章 1542: 4
Chapter 4: Horcruxes, Goblins and the LongbottomsNotes:
Hello everyone,
there we go, here is chapter four.
I can't say it often enough, your feedback is very supporting and keeps me motivated.
Have fun!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Over the course of the rest of the week, nothing really interesting happened. Both Harry and Hermione continued to study for the first few weeks of school as well as some advanced magical theory that would help in the fight against Riddle. What made Hermione very happy was the fact that her friend wanted to learn Runes and Arithmancy, since he didn't attend those classes the last time and with his new repertoire of magical books and knowledge he wanted to understand and use as much as possible. They didn't go back to Potter Manor but rather used the house-elves to bring them books out of the library. Hermione still wasn't happy with the treatment of elves but after some research realised that the bond to a wizard was necessary for an elf to ensure his survival. That didn't mean that she'd give up S.P.E.W but she would need to change a lot.
They obviously didn't just study but had a lot of fun in the muggle world and Hermione showed Harry a lot of things he had never known. Emma and Dan became more and more happy with the choice they made with Minerva because the young boy really embraced his new freedom and grew in self-confidence. But it wasn't just the fact that they took him out of an abusive home and gave him a safe place to stay, or the fact that he had grown close to Hermione, it was more than that. They cared for him, they started to love him like a second child. It was so much fun having him around, he couldn't stop helping or thanking them in many ways and he was just so happy about everything. It was probably the first time he had really had a proper childhood and people who cared for him. And because of that he invited all of them for dinner on Sunday. Minerva was coming as well and while Harry had already used one of his house-elves to get to the Manor and prepare everything, the Grangers were dressing up. Dan went for a nice suit with a waistcoat, both in a dark grey colour. His wife's dress was plain and shared the colour of Dan's suit, Emma also wore a bit of jewellery, nothing too fancy though. Hermione was still struggling between a long dark blue dress and a set of dress robes Harry had shrunken and left on her bed. The latter was way fancier and had a very dark red colour, she would even say it was burgundy.
It took the counselling of Emma Granger to finally decide and she went with the burgundy dress together with the fitting black cloak. The golden necklace her mother had once gifted her completed the outfit and Hermione went happily down the stairs where Minerva and her Dad were already waiting. The elderly witch was stunned and tried to wipe away a tear without anyone noticing.
"Wonderful, Hermione. I doubt that Harry knew it, but Lily Potter wore the exact same outfit at their graduation. It seems like he tried to find you some proper witch clothing in the certainly extensive wardrobe at the Manor. He has a good choice in clothes, that is for sure. Now, I suggest you all hold on to me and we apparate, Harry is certainly waiting for us."
At Potter Manor Harry was trying to supervise his elves preparing the dining room but he felt rather not needed and moved into the big drawing room where Minerva was going to appear within the next few minutes. The dark blue couches and armchairs were extremely comfortable and so he sank back onto a couch and grabbed his current reading material, Runic Alphabets and their Grammar broken down , which was an introduction into all sorts of runic languages, even those not covered in the Hogwarts curriculum. With a flick of his wand he turned on the music. Usually technology didn't work in wizarding homes but his grandfather had built a magical record player for muggle vinyls and both him and his father had collected quite a lot of records over the years. Harry was just enjoying a piece of classical music as he heard the familiar sound of someone apparating and simultaneously felt four people crossing the wards and appearing in front of him. His guests had arrived. Having read and learned about magical etiquette he closed his book, got up and greeted all the three ladies with a proper kiss on the knuckles. Yes, he was aware that he ignored protocol when starting with his best friend instead of the most elder lady, but he loved to see Hermione blush. That blushing got even worse when he silently complimented her on her looks before kissing Minerva's and Emma's knuckles and shaking Dan's hand. The last time he saw them was only an hour or so ago, but he was well aware of his duties as a Lord of a Noble and Most Ancient House.
As he led his guests from the drawing room through the corridors down to the smaller dining room, Dan and Emma now began to realise that neither Hermione nor Harry were exaggerating when they talked about the Manor. The room in which Harry had led them was way bigger than their dining room and had a big, oval table in the centre, probably two centuries old and very decorative. Because they were on the ground floor, large windows allowed a magnificent view into the rose garden. The other walls were generously decorated with landscape paintings and the music was playing here as well. Harry had offered his arm to his best friend and led her to her chair on his left side, Minerva as his guardian on his right. Dan and Emma were seated next to Hermione and when all of them were sitting, Harry began to speak.
