Disclaimer: I have nothing to do with J. K. Rowling, and I'm sure she doesn't want anything to do with me. Seems like a nice lady though – wish she'd call or write me or something.

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Chapter 4

Of Wizards and Goblins

Harry spent the rest of Thursday remembering Sirius. He went downstairs and did chores around the house to keep his hands busy, and indulged in a day of nothing more taxing than recalling the all too brief time he spent with his godfather and listing the things he missed about him the most. It was far from depressing – it was a time of healing and moving on. Harry looked forward to the painting arriving, and frequently found himself glancing through the windows for owls, though he seriously doubted the goblins would send him anything in that manner now.

Friday broke dark and wet, with the rain beating against his windows in hypnotic pounding. Harry smiled and traced a stream of water down the cold glass with a fingertip. It was a perfect day for reading and studying. He beat everyone to the shower, dressed quickly, and made coffee for the house. Harry didn't like the Dursleys, but with everything else going on, he vowed to try and get along with them to the best of his ability. He made breakfast and set out a pleasant enough looking table, so by the time his Aunt and Uncle stumbled downstairs, they were surprised to be greeted by the welcome smells of food to see them on their way to work. Harry didn't say a thing, but served them with a polite smile, handed the paper to his Uncle as he walked out the door with a grunt, and was amused to see them both shooting strange looks at him.

Harry washed up, dusted downstairs, and indulged himself with scanning the area for auras. Sure enough, in the parlor in a rather central location to the house, was a china vase that Harry never really paid attention to except to dust once a week, that emitted a huge blood red aura. "That can't be good" he thought to himself. "If blue is loyalty, I'll bet anything that red is hatred. I can't wait to ask Griphook about this."

He headed up stairs, passing Dudley in the hall. "Dudley, I left your breakfast on the table – it's still warm. Just leave the plate next to the sink." His large cousin gaped at him, but headed down, while Harry shut himself into his room, and curled up on his bed with the book from Griphook. He rubbed the Potter ring and glanced around the room, frowning at the blue sneakoscope contained within it's barrier, and noticed that many of his school books (the goblin book in his hands included) glowed a gentle green, and his wand laying on his night stand had a strong golden aura.

Harry spent the next few days absorbing the book. Although he wasn't as fast a reader as Hermione, this really grabbed his interest. 'Goblins Through Goblin Eyes' seemed to be written for people like himself – non-goblins who were sincerely interested in the culture. It covered history, life style, politics and magic.

Goblins were certainly a war-like race, and highly intelligent. They had methodical brains that thrived on strategy, statistics, math, and logic. Art was mostly foreign – tapestry weavings and armor forging, which was surprisingly (to Harry) done by the women. Music tended to be very rhythmic – the sort of stuff you would march to war with. For centuries they held their own against the giants and other fearsome species in the world, until man entered the world. The humans bred like rabbits in comparison to the goblins, but also brought a calming influence to the world with their poetic, philosophical way of looking at things.

As humans started to take over the earth, by sheer numbers alone, the goblins were faced with the choice to fight or blend in. They chose to use their natural abilities to blend in, and quickly took up the role of bankers and accountants for the wizarding world. Muggles could not accept them – felt they looked too demonic, and wizards are notoriously bad with math and needed them.

Goblins never gave up their war skills, however. They live in deep caverns underground rarely visited by other species. They haven't fought in years, but keep their own army and release pent-up aggression through hunts and aggressive business transactions. Vegetables are not in goblin diets, except for a few roots and tubers used to thicken stews and soups. Every goblin male is a warrior first, and he never forgets it.

That was not to say they were a violent society. It seemed that crime was non-existent – disagreements were usually handled through mediators, and if that failed, formal duels to the death. They had no interest in taking over the world, or expanding their territory, as they lived underground and could have all the tunnels they wanted without conflict. They are largely amused by other species, considering them woefully vulnerable in battle, but having their uses.

Married goblin women never worked outside the home. Goblins married for life, and if a man died, his place of business would pay his wages for the rest of the widow's life. They respected their wives deeply, cherished their children, and put high value on neat homes and well-cooked meals, so the women seemed to be content to stay at home. Very few outside of the goblins have ever seen a goblin female.

