The Half Blood Prince Revealed

Summary :

Harry's summer before sixth year is no different from the others. Around every corner surprises, good and bad, and adventure of all kind await. And it looks like the gods have finally granted Harry a possibility for a nicer life. What will this mean for his 6th year at Hogwarts ?

General Disclaimer :

I am just playing in the sand of JKRowling's literary produced beach and am attempting to build my own sandcastle for others to enjoy.

12 The fun in learning

With the arrival of Monday morning a new period of the summer had started. Mr Weasley returned to work with enough food and snack packs to last him a week. Mrs Weasley, Ginny and Harry wished him a nice day, the latter two still with slightly damp hair after their morning paddle.

Ginny and Hermione had indicated they wanted to join Harry in his lessons as often as possible. Hermione's thirst for knowledge was not uncommon and Ginny indicated she wanted to get ahead now she had the OWLS to prepare for. So it was agreed that Mr Black would have a history session with a full house as his stories were so interesting, a session on the old magic for Ginny, Hermione, Ron, Neville, the twins, Harry and Remus, and one session limited to Harry only which would deal with the Black estate and which would give Harry a complete understanding of the current inheritance charm and all the protection charms around the estates. Once he'd covered all the existing ones Mr Black wanted to take Harry even a step further by teaching him how to create similar charms himself.

Two mornings a week Remus would be teaching the youngsters upstairs on the third floor and they ended up having classes very much like the DA meetings.

They all settled really quickly in this new routine and the talks by Mr Black were very entertaining as well as highly educational. And with a large part of the day still available for fun and games everybody was feeling happy at the way things worked out.

On the Thursday after dinner Harry joined the others in the living room when Ginny came up to him and smiled, book in hand. "You've got mum hooked on romance novels, you know Harry."

Harry looked at her in surprise. "What did I do ?"

"With the house elves doing all the jobs she's found leisure time for the first time in long. So she was wandering around in the library when she spotted all these delightful romance novels. And now she can't get enough of them. Dad on the other hand," she continued as she nodded in Mr Weasley's direction who was sitting in the armchair opposite his wife, "has found a muggle DIY manual that he's now studying intently in the hope he'll be able to learn to do these things too. And the library just provided me with a book on OWLs. Just what I need to prepare myself. That library of yours is a downright treasure trove."

Harry looked around and indeed saw that everybody was sitting down reading. Even the twins were buried deep inside a hefty old tome. Only Ron sitting at the table with a chess set on sat staring at his family and friends with a lost look on his face. Harry walked up to him and asked "Ron, would you like a new opponent for a change ? I know Mr Black enjoys the game and it's been a while since he's been able to play."

Ron's eyes lit up and he eagerly asked "Do you think he'll want to ?"

"Only one way to find out. Let's go and ask him."

Mr Black wanted very much to play a game of chess. It had been truly ages since he'd played against a fellow lover of chess.

Returning to the living room Harry saw everybody was engrossed in their books so he walked up to Remus and softly told him he'd be upstairs at this desk if anyone asked for him. He wanted to look through those Gringotts documents in some more detail.

Once seated at his desk Harry took the largest report and flipped it open at a random page. To his surprise all he found there was a list of … names. Turning the pages the list of names continued only interspersed periodically with an address.

Realising he'd need to go through this report in a more methodical way Harry closed the report and started up from the beginning. He found a table of contents making the task ahead a whole lot easier.

The report started by listing the possessions. First up were three pages worth of precious and semi-precious stones, rings, necklaces and other jewellery in gold, silver or platinum. These were followed by a list of properties, both the muggle and wizard kind. He learned that all his properties but three wizard business premises and two muggle residences were rented out. Furthermore there were the five Black family residences of which four were in regular or semi-regular use. As Harry was reading and contemplating this figure he tapped the line in the table of contents with his finger. To his utter surprise the pages started turning to stop somewhere three quarters into the report. And there in the middle of the page the title was flashing his presence to the onlooker. Harry jotted a quick note down to remind himself to look through the library to find out how that neat little trick was accomplished before reading the entry in the report on the five residences.

The first three were not surprisingly Black Manor, the Island and Grimmauld Place but to his utter surprise he found that the Lestrange household actually held residence in one of his houses. Harry penned a quick note with the address and explaining what he'd found out to Professor Dumbledore and sent Lilly on her way.

The last entry was for Black Castle Island and Harry had instantly very conflicting images flashing through his mind. On the one hand he could imagine a fairy tale castle shining in the sun while at the same time he saw images of a dark dreary cold place. Harry decided he'd pay the place a visit when the big outing and shopping spree was planned. With everyone being evicted if Harry was not around they'd decided to go stay at Grimmauld Place for the night before. Harry would return there before they all ventured into Diagon Alley for the rest of the day to do the shopping.

Harry returned to the table of contents and found that bonds and shares were next on the list. Even Harry recognised some of the names of both muggle and wizarding companies where Gringotts had invested parts of the Black fortune.

Next item on the list was the money available in the vault, followed by a detailed description of all the items in the vault. Finally the "Possessions" part was over and the "Expenses" chapter was up.

Harry decided he would look at the amount of money in the vault, have a quick look through the items in the vault and then study any expenses the estate generated.

Thinking that most money would have been spent on purchasing all those jewels and properties, Harry once again tapped the correct table entry and watched as the report flipped on its other side and traced back the few pages at the end to come to the right point in the report.

Although the estate was now centralised the amounts had been split up in three as per their origin. First there was the contents of Sirius' vault where a little over 300 000 galleons were left after the money had been transferred to Remus. The 'public' Black family vault had little money left in it but the eight figure amount that showed for the balance of the secret Black funds left Harry totally gobsmacked. This was totally unexpected. This was a major shock !

