Lordships, Marriage and Manipulations.
Chapter 1
A/N: Okay, hey guys, bet you thought I might have died or I had just given up on this story, truth is, life happened. I got busy, but I'm back and if you're reading this I must have finished updating these earlier chapters and likely uploaded at least a few more so hope you enjoy.
I've decided to simply do this story as I originally planned to, MY way. So simply put if you don't like anything about this story, keep it to yourself as I honestly no longer care.
To the people who love this story, thanks for all your support and I hope you enjoy the new style I think I've used for this story.
Disclaimer: As always, I (in Snape's voice) obviously, don't own Harry Potter. Rights are retained to JK Rowling.
Summer had officially begun.
The end of his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was over and done with, along with the end of a dream for Harry Potter, to have a simple and loved life. Everything felt like a nightmare to him now, his godfather, Sirius was dead. Killed by his own flesh and blood, Bellatrix, his own cousin. The mad rabid bitch of Voldemort.
It had been a week, a week since the Battle of the Ministry, a whole week since Harry had lost his only remaining family, of his hope of escaping from the Dursleys' with Sirius.
Just gone…
His grief was almost too much, Harry was suffering.
This wasn't the usual kind of suffering he'd normally have to deal with, the physical and emotional abuse of the Dursleys' was one thing, but this grief over losing someone close to him; someone who cared for him…
Daily beatings and starvation was something Harry had grown up used to; the mental, physical and yes, even the emotional abuse and neglect had left scars on him. But the pain of losing Sirius had a much more lasting effect on Harry than any abuse the Dursleys' had been able to put him through. This pain felt like it was actually changing him, maybe for the best or as Harry felt, maybe for the worst.
Could anyone blame him?
Harry slowly felt sicker.
His mind thinking how he'd been left, once again to the Dursleys' after everything that had happened, left after the trauma that had been dealt to him, to suffer further abuse from his tormentors.
Turning up from his position, from lying on his side, he turned to look out the window, to the stars that Sirius and he had first looked at, when they first met and had thought they would be able to be family together.
Harry thought of his friends, and their usual lack of communication he had with them during the summertime. It felt even worse now, as if they had abandoned him knowingly after he had lost his godfather, they hadn't once checked upon him in the last two weeks he had been alone, stewing in his grief. He did throw a thought Hermione's way of course, since she was badly injured in the battle, he could give her the leeway she deserved.
Harry looked at the smashed hand mirror that lay broken amongst the floor after Harry had thrown it sometime ago. The mirror that Sirius had gave him. The mirror that could have prevented all of this, if only he had been smart enough to think of it and use it.
After a few minutes of staring at the broken pieces, Harry no longer felt any sudden rushes of anger he usually felt every few minutes. Instead he had begun feeling an empty pang in his heart.
Grief truly is unending sometimes.
He felt abandoned.
Left to his pain and his abuse.
His parents and now his godfather are dead.
Stuck between prisoner and slave in this godforsaken house, and Dumbledore…
'It's like he's left me out to dry again.' Harry thought, even after he had promised not to do this again like he had before Sirius had died. 'Like he just wants me to follow him along and breathe as he says…' Harry thought.
Going through his life, Dumbledore had always somehow made sure Harry followed his plans, the way he had set them out, the way he had wanted Harry to follow them. No matter the cost or the pain these plans may inflict.
'Just a pawn… A light pawn.' Harry muttered as he stared at the reflection back at him from the smashed hand mirror. Sirius's Mirror.
He knew the worst thing about it all, he couldn't change anything because of stupid fucking Voldemort.
Harry clenched his fists as he got up to pace around his small room, trying to calm his anger as it raged up against him.
Hedwig gave a small hoot to him as he moved around, as if signifying her presence to help calm him down. Harry smiled.
'At least I have Hedwig.' Harry thought as he moved across the small space to stroke her feathers. His owl had been with him since the beginning, of entering this whole fucked up wizarding world.
A slight tap on the window drew Harry from his thoughts, turning his head he saw an unfamiliar owl with a letter attached to its leg.
'CONSTANT VIGILANCE!' Echoed in his head as his hand went to automatically pull the parchment from the owl's leg, causing him to pause before he saw the seal of Gringotts and all thoughts of being danger aware drifted from his mind.
'Not like I could have done anything to check the letter was safe anyways.' Harry thought before opening the letter, wondering why goblins of Gringotts had decided to owl him.
Dear Mr. Harry J Potter,
We, the Goblins of Gringotts, would like to formally acknowledge the death of Mr. Sirius Orion Black and extend an invitation to present yourself for the Reading of the Last Will and Testament of said Mr. Black, as your presence has been lifted as vital for the process of the Reading to take place.
