Chapter 4: Driving Sideways
Ten days after after the incident Ron had dubbed "The one time the Slytherins caught the snitch," nine and a half days after Harry'd been released from Madam Pomfrey's care with a warning to not waste her time in the future, Ron, Hermione and Harry got ready for the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year.
Harry was just glad that everyone had shrugged off his little episode on the pitch. He was surprised that the only person who had any idea what he'd done hadn't bothered to ask about it - all Dumbledore had said about it in class the next day was "10 points for keeping up your practice, Harry, but 15 away for missing class. Lemon drop?"
The sleepy little town of Hogsmeade had undergone some very large changes over the summer. With all the Aurors stationed there to protect the village and especially the school, many new homes had been built. With the homes came the families of the Aurors, and with them came several new businesses, a particularly conspicuous structure that was now the local office of the Ministry, and a branch of Gringotts.
The Gringotts branch was fortuitous, since Harry had not bothered to withdraw any money the one time he'd been in Diagon Alley since the death of his godfather. The summer after Sirius died it was deemed too dangerous for him to visit, so someone on staff had purchased his books for him. This year, Hermione had taken his pouch of money and he'd merely plopped down in front of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor and sipped milkshakes while she took care of all his school purchases. Having not refilled his pouch since before the start of fifth year, he was nearly broke.
"I'll meet you two in front of Honeydukes in half an hour, okay? I need to get some money," Harry told his friends.
Hermione just nodded and wandered off, ostensibly toward Gladrags and Dervish and Banges, but Harry noticed the building next to Madam Puddifoot's was now a Flousrish and Blotts.
Walking into Gringotts, Harry noticed that there were no guards on duty at the door, just two piles of dirt and two buckets of water. Stepping into the short queue, it didn't take long before he was at the teller window, facing the first Goblin in over a year.
"Hello," he said. "I'd like to draw some money from my account."
"You mean from your parents account-" the goblin froze as he raised his head from some ledgers to glance at his customer.
"Excuse me, Master Potter," the goblin stumbled. "One moment, please." He jerked away from the counter and moved swiftly down a corridor Harry hadn't noticed before. Less than a minute later he returned, following a much older and apparently more important goblin.
"Good morning, Master Potter. I am Overseer K'Shiv," the new goblin told Harry, raising a portion of the countertop out of the way and motioning the young man through. "Follow me, if you please."
Harry was escorted through a maze of offices and filing cabinets, around corners, up a flight of stairs and past a bathroom that was clearly marked "Goblins Only." The journey ended in a large, plush office overlooking the village of Hogsmeade. K'Shiv offered Harry a chair and moved to sit behind the ornate desk that dominated the room.
"First I'd like to apologize for the clerk who offended you, Master Potter. Karn is new to the position and hasn't learned yet how to interact well with humans. He's spent the last few decades in the mail room. We worried, of course, about so many early promotions, but the new branches were unexpected surprises."
Harry was taken aback by this goblin's rather friendly demeanor, not to mention just about everything he'd said . "Decades? Surprises?" Harry was on a roll. "What's with the dirt piles outside? And where are the guards?"
K'Shiv smiled, baring row on row of remarkably sharp teeth. "We are particularly long-lived. My great grandfather was a loan officer when Hogwarts was founded. The dirt is why there are no guards. We have considerably less money on site here than in the London office. A dragon would be far too expensive to keep here, and with all the aurors about, not to mention the wards we have placed in and around the bank, security is easily managed. Gringott's is the bank of the wizarding world, understand. With public areas and small towns, especially places that have schools, local governments have greatly increased security. Business has actually increased globally, but only on a local scale. That means people can't come to the bank, so we must come to them. There's no way to put a dragon, its keepers and a fully trained security force into every new branch, especially on such short notice. The dirt is our first, or if you like, our last line of defense."
The overseer paused and considered Harry carefully. "I tell you this because I know you are pure of heart. They're unfinished golems. To complete the spell we need only to empty the enchanted buckets onto the dirt, either by hand or spell. While nearly indestructible and particularly strong, golems are quite short lived. These in particular are charmed not only to protect our assets and employees, but to differentiate between those who mean no ill will and those who have dark intentions. Wouldn't want our muddy friends to attack the wrong person, would we?" He smiled again.
"Now, what brings you here today, Master Potter?"
Harry paused to consider what he'd been told before responding. He'd been quite surprised that the goblins felt he could be trusted with such secret and personal information. "Please, sir, just call me Harry." Certainly, if they could share so much with him they could skip the formalities. "Well, it's really simple, sir. I just want to get some money from my vault."
