Harry Potter and the House Divided

Chapter Eleven Return to Diagon Alley

Harry was in the kitchen of No.12, Grimmauld Place by 9:30 the next morning. Although being in Sirius' old house wasn't as painful as it was at the beginning of the month, Harry knew that it would never be a comfortable place for him. There were too many memories and too many regrets as well.

Remus also seemed excited to get out of the house. Harry knew that he had often taken care of small errands for the Order but Harry's training took much of Remus' time. Although Harry couldn't be sure that his guilt wasn't interpreting Remus' moods for him, Harry was sure that the older wizard was as depressed by the house and its associations as he was.

"Ready to go?"

"Yeah!" Harry said, glancing up at Remus with an embarassed smile.

"So am I," Remus said, grinning. "We'll portkey to Fred and George's shop and meet up with Ron, Hermione and Ginny. The twins will come with us on your errands, on the pretence that they're going back to Hogwarts to redo their seventh year since Madame Umbridge is gone. It's a lie of course but just credible enough to keep people from asking questions."

"Oh," Harry said, pleased that he'd get the chance to see most of the Weasley family before going back to school.

"Any chance that Mrs. Weasley will be there?" he asked, hoping to smooth things over with her.

"No," Remus sighed. "She's still pretty angry at how things worked out and also embarassed that she overreacted as much as she did. I think Arthur will try to join us for lunch but I'm not sure that he'll make it. If he doesn't, you'll probably not get the chance to see him before school starts."

"Right," Harry sighed, worried that he might never get the chance to apologize to Mrs. Weasley for what had happened because of the article in the Daily Prophet.

At that moment, the flames in the kitchen fire flared green. The head of Albus Dumbledore appeared there, his expression calm, eyes twinkling as they usually did.

"Everything is in order for your trip to Diagon Alley and Gringotts this morning and I hope that you enjoy your time away from Sirius' old home. Kingsley has thirty aurors doing a sweep for items that might prove dangerous to the wizarding community and we are convinced that Lord Voldemort will not cause problems today. Please let me know if you have any problems and use this portkey to return to No.12, Grimmauld Place if you sense any danger at all."

With this, the headmaster's hand appeared in the fire, holding a thin metal rod that was about a foot long.

"Got it," Remus said, ducking down to pluck the portkey from Professor Dumbledore's outstretched fingers.

"Very well," said the headmaster, smiling up at Harry. "Do be appropriately careful today."

"I will," Harry said, the anger that he might have felt at admonishments of this sort last year suppressed by the shame that twisted his insides at the cost of the mistakes that he had made the previous June.

"Excellent," Dumbledore said with a smile. "I will see you tomorrow evening for Occlumency practice and to make arrangements for our work and the Defense association this coming fall."

"OK," Harry said. "I think that I'm supposed to meet Fleur's cousin tomorrow to get everything set up for my family's estate, but I'm sure that she'll want to talk with Fleur and Bill too."

"Actually," Dumbledore said, a mischievous twinkle in his eye, "she will be meeting you as soon as you get to Fred and George's excellent shop. She decided to come early and will be part of your protection today as well as helping you to recover the documents that you will need to set your affairs in order."

"Great!" Harry groaned. "The last thing I need is to meet a full veela and talk about money when Ron and Hermione are around."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that too much," the headmaster said, eyes twinkling. "You know that Mister Weasley has had a very successful summer so he may not be as sensitive to his financial situation as he might have been in the past. Miss Stepanova knew that she could not safely travel Diagon Alley with you without suppressing her veela charms. There are potions that veela can take to suppress their effect when they must deal with witches and wizards and she has done so this morning so that you can get through the day before having to face her unprotected. She is still extremely beautiful, of course, but should have no more impact on you than Miss Delacour did at the beginning of your fourth year."

"Well," Harry said with a sigh, "at least I'll be prepared."

"I think that I should allow you to depart in order to keep from wasting all of the effort that Kingsley has gone to for you."

"Thanks for all that you did to let me go out today," Harry said, determined to express appreciation for the effort that Professor Dumbledore was taking on his behalf.

"I am glad that we were able to facilitate this for you. It is important that you maintain as normal a life as possible, difficult though that will be at times," Professor Dumbledore said, the twinkle temporarily leaving his sky blue eyes.

