Chapter Text
Draco Malfoy was never someone to mess with. He was feared by many in his year at Hogwarts and at any given time knew more curses than that of any seventh-year student. There were three, however, that throughout the school not only disliked his reign of terror but did their best to destroy it. So it was, that when Draco Malfoy was terrified for the first time in his privileged pure-blood life, he went to the three that had tried to unseat him for the past six years. He had been asked by the Dark Lord Voldemort to kill the Lord of the Light, Dumbledore, and he was terrified that the century-and-a-half year-old Headmaster would defeat him without so much as a wave of his wand. The Malfoy Heir, unsure of his role in the oncoming war and scared of both sides' leaders went to the Golden Trio, or more specifically the Boy-Who-Lived.
Harry Potter lived at Number Four, Privet Drive and it was there that Draco Malfoy the Prince of Slytherin met him, or rather in the street over from it. The Boy-Who-Lived was sitting on his favorite swing and there, three feet in front of him, stood Draco Malfoy.
“What are you doing here, Malfoy?” Harry sighed.
“I am here to talk to you, but I can’t do it out in the open. Can we go somewhere?” Draco asked.
“Why should I trust you, Malfoy?” Harry questioned.
“I have left the Dark Lord, and will swear on my magic to you, however, I cannot do what he wanted me to do nor can I even think that what he is doing is right.” Malfoy answered.
“Well, come back to my place; however, if you have the mark it will require a large amount of magic on my part to allow you in. The wards on my house, placed by the Headmaster, are so powerful that the only Death Eater that can get through is Severus Snape, whom I trust with more than my life.” Harry said. “The fact that you were willing to swear an oath to me is enough for the time being. If you have the mark then, I can do something that is quite powerful, but not easy.”
“I do not have the mark. I was supposed to get it on my birthday. As it isn’t my birthday yet, there is nothing that he could do as my mother, who was the key to me being a Death Eater, and whom my father would never disobey, would not let me get it. I am grateful about that.”
“That will make it simpler. There is still an issue. Professor Dumbledore will be over at my house this evening and he will be bringing me to somewhere else, I believe, upon his arrival and subsequent talk with my, shall we say, summer jailers. They are anything but pleasant and will not like you. Therefore, I ask you to let me run inside and get something because while they may not speak or notice me this summer, much to my pleasure, bringing in another wizard might kill them.” Harry joked.
Harry then guided the two of them back to the house and from there got his invisibility cloak from his room. He brought it down to the yard where Malfoy was standing and placed it over him.
“Follow me in and I will tell you where we need to go. Alarms may go off that are only able to be heard by wizards. It shouldn’t happen, but it might.” Harry whispered.
The two of them walked back to the house and upon reaching the front door there wasn’t an issue, so they went up the stairs. Once in Harry’s room, Malfoy dropped the cloak and remarked in kind with his astonishment.
“Merlin’s beard, a real invisibility cloak, that is how you got away with everything. Even the Dark Lord doesn’t have one. That is incredible.” Malfoy almost screamed.
“Hush, hush, keep it down now, voices carry. This house is not very good when it comes to sound proofing. Now, we need to talk about a couple of things that are going to happen within the next couple of weeks. Firstly, when Professor Dumbledore arrives, we will have a conversation with him in the family room, however you will be under the cloak. My relatives will obviously not see you, but Professor Dumbledore will. He has seen me under the cloak many times and created a spell to see if I was somewhere under the cloak. He was given it to protect it and gave it to me upon my first ever real Christmas at Hogwarts. We will most likely be going to various places with the Headmaster tonight so we will be having quite a bit of fun, I assure you. As it is now three in the afternoon and he will not be arriving until seven o’clock we will be able to rest. I need to read over something that I was sent. The wards here that the Ministry placed under the direction of Madam Bones once Cornelius acknowledged ‘Moldy Short’s’ return allow me to use magic. No one in this house can set off any magic detection things by the Ministry. The bed, however, needs to continue to look as it does though it is rather larger. Sleep. You must be tired from all of the magic it required to leave the Manor.”
The blonde nodded his head and decided that a nap at the time sounded like a good idea, so with that in mind he laid down on Harry’s bed and fell asleep. Harry himself was incredibly restless. Here was his enemy of over five years, the one who had once asked for his hand in friendship now coming to his door to ask for his aid. How terribly ironic was it? Situationally, the only thing more hysterical would be if it was Lucius saying how far in over his head it had gotten. Harry laughed at the thought and went on reading a book that the Headmaster had sent him when he noticed Dark shapes out his window. Obviously, they were not here for him, they couldn’t see the house, but it was too much to hope for that Dra…er… Malfoy didn’t have a tracking charm on him. They wouldn’t of course be able to get to him, or Malfoy, but that was not the case if the Headmaster didn’t apparate directly into the room.
