Okay, so.
Goblin Magic, Elf Magic, etc. In most stories, I tend to see this written as "Creature magic". Most house elves can do things with the snap of a finger, just as most goblins are shown to do the same. I don't necessarily enjoy that approach…
Not to say that the stories that do this are bad. There are quite a few that I do enjoy. I just feel that in a world that operates on magic, even if processes are extremely streamlined, they must still take time. It's already like that with potions, and it should be the same way with rituals, if not even more so, as such magic centers on the wizard, witch, or magical creature themselves, and the slightest imbalance can have dire consequences. We see this mentioned in the books, with the animagus ritual. Anyone who doesn't follow the steps to a "T" can end up horribly disfigured.
Anyways, back to the topic of Goblin magic.
In this story, the Goblins and elves continue to follow the old ways. Their magic is stronger in their domains. For the goblins, that is Gringotts. For the elves, that is within any home or living space. There are of course, limitations. House Elves, while strong in their own right, cannot kill. Their magic simply will not allow it. For Goblins, they are more limited by peace treaties signed after the old wars.
Now, as for rituals. This first ritual will be one of many in the overall story. It draws from old folktales and legends. Faeries who danced and sang to cause mischief or reverse whatever they did. There are several more inspirations for this, but you'll either understand them, or just find them cool. Maybe a bit silly.
Without further ado, let's continue!
—0—
"Blackleech, you did bring the rib of dog?"
A rather short goblin, even by goblin standards, bowed as she presented a curved bone. "Harvested from a hound that died in our care. It will do well."
Spearmint nodded and waved the shorter goblin on. "Place it in position and take your place. Frogeye, what is the status of our patient?"
A goblin with one large bulbous yellow eye scribbled on parchment with a blood quill, the words spiraling up her arm as they appeared upon the parchment.
"These brands are somewhat magical in nature. They don't actually appear to be brands at all. Improperly healed wounds over lichtenberg marks it seems."
Spearmint nodded. "Very well, anything else?"
"Apart from the physical alterations of their lower extremities and such, they have a number of scars along the torso, legs, back, shoulders, and near the clavicle. They seem to be the result of surgical procedures."
"Run a magical diagnostic with the aid of healer Blackleech. Next, Thymebarb, you obtained what I asked for?"
The next healer nodded grimly. "Are you certain you wish for this? You know what it could do…"
"My mate died long ago Thymbarb, I will gladly take the risk. Place them over at the foot of the table." The goblin nodded, checking another material from the list. "Next, Livertooth."
"As you requested, ox tongue."
Spearmint nodded. "Thank you, you know what to do. Has anyone seen Grandscalpel."
"I am here Spearmint."
A very regal looking goblin stepped into the chamber. His ears held several piercings, as did his nose and lower lip. The goblin wore a black cloak with a red blood drop emblazoned upon it's breast, a golden crown hanging over it.
"I hope this is worth my time my dear, you know how hard it is to bring one of us from the royal medicus down here, much less with components of this caliber."
The goblin reverently handed Spearmint an ornate wooden box. With a nervous hand, she gingerly opened the lid.
"Hair of Banshee, Feather of occamy, and the tears of a phoenix… Thank you master Grandscalpel."
"Of course, Miss Spearmint. If you would allow me the honor of aiding in the ritual?"
The goblin woman blinked, before nodding. "Thank you, I will need as much help as I can get."
Several more goblins entered the chamber with materials, some kept in jars, others in small satchels or boxes. The final component that spearmint accepted was a set of wine barrels containing roughly fifty gallons of nettle wine.
Twenty three healers, along with Spearmint, now stood in the chamber, various ingredients placed around them. Spearmint clenched a gnarled hand and traced a finger along the edge of a large square stone at the chamber's center. The stone shuddered and let out a scraping sound as a depression formed in the top. Spearmint ran her hands along the smooth planes of the now carved stone. The flat surface of the square had been transformed into a bordered pool, roughly a finger deep.
"Place the child on the stone."
Four of the assembled healers lifted the child from where they had been laid down and carried them to the stone. The body was later d dawn with the head in the northern corner and their feet in the south. Both hands were placed just off the the child's left and right, palms facing up.
"Wine." Spearmint spat. Two of the healers took the barrels of wine and began pouring them out into the ritual table, bathing the child in a shallow pool of golden white liquid.
Spearmint took a marble pestle and a crystal mortar and began mashing various components together. Female ginseng, thyme, licorice, red clover, black cohosh, mint, lemongrass, grindylow ink, harpy saliva, and bile from the stomach of a goat. The components came together into a dark black and green paste, which the healer began using to mark the childs body.
"Os, the rune of justice and truth… it shall judge both souls within this body."
As Spearmint continued with the runes, several other components for the spell were passed about. Grandscalpel laid out jars of preserved organs at the corners of the stone.
"Lethifold skin, eye of an erumpant, tongue of imp, pelt of Thestral…"
Frogeye grunted as she took a large urn filled with green and brown paste, spreading it in a circle which linked the four components. "Dragon mash…"
Livertooth clicked his teeth as he opened a large chest, taking the folded material from within and passing it to each goblin present. "Zouwu tail. Twenty of us shall hold this in a circle. I trust each of you knows what to do?"
