Amelia's POV
It was only lunch and Amelia was already ready to go home. The day started off bad when she read the headlines. She was fuming by the time she got to her office. She had reamed the two rookies, who were in charge of Fudge's case, for letting that bit of news out so soon. Alastor had told her that the rookies were only following procedure, and that she shouldn't be too hard on them. Still, she had been hoping to keep it quiet for a bit longer. She had been inundated with owls since. She just had too much on her plate at the moment to have to deal with a panicking public. They made too many unreasonable demands, and they wanted answers to questions she didn't have answers for. That, and now the Wizengamot was breathing down her neck, making it impossible to get any work done. If one more old geezer came to her office ordering her around, she was going to hex them. There was even a letter in there from Dumbledore, as if he wasn't on the run, telling her how to handle the investigation. The nerve.
She left the rookies on the case, everyone had to start somewhere. She did assign a senior Auror to supervise, so the uppity-ups would get off her back.
Finishing her eggs salad sandwich and banishing the remains of her lunch, she started going over what her Riddle team had found. So far, they learned, from the muggle's hometown, that the squib had potioned the father, and how he had come running back when she stopped. It was all hearsay and gossip, but if you read between the lines, you got the gist.
They found out that Tom was orphaned and raised in an orphanage. They tracked his career through Hogwarts, and the few jobs he held after. There were some suspicions on what happened to his father and grandparents, but since his uncle was dead it, was a dead end. Actually, everyone in Tom's family was dead under shadowy circumstances, but all was neatly tided up for someone else to take the fall. The caretaker of the old Riddle mansion had even died, mysteriously.
That place looked like it had been lived in recently and they found an unidentified dead man there, who was missing a hand. It looked like he had bled out. They traced that back to a scene in a graveyard not far from the mansion. Amelia had to assign two more Aurors to go over that, thinking it was the place Potter had told her about. That meant it was the aborted attempt to resurrect You-Know-Who. She was tempted to send an Unspeakable, but then she'd never hear anything back, so she was holding that off for the moment.
The Riddle team had lost track of him after he quit Borgin and Burkes, but they were still looking. The main problem was that he might have left the country, and they didn't have the budget to go abroad. They could send a few owls, Floo other departments and ask a few questions, but not go themselves. Sometimes she really wished they had phones, like the muggles.
She was hoping they would pick up the trail after he came back to the UK. There had been rumors of him being in Hogwarts a few years ago, which she had dismissed at the time, so she was having them restart there.
"Madam Bones," the voice of her secretary interrupted her thoughts. "There are two young men to see you. They said to mention the map and you'd know who they are. The older one was here a few days ago."
"Send them in Debra, and make sure we're not disturb for the next twenty minutes," Amelia said, pushing the rune to answer.
Sirius and Harry entered the room, a box floating at their side, though Harry was glamored to look like a much different person. He had sandy hair and a bulbous nose. His eyes were a lighter green and his mouth was fuller. If she hadn't been warned, she would have never recognized him.
"Madam Bones, I hope you're not too busy," Harry said, taking the chair on the right. He smirked at his godfather as the man sat next to him. Both men couldn't wait to see her face when they showed her what they brought.
"I am busy," she answered, shuffling some parchment to the side. "This mess with the Minister's death has caused a lot of chaos. People are demanding results, and they are not taking 'we're working on it' for an answer," she sighed, looking at the two men in front of her. "I wish you had remembered more, but it can't be helped. What can I do for you two today?"
"I have something that might take some of the worry off your shoulders," the younger boy enticed, waving to the box floating beside him. He moved it to the side of her desk and watched as she eyeballed it like it was about to explode or something.
"Oh," she asked, turning back to him and raising her eyebrow. "Something that's not going to bite me, I hope." The last thing she needed was these two hooligans to play a prank on her. She was very much familiar with Black and his friends' shenanigans in Hogwarts. They had carried on after and all had a small file of misdemeanors. Nothing more serious than a pureblood complaining, but since both Black and Potter were also purebloods, nothing ever came of them.
