It had all began the previous year. Keeping his promise; Headmaster Dumbledore had personally tutored Harry in the obscure art of Occlumency. Still struggling with the concept of clearing his mind Harry and Hermione had hit upon the idea of doing the opposite. Of cluttering his mind with senseless but harmful images. Packing his mind with all the thoughts and feelings of pain and despair that Harry could stand he threw it at the headmaster as he crept into Harry’s mind. To Harry’s complete surprise this seemed to work, catching Dumbledore in the painful web of memories from both the Dursleys and Voldemort. Harry slipped past the Headmasters crumbling defences and searched eagerly for any memories of his elusive parents.
He didn’t have to look far.
Quickly finding an echo of a memory, Harry found himself watching as Dumbledore swore to find a happy home for Harry should anything happen to his parents, another scene where Dumbledore presided over the Fidelius Charm, designating Peter Pettigrew as the Secret Keeper. A third showed Dumbledore bribing a goblin to allow Dumbledore access to a series of vaults. The last image shocked Harry so much he found himself thrown back into his own head.
He had seen Ron Weasley taking money from the Headmaster.
--
Hermione had not been surprised. “Honestly Harry, after his performance during fourth year I always wondered why you stayed friends with him, and why he came crawling back. His jealousy is just too much for someone who is supposed to be a friend.”
“I thought you liked him.” Harry mumbled feebly.
“No Harry, I argue with him because he’s a narrow minded fool. Ronald Weasley is the bane of my life and the only reason I haven’t outright hexed him is because he was your friend.”
“Oh.” Harry sat, head bent as his mind struggled to make sense of his thoughts. Thinking back over the six years of friendship he had had with the youngest male Weasley he suddenly realised that he had only kept his friendship because Draco Malfoy had told him he wasn’t worth it. Prior to Hogwarts Harry would never have been so easily manipulated, he had always thought all of his actions through because to not do so frequently resulted in dire consequences. It occurred to him that making a friend purely because someone he disliked made a comment was foolish. “What should I do Hermione?”
“For a start you can get yourself out of this funk you have been in since Snuffles died, stop pretending to be the Gryffindor Golden Boy and start being you. I know you are smarter then you act, I’ve seen the notations and corrections you have made on my essays when you were supposed to be copying them. Then we are going to do some research.”
“I don’t think the answer to my problems is going to be in a book.” He told her dismissively.
“Not your Voldemort ones perhaps, but you have more problems then that. First we are going to see what the law is regarding the press. You don’t need another situation like that in fourth year.”
“Sounds fair, I want to be able to clear Sirius’ name as well, I know it’s too late for him, but I don’t want his friends to have to hide that fact.”
“Right, make sure to keep up your friendship with Ron as well. We don’t want anyone suspecting anything until we have all the facts. Then you can make informed decisions.” Hermione turned her attention back to her transfigurations homework.
“Hermione.”
“Yes Harry?” she asked absently.
“I do love you, you know that right?” his voice was tentative, almost as if he was scared admitting the emotion would cause him pain.
“Yes Harry, I do.” She told him gently. “Now get some work done.”
--
The next few weeks of the school year flew by quickly, Harry continued using his new defence during Occlumency lessons and the headmaster quickly informed him that he was doing well and needed no more lessons. Hermione had contacted her parents and convinced them to purchase two mobile telephones, to be reimbursed by Harry when he managed to access his vault. With the help of the Weasley twins and some judicious lying they managed to procure two linked notebooks that would allow them to share their observations and which Hermione charmed to open only for themselves.
Then they watched and waited.
And the lies began to unravel before their eyes.
--
The first shock came one evening when Harry and Hermione were ensconced at the back of the library in the rarely visited ‘magical traditions and customs’ section. They were discussing any further reasons Ron might have for taking money from the headmaster when they heard the high nasal tones of Draco Malfoy seeping through the book stacks.
“Father says the Ministry will be able to take full control of Potters inheritance once he reaches seventeen, he won’t get a Knut.” You could almost touch the glee in the Slytherin Prefects voice.
“He still doesn’t know he has to claim his inheritance before then?” an unknown male asked.
“No, that fool, Dumbledore, hasn’t told him. And he would never look it up on his own. With the cut my father is getting we will be the richest Family in the Wizengamot.”
