A/N: Hello, this is going to be simple and to the point. I am going to be rewriting a lot of the history and inner working of the Wizarding World. This is a massive AU, a term that I haven't seen used in many years. So, if you see something and think 'wtf', do not worry. Onto the story:
Harry looked as his friends left with their parents as he waited for the Dursleys to arrive and get him. As much as he thought that he couldn't trust Dumbledore, was still scared of the elderly wizard. You do not get to be that old and still in charge if you weren't some kind of dangerous. Which kind of led him to the biggest question of his life so far:
How do I escape from under his thumb?
Harry frowned as he didn't have any single idea as to how he could do that. Dumbledore had forced Tom Riddle to go back to abusive muggles, how was he going to escape.
You can. You're trapped
The sly voice that sounded a lot like Tom Riddle whispered in the back of his head and Harry felt goosebumps cover his body as he shivered, because he knew the voice was right. At least for now, Harry didn't expect to be able to overthrow Dumbledore at 12.
Realistically, it would be closer to 15 than anything else, as Harry wasn't expecting to take some massive leap forward over the summer as he turned thirteen. He fully expected to work his ass off from the moment he returned to Hogwarts to the second that he would be forced to leave once more.
But even just one year of hard work would not be enough, not enough to deal with a man with a literal century of experience under his belt. Would another year of extremely dedicated be enough?
That remained to be seen as Harry was worried about Dumbledore, but there was also the chance that he would never have to openly challenge the older man. He was old, like really really old, maybe Dumbledore would do him a massive favor and just fight like the old bastard that he was.
The first thing that he had to do was figure a way out from the Dursleys, that would be the most difficult part. How far did Dumbledore's reach go? Snape had been a death eater, a follower of the blood purist organization created to follow Lord Voldemort based on what Harry had heard in passing.
But the man with greasy black hair was still walking around freely, being an absolute arsehole to students without consequence. How was that possible? Even if Dumbledore could keep him from going to prison, surely some parent or another had complained about the awful manner that Snape treated each and every student not in his house.
Maybe there something that Harry could do about that. However, all of those thoughts came to an end as he saw his large uncle waddling towards him. His large face was a shade of pale that Harry had never seen before. His small eyes looked to be a shade or two darker than normal and Harry was worried that something had happened to his uncle.
"Boy, we need to get home immediately" hissed his Uncle and Harry nodded instantly. His family was never overly abusive, his aunt was more likely to take the belt to his backside than his uncle. However, that did not mean that his uncle was not quick to hit him with a swift backhand or swat. His uncle was also much stricter and less likely to feed him if things didn't go as he wanted.
Harry reached for his trunk, but his uncle grabbed it for him and they walked back to his uncle's car where his trunk was put into the boot of the car and Harry slipped into the backseat and watched as his uncle pulled out into the heavy London traffic.
"Is everything okay?" Harry couldn't help but ask as he watched his uncle sit there in silence and not even complain about the bumper to bumper traffic for the last dozen or so minutes where they had barely inched forward.
"I dunno' admitted his Uncle quietly
Harry frowned, that was never good sign
Did Dumbledore get to him? So soon?
"Did someone from my school pay you a visit or something? Elderly man with a long silvery beard?" asked Harry
His uncle flinched at the description and Harry felt his heart start to pound as he realized that Dumbledore had indeed paid his uncle a visit sometime between the incident at the Chamber of Secrets and the end of term ride home.
There had to be a way to make sure that his uncle didn't take him home and also a way that his uncle would drop him off at his preferred location of Diagon Alley.
But what could it be? How could he get his uncle to do what he wanted without magic? His uncle was scared of magic, so in theory threatening him would work. But Harry couldn't perform magic outside of the grounds of Hogwarts.
He's a filthy muggle, what else would motivate him but his dirty greed?
Tom's silvery words hissed in the back of his mind and Harry found himself nodding, not at the racism but at the honest words.
His uncle was many things, greedy and money hungry were some of them. Rather high on the list, but still below fat and regular hungry. Using this knowledge, Harry reached into his pockets with both hands and felt several of the golden coins, Galleon, inside of his right pocket almost immediately.
