CH31: Wit Beyond Measure

November 24th

9:13am

Hogwarts Castle, Scotland

Daphne

My my, those little freaks do move fast.

Daphne watched the goblin army move into the loyalist camp from a tower's battlements. The goblins had been afforded a gift by way of the weather; the near constant rain having taken a break whilst the goblins got settled in. Even from the battlements Daphne could see Queen Giox's tent, it was thrice the size of any other and the fabric was a royal purple, a stark contrast to the browns and off whites for the rest. The goblin queen brought with her six hundred goblins, and food to feed them, which bolstered the loyalist forces threefold.

"Congratulations are in order," a familiar, comforting voice began behind her, "I'd never have thought the goblins would join us."

Harry joined her side on the balcony and smiled. There was no indication that he'd been in a trial by combat a couple of days ago, no new scars, physical or emotional. In fact, he seemed happier than he'd been in months.

"You nearly died," Daphne spoke bluntly. It was all she could think of after she'd heard. 'Going hand to hand with the Head Goblin and voluntarily stepping into his blade… what madness–'

The regular kind; arrogance.

'That's not Harry.'

"What's new?" His cheerful attitude wasn't shared by Daphne. "Six hundred warriors," Harry nodded appreciatively as he eyed the new faction to join their side, "that might just be enough."

This… Voldemort he is immortal, what hope do you have?

'Not forever, we'll find the rest of the horcruxes.' The diadem's perspective on the horcruxes had proven to be incredibly cynical, even more than usual. "One hundred combat ready wizards, two hundred centaurs, six hundred goblins and two half giants." Daphne's droll tone conveyed her disagreement thoroughly enough, but Harry's optimism wasn't to falter.

"We've done more with less." Harry turned his head and gave Daphne a thoughtful look. "You know," he started, his face smug, "the goblins call me the chosen one too. They believe in the prophecy, or at least their queen does."

Chosen one, how quaint.

The diadem's insult only served to fuel Daphne's indifference to Harry's revelation. "I'm not one to put much on faith," she gave her lover a suspicious glance and continued, "neither are you."

"Maybe before." Harry turned away again and Daphne saw his jaw tense as his eyes closed. The burdened teenager managed a sad smile which only served to confuse Daphne even further. "There's got to be something else, something other than killing each other to the last."

I told you, he's hiding something.

Daphne was beginning to believe the diadem more and more each day. 'What did those damned stargazers show him? What could cause such a stark shift in perspective?'

And what could it be that he wouldn't trust you with it?

Daphne let in a sharp intake of breath; she'd never considered it that way before. They shared everything with each other–

Not everything, not me. Perhaps you know he doesn't trust you, or… that you cannot trust him.

'Of course I can trust him.' But, as she said the words, she knew she had become a hypocrite. 'If I tell him about you…'

You'd have to tell him how you came upon me, and that's not so pretty a story is it? Fret not, your secret is safe with me.

The thought of how she'd acted after reading her father's note still made her cringe. Daphne had already broken down in front of him once and she wasn't keen to do so again.

"I won't let grief break this country like it did me." Harry looked out at their army, disorganised and untested as it was, and smiled. "But I know having faith in the people down there has to be a part of it — it has to."

The people down there… but not you?

"Harry," she reached over and touched his shoulder lightly, "why are you acting like this?"

Harry gave her a reluctant side eye, as though the action of looking at her was too painful to complete. She watched his eyes flick to the diadem before returning back to her face. "Something your dad told me," he eventually said with a hesitant smile, "he made me remember who I am."

Liar.

'Quiet.' Daphne studied her partner, the one she could always rely on, the one who'd never hesitated to come to her aid when she needed it most… and smiled right back at him. She leaned into his chest and allowed herself to be enveloped in a loving embrace. Harry had been there for her since the chateau, always offering her whatever she could need and more. With that in mind, Daphne couldn't help but think; 'what are you hiding from me?'

November 24th

12:41pm

Trimingham, Norwich

Voldemort

The ground shook beneath the Dark Lord's feet causing a small landslide on the beachside cliffs of Trimingham Beach. To the muggles, Trimingham was a rocky beach, to Voldemort, it was the beginnings of a staging ground. From his vantage point high above the shore, Voldemort watched on with mild dissatisfaction as the giants in his ranks continued to cart colossal trees to the beach. The wood would be used to build an armada that could ferry his army across the channel. Already craftsmen had put together some designs and now they were down on the beach conducting the operation from thatch cabana's.

