Potter Family Secrets.

Monday 26th December 1994, 9:10am.

"You're a disgrace to the family! How dare you come here and act like it belongs to you!" The woman yelling was what brought Harry out of his room and down the stairs.

"Well guess what mother… I'm the only person left in the Black Family, so if I'm a disgrace it's fitting that I belong to the Blacks because this family is such a disgrace that it has essentially disappeared." Harry could now see Sirius standing in front of a large painting yelling at it.

"Sirius?" Harry was confused about what was going on. "What's happening?"

Harry drew the attention of both Sirius and and the painting at that. "Sirius who is that? How dare you bring somebody into my house!"

The boy saw the mutt roll his eyes at that, before Sirius smiled and winked at Harry. He then turned his attention back to the portrait. "This is my heir, mother, so he has as much of a right, no MORE of a right than you to be here. Harry, meet my mother. Thankfully she was asleep when we got in last night."

"Heir? What heir? You don't have any children!" The woman in the painting seemed scandalised.

"He is my godson and adopted son." Sirius left it simple.

It was obvious that the woman was considering what her son had said. "So this is the Potter boy. He doesn't look like much."

Sirius just laughed at her. "Neither did I when I was young, and yet here I am… The only living Black. Besides Harry is a Lord of two of the main families, the heir to another, the slayer of a 1000 year old Basilisk and a Tri-Wizard Champion. He has achieved more at 14 than almost any Black in their whole lives. Let's go get breakfast, Harry."

With a swish of his wand, a thick curtain covered the portrait and the Marauder led him through a hallway and into a kitchen. On the table was a platter of bacon and eggs, another platter with toast and hash browns, and a smaller plate with fried mushrooms and tomatoes. A large, clear covering was over the lot.

As Sirius pulled the lid off the food Harry felt a wave of heat hit him. The dog answered the unasked question. "In-built warming runes that keep any food under the cover hot, it's a handy household appliance. I didn't know when you would get up so kept food warm for us."

Harry looked dubiously at his dogfather. "Did you cook this?"

"Good heavens no! I can't cook. The crazy old Black house-elf made breakfast. He doesn't like me, and I doubt he will like you, but he won't harm you. If you weren't the Black Family heir I would be worried about him trying to poison you, but he can't harm a family member." Sirius was laughing at Harry's concern, first at Sirius' cooking, and then Kreature's.

Waiting for Sirius to pick up and bite into a piece of bacon, the boy was placated enough to start serving himself. "So your Mother…?"

"Was a truly dreadful woman. Filled of spite and anger, she never approved of me. I was too different from the rest of the family, not believing the Pureblood propaganda, or hating the Muggle world. The only thing that has happened during my time in Azkaban that I am happy about is her death." It was obvious that Sirius didn't want to talk more about it at this time.

Harry was all too happy to change the subject. "How did you like your present?"

That perked the giant child up. "It's brilliant! How did you get the pardon for Buckbeak, let alone the change of ownership papers?"

"I let it slip to Fudge and the Head of the Magical Creatures Department, Lehfride, that I had been present for the incident as well as the scheduled execution and had several questions. Chiefly why the Minister for Magic came to a hippogriffs execution, why there hadn't been an investigation, and what influence Malfoy senior had over the outcome. They bowed pretty quickly after that." Given Sirius' wealth Harry had really struggled to come up with an idea for what gift to get him, but figured that freeing Buckbeak was the deent gift.

"Well it is the perfect gift, so thank you Harry." Sirius had really become enamoured with the Hippogriff.

"Answer me this, Sirius, what did you do with him when you were in the Caribbean?" It was a question that had plagued Harry for a while now.

Sirius laughed at that. "I took him with me. It was hard to hide him there, but it was worth it. There is nothing like seeing the Caribbean islands from the sky, while flying on the back of a Hippogriff. He also kept the mouse population down."

The pair moved onto other topics, discussing plans for the break, and what Harry wanted to do. Harry was happy to just spend time with Sirius, and Remus when he was around, and didn't want to do to much.

