Potter Politics

A/N: I would like to apologize in advance, this is a boring chapter, but it is necessary in setting-up for the rest of the story.

Harry woke up bright and early on Wednesday morning. He looked at his alarm clock and saw that it was 7:24 A.M. The first thing that he needed to do was figure out how to get to Diagon Alley. He was looking around his room at the different items that could potentially be of use to him...an invisibility cloak, maybe, his firebolt, and....then his eyes fell upon his bedroom closet. He remembered the little creature that once popped out of there, Dobby; the giddy house-elf that worshipped him.

"Dobby!" Harry said, somewhat loudly; but not loud enough for Uncle Vernon to hear him from his bedroom. Almost instantly, the house-elf appeared excitedly in Harry's bedroom.

"Mr. Potter, is anything wrong? I heard you call me. Is you ok?" Dobby blurted out; looking around for any trouble that could potentially cause Harry harm.

"No, Dobby, I'm fine. I didn't mean to scare. I just wanted to ask you a question?"

"Dobby is honored that the great Harry Potter would ask the lowly elf Dobby for a favor. What can I do for you, master?"

"First of all, why did you call me master? Isn't Dumbledore your master now that you're working at Hogwarts?"

"Since Dobby is a free elf now, Headmaster Dumbledore is my boss. Free elves can choose who they call master."

"Ok, well the reason why I asked you here was because I need to be at Diagon Alley at around noon today. Do you have any ideas on how I could get there without alerting your 'boss'?"

"Dobby could apparate you there, master."

"Thanks Dobby, you're a life-saver. Can you promise me one more thing, that you won't tell your boss that you did this for me?"

It took Dobby a moment to recover from the praise he just received with the life saver comment.

'Of course, great Harry Potter, I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to. It is the first law of the elves': never reveal thy master's secrets."

"But Dobby, I'm not your master."

"Um, sir, Dobby was wondering, they have many elves at Hogwarts and all, could Dobby please be your house-elf? Dobby won't charge any money and Dobby'll do whatever you ask and I'll do a real good job. I promise. Please?"

"It's a deal, Dobby. Is there anything you need to do to quit working at Hogwarts?"

"Dobby already told Headmaster Dumbledore that he could no longer work at Hogwarts this school year. I haven't been in the kitchens in two weeks."

Harry was glad that he managed to wrestle someone away from Dumbledore's thumb, even if he was as small and seemingly unimportant in the grand scheme of things as a house-elf; he had to start somewhere, right? "All right Dobby, I got to get ready for my trip, can I call you when I'm ready?"

"Yes, master. Just say my name and I'll get here as fast as I can." With that, Dobby snapped his fingers and was gone.

Harry spent the rest of the morning getting prepared for his appointment with Magwook. He took a shower, shaved, brushed his teeth, tried to comb his hair...Harry wanted to dress nice but soon realized that the only nice clothes he had were sent to him by Fred and George a few weeks ago. (He wasn't in the mood for wearing robes.) Since he had no other choice, Harry put on the the dark red, buttoned-up, collared shirt. He then put on his own black pants that he had, the only decent clothing the Dursley's ever gave him, because he had to wear it to the Sunday services at the church. He put on this tie that was a mixture of gold and gray swirls, it actually looked pretty nice. After looking at himself in the mirror, he realized that Fred and George could have done worse, and that he looked pretty nice.

As noon was approaching, he gave Dobby a call. Dobby transported him to Diagon Alley, right outside Gringotts. Harry looked around him and was surprised that no one took notice of his appearance, but it was extremely crowded at this time of day.

Harry entered Gringotts and walked up to one of the goblins. "Erm, excuse me, sir, I have an appointment with Magwook. Where should I"

"Name please," the goblin interrupted him.

"Harry Potter." This caught the goblin's attention and he directed him to Magwook's office. Harry thanked the goblin for his assistence and knocked on Magwook's door.

"Ah, Mr. Potter, it is an honor to finally meet you. I am Magwook. Please, come take a seat."

"There are two things I wish to discuss with you today. The first thing I would like to discuss with you is your full inheritence. Here is an a summary and the statements explaining it." He handed Harry some parchment before he began again.

"At the time of your parent's death, October 31st 1981, they held 72,463,456 galleons; putting them in the Top 100 Richest Families In Europe. Since the account then became frozen while your guardian situation was somewhat in-limbo, you have been earning 6 on that account. That means that you are earning roughly 4,347,807 galleons in interest per year, over the course of almost fifteen years. (A/N: Not sixteen, since his parents died when he was one.) So that means that you have earned 65,217,106 galleons in interest alone since then. That brings your total balance up to: 137,680,560 galleons. That is, you have moved into the Top 50 Richest Families in Europe, I believe you are #37. And as an individual, Mr. Potter, I would like to congratulate you, you are the tenth richest wizard alive."

Harry thought he felt his jaw hit the desk. He was hoping that he would have enough money to get him to the United States and live somewhat comfortably, he had no idea that he was one of the richest men alive!

However, Magwook didn't notice Harry's astonishment and continued, "You see, I believe your great-great grandfather, Andrew Potter, had an ingenious idea; probably the greatest in financing history. What he did was, he wanted to make sure that the Potters stayed rich for generations to come. He cast a charm on your vault so that you can withdraw up to one galleon short of the daily amount of interest you are earning. That is, you are currently earning 22,632 galleons per day, so your vault lets you withdraw up to 22,631 galleons per day; just shy of the average annual income for wizards in Europe. Not bad if I do say so myself."

Harry couldn't believe it, he was making more in a day than some wizards made in a year!

Magwook still had more to say, "And that takes us to our second order of business. The will of Sirius Black. I would again like to offer you my condolences on the death of your godfather. The will will be read on July 15th. I have talked with some of the other goblins, particularly those who were involved with Mr. Black's finances, and I have good reason to believe that he has left you everything he has; and in case you are unaware, he also came from the Top 50 Richest Families in Europe. When his money is added to your current sum, you could rank in the Top 10 Richest Families in Europe and perhaps be the richest wizard in Europe. So do you have any questions for me?"

Harry couldn't believe it. He hadn't thought about any of Sirius' possessions. Choosing not to think about his deceased godfather, he asked Magwook, "Did my parents own any property?"

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Potter. I can't believe that I didn't bring that up on my own. Yes, they did. They owned twelve properties in fact. There is the property in Godric's Hollow as I'm sure you are aware of. They also had another house in Great Britain. They had two in Ireland, one in France, one in Germany, one in Turkey, and the rest were in the United States. I believe they were in California, Missouri, Texas, West Virginia, and New Jersey. I'm sorry I don't have the specific locations and values of the homes with me, but I can request that it be mailed to you within the week. Is that fine with you, Mr. Potter?"

"Um, yes, sure, that's fine." Did he say New Jersey?

A/N: Thanks for taking the time to read this. If you have a minute, please leave a review. Let me know what direction you want this story to go in; that is- whether or not Harry moves to the States. I don't have anything for this story set in stone yet, other than the fact that Harry is going to be a rebel.