Harry Potter and the Refugees of Time
Chapter 3:
Is you Is or Is you Ain't?
Disclaimer: I do not own anything to the Harry Potter franchises or empire, not do I own anything of the Russian empire, although we do have a nice replicate Faberge egg. No money being made, no claims of ownership, nothing, squat
Rating: K
Synopsis: AU (so don't gripe about historical inaccuracies), Post-Hogwarts from Harry's POV. No shipping
Late August 2018, Gringotts', Honeblade's Office
I sat at the small conference table in my account manager's office, looking at the goblin dressed in his office suit. As he was the manager of two senior accounts, his suit was of a fine grade of armour, well polished and bearing several decorations. Sitting with him were two other senior goblins in altogether more resplendent suits, but still a form of armour as befit highly placed warriors. As the back of the office stood several heavily-armed security goblins.
Goblins don't trust humans. That has always been something I admired about them. They are honest about it, given how humans have usually behaved towards them. Such behaviour could become very unhealthy, very rapidly
The well-dressed and important looking Goblin stood and declared "I am Honeblade, Senior Account Manager in Gringotts Bank, London. Administration of the Potter and Black estates and accounts are mine."
Honeblade nodded to me as he greeted me, and then introduced the two goblins with him. "Lord Potter, you have brought before us a family claiming to the former Tsar of All The Russias and his family. You have informed me of their situation as well. Many times, others have come to Gringotts claiming the same. These people claim to have jewels from their past. For this reason, today I have asked StoneMaster 'Facetcutter' and Inheritancemaster 'Familyman' to join us. The names I have stated are of course only approximations of their names in our language which are not to be shared with those whom we do not yet see reason to trust."
"The devices on the table to the side is recording all matters occurring in this meeting; all parties will get copies of the records at the end of this meeting. If they find any discrepancies between their copy and our official copy, tough! Ours is the official version."
'Facetcutter' opened a large book which was before him on the conference table and opening it, held up the emerald which I had passed on from Nickolai for his examination. The goblin glanced at the book again, and at the stone, and remarked "According to our records and our testing, this stone was mined in India in your year 1671, and was purchased soon after by the Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and incorporated into the Imperial collection. Until about 1908, it was held in vaults at our facilities on Goblinsky Street near the Winter Palace in St Petersburg, after which it disappeared from our records. Our tests show that it was recently held close to a human woman over her heart under her left breast for roughly ten years."
Smiling at his fellow goblins, he remarked "As always, our tests are very thorough."
Looking at the father of the family, he continued "Sir, you claim to be Nickolai Alexandrovich Romanov, and these are your family. Further you claim that you have in your, or your family's, possession jewels which have been in your personal possession for many years. Is that correct?"
The ex-Tsar looked at his blushing wife and daughters, then stood, bowed, and replied "It is so, honourable Goblin."
The three goblins looked at each other and slightly nodded at his respectful response.
Honeblade continued "We of our people come from a warrior background, and this continues. As such, we recognise spoils of war, and right of conquest, but we do not tolerate fraud nor theft. As I mentioned, others have made claims similar to yours; they did not leave these premises. Therefore, we must validate your identities and lineage before going further. Should we find you are being truthful with us, we can proceed to evaluate the gems you claim to carry. If we find you have been lying, you dishonour us and your sponsor, Lord Potter, and this would have grave consequences. Is that understood?"
The prince looked nervous, but nodded to his father. Nickolai again stood and nodded. "We understand and will abide by your rulings, sir."
The goblin called Familyman stood and gestured to the table. Seven stones rose from the surface of the table, and he smiled at the family's looks of amazement. He held up a golden knife, and instructed "You will each make a cut on your right thumb, and drip three drops of blood onto the centre of the stone in front of you. These will ascertain your true identities."
Again, Alexei looked a bit nervous. For all his life, he had needed to be wary of any injuries.
The Tsarina was shocked and started to object. At the disapproving look from Familyman, she stopped herself, and said "I beg pardon, honourable goblin, but my son has the bleeding disease. I ask that he be exempt from this test."
