Chapter Text
Harry arrived at the gates to Potter Manor for the first time in his life. He was feeling slight nauseous, but that was more due to the apparition he’d just endured. Once he was feeling a little better, he glanced around.
The two gates in front of him were wrought iron and huge, maybe fifteen feet tall, with two animal heads on either side that Harry didn't recognise. Stretching out on either side were neatly trimmed hedges of a similar height which made him grimace.
Dobby was still beside him, holding his hand. "Dobby be thinking Master Harry Potter Sir would like to see the Manor from the outside first, sir," the house-elf said.
"Hello, Harry." Harry jumped as Bill Weasley’s voice sounded from nearby. He spun around, wand in hand immediately. “Woah!” Bill held his hands up in front of him, showing clearly that he held no wand.
“Sorry,” Harry muttered, feeling embarrassed.
"No worries,” Bill smiled. “You're just in time. I've just finished the warding. Here." He put his hand out and just before he touched the gate, he was met with a barrier.
"Nobody gets in without permission from you. Once I key you in. I've used blood wards, which are strictly regulated in this country, but are allowed on pureblood family manors. They are the strongest kind. It means you will have to key everyone in with a drop of their blood but cannot be fooled by things like Polyjuice Potion as that cannot replicate a person's magic, only their appearance."
"What about apparition?"
"Nobody will be able to apparate directly into the manor at all, I have anti-apparition wards all around the house. You can apparate onto the grounds if you've been keyed into the wards. Of course, nothing is completely failsafe, wards can be broken, but it'll take a heck of a lot of power to break these, and you'll know. It'll give you time to get out. The only exception will be house elves, as I don't know of any wards that can block their apparition magic."
"Well, most pureblood consider house elves beneath them," Harry scowled. "So, it should be safe enough."
"Dobby won't be allowing strange elves into Master Harry Potter's house," Dobby vowed. Harry grinned.
"That's that then," Bill smiled.
"How much do I owe you?"
"Nothing. You're basically family," Bill waved him away.
"Bill!" Harry protested. "You've spent three days giving me some of the best wards in the country. At least let me give you something?"
"Just... take care of Fred, yeah?"
"I promise."
"Good enough for me. Now, let's get you keyed into the wards."
"Er," Harry hesitated, having a quick realisation. "What if someone is inside?"
"I take it you mean Sirius? Mum told me. And I checked the house before doing the wards, he's been staying with Remus while the work was being done," Bill assured him. Harry frowned. He trusted Bill, but he wasn't too happy that Mrs Weasley told him something as important as Sirius's location without talking to Harry first. Unless she'd gotten permission from Dumbledore.
"Alright then," he said eventually. Bill took his hand.
"I'm going to make a small cut. I'll heal you as soon as I'm done. Once I've made the cut, put your hand against the barrier," instructed Bill. Harry did as he was told and once his blood touched the magic, Bill began chanting. It was like no spell Harry had ever heard before. It wasn't just a couple of words, but whole sentences and it wasn't a language Harry recognised. Meaning it wasn't English or Latin. After about a minute, the barrier shone bright white, visible for just a second, and then it faded once more.
"Now, to allow someone in you need to cut their palm and have them place it on the barrier. Then you will say: 'I, Harry James Potter, allow their full name access to this hearth and home, through all barriers."
"Er, is English going to work or do I need to learn whatever you were saying?"
"English is fine. Magic is about intent and focus. Language has no real effect to be honest. Well, it has an effect but using a different language won't do anything bad, it's about how it makes you feel. For most spells, English works fine for me because it's my natural language, it's familiar. But Egyptian makes me feel at peace, it's much easier for me to use that for chanting and rituals because the melody makes me slip into, well, the best way to describe it is 'the zone'. It's why wordless magic is usually more powerful because you are focused so completely on what you want to do, without focusing so hard on wand movements or the incantation. But it's harder to master that intense focus which is why it's left until later,” Bill said thoughtfully. “Although in other countries they are taught wandless and wordless magic much younger," he added.
"But, if intent is so much more important than the incantation, why is it so hard to create new spells?" Harry frowned curiously.