"Well," the teen said sheepishly, not making her feel the least bit better. "We're working on that. There's a treaty in the works, but I thought someone who knew more about the Wizarding World's politics would be better at that than I," he finished with a shrug.
"A… treaty?" Bones inquired, wondering just what was in that box.
"Yeah, you see, we found an army of Doxies in Sirius' old house and I was thinking they could be used to patrol the tunnel here. If you could train them up a bit, work out a deal and make sure they have plenty of food, then you have your own private army in the walls. However, the queen tells me that they are going to split soon. She found another queen in her current nest, so I was thinking the new army could go to Hogwarts, and do the same there," Harry said, with a broad grin. He and the queen had talked more after breakfast, and she was content with the idea of living in hidden passageways, biting only those that either entered without the password, or overpowering those that smelled of evil, like the dark objects from Grimmuald Place. If the Ministry was attacked, or Merlin forbid, taken over, they would help defend their new home. The same for Hogwarts, only there would have to be an addendum about biting students. It would give her brood something to do, and then perhaps they wouldn't rebel.
"Did you say an army of… doxies? As in the eight limbed creatures that live in draperies?" she asked in a great deal of shock. "What do they even eat?"
"You know, I'm not sure. Queenie should let you know in the negotiations," he said with a thoughtful look.
Amelia rubbed her forehead, trying to ward off a headache. She knew that he was only trying to help, but this was not something she needed right now. Perhaps Alastor and his paranoia would come in handy for this. He couldn't sign any treaty, but he could train them up. That and he was the only one who knew of the tunnels. "Fine, leave the box here and I'll get someone on it," she finally said with heavy sigh.
"Okay, to open it, tap your wand and say 'doxy army' then remove the lid, then call for Queenie and only she can come out. The top of the box will be shielded like that until a treaty is signed. Waters, you remember my lawyer, said he'd be tickled for his firm to write up anything you guys come up with. Since this will be a secret army I didn't know who else to ask," Harry said, levitating the box to a corner in her office. "Remember, the next swarm goes to Hogwarts. Let me know, so I can take them there and show them where they'll live, and I'll be happy." Though now that he thought about it, perhaps Remus would be better at that, since they would need to come to an agreement with the current Head. Still, it should be fun.
"Fine, fine, I'll handle it from here," she said, waving her hand in dismissal.
"Great, well we're headed to Gringotts," Sirius spoke for the first time, grinning at the byplay these two had. Harry trusted very few adults, and for some reason this woman was one of them. She was taking the news much better than Remus had. The poor man was still mulling the whole thing over. He shrugged at Harry and the two men left the poor woman to face the rest of her day.
Amelia got curious, she rose from her desk, went to the corner and tapped her wand on the top of the box. "Doxy army," she stated hesitantly. The lid opened, and a dozen of doxies slammed into an invisible barrier. Then a larger doxy flew up and glared at her.
"What?" squeaked the obvious queen, all four hands on her hips.
"I…I… I was just looking," sputtered the head of the DMLE. "You can go back now, I'm still working on getting your… treaty." The blasted boy didn't warn her they could talk. She thought they could just understand. She did wonder if they could read as well. That might be useful.
"Fine, but don't bother me until you're ready. I have eggs to tend," sniff the queen, then she turned and flew back to her nest.
"Well, really," Amelia huffed and lowered the lid. A small smile played at her lips as she reseated herself. Casting a Patronus she said, "Alastor, come to my office, please." She continued to smile as she waited. 'He might just enjoy this,' she thought, her smile turning into a smirk.
At that moment, an old woman in plum robes opened her door unannounced. She took one look at Amelia, who had raised her wand, and skedaddled.
Harry's POV
The two men made it to Gringotts without trouble. However, when they entered, alarms started blaring. Guards surrounded them quickly, with spikes poised to strike at any false moves. Snarlfist came hurrying over and stood in front of them. "At last we've got you," he growled at the disguised boy, pulling his knife and looking menacing. He had waited for this moment for weeks.
Customers were looking at them with undisguised curiosity. They hoped the bank didn't close again. They still didn't know the reason for the last time it was closed. The first time they at least had received a letter. Something about items showing up on vaults.
