The Succession is starting

The alarm tore him out of his sleep. Harry was instantly awake. If everything went according to plan this had been the last night of the summer he had to stay with the Dursleys and it was only the 3rd day after leaving Hogwarts. His relatives had let him keep all his school stuff and belongings in his room. They basically ignored him completely short of getting him from Kings' Cross. Harry wasn't displeased by that. He had his problems right now so not dealing with them was a huge plus in his books. First was what had happened to the box and fog. He could feel the power they previously radiated pulsating through his body at all times. The morning he had tested to use the power in his spells and burned his bed with a simple Lumos charm. He told the other boys that helped him put out the flames that he had a nightmare and fought Voldemort in his sleep. During his dream, he must have accidentally set his bed ablaze. Everyone had an understanding tone and facial expression whenever they heard that story. In his mind, he somewhat hated them for it. Experiencing what he did isn't an excuse to lose control of his power. So he stopped using spells in front of the rest for the remainder of the year. No one questioned it and it gave Harry enough time to at least contain the power to an extent that he could cast spells with an amount of magic behind them that he could fully control. His second problem was way more complicated at least for him. When the other schools had to leave Hogwarts. Marielle came to him hugged him and started to tell him how much she appreciated the time together and she had fun. But in the middle of a sentence, she looked over his shoulder with a mix of fear and guilt on her face and just left him standing there. When he turned around he could see the Delacour sisters walking towards him. They thanked him for everything he had done during the task for them. In the end, Gabrielle even invited him with translating help of her sister to visit them and their parents in France this summer as a token of gratitude for his deeds. Harry accepted under the condition that he had to do some things first but they could write to each other and settle on a date when everything was done. With this said Gabrielle got a huge smile, hugged him, kissed him on his cheeks, and jumped back to the Beauxbaton carriage. Fleur rolled her eyes and said goodbye with a much smaller smile on her lips.

Now those problems had to go to the back of his mind again. Today everything must go as planned. He didn't want to come back here. Harry got dressed and checked if he had packed everything that he would need to leave forever. After verifying everything was still like he left it before going to sleep yesterday he sat on the bed. Could it really be? Leaving the Dursleys for good this time? Finally shedding himself of his relatives brought a pleased look on his face. Remus and Sirius will get him from here and bring him to Diagon Alley. There they will go to Gringotts and the goblins will make sure that he will get his inheritance. How exactly this will take place he wasn't sure but he trusted his parent's friends. A quick look at his clock made him aware that he wasted a little too much time. He needed to get ready.

Freshly showered he looked into the mirror. Maybe he imagined it but he thought he had changed a little. He had grown quite a bit since the third task and not just in height but it seemed his lean build got a little wider, his pupils weren't completely round anymore and were somewhat pointy at top and bottom, and the green in his eyes wasn't so dominant any more some different colour tried to break into it, but he couldn't identify which one. Another look on his watch told him he only had ten minutes left before they would arrive. He went back into his room. In a cage in the corner, Hedwig was looking at him. "Will you find me if I let you fly right now?" She clicked her beak in response. Harry let her out and padded her head. "Let's hope you will never have to come back here." With that, he let her out of the room.

Once he got dressed he packed his cloak of invisibility and his Gringotts pouch with some money and his vault key into a small bag. His wand went into his back pocket. With the bag slung above the shoulder, Harry brought all of his stuff downstairs. Then went into the kitchen where he waited looking at the street in front of the house. He watched the empty street for some minutes when suddenly Remus Lupin was standing there. Remus watched up and down the street and then moved towards the house. Harry didn't wait for him to start moving and opened the door before the other could reach it. As he closed the door Lupin greeted him. "Do you have everything?" Harry patted the bag. "The Rest is in the hallway."Good... good, if everything goes according to the plan we will send someone to get all of it. Now come here and grab tightly onto my Arm, we can't waste any time." He followed the order but asked. "Where is Padfoot?" "He will meet us there." With that Lupin began to spin. Harry felt seriously unwell, it was like something pushed him through a tube with extreme force. As fast as the feeling came it went away. After catching his breath Harry recognized where they were. It was the street he visited before his second year by accident, Knockturn Alley. He wondered why they came here instead of The Leaking Cauldron or directly apparating into Diagon Alley. The answer was delivered a few seconds later as a huge black dog came out of the shadow of a narrow side street. Harry welcomed his godfather by tousling his head. Sirius barked sharply which earned him a stern look from his friend. "Be quiet, Padfoot, we need to reach Gringotts without attracting too much attention!" The answer came in form of a disgruntled howl but the dog started to move towards Diagon Alley and the goblin bank.

