Chapter 20 – Ties of Blood

Standard disclaimer – don't own any of JK Rowling's works, nor am I profiting from them.

A/N: I know, I know, this chapter has taken, oh, 5 months to emerge, and for that I am sorry. All the standard excuses apply, and will continue to apply going forward. Some of the delay has come in fleshing out family history, which has led to a heavy outline of a James/Lily story set in this same universe. I also started working on a crazy Horcrux story generated from the Ginny/Harry talk about Voldemort possession in the OotP which I find loathsome. I am grateful that the story, even in its long absence of new content, still generated favs and follows, so thank you. It's a bit rough around the edges, but here it is. Edit: changed Lavender's recounting of Ginny's behavior, fits a bit more into her feelings of abandonment reflected at Fred's funeral.

"I can help protect all of you … and you're right, I have killed two wizards and murdered a Dark Lord because they threatened my family. Don't you dare presume that I am that same leetle boy you remember from the Tournament." Harry began canceling the wards around them and speared her with his calculating eyes, "When they try and whore you out to someone like the Malfoys, maybe then you will reconsider. What's more important, keeping your loved ones safe, or the simple truth?" He turned quickly and gave a lingering stare out towards Dobby's gravesite before disappearing.

Fleur waited until Harry shifted from the beach before her haughty façade crumbled and she held herself as she sank into the sand, sobbing. His words rang loudly in her ears; she knew the goblins could be ruthless in their pursuit of Galleons, but had no idea her appointment to the Potter vault could be just a trial run before they used her throughout the bank. She wished Bill was here to prove he was safe, that Harry's ominous words were only that … but she knew the truth when she heard it. Harry was right on both counts, her ignorance placed her family in danger, and Lord Potter was no mere child anymore.

Harry shifted just out of sight of the beach and reappeared staring into one of the grimmest reminders of the war. With deep heaving breaths, he tried to regain some small control over his emotions. It had been less than one year since he was here at Shell Cottage, carefully digging this grave for his friend who sacrificed everything for their escape. With shaking hands he reverently traced his words that held such poignancy now. The words were so roughly carved into the stone and Harry choked back the tears that pressed against his eyes:

Here lies a free elf.

The cost of that freedom was so very high, but now he finally realized why it was so precious to Dobby. The right to choose. Something that could only be fully appreciated until it was gone, like magic or a loved one. And in the end, Dobby chose to help him and traded his life for theirs. Forfeited his freedom for theirs. His eyes stung and he squeezed them shut, against the pain of memory and loss.

He heard Fleur's anguish carrying on the wind from below and knew he had to leave before he ruined everything by comforting her because she needed to be scared. Goblins fought entire wars over control; they would have no qualms about twisting and destroying a family like Fleur's for it. He hadn't received the assurance he needed from her, but he knew from her cries that she finally understood what was at stake: her virtue, her marriage, and Bill's very life. He only hoped she asked for his help before it was too late.

He looked back at Dobby's grave and sighed at the elf's nobility and bravery; it was a constant reminder of his own personality. Kenji would have called it too much … reckless selflessness. Too much Gryffindor. He clenched the writ emblazoned with the Potter crest in his palms; it seemed so heavy in his hands even though it was only a simple order to Gringotts about his new account manager. It was the last card, his only card, he had to play if Fleur wouldn't come to her senses. He already held back with both the goblins and Fleur, and left without an oath or the truth from the eldest Delacour. He angrily shoved the parchment back into his pocket and began visualizing the bamboo groves of Mt. Hiei.

Merlin, Kenji was going to have a field day with how I screwed this up.

Harry gingerly stepped into the temple quarters desperately trying to avoid his sempai. He steeped some green tea and slumped, defeated into the kitchen chair. He inhaled the steam from the tea, hoping that it could calm him as he shot furtive glances towards the door. The wait for one's own personal Howler was excruciating, but Harry would accept the angry verbal lashing that was sure to come from Kenji and as the door opened, he groaned in to his tea. But his eyes softened in relief as he saw his healer slip inside and join him at the table.

