To Ride the Carousel Again
Chapter 35
Disclaimer: Rights to the Harry Potter universe are owned by
J.K. Rowling and other well-healed corporations.
I receive no material compensation for this work.
Watch the hand I'm waving around, not the hand slipping out of my pocket
Do not take any of the financials used or mentioned in this story as financial advice or taxation advice. It will probably be wrong, possibly illegal, as my interpretation of the internet search results of HMG inheritance/tax codes for 1992-1993 is, for me, very difficult to impossible to make sense.
Approx. 6,300 words.
"However, gentlemen, the most important of my duties as specified by Lily Evans Potter is to identify her son. The true Harald James Potter."
Hamilton opened one of the files in front of him. "Harry, or Harald, please take off your shoes and socks."
*/*
Tuesday, January 4, 1993
*/*
At the bizarre-sounding request, everybody in Harry's party stared at Hamilton.
Before anyone could move, the solicitor made a point of leaving his wand on the conference table, rising, and opening a drawer in the sideboard table.
He pulled out what Harry recognized as a pastry rolling board, and a shallow covered box.
As he opened the box, he looked at Harry and said, "Mr. Potter, your feet, please?"
Harry reached down and removed the shoes and socks from his feet. The carpet felt harsh beneath the soles of his feet.
Hamilton had meanwhile taken a small rubber roller from the box, a flat glass plate, some sheets of paper and what turned out to be a tube of thick black ink.
The other three watched fascinated as he rolled out a thin layer of ink on the glass plate, had Harry sit, put his foot on the spare chair and pressed the plate against the bottom of Harry's foot. That was followed by the paper-covered pastry board leaving a footprint that Hector immediately saw resembled a fingerprint.
Hamilton repeated the procedure on the other foot, wiped everything clean with some cloths that he pitched into a dustbin, and put the equipment away.
"You can put your shoes back on, Mr. Potter," Mr. Hamilton said distractedly. He was pulling an official-looking paper from one of his folders. Laying it next to the new prints of Harry's feet, he peered closely at the two sheets, at one point pulling a three-inch diameter magnifying glass from inside his suit coat.
"Well, Mr. Potter, you are you. Your footprints match the prints taken of your feet at the hospital when you were two days old. I hereby declare you the heir of Lily Potter, and inheritor of her estate. Congratulations."
The other four stared at him.
The silence was broken by Hector saying somewhat incredulously, "That's it? All that money and it's just that simple?"
Carlisle Hamilton looked at the man whom he could feel was a muggle, stretched out his hand and with the tip of his forefinger rolled his wand slightly. "You can't believe Lily Potter would not have built-in certain safeguards. Mr. Potter has all the appropriate account numbers and the identification most twelve-year-olds have. The footprints match, and to top it all off, I recognize Remus Lupin, the Gryffindor who should have been sorted into Ravenclaw."
He swiveled over towards Sirius Black. "Despite not looking like him, I suspect you are Sirius Black. Lily said you were Harald's godfather. Who has recently been exonerated in the death of James and Lily Potter."
He then looked at Hector, but did not say anything. Hector looked back, but did not say anything.
At a look from Sirius, Harry pulled out the Gringotts created loan document, and passed it over to Hamilton. The tax solicitor looked only mildly surprised at reading the document.
After he was done, he set it down and stared at it for a moment.
After a couple of minutes, he looked up and said, "Do you want to use this as a way to get Harald's money back into wizarding Britannia?"
The man looked a bit startled when it was Harry that answered. "I want to take a portion of it back. Having it known that House Potter is wealthy will become part of my Lord Potter persona. And having available funds to help friends and neutrals before my, um, opposition can get them beholden will be a bonus."
Harry tilted his head and gave Hamilton a quizzical look. "Will removing of almost half of my money from Hogham and Hemmish's control cause you any problems here?"
The solicitor looked thoughtful for a moment. "Not if you have the documentation that this Black Family Investments loan was given to your mother. I am no longer a young man fresh from having read for the law. I have become an asset to H & H over the last decade."
