Chapter Nine: The Return.


Prince Benedict of the Goblin Nation walked down a long and winding hallway. He made sure no one followed him. Only a select group of loyalists to his cause knew about the business transaction that was going.

Benedict opened up a large gate and the glint of gold flashed against his eyes. Piles and piles of real gold glinted in his face. It wasn't the cheap synthetic gold that they used as Galleons in the magical monetary system, with Britain and a few other countries. This was actual gold with real value.

The goblin tapped his finger against the wall and waited for his guest to arrive. He didn't have to wait for long when he appeared down a tunnel.

Blaise Zabini stepped towards the young goblin prince.

"The goblins should have been on the verge of war now?" Zabini asked. "What went wrong?"

"My sister, Princess Sersi, decided to show up in the country," Benedict said. The scowl going over the goblin's face made him look even more ugly than ever before.

Zabini wasn't in the mood to hear any kind of simpering excuses. He crossed the room and got straight into the goblin prince's face.

"You wish to be the heir apparent to the goblin throne?" Zabini asked him. Benedict nodded. "Then eliminate the competition and rally the goblins."

Benedict sneered. He doubted very much that human had any call for saying about who should be rallying whom in a situation like this. Especially considering the fact that this human was still a lowly soldier.

"Shacklebolt has no idea where you're really getting the gold to fund the Ministry?" Benedict demanded.

"He wishes to keep this matter inside the country and hopes to still work out a peaceful solution," Zabini said. "The last thing anyone at the Ministry wants is the International Confederation of Wizards to get involved."

There were a lot of countries that had a vendetta against Wizarding Britain, when they had been stiffed on trades. They might be inclined to bail them out, if they didn't have their own problems.

The HIVE planned for other crisis events to happen in other magical countries throughout the world. Britain was just the center of it.

"What does the HIVE want?" Benedict asked.

Zabini scooped up a handful of gold. He looked at it eagerly.

"The person who controls this, has all of the power," Zabini said. "I don't think the goblins fully appreciate how much power they have over humans. They could crush us, by taking our very livelihood away from us. Gold makes the world work, after all."

Several of the goblins eyed Zabini. They would love nothing better than to feed his smug snake ass to one of the dragons. Unfortunately for them, he was needed, the resources that he had would allow Benedict and the group of insurgents that he was covertly funding to overthrow the royal family.

Voldemort had been a snag, unfortunately, for many parties, on all sides. The Colony was now finally recovering and enacting all of the plans of the HIVE. The Bumblebee's blunder set them back a long time.

"Don't you realize how much power you could have over me, had I allowed you that luxury?"

"I realize that," Benedict said.

"Just remember our deal will be fulfilled," Zabini informed him. "King Benedict of the Goblins, that has a nice ring to it, wouldn't you agree?"

Benedict looked greedier than ever before, all of the power, all of the gold, but why stop with the throne of the Goblin Nation? He could unite the goblins the world over and overrun humanity and force them to bow before the might of all goblins.

"I have no intention of betraying you, Zabini," Benedict replied. "What of Potter?"

Zabini stepped forward towards Benedict. The prince of the goblins was nose to nose with Zabini and he leaned forward, whispering in his ear.

"I killed him," Zabini whispered. "Just remember how much the goblins owe me and what could happen to you if you betray me."

Benedict didn't back down from Zabini, "Is that a threat, human?"

"More like a promise, goblin," Zabini said. He was moderately annoyed that the goblin didn't believe that Potter was really dead.

It did feel oddly good to tell someone of his triumph. He wished that he could shout from the rooftops that he killed Harry Potter.

"Be warned human, pride comes before a fall," the goblin said.

Zabini didn't say anything. As per their agreement, he loaded up on the gold that would be used to fund the Ministry. He would in turn support the goblins with magical artifacts, that would gain them the advantage. All of the artifacts the Ministry "seized" and "destroyed" from Death Eaters, were really locked underneath a chamber inside the Auror Department.

