The Master of Death

Chapter12: Claiming Titles

The next day was quick to come and when Harry woke up, it was because of Hedwig, who picked on the window shortly after dawn. Next to her sat a particularly big exemplar of a tawny owl with a package from Flourish and Blotts. He opened it, while Ron was still groaning into his pillow. Hedwig nipped his ear affectionately when she landed on his shoulder.

"Hello girl," Harry said and petted her wings. A small note was attached to her foot. It was sealed with wax. Probably magical, to prevent the wrong people from reading it. Harry took the note and Hedwig graciously flew over to the bowl with water. Meanwhile, the tawny owl had a hard time getting in and Harry helped her by relieving her of the hefty weight pulling her down. Pigwidgeon chirped excitedly, which led to Ron groaning once more.

"Shut up pig," Ron mumbled under his blanket before he fell back asleep.

Meanwhile, the tawny owl expectantly stretched its foot with a small leather bag attached to it. Once Harry had checked the price scribbled onto bill stuck to the package, he rummaged through his suitcase, till he'd gathered the right amount.

Once the owl was paid it also made its way to the water bowl where Pigwidgeon excitedly fluttered around them before it took off and left.

Harry first opened the large package, ripping away the brown paper to reveal three books.

All of them seemed used, their edges worn and the pages yellowish from age. Harry didn't look forward in the slightest to read them, but if he wanted his plan to work he needed to do some research first. The cover of the biggest read, "A constitutional and legal history of magical law in Great Britain (i. e. England, Scotland & Wales) from 1847-1881" while the other two were titled, "Law reports and commentary, Wizengamot 1876" and "Consequences: The effect of magical Law and its complexity on wizarding society by A. Bodwick - 1880".

After briefly checking the books and flipping through their pages, Harry put them aside, shifting his attention to the letter. His mood visibly improved once he had broken the seal and read what was written onto the parchment.

Dear Mr Potter,
you wanted to be informed as soon as possible. Preparations have been made and we await you today. If your attendance is being prevented for some reason and therefore shan't be possible, please inform us per owl.

Sincerely Gringotts Bank

With a grin, he put the letter aside. Outside the sun had barely risen, fog still heavy over the city. Sighing Harry pulled one of the old books towards him. If he was already awake, he could at least use the time and begin his research.

About half an hour into his reading, Harry had resorted to using some basic spells which helped him find the pages in the books which were of interest to him. Meanwhile, Death had materialized in his human form, lounging on Harry's bed and lazily watching him as he flipped through the books.

Ever so slowly, the house came to life and Harry could hear muffled voices as the first people went down to get to the kitchen. Shortly before Ron woke, Harry shoved the books under his bed where the other two from the Black library were already collecting dust.

When they eventually headed down for breakfast, he'd already gained a pretty good overview of what he had to know.

Once they had eaten, Harry subtly discarded the evidence of his correspondence in the big fireplace, as he wasn't very keen on being bothered with unnecessary conversations consisting of annoying questions.

Something that turned out to be rather useless, as Ron and Hermione had apparently decided that now was the perfect time to confront him about his outburst regarding their lack of communication during the summer. Thus, the first half of his day mostly consisted of him dodging their attempts to talk to him, Death being surprisingly helpful in alerting him of their presences and stepping between them, whenever they spotted an opening.