章 1549: 11
Chapter 11: Holidays, kings and cloaksNotes:
Hello everyone,
new week, new chapter. There you go
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Once the end of the Christmas holidays came closer, Harry was sure that never in his life he had had a better time than now. He literally felt like he'd be a part of the Granger family. They had made some day trips during the holidays, Mione using that opportunity to show her friend so many things he had never seen thanks to the Dursleys.
Another nice thing was New Year's Eve, because Harry had never seen such an amount of fireworks. At the Dursleys he was never allowed to go outside or even participate at the festivities. Preparing the food was the only thing he did, since the Dursleys always invited half their neighbourhood he used to hate the holiday. But now no longer.
During the countdown to midnight both kids got so excited, grinned happily and held each other's hands, which was out of their own perspectivity nothing romantic, but at least didn't go unnoticed by the Grangers. Once the clock hit midnight, they looked at each other, wished a happy new year and then Mione kissed Harry on the cheek. Again, nothing new, that had happened occasionally, but not really often in that timeline. Dan and Emma smiled at each other.
At Hogwarts Ronald Weasley started to use "his" cloak to explore the castle. He first had his try at the girls bathroom or dormitory in the Gryffindor tower since he did like Lavender, though just as young as him, and those chaser girls. It failed magnificently, as one would expect after having read Hogwarts - a history. Obviously Ronald hadn't read it. Afterwards he focussed on actually discovering things and out of nowhere he just felt the urge to walk through a certain door, behind which he saw a nearly empty room, one in which he hadn't been before. It contained a mirror. And even though he didn't know why, he couldn't stop himself from walking towards it and staring at the reflecting surface.
"What the…?"
He didn't see himself - well, at least not only. What he saw was somewhere between fantastic and horrifying. It was him as an adult, having a beautiful though currently faceless woman standing behind him. His robes were beyond exquisit and he had an expensive looking watch on his wrist. It was an amazing sight. Everything he was dreaming of.
Albus Dumbledore was having a more or less good time. Yes, Harry wasn't at Hogwarts, but he had successfully planted the cloak. Once the boy was back, he would find it and with it the compulsions. As soon as term started again, he would start to check the tracking charms, waiting for Harry to move towards the mirror. Until then…some more lemon drops wouldn't hurt.
On the day before the kids had to return with the Express to Hogwarts, an owl came for Harry during breakfast. It was the first unknown owl to appear since they've been back, only some of their friends had sent messages. The kids secretly hoped that it might be from the headmaster, at some point sending him the cloak, but that wasn't the case. Harry didn't worry though, he wouldn't need it during the holidays and eventually would find it on his dorm bed.
Either way, the owl was from Gringotts, summoning the "Lord Potter, Peverell, Gryffindor, Slytherin" into their offices, asking if he'd manage before they would go back to Scotland. After asking Emma about making a short trip to Diagon Alley early the next day before the Express would leave and her saying that would be okay, Harry wrote a short reply that he'd be happy to arrive at seven thirty the next morning and sent off the owl.
"What could they want from you, Harry?"
He shrugged, it could be about any vault or money related thing or even the research in regards to his titles. No idea.
Thanks to Harry's house-elves, who were over eager to help them out with the packing, which was then finished as efficiently and fast as ever. And because of that they could make themselves comfortable in the evening, something that had never been possible with the Weasleys. They had always been messy and unstructured, Molly never really had had control over her kids.
The next morning Harry grabbed one of his best robes and put it on. Under normal circumstances he wouldn't have done that, but he had to visit Gringotts and even though hardly anyone knew that, he was a lord.
Under a glamour charm he walked through Diagon Alley, Hermione and Emma by his side. No one paid them any real attention and so they reached the bank. Once they had entered the building, Harry dropped the glamour word- and wandlessly. Wandless magic was something they had continued to study over the past months, and that very successfully.
Harry walked up to one of the tellers and greeted him.
"Greetings, Teller. May your gold never run out and your weapons stay sharp forever."