Granted, many of those magical artifacts were cursed and anyone who used them was playing dice with their own life, but who better than the goblins to test out what was really dangerous.

"I want one more thing," Zabini said.

"Just one?" Benedict asked.

"The Sword of Godric Gryffindor," Zabini said.

"Absolutely not," Benedict informed him.

"I know Longbottom returned it to the bank as an act of good faith to prevent the goblins from causing all out war, but since I beat the wizard who rightfully claimed it, it's mine my right of conquest," Zabini said.

"So, you're claiming that you killed Longbottom as well?" Benedict asked.

Zabini didn't know what happened to that near-squib, but he was willing to take advantage of Longbottom disappearing without a trace to bolster his legend, "Well, he hasn't been seen in public in at least a year."

"Bold, human, that kind of boldness can get you killed," Benedict said.

"Three days, I'll be back for my sword," Zabini said.

He left the bank and left the indication that once he returned, he wouldn't be taking no for an answer.

"I'll mount his head for a trophy!" Benedict yelled.

The other goblins backed away from their raving and raging lunatic goblin prince. Some of them seriously considered other options, but given that he was backed by the HIVE and their lives were worth much more than Galleons, they decided not to.


If at first you don't succeed, try again. Even if trying again would likely get you killed.

Megan didn't think that the saying was quite meant for that way. The Daily Prophet was now up and running, and pretty much used in its default role as telling people that the Ministry was doing fine and there was no need to panic, because the situation was going to be resolved.

International Confederation of Wizards representatives paying regular visits to the Minister of Magic proved otherwise. Britain lost a little bit of traction after Voldemort, but they were still a very valuable part of the European magical economy. Mostly because they imported a lot of goods from other countries. Their exports left something to be desired.

There was a lot that made her head spin. Megan's area of reporting was not economics, it was investigative journalism.

Megan learned her lesson about nosing around the office of a high ranking Ministry official.

She decided that she should take a closer look and investigate the woman's flat.

The flat was in the middle of one of the worst parts of London, and walking down the streets towards it gave Megan the creeps.

'You'd think that the Senior Undersecretary would live somewhere better,' Megan thought. 'That might be the idea.'

She clicked open the door and entered inside. Megan waved her wand and several area of the floor lit up. She made a mental note of those being the areas of the floor that she wasn't supposed to hit.

Megan walked across the room and spotted an odd area of the wall that jutted out. Was she going to play with that area of the wall? Of course she was, what kind of investigative journalist would she be if she didn't take that plunge?

She reached towards the catch on the wall and pulled it. The wall cracked open and revealed a magical gateway.

Megan stepped into the gateway. She stepped inside, wondering what surprising treasures would be revealed.

It was a library. A really, really, big library, with shelves and shelves of magical tomes of all sorts and for all she knew, other books.

'Wow, Hermione Granger has an obscenely large library,' Megan thought dryly. 'Sky is blue, rain is wet, and politicians lie.'

Megan looked crestfallen. Perhaps she was wrong about Hermione Granger. Perhaps she was a good person and there was no reason to suspect her of any wrong doing. She might seem like she was a bit uptight at times, but that didn't make her evil.

She stepped forward and slipped on a rug. Megan fell down on the ground.

"Damn it!" she cursed.

She pulled herself up to her feet, and the rug pulled back to reveal a rune plate that was hidden underneath the rug.

"Um, yay?" Megan muttered. She was completely unsure whether or not she should be happy about this.

The rune plate fit a rune on top of the fireplace. She realized that could be the answer she was looking for. Throwing all caution to the wind, because she had nothing left to lose, Megan slipped the rune plate into the rune slot.

It was a key and it allowed her inside. It was a large room and inside it, there were large stacks of crates.

Megan slipped the top off of one of the crates. She saw what appeared to be some kind of magical weapon, although it was unlike anything that she saw before in the past. She didn't pick it up to examine it, because she liked to keep all of her fingers, thank you very much.

