There is a huge dangling plot thread at the end of the series. How did Harry manage to avoid the goblins and the fact that he stole something from Gringotts? This is one possible idea.

Loose Ends with Goblins

Harry Potter wiped his eyes as he woke in the dorms at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It had been less than a day since what was already being called the Battle of Hogwarts. The wounded and dead were still being cared for in the infirmary and Great Hall so the house dorms had been opened to all the survivors. He remained tired to his bones and sore after his fighting and near death experience the day before but he had too many things to deal with and slowly crawled out of the borrowed bed.

House elves had set up a buffet style table in the dorm common room as the Great Hall remained in use so he sat with a plate of eggs with bacon and sausage to fill up his protesting stomach. A few other Gryffindors and former Gryffindors sat nearby quickly eating before heading downstairs to deal with the aftermath of yesterday. The hoot of a large owl caught Harry's attention as he finished his plate.

A large owl with a Gringotts' symbol around its neck landed beside Harry and held out a leg with a letter attached. Harry took hold of the letter and the owl bowed its head once before leaving. With a slight trepidation, Harry opened the roll of parchment.

To: Mister Harry James Potter, Wizard

Mr. Potter, you are herby summoned to appear at the Office of the Manager for a meeting. Items of
mutual interest need to be addressed. Failure to appear or have arrangements to appear within 24 hours
of receipt of this notice will result in summary judgment against you. Your safe passage is guaranteed
regardless of the outcome of this meeting.

Signed, Skinflayer

Chief Auditor, Gringotts Wizarding Bank

Harry sighed at the letter's contents. He knew the goblins would be looking for him, Hermione and Ron over the break in they made back in the spring. He also knew that it needed to be taken care of one way or another and the guarantee of safe passage was enough to let him consider it. He rolled to letter up and headed down to the Great Hall to find Hermione and the Weasley family. He could only find Hermione as the Weasley's were off taking care of Fred's arrangements.

Safe to say, Hermione was livid about Harry's decision to go meet with the goblins right away.

"Harry, it could be a trap! You barely survived the war and now you could get killed by goblins over us breaking into their bank. And your idea of running off alone to meet them? Are you trying to get killed again?" she yelled.

Harry took it all in silence until Hermione finished her rant. "Hermione, I need to do this. If I can get this settled then we won't have to worry about it in the future. You know they won't just drop the issue. Remember what someone compared them to? Those Ferengi chaps from that Yank 'Star Trek' show. It is all about the money to them."

Hermione nodded. At some point, one of the muggle born younger years had compared goblins to Ferengi with the honor of a Klingon. If it involved money or honor they would never let it rest until it was resolved.

"I should go with you, Harry," she insisted.

"No," Harry replied. "This time you can't. The letter is only for me. They can kill you as a thief since it doesn't say you are given safe passage. It only will give safe passage for me."

Hermione growled softly but she knew he was right. Mentally, she added that to his total of being right instead of her. He was up to three times now. She must be slipping.

"You had better get straight back here afterwards. I can cover for your absence as taking care of things but if anything happens I am going to find a way to bring you back to life then kill you myself," Hermione said while poking Harry hard in the chest several times then gave him one of her tight hugs. Harry flinched as he was getting poked but hugged his best friend back while trying to ignore that it felt rather nice.

Harry took a few minutes to wash up and clean his clothes before apparating to Diagon Alley. He had no robes and little cash money to buy any at this point. He looked at the poem on the lintel of Gringotts and stepped through the doorway. Faking confidence he strode across the lobby past the rebuilt rows of tellers on either side. The head teller who replaced the goblin he had used the Imperious curse on glared down at him as he approached. The goblins at the teller stations all looked at him with various unkind expressions but that was normal for goblins. Stopping at the head teller station he spoke in a solid voice.

"I am Harry Potter. I received a summons this morning to appear before Skinflayer. Please let him know I have arrived. Thank you,"

Silence fell over the lobby. Few wizards would announce so loudly and openly that they were facing Skinflayer. The head teller looked Harry over. He took in the muggle clothing Harry wore. It was clean but well worn and showed signs of being magically repaired. He was tempted to simply send the young man away to be properly attired for meeting with the chief auditor. 'Still, the human has some fortitude to stand up in the lobby and speak loudly he is going to meet with an auditor,' the goblin thought. He made a motion with his hand to a young aide waiting beside him.

