This is my 1st fic and so any comments will be appreciated, even critisism. I originally posted the 1st chapter ages ago, but forgot the password to the account with it on, so I am restarting!
I own nothing except this laptop i'm using to write with.
31st July 1980
It should have been one of the happiest days of James Potter's life. The day his son was born. A pure-blooded wizard heir. A son he could teach to fly and prank. A son to spoil.
But there was a problem. Harry James Potter was a breech birth. There had been a real danger of him dying even before his 1st breath! After much tears, and sweat and magic, little Harry was born alive. Just.
Lily and James were ecstatic. They were cooing over the tiny baby in his small respiratory crib, tubes entering the premature body. The child was born 3 weeks early. July 31st instead of mid August like predicted.
Across the sterile white hospital room 2 medi-witches exchanged furtatative glances. Looks which meant trouble. Grasped in the knarled hand of the elder witch were some test results. The two medical professions quietly slipped out the room.
"I've never seen this before in my life!" Quietly exclamed the elder medi-witch, Healer Brocklehurst.
"I know. It is very strange. I mean, look! It says here that he has a magical core, albit a much smaller one than usual, but he doesn't have any channals directing the core to his brain, like he should!" Mused the younger, raven-haired medi-witch, Healer Samwell.
"So will he be a wizard, or have the Potter's produced a squib? He has a wizard's core, but no connection to it!" Queried Brocklehurst.
"My guess is he will be a squib! No channels, no spells! Must have burnt out his channels with accidental magic to stay alive during that breach."
The two medi-witches sat it quiet contemplation for a few minutes, but to each of them the seconds seemed like hours and the minutes like days. All that could be heard was the crackling of the fireplace and a dull moaning of a patient in a nearby ward.
"What do we tell the parents? The Potters are amongst the oldest families in existance. There has never been a squib before, ever!" Came from the raven-haired healer.
The older pure-blooded healer sat back in her chair in contemplation.
"The Potters are a Light family. Any other family would have the babe adopted by other squibs or muggles. Not the Potters, they have been Dumbledore's desciples for far too long. They would keep it and raise it like it belonged in our society. It would inherit their fortune and that would be the end of the pure-blooded Potters." Muttered the elderly Healer Brocklehurst to the other pure-blooded healer.
"So what can we do? It would be morally wrong of us to let that happen! We have to do something! How can we remove this child from out world? I refuse to harm him myself, I took an oath as a healer, I will not break it... But it can be twisted somewhat."
Another long silence permeated the room, punctuated by Samwell tapping a quill on the edge of the desk.
Slowly the answer wormed it's way into Healer Brocklehurst's mind, and with slow triumph she quietly exclaimed, "Goblins! The answer is the Gringott's goblins! I remember hearing a while back that the goblin's will buy squibs and muggle babies on the sly. It was never confirmed and noone knows what happens to them."
" What! We can't! They would probably eat him! And besides, how would we get him away from his parents?"
"It would be easy," came Healer Brocklehurst's reply, "simply cast a tickling jinx on him. He's a baby, it won't hurt him but it will give him what appears to be a fit. We then rush in and remove him from the parents for 'emergency treatment'. We come back in an hour and say he didn't survive and give them an easily created dead clone of the baby."
"Well, I suppose we could. It would help keep our world pure and we can ask the goblins what they intend to do with it. Can we owl them now?"
A few hours later saw 3 Marauders comforting a crying man and a wailing woman sitting in a hospital ward. They had lost their first born son. Little pronglet was dead.
In the corner of the room stood Professor Albus Wulfric Brian Percevel Dumbledore, his eyes without their customary twinkle, his heart heavy, his mind racing.
He thoughts were not on the grieving ex-parents, but on the consequences of the childs death. And a particular prophesy. With the Potter baby gone, the prophesy will have to refer to the Longbottom child.
6 years later... May 10th 1986
Su Li was a very inquisitive 6 year old, and so when her father said he was going to visit their family vault in Gringotts she begged him to be allowed to come. After all, how many 6 year olds get the opportunity to talk to goblins and ride a rollacoster and maybe even see a dragon!
After much begging and even a small temper tantrum, he relented and that afternoon she was dragging him through the atrium of the goblin-run wizarding bank. Her tiny hand clasped firmly in his, bright eyes flashing around excitedly.
Her father, Wing Li, was also glancing around, but for a different reason. He, like many other wizards, had heard rumers in the past of goblins stealing children. He thought they were just stories and nothing more, but was still slightly nervous.
After approaching the goblin at the front desk, they both took their places in the rickety cart and off they went. Fastly winding down the spirally track to the bowels of the bank.
Ten minutes later the cart stopped outside of the Li family vault. Wing Li immigrated to Britain, from Hong Kong, 20 years ago with his then newly-married wife. Their family vault was not one of the oldest or one of the fullest, despite Wing's job as an independent wizarding accountant.
Little Su Li looked on in awe as the door slowly opened and her family's wealth was reveiled. She then glanced around, down the tunnel though which then had travelled sortly before in the cart.
