Here's the newest chapter for the "Harry Potter: the Serpent Lord", enjoy!

* Review response:
jafr86, Penny is wise, Naginator, Hanzo of the Salamander 2.0, Lord Mortensen, m-f42, blackroselover, god of all, Taboo22, obsessivegirl73, ElementalMaster16, Highvalour, BlackRoseFire, cyner2u, chm01, thank you for your reviews, folks!
Armacryss, JPElles, the 'eye problem' will be fixed. And while not in bed, Harry will not be *alone*.
Impstar, not again. He just has them now, along with his own that were sealed away by Dumb-as-a-door.
SimFlyer, he he he. I've something even more interesting in store for the snake-face. *wink*
Victorules, you'll have to wait for that.
Goldrune09, no animagi-potion accidents, but there will be a baby basilisk to be the familiar of the Ancient and Noble house Slytherin.
Still Not Dead Yet, sorry then: Harry does business with them.
Arct1cfox, yes, Harry has the same knowledge about Voldemort's horcruxes as the Dark Lord when he was banished.
Awsomeness7, um... you meant Harry, right?
DanielHimura, Dumbledore isn't evil in this story - he doesn't steal money, things, votes, etc. from Harry; he doesn't enter him in a binding marriage contracts with girls unknown; he doesn't prepare Harry as a sacrifice to get even more fame... Dumbledoore just tries to save Great Britain. Just his methods aren't good - but he's over 100, he's not as good as he was half a century ago.
Cenright, yeah, some *fun* stuff will start soon.

* Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" and its characters in any shape or form.

"human speech"
"wraith speech"
'human thoughts'
"spells / parseltongue"

Great thanks to NARUHAREM FOREVA for beta-reading this chapter.

chapter 26: His Lordship

After dropping his things in the room at 'Leaky cauldron', Harry went straight to Gringotts. It was still an hour before the wizarding bank would close, so he could do some business, even if most of it would have to wait until tomorrow, or an even later date.

"Good evening, master teller." The young Potter said. This time the goblin responded almost immediately, and was much less rude than whichever teller Harry spoke to during his visit a little less than a year ago.

"What can Gringotts do for you, wizard?" The goblin said, rather politely. Most likely, he was just tired from being rude to the impolite clients for the whole day.

"First, I wish to meet with estate manager Goldsaw tomorrow or at his earliest convenience. If needed, tell him that Potter heir is here to speak of a profitable business." The goblin nodded and wrote something on the special parchment he had on his desk – messaging system or something like that. "And right now I'd like to take two hundred galleons from my trust vault..." The green-eyed wizard said as he gave his key to the teller for an inspection. "...And have half of those converted into pounds."

"That can be done." The goblin replied, returning the key. Then he looked down to his desk, confirming Harry's thoughts about one the parchments there being a magical message system used by the Gringotts' workers. "Master Goldsaw says that he can meet you tomorrow in the morning or early afternoon." The scion of the house Potter nodded.

"Very well, master teller. Please pass my thanks to estate manager Goldsaw for being able to organize a meeting this soon." The teller goblin nodded. "And right now, I'd like to visit my trust vault." The goblin nodded again, before summoning a younger goblin, whose name, apparently, was Orestone, to take him down to the vault...

The next morning, at about eleven in the morning, Harry returned to the wizarding bank for his meeting with his estate manager. After announcing his arrival to the first teller to be free, the young Potter was handed an empty parchment and a blood-quill and asked to write his name – a standard identification procedure in Gringotts. Quickly writing his name, the green-eyed wizard handed the parchment and the quill back to the goblin, who studied the results with barely hidden interest.

"This is most unusual." The teller finally concluded. "Magic recognizes you as Harry (Hadrian) James Potter, but you blood has changed since your last visit. Care to explain?" He said, looking fixedly at Harry's now scared face.

"Not really. Let's just say that I had an unfortunate meeting with a very very poisonous snake and phoenix tears saved me from being killed by its venom." The scion of the house Potter replied... The goblin nodded, apparently satisfied with the answer.

"Very well." The teller said. "As you are still recognized as Harry Potter, master Goldsaw will see you now." Then he turned away from the green-eyed wizard and, speaking in gobbledegook, asked one of the younger goblins to escort his customer to the Potter estate manager.