"May your vaults be always full and your enemies shudder at your name. Not many young wizards, or wizards at all, know our traditions. What is your request?"
"I'm the Lord Potter and have been summoned by my account manager for an appointment at seven thirthy. Would you be so kind and inform account manager Gornuk that I'm available."
The goblin instantly realised what was going on, he had one of their most wealthy clients in front of them and if you trusted the chatter inside the bank he knew why Gornuk had summoned him. Something like that you couldn't keep quiet inside Gringotts.
"Sure, Lord Potter. It's an honour to meet one of our oldest clients, both House Potter and House Peverell have always had a very good relationship with us, as did all the Hogwarts founders' families. Please follow me. Am I right in assuming that your companions are allowed to accompany you? We don't have any issue with that, be it pureblood or muggle. As long as you follow our rules and laws you're welcome in Gringotts."
Harry nodded, confirming that Mione and Emma were allowed to accompany him, and then the three of them followed the teller into the depths of the bank.
Little did Harry know that he was not just summoned to meet with Gornuk, King Ragnok, chieftain of the Goblins, had invited him here. That had two reasons, one, Harry was a very prominent and wealthy client, with his new titles even more so, and two, the young wizard had done the goblins a very big favour in pointing out and destroying the horcrux.
Once Harry entered the room he was led into, he was very surprised. It was not a normal office or meeting room, but rather a big and pompous looking hall. They took a seat on the offered chairs and then the goblin teller excused himself, he still had to inform Gornuk. Harry thanked him on his way out, again following goblin customs.
Less than five minutes later the door opened again and two goblins entered. One of them was Gornuk, but the other one neither of them had ever seen. His clothing though was able to tell them exactly who he was. Only one goblin was allowed to wear a purpur cloak over a silver armour. And because of him Harry basically jumped up, his companions imitating his action.
"Chieftain Ragnok? It is an honour to meet you, may your enemies fall at your hand and your leadership keep the goblin nation strong."
Harry bowed, and both Hermione and Emma followed the suit. Then they repeated the whole greeting with Gornuk, before they all took a seat again.
"Lord Potter, you might wonder why I myself am meeting with you today. This has several reasons, the finalisation of the research regarding your titles being only one of them. With the destruction of Tom Riddle's horcrux you did us a big favour and our magicians were able to create a locator map thanks to the spellwork on the cup. The goblin nation thanks you and gives you that as a gift."
Harry couldn't believe it, and neither could Hermione. They now had a magical map of all the horcruxes.
"Look at that, Harry! That one's in London, that's the locket in Grimmauld Place. There's the ring in Little Hangleton, and that one in Wiltshire must be Malfoy Manor and the diary. That leaves the diadem - is that Hogwarts?"
That took them by surprise, they had suspected this, partly because of the meaning Hogwarts had for Riddle, but also because it could explain the DADA curse. But to have proof of it did surprise them. The diadem was at Hogwarts.
"I don't want to interrupt you at all, Mr. Potter, but if I'm not mistaken you need to get on the Express soon and I don't have unlimited time either. How about we talk about your titles now?"
That did sound like a good idea, especially because it meant they would change the topic and wouldn't have to explain how they knew what the horcruxes were. Obviously there weren't any big surprises in regards to the titles, just a few minutes later he was Lord Ravenclaw. Hufflepuff he was somehow related but there were a few people more eligible. For the House of Black he got the heir ring, since he was related to the family through Henry Potter's wife being Arcturus Black's eldest aunt, Sirius was still alive so he couldn't become Lord in his stead and thanks to being his godson he ranked higher than Draco Malfoy. True, he'd only keep that title until Sirius was free and had a son of his own, but at least the ferret wouldn't get the title.
Afterwards they briefly discussed the new properties and business shares as well as the gold and artefacts, but it was slowly getting late so Harry asked for permission to summon one of his house-elves for their luggage and use the Gringotts floo to the platform. The chieftain allowed that and because of that, after a formal goodbye, they sat in the Express five minutes later. Emma hadn't flooed with them since muggles couldn't get onto nine and three quarters, but she had wished the kids a lot of fun and hugged them before the two had walked into the green flames.