"What did I do?" Harry asked, narrowing his eyes at the goblin he had met only once before. He wondered if the MOB method had made this particular goblin surlier.
"I've been looking for you for a long time," Snarlfist said with a great deal of glee. Finally, someone he could 'question'. "Get them to an interrogation room," he told the guards.
"Hey, now, no pushing," Harry yelped as one of the spikes poked him in the back. He turned around and glared at the goblin who did it, who simply glared back, only he had a long spike on his side. Harry huffed, turned back around and followed the lead guard.
"Damn, I forgot they wanted to talk to you," Sirius said, with a heavy sigh.
"Now you tell me?" his godson snapped.
"Well, there's been a lot going on," the dogman defended himself.
"I'll get you for this, Sirius," Harry snarled when he got poked again. He wasn't overly worried, he could leave at any time. However, his stuff was here, and he didn't want to piss these guys off more than they already were, yet. This was just another reason he was thinking on clearing his vaults and keeping them in a TARDIS box or something. They were treating him like a criminal and he hadn't even done anything. If they didn't back off, they would learn just how bad of and idea that was.
McGonagall's POV
It had been a long day, and it was only halfway through. She had been getting angry glares from most of the student body. She huffed at that thought, who did these children think they were, judging her. After all the hardship they put Potter through, they had no cause to throw stones. She had watched as they vilified the Boy-Who-Lived to the point where he hid from them. And now they thought that she was wrong. The nerve.
She was sitting at the Staff Table, with her coworkers, eating her lunch when the first howler came. She quickly banished it, and the one the followed, and the one that followed that. However, they were starting to come faster then she could swish her wand, and the other teachers were trying to keep up with the deluge of letters. Soon enough it was clear that they would not be able to clear them all, so she transfigured a box from a napkin and directed them into it. There was no way she was going to sit and be ridiculed by people who had no idea what she had had to put up with from that boy.
As the letters flew into the box, it began to swell and smoke. As each letter opened and started shouting, the box grew until it burst at the seams. The noise that followed was deafening. Everyone in the Great Hall screamed, running from the room with their hands over their ears. The foreign students and staff vacated the school altogether, going to their lodgings. The Hogwarts teachers put muffling spells over their heads and moved away from the table, waving their wands to try and stop the noise.
It took ten minutes and finally it all stopped. The quiet was just as deafening as the noise had been.
"I told you that you would regret making the Potter boy leave," Sprout said, breaking the silence. "I warned you that you needed to do something to bring him back."
"What would you have me do?" Minerva asked, sniffing indignantly and cringing at the smoky smell. "I have no idea where he has gotten off to. I thought he was bluffing and would come back on his own. He needed to learn that he was to respect the staff of this school. After everything we have done for him, he had no right to disparage us so."
"And pray tell, just what have we done for the poor lad?" Pomona asked, glaring at her fellow teacher. "I don't recall anything out of the way. As a matter of fact, I don't recall lifting one finger to help the lad," she added sadly, remembering all the times they were told to turn away from the tormenting and ridicule the boy suffered. Albus had told them that Harry Potter needed to learn to stand up for himself, or to come to them directly. That the boy was not to get a 'big head'. That they were not to feed his ego by giving him special treatment. She regretted doing that to this very day. It went against her sense of fair play. Still Dumbledore was her boss and she did as he requested.
"We brought him back from the street, where he was eating from the garbage bins. We treated his wounds, and sheltered him," McGonagall pointed out.
"Severus was the one to cause his problems in the first place, it was our duty to do those things," was the rebuttal.
"And he scorned every bit of help we tried to give him," she snapped.
"I don't know why I'm trying to make you understand, Minerva. You are just as pigheaded as Albus," Sprout huffed and walked away.
Flitwick looked at the transfiguration professor and said, "She's right you know? No matter what we say, you just won't change. I'm not even going to bother. I just hope it doesn't hurt the school." He shook his head and he too walked away.
"That boy need to learn to respect his elders," she called to the diminutive professor's back.
"Respect is earned, and from what I've seen neither you or Albus had done that," he said over his shoulder as he left the room. The other teachers silently followed, looking at the Deputy Headmistress with sad eyes.
