I'm back again with another installment of this

-/-

Previously:

Just a hypothetical question but it might have shown some people in here just what the ministry is really up to.

His first minor act of heroism would strike a chord painful to the ears of the deceitful and cruel.

-/-

In London, unknown to most, there is a collection of buildings that make up Diagon Alley. The wizarding centre of Britain. By far the most impressive of these buildings is Gringotts. The Wizard's bank. Hundreds of vaults lined with rock, iron and steel. Hidden in a maze of tunnels. Protected by wards and curses. Guarded by fearsome beasts. One could not find a better place to keep their gold safe from enemies.

Unless of course they considered Goblins their enemy.

The Goblin's run the bank. They crafted the vaults, dug the tunnels, set the wards and tamed the beasts. And goblins are smart. They know where to take their gold from. They know who to target to get the most money. Deep in the wizarding bank, the king of the Goblins has learnt of a powerful artifact in one of the Vaults. The owner would notice its absence but that doesn't matter anymore. All is prepared. The Goblins are unsettled. The wizards are too sure of their superiority. It's time for another Rebellion.

The Vault is found, the Dragon subdued, the wards removed and the large steel doors are opened. Large piles of gold are scattered everywhere. The goblin king does not pay attention to them. They are his anyway. There it is. The cup of a founder. He can feel the power pulse along his arm as he holds it. Enriching his arm. He knows what he must do.

A curved blade is drawn from a decorated scabbard. A simple movement and his right hand guard is missing a head. He fills the cup to the brim with Goblin blood and brings it to his mouth. The power is strong, it's almost his. He drinks the blood and feels the effects take hold. He is the Goblin King, and the whole world will bow to him in time.

-/-

"Welcome, Harry, to Superheroism 101. For as long as it takes you will train, learn and practice to become the best superhero you can be. We've been a bit lax the last few days and I say, no more. You want to be a superhero, you have to earn it. I will be your instructor, trainer and worst nightmare."

"Aren't you supposed to be on patrol with Ron?" Harry asked Hermione after her speech ended. She scowled at him for undermining her character but her face softened as she explained.

"I've still got the time turner I used in third year."

"They let you keep it?" Harry asked. He didn't really understand why they'd give something so dangerous to a third year anyway. That wasn't to say he wasn't thankful they'd got to use it to free Sirius.

"Not exactly…" Hermione paused. "They just forgot I had it and I didn't think to remind them is all." Harry raised an eyebrow. Dumbledore wasn't the kind to just forget. So he probably had a reason to leave it with her.

"Right well. Superhero me up then. Let's get started." Harry said with a little bit of forced enthusiasm. "What's first?"

"Physical fitness and close quarters fighting. No use going into battle if you can't throw a punch when things get short range."

"Makes sense." Harry agreed.

"So we'll start by getting an idea of your current fitness level through a series of physical tests and then work from there." Hermione worked Harry through two hours of grueling torture and respiratory techniques. By the end of it, Harry was clutching a desk to stop himself from turning into a puddle on the floor.

"So, what's the diagnosis, doc? Any chance of fighting my way out of a paper bag?"

"Fighting isn't just about fitness, Harry." Hermione said with a frown. "And your magic has been keeping you at a relatively fit level. Probably some sort of overcompensation for those years at your relatives you refuse to talk about." She gave him a pointed look which he merely replied to with a raised eyebrow.

"Well then, can I technique my way out of a paper bag?" Harry asked, smirking slightly.

"No, you can't. But that's where I come in. I was a blue belt in Karate before I came to Hogwarts. I didn't carry on during the summer because the Dojo had closed down. Apparently our Sensei was dealing drugs to the older students."

"Huh." Was Harry's reply. "I don't know much about your home life, do I?"

"Pot, kettle, black." Hermione replied with a sigh. "I'll talk about mine when you open up about yours. Yours is probably more important to our project. But right now. Feat a shoulder width apart and push your heels out aim a punch at chest height."

-/-

"Oh, Ron. Have you seen Harry?" Ron had just appeared at the top of the stairs to the boys' dorm when Hermione posed the question.

"Yeah. He left quite early this morning but came back a little after I got up. He's having a shower now."

"Right, thanks. So what have you got today?"

