United Against All Odds | Harry Potter AU

Chapter 18

Harry and Minerva sat in the large office room, waiting for the two goblins to return, in almost stunned silence. Harry could not believe that he was an heir to any house except Potter, not to mention the fact that he was an heir to one of the founders of Hogwarts, however this led him to wander.. why was he sorted into Slytherin and not Ravenclaw? Sure, he definitely had ambitious plans, and valued ambition in other people - after all intelligence without ambition seemed incomprehensible to him - but surely the Sorting Hat would have seen this in his mind - or something like that  - and sorted him into ravenclaw? He supposed that it was something to do with his inner self that he didn't quite yet understand, but he didn't have much more time to ponder it, as Riplock and Redstone entered at that moment. Minerva and Harry stood up, bowing slightly to the two goblins before them, who returned the gesture respectfully, taking their seats and waving at the two humans to do the same.

"Good morning, Heir Potter-Black-Ravenclaw, Lady McGonagall. It is a pleasure to make your aquaintance, although I believe we have met before, Lady McGonagall?" Redstone said, more polite than either Minerva or Harry were expecting.
"Yes, we have. I was the witness for Sirius' most recent will. It is a pleasure to see you again." She smiled at the goblin, who smiled back, albeit it more reserved than Minerva.
"Its a pleasure to meet you too, Master Redstone, However, I would prefer it if you called me just Harry," He smiled at the goblin.
"Of course, Harry. And there is no master, please. Simply Redstone. Now, to business. In Lord Black's last Will and Testament of which he was of a sound mind, he left you as his sole heir to the entire Black Estate. Had he not done this, the Heirship would have been passed onto his closing living relative, which would be either the Malfoys, Lestranges or Tonks'. As the family is a patriarchal family, the heirship can only be passed down to males, so none of his female cousins would be able to claim Ladyship, like with the McGonagall Family. As the oldest, Bellatrix was the first candidate, however she had no children and was incarcerated soon after Lord Black, so the Heirship was unable to be passed onto the Lestrange's. As Andromeda Tonks was cast out from the family, if she had a son, he would not be able to claim Heirship, as the bond was broken. Lord Black was unable to collect his rings due to the war happening and his work with the DMLE, therefore he was unable to reinstate Andromeda Tonks. Finally, It could have gone to the Heir Malfoy, who would actually be able to claim it, however Lord Black could not stand that due to their blood purist attitudes, and therefore changed his will." Redstone quickly fired off, allowing Harry to digest the information, before continuing.
"The Black Heir ring has slight shielding properties against the mind arts, a field where most of the Blacks excel once they reach adulthood. As they are an extremely paranoid family, they added the power to the ring, allowing you to be protected from most attacks, except very concentrated ones, which you would feel happening anyway."
"Thank you, Redstone, I appreciate your help very much. Is being an heir to three houses any different to being heir to one?" Harry asked, curiousity laced within his voice.
"You will have access to more seats within the Wizengamot, as all of them as held by Lords. Each house holds a different number of votes attributed to the House, and as each of your hosues are Ancient and Noble Houses, they each carry more weight to them as well. I believe the Potter family has 10 votes, the Black family 12 and the Ravenclaw hosue has 15. These votes can be used to influence change within the Wizengamot, something I'm sure you would find interest in." Harry nodded slowly. He knew he had an impact on the school, and did want to expand this to the greater community as a whole.
"May we go see Harry's vaults now please?" Minerva asked cautiously, taking advantage of the lull in the conversation. Harry nodded, and the two goblins accompanied him the the cart, where all four of them enetered togther.
"Hold on tight." Minerva whispered to Harry, as they took off to the first vault.

"This is a different vault to the one Griphook took me to with Hagrid." Harry said, after Riplock told him they were at the Potter vault.
"That is not the Potter vault, it is merely a trust vault, which is topped up every year, for you to use in your schooling. This is the Potter vault which you can only claim once you have claimed your heirship, and you are unable to to take out any money until you turn 17 and claim your Lordship." Harry nodded and stepped forward to the vault. He pressed his finger up to the spike on the side, which would "read" his blood, and allow him to enter. The large door opened and Harry stepped forward, his throat choking up slightly. Where he expected to see just money, there was so much more. Books lined bookshelves on all but one of the walls, some tatty and worn, others looked as though they were new. The wall directly opposite him was filled with weapons and armour, hundreds of bows, all pristine and neat, a a long line of bows, with the wood all polished and shiny, swords, daggers and knives all along the edges, each pain stakingly polsihed to remove even the smallest molecule of dirt (or blood). Small pathways led from the position he was standing in, leading to the different sections of the library like walls, and one to the weaponary. Each of the pathways were lined with towers upon towers of Galleons, Knuts and Sickles, the light from the outside hitting each coin in a different way.
"I think you'll find this area most interesting." Redstone led him to one section of the bookshelves, which Harry noticed had been organised by subject, then by author. Magic really was a wonderful thing sometimes. The two goblins and humans stood in front of a wall, labelled journals. Harry looked at the two most recent journals, and he could feel a burning sensation in his eyes, as he read the names James and Lily Potter on each of them, noticing that this was not based on author name, however the time period it was written. He carefully removed them from their place, adding them to his bag to read later, when he was alone. Minerva placed an arm around him, feeling tears in her eyes, a sense of guilt building up in her heart. The sad smile of the small child below helped to ease her pain, yet the hole in her heart was still there. It could never be replaced.

They browsed the books further, Harry taking a few books on each subject and added them to a bag which was charmed to make the books weigh the same as a feather - he was glad he didn't have to carry them the Muggle way! He also took a dagger and pocket knife off the shelf, as he had retrieved a book which talked about the many forms of combat, and another which showed the basics of physical combat. The wizarding world relied too much on magic, and physical fitness was something he believed should be used more. Not to mention - it looked cool! They four exited the vault, then re-entered the cart, this time Redstone controlling rather than Riplock, as they headed down to the Black Vault.

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"What the bloody hell is going on?"

Albus Dumbledore had just returned from a trip to Germany for the annual International Co-operation of Wizards (ICW) meeting, and was checking up on each of the instruments he had in his room. However, on this day all except two were working perfectly. The one monitoring the blood wards placed around the home of the Dursley's had not been working, as well as the one checking up on the Young Potter Heir's health. He looked at them worried, knowing that if the blood wards had fallen, then the young Potter boy was either dead, or no longer considered the place home, neither of which Dumbledore believed to be true. He had to check up on Harry. He had to make sure he was ok. After all, the Wizarding World needed him. And he did care for the boy - or at least he tried to. Maybe sending him to the Dursley's was not the best idea, but he believed that Petunia would at least care for her nephew, and not let her husband do anything wrong? His health had been fine over the years... he had been a bit malnourished but he had shelter and clothes on his back... had he made a big mistake?

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Uhmmm... oops? Sorry for the extremely late update - kinda haven't been feeling it for a while, then decided to start wrting again! Hope you enjoyed it and the reference back to the 14th chapter... Hope everyone is doing well during these hard times and wishing everyone well xx

Song Lyric of the chapter:

'On the edge of the world or wherever we are are
We are - we are - we are on the edge'  - On the edge, Come from Away

Thought it appropriate due to the current times - if you haven't checked out the musical, please do. It's such a fundamental part of history which isn't talked about enough - the kindness shown by these people is amazing and puts your faith in humanity. Truly.