Chapter 4 – Cairo

There is a common misconception that because phoenix are creatures of light, they are completely good or unable to engage in any behavior that could be less than socially acceptable. However, as Dumbledore had proven when escaping the law with Fawkes, this was not entirely true. Things like that somehow didn't make it in the books, likely because those powerful and good enough to attract a phoenix were the ones likely to be the victors and writing the books.

Not that Harry could point the finger too much; here he was with that knowledge and there was no way he was going to share that information any further than he had too. After all, one of Harry's closest kept secrets was that Fawkes had come to him weeks after Dumbledore's funeral, as if he had taken a mourning period before returning to engage the world once more.

The communication pattern was odd, but there was a clear sense of what Fawkes wanted and meant, and even of a sense of humor. They had gotten to understand each other better by conducting a series of pranks on the various Weasleys, targets Harry knew would not be too upset but instead would look for revenge. Precisely the reason he didn't want to leave any evidence. Fawkes had seemed to enjoy the idea and together they had started a minor prank war that saw Ginny, Ron, George, Fred, and Charlie targeting each other regularly. All of them took it easy on Percy still, just glad he was back in the fold. It had only stopped when Molly had joined forces with Fleur, Hermione, and Penny to put their collective feet down, something Molly in particular had been very slow to do as the whole thing had given George a new life.

So when Harry broached his idea for robbing some banks, Fawkes seemed to feel genuinely curious, sorting through Harry's thoughts and emotions to understand the motivation and weigh them. Pranks done in fun or avoiding an unfair incarceration made sense to the phoenix and clearly made him willing to engage in the behavior. Eventually, Harry sensed the phoenix wanted to be sure there was no long term undeserved suffering or damage. Harry wondered if Fawkes thought goblins would understood that difference. Taking gold from goblins didn't seem to bother the old bird too much, though, so Harry wondered what else Binns had missed about goblins…

Harry learned something that day; phoenix can laugh so hard they flame and disappear. Where to he didn't know, but Fawkes did, right after suggesting they just go hit Cairo now; why wait? When his suggestion stupefied Harry into immobility, the phoenix had chortled, started a song of victory, chortled more until sparks flew out and it flamed out the room altogether. Harry only realized all of this from a pensieve later, such was his shock, but still. Phoenix do flame and disappear when amused. No wonder Dumbledore was so fond of his familiar; Harry was getting that way quick.

Fortunately, once Harry recovered and Fawkes returned, Harry found he had already had all he needed – a bottomless trunk with seven compartments and an endless mokeskin bag. With a strong disillusionment charm on himself slid over top of a disguise, they were ready to go. Harry thankfully remembered his promise to Ragnok and popped to Diagon Alley quickly. He zipped through his plan, and when he left Ragnok was still chuckling behind his desk. Harry was glad the guards hadn't killed them in their positivity that Harry had somehow hurt the goblin elder when he'd started into tremors of joy and laughter. Damn goblins anyway.

So it was that Fawkes flashed them not just into Gringotts Cairo, but right into Vault 1, the oldest and most respected vault. No alarms immediately began to go off, which surprised Harry. He would have thought the oldest vaults would have had the best protection. Sadly, while the vault was on a scale Harry hadn't seen before, it was practically empty. Fawkes quickly popped them to the second vault, where things were much better. The room was filled with ancient artifacts and books, furniture, and coins. Bill had warned him about some internal curses that could exist in some vaults if entered without opening a door, Harry's biggest concern. He had kept a bubblehead charm on just to be sure nothing chemical got released would be immediately deadly, but that didn't happen either. Unfortunately, the alarms started the second they were in Vault 2. Harry whipped out his wand and got to work. Soon, coins were roaring loudly in their press to fly into the expanded mouth of his pouch.

Fawkes waited patiently for a few moments before chirping. Harry carefully put his pouch on the floor so coins could continue their self-fulfilling task. Then Fawkes flashed Harry and his trunk into the next vault with it. Another alarm started. Harry repeated his spell, and the vault started emptying into his trunk, although it too had so many coins it would take a minute or two.

That became their process, with Fawkes flashing them back and forth so they could empty two cells at a time, new alarms coming with only about half of the vaults, often the less full ones that seemed to be in states of disuse. The phoenix seemed to enjoy it, as he just started cackling and singing every so often. Harry chuckled along with him. He made sure to only take coins, not to touch any personal items or things that could have a separate value or meaning to anyone. The goblins would cover the gold loss.