K'Shiv frowned. "I'm afraid I can't do that, Mast- Harry." At Harry's frown he continued. "Please, let me finish." He glanced at the ledger in front of him. "I see here that currently, you are the ninth largest personal account we have in the London branch. That means private vaults, rather than simple floating accounts. We use your galleons as a guarantor for our outstanding loans as well as a basis for valuating the British Galleon versus foreign currencies. Since your vaults are there, there is no way to get your money to you - even if we could owl for them, we'd still need your key, and that can only be used by yourself or those you grant access."
Harry hung his head, knowing that he'd soon be unable to purchase anything, be it ink, or candy or even treats for Hedwig.
"Don't look so glum yet, Harry. I also see here that you never responded to our owls regarding the estate of your godfather. There was quite a legal scuffle going on, but you never replied."
Harry blushed. "It wasn't a very good time, sir. I didn't open any owl that didn't come from my friends. I didn't even look at the ones Professor Dumbledore sent."
"Quite understandable, I suppose. At any rate, both the Malfoys and the Lestranges contested Mister Black's will, which stated that the bulk of assets would be bequeathed to you, with a Nymphadora Tonks as the executrix of the estate until your 21st birthday. It was contested that first, they are blood relations while you are not and secondly that the will of an escaped convict could not possibly be held up by the Ministry."
Harry was on the edge of his seat. He was quite glad he'd missed the entire thing, but he knew that Sirius would hate it if his things were given away to Death Eaters. "And?"
"Well, to keep it simple, it was decided that, since a Lestrange was Mr. Black's murderer and the head of the Malfoy family is now a confirmed Death Eater, they had no more legal claim on his estate than they felt you did, and they could not profit from a death they caused. Furthermore, Mr. Black's previous will, written well before his incarceration, listed James Potter, his wife or descendants as the recipients of the bulk of the estate. You."
While Harry wasn't exactly bored - more like depressed - this was starting to sound a lot like two things he hated: politics and law. With some mathematics thrown in for good measure.
"So what does all this mean, sir? I just want some money to buy some candy, maybe a quill and some new robes. Can I do that?"
K'Shiv straightened a little in his char. "My apologies, Master Potter. I should have realized a person of your age would not appreciate the intricacies of the system. With the combined value of both the Potter and Black estates, your liquid value makes you the 6th richest wizard in Great Britain. Of course, that means very little to you, so let me put it this way: you now are worth more than the Malfoys and the Lestranges combined, who are ranked 8th and 12th, respectively."
Harry was getting frustrated. "I just want some new robes. "
"Yes, yes, of course. One moment." K'Shiv stepped out of the room and returned, more than ten minutes later, with a dark wooden box. He handed it to Harry, who opened it and looked at the Overseer.
"It was quite a dilemma, you know. You're not of legal age yet to personally request one of these, but your guardians aren't members of the magical community and so could not request one for you. I just got off the floo with Nymphadora Tonks, who authorized us to give this to you. We simply call it a Galleon Pouch."
Harry lifted the black felt pouch with one hand. It was quite small, barely large enough to fit his entire fist inside. It was rather plain and unattractive, and was virtually identical to the pouches they'd used in Divination to store their Tarot decks. He was certain that Draco had one of his own - just last week Ron had teased Draco about his empty knut sack, since all of the Malfoy assets were frozen. "What does it do?"
"With it you have direct access to your vault in London. Reach in, think of the amount you want to remove and it will be there. It also works for any item in your vault that is small enough to fit in the bag. It works both ways - anything you put into the bag will be deposited into your vault. You can use it to transfer muggle money, to store your wand in a safe place, anything you want, so long as it fits. You're also welcome to decorate the sides of the bag as you like. Just do not interfere with the seams - that is where the magic is focused."
"Is there anything else I need to know?" Harry asked, hoping he wouldn't be late meeting his friends. "What about security?"
"I think that's everything. Now that you're authorized, you can also list those who you want to have access to the pouch. The security for the pouch is the same as the security at the vault. Anyone can stick their hand into the pouch. However, only those with permission can remove that hand without serious bodily injury. As far as the bag itself, it's impervious to any magic performed with a wand. Essentially, any spell cast on it will instead strike the door to your vault."
Finally, and thankfully, finished, Harry shook hands with the Overseer and followed the old goblin downstairs and through the counter. After signing a form to authorize Hermione's access to the pouch - knowing he could trust Ron to make it the Post Game Butterbeer Fund if he had access - he stepped outside and glanced at the popcorn shaped clouds in the sky.
Just below them, between Zonkos and Gladrags, a Dark Mark was forming.
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Notes: Hope this made up for the short chapters.
Sauron: The teaser is the entire reason I'm writing this. It -will- be a while, but we will get there. We've already dealt a little with Harry's private study - modifying the spell on the Quidditch balls.
With my messed up posting schedule, I'm flying without beta. I know some typos are slipping through, much as I try not to let them. If you see one, PM me!
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