"Milktooth, will escort you to Skinflayer. Best of luck in your dealings, Mr. Potter," he said in a slightly respectful tone. Harry nodded slightly before following the goblin he was waved off to. The silence in the lobby continued until Harry was well out of sight.

Harry was shown into a well appointed office with an elderly goblin waiting for him. The auditor was writing on a piece of parchment and politely gestured for Harry to sit as he finished writing his last line. Once the parchment was set aside, the goblin waved his hand and a file pulled itself out of a pile behind him and flew to the desk. The goblin looked over the first few pages in silence as Harry felt his confidence slowly waning.

"I commend you on your prompt arrival, Mr. Potter. Most wizards would try to delay or flee from meeting with an auditor from Gringotts."

"We have a problem, Mr. Potter," Skinflayer continued. "Mere days ago, you and a pair of accomplices came into Gringotts and caused a lot of mischief. Damages in the tens of thousands of gallons were caused. Items were removed from a vault not belonging to you. You cast spells on goblins. You stole a dragon. Any one of these crimes would normally be cause for us to seize all of your vaults and accounts and slay you on the spot."

Harry waited but swallowed nervously in silence as the goblin glared at him.

"The problems we face need resolution. However, taking our rightful and justified course would cause Gringotts more trouble than it is worth. You are a hero, Mr. Potter. The entire world is aware of your actions and it would not be in our best interest to kill you or confiscate your deposits at this time."

Harry forced himself to avoid a sigh of relief and kept his face impassive.

"That being said, how can we deal with these issues?" Skinflayer asked.

"One at a time might be best," Harry said trying to lighten the mood.

Skinflayer held back a bit of admiration for the young man before him and continued.

"We will start with the greatest issues first; removing items from a vault not belonging to you. What did you take and why?" Skinflayer asked.

Harry gathered his courage. "We came here to get the cup of Helga Hufflepuff that was being stored in the vault of Bellatrix LeStrange. It was a horcrux holding a piece of the soul of Tom Riddle also known as Lord Voldemort that we needed to destroy. We had made a deal with Griphook to acquire it from the vault and in recompense we would surrender the Sword of Gryffindor. Instead, ee took the sword and ran calling us thieves."

Skinflayer arched an eyebrow at that. This was information not on his parchments. A small light on his desk remained glowing green so he knew that Harry was telling the truth as far as he knew it.

"Interesting, Mr. Potter. I will need to investigate your dealings with Griphook but if true it would absolve you as being a thief as you had made a fair bargain. The removal of a horcrux would have been carried out by our cursebreakers had we known of it. Such items are forbidden to be stored in Gringotts vaults but then wizards rarely obey many of the rules as far as that is concerned. That is why a listing of stored items is required as standard policy. It is a means to protect both Gringotts and the vault holder from liability. Also, as this item was not on the master list for the vault in question, then nothing was officially 'stolen' from the vault," Skinflayer said as he made a mark on the parchment.

"However, you did steal a dragon, destroyed the main lobby and flew off with it in full view of Diagon Alley. It is to your benefit that it returned on its own three days ago, tired and hungry. It has been much easier to deal with since its 'time off' than ever before to the goblins that feed it."

"You are being quite forgiving today Chief Auditor. Might I inquire why?" Harry asked trying to get an idea on how to get out of this alive and intact. Skinflayer ignored the question.

"Regarding, the casting of spells on goblins. The Thief's Downfall shows that it removed an Imperious curse on the head teller and countered a polyjuice potion on one Miss Granger. After departing the LeStrange vault, you fired stunners at the guards prior to your theft of the dragon. Why only fire stunners at the guards, Mr. Potter? Why the Imperious?"

"The Imperious was due to the head teller was not going to let us down to the vaults. I felt it necessary to do so at the time. Even Griphook was about to go back on his deal at that point and it was the only way to get past him. The polyjuice was to have 'Bellatrix' come into the bank and having her wand helped with that. The stunners we fired were simply to stop the guards. We did not wish them harm and we only looking to escape. Now, back to my unanswered question. You want something from me," Harry stated.