"Because the majority of new spells created are created to undo the effects of another spell. For which you need to understand the original spell and create a solution to it. The most powerful witches or wizards might be able to undo another spell through sheer magical power and intent, but that is beyond the power of most wixen. And magic of that kind of power would likely have side effects or interact with the original magic badly."
"At its core, magic doesn't require words or wands, or accidental magic wouldn't occur. We use those things to focus and channel our magic to do exactly what we want to do, rather than random outbursts. But magic interacts with other magic in ways we don't yet understand. It has rules that aren't always obvious and many, many studies have been conducted to try and find those rules out."
"It's so fascinating," Harry said delightedly. "It's strange that it’s so focused on intent but then things like Arithmancy have strict rules."
"Indeed. It’s why History of Magic is required to become a Curse-Breaker. Unfortunately, Binns is a rubbish teacher, but once you get to NEWT level, you start learning about magical theory and how our understanding of magic has changed over the centuries. It’s fascinating, unless taught by Binns. I think, from what I’ve read, Magical Theory used to be its own class at Hogwarts, but now it’s been merged with History of Magic and I’m not sure why as it’s so important. But, there are stories of a rare ability to see magic which makes undoing wards and curses and such-like incredibly easy for those blessed with that ability, but most of us have to do it the hard way."
"That would be amazing," Harry said. And learning about magical theory sounded brilliant, something he would never have expected give how much he usually hated theory. Bill nodded in agreement.
"Anyway, as fascinating as this discussion is, I'd best be off."
"Thanks, Bill. Do you think... could we continue discussing this another time? It's really interesting," Harry asked nervously.
"Of course. I can recommend some books on magical theory and the basics of spell-crafting if you like, and then when I'm back again we can go over it. You're taking Arithmancy, right?"
"Yeah."
"That'll help." Bill gave him three books to start with, which Harry could hardly wait to get his hands on. Bill promised he was going to be back fairly often now that Voldemort had returned, he was planning on requesting a transfer back to the English branch of Gringotts to be closer to his family.
Harry keyed Bill into the wards and then asked Dobby to ask Sirius to come over so he could be keyed into the wards as well. Bill waited until Sirius, accompanied by Remus, had arrived before disapparating.
Sirius hugged Harry tightly and Remus gave him a warm smile. Harry keyed them both in and then the three of them walked up the glorious lawn. Harry was absolutely dying to use the small Quidditch pitch that was off to one side of the grounds. Dobby had disappeared inside once Sirius and Remus had been delivered.
Potter Manor was a great timber and stone building, bigger than Harry had dreamed of. Two oak doors stood closed at the entrance.
Sirius gave him a tour inside, showing him the Great Hall, ballroom, several smaller dining rooms for more intimate family dinners, the kitchen and several other rooms on the sprawling ground floor. The library almost rivalled Hogwarts' and Harry was eager to dive into it.
The second floor contained eight bedrooms and a large living room area. The family wing at the east of the house had the master bedroom and three others, leaving four guest bedrooms in the west wing. It was light and open with large windows looking out over the grounds and decorated with creams and browns with red accents.
Each bedroom was actually more of a suite and had its own bathroom as well as a private sitting room.
It still felt like a dream, wandering through the house, knowing it was his. The Dursleys would have a fit if they could see him now.
Harry unpacked his meagre belongings in the master bedroom. Sirius had taken the room he'd been given by Harry's grandparents and Remus, after a great deal of convincing, had taken the room next to Sirius.
Once they were all settled, they gathered in the living room area in the family wing. It was a large room with three incredibly comfortable sofas, each big enough to sit four people comfortably. They sat in a loose semi-circle around the fireplace built into one wall, large enough to use as a floo entrance, though Sirius assured him it wasn't connected to the floo network currently so couldn't be used. Harry settled on one of the couches and Sirius sat at the other end of the same one. Remus sat opposite the pair.
Harry was suddenly aware that he was sitting with two essentially almost strangers. Yes, he’d exchanged letters with Sirius, and seen him a couple of times, but he didn’t know the man. And Professor Lupin had taught him for a year, they’d been closer than Harry had been with any other professor, but then the older man hadn’t written to him since he’d left Hogwarts at the end of Harry’s third year. Suddenly he felt horribly awkward. They were his dad’s best friends; did they expect Harry to be like James? Would they be horribly disappointed if he wasn't? Would they be able to tell him about his parents? Would he finally hear something about them other than he looked like his dad and had his mother’s eyes?