Fishing around, Harry felt his hand close around a grand total of seven of the golden coins. Each one of the coins weighted roughly a full pound once they were outside of the bag that Gringotts provides as Harry learned that the hard way. And while Harry was a little naïve about how much gold cost at the moment, he imagined that it was a lot based on how his uncle lost his kind when his aunt lost her gold wedding band in the garden last summer.
"You know, I don't know what they told you. But I would be more than okay spending the summer elsewhere" said Harry
His uncle flinched again and whispered "I was told not to let you out of my sight"
Harry nodded and fished out a single galleon from his pocket, the large gold coin shining in the afternoon sunlight.
"What is that?" asked his uncle as he glanced up through his rearview mirror, his eyes glancing back and forth between the road and his nephew in the backseat.
"It is a solid gold coin that my kind use as currency" replied Harry, feeling the calmness of his words shaking with each second that passed.
"Solid gold?" questioned Uncle
"Yes, solid pure gold" answered Harry
"Gold is up to 384 pounds per ounce" muttered Uncle as he liked his lips at the thought of getting nearly 6100 pounds for the single coin before he shook his head, "Nice try but they said not to let you out of our sight"
Harry pulled out a second coin and he heard his uncle groan as if he threw up in his mouth, but he didn't stop there. Pulling out a third coin, Harry said "Three coins if you drop me off where you usually leave me to pick up my school supplies"
Uncle looked like he was physically in pain but ultimately nodded, flipping to put on his blinker to pull off to make a right and make a turn back into the heart of London.
"What are you going to do this summer?" asked Uncle
"Do you really want to know? Wouldn't it be better if you didn't know so you can honestly say that you don't know" said Harry, echoing the sly words that Tom was whispering in his ear
His uncle nodded and within 15 minutes, Harry exchanged 3 gold coins for his freedom this summer, releasing Hedwig to go hunting as he dragged his luggage into the Leaky Cauldron, greeted by Tom.
"Little early on the school shopping lad" joked Tom as he saw Harry dragging his trunk and stop at the bar.
"I had some things I wanted to look for before I returned home" lied Harry
"Smart lad, this is one of the least busy times of the years" complimented Tom, "I reckon all you will run into is the young interns here for the summer"
"Who?" asked Harry
"Oh, I guess you wouldn't know" said Tom, "The Alley has so many businesses that are only available to masters of their crafts. The only way to get ahead and qualified for the job after you've taken your OWLs is to spend the summer here in the Alley working for that business. Enchanters and Curse breakers will be spend their time at Gringotts, Potion apprentices will be at the shop, healers at the clinic near the end of the Alley"
Harry soaked in every word of Tom's explanation, curious as to why nobody at Hogwarts had ever mentioned this in the last two years.
"You should get going, the stories like to be all shut down by 8:00 PM" said Tom as he helped Harry open up the path to the Alley.
Harry thanked the elderly Barkeep and dragged his trunk through the mostly empty streets of Diagon Alley. His eyes bounced around as he saw teenager after teenager, all dressed in rather formal robes, walking about the street. It made sense given what he had just learned but it also made him question how he had never seen this type of thing before.
He made his way to the bank with the intention of making a withdrawl, when he ran directly into a man who had merged from one of the side streets and apparently had also been making his way to the bank. Harry was sent crashing to the ground while the older boy barely moved from the impact of Harry's light body colliding with his own.
"Oh shite, you ok?" said the man as he reached his hand out to help Harry up, "My name is William, but people mostly call me Bill"
Harry looked up and frowned as he saw the oldest of the Weasley children in front of him. William or Bill, looked almost exactly as Ron had always described him.
Bill was rather tall, noticeably slender but not too thin, handsome face with soft features with an almost elfish boy charm about him. And of course, he had red hair like the rest of the Weasley family. He wore it long and, in a ponytail, and he had an earring with a fang dangling from it. He wore a set of Gringotts robes and what seemed like boots of dragon hide.
What were the chances that the eldest Weasley child would quite literally run into him during his visit to the bank? How many people were even in London and how many of them had a family that was seemingly very close to Dumbledore?
Harry was not very trusting of the adult Weasleys at the moment, he had too many questions about the first time that he meet them. Mama Weasley already had multiple children out of Hogwarts and she had gone to the school herself, why was she questioning where the barrier was? Surely Ginny had seen her brothers off before, so why?