McGonagall stood in a circle of shredded paper and smoke as she thought on what they had said. Shaking her head that they just didn't understand, she started to clear the mess.
Neville's POV
"Well, that was fun," Neville said, with a small chuckle as the group walked down the passageways, wands cast on Lumos, so they could see down the dark tunnels. They decided not to take the main hallways, they didn't want to hear all the gossip and misinformation that was surely spreading down the Hogwarts grapevine.
"Yeah, and we didn't even have to wait until the end of the day," Fred agreed, with a big smile, leading the way, holding on to his brother's sleeve.
"I don't know if I'll ever be able to hear right again," whined George, who had been closer to the box when it exploded. "That's worse than ten of Mum's howlers." He shook his head to see if it would stop the ringing, it didn't. He was just thankful they were in a tight space, so the others didn't have yell for him to hear them.
"You'll be fine," Luna said airily, placing a hand on his back to steady him. "I wish Harry were around he would have loved that," she added with a wistful smile.
"He would have probably been blamed," sniffed Hermione, bringing up the rear. The others nodded in agreement as left the tunnels on the seventh floor. They made their way to the Room of Requirements, called up the Room of Lost Things and sat in the circle of chairs Harry had left. It was now the place they talked the most. It was familiar and comfy, and best of all no one could hear them.
"Besides the Ball, what else have we got planned?" Neville asked looking at the twins, who always had something in the works.
"We're not sure, really. We were working so hard on our Animagus transformations, that we haven't planned anything," Fred confessed, looking at his brother. "Maybe we should ask the Marauders," he suggested, getting nods from the others.
"Yeah, let's get together, at the Shack, after classes and think of something. This needs to be done. The school spirit is shot," George stated firmly, again getting nods from everyone, including Hermione. His hearing was better now, the ringing was more muffled than before, for which he was thankful.
"Let's," was the resounding rejoinder.
Harry's POV
Harry and Sirius were sitting in the room with all the creature heads. Sirius was still creeped out by the werewolf head. They had gone under the Thief's Downfall, but like last time it didn't turn them back to their normal selves. Harry was looking at all the different creatures, he wondered if he had ever known what the all were. The heads mounted on the walls looked nothing like non-magical animals, except the lion. It, however, had two rows of teeth, which made it very intimidating.
Snarlfist slammed his dagger on the table, very upset these two wizards weren't paying any attention to him. He was the one who could ruin their lives after all. "Wizards," he barked. "You would do well to put your attention where the danger is," he snarled, leaning over the table as far as his short stature would allow.
"What? You?" Harry asked with great disbelief, turning his attention to the goblin, and taking a seat next to Sirius, who seemed worried for some reason.
"Harry," warned Sirius with a bit of a whine.
"What?" he asked again, turning his head towards his godfather. "Why are we in danger from him? We've broken no laws that I know of. He has no right to question us as if we had," he stated, looking back to the surly goblin. "I'm a paying customer here, you don't have a right to hold me," he snapped, slamming his hands down on the table and standing threateningly over the smaller goblin.
"You came into this bank under disguise, you have breached our wards, and you defeated the Thief's Downfall. You could be a threat to the nation," Snarlfist argued back, poking his long finger into the boy's chest, not backing down an inch.
"I have no weapons on me," Harry protested the accusation, slapping the goblin's hand away.
"You have a wand," was the rebuttal.
"If you haven't warded your bank to nullify them, then that's your bad. Every fucking person who comes in here, over the age of eleven, has a wand. You can't hold me for that. I want my lawyer here," the teen demanded, standing back up and folding his arms over his chest.
"Harry," Sirius said again, this time tugging the boy's arm.
"You are not under wizard laws at the moment. You are under goblin laws," the goblin stated proudly.
"So, your laws state that you can hold anyone you don't like?" was the shocked question as he pulled his arm from Sirius' grasp. The more Harry learned about the Wizarding World the more he thought of leaving. It was shite like this that made that closer to a reality. "And we trust you with our stuff, when you can just snag someone you think might be a threat? If that's so, then I think I'm just going to pull my accounts. All of them. And, I'll make Sirius pull the Black accounts too. He doesn't need your bullshit either," he threatened, unknowingly causing a silent alarm to blare.
