Chapter Twenty-Eight
The Golden Goblin
Severus had some trouble concentrating on matters of illegal firecrackers and a walking plant thrashing at students in the halls, stealing every minute he could to keep updated on the negotiations. Boulderdash was starting to be a regular in the study, but the news he brought was never good. Knobgait was not in the mood to bargain. A list of demands had been written by the bank board and sent to the Ministry, and ever since then the Ministry had been quiet, as if trying to decide what to do next.
"From what I understand of the list, it is a wide range of demands, some of them reasonable, like lifting certain taxations on goblin goods, while others are unrealistic at best," Boulderdash said, wiping his glasses.
"Such as?" Severus asked.
"Oh, everything from releasing the ban on erecting statues of leaders from the Revolts in public wizard locations to wanting full representation on the Council of Wizards," Boulderdash said.
"That would be like one of us going and demanding a position on the bank board," Severus pointed out.
"Yes, I wonder if he didn't throw that one in just to keep the negotiations from being too easy." Boulderdash admitted.
"They're stalling," Severus said in realization, standing up to pace. "Why would they be stalling?" Severus glanced up as the doors opened and Harry came in.
"Oh, sorry. Interrupting?" Harry said.
"You got in, didn't you?" Severus said. "What is it?"
"We just had a slight problem at the Hogsmeade Bank that I thought you'd probably like to know about," Harry admitted.
"Oh?"
"Do you know Mrs. Mayfair?" Harry asked.
"The nosy old bat with no fashion sense that's been hanging out at the Three Broomsticks lately?" Severus asked.
"That's the one, although I might not have put it that way until what happened today," Harry said. "She just recently got a security box with us."
"Get to the point, Harry," Severus sighed, glancing at his appointment book.
"Well, Taylor was working and didn't get the door all the way closed to the Records office, and Mayfair got curious in looked in," Harry said, "it uh… caused a run on the bank."
"Potter, how could that cause a run on the bank?" Severus said impatiently.
"Probably because we've been keeping track of bank transactions on computers, Severus," Harry said evenly. Severus stopped dead in his tracks and stared at him.
"Blasphemy!" Boulderdash snarled. "Disgraceful!"
"Yes, that's what a lot of the pure bloods thought," Harry agreed. "On the bright side, it actually seemed to encourage a lot more Muggleborns to try it. The downside is that Malfoy seems to have organized some of the others to demand that the Ministry drop the boycott right now and let them have what they want."
"Malfoy again? Would he pick a side?" Severus snapped, pacing again. "Every time there's an uproar that man is right in the middle of it! But this time, Harry, you deserve every bit of it. Computers in Hogsmeade, have you gone completely insane? How did you rig any sort of electric device there… never mind, Sirius is the answer to that riddle, isn't he?"
"Don't blame this on Sirius, he merely hooked it up. Danny, Taylor, and I did the rest," Harry said.
"That bank is going to be the laughing stock of Britain's entire wizard population when the papers get a hold of this," Severus said, sitting down.
"I don't know why it's even this big of a deal. Sirius says that most wizard banks in America are either running on computers or are converting to them," Harry said.
"We are not in the States, Potter! We don't use Muggle inventions here, we use goblins!" Severus snapped at him.
"Yes, you use goblins," Boulderdash repeated dryly. Severus stopped short and stared at him, the room falling into silence.
"My apologies for my wording, Boulderdash," Severus said stiffly.
"Don't apologize, just admit that you meant it," Boulderdash replied, the uncomfortable silence setting in again.
"Well, I think I'd better be getting back," Harry said, clearing his throat. "I'll let you know if things get worse."
"If things got better it would be a nice change of pace," Severus grumbled.
It was homework and homework alone that kept Aurelius' nose clean after that, busily trying to keep up his perfect marks in Defense, History, Transfiguration, and Charms while trying to perfect his scores in Potions and Herbology. It seemed that his Slytherin classmates were now content to let him do it, giving up their attempts at helping him widen their already growing margin over the other houses before the end of the year. In fact, he was so determined to finish at the top of the class that he nearly missed sparring, having to rush through the secret passages at the last minute to make it on time.