Harry re-read the chapter on goblin magic three times to get it straight in his head, and then spent an afternoon pondering it. Magic is magic in the world – there is no difference in the fundamental power that goblins and wizards harnessed and named magic. But the individual ways of gathering it, focusing it, and applying it was a different as day and night. The Wizard law that forbids elves and goblins to use wands is a subject of many jokes – a goblin had no need of a wand and looks at them with a same pity a walking person might gaze at a wheelchair for an invalid.

Much of goblin magic is divided into offense/defense (war skills), protection (aura scanning, spying, preventative, and household (healing, cleaning, and cooking). Where the wizards might have a couple charms to reveal magical items, hidden doors, or determine if magic had been used on an item or place, the goblins had several score for the same purpose. Harry could easily see why Gringotts was such a safe place – no magical creature was going to penetrate those walls without leaving traces that could be read by the various spells.

Occlumency and Legilimency were a world apart too. Where wizards could rarely perform these abilities, as it was a wandless magic, the majority of wizards that could were as subtle and unobtrusive as Snape had been – like using a wrecking ball to knock on somebody's door. Dumbledore was one of the few exceptions in this. It also required eye contact for the duration of the probe, which limited the use if you were trying to read somebody's mind without their knowing. The goblins were able to easily enter a mind undetected – gentle and soothing, get what they needed and politely exit. They had strong moral beliefs about not staying in an unaware mind and spying out innermost thoughts – they would get the information they needed and leave.

The final chapters in the book dealt with communicating with goblins. Polite greetings, faux paux to avoid, formal greetings, table manners, how to conduct business, etc. It was a wealth of information. Harry was surprised to learn that goblins will never refer to other species by first name, unless they have been formally adopted into a goblin tribe. To turn your back on a goblin was considered a huge insult which they have tolerated because of wizard ignorance.

Harry studied the polite greetings and worked hard on trying to learn some key phrases in the goblin language. The book had a charm, that when certain phrases were tapped with a finger the book would say them out loud, and critique your attempt. It was almost as annoying as the talking mirrors at The Leaky Caldron, but really helped.

By the end of the week Harry felt he was ready for goblin training, or at least he hoped. He opened to the bookplate, like Griphook had instructed him, and studied the picture of the author Gnash. Gnash, with a semi-menacing snarl which Harry now understood to mean "I'm giving you a chance to prove yourself, speak your mind", was drumming his fingers on his desk and staring into Harry's eyes.

"Er…" Harry stuttered nervously, "I need to tell Griphook I'm ready". Gnash's eyebrows lowered and a low growl was distinctly heard.

"Oh!" Harry's face lit up with understanding. "Um, Dor risbisk al ack Griphook mak dubar" and he bowed to the bookplate image.

"Trae" said Gnash with a return bow. "You almost made me think I wasted my time writing this book, sir!" And Gnash walked out of his picture after shooting Harry a polite closed-mouth smile.

Harry sat back in his chair, idly watching the book for Gnash's return. He propped the book up on his desk, pulled out parchment and ink, and wrote his quick "I'm fine" letter to the order, and a note for Hermione.

Dear Hermione,

You would be proud of all the studying I'm doing. I'm actually enjoying it! The muggles are leaving me alone and I'm taking advantage of the lack of distraction. I wish I could take a trip to Flourish & Blotts though – I can think of several subjects I'd like to do some research on.

Are you with the Weasley's yet? How are you feeling after the attack at the Ministry? I still feel guilty for getting everyone involved with that. I wish I had listened to you – you had the sense to see it was a trap. If I had listened, you and Ron wouldn't have been hurt, and Sirius would still be alive.

Tell me what you have been doing this summer, and what books are you reading?

Harry

Without a sound Hedwig glided down from her perch on the wardrobe and held out her leg. Harry smiled and stroked her back and scritched her on the neck, loosening the quill casings on the new feathers she couldn't reach. The owl closed her eyes with pleasure and Harry told her "ok girl – please deliver the order letter first to anyone you want, and then Hermione's letter. Thanks." Hedwig hopped on the window sill, gave a quiet 'hoot' and flew off.