“So, how was the train back?” Remus asked kindly, pulling Harry from his thoughts.
“Er, fine thanks,” Harry replied.
“How were things for the rest of term? Nobody gave you any trouble, did they?” Sirius asked.
“No. The Weasleys and Hermione kept everyone from asking questions or anything,” he said. Both adults nodded approvingly.
“Harry, I would like to apologise for my, uh, lack of communication over the year,” Remus began, looking awkward and glancing over at Sirius. “I hadn’t realised… I thought…”
“Remus was an idiot and thought you wouldn’t want to talk to him after he tried to snack on you the night the rat escaped,” Sirius cut in, rolling his eyes. Harry frowned.
“But professor…”
“Call me Remus,” he cut in.
“Ok, er, Remus… it wasn’t your fault.”
“It was my fault. I was careless. I knew I hadn’t taken my potion and then somehow failed to realise it was the full moon. I should have stayed in the shack.” Remus’ expression was full of self-loathing.
“You only came out without waiting for your potion because you thought I was a danger to the kids,” Sirius pointed out, face grim. “You were protecting them.” Remus looked away at that. That wasn’t entirely true. He’d come out because he’d seen Peter on the map, and it had given him hope. Hope that they’d all been wrong, and Sirius was innocent. Of course he wanted the kids to be safe, but his first thought had been to get answers and clear Sirius’ name. To get his best friend back.
Eager to change the subject, Harry asked how their tasks for Dumbledore were going. They exchanged a look he could not decipher before Sirius turned to him, looking grave.
“Dumbledore has resurrected a group called The Order of The Phoenix. During the last war we were a secret group that fought Voldemort and his followers. Your dad, Remus and I were all members.” He didn’t mention the rat, but Harry assumed he’d been part of this group too. “With Fudge denying Voldemort’s return, it’s up to us to keep an eye on his movements, try and spoil his plans where possible. I’ve offered my old family house, the Black townhouse in London, as a headquarters. Remus and I will have to attend meetings quite often.”
“I want to come,” Harry said immediately.
“No. The group is only for of age wizards.”
“I am of age,” Harry pointed out. Sirius sighed.
“I know you are technically of age, but Harry, you’re not even fifteen yet.” His godfather looked pained. “My first reaction would be to say yes, because I remember how much I wanted to be out there fighting when I was your age. But then I was out there, I was fighting, and I saw things I can never unsee, did things I can never take back. I don’t want that for you. You wanted me to pick you, to put you first and that means not being an impulsive idiot. I can’t protect you forever from the horrors of war but let me try while I can.”
Sirius and Remus had spoken at great length over the last few days, discussing everything that had happened. Not just recently, but how they’d grown apart at the end of the last war, so far apart they’d suspected each other of being a spy. It had been painful, and Sirius had thrown many temper tantrums while Remus patiently waited for his rage and regret to subside. But Sirius could see things more clearly than he had in a long time. In part it had been due to his lack of dementor exposure in the last year. Although he dreaded to think how miserable he would have been if he’d gone with Dumbledore’s suggestion of living at Grimmauld Place. Why the headmaster thought it would be a good idea for him to be cooped up in the childhood home he’d run away from for good reason for however long it took to clear his name, was beyond Sirius. Alright, the headmaster didn’t want him getting caught, and he didn’t know about Potter Manor, but he’d rather lay low at Remus’ than that place. They could have put Remus’ house under Fidelius, but it didn’t matter now. He only had to visit the blasted place for meetings. Nothing more. And maybe to stop the idiotic Weasley matriarch from getting her kids horribly cursed by touching things they knew nothing about.
He was pulled from his wandering thoughts by Remus tapping his arm lightly. He cured himself. He might be doing better, but his mind still wandered a lot. And the nightmares were almost constant. Sirius turned to look at his godson properly. “I’ll make you a compromise. You don’t attend meetings, the rest of the Order wouldn’t allow it anyway, and I will promise to share with you any relevant information. It won’t be everything, but I will keep you informed.”
