Rambling and Dribbles: A dribble that I hope some enjoy. All updates are now in chapter 1 of Rambling and Dribbles.

Disclaimer: The world of Harry Potter does not belong to me.

-oOo-

Working Title: Another Goblin Rebellion

-oOo-

Premise:

What would happen if one of the founding backers of Gringotts were to suddenly pull their support?

Upset wizards and revolting goblins.

What would cause this to happen?

One horrible night in the Department of Mysteries where two worlds collide. Two souls looking for something more, both of whom are from world irrevocably broken by one meddling wizard, will find solace in each other.

What do the two souls have in common?

A prophesy. A meddling old man. A godfather that loved them. A shared background of pain that only the other cold understand or heal…

As the world starts to burn around the new couple, what do they do?

Get married and find a way to break from their destinies.

-oOo-

Chapter 1

-oOo-

August 1, 1996

London, England

Rotgnasher wasn't sure he was hearing what he was hearing. "What did you just say, wizard?" he snapped.

A young wizard with messy black hair, dark green eyes and a thin build was sitting in a chair across from him. A fan shaped lightning strike scar was on the left of his forehead. "I said I am now sixteen. According to the ministry and goblin treaties, I can claim my inheritance," the boy stated. "I want a full inheritance test."

The equally slim girl next to him was nodding her head, as though he said the right thing. She was in a muggle dress with a knit cardigan. Her long black hair framed a rather aristocratic looking face with grey eyes. The goblin thought it odd that she had a lightening marking similar to the boy's, just next to her right eye.

Rotgnasher snarled. "Not that, wizard. The other thing!"

"I want to transfer all my accounts because I don't trust Gringotts," he said.

Rotgnasher ground his teeth. "You would dare to insult us in our own halls?"

"It is not an insult if it is the truth," the young witch commented.

He snarled at the whelps. His hand reached to finger the top of his knife. "I could drag you out onto the floor of the bank and gut you right now."

The young wizard gave him a cheeky grin. "Go for it. I'm sure that the minister would give you an award, but if this treaty I found in my vault is true, that would force the goblins to repay the original deposits made by my ancestors to start this bank within twenty-four hours to the next in the Potter line. Since I am the last Potter, I'm sure that Fudge would give you a parade down Diagon Alley. Now, since the statements you gave me don't show any payments as required by this treaty, I have the right to demand the deposit be repaid with interest and penalties within the next thirty-days. When did Gringotts stop making payments?"

Rotgnasher fingered the hilt of his knife. The one he had earned on the day of his own maturity when he beat three others in the pits for the right to mate. He wanted to gut this whelp.

The girl started to flip through a book in the large stack of ledgers they had dragged in from the whelps vault. "This one is for the main family vault and goes back to sixteen-ninety-seven. I don't see any payments here," she commented. "Do you want me to check your trust vault?"

Seeing the official Gringotts embossed stamp on every page meant these were the main ledgers for the Potter account and certified by his clan. If he was to violate the words on the aged parchment before the boy, then he would probably be fed to the dragons within the hour because of the damage this would do to the Gringotts clan. His two mates and five children would follow soon after.

"What do you want?" Rotgnasher growled.

"My inheritance and my bank accounts moved. I will forgive the debt and sign over the rights to the stake that my family owns," Harry told him. "If you can do it without any fees and by tomorrow morning, I'll even sign it over to you, instead of the bank."

He really wanted to gut these whelps and bath in their blood until the last. This was going to bankrupt his clan with the payments owed, but the Potters owned ten percent of the bank. If he was claim it, he could challenge Ragnog… That thought scared him more than his greed could overcome.

"Wait here," he instructed before getting out of the chair and moving to a hidden door at the back of the small office. Once through, he let out a serious of goblin invectives that caused most hurrying through the secret corridor to turn and regard him. He was scared and greedy. Not a good combination to make a pleasant goblin, especially and account manager.

He pointed to the nearest nefling that was carting items from the teller floor to the vaults. "Get me Ragnog. NOW!" he spat out in his native tongue.

The nefling snorted. "I am not paid to be your runner."

He didn't hesitate to pull his blade, step into the goblin's personal space and slice it across his throat before the young goblin could respond. The nefling dropped the bag he was carrying and grabbed at his neck, a gurgling sound coming from his mouth as he started to bleed out. The clinking of coins echoed in the hallway. Rotgnasher pointed to another nefling. "NOW!"

"Yes, senior account manager," the nefling replied, dropping the box he was carrying and running as fast as he could towards the lift that would take him to the upper caverns where the bank managers had their true offices and where the bank handled all the daily movement and transactions that kept the wizarding world moving and the goblins earning more gold.