Failure to attend the Reading, will likely incur penalties, such as a fee or possible loss of inherited items or other possessions of the deceased.
The Reading of the Last Will and Testament of the late Sirius O Black, will take place tomorrow at the time of 2PM.
Due to the lack of response from yourself, Gringotts will also inquire in this correspondence about the official reading of the late Mr and Mrs. Potter, who's wills have not been able to be fulfilled due to their sealing of your magical guardian.
Gringotts also requires a response regarding the use of the Potter Family Vaults and the monthly statements sent in regards of this usage, as your signature is required for these transactions to be fully authorised.
Due to the circumstances; regarding your upbringing with your muggle relatives, the current political stage regarding You-Know-Who, and the matters presented above, a portkey has been attached to this letter which will activate upon the phrase 'Gringotts Meeting'
As always, may your gold continue to flow.
Skullsmasher, Head of Inheritance
Gringotts.
Harry sat down on his bed, his mind racing.
'What do the goblins mean? You think I should go, Hedwig?" He wondered out loud. After receiving a hoot from her, Harry got up and prepared for a meeting with the goblins.
Grabbing his trunk, which other than the clothes being removed and washed, had been untouched since returning from Hogwarts, Harry grabbed his wand and the letter with the portkey and muttered the activation phrase before disappearing from Privet Drive.
Outside, the members of the Order watching Harry, missed him disappearing by turning away for a vital second. Maybe it was to stretch, or to look at something other than a plain usual horse, who knows? But they failed their task that night. That's boredom for you.
You would think Harry would have decent protectors right?
Wrong.
Watching and protecting Harry Potter wasn't all it sounded to be like, you'd imagine protecting the 'Boy-Who-Lived' from a group of Death Eaters or from some dark creature, instead it was this.
Standing outside a house, and watching a boy be abused.
Yes, that's right. His protectors against Voldemort and the Dark Arts would sit back and watch him be abused by his own relatives without doing anything.
'That's some real fucked up bullshit.' Harry thought as the portkey popped him out of his room and into somewhere new.
Meanwhile, somewhere much further north than Surrey, in the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts sat an old man, savouring a moment of power as he ran his hands across multiple works and items of expensive value.
Dumbledore had enjoyed his last vacation immensely, even though he despised the last fleeting moments of it, for he knew it would be his last.
Looking at his blackened hand, he knew it may be unlikely he survived the full upcoming academic year. He had done everything he could already, both to try to survive and plan ahead of his death to help end the reign of Tom.
Honestly, he knew he had recently lost his ambition, to defeat two Dark Lords and be celebrated as a living hero, he knew it was more likely he may become a myth or legend in the years to come for his role in the Wizarding World. That was why he wasn't working harder to gain allies against Voldemort, or even training Harry to fight harder.
Instead, here he sat, enjoying the life he had left by letting his expensive taste take control over him, pushing him to spend every last galleon he had on more lavish items he knew would be wasted or gifted to someone insignificant after his death. Well, he also had his own pleasures he had taken and enjoyed.
(Yeah, you heard him. Dumbledore had spent a pretty penny on a pretty boy before).
And somehow, he had managed to do it with money that didn't even belong to him, somehow managing to take the galleons not only from under Harry's nose, but the goblins' noses as well. A feat he was more than pleased to have accomplished, among his many others.
'Let the Wizarding World suffer without my guidance, let them beg as they realise my presence was their only hope.' Dumbledore muttered quietly.
His Greater Good had been so close to being achieved, just maybe somehow it still would be, if Harry continued to play his part as well as he currently is.
'A little longer, I think. I'll wait until after the Will Reading to rescue him from his grief.' Dumbledore thought, as he read the parchment from Gringotts and planned to ensure Harry would remain at Privet Drive to miss his inheritance.
Dumbledore twirled the Elder Wand in his hand, as he thought, he knew how he wanted his last few months of life to go by and eventually end. He wanted to spend the galleons he had been hoarding during his life, to go out with a bang and be remembered for the wizard he had always been, the righteous leader of the Light!
Once he was gone, the world would be plunged into the darkness of Tom Riddle, and Harry, well Harry Potter would be alone and untrained to survive the darkness so it seemed like it would be someone entirely else that would become the Saviour of the Wizarding World. He just wished he knew who it would be, in order to lay a quick plan or two in his favour for whomever it would be to take his place.
At least, his legacy was already set into place, using Harry Potter as a scapegoat.