“It’s all relevant,” Harry scowled. “Voldemort wants me dead. He’s going to keep trying. And I want to be prepared.” His godfather looked pained at that declaration.
“I know, pup. But you should be focusing on your OWLs, not a war. I won’t keep you blind or ignorant, but there are some things you don’t need to know.” Harry glared at his godfather, but Sirius wasn’t backing down. “You wanted me to pick your side, and I will, always, but I ask that you trust me, at least a little." Harry considered.
As a general rule, he didn't trust adults. They almost never believed him, they dismissed him when he was in trouble, abandoned him, and commonly kept the truth or lied to him. But, as far as he knew, Sirius had never done any of those things.
Except when he’d chosen to go after the rat and leave him with Hagrid to be dumped at the Dursleys like a bottle of milk. Aunt Petunia had never been secretive about the fact that Harry had been left on her doorstep in the middle of the night. It was one more thing to punish him for. Sirius had chosen revenge once. But the rat was dead now and he'd promised to take Harry's side. And so far, he'd lived up to that promise. Eventually he nodded and Sirius smiled.
"As for you being prepared, Sirius has requested that I help tutor you over the summer," Remus put in.
"Tutor me?" Harry frowned.
"Well, for one, I know your defence lessons have been... below acceptable standards, for at least half of your time at Hogwarts. But we would also teach you to fight."
"We don't mean duelling; we mean a proper fight where there are no rules. No bowing and proper etiquette. Death Eaters fight dirty," Sirius warned.
"Sounds great," Harry declared. He'd trained with the twins, but Remus and Sirius had fought in a war before. They'd dealt with Death Eaters and knew what to expect. "What about the others? Shouldn't they know too?"
"Alexia is welcome to attend any fighting lessons if she wishes, though I suspect she's quite adept at looking after herself," Sirius said wryly.
"So was Cassius," Harry replied simply. Sirius nodded.
"The twins are welcome too, but the others are underage, so it's up to Mrs Weasley and Hermione's parents if they are allowed."
"I will speak with Molly," Remus offered. Harry nodded gratefully.
"Speaking of Weasleys, Dumbledore also asked that I allow a certain family to reside at Grimmauld Place as the Burrow is not even half as well protected.”
“Fred’s living at your house?” Harry asked.
“With the rest of the Weasleys, yes. Can’t think why. It might be safer from outside threats but there are enough dark artefacts in that house that they’d probably have been better off at the Burrow,” Sirius scoffed. “It’s protected by the Fidelius now, but I’ll give you the secret when we visit and then you can come and go from there freely to see your friends.”
“Really? I can see them whenever I like?”
“Of course.” Sirius frowned, seeming a little confused. “They are your friends. I won’t stop you from seeing them, although they might prefer to visit you here rather than you going there.”
“If your house is that dangerous, why can’t they stay here? Bill put up some awesome wards,” Harry suggested.
“Probably because Dumbledore doesn’t know that you’re living here just yet. I know he wanted you to go back to those relatives of yours, and told the Weasleys you would be unable to join them.”
“He said what?”
“A couple of members of the Order were also under instructions to keep an eye on you at the house, but they will soon report that you never arrived. If Molly didn’t as soon as you didn’t leave the platform with your relatives.” Harry scowled once more.
“I believe Molly has the children cleaning the house,” Remus put in with a slight smile.
“Which I’ve told her is a bad idea. There is a lot of stuff in that house they shouldn’t touch. It’s dangerous,” Sirius frowned. “Next time I go over, I’ll tell her to leave it, again.”
They turned to lighter topics for the time being. There was still an awful lot to discuss, but Harry didn’t feel like delving any further in than they had today. He just wanted to enjoy his first ever summer holiday away from the Dursleys.
After dinner, he'd given Sirius the jar containing Rita Skeeter, still in beetle form and his godfather had taken great pleasure in threatening her about writing any more false articles. Harry had then, reluctantly, given her an interview about what had happened in the graveyard the following morning. He named all the Death Eaters he'd heard or seen. Then he spoke about Barty Crouch Junior and his confessions as well as what had happened to him.