Harry's beaten face told Hideki everything he needed to know about the earlier meeting at Gringotts, and while he felt vindicated that Harry's foolish Britain planning had already began to fail; he knew the scion needed his help. Their end goal would still be the same and without help, both his son and Harry would never return the Legion to its rightful place. Hideki desperately tamped down his smug righteousness and really looked at his patient, observing him, searching for the right words.

"Gringotts?"

Harry's barely audible grunt marked his acknowledgement. He wouldn't give Hideki the satisfaction.

His healer turned Harry's face to the side and glared at the wounds on his face, "Went that well, did it?"

Another noncommittal grunt, but Hideki saw his eyes drop to the table and his ears pink slightly. When Harry spoke it was mumbled into his tea, "I couldn't … I couldn't do it and put her in that position."

Hideki sat down and looked hard at Harry and a wave of nostalgia hit him. He is so very much like his father. "James didn't have the stomach for it either … at first." Harry's eyes snapped up from his tea and took in his healer's face, confusion written across his features.

"What changed?"

"Lost his parents, married Lily, you, the prophecy … James had a lot to lose at the end, it hardened him. He stopped caring about the Light's rules when it came to Death Eaters or helping his family survive."

Harry felt a bit squeamish about his father's move towards the center and his face must have mirrored his concern because Hideki stopped him harshly. "Do not confuse being resolute with that filth to going Dark. Your grandparents would have cursed him for showing them compassion when they had none for anyone else. He never used an Unforgiveable, but he would have if it came to it."

"What else do you know of my father's parents?" The Dursely's would never speak of James' family and Sirius never had the chance to.

Hideki rose from his chair, "There is very little to tell, James was very fond of them, but never spoke of who they were." The healer shrugged his shoulders as his speculation wouldn't help Harry in his current situation anyways.

"Kenji?" Harry's voice betrayed a bit of anxiety.

"Out with Lavender, apologizing profusely no doubt", while Hideki's voice was flat, Harry could hear the restrained pride in his voice. The Saito family took loyalty and honor as a matter of life and death, and if Hideki was to be believed, so did his own.

She was sweating slightly and brushed her now damp silvery hair out of her glacial blue eyes as she rearranged the massive tomes in front of her once again. Gabrielle placed the Potter archives on her right and the Black family records on her left. When Fleur acquired these documents from the goblins on the pretense of doing a complete family audit of Harry, no one could have expected this. The Honored Mothers were definitely trying to be thorough in looking for something … something they would not reveal to Gabrielle as of yet. So she was poring through them blindly herself, trying to get at the unvarnished truth about her own Veela's motivations for her and Harry.

While the Black lineage was almost complete dating back to almost the Hogwarts' founders, Gabrielle saw enormous gaps in the Potter line. That the goblins' records were incomplete had nothing to do with the numerous wars between them and wizards; it was due to the Potter line vanishing only to reappear sometimes multiple generations later. The only substantive records during that time showed that the line had not gone extinct because the new heir would always be able to access the family vault. She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration as she put down the Potter's fractured lineage.

She reached to her left and snatched the Black family ancestry, at least it was near complete and required no real guesswork. The Blacks had married into virtually all the Noble and Ancient Houses since the 1200s.

It was then that she saw the pattern, but only because of the schooling and research tasked to her by the Veela had exposed her to their own legacy program. It was different than what the Veela had done, inserting themselves into families of power but only because the Blacks owned that power already. They were one of the most powerful wizarding families to start … it was almost as if they were looking for something in each family or seeding all the lineages searching for something. Rarely did the Blacks marry out their daughters in this fashion; the heirs of these couplings were all from the House of Black. They had managed to incorporate all the bloodlines of the pureblood families.

All but one.

The same family that had lost stretches of their history, the one family that had lost these stretches in an almost cyclical pattern.

House Potter.