Harry doubted that she was a Dumbledore spy, her family was much too loose lipped for an important task like that. But perhaps she had been told to look out for a scrawny thin blacked haired boy and help him cross over into the magical world. Offer a guiding hand to a muggle raised boy and that made sense. She hadn't been looking for him when they arrived nor had her kids known who he was.
Harry took the hand and allowed Bill to help him to his feet, dusting himself off after making his way back to his feet.
"You seem a little long for an internship" noted Billy
"I happen to just be short" retorted Harry before he could help himself
Bill raised his hands and chuckled "Okay, fair enough"
Harry felt a bubble of panic build in his stomach, "I am going to continue to make my way to Gringotts if you don't mind"
Bill raised an eyebrow, "Are you from Liverpool? They said we had a prodigy coming, would explain your youth"
He rubbed his chin, "You into curse breaking or enchanting?"
Harry felt the panic in his stomach explode and send a burning sensation all throughout his body, the lava melting his inside and he couldn't breathe.
Harry was unsure of how his face looked in the moment, but whatever it looked like made Bill wince and say "Ouch undecided huh"
Harry nodded without speaking, unable to trust his voice to work properly in the moment as he felt the lava pool in his stomach, the heat growing worse by the second.
"Don't worry about it" assured Bill, "They are both rather simple when you get into the studying of them"
Bill lifted Harry's trunk into the air with a flick of his wand, "Walk with me kid"
Harry just nodded and followed the eldest Weasley.
"So curse breaking has more to do with power than finesse" admitted Bill, "Think of it as if I push you in one direction. Curse breaking is finding out how much force I am using to push you in that direction and create an equal force in the opposite direction. This allows the cruse to be halted, which gives you the ability to repurpose the magic that was used to make curse or spell"
Harry hung on to every word as they walked towards the bank.
"But as spells linger and stay attached to an object, they grow stronger as you give them time to absorb passive magic from the environment" continued Bill, "Which is why I say it is a power game, you need to be incredibly powerful and in control of your magic to break a curse properly. Often times, you start of by judging the magic with a soft push. Then as you feed more and more magic in to the push, you start to realize how much more magic the curse has.
That's why we usually have a team because when you go to a place like the Tombs of Egypt, the pyramids are covered in runes designed to absorb magic to fuel those spells and have been doing so for nearly three thousand years"
Harry felt a massive amount of respect for Bill as he spotted the Junior Curse Breaker name tag pinned to the left breast of Bill's robes.
"How many people are on your team?" asked Harry
"We hit a lot of smaller pyramids and tomb sites, so we generally go about 10 to 12 deep" answered Bill, "The build up of magic by the runes is not always an insane amount but you don't want to get stuck in a battle against 3000 years of absorbed magic by yourself. Usually we work in groups of 3 at a time, bringing in more people as needed"
Harry found the entire thing much more interesting than he believed that he would have, because it seemed like this was the type of job that allowed one to flex their magic might. While he was not the most powerful wizard in the world, his ability to cast just about every spell from every branch of magic they had learned so far was allowing him to think he was above average.
"Enchanting is the opposite" said Harry, making a large leap in the opposite direction, hoping that he was right.
"Yes and no" said Bill, "They don't teach advanced enchanting like they used to when I was in school, so you might have a more basic understanding of how enchanting works"
Harry frowned, "What did they teach you?"
Bill scratched the top of his head, "Forgive me if this is slightly rough around the edges, but it's been almost 8 years since I learned this"
Harry just shrugged
"Think of enchanting not as the opposite of Curse Breaking, but as the cousin of it. Curse breaking is about finding the strength of something and matching it to neutralize it. But enchanting is about finding the correct strength of magic to create a desired effect. You're molding all these threads of magic into one another, crafting a tapestry of intent and magic. That when you finally pull it all together, it creates what you pictured the effect to be. It could be something like making shoes that grow with a child's feet or a hairbrush that only lets you pick it up. Usually, you create the enchantment and the bind it to an object with runes, that's why to be a curse breaker or an enchanter, you need at least an E in Ancient Runes on your OWLs. You need to be able to identify runes and their purpose as they are the basis for both curse breaking and enchanting"
"Oh" said Harry, absorbing the new information from Bill
Bill took the word to mean something else, whistling in admiration, "You got an O on your OWL for runes? You might be something special after all"
Harry gave him a small smile, "Thank you for walking me to the bank and explaining everything to me"
"Ah, it was nothing" said Bill waving off the 'thank you' as they arrived in front of the bank and he floated Harry's trunk back down to the ground, "It was fun to have someone listen to my job with real interest. In fact, you kind of remind me of my younger brother, Percy. He is a bit of a bookworm, but I love the brat"
Harry grabbed the end of his trunk and Bill said, "I guess this is where we part ways, I gotta go get my new assignment for Egypt. My family won some kind of prize and is going to spend the summer out there with me. Sadly, I wouldn't be around while you're here for the summer, I leave tonight"
"Nice" commented Harry honestly
"Anyway nice to meet you …" started Bill but trailed off as he realized he never got Harry's name.
