(Harry Potter) Worthy of you: Chapter 11 - Who am I?

Chapter 11 - Who am I?

Summary: A drop of blood unveils more than lineage—it rewrites everything Harry thought he knew.

Harry looked at the dumbfounded expression on Remus's face and turned to ask the goblin, "I'm sorry, I'm not sure what we're talking about."

Goldpaw didn't look deterred by it and explained patiently, "Inheritance test is meant to confirm the magical family lines you stand to inherit once you come of age."

Harry tilted his head and asked carefully, "Lines? As in plural? As far as I know my mom is a muggle-born so I shouldn't inherit anything magical from her."

Goldpaw simply shrugged and said, "Let us make sure." Harry could only nod, so the goblin opened the wooden box to reveal two objects. One was a small thin dagger, not so much bigger than a needle, the blade as small as it was had some runes carved into it. The other object was a piece of parchment that had some runes framing it as well. The goblin, after revealing it said, "All you must do is use the dagger to cut your finger and bleed a little on the parchment. The enchantment on the blade will make sure your wound is healed a moment later and the ones on the parchment will reveal all the information we will need."

Pretty straightforward. Harry took a deep breath and used the dagger to cut his finger, barely even flinching, he had a lot worse as a kid, a small scratch was like a mosquito bite to him.

He allowed a couple of drops to land on the parchment, and dismissed it, it's not like he expected anything more than the name Potter appearing there. He suddenly felt comfortable warmth spreading from the wound on his finger, when he turned his palm, his finger didn't have a single mark on it.

Harry returned the dagger to its place just in time to hear Goldpaw's delighted voice, "Oh my." In the same time Remus said incredulously, "What the hell?"

Harry turned to the origin of those outbursts, and his own eyes widened to the point he was sure they were about to fall out of their sockets.

Right there on the parchment in front of him, written in what looked like blood red ink, were multiple lines.

The first read 'Heir to the ancient and most noble house of Potter.' Which Harry expected.

The next one shocked him as it read 'Heir to the most ancient and most noble house of Gryffindor.' What the hell was that supposed to mean?!

The next one turned his shock into confusion, 'Heir to the most ancient and most noble house of Peverell.'

The next one confused Harry further, mostly because of Remus's reaction to it. 'Heir to the ancient and most noble house of Black.' Okay, now that's two names he has no idea what they mean... wait! Wasn't there a Sirius Black in his dad's group of friends?

Then his eyes landed on the last line and Harry was torn between throwing up and screaming in outrage. Before choosing either he made sure he read the line right, and yes it said the same thing, 'Heir by conquest of the most ancient and most noble house of Slytherin.'

Before Harry got the chance to jump in indignation Remus did it, his face tight with anger as he spoke, "This must be wrong! After what he did Black would never name Harry his heir."

"That's what you have a problem with?!" Harry shot back, outrage overriding his surprise at the anger with which Remus referred to someone who is according to all accounts was one of his best friends.

Remus turned to look at Harry with narrow eyes, "Harry you don't understand Black..."

Harry cut him right off, "Do you really think it's so important that we should ignore the fact I'm heir to the houses of the founders? One of them is Slytherin. I'm not even a Pureblood!"

Goldpaw just sat patiently through their outburst and finally chose to speak, his tone was firm, one that a parent might use to scold his children with, "If you two gentlemen please calm down and sit, I might have an explanation."

Without any more issues both wizards did as the goblin said. Once they were seated, Goldpaw spoke again, "Now let us start with the Gryffindor line, as this is the easiest one. The Potters are a branched family descended from Godric's youngest sister, and because Potter is the last of the branched families to survive you are the official heir." That was an explanation Harry could follow and was comfortable with. The goblin then steepled his fingers and leaned forward to ask, "Mr. Potter I have heard about the achievement you have accomplished this year, but we in the nation feel like there are some major details we are lacking. I will be grateful if you will indulge me with the adventures you had at Hogwarts in the last couple of years."

Harry considered it for a moment, and he decided he trusted Goldpaw, so far the goblin showed him nothing but respect and compassion. Remus already knew all of it as well so there was no reason not to. With the decision made Harry spent the next hour retelling his adventures in Hogwarts.

During that time two other goblins entered the office. The first one dropped a couple of files and whispered something to Goldpaw Harry couldn't hear before he left, and the second one came in with a tray full of tea and biscuits, which Harry enjoyed between stories.

Once Harry finished with the story he drank the rest of his tea and leaned backward in his chair, a little tired.

Goldpaw nodded mostly to himself as he mumbled, "It is as we feared." His eyes then narrowed at Harry and he asked sharply, "Do either of you ever heard of Horcruxes?"

Harry is not surprised he never heard of a certain spell, after all he just began to take his studies seriously a month ago, he can't expect to know everything in that short amount of time. The look of complete ignorance on Remus's face though, surprised Harry.

The goblin seemed to be satisfied by their lack of knowledge when he spoke his tone was deadly serious, "What I'm about to tell you must be kept inside the halls of this bank alone. Understood?" With both their agreement he went on, "Those abominations are the darkest, foulest magic there is. In its essence it's the art of tearing apart one's soul and transferring it elsewhere so the spirit may stay bound to this plane even if the body has died."

Harry saw Remus's skin complexion was turning green, and Harry couldn't blame him, he began feeling sick himself, still he just had to ask, "And how exactly does one split their soul?"