She frantically shuffled through all of the parchments, searching for any mention of the Blacks and Potters together, and found just one. Dorea Black and Charlus Potter had one child, but Gringotts had no other mention of the child.

No name, gender, anything, almost as if that child didn't exist. It was possible for the child to be disowned if a Squib but there was no year of death on the archives, and to be the last line of the Potters it would have to be documented. Harry was the Potter scion, and James before that …

Gabrielle sat deep into her chair and closed her eyes to concentrate.

The Blacks had finally married into the Potters, through Charlus, and had a son, which possibly could have been James. His existence was hidden, but why?

Harry's father was, by all accounts, a pureblood, and quite a considerable wizard so why go through the effort to disguise him? He married a Muggle born. That would have been enough to disown him from the Black family, but the Potters, though a lineage of Gryffindors, had the family loyalty of Hufflepuffs. Blood, not its purity was what mattered to them. So why did the Potters erase this last heir from their archives as well?

Whatever it was that the Blacks were looking for, maybe they found it, and had to hide him, it would take a powerful set of charms to render the lineage documents from Gringotts blank. It certainly would explain why Sirius, when he was disowned from the Blacks lived with the Potters. He was staying with family, but Dorea and Charlus passed away near James's graduation from Hogwarts. If that were true, then Harry was not only the Potter scion in blood, but a distaff Black and a true blood heir. But the nagging mystery of why James would even have to be hidden, if her theory was even true, still lay before her.

Her blue eyes fluttered open and she flipped through the Black archives and tapped the remaining Blacks … Andromeda and Narcissa. They would be the only ones privy to the information that could help her understand whatever these archives were trying to tell her.

Gabrielle assumed Arielle and the Honored Mothers knew much of this already; they had reviewed Fleur's undercover work before passing it along to her. The whole reason Fleur was at Gringotts in the first place, was to get this information, her own job was to get close to Harry by any means possible. The Mothers told her it was to influence him with the legislation required to unbind them and declassify them as dark creatures, but that was the now obvious but not complete reason. The Mothers had ensnared the Delacours, all of us, to learn whatever this Potter family secret was … not just Potter, but now also Black.

Gabrielle inhaled sharply and sat stunned in her chair at her innocuous revelation. Harry, if Dorea was his grandmother, was the Black scion as well, which meant he needed two heirs … and two wives. And, of course, Arielle knew about this information; it would explain the changing focus of her studies the past few weeks from dedicated studies of healing charms and magical tutelage to British House histories and customs.

The Veela wanted more than just those rituals unshackled … they wanted what Dorea wanted, what the Black family had been searching for generation after generation.

Whatever secret the Potter blood held, Arielle was counting on using her to ensnare him and deliver to the Honored Mothers an heir.

Fleur sat shaking in her favorite chaise at Shell Cottage, drinking her coffee, desperate for it or the early afternoon sun to warm her chilled and unnerved spirit. It was still early and she needed to go to Diagon Alley to get Ginny a birthday present. Being at Gringotts would have meant an easy stroll after her meeting with Harry but instead Harry brought them here.

She shivered slightly at the memory, he was so … cold and angry; his words had cut her deeply; Fleur considered not going to the Burrow for the festivities but she knew that Bill would try and get back to see his sister's coming of age.

The thought of her husband filled her with shame at what she was expected to do, as well a painful urge to see him, to know that he was safe. He didn't need her protection in a duel, he was a Gringotts curse breaker after all, but the Weasleys weren't a political family per se and with those kinds of battles she knew she definitely could help. She wouldn't bother Arthur with it yet, he was still new to the upper echelon of the Ministry and needed time to build his own contacts, but the Delacours were well established.

Fleur hoped the Delacour name was as influential with the goblins as it was in French politics, but a sinking pit in her stomach told her that the goblins had finally gotten exactly what they wanted, access and influence in the Wizarding World. No amount of Ministerial pressure would ease that, especially considering that the Ministries of many European countries had been stretched so thinly in dealing with the uprising of pure blood fanaticism, none more so than Britain's. She needed advice; she was a neophyte to political scheming. She needed to talk to her parents.

