Note: Remember in the original curses series that I had an au of Xander raising Harry? Well, this is this universe's version of that.
A Dumass Is A Dumass.
Xander, who was an absolutely angry young boy, kind of, felt the pings of the family's magic going off. He wasn't in any way able to handle anything about it but it was almost begging him to take control again. So he did something really, really stupid. It hurt a lot to grab the family's magic and reclaim his proper self. Not this deaged version that was now bound to the hellmouth.
Which he knew a bit about but it was only one reason he was angry. The family's magic leapt at his command, doing his will. The bank, they'd pay for turning on him, letting someone do this to him. The family's things got reclaimed and sent to the castle if they were things. The family's house elves appeared in the muggle home he was presently stashed in.
Though, the muggles that were supposed to 'raise him properly' were still drinking away their windfall for taking him in. He stared at the house elves, shaking from the energy expenditure. He sighed, sucking in a deep breath to steady himself.
"I am Alexander Mikhail Dumass," he noted quietly, his voice shaky from the pain. "I am the heir of the Dumass clan. The senior heir, maybe the only heir." The house elves all bowed to him. The muggles tried to come in but the 'father' got knocked over by a house elf. "Thank you." He stared at them.
Then he heard another voice. A happy voice. He stared. "What the hell is that? A baby house elf should not be here. It's too damn dangerous." The house elves looked then parted, all pointing. He stared at the baby. "Oh, okay. Who had you, little guy?" He picked him up, staring at him. "You're...family. I can feel the family bond. Huh. Where did you even come from?"
He felt along the family's magic. It clearly connected *him* to this new one. Well, not new, he was probably a toddler. He blinked at him. "Who the hell are you?" he asked with a grin. "I have no idea what to do with you, little one." No others still in the family's magic felt connected to him. None of the banished either. "Did someone like Justy have you made?" he asked it.
The baby babbled and patted him, then smirked at him. "No, that's my smirk there. Okay," he sighed. "So...." He looked around. "Sable." She stepped forward, she was their elderly nanny elf. "Here, I think he needs changed. We all know I only know how to deal with unicorn foals, not human ones."
"Master Alex is all right?" she asked, staring at him. "Are little again."
"Yeah, there's a reason for that called a curse in the back." All the elves moaned. "All right." He made some quick decisions. The muggles could drink themselves to death, he wasn't going to interfere with that. He was young, but he wasn't *young*. He wasn't actually five. He was actually eighty, almost. "Sable, find out who had him. He's filthy. If they lost him with whatever happened to the family, then ...I pity them for the revenge they're in for."
"Steele will," another elderly house elf said, stepping forward to kiss his ring hand. "Steele will go see where baby Dumass came from. Maybe find his name."
"Please do, Steele. I sent the things that were taken from us to the castle." He nodded, touching the baby to trace it back. Alex looked at Sable. "I...." He sighed. "I can't trust a single auror. We know that."
"We can," she noted patiently. "Has to go by laws."
"Yes but by the law, I'd have to have an adult in an adult body, not be an adult in a tiny body."
She considered it. "House elves count."
"We're in the US, Sable."
She shrugged. "House elves still count." She took the baby to take care of. He was skinny, much too skinny, and filthy. She came to get the master to see that. "Must tell so not hurt others. Like Karia did."
He nodded. This was a huge problem but one he had to handle. It was all on his shoulders now. "Yeah, we do." He sighed, going to the back yard to start a small fire. The neighbors would notice, maybe. But it was late. He activated the emergency floo protocols and stared at the head that appeared. "I'm a clan heir and one of our clan just appeared here as a tiny baby but he's sick."
"I can get CPS there, sir."
"No, you can get an auror here," he said. "Because we're Brits and I'm under a curse myself." He sighed, staring at her. "Please."
She looked behind her then called an auror. "They can call CPS. I assure you, they have people who handle witches and wizards."
He nodded. "Good!" He grinned and hung up once he heard a pop. "Hey. You are?"
"Junior Auror Daniels, San Diego office. Your name, little guy?" he asked with a grin.
"Alexander Mikhail Dumass." The man blinked a few times. "Deaged by a curse. And stuck here." He waved a hand around. "I barely know what here is but I'm a former cursebreaker. But the real problem is that I summoned the family's remains because I felt it start to snap the family's magic. And found a relative who's a toddler - filthy, starved, and barely awake. My former nanny elf has him. Want to come meet the relative please?" He grinned to keep himself from swearing.
"Yeah, I'd like to hear more about this too." He waved a hand at him.
Alex nodded. "So would I. But I know who did it and the bank fucking helped." He led him in there. "Sable, an auror."
She got out of the way of the human. "He summoned the family's magic and things. Brought this one. Steele is tracing where he came from. Clearly not good peoples."
"No, with how nasty that bath water is he had to be filthy. And still is pretty dirty after the first wash." He checked the baby with a healing spell. "Okay, I'm going to let you finish giving him a bath and find him a bottle somehow." She nodded, going to do that. "While I call some people." He turned and found the other kid. "I can call CPS."
"Which is going to be a problem. The asshole who stuck me here while I was in magical shock paid the muggles in this house, who're drinking themselves to death at the moment. If they're not already done for." He grimaced. "And I don't trust you guys a whole lot. See, I'm a cursebreaker."
The auror winced. "And the bank let Dumbledore do this to me. For some unknown reason. Which is going to make me someday get back at them for it." He grimaced. "And I can't let you move the heir to the family to be adopted by another. It'll probably snap the family's magic."
"Not necessarily."
"We're an *ancient* family. Out of the UK. Yes it will. Somehow they've taken out the few last remaining ones of us." He stared at him. "My sister had been alive just a month ago. I was eighty a week ago. It looks like he's my kid somehow. Not sure how. We have banished, for being evil fucks of the universe, clan members. But not too many humans left." He stared at him. "Which puts me in a problematic spot."
"I can understand that but you can't hope to raise him. You're what, six?"
"Five. I did the magical check and it said five. But I'm not skilled with healing." He shrugged. "Not my skillset." He stared at him. "I can't let you take the last heir of the family anywhere. Though a few came up as my other kids. They're not in the UK and only one's in the US. And if I didn't know they probably don't know."
Steele came back, staring at his master. "Humans shitty."
"Many are," he agreed with a nod, leaning on the doorjam. "How shitty are they, Steele?"
"Had baby in closet. With basket and note." He handed them to the master, who read it then growled as he handed it to the auror.
"Then that's the Potter kid," the auror said, blinking hard. "Oh, shit, that's complicated."
"And I noted the same name," Alex quipped. "As who cursed me to be five. A few days after he got sent there by the magical date." He grinned. "So how do you want to help me handle this impressive fuck up of a family matter?" The muggle behind him groaned but rolled over to vomit.
Alex waved and the house elves took him to throw up in a tub that wasn't that one. That way it was easily cleaned. "I have no idea if I have access to my magic yet. He linked me somehow to what I can barely recognize as a hellmouth. And I know nothing about them."
The auror blinked a few times. "The humans will have to be alive probably."
"And the curse scar?" he asked. He waved a hand at the baby. "That thing on his forehead is a horcrux. I ran into a few in the field."
The auror went back to look at the baby in the magically expanded bathroom. "It is an artifact."
"Hmm, yup." He nodded. "And I don't trust anyone at the bank. My apprentice was knocked out, but not deaged or killed. The rest...they can all fall in for all I give a damn."
The auror winced as he turned around. "The bank would hate that."
"And I hate the bank turned on me. As a matter of fact.... Let me recall all the magic I leant the bank." He looked up, saying that spell to reclaim all borrowed magics. It flew back to him and he sighed in pleasure. The hellmouth connection got eased by the auror, making him happier at least. "Thank you!" He grinned. "That was helpful. I have less of a headache. How do you want to help me handle this?"
"I ....do not know," he admitted. "But I have to tell someone CPS by law."
"Okay, I get that," he said with a nod. "We have mandatory reporters too."
"Good!" He went to call one he liked to work with. She was older, but smart and stern, and didn't put up with bad parents. Or anyone else. She came in and went right to the baby to help the house elf. Harry was happy with the bath and the attention, he was babbling baby noise at both of them.
Sable grinned. "Is chatty, Master Alex."
"I can hear that. Unicorn foals are much less vocal at his age." He grinned at the staring social worker. "My clan used to give shelter to a clan of unicorns, ma'am. I was the one who was the foal feeder when needed."
"Oh. You're...."
"Eighty," he admitted dryly. "Then cursed in the back while I was on a job for the bank. Me and my apprentice."
"He told me. We'll talk in a moment. Once this one is ready to be rediapered."
"Okay. Sable's our former nanny." He waved a hand, looking at the auror. "So, I still feel like I shouldn't have called but with him..." He shrugged.
"No, I agree. It's a mess. It's going to become a huge mess. People are going to scream and rant."
"The bank is going to heave a holy fit," he said smugly. "Especially since they were using the siphoned magic from the cursebreakers to hold the vaults away from the underground." He grinned but shrugged. "Oopsie?"
"I doubt that, kid." He made notes for his boss. Who was going to retire some week soon. This might just hasten it. "The muggles here?"
"Dumbledore paid them to keep me, to supposedly raise me right," he said dryly. "Even though I'm a proper heir of my family's clan and lineage. And have been for decades."
"The anger's probably normal," the auror told him.
"Yeah, I'm still working on not venting. But I have let those muggles do what they want to prove their intentions. So far their intentions have been to ignore me and to drink." He shrugged again, and quit leaning at the poke to his back. "Yes, Library?"
"Castle sealed. Family home had lightening storm," she said, staring up at him. He grimaced. "We rescued most things but some things already stolen."
"Get them back, put them in the castle for now. I'll go over it some year when I'm older again." She nodded, sending the other house elves to do that. "Also, start mapping the town for me? My mapping spell gave me a migraine. If this is the new home of the Dumass clan, we've got to make it a proper one."
"Yes, Master Alex." She told Me to do that for her while she went to check the kitchen. There was no food in the house. She sighed. But she could fix that somehow. They had emergency stores at the backup houses. And the emergency keys to bank branches outside the UK. "Master Alex, bank keys?" she asked. "No food."
