Nobody in the government was too happy about the nuclear explosion. Alas, they had to admit two things. One was that it was better for it to happen deep underground in an empty cavern rather than in Fort Knox full of gold. The other was that no one had been harmed actually and that there was no radioactive pollution.
Another benefit of the entire operation was the fact that American goblins started to renew their relations with the government. They kept a low profile to prevent arousing suspicion (they had supposedly lost all American golden reserves). It was clear that somewhere down the line, Romanians were going to believe that goblins have somehow outsmarted them which would make them look more dangerous than they were. No goblin had a problem with that.
Next move of the Romanians came several days after the attack. A pressure started to build to conduct an early audit of the gold in Fort Knox. It was clear that Rufus Feller was pulling the strings. Alas, it seemed that he wasn't putting his heart into it.
The question was, what was it that they intended to achieve with the audit? After all, no one was actually going to inspect the gold itself, only the seals. Did the Romanians think that they couldn't simply reseal the compartments?
It was decided to shoot any notion of a premature audit down and stick to the schedule. Let the Romanians think that the government was playing for time. Let them wonder what kind of a solution were they going to come up with.
In that regard, John Smith proposed a ludicrous idea during an informal meeting, "Wait. What if we invited a large group of leprechauns just before the audit? You know, to make Feller think that they are here to conjure up a bunch of fake gold."
He didn't seem serious but Bella had to ask, "And how would you get them here?"
"Well, we could revive the Quidditch World Cup. Then they would come here with the Irish team." (Quidditch wasn't played on international level any more and not even on national one in some countries.)
"Even if you managed that, you would put those leprechauns in danger. Let's just give the gig up when it's time. That would at least allow our goblin friends to drop the charade."
As the time of the regular "audit" approached, Feller revealed another card. A proposal appeared to replace the existing ribbons and seals on compartments in Fort Knox with something more modern. Such as steel cables and electronic locks. The latter was ridiculous because Fort Knox was warded and it wouldn't be simple to make such a thing work perfectly. Alas, no one believed that Feller actually expected it to go through. On the other hand, the idea of replacing the seals and ribbons with something stronger wasn't so new. It was decided not to prevent bringing the idea into consideration in future years.
Andromeda took a sip and put her tea down.
"You were saying?" prodded her Bella.
"To put it shortly, Emily gave birth to a baby girl. I don't know her name yet, I departed to tell you right away."
"That's wonderful news. That everything went well, I mean. I can't say it's a surprise since we all knew that it was coming and when it was coming."
To be honest, Bella and Edward were starting to feel a little bit guilty. While the two of them had started a family, the pack members had been putting their lives on hold.
Andromeda took another sip and snipped, "Well, one can't put too much faith in timing in this time and day."
So Sam and Emily had been worried about the child being affected by all the unnaturalness around. That was understandable.
"I hope you understand that Sam doesn't expect you to wish to see the child even though you are as related to her as I am," continued Andromeda. "And, of course, even though you've been through the anthill together."
"No, of course not," dismissed Bella, waving her hand. "Wouldn't want her to became all furry at such a young age."
Truth to be told, she kind of missed not seeing Sam and Emily as often as before. Alas, she understood that they had their own life to live.
With the Romanians biding their time, the magical world was relatively calm. There were few Death Eaters left and those of consequence were with the Romanians anyway. The rest were keeping a really low profile.
Old pure-blood families in France and the rest of the world weren't doing anything harmful. The news of an ancient vampire reawakening reached each and every one of them so they probably decided to lay low until the situation resolves itself.
The mundane world wasn't as calm. The ancient one expected NATO to start a war in Middle East. When that didn't happen, all the festering tensions in there started to near a boiling point. The new drones were prepared for deployment but there was no hurry. Sometimes, it was better to stay out of matters which didn't concern one directly.
It was necessary to reach this understanding with the other two global superpowers. Russia and China were asked to send their delegations for a clandestine meeting with an American one. Each delegation was supposed to consist of a representative of its government, military, magical population, and, if possible, vampires. Other representatives (such as of a local population of goblins) were also welcomed.
After some dealings, the meeting was set to take place in London in the former Ministry of Magic. As hosts, the Brits had two of their own representatives at the meeting. It was a small surprise that those representatives were Hermione and Eldridge. No politicians and no generals.