But before he could ask, he was cut off by a sharp voice saying "Mr. Weasley, humans might take their time and being late, but we believe in being on time"
They both turned and saw a tiny goblin in a nice set of robes standing there, tapping his foot impatiently. Bill rushed over to the goblin and the pair of them walked away from Harry whispering to one another.
Harry watched as the pair of men always away before making his way over to the teller, his eyes looking for a name tag, but the mean looking goblin did not seem to be wearing one. Sitting on his high stool, back straight, and head held high, the Goblin started at him with a look that could only be described as a combination of curiosity and confusion.
"Mr. Potter" greeted the Goblin teller, "Do pray tell, why a rather young man such as yourself is standing before me in the bank not even a full day past school term?"
It was a rather good question, but one that had a rather simple answer.
"I'm here for money" replied Harry honestly seeing no reason to like to the being who would hopefully be helping him make this withdrawal as soon as humanly or goblinly possible.
The Goblin blinked as him as if he said the sky was orange and the Sun was a giant grape, his mouth opening and closing as he struggled to say something to Harry.
"Hey, how did you know who I am?" asked Harry after a moment of silence
"You're pulling on me aren't you?" chuckled the Goblin
"Huh?" replied Harry
"Mr. Potter, what do you know of the last great wizarding world?" asked the Goblin
"Less than I should" admitted Harry
"Before the last Dark Wizarding Lord died trying to kill you, he amassed an army of wizarding followers" started the Goblin, "But you see, it was not just wizards that followed him, but also magical beings such as Giants, Werewolves, and Vampires. But not Goblins, no, we were never even given the chance to join him.
We were hunted, picked apart piece by piece. It started overseas in Germany and slowly made it's way west to the UK.
A young goblin yawned as he polished the doorknob for the last time, before reaching up to lock the deadbolt to the small bank.
Cochem, Germany was a small peaceful town, the small population of 5000 was almost entirely magical and that allowed them to be free and helpful. Just moments ago, the last of the wizarding kind had left less than 10 minutes ago.
There was a ripple of magic that washed over the building, the sensation left the Goblin feeling like he was a fish trapped in net. The magic was heavy, thick, and angry as it continued to push down all around the Goblin.
There was no point in pushing against it, it was way beyond anything that the young Goblin would be capable of countering. He ran away from the door into the back where the Eldest Goblin of their small bank ushed them into a goblin magic sealing vault.
The last thing that he heard before the vault door closed was the sound of the door being blasted off the hinges. The vault shook and the wards that made up the vault rippled time and time again, but the trio of young Goblins in the vault keep huddled up together.
There was a flash of blistering heat that wrapped around the vault and they could see the runes that powered the wards glow brightly as they struggled to absorb the powerful magic being cast at the vault. Eventually the world went still and they could feel the magic on the outside world slowly start to fade away, but they were too scared to exit the vault.
After hours, they finally opened the vault with a pulse of magic from inside the vault and found the ruins of their bank around the vault. Blood was smeared all along the ruined walls and floors.
A silvery skeleton mask was on the ground in front of them, the head of a pale dark haired man next to. A quick scan of the surrounding showed that there was nearly a dozen bodies on the ground, all of them wearing the same black robes.
But sitting near where the entrance to the door had been, was the head of the Eldest Goblin for the bank on a spike.
Looking out beyond the ruins of their once beautiful bank, they saw the still smoking remains of Cochem, the city covered in flames. The smell of burning flesh and bile filled the air, clinging to the thick clouds of smoke.