"Well, thanks for making this happen today," Harry repeated.

The headmaster nodded before turning his attention to Remus.

"Good luck today, and as always, feel free to contact me at the slightest indication of difficulty."

"Of course," Remus nodded in response to his instructions, "though I doubt that anything will happen."

"As do I," the Headmaster concurred, smiling. "But as you know well, preparation and readiness to respond to surprises is always necessary, particularly in times like these."

"Just so," Remus said, nodding.

"Have a wonderful time today," Professor Dumbledore said before withdrawing his head from the kitchen fire which quickly returned to its normal state.

"Well, we might as well be off," Remus said, extending the rod that Professor Dumbledore had given him to Harry.

"OK!" Harry said, worries about meeting cousin Katarina swept aside by the excitement that he felt at the prospect of seeing his friends for the first time in two months.

He reached out, touched the rod and felt the jerk behind his navel that he associated with travel by portkey. Moments later, he came to a halt with a terrific jolt, feet sliding out from under him in such a way as to make it impossible for him to miss falling into a huge pile of boxes.

*-*-*-

After a moment's shocked silence, Harry heard gals of laughter from nearly every direction. Knowing full well that Fred and George were waiting for him, he wasn't too surprised to hear it but he didn't have to join in, he thought petulantly.

"Oh, shut up!" Harry muttered, the pain from the lump that he knew would be growing on his head increasing his anger.

"Oh, but Harry," snickered one of the Weasley twins. "It was such a graceful entrance. We should be thankful..."

"...that you're much more graceful on your broom," the other twin said, still laughing uproariously.

Before the scene could deteriorate further, a strong yet slender hand reached down and pulled Harry to his feet. When he was fully sure of his balance he looked around and saw that he'd been rescued by an extremely tall, slender girl whose beauty had an ethereal quality, angelic in a way that Dudley would never be no matter how much Aunt Petunia said that he was her little angel.

"Uh, thanks," he muttered, now horribly embarassed that his graceless entrance had been seen by someone who was supposed to help him figure out what to do now that he was richer than the Dursleys could possibly imagine.

"I vas pleased do be of help," the girl said, her accent much like Viktor Krumm's had been.

"Uh, I suppose that you're Fleur's cousin?"

"Yes," she said, changing her grip from that of a rescuer to a hand shake.

"Katarina Stepanova."

"Uh, hi," Harry said, surprised that other than being embarassed by his gracelessness, there was no effect from Katarina's veela charm. "Harry Potter, and its nice to meet you, and thanks for being willing to help me figure out what to do with my family's stuff."

"No vorries," she replied with a dazzling smile. "I help my family with zeir assets. Vith all you're having to vor through, I'm glad to help you vith this."

"Uh, well...thanks anyway," Harry said, wishing that the conversation would come to a close. Unfortunately for him, the Weasley twins were happy to grant his wish.

"Our financier is growing up," Gred, or Forge, said, a tear sliding down his cheek.

"And how!" the other said, leering.

"Be sure to get us hooked up with your financial adviser if you're not in need of her time," the first said before Alicia Spinnet hit him in the back of the head.

Harry, knowing that this must be Fred, glared at him before his attention was distracted by Ron and Hermione who came rushing into the storeroom where he and Remus had landed.

"Harry!!!" Hermione cried, rushing to wrap him in a tight hug. Harry returned it awkwardly, surprised that Hermione's bushy hair didn't cover his face this year. Much as he'd been distracted by other things last year, it was something of a shock to realize that he was now almost a head taller than his bushy-haired friend.

"How's it hanging mate?" Ron asked, grinning.

"Great!" Harry said, clapping his best mate on the shoulder.

"How're you doing?" he asked, looking forward to hearing about Ron's summer.

"I'm great!" Ron crowed, grin growing ever wider. "I told you that Fred and George had me on around here and I've done loads of stuff. Business, charms, even potions can be interesting if you learn them from someone whose not a total git and of course the money that I've made hasn't hurt either."

"Better not let Snape or Flitwick hear that," Harry said with a grin.

"Well, Flitwick isn't too bad but since I can't take N.E.W.T. potions I really don't care what Snape hears or doesn't. Being shot of that greasy git is another reason to be happy so far as I'm concerned," Ron said happily.