Goldpaw's face turned even grimmer somehow as he answered bluntly, "Murder." Yep, definitely sick now. But the goblin had one more thing to say apparently, "The knowledge of their creation has been forbidden and destroyed by both the Ministry and us centuries ago. Unfortunately it is safe to say the self-proclaimed Lord Voldemort has managed to get his hands on the information somehow."

Now Harry had to cover his mouth with his hand, his stomach was turning aggressively by the mere thought, that was until Goldpaw's final statement, "And according to your tales I'm afraid it is safe to say he is the first one to actually create a few of them."

That was it, before Harry could even finish processing all the implications, the biscuits he just ate moments ago broke free from his stomach and ended on the polished floor of the office.

Harry closed his eyes and tried to take deep breaths, he kept telling himself panicking won't help, but his body seemed to disagree and just refused to exit this state.

That was until he felt a gentle hand rubbing his back smoothly. Harry opened his eyes and looked up to see the concerned face of Remus, the older man handed him a handkerchief and said gently, "It will be fine Harry, you are not alone in this."

Goldpaw then offered Harry a fresh cup of tea saying reassuringly, "Indeed you are not. Apologies for the distress, but I felt it is my duty to inform you of this fact." The goblin then looked at the puddle of vomit on the floor and asked carefully, "Mr. Potter will you be so kind?"

Harry understood what the goblin was asking, what he didn't understand was Remus's surprised gasp. Still Harry ignored it and drew his wand from under his shirt, Hermione showed him how to cast this specific spell just last night it shouldn't be too hard.

Harry pointed his wand at the pool of vomit and flicked his wrist while mumbling, "Evanesco."

Harry watched as the vomit disappeared a moment later. It was almost like the vomit was drawn on the floor and someone passed over it with an eraser and got rid of it. Harry also allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction having his theory confirmed.

There was something that was bothering him since that night of the dueling club, why were all the students shouting their incantations while Snape was the only one who cast without saying a word.

That was one of the first things Harry read about when he started visiting the library more often. Apparently silent casting is something that requires some level of magical power not everyone possesses even in adulthood, and even then the subject is only taught starting sixth year.

After hearing it Harry began to wonder if the volume of the spell equaled somehow to the power of it. After much research he came up with the theory that it's more of a mental state.

Mumbling usually indicates less focus and conviction, while shouting is caused by focused and determined individuals. And those factors are what decide the power of a spell. Harry will have to test it further later.

Harry took a deep breath and decided to try and think about it calmly, "Will you be able to find out how many he made? Or where to find them?"

Goldpaw steepled his fingers for a moment and looked like he was in deep thought, before he pulled a piece of paper, so the goblins do use ordinary paper rather than parchment, he waved his hand and the paper glowed after it was filled with words.

The goblin manager turned the paper and said in a serious tone, "This is a magical contract, once all three of us sign this none of us will be able to talk about any of the following information outside of bank walls."

Wow, to go so far to keep whatever they talked about from getting out. Harry could only assume that whatever they would talk about would be against some ministry treaty or another, not that he has any issues with it. With that in mind Harry signed the contract, and it flashed, it did the same after Remus and Goldpaw each signed it.

The goblin cleared his throat, "As you might know Mr. Lupin by ministerial law we goblins are forbidden from studying any dark magic used by wizards." Harry glanced at Remus who nodded in agreement before returning his gaze to the goblin across from him, "We goblins are a race of warriors and know very well the importance of knowing your enemy. So we may have been studying dark magic at the lowest levels of Gringotts."

Remus took a sharp breath, and he stated more than asked, "So you kept studying magic like those Horcruxes?"

Goldpaw nodded gravely, "We felt it would be of the utmost importance for us to know how to locate them, and safely destroy them." He then sighed heavily, "Unfortunately, it is impossible to locate a container without the original criminal who created it."

Remus cursed under his breath, after all it's not likely they will have the chance to bring Voldemort to the bank alive, Harry would imagine that even if by some miracle the madman would consider himself cornered he would prefer to go down fighting rather than being taken alive.

Harry's mind however went somewhere else, a real possibility, "You said Riddle is the first one to create multiple of those vile things, if what you need is the original soul to track another part of it, won't any container of Riddle's suffice to do the trick."

Goldpaw's eyes widened for a moment before a scary, full toothed smile spread on the goblin's face, "Impressive Mr. Potter, I hadn't considered it, but you are correct."

Remus gave Harry a confused look, "Yes, it's a good idea Harry, but do you have any idea where you can find one of those to begin with?"

Harry frowned in thought, without even noticing he began speaking aloud, "I can't say I know exactly, but I do have a thought. He gave Malfoy one of those things for safekeeping, did he have anyone else he trusted as much?"

Without even a moment of hesitation both Remus and Goldpaw answered at the same time and with the same voice full of realization, "Bellatrix Lestrange."

Harry hummed. He remembered reading mentions of her in some of the places he researched, but all it was were mentions, never anything more than that so he couldn't make the connection. "There is a good chance that at least one of them was given to her. Maybe in her house, or her vault. I'm not sure where Malfoy kept it before passing it to Ginny."

Goldpaw scowled, "If such a dark artifact is indeed stored within the walls of this bank it will be in violation of the treaty. That family's vault will be closed and a significant fine will be taken out of it. I shall have a team investigate the Lestrange vault and inform you if anything of such significance is found."

Remus and Harry could only nod in agreement. It could only play in their favor so there is no reason not to. Goldpaw then said, "Let's move to our next order of business."

The only thing Harry could think was 'There is more?!'