Meddling in the Affairs of Wizards, Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Don't own and don't make any money but just like to have fun.

Summary: Lucius Malfoy, at the urging of his son, found the young man standing out by the lake. "Harry, my son wishes to enter into a bonding contract with you." Harry looked at him with sorrowful eyes and stated, "I am sorry sir; I don't know if my owner will allow it."

Chapter One: Attack in Diagon Alley

It was a cold and cloudy day and the threat of more snow hung over Diagon Alley as people bustled back and forth with their last minute holiday shopping. The New Year was coming and the couple huddled against the raging wind while looking at the toys in the window for their future son. There would be New Year celebrations soon and then their first child would be born sometime in July. The young Potter couple was excited and already shopping for the new addition to the family.

A shout came from a nearby alleyway and they heard the sound of spells going off in the distance and a scream of a young child obviously in distress. James ran towards the sound that was coming from the back of the Gringotts Bank. They had been headed there to set up the expected child's trust fund. Lily, who was only two months pregnant, raised her wand and with all her Gryffindor courage, followed her husband into the unknown alley.

As they crept cautiously into the darkened area, James motioned for Lily to stay back as he crouched down and stealthily made his way to the sound of the commotion.

There were three malicious-looking people in Death Eater regalia amusing themselves with the torture and murder of five small children-three goblins and two child house elves. They were obviously given a place to play in this deserted area but James detected no wards.

One of the Death Eaters raised his wand and started to yell "Cru..." just as James let out a stunning spell and Lily sent out another to one of his partners. The third had been watching the reactions of the little child creatures that were standing in fear. Yes, he loved the sight and smell of the fear. He was anxiously anticipating the next hex the other two would throw at these vile creatures that were only good for serving their masters.

Now the Goblins were not servants of any kind; they had fought many wars in times past to keep their freedom. The young elves were indentured by the Goblins and were there to see to the children; they had been obtained in a debt collection of a wizard that had made some very bad business decisions. It was all the same in the opinions of the Death Eaters who believed in blood purity and wizard rule.

The silence in the alley was deafening. As the last standing Voldemort sycophant slowly turned with an evil grin on his face in anticipation of what the other two were conspiring to do next, he found his compatriots frozen on the ground. Lily had already dispatched a patronus to deliver a message to the aurors and James stunned the last Death Eater before he could find James in the doorway in which he had been hiding.

"Lily!" James shouted to get her attention even as the cracks of apparation could be heard. "See to the children!" James was ready to hex anyone that came down that narrow street: it could be more Voldemort followers. As soon as he got a glimpse of the red uniforms that the three newcomers were wearing, he visibly relaxed. A big grin spread across his face when he recognized his fellow aurors, one Sirius Black with Moody and Kingsley.

"Wow," James said as he greeted his friends. "I wasn't expecting all of you to come. We didn't need that much help."

Moody was the first to answer, "You never know when more of those things are going to show up. Constant vigilance!" Moody grumbled. "Lily's message said you were being attacked by Death Eaters; she didn't explain how many or who they were attacking."

It was Kingsley that took over the conversation when he said, "James, how could you even think about helping out with only a pregnant wife as a partner? You should have messaged us immediately and not put Lily in danger. Have we not taught you that you ALWAYS have to call for backup?"

"I wasn't even thinking about that. I heard the cries of the kids and just charged in. You could blame it on the Gryffindor genes, I guess," he finished sheepishly.

Sirius had been busy binding up the three that would be sent to the ministry for trial, and then he bent to pull off their masks before he turned to help Lily with the small beings.

"This could have been much worse if you and James had not interfered," he said. Pulling off the white masks that were still adorning the faces of the three captured men, he didn't recognize any of them. "Moody!" he called to one of his partners.

Moody walked over to his young apprentice and looked at the three faces. "Too bad," he said as he studied their appearance. Sometimes you could know who they were by a family resemblance. "I don't know these, so they must be lower level followers. I sure would have liked to get some of the inner circle captured." He pulled out a portkey and sent the three on to the ministry cells as he started to gather information for his report.

No one had seen one of the female goblins look out a hidden door while this was going on. The little creature scurried to get her father as fast as she could. She had gone inside to ask if she and her friends could have a snack when the bad men came. The alley play area was warded when they were let out, although not heavily so, her father had asked one of the goblin assistants to do it.

"Papa! Papa!" the little girl was shouting all the way to her father's office. Obviously terrified and in a hurry to get help. The secretary at the door stopped her and asked what was wrong, but the poor thing was shouting for her Papa and crying and so excited that she couldn't understand a word said. She pushed a button on her desk to alert the older goblin in the connecting office and tried to calm the child. When her father came out of his office, he growled at the commotion.

"Who disturbs my meeting like this?" but as he caught sight of his distressed child, he soon went into father mode and pulled his daughter to the side so they could have a private conversation. When he finally understood what she was talking about, he immediately excused himself, and walked quickly though the halls to the play area that the goblin children often used.

What he saw there was absolutely mind boggling. He watched as three wizards in the robes of evil disappeared and five other wizards tried to care for the young ones that had been playing. The two small elves were especially nervous as their parents had been owned by some of those same idiots that attacked the children. Since they were untrained, they had been sold to some young enterprising wizard that made very bad business decisions, so the bank then collected them as assets of the business. The small untrained house elves had only been at the bank a few days.

He listened carefully as the only woman of the group crouched down and picked up one of the elves and cradled it like it was her own child. He knew these people. The Potters were an old blood family, but the only living Potter left had married someone who was muggle born. They had an appointment to meet with Griphook to set up the trust for their future son. The woman wasn't showing her pregnancy yet, but they had been told about the child that was on the way.

The goblin, Stagnook, stepped out of the secret doorway and cleared his throat to get the attention of the wizards. Moody was the first to bring his attention to the bank manager and with a frown on his face, he said, "We will be detaining those men and I assume the bank will want to press charges."

"Your laws do not cover us and you know these men will get off as an attack on us is not governed by your laws," the goblin snarled back at the elder auror. Wizard laws did not favor other creatures although they should. Their laws only protected the humans and it was up to the other species to fend for themselves.

"No, but an attack on the bank is, and they have the dark mark which is illegal. We will be able to prosecute successfully." There was no way Moody was going to let some followers of that madman free; he would get something on them during the veritaserum interrogation.

"I will have a bank representative send the paperwork immediately for the damage to our property. If that is all?" Stagnook sneered at the aurors. He didn't like dealing with these wizards, but it was better to deal with these wizards than the ones that had just left. He just didn't like the fact that he was denied his retribution on the men himself.

Mrs. Potter handed over the two child elves in her arms to two of the older children. She carefully showed them how to hold the now sleeping creatures and asked them to take good care of them. She was an enigma to the goblin, as he rarely saw any wizardkind treat creatures so carefully. She was extremely polite and not condescending at all as she instructed the children to hold the creatures so their wounds were not aggravated.

After speaking a few moments longer with the aurors, the Potters then kept their appointment with the goblin in charge of their accounts. They were a little late, but Griphook already knew of the excitement in the alley and could excuse it. One of the reasons goblins hated wizards so much was they were often late to their appointments as if the goblins' time was of no consequence.

As a thank you for their quick thinking, he gave the Potters, the soon-to-be parents, a talisman for their child for protection. It would be invisible to all who did not know of it. He advised that they tell no one, as it was a special goblin-made piece of jewelry and very valuable. He also admonished the adults to make sure the unborn child wore it at all times and never took it off.