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Author: Shamrock Holmes Story: Harry Potter and the Torch of Caelum Rating: Teens Setting: Pre-HBP Status: Completed Reviews: 1 Words: 59,803
That morning, Harry walked into the sitting room and noticed Civis sitting at the writing desk in the corner and removing something from a drawer. "Morning, Civis. What's that?" he asked. "A Gringott's vault key," Civis replied placing the key in a small Moke-skin purse at his belt. "You have a vault as well?" "Not exactly, Harry," Civis replied. "It's for the Gryphon's Eyrie estate vault." Harry started, "The what?" "The Gryphon's Eyrie Estate vault. Did you really think your parents only had enough gold to pay for your schooling?" He raised an eyebrow and rose from his seat. "It's yours when you're of age, you know." Harry stood dumbfounded, rooted to the spot. He was wealthy. Despite his surroundings, it never dawned on him that he would inherit more than he already had in his vault. "Coming Harry?" Civis called from the landing. ---- As usual, the group's first stop was Gringotts, the wizard bank. When they reached Harry's vault he again tried to hide the contents from Ginny as he piled handfuls of gold Galleons, silver Sickles, and bronze Knuts into his moneybag. When they reached Sirius's vault, even Harry was amazed — there had to be twenty times more gold in there than there was in his own vault. "Do you want see the Gryphon's Eyrie vault?" Civis asked when they returned to the cart. "I have the key with me and it's just round the corner, so it'll only take a minute." "No thanks," said Harry as the cart accelerated upwards on its way back to the reception area. "Another day maybe." As they exited the bank, Ron and Hermione rushed up to meet them, Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour followed at a slightly more sedate pace. This time, Harry wasn't surprised when Hermione flung herself on him as he had expected. "How are you, Harry?" she asked when she broke away. "I'm fine, Hermione," Harry assured her with a grin. "Having Sirius back and living with him, Professor Lupin and Tonks… it's great. Civis has been helpful too." "Civis?" asked Hermione. "That's right, you haven't met him." Harry turned to see where he was and beckoned him forward. "Hermione, Ron, Bill, Fleur… this is Civis Bonsocus, he's a hobgoblin and he's been looking after Gryphon's Eyrie since my family built it back in the Founders' time." he paused and then continued happily, "Civis, this is Hermione Granger, one of my best friends… Ron and Bill Weasley, Ginny's youngest and oldest brothers, and Fleur Delacour. Fleur is Bill's girlfriend and she was the Triwizard Champion for Beauxbatons two years ago." "Charmed," said Civis, bowing slightly. "Harry, I've got to meet someone at the Daily Prophet in ten minutes. Can I leave you with Bill, Fleur and Civis?" Sirius asked. Harry nodded. "Could you meet me at the Leaky Cauldron for lunch?" "Yeah, we should be finished by then." "And be careful," Sirius reminded him grimly. "Diagon Alley's pretty secure, but you can't be too careful these days." "I will be," Harry assured him. "See you later." Harry waited until his godfather had disappeared into the crowd and then turned back to his friends. He smiled to himself when he noticed that his two best friends were standing together, holding hands, although they didn't seem to be aware that they were doing it. "Where shall we go first?" he asked them, at the same time he beckoned Civis closer and whispered something to him. The hobgoblin grinned broadly and nodded "Might I suggest Madam Malkin's, Harry?" said Civis. "And perhaps Gladrags?" "He's right, Harry," Ginny told him. "You need some new clothes, one's that haven't been worn by that slimeball cousin of yours first." The others agreed and so they headed to that corner of the Alley, with Harry and Civis in the lead and Bill and Fleur bringing up the rear. When they entered Madam Malkin's, Harry gave Civis a nod and the hobgoblin distracted Hermione and the two younger Weasleys, while Harry pulled Bill to the side and handed him a second moneybag from under his robes. The eldest Weasley's eyes bulged slightly in surprise. "Harry, I can't…" Harry held up his hand. "Bill, I know what your family's like about money, but hear me out." "Okay," Bill said reluctantly. "You work at Gringotts, so you've probably seen my kind of vault before?" Bill nodded in agreement. "I've got more money in there than I know what to do with, and I've only got another year at Hogwarts after this one. Even if I need to live on my savings for a few years after Hogwarts that's not going to be a problem." Bill nodded again. "And on top of that, Civis just told me that that was my… school fund, I guess. I've got other money hidden away too that I haven't even seen. Your family has done a lot for me in the last six years, more than I can ever repay. So I'd like to help how I can. I'm not being charitable. In fact, you're probably doing me a favour by spending it. Okay?" "Okay," said Bill, a little reluctantly. "I'll buy whatever we need today, and slip anything left to Ron and Ginny somehow." Harry nodded, relieved that Bill was willing to co-operate. Bill muttered something that Harry couldn't make out and