Chapter 4: Business at Gringotts

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Harry slept like a log. Nothing woke him, not even when the shouting woke everyone else in the house. He had wards around his bed and Kreacher kept everyone else from coming to his room and bothering him. Not even Sirius could get into that room. The Boy-Who-Lived was not disturbed for any reason, thanks to the old decrepit house elf.

The arguing raged on for hours and Dumbledore left a disheartened man. His Order of the Pheonix was a broken group. The only ones left were his groupies. Those like Molly Weasley and Dedalus Diggle. The rest had argued that if they were going to be left in the dark, they wanted nothing to do with the group. Snape, unfortunately, had to stay. He was bound by oaths to protect Harry Potter, and he had to stay close to the headmaster to do so. Or so he thought.

The next morning Harry woke up refreshed and ready to start the day. He got up, did his morning ablutions, went down the stairs and into the kitchen. There he faced the Weasley clan, Hermione, and Sirius. Remus and Tonks were also there, and there was a lot of tension in the air. It was so thick you could cut it with a steak knife, or a finely cast cutting charm.

"Good morning, everyone," he said, a bright smile on his face. He sat next to Hermione and started serving himself up some of the pancakes, which were piping hot, lathering them with butter and syrup. There were even some strawberries to be had, so he grabbed some of them as well. Oh, and some whipped cream, yum. He either didn't notice the tension or was flat out ignoring it. This was going to be a great breakfast for Harry. He hummed while he doctored his meal, smiling a brilliant smile, like he didn't have a care in the world.

"Good morning, Harry," Hermione and Sirius said at the same time. They too were ignoring the tension, or in Sirius's case egging it on.

"Bugger off, Potter," Ron said, only to be hit by his mother with a wooden spoon on top of his head. "Ow, Mum," he complained, grabbing his aching head. She always hit him in the same spot with that blasted spoon of hers.

"Ronald Bilius Weasley," Mrs. Weasley stated with a lot of vigor. "How dare you use that type of language around me and your sister!" she shouted, placing her free hand on her hip and glaring at her youngest son with a lot of contempt. "I raised you better than that," she said, looking down on him with such disappointment.

"What? You didn't hear what he said to me," Ron protested, rubbing the sore spot on his head. "He thinks he's better than me now," he stated, looking at Harry with disdain.

"I don't care," she said, brandishing her spoon. "You will not speak like that again. Do you hear me? I won't have you speaking vulgar language." She glared at the twins, who were laughing at Ron's discomfort. "You two aren't much better," she accused, pointing a finger in their direction.

The twins ignored her and continued to snicker.

"Yes, Mum," the sullen teen said, slumping in his chair. He was never going to live this down. Not only was Hermione witnessing it, but Potter was too. He was sure they were going to spread it around the school that he was a mama's boy.

"Yeah, well you're not my mum, so I can say this, fuck off right back at you, Weasley," Harry said with a shit-eating grin, making sure to look directly at Ron when he said it. He wanted to make sure the correct Weasley got the message.

"Aren't you going to say anything to him?" Molly asked Sirius when the man didn't discipline Harry for the cussing. She always knew the man was a terrible guardian for the boy.

"Like what? Good job?" Sirius asked, in all seriousness. "He's a teenager, Molly, they cuss," he said, like it was a given fact. He never understood why people tried to stop teenagers from using profanity. They were going to use it whether you told them to or not. Telling them not to, just made them use it even more. He knows that's what made him have a huge potty mouth as a teen. The more he got beat for it, the more colorful his language got.

"Harry, you really shouldn't use such language around members of the opposite sex," Remus stated, looking at Harry with disappointment.

That got Tonks to look at him funny. She had quite the mouth on her and she didn't care who she cussed around.

"Why? Women cuss just as much, if not more so, than men," Harry said, eating some of his breakfast. When he finished his bite he added, "I know for a fact that Lavender Brown cusses like a sailor." That was a fact. If there was something in the Witch Weekly that she didn't like, that girl could peel paint with her language. Parvati was constantly on her about it. It never did any good, but it was one of the things they fought over.

"He's right," Hermione stated, patting her lips with a napkin. "Saying that women shouldn't, and don't, use profanity is an outdated concept. More and more women do so openly and without prejudice." She nodded her head in agreement with Harry's statement and continued to eat her pancakes.