But it was only when they looked up into the evening sky that they understood what had happened over the last day that they had been hiding inside the vault. There had been rumblings of a British mad man who had been slowly growing in power.
How this could happen under the watch of Albus Dumbledore was beyond anyone, but most of the wizarding communities around the world had scoffed at the through of any single person being a threat.
The slaughtered town of 5000 people and the burning ruins of the town was proof that the man was not playing, he had killed nearly 5000 wizards and witches in less than a day. And the proof was the large dark mark that hung over the mass graveyard that was now Cochem.
Harry's eyes were wide at hearing the Goblin before him recount the story of how terrible the Dark Lord had been. Thousands of witches and wizards killed in a matter of hours. It was inhumane to think about and yet, Harry found himself believing that it was true.
"The reason that I along with almost every other Goblin alive knows who you are, is because you are not just the savior of the wizarding kind, you're the savior of the Magical World" finished the Goblin.
Harry suddenly felt a lot more pressure on his very being than he had ever felt before and he was unsure of how he could ever live up to the expectations of the entire magic community of the world.
"Why are you really here, Mr. Potter?" asked the Goblin
"I want to pull out money to be able to spend the summer here in the Alley" answered Harry
The goblin tapped on his chin before he wrote something on the magic parchment in front of him and Harry was surprised to see that the parchment wrote back just as the Tom Riddle diary had.
"The parchment that we have up here is connected to the inventory of the bank through a series of runes, wards, and enchantments. It would take you decades to even get close to being able to replicate it" commented the Goblin as he noticed Harry staring at the parchment.
Harry nodded as he understood that it was going to be one of those things that he wouldn't be able to understand until he was much older and wiser. Like why some woman looked at men and just giggled.
"Ah, you will not be needing to pull out any cash today Mr. Potter" said the Goblin after a minute of writing lines and reading responses.
"Really why not?" asked Harry
"Because your godfather owns a flat here down at the other end of the Alley" said the Goblin before he scribbled down something on a different piece of parchment and barked out an order in his native tongue.
"Godfather? I have a godfather?" asked Harry
"Most magical children, it is who is supposed to raise you in the event of your parent's death" replied the Goblin
"Who is my godfather?" asked Harry
"My dear child, I can provide you the history lesson but it is not my business to educate you on the inner workings of your family tree" tsk'd the Goblin, "Just know that he and his family are as wealthy as your father had been and you could never spend all of that money even if you tried"
Harry blinked at this news, his godfather had been or was rich. His dad had been rich back when he was alive? He had so many questions but he also got the feeling that the kindness that the Goblin had been showing up would dry up and he did not want that to occur.
"Thank you for all of your help" said Harry, "I never got your name"
The goblin grinned, showing off all those sharp teeth that seemingly filled his mouth, "You never asked"
"I have forgotten my manners" admitted Harry
"My name is Ordlish, child" said the Goblin after a moment
"You've been extremely helpful, is there anything that I can do to help you out?" asked Harry
"You want more information about your family?" said Ordlish with a sly smile on his face, the kind of smile that would have been at home on Tom Riddle's face back in the chamber, "As a normal teller, I cannot tell you anything specific about your family. If you make me your family account manager, I would be able to give you more information"
The offer felt icky, like he was talking to one of those demons that Uncle and Aunt were also going on about when they came back from their Sunday services from the local mass hall from time to time. But at the same time, it felt like a high reward, high risk gamble.
You need to fish for more information
"How do I know that you're telling the truth" asked Harry as he followed the advice of Tom Riddle
The Goblin smiled even bigger, his face twisting in a manner that feels like it wasn't meant to and Harry was reminded that a single one of these beings had killed nearly a dozen armed wizard.
"You are quite the smart little wizard" chuckled Ordlish, his voice filled with respect even as he hissed the words, "You are not what I expected Mr. Potter, but worry not. Once I work for you, I am bound by magic to service you and your family"
"Can I get that in writing?" asked Harry, simply repeating what he heard his uncle had once said to a man who worked in the bank.
Ordlish nodded, pulling out a new piece of glowing parchment and a knife covered in runes.