American vampires were represented by Eleazar. At one point, it was considered to invite Bella to open the meeting with a briefing about the ancient one but there wasn't for her to tell that she hadn't told Eleazar and Eldridge already. John Smith represented wizards. He was accompanied by two other humans and a goblin.
The Chinese surprised by merging the roles of a political and magical representative into one person. It was a member of NPC who also happened to be a weak wizard. The others doubted that it was a gesture of respect and trust towards Chinese wizards, it was probably that the Chinese government simply didn't want to send a wizard who wasn't a member of the party. Neither China nor Russia had got a vampire to send.
Eldridge opened the meeting by a short briefing about the "creepy ancient undead vampire" who was out there. It had more effect coming from him because from human perspective, Eldridge himself was a creepy vampire. Muggles from the American delegation continued by reviewing the situation in Middle East.
"I'm sure you have noticed that we are leaving the situation to unfold in its natural course," said a general from the delegation. "Why? Because we can't afford to start a new war which would destabilise the region even further. Not now, when we need to pour all our resources into preparing for this new threat. The question is, what are you going to do when certain unsavoury elements ask for your support?"
"Everybody who buys oil in there influences that region already," argued the Russian political representative instead of answering. "I wonder though, how long will this resolve last? Until the price of gas rises and you decide that you need cheaper oil from Iraq?"
"No," answered the general. "But I imagine that the horse breeding business will experience a boom when that time comes."
"Or we shall take a page from Israel," added his political counterpart. He was speaking about electric cars but he probably didn't know much about the matter.
"Oh, I wonder how will that be received by your citizens," maintained the Russian. "Not to mention that there's only so much lithium on the planet."
"It's free market. If they wish to buy gasoline for three dollars a gallon, it's their choice."
As the meeting continued, it seemed that the Russians were quite agreeable. They didn't know if the Romanians had a base of operations in Romania but the chances were that it was somewhere near Russia. All in all, they were in more danger than Americans.
On the other hand, Chinese were more ambivalent about the whole thing. They didn't believe that they were in any immediate danger and there was no intelligence to suggest otherwise. Alas, they agreed not to do anything disruptive.
Elizabeth's second birthday arrived. Because she (Elizabeth) had stopped by at Teddy's second birthday during the "golden operation", Bella decided that both Andromeda and Teddy ought to be there this time around. Leah and Seth were invited to accompany them.
Bella and Edward wondered whether they should invite Harry, Sue, and Billy or whether they should limit the number of guests to prevent the event from becoming overcrowded. Elizabeth offered an insight which helped them decide. She thought that the event wasn't just about her but that it was also an opportunity for people to meet. She was sure that Charlie, for example, would appreciate it. In the light of that, Bella extended the invitation to Jared, Kim, Sam, and Emily. She made sure that everybody understood that she didn't want to see many gifts - she didn't want Elizabeth to get Dudleyish after all.
There was no cake because Elizabeth didn't eat those. They considered making one nonetheless but Elizabeth believed that some sort of a middle ground was better. Hence, she decided to prepare sushi which she sometimes partook in. It was something that could be eaten both by her and humans. Moreover, everyone liked fish. Bella tried to imagine how was Charlie going to feel about a fish which wasn't baked or fried.
On the day of the birthday, the guests gradually arrived. The birthday girl greeted them all.
"Oh my, I can't believe that you are two years old," said Charlie because that was something usual to say. He almost added "already" but stopped himself in time.
"Quite," joked Jacob. "If I didn't know better I would say that she's older."
Charlie smiled nervously and nodded. As expected he wasn't thrilled by sushi.
"Don't worry, Charlie," assured him Seth and picked something wrapped in seaweed. "It's all fresh and completely OK. I would smell it if it needed cooking." He swallowed the morsel whole.
"Those are lightly steamed," pointed Elizabeth. "I warn you though, I don't have much experience with cooked meals."
Fawkes arrived and snatched a piece of vegetarian sushi. Bella had a snarky remark for him on her tongue but she stopped herself. He couldn't be relied on but it was ill-advised to be mean to him nonetheless. Who knew? Maybe he could provide Elizabeth with a way out of danger one day.
