Categories > Books > Harry Potter > Salvation
Here we go to visit Gringotts now, should be interesting.
Disclaimer: Because law dictates it, I must announce that I do not own Harry Potter or his universe, anyone who thinks that I do can go get themselves reduced to ashes by one of JKR’s veela.
Recap of Chapter 5:
Fleur sighed in relief that her mate, and future king was not in danger. Sitting down next to the bed, she thought, ‘This is all about to become much more complicated. We must make preparations to protect Harry from those who would want to harm him, and we must train him to control his veela powers now, that will defiantly be a job for Mother. But first we need to see Sirius’s and the Potter’s wills so we can remove all of Dumbledore’s influences.’
Now that she had a goal, Fleur sat down, and grasping Harry’s hand, accessed the bond, and began to project feelings of safety and love to his unconscious mind. As she did so, she thought she saw his body, for the first time since she had met him, relax completely, and knew that he had felt the feelings she was sending him, and that he felt the same way.
Cah11 humbly presents
Salvation
Chapter 6: Gringotts
It was another three days before the St. Marys staff allowed Harry to leave the hospital, in that time Harry and Fleur had lots of time to talk about the bond and their relationship. When Harry asked about the specifics of the bond Fleur told him exactly what her father told her, the harder questions came when Harry asked Fleur about his veela powers.
“Honestly Harry, I have no idea what you’re true powers are, if you had been a normal male veela, you would have had the normal veela powers, a rather weak allure, but a stronger battle form, and the ability to do more magic than me. But because you are the prince, soon to be king of the veela, your powers are thought to be much stronger than a normal male veela’s, and that’s all your powers including the allure.”
So basically, not much is known about me, and the queen correct?”
“Right, the true potential of the King was guarded jealously by the royal family to prevent other cultures from knowing exactly how powerful the veela king really was so they would remain too fearful to attack.”
“A lot of good that did them in the end,” Harry muttered.
“Yes, well we held out for a time, but eventually numbers will overwhelm strength if enough time and lives are spent.”
After Harry was released Fleur told him that they were being moved to her parent’s house as Fleur’s house was not as secure, and as the future king and queen, Fleur’s father felt that the Delacour Family Home would be the safest place for them at the moment.
Once there, Fleur asked Harry, “So what are you going to do about your inheritances?”
“I will have to write another letter to Slipknife and explain why I did not arrive at the agreed upon date and that I need to reschedule.”
“Be careful what you write Harry, the goblin race is a prideful one that does not take kindly to being snubbed.”
“I understand.” Harry replied.
Quickly Harry wrote out a letter to Slipknife explaining why he was unable to attend the meeting they had setup, and that he would like to reschedule to the next earliest time at his convenience. Once the letter was written he sent it off.
“Nothing to do now but wait.” Harry said.
“While we do, why don’t we test the boundaries of the bond as it currently stands?” Fleur suggested, “If we get used to being in each others heads right now while the connection is limited, then we won’t have to worry so much about sensory overload when the bond is completed.”
“Sounds like a good idea.” Harry said. “Now how do we do this, is it some kind of meditation thing?”
“Well, it works best if we are in physical contact, the more contact in the beginning, the easier it becomes, eventually we will get used to accessing the bond and will be able to do it from long distances, even if we are on opposite sides of the planet.”
“Ok.” Harry said
Taking his hand, Fleur led Harry into the sitting room toward one of the smaller chairs in the room. As she did Harry began to get a little red in the face and said, “Fleur, that chair is not really big enough for the two of us, shouldn’t we sit in one of the couches or something?”
Fleur was slightly amused by his shyness and said, “Come now Harry am I really that ugly that you would not allow your bondmate to sit on your lap?”
Harry’s blush immediately deepened and he said, “I don’t think you are ugly, I’m sorry, I don’t have any experience with women.”
Fleur chuckled lightly and leading him the rest of the way over to the chair, sat him down then sat down in his lap, making sure to arrange herself so that she was sitting perpendicular to him and could lean on him sideways allowing him to feel the curves of her body. She heard Harry gulp slightly as she rested her body on his and Fleur smiled slightly up at him before saying, “Ok now that we have physical contact, here is what we must do to access the bond, first close your eyes and breathe in and out slowly to center your mind, do this now.”
Harry closed his eyes and did as instructed. Once he was as centered as he thought he was likely to get he murmured, “Ok now what?”
“Now reach down for your magic and ‘feel’ around until you find a tendril that seems to branch out from the rest of your body, once you find it, follow it to its source and then stop.” Fleur whispered back not wanting to disturb him or make the process more difficult.
Harry explored his magic for a bit trying to find a tendril that branched off toward Fleur, he knew that if he found the outside boundary of his magical core he would eventually find the bond, but it seemed to take an inordinate amount of time to find the boundary of his core.
After searching for nearly ten minutes Fleur wondered whether he would find it on his own or not, she didn’t want to have to find it for him; she wanted him to solve his own problems dealing with the bond as much as possible. After fifteen minutes Fleur had almost run out of patience and was going to locate the bond for him when he said “Ah ha!” and Fleur felt a presence that she knew to be Harry’s travel across the bond until it reached the outskirts of her mind then stopped. Immediately after he found the connection his body relaxed and went slack, as though he had fallen into a deep sleep. Not at all worried, Fleur reached for her own magic and feeling the tendril that was the bond, slipped into the bond as well.
As he entered the bond he thought it was like being on a bridge between two islands, only it was a bridge between their minds. As he grew used to the feeling of the bond he noticed that the part of Fleur that was in the connection was hanging back slightly, closer to her side of the bond then the middle where Harry was. Nonplused, Harry asked, “Fleur, why are you hanging back?” Harry noticed he didn’t really verbalize his question so much as think it to Fleur, and she answered back in a likewise fashion.
“I want to make sure that you are ready for the next parts that are coming, I didn’t want to immediately overwhelm you with different sensations. Do you think you are ready?”
Harry thought about it for a moment and then said, “Yes.”
The first sensation Harry felt was fullness, as though he had tried to absorb too much information at once, he supposed with two minds in one place this was unsurprising. The next thing he knew, Harry was experiencing thoughts and feelings that were not his own; it was all a little overwhelming being able to experience multiple emotions at the same time.
