Building Doors by JAWorley
Summary: [COMPLETE] After Harry blows up Aunt Marge and catches the Knight Bus to Diagonalley, he decides to take charge of his life when he learns he’s being sent back to Four Privet Drive. Harry spends the summer turning life in Diagonalley on its head, trying not to worry about the murderer Sirius Black, and attempting to avoid Severus Snape. In the midst of this he finds himself embroiled in an intense legal battle against Albus Dumbledore to decide his future. For the first time his fate rests solely in his own hands, and depend on the decisions he finds himself being forced to make. Harry wishes he could just be a thirteen year old boy, and begins to wonder if he’ll ever have the childhood he desires the most. Some of the warnings listed just as a precaution for things mentioned or alluded to.
Categories: Healer Snape, Teacher Snape > Trusted Mentor Snape, Teacher Snape > Professor Snape, Parental Snape > Guardian Snape, Fic Fests > Fic Fest 2018 Main Characters: .Snape and Harry (required), Dumbledore, Original Character, Other, Sirius
Snape Flavour: Snape is Angry, Snape's a Bully, Canon Snape, Snape Comforts, Snape is Kind, Snape is Mean, Snape is Secretive, Snape is Stern
Genres: Angst, Canon, Drama, Family, General, Hurt/Comfort
Media Type: None
Tags: Adoption, Azkaban Character, Incognito!Harry, Injured!Harry, Runaway, Spying on Harry! Snape
Takes Place: 3rd summer, 3rd Year
Warnings: Abusive Dursleys, Bullying, Neglect, Physical Punishment Non-Spanking, Suicide Themes, Violence
Challenges: None
Series: Building Doors
Chapters: 25 Completed: Yes Word count: 159491 Read: 141182 Published: 17 Aug 2018 Updated: 10 Aug 2021
Accounts And Holdings by JAWorley
Podmore had sent an owl to Harry asking him to meet at noon the next day, so Harry made his way back down to the barrister's office with all of his old clothes in the plastic sack from the clothing store he'd visited yesterday. He wasn't pleased to find that they wouldn't be meeting alone.

"Harry, this is Harrison Silver."

The man was tall and lean with short, neatly trimmed grey hair. He was wearing a dark grey suit and light gray shirt, and had a green and silver striped tie. He looked a lot different than Theodore Podmore, who's hair was a little wild and whose brown suit looked a little worn.

"Mr. Potter, I'm glad to make your acquaintance." He held out his hand and Harry took it reluctantly in a shake. Harry handed the bag of clothes to Podmore and then sat down in a chair.

"As I'm sure Mr. Podmore has told you, I am on retainer to take care of all legal issues facing the Potter family."

"I have a barrister," Harry said plainly. "When I went to your office a few days ago, I was turned away at the door because my clothes weren't up to par."

Silver seemed to take what he said in good stride and didn't seem perturbed. "Ah yes, I'm afraid I'm sorry about the misunderstanding you encountered with my legal aide."

"It wasn't a misunderstanding," Harry said. "She thought I was poor and wouldn't set an appointment."

"She will be giving you a full written apology as well as a verbal one." He sat down and Podmore sat in his own chair behind the desk.

"Let's get started," Podmore said, looking like he wanted to avoid the rest of Harry's argument and move on. "Albus Dumbledore is currently Harry's guardian, and has been awarded conservator over his accounts and holdings, as I'm sure you already know."

"Yes, unfortunately," Silver said. "I fought against it but the Ministry agreed that his guardian should have the right to move money for his care as needed and gave him full conservatorship."

"Is there any way we can get the accounts back under Harry's control?"

Silver turned to Harry and said, "Is there a reason you want to be back in control?"

"They're my accounts," Harry said, but Podmore cleared his throat to draw attention back to himself.

"I'm making a case to have Dumbledore removed as Harry's guardian. Right now I'm looking for a way to pursue emancipation but it needs to appear as though Harry is managing his own affairs."

"There's no case law to support someone his age coming of majority early," Silver said.

"I know, but it's Harry Potter, he's one of very few wizarding children ever to be placed with Muggle custodians who aren't parents, and we could have an opportunity to make case law."