Harry was still half dazed as he looked through the vault contents but his attention was instantly drawn by a familiar word. Paying the entries a bit more heed he found here too the origin of the contents had been noted and there among Sirius' things was a Marauder Manual ! Harry smiled at the idea of having something from Sirius' more carefree days and couldn't wait to see it. From the two other vaults came quite a wide variety of tidbits. Mainly coming from the family vault were things that even sounded dangerous to Harry and he'd have to arrange for Remus to have access to these things so they could be dealt with appropriately. And then there were relatively harmless things like suits of armour, paintings, swords, daggers and dirks, furniture of all kind and surprisingly a pensieve. He'd have to ask Mr Black about that one as it came from his part of the estate.

Harry finally made it to that part of the report he really wanted to see. He remembered a story about the British Royal Household recounting how a member of staff took a glass of wine to a certain room on the third floor. When a new official saw this happening a few days in a row he went to investigate and found that centuries ago a sick visitor had stayed in that room. The staff at the time had been ordered to deliver a glass of wine to that room until further notice, and since no further notice had come they were still delivering the wine to this day. Harry wanted to make sure no money was spent in such a silly way.

The first three entries were pretty self-explanatory. Mr Black had made provisions before he died to have all new publications on certain subjects purchased and sent to Black Manor. On top of that twice a year a catalogue would be sent out so a further selection could be made. A similar arrangement had been made with a nursery. A catalogue listing their new produce and available seedlings and seeds would be sent out and the house elf could go and pick up any orders. Payment in both cases worked via Gringotts. The third long-standing entry was an allowance of sorts paid on a yearly basis into an account the house elves could access. That had made them independent of any new master.

What truly shocked Harry however were the last three entries. They were headed under "Family Allowances". While Sirius had been in jail, allowances had been set up for his mother and two of his cousins, Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy for the whopping amount of 500 galleons a month each. The one for Sirius' mom had long been suspended as she'd passed away, but the two other ones were still receiving the money. He was angry and puzzled at the same time. Angry at the fact that those two would receive money from the estate but puzzled also about who would have set up these allowances. He could not imagine Sirius doing so, even if he hadn't been in Azkaban at the time. It might have been Sirius' dad leaving them allowances in his will but since Mr Black had mentioned that Sirius' dad had secret meetings with Tonks and her mother, Harry would have thought that he would at least also provide for her in a similar way. No, somehow Harry had a feeling these allowances were not what they seemed and he would make certain to find out all about them.

Just then a soft knock on the door sounded and Harry called to come in. The door swung open and Remus took a half step inside saying

"Sorry to interrupt Harry, I just wanted to say everybody's tucked in early today." He must have sensed Harry's troubled mind however as he continued.

"Is something bothering you ? Anything I can help with ?"

"Come on in Remus and maybe better close the door. Yes, actually I'd like to ask … ehm, I think I'll better explain. I just found out that Sirius' cousins are receiving allowances from the Black estate. They've received 500 galleons a month since 1983, along with Sirius' mum until she died. The only explanation I have would be that Sirius' dad left them these allowances, but I cannot believe that after seeing Tonks and her mum in secret for years he wouldn't just give her an allowance too. I have the funny feeling there may be more to this but until I know from Gringotts what exactly happened I can't do anything. But I got thinking maybe to start already about finding someone with legal knowledge who could help out if needed. Would you know someone like that, someone you trust ?"

"As a matter of fact I do. Paul Watkins is a werewolf too and works together with a squib woman. They are very good and thorough but don't have too much work, seeing the prejudice of wizards towards werewolves."

"Would he be interested in working for the Black estate and maybe be its face ?"

"I don't see why not. I'll write him a note to see if he's taking on any work at the moment. We could make arrangements to go see him when the outing to Diagon Alley is planned. And if we go after your visit to Gringotts you'll have more information to get his advise on."

"Sounds like a plan to me. Thanks Remus. I feel much better now. By the way, do you know Tonks' parents ? Since Mrs Tonks was Sirius' favourite cousin I thought to invite her over maybe and if it's possible legally I could set up an allowance like the one her two sisters have received for so long."

"That would be wonderful for them Harry ! Ted had an accident several years ago and although he healed he hasn't been the same since. They are a bit like the Weasley's really. They don't have much money but they are a loving couple. Before you invite them, maybe you could see with Paul about that allowance and what can and can't be done.

Well Harry, I'm off to bed. I find that all this reading and good food and exercise is tiring me out."

"That's because you're an old man Remus. There's no other excuse." Laughed Harry, happy to be almost in bed himself. After all Remus had a good point. All the food and exercise made you tired, no matter what age you were.

That night once again Harry and Remus met up with Sirius by the veil and after explaining the situation Sirius did indeed confirm he never set up allowances for those three. When told about his father meeting Tonks and her mum in secret Sirius too had his doubts that the man would then abandon them and not include her when dishing out allowances.

"Don't let it bother you for now, Harry. Soon enough the results and school lists will arrive and then you can go check it out with Gringotts. And Paul will be able to tell you all you can and cannot do. A fortnight extra without that little extra you're planning to give them won't break them."

Harry relaxed again, after all Remus was right. They'd managed without for so long, an extra month wouldn't matter.

Author's Note :

It wasn't until just a few days ago I realised I'd forgotten to mention I wouldn't post over the holidays and I'm really sorry. I do hope you all had a wonderful time and would like to extend my best wishes for all things nice in this New Year.

Again thank you for reading. Would love some feedback from you though.

If you enjoyed this (and previous) chapter(s), you might be interested to know the story is a few chapters further along on my yahoo group (for link see profile page).

Have a nice weekend all.

kadedeetje