Adventures of Young Severus Snape -- The Case of the Greedy Goblin
Chapter Three
The next morning dawned bright and clear. Severus and Jamie snuck out of the Leaky Cauldron, concealed by the Invisibility Cloak.
"I heard my parents talking this morning," whispered Jamie, as they made their way down the crowded Diagon Alley. "You'll never guess what they were talking about!"
"No idea," whispered Sev. He was concentrating on trying to avoid people -- the cloak was a bit awkward to navigate in. It was fun, though.
"There was a robbery at Gringott's yesterday."
That made Severus stop dead in his tracks, and he turned to stare, open-mouthed, at Jamie.
"You're joking..."
"No, really! They have no idea who did it."
The two boys shared a meaningful look. They were pretty sure that they knew who the culprit was, and they meant to prove it.
~~~
Soon, they found themselves outside of Gringott's.
"So..." Jamie chewed his lip. "Uh...do we just...go in?"
"I can't see why not." Severus looked around, secure under the invisibility cloak. "We'll just wait until someone goes in, and we'll sneak in after them...that way it won't look like the door has opened by itself." He grinned at Jamie. "Hopefully we won't get caught, and become the prime suspects of the robbery investigation."
"I wasn't going to mention that." Jamie looked a bit pale, but Severus supposed it was due to the light-reflecting qualities of the cloak. Suddenly something caught his eye.
"Hopping Muggles! Jamie! Look!"
Jamie's eyes followed the direction that Severus was pointing, and he gasped, unable to believe their good fortune. Coming from Tim's Magically Good Coffee and Donut shop was Goldgrabber himself, holding a cup of coffee and a bag, presumably filled with pastry.
"Goldgrabber!" Jamie hissed, eyes wide.
Severus glanced back at Jamie, his black eyes sparkling. "Shall we?"
Jamie giggled. "After you..."
~~~
Getting inside of Gringott's was no problem; they simply followed Goldgrabber, making sure that the edges of the cloak didn't catch in the revolving door. The boys were tense for a few moments, hoping that the bank didn't have some way of detecting invisibility cloaks. When they were reasonably sure that they wouldn't be detected, they then spent considerable effort avoiding the many creatures that made their way around the bank.
Goldgrabber worked at his teller's stall, serving a couple of customers. Then, when there was no one at his counter, he turned the "closed" sign towards the window, and stood up, looking around furtively.
"He's making a move," hissed Sev.
"Let's follow him."
Silently, the two boys carefully made their way after Goldgrabber, avoiding the other patrons. Soon, they were treading some kind of walkway suspended above the railtracks.
"Look." Jamie nudged Sev, and pointed below them at a cart weaving its way along the tracks. Neither one of the boys noticed a coal-black dragon, slightly larger then themselves, lightly flutter down and land on the walkway behind them. After a moment, they continued their trek, not realizing that they were being followed.
After what seemed like hours (but was really only a few minutes), Goldgrabber paused over top of a vault. They boys paused, with bated breath.
He was surprisingly quick, and light-footed, as he leapt over the side of the walkway onto the top of the vault. Sev and Jamie watched, wide-eyed, as he muttered some phrases that they couldn't understand. Suddenly a large hole appeared in the top of the vault, and he nimbly lowered himself in.
"Now what?" Jamie's eyes were wide, as he looked at his friend. "Should we follow him?"
"Um...why don't we wait a bit, to see what he does?" Sev was beginning to be a little bit afraid now, as though perhaps they had gotten themselves in over their heads. It was on the tip of his tongue to suggest that they flee, when suddenly a huge black shape glided past, and looked directly at them.
"Dragon!" Jamie recoiled in shock. "It's a dragon!"
"And it SAW us!" Sev's heart was pounding. "Jamie, it saw us and didn't do anything!"
Wide-eyed, the boys watched as the dragon flew through the small opening in the vault. Though they couldn't see what was going on inside, they could hear snarls and hisses and odd snippets of a language that they guessed was Goblinese. Suddenly there was bright flash, and a horrible scream of agony...and then Goldgrabber emerged from the vault, a heavy bag slung over his back. Inside, they could hear agonized wailing. Before he knew what he was doing, Severus pulled free of the cloak, and launched himself at the goblin.
"What did you do!! What did you do to the dragon!! You monster!!"
Surprised, Goldgrabber flung Severus off, and into the vault with the wounded animal. Jamie began to yell at the goblin, and was instantly stupified by a quick wave of Goldgrabber's wand.
"That will teach you to stick your nose where it doesn't belong, brat." None too carefully, Goldgrabber dropped Jamie through the opening of the vault, and, with a quick muttered spell, resealed the top of it. "See you in about ten years, kiddies," he said, cackling evilly. He repositioned his heavy sack of galleons, and then he jumped back onto the walkway, making his way to freedom.
