Hey everyone,
So this is probably going to be the last update for A Soul's Future for a while.
After this, I want to work on The Fidelius Kept Secret, as I feel sure that that story is close to being fully done and I want to finish at least one story this year.
Another story I want to keep working on is Master Yen Sid, which is also probably be going to be finished sometime soon.
Though maybe not this year,

Venquine1990


Chapter 56
The History Of House Potter

24th of July 1996
Poppy's Home, Radiant Garden
Harry's POV

Della actually became a constant visitor to my dad's home after my first meeting with her. And with every meeting I feel as, on a new parental level, Lea and I have really met a kindred spirit.

And Della herself admits to my dad that, every time she meets with her boys after meeting with us, she feels more confident in her belief that she is bonding with them and getting to know who they became under Donald and Uncle Scrooge's care.

Yet while Della had wanted to come around again, Poppy had asked me to meet her at her office the other day. Still, because Lea and dad seem to bond with Della over different reasons as well each time she came to visit, I told the duck not to let this stop her from coming over.

What confuses me is that, when I get to her office with Erethea comfortably tucked into her carrier bag, Uncle Scrooge is also waiting at the front door.

"G'morning laddie. How are you and the little lass today?"

I shrug and tell him that Erethea is doing well and that she even slept for almost 3 hours in a row the other night.

The duck laughs, yet he also admits that he is somewhat jealous as, apparently, the triplets were almost a year old before that started to happen.

Though he also admits that he only learned about this after the fact as, like he told Lea, Donald raised the boys for the first two years after their mother went missing.

Every time I hear about this, a voice in my head and heart curses Saïx and Xemnas for not allowing Axel to check out Disney Town's moon and the heart he sensed there.

Yet thanks to the last few months, I know that my hatred is only for the Nobodies and not aimed at Isa.

Ever since my pregnancy has been affecting my health, Isa has, unofficially, appointed himself as my silent bodyguard.

Yet unlike the Order, he often makes sure that he is in my line of sight so that I know he is there. And every so often he also comes over to hang out with my husband and I.

And while he doesn't say it, I know that he's already taken out quite a few Heartless who might have tried to take advantage of my disability or, worse, attack my little girl.

At the same time I wonder when either he or Damian will admit that they have been checking each other out ever since Yule.

After all, it's not just because of his new role or because of his friendship with Lea that Isa is spending so much time with us.

And at the same time I wonder how someone who can spot such dark creatures lurking almost invisibly in the shadows, is so blind to the looks of budding love and adoration that Damian sends his way every time he comes over for dinner.

Then, simply because of all the times that Damian has helped me over the years, I decide to help him in return.

I tell Uncle Scrooge for a moment and grab the Gummi Phone that Lea arranged for me after I moved into the Garden.

And because Isa is with Damian, Della and dad, I make sure to call my husband instead.

"Harry, love, is something wrong?"

I quickly reassure my husband that all is fine and that I just reached Poppy's office for the meeting.

"I just thought that I should return the favor of all the times that Damian helped me over the years. Though I'm a little busy right now, so I was hoping that you could go over to dad's place and – well, play matchmaker for Damian and Isa."

Lea's eyes widen for a moment and a moment later a large grin grows on his face. "I love you, Harry. Consider it done." Lea hangs up and I grin at the black screen myself.

"Those two still dancing around each other, aye?"

The fact that even Uncle Scrooge, who is rarely around and is usually busy with his work or his family, noticed the romantic tension growing between the two really amuses me.

I tell him that, if all goes according to plans, they might finally go on a date sometime soon and after this we decide to focus back on the reason we're here.

Or at least finding out why Poppy asked us both to meet at the same time.

Uncle Scrooge knocks on the door and a few minutes later we're invited in.

Yet instead of sitting behind her desk, the woman invites us to sit at the coffee table in her private drawing room.

Uncle Scrooge asks the woman what's going on and I ask: "Does this have anything to do with how you kept looking as if you were procrastinating something for the last few weeks?"

The duck turns to look at me and Poppy's eyes widen for a moment. A moment later she smiles and mutters: "I should've known that you'd pick up on that.

Yeah Harry, it has.

And while part of me feels like I should wait with this, I think it would only make you feel pressured to achieve if I wait with telling you this until after you've buried a few more skeletons.

Especially with the incredible progress you've been making on that front in these last few weeks. And to, a few days ago, hear that you've even been confiding about this with Della just convinced me.

You're ready and you deserve to hear this."

Uncle Scrooge and I share a look and the oldest of the three occupants asks what he has to do with all this.

Poppy's answer: "I want to explain to Harry how his family got to be as rich as they are, the history behind the Potter wealth.

As the owner of the location that houses his vaults, you have a right to hear this story as well, Uncle Scrooge. That, and I got the feeling you might appreciate this tale as I got to know you and learned about your own family history."

This answer makes us both smile, yet Uncle Scrooge also quickly asks me if I'm really okay with him being here.

I happily reassure him.

"Before we begin. Uncle Scrooge, as the owner of the bank, have you ever done an audit on the wealth located within the location?"