Sam and Emily showed photos of their daughter. Jared and Kim communicated with their eyes. Edward caught accidentally a thought from Kim - they were deciding whether they should announce something. It was then when he noticed a slight change in Kim's scent. Jared caught Edward looking at them and Edward tapped his nose. By that time, every other vampire knew the news as well. Jared and Kim gave each other another look and announced that they too were going to have a little one.
"Is it wise to be here?" asked Elizabeth after a round of congratulations.
"It's too early to have any effect," alleged Kim.
"At least we think so," added Jared.
Gifts were given until only one last one remained. A joint gift from Bella, Edward, Jacob, and even Andromeda. They put a small box in front of her.
Elizabeth sniffed and asked, "I smell oil, walnut, and... burned powder residue?" Her eyes went wide and she exclaimed, "Is it what I think it is?"
"We've agreed with Jacob that you are a good student," confirmed Bella with a smile. "And in this time and day, I believe you need to carry your own."
"What...?" murmured Charlie, not entirely sure what was it about.
Elizabeth opened the box and saw a ZP98. "Yay!" she squealed.
"I know, it's small," commented Jacob in a pretended dismissive tone. "But you need to grow up a little before you can conceal something bigger."
Edward rolled his eyes. Many adults chose that gun for concealed carry. Not to mention that a smaller gun of a same calibre required greater strength to handle the recoil.
"It's been customized," he explained. "The magazine well is magically enlarged in the inside. You need to use longer magazines."
"Twenty-two cartridges," supplied Jacob. It was him who made those magazines.
"Thank you," said Elizabeth. "Thank you all."
She looked at Andromeda when she said that. It was clear to her who did the wand work. Elizabeth wasn't sure what had been more difficult for Andromeda - doing something nice for her niece's daughter or following her niece's instructions.
She suddenly felt like she was letting the gift overshadow the other gifts so she turned at all the others and thanked them too (again). That was the moment when Charlie came out of his shock.
"You can't give her a gun!" he protested. "You can't give guns to two year old girls!"
"But giving them to two year old boys is OK?" sneered Emmett so silently that only those with super-hearing heard him.
"Oh, come on! You've ruined the atmosphere!" criticized Jacob.
"Something was bound to ruin it," defended him Jared. "Don't you know anything about how these things go? We are lucky that it was just Charlie and not an alien attack from space or something like that."
"Stop calling those things on us," reprimanded him Emmett. "Don't you remember what happened with those ants? You made them to swarm on us."
"Me? How?"
"Because you believed in it."
"You can't give guns to children!" maintained Charlie. "It's illegal!"
"Thank you for mentioning that," teased him Bella. "Do us a favour and make sure that it isn't discovered if you stop her in a routine traffic check tomorrow."
Charlie merely whimpered as he imagined Elizabeth driving a car.
"Don't worry," calmed him Billy. "They don't intend to give her a car of her own just yet. That would be spoiling."
Carlisle gave his wife a smile and sipped his space-drink. It was nice to have so many friends.
The world of vampires started to be interesting again a few months later. At least in Mexico.
Maria's territory, which had been relatively stable in previous decades, started to feel pressure from enemies. According to Peter and Charlotte, there were two covens. Neither of them were relying on newborn vampires too much. Both of them were attacking from south.
So far, nothing was discovered that would indicate involvement of either Vladimir or Stefan but it seemed unlikely that the Romanians would have nothing to do with it. Jasper, Peter, and Charlotte met in Denali to discuss the matter.
"We won't do anything at this moment," announced Jasper. "I don't think that you should do anything either."
"If Vladimir or Stefan are pulling the strings of those two covens, wouldn't it be prudent to support Maria?" disagreed Eleazar.
"That would be ill advised," refused Jasper.
"I concur," seconded Peter. Charlotte nodded.
"Are you sure that your judgement isn't impaired by your history with her?" asked Tanya.
"No, but it makes it easier to sit on our hands while she looses everything," replied Charlotte.
"There's a saying," said Jasper. "If two of your enemies fight, don't support either. Now, Maria isn't exactly an enemy but she most definitely isn't a friend."
"And yet, it was thanks to her that the southern front was so calm for years," contended Eleazar.
"It would be a mistake to imagine her as some kind of a barrier against vampires from south," countered Jasper. "She is an opportunist. Like Aro. No, not exactly like him but similar in certain aspects. The best thing to do is for you to to observe and keep us posted. If Maria looses, we'll strike."
