Albus Dumbledore was frowning. The article while being a mild one for Rita Skeeter was not to his liking. True he hadn't been the focus of her indicated badmouthing, he was quite sure that Rita would attack the Ministry lot harsher in the next few days. As long as Harry didn't show up again she would milk his disappearance for all its worth. Thankfully very few people knew that he was the one who was behind Harry's suffering in his childhood. The boy just couldn't be allowed to grow too strong.
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Discover moreBooksDownload Sci-Fi BooksRead Graphic NovelsFan fiction mobileComics fanfiction storiesBeing suppressed by his relatives was the best way that the boy didn't get a big head like most of those pureblood princes. The problem was with the public being in uproar over the treatment Harry got at his relatives it would be a lot harder to ensure he would return there after the next school year. Then he also had to do something about Sirius Black. The man could be a major problem for his plans. He was legally Harry's guardian. He was his godfather, a position that was superior to even blood relatives. It represented a magical bond between the child and the godparent.
He was glad that the wizarding world in general lacked common sense. It made it so much easier to manipulate people. They just didn't think things through and overlooked the obvious quite often. A godparent was magically bound to ensure the safety of the godchild. Parents chose the godparents with utmost care. Being named godparent to the heir of an old family was one of the greatest honors a witch or wizard could be presented with. Thankfully nobody had thought about this in the chaos that had taken place after Voldemort's fall. It had enabled him to subtly push Barty Crouch to send Sirius to Azkaban without a trial where the man could have proven his innocence and gained custody of his godson.
Discover moreWriter collaboration platformFan fiction booksCookiesMobile app developmentFanfiction writing toolsHe couldn't be allowed to do this. Harry had to be controlled by him or he would never be able to fulfill his role in Albus' master plan. He needed a malleable weapon, not a self-confident spoiled prince, even if Severus insisted that the boy was just that. Sirius would have done just that. He remembered really well how James had behaved when he came to Hogwarts at eleven years old. No, Harry couldn't be allowed to be sure of himself. He had to be controlled. His measures would ensure this. He just needed to find the boy first, play the role of the nice grandfather he had perfected over the years and allow the boy to spend the rest of his holidays in Diagon Alley. It would be futile to get Harry back to the Dursleys now.
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No the better course would be to have him under watch at the alley for the time being. He had been sure he would turn up there, after all, the only place where the boy could get money was Gringotts. But none of his contacts had been able to find the boy. Damned brat. Well, he would turn up sooner or later to get his school things and the owl with his booklist would be able to find him no matter what. Like he had predicted the boy had chosen to take Divination and Care of Magical Creatures like the Weasley boy. He was really happy about that friendship. It bound the boy to a light family who had always been loyal to him.
Discover moreMobile app marketingDownload FanFiction appMovies fanfiction storiesPlays fanfiction storiesCrossover fiction guidesHe couldn't buy the Weasleys, he knew that they would then oppose him, they were proud to be honorable people but they did what he wanted if he suggested it. He just had to keep an eye on the twins, they were awfully smart and thought out of the box. Never a good thing if you wanted to control a person. But the role they played in his plan was an important one. The Weasleys were the icon for Harry that he was better off in the wizarding world. That he owed this world his undying loyalty for being his salvation from the hell the Dursleys presented.
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When he found the boy he would have to give one of his patented 'I am really disappointed in you' speeches. They always worked on children that looked up to you. He would appeal to the guilt about running away from home and losing his temper like that and thereby ensure that the boy would return for the next summer holidays. For the school year he had grudgingly hired Remus Lupin, an old friend of Harry's parents as the defense teacher. He didn't really want to give the boy too much information about his parents but Remus was the most likely person to be able to find Sirius when he came to Hogwarts.
He was sure he wanted to protect Harry from something, which would make sense as he knew that Sirius loved the boy. It had after all been this love for Lily and James that drove the man over the edge when he had Hagrid take the boy from his destroyed home to his relatives. It had worked better than he had thought. Sirius had looked like the guilty party and it was easy to take him out of the picture. He had thought the man would die at Azkaban after at most five years but somehow he had survived. Well, if he played his cards right Cornelius would take care of this problem. He just hoped he didn't get to Harry before they could. If the boy found out the truth it would be catastrophic.
