Chapter 10: Newfound Assets
To say that Nymphadora Tonks was in a good mood would be a gross mistruth. To say that she was in a bad mood would be an overstatement. To say that she was throughly confused would be the understatement of the century.
Tonks was currently sitting in the library of 12 Grimmauld Place, home of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black for at least three generations and formerly home of her favorite cousin Sirius. Currently the house was home to the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, a fact that Tonks was unfortunately reminded of constantly.
She honestly didn't know how she had been drug into all of this in the first place. She had only passed auror certification three years prior, and even then just by the skin of her teeth. To many she was the rookie. A new kid on the corps who was more than a tad clumsy and more than a little wet behind the ears.
A lot of that had changed when Alastor Moody had come and recruited her for the Order of the Phoenix. Many within the corps still regarded her as "the new kid," but to her own sense of self she could always say that here she was something different. Something special. She was fighting against Voldemort in ways that most of the Aurors couldn't even imagine.
A lot more of that uncertainty and lack of self-confidence had been changed the day she met Remus Lupin. Perhaps it was the man's innate kindness and his willingness to see the good in others that drew Tonks towards him. She honestly couldn't put a finger on the exact thing. Needless to say, however, she considered herself smitten with him.
Which was the reason why she was currently mired in this particular quandary. Dumbledore had instructed her to watch over Remus. In essence, she was acting as his prison guard, keeping him locked up in headquarters until Harry had been found. Doing so raised more than a few ethical questions in Tonks' mind. If she cared for Remus, then how could she possibly treat him this way, spying on him and telling every one of his moves to the headmaster? It was enough to make her head and her heart throb in pain.
Another thing Tonks truly didn't understand what Dumbledore suddenly had against the man. It was obvious to her at least that all Remus wanted to do was find Harry and bring him back to safety. Why in the world would Dumbledore avoid an advantage of that? Why did he think Remus was trying to control Harry?
The questions mulled over in her mind several times but she was unable to come up with a satisfactory answer. It was getting late, and they had to continue the search in the morning. Hopefully by then she'd be able to sort things out in her head. She stood up from her chair and was starting to head for the stairs and her bedroom, when she saw Remus hurry by, with a bag in his hand. Quickly moving out of the library and towards the entryway, she tried desperately to catch up with Remus.
"Remus!" she called out. "Remus wait! Where do you think you're going?" She finally stopped him just near the front door, when he turned around and had a slightly perturbed look in his eye. He was not angry, Tonks could figure that out immediately. But something had obviously set him off. She gazed into his eyes and thought she saw him trying to....think of his response?
"I'm going to look for Harry," Lupin replied, finally setting his bag down and reaching into his robes for something. "I'm not going to sit here cooped up like Sirius did. For all I know he could be lying dead in a gutter somewhere." He paused a moment, as if trying to retone his response.
"'Dora," he continued, causing Tonks to listen more intently. "Don't think I'm a fool. I know Professor Dumbledore is keeping me here because he somehow thinks that I'm going to be foolhardy with Harry. Well I'm not. That boy is the only link I have left with my friends and better yet my family. I have to go. I'll be at my cottage in Wales." He solemnly looked at her for a moment, before beginning to turn away and head for the door.
"Wait," Tonks yelled again, causing Remus to turn back, the perturbed look on his face again. "Dumbledore ordered you to stay here Remus," she stated as firmly as she could. Remus offered a half-smile.
"It's been twenty years since I was at Hogwarts and he still orders me around," he mumbled to himself, before handing a small piece of parchment to Tonks. "That is my resignation from the Order of the Phoenix. I promise I won't go blabbing to any aurors I happen to see on my way. I'm through with this war. I'm going to keep Harry safe, and that's that." He motioned again to leave.
"Wait," Tonks yelled a third time, causing a more annoyed look to appear on Remus' face. "What about..." she bit her bottom lip, trying to think of a delicate way to say this. Remus seemed to read her mind though, and he took her hands into his.
"I have thought about it," Remus said quietly, and he leaned in and kissed her on the lips. She whimpered slightly, but returned the kiss, making it slightly deeper. She was abruptly cut off by Remus backing away, and she saw a resolute look in his eyes, tinged with a bit of sadness. "I also remember a former mentor of mine telling me about having to decide between what is right and what is easy." He turned away again, not looking back at her as he finished with, "Goodbye, 'Dora." On that note he opened the door and walked out into the London nightfall, leaving Tonks with a few tears leaking out of her eyes.
