A/N: Sorry for being delayed a day. I figured because I uploaded early last time and because yesterday was July 4th, I'd better just wait another day. For my fellow Americans, hope you had a great day. For everyone else, I hope you did too. How about that England vs. Colombia game, though? Also, just to let you guys know, I'm a guy. I wasn't sure if anyone was wondering, but I am!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, but if I were Harry Potter: this is what would happen.

—

Chapter Seven: Two Horcruxes Down

Early Afternoon, Later that Day, July 27th, 1991

Gringotts Healing Ward

I slowly opened my eyes, having absolutely no clue where I was. "Harry. Harry, it's me, Bill. Do you remember me?" While trying to gain focus, I looked at the red-haired man in front of me and had a mental flashback to him throwing a red beam of light at me hours before.

I was in a hospital bed, but I scurried back towards the headboard, away from him. There were six wizards behind him, and we were surrounded by Goblins.

"Yes, of course! Why wouldn't I remember you?! What did you do to me?! Where am I?! Why'd you stun me?! Where's Pobby!?" I yelled at him. I looked around the room and saw Pobby asleep on a bed beside me.

Bill tried to speak again, using a calming voice, "Harry. When you told me you could sense the other soul pieces, I thought you might be one. I cast a spell to confirm it, and you were. I'm sorry to say that I don't regret what I did. As soon as you were unconscious, we quickly assembled a team of curse breakers. There were seven pairs of us. As soon as I knew we were handling not just one but two Horcruxes of You-Know-Who's, I knew we had to get the soul piece out of you and the locket as quickly as possible. The good thing is that the soul piece in you has already been removed and destroyed, as well as the one within your locket because a more than full team was here and very willing to work. Gringotts has decided to waive all costs associated with the soul piece removals, because, well, we attacked you. Gringotts is very sorry about that because it is not within their policy to attack customers, even if they have a Horcrux within them, because well, that was really never considered as a possibility before. It was previously thought impossible to store a soul piece in another person. Gringotts is willing to offer you a non-negotiable 20,000 galleons in exchange for your agreement to keep quiet about the attack on you today by employees and as an apology for what occurred. All of the curse breakers involved have been sworn to contractual secrecy about the soul piece inside you and the existence of the other two Horcruxes. I want you to know that what we did we thought was in your best interest in regards to the soul piece removal. We also want to let you know that we'll help you to the full extent we can, however we can, to find and destroy the last Horcrux within Gringotts. I have the contract here, if you'd like to look." Bill got everything out all at once, sliding over sheets of paper for me to look at. "Pobby is right here, just in a magically induced nap." He explained, nodding his head in Pobby's direction.

I decided to put my acting skills to the test, even though this whole scenario actually turned out very well for me. Because the soul piece was removed from me, I didn't have a way to "sense" the Horcruxes(which was a lie from the start). I would have had to get them to remove the soul piece from me eventually, anyway.

"Bill? You think I didn't know! Of course, I suspected! Do you want to know why? It was the risk I had to take. Because the Horcrux I said Gringotts had isn't the final Horcrux. You stunned me too early to ask the right questions!" I yelled at him, again.

Everyone in the room looked like they'd been struck. An imposing figure of a wizard behind Bill came forwards, got close to me, and said, "What do you mean?"

"I knew I was in control. Whatever happened to place a soul piece within my scar didn't give Voldemort any control over me, and I know you weren't sure of that, but you could've been if you'd thought to run any tests. The real issue was that Voldemort made many Horcruxes. I… I think he made 5, plus me and plus whatever wraith form he's existing in currently." I said.