"I know Harry is worth a bit over two million pounds. Here, that is considered 'comfortable money.' We often deal in matters concerning hundreds of millions of pounds. In fact, as I have advanced through the ranks, my keeping the 'small' Red Lily account as it's known, is considered a mild eccentricity of mine."
He held up his hand to stop Harry from speaking. "I do not want to know how you came by any documents to show you are paying off a loan to this investment family. However, given the date on this document, it precedes any of Lily Potter's money arriving here to be invested as per her directions. Therefore, it is legitimate and needs to be paid back from her estate."
"This was good advice from somebody. An estate has to pay any debts from its funds before any money can be given to inheritors. Having to pay back this loan before inheriting will lower the amount of tax Her Majesty's Inland Revenue can charge Harry for inheriting."
He shook his head with a bemused smile breaking out on his face. "Her returns have been above average, especially for an untutored amateur. I will admit I sometimes wish I knew how she had picked her stocks and funds investments. I could have ridden her coattails to a significant amount of profit."
He saw Hector giving him a look that said something was not adding up. Speaking to the muggle directly he stated, "The main reason why the accounts look only average in returns is because of the over-arcing and possibly excessive multiple, and therefore expensive, overlapping security measures Mrs. Potter devised. It would be very difficult to cheat Harry out of what she left for him."
"He looked around at the four. "Do you have a list of the investment accounts that you want to liquidate to pay off this 'loan'?
Harry passed over a list that they had been working on for a week.
Mr. Hamilton studied the list for a minute, then rose and said, "Gentlemen. If you would return here Thursday at 10 A.M., I will have the paperwork all arranged."
He looked at Hector and Lupin as he kept speaking. "There are a couple of loopholes in Her Majesty's Tax Code that can be exploited to keep young Harald from getting raked over by Inland Revenue, and I shall take advantage of them."
Suddenly he snapped his fingers, reached into another folder and took out an envelope which he opened. A small silver key fell into his hand. Giving Harry the small key he said, "This Harry is a key to a deposit box in a bank somewhere. I know the bank, but I don't know its location. Your mother said she had a way of telling you where the box is."
Harry looked at the small silver key in his hand. This was something physical his mother had touched. That realization hit him hard. He also realized it would mean a trip to Barclay's in Manchester as soon as possible.
He was neatly ambushed by Hermione early the same afternoon. She merely called Ypres and asked to be taken to Potter Manor. For her sanity, she had decided to get some answers out of Harry before her head exploded.
Ypres said "As you wish, Mistress," and two heartbeats later she was standing in the arrival hall.
She asked where Harry was and was told he was in Furry Man's office. She headed over to a small parlour Lupin was using for an office near the Ball Room. Upon arrival, Harry invited her to sit and join the discussion of how to get to Manchester and go to the bank where Lily had some raw precious metals and other things for Harry.
"Bloody hell! When am I going to find time to get him alone so I can get some answers from him," she raged in her mind. "He's been busy every day since I had to help him with that . . . that thing."
Harry was all for going right now. Remus was counseling patience until either Sirius or Hector was available to go with them.
His argument was falling on deaf ears. Harry had dug in his heels and was bound and determined to go today as there were only three days left before he was to be aboard The Express and it would be nearly a month before he had the excuse to leave Hogwarts for a Wizengamot meeting.
Hermione could see that Harry was one small step away from having Lord Potter order his Facilitator to get ready for the trip or else.
Lupin must have realized the situation and swiftly stopped arguing against going and started planning the trip. Which was a good idea as Harry was feeling pressured by how few days were left before he would have to be on the Express headed for Scotland. Hogwarts was where Dumbledore would again have a good chance of finding out about things Harry wanted to be secret and regain a large amount of control over his movements.
He needed to meet with William Weasley before he left. He made a mental note to send Hedwig to him when they returned from Manchester.
The Manor had an old floo directory but Lupin did not trust it. He wanted to go to the Leaky Cauldron and floo from there to near the bank and take a taxi. That way, let the driver do the work of finding the bank and the Leaky would have a new floo directory that might let them get close to their destination.