He stared at her. "The bank helped curse me. But use the one in the Caymans. It's usually empty of goblins." She winced at that name. "They are. They made sure they went back there." He shrugged. "Their own doing for fucking with the clan this way." She nodded, going to that bank branch to withdraw most of the money in the vault to a bag, leaving a meager amount in there.
There were only a few elves who could do that. Miss Katya's head house elf could as well but she was sick with the loss of her mistress so she got them to Alex to bond to them as well. He eased it and they were better. She sent one of them shopping for her and to make some food for the baby. Though none of them had really dealt with babies in the recent past. The last baby had been Katya.
The social worker accepted the bottle to sniff and test the temperature then handed it to Sable, who fed the little one to make him happy. "He should probably be on solids but I want him on liquids for a few days," she told her.
"Of course. Not been eating, has to start smaller," Sable agreed. "Same as throwing up babies from unicorn poop they crawls through." She looked at her master.
Who grinned. "What? I was on the way to nurse from a unicorn mother. Again. Not like Grandma Des could make me stop that at his age." He helped the social worker back to her feet. "I know it's an odd thing and probably very much against your laws."
"You'd be right," she agreed. "There has to be an adult."
"House elves can stands," Sable assured her. "I raised that one the first time."
She looked at her. "There has to be a human who oversees the house elves." Sable rolled her eyes but went back to helping the actual baby. She looked at him. "What are your plans?"
"Ending the headache? Otherwise, I'm just doing what instinct says at the moment. Which was grab onto the family magic before it snapped. There had been a few of us still alive. Now there's us and I feel a few connections to me so apparently I had kids." He huffed. "Which I didn't know about, including that grandkid in there." He stared at her. "I don't want him hurt. I realize that artifact in his forehead is going to take a specialist. I can break the artifact if I had my wands, but it might hurt him."
"So he's going to need medical care. I noted the scar. It's healing."
"It's also containing a soul fragment."
"Ooooh. I've barely heard about that."
"Yeah, well, they're rare and have to come from you killing someone and splitting off your soul on purpose. There's prep work. We ran into a few of them in tombs." She nodded at that knowledge. "But taking them out and destroying them is dangerous. As in it has killed a lot who tried. So we've got to remove it from him before it taints him and possibly figure out what's went on that started all this. I've been here a week."
He grimaced up at her. "By the note left with him, it's been a week and a half for him. And I don't really need another set of parents. I need to set up a house. A proper magical house for the house elves and both of us. I have to find out more about hellmouths since that imbecile of a headmaster linked me to the one here. I have no idea how that's going to affect my own magic or his."
"Hold on, hellmouth," the auror said. "What?"
Alex stared at him. "I'm not fully fluent in that problem but it's a sort of thin spot between realms. Like here and realms that can immigrate, some with funny looking beings most might call demons?"
"Never head of that," the social worker admitted. He put up a map to show them where it was and how it was radiating. "That's a power point definitely." The auror tested it and moaned in pain. Alex got him freed from it. "All right, so..."
"The idiot headmaster tied me to it when he brought me here," Alex told her. "The same idiot headmaster." He handed over the basket and note. "Same guy."
She read the note, grimacing. "Oh, that's so wrong even by other countries' lax standards," she complained. She looked at him. "I can't let you stay here alone."
"We do have the house elves. A whole lotta house elves. I can probably summon a family ghost. But the ones who're still surviving in the family were banished for going evil. Not dark, but evil. Like sacrificing people evil. My brother sacrificed a unicorn next to me one night when he was eleven then stabbed me with the same knife sort of evil.
"The healing sucked for that," he said at her horrified look. "They banished him from the family. Justinius is somewhere on the mainland being a blight to magic. Along with one sister who's also dark and leaning his way. I don't think it'd be a good idea to talk to them."
"Can you trust them to help you?"
"No," he said dryly, smirking as he shook his head. "They'd sacrifice both of us for power. No."
She sighed. "I can see that point. Plus getting....what are you going to name him?"
"By that letter, that's the Potter heir," the auror told her.
She winced. "So that's Harry Potter?"
"Apparently," he agreed with a nod.
"If he wishes to change his name slightly to hide himself I'm with that but since he's a Dumass he might have a hidden name. The Potters did that." Alex looked at him. "Ancient families can do that to hide proper magical names." He looked at the social worker again. "I'm at an impasse. I didn't want to have to call one of you. But the grandson in there really could use the help and I can't let him go into another family either. It could snap the family's magic in him and kill him."
She considered it. "We still need an adult to act as an adult for you two."
"I can create a simaculum," he offered. He walked off humming and did that. He let her see them when he was done. He was sweaty and shaky but they were good enough. "Will that work?"
She blinked a few times. "I've never seen one that good."
"We use them in the tougher tombs to go break the traps up," he said. Then he grinned. "They can do limited thoughts on their own but they're fully magical."
"They are adults who can seem to be in control," she decided. She looked at the auror, who looked awed. He hadn't seen that at all. "I can allow that until something untoward happens."
"If it does I'm going to kick an ass," Alex said dryly then grinned. "Because I'm not the nicest curse breaker ever, ma'am."
"I can tell." She stared at him. "You'll let us get Harry treatment?"
"Please do." He nodded. "Have them encapsulate the soul piece in a sealing necklace or something. That way we can keep track of who tries to get it. Since destroying it would be a problem."
"I can see if someone can. If not, it may be a few years."
"I can shore up the containment if I have to for a bit," he promised. "We don't tend to pay too much attention to muggle medical stuff." He winced. "Cursebreakers are all horrible at being bored. We just...well, a lot of us tend to destroy things when we're bored even if we don't mean to.
"They called me Carnage for doing that. I won an order of Merlin for not doing that once." He considered it then nodded. "Yeah, that time was that." He grinned at her again, taking the glass the house elf handed him. "Our restorative?"
"Yes, Master Alex. Sister Katya liked how I made it taste."
He sipped and nodded. "That's really good, thank you...."
"Maisy." She curtseyed.
"Thank you, Maisy. I'm sure you served my sister well and I hope you can help Harry the same way?" She beamed and nodded. "Good, he can use it. I have no idea about human foals, only unicorn foals." She giggled, going to help Sable. "I was the orphaned foal feeder and often the foal babysitter." He finished the drink and held the glass. "So. Now what?"
"Now...I have no idea. This isn't the usual timeline or methodology. Do you have plans?"
"I'm going to set up a proper house. Because if they die someone's going to realize and take the house from us." The auror nodded. "Are they still alive?"
"Barely. Probably won't be by tomorrow night."
"Then we've got a bit of time to figure that out." That got a nod. "Okay. So...." He looked at the social worker.
"I can gladly show up as one of the local ones, Mr....."
"I think they renamed me Alexander Lavelle Harris."
"Mr. Harris then. We'll get Harry seen by someone competent. I don't allow them to hurt the foster kids." She stared at him. "I'll be watching so if something happens I'll be stepping in."
"Agreed. Though I doubt it would. Sable had a firm hand on all of our necks when we were little."
"That's not allowed in the US." She smiled. "You can't spank at all."
"Tell her."
"I'll go do that in a moment. Can you manage things like food and other needs?"
"I had a house elf raid one of our accounts. So we should be okay enough I guess."
"Good." She patted him on the head. "I'll be back tomorrow to check on Harry after I find him a doctor to see." She and the auror left to file paperwork that their bosses would hate. Hers threw a fit so she explained herself. It was an odd situation but the kid was right, it'd hurt Harry if the family magic broke from him, it might kill him in his weakened state. The head of the auror branch was on a moaning fit but agreed that some things had to be hidden. Greatly. For good.
***
Ten Years Later
***
Alex looked at Harry. "So, we gotta talk, kiddo."
"You're not that much older," Harry teased.
"Well, that's one thing to talk about." He sat him down to stare at him. "You're about to get hit with a magical maturation point, Harry." Harry, who knew he had magic, nodded at that. "And it'll draw attention. See..." He sighed. "There's a long story here and you're probably going to be mad."
"You mean about the basket and stuff? Sable told me, Grandfather."
"Oh! Good!" He grinned. "Yeah, that's what I needed to tell you. Did one of the elves tell you about the Potter family?"
"Yes. We have a few Potter elves here. She led me in how to call them."
"Even better." He stared at him. "Be a Potter first, Harry?"
"I can try." He stared at him. "Though I'm not sure if my father would've appreciated me."
He shrugged. "We grow into who we are." He tapped the necklace Harry always wore. "Did she tell you about this?"
"Just that I can't take it off. Is it a protection?"
"Yes and no. One piece of it is a protection from the local hellmouth." Harry nodded. He had heard about that thing from Xander learning about it. "One's the piece of someone else's soul that we pulled out of your forehead."
"What?" Harry demanded, standing up. "Whose!"
"The bad guy that killed your parents apparently. A week before I got deaged."
Harry blinked. "Then...." Xander nodded. "Okay." He considered it as he had been taught. "That sucks."
"It does." He gave him a hug. "But it may be important. Someone has tried to look for it once. They tried to ping you by finding it. The protections on it kept them from getting nearer than the town." Harry sighed but nodded. "But if they send you to school there, you're out of my protections and into their play yard. Because Dumbles is the headmaster, still."
"The same guy?"
"Yup." He stared at him. Harry stared back. "Which I don't want to let you do. But they're already putting up challenges from what I've been warned about."
"So trying to force me to go back."
"Yup. If they could they'd summon you."
"Hell no," he said quietly in Egyptian. Xander grinned at that. It was him warping Harry. He thought fast. "So what do I do?"
"For now, I want you to survive. If they summon you I'll try to send at least Library after you. If not one of your elves since you finally told me we had some of them here. They're attached to your magic." Harry nodded at that. "Also, I need to show you the heir's ceremony we have and lead you into looking at the Potter one. I have the bad feeling you're going to need to be Harry, Lord Potter, not just Harry Potter, Heir Dumass."
"Would that make things weird?"
"Probably not. The family magic on that side has been speaking to you all along. It's how you survived that week with those muggles that had you. Your mom's magic protected you from the curse, the Potter family magic held you strong enough to survive her relatives."
He nodded at that. "Good to know. What if they try to meet me?"
"Put their asses in jail, Harry. They abused you."
He sighed. "I mean, I got dropped on their doorstep one night."
