"You don't, but do you think I would waste my time here—and my account managers—if I wasn't serious? Or pay for this meeting room, as well as two dozen goblin guards, if I wasn't serious? I could easily ruin you."
This earned him a sneer, which he ignored, privately hoping the man would do as Rita did and pull his wand on him so the goblins could deal with him.
...
"Severus Snape, we're here to prevent Hogwarts' reputation from being ruined by your actions. The Headmaster gave us instructions to sign the agreement if the terms are reasonable—and they are! Mr. Potter is right, it's time to end this nonsense," Professor Sprout stated.
"Indeed. I haven't given my whole adult life to teaching at Hogwarts just so you can ruin the school's prestige due to your ego. And may I remind you, Severus, you often provoked arguments and fights just as much as James and Sirius did," the Deputy Headmistress added, giving the man her best disappointed look.
"Let me remind you, Severus, that this will get political very fast. Soon the school board will start calling for your resignation again. And I doubt even Lord Malfoy will be able to prevent that. Especially considering that you have often insulted the board's own children, and they have already been calling for your replacement for years. Now they have a pretext," said his Head of House, adding his part to Severus's unofficial council.
"Fine," he spat, cursing under his breath as he skimmed over the document, not even bothering to read it properly before signing at the bottom and throwing the blood quill on the table toward Professor McGonagall. Then the rest of the staff signed the witness boxes, and finally Harry himself, causing the document to flash—along with Professor Snape and himself. The document then split into two magical copies.
"That was a magically binding document," Professor Snape stated, his eyes lighting up angrily in realization.
"Indeed. You should have read the document more closely. It clearly stated in the third line that it was a magically binding agreement—but you didn't read it. I personally expected you to notice that and negotiate the terms of the agreement, or at least get a standard magical document rather than a magically binding one—but you didn't. Next time, I suggest you actually *read* the document," he explained, stressing the word *read*.
"Otherwise, you may very well be signing away all your rights," Harry stated, making his disappointment known to the room. He had expected better from a man who was meant to be the Head of Slytherin House. Then he turned to the Deputy Headmistress, who seemed a bit flushed.
"The document itself, Headmistress, has no magical consequences for you personally. However, as the overseer of the document, you are required to handle any issues that occur or disagreements not stated in the document. You will know when Professor Snape breaches the terms," he explained.
"What about you? Are there no consequences for you?" Snape asked in a near whisper, looking up from the document, deathly pale.
"Like I said, you should have negotiated the document. As long as I don't go to the press with this incident, the agreement is valid. However, let me point out that even if—for whatever reason—the terms are broken on my part, you still can't use any form of mind arts on me or any individuals under my protection unless you have my permission or theirs.
That includes my friends, allies, or family—such as my kids. And this agreement is valid for life unless I state otherwise and release you from it," Harry said, while looking over the shocked staff as they reviewed the document they had all blindly signed.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll leave you to look over the document," he stated, leaving the room with his account manager. As soon as the doors shut, his face broke out into a grin.
The meeting had gone far better than he had imagined. He turned to his account manager, who seemed to be grinning evilly at the stunt Harry had just pulled. He was more than willing to admit he felt kind of sorry for the Deputy Headmistress and the Potions Master, since the document had been written by his account manager and was ironclad—no loopholes, no escape clauses. It had been ruthless, just as goblins themselves were when dealing with business and enemies.
"Thank you for your assistance with this. Even if you weren't needed to renegotiate the contract, it was good to have the show of support to show how serious I was," he expressed, happy with how the meeting had gone and how Snape had effectively been neutralized for the next six years.
"You're most welcome, Lord Potter. It may not have been the most profitable meeting, however, it was most amusing. One would expect better from wizards and witches of their standing," Bloodmoon said, shaking his head in disapproval.
"Indeed. I'm sure next time they have to sign anything, they'll at least read it."
An idea suddenly occurred to him, and he decided he needed to hurry if he wanted to gain some additional information—using the ace in the hole he had carried into the meeting.
"Do you require anything else from me today?" Bloodmoon probed.
"No thank you, all my business is concluded for today," Harry replied, before saying the traditional Goblin goodbye and leaving the bank as quickly as possible. As soon as he was outside, he headed across the street to a small restaurant, which was half-empty, and slipped into the men's toilets.
Quickly checking the washroom to confirm it was empty, he cast a locking charm on the door before saying to no one but himself, "You may come out now."
This resulted in a green beetle emerging from the folds of his robes before it started shifting shape, revealing Rita. She quickly looked around the empty washroom herself before saying, "Is this a hint, my Lord, of my next task I can do for you?" as she walked around him, her heels clicking sharply on the floor as one of her hands ran over his shoulders, stroking them.
"You can if you wish, my dear. But I have a better use for your talents than wasting you on your knees," he said sternly, ignoring Rita's playfulness and her suggestion. He was getting a bit annoyed with her constant flirting; it was like she forgot that he was only just becoming twelve years old. Not that he minded most of the time—he considered it rather good practice—but at times like this, when he wanted something done, he found it most annoying.
"Did you hear the whole meeting?" he asked his newest asset.
"Indeed, my Lord. I have to say I'm most impressed by your cunning and how you got around that agreement by having me hidden within your robes," the blonde stated before sitting on the edge of the sink, causing her knee-length skirt to hike up, revealing a good part of her leg.
"I, too, am a bit disappointed that the Head of Slytherin House didn't even bother to read the contract. It's quite sad how far my former house has fallen if he is their role model."
"Good. We'll talk more about it later," he stated, not wanting to get bogged down in chit-chat about Snape's failings. "I want you to hang back outside Gringotts and try to slip onto one of the staff members' robes. Preferably the Headmistress or Snape, and follow them back to Hogwarts. Because as soon as the staff has collected themselves, they're going to go straight to the Headmaster and report about the meeting," he said, looking over to see Rita nod, following where he was going.
"I want you to spy on that meeting and try to find out what came up that prevented the Headmaster from attending. Because frankly, it must be important—otherwise, he would have been here today. He's been trying to get hold of me all summer, and I would never have managed to slip that document past them if the Headmaster had been there overseeing the whole thing."
"Anything else?" she asked, looking at him hungrily.
"No, but if in doubt, stay with Snape. He's under the Headmaster's protection for a reason and is his unofficial assistant. I want to know why that is," he explained to Rita, who nodded in understanding at the instruction.
"Whatever you do, don't get caught. And remember, the Headmaster's office is filled with portraits. Also, his familiar could be there—and the phoenix *will* see you for what you are, no matter how well you act the part of a bug," he said, stressing the word *will*. "So as soon as that bird shows up, you get out of there immediately," he stated seriously, seeing Rita's face had taken on a serious expression.
"Where will you be then? Are you going to wait around here for me to return?" Rita questioned, pushing herself off the sink, flattening her skirt, and hiking her handbag back over her shoulder.
"No, I'll go shopping for the next hour or so. Then I'll return to your apartment to wait for your return," he stated, seeing Rita nod in understanding. She had accepted the fact that he could come and go as he pleased from her residence, since the wards had been changed to allow him access whenever he wanted.
"Okay, let's go," he said, moving toward the door.
"My Lord, do me a favour and open the doors for me—it makes it much easier," she asked before shifting into a beetle and taking to the air.
Leaving the bathroom and noticing Rita had hitched a ride on his shoulder, he moved quickly as he headed toward the bank. She then took off into the air once again and started to circle around, waiting for her intended targets.
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