Chapter Six

Goblins Bargain

London UK

Shaw lead them to group of people assembled around several vehicles that Ron could vaguely recognize as personal transportation vehicles but they were all green. All of the men and women in the convoy were openly staring at them as they walked up carrying their broomsticks in hand. Again Ron couldn't blame them but he did wish they'd get on with what they were doing.

"OI YOU LOT GET BACK TO WORK!" A woman shouted starling everyone which made them quickly jump back to what they were doing fulfilling her wish.

"These will be the ones you take in," Shaw said with a long suffering sigh. "They'll help with gathering the civilians and taking them here. We'll do the processing on our end."

"I'll see to it that the Acting Minister of Magic knows that and see if he's gathered anyone on his end," Kris said. "You-Who-Who's government is sort of kaput now."

Not yet, Ron thought jolting as he remembered that he'd promised Ripfang that he'd speak with him about the Horcrux well not that he knew the last part that is. Well no reason I can do both and besides they're refugees too now so I can get my business done and help out with the others.

"Right," Shaw said pulling him out his thoughts. "So just allow the convoy to follow you lot and they'll bring everyone they find back."

"Alright, hey Weasley you take the lead," Kris said completely shocking Ron.

"Eh? Me?" Ron pointed to himself. "All I did..."

"Was lead us to an alien vessel and take it down. I'd say that's officer material right there."

Officer material?! What did he mean?

"My son is right," Shaw agreed looking him over. "You are quite the officer there."

"But...But Kris is the captain."

"So? I can lead my own company while you get another," Kris said with a shrug.

"I..." Ron found that he didn't have an argument for that one. He was right, for all intents and purposes he did led a group into battle.

"Fine," he sighed realizing that it wasn't worth dragging out this particular argument. "But what do you mean officer material?"

"As in military which I'm told that you lot did before in the Great War as well as secretly help with World War Two but we can discuss this in full once you get back with your government," Shaw said noting Ron's increasing unease with the idea. "Best if we don't jump into conclusions."

Thank heavens since I'm not sure how to deal with that there. "Right," was the only thing that he said aloud. "So...I just lead?"

"Well you can choose who goes with you," Kris said.

"Oh," Ron sighed relieved. "Then I want Alistair, Bolin and Fatima."

"The old gang with a new one eh?" Kris smiled at him. "Good on you. I think they'll like that. Hey keep my fiancée safe yeah?"

"Alright," Ron returned the smile. He was extremely happy for Kris and would do everything in his power to ensure that she got back to him safely.

"Right, let's go," Kris said walking forward. "I'll take the remainder of the team and see to it that they're safe."

"Sure mate," Ron said placing his broom into mounting position. The soldiers finishing their tasks stopped and openly stared. Ron wanting to give them a good show and more so to blow off some of his nerves quickly shot up into a steep climb before pulling out doing a loop that he never would've dared to do in Hogwarts. He heard a whoop behind him and turning saw Bolin was flying behind doing several loops as he climbed then abruptly went into a dive. Well abruptly to anyone that wasn't a Seeker. He then quickly pulled out his dive and flew over the heads of soldiers who openly gaped at his showboating.

"Show off," Fatima shook her head as she laughed.

"Oi, don't knock it," Bolin playfully shot back as he stopped just hovering over the gaping troops. "You wouldn't be a Quidditch player if you didn't like it."

"And pray tell what would I be then?"

"Rugby player I think."

"Wait," a soldier, an Afro-Caribbean from the sound of it looked at them curiously. "You lot know what Rugby is?"

"Yeah we do, always support Scotland of course," Alistair said coming up beside them. "Argus Buchanan started the whole thing by playing."

"He was a wizard?!" The man gasped.

"Nah, squib, meaning non magical child born to magis," Alistair said. "Kind of like Muggle-borns are wizards and witches born to Muggles...which incidentally is you lot."

"Okay...That's both brilliant and weird in equal measure," the man said shaking his head. "Like really weird."

"Well if you lot are finished discussing the Rugby are done," Shaw said a bit amused now. "Move out!"

"Aye sir," Kris said. "Lakshmi, Beverly, Taichi and Agatha you lot are with me!"

"Stuck with you again boss?" Bolin smiled as he lazily drifted over to him. "This should be fun."

"Well firstly I need to cash in with the goblins on that deal," Ron said in a lowered voices and the cars began revving up. "Afterwards we can scan to see if there's anyone else."

"Right, so that has something to do with You-Know-Who's deal yeah?"

"Yes."

"Aye we can do that," Alistair said with a smile as he flew to Ron's right. "We'll continue on while you talk to your mates."

Ron nodded not trusting himself to answer as he began flying the lead. The troops followed behind with their cars and trucks carrying supplies and medical equipment. Going down the highway was a hard time with them seeing several cars slammed out of the way while still some others were burnt to a crisp. Each time they saw a relatively intact car Ron made sure that they stopped and checked for survivors. Unfortunately there were none there just mangled or burned bodies. It was enough to make him sick.

Continuing on was a difficult chore as they flew on encountering more and more carnage. If he hadn't seen it before he would've been overwhelmed at the sheer brutality of it all. Finally after what felt like an eternity of searching and finding scant few people they made it to the city proper.

He was already emotionally exhausted from dealing with all the death and destruction by now. Meanwhile the troops were methodically doing their best to see to it that they could find survivors and getting them the treatment they needed before being taken. It was slow going but Ron found that every time they found a civilian it was worth it. But it did take a bit of time, a bit too long for his liking. And while he did think that the goblins were patient he did want to finish it up as quickly as possible. Time to speed things up.