Most of the remaining students were Slytherin now… many of the other houses had only a few left as contestants dropped after their second loss. Still panting, Aurelius hurried over to the Slytherin side of the room, taking a moment to look back and wave at where his sister and her friends normally sat. Mandria and Rose were there, the Elf Willow beside them, and they waved back at him before turning back to their conversation with Stew Gaffney.
Frowning, Aurelius turned to look in the rings, but it was Xavier and Conner, getting a huge amount of the crowd on one end, while Camille and the remaining Hufflepuff girl were in the other.
"There you are, Rel, we thought you'd fallen asleep on your books or something," Heph said. "Better keep your wand, you're up soon."
"Have you seen Alex? Has she sparred yet?"
"Not tonight," Heph shrugged. "You're matched up with Peter, and he's already got a loss on him. When he's gone, it'll be only Slytherin vs. Slytherin in our year."
"I'm going to go have a chat with Mandria real quick," Aurelius said.
"Snape? Where are you going?" Horus called out from the crowd just as Conner went flying to the mat, earning a roar from the crowd. "Better come over here, you're up next."
"I don't suppose any of you have seen my sister?" Aurelius asked, nodding to Xavier who had just come out of the ring with a triumphant look on his face.
"Didn't she tell you? I heard she dropped this morning," Horus said calmly.
"Dropped? What do you mean dropped?" Aurelius said with alarm.
"She said she had too much homework to keep it up," Xavier said. "I'm sure you understand, considering how much you've had lately."
"I don't care if it was stacked to the North Tower, Snapes don't quit anything. What did you say to her?" Aurelius demanded.
"Rel, calm down and get in the ring. You're up," Horus warned.
"Go ring yourself. I'm going to find my sister," Aurelius said, shoving his wand in his belt haphazardly. "I concede," he said as he passed by the ring, Peter looking at him with surprise as he stormed out of the room. Peter was hardly the only one surprised. Taking a moment to mark off the match, Jennifer went to have a word with Danny then slipped out the door to follow.
As it turned out, Alex was in the library, but she wasn't studying. Aurelius grabbed the copy of Pride and Prejudice from her hand, making her look up.
"Rel! What are you doing here?" Alex asked.
"I could ask you the same thing," Rel snapped. "Come outside a moment, I want to talk to you," he said, taking the book with him. Sighing, Alex followed, folding her arms defensively as they stepped into the hall. "All right, I want to know why you dropped out of sparring."
"It's nothing to get mad at, Rel, I just wanted some more time to do homework," Alex said.
"Since when? And if you were so worried about homework, why are you reading this Muggle trash again?" Rel asked, dropping the book.
"It's not trash, and it's none of your business what I'm reading anyhow. I'm thinking of taking Muggle Studies next year…"
"Stop changing the subject! You didn't drop sparring because of homework! You certainly didn't do it because you were tired of having blathering time with your friends. This has something to do with what Xavier pulled you into the hall about the other day, doesn't it?" Aurelius demanded.
"All right Rel, look," Alex sighed, putting her hands out. "Xavier told me about your housemates trying to force you into making me quit and how much you were fighting it."
"Of course I was fighting it!" Aurelius said defensively.
"And I know they promised you some things if you did help. Xavier just thought I should know about the situation. But I am the one that chose to quit. What's the big deal? It's only a game, and besides, Gryffindor's winning the Quidditch cup anyhow so it's not like it's giving Slytherin everything."
"You are such a gullible idiot! He wasn't telling you to be friends, he was telling you because he knew you were sentimentally stupid enough to quit on your own! Don't you have any pride at all?" Aurelius snapped. "You letting yourself get manipulated like that just makes us all look like fools!"
"Stop saying that! I was only doing it to help you!" Alex said angrily.
"Well, I don't want your help! And I suggest you stay away from Xavier Platt from now on," Aurelius said.
"You can't tell me who I can and can't hang around with!"
"If you had any sense you'd let me…oh wait, you don't have any sense, that's why we're having this conversation."
Alex had more than reached her limits of being called an idiot. Shoving him back, she reached for her book, only for him to try to pull her up straight to look at him again. But Alex struggled until she ended up kicking him, and before either of them knew it they were in an all-out wrestling match with kicking and screaming and some biting from Alex's side until they were suddenly pulled apart, hovering in the air as Jennifer stood between them. To make matters worse, as they were lifted in the air, a wand was on the floor, rolling beside the book. It was Aurelius' wand.
