Ch.1 Revelations and tough choices

The multi-verse theory is a truly amazing concept. For every decision you make there is a 'you' in another universe that makes a completely different choice.

For Harry James Potter almost every universe ends up heading down one of two different paths that both lead to the same ending. Either he is manipulated by Dumbledore as one of his chess peices facing multiple dangerous, life threatening situations, before finally collecting the three Deathly Hallows and becoming the master of death.

Or unique events lead to him fighting back against both Voldemort and Dumbledore, which can go well or badly depending on the circumstances. Either way he still ends up collecting the Deathly Hallows and becoming the master of death.

The Harry of this universe took neither of those paths, his life was exactly the same as any of the numerous 'generic' Harry Potter universes right up until the events following his God father, Sirius Blacks death in the Department of Mysteries.

Harry had just learned about the prophecy from Dumbledore along with the fact that the old bastard KNEW that he would be mistreated by the dursleys when he left him there. Considering the fact that he had just lost his godfather, well he can be excused for blowing the fuck up on Dumbledore.

Now this is where the story takes a drastic turn from the 'generic' path. Dumbledore had decided he was too busy to personally escort Harry back to his prison on Privet Dr. and instead asked Mr. Weasley to send him back. The man had agreed but first had to make a stop by diagon alley.

While Mr. Weasley was in the apothecary harry decided to wander the alley a bit. His thoughts kept wandering back to Sirius's death which wasn't helping his bad mood at all. He was surprised when a goblin guard of gringotts grabbed him by the wrist and started dragging him into the giant marble building. He tried to sputter out a protest but each attempt was duly ignored.

Before he even realized it he was sitting in a small stone office infront of the desk of the Potter account manager. The goblin was obviously angry with him and kept trying to talk about financial issues. Unfortunately Harry's mood was already bad to begin with and the goblins yelling was only causing the anger to cloud his mind.

Finally fed up with being ignored the goblin banged his fist down hard on the desk.

"Mr. Potter just what is it that has you angry enough to disregard the financial state of your families fortune!?"

This proved to be to much for Harry to take and he blew up.

"You want to know what's got me angry? Let's not even count the fact that I just lost my godfather, but on top of that I just learned I'm stuck in a fucking prophecy where either I kill Voldemort or I die!"

"And considering the fact that Im a lot smarter then SOME people give me credit for it wasn't that hard to read between the lines of Dumbledore's bullshit greater good speech and i dont like what i found."

"One of us having to die for the other to live, combined with the visions I've been getting from Voldemort, well let's just say I dont think he died all those years ago without leaving a piece of himself behind with me and it disgusts me to think that I might have a piece of that bastard inside me!"

Red faced and slightly out of breath from his rant harry sat in his chair expecting any number of reactions. Maybe he would be cut down just for losing his temper? Or worse they would show pity for him. He didnt think he could handle anymore pity right now.

What he got though he was definitely not expecting. The goblins face cycled through emotions from confusion to remembrance, then disgust and finally settled on anger. He then barked out orders and the doors flew open. What followed was harry being herded out of the room by a group of pissed off green midgets and by the time he finally snapped out of his daze he was already in another stone chamber with a much older goblin infront of him.

Harry wanted to ask questions but the old goblin obviously was is no mood to answer. He ran a glowing hand over the scar on his forehead and must have found something he really didnt like if the guttural growls were anything to go by. Now while harry would have liked an explanation he wasn't surprised when he was completely ignored and ordered to lie down.

Not wanting to argue he decided to just follow the order. What happened next was like a ritual from some tv series. A lot of chanting, staffs banging on the ground in a rhythmic beat, animals being sacrificed and a whole lot of pain. When everything was finished harry was covered in sweat and feeling like he just ran from dudleys gang for an entire day straight. The goblins had reatreated away from harry and were staring at a hollow crystal orb filled with black smoke. After sending one of the goblins off with the orb the older goblin walked back to harry.

"Mr. Potter, what we just extracted from you was an abomination created by the darkest of the black arts. I need you to give me an entire accounting of your life and any information you have on Voldemort."

