Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine, I only own a few characters and bits of the plot. There are also direct quotations taken out of the book which I might have shortened but essentially they mean the same thing.
Chapter 9 – Plight and flight
With his wand tucked in his trouser pocket and a bit of muggle money he had managed to find in his satchel tucked in his fist, Dean made his way quietly to the village in hope of buying some more edible food for dinner rather than living off the fish in the river. The sun was setting and the village was shrouded in a lovely purple light as the sun disappeared slowly. It was peaceful, quiet and deserted, many people had already returned home early because of the newly-imposed curfew.
The only thing Ted Tonks had, other than his wand and some wizard money, was a pocket wireless he kept with him and like Aberforth, he would spend each night tuning it to find the rather elusive program, Potterwatch. When Dean finally got to hear the program he was surprised at the familiarity of the voices and quickly grew hungry for more news. There were warnings that some wizards had recommenced the illegal activity of muggle-hunting and the program had urged listeners to place shield charms over their muggle neighbour's house. Ted may have gone a bit too far, every house in the village was now protected and the mayor had been Imperiused into introducing a curfew.
Dean reached the main street with all the stores and saw that most of the owners had begun packing up for the day. Dean went to the grocery store and bought a loaf of bread and some marmalade which was all he could afford. As he walked silently back towards the river, the last of the shops closed down and an ominous silence descended upon the town.
Then Dean heard it, a cacophonous combination of grunts and groans.
When he was at the outskirts of the village the grunts came again, only they didn't sound like outlets of frustration, more like a dialogue, a language, maybe.
"Did you see them come here?" said a deep and hollow voice.
Hurried footsteps and whispers.
"I saw them heading here, they're probably somewhere in this village," replied a second voice.
Suddenly there was a big yell, "HE'S THERE, I SAW HIM!"
At the same time Dean flickered his wand and whispered "Muffliato".
"STUPEFY!"
A jet of red light illuminated the town in a red glow, Dean saw the shadows of a man and two imp-like creatures run past, tailed by two men with their wands held high.
Dean quickly ran through the trees and the bushes till he reached the riverside where Ted Tonks sat patiently and Dean's broom was propped up against some rocks. Here, any sense of worry was drowned by the soothing sounds of the river current.
"Ted! There are wizards in the village!" said Dean through pants and gasps.
"Wizards?"
Dean quickly stuffed the bread and the spread in his satchel as they raced back to the village.
"I'm telling ya Cresswell, I don't have much patience for hide-and-seek games," said the man with the hollow voice, immediately after Dean and Ted reached the village.
"Dirk!" cried Ted, as he took his wand out.
"There's more of them!" exclaimed the gruff second voice.
Ted and Dean followed the voice to its origin which led them to the main street. Two men were duelling the man which Dean assumed to be Dirk Cresswell, who according to Potterwatch had been sent to Azkaban.
"Petrificus Totalus!" cried Ted, whose curse hit one of the men square on the chest. The other continued to duel Dirk while his partner went rigid and collapsed onto the ground.
Hexes and jinxes were thrown and curses were dodged, however the man soon had Dirk pressed against a wall.
"No where to go now," said the man in a nasty drawl.
He raised his wand, but before he could get the words out Dean cried, "Expelliarmus!" The wand flew out of his hands and landed on the ground next to Dean.
Dirk, seizing the moment cried "Stupefy!" The man immediately became unconscious and fell to the floor.
Ted had wiped the memory of both the men while they were weakened by the attack. As the three wizards stood to look at their handiwork, two goblins appeared out of the shadows and stood beside Dirk.
The two men, whom Dirk referred to as ministry officials, now sat back to back, both stunned and wordless.
"Best get going," said Ted.
They retreated back into the reassuring coverage of the trees and walked toward the river, where Ted drank some water from his cupped hands. The two goblins whispered something between them in that dissonant language of theirs again.
