Petunia could hear Dudley and Harry chatting as she slowly woke up. Their conversation sounded surprisingly amiable and it sounded like they were comparing school years.
"You had a teacher who had somebody's face on the back of his head? And the teachers didn't do anything about it? Blimey Harry, at Smeltings I was probably the worst thing there," Dudley was saying. "At least the teachers seemed decent and there wasn't a ghost teaching class. Sorry Harry, but that's just freaky. A ghost? Seriously?"
She kept her eyes closed. The bed was comfortable, far more comfortable that her bed at home. Vernon had selected the mattress and she always woke with a backache and a headache. Then she realized she didn't have that dull ache behind her eyes. In fact, she felt surprising good, like she'd shed ten years.
She had no idea what time it was when she finally opened her eyes.
"How are you feeling?" Silverknife asked.
"Better than I've felt in years," she admitted. "Where can I get a mattress like this? It's wonderful."
"I'm sure there's magic involved," the healer said, obviously amused. His expression became more solemn. "Your core bindings should be completely gone in two weeks. The original caster tried to make the bindings permanent but your own magic prevented that. They have been breaking down over time. We just hurried it along. We also found evidence that someone attempted to cast a compulsion for you to loath anything magical."
"Attempted?"
"Luckily the caster wasn't all that powerful or didn't realize that the spell wouldn't work on someone with an active magical core. Had he been successful, you would have become suicidal."
"Do you know who it was and can I sue the hell out of him?"
"We know who it was and that person is dead. Unfortunately, your husband was also cursed and since he has no active magical core the spell was successful and has become an integral part of his psyche. We cannot remove the curse. In fact, based on the report of the healer sent to evaluate him, we suspect that compulsion combined with the true self curse has finally driven him mad."
"Cursed to hate and fear magic and then forced to live with me," Harry said softly. "I'm sorry Aunt Petunia."
"You've nothing to be sorry about," she said. She was a little surprised to find she actually meant what she was saying. "You didn't put the curse on him and you certainly didn't choose to be left with someone who was cursed to hate you." She turned back to the healer. "Any suggestions on how to handle this?"
"He cannot be allowed to be near any of you," Silverknife said. "Muggle anti-psychotic drugs might curb the symptoms but there's no guarantee. Plus the staff at the hospital know he's been threatening to murder his nephew which means that muggle authorities will have been notified. If you tell them that you fear what he may do to you and the children if he's allowed to go home, they may put him in a psychiatric hospital."
"For how long?"
"I cannot say. I do not know what rules muggle mind healers might apply in his case. Another option would be to attempt to remove all memory of magic from his mind and spell him so he literally cannot see magic events. I say 'attempt' because I suspect his mind is too damaged for that to work."
"So I need to talk to the police about Vernon and make sure he can't come after Harry." She laid back and closed her eyes, hoping she wouldn't get a migraine from the stress.
Despite insisting they all needed to rest after their cleansings, the healer stationed by the door wasn't about to allow her rest. Petunia suspected the goblin wanted the humans out of his ward as soon as possible. "Curse Breaker Weasley has left a note that your presence is needed at the property to finish setting the wards," the healer began. "The Black account manager has an Heir ring for Heir Potter-Black and the Potter account manager also has an Heir ring and wishes to go over what the auditors have found so far."
Petunia took a deep breath. Things had gotten complicated frighteningly fast. "First the rings, then the wards. I'd like the boys to stay at Gringotts while I'm gone, if that can be arranged. Heir Potter and I will go over his accounts once I get back." She paused, remembering what she'd been told of her sister's will. "Let Grimhook know I'd like to see the Potters' wills, if possible. I'd like to know why they were sealed."
Harry was still befuddled at the changes in Dudley and Aunt Petunia. He couldn't quite get his head around the fact that removing curses from them could make such an immediate change. Maybe these were the people he was supposed to have been left with when he was a baby. It didn't occur to him that the curse on him and the soul fragment in his scar had been precipitating factors in Vernon and Petunia's dislike of him. The curses on them had made it virtually impossible for them to resist the temptation to abuse him and over indulge Dudley.
Now they were nearly 'normal'. They were being nice. He just hoped it would last.
A black suited goblin lead them back to the conference room they'd been in earlier. Griphook was already there along with another goblin Harry didn't recognize. He was introduced as Sharpaxe, the Black account manager. Both goblins had small ornate boxes in front of them.
Griphook opened his and pulled out a silver ring, taking care to hold it in a soft cloth. "Something few wand users know about the old house magic is that the House Master rings and the heir rings make the final determination as to whether a candidate is an acceptable choice for the position. Being accepted by the house magic is a great honor and a great responsibility to both your family and your people."
He handed Harry the silver signet ring. It had runes carved on the inside and the symbol was a stag with the word Potter embossed below it. He was instructed to place it on his left ring finger. Harry felt a wash of magic and a sense of approval as the ring itself glowed red.
"Some people believe that the house signet rings offer protection for the wearer," Griphook said. "Very few of them do and the Potter rings aren't among them." He gestured for Harry to remove the ring and put it back in its box.
The Black ring was of a black metal and the symbol was of two greyhounds holding a shield with stars and a sword. He put that one on. Again a wash of magic. The ring glowed green.
"The Black rings are reported to alert the wearer to potions or poisons in their food or drink," Sharpaxe said. "I cannot confirm or deny that. However, one should never wear more than one house ring at a time. The ring indicates the house you are representing at the moment and you cannot represent more than one at a time."
"When should I wear an heir ring?"
"When you are representing the house in a legal capacity, say taking your seat in the Wizangamot if you have one, or you need to place a seal on a document to verify your signature as the heir. However, underage heirs rarely need to worry about that."
"And I have to be of age to get the House Master ring for the house of Potter?" Harry asked to clarify.
