Chapter One: The Blinders Are Off

"Archblade, can I ask you a question?"

Harry Potter caught the irritation that flashed across the goblins face; dark, slanted eyes hidden behind tiny gold, oval glasses flashed with menace before Archblade's expression smoothed into a bland mask and he bowed.

"Of course."

The frost in the goblins voice almost had Harry losing his nerve. Thankfully, with all the references Professor Binns had made about goblins overreacting to the slightest hint of disrespect made Harry ignore Archblade's tone and ask his question. He gestured inside the vault he had inherited from his parents. The vault was brimming with mounds and mounds of galleons, sickles, and knuts. Harry hoped it would last him through the rest of his years at Hogwarts, and maybe he'd have enough to find some place to stay during the summers, especially as it wouldn't be in his best interest to return to Privet Drive anymore, not after blowing up Aunt Marge.

"My vault. How much is in here? Do goblins invest money? Has my money gained any interest? My uncle, who is a muggle receives a statement from his bank every month, does Gringotts provide the same services to its customers?"

Frown lines appeared on Archblade's forehead as he stared at Harry blankly for several seconds.

"That was more than one question," he said coolly.

Harry shrugged. "Sorry."

The goblins lips tightened as he continued examine Harry closely as if he had never taken the time to do so before. Harry flushed as he realized how he must look wearing Dudley's old cast-offs and the taped up glasses he hadn't had a chance to repair. They had broken after Uncle Vernon slammed him against the wall trying to get him to deflate Aunt Marge. Maybe, he should include a shopping trip for clothes in the near future. How much did it cost to go to Hogwarts for a year anyway?

"Gringotts sends out quarterly statements to all vault holders," Archblade finally recovered from his shock and spoke to Harry slowly as if he were an idiot. "Premium customers like the Ancient and Noble House of Potter receive monthly statements as well as being assigned an account manager that personally oversees their family's finances."

Harry's mouth dropped opened at the surly goblin's words. "Ancient and Noble House of Potter? What's that?"

Archblade's posture stiffened as he stared at Harry wide-eyed. Shock on a goblins face was not something you ever wanted to see in your life.

"Mr. Potter, you have never received correspondence from Gringotts?"

"No."

"You've never met with your account manager?"

"No."

Archblade snarled he expected Harry had lied. "Then how did you receive the key to your trust vault when you turned eleven years old?"

"Trust vault? I thought this was my parent's old vault? Hagrid had my key the day he came on my birthday and told me I was a wizard. I think Dumbledore gave it to him."

"I see," Archblade voice made Harry feel as if he were standing in the middle of an iceberg. "You were unaware you were a wizard until your eleventh birthday?"

"Yes. Isn't that normal for muggleborns and muggle raised wizards?"

"Your family never told you?"

Harry laughed bitterly. "My aunt, uncle, and cousin hate me. No they never told me that I was a wizard."

Archblade looked around the empty cavern as if making sure they were alone. The only sounds Harry heard were carts driving off in the distance and the steady drip, drip, drip from the water pouring from the rock formation growing on the walls.

"I see," Archblade finally said. "Have you received any mail over the years?"

"Umm, I get mail from my friends Ron and Hermione."

Harry never knew it was possible for a goblin to roll its eyes. Harry had never felt so stupid and he was best friends with Hermione.

"Mr. Potter, I'm sure you are aware of your fame, correct? That you are called the Boy-Who-Lived and of your encounter with the dark wizard when you were an infant."

"Of course."

"As a result of that encounter you are the most infamous wizard in Europe if not the world. You are a celebrity and as such you should receive mail from your fans on a daily basis."

Harry thought of all the fan mail he had addressed for Professor Lockhart during detention and stared at Archblade with dawning realization.

"I've never received any mail, except from Hogwarts and my two best friends."

Archblade nodded, swung around, and made his way back to the cart. "Follow me."

The ride back to the bank was silent. When they arrived back to the main hall, Harry followed him into a conference room.

"Sit," Archblade barked.

Harry sat. Archblade went to a bookcase pulled out a thick tome and handed it to him. He looked at the title. 'Etiquette for Every Witch and Wizard.'

"This is a book nearly every witch and wizard memorizes as a child. Someone has gone through a great deal of trouble to make sure you remained ignorant of who you are, and of your family name. Do not allow them to win. You have to know the rules, whether you decide to follow them or not."

Harry nodded and took the book, Archblade was right.

"I am going to leave you here. A restroom is through the door on your right and a house elf will bring you lunch and anything else you may need. Please do not leave. We don't want to alert anyone that you are figuring things out. Do not trust anyone if I am not with them. Understood?"

"Yes sir."

Archblade turned and walked away, and Harry was alone and feeling like the stupidest boy in the world. Of course, he should've realized with everyone knowing his name, he should have gotten a few fan letters, especially from Boy-Who-Lived fan girls like Ginny.

Why hadn't he gotten any mail? Why hadn't anyone told him about his family history? Why hadn't he explored the history, culture, and traditions of the world he had unexpectedly found himself in? He was stupid. He should have thought of this. Who was blocking his mail? Why had Dumbledore had his vault key? Was Dumbledore involved? How could he be? It was Dumbledore for goodness sake. Was it just a misunderstanding? Did Dumbledore just not want to burden him, especially with the Dursley's views on magic or was it for purposes that were more nefarious? In any case, he did have a right to know what was going on. How close were his parents to Dumbledore? Wouldn't someone had said something if it was more than a student, teacher relationship? Hagrid had said that Dumbledore was the one who dropped him off at the Dursley's, why them? Didn't his parents have any friends he could've lived with? And if so why hadn't any of them tried to see him? Or had they and they thought he didn't want to see them because he never replied to their letters?

