AN: I've reloaded this chapter due to error in previous uploading. My sincere apologies to all who got confused.
Chapter 6 - Gringotts
After tea, they spent another hour asking Harry about his life at the Dursleys and Harry eventually spilled everything out. John was so furious that Harry was glad to have Petunia far away. Hermione was also furious, although she had already heard some of it before and guessed most of it as well.
Eventually they all changed to semi-formal clothing which could fit a posh restaurant yet wouldn't seem out of place when just touring the city.
Paris at night was wonderful. Hermione enjoyed the views and Harry was quite overwhelmed. He never thought a city could be so lively and so beautiful. He already knew London, or some of it, at least, yet Paris was totally different, as if even the stones were of a different substance. Hermione enjoyed looking at him just as much as she enjoyed the views around her. John was also entrapped by Harry's fascination so much that he decided to leave the restaurant for another evening, dining in a fast-food outlet instead.
They were now walking on Champs-Elisee when the twins said: "Let's visit the Lido!"
Hermione blushed a bit at the suggestion, while Harry just asked "What is the Lido?"
"It's a night-club, where they have a nice show and most of the dancers are almost naked," John explained. It was now Harry's turn to blush.
"Do you want to see it? We used to work in a similar place, although not as elegant," explained Daphne.
Harry looked at Hermione questioningly. She shrugged. "Fine, let's see what it's all about," he said.
Three hours later, when they were back in John's house, Harry was still confused. He blamed the Champagne which he tasted at the Lido, but he knew that it was just his puritan English education. Until his eighteenth birthday he thought nudity was for the bathroom and bedroom only. Then he met the twins and his ideas about nudity changed a bit, and their nude swimming that afternoon added another bit of change. Yet seeing so many practically naked dancers affected him in a way he could not yet understand. He liked what he saw – of that he was sure, but it also confused him, and then, in a very unexpected way, it also made him proud of his fiancée and of his cousins. He knew the three of them looked even better than the most beautiful dancers on that stage and he was brave enough to tell them, earning a kiss from each and a silent promise for reward from Hermione, once they were alone.
They woke up late the next morning. Breakfast was served at the poolside in informal attire, meaning – practically naked, or only covered by a towel.
"When do you plan to get married?" John asked them.
"We have not discussed it yet. I know I don't want to wait much longer, yet Hermione would probably want to finish her formal education at Hogwarts and I'm considering it as well. This may delay our plans, Then, I'd like to give her as magnificent a wedding as she deserves, but I'm not sure if I can afford it."
"I'm quite sure money will pose no problem. While your Evans inheritance may not be worth very much money-wise, I'm sure you have much more than enough from your Potter side."
"I don't really know. I've seen the vault, but I had no time to really check its contents."
"That may take some time, I'm sure. It is probably one of the oldest at Gringotts, yet you should talk to your account manager there. I'm sure that most of your wealth is not in the vault."
"I know nothing about it..."
"Oh, I've heard your father mentioning that his annual allowance was more than enough to keep several families, even before he inherited the whole Potter estate. I suggest you check with the bank as soon as you're back in London. You may be pleasantly surprised."
While the twins spent most of their time in the sun – swimming, tanning or playing some ball games, Harry and Hermione stayed mostly in the shade. Even their short exposure to the sun during the previous afternoon made their skin red and they didn't take any potion to counter the effect, so they preferred to be cautious.
Harry got to know his uncle better. John knew very well everything that had happened within magical England, which was quite unusual for a muggle. He was even aware of Harry's break into Gringotts and his escape on a dragon's back.
"The goblins wouldn't have forgiven you, had you not been a Potter," he noted.
"What do you mean?"
"I believe that their share in the Potter profits is high enough to cover the whole damage within a few weeks. Had they posed any problems to you, you could have moved your business elsewhere and they would have lost much more. They know their math quite well, so it seems."
"They didn't mention anything about the break when I came there after the war. They did eye me suspiciously, though, but they always seem to do it."
Hermione bumped in. "I actually think they tried to be extremely polite with you when we went there. It really made me wonder."
"Now you know," commented John.
The weekend ended just too quickly. Sunday night they were back in London. The Evans twins drove home, while Harry and Hermione went to Grimmauld place for the night.
Monday morning, after letting Kreacher indulge them with a delicious (and much too large) breakfast, they went to Gringotts.
They soon found themselves facing an older Goblin in one of the executive rooms.
"I've been handling this account for the last fifty years," the Goblin told them. "I've done my best to keep it profitable, yet it has been quite stressful for the last seventeen years, not being able to have the account owner's preferences known to me. I hope you will find my handling of your account satisfactory."
"I trust you've done your best, and that is really all that I can expect," replied Harry.
They spent most of the morning there, learning of assets, investments and trust funds – all owned by Potter. They were somewhat surprised to discover that Potter, Black and Longbottom held the majority shares in The Daily Prophet. There were several other businesses, both magical and mundane, in the Potter holdings as well as several houses, some of them used for investment. It turned out that even the house they visited in Paris, where his uncle John was living, actually belonged to the Potters. The house was rented to Mr. John Evans for life at the price of one pound monthly.
They left the bank carrying several folders they intended to study at home.
After all those hours in the bank, Harry hoped to relax with an ice cream. This was not to happen. As soon as they placed their order, they were discovered by some reporters who started bombarding them with questions. It took Hermione all her persuasion talents to keep Harry from lashing at the reporters. Once the reporters got what they wanted, the couple was left alone for a short while. They were just starting to enjoy the repose when another voice was heard. "Harry, Hermione! I didn't expect to see you here."
They turned around to see Neville. "Hi! Do you like to join us?" Hermione asked.
"Gladly, but only for a short while. I'm meeting Ginny in half an hour. What are you guys doing here? I thought you were still in France."
"We returned last night and decided to check my account at Gringotts. We had some surprises there…"
"Only good surprises, I hope."
Harry smiled. "Well, between you and me we control the Daily Prophet. Did you know that?"
Neville looked surprised. "I knew my parents had some shares, and I expected yours to have some as well. I only have about ten percent of the shares."
"Well, the rest was almost equally divided between Black, Potter and Malfoy, so that I now own more than half the shares, and with your support we can make it a much better newspaper."
"Count me in," said Neville. "Do you have a plan?"
"I trust Hermione to come with a detailed plan in a few days, but we may have to pay them a visit as soon as today. I don't want them to publish any rubbish about Hermione and me being engaged."
"I'm with you, guys. Does Draco know?"
"I'm not sure. I'm not even sure he still holds his shares. So much of the Malfoy fortunes was either destroyed by the war or confiscated, first by the dark lord and then by the government, that he may have lost his shares or may have sold them for cash. But even if not – he doesn't have much to say now, does he?"
Neville smirked almost like Draco. "Not at all."
They next paid a visit to the Daily Prophet offices. It turned to be quite a pleasant visit. Some of the senior staff had been replaced since the defeat of the dark lord and the new managers were quite eager to please the war heroes, even before learning they were actually the owners.
They spent the evening in Grimmauld Place, going over the various documents from the bank and enjoying the great dinner cooked for them by Kreacher and most of all – enjoying each other's company.