Silver eyed Podmore critically. "It would be a high profile case," he said. "Are you sure you're up for that? With Albus Dumbledore having access to all of the Potter accounts, he could hire a team of barristers to stop you."

"That's not fair," Harry said, "it's not his money."

"But he does have the right to use it as he sees fit in your care and keeping," Silver said. "He can make a case that it's in your best interest that he remain your guardian, and therefore should use the money to see that it stays that way."

Harry sighed. Things were looking bleak. Maybe his case was bound to end before it even started. "Isn't there any way? I'm not even allowed to look at the accounts and holdings."

Silver opened his briefcase, which was a lot larger on the inside than it was on the outside. It looked as though he had stacks of parchments just like Podmore, but they were all tucked away instead of out in the room. After a few moments, he pulled out a tidy stack and handed it to Harry.

"The Goblins aren't allowed to show you the accounts and holdings, but as the barrister for the accounts I am to be kept apprised of all changes, and I am allowed to show you, since I am on retainer for the Potter family, not Albus Dumbledore."

Harry looked over the first parchment. It was all numbers and figures he didn't understand. He didn't know what to do with it. Finally he looked up and handed it to Podmore to look over. "Can you explain it to me?" he asked.

Podmore was busy looking through the stack though, so Silver cleared his throat and answered instead. Harry was interested to see that he didn't look perturbed or irritated in the slightest that Harry didn't seem to want to deal with him. He just kept going as if everything was going smoothly and it was business as usual. "Let me see page seventeen Theodore." He held out his hand and Podmore rifled through to page seventeen and handed it to him. Silver turned it around so it was facing Harry and said, "These are the Potter holdings, accounts, and properties."

"What's holdings?"

"The businesses you're invested in or own."

It was a long list and Harry let his eyes scan down it. It almost looked like he owned Diagonalley as well as several other properties in places he'd never heard of.

"This- these are businesses on Diagonalley."

"And Knockturn."

"All of them?"

"All but the Leaky Cauldron and Double Lane clothing." That was the store Harry had shopped in yesterday.

"I own both alleys?"

"Technically the Ministry owns the alleys," Podmore said. "But you own the buildings the businesses rent. The McGlaggen's own most of the actual businesses but you own a few outright."

Podmore rifled through the stack again and handed Harry several sheets of parchment. "See, this is this month's rent." Harry felt like his eyes were going to pop right out of his head. If this was what went into the accounts monthly from rent, he bet he was richer than Draco Malfoy.

"There are also profit shares," Silver said. "Your great, great grandfather invested in several businesses that are still around today. A portion of each month's profits goes into the accounts."

Harry looked over another paper they gave him and saw that there was a broom company listed. It was the same company that made the Nimbus 2000 and the new Firebolt he'd seen in the window of the Quidditch shop the other day. It looked as though the share he got from that company's profits were higher than the rest.

"This is a lot of money," Harry said.

"The entirety of the Potter holdings and assets makes the Potter family, or more appropriately, you, the fifth wealthiest in the aisles," Silver told him.

"But I can't use any of it to fight for myself in court," Harry said.

Silver frowned and looked to Podmore for an explanation.

"He only has access to his personal account," Podmore said, handing over the paper Harry had brought back from Gringotts the other day. "It looks like it's an account Dumbledore set up outside of the Potter accounts just for Harry to use for school books and other supplies. It's a lot for a young person, enough to get through school and still have spending money, but not enough to pay a barrister."

Silver took one of the papers back from Harry and pointed at a line. "This account is not under Dumbledore's control as it's the one set aside to pay for legal fees and must remain accessible so that a barrister can continue to be on retainer for the Potters. Your grandfather set the account up so that a percentage of all profit shares and rent would go into it each month. That is what my fees come out of. You can also tell the Goblins to add Theodore Podmore's fees to the list to be taken out."

"There's enough to cover it?" Harry asked skeptically.

"More than enough. Your grandfather was concerned about the possibility of future legal battles over holdings and profit shares and wanted to be certain there would be money to win any lengthy court battles."

Harry's head was starting to hurt trying to make sense of everything they'd shown him.

"Can I keep these to look over?" Harry asked, and Silver nodded.