Uncle Scrooge seems genuinely affronted by this question and declares that he would never invade the privacy of his clients that way.

Poppy quickly reassures him and explains that that's normal in the Wizarding World, that it was part of one of the many treaties between Goblins and Wizards.

The duck calms down, yet he grumbles that no one should have the right to put such invasive actions in any treaty or contract.

Poppy and I share a smile over the duck's integrity.

"Either way, before the gold and everything else was moved, I took the liberty of asking the Goblins to do such an audit.

I also asked around and heard that you yourself are rumored to own between 120 and 275 billion Munny. I did the calculations and compared your wealth to Harry's, both in Galleons and Munny.

Uncle Scrooge, Harry dear, when it comes to wizarding wealth and gold alone, Harry is only a quarter as rich as the Richest Duck in the Universe."

Needless to say, both Uncle Scrooge and I are staring at the woman and a small part of me wonders whose mouth fell open wider just now.

"Well, bless me bagpipes. I didn't think I'd ever meet someone like that in my lifetime. Well, other than Flintheart Glumgold, that blithering bastard."

"But – but how? How is that possible? How could I – how did my - I mean – are you sure?"

Poppy seems genuinely interested in this Glumgold person and why Uncle Scrooge thinks so low of him. At the same time she smiles at me as I try to stutter through my shock.

Quick warning; the upcoming paragraphs are long. Kind of like my old stories, though I try not to make them too much like those.

Sorry about that.

"Allow me to explain.

Harry's family is over a thousand years old. True, the Potters were a relatively unknown family before they married into the Peverell line, yet at the same time, over the years, the Peverell line accepted that taking the Potter name was the better option.

I will tell you that story another time.

Either way, as I'm sure you know, Harry, the time before and during the Age of the Founders really wasn't easy, especially compared to how we live these days. (I nod in agreement to this).

Well, your ancestors were one of the first and also considered the very best to deal with this. They used both hard work and magic to train themselves so that they stayed healthy – on a very small diet and only the lowest required amount of rest.

Now if there was one thing that the Peverell family of that time was known for, it was their financial intelligence and if there was one thing that the Potters of the time was known for, it was their incredible crafting skill.

Yes Harry, the Potters chose their name, because they were the first family to become famous for crafting and selling self-made pots and other forms of Pottery.

And yes, I know, not very original. Everyone who hears this story thinks that way. Yet your family, even to this day, has a small monopoly on the royalties that come from the selling of pottery all across magical England.

In fact, before we left, I made sure to hire a proper Law Wizard who, I knew, could be relied on to keep this process going. You know, incase a descendant of yours decides to move back to Magical England in the future."

I nod at this and feel very glad that the woman is being so thorough with this explanation and that she is also being very patient and trying to explain this to me a little bit at a time.

At the same time, a small part of me wonders why dad hasn't taken the time to explain this to me. Or Dumbledore for that matter when I first came back to the Magical World.

I decide to ask dad about this later.

"Now, like I said, the Peverell's were really financially intelligent. They hardly ever had a lot of furniture in their home and whatever they did own was usually easy to copy.

Why? Because, the Peverells were, at first, known as English Pilgrims. They traveled all across our Island, yet they were able to keep ownership of the homes they left behind thanks to the intelligence I mentioned.

Why did they travel and how were they able to do this?

They were very prudent, some would even call them greedy, yet they were also very critical of what they bought.

And because, back in the day, there were multiple markets all over the island, that was their reason for becoming pilgrims back in the day.

If the market close to their home started selling products of lesser quality or if they increased their prizes to an unacceptable amount, the Peverells moved to another village, town or location, one where they could properly provide for their family."

While I am proud to learn about my family and how far they were willing to go to keep the family going strong, I also mentally grimace as I really can't see myself doing something similar.

Yet again I silently bless the fact that, these days, such a lifestyle is no longer necessary for me and my new family, in either world.

"Now, as our world grew, and especially after the Statute of Secrecy became a thing at the end of the 17th century, the Potter House grew so exceptionally talented in living frugal lives.

It definitely helped their cause and their need to live this way when, 200 years before the Statute, the English Magicals started to really settle down.

I know you know a lot about Goblin Rebellions, thanks to Professor Binns (I try to keep my face from heating up). However, when Gringotts was first formed, the Goblins were temporarily put in charge of monitoring the prices of most of the products that our people used in day-to-day life.

Uncle Scrooge, I'll tell you the history of how they lost that right some other time.

Yet it was during this period of time, that the Goblins monitored the prices, that the Potters were able to fully settle their way of life.

Since then, they have lived by two life-rules:

1. Study hard so you can get yourself a job that pays so well, you can live your life on only 10% of your paycheck.

2. If our world experienced a war, rebellion or other huge, national conflict, the Potters would make copies of all their furniture and move the originals into the Gringotts vaults.

Thanks to these rules, they were not only able to save all of the money that made them as rich as I told you earlier, they were also able to make it so that, if their home got damaged or destroyed, they wouldn't have to buy new, thus saving them in expenses many times."

