We have Pulse Weapons now:
The cave dwellers were greeted by a Goblin entourage - King Ragnok had arrived, and he was flanked by his honour guard. They slowly walked around, as they examined the light along with the complex containment field. King Ragnok and another unnamed goblin entered the field and observe the tools and general materials that had been laid out. The other Goblin who had noticed that there was food, took up a wrap and began tearing into it before gulping some orange juice enthusiastically. Afterwards, she seemed to whisper something to King Ragnok, and he took up a wrap himself and an orange juice. They began to walk towards the centre of the cavern. The Honour guard followed slightly behind, their eyes ever watchful and their halberds pointed menacingly. Harry whispered to Hermione urgently, as they both turned around to face the incoming direction of King Ragnok. When he had reached close enough, he stopped. Harry took this as a cue to begin the greeting.
"Well met King Ragnok. I hope the crown has been kind to you since the last time we met. Let your enemies fade into dust, and may you use it as fertilizer for your garden."
It was at this point King Ragnok smiled a little. Harry continued the greeting….
"I hope your financial plans and your long term planning for your people work out with the most spectacular success. As for your profits and investments, I hope you are making good on everything that could be an opportunity."
Ragnok grinned "Astute as ever, young Lord Peverell. I enjoy our exchanges. I can't wait to see you in the Wizengamot. It will be a one-sided debate in your favour. The introductions would take too long, so I will shorten them, if only because I am very excited to examine your collective mischief and I don't feel the need to be formal, it has been a long day.
Hermione Granger, I know of you from speaking to Bloodaxe. Welcome to the fold of the Goblins. We welcome you as the sister of Harry Potter, as accorded by Magic. Tell me, what greeting did you plan to present to me, child?"
"Thank you, your Grace. I had planned to tell you to drop your enemies in a large vat of Basilisk Venom, so their skills could be used as a public toilet in the main lobby. And of course, I would wish that you may acquire enough gold to make Smaug the dragon jealous."
"Smaug the dragon?" King Ragnok asked curiously.
"Smaug the dragon, is a character from a mundane novel series called Lord of the Rings. He essentially had a gold pile the size of a literal mountain. I mean a couple of hundred times the size of Diagon Alley. And yes, it was underground too. "
"I do want a gold pile that big, Ms Granger. Yes, that is indeed a fine compliment and I particularly like that greeting. As for my company, this is Timilf daughter of Bloodaxe and our primary head metalworker."
It was at this point that Lord Ragnok noticed the rather affectionate smile that Harry and Hermione indulged themselves in, as they both bowed and warmly said, "Well Met NIstress Timilf." It did not go unnoticed that Harry and Hermione seemed to genuinely like Timilf, if only because she was Bloodaxe's daughter. They seemed excited to share what innovations they had produced.
"Hello, Ms Granger and Lord Peverell. My father has told me that both of you get up into much trouble like myself. By the way, what is this? It's the most delicious thing I have ever had! It was nice to take a bite, the coal forges often bake my skin off."
"We can't have that, one bit! I will see if we can develop some type of shield. That food was the culinary expertise of Amba Singh, my adoptive Grandmother. She is a muggle or mundane as I like to say, but certainly the parent of a very talented witch, Master Healer Priya Singh. Yes, I like talking about them, I adore them!" Harry beamed as he openly displayed his love for his family. Hermione found it very cute, how his face lit up like a Christmas tree.
Bloodaxe had softened a bit. He saw a look and a tone of voice that reminded her of how Timilf would speak of him, to her colleagues in the forge caves. The boy had come far from the Harry Potter who had visited him – He was still Harry Potter, but he was without a doubt, Lord Peverell.
"What is with the hats, if I may ask?" queried Lord Ragnok.
"Oh, while we have done some serious magic this morning, the best part is that today is my 10th birthday. I am the only human to have a birthday celebration in the deepest Goblin mine ever. This is a rather interesting event I think I will remember for a long time." answered Harry.
King Ragnok laughed.