"Just what do you think you are doing? Who started this?" Jennifer asked, her face furious.
"It was just a slight misunderstanding," Alex murmured.
"A slight misunderstanding?" Jennifer said, snatching up the wand. "Then what is this doing out?" Alex's eyes widened. She hadn't noticed it before. "Aurelius, what is your wand doing out?"
"What do you think it's doing out? It came out while we were fighting," Aurelius said. "You don't think I'd actually pull a wand on my own sister, do you?"
"I don't know, Aurelius, would you?" Jennifer asked sternly. There was no mistaking the pure anger in his face at that moment, even if she couldn't read an answer to her question.
"If you don't know the answer, Mother," Aurelius said through gritted teeth. "It only proves just how little you know me."
"Right now I don't want to know either one of you," Jennifer snapped. "You are both disgracing your family and your houses and I can't believe either of you are capable of such levels of immaturity!"
"Problem, Professor?" Jennifer looked up to see Severus standing there. He had his cloak on and his watch in hand; there could be little doubt he had gone looking for her.
"Aurelius left sparring club early and I caught these two brawling in the hall with this on the floor," Jennifer said, handing him the wand. He gave his wife a curious look before turning to the other two.
"Aurelius, twenty points for brawling, go straight to your rooms and come to me in the morning to get your wand and discuss detention," Severus said calmly, putting the wand in his cloak.
"And twenty points from you, Alex," Jennifer said, setting them down and picking up the book, handing it to her. "And you had better pray for perfect marks on your Potions quiz tomorrow."
"Straight to your room as well," Severus barked at Alex when she hesitated.
Exchanging a glare with her brother, she turned around with her nose in the air towards the main stairs, while he started down the back. Severus kept his watch out, glancing at it for a moment to make sure they were well on their way before finally looking over at the searching gaze of his wife.
"Where are we going? What's happened?" Jennifer asked.
"I just received an Owl from Bill Weasley to meet him and Griphook in front of Gringotts," Severus murmured to her, leading her down the hall. "Apparently there's been some sort of accident involving a previously undetected curse on the Midas treasure."
"Curse? I had better get some things out of my office then," Jennifer said, Severus nodding in agreement.
"It wouldn't do any harm, although if my suspicions are correct, I am the one they are going to want to talk to," Severus mused, Jennifer studying his face with surprise.
It was the sight of Bill's face that proved to Jennifer that what Severus suspected had actually happened. And the fact that they were the ones that had been summoned also meant that Bill must have told them more about the trip to Turkey than anyone had previously known before.
"This way, please," Griphook said simply when they arrived at the guards. "And put on your gloves," he said to Severus, who immediately showed the goblin that his gloves were already on. Inside they went straight back to the carts where a driver was already waiting, and several other bank officer standing by, nodding to them somberly.
Far down into the vaults they flew, and as usual farther down than Jennifer would have liked, nearly as far as they had gone when the diamonds had been kept there. Finally they stopped at vault 79, where several other goblins, board members Jennifer realized, were standing both inside and out, all of them watching Jennifer and Severus with wary eyes.
Inside, the Midas treasure had been carefully laid around the vault, soft torchlight glittering across it. But Jennifer and Severus immediately focused their attention to the back of the vault, where stood the statue of a goblin with his hand out as if reaching for something. It was undoubtedly the bank governor, Knobgait.
"We were sure we had checked everything," Griphook said in a low voice. "William as well. Curses do not normally enter a vault without being detected, nor do they often affect us."
"How long has he been like this?" Severus asked.
"Since this morning, we think. He didn't show up at a board meeting," Mortgrim from the lower bank said.
"We sent for William immediately, of course. Unfortunately, his public answers for how this curse was solved the first time did not match his private ones," Griphook said.
"I had no choice but to tell them…"
"It'll all right, Bill, we can see that," Jennifer said, stepping closer. Just then, she spotted something on the floor that captured her attention. "Severus, the comb!"
"Don't touch it," Severus warned her, putting an arm out in front of her before picking it up with his own gloved hand, carrying it closer to the light.
"I recognize that comb," Bill murmured. "It was right by the princess when we got in the tomb. I remember categorizing it."
"With gloves on, of course." Severus said as he gazed at it.
"Well, yes, normal procedure, but I did check for curses on every item, including the comb."