The other voice mumbled something causing Malfoy to laugh.
“I always heard Potter Place was a fairly nice pile, wonder if I could convince my father to purchase it.” There was an almost insane tone of amusement in the child’s voice.
The two boys walked off, their voices slowly fading from view.
“Hermione?” completely bewildered Harry asked the only person who would give him answers.
“I’ve no idea Harry. I never really looked into the laws regarding pure-bloods, just muggleborns. I think we need to revise our plans a little.” She told him, obviously regretting missing the subject.
Changing their focus slightly Hermione and Harry included the rights of purebloods and muggleborns, especially with reference to the ministry and Gringotts Bank.
“Harry?”
“Yes Hermione?”
“Have you got your key?” she asked him, a little too casually.
“The one for Gringotts? No, I gave Mrs. Weasley it summer before fourth year, but it was never returned, I keep asking for it but the Headmaster is always distracting me, why?”
“Ok, repeat after me ‘volo meus key’” she told him, sounded a touch smug.
“Volo meus key” he repeated and before Harry’s eyes a vaguely familiar brass key appeared on the table in front of him.
“Now say ‘tribuo mihi a edition’”
“Tribuo mihi a edition” a large scroll appeared next to the key. Picking it up Harry was amazed to find a bank statement listing all the transactions he had ever made. And a few he hadn’t.
“Err, Hermione?” Harry asked tentatively.
“What is it Harry?” She asked her head bent over the book again.
“There’s a lot of withdrawals here I haven’t made.”
“Like what?” Hermione asked curiously.
“It says here I withdrew 400 galleons in October 1989, I never even knew about the account then, and here is another 500 galleons in January 1994, the transfers are erratic, but most of them are either from when I was in school or before I started Hogwarts. Hermione, the headmaster had my key before I was at Hogwarts and I only had it my third year.” His voice trailed off as the reality of his situation began to sink in.
“It says in this book.” She showed him the title ‘Banking for Humans’ “that only the people you give the key to willingly can make a withdrawal. Did you ever willingly give anyone the key?”
“I gave Mrs. Weasley the key summer before fourth year so she could get our stuff while I was the Quidditch World Cup but I haven’t even seen the key since.”
“Unfortunately according to the by-laws of Gringotts, since you gave her the key willingly and never invoked the right to recall it like you did earlier you have probably lost that money for good. The withdrawals before that I’m not so certain about, especially the ones from before you even knew you had a key.”
The mood turned sombre as Harry worked out that he had been defrauded out of over ten thousand galleons over his life span. That was more then fifty thousand pounds. Much of it during the time he had been living with the Dursleys under the impression that he had nothing in the world and was worth even less.
Snarling in anger Harry grabbed the key, not noticing that his vice-like grip meant he would have the shape of the key bruised into his hand as he pushed his chair back violently and stormed out the room.
Straight into Professor Snape.
Elegantly arching one eyebrow, Snape studied his unruly student, the barely simmering anger and flustered look were a common occurrence with Potter, however the brass key and Gringotts Statement were not.
“Potter!” he snarled “While many of your fans may be thrilled with the relatively infinitesimal progress you have made towards grasping the realities of life that your understandably small brain has made, some of us do not appreciate the saviour of the wizarding world attempting to cause them grievous bodily harm.” he paused for either a breath, or knowing the Potions Master, dramatic effect. “Please direct your pitifully miniscule amount of righteous anger towards the appropriate parties.” The dour man turned to carry on his way before throwing silkily over his shoulder “Oh, and Mr. Potter, detention, tonight at 8pm. I wouldn’t be late.”
“Yes sir.” Harry managed to choke out as he considered what his second arch-nemesis had told him. Did that mean Snape knew? And didn’t approve? It seemed so to Harry; why else would he virtually order him to take his bad mood out on the people responsible. Even going so far as to tell him he wasn’t angry enough! For heavens sake the man was a spy, he must have noticed the Gringotts seal and the brass key in his hand.
Turning he walked quickly back to the library, mindful that Snape was in the area and Harry did not want to be caught running by the greasy git after such an easy escape.
“Hermione!” he gasped when he eventually made it back to the table. “I just bumped into Snape and-“
“Harry Potter! You can not afford another detention! Not to mention the fact that if you lose anymore house points the other Gryffindors will lynch you. How are we going to get all this studying done if you keep getting detentions.” seeing Hermione about to wind herself up into a full rant Harry quickly interrupted.
