The next couple of weeks were busy for Harry. He would arrive at the hospital between eight and half past eight, set everything up and from nine o'clock he would be seeing clients. His proficiency with the paperwork sped up quite a bit and thanks to a dicta-quill Hermione had gotten him that he could pre-program paragraphs into, he was able to cut the time he was filling out paperwork in half.
During the time he now had free, about five minutes between clients, he was able to catch his breath and he even started sending messages to Hermione through the notebooks she had come up with. It was mostly the two of them trying to make the other laugh, blush or when they got it perfect laugh and blush at the same time. It only got worse when Harry worked out that the notebooks didn't need words and that doodles would work just as well. And with a few simple animation charms, the same type used in a lot of their textbooks, the pictures could move a little.
By the end of Harry's first week there his office didn't look anywhere near as sterile any more. He had Krum's old arm and Moody's old leg mounted on the wall behind his desk, and the cabinet that displayed all the other old prosthetic limbs he was collecting was steadily displaying more and more limbs. His clients, once they saw it, were mostly eager to add their old limbs to the display. Not everyone wanted to give up their old prosthetics, but Harry found it was a pretty steady one in ten who decided to keep them.
Harry's desk also developed a small collection of personal items. A picture of Charlus, Sirius, and Hermione standing together that Hermione had given him. A cactus from Sirius who said that they were the perfect office plant because they don't care if you forget to water them. A mug that Charlus had gotten him that was enchanted to keep whatever liquid you poured into it at the same temperature it was when you poured it. It wasn't much but it made Harry's little clinic feel less clinical.
The main focus however was all the people Harry was helping. Since he had started it was surprising just how many people needed help. Not all of them were big things like arms or legs either, towards the end Harry was replacing fingers as well.
Harry also learned that while if he replaced an entire hand or more the person couldn't use their wand in that hand, if he only replaced a couple of fingers they had no trouble using their wand at all. Harry was sure it had something to do with the wand's proximity to skin but it was only a theory and he couldn't even claim it was an educated one. He had written a memo on the subject and passed it up but Helen, the mediwitch who worked in part by managing his clients as they came and left their appointments, had warned him that the chances that anyone would look into it this decade were rather low. "I'll be honest Harry, it's the lowest of the low on the priority scale. All they will care about is the fact that some partial reconstructions allow for the patient to use their wand after, while too much reconstruction means someone is gonna need to learn to change their wand arm. The exact why will have to wait until someone has the time to look into something that isn't life threatening."
Harry had started to get along better with Helen Loyd after a few days. It probably had something to do with his habit of shameless bribery with the good coffee from the cafe whenever he had a break. He had more breaks than she did because of his age. And as Hermione had told him that mediwitches and wizards were most probably like nurses, meaning that they ran on coffee and spite, he always brought her down an extra cup when he popped up.
After two weeks the number of cases Harry was dealing with started to drop off as he was through the priority cases. The Ministry was footing the bill for the Aurors but the general public still had to pay for themselves and while the yearly fee was small there was still a large upfront cost for the silver. And while it was relatively cheap to replace a couple of fingers, those were also the people who were the most likely to just accept missing a few digits. The people who were eager to get Harry's services tended to be missing at least a quarter of a limb and that was a considerable amount of silver. There was some interest from overseas but the lockdown was stopping that from happening any time soon.
Once he got home from work he would meet up with Ron and Hermione most nights so they could actually enjoy their summer as much as possible. Susan came along with Ron occasionally but her aunt was pretty strict about where she could go and for how long. It wasn't really paranoia when your work put a target on you and your family.
Swimming in the Weasleys pond, walking around the Potter Estate, and watching movies at Hermione's may not be the most exciting summer ever especially when compared to beach trips and days out at theme parks but it beat sitting at home with little to do.
Then one evening curse breaker Williams came by looking to talk with them. Harry and Charlus took him into one of the rooms where they could talk.
"So what's this update about? Have you located another horcrux?" Harry asked, kicking off the conversation.
"Actually we have found two. One is in the Ministry of Magic with you-know-who. He seems to be keeping it close to hand. The only way anyone is going to get to that one is to storm the Ministry or to convince them to leave the Ministry for some reason. The other is even more problematic. The signals we are getting could only mean that the horcrux is in one of the Gringotts vaults."
There was a round of expletives from Harry and Charlus. Gringotts was notoriously protective over things in their vaults and if a horcrux was in one of them it was going to be a nightmare to get them out.