While Uncle Scrooge and I sit here and listen to the woman and her explanation, I can't help but wish that Professor Binns and his lectures had been, if nothing else, 50% as interesting as this.

"Now I know that you saw pictures of your parents and grandparents and wondered why some of these pictures made it look as if either didn't live with this lifestyle.

The reason behind this is that, unfortunately, Fleamont Potter, your great-grandfather, died before he could teach these rules to Charlus.

So, while it was somewhat part of Charlus' instinctive lifestyle, he was also often easily swayed by the way of life of the wizarding world and the way that, as the century progressed, the mentality, morality and lifestyle of our people changed.

And considering what your first few years in the Wizarding world were like, I'm sure you can empathize and understand why your grandfather often tried to fight the social need to follow along with what was new, hot and popular.

However, I suppose you can thank your mother for being Muggleborn as her lifestyle was, even without her or James knowing, much more similar to Fleamont and his father's than Charlus' and the lifestyle that James grew up with.

And yes, that is why your parents moved into Godric's Hollow after their marriage. While neither of your parents really grew up with the 10% paycheck lifestyle, they were still talented enough to get nice high-paying jobs.

Your father as an Auror who, thanks to the war, didn't have to go through Auror Training Camp first and your mother, thanks to her Mastery in Charms, as a Stay-At-Home Spell-Crafter.

Unfortunately, your father and grandfather, and through them your family fortune, really suffered under their lack of knowing the 10% rule in one way.

Neither of them knew how to put a limit on outgoing funds. Thus, in both the Grindlewald and the Voldemort wars, they donated way – and I mean, way – more money to Dumbledore and similar causes than any of their ancestors would have done.

James even tried to go one step further by, instead of living by the 10% rule, he tried to beat those who were known to be the highest donators by 10%.

Thankfully, when your mother announced that she was pregnant of you, James stopped with these attempts as he realized he needed to be able to provide for a family of three.

So that is the history of your family, dear, why they were once in the Top 5 Richest Families of England and why they dropped out of that this last century."

I have my head tilted down a little as I cross my arms over my chest. And while it's not for the same loving reasons as usual, I turn to look at my precious little girl, who is still sleeping in a crib a few meters away from where we're seated.

"Poppy, how could Lea and I possibly undo the damage to our finances that my dad and grandfather, unknowingly, did?

I mean, Lea is still looking for a job that works around his role as Guardian of Light and I still have three years of schooling left. Not to mention that I need to graduate from at least some kind of school, preferably Hogwarts, before I can even start to work.

And yeah, I know that I have you and dad, but – still. There is still Erethea to think of. And I'm not saying that I can't, to an extent, adapt the way that my ancestors used to live.

You know, check out the town and see if there are stores somewhere else that sell decent products for a lower price and all that.

But at the same time, there are still so many other factors that might make it impossible for me and Lea to undo all of this. And the last thing I want is for Erethea to, when she's my age, feel burdened down with all this."

Yet Poppy keeps smiling all throughout my worried confession.

"You don't need to worry about any of this, Harry.

As soon as I learned about all this, I told Sirius the same story I just told you. And we've been working together to make sure that, through Sirius' care of you, you already grew up under the same lifestyle as Fleamont and your other ancestors.

That's why I'm telling you this now. Sirius told me that, in his eyes, you have really proven that you can live by that lifestyle with how you prepared for Erethea's arrival.

And I think you and I can agree with him on this. Think about it. Most of Erethea's clothes are made by Molly, Sirius build almost her entire nursery furniture with his own hands and you had Demyx work on the interior design of her nursery.

Combine that with the fact that grateful citizens are already paying/donating money to Lea for being a Guardian of Light, that he does all of those small side jobs while looking for permanent employment and that he already has a house for you to move into.

You're already living your ancestral lifestyle, dear.

It's just so instinctual that you didn't realize it.

That's why I told you, combined with the other reason. Sirius and I just wanted to be sure that, once you turn sixteen and as you become more independent, you will have a proper understanding of your family history.

We both felt it would help you, to ensure that you wouldn't fall for the same traps as your grandfather or feel obligated through loyalty to make the same mistakes your father made.

As that was the other reason, outside of his pride, that your father was so willing to make those attempts that he made before you came into his life.

We know that you can do it, Harry. We know that you can learn to mix the 10% payment rule with your desire to ensure to give Erethea everything you were denied as a child.

And just because you're two years away from being considered an adult, doesn't mean that Sirius, me or Uncle Scrooge will ever stop helping you.

We all want the same thing, Harry. We all want to bring Potter pride into this world and to continue your family legacy through your new family."

Uncle Scrooge vigorously nods in agreement to this and tells us: "I knew from the minute I met you, lad, that I liked you and the way you live your life.

And now that I know what a wondrous family you came from, I like you and yours even more. I will gladly help you achieve this goal.

Just count on your Uncle Scrooge."

I smile at both of them, deeply grateful.


Good for you, Harry.
So, what do you guys think of this Potter backstory? I got to be honest, I came up with it when I first started writing this chapter and by the time I wrote about Erethea's birth, I had forgotten about it.
Thank Magic for Story Notes,

Venquine1990