On Monday, July 26th, Hermione reported to the Gringotts bank promptly at 8am. She had with her a bag with five sets of robes and underthings, as well as a couple sets of muggle clothes as well. She wore a green cotton robe, a lighter sort of robe appropriate for summer or moving around a lot in, and she had her hair back in a braid. Another bag she had slung over her shoulder held a neat wooden box spelled shut, containing her most recent research project, as well as a few books and several paper-wrapped packages, and her last bag, with the inside now undoubtedly now coated in dirt, was heavy enough she'd had to cast a Feather-Light charm on it to carry it. She wore her sword belt around her waist, her sword in its sheath at her left hip, the hilt gleaming in the early morning sun.
Diagon Alley was slow and sleepy, the cobblestone street nearly deserted of people. A few tired shopkeeps were making their way to their stores to start the process of opening up, but there were no customers about shopping yet, no wizards wandering the road. There was just a slight mist hanging in the quiet of the alley in the early morning, not yet chased away by the sun.
Gringotts didn't open until 9am to the general public. At 8am, however, a goblin came out of the big glass doors to look Hermione up and down. The goblins sneered at her.
"Are you Hermione Granger, from the House of Granger?" it asked.
Hermione drew herself up. "I am."
The goblin looked unimpressed.
"If you would follow me," the goblin said, "I would take you to Bloodthorne for you to begin your descent." The goblin looked her up and down again, before giving her a nasty smirk. "I would wonder if my robes would survive, if I were you."
The goblin turned and went back into the bank, Hermione moving quickly to catch the great glass door before it closed on her. Pulling it open wider, Hermione followed the goblin inside.
Gringotts was large and impressive in its own right during the day, filled with people and goblins bustling about, coins clinking all around. Now, though, with the lobby dormant, Hermione was able to take in the great ceilings, the marble patterns on the floor, and the great columns holding everything up. The bank looked more like a grand historical temple than it did a bank, really, and Hermione wondered if goblins had constructed it, or if they had relied on human help to do so.
As they reached the edge of the lobby, the goblin set off at a quick pace, and Hermione followed closely behind. The stone passageways in the back of Gringotts, full of twisting turns, unexpected ramps, and identical hallways made it feel like a maze, and Hermione was determined not to get lost, focusing on keeping close to her guide.
Gradually as they went, Hermione became aware that they were descending, going down ramp after ramp, passing stone rooms and wooden doors. Finally, the hallways opened up into a large stone room with benches around the sides. There were large, imposing double doors at the far end of the room that looked to be made from obsidian, with two goblins standing in front of them. Hermione recognized one as Bloodthorne, but the other was unfamiliar.
"I would bring you Hermione Granger, of the House of Granger," the guide goblin announced. He gave a short bow, sneering, before promptly heading back the way he came, not giving Hermione time to so much as thank him.
"Hermione Granger," Bloodthorne said. He drew closer to her and bowed, his expression unexpectedly serious. "I am glad that you would be here."
"I wouldn't miss it, Bloodthorne," Hermione told him, bowing back. Bloodthorne nodded, looking her over.
"I see you would bring your sword," he said.
"Yes. And I have an offering to give to the Horde as well," Hermione said, patting her bag.
Bloodthorne remained still for a long moment.
"I would suppose you would not be willing to give up your wand," he said finally.
Hermione shuddered. She was uncomfortable enough descending into who-knows-what with no foreknowledge of what to expect for an unspecified amount of time. The last thing she wanted to be lost in some maze of burrows and dirt tunnels without her wand for light or help.
"I would not," Hermione said finally. "But I would give my word that I would not use it against a goblin unless I was attacked first, if it would help."
Bloodthorne looked mildly impressed at the concession.
"It would," he said, pointy teeth gleaming as he spoke. He looked her up and down one more time before nodding to himself, satisfied. "Are you ready?"
"I suppose so," Hermione said, her lips quirked into a smile. "I don't think I could get more ready than this."
Bloodthorne smirked, beady eyes glittering.
"Then," he said, "we would proceed."
At Bloodthorne's gesture, Hermione and Bloodthorne stepped up to the great obsidian doors where a tallish goblin stood.
"Stop!" the goblin cried, though they had already stopped moving. "Who would descend into the Hold?"
"I am called Bloodthorne," Bloodthorne announced, "named for the subtle violence of the stems of vines, an unspoken threat to my foes. I come to descend into the Hold unto my countrymen, and to continue to serve the Horde as best I can."
The tall goblin nodded, before he turned to face Hermione, his eyes fixing themselves on her.
"And you?" he asked. "Who are you, that you would descend into the Hold?"
He seemed to be expecting an answer, as was Bloodthorne, who was smirking at her. Of course Bloodthorne wouldn't have warned her she needed to prepare a formal introduction for herself, she huffed.
