"Why do you think that the sword will listen to my call and come to me?" James asked.
"Because your mother noticed it on the night of your last raid when you went berserk," said George. "She noticed the slight shimmer around your hand similar to your father's whenever he summons the sword."
"So how do I do it, then?" asked James. "I've only seen it in my dad's memories. I don't know how it feels or anything about it."
"It is said that the Gryffindor sword comes to its user when most needed," said George. "Try to think that you're in a desperate situation." James looked at him with flat expression. "We have to start somewhere," said George.
James sighed before closing his eyes and concentrating. He felt a slight twitch in his wand arm as George noticed the shimmer appear before dissipating away. James opened his eyes. George looked at him and shook his head. "It'll take some time," he said looking at James.
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Daphne opened her eyes feeling as if life had left her body. She felt very weak and could barely keep her eyes open. Her body and mind was telling her to go back to sleep. It felt so tempting but she had to remain awake. She looked at Hermione who was unconscious. She didn't know what day it was or for how long they were in here. She looked at the cell in front of theirs. Her vision was blurry but she could see two unmoving bodies shackled to the walls.
Her thoughts then went over to her son. Tenille had said that Amy was her pawn so that meant that Amy had or will betray James in the coming days. If only she could tell this to James somehow but there was nothing here she could use to do that. Even her magic was barely there.
She then noticed someone standing by their cell and saw it was Luna and Neville. They'd been there ever since the start, guarding the cells. She had stopped hearing the hums of Harry and/or Gohan, whoever was making that sound and only hoped nothing bad had happened to them.
As her eyes went heavy by each passing second she noticed a slight movement from Hermione. A feeling of relief came over her knowing she was okay…for now at least. They had lost this fight…this war. She could only hope that if Tenille expanded her territory into the muggle world then at least the Z Warriors would be able to defeat her. She had no expectations with the muggle authorities.
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James and George arrived outside Gringotts through a secured apparition path. Once George had ensured their apparition mode hadn't been tracked he took them inside.
This was the first time James was seeing the inside of Gringotts. It looked even grander than what he'd seen in the memories. He saw as George ignored the tellers' section and went straight for where the account agents were. He then walked over to one goblin sitting at the desk as James felt a privacy ward wash over them. He looked around and saw each of these goblins where were occupying a desk had their own privacy wards in place.
The goblin looked up from the piece of paper he was reading and saw George. He narrowed his eyes. "What business do you have?" the goblin asked. "I am an occupied account agent. If you are looking to hire an account agent then you will find those there," he said pointing to where a few empty desks were placed.
"I am here on behalf of house Potter," said George. The goblin's eyes went wide for a moment before he waved his arm, strengthening the privacy ward around them. "I have with me Lord James Potter, son of Harry James Potter and Daphne Greengrass-Potter, scion of house Potter, Gryffindor, Pavrell and Slytherin. Lord Potter would like to request a private meeting."
"Very well," the goblin said as he stood up from his chair and undid the privacy charm. "Follow me," he said.
They followed him to one of the doors on the back of the hall. The ceilings were a lot shorter and the two had to lower down in order to not hit their head. The goblin took them deep into the caves as James saw with surprised eyes the elegance of those tunnel and cave systems. The one under Potter manor was nothing compared to these. So this was the goblin nation.
He then led them to an office before securing the door behind them with layers of charms, runes and spells. "Have a seat," he said. James and George sat down as the goblin took out a small clay bowl filled with clear liquid. "This is security procedure," he said putting the bowl on the desk. "If Lord Potter wouldn't mind dropping a few drops of blood into the bowl?"
James looked at George who nodded once. He then took the provided knife and slit a small cut in his finger and let a few drops fall into the bowl. He looked with surprised eyes as his cut healed in a matter of seconds. The clear water turned red once before turning transparent again.
"What happened?" asked James.
"If the liquid had turned black or any other color it would mean that you are an imposter," said George. "A clear liquid means you are not."
"And it just tells you like that without doing any DNA comparisons?" asked James.
"This liquid contains the DNA blood samples of both your parents," said the goblin. "Each one has to do it if they are opting for higher security measures for their vaults and belongings that they are keeping here at Gringotts. I humbly welcome you Lord Potter. My name is Barefang and I am the account manager and agent of house Potter. It is an honor to finally meet you."
"Likewise," James said not knowing how else he would respond to that.
"Very well," said Barefang. "So what business does Lord Potter wishes to hold?"
James looked at George who cleared his throat. "Lord Potter wishes to respectfully borrow the planning of Hogwarts castle's foundings," he said. "He wishes so upon his lineage to house Gryffindor and house Potter."
The goblin looked from George to James. "And what does Lord Potter have as a means of payment?"
"I didn't know that borrowing anything required a method of payment," said George.
"I will return the Gryffindor sword back to the goblin nation," James said. George turned his head so fast it felt like it would snap as he and Barefang looked at James with wide eyes.
"James, what are you…" he stopped as James held up his hand.
