Harry Potter and the Desideratum Crusade [Harmione]

50. Reading of the Will

"Hey, Neville," Harry whispered. "Did you know that a man with a very large desk is trying to make up for his other shortcomings?"

Neville looked at him in confusion, while Harry heard a snort from the desk in the corner. He turned to see the goblin give him a big smile. Neville started to laugh as he got the joke. Just then Sandhill walked in, so he turned it into a sputtering cough as the large man moved around behind his desk. He seemed to carry an air of importance about him, as he glanced disdainfully at the goblin in the corner. He took a moment to smooth down handlebar mustache, and Harry almost burst out laughing as he watched him preen in the small mirror he had on his desk. He picked up his papers and scanned them before looking up at Harry and Neville. He plastered a large, and to Harry's way of thinking, fake smile on his face and extended his hand to Neville.

"You must be Neville Longbottom," he said. "I am Reginald Sandhill, the Third."

Neville shook the proffered hand.

"Hello, and this is my friend—"

"Yes, yes, we all know who he is, don't we?" Sandhill sniffed.

Harry had stood up with Neville and put his handout, but at Sanhill's cold response, he let it drop and he sat back down, crossing his arms across his chest as he did so. He was here for Neville's sake, so he held his anger in check. He heard a mutter from the desk in the corner, and looked to see the goblin looking disdainfully at Sandhill. Neville looked worriedly between Harry and Sandhill, but with a miniscule shake of Harry's head, he sat back down without a word.

"Longbottom...Longbottom..." he said as he rifled through a stack of papers. "Ah! Here we are. Augusta Longbottom. Lovely woman. My condolences to you."

Neville nodded his thanks as Sandhill went back to his reading.

"Yes, well, everything seems in order. You always need to check, you know," Sandhill said.

Harry rolled his eyes. Either this man knew nothing about goblin banking, or he just liked to make himself feel important.

"Your grandmother left most of her worldly possessions to you, including the Villa in the South of France. I have the key to her vault, number six hundred and twenty-one, and the parchment describing its contents. There is a lump sum of money that has been given to her brother, Algie Longbottom, and a trust account is set up for the care of Alice and Frank Longbottom at St. Mungo's. Now then," he said as he passed the parchment to Neville, "All I need is your signature, and we can get that key for you. Then you can be on your way."

Neville looked at the parchment, and then up at Sandhill.

"All of this...is mine?" he asked.

"Yes," Sandhill said.

Neville looked at the parchment again, and then signed it before handing it back.

"Excellent," Sandhill said as he handed Neville a copy. "If you would like to wait for just a moment, I shall retrieve your key."

As Neville read he parchment, Harry watched Sandhill leave the room.

"Why wouldn't he already have the key? He knew you were coming," Harry asked.

Neville shrugged, distracted by the numbers on the parchment. "Maybe they keep them locked away."

They sat quietly; the only sound was the scratching of the quill on the parchment by the goblin in the corner. After about five minutes, Harry got up and began to pace around the office. He was suddenly feeling quite trapped. He was on the far side of the room when the door opened and Sandhill entered. He watched as the man saw Harry's empty chair, scanned the room, and then seemed to relax as he realized that they were both still there. Just before the door closed, Harry caught a glimpse of two wizards standing outside the door, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.