Hermione took a deep breath.
"I am called Hermione, from the House of Granger," she said, trying her best to mimic the formal tones of Bloodthorne and the guard. "Named for a tragic queen with a gift for speech, my name speaks of my inherent regality and defiance against those who would judge me, as Hermione was judged in her tale." She paused. "I would descend into the Hold as a friend, to help and serve the Horde as best I can."
The tall goblin looked mildly bored throughout her introduction. Once she had finished, the tall goblin's eyes lit, and they fixed on Bloodthorne.
"Your companion is a wizard," he said, his eyes alight and vicious. "You would bring our enemy unto our Hold?"
"Hermione Granger is no enemy of the Horde," Bloodthorne said, sneering and baring his teeth at the other goblin. "I would bring her at my side."
"Would you vouch for this wizard's integrity with your life?" the guard demanded. "If your companion should break our laws or spill goblin blood, would you knowingly spill your blood in kind?"
"I would," Bloodthorne said.
The tall man handed him a twisted, nasty looking black stone dagger, the sharp edge glinting.
"Would you bleed now in covenant, to seal the promise you have made?" he said.
"I would." Bloodthorne didn't hesitate as he drew the dagger down his forearm, and Hermione did a double-take. The blood that oozed from his wound was a deep green.
Bloodthorne let the blood drip off his forearm onto the ground, and the guard extended his own silver blade, letting some of the blood collect into his own sword.
"Your covenant is recorded," he announced. He gave Hermione a sharp look. "If it is broken, you would pay with your life."
Bloodthorne merely nodded, unconcerned. Finally, the guard stepped aside, unblocking the giant obsidian doors which swung open.
"Then," he said finally, "descend into the Hold as friends, not foes, and may good fortune find you on your way."
Hermione followed Bloodthorne into what looked like a giant glass box with a shining black floor, so shiny it was almost reflective. There was a flattened disc of light on the top of the box, illuminating the area so Hermione could see what looked to be dirt outside of the glass. The giant obsidian doors swung shut after they entered, leaving them alone in the large box.
"We will begin our descension soon," Bloodthorne informed her, "if you would brace yourself."
Hermione scarcely had time to prepare herself before the glass box lurched frighteningly, before beginning to move smoothly downward. She could see the ground outside of the box moving up, glittering bits of dirt passing as they moved downward.
"It's like an elevator!" Hermione exclaimed, pleased. She turned to Bloodthorne. "Does this work on magic? Or machinery?"
Bloodthorne gave her a look. "I would not know. I am not a descension expert."
The box continued to descend at a steady pace. Hermione watched outside in silence, before glancing over to Bloodthorne. The goblin stood perfectly still, unbothered, though his arm was dripping green blood onto the floor in a small puddle.
"Do you want me to heal that for you?" Hermione asked. Bloodthorne raised an eyebrow at her, and she gestured to his arm. "Your wound. It's still bleeding."
Bloodthorne's eyes narrowed. "You would heal me?"
"Does this really come as a surprise?" Hermione asked, astonished. She was almost offended. "You just vouched for me with your life. Do you really think I wouldn't help you as best I could at this point?"
Bloodthorne smirked.
"You misunderstand," he said, eyes glinting. "I would presume healing is difficult, even for wizards. I would not think it something someone of your years would know."
"Oh," Hermione said. She paused. "…okay, that makes more sense. And you're right – I think it's typically taught in 4th year? But I learned it early because some of my friends kept getting injured."
"You would be confident in your ability with your healing casting?" Bloodthorne asked.
"I've done it dozens of times at this point," Hermione assured him. She paused. "Though, I've never cast it on a goblin before, I can't imagine it would be different."
Her mind ran through the composition of the spell – the wand movements representing wholeness, a spiral of safe power direction, the indication of a person, and a flick of release. The root word simply meant 'repair' in Greek, which was safe too. She explained all this to Bloodthorne to help reassure him. His expression was inscrutable.
"Then try," he said finally, extending his arm.
Hermione withdrew her wand.
"Episkey," she said, gesturing at his arm.
She was pleased to see it worked exactly as intended, his skin sealing up flawlessly and smoothly just as intended. She shot him a grin, but Bloodthorne merely seemed intrigued.
"You are full of surprises, Hermione Granger," he said.
Hermione smiled. "I like to keep things interesting," she said cheerily, and Bloodthorne snorted.
The trip down in the glass elevator took a while, it seemed. Time seemed to stretch out as the same outside was passed continuously, the dirt, never-changing, and Hermione wondered how fast the elevator was able to descend.