Williams continued "It may not be as bad as you think. I have spoken with one of the managers at Gringotts. As a curse breaker I have worked with them in the past. I haven't told him any specifics, my employment contract with you prevents me from all but the vaguest of statements, but I did tell him that I had evidence that they had an artifact in one of their vaults that if they continued to protect it, it would be akin to declaring their support for he-who-must-not-be-named."
"He wasn't happy that I was being so vague but understood that I couldn't say much. He did ask who my employer was and I did give him that information. He has arranged for a meeting between the two of you and Ragnok, the Director of the Bank to plead your case."
There was a few moments of silence after Williams finished while they thought about what they had been told, then Charlus asked, "What do you think the outcome of the meeting will be?"
"Well, while what you are asking broadly falls under their definition of a thief you are openly asking through the proper channels. The worst that will happen is they give you a lecture about not coveting that to which you have no right. There is a slight chance they will agree to give the item but I would sooner put money on a drunk blind man bullseyeing a fly with a cutting charm at twenty paces. They may agree to destroy the item for us, but the most likely outcome in my opinion is that they have us help locate the item and what vault it is in and then they will send a letter to whoever's vault it is and inform them that in order to preserve the banks neutrality, they have a certain amount of time to remove it or they will take it from the vault themselves and leave it on the front steps of the bank for the first person to take." Williams explained.
"Even that could be a boon to us." Said Harry. "We may not dare break into Gringotts but wherever it goes after that would be less problematic right?"
"Not necessarily. Just like the death eaters don't dare try to break into a manor this old with such established wards, there is more than one such property in among the holdings of the death eaters. There is also the possibility that it will be taken into the old Ministry complex where we will have the same problem as the one in there." Charlus told Harry.
"Does Gringotts have any experience with horcruxes? I know top level curse breakers like yourself know about them and that has to be for a reason. And I know Gringotts sends cursebreakers tomb raiding. So do they know about horcruxes and how are they likely to react if they were told it's a horcrux?" Harry asked Williams.
Williams nodded. "Oh the goblins definitely know about horcruxes. You are correct they are sometimes found in tombs. Gringotts policy on them is that you move them outside and use fiendfyre on them as soon as possible. However the policies of their curse breakers likely won't have much effect on how they interpret the treaties and contracts that govern the banks responsibility to safeguard whatever is stored in the vaults."
"When do they want to speak with us?" Charlus asked.
The answer was simple: "As soon as possible."
There were more details to talk about after that but less than thirty minutes later Charlus was sending off an owl with a proposed date and time for the meeting. It wasn't the next day like they had wanted, mostly because Harry had work the next day and he wasn't going to make people wait to have their lives restored just for a meeting with the bank.
The next day at work Harry was a little preoccupied trying to think of ways to get the goblins to side with them. It was a fool's quest, far wiser and more influential men than him had tried before and all had failed. There was no way in only one day Harry was going to find the answer to a question that had plagued decent thinking wizards for generations. Still just because he didn't have a chance didn't stop his mind from trying, though even preoccupied he was able to focus enough to help three people that day.
One was a particularly interesting case. He was a potioneer like Charlus, only far less skilled. He had apparently dropped his wand in a half finished potion he was brewing and had instinctively reached into the cauldron to retrieve it. The hand that he pulled back out was no longer hand shaped. All attempts to restore his hand had failed and instead of opting to keep trying to restore his hand he had opted to have it amputated and have it replaced with one of Harry's prosthetics.
He actually had a theory that he could use the hand instead of a silver string rod and improve the mixing. The healers and Harry had all recommended against the idea but he was determined.
"At least if he fucks up the new hand and wants a replacement I will get paid for it." Harry muttered to himself as the strange man left. There was a penalty clause in the contract that Miss Twist had added. Because Harry's fee was so low anyone who needed a silver limb replaced because they were using it outside of specification had to pay a two hundred galleon fee that Harry got seventy-five five percent of.
Hermione stayed with Harry at the Manor that night so the next morning Harry and Charlus didn't need to worry about finding each other before going together to the bank. As they were apparently going to be meeting with the head of the bank the two Potter's were dressed up in the wizarding robe equipment of power suits. It was similar to the robes Dumbledore used to wear only less garish.
A quick side along apparition took them to the steps of the bank and after meeting up with Williams and a few quick words with a teller they were ushered through the bank to the top floor. The bank above ground was always pretty opulent but the top floor was next level. Something about how magic made the basics relatively simple, made people want to show off their skills by getting creative. Anyone could add a skylight window for better lighting, but making a floor to ceiling pillar of thousands of crystals that refracted sunlight thought the whole room was showing off. The goblins it seemed were just as affected by that vanity as wizards.
