Portkey A/N: I understand that the next few chaptersa may appear to give Harry a materialistic, rather shallow need. Understand that he is acting in two ways....one in a need to try and do things he's never had the chance to do (something to be explored a bit later) and second to try and get things as much to normalcy as possible by providing a distraction for Hermione. You'll understand why he needs to do that by the end of this chapter (For those of you who may not have caught this at ff.net).
Chapter 4: The Cold Fire
It was a long time before Harry awoke from the slumber. His body ached all over and he couldn't take much stock of what had happened. It was all a bit of a blur to him. Groaning a bit he shook his head as his eyes fluttered open.
"My lord....my lord are you alright," came a raspy voice from off to the side. Harry was uncertain. He certainly didn't feel alright, unless you considered feeling like you'd been hit by a stampeding hippogriff as alright. Groaning again he risked sitting upward. He felt the blood rushing out of his head as he sat up and held his head in pain.
"Yeah....yeah I'm fine," Harry said, in a little bit of a lie. His head was throbbing, but not in the usual way. It wasn't centered around his scar. In fact, he didn't feel a thing from his scar. 'Odd,' he thought to himself. Rubbing his eyes a moment, he felt that his glasses were gone. Reaching around on the desk for them, he risked opening his eyes to try and find them. When he opened his eyes, he was shocked.
The world suddenly came into perfect focus.
Harry sat in amazement for a moment and waved his hand in front of his face. It was clear as crystal. Slowly but surely an enormously large grin formed across Harry's face, followed by a few bouts of almost uncontrollable laughter. After several minutes of this, the same raspy voice of Orlock brought him out of his insanity.
"My lord are you sure you're alright? Should I call St. Mungo's." Harry controlled his breathing and nodded his head.
"I'm fine Orlock it's just that," he stopped a moment and considered Gryffindor's words. If this was part of his gift then...."Orlock I need a mirror." Orlock looked at the wizard with a strange expression on his face, and then simply snapped his fingers, causing a full bodied mirror to appear in front of him. Harry stood up and walked toward the mirror, his mouth agape at what he saw.
He was easily at least four inches taller, and his bony body had filled out considerably. It was lean, yet muscular, not unlike that of Gryffindor himself. Harry glanced over his features and mentally frowned when he saw that his clothes no longer fit him. Looked like he'd need a new wardrobe sooner rather than later.
He noticed that his face hadn't changed much and neither had his eyes, though there was a slight change there. He could detect a hardness, a brimming confidence lurking just beneath the surface much like Ravenclaw had. But there was also a kindness lurking next to it, no doubt from Hufflepuff. Harry smiled as he saw the makings of a small goatee on his chin, much in the same style as Slytherin. His hair had also become a literal rat's nest, having grown in the back. It now hung down just past his shoulders to the middle of his back. It made him feel a bit like a rockstar he noted, though he highly doubted Mrs. Weasley would approve. As he took stock of his newly reformed facial features, his eyes drifted upwards to his forehead, and he was shocked at what he saw.
The scar was still there, but it was barely visible unless you knew what to look for. It was nowhere near as pronounced as it had once been. Harry felt it hesitantly, and felt no pain, no darkness emanating from it whatsoever. It looked like an ordinary scar, more like a birthmark than anything really. At this Harry laughed again. He turned to Orlock quickly, instantly regretting the restriction his new clothes had on his anatomy.
"Orlock, I was wondering if maybe..." he gestured to his clothes and Orlock simply smiled and laughed.
"Haven't you listened my lord," he replied, as cheekily as a goblin could ever really reply. "You are emancipated. You may use underage magic. In fact if you hand me your wand..." Harry reached into his pocket and pulled it out, handing the wand to Orlock. Orlock muttered something that Harry instinctively knew he shouldn't have understood, but seemed to actually make sense to him. The wand glowed blue for a moment then stopped. Orlock handed the wand back to Harry and explained. "I've removed the tracking charms the Ministry places on those wands of yours. You'll be able to freely use magic." Harry smiled again, but it faded fast. He was certain he couldn't remember a spell to transfigure clothes....until he scanned his mind. He searched and found the right spell, and almost effortlessly with a wave of his wand his muggle clothes had transfigured into normal black wizarding robes not dissimilar from his Hogwarts robes. Harry whistled at the display as he looked down over himself again, but mentally reminded himself he still would need to go shopping later.
"Ahem," came the goblin's voice from below, causing Harry to look down. "If you're done my lord?" he asked, motioning to the mirror. Harry simply nodded and sat back down, placing his wand back in his robes. Orlock snapped his fingers and the mirror vanished, and he tottered over to a shelf on the wall. There he grabbed a small box and brought it to Harry. Opening it, Harry saw four rings similar to the ones he had been presented before. "These are the signets of your ancestral lines," Orlock explained, "they work in the same way as your other rings. Simply slip them on and they will merge together to form one ring." Harry nodded and did as he was told, slipping on each ring one at a time and watching them fade and merge with the Potter ring that still rested on his finger. Each one resembled a stylized version of the respective house seals at Hogwarts with ornately carved representations of the familiar animals carved into each one. Finally when Harry had taken all of the rings, Orlock handed him a key.