"You lot need to come to the 20th century," Harry said, looking at them like they were way out of time. "Your ideas of propriety are askew. It puts you out of sync with the muggles and makes you look like idiots." He looked at them like they were untrained monkeys trying to put together a rocket. Well, that wasn't fair, but not far off either.

"Still, it's not proper," Remus tried again. He looked at the older generation for backup and got it, but the younger kids were all looking like they disagreed. There was quite a gap between the age line this generation. If Harry had anything to do with it, it was going to get larger.

"When you become my dad, you can tell me what's right and wrong. You are not, therefore, you cannot," Harry stated, taking another bite of pancakes, and ignoring the man. He wasn't going to be told what to do by a man he held no respect for.

"I am older than you and wiser," the werewolf said, looking at Harry like he wanted to discipline him.

"You haven't earned the right to talk to me that way. As a matter of fact, you haven't earned the right to speak to me in any fashion other than that of a teacher, and you are no longer one of those, so kindly bugger off," Harry said, taking his last bite, throwing down his napkin on his plate and standing. "Sirius, I have to go to Gringotts. I'll see you later," he said, and started to leave the room.

"You can't leave the house," Molly stated, going to grab the boy before he disappeared again. Albus would be upset if the boy vanished again. They didn't need another manhunt right now. Not with the Order being so divided. She just couldn't believe her own family wasn't on her side with her. Even her henpecked husband joined the other side. She was going to have to talk to him, for all the good it did her last night.

"I can, and will, go where I please. I am not a prisoner here," Harry stated, moving to evade her grasp.

"We'll go with him, Mum," Fred said, standing and going to Harry. He didn't want a fight to break out. He knew Harry would win and he didn't want to see his mum hurt. Not that he'd seen Harry fight, but it was just a feeling he had.

"Right, we have business at the bank," George stated, joining his twin. He agreed with his brother.

"You're hardly better than he is," she protested, still trying to waylay Harry, who was moving out of her way.

Fred moved in her way and George got in front of Harry and they expertly shuffled the boy out of their mother's grasp. They were pros at evading their mum. "We must be off," they said together, hustling out of the room. "Things to do," they continued, closing the door.

"What are you two up to?" Harry asked the twins when the doors were shut on the kitchen. He liked them well enough, but he knew they were up to something.

"What? We just rescued you," Fred said, looking at him with a tilted head.

"We're not up to anything," a not so innocent George said, also tilting his head in the same direction as his twin. It was eerie how they did that.

"You can't bullshit me," Harry said, looking at the lookalikes, narrowing his eyes.

"We do need to go to the bank," Fred said, moving towards the door.

"We just don't want you fighting with Mum," George stated, following his brother.

"Fine," the Boy-Who-Lived stated, leaving with them. He didn't want to fight with them, his day was going well and so he just left it alone.

They left Grimmauld Place and Disapparated to the Leaky Cauldron from the front porch. From there they made their way to Gringotts. Harry had to employ a Notice-Me-Not Charm so that he would not be mobbed on his way there. There was a lot of scuttlebutt going on about him and his disappearance and where he had been and what he was up to. It had not been reported that he was back yet, so people were still gossiping on what was going on.

He went to the bank and dropped his charm before going in, causing the nearby wizards and witches to gasp in shock. That caused tongues to wag.

"Is it him?"

"Why is he here?"

"When was he found?"

Were some of the questions floating around him. He just ignored them and went to stand in line to see the next available goblin. The line moved quickly as was common in the goblin run bank. They were a no-nonsense type of facility. When it was his turn, he went to the teller and said, "I need to see my account manager, Steelgrip." The name was given to him by his father in the grey space.

"Only the Potters can see him," the teller stated, looking at the boy who didn't quite look like Harry Potter. The Potter boy was depicted to be a scrawny kid with hand-me-down clothes and a prominent scar. This kid was tall and well dressed, and he couldn't see the scar with the well-placed bangs.

"I am Harry Potter," Harry stated, lifting his bangs to show his scar. He knew he was different than the last time he had come to the bank, but damn, had he changed that much?