"Double charms then divination." Ron answered with a grimace. If that old bat tells me that I'll intentionally hug a Slytherin one more time, I swear I'll ram a crystal ball up her Ouija board."

"How would that work exactly?" Neville, who had joined the pair shortly before Ron's mini-rant, asked.

"I don't know." Ron replied. "I mean, its common knowledge that Slytherins only exist on a two dimensional plane. And any attempt to view or touch both sides at once results in a cataclysmic reaction which, if left unchecked, could bring about the end of universe."

"So all you used the dictionary and thesaurus set I got for you for, is to find new ways to insult Slytherins."

"Undeniably so, my compatriot." Ron answered with a smile.

"Ah, my loyal subjects have indeed waited for me. As I knew they would." Harry descended the stairs with an air of mock regality.

"You asked me to wait, you berk!" Ron said in reply.

"True. But enough with pointless accusations." Harry waved him off with a grin. "I'm starving and they always serve hash browns on Tuesdays."

"Yes!" Ron cried. "Let's go!" Neville, Hermione and Harry followed after the already running boy down to breakfast. When they got there, Ron had taken a seat and had already piled his plate with food.

"So I was thinking Thursday evening for the extra lessons." Hermione said over the noise of Ron's eating. "We'll have to find a suitable space that isn't too conspicuous."

"I know just how to find such a place." Neville volunteered, and then blushed when the all turned to look at him. "I, I mean we, could… uh… Ask the elves. I'm pretty sure they know the castle better than Dumbledore, even."

"Good thinking, Nev." Harry replied. "But you'll have to be the one to do it, I'm afraid?"

"Er… why? What's so bad about it?" Neville asked.

"Oh nothing. You'll be fine. Just fine. It's just that in our second year, I freed a certain maniacal elf that I'd rather stay out of contact with, personally. He's helpful, sure, but his devotion is bordering on dangerous. So you'll go."

"Er, thanks?"

"No problem. If you get something good by Thursday, tell us, yeah?" Neville nodded at Harry before topic turned to more trivial matters.

"A griffon could easily beat a hippogriff in a fight!" Ron said with conviction."

"No way. Remember what that one in Hagrid's class did?" Neville countered. "It knocked Malfoy on his arse with one swipe."

"Though that was just the blond ponce so it isn't saying much." Harry added his opinion. "But I would say a hippogriff would be faster and more agile. Most griffons tend to be slow but powerful. Though, if the griffon did manage to get in a good hit, it would most likely win the battle for it. Otherwise, the hippogriff would wear it down in the end."

"Yeah." Ron agreed, staring into space as though trying to imagine the fight. "How about a Lethifold and a Dementor?"

"Hello Harry and co." The group, surprisingly showing no annoyance at being referred to as 'and co', looked up to see Luna approaching them. "Do you mind if I join you for breakfast? The invisible pink unicorn told me that it would be wise not to sit at the Ravenclaw table today and I'm afraid I don't know anyone in the other two houses."

"It's fine, Luna." Harry said, moving over slightly to make a space. Nobody else objected so she took the offered place.

"How can it be both invisible and pink?" Hermione asked after a moment of silence.

"The existence of the invisible pink unicorn is based on both faith and logic. We can not se it, therefore we know it must be invisible. We have the faith that it is pink and it's ability to be both proves it's power."

"Who's we?"

"The wizards."

"Well I've never heard of it" Ron protested.

"Not you wizards." Luna replied as though explaining the sky to a child. "The other wizards."

Harry stopped any further questioning by clearing his throat. "I may not be able to speak with the invisible pink unicorn but I do get the feeling we should be looking over to the Ravenclaw table just about now."

The near entirety of the Gryffindor table still had nothing better to do than to listen in and so all looked as well. And by a non-coincidence, they all looked at the same time that Cho had started to eat a slice of toast with marmalade. With each bite she took, her hair slowly changed colour. By the end of the slice, her hair was a light purple.

A few seconds after finishing, she noticed everyone staring at her and asked, in an annoyed voice, "What?" A scared looking second year girl pointed at Cho's hair and handed her a mirror.

"I hate Purple!"

"So her hair turned purple." Hermione said flatly. "If this really is the twins then they've become a bit tame don't you think…" She trailed off as writing started to appear above Cho's head, it eventually spelled out 'I hate purple' but it didn't stop there. The writing went on. 'I'm afraid of lizards' and 'I don't like the word sausages' appeared and soon after a dozen lizards fell from nowhere and landed around her. She screamed and ran from the great hall, the writing following her, now claiming her middle name was 'Peter'.

