Chapter 7
Harry was glad that everyone was too busy gossiping about Madam Bones and Dumbledore to really see him as he walked down the Alley. He'd had his glasses appointment today, and then he had to go and see Bloodclaws about the whole inheritance thing. The eyeglass appointment had been a bit strange, but then he'd never been to one before, so it might not have been all that different from what a muggle eye doctor would do.
At any rate, he'd found himself getting a proper prescription, which meant that he could finally really see!!! He'd picked out two pairs of eyeglasses, one with his regular round lenses which he liked because they made him look even more like his dad, and one with a more square shape simply because they had little snitches on the sides. After that he'd picked out a set of quidditch goggles which meant that no one and nothing was going to stop him from getting the snitch now.
Harry checked his watch. It was nearly time for his meeting with Manager Bloodclaws. As he entered the bank he was intercepted by an adult male Goblin dressed in a business suit with an axe over one shoulder and a set of daggers in a bandoleer that ran from his right shoulder to his left hip. "Is something the matter, sir?" he asked, gesturing to the weapons.
"Just some wizards getting uppity, Master Potter," the Goblin answered. "Nothing for you to worry about." He ushered Harry into Bloodclaws' office.
"Ah Master Potter," Bloodclaws said as Harry came in and sat down. "Are you ready to start delving into this mess the newest fewmets mover left you in?"
Bloodclaws too, was wearing a few weapons. Harry didn't want to seem uppity to her at all. He'd figure out the fewmets thing later. "Yes, ma'am. I thought that the first things to look at would be the marriage contract and the life debt with Ginny Weasley." He paused, "Because I'm way too young to be engaged, and this wasn't something that my parents set up either. Ginny wasn't even born when my parents died."
"You are correct that the contract was set up by the Light idiot," Bloodclaws sighed. Harry grinned. Apparently his Aunt Petunia wasn't the only one who was determined to call Dumbledore as many names as possible. "All of the marriage contracts that he had anything to do with are coming under intense scrutiny. Under wizarding law there is no allowance for divorce, so any who are married at this time are having to simply deal with the fact that rotten piece of broken quartz had intended for them to wed. On the other hand, all of the current contracts that had not been completed in a wedding ceremony are being looked over to see if there is any way out of the marriage as long as the couple wishes for the contract to be dissolved."
"Yes, please dissolve the contract between Ginny and me. I mean, it's one thing if we grow up and decide we want to get married and then have a contract written out, but I don't want to force her into anything, especially after what happened at school last year," Harry said, determined. "She's got enough on her plate after Tom forced her to sic that basilisk on people."
Bloodclaws nodded. "I will tell Mr. and Mrs. Weasley that you are willing to leave the possibility open, but the contract must be dissolved as no one in your family had a hand in it. What would you like to do about the life debt young Miss Weasley owes you?"
"What are my options?" Harry asked. Now they were getting down to the nitty gritty stuff.
"There are many options, anything from taking a Weasley family member as a vassal to requiring Arthur Weasley to support you indefinitely in almost any capacity to having them deal with this mess," Bloodclaws waved Harry's test results parchment at him.
Harry's eyes began to gleam. "I think I have an idea. Is there a Potter family steward? I think that's what it's called."
"Not currently," Bloodclaws said. "That family was killed in the war. Currently Gringotts is managing all of your assets including the Potter estate."
Harry nodded firmly. "Ok, can you call the Weasley family, except for Ron, he's at Hermione's house and he's too busy, and have them come here. I don't know if you can get Bill or Charlie."
"William and Charles Weasley are home visiting their family on emergency family leave after what happened with their sister," Bloodclaws said. She pulled out a piece of parchment, scribbled on it, and sent it out with a runner. "There, they should be coming soon."
"Um, ok, now about the gift vault," Harry said. "That's the stuff that people sent me because of the whole Boy Who Lived stuff, right?"
"Correct, any package that you were sent and as well as any letters were placed in that vault. Or rather, they are now being placed in that vault as the dung worm had your mail rerouted to Hogwarts and dumped in an empty room. I've had everything he took from you placed in their correct vaults," Bloodclaws said with a savage grin.
Harry blew out a deep breath. "Ok, that's got to be sorted out. Please hire people who can't get jobs in the wizarding world for stupid reasons to start going through the vault. Can you copy a letter to send back to everyone who mailed me something?" Bloodclaws nodded and looked up from her notes. "Ok, so open the package, send a letter back saying that I just found out about the vault or better yet, send a letter to the Daily Profit, saying that I just found out about this because of Dumbledork and thank everyone who sent me something. Send any toys to St Mungo's. If there are any bad things, send them to Madam Bones. Umm, I think that will do for now with that vault."