Footsteps came from outside of the hall. Megan had to think quickly and she ducked behind a curtain.

Two young men dressed in yellow and black robes, wearing clothes over their face entered.

"Do you think that she has it here?" one of them muttered.

"We need to ensure that she's still with the program," another one responded.

"You do realize that if Damon finds out that we're trying to undermine his prized worker bee, we're going to be beyond boned?" the other goon asked.

"I wonder what the deal is with the two of them," the goons said.

Megan stood perfectly still behind the curtain. She didn't dare breathe, she didn't dare blink, she didn't dare even look. It was obvious because of the shuffling around that they were looking for some incriminating information or something themselves.

"Look at all of these weapons," one of them commented. "Is the HIVE trying to overthrow the Ministry?"

"I don't know, I'd stick with a wand myself," another one commented. "Zabini told us what we're looking for. It's a journal of some sort. She would be the vain type to keep one."

"But, she wouldn't just leave it laying around?" one commented.

"It must be back there, in that safe," another one muttered.

"How do we get it open?"

The goons tried to figure out how to unlock the safe. Megan wondered if she could sneak out of here undetected.

Megan clutched the side of the wall and figured that that was a big "no" because someone was watching the gateway.

"Why do you think that the gateway was open when we came down here?" a goon asked.

"Maybe one of the house elves left it open, or something?" the goon asked.

Megan grew even more nervous. She thought with each passing second that the jig was up.

"Didn't she want to free the house elves?" the first goon asked.

"Well, maybe it was a poltergeist," one of them said. "Just be thankful that we didn't have to hunt around for a key."

The safe flung open and they found what appeared to be a black journal.

"Don't put your hands directly on that thing, there's bound to be enchantments on it, or something," the man at the door warned them. "Put it in the bag, we'll have the curse breakers take a look at it later."

Megan thought that she might have to pull it off.

She felt a twitching feeling come through her nose. Of all of the times.

'Well this is cliche and a bit inconvenient,' Megan thought. Her nose tickled and she mentally chanted to herself, 'For the love of fucking Morgana, do not sneeze, do not...do not...OH SHIT!'

Megan sneezed and caused the curtain to start flapping in response. She knew that she was deader than dead. The reporter doubted very much that she could reason with them and explain that she was trying to uncover misdeeds herself.

Was it just her, or did everything go more dark than usual? The sound of bodies hitting the ground around her caused Megan's tension to raise.

The very obvious sound of someone getting his head introduced to a brick wall right next to her also caught her off guard. The sound of cracking wood, or maybe that was bone, followed.

Dare she look? Megan flipped back the curtain and she saw the three goons down on the ground. She recognized one of them as a Hufflepuff, a couple years ahead of her.

Megan never felt more ashamed of her own house, pretty much becoming the minion type. Granted, given the loyalty, Hufflepuffs might just make the perfect minions.

The black bag containing the journal beckoned towards Megan like a forbidden fruit. She knew she shouldn't pluck it off of the vine, but her hands shook.

Something pinched Megan in the back of her neck and she got woozy, before falling unconcious.


Hermione Granger made her way down the hallway of the Ministry of Magic. It had been a very long last few weeks and she wanted to leave to get a drink and something to unwind.

Blaise Zabini stepped in front of her before she could leave the Ministry for the day.

"Granger, a word with you," Zabini said.

"If it's only just a word," Hermione answered.

The two slipped into an unused office.

"So, how has your investigation of the Department of Mysteries gone?" Zabini asked her.

"You know how it's gone," Hermione said.

"Rather poorly," Zabini answered. "Harry Potter is gone without a trace, isn't he?"

Hermione frowned and snapped back, "That hasn't been proven!"

Zabini chuckled. She really did amuse him. He leaned back against the wall and considered his words rather carefully.