"Thank you that you all are here today as guests in my home. It really is a pleasure, because over the course of less than a week you all took me in and showed me, what it means to have friends and a caring family. I doubt I will ever be able to make that up to you, simply because it means so much to me, more than you could ever imagine."
He stopped for a second and looked around the table until his eyes fixated on Hermione. Harry simply smiled and she returned that smile, brighter than he had ever seen. Then he cleared his throat, clearly emotionally moved and expressed his hope that this all wouldn't change, whatever the future might hold. Deep down inside he already knew what could and would happen and if he was completely honest, it was now scarier than ever. Now he had something to lose, but on the other hand he had much more power and possibilities to influence future events. But that was not something he wanted to think about now, not this evening. In a direct, but friendly manner he asked the elves to start serving the food and sat down.
Dinner was very delightful and the elves had really done their best to welcome the new Lord Potter and his guests. After over an hour, it had already transitioned from eating to chatting, Dan asked Harry if he'd be willing to show him around, the young wizard agreed and so they got up and started wandering down the corridors. Hermione's father was not only a dentist but also very interested in history and art, a hobby that was actually annoying his wife from time to time, he admitted to Harry. For him the trip through the Manor was a spectacle, and that for several reasons. The art and antique furniture were definitely impressive, but Dan's highlight was probably the amount of displayed swords and axes from the middle ages. They didn't visit the armoury, but that was certainly unnecessary, seeing how much stuff was openly displayed. Then Harry came up with a crazy suggestion, that Dan loved, because it resulted in some sort of sword fight on the corridors between the two men, obviously with the proper spells on the swords to decrease the danger.
The three women on the other hand stayed for quite some time in the dining room, until Minerva suggested showing Hermione and Emma some of the more beautiful places she knew. One of those was the parlour of the Lady of the House of Potter, a room that was surprisingly unchanged. Before entering, Minerva told Hermione and Emma that traditionally every new Lady Potter furnished the parlour herself and that she had never seen what Lily had done with it. But as soon as he stepped into the room and saw the light blue curtains and the familiar tea service on the small cherry wood table she realised that Lily had never had the chance to change anything in here. When Euphemia and Fleamont died in 1979, Lily was already pregnant and she and James were in hiding or working for the order.
Silently the three women were sitting in the parlour, after Minerva had shared her thoughts they realised how young Harry's parents had been when they died. A true tragedy. They were all rather thoughtful, but not for long as they were able to hear yelling and metallic sounds from afar, coming closer. Minerva recognised the sound as what it was - a swordfight. With a speed that probably no one would have expected from the elderly transfiguration master she rushed off, holding her wand in her hand but lowering it soon as she was able to spot the two men down the hall, laughing. Neither of them had any real experience with a sword, visible not only at the lack of the appropriate posture. Not that it hindered them in any way though as they were thoroughly enjoying themselves.
"Mr. Potter! No fighting in the corridors."
Harry flinched when he heard the very familiar voice of Minerva McGonagall shouting at him, just like during the last timeline. It took him a second to remember that he wasn't at school yet and that she was just making fun of him as she knew he was - or will be, time travel is a complicated thing - a troublemaker like his father.
"We're not at school yet, I think you'll find it hard to give me detention or take away points. I'm not even sorted yet."
Both of them started laughing with everyone joining in. The rather thoughtful mood the three women had been in was gone, the image of the two fighting men was too funny, as was the interaction between Harry and Minerva. After a few minutes of laughing they decided to call it a day here as the sky outside was already dark and the kids were starting to get tired. After thanking the house-elves for the very delicious meal, Minerva apparated them back and within less than half an hour Harry and Hermione were already asleep.
Until a few days later nothing special happened. While the kids continued both studying and enjoying themselves in the muggle world, they were still waiting for a response from Minerva. It was Wednesday when a big, dark brown owl arrived in the morning with a note stating that Augusta Longbottom was willing to meet Minerva on the next day at Diagon Alley. While Harry wrote a response to the Hogwarts professor stating that they'd be happy to attend, Hermione fed the owl with little pieces of meat. Since Emma only had to work in the afternoon, she was able to tell the kids that she would drive them to the Leaky Cauldron.