"Ah – you like to misbehave somewhat. Best wishes from us Lord Peverell. I think you already seem to be having fun. Timilf, he is a troublemaker just like you!"
Timilf laughed a husky grating laugh.
"I see you have chosen some choice locations for your spell work. I would like to see a demonstration of how you broke the deposits off. They are rather large." King Ragnok politely requested.
Harry continued to hold his emitter assembly in his hand as he repeated the spell. The beam started and Harry targeted some other places that he thought had promise. He continued to work for at least 3 minutes and then suddenly a loud crack was heard as a rather huge rock broke off and came crashing to the ground. Suddenly a huge sapphire easily the size of King Ragnok's head came rolling towards his feet.
Harry terminated the spell and said out loud, "That was not planned, but not unwelcome. That one, I will think you will like very much. I will take whatever luck Lady Magic sends."
Meanwhile, beyond the veil, there was a literal commotion. Glaucon Peverell and Invictus Peverell the 1st, had been observing the general ongoings and had decided to fetch Lilly and James. They were appreciative that the Peverell Wand lore was being advanced so rapidly, and they were on a break from their galactic duties. Glaucon decided that he could use a laugh.
"Lilly Potter, come and see me, please? It is Glaucon Peverell. Harry is building death rays."
Three seconds of silence passed before an alarmed "WHAT!" came in a stereo reply.
They materialised instantly and Lilly barked, "You two, tell me everything he has done right now. Explain immediately!"
James looked on expectantly.
"He used intent based casting, selective magical channelling, a hint of occlumency, a mental cantrip and linguistic modification to tame Fiendfyre into a reliable welding torch and a directed energy weapon. Those Azkaban bars have no idea what is coming for them. He was allowed to use a Goblin mine for his project and proceeded to excavate I don't know how much millions of galleons worth of gold and many magically created gemstones. And he just accidentally mined a sapphire the size of King Ragnok's head."
James' eyebrows are now raised, but there was a proud look on his face. Lilly conjured a newspaper and smashed James behind the head:
"I told you when I am busy dealing with other things, keep-smash-an-smash-eye-smash-on-smash-him. You were watching Quidditch matches! I told you today is his birthday, and to keep an eye on him! I was busy!"
"Just four hours and he gets up to things like this. He is impossible!" James complained.
"Let us see how this plays out. By the way, the Goblins are eating snacks with Harry and Hermione. They did come prepared with their party hats. Nice!" Invictus he 1st said with amusement in his voice.
As they all looked on the situation began to unfold.
Timilf began to share some comments about her curiosities.
"Well Lord Peverell, there are so many things on my mind. I have never seen a magical light that bright. This cave would have required many smaller torches and we have never been able to get total magical illumination. The second thing is the air containment. The air is clean and fresh. We find your table and chair arrangement interesting. I have never seen a shield spell repurposed like that!"
Timilf continued to make comments about the grounded circuits, the torch and the cordless muggle tools.
Harry decided he would explain slowly:
"I would love to explain everything. But I think a seat will be necessary. It's a bit long-winded explanation and casting this type of magic leaves me hungry. Casting standard spells are okay, hardly any effort. New adaptations can be challenging."
King Ragnok slowly nodded, and everybody returned to the containment area. As they sat, it did not go unnoticed that Hermione seemed to enjoy fussing after everyone. Harry began to explain as he bit some of the chicken wrap, and resumed working with his tools.
"The best way to start this story is with the promise I made to myself. I would bring an entirely new type of warfare to the Wizarding world so that Lord Moldypants and his Death Munchers will be put in their place.….as corpses."
Harry then gave the crowd a crash course on the Grandfather Clock paradox, Linguistic theory, Writing systems and basic Muggle Science. Hermione filled in, with her questions and also demonstrated some of her Runes work and demoed the new control systems. They spoke of the challenges and how they would often task themselves to continuously solve magical problems.
King Ragnok was flabbergasted at the Rune Work. There were no known ways to chain runes together with such clear conditionality. Ragnok began to wonder if her title could perhaps hint at something more. Her magic was alive and powerful and curious. He came forward and touched the girl's arm and he immediately knew.