At that moment, that was exactly what happened. In an instant, there stood Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore in all his glory wearing a purple suit and a tie that made Harry laugh no matter if he was trying not to do exactly that.
“Headmaster, you are early, come sit. I am happy that you are here, but it seems we have Death Eaters surrounding Privet Drive.” Harry said in one breath.
“A wizard is never late, nor is he ever early, he arrives precisely when he means to. I always pictured myself as Gandalf personally. Ha, well. Thank you, but I think it prudent if we indeed have this meeting with your relatives now, are they informed of my arrival. Finally, yes, and I see that you have one that you thought was a junior one in your bed, can you tell me that story quickly before we wake him?” Dumbledore requested.
“Well, Professor, I was in the park. Suddenly, Malfoy came up to me and started swearing that he had left the Dark Lord and that not only had he left, but he was willing to take an oath to such. I allowed him in at the mere willingness. He is smart, but not as sincere as he was. It was past the mask which our remarks over the years to each other have always gotten past. It was real emotion. I put the cloak on him to get him in here. At that time, there wasn’t much that needed to be done beyond getting him to get past the wards. He doesn’t have the mark. He knows about Professor Snape. I wanted to apologize Headmaster for my reaction to you over the summer, and I wish to express my gratitude to Professor Snape when I see him next. I assume, however, that he is outside of the house now. He told me on the way here that he was given the task to kill you and couldn’t do anything until he was marked. At that time, he would have started, but Narcissa is a better mother than I had expected and made the Dark Lord wait. How? I do not know.” Harry stated rapidly.
“Yes, he is outside to search for Draco. I can sense him, can’t you. The other Death Eaters are so very Dark. He is not as dark. Anyway, thank you. Now we can wake him and take him downstairs. We will be going to Gringotts immediately after the tracker is removed and at that time Severus will disapparate and come to the bank with us.” Dumbledore then turned to Malfoy and pushed his shoulder lightly and Malfoy immediately woke. “Hello, Draco. I am happy that you have seen that darkness is not the right path for you. Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hate; and hate leads to suffering. Tom had much fear in him. He was terrified of Death and if I am not mistaken and the rumors are true then he was afraid of me, though that is hard for me to believe, the fact that he wanted me killed does suggest that that is the truth.” Dumbledore stated with that twinkle.
The three got up and walked down the stairs. Dumbledore claimed Uncle Vernon’s arm chair, while Harry and Draco got seats from the kitchen so that the Dursleys could sit on the living room couch during the talk.
“Hello, Vernon I take it. I am Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, and though I have many titles my favorite are Great Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,” at this Draco gasped, “as well as the man with the twinkling eyes. As you have just heard the first one that I mentioned is extraordinary, will you explain Mr. Malfoy?” Dumbledore asked.
“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Dursley as well as you, Dudley, I am Draco Malfoy, a schoolmate of Harry’s. The Great Headmaster’s title is incredible because no one since the first Headmaster of Hogwarts, Godric Potter, has been able to claim that title. It means that the school said that if possible it would wish him to live there and be Headmaster for infinite times. The eyes actually are rumored to go along with that.” Draco explained in one breath.
“Whatever freakish nonsense you are going to say get on with it, I don’t care what you are. YOU CRACKPOT OLD FOOL teaching him magic tricks and you two freaks need to hurry up.” Vernon roared going purple while allowing his vein located in his temple to pulse madly.
“Never insult him in front of me again, Uncle, or what happened last time will be done much worse to all of you with a fully functional wand by an almost fully trained wizard, who incidentally this summer was permitted to perform magic anywhere in this residence.” Harry said in a deadly whisper that left Vernon an even darker purple, Petunia pale, Dumbledore twinkling madly, and Draco shocked.
“Harry, calm, I feel the power radiating off you. You forget I have dealt with worse, by Voldemort no less. Less than killing me or those I love no one can harm me. Anyway, Vernon, Petunia, your nephew will never need to return here. This summer he will become of age as it is his birthday tomorrow. In the wizarding world people become of age upon reaching sixteen (AN: I know that is not true canon. It works for later) and therefore the blood wards will break. I do hope that you will forgive me as I will need to perform a little magic now. Normally creating a portkey is only done by the Ministry, but as I have no desire to disapparate with Draco and then come back and get Harry leaving one or both of them unprotected, they will have to, ah, what’s the phrase? Oh, um, ah, get over it and if not stick their heads where the sun doesn’t shine. Haa, well. Best be off, we have a bit of a tight schedule. Harry, say goodbye.” Dumbledore said.
“Goodbye forever Aunt Petunia, though I know that not only did I lose a mother that night in Godric’s Hollow, you lost a sister, you’ve never treated me as a nephew and I want to leave you with the question that had my mother not have passed, but you, would she have done the same to Dudley?