The gold siphoning, as Harry thought of it, was complete in three of the largest vaults before the goblins even got down to the lower levels, given how deep they were. Ten were empty before the goblins had managed to catch up to the specific vaults they were in, and two more before they realized they needed to raise wards ahead of where Harry and Fawkes were working instead of trying to break into the ones they were in, as Harry raised wards on the inside. The two promptly finished the vaults they were in and then Fawkes flashed them up to the vaults in the 100 block. These were smaller, but packed. They managed to clean out five more vaults before the bank managed to lock down all the other vaults. With a final burst just before the goblins threw up extra wards to block any movement in or out, which Harry was stunned by and for which Fawkes had been probing consistently, Fawkes flashed them directly to the front of Gringotts London.

Harry just stood there for a long moment. It was so surreal, one minute to be in dire peril and the next to be standing in bright sunlight and practically carefree. Harry looked at the clock as they walked into the lobby; the whole thing had only taken an hour in total. He was quickly escorted to Ragnok, who looked up, curious, when Harry walked in. Harry tried to keep a serious look on his face, but his lips kept twitching up on the sides.

"How much?" asked the goblin elder. "Please tell me it was spectacular. You went for the biggest vaults first, right? So did you get through two or three of them? That would be enough. Please tell me you got three!"

"Please, Ragnok," said Harry ever so respectfully, trying not to laugh, "may Fawkes be here for this?"

The goblin thought softly for a moment, and lowered his newly developed phoenix ward. He nodded, and with a though, Fawkes popped in on Harry's shoulder. "Well," said Harry, "I have a proposal for you."

The goblin sat back, surprised and somewhat vexed he wasn't getting an immediate answer. Would the boy being trying to double cross him? His fingers twitched over the phoenix ward, but he stilled himself. Once he thought for more than a split second, he reminded himself just why he had chosen this particular wizard. It just wasn't in character. So instead the old goblin settled for interweaving his fingers and waiting.

"Oh? And just what would the proposal be?"

Harry smiled. "Well, option one, you can get the story here and now, and be done and save your time. Or option two, we can go with what we took and see if you can predict how much it was or option 3, bet on what you think we took."

"Bet?" asked the goblin lackadaisically. "Stakes?"

Harry thought hard. He hadn't really expected Ragnok to even consider option 3. "Well, whatever we took against you letting us out of two banks of our choice."

Ragnok's eyes flew open. "What you made is good enough you think it would be worth me wanting to renegotiate our agreement?"

"Well, when you put it like that, no. I actually don't know how much we got, but it was a good amount."

The old goblin humphed and crossed his arms. "We will need to work on your estimating skills then. For now, then, I will take option 2. I think you underestimate my thirst for vengeance, Harry. And so far, it looks like I bet on the right way to do it. I'll still with that bet instead."

"No problem. We'll just go deposit out winnings as agreed. And you promise to deal with the blow back? Nothing comes back to hit Fawkes or I."

"I doubt any humans truly understand the internal workings within one Gringotts, let alone across them. Let me assure you, Harry, while I cannot stop them from sniping at me without losing more face, I can order them on behavior on bank matters. And as I am part of the board overseeing all banking costs, I will have to help deal with out shortfalls. On the other hand, I doubt you will keep much of this gold outside the bank?"

Harry nodded. He'd keep some in case anything ever came up again, but really, earning interest was a good thing.

"Then we shall be able to invest wisely for you, and help recoup our own losses over time." The goblin smiled, his filed teeth glinting. "It went that well, then?"

Harry chuckled as Fawkes preened himself. "Well, I don't want to brag, sir. You do have high standards, and I don't want to let you down."

Ragnok snorted. The boy was entirely too smug right now, which was sooooo promising. He wished his cousin Longsnout much agony right now! He'd had to put up with enough of his posturing after the dragon debacle, which had little to no customer loss. This could be an exceptional day! Well, it already was. The wizard had already done it better and faster than he would have thought possible. Who knew he had access to Dumbledore's phoenix, and that it would be willing to do such a thing?!

"I think I will go with option 2, Harry, and I am going to predict a little over 2 million galleons."

Harry's smile seemed to be locked in the permanently, "on" position. "Well, Ragnok, let me ask just how big your largest available vault is."

"Harry, we agreed this money is yours. You can put it in your vault." The goblin frowned. Surely not a conscience showing up. That could be trouble.

"Oh, I know. But I want to be able to say it is in Gringotts London, not in the Potter vault, and besides, what can I do? You know how much of a persona non grata I am here!"

Ragnok barked out a laugh. "I'm going to have to ward a special vault so you can come and go without people seeing you outside, Harry! I love it! As for the biggest vault 'open', it is actually your vault via the Perevell's, vault 4. There is little in it anymore. We haven't really had a chance to discuss your holdings, have we?" finished the old goblin smugly as Harry's brain shut down. He was going to have to pensieve this whole afternoon at this day. In fact, the goblin was beginning to wonder if someone had slipped felix felicis in his drink this morning.

