THE LIGHTNING LORD

Chapter 3 : Hogwarts letter

Harry got dressed for the day as today would be an important day due to his Hogwarts letter would be arriving soon. He had been preparing for this moment for the last four years and was finally ready. He wore a set of expensive robes for the day as he planned to go to Diagon Alley later. He descended down the stairs and proceeded to the castle's dining room. The elves had prepared his breakfast which was waiting for him on the table. Having his fill, he proceeded to the Lord's study. He really loved the place. It was a large room with a mahogany desk, comfortable chairs and books and rich paintings and objects surrounding them. It gave an air of confidence and displayed the power of the Potter family.

"Good morning Hadrian. I hope you slept well?" asked the portrait of Charlus Potter, Harry's grandfather from his frame about the fireplace.

"I slept well, Grandfather. Good morning to you too Grandmother" he said to the portrait of Dorea Potter nee Black.

Just then, Toby, Harry's personal elf popped in. "The letter has arrived, Master Hadrian" he said in a calm voice. Harry took it and gave a small smile and thanked the elf. Like him, Toby did not show much emotion and Harry liked it that way. He looked at the letter.

Mr. Hadrian J Potter

The Master Bedroom,

Potter Castle,

Sherwood Forest, Nottingham,

Nottinghamshire

He opened the letter. He had been accepted and had to send a reply. He wondered for a minute how Dumbledore would have reacted when he saw the address, but shrugged as he didn't want to think about that now. He had other important stuff to do today. Besides, the old man was bound to try something when he arrived at the school anyway.

He took the letter and concentrated till his dark hair lightened till it was blonde and his eyes changed from bright green to blue so that no one would ever recognise him as Harry Potter. Harry was a partial metamorphmagus so he could only change his facial features and hair colour. Still, he was very grateful to have been born with the trait. His status as the Boy Who Lived and as an international celebrity meant he couldn't go out in public without creating a storm. He snorted, not that they had a good description of his actual looks either. Boy, were they in for a surprise soon.

He took a piece of parchment and quill, wrote down his reply to be sent to Professor McGonagall. He called Toby and told him to post it only later that night. He didn't want people searching for him in Diagon Alley.

He went to the Entrance Hall, calmed himself and kept his face emotionless. He walked to the fireplace, took a pinch of floo powder and said "Diagon Alley". Green flames enveloped him. A couple of seconds later, he landed gracefully out of the fireplace. With a flick of his fingers, the soot vanished, and he proceeded down the Alley towards Gringotts.

When he entered the bank, he bowed to the Goblin guards at the entrance of the doors and went down the hall to a teller.

"Greetings Master Goblin, I'm here for an appointment with Lord Rangok. Please inform the esteemed Director that his client has arrived", Harry said to the teller in perfect Gobbledegook, startling the other witches and wizards in the bank.

The elderly Goblin gave Harry a toothy grin and called for another goblin to show him to Rangok's office. Harry followed him and entered an office. It was large and there was an old, yet scary looking goblin sitting at the desk. He motioned for Harry to take his seat.

"Greetings Lord Rangok" he greeted to the warrior.

"Greetings to you as well Lord Potter. I have gone through the contract with fine detail, and I'm sorry to say that it's unbreakable. It was created nearly two hundred years ago by your great-great grandfather William Potter and Steffen Greengrass. It explicitly states that in case either family does not have a male heir, only then would the marriage contract be enacted. As you know, Lord Cyrus Greengrass does not have a male heir. So the marriage contract between you and Heiress Daphne Greengrass cannot be broken. Both families have immense wealth and political power. This contract was established keeping in mind the friendship between the families and the fact that the wealth won't pass on to the wrong hands."

Harry sighed. He had hoped he could avoid this, but he had held out little hope. Unfortunately, he couldn't even blame William Potter for the contract, as it was created soon after the Potter Massacre as it was called. A son of the Potter family felt it was his right to get the lordship, so he descended into the dark arts, and with outside help, eliminated all the branches of the Potter family. But he wasn't successful in eliminating the main line as the large group of wizards with him couldn't get past the ancient war wards around Potter Castle. He had been killed of course, along with the others and this contract was to ensure that the family's enormous fortune was to not be misused in case something like that happened. As a result, he and Steffen Greengrass had created a contract which protected both their families. Now, nearly two centuries later, the contract came into effect.

Harry went to his trust vault and withdrew a few thousand galleons. He knew it was a lot of money, but his birthday was coming in a few days and he wanted to splurge a little. Besides, he was the Heir of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter and had to behave according to his status.

He went to Flourish and Blotts and picked out the necessary First-year books. He had finished them all of course, but he needed them for school. He sneered when he looked at the Boy Who Lived books at the other end of the store. Apparently, the public or the Ministry hadn't been informed about his disappearance four years ago even tough he didn't particularly care for that title, but he knew that it couldn't be helped. Harry reinforced his Occlumency shields and the emotionless mask was back in place. He finished buying all the necessary books and paid for them. He took the shrunken package and moved to the next shop. He bought an Advanced Portions Kit as he was no amateur.

Afterwards, Harry turned to the shop selling magical trunks and entered the shop.

"Hello, sir. What kind of trunk are you looking for?" a fat man asked.

"I'm looking for a seven compartment trunk complete with room size compartments please" he replied.

The owner had a look of shock on his face. Those trunks were very expensive and he couldn't ever remember a first year wanting one. But he looked to be dressed in expensive clothes, so he decided to oblige.

"This is the best trunk we have. Seven compartments as asked for, all room size to be customized to your preference, it comes with a shrinking charm as well as feather light charm. There are several wards to prevent theft as well as password protected. The price is 1648 galleons" he said.

Harry inspected the trunk closely. He was a very private person and he didn't want people looking through his stuff. Once satisfied, he said, "I'll take it."

The owner looked overjoyed, and immediately took out a new trunk and gave it to Harry. He paid for it and left. He moved up the ally to Madam Malkin's and bought all his school robes made of fine silk.

He entered Eeylop's Owl Emporium and looked around. He needed a personal owl. He looked around until he spotted a beautiful snowy owl. Harry stared into its eyes and the owl stared back. He carefully took the cage down and paid for it, deciding to name her Hedwig.