"Of age or emancipated," Griphook said. "Your magical guardian or an elder of your house would normally explain such things. However, they are unavailable and the person claiming to be your magical guardian has apparently chosen to keep you ignorant of these things."
"That would be Albus Dumbledore," Petunia stated.
"Headmaster Dumbledore does stand as magical guardian for muggleborn students," Sharpaxe said carefully.
"But Harry isn't muggleborn. His mother was. The Potters were an old magical family and Harry has an oathsworn godfather who also made him his heir," Petunia reminded them. "In fact, Harry should have been given to a member of Black's family, not my sister's supposedly muggle sister."
There was a knock at the conference room door. Griphook opened it. A ginger-haired human with a scarred face stuck his head in.
"We're ready to complete the wards if Madame Evans is ready," he said. The man had a certain resemblance to his house mate Ron Weasley.
The man grinned at him. "Hi, Mister Potter. I'm Bill, Ron's brother. Nice to finally meet you." the man turned to Petunia. "Ready to go?"
Bill led Petunia to a different room, grabbed her arm and handed her something that resembled a locker key with an 'H' engraved on it instead of the usual number. She felt the grab of a portkey.
It wasn't the first time Petunia had used a Portkey. She'd gone to places like Diagon Alley and Godric's Hollow as a child with Lily and their parents using one and it was as unnerving now as it had been then. At least this time she didn't vomit on landing.
They had landed in the basement of her house.
"You could have warned me," she groused. Bill shrugged.
He pointed to the key. "That's a portkey. Unlike most of them, this one's keyed to an individual so no one else can use it to get inside the wards. To activate it, grab the key and squeeze it hard."
"So I can put it on my key chain and not worry about triggering it?"
Bill nodded. He then indicated the concrete basement floor. "The team created a landing pad that's tied to the wards. In the event someone portkeys in with you, the wards can read them and bounce them if necessary. The boys will be getting house portkeys as well."
Petunia nodded, slipping the new key onto her key chain. It was unnerving worrying about the boys' security. She'd never worried about Dudley's safety before, except when he was around Harry. Harry's accidental magic had never hurt Dudley, but she'd always been afraid of what might happen. Like the day at the zoo when the python got out of its enclosure.
Now she had to worry because as much as she hated the self-centered blind stupidity of the wizarding world, thanks to Dumbledore she and her family were part of it. And she knew she had already lost her husband because of it.
"Where's the ward stone?" she asked. Bill gave her a questioning look. "My father was a ward master for Gringotts. My sister took after him and apparently Hogwarts considered her an absolute savant at potions and runes. Don't think it ever occurred to anyone that someone could learn 'magical stuff' from mere muggles so her gift was obviously due to her innate genius and their brilliant teaching skills." She was gratified that Bill didn't comment.
She knew she sounded bitter, not just because of the unfairness that Lily had been selected to go to Hogwarts but the tuition for her had taken all the funds their parents had set aside for college tuition for the both of them. The Evans family wasn't poor, but their money was tied up in investments and real estate in both the muggle and magical worlds. Lily hadn't even been offered a scholarship like most muggleborns were.
Petunia had paid her own way through college working part time as an office worker.
She'd wanted to be a pharmacist as there were few magicals that were bridging the gap between potions and drugs. Then she met Vernon, a young man who already had a promising business career who came from a stable middle class muggle family. She couldn't honestly say he'd charmed her, but he was safe and he'd promised to take care of her. He hadn't seen a need for her to finish her education. And like the foolish girl she'd been she agreed.
"I did help my father do runic wards from time to time so I'm not a complete ignoramus," she said aloud.
"In that case you know a lot more than most wizards about house wards and ward stones." Bill moved aside some shelving that had been set against a wall. Behind it was a piece of granite set into the concrete. She could read the runes carved into it – protection, cast out evil intent and actions, prevent intrusion by magic, a 'notice me not' rune targeted against non-magicals but also specifying not noticing magic. The neighbors could look over the fence and see the garden, but they wouldn't notice anything 'abnormal' about the house or yard.
Bill handed her a small silver goblin knife. "The stone needs your blood to make it recognize you as the master. I asked and won't matter if your magic is changing since your magical signature won't change."
Goblin knives were sharp. So sharp that slitting open her palm was painless until the air hit the wound. She smeared blood on the stone. The blood seemed to be absorbed into the stone but she knew the blood was being converted into the energy needed to mark the stone and the ward magic as hers and hers alone. Bill handed her a cloth to clean the wound which healed with a flicker of blue energy. He magically burned the cloth. She knew that blood was a powerful spell component and it wouldn't do to have her blood fall into nefarious hands. Vernon never knew but she incinerated her tampons every month rather than flushing them or throwing them away.
He handed her a leather bound book with a quill. The cover of the book was embossed with the house address. She opened it to the first page. Her full name was already written in it with the notation of Mistress of the House.
"You can now add Harry and Dudley as residents. That will let them through the wards. Harry might feel a change but he should be used to going through wards," Bill explained.
"What about Harry's owl?"
"You can add a category for message animals but since you're in a muggle neighborhood and you're looking to protect Harry, I'd advise to just add his owl's name and then check on getting a magical mail redirect. That way even magically delivered mail will look like it came by muggle post. And Gringotts will check for spells and what not."
She wrote in Dudley and Harry as residents and added Hedwig's name as well.
Bill handed her a small pamphlet. "This lists the various categories the wards will recognize. Most of the guest ones are verbal so you don't have to write it all out. The front gate has a magical lock so if someone comes to the gate and you want to invite them in, you have to go to the gate to do it."
It was all things her father had told her about when teaching her ward magic. When the boys were back in the house she would consider what privileges they would have to invite guests in. At this moment she didn't see a need for them to have guests in if she wasn't present.
She felt the wards react to something.
