Chapter 17 –Skeleton Key
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Previously on The Forgiven: Some years have passed, and the story is now entering the main timeline. Specifically, the beginning of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
The Forgiven received two assignments from Dumbledore. One, successfully break into Gringotts, to which Grimm adds the additional objective of breaking into Voldemort's vault. Two, abduct and protect Nicholas Flamel.
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In the underground base, the three Forgiven stared up at the magic hologram rotating above.
"This is balls crazy," Liar scratched his head.
The wizard was referring to the intricate, web-like layout of the Gringott tunnels. They weaved, joined, and separated, without any rhyme or reason. Most likely, it was constructed this way to make theft as difficult as possible, creating a veritable labyrinth. It was a hard task to memorize the route to Voldemort's vault alone, much less the other tunnels surrounding it.
"It is obvious why the goblins utilize train tracks. Liar, is it possible to bewitch the carts to work for us?"
The young man shook his head.
"It's possible, but it would consume far too much time. Undoing the locking charms alone…"
"What if we Imperiused a goblin?"
"We could…" Grimm answered with doubt. "But there must be counter measures in place for that."
"I've got it!" Norse jumped up and down. "We use Polyjuice potion to masquerade ourselves as Voldemort and fool the goblins into taking us to his vault."
The Forgiven leader fought down a snort.
"Oh, yeah? And how do we escape?"
"We free one of the dragons guarding the tunnels. And then," Norse spread her arms. "We FLY out."
Unable to contain themselves any longer, Grimm and Liar collapsed to the floor with uncontrollable laughter. Norse jumped on top of them and wrestled.
After the stupid joke, Liar turned to the other two.
"It could work."
"You serious?" Grimm folded her arms.
"With some dumb luck, why not?"
"We'd have to be very, very lucky and very, VERY dumb. Two things we are definitely not."
All three of them cupped their mouths in thought. They paced the room, looking at the hologram every once in a while. Grimm was starting to feel impatient.
"I can think of about a thousand ways to get to the vault, but it won't open without Voldemort's wand, key, or magic. And the goblins can't open it themselves…."
"I can probably break into the vault at least," Liar suddenly spoke. "Got a neat little trick for that and a particular tool in my possession for just the occasion. Need to go get it, though."
"'For just the occasion'?"
"What child doesn't dream of breaking into Gringotts at one point or another. No? Just me and my horrible childhood." The young man saluted. "Leave it to me, boss."
"Fine, go get whatever you need to get."
Liar did an about face and exited the base via portkey. With only Grimm and Norse left in the room, the blue haired witch turned to her companion.
"We still need an escape route. We also have to come up with the fastest way of getting to the vault, but…." Grimm huffed at the holographic labyrinth in the sky. "—no matter how I look at it, it would take too long without using the train tracks or a broom. The whole underground's charmed to be a no fly zone. Do we really need to risk Imperiusing a Goblin? There must be a better way." The Forgiven's leader pressed a finger to her wrinkled forehead. "What do you think, Norse?"
When Grimm turned around, she expected to see her large glowing friend, but instead, she found a large waddling penguin.
"…"
"…"
"Norse? What are you doing?"
"Being in this form helps me think," she wrote with her beak.
"….Whatever works."
The Forgiven recently completed their Animagus training, and the shapeshifting abilities were already paying huge dividends. When it came to their last mission's reconnaissance, their animal forms afforded them a stealthiness, concealment charms and invisibility cloaks could not match.
Penguin-Norse waddled next to Grimm and tapped the leader's leg with her wing. When the blue haired witch looked down at her, the bird only murmured one word.
"Slide~"
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The Forgiven had a way to get to the vault quickly. They had a way to bypass Voldemort's signature to open the safe, if Liar came through. But they still needed to overcome possibly, the most difficult hurdle of the bank heist.
They needed an exit strategy.
The Forgiven could enter the bank stealthily enough. Anyone could break into a bank. Many successfully broke into Gringotts for ages. It was getting out that no one had ever done.
There were age old, powerful detection and defense charms in place. Once intruders were detected—and they always were- pursuers would follow and the tunnels would shut down.
To gain more intel, Grimm and Norse traveled to the leader's distant relative. Someone she knew, who had personally worked in the Gringotts banks.
"Thank you for having us, Mr. Weasley."
"Of course," Bill politely replied. "Um….I'm sorry, but, who did you say you were again?"
Grimm smiled in her Polyjuiced older woman form. "My name is Gram and I work for the Ministry. We're trying to find improvements Gringotts could make to their security. My assistant here is Norm."