"Yeah, and the reasonable thing would've been to call someone like CPS, get you to a doctor or an ER to be checked over as your forehead was still open when you got here a week later, and not to ignore you enough that it took Sable four hours to get you fully clean enough while feeding you for the first time in a week."
Harry nodded. "Yeah, true, I would've been horrified but handled it I guess. I definitely could've figured out how to bathe and feed a baby."
"Did the house elves show you?" he asked with a grin.
"Yeah, they did." They shared a smile. "So, now what?"
"Now, they're coming and I'm stuck here for a bit longer. I'll do what I can though." He stared at him then patted him on the cheek. "You're a good grandkid."
"Thanks, cousin." They both grinned at that old fall back relationship status. It made sense with their ages and how they related to each other. "I should probably go get some fun stuff in."
"Please do. If an auror shows up and it's not one we know, yell really loudly."
"I can do that. They're probably kidnapers."
"It's more likely he'll try to summon you. It's simpler and would work easier. Or have a school house elf put a portkey on you. Something like that."
"I hate portkeys." He went to play outside. He was ten, he liked to play outside. The new house's yard was great for that. The security tentacles were fun to play with. The house elves who weren't busy were good to play hide and seek with. And some of his friends lived nearby so he could go play with them. He saw the mayor watching him again and went to tell his cousin. Who came out to chat with him. And cast a befuddlement on him. That way Harry was still hidden.
***
Harry woke up suddenly somewhere he shouldn't be. This wasn't his room at home. It had scratchy sheets that were making him itch from the detergent used on them and his head hurt. Portkey definitely by how he felt. He silently summoned a Potter elf, feeling it pop in and hand him something. It hid it on his side since there was someone else in the room. Harry blinked at them as he sat up. "I believe you've kidnaped me," he said.
"I think someone else did it from your loving aunt," the man said.
Harry snorted. "The woman who didn't feed me for a week? I'll talk to my social worker about that thought." The man glared. He stared back. "I think I'm in the wrong country as you sound British."
"As you are, Harry. You were born one of us by your parents." He smiled.
"I've talked to my father, Headmaster." The man flinched at that. "His ghost visited. A few times. I learned how to call on all the family's ghosts." He stood up. "I should not be here. Let me go find an auror."
"If you leave this room they'll just bind you and put you in the hospital."
"Then they're going to be in a world of legal hurt," Harry shot back. "Because I'm aware of things, Headmaster. I saw the note you put in the basket." The man winced at that, standing up. "And I saw scrying how that night happened. You left me on a doorstep, without even seeing if someone would rescue me that night. Which they didn't. I could've died of hypothermia that night. Because of your plans." He stared at him.
"I can make sure that you learn more about your parents."
"I talked to both of them, Headmaster."
"You should have been raised over here. We can make sure of it, Harry." He grinned.
"If you try to screw with the Potter family magic, it'll bite you, not me." He smirked a bit. The man pulled a wand but Harry already had his in hand and put up a shield his cousin had taught him. Then one that James' ghost had taught him. He called the Potter family ring to him and put it on, glowing a bit. He was still too young but it activated all the heir protocols for him. A goblin showed up. Harry stared at him. "Master Dverger," he said with a nod.
The being stared at him. "Who are you?"
"Harry James Potter," he said. "Heir of the Potter and the Dumass families." The dverger winced at that. "And if you think I haven't talked to one of my relatives' ghosts, you don't know Grandma Des very well." He grinned, holding up his hand. "I was kidnaped from my house in Sunnydale. Out in California. Are you going to stick up for him doing this to me?"
"No," he admitted. "But you're too young by British law to have that ring."
"Well, no, I'm not since I'm the only one. It was mine when I became the last one." They shared a look so Harry quoted that in fairly good Goblish. The dverger winced. "The wonders of the Dumass library that Grandma Des showed me." He grinned. "So...why are you here?"
"To check on the legitimacy of the heir ring being handed over." Harry let him test it. It was firm and not moving. Not spelled. Not fully linked in but that was due to his age. "It's not fully linked with your magic."
"That's because I'm not sixteen." He nodded a bit. "I know that. I can feel it." He looked around then exposed the ghost, nodding at it. "Grandfather."
"Harry." He stared at him. "Your..." he coughed, "cousin's attitude is showing. Is this a good time for that?"
"Yes. I got kidnaped. What else would anyone expect?" He grinned. The old man grinned back. "I welcome your advice though, Grandfather."
"Kill Dumbledore to get free of him, lad. It may be the only way but the prophecy already exists."
"I can figure out a way around that." He looked at the banker. "Including that the bank is holding horcrux from Tom Riddle's mortal remains. Two or three as far as we can trace them."
"I can look into that, Heir Potter."
"Thank you. I'd like to have them destroyed. Before that prophecy becomes idiotic." He grimaced at the headmaster. "And gets me killed on purpose. Like cursing my cousin was." The man flashed a spell but his protection held. He looked at the banker again, seeing the awe. "By the way, my cousin would say hi but it's probably better if we don't put you two together in the same area. Or country. He's really still pissed off at how he got cursed on bank assignment. So apparently they broke an oath?"
The banker blinked. "We did what?"
"My cousin is Alexander Dumass. Well, cousin is what we claim when he's my grandfather," he said quietly then grinned. "And he's really still livid. It's been a decade so he's really probably not ever going to be not angry."
The dverger was not happy looking. "That was not our doing."
"Yet, you guys sent him on that assignment. On purpose. And got him cursed in the back. Then didn't help him. Didn't send someone to look for him thinking he was Lost. But you found Uncle Bill, conveniently after my grandfather got removed. Which means you knew where he was." He grinned.
The goblin looked very pale for some reason. "So, yes, I'm the Heir of Potter and the Heir of clan Dumass." He smiled. The headmaster was still trying to get inside that shield. "The shit you learn from the family's ghosts when they've died and quit caring what others think is amazing."
"Clan Dumass was wiped out."
"Yet, I have an aunt. And an uncle. Well, two uncles. One's in the US. One's over here and dark. The family listing notes him as tainted dark. The other it notes as in a soul bond. The aunt has kids." He grinned at the huffing headmaster then at the goblin again. "So, what else are we doing today?"
"You may not keep the ring."
"You cannot take it from me," he said. "Can he, Granfather?"
"No, Harry. He can't. If he tries that ends all our dealings with the bank and you can call all our energies out of there. Which will collapse the local branch."
"Then as of tomorrow at one, I will withdraw my energies from the bank if they choose to stick up for my kidnaper," Harry said. "Who is a headmaster, not a Dumass."
"You cannot prove that," the goblin warned.
"We can. We have papers on it. Including magical court and demonic court papers awarding my guardianship." He smiled at him. The being shuddered as he backed up a step. "He found out when we were doing the official muggle and magical ones." The goblin winced, backing up another step. It stressed the protection but Harry was able to hold it steady and let him outside it. "So, what is the bank doing today?"
"The bank...." He considered it. "I will ask." He fled to let the others in the know hear about this problem in their plot. It got him killed by an older king that was busy teaching the children in the temple for turning on the horde.
That king showed up, bowing to the ghost then at Harry. "Heir Potter."
"I am." He brought down the protections and held up the ring hand. "Were you part of that plot against both of my families?"
"No, lad. I was not aware we had one."
"Hmm. So you weren't aware that your people let one of your cursebreakers be cursed in the back? To be deaged and tossed onto a hellmouth and bound to a hellmouth?" He grinned. "He'd be greatly pleased it wasn't all of you."
"I... Which one?" Harry moved the necklace to bring it into view. "Oh!" He blinked then winced, looking at the very livid human. "Most of us did not have anything to do with that."
"Did the vault being hit by that subway train hurt ones not involved?"
"No, it only hurt them as they were having a meeting."
Harry smiled as the message came over. "Well, Alex said that's good and clearly someone got hit by the chaos potion he had stored as a boobytrap." The old king winced at that. "You stole from both of my families. Including me. I can call in a blood debt. Alex assured me I could."
"Alex?"
"Yeah, like the proper heir Alexander Dumass. Granddad," he said happily. "Or cousin as I usually call him."
The elder king winced at that. "No wonder," he sighed. "I had heard we misdealt with him. Not how badly though." Harry nodded. "Where is he?"
"Sunnydale."
"I will go talk to the man."
"No, he's only five years older than I am. The curse deaged him. Then *someone* in this room bound him to that hellmouth they put him on with the two drunken sots. I really do wish he could let go of the anger to regain happiness but I'm pretty sure it's not going to happen that way."
"No, probably not. It has been a long time."
"Yes. Ten years." Harry grinned and nodded. "The family magic tried to break so he had to reaffirm his heirship and call the family magic to him, which rescued me. Because I was nearly dead." Dumbledore made a noise at that but the king had frozen him when he had shown up.
"By the prophecy that got put out, one of us has to die but I'm not going to let Ton Riddle win. Alex did teach me to be a good man of both families." He smiled at the king. "And fencing. We took it together so he could get used to the new body as his magic is partially bound."
The King winced but nodded once. "I can tell what happened and go help him fix it. Would that help repair the bad business between you and us?"
"Maybe somewhat. But you still helped that one," he said with a head nod at the headmaster. "Steal from us. Including the most precious thing, the remaining heirs. I had an aunt and a few cousins before then. Then the house was destroyed and stolen from. My parents' house was stolen from. Hell, I was stolen from there. What would you be doing?"
"I would be destroying my enemies."
"He's my enemy. You guys are Alex's enemy. I'm only an intermediary for him and a bit less pissed than he is. I've never seen someone smile in anger until him last year."
"I have and have seen him do that. I will go make our balance sheet equal again with him. You...." He looked at the headmaster. "Are going to deal with him?"
"Yes. I'm charging him with theft, kidnaping, and attempted murder of me." The ghost smiled at that. "And anything else they can charge him with." He looked at the frozen older man then at the former king. "I would welcome Alex being a happier person finally. He deserves it. He really does."
"I'm sure he does. He always did. Even after most of his family died from that illness."
"I heard." That got a nod. "But... is there an auror waiting?"
"Of course he brought one," the king said.
Charlus went to look then came back. "One of his minions. They won't listen, kid."
"Then we'll have to do it differently I suppose. Can you get one here somehow who isn't a minion?"