"I see," the teller stated, pulling out what he needed for a blood test. "If you will submit to a simple blood test, we can get you on your way," the goblin said, holding out a stickpin.

"Sure," Harry said, poking his finger on the pin and letting a drop of blood fall on to a piece of parchment that was given to him.

The name Harry James Potter was written by magic on the parchment and the goblin nodded, pushed a rune on his counter and waved Harry to stand to the side. "Griphook will show you the way," he said as the goblin that Harry knew came to stand by him.

"Hello, Griphook, it's good to see you again," Harry greeted the being who had shown him to his vault the first time he had come to the bank.

"Greetings, Mr. Potter. Pleasure as always. If you will come this way," Griphook said, waving in the general direction of some double doors.

Harry turned to the twins who were still standing behind him. "I'll catch you back at the house. Thanks for the rescue," he told them, and followed Griphook.

"Later, Harry," they said to him as they took his place at the counter to conduct their own business.

Griphook took Harry down some hallways to an office that had 'Potter' written on the door in goldleaf. "Harry Potter is here to see you," he told the goblin in the office.

"Send him in," Steelgrip said from his place behind the large desk. The office was rather plain as goblins were minimalist. They didn't believe in cluttering up their spaces with unnecessary things. There was a wooden desk, a wooden chair, a metal filing cabinet and wooden client chairs. That was it. No paintings, no tapestries, no heads of enemies, nothing decorative. There weren't even cushions on the chairs.

"Good morning, Steelgrip," Harry said, taking the chair he was waved to. "I'm Harry Potter. I was informed that you could help me get my finances in order and help me free my godfather, by way of reading my parents will." That was his hope at any rate. There were two things reading the wills would do, and he was hoping to get them both done before the day ended.

"I most certainly can. And can I say it is about time you took an interest in your financial affairs," the goblin stated, pulling out a ledger and flipping it around and showing it to Harry. There was a lot of black in the ledger, but it was creeping towards red. Like it had been too long neglected. There were only a few withdrawals in the last few years, and nothing in the ten years prior, but there was nothing coming in either.

This was good news for Harry, that meant that no one had been stealing from him. He didn't think Gringotts would have allowed that, but he wouldn't have put it past Dumbledore or the ministry to try and get their grubby hands on his accounts. He knew the ministry had tried to take it when he was missing, so it didn't hurt to check.

What happened over the next hour was a long and boring account of Harry's finances. They set up his accounts, wrote his will and generally got his money in order. Then they read his parents' wills and sent out some letters to the appropriate people.

"Do you think that this will set him free?" Harry asked, already knowing the answer.

"No, but it will get the ball rolling," Steelgrip stated, blowing the ink dry on the letter to Amelia Bones. In that letter, was the news that Sirius was not the Secret Keeper as stated in the wills. Enclosed was a copy of said wills that she could use to verify that fact. Also, in the letter there was a statement that the bequeathment for one Peter Pettigrew was still active. Meaning the man was still alive. This could also be verified if she could come to Gringotts.

Harry thought hard on that for a moment and smiled. "That's more than anyone else has done for him." That fact still peeved the hell out of him. Dumbledore could have had his godfather freed ages ago but has done nothing but sit on his laurels. Skew though they are.

"I will do my best to see it through. You'd better hire a solicitor," Steelgrip suggested, rummaging through his card catalog and finding a card naming one they used at the bank. "Here's one we use. He's a cutthroat one, but he will serve you well."

"Waters, huh? Okay, I'll look him up," Harry said, nodding his thanks and pocketing the card. He had enough money to do this, and he knew Sirius would reimburse him. He also needed to see about getting the will they just filled out legalized and notarized. He could write one up via the goblins all day long, but they were not solicitors. He needed to get it to a law office. "I need a copy of my will," he said, putting his thoughts to words.

Steelgrip waved his hand and handed him the original. "Was there anything else I can do for you today?" the goblin asked, tilting his head in inquiry.

Harry pocketed the will and said, "Does Gringotts invest?"

"We do."

"I want to invest in the muggle world. Can I do that?"

"You may."

