Chapter 3

After sitting in the chair located in the hospital wing for about ten minutes, pondering everything he had been told and shown, the three doctors came in followed by two goblins; one of whom was Griphook. The other goblin walked over to Bill and talked with him for a few minutes. While that conversation was going on the three doctors that had walked over to Harry said "please follow us a room where we can examine you for any maladies that you might be under after coming through the releasing of your core." With that said they walked to a room off to the side with Harry following. Once in the room Harry laid down on the bed while the lead doctor ran her wand over his prone body uttering a long incantation. One of the witches, after looking at the diagnostically representation that sprang up, said "Harry your body is in excellent shape, more so than I would expect. What it looks like is that your magic has healed your body from the effects of your mal-nutrition. It looks like you will be growing to your maximum height in two to three days as well. You will still have to take the nutrient potion prescribed earlier for two weeks. In addition I will give you an exercise regimen that I want you to follow religiously for three weeks. This in addition to the nutrient potion will allow your muscles and ligaments to adjust to your new height rather easily; in addition it will allow the bones to grow without weakening in the process;" saying that she handed Harry the nutrient potion from earlier then walked out the door, with the other doctors following her. Leaving the room empty except for Harry and Griphook, who had discreetly followed the procession in, then stood out of the way against a wall.

Seeing that he was alone with Griphook Harry nodded his head and s asked "what now Griphook?"

Lightly showing his surprise that Harry recognized him Griphook shook his head as if to clear it. He then said "the council is ready for you to meet them. They have a few questions, then some matters that have come up need to be discussed. I will lead you to them when you are ready."

"Thank you Griphook. If I might ask could you see to it that Bill won't tell Dumbledore or his followers what happened here? There are several things that I need to carry out and it would throw a spanner in the works to have the Order of the Phoenix find out that I was here." Thinking for a few seconds he continued. "I would also like to request that he accompany me to the meeting with the council; if that is not possible then I would like a meeting with him after the council is done."

"There is no problem with him telling the Order of the Phoenix that you were here as he is already under a secrecy contract, and this night's activities and what he saw here will fall under that contract. It is also not a problem in having him wait and then meet you when the council is done. As for having him accompany you to the meeting, I will have to convey your request to them." After saying this he got out a small mirror and spoke gobbledygook to the goblin on the other end and conversed for several minutes. After finishing his conversation he looked up at Harry and said "the council will allow him to accompany you. However the council will require him to swear a wizard's oath to not inform anyone other than you and those you so choose any information he gathers. If he complies with this then he can come. Otherwise you will have to wait until the meeting is done to meet with him."

"That should be no problem. Please convey my gratitude for the council allowing this." After saying this Harry got up and walked to the door and poked his head outside. He looked for Bill and when he saw him standing there alone he motioned him to come in the room with him. After Bill walked in he saw Harry sitting on the edge of the bed waiting for him He looked around and saw a goblin he didn't recognize standing alongside the wall to his right.

At the sight of Bill's quizzical expression Harry answered his unspoken question. "Bill before I can tell you anything I need for you to swear a wizards oath to tell no one what you are about to learn and overhear. From now until an upcoming conference is completed I mostly trust you, but this is serious stuff and I as well as others need your oath as a guarantee."

Bill looked over at Griphook and at the sight of his small nod he took a deep breath then nodded. "Very well then. I Bill Weasley hereby swear on my magic that I will not tell anyone anything I might learn or hear until the conference is completed, unless Harry Potter has given me permission to do so." A golden swirl came out of his body and entered Harry's as the sign of the oath being completed.

At these words Harry sighed in relief, as well as a little mixture of dread at the thought of how Bill would react to the upcoming revelations concerning him, his destiny and the actions of his family members. He then nodded at Bill and said "follow me then. Griphook is going to lead us to the meeting. We will be meeting with the goblin council about various things. I will need your help when we are done as well as advice on certain matters as well. I hope you don't end up hating me for what you are about to learn though."

"Why should I hate you? You saved my sister, as well as my father. The whole family owes you a life debt. If anyone has done something wrong then they shall feel the wrath of the Weasley clan. You are practically part of the family after all."

With the mention of the Weasley clan Harry mentally winced and crossed his fingers in hope that Bill wouldn't fly off the handle. He nodded to Bill at looked to Griphook and said "is the council ready, Griphook?"

