Chapter 06: Know Thyself
Harry woke up many hours later to find himself in bed in his master bedroom at The Den. He felt multiple warm bodies around him. He found Hermione's head on his right shoulder and her arm across his neck. A little lower on the right hand side, he found Luna with her head on his abdomen, hugging his lower right half of the body. In a similar position on the left hand side, he found Susan. He found Daphne with her head over his left shoulder, but hugging his left upper limb.
The memories of the ritual flashed across his mind, when he suddenly realized that he felt great! There was no longer the feeling of impending doom that he had felt through out his life. He tried to feel for his scar, but he realized that he would not be able to move in his current condition. 'This feels great! This feels like Heaven!' he thought, the excitement of not having a part of Voldemort in his soul building up.
"What feels like Heaven, Harry? And don't shout! Its too early in the morning." Hermione mumbled. Her lips were next to his right ear, her breath tickling him.
"Its awesome Hermione! The feeling. I feel so pure. I can no longer feel the dark aspect of my soul. I feel free! Hey, what do you mean, no shouting? I was not shouting!"
"Of course you were shouting! see, now you said 'What is she talking about?' in a pretty loud voice" Hermione woke up as she realized that Harry was going into a panic mode. "Relax, Harry. "
'Mia, can you hear me?' Harry asked in his mind.
"Of course Harry! What kind of question is that?"
'Mia, that is because I was not speaking out loud. I was just thinking the question! Oh Merlin! Why do things always go wrong with me? Will I hear everyone's thoughts too? What about memories? That is going to be a mess.'
"It is alright Harry! We will work it out. How come I am in such a cozy position in your bed?" Hermione quipped.
"I have no idea. I passed out during the ritual and the next thing I know, I am sandwiched by four beautiful ladies. A guy could get used to this!"
"Wow Harry! I can't believe you are not shy about this. I like the new you!" Hermione rolled onto her back. "So what's the plan for today? I would hate to get out of bed today."
"No idea! I guess I am supposed to meet Ragnok, Dobby and Griphook. By the way, what was with all the inhaling noises yesterday?"
"Harry, you are such a dunderhead!" Hermione got up and tossed a pillow at Harry. "Do you know WHO Ragnok is? He is the chief of all Goblin races in Europe. He is practically Goblin Royalty and you are on a first name basis with him. Also, do you know how RARE it is to be called a Goblin friend? There have only one or two persons named as a Goblin-friend since Merlin himself."
'What can I say Mia? Stuff like that happens around me all the time!' Harry pouted.
'Merlin, I am stuck with early risers!' Daphne complained. "Good Morning Harry!" She reached over and gave him a kiss on his cheek. "Thank you Harry, I had the best sleep ever last night! I felt complete." Harry stiffened and started blushing, his hand automatically rising to his cheek.
"Harry, you have to get used to us being around and at least a little bit of physical contact." Hermione had caught him blushing. "You can't keep blushing forever. The book I borrowed from Ragnok on soul bonds says that the bond usually takes a few days to stabilize. In most cases, the act of consummation of the marriage takes care of that aspect. But with us, since you promised not to engage in any physical aspect of our bond, I guess we will have to stay close by and probably sleep in the same bed for a few days. You better get used to it Harry, I am going to wear my jammies to bed tonight." Hermione winked at Harry.
"And I am going to wear my flimsy nightgown" Daphne added with a wink of her own.
"I sleep in only my knickers and a T-shirt" Susan snickered.
'I usually sleep in the nude', thought Luna, which was clearly heard by all. This brought out another round of laughter from the witches.
"Too Much Information Folks! You girls are pure EVIL! Anyway, we better get ready before everyone arrives. I don't fancy being caught like this."
An hour later, they were all assembled in the living room at the Den. "Harry, I have some good news and some interesting news. Which one would you prefer to hear first?" Ragnok asked.
Harry groaned. "Interesting news is always bad news when I am concerned. How about I hear the good news first?"