Harry had the street address from the banks' yearly rental bill for the deposit box, a look at a map on Hector's computer last week had shown Harry it was near downtown Manchester. Harry had about three hundred pounds left from Christmas and he reckoned that should be enough even if they could not floo close.
And so it was done. A quick change of clothes to more upscale, a stopover at the Grangers to get permission for Hermione to go along, and the rest went surprisingly as planned. Forty minutes later they were walking into the main branch of Barclays in Manchester.
Even then it was easy. Walk to the information desk, get sent to a young man in a small office, and present the key. The man read a number off the key, consulted a list, called a uniformed bank guard over as a guide for Harry, and sincerely told the remaining pair they could not go with Harry to the safe deposit box room.
They were offered a small nook and tea was brought over as no one knew how long it might take Harry.
Harry meanwhile had been taken to his box, shown how to access it, and pointed to a small table and chair that would be out of sight of the guard to open it at, and was left alone. The guard would be able to see the wall of boxes, but not where Harry was seated. (1)
Using the key to remove the box from its place in a wall of similar-looking boxes, he carried it to the table, sat down and stared at it for a few minutes.
He was a bit off-put by his sudden reluctance to open the hinged top of the grey-coloured box and see what was inside.
Placing the key again into a small lock on the box's top he unlocked the top and opened the lid.
After taking a careful look inside, he jerked his eyes out to check that he was still unobserved by the guard.
First, he saw several twists of paper that were very heavy when he picked one up. Opening one up, it had fifty gold coins that were not galleons. There were twenty of these rolls. Next was a banded-together stack of one-hundred-pound notes and two stacks of twenty-pound notes. He assumed they were fresh from a bank as the bands read £10,000 and £1,000 pounds respectively.
Underneath the bills, he found two miniature brick-like gold bars labeled 2000 grams, fourteen silvery bars labeled 99.9% silver, and another bar labeled Platinum. No weight was stamped on the last bars.
Lastly lying in another twist of paper were three jewels. A square cut red ruby, a marquis cut blue sapphire, and a baguette cut green emerald. He had no idea what the shapes were called. He would bet Hermione would.
Last was a yellowed envelope holding two sheets of dry, crinkly, ready-to-crumble paper.
He stared at the folded sheets for several minutes.
Reaching down, he picked up his briefcase, opened it, and placed everything from the box into the briefcase. He then closed the box, picked up his case, and immediately dropped it back onto the table.
It weighed more than he could carry. He thought the handle was going to rip right out of the briefcase. How had the guard made it look so easy to carry the drawer?
He sat down again and thought. The gold could stay, the platinum could stay, but he wanted the jewels and the coins and most of all, the silver.
The problem was, how much silver did he need to make his own dark artifact shield boxes? He guessed the bars weighed about five pounds each. Maybe a little less, like the gold bar. He only needed one lead/silver shield box right now. And maybe a second after he went back to school. When would he need a third? When would Sirius visit his house?
Harry had no answer and the longer he sat and thought, the more worried Lupin and Hermione would get.
He made a decision. He took seven silver bars out of the briefcase, the platinum bar, most of the gold coins, and put them back into the drawer. He swapped the gold bars into various coat pockets.
The briefcase was now heavy, but totable. He figured he had to make it look like it weighed nothing or he would attract attention.
Closing and locking the drawer top he stepped into sight of the guard who made him watch as the drawer went back into the wall and then escorted Harry back to the lobby where Lupin and Hermione waited for him.
As the two arose, he worked hard to casually put the case on the low table, and very quietly told Lupin it was too heavy and he was struggling to make it look like it weighed nothing. The werewolf gave a very slight nod and using werewolf strength, scooped the case up as though it weighed normally as they left the nook and went out the doors and hailed a taxi back to the Dwarven Hammer pub.
By floo and elf popping they were soon at Potter Manor.
There, Harry showed them what he had put in the briefcase and added the gold bar. He said that tomorrow after the meeting with Solicitor Hamilton, he wanted to go to Gringotts and talk with Tongueripper about the money soon to be available to be changed from electronic transfer pounds onto Gringotts gold. Also, he wanted to find out how much Gringotts would pay him for his rolls of gold sovereigns and his almost nine pounds of gold bar.
