Chapter 3 - Discoveries

DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Monday June 23, 1997

Harry woke up drenched in cold sweat. His sheets were tangled around his limbs and he gasped out loud trying to wrench himself free of his bindings. Panting hard he tore the covers away from his sweat soaked body and leaned over the bed. Here was another cursed nightmare from the night Sirius died. Why couldn't his inner demons leave him alone for just one night?

'Well at least these are just nightmares and not visions. Don't know how long my little reprieve will last before MoldieVoldie decides to play head games again. Definitely have to master occlumency and soon,' Harry thought. He ran a hand through his messy hair and disentangled himself from his sheets. He looked at his old Dumkins give away clock and it read 4:30 am. Well he might as well prepare for the day, dawn will be coming soon, and he wanted to be out of here before the dinosaurs woke up.

Hedwig's cage was empty. Harry remembered letting her out the previous night. He told her that he would most likely be gone for a minimum of two days and that he would meet her back in his room. He told her to make her way to the burrow if he was not back within three days. Harry made his way to his window and had a quick peek through the shutters.

Harry quietly opened his window, and noticed a faint smell of tobacco, and some mumbling. He thought that he made out Tonks and Mundungus' voices. Wow, shift change must be early this morning. Of course this would be the ideal time to capitalize on his escape. As they were both preoccupied, he quickly got dressed. He made sure he had his old ball cap and his invisibility cloak. He worked he way to the bottom of his closet. He finally found his old primary school bag. He stuffed his belongings into it and quietly made his way downstairs. He carefully opened the icebox and got himself a bunch of fruits and some buttered muffins. He stuffed the lot into his bag and made his way out toward the back door.

Harry wrote a quick message to the Dursleys, letting them know he would be gone for about 2 days, and if any of his freaky kind showed up to just tell them to fuck right off and not bother them. He then made his way to the back door and slipped his invisibility cloak on. He quietly made his way across to the neighbour's fence. It was more like a three-foot stonewalls divider. He could still make out Tonks and Mundungus quietly talking.

God if this is the best undercover agent that the order had, they were in deep shit. Hell any death eater could home in on their chattering and ice them. Forgetting the order gits, he proceeded to cross over too the neighbours fence and made his way toward the end of his street. There he got onto Lane Drive Boulevard and walked towards the bus stop at the end of that street.

Harry checked to make sure that nobody was around and took off his invisibility cloak. He checked the schedule and found that the first bus would come by at 5:15 am. He looked at his watch and found that he only had 5 minutes to wait. He decided that if the order found out that he left Privet Drive, their search would exhaust all wizard locations first. So getting on the Night Bus was out of the question. He stood a very good chance of staying anonymous by sticking to the muggle world until he got to the Leaky Cauldron.

Harry got on the bus, and paid his fare. The bus would get him to the Surrey train station. The bus dropped him off at the Surrey tube station. He checked the lines and picked the one to Kings Cross Station. Three quarters of an hour later, he got off at Kings Cross, and went to a newsstand to ask for directions. He needed to get to Main Ave in London.

An old gentleman gave him directions and for his kindness Harry bought a London city map from him. After another half hour, Harry was finally on Main Avenue. He looked at his watch and it was now 6:50 am. He decided to first get a decent breakfast and found himself a Wimpee eatery. Once he was settled at the diner he looked on his map and found that he was not to far off from the Leaky Cauldron. Harry figured he was going to have a very long day, so he decided to go all out on breakfast.

He ordered a Spanish Omelette with sausage, English muffins, jam and a cup of coffee. It never hurt to be extra alert. He made double sure that he had his wand and proceeded to tackle his breakfast. When he was done, he paid for his meal, and thanked the waitress.

He then made his way towards the Leaky Cauldron. He soon realized that the only disguise he had to cover his scar was a ball cap. He needed something much more refined than that. He remembered yesterday on the drive with the Dursleys that there was a theatre company on this street. Surely they could help out with a decent disguise, with the right amount of money or course. After all Harry thought, you never see anyone in these plays not wearing some kind of makeup.

Harry walked for another ten minutes and found the place. It was called Queens Landing Imperial Theatre. He walked to the door and found it to be open, which was surprising as most of these establishments do not open until much later. Luck, must be with him today. He called out

"Hello!"

Some lady came out from one of the doors and replied.

"Can I help you sir?"

Harry answered back, "Yes, I was wondering if you have anything like makeup or some other things that can help create a disguise for me?"

The lady looked him up and down and replied, "Why would you be interested I a disguise?"