Abruptly, the dirt outside the elevator began to change – suddenly they were passing what looked like a thick band of steel in the ground, then a thick band of glittering salt. Then there were sudden thinner layers of multiple colors, a thick layer of mossy green, and suddenly there was open air, and Hermione gasped.
In front of her lay an enormous cavern with what looked like a city laid out on the ground. The cavern itself looked at least a few miles wide with the cavern roof at least a mile off the ground. Green moss coated the top of the cavern, and as they descended further, there were large, glowing orbs floating around the air as well, illuminating the cave with a diffused light. It was incredible to look at, all the dozens and dozens of floating light globes, but then they were past them, the globes rising high above them as the glass box continued to descend.
As they got closer to the surface of the city, Hermione could see all the buildings much more clearly, and she could even see goblins moving around in the streets. She laughed and clapped her hands, excited, as she watched what looked like children goblins playing together. The entire thing was incredible, and Hermione felt a sense of awe and wonder, that she should get to see such a marvel of a city.
There was a lurch and grinding noise as the glass elevator ground to a halt, before a set of glass doors in the elevator opened up to reveal several goblins waiting for them. Hermione hadn't even realized there were doors on the elevator, the seams in the glass were so smooth. The air outside the elevator was warm and balmy, with a faint smell of geosmin in the area.
"Bloodthorne," one of the goblins said, nodding. He looked at Hermione, eyes beady. "Hermione Granger."
"Stoneshear," Bloodthorne said, his tone bored. "Moldedge."
"You would vouch for this wizard?" one goblins said sharply. "You would bring a wizard among the Horde?"
"You would act surprised now, Moldedge, that I have done exactly what I said I would do?" Bloodthorne's tone was dry. "If you would spare me your performative histrionics, I would get the wizard settled so she might prepare for the trial." He sneered. "You might do the same."
The goblin called Moldedge scoffed and slinked off. The other goblin smirked, showing sharp teeth.
"She is ready?" Stoneshear asked.
"I would not have brought her if she were not," Bloodthorne said, eyes glinting. "Do you doubt me?"
"I do not," Stoneshear said, stepping back. "If you would come, then." His eyes met Hermione's. "There are many who would see Hermione Granger, first of her House."
Hermione's mouth formed a soft 'o' as she followed the two goblins out of the elevator, down a dirt ramp. In her anxiety of preparing for the goblin hold, she'd forgotten that the goblins knew her – or at least, knew of her. They'd lined up to donate blood and venom for her sword, hadn't they?
As they reached the bottom of the ramp, Hermione looked around at the city, her eyes drinking it in. The houses were small, but Hermione imagined goblins, being shorter, wouldn't need as much space as humans. But they looked nothing like the houses she was accustomed to seeing above ground.
The shapes of the houses were entirely different. Instead of square, rectangular-based walls and corners, these houses seemed to be made entirely of curves and waves. The houses she was walking past had front walls that waved and bent smoothly, with thick roofs sitting flat on top of houses Hermione was convinced didn't have any corners. Some of the roofs seemed fuzzy, and it took Hermione a moment to realize that they had moss growing on top of them.
The houses looked to be made of mud, or dirt and straw with some stone, and there were designs baked onto the outside of the houses, pretty images of growing plants embossed onto the walls of their homes. There were some windows with glass, but others were made in a teardrop shape that had many tiny holes in them, barely even counting as a window, and Hermione wondered if they were just for airflow.
As they moved deeper into the city, there were more and more goblins about. Hermione looked around curiously, fascinated. The head size of the goblins varied wildly, with some goblins having human-sized proportions, while others had massive heads for their frames. And while many goblins had the pale, muddy peach tones Hermione had become accustomed to with the Gringotts goblins, many other goblins had dark muddy skin, and still others seemed to be muted earthen greens or oranges.
Other goblins had what seemed to be beautiful tattoos going down their arms, swirls and dots of bright almost metallic-looking colors that shined in the dim light. Some of the smaller children had these markings as well, and there didn't seem to be any correlation between skin color and arm markings that Hermione could see. One very small goblin ran into the street in nothing but a loincloth, laughing, its parent running after it, and Hermione was surprised to see the bright markings all over the child's body and limbs.
The buildings around them gradually began to shift in structure and style. These new buildings seemed to be made of concrete, and they were shaped into giant domes with attached rectangular rooms with curved corners. The walls had windows cut into them deeply, though nearly all windows were shuttered, and Hermione was fascinated by the abrupt change in style.
"Where are we going?" she finally asked Bloodthorne, who looked back at her curiously.
"The Hold's center," he told her. "You would make your offering to the Horde, first. They are expecting you."
"Ah," Hermione said. "Of course."