He was not sure what he thought about Hermione wanting to hold a heavy gold bar. She kept raising and lowering it in her hand and rubbing her other hand over it. Maybe shiny gold objects were a girl thing.
Thursday was a repeat of Tuesday. Except the weather was cold and miserable with cold rain showers spitting down at odd moments. The hot tea and warm scones in the little ground-floor cafe tasted decent this time and they were taken to the back of the offices by Solicitor Hamilton within a minute of their arrival.
The only difference was Hector Granger sat next to Harry to be able to see and read what was given to Harry.
Hamilton showed what the money would be from what Harry wanted to sell off. Next, he showed what he advised Harry to sell off. The difference was minor except Carlisle wanted Harry to keep some older electronics firms in what he called his portfolio. He said that they were buying up small, new telecommunication companies that were on the cutting edge of technology, and he believed the stocks would soar.
Harry, Hector, and Lupin all looked at each other. Lupin looked stressed, Hector neutral, but indicated approval. Sirius was doing a decent job of concealing that he actually understood the parts about loans and compound interest. Harry shrugged and signed, then pushed the papers over to his supposed guardian.
Hamilton then showed how the original £640,000.00 at four percent compounded per annum had now become almost £970,000 after eleven years.
Hamilton showed the companies transaction fees and transfer fees cost of almost £4,850 (1/2%) on £970,00.00. Harry signed, Lupin signed.
Hamilton made some notations on his computer and with a flourish and a "Now all I do is hit send," he pushed a button and after a moment, settle back with a grin. "It's done."
Harry again asked Hamilton if he was going to have to give up the Red Lily account due to it being almost halved.
The man smiled in fond remembrance. "No," he replied, "and it will shrink further as we now have to pay Death Taxes on the inheritance after the debt to Black Family Investments has been paid."
"Besides, everyone knows that since it was your mother's money that gave me a start, I have spent several years hosting a gathering for the company that is paid by the money I earn from your account. The people working here look forward to it and morale would suffer if they gave the account to someone who just pocketed the money."
"Back to business, Harry has a personal exemption of called a Nil Rate Band, and an Unfindable Inheritor loophole that can be used to lessen the tax on his remaining wealth. He will still have to pay a substantial tax, but as soon as we pay it, anything else will only be taxed under what is called long-term capital gains as he sells his assets."
The last left glazed expressions on three of the four faces. Only Hector looked as though he had a clue what Hamilton was talking about.
Good-bye's were said, and they made to leave when they met Hepplewaite at the entry door.
"Ah, Mr. Potter, I do hope all went well with your accounting," the man said smoothly but somewhat unctuously Harry thought. "Headed home I suppose?"
Lupin must have picked up on something about the man also. "Yes, we are. We have a few stops along the way though so we must be going."
With a further exchange of smiles, the group headed home with no intermediate stops until they reached the Leakey Cauldron.
Harry was tired after all the tension of the transfer of his money from the mundane world to the wizarding side of the divide. All he wanted to do was collapse and brood for a bit. He could write to William Weasley later. Stripping off his suit coat, and tossing it at a chair, (It disappeared before hitting the chair.) and loosening his tie he sank into a comfortable sofa.
The portents were favorable. Sirius was off to Gringotts to see his Account Manager. Lupin was out doing Facilitator stuff, and the Dr.'s Granger had a client with some type of emergency and were out at their office. That left . . .
A faint 'pop' heralded an elf arriving followed by a "Harry, where are you?" call from his True Friend.
Now he was torn. Brooding suddenly was not as attractive as before, yet Hermione finding him alone could mean he was in for a rough afternoon.
It only took seconds before his jeans-and-dark-blue-jumper-wearing friend popped around the corner into the small parlour. He was just starting to shift around on the sofa when a determined-looking five-foot-two-inch bushy-haired girl plopped herself onto his lap, buried her face in his chest, and hugged him tight.
Having no idea why she was greeting him this way, he decided to hug her back and remain silent. "Maybe she wants something else," he thought hopefully.