~~~
"En...ener..." Severus's hand was shaking so badly, he couldn't say the spell he was trying to use to restore Jamie to consciousness. It didn't help, the loud screaming of the badly-injured dragon behind him. Stifling a frightened sob, he tried again.
"En...enervate!!" With a gasp of relief, he watched Jamie wake up. Then he turned, quickly, and pointed his wand at the dragon.
Did he know enough to help the poor creature? Severus was a veterinarian's son, through and through, and the creature's pain was tearing him apart. His young face bore a determined expression...he would find a way, somehow. Praying that it was enough, he aimed his wand and yelled, "Restorio!!"
"Sev, kill it!"
"What?" He couldn't believe what he had heard.
"Sev, it'll just kill us, if you make it healthy again!" Jamie's face was pale with terror. "It'll burn us alive!"
Quaking with fear, Severus looked back at the now-calm, if somewhat dazed, dragon. It appeared to be mostly healed, just exhausted. Cautiously, he approached it. It just looked back at him out of faded scarlet eyes.
"Are you ok?" He whispered, laying a small hand on the injured flank. The dragon didn't move. "If I heal you, will you just kill us?" He was torn -- never had he felt such indecision. For he didn't have it in him, to injure another living being.
After a long moment, the dragon rolled its large head over, and licked Severus's hand. Its tongue felt...odd, actually. Stinging? But Severus knew that the dragon wouldn't hurt him. Aiming his wand again, he repeated, "Restorio!" and this time, it worked completely.
"Nooooooo..." Jamie was pale and shaking.
"It's ok, Jamie...it's ok..."
"You don't know that."
"Yes, I do." He grinned at his friend. "If there's one thing I do know, it's animals. He won't hurt us. Right, Flamey?" Severus held his hand out, and the dragon lowered its head to be petted.
"Flamey?"
"Sounds like a good name for a dragon, doesn't it?"
Jamie looked at him as though he'd gone mad.
The next instant, Flamey spread one giant wing, as if to push the boys back towards the wall. A bit nervously, they complied.
"I wonder what...OH!" Flamey suddenly raised himself up to his full, impressive height, and roared mightily, with searing flames shooting from his nostrils. The roof of the vault exploded.
"Wow!!"
"Awesome!!"
Suddenly, Flamey crouched down, his forelegs bent, and looked at the two boys expectantly.
"Sev?"
"Yeah?"
"What are you doing?"
Severus looked at his friend, from where he had climbed up onto the dragon's back. "Sitting on Flamey."
"Why?"
"Cuz he wants us to?"
A moment; then, with a sigh, Jamie grabbed the invisibility cloak, and climbed on behind Severus. "I can't believe I'm doing this."
Severus grinned hugely. "I know! This is so cool! Whoa...."
A second later, they were airborne, buffeted about by Flamey's enormous wings.
~~~
"Look!" Jamie pointed. "We're heading right for the lobby!"
"And look!!" Severus couldn't believe their luck. "Goldgrabber went right back to his desk! Now THAT'S guts!!"
They caused quite a commotion, as Flamey skidded to a halt on the polished marble floors. Within seconds, they were surrounded by Gringott's Security. In the rush, Jamie saw Goldgrabber sneaking away.
"Goldgrabber!!", he shouted. "Stop that goblin!! He's the thief! He's getting away!!!"
Security wasted no time in apprehending the goblin. As he stood there, his strong arms handcuffed behind his back, Jamie and Severus told their story. Security searched his desk, and found the bag of galleons.
"So then Flamey flew us here, and you know the rest."
"Well, Goldgrabber, I'd say your bank-robbing days are over," snarled a burly goblin security guard.
"Yeah, and I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for those pesky little wizards." Still grumbling, Goldgrabber was led away by the Gringott's Security Force. Just at that moment, Jamie's and Severus's parents showed up.
"We've just heard," said Sarah, shocked. "Is it true? Were you REALLY chasing a thief all by yourselves? Have you children no sense?"
"And is that my invisibility cloak, James?"
But it was the usually-amiable Mr. Snape who glowered the most. "Ne'er you mind that now, kiddies. Let's go. Ye can tell us th' whole story....an' I mean the WHOLE story...back at the Cauldron. Ye'll have plenty o'time, too, since yer both grounded. Now. Let's go." Grabbing both of the protesting boys by their collars, he hauled them both away. "An' let's see how much meddlin' ye'll be doin', after a few days o' washin' dishes in the kitchen. Chasin' thieves, my foot!!"
"Hey...I thought we'd be heroes..." Severus muttered aside to Jamie.
"Don't worry," Jamie grinned. "I know a few ways to sneak out.."
