"I have contacted the Ministry and have informed them of this case of lordship neglect. They are sending one of the lords involved in the Wizardry Protection Movement. We will proceed once he has arrived."
"What's that?" Harry asked curiously.
The goblin gave him such a look that Harry regretted ever opening his mouth.
"Do you have any inclination of how the world, of which you are a part, is run?" The goblin demanded furiously. "I…" Harry swallowed and shook his head. "No. I don't know anything about this sort of stuff, I was never told and it's not taught at Hogwarts."
The goblin snorted. "That's not a surprise." He said nastily, but he countered his harsh tone and sneer by grabbing a small piece of memo parchment and scrawling a list on it. "Buy these books and read them carefully, repeatedly if you must." He all but ordered and all Harry could do was nod as he took the parchment handed to him.
A sharp knock on the door had the goblin barking out an order for whoever it was to enter. Harry leapt to his feet when a pristine and regal looking Lucius Malfoy walked through the door.
"What's he doing here?" He all but snarled.
Lucius Malfoy raised a perfect, platinum blonde eyebrow. He was wearing glorious robes in resplendent dark blue and every stitch screamed wealth and propriety as his usual snake-headed cane, which concealed his wand, was held in a gloved hand and even they weren't simple gloves, but made from high-quality dragonhide, dyed a blue that perfectly matched his robes of the day.
"I happen to be the lucky wizard chosen to come and enlighten you as to your role in our world, Mister Potter." Lucius told him silkily. "As a founding member of the Wizardry Protection Movement, it is my sworn duty to help young wizards who are struggling to come to terms with pureblood etiquette and the running and ruling of their house."
"What house?" Harry asked with narrowed eyes. As far as he knew he didn't have any houses.
Lucius Malfoy sighed. "I understand now why you asked for assistance, Nagnok. Do you know anything about your heritage, Mister Potter?"
"What heritage?" Harry asked, deflating a little, but he kept his hand on his wand.
"Sit down." Lucius ordered him as he sat in the second chair gracefully. "We are going to be here for a long while, I imagine."
Harry carefully eased himself into the seat beside Lucius Malfoy, but he remained on guard. He was burning with curiosity, but not enough to forget that this man was dangerous. Though he hoped that he knew the man enough to know that he wouldn't attack him in a bank, even if they were in a private office. Lucius Malfoy cared for his public appearance, after all, and had been deeply embarrassed when Mr Weasley had physically attacked him in Flourish and Blotts four years ago now.
"How much do you know about lordships?" Lucius asked him. Harry shrugged. "Nothing, a stranger told me that I should come to claim my lordship, so that's what I did."
Lucius sighed. Harry watched him closely as he put his cane down. He noticed with curiosity that Malfoy had put the cane down on the table in front of him, but the snakehead, and thus his wand, was aimed towards him and, as Malfoy tugged his gloves off of long, nimble fingers, Harry wondered why the man had put his wand out of his immediate reach. He would be able to draw his wand on the elder man before Malfoy even touched the snake head of the cane…was that perhaps why he had done such a thing? As ridiculous as it sounded, the only reason Harry could think of was that Lucius Malfoy was trying to put him at ease and give him subtle signs to show that he wasn't going to just up and attack him in the bank.
"So, you believed this stranger, who just wandered up to you and blurted out that you should come and claim a lordship that you had never heard about and you just did what he asked?" Malfoy asked him sceptically.
It was Harry's turn to sigh. "No. I was having coffee with him while I waited for the bank to open this morning and he wanted to know why I was in Diagon so early, so I told him I was coming here and he asked me if it was to claim my lordship early. The conversation went from there."
"We need to validate your claim, but you are underage so we need the permission of your guardian first before we can proceed."
"My guardians are muggles and wouldn't even come here under threat of death and Dumbledore was the one who was supposed to tell me about this stuff in the first place and he didn't." Harry pointed out heatedly.
"He has a fair point, Nagnok, perhaps I should stand in as his guardian. After all, I am a founding member of the Wizardry Protective Movement, it is my duty to help and protect young wizards, to educate them. That Mister Potter doesn't even know about his own lordship is very neglectful; think of the power and influence that Dumbledore gains from holding Mister Potter's proper titles from him…why, it is almost criminal."
The goblin nodded and snapped his fingers once again and a box appeared in front of him. He opened it and took out an empty vial and one filled with a strange liquid.
"I will need your blood."
"Excuse me?" Harry asked, his brows lowering.
"Blood never lies." The goblin told him.
"Potions can be messed with, appearances may not be what they seem, mannerisms can be learnt, but blood never lies." "Simply prick your finger and place a few drops of blood into the empty vial." Lucius Malfoy told him smoothly.
Harry looked at him strangely. "How do I make myself bleed?"
"Surely you know the charm to make a small cut? What is Hogwarts teaching you children these days?"
Harry went red-cheeked and silently fumed. He startled when the snake-headed cane vanished just on the edge of his vision and he heard Malfoy sigh before his hand was snatched by one of those long-fingered, pale hands and Malfoy had his wand out in his other hand. Before Harry could so much as react or give him a good kick, the tip of his index finger was split open with a small, half a centimetre long cut. It stung, but it wasn't deep at all and Malfoy caught the small flow of blood into the empty vial before another simple charm healed his finger again perfectly, not so much as a red mark to show where the cut had been moments before.