Bill headed to the stairs, taking them two at a time. "That was an attempted magical breach!"
She ran after him.
He stopped in the middle of the living room, rummaged through his pockets and pulled out a necklace with a crystal hanging from it. "This is an amulet to protect you from legilimancy. Mind reading."
She put in on and tucked the crystal in her neckline.
Bill peeked out the front window. "Oh, this is weird. Glad the wards are done. That's Headmaster Dumbledore. What the hell is he doing here?"
She looked out to see an old man with long hair and a long beard with ribbons woven into it. He was wearing a fuchsia velvet suit that may have been in fashion during Lord Byron's time. But she doubted it.
"The neighbors will ignore him, right?"
"The neighbors won't notice how he just magically appeared in front of the house, but there's no way they're going to ignore an old man dressed like that."
Dumbledore was rattling the front gate trying to get it to open as Petunia opened the front door.
"Who are you and why are you trying to break my gate?" she demanded. She could see the ward in front of him flare.
"Don't look him in the eyes," Bill advised from inside the house. "He tried to cast something."
"Petunia, my dear girl," Dumbledore said. Petunia guessed he was trying to sound innocent and grandfatherly. He just sounded patronizing and more than a little creepy. "I just came to check on Harry. Is he here?"
"You haven't answered my questions. Who are you and why are you trying to break my front gate?"
Dumbledore looked puzzled. "I'm Professor Albus Dumbledore. I'm Harry's headmaster. I'm worried about him. Do you know your front gate is broken?"
"My front gate has a lock on it," she said. "My nephew is out catching up with some old school friends. If you have something to say to him, you can say it to me."
"I'm afraid I can't," Dumbledore said. His expression had shifted to one of fake sadness. Even a three year old would have done a better job of faking being sad. "There are rules…"
"Ah, yes," Petunia scoffed. "You have rules about telling parents and guardians about what goes on in your exclusive school for gifted children. Does the Board of Education know about those rules? Does Child Protective Services know you abandoned an injured orphaned one year old on a front porch on Halloween night? Did you even bother to check that we were home that night?"
"Of course I knew you were home."
"But you couldn't be bothered to ring the door bell to wake us up? You couldn't be bothered to hand Harry to us in person and explain the situation? My sister and her husband were murdered by a madman and all you did was leave us a note!
"Mister Dumbledore, if you need to talk to my nephew it will be in my presence or the presence of another adult who I will designate. You will not be alone with him."
"My dear girl, I'm his headmaster…"
"I am not now, nor have I ever been your 'dear girl'," Petunia stated with a sneer. "And if I see you in this neighborhood again without prior notification I will notify the authorities that you are stalking my nephew and I have to assume for nefarious reasons."
Dumbledore vanished with a crack.
Petunia walked back into the house and closed the door. Bill was staring at her and she realized she was shaking.
"Want me to fix some tea?"
"I'd rather have something a lot stronger," she admitted. "But we need to get back to Gringotts."
"And we need to be seen leaving," Bill said. "Your neighbors had to have heard you yelling at the crazy guy." They headed to the end of the street. One of the neighbors waved and walked over to their fence. "Petunia, are you okay? Who was that crazy person?"
"He claims he's Harry's headmaster," Petunia explained. "At that special gifted school Harry's parents went to in Scotland. But finally meeting him, I'm not sure sending Harry there is a good idea. Right now I'm hoping Smeltings has an opening for him." She pretended to just now notice Bill. "Oh, this is Mister Weasley. He's with the company that installed the new alarm system in the house. With all the stuff in the news, one can't be too careful about protecting your family."
"Too true," the other woman said as Bill handed the woman a business card. "I hope Vernon's going to be okay," she said as Petunia and Bill started walking away.
"I hope so, too."
She and Bill rounded the corner and he pulled out another key shaped Portkey. They were whisked to an empty room at the bank.
"How much about what you said to him about Harry… Did he really just leave Harry on your doorstep that night? I mean, most people believe the shit in the books that can't possibly be real, but I also know the headmaster has told people that Harry was safe with relatives and he was personally overseeing his magical training."
"Today was the first time I have ever met Albus Dumbledore. You heard him admit he knew we were in the house that night and I very much suspect he knew we couldn't come to the door because he'd already been in the house to stun and curse us. And as for magical training, I guarantee Dumbledore hasn't seen Harry from the night he was dropped off to the day he arrived at Hogwarts."
"Why would Professor Dumbledore do something like that?" Bill asked.
"I'd suggest asking him but I doubt he'll give you a straight answer."
They walked together to the conference room. Dudley and Harry were finishing off sandwiches. Griphook and Grimaxe looked as frazzled as Petunia felt.
"The wards are up and working," Bill announced. "And the first thing that happened was Professor Dumbledore tried to apparate into the house. When that failed he tried to cast through the wards, in a muggle neighborhood, in front of muggles. Luckily the 'notice no magic' wards held just fine. The neighbors think he was a dotty old codger with possible connections to the Potter murders." He handed each of the boys their emergency Portkeys. "Keep it on you. Grab it in your fist hard and it will take you to the basement of the house. These are individually keyed so don't mix them up."
"What did Professor Dumbledore want?" Harry asked.
Petunia answered. "He claimed he was worried about you and wanted to know where you were. I told him you were out reconnecting with school friends. What I think he wanted was to get in and disable the new wards."
"Why would he want to do that?" Harry asked, looking around at the adults.
"Harry, Dumbledore is the one who left you on our porch in freezing weather in the middle of the night," Petunia said. "He admitted in front of witnesses he knew Vernon and I were in the house that night but he never bothered to wake us up and hand you over safely. We know he knew you were injured but never had a healer look at you. We know he placed bindings and curses on you. What sort of man does that to a helpless infant?"
"Everybody says he's such a great man."