Bloodclaws narrowed her eyes at Harry. "And what would you classify as stupid reasons?"
Harry raised his eyebrow back at her. "One of my best friends is a muggleborn. I'm very aware that some people decided that means she's lower than a flobberworm. I'm certain that there are other people out there that the wizarding world is treating just as badly for something that is no fault of the person in question."
"There are indeed, Master Potter," Bloodclaws said. "Werewolves, vampires, hags, squibs and those are just the few that I can name off the top of my head without thinking. They don't have to be evil, you see, but thanks to the current politics few of them can hold down a regular job. Most of them simply want to make a living without being harassed."
"That's exactly who I want you to hire for the job," Harry said firmly. "Now, the Lordships by Conquest, those are all deatheater houses, right?"
"Yes, all but one," Bloodclaws placed a single claw on the name Prince. "That one was a spy. I don't know when he changed his mind about the deatheaters, but then the information came to us in an indirect manner. The current heir to that lordship spied for both sides, first for the deatheaters and then for the wannabe king. Knowing what we know now, I would not be surprised if he were as badly cursed as you were."
"And he's the heir because I'm the lord?" Harry asked. Bloodclaws nodded. "Hmm, what's his name?"
"Severus Snape," Bloodclaws said.
Harry stared at her. Snape? Professor Snape? The potions professor who tried to get the DADA position every year? Wait a minute. Everyone knows that that job is cursed. Harry groaned and rubbed his face. "Well, he's getting everything taken off of him right about now because he's the potions professor at Hogwarts and we, I mean Neville, I and my Aunt Petunia, have said that all of the staff have to get purged and have healers break any curses and such. I do know that he doesn't want to be a teacher, and that he's probably only there because Dumbledore had him over a barrel. I guess I'll have to have a private talk with him when I go back to Hogwarts."
"Or you can call him to you with your Slytherin Lord ring," Bloodclaws said, and gestured to the correct ring on Harry's hand. "Touch it, and push your magic into it as you call his name. He probably has a better idea of what is going on with the deatheater houses than we do."
"Huh," Harry said, looking at the ring in question. "Ok, I think that I'll talk to him before I make any decisions about the deatheater houses. Unless that is, there are any that are all locked up in Azkaban and their assets are sitting around not being used?"
Bloodclaws nodded. "The Lestranges are the most famous. There are no heirs to that line because the last two males of the line are locked up and the once lord of that line's wife is locked up with him. She's insane and probably wouldn't have given him a child even if he'd demanded his right to an heir. The other one had no wife, and no possibility of getting one. All three were involved in the torture of Heir Longbottom's parents. Mulciber, Rookwood, Travers, and Dolohov are all currently serving life sentences as well. Those four participated in the murder of the Prewitt Twins, Molly Weasley's older brothers. Her twin sons are the heirs to the Prewitt line as that in that line the lordship goes to the oldest living set of twins belonging to the house."
Harry sighed. "Right, the Lestranges assets and lordship needs to go to Neville. Mulciber, Rookwood, Travers and Dolohov's assets and lordships need to go to Fred and George. Can I just give them the rings for those houses?"
Bloodclaws nodded. "As Lord Slytherin, you may bestow any house and it's assets upon anyone you wish. Take the lordship ring for that house and place it upon the finger of the one you wish to give the house to."
"Good, now are any of these dead houses. I mean, that there isn't anyone who can be the heir to these houses because everyone is dead?" Harry asked.
Bloodclaws looked down the list. "As far as the deatheater houses are concerned; Rosier, Wilkes, Bean, Scales, and Sledge - all of their heirs died during the war. House Crouch, however is in a rather peculiar position. The current Lord of House Crouch is not a deatheater. His son, B. Crouch Junior was. The deatheater Crouch died in Azkaban. I have no idea why that house would be on your inheritance test as the current lord should have the possibility of naming a new heir. As for the rest of the deatheater houses, the former lords all got off on charges by claiming the imperious curse. Your lordships by gift, well I'd have to look into those but I think for the most part they were given to you because there was no one left to take the lordship."