It was bad timing that he had to attend one of his regular meetings at the ICW from tomorrow on. He would have preferred to control the search for Sirius somewhat. And it was never a good idea to leave Cornelius without supervision. The man just was an idiot most of the time.
Discover morebookExplore Sci-Fi MoviesDiscover Picture BooksExplore Top AudiobooksDiscover Fantasy BooksThe last day had passed quickly for Harry as Sirius had shown him some really neat spells to get rid of some nasty magical plagues like doxies, to lift a curse from an object if the curse was not too strong of course, for stronger ones one would need to intensely study the effects of the curse, calculate the building of the spell, Sirius told him he had learned how to do it in Arithmancy, and then lift it. If this was impossible and the only way to do this was to destroy an object, then you would have to build a ward of energy crystals and runes to protect you from the effects of destroying the cursed object. Harry now seriously regretted not having chosen Ancient Runes and Arithmancy for new subjects. Perhaps he could still change his decision?
Now the two of them stood in the kitchen of Grimmauld place, Harry was wearing one of Sirius' old robes from when he was a boy. Sirius had taken all of Harry's old clothes, that the Dursleys had given him and deposited them in the bin. He wouldn't let his godson run around in those disgusting sacks. Surprisingly Kreacher had nodded fervently when he saw the disposing of the rags. After all, how would it look if the godson of Lord Black looked like a pauper? It would sully the name of the most ancient and noble house of Black.
Discover moreFan fiction communityCartoons fanfiction storiesTV fanfiction storiesWatch Classic CartoonsFiction writing resourcesAs Harry had never before traveled by portkey he had been a bit unsure but Sirius had explained him how to use a portkey. The secret was to start walking while being transported even if you didn't have ground under your feet. Harry would never have thought of that.
"Ready Harry?" Sirius asked.
Sirius had asked Kreacher to give him a makeover. His hair was neatly cut and his beard nicely trimmed. The elf had done a good job on his Master. He had mumbled he couldn't let the good name of Black be dirtied by a ragged looking Lord. Sirius had taken it in stride. Kreacher had been getting better, even if only slightly. It would take time to get the house back in shape and with it the elf bound to it. He would have to have patience. He didn't want to be as cruel as his family had been.
"Yes, I just hope it won't be too bad. I'm a bit nervous."
"Don't worry too much, the goblins know what they do. Wizards just tend to underestimate other magical beings. Mostly to their own disadvantage."
Harry nodded. He touched the portkey that Sirius held in his hand. It was a simple pen the goblins had charmed.
Then the pen began to glow and Harry could feel a pull in his stomach region. He and Sirius were pulled forward and vanished from Grimmauld place. After a few moments Harry began to walk as Sirius had told him to do. He landed slightly off balance but on his feet.
"Well done, Harry. For the first time using a portkey, you managed it really well." Sirius complimented him.
He didn't look fazed at all. Harry looked pleased at the praise.
"Welcome to Gringotts, Mr. Potter, Mr. Black. Chief goblin Snowcack is awaiting you in meeting room 5." A goblin Harry recognized said greeting them.
"Thank you. Your name was Griphook right?" Harry asked.
Griphook seemed really surprised.
"You remembered my name, Mr. Potter?" He asked disbelievingly.
"Yes of course. You were the goblin who showed me my vault the day I first came here with Hagrid. Why do you ask?" Harry asked confused.
"You are a very unusual wizard, Harry Potter. Most of your kind don't bother remembering a goblin's name." Griphook answered.
"But it is only polite, I mean, you also remember the name of the people you do business with. I mean to really gain profit from a business relationship you have to know your partners, right?" Harry replied.
Griphook nodded pleased with the young wizard's attitude. Sirius smiled. Harry had just gained a lot of respect from this goblin and he would tell the others. Harry was well on his way to gain the friendship of the goblins. A very valuable asset in the wizarding world.
