The Enemy of my Enemy

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Chapter 2: The Next Step
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When they arrived, Harry pulled up the hood of his cloak and shrunk and pocketed his things. Waving goodbye to Stan he took a deep breath and entered the pub.

Inside it was as dimly lit as always. Being so early in the morning, there were only a few people (and/or creatures, he really couldn't tell) sitting in the main room. Making his way over to Tom he paid for a room for the next couple nights. He would have to make a trip to Gringotts soon to pick up some more cash.

After making his way to the indicated room, Harry resized his stuff and placed them at the end of the bed. He hurriedly opened the window so that Hedwig could enter.

Sitting on the edge of the bed he looked around the small room. "Well girl, looks like this will be our new home for awhile." he said to the owl who was currently cleaning her wings.

Swinging his legs up onto the bed he rested his head into the cradle of his hands on the pillows and crossed on leg over the other. Staring at the cracked and stained ceiling he started thinking of the future and what he would make of it. One thing was for sure, it would be a very busy year.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -The Next Morning-

After dressing and having a quick breakfast, Harry pulled up his hood and made his way around back and into Diagon Ally.

He ignored most of the window displays as he made his way to Gringotts.

He nervously approached one of the goblins and asked to make a withdrawal as well as to lookover a copy of his family assets. The goblin led him over to a door along a far wall that Harry hadn't noticed before.

As he passed through the door he was surprised to find that it was an office decorated with plush green carpet, soft green chairs, and a deep mahogony desk with gold studs visible on the bottom of each of the four legs. Sitting in a chair opposite the desk, he waited for the creature to begin.

"Well Mr. Potter, to begin I would like to ensure that you are aware of the likelyhood of a creature inheritance?"

"A what inheritance?" He hadn't heard anything about any inheritances besides what was in his vault and a few properties that his dad had owned.

"Hmm.." the goblin (the nameplate on the desk said 'NibGit') was quiet for a few moments as he searched through a file that he had summoned. Finally he pulled out a small stack of papers and looked throught them as he continued, "It says here that your legal gaurdian upon your parents death was supposed to be one Sirius Black, however upon his arrest it was taken over by one Albus Dumbledore. Has Mr. Dumbledore not talked to you about the inheritance you will recieve upon your 15th birthday?"

"No. This is the first I'm hearing of it." Harry was seriously starting to get pissed at Dumbledore. Not only had he not been informed of a 'Creature inheritance', but he hadn't even been aware that the old man had been his guardian. All of the other stuff that he had done could be explained away as being 'for the greater good'. This, however, had absolutely no impact on the war.

"Then it would seem that he has been remisce in his duties as your gaurdian. If you wish, you may file a formal complaint to the proper authorities concerning this matter. An inheritance is an important thing and for a guardian to fail to exaplain it to their charge is not something that is taken lightly. If your complaint is accepted then you will be removed from his care and either placed in the care of someone of your choosing or emancipated."

"...wow. Yeah, I would definitely like to file a complaint."

"Very well. I shall have the papers retrieved as soon as we are finished with our original buisiness. Now, what you must be made aware of is that upon your 15th birthday you have the chance of any creature blood that you may have maturing. This may cause a great number of changes in both your physiology and, in rare cases, your magic. You will also gain access to the rest of your family vaults as well as Potter Manor and the entire Gryffindor Estate and recieve the titles Lord Potter and Lord Gryffindor."

"Gryffindor?"

"Yes. It appwars that the Potters are the last of the Gryffindor bloodline."

Harry was ready to faint. He had at times suspected that there were things about his heritage that may have been kept from him, but the heir of Gryffindor? Closing his eyes he took a couple of slow, deep breaths. When he reopened them, NibGit was standing in front of him with a glass of water which he gratefully accpeted. "So what does all this mean? The titles, the land, the possible creature blood: what does any of it mean? I know that I'll be rich but besides that..."

"Hmm..Well the title of Lord in any situation means that you will have a great deal more influence. The title was originally given to those who performed important tasks for their community. Our records indicate that the Potters gained that title by dealing with magical creatures and the law concerning them. (Of course, Gryffindor recieved the title by creating a better foundation for the educations of magical youths.) Hmm... now this is odd...."

"What? What is it?" Harry asked. He found himself hoping that NibGit would tell him that it was all a mistake, that none of this was his and had merely been misfiled or something. He had discovered enough about his family and their origins that had been kept from him four years ago. This whole thing was starting to get ridiculous.

"Nothing really, its just that right up to -- and including -- your father, the Potters have been active in the same field. Not so much concerning the laws anymore, but they seem to have done a great deal of research and work with magical creatures. Most people with titles can't tell you how they originally recieved it, let alone still have anything to do with it. Since the Wizard Councils were disbanded in favor of other types of governments, most if not all of the services that lords provided have been taken over by said governments. Most lords have been given postions in the Ministry. I'm sure you can ask for the same courtesy if you so wish. With the Title of Lord Gryffindor you also gain a certain amount of control over Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, since the education of youths has remained a private matter. The amount of control you gain over the school is dependant on the number of surviving founder descendants as well as the current state of the school and the creature blood that you inherit, if any."

"..." Harry was quite certain that if he moved he would pass out. He was in complete and utter shock. Since when had there been a Wizarding council? Why hadn't they learned about THAT in History of Magic? Oh god, what if the press got ahold of this? People everywhere he went would be calling him 'Lord Potter'. He would never be able to go out in public again. Once again taking a few deep breaths and sipping at his water, he finally said something (much to the relief of NibGit who had started eyeing him warily, wondering if he would need to call a healer. It wasn't good for buisiness to have clients passing out) "And I get all this on my next birthday?"

"Yes."

"Will I have to stop by in order to receive the deeds or.."

"You will receive them with the morning post."

"Ah. Well then, I would like to go ahead and file that complaint before stopping at my vault."

"Very well, Mr. Potter. I'll call for someone to send in the papers." replied NibGit as he headed toward a small fireplce.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -A Few Hours Later-

Harry kicked the door closed, dropped the mountain of packages that he held in his arms, and collpased on the bed. After Gringotts, he had wondered around both Muggle and Wizarding london looking for clothes that fit, a place to get some piercings and a goth store that sold some make-up. Now he had officially completed his new look (and three cheers for shop-therapy, because he found that, even after that mornings shock, he was able to relax). He was wearing black cargo pants that rode almost dangerously low on his hips and a form-fitting long-sleeved shirt with holes in the ends of the sleeves to slide your thumb through so that it was partially covering your hand. He also had on a layer of eyeliner that made his eyes seem to glow.

He'd had green streaks of color put in his hair, and taken a mild hair growth potion so that he now had a more 'intentional bed-head' look rather than the 'over-used mop'one. He had on thick-soled boots that had buckles up and down the side. A quick stop at Ollivanders had gotten him a second wand. Of course, it wasn't nearly as powerful as his first, but it would come in handy in a bad situation. He had gotten a potion to fix his eyes so he no longer had to wear his glasses. Though the potions price had been allmost obscene, it'd been well worth it. And last but not least, were the pierceings he had gotten. He'd droped by a piercing and tattoo parlor in muggle london and gotten three piercings in his left ear: one in the lobe and then two up the side, all of them connected by a delicate chain, and his nipples pierced, as you could see through the tight shirt.

As he got up to start putting things away, he thought about the looks he had recieved down in the pub when he had reserved the room up until his birthday in a month. No one had really recognized him, at least not yet. When school started he was certain that a few pictures would find their way into the hands of that horrible skeeter woman and then all hell would break loose. Until then, he was quite happy to be able to walk around without a hood obscuring his veiw.