Chapter 3 - Gringotts
Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Potter universe… JKR owns all!
I would like to thank Turnlach for his BETA work :P, all mistakes are still mine though
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Harry woke up the next morning at around nine am; it took him a couple of minutes before he got used to his new surroundings…it was weird being thirteen again. He quickly got up and walked out into the living room to see Sirius there already, sitting on one of the couches.
"Hey." Harry said happily, Sirius looked up and smiled at him.
"Hey pup, ready to get going?" Sirius asked
"Yeah, in about ten minutes… let me have a shower first." Harry said with a yawn, before heading into the bathroom.
About ten minutes later Harry came back out, fully dressed in Dudley's hand-me-downs. Sirius was up and waiting, Harry pulled out his wand and flicked it a couple of times, and watched as Sirius' face changed.
He now had Blond hair, Brown eyes, and his facial shape was totally different. Harry nodded in approval and motioned Sirius towards the mirror.
"Good." he said before turning to Harry, "Now for you." he said. Harry just shook his head, and scrunched his eyes up in concentration. All of a sudden Harry's hair became longer and changed from black to blond, matching Sirius, his face shape also changed slightly, and he seemed to be a little shorter. When he opened his eyes, instead of intense emerald green they were now a chocolate brown.
"Whoa! You're a Metamorphmagus!" Sirius exclaimed, "I only know one other and that's my cousin Tonks!" he said
"Yeah…I…err...found out when my aunt tried to get my hair cut but I manage to grow it back when we got home." Harry said, again hoping Sirius would believe him. He did, it seemed, as Sirius doubled over laughing,
"By Merlin! I bet the muggles loved that!" he exclaimed.
"Yeah, they didn't seem to like it much." Harry said with a large grin… it was so nice to have Sirius back… now all he needed was Hermione… 'I should call her today, see if she wants to come to Diagon Alley early'… he thought, then decided to do it.
"Come on, let's get going… lots of stuff to do." Harry said and they both then left the pub and made their way into Diagon Alley.
"Where to first?" Sirius asked, "Gringotts?" he suggested. Harry nodded his head in agreement,
"Yeah... Probably better to get my account details and stuff worked out before we go on a shopping spree." he said with a grin, which Sirius returned.
"Yes… I thought of something else that we will need to buy also." he said.
"What's that?" Harry asked.
"Well some pranks of course…" Sirius said, "I can't let the son of a marauder go on without knowing about the art of pranking, now can I?" he asked in mock offence.
"No I guess you can't." Harry chuckled, 'Oh poor Remus… the return of the marauders and he's going to be teaching.' Harry thought to himself, a little smile gracing his lips.
"What ya smiling at?" Sirius asked him.
"Oh nothing… just thinking the reaction of certain professors when they find out the marauders have returned." Harry said with a small smile.
"YEP! McGonagall's gonna love this year!" Sirius said happily as they reached the entrance of Gringotts. Harry and the disguised Sirius walked into the bank and to the nearest free Goblin.
"Hello, I would like to speak to someone regarding my parents will." Harry said, smiling while not showing his teeth, as doing so was an insult.
"Certainly Mr Potter, if you would go though that door there, you will find Mr Grobbles' Office, you will need to speak to him." The goblin said politely.
"Thank you, may your endeavours be profitable." Harry said, adding a Goblin compliment. The Goblin seemed to smile even more at his,
"And yours Mr Potter." the Goblin said before Harry and Sirius walked through the door. They came to Mr Grobbles' office and Harry knocked on the door, a voice drifted though requesting them to enter, so they did.
"Ah… good day Mr Potter, what may I do for you today?" Mr Grobbles asked.
"Well I would like to see my Parent's will… for some reason I think there may have been problems with my placement…" Harry said. Mr Grobbles nodded and then called for his assistance to get the Potter will for him. Five minutes later, Mr Grobbles quickly looked over the will and frowned.
"I am correct in assuming that you are currently living at your muggle aunt and uncle's house, Vernon and Petunia Dursley?" he asked, Harry just nodded. "I see… then your parents will hasn't been followed… though I don't see how this could happen…"
"The headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, took me from my parent's home and placed me with them." Harry said.
"He did you say… well then he will no longer be your magical Guardian. You have a couple of options then Mr Potter, your financial records are enough to allow you to be emancipated, or you could see if one of the families on your parents will would be willing to take you in."
