Going to Gringotts
Harry walked slowly through Diagon Alley, still aching from the battle that took place a few days earlier. He was confused as to how he could feel so devastatingly numb and yet so powerfully sore at the same time. His mind whirled with memories of death and the destruction of his first, and only true home.
The alley seemed to be deserted. The shops were closed, there was no one around. Everything seemed rather grey, other than the Weasley Twins’ shop.
Except they weren’t twins now.
A tear slid down his cheek as he remembered the death of Fred. His heart felt like it was being stabbed with a million knives every time he remembered it.
He had been thinking a lot about his short life in the past couple of days. Thinking about everything that he had been through. Everything that he knew. And there were so many things that didn’t make sense. So many holes. So many things he wished he had realised earlier because maybe, if he had known them sooner, then so many people wouldn’t have died. Things could have been different.
He might not have died.
Harry stood nervously in front of Gringotts for a few minutes. Trying to gather the courage to enter the place after what he did the last time he was there. He knew the goblins wouldn’t be pleased to see him, probably, but he needed their help.
He needed to find out the truth.
He took a deep breath and entered the bank.
A goblin stood in front of him with a snarl on his face.
“And what do you think you are doing here?”
“I am sorry, sir. I am sorry for breaking in and stealing something but I will tell you why and anything else you want to know if you can help me. Please help me,” Harry knew he sounded desperate but he couldn’t help it. His whole life had been a mess and he needed to know why.
Apparently the desperation he felt was enough for the goblin to give in, however, because he led him to the office of the bank manager, Master Ragnok.
The goblin knocked and entered, closing the door between Harry and the office. A minute later the door opened again and Harry was allowed in.
Ragnok had a suspicious glare on his face as Harry looked at him and sat in one of the chairs in front of the large, mahogany ornate desk. The goblin that led him there was sitting in the other. There were also guards standing in front of the door.
“Bagrod tells me you can explain why you broke in and stole something from one of the vaults,” Ragnok snarled.
“Yes, sir. The item we took was a Horcrux,” he paused as the goblins in the room gasped in both shock and revulsion, “it contained a fragment of Tom Riddle’s soul and for me to be able to end the war I had to find the Horcruxes and destroy them,”
“Horcruxes? He made more than one?”
“Yes, sir, seven in fact. But they have all been destroyed so there is no chance of him coming back to life this time,”
“How did he find out about Horcruxes? As far as we know all books that mentioned the abominations were destroyed in the last century,” Bagrod said.
“Apparently not, sir. He found the book in the restricted section of the Hogwarts Library, he then went to a teacher to ask more about them and the teacher told him about them. He apparently did more research on the subject, somehow, and created his first one when he was sixteen. I am sorry for breaking in, but we didn’t have much of a choice since we were on the run and everywhere was being over-run with Death Eaters. I promise to repay all the money required for the repairs when I have more money than what is in my vault,”
“Mr Potter, you have more than one vault, and more than enough money to pay any reparations we may want from you,”
Harry just stared at the goblins in confusion.
“But, I-” Harry didn’t know what to say.
The goblins shared a concerned look before nodding and looking back at Harry.
“Mr Potter, I would like you to take an inheritance test if that is alright with you?” Ragnok said with what looked like concern in his eyes.
“Okay, sir,” Harry nodded, not really knowing what to do or what was going on.
Ragnok pulled some parchment, a small knife, and a potion out of one of the drawers on his desk and placed them in front of Harry.
“I need you to add seven drops of blood to the potion, shake it for seven seconds and then pour it onto the parchment,”
Harry nodded and did what he was told to, barely noticing Bagrod healing his wound. Harry watched as words started appearing on the page, not wanting to believe the things he read.
NAME: Hadrian Orion Black
DoB: 31/07/1980
MOTHER: Regulus Arcturus Black
FATHER: Bartemius Crouch Jr
BLOOD ADOPTED MOTHER: Lily Evans Potter (illegal)
BLOOD ADOPTED FATHER: James Potter (illegal)
REASON FOR BLOOD ADOPTION: Kidnapped by Albus Dumbledore, James Potter and Sirius Black
GODMOTHER: Narcissa Malfoy
GODMOTHER: Alice Longbottom
GODFATHER: Frank Longbottom
GODFATHER: Severus Tobias Snape
GODFATHER: Lucius Malfoy
GODFATHER: Sirius Black (illegal)
MAGICAL GUARDIAN: Albus Dumbledore (illegal)
CHILDREN: 1 daughter (miscarried due to mothers’ death)
INHERITANCE:
Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black
Heir to the Noble House of Crouch
Heir to the Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter
Heir to the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Peverell
Heir to the House of Evans
Lord to the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Slytherin (through right of conquest)
Heir to the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Ravenclaw
Heir to the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Hufflepuff
Heir to the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Gryffindor
SPELLS/POTIONS/CURSES/BLOCKS:
Compulsion spells cast multiple times throughout the last five years by Albus Dumbledore, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Ginevra Weasley, and Molly Weasley
Mind altering potions to hate Slytherins, especially Severus Snape and the Malfoy family
Mind altering potions to always follow Albus Dumbledore, all Gryffindors, Ron, Ginevra and Molly Weasley and Hermione Granger
Mind altering potions for other things
Love potions keyed to Ginevra Weasley
Potion to destroy ability to bear children
50% block on magic
100% block on parselmagic
70% block on parseltongue ability
80% block on natural occlumency
100% block on natural legilimency
100% block on animagus ability
Harry didn’t know what to think. His whole life had been a lie. One massive, convoluted lie. His parents weren’t his parents. Dumbledore was using him. The Weasley’s, or at least some of them, were using him. Hermione was using him.