Fleur, sensing that Harry was being overwhelmed, withdrew from the bond and helped him also withdraw back to his own mind. When they were both back in their own heads, Harry said, “Wow, that was a lot more vivid then I thought it would be; it was like our minds melded for a moment and we were experiencing each others emotions.”
“That is exactly what happened, don’t worry about being unable to stay in the bond with me for very long, the pressure of having two minds occupy one figurative space takes some getting used to.”
After another two hours of talking about and, (to a lesser degree than what they started out with), experiencing the bond there was a crack in the room which caused Fleur to fall out of Harry’s lap in surprise. Harry blushed slightly when he saw that her skit had ridden up a little exposing her thighs, but not really enough to be considered ‘indecent’. He was brought back to reality when Fleur, (who had pulled her skirt back down), handed him a letter written to him by Gringotts, it was very short and to the point.
Mr. Potter,
If it would please you to actually show up this time I will meet with you at 8:30 tomorrow morning, do not be late.
Slipknife
Harry sighed, he knew that his absence the last time he had called for a meeting had most likely offended the goblin, he knew he would have to be on time, and if they made him wait for the appointment, then he would have to wait.
“What do you think?” Harry asked Fleur.
“I think that the situation with the goblins is still salvageable as long as we spin the story of your injuries in such a way that they do not appear to be self inflicted.”
“Why would that matter?”
“Because, the goblins are a very war like race, they see any kind of suicide as dishonorable, and the mark of a weak individual who cannot be trusted with the smallest tasks and responsibilities. Rather we should make it seem as though the scars on your wrists were received during spell practice, goblins see such scars as badges of honor that proved that you suffered to attain what you know, and thus learned by their ways, a trial by fire type of concept.”
Harry looked a little skeptical and said, “I’m not sure lying to the goblins is the best course of action, if they were to find out, would that not make me appear even weaker to them?”
“Only if they find out, and believe me, father has been working like a madman containing the rumors and stories at the ministry, nothing has found its way to the papers yet, after all, some countries,” here Fleur looked at Harry amusedly, “actually have a handle on their newspapers to make sure that their stories are more fact then fiction. So far no one has anything substantial, and because of the vows of silence that our healers take to preserve patient confidentiality, they can’t say anything to anyone outside of me, you, and my family. The aurors that showed up trying to arrest you were a little difficult to curtail, but after given proper ‘motivation’ they decided to take a vow of silence on the matter.”
Harry was stunned at the thoroughness of Fleur’s father; he had successfully contained a rumor that would have found its way into the Daily Prophet within ten minutes of Harry being brought to the hospital if this were Britain.
“Thanks Fleur, and thank your father and mother for me, without them I would be both houseless, and a celebrity outcast.”
“No problem mate of mine.”
Harry blushed slightly at the way Fleur answered him, damn he was doing that a lot lately, and asked, “Anything else I should avoid saying?”
“Well, you should compose your speech to them so that you do not come across as a winy little kid who got cheated out of some candy by his older brother, make sure that you present your case about the inheritances in a mature and accurate fashion; if we can pull this off we may even turn the goblins to our side, they hate Dumbledore as much as the next wizard, and they become especially angry when someone manages to circumvent the law and tarnish their reputation. Remember, reputation is everything to a goblin and after what Dumbledore has done I imagine that the goblins will work very hard to please you to gain your trust back.”
“So basically you’re asking me to use them?” Harry asked incensed.
“I’m suggesting that you use each other, neither we (the veela) nor the goblins can hold off the humans on our own, they have us too marginalized. We have plenty of warriors, but no capita, they have plenty of money but few warriors and even fewer weapons, you need all three if this comes to war. I am simply suggesting that we use each other to our mutual benefit.”
“Alright,” Harry sighed, “I don’t like it though, one slip up and the goblins will turn on us and we will rip each other to pieces.”
“So we need to make sure that no one slips up.” Fleur sounded more confident then Harry was that this could be accomplished.
The next day found Harry and Fleur at Gringotts at 8:15 AM. Harry was slightly more tired then Fleur as he was not used to getting up that early. Despite the early hour, there were already 15 or so couples in the bank talking to teller goblins and generally walking between the main doors, the desk, and the doors that lead to the vaults. Harry and Fleur had come that morning with another couple of veela who were acting as body guards. As he was the veela prince, Mr. Delacour had wanted Harry to have up to six body guards, but Harry protested saying he did not need protecting and that body guards would actually make him stand out. They had argued for a few tense minutes before they decided on a compromise of two male veela of exceptional magical strength. The two body guards were ordered to be discrete unless Harry actually came under attack, then they were ordered to protect Harry and Fleur at all costs.
Making his way to the desk, Harry stopped in front of a free teller and said, “Excuse me, I’m Harry Potter, and I have an appointment with Slipknife at 8:30.”
The goblin replied gruffly, “And is it 8:30 yet?”
Harry looked at his watch, “No, it is 8:20.”
“Then the manager is not ready to see you yet, please wait until your appointment time, then come back and request your meeting.”
As they walked away Fleur was fuming, “What was that about? We showed up didn’t we, it may have been a little early, but it’s not like it is the end of the day, it’s still too early for the manager to have anything that necessitates his long term attention and would prevent him from seeing us immediately.”
“It’s all right Fleur,” Harry said “they are just making us wait so they can make a silent statement to us, and that is, ‘never snub a goblin, especially if that goblin is the bank manager.’”
Fleur sighed, “Your right, I know, it’s just that I thought they would understand that, given your frame of mind last week, the reason you missed the appointment was unavoidable.”
“Ah but that’s the downside of not letting the media know of my injuries. No one else knows either, not even the goblins it seems.”
Ten minutes later a goblin stood up and walked to Harry and Fleur saying “Mr. Potter?”
“Yes?” Harry asked.
“The manager will see you now, please come this way.”
Harry followed the goblin from the seats to the back behind the desk, the two body guards, who had been shadowing the couple and trying to remain inconspicuous positioned themselves near the desk so they could get into the back if they needed to and then stood there to wait for as long as necessary.
In the back, Harry and Fleur were lead into a grandly decorated room, filled with ceremonial weapons and pieces of armor. At the far end of the room was a huge mahogany desk with a single relatively tall goblin sitting behind it. The goblin scowled at Harry and Fleur as they approached, Harry guessed that the goblin was Slipknife, and also guessed that the goblin did not like being told to leave London to see the same customer twice in as many weeks.
