4 Veselur

Pulling out all the places Harry had been in his life, I was transported to Hogsmeade, from there straight to the field where the Quidditch World Cup final was being held, from there to a park near Tees Street and finally to a small alleyway near The Leaky Cauldron. In the alleyway, I immediately threw up. I don't know how I made it to the end. It's one thing to know and know how to do it, and another thing to experience all of these pleasurable sensations yourself. It's a good thing I still had all my limbs. Judging by the fact that the Aurors hadn't surrounded me yet, my apparatus hadn't been monitored. I'm sure I've already been struck from every possible list and registry as dead, and so much the better. I didn't dare to use magic for the time being, anyway.

Wiping my mouth and pulling my hood over my head, I went to the pub. The pub was practically empty, not even Tom in sight, so I slipped quietly into the backyard and tapped the right bricks. It was a good thing Harry had already seen all this, or I would have frozen for about ten minutes, trying to realise where the wall had disappeared to, and what this amazing street was.

A new day was beginning. The few morning shoppers crept lazily from one shop to another, never stopping for long. I, on the other hand, having found the bank building, directed my footsteps there.

When I reached the entrance to Gringotts without adventure, I climbed the steps, read the inscription engraved in large letters above the entrance, looked at the goblins standing guard, and went inside. In the hall I immediately approached the first goblin I met and, without waiting for him to look at me, addressed him:

- Hello, I'd like to meet with the Potter family solicitor," my voice sounded confident, leaving no doubt that I really needed it. Well, I'm counting on it, at least.

- The Potter family doesn't have a solicitor," the goblin didn't even look up at me.

- That's a twist," I froze for a few seconds, not expecting such a sneak. - I'd like to hire an attorney for the Potter family and meet with him," I thought, genially.

The goblin finally took his eyes off his papers and looked at me the way people probably look at pigeon excrement falling from the sky right into their lunch.

- First of all, you might want to take off your hood and introduce yourself," he said it both angrily and at the same time as if he was explaining something to a mentally ill person.

- Oh, yeah, sorry," I pulled off my hood, pushed my fringes back from my forehead, and smiled. - Harry James Potter.

The goblin looked at me in surprise for a few seconds, then pulled himself together and invited me to come with him in an expressionless voice.

After about fifteen minutes of wandering the endless corridors, I started swearing at everyone anew. Now there was a slow-moving goblin added to the list of people already on the list. After another five minutes, we finally came to a huge gate, which the goblin had cowardly called a door. By the look of it, it would take at least four Hagrid's to move one of the gates, but the goblin only had to run his finger along the joint to make it swing open silently. Inside was a spacious study, furnished with mahogany furniture. There was no gold at every turn, however. Well, yes, rich, of course, but at the same time there was no pretentiousness. The goblin, meanwhile, walked to the table and sat down in the master's chair, gesturing for me to sit on the other side of the table.

- Come in, Mr Potter, have a seat. We'll need to confirm your identity first," he grinned. - Because I heard you were kissed by a Dementor six months ago.

- Oh, come on," I smiled back. - Avada didn't get me, and here's a dementor. I don't know what they were counting on," the goblin laughed in response.

- Yes, Mr Potter, what were they counting on, indeed? - he continued to laugh. - But the procedure will still have to be done. Don't worry, it's quick," he said, pulling a parchment, a small goblet and a silver knife from the table.

- Here, you need to pour some of your blood into the goblet, and then I'll do it myself. We'll find out your lineage and which clans you can claim to be the head of.

Oh, that's it, I'll be Lord Peverell, Black, heir to all four founders, owner of half of England, and Lily Evans will be a pure-blooded witch. With that in mind, I poured my blood into the goblet and waited for the results.

- Well done! - The goblin smiled happily as he read the inscriptions on the parchment. - You are indeed Harry Potter! I'm glad to have you back with us. My name is Veselur, and I am your family's solicitor. - Correctly interpreting my perplexed look, he continued: - No, no, I used to be, it's just that the Ministry is trying hard to get to your accounts, and the goblins have closed access to them to absolutely everyone until someone comes along who will revive the clan. Fortunately, we didn't have to wait long. The last representative cheated Death again," I smiled strainedly at this statement, thinking that it was actually Death who had cheated me.

- What right did the Ministry have to pry into my accounts? - This goblin didn't exactly fit the familiar description of a greedy people who hated all wizards, so I relaxed. I think we'll find common ground.

- They always do this when there are no heirs left in the family. And every time, they get rejected. That's not surprising," the evil grin that appeared on his face made me think that maybe my conclusions were premature. - Well, you can claim the title of lord right now, if you wish.

- Yes, go ahead. I would also like a full list of what I own, and to see if I can claim to be the head of any other clan.

The goblin looked at me in surprise, then at the parchment with my bloodline and stated:

- It's absolutely impossible," I was knocked out, but as usual I pulled myself together, and only the sad thought of not being Lord Gryffindor was lodged somewhere at the bottom of my skull. - The last member of the Black family is still alive, and if he dies and there are no special instructions in his will, all of his property and title will go to his closest male relative, Draco Malfoy. The Peverell family has closer candidates for the title, and you're too far away from Gryffindor.

I tactfully didn't specify what "too far away" meant; the Potters were enough for me. The goblin, meanwhile, pulled out a folder with a list of my possessions and handed it to me.

- Here, Mr Potter, while I go get my birth ring.