He was just a weapon to them.
Nothing more.
He wasn’t family to them. He wasn’t anything.
He was meant to have a child. He was meant to be a father. He was meant to have a family. They had destroyed his ability to bear children. They had blocked his magic. They had hidden his family, his true family, from him.
Why?
Why was he treated this way?
Why did they do this to him?
“Kreacher,” he whispered as tears left his eyes.
Kreacher popped into the room, his eyes widening when they saw his tears.
“What is the matter Master Harry, sir?”
Harry showed him the inheritance test and Kreacher read it, starting to cry as he read more and more of it.
“You’s is Master Regulus’ baby. Oh, I wish he was here. He loved you so much. He was so upsets when you’s was taken. So was your father. That’s why they joined Voldemort, not because they actually agreed with him, but to try and find you, and to get some revenge. They’s also wanted to try and fight him from within secretly, along with Snape and the Malfoys who were also trying to find you, so thats the war would end. Longbottoms were fighting from within the Order to try and find things out,
“They formed a kind of third side in the war, all of them did, I was parts of it too. We actually formed it before you were born but they didn’t start truly trying until you were taken. But when your mother died, Longbottoms got tortured by Dumbledore, and your father was sent to prison, the Malfoys and Snape had to be more careful, though they kept tryings. Your father was so upset when your mother died. But they never stopped trying to find you, at least until the ends. They would be so proud of you. I kept trying to find you also, even if there was nothing I would have been able to do,”
“Do you know what role Lily had in everything?” Harry asked, from what he had heard over the years Lily didn’t seem the type to be in on this kind of thing.
“No, Master Harry, sir, but from what I understand Dumbledore managed to place her under a spell of some sorts in her sixth year at Hogwarts. That is all they were able to find out about her. They thought you were really her and Potter’s child because Longbottoms saw her pregnant at the Order meetings, and there was a birth announcement on the same day that you were born. You weren’t kidnapped until a month after you were born, so I am guessing maybe something happened to the real Harry Potter and you were taken as a replacement. But I don’t know if Lily had any involvements in it,”
Harry just nodded. He didn’t know what to do. He was so lost.
“Is there any way for me to remove the blood adoption and everything else, Master Ragnok? Or perhaps a way to repair my ability to bear children? I know I owe you a lot but I-”
“You do owe us a lot. But I am willing to waive it considering what we have just found out, as well as you being under mind altering substances. And we have a ritual that can cleanse you from all spells, potions, blocks, the blood adoption, and another ritual that can return your ability to bear children. Whilst my ritual goblins are doing those Bagrod and I will go through all of your accounts and we can see about giving you your Lordships also since you are of age,”
“Thank you, Master Ragnok,”
“Not to worry. From all that we have uncovered I have a feeling this isn’t all that is wrong and we need to find out what that is. I will have one of the guards escort you to the ritual chamber,”
One of the guards at the door stepped forward and Harry took a deep breath before standing to follow him out of the room.
He was still trying to process everything he learned in the room, but how could he? How could he process any of it? It was all too much.
Far too much.
He could feel his breathing picking up. His breath hitching every now and then in his panic and sadness.
He couldn’t breathe, even as he heard people calling his name.
His pain, his anger, his shock was consuming him. Eating away at everything else.
It was too much.
---
He woke up in what appeared to be a hospital wing. But he felt different than before.
The first thing he noticed was that he could see without glasses on. Then he noticed that his mind was clearer than it had ever been. His body also felt slightly bigger, and his lower abdomen was sore.
He slowly sat up, groaning quietly at the cramps in his stomach, and saw a few goblins wearing healer’s robes wandering around the room doing their jobs. And that is when he remembered what had happened.
His breath hitched again but he didn’t panic this time. However the emotions came flooding back with brute force.
“Master Hadrian, sir, are yous okay?” he heard and turned his head to the spot next to his bed where he saw Kreacher sitting in a chair with a box held securely in his hands.
“I don’t know,” Kreacher seemed to understand that everything was a bit too much for his mind at that moment.
“Before he died your mother wanteds me to give this to you should I ever finds you. He seemed to know that things would go wrong and wanted you to have something. I don’t knows what it is because it is spelled so that only you can open it. But I went to the house to get it whilst you were being cleansed and the goblins were going through your accounts,” Kreacher passed Hadrian the box in his hands gently.
Hadrian took it, swallowing back the tears as he heard the click of the elegantly carved ebony box unlocking upon feeling his magic, of feeling him. Telling him that yes, his life had indeed all been a lie.