"Very well, if you wish," surrendered Eleazar. "Now, I'm not going to mention that many people might die in this or that Maria could do something drastic."
"You just did," remarked Peter.
Eleazar ignored him and continued, "You've said that you intend to strike when Maria goes down, right?"
"That's correct."
"What if the Romanians are truly behind those two covens and what if those two covens are supposed to test defences of North America? When you smash those two covens, they'll see exactly what you have."
"I see," mused Jasper. "I guess we must not hit them with everything we've got."
They discussed the matter some more before parting. Jasper needed to consult Alice (and her ability) and his superiors. Peter and Charlotte returned to observing the situation.
The whole situation resulted in broader cooperation with Mexico. The country had been on board with what was happening for over a year but they had not been part of any joint projects. The problem was that the corruption level in the country was somewhat greater than in America which made the government wary of giving their neighbours even a limited access to technologies using magic. Mexico had its magic users after all so it could start its own project.
Alas, both countries agreed that greater cooperation was required because vampires didn't recognize any borders. One of the first fruits of the cooperation was a permission for American drones and "agents" to operate in Mexico. The idea was to monitor the situation and maybe influence what was happening with drone strikes. It was unclear what exactly were they going to do and it was clear that flexibility was going to be required.
Bella and Edward were dispatched to mind probe the attacking vampires from distance. Edward finally mastered focusing his gift on a single target or area so even if Vladimir or Stefan were near, the risk of exposure was minimal. Their spying didn't reveal anything substantial but it confirmed that those two covens didn't appear out of thin air.
Most members of the two covens had been created after Aro's demise but those in charge were aware that they weren't alone in the magical world and made sure to keep their activities hidden. Some of the founding members were still alive but they met their creator personally only before their change. The memories were muddled and probably not just from the change. It was hard to believe but it seemed that all the planning had been done by the leaders and their creator or creators while they were still human. There had been no further contact after they had been changed and the leaders merely followed a pre-learned script. All newer members had been created by them. They didn't posses enough control to change somebody by bite yet so they utilised syringes.
A research institute of American wizards finally created first two detection nodes (for true undeads). They placed them on two towers in a secret testing area. Theoretically, an ancient vampire passing anywhere near the created field would be detected.
The problem was that they had no way of testing it. The only option was to create some kind of a magical emitter which would mimic the residuum energy from the sarcophagus they had discovered near USS Ohio. Bella agreed to help them with that but it was suspected that only an ancient vampire would be a true test.
Hermione Granger was cooperating on the project and proposed an interesting idea. She wanted to put two nodes on smaller sized Zeppelins and have them flow over Europe. They would have to be constructed with no metal parts to avoid radar detection but that wasn't a problem. It wasn't just a good test, they needed something like that anyway.
Jasper flew to Britain to visit the two soldiers who had been changed into vampires two years before. With their newborn phase gone, they had started to get themselves under control. After meeting them, Jasper thought they could do with a field test. He discussed it with their commanding officer.
Since he was in neighbourhood, Jasper also visited Siobhan. They were doing well but their cooperation with Brits was only minimal. Maggie was somewhat nervous from the fact that almost everybody who they had talked with was immune to her gift.
Christmas arrived. Bella had to admit that she was getting used to the tradition. That meant that she didn't mind it as much as before.
Just like the previous year, all the Cullens were going to be at home at Christmas Eve. Charlie was tasked with convincing Andromeda to come over. He succeeded. Both Leah and Jacob asked her whether she wanted either of them to accompany her but she declined.
The atmosphere during the evening wasn't exactly tense but people couldn't stop themselves from discussing everything that was happening. Esme and Rose were analysing Middle East and effects of the situation there on ordinary people. Jasper and some others were talking about Maria. Bella, Andromeda, and the rest were discussing the Romanians and European old pure-blood families.
Charlie got tired of listening to that soon enough and played with Teddy instead. Teddy mimicked Charlie's hair after a while.
"Nice, isn't it?" commented Elizabeth who was observing them.
A murmur was Charlie's only answer. He wasn't as enthusiastic about it as she was.