"I have copies. If you have questions I'm at your disposal. My legal aide knows she is not to turn you away."

"What about others?" Harry asked.

"Others?"

"She can still turn others away."

"As it stands, I take no new clients as my time is taken dealing with the ones I already have."

"Hm," Harry said. He still wasn't happy about how he'd been treated, but so far Silver had treated him with respect and spoken to him like an adult. Harry didn't know if he could make sense of everything he'd been told, but he liked being spoken to like he could.

"So how are we going to get everything back in my control?" Harry asked. He watched as Silver and Podmore's eyes met for a moment and they shared a look.

"We're not," Silver said.

"But I have to."

"Until you've made majority, the accounts will remain under the control of Dumbledore."

"And you need those accounts in your name and under your control to prove you have the means of supporting yourself, and can manage the accounts wisely, so we can make a case for you coming of majority," Podmore said. It was a catch 22 and it made Harry's brain hurt more just thinking about it.

They spoke for a few more minutes, just long enough for Harry to make it clear once again that whilst Silver was representing his business interests, Podmore was representing Harry, and then Harry took his stack of financial accountings and went back to his room in the Leaky Cauldron to lay down. There was a letter waiting for him when he got back. It was from the Headmaster, telling Harry to stay put for a few more days until things could be sorted out with his family so he could return to Privet Drive. Harry huffed in irritation and laid down to take a nap.

Later that evening he spent hours looking over the many sheets of parchment, underlining and circling things, and writing down questions he had for Silver and Podmore. He had an idea, but he wasn't sure how to make it work or if it was even possible.

* * *

"I got this last night," Harry said, handing the letter from the Headmaster to Podmore. Silver was back again at Harry's request. He'd sent a letter off that morning asking for another meeting with both.

"At least we have a few more days," Podmore said.

"But then they'll send me back."

"I'm going to file for a hearing tomorrow afternoon just before the documents office closes. It will take them at least a day to file it, and up to a week to schedule an initial hearing. When I file I'm going to include that until the hearing is concluded you've asked to stay where you are."

"Will that work?"

"At least until the initial hearing, which is when the council will decide if there's to be a full court hearing over the case or not. And since I'll be filing right before the office closes, Dumbledore will have to wait a full day to intervene once he's notified. By that time the paperwork will be too far along for him to stop it."

Harry wasn't sure he fully understood, but Podmore seemed hopeful. With that being taken care of, Harry turned his attention to Silver, who had been listening as he waited patiently.

"You represent the business accounts," Harry said.

"Yes."

"What does that mean?"

"When your grandfather was alive he oversaw all business decisions. When he died, your father chose to pursue a career at the Ministry and wanted nothing to do with the Potter holdings, so he asked me to oversee things. I make sure rent continues to be sent to the accounts, I pay an accountant out of the legal fee account to make sure all the numbers are correct, if there are legal issues regarding Potter family holdings I see to them. In short, I make sure things are running as smoothly as they can."

"So you basically have say over the businesses?"

"Ultimately that is up to you."

"I'm 13."

"And the heir to all Potter holdings. Wizarding majority matters little in the business world Harry."

"So what if I wanted to open a new bank account? Would the Headmaster automatically get control over that since he's my guardian?"

Silver and Podmore looked at each other and Silver said, "Since the account will have been opened solely by you, goblin banking code states it is strictly under your name. Goblin banking code does not care for wizarding majority."

"So he can't put a hold on a new account if I open it?"

"He can't."

"Do you have the power to start sending all future money from the rent and profit shares to new accounts?"

Podmore chuckled and Harry looked over at him. "This is why wizarding majority doesn't matter in business," he said. "I love it Harry."

"You want to stop money from going into the old accounts, and open your own," Silver said. "That's an interesting idea. It would put future moneys under your control and help prove you're able to manage your own affairs. I can do it, but it will take the better part of a week to work out."

"Good," Harry said.

"How would you like the accounts set up?"

Harry frowned. He hadn't thought about it and supposed he didn't really care. "Can you just set them up like they are now? Continue sending however much to the legal fund account and open up new accounts only under my name."