"Great men don't curse babies," Petunia stated. "I told him if he wanted to talk to you another adult I approved would have to be with you. He is not to be alone with you under any circumstances. Mister Weasley witnessed the conversation." She looked around the table. "Do I need to retain an attorney to get a restraining order against him or can Gingotts handle that?"
"I have been told that the curse placed on your husband was an initiating factor in the attack on our employee," Grimaxe stated. "That curse was placed by Albus Dumbledore as shown by magical signature. Albus Dumbledore also cursed two Gringotts account holders. Gringotts has other issues with Albus Dumbledore including illicitly obtaining and using vault keys belonging to an orphaned minor."
Griphook took up the story. "He came into the bank while you were recovering from the cleansing. He demanded that Gringotts rectify its 'mistake' of rekeying the Potter vaults. He claimed as Heir Potter's magical guardian he had rights to all the Potter vaults. When told that our records indicated Heir Potter had a magical guardian and Albus Dumbledore wasn't the guardian of record, he attempted to attack the teller who told him that. Albus Dumbledore is now banned from Gringotts bank. His accounts are frozen pending investigations of embezzlement. Considering his attacks on both the body and the property of Heir Potter, and his attacks on Heir Potter's family members, we can certainly fold a restraining order into our list of grievances."
"Thank you."
Bill cleared his throat. "I need to get back to my office…"
"Curse Breaker Weasley, if you would stay," Griphook said. "One of the items under investigation concerns your family. A monthly stipend from the main Potter account of one hundred galleons to your youngest brother Ronald that began September 1st last year authorized by Albus Dumbledore."
"This is the first I've heard of it," Bill said. Harry who looked positively stricken as Bill turned to him. "Ron told me you two were friends. I know our mom was pushing Ron to befriend you when you got to Hogwarts since coming from outside the British wizarding world, you wouldn't know anybody. But why would Dumbledore pay Ron to befriend you?"
"To overcome a couple of curses," Harry said with a sigh. "Ron and Hermione are the only people who stay around me. Everyone else who starts to be friends… a couple weeks and they can't stand to be near me. Even the teachers just tolerate me. Snape outright hates me. McGonagall tries, but making me the youngest seeker in years doesn't help people to like me. Not when she broke rules to do it."
"Honored managers," Bill said formally to the two goblins. "I need to bring this to attention of my father. Four of my brothers attended Hogwarts last school year. It has occurred to me that they need to be checked for compulsions and mind altering potions. I live away from my family so I may not have noticed behavioral changes in them."
"If Ron's had compulsions put on him, maybe Hermione has too," Harry suggested. "It wouldn't hurt to check."
Hermione Granger is also listed as having a stipend authorized by Dumbledore," Griphook told them. "I believe we can ignore the possibility of compulsions being involved in the stipend to Dumbledore. He's been getting two hundred galleons a month for the past ten years, allegedly for magical tutoring. Since we now know that never happened, we can claim those funds back. We should also be able to claim back the five hundred galleons a month that has been donated to the Order of the Phoenix for 'war efforts' for the past ten years. The war was declared ended when Voldemort was declared dead. Those donations should have stopped then. I can only assume my predecessor was compromised in some way to allow that to happen."
Griphook seemed to notice Bill still standing in the room. He waved his hand. "Go, contact both parties involved. The sooner this is handled the better. I will notify your supervisors."
Bill Weasley checked the time as he headed for the employee outgoing floo. His father would be home for dinner by now. He filled his carryall with cleansing potions and pretreated health evaluation parchments. The cleansing potions would clear most simple potion and compulsion effects. The potion was something he'd frequently used on himself and his teammates in the field. Cursed objects frequently had compulsions on them and over time he'd learned to detect them in himself and his teammates.
It sickened him to think someone might have placed compulsions on his family.
The family was seated at the dinner table when he stepped out of the fireplace. He cast a quick scourgify on himself to get rid of the soot.
"Bill!" his mother called. "Is it Sunday?"
"I need to talk to Dad," Bill said. His mother was setting a place at the table for him. With Molly Weasley food was love. It was a wonder they weren't all as fat as Harry's cousin.
"Not until you've eaten," Molly insisted.
"It's urgent, Mom. Gringotts business." He beckoned to his father who left the table, a curious expression on his broad face.
"Outside?" Arthur Weasley suggested.
Once outside Bill handed his father one of the parchments. "I need to test the family for compulsions, or worse."
"Why?" Arthur asked. He used Bill's knife to get two drops of blood for the parchment.
The parchment wrote out three lines: compulsed loyalty to Dumbledore, compulsed loyalty to the Order of the Phoenix, and a compulsion to ignore someone named Peter Pettigrew. He handed his father a cleansing potion and a large piece of chocolate."If this doesn't take care of them, we'll get a cleansing at Gringotts."
"We can't ask you to pay for that," Arthur argued.
Bill shrugged. "Considering why I'm doing these checks, either Gringotts or the person who set the compulsions will be paying. But before we go back in, I need to know if you know anything about a hundred galleon stipend being paid to Ron that started when the school year started."
"Your mother might know, but she never said anything about it. I would have remembered it. That's a lot of money. Am I allowed to ask who is giving that much money to a twelve year old boy?"
Bill paused. Gringotts zealously guarded its clients' privacy but he'd been present while two account managers openly discussed it in front of him and tasked him with a job.
"The Potter accounts are being audited. There were discrepancies that point to embezzlement that's been happening since the Potter's were murdered."
"You're saying someone went into that house and stole their vault keys and Gringotts didn't know?"
"There are ways a powerful wizard can fool the keys... or a teller. The money being given to Ron came from the Potter vaults and his guardians of record didn't authorize it. Plus, just so you know, Dumbledore was banned from Gringotts today for falsely claiming to be Harry Potter's magical guardian." Bill didn't mention that Dumbledore had attacked a teller.
