"I've been rather busy, Mrs. Weasley. As a matter of fact, I have much to do now. Sorry for being rude, but I really need to talk to Ron and Hermione." He didn't want to have to explain himself to the kindly woman, not when he was in such a foul mood.
"I'll just go and get them, dear. You come to dinner sometime soon. Do you understand, young man?" Molly demanded gently yet firm. She missed the boy she thought of as her seventh son.
"I'll try, Mrs. Weasley," He hedged. The few times he had been to the Burrow were awkward and unpleasant. Harry wasn't sure if it was just their grieving or if they subconsciously blamed him for the losses. After the way Andromeda treated him, he wouldn't be surprised if it was the latter. Merlin knew, he blamed himself.
She left the room and a few minutes later his friends appeared.
"Hello, Harry, how are you doing?" the curly-haired witch asked. She looked frazzled, her hair was wild and her eyes were bloodshot. He knew she was studying hard to find a way to get her parents' memories back. He wasn't sure if she would find a way before Hogwarts started, or if she was going to have to put it off. He knew that that was eating at her.
"Alright, Harry?" was Ron's greeting. He actually looked rather well. He gained back all the weight he lost when they were on the run.
"I'm fine, thanks," came Harry's standard reply. "I wanted to warn you that Gringotts is threatening to close your accounts. You need to go and clear anything you own out of there, soon."
"Well, that's fine," Ron shrugged. "I don't have a vault."
"No, but, they might fine your parents," the green-eyed teen warned. He didn't know if it was true or not, but he wasn't going to take that chance.
"Alright, I'll warn them, it's not like there's a lot there," the redhead mumbled. Money was always a sore spot for Ron.
"I only just opened the account, right before we started hunting the you-know-what's," Hermione said thoughtfully. "There is very little there, so it will be easy to get it out. It is a shame that human/goblin relations are so bitter. Maybe there is something I… "
"Hermione," The youngest Potter interrupted her spiel, knowing any attempt for better relations would be futile. Especially if they came from any of the Golden Trio, the goblins made their views very clear. "Do you think you can show me the spell you used on your bag? I don't see myself lugging a bunch of trunks full of gold down Diagon Alley."
"Honestly, Harry, don't you read? I showed you the book it was in when we were camping, just so you would know," she answered back, a bit harsh.
"I know, Hermione, but you have that book in your bag," he defended himself. "Plus, I had a bit more to worry about at that time."
"Oh, right, sorry," she stuttered. "I'll go get it." And with that she left the room, leaving Ron and Harry with little to talk about. The two teen boys had a simple conversation on Quidditch until their female friend returned. A few minutes later she returned and handed the book through the Floo.
"Oh, before I forget, don't let those greedy bastards—"Language, Harry," snapped Hermione— try and make you pay for the damages. I've already paid them. I wouldn't put it passed those… goblins to try and get more," he spat in disgust.
"Harry, I can't believe you did that," the curly-haired witch chastised. "I would have been more than happy to pay my part. As a matter of fact, as soon as I can I'm paying you back." You could see the calculations running through her brain as her eyes moved back and forth, like they were reading something in front of them only she could see.
"You don't have to do that, Hermione, I've got plenty of money left," the youngest teen shrugged. Ron scoffed in the background and was ignored. "What with Rita's latest article it's a good thing too. I mean, I can't go back to Hogwarts and the Ministry is out of the picture as well. I might as well live in the Muggle world, for all the rumors that have already started," he said bitterly.
"Oh, Harry, why is it always you?" his best friend asked. With the way she always stuck by him, that is exactly what Hermione was, his best friend.
"Don't know, don't care." To him it was par for the course, and he was tired of it. "I can tell you right now; I'm not going to put myself through all that again."
"What are you going to do about your NEWT's?" she asked giving him a sharp glare. Education was very important to her, and she didn't want to see Him lose the edge he'd get if he completed his seventh year.
Ron just stood to the side not offering his views, he'd let her try and talk Him back to Hogwarts.
"I'll figure out something. Look, I have to go," The youngest Potter said cutting off that argument before it started and pulled his head from the fire and closed the Floo.
The dark-haired wizard spent some of his time that night trying to recreate Hermione's bag. After dozens of failed attempts, in a fit of frustration, he yelled the spell at the bag he was using. He mispronounced a word and it backfired on him and hit a spot directly above his left shoulder. He tried to see what it could have possible hit, but there was nothing there. However, he felt the air move in displacement when he turned his head in that direction. As an experiment he took a piece of crumpled up paper and tossed it over his shoulder. It disappeared. He tried again and the same thing happened.
This could work , he thought. He held his right hand in front of the area and said, "Crumpled piece of parchment." Both pieces of paper came flying out to his hand. He spent the rest of the night experimenting and found it just like her bag. Bigger items just shrank into the invisible space and expanded when they were called out. He found out he had to be careful not to say certain words out loud, like 'empty', or everything would dump on to his foot, which was painful. He was delighted that he now had a way to store his gold and whatever else was in those vaults.
It was a tired young man that sat at the table and ate dinner. He finally looked at the blood test and noted there were three vaults with names he'd never heard of that now belonged to him. He did wonder how they came to be his, but he'd be damned if he asked the goblins. All five vaults added up to over a few million galleons, so Harry wouldn't have to worry about working anytime soon, which was good. He did notice that the demands of Gringotts would have wiped out his Potter account, which he was sure was the point. But the other four vaults more than made up for that.