They paled. "We… we.. didn't think it was possible for a wizard to even make three. To make more than that…"

"Yes, I know. It's horrifying. We know he's capable and willing to make many, and we've lost our one advantage. If I had been capable of sensing them, we'd be able to tell if he made more." I said pointedly, even though it was a lie. I then realized I didn't exactly know where Tom Riddle's diary was, other than being in possession of Lucius Malfoy. If we came after it and he knew we were coming or took it, he'd likely know there was a way to revive his master, and I couldn't have him restoring Voldemort. I didn't think Gringotts could very well storm his house, so I'd just wait till the second year to get it from Ginny since he gave it to her in the books. I'd need an explanation then. Hmm... magical suppression. The diadem at Hogwarts I likely would need to find on my own before providing to them, which was simple enough. The ring, however, we could find regardless of my lie. I knew where it was: at the Gaunt Shack. "However, I do generally think I know where I felt one of the others, so we can hopefully take care of it. Two of them I could only tell existed, not where they were." I said, lying about the Diary and Diadem. "They were under very heavy amounts of magical suppression. I could only sense the one at Gringotts was here once I was here. However, I want Gringotts to contractually clarify that I will own any and all objects once the soul pieces are removed as payment for my assistance in locating them. I also, in addition to the apology from Gringotts, want an apology from you Bill. You just assumed way more than you needed to, today." They seem dejected at my words. I think they realized they had given up an advantage (which I just had made up) and were extremely pissed with themselves.

"I truly am sorry, Harry. I hope you forgive me. I really didn't mean to assume that you didn't know what was going on. I could have been more thorough. I'm sorry." Bill then said, grabbing my hand sincerely.

One of the Goblins then came forward. "I am Ragnok, Chief Goblin of Gringotts." He looked regal to me, wearing a crown and having many rings on his fingers. "We will agree to your terms. I want to tell you personally, I am very sorry for what happened here today. Our head curse breaker, of course, would like to apologize too."

The man who had come up to me and spoken in my face then introduced himself. "Flint Agraba. We should have considered all the possibilities. Sorry," He said shortly and without much expression.

Then Bill spoke, "Well, while we're all here we'd like to go ahead and get the Horcrux in Gringotts and remove that soul piece, Harry."

Flint then spoke up, "We can get both of them removed now."

"Um excuse me, I'm eleven. I can't just go willy-nilly across the country. Remus and Sirius will wonder where I am. What time is it?" I asked.

"It's about 1pm." Bill said, softly.

"Kid, you're going to tell us where they are now, and we're going to go and get them. You're not coming with us." Flint then said to me, a bit angrily.

"Well, you're not going to tell me what to do. From what I've learned today, I can't trust you. Therefore, I want to be there when we find all of the other soul pieces that I think I've sensed. Otherwise, I will not know if you've truly found them or if you're lying. I also will not know if Gringotts supplies me with the real objects or fakes. You're being incredibly rude to me. I have time in my day for the next few hours, and then I'm also free on the twenty-ninth for us to attempt to locate the other one I distinctly remember feeling. We can tell my guardians, Sirius and Remus, that I met Bill in the alley and he offered to show me what he does for work."

Ragnok silenced Flint with his hand, "That seems very reasonable Mr. Potter. Please allow us to regain your trust in any way we can." Then with his outstretched hand, he presented me with the locket I had brought in earlier that day.

"We've been able to figure out a little of what it does from testing it, Harry." Bill said to me. "We've done nothing invasive, though."

"Thanks." I said, even though I would have preferred no one else having done anything with it. "Care to explain?" I asked.

"Just put it on for now, and I'll explain after we find the Gringotts Horcrux?" Bill asked.

"Okay," I said, reaching around my neck with the chain to put it on. It felt neutral, instead of dark like it had previously. I then looked down at the papers below. The contract in regards to the ownership of the Gringotts soul piece and object was only four sheets long. I read through it, signed, and saw where all seven of the wizards, all seven of the curse breaking goblins, and Ragnock had all signed.

Then they awoke Pobby, who frantically tried to figure out where he was before I assured him we were safe. He calmed down quickly, I turned my head to the Goblins and then I said, "I believe I felt it in one of your lowest vaults. The Lestranges, I think, from the symbols on pieces I saw inside." The goblins nodded, agreeing with my statement which they thought as a very probable vault to be housing such dark magic.

"Saw inside? Do you have any idea what it looks like?" Flint asked.