Harry answered back, "Well you see, I'm on my way to visit my aunt, but where she lives there are these bullies that continuously harass me and I am really sick and tired of it. I need a disguise that can totally change my appearance."

So Harry asked again, "Can you help me?"

He quickly added, "I have money and I can pay."

She looked at him for a couple of minutes trying to figure out if this kid was trying to make fun of her, but seeing the serious look on his face she finally said "Sure kid come with me."

Harry followed her to the makeup room and sat himself down. Harry said, "I forgot to ask you, could you please make this scar disappear if you can."

The lady whose name was Sandra replied, "Sure thing kid, there is nothing that can't be done with makeup."

Another 40 minutes later, Harry could not even recognize himself. He had a wig, which was dirty blond in colour. Sandra had given him colour contact that made his eyes look brown. The natural lines around his eyes and mouth stood out more. It made him look much older. Harry paid her two hundred pounds for her help and made his way to the Leaky Cauldron.

Harry arrived at the leaky cauldron at about 7:45 am. He got in and took a seat facing the north wall. He didn't want to push his luck at being recognized. Gringotts would be open at 8:30 am, so he had a bit of time to kill. He reviewed his to do list, and polished off where it needed to be. As he was reading his list, he distinctly heard two voices about two tables behind him which he recognized immediately.

Harry had his back to them, but he was sure he heard the Ron's and Hermione voices. Not wanting to be recognized, he instead concentrated on their conversation. This turned out to be a rather easy feat as Ron was incapable of any kind of finesse. His approach to people and life in general was that of a bull in heat running through a porcelain shop.

They were talking about their assignment for the order. It apparently involved them prowling the streets and shops of Diagon alley to gather any intelligence on death eater activity. Hermione was complaining about the lack of real intelligent assignment from the order, and Ron said this could be fun. He informed her that it sure beat being cooped up at Grimmauld place like their previous year.

Ron apparently had not fancied keeping Harry company and reporting any anomalies to the order. Hermione apparently still felt guilty about going behind Harry's back like they had. She then stated that if he ever found out, he would go ballistic.

Hermione then told Ron that she didn't think he could take another betrayal. Jesus, no fucking shit Harry thought. Harry then heard Ron tell Hermione that she worried to much. Ron reminded her that they were good at spying because Ginny and Lupin still didn't know that they were in the order. Ron reminded her that Dumbledore knew what he was doing.

Ron reminded her that he was the greatest wizard that he knew and that he must have very good reasons for monitoring Harry. Hermione then looked at her watch and told him that they needed to get on with their assignments. Apparently she felt that if there were death eaters around, they would no doubt be doing business early in the morning. Ron then told her that they would prove to the order that they were capable agents. He reminded her that their scouting was only for a short while. By the following week, they would begin their summer training with Kinsley and Mad Eye.

At this point, Harry was close to completely losing it. He had to get a hold of his emotions; he couldn't afford to explode right now. He stifled his sobs and had tears running down his cheeks again. He had to get some fresh air or else. Harry got up and made his way to the entrance to Diagon Alley. He looked around to make sure no one was watching and put on his invisibility cloak.

Harry would wait for somebody to open the portal. There was no sense using his wand and getting his magical signature recognized. Meanwhile he poured every ounce of energy into controlling his emotions. He now knew that his so-called best friends had been playing him for a sucker since last summer. They obviously were made Order of the Phoenix initiates. All of their cock and bull stories about travelling for the summer were nothing but a front.

God how much more betrayal was he going to endure. 'This is the last FUCKING STRAW,' he thought. When he got a chance, he would turn the tables and teach them all about the meaning of betrayal. From this day forward, he was through with them. Real friends would never do this to each other. It was now very obvious that Dumbledore had bought their loyalty. Harry now truly felt completely cut off from anyone and everything he knew. He owed nothing to those betraying bastards. After everything he did for them and this is how they repaid him.

Harry dug deep into his memories and now had a distinct feeling that maybe his so called close friends had insisted on coming to the DOM in order to keep and eye on him. Harry wouldn't surprised if that slimy old bastard planned everything out from the beginning. Well Harry thought forget them, from this day forth, they were no longer worth his time. If they got into trouble they could deal with it or die, either way he wouldn't give a shit.

Finally an old wizard and his wife came to the portal. An instant later Harry was in Diagon Alley. He carefully walked the streets, making sure that he didn't bump into anybody. Harry needed to get to Gringotts fast. The last thing he needed was to be recognized. Fifteen minutes later he was passed the entrance to the lobby and made his way to the closest public bathroom. Harry took his invisibility cloak off, and made sure that his make up was intact. He looked around for a check out counter. When he found what he was looking for, he went to stand in line to wait his turn at the check out counter.