During their climb of the stairs up to the huge doors one of the goblin guards left his position and headed towards them. Harry got nervous. Did the guard see through Sirius transformation? What was the plan if they were found out? He looked at Remus who fetch a letter out of the inside of his coat. Before the guard could say anything Remus halted and gave him the piece of pergament. The guard read it once he was finished he nestled at the side of his leg armour and got something out of them. Harry made two steps backwards and almost fell as the goblin used whatever he now had in his hand to burn the letter in less than a second. After restoring his balance he saw the other three had already resumed their walk towards the gates. He caught up right before they walked through the doors. The guard escorted them towards a counter where an older than average goblin sat. They exchanged some Gobbledegook. "Welcome to Gringotts, Mr Potter and Mr Lupin, my Name is Gadlog. I will show you to a room where we will conclude your business in a more private atmosphere." Lupin just nodded. The three humans followed Gadlog while the guard went back to his post. They were led into a corridor and from there into a room with a big table in the middle with 8 chairs surrounding it. "I will fetch you your account manager, Mr Potter." He signalled to the chairs for them to sit in. "You are completely safe inside this room. As long as the door is closed no one can see or hear what happens inside this room except the people inside it." With that, he left them alone. Sirius instantly turned back into his human form when the door closed. "Ahhh, finally back on two legs. You can't imagine how shit it feels to go up so many stairs on four legs." He hugged Harry. "Good to finally see you again. Are you excited that you finally get what your parents wanted you to have?" Harry could only nod. "Great", Lupin interjected. "So we will explain everything in detail once this is over. Everything you have to know right now is we will trigger the will of your parents officially with this you would become Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter. But because you are too young you will only become Heir Apparent. With this status, you have to elect someone as your regent. In this case, this will be me. Is that OK? Yes, good. So once you made me your regent I automatically become your magical guardian and replace Dumbledore. After that, he can't control what you do or where you stay anymore. Everything is fine so far?" Harry nodded again. He had some questions but before he could articulate them someone knocked at the door. While Remus went to open it Sirius transformed back into the black dog. The goblin entering the room looked a little older than Gadlog. "Nice to finally meet you, Mr Potter. I had planned to have this meeting almost 3 years ago but no one wanted to hold it back then. I see you have finally met the right people. I'm Krakdug. I'm the account manager for the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter. Thanks to Lord Black's generous donations we could afford the time and goblin power to find a way to give you what you are owed." With that, he hinted at a bow to the now human again Sirius who snorted contemptuously. The goblin continued without reacting to the lord's behaviour at all. "We will conduct the formal execution of the Will. Normally we would have to go through everything, but I was told to make it short. We will send you a complete list of properties, belongings, and investments, that you will inherit, to you but right now we'll go over it generally. Mr Harry James Potter, this is the will of your father, Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter, James Potter I. and your mother Lily Jane Evans. They bequeathed everything they had and represented to you. This entails the title of "Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter", the family seat "Potter Manor" in Somerset, "Mansion Vase" in London, "Potter Cottage" in Godrics' Hollow, "McGonagall House" on the Isle of Islay, various properties in Diagon Alley, multiple investments, vaults, and bank accounts through the magical and muggle world, and some lands across the United Kingdom. Do you agree to accept this giving in the presence of your parents' chosen overseer, Lord Black, and become Heir Apparent of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter?" Harry was baffled, he didn't know his parents were that rich. And what was that with McGonagall? He looked at Sirius and Remus. Both nodded at him and he replied to the goblin. "Yes, I do." "Great, you are a minor so you need a regent. Have you already decided on one or do you need some more time?" This time Harry answered quicker. "Yes, I have." Slightly annoyed Krakdug returned. "And who would that be?" Harry pointed at Lupin. "A friend of my parents, Remus Lupin." "Do you accept the honour of becoming Lord Regent of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter, Remus Lupin?" "Yes, I accept." "Fine, congratulations to you, Heir Apparent, for becoming one of the richest and most influential people in magical Britain and good luck to you, Lord Lupin, for your future works. The last thing from me," he took out a box and a short rope," this is the signet ring of House Potter, all keys to the vaults belonging to the House Potter, and the requested port key to Potter Manor." He gave the box and rope to Lupin and left the room.