"Dumbledore isn't his magical guardian?"
"Dumbledore is the magical guardian of muggleborns attending Hogwarts. Harry Potter isn't a muggleborn."
"But he's an orphan with no magical relatives…"
"Just because Dumbledore claims he is doesn't make it true."
"Arthur, Bill, your dinner's getting cold," Molly yelled from the house.
They headed back in and Arthur took his seat at the table. Bill stood back, leaning against the wall. "I ate at work," he lied.
"Bill," Molly began, waving her wand to warm Arthur's plate. "I went into town today to get some things for Harry since he's going to be spending the summer with us, and I was told the money Ron's been getting from Harry hadn't been deposited and then when I tried to use Harry's account key, they threatened to arrest me for using a misappropriated vault key!"
The twins started yelling, asking why Ron was getting money and they weren't and why Ron was getting money from Potter at all.
"Because I'm his best mate and people would notice if he bought me stuff all the time," Ron defended himself. "Money's easier to hide."
The twins just stared at him.
"Molly, dear, why did you have Harry Potter's vault key?" Arthur asked.
She looked at him as though she thought the answer was obvious. "Harry knows we don't have a lot and he certainly would want to pay his own way."
"When was it decided Harry Potter would spend the summer at the Burrow?" Bill asked Ron. He had a sinking feeling in his gut that Harry might not know of this decision. Ron hadn't stopped shoving food into his mouth.
"I dunno," Ron said. "Before we got on the train." He screwed his face up in thought. "Harry said he wished he didn't have to go back to his muggle relatives. So I invited him here. I sent him a letter asking when we should pick him up but he hasn't gotten back to me. I guess those muggles got the letter before he did."
"Or he hasn't been home to get your letter, or there's a redirect on his mail because he's a celebrity and celebrities get threats and inappropriate offers…"
Arthur was evaluating his wife. "Molly, who gave you Harry Potter's vault key?"
"Well, Harry, of course."
"And when did he do that?" Arthur asked.
She just stared at him. Then she started shaking, eyes rolling up into her head.
"Dad, get her and Ron to Gringotts Healer Bay now! I'll follow with the rest of the kids," Bill ordered.
Arthur followed his eldest son's orders and in seconds they were out of the house.
"What's going on?" Percy demanded. Ginny was crying in fear. The twins just stared at him.
"Mom's been cursed," Bill stated as he grabbed his baby sister and opened the floo. "Gringotts Healer Bay!"
He arrived in the Healer Bay reception area to find goblin healers taking his mother away to be examined. Ron was screaming about his pet rat Scabbers and his father had his wand drawn standing over a scruffy overweight man who smelled of rodent.
"Call the Aurors," Arthur ordered. "Ron's pet rat is an animagus and he's been hiding in our house and sleeping in my children's beds for years."
"Who the hell is he?" Bill demanded, setting Ginny down.
"He looks like Peter Pettigrew," a man said from the door. He flashed an auror badge. "But Peter Pettigrew was supposed to have been murdered ten plus years ago. This will put a serious crimp in the plans of people who want to keep Sirius Black in Azkaban." He pulled the rat man to his feet, clapping magic suppressing cuffs on him and exposing the Dark Mark on the man's left arm. Then he led Pettigrew out of the reception area. Bill could see goblin guards accompanying the auror and his prisoner. Aurors were rarely allowed into Gringotts except as clients. An auror in the employee section of Gringotts meant something big and probably bad was happening.
Percy and the twins finally arrived, stumbling over one another as they came out of the floo.
"I demand to know what's going on!" Percy yelled, catching sight of Bill and Arthur.
"That man is the pet rat you gave Ron," Arthur told him. "Peter Pettigrew has been hiding in our house for years. As for your mother, she's been cursed and the rest of us need to be checked. We have no idea what that Death Eater may have done to us."
"Death Eater?" Percy squeaked.
A goblin healer walked in. Bill knew most of the healers on sight. As a curse breaker landing in the infirmary was an expected job hazard. This one was Ironmace. The healer spotted Ron. "You're next. Come along."
"He took Scabbers. That man took my rat…" Ron was repeating.
"We don't allow rats here," Ironmace huffed. "They are dirty vicious creatures that carry disease."
Bill noticed that Ironmace didn't mention that rats were considered food by the goblins. Heaven forbid a goblin child consider one for a pet.
"Not Scabbers," Ron protested as he was led away. "Scabbers was clean and he was nice…"
Arthur shook his head. "I should go with him."
Bill nodded. He knew he still had to contact Hermione Granger's parents but he absolutely didn't trust the twins actually follow instructions to stay put and stay quiet. He resigned himself to the fact that he wasn't going to see his apartment tonight as he pulled out his phone and keyed in the Grangers' number.
A woman picked up.
"Mrs. Granger?"
"Yes…"
"Hermione Granger's mother?"
"Who are you and what is this about?" she demanded.
"My name is William Weasley, I work for Gringotts bank and I'm Ron Weasley's brother…"
"Do you want to talk to Hermione?" She sounded stressed.
"Actually no," he said. "It came to my parents attention that Ron has been getting monthly payments from an account belonging to another Hogwarts student. When he was asked about it, his response was more than a little odd. We're having him checked for magical influences."
Mrs. Granger gasped. Then: "Hermione's last account statement came to the house and there was a lot more in there than there should have been. Monthly deposits to her account. When I asked her about it she got snippy about me looking at her private correspondence. I'm her mother, I'm responsible for her until she comes of age. Then she saw there was no deposit for this month and she got hysterical about Harry forgetting her after all she'd done for him."
"Mrs. Granger. First, Harry had absolutely nothing to do with those payments. The bank is investigating who got access to his accounts and has been transferring money out to various people. But neither he nor his guardians had anything to to with it.
