Firstly, I would like to apologize profusely for the delay on posting this chapter. I realized quickly during the writing process that trying to write full time is not an option right now, due to my personal circumstances. I'm a full time mother to an 18 month old who has just started walking, and I'm also suffering from a difficult pregnancy with my second child leaving me bedridden lots of the time. While being bedridden could be seen as a positive in the writing process, it seems I spend a lot of time on the couch being climbed on. Unfortunately this means I will have to reduce my posting to once a week, normally at the weekends as I can only write in the evenings when I have enough energy. Although I might get more written than that in a week, this gives me the option to build up a backlog of chapters before the birth of my second daughter in early June this year. Hopefully this extension on my plans for posting will allow me to write longer chapters however, which I can only hope will be a positive to my readers.
Quite a few people have made the mistake of reading the Goblin name I used wrong, I deliberatly used GripNook not Griphook as Harry's account manager. While this will not be explained or mentioned in this chapter, it was a deliberate mistake and will become quite a key part of the story in later chapters, I have plans for plots involving Harry's relationships with the Goblins, to which this change of name will be the catalist, though I do not want to give away too much just yet and I hope you will bare with me until I am ready to reveal this storyline.
Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter I wouldn't be writing this in the evenings and living on benefits, but I don't so I am.
Chapter three:
The two sat in silence for several minutes, both lost in their own thoughts but not voicing them, prefering instead to muse over what they had discovered, and their own reasonings. While not much had been said as yet, Harry knew that things were soon going to change drastically, that once the runner had returned with the paperwork he had been sent for there would finally be answers to some of his questions. He wasn't certain just how much he would learn today, but he knew at least there would be a start, and he would finally get to hear the plans his parents had laid for him before their untimely death. After that he could decide where to place the blame for what had happened to him, or if anyone was to blame, and he could begin to understand just what manipulations had been used against him since he was a child. He didn't doubt, given Gripnooks reaction, that there was a lot more going on than he knew just yet, but he didn't know just how far the deceit went, or how much of it he would even be in a position to control or correct. It made him feel slightly better knowing that his account manager at least was on his side, though he wasn't certain how much good this would do. After all, there was a clear boundary between Goblin and Wizarding society, and it was how much power one had over the other that would really come to be the crux of how much help he could gain from Gringotts. Something would be done though, he swore to himself; he would find out what had been done to him and he would fix it, in any way he could.
Not that there was much a sixteen year old Wizard could do, but there must have been something. There must have been some options that could at least allow him to some level of freedom from whoever it was who had been controlling him for so long. Whoever being the operative word, because as he let himself wait and muse he could only think of two or three people who could have had access to his Gringotts accounts, and they were the people he most thought he could trust in the world. It was horrifying to think that either Dumbledore, Hagrid or Mrs Weasley had been accessing his accounts to cause discrepancies in them, yet it was the only logical explanation he could reach. After all, they were the only people he could think of who ever had his key, and the only people he had ever trusted to take money from his account on his behalf.
Finally there came a knock at the doors, and at a gesture from Gripnook they swung open to reveal a young looking goblin carrying a stack of paperwork in his arms. Behind him, Harry was amazed to see three more of the same carrying yet more paperwork in large boxes, some even spilling over from the amount of information they contained. Surely this couldn't be all relating to him, and he wouldn't be expected to look through all of this? Unfortunately his suspisions were confirmed as the leading creature bowed down in front of Gripnook.
"The Potter accounts sir."
"This is all of it?"
"Yes sir, the first two boxes are pertaining to the Potter accounts themselves, the third are linking documents to any houses inherited by the Potter family and the fourth contains details of any political standing these houses may or may not have within wizarding society."
A nod from Gripnook, and the four goblins slowly retreated, bowing as the carved wooden doors closed tightly behind them. Muttering under his breath in Gobeldigook, Gripnook then turned to Harry and looked him dead in the eye.