The goblins nodded as Spearmint finished the rune placement. "Finally, just below the stomach… beorc, fertility and birth…"
Grandscalpel took a final jar and undid the top, gently levitating the contents out and setting them over the childs lower extremities.
"Ovaries of an albino Veela…"
"Grandscalpel, Frogeye, Blackleech, assist me. The others, begin."
The goblins linked in a circle nodded and took hold of the Zouwu tail. Then as one, they began to stomp their feet.
Thud…
Thud…
Thud…
—0—
Charlie Weasley gently patted the neck of the norwegian ridgeback as Coppergash stirred a large cauldron.
"She's quite nervous sir, how much longer will this take?"
Coppergash let out a hoarse chuckle. "Fleya there knows it won't be much longer. She should know better than to beg for your attention."
Charlie chuckled as the ridgeback let out a low trilling growl, nuzzling the young mans body with the side of her head.
"Ever since I arrived at the preserve, the dragons had a sort of attachment to me."
Coppergash nodded as he walked over, carrying a large slab of meat that had been drenched in a glistening red potion.
"Yes, well… Scortwit said you had the gift…"
"The gift?"
"A magical talent. They do appear every so often. Examples of this could be something as mundane as parseltonge, or as extraordinary as being able to see magic. Scortwit was born with the ability to speak in the tongue of dragons. He is what you call a dragonlord."
Charlie blinked. "My brother has a talent. He can read any script, even if it's in a language that hasn't been seen for centuries."
"There's a cursebreaker here with that skill. Ah, of course. Charlie Weasley, William Weasley. You two are siblings."
Charlie nodded. "Yes! Bill has always been a talented wizard."
Coppergash nodded. "Yes. He is one of the finest cursebreakers in the goblin kingdom, which is saying something considering he is a human, but Wizard and witch talents are nothing to scoff at…"
"You said it again. A talent."
"Like I said, some extra unique ability. Scortwit can sense one in you, and I can see it clearly before me. You have a way with dragons dear boy."
Fleya smacked her jaws happily as she devoured the meat that Coppergash offered. The goblin clenched his hands then went back to the cauldron.
"You and master Scortwit seem to be on awfully good terms. How did the two of you meet?"
Coppergash turned and raised an eyebrow at the young man, before returning to stirring his brew.
"It was several years ago, of course. Right before he founded his dragon preserve. I had been sent to find wild dragons capable of guarding the most important Gringotts vaults. In one of the mountains of Romania, I stumbled across a magnificent specimen. A ferocious Ironbelly with white horns, slumbering upon a magnificent hoard of gemstones."
Charlie blinked as the goblin took another slab of meat and covered it in a potion, this time one that shimmered a translucent green.
"The beast sensed me, and it became enraged. I had invaded its nest. It quickly gave chase as I attempted to escape."
Coppergash tossed the meat to Fleya, who ate it happily. The goblin cleaned his hands once more and vanished the cauldron, before conjuring a tub of white paste.
"It cornered me. I could feel its fiery breath building. At a time I believed surely to be my end, I heard him speak."
Coppergash paused and looked up as he applied the paste to the ridgebacks underbelly. "It was magnificent, a language filled with power. He turned the dragon away and helped me to my feet. Ever since then, well. Scortwit has been an insufferable idiot of a friend, but he has helped gringotts quite a bit, especially since now we don't lose even half as many goblins as we used to to the dragons."
Charlie nodded. "Sounds about right. So what about-"
THUD…
THUD…
THUD…
"What is that?" Charlie blinked, as the room began to tremble a bit.
Coppergash looked at the dragon, who gave a groan as magic flowed through the caverns of the goblin nation.
"That…" The goblin answered. "Is a ritual…"
—0—
THUD!
The steady stomps of the goblins became stronger as Grandscalped aided Spearmint in donning ritual wear. Instead of her normal black and grey medicus wear, she was clothed in a plain white robe, similar to a toga.
THUD!
"Paste of earthbloods spawn be settled now this child upon…" Frogeye began to sing in a mixture of dialects, reciting an ancient incantation in a beautiful melody as the surrounding healers began to chant, dancing as they kept their stops in step.
"Wine of nettle bathed within, cleanse this victim of forced sin…" Blackleech joined in the song, her harmony blending perfectly with Frogeye's voice as the taps of the healers dance became a thundering beat.
-THUD! Pitter pat pitter pat pitter pat pat THUD! Pitter pat pitter pat pitter pat pat THUD!-
"Gormeck Hagresh silva yor, Halval singrid invas car!" Grandscalpel spoke deeply, holding a bowl of dragons blood in hand as he faced Spearmint. The goblin dipped a brush in the bowl as Spearmint responded."
"Thurdik cavas!"
"Grishnak!"
"Blood of dragon coat the blesser flow freely through her hands…"
"Magic flow and light they pyre, sing with her command…"
The song continued as the goblin healers danced. Spearmint closed her eyes as the dragon blood was used to coat her. The steady beat of the ritual dance filled her ears as the song took on a voice that only she could hear.