Once they reached the desk the teller goblin bowed the three of them and left. Once the door had closed Slipknife said, “Harry Potter, now that you are here, finally, I suppose we can begin. You wanted to see your godfather’s will but did not come to the public will reading, instead you sent a proxy, why?”
Harry took a deep breath and said, “Slipknife, you must understand that I never received any correspondence from Gringotts, ever. I have never received a bank statement, or even an invitation to see my parents wills. The last time I was at Gringotts in fact was almost four years ago.”
Slipknife frowned, “You have never received any bank notices, but I have copies right here with you signature on them, one notice every six months since you turned 11 years old, and all of them are signed.”
Harry was furious, Fleur was too, “May we see a copy of a Harry’s first notice Slipknife?”
The goblin scowled but reached in and pulled the notice from the bottom and handed it to Fleur.
Taking it, Fleur laid the bank notice face up and pointing to the signature on the notice asked, “Harry, did you know how to write in cursive the summer when you turned eleven?”
Harry looked at the signature too and replied, “No, I did not start writing cursive until the middle of my first year of Hogwarts, and then I only learned because Snape kept taking points off my essays because they were not written that particular way. This signature has been forged by someone; my first guess would be Dumbledore.”
Slipknife stared at Harry and Fleur and said, “This is preposterous, it is true that all your mail has been being sent to Dumbledore, who was your magical guardian until you were emancipated, but our letters are spelled so they cannot be opened by anyone other than the rightful recipient, they are spelled to only open for a person with a specific magical signature. Dumbledore could not have simply opened the letters, signed them and then sent them back, it is not possible.”
Harry stood up and growled, “Enough, if you cannot believe me on my word alone, then how about this. I Harry Potter swear on my life and my magic that I did not learn to write in cursive until December of my first year at Hogwarts, furthermore, I have never received post from Gringotts bank until I received the letter from Slipknife regarding my godfathers will so mote be it.” Harry was surrounded by a white glow as the oath was completed.
When he did not keel over and die after the glow faded Slipknife slumped back onto his chair and looking devastated said, “Mr. Potter, first of all accept my apology for not believing you, a banker, and especially a goblin must always be on the lookout for scams, economic traps, and corruption, unfortunately it appears that someone, and I agree it is most likely Dumbledore, has been screening your mail, and keeping you from your business and your inheritances. Now that you are emancipated this is no longer a problem. The bigger problem is what Dumbledore has done since you have left Britain. Dumbledore recently filed a claim in the wizengamot to have your trust vault, the Black Vault, and the Potter Vault seized by the ministry on account of you being a dark wizard and the next runner up for the title of Dark Lord. The issue has not been voted on yet, but if you want to do anything it must happen soon if you are to save your wealth and inheritance. My suggestion is to have the three vaults combined and then moved here to the Paris Branch so that it is out of Britain and therefore beyond the British Ministries jurisdiction.”
Harry looked alarmed and asked, “How long do you think we have?”
“No more than three days, the only reason the debate has went on this long is because the pure blood elitists in the wizengamot see the danger in the precedent of a Gringotts Vault being seized, and they do not like the implications.”
“Alright Slipknife, I will follow your advice, please combine the three vaults and have the assets moved here to the Paris branch.”
“We will start immediately,” and after writing instructions on a piece of parchment, Sliphook waved his hand and the message disappeared. “Now that that is taken care of, I assume you wish to see your parents’ and godfathers’ wills.”
“Yes, please.”
Moving over to the cabinet in the room, Slipknife removed a shallow stone basin and brought it over to the table. It was a pensieve.
“Your parents and godfather left their wills in the form of pensieve memories, that way there was no way for them to be faked or altered after the fact.” Slipknife said, then grabbing one of the two vials that had been on the desk when Harry and Fleur walked in Slipknife asked, “Is it alright if we start with your parents will? It has been out of sight too long, and I am sure you wish to here the final words of your parents.”
Harry’s voice cracked slightly as he said, “Proceed.”
Slipknife pulled the stopper out of the vial and dumped the memory into the pensieve, then swirled a finger in the silvery liquid until an image of Lily and James appeared. Standing with their feet still in the bowl, Lily and James began to speak alternatively, each making sure the other gave equal time. Lily spoke first.
“This is the last will and testament of ones Lily Potter, and James Potter written on the 28th of October, 1981.”
“To Remus Lupin, one of my dearest friends, I leave the sum of 2 million galleons with the hope that you will buy yourself some decent cloths and get back on your feet, you’re a smart person Moony, and all your talent is going to waste over petty prejudices.”
“To Sirius Black, we leave our trunk code labeled A Eardrum, you know what to do with this stuff Sirius, make sure Harry knows of his father’s legacy.”
“To Peter Pettigrew,” Here James’ expression became frosty, “We leave nothing but a question, was it worth it, you spineless scumbag? Was your life really worth selling out your best friends? You may live on Peter, but simply living is not the hard part, the hard part is learning to live with yourself. Think about it.”
Here both Lily and James spoke simultaneously, “Everything else we leave to our son Harry James Potter, all other moneys, properties, and holdings shall be transferred to Harry’s direct control the moment he comes of age, or is emancipated.” They paused, and Lily seemed to be looking directly at Harry, as if the memory could actually see him. “Harry, your father and I are sorry we cannot be there for you, no matter what happens, if you are seeing this because we died in Voldemort’s attack, know IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT! You did not ask to be a prophesized savior, and I would not change anything about our life, the small amount of time we were your parents were the best of my life, this is mommy signing off.” Lily then stepped back into the background.
“And now son it is my turn.” James Potter moved forward and also seemed to stare directly at Harry. “Harry, there is something you must know about my side of the family, I have Veela blood in my veins, it is likely that you do as well. However you are not just any veela, you are directly descended from the veela royal blood line. This does not mean that you will necessarily ascend to the throne, magic picks the next veela king, and it is prophesized that magic will only pick the next veela ruler during a time of great darkness and upheaval.” James looked at Harry with a pained expression, “I pray that you will not be the one magic chooses, the veela’s power is waning, the species itself is on the brink of extinction. But as a precaution, in case you are deemed the one, we are mandating that in the event of our untimely death you be sent to France to be raised by a veela family, preferably the Delacours or another family of noble veela blood to be raised and trained in your powers. Now about your blood status, I am ¾ veela, while Lily is pure human, which would make you 3/8ths veela. If you are chosen as king you will need to find a queen, once you have fully bonded to her, you magic will automatically alter you blood status to match that physically and genetically of a pure blooded veela male with the full might of the veela king. Now go, I pray you will not have this task set before you, but somehow I know that you will receive this fate. Goodbye son.” And with that, the memory of Lily and James sank back into the pensieve and out of sight.