"Two, do you know where Gringotts bank is?"
"Off of Charring Cross Road, I think. Behind an old pub, sort of."
Bill gave her address of the Leaky Caludron. "Hermione needs to be brought in to bank as soon a possible to be checked for illegal magical influences." He turned and yelled a Percy. "Do you know how to get into Diagon Alley?"
"Uh, yes, but…"
"That was a yes or no question, Percy."
"Yes."
"I want you to go and stand in front of the Leaky Cauldron and wait for the Grangers. I assume you can recognize Hermione Granger?"
"Of course!" Percy sniffed in annoyance. "But who are you to give me orders?"
"I figure there are two ways to run this, little brother. You go wait for them or I stun and bind you and the twins while I go wait for them with Ginny." He pulled his wand out, pushing a bit of magic into it so it sparked. "Now which is it?"
"You wouldn't dare!"
The twins echoed Percy's protest.
"Stupefy." Bill stunned the twins. They dropped like sacks of potatoes. He turned back to Percy. "You were saying?"
"I'll tell mother!"
Bill's wand sparked.
"Okay! Wait for the Grangers in front of the Leaky Cauldron and them bring them to the bank," Percy stuttered.
"Tell the guard it's in regard to the Potter investigation and they need to be checked."
"The Potter investigation… right."
Bill called to one of the guards outside the room, giving the guard instructions to take Percy to the bank entrance and watch for his return with the Granger family.
He returned his attention to his phone. "Sorry about that. Someone will be waiting at that address to guide you in. Hermione will recognize him."
"We're on our way."
She sounded terrified.
Petunia was tired. Too much had happened in too short a time. And the day wasn't done yet. Things were happening around them. Things she and Harry had initiated without know it.
The Black account manager had sent a note telling them that there were no records of Sirius Black even being questioned about the deaths he was accused of. There had been no investigation and no trial. The man had been sent to Azkaban pending a trial. But the reports in the wizarding news of the time had stated he'd been found guilty at his trial.
Then there was the fact that Black's alleged wizard victim was found alive at Gringotts having been brought in by a patient's family in his animagus form, an old rat missing a front toe.
Madame Bones, new head of the DMLE, was reported to be furious at the apparent miscarriage of justice.
Sharpaxe's note indicated he was hopeful that Black would be exonerated and released in a few days.
Griphook explained that as a rule, account managers didn't mind if their wizard clients didn't make decisions concerning their investments. Amateurs always made a mess of things. But it was nice if the client was available to sign papers if needed. He gathered that the Black accounts had done well in Black's absence, but could have done much better had Black been available to approve recommended changes.
The monthly stipend that Petunia and Vernon should have been getting to help care for Harry had been traced as eventually going to one Arabella Figg. Petunia knew the woman as a neighbor and occasional baby sitter for families in the neighborhood. Figg was the prototypical childless cat lady and rumor had it she illegally bred them. It was suspected that it was her cats that had decimated the song bird population in the area. Petunia remembered there being a lot of song birds when she and Vernon moved into the house.
The accounting of the Potter accounts revealed that Arabella Figg was also living rent free in a house owned by the Potter estate. The purchase date was just before the Potters' murder.
The accounting also listed a house in Godric's Hollow as being a rental that was making a decent income.
"I thought the Potter house in Godric's Hollow was destroyed when the Potters were murdered," Petunia said.
"Different address," Griphook stated. "The house that was destroyed that night is listed as having belonged to Lily Jane Evans. The previous owners were her parents, Martin and Rose Evans."
Petunia admitted it all made sense. Her parents had gifted her the rental property they'd had on Privet Drive as a wedding present. She and Vernon moved into it. Lily had been been given the one in Godric's Hollow. The lawyers had tied both properties to prenuptial agreements that the properties could not be deeded to their respective spouses. Her parents had tolerated Vernon, but hadn't especially liked him. It was the same for James Potter. They tolerated him for Lily's sake, but didn't like or trust him.
As much as Petunia had wanted to keep the family home in Spinner's End, she and Vernon hadn't had the means to buy Lily's half of the assessed value of the property. So the property had been sold and the proceeds split, despite James Potter's insistence that since the house was in a magical area, all the proceeds should go to the magical daughter and not shared with the muggle one.
Luckily Gringotts estate lawyers put him in his place and executed Rose Evan's will according to her instructions.
"We have notarized copies of the Potter wills," Griphook continued. "They were never executed and were illegally sealed by the Chief Warlock of the Wizangamot and the Minister for Magic of the time. That was Millicent Bagnold. The Potter account manager at the time is dead, so we cannot ask him why he allowed such a miscarriage to occur."
"Can we read the wills now?" Petunia asked.
Griphook unrolled the first parchment. "The husband's will is fairly standard. In the event his death precedes his wife's all assets will go to her. Otherwise all assets will go to his son, Harry James Potter except for a stipend of 100 galleons a month and title to the Potter property in Godric's Hollow to go to one Remus Lupin for the remainder of his life. In the event both precede him, all assets except for the allotment to Remus Lupin should go into a trust for training and equipment for the Auror service on the proviso that all aurors be checked monthly for loyalty and magical interference.
"His will states that under no circumstances should custody of his son be given to his wife's relatives. He lists Sirius Orion Black as his first choice of his son's guardian and Minerva McGonagall as second choice. There is a note that Peter Pettigrew was the secret Keeper of the Fidelius Charm."
He unrolled the second parchment. "The wife's will appears to be the same, except for the choice of recommended guardians and a separate bequest of her personal property, including her house in Godric's Hollow and her portion of the Evans-Potter potion fees to her sister, Petunia Marie Evans. Lily Evans Potter wanted her parents to be her son's guardians with Amelia Bones as second choice. On physically checking the Potter vaults we found a letter addressed to Petunia Marie Evans." He handed Petunia the letter. "We have checked it for curses and compulsions and confirmed its authenticity."