“I didn’t lose house points Hermione, it was really strange, he just sneered at me and told me to direct my aggression else where, he scared me a bit to be honest.”
“How did he scare you?” Hermione asked curiously
“He was, almost, nice. Well kind of.” Harry paused for a moment “He was nice for Snape.” He clarified.
Hermione carefully marked her place before sitting up straight “You better tell me all about it.”
“Well, I bumped in to him like I was telling you, and instead of giving me detention he started insulting me, only instead of the ‘your as arrogant as your father, your godfather is a murderer’ nonsense he usually spouts he told me I wasn’t angry enough and to take my bad mood out on the people responsible for it.” Thinking deeply for a moment Harry continued “I think he complemented me on finally getting it as well” Harry paused again, his confusion evident. “Then he gave me detention.” He added finally, hoping to slip it by Hermione.
He looked up at Hermione to find her staring at him in shock before she burst out laughing. “He really can’t do something nice for someone can he? Although he is right, you should direct your anger in a more focused way. Instead of blaming yourself for your mistakes Harry, you need to realise that if you had been given the correct information then you wouldn’t have been in half the situations you have been.”
“What do you mean?” Harry gulped the guilt over his many failures still present in his mind.
“Well take the whole Sirius situation, yes, you could have looked in the mirror and talked to Sirius that way. But the real problem was that no-one told you why Occlumency was so important, Dumbledore didn’t share his concerns that Voldemort might send you false dreams, Sirius should have been more, well, serious and Snape was an arse – although after what you just said I am wondering what exactly is going on there.”
“How do you mean?” still focused on the idea of Snape giving detention as an afterthought and not deducting points, Harry was struggling to make any kind of sense from his actions.
“I just think it’s a bit strange that he would say that. Going by his normal behaviour he would have yelled at you for being as dangerous as your godfather, as arrogant as your father, taken fifty house points and set a weeks worth of detention.”
“True.” Harry conceded.
“Did he notice the key and statement?” she mused almost to herself.
“I’m almost positive; he looked me up and down, in that way he has that makes you feel more worthless then the sting on a blast-ended skrewt. He must have noticed; it wasn’t like I was trying to hide it.” Harry paused for a moment “maybe he didn’t notice it, because I wasn’t trying to hide it, you never know with him.”
“It seems to me that he may have realised what was going on and that was why he was lenient. I need to think more on this, Snape has never really been personal about you.”
“What! Everything between me and Snape has been personal, since that first lesson!”
“No it hasn’t Harry; he insults The-Boy-Who-Lived and the son of his greatest enemy – not Harry, the guy who forgets to tuck his shirt in, or Harry, the Hogwarts Bacon Champion.” Hermione explained patiently.
“I’d never thought of it like that.” Harry confessed quietly, as he quickly thought through many of his confrontations with Snape.
“Do you think he’s jealous?” he asked quietly.
“Jealous?” Hermione replied, for once at a complete loss.
“Not of the whole Voldemort is after my head thing, but because he’s been fighting the death eaters for so long and gets nothing but reviled for it, where as I’m famous for something I barely remember and may not have anything to do with me at all.”
“I’m not sure.” She admitted slowly “it’s possible I suppose. It would explain why his vitriol is focused on The-Boy-Who-Lived avatar and the fact that your James Potters son.”
The two descended into silence as they considered the possible motives their disillusioned Potions Master may have.
Several days later Harry was relaxing in the Gryffindor Common room, pretending to read a Quidditch book while really reading one on the history of the wizarding world that he had ‘borrowed’ from Professor Binns when Hermione burst into the common room, waving her arms excitedly she ran to Harry.
“You will never guess what I have found Harry!” she gasped, failing to notice Ron in her excitement.
“I don’t think Harry really cares Hermione,” Ron told her condescendingly “homework can wait a bit. Can’t it mate?” Ron turned to Harry, waiting for him to agree.
“It’ll just take a minute Ron, I’ll be back shortly.” Harry threw a look at Ron, trying to send him the message to not upset Hermione. In truth Ron’s constant company was seriously beginning to annoy Harry. Every time he attempted to study or research Ron would be there, asking about Quidditch or the DA or some other thing that could wait.