"Well, no. I just could see through it when I sensed it, I couldn't see it. It was kind of like I could see through its eyes, almost, if it had them. All around it were coins and stuff with the Lestrange Emblem. If I go inside, I'd be able to find it by where it was." I said, lying. I hoped I could recognize it by sight within the vault. Most of the things I had encountered in this world looked at least similar to either their description in the books or portrayal in the movies. It was an interesting mix, but nothing so far had been unrecognizable.

"Sorry, that's not possible. Only Gringotts Goblins and the highest of wizarding ranking employees can enter vaults." Ragnock said.

"Is destroying Voldemort important to you?" I asked him.

Every wizard in the room flinched, and the Goblins' eyes did.

"Well, of course. He was just as terrible for the Goblins as he was for muggleborns." Ragnock explained.

"Well, then temporarily hire me as a high-ranking employee," I said like it was obvious.

"Under the condition that also falls under contractual secrecy. Our patrons can't know we've allowed just anyone into a vault." Ragnock said after a short moment of deliberation.

"Fine with me," I explained. It took fetching some paperwork and signing before we made our way down to the lowest of vaults on the carts. All seventeen of us rode down in multiple connected carts, so much so that not only did it feel like a roller coaster, it looked like one. We went underneath a waterfall and rode some extremely twisty track before arriving in a cavern with a dragon. It roared when we arrived. That's when I discovered the first power of Slytherin's locket. Parselmouths wearing the locket could communicate with dragons. In the roar, I heard "HELP ME!"

One of the goblins got out and started clanging some metal object which forced the dragon into a far corner like a scared child. It whined ferociously. "NO! NO! NOT AGAIN!"

"That's horrid." I said out loud. "It's so scared."

"That's the price of security," one of the older goblins said.

"You can't hear it screaming for help?"

"Well, yeah, but it's a dragon." One of the curse breakers said.

It was in that moment I realized the power of the locket. I looked at the dragon and yelled, "Have you ever seen the sky?"

The dragon immediately went silent and so did the Goblins and curse breakers. To them, it sounded like rough screams had been coming from my throat, the most terrible noises a human could make.

Then the dragon spoke again, softly, in huffs, "ALWAYS HERE. ALWAYS PAIN. ALWAYS CALL. ALWAYS ALONE."

From those statements, I gathered the dragons either had a limited sentience or translation was limited; I wasn't sure which, but the dragon obviously had feelings. I knew what I had to do.

"Free the dragons." I said, staying in the cart. The Goblins and curse breakers stared at me. Most of them looked afraid or shocked.

"What?" Ragnock said.

"Free the dragons to reserves, or I won't tell you where the other Horcrux is located. You can search for years, in the meantime of which, he might come back and start another war. You don't want that, I don't want that. I think this bank can be plenty secure without dragons protecting your lower vaults. You and I both know it's just for show, and at what cost? Abused dragons. So, I'm changing the whole deal. We never got my agreement to find the other one in writing," I explained.

All the goblins and wizards looked like they finally respected me for the first time, instead of seeing a ten-year-old. A few still looked scared, though.

"We have two dozen dragons. You want them all freed?" Ragnok asked. I nodded. "Who will pay for their relocation?" He asked again.

"You. Of course." I said.

"Gringotts is bearing many costs to depose you evil wizards. We will free our dragons, but this time, we're getting the deal in a contract." Ragnok said, gritting his teeth. Then softly he spoke, "In that scream, did you speak to him?"

I nodded again.

One of the other goblins had quills and ink with him, so we furnished a quick and simple contract that confirmed that I would help them to locate the other Horcrux I was aware of and they would release their dragons. I would get a copy to submit it to the Ministry if I ever needed to use it. Ragnok and I promised each other with a gentleman's shake that we would hold up our ends of the deal, so it would never come to a legal battle. So far, the Goblins themselves had kept their word with me.

Then, while the dragon was still silent, far from us, I attempted to speak to it again, "I have bartered for your freedom. They will release you tomorrow. Please be at peace for now, and obey them tomorrow. The less you fight, the less pain there will be until your freedom. Help the others."