Her eyes went wide and she gasped! "Daddy!" She cried, "there's a boy over there!"
Wing turned around, surprised by his daughter's outburst. He scanned the area she was pointing in. He saw nothing.
"Darling, there is nothing there." He calmly said to her.
She then stomped her tiny feet and retorted, "I saw him! There was a boy! He was my size and had black hair and very white skin! He was there! Ask Mr Goblin! He was looking in the same place, he must have seen!"
At this, Wing Li turned to the goblin with them, giving him look filled with apology. The goblins only reply was a sharp-toothed smile filled with malignant humour and quietly cackled, "There are no human boys wandering freely down here, they simply wouldn't survive!"
The goblin was still grinning when he returned the chinese wizard and his young, frustrated daughter to the main lobby of the bank, thoughts of her ghost boy drifting to the back of her mind.
August 5th 1997
"The best laid plans of mice and men..." Quietly mumbled Albus Dumbledore as he reclined at his desk, slipping lemon drops into his mouth. He was reflecting back at the past 17 years, trying to see where it had all gone so drastically wrong.
It had all started with Neville Longbottom and his defeat of the Dark Lord Voldemort, when he was only 15 months old. One chance accident had given the wizarding world nearly 10 years of peace from terror and civil war.
At Halloween 1981, Voldemort tried to ensure his immortality by killing the one prophesied to defeat him. He broke into Longbottom Manor in the early evening when the parents are still at work. Only Neville and his grandmother were present at the time. What happened that fateful night is not known, only vague speculation. By the time Frank and Alice Longbottom came home, the elderly Augusta Longbottom was dead, Voldemort was a pile of foul smelling ashes on the floor, and little Neville was crying in the corner, a gash shaped like a star adorning his right cheek.
Albus's mind then skipped forward 10 years, to Neville's arrival at Hogwarts. Albus expected the child to be a shy, slip of a boy, much like his father when he came. Instead, Neville arrived standing tall and radiating a mixture of confidence or arrogance. This somewhat threw Albus's plans. He needed the prophesied 'chosen one' to be malleable to his manipulation. He needed the boy to look up to him, to hang on the every word of one of the most powerful wizards in existence. Instead Neville was a spoilt brat, used to getting his own way from his doting parents and his admiring fans.
That year Albus had been asked to guard the most prized possession of his close friend and mentor, Nicholas Flammel. This had been the perfect opportunity for him to test Neville. Unfortunately Neville, despite being sorted into Griffindor, showed no interest in the Philosopher's Stone. The Stone was stolen by Professor Quirrel, who had not been hindered by the tests and tasks designed to be broken by the 11 year old Longbottom boy. Quirrel then resurrected his foul Master using an ancient ritual involving the Philosopher's Stone.
From there it had all gone downhill. Voldemort had started slowly, rebuilding his forces and waging a political battle using his most influential followers. New laws were slowly put into place. Laws that encouraged violence. Dueling, both with magic and with blades, was legalised and re-introduced into society. Previously only competition dueling was legal and this was heavily regulated. Now duels only had the restrictions that the participants chose.
Other laws included the tightening of the Ministry's control on magical creatures and even on the curriculum at Hogwarts. Defence Against the Dark Arts was now knows as Combat Magic and included the dark arts!
All of this was done with Voldemort in the shadows. The majority of the general public were still of the opinion that he was dead! There had been only a few strategic attacks that could not be pinned on anyone but to Albus they were clearly the work of Voldemort.
The year after the resurrection of the Dark Lord, Albus had 2 new exceptional additions to his collection of students at Hogwarts. These were Ginevra Weasley and Christopher Potter. Ginny was the only daughter of 2 of his staunchest supporters, Molly and Arthur Weasley. Christopher, although he preferred Chris, was the son of Lily and James Potter. They were so distraught over the cot-death of their first born son, that to seem them full of joy again with Christopher was a blessing that warmed the ancient heart of the headmaster.
During his 1st year at Hogwarts, it soon became abundantly clear to all that Christopher had inherited his fathers brash spirit and none of the calming attitude of his mother. He was often egged into mischief by Ginny's older brother Ronald and by Neville.
The fierce rivalry that had long existed between Slytherin and Griffindor was only exacerbated by the antics of the three boys. This suited the manipulative Mugwump perfectly as the bias house system within the school allowed for easier recruitment into the ranks of the war that he felt was sure to come.
In Neville's 3rd year, Bellatrix Lestrange broke out of Azkaban. Bellatrix was widely acknowledged to be Voldemort's favourite Death Eater and was said to be one of the cruellest, sickest and depraved people in existence. When she exited Azkaban, she left 2 of the human guards dead and one more in a comatose state, all without a wand. She also left behind her husband and his brother.
After reuniting with her Lord, Bellatrix went on a bloody rampage to make up for a blood-Iess time in prison. It was widely thought that her target would be Neville Longbottom, the Boy-Who-Lived. This prompted Albus to increase the security at the school and update to wards.
