1,382Dear Account Manager Odbert,
I appreciate you reaching out, however, I'm afraid there has been a rather large misunderstanding. I am not in the process of building a harem, never have been, and hopefully never will be. I understand your concerns, and of course if I ever were to make a harem (which I have NO PLANS of ever doing) I understand that your daughter would have first priority, as you are my account manager. I promise I would never snub her and commit such a grievous insult against you or your lineage.
That being said, I have to admit that this is the first letter I've received from you. This is likely an issue on my end—I recently discovered that I was under an unauthorized mail ward, and have been working on resolving that issue. I apologize sincerely for not responding to any of your correspondence up until this point. I was not aware that you were sending me anything, nor that I even had any vaults in my possession other than #713.
I would like to set up a meeting at your earliest convenience to go over the Potter holdings and learn about the rest of my inheritance. Additionally, I have a question for you: your letter addressed me at Lord Potter-Black (I'm guessing because Sirius Black is my godfather). My friends and I did a bit of research, and it is my understanding that titles are passed to the heir when criminals are sentenced to life imprisonment and Gringott's receives a notarized copy of the conviction. My godfather Sirius never received a formal trial and conviction, however, so I was just wondering how it was possible for me to assume the Black Lordship?
Thank you for your time, and I look forward to working with you.
Harry J. Potter
Odbert set down the letter with a sigh. So the boy wasn't just ignoring him; there was something else afoot.
He felt a bit sheepish, actually. His last missive had been somewhat… heated, and he was not exactly proud that that was the first communication of his which the young Lord Potter-Black had actually received.
Well, no use crying over spilt ragwater.
He shook his head and stood, making his way over to his filing cabinet. While he sincerely doubted that Lord Potter-Black's assertion about Sirius Black's conviction had any merit, he would make sure to have a copy of the conviction on hand as a show of good faith. He needed to earn back whatever goodwill he could after his last missive, after all.
He flipped through the Potter summary folder, and as he expected he found… nothing? He went through it again, more slowly this time. That was decidedly odd. Most likely just a clerical error, but still strange. He pulled out the Black summary folder and… still nothing.
This was strange. Beyond strange, actually, as documents of that level of import were mandated to be in the account summary folders. He checked the filing cabinets as well, and still found nothing. Even in the archives, there was not a trace of the former Lord Black's conviction.
This was bad.
This was very bad.
Odbert returned to his office and rang for his assistant. He needed to write back to Lord Potter, then make appointments with the Ministry's legal department, the former Black account manager, and the Gringotts legal team.
Either this was a very large clerical error that slipped through the cracks, or someone was going to be a lot of hot water. After all, it was a very serious charge to transfer assets without the legal authority to do so, particularly regarding ancient pureblood estates.
Odbert had a feeling there would be a lot of paperwork in his future.
The shrieks slowly faded as Monty slithered away from the Hufflepuff table. Heh, classic first years.
He sort of regretted having to leave so soon, but he was on a mission. He'd acquired the bacon he needed, now it was time to present his gift. He made his way to the owlery, and as the doors opened he saw Her.
Hedwig.
Wow.
She was perched at the highest roost, holding court with her underlings. They cowered under her, the nearest bird a full three perches below her level. She was in her element, proud and commanding and perfect.
Her head swiveled in his direction. Good Wizard God, she didn't miss a thing.
The other birds scattered as Hedwig swooped down to Monty's location. She didn't have to let out a single sound; they all knew their place.
"Hoot," She said confidently, landing in front of him.
Monty would have blushed if he weren't cold-blooded. "Hello beautiful," He hissed back, knowing she couldn't actually understand him. "I brought this for you." He nudged the bacon her way.
She tilted her head, looking between him and the bacon. He held his breath as she came to a decision. "Hoot." She declared, hopping forward and claiming his gift in her talons.
Monty was ecstatic, but she wasn't done yet. She stuck her head under her wing and plucked out a single feather, tossing it in front of him before taking flight once more.
Monty picked up the feather with the end of his tail and brought it to rest against his cheek (do snakes have cheeks? He'd ask Harry later).
"What a woman." He hissed in bliss.
Harry entered the Gryffindor common room and made his way to join his friends in their usual corner.
"So?" Hermione asked excitedly, leaning forward carefully so as not to disturb Luna. The blonde girl was laying sideways on the couch and resting her head in the Gryffindor girl's lap.
"I got permission—McGonagall is going to let me extend my leave so I can meet with Odbert!"
Harry had been corresponding with his account manager, and the Goblin had suggested that they meet on a day Harry would already be off the school grounds (for the sake of simplicity).
The Ministry had set up staggered dates for the student-witnesses to testify ahead of the trial date, as there were so many of them. Additionally, as both minors and students, they were not required to attend the trial itself. Harry's date was set for February 26th, two days after the Second Task.
"That's wonderful!" Hermione exclaimed, "Waiting until Easter wouldn't have been the end of the world, of course, but it will be nice to not waste that extra month."
"And it leaves more time for the reserve." Luna said happily, "Daddy and I are going to search for boppits."
"Huh—that's also the name of a a muggle toy." Harry remarked.
"Really? Do muggle boppits also have a symbiotic relationship with their pact-holders?"
"Something like that." Harry grinned.