"I would like to become an emancipated minor thank you." Harry said strongly.
"You understand, that doing this you would gain control over you parent's vaults, gain you inheritance as Lord Potter and Lord Gryffindor, and that you may be required to attend meetings and other business that may concern your family or finances?" the goblin asked. Harry just nodded.
"Very well if you would just sign this bit of paperwork." the goblin said handing Harry an official looking form, "After you are emancipated, you are legally an adult, meaning that the underage restrictions will be taken off you. You may also apply for your apparation licence. Though alcohol and tobacco, you will still have to wait until you are of age."
Harry quickly signed the parchment and two rings appeared in front of him. He recognized them straight away, the Potter and Gryffindor family rings. He had seen adults wearing family rings before but until he had gotten his he had never paid attention to them. He plucked them from the air and slipped them onto his fingers.
"I understand that it is possible to hire a goblin to… look over my account, an executive?" Harry asked Mr Grobbles.
"Yes that is true, are you wishing to do that now?" he asked, "It would be wise in your position as it would take some of the hassles off your shoulders."
"Yes, I would like Mr Griphook to have the job." Harry said. Grobbles eyes widened slightly.
"May I ask why you choose him, Mr Potter, not many wizards care who does it?" he asked.
"Mr Griphook was the first Goblin I met, and I trust him." Harry said simply.
"Very well, I will call for him now." Grobbles said. Five minutes later Griphook came though the door.
"Mr Griphook, Mr Potter has asked that you become his executive for the Potter and Gryffindor family." Grobbles said, slightly envious; this would advance Griphook right up… especially with these two families. Griphook's eyes widened at this and he turned to Harry.
"I would be honoured Mr Potter." Griphook said.
"Thank you… oh and I was wondering, is there an easier way to withdraw gold without having to come back to Gringotts each time?" Harry asked.
"Yes there is. It depends on the size of your account of course, though I can already tell you that yours passes the requirements." Griphook said, "It's a new money pouch, it's directly linked to you account, you simply put your hand in the bag and think of how much you want and you will get it. It works for both wizard and muggle money. Would you like one?" Griphook asked.
"Yes that would be helpful." Harry said and Griphook left the room, coming back five minutes later with a nice, new, black money bag.
"Mr Potter, if you would put one hand in the bag, then lay the other hand with the family rings on the outside, we will bind this bag to you." Griphook said. Harry did so and Griphook touched his finger to each of Harry's rings, then to the bag and his hands glowed gold for each ring before they went normal again.
"There that's done, is there anything else we may help you with?" Griphook asked, Harry thought for a moment before shaking his head, no. Harry and Sirius left the Bank then; Sirius was still wide eyed at what had just happened.
"Harry… when did you learn about Goblin culture and the banks procedures…?" Sirius asked.
"Well I was thinking about this all last year, so I was looking up information on the goblin race, and the banking system. That's where I found I could be emancipated." Harry lied.
"Wow… you really planned this out." Sirius said looking impressed. He then looked at the rings on Harry's fingers, "I had no idea that James was the heir of Gryffindor…"
"Another thing to thank Dumbledore, he failed to mentioned it to me also, though I should have guessed something like this last year when I pulled the bloody Gryffindor sword from the sorting hat…" Harry said.
"You did what! Why did you need to pull the Gryffindor sword from the sorting hat? In fact why did you even have the sorting hat in your second year?" Sirius asked. Harry grinned, 'this will be funny…'
"Oh well, I had to use it to kill Salazar's fifty foot Basilisk that he put in his chamber." Harry said, in a serious tone. Sirius started to laugh, thinking Harry was joking, though stopped when he realized he was serious.
"You have to bloody tell me more about your couple of years at Hogwarts tonight!" He said staring at Harry.
"Alright… but now we need to buy some new clothes and other stuff that we will be needing." Harry said. Sirius nodded at this, but asked for good measure,
"You will tell me when we get back?" he asked, Harry just nodded again.
"Yes I will tell you… now where to? Wand, clothes, pranks…it's up to you to choose where to go first." Harry said. Sirius seemed to be in deep thought….
"Wand, I need my new wand first." he finally said, and with that they made their way to Knockturn Alley.
AN: There you go another chapter! Thanks for all the nice reviews by the way... most chapters I have written are around the 2,000 word mark... I didn't feel like writing long ones...