"Yes it is. Follow me please." Saying this he turned and walked out of the room. However in the main area of the hospital he was stopped by Irma and was handed the report of the medical condition of Harry. Once he had gathered it he waved for Harry and Bill to follow him once more. He walked out of the hospital and into the caverns once more. He then led them through seemingly miles of identical corridors until he reached a huge door that was made up of some sort of black material. He opened the door and waved for the two humans to sit at one end of the table.

Harry walked into the room and saw a large oblong table with places for perhaps thirty people to sit down. He saw about fifteen goblins already sitting down at the far end. He followed the silent directions of Griphook and sat down on the end opposite of Rangok who was seated at the other end. Bill followed him and sat to his right. Harry cleared his throat and said "I want to thank you Rangok for your help that I have received so far. I also want to apologize for any damage that may have happened earlier when my magic was unbound."

"Do not worry young one. The magic that was released was directed to the core of our defenses here. It has allowed the charge levels in the core to power up almost too its limit. Which is an extremely good thing, as it assures that the shameful incident that happened over five years ago extremely unlikely to repeat." Rangok gave a small cough to indicate change of subject. "Now as to your requests and plans that you conveyed to us; is there anything else that you might want to add?"

"Well ... as to the requests there is a favor I would like to ask." Seeing Rangok give a small nod to go on, Harry continued "I had an interesting experience while I was passed out from my core being unbound. May I use your pensive to show you some of what happened?" Rangok waved his hand toward the pensive, seeing this Harry got up and walked over to the pensive. Extracting his memories and placing them in the pensive he sat back down. Griphook got up and activated the runes to show what happened.

As the memories began playing he unobtrusively watched Bill's face as the memories played, looking for any sign on it showing that he knew of his mothers plot against him. He mentally gave a huge sigh of relief when he saw shock and anger at the mention of the plot but absolutely no sign of foreknowledge. When the memories got to where they had mentioned his ancestral castle as well as the suggested bonding with Dobby he looked at Rangok for any sign of disagreement, unfortunately he was incapable of reading the expressions of any goblin. When the memories got done he got up and reclaimed the extracted memories. He then sat down and looked at Rangok. Clearing his throat he said "as you saw I do need a purified silver knife as well as a place where Dobby can come to bond him."

Rangok shook his head and looked piercingly at him as if trying to read his mind. He looked at his fellow council members and said "I know it goes against the traditions of this council and our race, but I don't think we have much leeway to refuse him. Especially as the elf Dobby seems highly atypical for his kind. I would like your votes on whether we should allow this to happen." The council members quickly voted and Rangok counted the votes. "I have six for and two against the admittance of the elf Dobby to this chamber. Is there any who wish to challenge this decision by combat?" Seeing no challenge to the decision he looked at Harry. "Young one it will be allowed to have the elf Dobby to come here and be bonded. I do ask that you don't call him until all the decisions have been resolved to prevent undue offence. We goblins find the nature of house elves to be highly offensive and repugnant."

"That shall be no problem for me, and I thank this council for granting this request I do want to apologize in advance if anything I do gives offense, but my schooling concerning goblins as well as other races has been severely lacking in etiquette."

"Granted young one. It is a pleasure doing business with you as you are not arrogant like so many of your kind, now on to other matters. The list of requests and tasks that you gave us will be dealt with. To reiterate your requests they are as follows:

Find out how the Ministry tracks magic and how to avoid being detected.

2) Acquire another wand for backup and be able to duel Voldie.

3) Find a new home undetectable by Dumbledore or Voldie

4) Get books on Spells, Potions, Transfiguration, Conjuring, Runes, and Spell Crafting

5) Some sort of Time device

6) Occlumency and Legilimency

7) Full comprehensive medical checkup

8) Fix my eyes or get contacts

9) Learn family history

10 Dueling

Physical Fitness

"I can assume that the time device, the home untraceable by Dumbledore, the full medical checkup, contacts and learning your family history has been taken care of?" Seeing Harry nod in agreement he continued "now as to how the ministry tracks magic; they accomplish this in two ways. One is a tracking spell they place upon each wand sold here in Britain. The other way is a generalized search spell that does not tell them who used magic in an area, only that magic has occurred. So if you were in a muggle area and underage with no wizards of age living nearby then they would know that someone has used magic illegally. We can remove the tracking spell on your wand however the other system is beyond our reach. Is this agreeable to you?"

