A matter of Law

14

Lord Arcturus Black III, Head of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black, was more than angry as he walked into Gringotts with his ward Harry Potter and their respective solicitors, he was furious. Even though he kept his face expressionless, people who saw him in the bank lobby quickly moved out of the way, for fear the cold rage in his eyes would be turned on them if they fell into his notice.

Despite the rage simmering just under the surface however, the hand on the shoulder of his young ward was gentle. The lad had been through enough already at the hands of his aunt and uncle; he wasn't going to be the cause of additional pain to the boy. However, Arcturus still stalked to one of the teller windows in as controlled a manner as his rage would allow.

"We have an appointment with Account Manager Krogund. Please inform him of our arrival."

Within minutes, all four were ushered into Krogund's office; he briefly took note of the confused look on Harry's face.

"I take it you've never seen a goblin before today, have you Mr. Potter?" Krogund asked. As Harry simply shook his head, Krogund tried to explain.

"You could say that my race is especially good with finance, Mr. Potter. We can usually find the best ways to earn the maximum amount of money. It's for this reason that witches and wizards use our bank for their money. And just like any other bank you may have seen, each wizard or witch that has money in this bank does so with an account. Goblins prefer high security for valuables and money, so in this bank, each account holder has one particular area in the bank where their account is located, what we in Gringotts call a 'vault'. Understand?"

"So everybody with money here has something like their own personal safe to put everything in?"

"Very like a safe, yes. Every account vault also has a key to open the vault when a bank customer wants to take money out, or put money in. Now, I'm sure you have many more questions, which I'm sure that Lord Black or your solicitor will be able to answer, or I will, however, we have other things which must be taken care of first."

"Indeed," Arcturus said, his voice a low growl.

"Lord Black, as I told you in my letter, Albus Dumbledore attempted to gain access to Mr. Potter's vault today. He was unsuccessful of course, but it does raise a concern. Lord Black, if Gringotts had not already been notified that young Mr. Potter was your ward, we would have had to allow Mr. Dumbledore access to the vault; he is in possession of at least one of the keys attached to the Potter estate, maybe more. I recommend that all of the vaults be rekeyed after Mr. Potter claims his ring."

"I have an account here? Then why did Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia always tell me that my parents died broke and drunk in a car crash? Uncle Vernon always told me about how much money I cost him and Aunt Petunia, because my parents didn't leave anything to take care of me. Why didn't anybody tell me?" Harry asked, voice breaking.

"You were told your parents died in a car crash? Mr. Potter, that isn't anywhere close to being the truth. When your uncle would tell you about money spent to care for you, do you remember any amounts mentioned?" Krogund took a quill and parchment from his desk, preparing to take notes.

"Uncle Vernon got mad when my school said I had to get my eyes checked because I couldn't see the board. He yelled at me about how getting my eyes checked cost two hundred pounds, and my glasses cost another fifty pounds. But my glasses didn't cost that much, I know they didn't, because Aunt Petunia made me get the frames from a barrel they had for charity and only cost Aunt Petunia ten pounds."

"Krogund, after he claims his ring and the vaults are rekeyed, I want every vault attached to the Potter estate audited. We need to know where every knut, sickle, and galleon went, and in what frequency. I'll pay for the time myself to get it done. I also want included in the audit just who authorized each transaction," Arcturus stated flatly.