The Gringotts goblins were known for their warding abilities. If the goblins wanted to keep you out of somewhere, you would be hard pressed to get in. So when Albus approached the goblins about updating the wards of Hogwarts, he was amazed to wake up the next to find brand new wards covering the castle. Wards that he himself would be hard-pressed to even break, let alone cast! At this point Albus realised what an ally in the fight against the Dark the goblins would make.
Yet try as he might, the goblins wanted no part in the war, despite being an incredibly war-like species. They were content to play the role of the wizarding bankers and would do nothing to upset either side, since lots of money from both sides were stored in their vaults.
Another reason that they would not join either side was that neither side would agree to treat them as they wanted to. Albus realised that the general wizard view was wrong. Who in their right mind would entrust all their money to one species to guard, then mistreat and segregate that species! It seemed madness to Albus, and he realised that nothing short of a miracle would sway the goblins to join the war.
That said, Albus was glad of the neutrality of the bankers. If Voldemort did sway them to his side, then the war would be 5 time shorter and 10 time more bloody.
In Neville's 4th year, it was decided that the Triwizard Tournament would be restarted. Albus had hoped that it would unite many people to his cause, and would allow those in the know to forget about the war for a short while!
Unfortunately, the tournament did not end as well as hoped. Voldemort, seeing the world's eye on Hogwarts, used the publicity to launch himself into the limelight and reviled his resurrection by murdering the 3 champions during the 3rd task.
It was at this point that everyone went all-out and the war took a turn for the worse. Attacks were happening daily and small skirmishes were a regular occurrence. This had been happening for the last 2 years, even last week there had been a large attack in Diagon Alley, with 6 people killed just outside Gringotts.
Once again his mind was on the bank and it's goblins. This brought his attention to the open letter sitting on his desk.
Albus P. W. B Dumbledore
Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Order of Merlin, First Class; Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and Grand Sorcerer.
You are requested to meet with President Ragnok at your earliest convience.
Your's
Grunshak
Secretary of human relations, Gringotts Wizarding Bank.
This left Albus stumped. He could think of no reason why he would be meeting with the bank's president, who won't even meet with the Minister unless it is organised months in advance.
As Albus reached for the pot of Floo powder, he hoped that the goblin's weren't going to try and reclaim any of the goblin made artifacts within Hogwarts, and he dared to dream that the meeting may have some positive impact on the war.
Albus calmly stepped out on the Floo, into the extremely ordered and neat office of his deputy headteacher and transfiguration master. Her name was Minerva McGonagall and in his eyes one of the most beautiful and enchanting witches in the world. He would have gladly admitted this to her if not for the fact that at 151 years old, he has reached the stage that he needed one wand to keep the other wand up!
Anyway, he reasoned to himself, love, whilst important is not the reason I'm here.
"Minerva, my dear. I was wondering if I could perhaps have a moment of your time." Exclaimed Albus, "I have just received a letter and your thoughts and input would be invaluable."
Her slightly yellow eyes scanned the parchment from Gringotts.
"Goblins? What on earth do the goblins want? And the president no less! I cannot possibly fathom a reason, you'll have to go meet them and find out. It is most intriguing."
"I thought so too, my dear. Would you care to accompany me to the meeting? After all, 2 heads are better than 1." Albus said, absentmindedly wishing to himself that it were a date.
Minerva agreed and soon the two aged magical practioners found themselves walking down the path towards Hogsmead village, where they could apparate to Diagon Alley.
Albus and Minerva slowly climbed the large marble stairs to the massive oak and wrought iron door at the front of Gringotts Bank. Both could almost taste the magic imbued in it. Turning back and looking down Diagon Alley, neither could see many people out shopping, and those that were out hurried between shops, not wanting to be in the open for fear of Death Eaters. The fear in the shopping street was almost palpable.
As they entered the foyer of the bank, they immediately saw a massive increase in security that had not been there at their last visit 2 weeks previously. There were armed goblin guards along every wall, twice as many as normal.
The guards eyed the two as they approached a cashier's desk and handed the letter across to the slightly sneering goblin who slowly read the parchment and beckoned over another younger looking and slightly smaller goblin and spoke to him in quiet, rapid gobbledegook.
«Show the humans to the president, then tell Shank that they are here and that the meeting has started. He should be in the training room, if not then he may already be in with the president.»
Turning to the 2 professors, he said in English, "Follow Griknik here. He will show you to the president."
As the 2 humans trailed behind the goblin, Albus asked the goblin a question.
"Griknik, is it? I couldn't help overhearing, who is Shank? And what relevance does he bear to our summons to see the president?" Albus was desperate for any information that could aid him in the meeting.
Griknik looked surprised. "I was not aware you understood the goblin language. Anyway, I'm not allowed to give out that information, that's for the president to do. I value my job and my life." With that ominous statement, he set off again, through the winding, luxurious corridors of the bank.
Finally they reached a magnificent door with 2 heavily armed goblin guards on either side. Griknik sharply rapped on the door and waited for it to swing open before turning to walk away after gesturing for the witch and wizard to enter.
