This Harry Potter story was written for fun. All rights belong to the wonderful lady (JK Rowling) who gave the world Harry Potter to read and enjoy.

The goblins wait for Dumbledore to arrive for an important meeting. The headmaster does not attend the meeting with consequences for his bank account. An uninvited guest makes a mess of things and then Cornelius Fudge arrives. The entire chapter takes place at Gringotts.

Chapter 24: Invitation to a MeetingSCENE: Discussion with the Bank Director

The news of Harry's letter about the troll spread among the goblins – the threat to so many vaults (and innocent children) – prompted the goblins to meet and demand changes. Many discussions led to an 'invitation' for Ironstream, Sowsbreath and Felicity to meet with Ragnock, the chief, Director of all Gringotts. This was a goblin that Ironstream seldom met with and Felicity had only seen him from a distance at some ceremonies in the deep caverns.

As they waited inside the office of the Director, Felicity noticed that Ironstream was nervous. There were armed guards everywhere – Ragnock was the head of state so he was well protected. But Ironstream appeared shaken; an unusual state for the calm account manager and the healer offered him a calming potion brewed for goblin physiology.

"No, thank you, Healer Grossman. I must be fully aware of my surroundings," Ironstream replied when he waved off the offered potion bottle. He nodded toward the empty desk in front of them and added, "If anything happens during the meeting that leads to bloodshed, do nothing to render aide to the injured until the director gives you permission. He may want me to bleed for a time…"

"Ironstream, you've done nothing wrong!" insisted the healer but the goblin didn't reply. Sowsbreath stood on the other side of Ironstream and the normally talkative goblin was silent.

The guards suddenly stiffened, banged the bottoms of their spears against the stone floor as a door at the back of the room opened to allow an impeccably dressed but very short goblin to enter the room. This goblin moved to one side and announced, "All goblins and humans bow before the wealth and gold of Ragnock, First Director of Gringotts Bank, War Chieftain of the Gringotts Horde!"

Felicity curtseyed as if she were before the Queen, as a goblin in a fine suit of clothes entered the chamber, waved the announcer back, and then strode to his desk and settled into his chair. Felicity knew that goblins used steps and raised platforms to keep themselves at the same height as their human customers. Ragnock was no different even in this private office proving that she wasn't the first human to attend a meeting here.

"Account Manager Ironstream, Archivist Sowsbreath, Healer Grossman, I have summoned you here today to discuss this news from our ward Harry Potter about a troll at Hogwarts within reach of multiple heirs."

Felicity was pleased to hear the director call Harry 'our ward', this extended his protections over the young wizard though it also came with obligations.

"Thank you, Director Ragnock," Ironstream said. "We passed along the information as soon as we realized the threat that it posed."

Ragnock lifted a copy of Harry's letter from his desk, read the highlighted portion once again, and turned to Sowsbreath.

"How many heirs are in danger at Hogwarts?"

The archivist detailed the threat saying, "In addition to our ward, Harry Potter, there are five important heirs who have no siblings at Hogwarts today. This includes Neville Longbottom, Pansy Parkinson, Draco Malfoy, Susan Bones, and Annette Hathaway. There are other heirs who have a sibling or two including Marcus Flint, Daphne Greengrass, and Ernie McMillian but none of the families are large."

"The boy should have been in Slytherin!" declared Ironstream. "He worded the announcement perfectly to capture our attention."

Felicity shook her head, "No, account manager, the 'true' Slytherin hides in Hufflepuff."

"If the troll had broken free and killed several of the heirs, those vaults would have been sealed, the gold lost to investment," Ragnock stated.

The goblin peered at Sowsbreath again and asked, "How much damage would the loss of two or three of the families have done?"

"Gringotts will suffer a loss in revenue of 10% immediately and the percentage will increase over the years…"

"Yes, yes, but the heirs were not killed," Ironstream argued.

"This time!" Sowsbreath countered.

Ironstream continued, "Dumbledore must be made to understand the threat to Magical Britain if his games kill any of the heirs."