The nefling at his feet gurgled again, green blood coming out of his mouth, before he stilled. Rotgnasher snarled. He would have to pay a tribune to the worthless maggot's family later or face the pit.

It was more than twenty minutes before Ragnog, the branch manager, and his guards came into view. By then, Rotgnasher had gotten his temper under control. Ragnog was not looking pleased. "Why in Nglaf's seven pits was I called up here!" the large goblin demanded.

"Bank Manager, I have two wizards claiming we have broken a treaty and are calling us oath breakers," Rotgnasher responded. Perhaps this could still work in his favour? Make the wizards out to be the culprits?

The beady eyes of Ragnog turned into narrow slits. His guards, sensing the older goblin's mood, moved into fighting stances with their hand on the hafts of axes or swords. "You call me up here for a petty thing like this? That is a daily occurrence."

"It is not petty, bank manager. It is Harry Potter," Rotgnasher said. "He had a treaty signed by the first gnerl."

Ragnog's eyes widened. Before they were managers, they were gnerls, and the first gnerl was the clan chief of the Gringotts clan when the bank was founded. He let out a stream of invectives. "Is he right?"

Rotgnasher shifted uncomfortably. "Not by my hand, but it claims we are the violators," he said with some disdain.

The big goblin before him just glared at him. "Where is the wizard?"

"In the office," Rotgnasher said, walking over to the door. When he opened it, he stopped when he went to take a step in.

"What is the hold up?" Ragnog demanded behind him.

"Where are they!" Rotgnasher yelled. He rushed into the office, then out the other door to look around the corridor, but the wizards were nowhere to be seen. He looked left and right. It was empty. He spun around. "Find the wizards!" he ordered the guards.

Ragnog stepped up to the desk. The guards didn't move, waiting for word from the bank manager. The treaty parchment was on the desk. It was still smoking where the signature of the first gnerl had been. Next to it was a parchment with only a few sentences and a signature. Rotgnasher paled, which for a goblin meant his skin turned more a mint green.

Picking up the sheaf of paper off the desk, Ragnog read it quickly. "Rotgnasher, what does this mean they are calling in the debt?"

Rotgnasher paled, meaning for a goblin he turned mint green. "We need to find them," he panicked.

"How long did you leave them alone?" Ragnog asked, his gravely voice low and deadly.

Rotgnasher looked to the guards who pulled their weapons half way out of their holders. Rotgnasher swallowed. "The time it took for you to come up."

Ragnog spun the treaty paper around to look at it. When the bank manager spoke, his voice was low and deadly. "What debt is the wizard calling in?"

Rotgnasher swallowed and took a step back. His knife came out as two of the guards pulled short swords. His family had represented the Potters for almost three hundred years. In that time, they had become very wealthy… He did the only thing he could. He lied, like any good goblin. "I don't know if it's true, but the treaty the boy presented claimed that the house of Potter has a stake in the bank and that we haven't made any payments. The Potter ledgers didn't have any payments and without an inheritance test, I can't validate if he is a Potter or not."

Ragnog took in a long breath. The bank manager held out his hand and a guard passed him a double sided axe. "What did the boy ask for? He said he was willing to forgive the debt if we had only given him what he wanted."

Rotgnasher took another step back, hoping to run out the door if he needed. He was no coward but he doubted he could take six guards and Ragnog at the same time. He also needed to inform the elders of his clan it was time to move. "The boy wanted his inheritance and to transfer all his vaults to the gnomes."

Ragnog's lips curled into a vicious snarl. He bared his teeth. Rotgnasher pulled out his second knife. "You fool! You have destroyed us and will have the wizards out for our blood!"

Rotgnasher snarled back. "We are goblins! We don't bow to wizards throwing a temper tantrum."

"The boy is the last of the blood of the Potters. He does own part of the bank. Your grouping has been managing their account for generations. You should know this as you are the senior account manager. Why didn't you just give him what he wanted?" Ragnog questioned in a deadly calm tone.

The guards around Ragnog all drew their weapons.

"The boy accused us of being untrustworthy! If I allowed him to take everything, we would be ruined," Rotcnasher said back. He knew he had to fight and bared his own teeth.

"Rotguts, you have just condemned us all, not just your grouping."

"I did nothing…"

Ragnog took three quicksteps. He grabbed the axe of his guard. It humming through the air. Rotgnasher just managed to get his blades up before the goblin silver-steel axe cut through his own silver-steel knives, then through Rotgnasher's neck. The guards of Ragnog had a family grouping that made the strongest silver-steel in the Gringotts clan.

Rotgnasher saw the world spin before he began to roll along the floor.