"What do I have to do to prove myself?" Zabini asked him. "I made a deal with the Goblins and I took care of Potter. What more do I have to do?"

"That's not up to me to decide," Hermione said.

"Come now, Granger," Zabini said. "Are you going to spend your entire life bowing down to authority? Don't you have any aspirations of becoming a leader, and not a following? You might be a Mudblood, but you're fairly brilliant."

"Yes, I'm fairly brilliant," Hermione agreed. "And I know what you're trying to do and it won't work."

Zabini's smug snake looked faded from his face.

"Was it really necessary what happened to Lu...Lovegood?" Hermione asked.

"You and I both knew that it was necessary," Zabini said.

"She was harmless, she might have came close to uncovering something, but they would never believe the truth, if it was in the Quibbler," Hermione said. "We could have easily gotten the story buried...she could have been a valuable asset to us. She had the ability to see things beyond what many people see."

Zabini got into Hermione's face. She stung him with a slight charm and warned him to back off, which he did.

"And that makes her extremely dangerous," Zabini reminded her.

"She could have been useful," Hermione said through gritted teeth.

"It seems to me that you've grown...fond of certain people," Zabini responded. "It's almost like that when becoming that mask, you actually developed emotions beyond acquiring knowledge and working for a greater good."

"Don't be absurd!" Hermione fired back.

"I wonder if you forgot at times that you were supposed to guide Potter, and not grow attached to him," Zabini responded.

"Harry served his purpose, just like you might before too long if you keep pushing me!" Hermione growled.

Zabini laughed in her face.

"Mudblood, you never allow any blood on your hands," Zabini said. "You always find an excuse not to dirty your hands. Soon, Damon's going to get bored with you and move onto his next toy. He's going to find a newer, younger, and more efficient model, and someone who doesn't have the personality of rancid honey."

Hermione's fear that she would soon not be useful and would be left for dead was brought to the surface. She always craved the accpetance of authority, since her father coldly dismissed everything that she could do.

"Yet, you don't know who he really is and what he's capable of," Hermione said.

"I might not, but I bet you don't," Zabini fired back.

The sound of voices could be heard and Zabini leaned closer towards Hermione.

"Better remember what your purpose is, worker bee," Zabini breathed in her ear.

"Well, you better remember you place is beneath me, ant," Hermione said.

The two of them had wands pulled on each other. It was a power play and nothing more. The two stared each other down and backed off from each other, going their separate ways.

Hermione closed her eyes and mentally counted to ten. Her face shifted into a calm town. She was better now.

Not completely, because she wished that should could Zabini. He never should have been allowed to live after he killed Harry and screwed up their plans, because he wanted to make a name for himself.


Princess Sersi smelled a rat. There was a section of the bank that she couldn't access and she wanted to know why.

Her brother had a small elite guard of goblins. She followed one down the tunnel and saw his access card be slid into the wall.

Sersi ducked down the tunnel. She stopped short and gasped.

Piles and piles of gold galleons stacked to the sky. Yet, her brother had told her that all of the Galleons had been destroyed by an attack on the bank by the humans.

Sersi was putting two and two together in the only way that she could. She needed to warn the high council of what was going on here.

"Can I help you, Princess?"

A pair of surly goblin guards showed up and Sersi gasped. She stood her ground.

"Yes, you could help me by telling me what's going on?" she demanded.

"I'm ensuring the future health of the Goblin Nation, my dear sister."

Sersi's eyes shifted and she spotted Benedict show up with even more guards. They surrounded her on all sides.

"I'm sorry you had to find out about this, but it just accelerates the end of your life," Benedict said. "I'm sick and tired of playing second fiddle to some half-breed!"

"You were sent to work at the British branch, because grandfather hoped that it would teach you the value of your heritage," Sersi said.

She tried to make a way for the exit, but several goblins overpowered her and forced her onto her knees before her younger brother.