"Very well. The good news is that Winky, in her infinite wisdom, was able to capture the dark lords soul fragment from your scar into an Elven memory orb. You will need to feed it some magic and a few innocuous memories and he will not know the difference between your mind and the memory orb."
"That is wonderful! Thank you Winky! Will I be able to access his mind through the memory orb?"
"Elves do not have use leglimency Harry Potter Sir, but Goblins do. You will have to learn both Elven magic and Goblin magic to read the Bad Wizard's mind", Winky replied.
"Actually, we will be able to help you with that." Ragnok interrupted. "We Goblins have a much faster way to learn things. Mind you, this is a Goblin secret and should be treated as such. In fact, the Goblin council met yesterday night and decided to share with you Harry, our knowledge of Goblin magic, Goblin etiquette and the way Gringotts functions. The learning process is highly regulated and all you have to do is drink a special potion and rest to assimilate the new knowledge. This is how most Goblins learn when they are young."
"We could help you in learning Elven magic in this way if the Elves are okay with that. But the Goblins have two cardinal rules. First, you cannot use Goblin magic in battle without the prior permission of the Goblin council. Second, if you use Goblin magic in your business, Gringotts automatically owns 10% share in it. These are very important rules and their violation could lead to major punishments. If you are okay with this, we will work on the potion which should take a couple of days to be ready." Harry was gob smacked at the offer and could only nod his consent.
"The Elves would like to share their magical knowledge with the great wizard Harry Potter Sir", Winky offered.
"Thank you for the offer, Winky. Could you please add Elven etiquette and your knowledge of both the wizarding and muggle worlds? I really need to learn more about our worlds." Winky nodded.
"Ragnok, every time I talk to you, I am amazed at how much you are bending your universe to help me. What can I do to help the Goblins?"
"That is simple. Be a good Goblin-friend, help Goblins increase/improve their business and earn yourself more gold." Ragnok laughed at Harry's shocked expression. Harry then nodded an affirmative.
"You said something about some interesting news?" Harry enquired.
"Oh yes. It seems your magic was bound when you were a child. Why that was done, I have no idea. But it was unbound during the ritual as were some charms and potions you and some of your bond-mates were bound by. The greatest effect was on Dobby. You will not be able to recognize him."
Dobby then appeared in the room with a soft pop. Dobby had grown in height and was almost 5 feet tall. He looked almost humanoid with perfectly proportional eyes. He even had long brown hair that reached his shoulders. The only thing differentiating him from a wizard was that he had longer pointy ears. Dobby sported the biggest smile Harry had ever seen.
"Harry Potter Sir! Dobby an Elf now. Not house-Elf anymore. Dobby can now draw magic from everywhere like wizards does! Thank you Harry Potter Sir!" Dobby's voice had turned from a squeaky one to a more manly voice.
"Dobby! That is awesome! Does that mean that all house-Elves are under some enchantment? Do you know how to break it?"
"Yes, Harry Potter Sir, all house-elves being under enchantments but Dobby does not know how to break it."
"We will find a way Dobby! We will truely free the house-Elves. Now that you don't need to be bound as a servant to access magic to survive, would you want me to unbind you? You will still be my friend."
"Dobby would like that, Master. But Dobby would still want to work for the great wizard Harry Potter Sir. Dobby can still access Harry Potter Sir's magic through the soul-brother-bond."
"Excellent Dobby! Let us undo the servant binding. Congratulations to you Dobby, the free Elf." Harry held Dobby's hand as he said the last words in the Elven language. This resulted in a flare of magic surrounding Harry and Dobby.
Ragnok was surprised that Harry could speak Elven and wanted to test if Harry knew to speak Gobbledygook. Harry, tell me. Is there something unusual you noticed with your soul bonds? Ragnok asked in Gobbledygook.
Ragnok, Now that you mention it. I am able to access the thoughts of my bond-mates and speak to them in my mind. Is that normal? I haven't tried to speak to Dobby and Griphook yet though. Harry replied in Gobbledygook without realizing it.