Harry nodded and asked for the lordship rings for the five deatheater houses that were currently serving life sentences. Bloodclaws wrote out another note for a runner and sent it off before marking each of the deatheater houses with Azkaban, dead or got off. House Prince was marked as the spy. She also checked off the gift vault. "Now, it says here that your Godfather Sirius Black is illegally incarcerated without trial." She looked at Harry expectantly.
Harry looked grim. "Show that to Madam Bones and have her confirm it and get him a trial. I wouldn't put it past that self important git to have put him in prison just so that he could claim to be my magical guardian."
"You mean he wasn't?" came from the door, and a runner Goblin announced the Weasley family to Manager Bloodclaws before handing over a tray with five lordship ring boxes on it.
"Dumbledore made himself my magical guardian illegally," Harry told Mr. Weasley as the eight Weasley's currently in the room were shown to seats by the Goblin runner. "Now, I asked you to come here so that I can start cleaning up the mess that Dumbledore left my estate in and so that we can deal with the life debt that Ginny owes me according to my inheritance test. First, the marriage contract between me and Ginny. My parents were already dead by the time Ginny was born, so Dumbledore had to have arranged that. Which means that the contract is illegal. Now, I don't know Ginny and she doesn't know me. We might want to get married once we're old enough to want such things, but right now we're both far too young and I don't want to force her into anything that she might not want. She got enough of that this year from Voldemort."
Harry waited for the expected shudder. "So, Mr. Weasley I want to dissolve that contract because it's illegal because Dumbledore didn't have the authority to make such a contract on my behalf, not because I'm saying that I'll never want to marry Ginny, she'd be an awful bride."
Mr. Weasley smiled. "I can certainly understand that Harry, and thank you for explaining why you want the contract dissolved. I am willing to do so, and quite frankly I'm not certain just why I signed one in the first place. I'd rather all of my children marry for love." Ginny was sitting between her parents, and Mr. Weasley pulled her into a sideways hug.
Harry sighed and slumped down in his seat. "Probably because Dumbledore used some sort of magic on you. He'd cursed my Aunt Petunia into marrying my Uncle Vernon and cursed my cousin to eat himself to death and there were a ton of other things he did with my family. We're pretty certain that he was setting himself up to inherit all four of the Founder's lines among other things."
"I don't want to believe it, but I know that we were under loyalty potions," Mrs. Weasley said. "I brewed up Purging Potions for us and had everyone take them once the news hit the papers. The difference was shocking."
Harry nodded. "Well the next thing to deal with is the life debt."
Bloodclaws got up and placed a parchment in front of Harry. "Place your hand on this, and speak your conditions for the repayment of the life debt. It will become a magical contract that all who are named in it must complete."
Harry nodded. "I want to tell you all that I think Ginny is worth an awful lot and Ron told me terrible things can happen if I don't get this settled. So, I'm going to ask for an awful lot from all of you."
Mr. Weasley nodded and obviously braced himself. The rest of the family took their cue from him and straightened up as well. Harry placed his hand on the parchment and began to speak. "Mr. Weasley, I am going to give you 10,000,000 galleons. You are to use this money to support your family including, but not limited to, financing all of their educational needs beyond Hogwarts. This includes yourself and Mrs. Weasley. If any Weasley needs to continue their education to succeed in their chosen professions, you are to use this money." Mr. Weasley looked a little stunned, but nodded.
"Mrs. Weasley, you are take Ginny Weasley and get her any and all help that she needs to recover from her possession by Voldemort. This includes any regimen that her healer recommends and therapy which is a type of mind healing. It will probably take years, but I know that she just needs the help to heal." Mrs. Weasley nodded, smiling through her tears.
Harry turned to Bill Weasley. "William Weasley, you are to get any further education that you need to further yourself in your chosen profession. You will also contact me once a year to go over any problem I might have that falls under your professional jurisdiction." Bill nodded, more at ease now that Harry was actually demanding something for himself.
Harry turned to Charlie. "Charles Weasley, you are also to get any further education that you need to further yourself in your chosen profession. Also, if I ever, under any circumstances, run into another dragon, you will help me to deal with it." Charlie laughed and nodded, clearly remembering the escapade to get Hagrid's newly hatched dragon out of Hogwarts.
Harry grinned before turning to Percy. "Percival Weasley, you are to gain two law masteries - one for wizarding law and one for muggle law. When you have those masteries, you will become an assistant to whichever lawyer I retain for the Potter estate. When that lawyer retires from the position of Potter lawyer, you will step in and become new the Potter lawyer." Percy nodded gravely.