Not liking the turn of his thoughts, he decided to take Archblade's advice and cure his ignorance. Yet reading didn't help, because the more he read the worst his situation became. In the past two years, he had broken nearly every rule written in the book so far. No wonder the only two people who paid attention to him was Ron, whose family ignored tradition and history, and Hermione whose intelligence and strong attitude turned people away.

By the time Archblade returned, all Harry wanted to do was redo the last two years of his life. Archblade walked in the room with a very distinguished looking goblin and a retinue of guards. Harry jumped up and bowed to the men before the other goblin sat across from him.

"Mr. Potter," Archblade said in a very officious manner, "this is Ragnok the Eleventh, head of the European Division of Gringotts."

Harry goggled at the goblin before him. "It's an honor, sir. I'm sorry you had to put yourself out to attend to this matter personally."

Ragnok sat down and waved a sharply clawed hand for Harry to do the same. Harry resumed his seat, his heart pounding raggedly inside his chest almost wishing he kept his mouth shut. Life was easier when he didn't know he was being kept in the dark.

"The Potter Account Manager has been executed. Archblade is your new manager." Ragnok looked positively gleeful at the memory of the execution. Harry repressed a shiver. "Before his untimely death we learned no one was able to enter the Potter Vault. Your ancestors had the foresight to place powerful protections on their belongings. Of course we aren't going to take the word of a traitor, so all your accounts will be frozen until an audit is completed." He reached inside his pocket and handed Harry a large moneybag filled to the brim with galleons and an expensive leather wallet filled with pounds and euros. "That should tide you over until you can access your accounts." He sneered. "Please get new clothes and glasses and burn those rags you are wearing."

Harry nodded. "Yes sir."

"We called an emergency meeting tomorrow morning at nine with the Potter family attorney, the President of the Potter Corporation, several healers, and some others. You are too short and too malnourished looking for your age Mr. Potter. Both of your parents were fairly tall and anyone who spent five minutes in your company should've seen the signs of abuse. I would be careful of who you give your trust to because it is obvious that trust is being abused." He rose from the chair and made his way to the door. "I will see you tomorrow, don't be late."

Harry waited until Ragnok and the guards left before turning to Archblade. "Potter Corporation?"

"A multibillion galleon conglomerate comprised of some of the best security and private law enforcement agencies in the world. Your company is also involved in tourism and hotel management. Then there is the Potter Trust, a charitable organization renowned for hiring disfranchised wizards, squibs, and muggleborns as well as giving educational scholarships to squibs who have been disowned by their families or muggleborns who want to finish their non-magical education once they realize they will never get far with the prejudices in magical society."

Harry groaned. "Really, they can't?"

Archblade shook his head at Harry's naiveté. "Every department head in the British Ministry is held by a pureblood, even departments that deal with muggles despite those wizards having no real understanding of the non-magical world and how it operates."

A picture of Arthur Weasley flashed in Harry's head as he asked how plugs and rubber ducks worked. "I see."

"Good, you cannot afford not to." Archblade reached into the pocket of the vest to his three-piece suit and fished out a necklace on a platinum chain that had a pendant of a lightning bolt set in emeralds and rubies.

"Wicked!"

Archblade handed the necklace to Harry. "It is charmed to stop other wizards from utilizing legilimency against you and is an emergency port key that will bring you to Gringotts if you are taken against your will. Just hold the pendant and say 'knowledge' and it will transport you here."

Overwhelmed, Harry looked at the necklace before placing it around his neck. "Legilimency?"

"It is what wizards call the ability to read one's mind."

Harry shivered at the thought of the odd feeling he got whenever Snape looked him in the eyes or how Dumbledore's eyes twinkled when their gazes met.

"How do you stop it?"

"Learn meditation and occlumency. But you are too overwhelmed at the moment. Your first priority should to learn wizarding culture and etiquette. You should go now; I have a lot of work to do."

Harry found himself back on the bright and busy streets of Diagon Alley not as excited to be here as he had been last night. Why hadn't anyone said anything to him about his family and his place in the world? Were his friends really his friends? And Ragnok was right. He was the shortest and skinniest boy in his year, why hadn't Madame Pomfrey addressed that during the times he had been in to see her? Whom could he trust?

An hour later, he left Flourish and Blotts with a muggleborn introduction packet and books on traditions and etiquette. He also brought a backpack with an expansion charm on it before he headed to the ice-cream parlor. He brought a huge sundae and sat outside in the sun to read. He was determined to be less ignorant.

Author Notes:

*This is my first story.

*This story is complete and is a little over 90K words, but is unedited. My goal is to edit two chapters a week and have them posted.

*I am currently writing a sequel that is more Host Club focused. This story is more in the Harry Potter world though several Ouran High School Host Club characters make appearances.

*I am editing this on my own and not a British Citizen, so any errors are my own.

*I of course, do not own Harry Potter or Ouran High School Host Club much to my dismay.