"Follow me." The younger goblin said, before heading into the depth of Gringotts, guiding Harry through the maze of corridors to Goldsaw's office. Once they arrived to the door, the goblin told him to wait there, before disappearing into the office. A minute later he returned, telling the young Potter that his estate manager will see him now. Thanking the younger goblin for his assistance, Harry entered Goldsaw's office.

"Greetings, master Goldsaw." Harry said, once he was seated on the sofa, and the aforementioned goblin looking up from the documents on his table.

"Good morning, Mr. Potter, I was told that you wished to speak to me today, and that you had some profitable business with Gringotts." The young Potter nodded. "Very well. But before we begin, may I ask about the changes of your appearance? My sources informed me that you played a key role in resolving so-called Chamber of Secrets situation. Are the scar and the eye-patch the results of what had happened there?" Another nod from Harry.

"You are very well informed, master Goldsaw." Harry replied.

"One needs to know what is going 'round him in the world, if he wants to be successful in his business, or in his war." The old goblin replied. "Now, what business with Gringotts did you have in mind, Mr. Potter?"

"Firstly, is there any kind of a test to see, whether my status had changed after my fight with the 'heir' of Slytherin?" Goblin nodded. "Then I'd like to do that test." Goldsaw asked his assistant something in gobbledegook, and the young goblin quickly walked out of the office. This test should be done, as reactivation of a vault of an Ancient and Noble house meant at least prestige for the goblin clan that manages it (and him, the estate manager, personally) and for the bank as a whole. And most often it also meant more gold to work with.

"While my assistant is bringing the test basin here, we can jump to the next piece of business you have with Gringotts." Goldsaw with an unnervingly-toothy grin that all goblins seemed to possess.

"I came to be in the possession of the carcass of a very big basilisk – it is mine by the right of conquest – and I'd like to sell it to Gringotts, for a fee of course." The Potter estate manager nodded, happy to note that his client had not forgotten the goblins' magical word, 'fee'.

"And how big this basilisk was?" He asked, already trying to estimate how much profit the bank may have from this deal... Harry shrugged.

"I'm not positively sure; I was too busy trying to survive to measure the beast... But it was definitely thicker than I'm tall, and, most likely, about forty meters long." Goldsaw kept an expression of mild interest on his face, while in reality he wanted to grin like a madman: this basilisk was worth a fortune! Especially since it was still rather fresh; the beast's poison kept decay away for a long time.

"I cannot say how much this beast is worth without seeing it, but I can assure you that it is worth a lot of money..." The goblin said. "Speaking of money, there should be a report about how your investments turned out to be." Harry blushed: with everything going on in Hogwarts this year, he just forgot about overseeing his estate... Goldsaw, of course, noticed this. "I see... In any case, those turned out to be profitable. I went ahead and increased your share for those companies, as well as investing the equivalent of five thousand pounds into NEC, SUN Microsystems and IBM companies. These ventures brought you four hundred and seventeen galleons of profit, above the money from the companies you yourself asked to invest into." Harry nodded.

"Thank you, estate manager Goldsaw. Now, onto the the next topic I wanted to discuss. I find myself in a need to hire a law firm. Any recommendations?" The goblin nodded.

"Yes. I suggest you try 'Carter, Bridget & Ashford' as they were working with Potters for last three generations. They can be found at this address." Goldsaw said as he slipped a piece of parchment to Harry. "But in case you find their services not to your satisfaction, you might want to try 'Tonks, Wagner & Mitchel'" Another piece of parchment was given to the young Potter.

"Thank you." The green-eyed wizard said. "And I have one more thing I wanted to ask." Goldsaw leaned forward a bit. "I'm not positive, but there is a good possibility that at least one very dark object called a horcrux – it's a soul anchor – is within the walls of the noble bank of Gringotts." Judging by the frown on goblin's face, he wasn't happy about such an object being there.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Potter, Gringotts policies forbid us from checking and destroying items, once they were placed into a vault. But, give us a description of the item, and should it be removed from the vault it currently resides, it will be confiscated and studied. Should the aruh:gaan be found on the item, it will be destroyed." Harry nodded slowly. The goblins will not destroy Tom's horcrux right away, unfortunately, but they promised to get rid of it, should it be removed from a vault.