"Ah Harry! It seems that the effect of breaking your magical binding is pretty profound. Your soul-bonds are much stronger than expected. It looks like they will be able to access all your memories, knowledge and magic and vice versa. There is also the issue of excess magic that you will suddenly find in your magical core. Until you are able to control it, you will need to bleed off a lot magic in the coming weeks. I suggest finding avenues to use large amounts of magic. DO NOT use offensive magic till you have full control as the results will be catastrophic. Also, DO NOT use your wand as it will explode. Maybe you can request Winky to find more Elven memory/magic orbs to store your excess magic. If you don't do this, I am afraid that your bond-mates will show signs of magical overload as your magic will bleed to them."
Also, your bond-mates will be able to access the Goblin and Elven magic that you will learn. So they will have to to sign a magical binding contract not to disseminate this knowledge of Goblin magic without Gringotts approval. Now that you all are bonded, you are all officially emancipated in the wizarding world. I have ensured that the monitoring orbs for underage magic are turned off for you all, without the ministry being aware that you all have been emancipated." Ragnok continued. Harry and the four witches could only grin and nod their heads.
"In the meantime for peace of your mind Harry, I suggest you all learn some form of wizarding or Elven or Goblin Occlumency. Unless of course you want to be constantly innundated by your bond-mates' thoughts." Ragnok snickered. "I will ask Griphook to teach you. It will be far different from what you have learnt from Severus Snape!" Ragnok winked while Harry groaned.
"Before I leave, I want to discuss with you your heritage and the wills of your godfather and your parents. There have been gross violations of your parents' will that need to be addressed." Seeing the look of confusion on Harry's face, Ragnok continued. "Sirius Orion Black, your godfather named you the major beneficiary of his estate. That means that you inherit close to a million galleons from him and the hereditary seat in the Wizengamot. Yes, the Blacks are known to be as rich as the Malfoys, who are known to be the richest family in the wizarding world."
"I don't understand." Harry enquired. "You said that I could easily afford a million galleons, but you say that the Malfoys are worth about a million galleons. Does not make sense, the numbers don't add up."
"Pretty sharp mind you got there Harry! You caught on much faster than your father and grandfather. Yes, Malfoys are worth about a million galleons and are known to be the richest wizarding family. But in reality, the Potters are by far the richest. Tell me Harry! What do you know about the Potter family? What do you know about yourself?" Ragnok asked.
"Almost nothing actually. My relatives told me that my parents were wastrels and drunks!" Harry spat out. "I later found out that they were of the magical kind. My dad is supposedly from a pureblood family, where as my mother is a muggleborn. But then, Winky called my aunt a squib. So that does not make sense. Other than this, nobody has ever told me anything more about my heritage. I did not even know who I was till I asked my first grade teacher my name."
Ragnok shook his head sadly. "I am sorry Harry. Had I known about your living conditions, I would have personally intervened. I will look into the lineage of Lily Potter nee Evans. But now is the time to know about our Potter Heritage. Tell me Harry, do you know how Gringotts came to be?" Seeing the blank look on Harry's face and the look of excitement on Hermione's face, Ragnok indicated her to speak up.
"Harry, you have to pay attention to the History of Magic lessons." Hermione berated Harry. "Godric Gryffindor was the one who recognized a race similar to the Leprechauns as 'Goblins' and tasked them with managing wizarding finance. This was before the time the ministry of magic was created. The Goblins then diversified from their traditional occupations as warriors, miners and metal forgers to start the first wizarding bank known as Gringotts in Diagon Alley. They later spread all over the world. It is rumored that Rowena Ravenclaw taught the Goblins the basics of accounting and created the first spells to manage a wizarding bank."
"She sure is the smartest witch your age Harry. She is a keeper. What nobody knows is that Godric Gryffindor owns 25% of Gringotts for helping found Gringotts and Rowena Ravenclaw owns 10% for creating the spells for our business. That is the basis for us to insist that any business that uses Goblin magic pay us 10% royalty."