Severus groaned.
~~~
Chapter Three
The next morning dawned bright and clear. Severus and Jamie snuck out of the Leaky Cauldron, concealed by the Invisibility Cloak.
"I heard my parents talking this morning," whispered Jamie, as they made their way down the crowded Diagon Alley. "You'll never guess what they were talking about!"
"No idea," whispered Sev. He was concentrating on trying to avoid people -- the cloak was a bit awkward to navigate in. It was fun, though.
"There was a robbery at Gringott's yesterday."
That made Severus stop dead in his tracks, and he turned to stare, open-mouthed, at Jamie.
"You're joking..."
"No, really! They have no idea who did it."
The two boys shared a meaningful look. They were pretty sure that they knew who the culprit was, and they meant to prove it.
~~~
Soon, they found themselves outside of Gringott's.
"So..." Jamie chewed his lip. "Uh...do we just...go in?"
"I can't see why not." Severus looked around, secure under the invisibility cloak. "We'll just wait until someone goes in, and we'll sneak in after them...that way it won't look like the door has opened by itself." He grinned at Jamie. "Hopefully we won't get caught, and become the prime suspects of the robbery investigation."
"I wasn't going to mention that." Jamie looked a bit pale, but Severus supposed it was due to the light-reflecting qualities of the cloak. Suddenly something caught his eye.
"Hopping Muggles! Jamie! Look!"
Jamie's eyes followed the direction that Severus was pointing, and he gasped, unable to believe their good fortune. Coming from Tim's Magically Good Coffee and Donut shop was Goldgrabber himself, holding a cup of coffee and a bag, presumably filled with pastry.
"Goldgrabber!" Jamie hissed, eyes wide.
Severus glanced back at Jamie, his black eyes sparkling. "Shall we?"
Jamie giggled. "After you..."
~~~
Getting inside of Gringott's was no problem; they simply followed Goldgrabber, making sure that the edges of the cloak didn't catch in the revolving door. The boys were tense for a few moments, hoping that the bank didn't have some way of detecting invisibility cloaks. When they were reasonably sure that they wouldn't be detected, they then spent considerable effort avoiding the many creatures that made their way around the bank.
Goldgrabber worked at his teller's stall, serving a couple of customers. Then, when there was no one at his counter, he turned the "closed" sign towards the window, and stood up, looking around furtively.
"He's making a move," hissed Sev.
"Let's follow him."
Silently, the two boys carefully made their way after Goldgrabber, avoiding the other patrons. Soon, they were treading some kind of walkway suspended above the railtracks.
"Look." Jamie nudged Sev, and pointed below them at a cart weaving its way along the tracks. Neither one of the boys noticed a coal-black dragon, slightly larger then themselves, lightly flutter down and land on the walkway behind them. After a moment, they continued their trek, not realizing that they were being followed.
After what seemed like hours (but was really only a few minutes), Goldgrabber paused over top of a vault. They boys paused, with bated breath.
He was surprisingly quick, and light-footed, as he leapt over the side of the walkway onto the top of the vault. Sev and Jamie watched, wide-eyed, as he muttered some phrases that they couldn't understand. Suddenly a large hole appeared in the top of the vault, and he nimbly lowered himself in.
"Now what?" Jamie's eyes were wide, as he looked at his friend. "Should we follow him?"
"Um...why don't we wait a bit, to see what he does?" Sev was beginning to be a little bit afraid now, as though perhaps they had gotten themselves in over their heads. It was on the tip of his tongue to suggest that they flee, when suddenly a huge black shape glided past, and looked directly at them.
"Dragon!" Jamie recoiled in shock. "It's a dragon!"
"And it SAW us!" Sev's heart was pounding. "Jamie, it saw us and didn't do anything!"
Wide-eyed, the boys watched as the dragon flew through the small opening in the vault. Though they couldn't see what was going on inside, they could hear snarls and hisses and odd snippets of a language that they guessed was Goblinese. Suddenly there was bright flash, and a horrible scream of agony...and then Goldgrabber emerged from the vault, a heavy bag slung over his back. Inside, they could hear agonized wailing. Before he knew what he was doing, Severus pulled free of the cloak, and launched himself at the goblin.
"What did you do!! What did you do to the dragon!! You monster!!"
Surprised, Goldgrabber flung Severus off, and into the vault with the wounded animal. Jamie began to yell at the goblin, and was instantly stupified by a quick wave of Goldgrabber's wand.
"That will teach you to stick your nose where it doesn't belong, brat." None too carefully, Goldgrabber dropped Jamie through the opening of the vault, and, with a quick muttered spell, resealed the top of it. "See you in about ten years, kiddies," he said, cackling evilly. He repositioned his heavy sack of galleons, and then he jumped back onto the walkway, making his way to freedom.