"You're the only one who can open the accounts. We can set a meeting with the accounts manager at Gringotts and I can go in with you. That will take most of the day to open up that many accounts. Getting the funds to start transferring to those accounts is what will take the most time."

Harry felt light when he left the office late that morning. He had at least another week before he might have to return to the Dursleys (or so he hoped), and he felt like things were being set in motion.

Something brushed up against his leg in the dingy alley and Harry startled before he looked down and realized the same mangy black dog that he'd tripped over days before was standing there staring up at him.

"Hey, you're the one who tripped me," Harry said. The dog whined a little and wagged its tail. He knelt down in front of it. "How'd you make your way here huh?" Harry looked the dog over. Patches of fur were falling out and he could see the dog's ribs. "You look hungry." More accurately he looked half starved Harry thought. "Come on then, maybe I can find a place to hose you off before I take you back to the Leaky Cauldron." Harry looked around but didn't see a hose.

"Where'd you get him?"

Harry looked up and found Justin standing with a couple of younger kids. There was a girl and a boy that looked about eight or nine.

"I think he followed me."

"Is he nice?" the girl asked.

"I don't know," Harry said. "I've only known him for a few minutes."

"Looks mangy," Justin commented, coming over.

"I know, I'm gonna wash him but I gotta find a hose. Then I was gonna give him something to eat."

"We have a hose," the younger boy said, looking eagerly at the dog. He reached forward to see if the dog would growl, and when it didn't, came the rest of the way over and started petting him.

"We're not supposed to bring people in," Justin reminded the younger kids, but the boy began to whine.

"Aww come on Justin. He's got a dog. Look at him! We should help clean him up."

"Fine," Justin sighed. "Hurry up then. I'm gonna be mad at both of you if I get in trouble."

Harry and the dog followed the three into an opening in the building that went under the second story. It was an outdoor corridor that led to a dingy courtyard, spotted with brightly colored red and purple flowers hanging from a series of dilapidated window boxes.

"You both live here?" Harry asked of the younger girl and boy.

"Uh huh," the girl nodded.

"I used to live here," Harry said.

"Yeah right Potter," Justin said.

"I did. Mr. Podmore showed me on a paper. Not for very long though, just for a day."

"You're like us then," the girl said.

"I guess," Harry agreed.

There was no hose, but there was a water spigot, and the younger boy turned it on and began splashing water on the dog. Justin disappeared through a door that led inside and came back with a bar of soap. They used it to soap up the dog's fur and then the younger boy took the bar of soap back inside so it wouldn't be found missing.

"He's starting to smell better," the girl said. "Can we keep him Justin?"

"It's not ours Violet. It's Harry's dog."

"Not mine," Harry said. "I don't know if Tom will let me keep a dog in the room."

"You're staying at the Leaky Cauldron?" Justin asked.

"Yeah, until they can figure out what to do with me."

"Whaddya mean?" the boy asked.

"I accidentally blew up my aunt marge and my family kicked me out. I caught the Knight Bus and came here."

"Is that why you're in and out of the Barrister's office?" Justin asked.

"I'm trying to find a better place to stay. I don't want to go back."

"Stupid," Justin said, and Harry frowned and looked up at him.

"What?"

"You're stupid. You have a place to go back to and you're just gonna to waste it."

Harry didn't know what to say to him. He didn't want to tell him what it was really like there, so he chose to keep his mouth shut.

The door that led inside opened and a woman in her early twenties stuck her head out and looked around. "I knew someone had to be hiding a dog," she said, coming out the rest of the way and putting her hands on her hips. "Justin, you know better."

"We're not keeping him," he said, "we're just washing him."

"I can tell," she said, pulling the hairy bar of soap out of her apron pocket. "Next time wash the bar of soap at least. Lunch is ready and when kids started coming out of the bathroom covered in black fur I knew someone was trying to hide a dog again."

Violet and the little boy giggled.

"Inside, wash up. Come on." She ushered Violet and the boy past, both still giggling, and then looked over Justin, Harry, and the sopping wet dog. Harry and Justin were equally as wet as the dog was.

"What's lunch?" Justin asked.