'From here we can infiltrate Flanders easily, by the time the ICW sees our approach we will have already made most of the journey.' The strait of Dover would be a shorter trip but France was a poor staging ground for his army. 'Soon Hogwarts will fall and with it the loyalist infestation.'

So many times Voldemort had been so close to ultimate victory just for it to be ripped from his spindly hands. The aurors made it off Azkaban, somehow the loyalists didn't turn on each other during the famine and at the chateau, Snape's treachery bought them time. It was… irking.

'Nowhere to run, Harry.' Voldemort's demented mind enjoyed the fact that his enemy might be sitting in his castle that very moment, fully aware of just how trapped he was. There would not be any simultaneous operation when Voldemort attacked Hogwarts, no foolish grandstanding. 'The full weight of my army will bear down on you and annihilation will be your legacy.'

The ground rumbled and Voldemort located the culprit for such a disturbance easily. One of the giants had fallen to the floor, a great oak discarded by its side. What's worse was that the one giant that had faltered had halted the line of its brethren behind him.

"My lord." A masked soldier had apparated to Voldemort's perch shivering from a mix of frosty sea chills and paralysing fear. "The giant says he cannot move, that he needs rest."

"Rest?"

Voldemort cast his withering gaze on the congregation below, where most of them had stopped to see his reaction. The giant on the floor looked up at the Dark lord, his colossal eyes pleading for mercy. The Dark Lord had not the patience. Voldemort watched the giant's eyes widen in surprise as his boy became weightless under Voldemort's magic. The brutish creature was raised from the rocky shores into the air, long something like a puppet on strings, until it was easily ten metres from the ground. It thrashed in its invisible bonds to no avail. Voldemort twisted his yew wand and watched as the giant floated further and further out over the waves.

'Fall.'

The giant plummeted into the ice cold sea, a tower of water erupted from the spot the beast had fallen. The thing about giants was that their bodies were incredibly dense, it's what made them so spell resistant; thick skin and even thicker constitution. Voldemort had no doubt that the cold wasn't bothering his victim one bit, but all things must breathe. None on the shore moved an inch. Not as the giant roared in protest, nor when it began to plead for aid from its brethren. The contingent of dark forces were silent as the giant disappeared under the unyielding English Channel.

"If anyone else wishes to rest," Voldemort addressed his men, "they may join him."

The message was clear, it seemed, for everyone resumed their duties hastily. The line of giants continued to bring wood, the captured goblins continued to churn out rivets and nails and the enchanters prepared to reinforce the vessels of conquest. Everyone was replaceable, don't draw attention to yourself or you'll suffer the consequence of the Dark Lord's unsympathetic eye.

November 24th

1:24pm

Hogwarts Castle, Scotland

Daphne

Daphne flipped to the next page of her father's Victory in Unity with a tired sigh. She was about half way through a set of testimonials that discussed economic principles. For the most part, her father had made it clear that the old goblin gold wouldn't work if they were to integrate goblins into mainstream society.

Do not ignore me young one.

'I ignore fools,' she thought dismissively. Daphne readjusted herself on the upholstered couch that the room of requirement had provided her in an attempt to sit more disinterested.

Have I ever proven foolish?

'You just have, the horcruxes are under the fidelius.' The diadem had been pestering her more than usual as of late, it had first tried to convince her to move the horcruxes to the chamber of secrets. An ancient chamber no one knows about, sure, that could work. Except it's a chamber Voldemort has intimate experience with. As she thought, the plan was uncharacteristically foolish.

Ah yes, how exactly did the boy end up an orphan?

Even if it was extenuating circumstances, the death of the Potter's was proof that the fidelius wasn't infallible. She had no doubt that Sirius would hold firm, as he would have for James and Lily Potter, if Voldemort came knocking. However, when it came to the defence of the horcruxes, the diadem made infallibility feel like a half measure.

This castle is the last line of defence; you know Voldemort is coming. Will the rabble below be enough to halt the Dark Lord?

'I'm not sure.' An ensemble of the most powerful races in magical Britain and Ireland. The goblin's martial prowess was well known, the centaurs' healing was legendary and yet Daphne couldn't confidently answer in the affirmative. 'We've got the castle–'

If you lose the castle before securing the horcruxes, you lose any chance of victory.