"Well, enough about that. The only son from the late secret marriage of Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, Theodore Ravenclaw Gryffindor wanted to live a life incognito and changed his name to Theodore Anderson Potter and requested Gringotts to keep this fact quiet. Since then the Potters have always kept this fact a secret." There were many sharp intakes of breath at this statement. "So in short, a million galleons is peanuts for you. You are the richest magical and muggle being in the world. You own 35% of the net worth of Gringotts and millions of galleons invested in other wizarding businesses. Your parents did invest in a lot of muggle businesses too, but we were not responsible for them. That was your father's 'full-time hobby' as he used to call it. You should meet your muggle bankers soon."
"Wow! This was unexpected", Harry stammered. He looked around the room to see the gob smacked expressions on everyone's face. "Here I am, wanting a normal life, to realize I am rich and an heir of two founders. I really need to learn more about who I am and my heritage. Although, it kind of makes sense that my aunt thought that my father was unemployed! Ha ha! Imagine that."
Hermione was the first to recover from the shock. "So Harry, now that you have all that money, what are you going to do?"
"We could do more shopping!" joked Susan, which brought out rounds of laughter as Harry groaned.
As the concept of being rich sunk in, Ragnok could see the levers working in Harry's mind. "Ragnok, would it affect my inheritance if I gave a million galleons each to my bond-mates i.e. Griphook and Dobby included, along with a million galleons to Amelia Bones, Xenophilius Lovegood, The Grangers, The Weasleys, Ripenclaw and Winky?"
"Also could you add 10 million galleons each to 1) a Goblin-relief fund, 2) an Elf-relief fund, 3) a lycanthropes relief fund and 4) a wizarding war-relief fund? These funds may be set up and administered by the Goblins. Hermione and I have come up with the names Elf-Life Foundation (E.L.F.) for the Elf-relief fund and Welfare Of Lycanthropes Foundation (W.O.L.F.) for the werewolves. The wizarding fund could probably be named 'Sirius Orion Black Emergency Relief (S.O.B.E.R.) Fund', How about that? He would love it! A SOBER fund!" Harry laughed.
Harry was on a roll, "Maybe it could look like all these monies came from my godfather so that I can remain incognito. You could get Remus Lupin to head W.O.L.F. and Dobby to head E.L.F. But you know what? Let me first run this through my bond-mates before the final decisions of how to run these funds, shall we? I definitely want their input in all this. I intend to change the world for the better with this."
"HARRY! You don't have to pay us anything! We don't need your money", Hermione huffed.
"Relax Mia, you heard him. This money is peanuts in the grand scheme of things. Moreover, I need your help with a lot of our future projects and we are going to make a gob-load of money soon." Harry said with a feral smile on his face. "Looks like the Goblin part of my personality wants me to be financially efficient while the Elven side wants me to serve the society."
"Very noble dreams indeed Harry! And I fully support it. Why not we work out the details sometime next week? The knowledge potions must be ready by then." Ragnok commented. "Now, we need to address the discrepancies in your parents' will."
Harry immediately sobered on hearing this. He nodded to let Ragnok know to continue.
"Harry, your parents' will specifically states that you were supposed to be brought up in the wizarding world. Your godfather, Sirius Black, was the first choice of a guardian, followed by your godmother, Alice Longbottom. If they were both unavailable, then the next option was ANY loving light family with an existing membership in the Order of the Phoenix. You were never to stay with the Drusleys. In fact, your mother specifically stated that she would prefer you being sent to a wizarding orphanage than have you grow up here. The sad part is that Albus Dumbledore was one of the witnesses when their will was made and knew fully well the contents of the will. To his credit, there are no wizarding orphanages, most magical orphans are adopted by their relatives. Those without relatives are sent to muggle orphanages."
"Why am I not surprised?" Harry threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. "I have always wondered why my mother would let me live here knowing about my aunt and uncle. Our dear headmaster had to interfere for the greater good. Ragnok, how much control does he really have over me now?"
