Summary of the last chapter:

Severus pays a visit to the Dursleys to get Petunia to sign the document naming him as Harry's wizarding guardian by proxy. He immediately clashes with Vernon, who ends up in a body bind and silenced. Petunia is less aggressive, but bitter and full of hatred for the wizards who simply dropped Harry on her doorstep, leaving her no choice but to take him him - or put her whole family at risk. Severus urges her to treat her nephew better, or run the risk that he might take revenge for being treated badly by his relatives once he's of age. Rather than risk having to deal with wizards and weird creatures herself, Petunia signs the form without fussing, wishing nothing more than to be rid of Lily's old childhood friend and everything he represents.

A/N: Some of you seemed a bit surprised that getting Petunia to sign the document was rather easy. Well, why should she have resisted? At this point, Petunia wishes to have as little to do with wizards and witches as possible, and that includes her nephew. She kept the magical world away from him as long as she was able to, hoping Harry would turn out 'normal' if he never got in touch with it. But that ship has sailed. As things are, Petunia would probably sell Harry to the highest bidder - or just give him away for free, if only anyone would take him.

Thank you all for your reviews and for reading this story!

The Will

Harry had truly not been able to imagine that there were worse ways of travelling than by Portkey or the Knight Bus. But as he found out two weeks later on a Saturday afternoon, there was: side-along Apparition.

His professor had instructed Harry to meet him outside near the Hogwarts gates at three. As soon as they had stepped through them, he told Harry to grab his arm and hold on tight. The next moment, they were standing in a dark alley and Harry was retching, as his stomach was so upset with him that it tried to leave its designated home and climb out of his mouth.

"Side along apparition is known to cause some discomfort," his Professor told him laconically, "especially the first few times."

"You don't say," Harry managed to croak. The professor conjured a mug and filled it by casting Aguamenti.

"Rinse and then drink, but really slowly."

After only two minutes, Harry felt a lot better. "I'm not sure if wizarding means of travel are preferable to Muggle means. Admittedly, they're faster, but I'm not sure the saved time is worth it."

"You'll get used to it. It's also easier to Apparate by yourself. You'll learn how in your sixth year."

"Note to self," said Tom, having experienced the joys of a joint body once more: "Avoid travelling at all costs until then."

This time, the were led to a private room in one of the bank's upper floors which offered a view of Diagon Alley. Borgwalt, the goblin who was the executor of his parents' will, joined them a few moments later, carrying a handful of scrolls and a ledger.

After having checked the authenticity of the document signed by Aunt Petunia (how he managed to do that remained a mystery), he got right down to business. The reading of the will took quite a long time, and Harry didn't fully understand everything, as it was full of technical terms and expressions and terribly formal.

Luckily Borgwalt and the professor were willing to explain to him what he had just heard. Sirius Black was his godfather and Mary McDonald his godmother. Unfortunately, Mary, who had been a Muggleborn witch like his mother and her dorm mate, had been killed by Death Eaters in August 1981. An amendment had been made to the will shortly after: Given that Sirius was a bachelor at the time, his parents had appointed Alice Longbottom as a guardian: Should anything happen to Lily and James, Alice should be asked if she was willing to take care of Harry, at least until he was of an age his godfather felt comfortable raising a child. Under no circumstances should Harry be given to his Muggle relatives to be raised.

"I almost can't believe the tragedy of all this!" murmured Tom. "First your godmother dies, then your godfather turns traitor and lands himself in prison, and to make sure really no one remains who could have an interest in your welfare, the woman appointed guardian as replacement is tortured to insanity! One could almost believe that it can't have been coincidence."

"Well, it wasn't. Voldemort was responsible for all their deaths. My parents and all those they associated with were high on his hit list."

"When were the Longbottoms attacked?" asked Harry Borgwalt. "I'm just wondering why the will wasn't read."

"Shortly after the Dark Lord fell. Notifications were sent out immediately after the death of Lily and James Potter became known, but by the time the will was to be read, none of the people mentioned in it were able to attend."

Borgwart turned his attention back to the papers in front of him. "Now, as to holdings, financial assets and personal belongings of James and Lily Potter: You as their son are named as the sole heir, with provisions being made for your caretaker until you are of age."

"Holdings? You mean the house in Godric's Hollow?"

"No. There is no listing in Godric's Hollow. This mention refers to the Potter Estate, 'Wiggentree Meadows' in Barton Wood, Gloucestershire. But I'm afraid the worth of the property is defined by the grounds it sits on, as the house itself is in ruins."

"What happened to it?"