It was a few minutes later that her voice came from his chest. "It has been almost a week, my suddenly-older-than-I-am-Harry. I've thought about it a lot, and I'll bet you've thought about it a lot."
"That might be the greatest understatement someone has told me of in my short life," he thought.
"I have managed to come to grips with what seems to have happened You told me you were under a Wit Dulling potion and a Curiosity Killing Charm last year that were removed during the summer. That used to explain a lot of your sudden leap in knowledge and confidence these last five months.
But now I reckon that if you knew about the potion and charm, you would have removed them earlier, when you were older I mean. This is still very confusing."
Snort. "Confusing? Try sorting it out from my end," he thought.
"I'm also wroth with you when I think back to our earliest classes with Lupin. You held back when he was teaching us second-year DADA and Charm spells. AND you let me 'win' when we were doing the 'buttons to beetles' transfiguration lesson."
Harry could almost feel her face darkening. "During that Friday duel to see if I could force you to tell me your secrets, you were letting me 'win' until I almost nailed you with that Taratellagra spell. Then you got serious and took me out with three fast and powerful casts."
"At the time I thought you did right well. Now I believe you were just playing with me like a cat with a mouse and I'm ashamed to say I want to be angry at you for doing that."
He felt the big shuddering breath she took. "What has saved you is that during this term's classes, I have seen that you actually have been studying hard for any of the magical theory parts of a class. You've even become a leader in our DADA study group even when we're working on spell theory. Same with charms and transfiguration."
He felt her arms tightening around him again. "I have no idea why you changed from last year when all you wanted to do was wave your wand, charge in, and hope to make things happen.
That is the part of your being older you have kept from me. I can only guess at what happened between last year a-a-nd fourth year? Is that where you came from? But it must have been life-altering."
Harry could not stop himself. He snorted so hard he almost bounced Hermione off his lap. "Escaping from huge man-eating spiders, being bitten by a basilisk, fighting off a hundred dementors, almost being broiled by a rampaging dragon, and being betrayed, and then killed by a teacher. Yeah, those happenings will do weird things to your outlook on life."
Surprising Harry, she had fallen silent. He would bet she wanted him to break the silence first. Not as a contest of wills, but as a sign he was going to talk with her, tell her something that would explain the points she had made.
"Yes, I came back a few days before forth-year ended. The Why is personally very painful, and I can't talk about it."
She stirred on his lap, he rushed to continue, "You will find it hard to understand, but I had to sign a contract that is stringent, and I mean with really harsh penalties for breaking it, as to who I can tell that I've been here before."
"And the penalties will be almost as harsh on the person I confide in if certain conditions are not met."
"Erzelkendis never did say what the penalty, penalties? are for being told by me what I had learned. Only bad things would occur if I talked about Upper Management's role in my visit."
Harry left the silence that followed undisturbed. He was sure that every possible scenario she knew, and the magic needed for it was flashing through her mind.
He was also willing to bet she was coming up empty on her knowledge of what could have happened to cause what he had talked about. He was also willing to bet there would be no information in any library for her to learn what might have happened to him.
Looking for a distraction, Harry said, "We need to talk to Padfoot and Lupin about what I can do to keep you from being potioned and charmed again when we get back to the castle. I've been so busy we let time slip away."
He felt her immediately stiffen at his mentioning the Wit Dulling potion and the Curiosity Suppression Charm that someone had caught her with. Madam Pomfrey had removed the charm, but the effects on her body from the purging potion still almost made her ill to remember them.
As she had done for the past several weeks, she wanted to rage at somebody as she thought about how easy it was for someone to hurt her in the magical world. She had tried to hide her feelings from Harry, but she knew he knew.
"Yes, we do. When?" she murmured into his chest.
She had found a few ways while rummaging through the Potter Library, but they all required things she did not have or could not have. Time was running out. She needed to get the semi-responsible adults in Harry's life involved.
"Today if they get back early enough. Tomorrow first thing if not."