"He has some power," the king admitted. "Including with the Ministry."
He smiled. "Against the American one? They said the UK's is just corrupt."
"It is," he agreed with a nod and a grin. "You have spunk."
"Yes, I learned. A lot. A whole lot." He smirked back. "Thankfully not the same way he did though."
"That's good." He summoned his assistant, who showed up at a bow and got him an unbiased auror. When he heard them get there and complain loudly he froze Dumbledore a different way and then floated him using a spell Alex had taught him about floating camp gear into place, carrying him down there with the ghost floating behind him. "Hey." He smiled at that angry man. "I'm Harry James Potter. Kidnaping victim. This one had me kidnaped from my family home and given to an abusive set of relatives. If you ask the Americans they have my CPS file."
"Kid," the auror said, then stared at him. "Oh. You're a Potter," he said, spotting the ring.
"I am. I'm the only Potter apparently." He held up the ring then let the man thump down. "The American child protective services file is waiting on some auror to call over to get. Including how I was nearly dead when my relative in the US found me and had me summoned by accident."
The auror stared at him. "What? You were raised by your aunt and uncle here."
"No I wasn't. I regrew up in California with my cousin, Xander, Heir of clan Dumass." He touched that necklace. The auror flinched back, shaking his head. "I haven't been over here in the UK since just over a week after my parents died.
"When I appeared over there I was weak, nearly dead, hadn't been bathed in a week, hadn't had a nappy change in probably three days, and the healers swore greatly about my health. All that is in my CPS file. Which I have noted should be turned over to the aurors over here." He grinned. "If you'd just ask for them."
"I can do that," the auror said with a nod. He looked so confused. "Dumbledore said you were raised by your aunt and uncle."
"Then I probably would've died. Which is why I'm charging him with kidnaping me from my proper, by my parents' wills, guardians, attempted murder, and theft. Because that wand he holds pings the Potter magic."
Charlus floated over. "Yup, that's the Elder wand. It's a Potter heirloom with the cloak, Harry."
"Great. Where is it?" he asked. "Is that why so many things are pinging in one place in Scotland?"
"Probably the school," he agreed with a nod. He looked at the auror, who was looking horrified. "I can get a press person here too," he offered. "Harry has my temper after all, inherited it from my great-nephew." He grinned. The auror had his minion with him call for that file. The other one tried to get in the way so Harry froze him from moving. Just stuck him in his spot. "Nice one," Charlus said happily.
"I don't want him to hurt his coworkers for doing the right thing," Harry said. "And I didn't hurt him." He looked at the senior auror, who was amused at least. That was a different emotion.
Harry looked over and waved. "Ma'am, I'm Harry James Potter and I'm allowing them access to my CPS file," he said with a grin since he recognized that worker. "Very nice to see you, Miss Halfrek."
"You as well, Mr. Potter. Why are you in England?"
"I don't know. The last I knew I was in math class in Sunnydale Junior."
"I can check on that. Your cousin?"
"Probably really mad but I've contacted him." He grinned. "He's really not pleased."
"I'll make sure he's okay." She got the file and looked through it then handed it over. "Here you go, Auror...."
"McDaniels, ma'am."
"Auror McDaniels. I'll make note on who got a copy for the guy's files. Are you coming back, Mr. Potter?"
"I don't know yet and Alex doesn't know which is the better course. We'll talk about it later."
"That's fine but being over there would come with some complications."
He nodded. "I heard about that scar of mine and all that." He waved the necklace, making her smile. "Thank you, Miss Halfrek."
"You're welcome, Mr. Potter. It's my suggestion you stay over there to learn. You could learn a lot."
"I could," he agreed. "Probably." She giggled but her head disappeared out of the floo.
The auror who had the file was reading through it then sharing it with his boss. "Auror Crouch, they have a lot of evidence," he said quietly.
He took it to look over. "Oh, they do have evidence of the kidnaping and the saving. Oh, dear." He swallowed, looking at Dumbledore then at the Potter boy. Who was strong, he was apparently a bit mean. He was smarter than you'd think. He was also apparently cranky by the look on his face. "Mr. Potter, may we have our headmaster?"
"If you put him in jail so he's no longer a threat to me or any other child." He let him go and stepped back, his wand going to his side. He stole the wand from Dumbledore's hand before he fully woke up. "That's not yours." He looked at the auror again.
"It is Potter property," Charlus' ghost agreed with a nod.
"I heard. I...this is going to cause a stink."
Harry shrugged. "That can happen when you put someone on a pedestal and expect them to be good people. No person is a saint if they don't want to be."
"True," the head auror agreed. He called in. "It's Auror Crouch," he reported. "I have credible charges here against Albus Dumbledore for line theft, theft of property, kidnaping against parental wishes, and attempted murder," he said quietly. "I need backup. I have McDaniels and Moody." He hung up, looking at Moody, who nodded he'd be doing the right thing. "All right, let's all go to the auror's office so we can take statements, Mr. Potter. Why are you here now?"
"I have no idea. I was in math class. Then I woke up upstairs on the sheets that're washed in a detergent that's breaking my back out in a rash." He wiggled to scratch it on the wall behind him. "Sorry."
"It's a good thing to note. We'd have a healer check you over."
"That's fine. I have a healer I've worked with a few times in the States. They're really nice. They fixed my forehead. Then got me my yearly exam."
"That's great." The other aurors walked in together and surrounded Dumbledore, charming him to go with them and not be able to pull a wand. Another walked with Harry, Moody as it happened.
Moody looked at him. "There's a prophecy, kid," he said quietly.
"I heard. We need to destroy some things to make sure it can't happen." He looked up at him. "Which is dangerous work but the bank has a few. I'm sure someone knows where the rest are." He grinned. "And I can do that."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. I'm certain I can undo things. I got taught." He smiled. "My cousin that rescued me is a cursebreaker."
"Oh!" He blinked a few times. "Oh, great."
"The Clan Dumass are very strong."
"Yes they were. Some still live?"
"Even after *certain* people cursed him in the back and then deaged him, stuck him on a hellmouth, and bound him to it," Harry said dryly. Then he smiled again. "He's a bit angry."
"I'd be angry too," Moody decided with a nod. They got Harry under truth serum in a room to take a statement and what came out horrified a few aurors. They had supported Dumbledore. Not anymore!
***
Harry looked at the men who were complaining he didn't know what had happened that night. "But there's people who were there." He cast a spell, bringing them to the courtroom. They had the remains of Potter war wards attached to them. He stared at one, getting a sneer back.
"Hmmm. Alex will be very upset his own son destroyed his daughter. I don't want to tell him that." The guy flinched back, looking horrified. He stared at the one that was a rat, then at the group. "Can anyone make him change back?" He waved a hand at him.
"Yes," Auror Crouch said, doing that. Then moaned in pain at who was exposed. "You died!"
"Apparently not," Harry quipped. The man lunged at him so he spun out of his way, kicking him as he ran past, and hexed him in the back to freeze him. "No, I don't think so. You get to answer to my mother, dude. She's waiting to speak to you." The hearing people who had known his mother shuddered. Including Charlus.
Lily faded into view. "I can keep waiting until he dies, son." She stroked over his head with a smile. "You make me proud by doing the right thing."
"Thanks." He smiled at her.
"But the anger?"
"I seem to come by it naturally."
"True, but calm it down, dear." He nodded, swallowing the rage back down. "Good boy." She kissed him on the temple then looked at Severus, who was looking horrified. "Alex freed us from being trapped in the house." He whimpered. "Thankfully I've been watching over my baby boy, Severus." He shrank away from her. He realized she was livid and about to kill him somehow. She looked at the other one. "Awww, our secret keeper."
"Li...Lilly," Peter whined. "I...."
"Do. Shut. Up. Now," she ordered and his lips clamped together. "Thank you. I don't want you to encourage my son to murder you in this room, Peter. After all, you cost him almost all his family. Thankfully the one that rescued him from my sister was good to him. Treated him well, loved him, taught him a lot of things." She stared at him. "We'll speak in a bit." She faded out with another pet over Harry's hair.
"We've seen many angry spirits," the judge admitted quietly. "None that made me worry they'd kill me."
Harry grinned. "I think my mother has that right."
"I think she does too. Who raised you?"
"Alex Dumass." He smiled. "We admit to being cousins instead of him being my grandfather. It's a bit weird since he's presently only five years older than I am thanks to the same person who handed me to someone not in my parents' wills." He waved at Dumbledore.
"Your parents' wills weren't known," the lawyer for Dumbledore complained.
"So instead of asking someone, since by scrying we noted he saw them being written out in his office," Harry said dryly. "He just stuffed me in a basket and put me on a doorstep of a woman and man who hated me enough that I wasn't fed for a week. Immediately after my parents died."
"For the greater good...." Dumbledore started.
"Is never greater or good," Harry shot back. "Especially not good. I can just see the pawn I might've become, Headmaster. Thankfully Alex felt me about to die and summoned the family's magic to him, including me. And our former house elf nanny. She was great to me. Helped us plant some self defense plants in our garden that still play with me to this day." The lawyer shrank down.
"You must save everyone by that prophecy," Dumbledore told him.
Harry shrugged. "I can do that because it's the right thing to do. It doesn't mean I care one bit about what you think or want. You tried to destroy two families. Including the clan Dumass."
"They're dark!" he complained loudly.
"Prove it." Harry stared at him. "Prove. It. The majority of us are just cursebreakers." He shrugged but smiled. "That makes us problem solvers. Not dark." The man was furious. Harry just stared at him. "Alex isn't dark. He's angry so willing to go there now. You sent him to the place where he can find the dark now.
"I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun with that talk as well." The man lunged at him to try to capture him but Harry didn't move, letting him do that. Which set off the portkey, or tried to. It fizzled and Harry broke his hands. "And that's assault with intent to kidnap." He looked at the judge.
"That was," he said after clearing his throat. "You're very angry, Mr. Potter."
"I should be. Because of this ....man my parents were killed. I lost my whole family due to him. Frankly, him being under the jail wouldn't soothe that. I'll never get back all of what we lost because you can't reanimate the dead without consequences." The judge shivered.