She arrived at the Delacour estates and brushed the soot from her clothes. "Maman?" Fleur's question echoed from the sitting room deep into the hallways of the chateau.

"Fleur, aren't you meeting with Harry today?" Apolline's sweet voice did nothing to assuage Fleur's anger as she swept into the sitting room and sat regally in a high back chair.

"We met." Fleur's sharp retort brought surprise to her mother's face. "Did you know?"

Her mother's blank face only infuriated her more. "DID. YOU. KNOW?"

"Did you know they were going to whore me out; that my job is to satisfy all of the Lords of the influential Houses that I am managing?" She fought hard to keep her trembling to a minimum as she recalled Harry's words. Her mother sat with a stoic face as she absorbed the brunt of her daughter's anger.

"Is that what you promised the goblins?" Fleur's tears blinded her to the now shocked look on Apolline's face as she just started to process what her daughter had said.

"What about me? About my husband? Harry took me from Gringotts to Shell Cottage and …" her voice faltered as she recalled the shame of Harry dressing her down. She thought he might be enraged, but he seemed so much more disappointed that she placed Bill and herself in so much danger. But he was still so cruel.

Gabrielle had raced towards the sitting room when she heard the Floo network activate hoping to see the Mothers there to ask the questions that the archives had brought forth. When she heard Fleur she had almost catapulted into the room to hug her, but her sister's harsh words rooted her to the spot. They spoke of those same archives that she had pored over … but at what cost?

Her sister was expected to … perform for the British lords starting with Harry and including all the influential Houses. She heard of the cruelty of some of those same men, like the Malfoys or the Lestranges and she fought to keep the vomit down in her throat as her heart stopped in her chest and waited for Fleur to continue.

Harry wouldn't have done anything, would he? She felt deep in her heart that he hadn't, but it wouldn't be a stretch that he had sent a few curses his sister's way for trying to blackmail him with his accounts in the balance. She crept closer to the sitting room door to hear more, hoping she was right about Harry.

"The goblins control Bill's career and his safety …" Fleur turned to her mother with a desperate look.

Apolline's casual dismissal infuriated Fleur even more but she shuddered as her mother's calculating eyes took her in, "You wanted to help and this was the only way you could. The Mothers wanted those archives … but I didn't know that the goblins would ask this of you." Gabrielle's eyes widened as she heard her mother swear under her breath.

Apolline's eyes were deeply sad but resolved as she looked to her eldest daughter. "I am sure that Arielle thought it possible, and hoped if the goblins asked that you would do it, for her and our kind. Right now all of our hopes in Britain all involve only your sister and Harry Potter. This would provide access to the major Houses; you could always use your allure. You would not even have to do anything with those … men."

"Harry is immune." Fleur's cold response led Apolline to question her daughter's face with her eyes despite her confusion. How is a mere boy immune to the allure?

"It seems he was gentle enough then." She looked Fleur over searching for bruising.

Fleur looked aghast at her mother's implications, "I love Bill. I could never do this to him and Harry would never …" She shook her head as if to clear that thought from her mind.

The eldest Delacour pointed her slender finger at her mother, "Harry did nothing but offer me a chance to leave this horrible situation, and only for the truth in payment. I can't believe he showed more honor to me than my own mother." She turned quickly to march from the sitting room, her course of action clear to her but winced as her mother's iron grip latched onto her arm.

"Don't you dare tell him anything. You will ruin everything including your sister's chance."

The smoldering silence scared Gabrielle more than any argument she had ever heard at their home and she had to act to salvage whatever she could of her family's relationships. She walked purposefully into the sitting room and the two women's attention snapped to her. She fought hard not to quail under their intense stares as she saw Fleur wrench her arm from her mother's grasp. Harry felt betrayed by Fleur; he knew she was funneling information to the Veela, but he didn't know that it was just genealogical records.

