Chapter 6

Today was the day Chad was going to leave number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging for the first time. It was the 20th of December, and it was time to visit Gringotts and see what a pile of gold coins looks like. He was tired of being cooped up and treated like, well, like a child.

Petunia had looked after him with such care, that it had honestly surprised him. But as a grown arse man in a baby's body, it was nothing short of embarrassing. Boppy helped to limit the pampering with notice-me-not charms, but anything more than a couple of hours would be suspicious.

It had not even been two months yet, but it still felt like he had served a lifetime in prison. It wasn't being cooped up indoors, Chad quite enjoyed sitting at home doing nothing, no, it was the constant check-ins from his new mother. At least he had spent the time he got to himself productively.

According to the books Chad read, Occlumency was supposed to be quite complicated and take years to gain any form of mastery. To perform Occlumency, a person had to rid their mind of all thoughts and emotions, make it blank and calm. With a quiet mind, a person could then repel the Legilimency attack by disarming, shielding or hexing their opponent.

Occlumency would also depend on personality, after all, this was magic of the mind. Apparently, cannon Harry couldn't master Occlumency because he couldn't shut down his emotions. He was too hot-headed, ready to spring into action, unable to stop himself biting back. Yet Draco, on the other hand, was able to control himself when circumstances demanded it. To shut down emotion, to compartmentalise, and to deny essential parts of himself.

What a complete pile of bullshit! Cannon Harry, a kid that had grown up emotionally and physically abused, that lived in a cupboard and did everything asked of him for ten years, couldn't control his emotions? If that had been true, then Harry would have long ago murdered his relatives or been killed when he attacked them.

Yet Draco, a spoilt little noble that had never been denied anything in his life, could control his impulses? A boy that got into trouble from acting out and running his mouth every chance he got could suddenly compartmentalise and to deny essential parts of himself? Yeah, that sounds legit!

Dark Lord Dumbledore had been up to his tricks again. Did he want an emotionally in control, rational ally asking questions and growing in power? Or did he want an isolated, awkward, erratic boy relying on luck to sacrifice for his schemes? It was really self-evident when you looked at the teachers of the two radically different boys.

On the side of light, you had Snape, a cold, calculating potions master teaching a boy accustomed to suppressing his feelings and doing what he was told. On the dark side, you had Bellatrix, the craziest witch to ever sling magic teaching a spoilt, compulsive brat discipline! Yeah, because Draco was evil, he had an easier time learning to shut down emotions.

Can anyone else say 'mind magic'?

Chad found it extremely easy to organise his mind, the hardest part was getting started. Clearing the mind was easier said than done, but the kicker was that you needed to tap into your magic while you were doing it! What, you think it was a purely mental exercise? Even muggles would be able to learn it then, and everyone would have mind palaces like the Mentalist!

It took two weeks of accidentally falling asleep after clearing his mind of all thoughts and emotions. It was pretty much how he usually fell asleep! But just before he started to throw some Z's around, he felt it! It felt so foreign, yet so natural, that the shock cause it to disappear as if it had been a dream. But from then on, it became increasingly easier to feel the wondrous energy.

The next step had involved imagination, something a man reading fantasy novels or playing computer games in 2019 had plenty of. The book told him to design a defence system and gave an example of a castle with a moat and dragons. Chad had a better idea in mind.

He had grown up playing Fallout, and the idea of a Vault style protection for his mind tickled him pink. Of course, there wasn't going to be a visible entrance to the Vault, that would defeat the purpose. His mindscape took on an apocalyptic ruined town, with all the usual critters roaming the streets. In the town centre would be a heavily fortified Raider base with turrets and traps aplenty. The entry would not be there.

It would be in one of the non-descript, half-destroyed houses that littered the urban scene, somewhere on the edge of the township. In the basement that was littered with unusable junk, would be a torn up used and bloody mattress concealing a trap door. From there would be a ladder down to the Vault door that needed a password entered into the keypad.

Safe to say that minigun turrets, robots and heavily armed enclave soldiers wearing power armour would be dissuading anyone who still breached the ridiculous defences of the gate. The overseer's office would be where the memories are stored, but not in the outdated vault-tec computers. No, there would be a state of the art PC with a massive monitor needing a login prompt before anyone could view his memories.

Chad had read Fanfictions where the MC would have a library, and the books would contain different subjects that they could peruse. F*ck that noise, his memories were loaded into a computer with a search function, Google for the win! If a wizard a hundred years behind in technology could manage all of that while defending against his mental attacks, then he deserved to get mind raped.

But he doubted he would be needing any of that on his trip to the bank. Petunia had been stunned and placed in her bed by his elf army and Boppy had dressed him up in robes that would fit a ten-year-old. The idea was that with the help of stilts and a cowl, everyone would think him a child over ten, not a two-year-old with the mind of a thirty-year-old.

