8 Lord
Dobby brought the group to the front of the bank. "Shouldn't pop into Gringotts. Make the goblins nervous," he explained. Harry patted his shoulder and Dobby vanished.
The Gringotts hall was only dimly lit. Gringotts didn't really expect business at the New Year, certainly not this late. There was only a single Goblin teller and he seemed to be quite bored, waiting for customers to come. He seemed relieved at noticing the group coming in. Harry walked in with the girls. He tried to sound confident when talking to the teller. "My name is Harry Potter. I've come to see what possessions I have here."
"Of course, Lord Potter. Just wait a moment as I call your account manager, if you please." The goblin sounded politer than Harry thought a Goblin would be. He climbed down from his stool and hurried to a side door, soon returning with another, older goblin, who seemed to be finishing buttoning his vest while walking briskly.
The new goblin turned to the teens. "Lord Potter, Ladies, my name is Sharpclaw and I'm your main account manager. Will you please follow me to my office?"
Harry wondered briefly what that meant. Did the bank assign more than one account manager to his account? That would mean that he had quite a lot of money there. Although he liked the idea, it also frightened him a bit.
They walked deeper into the bank, reaching a door where Harry recognized the Potter crest on the upper corner. The goblin opened the door and waved them in before following and closing the door. He waved his hand, conjuring three comfortable chairs for the teens and then moved to his own chair, behind a large and very ornate desk. "I must first insist on a formal test to ascertain that you are who you say you are. This is the normal procedure whenever a new Lord arrives to claim his position."
He gave Harry a small dagger and a parchment whose corner was clearly marked for a drop of blood. Harry made a small cut in his thumb. Once a drop of blood fell on the parchment, the cut sealed and healed itself. The blood seemed to be absorbed into the parchment and then some lines started to form, reminding him of the Marauder's Map.
They all looked with fascination as the parchment started to fill with lines, turning into a very detailed family tree. It was also colour coded, with blue and red inks showing magical male and female ancestors, while lighter shades of the colours denoted muggles and squibs. Following up he saw his parents and his grandparents and then many more names he couldn't recognize. Yet some names near the top of the tree were easily recognizable. He could see that Gryffindor's only daughter married a Potter, and two generations later, one of Slytherin's descendants married another Potter. On the opposite side, he was surprised to find that Lady Rowena Ravenclaw was very prominent. One of her daughters had died childless, staying at Hogwarts as a ghost, as he already knew. The other, whom he had not heard of before, had been a squib and had married an Evans. The magic of that family stayed hidden until Lily Evans was born, later becoming Lady Potter.
"I thought He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was Slytherin's heir," Padma commented.
"You should call him by his name – Voldemort," Harry told her.
"I know he called himself Voldemort, but everybody seems to prefer the longer designation," Padma said, not being bothered by the name, so it seemed.
Sharpclaw returned to her original comment. "According to Gringotts records, a Gaunt killed the last descendant of Slytherin's male line in a duel and claimed the title, but it was never recognized by Magic, as the Potter line was related to Slytherin by blood, although they didn't advertise it. Slytherin wasn't considered dark until the last Dark Lord claimed otherwise, making others believe he was evil. Actually, Salazar Slytherin was Muggle-born."
"I don't think Voldemort would have advertised that," Harry commented.
"Well, let's proceed. It's quite late and I'm sure you have some other plans for the rest of the evening," Sharpclaw said.
"I want to know who my magical guardian was and why he didn't tell me anything," Harry said hotly.
"It was Dumbledore, as your parent's will could not be found. You'll need to ask him why he didn't tell you anything."
"Did he touch any of my possessions?" That was also a sore spot for Harry.
Sharpclaw checked some documents on his desk. "He only had access to your trust vault. He withdrew twenty galleons each month since that fateful Halloween, converted them to pounds and deposited in a muggle bank, into an account belonging to Vernon Dursley, intended, so he said, to cover the expenses the Dursley family had due to raising you. There were also a few other withdrawals of small sums that he took in cash for whatever he had in mind, totalling in about seventy-five galleons for the whole period."
Harry was a bit surprised. While paying Vernon for his keep was reasonable, Dumbledore should have made sure that the money was spent for its intended purpose. The other sums were too small to pay them any attention, although he would have liked Dumbledore to take nothing without his explicit permission.
"What else do I own?" Harry asked eagerly.
Sharpclaw looked confused. "It's all detailed in your quarterly and annual reports. Haven't you seen them?"
Harry shook his head. "Never!"
Sharpclaw frowned. "We need to check for mail redirection then. I'll make sure you get our mail from now on. I can give you a copy of our last quarterly report. It's about fifty pages long, though. Do you want to go over it now?"
Harry shook his head. This was becoming much more than he expected, despite all that Padma had already told him. Hermione took the copy that Sharpclaw handed. "May I use my wand to shrink this?"she asked.