Ragnock shook his head, "Albus Dumbledore doesn't care if Gringotts threatens him; he believes he is untouchable. But perhaps we can impress upon him that Gringotts is displeased enough to freeze his vaults? Perhaps even demand an audit on all the accounts and vaults for Hogwarts."

Sowsbreath smiled, "An audit would be battle with the old wizard – if we reveal that he spent too many galleons on his robes rather than on more professors, the wizards would hang him from the battlements of the castle!"

"What do we demand of him?" asked Ironstream

"That he ceases these games and protects the children!" interjected Felicity. "He spouts drivel that Hogwarts is the safest place in Britain. Let's make him to live up to that claim."

"Yes," agreed Ragnock. "Dumbledore must be a proper headmaster."

"If he continues with these games and the heirs are killed, there'll be a terrible depression in Magical Britain," the elderly Sowsbreath confirmed. "There'd be no gold for investments, mortgages, government tax collection… Diagon Alley would fade away."

Ragnock sat in his comfortable chair for a moment before he waved his hand and other goblins appeared with chairs for his guests to sit in while they discussed a plan.

The director stated, "We can also bring pressure to bear against the Ministry but the wizards generally ignore us until something painful occurs. I hope to be able to reach an understanding with Dumbledore before we are forced to revolt."

Sowsbreath smiled, "A good insurrection would show the wizards how far they've fallen behind."

"And leave innocent goblins, wizards and witches dead or injured," Felicity said with a frown. "There's little long-term profit in death except for muggle undertakers!"

"True," Ragnock agreed. "Therefore, I shall issue an invitation to Headmaster Albus Wulfric Percival Brian Dumbledore to attend me on next Monday, 21 October, at nine o'clock, to discuss matters of great import for the security of the economy."

*(+++++)*

SCENE: Chambers of the Bank Director 21 October

The group of goblins and the healer waited patiently, gathering at ten minutes before nine o'clock. Sowsbreath and Ironstream used the time to update the Bank Director on the progress among the dragons. The tiny goblin who announced visitors stood near the door, waiting for word that the headmaster had entered the building.

"Hagrid is able to communicate with the dragons fairly well now but they have not developed any skill with Garfish or English we had first hoped for," Ironstream admitted.

The account manager continued, "The giant insists that once Harry arrives for the summer vacation, he can teach the dragons using parse tongue."

"Does the boy know Garfish?" asked the director.

"Not yet sir, but he can learn with his 'babies' as he refers to the dragons in each letter," Felicity interjected into the conversation. "Would it be possible for him to have some books to study before summer?"

"No," Ironstream said. "We don't allow any written version of Garfish outside of the bank. Our language is an advantage we want to maintain against the wizards."

"And the boy's got enough to study already with magic lessons and now muggle lessons," Sowsbreath said. "We'll make Garfish a game for him and the dragons this summer."

"Very good," Ragnock agreed. After several more minutes of conversation, the director of the bank consulted a wrist watch and frowned.

"It is now fifteen minutes past the hour," the director said.

Sowsbreath shook his head and said, "I know Dumbledore pretends that his arrivals are important enough that he can be late and never questioned, but this is unacceptable…"

At thirty minutes past the hour, Ragnock surprized everyone with a new order. The director wasn't enraged; he appeared to be calm and pensive.

"Ironstream, go to the floo that is connected to the ministry department that deals with Gringotts. Tell that wizard… Dirks Halberstam… that this morning, Albus Dumbledore has insulted the Bank Director and all of Gringotts. I invoke the treaty to demand an emergency meeting with him."

"Make certain Halberstam understands that the only thing that stands between Magical Britain and a goblin rebellion is the immediate appearance of the Minister for Magic to meet with me. At the very least, I shall close the bank for a week!"

"At once, director!" the Potter account manager stated as he hurried to the floo in another office.

"Sowsbreath, floo the DMLE and invite Director Bones to attend me now as well. She doesn't need to fear a goblin rebellion but she should know I am very unhappy."