/ - / - / - /
Harry's alarm was set for 6:30 in the morning, early enough for him to be able to get some breakfast and a shower. He awoke a little early actually, but felt refreshed after the long night's sleep. He glanced over and saw Hermione laying next to him, a peaceful calm exuding from her slumbering form. It brought a smile to Harry's face. She had found her way to his bed while in the grips of another nightmare. Just being near Harry seemed to calm her nerves enough, and knowing that she was calm and able to sleep allowed Harry's own sleep to come much more rapidly.
As it was he laid there for nearly an hour, watching Hermione sleep and keeping her close to him. When the wake-up alarm he had set up went off, he saw Hermione stretch out slightly and open her eyes. As they fluttered open, the first thing they saw was Harry's own bright green eyes sparkling back at her. She looked confused for a brief moment, before settling into a small smile.
"Good morning," Harry said softly. "You're cute when you're confused like that." Hermione nearly giggled and slapped him gently on the arm. Her smile quickly faded to a slight grimace as she stood up and headed towards the window. Harry frowned, mirroring her emotional state. Standing up, he followed her and draped his arms over her shoulders, pressing his head next to hers. "'Mione?" he asked, and from the reflection in the window he could see some tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
"I hate this," she muttered. Before Harry could misinterpret her words, she continued. "I hate that I have to come crawling to you like a little girl scared of her own shadow every time I go to sleep. I hate being this....weak." She seemed to calm down as she got the last words out, and Harry spun her around, planting a soft kiss on her forehead and then looking in her eyes.
"'Mione, your parents were killed. It's understandable that you'd have nightmares. Believe me, I've had my fair share." She offered him a grim smile to his self-deprecating observation. "And you are most certainly not weak," Harry continued, "You are the strongest person I know. You're loyal, gifted, and if I do say so myself, astonishingly gorgeous." Her face turned a deep red color. "There are many words to describe you Hermione Granger....but weak is most assuredly not one of them." She bit her lip, as if to say something else, and Harry merely embraced her. After a few more moments they broke away and Hermione chirped up.
"When did you get so good with words?" she asked playfully. It was Harry's turn to blush slightly, and he turned away, ruffling his longer hair in the back as he did so.
"Must be the Hufflepuff in me," he finally said, though there was partial exasperation on his countenance. "Truth be told I still don't know everything they did to me." As he sat down somewhat dejected, Hermione could tell for the first time that something else was bothering Harry, something deeper that thus far he had hidden from view. But she hadn't the slightest clue what it was. For now she offered what help she could.
"After we're done at the bank today," she offered, sounding as resolute as possible, "We'll sit down and figure out how these powers of yours work. You probably just need to train your body to make the knowledge second-nature to you. Also..." she hesitated a moment before continuing, "once we've figured out everything you know I want you to teach me."
Harry turned back around, a somewhat shocked look on his face. "'Mione...I'm no teacher. I can barely handle myself sometimes and..." he was stopped as Hermione firmly shook her head, her lips tightly drawn in a McGonagall sort of way.
"You were a teacher last year Harry. Remember the DA? The reason we all escaped from the Ministry with just a few bumps and bruises is because you taught us so well." She walked up to him and held onto his arm, and she could see the debate raging in his mind through his eyes.
"A lot of good it did us in the end," Harry muttered under his breath. "We got out but just by the skin of our teeth. And Dumbledore needed to save me. And it didn't help Sirius at all." He paused for a moment at the mention of his godfather and then continued. "And if I had been a good teacher or better yet, a good friend, I would have known not to lead you all there in the first place." Hermione paused, trying to formulate an answer in her mind, but Harry waved her off. "Don't worry about it 'Mione. I'll try and teach you what I can, but first I have to figure it all out for myself." Hermione frowned, obviously annoyed by the fact that Harry was shutting her out of the conversation. For the moment however, she let it slide. Harry walked out of the room, grabbing a change of clothes as he did, and headed for the shower. Sighing, Hermione stood up and headed for her own room for a change of clothes and her own shower.
Two hours later they found themselves putting the finishing touches on a well-made breakfast. Harry downed the rest of his pumpkin juice and set the glass on the table. With a slight pop Dobby appeared next to him, and began to levitate the dishes off the table.
"That was a great breakfast Dobby," Harry remarked with a smile, "You really are a great cook." Dobby stared at him and offered his usual crooked smile.
"Thank you Master Harry Potter sir. Yous are the first person to compliment Dobby or thank him on breakfast. Winky did help too." Harry continued to smile back.
"Well then tell her I said thank you." Dobby nodded and popped out of existence, dishes following him. Harry looked over and saw Hermione shaking her head.
"At least they shouldn't call you Master," she said somewhat firmly, though even she knew it was a losing battle.
