As Harry made his way to the private room he'd been using for the past three years he made a mental note to make certain to keep his belongings in his trunk and to keep the trunk locked as much as possible should he be forced back to the tower.
He didn't trust them. Any of them as he knew the first hint of wrong doing, and they'd gladly turn on him again. Even if said wrongdoing wasn't by him. It wasn't like they'd ever waited for proof before to stab him in the back.
And no matter how many times they'd been proven wrong in the past for their accusations against him, it'd never stopped them from accusing him again the next time rumors began flying. With Ron and Hermione in the Tower, whatever happened to upset the children this year would most certainly be blamed on him. Somehow. Nor would he receive any apologies for their behavior. He never had before.
A hand on the only unoccupied wall and a silent request for additional rooms had the Castle accommodating his wishes and adding a small study, a private lab where he could do his own brewing and a bathing chamber to the room he'd used for the past three years. This year he wouldn't be having to leave his chambers just to get a shower. As the heir of Gryffindor and wearing the ring of Gryffindor, Harry had the right to make the request if he chose.
He'd also requested his rooms be tended to by Dobby and Winky. Only by Dobby and Winky. He'd requested access to them be barred to anyone not specifically approved of by himself as very few people in this Castle could be trusted by him and those who were, were vulnerable to those who weren't. Even Colin could no longer get access to his rooms as all the ghosts, like the portraits, suits of armor and the house-elves, reported to the Headmaster.
No longer would the Headmaster or any of his flunkies have access to Harry's sleeping place. Dobby happily saw to furnishing the rooms for Harry. He even found a small dining table and two matching chairs so Harry wouldn't have to eat in the Great Hall or go to the kitchens for his meals.
Professor McGonagal who was Head of Gryffindor Tower didn't even notice Harry hadn't accompanied the Gryffindor students to the tower. Nor did she notice he wasn't sleeping in the fifth year boys dorm. But then Harry hadn't expected her to because certainly none of the boys would complain about his absence. Ron knew his best chance of turning his fellows against Harry was if Harry wasn't sharing space with them. So he hadn't said a word about Harry not being in the tower. Not even to Hermione.
Two days later he met with the twins in the Room of Requirement to get the full story of their plans and tell them why it mattered so much to him. He spoke of it quietly after first getting their guarantee not to breathe a word of what he said to anyone. Fred and George simply grinned and promised to do their very best to ensure his investment was all that he hoped it would be.
"Hell, Harrikins. We'll help you all we can to become independent of this group of leeches and bloodsuckers. They've done everything they can to steal your life away from you and make you thank them for doing so. You're our silent partner and between the three of us, they don't stand a chance."
The other twin assured him they already had a fully fleshed out business plan and a goblin to help them manage the finance end of things since Hogwarts didn't teach anything about economics. "Bill recommended him to us because he likes pranks as much as we do. So Skald will make certain we remain in the black so we can grow our business and become profitable. His future in the Bank rides on our success so we know he won't double cross us. It's in his best interest to help us all he can."
The first brother took a minute to explain things for Harry. "Turns out that before a goblin can rise up in the ranks there they have to prove their worth by helping grow the wealth of a client. Said client usually becomes their first account if they don't miss too many opportunities for the client. So if Skald does good for us, he'll be able to skip being a cart driver, the door guard and the teller postings and go straight to account manager. For having been just a runner grunt, that's a pretty good promotion for a goblin. For anybody really."
Harry asked, "Can you have him draw up some paperwork I can use to show I'm your backer and investor? He could pass it to my manager so I'll have it if I need to prove I'm mature enough to support myself outside the inheritance my folks left me."
"Sure Harrikins. Skald already has it drawn up because we always planned to share the profits with you," the twins agreed. "As we've said many a time, we consider you to be family. Our little brother."
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