"In conclusion my Lord," Orlock stated, "This is a master key that will work for all of your vaults here at Gringotts. Furthermore should you wish to do so, you may sign up for a Gringott's Card, similar to a Muggle Credit or Debit Card, which will withdraw the coin automatically from your vaults." Harry smiled and took the key, he then frowned slightly as the next question dawned on him. His plan needed this point.
"Orlock, what properties do I have deeds to. I mean certainly I have some property included in these houses." Orlock smiled again and began to walk with Harry out of his office.
"Yes of course. I am uncertain of all the contents of your inheritance, but I do know of a couple of properties off the top of my head. Grimmauld Place in London comes from the Black family vault, as well as the Potter Manor in Scotland. I will appoint a goblin account manager to see to it that any questions you have are answered." Harry considered it for a moment and turned back to the goblin.
"Griphook." Orlock paused and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "I would like Griphook to be my account adviser if it's quite alright with you." Orlock shook his head and smiled again.
"I have been alive for over 400 years my Lord and never have I heard of a wizard asking for a specific goblin by name to be their account manager. Yes it can be arranged that way." Harry smiled. Griphook was a goblin he could trust, he thought, as much as the goblins could be trusted anyway.
"A few more things Orlock," Harry said as they re-entered the Gringott's main lobby. "Firstly I need the location of Potter Manor. Secondly I need a way to get there." Orlock nodded again and summoned a small piece of parchment, glancing it over he wrote something down and handed it to Harry.
Potter Manor may be found at
44 Snidget Lane
Valerian, Scotland
"As you can see," Orlock explained, "the manor is under the protection of the Fidelus Charm and has been since your grandparents death some years ago. We goblins are privy to that information. That parchment also acts as a portkey. Simply state the address and you'll appear about 5 miles outside of the village, so as not to give away the location. As for a mode of transportation I figured you might, so I took the liberty of withdrawing this from your godfather's vault before your arrival." Orlock reached into his pocket and pulled out a small toy motorbike and an instruction manual, handing them both to Harry. "Simply tap it with your wand and it will grow back to your size. It has anti-crashing charms and instant-learning charms so that even a clumsy beginner could ride it like a professional." Harry got a goofy grin on his face as he suddenly realized the source of his dreams as a child of a flying motorbike. He pocketed the bike and book. The goblin and the lord walked towards the front door, where Harry offered his hand to Orlock, who took it in surprise, having come to expect weird behavior from this particular wizard.
"Thank you Orlock and...as far as anyone knows," he leaned forward a bit, "none of this ever happened." Orlock nodded.
"Of course my lord. As I said we here at Gringott's treat our customer's privacy with the utmost of care."
After a small trip to a teller to acquire a Gringott's Charge Card, Harry was out of the bank and his smile still hadn't faded. He began to stroll down the alley when he spotted something off in the distance.
Alastor Moody.
Harry silently cursed himself and ducked out of the way behind a building as quickly as he could to hide from the ex-auror. He had forgotten that Order members would be out looking for him when he didn't come back to Privet Drive with his uncle. He went through his mind as to how to get out of this one. It wasn't like he could just change his shape all at once.....
Harry went through his mind a moment before remembering everything that had happened. No time like the present to give it a try. He tried to remember the incantation for a transfiguration to hide his features and for a small charm that he picked up from somewhere in the back of his mind to have people not notice him. As was the case before the spells came to him effortlessly and he could feel the subtle changes in his face as he fell under glamour. Taking a deep breath, Harry raised the hood on his robe in a fashion similar to a certain Founder he knew and stalked back down the alley, headed for Madame Malkin's. He passed by Moody, and the ex-Auror didn't spare him a second glance. His rapidly spinning eye stopped on him for a moment but quickly passed on. Harry inwardly smiled and snaked forward to his next stop.
/ - / - / - /
It was several hours later when Harry emerged from the store with several shrunken bags and a big smile on his eldered face. Madame Malkin's had been practically bought out of their fanciest robes, almost all of them made out of acromantula silk and created with painstaking care. He had also made note to purchase a few things in the armament department as well, adding a black wand holster to his right arm that released his wand into his hand with a thought rather than drawing it out. Harry of course had made sure to hide his features under glamour. After all, there would be no sense in ruining his fun now.
A stop at Flourish & Blotts to find books on various subjects was next on his list. But as he stopped to glance through the titles, he found that he could decipher many of the simpler books he looked at. Putting away a smaller book on runes and understanding even the most advanced concepts it had to offer naturally, he shook his head and left the store. He would have to sort out how much he knew and how much he didn't before he could stock his library.
For all he knew he did have a fully stocked library anyway.