"The items that are horcruxes and might be in Gringotts are either Hufflepuff's cup or Slytherin's locket or both." Goldsaw nodded: the items named were too well known by both wizards and goblins to need any further description. "They might be in either LeStrange or Black vaults." The goblin nodded and told Harry that he will bring the information about possible aruh:gaan to the attention of the king, Ragnok... At this moment Goldsaw's assistant returned with the test basin and placed it, and the ritual knife that went with it, on the table in front of Harry, then asked the older goblin for forgiveness about his sluggishness and disappeared into the shadows in the corner of the office.

"I will need you to make a cut on the index finger of your right hand and have exactly seven drops of blood to enter the basin. It will produce a parchment with the names of families you can claim as yours." The old goblin explained. Harry nodded and did as he was told – although, from being nervous, he almost botched up the ritual by allowing the eighth drop to fall into the basin... For a couple of seconds nothing happened, but then runes on the basin started glowing dimly, while the blood disappeared from it. Another couple of seconds later a parchment with the results materialized on Goldsaw's desk.

"Very interesting." The goblin said, once he finished studying the parchment. "It appears that you can claim the title of the lord of an Ancient and Noble house Slytherin by the right of conquest. You may also claim the title of the head of Gaunt family the same, but that will give you absolutely nothing as their lordship was stripped from them a little more than a century ago and they do not have a vault anymore as well... Their ring is still somewhere out there, though... Once you are lord Slytherin, you'll be emancipated and can claim the title of the lord of Noble house Potter." The young wizard nodded, while wondering, whether he should tell the goblin about the ring Voldemort had turned into his horcrux or not: the stone in the ring did have a very interesting ...'flaw' after all.

"Thank you, master Goldsaw." Harry replied. "Is it possible to claim both Slytherin and Potter lordships now?" The goblin nodded. "Very well, in that case I'd like to claim my lordship over the Ancient and Noble house Slytherin." Goldsaw nodded and asked his assistant to retrieve the Slytherin ring, in gobbledegook, of course. The younger goblin bowed and left the office as quickly as he could without running... He returned just a couple of minutes later with a plain-looking wooden box. Opening it, he placed it in front of Harry, before returning to his place in the shadowed corner of the office.

"To claim the lordship, you'll have to pick the ring and voice your claim. Then you'll need to put the ring on your finger. If it deems you worthy, you will be officially known as lord Slytherin henceforth. If not, your descendants may try claiming the lordship." Goldsaw said. "Since you are claiming lordship by the right of conquest, you are allowed to use another version of your first name, should you desire that, but you must use the surname of the house you are claiming your lordship over." Harry nodded, before picking the ring from the box... It looked to be pretty simple, consisting of two interweaving bands of white and green gold, with a relatively small coat of arms depicting the Slytherin house's crest on its 'top'.

"By the right of conquest, I, Hadrian Jameson Slytherin, hereby do claim the name of lord Slytherin, and rights, responsibilities and obligations of this name as mine. So mote it be." And then he slipped the ring onto the ring finger of his left hand. There was a prickly sensation for a moment, but that was all.

"Congratulations lord Hadrian J. Slytherin of the Ancient and Noble house Slytherin." Goldsaw said when he was sure that the ring had accepted Harry. "And allow me to thank you for giving me a promotion to senior estate manager with this."

"I thank you, master Goldsaw." The new lord replied. "And now I'd like to claim Potter lordship. I'd also like to see the ledger of the house Slytherin." The older goblin nodded and asked, once again in gobbledegook, his assistant to retrieve the said ledger and the Potter ring. "Meanwhile, we can discuss collecting basilisk carcass from Hogwarts. I believe that the best time to do that will be the next Monday, May 31st. Dumbledore will be away to an ICW conference, and no one else in the castle has access to the ward, meaning we can go in and out unnoticed and save ourselves a lot of trouble explaining why we are there to the staff." Goldsaw nodded.

