FicWad

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the HP characters

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The first thing he saw was a row of yellow and pointy teeth and a red tongue slipping over them, two eyes flashing yellow and green. A figure half as tall as Harry was but just as wide as it was tall. The square figure started to speak. "Good evening, Mr. Potter. Welcome to Gringotts, we are here to serve you. This is the 15th time we will assist with the initiation for the new head of the Potter family, for 1090 galleons per initiation. My name is Grintlog." With this the Goblin bowed shortly to Harry. "Do you have any questions, Mr. Potter?"

Harry looked dump stuck to the Goblin. "Um ... yeah ... well, maybe I have ... uh ... some questions." "Well, you said that the legal age of initiation is sixteen years. Does that mean I can do magic after the initiation?"

"Yes, Mr. Potter. You will be a full adult wizard with all rights and duties. But as head of the Potter family, you have more rights and duties than norm. If you want, we can over those finer points after the initiation."

Harry knew that the Goblin did not give him the complete answer. "Mr. Grintlog, why are you hiding something from me?"

"Mr. Potter, please call me just Grintlog. Why do you think that we hide something from you?"

"I have the feeling that it is not the only thing I need to know before I take the initiation." The Goblin screwed his eyes; his mouth closed and stared directly at Harry. "We know of the prophecy. Albus Dumbledore thinks that when you are seventeen years old, you will come into your powers. We think that Albus Dumbledore is wrong, we think that you will come into your powers when you are initiated at sixteen."

Harry stared at the Goblin. "Do you know the prophecy as Voldemort knows, or as Dumbledore knows?"

"We know the complete prophecy. Do not ask how we know, the important thing is that we know. Do you have any more questions?"

"Yes, what do you mean by 'initiation'?"

"You will go into the Potter family vault. The vault will recognize you as a Potter and the initiation will automatically follow, otherwise you will be refused and die. After the successful initiation you will be called Lord Potter from that moment on. The initiation is nothing else then activating the blood-bond between you and your blood-family. After the initiation we have two other cases, which are waiting for you. We have the case of the heritance of the Black family vault and the heritance of the Gryffindor vault. "

"What do you mean Black and Gryffindor?"

"Your god-father Sirius O. Black left you everything, including the family line with the title Baron. You are also the most direct ascendant of the Gryffindor line, and you will be head of the house of Potter. Those make you the legal ascendant of the Gryffindor family line and will carry the title of Lord."

Harry looked thoughtfully to the Goblin. "Does Dumbledore know about this initiation?"

"No, he does not know."

"Do you know who my magical guardian is?"

"Your magical guardian is Albus Dumbledore."

"And after my initiation?"

"After your initiation you are an adult. Albus Dumbledore will no longer be your guardian, nobody will."

"Will Dumbledore find out?"

"Albus Dumbledore will receive notification about the termination of the guardianship between him and you. That is all."

"When will he receive that notification?"

"The moment you finish the initiation process with success we must send him and the ministry an owl with the notification. "

"Will he know about the initiation?"

"He will only know that his guardianship has ended. We are not duty bound to tell him the reason why and we will not."

Harry looked to the Goblin. "I am ready for the initiation, what shall I do?"

The Goblin's teeth became visible again and its eyes were blinking like those of Dumbledore. "The portkey brought you directly to the front of the Potter's family vault. The only thing you need to do is to hold your right hand against the door and state the following: This is Harry James Potter, I have come to claim my birthright."

Harry nodded to the Goblin, turned and looked at the large doors of his family vault. He approached the door and placed his right hand against the cool touch of the door. "This is Harry James Potter, I have come to claim my birthright. "

Harry felt a small pinch in the palm of his right hand and the doors slowly started to open and he could see inside. In front of him was a small room with a table, chair and a large painting on the wall. Harry entered the vault and walked towards the table. Behind him the large doors of the vault closed silently.

"Welcome to the Potter family vault my son!" Harry looked around confused. "I am here boy!"

Harry looked more closely to the painting. The painting showed an older man sitting behind a large desk. The man was smiling to him. "My son is James Harold Potter. Who are you and who is your father?"

Harry looked to the painting in awe. "My name is Harry James Potter, and my father was James Harold Potter. You are my grandfather. "

The man looked to Harry. "My name is Harold Godric Potter and I am indeed your grandfather. I know that James and his wife were killed, I am sorry for that ... now that you are of age, you are here for the initiation, am I right, young man?"

"I am only sixteen, Sir."

"For the head of house, that is enough. "

"You need to know some facts about your family. Our family has existed for more then fifteen hundred years and we are almost the oldest wizard family alive. A thousand years ago we changed our family name from Potteria to Potter; originally we came from Italy. Like all ancient families, we have developed our own family magic. The family magic consists of mainly spells, curses and charms which can only be cast by a Potter or the betrothed to the head of family. In the vault behind me you will see the many books of the family magic."