The president's office was surprising. After hearing about how war-like the president was, the office was simple yet majestic. In the centre was a massive mahogany desk with a giant green comfy-looking chair on one side and a number of simple wooden chairs covered in red felt on the other side. The walls were adorned with paintings of landscaped with a few small portraits of important-looking goblins. Standing by a large window was the president. He was oddly tall for a goblin and was dressed in an expensive suit yet his face was scarred and his left eye was not in it's socket, but encased in glass and was being used as a paper weight on the desk. A black eyepatch was in its place.
The president waved Albus and Minerva into the crimson seats, and Albus used this opportunity to speak.
"President Ragnok, it is an honour to meet with you. Might I introduce the deputy headmistress of Hogwarts, Minerva McGonagall. How might you be this day? What can we do for you?"
At this introduction, the scarred goblin leader nodded his head at McGonagall, before slowly, methodically beginning to speak.
"As I am sure you know, Headmaster, the Gringotts goblins are neutral, or at least we were neutral. In the attack last week in the Alley, one of our guards at the front door was hit by what we assume to be a stray spell. He died."
At this the twinkle in the eye of the Hogwarts headmaster was almost blinding. "Does this mean that you will be joining the war on the Light side?" He asked excitedly.
Ragnok gave a brief pause as he played with his eye paper weight.
"It certainly does mean that Gringotts will be abandoning our neutrality, but to which side we are as yet undecided."
Albus gave a small start before the goblin continued.
"I have a favour to ask of you, in your capacity as headmaster of Hogwarts. There is a boy who needs to take his NEWTs before Gringotts can officially employ him. He has agreed to attend Hogwarts for his 6th and 7th years and will help us judge which side of the war to join. Would you be willing to allow him to attend? If so, I will call him in, and explain to him what will be happening."
The twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes doubled. "Of course," said Dumbledore, "no child should go without an education."
Ragnok smiled a toothy smile, the light glinted off his pointed teeth. He then strolled over to the door to his office, and opened it to reveal a boy, who quickly entered.
Both professors took in the boy's strange appearance, and were shocked by different things. McGonagall was taken aback by how pale the boy was. He was whiter than many of the ghosts that inhabited Hogwarts. His skin was almost translucent, his veins were clearly visible on his closely shaved scalp.
Dumbledore was surprised by the boy's skin, but by a different aspect. His arms and torso were visible due to the un-zipped dark purple short sleeved hoodie, and underneath he was covered in odd runic looking tattoos that seemed to shimmer as he walked. The unfamiliar patterns started to give Dumbledore a headache as she stared for too long.
«May your gold run as freely as the blood of your enemies.» Intoned the boy to Ragnok in gobbledegook.
Again a grin spread across the goblin's scared face. "Allow me to introduce Iblis Shank." Said Ragnok, as Iblis held out his hand politely to the professors. "Would you mind excusing Shank and I for a few moments, as I update him on the situation?"
The two teachers mutely nodded their agreement as they exited the room.
After they left, Iblis quickly waved his hands in a strange pattern before muttering "clean" under his breath. He then turned to the most powerful goblin in the entire bank and with a cheeky grin said, "Hey Raggy, what can I do you for? Also what's up with the humans, I thought I was a secret!"
"Don't call me 'Raggy', brat!" Growled the banker. "I've got a long term job for you. Infiltrate Hogwarts and tell us which side is more likely to be beneficial to the bank, then help them win. You have the full backing of the goblin people in this and permission to use all your skills. Also keep me informed of any goblin-make artifacts you see in the castle."
"Erm... President Raggy, sir, you forgot one little issue. I'm not a wizard, I can't use a wand. Over half the classes there need a wand!"
"Minor details." Waved off President Ragnok, "You are more wizard-like than any other we can use for this. Let's get your new teachers in and see about classes for you. You'll also need to go to the Alley to buy all your school stuff, use the corporate account for that."
With this last comment, Iblis strolled over to the door and slowly opened it, shooting a polite smile at both professors. "It is an honour to meet you both and a pleasure to come to your school."
Both professors smiled at the polite young man, whilst Ragnok smirked to himself at the act that Iblis was pulling.
"Before I commit to attend your school, I do have a slight confession and a request." Said Iblis, piquing the interest of both Albus and Minerva. "When I was born, my magical core did not connect to my brain, as with other wizards. Though much experimentation, the runic tattoos you see on me allow my core to connect to my hands. This means I am unable to use magic in a normal way and I cannot use a wand at all. If I do attend Hogwarts, I would only be able to do subjects that do not involve a wand."
Albus looked very thoughtful at this, and after deliberation he said, "I see no reason why you cannot do subjects such as runes or potions, if you current abilities in them are sufficient. Out of curiosity though, what magic can you do, if you cannot use a want?"
Iblis smiled happily. "I had to basically create my own style, its very flexible. I call it thread-magic. I am also rather adept at goblin warding. I can give you a demonstration of both at some point, if you wish. Now, I believe I will need specific items for school, do you perhaps have a reading list so that I can do a spot of shopping?"