Rita was practically vibrating with glee throughout and had promised, under a great deal of threats, that the article would be exactly as Harry said. Sirius demanded they would be given the draft copy to make sure it was as it should be.
"Did it have to be her?" Harry complained once the interview was over, and Skeeter had left.
"Unfortunately, yes. With what we have on her, it'll guarantee she prints the story as you said. And if we keep giving her juicy stories she has to print properly, she'll want to keep us onside," Sirius explained. Though he didn't look much happier about it than Harry felt.
Harry immediately sent a letter to Lexi, telling her what he'd done. He also mentioned the lessons if she wanted to attend. Additionally, he also sent a letter to Edmund, his lawyer, informing him about the interview.
Hedwig definitely approved of his new accommodation, especially the large grounds where she could catch plenty of mice, but she was pleased to have something to do.
The day after the interview, Harry wrote letters to Ron, Fred, George and Hermione. He invited them to visit him whenever they could. He also let Fred know he’d had confirmation that his visit to the goblins was planned for two days’ time, so could they meet him at Gringotts at 10am. He wasn’t sure when the first meeting of the Order would be to go and visit. Sirius had said he could go to Grimmauld to see his friends whenever he wanted, but he wanted a few days to himself. And he was kind of avoiding Dumbledore.
He spent most of his time in the library. He spent the two days before his appointment at Gringotts getting his summer work out of the way. It was going to be a busy summer, and he didn’t want to have to worry about it. Remus had agreed to look over it and give him some pointers if he needed them. But naturally, his homework was a lot easier when he wasn’t doing it in secret in the dead of night and had access to the vast resources in the Potter library.
Old habits meant that Harry woke early every day and was used to spending a large portion of his day working. It was strange, not spending his days doing numerous chores. This meant that all of his summer essays were done by the time of his appointment at Gringotts. He set them aside, relieved to have them finished. Snape’s essay was particularly nasty, but with George’s tutoring during the school year, and some of the books he found in the Potter library, he found it much easier than he would otherwise have done. He’d been able to include a lot more detail and he was able to understand the intricacies of the interactions between the different ingredients.
While working on these essays, he finally understood how Hermione easily found herself going over the set amount of parchment required. In fact, that was what he’d needed Remus’ help with the most. The content had been fine, it was choosing what was truly required, and what was more of a tangent that Harry had gone on while reading about something interesting but only slightly related. He’d still struggled with his History of Magic essay and Astronomy was never going to be his favourite subject, but Harry was confident he’d done well in most of the others. Between the twins reigniting his love of magic and the realisation he didn’t know anywhere near enough to be prepared for what was coming, Harry was also eager to throw himself into learning.
He’d found the books that Bill had recommended for spell crafting and magical theory in the library and while reading through, Harry had determined that he would make a counter-curse for Cassius. No matter how long it took, he would help his friend. Having made sure he finished all his summer work first, he hadn’t been looking long before he was interrupted.
Remus found him stretched out on the library floor surrounded by books and pieces of parchment that had been used and discarded.
“It’s time to head to the bank,” he said. Harry jerked his head up, surprised the time had gone by so quickly. “Are you working on anything interesting?”
“Just reading up on Magical Theory. I was talking to Bill about it,” he admitted. It was a half-truth, but he didn’t want to tell anyone about his desire to create a counter-curse just yet. He had no idea if he even could, let along how long it would entail. This would be his private project; he didn’t want it getting back to Lexi and getting her hopes up.
“Sounds highly interesting,” Remus smiled. “If you wish to discuss anything, or need some help, well, I’ve had a lot of time on my hands over the last decade or so.”
“Thanks,” Harry grinned brightly. It would be helpful to have someone else to talk to about this.
The pair strode up the lawn to the gates where Remus would apparate them both to Diagon Alley. The manor still hadn’t been connected to the floo network. Sirius was reluctant, thinking that they should keep the location as secret and protected as possible. The floo was a risk as it could bypass a lot of the wards Bill had put up. There were ways to secure it, but it was a bigger security threat and Sirius was unhappy about it.
When they arrived at the bank, Fred and George were already there waiting.