To be fair, Fleur could have been doing much worse. She wouldn't have to tell Harry the whole truth, just enough to have him help her sister. It won't take much because Harry was … well Harry.

"I will talk to Harry, I can tell him what he wants to hear." Her voice seemed small and unsure, even to her own ears, but she nodded authoritatively to Fleur and without a single glance to her mother, snatched the Floo powder, and traveled to Gringotts with her sister in tow.

"How can we get in contact with Harry?" Gabrielle knew that sending an owl to him could invite the Ministry and the Death Eaters to his front door step, and she had a feeling that Harry wasn't living very close to Diagon Alley in the first place for much the same reason.

Fleur stood lost in thought in the bank lobby before she absently nodded to herself and took Gabrielle's hand in her own. "Come, we need to get to his vault." She looked at her sister again, judging her intentions, the last time she saw Harry, she was less a Veela and more a jaguar pouncing on a wounded gazelle. And she worried about dragging her sister into a mistake that she made, it was so much to put on her little sister's thin frame. Gabrielle sensed the unease in her older sister and reassured her by squeezing her hand warmly.

As they rode down to the lower depths of the caves, Fleur explained, "Harry's elf, Kreacher, no doubt is monitoring these vaults now, sending a missive to his Master when either one has been entered."

Gabrielle winced, if Fleur triggering an alarm in the Black or Potter vault was the only way to get Harry's attention, then this meeting was going to start rather unpleasantly.

Harry decided quickly after Kenji and Lavender's return that they should return to Grimmauld Place and begin to establish her safe place within the old home. If his return to Hogwarts was successful, then he only had a few weeks at most, to help establish Lavender here. He had promised to reunite her with Kreacher, and it would give him a chance to tie up loose ends in Diagon Alley, visit the new Headmistress to secure that return to Hogwarts, and finally … to see Ginny for her birthday.

That thought buoyed his spirits as he began warding a safe room for both he and Kenji, while Kreacher was settling Lavender into one of the guest rooms. He really is good for her. With the Saito family and Lavender here at Grimmauld Place it seemed somehow less hollow and foreboding. Harry noticed that all of them had sought to busy themselves through the house, giving him a bit of time to reacquaint himself with his home. He appreciated the gesture because the rune scheme here was far more difficult to intersperse and overlay with the preexisting wards that were legendary, even among the Ancient and Noble Houses.

As he finished tracing out the last sigils, he activated the room and tried a simple summoning spell at a pillow on the far chaise lounge and it didn't even twitch, he gave an appreciative nod to himself and looked for his companions.

Harry slipped into the master bedroom as he searched for a change of clothes appropriate for meeting Professor McGonagall; she may just have been his Head of House, and he a student, albeit the Chosen One, but he still needed to make a good impression. He grimaced slightly as he faced the master bedroom door; this was a place he never believed he would return to without Ginny by his side. He stepped inside and was immediately embraced by the welcoming floral scent of hers.

He inhaled deeply and allowed the smile to suffuse his face. Kreacher was the best, he cleaned the linens for this room, but somehow her scent remained. He absently ran his fingertips along the satin sheets and nodded to himself at the formal dress robes his elf had laid out for him. I owe him. He donned his fine silk robes quickly and made his way to the most precious room in Grimmauld Place, a constant reminder of why all of this planning was essential, his godson Teddy's room.

He opened the door and the light floral scent of Ginny tickled at his nose again. Harry smiled, she was everywhere here at the Black home, just like he wished. He took in the room, eyes ghosting over all the unspoken promises he made to both Remus and Tonks, but something felt different, felt off. He glanced back at the pictures and noticed there were more than usual, and the new ones were mostly of him or of the two of them. He smiled despite himself, Ginny never did take no for an answer.

He startled when he heard a soft voice behind him, "You both look so … happy." Lavender's voice crackled with sadness and a fair bit of jealousy. She slipped around to stand next to him to fully take in the photos, finally pointing to Harry's favorite one.

