"Of course." Amelia sighed. "If you do run into problems with it know this, Ms. Babbling, Mr. Potter: your place of residence and physical guardian is resolved in this paperwork right here," she pointed to the documents Shiva was holding, "even should you not be his magical guardian, these make the boy your ward. Wizarding world decisions might be more difficult but he can't be taken away while those exist."
Harry's stomach unclenched slightly. Worst case scenario of being forced back to the Dursleys was apparently off the table. "Thank you, Ma'am."
Amelia nodded. "Of course. Now if there's nothing else, I really do need to get back to dealing with this task force."
"Sure. Thanks again for your time, Madam Bones." Shiva stood up and led Harry back outside. She ruffled Harry's hair and grinned at him. "So slap on the wrist ain't too bad! Don't worry about the magical guardian thing too much. We'll deal with it at Gringotts if we have to." Harry nodded back trying to pat his hair back into a semblance of order. "You wanted to stop by and say hello to Tonks right? Aurors should be this door."
Harry entered the section of the building that Shiva indicated and glanced about the room. He almost missed Tonks at first but then there was a loud crash and muffled cursing from one side of the room. Looking over Harry had to stifle his laughter as one man was face-first in a garbage bin and Tonks was leaning against a desk holding her leg and looking guilty. "Sorry, Dawlish," she said speaking up to be heard around the laughter in the room. "I swear that desk was few feet to the right before. Thanks for breaking my fall though!" Dawlish pulled his head out of the bin, glared at Tonks and stalked out to the bathroom.
Harry grinned and walked over towards Tonks. "Still two left feet, Tonks?"
"Wotcher, Harry. Wotcher, Shiva." Tonks grinned over at the two and dropped into the chair behind the desk still rubbing at her leg. "I could do the two left feet thing. Want to see?"
Harry laughed again. "That'd be a bit weird I think. I see you got some color back." He waved to her dark blue hair.
"Yup. Pink just didn't seem appropriate and all. I'm going to get you back for mentioning the name where I couldn't hit you upside the head you know." Tonks said half glaring and half smiling.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Did the memory help?"
"Actually yeah it did. Thanks for that," Tonks dropped into a bit more of a professional bent. "Hagrid was cleared of most of the original charges on him thanks to you. He still got a sanction for keeping a dangerous controlled magical beast but that was mostly just a large fine which had been paid long ago. Don't know if he's going to get a new wand anymore or whatnot but the option is open to him now." There was a slightly frustrated air about her though she seemed to shrug it off before continuing. "I think he has something special planned for you when you guys meet up again at Hogwarts."
"Cool. Good for him. I'm glad I could help," Harry said.
"So what are you two doing here?"
Shiva slapped Harry's shoulder while his face turned a bit red. "Well, this guy had a bit of a fight yesterday and magic got involved. He put them in their place." She smirked and Tonks laughed.
"Well I certainly hope he did! Did Hopkirk give you any problems?"
"Actually I got her fired…" Harry mumbled.
Tonks' eyes widened, her mouth dropped open and her hair flashed through a rainbow of colors before settling back to blue. "Remind me never to piss you off, Harry."
"It wasn't really his fault," Shiva said with a shrug. "She ran her mouth and ticked off Madam Bones."
"Ah, yeah that makes sense. Bonesy has a bit of short temper at the moment. Fudge is coming down on her hard over the Sirius Black case and it's not like we have anywhere close to the amount of people we need with the recent budget cuts."
"Fudge again?" Harry's visage darkened. "Who voted for that guy?"
"Malfoy." Shiva and Tonks both said at the same time.
"I really hate that man…" Harry grumbled.
"Agreed," Tonks said. "Look, it's been fun guys but I really do need to work this case a bit. He is my cousin after all. It's pretty much my responsibility to find him."
"Sure, we'll let you go. I just wanted to say hi." Harry waved at her as he and Shiva turned to make their way back outside.
"Later, Harry! Bye, Shiva!"
Harry and Shiva were almost to the front of the queue at Gringotts when she turned to him. "Remember, goblins take smiles with teeth showing as a sign of aggression. Be polite and direct because they don't like to waste time."
"I know, Shiva. I talked to Flitwick about proper conduct regarding goblins before I left for the summer. I got it covered," Harry said waving off her concerns. The goblins weren't that bad. They at least were blatant in their dislike of most people. He could respect that. Stepping up to the free teller Harry nodded and said, "May your gold ever flow, sir."
Harry didn't notice it but every goblin within earshot paused for a moment at the traditional greeting being spoken by a wizard child. The teller blinked down at the boy and his original, automatic sneer twisted into a confused frown. "May your hoard be increased, patron. What is your business with Gringotts?" His words were just as short as before but the tone sounded far less ornery than the first time Harry had been here.
"I need to visit my vault and I'd also like to speak with the Potter Account Manager. I have had a recent change in guardianship and I need to ascertain that she is added to my accounts as well as any necessary paperwork is in order."
"Harry," Shiva whispered with wide eyes, "you don't have to do that."
"I know. But I want to."
The teller blinked down at the two again. "Potter?" Harry nodded. The goblin frowned then snapped his fingers. A smaller goblin hurried forward from behind the counter. "Follow the Vaultrunner to the meeting room."
"Thank you, sir. May your enemies fall before you," Harry said with a small bow.
"And may their blood wet your blade." The teller responded with another surprised head nod.
"Hello, Griphook. I hope you've been well. May your gold ever flow," Harry said as he turned to the goblin they were to follow.
"You remember me?" Griphook's eyes had widened considerably and the pause in the surrounding goblins was noticeable to all nearby this time.
"Of course."
"That was two years ago, wizard." Griphook sounded dumbfounded.
"You were the first goblin I ever met," Harry said with a bit of chuckle. "It made a bit of an impression."
Griphook just nodded and shook his head before turning to lead the way back through the bank's corridors. As they trio moved off many goblins heads watched their progress. It had been a long time since wizards from a prominent family had bothered to remember their names. Or to give proper greetings. Or to even truly be polite. Perhaps Harry Potter would follow in his ancestor's footsteps after all…
Harry and Shiva were led into a small office and after greeting the goblin behind the desk took their seats. "I am Snapfist, Mr. Potter. It is good to see you have finally found the time to deem a response to my questions was warranted. Though a simple owl would've sufficed."
"Wait, questions?" Shiva said furrowing her brow at the goblin.
Harry scowled. "Let me guess. You've sent me owls for years and I've never replied to a single one?"
Snapfist leaned back with a barely concealed sneer. "We have sent letters since you first turned 11, Mr. Potter. At least one letter every month for nearly two years now."
"I haven't received any of them, sir. I apologize for any offense taken as I assure you none was intended."
Snapfist's eyebrows furrowed at the little wizard's response. This was highly unexpected. An arrogant heir was perfectly normal. A lying wizard was also perfectly normal. Both were exceedingly easy to spot. Harry Potter instead appeared nearly as frustrated as Snapfist himself. It certainly helped the child's case that wizard heirs as a rule never apologized; certainly never to a goblin.
"You don't sound surprised by this, Harry," Shiva said.
"I'm the bloody Boy-Who-Lived. Shouldn't I have gotten letters from half the witches and wizards in Britain with everything from simple thanks to marriage proposals? The first letter I ever got was from Hogwarts. The second was from Hermione. No, Shiva, it doesn't surprise me at all that someone's been stealing my mail."
"If you suspected this, Mr. Potter, why did you not say anything earlier?" Snapfist asked, eyes narrowing.
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