Harry sat on the chair in front of the desk, tears dripping down his face, thinking of how his parents must have loved him. Loved him enough that they set up contingency plans in case things that were very uncertain came to pass, the remark that Lily made about Harry not being responsible for their deaths had almost broken him. How could she say that, when if he had never been born, they would not have died? As if sensing his thoughts, which Harry supposed she could, Fleur said, “Harry, if you have never been born, Voldemort would have survived, would have overthrown the British Ministry, would have kept on killing until their was no one left to oppose him, and then the dark would have truly won.” Placing her hand on his face and turning his head so she could look into his eyes she said, “And if you had never been born, I would not have a mate right now, a mate that I love, and want to spend the rest of my days with. I would have possibly grown old alone, which is the greatest curse for a veela, us being very emotional creatures, you have done so much good Harry, I will not let you sell yourself short, you, are, a, hero.” Then Fleur leaned forward and kissed Harry, putting all her love and passion into the kiss, as well as feeding her feelings for him though the bond so he knew, for certain, that she loved him with all her heart, and that she would never abandon him.
After Harry had gotten control over his emotions he and Fleur parted from their kiss and looking around saw Slipknife, who had a touched look on his face that Harry had never seen on a goblin before. As soon as Harry notice, the goblin crafted his expression to one of impassivity, but Harry knew that it was a mask he was wearing to conceal his true emotions, after all, part of the goblin warrior creed is that a warrior does not cry.
“Mr. Potter, if you are ready? We will begin the reading of Sirius’s will.” Harry waved his hand in assent. Drawing the memory of Lily and James out of the pensieve, Slipknife grasped the other bottle and poured the memory into the pensieve. Once again swirling one finger in the pensieve’s depths, Slipknife caused the memory of Sirius Black to rise out of the pensieve.
“I, Sirius Black being of sound mind and body do hereby declare this my final will and testament on the 30th of April 1996. There, now the stupid legal crap is done and taken care of, on to the real reason this will was made. To Remus Lupin, I leave six sickles and a curse, not only for abandoning Harry in that muggle home for fifteen years to be physically and mentally abused, but for going along with Dumbledore’s plan to use Harry to get what he wants before killing him. I didn’t want to believe it, hell I didn’t ever believe it until now, but maybe there is a reason werewolves are considered ‘dark creatures’.”
“To the Weasleys excluding Fred, George, Bill, Charlie, and Ron, I leave you in the same boat as Remus for planning to get Ginny knocked up by Harry so that she has his kid and inherits all his money if Dumbledore’s plan works. There is a fine line between poverty and insane desperation, and you just crossed that line.”
“To the Weasleys mentioned in the exclusion list above, Hermione, Neville, and Luna, I leave the sum of 3 million galleons in return for a magical oath to always stick by Harry’s side, no matter what happens between Harry and Dumbledore, Harry has the right in this, for once The Headmaster does not.”
“All other assets be they liquid, property, and the title of Lord Black, I leave to my godson Harry Potter, Harry there are a few Potter Family heirlooms stored in a certain trunk that I have been meaning to give you, but never found the time. It’s all yours. And Harry one more thing; if you die before the age of 100 and I find you somewhere up here, I am so going to kick your ass. This is Sirius Black, the last of the faithful Marauders, saying bye for now.” And again the image sank back into the stone basin and vanished.
Harry was tearful again after the reading of Sirius’s will, but they were tears of mirth, his godfather had really stuck to form and thrown some jokes in there, (so like Sirius) to break the almost tangible tension in the room that accompanies almost every will reading. On top of that, Sirius it seemed had seen all of this coming and had planned for it, placing stipulations that could not be avoided and singling out the people who were personally responsible, and the greatest snub of all was that Dumbledore was not even mentioned in the will.
'That must be why he forged my signature to attend the public reading.’ Harry thought, ‘Because he was not a benefactor, he would not have been able to attend otherwise.’
Then another thought gripped Harry, now that he was Lord Black, what would Fleur think, would she now just want him for his title, or would she still love him for being him? His answer was given to him almost immediately as Fleur hugged him and said, “Harry, we need to work on your self-esteem, of course I will still love you for you, being king of the veela means so much more to me than being a ‘Lord’.”
Harry smiled his thanks and told Slipknife, “I believe we are done here for now, when can we expect my funds to be transferred to the branch here in Paris?”
“The process is already under way Mr. Potter.” Slipknife said, rather proudly, “By tomorrow at closing time, all of the contents of the vaults belonging to you will have been consolidated and moved to this location. Which reminds me, here is your new key for the vault we are assigning you, the number is 6045. It is one of the high security vaults at the bottom of this establishment which is heavily warded and well guarded.”
“Guarded by what exactly?” Harry asked, curious.
Slipknife smiled dangerously and replied, “A basilisk.”
Fleur gasped and Harry gaped at the goblin. “How in the world do we control a basilisk so we can get to our vault?” Harry demanded.
Slipknife reached into his desk and held out two pairs of sunglasses to Harry and Fleur saying, “When you go to visit your vault, wear the glasses, they are charmed to act like a one way mirror that lets you see out, but reflects the snake’s deadly gaze away from you. And don’t worry about having to fight it; the basilisk is contained within a barred cage made of charmed stone. It will only open if there is a being that is not you or anyone you have keyed to the wards trying to get into your vault.”
Harry breathed a sigh of relief, he had already fought a 40 foot basilisk once, he was not anxious to have a repeat experience.
“Thank you Slipknife, and now we really must be going.” Harry said
“I understand Mr. Potter, if you need anything else, or have questions, do not hesitate to write to me, just send your post directly to me, no point possibly endangering your security because of potential leaks in my bank.”
Harry thanked Slipknife once again and then, leaning on each other, Harry and Fleur left the bank and apperated to The Delacour Ancestral Home, their body guards close behind.