They followed Griphook to the meeting room. None of the goblins took any interest of the fact that Harry Potter, the missing golden boy of the wizarding world, and Sirius Black, the most wanted person of the same world were walking through the halls of the bank.
They reached their destination and Griphook knocked on the door.
"Come in." Called a voice and Griphook opened the door.
"Chief goblin Snowcack, Mr. Potter and Mr. Black are here for Mr. Potter's appointment." He informed Snowcack.
"Thank you, Griphook. I will handle things from here on." Snowcack said.
Griphook bowed and left the room.
"Sirius, my friend. It has been too long." Snowcack greeted the older wizard pleasantly.
"Snowcack. I am happy to see you in good health. Business is going well I hope." Sirius returned the greeting.
"Yes, it is. Ministry doesn't dare to interfere with Gringotts, let us handle things much more smoothly as in the past. Mr. Potter it's nice to finally meet you."
"I'm pleased to meet you, chief goblin Snowcack." Harry said with a small bow.
"I see Sirius has started teaching you on basic etiquette. Good to see that somebody finally cares for these things." Snowcack stated .
Harry just smiled and nodded.
"Well, take a seat, we have much to discuss today before we head to the healers and curse-breaker department." Snowcack started.
Harry and Sirius both sat down in comfortable armchairs.
"Well, before I will begin to tell you what the amount of Mr. Potter's assets at Gringotts and held in shares is, Sirius, this letter was left to me by your brother Regulus shortly before his death. He told me to give it to you, but you were already busy with fighting the Dark Lord. And it was only a month before the Potters died so there wasn't any time before you were sent to Azkaban" Snowcack explained.
Sirius was dumbfounded and took the letter. He wondered why the hell his brother who had joined Voldemort would write him a letter.
"I will read it later." Sirius said and pocketed the letter.
Snowcack nodded and handed Harry a dagger.
"Before we can start, we need to verify that you are who you claim to be, Mr. Potter."
He took out a vial with a red potion in it.
"This is a heritage discovery potion. If you add seven drops of your blood to it and add it to this magically produced parchment, the paper will show us all of the wizarding families you are descended from or have inherited from." Snowcack explained.
Harry nodded and cut his thumb, wincing slightly. He carefully let seven drops of his blood fall into the vial and saw how the potion changed color after the seventh drop. He then sucked slightly on his thumb to stop the bleeding.
"It will stop bleeding soon." Snowcack said, waving his hand in some kind of spell forming over Harry's hand and as he said the bleeding began to cease.
"Nice." Harry said looking at his thumb. "By the way, would you please call me Harry, chief goblin? I feel weird being called Mr. Potter all the time."
"If you wish so. Please call me Snowcack."
"My pleasure." Harry answered.
Sirius and Harry watched interested as Snowcack let the potion flow over the parchment. After ten seconds of waiting, words began to form and all three were amazed how many names appeared on the parchment.
"Very rare. This is only the third time I have seen so many inherited Lordships. You are quite the influential political figure Harry. You have to choose wisely in the future what you do. Many will try to influence you to use you in their plans." Snowcack said.
Sirius could only nod. He hadn't expected something like this. Harry had five Lordships. How the hell did this happen? The parchment read:
Inheritance test
Harry James Potter
Confirmed inherited Lordships
Noble and most ancient house of Potter
Noble and most ancient house of Boldon
Noble and most ancient house of Ravenclaw
Noble and most ancient house of Peverell
Noble and most ancient house of Gryffindor
Confirmed inherited family vaults
Potter vault
Boldon vault
Ravenclaw vault
Peverell vault
Gryffindor vault
Mannoy vault
Juneur vault
Stuart vault
Romanov vault
"This is amazing, wait I have heard the name Romanov before." Sirius said.
"It's the name of the Russian tsar family that had been killed in the Russian Revolution." Snowcack explained.
"How can this be? If they were all murdered, how can I be a descendant?" Harry asked.