She had definite magical ancestry. Powerful ancestry. Could the name be related to….him? Hermione Granger would undergo an inheritance test.
She also would be provided anything she needed, as it seemed that Lord Peverell and soon to be Lady Dagworth-Granger would create the kind of products that were needed to revitalise the Wizarding economy. Bloodaxe continued to seek clarification on some of the atomic theories as Harry had produced a piece of stainless and high carbon steel for Timilf's inspection. Timilf knew immediately what to do to upgrade the hardness of Gringott's steel billet. While she did not know the mundane names of the materials, she knew what to add from her stash of materials to create the same result. Magic would guide the process.
"So, you are saying the muggles know a lot about the universe at large, and that these ideas have helped you to fine-tune your magic. They consciously guide your thinking instead of leaving magic to guess?" asked King Ragnok.
"Correct! You see language has no meaning really beside the meaning that everyone has decided on. This is why the core of magic is intent driven. The language is useful to describe relationships in the world that have always existed. We give those ideas words so that we may speak them, quantify our thoughts and guide magic around those ideas. The ideas on the other hand are the real core of the matter. The ideas cannot be expressed without language, but they exist whether you are aware of them or not."
King Ragnok listened to the boy speak casually and realised that he had never considered that the study of language was an academic field. The mundanes as the boy called them, had thought about it, and it seemed that the boy had done much reading on the matter. It was logical that he could do spell modification, so easily - he was not concerned with the words being muttered but the idea. It indicated that magic was quite quantifiable, and it could be studied and deconstructed systematically.
"I see that you have muggle tools here. How did you make them work? I heard that you can insulate them. My father had explained about the..er..the smart…something" Timilf enquired.
"Smartphone….just for giggles, let me see if my smartphone works down here. Ah, here it is. I can't call my mum as we aren't getting any….wait a moment. How can we be getting signal down here?" Harry asked himself confused.
"Are you kidding me? Let me see mine. What the hell is this? How is it possible? " Hermione said incredulously.
Harry began looking around with his mage sight.
"The gems! They behave differently with magic. They are amplifying the electromagnetic frequencies. King Ragnok, permission to call my mother. She is probably on her lunch break at school. She went in to prepare some extra work today. As for security, and the International Statute we will pass it off as a puppet show."
"Please do, let us give her a good surprise. I would like to see a demonstration of the device indeed." King Ragnok replied.
Harry ringed Priya and she answered.
"Hello son, what are you up to? Where are you, it looks funny. You are in your lab?" she asked.
" I am at a fantastic puppet show. See?" Harry then turned the phone camera towards Hermione and then King Ragnok. That was when the most surprised look came upon her face.
Harry had to be underground with the goblins. She chose her words carefully.
"Tell the royal looking puppet and his accomplices best wishes from me. He is truly fit to rule a kingdom. I hope that he will slay his enemies with much guile. I hope nothing but glorious ticket sales will patronise the puppet show. We will talk about this, this evening. I suppose you have much to tell me. Hermione, you encourage him too much. But keep making me and your biological parents proud. I am sure Lilly and James are smiling. Take care, kiddo!"
Priya hanged up.
"I must comment on your adoptive mother's resourcefulness. Please continue with your explanations. I am certainly impressed with mundane ingenuity. The device seems highly complex. It is quite something to see and hear and speak to a person instantaneously. I like that the contacts can be manipulated and I think I will want something personal. I can afford the exorbitant modifications to Gringotts. So yes, a small prototype system for the metalworking when you sort out how to deliver electrical power will be welcome."
Harry and Hermione were now assembling large pieces of some item, together. King Ragnok upon looking at the object already had an idea of what was being assembled.
"Can I assume you are making a weapon by assembling completed pieces of your inventions?" King Ragnok asked.
"Correct."