"Find the boy. Don't let him leave! If he leaves, the bank is to be locked down. There will be a moot for war in two hours! Send out the word."

The calling of a moot for war was never to be done lightly. The guards started to disperse. The world started to dim. Ragnog looked down as him. "Get this thing to the dragons. They need to be strong if war comes knocking on our door."

-oOo-

Several months earlier, June 23, 1996…

London, England

"Good one, James," the thirty-something man said as though they were out playing a game. Harry tried to ignore it as he pulled up a hunk of stone of the dias to protect Sirius from a stray killing curse.

"Depulso!" Harry screamed as the rock exploded. Most the pieces shot back towards a blonde man that Harry hated.

"Hahaha, watch yourself Luc…" Sirius said gleefully. A nasty purple spell just missed Harry. Spinning around, he cast a shield to deflect a second one. "PROTEGO MIRRO!"

The spell caught the crazed woman that had cast it off guard. She jumped to the side. "STUPEFY!"

"SIRIUS!" Remus yelled from below them. Harry turned to see Sirius looking down at his chest. A ragged tear in his clothes went from his shoulder to his waste. Under it was a bloody line of cut tissue. He took a stumbling step back.

"SIRIUS! NO!" Harry screamed, but at that second something caught his leg. He fell hard, hitting his face on the stone dais. Slightly dazed, he pushed himself up. Through his cracked lenses he saw Sirius take one more stumbling step, his wand falling out of his hand, before falling through the strange black veil in the centre of the arch.

The battle around him seemed to pause for a moment. Harry looked dumbly at the flapping black veil, waiting for his godfather to come out the other side. Something rustled on the other side of the arch. Harry wasn't able to figure out if it was Sirius before something pulled at the orb in his hand. "No!" he yelled, trying to hold onto it.

"Give it here!" Malfoy snarled.

After seeing Sirius cut open, Harry saw red for a moment. He let go of the prophecy orb. Malfoy looked gleeful until Harry snapped his wand up. "BOMBARDA!"

Malfoy's eyes widened, his wand moving to make a shield while still trying to capture the orb. The second hesitation caused Harry's spell to catch the orb. It was just about to Malfoy's outstretched fingers. The explosion echoed around the chamber, drowning out the strange misty form that started to say something. Malfoy screamed as he flew through the air.

"NO!" a woman screeched. "Avada Kedavra!"

Harry threw himself to the floor. The spell just missed him, hit the arch and it made a bone jarring crack.

"You can't kill him. The prophecy is gone. We have to go, Bella," a man yelled at her.

Harry rolled over and brought his wand up. The woman gave him an evil smile before casting a nasty looking purple spell at him.

"PROTEGO!" Harry yelled.

The room gave a violent shake when the spell ricocheted off his shield and into the side of the Arch. There was a deafening crack. The other fights spluttered around him. Bellatrix Lestrange and a few others stumbled up the stairs in the shaking room.

"No!" Harry said with a nasty look to his face, made worse by the blood leaking from his nose and a split lip. He scrambled to his feet to chase after Bellatrix as she ran out of the room.

"I'll kill her," a girl yelled, running just passed Harry. He was a step behind this new mysterious black hair girl. The hallway didn't shake as much. He was a step behind her when the door slammed behind them in the circular room. She yelled before the room stopped spinning, "EXIT!"

Harry didn't question who she was. A door swung open the second it stopped spinning. The Death Eaters were already closing the grate to the lifts at the end of the next hallway. They took off at a dead sprint. The lifts started to move before they were halfway down the hallway. "Bombarda!" Harry yelled as a crazed Bellatrix Lestrange ducked low in the lift to wave at them in a taunting way as the lift went up. The girl snarled, "Incisura!"

Her blood red slicing curse sliced through the grill, hitting the bottom of the lift as his bombarda mangled what was left of the grill. The metal screeched and twisted as they had to shield their faces from the rock chips.

"NO!" the girl screamed. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. "She killed Sirius!"

"Here!" Harry called to her as another lift came to the grill two down. He threw open the grill as she rushed over. If she was willing to kill Bellatrix, he wasn't going to turn down the help.

She grabbed the wall to sling herself around the corner. Harry slammed the grill shut. It jolted into motion the second the latch caught.

"Potty knows how to play!" a deranged woman yelled from the space above them.

The girl was breathing hard, frantically whipping tears from her face. He was breathing rather heavily himself as he leaned over. His lungs burned from the chase. His body was feeling invigorate with adreline, even though his friends and him had been running and fighting for a bit now. Neither of them said a word, to busy trying to catch their breath

Most of all, his anger was fighting through the shock to see Sirius get hit. He wanted to go back to the room and look for his godfather on the other side of the veil, but stopping the insane witch was the best he could do right now.

