Since it was an heirloom of the LeStrange family…it never would as he'd personally done away with the last of that line.
Better it be used than rust away in the vault.
"Anyway." Harry got back on topic before Jon could stutter out his gratitude once he got his blush under control at his ill-mannered fondling of Harry's treasure. "I forget the exact wording but it suggested that a 'Light-Scion' was going to turn Dark and lead to the ruin of Wizarding Britain."
"Britain?" Jon tested out another new and strange word.
"The land I called home." Was the answer he was given. "By that time I'd refused the bride everyone tried to push on me, refused to join the Aurors – a peacekeeping force." He explained before Jon could ask. "And had spent the preceding eight or so name-days," he decided to use rather than years given the strange time-keeping measure of his new world. "Traveling and learning and basically doing as I pleased with my time, power, and wealth. Much of that was spent taking care of my," Harry struggled for a second with the concept of godson before decided on, "foster-son, whose father was a great teacher of mine and close friend of my late-father's before he died in battle against the Dark Lord. My so-called rebellion and refusal to do as told made some people in power very angry. One of whom was the wife of the then-Minister who was infuriated when I decided against marrying the bride selected by others for me, without my knowledge or consent – her only daughter."
Jon winced, thinking of Cersei and the wrath she would have visited upon any man who had done the same to her or her daughter. And had if you consider that Rhaegar's father had refused to wed him to Tywin's only girl – the now-Queen Mother Cersei.
Harry gave him a knowing look. He was well-informed thanks to Benjen about just who Jon might be thinking of that would – and had – acted just like Molly.
"I trained." He said, tucking a familiar and very worn soft pink-and-purple drawstring lady's bag into his satchel. It had once seen him through awful times before being repurposed as a potion's kit. It was only right it would go with him on an adventure once more. "And I learned. But I never expected that a woman I had once seen as a mother would use that damned prophecy to convince the Wizengamot and the public that I was dangerous and in need of being put-down like a rabid dog."
Again, Harry used an unfamiliar term to Jon, but he followed the idea this time, not needing help with the phase. Instead, he found nothing in him but sympathy for that betrayal. One he was all-too-familiar with given the Lady Catelyn's attempts to shunt him off into the Black Brothers despite him being his Uncle Ned's nephew rather than some bastard by-blow as rumors called him. She simply couldn't stand the whispers and over time that meant she could no longer stand him when she'd raised him for much of his life in the halls of her husband's home when he couldn't be with his bearer on Benjen's travels.
"It took her time." Harry had to give the Wizarding World that. They didn't turn on him overnight. But nonetheless eventually they did turn. "The better part of two namedays. By the time she'd finished her work, I had seen her coming – and I knew that I was likely to lose unless I was willing to live in hiding the rest of my days and condemn those who stood alongside me. But," he gave a victorious if grim smile, eyes dark. "She didn't win. I'd learned that I couldn't make my foster-son my heir – not entirely. And I didn't want my inheritance and vaults seized. Fortunately," he gave a chuckle. "Goblins were warlike creature who honored those like them. Like me. They were contracted to set the spellweaving around my tomb – and knowing the place from that built this," he waved a hand encompassing the chamber. "Spelling it with preservation charms and secrecy charms. Charms that would return Teddy's inheritance to here once he and his heirs were gone. Others that would funnel gold and artifacts those who shared even the smallest relation to me into this place once they were dead as well. And others." He shrugged not knowing everything about how goblin magic worked or what all they'd done or otherwise not wanting to share what he did know.
"Question." Jon held up a gold coin, truly confused. "How is this a gold dragon if it's a remnant of your old world?"
"Goblin magic." Harry said in a dry deadpan. Shouldering his pack, he shrugged not having any other answer for the nobleborn man. "Even now it keeps aware of the outside world. Much like the spells layered over the upper chamber where I was kept that allowed me to hear and to know what was going on in the outer world. I slept," he looked off into the distance, still horrified by the magnitude of what had been done to him. "But it was a half-sleep. One without dreams. Or nightmares. Or rest. Merely locked in my mind and body, unable to move or communicate or even breathe. That," he said eyes nearly dead. "Was what a woman who I loved like a mother did to me for the sake of a prophecy and petty revenge over a slight."
:::
Books available to download.
You can now access all my latest crossover stories and exclusive content on Ko-fi! Visit https://ko-fi.com/queenofkings2000/shop to dive into new adventures and support my writing journey.
Thank you for your amazing support!