A few dozen students were laughing, mostly the victims of Cho's bullying. Luna seemed uncharacteristically ecstatic at watching the payback against Cho. Draco Malfoy had also been laughing at someone else's misery and felt the need to take a bite of a piece of bacon on his plate in order to give him more energy to laugh.

He started to laugh again but stopped at the horrified looks his fellow Slytherins were sending him. The same initial routine was followed as with Cho. Only this time, when Draco looked in the mirror, he saw his hair had turned red. The same handwriting appeared above his head as well. 'I hate red' was followed by 'I'm afraid of Snakes' and 'I don't like people calling me Blondie or Ferret.'

All around the hall, certain people's hair changed colour before their hates and fears appeared above there heads.

"So that was it," Neville said looking around at all the coloured hair. "They singled out the bullies..."

"…And gave the victims the means to fight back." Harry finished "I'm impressed."

"You had a hand in this." It wasn't a question, but a simple statement from Hermione.

"I might have commissioned their services for a certain service to the public." Harry admitted with a smirk. "Though all I said was to get a little payback on a few bullies. I didn't expect anything of this amazing caliber. They must have taken our deal to heart."

"And here come…"

"Your heroes now." Fred and George announced themselves as the sat either side of the group; a planned movement to maximize annoyance by providing their answers in alternating surround sound. "So what did you all think…"

"…Of our first prank of the year?"

"You mean there's more?" Ron asked, his face bright with glee; possible imagining finding some snakes.

"Indeed there is…"

"…Brother, dearest."

Ron may not have actually heard the answer because his mind had come to a suitable conclusion of his previous thoughts. "Harry, can you use that parselmouth thing of yours to get us some snakes?" He had a scheming gleam in his eye as he said this that left no doubt, if there was any before, as to what he planned to do with the snakes.

"I can and I will." Harry declared with an equally evil gleam in his own, green eyes.

"And I'm pretty sure I know a spell that will give them the ability to speak English. We can teach them to sing a medley of Blondie's greatest hits." Hermione added.

"I'll go call some out of the forest this afternoon. We can see if we can find some lizards by the lake, too." Harry said, smiling at Luna, who blushed slightly and nodded.

"Thankyou." She said shyly.

-/-

Lessons passed by and Lunch showed that despite each Professor's best efforts, the colour change and the writing hadn't been removed from the marked bullies' heads. Many girlish screams, from both girls and boys, were heard in the halls as those with neon hair were subjected to all manner of things such as spiders, monsters and, in one case, a nine foot tall Easter bunny.

The Weasley twins were, obviously, interrogated for a remedy but they remained tight lipped about the counter spell. Snape had of course tried a spot of Leglimency but they had long ago figured out his trick when he always seemed to know exactly what they were planning. So they devised a special toss about defense mechanism. Snape's mental probe was passed rapidly between the Twin's connected minds until he became too dizzy to stand.

So the effects carried on. At the end of the school day, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Neville, Ginny and Luna were sitting by the lake. Luna was tapping a glass filled with lizards while Hermione went over the third verse of 'Call me' with half a dozen snakes Harry had recruited with the promise of castle mice. Snake number three, whom Luna had named Timothy, was a little off key on the second line.

Harry, Ron and Neville, chucked a miniature Quaffle lazily between them whilst debating whether Snape and McGonagall would beat Dumbledore and Trelawney in a Wheelbarrow race.

Ginny was alternating between the occasional Quaffle throw and trying to find a five leafed clover. The Hogwarts grounds had more four leafed ones than three.

"That's it guys! You've got it!" Hermione yelled enthusiastically. Harry translated as the snakes still couldn't understand English, only speak it. "Now let's go and annoy the Ferret"

-/-

The joyful revenge continued for a fortnight where the spells faded with a final parting shot that found all the marked bullies hanging by their shoelaces above a large bowl of water in the great hall. But we aren't at that point yet.

"Welcome one and all to the first weekly extra defense lesson. Glad you could make it. Our thanks go to Neville for finding us this perfect venue." Harry sat in a high backed chair along with the others in a circle. "Tonight. We'll have a spot of fun before doing some shields and debilitating spells.