"Two of the children's bodies were never found. The crown prince and princess Anastasia. Very few knew that the wife of Tsar Nicolai, Tsarina Alexandra, a descendant of our own queen Victoria, was a witch. The British royal family is highly connected to the wizarding world as many squibs have married into the family over the centuries. After all, there were some squibs born to the noble wizarding families and they were predestined to marry muggle nobles. So it was only a matter of time until one of these children would develop magical abilities. Alexandra was wary of the signs of uproar in Russia and prepared for any emergency. But even she was helpless at the sheer raw power the muggles unleashed in their fury.
"As it was, only her youngest daughter Anastasia had inherited enough magic to be a witch. All the other children were squibs with the crown prince having such a bad balance of his inherited magical powers, that he was susceptible to bleeding disorder. A genetically inherited decease. Even the most able healer of the time, Rasputin, hasn't been able to help the boy, but nasty rumors about him were spread. It ended in Rasputin being murdered by a mob of angry muggles.
"However, Anastasia managed to instinctively apparate out of her prison and disapparated back in Buckingham Palace, where she told the king what had happened. He offered her the protection of the royal court and she was taken in under a false name. Later she attended Hogwarts, graduated with very high N.E.W.T.s and made a name for herself in the wizarding world. She found a cure to the bleeding disorder to prevent any others to suffer like her little brother. She was one of the most famous healers St Mungo's ever had.
"There are also several stories the muggles made up as they couldn't explain how the girl simply vanished. As there never were any stories about the boy, we should assume that he died and they hushed it up. Killing little children never gives a good impression with the public even if said public despised the family they came from. After all the crown prince was only seven years old when the revolution happened."
Harry just nodded. He wasn't only nobility in the magical world, he was also descended from those outside. That was a lot to take in. I mean, how many boys could say they descended from Queen Victoria? The current British Royals were his distant relatives.
Sirius stared at the other noble houses.
"How is he descended from Ravenclaw? I know James told me that the Peverell line had no male heirs and that he was descended from them so this is no surprise, I just didn't know that there still was a Lordship of that family after they died out in the male line; with Gryffindor it is the same. I always suspected something like this as nearly all the Potters have been sorted into Gryffindor house when they attended Hogwarts. But I am sure James would have mentioned if he was descended from Ravenclaw."
"It is from his mother's side. The Boldons were close allies with the Ravenclaws after they emigrated from France to Great Britain in 1613. There were some marriages in the past. The reason why Lily Potter never had been told that she was Lady Ravenclaw was that there was another heir at the time, but the boy died of Malaria after a holiday in Africa in 1985. So the only living descendant of the house of Ravenclaw is Harry." Snowcack informed them.
"I see. Well, with this many inherited titles and vaults it will take some time to sort everything out for Harry to have optimal management of his assets." Sirius stated.
"You are right. I have built a statement of all the businesses Harry now owns and the liquid value of his vaults. Then the estates he owns are also listed with the respective locations. All values added together Harry is the number sixth richest wizard in Europe" Snowcack proudly told them.
"Why?" Harry asked.
"Why what, Harry?" Sirius asked back.
"Why has nobody ever told me this? How will I be able to handle all of this? Why did I have to grow up miserable if I am this rich? Weren't there any other possibilities then sending me to the Dursleys? If I own so many estates as it sounds, couldn't I have been raised in one of them? It wouldn't be that hard for a powerful wizard to ward one of them to top standards. And with the power and resources of the Ministry of Magic it would have been easy to do so." Harry ranted.
Sirius could just place his hand on Harry's shoulder to try and console the young boy. So much had been done to him in his life and he had few happy memories that could push the bad ones back. What Sirius worried was that most of them were at Hogwarts. If his suspicions were right, then Harry would get another hard hit to his psyche.
"Well, I know this is much to get used to, Harry, but we have a lot to do today, so if it is alright with you I would like to read to you the will of your parents. I want to add that the original, held by the Ministry of Magic is still sealed on orders of the chief warlock of the Wizengamot, who at the time is Albus Dumbledore." Snowcack explained.
Harry nodded and tried to concentrate.
Snowcack took a roll of parchment and opened it. He began to read.