Harry stood in front of the counter and made a quick sweep of the area. He wanted to make sure that there was no one who could recognize his voice, and said, "Pardon me sir. I would like a tally of all my assets before going to my vault."

The Goblin looked down at him for a minute, and bellowed, "Key Please!"

Harry handed his key to the Goblin. He took the key and then crossed reference it back to his ledger and said, "Ah Mr. Potter, we did not expect you to be here so soon. We just sent our letter this morning. "

Harry looked at the Goblin with a very confused look on his face and said, "What letter?"

The Goblin replied, "The letter concerning the last will and testament of one Sirius Black of course."

Harry felt like a ball of ice his the pit of his stomach and answered back, "Sorry, I was not aware that such things could be handled so quickly in the wizarding world. Where must I go?"

The Goblin gave him a queer look and said, "Please follow the corridor on the North wing and go to the 5th door on your right."

Fair enough, Harry thought. He grabbed his key and followed the Goblin's directions. Harry got to the 5th door, and looked at the plaque Will & Trusts.

He knocked on the door and a loud voice said, "Enter!"

Harry carefully opened the door and made his way to the Goblin sitting behind the reception desk. He looked at the Goblin and to his utter shock recognized who it was.

Harry said, "Griphook! Is that you?"

The goblin looked at him with a curious look, Harry seeing the Goblins confusion quickly said, "Sorry sir I didn't mean to offend."

Griphook shook his head and replied, "That's not it sir. But most wizards never bother to recognize a Goblins name, let alone what he looks like. Most wizards or witches don't give us the time of day, sir." Griphook finished his last sentence with a bewildered look on his face.

Harry looked at Griphook with a sad face and answered back, "Well I'm not most wizards Griphook. I was raised by muggles and was discriminated all my life. Over the years, I have become friends with an Elf, a Werewolf, a Centaur, a Half Giant, and with your permission I would also like to consider you a friend."

The Goblin looked dumbstruck for a second but smiled or what passed for a smile on a Goblin. It looked more like a bad case of constipation to Harry.

Griphook finally found his voice and said, "I heard from some of our sources that you were indeed a unique wizard Mr. Potter. I would also like to be considered your friend if you want to. Just so you know what is going on, I will be your solicitor today. I will officiate for the will reading and for any other business that you may need. Before we start there is a letter that was left by one Sirius Orion Black. Should his demise come to pass this letter was to be given to you." Griphook picked up the letter with care and gave it to Harry.

Harry looked at the letter afraid to even open it. He was not sure if he could hold it together. After a minute and with shaking hands, Harry picked up the letter and opened it.

Dear Harry

If you are reading this, then I have probably done something incredibly stupid or went where angels fear to tread. What ever happened don't you dare blame yourself for my death? If I died protecting you while fighting death wankers, then I died a happy man.

There is no worthier cause than giving your life for someone you love. Your mother and father understood this. Now I can at least look James and Lilly in the eyes without feeling shame. I am so sorry for missing these last 13 years Harry. Because of my impulsive decisions' you got stuck at the Dursleys'.

While Dumbledore had me trapped in that god forsaken house, I kept dreaming of how many different ways I could beat the shit out of those pathetic muggles. I would give everything I own, to get those 13 years back. The day we met in the Shrieking Shack was a turning point for me. That day you not only believed me, but you also protected me from making another rash decision.

That day Harry I felt the weight of the world come off my shoulders. You have suffered so much for one so young, but you have never given up on anything. Your love of life, your tenacity and your bravery caused me to love you more and more as the days went by. You are truly your father's son. James would be so proud.

I love you like you were my own son Harry. The best advice I can give you is get past all the betrayals, get your revenge but in the end move on. Life is so precious and short. Harry, never forget to live your life to its fullest. Meet your true love, and make lots of little Potters. When the time comes, we will see each other again, but not for a very long time, I want you to live to a ripe old age.

Never doubt your self-worth Harry, you are deserving of love and respect. I want you to know that you are a very powerful wizard. You will only grow more powerful as time moves on. Just so you know, there was a Prophecy made about you before you were born. I fought many times with Dumbledore to get him to reveal it to you, but he always forced me silent.

Looking back, I should have told him to screw off. If he hasn't told you yet, then you now know that there is one and you should force Dumbledore to give it to you. Dumbledore may look like he means well Harry, but he has lived too long. He can no longer see the emotional cost of his decisions anymore. He is so caught up with the big picture idea that he has lost sight of the tangibles in life.