Harry turned to the twins. "Fred and George Weasley. You are to get four masteries between the two of you - one for potions, one for charms, one for wizarding business and one for muggle business. When you have those masteries you are to contact the Potter Account Manager Bloodclaws and she will set the two of you up with investment money. Ron told me that you want to own your own joke shop and I want to back you in that business. I think that you will be so good at this that you can be a pass through business for Diagon Alley, with a muggle side and a wizarding side." The twins looked at each other and nodded firmly in acceptance of the challenge.
Harry turned back to Mr. Weasley. "Ronald Weasley is to do his utmost in all of his school work. Trust me, that's a lot of effort I'm asking of him." The entire family laughed at that, and Mr. Weasley nodded in agreement.
"Finally, Ginny Weasley. I demand that your magic protect you from all mind and heart influencing magics and possessions. Never again will you be subject to anyone's attempt to magically change your thoughts or feelings or any attempt to take over your body. So mote it be." With that, Harry lifted his hand off of the contract.
"Are you certain that this is what you want us to do in repayment, Harry?" Mr. Weasley asked, getting up and moving over to the parchment.
Harry nodded. "Yes. What I need is for my best mate's family to be well and happy. None of you deserve to have to serve me or something like that. Besides, taking that money means that I don't have to deal with it. Right now it's just sitting in a vault. People keep giving me money and stuff! Because of Dumbledore, I didn't know about any of it! Now I've got this mountain of galleons and other stuff to deal with and it's way to much! I'm going to be drowning in all of this stuff because Dumbledore was an idiot."
Bill snickered. "Well now he's a dragon pen cleaner."
Charlie grinned and leaned back in his chair. "And you can't clean dragon pens with magic. You have to clean them by hand."
"So that's what fewmets means," Harry said.
"Yes, and it's a very fitting punishment," Mr. Weasley said. He laid his hand down on the parchment and said, "The Weasley family agree to repay our life debt to Harry Potter as stated. So mote it be." The parchment glowed, and little swirls of magic lifted off of it and traveled over to the Weasleys. Each swirl circled a Weasley and sank into them. One of those swirls moved out of the room, presumably to find Ron Weasley and sink into him.
"Why the double masteries, Harry?" Ginny asked. She was leaning against her mum now.
"Because I know that they can do it. Percy loves the fiddly, persnickety stuff and that's what lawyers deal with all day. The twins are inventors, and are already doing lots of stuff that probably fall under the charms and potions masteries. I just don't know which of them is better at which. The business masteries are so that they can learn how to run a business on both sides of the divide," Harry said.
"But you didn't do the same for me or Ron," Ginny persisted.
Harry snorted. "Growing up with genius older brothers is hard enough and you and Ron don't know what you want to do when you grow up yet. I figure you'll both want some sort of mastery though, and this way you'll both be able to get it."
"Genius older brothers?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
"Please," Harry said, and pointed at Bill, then each of his brothers. "Curse-breaking is a job that requires a lot of knowledge and the intelligence to use it. Charlie deals with animals and poachers and government rules and regs all day, not to mention keeping track of breeding and trying to bring different breeds back from almost extinction. Percy can recite the Hogwarts school charter without looking it up. Just one of the twins' prank inventions is hard enough to come up with, but all of them? Ron is going to be a chess master. He can already beat seventh years at Hogwarts! And who knows what Ginny is going to end up doing?" He flung his hands out, as though to encompass all of the things that Ginny could end up doing.
"There's one more thing that I want to take care of, Mrs. Weasley. I originally thought that these would be best to go to Fred and George, but now I think that you should decide," Harry said as he picked up the tray. "Which one goes to Neville?" he asked Bloodclaws. She moved one of the ring boxes off the tray. "Thanks." Harry moved to in front of Mrs. Weasley. "Mrs. Weasley, these are the lordship rings of the men who killed your older brothers. Who should I give them to?"
"Harry, how did you end up with these?" Mr. Weasley asked, and Mrs. Weasley began crying softly.
"I got them through Right of Conquest," Harry said. "And since they're all doing life in Azkaban, I get to give their money and property and businesses and everything else to someone who deserves them."
Mrs. Weasley dried her eyes. "You're right, Harry. Those beasts don't deserve to keep their lands." She picked up the first two boxes. "This one to Charlie and this one to Percy." Harry set the tray down and moved to take the rings out of the boxes. He carefully placed the rings on the hands she had indicated. "This one for Ginny, and the last one for Ron when you see him." Harry grinned and placed Ginny's on her hand. Things were looking better already.