Dear Petunia,
If you are reading this then He Who Should Not Be Named found us and we are dead. I can only pray that the protections I plan for Harry will be enough to save his life. Dumbledore doesn't know what I plan to do and I don't trust him. He's the one who suggested Peter Pettigrew as the Secret Keeper. If I am dead, then the fault lies with chiefly with Dumbledore.
I want to apologize for the hurt I have given you and Mom and Dad over the past years. It is only since Harry's birth that my mind has been clear enough to recognize how I hurt all of you and how blind I was to James Potter's true nature. I don't dare let him know that I realize that I'd been potioned. Or maybe he won't care. He has his heir and he has his friends. He doesn't need or want a wife, just a nanny and wet nurse for his son and heir.
I also want to apologize that I cannot recommend you to be Harry's guardian. I know that James cursed you and Vernon. He has refused to tell me what the curse was so but I believe Dumbledore knows the curse used. It's not something James or Sirius could have come up with by themselves. So if you are reading this, go to Gringotts to be cleansed. Drug Vernon senseless if you have to but do it. It may save your life and his.
Your loving sister.
Petunia sobbed. Poor Lily and poor Harry. Lily had known she'd been potioned but couldn't escape those who had potioned her, those who had taken way her family and her choices and possibly her life.
"Mom?" Dudley asked softly. Petunia wasn't one who cried in front of people but she was crying now. Dudley put an arm around her. Harry repeated the action on her other side. He was crying too.
"I'm sorry, Aunt Petunia," Harry sobbed.
"I know. But none of this is your fault," Petunia said, rubbing his back. "You're a victim, too… And more important, you're a survivor. You're a survivor of the night that mad man killed your parents. You're a survivor of the curses Dumbledore put on all of us. We Evanses are survivors. And we will keep surviving too, even if it's just to spite people like Dumbledore and his toadies."
She wiped her eyes, releasing the boys. "Has anyone else read this?"
"It was keyed to her blood relatives," Griphook stated. "Impressive bit of charm work."
"This was written after the Fidelius Charm was cast. She said that Dumbledore was aware that Pettigrew was the Secret Keeper and was the one who suggested him. She also said she was aware she'd been potioned."
The goblin looked at her in shocked silence. Then he spoke. "I will call the Evans account manager back in. He should know about your sister's personal assets."
Bill waited with the Grangers as they waited for word on their daughter. They weren't as disturbed by the presence of goblins as he had assumed they would be. But then Mrs. Granger had known the rough location of Gringotts in London. Obviously Hermione's parents had been to Diagon Alley at some time, and he was more prejudiced against muggles than he'd believed about himself.
He was also waiting for word on Ron and their mom. Percy and the twins had only had minor compulsions placed on them. Loyalty to Dumbledore, hatred of Slytherins, tolerance towards Harry Potter, and ignore Peter Pettigrew. A simple Gringotts cleansing potion had taken care of them. Bill doubted they could even detect a difference in their thought patterns. His brothers had finally understood how serious the situation was and were sitting in a corner quietly murmuring to one another.
Their father walked in. He looked like he'd aged ten years. "Ron is in recovery. It appears he'd been obliviated more than once and given false memories. They aren't sure how his mind will reconcile his real memories with the false ones, or if he'll ever recover the real memories."
He sobbed. "Your mother may never recover. She was under an Imperious curse. She was supposed to gain Harry Potter's trust to get him away from his aunt and uncle so Dumbledore could come to the Burrow undetected and meddle with his mind."
"But mom said Harry's muggle relatives were abusing him," Fred said, or was it George?
"The goblin healers told me they found no evidence that Harry was physically abused or neglected. He's small for his age because he simply is," Arthur stated shakily. "And even if it were true, how could she know? She's never met his aunt and uncle and she'd only seen Harry himself at the train station. Did Harry tell any of you that he was afraid to go home, that he was abused?"
"He never talked about his family," Percy said.
"Except at Halloween," Fred said. "He was upset that everybody thought he should have been celebrating the day his parents died like everybody else was."
"But why was Harry seeing a healer here?" George asked.
Bill answered. "Because something happened that made his aunt worried enough to have him checked out. And she doesn't trust St. Mungo's. And then something showed up that made Harry's account manager think Ron and Miss Granger also needed to be checked."
"The issue with the Potter accounts,' Percy said. "The money Ron was getting to be Harry's friend."
"The money that neither Harry nor his guardians knew anything about," Hermione's dad added.
"Yeah, the goblins have really strict laws about theft in general and embezzlement in particular," Bill stated. "The honor of the Goblin nation is at stake and they take that very seriously."
"When Lily Evans Potter went into hiding, she sent me her vault key with instructions to place it in the Potter vault," Grimaxe explained, pulling a vault key from a leather bag, taking care not to touch the key itself as he set it on the table. "She warned she had placed blood wards on it to keep anyone aside from her blood relatives from using it to access her vault."
Petunia touched the key with trepidation. The key felt cold to her hand, but then warmed as though it recognized her. It glowed green for a moment.
"The key has accepted you as blood," Grimaxe said. "As per the instructions in Lily Evan's will, the contents of her vault are yours and the title on her house in Godric's Hollow is being transferred to your name. Be advised that the Ministry for Magic has taken possession of the property and turned it into a shrine. However they failed to submit any paperwork establishing their right to the property. I can, with your permission, begin proceedings against the Ministry to reclaim the property. I can also transfer the contents of your sister's vault to your vault."
"Yes, go ahead," Petunia said. "And Manager Griphook, also cancel any further payments to Mrs. Figg and demand back rent from her. If she refuses, start proceedings to evict her. Also, have you checked if anything besides money was taken from the Potter vaults while Dumbledore had access to them?"