Dumbledore seemed rather perplexed at this point, as his mind flitted around the concept of thread-magic. McGonagall noticed this and took charge.
"Mr. Shank, I am free for the remainder of the afternoon and would be more than willing to accompany you shopping in Diagon Alley, should you wish for company. I will be more than adequate to direct you as to which books you could benefit from."
... GW ... GW ... GW ... GW ... GW ... GW... GW ... GW ...
An hour later, a very pale youth and a very severe looking witch could be seen hurrying down Diagon Alley. All around them people would notice the odd couple, have a quick glance and then return to their shopping. In such dark times the general consensus was to spend as little time as possible out in public where the chances of attack were exponentially greater.
Iblis and McGonagall entered Flourish and Blott, the wizarding bookshop where Minerva handed Iblis the list of standard 6th year texts and set him loose, stating that she was going to peruse transfiguration texts.
Iblis looked at the list he was given, and set about collecting the books.
Numerology and Grammatica
Harmless book of dangerous creatures by Rabas Tilco
Encyclopedia of Magical Plants by Podmona Sprout
An Extended History of the Wizarding World by Bathilda Bagshot
Spellman's Syllabary
Advanced Rune Translation
Advanced Potion Making by Libatius Borage
As Iblis went down the list, he added a few more advanced books on runes as well as a couple more potions tomes that he felt were more explanatory. When he went to pay for them, McGonagall nodded approvingly at his optional extras.
The book store was quickly followed by the apothecary. After leaving the foul smelling shop, Iblis spotted a vulgar orange painted shop with a purple sign proclaiming 'Weasley Wizard Wheezes'. McGonagall saw where his gaze rested and muttered to him, "That, Mr Shank, is the accumulated efforts of 6 wasted years at Hogwarts by 2 of our potentially brightest students. A joke shop! I suppose you will be wanting to visit?"
Iblis raised his eyebrows and rolled his bright green eyes. "Not a chance. I find nothing entertaining in turning a person green or blue or any other such colour. If you want to humiliate someone, do it in a fashion where they have no grounds to complain afterward, be it academically or in the duelling ring."
It was McGonagall's turn to raise the eyebrows. "A sentiment I only partly agree in. I have never been a fan of duelling and I am surprised that you would be, especially with your... disability." There was a definite pause before the last word, but Iblis instantly cottoned on to what the reference was to.
"The current duelling laws outlaw neither my own personal brand of magic, nor goblin wards. Purely because wizards do not use them. Both can be used efficiently in duelling." He neglected to mention that both were particularly lethal if used fully. "I am also rather adept with a blade. All goblin children are taught to fight without any magic from a young age, although I probably shouldn't be telling you that. The Ministry would throw a hissy-fit if they discovered that Gringotts had their own army, even if it is assumed to be common knowledge that goblins are dangerous."
Minerva didn't quite know how to respond to the fact that the boy had classed himself as a goblin child or to the veminence in his voice as he spoke of the Ministry. Both were things she would have to discuss with Albus at a later date.
The shopping trip continued, with Iblis buying a standard, unenchanted trunk. This surprised McGonagall as it was clear to her that he did not lack money. When questioned he criptically replied that enchantments could be dealt with some other time.
When they reached Eyelop's Owl Emporium, Iblis declined her insistence to get an owl, maintaining that Gringotts had hundreds that would willingly carry a letter for him. Privately he thought to himself that the goblins were the only ones he had to write to. Besides, he already had a companion of small, hairy kind, even if it wasn't on the approved list.
When their shopping was done, they had walked a full circuit and were once again outside Gringotts Bank. Minerva handed Iblis his train ticket and explained how and when to get to the station, before bidding him goodbye and returning to the Leaky Cauldren to Floo back to Hogwarts. She was sure Albus would have some questions about the shopping trip.
Iblis returned to the bank, also to report about the shopping trip, even if there wasn't much to report.
A/N
No prizes for guessing who Iblis Shank is. I chose the name because, according to my limmited research "Iblis" is one of the Arabic names for the devil. I may be wrong though. Either way, I like the name. As for the sirname, "Shank", the goblins in HP and most fanfics have slightly 'pointy' sounding names, and in the UK to shank someone means to stab them.
If enough people want, I'll add a small bio and description of Iblis Shank to the beginning of the next chapter.
A/N End…
The summer slowly drew to and end, and Iblis Shank was almost itching to go to Hogwarts. He had absentmindedly flicked though a couple of his texts books, and his interest was firmly fixed on runic magic, despite the mind-numbing boredom that beset him as soon as he opened his arithmancy books. Finally the day came.
In all of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales children were waking up. Excitement filling their tiny minds. The 1st day of school had arrived and they were off to Hogwarts. Many of them, Iblis included, quickly got dressed and went to double check their packed trunks. Iblis then went to check his post. His accommodation was, much like his life, under Gringotts bank. He lived in similar rooms to all other goblins. Spartan stone walls with a wooden work desk in the corner, covered in muggle style notebooks with his own elegant scribblings filling them. In another corner was a small single bed with a hard mattress.