*/*
Hermione arrived first thing the next day, which turned into mid-morning. Sirius had to get permission to have unscheduled leave from his rehabilitation at St. Mungo's. They were reluctant to give such permission. It finally took a note carried by Ypres to the magical hospital stating that Lord Potter wanted his godfather's advice on a very important House matter.
Now. Today.
A leeked-off due to the delay, though now grinning, Sirius Black arrived by elf popping in time for morning tea. Harry spent almost fifteen minutes explaining how Healer Edward Tonks ("Ahh, Little Nymphie's father!) had removed the potion and curse from him this summer.
(Harry figured he could get away with the misdirection as Ted's oaths would not let him discuss any of Emancipated Lord Potter's medical conditions with any of the other three.)
Sirius had become livid. Jumping out of his chair and stomped around the room cursing Dumbledor's name, parentage, and deviancies.
Harry gave him three minutes to work it out of his system before telling him Hermione had been tagged with the same combination a month ago at the castle.
After letting the ranting go another minute, Harry shouted Sirius down and demanded if he knew of any charm or protection that he could get Hermione so it would not happen again. He flashed his Lord Potter ring to remind Padfoot that he had some protection already.
His godfather immediately stopped stomping and started a heavy-duty thinking pacing.
"Possibly there are several amulets or bracelets or rings in the Black vaults that might work. I'm positive there is something at my parent's house, except I would have to check them carefully as I'm also sure that there is at least one amulet if worn by someone not of Black blood would cause your brain to swell until it burst out through your eye sockets," he commented thoughtfully.
Harry and Hermione purposely did not look at each other. Harry already believed, and Hermione was getting there, that the wizarding world was a casually callous place.
"There are a couple of dodgy places in the Alley, but they're mostly hacks who usually do a poor enchanting job."
A few more minutes of Sirius talking to himself produced a plan to go to Gringotts after a light early luncheon.
Harry managed to get some moments free from the two adults, and taking her hand, led her to his study where he grabbed a large sheet of parchment. Laying it on the desk he made the proper wand movements, said the incantation, and concentrated on pouring his intent into the transfiguration.
Suddenly there was a silvery pouch with a flap cover sitting on the desk. "Hermione, take this and make sure you keep it where you can get to it in a hurry."
She reached out, took it, and examined it closely. "You are showing me how to do this before we get on the Express to Hogwarts."
His cheeky, "But you're the one who showed me how to do that spell about a year ago," did not go over well.
She paused and gave him a gimlet-eyed stare, "I can assume we are going on another Harry Potter Adventure this afternoon? And we are going to meet up with another of those evil feeling things? Again?"
Harry had the grace to look embarrassed while ruffling the hair on the back of his head. "Possibly? But I hope not?"
She glared at him while folding the pouch into a coat pocket.
Half an hour later the four were walking from the Leaky Cauldron to Gringotts. After Harry commented that it seemed warmer in the alley than in the city, Lupin casually replied that there were wide-area warming, or cooling, charms that the shopkeepers and the Ministry could cast over Diagon Alley to make it more attractive to shop there.
The three waited in a comfortable room just off the Gringotts lobby. It took almost an hour before Sirius returned.
Harry remembered he needed to talk to William Weasley and had a note delivered to him. Just before Sirius returned, a note from William arrived that stated he was occupied today with work and could they meet tomorrow at the bank at 9 AM?
Harry replied affirmative, just as Sirius returned.
"I think one of these will work. However, my untrustworthy memories tell me what we want is at Grimmauld Place. I was hoping to avoid going there for a while," he said as he looked unhappily at a small box in his hand. "Or forever, actually."
Sirius was all for leaving the others in the Leaky Cauldron while he went the house. Harry strenuously objected that the house sounded like it was a place he shouldn't be alone in. Lupin tried to argue both sides while Hermione eyed Harry closely.
He was acting just a bit too Gryffindor-ish about not letting Sirius go alone.
Harry would not quit and eventually his godfather threw up his hands and agreed they could come along.