"Now where was I? Right, I wanted to tell you about the redheads. 721 Years ago, Samuel William Potter thought he was funny to create his first family-bound curse and the idiot tested his curse on him self. From that moment the red-haired curse was active and could not be removed from the family. The curse will force every head of house to marry a red-headed wife. The curse will also cause the preference of every Potter male towards red-headed woman. The strange thing about the curse is, that every Potter male has black, unruly hair and bad eyes, while all Potter's females look like normal girls, not necessary redheads. "

His grandfather in the painting paused and looked at Harry. "Do you have any questions?"

Harry smiled at the painting. "Only several millions"

The painting smiled. "There is much more to come. After I am finished here, you will enter the door which will appear right next to my painting. When you walk through the door, you will notice many things in that room. That is the initiation room and it contains many magical objects for you, but the most important magical objects are the memory transfer spheres. These spheres contain the full knowledge of the Potter family history and their magic. There are other spheres which contain general knowledge that you would normally learn at school, only every subject has more information then you can learn from. There is only one problem with that knowledge, it is outdated. You will know everything that I have learned plus any additional knowledge I have gained over my life."

"It will be your duty as head of the family to update the spheres for the next head of house. Also you need to replace me in this portrait. Don't forget that. Do you have any more questions before you go into the room? "

"Yes, what does it mean to be head of house?"

"There is a book with all the information you need to know. In short you are the absolute ruler of the family; your final word is law. Also you can marry and divorce any family member, male or female. Your status as head of the family will get you a seat in the Wizengamot; there will be a magical marking above the left side of your chest to show that you are head of house and are always visible regardless of what ever clothing you are wearing. Your markings are the family crest and ring. The magical marking will change location the moment you are married to a more hidden place."

"As you probably know, it is not possible to divorce in the magical world. Only the head of house can apply for a divorce. The head of house does not need to have permission of the couple; he simply says 'divorce' and the divorce is then a fact. There is one exception on this rule; when you are married, you can never divorce."

"Everyone must address you with your title, except when you give the person in question your permission to call you different. When a person breaks this rule, you can challenge and kill the person in a duel. Your title is Lord Harry James Potter. "

"The family magic contains many spells, curses and charms, all of them are unique and can only be cast by a Potter who is initiated. When you engage yourself to a woman, she is able to cast the female version of the Potter magic. When you are married, this right continues. The family magic contains shields, which can only be broken by brute force or by Potter magic. The offensive spells and curses can penetrate through most existing shields, but please be careful, because of the damage you will cause. The charms are very unique because you can enhance many objects with this magic in many different forms and purposes. You will find out how after the knowledge of the spheres has been transferred."

"Now the final words about woman. You can not date a girl in a normal way. You need to keep your self to the rules of etiquette. That means that you need to ask permission of the parents, and you can only court a girl who is a virgin. Oh, there is another thing; you MUST marry between your seventeenth and eighteenth birthday, not before and not after. "

Harry stared perplexed at the painting. "I must do what?"

The figure in the painting was grinning now. "I said exactly the same thing to my grandfather when I was in your place many years ago. Do you know a girl with red hair?"

Harry looked embarrassed and felt his face go red. "Yes grandfather, she is the youngest daughter of Arthur Weasley."

"Yes the Weasley's, they are also a family with a long history and a family curse here and there. The Weasley's are historically known for the strong woman, while the Potters are known for their strong males. I would be very curious too see what comes out of that. Anyhow Harry, when you are finished with the initiation you need to contact her father and arrange the business as fast as possible, you will have only one year to court her and that is not much time I must say."

The painting paused. Harry looked to his grandfather and saw something strange happening. The painting started to become paler and colors were slowly but surely disappearing.

"Harry, I do not have much time anymore. This painting is going to disappear very soon. Within some minutes my task is done, this room will disappear and the initiation room will become available for you. You will have only 30 minutes before the initiation room will disappear as well. I want to tell you to use the regeneration orb to cure any physical problems you have and then get to the spheres. I wish you all the luck in the world and don't forget me."

His grandfather in the painting was now gone and the canvas was white. A door appeared next to the empty canvas and Harry entered.

Twenty minutes later a young man walked through the door; he closed it and turned his face towards the door. He lifted both hands towards the door and mumbled something under his breath. A yellow glow appeared and the door and wall disappeared. The vault became visible and no traces of the initiation room remained.

The young man conjured a large mirror in front of him and studied his own image. Harry saw that he was now taller then ever before, his eyes did not need spectacles anymore and were more intensive and greener as ever. He also noticed the change in his body build. His shoulders were wider while his hips more compact. His legs were longer then before as well. He felt him self perfectly healthy and content. He also noticed the Potter family crest and the words Lord Potter on his right chest. Harry transfigured his Dursley rags into some proper clothing and after the transfiguration the family crest stayed. "Absolutely amazing," Harry murmured.

He exited the vault and found him self in a large corridor with Grintlog still waiting. Grintlog looked at him, bowed and showed his yellow teeth again. "Lord Potter, welcome back".

"Director Grintlog, may you earn money and honor. Please rise."

Grintlog looked very pleased. "Now to other business, and we have still a lot to do. I have here two portkeys, which will bring us to the proper vaults. First we will reach the vaults of the Black's, then those of Gryffindor. When we are finished, it will be morning by then and you are free to go and explore as you like. "