The dragon roared this time," I WAIT." and then slumped back into his silence. Then the goblins rushed forward to the Lestrange Vault and opened it with their fingers and Ragnok and I walked in. There was more gold than a whole family could spend in a lifetime. I asked Ragnok how rich they were, and he responded, "I can't tell you that. You're not a Gringotts employee."

"Yes, I am," I said, winking. He didn't say anything at first but then said, "Between one and a half to two million galleons. But you didn't hear that from me," he winked at me. He must not have liked the Lestrange family very much to be willing to divulge that information. After a couple minutes of walking around, I spotted the cup. It had the Hufflepuff emblem, so it was a fairly easy find. I pointed to it, and Ragnok levitated it into a magic suppressing box. I didn't realize the magic Goblins could do without a wand was still pretty impressive. We moved back out into the atrium of the vault and back into the carts. Shooting back up from the lowest depths, we reached the main hall quickly, if in a nauseating manner. Then, Ragnok led us up marble steps into his personal office, on the third floor, which overlooked the main hall of Gringotts. With a flick of his fingers, the glass windows which overlooked the hall glazed over and became opaque. Then, he opened the box and laid the cup out on a table.

"Is that Hufflepuff's symbol?" someone asked.

"I do believe this is the legendary Hufflepuff's Cup. Why You-Know-Who placed his Horcruxes into legendary objects, I do not know. Likely vanity." Ragnok said.

Then the curse breakers got to work. The whole process was mostly uneventful, and with seven curse breaking teams, it only took a few short minutes before the soul piece was transferred into a book and then destroyed with contained Fiendfyre in a storm of screams and flames.

Once it was over, they checked over the cup, casting diagnostic spells to figure out what powers it contained. They brought other objects and magical things to test it as well. They were curse breakers after all, and understanding complex magical things was their job. I decided to just let them test it because they were sworn to secrecy anyway.

While they were doing that, Bill explained to me what the group had discovered about the Locket.

"Do you see the green jewels?" He said. I nodded. "They're from a horned serpent. They allow the wearer of this locket to fly unaided by any broom, and they allow the wearer and the things around him to become selectively intangible. Walking through walls, and the like. No one ever finds enough to get any real effects, usually just finding one or two jewels that allow them to float or be semi-impermeable. This many horned serpent jewels in one place is very rare. All you have to do is touch the stones and use intent like you're casting a spell. We also discovered that it creates an Occlumency barrier. It completely hides the mind from Legilimency. However, that property seems to come from runes. None of us have ever seen anything like that before, but because it wasn't our property we didn't look at the runes themselves. We just tested it. A lot of people would likely pay a lot of money for this Runescape. Sorry, I should explain, a Runescape is a series of runes that produces a certain effect. But you also spoke to a dragon with it? That's a very impressive artifact. You'll likely want some protective wards that hide it, disguise it, and prevent its theft. What's really good is that no one knows you have it or what it does besides the people in this room, and we're all sworn to secrecy."

After Bill explained that, the rest of his team brought the cup over to us and explained, "We only figured out one ability, although it may only have one. It multiplies the volume of any magical liquids poured into it sevenfold. Very useful for rare potions. Just pour a potion in, and seven times as much will pour out. It doesn't let you repeat the product of itself, so it's not endless, but it's very very valuable in its multiplication property. We couldn't figure out how it works, though. There are no runes on it, at all."

Bill offered his services for inscribing a few wards on the chain of the locket which would keep it unnoticeable to most and keep it from being torn off my neck but told me I should really honestly have a professional help me. He gave me a name too, "Angus Malone, down Diagon Alley towards the very end where it meets Knockturn. Good old bloke." He couldn't offer much help with the cup, either, but said his guy would have some ideas.

Ragnok informed they would begin releasing their dragons that evening and throughout the next day, and then we would seek the next Horcrux on the 29th.

