Harry potter : Forgotten Lord

 Almost dying due to their abuse and losing his childhood? The best he could ever be would be light grey, but more than likely he would be grey ... he kind of liked power in all its forms.

Probably end up just being grey at best, he mentally admitted to himself only in the privacy of mind.

...

Then of course there were the twins to consider, who were well known pranksters that could very well decide that he would be a prime target if his involvement was ever found out. Truthfully, he'd rather not spend the next 5 years being a target for their considerably creative pranks... it would be majorly counterproductive to his plans to have to watch his step every moment of the day.

So far he'd been lucky to avoid their pranks, due mostly to his study habits and the twin's own reluctance to set pranks in the library and suffer the librarian's wrath for disturbing the sacred silence and endangering her cherished tomes. Plus, if they did destroy something they could easily be expelled from the school. They were brave, but not stupid ... they wouldn't risk destroying priceless tomes dating back to the founders just for some laughs.

Then there was the chance of the professors finding out and ruining his plan, therefore he dismissed the idea immediately. The risks were simply too great to test it on the rat.

And he couldn't go to Professor Snape for an accurate evaluation either, since it was becoming increasingly clear that the Potion master's rather biased nature against him specifically would prevent it. Of course, it once again would raise questions about his skills and his magical prowess if he made a Newt level potion as a first-year.

He really didn't understand why potion brewing was considered so hard, it was just like cooking really, especially when you were just following instructions, perfected over the decades for easiest usage, aimed at a student body of mixed skill levels.

Sure the first couple of attempts at brewing the Draught of Living death had ended badly, causing him to immediately dump the potion down the sink in the connecting room before it exploded in his face. But he learnt from his mistakes, progressing further with each failed attempt at brewing the NEWT level potion.

The only really skill he saw in potion making was when you had to either make a custom made one from scratch, or make an antidote to counter an unknown poison.

Thinking over the problem, he could always owl it away to an independent potions master or mistress for evaluation, but once again ran the risk of owls being monitored; he wouldn't put it past the headmaster to monitor incoming and outgoing mail, just to help cut down on prohibited items entering the school.

He just couldn't see an easy solution to his problem, as he weighed up the pros and cons again of each scheme, before deciding to rest on it, and think it over the next couple of days. Hopefully an answer would present itself.

Bottling the rest of the potion, he gained an additional ten vials from the cauldron since he doubted a single man-sized dose would drop a Cerberus. If anything, it would take several vials since the magical dog was maybe 4 times the average wizard's weight, and would have its own natural magical resistance to overcome.

Making the effort to correctly label the vials with the name of its contents, as well as a date for when it was brewed, he put them away in his trunk in the potion section with the rest of the first-year potions he had brewed in class.

The main reason for dating potions was rather simple; many potions either degraded or intensified in potency over time, such as the Draught of Living Death as the potion's book pointed out, to the point that it became fatal after a year and a half, unless you cast a stasis charm on it.

It was standard practice for the safety of everyone involved, to date any potions brewed for later use. He then got to the task of cleaning up the mess he made.

It had been a long, tiring day, but it would be worth it if he was successful. Going over his mental checklist he ticked off each homework assignment he'd completed, finding he had completed everything, but made the note to look back over the potion's assignment, just in case he'd missed anything.

Fortunately it wasn't due for a couple of days, so he could spend the rest of the evening relaxing, before the start of the new school week.

...

Enjoying the rich taste of the rare bloodwine as it flowed over his tongue, he privately celebrated the events of the most recent board meeting that had just ended less than half an hour ago. It was all thanks to the new drive and energy behind the Potter and Peverell accounts, and his own successful working alliance of sorts with the young Lord Peverell.

It was odd, considering the young boy as a Lord, and as Lord Peverell for that matter, but it was his current status and position... even if rightfully he should have been Lord Potter first and foremost, rather than Lord Peverell.

So far the boy was living up to his name.

The board meeting had been the same as always, discussing trade and other economical factors and policies. As well as discussing the wizards' politics and how it was expected to affect the upcoming business quarter and their continued policy of neutrality between wizard factions. It was the same old discussions and debates, as it had been for the last decade.

Their world was slow to change compared to the non-magical one, but they understood why they needed to stay hidden from the muggles, they would simply be wiped out by them, as much as they hated to admit it, even if the wizards themselves refused to acknowledge that little fact while believing themselves superior.

History had clearly shown that muggles were more than capable of finding means to overcome magic; if they could do it once, they could do so again... And there was no profit in extinction. If that worst case scenario came to pass Wizards could at least blend in, they couldn't...

They would have to wait until they wiped themselves out... before they had any chance of winning that war, so they focused their energies on the magical world instead. The only time wizard politics got remotely interesting to them was when a war broke out between the wand-wavers, almost always accompanied by an attempt to court the goblins by both sides, which always made the senior managers chuckle.

Did they truly think the goblins would forget all the slights and insults the wizards had made for centuries against their race?

The only thing of any real significance to them was the preparation talks for the upcoming war against the dwarven clans of Europe, particularly those of France and the low lands. Due to negotiations having failed to make a break through, now axes and swords were being sharpened, and armour forged.

This captured their attention to the point that not even one of their vaults being broken into was anything of consequence to them right now, nothing had been stolen after all, since the vault was empty.

It wasn't even one of their high-security vaults in the first place, just a standard run of mill vault, of a type that everyday witches and wizards used for daily expenses with no dragons, no special protections, nothing.

And the thief had only managed to get into one of their vaults in the first place by corrupting one of their curse-breakers, who was later found dead during the investigation. All evidence suggested the man was under the control of the Imperius Curse, causing their security to be upgraded and more armed guards moved into the bank, which would have been the case anyway since they were now preparing for war.

Taking another sip of his blood wine, he mentally noted that the Chief Warlock had quickly buried the story anyways, clearly not wanting the knowledge that it had been one of his vaults that had been robbed known to the public, and causing people to question what had been there in the first place.

He didn't even know what was housed in the vault, only the Bank manager knew the details and he wasn't saying anything, giving the impression that he didn't even know for sure what was being store within their walls.

Not that it was their job to care about such things; they were just responsible for keeping everything safe under the treaty, not asking their clients questions.

The story being surpressed had allowed a quick cover story to be created, and made to look as if the whole ordeal was a controlled break-in designed to test the security of the bank and to ensure it was secure as required by treaty.

Everyone who knew the truth had been bought off by the bank to ensure the truth behind the events stayed hidden and buried behind their doors, even if there were rumours.

Whatever it was the thief was after, it was no longer their concern anymore, and they were no longer responsible for it.

The upcoming war was going be short and brutal and he was looking forward to it, since it had been far too long since the Goblins and Dwarfs had last met in battle, officially at least. Truthfully they often ran into each when on expeditions worldwide, both races competing over the same resources and treasures.

...

Hey guys I really need some power stones to Elevate the ranking :)

...

if you want to read ahead of the public release you can join my p atreon :

 p atreon.com/loveran