"Ham and cheese sandwiches and soup. If your friend is going to eat with us you'd better hurry and wash up before the food's gone."

"He's not my friend," Justin said. "And I hate ham."

"Stupid," Harry muttered, and Justin turned on him.

"What did you say?"

"Well," Harry said, standing straight and wiping his furry hands off on his new jeans, "if you can call me stupid I can call you stupid. You have food to eat and you act like you'd rather skip a meal."

"So? You're over there at the Leaky Cauldron eating whatever you want."

"At least I'm getting a meal. Not like I was before. And maybe if you would have asked me why I was working with Podmore to find a better place to stay, I would have told you that." Well, that wasn't quite true. Harry wasn't sure he would have told him that he hadn't eaten much in the few days he'd spent at the Dursleys between Hogwarts and coming here. He barely knew Justin and he was starting to get irritated with his attitude.

"Justin, go inside and ask Mrs. Ginger for leftovers from dinner after you wash." Justin stalked past her and into the building, leaving Harry alone with the dog and the young woman.

"Well, are you coming? If Justin isn't going to eat his ham sandwich, you can have it."

"I'm allowed? Justin's right, I could go back to the Leaky Cauldron."

"It's lunch time now. You might as well come in. But the dog stays outside."

Harry turned and grinned at the dog, who sat down as if he understood that he wasn't going to be allowed in, and then followed the woman. There were over a dozen children inside, mostly between the ages of five and 12, though Harry noted that there were several older Hogwarts students he didn't know the name of. He recognized one from Slytherin and a few from Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. Justin was the only one in his year. Younger children giggled and played as they ate their lunch at a long table in a cramped room, and the older kids talked quietly amongst themselves or read as they ate. Justin was nowhere in sight.

"You didn't even leave one extra did you?" the woman said upon seeing the empty plate that had once been piled high with sandwiches. She didn't seem angry though.

"I ate Justin's ‘cause he said he wasn't gonna," the little boy who had helped with the dog said. Some of the kids looked at Harry as he followed the woman into the kitchen in the next room, but no one said anything. Justin sneered at him as he entered, but didn't say anything in favor of eating his lunch.

"Are there any more leftovers from dinner?" the woman asked. "Justin has a guest."

"A guest?" the other woman in the kitchen said, turning around.

"He's not my guest," Justin insisted, but didn't say anything else at the look both women gave him.

This woman was older, probably in her fifties, and had short, curly gray hair. She was only a few inches taller than Harry, and a little round about the middle. She took a step back, looked Harry up and down, and said, "I remember every child who has been through these doors since I've been here."

Harry and Justin looked at each other uncomfortably for a moment and she continued, "I just didn't think I'd see you come back through them again."

"You know him?" the young woman asked.

"Of course I do! This is young Harry. He was only a baby when I saw him last, but here he is, nearly grown now." She stepped forward and had Harry in a tight hug before he could protest, but had him released just as quickly.

"What are you doing back?" She looked up at his black eye and tangle of hair.

"Well, we were washing a dog in your courtyard."

"You're the one," she said.

"I'll bring you a new bar of soap," Harry promised, but she waved him away.

"It wouldn't be the first time children tried to smuggle pets into this house. Dogs, cats, mice, owls!" At the last she looked at Justin, and his cheeks colored red so he turned away to finish his lunch in peace at the counter.

"Here, have something to eat," she said and pushed a bowl of hot leftover noodles into his hands.

"Thank you," he said.

"I hope you haven't been fighting one of mine," she said, pointing to Harry's black eye.

He swallowed a bite of noodles quickly and shook his head. "No maam."

"Good. We don't hold with disagreements getting physical here."

Harry finished his bowl of noodle soup quickly and then moved to the sink to wash his dish, feeling like he should so he wouldn't be a burden.

"Give it here child," the woman said, taking it out of Harry's hands. She cast a spell and the dish was sparkling clean in seconds. "The orphanage may look a sight, but we're not stuck in the dark ages."

Harry looked around the kitchen then, from the cracks running up the gray walls, to the dingy paint and wood floor which looked like it had seen several spills and grease fires. It was clean, but like Harry, sometimes being clean just wasn't enough to make you look presentable.