"Mr Potter, what we read here will for now of course stay between just us. I have no idea how many of your questions can be answered by what we read today, but rest assured that we at Gringotts will do everything within our power to help you with your newfound knowledge in any way we can. Had we realized the severity of your situation beforehand we would have of course attempted to rectify these problems long ago, but the past cannot be changed by mortal means and indeed, it would be foolish to attempt such a feat. There are many things that will require your attention, but we leave the decissions of how to proceed up to you, or if you will allow it, up to me as your account manager. However, I would like to recommend that we begin by reading your parents Will along with the letters left with it and addressed to you, in the hope that this will shed some light at least on the situation and where else we should aim to go."
Nodding that he understood, Harry steeled himself for what was to come, before speaking.
"I would like that, I've yet to hear anything written in my parents hand, let alone directed to myself."
Reaching into the first box of paperwork, Gripnook pulled out two sealed envelopes, handing the first to Harry while keeping the other on the desk in front of him. "This letter was left in my care along with your parents Will before they died, I will return to my figures and numbers while you read to give yourself some privacy." he clicked his fingers, and a tray appeared holding a large pot of tea, two cups and a selection of biscuits "help yourself to refreshments if you need them, Mr Potter, I have a feeling we are in for a long day, and although we goblins don't experience emotions quite like your kind, I have reason to believe this could be a trying time for you."
Not feeling that there was a reply needed, Harry instead slid his finger into the envelope, pulled out the letter and began to read.
Our dearest Son,
If you're reading this then the worst has come to pass, and we aren't here with you. If that's the case, then we are truly more sorry than we can ever say that we didn't have the chance to see you grow up. We love you more than anything else in the world, and we hope you've had a happy childhood even though we weren't there to provide it. Never doubt our love for you, or how proud of you we are every second of every day, we know you'll grow up to be a fine man and achieve so much in your life. You already have so much of both of us in you, we can both already see the best of the other shining through in everything you do and all the little mannerisms you have. I hope growing up the stories you're told of us has made you see that too, and let you know that we are always with you, if not physically then inside at the very least.
You are strong, our son, and more powerful than I think you will ever know. After all, the prophesy was made about you, and that puts you in a great position of being able to change the world. But please do not put too much in store by just a prophesy, for prophesy and fate are only as powerful as you make them. If you choose to turn a different path, choose not to accept your "predetermined fate" then the world will have no choice but to accommodate that. Your only issue arises that Voldemort is not as likely to see it that way, and will try to hunt you down, but remember as long as you meet him on your terms your destiny is still your own, you are still in control and are still the boss of your own future. Nothing can control you outside of that.
We know that by the time you read this letter you will know a lot about yourself, and about us and the lives we lived, but we have some very important information to impart on you, things we weren't even able to share with our very closest friends, and so is not mentioned in our Will. Be aware, dear son, that at the time of writing this letter our theories are little more than just that, speculation based on research we have conducted, but that there is a lot more work to do before any real proof can be shown and before what we have found will stand for much in our society. This information is for now to be trusted only to your account manager, Gripnook, as we trust him to be descreet with his research into the matter, and to share any relivent finds with yourself, and with the authorities who need to know in due course.
The research we have conducted into magical heritage among Muggleborn Witches and Wizards has led us to believe that there is no such thing as a full muggleborn, that somewhere along the line they are a decendant of a squib. Often these squib decendants were forgotten or wiped from family trees, hense where the confusion and the assumption of "muggleborn" comes into play. Our research and our tests into the heritage of various muggleborns who agreed to consent has also given us a greater understanding into how the magic within a squib functions. You will find real details of this in our notes, which we have left to you in our Will, but for now we feel we must ask you not to reveal any of this. After all, until more proof is found, until there are tests to back up our theories they are just that, theories with no basis in fact. We know that you will of course be questioning your own heritage, knowing what you do just from this letter, and so we leave you with this bit of information before we sign off. Although we have no proof as yet, we believe that your mothers grandmother was the squib daughter of a large and powerful Wizarding family, known as Flamell, and it is that blood which runs through her veins and so through yours is one and the same as them. Due to going into hiding we haven't been able to do any more research into the matter, but we hope that you will at least be able to find out the truth, and find where it may lead you, for at this moment in time the only person to know of our suspicions is Albus Dumbledore, and we believe that he will continue our research after our deaths.