Remember this Harry in the end how you choose to live your life is entirely up to you. You are caught up in these events. That damn war has taken so much from you just because some maniac has some serious mommy and daddy issues.

Remember, you don't have to follow Dumbledore to fight this war. You can do it on your own terms. Should something happen to me, I tried to get the paper work approved and get you emancipated. I'm sorry kiddo but I couldn't swing it due to me being a convict and all.

Thank god Gringotts doesn't recognize the ministries powers where money and family inheritance are concerned. I guess, I should also thank my dear mother for forgetting to change the family will. She never got around to remove me as sole heir to the Black family fortune before she passed on, Harry! There are other ways to get around the ministry to get certain things done. Ask your investor for some help concerning issues with underage magic. Never underestimate Goblins Harry. They have access to information that would blow your socks off.

Lastly remember this, there is no light or dark magic. There is only magic and intent. With the money I am leaving you, buy what you need and learn all you can both light and dark magic. The muggles have a saying fight fire with fire. Dumbledore never understood this. My last piece of advice Harry is when you are faced with difficult problems, it helps to think as a Marauder. Learn to think outside of conventional wisdom Harry, think outside of the box.

Now enough of the mushy stuff. Lets get on with this. I Sirius Orion Black being of sound mind and body hereby bequeath all of my worldly possession to the following people:

Harry In case you didn't know. You are filthy rich. Yah Kid, I have asked your solicitor to make sure that you spoil yourself rotten when you leave Gringotts today. I leave you the entire content of the Black Family Vault. That includes all the Jewels, Weapons, books and of course the Galleons. At last count there was 2,562,357,210 Gallons. I also leave you with a condo in Key West Florida, Villa in France, a Cottage in Sweden, and a Manor in Greece. You can get the addresses in the Vault. The view is terrific!

Mind you that does not include the value of the Potter family fortune. This is likely to be even bigger than the Blacks. The Potters are a very ancient wizarding family Harry. You may want to check on the status of the Potter inheritance. Last time I checked Dumbledore made himself Guardian of your trust fund. No one can appoint themselves a guardian of the Potter family vault except a Potter. I know that Dumbledore tried, but was told by the Goblins to fuck off.

In any case, the guardian ship of your trust vault should have been Remus' job. Just so you know, your parents appointed me first and Remus second to be your guardian. I can only hope that by now Dumbledore has told you about your family inheritance when you were 11 years old. Somehow, I doubt that he did. I might be wrong, but I believe that there is some kind of technicality concerning breach of trust or something like that.

If you weren't informed of your inheritance then you definitely want to enquire about this. If I recall the jest of the law it states that if any information regarding your inheritance was omitted from you, then you have the right to get him removed as Guardian of your trust fund. You will have to check with the Goblins on that.

I also give you co-ownership of Grimmauld place with the last surviving Marauder my good friend Remus Lupin. I have also left the following sums to the following people. They will be contacted throughout the summer for the reading of this will:

Remus Lupin 3,000,000 galleons and a cottage in the Scottish Highlands.

Nymphadora Tonks 3,000,000 galleons

Ginny Weasley, Ron Weasley, Fred Weasley, George Weasley and Hermione Granger I leave each of you 50,000 for helping you and being you friend over the years.

Arthur and Molly Weasley get 500,000 galleons, in recognition of their support for you over the years

I also give permission to Dumbledore to continue using Grimmauld place against my better judgment for the Order of the Phoenix. Harry this is just a suggestion but you may want to close the Black family vault and leave everything in the Potter Vault. This will make it easier to manage the Potter family assets and holdings. Well this is it pup.

With ever lasting Love

Sirius Orion Black (A.K.A Padfoot).

After finishing the reading of the will, Harry completely broke down, and cried like he had never cried before. He felt for all the injustice of the world, all of the wrongs done to him, all of the betrayals and felt such anger as he had never felt before and let go.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh"At that instant Harry's eyes shone like green neon orbs. Suddenly the glass vase in Griphook's office broke. The hanging portraits also split in half. To say that the Goblins were scared was putting it mildly. Harry cried for another 15 minutes and was finally able to get a hold of his emotions. He looked at the mess he had caused and apologized profusely to Griphook and the other Goblins. They said that under the circumstances it was quite all right. No harm was done and the objects were being repaired immediately.

After thinking for a minute Harry asked Griphook why he had never been told of the Potter Vault. Griphook told him that he was suppose to have been told of its existence by his trustee when he turned 11 years of age. If he was not told, then under the laws agreed to by Gringotts and the Wizengamot in the financial decrees of 1496, paragraph 6, subsection E, I quote

"The requirements of the trustee are to notify the inheritor of his family holdings within a year of his eleventh birthday."