“What is it Hermione?” Harry asked once they were in a deserted classroom.
Instead of answering him Hermione quickly began casting the strongest silencing and privacy charms she could. For good measure she added the counter charms Fred and George had shown her for their extendable ears.
“Is that necessary?” Harry asked curiously.
“I don’t think we should talk about this anymore without them.” She told him seriously “I think I have found out what Malfoy was waffling on about. You are not going to be happy.” She handed him an old dusty book.
In 1476 the ministry of magic forced legislation through the crumbling Wizards Council stating that if a Family was no longer able to produce an heir, either by magic or blood then the Families possessions would pass to the Ministry. To appease the opposition it was agreed that the cut off point would be seventeen, allowing the current heir or Head of the family to designate an heir apparent. Since this time there have only been two incidences of this law being pressed into use. On these occasions both the heir apparent and the Head of the Family have died within a relatively small time of each other before a new heir could be named, or the family possessions formally claimed.
As the Ministry of Magic was never ratified by the Leader of the Wizards Council, Lord Slytherin, due to the apparent demise of this Family, there is no binding magic regarding the Family Title. As such there are several Heads of Families without their hereditary lands and possessions.
“Lord Slytherin? What does Salazar Slytherin have to do with this? And what’s the Wizards Council? I think you better explain Hermione.” Harry sat back, confused as to why any of this would apply to him.
“You really don’t know anything do you Harry?” Hermione asked him, her voice concerned with a hint of pity, ignoring his scowl she continued. “I better explain everything; you must have been asleep when Professor Binns was discussing it. There are one hundred magical Families, known as The Ton. Each Family has a Head of House; some of these are genuine Nobility, in the muggle world as well as the magical. The others would be known as landed gentry, the upper class. Your Family for example have a title; apparently one of you ancestors did something to impress one of the Earls of Slytherin.”
“Hermione, please, you need to explain everything.” Harry told her, exasperated.
“Sorry Harry, okay, your ancestor was made a Baron sometime in the past. Each of these Families have a seat on the Wizards Council, which traditionally ruled the wizarding world. The highest ranking Noble has always lead the council, ever since the Monarchy descended into a line of squibs. The leader is chosen by the Ritual of the Chosen. Ever since the last Lord Slytherin disappeared the Ritual has refused to name a successor. There is a lot of speculation that the line of Slytherin never died out.”
“But surely Voldemort could have claimed the seat?” Harry asked, the confusion easing slightly, despite Hermione’s textbook answer.
“I’m not sure, it certainly hints at the possibility that he is not one hundred per cent certain of his ancestry.”
“So without Lord Slytherin the Council is powerless?”
“Yes, it seems a century after the last Lord Slytherin claimed his inheritance the Council became stagnant, unable to pass any new laws or repeal the old and made the decision to have an interim body, the Ministry of Magic until a new Lord Slytherin was found. Because the Ministry is only an interim body, it is unable to repeal any of the old laws, however they can, and frequently do, bastardise them, twisting them from their original purpose, as with the case with the Laws of Precedence.”
“So why did Dumbledore not tell me that I was risking my parents entire legacy?”
“I’m not certain, although I have a hunch that the vault the Ministry would have got its hands on would have been a lot less crowded then it currently is. He definitely knew, as the head of an old Family himself he would have had to formally claim his own inheritance.” She trailed off as she let Harry process the information she has just given him. “Harry, I think he might have been planning on telling you that that it was a plan by the ministry and he had thought on your behalf and saved as many of your possessions as he could.”
“And I would have trusted him even more then I did.” Harry admitted softly.
“There’s one more thing Harry.” She added quietly.
“What’s that?” he asked curiously.
“Ron knew…” she told him “He had to; he’s the youngest son of a Family. He would have known all his life about the law, just in case anything happened to his brothers.”
As the two teenagers took down their privacy wards and exited the room a dark figure emerged from the dark shadows. They were catching on quicker then he thought but not fast enough. Mentally reminding himself to award points to Mr. Nott for leading Malfoy into the conversation the two Gryffindors had overheard the dark figure headed for the dank dungeons, trying to figure out how else to help his two unaware pupils without betraying his oath.
