Chapter 19: Facing Petunia Dursley's Wrath
Furthermore, the supervisor who had been on the floor that day insisted the lowly goblin she had spoken to accede to her wishes to forego the use of his name as a sign of the Bank's repentance and respect. The teller had whined and tried to resist as he had nothing to do with the accounts of her nephew. But the supervisor insisted and was backed up by his fellows who saw the issue as something that could bring the angry muggle down on the bank again.
The supervisors pointed out it was the tellers who saw the signatures and keys in the hands of the potential customers first. It was they who called for the cart drivers to take the customers to the different vaults and so it was the tellers who first enabled the thievery to occur. Not even the teller in question could argue with that. So the poor teller lost the right to use his chosen name.
Finally, a call for judgement on a Debt of Theft for what had been taken without proper authorization from the Potter Holdings went out bringing many high ranking goblins from around the world to London. If Petunia's request found favor with the convened council, the ruling would allow the goblins to punish the wrongdoers as each was identified thus proving to Lady Tonguelash the goblins were honorable people who were doing what they could to repair their tarnished honor as well as her nephews' Holdings. And hopefully that would be enough to still her very sharp tongue even if it didn't keep her out of their bank in the future.
As for the poor goblin who had been subjected to her tirade, many were already referring to him as
ToeScrape because that is what she had called him. He whimpered each time he heard the name because there was nothing honorable or proud in that name. Pride and honor would come in the future when the tale became legend. But that time wasn't now and he truly didn't like being called ToeScrape. But he knew he could do nothing about it because his supervisors wouldn't let him.
He also rather thought he deserved it because he had stood there and all but told her the goblins had done nothing wrong in letting the witches and wizards steal from her nephew behind his back. And had been since long before he even knew what money was. Let alone how the people cherished it be they human or goblin. Which his supervisors had pointed out was a lie.
She had pretty much called him a thief, a liar and a child destroyer since Harry had only been a baby when all this thievery had begun. She had pointed out there was no way Harry had signed the paper allowing Albus Dumbledore into his vaults the first time the old man had shown up claiming the right. Nor had he given anyone the keys to his vaults.
They should've known those keys had been stolen and stopped the thievery before it could begin. Harry hadn't even been a year and a half old at the time and most certainly hadn't signed any paper granting authorization to the old man. Knowingly or otherwise. So how dare the Goblin Nation claim no fault in this travesty of justice! Even the stupidest person should have known that man was lying when he presented that damn paper to them.
The nation had claimed to respect Harry's parents and yet they showed that respect by allowing an old man to steal from their orphaned child knowing full well Lily and James were dead and could do nothing to protect their child. Allowed the old man to claim to be his rightful guardian when they knew he wasn't any such thing!
Artifacts, books, jewels and money. All had gone missing from the Potter vaults under the watchful eye of the Goblin Nation long before Harry could have done anything about it. So how dare he, or any of them, claim it wasn't their fault! If not theirs, then who's seeing as it was their job; nay their DUTY to prevent just such an occurrence.
She didn't know it but it was her referring to him as a person that had won him over. Humans didn't refer to goblins as people. Ever. Yet she had. Even if what she was saying called into question his intelligence and basically stated he had questionable morals and doubtful honor.
She had still placed him on the same level as the rest of her people. In that one sentence, she'd not only gained his respect but she'd also shown him where the rightful holder got his unique ability to see the creature races the same as he saw his own race.
By the time the goblin had finished telling the council the outcome of that meeting with Petunia Dursley of Privet Drive, all of the high ranking goblins were shaking in their shoes, wondering if the bank would survive once it got out they had allowed a child to be ripped off not once but repeatedly for well over a decade and to have his inheritance, the only thing he had left of his family and ancestors, swindled away from him bit by bit until only a fraction of it remained in his control.
And it wasn't just this bank here in London that would suffer for the fallout. It was any and all of their banks around the world. All of them could feel it if word of this got out. Harry Potter was a very popular human and since it was his inheritance they were talking about, everyone would take an interest here. Because Harry Potter was a very popular child known around the world to all magical population centers.
Moving quickly, they decided they'd better begin doing as Lady Tonguelash had instructed and restore Mr. Potter's rightful inheritance before she came to visit again and discovered they'd done nothing of significance. None of the goblins even thought about the fact they'd just agreed to give goblin accord and high honors to a magicless muggle woman by calling her by a goblin recognized name.
As far as they were concerned she was giving them a chance to save themselves and their honor. A chance they were more than well aware they didn't deserve since it was their duty to have realized the old man was trying to defraud the child.
They even knew the old man had no right to even claim magical guardianship since the child's Godfather, Sirius Black, was his legal magical guardian having never been convicted of any crime before his untimely demise. Nor had any legal paperwork been submitted since his death to appoint a new magical guardian to the child.
And so by the time the school supply list had arrived, Harry had a fully developed system in place for contacting the goblins when he was in need of funds. Funds only he could get for himself. He'd used this method to get money to pay for his school supplies since he knew Molly most likely wouldn't be able to get them for him even if she wanted to.
Which was the main reason he had gone ahead and bought all of his own school supplies. He did know even if she'd been told by Dumbledore to pick up his supplies, she wouldn't be able to do so. For the first time in his life, things were really going well for him and even though he knew he was headed straight into a place where his life had always ended up being in peril, he couldn't help but feel happy.
...
Join my P@treon.
And Enjoy 60+ advanced chapters from my novels along with exclusive content.
Free members get 2 chapters free.
Join Right Now
Link: p*atreon.com/0LordSilvere0 (Remove the *)