(Harry Potter) Worthy of you: Chapter 13 - I have a what?!

Chapter 13 - I have a what?!

Summary: A shocking revelation about Harry’s scar turns a routine visit to Gringotts into something far more life-changing.

Harry stared at the three goblins in surprise; their entrance was quite dramatic. The goblins who remained near the door were wearing full goblin armor, one of them was holding an axe while the other a short sword. Their faces were covered by their helmets.

The one leading them though was a completely different story. His face had even more lines than Goldpaw's, he had no hair but a snowy white beard. This goblin was wearing the finest suit Harry had ever seen, and as a flair for the dramatic a velvet cape covered his shoulders and almost reached the floor. He had a golden hilted dagger strapped to his belt and right now he looked full of rage.

Harry had a pretty good guess of who that goblin could be, those suspicions were confirmed when Goldpaw jumped from his seat and kneeled before the goblin, his head bowed as his voice shook a little, "Director Ragnok. What an honor."

The older goblin snarled, "Honor?! I'm not here for honors account manager. The wards have detected one of the foulest magic's presence in your office for the past couple of hours, and yet I have received no information about that! Surely you know the penalty of possession of magic such as that."

Goldpaw raised his head with a confused and fearful look, his voice shook even further, "Director, I have no idea what you are speaking of. For the past few hours, I have been auditing Mr. Potter's inheritance."

The director's eyes finally snapped away from the kneeling goblin and toward Harry and Remus. Finally Harry snapped out of his shock and stood from his chair and bowed deeply, "Well met, director Ragnok, may your enemies fall to your blade. I'm Harry Potter, I wish to confirm my account manager's words."

The director seemed to be taken aback for a moment, while Goldpaw looked completely shocked. The old goblin seemed to get his bearings back and replied respectfully, "Mr. Potter a pleasure meeting you. Am I to understand you wish to defend this goblin, might I ask why?"

Harry wasn't sure what he was supposed to answer, so with a tilted head and a careful voice he tried, "Well it's not right to punish someone for a crime they didn't commit and if I can help prove he is innocent I don't see why I shouldn't say something."

The director gave Harry a scary grin and said cryptically, "You are an interesting wizard Harry Potter."

The old goblin then got back to business and asked the kneeling Goldpaw, "If you have no dark artifacts in your possession why did the wards..." His voice faded as his eyes moved to Harry and he asked, "You say that you entered this office a couple of hours ago?"

Harry nodded with confusion, snapping at one of the guards behind him the director ordered, "Fetch Glinteye this moment."

The guard turned and ran out of the office. Meanwhile the director walked past Goldpaw and motioned him to stand up while he took the younger goblin's previous seat.

The old goblin began to look through all the papers on the table, and soon enough he began chuckling, he looked at the nervous Goldpaw and said amused, "Quite well done Goldpaw, truly an amusing plan you have conducted here for one of our most... esteemed clients. I do have an idea that shall increase our amusement by quite a bit."

No one said anything to contradict or stop the goblin director. The old goblin kept humming before landing his eyes on Harry and saying in a thoughtful voice, "Interesting. You might just become our bank's biggest client, Mr. Potter. If you wish to choose another account manager I am certain any goblin worthy of his name will be thrilled to take on the task."

Goldpaw began to sweat nervously, Harry ignored it and respectfully replied, "I thank you director, but I'm more than satisfied with Manager Goldpaw's services."

Said goblin looked gratefully at Harry while the director's lips twitched upwards, "A true exception you are." He then made a motion with his hand and with a bright glow a key appeared in his palm. The director laid the key on the table and pushed it toward Harry, "The key for Potter Manor."

Harry took the key in his own hand, and it was like information flooded his mind. An address and images of a road leading to a big manor with a red and gold color scheme. Harry shook his head to return to reality and looked at the seated goblin in confusion.

Ragnok gave a sharp smile to Harry and explained, "The Potter manor is hidden under many wards and charms. The only way to know its location is by either touching the key, or leading a person to the gates personally. In each case the act must be done willingly by one of the Potter house members, so even if the key is stolen, the thief will not know the manor's location."

Harry nodded dumbfounded before handing the key to Remus who just shook his head, "I already know the location of the manor."

Harry was about to ask him why he didn't just stay there when another goblin stormed into the room immediately starting to rant in the goblin language.

This one looked like a female, she wore what looked like a healing robe with a hood that covered her head. And she wasn't pleased as she looked at the director.

The old goblin waited for the aged female to finish her rant before speaking back at her in the same unfamiliar language.

The female's sharp eyes flew to Harry, or more like his scar. She walked closer to him and said a single word, "Sit."

Harry knew better than to argue and just parked his ass on the chair. A guard came closer with a rather large bag for the female, and while she looked through it she began asking, "Is the scar still hurting?"

Harry was surprised by the question and simply nodded, realizing Glinteye wasn't looking at him he responded verbally, "Yes."

The healer nodded before asking again, "Any odd behavior during those episodes of pain?"

Harry thought about it for a moment before giving a careful nod, "I usually feel angry, or glee all of a sudden despite having completely different emotions a moment earlier."