Skinflayer nodded slowly as Harry spoke before responding. "You certainly could have used lethal spells as you have shown the capacity to do so in the recent fighting. Their pride was hurt but then losing to a wizard in a fight will never do a goblin's reputation any good. According to our internal investigations, I can have authorized documents saying there was no lasting harm done to any goblin by you. The report can say it was all the work of Riddle when he stormed the bank after your departure. That is if you cooperate or would you prefer to die?"

"Chief Auditor, I have faced down a Dark Lord and his minions. I know you work best at intimidating wizards but I am used to more than this. If the goblins wanted me dead, I would be dead already. That I am still living means you want something from me that is not directly related to charges or damages. The damage in the vault areas was slight and can be paid for simply enough. The lobby is already in full working order once more after being destroyed mere days ago. What do you want from me?" Harry spoke a bit more forcefully.

Skinflayer sighed and looked at his parchments for several minutes before sighing and looking up resigned to talk.

"It's the gnomes. The gnomes of Zurich announced yesterday morning they are reopening the London branch of their bank after nearly thirty years. Already we have lost ten percent of our deposits and asset management contracts. We are expecting a run on the bank within a week once things calm down and the dead are buried from the war. If we deal with you in the standard fashion and seize your assets it will destroy trust in Gringotts completely. We need to resolve the issue favorably to show the public we are safe and secure. Your public break-in, Riddle's attack and our dealings with the puppet Ministry as legitimate caused our reputation took a severe hit are many wizards looking for safer places to bank."

Harry nodded as he understood the problem now.

"Might I make a suggestion, Chief Auditor?" Harry said with a smile. After the goblin nodded, he outlined a plan.

Two hours later, a quick press conference was held.

Harry stood up before the assembled reporters and spoke somewhat nervously.

"I have come to make a statement and thank the goblins for their cooperation in ending the war. The recent break-in committed by myself, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley was in reality a set up. We were acting with the full knowledge of the upper management of Gringotts. They could not tell the employees it was a set up due to other security leaks in the form of puppet Ministry overseers. They could not openly help us but we had discovered an artifact that was preventing the defeat of Tom Riddle hidden on one of their vaults. They risked a great deal to provide help to us. As my reputation was being smeared by the Death Eaters already, we came up with a plan to let the puppet Ministry think we had broken into the bank to steal something. We acquired the object and destroyed it paving the way to our ultimate victory."

"Mr. Potter!" called out one reporter. "How can you claim it was a set up when you brazenly flew out on a dragon?" he asked.

Harry smiled at the reporter. "What could be more convincing that we had broken in that to fly out in the middle of the day on a dragon? It would be difficult for the puppet Ministry to claim the goblins were helping us with something that obvious happening. The dragon has already been returned and is once again keeping the vaults of Gringotts safe."

"But there were reports of fighting and several statements were made that security was breeched," another reporter spoke out.

"Yes, Riddle did attack once we had left the premises. Many goblins were killed in a breech of the lobby but the vaults themselves were never breeched. The rebuilding has taken advantage of several policies the goblins were planning on upgrading anyway. No security is completely foolproof but Gringotts works constantly to foil thieves and better their security to keep your deposits and assets safe," Harry said with his best 'trust me' smile.

"You should be careful Harry or you'll end up in politics. The public bought that load of tripe you were pushing," Hermione said that evening after Harry had told her everything.

Harry chuckled wryly. "No, I wouldn't. Even after I saved their bloody bank the goblins still charged me for repairs and renovations on the areas our escape damaged. They moved a copy of their 'Thieves Downfall' to the front door to stop anyone entering invisibly, controlled or polyjuiced from even getting to the tellers and charged ME the cost of setting it up."

"Poor you," Hermione replied sarcastically. "How big of a dent did that put into your assets? Now that you actually know what you inherited and was in there; it is not even a tenth of what Sirius left you. Not to mention the Potter accounts are still untouched."

Harry grumbled now. "Don't get me started on those. I had to sign an agreement to leave the Potter accounts managed by the goblins and for the next century they get twenty five percent of the profits generated by them instead of the standard ten percent. And when Ron found out how much I was worth he went on another rant on how rich I was.

Hermione just laughed.