Ten minutes later, Harry took the apparatus and installed the shotgun emitter. Now, it was time to test the device. As Harry began with every round of 'bullets' from his pulse shotgun, he tapped the trigger lightly and then moved towards holding the trigger to charge the shot. Longer charges made the spread tighten up and the effective range longer. When he loaded the beam emitter in, he repeated the same process and was pleasantly surprised to discover that with very rapid taps, the beam behaved like a Star Wars Blaster bolt. With the trigger was held down, a continuous beam was produced. King Ragnok even tried a couple of shots after Harry walked him through the trigger control.
"I love these weapons. Gringotts will want these when you refine the design. Let me know when you are ready." Lord Ragnok commented.
Harry nodded as he looked at Hermione. She began packing up the tools as she knew how to make the most efficient use of the space. He then addressed King Ragnok directly:
"I might be able to do small batch production. Maybe for you and your honour guard. Figuring out how to do magical mass production in the hundreds, furthermore for the thousands is a tall order. It is my responsibility to tell you that if you are spending your galleons, you should know what you are getting. That implies Hermione and I might be your technicians. I am not here to gouge your eye out with the price. We will work out something agreeable. It will also require some research for long term use."
"I am somewhat aware of the issues involved Lord Peverell, but from what I also know is that with no risk, no reward. You took many risks, and these led to your liberation and your independence. I took the risk of extending a hand of friendship because I saw talent, curiosity, ambition, and honour. I saw not an inch of hatred in you. We get too much of that from Wizards.
And while you probably overheard some of the older wizards greet us properly, it was your creativity that stunned us. You demonstrated understanding of the custom itself – the why of it. I did see an opportunity for indirect revenge and profit too. I love that you are moving so many galleons into our accounts. Your purchases that we do on our behalf earn us much coin. I had a feeling that you would surprise me this morning. But if you had not, I would have not been angry or disappointed. No, discovery requires sacrifice. Show Timilf the welder. I must admit I am excited."
Harry nodded as he took the welder/cutter up from the table and carried it to Timilf, who had brought some sample metals for welding. She floated the pieces and then Harry began to explain the welder to her.
"Well Mistress Timilf, we already understand how this works, the oh so dark Fiendfyre summoned into a flame."
Harry's sarcasm and his overly dramatic hand movements made many of the Honour Guard laugh. Even Griphook realised that when Harry was ready, he could selectively be a drama queen.
Bloodaxe grinned. Harry had all of Lilly Potter's mannerisms. Easily a carbon copy.
"So just jumpstart the emitter here….touch my finger here. Feel how much energy it is and then put about that amount into the starting the plasma stream."
Timilf who understood that Lord Peverell clearly could care less about Wizard-Goblin hostilities nodded and did exactly as he instructed. Harry set up the ground emitter and collector circuits and nodded to Timilf who dumped the energy into the torch. She was greeted with a small but extremely vicious flame. Harry then started the Argon gas at a respectable 15cfm just to be safe. She who had been manipulating fire and metal for two centuries immediately understood that this tool even in its most primitive unfinished state was easily miles ahead of anything else that existed. As she manipulated the pieces, she began to direct the welding puddle easily. The metal melted like butter and she could transfigure the hot molten metal with magic. The material also required no pre-heating.
Even more impressive was that contaminants were generally removed with another piece of complex Goblin magic. Harry had explained to her that Argon was used by mundanes in welding applications to keep the weld puddle clean. She was impressed, as there were fewer contaminants in this weld than in many of her finalised pieces that she had spent many hours reheating and casting metal purification charms. When she was done, she could see Harry was beaming. He explained:
"You are an amazing welder and the control is almost instinctual. Fluid. I do know you are transfiguring the boundaries. I had never thought to heat the metal first, silly me. But I loved watching you work. I never thought about levitating my welding pieces in mid-air. That is the most amazing piece of talent I have ever seen! So, how did the Torch do?"
"Thank you, I have a certain talent for it. You do have a good eye for the magical aspects. This will change metalworking in the mines. The purity of the weld is astounding. We will have to work together. The shape of the tool is also easy to control. Build 10 torches with the finest cutting edge materials and I will pay a premium for those out of my pocket. This will save me and my girls hours of work, daily. Time is money.