When the lift pulled into the next location, he threw open the grill. "I killed Sirius Black. I killed Sirius Black," echoed through the atrium. Bellatrix was skipping along like she was a school girl out playing. The other three with her were already at the fireplaces.

He didn't even think about it as rage roared through him. "CRUCIO!"

The woman spun about, a gleeful smile on her face just before the spell hit her. Harry had never wanted to hurt anyone before. This time, though, for just once, he wanted someone else to feel the pain he did. As the spell hit, he felt the draw on his magic, on his anger, on his grief and on his hatred.

She fell to the floor. A blood curdling scream ripped through the atrium as she arched her back.

"Sectumsepmra!" the girl exclaimed.

The white spell with blood red streaks raced past him. He was still holding onto his want to make her hurt the way he felt when the spell ripped through the witch's robes. They tore in three long strips. Blood exploded our of long gashes.

It shocked Harry so much that he let go of his spell.

The girl was looking at the woman with large eyes. She seemed shocked at what the spell had done.

Someone started to clap.

Harry's wand spun around as a tall man in floor length black robes, bone white skin, red eyes and no nose walked around the statue in the atrium. The smile the man had sent a chill through Harry.

"Riddle," the girl said in a hushed voice.

"Very good, Harry, and whomever is with you. I never thought anyone that was so much a pawn of Dumledore would truly understand power and how to use it," Voldemort said as he halved the distance to them to stand next to Bellatrix. The man looked down at her, a look of disgust and anger quickly flitting across his face. "As much as she needs to be punished for failing me, good servants are hard to find."

He dropped something onto her. Her bleeding form disappeared.

"No," the girl said.

Voldemort turned his attention back to them. The same sickening smile on his face. "You have come a long way since the graveyard, Harry. Now, if you give me the prophesy, I'll give you enough time to enjoy your new companion before I kill you."

Harry gripped his wand. "It's destroyed."

Voldemorts smile fell from his face. "That is a pity. Then let's end this now."

"PROTEGO!" Harry screamed as the girl yelled, "Sectumsepra!"

The traded only a few spells, Voldemort looking surprised at the power that Harry and the girl had, before Dumbledore appeared. Even with the power he had been able to build over the year, it was nothing when Voldemort swept his wand at them, a formless wave of magic shattering his shield and throwing him and the girl across the floor. He rolled into the wall. By the time he got onto his hands, he was privy to a battle between titans that he could wish to be part of…

-oOo-

A few weeks earlier, July 7, 1996

Little Whinging, England

It was a day of unrelenting sun and heat. It had been that way for the nearly two weeks he had been back at the hell he called 4 Privet Drive. He knew that bags were already under his eyes, He was only going through the routine of chores his relatives required of him. Inside he felt so hollow with the loss of Sirius, not knowing if Hermione or Ron had been saved from their injuries and the weight of the world that his illustrious headmaster had dropped on him after finding out Sirius was dead and he was going to be facing charges for his maiming of Lucius Malfoy.

The guilt of what happened that night was eating him from the inside out.

He had not been able to see anyone before the express left Hogwarts as he was till recovering from the possession of the Dark Wanker, not to mention the Aurors that where watching over him until they had dropped the charges against him.

Harry found he wouldn't have minded going against the Wizengamot for what he did to Malfoy. At least this time the crime on his record would have been something he had actually done. It was probably a blessing that his wand had been crushed under the golden head of the centaur from the fountain, or he would have gone to Azkaban for what he had done to Bellatrix. He had only been lucky enough that Remus had taken him to get a new wand before he had been dropped on the doorstep of his relatives.

Dumbledore hadn't wanted him to be unprotected. Though he wasn't sure how much good that would do since he wasn't supposed to do any magic over the summer.

All these thoughts were swirling around his head while he pruned the prized rose bushes in the front of the house. He was so consumed in his self-pity that he nearly jumped out of his skin when a soft voice had come from behind him.

"You are Harry Potter?" a girl had asked in only a way someone that knew about him would.

Harry had spun about, his new wand coming to his hand and it pointed right at her head. The aspen and Hungarian horntail heartstring wand sung in his hand. Where his old holly and phoenix feather wand felt like a warm breeze that amplified his power, this one responded to heart's desire to hunt and survive. He didn't know what he was surviving for. It more a feral, animalistic urge. That urge had Harry's heart pounding.

As much as he might be feeling sorry for himself and feeling like he had no control over his life, he was not ready to give up. He just didn't know why.

The girl looked slightly surprised. Only the head of the girl from the DOM battle was visible. She had shoulder length hair that had a slight wild quality to it. The sad fire in her hazel-grey eyes were behind a stylish pair of thin rimmed glasses.

