Arthur Weasley and the Key to Infinity

10 Minutes before visiting hours are over at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries Room 107 as a new patient is being floated in.

"Oh shit its Arthur Weasley"

"Young man do I know you?"

"No sir, but I'm a huge fan of yours"

"For?"

"Sir that's a long story. A story in a story if you will. But the end of the story is that you're a genius. Considering we'll both be here for the night would you like to hear it? Mrs. Weasley too. I know that you love your husband but the truth of it will genuinely blow your mind as much as it did mine."

"I would be flattered to hear it, especially with the love of my life but visiting hours are almost over. Also I never caught your name. Might I have it?"

"Apologies. My friends call me Vander or Van for short. And fuck visiting hours. Ma'am if you'll trust me, you wont have to worry."

"Must you curse?"

"Yes. You see I suffer from a terrible affliction."

"Which is?"

"I'm American"

"Nonsense"

"I assure you its true"

"I didn't mean that. I mean-"

"I know what you meant but it wont change so lets move forward shall we? Our story begins at Gringotts with yours truly. At the time I held an almost insane amount of stubbornness, a plan and a fair amount of insanity. Basically the recipe for easy life lessons and not years of blood sweat and tears and hard won knowledge right? Either way I broke into Gringotts-"

"You WHAT!?"

"Chill, chill, chill. I didn't go far just 2 steps in. Master plan remember? So of course as soon as the alarm sounded what did they find but a naked black man sitting uncomfortably on the cold cold ground with his arms up."

"Why?"

"Master plan. Also because I had a considerable amount of gold in my coat and if I had worn clothes I ran the risk of being tried for theft. Naked its just trespassing. I did my research and guess what? In goblin court theft has a 100% certainty of me being killed... Horribly. Trespassing means 10 years working in the mines if I'm lucky. If I'm unlucky I walk free after a hefty fine."

"Wh-"

"Sorry I don't mean to interrupt you but I'm about to get on a roll and I should probably explain what my master plan is and get the interruptions out of the way. Its fairly simple. I wanted to know why goblin crafts are so powerful. The only way to do so is to spend time with them and learn. Problem is goblins are maddeningly secretive and an apprenticeship is out of the question. So... Jail bitches! To answer your question walking free would be bad because there are no second chances. If I got tried by the goblin courts twice for ANY reason I'm dead. Since I love myself, if I failed the first time to make it to the mines my entire mission is over."

"So you gambled 10 years of your life?"

"More actually. You see a human working in the mines is basically a life sentence. No human has actually survived the sentence. Also there was no guarantee that it would only be ten years. I just believed that was the max that I could hold out. And that was dependent on making a friend or something close to it. So where was I... Oh yeah court. I was sentenced to 30 years. That was the reason I had gold in my coat. I offered it to the court as an apology and as proof of my dedication to justice. It was reduced to 7 years and 1 day. I realized something scary. I grossly miscalculated how dangerous the mines were. Im not going to go into full detail but I almost died so many times I lost count. I was beaten degraded and starved. I fell in and out of madness. But I survived. At some point I began to get stronger. To this day I pray in thanks for surviving and for meeting the Dreamer. He was the only goblin prisoner and possibly their worst criminal."

"What was his crime?"

"He accidentally taught us how to make horcruxes. Before you interrupt me again please understand that this is exactly why there are no human apprentices. His apprentice wanted an easy way to create powerful weapons. Specifically he wanted another Elder wand. With the understanding that in return for wand lore he would teach this wizard true metalsmithing. Well I can tell you from experience that goblin teachings are hard. Life or death hard. And its for a good reason Its considered the highest calling and the best are usually made Goblin King or Queen. Either way in a fit of rage the apprentice killed another goblin. Before he fled he felt his soul tear in two and the rest unfortunately is history."

"He still taught him though"

"What he taught wasn't how to kill but how to build. Perversion of an art is what happened. You see, technically every piece of Goblin masterwork is a form of horcrux. Every single masterpiece was mined, forged and crafted by one person. Can you imagine risking your life for a perfect piece of silver? Can you imagine taking that same piece and seeing the true beauty inside. Hammering out the impurities, and seeing every intricate line and edge in a piece of molten metal? Giving hope and purpose to every single fold? How about being happy to have spent hours on a single accent? You are literally pouring your soul into your work. Sound familiar, Arthur? Before I continue I'm going to ask your wife a question. Do you remember the car your husband rebuilt from the bottom up?"

"Yes. It is still in the Forbidden Forest."

"Do you know that that car saved your son and Harry Potters life?"

"Of course but how did you-"

" Irrelevant. How many hours did your husband spend building it? How many vehicles, magical and unmagical, gain sentience? Congratulations Arthur, You have mastered an artform that took me 15 years to even learn. Hence, genius. Fun fact, in gobledegook, 'horcrux' is loosely translated to Key of Infinity. Specifically because your soul carries on through your work. In the goblin world you are lending your soul to someone to accomplish something in life. When they die it is returned to their family as a piece of their ancestor carried on and celebrated forever. Which is why it is considered rude to keep a piece of silverwork as an heirloom. Its literally keeping a piece of someones soul hostage. Super poetic right? But I digress, The Dreamer paid for his mistake by having his name taken and working his life in the mines until the deal was completed or he died. This is where I come in. After I don't know how many years he told me the piece of advice that truly saved my life. If you cant feel the ore by now just kill yourself. It would be easier on you and I get more food. So I felt. I wish you understood what it meant to feel the life in the stone for the first time. To feel a connection to the earth and understand the wonder of it all. A year from that day he took the final gamble. I officially apprenticed under him with a condition. I was to give him 10 years of my life. 5 to learn how to forge and 5 to teach him how to make wands. We each had to produce 1 passable masterpiece."

"So you taught a goblin the secret of making wands?"

"No. I taught my theories and told stories. Things that I can share with you right here and now if you would like."

"Please do."

"First is that the most powerful things are treated with love before they are crafted. I believe that the Peverell brothers were farmers that were using muggle methods. Geniuses none less but definitely farmers. The elder tree that the wand was made from and the thestral were both things Antioch himself cared for deeply and raised with love. One fed him and his family and the other was a wonderful animal. You don't think the combination hasn't been tried? Unpopular opinion but I think they were muggle born. The confrontation with death was the moment they learned they were actual wizards. Nothing ever says how long there was between the confrontation with death and actually using the hallows. But that's just me so think nothing of it. I also said that I didn't think that wood would work for goblins. Trees hold no significance to them. Not like that at least. So I mentioned why use it in the first place? Finally I feel like the of a wand is something that links us to the unbelievable and magical. Hence all cores are from animals considered mythical by muggle standards. And truthfully to me that connection is the most important. Its easy to become jaded and forget the fact that what we are doing with a piece of wood is impossible to millions. Therefore, use a core that is significant to goblins, but you especially. That's about it.

"What was your masterpiece?"

"I'll tell you in a second. But thank you because your genius helped save the wizarding world. I got a lot off of my chest but most importantly I got to tell you so in person. The last thing I wanted to say is that you are one of the most amazing fathers and heroes I've ever had the pleasure to meet and I hope I do half as good of a job with my children as you did with yours. Oh and to answer your question, my masterpiece is this ring. Its also my wand and quite a few other things. Obliviate. It was an absolute pleasure meeting you both. Cheers.