We love you son, Live long, live happy, and never forget to love.
Love always,
Your Parents
Lilly and James Potter.
Harry finished reading before laying the letter to one side, and looking up at where Gripnook still sat reading through his sheets of figures and numbers.
"Were you aware of the contents of this letter?" he asked, his voice cracking slightly under the pressure of what he had learned. Dumbledore, that was the name which has stood out for him despite the information about his possible heritage. Dumbledore, who had sworn that he had to live with his aunt and uncle as they were his only surviving blood relatives. Dumbledore who had made him suffer through eleven years of hell when he had more than enough power to send him elsewhere, to have him better protected with a family who would love him more than his aunt and uncle ever had, but were still his mothers blood, would still carry her protection within their veins, could still power the blood wards.
"I wasn't." came the candid reply. "But from your reaction I can conclude that it contained some things you were not expecting to hear, rather than just friendly words of advice and parental love. Perhaps we should read your parents Will, and then we can discuss this in more detail and work on ways to solve whatever it is that has angered you. After all, an angry account holder, especially one with as much power and wealth as yourself is never good news for the goblin nation as a whole, let alone the account manager dealt the hand of dealing with it."
Although he wasn't initially inclined to agree, Harry let himself breath before thinking for a second. He wanted to rant and rage and break things after reading his parents letter, he wanted to march straight to Albus Dumbledore and give him a piece of his mind, force the old man to explain exactly why he had spent so much time at Privet Drive, but the rational part of him saw that this wasn't necissarily the best idea. He wasn't nearly powerful enough to take on Dumbledore so had no hope of winning if it came to a duel, and also a part of him wondered just what other information he might be able to find out from the other document left by his parents. This, at least, he knew would have been read already by other benifactors, and so there could be no claims of ignorance regarding what had been said. Sighing, he nodded at Griphook that he could begin, and sat back to listen.
This is the last Will and Testament of James and Lilly Potter (ne Evans). We swear on our magic that this document is written with us both being of sound mind and body, and all decisions made are our own.
The most important thing, first and foremost and before we get into the interesting bits, is to impart some very important information onto those reading these words. If this will is being read then we didn't survive the war, and the fidius charm has failed. Contrary to popular belief our secret keeper was not Sirius Black, our best friend. We knew he was the most likely choice and so chose to use Peter Pettigrew instead, and had Albus Dumbledore cast the charm. If the charm has failed then our deaths are on his head, and we hope justice will be served against him if he survives the rest of the war.
In regards to the care of our son Harry, we request that the job of bringing him up goes to the Longbottom family, their son Neville is the same age and we know he will be cared for in the best possible way. If they are unable to take on the job then his care goes to Mr Sirius Black, his godfather, on the condition Ms Minirva McGonnigal has a large part of his upbringing too so he isn't brought up purely Marauder. In the unfortunate but horrifically quite likely case that neither of these are an option, we request that Harry be brought up by Mr Remus John Lupin, with help from any of our friends and family during his monthly cycles if it is needed, however we hope that due to his position as a benifactor from our Will that will no longer be as much of an issue.
Firstly to our dear friend Remus Lupin we leave a sum of 200,000 galleons so that he need not fight to find work and can finally live in the comfort he deserves. We also leave him the Potter property in the north of Scotland, and a 15 year supply of the potion Lilly has recently developed to counter his Furry Little Problem, under statis charms. We hope that these provisions will make his life a lot easier and allow him to focus on his true passions, and that one day he'll find someone to settle down with who see's his Furry Little Problem as just that.