The homes and buildings gave way to a large circular area with a slightly raised area in the middle. The ground here had a thick, bright green moss growing on it, compared to the dull packed dirt of the streets, and there were dozens and dozens of goblins milling about on the moss. As they approached, heads turned toward their little procession, and Hermione fought not to shrink under their many beady eyes. She supposed it was a historic event, the first wizard visiting in ages, but she also suspected that they might be there defensively as well - if things went badly wrong, she could maybe hold her own against a few goblins, but not dozens of them.
When they were at the center, the goblins climbed up, Hermione following. She stood behind them, shaking slightly in her boots.
"This is Hermione Granger," Stoneshear announced to the crowd, throwing his hand out at her. There were no preliminary remarks, no warm-up or introduction. "She is the wizard who has been loaning the Horde gold to strengthen our Hold."
There was a raucous cheer from the crowd, and Hermione winced, fighting the urge to plug her ears.
"Hermione Granger is the first wizard to be trusted within the Hold for centuries," Bloodthorne announced. "As such, she has brought an offering to the Horde to show her good intent." He gestured for her to come forward, which Hermione did on shaky legs.
Hundreds of beady eyes watched her as she stood forward on the small platform. Hermione took a deep breath, steadying herself. She reminded herself that she wasn't a goblin, and that they wouldn't expect her to be one, so nothing she did or said would be perfect within this culture, no matter how she tried.
With that in mind, she offered the audience an apologetic smile.
"I'd like to start by apologizing in advance," she said as she reached inside her bag. "I've done my best to study your culture, but wizard literature on the matter is sorely lacking. If I do or say anything offensive, please give me the benefit of the doubt and explain to me why what I did was wrong, and I will endeavor to correct myself immediately."
The audience laughed and cackled, many of the goblins clacking their claws.
"We would be accepting that wizards are often stupid," Stoneshear said, amused. "We would not forget that you are counted among them, Hermione Granger."
Hermione didn't like being called 'stupid', but she held her tongue. She was going to do her best to be polite in a society where her people were largely distrusted.
"I was told to bring an offering to you that would show you I do not mean you harm," she said. "As such, I have brought you food, to help nourish and build your strength."
She glanced at Bloodthorne, who nodded at her as she continued removing brown paper-wrapped packages from her bag.
"I was told your diet consists largely of meat, roots, and fungi, so I have brought you meat," she said, setting out the packages. She unwrapped one, revealing large slabs of pale, light pink meat. "I hope it is acceptable to you."
The goblins murmured as they came forward, quizzical and examining.
"This is not red," Stoneshear said, looking confused. "I would think wizard meat would be red."
"Ah, I didn't get this from cattle or anything," Hermione explained. "This is the meat from the basilisk I killed, kept fresh with preservation charms."
There was a visual reaction of shock going through the crowd, beady eyes going wide, and Hermione hurried to explain.
"I looked it up – it's perfectly safe to eat, there's no venom in it or anything – and I kept it fresh! And I knew that you lived underground, so I figured most proteins you would get would be from underground creatures like insects and snakes, so I was relatively sure it wouldn't disagree with your digestive systems. And it's supposed to be much richer than other meats, though it is chewier, apparently, but with all your sharp teeth—"
"Hermione."
Bloodthorne cut off her nervous babbling curtly, and Hermione looked at him, shaking. Bloodthorne looked exasperated, then amused.
"You would gift the Horde with the spoils of your most famous victory, done with the goblin sword you commissioned from the Horde," he informed her. "We would not be offended by this. Instead, we are surprised and honored by your gesture of respect and trust."
"Oh," Hermione said, flushing. "Well, that's good, then." She smiled, tentative. "I hope you like it? Thank you for welcoming me into your Hold."
She gave the crowd a bow before moving back further on the platform. A few special-looking goblins began coming up, examining her offerings and the amount of meat she had brought and murmuring to each other. They wore odd headdresses, made of silver beads on wire that hung down off their heads in sort of beaded, bobbed wigs.
"There shall be a great feast this night," one of the goblins announced loudly. "We shall celebrate the Horde's unexpected wizard ally's offering, and community pots shall be open and plentiful!"
There was another raucous cheer at this, and Hermione winced. Goblin cheering sounded more threatening than excited, but she supposed she'd have to get used to it.
Goblins began to disperse from the clearing, moving around and mingling, and Bloodthorne looked to Hermione.
"I would show you where you are staying," he told her. "I would come and get you tomorrow morning for the beginning of the trial, but the rest of the day would be your own."
Hermione blinked. "Wait, I'm on my own? For the whole afternoon?"
"I thought it best if you would be able to explore and acclimate prior to the trial," Bloodthorne said dryly. He sneered, showing many pointy teeth. "Besides, there are many who would meet you and talk to you in the streets."
"Oh," Hermione said. She hefted her remaining bags up on her shoulder again, adjusting their straps. "In that case, lead the way."