"I looked once and Alex talked to me about it. He wanted to as well. Pity we can't." He looked at the broken man next to him. "But that was all your plan, for your greater good, wasn't it," he said dryly. He rubbed the Potter ring and then the Dumass pendant, switching back with Harry.
Harry shrugged. "I couldn't handle that without breaking and cursing him to death. So I let Alex and I switch places for a bit for this trial and only this trial." The judge slumped, staring at him. Harry grinned a bit. "It's handy."
"I'm sure it was." He sighed. "The testimony you gave?"
"No, then it wouldn't be admissible." The judge winced. "We only switched for this particular event, Your Honor. Just this one. When I was meditating before we came in." That got a nod from the others in the courtroom. "Because I didn't feel strong enough to face that man. But Alex has great anger at him as well and needed to speak on his own behalf."
"I can see how that happens." He winced, looking at the others then at Dumbledore. "Do you have anything to say to mitigate these charges?"
"I did what was best for everyone!" he thundered. "I always have!"
"Best for everyone is not the same as good for everyone and often isn't good for anyone." Harry stared at him. "Philosophy class sucked but I did learn some of it." Dumbledore glared at him. He stared back. "You orchestrated your own downfall. You helped take out the remaining Dumass clan members. You orchestrated my parents dying. You put my godfather in jail without a trial." The judge flinched at that.
"Instead he was supposed to have custody of me. Which would have kept him from being in a place where you could get rid of him. There's a lot of bodies on your hands, Headmaster. A whole lot of them and nearly mine." He walked around to face him.
"I was originally going to play along, let you do what you thought you wanted and fix it underneath you. But then I realized it'd hurt a whole lot of people if I did that. More victims in your grave with you. I don't want any kid to go through what I went through. So therefore I'm going to sidestep your problems and your plots and your plans to handle the situation and then leave forever probably. Because I could never care about a group of people who didn't care about me."
The judge cleared his throat again. "I can understand that, Mr. Potter."
"Thank you. Once we get all the horcrux we can destroy them and then destroy the soul piece. Which Alex thinks is a ghoul. Mom said he was. They've been plotting how to do that. The Dumass library is very massive." He grinned. "They had every book they ran into copied."
"That's a great thing to many families," the judge said quietly, staring at him. "Are you going to go dark?"
"No. I care about people and how they suffer. I care a lot about how people are forced to suffer. I may follow my social worker into CPS, not sure yet. They always need social workers who give a damn."
That got a nod. "I can see that." He looked at the lawyer, who was looking depressed. Then at the boy. "The charges will go to a proper hearing."
"I can do that. I can travel back and forth from the castle."
"Castle?" the judge asked.
"Dumass Castle." He grinned. "The clan Dumass is an *ancient* family. One of the first around here that had magic." He smirked. "And started cursebreaking as a field." The judge shuddered at that. "And we used to raise unicorns." He shrugged but disappeared. "Let me know," he called back.
The judge sighed. "If we give him bail he'll be attacked," he noted. He looked at Dumbledore then at the aurors. "Do we have special cells?"
"We have one. It's hidden and a bit dark and dank. Not good at his advanced age."
"Then put him in a monitored house arrest situation. So no one can attack him when this gets out." That got a nod and they did that, bringing him off. The judge sat there holding his head. It ached. He had been so wrong about Dumbledore. Plus Fudge was already screaming about all this coming into the light. The judge looked at the others. "Check his godfather's file for a trial." It was handed over by a guarding auror, who looked less than amused. "Trial?"
"Nope."
"Shite." He looked, no trial. Put into jail directly by Fudge. "Get him here to give him one. Maybe he can go home with Mr. Potter." That got a nod so they called the prison to bring him.
This was all so bad and exposing too many bad things.
***
Harry looked at the goblin staring at him from the fireplace. "Yes?" he asked, sipping his tea. The Potter elves were with him at Alex's prompting to help protect him for now. He was still a young guy, he didn't know enough to overthrow a full government. "Problems?"
"Is your grandfather going to come back to work?" he asked patiently.
Harry laughed, shaking his head. "With the ones who cursed him in the back?" he demanded, staring at them, smirking some. "The ones who let him be given to some muggle drunkards to raise him supposedly better?" He stared at him. "I think you'd better hope he never walks into that bank again. Because I'm not sure it'll be standing at the end." He looked over. "Library." She appeared, blinking at the goblin. "He wanted to know if Alex was going back to work."
"Dverger be *very* brave to ask Master Alexander that," she said, staring at him. "Very, very brave. Not a good brave but brave." She grinned. "I let him know. Library would love popcorn night again. Last time nearly destroyed town to get down evils." She disappeared.
Harry grinned. "That was a pretty good night. Something evil came at us so Alex just went off on 'em to the point where they suicided instead of dying." He shrugged. "Then he complained about the mess he needed to clean up to make sure all the artifacts weren't being used." He sipped his tea again, then put the mug back down. "But I do need to go over the Potter family accounts."
"You're too young." Harry held up his ring hand. "You're still too young."
"Yeah but I'm the only one thanks to the plotting of a few old men. Therefore I'd better know how to handle it myself, shouldn't I."
"It's being held in trust for you."
"Yes but I have no idea about by who and what they've done with it. The last thing I knew was summoned records from about when Alex had to get his family magic sorted out a few years back." He stared at him. "And really, do I trust you with what you did to Alex?"
"I'll let that account manager know you'd like to talk to him about the family's investments." He hung up with a huff. Humans got worse and worse every year. Over such a little thing.
Then the bad thing happened. The village with the families was cut off from the bank's access. They couldn't get home. None of them. The king came running to see what was going on. The portal was ended completely. They called another bank, they could get to their own home village and could get to theirs by way of normal travel but they couldn't keep doing that. It took too much time and energy.
The King was peeved to the point of war. He called on Dumass himself, getting him and him being annoyed back. "It is not good of you to lock us from our families," he sneered.
Xander snorted. "While that would be *just* as you stole mine from me, I didn't do that. Your portal was on shaky ground since you used stolen and borrowed power to fund it. I withdrew my magic years ago. The rest of us have heard I'm sure and have been slowly withdrawing theirs as well." He stared at him.
"That village and this branch itself has a lot of problems with using stolen and borrowed magic from the humans. Including the vaults being held away from the Tube's trains and other places." The king flinched, calling out to check those. Xander shrugged, staring at him. "I wish your children no harm, they're not the ones that came after my family and if I had done it, they would've gotten to rebuild the bank completely as I'd have just destroyed it from the ground up." He hung up.
The king let out a wordless scream of rage but it wasn't that one's fault, though he knew they had done wrong. So very wrong. He stomped off to check that portal, shutting the bank for the day so they could evaluate the wards and power sources.
The overseeing king over all the hordes, Ragnok, showed up a few hours later to witness the clean up from a train hitting the vaults for a third time. He sighed as he appeared, staring at the local king. "Find out what happened," he told his top engineer, who went to do that.
"Start with the family portal. We may have to move their village completely so they can raise their children to be better beings than they themselves are." He stared at the local king. "It was noted years ago, after Dumass was cursed in the back, that using stolen power would get us damaged. Especially after he withdrew his and it meant that the vault got hit by a train."
"He did this!" the local king shouted with a point.
"No, he did not." He looked at his top wizard, who was testing and nodding. "Did the humans withdraw their magic?"
"Yes. Almost completely. The only ones who left theirs are probably dead. I can feel Dumass family magic. Two flavors, both female. So probably Katya and their aunt." He looked at the local king. Then at his king. "It will take days to rebuild the wards, if not weeks, King."
Ragnok nodded once. "I figured it would. Are they completely down?"
"Yes. All but the hearthstone and the shrine." He looked at that one, it still glowed and the bank was trying to siphon off power from it. Then back at the king. "I doubt the Lord and Master over cursebreakers would be pleased about this. Lord Loki is most fierce in his displeasure being seen."
"Hmm. He is," Ragnok agreed with a nod. Then he picked his teeth with his nail. He cleaned it off then looked at the local king again. That was a terrible insult, showing he wasn't concerned about what he'd do because he was beneath him caring that he might be a threat to him. "So your horde has a huge problem apparently. What are you going to do about this?"
"I'm going to kill Dumass. He started this."
"Your people started your own downfall by going after his family. He and Katya wouldn't have reacted at all if you hadn't. Though I can feel chaos. Is Lord Loki incoming?"
The wizard tested, shaking his head. "He's locked up somewhere, Sire. No, that's a chaos potion. Somehow one got spilled."
"Hmm." He nodded, looking at the local king again. "Interesting. Where had it been stored?"
Loki's image appeared, staring at him. "In Alex's vault. He won it at a poker game." He looked at the shrine then undid it to redo it. Then looked at the overseeing king again. "The cursebreakers should be saved."
"I have no onus against them for protecting their own kind. We would have done the same thing if the roles were reversed, but done it years before when we learned of it." He shrugged a bit. "Are they not protected?"
"They are. Their work vaults as well. This horde...." He looked at the local king then at the overseeing one again. "I do not favor his horde as far as I know. I haven't met all of them as I'm rather...tied up but I know this king is not in my favor." He disappeared to look at his future cursebreaker. Who was having a nap on the couch. That was nice of the boy. He marked him before having to go back to his trapped body.
In Sunnydale, Alex looked up at that feeling then smirked. He reached over from his desk to knock something off a shelf, letting it break. He heard the moan from his god and that was nice of him. It gave him more power to use for the moment. Alex looked at his office full of things that had been infecting Sunnydale. They had given him such headaches. So he had solved a lot of them.
***
King Ragnok looked at the assembled horde later that night. "Your families are safe. We have moved most of them to the Old City area." A few sighed at that. He looked at his engineer, who nodded. "Is there a way for them to get there?"
"Yes. But not back. We can do a one-way portal, Sire." He looked at them. "This bank is going to fall in. The structural supports were fractured." A few moaned, staring at the king. "The ones powering the wards and the structures withdrew their consent and powers."
Ragnok nodded. "As we thought." He looked at his head wizard, who was grimacing already. "Your thoughts?"
"We'd have to rebuild everything from the bottom up with new, non-borrowed magic. Which would also mean a vault check and inventory." The local king struggled to get free of his chains but oh well. "I have no idea why they had this very bad idea. The chaos potion they stole and used clouds the original reasoning."