"Oh, Ron," Hermione said in obvious disgust. "If you'd worked harder last year you might have gotten into N.E.W.T. potions."

"Well," Ron snorted. "The one thing that this summer's taught me is that there are lots of ways to make something of yourself that are as good as being an auror. It would have been cool and if I get the chance to do it I will, but I've got some other things to think on now that would pay better for sure."

"Hmmph!" Hermione said, obviously unable to respect Ron's choices.

"Well!" Remus said, stepping in before Ron and Hermione could continue their row. "We've got about four hours before the aurors' sweep is over and lots to get done."

"Right," chorused Harry and Hermione, Ron voicing his agreement a couple of seconds later.

"So, Gringotts first?" Remus asked, glancing at Katarina.

"Yes," she said, moving to stand at Harry's right hand. "Ve von't need much time today, just enough to get some spending money and titles for Potter trust. Harry vill need a magical trunk for copies of papers and other documents that Gringotts should have ven ve get there."

"Good," Hermione said with a smile. "I'd hate to have to spend too much time at Gringotts when there's so much new reading to buy."

"You may need lots of time at Flourish and Blotts," Ron said, "but personally I'm planning to get in some time at Quality Quidditch Supplies. Whadaya say, Harry?"

"Yeah," Harry said with a grin. "Sounds really good to me."

"Oh, good," a voice said from behind Ron. "I need your advice getting a new broomstick."

"Hello, Ginny," Harry said with a grin. "I'm sure that this lot will be happy to help you but if you want me to put in a word too, it's no problem."

"Well," Ginny said, moving around so that Harry could see her under Ron's elbow. "They're good of course but you're not one of them and I trust you to put me right."

"Trust him over us?" Fred said, horrified.

"And after all the kindness we showed you this summer too," George agreed, shaking his head.

"If you think being your prime tester has been a kindness," Ginny said with disgust, "you should get your heads examined."

"But you..."

"...offered to do it."

"Sure," Ginny said with a smirk, "and made twice as much as Ron did too. But just because I offered doesn't mean that you shouldn't have warned me about what I'd be put through."

"Where's the fun in that?" George asked, innocently.

"Everywhere, for you at least," Ginny said flatly.

Before their discussion could gather more momentum, Alicia posed a question that Harry knew he should have thought of after his training on tactics and strategy.

"Since all of you have different things to take care of, should Harry, Remus, Katarina and me stay at Gringotts while the rest of you go to the book store?"

"Good idea," Fred and George chimed in stereo.

"Harry can deal with his money while Hermione..."

"...gets started on her reading."

"OK," Harry said, glad that Ron would not learn just how much he'd inherited. "Can you take my book list and I'll pay you back?" he asked Hermione, who took his letter from him.

That settled, the group headed through Fred and George's shop, waving at Lee Jordan and Angelina Johnson who were in charge of it until the twins could return.

"Don't worry," Remus said, seeing Harry's desire to look at the amazing products, many of which he'd never seen before. "We'll have some time at the end of the day to look around and make sure that you're well supplied for the school year."

"Now, that is the sign of a true marauder," Fred said with a happy sigh.

"He's signed on to help with product development..." George concurred.

"...given us..." Fred said,

"...more ideas than we'd thought possible," George agreed.

"...things that we'd..."

"...never have thought of."

Harry smiled, glad that Remus had something to do that might bring a little bit of money in for him.

*-*-*-

A few minutes later, the party reached Gringotts where it divided into two groups. One, consisting of Harry, Remus, Alicia and Katarina moved toward a desk that was raised above the rest of the service area. Meanwhile, the Weasleys and Hermione went to exchange muggle money and then make a trip to the twins' vault.

When Harry arrived at the raised service desk, the goblin who sat there looked up with a smile that Harry would almost have described as friendly.

"Your business?" he asked curt, but not nearly as cold as most of the goblins that Harry had talked with before.

"I'm Harry Potter and I was told to come here to get some papers relating to my family's accounts."

"Key, please?"

Harry dug in his pockets, quickly extracting the small silver key that gave him access to the money that his parents had left for him.

The goblin gave it an unusually close look before rising from his chair.