Harry needed a minute to collect himself after all of this. The other present just sat in silence and looked at him. "Sooo... Lord Lupin?" Remus hung his head down while Sirius started to laugh out loud. "Ahhh, completely forgot to tell you about this." He started still chuckling. "If you are regent to a Most Ancient and Noble House you ARE a lord. At the start, we read this as 'if you want to become regent you must be a lord' but after researching a little bit more we realized it was worded pretty poorly and while it most certainly had that intent, it just meant 'if you aren't a lord before becoming regent you become one'. So I, too, want to congratulate you, Harry. You just made the first Lord Werewolf in Great Britain." He started to laugh again. Harry turned to the new Lord who said. "Relax, Harry. If you don't want that heat we will change your regent. We just needed me to replace Dumbledore. If you want we can write to different wizards and witches and ask them if they want to help you." "No, no... Remus, I don't care about that. I'm just... surprised. So you are the same as Sirius as Lord Black?" "No," Sirius answered trying to be serious and statesmanlike."He is wayyy below me. But that's something we can discuss once we are in Potter Manor." Lupin nodded, packed the box into his jacket and held the rope out to the other two. As Harry grabbed onto the rope as the last one he felt the weird whirling feeling for the fifth time in his life and all he hoped for was that nothing bad would happen this time.

This time Harry didn't fall but that was more thanks to Sirius and Lupin grabbing his arm and shoulder respectively rather than his skill. Still arranging himself he looked forward and froze still. He looked at what he thought was Potter Manor but for him, the name didn't make any sense. In front of him wasn't a manor or a mansion, he would call whatever was in front of him a palace. It was three storeys high and around 200 feet wide. The approach that his companions now walked along was surrounded by a French garden with a fountain in the middle that forced the path into a circle around 20 meters in front of the building. "Harry! Are you coming we still have a few things to do and the sooner we finish the better?" Lupin urged. Still fascinated by what he was seeing Harry began to catch up. "This is my new home?" Harry inquired. "Something like that, this is the ancestral home of the House Potter. When we visited here the first time your grandparents told us the history. Something according to they had to sell their original castle thanks to the International Statute of Secrecy and then build this... manor to fulfil their need." Remus explained. They reached the entrance of the building. Harry was in awe, everything looked so pompous. It wasn't clear to him which architectural area this building belonged to but he could definitely see kings or emperors living here in older times. Now he would be living here. Deep satisfaction spread through his body. This was a home that did him justice. Although this feeling came from deep inside him he was so confused about it that he didn't hear what Sirius told him. As he saw the waiting facial expression of his godfather and asked a little ashamed. "Sorry, what? I wasn't listening." Chuckling the older Lord replied. "Impressive, isn't it? Yeah, we all had that feeling the first time we visited. But you have to open the doors for us. They are magically sealed and only the new head of the house can open it." Readying himself Harry stretched out his right hand towards the door. A small tingling sensation ran through his hand and the door opened by itself without him even touching them. Now he was sure he either died at some point or was sleeping. He was looking into a hall that was as deep as the Great Hall in Hogwarts was wide and at least two-thirds of its length in width. In the middle stairs grew with a curve to both sides and formed a gallery on the second floor around the room. At the foot of the stairs, there were three little creatures and one more came to him from the right. He realized the doors hadn't opened by themselves but were opened by the house elf now standing right before him. The elf bowed and spoke with an old but firm voice. "Welcome to Potter Manor, Master Harry. Good to see you once again, Lord Black and Lord Lupin. I'm grateful to see you two alive and well with the new master. I'm the Head House Elf of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter, Snoydinn." He lead the humans to the other elves and pointed at the one at the right. "This is Chief House Elf of Potter Manor, Munky. She is responsible for everything here. If you need something done here you call her. This is Chief House Elf of "Mansion Vase", Botch. He is responsible for the mansion. This is Ponby. He will be your personal elf. If you need something done for you in any way, not regarding one of the main properties, you will call him." Harry looked over the three. All of them were clad in older looking linen clothes which looked way better than the rags Dobby wore the first time he saw him. Munky was the only female in the line. She reminded him of Winky and Harry wondered what happened to her. Could he give her a place here? Would Hermione maybe stop after that to recruit him for S.P.E.W.? What would she say if she found out that he had house elves himself? He dreaded this moment and hoped he could put it off as long as possible. Next in line was Botch. Assessing the build Harry could come up with a few ideas of how he got that name. Botch was way bigger than any other elf he had seen until this point in time. While his body stood strong he could see the age of him in his face. Last was Ponby. He was clearly the youngest of all of them. Maybe that was the reason they selected him because it was clear he wasn't as composed as the rest. He bobbed up and down while the