"Our files indicate that it was vandalised and burned down in February 1981."

"How lucky then that my parents were already in hiding then."

"They had gone into hiding for exactly that reason," said Professor Snape. "There were reasons to believe that an attack on them was likely. The house in Godric's Hollow was a safe house of the Order which belonged to Professor Dumbledore. Wiggentree Meadows was probably raided and burned down because your parents couldn't be found there."

Borgwalt informed Harry that many of his parents' belongings had been put into storage with Gringotts at some point – some when his parents moved house, and others after their death, when the cottage in Godric's Hollow had been emptied. The assets included family portraits, books, jewellery, clothes, paintings, furniture and personal belongings. Borgwalt handed him a list of all items. It also included, as Harry noticed, his father's broom.

Harry would come into his inheritance when he turned seventeen. Until then, he would need the permission of his wizarding guardian for any transaction. Provided the Professor agreed, the goblin offered to send Harry anything from the list he wished to have – for a fee, of course. As the list was very comprehensive (books were listed with full titles, the authors' names and the date of print), it would save Harry having to go through the vault himself, which would probably take days.

Fully his to use as he liked was a trust fund which contained enough gold to get him through Hogwarts. What remained of the Potters' fortune was at least a good foundation for rebuilding Wiggentree Meadows, if Harry ever chose to do so.

Harry inquired how he could access the money in his vault if he wanted to buy anything. Borgwalt explained that (for a small, one-time fee) accounts could be set up with businesses so that the sum would be withdrawn straight from the account. That way he could easily owl order from shops. For a small monthly fee, Gringotts could provide a magical purse that was connected to his vault. It would automatically refill to a set amount of gold, so Harry would always have cash if needed. If Harry was willing to pay a one-time extra charge, this pouch would be made out of moleskin, so that no one but the owner could get any money out of it. It would also appear small on the outside but have much greater capacity than a standard pouch.

"What if I have to make payments in the Muggle world? Can I exchange part of the money into pounds?"

"Gringotts also offers divided purses to those who often have business in the Muggle world. It is a little costlier than the standard version, though. The Pound half of the bag will also refill automatically, at the given daily exchange rate. And it is invisible to Muggles."

"I think I understand now how the Goblin's make monkey," remarked Tom. "I believe Borwalt uses the term 'for a small fee' as often as Draco says 'My father will hear of this!'"

Still, the services offered seemed sensible to Harry, so he asked Borgwalt to set up an account with Madam Malkins, Flourish and Blotts and Scribbulus Writing Implements – all shops he would need every new school year. He also ordered the divided moleskin pouch for his convenience and was very happy about it. Now he would never fear running out of money again, not even when with the Dursleys. Best of all – they couldn't confiscate his money, either!

Their business concluded, Harry and the professor left the bank, and from a quiet place in a side alley, Apparated back to Hogwarts.

"Well, that was informative," said Harry, when they stood in front of the gates once more and his nausea had finally subsided. "And helpful. At least I won't have to worry about how to get new clothes, stationary, birthday presents and such any longer."

"I hope you realize that having a self-refilling pouch with a seemingly endless stream of money might entice you to spending more than reasonable," Professor Snape impressed on Harry. "You should not fall into the habit of going overboard with your spendings and waste a fortune on trivialities before you even reach adulthood."

"Don't worry, Professor Snape," assured Harry. "I'm used to living with very little and don't need much. But it's nice to know that I will always be able to take care of myself if need be."

"It is very sad that you fear being in a situation where taking care of yourself might become necessary. I'd like to point out that as your wizarding guardian, I believe it's one of my duties to make sure that your basic needs are met until you turn seventeen."

"I very much appreciate that, Professor," said Harry earnestly. It was nice to know that the Professor considered this guardianship by proxy more than a mere formality. But Harry knew that 'seeing to one's basic needs' left a lot of room for interpretation. Aunt Petunia had seen to his basic needs, too, but it had never made Harry feel safe and he didn't dare rely on anybody but himself at this point.

Everything might have been so very different if not all of the people his parents had trusted had fallen out of the picture. Harry couldn't help but feel bitterness at the unfairness of it all. "What I still don't understand is how Headmaster Dumbledore could just place me with my aunt without consulting with anybody," he voiced his misgiving, as he and the professor walked back to the castle.

"Who should he have consulted with?"

"I don't know – are there no wizarding child services or judges?"

"There is the Wizengamot. It's our court and, if you will, the equivalent of the British House of Lords. Albus Dumbledore is the Chief Warlock. With your appointed guardians unable to step up and claim guardianship, your aunt was, I'm afraid, the only legal option."