"He occasionally calls me mister," Harry remarked, ruffling his fingers through his hair. "But I gave up on trying to stamp out generations of conditioning as far as house elves were concerned." Hermione was somewhat surprised at his honesty, but simply shrugged it off. She noticed his hair, and a frown formed over her face. For the first time since the whole ordeal began, she took in all of his features. She liked the improvements, though the no-glasses thing was hard to get used to. The long hair though...
"Harry," she finally remarked, "Maybe we should see a barber before you go to Gringotts. You should at least look presentable."
Harry smirked and waved his wand in front of him. A small mirror appeared and he glanced at it with mock interest, as if he were seriously considering his features. "I don't know," he playfully replied, "I think it makes me look kind of roguish." Hermione stifled a giggle and shook her head, which made Harry smile even deeper. He saw Hermione grab her own wand and approach him, but hesitate slightly. After thinking about it a few moments she turned to sit back down. "'Mione?" Harry questioned, not understanding.
"I'm underage," Hermione said with an almost dejected look across her face. "And I know you don't want to be found. Wouldn't do to have a ministry owl come in here flying with threats of expulsion." Harry nodded and pulled out his own wand. He tossed it to Hermione, who caught it in a surprisingly graceful motion.
"Use mine," he said simply, "The goblin's removed the tracking charms. I can have them do the same to yours when we go today." She eyed the wand tentatively, but finally nodded and set down her own. She walked over to Harry and waved the wand, muttering "Formo Saeta" as she did. Harry suddenly felt his hair go completely limp, and Hermione set about removing bits and pieces from the back and sculpting it up. Harry tried to watch in the mirror but Hermione set it down on its face, rather forcefully, to keep it a surprise. When she was finished, she waved the wand again, muttering, "Finite Incantatum." Harry felt his hair seem to gain new life again and he heard a mumbled sigh from Hermione. Grabbing the mirror he looked at his head and saw a similar hairstyle to his original one, though much shorter. Much to his joy, Harry's hair was still sticking out in several directions. He turned to Hermione with a smile on his face, and she handed him back his wand. "I suppose you can't beat genetics."
/ - / - / - /
About an hour later Harry and Hermione found themselves strolling down Diagon Alley. Hermione was more than a little nervous, but the glamor charm that Harry had placed on the both of them kept her mind at ease somewhat. As they made the short journey down the alleyway into Gringotts, Hermione kept a close eye on anyone who seemed to wander too closely to the young couple. Harry squeezed her hand firmly as he felt her grip tightening.
It was only a minute or so, though more like a lifetime in their minds, when they arrived at Gringotts bank. Once inside Harry felt the glamor charm immediately cease, something he half expected to happen. He also knew that due to his status and the likely huge amount of assets he held here, nothing short of the death sentence from the goblin chieftain himself would cause him any trouble while he was inside the bank.
Still, he made certain to keep Hermione close and flicked his bangs down forward to hide the remnants of his scar. Without his glasses and without the scar being so overstated, he figured that no one would recognize him. He noticed that Hermione was even closer to him now, even though it was likely that no one they knew would be in the bank. Attracting the attention of the nearest goblin, he was directed back down a similar hallway he had been in before. They stopped at the fourth door on the right hand side and Harry walked in.
The office was smaller than Haiden Orlock's had been, though that was to be expected given the status and title of the goblin in question. Still, it was a relatively cozy atmosphere. The walls were stone and a small fireplace was set in the center on the right hand side. A small mahogany desk was set up at the front, with two chairs nestled in front of it. Behind the desk sat Griphook, filling out some paperwork. He looked up and gave a toothy grin as he saw his client walk in.
"Ah, Mr. Potter," he said with a slight flourish on the end. He looked over at Hermione and added... "and guest. Thank you for coming today." He motioned for them to sit down, which they did. Hermione offered her hand for the goblin, a bit more relaxed now that they were away from the prying eyes of the public.
"I'm Hermione Granger," she said with a smile. Griphook was a bit taken aback by the outward show of equality from the witch, but still accepted it quickly. After the introduction he tottered back behind his desk and flushed out a small piece of parchment.
"Now," he began, handing the parchment to Harry. "That is a quick overview of the properties and liquid assets that you currently hold here at Gringotts. This excludes Vault #2, the Founders Vault, which has no money in it but does hold the possessions we...ahem....repossessed last night. It is broken down by family. Though there may be no liquid assets in the vault, we still listed it for your records." Harry nodded and glanced over the parchment.
