章節 4: Chapter 4

Chad woke rested, but with a headache still causing him grief. He would have to deal with that Riddle parasite eventually, but he didn't want to rush into anything before at least knowing the basics of mind or soul magic. It was a fragment of Voldemort's soul, filled to the brim with memories and magical snake language, he wasn't going to waste it!

Chad wouldn't act like a typical idiot wizard and expel it as quick as he could. No, he planned to absorb it and use it to strengthen his own soul, claiming its memories of spells and abilities for himself. The only thing he was worried about was losing out in a soul battle or having it influence his personality when he absorbed it.

Occlumency and Legilimency would hopefully be the solution to solving that problem. Chad had always wondered why Voldemort didn't strengthen his own soul by absorbing a wizard's soul after creating Horcruxes. He was literally cutting chunks off his soul, seems like good math to add back to it.

When his book Horcrux had enough power to cast spells and act separately from Ginny, even transferring skills like parseltongue, the soul had a lot to do with one's magic. The piece of soul in the Horcrux also had the power to siphon of Ginny's life force to create a physical form! The soul of a wizard was severely overlooked as a way to gain mastery over the secrets of magic.

From what Chad could gather from reading J.K Rowling's books, a wizard's or witch's soul contained magic and was significantly different from vanilla non-magical humans. Was a wizard's soul stronger and more versatile than a muggle's soul? Was that why only ghosts of magical humans appeared? There was so much to investigate and experiment with.

The Harry Potter books never actually explained how magic worked. Was magic itself alive and have intelligence? How else would it govern unbreakable vows and magical contracts? It would take a lot of investigation, as Chad did not want to jump straight into experimenting only to do something unfixable. For now, he would stick to learning telekinesis.

Telekinesis was undoubtedly one of the most underestimated and overlooked skill/spell by the wizards of Potterverse. Who needs a tedious old killing curse when you can mentally control knives to shred your enemies? If Voldemort used a blade, then Harry would have been sashimi.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden arrival of Petunia Dursley.

She looked so happy when she laid eyes on him that he had doubts that her personality had been exaggerated in the books. That was until an hour later when Vernon tripped over the baby on the doorstep.

From the vantage point of his high chair that he had grudgingly accepted being seated in, he witnessed the moment the Dursleys found out they had a new member added to the family. He had been wondering where the original Dudley had gotten too and had assumed he was already in the cupboard under the stairs.

After all, he had already spent an hour being fussed over, fed (thankfully he had been weaned off breastfeeding) and observing his new 'parents'. The clock on the wall told him it was already 8.30am and there was still no sign of Dudikins.

Chad was simply amazed when he found out that he could have still been out on the doorstep if he hadn't changed places with Dudley. When Vernon and Petunia brought him in and put him on the kitchen table, the poor little guy was shivering while still asleep. That didn't last long, as after reading the letter Dumbledore left, raised voices was an understatement.

Chad had been returned to his room while they sorted out the new addition to the family. "Boppy" He called, impatient to start the day.

"Yes, Master?"

"I was thinking last night about what happens when a wizard kills another in battle, does he claim their House and possessions?"

"I'm not sure Master, there is 'Right of Conquest' but I'm not sure how it works." Said the little elf, sad that he couldn't be more helpful.

"Hmm, we will need books on wizard law, Gringotts Bank rules and regulations, pureblood ancestry and mind magic. What happened to all the possessions of Potter manor my grandparents owned?" Chad asked, trying to find out if he already had copies stored away somewhere.

"Everything that could be saved was moved into the Potter main vault. I can check it for books if you want Master." Boppy said, pleased he had more work.

"We don't know if items of the vault are recorded when something is taken out, we don't want anyone knowing we have access to it. First, check if Gringotts has a book explaining Vault protections, exchange rates and rules." Chad asked, worried they could be found out by Dumbledore.

Boppy didn't waste any time, quickly disappearing to complete his newest task. While he waited, Chad tried to meditate to sense his magic, but it wasn't really working. All he had to go on was will power was everything. About as helpful as Obi-Wan Kenobi telling Luke to use the force repeatedly with vague references.

Before he could achieve anything, Boppy appeared holding a book so commonplace, it would go unnoticed if put on a magazine rack. There wasn't even a title or anything to give away its contents.

"I found it, Master! They are giving them away for free, there was a whole stack of them just sitting next to the help desk." Boppy happily told him.

Two hours later, after Boppy charmed his new mum to leave him alone, he had finished reading the Gringotts information brochure. It was extremely enlightening. Chad had always been a bit sceptical about the fanfictions with Harry Potter befriending the goblins. It didn't matter what race they were, bankers were ruthless and cutthroat.

"What? You can't make the payments on your mortgage? No problem, we now own your house and will auction it off to regain our investment. Is there anything else we can help you with today?"

Business was just business, there should be no emotion when money was involved. This did not even factor in a warrior race that had multiple wars against the wizards thrown into the mix. To think that a few polite words would somehow overturn hundreds of years of hate was ridiculous. However, it always pays to be respectful to whoever is handling your money or food.

While the goblins wouldn't do Chad any favours, he could at least count on them to follow the rules set under the agreement of the Ministry of Magic when they founded Gringotts. Since the goblins managed nearly all of the wizarding currency, he would not be offending them without a valid reason.

Gringott was a celebrated goblin who founded Gringotts Wizarding Bank in 1474. Gringotts was not designed to act like a muggle bank. It acts solely as a currency exchange and safe storage for money and valuables. It does not perform any activities like financial investments or account managing. They do, however, run an expensive silverwork service and loan Galleons at exorbitant rates with disastrous default laws.

Though, as much as goblins harp on about theft, they have a different view on it from wizards. By goblin standards, the maker of an item, not the purchaser, is the rightful owner; the article is required to be returned to its maker after the death of the purchaser. Goblins believe that the wizard paying for a goblin-made artefact is merely renting it, not owning it.

After going through the entire brochure, Chad came to the following understanding:

- Gringotts is a glorified safety deposit box.

- Depending on the level of security, a key or blood identification is required.

- House-elves could access vaults if they had a key.

- No long lost vaults would be discovered, as there was no such thing as an inheritance test.

- Gringotts would claim any unclaimed vaults after 100 years.

- The Galleon had a regulated price of £5 as coins were not made of pure gold. Otherwise, a Galleon would be worth hundreds of pounds.

- The owner was expected to keep a record of the contents of their vault. There were only notifications sent by owl to vault holders about fees. Why would goblins care what you pay them to defend?

- There is no age limit in owning or accessing a vault.

"Boppy! Did you find any keys when you moved everything from Godric's Hollow?" Chad asked with trepidation.

Boppy disappeared and then reappeared five minutes later, holding three keys. Chad could only assume that they were his trust vault, the main Potter vault and Lilly's vault. Since Dumbledore couldn't access his vaults without their keys, then his Gringotts vaults should be safe from theft by the old meddling git.

Although he would have to visit the Bank personally to merge his new vaults, no point in paying three vault fees when one would do.

"Good work, Boppy. I forgot to ask, did you find any house-elves worthy of joining House Potter?" With the end of a vicious war, there was bound to be a few newly freed elves.

"Yes Master, there are twenty-three elves that want to serve the great House Potter!" The little elf proudly replied.