rest stood still. "Let me show you the estate and tell you its history. It was the year 1167 when the then Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter, Edward Potter II., started to build Potter Castle..." "Snoidynn, we're really sorry but could we only get the short tour to the main study without a history lesson? And someone needs to get Harry's stuff from his relatives." Sirius interjected. "Sure," the goblin sighed. He looked disappointed and offended at once. "Munky, you show them to the main study. Ponby, prepare the room. Botch, you are dismissed." He vanished with a bow and a plop. Ponby and Botch followed his lead and vanished as well. "This is the entrance hall, to your right is the dancing hall for larger balls. To your left are the main parlor and big dining hall for larger formal meetings and large dinner parties." Munky started the tour. "Please follow me up to the second floor." Halfway up the stairs, it was easy for Harry to see through the large windows at the end of the room. At the left and right, he could see two more wings almost as big as the one they were in right now. In between, them was a large lawn with pavilions. "From here you can enter both wings or go up into the conservatory. To the right is the secondary wing meant for lesser branches of the family or guests and to the left is the primary wing reserved for the main branch. This is where we are going now." Harry was flabbergasted. The second floor was nothing but a gallery and a bunch of small rooms at each end of the building. Two identical huge dark brown doors were placed at each side with a few feet between them and the glass front that was the backside of this building. Harry guessed correct that those lead to the respective wings. Munky headed straight to the left one. Once inside the wing, Harry felt much more relaxed. It was still very elegant with the high ceilings and stucco everywhere but nothing as extravagant as the main hall. This hallway could have also been in any older mansion. "Here are the bedrooms for the children as well as the living and dining room for the main branch. Below us are the more public rooms if the main branch wants to hosts guests but doesn't want to use the main hall. We are heading upstairs to the Master Floor. There we will find the Master Suite, the study and the workshop."All three followed the little elf without speaking a single word. Harry assumed neither Sirius nor Lupin wanted to destroy Harry's amazement of seeing all of this for the first time. He looked everywhere and it never disappointed him at all. Everything was simple but still with the needed level of poshness that you knew you were in the house of a very rich person. Portraits were hung along the wall and not like in Hogwarts almost stacked on top of each other. Every single one had enough place to appreciate it and to shine in all its glory. Every now and then there were plants in the corners but if you wouldn't have looked directly at them you never recognized them as they were just there to smooth the edges. Coming to a halt in front of a door out of lighter wood than the once that led into the wing, Munky stated. "This is the study. If you need anything just call me or Ponby." A bow and a plop later she was gone.

"Feels good, doesn't it?" Sirius asked. "I can remember one time. We were here for the holidays. We snuck into this room. He sat in that chair and behaved like he was lord already. Do you remember, Remus?" Both looked into the void, remembering better times. Harry had to agree with Sirius. But not because of how memory should be somewhat comforting to him to be at a place where his father had fun. He felt powerful. This room radiated an aura of power. He sat behind an enormous desk on a chair that looked more like a padded throne. The backrest went at least 20 inches above his head. The wooden frame was covered in golden ornaments. But Harry's favourite detail was the stag head made of some black material. Some kind of gem was used as his eyes and it look like there was a glow in them that made it look sort of alive. Every inch of the wall was covered by books. Lupin and Black were sitting on two chairs that looked like the smaller version of his own. The back was a bit shorter and the gold was replaced by silver. The head was missing completely but that made Harry feel only better about his position in the room. With the confidence, this room gave him he cleared his throat. "You wanted to tell me more about this all means and what kind of power I gained with all of this." Remus looked at his old friend but he replied. "I did my job already. I made sure I was in Gringotts so that he could get all of this. You are his regent now. It is your duty to explain and advise him. I only came along for the whiskey." With that, he took one of the bottles probably provided by Ponby before they arrived and filled a glass. "Ok, where do we start... let's start with the question you had in Gringotts. I am a Lord now but not the same as Sirius. Sirius is the Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black, right now only by magic and not law because of his status as a fugitive. I'm only a Lord of a Noble House, the lowest possible in magical Britain. Between those two is the Most Noble House. All three of them have a vote in the election of the 20 seats of the Lord side of the Wizengamot with fixed seats for the Most Ancient and Most Noble and only Most Noble being electable. This means you have a seat in the Wizengamot for as long as you are alive and nobody can take it from you. If you reach the age of majority you can elect anytime if you yourself want to partake in a hearing or send a representative. This is by the way how Dumbledore gets his seat. His old friend Nicholas Flamel is the Lord of a Most Ancient and Noble House and because he isn't interested in politics, he elected Dumbledore as his