"Oh come on. Just imagine when he's going to be able to change his face too. I keep telling this to people - such a thing would be great in law enforcement. No more lengthy undercover assignments, no more inside informers. Teddy would just go in, masquerading as one of their own, and he would just arrest everybody at the right moment."
"Or, more likely, his cover would get blown the moment somebody would ask him something."
"Hm, you are right. He would need to be able to access memories of his subject. Provided that the subject would be already arrested and still alive, Teddy could read his mind in real time through some kind of a quantum entanglement device. Like the ones my mum and dad use."
Charlie fell silent for a moment and then commented, "You know, that sounds like something from a movie about an alien takeover of Earth."
After New Year, Peter and Charlotte reported "intense battles" between Maria and one of the opposing covens. Everybody involved was still careful enough to keep it discreet. The other coven was holding back for some reason.
The battles between Maria and the engaging coven ended with a final clash which resulted in heavy causalities on both sides. The enemy coven pulled back and hid in an abandoned factory in a middle of nowhere. Bella and Edward found out that the other coven intended to finish Maria off.
They checked the weakened one too and discovered that they intended to "recruit" new people. The reason for that wouldn't be so unexpected in a normal situation but it was somewhat unexpected given the circumstances. They were obviously preparing for an upcoming conflict with the other coven. While the two new covens had not been cooperating before, they weren't getting in each others way either. It seemed that this ceasefire was going to be over soon. It raised a question about what was Vladimir and Stefan trying to accomplish.
It was decided not to let the weakened coven replenish its forces. Edward was going to wait in ambush and destroy the recruiter. Because of that, it was decided that something needed to be done with the rest of the coven as well. Jasper relayed Eleazar's concern that they were going to uncover their cards. He argued that it was going to serve the other coven mainly. Alas, he had to admit that they couldn't let them run unchecked either.
He contacted his British friends and asked whether their vampires weren't up for a test of their abilities in a real action. They reviewed details of the situation and agreed.
In the meantime, one of the leaders of the recuperating coven left their hideout to find suitable candidates. Edward followed him. He (Edward) was alone but Alice was watching him.
The two vampire soldiers arrived with a muggle-born wizard who was supposed to keep an eye on them. Bella would find that strange but Jasper was expecting it. They were new after all.
"Your task is very simple," briefed them Jasper. "First, perform quick reconnaissance of the site. We've done that already using telepathy but I want you to do that yourself. It's time to put your superhuman senses to use. Then we shall wait. We don't want to strike too early because it could tip Maria and the other coven off. When the time comes, you'll need to coordinate with a team of drone operators and guide their strike on the building. You've practised this back home with exactly the same drones and a similar system. In the end, move in and finish anybody left. You aren't without backup, of course, but don't rely it. You are expected to do this on your own. And remember, if one of you gets dismembered, the other should pick him up and run."
"What about those who surrender?" asked one of the soldiers.
"Good question. Two original members of the coven are present. Don't bother to take them alive for questioning, torch them on sight. As for everybody else, most of them were criminals during their human lives. But let's say that they deserve a second chance. If they surrender, deprive them of their arms and bring them back."
While the stronger coven was preparing to seek and destroy Maria, the recruiter of the weakened coven entered a bar. It was evening and it was filling with men getting a beer after work. His thoughts showed that he wasn't going to kidnap anybody but rather offer some people a better job.
Suddenly, a draft brought a smell of an unknown vampire to him. It was Edward. The recruiter turned around sharply and saw him entering the bar.
"Good evening," greeted Edward in his perfect Spanish. His demeanour showed non-hostility.
"Who are you?" growled the recruiter in a vampire volume.
"Not your enemy," assured him Edward. "My creator is an old acquittance of your creator. Or his creator, I'm not sure."
That was the moment of truth. The vampire wasn't supposed to know anything about his creator and the phrase wasn't supposed to mean much to him. But if there was some kind of a hidden memory in his brain, he would know that Edward was most probably his enemy.
"What do you want?" he asked instead of fleeing or attacking.
"I've heard that your creator left you and your associates alone," explained Edward and made a step towards him. "I believe that we can help each other."
"What do you know about my creator?"
"That either he or his comrade founded the coven of your allies as well."
The vampire didn't reply. His thoughts betrayed that while he didn't know that for sure, he suspected it.
"I think they merely want to use you to destroy Maria without uncovering themselves."