A moment later Gnash walked back into his picture, nodded once at Harry, and ceased to move. Harry shut the book with a small sigh, had enough time to stand up from his desk, when Griphook apparated into his room. With a small formal bow, Griphook wove his charms around the room for silence.

Harry took a deep breath, and kneeled to the floor. He pulled his hair off his neck in the goblin bow of total submission, which exposed the neck for a clean beheading if the recipient of the formal request should choose to refuse, and choose instead to kill the petitioner. "Urush-Gai. Komeni gai Griphook. Ursoo-Tow Harry James Potter." Which roughly translated to "As the first teacher I wish you, Griphook to be to me, and I will be as the first student."

He waited in anticipation. Griphook now had 3 choices – to kill him, accept him as student, or sever all communications with him and leave. As Griphook had already offered to teach him, he wasn't too worried, but all answers in formal goblin required Griphook to draw his knife. That was never a thing to be too relaxed around.

Harry heard the sound of a long knife being withdrawn from its sheath. After what seemed an eternity of waiting, he saw it placed on the floor in front of him and was relieved to hear Griphook say "Ursoo-Tow, Mr. Potter. Urush-Gai keydest foo."

Harry respectfully picked up the blade with both hands and held it up to Griphook, looking him fully in the eyes. To blink or look away would have been improper. With a closed-mouth smile and pleased expression Griphook took his knife back, placed it in its sheath, and raised Harry up by the shoulders.

"I am flattered, Mr. Potter" the goblin spoke. "You truly are serious. We have much to learn, and your time to learn is limited. I'm going to cast a few spells – the first will contain this room in case you accidentally use wizard magic so you don't get in trouble with the ministry. And this one," Griphook did some very intricate hand and finger movements around the room, and Harry could feel magic swirling "will slow down time while we are in this room. This way we will be able to fit several years of intense training into a couple weeks and not age in our bodies."

"Griphook, you are cool" Harry grinned. Griphook smiled sincerely at the boy, conjured a book which he handed to him, and then a large table and 2 chairs. "First thing we will learn" the goblin said, "is how to create auras without your ring, how to read them, and how to contain them like I did with your sneakoscope".

The strange couple worked for hours, with Harry losing all track of time. After about three hours Harry was able to cast his own aura charm with pure goblin magic. They took a break for lunch, which Griphook conjured for them. Griphook was gnawing on a rather large rib, using his many sharp teeth to full advantage, and Harry was immensely enjoying a BLT.

"You are doing extremely well, Mr. Potter. I am impressed." Griphook spoke after clearing up the remains of their meal. "Thanks, Griphook" Harry replied, "how much time has passed outside this room?". "About three minutes" the goblin replied. "Super!" Harry's excitement was contagious. "At this rate the summer will be so productive! But boy, am I going to be disoriented when I leave this room!"

"Yes, Mr. Potter" Griphook smiled at him "that will be your biggest challenge. You do not want to tell your friends unless you are completely sure of them what we are doing, but it will be hard not to reflect the changes going on in your life. We will be learning goblin occlumency, which will protect your thoughts from Mr. Dumbledore and Mr. Riddle, but those lessons are for later."

By the end of a good 14 hours in the room's time (which was less than 10 min in the rest of the world), Harry had mastered auras, had a good grasp of what the colors meant, and was able to contain them completely. Griphook smiled at Harry, gave a formal bow, and said "well, Mr. Potter, until tomorrow. Try looking for auras around your home, and let me know if you find anything. And before I forget," Griphook reached into his satchel, "here is the portrait of your godfather. How large would you like me to make it?"

Harry grasped the sides of the frame, which was presently as large as a sheet of notebook paper. Sirius winked cheekily at him and blew him a kiss. With a giggle Harry said "could you make it about, oh so big?" while holding his hands at about 15 x 20 inches. Griphook nodded and with more finger motions he enlarged Sirius' portrait and handed it to him. "Have a pleasant day, Mr. Potter." He apparated away without a sound.