"Are you prepared to sacrifice your fertility for the restoration of this child?"
"Although they are not our blood, bone, or skin, humans and goblins still hold mortal souls and minds. My time has been long, yet I will not have another mate. Let the child be mended. Vak Nar Sorda, so may it be."
"Then open your eyes, carrier of blessing, and use your magic to cure what others cannot."
Spearmint did as the voice told. The goblins eyes slid open and focused upon the child before them.
-THUD! Pitter pat pitter pat pitter pat pat THUD! Pitter pat pitter pat pitter pat pat THUD!-
The Zouwu tail and the goblins holding it were a blur around the center of the ritual. The three goblins aiding Spearmint would attest to her eyes glowing as she pointed to the jar of lethifold skin.
"Sowilo" The sun.
A spark jumped from the goblins outstretched claw, causing flames to cover the jarred organ. The flames spread over the dragon tooth mash, surrounding the ritual table in a ring of blood red fire."
Grandscalpel kneeled and presented the phial of phoenix tears he had brought, along with the occamy feather. Spearmint took both in hand, and with a strong squeeze, shattered the phial of phoenix tears.
The liquid mixed with the goblins blood as she dipped the feather into it, before walking through the flames.
The dance continued as the song from Blackleech and Frogeye built in volume. Their joined voices reverberated through the walls, gathering the dormant magic within the stone that surrounded them.
"Bless the healer goddess of birth, bless her written hand…"
"Flow, oh healing magic flow, heed the quills command…"
Spearmint let her hands move on their own, scribbling across the child's body with a mixture of phoenix tears and goblins blood. The magic compelled her onward, showing her what to do as runic arrays slowly filled in, wrapping around the child's arms and legs. The long swirls of text grew throughout the ritual, as Spearmint continued for two hours, filling in every exposed bit of skin.
As Spearmint stepped back, a blast of heat filled the room. The wine on the ritual slab ignited in a blaze of purple fire. The dancing ring of goblins sped up once more, their voices joining into the song as an underlying chant.
"Todor, Meidr, Heidr, Helr, Todor, Meidr, Heidr, Helr…"
"Sing a song of healing wounds, birth a body anew."
"From phoenix tears shall rise, a child we never knew."
"From man to woman the change takes root, spurned on by magics flight,"
"Let the child be born again in the goblins blood firelight."
"Todor, Meidr, Heidr, Helr, Todor, Meidr, Heidr, Helr…"
Spearmints eyes began to feel heavy, and she welcomed it as she splayed her arms outward.
"Feline blood and canine bone
Grow the seed which I have sewn…"
A flash of gold light filled the chamber, causing the dancing goblins to drop the Zouwu tail as they covered their eyes. The massive length of ruffled red frills and fur continued to spin, floating without the goblins grip upon it.
The base of the tail shot up into the air and zipped towards Spearmint, swirling around her quickly as a glowing drop of golden light dripped out from the center of her stomach, floating over to hover above the rune of fertility etched upon the child's skin. The liquid fell and spattered against the child's stomach, and an even brighter flash of light blazed through the room, along with a shockwave that blasted every goblin except for Spearmint from their feet.
The blinding light calmed, revealing the child asleep upon the ritual table. The flames had been extinguished, leaving nothing, not even ash, of the ritual components. The child's body was somewhat different, bearing almost no marks except for the jagged scar upon their forehead. They were covered by a semitransparent ruffled red garb, which swished on a nonexistent wind. The unconscious body of Spearmint stood tall before the child's body, their ritual robe being transformed into much of the same, a final gift from the ritual.
Grandscalpel quickly caught Spearmints body as it swayed, gently laying the unconscious healer upon the floor of the healing chamber. He could feel the magic coursing beneath the garb hewn from the Zouwu tail, he could feel it bonding with both Spearmint, and the Child, protecting them, reinforcing them as their magic recovered.
"The ritual is a success!" The royal medicus spoke.
The surrounding goblins were silent, before one began clapping. Another joined in, and then another. Soon the chamber was filled with applause as Grandscalpel held onto Spearmint.
"That was breathtaking… such beautiful and pure magic…" Frogeye warbled.
"There is a reason that the old rituals are kept a secret." Grandscalpel nodded. "Listen up all of you. This ritual is now sworn to secrecy outside of the walls of Gringotts. The only ones to hear of this magic other than the goblins shall be this childs protectors, which is a duty that Spearmint will undoubtably take upon herself. Any wind I catch of a word being spoken otherwise shall be dealt with, without mercy or predjudice. That is all."
Blackleech hurried to Spearmints side. "Is there anything we can do?"
"Let us get mistress Spearmint to a comfortable bed. Leave the child upon the stone, the magic is still settling within them."
Blackleech and Frogeye helped Grandscalpel move the unconsious healer to a bed within the west alcove of the healing chamber. As the rest of the healers filtered out, heading back to their usual positions, nobody noticed a pair of startling green eyes open.
—0—
There we have it, the ritual.
Please leave a review if you would like, I have more to say in the next chapter, but for right now, I am in a rush.
Until next time, Adios!