moved to join Fleur in the men's dress robe section. Harry looked around and spotted the others clustered around the second-hand school robe racks. He went over to them and dragged Ron and Ginny back to the main part of the shop. Hermione followed without fuss, a slight smile on her face. "Harry, we can't afford these robes," Ron protested. "You know that." "Bill says he's going to get you some new robes. Both of you are prefects now, you have to look good," Harry told them. Ginny had mentioned to him that she had been made a prefect when they were touring the flying horse stables with Sirius and Civis the night before and Ron still had his badge from the last year. Ron still didn't look convinced, but a word or two from Hermione quickly silenced him. An hour later, the four teenagers, Bill and Fleur exited Madam Malkin's, each with a wrapped bundle under their arm, Civis following behind them. Ron and Ginny had two new uniforms and two new cloaks each: a heavy black one for winter wear and a lighter grey cloak for warmer weather. Hermione and Harry had bought themselves a couple of new robes and a light cloak, and Bill and Fleur had a set of dress robes each, and a new dragonhide jacket and boots for Bill. The next shop they visited was two doors down — the London branch of Gladrags Wizard Wear. After getting some good advice from Bill, Fleur and Civis — and ignoring some questionable advice from Ron — Harry bought four sets of new casual clothes; jeans, shirts and t-shirts, two new pairs of shoes, one in dragonhide and one in ordinary leather, and a couple of tracksuits. Harry paid the assistant, and then paused, eyeing the large number of bags with annoyance. "Would it be possible for these to be sent up to Gryphon's Eyrie?" he asked the assistant behind the counter. The assistant started for a moment, but quickly recovered. "Of course Mr Potter, we are always happy to aid our best customers in any way we can," he replied obsequiously and moved to open the door for them. "It will be done immediately." Harry sighed and led the group out of the shop. The group made quick stops in the Apothecary and the stationers, and then finally ended up in Flourish and Botts. All four students bought new copies of their books for the year and Harry grabbed a few of other books recommended to him by Professor Lupin, Tonks and Civis. After paying for it all, he looked around for the others, Hermione had her nose buried in a thick textbook in the Arithmancy section, and Ron was hovering at her shoulder. Ginny was browsing the second-hand fiction section, Bill and Fleur were in the Dark Arts section looking for new books on curse-breaking, and Civis was standing at the door watching the street. Harry walked over to Ginny, and rested a hand on her shoulder. Ginny turned and smiled. "Hi Harry, are we moving on?" "I'm going to, you can come with me if you want," he told her hesitantly. "Hermione's still absorbed in her books and Ron looks like he doesn't want to budge from her side. Bill and Fleur will keep an eye on them." He glanced at the book that Ginny still held in her hand, it looked like a medieval adventure story of some sort to him. "Are you going to get that?" Ginny shook her head, "I'm just skimming through it, I like it though." she grinned and turned so she was looking Harry straight in the eye. "Maybe someone will I'll get it me for my birthday." She moved to put it back, but Harry reached over her, closed his hand over hers and took the book from her. "Let me get it for you, Ginny." Ginny blushed, something she rarely did around him anymore. "Harry, no! I didn't mean now!" Harry reached up and pressed a finger to her lips, silencing her. "I know you didn't, Ginny. Let me get it for you. I owe you a few years worth of Christmas and birthday presents anyway. I shouldn't have forgotten you, especially last year, and I'd like to make up for that." "Okay Harry," agreed Ginny reluctantly with a little smile. "Thank you." "You're welcome," Harry told her with a smile and headed for the desk to buy the book. ---- As they were passing the cauldron shop a few minutes later, a young girl wearing Muggle clothes ran out and knocked Harry over. When Harry looked up at his 'attacker' it was almost like looking in a mirror — although the girl looked about ten or eleven, she had the same messy black hair he had and wore identical round glasses, most strangely though, were her eyes — they were green, like his. "Hello," he said, pushing against her he got them back to a sitting position, then helped her up. "Are you okay?" "I'm fine," she told him. "Sorry for knocking you over like that." "That's fine, I've had much worse done to me," Harry told her. "My name's Harry, Harry Potter. What's your name?" "I'm Jamie Clayton," she replied apprehensively. "Nice to meet you. Are you here on your own?" "No, she's with me," replied a voice from behind them. Harry turned to see Henry Jones, the Ancient Runes Professor, walking towards him. "Hi Professor," he said, looking over Jamie's shoulder. "Have you seen Hermione yet?" he asked, knowing that his friend was one of Professor Jones' favourite students. "No I haven't, Harry," he admitted. "Is she in Flourish and Blotts?" "Yes," Harry confirmed. "She was in your section when we left