“Harry!” Fred called when he saw him, hurrying over to give him a hug. “How are you?”
“I’m great,” Harry told him with a smile, melting into the hug. “I missed you,” he admitted.
“I missed you too.”
“His pining is decidedly pathetic,” George put in, but he shot Harry a wink, making him chuckle. Fred glared at his twin.
“Did you two pass your apparition tests then?” Harry looked around and there didn’t appear to be any other Weasleys around.
“Yeah. First time. Obviously,” Fred bragged, looking smug.
“Congratulations,” Remus said with a smile.
“Thanks, Professor.”
“Call me Remus.”
“Mum wasn’t too happy about us coming out today,” George admitted. “Thinks it’s too dangerous to be out alone and she’s been a bit funny about you recently, so we didn’t say it was you we were meeting.”
“What do you mean being a bit funny about me?” Harry frowned. The twins exchanged looks.
“She was unhappy Dumbledore said you had to go back to those relatives of yours, she wanted you to come straight to ours. But when you didn’t leave with your relatives at the platform, she immediately went to tell Dumbledore you were missing. I think she’s worried Snuffles is being a bad influence on you and thinks you should be following the headmaster’s orders,” Fred explained.
“So, she didn’t want me going back to the Dursleys, but now she’s upset I didn’t go back to the Dursleys?” Harry asked.
“Pretty much. ‘Dumbledore must have his reasons’ she says,” Fred scoffed.
“So, nobody knows where I am right now?”
“They know you’re staying with Snuffles; he came to head… he came to the house and told everyone you were safe. There was a massive argument about it,” George told him.
“Snuffles didn’t say anything to me?” Harry frowned. He glanced over at Remus.
“He didn’t want to concern you with this. He told the headmaster you were safe and that he had no right to dictate where you spent your summers, especially now you are legally an adult. Dumbledore and Molly were upset by this, but he didn’t back down. There was nothing more to it,” Remus assured him. Harry nodded. He was a bit annoyed Sirius hadn’t told him the headmaster was still kicking up a fuss about him staying with the Dursleys, but in the end Sirius was sticking too his word. He was taking Harry’s side and backing him up. Sirius had asked for trust and Harry would give it.
“Alright then. Let’s get this over with.”
They headed into the bank and Harry went up to the nearest available teller. After a brief greeting, he asked to meet with Bloodaxe, showing his Potter Ring as proof of identity. The goblin led the group to Bloodaxe’s office where they were shown in and seated quickly.
“Good to see you, Mr. Potter. The basilisk sale was one of Gringotts’ best ever auctions,” Bloodaxe told him grinning toothily, which was a little unnerving.
“Uh, yeah. It was better than you expected,” Harry agreed.
“All the vaults for the victims you wanted set up have now been claimed. Here is your latest account statement.” Bloodaxe handed him a piece of parchment which Harry glanced at briefly. The amount of money in his account still made him feel a little nauseous.
“Right, er, good. I’d like to invest in a new business while I’m here,” Harry told him.
“Of course.” Bloodaxe snapped his fingers, and a contract appeared in his hand. “What is the business and how much would you like to invest?”
Harry turned to the twins. “What was the name you guys came up with? Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes?”
“Uh, yeah. But Harry…” Fred began.
“Don’t argue with me on this one. I want to help you guys. But if you don’t want a contract, I could just give you the money.” Harry had only gone with the idea of a contract because he thought it would make it easier for the guys to accept the money.
“No. You can’t just…”
“I can. I have an obscene amount of money and you guys are amazing. You could knock Zonko’s out of the park if you had the chance. And I have no doubts you guys could do it yourselves, but I want to help, and I have the ability to do so.”
The twins gave in and the three of them began looking over the contract. Fred insisted on giving Harry a thirty-three percent share of the company. Harry had tried to protest but then George joined in, saying that if he wanted to help them, they would only accept it if he got something back. In return, he’d boosted his startup amount from a thousand galleons to two and a half thousand galleons.
Both twins were completely exasperated and unbelievably grateful at the same time. The contract was all signed and the money deposited in the twins’ new account they set up for their business. Harry then had to go to his medical appointment. Fred promised to wait for him and the twins decided to look at properties for sale. They weren’t ready to open a shop just yet, but they wanted to be prepared for when they finished their NEWTs the following summer.