At Hogwarts Albus Dumbledore was pacing in his office. Harry was due to return today. He did not only want to find out where he had been but also hoped that his compulsions would work. Charming a hallow wasn't easy and basically unheard of.
He really hoped that the whole thing with the stone would work, it hadn't been easy to steal it from Nicolas. Obviously he'd return it or tell him some elaborate tale. And if everything failed, hardly anyone would or could resist an obliviation with the elder wand.
Ronald Weasley had barely left the mirror chamber, as he called it, only to get some food during mealtimes. He hadn't slept in days, or even been in his dorm, didn't bother to change his clothing or even remotely think about school work. The illusions, which at some point became more than a reflection but something like a vision or hallucination, were so captivating. He couldn't not look at them and spend hours in front of it, dreaming about a life where he was everything he desired to be. Powerful, strong, with a wife and mistresses by his side, obeying him. Taking everything he wanted, just like stupid Potter's cloak. He'd have quite a portion of his fame but in the end surpass him, rising higher than the damn boy-who-lived. He was a great wizard, a great quidditch player, a magnificent lover, he was successful…
"Ronald! What the hell have you been doing?"
Fred shook his brother, pulling him out of his trance. Both twins were here, holding some sort of parchment and looking horrified.
"What is it? Did I miss lunch or what?"
"Ron, the holidays are over, term starts tomorrow. I think you should get away from that mirror, whatever it is, it didn't do you any good."
"But it showed me the future! Everything I want!"
The twins ignored his complaining and pulled him with them, realising how dangerous the mirror must be. Thank god Harry allowed them to borrow the map, or to be precise in this case Hermione. Otherwise they probably wouldn't have found Ron here.
Harry and Hermione hadn't been long at the castle before the twins came up to them and asked for the map since they couldn't find Ron. Neither of the two really thought about that though and since Harry's elves had brought their stuff into the dorms, they shared a couch in the common room. Once the twins had brought Ronald up into his bed, they asked what was wrong and, downplaying the whole incident and wanting to keep that secret, said he got lost and was now utterly exhausted. It was only a bit more than half an hour later that Harry and Mione walked up into the boys dorm, because it seemed like one of Mione's books had landed in his trunk, when they started discovering the truth.
"Wait a second, Mione. Let me just open my trunk and then I can look for that book, but you're probably right. I had it last, only plausible that it ended up with my stuff."
Carefully he began unloading some of the books and other things, sorting through them and placing them next to his bed, when he found a piece of paper lying halfway underneath his bed. He instantly knew what it was - Dumbledore's note that came with the cloak. But there was no sign of his heirloom anywhere. But then, as he heard Ron silently speaking to the twins, he came to a conclusion and believe it or not, thanks to his fury and anger his head was even more red than Ronald's hair.
"RONALD WEASLEY!"
The boy flinched, as did every other person in the room. Harry then held the note up and asked him if he knew what that was. When the redhead shook his head, Harry told him that it was a note which apparently had been attached to a Christmas present of his. As he was the only boy who spent the holiday here, he must know what happened to it.
"No mate, sorry. No idea what that was all about."
Harry glared at him. It was obvious to him that Ron had the cloak and probably sneaked in front of the mirror every day.
"Well, thanks to some interesting stories about my parents' time here I know what the present was. An ancient Potter family heirloom, given from father to son for around eight centuries. You better hand it to me now, don't tell me you didn't use it for the past weeks. If you give in, we'll forget the whole thing."
At that point Neville, being the only (at least everyone believed that) pureblood heir in the room, chimed in and told everyone that stealing family heirlooms was one of the biggest crimes and wizards of all ages could be brought in front of the wizengamot because of that. The rulings were usually very harsh and tended to destroy a family's reputation. After naming several examples of that, Ron gave in and pulled the cloak from under his mattress. He threw it at Harry and turned around, ashamed. Now the twins got furious and started scolding their younger brother, before they asked Harry for forgiveness, which he gladly gave to their family, but not to Ron as an individual. They thanked him and warned Ronald, before leaving the dorm. Their father would certainly get a letter about that.