Dirk crouched beside the river bank and said, "There ought to be a few salmon in here, or d'you reckon it's too early in the season? Accio Salmon!"
There were several splashes and salmons leapt out of the water and onto Dirk's lap. It was a rather peculiar sight. The goblins immediately commenced talking again and over their jarring voices, Ted summoned several sticks and a fire was soon lit.
Salmon was passed around the group which smelt good but had a strong fishy stench once Dean bit into it, he remembered the bread that he had bought a distributed it to the others as well as the marmalade. Questions and answers were exchanged and it turned out that Dirk Cresswell had escaped on the way to Azkaban.
"And where do you two fit in? I, er, had the impression that the goblins were for You-Know-Who, on the whole," asked Ted referring to the goblins, Gornuk and Griphook.
"You had a false impression," said Griphook, "We take no sides. This is a wizards' war."
"How come you're in hiding, then?"
"Gringotts is no longer under the sole control of my race. I recognise no wizarding master."
Griphook whispered something in Goobledegook and Gornuk laughed.
"What's the joke?" asked Dean.
"He said," replied Dirk, "that there are things wizards don't recognise, either."
"Dean and I are still missing something here," said Ted.
"So is Severus Snape, though he doesn't know it," said Griphook, as the two goblins gave a nasty laugh.
Dean raised his eyebrows, looking at Ted with confusion.
"Didn't you here about that, Ted?" asked Dirk, "About the kids who tried to steal Gryffindor's sword out of Snape's office at Hogwarts?"
Dean's heart skipped a beat, he could guess who they were.
"Griphook here told me, he heard about it from Bill Weasley who works for the bank. One of the kids who tried to take the sword was Bill's younger sister."
'I knew it,' thought Dean, whose grip tightened on his bread as he took a fierce bite out of it.
"She and a couple of friends got into Snape's office and smashed open the glass case where he was apparently keeping the sword. Snape caught them as they were trying to smuggle it down the staircase. Couple of days later Snape sent the sword down to Gringotts instead."
Here the goblins roared with laughter.
"I'm still not seeing the joke," said Ted.
"It's a fake," rasped Griphook.
Dean jolted at the sudden revelation.
"Oh, yes. It is a copy – an excellent copy, it is true – but it was wizard-made. The original was forged centuries ago by goblins and had certain properties only goblin-made armour possesses. Wherever the genuine sword of Gryffindor is, it is not in a vault at Gringotts Bank."
"I see," said Ted.
"What happened to Ginny and the others?" The ones who tried to steal it?" asked Dean eagerly.
"Oh they were punished, and cruelly," said Griphook indifferently.
Dean flinched as he imagined Ginny - and probably Neville too – with bruises all over their bodies, and felt like strangling Griphook for his indifference and the fact that the Gryffindor sword was a fake and their efforts were wasted, not that he could entirely blame this on the goblins.
"They're OK, though?" asked Ted quickly, "I mean the Weasleys don't need any more of their kids injured, do they?"
"They suffered no serious injury, as far as I am aware," said Griphook, as if he couldn't care less.
"Lucky for them," said Ted, "With Snape's track record, I suppose we should just be glad they're still alive."
"You believe that story, then, do you, Ted?" asked Dirk. "You believe Snape killed Dumbledore?"
"Course I do," said Ted, "You're not going to sit there and tell me you think Potter had anything to do with it?"
"Hard to know what to believe these days," muttered Dirk.
"I know Harry Potter," said Dean defensively, "And I reckon he's the real thing – the Chosen One, or whatever you want to call it."
Dean, slightly disheartened, sat back and ate his bread. He was a bit tired of the goblins' cold indifference and Dirk's accusations towards Harry, and he wasn't surprised when Dirk began insulting the Quibbler either.
After dinner, the group agreed to sleep under the cover of the trees that night and headed up the wooded slope.
I'm sorry that most of this chapter was taken from the book, but it was a necessary fill-in that I had to do. Thanks for all the reviews guys!