These are probably the final lines, so um, if you don’t want to be spoiled do not click the read more.
“I apologize for not introducing myself earlier,” the Goblin Lady says, “I am Ithe, and you should consider me the head accountant for the Potter accounts.
Ithe proceeds to pull a tome of parchment from a compartment in her desk and sets it heavily on the desk. Dust rises from the text, causing Harry to sneeze. This tome looks old, with some of it’s pages mildewing. Harry isn’t sure if the cause is it’s age, or poor conditioning, but the mildew is certainly more than a little off putting. The book is taller than the width of Harry's hand. Infact, Harry would guesstimate that the book was as tall as the average goblin, and they were at least the height of six year olds.
“With all due respect Mr. Potter,” Ithe searches in her desk for another item, “You’ll need to read this in order to fully understand the scope of all your properties.”
***
“Oh you poor boy,” Ithe says, “You have no idea....”
***
“But wait,” Harry asks, once he has finished reading the first quarter of the tome, explaining all of that, “Aren’t Gringott vaults tied into bloodlines?”
“You’d think that they were,” Ithe gives Harry a toothy smile, “But you’d be very wrong. Let’s use the Malfoy family as an example. See, the Malfoy family vault belongs to whoever the head of the family is. Usually the head is in fact a Malfoy, and the Malfoy has heirs and they inherit the vault and add to their family wealth, and it’s all great. But, because of the liege lord oath Voldemort became the head of the Malfoy family, thus their vaults became his vaults.”
***
Ithe released a breathy little sigh, “Basically each title comes with a few votes for Wizengamot, since that’s run by noble houses. Now these votes are usually covered as the precious little treasures wizards seem to think of them as, though there have been instances of votes being traded to other wizards for favors.”
“So, I have like, five votes, cool,” Harry said.
“Not quite,” Ithe denied, “More like one hundred or so....”
***
“Sorry,” Harry apologized, “My life already belongs to all of Wizarding Britain. I don’t think you can have that.”
Ithe laughs at that, “No Mr. Potter. I’m not actually your head Manager of Accounts until we both sign a parchment stating so. Of course, if you’d prefer, you should be able to get another goblin to manage your accounts should you prefer it.”
***
Hermione stabs her frozen treat with a spoon, “First of all, goblins believe females are really bad at banking-”
“Oh geez,” Harry interrupted, “Sorry, but that made something she said click.”
“Oh?” Hermione asked.
Harry told her about his parting conversation with Ithe, to which Hermione replied, “I can’t believe she thought you cared.”