"We'll be playing a dueling game of sorts. Hermione, you may have heard of paintball?" She nodded. "It's that but with colour changing spells. The room has provided us with these special wands to shoot a twenty four hour colour change spell. Random colours, so if you don't want to spend tomorrow looking like a packet of skittles, dodge and roll, people. I will say that the most colourful person gets a chocolate frog so it's a tough choice.

They did indeed spend the next day looking like a packet of skittles but they also, as promised, learned some useful spells and dulling techniques, along with a bit of theory to help with the OWLS. Far better than Umbridge's lessons and worth the slight teasing. Even more so because the colour they seemed to be just so happened to match the hated colours of certain people.

-/-

"Front kick right. Stomach punch left." Hermione continued calling out strikes, kicks and blocks, whilst correcting slight infractions. Harry was learning fast. The room of requirement had proved to be a godsend in their training. It provided exactly what they needed for Hermione to teach Harry effectively. "Now turn with a rising head block."

"Brilliant." Hermione said after she let Harry relax. "Take a little break and we'll see how you fair against three opponents." Harry nodded and drank from a glass of water that appeared next to him before sitting down against the wall. "You've come a long way in two weeks, Harry. And your muscles are starting to develop a little already. That means you should have more of you magic at your disposal now. Because it isn't having to constantly upkeep your body.

"Yes but I feel like shit." Harry grinned

"Harry…" Hermione admonished his choice of language. "For that, Mister, there shall be no more resting today. Up and fighting, now."

At the end of her sentence, Harry was on his feet and looking at three wooden mannequins. He nodded his head to them and fell down into a simple fighting stance. The dummies followed suit and approached him. Hermione was standing to the side, watching with interest.

He had to make a quick decision of whether to back into a wall so he had less sides open to attack or to let them encircle him in an open space to leave more room for escape. He had an idea and moved towards a wall before subtly placing his foot on it. He spun around took another step up and pushed himself up and over the heads of the three mannequins, he landed on his feet before using the momentum to launch a high spinning kick into the side of the middle one's head.

It crumpled to the floor just as the other two turned and attacked. Harry dodged and blocked several strikes before taking the offensive and driving a quick flurry towards the dummy on his right. As one dummy stumbled, the other pressed an advantage in Harry's open side.

It caught him beneath the ribs with an uppercut and he staggered to the side. The dummies moved either side of him and he had to keep turning to make sure they didn't get behind him. He kept them back with short bursts of jabs and kicks while blocking as much as possible.

He took a step towards one and swept it off its feet before dropping a knee to it's face and a punch to it's chest.

He shook his hand to try and get rid of the aching that came with punching wood. The second dummy disappeared like the first one had leaving it as just one on one. Harry's hair was sticking to his head with sweat and he wiped a hand across his brow to stop any getting in his eyes. As his arm dropped and fist came flying towards his face. He blocked it at the last second but had to take a step back. The dummy moved in and sent a kick to his side.

Harry caught the kick and pulled the dummy towards him, bringing his own foot to kick the dummy's stomach. The dummy swiveled on its foot and wrenched its other leg free before attacking Harry's side. Harry reacted just a second to slow and was brought to the floor with the dummy's foot just an inch from his head.

It stayed there and he heard Hermione clapping. "Good. But you really lost your advantage when you wiped your head. You were distracted and couldn't recover properly. But you lasted long and would have won if it wasn't for that." The dummy disappeared and was replaced by Hermione's hand offering to help him up.

He took the hand and grabbed a towel from thin air, drying his hair.

"Take a shower and we'll go get some breakfast."

Harry and Hermione spared a minute to laugh at the two dozen people hanging by there shoelaces before finding their friends. As they sat down, the owl post train filtered through the windows. Hedwig wasn't amongst them but a dark brown owl dropped a copy of the daily prophet into Hermione's lap. She looked over the front page before gasping and showing the paper to the others.

Goblin Rebellion - Trouble at Gringotts

A/N: Hi!

You know the feeling when you see a Twix in a shop and go 'I could do with a Twix right now' but then when you eat it, you're like 'That wasn't as good as I remember. I think I should get a Mars bar next time' but you never do?

That's how I feel right now.

Next time: Some repercussions, some plans and an explanation perhaps.