*(+++++)*

SCENE: More Snubs by Wizards

Felicity approached the desk of the director and asked, "Sir, would you really start a rebellion?"

The goblin grinned, displaying two rows of fangs, three of which were covered in gold, before explaining, "A rebellion would be bad for business but Magical Britain is a ship of fools with idiots like Cornelius Fudge and Albus Dumbledore at the helm. The ship will flounder at some point in the future."

"Dumbledore didn't appear for a meeting with the ruler of the goblin horde; worse he couldn't be bothered to send any sort of response. This is a card I can play to my advantage today and only see profit…"

The door of the office opened with Sowsbreath returning.

"Madam Bones will be here within the next five minutes, Director," the elderly goblin reported.

"Good," Ragnock said. "At least one person in the Ministry has some sense."

Felicity returned to her chair at some distance from the director's desk where she was joined by Sowsbreath. They waited quietly before Ironstream returned to the room accompanied by Madam Bones.

The goblin bowed and reported, "Director, I passed along your message with great urgency. The wizard Halberstam ran from his office to the Minister's office but I heard no confirmation that the minister would come to Gringotts."

The small goblin at the door stood tall and announced, "Madam Amelia Bones, Director of the DMLE and Regent for House Bones comes before Ragnock Director of the Gringotts Bank and the Goblin Horde."

Now Amelia approached the desk of the Director, bowed as appropriate before the head of a 'friendly' foreign government.

"As requested, Director Ragnock, I have come. May I inquire as to the nature of our problem this morning?"

"You may," the goblin replied. "Gringotts is greatly concerned about the safety of several important heirs at Hogwarts. First there is a Cerberus in August and now a troll in October. These facts paint a picture of an unacceptable threat to important families with great wealth here in the bank."

"But I don't understand…"

Ragnock frowned and explained saying, "If your niece had been killed by the troll, the Bones estate would have locked down until either you bore a living child or another relative with the ability to produce a child was located and recognized by magic."

"Locked down?" Amelia asked. Even though she was regent, she depended upon the goblin account manager to maintain the businesses, rents, etc. that made up her niece's estate.

Ragnock nodded. "Do you remember the Selwyn family?"

Bones nodded as the goblin continued, "They were killed in a single night during the Deatheater Insurrection. We lost the whole of Cleansweep Brooms; the factory and shops shut down because the Selwyn family were the sole owners. Almost two hundred wizards and witches lost their livelihoods, Magical Britain lost a major export in the sporting brooms and children's brooms…"

Amelia Bones paused; she was no expert in economics but the Ministry had mourned the loss of revenue more than the loss of lives when the Selwyn family was wiped out.

"And Gringotts follows the treaty with the Ministry that once a family vault is sealed, it remains closed for a thousand years." The director paused for a moment and then added, "There are vaults that will be reopened in the next two years – a thousand years ago, the Vikings raided Britain and wiped out several magical families. Gringotts has guarded these vaults carefully and will reopen them for the ministry once the thousand years is passed."

There was a disturbance at the door, as the little goblin hurried inside, a grin of horrible fangs on display for all to see, as he announced, "The Undersecretary for the Minister for Magic has come to speak with you, Director Ragnock."

'Oh no,' Amelia thought as she moved to intercept this witch before she could enter the Director's office but the door was thrown back, and two Aurors stormed into the chamber, without their wands drawn, but they scanned the assembled goblins, wizards and witches for threats.

"Aurors stand down!" commanded Bones as a short, rotund woman wearing pink robes followed the two wizards into the room. She was out of breath with the walk from the floo in another part of the bank but she made her displeasure known.

"Madam Bones… this is my security… detail," she wheezed. "I give… them… their orders…"

"No. They follow my standing orders to provide you with a security escort 'at' the ministry. Not at another location like this!" Bones growled and the two Aurors grew pale.