Taking small steps once in a while, Edward closed the distance between them. He purposefully kept a posture which wasn't good for attacking. That wasn't his intention anyway. At a right moment, he touched the other vampire with a Portkey hidden in his palm.
They appeared in an empty warehouse in a Mexican military base. The vampire jumped away from Edward but was gripped from behind by Bella. A few moments later, the vampire was limbless.
"Well done," said Bella through her thoughts.
Edward didn't answer. What he had done was quite underhanded but it was clean at least.
They were joined by Smith. He looked at the vampire and commented that the captive didn't look like changed by a semi-ancient. It probably hadn't been neither Vladimir nor Stefan who changed him.
Bella mind probed the vampire, hoping to find something that she didn't discover before. Alas, last days of his human life were as muddled as before. Probably by some kind of a potion or an amulet and then again by the transformation. Bella couldn't learn anything new.
She decapitated him and nodded at Smith who conjured flames. Edward ran off to join Peter and Charlotte.
The final clash between Maria and the larger coven was near. With the recruiter destroyed, Jasper decided that it was the right time to attack.
The two British vampires established radio connection with a drone base in the States. They observed where the vampires were positioned and led a group of drones to strike exactly at the parts of the factory where the vampires resided. The drones used missiles with incendiary warheads.
They approached the factory from two sides and prepared their .50 calibre revolvers with explosive bullets. Jasper stayed at a vantage spot on a hill. He had a large calibre sniper rifle with armour piercing rounds. He kept looking around for some hidden observer but he didn't discover anybody.
A burning figure emerged from the ruins and was gunned down. It seemed that the attack of the drones had been effective.
It took some time before flames abated. The two soldiers circled around, trying to discover if anybody was trying to escape. They didn't see anybody and found no fresh trails. Finally they entered the ruins and attempted to make a head count.
"Well done," commended Jasper when they returned to him. "Now we need to get out of here. Local authorities will take it from here."
The two vampires were taken by the wizard away to be debriefed. Jasper contacted his superiors who contacted their Mexican counterparts. He ran off to join the others.
In the meantime, Edward, Peter, and Charlotte observed Maria's final stand. They were far, almost out of range of Edward's gift.
"I hope you don't pity her," remarked Charlotte towards Edward.
Edward blew some air from his nose in a sort of a laugh and responded, "This is the point where you tell me that she has innocent blood on her hands. The thing is, so do you."
"And you don't?" prodded Peter.
"Come to think about it, no, actually not. Though I admit that I've recently killed people who were simply at a wrong place at a wrong time but that's hardly unexpected in a war."
They crept a little bit closer. Charlotte unfolded a spyglass and tried to spot something. She wasn't used to such instruments and her eyes kept focussing on imperfections on the lenses. The battle was coming to its end.
"Well, I have to give it her," she commented after some time. "She knows how to go out with a boom."
"What happened?" asked Peter. Charlotte gave him the spyglass.
"She blew herself up along with a bunch of enemies."
"Well, that's one chapter of our lives definitely closed. I didn't believe that she would be capable of something like that."
Maria and her coven were wiped out. Alas, the attackers suffered heavy losses as well. Maria's group had known that they weren't going to be around to burn their enemies so they had done the burning right during the battle.
There were only five vampires left from the attacking coven. Two original ones and three new ones. It seemed like the two groups were in disagreement. The two original ones made the mistake of starting to make plans for a war with the second coven immediately after the battle. At the moment, they weren't aware that the other coven had been destroyed. The newer vampires didn't like the idea of yet another war.
The argument escalated and the oldest of the three newer members proposed that it would be better for them to split away. The older ones responded with threats and were met with the same. In the end, the two groups parted ways.
"Interesting," murmured Edward and contacted Jasper with a quantum entanglement communicator (one of the old ones which had been created by Bella).
"Would you be willing to talk to those three and explain that they made quite a mess?" he asked Peter and Charlotte.
"What about those two?" asked Peter.
"No need to expose ourselves too much. We'll let local wizards to deal with them."
Everybody (with the exception of Peter and Charlotte) returned north for debriefing. They didn't consider the whole operation some resounding success because they weren't sure what exactly was the effect of their actions going to be but their superiors were glad that it was done without any screw-ups.