The healer paused for a moment in her search and seemed to curse under her breath before finally pulling out a crystal-based device. She turned to Harry with a stern look and ordered, "Don't move, say when it hurts too much."

The crystal in the top of her device began to glow slightly and the female brought it closer to Harry's scar, causing it to start heating up, or at least that's how it felt to Harry.

The crystal began to glow brighter, and Harry's scar began to burn, but he had learned to endure pain and only winced a little as the pain intensified. Still, soon enough the light was bright enough to blind Harry, that would have happened if Harry wasn't already blinded by pain.

The pain became as strong as it did during his fight with Voldemort for the philosopher's stone. He began to worry he would be knocked out again, when the pain suddenly disappeared and a moment later it was replaced by a soothing feeling that helped him regain control over his body in under a minute.

When the spots cleared and he could see again, the first thing he saw was the wrinkled palm of the female healer.

Still catching his breath a little Harry tried to ask, "W-W-what was that?"

The healer and the director both looked a little remorseful, the leader of the bank was the one to speak, "I do apologize for the discomfort Mr. Potter, be sure we won't charge you for the service, but I'm afraid it was necessary."

Remus didn't seem to like that answer, so when he spoke there was an edge to his voice, "And what exactly were those services?"

This time it was the female healer that responded, "Scars, even cursed ones do not tend to hurt so long after the initial wounding. The fact it does points toward the fact there is still active magic residing within the scar. And Mr. Potter's comment of change in behavior is unheard of and a cause for concern."

Harry's body began to shake as he himself began to connect the dots. The female goblin reached inside the bag and pulled out a vial of potion she offered to Harry while finishing her explanation, "Soul fragments are exclusive dark magic, the device I used emitted an opposite magic that creates a violent reaction from the soul fragment so we can confirm it exists."

Harry's body was badly shaking and he barely managed to gulp down the potion before the healer delivered her conclusion, "I must confirm that a soul fragment indeed resides behind Mr. Potter's scar."

Harry's body stopped shaking by now thanks to what he now realized was the calming draught. But his mind kept running. It ran back to that night, his mom died, he didn't and was only left with a scar.

Remus fell to the chair, his face paler than he had ever seen before like there was no blood left there at all. He looked into an empty spot and asked no one in particular, "You-know-who turned a baby into one of those things."

"No." Harry spoke before he noticed his lips moved. Everyone looked at him confused so Harry was forced to explain, "Dumbledore said to me last year that Voldemort..." Harry noticed that Remus was the only one in the room to cringe at the name, "came to Godric's Hollow to kill me, but my mom sacrificed herself for me and triggered some magic that protected me from him, it did it even last year when I touched his face. It's more likely that he planned to cast the ritual on something else, though thanks to me reflecting his curse the fragment attached itself to me."

Harry had to admit he was surprised by how efficient the potion he drank was. He should be shaking right now, crying when he talked about those memories, and the implication of the results from that night.

Harry remembered the pierced diary from the chamber and considered to himself that if destroying the container was the only way to get rid of the soul fragment Harry would have to die sooner rather than later.

Still even with those thoughts running in his mind, thanks to the potion, all those negative emotions felt as if they were fogged, distant and beyond his reach for the moment.

The director looked thoughtful for a moment, before speaking, "I believe you are correct Mr. Potter. A living container has never been recorded before, as they can be unpredictable and limited. After all, once you die the fragment will die with you."

Harry's body tensed, so he was right. There was only one way for the Horcrux to be destroyed, and Harry very much doubted that Tom would be kind enough to wait for death until Harry would die of old age if they managed to destroy all the other containers.

The healer turned toward the director and began screaming at him in the goblin tongue. The old goblin actually winced at her words before turning to Harry, "I apologize Mr. Potter, I have not noticed that my words may have implied your death would be required."

Harry blinked in surprise, looks like the potion didn't suppress this emotion, good to know, "I... Don't?"

The healer's voice which up until now was professionally flat, had a soft edge to it, "No Mr. Potter you don't. Wizards in the past had a tendency to use this foul magic on items the goblin nation found valuable and wished to preserve while cleaning it of the taint. As a result a ritual has been devised to transfer the soul fragment from one container to another."

Harry perked with hope, which also filled his voice as he asked, "And you will be able to use this ritual to get rid of the soul behind my scar?"

The female nodded, "Indeed. It will take a few hours to set up the ritual, so I will have to ask you to come back tomorrow during the noon hours. You have nothing to worry about Mr. Potter, you are in good hands."

And Harry believed her. He believed he was in good hands for the first time in a long time.

The director cleared his throat, he jumped off his seat and formally said, "As a sign of gratitude to the respect you have shown my employees and as my personal apology for my careless words I shall ensure you will receive full treatment without any cost."

Harry usually would refuse, but from his reading he knew how rare it was for something like that to happen. Actually it had never happened before, and with the importance of money and business to the goblins the gesture was a significant one.

Harry felt an emotion he was starting to become more and more familiar with. Hope.