"It is simple, Goblins respect power, gold, and blood child. You wish to make a deal with me, you have to bind it in blood" said Ordlish
"Same time" suggested Harry
Ordlish nodded without flinching, slashed his palm before handing the knife to Harry who carefully did the same. The blade must have been covered in some really good runes as the blade cut into the skin without causing pain.
Ordlish grasped Harry bleeding hand with his own bleeding hand, their blood mixed before Ordlish guided both of their hands onto the parchment.
"I, Ordlish the Bold, am pledging myself to House Potter. I plan to help his gold grown, his land expand, and his fortunes turned positive" said Ordlish and the parchment glowed green as it accepted his oath
"I, Harry James Potter: The Boy who Lived, accept this oath of pledge on the condition that Ordlish never lies to me" said Harry as the parchment glowed green once more, his words guided by the magic of the ritual.
"I agree to these terms" said Ordlish and the parchment glowed golden before sent a chain of magic into both of them.
The wound on both of their hands healed and Harry looked as fresh skin that covered where the gash had been. Magic was beyond wonderful and powerful, he needed to learn more about it. Ordlish grabbed their contract parchment and sent it off flying to be filed with a burst of magic.
Moments later, the same Goblin who had been sent away with the scrap parchment returned with a key, presenting it to Ordlish who in turn gave it to Harry.
"This is the key to the Blackthorne Flat in the Magi Apartments down the alleyway" said Ordlish
"So, does this mean that you can tell me who my godfather is?" asked Harry
Ordlish wrote on his special parchment only to frown heavily upon reading the response, his eyes scanning the words on the parchment.
"I cannot access the will of your parents, it is where the named Godfather would be" said Ordlish, "The will was sealed"
"Sealed by who?" asked Harry, "Do you know who?"
"Yes, by the Minister of Magic Fudge and Albus Dumbledore" answered Ordlish, "Dumbledore filed the paperwork himself"
Harry felt his inside freeze and he struggled to breathe once more, it seemed that every part of his life always circled back around to Dumbledore in some way, shape, or form.
The rest of their meeting passed with Harry being all that mentally present as Harry struggled to think of anything other than Dumbledore smirking as he pulled the strings on his life.
He exited the bank, dragging his trunk once more and he made the 15 minute walk back through the Alley until he passed all of the shops and started seeing apartment building. Stopping at 816 Isle of Unird, Harry saw a blonde girl standing there outside the building, her skin more tanned than any girl Harry could remember seeing in London.
She wore a solid dark grey robe, her blonde hair tied in a French braid that flowed down her back, she wore a beret on her head. She was beautiful and Harry couldn't help feeling drawn towards her, but he resisted the urges as he knew that would be unwise to approach a girl like that just out of the blue.
She noticed him as he got closer to the apartment building but walking towards the doors rather than her, she shot him a friendly smile.
But that was when Harry saw it, the moving mugshot of a man screaming in silent anger or was it agony?
The words were big and bold "SIRUS BLACK: AZKABAN ESCAPEE – WANTED FOR HELPING THE DARK LORD KILL THE POTTERS!"
The girl spoke in a French accent, showing that she was not from England after all, "I hope he does not come here, we do not need to deal with that crazy mess of a man"
Harry couldn't help but agree with this girl
The girl gave him a once over, "The name is Fleur Delacour, Gringotts' Enchanting Apprentice"
"Huh?" said Harry as he had been busy looking at the wanted poster rather than paying attention to the rather pretty girl beside him
"I gave you my name, so that when you go upstairs and wank off to the image of me, you know what name to shout to the heavens you dirty little boy" said Fleur with a huff as she walked into the building, leaving behind a red-faced blushing Harry Potter who was at a complete loss for words.
A/N: So once again, this is an AU. Meaning that I will be using my own world building and explanations and backstories. If you like it, cool. If you don't, I have terrible news for you.
I've added internships and teenage jobs, because I had a job when I was in HS like most Americans.
There will be no bashing in this story, Harry doesn't hate anyone at this particular moment even if I personally dislike Snape. Think more scared than angry, Harry is scared that Dumbledore is just playing with him.
If you have any questions, feel free to leave a review as I really try to reply to all of those. You can also send me a PM as I try to reply to all of those. Or if you want to be really really cool, you could join my discord with this invite code: vJEWmHkD
Until next time.