Sharpclaw nodded his permission. Hermione took her wand, shrank the report and put it in her purse. Harry trusted her to study it, probably along with Padma, and give him the main points only, as he preferred.
"Did you get Gringott's congratulations for your bonds?" Sharpclaw asked.
"None," both girls said.
"I'll handle this first thing in the morning. Do you want to take your Lord and Lady rings now?"
Harry made his rings visible, as did the girls. Sharpclaw looked surprised for a moment. He then gave it some thought and relaxed. "Keep them on," he then said. "They give you excellent protection against all low-level curses and are somewhat effective even against the higher powered ones, except for the unforgivables. They will also warn you against disguised enemies and against food or beverage laced with potions."
"How would they warn me?"
"They get warmer. The more dangerous the potion or the person is, the hotter they get."
Harry wasn't sure what else he needed to know. It was Hermione's turn to ask. "How many vaults does Harry have?"
Sharpclaw needed a moment to think about it and answer. "He has his trust vault, of course, and the Potter main vault, the Potter head-of-house vault – previously used by Peverell, the Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Slytherin vaults – they only had one each, and a few minor vaults that I can't recite out of my head right now."
"Does he have a house to live in?" Padma asked.
Sharpclaw seemed amused. "The only regular house he owns is at 4 Privet Drive, rented by the Dursley family, although that is handled by a muggle holding company. He also owns several apartment buildings in muggle centres, two apartments in Diagon Alley, several Manor Houses, some villas and a few castles. I believe you could choose something to your taste."
Hermione seemed dazzled by the information, as was Harry, yet Padma smiled, as if she had expected to hear this. It occurred to Harry that she asked more for his and Hermione's behalf, to make them more aware of things she already knew to some extent.
Sharpclaw had something to add, though. "You're in no hurry to visit your vaults or your other possessions, but I suggest you get in touch as soon as you can with the Hufflepuff heir. Together, you will become a social and political power that can change Magical Britain very significantly, something that is way overdue." He then seemed to stop himself and apologize. "I hope you don't consider this a breach of the agreement between the Goblin nation and Magical Britain. I didn't intend to influence your politics in any way, only to point to some facts that you may have missed."
Harry was not yet sure what to say. Padma replied in his stead. "Thank you, Sharpclaw. We appreciate your advice and it's in line with all the agreements. We shall need some time to learn everything and to start acting. When can we visit you next time?"
"You're welcome whenever you choose to come, although I would suggest much earlier hours, to let you go through your various vaults and to be able to discuss everything in depth."
Harry got back to his senses. "Thank you again. I hope to be able to come here soon. It's evident that I still need to learn a lot."
Sharpclaw escorted them to the entrance hall. Dobby popped in immediately when called and brought them back to the room where Parvati and her parents were waiting.
"What have you found?" Mr. Patil asked.
"Not much, really. I need to talk with Dumbledore soon, yet I'm not sure how to do it," Harry said.
"Mr. Dumbledore, despite all his other titles, is not a lord of any significant house. Your position is far above his, so you can feel free to question him, after making your lordship known," Mr. Patil advised.
Harry wasn't too eager to confront the headmaster, yet he knew it was unavoidable. He hoped he could consult with his wives before meeting the headmaster.
They stayed at that restaurant for dinner as well, getting to better know each other. Harry didn't want to tell much about his adventures, initially, but ended telling most of it anyway, making everybody gasp, although he tried hard to play down his part in each. Even Hermione had not heard some of it until then.
Harry also got to know his in-laws a bit better, finding they had been his parents' friends, although not very close ones. This made him feel closer to them than before.
By the time they reached their dorms, shortly before curfew, they all felt it was a very busy day and were eager for some rest.
Ron looked accusingly at Harry and Hermione. "I thought you'd spend some time with me too, despite your date."
"I'm sorry, but I also had some urgent things to handle. I would have been unable to do that without Hermione's help," Harry told him.
Ron didn't seem truly convinced. "Alright, but you shouldn't leave me behind so much. I'm also your friend, you know."
Harry smiled at him. "Of course, mate. I can't forget that." He also thought it was hard to forget how Ron had behaved after Harry's name came out of the goblet of fire, but it was best not to mention it.
"Well, Dumbledore was also looking for you. He asked that you come to his office tomorrow morning along with Hermione and Padma. I think he disapproves of them helping you so much," Ron told him
Harry felt somewhat apprehensive at that. He was quite sure that Dumbledore had some other motives. Had he found about his lordship or his wives? Well, he would find out in a few hours.
"Thank you for telling me. Now, if you don't mind, I'm really tired."
He still hugged Hermione tightly for a moment before they went to their separate dorms. Parvati, though, seemed full of energy, joining Lavender in one of the corners and asking for an update on the latest gossip.