The room they were in seemed to be a conference room. There was a marble table larger than three or four king sized beds in the center of the room and on one side someone had removed a part of the floor revealing a second floor underneath about a foot lower and there were three human sized chairs in the hole positioned so that the table that was made for people goblin sized was at a comfortable position. The message of the room was clear: this was Goblin domain and while they were courteous to guests you were still an outsider.
The three of them took their seats and waited, almost exactly two minutes after they sat down another door opened and three goblins walked in each wearing suits that looked like they cost more than some cars. There was a short round of polite greetings. The one goblin introduced himself as Ragnok the bank director and the other two as bank managers BoneSnapper and BlackTooth. The pleasantries took a little while. On one side you had the head of the only wizarding bank in Britain, and on the other was a sitting member of the Wizengamot and Warlock of a historic line of wizards and his Heir. Nobody wanted to be the one offend the other.
Eventually though they were able to get to the actual reason they were meeting. After they had all taken their seats again Ragnok started the meeting. "So Warlock Potter, curse breaker Williams has informed us that we are at risk of unintentionally forfeiting our neutrality in this little wizarding war of yours. However he also claims that by contract and vow he is prevented from divulging any details beyond that it involves an artifact that we are protecting in our vaults. We fail to see how this could affect our neutrality and would like you to explain before we go any further."
Charlus nodded in agreement. "A reasonable stance given the limitations of the information you have at hand. Unfortunately you-know-who has taken steps to make himself rather difficult to kill. Not just training to be deadly, everyone knows of his power as a duelist. He undertook rituals that involved artifacts, one of which is now being kept in your vaults. Tell me, do you know what a horcrux is?"
It was clear from the reactions of the goblins that they wouldn't need to explain what a horcrux was. They had suspected as much from what Williams had said but there was the possibility that it was just something one department knew about.
"I see you know." Charlus continued. "As you are aware you-know-who is effectively immortal as long as he has a horcrux. If the bank protects his horcrux then the bank by extension is protecting his life. Protecting the life of he-whos-name-i-cant-say-without-risking-wards isn't a neutral act, it's a declaration for one side."
"Now we are convinced you knew nothing about this. For one, Gringotts has always valued its neutrality in wizarding affairs. And for point two we know the lengths he-who-must-not-be-named went to keep this potential weakness a secret. He didn't want anyone to know it existed so that nobody would be looking for it at all, let alone looking here."
"First we are glad that you recognise that we at Gringotts had nothing to do with creating this situation. However before we continue how do you know there is a horcrux stored here and what vault is it stored in." Ragnok asked.
Williams took that question. "We don't know what vault holds the horcrux. We have a way to scan for he-who-must-not-be-named's horcruxes, but it can only point us under the bank. We lack the knowledge of the vault lay out to be more accurate than that. However if we were allowed to take our equipment into the tunnels, supervised of course, with the help of somebody who does know the layout we could probably pinpoint the correct vault in an afternoon, two days maximum."
"You said horcruxes. As in more than one?" BlackTooth noticed.
Harry took that one before anyone else could. "This information needs to be kept in the strictest of confidence. Not only do we not want our job made more difficult, but if he ever found out you knew he would come for you, torture you until he was convinced you had told him everyone you had shared the information with and would repeat that with them until he was convinced that his secret was safe again."
"That would start a war with the goblins." BoneSnapper snarled.
Harry shook his head in disbelief. "He wouldn't care. He believes he has the right to rule over everything, witch, wizard, goblin it makes no difference. To him everyone will be forced to serve. The only reason he hasn't come after you yet was because he needs gold to finance his plans and his loyal dogs keep their gold here. So will you keep everything we say confidential?"
"It will. Nothing said here will be repeated outside this room." Ragnok declared.
Harry just gave the man a nod and started to explain. "He created a number of horcruxes. I destroyed one a few years ago but we found more. We have kept two back for now to help us locate the rest. We have destroyed one more we found using the tracking system Williams and his team invented. There are two more still to be destroyed. The one here at Gringotts and the other is with him in the Ministry of Magic. Now I'm going to make an unlikely request. Please give us the horcrux that is kept here."
"And what would you do with it if we were to do that?" Ragnok asked.
Harry was surprised by the question. Not because it was an unusual question or one he wasn't prepared for, no the reason he was surprised was that it wasn't an immediate hard no. And as long as it wasn't a no he had a chance. "My first instinct is to destroy it. However I think a better plan would be to let you-know-who know we have it and are going to destroy it. Use it as bait to draw him and his people out of the Ministry building so that another group can sneak into the Ministry and destroy the other horcrux and make him mortal again. After that he is just one wizard. One on the more extreme end of power and skill but still just a wizard." Harry finished.