Normally harry would have a snarky remark about not wanting to divulge his lifes story to a complete stranger. But considering the serious and grim atmosphere around them he decided to comply willingly. After being guided to another office he spent the next five hours going over his life and every small detail of his misadventures at hogwarts, especially any interactions with Voldemort that he's had.

When harry finally finished his tale, with the battle in the Department of Mysteries and the following revelations, the old goblin was leaned forward in his chair and massaging his temples. Before he could speak to harry there was a knock at the door and another goblin rushed into the room, speaking to the old goblin about something that must have been good, going by the wide grin on the goblins face. Waving the younger goblin away he focused his attention back on harry.

"Mr. Potter I must say that you must have drawn a terrible lot in life, though after hearing your story you seem to have handled it remarkably well, especially considering your lack of training and experience."

Harry wanted to protest that last remark but the old goblin cut him off and continued.

"As many of you humans say, I have both good news and bad news. Though I'm not giving you a choice in the order I tell it"

"The good news is that Voldemort is dead. The fool made a fatal mistake when he chose to create horcruxes, using the piece we obtained from you, the others were found, collected and destroyed."

"After hearing about how he resurrected himself with your blood I sent my subordinate to begin a ritual that was created as a defence against someone stealing another's magic. Despite how wrong pureblood belief is, they are correct that there is magic in your blood. This ritual will cause your blood and magic to reject him, killing him from the inside and the magic of the ritual will stop any attempts to heal him as punishment for the theft."

Harry sat in his chair in a daze. He had only been in gringotts for six or seven hours tops and they already dealt with everything? He couldn't help but marvel at how efficient the little buggers can be when motivated. With all of his soul shards gone the ritual would be sure to kill him without ever needing a real confrontation, it really was a brilliant idea.

He was brought out of his dazed amazement by the goblins voice and the grim look on his face

"Now for the bad news."

~ ~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~

Harry sat frozen in his chair, he was too shocked to speak. Dumbledore's been stealing from his family vault all this time? And Ron and Hermione apparently have been receiving money from his vault as well?

He wished he couldn't understand why Dumbledore was paying them but a part of him knew the answer. To spy on him. His own friends, the few people he thought he could trust with his life were spying on him for a meddlesome old man. For a moment harry felt like his world had fallen apart but the voice of the old goblin brought him back to reality.

"Now most of this we have already begun rectifying by transferring any money or artifacts back to your vault. What we need you to do now is take up your lordship, which while we are on that matter, one Sirius Black named you his heir in his will, so you will need to take up lordship of house black as well."

Harry almost choked up at the mention of Sirius naming him as his heir. Luckily he was able to hold himself together and try to think of what choice would make his parents proud in this moment. After thinking for a bit he knew what needed to be done. Looking up at the goblin with a determined expression, he asked a question that shocked the goblin.

"Is there any way to combine the houses into one? I would like to take up the family name of my Godfather. The Potter family has a lot of political clout,even I know that's something Dumbledore wants to use. If its name ends here atleast it was with a good reputation."

"My godfathers family on the other hand did not have a good reputation at all. It's bad enough that I sometimes thought that Sirius was ashamed of his family name. If I must be head of a family I want it to be the blacks. Let the potters assets be absorbed by the blacks and I'll bring the blacks reputation into a good light."

The goblin sat back observing harry. To be willing to end his own family so he could focus on rebuilding the blacks reputation, all so his godfather wouldn't be ashamed to be a black. It definitely earned him a few points of respect from the old goblin. It didnt hurt that this would really rain on dumbledore's parade. This also made the goblins next decision much easier.

"If you'll accept it I have some advice for you Mr. Black"

Harry smiled at the name and nodded for him to continue. "Even with Voldemort gone the wizarding world will never let you live in peace. You will continue to be lauded as their savior, taking credit and blame for the smallest of things. Even leaving for other parts of the world wont stop them from tracking you down."

Harry was annoyed at the topic but knew that it was true. "I take it that you wouldn't bring this up if you didnt have a solution?"

"Indeed, we do have a possible solution, a more recent project of the goblin nation. Our people have done extensive research into dimensional travel and have finally succeeded in creating a single portal large enough for a full grown human to pass through." The goblin paused for a moment, obviously choosing his next words carefully.