her and Ron a couple of minutes ago." "Ron Weasley is intentionally choosing to say in a bookshop instead of going to…" "Quality Quidditch Supplies," Harry supplied with a grin. He had found Professor Jones a rather amusing person to talk to ever since they met during his fourth year. "That is odd, was he reading anything?" "No Professor, just watching Hermione." "As I suspected," Professor Jones replied dryly. "Have there been any developments?" "Not that I've been told. No surprise there though." "Indeed." "Is Jamie related to you, Professor?" "No Harry, Jamie's parents were Muggles. I'm taking her around as a favour to Albus." Jones told him. Then he appeared to be struck with an inspiration. "Would you mind showing her the rest of the Alley? After the ride at Gringotts and suffering through forty-five minutes of Octavos Ollivander's company, I need a drink." "I wouldn't mind," Harry replied. "What do you think Jamie?" "I'd like that Harry," Jamie replied. "Okay then," said Professor Jones, then turned to speak to Jamie. "Can you meet me in the pub by one o'clock?" Jamie nodded and took the small bag of gold from Professor Jones before he walked away. "Where are you going now?" "Quality Quidditch Supplies," Harry told her. "Would you like to meet my friends?" Jamie nodded. "Yes, please." Harry took her by the shoulder and turned her around to face Ginny and Civis. The young girl started a little when she saw Civis. "Who… what are you?" "Greetings. My name is Civis Bonsocus," Civis told her, bowing deeply. "I run Harry's house for him." Jamie giggled slightly. "Hi," she turned to Ginny. "Are you Harry's girlfriend?" Ginny blushed, "No Jamie, I'm just a friend. My name's Ginny Weasley." "Nice to meet you," said Jamie. "What's Quidditch?" Harry smiled. "Quidditch is a wizard's sport, the wizard's sport really, we play it at Hogwarts. I'm the Seeker for Gryffindor and Ginny's my backup." "But I want to be a Chaser though," Ginny reminded him. "Seeker? Chaser? Gryffindor? I'm confused." "Chasers are like strikers in football, there are three on each team and they try to put the Quaffle, a large red ball, through a set of goals guarded by a Keeper," Harry explained. "A team's Seeker tries to get a small, winged, flying ball called the Golden Snitch before the opposition Seeker. It's worth a hundred and fifty points and ends the game." "Each team also has two Beaters, who fly around the pitch protecting their team from two large iron balls called Bludgers, which try their best to kill anyone on the field except the referee," Ginny added. "Two of my brothers, Fred and George, used to play for Gryffindor and they were pretty good. Unfortunately, they left at the end of last year, and the one's we've got now, Andrew Kirke and Jack Sloper, are pretty pathetic." At this point, Harry and Ginny started chatting about Gryffindor's chances, leaving Civis and Jamie to their own devices. After a few seconds, Civis decided to take up the slack and answer her other questions. "Gryffindor is one of the four houses at Hogwarts," added Civis. "The other three are Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. I think Gryffindor's the best but then I'm probably biased." "Why's that?" Jamie asked. "Gudroc, the man who first hired me to work at Gryphon's Eyrie, was the second son of Godric Gryffindor, the man who established Gryffindor House," Civis replied. "And most of my lieges and their families since have been Gryffindors too." he paused. "Jamie, I hope you don't mind my asking, but where are your parents?" "Why do you ask?" "Well, I've had quite a lot of contact with Muggleborns over the years," Civis told her. "And I've never met one whose parents would be happy to let their eleven year old daughter go to a strange place, alone, with someone they'd met at most only a few days before, especially if that person was Professor Haimric Jones. " Jamie looked down at her feet, and was silent for a moment then she looked up, and focusing on the backs of Harry and Ginny who were now about twenty feet ahead of them, she replied. "My parents are dead, my father died when I was a baby, and my mum died a couple of years ago. I live in an orphanage now, I think they were glad to get to get rid of me to be honest. The Matron, Agatha Taurus, never liked me anyway." "I see," said Civis. "Well, I hope you will find Hogwarts a more congenial setting." "I hope so too," Jamie told him. By this time, they had reached Quality Quidditch Supplies, Harry opened the door and the four of them entered the store. They didn't spend long in there, Harry picked up a new set of pads and gloves and a small book on Quidditch tactics, and he briefly considered getting a new set of robes but decided against it. At his recommendation, Jamie bought her own copy of Quidditch Through The Ages, Flying With The Cannons ("If you decide you don't like them, don't say anything in front of Ron."), and a couple of other Quidditch books. Ginny introduced them to two Gryffindor second years — Connor David and Henry Shaw — who she knew had wanted to try out after Fred and George had been banned from playing by Umbridge, but hadn't been able to because David have been in the Hospital Wing. After a quick return visit to Flourish and Blotts to pick up Ron and