Harry had to buy a small enchanted delivery box for Hedwig. He forgot that Hermione was unable to cast spells out of school and that her parents were muggles, thus nobody could shrink and make the packages lightweight. The space was a 2 cm tall, 13 cm wide, and nearly 40 cm long box. It was large enough to slide books into, while still being manageable for Hedwig to carry, even if she needed more rest stops… and treats to do it.
After accessing his trust vaults, excluding the Potter at Ragnok's request. Harry didn't have issues with money, Hedwig's box was enchanted to carry nearly a full bookshelf. It was also enchanted with featherlight, anti theft (including blood locks), auto sort, wind dampening (basically removes friction of the wind), and a lot of protection on top of it all.
Harry spent time requesting books, and info from the Grangers and learning the duplication spell. Just in case. He didn't like the idea of keeping the originals from the Grangers any longer than he needed.
His reading was interrupted by a giant man knocking on his door, insisting he had to take Harry to Diagon Alley to buy supplies. Harry had to literally pile the already bought supplies in front of the man, for him to finally stop harassing his house.
Soon a week had passed and his appointment with Ragnok arrived.
The alley was even more crowded than the last time. Harry had to use a bit of wandless magic to make enough room to get to Gringotts in time. He passed the guards and nodded at them. There was a goblin runner waiting for him, as soon as he entered the bank. “Follow me, the director and vault lord are waiting.”
The goblins stopped using tricky routes on him a while back, so Harry was quickly led to the meeting room without any detours.
Upon the door closing, Harry gave the two waiting a goblin salute before joining them at the table.
Ragnok spoke first. “Are you finally ready, Mister Potter?” Harry could feel his annoyance.
“Indeed, I will be unsealing the ancient vault of Ravenclaw today. Is there anything I need to know?” getting straight to business.
Finally his vault lord, Naglok spoke up. “Nothing we haven't already discussed. May we proceed?”
At Harry's nod, all three rose. Leaving the conference room, they were escorted by a contingent of armored goblins.
After nearly 10 minutes of walking, they arrived at their destination.
A cavernous room, circular in shape. There were stalactites built up on the ceiling, the largest of which formed directly in the center of the room. It hovered over a bronze like bowl that was set on a grand altar, formed of obsidian. In it were carved countless runes and glyphs, inlaid with gold, what Harry could only assume to be some sort of red blood metal, and a purplish material that he had absolutely no clue about. All of the runes gave off a light that bounced off of small gemstones embedded in the cavern's walls, floor and parts of the ceiling. Giving the entire place an ethereal look.
The whole group took a moment to appreciate the beauty of it all, before Harry was nudged towards the altar. He had already memorized what he needed to do so he took his place directly behind the altar. Ragnok and Naglok faced him, each at either corner opposite of Harry.
Harry took a moment to look at either of them, receiving a nod from each.
Harry sliced his hand. “I, Harrold James Potter, hereby claim the lordship of the most noble and most ancient house of Ravenclaw. With magic as my witness,” Harry smeared his dripping hand across the runes on the altar. “I vow upon my blood to uphold the ideals of house Ravenclaw, and strive for its betterment.” now dripping his bleeding hand into the shallow bowl. “So mote it be.”
A flash lit the entire cavern, signaling magic accepted his claim. To think he will have to do this three more times…
Harry took a few steps away from the altar before falling to his backside, his magical core was nearly drained. He also lost a lot of blood before the ritual was finalized and his cut healed.
Harry didn't notice the new goblins enter and later leave, he only noticed the medi-goblin handing him a blood replenishing potion. It took minutes for him to break out of his daze and join Ragnok and Naglok in their conversation.
“-was one of the most powerful rituals I've seen, is it because it was for one of the founder's lines?”
“Unsure. Once he claims the Potter line we could be certain.”
Ragnok noticed harry. “We were just discussing the ritual, how do you feel?”
“Drained, my core was nearly depleted. Are they all going to be like that?”