--
Thrown by the new information Harry threw himself into his extra curricular studying. However there were few books in the library that covered the wizarding peerage, the Wizards Council or even the rights of a Head of Family. Harry was seriously beginning to suspect a conspiracy.
As always, Hermione came to his rescue.
“I’ve ordered a couple of books from Flourish and Botts Harry.” She told him one evening “I refuse to believe there are no books at all regarding the Wizards Council. I found something about the press as well. From what I can tell The Daily Prophet has been acting illegally these past few years by printing information regarding a minor. We’ll have to check with a solicitor, but it seems the wizarding world has the advantage over the muggle one for once. They have quite astute laws regarding the privacy of an individual. You can probably sue them for so much money they’ll end up having to sell.”
“Really? Hermione, I need you to find out who is the best solicitor at the moment, I don’t care how much they cost. Any books you buy can be paid from my account as well; after all you are doing this to help me.”
“Are you sure?” Hermione asked, surprised at Harry’s decision.
“Definitely, you’re doing this to help me, I want to make sure you have all the resources you need.” Harry told her, surprising them both with how certain he was on the subject. “It’s not just that Hermione, I’ve been thinking about what you said, when we first found out. I need to be me. I have spent far too long trying to meet the expectations of the wizarding world and all it’s brought me is heartbreak, betrayal and unhappiness. It’s time to hit back.”
“I don’t really know what to say.” Hermione told him pleased he had finally decided to take control of his life. “No matter what happens, I want you to know I am there for you. You’re more then a friend to me Harry. You’re as close to a brother I could ever ask for.” Hermione pulled Harry close, hugging him tightly, trying to show him how much she cared. Uncomfortable Harry patted her on the back and wondered silently how he could escape his overly emotional friend.
Stifling a sob Hermione pulled back from Harry’s arms and gave him a weak smile “Sorry about that,” she told him guiltily “I didn’t mean to lose control.”
“Don’t worry about it Hermione, we all get like that sometimes.” Giving her a crooked smile Harry desperately tried to think of a way to get off the subject. “Have you found anything else out?”
“I found out that the Headmaster committed a hugely illegal act by placing you with the Dursleys. Apparently there are hundreds of laws ensuring that wizard born children will only be adopted by other wizards. The best part is that because the Dursleys never formally adopted you, you were emancipated automatically on your sixteenth birthday.”
“And no-one thought to tell me? Bloody typical” Harry groused unable to become any angrier then he already was.
“You know what that means don’t you?” Hermione asked him uncertainly.
“Yes, it means I could have been free of them a year ago. Hermione, for idle curiosities sake, can you look into blood wards for me? Something isn’t adding up. From what I can remember Dumbledore telling me at the end of last year, it meant that Voldemort couldn’t hurt me, or even touch me. Yet he still managed to mastermind several plots and even directly order Wormtail to harm me.”
“I’ll look into it for you Harry.” Hermione promised “it doesn’t just mean that though. It means you are emancipated in the wizarding world, you have been able to cast magic outside of school since your birthday last year.”
“I-“ Harry stopped for a moment, then a smirk Severus Snape himself would be proud of crossed his face. “Are you up to a little outing Hermione?” He asked the eagerness almost palpable.
“What kind of an outing?” she replied, the hesitation present in her voice. She had never experienced this side of Harry, and knowing what he could do when in a pissed-off mood she was understandable wary of a smirking Harry Potter.
“I just want to check a few details. You passed your apparition didn’t you? You up to a little side-along apparition?”
“I supposed.” She agreed hesitantly, already regretting her decision.
“Let’s go then.” He told her, pulling her towards one of the tunnels into Hogsmede.
--
“What are we doing here Harry?” Hermione asked, completely thrown by their presence in Privet Drive.
“I just want to check something. If I could cast magic last year and the Headmaster didn’t tell me that kind of implies that he’s got some kind of wards or tracking device set either on either the property or me. Otherwise he would not know if I had cast any spells. And if he has, well let’s just say that I am not going to be reconciling with him or the Order of the Phoenix any time soon.” His face grim, Harry stopped on the pavement in front of Number 4. “Okay Hermione, you remember the ward revealing charm we covered last week? Just go over it with me a few times before I try it.”
“But what if the wards are on you?” Hermione asked, frightened that Harry might get in trouble with the Ministry.