" She never looked like this last year, even when she was with Dean ... but then there wasn't a lot to be happy about." He only shook his head, he didn't doubt Ginny, but that horrible memory after the Battle of Hogwarts kept replaying in his mind.

Lavender turned to face her surrogate family, and straightened his robes. He glanced at her questioningly as her hands gripped the fabric tightly. Her voice was faint as she spoke into his chest.

"She was so strong, she and Neville led the Underground and looked after all of us. She refused to talk about you, Ron, or Hermione, I … I guess it was just too hard." Lavender's voice failed her when she felt Harry's body stiffen. "She was so focused on what had to be done. Ginny attracted a lot of the Carrows' attention, away from the younger students, especially … his." Harry knew exactly which he she referred to and forced his breathing to slow down to stay his frantic heartbeat.

"Once we noticed what she was doing, all the older girls also started distracting them … in our own ways." Harry could feel the hot tears spring from her eyes as her whole body radiated shame. The tears splashed on his clenched hands and he unfurled them to tilt her face to look at him.

"You didn't ask to be raped." He flinched at his own brutal honesty, but Lavender kept talking as if she didn't, or couldn't acknowledge his words.

"After I woke up in the infirmary, she withdrew, almost shrank away into herself. We were terrified; we never thought that … something like that could ever happen at Hogwarts, and I think she felt guilty because we all tried to follow her lead. Dean helped her regain her fight, but it wasn't even like sixth year." Her voice was placating, but Harry knew desperation pushed people to do anything to keep stumbling forward, but his stomach twisted all the same. Like Hermione.

"Eventually, Neville took up the slack, he kept all the Carrows' attention; taunted them that Bellatrix's methods were better, that they were second-rate Death Eaters."

"They tried so hard to break him." Lavender's tears returned as a torrent, but as Harry's tears threatened to push past his burning eyes, his face was aghast at what his friend had done to keep all of them safe, but he couldn't hold in the wincing hiss. He, of all people, knew exactly how Alecto liked to play.

Harry pulled her into a fierce embrace and wondered how any of them could ever return to Hogwarts after all of that. It was only something he could discover for himself, and so after he watched Lavender go to the guest room to rest, he called for Kreacher to travel to the venerable castle to find its Headmistress.

Minerva McGonagall sat anxiously nibbling on a ginger snap as she considered the budget before her. It was a complete failure with the amount of repairs necessary dwarfing the tuition provided by the students. This new problem was the latest albatross around her neck, already the Ministry had returned to Hogwarts and some of her brightest students were applying for Auror and departmental positions within the magical government.

She sighed deeply; of course her first real year of leadership would have her facing problems that had never been seen at Hogwarts. Her mood was further irritated as she felt an elf's presence appear in her quarters.

Never a moment's peace! She brandished her teacup at the intruder hoping they would get the hint and leave quickly, but her fingers froze as she took in the elf's appearance. Within a speed belying her age, she spun out of her chair and drew her wand, conjuring a silvery shield. As the forgotten teacup rolled off her desk and shattered on the wooden floors, she noted the slight roll of his golden eyes. With a pointed look at the Scot, Kreacher magicked the cup back together and levitated it onto her desk.

"Headmistress McGonagall." His address was perfect as well as his deferential bow, "My Lord would request a word with you at your earliest convenience."

"Your Lord being …"

"Lord Potter."

Minerva clutched a hand to her chest in shock, collapsing into her chair and nodded after a moment to collect herself, "Of course, I will see …" But her reply trailed off comically as the elf had already left her quarters and returned moments later with a wizard in the spitting image of James Potter.

"Headmistress." Minerva's mouth turned slightly upwards at the title. "Please, it's just Minerva, you aren't my student anymore." Harry didn't fail to notice the slight disappointment in her voice.

"Professor, you will never be Minerva." Harry's lopsided grin spoke volumes to the elderly Scot.

"Very well, Lord Potter. What may I do for you?" Her teasing tone surprised the Potter scion.

