with a crack that she knew wouldn't be heard by those thugs.