After a quick stopover at eyelops to replenish his owl treat supply and a once look over of Quidditch supplies and Harry was ready to leave. However he knew he had one thing left to do. He went back to the Leaky Cauldron, nodding to Tom who just gazed at him wondering as he passed. Harry climbed the stairs to room 3B and entered, finding his trunk there. Pulling out his wand he shrunk his trunk and dropped it in the pocket of his newly acquired silver and red robes. Harry thought for a moment before again deciding on the right course of action. Nodding to himself, he shouted out to no one in particular, "Dobby!"
It took a few minutes but eventually the house elf popped right in front of Harry. "Mister Harry calls Dobby and Dobby is here," the elf said, breathing deeply as he did so. He gazed up at Harry and his brown eyes went wide. "Mister Harry Potter sir?"
"Yes, it's me Dobby," Harry said smirking. He was bound to have that affect on people the next few weeks, not that he didn't mind it. Harry leaned down and noticed the deep breathing of Dobby. This next surprise would impress the house elf for sure.
"What is wrong Dobby? You look tired." Dobby's eyes went wider than saucers at this revelation, and he backed away fitfully, pointing his gnarled finger at the young wizard.
"You....Master Harry Potter just spoke the House Elfs language! No wizard in over a thousand years has spoken the house elfs language!" Dobby continued to stammer a bit, drawing a grin from Harry.
"I say that surprised you. Now tell me, what's wrong?" Dobby took a few deep breaths, trying to collect himself. Once he had his ears lowered and his head hung low. He too spoke in the elven tongue, speaking more comfortably.
"It is Winky sir. She has fallen ill. Her magic is failing her. If she is not bonded with another wizard soon, then poor Winky will fade away and die." He fought back a sniffle, but Harry simply raised an eyebrow.
"Why must she be bonded? I thought she was a free elf?" Dobby nodded and explained.
"It is true there are free house elves sir, but it is an ancient magic that keeps us here in your realm. We are the last remnants of the race of high elves that once populated your lands, outcasts from their world. In order to remain here we must be bonded with a witch or wizard. It is how the house elfs magic works. If an elf remains unbonded too long then their magic will leave them and they will perish into oblivion." Harry stood in shock at the horrible fate.
"But, you're a free elf!" Harry exclaimed, slipping back into normal tongue.
"Yes sir. Just because we's are bonded doesn't mean we's have to be slaves. Dobby bonded with Master Harry Potter sir that day he helped Dobby become free. Winky hasn't bonded." Harry thought of it for a moment before coming to a quick decision.
"Very well then," Harry said, smiling at Dobby. "Then she can bond with me as well...if you are agreeable to it that is."
"Oh....does Master Harry Potter sir mean it?" Harry nodded, causing Dobby to jump with glee.
"What do I need to do?" Dobby shook his head to explain, but was quickly interrupted by a small popping sound. There, looking better than she had in ages, stood Winky, smiling at the two of them.
"Master Harry Potter sir....you saved Winky's life!" the female house elf squealed with glee. Dobby and Winky proceeded to dance around like madmen at this, and Harry could only smile at the display. After a while Harry coughed to get their attention, and both house elfs looked up at him with eternal gratitude in their eyes.
"Now that you're bonded to me," Harry began, "I have a favor to ask the two of you. See, I have this new house up north and I need someone to help me..."
"Consider it done sir," Dobby interjected without question. Winky nodded in return. Harry smiled and flushed the piece of parchment out of his pocket. Showing them the address the elves nodded and snapped their fingers, popping out of existence. Harry smiled again and nodded. He walked out of the room and shut the door behind him. After telling Tom he was finished with it, he thanked him again for the silence and left him a small tip. Harry walked out into muggle London, making sure to transfigure his clothes into more normal attire for said world, he stalked down the sidewalk until he got to an abandoned alleyway. He absentmindedly cast a notice-me-not charm as if they were going out of fashion, and then stopped for a moment as he realized what he just did. Shaking his head he reached into his pocket to pull out the motorbike, when he heard a distant hoot. He gazed up into the clouds and saw a snowy white owl, closely followed by a smaller owl that Harry recognized as Hermione's. Raising an eyebrow he held out his arm for Hedwig to land on. The owl landed and regarded him for a moment, taking in his newly acquired features, before lifting her leg with a small piece of paper attached to it. Harry conjured a small stand out of thin air for the two birds and then pulled out the piece of paper, and read it.
Death Eaters. Attack. Parents Dead. Come Quick. 15 Harold Street in Kensington.
The blood drained out of Harry's face at the notice of this. His features grew cold at Hermione's short plea for help. He flew into action quickly. First he pulled out the piece of parchment for his house and showed it to the owls. The two birds quickly took flight without a second thought. Harry then got ready to pull out his motorbike when another thought popped into his head.
Apparition.
He had never really apparated before, but the knowledge was standing there in the back of his mind. He focused on his target. He made a slight turn and in a flash was gone.