Griphook explained that this was done so that the inheritor could learn to manage his assets and be prepared to handle his family businesses by the time he or she reached the age of majority. At that time they could claim their full inheritance.

"By not notifying you of your holdings, Mr. Dumbledore is in breach of the trustee agreement he entered into upon the death of Mr. and Mrs. Potter. Therefore you can legally remove his access to your accounts and transfer control to you," Griphook offered.

Harry hissed, "Do so immediately!"

Griphook replied, "Sir it will take several hours to get the paper work completed, do you wish to wait?"

Harry answered, "Yes there are still many things to do over here. Griphook I plan on doing a lot of shopping both in the magical and the muggle world and will likely be making some very expensive purchases. Do you have some kind of system established where I don't have to carry a huge bag of galleons everywhere I go."

Griphook smiled and said, "Yes sir, we have a muggle credit card equivalent to a platinum rating. We can put up to 200,000 galleon daily spending limit to it. We also have a magical equivalent. It is quite new and it is accepted by all of the magical shops. This card will have a maximum of 300,000 galleons spending limit."

Griphook looked at the confused look on Harry face and elaborated by saying, "These amounts are determined based on your net value Mr. Potter. These limits are set so that you don't go over your earned interest and feed on the principle. Just so you know, both of your credit cards will only work with your magical signature."

Griphook continued and said, "Both cards will also show you as being 18 years of age. Do not worry young Lord, they are completely safe. There will be a 4 galleon per month administrative fee of course. Due to favoured client status, we will also issue you a set of 20 Gringotts bank slips that will allow you to spend up to a maximum of 1% of your total net worth. We can also issue you a passport and a muggle I.D. that show you are legal. These cards are none traceable, and they will avoid any sticky muggle legalities in the future."

Harry gave Griphook a feral smile and replied "That will more that satisfy my needs Griphook. I'll take it all."

Griphook then asked Harry to pick a motif for each card. Harry picked a Lily for his muggle card and a Gryffin for his wizard card. Griphook activated the Gringotts seal and asked Harry to put his thumb on the silver looking square at the top left hand corner of each card. Harry completed the ritual and felt a glow coming off each card.

Griphook continued and said, "Now Mr. Potter your cards have been activated. They have been imprinted with your magical signature . No one will be able to use these cards except you."

Now that Harry knew about the Potter family fortune, he wanted to know the status of his inheritance so he said, " Griphook, what is the current value of the Potter inheritance and what are its holdings?"

Griphook smiled at Harry and bellowed. "Elmrook! I need the Potter Portfolio immediately."

Elmrook came back ten minutes later and gave the ledger to Griphook. Griphook opened the ledger and examined it for a bit and finally said, "As of this month Mr. Potter your family assets have a net cash value of 3,823,470,200 galleons. This does not include the significant lands and properties holdings, jewels, precious crystals, books, weapons and other items too numerous to mention which you now possess."

Harry nearly fainted on the spot but managed to bellow, "Holy crap Griphook!"

Griphook chuckled to himself and was amused by the Potter heir's reaction. He finally said, "Yes Mr. Potter you are currently one of the top 3 richest Wizard in Europe. "Also, may I point out that you are one of Gringotts most valued customer sir."

Harry let the information sink in, and after a while said, "Griphook who is my current financial advisor and who appointed him?"

Griphook replied, "Give me a second Sir". Griphook came back with another ledger. "Your current financial adviser is Goldbrick and Albus Dumbledore appointed him."

Harry thinking out loud said, "Well Dumbledore you slimy sonavabitch, you managed to betray me one more time." Griphook meanwhile, was quite intrigued by the hate that Mr. Potter seemed to be displaying at the mention of Dumbledore's name.

Harry noticed the inquisitive look on the Goblin's face, and for some unknown reason decided to educate the Goblin about his life up to now. Harry proceeded to tell him all of the things that Dumbledore had done to him. From the Dursleys on to DOM. Griphook was shocked to know that one of the richest wizard in Europe had been treated so shoddy. Harry didn't know what made him do it, but he found talking to Griphook about his trials to be quite uplifting.

Harry decided to make a life altering decision right there on the spot and said, "Griphook, would a financial adviser appointed by me to look over my assets be considered a full time job for a Gringotts employee?"

Griphook replied, "Yes sir, In fact managing your assets as one of the biggest account currently held at Gringotts comes with a lot of prestige and perks sir."