At this stage they only had three planned events. On Wednesday the pair were going to Hogwarts with a team of goblins to harvest the Basilisk. Thursday would be spent with Daphne, who was going to Floo over at some point that morning, because she wanted to get to know Sirius and the Black Family home.

The last scheduled plan was the Wizengamot New Year's Ball on Saturday night. Neither wanted to go, but it was expected of them, and provided a good opportunity to get to know the other Wizengamot members. It was also the first public event for Daphne and Harry as an engaged couple, given that the Yule Ball wasn't exactly a public event.

"Sirius, what was my parents place like in Godric's Hollow?" The mood of the conversation changed in an instant.

Sirius sent an appraising look at the young Gryffindor. "Why do you want to know about that place? It's destroyed."

"Well I have snippets of memories of that place, particularly when there are your friends the Dementors present, but I've never been to Godric's Hollow so I want to know what it's like. You lived there for a time after you were kicked out of home so you must know what it was like there." None of the books about the Wizarding families Harry had read mentioned the Potter's house, even though they mentioned some other families manors, so Harry knew nothing about the place.

"I never lived at Godric's Hollow! That was Dumbledore's house that your parents were hold up in. No the Potter family home was… I can't remember! How can I not remember? I lived there for two years!" Sirius was genuinely disturbed at not remembering.

Harry thought quickly about what he could say to bring comfort to his godfather. "Well you were in Azkaban for a decade. Dementors feed on happy memories, so that will be what it is."

"No Harry. They feed on HAPPINESS, not happy memories. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to remember holding you the day you were born, or playing pranks at Hogwarts. I remember some details; light blue walls on my bedroom, lots of grounds including a set of Quidditch hoops, the sea. But for the life of me I can't put it all together or remember where it is. In fact until you mentioned it I couldn't even piece together that it was a separate place to the Hollow before you mentioned it." Sirius wasn't being patronising to Harry, he was just too distracted to be kinder. "It must be magic."

Harry thought about it for a moment. "Someone must know something. My lawyers haven't mentioned it, and neither have the goblins. Now that I think about it, it wasn't in the list of properties I own when I discussed my holdings with Findore."

The pair went pensive as they considered that. "Harry, was a property in the Caribbean on the list?"

Harry thought back to what the goblin had said, and went over the list in his head. "Three plots of land and two shops, none of which were occupied by my family, and none were in the Caribbean. Why did you ask?"

"Well I remember your dad mention a plantation they owned there. I wonder if… Well that would explain a lot." A cunning smile replaced the look on the mutts face.

Instead of asking the obvious question Harry just looked at the man expectantly, forcing him to continue. "Very clever, way more cunning than the Slytherin Black Family. My suspicion is that the Potters have registered some of their land in the Muggle world. Think about it; most wizards know nothing about the muggle world and wouldn't know how to find the relevant records. Essentially the Potter lands are invisible to the other magical families."

Sirius broke into a fit of giggles at that, while Harry could only roll his eyes. The man did make sense however. Land around the world could be hidden away from the goblins and magicals, and money as well. It was a brilliant idea, but couldn't be proven easily.

"Do you actually think it's a viable possibility? It's a lot of effort that would have been put into it, over centuries. Surely people would have stumbled upon it and it would have gotten out?" It seemed like a risky play to Harry.

"The Potters have always been secretive. Remember I told you that they didn't trust many people, if anyone, so if anyone could pull it off it was the Potters. If they didn't invite anybody to their house, which was true, and only met people at their places that would help. Go get dressed, I have an idea." Sirius shooed the boy off and went up to his room to prepare as well.

/

The cold kept most people home, where it was nice and warm, which left an empty Diagon Alley. Ollivanders appeared to be the only store that was open, apart from the bank. That their destination was Gringotts meant that the Holiday season didn't effect them.

Christmas Day is the only day of the year when Gringotts doors were closed, so even though every other business in the Alley was shut Gringotts wasn't. Walking up to the doors, and through them, they discovered that it was deserted inside. Only one counter was occupied by a goblin teller, with a half dozen other goblins scattered around the large room.

