Discussions
Ragnok and Bagrod sat in a couple of chairs next to Harry’s bed, on the opposite side of Kreacher. They had files in their laps which Harry felt should be bigger than they were but he remembered that magic could do wondrous things.
“Are you in any pain? We can give you a pain reliever if you would like one,” Bagrod asked, concern in his dark eyes.
“A pain reliever would be great, thank you. My stomach hurts,” Harry said, nodding in thanks when the goblin handed him a vial of potion which he downed, sighing in relief as the pain slowly left him.
“Where would you like to start?” Ragnok said after a few moments of silence.
“Give me a basic overview of everything apart from the Potter and Black accounts, then we can go over them, please?”
“Okay. So as we said, it is only the Potter and Black accounts that have been meddled with. Everything else seems to be in order with the properties being looked after by house elves. The investments the last owners put in place are still going unless the company crashed but there is plenty of money in each account to go around. And most heirlooms are in tact in their vaults, the obvious exceptions being the Founders lost items,”
“You mean the items that were turned into Horcruxes,” Harry muttered, the goblins gasped in revulsion again.
“He turned Founders heirlooms into Horcruxes?” Ragnok growled.
“Yes. Helga Hufflepuff’s cup, which is the item we took from Bellatrix’s vault, Salazar Slytherin’s locket, and Rowena Ravenclaw’s diadem,”
“And what were the others?” Bagrod said curiously.
“A diary he had when he was a teenager, the gaunt ring that contained the resurrection stone, although I don’t think he knew what it actually was. Not that he would have cared, I guess. His pet snake, Nagini, and me, although I was an accident and he didn’t know I was one. Don’t worry, I died a few days ago, at Hogwarts, I just was allowed to come back, apparently,”
“Is the stone destroyed?” Ragnok asked.
“There is a slight crack down it, but it still works. I used it before I died to speak to my p…” they weren’t his parents, his breath caught in his throat for a moment, “to James, Lily, Sirius and Remus. It is currently on the floor of the Forbidden Forest,”
“How did you find out you were a horcrux?”
“Dumbledore told Professor Snape in my sixth year, as Snape was dying he gave me his memories, including the one of the conversation they had where Dumbledore practically admitted to raising me like a pig for slaughter,”
Harry smiled slightly when Kreacher held his hand in comfort, his throat bobbed as he tried to keep hold of his emotions.
“Well then, everything is in order for everything other than the Potter and Black accounts. The Potter properties that haven’t been made into a shrine to honour James and Lily Potter aren’t being attended to due to Albus Dumbledore freeing all the house elves when James signed him on as proxy. I don’t know what state they are in but they have been unattended for eighteen years now, so I imagine it isn’t great. That is with the other exceptions of the cottage that one Remus Lupin was using before he moved in with his wife. That one has only been unattended since the date of his wedding back in nineteen ninety six. And Albus used a chalet in France over the summers, which he stopped using when he died,
“There are a few Black properties in use, including one being used to house Hermione Granger and her parents, although it is currently just her and Ronald Weasley living there, Grimmauld Place was used for the Order, and Order members do stay there on occasion. The Burrow is technically a Black Property as it is built on Black land. And a few of the smaller Black properties in the country were used as safe houses by the Order, including one which housed the Dursley family until yesterday. All others, including the ones out of the country have been unused since Orion Black died, however they are all taken care of by House elves so they aren’t doing too badly. They should have gotten permission from you when Sirius Black died to continue using the houses they used. And with the Potter houses they should have gotten permission since you were eleven to use the houses, including the one in Godric’s Hollow, which could have been repaired or hidden from view if you wanted it to be,”
Harry nodded, trying to take everything in. It was difficult, though.
“What items have they been taking?” Harry asked, he knew he had to get everything out of the way as soon as possible so that he could know.
“Hermione Granger and Albus Dumbledore have both been taking and keeping books from both the Potter and Black libraries, as well as the vaults. They both have hundreds of the family books, though they have put back a few hundred more. The only thing they haven’t been able to touch is the Family Grimoires as that is for direct blood or magic relatives only. Both Hermione and Ginevra Weasley have taken jewellery, although Hermione hasn’t taken nearly as much as Ginevra. The only items that haven’t been touched are the family bonding ring sets or anything that has been warded against direct family members, or people the magic deems unworthy. Molly Weasley has taken family recipe books, as well as potion books, but not as many books as Hermione and Albus. She also took the Potter family knitting needles which are special heirlooms because of the spells on them. Ginevra has taken a number of dresses, clothes and shoes from both families, as well as books about fashion and beauty. Ronald has taken the Black family chess set, all Quidditch related books, he has also tried all of both family’s brooms that are in working condition, and seems to go between them fairly often. The Order has used a number of books and items as well for rituals, protection, and events,” Ragnok said.