Opening the folder, I delved into the reading. All in all, it wasn't too bad. The ancestral safe contained several million Galleons, a couple of artefacts and books. The baby safe Harry had used during his life was completely empty, which wasn't surprising considering he kept his key with the Weasley family. Also in the family safe was an invisible robe. How it got there was a mystery to me, and like a true Potter, I spit on it, blaming it on magic. When I reached the point I was most interested in, I rejoiced. Besides the ruined mansion in Godric's Hollow, I had a flat in London. By this time Veselur had returned, carrying a small box. When he opened it, he handed me a signet ring with the image of a lion standing with its front paws on a crown.

- Put it on the middle finger of your left hand, the ring should accept you.

As I did as I was told, I felt the ring begin to heat up, but just as I was about to throw it off, it stopped abruptly. The ring gripped my finger tightly, and I realised that the only way to remove them now was together.

- Congratulations, Lord Potter, you are now considered an adult wizard in the magical world, and therefore the Ministry won't be able to trace you if you do magic outside of school.

- Yes, thank you, Veselur, I highly doubt I'll be going back to school at all," the goblin smirked understandingly. - I have a few questions for you, you don't mind if we go informal, do you?

- No, no, I was going to suggest it. So, what would you like to know, Harry?

- Well, firstly, no-one needs to know that I'm alive and well and a lord. I'd like everyone to think I've been dead for a long time, that's fine with me. Secondly, I would like to know if there is no portal to my flat in London and, if not, can I order it from you?

- Don't worry, the Ministry won't know you're back until you announce it yourself. As for the portal, it's easy to make, the coordinates are written there, right? - After waiting for me to look at the folder and nod, he continued: - Here we go, let's make a portal so you can get to your flat from anywhere.

- I'd appreciate it. Also, I was wondering if you have any way to fix my eyesight.

The goblin thought for a moment:

- I can do it, but you must realise that officially we are forbidden to use magic, and if anyone finds out about it, I'll be in serious trouble.

- Then you, in turn, must realise that I don't give a damn about ministerial laws," I smiled. - And if anyone is interested, I can always say that I found a specialist among wizards.

Veselur nodded contentedly, coming over to me and putting his arms around my head, squeezing my temples. At first nothing happened, and then there was a wild pain in the area around my forehead. I bit my lip to keep from screaming at the bank. It didn't last more than a minute, though, and stopped as abruptly as it had started.

With my lip healed, I opened my eyes.

- Amazing! - I squealed like I'd won the lottery. My glasses flew to the side, and I could scrutinise the rather smiling goblin. - Thank you!

- You're welcome, it's my pleasure to use my magic once in a while.

Happy, I sat back in my chair and, smiling stupidly, asked the next question that interested me.

- Tell me, Veselur, what has happened in the country during these six months?

It seemed that the goblin had been waiting for this question from the very beginning, so he started to talk about how this country is terrible, the wizards are weak, and only a very clever leader will save us all. That leader must be a goblin, of course. So, sometimes nodding, and sometimes inserting some one-word phrases, I was able to extract the information I needed from this endless stream.

It turned out that, despite the absence of such a heroic character as myself, everything was going as it should. The Lord lay dormant, the country still convinced that he had never been revived. Fudge sent Umbridge to terrorise Hogwarts, and she's teaching DADA there. It also turned out that Riddle hadn't realised his anchors were missing, at least the Lestrange safe hasn't been visited by anyone for a very long time, except Sirius Black, who with the help of Dumbledore was able to secure the right to take "some cup" from there. It wasn't entirely clear to me how exactly he was allowed to do it, but apparently the fact that Sirius was the head of the family that Bella used to belong to played a part.

- There's also a rumour that Dumbledore was hit by some rare curse in the spring, and it's slowly killing him. I can't say for sure, but his hand did turn black," I wondered if all goblins were such gossips, or if I was just lucky. The information is really worthwhile though, apparently the headmaster couldn't resist the urge again, which means that with a good deal of luck, he'll soon cast off his senile hooves himself.

- Thank you very much, Veselur, now I know everything I need to know, - I really got lucky with this goblin, - all that's left is to enter the vault and make a portal.

- You're welcome. Let's go to the vault for now, and in the meantime the portal will be ready.

I nodded, and we headed for the carts. When I'd read about it, I'd imagined something like a roller coaster, with a comfortable seat, a handrail to keep you from falling off, and a lot of adrenaline. The only adrenaline here was the adrenaline. The trolley looked suspiciously like a miner's trolley, in which stones were taken out of mines in the early twentieth century. There were no handrails of any kind. As a result, the whole journey was reduced to me clutching convulsively with one hand at the side of the cart and the other at the shoulder of the goblin, who was only amused by the situation, and yelling. Fortunately, the fun didn't last long, and here we are at the entrance to the vault. Considering that I had an attorney, I didn't need a key, just the goblin's finger. I'll have to check later to see if the finger works without the goblin himself.

Inside, I took a robe and a ring that Veselur had said would prevent those who liked to poke around in other people's minds. When I learnt that I could have a wallet tied to the safe, I didn't touch the coins. As I was leaving, I saw a few wands lying on the side. I thought, as a Potter, they should be good enough for me, but the first three decided they'd rather pretend to be wood than come with me. I did find one though. It was much warmer than the one I'd taken from Azkaban. It was a solid navy blue colour. Of course, identifying the material and filling was no more difficult for me than building a wand from scratch, so I was satisfied that it looked good.

Back in Veselur's office, I received a wallet with compartments for Galleons and non-magical currencies, as well as a portal to my flat. After arranging for the goblins to visit me and put up good protection, I gave Veselur full carte blanche to manage my finances and was about to leave when I realised that he could help me with another important matter.

- Oh yes, Veselur, I completely forgot, could you tell me....