With Lupin confirmed to speak at the Gala on Saturday, Hermione felt like she could leave everything else up to Daphne to arrange for the Gala.
"This will be excellent! And not to worry – I'll reassure him and support him the entire way," Daphne gushed. "I'd be happy to help correspond with him and Geoffrey on speech drafts – my parents had me take elocution and oratory lessons, did you know?"
With that taken care of, Hermione turned her attention to the next item on her list: talking to the House Elves about Porkeys and talking to the goblins about what magic could be worked into metal. Given the House Elves were staying with the goblins over the summer, happily helping fix up their Hold, Hermione was hoping she might kill two birds with one stone.
"Knock out two Beaters with one Bludger," she murmured to herself. "Remember: wizarding vernacular, Hermione."
Permission from her parents was gained, and Bloodthorne was all too welcoming when Hermione asked if she might visit for a few days, grinning with a pointy grin that seemed vaguely ominous.
"I would be happy to take you," he told her. "You would be welcome. I would have you see the improvements made."
"I would love to see it," Hermione said honestly.
Hermione followed Bloodthorne down the stone hallways, said the ritualistic words with the guard, bled as necessary, and followed the goblin into the elevator, which began to descend.
"The Morgans will sell," Bloodthorne told her, pleased. "They have been haggling on price, but I would have their agreement by the end of this week."
"That's excellent!" Hermione exclaimed. "Perfect."
"I will, of course, be charging a 15% negotiation fee on the total of the contract," he told her, eyes glinting, and Hermione rolled her eyes but huffed good-naturedly.
"Of course," she agreed. "You earned it."
Bloodthrone cackled as the elevator continued to descend, going down, down, down, deep inside the earth.
Abruptly, the dirt outside the glass elevator began to change – they were passing a thick band of metal, then a thick band of glittering salt, then a moment later another thick layer, this time, a mossy green, and suddenly there was open air, and Hermione gasped.
She had known what to expect this time – there was the enormous cavern with a city laid out on the ground – but there was such light this time. There were more light orbs around, floating in the air, and they glowed brighter this time, so bright it seemed almost like daylight despite being so far underground.
As the elevator continued down, Hermione felt a thrill. So many of the homes were fixed, she could see, with more roofs thatched and covered with moss. She could see elves in the streets with the goblins, child goblins playing nearby, and it warmed her heart to see.
There was a lurch and grinding noise as the glass elevator ground to a halt before the doors opened in front of her. The air was warm and balmy, a fair smell of moss and geosmin reaching her nose, and Hermione took a deep breath, taking it all in.
The Goblin Hold. She was back.
"The House Elves would help us all summer," Bloodthorne said, leading her down the hill and through the streets. "They are happy to claim us as kin. And we are happy to house them."
As Hermione passed through the streets this time, goblins stopped to bow as she passed, child goblins waving happily. Hermione waved back, unsure how to respond. She didn't know all of them, but they all seemed to know her.
"You are a savior to us, remember, Hermione Granger," Bloodthorne said quietly. "You helped us rebuild our businesses, you helped rebuild our homes, you sent to us aid to heal us and help us recover from the last genocide attempt from the Ministry. You are known, here."
Hermione didn't quite know what do to with that knowledge. Abstractly, she knew that many goblins had literally bled for her sword and family shield, but it was a very different feeling to be revered in the streets.
Bloodthorne led her to the large circular area with a slightly raised area in the middle, the odd sort of earthen dais the goblins had. There were many House Elves here, with two in the middle holding what looked like a giant leaf, and they were directing other elves about.
"No no no," a familiar voice was saying. "Beaky is going to Moonblade's house; Dooney is going to Venomspike's house."
"Tolly!" Hermione exclaimed happily, skipping over, and Tolly looked up, a wide smile spreading over her face. Neemey looked up as well from their place at Tolly's side, purple eyes gleaming.
"Missy Hermione!" she said, cheered. "What ever is you doing here?"
"Visiting," Hermione quipped, shrugging. "I wanted to talk to you and the goblins about a project, and maybe help out a bit where I could."
"Oh, is that so?" Neemey asked immediately. "We could use your help with the town statue."
Hermione blinked. "Statue?"
"We is having a giant design for a statue, but House Elves and goblins is not being good at lifting big large heavy giant rocks," Tolly explained, wincing. "We is hoping to be putting the big stone in place, and then the artists can be carving the statue where the statue rocks is standing."