“If he has put charms on me, he would take them off during the school year; otherwise he would get a headache all the time. It makes more sense for them to be on the property. When I’m not here I’m normally at The Burrow or HQ.”
Recognising the logic her friend was making Hermione slipped into scholar mode and spent several minutes with Harry going over the charm.
Once he was confident he could cast the charm Harry concentrated on the house, and cast the charm. Waiting to see what wards came up. A flash of pale red confirmed the blood-bond Dumbledore cast on his aunt and him. A second flash of white confirmed a monitoring charm.
Shaking with anger Harry turned back towards Hermione. “Take us back Hermione.” He commanded her quietly.
Taking in her friend’s demeanour Hermione quickly took them back to Hogsmede and from there to Hogwarts. Settling in a deserted classroom she turned to Harry. “Well, are you going to explain?” she demanded.
“He’s put a type of monitoring charm on the house, and judging by the colour of the blood-bond that isn’t too powerful either. I wish I could find out how it worked.” Harry sighed in exasperation.
“Harry. I think we need to collate what we know in those notebooks we bought. We still haven’t used them and I feel like my heads going to explode. Then we need to make some firm plans. At the moment the way I see it you have two options. You can stay at The Dursleys or you can leave.”
“I’m leaving.” Harry told her firmly “there is no reason for me to stay any longer.”
“Okay, then you’ve got another decision to make. Are you going to leave at the beginning of summer or after your birthday?”
“I believe I’ll go back to number 4. After a few choice words I’ll go to Gringotts and sort out some money and look into renting somewhere. I’ll let you know the details when I have something sorted.”
“And Ron?” Hermione asked curiously.
“I think my friendship with Ron will remain the same for now, although I think I’ll be distancing myself slowly. Until I find out exactly what’s going on I’d rather not do anything I might regret.”
“Seems fair to me, now, onto more important things. I need some help with the essay Professor Snape has set…”
--
The remaining few weeks passed quickly, Harry and Hermione researched thoroughly. Although they didn’t discover any further betrayals they did find lots of information that would help Harry in his revenge. The true reason behind Ron’s betrayal remained hidden, but Harry hoped it would become clear soon. At the very least he would like to know the true reason behind it, even if their friendship was not recoverable.
However, in the true tradition of Hogwarts strange things were happening, books would randomly turn up, all of them relevant to their searches. Some even opened new lines of thoughts, especially one concerning the rights and privileges of the nobility. Called the Rights of Precedence they dictated everything from seating arrangements, to modes of address and dress codes. It even contained the standard wizarding will. Apparently witches and wizards incorporated certain phrases in their important documents to insure that they cannot be tampered with. The standard text included reference to a ‘secondary guardian’ for orphaned children. His curiosity captured Harry researched this role, idly wondering if his parents had enacted one for him and if they had who it was. His research told him that the Secondary Guardian would act as an advisor for the child, managing his finances and training him to take over the reins as he came of age. As part of this most orphaned children were emancipated after taking their OWL qualifications to ensure that they were adequately protected.
Both Harry and Hermione absorbed the information. Harry as it was relevant to his situation in rank and, would hopefully, win him allies in his fight with both the ministry and Dumbledore; Hermione, because it was new information that she had not been made privy to previously. Quietly ordering a copy of the Rights themselves Hermione spent an inconceivably long time cross-referencing all the rights that would be relevant before writing them out in their notebook for easy reference.
Almost before they could blink the term had ended and Harry was completing his normal end of term rituals. He visited the headmaster and made his normal pleas to visit The Burrow as soon as possible, had his last fight with Malfoy, gave his goodbyes to Hagrid and told Hedwig to go to Hermione for the summer and Hermione would send her to him when it was safe.
Then they boarded the scarlet Hogwarts express with the normal end of term madness that accompanied several hundred children returning home for the summer months. The journey passed quietly, Hermione reading, Harry pretending to sleep and Ron playing a loud game of exploding snap with Ginny.
At platform 9¾ Harry cheerfully waved to the Weasleys, greeted his relatives courteously and promised to telephone Hermione that night.
Turning to his relatives he grinned at them, a malevolent gleam evident in his eyes before his Uncle Vernon roughly pushed him towards the exit, his face reddening by the second. Harry amusedly shook his head; it looked as though his summer was going to be more amusing then he had thought.