"Very well. I'll organize a goblin team for that date. We shall be departing from one of the staff rooms of Gringotts at eight in the morning. You will be met in the main hall and guided there." Harry thanked his estate manager and the two were now sitting in silence, waiting for the assistant goblin to return with the items he was requested to retrieve... Those were brought to Goldsaw's office several minutes later. First thing, the green-eyed wizard claimed his lordship over the Noble house Potter: after all, he could read Slytherin ledger later...

The Potter ring was a rather thick golden band with house motto engraved on it. There also was a sizable ruby on it, but the ring held no coat of arms of the house. And it wasn't as easy to put on as Slytherin ring was, most likely because it thought him to be a bit young for lordship... Still, after a couple of seconds it gave in and took its place on the index finger of his left hand.

"Allow me to congratulate you once more with your ascension to the lordship, Lord Harry James Potter-Slytherin." Goldsaw said. "Now you have full access to Potter fortunes and estates. You are also a legal adult, and are now bound only by the Statute of Secrecy." Harry nodded; now he could do magic during the summer break as much as he wanted, especially since he wasn't planning on staying at the Dursley's. He'll just have to drop by number four one day to collect his things from the house, as he wasn't keeping everything he owned in his trunk...

"That is very good. Seeing that I now have access to my properties, I'd like to have my penthouse at Queenstown Road and Birling gap summer house ready for use in two weeks max. If needed, have the wards around both places upgraded. The money required is to be deducted, of course, from the Potter account." Harry asked. Goldsaw nodded.

"I will contact the curse-breakers and the cleaning firm." Thanking his estate manager, the young double lord opened the Slytherin ledger and started reading... It appeared that the Ancient and Noble house Slytherin was broke: the only vault contained just two sickles and seventeen knuts, portraits of the previous lords and some magical books (all of those, though, were priceless). There was a single property – Salazar's cottage – but its location was unknown as it was hidden by a charm similar to fidelius.

"Now, before I go down to visit my newly-accessible vaults, I have two more things. First, when it will be possible to have Potter wills read? And second, can I send a letter from here?" Harry asked. Goldsaw looked up from the paperwork on his table.

"To have the wills read, you need them unsealed by Wizengamot. As soon as that is done, the reading can be scheduled to any day you like." The young wizard nodded, filing another thing he will need to do via law firm and his barrister. "As for sending a letter, two sickles – UK, five sickles – Europe, ten – anywhere."

"Thank you, master Goldsaw." Harry said as he gave his estate manager two silver coins, while taking his pen from his robes. Taking the parchment from the goblin, he quickly wrote a note on it. "This is to be sent to Number four, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey." He said as soon as he had finished writing the message... An owl that somehow appeared in the office landed on the table in front of him and took the folded parchment from him. "Thank you." He told the owl, and the bird took off, disappearing into a well-hidden owl tunnel leading out of the office. "Now, I'd like to visit my vaults."

"Rustknife will guide you there." Goldsaw said, making his assistant step out of the shadows where he was standing up to now.

"Follow me, Lord Potter-Slytherin." The younger goblin said with a bow.

~/ *** \~

When she unexpectedly got a letter from the freak of her nephew several days ago, Petunia Dursley thought that this summer might be the best her family had had in a long time: after all it was possible that the freak would be finally gone from their lives forever! So, for the first time in her life, she wished Harry luck. After all, if he was lucky, he'd be out of their hair and their lives.

So when she got a note written on parchment this afternoon, she didn't freak out right away, and just read it like it was a normal letter. It appeared that the God finally decided to have some pity for the good, normal people that her family was, as, according to the freak, he found an alternative place to spend his summers from now on, and no one in the world will be able to force him back under their roof... Unfortunately, he still will have to visit her family's house once, to take whatever things he still had in his room. And because that would be the last time they'll have to see each other, Petunia decided that she won't throw those away, like she had originally planned...

Encouraged by this good news, Mrs. Dursley skipped into the living room where the great good man of her husband and her little sunshine of a son were watching TV...

"Something happened, dear?" Vernon asked as he looked at his wife, his eyes locking onto the piece of parchment in her hands.

"Yes. The freak will no longer sully our house with his ungrateful presence anymore!" She replied.

That's all, folks!
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