Unable to rest just yet, they proceeded to Gringotts where they filed their copies of the will ceding them control over the potter heir and vaults. They left instructions that if Dumbledore were to attempt to make claim they should pretend to go along and set up a significantly diminished vault for him to allay his suspicion.
Sirius then filed additional paperwork to make Harry his heir, as he discovered that while his Mother had banished him from the house the decision to uphold that choice remained with his grandfather who in a fit of possible insanity or devious cunning had chosen not to formally disown him. Leaving him as the heir to house black. Not that he wanted to be Lord Black, given his mother was still alive and ruling from her throne in the decrepit townhouse he'd grown up in.
The Black family manor where his grandfather had lived was sealed tighter than their Gringotts vault. The protective wards having been placed at the highest level by the paranoid lord black before his death. Such that only the new lord could remember it's location or portkey there.
Sirius almost refused the head of house ring, the goblin presenting it to him convinced him with a few words.
"Lord Black, I understand you are something of a prankster. There are several benefits to you placing this ring on your finger. First, your word is law in house black. The ring will enforce it on those who wish to continue as members of your house. Second, We of the goblin nation understand that certain members of the wizengamot and other unscrupulous individuals practice the art of legilimency. As you know your predecessor was quite paranoid. He paid to have the ring charmed to impart perfect occlumency shields for the wearer, in addition to the potion detection charms. You will be immune to compulsion spells, and attempts to pickup your thoughts or implant suggestion through legilimency. The ring will also alert you when it detects any potion that you do now know of or approve of in your food or drink. It will also release a purgative counter potion in the event that a potion makes it's way past your defenses. And Finally, As head of house you with the ring you can sidestep any attempts to imprison you by citing that damned 'pureblood exemption' act of 1786. The one that allows the death eaters with enough money to avoid being brought to justice for their crimes. Consider it a prank on wizengamot at large."
"Now as for your godson, we know that something unexpected happened and have detected time magic similar to that of a time turner but somehow different. Goblin specialists have been sent to the Dursley residence for confirmation but as of the first of November at one in the morning, Mr. Potter is the first confirmed case the goblin nation knows of, for 'duo corpore, uno anima.' That is he is currently occupying two bodies, he will live each day twice. Once for each body. The extent of this effect is unknown, however, goblin thaumaturgists within the goblin nation have theorised that he will in effect have two magical cores one for each body, and he will be able to pool resources between his bodies. Such that if one body isn't getting enough food or water he would we suspect be able to magically use his other bodies' nutrients. This will for the most part be involuntary, as you have his second body, and given the attitudes we have observed of his relatives, we suspect you will notice harry eating more to make up for the lack of care the version of himself receives at the Dursley's."
"Take the ring Mister Black, you will need it to remain free of Dumbledore." The goblin finished his briefing holding forth a smooth silver ring with a large black stone that held the black house coat of arms engraved into it's face.
Sirius fought down the urge to defend Dumbledore reminding himself the bloody wanker had hagrid take Harry away to lily's relatives. He irreverently accepted the ring from the goblin and placed it on his hand.
The power of the ring's occlumency shield was awe inspiring. They would momentarily accelerate his perception of time allowing him to carefully examine what the other person was looking for and he could decide whether or not to expel them or feed them memories and thoughts. Or if someone was trying to implant a suggestion it would show him exactly what they were trying to do, prevent the suggestion from taking hold and allow him to control his reaction so he could pretend the suggestion took if needed. Sirius was amazed the first time it dropped him into accelerated mode. Right as he put the ring on it highlighted a dozen compulsions, disabled the lot and showed him exactly what they were trying to do. It also revealed about a hundred memory blocks going back to his fifth year. The most recent revealing the discovery of pettigrew as a death eater and dumbledore's subsequent obliviation of that discovery from all parties involved.
Sirius was mad, no, infuriated at the manipulative chess master. A brief warm wind stirred the papers in the office as his emotions stirred his magic before he could clamp down on them. The first of the memories uncapped revealed just how manipulative he was. going so far as to place a compulsion on both him and the Potters to switch secret keepers. After inquiring if the goblins could duplicate the enchantments on his ring to others, Sirius thanked the goblin using the customary goblin phrase when one wishes to express satisfaction with the work a goblin has done, and promptly left. He would have to see if he could convince Frank to get his head of house ring, and his ladies' ring enchanted with the same protections.
The exchange for perfect occlumency meant the ring couldn't be a lord's portkey as was usually traditional in head of house rings. It also meant that the ring wouldn't have a few other enhancements usually included. The polished black stone on the silver band acted as a wardstone to hold the runes that powered the enchantments, the runes were powered by both the user's aura and ambient magic from the environment. The ring would also be able to absorb a portion of the magic from attacks and use it to power the defense it provided, and while it wouldn't be able to withstand a killing curse, as the energy in that green bolt of death was far too powerful to be held by the passive absorption the ring used, using an attacker's energy against them even in small percentages undermined the overall effect of an attack.
"I'm going to need some time to sort through my thoughts and actions. But, I also have a question about this twin effect my godson seems to have invoked."
"Ask away Mr. Black. We also have a time chamber available for you where you can grieve and sort out your feelings. The maximum time compression available is one year per day. There will of course be fees associated with this service. The details are in this brochure." The goblin pushed a small pamphlet on time compression across the desk.
"My understanding of time turners is that it's undesirable to see yourself while time traveling. How will this effect Harry?"
"There are a few theories, the favorite one at the moment is that your godson will only remember days both bodies have already completed. Meaning that their actions are independent of each other as neither will remember which one is repeating the current day. Though both bodies will remember the previous days that both of them have already been through. The other theory is that one or the other will repeat the day and remember the first bodies first time through the day. Any paradoxes that arise will be either prevented due to the nature of the time magic. Or cause time to restructure according to the changes made by the second trip through without catastrophic effects. In other words, your godson if this theory is correct may be able to rewrite time, a single day at a time. The remaining theories are both less desirable and less likely."
"Right, and with that explanation, I think I'm quite possibly more confused now than I was before, can I get three months in that chamber to grieve?" Sirius asked after examining the fees associated with the time compression.
"It will be available tomorrow from noon to one, you may bring the version of your godson that is with you if you wish."
The whole experience was surreal for Sirius. The goblins being nice to him, Well volunteering information something rarely if ever actually done. Certainly, the Goblins were a race assured of the superiority of their own kind over wizards.
The manipulation perpetrated by Dumbledore was staggering in scope. Sure, the vast majority of it was innocuous when seeing only a fraction and prefaced with the words 'For the Greater Good'. A phrase Dumbledore seemed to use like the Americans used 'National Security'. But, the layers of compulsions, some of them contradicting. Just how many times did the cantankerous old man change his mind?
Return to: TwinnedPosted: 2018-01-27 12:13:44 -6 gmt
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