It would work enough to fool people from a distance, but not a close inspection. A bit of elf magic to make it seem a bit more convincing and they were suddenly at the steps of the bank. The neat little rhyme at the doorway was cute, but a seasoned thief would only laugh at the warning. Hell, even the golden trio of retards managed to steal from them so it couldn't be that hard.

The only reason Chad was content to leave his fortune here was that the goblins were obligated to replace it or pay three times the amount of whatever was stolen. This trip also had two purposes, one to merge his vaults together, and two, take anything he didn't want to lose if something unexpected happened.

Although it was up to the owner to know what was inside the vault, it was rather easy to prove if something went missing. Since the onus to prove a crime took place was on the owner, but the penalty was on the goblins, both parties took precautions.

If they were smart, which not many wizards and witches were, the owner of the vault took a detailed inventory and recorded every time they made a withdrawal. The goblins certainly did! If there was ever a discrepancy, all the owner had to do was sign a contract that they believed something was missing and it was up to the goblins to prove them wrong.

A magical contract signed by the wizard penalising duplicity or theft would have the goblins backed into a corner if it ever got out that their securities had been breached! On the other hand, if the wizard was caught committing fraud, he would face serious repercussions.

Which was why the goblins took their security very seriously. Although they didn't care what was in the vault, there were defences to register who accessed the vault door and needed a goblin guide to bypass them. Even the rail carts were goblin only operated and recorded who used it.

When Quirrell robbed Dumbledores vault, the goblins were quickly notified that there had been a breach. Since Hagrid had been logged in as the last person to access the door and Griphook was the guide, it was easy to narrow down the suspects. If the vault had not been emptied already the goblins would have been up sh*t creek.

Alternatively, if something ever went missing and the owner never realised, then the goblins profited heavily. So even if the owner noticed something was missing, he could never inflate the value as he would then be guilty of fraud. That was why the goblins didn't bother inventorying every vault, it was way more work than what it was worth. They did, however, take notice of which vault owner kept a record though...

The management of vault accounts was on the second floor of the bustling bank, and Chad followed Boppy as he led the way. They made their way to an unoccupied desk and waited for the goblin behind the ridiculously tall desk to notice them.

"Yes?" Asked the goblin with disinterest.

"We are here to close two vaults." Said Boppy with authority. Chad had been coaching his head house-elf on how to act when representing him in different scenarios. This time it was as the representative of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter.

"What accounts?" the goblin replied, Boppy's request suddenly gaining his full attention.

"Lily Evans and Potter trust vault."

"Are you withdrawing all the contents? I assume you have the authority and the keys necessary?" Said the goblin in a confrontational tone.

"We will if you continue to treat the heir of a Noble and Most Ancient House this rudely. Show some respect, or it will be three vaults we are closing today!" Chad said in a soft yet commanding voice, it had been altered to be a bit deeper than that of a toddler.

"We will be moving everything to the main vault with heavier protection, but will also be taking some items." Added Boppy.

Slightly chagrined, the goblin managed to be almost polite afterwards. To prove his status as a registered member of the Potter vault, a drop of his blood was smeared onto the contract. With the vault keys that they also provided, it was a simple matter to have a goblin vault-runner guide them down to the Vault to move everything.

He could have paid to have the goblins do it, but why pay the hundred Galleon fee when he had house-elves and magical storage chests? The little buggers begged him to let them do it. So he had them buy a couple of magical trunks for the job, you could never have enough of them anyway. He also had a library trunk commissioned, it had nothing else but storage for books.

From there, Boppy led the way and was joined by five other elves that had won the right to help. Since Lily's and the trust vault only had coins, it only took a minute to empty, and they were back on the rollercoaster down to the high roller vaults with better protection.

Mountains of gold coins really were something incredible to see, Chad could see how Scrooge McDuck lost himself with the sight of all the glittery goodness. His minions went to work collecting all the books and paintings while he gazed adoringly at his wealth made corporeal. It was one thing to see a list of numbers on paper, quite another to see it piled up in front of you!

All too soon they were back home, and Petunia was woken up to continue her day of fussing over him. If she wondered why she had been napping, then Petunia didn't show it as she tickled his belly and called him Dudikins. Sometimes he thought it would have been better to be locked in the cupboard!

With his vaults sorted, he felt a lot better. Dumbles wouldn't be able to touch them, and the goblins wouldn't be able to tell him. He had made sure of that when he was closing his accounts. Heads would roll, literally, if records were made public or details disclosed to anyone. Who would trust a bank that told everyone who their clients were and how much money they had?