Last will and testament of
Lord James Charlus Potter
and Lady Lily Elisabeth Potter nee Evans nee Boldon
We, the aforementioned, being of complete mental health and free will hereby decree this will our testament, making all previous wills void.
In case of our demise the following persons are to be given the following assets:
To Remus John Lupin we leave our flat in London, Bakerstreet 23, 1.000.000 galleons and all of Lily's books concerning recent studies of the possibility to counter the werewolf curse by the wolfsbane potion.
To Peter Thadeus Pettigrew, our secret keeper, we leave 1.000.000 galleons to get his lazy ass out of his mother's home and stand up for himself.
In case he was the one to betray us to Voldemort (as we said secret keeper) the former part is void and he is to be thrown into Azkaban in an anti-animagus-cell with the key thrown down North Sea. (Lily insists on this part!)
To Sirius Orion Black we leave 1.000.000 galleons, the cottage located in the village of Nottingham, he liked to borrow so much to have private time with his girlfriends and James' collection of chocolate frog cards.
The rest of our belongings are going to our son Harry James Potter.
In question of custody for our son Harry if one of us dies the surviving party has custody, in case both of us die, Harry is to be placed with one of the following persons in the mentioned order
1. His godfather Sirius Orion Black
2. Franklin Serenus and Alice Aurora Longbottom (godmother)
3. Remus John Lupin (family friend)
and screw the ministry we say he can live with Moony and they have to accept it!
4. Andromeda Rosaria and Theodore Dereck Tonks (family friends)
5. Molly Patricia and Arthur Rios Weasley (family friends and distant cousins)
Under no circumstances Harry is to be placed with Lily's sisters Family, Petunia and Vernon Dursley! They are the worst sort of muggles there is and we don't want our son submitted to their cruelty that is sure to occur due to their hatred of the magical world.
Signed
Lord James Charlus Potter
Lady Lily Elisabeth Potter
Lord Ironfork as witness
Albus Percival Brian Wulfric Dumbledore as witness
"He knew!" Sirius and Harry shouted at the same time.
Snowcack just stayed calm in his seat. He had witnessed outrage by wizards before and knew they needed to get the emotions out of their body unless you wanted them to do reckless things.
"He knew my parents didn't want me to live with the Dursleys. And yet he placed me there. What the hell was he thinking? He had no right to deny me a happy childhood, what the hell is he planning?" Harry ranted pacing up and down Snowcack's office.
Sirius now connected the dots. The things he had found strange fell into place. The prophecy, the not given trial, the Dursleys, Harry's learning problems.
"He wants total control over you Harry." Sirius said grimly.
"I think I can now see a good part of the picture, even if I am still missing some pieces of the puzzle. Think about it. You are the heir of three old pureblood lines he knew about. Potter, Peverell and Gryffindor. I'm sure he knew about this. You were guaranteed to be very influential when you grew up. Then the prophecy that has been made about you and Voldemort. You were foretold to be the one to defeat him. That made you even more politically powerful. Well you or Neville Longbottom as far as he could know before Voldemort attacked.
"When he attacked it was obviously sure you were the one. To be completely sure, you would have to contact the department of mysteries in the Ministry of Magic, they have recordings of every prophecy ever made there.
"Now he had a golden opportunity. There have been rumors in the order of the phoenix that Dumbledore has tried to influence Tom Riddle when he went to school, seeing signs of the boy becoming more and more bitter towards muggles."
"No wonder there. In this I can understand him. He hated that muggle orphanage he had to grow up at. It must have been a horrible place. If he was forced to return there every summer he was sure to grow a grudge." Harry threw in.
"How do you know this, Harry?" Snowcack asked.
"I found his diary last year. The foul thing contained a memory of Riddle's sixteen year old self. When you wrote in the book, it answered you. It showed me how Riddle blamed Hagrid for his crimes while opening the Chamber of Secrets the first time. He had a conversation with Headmaster Dippet that he feared to have to return to that muggle orphanage if the school was closed. He also despised his muggle father, called him worthless. He shed his name, Tom Marvolo Riddle, and created a new name by using an anagram. Shifting the letters of his name, you get 'I am Lord Voldemort'. His father must have left his mother because she was a witch.
