When Harry Potter had accepted the missive from the regal looking brown owl he had had no idea what he was receiving. Assuming, quite incorrectly, that he had finally been sent a letter from one of his friends, he had proceeded to rip the envelope open at lightning speed, only to come to a comical stop as the logo for Gringotts Bank came into his line of sight.

At this Harry did a double take. Gringotts had never before written to him. For the first time ever Harry wondered why that was. Even in the muggle world people received monthly or quarterly statements to keep them informed of their financial status.

Breathing deeply he decided to ask Mrs Weasley or her husband when they picked him up for the summer. He had no idea when this would be, as usual. It seemed that the Order was forever keeping him out of the loop, only usually finding out a few hours or perhaps, if he were lucky, a day before he was due to be released from his priso-relatives house.

Looking back down at the letter casually held by his right hand Harry Potter began to read:

Mr Harry Potter,

It is with great sadness that we at Gringotts Wizarding Bank are to inform you of the recent demise of one Sirius Orion Black. A will reading has been scheduled for August 3rd. If you cannot attend for any reason please send an owl to: Ragnok c/o Gringotts Wizarding Bank, no later than August 1st.

May your gold be ever flowing

Griphook

(Account Manager)

Unnoticed by Harry, the letter fell from his now slack grip and fluttered to the floor. Placing his head into his hands Harry wept anew for the death of his godfather. He had thought that he was handling the death well. Well, as well as anyone can handles the death of a family member.

"It's my fault," was the broken whisper from the distraught young teen. "It's all my fault!" As the tears came unbidden a beautiful snowy owl watched sadly from on top of the wardrobe, a soft hoot the only solace for the grieving boy.

Authors Note

My future chapters should be a lot longer than this initial chapter. My focus was on making myself publish something I had written and not to keep it on my computer until the whole story was complete. Knowing myself as I do, I would have likely talked myself out of it. I am in the process of writing the second chapter which is already 3 times the length of this one and I have barely started it.