"Then why did everybody believe I was living with wizards?"

Professor Snape sighed. "Because nobody knew that the will had never been read. Most people figured that your parents had named guardians and that you had been placed with them. Others - like myself – assumed that the headmaster, as head of the order they were fighting for – had placed you with someone who was not in the limelight, somebody who couldn't be linked with you in any way, for security reasons."

"They had explicitly stated I was not to live with them," Harry said, feeling bitter. It was hard to digest – knowing that his parents had done everything in their might so Harry would not lead the life he had lived, only for it to come to exactly that. They must be turning in their graves. Harry felt cheated, though he didn't know of what. It would have been fabulous growing up with Neville as a brother. But Harry had no idea what would have happened to him if he had been placed with the man who had turned traitor on his parents. A man who was mad and a killer. Maybe it was good that it hadn't turned out as his parents had wished it after all.

"Are you alright, Harry?" asked Professor Snape, his voice a lot gentler than usual, and filled with concern. He didn't often call him by his first name, but on the rare occasion he did, it made Harry feel warm all over. Why, he had no idea. A lot of people called him Harry.

"I'm fine. There's nothing I can do about it anyway. There's no one left, so I'll just have to live with the Dursleys. It's probably easier now that I know how to hex them, if need be."

"No, you certainly can't hex them!" Professor Snape declared adamantly. "First of all, performing magic on Muggles is an offence punishable with Azkaban. Secondly, there is the very sensible restriction of underage magic. You are not allowed to cast any spells while away from Hogwarts!"

"What? But how will I practice during the summer? And how will I defend myself from Dudley?"

"Practical training will have to wait until you have proper supervision in case anything goes wrong. And if your cousin gives you too much trouble, speak to your aunt. She hopefully now knows not to get on your wrong side, lest you take your revenge on her once the restrictions no longer apply."

Harry was very frustrated to hear about the restriction and later, after dinner, complained to Hermione and Neville about the fact that they were not allowed to do any magic during their holidays. Hermione said she already knew that, whereas Neville looked surprised. "Yes, but nobody cares about that," he said dismissively. "They can't tell who cast a spell with more than one wizard living in a house."

"What?" Hermione said, enraged. "You mean pure-bloods and half-bloods get to practice during the summer, while Muggleborns aren't allowed to touch their wands? But that's – so unfair!"

Neville looked uncomfortable. "I'm sorry, Hermione. I never thought about it. If you want to, you can come and visit me during the holidays. You, too, Harry. My gran will be happy to have you, especially knowing now that you are sort of my godbrother. You can both practice as much as you like then."

"I'd like that very much. Thank you, Neville!"

"You said the goblins could send you your dad's old broom," Neville mused. "If you do that, you could also practise flying at my place."

"No! No, you don't!" shouted Tom. "It's bad enough I have to suffer through that during term!"

Harry ignored him. "That's a wonderful idea, Neville! I'll add it to the list of items I'm going to have sent to me."

*'*'*'*'*'*

Goblin services, Harry soon found out, were unreasonably expensive, but they were efficient, fast and reliable. Only two days after he had sent his request he got a note via owl that a package with the desired items had been delivered to his representative.

Professor Snape was in a sour mood when Harry came by his office to pick up his new moleskin pouch, some of his parents' personal belongings and lots of books. Harry was glad that he had gotten a trunk with extension charms, though he would probably have to upgrade to a more expensive model during summer. Tom had wanted a great many books, and the broom took up a lot of space, too. Harry had also asked for his dad's chocolate frog card collection. As everyone seemed to be collecting the cards featuring famous wizards, it seemed like a good idea to have something to trade. He had also asked for all photo albums.

Ignoring his Professor, Harry looked into the huge box he would have to levitate to his dormitory somehow. Fortunately, he was pretty good with the charm by now. He took one of the photo albums out and had a look at it. It was from the time his mum was a child. He recognized his grandparents – there were pictures of them in Aunt Petunia's house – and the two sisters. How his mum was learning to ride a bicycle. Petunia and his mum eating ice cream on a swing. Then there was a picture of his mum and a dark-haired boy, who stared a bit morosely at whoever had taken the picture.

Harry stared at it in fascination. Tom was amused.

"Is that you, Professor?" asked Harry, holding up the picture for his teacher to see.

Again the heavy sigh. "It appears so, Mr. Potter."

"I didn't know you were childhood friends."

"How else would I've known your aunt? I happened to live in a neighbourhood close to the Evanses. We met on that playground."