The two were side-along apparated to a designated apparition point a long block away from the Grimmauld Place. The walk helped settle their nausea through the dreary, winter London at its worst. The area they walked through was somewhat rundown. Old homes built by well-to-do merchants around a century ago had now been subdivided into small flats that were looking shabby and worn.
As the four walked up to where the house was, Sirius turned to the other three and said, "See anything odd about that row of townhouses?"
Hermione was the first to notice and said, "There's no number twelve, The addresses skip from eleven to thirteen. That's odd."
Sirius held out a piece of parchment that had written on it, 'The Black Townhouse is at Number 12, Grimmauld Place.'
The two youngsters were puzzled until they saw, as though appearing out of a heavy mist, a house between numbers 11 and 13. They looked at the apparition and then at Sirius.
"Let's go see my childhood house," he said heavily with a grimace. "You three hold on to me so I can get you through the wards. Don't let go. They're very nasty."
Everyone felt a heavy, threatening weight that tried to settle on them before slithering off as they stepped onto the porch in front of the faded, paint-chipped black-painted door with a tarnished star-shaped door knocker.
With Sirius in the lead, the four entered a dark, gloomy, dusty, musty entryway. They walked to the greeting room, (which looked just as nasty.) before Sirius stopped and called, "Kreacher!"
He waited about a ten count before bellowing, "KREACHER!"
Two things happened simultaneously. An old, decrepit-looking house elf popped into existence in front of them and a set of curtains hiding a larger-than-life magical portrait on the wall sprang apart revealing a mean-looking old woman dressed in black who immediately started screaming at first Sirius and then at the house elf demanding he throw them out of her house.
As the elf started to raise his hands, Sirius raised his hand and flashed a heavy-looking gold and black Lord's ring in its face. The elf stopped cold, a look of fear appearing on his creased face with his drooping ears.
"First, Kreacher, Lord Black orders you to close those drapes and silence my mother."
The elf waved his hands and gave two finger snaps. The screaming facsimile of a woman was covered and silent.
The silence allowed everyone to relax and look around. The floor was filthy, the walls and furniture dusty, the air dry and musty. Even Sirius seemed stunned as he looked at what should have been a familiar place.
They all were surprised when they heard the muttering old elf. "Mistress will punish Kreacher for letting nasty disappointment of a son, a wolfman, a half-blood, and the ultimate shame of me not killing the mudblood for daring to enter the house of Black."
The last three were stunned by the vitriol in the elf's words. Sirius just became furious. He was about to order the elf to do something when Harry cut him off.
"Sirius, please can we just find the amulet or whatever it is you're looking for? I really want that protection for Hermione. We can talk about later on if your elf here is a bad elf or is lazy, and needs help to maintain this place. I'll loan you the Potter elves for a while if need be."
The elf in question looked ready to murder Harry.
Harry did not care. His scar was starting to ache to the pounding of his heart and he absolutely did not want to answer any questions that would be asked if he collapsed.
Sirius immediately stopped winding up for his rant at the decrepit-looking elf. "Kreature, stay right there. I will talk to you when I am done."
He looked at Remus and the two youngsters. "This should take about half an hour as I have to do some minor rituals to gain control of the house wards."
He glanced at the elf. "And do not order any food or drink from him. Do not sit on any of the furniture. It is probably cursed or trapped if anyone except a Pureblood sits on them. Moony, just clean an area of rug and put a cushioning charm on it."
And with those words, he disappeared up the main staircase.
The three passed the time with some sluggish conversation. Although Harry did leave Lupin looking thoughtful when he said, "Sirius should try a Permanent Sticking Charm where the drapes joined."
A/N:
ONE: I found that Safety Deposit Boxes are only available at a few banks these days. Lower demand? Okay, but I wonder why?
If Hermione has to use the pouch, the cat's out of the bag. Harry may have rushed this horcrux hunt just a tad.
I was halfway through Chapter 36 when I realized a plot bunny had let me write myself into a terrible plot corner. So, half of this chapter and over half of Ch. 36 had to be scrapped. The doing of which has depressed my muse greatly.
Sorry for the delays. I was hoping to publish the next chapter as soon as we finished the trek up to the frozen north by May 1. Not gonna happen.