Familyman frowned at the woman. "Madame, such a demand would be expected if you were to make a false claim of your identity. The Tsarovitch's hemophilia is a well-known fact. If you are not who you claim to be, then your possession of the stone we have examined would be evidence of theft on a major scale. Such theft is unacceptable and will not be tolerated by us. If you are who you say, then there should be no problem of that sort. However, the test will proceed."
The goblin scowled and looked towards Honeblade. To refuse the test was in his eyes the same as failing it. However, the question of to allow this request or deny it was above his gold-grade, and Honeblade was a senior account manager and had been the one to call this meeting. The decision was his alone.
Honeblade nodded back to him, but held up a hand, staying his reaction. He murmured some words in their language, and then turned to the Tsarina. "Madam, I will call in one of our healers to be in attendance. Bleeding is something warriors are very familiar with, and we have ways of healing even injuries that for other more delicate beings would prove fatal. Our healers should also be able to cure your son of his malady as they are most skilled, although I admit that that is outside my area of expertise. Will that be sufficient to allow the test, which I must insist is required in order to allow your claims to proceed?"
The worried mother looked at her son and husband, and glanced at the four young women as well, and capitulated. "Honoured sir, it is acceptable, but I pray that you have your most able healer present. I love my son, and much of our current troubles is due to my caring deeply for him."
The goblins smiled, as loving care for their offspring was also deeply ingrained in their people. I later learned that his words to Familyman meant 'A mother's protection of her young is to be respected'.
Honeblade touched a device on his desk, and said something in his own language. His tone indicated that it was not just a request, and that prompt obedience was imperative. A moment later, two goblins entered the room, and the elder stated something indicating the younger of the two. Honeblade nodded his approval to whatever had been said. Turning to the humans he explained "Master Healer Bloodclotter has brought her senior apprentice to observe and learn, as treatment of hemophilia is uncommon among our folk. During the years of our inter-tribal wars, those with bleeding problems usually did not survive past adolescence, and so did not pass the affliction to any offspring. This is an opportunity to pass on rare skills. I assume you would have no objections."
Reluctantly, the ex-Tsarina nodded her acceptance.
One of the princesses stood and stated aloud "Honoured Healer Bloodclotter and Master Goblins, if you can indeed remove the curse from our brother, then my sisters and I beg you to also remove it from us! We wish to live untainted by this malady."
Her mother turned and bruskly said "Tanya, this is not something to ask! Not now."
The princess turned, and complained "Mama, you ask for it for Alexei. Why not for us? Are your daughters of less value to you than your son?"
Shocked the elder woman shook her head. "No, my love, you are all in my heart. But Alexei must be healthy if he is to rule."
The eldest daughter shook her head at this. "Mama, Alexei will never rule. You know this, even if it is hard to accept. If people find out who we are, we are dead. End of story. My sisters and I will never marry kings or princes, as we might have in past times. If we carry the taint of this disease, I doubt we would ever be able to marry at all. Alexei's hemophilia is widely known in the current world, in spite of how we had to cover it up in our old lives."
"Mama, I, for one, would rather take holy orders than cause my husband the pain that you and Papa have had to deal with. We girls have discussed this many times, and this is our collective decision." Turning to the Healer, she repeated the request, as her mother sadly nodded her head.
The Healer looked to Honeblade, briefly said something, and then waited for his judgement.
The senior goblin looked at the family. "The treatment you ask for is possible. For your son, we offer it as a consequence of the inheritance tests. Our fees are being covered by the Ministry of Magic. This new request goes beyond our agreed services."
I spoke up. "Master Honeblade, as an agent of the Ministry in this affair, I can state that they will cover your fees, as part of their pledge to help this family adapt to their new world."
Honeblade grinned (he liked a good argument over money). "Lord Potter, we have had unsatisfactory dealings with your Ministry in the past for services not contracted ahead of time. We will not accept this offer."
I smiled, also enjoying it. "In that case, honoured Goblins, I will pay the fees myself. Don't worry about the draw on my accounts. I assure you that I will deal with the Ministry, and they will pay me back promptly."
The goblins looked at each other, and surprisingly, laughed. They loved to see someone stick it to the Ministry.