Just after curfew the two kids met and decided to sneak out of the common room under the cloak. Their original intention was to visit Minnie, but somehow Mione insisted on making a few strange turns before Harry realised she was leading him to the mirror.
"Damn compulsions! That bloody bastard."
That exclamation made Mione shake off the effects of the compulsion and now she was raging too. Without further talking they hurried to Minnie's office as fast as possible before the spell could take a hold over them again. Once they knocked and she opened, they rushed in, closed the door and then pulled down the invisibility cloak, which made Minnie's facial expression change from confusion to understanding. Once the professor asked what was wrong, Harry started to rant about Dumbledore and Weasley, but since it was not really making any sense, Mione filled her in and Minnie's response was to rant as well, something along the lines of "old, stupid fool who can't stop meddling".
After a while, when all of them were more or less calm again, they discussed what they could do against those charms, when Minerva asked how Dumbles was even able to charm it. Harry had an easy answer for that, dropping that fact as it had been common knowledge.
"With the elder wand obviously."
For the first few seconds he didn't even realise the stares he got from the two witches, seemingly upset that he hadn't told him and how he knew it.
"Oh, I thought we had discussed that. It had been one of the last conclusions I made before Riddle came to Malfoy Manor. He was excited and so I got to see even more of his thoughts as usual. Remember Gregorovitch? Riddle was seeking him out and searched for something. I saw the memory of a young man stealing something from him, as I told you. And then, at Bathilda Bagshot's I recognised him in the pictures. It was the young Grindelwald. I saw Riddle kill him at Nurmengard and after our visit to Xeno Lovegood it just clicked. Dumbledore took it from him after defeating him. The only plausible scenario. Must have slipped my mind."
Despite the fact that Mione was somehow upset about him forgetting that and at herself for not reaching that conclusion herself, she hardly showed it. Other things were relevant now, not that.
"Any chance you can claim the wand as Lord Peverell if we ever go with damage control ?"
"That's it Mione, you're brilliant. I'm gonna claim the cloak properly, that might break the charms."
Now he had to explain even more. It was something both his Dad and Henry had told him about.
"Well, Harry, you never properly claimed the cloak. I mean it was yours from birth, just like I gave it to my Fleamont and he to James."
"Exactly. Gramps is right, Prongslet. If you formally claim it by your birthright and title, it adapts to you and your needs, like size adjustment. At least to some degree. How do you imagine we four marauders managed to sneak out before we could transform? Though that was the biggest the cloak could get, during the later years it didn't manage all four."
"I, Harry James Potter, the true Lord Potter and Lord Peverell, claim this cloak, this heirloom, as mine by birthright and title."
The change was obvious, it resized instantly, fitting Harry perfectly as he tried it on. Once Mione sneaked under it, it grew in size so both were hidden perfectly. That info would have been useful last time but old Dumbles probably didn't want to mention his family and titles. Minnie checked the cloak and so did Mione, both agreeing it was now free of any residual charmwork.
After finishing up with that and after some additional scolding about forgetting to tell them about the elder wand, Minerva shooed them back to their dorms. She herself sent a patronus message to Severus, wanting to keep him updated.
Once Harry had claimed the cloak, a levitating crystal ball with whom Dumbledore could monitor the invisibility cloak shattered. The headmaster, still working on his desk on some letters from the board of governors, was startled by that.
"What the hell was that?"
It took him only mere seconds to realise what had transpired and sighted. He should have expected that ownership transferred via touch and his charms got broken. Well, then he'd have to cast compulsions on the boy whenever he could. As strong and as often as possible. He didn't care that it was both immoral and illegal, some day the wizarding community would thank him for it. Him, the defeater of Grindelwald and Voldemort…No, that didn't sound right. The defeater of Grindelwald and the vanquisher of Voldemort, Leader of the Light and Chief Warlock. That didn't sound too bad, though he could work on the exact phrasing.