"Grandfather taught me many things, and taught me how he's caused the Goblin Nation to grow weaker," Benedict said. He looked down at his sister, who was kneeling before him, like she should be. "I've made powerful allies and I will take my rightful place. I'm not waiting to be handed the keys to the kingdom, I'm going to take them."

Sersi wondered where her brother went so long.

"You're working with..."

Benedict pulled back a cloth on the stone slab and pulled it out.

"Blaise Zabini will arrive at any second, and he will be seen by every goblin in this bank holding a sword that has your blood on it," Benedict informed her. "To save face, the Goblin Nation will put their entire support behind me. Every country who has a contract with Gringotts and the goblins will lose their backing, and as Mr. Zabini has told me, this gold right here, gives us power."

The goblin prince considered something.

"And, I'll have the perfect excuse to kill Zabini, and trust me, if you've ever met him, you would have the highest sympathies for me," Benedict added.

"Yes, you have been hanging around humans a bit too much, and the worst kind," Sersi said. "Keep talking and I'll die of sheer boredom, Benny."

Benedict held the sword in his hand and stepped to kill his sister. He raised the sword over his head and prepared to decapitate her.

An arrow shot out of nowhere and caught him in the arm. It doubled him over and caused Benedict to fall onto the ground.

A figure dressed in black swooped down. Sersi watched in astonishment when this woman took out several armed goblin warriors like they were nothing.

Not one to be a damsel in distress, Seri took one of the dropped swords, and she stabbed one of the goblin guards that held him. She knew the perfect spot to hit him where it could bypass the armor and really mess him up.

Sersi and the mysterious woman made quick work of the goblin guards.

"Not bad," the woman told Sersi.

Sersi smiled and rolled her brother over. Her brother winced when Sersi held a blade at his throat.

"You're bleeding," Sersi said. "I think he might have hit something vital as well."

A figure dressed in black armor with a black facemask showed up. He bent down and pulled his mask off, to reveal the face of Harry Potter.

"You," Benedict groaned. "Zabini said he killed you."

"And you believe him?" Harry asked. He sounded calmer and more collected that the goblin prince said through his previous battle. "You have five minutes, better tell me what you can, and I could heal you."

The poison from the arrow tip that Harry shot him with slowly paralyzed Benedict's body and he sensed that he didn't have much time. And he valued his life greatly.

"The HIVE came to me after the Dark Lord fell and offered me a deal, which would put me on the throne of the goblin nation. We would fake a crisis, that would collapse the economy of magical Britain and other magical nations in Europe...they had grown dependent...on the goblins."

"And when you had what you wanted from Zabini, you planned on killing your sister and pinning the blame for the death on him," Harry muttered.

"Not at first, but the plan made a lot of sense," Benedict commented. "And I would kill two birds with one stone. Zabini wlll be here within the hour."

Harry smiled. This was really too good to be true and it was obvious by Nyssa's body language that she agreed.

"You have to heal me," Benedict said. He could feel his throat closing up.

"I said that I could heal you, not that I would heal you," Harry told the goblin.

Benedict would have protested, if not for the fact that he couldn't even breath. The poison burned through his body and he expired within the next move.

Harry turned to Nyssa, "Help me clear up the bodies. It might be a bit of a tip off that something is up if Zabini shows up to bodies piled from the sky."

Nyssa agreed and the two wasted little time disposing of all of the slain goblin guards that they left in their wake. Sersi allowed them to do so, because as far as she was concerned, they were traitors.

He stepped over and picked up the sword of Godric Gryffindor. He held it in his hand and examined it.

"Lord Potter?" Sersi asked him.

"Yes, Princess Sersi?" he asked the princess.

"Thank you," Sersi said.

Harry nodded in acknowledgment, "You better make yourself scarce. Things are going to get ugly, really quick."

All he needed to do was wait for Zabini and settle the score. Then, he had a more personal score to settle, but that would have to wait until later.

These were essential loose ends he had to tie up before he left this world behind and embraced his true destiny.


To Be Continued.