“Goodbye and good riddance to you Uncle Vernon. Never has someone eviler been born. You didn’t tell me my name until I was due to go to school the next day, nor did you help when I was burned making food, and you beat me. Physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually you beat me down so hard that at the time, I’d never thought that there was a way to get back up, but there was. I survived your torture.
“Dudley, I hope you don’t turn out exactly like them. Goodbye and thanks for stopping your favorite game once I learned of magic, I never liked playing ‘Harry Hunting’ with you.
“Well, Headmaster that is everything. My trunk and things are already shrunk and are in my pocket. I hope to leave this place now. You did say in the last letter something about the wards needing to be shut down.” Harry finished. He turned to look at the Headmaster and saw nothing but fury. He was shocked as he felt the power coming from the Headmaster unlike anything else, save perhaps his earlier outbursts.
“DURSLEYS, YOU WILL PAY!! Now, Harry say this, ‘I Harry James Potter, do relinquish my naming of this place as my home, and no longer here will I live. So is my wish and will, so mote it be.’” Dumbledore finished and at the end took a deep breath that seemed to calm his magic to the point that he could once again think.
“I Harry James Potter, do relinquish my naming of this place as my home, and no longer here will I live. So is my wish and will, so mote it be.” Harry said and then a boom as loud as a nuclear bomb could be heard all through the house leaving Dumbledore to quickly heal everybody’s ear drums before he sheltered the house from Death Eaters and portkeyed the three wizards away.
The three ended up in Gringotts main lobby with an angry looking Severus T. Snape on the ground having been knocked over by the three upon entering.
“Headmaster, Potter, …, Draco? Headmaster why is it that my godson is here, in the company of you two, no less? We know that he left Headquarters, the tracker told us that much, and I realize that it brought us to Potter’s relative’s neighborhood, but how and why was he with you?” Severus T. Snape said quickly and deadly.
“I went to Potter, Uncle Severus. It happened when the Dark Lord gave me his orders and I therefore knew you’d be hurt in the process. As he quite literally thought of it while I was in the room I knew it could be terrible and knew that it was then time for me to escape. I left and went to Potter’s. I had found out where he lived by muggle means realizing that that would be the only way, and a couple of compulsion charms, summoning charms, and confundus charms later I had the information I needed. It was rather easily done. After going there, he brought me in and took me to his room, where I slept and then the Headmaster entered. After a time, there was really nothing left to do. I then left with the two of them to come here, though why we are here, I do not know.” Draco said.
“Mr. Potter is here because his birthday is tomorrow and he needs to learn a few things to get ready for his surge of magic as well as deal with some other things. We the goblin nation have decided to allow you, Mr. Snape, as well as you, Mr. Malfoy to wait in a special room where we will guard you until Mr. Potter and the Headmaster are finished.” A goblin said.
“Hello, Griphook. It is good to see you again. I hope that you and your family have prospered since last we met. Could you escort the Headmaster and I to where we must go, please? I would rather go with a familiar goblin that I trust.” Harry questioned. With that he looked around at the other four people standing around him and saw equal looks of shock on each of their faces.
“Well, Mr. Potter you are a most extraordinary wizard for none usually remember our faces and if they do, they never remember our names. You are special, this is one of the reasons that the goblin leaders of the bank and of the nation want to meet with you. You and your family are also some of the eldest of the bank’s clients. Come, we are going to the director’s office.” Griphook said shocked at the proclamation of trust and the remembrance of his name. It was hardly ever when a wizard remembered a goblin name even when the goblin was their account manager and no wizards trusted in goblins, it had been the reasons for the wars. He was sure that this wizard was special.
The three walked to the director’s office and upon a knock on a door with a handle that looked like a claw of some bird wrapped around a ball they were allowed entry.
“Enter. Griphook, you may leave.” The Director said. He was sitting in a high bronze chair with four goblins standing around him and one other sitting in what looked like a chair made of pure silver.
“Um, Director, it is good to meet you, however, I asked Griphook to stay because I remember him as the cart driver from when I came as an eleven-year-old. I ask that there be a goblin here that I trust and therefore I want him to stay.” Harry stated.
“That is fine Mr. Potter, now we must address different things now. Your scar is a soul fragment. Our scans read it when you came in this office. It is a fragment of Tom Marvolo Riddle’s soul. Three fragments have already been destroyed, the diary in the Chamber of Secrets, and the one that was just found inside Bellatrix Lestrange’s Vault. We do not like horcruxes and therefore will not protect them in our vaults. They go against goblin nature. Another was destroyed by the Great Headmaster here. My name is Ragnok, by the way.” Ragnok growled. Apparently, the goblins really disliked those that tried to cheat death via a horcrux.
The goblin was very animated, for a goblin, at this point, and was really ready when Harry was going to take his inheritance tests.