Daphne's mind was alight with the possibilities of such a scenario. Voldemort could show up unannounced, Harry or herself could be kidnapped again, someone could betray them and smuggle the dark army into the castle 'And where exactly would I take them?'

Anywhere but here. The moment he arrives he will feel how many soul containers are in the castle… and tear through everything, or anyone, to retrieve them.

'No, it's too risky.' She could be stopped in transit, discovered by scouts or a whole slew of other catastrophes. They were safe, for now. 'If the fidelius is good enough for Harry, it's good enough for me.' Afterall, the only time it failed led to the death of his parents, not hers.

So you trust his judgement now? Even when he hides things from you?

Daphne hated herself for thinking about it, doubting him for the briefest of moments. The diadem's words had driven a wedge into the solid connection she had with Harry and from that tiny opening, seeped in suspicion and mistrust. 'Why would he lie?'

You were right to put guards on the greenhouses, just as you were right to interrogate the traitors… who stopped you?

'Harry…' Although a narrow assessment of the chaos that had entangled the chateau, it was no less true. By Harry's own admission he felt that he was responsible for the tragedy of Hermione and Remus' deaths. 'But he realised his mistakes and they were perfectly reasonable decisions in the moment.'

His name is a prelude to suffering. Reasonable they may have been but mistakes… perhaps not?

'You mean–' They hadn't done any of the usual security measures after Harry returned from Malfoy Manor. In fact, she'd kissed him before thinking that day in Rookwood's courtyard. Anything from the imperius to radicalisation could've overtaken him and they didn't even bother checking.

If Potter is lost to us–

Daphne snapped the book shut and all but leapt off the couch, thoughts of charred flesh and blood dominated her mind. The diadem was right, if Voldemort came for the horcruxes, no one would be safe. Daphne wasn't about to let Astoria suffer for her inaction.

'Not again, not when I can stop it.'

A sense of satisfaction flooded her brain as she left the room of requirement, it felt foreign, but Daphne would take it as a sign that she was finally doing the right thing.

November 24th

1:12pm

Hogwarts Castle, Scotland

Harry

"So… what do we think?"

Harry, Queen Giox and Ragnok were together in the entrance hall with their heads almost pointed at the ceiling. Lining the walls were upwards of a hundred three metre tall stone knights that stood silent vigil over the hall. Much like the entourage of steel clad soldiers that watched over the goblin queen.

"May we inspect one?" The Queen's attitude towards Harry had done a complete turn around since he'd passed her trial. Harry had come to learn that a challenged person was an outcast in Karnuk until they either proved their worth or failed in the arena.

Harry raised his wand and focused on one of the soldiers on the lower levels. "Priori locomotor," he said with authority. The stone knight jolted as if it had been shocked with a high voltage of electricity then stepped off its dais inlayed in the walls.

Both Ragnok and the queen got closer to the stone soldier, raised a hand to it and closed their eyes. Their palms pulsed a deep purple as they called on their magic to scan the soldier.

"The enchantments have reached the potential of wizard magic." Harry couldn't tell whether that was an insult or a compliment from the queen. "A reasonably enhanced troll would be sufficient to eliminate a dozen with ease."

'An insult then,' Harry thought, amused.

"There is potential, your majesty." Ragnok traced one of his long nails on the soldier's legs and Harry watched it pulse green, then blue. "There are gaps in the protections."

"Indeed, we will do what we can to make them effective fodder." The queen's low expectations did nothing to boost Harry's confidence in their chances of victory, but her efforts were all that he truly required. "Where is the other? The Ice Queen. I hear you and she share command."

"Daphne recently lost both her parents. It was… messy." Even though it was no one else's business, there was no point in hiding it, the whole camp knew.

"Oquum su iequsg." Both Ragnok and Giox kissed their hands and touched the ground with solemn expressions. They must've noticed Harry's confusion immediately because the queen was quick to explain. "My apologies, our customs are still foreign to you. It is a saying, iron to earth. It reminds us that, despite our strength, all things return to the dirt."

Harry doubted that Daphne would find it comforting but recognised the spirit in which it was delivered. "Thank you," he replied graciously, "I will pass along the sentiment."

