Less than a minute and a half later, after Harry noticed there were confusion and befuddlement magics at work on he and Luna as they walked down the corridors, they came to one of many doors; but this one differed in that the name carved on the metal plate in block capitals and affixed to the middle of the door at about lower-chest height said POTTER. The young goblin leading them opened the door and gestured them within. Harry led the way. However, the young goblin did not follow them within. Instead, he pulled the door shut, closing himself out.
The new goblin sitting behind the big desk at the other end of the room barked, "And just where... in Gornack's name... have you been, Mister Potter?"
"On a planet orbiting the star known as Sirius A in the Canis Majoris constellation," Harry flatly returned.
The old goblin looked back for a long moment in what Harry thought was shock, before he suddenly roared with laughter. Finally, he said, "I've heard some tall tales, Mister Potter; but that one drinks the mead."
Based on the goblin's behaviour, he didn't know whether to tell him it was the truth or not. Instead, he said, "Obviously you've been looking for me. What do you need, before we get to what Ineed?"
Gesturing to the two chairs before his desk, the goblin said, "Come. Sit."
As the two moved and sat in the chairs, the old goblin continued, "We have much to do. While Lord Black has taken Regency of House Potter and it is safe, nothing much has been done about the other."
'Other?' Harry thought.
As soon as both humans sat the goblin, whom Harry learned was named 'Hooknose' from the nameplate on the desk, launched into it.
"Lord Black rightfully claimed Regency of the House of Potter only a few days after that business in the Department of Mysteries," he said. "The wizard, Albus Dumbledore, also tried to claim it by claiming he was your magical guardian. He was shocked to discover I both knew he wasn't and promptly laughed at him.
"I, of course, denied it of him. I had to throw him out, as he annoyed me when he tried to push it."
Then, together, they got into what needed to be done.
The resultant discussion about what his Account Manager, Hooknose, needed from him and what he needed from his Account Manager took longer than Harry thought it would; far longer.
The other financial business he accomplished while there was to organise money be 'snuck' into the muggle bank accounts of those he owed during his trip from Colorado back to Britain and promised himself he'd recompense. He even figured out a decent payment to the Norwegian Cruise company who owned the liner on which he travelled between New York and England, for the cost of the food and the 'rent' on the utility compartment.
The goblin thought it was a prank, but he promised to get it done. Harry truly didn't care if he did or didn't think it a prank; just got it done.
Harry also needed to accept Headship of House Potter from Sirius, but left him as Steward for the House in case something happened to him. Further, he also had to take control of the Peverell Account - wasn't that a surprise, as neither Sirius nor Luna had told him about it and also accept the Heir's position for the House of Black. That led to him having to don three rings - Lord of Potter, Lord of Peverell and Heir of Black. Thankfully, they weren't that bulky, even though they looked like they were.
Once the parchmentwork was all done, he was handed a copy of the Potter and Peverell account books. He handed those off to Luna, who slipped them into her clutch-purse for him.
Next, he took a trip down to the vaults. He didn't have a vault for Black - as he was now Head of House Potter, he didn't receive a stipend from the Black accounts - and Sirius had dumped a whole lot of galleons into the vault as a lump sum one-off 'payment'. So he first headed for the Potter vaults.
Seeing everything that was in there was a real eye-opener. He had no idea the Potter family was a wealthy one. However, he was informed the Potters had made their fortunes through Potions - such as Skele-Gro, Pepper-Up and, 'lately', Sleek-Ezy - and through careful and very clever investments of the capital in both the wizarding world and muggle.
He took well over a thousand galleons and was converting even more to muggle British pounds so he could buy muggle clothing. He was then going to bypass the Peverell vault, but Luna told him it was important he visit it.
When the vault was opened he was expecting piles of gold, weaponry, old documents, that sort of thing; just like the Potter vault. That is not what he was greeted with on the cart goblin opening the vault.
Instead, there were a couple of piles of gold off to one side that seemed to be about a few hundred thousand worth. However, the major find was the Goa'uld artefacts. They occupied a table, lined right down the middle of the vault like a set of trestle tables.
He stopped and stared in stunned amazement.
"Harry," said Luna, trying to get his attention.
When he finally looked at her she indicated a letter sitting on the end of the closest table and at the vault door end. "I believe that's for you," she said. When he picked it up it was addressed to 'Our Heir'.
Frowning in confusion he opened it out and read it.
It was difficult to read, considering it used many letters that had changed shape since the days of the Peverells; and the style of writing was also quite different. However, with a bit of effort and concentration, he was able to 'decipher' it. After the first paragraph it became easier.
The letter stated the artefacts left on the table had been recovered from archaeological 'digs' in the middle east, especially around Egypt. And that the earlier Peverells made their fortune from tomb raiding before Gringotts got in on the act.
Each of the artefacts, according to the earlier Peverells, after detection charms were cast on them showed them to have been made of metals and metal composites not found anywhere else on Earth. And that the Peverells had made it part of their lifes' work to collect them. Accordingly, they never sold one single item of 'this particular type' and even purchased them off other tomb raiders both on the hidden (black) market and from museums around the world.
When he finished reading the letter he quietly muttered a heartfelt, "Daaammnnn!" and refolded the letter. He didn't realise he'd done so, but had handed the letter to Luna. His mind was on what the letter contained and already on what was on the trestle tables. She simply dropped it into her clutch-purse without a word.
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