A quick check of the time with Bill, 3 pm, reminded me I really needed to get a watch. After that busy mess, Pobby and I made our way back into the Alley because I still had to get some supplies for school. Legendary magical objects were cool and all, but I needed a rune carving kit, stat.

I had already gotten most of my books, but I'd still need the second year History of Magic book if there was one, the second and third year Ancient Runes books, and the second through fourth year Arithmancy books. I hadn't gotten anything on my equipment list except my wand. My first stop would need to be to get a beginner's rune carving kit because I'd be starting those lessons in just a few days. While I normally would walk around to different specialty shops, I needed to make up for my lost time of being incapacitated at Gringotts. I decided to go to Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment where they would hopefully have the Ancient Runes kit and more of what I needed. I knew where it was, just a few shops down from Gringotts, in the prime real estate area of the alley. It was a dark brown shop with double bay windows, and one of the larger ones. The entrance was a set of double doors which I guessed allowed people to move large equipment in and out of the shop. Immediately once I walked in, I noticed a section for Hogwarts students. I was able to pick out a Beginner's Rune Carving Kit, a Beginner's Alchemy Kit, a Telescope, Glass Phials, and a Brass Scale. Altogether, it was twenty-four galleons. I brought it up to the desk with the store clerk and paid. Stuffing the equipment into my bag, I realized I only had to get a few more stops in.

Scribbulus Writing Instruments was directly across from Wiseacre's, so I went in there first. It was a thin shop, with only a glass door and no window. Inside, quills of different sizes and colors lined the long walls alongside displays of different styles of parchment and different colors and sizes of ink pots. It was basically just a hall of stationary. Near the end, there was a checkout desk. Huge rolls of parchment were behind the desk that the clerk used to cut off long sections or small sections of certain size pieces that people desired. Looking around at the different types of quills, I knew I needed a few plain black ones at three a sickle. But because I was in a habit of being bougie and Gringotts had just compensated me with a sum equal to a million dollars, I decided to get mostly self-inking quills (which were just quills with extendable space charms inside them and stored large amounts of ink) for four sickles each. I got seven black ones but then also got a few in interesting ink colors with matching feathers to the color of the ink so it would be super easy to know what I'm grabbing for. I got one each in magenta, red, dark blue, dark green, yellow, orange, purple, gold, platinum, and silver which were each five sickles. I also picked up a couple of dictaquills. One, with a dark grey feather, would only write down what was spoken by the last person who touched it. The other one, with a light grey feather, would write down everything anyone said around it. Those quills were self-inking as well, and each seven sickles. Altogether, the quills came to 5 galleons and 8 sickles. I also got six hundred feet of a nice, crisp, parchment. At a sickle per two hundred feet, it was a nice buy. I bought a couple ink pots, not that I really ever planned to use them since I had mainly purchased self-inking quills. Together, they were one galleon. Some of the quills I put in the side pockets of my backpack, but I mostly put everything in the main compartment.

Only two more stops left. The closest was Slug and Jiggers Apothecary, where I could get a Beginner's Potion-Making Kit. The shop was a double wide light wood shop filled with bins and bags of different ingredients. The smell has an unusual mix that smelled mostly like blood, which was probably because of the animal origins of a large quantity of the ingredients. Finding in the corner of the shop what I needed, I discovered there was a bit of a hefty cost, at 20 galleons for the kit. Potion ingredients were quite expensive! After paying for that, I dashed out of the shop to Pottage's Cauldron Shop which was quite close to the apothecary. Pottage's was my final stop for the day. The shop was black and about medium sized. Inside, Cauldrons upon Cauldrons were stacked upon each other. There was a mountain of Pewter Size 2 Cauldron, so I just grabbed one with a bit of engravery on the outside, which seemed floral. With a quick payment of 10 galleons, I was finally done with all my required shopping.

—

4:30pm, Later That Day, July 27th 1991

12 Grimmauld Place, Drawing Room

When I flooed back, Remus and Sirius were having tea in the drawing room, waiting for me to return. They were seated in armchairs in the center seating area that framed the fireplace.