"All this talk of death… it reminds me of your incursion into our bank." Ragnok's voice held no resentment, a further display of goblin dispute customs. However, there was weight to his words that Harry could only guess at the reason for. "You took something from Bellatrix Lestrange's vault, something… unnatural."

'That's what you meant by more,' Harry realised as he cast a quick glance at Giox. "Defiler?" The goblins nodded and Harry could say for certain that they were speaking about the same thing. "We did and it's safe."

"We are an ancient people, Mr Potter, we know the depravity of wizard kind better than most." Giox's cold tone alluded to an intimate knowledge of wizard cruelty in her past. "How many has he made?"

"Seven. We've destroyed two and have a further three locked away." Truthfully, when he'd read about the horcrux in the black family grimoire, he thought he might be destined to fight Voldemort through several reincarnations. When the horcruxes could have been any random item or hundreds of items, hope had been a distant island as they paddled for life in a sea of despair. 'Five out of seven though, that's nothing to be ashamed of.'

"Locked away where?"

Harry thought about blowing the question off, they had only been allies for less than a week after all. But the goblins already knew about the horcruxes and for centuries Gringotts had been an impenetrable fortress. If they could help make them more secure, he couldn't pass that up.

"Follow me."

Harry and the highest ranking goblins left the entrance hall and crossed the viaduct bridge into the western half of the castle. It was only as they crossed the Transfiguration courtyard did Harry realise something potentially disturbing.

"Why didn't you destroy the cup?" Giox's grim smile let Harry know he needed to brace for her answer.

"There is no greater ransom than one's soul."

'Fair enough.' Harry had suspected as much since they'd recovered it and more so after speaking to Giox. The goblins, Harry began to understand, were a shrewd people. He was glad to have them on his side.

"Victory, true victory, will allude us until all seven are destroyed."

"We know, the leads have gone cold though.," Harry admitted as the doors to the central hall opened on their own. The horcrux room was in a small alcove on the left just as the parchment in his pocket foretold. "There are patterns, I'm sure we will discover…" Harry's words were caught in his throat as his heart skipped a beat. The door was ajar, it should never be kept ajar. He knew the weakness of the fidelius all too well.

With one hand he drew his wand and with the other he pulled free a parchment that read; The Horcrux Room is in an alcove on the left of the threshold between Transfig. Court. and Central Hall

"What's happening?" Giox voice betrayed no fear, only a stoic readiness.

"We may have a situation." Harry passed the parchment to Giox and cautiously angled towards the gap in the door. "Prepare yourselves."

Ragnok wasted no time asking unnecessary questions, before Harry could blink the Head goblin of Gringotts was on the door preparing to breach the room. Giox snarled something in gobbledegook and the contingent of guards that had followed their every step set up a defensive perimeter around the trio's position.

Harry counted down from three with his fingers and on zero Ragnok wrenched the door open as Harry pushed into the room, wand at the ready. What he saw, honestly, confused him more than anything. Blaise was sitting in one of the rickety wooden chairs that filled the room with vacant eyes tracing imaginary objects. Beside the delirious Slytherin, was a person Harry knew better than anyone, stuffing something into a small purple pouch that he recognised immediately.

"Daphne?"

Author's Note

Alright so quite a bit happening here.

Daphne and the Diadem's back and forth is meant to show how shaken Daphne's faith in herself and Harry is. Daphne felt that the one thing she could count on is Harry, but the diadem has identified a point of weakness in their connection and attacked it. Her pressure points right now are Astoria, Harry and her sense of failure. Through the diadem, I'm able to explore Voldemort's charismatic and persuasive side, especially when the target is someone who is (usually) very mentally fortified. What was important for me was to make sure I wasn't turning her against Harry but rather that she felt Harry was unreachable, emotionally and physically.

Voldemort setting up his invasion armada is just a bit of fun. It was to address the question in my mind of how he would begin his conquest of mainland Europe without being able to apparate/portkey across the channel.

The Harry POV is simply more worldbuilding for the goblins and bridges this chapter with the next. I'd alluded to the goblin's knowledge of Voldemort's horcruxes in Karnuk chapter. I'm using this time to characterise Ragnok and Giox before the finale (which is arriving faster than I had anticipated).

I know this one is a little late, I will still aim to have the next one out on Thursday but it's a very important chapter and I want it to be perfect.

Thanks for reading!

RevanchistVII