representative. If like in your or Sirius case, there isn't a legal lord of a house the seat stays empty and if the house dies out the seat will go up for election in the next cycle. With you coming back only two seats are left unfilled, the Black seat and the Lestrange seat. The other 30 seats are filled by election of the non-nobility. The entire list of who is and isn't on your side can wait until it becomes relevant. Important is just that you understand that you as lord of one of the five richest houses in Britain will become a major player in the magical world and many people will try to come into your favour or will seek to minimize your influence. The most important ones right now are Dumbledore and Algie Longbottom, they are the leaders of the faction that your family was part of. They are hurting right now because the Longbottoms aren't as rich as the other big families and Dumbledore doesn't get financial aid from Flamel. Antonius McLaggen, he is probably your most influential ally. He is the leader of the more progressive centre. He has a brother pretty high up in the Ministry as well. He is more or less the reason the traditionalists don't completely control the Wizengamot. Robert Greengrass, he is the leader of the traditionalist centre. He can be reasoned with. As long as you can show him how he benefits from a new law, he will back you. At last Lucius Malfoy, although he isn't in the gamot himself, he controls the traditionalists. In the chamber itself, it's Rabitus Nott. They will try to make your life as hard as possible. The representatives of the non-nobles are..." A knock at the door interrupted him. Ponby came into the room on call by Harry. He held a big pergament roll in his hands. "This just arrived from Gringotts." Harry took it and gave it to Sirius who greedily opened it. Ponby vanished as soon as the letter left his hands. "Remus, please continue", Harry asked. "Err... yes, the non-nobles mostly stick to the lords that are mostly aligned with them to gain some extra funds for their campaign so by the time you need to know the most important ones but they aren't as important as the other lords. But I do believe whatever Sirius has to say right now will be very important." He said the last sentence with a smirk on his face. Sirius looked at him aghast. "I thought Harry was rich but holy fuck he is loaded right now. Only with what he has in his Gringotts vaults he has as much as House Black has in total. I wouldn't be surprised if he would be richer than Malfoy or McLaggen. Apparently, it is helpful for your vault if you don't bankroll a dark wizard for multiple years." He chuckled a little. "The good news is Harry, as long as you don't plan to buy Hogwarts there is nothing you can't buy and with the properties, you rent out plus what you get from other business ventures you won't run out of money even if you went a little overboard from now. You have a passive income of roughly 16,000 Galleons a year in the wizarding world and a payout of around 100,000 GBP. Something about appreciation of 4%... yeah in short you are bloody rich and get richer by the second." Harry blanked out during the last part if his conversion rate was still right he made around 500,000 thousand GBP a year just by sitting around. Something... or someone inside him told him that he deserved that. He had a shit life up until here and now he got paid back. He felt the urge to do something with that new information. "Lupin, right now you are 'working' for me, aren't you?" "Well, kind of, I'm your Lord Regent. I have to handle every official business for you and have to advise you. Furthermore, it is normal that I take the seat in the Wizengamot until you are of age." "Good, then I have to pay you for that. If I get 16,000 each year I think you should get 5,000." Lupin looked startled. "Is that not enough?" Harry thought the sum would be fair. He couldn't give him all or most of it maybe it was used for renovations or saved as a safety measure. Sirius started to laugh. "I believe he thinks it's way too much. But this is good, from now on at least he can't use the excuse that he as a werewolf doesn't earn as much so he can't pay his fair share." Now Lupin looked annoyed, "I only did that one time and that was because you and James tried to up each other in that bar." "Yeah, yeah, so Mister Moneybags, when are you inviting me to a drink? Right now, I'm a little short on money with being on the run and stuff." "Sure," Lupin replied. "But we don't know how long this will be the case and that brings us to the last thing, Harry, The Order of the Phoenix." Harry looked puzzled. "The Order of the Phoenix?" "It's kind of a secret order that was introduced by Dumbledore in the first war against Voldemort. He reinstated it a few days ago. I gave him my old house in London as a base. He says we should keep you in the dark but we don't see any reason for that. You most likely will be forced to fight too. So we will tell you everything once we have a better overview of the situation. Dumbledore hasn't told us everything yet. But when he eventually will you are the first person we will seek out. For this plan to work I can't emphasize enough that no one can know where you are. This leads unfortunately to the circumstance that we have to confine you to this estate. I'm sorry." "Why is it important that no one finds out?" "We don't know why Dumbledore wants you with your relatives. So we can't know if he will lose trust in us if he finds out that we moved you. That has to be delayed as much as possible if that is the outcome." Harry pondered a little about it. On a semantic level, he had just changed the cage he was in. But he had to agree this cage wasn't looking that bad. So he agreed to stay on the property as long as told otherwise. "Go and explore all the rooms here. That will keep you busy for at least this summer." Sirius joked.