The goblin led the wizard and the phoenix out, and with a small phalanx of guards who hustled with the zest that can only come from wanting to impress, and down to the 4th vault. Ragnok waved a claw, and the vault opened. Harry just nodded; Ragnok suddenly realized the wizard didn't even know that this meant Ragnok was the vault representative. Not just any goblin could walk up and open just any vault, after all. He would have to walk Harry through protocol later.

They went inside; it was a massive vault, even bigger than the largest in Egypt had been. The walls had a bookshelf or two but there was little remarkable in the echoing chamber. Harry asked, "How do you keep galleons from going out the door?"

Ragnok's eyes bulged. "There's a ward that blocks it."

Harry nodded, satisfied. "And you can count or track the change in value in the vault?"

Ragnok's ears flopped as he nodded. "Perfectly."

Fawkes gave a warble of excitement as Harry lined them up to unleash the trunk; he decided to only deposit five of the seven compartments. Ragnok's words made Harry realize divesting enough to keep SOME under his own control was a good idea. He opened it and gave a swish of his wand. The coins starting rolling into the far reaches of the vault. Ragnok's guards stood back but some of the goblins who worked counters came past them and started flicking the coins into stacks. Ragnok giggled like a schoolgirl as the counter display on the pad in front of him started rolling up, quickly zipping through thousands at a time.

Harry chuckled as Fawkes tweeted a question. "No, let's keep that between us for now."

Ragnok gave a quick look over. Harry gave him a quick wave. "You'll see. It's a good surprise."

Within minutes Harry had to slide the trunk back, as the vault had begun to fill in the back as Ragnok's counter jumped over the million galleon mark. When it passed the two million mark, and the trunk slowed, Ragnok crowed, "This is the best! Longsnout is going to be Droopysnout for the next couple of decades if I have anything to say about it! Mock me, will you? Harry, you have made my day!"

"Oh, you haven't seen anything yet, sir. This is a seven chamber trunk."

Fawkes fell of his shoulder, sparks flying when he saw Ragnok's jaw dropped. "So close to 14 million?" he said in awe.

Harry shook his head. "Not exactly, sorry. We only got five compartments to unload."

The goblin recovered. "Well, no matter. This is already more than I hoped…"

With a laugh, Harry pulled out his mokeskin bag around his neck. "On the other hand, 10 million is probably right for the trunk. Do you know who sells these, by the way? Because I think we should hit them for false advertising; they aren't actually endless. This filled up about just before we had to leave."

Ragnok staggered back a step in stunned fascination. He stammered, "T-twenty million?"

Harry shrugged. "Give or take. Somewhere between 25 and 30, probably." He watched the goblin closely, as did Fawkes, who had flashed back to his shoulder.

Fawkes tittered. "You're right Fawkes. We're gonna need a bigger vault."

Ragnok snorted, surprising Harry by catching the reference. Then his snort turned to a chuckle, until the goblin was leaning on his knees to avoid falling down, and then he finally gave in and fell on his rear end, laughing non-stop the whole time.

Harry eyed the guards warily, but they seemed to be more amazed this time than desirous of attacking. "I take it that is good? Not so much it will cause an issue, though, right? No offense, and I hope it isn't too obvious but I would really like to not have to watch my back for a death squad anytime soon." He knew they'd taken a fair amount, but really had little sense of just how much that was in terms of how much a wizard used daily or made in a lifetime or how much loss a bank could handle.

"Oh, Mr. Potter. Harry," said the goblin wheezed when he could breathe again. "Just a few moments before I must, simply MUST, rush to Cairo to visit my poor, poor cousin. And to ensure he knows just why he is suffering and at whose hands he is suffering. He will keep it quiet, and he will know this was my doing. And I will ensure that he does not retaliate against you or I."

"How can you ensure that?" asked Harry loudly over the rushing sound of coins.

The goblin gave a huge smile showing his teeth. "Harry, I need to give you a crash course on goblins, and economics, and we will negotiate a fair trade for that. And I do mean fair. For now, let me just say your robberies to put these upstarts in their place and stop their use of us as a punchline are just a part of what I am doing here. I know how much you abhorred Dumbledore's manipulations, so let me assure you I am not acting against your interest at all. I will fill you in on it when the timing is right. For now, let me assure you he will behave when I am done. Do you need anything else?"

Harry nodded with a quick glance at Fawkes. "Just please let me know if I do something wrong before I get on your bad side." He sketched out a small bow to the goblin leader.

And in a move that drew gasps from the goblin counters still moving stacks of coins, the elder goblin returned the slightest bow of his head before happily rushing to crow at his victory over Droopysnout, his guards hastening to precede and follow him.