"You've been gone a while, kid," Remus said.

"Uh, yeah, sorry about that. Actually had to deal with some gifts I received at Gringotts. From families and people who appreciated what I did in the war." I lied, having this become too often of an event, but because of the locket, no one would be able to see into my mind and tell I was always lying out of my ass. How convenient. I wonder if I was subconsciously controlling this place? I'd just have to make sure no one ever slipped me Veritaserum, or I'd be screwed.

"Anything interesting?" Sirius asked.

"Well, about a million galleons and some interesting artifacts, yeah." Remus looked shocked.

"That's a lot of money, kid. I guess it's understandable though, you're the wizarding world's hero," He explained. That made me think about all the mail and gifts I must have actually been receiving that I never got as a child. I wonder where all of that was.

I sat down with them, taking the loveseat, and Pobby popped off to go do something.

"How were your days?" I asked.

"Well, my interview went so well they actually hired me on the spot. It was the Head of the Runes Department and the Deputy Headmistress, and they said Dumbledore has spoken so highly of me that they couldn't consider anyone else for the job. I didn't know he liked me that much, but I guess I did fight for him in the last war, and that must count for something."

"So, how're you going to both be a werewolf and a professor?" I asked, with no judgment.

"How did you know? I guess you picked up on the painting screaming about it when we walked in yesterday?" He asked, not really surprised.

"Yeah," I said, even though it was from outside knowledge. "I'm pretty observant." I had noticed Walburga Black screaming it as well.

"Well, me being a werewolf is the main reason I never wanted to work there in the first place. I'd be putting kids in danger. But now that I've got you to protect and Dumbledore offered to have the Hogwarts potions masters brew me Wolfsbane Potion, I think now is the time. There's also another reason, but that's not for me to share. You'll probably find out eventually." He added.

"Well, that's great," I said, now very curious. "Sirius, now you have to get a job there!" I said.

"Me? A teacher? Hmm. I don't know about that, Pup." He scoffed.

"Well, you and your sorry ass can't sit here alone with Kreature while Remus and I are frolicking around at Hogwarts."

"Language! Harry!" Remus said.

"Well, to stick around you, Pup, I'll do it. Remus, are there any transfiguration positions open?" Sirius asked.

"Afraid not. There are a couple of Defense positions open, though."

"Someone still dying, leaving, getting incapacitated, mauled, or murdered every year?" Sirius asked.

"Yes. Sadly. They've never been able to break that curse if there truly is one." Remus said.

"There's a curse on the Defense Department?" I asked, acting as someone would if they were presented with this new information.

"Yes, Pup." Sirius explained. "At least, I think so. The department is pretty big, don't get me wrong, it's like around 40 professors. A few are on sabbatical each year, too. Every year though, one of them was mysteriously hurt, killed, found mauled by a hippogriff, lost all their ligaments, or something or other. Granted, it's a one in forty shot, but it's still scary enough for some wizards to not to want to take the job. The war was worse than anything though, so I'll do it, especially if it means protecting you from any harm, Harry. I won't make that mistake twice. I won't leave you again." He said, cupping my hand.

"Thank you, Sirius." I said. "That means a lot. How was your trip to St. Mungo's?"

"Well, Harry, I have to tell you: you were right. They said Kreature had been poisoned! Poisoned! By a dark potion they couldn't identify immediately. From what they could tell, he'd been under the effects for a long time. They've got him now and think he could be released within a few days. They are doing standard things they'd do for similar potions and will hopefully have good enough effects to release him to us soon."

"Well, that's bad news and good news. Maybe when he's mentally sound we'll get Pobby to whip him into shape?" I said. Pobby appeared, maybe thinking I needed him?

"Where would I get an application, Remus?" Sirius asked.

"I've got to do everything for you! You couldn't even make the tea." Remus said, shaking his teacup with so much vigor a little spilled out. Pobby, not a second later, furiously got to cleaning the tea on the carpet and everyone laughed. Everything here was going to be alright.