"The diary possessed Ginny Weasley to do Tom Riddles bidding and she opened the chamber of secrets for him and eliminated all the threats to the basilisk for him. Like killing all of the school roosters." Harry told them.
Snowcack seemed deep in thought, so was Sirius. Sirius decided to continue to explain Dumbledore's plans to Harry. He needed to know this before he could be thrown into another of the insane headmaster's schemes.
"Well, as I said, Harry, Dumbledore's attempts to influence Riddle failed. If what you said is true, it could be a reason why everything escalated so much. A crappy childhood would turn most people bitter and they need an outlet for their frustrations. They would turn against the very thing that made their childhood terrible, in my case it was my bigoted family, in Riddle's case it were muggles and everything he related with them. So his targets were the muggle-born witches and wizards at Hogwarts.
"Dumbledore always was a bit weird. He held information close to himself and only gave it up when he deemed it appropriate. I sometimes wondered if some of the deaths in the order could have been prevented if he had given up some information earlier. Well, regarding your upbringing he saw the opportunity to form the heir of some very influential houses to his liking. If you saw Hogwarts as your real home, him as your savior from your relatives, you would be very easy to influence for him. You would look up to him and out of gratefulness you wouldn't ask too many questions. It is what has happened with Remus. He was so grateful to Dumbledore for letting him attend Hogwarts despite being a werewolf, that he blindly believed everything Dumbledore told.
"This probably is the reason he hasn't visited you while you grew up. Now there were only two obstacles in his way. Your parents and me. I'm sure he had plans in case Neville turned out to be the one the prophecy spoke about but he must have let them go as you clearly were the one. With your parents raising you, you would have known what it meant to be a noble Lord. You would have built connections with other pureblood children over the years growing up and been a normal confident boy when you entered Hogwarts. Nearly impossible to control by normal means. He couldn't do much against this, so he tried to be on good terms with your parents. He offered being the secret keeper himself to have full control over who visited them while being in hiding. They refused and played our planned act that I was to be secret keeper to flush out the traitor in our midst.
"To my shame I have to admit I believed Remus to be the traitor. He was more and more withdrawn from everybody that made him suspicious. But now I think it was just his pride while coping with all the prejudices in the wizarding world towards werewolves. It was extremely hard for him to find work due to his condition and he refused taking our help. After your parents died and he knew Peter was secret keeper, but nobody else besides us two, he made up his mind. He sent Hagrid to get you before I could and he left me no other choice but to let him take you. You can't really argue with a half giant. I knew I would have lost. Then I let my rage get the better of me and hunted Peter down. I wanted him to pay, but unknowingly I played exactly into Dumbledore's hands, perhaps he even expected this when he had you taken from me. You would have been the only thing that could have stopped me from hunting Peter down myself. If I had to take care of you, I wouldn't be able to do something stupid.
"I know very well that my temper sometimes gets the better of me. But the point is, my own actions proved my guilt in the eyes of the wizarding community. Additionally I am from a dark family. Not too far-fetched to believe that I would go over to Voldemort. It was easy just to sit next to everything and just not push for a trial to be held. I could rot in Askaban for all he cared and nobody would be able to interfere with his plans for you. You were sent away from the magical world against your parents will, which nobody knew about except the goblins and wizards tend to ignore other magical beings in their arrogance and superior attitude. He had sealed the wills of James and Lily and I suspect Alice and Frank Longbottom as well. I believe he tried to influence Neville as well, but failed in doing so as Neville still had some relatives left to care for him." Sirius stated.
"Yes, Neville told us that he grew up with his grandmother, he never mentioned his parents though." Harry said.
"That is hardly surprising, Harry." Snowcack said. "His parents were tortured by Death Eaters and are staying at St Mungo's long term ward because they lost their sanity due to the cruciatus curse, one of the three unforgivable curses."
"That's horrible. I never knew. He never said anything." Harry mumbled.
"Perhaps he isn't comfortable to talk about it." Sirius said. Harry nodded.
Done. I hope for many reviews. For this nice long chapter. :)