Harry also spoke with Bloodaxe about his idea to use the Triwizard money to set up something to help Cassius.
“I think your best bet here is to set it up as a reward for whoever creates the cure to his condition. If you offer the money for ingredients or other expenses, you would, have to validate that they used to the money for its intended purpose.” Harry nodded.
“Advertisement in the Daily Prophet?” Fred suggested.
“I would suggest looking to more… specific publications for such a thing,” Bloodaxe advised. “We have a publication specifically aimed at curse-breakers, or perhaps a spell-crafters one, though I know of none personally.”
“I think that would be a better idea. Of course, you can still put an advert in the Prophet, but do that as well,” Remus suggested.
“Alright. Bloodaxe, could you put an advert in your curse-breaker thing that there is a thousand galleon reward for whoever can cure Cassius? The reward will be given once he is cured and cleared by the Healers at St. Mungo’s.” Bloodaxe nodded and made a note.
The final thing Harry wanted was to sort out a contract for Remus to pay him for tutoring. Remus put up more of a fuss than the twins did, protesting that he was already living with Harry for free, he didn’t need a wage as well, but Harry won in the end. It wasn’t as much as he wanted it to be, but it was the absolute maximum Remus was willing to accept.
Once all of his accounting business was sorted, Harry was led to another part of the building by a goblin that Bloodaxe had summoned. He was taken down several twisting corridors before they began to slop down underground. Eventually the goblin stopped and knocked on a door. Harry was shown into a room that looked remarkably like the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts, although there were a few differences. Namely at one end of the ward was an open area with runes drawn on the floor in a circle.
“Mr. Potter. I am Healer Renrock,” the goblin in the room introduced herself. “Now, today we will be giving you a full medical examination, including taking blood samples, with your permission, and a deep scan.” Harry nodded, feeling a little nervous. “Very well then, please sit on the bed.” She indicated the bed closest to her.
Harry took a seat, and she bustled about for a few moments before coming over with a small knife in hand. “Would you prefer to give the sample yourself?” She asked. He nodded once more. “Very well, then please make a small cut in the palm of your hand and put seven drops of blood onto this parchment,” she instructed, placing a sheaf of parchment on the table next to the bed. Harry reluctantly took the knife and made the cut as instructed. He counted the drops of blood before pulling his hand away. She muttered a few words, and his palm healed instantly.
“Thanks,” he muttered. He watched the parchment as words began to appear. Renrock picked it up and began examining it, muttering to herself. Her face became more and more animated the further she read. She said something in Gobbledegook and then looked up at Harry.
“Mr. Potter, your blood contains traces of basilisk venom and phoenix tears. It is astonishing. Phoenix tears normally dissolve, leaving no trace once the wound is gone. As far as we know, basilisk venom does not ever leave the system, hence why Bloodaxe was so keen for you to have a full medical here at Gringotts. It appears the constant presence of the venom has caused the phoenix tears to remain in your system, constantly healing you.”
“Are you saying the venom is constantly trying to kill me and the tears and then healing me at the same time?” Harry asked.
“Exactly,” she agreed excitedly. Harry didn’t think this was really cause for excitement, his own blood was now constantly trying to poison him. Admittedly it was also curing him, but that didn’t make him feel much better.
“Does it mean my blood is poisonous now? If it touches someone else, I mean?”
“No. Somehow the balance is perfect. Neither is powerful enough to destroy the other, meaning your blood won’t heal you either with the phoenix tears in it. However, I suspect that should you use blood magic, your blood will be particularly potent. Especially when using it for healing or protection purposes.”
Harry’s mind raced. Bill had said the wards around Potter Manor were blood based. Did that mean they were stronger than others? Wards were a type of protective magic after all. He still had a lot of questions, but he didn’t know how to voice them.
“Would you permit me to take a large blood sample to conduct some further studies with?” Renrock asked. “I would like to look into any potential side effects, although you have had this in your system for two years now, so it is unlikely. I would also like to study this for personal research,” she admitted easily.