“We don't think so, for now, the theory is, older lines will drain more than newer. We haven't had a line claimed that was older than a few centuries. It's either because this was such an ancient family, or because the line had ended for so long. This was the second youngest line on your inheritance test, I would advise against claiming any other than the Potter line.” Naglok explained.
Ragnok. “Indeed. But keep in mind that Dumbledore would quickly know if you claimed the potter lordship. I know you aren't as wary as I, young lord, but trust me please. It would be a nightmare for all involved if he found you were free from him.”
Harry still didn't understand why Ragnok was so worried about the headmaster, but knew that the advice wasn't malicious. It probably looped back to goblins not interfering in wizarding affairs.
Harry didn't need to do anything but request the Ravenclaw vault be unsealed to start the process. It would take a few days before he could enter, cutting it close to the time before school would begin.
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While waiting, Harry made one last visit to the bookshop in Diagon and near Privet drive. He also returned the Granger’s borrowed books after successfully duplicating them. Now, after overcharging the duplicate spell, the copies would last a little over a year.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Finally the Gringotts owl arrived, calling for a meeting later that day. Harry had been waiting for it so had little issue showing up on time.
He was escorted to the usual meeting room, as soon as he entered. Both parties gave a goblin salute upon Harry entering the room.
“It’s done, now all we need is confirmation that you allow us access to a percentage.” Naglok got straight to business. If Harry didn't know better, he would think the goblin was… eager?
“Right, now that I've claimed lordship, I should have access to the ledger right?”
“Yes.” snapping his fingers, and talking to a goblin runner that entered the room.
While the runner was off. Harry questioned Naglok, clarifying a few trivial things.
The runner was soon back, setting a dense book on the table, between the pair.
Naglok gestured for Harry to take it. It showed all sorts of deposits and withdrawals, store names and Ravenclaw names. He actually learned more about the Ravenclaw house by reading this, than reading history books.
To summarize.
Ravenclaw vaults
House vault: 30,000,000G
Primary heir trust vault: 1,000G renewed annually
The trust vaults continued to heir tertiary, there were also a few personal vaults with a few hundred to thousand galleons that all belonged to a Ravenclaw at one time.
Items: 11,683
Property: Ravenclaw Roost, Hogsmeade 25%, Ollivanders, etc.
It continued to list various businesses and properties, there were potion ingredient farms, food farms, animal farms, and quite a few locations in Diagon surprisingly. sadly, a lot of the other locations were no longer. The ministry illegally claimed the land and rented it out to other people.
Harry requested assistance and Naglok recommended a law person, Ted Tonks. He worked with the goblins numerous times and seemed to perform ‘adequately’. Harry soon allowed the goblins to use a hefty 70% of the galleons currently and in the future from his vault. He would get a 40% share from the profit and the goblins would eat 70% of the losses if any deal or investment fails.
Harry spent a while longer discussing minor things before finally leaving his vault lord to business. and was escorted to the infamous goblin carts.
They passed the rickety looking carts that normal customers took and arrived at a cushioned cart sitting atop nearly sparkling rails. They strapped in and set off.
It was an extremely pleasant ride, it was like a modern day roller coaster. It wasn't bumpy and the cart briefly crossed underneath a waterfall. And slowed for the riders to observe the dragons. They soon arrived at the end of the track. A large cavern, similar to the ritual room he claimed lordship in. A large round room, littered in both stalagmite and tites, embedded into the walls and floor were gleaming gemstones. There was a small pond of water near the center of the cavern, also glowing somehow… algae or something? In the true center there was a silver heptagon inlaid in the stone floor.
Approaching the silver work of art, Harry could see carvings throughout the entire work. The farthest two from the door was from left to right, a skeletal horse, reared back like it was about to attack. And a simple three swirl design that Harry was sure he'd seen somewhere before. Continuing to the right, there was an intricate raven and then a fluffy badger sitting at the entrance of its den. Continuing past the entrance, to the left. Was a lion roaring to the heavens, while the next was a field of grass… Just as Harry was about to take his eyes off the last carving, movement caught his eye. He had to almost bend down to finally make out the snake eyes staring at him from the grass.
