Uncovering Betrayal

The meeting at Gringotts did not go as planned at least for the Goblins. During the presentation of the results of the full audit, Harry learned that the Potter vault had been the subject of pilfering up until Christmas when the whole issue had been brought to Ragnok's attention and it was all at the hands of Dumbledore and Bearclaw.

As far as the Black vault was concerned, the pilfering had continued through the day before his acceptance of the titles. He learned that Narcissa Malfoy had been the one to take the money from the vault as was her right as a member of the Black family only she had exceeded the limit imposed by the family charter as there was not an active Lord to control things.

"Where did the money go?"

"Our investigation has shown that the money taken from the Black vaults went directly into the Malfoy vaults. As far as the Potter vaults are concerned, the money was transferred into two separate accounts. One belonging to Bearclaw and another to an unregistered account holder that we tracked back to Albus Dumbledore. From that account, many payments were made to a variety of accounts under the names of Prewitt, Weasley, Granger, Snape, and Dursley. As far as the other vaults, they haven't been touched ever since they went dormant when the last holder passed away."

Megan squeezed his hand as he dealt with the emotions this news stirred in him. While he was coming to terms with what he just learned, Megan asked "What do you intend to do about this?"

Ragnok replied "We are waiting for Lord Peverell's input as to how to handle the situation. We would be willing to recover the items and the gold for a reduced percentage of what was recovered."

Harry's hand slammed down on the desk as he said "NO! You will recover what was taken from my families but as it is YOUR fault in the first place, you will not make a profit on your own mistakes."

"Lord Peverell, Gringotts does not do business that way. The percentage goes to pay the Goblins who recover your possessions and gold."

"Then pay it out of your own vault. If I find that they didn't do their absolute best because of pay, I can promise you that you will live to regret it. In fact, I want you to set up a special vault to hold everything that was taken so that I can see your incompetence for myself. Maybe then I will be able to make a better judgment of whether your nation is capable of seeing to the needs of my family."

Ragnok was shaken by the outburst. He knew he was treading on thin ice at the moment and did the only thing he could to appease an important client. He bowed his head. "It shall be as you command Lord Peverell. I will place Griphook over the recovery process."

"How much?"

"Excuse me Milord?"

"How much has been stolen from me?"

"Our estimates place it at around half of your family's assets. Not counting heirlooms, we think it could be as much as fifty million galleons."

Megan yelled "How could you miss that?"

"Bearclaw was a very creative bookkeeper Milady. We wouldn't have found it unless we did the full audit."

Harry stood and said "I've heard enough. When can I expect some results?"

"The recovery of the gold will happen very quickly as we will reverse all the transactions and pull them back into the vault you requested. The heirlooms make take some time to track but we will find them."

Megan asked "What if there is not enough in the vault to cover the amount stolen?"

"Then we will proceed to stripping their personal and family vaults until we have reclaimed every Knut."

Harry stood there for a second before he said "The Prewitt vault you mentioned, I assume it was Molly Prewitt."

Ragnok nodded.

"The Weasley vault… Ronald?"

"Yes and Percy"

Harry nodded. "Arthur Weasley is an honest man. He works hard to support his family and I don't want anything taken from his vault on my behalf. The same goes for Bill and Charlie."

"As you wish, as soon as we learned of the theft, William was brought before our interrogators to determine if he was involved. I can assure you that he had no part in this and he should recover within the next few days but he is aware of why he was questioned."

Harry muttered "This will kill Mr. Weasley."

Megan grabbed his hand. "He knew something was going on and that's why he asked to speak with you. He wants to make it right between your families."

Harry looked at her and said "How can you make something like this right?"

"I really don't know love."

After they had left, Ragnok sat back in his chair and thought about everything that just happened. Just as he turned to handle some other business, Ironfist walked in and sat in the chair Harry had just vacated.

He remained quiet for a few minutes before he finally said "I don't know why I didn't take your head after the last meeting. When are you going to learn that Lord Peverell is not someone to trifle with? While it was admirable from a Goblin standpoint that you would try to make a profit, your choice in trying to do it in a situation where we were clearly in the wrong is just plain stupid. I would like to caution you when next you meet with him, one wrong word will spell disaster for us and it will be on your head that I place all the blame."

He looked at Ragnok who had still not said anything. "Mark my words, this is far from over and I can assure you, we will pay in some way that does not include paying for the recovery."

He then rose and walked out of the office without saying another word.

....

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