"Great, here's what I want to invest in," Harry said, naming off some of the leading up-and-coming computer software and cell phone companies that he saw making it big in the grey area that he and his parents were sequestered in. It was like they were seeing into the future, and what they saw was huge. He was going to make it big and take the wizarding world by storm. He was going to be richer than the Malfoys and he was either going to invest into the wizarding world or move to the muggle world. He hadn't decided yet. It all hinged on how the next year played out. That much had not been clear, because everything he did here made the future different.

Either way, there were some things that were going to be touched here in the wizarding world. Like the twins' shop, and he was going to buy the Daily Prophet. Other things like that.

He thanked Steelgrip and went about his business. He needed to go and see one Patrick Waters Esquire and procure his employment.

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Harry made it back to Grimmauld Place unmolested after dinner had already been served. Fred and George had found their own way home ages ago. They were being harassed for not bringing Harry home with them. They were in the middle of fighting with their mother when Harry walked in.

"We're not his keeper," George was saying for the umpteenth time. It was like beating a dead hippogriff. They had told their story over and over again, but no one was listening. Harry was a big boy and could tend to his own needs. They were not needed to hold his hand.

"No, they're not," Harry said, guessing it was him they were talking about. "I can take care of myself." He sat at the table and started serving himself up some of the Toad in the Hole that he saw sitting there.

"Harry!" came the exclamations from many people.

"Welcome back," Sirius said, like he'd been gone a week again.

"Where have you been?" Hermione asked, in a friendly manner.

"What? I told you all that I had business I had to do," he said, taking a bite of the sausage. He rolled his eyes at the lovely taste.

"Where have you been, young man?" Mrs. Weasley asked, like it was any of her business.

"I told you, Gringotts. Not that it's any of your affair," Harry said, eating his dinner with pleasure. It was good food. He loved Toad in the Hole. Kreacher must have cooked tonight. It wasn't quite as dry as Molly makes it.

"No business takes that long at Gringotts," Molly protested. When her family went it took all of fifteen minutes for them to finish.

"Maybe not your business, but I had a lot of stuff to do," Harry said with a casual shrug.

"What stuff?" the pushy woman asked with an angry huff.

"None of your business. By the way, Sirius, expect an owl from a Mr. Patrick Waters," Harry said, turning to his godfather. The smile on his face was both wicked and brilliant.

"Why?" Sirius asked, taking a bite of his own dinner. He loved it when Harry put Molly in her place. Interfering harpy.

"Just some things he has to go over with you. You need to be truthful with him," Harry said, giving him a knowing wink and then side-eyed the rest of the table, trying to convey that here was not the place to talk about it.

"Oh, okay," the dogman said, and smiled. He knew Harry would tell him later. He didn't understand what Harry was trying to tell him, but he knew it was for his own good.

"Fred, George, I put more money into your business account," Harry told them. "I think it's a good investment, and I want to see you up and running by the end of the summer," he added, giving them a winning smile.

"Thanks, Harry," they both said, smiling at him. They'd talk to him later about making him a full-on partner. He wouldn't want for anything in their shop.

"You did what?" bellowed Molly, getting her dander up. How dare he give those twins of hers the means to fulfill that flight of fancy. They should get real jobs, like work in the ministry, like Percy.

"Oh, put a sock in it," Harry stated, reproaching her. "They have a sound business plan and a good product. They are going to make money, hand over fist. Just because you are too blind to see that, doesn't mean the rest of us have to miss out on making money," he chastised. He really hated the way she always shot the twins down. They were geniuses. They were some of the smartest blokes he ever knew. They had to be to come up with the pranks they did.

"How dare you speak to me that way. Arthur, are you going to let him talk to me like that?" Molly asked, turning to her whipped husband.

"Now, Harry…" was as far as the poor beaten down man got. He might have some backbone on some issues, but there were some things that he didn't agree with, and children backtalking Molly was one of them.

"Stow it, Mr. Weasley. I'm only speaking the truth. Fred and George are going to be rich, and she shouldn't be holding them back," Harry stated, finishing off his dinner and standing. "It's really sad that you lot don't see what's in front of your face. I hope these two are more forgiving than I am. My relatives will never see a knut for the way they've treated me," he said, shaking his head and leaving the room.

"Wait," Sirius said, shoving the last bite of bread in his mouth and getting up to join him.

Harry waited for him and together they went up the stairs to his room. They had a lot to talk about and they were going to do it away from prying ears.