Chapter 9: Learning Your Heritage

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Harry had known that Dumbledore had been steeling from him but he hadn't realized just how far it had gone. He paid himself a salary of $5,000 per month as Regent which equates to almost $850,000 galleons over the past 14 years. All of that went directly into the Dumbledore vault. The rest of the shady transactions were for things such as "research" and "legislation fees" and would be instantly transferred into Albus' toadies' vaults. There were also annual "Order Membership Dues" taken from not only his parents' but Sirius' vaults as well for $1,000 galleons each for members who were either dead or in prison and for an Order that was disbanded.

The withdrawals that made Harry's heart hurt though were the ones Mrs. Weasley had made in his name for school supplies. They were the only unauthorized withdrawals from his trust vault and it made him want to cry. He had realized that his friendship with the Weasley family had been orchestrated by Dumbledore but he had never thought Molly Weasley would steel from him. She took three withdrawals from his account each year starting the Christmas of his 1st year. At Christmas time she withdrew the maximum monthly withdrawal of $500 galleons under the pretense that Harry needed additional funds to buy his friends Christmas presents. She would then deposit $450 galleons into her own personal vault, not the family vault, and then use the rest to purchase gifts for her own family.

She would then make a withdrawal near the end of the school year for another $500 galleons 'to get him through the summer." All of that would go into her personal vault. She then would withdraw another $500 galleons for school supplies for him that he usually only saw half or less of, the rest he assumed was used to buy the Weasley kids' supplies. Right before school started again she would withdraw another $500 galleons for spending money while at school. All of which would be placed into her personal vault.

A detailed spending sheet of Molly Weasley's personal vault was included so Harry could see just what exactly she was using his money for. He had helped fund their trip to Romania his 1st year to see Charlie, paid for ½ their family trip to Egypt, bought Ron's broom and assorted other larger priced treats for the red-heads. Harry just wondered if all the family knew or if it was mum Weasley's dirty little secret. He also noted that Dumbledore paid her $200 galleons for each week Harry stayed with them over the summers, even last year when they were all at Grimwald place.

With some sadness he realized that he was funding the entire Order of the Phoenix and didn't want to pull his money entirely but was upset that it had been going on so long. He decided that the first step would be to stop any future withdrawals from his accounts accept for those with his authorization. He would then get info from the twins and Charlie about their mother before making any decisions there. He did authorize Gringotts to place a hold on her personal account if she tried to withdrawal a large amount or move any of it. That way, if they had all known he would not feel guilty by taking it all away again.

He also had Gringotts place a hold on the Dumbledore account so that the good Headmaster would have to explain to Ragnok why he took $5,000 galleons a month when the maximum allowable salary to a Regent was $5,000 galleons a year and the Potter regent was only supposed to be paid $2,500 galleons per year and allowed to live on a Potter property. He told Ragnok to hold off pressing charges if Dumbledore returned all $800,000 galleons of the stolen money. He just wished he could be present to see the old man taken down a peg or two.

The next morning Harry and Dudley took a bus into London so they could visit Gringotts about Dudley's magical inheritance if there was any. Harry was back in disguise and with Dudley having lost so much weight neither boy would be recognized. "Are you sure you want to do this Dud?" Harry asked him one last time as they approached Gringotts. Harry had been watching Dudley's varied reactions to the wizarding alley and could see the amazement in his cousin's eyes.

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