Snarlfist didn't back down, instead he picked up his knife and held up threateningly. "I want to know where you learned the magic that you have," he demanded instead. He was going to get his answers if he had to fight to do it. To him, this wizard was a huge threat and he wasn't going to let him go until he knew how to stop him.
Harry stared at the goblin and then laughed. "Sure, I'll tell you, when you tell me your secrets," he said mirthfully. He played with the thought on just leaving, but then he'd never get his things from this 'bank', and his mother's library was well worth the hassle. Still, he would fight if necessary.
"That is not an option," the goblin growled, getting ready to gut the upstart.
"Neither is you learning mine," Harry stated back, getting ready to rumble.
Sirius seeing where this was going, stood at his godson's side, ready to die if it came to that. Unlike Harry, he knew just how much danger they were in. Harry on the other hand didn't remember the history taught at Hogwarts. He didn't know of all the wars, and lives lost. The kid just thought it was this one goblin being mean.
Just then the door opened, and a majestic looking goblin came in with a team of guards, who all looked like they had been running. Well, not the regal looking one, he looked… regal. "What in the name of Gringotts is going on here," he demanded, looking the three occupants of the room.
Harry spoke first. "He's threatening me, and I don't think I should put up with it. I am a fucking paying customer, who has done nothing to warrant this kind of treatment. If I don't get some fucking customer service around here, I'm taking my business elsewhere," he all but shouted.
"Your Majesty, this is the wizard who had been getting through our wards," Snarlfist defended his actions.
"Shite," Sirius swore, thinking they were in more trouble then they had been.
"Majesty?" Harry asked, looking the regal goblin up and down. "Do you let all your subjects treat customers this way?" he inquired with a bit of a snarl in his voice.
"Peace, young wizard. I am King Ragnuk the 10th. I am sure Snarlfist just wants to know if you are a threat. You are the first to ever get through our wards and defeat the Thief's Downfall. You would not have us leave such an opening in our protections, would you?" the king asked, taking a seat at the head of the table.
"Maybe not, but all he bloody well had to do was ask. He had a fucking knife drawn," Harry pointed out, indicating said knife in the grumpy goblin's hand with a wave of his hand.
"Put it away," snapped Ragnuk, in such a manner that there would be no defiance.
Snarlfist quickly did as he was told and then went to stand with the guards, who were now stationed around the room.
"Harry," Sirius said for the third time, frantically pulling the boy's sleeve. This goblin was a greater threat, he could declare war on the Wizarding World, if not handled correctly. "Sit down," he all but begged.
"Fine," Harry huffed, sitting in the chair behind him. He could see that Sirius was quite worried, and he hoped to just get their business done and get the fuck out of this joint. He had been in a good mood until he came here, and he wanted that mood to return.
"When I learned that you intended to pull your accounts and take the Black accounts with you, I took it upon myself to find out why," Ragnuk started. "Imagine my surprise when I came in here to find one of my goblins ready to gut you. Just what has been happening to cause this?" he asked, turning to Harry for the answer, after cutting a withering glare to Snarlfist.
"Look, we came here to open another account. Sirius wants to call the Black name dead. In order to do that he needs to transfer, or rename, his current accounts. It's not my bloody fault, your alarms blared the moment we came in. Then your fucking guard dog over there took us here and demanded I tell him my secrets. If you don't want me here, I'll be happy to oblige," Harry stated, starting off calm and ending angry.
"Peace," the king said with upheld hands. "We can discuss this to everyone satisfaction," he bargained. It would cause significant damage to the banks reputation if the Boy-Who-Lived withdrew his and his godfathers accounts. He had to come up with a way to appease the child, where they were all satisfied. He couldn't leave the hole in the bank's protection, but he couldn't declare war without a very good reason. They had no proof it was this boy who was causing all the problems.
"Fine, fucking talk," Harry said, not sure they could come up with anything that would change his mind.