A/N: Hermione finds a lost goblin in the forest, and she makes sure it is safe.
Disclaimer: I'm not JK Rowling. I don't own Harry Potter.
Hermione spotted the little creature outside of at the edge of the forest. It was screaming and crying, and she didn't know what to do. "Hey!" she called out, reaching towards it. "Little one? Are you alright?"
When she got closer, she realized it was a goblin. A young one, too, by the look of it. By the way it was babbling, Hermione assumed that he was one, maybe two. Goblin children tended to mature much more quickly than human children. Fearful, he shrieked out something she recognized in Gobbledygook to mean 'mommy'.
It was just this child's luck that Hermione had learned how to speak Gobbledygook during her time at Hogwarts as a bit of a challenge. "Are you okay?" she asked him in Gobbledygook.
"Mommy!" he cried, clinging to Hermione in an intense flurry of limbs and tears.
"Don't worry," she told him, and she touched his head in comfort. "I have you now, little one. We will find your mother. Do you know where you saw her last?
He leaned into her hand, his little hands clutching hers. "Mommy's in the forest!" he cried, and then he was latched onto her arm.
"Okay, little one," said Hermione. "I'll help you find her, don't worry."
Hermione rubbed her throat. Gobbledygook, the language of goblins, was harsh and not at all meant for the voices of humans, but she spoke it anyway. She needed to help this young goblin. She scooped him up into her arms. She jumped over a low fence and ran into the forest. "This way!" the little male goblin would cry, pointing left or right. "That way!" It was funny to her that goblins, even at this young age, were so perceptive and intelligent. A one-year-old human child, in this situation, would only be able to cry out for their 'mama' and not much else.
"Hello?" Hermione called out, at first in English, when the baby goblin stopped pointing and clung to her neck, burying his face into her shirt. "Hello?" As soon as she spotted the lifeless form with the proportions of a goblin, she held on even tighter to the young goblin. "Miss? Miss, are you okay? Can you hear me?" She grabbed onto the female goblin's arm and turned her over. Ugly slashes covered her entire body. "Can you hear me?" She sliced the strange vines wrapped around the goblin with a quick "Diffindo."
Because Gobbledygook was not her first language, it took Hermione a few moments to translate what the goblin mother was saying. "My son..." she groaned, her arms lifting off the ground to reach towards her son. "Young...witch...thank...you..."
"Any decent wizard would have done the same," Hermione responded, smiling, and handed the baby goblin to her. "Come to me. Let me heal you."
She nodded, but grabbed Hermione's wand arm before she could do anything more. "Truly," she said. "I owe you my life, young witch. My son is my everything."
Hermione nodded, remembering the spell to fix cuts like this. "Anytime." She healed the female goblin with a few charms and, with little scarring, she was finished. "Apologies for the mistakes, ma'am."
"I'm not dead, young witch," she replied. "And my son is here with me. That is all I want in this world."
A/N: Thanks for reading! Please follow, favorite, and review.
Challenges used:
Favorite House - #42 (fearful), Gryffindor
Are You Crazy - #275 (goblin)
If You Dare - #249 (an intense flurry)
Fanfiction Writing Month: December []