A pudgy, balding formed Norse gave Bill a wave. She hated this form the most.
It was a strange situation, to say the least.
A Polyjuiced Grimm and Norse were speaking to Bill Weasley, who was visiting the Burrow on vacation. Even though they were down in the dining room, they could hear Fred and George experimenting somewhere upstairs. Ron and Percy could be heard arguing. And a shy little Ginny peaked her head from the kitchen door from time to time.
"Sorry about the family. We're a bit of a noisy lot," Bill chuckled.
"Oh no. Nothing to mind at all."
In fact, Grimm felt comforting nostalgia from being in the Burrow again. She had visited a few times to hang out with Charlie back in the day.
Grimm cleared her throat and reminded herself why she was really there.
"As you know, most every magical resident in London uses Gringotts. Government funds are held in those vaults. We want to make sure they're as safe as can be. Since you've worked there before, we were wondering if you could offer us some perspective. You know how the goblins are about their security. Very hush hush, even if we're only trying to help."
Bill nodded.
"Oh, I understand what you mean. But I don't believe there are any improvements to be made. There's been no successful thefts in the history of Gringotts. Even if the thieves break into the vaults and made off with the loot, they never have anywhere to go. There are stories of robbers being lost in the tunnels for months before eventually getting caught."
"So what would you say were the strong points of the security?"
"Hmmm. Well…." Bill pondered the question for a minute. "I suppose, it would be the enclosement. There's just no escape once they're in. Protocols dictate, in the event of a break in, the first action is to seal the entrance and fortify the doors. If the thieves seem particularly violent, they'll reinforce the exits further, divert more personnel to the guard. They can catch thieves whenever they like, even choose to starve and wait them out, if it came to it. It's practically foolproof."
"…So you're saying, if the intruders made a big enough splash on the entry, or were detected early on, the goblins would concentrate most of their resources on the exits?"
"Yes, that is correct."
"Interesting," Grimm commented.
That definitely gives me an idea.
Struck by a moment of inspiration, the Forgiven leader busied herself with writing in her notebook for a while, when something interfered with her thoughts.
"Uh—Um? Mr. Norm, do you have questions for me?"
Grimm looked up from her paper and at the stumpy man beside her. Norse was gazing at Bill with seduction in her eyes. Grimm cringed.
"No, Norse! We are NOT doing this," she communicated with Legilimens.
"I'm not sure of what you are speaking of."
"He's my relative. I forbid you from doing anything as your leader!"
"But he is cute. I like his ponytail."
"Ughhh…."
Grimm spoke aloud to Bill. "Sorry. Ignore him. He's…..gay and unprofessional."
"Oh. Um. Oh, okay," Bill shifted awkwardly.
After asking a few more questions about Gringotts, and Norse making suggestive gestures, Grimm thought to adjourn their interview.
"As a token of my appreciation, I'd like to leave some gifts for you and your family."
"What? Oh, please. That's not necessary."
"No, Mr. Weasley, I insist," Grimm pushed.
She was always grateful to the Weasleys and had come by too few opportunities to show it. The witch pulled a few random objects from her satchel, including some Muggle devices for Arthur. The last thing Grimm produced from her bag, she handed to Bill.
He opened the small box and saw that it was a pair of fang earrings.
When the last of their business concluded, the Forgiven bowed and took their leave. As they started walking away far enough to Apparate, Grimm couldn't help but feel forlorn when she gave a second take of the house.
She wanted to stay longer. Ginny grew up cute and Grimm wanted to talk with her. Ron was getting ready to attend Hogwarts. Fred and George were still as mischievous as ever. Percy was an ever growing smart ass. Apparently, Charlie was in town too, but he was off with Arthur and Molly on some errand. It would have been nice to see them all and talk with them again.
Grimm bit the inside of her cheek and fought the urge. Fortunately, Norse was able to distract her almost instantly.
"You never told me your relatives were so attractive."
"No, Norse. Norse, no. Bad! You don't sleep with him. That's an order!He's my relative. I actually know him. Go fock someone I don't know or care about!"
"Fine…."
"And why would you even…! There's a HUGE age gap!"
Norse only laughed.
"I could use a Polyjuice potion to make me the same age. Or I could be a grandma if that's what he's into."
"For the love of—Rein in your focking hormones! AGHHH! Now, I can't stop imagining it. Norse! I'm going to kill you."
"It is just sex. Perhaps your inexperience, or sexual frustration are the cause of this maltreatment."
"No, just you. You're focked in the head. Geez….!" Grimm hissed. "….And I am not sexually frustrated!"