Sirius marched right up to the teller, eyes never deviating, but Harry couldn't help himself. The whole journey he was scanning the room taking in as much detail as possible. Four of the goblins were guards, heavily armed is a display of force, and Harry thought one of the other two had that feel about him as well. Harry's guess was that he was a undercover guard, a plainclothes police officer type role.

The final goblin was obviously the overseer, and if Harry had to guess was fairly high up in the hierarchy. The material of his suit was obviously top notch, as was the gold pocket-watch he was checking. Satisfied with what he saw he looked up and made brief eye contact with Harry. The boy quickly looked away.

"How can Gringotts help you?" No greeting, no niceties, all business from the goblin.

"We need to get into the boy's family vault." Sirius was still taking the lead.

"Does be have the key? And what is the reason for your presence?" The goblin was looking suspiciously at the pair.

"I can handle this teller Riplung." The three turned to see that the overseer had approached.

"Overseer Goldblade! I can handle the humans." The teller seemed unnerved at his boss's presence, and scandalised at its implications.

"Undoubtedly, teller, however these two… Men… Are Wizengamot members, and it is only right for me to handle their banking needs. This way please." He led them to the the central counter where he had been standing previously. "How can I help your Lordships today?"

Annoyed at having to repeat himself, Sirius let that slip into his tone. "The boy needs to get into the Potter vault."

"I can handle any deposits or withdrawals from here." The overseer picked up a quill to emphasise his point.

"Yes, but we need to get into the vault, not deposit or withdraw any galleons." Sirius really wasn't a patient person.

"Have you got the key?" The overseer looked at them as he put the quill back.

"It's a blood door." It was the first time that Harry spoke since walking into Gringotts.

Goldblade nodded and checked his watch before indicating for them to follow him. What followed was another exhilarating cart ride that both humans seemed to enjoy. It wasn't until after the cart had ended its journey, and he had left the cart, that he was only just down the tunnel from his personal vault.

Walking to a blank wall, that only had a small slot in it, the goblin indicated for Harry to join him. He pulled out a nasty looking dagger and sliced him palm with one side of the blade, before grasping Harry's wrist and slicing the boy's palm with the other edge. Happy with the blood coating he pushed the dagger into the hole.

An outline of a door starting glowing on the solid wall and soon it swung open. The glow from inside drew Harry in, and what he saw was something he had never witnessed before. A literal room full of gold, silver and bronze coins. Not a room, a hall of coins.

If his personal vault had mounds of coins, this vault had mountains. Sirius' reaction was different however. "Is this it? I'm a little disappointed. The Black vault is triple this size, at least."

Harry ignored him however and walked over to a set of five chests on the left hand side of the room. They stood out because they didn't fit with the otherwise unrestrained piles around the room.

Opening the lid of the chest placed closest to the door, Harry let out a gasp when he saw what it contained. Emeralds. The chest was full of emeralds. Big ones, smaller ones. Cut and uncut ones. The only thing they had in common was the perfect green colour and clarity.

Moving on to the next chest he discovered that it was full of diamonds. The next had rubies, and the final two chests had sapphires. Harry didn't know much about gems but guessed each chest was worth millions of pounds. What he didn't know was how the Potters came into the possession of so many jewels, especially what looked like such good quality ones.

"What's going on here? Overseer get this man out of here! I will have your head for this!" This outburst can from an enraged Findore who had just come storming into the vault.

Harry had been bent over one of the chests and shot up surprised at the intrusion. "Findore? What's going on?"

The goblins eyes snapped straight to Harry, who he hadn't seen when he came rushing in. "Mr. Potter! I must apologise, I did not know you were here. My ledgers alerted me to the opening of this vault and I came rushing down to see what was going on. I hadn't received notice that you were coming, and then saw this man when I entered and assumed the worst. I am truly sorry for any distress I have cause you."

Harry waved off the apology. "No, no it's quite alright. You were simply doing your job, and quite diligently I must say. Thank you for your concern and quick actions."

What Harry was going to continue with was cut off as a squad of goblin troops marched in, all wearing shining breastplates and carrying an assortment of weapons. They really were intimidating Harry thought. Leaning around a pile of sickles he realised that the four guards who entered the vault were only the vanguard as there were eight more arranged outside in defensive positions.

