(Harry Potter) Worthy of you: Chapter 10 - What with the surprise?

Chapter 10 - What with the surprise?

Summary: A ride on the Knight Bus is just the beginning—Harry’s trip to Gringotts reveals far more than gold.

Harry was still a little euphoric from the humiliation his Uncle just suffered thanks to Remus. It might be petty, but Harry can't deny he immensely enjoyed Vernon's anger, and then horror. Harry is only human and seeing his tormentor getting a small dose of his own medicine did bring him some measure of glee.

As they kept walking past the station entrance and the bus stations Harry began to feel confusion overtaking him, he turned to Remus and asked, "Umm... Where exactly are we going?"

Remus gave Harry the smile the young boy had come to associate with the older man and said, "Gringotts of course."

Harry tilted his head, still confused, "I don't get it. I thought we at least would stop at your house to drop my luggage."

Remus chuckled nervously, "Well you see I'm a little short of money and houses, I've been living in the Leaky Cauldron since I came back to the country. I've kind of hoped this trip to the bank will supply us with more options."

Harry nodded, it would be hard to train and all those things in the Leaky Cauldron, plus he much preferred to keep his training a secret for now. After all Tom is still out there, and probably planning something right now, it won't do for some death eater like Malfoy to catch wind of this and inform his master.

That was when something else occurred to Harry and he asked, "We missed the bus stations, how are we going to reach Diagon Alley?"

Remus shrugged, "I would have liked to head toward the apparition spot, and just do that. If it was just the two of us it would have been easy, but I rather not do it while we still carry around all your things."

That word, apparition, it sounded familiar to Harry but he couldn't put his finger on where he saw it before. "Apparition?" He eventually asked.

Remus smiled kindly at him and replied, "A lesson for another day Harry. Ah we are here."

Harry looked around, they just stopped on the curve of what looked like an ordinary empty street. There were a few houses around, but considering the silence around them they were either at work or asleep.

Still Harry couldn't understand what they were doing here. "What now?" Harry asked with a frown.

Remus simply smirked and raised his wand like an ordinary man would raise his hand to call a passing taxi.

What happened next Harry could never have anticipated. A two story, large, purple bus came out of nowhere, at a speed that made it look like a purple blur for a moment. It then stopped right in front of them with a high screech of its wheels.

Harry was so surprised he jumped backward, forgetting about his cart and tripping because of it. A moment later Harry stared up at the bus as he was sitting on the floor, his bum stinging.

The doors of the bus opened and a tall man, in his mid 20's exited the bus with a smile on his face. He tilted his purple, uniformed hat and said with a wide smile, "The name is Stan. Welcome to the Knight bus, where are you traveling today?"

Remus smiled at the man and answered calmly, "Diagon Alley please."

Stan nodded enthusiastically and responded with, "That will be two Sickles."

Remus nodded and reached into his jacket to pull out three silver coins. He dropped them into the man's hand and turned to Harry.

Harry grabbed the hand Remus offered him and soon was on his feet. Stan put away the coins with, if it was possible, a larger smile and began walking toward Harry's cart saying, "Let me help you get that in."

Stan then stopped right next to Harry and said in the same cheerful voice, "Has anyone ever told you, you look similar to Harry Potter?"

"Umm..." Okay, so this man wasn't the sharpest tool in the drawer apparently. But Harry didn't exactly want people to recognize him in the street so he took the man's stupidity as a gift and responded with a cautious, "No."

Stan shrugged and began pulling his cart into the bus. Harry wasn't sure if he should sigh in relief or face palm.

Harry followed Remus into the bus and took a seat next to the older man. Harry was even more confused when the ragged man leaned backwards into his seat as much as possible, his hands clenching at the sides of said seat.

Seeing the confused look on Harry's face Remus only smirked in return. Before Harry could question him, Stan closed back the doors of the bus with a yell of, "Erl, Diagon Alley!"

The short, old man behind the wheel of the bus screamed back, "Diagon Alley!"

Harry barely had time to wonder what was going on around him before he felt the bus lurching forward, simultaneously he felt like someone punched him in the gut and pulled him backwards, the only thing stopping his fall was the back of his seat.

The bus turned sharply; Harry could tell by the sensation as if someone was pinching his entire skin in the direction of the turn.

He wasn't sure how long he was treated like some doll in a hurricane, but when the bus finally came to a stop all Harry could do was double over and take deep breaths to stop himself from throwing up.

Harry hates, really hates, magical transportation. The only one he is willing to use from now on is the broom.

Remus stood up with an amused chuckle and asked, "Are you coming Harry?"

Harry raised his head to glare at the older man before taking another deep breath so he could stand up without falling over.

The moment they stepped off the bus with his luggage, with another purple blur, the bus was gone.

Harry shook off whatever just happened and hoped it would never happen again. Without a word Harry followed Remus through the barrier into Diagon Alley. They stopped in the Leaky Cauldron to drop his luggage in Remus's room before making their way toward the bank.

As they walked down the street Harry noticed there weren't many people around, probably the least he had seen in the past two years. Then again, he could assume it's because today was the day all the kids returned from Hogwarts and the parents are either on the platform picking them up or at their home waiting.

Remus led the way into the main hall of Gringotts and just like outside on the street, there weren't many people inside either.

The usual line to the teller only had a couple of people in it, while all the other goblins around them seemed to busy themselves with their work and ignored all wizards and witches.