"The sword of Gryffindor was made by the goblins," he said. "I don't have anything else to pay you with right now."
"But the sword answers to only those who are a lineage of house Gryffindor," said Barefang. "Its workings are useless for us goblins."
"That doesn't mean you can't be entrusted to safeguard it," said James. "It came to my father when he most needed it," he said as he stood up. His hand shimmered before the sword appeared in his hand. "It came to me when I needed it," he said. "It is true that it won't work for anyone else but that doesn't mean I can't entrust someone else to safeguard it. I would like that someone to be the goblin nation."
Barefang looked at the gleaming word with shining eyes. "The goblin nation would be honored to be given such an honorable task," he said. "I will go and report this to our king. Please wait with patience."
Once the goblin had left George turned towards James. "What are you doing?" he asked.
"Negotiating," James replied. "You said that the sword is useless in the hands of anyone who isn't an heir of Godric Gryffindor and even in my house's lineage only a few have been able to wield it. The sword will come to those who need it no matter where it is. Besides the goblin nation is the safest place for the sword. They will guard it with their very lives."
"Do you think you father will be okay with this?" asked George.
"We'll know once we rescue him," said James. "This is how we rescue him."
Barefang returned a while later followed by four scary looking goblin guards and an old looking goblin. He wore a chainmail warrior suite with gobbledohk embroidery engraved on it and a shining dagger on the hilt. James saw George stand up in respect so he followed to do the same before they bowed down to the goblin king.
"When Barefang told me about you and your offer I couldn't help but come myself to look at it," said the goblin king as he looked at the sword. "It is indeed one of the most beautiful and powerful creations of the goblin nation. Rise."
The two raised their heads.
"Lord Potter, you wish to seek the planning of Hogwarts' underground foundings?" asked the king. "May I ask why?"
"We need to infiltrate the castle because we think that the castle is serving as Tenille's main base," said James.
"I don't know how you came to know about the underground caves of the castle but it is indeed there," said the king. James and George exchanged looks. "I also see your reason behind infiltrating the castle. If your suspicion is indeed true them the goblin nation would also like to assist you in this crusade of yours."
"I understand your highness' wishes but this could be dangerous," said James. "She is too powerful for anyone of us to defeat. Our sole purpose is to infiltrate her base and rescue a few people."
"Then the goblin nation will assist you in that," said the goblin king.
James looked at the short but scary looking goblin before he looked at George. He then looked at the goblin king and bowed down. "I would request your highness that I and my friend here can discuss this amongst ourselves." The goblin king nodded. James took George to another corner of the office and cast a privacy charm over them.
"What do you think?" he asked.
"This clearly is more than we asked for," said George. "I am still not sold about the whole sword thing, though.
James rolled his eyes. "I said we would worry about it once we rescue dad and everyone," said James. "I was wondering that if the goblin nation decides to help us in this rescue operation we might as well have a chance to take Tenille down."
"I would advise against that," said George. "While the goblin army is very large and tremendously powerful we still don't know their strength compared to Tenille's army. Besides she almost has the entire magical population as her puppets to do her fights. If we went to war with her we will be killing innocent people who are just brainwashed by her."
"So we need to focus on just the rescue mission?" asked James.
"Your and Pan's parents would know the best thing to do," said George. "Let's try and rescue them first. It is better than going to an all-out war with Tenille right now when we don't even know her true strength in terms of her armies."
James nodded removing the privacy charms. They walked over to the goblin king and bowed down in respect. He then stood up straight and looked at the king who was patiently waiting for his answer. "Your highness," he said, "we would be honored in receiving your help in this mission of ours. We are grateful for this gesture that you have showed towards us."
"There is no need to say that," said the goblin king. "She tortured and killed a lot of my people, too. I understand that this is merely a rescue operation?" James nodded. "Then I guess we would need to avoid going to war with her at the moment. Very well, my people will help you in every way they can."
George looked at James before smiling. Once the goblin king had taken his leave Barefang brought a roll of very old and tattered parchment and a vial containing a silver strand of memory.
"This is the planning of the castle's underground foundings," he said opening the roll of parchment. When George and James looked at it their mouths hung open in surprise. It was like a maze down there. They wondered whether some of them had collapsed over time but Barefang assured them that since they were built by goblin workers they would remain there forever unless specifically destroyed. He then showed them the memory in the vial which belonged to one of the workers who had constructed the caves underneath the castle. He had specifically made this memory to guide others if they ever went into the caves. George and James took a copy of the memory and the planning before they took their leave.
Arriving at the manor they set up everything from the pensive to the maps of the caves. Everyone was called and told what they were going to do. They were surprised to know that the goblin nation was going to work with them. This couldn't get any better. The hopes of rescuing Harry, Gohan, Daphne and Hermione increased. George was chosen to lead this operation. Once everything was decided and everyone was showed the caves using the memory they'd brought with them the day and time was decided by them to carry out the mission. George informed Barefang about it and all they needed to do now was to wait.
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Thanks for reading…