As Harry explained his need for the school's resources; Minerva's brow furrowed deeper and deeper. She believed his explanation about his summer encounters, but there was such a slim chance he could pull off his plan alone, much less with another, so she held up a hand.

"Potter, there will be a heavy Ministry presence this year; they are authorized to use detection spells for glamours , disillusionment charms, and Polyjuice potion, Horace canvassed the Chamber of Secrets, apparently basilisk venom is quite valuable, and we have two Ministry officials as teachers …". McGonagall's nose flared thinking of Slughorn's greed and turned her eyes down towards her lap as she finally choked the life out of his return plans. "All of it was under my advice given the past few years."

And Hermione still has the Marauder's Map. Harry jerked his head in acknowledgement as the ill ease of defeat seeped over him. He had to keep hoping, "Headmistress, if I can come up with a way, that would still keep the Ministry at bay, could the Hogwarts staff help?"

"As Albus once said, help will be given at Hogwarts to those who deserve it, and I can think of no one more deserving than you." McGonagall's watery eyes met Harry's forlorn ones and he took that as his cue to leave.

As Harry gently shut the door behind him and descended the staircase, McGonagall whispered at the door, "Morgana help him."

Harry donned his invisibility cloak as he absently wandered the grounds of Hogwarts, distantly pleased at the repairs that were made. The castle looked much as it did before, with small plaques adorning certain walls including a brilliant silver one in the main hall. It drew him like a moth to a flame.

Fred Weasley.

He took a deep breath and ran his fingers over the embossed metal. Right here was where George's life ended. He glanced at where Ginny dueled Bellatrix and was almost was taken from him. He fought down the panic clenching at his chest, and pounding of his head due to the overwhelming magical aura of the castle. He shook his head free of the pressure and sought a quick escape to the grounds.

He unconsciously traced the same steps the night of the Final Battle and found himself outside of the tomb of Albus Dumbledore. The scorch marks remained as the tomb lay untouched since, and Harry sifted through the inside wreckage with his boots. As Harry pulled the Elder wand halves off the floor, he was faintly reminded about his promise with Ollivander, but now a new idea was turning over in his mind. An idea that was so reckless and completely Gryffindor, he could already see his James and Sirius' approval and the wry smile that would have graced Lily's face.

All this time, the most powerful wand in the world, the most coveted wand in history had been used every day in view of all those students.

All this time. Hidden in plain sight.

The hairs on the back of her neck were dampened by the nervous sweat of her anxiety in complete opposition to the chill felt in the deepest vaults of Gringotts. Both Delacour sisters felt the piercing eyes of someone, or something, tracking them with a barely restrained malevolence. Fleur sincerely hoped that it was Kreacher and not the intent based wards that the Potter vault had in abundance.

"Fleur?" Gabrielle's voice was quiet and a fair bit tremulous as she finally realized the magnitude of what they were doing.

"Don't touch anything Gabrielle. We're don't need to be in any more trouble." She muttered, wishing their Lumos spells could penetrate further into the darkness of the vault. Occasionally, the magic light would glint off of some Galleons and she would bring her wand to bear; her nerves were frayed beyond the breaking point.

It was too reminiscent of the first task in the TriWizard tournament, the unbearable wait for something terrible to happen. But now the dragon was coming after them.

She heard her little sister's stilted yelp, and she traced her vision to the golden reflection of Galleons directly in front of them, shrouded in darkness. Fleur sighed and admonished her sister as the Galleon's reflection disappeared, only to reppear a moment later.

A blink.

This time Gabrielle did scream and the lighting in the vault dimmed as her Lumos spell failed. Fleur had faced a number of dangerous creatures before and changed her stance to shield her sister from the vault guardian. She felt Gabrielle recover and ready her wand the way the Mothers' had instructed.

And then a pair of brilliant green orbs appeared next to the golden ones and both Delacours faltered. She watched as Harry's form emerged from the void, arms folded across his chest. He gently nodded behind him and the two golden orbs winked out of existence.

"You brought Gabrielle?"