"The comb, yes, but did you check the hair attached to it?" Severus asked calmly. Blinking with surprise, Bill came over to take a closer look, Jennifer not far behind. For wrapped around the teeth of the golden comb was indeed a single gold hair. "And everyone thought it was the Wine that was dangerous," Severus murmured.
"Was the curse so powerful that even one hair on his head would cause something like this?" Bill whispered. "This was definitely no gift."
"And much more severe than just a touch of a hand," Jennifer said.
"Proof that greed can kill, I should think," Bill agreed.
"I can attempt to cure the Governor," Severus said at last, turning to face the others. "By giving him an option on whether or not to live. But whether he takes that option is up to him alone. However, it will be done on two conditions. First, that you allow Professor Craw to take a team under the Tor to free the Fomorians."
"And I suspect the other is to end the bank's boycott, I suppose," Griphook snarled with annoyance.
"No," Severus said. "That little matter I'll leave to you to settle. If there is anything this entire political idiocy has shown me, it is that your complaints are highly valid, just as your own people's complaints about where your government has been heading are valid as well," Griphook and Mortgrim exchanged a glance at that. "My other condition is that I would like possession of this comb. And I would like both of my conditions contracted out in writing before the attempt in case there are any questions if Knobgait chooses to rejoin us."
"And if we refuse?" Mortgrim asked.
"Then perhaps it's time to vote for a new Governor," Severus said expressionlessly.
"One moment," Griphook said, and the goblins stepped out, joining the ones lingering outside the vault.
"So what do we do if they say no?" Jennifer asked.
"Walk away, of course. Just as before, this is not our decision."
"But that comb…that hair could be very dangerous," Jennifer said.
"And it's legally theirs," Severus said.
"I wouldn't blame them if they said no," Bill said. "Don't get me wrong, Knobgait was always a decent employer, but he's been a real pain lately in the leadership department."
"True, but I doubt that the goblin citizens would be very happy if they knew that he's currently a monument in a vault," Severus said, earning a grin from Bill.
It was not long before all of the goblins came back in as a group, a symbol of their unanimous support for the paper that Griphook offered to Severus.
"Your contract, Professor."
"Let me check that," Bill said, ignoring the look Griphook gave him for taking it. "To be fair, Griphook, they don't understand the jargon."
"Of course," Griphook said, sounding less than pleased. But it wasn't long before Bill was ready to hand it to Severus.
"It's all there, they were even good enough to note that the comb included any attachments," Bill said, nodding to Griphook in appreciation. "It does say, however, that if he doesn't survive, the goblins would hold you responsible."
Severus paused thoughtfully, first glancing at the goblins, and then over to his wife, who had a worried frown on her face. At last, he nodded.
"Very well," he agreed and signed it, followed by each of the goblin officers in the room.
Jennifer sighed softly to herself as Severus began the spell, a bit worried about the chance he was taking. Would Knobgait want to come back? Of course, Knobgait was probably the most stubborn goblin she had ever known. It was probably one of the reasons he had gotten to his position in the first place. But despite her solid reasoning, she could not help but hold her breath until the moment that Severus deliver the governor his options. He was answered in the same strange tones, the room brightening dramatically as the statue suddenly became Knobgait once more.
As the goblins went to help him, Severus immediately turned his attention back to the comb. Within a second he had had his glove off, and as Jennifer and Bill cried out in surprise, Severus grabbed the edge of the comb.
A curious battle began to be waged as the comb became lead and then gold again, over and over and faster and faster as Severus' curse and the hair's curse fought against each other for control of the substance. But as powerful as Midas' curse was, it was but a single hair battling against a living being, and at last the hair disintegrated, the comb turning to lead before crumbling into dust.
"What are you doing?" Knobgait snarled hoarsely as he got to his feet, seemingly unaffected by his imprisonment. "Did you not realize the riches that could have been made with that comb?"
"Strange, Knobgait. When I looked at it, I only saw death," Severus said evenly. "Sorry to spell and run, but I need to help my wife make some journey arrangements." He nodded to Jennifer then, who smiled at him before heading towards the mining cart.
"I'll show you out," Griphook volunteered quickly before any of the other goblins could, hurrying to get into the cart.
"What journey arrangements?" Knobgait asked suspiciously. None of them seemed to be in much of a hurry to explain.