"Who the bloody hell are you," Harry demanded in a low voice.

"I won't hurt you. I swear on my magic," she told him.

"Where are your hands?"

The front of an invisibility cloak became visible. As the enchantment faded, she slowly held out her hands, fingers spread wide and showing she had nothing in them. His eyes where not on her hands, though. It was on the cloak.

Anger, and a little bit of confusion course through him as he patted the pocket in his cargo trousers. "How did you get my cloak… wait…" he said, feeling the bulge in his pocket, then the soft material as he put a few fingers into his pocket.

The girl gave him a wry grin. "Well, that answers that," she said.

Harry gave her a sidelong glance, his wand still on her. His eyes narrowed. "Who are you? Why does that cloak look like my fathers?"

"Well, if I'm not mistaken, then this is my birth father's cloak, while the one you have is your father's," she replied.

Harry was trying to go through possibilities. There was something he was missing here, but magic could do strange and mysterious things. For some reason Hermione saying, 'Bad things happen to wizards who meet themselves while using a time turner.' He doubted this was a time turner thing. First off, she was a girl. Second off, this didn't feel like a time thing. All he did know was, "You are the girl that came out of the veil?"

She grinned. It was a cute, mischievous grin. "Holly Black," she said, moving her hand to hold it out for a handshake.

Harry blinked. After a moment, he took her hand to shake. "Black? Are you… Sirius's daughter?"

Her brow quirked like she was curious. "The one and only," she replied a little cheekily. "Do we have somewhere we can talk?"

He wished he could say this was the weirding thing he had ever encountered, but it was only slightly behind a giant talking spider, fire breathing dragons and professors with heads growing out the back of their heads. After a moment, he lowered his wand. Harry looked around. He knew that the Order was watching over him. He had caught sight of a woman a few times that he suspected to be Tonks, even though she looked different each time, and he had found the useless Fletcher snoring under an invisibility cloak just yesterday.

"There is a passed out drunk in the backyard, if that is what you are looking for," she told him.

"Fletcher," Harry said with some disdain.

Holly frowned. "Who is Fletcher?"

"A sneakthief that Dumbledore trusts. We can go inside. Aunt Petunia is at her bridge club for the next few hours, or we can go to the park," he offered.

She gave a small look around. "Can you do magic here?"

"Only if I want to get expelled," he told her.

"Right, less to work with than I hoped." He watched as she dipped her head, bit her lip and put the back of her finger to her mouth. She was apparently in deep thought and Harry found it rather endearing. "Do you want to stay here?" she suddenly asked, looking up at him with her intelligent grey eyes.

"God no, but I have too," he replied.

She made a disgusting face. "Let me guess, the blood wards?"

He frowned. "How did you know?"

She snorted. "I have much to tell you, but if you are anything like me, the blood wards don't really work. Do you want to stay here?" She almost sounded hopeful he didn't.

"No, I don't. I never…" he started but she moved fast, stepped up to him and put her hands over his mouth.

She spoke very softly, "Listen, the blood wards are real. Don't say it out loud. They do keep out the Death Eaters, but they won't keep out him. Not now he is back and used your blood. They also won't be able to protect from whomever you live you. Well, I am assume Riddle used your blood?"

His eyes widened. "How," he managed to get out from around his hand.

She reached to the collar of her shirt. His eyes widened a little as she pulled it back, exposing the top of her left breast, the strap and top of her bra. A jagged scar marred her flesh from the curve of her breast to her collar bone. It was an all too familiar scar. His hand went to his head to rub his own.

She moved closer, her cheek against his and her breath brushing his ear. He felt the swell of her chest against his. There was something about the gesture that had his heart quicken. "If I'm right, you have lived a life much like me. I come from a place that is similar. I am known as the Girl-Who-Lived. I've been able to find out you are the Boy-Who-Lived. The wanker that killed out parents has your blood in his veins, meaning he can walk right through wards. The wards will stand until you declare you either don't live here, never considered this your home or that you renounce your family. If you don't want to live here, we should go before you say that."

She pulled back, her hazel-grey eyes staring into his. He could see the pain and determination in her eyes that was all too familiar to him. He licked his lips. "Is Sirius or Cedric still alive where you came from?"

There was a great amount of pain that crossed her face. "Cedric died the night Riddle came back. I ran after my father into the veil. When I came out, I was here."

"So, Sirius is your father?" He had hoped for something like that when he had saved Sirius two years ago.

She gave him a sad smile as though understanding the pain and longing in his own voice. "In my… universe... he blood adopted me. For the last year, I've been his daughter? That didn't happen here though, did it?"