"That is unfortunate. If you ever do feel the urge, I am at your service~."
Norse threw an arm over Grimm, who was about to yell something but stopped herself.
"Maybe, if I ever feel like it."
"Really?!"
Grimm slapped her palm on Norse's face.
"I said maybe. Don't get excited, you horny giant. But there's one thing for sure."
"Hm? What is that?"
Grimm looked the stumpy man up and down.
"No Polyjuice. If I'm going to have sex with you, I'm going to have sex with you."
"Really? I would have guessed you desired a Tonks—"
Grimm squeezed Norse's face, threatening to crush it.
"If you complete that sentence, you'll really piss me off. Okay~ ?"
Norse nodded and drew a sloppily written,
"Okay!"
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"Liar can mix and match you know."
"What?"
"He can make a Polyjuice for a male version of Tonks."
"I. Am. Going. To. Kill. You." Grimm felt her mind squirm. "AND NOW I CAN'T GET THAT IMAGE OUT OF MY HEAD! WHAT THE HELL WOULD A MALE TONKS EVEN LOOK LIKE?!"
With great difficulty, the two successfully Apparated from the Burrow.
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In the underground base, Grimm and Norse were playing Tetris, when Liar appeared from the portkey.
"Seriously?! You lot are playing Tetris without me?" the wizard yelled.
The two Forgiven left their spots on the tree and joined Liar.
"Where were you that took so long?" Grimm asked.
"Stealing our key to Voldemort's vault, of course."
"Steal? I thought you said the thing was in your possession."
Liar tilted his head to the side.
"If I can steal it, doesn't it make it mine?"
"Only a thief would possess such logic."
"Good thing that's exactly what we need, now are you going to let me show and tell, or bother me about proper pedantics?"
"Show and tell, Liar," Grimm said in a tired tone. "How are you getting us into Voldemort's vault when the Goblins can't."
"I'm glad you asked, Madames Grimm!"
From the inside of his cloak, Liar pulled out a gnarl hooked wand with a "Tada~ ". The stick had an off color fade of white, and seemed to be constructed in sections like the separate bones of a finger. Even the shape was similar to finger pointing at something.
Liar handed the instrument to Grimm and Norse so they could have a closer look. The two instantly felt confounded by the weight of the wand. It was so much lighter than any of its kind they had ever held, and by the feel of it, more brittle. Both of the witches made eye contact with each other before facing Liar with an accusing expression.
"Liar….don't tell me…."
"Oh, did you guess it already?"
Grimm handed the "wand" back to the wizard.
"As you two may suspect, this," Liar presented like a theater magician. "—is our skeleton key. A very literal skeleton key."
Grimm and Norse grimaced at having their assumptions confirmed.
"Unlike most wands—and I'm not even too sure if this thing qualifies as such—this one is made out of bone. Goblin bone to be exact."
"Alright, I'll bite. How is that thing supposed to help us?"
"The Goblin finger it's made from, is none other than the founder and builder of the Gringott Vaults." Liar paused for effect as Grimm and Norse were beginning to catch on."You can imagine the applications now, yes? The original founder had unlimited access to the vaults. In the old days, the patrons didn't have keys and completely relied on the Goblins to open their safety deposits for them."
"So the skeleton key is a literal skeleton key," Grimm reiterated Liar's earlier phrase.
"A clever old wizard once grave robbed the Gringott's hand. He thought making a wand out of it would fake the owner's signature and unlock any safe in the bank."
"It can't?"
"He had the right idea. But you have to remember, wands are conduits for the wielder's magic. We don't use the wand's magic itself. Plus, Goblin sorcery is significantly different from Human's," Liar grinned. "But with some finesse, a little bit of practice, I should be able to imitate some Goblin magic, fake Gringott's signature, and voila! Master key to the kingdom, as well as Voldemort's vault."
"That's….actually brilliant. If you can pull it off, that is."
"I know. I thought I set a high standard, but I really impressed myself with this one. I do believe this is worthy of a round of applause."
Grimm and Norse rolled their eyes and began clapping slowly and softly.
"Thank you! Thank you! Alright. I can get us into the vault, nick whatever goodies are inside–maybe. But what about the rest?"
"Norse found us a way to travel the tunnels fast and without relying on carts or Goblins. As for the entrance and exit strategies….I've got the broad strokes in mind."
Grimm gave a brief overview of what she had planned. When she finished, Norse gave an approving smile, while Liar shook his head at the audacity of it.
"Bold and deadly risky. I doubt I could ever come up with something like that. How very like you."
"Wouldn't be much fun otherwise…."