He slowly opened it, not sure if he was ready for whatever might be inside.
He paused when inside the box he saw a letter addressed to him, Hadrian, a vial of memories, and a time turner that looked slightly different to the one Hermione had in their third year.
His hands shook as he took the letter and opened it.
My dearest Hadrian,
I am sorry that I only got to spend a month with you before you were taken. I am sorry that you were taken in the first place. I wish, more than anything else, that I was able to stop them but I was on my own with you that day and I was recovering from an injury so they were able to overpower me.
I love you so much, more than I ever thought I could love anybody other than your father and our friends. Our family. I miss you so much. More than you could ever know, and I hope beyond hope that you never have to experience pain like having your child taken from you.
If you are reading this it means that I am dead and Kreacher has found you. I am sorry I can’t be there myself but I knew I had to do something to end the war. The war that tore families apart and built more prejudices than was first in this world. But I am glad Kreacher has finally found you so that you can know that you were very much loved and wanted by us, not just given up for adoption or whatever other thought you may have been having. I hope your life hasn’t been too hard, but given the state of things at the moment I believe it is too much to hope that you will be completely safe.
In this box you will find a vial of copies of all of my memories from the time I started Hogwarts to the time I am writing this letter so that you know most of what occurred during this time. The most vital time.
You will also find a special time turner. It is different from the others which usually only let you go back about 5-24 hours and what you go back to do had already happened, you just didn’t know it until you went back to do it. This time turner instead will allow you to go back years and change things. You can go back however far you want, in your current body, and change what needs changing for the war to end sooner and lives to be saved. I worked in the Department of Mysteries as an Unspeakable, and with a colleague of mine created it to give to someone so they can use it to save everyone from what was to come. As well as to implement the changes in the Wizarding World of Great Britain that will stop any war such as this one from occurring again.
Despite all of my hopes that you will be spared from the war, I have my doubts that this will actually be the case. I have some seer intuition you see and am able to feel things about the future but not actually see them, and after you were taken I had some very bad feelings about where you would end up and what you would end up having to do.
It is because of this that my colleague and I decided that you were probably the best for this mission. I know this means that we can never know each other as mother and son, as much as I wish that to be possible, but depending on when you decide to go we could know each other. Become friends. I don’t know.
If you don’t want to do this, I completely understand. It is a lot to handle. You can take the time turner to the Department of Mysteries and tell them your name, they will know why you are there and accept it back before going about finding someone else for the mission.
There is a vault in Gringotts which has a time ward on it, allowing it to transcend time so it will be there even if you decide to go to the past. In it is money, supplies, and files about certain people, laws, events, and more. All of which will come in extremely handy for you. Master Ragnok will be able to give you the name of it before you go back and the key to be able to enter.
Merlin, I love you so much. I am so sorry about whatever you had to endure without your father and I. I wish we had more time together as a family, more than anything. And I am sorry to ask you to go on a mission but I had to ask someone, and I wouldn’t trust anyone with it other than my own beautiful son.
My sweet baby boy.
I love you, Hadrian.
Mum.
Hadrian didn’t realise he was crying until he felt a small finger on his cheek, wiping away a tear.
“I am sorry, Master Hadrian,” Kreacher said sadly.
“You have nothing to apologise for, Kreacher. I was just thinking about how much better my life would have been with my parents. I would have been loved. Truly loved. And not because of my fame. But for me. That was all I ever wanted to be. Me,”
Hadrian looked up as the door opened and in walked Ragnok and Bagrod, who both looked angry. Though they paused when they saw the box on his lap and the tears on his cheeks.
“Are you alright?” Ragnok asked as they walked to the bed.
“Yes, this is just something my mother left me,” Hadrian saw recognition enter Ragnok’s eyes.
“I have a pensieve in my office which you can use to watch the memories if you wish. And if you wish to use the time turner I can give you the key and the name. I will also help you come up with an identity to use in that time,”
“Thank you,” Hadrian whispered.
“We have finished going over your accounts and there seems to be a lot of discrepancies in the Potter and Black ones. The others are untouched since the last owners used them as I don’t believe Dumbledore knew about them. But those two accounts definitely have some lost money, properties and items. Unless of course you actually gave permission for Albus Dumbledore, Molly, Ronald and Ginevra Weasley, Hermione Granger, and the Order of the Phoenix to take the money, properties and items,”
Harry looked at the Head Goblin in shock.
They were stealing from him?
On top of everything else, they were stealing from him?
Why?
Why would they do that?
“Erm, no. I never gave… permission. What did they take? Properties? How much money? I would have given them money if they had asked and I had known I had more than just the one vault…” he trailed off, his mind whirling in thoughts, his heart clenching painfully.
“We don’t have to do this right away if you aren’t ready. We can wait a few hours for you to properly digest everything,” Bagrod said, almost kindly.
“I think it will take me a lot more than a few hours to properly digest everything. It will be better if we get everything out of the way now,” Harry said, although he wasn’t fully sure if that was for the best, the sooner he got this all over with the better, though. He could break down later if he needed to.
It certainly felt like he needed to.