Upon second glance, ALL of the carvings were moving.
Harry would have continued looking but his escort finally had enough, coughing to get Harry's attention. The goblin gestured to the raven, then pointed at a large vault door in the same direction. It was a sparkly silver, just like the carvings.
Approaching the door, he could make out the raven front and center, screeching, wings spread. The goblin just gestured to the door again, once Harry looked back. Harry expected the goblin to open the vault… Lily's journal explained that they opened hers when she created one.
“What am I supposed to do?”
The goblin just shrugged. “We haven't witnessed the opening of one of these in centuries. Some families use a simple scan of magic, the older families use blood.”
Harry set his hand on the door and… nothing. He grabbed his silver blade from his necklace and cut his palm, repeating the previous attempt… to the same result. He had an idea but really didn't like it. But with no other ideas. He stuck his bloodied hand into the screeching maw of the angry looking raven.
Harry was about to pull back, thinking this idea was a bust as well. When the beak of the raven snapped shut on his arm. Feeling the bone snap, Harry let out a yelp. He could hear the goblin shout something, but the pain blocked him from understanding what was actually being said. It was only a few seconds of pain, before he felt nothing. Confused, Harry tried to move his arm, elbow, fingers, something. It felt like his arm had disappeared…
Harry's experimenting was cut off immediately by a searing pain, crawling up his fingers. It felt like someone was injecting molten liquid into his veins. No, it was worse than just his veins. It was in his muscle. In his skin. His bones.
Harry didn't know how long it had been, he'd blacked out once the feeling reached his heart. He awoke to a contingent of goblins inspecting the ground around where he must have collapsed after the raven let his arm free.
“What… What the hell was that?” Harry meant it to sound angry, or even annoyed. It came out frightened. Even with all the stuff his relatives had done, it all paled in comparison to even a second of… whatever that was.
One of the goblins stepped forward, Harry recognized healer Agaluff. “May I cast diagnostic spells. Lord Ravenclaw?”
He just nodded his head dumbly.
Harry inspected the surrounding goblins while waiting for the healer to finish. Most of them were dressed the same way that ritualist Sharpfang was. Was that a ritual?
Agaluff tapped Harry's shoulder after finishing her casting. “You seem to be fine. I can't find any side effects. As far as we can tell, this was some sort of ritual to strengthen the lords of the Ravenclaw line. It took a sample of your blood and confirmed you were acceptable. The ritualists have found enhancements for strengthening, purification and some others we have never seen before. If this wasn't officially family magic, we would have already sent a negotiator to buy the rights to use and inspect the ritual.” saying this, she made her way to another goblin who looked like someone just stole his coin pouch. Then pointed at the ritual.
The upset goblin growled, gave a glare to Harry and stormed off. The remaining ritualists followed his lead.
The remaining goblins set to work, cleaning the traces of the ritual. Pulling out chisels and hammers, instead of using magic for some reason.
Agaluff talked with a few of the remaining goblins, before coming back with his guide.
“What was all of that? And why are they not using magic instead?”
“That was Snapfist insisting that a ritual done on goblin soil belongs to the goblins. He was quite insistent that they were to research the ritual. Director Ragnok already gave me permission to remove all traces of the ritual, so Snapfist threw a tantrum. “Harry wanted to laugh, even after getting close to Ragnok and Naglok. Not once had he ever heard a goblin sound cheery, nor heard one speak so informally. Did she hate Snapfist that much? She wasn't like this last time they met. “As for the lack of magic… it would be like one using magic in a graveyard. This place is most sacred, it's where the founding vaults of Britain are located.”
Agaluff soon left, the other goblins were working on leveling the floor once more. It was just Harry and his escort again.