"We'll all be dead if you draw a wand anywhere in Gringotts. This is the office of the director and you'll start…"

"Nonsense," the woman said. Her breathing once again normal, the witch turned to the goblins and said, "I am Delores Umbridge, Undersecretary to Minister Cornelius Fudge. It is not your place to tell me…"

"Where is Fudge?" demanded Ironstream. "Gringotts called for the Minister for Magic to attend the director."

"The Minister has too many important duties to deal with vermin such as goblins."

The witch looked about the room and paused for a moment – there was gold leaf on the cornices, the chair behind the desk appeared to be made of solid gold, and the creature's robes did appear to be encrusted with rubies and diamonds.

Amelia stepped away from Delores and caught the eyes of the two Aurors. With a hand motion, she sent both of them to take positions at the back of the room and to remain silent.

"Madam Umbridge…" Amelia began.

"Why in Merlin's name are you here, Bones?" demanded the insufferable witch.

'Why does Cornelius tolerate this woman…' Bones wondered.

Gritting her teeth, Amelia replied, "By the ministry's treaties with the Goblin Horde of Gringotts Bank, Director Ragnock can call for an emergency meeting with the Minister and the Director of the DMLE when actions of some wizard threaten the peace."

"Oh, I'm certain it's just a bit of indigestion on the part of the goblins," Delores replied, waving the goblin complaints away. "Cornelius was not at his desk when that horrid muggleborn came in, so I decided to use the floo and set the vermin straight."

"You're usurping the Minister's authority," warned the Director of the DMLE with her monocle twinkling dangerously. Her hand itched to draw her wand and curse the pink-robed idiot who was leading the ministry into a goblin rebellion, but the first rule when dealing with the goblins inside Gringotts was to never draw your wand unless invited to bring it forth.

The undersecretary's eyes narrowing and her tone growing cold, Delores continued, "As Undersecretary to Cornelius Fudge, it is my job to step in when the minister is indisposed."

"Vermin! You dare to call us 'vermin'?" roared the goblin behind the desk. "First Dumbledore insults me, then this toad in pink flounces into my office and calls me 'vermin' and questions my digestion!"

Delores turned toward the goblin behind the desk once again with a sour look on her face.

"Now see here, you cannot take that tone with me. I am Undersecretary…"

"Death take you!" screamed the little goblin who only moments before had announced the undersecretary. With a dagger in his hand, he leaped from the floor to the fat woman's chest, grabbed her hair and hacked off a lock of her stringy hair.

An ear-splitting scream left everyone in the room deafened for a long minute. Afraid for her life, Delores Umbridge grabbed the goblin sitting on her chest and threw the creature across the room and into another goblin guard knocking both of them into the wall and then to the floor.

"Kill them! Kill them all!" Delores screamed, pulling her wand from a pocket and casting a weak blasting spell that bounced off a shield that had been placed across the front of the director's desk. She continued screaming for her security team to kill the goblins while Amelia backed away and placed her hands on the two Aurors and forcing them to kneel on the floor where she joined them. The goblins knocked Delores to the floor where she continued to scream and wiggle.

"Say nothing! Do nothing!" Bones ordered the Aurors. "Umbridge just broke the treaty with the goblins and we can't do anything to help her!"

SCENE: Cornelius Arrives

"Dead or alive, sir?" Sowsbreath asked the furious Director. Ragnock stared at the toad-shaped woman who dared attempt an assassination.

Alive!" declared the director. "She'll scrub my chamber pot for the next fifty years! With her tongue! Twice a day!"

The door to the chamber opened once again, this time with Cornelius Fudge entering, his famous bowler hat in his hand.

"Good Merlin, whatever is the matter?" asked the Minister for Magic before he noticed his undersecretary, held on the floor by a dozen goblins, with razor sharp axes and knives threatening her head, arms, and well… everything.

"Save me, Cordie! Save me!" she screamed despite the axe-blade at her throat.

The wizard shuddered hearing the witch call him by that pet name. He glanced around the room noting the furious director of Gringotts bank seated on his throne made of gold, the other goblins and human employees of the bank who made no effort to help the witch, and finally the kneeling Aurors and Amelia Bones at the back of the chamber.