The rest of the day Harry and Hermione started to plan for the next day. It was important that they'd get Augusta Longbottom, Regent of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Longbottom, on their side and befriend Neville. Since they wanted to visit Ollivanders' because of Harry's backup wand they might even be able to get Neville a working wand instead of his father's. Another Gringotts visit was also on the schedule, where they hoped to find another Horcrux. It was only a theory but would explain Lestrange's reaction back at Malfoy Manor. She must have had something of value for the Dark Lord in her vault, otherwise she wouldn't have gone so mad after finding Gryffindor's sword in their possession. It was a reasonable deduction and with Harry's knowledge of goblin laws and customs he might be able to get rid of it once and for all, while strengthening his position with the goblins. They were lucky that Horcruxes were considered vile and dark beyond everything in their laws and culture.
The next morning they all were pretty nervous and prepared themselves to the uttermost. Both kids were wearing formal wizarding clothes, Harry offered his friend once more formal wear out of his mother's wardrobe, and they were certain that they had studied etiquette well enough to approach the Longbottoms without anything to worry.
When Minerva McGonagall left Hogwarts through the headmaster's floo, even she felt nervous. Leaving the Leaky Cauldron she steered into the direction of Gringotts, in front of which she would meet Augusta. Even from quite a distance she was able to see the elderly witch together with her grandson, always on time and already waiting. They exchanged greetings and Minerva led the two of them inside, into a private chamber they had booked at the bank.
"I know you won't like it, Augusta, but I'll need both of your vows of secrecy. It is of the highest importance that no one, not even Albus finds out about the content of this meeting.
Minerva was right, Augusta wasn't happy but complied, as well as her grandson, whom she had educated in vows. As soon as that was done the professor sent her patronus, a cat obviously, away, with a message for Harry and Hermione. It took them approximately two minutes to reach the chamber and enter it.
"Are you joking, Minerva? You bring me here to meet the Heir of House Potter without his guardian? Not that I wouldn't appreciate it but you said something about politics and young Mr. Potter here is far away from claiming his seat and title."
"Regent of the House of Longbottom, it is an honour to meet you, a representative of a house that has been allied with my house for centuries and I'm looking forward to renewing that."
With this statement Harry greeted the elderly lady and kissed her knuckles as traditional protocol commanded. After that he offered Neville his hand as the Heir of House Longbottom, which the young boy accepted: "It is a great honour to meet you, Heir Potter and I would very much enjoy if our Houses could work towards a future in which we are friends and allies."
After that, Harry introduced Hermione as a close friend of his, both Longbottoms greeted her, showing no sign of any issues with her blood status. That was a good start.
"And now to the issue you mentioned earlier, Lady Longbottom. I'm glad to inform you that I am legally emancipated and Lord of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter, as my parents' will wished." He showed her the ring on his finger and ignored her surprise, before he continued. "The reason we asked for confidentiality is that the Chief Warlock had sealed the wills and ordered to be informed if they ever were to be read, which Gringotts ignored, thanks to my wishes. He acted against the wills despite being a witness to them, placing me with my muggle relatives who are not fond of witchcraft, to put it mildly. When Rubeus Hagrid came and told me about this world, I luckily met Minerva in Diagon Alley, who took over for Hagrid. We opened the wills and she became my guardian, as neither of the three previous listed individuals were available. It might interest you that those were Sirius Black, Alice Longbottom and Remus Lupin, in that order. Minerva was the first available, but Dumbledore has no clue. The Grangers, who happened to be at Diagon Alley with Minerva, took me in but I'm also working on Potter Manor with my elves so I might live there someday."
Obviously, that was a lot to handle at once and luckily the chamber had rather comfortable chairs so Augusta could take a seat and process everything, while Harry and Mione started chatting with her grandson. Neville was shy and quiet as always but rather interested in getting to know the boy-who-lived, though that demeanour changed as soon as Harry asked him to look beyond that image, as it reminded him of what he lost, something that Neville obviously understood.
Both Harry and Hermione realised that Neville was truly nice which made them think about how secluded the "golden trio" had been at Hogwarts. They had barely done anything with someone else, which was kind of stupid. None of them had had any other close friends in their year or even house. Neville, Dean, Seamus, Lavender, the Patil twins, Susan, Hannah and many more with whom they had hardly talked at all. Another thing they had to change.
While Minerva provided Augusta with more tales about Dumbledore's failures and the Potters' wills, Harry went to his account manager, together with Hermione. He still had some business to attend to. After all the formal greetings were spoken, Harry started to explain some things to the goblin.