"Sirius!" Harry hardly remembered to breath. He placed the painting reverently on his desk, facing his bed. "How are you?"

"Hey cub!" Sirius looked at his godson with warmth. "I'm fine – glad to be with you. Is this your room?" The figure in the painting looked around with distaste and astonishment. "Boy, the Dursleys really do treat you like dirt!"

"Oh hey – this is a huge improvement over the cupboard" Harry snorted, and Sirius gave an exceptionally black look at the door toward where he imagined the Dursleys were. "No matter. Let me tell you what's been going on".

Harry spent the next hour until lunch catching Sirius up on what had been happening. Sirius was very interested in the sneakoscope being charmed for loyalty towards Ron, and they agreed on needing to watch him closely. Harry decided to take a lunch break. Since the Dursleys were outside at the moment, Harry contained the red aura around the vase in the parlor. "Let's see if there is any change in attitudes toward me in this house" Harry thought to himself. He then prepared a nice lunch for everyone, ate quickly before his Aunt and Uncle came inside, and went out to do the lawn work.

The next two weeks fell into a pleasant routine. Harry made himself a schedule so he would remember to write the order every three days and do chores to keep his relatives happy. The time spent with Griphook stretched to close to three years, and Harry and the goblin became very close. He was now able to heal, apparate soundlessly, change his appearance, speak goblin, and shield his thoughts, replacing them with false thoughts of his choosing. Harry was now also very well versed in long knife fighting as a bonus, and able to do what the goblins classed as simple conjuring, all the while with Sirius cheering them on.

At their final meeting for learning Harry sat across from Griphook with sadness in his eyes. "Why so down, Mr. Potter?" the goblin asked kindly.

"I'll miss our lessons, Griphook. I'll miss you!" Harry took the goblin's hand and grasped it sincerely.

Griphook smiled lovingly at the boy he had mentored for years of alternate time. "This isn't goodbye, my young student. As was with the first teacher and first student, so are we. Goblin relationships are not so fickle and fleeting. Now, if you think back to our first meeting here, I mentioned to you that the goblins have their own prophecy regarding you. I think the time has come for you to hear it."

The goblin took a clear sphere out of his ever-present leather satchel and waved his long fingers around it. A voice could be heard, speaking clearly:

One who comes is evil incarnate. He seeks to destroy all that is not wizard pure. He marks the child Whose parents thrice defied him - The child born when summer's moon is waning.

The child will grow alone, unknownBetrayed by one the wizards love. When he comes into his own And learns of his betrayal, He will start his true path of learning.

The child yet not-a-child will learn The king of his time is corrupt. The king will work against him, And then will rise against himBut will not win.

The boy will learn the ways of the goblins, The ways of the elves, And the ways of the wizards. He will have power the Dark Lord knows not.

The young man will find Three close friends. They cannot be parted. They were together at the founding of the school.

The young man will find Four not-of-the wizards. They will unite the magical worlds once more. They will defeat evil, betrayer and king And peace will rule at last.

"Wow" Harry spoke. "That is a lot different from Dumbledore's prophecy. Do you have any idea what his really said?" He looked at Griphook hopefully.

"No" Griphook spoke seriously. "But we goblins have a saying. If an honest man tells you something, research the facts before acting. If a liar tells you something, walk away and ignore it."

"I take it" Harry spoke hesitantly, "that you feel I'm the child/man of your prophecy?" Griphook nodded. "Then dealing with Voldemort is just a one part of my job. I need to deal with Dumbledore and Fudge, and put somebody good in power that will stop treating goblins and house elves and centaurs like second-class citizens. Whew!"

Griphook nodded at Harry and smiled. "Keep this container so you can hear it when you wish" and he handed Harry the sphere, "and just tap it when you want to hear it. Now it's time to take my leave, my dear Mr. Potter. Although formal lessons are finished, please keep me informed and up to date on how you are doing. I will miss our time together too, but you are in my heart and thoughts."

With a formal bow, Griphook apparated out of the room, leaving Harry alone with the small glass globe in his hand, and Sirius smiling at him from the wall.