Summary of Assets for Harry James Potter
Vault #133: Draven Family Vault
832, 337 galleons, 11 sickles, 4 knuts in liquid assets
Property: Castle Draven in Scotland; Appraisal Value Approximately 5, 000, 000 galleons
Property: Villa in Marseilles, France; Appraisal Value Approximately 250, 000 galleons
Vault #297: Warrens Family Vault
129, 573 galleons in liquid assets
No Property Assets
Vault #304: Potter Family Vault
18, 722, 093 galleons, 3 sickles in liquid assets
Property: Potter Manor in Scotland; Appraisal Value Approximately 8, 000, 000 galleons
Property: 7 Phoenix Court in Godric's Hollow, England; Appraisal Value Approximately 64, 000 galleons
Vault #687: Potter Trust Vault
49, 007 galleons, 14 sickles, 6 knuts in liquid assets
Value to be reset to 100,000 galleons on July 31 per year till 17th birthday of trustee
Vault #711: Black Family Vault
22, 344, 229 galleons in liquid assets
Property: 12 Grimmauld Place in London, England; Appraisal Value Approximately 93, 000 galleons
Property: Walburgia Black's Estate in Wiltshire, England; Appraisal Value Approximately 2, 000, 000 galleons
Property: Black Top Plantation in Hellsmuth, Virginia, United States; Appraisal Value Approximately 1, 500, 000 galleons
Vault #801: Seldon Family Vault
577, 666 galleons, 13 sickles, 1 knut in liquid assets
No Property Assets
Total Value of Assets
Liquid: 42, 654, 907 galleons, 4 sickles, 11 knuts
Property: 16, 907, 000 galleons
Total: 59, 564, 907 galleons, 4 sickles, 11 knuts
Harry's eyes were currently as wide as saucers as he contemplated the amount of money at his immediate disposal...not to mention the properties that he had. The money in the Draven family vault alone would be enough to last him his entire life. He heard a gasped sigh from Hermione next to him, and realized she must have seen the totals as well.
"In addition there are several family heirlooms in the main family vaults. Those vaults are simply where the money and deeds are kept. Any other types of property, books, scrolls, armaments, whatever, are stored in our High Security Vaults. As I mentioned before the Founders Vault is High Security Vault #2. The Potter Vault is number 7, Black is 13, the Seldon vault is 24, Draven is 31 and Warrens is 36." He paused a moment, drinking from a small goblet on his desk before continuing. "The master key you received will work for the asset vaults, but not the high security ones. Should you wish to access them personally, we can do so today. Should you want certain items removed from there, a goblin security team can do that for you." Harry nodded, leaning back in his chair and seeming to think some things over.
"Griphook," he began, "What if I want to sell some of these properties? Or transfer ownership? Is it possible to look into that?" Griphook offered a nod and handed Harry a rather large ledger.
"That documents all the transactions in and out of your vaults from the moment you took possession of them. It also includes an inventory of all the items in your high security vaults. Sadly it does not show the transactions out of your trust vault due to the cleverness of the perpetrator." Hermione looked puzzled as she glanced at Harry.
"Perpetrator," she asked. Harry nodded. He had left this part out of his story.
"One of the things the Haiden told me in his letter that started this whole thing was that someone was stealing galleons out of my trust vault. There's about half in there of what there's supposed to be." Hermione's look was a strange mixture of inquisitiveness and anger at this little revelation. She obviously was trying to figure out who would do such a thing. In anticipation of her reply, Harry merely shrugged. "We don't know who did it. Whoever it was covered their tracks to well." Hermione merely nodded, but Harry could tell that the wheels of thought were quickly spinning in her head.
After discussing a few of the investments in some of the businesses that Harry was now owner of, including the somewhat interesting point that between the Black, Potter & Seldon holdings he now had majority ownership of the Daily Prophet, the meeting with Griphook was concluded. Harry made sure to have many of the scrolls and books from his high security vaults transferred to the library at Potter Manor, a fact that nearly made Hermione squeal with glee. Forgoing the chance to see his vaults for the moment, Harry had Griphook remove the tracking charms off Hermione's wand and bid him farewell, adding a few galleons to the goblin's income for applying the service. Harry did make sure to check with Griphook again to make sure that he was still on for his meeting with Remus for later in the day.
As soon as they left the bank they felt the glamor charm resume and they walked with a bit more confidence. Still, in all their care they did not notice the blonde haired woman following from the bank, her own eyes devilishly glimmering in the sunlight. Rita Skeeter knew a good story when she saw one, and having a story about the Boy-Who-Was-Lost becoming the Boy-Who-Was-Found would certainly apply.
A/N: I know I said the conversation with Lupin would be this chapter, but the Skeeter plot idea came into my head and this is the perfect place to introduce it, so I'll cut it off here, leaving you wondering what role Rita will play (aren't I an evil bastard? ;P)
If anyone is interested in whatever I'm reading at the moment, or what spurs my own inspiration for these wild and wacky tales of my own, then click on to my C2 community, The Cold Turkey's Leftovers for whatever ails ya.