I do think my King has some comments. We will see each other again."
Timilf departed
King Ragnok examined the large sapphire that Harry had found. He then spoke:
"We haven't had anything this big, in many centuries. This will make a fine addition to our collection. Serendipity is a beautiful thing. I consider this Sapphire to be an excellent gift that was brought forward about by your efforts. We were curious if you would share freely. While we Goblins do hoard our gold jealously, we have always been open to sharing other aspects of our culture and we have always received the cold shoulder, particularly from the Wizengamot. I won't speak about the first Goblin War but know this. The first infraction came from the Wizarding world when they attacked a Goblin community many millennia when we lived openly above ground. That is another story for another time.
In essence, we would be willing to train you in specific types of metalworking that the Goblins have pioneered. In return, we would like for you to update us on the various non-magical methods and materials that we are not aware of. I think we can gain much from each other. For this sapphire and the wealth that you have accumulated today on our behalf, ask anything as a boon and if I can give it, I certainly will." Ragnok replied in total seriousness.
Harry's face took on a thoughtful expression. He then said with not a single bit of hesitation:
"Two things. I believe the old legends may have a cure for Lycanthropy. However, I do not have access to old stories. If any old oral traditions may provide a clue as to how Remus Lupin may be cured, I would like to find out. The second thing is that I also recognise the cultural value of the Goblin stories and if you would be willing to check the material and make sure it is factually correct, I would not mind publishing a written book about Goblin Oratory traditions, should it be considered culturally acceptable. If I have offended, I beg of your patience." Harry replied.
"Offended, no Lord Peverell - Just the idea of a Wizard publishing a book of that type will cause much controversy. The Wizengamot does not take kindly to anyone trying to change narratives. Why, I think we will definitely work on the book and then publish it at a time when it might cause the most amount of trouble. I will help you, just to get a laugh out of those morons in the Ministry of Magic. I want to see what Binns will teach when we get that book sorted out.
When they come after you, spring the trap. Corner them with your full arsenal."
"Thank you. I would like the Goblins to prepare some of the gems and polish them. I want to explore how the crystals behave with magic."
"We will certainly ask our finest gem-smiths to provide as wide a variety as possible. Any other value in gems and raw gold will be added to your account as galleons and your balance will be updated. Ms. Granger, do not think we have not noticed your achievements. We are aware that you are equally talented. Lord Peverell has had the advantage of inheriting the knowledge of a powerful lineage of Artificers. You, from what we know have no house magic to call upon, and yet you are powerful in your magic and your mind is just as sharp. I have reason to believe that you are a magical descendant of the infamous Hector Dagworth-Granger, a truly gifted potioneer. Do you dabble in potions?"
"I do. I am working on refining standard wizarding potions. I want to mass produce them at a much higher potency. I want chemical compounds and reproducible effects. Working on some small projects myself." Hermione replied.
Ragnok replied "As it should be. Predispositions run in the blood. We would like you to undergo an inheritance test. No fee will be charged. If the Inheritance test succeeds, you will have access to your inherited wealth. If you are indeed an integral part of Lord Peverell's ventures, it will not be long until you have another truly fantastic discovery yourself. When your entire Rune system is ready, we would like to use some of them for ourselves. I can see that we will have to do something that we have not done in three centuries. We will have to file for both your houses to join the Wizengamot as Most Ancient and Most noble Houses.
Harry then asked,
"How is the lineage decided upon? What makes a house a Most Ancient and Most Noble? We have been studying Wizard etiquette and there has been no clear mention as to how this works?"
King Ragnok replied:
"Simple. Gold. All wizarding families at the time of the founding of Gringotts were required to make deposits with us if they wanted to utilize the bank. If you could have afforded to pay the largest deposit and your lineage went back at least three centuries, no problem. It was on that basis that the Goblins were given the authority to mint a new Wizengamot seat.