"It depends on whether you want to let him know that you have been emancipated or not. He has nominated himself your legal magical guardian and hence has control over everything you do in the magical world as long as you are his ward. Your relatives are your muggle guardians. Dumbledore has access to both your educational trust vault and your parents vault, that he believes is the potter family vault. There is about a million galleons in that vault. He has set up two funds from the interest earned on the money in your parents' vault. One fund pays for the operating expenses of the Order of the Phoenix and the other covers the Hogwarts educational expenses of deserving financially challenged students irrespective of their blood status." Ragnok explained.
"Well, at least he has not actively stolen from me. Provided the Bird Club is not too expensive to maintain, I don't mind it. In fact, I love the idea of funding the education of students. How many students are being funded every year? Do I know any of them?" Harry enquired.
"I am glad you think so." Ragnok agreed. "Other than the fact that Dumbledore has kept you in the dark and forced you to live with your horrid relatives, he has really worked in everyone's best interests. There is a lot more you can do with the kind of resources at your disposal now. Contrary to wizards opinions of Goblins, we Goblins believe that spending money on education, healthcare and improvement of lifestyle, is actually good for business in the longer run. You definitely know many of the recipients of the Lily Evans Educational Fund, all the Weasley children, the Creevey brothers, Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet, Angelina Johnson, Lee Jordon, Dean Thomas, Eloise Midgen, Natalie McDonald, Su Li, Mandy Brokelhurst, Cho Chang, Hannah Abbott, the Patil twins and Tracy Davis to name a few. We have always had more applicants than we could fund. As we do not advertise the availability of these funds, only those who come to Gringotts requesting a loan, get informed of the Fund. I don't know all the details, but I will ask Griphook to update you on this."
"Ragnok, did my family own any land or houses?" Harry enquired
"The Potters did not believe in owning palatial mansions. They lived in a modest home known as Potter Manor in Godric's Hollow that was destroyed. However, they own a lot of land in the wizarding world including most of the land in Godric's Hollow, the forbidden forest, the woods around the Lovegood residence in Ottery St. Catchpole, rural areas near Devon, Kent, Manchester and Aberdeen. They also own many properties in the muggle world, but we Goblins do not manage any transactions in the muggle world. So you will have to look at the paperwork in your Potter family vault to find more information."
"The Blacks on the other hand own a lot of wizarding businesses and a lot of wizarding properties. Like any typical pureblood family, they hardly have any interactions with the muggle world. I do know that both the Potters and the Blacks own a few islands and a couple of forests around the world. The islands are under familial Fidelius charms and can only be visited by family members. I will have to ask Griphook to look those up and give you more information."
"Thank you Ragnok. I guess I will discuss what I want to do with my family. Would it be possible to read a modified will of my godfather? I mean, I don't want to take away anything Sirius willed to others. But I want to add some money to a few others and set up a few funds. I hope this is not illegal. I know that the well-meaning headmaster will try to stop me from attending it."
"I will see what I can do. Mr. Black set up what we call a living-will which gives his portrait the right to modify his will. Maybe we can discuss with his portrait and then add a couple of paragraphs that relate to the new monies you wish to disburse from your accounts. I will get in touch with you soon. Until then Griphook will update you through your mental connection." Ragnok smiled.
"Talk about instant customer service! I love Gringotts! Thank you very much for all your help Ragnok. I guess my family and I are going to rest now." Ragnok waved his hand and disappeared with a very faint pop.
Harry turned towards Winky and asked, "Is there anything you can do to help us settle our bond? Also my magic feels a little weird. I feel as if I am on a magic-high."
"Master, you have accepted Dobby and Griphook as your brothers. You now have to accept each of these witches as your wife or soul-mate. Otherwise, you will feel tired and your magic is out of control. Spending time in bed with the witches and sharing memories will help. You is not liking the other alternative."
"That is right Winky! No sex without love for me. I refuse to do that. Thank you Winky. Could we have some of your awesome soup before we retire please?"