When Hermione and 'Ron' had too much time on their hands, they worried. Hermione twisted her hands. Draco, lacking much skill in what Ron would look like, if he'd ever worried about anything... twitched from side to side.

Snape? Snape paced, a tight circle around the two of them.

"Enough," Snape said, drawing his feet together, as he stood at attention, facing them.

The circle Snape had been tracing dropped - the entire stone floor, there, fell directly into the room beneath it.

Snape was already in a combat stance - he'd been expecting that, it had been his work no doubt.

There was no one there, Snape strode forward in a stalking crouch, towards the descending tunnel in front of them. Hermione and Ron took up flanking positions, their eyes guarding Snape's back. It was almost as if they'd planned this, though Hermione knew it was just because they'd all read the same sort of books, at some point or another.

Snape took one step down the tunnel, and then a second, chary as always, light as a cat's footfall, soft as an owl's wing.

It mattered not.

Shimmering into existence in front of them, stood two shields. Snape, on a hairtrigger, shot a stunner at the shields, and flung himself out of the way when the spell bounced back. Out of the way and off-balance, he struggled to straighten himself, as the old crone of a goblin shouldered roughly out from behind the shields.

"Enough," she croaked, "The cavalry will NOT be coming. You will take no more aggressive or defensive action within our demense. Or we will take action."

Snape stood, tall and firm, his mouth opening-

"Or did you think you were the only one who could make stone fall?" The crone grinned toothily, gesturing to the stone that was on all seven sides of them. Perhaps shortly to be eight.

"Where is Harry?" Hermione asked, in that directly Gryffindor way that sat crosswise against subtlety. It was like fire, encapsulated in a question.

"You will find that Harry is conducting some delicate negotiations, that would be best uninterrupted." the crone rapped out.

"On your behalf?" Asked Snape, whose keen mind had caught the deflection.

"Perhaps, perhaps not." The crone said, nodding, "He has been asked to mediate between the Goblin Nation and one of our unsworn protectors."

"Namely?" Draco said, and Hermione fought back a wince - there was no way Ron would have used that word.

"We have acquired a dragon, whose services we have not adequately repaid him for." The crone looked ... withdrawn. Troubled might be a better word. "This was largely due to our inability to communicate, and secondarily due to our inability to provide him adequate accommodations."

"How are they lacking?" Hermione, again.

"I have learned, from reliable authorities, that dragons - one and all - wish to fly." the crone said. "At this point, that seems unfeasible."

Snape spoke, in his velveteen voice, "It is unlikely, considering the current political climate, to change in the future."

The crone nodded, "Nonetheless, we must pay our debts, in full. It would appear that the political climate must be forced to change."

[a/n: A plan! It does exist! Leave a review? Yes, I find it perfectly plausible that Snape might get impatient enough to go charging in.]