Griphook gave Harry a funny look and said, "Why do you ask sir?"

Harry smiled and said, "Well you see, I find myself trusting you. You have always been very courteous and helpful to me. I have a 6th sense when it comes to people, and I find you trustworthy. If you would be willing, I would like to hire you as my personal financial adviser."

Griphook looked at Harry and nearly fell off his chair. Harry smiling said, "So, will you accept? "

Griphook could not believe his good fortune. This would go a long way in increasing his status among Goblins, not to mention that he really liked the young wizard to boot. Griphook felt that he had the seasoning and knowledge to properly manage an account of this size.

Griphook came to attention and said, "Yes Mr. Potter, I accept. This is a great honour that you have shown me. I will not fail you, sir." Harry smiled and signalled Griphook to continue.

Griphook said, "Know this Mr. Potter, managing your account will be a full time job as it is vast and spread out over many countries. In doing this you will become my primary focus. My wealth and status as a Goblin will now be tied to you. Let me assure you that I will be guarding your interest with extreme prejudice. Lastly you may not know this, but no Goblin In recent memory would remember a wizard trusting a Goblin to this degree. You are very special Mr. Potter." Little did Harry know at the time how far reaching his decision on that day would affect the wizarding world.

Harry looked up at Griphook and realized that he had been holding his breath and said, "Thank you Griphook, I think we will do very well together. I will be going down to visit the Potter Vault while you finish the paper work. When I come back we will sign the remaining documents."

Harry thought for a minute and said, "Griphook do you know if the contents of the Black vault have been transferred to the Potter vault yet?"

Griphook replied, "Yes Sir, We finished this morning."

Harry smiled and replied, "Very well thank you."

Griphook bellowed, "Zorak Mr. Potter will need a ride to the Potter family vault."

Zorak came to attention and replied, "Right away Sir!"

Harry followed Zorak to the cart and they proceeded to the Potter vault. Harry noticed that they had already passed his original trust vault and were going deeper and deeper underground. He also noticed trolls, and a type of Dragon he had never seen or heard off before. Finally after what felt like 20 minutes had passed, he started to notice names like Nott, Crab, Goyle, Zabini, Snape, Dumbledore, Abbott, Fudge…. est.

Zorak noticed Harry looking at the vaults and informed him that they were now in the deepest part of Gringotts and that the Vaults from 50 on downwards belonged to the oldest pureblood families. Finally they reached Vault door 2. This really startled Harry, he did not know what to think? Zorak again noticed his confused look

"Mr. Potter, you may not know this, but obviously as indicated by the Vault numbers, your family is one of the oldest pureblood families in wizarding Europe."

They exited the cart, and made their way to a small dais. It was made up of a 4-foot black marble pillar with an obsidian bowl carved with ancient Celtic rune sitting on top of it. The goblin instructed Harry that he would have to take the knife and allow some of his blood to be absorbed by the bowl. By doing this, it will cause the ancient protection wards to either acknowledge him as the true Heir of the Potter bloodline or kill him.

Harry walked up to the marble pillar, and did as Zorak instructed him to do. When the blood hit the inside of the bowl there was a crimson pulsing light surrounding the vault. The light changed from red to gold to a soft blue. "The vault has acknowledged you as the true Potter Heir," replied Zorak.

Zorak continued and said, "You may now pass the ward and enter the Vault. You must put your right hand on the portal by the Gryphon, and yell "Potter Heir." The Vault should open for you."

Harry did as he was told and within seconds of placing his hands on the portal and yelling his last name, there was a large grinding sound as if the vault had not been open for a very long time. There was a strong swishing sound as fresh air suddenly filled a large cavern.

Harry had imagined all sort of thing when he found out that he was the heir to a purebloods vault. Those thoughts were nothing compared to the reality of the situation. The moment he walked past the vault doors, the first thought that came to mind was the enormous size of the vault. There must have been hundreds of black boxes engraved with magical runes and pictures. The boxes were made of a shiny black granite and were 6"X 6"X3" stacked 5 high and filled to the brim with galleons, sickles and knuts.

Harry also noticed on the left side of the vault there were about 12 of these same granite boxes, but these were smaller. They were filled with diamond, sapphire, emeralds, rubies, and amethysts. Further down on the left hand side of the wall, there was a huge bookshelf, filled with books. As he approached the bookshelves, Harry noticed that it was filled with ancient tomes on subject ranging from charms, transfiguration, DADA, Dark Arts, Runes, Arithmancy, Blood Magic and Rituals. There was a pulpit in front of the book collection. It had a ledger of all the titles and a quick summary of the books stored there.