“Er, sure, I guess,” Harry shrugged. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it, but didn’t see any reason to say no. She cut his palm once more and let the blood drip into a glass vial. Once the vial was almost full, she put a stopper in it and healed his hand again.
“Once I have my results, I will let you know,” she promised.
“Thanks.” He had to admit, he was a little curious himself.
Renrock put the vial away before moving on to waving her hand around in his direction and muttering more Gobbledegook. Harry found himself encased in a bluish-white glow for several seconds.
“Now, you are malnourished, extending back almost your whole life. This has affected your height. Your magic has been working to fend off the worst of the effects. You may have noticed you are rarely, if ever, ill. Your magic has already been expending a great deal of energy to keep you as healthy as possible and likely included preventing you from getting things like colds. When this has been fixed, your magic will have to retrain itself and you will probably find you do get ill, although I expect it will still be less frequent than your peers.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?” Harry frowned.
“Not being ill? Yes, but the way it has come about it not, and it takes a portion of your magic to keep it that way. You will likely find, once you are cured, you have a little boost in power. Nothing drastic, but noticeable.”
“It can be fixed though?”
“Of course. A simple course of nutritional potions and a good diet will be fine. I will recommend a dose of bone strengthening potion as well. Now, your vision is also fixable, though you will likely require glasses once more when you are older.”
“You can fix my eyesight?”
“That is what I said,” she said brusquely.
“Brilliant!” Renrock scribbled several things down on a piece of parchment.
“You will need these potions, and they should be taken exactly as instructed. I would like to see you in two weeks for a checkup. I would also be ready to purchase some more clothes as you are likely to have a growth spurt.”
“Brilliant!” Harry said again. No more midget jokes! He looked at the parchment and saw he needed four different potions that had to be taken at least twice a day. The nutritional potion lasted the longest, he needed to take that for the full two weeks. The bone strengthening potions were only for a day and the eyedrops she’d prescribed had to be put in three times a day for a week. Harry grimaced at that. There was also an approved diet on a second sheaf of parchment, which actually looked alright to Harry. It was certainly nothing like Dudley’s diet had been.
When he was finished, Renrock personally escorted Harry back to a waiting room where Remus, Fred and George were all sitting, pouring over several sheafs of parchment.
“Harry!” Remus greeted, spotting him first.
“Hey,” he smiled slightly, taking a seat next to Fred.
“Are you alright?” Fred asked.
“Yeah. Mostly. I need a few potions, but I’ll be fine soon,” Harry assured him. He nodded.
“What potions do you need?” George asked, interestedly. Harry showed him the parchment and George nodded.
“If we get the ingredients, I can make most of these, instead of you buying them,” he offered.
“Really? That would be great. Thanks George,” Harry grinned gratefully.
“Gotta keep our investor in top shape,” George winked. “The eyedrops I’d definitely buy though. I could make them, but it’s not something I’ve dealt with before, so I’d feel better if you got professionally made ones of those.” Harry nodded.
He then told them about his blood. They were all surprised by it, but Fred made them all laugh claiming it was just a typical ‘Harry Potter thing’. Harry had wanted to protest but, unfortunately, Fred wasn’t wrong.
“We’ll stop by the apothecary before heading home. We can get the ingredients and the eyedrops at the same time then,” Remus stated once they’d recovered from the news.
“We really should get back, but you can just owl me the ingredients,” George said. “I know you invited us to see your place, but it might be best to wait a little while on that.”
“Yeah. But Snuffles said I can come over whenever, so next time he has a meeting I’ll come see you,” Harry promised.
“You better,” Fred sighed. The twins left.
Harry and Remus also left the bank, but they headed towards the apothecary. Once they had what they needed, Harry wanted to stop in at Flourish and Blotts, which Remus was more than happy to do. They spent over an hour browsing the numerous shelves and each ended up with an armful of books. Harry put a few back, unsure if the Potter library would have them, but most of the ones he wanted had been published in the last decade, meaning it was unlikely they would be in the library as nobody had lived there to update it.
They stopped at a little restaurant for lunch down a small side alley Harry had never seen before. It seemed that Remus knew the owner and they had a lovely Italian. Eventually, they finished their shopping and apparated back to Potter Manor.