"I'd ask but they'd lie." Ragnok looked around. "This horde is going to be under different control. The last king?"
"Guarding the children, as he should," the engineer told him with a nod. "He made sure they all got moved and offered to come behead his grandson himself. He's very tired of him. He regrets retiring."
"He was ancient when I was born, he deserved years of rest teaching the young at the temple," Ragnok said. "Though I'd feel the same. My wife would come take over for me so I didn't have to." They nodded at that, his wife was a warrior born and bred. Though she hated to show him up in public. "Do we have those who want to take over this horde to rebuild it?"
One stepped forward, taking off his cloak. "I do, Sire. This is my natal horde. I left to be with my wife's horde as they needed more people. She agreed, we should rebuild our own people here. I can do it with honor and justice."
Ragnok looked at him then nodded. "Are you willing to prove it the traditional way?"
"Of course!" He nodded once, pulling his sword. "Because many need to be reminded we are not petty and useless, do not steal, and we have ethics." A few of them attacked him so he fought them off and killed them then the former king in disgrace. He bowed to Ragnok.
"If I fall, appoint someone like your wife to take my place, Sire, but I will rebuild us if I can. With ethics. And the building." He looked at the piece of the ceiling that had just fallen on his head. "I have asked a few former hordemates who were with the bank itself to return to take over operations once we can use the building again."
"That could help," Ragnok agreed with a nod. "And the audit."
"Oh, that's an automatic. If we must move a vault, we'd have to do one anyway. Though the work vaults do worry me a bit."
Ragnok smiled. "They probably should. That's apparently where the chaos potion they spilled came from. Lord Loki said that Dumass had won it in a poker game and had it stored in his work vault."
"Ah." He nodded. "Well, they deserved it for breaking the treaty with our cursebreakers. I will not allow that. Even if I have to rebuild this horde from my wife's nieces and nephews. Lore would do a good job as a banker, Sire."
"I've heard that said but I heard an engineer as well."
"Well, he can help us redesign the bank," he said dryly.
"I'm sure he could help." He looked at his engineer, who grinned back.
"Lore has a good eye but still likes fanciful things. He'd do great helping the redesign so it doesn't fall on our head." He shored up the ceiling that was trying to fall in. Then looked at the new king again. "Get us a list by tomorrow of changes you want made to the building. We start the rebuild later this week."
The king bowed to him. "I can do that." He looked at Ragnok. "With your permission?"
"Please do. See if you can mend that fence with Dumass, though I doubt you could. He still shows all the anger."
"As I would," the new king agreed. "For eternity." He looked back then at the king again. "I would not have blamed him if that had been his doing. Instead it was our underlings and employees losing faith in us and our abilities. He looked around again. "May I have an audit in a year's time, Sire?"
"Of course you can, that way I can make sure you're handling the problems well enough. I'm sure this isn't the only one we'll uncover." He looked around. "Did anyone tell the wizards anything?"
"That the muggle trains had once again encroached on our vaults, the same as they did a few years back," one of the senior guards said. "That we'd be closed all week for the damage audit and to move any vaults in danger with a audit done of them just in case to make sure nothing was harmed. The Minister was not amused and swore about muggles doing odd things. He's easily led and accepted that answer."
The kings both nodded at that. "Have fun with him and the rebuild," Ragnok told the local new king, who bowed deeply. "Ask the ancient old man's opinion. I'm sure he'll have some."
"Of course he would. He'd have to train the next generation to take over in our places." Ragnok smirked at that, leaving but his engineer stayed to help. The king turned around to look at his new horde. "For tonight, assess the damage, note anyone missing or gone that wasn't part of this turn over, and let us all know. We may have to bring the building down completely to rebuild it." They all sighed at that. He looked at the engineer. Who nodded. "For certain?"
"Parts of it, yes. If we just started over on top of the vaults, once we increase the space between it and the outer world, then it'd be easiest and fastest. Probably cost less because we'd have to use less temporary fixtures."
"The cost to benefit analysis is tipping in that favor?" the king guessed.
"We can set up a way to rebuild our sections of the bank while holding the wizarding portion up. That would be strenuous, take a lot of magic, and a lot of supporting works to hold that part up." He looked at the ceiling then at the king. "Or we can start over."
"Is that reasonable in the time frame? The wizards would shout if they couldn't get in for very long."
"There's a temporary office already set up for banking needs," one of the guards told him. "It's across the street. It was rented earlier by the account managers."
"Good of them. Very reasonable." He looked at the engineer again, who nodded. "The portal to the city?"
"That... that's going to take a while. We don't have the book on how to build a new one. We have to find that."
"If we find one in a vault, we can borrow it," the king decided, getting a nod. "Let me know the estimates tomorrow?"
"Of course." He walked off to go talk to his builders. They had a lot of work to do and really it would be easier to just rebuild the whole thing. Safer for them too.
The new king looked around. "I'll meet with the account managers tomorrow. Set up the audit with them. Guardians, for now, guard our backsides. Those who are in the way as your duties would be in the hidden sections... well, I suppose if you can't help go see your families for a few days." They nodded and bowed to him. He looked at the bodies he had created. "Have them buried." He walked off. "I will speak with the human cursebreakers tomorrow afternoon." He grimaced. That was going to be messy.
The others moved to do his bidding. They were a well oiled military ranked colony and horde here. They knew how to follow orders.
***
The new king of the horde appeared on the stairs at lunch the next day to make the announcement. "I am Irontip. I am the new king of this horde," he announced. "I am here to note that our bank did sustain structural damage. Not to many of the vaults. We will be auditing and moving them to a safer vault section while we rebuild this whole building.
"As our back end infrastructure was damaged by that subway train, we will have to take down the building and redo it completely. At this moment, all the bank staff that handle accounts are holding offices in our temporary buildings across the street. We do ask that you limit how many times you need into your vaults.
"The more traffic the slower the construction goes and the longer it takes us to reconstruct this section of the bank. Which is going down now." He looked at the engineers, who brought it down simply and easily. He looked and nodded. "Not even a lot of dust. Good work, Engineers." He looked at the press again.
"It will take us approximately six months to do a full rebuild. We envision the vault access to be returned to normal within three months and the rest would be the upper levels. You do build a building from the bottom up," he said at one pouty looking reporter. "We have to build up the vaults and ensure they're safe from future subway incidences."
"Was anyone injured?" a Daily Prophet reporter asked. "And what happened to the old king?"
"He retired in shame for not fixing that problem in the first place," he told her. "Not many got truly injured. There were a few deaths because of this. We mourn our people. We also mourn that the portal to our village was taken down by it. So we're all commuting a bit more than usual." She stared at him, mouth open. He shrugged. "Not like we live in a vault." He looked at the teams then at them. "Any other questions?"
"Xenophilus Lovegood, King Irontip. What of the vaults being audited? Has the Ministry said anything?"
"No and I don't expect them to. Did they want us to not tell people that things they had stored safely had been hit by a subway train?" He shrugged. "Even if they protest, the audit must happen or the vaults won't be secure and we won't be able to rent them out again." He smirked a bit. "We could not ensure your items stay safe if they're in there." That got a nod. "Other than that?"
Lovegood raised his hand again. "What of the magic powering the wards? It feels weaker. Was that the result of the accident or there's rumors of the cursebreakers leaving service?"
"A few are very upset with us over things the Ministry found a few former members of theirs and ours doing. I do not blame them for that anger. I share it with them as that shamed both species." He shrugged. "As for leaving service completely I do not know. That is not my duty to oversee. My duty is to rebuild this horde. And then to make sure the bank is fully staffed and able to do good business for both of our peoples." He nodded and left. He looked at his bodyguard. "He's good."
"He's a bit weird but usually, yes. No one listens to him however." He heard complaining. "Fudge."
"Great." He went to the office with the accounts people. "Minister Fudge comes." They all groaned but got back to looking busy. Only a few people had panicked and shown up. He looked at the minister coming in. "Yes, Minister Fudge?"
"Who're you?" he demanded.
"The new king. The last one abdicated yesterday in shame." He stared at him. "Did you need to see our plans on the rebuild? We're not doing much outward changing of the building but are adding some extra safety features."
"You may not do an audit. The ministry won't allow it!" he said loudly.
"Then there's no reason for us to rebuild as we cannot safely fulfill our banking duties." He stared at him. "We must grant insurance payments to those who have damaged vault contents. We must check them all so we can move them if we must. And we will have to. I trust my people but I would make sure no one had a worry that something got lost in the moves. That's not good business."
"We have declared you may not."
"Then you no longer have a bank. We'll repatriate the funds and items stored in vaults later on this week." He smirked. "That will simplify our rebuild greatly as we won't have to rebuild the business as well."
"You can't do that!" Fudge spluttered.
"Yes but we must if we cannot insure our vaults' contents are safe and still there. That is ethical business practices. Which I do tend to rely on. I was taught well at University, Minister Fudge. If we must repatriate the items in vaults then we'll have to do an audit so anyone can compare to what they thought they had and now have. Also we wouldn't be responsible for as much of a damage payment to the owners of broken things."
"I can stop the reporters so you can announce that," the guard said, moving to the doorway. "People, do wait for a moment, please," he called out there. "Minister Fudge and King Irontip are in a negotiation for later services and usage of vaults." He closed the door, smiling at Minister Fudge. "That way you can let them know, Minister Fudge." He spluttered again, shaking his head. "That's only fair as it was a Ministry decision."
"True, we admitted our problems," the king agreed with a nod. "That would a problem from the Ministry so that would be up to them. If not, I can go tell them that you've decided we cannot operate as a bank under our ethical guidelines because that would mean a vault audit for damaged things. I'm sure they'd love the honesty and if some enterprising wizard wants to restart a bank here, they'd be able to take our guidelines to add to them for their own uses." He stared at the creepy idiot.
Fudge glared. "A vault audit isn't seemly."
"Not seemly is having a subway train full of muggles slam into our vaults. Again," he said dryly. "This should have been fixed the first time ten years ago or the other time it happened six years ago." Fudge winced. "But we were quietly able to handle that. Now, there was too much damage done and it had to be fixed one way or another." He smiled a bit. "I'm sure our engineers would adore building a multi-use building just for our needs and not for banking things. We could definitely use the training grounds."