Fleur cringed at Harry's incredulity and was going to try and defend herself, but Gabrielle stormed forward with a cocked eyebrow and hands on her hips in a remarkable impression of a Weasley woman. Harry quirked an eyebrow in return as he tried unsuccessfully to hide the upturn of his lips at the resemblance.

"Yes, Harry. You wanted the truth about Fleur and what she took from your archive, in turn you would help her out of this mess, correct?" She met Harry's eyes, fighting to maintain her poise despite his harsh glare.

At his nod, Gabrielle removed a summary of her archival findings and began to unfurl it when it was summoned from her delicate hands. Harry snatched it from the air and held up his off hand to Fleur's aimed wand.

"The wards, remember?" She snarled in frustration, but softened when she saw his face wasn't filled with loathing like this morning at Shell Cottage; now it was concern, genuine fear for her safety that rippled across his features. She turned to her little sister and was shocked to find her face tight and pensive, as if she knew something monumental was contained in that scroll.

"Audit records, embezzlement?" Harry's voice wanted the truth and Fleur emphatically denied it.

"This was deemed more important to our Sisters."

Harry absently nodded, but was pulled from his reading but an impatient sound from Gabrielle. He seemed to remember himself and addressed the two witches.

"Fleur, what was the deal you made?"

"A simple base salary, with escalators based on the Goblin's commissions off your acquisitions and investments."

"I imagine Gringott's take would be close to a half million Galleons per year? Four families, if susceptible, would be around two million." Harry's mind was working through calculations quickly at what would be necessary to sway the bank.

He beckoned to them and grasped their delicate hands in his and they shifted back upstairs to the lobby. Harry led them to an office and waited patiently for a managing goblin to appear.

"This is Fleur Delacour, my account manager, she is a Veela and performed her duties quite well for me this morning." Harry let a bit of lusting into his voice to drive home his point. "She will be mine, and only mine. Here is my offer to put her on retainer, I want her to remain unspoiled for when I have need of her." With a practiced sneer, he slid the same note he carried from this morning across the table.

"It is more than adequate for this creature's services, including the savings by absolving you of her salary, you will still accept her commissions. It is only fair after all." He felt both sisters stiffen behind him at his callousness, but the goblins would see what they assumed of pure blood wizards. He noted the goblin's pupils dilate at the numbers and caveat within and breathed a slight sigh of relief. It covered both the lost Galleons and with the caveat covered potential loss of political might.

"Enjoy your purchase, Lord Potter."

"This private matter is concluded then." The goblin nodded his understanding. Lord Potter-Black couldn't be seen as buying whores for his stable. It would be … unbecoming.

He lightly took both their hands in his as he shifted them into the foyer of Grimmauld Place. He squeezed them warmly as apology for his words earlier, as he turned back to the witches, he felt Fleur's hand on his arm.

"Thank you Harry, you are quite a good actor." He just squeezed his thanks again for her understanding.

Gabrielle's lyrical voice chimed quickly, "But what will you tell Bill? What about your salary?"

Harry contemplated Bill's betrothed. "It depends, can I trust you?"

Fleur nodded jerkily, she was a pawn to her own race and the bank as well. Any loyalty to either was fleeting. "They will still expect summaries of transactions." She chanced a fleeting look at her sister, willing Harry to pick up on the cue.

"Tell Bill whatever you like, this morning and just now are for our protection. As for your salary, I need your loyalty, and that includes Bill's safety and potential unemployment …" He leaned close to Fleur and whispered into her ear.

"Non, Harry, it is too much." Fleur was fighting a blush.

He gave her a crooked grin, "Then the goblins will believe what I said." He paused looking sheepish, "Please don't tell the other Weasleys, even Bill, unless he asks."

Fleur agreed. Money, especially this amount of money, would be a sensitive subject around the Burrow and raise some unpleasant questions. Harry pushed a bag of Galleons into both their hands with a large smile on his face, "An advance on your salary for Ginny's birthday presents. Don't be late, I hear Bill's coming."