Findore said some words to the troops in gobbledygook and the turned around and began to march away. Harry got the distinct impression that they were disappointed. "Just a moment!" He called out to the guards.

Picking the required number of galleons up off the nearest pile, the boy approached the guards who were watching him now. He started handing each of them two galleons each. "For responding so quickly to protect the vault. Thank you."

Findore said something more in gobbledygook and the guards bowed to Harry before marching off once more. The account manager then turned to Harry. "You really didn't need to do that Harry, but they greatly appreciate it. Legend of your generosity will spread amongst the guards, and the Nation, and if your wealth is ever threatened again I won't be surprised if a 100 fully armed goblins turn up to protect it. Most wizards wouldn't tip, and if they did it would have been a sickle each or maybe a galleon for the entire troop."

Harry just shrugged uncomfortably before changing the topic. "I wasn't aware you would get informed about me opening the vault, otherwise I would have come seen you first. Sirius and I were just looking for any documents that may be kept down here."

The goblin nodded at that while thinking it over. He said a few words to the overseer who bowed and made his leave, his pocket having a little bit of gold in it for his trouble by way of a tip. When the overseer had left Findore turned back to Harry. "I have something to say but we should probably be alone."

The message was clear, and Harry looked over at Padfoot before shaking his head at the man. "Sirius is my godfather and adopted father, whatever you are going to say can be said in front of him."

"Of course. Before he past away my predecessor told me that while it appears to be a wall, a person of Potter heritage can walk into an alcove of sorts on the right hand side of the vault. Anybody else who tries to enter, human or goblin, hits a solid wall." He pointed at the wall in question and guided the boy through the piles of coins to the wall.

Harry reached out to touch it, but his hand passed right through into nothingness. Screwing up his courage he followed his hand, stepping into the alcove. There were no gems or coins, instead there was a large bookcase, a cabinet holding scrolls and a desk.

Almost every slot in the cabinet had a scroll, whereas the bookcase was barely half full and apart from a single quill and ink pot the desk was empty. Pulling out a scroll and carefully unwinding it Harry was disappointed to see that it was written in an Arabic looking language. Putting it back and drawing a second, this time it was Latin.

Harry's Latin was far from fluent, but what he could read made it out to be a potion recipe. Trying once more he was happy to finally pick out one written in English, but it was obviously very old as the spelling of words and language used was out of date. Very out of date. At least it was readable enough for Harry to work out it was the recipe for a potion to cure stomach pains.

After Harry returned the scroll to its place, he moved on to the bookcase. There were tomes on Transfiguration and collections of Charms. Histories of Herbology and manuals on magical creatures. All looked to be well past Hogwarts student level.

All except one that is. One book stood out like a sore thumb. Not just was it not an academic book, it was a muggle book. Picking it up Harry looked at the cover. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. It looked like it was an original copy, or at least an early edition, but it still stood out.

Why on earth would this be here? Harry couldn't help but think to himself. It just doesn't make any sense… Unless! He almost tore off the cover given how hurried he was to open the book, but didn't care in his rush to be proven right.

A book all about wanting to go home. It made total sense. And sure enough there it was, a message written by hand.

Dear wayward Potter,

This portkey has been left here to enable you to return home. Simply say the activation code "Dorothy" to use it. Remember to be outside of Gringotts when you activate the portkey.

Lord Potter.

Book in hand Harry walked back into the main room to find Sirius and Findore discussing the gems which they were looking through. "Sure the Blacks have gems in their vault, but most are in items. There are some loose gems scattered around the place, but only a fraction of one of these chests in total."

"Quite. To the best of my knowledge most of the families are similar to your vault. This level of gems is unprecedented. The goblin smiths would love to get there hands on this, imagine the works that could be made?" That awe was evident in Findore's tone, even between species.

Harry cleared his voice, and the two turned to face him. Both were good enough to blush at being caught by the owner of the gemstones. "How did you not know about the gems Findore? You have the balance sheets for the vault in your office." The boy was confused by that inconsistency.