Ron flew ahead a bit giving Fatima who'd noticed him flying off a "wait" gesture which she nodded to. Flying to what was of Diagon Alley he landed in front to the ruins of Gringotts where a goblin was keeping a lookout.

"I'm back," Ron said to the goblin. "Tell you superiors that I fulfilled my end."

"I'll get Ripfang," she said running into the rubble. Ron waited for what felt like ages trying not to stare at the devastation. Finally Ripfang came into view with the sentinel goblin in tow.

"Seems you've keep your end of the bargain," Ripfang said. "Now then you said you've have need of our services?"

"Yeah, I need to get into a vault for an...item that You-Know-Who considers important. I need to get rid of it," Ron said. He'd already said a tad too much but he needed to get across how important this was. Ripfang didn't need to know the details. From the look on his face it seemed he understood enough. As it was this was a huge gamble. He wasn't even sure if there was anything there save for a replica of the Sword of Gryffindor...

"I see...Does it have to do with his downfall?"

"Yes it does," Ron said. No need in hiding this fact. "It'll ensure it."

"Whose vault?"

"Lestrange," Ron said almost breathless with relief. It was a gamble because honestly at this point he couldn't remember if they mentioned that it was in her vault. But he was pretty sure that given her staunch support to him it was pretty much given. He couldn't even think of any other person that that Voldemort with trust to keep something safe like that.

"Done." Ripfang snapped his fingers harshly. The sentry went over to a pile of rubble and came out a chest that she handed to Ripfang. Ripfang opened it and gave the key and a rather big purse to Ron who tied it to his belt. "I do warn you that should you go alone it will identify you as an intruder and it will react. Such is the nature of its magic. If you take one of us then we can offer some protection. Not entirely but it's something."

"Sure if you don't mind," Ron said easily getting his broom ready. He knew the reason why the goblin wanted to come along with him. Ripfang trusted him to a point it and was just making sure that he grabbed only specifically what he needed. Ripfang being there was insurance that he wouldn't go pilfering through the vault or break into others. It was a smart move if a bit cynical.

After all Ron could understand his cynicism entirely since most anyone will take the opportunity to loot if they could. Ha saw no reason to refuse the help even if it came with him being watched over. The alone rubble around him reminded him that there were bigger things to worry about then some goblin being concerned over gold.

"You're quite the odd Wizard," Ripfang commented stepping forward. "We'll have to use your broom because I wouldn't trust the tram cars. Their moorings shook loose with that blast of theirs."

"Yeah all the more reason to get this done so I can get back to helping and to base since there's more coming," Ron said as he pulled his broom over ready to help Ripfang to mount it. Ripfang looked at him horrified.

"More?" He whispered. "There's more then we've seen now?"

"Many more," Ron confirmed grimly. Ripfang instantly jumped onto the broom behind him without the need for his help. Once he was sure that Ripfang had a secure grip Ron began flying over the debris looking for the entrance to the cavern. "There's a queen out there and we need to prepare for her coming."

"Good gracious," Ripfang looked floored at the idea. "How are we going to do that? It took a combination of Wizarding work, our intervention and Muggle work."

"Exactly the same way I suppose. We work together," Ron said as he lowered himself and Ripfang into the cavern. "Now how does this work then?"

"Follow the rails or rather what's left of them," Ripfang said still sounding a bit shaken at the idea of more coming in. Ron looked down and saw that Ripfang hadn't been kidding about the carts being unstable. Several pieces of the railing were gone and the rest looked precariously close to falling into the inky depths below. He flew slowly least he run into security measures.

"Have a care with that waterfall it might through you off," Ripfang said suddenly as they approached a turn.

"What's the waterfall for? Aesthetic reasons?"

"It's magical waterfall meant to erase all disguises."

"So some blokes using Polyjuice would be in deep trouble," Ron said with a nod. "Clever."

"We'll be coming up to the former dragon's habitat so there might be fallen debris all over the place," Ripfang continued. "Have a care."

Ron nodded as they flew on. They reached a clearing that sure enough had plenty of debris and damage that he knew weren't from the aliens. He saw chains at the bottom and was quite certain that it was used for the dragon. Much as he would love to ask more he decided that for now he'd keep his mind on the task.

"There it is," Ripfang said after a period of silence. "There's the vault you seek."

"Right," Ron landed gently down to the ground and together with Ripfang got off of the broom. It was just a regular vault. Nothing special really. Ron wasn't sure why he expected something different. Ripfang walked forward and unlocked the vault with an anticlimactic clang. As the door opened Ron felt his heart rise as he espied the Hufflepuff's cup standing on a pedestal. He'd found a Horcrux!

He wanted to whoop for joy, he could still help out Harry even away from him...and have progress actually. Not that was entirely his fault but Ron's rant although fueled by the rage the Horcrux had stirred up he wasn't wrong about the lack of progress. Now he could get the ball rolling. Now all he needed was a way to destroy it...

Oi hold it mate, get the cup first and then think of what to do in a bit or did the invasion pass you by? The more logical portion of his mind interrupted himself. Ron shook his head and raised his wand.

"Don't bother," Ripfang said in harsh silence. "There's charms to prevent that."

"Of course there is," Ron grumbled stowing his wand away. "Anything else I need to know?"

"The object you seek may multiple and the surrounding gold shall...melt it's a good deterrent against thieves that make it this far," Ripfang said with a grim smile. "We take our commitment to protection seriously."

"No kidding," Ron agreed walking cautiously forward. Right grab the cup and get out. This is going to hurt innit? He breathed in and out before diving in. Here goes.