"You can't do that by the last two treaties."
"No, it says we're not allowed to have our warriors at military stand-by status," he corrected. Then he smiled. "Right now they're being guards of the bank to keep down problems. Them going back into full time training won't make them war ready but it would let the younger warriors find nice spouses who appreciated the work they put into their training."
"My wife did," the guard with him agreed with a nod. "Then I appreciated that she can deadlift more than I can." The king smiled at him. "She's amazing and I love my wife. And her mother's not bad even if she is an old battleaxe."
"Literally?" one of the aurors with Fudge asked.
The guard smiled and nodded. "Yes! Her mother was the leader of a battle axe patrol group with their native horde. Their hunting and food teams plus protection patrols. She was quite the leader in her days."
Fudge glared at him. "You like your mother-in-law?"
"Yes, I adore her and the woman she made who became my wife. They're a lot alike and I appreciate that she put the hard work into raising a fantastic wife for me to find." He smirked a bit. "Do you not appreciate and like your own mother-in-law?"
"No. The woman's a bitch."
"Ah." He nodded. "That can happen I've heard. Most of us like our in-laws because we realize that they made us the way we are." He looked at the king.
"I honor my wife's parents each time we meet them. Her father is mighty and a fiscal warrior of great importance. Her mother owned many accolades as a diplomat. The woman scares dragons and me but I appreciate that strength in her because that means she's raised a fine, strong wife who will raise fine, strong children with me." The king smiled at him. "It may be a species difference."
"Yes it seems so," the other auror agreed with a nod. "Though I adore my mother-in-law as well. She's one hell of a woman. Not a lady but a woman." They smiled and nodded they understood that difference. Fudge glared at him so he shut up. "What would we do without a bank for however long it takes someone else to set one up? And how long would we have to get our things out of our vaults?"
"We can probably handle that sooner," one banker said from his seat. "We could do the full withdrawals and closing the vaults easily enough and it would save us later work." He looked at the king. "Blackrock is back but grumpy. This canceled his retirement."
"I'm sorry to hear that but we need him to guide the special accounts department. He can help smooth over issues we've had with some wizards. He's also quite the diplomat." He looked at Fudge again. "If you wish us to not restart the bank, we won't. We have other things we can do and we'd help any new bank starting up do so ethically. We wouldn't begrudge them taking over our old business."
"No, it can't happen that way!" He stomped off. Then he came back. "Only audit the ones that you have to open."
"Of course. We would not make ourselves more work," the king agreed with a nod, trying not to look like he had just won the argument.
"You will alert us if you find illegal potions or other things that are illegal." He stomped off before anyone could agree. The king waved at his back with a pleasant smile on his face. The aurors stared at him.
"If we should find something of worry we'd of course tell someone proper," the king told them. They smiled and left. "That does mean we can get rid of that stupid wandering mummy once we depower it again. I'm sure the Natural History museum would adore having it back." He walked off happier to hold that meeting with the bankers. Outside, Fudge was talking about all the good this could bring to the alley. They let him blow himself out.
Blackrock came out of the back of the offices. "Add four more offices to the account area," he told the engineer.
"We've added ten so we have nineteen."
"We have twenty-seven account specialists from the minor to the major ones. Three can share an office as they're lower level minions and interns."
"I can do that," he said, making a note. "Just those three?"
"For now. If we have another bigger office they can share that later if they want." That got a nod and he went to the meeting table to get involved. "We have artifacts. How are we handling that?"
The king looked at him. "Blackrock, what sort of artifacts? Like in the work vaults of cursebreakers or in storage vaults?"
"Both."
He considered it. "We are not handing over the audit to anyone but the vault holders. As is proper and ethical." That got a nod. "If we find something disturbing that is against the agreements we singed to rent them a vault we'd have to decide on a case-by-case basis. How bad could it be?"
"I know a few hold soul containers."
"That is in violation of the agreement."
"Yes but they managed to get it past our wards, which is worrying in a whole other direction," he said. He stared at the king. "Do we hand those back? Even if it should be in the Dumass vault?"
"He does?"
"I was over the family account years ago when I was an intern. The family had a soul crypt that held a piece of Lord Loki if I remember right. Something about keeping it safely for him so he was not fully trapped ever again."
"We would look at the item in question ad ask about it, then note we do not like holding such things. In a work vault is one thing. And does Dumass still have one?"
"Yes. Probably more than one as he probably stored things in other's vaults if they weren't using them." He stared at him. "I know one vault got raided by a house elf years ago. I know one got raided more recently. That appears to be on the behest of Dumbledore."
"No, we do not allow theft of any kind. If he did so, then he is liable for it and we will make sure things get back where they should be. The records?"
"Fictional," one said. "They never kept good track of access. I know I've seen tampering back at least a year. The former king snorted about it when I noted it and said to ignore it. The old king would've had someone's head but he wasn't as overseeing as many could've wanted on our department."
Irontip nodded. "That's going to change." They smiled at him for that. "No, thefts of any kind are wrong." That got a nod. "Any items of importance to find and move immediately?"
One coughed. "Flammel has a small vault. Very small vault. It holds a single box and ten galleons."
The king blinked at him. "Flammel." That one nodded. "Do we think it's the stone?" He nodded more quickly and grinned. "Does it not have security features on that vault?"
"He thought it'd be safer if it was quietly laid to rest there."
"We will be starting a new higher security area for such things. Being quiet is one thing. But if others suspect they could try to rob us anyway. I'd rather not have to deal with people being cleaned up from the vault ledges again." They all nodded at that happy idea. "Rockface," he called, summoning the engineer. He leaned in. "We need a secured vault area for higher profile problem vaults."
"We have one."
"They don't want to pay for it so stuff things in a vault quietly apparently."
"Ah." He nodded. "We can do that. We should up all the security really." He went back to his note making with the ones requesting things. Some were really a good idea, like more bathrooms for the workers.
***
Harry, being a smartass preteen, sent Xander the newspaper so he could see the moment the bank fell in. It might upset him because he didn't do it personally, but he might appreciate the irony that he had started that movement off. He looked over as the floo went off, nodding at the being there. "Yes?"
"Heir Dumass, is your senior heir available for a question?" he asked patiently.
"I have no idea. Right now he's trying not to nap in history class." He touched the heir's pendant, talking to Xander. Who sent back an eye roll and then sighed 'I guess'. "He said 'I guess' so what's going on?"
"I need to ask him why he had three work vaults."
Harry sent that over. "Because his main one got infected, it was vault 109?"
"Ah." He nodded. "His assigned work vault was 152."
He sent that. "Yeah, he said that 152 was wrecked by him handling something for Golden Needle?" He looked at him. "And he won't say more than that, apparently there's a report somewhere?"
The dverger looked behind him so someone went looking. He got handed a scroll so looked it over. "Oh, I see." He nodded. "And it was noted they gave him 109. All right. What happened in there?"
Harry thought that at him. Xander sent back a response. Then sighed and appeared himself. "109 got infected and infested by Symia's cadaver and carabara project."
He blinked. "That was not supposed to get out."
"Yet, I had to go stop it because it was wandering. I walked in, half asleep, and it tried to cuddle." He shrugged. "So I ended it but ending that bit of frakenstiening meant that it infected all the open vaults. So 109 and the six surrounding ones, and one below, all got infected with dark energy that no one could remove without undoing the whole vault's spells." He shrugged again. "Then I got switched to 241, which was nicely big at least."
"We were doing the moving audit of the work vaults and ran into what looks like one of yours in vault 806."
Xander smirked. "Yeah, that's mine, but it's older. That's from my twenties. All stuff that you guys demanded I lock up and not work on." He smirked and disappeared again.
Harry looked up then at him then back at his book, shaking his head. "Something about stupid Alzacar and Alzacor, stupid muggle breathing nincompoops Ironblade? Something about Sword Tip maybe?" He looked at him again then shrugged. "I'm also hearing something about sexual demons and having had one trapped in there, and now he's giggling that all those unmarried of your people are... Hmm. He's just giggling now." He shrugged but smiled.
"That is almost evil of him. Very dark."
"Well, he said someone named Hook something or other told him to leave it alone and not destroy it." He grinned but shrugged. "Xander just did that and went back to giggling. I hear something in a fake voice saying 'no, you don't need to fix that, we're just going to lock it up. We can't sell that sort of artifact'." Harry grinned at him, getting a huff back. "Oh, he said all the paperwork on all that is in Hidra or something like that's cabinet in vault 146."
The dverger sighed but nodded. "Thank you both." He hung up, going to send someone stupid in there to get that file of paperwork. The son of the idiot who had Alex not handle that stuff could do that nicely. He was married, had three children to pass on the hereditary stupidity to already. He'd be fine if he was Lost from getting that bit of paperwork. It might even be keyed to his bloodline since his father had apparently done the reports.
Pity he didn't die of it, barely. Twice. They managed to restart him from the safety of the vault ledge and the cart both times he nearly died from a simple-ish trap. Then he got the file box of papers from the Hittite cabinet to bring out. He didn't run into a single problem on the way out, but no one realized that the vault had also released a gas that would eat the thief until that one's foot fell off, then he screamed the rest of the way back to the topside and to the infirmary.
The one in charge of the audit took the papers with a sigh to go over, and the reports that had been found on all that stuff that wasn't in the vault. The auditor said something in Gobish that translated to roughly 'fuck us all with a flying bat up the nose' and groaned, going to spread that knowledge. It did list that gas on there as a security feature. Plus the chaos potion that had apparently been broken by a thief years earlier.
That one had done everything perfectly correct from the paperwork on down. He wasn't in violation of any agreements they had. Though, they had not expected the work vaults to be used as storage for actual work, more a place to tinker with artifacts that needed cleaned up.
This one and the others who did such things needed to be put on the danger scale the bank kept of those who could harm the hordes or the world. This one was most dangerous, even perhaps above the God over Cursebreakers was.
***
Harry looked at the letter that had been delivered by owl mail, which he thought was cute of them. He stared at it. "Why would I want to attend your school?" he asked it. "Your headmaster had me kidnaped. Twice. Your book list looks meager as there's no non-maj classes. I guess it means I wouldn't have to help dig up another artifact in a grave, but really? Is going along with that madman's ideas worth not taking demonic chemistry this year?"