Zorak mentioned that some of these books had never been in publication and were extremely rare. How he knew this, Harry had no idea. Further down from the bookshelves were several tables laden with weapons. Again there was a pulpit with a ledger indicating the types of weapons available and the magic they carried. Harry tried a few of them to see if any of them would grow on him. Unfortunately none of them felt comfortable. They seemed to big or to cumbersome. He wanted something like the Japanese Katana that he had seen watching one of the muggle WWII movies. Harry decided to pass for now on acquiring any vault weapons.

Harry kept walking when he noticed a very old trunk lying at the end of the weapons table. He opened it and noticed that the trunk had two deep compartments filled with what looked like different metal and other ore samples. Odd, he thought? There were two books written by one Damien Potter. One of the books was on mining theory, and the other was on refining ore's and metals. The last book talked about purifying metals and minerals. Harry flipped through some of the pages and was immediately fascinated by the subject.

These books seemed to contain many spells he had never heard of before. There was a third book which was on theory of weapons making and crafting. Harry might have to get a modern book specifically on crafting Japanese Katanas but these books would go a long way in explaining the theory. Harry thought that he would need other weapons outside of a wand pretty soon.

One thing for sure Harry thought, most death eaters nowadays would never conceive of an attack by a sword. Knowing how to fight with a sword could help as an element of surprise. Since none of the available weapons suited him, he decided that he would craft his own in due time, even if he had to go and mine the right material himself. Looking at the print data on the books, it read printed in 1638.

'Wow, these go back some ways,' he thought. He would have to see if Flourish and Blots had more updated versions of these titles.

At the back end of the wall he noticed another trunk. This one looked to be only a few decades old. There was a letter sitting at the top of the chest. He went to it and looked at the letter; it had his name on it. He opened the letter and began to read:

To Harry James Potter

Hi son, if you are reading this letter, then we failed, and never had the chance to see you grow up. We are so sorry son. I just hope we died saving you. Albus told us that Voldemort was after us because of a prophecy made about you, by no less than Trelawney herself.

I have never put much faith in these things, but apparently Voldemort does. Who knows, maybe they are true, who is to say. In the end it doesn't matter your mother and I did the only thing we could to protect you, we went into hiding. Your mother and I just want you to know that we want you to be happy and lead as normal a life as much as possible.

Hi baby, this is your mother. I know that I am biased but you are the most beautiful baby in the world. We love you so much and will do anything for you, my love. There is so much we want to tell you, but how do we fit in a lifetime of experience and advice into one letter. The answer is we can't.

The best we can do is to make sure that you are with someone of our choosing who will love you and protect you unconditionally. Our first choice was Sirius Black your godfather. He loves you so much Harry, and will do anything for you. Our second choice is Remus Lupin, we know of his monthly affliction, but arrangements have been made to circumvent this. Albus Dumbledore the Headmaster of Hogwarts knows of our wishes and assured us that they would be carried out.

At no time are you to go live with my hateful sister! Well enough about that. My only wish for you my son is for you to be happy. Remember Harry, we may not be there in body but our spirit will always watch over you. Have a wonderful life my son.

Hey Pronglet, what your mother said dido for me. I love you beyond words son. The first time I saw you I was prouder than a Peacock in a henhouse. In case you haven't been told, you are the son of a Marauder and in this trunk are several diaries detailing all of the charms, and transfiguration techniques we used in the pursuit of our exploits.

These include notes from becoming an animagus to creating the Marauders map. Have fun son, and remember that life is nothing with out laughter. What ever you do, don't let your mother know that you have these. Who am I kidding, she probably knows already? I could never fool her. She was always the brain in the family.

One more thing before I forget, this trunk has four compartments, the last two have pretty decent storage space, a closet and several large bookcases. There is a lightweight charm and a reduction included with it. It's dead useful when doing long term shopping. The charms Reducio, and Engorgio are used to enlarge and reduce the trunk. There is also a permanent lightweight charm that comes with it. The trunk is also charmed to be weather resistant and also resistant to most spells. The trunk is charmed so that only the owner can access the trunk. To bind the trunks to your magical signature just say Manifestat- Omnis- Milare.

Goodbye Son

Love Mom and Dad

Harry just starred at the letter and began to sob. Man this has been one hell of an emotional roller coaster he thought to himself. He let the tears fall for about 10 minutes. It felt good to let it out of his system. He let himself feel the loss of his parents once again.