Harry shook his head, his eyes feeling a little watery. Did Sirius not want him as much as this other Sirius wanted Holly? "No," he croaked out.

Her small hand slid down his arm and took his hand. "Will you come with me?"

After a long moment, Harry nodded. It wasn't long after he was walking out of the house, all the belongings, books and notes he wanted in a new rucksack with extension charms that Holly had given him. She had pulled her invisibility cloak around her, a hand reaching our for his. He took hers before pulling his own cloak over himself.

-oOo-

Present day…

York, England

Harry sat back in the seat as he looked out the window. The world sped by as the train sped north. On his shoulder was the head of a girl that looked like she could be related to Sirius. Seeing her more aristocratic features had a pang of regret and self-loathing go through him.

In the last few weeks, she had found a way to give him something to live for. It was why they were speeding north after spending that last few weeks in Grimmauld Place. She had found her way to Gringotts after sneaking out of the ministry atrium to claim her birthright, now that Sirius was dead. In her first act as Heiress Black, she had locked down Grimmauld Place, kicking the Order out and preventing anyone else from getting in. It had become their safe haven.

That first day she had rescued him from Privet Drive, they had stayed up until the wee hours of the morning as she told him everything about where she had come, what she had found from the Black library in the few weeks since she had come out of the veil and he told her everything he knew. The similarities of their lives was spooky, except that when she escaped the graveyard, her timeline shifted.

Pettigrew had reached her just as she reached the cup. Aurors has arrested Pettigrew and Sirius had been freed. That one event had changed things dramatically.

After Sirius had been freed, he had blood adopted Holly. The process had made her look more like a Black than her parents. Unlike Harry, Holly's mother wasn't Lily Evans, but a Marlene McKinnon. Before the adoption Holly had looked like her mum with chestnut hair and hazel-green eyes. After the adoption, her eyes had turned to a hazel-grey and her hair black. She was now more Black than Potter, like he was more Potter than Black. He had wondered if they were like step-siblings? After looking at the old tapestry in the drawing room, he determined they were more like third cousins, since the last Black in the direct Potter line had been his great-great grandmother. He had a great-aunt that was a Black, but that didn't count.

It was a distinction that he was happy about, meaning they weren't close enough related for it to feel weird that he liked her. It was also good because for the first time ever, he had someone that understood him without having to explain himself or revealing secrets of his life he never wanted to tell anyone. She had suffered pretty much the same as him, meaning they instinctually understood each other.

This made what they were doing so much more palatable.

Holly shifted and muttered something in her sleep. He thought it cute.

He leaned his head against hers, then rubbed his forehead. It stung, like it did every time he thought of Holly in that way. Now that he knew why, all Harry wanted was to have it out of him. With the goblins essentially telling them to sod off, they would have to go with their second plan.

One of the things Holly had found was that when she walked out of the veil, she walked into the full inheritance of House Black. This emancipated her, making Sirius's will null and void because of his grandfather's will and succession rules of the house. If that hadn't happened, then Sirius's will would have emancipated Harry and named him the Black heir.

Being head of house Black allowed them to try plan A, which would have been for him to claim his Potter inheritance. He would have been emancipated. Then he could have paid the goblins to pull the thing out of his head without having to ask Dumbledore for permission. Harry didn't trust Dumbledore not to throw him through the veil himself if he understood what Harry was doing to fulfil the prophecy.

Plan B was now to get to Scotland and find a blacksmith. If they married, then he would be emancipated and it would give them more options to deal with the thing in his head and to get him away from Dumbledore.

Plan C was to get out of the country and just keep running. Harry didn't like that plan because he didn't want to run for the rest of his life. Harry wanted to live, and if that life was with Holly Black, then he could be happy with that. To do that though, they needed to get rid of some large obstacles. Dumbledore being one of the largest.

He scrunched his face in anger to think of the man again.

Holly had confirmed some of his suspicions, and given him other food for thought. As far as either of them could tell, Dumbledore had made their lives living hells with only enough support to keep them going. Holly's Sirius had figured this out and had been trying to disentangle her from the web the headmaster had spun. She didn't know all the details, but she knew enough to know that the Dark Wanker had made things called horcruxes. She had been one, until they got the goblins to do the ritual. Sirius had been trying to find others, but he hadn't told her much about horcruxes on the off chance Dumbledore had managed to get it out of her that they knew.

She did know that her Sirius had been looking for others and had mentioned Kreature. After cornering the hateful little shite, he had given them a locket. To destroy it, they had been able to get Kreature into the Chamber of Secrets. One tooth later and Riddle was one more horcrux down. What they were going to do with the rest of the basilisk was still unknown, but they had gotten the few teeth and vials of venom they needed. Until they knew, the carcass had been portkeyed to the basement of the townhouse. Holly had hoped they could contract the goblins to render and sell the beast, but they were never going to trust the goblins again.