"Please come with me, Mr. Potter" he said, while stepping down from the platform and heading toward one of the many doors that lined the walls of the spacious atrium.

Only a moment after they passed through the door Harry realized that this must be the secure section of Gringotts' business floor. Armed goblins stood every few feet with armoured goblins standing to either side of every door that they passed-even a place that Harry thought might be a loo.

The small party hastened down this corridor and turned right, stopping in front of an impressive oak door with signs in English and Gobbledegook. The sign in English said:

Zaphook

Vice President for Endowments, Inheritances and Trusts

"One moment, please," said the goblin before disappearing through the door into the spacious office that Harry saw when the goblin whose name he still didn't know, entered it.

A moment later, the door opened and the goblin who had brought them to Vice President Zaphook's office beckoned them in.

Harry could barely keep himself from gasping once they crossed the threshold. The office had dark wood panelling with accents that he thought must be made of solid gold and silver. Lighting was provided by candles contained in clear crystal flues whose expense was obvious from the purity of the light that pass through them. The chairs were made of teak and were also inlaid with gold. There was no question in Harry's mind of the importance of this goblin.

Harry's amazement at the opulence of the room only grew when he realized that this was only Zaphook's outer office. The inner office to which they were conducted directly was even more impressive, with rose marble floors and a desk topped with black marble. There was an impressive set of gold ink wells and quill holder on the desk and Harry thought he saw gold handles on the desk's drawers too.

"Good morning, Mr. Potter," said the large goblin who sat behind the desk.

"I am Zaphook, Vice President for Endowments, Inheritances and Trusts here at Gringotts London. Your family's accounts are some of the largest and longest standing in the entire Gringotts system, and I have been overseeing them directly since shortly after your parents' death. I know that you've retained Miss Stepanova as your financial adviser and our bank looks forward to cooperating with both of you in pursuit of your needs."

"Uh, thanks," said Harry, not totally sure how he should act in these wholly unfamiliar circumstances.

"Headmaster Dumbledore has contacted me and asked me to prepare the necessary records and documents for Ms. Stepanova. I have had copies of all of the titles, stock certificates, muggle bonds and other assets that your family controls drawn up," Zaphook said. "Do you have the accounting of your family's current property and other assets that was sent to you shortly after the death of your godfather?"

"Uh, yes," Harry said, withdrawing the parchment from the pocket that he usually carried his wand in.

"Good," Zaphook said, after considering it. "Your financial situation is very good as compared with most wizarding families because Gringotts has been unusually conservative with your portfolio. Though this is not normal for our bank, we were directed to be so by your grandfather and your father chose not to change these orders when he gained control of your family's accounts. As a result, your assets did not grow very rapidly during the 1980s but with the recent market disaster, you are comparatively well off financially as you have not suffered significant losses of late whereas most wizarding families have lost up to 40% of their net assets since the reappearance of the wizard who styles himself Lord Voldemort."

While Harry was being given this briefing, another goblin that he didn't know hurried to a corner safe. The goblin opened it by drawing his finger across the door, much as Griphook had done when accessing the vault in which the sorcerer's stone had lain.

When the door opened, Zaphook's assistant withdrew an impressive stack of parchments that he handed to his boss who looked through it before handing it to Harry.

"Those are magically bonded documents which show the current state of every asset you have whether monetary or material. Gringotts Bank will be pleased to work with you and your financial adviser on matters such as repairs to the cottage at Godric's Hollow and upkeep on Potter's promenade."

"Potter's Promenade?" Harry asked, not knowing what that might be.

"Potter's Promenade," Remus said, correcting Harry's pronunciation, "is your family's manor."

"Oh," Harry said.

"I vill need to see vat has been done before Harry enters any contracts."

"Of course," Zaphook said with a small nod in her direction. "Professor Dumbledore asked that either you or Mr. Lupin assist Mr. Potter with the documents realating to his ancestral titles and interests since Gringotts Bank would face a conflict of interest in advising him on some of those."

"Wery vell." Katarina said, riffling through the documents as if searching for one in particular. "I vill have to contact you vith further questions once I have been able to study vat is herre."

"I shall, of course, be pleased to be of assistance."

"Zen ve should leave you to your vork." Katarina said with a nod.

"Quite so," the goblin agreed. "Should you have any questions, feel free to owl me directly." Zaphook said, looking at Harry and Katarina.