Ragnok leaned back in his chair giving Harry a speculative look. "Your plan is juvenile and lacks refinement. For one it involves you publicity claiming we have given you the artifact. Yet your idea to lure out the false lord to grant access to the remaining horcrux and to rob him of the home field advantage holds some merit."
Charlus spoke up. "The false lord, I love that name by the way, is a threat to us all. Even if you somehow believe that he wouldn't come after the goblins directly, consider the result of his actions on the magical community as a whole. How many businesses are divesting themselves of their goblin staff as well as their first generation witches and wizards? Attempting to try to conform to the false lord's standards to avoid his and his people's attention, that has to be causing tension among your people."
BlackTooth gave Ragnok a look that seemed to convey a hidden message and Ragnok nodded then BlackTooth said. "You are correct, what you don't know is that there is a significant portion of our people already calling for blood. They believe that this war is weakening the wizards and as soon as one side wins they want to decide war on them. It is a tense situation. Some goblins are pointing out every injustice the goblins have endured under the wizards. We lost our wand rights, our treasures stolen, and we have even been driven from our historic home."
"Wizards stole your homes?" Harry asked. He already knew about goblins not having the right to wands, that was taught in History of Magic. He knew about how goblins perceived goblin made items as rented out not sold. That was something he had learned from his lessons with his grandfather and godfather. But this was the first he had heard anything about wizards taking goblins land and homes.
"You didn't think that wizards actually dug out the warren that held the Ministry of Magic and now the false lord claims as his domain did you?" BoneSnapper asked.
"Honestly I hadn't ever thought about it. And if I had I'm not sure what I would have thought. Wizards do insane shit all the time." That got the three goblins to chuckle while the two adult Wizards looked a little embarrassed, whether it was because of Harry saying it or the fact that they had done some of that insane shit themselves was up for interpretation.
"That actually leads well into why I wanted this meeting instead of outright denying your request. Many wizards think of Gringotts not just as a bank but as a front for some unified goblin nation. It isn't, it's just an intermediary between the goblin clans of Britain and the other magical races we act as a go between, a messenger service. Also it's important to understand that only one of the clan heads is permitted to be director of Gringotts. I tell you this so that you understand why I would be looking into stopping a war before it starts."
"There is no need for a functioning Gringotts when the clans go to war. Many people I am responsible for would be out of work, the only hope they would have to feed their families is to enlist. Fight and die on the decisions of others. So I was looking into anything that could stop this before it happens and I think I have found a solution."
"The goblin clans lost 'tas'ak'un', what you know as the Ministry of Magic tunnels, about one-thousand-five-hundred years before the founding of Hogwarts. As you can imagine it was the result of a war between humans and goblins, there was no statue of Secrecy then, Wizards weren't even using wands yet, staffs were the most common. The war was mostly a draw but part of the settlement was that the Wizards got 'tas'ak'un' and it was signed into treaty. However the way the treaty was worded says we can't take it back while it is in the possession of the Wizengamot."
"Well it was one of the forerunners of the Wizengamot, one of multiple local groups that were amalgamated into the Wizengamot at its founding with a lot of their agreements grandfathered in. So for modern interpretation we can just use the Wizengamot. However the Wizengamot has lost possession of 'tas'ak'un' and so legally we can recapture it."
Ragnok took a pause in speaking and Charlus took the opportunity to ask. "As interesting as that is, I fail to see the connection between you reclaiming tassahcoon uh… the Ministry building and the horcrux situation. Connect the dots for me." Charlus winced as even to his ear he butchered the goblin name.
"The matter was going to be one of simple trade, one artifact quietly lost from a vault in exchange for your cooperation in soothing the Wizengamot and young Mr Potter's assistance in calming the wizarding public. That was before we learned that it was horcruxes we were dealing with and that there is another hidden in 'tas'ak'un'. Now I think I may have a better idea."
They sat and talked about the new idea for a long time. This idea was bold and unless Harry was very much mistaken it had an excellent chance of finishing off the death eaters for good. The only draw back was there was no way that Harry and Charlus could make the decision alone. They would need to speak to Director Bones at the very least.
As the three Wizards left the conference room only one thing had been decided. It was that Williams and his team would be allowed into the tunnels to pinpoint which vault contained the horcrux. Nobody was going to be allowed to move anything yet but they wanted to know exactly where it was for when the decision was made. Now they just needed to convince Director Bones of the plan. It was a good thing they were already going to be seeing her in two days anyway as it was time for Pansy Parkinson's trial.