"Well, there are a few things I'm here for today. I wanted to check in on how the research about my heritage was looking and hoped that you could remove a few bans and bindings from me. I fear that Dumbledore has done more than just an owl redirection ban to me. And at last I fear that your noble institution has been misused for safekeeping a vile magical object that violates even your rules."
"And what would that be, Lord Potter?"
"A vessel containing a soul piece of Lord Voldemort. I figure you know what I'm talking about and want to inform you that as the Lord of the House of Potter I can perform a spell to cleanse it. By ancient law I'd like to claim the object as my property afterwards. Any other of my potential claims through the violation of contract shall be kept by Gringotts for the time being and by your judgement distributed between the vault's owner's victims, I don't need the money."
The goblin was deeply shocked as he knew what the Lord of Potter was insinuating. If someone truly kept a Horcrux of you-know-who in a vault, it would be careless to not act against that.
"Whose vault are we talking about, Lord Potter?"
"Bellatrix Lestrange's."
It didn't take more than a quarter of an hour for a goblin search party, led by Gornuk, to return. They were, to put it mildly, shocked and carried a heavy metal chest, reluctant to touch it more than necessary. After it was placed on the desk, they opened it and both Harry and Hermione leaned forward to look inside, while Harry had an interesting revelation.
"I still feel it somehow, but my scar doesn't hurt. Interesting. And we were right, Bella had one in her vault, that's why she had acted the way she did. That's Hufflepuff's cup, the one Riddle took from Mrs. Smith together with the locket."
Now no longer whispering he addressed Gornuk, asking for permission to cleanse the relict of one of the Hogwarts founders. The goblin nodded and stepped aside, though he stayed so close that he would still be able to witness the whole thing.
"Do I have the permission to draw both wand and weapon on Gringotts ground, account manager Gornuk?"
The goblin consented and watched in awe how the young wizard drew a goblin-made dagger that once belonged to Godric Gryffindor. Other than the sword, that one had stayed in the family and with it he would slay the spirit of the Dark Lord that would come out of the soul vessel. Other than in the previous timeline they didn't need a weapon infused by basilisk venom as they weren't destroying the horcrux per se but only the spirit.
After the young Lord Potter had asked permission to draw his wand in addition to the dagger, he pointed it at the cup and chanted with a deep voice.
"The Lord of Potter rids you from the evil inside of you, the Lord of Potter rips away the splintered soul to free you. I summon thee, dark force, I summon thee!"
He had to repeat that exact same phrase three times to finally get some response, obviously Riddle had protected his horcrux well. With a loud bang, the familiar black smoke came out of the cup and took the form of a young Voldemort, yelling at Harry, though the young wizard was not very impressed by that and with one big slashing motion he sliced the dagger through "Riddle's" chest, which led to a painful scream, followed by the destruction of the creature. Harry was relieved by that but instantly realised the difference to the previous timeline: he didn't feel any pain in his scar, neither in the Dark Lord's presence nor in general. What a lovely feeling.
The rest of their Gringotts business didn't take long, since his encounter with the Potter Grimoire had not only freed his magical core but had removed any other previously existing bindings. That had the negative side-effect that there was no proof of Dumbledore's illegal actions, but it was not like that would have been their main accusation. Research-wise they were on a good path, with the Lordship of the Houses of Peverell, Gryffindor and Slytherin proven to belong to Harry, but Black and everything on the Evans side was a bit more complicated.
After the first war many family lines became extinct and the research about potential heirs from distant branches was complicated. Yes, both the ministry and Gringotts were in the possession of magically updating family trees and records, but those were still extensive because they included the muggle descendants of squibs as well, just like his mother's family. It might take Gringotts months to prove that Harry was the first-in-line for Lord Ravenclaw. Since it had been only a squib-great-granddaughter of Rowena who had married an Evans man, his claim was weak, but all other lines had been eradicated by the war. It was also thanks to the war, Riddle's "death" to be precise, that he qualified for Peverell and Slytherin.
Even despite the uncertainties on some of the other titles, Harry wanted to claim those three houses now and not wait for the end of the Goblins' research. As he already was a Lord, there was no need for an additional witness like last time, when he took the titles.
The only thing Harry found a bit unfortunate was that the ring of House Peverell wasn't the horcrux one, so he still had to search for it, but he had expected that to be honest. After everything had been completed
After that, the business at Gringotts was over pretty fast, once they got back to the Longbottoms and Minerva. Regent Longbottom, Neville's gran, was very happy to suggest an alliance between the two houses, as it had been often in the past centuries. Harry decided to keep the other houses a secret, even to Augusta.