"Oh." Hermione considered. "Ah—I can probably help with that?"
"Excellent." Neemey's eyes gleamed. "Let me lead the way."
"R-Right now?" Hermione faltered. "I didn't think—"
"It is blocking our progress now," Neemey said pointedly. "Follow me."
Hermione hadn't intended on being launched directly into a project – she rather thought she'd say her hellos, catch up with people, make small talk – but immediately accomplishing something that both the House Elves and goblins could not seemed like a good way to get them to help her with her own goals. And protesting or refusing now wasn't likely endear her to anyone, either.
Neemey led her a few blocks from the mossy open area to what seemed to be another empty area, this one just made of packed-down earth.
"The house that was here has been razed and rebuilt anew elsewhere," Neemey told her. "Now, this area is a village nexus of sorts. The statue will be here."
"Okay…" Hermione exhaled. "How big do you want this statue to be? And what kind of rock?"
Neemey considered, tilting their head. "A hundred feet or so. And forty or so feet wide."
Hermione choked. "A hundred feet? And forty feet wide? Neemey, this circle isn't even forty feet wide—"
"Then as wide as you can," Neemey said pointedly, eyes glinting. "Whatever rock you can, and as tall as you can."
Hermione steadied herself, taking a deep breath. "Okay."
Sitting down on a side street at the edge of the area, she closed her eyes, took several deep breaths, and reached for her magic.
Her magic sprung to her touch, as always, making Hermione smile fondly before she reached deeper inside, to her elementals. The air danced at her touch as always, while the fire burned to come out. The earth elemental was the furthest away, the steadiest, smoothest, residing down at her core, and Hermione coaxed it up and out gently, indicating what she hoped to do.
Most statues she knew of were bronze or made of concrete, but the goblins wanted rock. Extending out with her earth elemental with her magic, she reached into the dirt, reaching for rock. There was a plethora of limestone in the earth beneath her, and her magic began pulling it to the surface, the earth elemental duplicating the dirt left behind as she went so as not to create an eventual sinkhole. It was hard to do, with Hermione's magic tunnelling in every which way, pulling chunks of rock through the dirt, and Hermione swayed even though she was sitting, dizzily wishing she'd asked Tolly her questions first.
It took long time, thin strings of magic pulling back scraps of rock through the ground, weaving and fusing them together, then finding more and building it bigger. Hermione kept her eyes closed and her magic centered, letting the outside world fade out of her awareness around her as she focused on breathing evenly and monitoring her core while her earth elemental magic explored. Time blurred around her as she meditated, focusing only on her magic and fueling her earth elemental as best she could.
By the time her earth elemental indicated it was satisfied, Hermione was exhausted, utterly drained, and running on fumes. The only reason she'd been able to manage it at all was because of her regeneration rate, allowing a slow but steady trickle of magic out to finish the job, but she was exhausted, all of her energy gone.
"Well." Neemey sounded impressed. "It took many hours, but you did it after all."
Rubbing her eyes with her fists as she yawned, Hermione opened her eyes.
There was a giant pillar of stone in front of her – a mighty cylinder with not quite smooth edges, but close to it. It towered over her in the sky, and it was only because there were light globes everywhere that it did not cast an ominous shadow over a quarter of the city.
"I need to lie down," Hermione said weakly. She rubbed her eyes again. "I have no magic left."
Neemey pulled her to her feet, guiding her back to the mossy field and knoll while Hermione stumbled at their side.
"Rest here, Hermione Granger, and you will be safe," Neemey promised her. Their eyes gleamed. "When you awake, we will discuss what we can do for you in return."
Hermione wasn't usually one for afternoon naps, but she also wasn't usually one for draining all her magic continually over the course of several hours to move literal tons of rock. When she awoke, goblins and House Elves were gathered around small fires and cookpots, eating and sharing food.
Hermione sat up and stretched, yawning, and a moment later, a House Elf came skipping over.
"The goblinses is wanting to be speaking to you!" it chirped. "Please be following me!"
Hermione followed the cheerful elf to one of the larger fires. Several goblins with silver beaded wigs sat around it, as well as Bloodthorne and Silversmite. Tolly and Neemey were at this pot too, Tolly getting up to serve Hermione as soon as she sat down.
"We is making salamander stew tonight," she told Hermione cheerfully.