"That is actually quite simple. To avoid counterfeiting, and for ease of administration, each official coin is embed with a goblin charm. The vault has runes that measure how many of each coin is in the room and sends that to the official Ledger that is in my office. By ministry law we are not allowed to keep records of anything else stored in vaults, unless we discover illegal items. You could keep a million false galleons in here, but none of them would be detected for the ledger." The goblin paused while he looked around the vault. "Remember this is my first time in the vault, as it has been sealed until you opened it this morning."

Harry nodded at that before turning to Sirius. "I've got what we came for."

The man looked skeptical at the book that was held aloft to show him. "That? Are you sure?"

Harry nodded before turning to the goblin. "Now that the vault is unsealed you probably can empty the runover vault in here. I will see you on Wednesday Findore. 10am outside the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade?"

With the details confirmed they went their separate ways, the pair back to Diagon Alley while the goblin went to do his job. He was happy however, as a transfer of this size included a nice fee that he would receive.

/

"So what's up with the book? It looks muggle to me." Sirius spoke up as the exited the bank and walked into the alley.

"It's a book about trying to get home, a perfect cover. Hold on and I'll activate it." Still looking sceptical at what his godson was saying the Marauder reached out and grasped hold of one end on the book. "Dorothy."

The speed, wind and swirling colours immediately hit the pair, and Harry was reminded of his first journey by portkey earlier in the year. Hopefully the outcome would be better than the debacle that was the Quidditch World Cup. Well as long as there were no Death Eaters Harry would be happy.

Without a warning Harry hit the ground as they reached their destination. He looked up to see Sirius standing over him, laughing at the boy's predicament. Getting a hand up Harry was able to look around the location for the first time. They were on an island.

In front of them was a cliff, with a 5 meter drop into the ocean. Across the ocean, a fair distance away Harry could see the coast of what he assumed was Britain. Harry guessed it was at least 5 kilometres away, maybe more.

Harry turned around to find a large house, I guess you had to call it a manor, but Harry wasn't an expert in architecture so couldn't be sure. While there was a door, it was obviously the back of the building. Wanting to see it from the front Harry picked the book up off the ground and started to walk around the house.

He heard his godfather fall into step behind him, but Harry's attention was directed elsewhere. The house must have been built on a spur of rock thrust out from the Island into the sea as the cliff followed Harry around the side of the house. While there had been 10 meters between the house and the cliff out the back, down the side it was as little as two meters at times.

As the reached the front of the building Harry was able to look out and see his ancestral land for the first time. It wasn't a massive island, maybe 10 hectares, but most of it was covered with plant life.

There was a copse of trees near the far coast on the right hand side, a rose garden on the left directly in front of him. On the right, almost parallel to the garden was a large vegetable and herb garden, and the rest of the land in behind the gardens, not including the small forest, was pasture.

Harry knew it was pasture because in the distance Harry could just make out what looked like cattle. As he was scanning the pasture Harry realised he had made a mistake, because nestled on the edge of the copse of trees was a cottage. While it peaked his curiosity he figured he could visit later. The manor would have to be first.

"Master!" The yell caused Harry to spin around, but didn't give him enough warning to dodge the blue that was flying towards him.

He shut his eyes and flinched, waiting for impact, but all he felt something was a small object latch onto his leg. Looking down he saw a house elf had attached itself to his left leg by way of a hug. "Um, hello friend, what is your name?"

The house elf stepped back from Harry, but stayed less than an arm's length away. "I be called Bulby Master Potter, sir."

Harry smiled at... Her? He was pretty sure she was a she. "Please just call me Harry, Bulby. Perhaps you could give me and my friend a tour of the place?"

"Of course Harry, sir. Please follow me." She led the pair to the front door and opened it for them.

As the walked through the doorway, Harry saw a look of concentration on his godfather. "Bulby? Were your parents Siddy and Knocky?"

"Yes they were, how be you knowing?" She looked at Sirius skeptically.

Sirius smiled at that. "It's all coming back to me. I remember you when you were young, and I remember your parents well. I used to live here."

She looked confused for a moment at that, before it clicked. "Mister Black! I remember yous now. You and Master James were naughty."