When he had asked about the basilisk starting to rot, Holly explained that magical creatures like basilisks were so magically saturated, they would keep from spoiling for a long time. The older they were, the longer before they started to decompose. Holly thought the basilisk should keep another ten years or so. Thus, they had time to decide what to do with it. Harry didn't miss the way her hand ran over the hide. Hadn't he read that basilisk hide was better than dragon hide for armour?

As the train moved north, he pondered the question: If not the goblins, then who?

The only people he knew that might be able to remove the horcrux in him were in Knockturn Alley. That was the last place he wanted to Voldemort back. Plus, he trusted the witches and wizards there less than the goblins only because goblins kept their word. You just had to be very careful when you had them swear it. They were more devious than any Slytherin when pressed.

After the frosty reception and the way Harry had been denied his inheritance, he wasn't even sure any goblin could be trusted. Getting their wealth to the gnomes of Austria or the puckwedgies in the MACUSA where going to be their best options. He had been able to empty his trust vault, and Holly had taken a substantial amount out of the Black vaults, so they were good for a while.

Next, they had to find somewhere they could train. He wasn't ready for a fight with the dark wanker. Holly was good, but mostly because she had a larger spell repertoire from Sirius than he did from the DA. Unlike the DA, he was taking her lessons to heart about putting them down, instead of stunning them.

She shifted again. A moment later, her hand slid into his. "How bad is it hurting?" she asked, sounding tired.

He wanted to just say, 'It's fine', but knew she wouldn't believe him. "Not too bad. Stings more than anything. No headaches today."

She shifted so she could look up at him. They may not have known each other for long, but he found himself getting lost in her hazel eyes. Harry put his arm around her shoulders after a moment.

She shifted to kiss his forehead. The tingling grew, but it wasn't unpleasant. "We will get that out as soon as we can. I promise you."

He gave her a small smile. "I know," he said, believing her. She valued honesty, trust and loyalty as much as he did.

She moved to snuggle closer as the train came into a station. They were still a good ways from Stirling, but at least they would be in Scotland in another hour or so. The further they got from London, the more he believed they would get away.

Getting up as the train came to a stop, Holly put her hands over her head to stretch. Harry couldn't stop himself from watching the way her shirt stretched against her slim frame and chest. He swore she held it for longer than she needed to at the small wink she gave him. "I need to stretch my legs for a moment and go to the loo."

Harry looked at the people shuffling out of the train and the dozen or so waiting to get on. He didn't like to be separated only because that mean he couldn't help her. Getting up himself, he stated, "I should go too."

She didn't question him, instead taking his hand and leading him two cars back.

They would miss the man in a red cloak passing by where they had been sitting. He surreptitiously had a stick out and frowned when the tracking spell stopped here. Looking around, he didn't see the boy he was looking for, meaning he had either gotten off here or at a previous stop.

Leaning over the seat, he finally found the muggle coins that Tonks had put the spell on. They must have fallen out of his pocket.

Deciding to do one walk up and down the train, he didn't see his quarry before using a loo in the front of the train to dissaparate from as it had left the station.

-oOo-

Chapter 2

-oOo-

August 2, 1996

London, England

Ragnog was looking down at the eight senior managers of the bank. There had been eleven yesterday, but as they tried to disentangle the mess of rocktheif Rotgnasher and his clan, he had found conspiracies throughout the bank and at all levels. Some were only recent, others were generations old and had made some of the clans very wealthy. Earning wealth through deception, deals and general dishonesty was not a sin of the nation. Stealing from account holders or against treaties were cardinal sins that were always paid with the gold and blood of the perpetrator. If he wasn't mistaken, three clans would be made extinct in the next few days as all their members were hunted down for their sins.

Sitting before the remaining senior managers, representing eight of the ten clans that were still considered 'clean' by goblin standards, he pounded his fist into the table. "Tell me how much?"

A goblin female in her middling years, the one that had won the right to represent the Potter accounts last night, looked at the ledger before her. "We are still auditing the treaty and our records. I would like to complete the audit…"

The attractive female went silent as he slammed his fist into the table again. "How much!" he demanded.

She swallowed. "The Potters original stake in Gringotts would been worth thirteen-point-eight-seven percent. The treaty allowed for a buyout option after a hundred years, and it had to be equal eight tithes."