Disclaimer: Because law dictates it, I must announce that I do not own Harry Potter or his universe, anyone who thinks that I do can go get themselves reduced to ashes by one of JKR’s veela.
Recap of Chapter 5:
Fleur sighed in relief that her mate, and future king was not in danger. Sitting down next to the bed, she thought, ‘This is all about to become much more complicated. We must make preparations to protect Harry from those who would want to harm him, and we must train him to control his veela powers now, that will defiantly be a job for Mother. But first we need to see Sirius’s and the Potter’s wills so we can remove all of Dumbledore’s influences.’
Now that she had a goal, Fleur sat down, and grasping Harry’s hand, accessed the bond, and began to project feelings of safety and love to his unconscious mind. As she did so, she thought she saw his body, for the first time since she had met him, relax completely, and knew that he had felt the feelings she was sending him, and that he felt the same way.
Cah11 humbly presents
Salvation
Chapter 6: Gringotts
It was another three days before the St. Marys staff allowed Harry to leave the hospital, in that time Harry and Fleur had lots of time to talk about the bond and their relationship. When Harry asked about the specifics of the bond Fleur told him exactly what her father told her, the harder questions came when Harry asked Fleur about his veela powers.
“Honestly Harry, I have no idea what you’re true powers are, if you had been a normal male veela, you would have had the normal veela powers, a rather weak allure, but a stronger battle form, and the ability to do more magic than me. But because you are the prince, soon to be king of the veela, your powers are thought to be much stronger than a normal male veela’s, and that’s all your powers including the allure.”
So basically, not much is known about me, and the queen correct?”
“Right, the true potential of the King was guarded jealously by the royal family to prevent other cultures from knowing exactly how powerful the veela king really was so they would remain too fearful to attack.”
“A lot of good that did them in the end,” Harry muttered.
“Yes, well we held out for a time, but eventually numbers will overwhelm strength if enough time and lives are spent.”
After Harry was released Fleur told him that they were being moved to her parent’s house as Fleur’s house was not as secure, and as the future king and queen, Fleur’s father felt that the Delacour Family Home would be the safest place for them at the moment.
Once there, Fleur asked Harry, “So what are you going to do about your inheritances?”
“I will have to write another letter to Slipknife and explain why I did not arrive at the agreed upon date and that I need to reschedule.”
“Be careful what you write Harry, the goblin race is a prideful one that does not take kindly to being snubbed.”
“I understand.” Harry replied.
Quickly Harry wrote out a letter to Slipknife explaining why he was unable to attend the meeting they had setup, and that he would like to reschedule to the next earliest time at his convenience. Once the letter was written he sent it off.
“Nothing to do now but wait.” Harry said.
“While we do, why don’t we test the boundaries of the bond as it currently stands?” Fleur suggested, “If we get used to being in each others heads right now while the connection is limited, then we won’t have to worry so much about sensory overload when the bond is completed.”
“Sounds like a good idea.” Harry said. “Now how do we do this, is it some kind of meditation thing?”
“Well, it works best if we are in physical contact, the more contact in the beginning, the easier it becomes, eventually we will get used to accessing the bond and will be able to do it from long distances, even if we are on opposite sides of the planet.”
“Ok.” Harry said
Taking his hand, Fleur led Harry into the sitting room toward one of the smaller chairs in the room. As she did Harry began to get a little red in the face and said, “Fleur, that chair is not really big enough for the two of us, shouldn’t we sit in one of the couches or something?”
Fleur was slightly amused by his shyness and said, “Come now Harry am I really that ugly that you would not allow your bondmate to sit on your lap?”
Harry’s blush immediately deepened and he said, “I don’t think you are ugly, I’m sorry, I don’t have any experience with women.”
Fleur chuckled lightly and leading him the rest of the way over to the chair, sat him down then sat down in his lap, making sure to arrange herself so that she was sitting perpendicular to him and could lean on him sideways allowing him to feel the curves of her body. She heard Harry gulp slightly as she rested her body on his and Fleur smiled slightly up at him before saying, “Ok now that we have physical contact, here is what we must do to access the bond, first close your eyes and breathe in and out slowly to center your mind, do this now.”
Harry closed his eyes and did as instructed. Once he was as centered as he thought he was likely to get he murmured, “Ok now what?”
“Now reach down for your magic and ‘feel’ around until you find a tendril that seems to branch out from the rest of your body, once you find it, follow it to its source and then stop.” Fleur whispered back not wanting to disturb him or make the process more difficult.
Harry explored his magic for a bit trying to find a tendril that branched off toward Fleur, he knew that if he found the outside boundary of his magical core he would eventually find the bond, but it seemed to take an inordinate amount of time to find the boundary of his core.
After searching for nearly ten minutes Fleur wondered whether he would find it on his own or not, she didn’t want to have to find it for him; she wanted him to solve his own problems dealing with the bond as much as possible. After fifteen minutes Fleur had almost run out of patience and was going to locate the bond for him when he said “Ah ha!” and Fleur felt a presence that she knew to be Harry’s travel across the bond until it reached the outskirts of her mind then stopped. Immediately after he found the connection his body relaxed and went slack, as though he had fallen into a deep sleep. Not at all worried, Fleur reached for her own magic and feeling the tendril that was the bond, slipped into the bond as well.
As he entered the bond he thought it was like being on a bridge between two islands, only it was a bridge between their minds. As he grew used to the feeling of the bond he noticed that the part of Fleur that was in the connection was hanging back slightly, closer to her side of the bond then the middle where Harry was. Nonplused, Harry asked, “Fleur, why are you hanging back?” Harry noticed he didn’t really verbalize his question so much as think it to Fleur, and she answered back in a likewise fashion.
“I want to make sure that you are ready for the next parts that are coming, I didn’t want to immediately overwhelm you with different sensations. Do you think you are ready?”
Harry thought about it for a moment and then said, “Yes.”
The first sensation Harry felt was fullness, as though he had tried to absorb too much information at once, he supposed with two minds in one place this was unsurprising. The next thing he knew, Harry was experiencing thoughts and feelings that were not his own; it was all a little overwhelming being able to experience multiple emotions at the same time.