Iblis only had one letter. A message from President Ragnok with a request for a meeting as soon as Iblis was awake and decent. It was clearly an order rather than a request and so Iblis hurriedly showered and dressed in his standard black combats and purple zip-up t-shirt hoodie before slipping on a pair off well worn leather military style combat boots. He finished off his dressing by wrapping twenty to thirty silvery-red thin strings around each forearm, each string was exactly 17.2 cm long. These strings were his foci for his thread-magic.
Once his dressing was complete and he had double checked his packing it was nearly 10 am and Iblis set off for his meeting with the bank president and ruler of all the goblins in the UK. He then set off walking briskly through the winding caves that permiated under London up to the top layers which held the offices of the administrators, including the president.
When he arrived outside the office, he gave a friendly nod to the two heavily armed guards before knocking and entering.
"You wanted to see me?" He asked the battle-scarred banker, who had looked up from his paperwork.
"Ah yes. Excited about your 1st day of school?" Queried the goblin with a smirk.
Iblis scowled at this. "You make me sound like a small child when you put it that way, and yes, I am rather excited. After all, I've lived in the bank all my life. I am looking forward to seeing what wizard children are like."
"Well from this moment on you are officially part of the Mergers and Aquisions Department of the Gringotts Wizarding bank. It is vital to your mission that you remain as impartial as a possible. The children at Hogwarts are our future customers and it is there opinions and actions that will help determine which side to take in this civil war." Stated Ragnok.
Iblis looked confused. "I understand the reasons behind me going, but I don't understand one small detail. What do you mean by 'Mergers and Aquisitions'?"
Ragnok smiled toothily. "Muggle banks have a department by the same name, but with a different perpose. They use them for taking over other banks and companies. At Gringotts we have a complete monopoly on banking, and so our department does all the specialist jobs required to maintain the smooth running of the bank. This employment by the bank does have some consequences. You will owe your loyalty the the bank. You cannot join any political or military groups. You cannot take any other paid work whilst employed by Gringotts. You will of course be paid and you will get the full backing, politically speaking, of the bank. Do you accept this?"
Iblis smiled, a rare and genuine smile. "Of course I do. This bank is my home and my family."
"Excellent." Said Ragnok, "Here is a Gringotts mail pouch. Just put any communications you want in here and they will appear on my desk. You will need to make regular reports and I know that pest of a pet of yours couldn't deliver anything!"
Iblis gave a mock frown. "Aideen is not a pest. You'll struggle to find a more intellect creature that isn't anything pathetic like a phoenix! Anyway, both Aideen and myself will be out of your hair shortly. I'd better get moving unless I want to miss my train. Can I use the Floo in the main lobby?"
When the goblin president nodded affermitavely, Iblis bid his goodbye and left to collect his luggage. Just before leaving the bank, Iblis strapped his blades on, reminding himself that no goblin warrior would even consider being seen in public unarmed. Iblis owned two blades, both knives. One was a regular steel stiletto with a blade length of four inches, this was a weapon designed to be thrown, even if Iblis himself wasn't particular good with throwing knives. He liked it because it was easily consealable. His second knife was his main blade, and this too was kept hidden at the base of his neck, underneath his hoodie. It was a masterpiece of goblin workmanship that he won in a bet with its maker. He could never afford a knife that beautiful. The blade was seven inches long and was sharp on both edges, although one edge had jagged serations. The metal-work of the dagger was a shimmering pearl colour.
After securing his weapons and making sure his familiar, Aideen, was with him, Iblis tossed a handful of Floo powder into the fire and stated in a steady voice, "Platform 9 and 3/4." With a woosh the human ward of the Gringotts goblins had left the bank.
Iblis tumbled out of the fireplace at Charring Cross train station, his bags falling on top of him and his familiar scurrying out of the iminent danger of being squished. Iblish Shank hated Floo!
Instantly he heard sniggering heard a mocking snigger. As he got up and dusted the soot off himself he saw a group of both boy and girls. All held looks of contempt. A peroxide blonde whispered something to a neanderthal looking pair of oafish boys next to him. A fresh round of laugher sounded out, clearly directed at him. Iblis was starting to think that the first impression given off by himself wasn't particularly great. He was glad that none of the goblins where here to see his Floo landing, they would be in hysterics.
Angrily he picked up his trunk, retrieved his familiar and boarded the train. Since he had made a point of arriving early, he easily found an empty compartment and settled himself in for the 5 hour train journey up to the north tip of Scotland. He plucked one of the threads from his forearm and started absentmindedly tie intricate knots in its middle. After a few minutes he shook himself from his stupor and unpicked the tangles.
Then the door opened and a pair of female heads poked in. One had a plumpish face with mousey brown hair and although she was never going to win any beauty awards, Iblis wouldn't class her as ugly. The other girl, Iblis would definately not class as ugly. She was of oriental origin and had black hair with light brown highlights. Her makeup was heavy around her eyes but appeared minimal elsewhere.
The European-looking mousey girl saw Iblis leaning against the window and said, "Excuse me, do you mind if the two of us join you? All other compartments have a fair few people in them. We promise to keep the noise down if you want."