"A high quality pensieve, and a number of rare books, including the Potter Grimoire."
"Can those be recovered?"
"Yes."
"What about the money that went to Ron and Hermione?" Harry asked.
"Real friends can't be bought, and fake ones will disappear as soon as the money dries up," Petunia said. She didn't mean to sound harsh but what Dumbledore did was wrong on so many levels. "But we should talk to their parents," she added. "They may not be able to return the money and I don't want them hurt by what that he did."
Arthur Weasley was surprised to receive a summons to meet with Harry Potter's account manager and Harry's muggle aunt. The Grangers were summoned as well. He'd overheard one of the healers tell them that their daughter had come through the cleansing ritual with no apparent ill effects and was now resting. Their relief was palpable and he was glad for them.
The healers were still waiting for Molly and Ron to regain consciousness.
A goblin guard led Arthur and the Grangers to a conference room. Three black suited Goblins were sitting at the broad table along with a stern dissatisfied looking woman dressed in wizarding robes and Harry Potter. Another boy sat in a chair against the stone wall.
One of the seated goblins gestured for them to take seats. "I am Griphook, the Potter account manager. This is Kurnot. He as been temporarily assigned as the Granger account manager. And this is Brodkar, temporarily assigned as the Weasley account manager. Their jobs are to assist you to navigate the legal issues we will be discussing."
"And what legal issues are those?" Mr. Granger asked.
"Ronald Bilius Weasley and Hermione Jean Granger have both received money that was illegally taken from the estate of James and Lily Potter," Griphook answered. "The total amount given to each was 900 galleons."
"How much is than in pounds?" Mrs. Granger asked.
"4481 pounds and 99 pence at the current exchange rate," Kurnot said. "There is is just enough in your daughter's vault to cover it."
Mrs. Granger gasped. "Thank god. You can transfer it back to where it belongs?"
Kurnot nodded.
"Please do it. And why weren't we getting her bank statements?" Mr. Granger asked.
"There is a notation that her magical guardian asked for her statements to be redirected to her location, which was Hogwarts school."
"But she's a minor and we're the one's responsible for her finances," Mr. Granger stated hotly. "How dare her magical guardian keep that information from us!"
"And this the first we've heard of a magical guardian. What is that and who is that?" Mrs. Granger said.
"A magical guardian is a wizard or witch assigned to safeguard a magical child's magical needs, specifically those who have no magical relatives to watch out for them, such as orphans and muggleborns," the stern looking woman said. "Since your daughter has no known magical relatives, the headmaster of her school is her magical guardian. That is Albus Dumbledore.
"By the way, I'm Petunia Evans Dursley, Harry Potter's physical guardian."
Arthur and the Grangers nodded to her at the introduction.
The Arthur bit the bullet. "What about Ron?"
Brodkar pushed a parchment over to Arthur. His stomach clenched as he read the statement. "My wife spent all of it and more? On what?"
Brodkar looked over the account statements. "Quidditch equipment, new clothes for the children, potions equipment and ingredients."
"My wife has always handled the finances, but she's always talked to me when she planned to spend money," Arthur told them.
"Mr. Weasley," Brodkar said quietly. "Your wife has been under an Imperious curse since before the start of the school year. The healers are hopeful once the other curses have been removed she'll be able to over come the curse herself. If not..."
"If not, the curse can only end if the caster wills it or they die," Arthur completed. "Albus Dumbledore used an unforgivable curse on my wife, cast loyalty and hate spells on my children, used memory spells on my youngest son from which he may not recover. If Molly doesn't recover, as Mother Magic is my witness…" He reached for his wand.
"Stop!" Mrs. Durlsey ordered.
Arthur stopped and stared at her.
"I think we all understand your intentions," she continued. "But losing your magic or dying at Dumbledore's hand isn't the way to protect your children. He has egregiously harmed all of our families. And I'm positive we aren't the only ones. Dumbledore was complicit in the betrayal of the Potters. He also illegally sealed their wills so they couldn't be properly executed and claimed to be Harry's magical guardian when Harry's oath sworn godfather was, and is, still alive."
"He claims he's the Leader of the Light," Arthur protested weakly. "He defeated Grindelwald."
"Light doesn't mean good, and dark doesn't mean evil," Mr. Granger said. She looked to Mrs. Dursley. "What do you have in mind?"
"First, the money situation he put the Weasley's in." She turned to Harry. "The Potter accounts have more than sufficient income to forgive the money Mrs. Weasley spent. We could call it a loan or prepayment for services to be rendered."
Harry nodded.
"Irregular," Griphook commented. "But doable."
"What services are you suggesting?" Arthur asked. The woman was supposed to be a muggle but there was something very goblin about her.
"Hermione Granger needs a magical guardian who is not Dumbledore. And both Harry and Hermione need to be able to go someplace where underage magic won't be detected, where they can practice their spells and flying."
"What about Dumbledore getting to them?" Mrs. Granger asked.
Arthur smiled in relief. Maybe Dumbledore's stolen 'gifts' weren't going to bankrupt the family. "My oldest son works here as a curse breaker. I'm sure I can count on him to help me edit the ward permissions to keep Dumbledore out. In fact, I will insist on it.
"And I would be honored to become Hermione's magical guardian. We can talk later about what a magical guardian does and does not do." He made a mental note to actual research the subject.
"Now," Mrs. Dursley said looking at the goblins. "We talk about what we're going to do about Headmaster Dumbledore."
Griphook grinned. A grinning goblin was always disconcerting. Their teeth were sharp and they had a lot of teeth.
"Madame Evans, Mr. Weasley, Mr. and Mrs. Granger, how can Gringotts Bank help you with this inconvenient and reprehensible person who has also raised the ire of Gringotts Bank?"