Bloodclotter looked over at Honeblade, who was significantly her senior in age and status, and haltingly said (as she seemed uncomfortable with English) "Senior accountant manager, I will require a slight change in your plans for this meeting. The potions needed for the requested procedures are rare, and I only brought enough for one treatment as that was what we had in stock. Also, the first part of the additional treatments takes one hour to be processed by the body adding the necessary clotting factors. However, the second part of the treatment takes roughly twelve weeks to complete because it affects every cell in the body, seeking out the offending gene and editting it from the body."
Honeblade scowl as changes in timetables affected schedules and fees. He nodded, but imperiously requested "What are your recommendations then?"
The Healer nodded. Her superior had requested a professional plan, and she was within her rights and duties to speak freely and to specify a suitable way to proceed. "Sir, I would suggest treating the young man with the initial potion, which would limit the risk of bleeding during the inheritance test. I would then administer the second potion, which acts like a virus and which will seek out the gene and eliminate it. I also point out that this treatment, which the muggles are starting to use and call gene therapy, will also seek out an eliminate the genes responsible for colour-blindness, diabetes, porphyria, and 80 of the most common forms of cancer. The muggles are nowhere near our level of expertise in these matters, but in the future this may be a source of income for our people.
While the first potion works, you would administer the inheritance tests to the senior members of the family, including an additional test for the young women to see if one or more of them carry the gene as well. Statistically, with four of them the overall chance of being a carrier is 50%, but with such a small group, it could be all or none of them. The test will tell."
"After the hour is past, you would administer the identity test to the young man."
"As none of the women have active hemophilia, they would not have to be treated at this time, and a suitable treatment schedule could be worked out, and sufficient potions could be prepared. I do not know if their mother is yet of child-bearing age and would wish additional offspring if the affliction was removed, or whether she and her husband would also desire the treatment, but that could also be determined."
"We know that the mother must carry the gene, but it is also possible though highly unlikely for the father to carry the gene as well. All of the royal families were so interrelated that there is a faint chance of that as well."
The Tsarina smiled slightly and remarked "Well, I am now one hundred and forty-six years old, so I would suspect I am beyond that, but perhaps it would be wise to accept the treatment. Accidents do happen occasionally." As she smiled at her husband and squeezed his hand, her younger children blushed, while the older ones smiled subtly.
The Healer looked to Honeblade who nodded. She returned the nod acknowledging it as permission to proceed. "Very well. I shall forward the paperwork to our potion masters once I know how many doses are required, and let you know of a date for the procedures."
Turning to Alexei, she continued "The treatment is similar to the natural replacement of cells, which would normally take about seven to ten years. As this procedure greatly accelerates this process, you will have to eat large quantities of food, focussing on proteins and carbohydrates, but also including food with high-fibre content. You will need frequent access to lavatories as your body sheds its old cells. You can expect to excrete about 7 kilograms per week beyond your usual practice."
There was a smothered guffaw from the youngest princess. "Honoured Healer, you are speaking about a teenaged boy. Your recommended diet is likely less than he normally eats now! He may even have to cut back."
Smiling and laughing slightly, the healer looked to the ladies and remarked "Although your brother will be the first to go through the treatment, the same program will be required of all of you who take the cure." With this, she handed a vial of potion to Alexei, who quickly swallowed it, almost gagging at the foul taste. After placing her hands around the prince's head and uttering an incantation in her language, the healer continued "Potions are often made to taste badly, so that they are not misused where they are not appropriate. It always amazes me and my colleagues as what people, both mine and yours, can become addicted too. I have seen the curative potions used when people are desperate to lose weight. This is one reason why we do not keep large quantities in stock."
Turning to Honeblade, she nodded, and said "Senior Account Manager, you may proceed with the tests. The young man will be ready to test in one hour." With this, she sat down at the back of the room with her assistant.
Honeblade nodded to the healer, and turned to Familyman, telling him to proceed. The healer and her assistant moved to stand beside the older man. He handed the knife to Nicholai, who nodded and cut his thumb.
Nicholai dripped the requisite three drops onto the stone. Bloodclotter held her hand over his bleeding digit and said something in the goblin language, and the bleeding stopped instantly. She looked to her assistant and said something to which he nodded. Apparently, this was the magic and treatment knowledge he was here to learn. I would have thought that a spell to stop bleeding would have already been part of his repertoire, but perhaps with the inheritance blade the charm was somewhat different.
