The Cupboard Series 4: The Fourth School

Chapter 25

The momentary flash of blue light and small pop caused Harry to jerk slightly backwards. No matter how much he was expecting it, the portkey arrival of anyone to Potter Haven always startled him.

Gathering himself, he stepped forward and sketched a short bow to the goblin who was now standing before him.

"Welcome to Potter Haven, Slipshard," he said.

"Mister Potter," Slipshard returned as he stepped off of the long bundle of cloth that had arrived with him.

"Is that it?" Harry asked excitedly, eyeing the bundle.

"If you mean is it the tapestry of your family tree that you asked to have made," Slipshard replied, his sharp teeth displayed prominently, "then, yes, it is."

A deep guttural laugh escaped Slipshard as he looked up into Harry's face. Then, after stepping to one side, he gave the tapestry a sharp kick, effectively unrolling it across the floor.

Harry's eyes roved over the rich golden brown cloth hungrily. It was easily three metres long and at least two metres wide. Its edges were trimmed in a deep chocolate brown, with tassels of the same colour hanging from its bottom edge. In the direct centre of the top of the tapestry were three crests. As was expected, the Potter crest was slightly larger than the two that were woven either side of it, with each of their names embroidered directly underneath: The Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter; The Ancient House of Peverell; and Clan Lomas.

It was the Lomas coat of arms that really caught his attention, which was unsurprising considering that this was the first time that he'd seen it. As there was no magical Lomas family crest, Harry had had the goblins research and then use the muggle coat of arms for the family. The top third of the shield consisted of a wide blue band. Two thinner red bands descended from it, splitting the lower white section into thirds. Three black fleurs-de-lis adorned the middle third of the shield.

The family tree itself was made up of hundreds of names and dates, all embroidered in rich red-gold thread, all interconnected by black lines designating marriages and child-parent relationships.

Dropping to one knee, Harry reverently touched his own name, before sliding his hand up to his parents and then to their parents. There were simply so many names on here that he knew that he was going to be spending hours staring at them all, committing them to memory.

"Instructions from the enchanter," Slipshard stated, breaking his concentration by holding out a roll of parchment. "This details how to add extra names to the tapestry in the coming years. He estimates that there is enough space for three, possibly four more generations on the bottom of the tapestry."

"Thank you, Slipshard, it's perfect," Harry smiled, the depth of emotion clear for the goblin to hear in his voice. "Dobby."

With a small pop, the small house elf appeared, his tennis ball green eyes widening as he realised that he'd just materialised in the middle of the tapestry on the floor. With one massive hop, he was off and looking up into Harry's face.

"Could you roll this up and move it to my room, please?" Harry asked.

"Of course, Master Harry Sir," Dobby replied.

A single snap of Dobby's long fingers had the tapestry rerolled. A second snap had both tapestry and house elf disappearing from the room.

Seconds later, flames in the fireplace behind them erupted before turning emerald green.

"Thanks for coming, Mister Tentridge," Harry said to the elderly man stepping from the FLOO, a briefcase clutched tightly in one hand.

"My pleasure, Mister Potter," Julius replied with a nod of his head, then, turning to face the goblin, he executed a bow. "Slipshard, it is good to see you again."