From said day on Dumbles cast compulsions at Harry during nearly every meal and on several other occasions. Not only did Harry's natural and inherited Occlumency skill prohibit those from working, he documented every single one of them. Well, not he, but Minnie and Severus did, creating some more factual proof of the old meddler's wrongdoings. After whole two weeks of charms they decided - not unanimously though - that it might be wise to just show up in front of the mirror at some point. Hermione didn't like the idea, but the three others reasoned with her so in the end she agreed.
And so, one late evening Harry sneaked out of the common room and found his way into the unused classroom he knew would be housing the Mirror of the Erised. To some degree he was interested in seeing what it would show him but on the other hand he really hated that thing.
Once Harry was staring at the mirror while being monitored by Minne, Severus and Mione via the map (according to both teachers an impressive magical artefact, and even Snape and to praise the marauders), he instantly felt that pull towards it. What he saw was very different from last time, while he saw his parents, he also saw Sirius and Remus, as well as Minnie and Severus. Next to him, being around seventeen again, was Mione, him holding her hand, while he saw her parents smiling from afar. A future together with her and surrounded by a lot of familiar and friendly faces.
Then the scenery changed. He saw Riddle fall and Dumbledore being thrown into Azkaban, so magical Britain was safe again. If the old man only knew that his precious boy-who-lived, his weapon, wanted his downfall, he'd probably lose his mind.
"Harry, my boy. I see you found the Mirror of the Erised. I take it you know what it does by now?"
"Oh, headmaster. I didn't see you there. And yes, I think I know what it does. After all, Erised backwards means desire. I see my parents, I have a family. That's what I desire."
Dumbledore was a bit surprised that the boy had understood the concept that fast. But then he nodded and continued to tell Harry he'd better not sneak out with his cloak anymore. If you only knew how hard the headmaster had tried to bring Harry here, that statement was both hilarious and absolutely idiotic. After that they more or less repeated the conversation from last time around, Dumbledore's reflection in the mirror (surely a lie though), him not needing a cloak to get invisible and the fact that it would be moved now. Nothing truly interesting.
Once Harry was sure he was out of Dumbledore's sight again he hurried into Minnie's office, where the three of them were already waiting for his report. The map was still placed on a table, they all standing around it. Dumbles had found his way back into his office and now they were safe again.
The report the young wizard gave was not really interesting, but on the other hand showed how crazy the old meddler truly was. Trying to get Harry in front of the mirror for weeks just to tell him then that he'd move it away and he better not look for it. Interesting on the other hand had been his recount of the true reflection in the mirror. While he first tried to keep the fact quiet that he was with Hermione, definitely not as friends though, in his reflection, she was still able to basically read his mind. Both kids blushed and Severus shook his head while simultaneously being touched by the fact that Lily's son wanted him in his life.
Mione and Harry were to some degree still shy and self-conscious when Minnie couldn't stand that anymore.
"Oh, bloody hell, stop blushing! You both know you're soulmates, no point in denying any of that. Idiots."
That had the desired effect, all of them burst out laughing, but after just a few seconds Severus stopped for a moment and asked if that was just a phrasing or if she meant that in a literal sense. The answer that it wasn't just a saying but serious (not Harry's godfather, as the boy pointed out, which was followed by groaning because of that stupid name pun), did surprise him briefly, but he had seen stranger and more unlikely things. And, as he pointed out, it made him quite happy that Harry, whose safety he had sworn to protect, had found a perfect love match once they would activate the bond with a kiss. Not one on the cheek or something like that, but a proper one. This would make them basically betrothed and any other contract would get cancelled. Something that neither of them would want to do yet, it would create too many changes in the timeline. The triwiz and Riddle's rebirth still had to happen so they could kill him once and for all. But before that they would have to find all his horcruxes, including the one in the castle. That would be another exhausting task they would have to do in complete secrecy.
It wouldn't be easy, but not impossible either.
Notes:
That's it for today people, hope you liked it.
Let me know in the comments what you think.
See ya all next week :)
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