Seeing Harry nod in agreement he continued "now as to other matters. Before we can respond to your other requests there are a couple matters that need to be dealt with. You may not be aware of this, but Sirius Black filed a will with us one month ago. Since he has been cleared of all charges by your ministry recently that will is now legal and can be carried out." Taking out a vial he passed it to Griphook who went and poured it into the pensive.

"I Sirius Black III being of sound mind and godly body hereby declare that this is a true last will, and all other wills are to be discarded. Now that the legal stuff is done with, on to the fun stuff. Seeing as the frickin incompetent ministry still believes me guilty of James and Lily's deaths I cannot transfer any of my wealth to anyone. The only thing I can do is give everything to my godson Harry Potter. In addition to this I declare him to be the new Lord of the Ancient and noble house of Black. As such he is now emancipated with all dues and privileges pertain thereof. That being done I do have requests that Harry Potter-Black can now fulfill. One is the annulment of Bellatrix Lestrange's marriage, and the return of the dowry on the grounds of breaking of the contract due to no progeny being produced. In addition she will also be banished from the Ancient and Noble House of Black on the grounds of being marked as a slave. The marriage of Narcissa Malfoy is hereby annulled and the dowry returned on the grounds of the marriage contract being broken as there has only been one child produced. I ask that Narcissa Black be required to show her arm to show that she is also not marked as a slave. If so marked she is banished, if not then she is to become a ward of Lord Harry Potter-Black until such time as he feels she has earned her reacceptance to society. I ask that my cousin Nymphadora Tonks and her mother be reinstated into the Ancient and Noble House of Black with the dowry of 120,000 galleons be given to Ted and Andromeda Tonks. In addition 30,000 galleons are to be given to Nymphadora Tonks as she is and remains my favorite cousin.

I give 50,000 galleons to Remus Lupin as the last of the true marauders with the stipulation he buy new robes. To Hermione Granger I leave 25,000 galleons for being a true friend with Harry. To Albus Wulfric Percival Brian Dumbledore I leave 30 pieces of silver for your betrayal of Harry by sending him to live with those assholes the Dursley's. I don't want to be in your shoes when James and Lily get their hands on you old man for what you have put their son through. To Ronald Bilius Weasley I was going to leave you half ownership of the Chudley Cannons as well as a firebolt, until that is I learned of your utter betrayal for money and spite of Harry. I hope you learn from this that actions have consequences, but I doubt that anything that does not involve the world revolving around you will ever make a dent in your ego. To Draco Malfoy I leave 1 Knut as that is the amount of brain cells in his head. To Fred and George Weasley I leave the Marauder's Book of Pranks in the hopes that it will help you bring joy into this world. Finally to Harry I leave everything else. Know this Harry; you were the sole reason I had for joy in this world ever since that day that I lost James and Lily. I loved you as a father and I will always be proud of you. Know that whatever you decide I will always love and cherish you. Wherever you go I will always be watching and looking out for you. I expect to see you marry and have several kids. I don't want to see you up here in less than an hundred years from now.

Wiping away a tear at the thought of how much Sirius meant to him Harry looked up at Rangok and said "Rangok, I would like to enact all the things that Sirius asked for me to do. In addition I would request that the will be read one week from now, if that is at all possible?"

"Easily done Harry. As you saw the will of Sirius Black has emancipated you, so it is now legal to perform magic, as well as apparate. Now one of the things that this will had done is to bring into effect the marriage contracts that are pending. I will now tell you of the legal ones that are coming into effect by your emancipation. As you are the Head of two Ancient and Noble houses both on the Potter side as well as the Black side. In order of the contracts they are: on the Potter side you have one to Luna Lovegood put in by your mother as a line continuation contract, as such all children you have with her will carry the Lovegood name. Another contract is one to Susan Bones put in by your father, as it is also a line continuation contract, all children you have with her will carry the name of Bones. On the Black side you have a two generation old contact that was part of an agreement as to alliance on political matters with the Greengrass family promising political support and the Blacks marrying a suitable Greengrass daughter. As the eldest daughter Daphne Greengrass is within the age specified and unattached you will have to marry her or pay the penalty for breaking the contract. Now normally you would under law be unable to marry all of them, however there is an old law that states that if a wizard is to marry at least one pureblood, a halfblood and a muggleborn that multiple women can be married. Daphne Greengrass and Luna Lovegood are purebloods and Susan Bones is a halfblood, you would need to find and marry a muggleborn. One of the side effects of marrying in this manner is to socially elevate all of your wives to your social level. In this case that would be pureblood."