Hermione and buy Jamie's books, the group headed to the newest shop in the Alley: Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. "Does your family own this shop?" Jamie asked Ginny. Ginny nodded, "Fred and George opened it about two months ago. Harry helped them get started." "Which reminds me," said Harry. "Did the twins ever get you any new dress robes, Ron? I think you mention they did, but…" "Yeah, they did," said Ron. "A set of maroon ones. Why?" "Oh, I just wondered," said Harry evasively. "I hate maroon," moaned Ron. "Why did they have to get me maroon ones?" "Because you look good in maroon, Ron," Hermione told him. "Apart from the frayed cuffs, even your old robes didn't look too bad." "You really think so?" said Ron, hopefully. Hermione nodded. "Dress robes?" Jamie asked Civis in an undertone. "More elaborate robes than are normally worn," he replied. "They usually made of velvet, wool or silk for men and satin or silk for women. They are used for formal occasions like dances, weddings, funerals, that sort of thing." "Thanks." "No problem." They entered the store and were soon approached by Fred. "Hi everyone. How are things? Whoa! Uh, Harry… who is that?!" Harry grinned. "Fred, meet Civis Bonsocus, he's a hobgoblin and the warden of Gryphon's Eyrie. Civis, meet Fred Weasley, he and his twin have been favourably compared to the Marauders." "I see… then they have most certainly chosen a very appropriate business venture." "You knew the Marauders?" said Fred, his eyes bulging in surprise. "Intimately," Civis confirmed. He glanced at Harry, who nodded. "You know them too, well three of them." "Really?" "Yes. You would them better as Professor Remus Julius Lupin, Mr Sirius Lee Black, and Mr Peter Pettigrew. The fourth, who you have never met, was Mr James Tiberius Potter." "Professor Lupin was a Marauder?!" squeaked Fred. "No wonder we could never pull off a prank in his class." He paused then looked at Harry. "Hang on! Your father, James Potter, the former Head Boy, was a Marauder?!" "Yep," Harry confirmed with a grin. "He was Prongs, a stag; Sirius was… is Padfoot, a dog; Pettigrew was Wormtail, a rat." "Appropriate," commented Fred dryly. "And Lupin was Moony obviously." Harry nodded. "What can we do for you?" "Just thought we'd have a look around. Got anything new?" "Nothing finalised, we do have one or two prototypes though. We've been too busy making enough to cover demand for what we've got. Lee's trying to find us some help, but no luck so far." They spent about a hour in Fred and George's shop, and when they left Harry carried a bag which contained several Weasleys Wizard Whizzbangs, a pair of Extendable Ears (improved model), a prototype of a See-Through Spyglass, which according to George was supposed to allow you to look round corners and see through solid walls. Hermione hadn't looked particularly pleased when Harry picked up that item, but had conceded that in the right hands it could be quite useful. By this time, it was almost quarter to one so they had to hurry back to the Leaky Cauldron so that Jamie could meet up with Professor Jones and return home. Harry, Ginny and Civis followed the two of them through to the front door to Professor Jones' car where they said goodbye. "I'll see you on the train," Harry told her, as he returned the friendly hug she gave him. "You remember how to get through onto the platform don't you?" Jamie nodded and then got into the passenger seat of Professor Jones' Land Rover. "You were good with her," Ginny commented as they watched the car pull away. "Yeah, I know," Harry agreed, sounding slightly puzzled at this. "I just feel a… connection with her, I guess. Maybe it's because we look similar." "Could be," admitted Ginny. "What do you think, Civis?" The hobgoblin had been hiding in the shadows outside the pub with his hood up hiding his face while they said their goodbyes. "Could be," he admitted. "But I think the fact that you're both Muggle-raised orphans who grew up in less than ideal circumstances probably has something to do with it too," he added. Then ignored the shocked faces of Harry and Ginny, he shrugged and continued talking. "But it could be something else. I'll have a think on it." "You do that," Harry told him once he'd recovered from his shock. "But I want some lunch, so let's go back inside and find Sirius." "Good idea." After lunch, Sirius took them round a couple more shops, including an optiwizard where he bought Harry some new glasses, and Florean Fortescue's for ice cream, then they all Flooed back to Gryphon's Eyrie. Later that afternoon, Tonks, Sirius and Draper challenged Harry, Ron and Ginny to a match out on the Quidditch field south of the main keep. Although the 'oldsters' eventually lost four games to one — Harry beat Tonks to the Snitch nearly every time — the play was sufficiently brisk that Harry had no trouble getting to sleep that night, and though he wasn't using Occulmency to shield himself, any dreams he had were Voldemort-free. A/N: Follow the link below or e-mail shamrock_holmes@yahoo.co.uk to leave a review. All opinions, as long as they are substantiated, will be gratefully received. If you would like a response, please supply return e-mail details.
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