"Dumbledore stole my father's invisibility cloak!" Harry said for the fifth time, outraged. Saying it five times did not make it any easier to see it printed in careful penmanship in the ledger for his personal vault. How dare that evil old man pretend that his father had given it to him for safe keeping! How dare he give Harry his own possessions as gifts! Harry stabbed a finger at a long list of withdrawals from his personal vault, the only one that could be accessed by anyone until he came of age. "And what are these? Why did he take this box of letters out?"
"Your guardian did not confide in us when he made the withdrawals" the old goblin said, his voice deep and gritty. Even Harry could see that his outbursts were testing the goblin's patience but this was adding insult to injury.
"And all of this gold he's taken out over the years. What's that for?"
"As I said, Albus Dumbledore kept his own counsel. It was not our place to ask."
"You let him steal my stuff!"
Mrs. Malfoy put a quelling hand on Harry's arm. Harry tried to settle, he really did.
The goblin bared his teeth at Harry, a flash of off yellow. His claws dug into the arms of his chair. Little curls of wood drifted down and out of sight.
"Albus Dumbledore is your guardian" Bogfoot the goblin said forbiddingly. "We did not let him steal anything."
"He is not my guardian!"
"Would you prefer that your muggle relatives –"
Harry glared fiercely at Narcissa Malfoy even as he interrupted her. "They aren't my guardians either! Sirius Black is supposed to be my guardian!"
Both of the adults in the room stilled.
"Are you quite certain?" Mrs. Malfoy asked.
"Yes! My parents made him my godfather! I'm supposed to be living with him – not with muggles or Albus Dumbledore or anyone else!"
Her eyes narrowed. "How do you know that?"
Harry narrowed his own eyes at her. "It's probably in my parents' wills. That's where parents write that sort of thing down, right?"
Mrs. Malfoy's eyes slid to the goblin. "Do you have a copy of the Potters' wills on file?"
The old goblin shook his head. "We have only the ledgers and only that one vault can be accessed at this time. Their reading was closed. Albus Dumbledore was their executor and he registered himself as Mr. Potter's legal guardian."
Harry drew in breath to shout 'Well Albus Dumbledore is a liar!' but Mrs. Malfoy tightened her grip on his arm forbiddingly. Instead, Harry took a series of long, deep breathes.
It was easier to be calm after being denied entrance to his vault. At least then, he had understood what was going on. Why was Dumbledore stealing his stuff?
Mrs. Malfoy nodded. She turned her attention back to Harry. "As far as you know Harry, were there any other provisions made for you?"
Harry shrugged. "I don't know. It doesn't matter. I'm supposed to be with Sirius Black."
Mrs. Malfoy and Bogfoot exchanged long telling looks.
Harry snapped his mouth shut. Of course. They still thought that Sirius had killed his parents.
Realization struck Harry like a lightning bolt.
Sirius was alive! Alive and breathing and not in a tatty veil! And in Azkaban!
Merlin's hairy balls! He was a raging idiot!
Harry lean forward, his weight on his elbows and his elbows balanced on his knees. He gasped for breath – no dead Sirius, no dead Dobby, no dead Cedric, no nearly dead Malfoy!
This was more than another shot at the war with Voldemort! He had a chance to undo all the screw ups he had ever made!
"Harry?" Narcissa's voice sounded very far away. "Harry are you well?"
"The most powerful wizard in the wizarding world is systematically stealing my inheritance. He's also pretending to be my guardian. My real guardian is missing. And everyone has been lying to me since my parents died!" Harry tilted his chin enough to glare at her. "I'm not well."
There was a short silence. The adults were probably looking at each other meaningfully again.
Harry's thoughts were scrambling to put themselves into some sort of order.
"He'll give me my key when I get my Hogwarts letter" Harry mumbled to himself. "He has to. Otherwise I won't be able to buy my school things. Okay. So when I have money I'll need to hire a solicitor and maybe a barrister and a detective of some sort. I'll need some sort of inventory and someone will have to track down every knut and every single item he's taken from my vaults. I'll make him give my stuff back to me and me back to Sirius!"
Harry nodded to himself. It was a sketchy game plan at best – aside from anything else, getting Sirius out of Azkaban was going to be a pain – but he wasn't Dumbledore's man anymore. He was Harry sodding Potter, his own man with his own agenda, and Merlin have mercy on the poor bastards who got in his way!
Harry straightened. "Can either of you suggest a good solicitor? For after I have access to my money?"
This time around, he was his own man.