Harry thought the professor didn't look like a happy child. On second glance, he noticed the rather shabby clothes he wore which didn't seem to really fit him, either. Obviously, his parents had not been rich. He didn't dare ask about them.

"If you have ascertained that everything is in order with your delivery, I suggest you take your package to your dorm so it's out of my way."

"What he actually means is 'so that you are out of my way'," translated Tom helpfully.

"Yes, I gathered as much. Just why is he always so uncomfortable around me?"

"He's uncomfortable around everybody."

"Yes. But with me, it's not the 'I can't stand you all because you're stupid' kind of annoyance, but more the a 'I don't know what to do with you and that's depressing me' kind."

"I'm not sure I can tell the difference. Does it matter anyway?"

"Probably not."

"Mr Potter?"

"Yes, Sir, right away!" Harry put the photo album away and closed the box. Then he concentrated on the spell, waved his wand and carefully said "Wingardium Leviosa". The box floated up into the air smoothly and Harry grinned. It was great to be wizard!

*'*'*'*'*

In the Slytherin common room, Harry sat down on one of the comfy sofas with his father's box of chocolate frog cards and did an inventory. He hadn't known that there were quite so many famous witches and wizards! There must be over a hundred cards in the box, and only a few of them were doubles. He did not know yet which cards where rare and thus valuable. The only thing he was able to conclude with relative certainty was that Beatrix Blosam, Rovena Ravenclaw and Albus Dumbledore seemed to be abundant, as there were at least five of them in his father's collection.

He looked at Dumbledore's card. 'Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Professor Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel.'

Nicolas Flamel! There was the name again that Hagrid had mentioned in connection with the mystery item removed from Gringotts! He and Tom had totally forgotten to search for him. Now that they knew that he was an alchemist, it should be easy to find something on him in the library. He did not seem to have his own card, so he couldn't be a very well-known wizard. Not that he knew many of those who featured on the cards.

Harry shut the box and put it away in his dormitory. Finding out about Flamel was more interesting than going over the 'who is who' in the wizarding world right now.

A/N: This chapter demands some explanations.

First of all: Why did Harry have a godfather but no godmother? I thought that unlikely, and, in a previous version of this chapter, made Alice Longbottom his godmother. Unfortunately, that opened up plot holes in my own story. For one, it sheds a bad light on Augusta – surely, she would have known that her daughter-in-law was Harry's godmother, and surely she would at least have inquired about him and insisted to make sure he was okay. Unfortunately, many following chapters are based on this, and I did like the 'quasi familial' connection between Harry and Neville.

Then I thought Marlene McKinnon might have been his godmother; she was killed when Harry was one. Lily might have insisted on appointing Alice as a guardian after that – fearing that Sirius as a bachelor would probably not be able to raise a baby. The problem with this idea is the letter Lily writes to Sirius sometime around Harry's birthday. She mentions regret at the death of all McKinnons, but far too casually to assume that they were close. So I cheated. I chose the only girl Lily might have been close to: her dorm mate Mary MacDonald. Unfortunately, for her to be out of the picture so that Alice could be put in at least as a potential guardian, I had to kill her as well. It's likely that Mary was a Muggleborn, as she was a target of harassment by future Death Eaters at Hogwarts. The fact might have played a role in making her Harry's godmother, as Lily probably wanted to keep her heritage alive in her son. It also made Mary a target for Death Eater raids, and we know many people died. Mary was not an order member and might have lived partly in the Muggle world, which is why she is not much discussed among wizards.

Now, as to Wiggentree Meadows: Was the cottage in Godric's Hollow the seat of the Potter family, who is said to have been stinking rich in canon? Of course, it might have been just the home of James and Lily, who wanted to live a more modest life. But then – where have all the Potters before them lived? Where did James' parents live before they died?

Another point to consider: The Potters, around the beginning of 1981, went into hiding. How can they go into hiding if they actually stayed in their own house? It's much more likely that they moved into a safe house of the Order. Given that Dumbledore's family has lived in Godric's Hollow for at least one generation (and near Bathilda Bagshot, not less) it seems reasonable to assume that the cottage was Dumbledore's. If I go with that theory, there must be a 'Potter Manor' somewhere, which for some reason, is never mentioned. The only reason I can think of is that it was totally destroyed in an act of vengeance when the Potters were not found there.

I really like the idea of a Potter family seat for this story, as it gives Harry a potential home and me room for some world building and ideas for a later plot lines. For instance: If there was a manor, surely there would have been Potter elves? What happened to them and where are they now?