Fleur, sensing that Harry was being overwhelmed, withdrew from the bond and helped him also withdraw back to his own mind. When they were both back in their own heads, Harry said, “Wow, that was a lot more vivid then I thought it would be; it was like our minds melded for a moment and we were experiencing each others emotions.”
“That is exactly what happened, don’t worry about being unable to stay in the bond with me for very long, the pressure of having two minds occupy one figurative space takes some getting used to.”
After another two hours of talking about and, (to a lesser degree than what they started out with), experiencing the bond there was a crack in the room which caused Fleur to fall out of Harry’s lap in surprise. Harry blushed slightly when he saw that her skit had ridden up a little exposing her thighs, but not really enough to be considered ‘indecent’. He was brought back to reality when Fleur, (who had pulled her skirt back down), handed him a letter written to him by Gringotts, it was very short and to the point.
Mr. Potter,
If it would please you to actually show up this time I will meet with you at 8:30 tomorrow morning, do not be late.
Slipknife
Harry sighed, he knew that his absence the last time he had called for a meeting had most likely offended the goblin, he knew he would have to be on time, and if they made him wait for the appointment, then he would have to wait.
“What do you think?” Harry asked Fleur.
“I think that the situation with the goblins is still salvageable as long as we spin the story of your injuries in such a way that they do not appear to be self inflicted.”
“Why would that matter?”
“Because, the goblins are a very war like race, they see any kind of suicide as dishonorable, and the mark of a weak individual who cannot be trusted with the smallest tasks and responsibilities. Rather we should make it seem as though the scars on your wrists were received during spell practice, goblins see such scars as badges of honor that proved that you suffered to attain what you know, and thus learned by their ways, a trial by fire type of concept.”
Harry looked a little skeptical and said, “I’m not sure lying to the goblins is the best course of action, if they were to find out, would that not make me appear even weaker to them?”
“Only if they find out, and believe me, father has been working like a madman containing the rumors and stories at the ministry, nothing has found its way to the papers yet, after all, some countries,” here Fleur looked at Harry amusedly, “actually have a handle on their newspapers to make sure that their stories are more fact then fiction. So far no one has anything substantial, and because of the vows of silence that our healers take to preserve patient confidentiality, they can’t say anything to anyone outside of me, you, and my family. The aurors that showed up trying to arrest you were a little difficult to curtail, but after given proper ‘motivation’ they decided to take a vow of silence on the matter.”
Harry was stunned at the thoroughness of Fleur’s father; he had successfully contained a rumor that would have found its way into the Daily Prophet within ten minutes of Harry being brought to the hospital if this were Britain.
“Thanks Fleur, and thank your father and mother for me, without them I would be both houseless, and a celebrity outcast.”
“No problem mate of mine.”
Harry blushed slightly at the way Fleur answered him, damn he was doing that a lot lately, and asked, “Anything else I should avoid saying?”
“Well, you should compose your speech to them so that you do not come across as a winy little kid who got cheated out of some candy by his older brother, make sure that you present your case about the inheritances in a mature and accurate fashion; if we can pull this off we may even turn the goblins to our side, they hate Dumbledore as much as the next wizard, and they become especially angry when someone manages to circumvent the law and tarnish their reputation. Remember, reputation is everything to a goblin and after what Dumbledore has done I imagine that the goblins will work very hard to please you to gain your trust back.”
“So basically you’re asking me to use them?” Harry asked incensed.
“I’m suggesting that you use each other, neither we (the veela) nor the goblins can hold off the humans on our own, they have us too marginalized. We have plenty of warriors, but no capita, they have plenty of money but few warriors and even fewer weapons, you need all three if this comes to war. I am simply suggesting that we use each other to our mutual benefit.”
“Alright,” Harry sighed, “I don’t like it though, one slip up and the goblins will turn on us and we will rip each other to pieces.”
“So we need to make sure that no one slips up.” Fleur sounded more confident then Harry was that this could be accomplished.
The next day found Harry and Fleur at Gringotts at 8:15 AM. Harry was slightly more tired then Fleur as he was not used to getting up that early. Despite the early hour, there were already 15 or so couples in the bank talking to teller goblins and generally walking between the main doors, the desk, and the doors that lead to the vaults. Harry and Fleur had come that morning with another couple of veela who were acting as body guards. As he was the veela prince, Mr. Delacour had wanted Harry to have up to six body guards, but Harry protested saying he did not need protecting and that body guards would actually make him stand out. They had argued for a few tense minutes before they decided on a compromise of two male veela of exceptional magical strength. The two body guards were ordered to be discrete unless Harry actually came under attack, then they were ordered to protect Harry and Fleur at all costs.
Making his way to the desk, Harry stopped in front of a free teller and said, “Excuse me, I’m Harry Potter, and I have an appointment with Slipknife at 8:30.”
The goblin replied gruffly, “And is it 8:30 yet?”
Harry looked at his watch, “No, it is 8:20.”
“Then the manager is not ready to see you yet, please wait until your appointment time, then come back and request your meeting.”
As they walked away Fleur was fuming, “What was that about? We showed up didn’t we, it may have been a little early, but it’s not like it is the end of the day, it’s still too early for the manager to have anything that necessitates his long term attention and would prevent him from seeing us immediately.”
“It’s all right Fleur,” Harry said “they are just making us wait so they can make a silent statement to us, and that is, ‘never snub a goblin, especially if that goblin is the bank manager.’”
Fleur sighed, “Your right, I know, it’s just that I thought they would understand that, given your frame of mind last week, the reason you missed the appointment was unavoidable.”
“Ah but that’s the downside of not letting the media know of my injuries. No one else knows either, not even the goblins it seems.”
Ten minutes later a goblin stood up and walked to Harry and Fleur saying “Mr. Potter?”
“Yes?” Harry asked.
“The manager will see you now, please come this way.”
Harry followed the goblin from the seats to the back behind the desk, the two body guards, who had been shadowing the couple and trying to remain inconspicuous positioned themselves near the desk so they could get into the back if they needed to and then stood there to wait for as long as necessary.
In the back, Harry and Fleur were lead into a grandly decorated room, filled with ceremonial weapons and pieces of armor. At the far end of the room was a huge mahogany desk with a single relatively tall goblin sitting behind it. The goblin scowled at Harry and Fleur as they approached, Harry guessed that the goblin was Slipknife, and also guessed that the goblin did not like being told to leave London to see the same customer twice in as many weeks.