“We do have a full list of items that have been used over the years, both the ones that have been returned, and the ones which haven’t been,” Bagrod said.
“Then, of course, there is the money that they have taken. Albus Dumbledore has been taking money since November the first of nineteen eighty-one from the Potter accounts, paying himself two-thousand galleons a month, and the Dursleys one-thousand galleons a month, supposedly for your upkeep. However, based on your results on the medical history spell we cast on you, you haven’t been treated well. You are malnourished, have a number of mis-healed broken bones, and scars. All of which can be treated, though the malnourishment will take some time. He has also been placing five-hundred galleons a month into the vault for the Order of the Phoenix since that same date, and has been taking an extra five-hundred galleons from the Black accounts for himself, the Dursleys and the Order since Sirius Black died,
“Since September the second of nineteen ninety-one, Ronald has been getting five-hundred galleons a month, Hermione has been getting the same amount since Halloween of that year, and Ginevra has been getting the same amount since she started at Hogwarts. Molly has been receiving five-hundred galleons a month since your fifth birthday, though she got an extra five-hundred galleons for each week you stayed at the Burrow or somewhere where she was the one to look after you. The money has been going into a private vault that only she has access to, I don’t believe her husband knows about it. That is all from the Potter accounts. Since Sirius died they have all been receiving an extra five-hundred galleons a month from the Black accounts also,” Ragnok said.
Harry was delving deeper into shock the more he heard. All this time they were pretending to be poor and making him feel guilty for having his trust vault, as that was all he knew he had, and they were stealing hundreds of galleons from him every month. Each. Not to mention the books, the heirlooms, and other items.
“Now, what we can do to punish them depends on what you want to do. Even though you weren’t born a Potter, you are still blood related to them. The reversal of the blood adoption really just reverses the outside effects, you still have their blood in your veins as well as your original parents’, however your birth parents’ blood and magic is now more prominent in you with the Potter’s being almost fully removed. We couldn’t remove their blood or magic from you fully due to how long you have had it in you, it would cause your body to go into shock, and may cause irreversible damage,” Bagrod said.
“It will all ultimately depend on if you decide to go back in time or not. If you do, based on how that time turner works, this present will disappear when you go back. You will go back on this timeline and so, when you go back, time as you know it will be lost so you can create a new future where things don’t get as bad as they were. You won’t be able to come back when you are done as this time will be lost, you will have to live your life. Therefore, if you go back, then punishment isn’t necessary as you will hopefully be creating a new future where these transgressions don’t take place,
“If, however, you decide not to go back then we can, of course, punish the miscreants. However you want to go about it, we can do so. We can demand they pay back every penny, with interest. We can take it to the aurors. We can demand they give back every item they took, and pay for any damages. We can make them give back the properties, and pay for any damages. We can do a goblin trial and punish them our way. Or something else. It is entirely up to you,” Ragnok said, his eyes glittering with glee at the mere thought of punishing them, a nasty snarl on his face.
“Erm…” Harry started, but he didn’t know what to say. There was so much swirling through his mind.
“You don’t have to decide right away, of course. You still have to watch the memories, and you need time to think things through. But we will help you do what you need to do in the meantime,” Ragnok said, an almost kind smile on his face, even as his eyes still glittered.
“Thank you. I should probably watch the memories,”
“You don’t have to do everything right now, you can wait a few hours, or days, if you need to,” Bagrod said, something akin to compassion showing on his face.
“I know I don’t have to do it all now… But I need to. I need to get all the facts before I can simply think,” At least, he thought so. Honestly he knew he was close to some kind of meltdown but he needed to know.
He needed to see.
“Okay, would you like to come back to my office, or would you like me to bring my pensieve to you,” Ragnok said.
“Could you bring it to me, please? I have a feeling I might need to be here after I have seen them,” he whispered.
“Of course. I will be back shortly,” Ragnok said, and he and Bagrod both stood, bowing their heads slightly at Harry before leaving.
Harry took a deep, shaky breath and squeezed Kreacher’s hand, which still held his own. Harry relished in the comfort he felt from the elf.
“Are you okay, Master Hadrian?” Kreacher asked.
“No,” was all Harry could reply.
He honestly didn’t know if he would ever be okay again.