"Pureblood? Are you certain? My mother was muggleborn sir. So how can my wives be elevated to my social status of pureblood if I myself am a halfblood? Harry burst out in astonishment.

"Ahh, but you are a pureblood Harry. Your mother and Aunt were adopted by the Evans family after their actual parents were killed by some dark wizards. They were adopted by close family friends who were muggles. Your aunt Petunia was only a year and a half old at the time, with her younger sister your mother two months old. Your grandparents were killed by some evil wizards after they announced their plans to keep their oldest daughter, who is a squib, and refused pressure to give her up, or kill her off. Since at the time it was believed that both daughters were killed, the family properties were liquidated and added to the family money, which were then given to the closest remaining relatives, one Molly, Fabian and Gideon Prewitt. Molly later married and became Molly Weasley. The total was about 25,000 galleons I believe. Now as I was saying, to legally marry these women and complete the contracts you will need to marry a muggleborn as well. Is there anyone you could think of that might be suitable?"

"Well, the only one that I might consider is Hermione Granger; but I would have to get to know her as well as convince her to do this. What would happen if I did not marry any of them?"

"The families would be gravely insulted, and could sue you for breach of contract. I would not suggest you taking this path as the families hold great political power in your society. If I might make a suggestion to you?" Seeing Harry nod he continued "The public disclosure of Sirius's will needs to be held within a month. As you want it to be held in a week I would suggest sending out letters to the families involved asking that a meeting be held to discuss the contracts. The meetings could be held separately after the will is disclosed. That way you could explain the contracts as well as the situation you find yourself in. If any of the girls have a serious problem they could discuss it there."

"That sounds doable." Harry ran possible scenarios through his head trying to see the downsides and not finding many. He then gave a short nod and said "set it up the way you suggested sir. If you would send out the letters to the Bones and Granger families for those meeting to be held I would appreciate it. If it would be possible I would like a portkey provided for Hermione Granger and her parents to travel here for the will reading, and a portkey back to their home if it's not too much of an inconvenience. As for the Greengrass family I would prefer that you send a letter to have a meeting within two days. The meeting would be to discuss that the marriage contract will be breached on my end and I shall pay the specified amount as I do not feel that I have any feelings towards their daughter and I will not marry for sake of an ancient contract, especially as the family are supporters of a mortal enemy and have allowed themselves to branded as slaves."

"That shouldn't be any problem young one. Now that the legal marriage contracts have been discussed and your course of action has been decided, the next thing is to discuss is the illegal marriage contract that has been added to your family between you and Ginevra Weasley by Albus Wulfric Percival Brian Dumbledore and Molly Weasley. It was added by Albus Dumbledore 13 years ago. In it the Weasley family received free tuition for their children as well as 50,000 galleons and you marry Ginny Weasley. The contract states that this is to happen the day after your 16^th birthday by any means necessary including the use of potions. The contract itself while unusual is legal on the face of it; however it was entered by Dumbledore acting as a legal magical guardian. However your parents did not specify him as such so the contract is illegal. Especially considering your Grandfather on your father's side was still alive at the time."

"My grandfather was still alive? Why wasn't I placed with him them when my parents were killed?" Harry asked confused at the mention that he had family other than the Dursley's that he could have been placed with.

"Albus Dumbledore used his powers as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot to seal your will and used his influence to claim that he was appointed your guardian. When he did this he broke some of the oldest customs and laws known in the land. His reasoning for this we can only speculate, however we think he did this so you would see him as a savior for taking you away from the Dursley's. Couple that with his control over your life and you can see that he was molding you for some arcane purpose. What that purpose is we don't know, but we fear that your safety is not one of them. He has also tried several times to gain control of your vaults and properties, however since the will of your parents was known to us, we had no reason to comply with him. Something we took great satisfaction in I assure you. Especially as he had sponsored and allowed the passage of laws that are insulting in the extreme to us, such as the ban on us from using wands. Now we don't need wands, but to say that we are not worthy of using them is insulting and degrading. The contradiction of allowing us to control the money and essentially the economy, while simultaneously denying us courtesy or respect is baffling to us."