He asked Alex, who said he left it up to him. So Harry told him the list that they had wanted him to get. Alex snorted and said that was a lot less than he had needed, and his trunk was in the castle somewhere if he was by there. He admitted he was in Potter Dio but he could go there later. He looked around the blessed and holy holding house then sighed.
He was a bit trapped. The wards didn't want to let him out. Apparently whatever Potter that had made a few things for a Pope had set the wards to hold any family there safely if they were not as anointed as he was. Alex heard that and noted how to get around that. So he flexed his own shields and modulated the output to look more holy like an artifact. That let him disappear back to the main part of the Potter house. He was not walking into that closet again. He put a sign on it just in case he forgot.
The elves got him lunch, staring at him. "I got stuck in Potter Dio." They nodded at that wisdom. "Thanks, guys." He settled in to eat. "We're going to Dumass castle later." They nodded at that. "I need to find Alex's former school trunk."
"Library be saying stuff everywhere," one of them told him.
"Alex said he just sent stuff there when he had to rescue it so there probably is," he agreed, eating another bite of lunch. "You guys know I don't need huge meals, right?" They stared at him. "Really. I'm not growing again yet." They snorted at that and got back to work on preparations for dinner. "Wait on that. There's no telling how long it'll take us at the castle." They nodded, putting things in the fridge for now. Thankfully the main Potter house had electricity and appliances.
***
Harry landed thanks to the camp moving spell Alex had taught him last summer, looking at the old castle. Then at the two who were trying to get into the castle. They had a tent behind them that was in ruins. They were both looking very ragged.
He sent that picture to Alex, who showed up in a concussive blast of magic, which knocked them over and made one of them scream. But Harry realized that Justinius was an evil idiot so him screaming was fine he guessed. "Hey, all," he said with a grin and a wave. "Were you trying to break in?"
"It's my birthright!" Justinius said, getting up.
"He who was banished from the family," Alex said dryly, staring at him. "Has no Dumass family birthright. Especially since this one takes being a cursebreaker to hold it." He smirked.
"You're very nasty for a ghost. I should banish you."
"I'm not a ghost. I got deaged by a curse in the back from our former headmaster." He shrugged. "Boom, mother fucker," he said with a finger snap. Harry ducked that spell, moving into the caves out there that held ceremonial things. And a few entrances to the catacombs.
He ran into the family burial vault and decided to hide in there because Alex was going to destroy them at the cellular level and he did not want to see that today. He closed the door, then panted in relief, nodding at the ghost that came out to stare at him. "Hi, Auntie Alisandra."
"Harry, dear. What is going on?"
"Justinius and some girl are trying to break the castle to claim it."
"Ah. That must be Mel. Poor, stupid, dark things that got bred wrong as they weren't on the family's curse curing bedding." She went to check on them. "Alex!" She smiled at him, getting one back. "What are you doing?"
"Rebanishing the dark ones from the family lineage, Aunt Alisandra." He grinned like a good boy. "They were trying to break the wards. And have no idea about anything about wards apparently. You can't overpower linked wards the way they wanted to try." He looked over and sent another wandless spell up their asses, making Mel duck and cover in fear and Justinius look like hamburger until he gulped a healing potion.
Xander grinned and waved. "You ready to head home now? I mean, this hasn't ever been your home. Even when you were still considered a member of the family. Her marriage will not take place here as she was banished by her own actions. You were banished for sacrificing a unicorn and nearly me so your marriage was not held here. You are not our family, Justy.
"You should go back to your own kind. They probably miss you and I'd hate to claim your daughters as weregild for the family." Justinius disappeared with Mel clinging to his arm. He destroyed the tent, sent the artifacts to a sealed box and then looked at the three books they had carried over. They were nice, but a bit wrong. He could correct them later to teach Harry from. He looked at his former great aunt, shrugging some. "Harry," he called.
"He's in the burial vault."
"It's safe in there. That's not a bad hiding spot. I sure did a few times when the parents got to arguing." He grinned, going inside. Harry came out the back way through the former fish tank area. "Okay, let's look for my former school trunk. Though...." He looked at the mess. "Oh, shit. This is all the other houses. Great!"
Harry looked in the library then at him. "There's so many books they're just in stacks of boxes and it looks like it's solidly filled; so does the second floor's area I could see in the mirror." Alex looked and moaned. "You should sort this out."
"I said I'd do it someday but I don't think that's today. We'll sort slightly into different rooms as we run into things. The pink room can have aunty clothes and stuff. The green can hold the artifacts for now. Mine's in the main hallway so I can put my stuff up there." Library and a few other elves showed up. "Looking for my former school trunk."
They pointed at the stack of school trunks. "That's great pre-sorting, guys, thanks." He patted them on the head. "Put any aunty stuff you find in the pink suite, the green one can hold artifacts for now." They nodded. "Use Mel's suite for trash and Katya's for books. She had protections on hers. And I need to get into the underground vault too I guess. That could help a few things."
"As long as I don't have to help dig this one up," Harry quipped.
"No, this is ancient money vault places, Harry." He showed him the way to the office area and the key that handled that safe opening on the wall. He led him down there, lighting a torch on the way. They'd go out when they came back up. They stepped onto the floating platform, letting Xander explain what a few things were since they were in there.
He had put a lot of that in there. He and the other cursebreakers had really kept the family financially afloat a few times. "This is the trunk holding the heirs set," he told him, letting him see how it opened. "I've got to find the other kids some year." That got a nod of understanding. He got what he wanted out of there, shrank into his pockets and magically sealed in, then they came out to go over the trunks.
He banished a number to the pink suite. His was next to last and the last one had been his mother's so he banished that to Sunnydale to give back to her. It probably had pictures and stuff in it. Or maybe poisons. His mother had been like that some years. Harry grinned at him.
"Mom used to want to poison Dad so bad some years but I'm not sure if her trunk has those or not. If so they might come in handy some year soon. Means I don't have to try to learn chemistry since I know I'll fail that. No Dumass is good in that stuff."
"I heard that. Are you okay being here?"
"I'm fine. The hellmouth is pulling but it's fine." He gave him a quick hug, handing him his trunk after checking it out. "We need to get you fitted for a wand too, Harry."
He nodded. "I have the practice one and the guy in Chicago was pretty nice."
"He was. There's the more traditional one here in the UK, Olivander. He did my first few. We can check there then hit India maybe if I have time and energy." Harry gave him a hug, getting one back. "It'll be okay, kiddo."
"I know but being here brings back memories."
"It sure does but that's all ancient history now." He sighed, looking around then at him. "Some day, one of the improbable kids I managed to have will take this all over." Harry grinned. "And if you want you can help them too."
"I probably will unless they're dirtbags."
"Point." He stood up with a moan for his sore knees. "Damn vampires last night got frisky when I was going to take the stuff they stole from the warehouse back. Stupid Mayor." Harry nudged him with a grin. "I know but someday soon I'll figure out what he's doing and then embarrass him out of it somehow or something."
They went to look at other things, sorting out a few more piles. He looked in the library again then at the house elves, who grinned at him. "Good stacking work. That's a much later job, guys." They nodded. "Let me get Harry some minor shopping in."
"Yes, Master Alex," they agreed. They went back to sorting. It was an easy enough job and the house in Sunnydale didn't have enough work for more than two of them even with both messy teen boys there.
Alex took Harry to Diagon under an illusion band, handing Harry money to go get changed out while he picked up a few groceries he had been missing. The unicorn creme wasn't but he found some of the real stuff next to it. The cheese from special Scottish goats too. He checked out when Harry came back. "Not go well?"
"They demanded to know where I got the very old coins and who I was. I told them who I was and they just shuddered and backed away. Apparently the Ministry changed the coins years ago."
Xander nodded at that. "That figures, yeah. They do that periodically but it means the older ones can be collected." He finished paying and took Harry with his two bags to the wand shop. He nodded as he walked in and dropped the illusion once the door was shut. "Hi, Mr. Olivander."
"Alexander Dumass?" he demanded, staring at him, mouth open. "You died!"
"I got cursed in the back and deaged from it," he corrected then grinned. "This is Harry. He's officially a grandson but we consider it cousins since I helped raise him."
The man looked at him. "Harry Potter," he said with a nod.
"Unfortunately I'm learning that I may want to change my name to my mother's."
"That could help," Olivander admitted. "First wand fitting?"
Xander grinned. "Harry's got cursebreaker skills too. It did pass down the line. He's got a practice and a spell wand already."
"Ah. That's a good thing. So this is for school. Hogwarts?"
"Not sure," Harry admitted. "Some people want me to. I'm not sure if I want to give in or not. Though it does mean I don't have to take demonic chemistry next year." He looked at his cousin, who grinned. "Why me?"
"Not like I could pass it."
"You have a point there," he decided with a nod. He let the man measure him and then find him a few wands. They both saw the compulsion starting and Harry let him hand him that one wand. Which did work for him but not the perfect fit. He put it down and picked up another one to try that one. The compulsion broke thanks to Xander. "So....."
"The wand that dented your forehead is the twin to that one," he said quietly, staring at him. "The phoenix gave two tail feathers that year instead of one. The only time that's happened. I do not make twin wands on purpose because that's dangerous."
Harry nodded. "I get that totally. I can take that so it won't hurt you. I may even use it." He grinned. "What about this one?"
"That is Grim bone and ash. Very unusual."
Xander considered it then looked at his main one. "I've got ash and dragon. My secondary for harder curses is willow and gryphon." He put his wand case back in his pocket. Olivander got another one for him to try and it worked best. "Okay, does he need two or three today?"
"I'd say three just in case. The last will do wonderfully for delicate work." He looked at Harry. "Are you training the cursebreaking skills?"
He nodded. "Oh, yes. Because I drew half the vampires in town when I had the flu last time." He grinned. "I'm definitely a Dumass that way. Even if I do look like my father apparently."
"You truly do look like him, all but your eyes." He smiled, ringing them up and letting Alex pay so they could put back on the illusions and leave to find some clothes and then ice cream. He sighed. "That poor boy," he muttered. "With a destiny already. Though I do wonder what happened to his famed curse scar."
***
Story notes:
It's greatly shorter than the Ancestry story! I promise it is!