Iblis really could think of no reason to deny himself of the company of the asian girl and her friend and so said, "Of course, please, take a seat."
So sit they did. They kept shooting him glances before the mousey girl cleared her throat to gain Iblis's attention.
"So, are you a new student? I've never seen you before. Where are you from? Have you ever seen Hogwarts before? What-"
At this point the asian girl interupted her and said, "Hannah, your babbling." Iblis couldn't help but smile.
"Allow me to introduce myself." He said, "Iblis Shank, at your service. You are correct, of course. I am a new student, joining in the 6th year to start my NEWTs. I have been home-schooled until now but it was decided that it would be best for me to come to Hogwarts for the next 2 years."
The mousey girl smiled and said, "Well Iblis Shank, I am Hannah Abbott, 6th year Hufflepuff, and this is my friend Su Li, also 6th year but a Ravenclaw. If you don't me asking, where are you from? You seem kind of...pale." At this last comment she slapped her hand over her mouth before appologising perfusely.
Iblis still smiled as he held up his hand in front of his face and examined his epidermis. "Well I suppose I am rather in need a a sun tan. I never went outside during the day much before now. Never had much need. Those I live with don't go out much and the property is large enough that I never felt that claustrophobic." He calmly explained.
Su Li piped up at this point. "Don't mind Hannah, she never seems to have much of a filter between her mind and her mouth. You'll get used to it after a while. It be quite funny after a while."
Hannah slapped Su's arm lightly and scolded her in an amused tone.
Iblis decided to fish for information due to the natural pause in convosation.
"So what can you tell me about the school? I don't know much about it. What are our year-mates like? Its nice to know as much as I can before I meet all the others. Are they all as pretty as you two?" He gently flirted, amused by the matching blushed that adorned the faces of the two girls.
Hannah jumped in with the reply.
"You know about the four Houses? Ravenclaw is for the brainy ones, like Su here. God knows why she hangs around with a thicky like me! Most Ravenclaws are quite cliquey but don't cause any trouble. As I said, I'm a 'puffer'. We are renounded as the House for those that fit nowhere else. That's all wrong. We're the nice friendly house for the loyal people. We tend to avoid the big issues and are mostly neutral in this war. Slytherin and Griffendore have been in loggerheads in a centuries old feud. Slytherins tend to take the dark side and are mostly pure blooded from rich families. Griffendores are bloody preachy, if you don't mind my language. Pretty much all are very "light" minded and take it to the extreme, espically their golden pretty-boy Neville Longbottom."
The last name was spat out full of venom. Su chose this opportunity to explain to Iblis.
"Neville Longbottom is a spoiled brat who was never been denied anything, and he has his eyes set on Hannah. As you can probably see, she isn't that interested. I'm sure you'll meet him before the end of the train trip. He loves to come and bother us!"
The trio settled down for the talking about frivolous things. Every now and then other students would poke their heads in, looking for their friends, but the three paid them no attention. Until their 1st major visitor.
About an hour and a half into the journey, the compartment door slid open to reveal the peroxide blonde boy from the station, and his two giagantuan friends.
"I heard there was someone new on the train and after seeing you at the station I put 2 and 2 together. I am Draco Malfoy. Who are you?" Sneered the newly identified blonde.
"Iblis Shank" came the curt answer. Iblis had already developed a dislike of this boy, and he knew all about the boy's family, all the goblins did.
Malfoy seemed undetered by the response from the pale skinned new student.
"Are you pure blooded?" He asked, as though it were the most important thing in the world.
Iblis paused for thought before slowly replying. "I suppose my blood isn't that pure. I mean, I had a large breakfast this morning so I probably have glucose in my blood as well as urea. Also my tattoos could have induced an inflammatory responce and so I could have excesses of both lymphocytes and monocytes in my blood. That would probably make it less pure. Why do you ask? Are you haemophobic by some chance?"
Malfoy's face reddened at Iblis's innocent tone and from the giggling emerging from the two girls. The two troll-like boys accompanying Malfoy just gazed blankly at Iblis.
With a start, Malfoy span and said to his two oafs, "Come on, let's leave the mudblood with these two pathetic losers." He then swaggered out.
When the door shut, Hannah burst into laughter and Su cracked a wide grin.
Half an hour later they were disturbed again. This time by a different set of boys. There was a slightly pudgy self-obsessed looking boy with a star-shaped scar on his face, followed by a red haired boy and by a smaller black haired boy.
They strolled into the trio's compartment and the pudgy scarred boy leered at Hannah.
Before a single word could be said, Iblis's familiar chose that moment to emerge from his hood. Aideen was a spider. A large blood-red spider with a thorax the size of a tennis ball. She was a rare magical breed with a venom that had the same effect as a stunning spell and had the intelegence of a fully grown acomantila, but without the ability to talk.
The red haired boy freaked! With a shreak he whipped his wand up and tried send a blasting curse at Aideen, despite the fact that she was calmly sitting on Iblis's shoulder.