Shortly after this "adventure", one of huger banks in USA went bankrupt due to some questionable decisions of its leadership. That meant thousands of employees loosing their jobs, millions of clients loosing their savings, and, of course, all the shareholders loosing their investment but that was not an issue.
Normally, it wouldn't be a such a significant event. Another bank had fallen previous year. And the year before. The problem was that those banks had not been nearly as big as this one.
It was no big surprise when the bank asked for a bailout. That was the moment when goblins got interested in the matter. Their consultants advised the government not to support such a move. After all, it was ill advised to steal money from taxpayers to cover a few gangsters and it would merely encourage other huge banks to rely on bailouts. FED pushed to provide the bailout but their position wasn't as strong and independent as it had been before Voldemort's death.
Feller's former associates expected him to intervene but he was beyond such games. It was doubtful whether the situation was ever brought to his attention by his underlings. In the end, the motion was refused in the congress.
The question remained what to do with the bank. After all, the low ranking employees didn't commit any crimes and many of the clients would be placed in a tough situation if their savings simply vanished.
The entire board was investigated and charges were brought. The chairman vehemently protested this in an interview, claiming that it was a witch hunt and that they were scapegoats. He wasn't wrong. The clients demanded blood and it wasn't a bad idea to satisfy them.
Liquidation needed to be done with care. The actual worth of all the remaining assets of the bank covered less than ten percent of the deposits. One of the goblin banks offered to take over the bank and they started to negotiate conditions.
They offered to retain at least eighty percent of the employees. All the clients were going to be offered a two choices: either close their accounts and walk away with twenty percent of their savings or stay with the new bank in which case their account was going to be gradually fully restored.
No one else offered such generous terms and so the goblins became owners of a corpse of a bank. Some people wondered why were they doing such a thing. They hoped that they merely wanted to enter the market of "modern" banking.
First thing the new "masters" did was filter the employees. They fired anybody who worked with the former owners and anybody who worked for them. There were some exceptions to that rule, of course. The rest was filtered more carefully, based on the level of their participation on the fall of the bank.
Once they were done, the goblins asked themselves how were they going to integrate the bank into their system, especially personnel-vice. In the end they selected a hundred of employees who were either highest ranking or were intended for a promotion. All of these people were summoned to the headquarters of their bank to meet their new owners.
The little crowd was somewhat surprised when they were met by a group of uniforms and suits. One of them called for an attention and explained that they needed to sign NDAs before even laying their eyes on their new bosses. That was met with some rumbling. Somebody jokingly asked whether the new owner was an interplanetary financial syndicate.
"Silence!" barked the speaker. "Unless you realize, you've just been saved from loosing your jobs. If you do not wish to sign, you are free to leave."
He didn't have to add that the penalty for that would be a demotion or cancellation of a promotion. The paperwork was handed out by several agents. People started to read. There were some exclamations about consequences of breaking the NDA (non-lethal and non-damaging measures to prevent one to talk). Some people walked out indeed.
The paperwork was done soon enough and most uniforms and suits left. The people looked at the one who had spoken to them earlier and expected him to explain but he was silent. No one noticed when a one of smaller doors opened and a goblin banker entered. He was flanked by two bodyguards. One of them was a goblin too while the other was human.
Only when the newcomers started to make their way through the people did somebody notice. There were cries of surprise and shock. Most people thought that the two goblins were extraterrestrials.
"Silence!" bellowed the officer again.
The goblin waited for the people to calm down and tried his best not to be offended. He raised his hand to signal that he was about to speak and when there was absolute silence, he spoke, "I understand your agitation. After all, I am the very first banker you have ever seen in your lives."
They all had a long evening ahead of them.
Andromeda and Elizabeth finished preliminary research and planning of setting alarm wards around the reservation. The main problem was that Andromeda was unable to perform the necessary magic alone. After all, the founders of Hogwarts had to work in concert to create its wards.
They discussed bringing Smith or Hermione in but decided against it in the end. They didn't want any outsiders to have intimate knowledge of the wards. The only help that Andromeda could receive was from the Quileutes and the Cullens. That was quite a dilemma since none of them were spell-casters.
Harry Clearwater's cardiac problems worsened. It seemed that Andromeda's help had bought him time but the inevitable was going to happen anyway.