God, he would have given anything to have his parents still alive. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hands and then collected himself. He then remembered the part about his mother's wishes for him, and suddenly a blinding hatred rose in his chest. Good old Dumbledore managed to betray them also, Harry thought.

'As God is my witness, I will find a way to get even with him,' Harry swore to the fates. He pocketed the letter and made several copies. He then asked Zorak if he could put a reduction charm on the ore trunk. He would store its content within one of the newer trunk compartments. Zorak did as he was told and reduced the ore trunk. Harry then stored the ore in the first compartment of his new trunk.

Harry then went back to the crystal bins and as he was allowed to remove those he picked up a good portion of each gems. He stored these in the second compartment of his trunk. Many gems were used to store and focus magical energy, so he thought they may come in handy during his studies. He then walked over to the book shelves and selected a book on every field of magic available in his library. Many of them were books carried over from the Black estate.

Harry chose books on advanced Charms and Transfiguration. He noticed a potions book called Tomes Asana Potentate also know as the grand bible of potion. He also picked a book on ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Magical Theory, Apparating, Hit wizards/DADA, and Dark Arts. He went into his trunk and stored all of the books on the available bookshelves. He ended up picking over 100 books in all. He got out of his trunk and closed the lid. Now time to make this baby mine and only mine, so he put his hand on the chest's hand portal and pronounced Manifestat- Omnis- Milare. A purplish aura surrounded the trunk for a few seconds. Then leaving his palm on the hand portal he said Reducio, the trunk shrunk to the size of a deck of cards. He took one last look at the incredible vault and exited.

Harry could not believe his good fortune so far. He thought of the practicality of having a multi compartment trunk that was charmed to be lightweight and reduces to fit in his pocket. This would be perfect to store all of his purchases today. He got thinking about Moody's wizard trunk with its seven compartments at the end of the triwizard tournament.

Harry began to formulate an idea. His thoughts came back to finding a place to stay. He thought that a live in trunk might be the perfect solution to many of his problems. If he could acquire a wizard's trunk like Moody's but more advanced, then his problems were solved. He needed a wizard trunk that had a fully developed living and training quarters. It also had to be portable.

If Harry learned to carry out the Fidelius charm on his trunk, then he could carry his home and be safe anywhere he went. This would be the ultimate solution, he thought. Harry would borrow from a turtle's strategy. Carry your home wherever you go. After this little epiphany, Harry got a little smile on his face and gathered his remaining things.

Before he left his vault, Harry noticed a small oak box with runes on it. The box was sitting on the far side table. There was an engraving on it that said Properties. He opened the drawer and noticed that there were about fifteen parchments. They were Potter owned real estate. He decided to pick up the box and look at the parchments later on.

Harry figured he was done for now and said, "All right Zorak, lets go see Griphook." They reached the lobby and proceeded to Griphook's office to finish off the remaining paper work. Griphook noticed two people coming his way and noticed his new partner and said, "Mr. Potter, were you able to get what you needed from your Vault?"

Harry smiled and replied, "Yes Griphook, Zorak was very helpful."

Griphook smiled back and replied, "Good, we have the documents ready to remove one Albus Dumbledore as your guardian and appoint yourself as trustee and myself as account manager. Please sign the following pages."

Harry signed the papers with a fanatical glee. Removing the headmaster as his trustee was the first step in many to come to remove that bastard from his life. He was now the sole trustee and declared Griphook to be henceforth his personal financial advisor, manager and official contact at Gringotts.

Harry thought for a second and decided to take a chance and said, "Griphook, as you know some of my personal history with Voldemort and the fact that he is back. I am trying to find a way so avoid the ministry and Dumbledore's constant interruptions. I need to find a way to do magic without being detected for underage magic use. I also need to find more time to properly train. Do you know of any contacts that could help me circumvent ministry meddling. "

Griphook gave him a feral grin and replied, " Mr. Potter, one thing we Goblins have long know is that if the price is right most things are possible in a magical world. I'll have a list of contacts for you right away sir."

Griphook added, "Rest assured Harry, all of our business stays out of any government control and records. You only need an outlet until you reach your legal age next July. I'll have a list drawn up for you within 10 minutes. "

Harry had found a whole new level of respect for Goblins. Every time they could stick it to the ministry they would gladly step up to the plate. They had suffered just as much if not more than he had at their hands. Yes, Harry thought, he had made a very good decisions dealing with the Goblins. He also remembered to ask Griphook how long they had by law to inform Dumbledore of these new arrangements?

Griphook told him that by law he had up to August 20 to inform Dumbledore of the Changes. Harry liked that date. He hoped to be well into his plans and be free of Dumbledore by the time he found out.