"I, Augusta, Regent of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Longbottom, stand here in my house's heir's stead to ask you, the Lord Potter, for an alliance, in wartime as in peaceful times, in politics as in trades. May our wands be aligned against all our enemies and our voices strong together in the wizengamot. Do you, Lord Potter, accept this offer of mine and honour us with friendship and alliance?"
Harry, thanks to his time in the afterlife being educated about wizarding etiquette, responded in the appropriate manner: "I, Harry James Potter, Lord of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter, accept your offer of friendship and alliance for our houses, Regent Longbottom. My wand is yours as much as yours is mine, from now on forward. So mote it be!"
"My wand is yours as much as yours is mine, from now on forward. So mote it be!"
As soon as Regent Longbottom had spoken these words, a bright white glow of light appeared and magic sealed the bond between the partners of the alliance. With a big smile on her face, the elderly woman offered Harry her hand and thanked him for everything, before he suggested a trip to the Alley together so the kids could get to know each other. A great idea as far as Augusta Longbottom was concerned, but Harry had something very important on his mind. He clearly remembered how much Neville's skills had improved when he got himself a new wand. His father's wand had never really worked for him. If they were able to get him an own from the beginning on, that might induce some very beneficial changes.
After leaving Gringotts together, the whole group walked down Diagon Alley and the first store they ended up in was Madame Malkin's. It was not like anyone needed something in particular, they just looked at various formal robes. Under the guidance of Regent Longbottom the two young boys learned a lot about formal dress code for Lords and Heirs, but from time to time she added some information about traditional Ladies wear for Hermione, seeing how much she enjoyed learning.
After quite some time of shopping they did end up in Ollivanders and within the second they entered the store the old man looked up and gave Augusta Longbottom a stern look. "Ash and dragon heartstring, twelve inches, unyielding. This wand still belongs to Frank Longbottom and he did great things with it, but, Regent Longbottom, trust my word when I say that ash wood doesn't perform well for others than their first, their true owner. No proper inheritance wand has ever come from an ash wood tree and this wand won't be one either. Let your grandson and future Lord choose one for himself."
Harry smiled, because it had all worked according to their plan and now, even before first year, Neville had his cherry and unicorn hair wand. With a bright smile the boy had waved his new wand, creating so many sparks and lights that even his gran got happy. All the worries that her grandson was basically a squib was now gone, even if he didn't have his father's wand.
"Now, Mr Ollivander, I do have a question of my own today. I found a suitable family wand to be my backup, but I'd like you to check it for me first. It hasn't been used in quite a long time."
He pulled Ignotus Peverell's wand and handed it to the elderly wandmaker, who looked quite stunned. Never in his lifetime had he seen something that well-crafted before.
"Holly with an ebony handle, brilliantly conjoined. A wand, perfect for a good and loving leader, a brilliant wizard and thanks to the handle, ideal for both combat and transfiguration. The core is very rare, I've never seen the hair of a demiguise in a wand. Those lovely creatures, whose hair is mainly used for making invisibility cloaks, can predict the near future. This might make that wand react intuitively in combat situations to deflect dark spells and curses. Whom did it once belong to, Mr Potter?"
Harry smiled at the wandmaker and after a few seconds of silence he calmly said: "Ignotus Peverell."
The facial expression of Garrick Ollivander was basically indescribable, it was shock and fascination. He obviously knew of the Peverell brothers and their wandmaking skills. They were the ones who created the deathstick, the elder wand, and many more things. This wand in his hands was centuries old and probably crafted by one of the greatest wandmakers ever. It was a powerful, but difficult to archive combination of wand materials, and the fact that this wand had obviously bonded to the young Mr Potter was truly fascinating and promised an interesting future. This might change Albus Dumbledore's plans, but he didn't intend on telling him that. It was quite amusing that Albus had come to him a few months back and urged him to give Harry the phoenix wand, even though they both were aware of the priori incantatem dangers, if he should ever face Riddle. Whatever game the Leader of the Light was playing, he was slowly losing control of it. That would be fun to watch.
Notes:
Well, there we go. That's it for this week. Next Thursday we're finally gonna reach Hogwarts and meet the redheads - how's that going to go down? Who know's? (Well, I do, and with a bit of patience so do you soon)
See ya all next week!
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