When his eyes narrowed, she hurried along. "In fifteen-seventy-four, eight tithes were worth eleven thousand and thirty-eight galleons, twelve sickles and fifteen knuts. It was a small fortune at the time. Gringotts elected not to buy out the Potters. Gringotts stopped paying interest on the Potters stake, and to the other three wizarding families that helped to found Gringotts bank on November eighteenth, sixteen ninety-two after the then Lord Potter died and there was a power struggle for the head of the house. It was messy and by the time the new Lord Potter was instated three years later, no inquiry was made as to where the investment payments were."

"This still does not tell me how much!" Ragnog angrily slammed his fist on the table.

Sharpfang was impressive in the way she held her cool and continued on. "The funds were directed to the Harphoon clan with half divested to eight of the houses that supported the clan so that the ministry would not find out about it."

Ragnog took in an angry breath. The Harphoons was one of the wealthiest clans and they had made their wealth by being thiefs! "How much!"

Sharpfang had one of her claws on a line in the ledger. "My team is still auditing the records, but we are already well north of four million galleons going back to eighteen-forty-seven before penalties and interest. I fear we will be over forty million galleons by the time we are done between penalties, general interest and the value of a tithe."

If a goblin could go white, Ragnog would easily have done so.

Tithe were worth a tenth of the bank revenue in any given year. He knew the general value of the bank and the economy. Britain was a small magical community of about twenty-thousand wizards. The others that lived substandard lives next to them numbered about half that number. The goblins were the only ones with a healthy populations right now. The last reports he had seen were almost a hundred thousand in the deep caves and their strongholds.

Like any senior manager, he read the economic reports. In the last few years, the entire economy produce ten to twelve million galleons a year, with Gringotts producing five or six million more with its international and internal trade with an average twenty-three percent profit. The richest vaults in the bank probably only had three to five million galleons, with the majority having far, far less. The horde, even if they were able to claim all the wealth of the traitorous clans, could maybe hobble together twenty or thirty million galleons in a weeks time, as required by the treaty.

"How much can you reclaim from the eight houses that were stealing with the Harphoons?"

"Probably three million in coinage and four million by properties, heirlooms and jewellery," Sharptooth replied.

"Where is the rest of the wealth. The clan must be worth ten million at the least," Ragnog demanded.

She swallowed. "The Inquisitors were able to find out that wizards profited from this as well. We have been able to track about a million galleons that went to twenty different vaults and a further million and a half to the ministry for bribes and enticements."

He turned to another of the senior account managers. Rage wouldn't accurately convey the feeling in the older goblin. Ragnog turned to his senior treaty holder. His sharp claw pointed towards the goblin. "Rutnut, notify the wizards that Gringotts is conducting a bi-century audit or something like that. Find it in a treaty. Let them know this may lead to seizures of wealth to satisfied unpaid debts."

"There isn't any treaty like that," Rutnut said.

"I don't care! Do you want to start a war when we seize all these accounts and properties if we don't notify them? I will spill wizard blood, but it will not be because Gringotts violated a treaty. I will not be a thriefsneak like those that got us into this mess. Sharptooh, take all the managers you need to complete your audit by tomorrow. I want to know about the other families as well. If Bones, Black or MacMillan back out, we will be ruined," he told them.

One of the younger senior managers snarled. "We are already ruined! I should challenge your leadership of this bank!"

Ragnog was up, his blade out and the manager managed to leap out of his chair before Ragnog pounced on him. It was a snarling mass of teeth, blade, claws and fists that ended with Ragnog's blade buried deep into the younger goblins chest. He was breathing a little hard and bloodied himself as he stood. He gave a challenging look to the seven that now sat at the table. "A new senior account manager for the Torgerune clan will be appointed. Are there any other challengers?" He reached down and pulled his knife out of the dead form. The sound had his battle fury rise again.

None of the other moved, probably fearing they would be attacked if they showed any signs of disagreement.

"Check the other founder accounts. Make sure there is no other thievery. You have heard my word," he stated before turning and marching back towards his office. He needed a good grog and to look closer at the ledgers Sharptooth was sending him on an hourly basis.

-oOo-

That afternoon…

Stirling, Scotland

Harry was feeling nervous as he waited outside the bathroom. He was in a nice wizarding suit consisting of slack, an off white shirt, a green vest and a long coat like gentlemen would were a hundred years ago. The cut of the coat could pass as a more modern cloak to any wizard. More impressive was the effects of the aging potion which had him looking about two years older. They would have to take the counter potion when they stood before the anvil, but to get this hotel room, they couldn't look sixteen.

Looking in a mirror in the room, he wasn't much taller, but his eighteen year old self had filed out some. His wirery muscles had bulked out enough to fill the suit while his face was a bit more rugged, reminding him of pictures of his dad about the same age.

-oOo-

END