They had to wait about ten minutes before someone yelled out, "Next." Remus used that time to ask Harry what he was interested in beginning with during their special summer training.

When Harry turned toward the goblin his eyes immediately widened, as he recognized him. The goblin didn't even look up from whatever he was reading on the podium and spoke in a flat tone, "Yes?"

Harry shook himself out of his surprised state and immediately pushed his palm to the center of his chest and said in an official tone, "Well met teller Griphook, I hope your gold keeps flowing."

Griphook's head shot upwards, his wide eyes locking on Harry. That's when he noticed the silence that now overtook the entire hall. Looking around Harry saw all the goblins look at him with dropped jaws and something odd in their eyes, the wizards weren't in better shape though he could recognize the confusion in most of their eyes. Well except for one, who looked at Harry with plain disgust.

Even Remus looked at him with wide eyes. Harry didn't understand, he just did what the book he and Hermione read last night told him to do in the presence of a goblin so why did everyone react like he just defeated Voldemort again.

Griphook cleared his throat and spoke, this time with much warmer voice, "Yes Mr. Potter, it's good to see you again as well. How can Gringotts help you today?"

Remus himself shook off the shock he was stuck in and replied, with his usual friendly smile, "We would like to see the Potter account manager if he is available."

Harry noticed Griphook's eyes widened again for a moment before he said, "Allow me a moment." And with that he jumped off the podium and almost ran out of the main hall toward a small hallway behind the counter.

Harry was ready to wait patiently for Griphook to come back, he was almost startled when Remus leaned down and whispered, "How did you know to do it?"

Harry's eyebrows jumped to his hairline and he responded with a bewildered voice, "Me and Hermione snuck in the restricted section again last night. We found a book about Gringotts and goblin customs. I just thought it would be better to be polite."

Remus stood back straight up and hummed in thought, before Harry could get the chance to ask what was wrong, Griphook came back with another goblin dressed just as sharply if not even more so.

Instead of returning to the podium the two of them stopped behind an empty section of the counter and motioned for Harry and Remus to get closer.

Once the two wizards stood across from the goblins with the counter between them Griphook introduced, "Mr. Potter, please allow me to introduce the longtime account manager of the Potters, Goldpaw."

Harry once again put his palm to his chest and said, "Well met account manager Goldpaw, may our business earn us endless gold."

Goldpaw's reaction was much more subdued, instead of the shock Harry half expected him to display the goblin's lips twitched upwards, but nothing else.

Goldpaw motioned with his hand, causing the empty section of the counter to open. The account manager turned around and said formally, "If you two will follow me please."

Harry began to follow him before he paused, turned to Griphook, who was already on his way back to the podium and called, "Thank you teller Griphook, may your vaults be ever flooding."

There was another shocked pause at that, but Harry turned and quickly followed Remus and Goldpaw.

They were walking down a hallway that was just as fancy as the lobby level of the bank if not more so. The hallway was also decorated with the portraits of many official looking goblins, not that Harry could name any of them even if his life was on the line. History of magic was not one of the courses he put any effort into even now.

Soon enough they entered one of the offices the hallway was leading to. The office was even more fancy than any part of the bank he had seen so far. The desk in the middle of it was pretty big, especially by goblin standards, behind it was one tall chair with many book cases covering the wall behind it.

On the other side two chairs were prepared. There were a few portraits and other decorations that looked very expensive around the room, but nothing more. The thing that drew most of Harry's attention was the armor and axe mounted on the wall behind him, they looked real and used.

Once all three of them were seated Goldpaw spoke with a warm smile, "Young Remus, it has been a while since we met."

Remus smiled back, "It has Goldpaw. I hope you are doing well."

Goldpaw gave a single nod, "I can't complain. Now you young Harry, I have been waiting for quite a while to meet."

Harry rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "Oh yeah? I'm sorry sir, I didn't actually know you existed until now."

Goldpaw looked surprised and asked amusingly, "And who did you think was in charge of your family's vaults? The gnomes?"

The joke went right over Harry's head as he focused on something else the goblin said, "Vaults? I just know about one vault I used to buy my Hogwarts stuff."

Goldpaw reached for a folder that was laying on the table and opened it with a chuckle, "Oh no, that is simply a trust vault your parents set up for you until you come of age. There is quite a lot more to your family's wealth. Thanks to your mother's instructions your vaults managed to make quite the profit in the last decade, of course out of respect I took only the minimal fee for my services."

Harry's mind was reeling from all the information he got, but he latched on to the one piece of information that he always liked to hear, "Respect for my mom sir?"

Goldpaw smiled kindly at Harry, which was an odd expression on a goblin's face, "Indeed. I heard about the scene you caused earlier with Griphook." Harry could only blush, causing Goldpaw to chuckle, "You have done nothing wrong. It is the sad truth wizards rarely show us goblins any respect, so having one use our customs toward a teller at that, is very rare. So rare that the only other occurrence like that in the past century was when Lily Potter, then Evans, came here."

Harry was smiling, he knew his mother was a kind person. Everything he heard from Hagrid, McGonagall and even Dumbledore suggested that. But hearing she befriended even what, if you believe Binns's lessons, a hostile nation brought warmth to his heart.

Goldpaw set a wooden box in the center of the table and said with a small smirk, "Before we go into the details I would like Harry to complete an inheritance test if you will allow it."