"FUDGE!" roared the goblin on the throne of gold.

'Why does he get a throne of gold and all I get is a wooden chair?' Fudge wondered for a moment before the danger of the moment finally caught up with his brain.

"Director Ragnock, may your gold flow and your enemies…" Fudge cast his eye at the witch on the floor again for just a moment before he concluded, "…may your enemies lie prostrate at your feet."

Now Delores began to wail and Ironstream quickly cast a silencing spell on the woman. The goblins wrestled with the witch, trying to move her toward the door, but desperation and fear gave the toad a burst of strength and she again threw a goblin across the room. He landed on top of Sowsbreath, knocking the ancient goblin to the floor. A second goblin sailed through the air to land against the desk of the director.

"Alive!" commanded Ragnock as the remaining goblin guard began to pummel the witch with the ends of their spears. She was quickly subdued and fell unconscious; this allowed the goblins to drag her from the room without regard to the witch's modesty as her robes rode higher and higher on her hips. Thankfully she was quickly out of the room, leaving a few streaks on the floor that Ironstream banished with his wandless magic.

"Forgive me Director, but I must get this goblin to the infirmary," Felicity interrupted the goblins. "Sowsbreath has a concussion from hitting the wall."

Ragnock motioned the healer to draw her wand and levitate the injured goblin from the room. As Felicity left the chamber with the unconscious Sowsbreath, Ragnock found the other goblins thrown about by the witch determined to remain on duty despite bruises and one broken arm.

"I am speechless…" Fudge admitted once the room was calm and the doors closed once again.

"That woman said she represented you!" Ragnock snarled. "She insulted me! Denied the treaty that keeps peace between us and then that… that 'thing' attempted to assassinate me, the Director of Gringotts Bank and the Goblin Horde! In my own office!"

"She what?" Fudge squeaked before he fainted. Everyone stared for a moment and then the director took a deep breath.

"That makes two of the ministry officials on the floor before me in a single day," Ragnock said, mocking his enemies.

The director eyed Amelia Bones at the back of the room and shouted, "Bones, get up here!"

The Director of the DMLE shook off the pain in her knees from kneeling on the stone floor and staggered forward.

"Forgive me, director. I am not used to the stone floor…"

The goblin waved away her apology and pointed toward the Minister for Magic.

"Wake him up! Put him in a chair but I want him awake to hear my complaint!"

Amelia shook the wizard until he roused.

"What? Where?" Cornelius began to say but then remembered. Amelia motioned the Aurors forward to help her get the rotund man on his feet and into one of the chairs before the desk. The Aurors stood at attention behind the minister but the Director remained at his side, within close reach if she needed to silence him – if she was lucky, she might leave this chamber alive.

"Director Ragnock, I came the instant I heard of your call. I was indisposed for a time in the loo…" Cornelius admitted. "When I returned to my office, the man said you'd called on the floo and asked for an emergency meeting."

"Yes, and that woman came in your place!"

Glancing at Bones who shook her head slightly, the Minister sighed before he announced. "Madam Umbridge did not have any authority to represent me or the Ministry. She came here of her own design."

"And the guards she brought with her?"

"They are misinformed youngsters," Cornelius replied though the one Auror had grey hair.

"And her assassination attempt?"

"A moment of madness on the part of an overworked bureaucrat. I wash my hands of her," Fudge concluded.

Ragnock sat still for a moment and then announced, "Fudge, the reason I summoned you and Director Bones is to tell you that Gringotts has determined that there is a major threat to the welfare of Magical Britain."

"What threat?" asked the minister – his administration was built on a mentality of 'don't-rock-the-boat' and it didn't deal well with threats.

"You and your Wizengamot fellows allow Dumbledore to remain in control of Hogwarts. All the children of magical age attend his school where he has already had a Cerberus and now a troll loose. It isn't even Samhain yet!"

"A troll?" Fudge asked, again glancing at Bones who refused to look back. "And why does Gringotts care?"