"I didn't even realize there was an orphanage on Knockturn," he said.

"Oh, Peverell has been here for two hundred and fifty years. About as long as the alley itself."

"Are there alot of kids here?"

"Seventeen. We don't get as many as we used to now that You-Know-Who is gone. Justin, why don't you show Harry around, but make sure you come back here before you leave young man."

"Maam?"

"Your hair looks as poor as my orphanage and I'm going to cut it whether you like it or not." She raised her brows as if daring Harry to fight her on the point, but he knew he needed a haircut so he nodded and told her, "Ok."

Justin grudgingly led Harry out of the kitchen, through the dining room, which had mostly cleared out (Harry could hear a lot of laughter coming from outside and guessed the kids had gone out to play with the dog), and into a long dark hall.

"Bathrooms and laundry are down here," he said, pointing at closed doors as they went. "Mrs. Ginger and Miss Ava live down that hall. Boys five and under in that room, girls five and under in that room." The doors to the bedrooms were open and Harry saw that only a few of the beds were made up in the younger boys room and only one in the younger girls room.

Justin led him back down the hall and up the steps to the second floor quickly. It seemed like he was in a hurry to finish Harry's tour and send him on his way.

"Boys six to eight there, girls six to eight there." There was also a room for boys 9-12 and a girls room for 9-12 years old, and the last two bedrooms were for girls ages 13-17 and for boys ages 13-17. Justin seemed to share a room at the end of the hall with four or five other boys. "And that's the schoolroom." Harry looked inside. It was a cramped room with four tables and blackboards on three of the four walls. There were windows on one wall but they looked like they only looked out to the back of a brick building that was close enough you could touch it if the window was open.

"School room?" Harry asked.

"The kids go to school here before they're old enough to go to Hogwarts. Miss Ava is the teacher. Mrs. Ginger runs everything else."

"What's up there?" Harry asked, pointing to another set of stairs at the end of the hall leading up to a third floor.

"No one's allowed up there because it's falling apart. There's spells keeping kids out and keeping water up there from leaking down through the ceiling."

"Is it just more rooms and stuff?" Harry asked.

"I haven't seen it," Justin said. "I heard it was a couple of big rooms with windows looking out over Muggle London."

"Huh."

Harry let Justin lead him back down to the kitchen where Mrs. Ginger was waiting for him with a pair of scissors. "Sit down Harry." He did as he was told, and was surprised that she was done with his hair in a few short minutes. It appeared she had practice. She handed Harry a mirror and he admired how trimmed and neat his hair looked.

"Can I expect to see you again Harry?" Mrs. Ginger asked.

"I- I don't know," he admitted. He supposed his future wasn't certain and he could be spirited away any day if Dumbledore got the idea to do so.

"Well, if I don't see you, I love you Harry."

Harry frowned.

"Don't give me that look young man. I take care of all the children here, that makes them practically mine. You might have only been here for a day and night, but I've thought about you a lot over the years and wondered how you'd made out for yourself."

"Thanks," Harry said, feeling uncertain over her proclaimed affections. "And for the haircut and lunch."

When he finally made it back out to the courtyard, the dog was completely dry and looked exhausted from the ten children running around, chasing it, petting it, and, Harry noted with amusement, trying to get it to stand up on its hind legs and dance.

"All right, come here boy," Harry said, and the dog didn't need telling twice. Some of the kids made noises of discontent, but allowed Harry and the dog to leave.

"You gonna bring him back Harry?" the little boy who had helped wash him earlier asked, following Harry out onto the alley.

"Maybe," Harry said. The boy waved goodbye and Harry returned the gesture. He looked up at the tall orphanage and wasn't sure how to feel about the kids that lived there. On the one hand, he thought he might have done all right if he'd grown up there. The two women who ran it seemed to be nice and care about the kids that lived there. On the other hand, he felt sorry for the kids. At least Harry had grown up in a nice house, even if he had spent most of his time there living in a cupboard under the stairs. The orphanage almost looked held together by magic, and definitely needed repairs. A fresh coat of paint wouldn't hurt either, but Harry also didn't dismiss the idea that the entire building would be better torn down and a new one built in its place.

The End.


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