The colour of the stone in front of Nicholai changed from grey to gold. A parchment issued from the recording device in front of Honeblade.
His brow furrowed as he pointed to the lines of text between the group which I assumed as in the Goblin tongue, and the one in English. He showed it to me, and I nodded to him, stating "Honourable Honeblade, that is in Cyrillic, which are the characters used for the Russian language. From what little I just read, it says the same as the English version. I assume the Goblin and English versions are also the same." He nodded to me, saying "my Russian is a bit rusty, Harry. Thank you. I recognised the script, but the Greek and Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabets are slightly different."
Looking towards the family again, he announced "The test confirmed that you are indeed Nicholai Alexandrovitch Romanov. Chronical age one hundred and fifty years, biological age fifty years, blood type A positive, magical power index 16. Heir to the Romanov dynasty, and previously Emperor of the all the Russias."
Nicholai smiled. "Good, I'm glad I'm still me!" He frowned and asked "Your pardon, but what is the magical power index? I am not magical."
Honeblade continued "We find that most people at the royalty social levels, and some at the nobility, will have some level of magical power. To actively use magic requires power indices of 30 or more. Our experts surmise that some limited magical ability leads to slight clairvoyance, greater healing ability or some sense of what others are thinking, although not to the level of wizards or witches using legilimency or telepathy. It also allows some use of magical tools, such as the talismans you and your family bear. It has been these abilities that in previous times allowed otherwise mundane people to rise to the higher social and political status, and to survive the inherent risks in those positions. An ability to foresee or avoid assassinations is a useful trait. For comparison, Lord Harry's Magical Power Index, or MPI, is approximately 115, while Lady Hermione's MPI is around 98, if I recall correctly."
"Now, ladies, if you will?"
The Tsarina and princesses all cut their thumbs and dripped their blood onto the stones. All proved to be who they claimed to be, and all had MPI's levels in the mid-teens. Once the hour was past, Alexei's test showed an MPI of 18 while confirming his identity.
The blood tests also confirmed that the Tsarina carried the gene. Unfortunately, statistics was not on their side, and all four of the Grand Duchesses also carried the taint of the hemophilia to be passed to the next generations. As expected, the Tsar did not.
The mother burst into tears at this new, crying "I am so sorry, my children, to be responsible for giving you this curse."
Her husband gathered her into his arms, a very informal action in this very formal meeting. "Sunny, my love, you are not responsible for this taint on our family. Both your brother and uncle had died of it. As far as we know, your grandmother Victoria brought it into the family, although whence it came to her is still a mystery, and I might add, a source of some scandalous gossip. It is not your fault. It was never your fault. Moreover, now with the aid of our new friends and allies, there is a means of exorcising the demon from our family." Turning to the goblins, he smiled and nodded. "Master goblins, our deepest heartfelt thanks for this."
Bloodclotter looked to Honeblade and said something in her language. With his nod, she turned to her assistant, and gave some instructions. He went to the small chest they had carried into the room and withdrew some vials. Then turning to the family she remarked "We will now remove the stasis charms on the medications and administer the potions to the young man." She and the assistant (who remained unnamed, as apparently he was not yet of sufficient rank for meetings at this level) held their hands around the vials of liquids, and chanted something in a language that seemed to puzzle even the senior goblins – the vials glowed a soft green colour before fading.
Bloodclotter administered the gene replacement potions to the prince, and noted "Your twelve weeks begins now. Ladies, please let us know when you will be available for your treatments; it will take about three weeks to get the potions ready. I understand that, for security reasons, all communications between yourselves and me are to go through Lord Harry and Senior Accounts Manager Honeblade." Turning to Honeblade, she said "Six doses will be prepared, under the terms of our work here. One will be returned to stasis to replace the one used today for future use, and five will be available for use with these human women. The invoice for our services will be on your desk by the end of today" And with that, she and her assistant left the room.
I quietly breathed a sigh of relief. I was starting to like these people, and in my profession that is a very dangerous sentiment to have.
Facetcutter now stood. "Now, about this stone..."
A/N: Recommendation - The Wicked Witch in the West, by Argonaut57. An amusing multiple crossover
