Disclaimer:
I solemnly swear that the literature and works of the Harry Potter Verse belong to JK Rowling, Bloomberg and Warner Bros. The only thing I own are the one-shot ideas that popped into my head and whatever OCs I would create for them. This is a work of pure fiction made solely for fun, constructive reviews will be welcomed, flames will be ignored. Any references to characters in real-life or fiction are purely coincidental. If I could make money out of my ideas, it would be nice...
Mischief Managed Damn It!
Title: The Identity of Harry Potter (Working Title)
Posted Date: May 28 2023
Tags: Harry Potter not really Harry Potter, Dead / Bad Potters, Bad Dumbledore
Challenge: Good Remus Lupin, Good Tonks Parents, Good goblins
Possible Challenges: Bad Nymphadora Tonks, Cult of Dumbledore, Voldemort killed early
The young boy followed the half-giant named Rubeus Hagrid through the decrepit looking pub and through a wall that opened up to an alley of wonders, his mind going a little haywire from all the information he got from the past night. He did not know how to feel that all of his "Freakishness" was due to magic, or that he was born between a wizard and a witch who died to a dark wizard, with said dark wizard somehow defeated by Harry at the age of one. A part of him was expecting himself to be waking up in the cupboard and thinking it was all a dream to get away from the latest beating by Vernon.
"Come now, Harry!" Hagrid called out to the boy. "Must make haste!" Harry struggled to keep up with the giant man's long steps as they crossed the alley from the Leaky Cauldron to the white building with the funny looking guards at the door with very sharp weapons held in their hands. It was somewhat fun to see the different costumes on 'wizards and witches' that made Diagon Alley appear to be Halloween in the summertime.
"This's Gringotts Bank and it's run by goblins," Hagrid explained to the small boy as he motioned toward the tall white marble building. "They're mighty fierce warriors so mind your manners." Harry gulped nervously as they made their way on the steps, pausing briefly to read the description on the plaque that was essentially a poem to warn off any would-be thieves before going through the doors, making sure to greet the goblins with a nod as he walked past. Hagrid looked lost in trying to find a line that had fewer people, but Harry managed to spot a counter on the right side that was relatively empty and moved towards it on his own, prompting Hagrid to follow. He noted that a number of the wizards were very rude to the goblin tellers, and that made said tellers very irritated and snarky. That was not very nice in his opinion and made Harry decide to be more polite to them.
"Next…" called the clerk from his chair behind the high desk.
Hagrid smiled as they came up to him and whispered as softly as he could, said whisper being a little louder than regular speech. "I've brought young Harry Potter here to get some money out of his vault and to retrieve something for Professor Dumbledore from vault 463." The goblin paused in his writing to look at Hagrid before leaning over to see Harry who gave a hesitant nod of his head to acknowledge him. The goblin hummed before leaning back in the chair and pressing something on the desk that Harry could not see from his angle, and then checking his papers before pausing.
"You said vault 463 and the trust vault for Harry Potter, correct?" Hagrid nodded at that query. The goblin shuffled the papers a bit more, looked at Harry, and then back at Hagrid.
"The vaults you are requesting entry need to have their keys re-evaluated due to increased security measures. You would need to go to a private room to hand over the stated keys and to confirm identities for the boy." The goblin pressed something on the desk, and shortly after another goblin came along to their side. "You will follow Griphook to the private room."
"Oh, that is fine. Thank you." Hagrid smiled again and followed the other goblin, with Harry following only after noting four goblin guards coming after them with long spears. They moved to a side entrance and continued down the long corridor that slowly transitioned from marble to dark stone that got Harry's heart pumping. He was not sure why, maybe it was because of the stories he had read and Dudley enjoying scaring him, but he was having a really bad feeling about this journey.
Not knowing of his thoughts, the group continued on until they reached a room with a door made out of dark marble framed with what looked to be rusted iron. The goblin guide opened it up and ushered Hagrid and Harry in.
"Use the table there to place the keys." Griphook motioned toward a long table in the center of the room. Hagrid nodded and rummaged in his pockets before pulling out a gold key and putting it to the side.
"That is Harry's key." Hagrid then proceeded to casually unpacking his pockets, bringing out odd knick knacks, bags of water chestnuts, smashed boxes of ginger biscuits, and jugs of fire whiskey from his many pockets and moved them to the table. Harry heard a door click and turned to find a single goblin coming through another door from the side, this one looking a lot older than Griphook but able to quickly cross the floor to sit in a chair behind the desk. All the while, Hagrid kept pulling items from his pockets and placing them on the table, some of which Harry had to wonder how did that happen. There was however a note of surprise and noted panic in Hagrid's actions that got Harry moving quietly to the edge of the table and checking the heavy table cloth; he'd learned long ago when trouble began he could slip underneath large tables and hide from his relatives in the center of the table. Unable to catch Hagrid's attention, Harry feared the giant man hadn't noticed the four guards with spears that had followed them into the room or the other goblin seated at the desk.
Harry alternated his eyes between Hagrid and Griphook who had picked up the golden key for a moment to examine before walking to the desk and handing it to the older goblin, bowing and then stepping back beside the giant. After another five minutes of frantic searching, Hagrid sighed. "I must've lost Dumbledore's key…"
"Is that so?" The new goblin had a raspy growl that suggested he did not speak for longer periods. "You had business with us, yet you wasted our time without the key?" Hagrid gulped loudly at those words while Harry shifted his feet uneasily. That action attracted the goblin to him, making Harry shiver in nervousness but held his ground to look back at him, even if his eyes started tearing a little from the strain and him briefly feeling an odd pressure in his head. The goblin looked on a little more before nodding as though he approved of the boy's courage and validation, and then he turned to face Hagrid with narrow eyes.
"There are issues with your requests. Fact is you don't have the key to vault 463 for the item requested by Dumbledore, yet you have the key to the trust vault set aside for Harry Potter." The goblin paused before asking with a harder tone "Are you here with the intent to rob Gringotts?"
The giant was startled by the question but replied quickly, "No sir! I'm an honest wizard, I am! I ain't never robbed nobody! I just brought Harry Potter to Gringotts to get some of his money and buy his things for Hogwarts."
"Is that so?" The old goblin paused for a moment watching Hagrid nodding his head with a smile but then pointed at the child and asked, "Well then, care to explain who this is, and where is Harry Potter?"
Author's Notes
I read a few HP stories where Harry Potter is actually some other kid that was used by the Potters as a scapegoat to get the Voldemort away from them, usually with the Potters being alive along with the real Harry. Sometimes that goes into the good Dumbledore area with a pissed off Sirius Black.
This is not my best, partially because I don't quite like the concept, I just want to get this out of my head. I do not think I will write much on this anyway.