Of course, you must also get at least four votes from other sympathetic houses in the Wizengamot to be welcomed in and that is a recent law. If adjusted for inflation, contributing 500,000 galleons as a security deposit for a Most Ancient and Most Noble House in the 1500s is in today's money worth 5,000,000 galleons. Of course, inflation only occurs on active accounts. And imagine, Invictus' stored gold was enough for the inflation to multiply ten times and you are still richer than most…"
"Careful now, I love running business. I might want to make a lot more, even though I am fairly well off. I like the idea of buying out the entire Wizengamot."
Hermione giggled and King Ragnok continued:
"Harry can already afford it, but you Ms Granger will have a lot of work to do. Naturally, I am hoping that both of you succeed. We are hoping to charge our administrative fees to your earnings when you bank your galleons. I think you Ms Granger you might have made a rather large amount of loose gold today, from the jewels and the raw gold ore. You might not be far off."
Harry understood exactly what King Ragnok was saying – The Goblins were tired of the Wizengamot's garbage, and they were pushing back. To maintain the façade of being neutral, they would be willing to support their respective talents and make financial options available. The Goblins wanted a revitalisation of the economy, and it wasn't going to happen unless the foundations of the Wizarding world were rattled.
Harry replied, "I must thank you for your unofficial support. Trying to stimulate the economy through us is risky business. It could start another war. I do understand that you will need favours just the same way we need favours from you. What is the Latin statement – Pro Quido? Well, we have a lot of work to do. I think we both would like to greatly surpass those financial targets."
"I thought you would see it that way." King Ragnok replied. It was at this moment, that another Goblin leaned in, and whispered a message into King Ragnok's ear. A toothy grin then appeared on King Ragnok's face. He then spoke:
"Well Lord Peverell, we have received correspondence from Mr Lupin. He will be here next week. Make the relevant arrangements. Ms Granger, Bloodaxe will also handle your accounts for now until issues are finalised. What would you like to do with your share of the excavation?"
Hermione without hesitation said "Same arrangement as Harry."
"Excellent. You children provide me more entertainment than all the other rather dull customers that bank their gold at our institution. I look forward to when all your innovations are ready. I must take my leave, but thank you for the entertainment and this lovely Sapphire."
Harry nodded and the Goblin King along with the honour guard began to disperse. Harry then helped Hermione get the rest of the hardshell cases packed up, with their tools. When they were finished, Griphook and his guards automatically took up the cases and began to carry them out of the cavern. Timilf smiled and gave Harry an uncharacteristic long hug. Harry who had gotten more accustomed to physical contact, returned the hug with much enthusiasm.
"I am excited about the plasma torch – most of us who are close to the King like my father and I are aware of your plan to break into Azkaban. We haven't spoken about it in the open for plausible deniability. We sadly have no information on where it is. When you are finished and your Godfather is in your fold, we will teach you how to shape materials as you seem fairly adept at wandless magic."
She hopped off with a spring in her step. Harry followed shortly behind as they all entered the carts and began their journey back to the Potter accounts room. Harry spoke to Bloodaxe.
"I better get to work. When we get Sirius out successfully, we cover all tracks and send Dumblegoat on a wild goose chase. We move the entire operation to Peverell Mansion and we stay behind the wards." replied Harry.
"Lorna will know what to do. When she is done, Wizarding England won't be able to find us. She was the person who was responsible for losing the Death Eaters who were tailing her and your mum." Hermione replied.
Invictus who had been silent during the past couple of hours, except for some passing comments then spoke, as the transportation cart made its way to the surface.
"I believe the space at Peverell Manor will allow us to maintain many more projects. I am still very much excited to see the proposed renovations to the crops at the greenhouse. I would prefer if we were self-contained."
At this point, the group arrived at the Potter Office at Gringotts. Harry called Grace and she apparated directly to Hermione's position. Grace then delivered Hermione before returning to Gringotts to collect Harry and the equipment. Harry sat down and relaxed a bit as he realised that soon he would come face to face with Unca Moona – Remus Lupin.