In a single fluid movement Iblis was standing, one hand gripping the red-haired boy arm, the other hand holding his goblin-crafted dagger to the boy's throat. Quickly the two other boys had their wands pointing at the new student.
"What the fuck do you think you are doing?" Growled Iblis, anger filling his voice. The red head went pale.
The pudgy scarred boy then spoke. "Let go of him! Don't you know who I am, if you mess with us three you will find yourself way over your head. He was just trying to save you from that thing!" Arrogance filled his voice.
"That spider is my familiar. You came into my compartment and he tried to send a blasting curse at my head. That was potentially fatal. I am within my legal rights to leave him bleeding out on the floor as self defence. I suggest you leave before I decide to exert those rights!" Iblis growled.
The three fled, shooting anger filled glances behind them as the left.
The two girls looked shocked at the sudden change in their new friend, who slowly sat back in his seat, gently stroking Aideen.
Su suddenly spoke up. "That was awesome! We definately chose the right compartment. I can tell this is going to be an interesting year."
Hannah was still eyeing him, still looking slightly worried. "Why the hell do you have a massive knife in you hood? Would you really have hurt him? I mean Weasley isn't the nicest guy in the world but I don't want him dead!" Her voice took a slightly histerical note at the end.
Iblis shook his head slowly before saying in a calming voice, "Despite the idiots attempts to attack my familiar, I wouldn't have hurt him. Maybe scared him a little though. As for the dagger, I was taught from a young age to always be prepared to defend myself."
Iblis looked at the two girls for a moment before saying, "Do you mind if I do a small magic trick to prevent any unwanted visitors? I'm fed up with these interuptions from people with less brains than a pile of troll shit."
With an interested glint in her eye, Su waved her hand, giving her permission.
Iblis then plucked one of the threads from around his forearm before rapidly tying a number of complicated knots in it and channelling magic into it. He then drapped the newly made loop over than doornob.
"There we go, that should stop anyone seeing or detecting a door here."
As an afterthought, Iblis plucked another thread before repeating the procedure with completely different knots and tied to to his belt. This second one was to stop any charms or spells detecting him personally. It simply would not do to be attacked in revenge or to be monitored in any way.
Both girls looked confused, yet all Iblis said was "I'll explain it all at a later date."
The trio hesitently returned to their previous whimsical convosation about music. Iblis tried to keep up but had never even heard of most the bands and groups.
As the train pulled into Hogsmead Station, both witches were confused, mystified and curious about their new, odd, and slightly dangerous, friend.
As Iblis and his new companions emerged from the train, they caught sight of a giant of a man, dressed in furs and leather, with a big bushy beard. Iblis was taken aback, this man was the size of some on the trained security trolls employed by Gringotts. The girls noticed his perplexion and Hannah whispered to him, "That's Hagrid, he's the groundskeeper and Care of Magic Creatures teacher. He takes new students and 1st years to the castle for the Sorting. Go follow him, we'll see you later." With that the girls headed off in an other direction.
Iblis set off following the wild looking man and got in a small boat with three excited looking first years.
As the boat crossed the lake, Iblis caught his first view of Hogwarts Castle. Its magestic spires rise into the cloud. Magical was quite aptly the only way to describe the towering building.
After disembarking the small, rickerty boats, the first years and Iblis were lead to the large double doors of the main entrance. Hagrid the knocked on the door, which was open by Professor Mcgonicall, who introduced herself to the new 1st years.
They were then lead by the transfigerations teacher to the Great Hall. As Iblis entered the hall, he was was surpised to look up and see no roof at all, just the sky. After a quick examination he noticed there was ceiling but it was enchanted to show the sky above. He marvelled at this for a while, and then Dumbledore stood to make an anouncement.
"Before we begin the sorting of the 1st years, I would like to introduce a new student. Iblis Shank will be joining the 6th years. I hope you will all make him welcome. Mr Shank, could you please come up here and be sorted?"
Iblis strode over and sat on the chair indicated by the headmaster and put on the tattered hat offered to him.
Instantly he heard a small voice in his ear, coming from the hat.
"Ooo an easy one. I know exactly where you go! HUFFLEPUFF!" The last word was shouted.
The headmaster pointed him towards his new house and Iblis saw Hannah clearing a space for him to sit, a large grin on her face. She then introduced him to the other house members in their year.
As Iblis looked around at the other three tables he realised that Hufflepuff fitted quite nicely in with his mission. To his left were the Slytherin table and the Ravenclaw table. The blonde haired Malfoy pointedly ignored Iblis's examining gaze. The Gryffindor table was to his right, and he caught sight of the three boys he had had his altercation with. All three were giving him glared filled with evil intent.
After the feast, Iblis was led, along with the 1st years, to their common room, which was near the greenhouses. He was then warned by Hannah that breakfast started at 7 am before he turned in for the night.
A/N I hope my style of writing isn't too hard to read. This is my 1st fic and this is the most I've written in years. My university degree is science-based so not much writting is needed. Also I'm writting as I think with no plans or drafts, so later on I'll go back and tidy it up!