"Unfortunately we can only keep the portal open for five minutes and on top of the high energy cost, each time the portal activates it opens to a completely random dimension."

"Now in return for your many years in service of the magical world, defending everyone by stalling Voldemort even with your limited training, I am prepared to allow you to pass through the portal. While it is indeed a risky move the choice is entirely yours."

Harry's eyes were glazed over as he tried to process everything that he's been told so far. His day has been full of nonstop revelations and tough choices, it was almost too much for him to deal with but he knew this was important, a once in a lifetime chance that he just couldn't pass up. But first he had some questions that needed answers.

"This chance is obviously something that would be hard to pass up, especially considering my circumstances. But who exactly are you? A dimensional portal seems like something that would be considered top secret to the goblin nation. Can you really decide on this yourself?"

This was something harry really wanted to know. He had completely forgotten to ask the goblins name due to his anger and when that passed things were simply moving too fast for him to remember.

The goblin flashed him a toothy smile as he introduced himself. "Of course how could I forget introductions, my name is Ragnok and I happen to be the director of the London branch of gringotts bank and also the head of that particular project."

Harry's cheeks flushed red, embarrassed for not recognizing that he was speaking to the banks boss sooner. However he quickly composed himself, there was still a much more important question to ask.

"I apologize for not asking for introductions earlier. I was far too lost in my anger. Now I still have one more question for you before i decide. How will I survive if the world I end up in turns out to be hostile? I haven't even graduated Hogwarts yet and most of my 'adventures' were survived through luck."

Ragnok gave a viscous grin as his eyes seemed to light up. "Ah, but one cannot dismiss luck on a battlefield. Nonetheless you are correct that you are currently untrained and would quickly die in a hostile world. Luckily for you I have decided to extend one more privilege that has never been offered to any human, especially a wizard, before now."

" What I'm offering is for you to use our time chamber on the lowest setting to train. That would be one week out here but inside the chamber it would be thirty years. This is one of the reasons the service has never been offered to wizards, the isolation could drive a person mad."

"Luckily you seem to have a strong will and I believe you can come out in one piece. Especially with all the training and studying that you will be focusing on."

Harry almost groaned at the studying part but knew it needed to be done. With his questions answered he agreed to the goblins option of escape. He would leave the dimension entirely. But before anything he asked for some parchment and proceeded to make a long list of things he needed before entering the chamber and things he would like them to get done while he was inside.

Ragnok raised a brow at a few of the requests but agreed to get everything along with some that he himself added on. Harry was then led to a small sitting room to wait until everything could be gathered. A part of him felt bad about just leaving everyone behind without saying anything.

That part was quickly beat down in the face of logic. Voldemort was dead now, he was no longer needed as a savior but if he stayed they would use him for their own gain. He believed that the few people that he thinks he can still trust would understand.

Deciding to get some rest while he waits, harry laid out on the couch and closed his eyes. Slowly slipping into a deep dreamless sleep.

It was a few hours later that harry was woken by the arrival of both ragnok and everything he had asked for. Most of it was books on magical subjects like charms, transfiguration, animagus instructions, herbology, runes, potions and the healing arts. Though there were also a lot of muggle books on miscellaneous subjects, mostly muggle medical books.

Then there were the things that ragnok had added. Books on wards, magical crafting, enchantments and even a really interesting one called 'Discovering your element and becoming an elemental'. He even found a few vials filled with a silvery white substance that looked a lot like a memory in a pensive. Ragnok explained that it was a potion to give him not only the memory of a subject but even the muscle memory. Every vial was for a different form of armed or unarmed combat.

There was also the supplies he would need once he left through the portal. A ten room magical tent, hundreds of clippings from magical plants including some really rare ones, enough food to last a lifetime and a large assortment of different materials.

Everything was put into a mokeskin pouch along with his shrunken school trunk and harry was promised that they would have both of his vaults emptied into a secure trunk and waiting for when he exits the chamber.

With everything taken care of harry was taken to the time chamber. It was exactly how ragnok described it, the chamber has a large scale space expansion spell on it and ever inch of wall space was covered in shimmering runes. After a last check to make sure he had everything he needed he entered the chamber alone to begin his thirty years of isolated training.