Secondly to Lillys best friend Alice and her husband Frank we leave the meagre sum of 50,000 galleons, knowing that they do not need the money but wishing to leave them something of use. We also leave them the contents of the Potter greenhouses on the condition that any plants they do not find a use for be returned for our sons use in later years.
To Ms Minirva McGonnigal we leave the transfiguration notes and research as collected by James in the hope that some of the research concluded there will enlighten her in her own studies and one day even make it to publishing. We also leave her the sum of 30,000 galleons, 10,000 for her personal use and 20,000 for the use of improving the transfiguration department of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardary, as well as the cottage on the south side of Hogsmeade and any books or items contained therein.
To Sirius Black we leave a sum of 200,000 galleons to spend in any way he can. We also leave him 50% of our stocks in the Daily Prophet, a total of 30% of the total stocks of the company to use as he will. We also leave him as the controller of our sons share in Marauder Industries, the joke business set up by James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, on the condition that he returns this control to Harry once he reaches the age of 16, and listens always to any creative advice Harry may give him before this time.
To Professor Filius Flitwick of Hogwarts school we leave 30,000 galleons, to be split 10,000 for his personal use and 20,000 towards improvements in the charms department in Hogwarts. We also leave him with Lilly's notes on charms in the hope he will enjoy her thoughts on the subject and find some interest in her discoveries.
To Severus Snape we leave the sum of 15,000 galleons and Lilly's potion notes, as well as the knowledge that he will always be in our hearts and we no longer hold a grudge for his part in the revilation of the prophesy that has sent us into hiding. We express on him that if anything has happened to us it is our own fault or the fault of others that we trusted, and that he is to feel no guilt or remorse over what he did, knowing that he acted only on what he believed was the be the best interests of all sides and striving as we were to put a quick and peaceful end to the war as soon as possible.
To Lilly's sister, Petunia Dursley, we leave the equivilent of 50,000 British Pounds as well as the cottage in Wales as left to Lilly after her parents death. Inside the cottage she should find copies of any documents relating to the Evans family as inherited by Lilly as the oldest daughter, including Pictures, Birth Certificates, Marraige Certificates and any other family items or history we have managed to collect through our intense research into Lilly's background.
To whoever should become our son's carer after our passing, we leave an additional 30,000 per year to cover expenses and the cost of raising a small boy, that his presence not be a financial burden upon any of our friends.
Finally, to our son and world, Mr Harry James Potter, we leave the rest of our worldly possessions, including the full contents of the Potter Vault and the properties who's deeds reside within. However we request that until the date of his 17th Birthday, he has access only to a trust fund to contain 20,000 per year for the duration of his time at Hogwarts. Until that point control of the Potter Accounts goes to his primary carer, at the discression of our account manager within Gringotts to ensure that nothing untowards can take place. In the case that our arangements for his care as documented at the beginning of this Will are not carried out we, as his parents, hereby declare Mr Harry James Potter emancipated and give him full control over his inheritance, to be managed at the discression of our account manager but taking into consideration his own desires, so that he cannot be manipulated by outside forces planning to take control of his wealth or status.
We leave this Will hoping that our last desires will be filled out to the best of the ablilities of both Gringotts and others we have left instructions too and in the hope that it need never be read, and that our son shall have a chance at a happy and bright future.
Lilly and James Potter
1 October 1981
a/n: A bit of a longer chapter than normal, and hopefully a trend that will continue. Next chapter will focus around Harrys reactions to what he has discovered, and will conclude the meeting with Gringotts as well as possibly moving onto the few days after the meeting. I am aware that this story is moving extremely slowly for now, but this will speed up once we reach Hogwarts in a few chapters time, and the story will continue to grow from there. Thank you so much to all my reviewers and watchers who have waited so long for this chapter, and hopefully you will continue to follow me for a long time to come.