"I'm so jealous you'll get to go with this time!" Hermione exclaimed. Her parents were eager to see her again, but hadn't felt comfortable going to a dragon reserve (at least not yet; but Luna had a plan for that), so Hermione was going home for break. Xenophilius Lovegood, however, was over the moon at the opportunity to spend time at a dragon reserve and possibly speak with some of the noble creatures. And of course, he and Luna would be searching for other creatures as well.
"I know, I know, but at least your parents said you could check it out this summer?" Harry offered as a placation. Hermione half-heartedly threw a pillow at him.
"Don't worry, Hermione, I'll try to bring you a boppit. They're simply wondrous for helping with stress." Luna soothed. Hermione sighed and Harry giggled (masculinely, of course).
"Viktor, mate, do we really have to do this?" Fred asked, uncharacteristically reluctantly. George nodded along.
"Interviews aren't really our style—"
"Plus, we really have no business here—"
"Not with this crowd, at least—"
"And don't you think this'll have the opposite effect?"
"We could just let things die down—"
"Lay low for a while—"
"Hang out—"
"Enjoy a little peace and quiet—"
"Since vhen have the two of you ever enjoyed 'peace and quiet'?" Viktor snarked, rolling his eyes.
The young athlete would never admit it, but he was actually rather fond of Fred and George's antics. Plus, he found a measure of satisfaction in 'pranking' the Bulgarian public. He'd never enjoyed being famous, he just loved Quidditch and flying, but fame was the price he paid in order to do what he loved every day.
"Maybe we've had a change of heart, yeah?"
"Turned over a new mandrake leaf—"
"Found ourselves—"
"Lost ourselves—"
"Lost other people—"
"Lost our socks—"
"Actually, I am missing a pair of socks, now that I think about it—"
"Enough!" Viktor interjected. He tried to sound serious, but couldn't resist a small smile. "Ve are going to get this over with, yes? Then ve can find George's socks."
"Hey, how'd you know I'm George?" George interjected.
Viktor ignored the query; it was just a lucky guess (but they didn't need to know that). "You are ready?"
"Sure—"
"I guess so—"
"If we must…"
"Good." The player said simply, squaring his shoulders.
The three friends made their way into the adjoining room, where a journalist was waiting to record their interview.
They had scarcely sat down when the final person they were waiting for entered.
"President Milev, it is a pleasure to see you ag-" Viktor choked when he actually got a good look at President Milev.
"Wow…" George breathed, unable to contain his shock.
"We—we love the new look!" Fred managed to splutter.
"Yeah, it's er, quite… dashing!"
"Show-stopping, even!"
The Bulgarian President, the most powerful man in his country, the man whom terrorists feared and other world leaders respected, had made a rather drastic change to his otherwise traditional signature look.
He had dyed his hair a bright, fire-engine red.
It was the exact same shade, Viktor noted with growing horror, as the two Weasleys wheezing behind him.
The journalist's camera shutter clicked behind them.
Harry cast a quick cleaning charm on his hands as he finished vanishing the sludge in his section. He, Hermione, Luna, and (eventually) Neville had started making trips into the Chamber of Secrets to clean it up in preparation for the Second Task. While it was entirely possible that he was overreacting and the tournament officials wouldn't touch his familiars, it was a risk that Harry just wasn't willing to take. He shuddered when he remembered what had happened to the Chinese Fireball's eggs in the First Task. Poor Gang Bai had been devastated, and even though it was an accident, Viktor had been wracked with guilt.
As a result, Monty and the egg would be hunkered down in the chamber for the Second Task. Luna and Hermione were both absolutely fascinated by the chamber, and had volunteered the keep Harry's scaled friends company during the task. Harry had been a bit put out that neither of them wanted to attend the task until Hermione pointed out that as spectators they would just be staring at the lake for an hour.
Hmm… get extra time to explore a legendary secret dungeon from over a thousand years ago, or stare at a lake for an hour… Yeah, Harry couldn't exactly blame them for that one. He steadfastly ignored the small part of him that had wanted to show off in front of Luna and Hermione during the task.
When Harry tried to convince Hedwig to hide in the chamber as well, she just gave him the look. He stopped then and there, understanding immediately that Hedwig would not be going into the chamber under any circumstances (which Monty was strangely mopey about, for some reason).
He'd initially thought to send her to Gringotts with a letter, but Account Manager Odbert had specifically requested that Hedwig no longer be sent to the bank. Apparently the owl in question had nearly started a blood feud with another account manager. How an owl could start a blood feud, Harry didn't know, but he wasn't willing to risk it.
So, with the chamber and Gringotts out of the picture, Harry had decided to send Hedwig on a multi-leg journey. She would drop off the egg paperwork at the ministry, pop by St. Mungo's to check in on Ron and give him a letter, then finally go to spend a few days at the Romanian Preserve for good measure. Harry had needed to contact Director Roland about summer details, anyway, and he wanted to send a few letters to his dragon keeper friends.
Between the chamber prep, practicing BSL (Being Sign Language), mapping out the lake with Gillyweed, all his additional correspondence, and staying on top of his schoolwork, Harry felt like time was passing by faster than he could process.
Before Harry knew it, it was the morning of the Second Task.
A/N: Bop Its came out in 1996, and I know this is 1995, but… I get to do what I want :) Also, we're getting so close! I'm incredibly excited for the task; this chapter was super hard to write because I kept wanting to skip ahead lmao.
IMPORTANT: I'm posting a poll with a couple potential dragon names. Please go vote if you want to help pick, or don't if you'd rather it be a surprise!
As always, let me know what you think, and I'll see you in 1-2 weeks.
Cheers,
PW