~~~
"En...ener..." Severus's hand was shaking so badly, he couldn't say the spell he was trying to use to restore Jamie to consciousness. It didn't help, the loud screaming of the badly-injured dragon behind him. Stifling a frightened sob, he tried again.
"En...enervate!!" With a gasp of relief, he watched Jamie wake up. Then he turned, quickly, and pointed his wand at the dragon.
Did he know enough to help the poor creature? Severus was a veterinarian's son, through and through, and the creature's pain was tearing him apart. His young face bore a determined expression...he would find a way, somehow. Praying that it was enough, he aimed his wand and yelled, "Restorio!!"
"Sev, kill it!"
"What?" He couldn't believe what he had heard.
"Sev, it'll just kill us, if you make it healthy again!" Jamie's face was pale with terror. "It'll burn us alive!"
Quaking with fear, Severus looked back at the now-calm, if somewhat dazed, dragon. It appeared to be mostly healed, just exhausted. Cautiously, he approached it. It just looked back at him out of faded scarlet eyes.
"Are you ok?" He whispered, laying a small hand on the injured flank. The dragon didn't move. "If I heal you, will you just kill us?" He was torn -- never had he felt such indecision. For he didn't have it in him, to injure another living being.
After a long moment, the dragon rolled its large head over, and licked Severus's hand. Its tongue felt...odd, actually. Stinging? But Severus knew that the dragon wouldn't hurt him. Aiming his wand again, he repeated, "Restorio!" and this time, it worked completely.
"Nooooooo..." Jamie was pale and shaking.
"It's ok, Jamie...it's ok..."
"You don't know that."
"Yes, I do." He grinned at his friend. "If there's one thing I do know, it's animals. He won't hurt us. Right, Flamey?" Severus held his hand out, and the dragon lowered its head to be petted.
"Flamey?"
"Sounds like a good name for a dragon, doesn't it?"
Jamie looked at him as though he'd gone mad.
The next instant, Flamey spread one giant wing, as if to push the boys back towards the wall. A bit nervously, they complied.
"I wonder what...OH!" Flamey suddenly raised himself up to his full, impressive height, and roared mightily, with searing flames shooting from his nostrils. The roof of the vault exploded.
"Wow!!"
"Awesome!!"
Suddenly, Flamey crouched down, his forelegs bent, and looked at the two boys expectantly.
"Sev?"
"Yeah?"
"What are you doing?"
Severus looked at his friend, from where he had climbed up onto the dragon's back. "Sitting on Flamey."
"Why?"
"Cuz he wants us to?"
A moment; then, with a sigh, Jamie grabbed the invisibility cloak, and climbed on behind Severus. "I can't believe I'm doing this."
Severus grinned hugely. "I know! This is so cool! Whoa...."
A second later, they were airborne, buffeted about by Flamey's enormous wings.
~~~
"Look!" Jamie pointed. "We're heading right for the lobby!"
"And look!!" Severus couldn't believe their luck. "Goldgrabber went right back to his desk! Now THAT'S guts!!"
They caused quite a commotion, as Flamey skidded to a halt on the polished marble floors. Within seconds, they were surrounded by Gringott's Security. In the rush, Jamie saw Goldgrabber sneaking away.
"Goldgrabber!!", he shouted. "Stop that goblin!! He's the thief! He's getting away!!!"
Security wasted no time in apprehending the goblin. As he stood there, his strong arms handcuffed behind his back, Jamie and Severus told their story. Security searched his desk, and found the bag of galleons.
"So then Flamey flew us here, and you know the rest."
"Well, Goldgrabber, I'd say your bank-robbing days are over," snarled a burly goblin security guard.
"Yeah, and I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for those pesky little wizards." Still grumbling, Goldgrabber was led away by the Gringott's Security Force. Just at that moment, Jamie's and Severus's parents showed up.
"We've just heard," said Sarah, shocked. "Is it true? Were you REALLY chasing a thief all by yourselves? Have you children no sense?"
"And is that my invisibility cloak, James?"
But it was the usually-amiable Mr. Snape who glowered the most. "Ne'er you mind that now, kiddies. Let's go. Ye can tell us th' whole story....an' I mean the WHOLE story...back at the Cauldron. Ye'll have plenty o'time, too, since yer both grounded. Now. Let's go." Grabbing both of the protesting boys by their collars, he hauled them both away. "An' let's see how much meddlin' ye'll be doin', after a few days o' washin' dishes in the kitchen. Chasin' thieves, my foot!!"
"Hey...I thought we'd be heroes..." Severus muttered aside to Jamie.
"Don't worry," Jamie grinned. "I know a few ways to sneak out.."
Severus groaned.
~~~