Hermione glanced down into her bowl. "…salamander?"
"For meat," Tolly explained, nodding seriously. "There is not being many animals down here."
The stew was good – potatoes, carrots, and other vegetables, as well as a few herbs. The meat was kind of overly chewy, but it took seasoning well, and Hermione was just glad to have food to rejuvenate her after all the magic she'd exhausted.
"So," one of the goblins said, eyeing Hermione. "You would beg a boon of us."
"Um, of the House Elves, really," Hermione said, wincing. "Maybe you too. I mostly want to ask questions, and the answers will help inform what I do."
"Then ask your questions, Hermione Granger," the goblin bid. "We would answer what we can."
Hermione began by explaining her goal – the creation of a pendant that could act as a way for people to all come to one central place. She turned to Tolly.
"I feel like I know the answer to this," she said, "but… can the Ministry track Portkeys?"
"Yes," Tolly said immediately, nodding her head. "Portkeys is bad magic. It is yanking your magic all willy-nilly and sideways-backwards. It is not being good, no no no. If a wizard is finding a Portkey, they is finding out where all the Portkey is going."
Hermione sighed. "Drat."
"You would not just use Apparition?" one of the goblins questions, raising an eyebrow.
"Some of the people I want to have these aren't old enough to Apparate," Hermione admitted, "myself included." She took a deep breath and turned to Neemey. "So. There are eight days a year where it is safe to travel by ley line."
Neemey's eyes suddenly took on a gleam that Hermione didn't like.
"There are," Neemey purred. "Why do you bring this up?"
"I was wondering if there's a way," Hermione said carefully, "to have anyone wearing one of my pendants travel the ley lines safely. Without being kidnapped."
Neemey grinned widely, showing off the pointed teeth none of the other House Elves had.
"There is always a way," Neemey said. "It just depends on what price you are willing to pay."
Hermione scowled. "I do not like the sound of that."
"You wouldn't," Neemey said cheerfully.
Tolly elbowed Neemey sharply, giving the other elf a dark look.
"Missy Hermione is just helping us for hours and using up all her magic," Tolly admonished. "We is being nice to her. She is doing us a big big favor."
Neemey rolled their eyes and pouted.
"The ley lines are what the House Elves would use to travel?" Bloodthorne asked.
"Yes," Tolly said. "They is going everywhere, and we elves are just popping through to be going from place to place."
The goblins exchanged looks.
"How did such an amazing network come to be?" one of the goblins asked. "Are ley lines the veins of the earth's magic? Were they created purposefully?"
Tolly bit her lip.
"Some of them is always being here," she said. "The others… they is being made, I am thinking."
"Made?" Hermione said up, intrigued. "They were made?"
Tolly shot Neemey and uncertain look, and Neemey sighed.
"They were," Neemey confirmed. "When the Fae left the earth, they blazed their path to their new realm, and the ley lines were left behind, scars from their travel. Magic flowed to fill up the tunnels in reality they left behind, allowing magic flow through Faerie as well as the human lands."
Hermione whistled. "That sounds incredibly difficult and painful."
"Fae are beings mostly made of energy and magic," Neemey dismissed. "It was not as hard as it would be if a wizard tried it."
Hermione blinked.
"Wait – could a wizard do it?" she asked. "Could a wizard make a ley line the same way the Fae did?"
Neemey paused.
"…possibly," they said, eyeing Hermione suspiciously. "Why?"
"If I can get people to safely tunnel through reality to my location, with a beacon pendant," Hermione said, "that sounds like a good way to get around not having Portkeys or Apparition available to me."
Neemey considered.
"There may be a way," they said slowly. Neemey looked to Silversmite. "If you work with the goblins and have a prototype pendant ready, I will retrieve someone with whom you can bargain."
Hermione shivered. "I don't want to bargain with the Fae."
"You want passage through reality for your friends," Neemey said, smiling slyly. "Is that not worth bargaining for?"
"You will be being here on hard earth," Tolly reassured her. "We can be giving you a lump of cold iron to be holding the entire time."
Hermione bit her lip, finally sighing.
"Okay," she told Neemey. "I'll get a prototype of what I want, and I'll talk to your bargainer."
Neemey's eyes glinted in such a way that Hermione immediately wondered if she had made a grave mistake.
"Excellent," Neemey purred. "I will ensure that they will come."