"Fudge! There are many important heirs at Hogwarts now! Many of them are the only child in the family and if misfortune at the hands of a Dumbledore plot or scheme killed any of them, the family vaults are locked and the economy is hurt."

Fudge appeared to not hear the words the goblin was saying so Ragnock changed the message, "The collection of taxes will dry up and you'll be thrown out of office!"

Now, Fudge listened closely.

"If that troll had killed three or more of the children in that hallway, there'd be depression in Magical Britain's economy. Gringotts would close most of the counterspace and limit mortgages and business loans making the depression worse…"

Fumbling with the implications of the message, Fudge repeated, "I am confused why you called us here…"

Ragnock shook his head, "Minister Fudge, Headmaster Dumbledore has insulted me and all Gringotts. I issued a personal invitation to the headmaster to attend a private meeting with me this morning. We would have bargained for him to truly make Hogwarts safe and shown him the consequences of his failure to provide for the safety of all the children including the heirs."

"But the headmaster did not come to the meeting with the Director this morning. In fact, he didn't even acknowledge the written invitation," Ironstream explained.

For the first time Amelia Bones joined the conversation, "The headmaster is insufferably rude not to even acknowledge your kind invitation, Director Ragnock."

"Despite the interference of an idiot from the ministry, the minister and I both immediately responded to your request for a meeting," she said with a bow of her head. "We value the good services that Gringotts provides to all of Magical Britain."

"Then what will you do about Dumbledore?"

Fudge grimaced before admitting, "The headmaster is also the Grand Warlock of the Wizengamot and knows everyone's secrets. No one can oust him from power."

'Except maybe death,' three different persons all thought at exactly the same moment.

"So, you will not even try…"

We will try Director Ragnock," Amelia assured the goblin. "I have already forced him to reinstate two classes after the first of the year."

"Excellent," Fudge crowed. "See, we are forcing changes with the situation at the school."

The goblins fell silent and the two ministry officials assumed they'd made a good impression on their hosts.

"Bones, we must return to the ministry!" Fudge declared. "We must be ready for any emergency that arises!"

Restraining her snort, Amelia motioned the two Aurors to escort the minister back to the floo. She bowed to Ragnock once again and followed, reviewing the meeting in her mind and wondering how Dumbledore could be removed without the government of Cornelius Fudge falling.

The goblins remained unimpressed as the Director of the DMLE and the Minster for Magic with the two Aurors were escorted back the floo to the DMLE. Ironstream shook his head in disbelief and Ragnock sat back in his chair, his hand rubbing his brow as though to forestall a headache.

"What do we do?" Ragnock asked the account manager for the Potter vaults.

"We make new allies and we invest in the muggle world – the regular world, I believe Mr. Potter calls it."

"What allies?"

"Your friends from MI-5, sir."

SCENE: Fate of Goblintosser

Awakening in a cell, Delores Umbridge began screaming to be released.

"The Ministry will send Aurors to kill every goblin in London!"

She found a chamber pot in the corner and threw it against the door again and again until it was bent. The single torch on the wall sputtered and extinguished leaving her in darkness except for the light that came through the hole in the door of her cell. Exhausted and sore from the pummelling she'd been given by the goblin guards, she fell asleep again.

Much later, the sound of the door opening woke Delores. In front of her stood a goblin who barely reached her waist but the creature was armed with a sharp knife that gleamed in the light streaming through the door.

"Well witch, we have decided to name you 'Goblintosser' and put you to work in the mines with other prisoners," the creature said.

"No! Release me at once!" Delores demanded, her voice growing louder with each syllable. "I am Undersecretary Delores…"

"Whoever you were before today is of no importance," the goblin said as he cast a silencing spell and a spell to force the witch to her feet. "As of today, you are Goblintosser and until your sentence of ten years in the mines is complete, you belong to me."

"Now, enough time wasted with small talk," the goblin sneered. "You need to be in the mines digging for China."

The goblin noticed the strange look on the witch's face and he laughed, "No, we're not really digging tunnels to the other side of the world… that's just an expression we use because our need to dig tunnels never ends."