Harry was cursing Griphook. It had been a week since the ill-fated conversation with that vicious creature in his unassuming Gringotts office. At least, ill-fated was how it felt. He had not had a moments peace the entire week and it only looked to be getting busier.
Who knew curse breaking required so much paperwork?
When he'd said yes to Griphook's proposal, the vexing goblin had pulled out what looked to be several pounds of parchment with a rather toothy grin. Little did he know this would be the start of him running around the alley and cost him a small fortune in galleons.
First of all, he required a medical form completed by his Primary Care Healer certifying that not only was his health excellent, but that he had been given all of the required vaccinations both magical and muggle as well as being mentally competent.
He'd set up an appointment for the next day at the Greengrass Healing Centre. Upon attending his appointment and only being able to fill out his name and date of birth on the centre form, he had sent the Healers into a manic frenzy.
He was made to disrobe and lie on an examination table where he was poked and prodded and had several magical scans taken of everything from his blood pressure to an in depth analysis of his infamous scar. Upon seeing the list of required vaccinations, the centre's potion master was summoned to begin brewing.
Dozens, and I do mean dozens, of foul smelling concoctions later, and just when he thought that there was finally light at the end of the tunnel, the healer started jabbing him with a needle. Again and again and again.
It wasn't until nearly lunch time that he was finally given a clean bill of health, a recommendation for the guild to examine his scar for residual magic and of course a several hundred galleon invoice.
He decided to have a light lunch at Mrs Lovetts Pie shop. While the pie and mash was delicious, he hoped that it bore no more similarities to the shop immortalized in the Stephen Sondheim musical other than they sold pies…
After lunch he made his way to the chambers of his family barristers. Tonks and Co. was a small practice but with some big clients. During a quick meeting, Harry had requested copies of several personal documents. These included proof of address, British magical citizenship and his birth certificate (apparently not the same thing due to antiquated dark creature laws). He also procured a notarized copy of his last will and testament where he promptly left everything to Dobby the house elf and his first friend Hagrid.
And that was just day one.
The following days included being fitted for a whole new wardrobe, both magical and muggle, having a secondary wand made, updating his library, and amassing the huge list of equipment that a curse breaking apprentice was expected to own, as well as spares. In the end he had spent nearly twenty thousand galleons which led him to his current situation. He'd decided to refill his coin pouch and check on the state of his vaults. While in his head he knew he possessed more than enough galleons to cover his bills, the penniless orphan boy he was at heart still struggled with the concept of his wealth.
After approaching the on-duty cart goblin and making the equal parts terrifying and exciting cart ride into the depths of the Gringotts vault system (he was sure that goblin engineers moon-lighted as roller-coaster designers in the muggle world when they where bored) he was standing somewhat confused in front of two doors marked Vault 687-A and 687-B.
The cart goblin, a rather hideous warrior named Shatterclaw (10 points if you can guess how he earned that moniker), explained that due to the size of the recent gold deposits to his account the bank's management felt that separate item and currency vaults were needed to protect the safety of the items contained within his vaults.
Harry, upon hearing this, made a swift beeline for Vault B now known as the Family Object Vault.
After impatiently waiting for the hundreds of ticking locks to finishing opening, the soft pop of the door and the rather dramatic green tinged smoke to dissipate he was finally allowed access.
Scanning the room with his eyes it was roughly the size of Professor Flitwick's charms classroom. Antiquated weapons and armour lined one wall, while leather bound volumes lined the other. Boxes and chests where littered across the floor and several display cases stood against the far wall.
Harry walked up and down the room looking at the labels on the boxes, examining the books and of course, attempting to pick up and swing the massive sword (and promptly falling flat on his back) which was propped up in one corner.
Examining the display cases he found a few interesting magical items that he took with him. A mole skin bag with limited expanding charms, a short seven inch oaken wand with a paper tag attached noting the magical core was salamander scales and a small heavy golden ring with the Potter family crest attached. He placed it on his right pinky finger which filled him with a sense of warmth.
Taking one last look around and popping his head into the currency vault, he was ready to leave.
The journey back to the main part of the bank was always, for some reason, much shorter than the journey to the vault. Harry privately thought that this was because the goblins loved torturing the Wizarding patrons so much that they purposefully took the long route on the way down.
When he arrived at the room he had rented for the foreseeable future from Tom at the Leaky Cauldron, he had a rather obnoxious grey owl waiting to deliver a bundle of documents. After a quick drink of Hedwig's water and one of her precious owl treats (which she gave him such a glare for), the owl disappeared off into the warm evening air.
Smiling at his jealous snowy owl, he threw her a treat causing a happy hoot from his constant companion. He perused the bundle of documents he'd received from his barristers while getting ready for bed. After all he had an early start the next morning.
Authors note: another quick little chapter my way of getting the 'Shopping trip' out of the way continuing with the plot next chapter. Please like, share and review! Hoping to have a minium of two chapters a week released!