Once they reached the desk the teller goblin bowed the three of them and left. Once the door had closed Slipknife said, “Harry Potter, now that you are here, finally, I suppose we can begin. You wanted to see your godfather’s will but did not come to the public will reading, instead you sent a proxy, why?”
Harry took a deep breath and said, “Slipknife, you must understand that I never received any correspondence from Gringotts, ever. I have never received a bank statement, or even an invitation to see my parents wills. The last time I was at Gringotts in fact was almost four years ago.”
Slipknife frowned, “You have never received any bank notices, but I have copies right here with you signature on them, one notice every six months since you turned 11 years old, and all of them are signed.”
Harry was furious, Fleur was too, “May we see a copy of a Harry’s first notice Slipknife?”
The goblin scowled but reached in and pulled the notice from the bottom and handed it to Fleur.
Taking it, Fleur laid the bank notice face up and pointing to the signature on the notice asked, “Harry, did you know how to write in cursive the summer when you turned eleven?”
Harry looked at the signature too and replied, “No, I did not start writing cursive until the middle of my first year of Hogwarts, and then I only learned because Snape kept taking points off my essays because they were not written that particular way. This signature has been forged by someone; my first guess would be Dumbledore.”
Slipknife stared at Harry and Fleur and said, “This is preposterous, it is true that all your mail has been being sent to Dumbledore, who was your magical guardian until you were emancipated, but our letters are spelled so they cannot be opened by anyone other than the rightful recipient, they are spelled to only open for a person with a specific magical signature. Dumbledore could not have simply opened the letters, signed them and then sent them back, it is not possible.”
Harry stood up and growled, “Enough, if you cannot believe me on my word alone, then how about this. I Harry Potter swear on my life and my magic that I did not learn to write in cursive until December of my first year at Hogwarts, furthermore, I have never received post from Gringotts bank until I received the letter from Slipknife regarding my godfathers will so mote be it.” Harry was surrounded by a white glow as the oath was completed.
When he did not keel over and die after the glow faded Slipknife slumped back onto his chair and looking devastated said, “Mr. Potter, first of all accept my apology for not believing you, a banker, and especially a goblin must always be on the lookout for scams, economic traps, and corruption, unfortunately it appears that someone, and I agree it is most likely Dumbledore, has been screening your mail, and keeping you from your business and your inheritances. Now that you are emancipated this is no longer a problem. The bigger problem is what Dumbledore has done since you have left Britain. Dumbledore recently filed a claim in the wizengamot to have your trust vault, the Black Vault, and the Potter Vault seized by the ministry on account of you being a dark wizard and the next runner up for the title of Dark Lord. The issue has not been voted on yet, but if you want to do anything it must happen soon if you are to save your wealth and inheritance. My suggestion is to have the three vaults combined and then moved here to the Paris Branch so that it is out of Britain and therefore beyond the British Ministries jurisdiction.”
Harry looked alarmed and asked, “How long do you think we have?”
“No more than three days, the only reason the debate has went on this long is because the pure blood elitists in the wizengamot see the danger in the precedent of a Gringotts Vault being seized, and they do not like the implications.”
“Alright Slipknife, I will follow your advice, please combine the three vaults and have the assets moved here to the Paris branch.”
“We will start immediately,” and after writing instructions on a piece of parchment, Sliphook waved his hand and the message disappeared. “Now that that is taken care of, I assume you wish to see your parents’ and godfathers’ wills.”
“Yes, please.”
Moving over to the cabinet in the room, Slipknife removed a shallow stone basin and brought it over to the table. It was a pensieve.
“Your parents and godfather left their wills in the form of pensieve memories, that way there was no way for them to be faked or altered after the fact.” Slipknife said, then grabbing one of the two vials that had been on the desk when Harry and Fleur walked in Slipknife asked, “Is it alright if we start with your parents will? It has been out of sight too long, and I am sure you wish to here the final words of your parents.”
Harry’s voice cracked slightly as he said, “Proceed.”
Slipknife pulled the stopper out of the vial and dumped the memory into the pensieve, then swirled a finger in the silvery liquid until an image of Lily and James appeared. Standing with their feet still in the bowl, Lily and James began to speak alternatively, each making sure the other gave equal time. Lily spoke first.
“This is the last will and testament of ones Lily Potter, and James Potter written on the 28th of October, 1981.”
“To Remus Lupin, one of my dearest friends, I leave the sum of 2 million galleons with the hope that you will buy yourself some decent cloths and get back on your feet, you’re a smart person Moony, and all your talent is going to waste over petty prejudices.”
“To Sirius Black, we leave our trunk code labeled A Eardrum, you know what to do with this stuff Sirius, make sure Harry knows of his father’s legacy.”
“To Peter Pettigrew,” Here James’ expression became frosty, “We leave nothing but a question, was it worth it, you spineless scumbag? Was your life really worth selling out your best friends? You may live on Peter, but simply living is not the hard part, the hard part is learning to live with yourself. Think about it.”
Here both Lily and James spoke simultaneously, “Everything else we leave to our son Harry James Potter, all other moneys, properties, and holdings shall be transferred to Harry’s direct control the moment he comes of age, or is emancipated.” They paused, and Lily seemed to be looking directly at Harry, as if the memory could actually see him. “Harry, your father and I are sorry we cannot be there for you, no matter what happens, if you are seeing this because we died in Voldemort’s attack, know IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT! You did not ask to be a prophesized savior, and I would not change anything about our life, the small amount of time we were your parents were the best of my life, this is mommy signing off.” Lily then stepped back into the background.
“And now son it is my turn.” James Potter moved forward and also seemed to stare directly at Harry. “Harry, there is something you must know about my side of the family, I have Veela blood in my veins, it is likely that you do as well. However you are not just any veela, you are directly descended from the veela royal blood line. This does not mean that you will necessarily ascend to the throne, magic picks the next veela king, and it is prophesized that magic will only pick the next veela ruler during a time of great darkness and upheaval.” James looked at Harry with a pained expression, “I pray that you will not be the one magic chooses, the veela’s power is waning, the species itself is on the brink of extinction. But as a precaution, in case you are deemed the one, we are mandating that in the event of our untimely death you be sent to France to be raised by a veela family, preferably the Delacours or another family of noble veela blood to be raised and trained in your powers. Now about your blood status, I am ¾ veela, while Lily is pure human, which would make you 3/8ths veela. If you are chosen as king you will need to find a queen, once you have fully bonded to her, you magic will automatically alter you blood status to match that physically and genetically of a pure blooded veela male with the full might of the veela king. Now go, I pray you will not have this task set before you, but somehow I know that you will receive this fate. Goodbye son.” And with that, the memory of Lily and James sank back into the pensieve and out of sight.