Harry burst out laughing as his godfather was scolded, which only made Sirius glower more. "Where are your parents Bulby?"

"They be dead." There was an honest look of pain and loss on the elf's face. "My mami caught the Pox tending her mistress and died not long after the Lord and Lady, my papi held on until I reached adulthood, but he be broken. The deaths of mami and the family were too much for him to handle and he was a broken man for the last three years of his life.

Harry wrapped his arms around the now crying elf and drew her into him. "I am sorry for your loss Bulby."

/

Harry was seated at the office desk, recovering from a magnificent lunch, and now was setting about his work. The Potter family ledger was in front of him, and Harry was building up the courage to open it. Bulby was around somewhere doing whatever elves do, and Sirius was off reacquainting himself with the grounds.

Opening it up he looked at the first page. The top declared Self-Adjusting Account Records and Harry scrolled down to read what it said. His eyebrows hit the roof.

He had a account at Lloyds with £12,771,826, a Cayman National Bank account with USD 5,132,874 in it, and most surprisingly a First National Bank account.

Harry didn't know where the bank was from, it didn't say on the page, but the amount in the ledger was extraordinary. 19,487,139,423 US Dollars. Harry took a few breaths to steady himself but it didn't work. He fainted.

"Harry! Are you okay? What happened?" Harry came to with Sirius looming over him, shaking the boy's shoulder.

"Yeah I'm up. Sorry I must have fainted. 19 Billion? How?" He was still stunned at the information entailed in the ledger.

"19 Billion? 19 Billion what?" Sirius was confused at what the kid was saying.

Shaking himself off, Harry stood up and closed the book. "19 Billion US dollars. It's a muggle form of money in the United States. Worth around… 1 and a half pounds to the dollar so what's that? Just under 30 Billion pounds, which is 3 Billion galleons."

Sirius whistled at that. "Your loaded boy! More so than even the Blacks… Where did all the money come from?"

"I honestly haven't had a chance to find out. My guess is in the muggle world though, given that it's in muggle money. I don't think I can handle any more of this right now, how is the estate?" Harry quickly changed the topic, not wanting to think about it.

"Follow me, I found someone on my travels and he should be here soon." Sirius turned and left the room before Harry could ask anything else. Having no other choice he followed the crazy man.

They marched from the office on the second floor, down the hall, descended the stairs, and out the front door. On the front porch they stopped and Harry looked out to see a man approaching.

He was an older man, Harry would guess he was close to 60, but he was dressed in what Harry envisioned were farmer clothes. Wellington boots, jean overalls and a checkered wool shirt. He had a trench coat over the rest to keep out the cold.

"Harry, meet William Clark, Bill this is Lord Harry Potter." Sirius introduced the pair.

"William? Do you happen to live in the cottage next to the trees?" After all it was the only other structure on the island.

"Aye, laddie I do. I tend to the flock here. My wife Marian is the gardener of the vegetables, but our daughter is slowly taking over the duties. You do look like your father, don't you?" They shook hands.

"Did you know my father?" Harry was used to the response by now.

"Aye, or course! Lived here my whole life I have. My Grandparents attended Hogwarts with a former Heir Potter and he was kind enough to give my father the job as farmer here when he turned out to be a Squib. I took over once I was old enough. The Potters have been good to my family, and it's been a privilege to tend to your land." They settled into easy talk about life on the island.

Harry found out that Bill's wife Marian, and daughter Helen, were in the nearest town selling vegetables at a Boxing Day market. They had a stall at the Saturday Market they travelled to by boat, carrying the vegetables for sale. It was one of the ways the island sustained itself. They also travelled to any extra Markets that occurred such as today's.

Bill had met his lady in the town when they were younger, and they had hit it off. It had been a large surprise when she discovered magic after moving to the island, but she quickly adjusted. She had been fast friends with Harry's grandmother, and loved learning about magic from her.

As it started getting dark Bill left to go to the cottage to meet his wife and daughter who would be back any minute. They were going to get ready and then join Harry and Sirius for dinner at the manor. Harry however returned to the office to hopefully get his head wrapped around some of the financial business of the Potter family.