"Uh, thanks," Harry said, still overwhelmed by the size of the stack of parchments that was disappearing into Katarina's attaché case.

"Well!" Remus said cheerily once they had returned to the atrium. "We should go to get your money now, and then catch up with the rest so that you can get your shopping done."

"OK," said Harry, still overwhelmed by all that he had heard and seen. "Should I go on my own or with everyone?"

Remus frowned, surveying their group. "The carts are pretty small for four, so why don't you, Katarina and me go down. Alicia, do you mind heading off for Flourish and Blotts now?"

"No problem," she said with a nod. "I should probably get over there to make sure that the twins aren't causing too much trouble."

"Excellent," Remus said, happily. "We'll catch you up as soon as we get back from the Potter family vault."

Before Harry, Katarina and Remus could enter one of the long lines that straggled away from the main service counter, the goblin who had taken them to Zaphook's office was at their side.

"You need to go to your vault?" he asked, friendly attitude still in place.

"Uh, yes," Harry said, surprised by the attention that he was getting.

The goblin gestured them toward the entrance to the vaults' tram system. "I will take you to the tracks myself and there will be a cart waiting for you. In future, please feel free to take advantage of the services of the priority counter. You are now one of Gringotts' ten largest account holders and get special services because of that."

"Oh," Harry said, very glad that Ron didn't know about this.

Moments later, they were hurtling along the track, a goblin driver taking them along a route that seemed somehow different from the one that Harry had been on before. For one thing, they didn't pass the huge underground lake that he remembered from his first trip.

"Aren't we going the wrong way," he asked, loudly.

"No!" Remus shouted back, fingers clenched on the bars at the side of the cart. "Now that you've got access to your family's vault, you'll go there for everything you need."

"Right," Harry said, only now realizing that millions of galleons probably couldn't fit in his parents' vault.

They finally slid to a stop in front of vault 793. Their driver stepped from the cart, passed his finger over the vault door and as had happened with Professor Flammell's vault, the door simply melted away. This vault was crammed with mountains of gold galleons, stacks of paper, shelves of books and racks of carefully wrapped items that Harry thought might be portraits or other kinds of art.

"Wow," Harry gasped, shocked by the amount of money and other valuable things that lay before him.

"Well, Harry," Remus said with a laugh. "Your family was one of the wealthiest in Britain before Lord Voldemort attacked them right after we graduated from Hogwarts. You'll have to talk with Katarina about all of this but I think your estate still holds the sole right to profits from the manufacture of the golden snitch and James said that a lot of your family's money came from a long standing interest in cauldron manufacture and the Nimbus Broom Company."

Harry, angry that he hadn't learned all of these things earlier, almost snapped at Remus before realizing that it was his fault for not knowing about his family's business interests. After all, Hermione had probably known about them before their first year and could have told him about them if he'd asked her.

"So we're just supposed to get money today?" Harry asked, glancing at Katarina.

"Yes," she nodded. "Ve hav documents that I need to help you and this is family goods."

"Right," Harry said, reaching into one of the piles of galleons in front of him. Having your hands on vast amounts of money that someone is helping you to manage should get you to think about the person who is assisting you. Harry, being more polite than the Dursleys could ever have guessed, realized that Katarina had skills that she was offering and supposed that he should offer to pay her for her help, but how does one bring up something like that when others are present?

Having no better idea, he simply decided to ask and let someone help him with better ways to handle things later.

"Uh, should I be getting something to pay you for all of your help?" he asked, looking at Katarina's case and thinking about all of the papers that it held.

"No," Katarina smiled. "Delacour family finances take me wery little time now. Fleur and Professor Dumbledore asked me to do favour and after she told me vat you did for her and her sister two years ago I vas happy to help."

Harry, embarassed that an action that he still thought of as incredibly stupid might lead to such a favour, thought seriously about trying to force Katarina to accept some kind of payment for her help. But he quickly realized that one didn't respond to favours by continuing to try to pay for things that were freely offered and decided that Katarina would ask for money if his finances were harder to manage than she expected.

Money bag now clinking with gold, Harry stood back and their goblin driver waved at the vault door which reappeared in front of them.

After another wild ride, they were outside of Gringotts.