Aurum Princeps

Letters

Hogwarts - 28/07/1996

Albus Dumbledore sat in his office. There were many topics that were stealing his attention nowadays. His eyes had lost their twinkle and there were black bags under them. It would seem that Tom was no longer as obsessed upon killing Harry Potter, he was instead choosing to spend his time building an army.
"It would seem that he may be coming close to discovering our secret," He muttered, absent mindedly stroking the phoenixes feathers. "Perhaps it is time to tell the boy Tom's secret," Dumbledore mused. "I fear he may be beginning to distrust us. Of course I shall have to be vague, and even then telling the boy such information could be dangerous. One wonders if he had less knowledge he should be more successful. The less information he knows the safer his mind is, however he may begin to question my loyalty...Hmm no the boys undying loyalty to all who surround him should ensure he never doubts me." Dumbledore rambled.
Fawkes let out a loud shriek that the old man misinterpreted as a shriek of agreement and flew out the open window.

Privet Drive - 28/07/1996

At quarter to midnight Harry Potter headed up to bed. Behind him lay a cleaned kitchen, washed dishes and a weeded garden. Harry opened his bedroom door as quietly as possible and gently shut the door, at first sight everything looked in order it was only when the teenage wizard looked a little closer did he see the two letters lying in his bed. One was branded with the Gringotts seal and the other, one he didn't recognise.

Harry walked closer to the bed and picked up the Gringotts letter first. He carefully opened the seal:
Dear Mr Potter,
It has come to our attention at Gringotts that a protection charm had been placed upon your vault. This has been placed on the vault since your parents death and should you wish to remove it then please stop by and talk to either Matterhorn or Lyander.

Should you find anything has been taken from your vault during the time you had no control then please inform us. It is not uncommon for guardians to move the money to other vaults but should anything have been taken from your vault then an investigation can be made.

Kindest rigards,
Rangok
   ~Manager of Gringotts Bank

Harry frowned, surely Dumbledore would have told him about this. But then again, Dumbledore was always vague so maybe he wanted Harry to work this one out on his own. Moving on Harry opened the second letter. The seal, he now observed, had a snake twisting around a sword. It was certainly a family associated with Slytherin due to the snake on the seal, however Harry couldn't be sure which family. There were many Slytherin family's that are simply unknown as their  reputations are not that of families such as the Malfoy's or Zabini's or Parkinson's. All of which have been in Slytherin for centuries. Harry smoothed out the letter and began to read it:
Dear Harry,
I know that you will not trust this letter as you do not know who wrote it. But I have something important that I need to tell you. I'll get straight to it, Dumbledore is a liar. He has lied to you. You come of age at 16, not 17. Furthermore I understand that you should have had a letter from Gringotts. Dumbledore was in possession of your vaults. It is my belief, although I knew you shall see it fit to check, that the old man has stole a large fraction of your wealth. It is also my understanding that he has not told you of your heritage. The Gold's (your true heritage) are a wealthy line of purebloods. They have 4 properties across England. I do not knew their names or whereabouts as I am not a Gold, however Gringotts can help you on that.

Please take my advice. I understand you do not trust me, but you don't know Dumbledore. He is sneaky and manipulative. But if you don't trust me then do one thing. Never underestimate him. It shall be your demise.

Good luck,
Lucy Marlene Smith

A simple letter. There was no proof that the person behind the letter was even alive anymore . Frowning even more he set the letter on his bedside table. Harry felt himself paling at the thought of what he had read. Surely Dumbledore wasn't what the woman made him out to be. Although he couldn't help but notice that Dumbledore was extremely vague, he never really told Harry anything of great detail. Nothing that would be useful to Harry at least. He also wondered about the vaults. If, like the woman said, the Gold's were rich then surely he would have more money than in his parents vault. That meant that Dumbledore would have had access to more vaults than just one. Harry felt his head begin to spin at the thoughts of betrayal.

He decided that perhaps these thoughts were best left for the morning. Settling on the pillows he plunged into an uneasy sleep.