Harry sat on the chair in front of the desk, tears dripping down his face, thinking of how his parents must have loved him. Loved him enough that they set up contingency plans in case things that were very uncertain came to pass, the remark that Lily made about Harry not being responsible for their deaths had almost broken him. How could she say that, when if he had never been born, they would not have died? As if sensing his thoughts, which Harry supposed she could, Fleur said, “Harry, if you have never been born, Voldemort would have survived, would have overthrown the British Ministry, would have kept on killing until their was no one left to oppose him, and then the dark would have truly won.” Placing her hand on his face and turning his head so she could look into his eyes she said, “And if you had never been born, I would not have a mate right now, a mate that I love, and want to spend the rest of my days with. I would have possibly grown old alone, which is the greatest curse for a veela, us being very emotional creatures, you have done so much good Harry, I will not let you sell yourself short, you, are, a, hero.” Then Fleur leaned forward and kissed Harry, putting all her love and passion into the kiss, as well as feeding her feelings for him though the bond so he knew, for certain, that she loved him with all her heart, and that she would never abandon him.
After Harry had gotten control over his emotions he and Fleur parted from their kiss and looking around saw Slipknife, who had a touched look on his face that Harry had never seen on a goblin before. As soon as Harry notice, the goblin crafted his expression to one of impassivity, but Harry knew that it was a mask he was wearing to conceal his true emotions, after all, part of the goblin warrior creed is that a warrior does not cry.
“Mr. Potter, if you are ready? We will begin the reading of Sirius’s will.” Harry waved his hand in assent. Drawing the memory of Lily and James out of the pensieve, Slipknife grasped the other bottle and poured the memory into the pensieve. Once again swirling one finger in the pensieve’s depths, Slipknife caused the memory of Sirius Black to rise out of the pensieve.
“I, Sirius Black being of sound mind and body do hereby declare this my final will and testament on the 30th of April 1996. There, now the stupid legal crap is done and taken care of, on to the real reason this will was made. To Remus Lupin, I leave six sickles and a curse, not only for abandoning Harry in that muggle home for fifteen years to be physically and mentally abused, but for going along with Dumbledore’s plan to use Harry to get what he wants before killing him. I didn’t want to believe it, hell I didn’t ever believe it until now, but maybe there is a reason werewolves are considered ‘dark creatures’.”
“To the Weasleys excluding Fred, George, Bill, Charlie, and Ron, I leave you in the same boat as Remus for planning to get Ginny knocked up by Harry so that she has his kid and inherits all his money if Dumbledore’s plan works. There is a fine line between poverty and insane desperation, and you just crossed that line.”
“To the Weasleys mentioned in the exclusion list above, Hermione, Neville, and Luna, I leave the sum of 3 million galleons in return for a magical oath to always stick by Harry’s side, no matter what happens between Harry and Dumbledore, Harry has the right in this, for once The Headmaster does not.”
“All other assets be they liquid, property, and the title of Lord Black, I leave to my godson Harry Potter, Harry there are a few Potter Family heirlooms stored in a certain trunk that I have been meaning to give you, but never found the time. It’s all yours. And Harry one more thing; if you die before the age of 100 and I find you somewhere up here, I am so going to kick your ass. This is Sirius Black, the last of the faithful Marauders, saying bye for now.” And again the image sank back into the stone basin and vanished.
Harry was tearful again after the reading of Sirius’s will, but they were tears of mirth, his godfather had really stuck to form and thrown some jokes in there, (so like Sirius) to break the almost tangible tension in the room that accompanies almost every will reading. On top of that, Sirius it seemed had seen all of this coming and had planned for it, placing stipulations that could not be avoided and singling out the people who were personally responsible, and the greatest snub of all was that Dumbledore was not even mentioned in the will.
'That must be why he forged my signature to attend the public reading.’ Harry thought, ‘Because he was not a benefactor, he would not have been able to attend otherwise.’
Then another thought gripped Harry, now that he was Lord Black, what would Fleur think, would she now just want him for his title, or would she still love him for being him? His answer was given to him almost immediately as Fleur hugged him and said, “Harry, we need to work on your self-esteem, of course I will still love you for you, being king of the veela means so much more to me than being a ‘Lord’.”
Harry smiled his thanks and told Slipknife, “I believe we are done here for now, when can we expect my funds to be transferred to the branch here in Paris?”
“The process is already under way Mr. Potter.” Slipknife said, rather proudly, “By tomorrow at closing time, all of the contents of the vaults belonging to you will have been consolidated and moved to this location. Which reminds me, here is your new key for the vault we are assigning you, the number is 6045. It is one of the high security vaults at the bottom of this establishment which is heavily warded and well guarded.”
“Guarded by what exactly?” Harry asked, curious.
Slipknife smiled dangerously and replied, “A basilisk.”
Fleur gasped and Harry gaped at the goblin. “How in the world do we control a basilisk so we can get to our vault?” Harry demanded.
Slipknife reached into his desk and held out two pairs of sunglasses to Harry and Fleur saying, “When you go to visit your vault, wear the glasses, they are charmed to act like a one way mirror that lets you see out, but reflects the snake’s deadly gaze away from you. And don’t worry about having to fight it; the basilisk is contained within a barred cage made of charmed stone. It will only open if there is a being that is not you or anyone you have keyed to the wards trying to get into your vault.”
Harry breathed a sigh of relief, he had already fought a 40 foot basilisk once, he was not anxious to have a repeat experience.
“Thank you Slipknife, and now we really must be going.” Harry said
“I understand Mr. Potter, if you need anything else, or have questions, do not hesitate to write to me, just send your post directly to me, no point possibly endangering your security because of potential leaks in my bank.”
Harry thanked Slipknife once again and then, leaning on each other, Harry and Fleur left the bank and apperated to The Delacour Ancestral Home, their body guards close behind.
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