Maser Xander

Chapter 17

'The Meeting Part II

Sanctum Santorum de Harris

The aged goblin lifted his head, calling everyone's attention to him. Arthur Weasley knew that the creature was older than any goblin he had seen. Goblins lived longer than humans and wizards weren't really concerned about them as living beings as much as they were concerned about their magic and their money. The goblin war was a bitter, brutal affair and was something neither side had forgotten. Hostility was prominent on both sides, but the wizards had won the war. History was written by the victor and the wizards were content. The goblins were put in their place and all was right with the world. That didn't stop both sides from monitoring one another for signs of treachery.

In Alex's experience and training, the goblins of this world were a far cry from the savages he knew on his world. Those creatures were little more than murderous brutes, barbarians by any definition. In comparison, the goblins in this reality were downright civilized.

The younger goblin, Clawfoot, bowed his head as he helped his master stand. The aged goblin leader scoffed at being helped but didn't reject the assistance. A single female goblin bowed as the elder stood. Arthur noted that their females were rarely seen and for one to be here meant that she was royalty and someone to be respected.

Everyone's attention was now focused on him.

"I am Fanir Gringott, the twelfth to carry the name of the Great One. I carry his blood to this place in peace. May the blood of our enemies boil on the coals in the land of Aptau the Unclean!" Having said his somewhat disturbing greetings, his body snapped to attention. "I am the beating heart of the Clan Gringottaseir. As I stand here, I am witness to onetime enemies of the goblin people," he said, staring at the various fae in the room. All of them looked uncomfortable. But none of them drew their weapons.

"Long have our clans and the Fae been traditional enemies. We goblins are a proud people, a warrior race, passionate and dangerous. But we are not fools. Dangers from both within and without are all too real. The Dark Lord, the things coming through the breeches and these Inheritors, are threats we will not ignore. The humans know almost nothing of the struggle. Because of their ignorance, they are mostly useless. The wizards are less than useless. They cannot see what is in front of them and when they do, their leaders hide their heads in the mud to keep from seeing the truth," he spat. "I and my clan have listened and spoken to one another of the things you have told us, Master Alexander Harris. Three of the five great goblin clans will end our feud and aid the Fae, the wandless mages, and the humans." He sneered when using the word human, but that attitude was expected. It was better than him spitting every time he mentioned the word wizard.

Tea looked at her goblin counterpart, surprised at his words. She had only one question on her mind. "After thousands of years of conflict, why?"

The old goblin glared at the small Fae, but his anger wasn't directed at her. However, for the moment, he ignored her inquiry. There was another matter that needed addressing and it couldn't wait.

"Alexander Harris, what you do not know is that Gringoott, the true Gnomes Hierarchy, and the Dwarf Convention which we only suspected still existed, were contacted by extra dimensional powers.

"Several human financial institutions were approached by a group representing a powerful legal organization looking for fresh markets, and they were interested in acquiring clients."

"Alex's face flushed as he realized what Fanir had just revealed. Everyone around him felt his anger and concern as he fought to regain control. Ceraine was little better as the very air around her grew colder. Her fists were clenched, and her eyes shown with suppressed power.

Stokes looked wary as he stared at both her and Alex. The brief flare of power was unmistakable. If he hadn't been looking at them, he would have missed it.

"That law firm-" began Alex.

"We know who they are, Master Harris," hissed Fanir Gringott. "We all felt the invasion by this foreign entity. The goblin clans, the gnomes, and even the human Banking and legal institutions came together." The old goblin smiled, and it was a hideous one. "Even the wild clans joined us, and we fought, slaughtering those barristers and their protectors. It was a glorious battle." His eyes locked onto Alexander and then shifted to the Weasleys. "The statute of Secrecy? Ha! We sealed their entranceway. Our magics are powerful and we hate foreign invaders," he told everyone. "There is a reason why we are warriors. We also protect against invaders such as the evil that tried to gain access to this world. To all those here, listen well! There are rules and there are those who are not allowed to enter. One of these is the wolf, the ram and the hart!"

"The Wolfram and Hart Legal Agency," Ceraine explained to those who didn't know. "It is a very evil demonic multidimensional law firm."

"They are powerful," conceded Fanir. "But there are rules they cannot violate without the pain of death. Keeping them out is one of our purposes for existence." He glared at Alex in dark amusement. "You are not the only one who can detect breeches in this world, and you cannot do it alone. We goblins are warriors for a reason!" Fanir told him. "As for these other breeches…"

"That's why we're here," said Alex.

Arthur and Molly heard everything. They were horrified.

Dumbledore's Order was nothing like this.

"Does the Ministry know any of this?" Molly blurted out as she started at Arthur. He shrugged. If the Ministry knew, they wouldn't tell him anything. He knew the Ministry wouldn't tell him. He was too low in the hierarchy.

Molly turned to the senior goblin. "Does the Ministry know about this!?"

Gringott responded with a truly magnificent sneer. "Your Minister is still trying to figure out ways to steal my bank from us! What do you wizards care about the fate of the world?"

Molly stifled a tear. She felt the humiliation of the wizarding world fall onto her shoulders.

Fanir turned his attention back to Tea, who continued waiting patiently to hear his answer to her question. "Tea of Jarish, we do this because of enlightened self-interests. Better to work with you all than to fall prey to these wizards," the goblin spat.

Two hours later, most of the guests had left Alex's and Ceraine's home. There were promises made and oaths of cooperation sworn and pledges of information exchange. Another meeting was scheduled for next week and planning would begin to counter the Inheritors.

The goblins, the Fae, and the various magical human factions were preparing for the war not only against the Inheritors but also against the Death Eaters and their Master.

Anthony Stokes remained seated, digesting everything he'd seen and heard. The way the 'people' left the building was just as astounding as the people themselves. A few waited out the front door and he was sure that his fellow agents monitoring the entrance never saw a thing. Some left by what could only be described as portals. They just stepped through and were somewhere else. Some simply disappeared in sparkling lights. Only the husband and wife stayed and had retired to another room.

The agent was allowed to contact his people to assuage their fears and give a quick status update. The meeting was informative to say the least and now that it was over, his concerns only increased. Those simple acts of leaving proved how useless MI-6 security was against these people. he informed his superiors of factions in Britain, previously unknown ones, preparing for war His Majesty's Government didn't know of and were not prepared for. His service certainly would not be please. Just as concerning was the sheer magnitude of the problem extending far past the so-called magical elements of society and into the realm of Britain proper. These unknown groups were willing to consider working with the British Ministry only served to give a dark credence to everything he'd just heard. MI-6 was about to break out in a sweat to say the least.

His musings hadn't prevented him from noticing Harris focusing on him. "Mister Harris."

"Mister Brosnan," Alex smiled. "I'm sorry." Alex ignored the look of confusion and suspicion emanating from the man while he continued. "Sorry, you look so much like someone I knew of. We haven't been formally introduced. I'm Alexander Harris."

"I know, Mister Harris," Stokes said. "Strange, isn't. until two years ago, there are no records of you or Miss. Ceraine. Her Majesty's Secret Service found that rather odd."

Alex acknowledged the jab. Stokes wasn't being subtle, and Alex appreciated it. This meeting wasn't intended to be subtle and planned to return that directness. "Well, we weren't under your agency's radar until we started throwing out hints to gain your attention. I'm sure Ceraine mentioned that to you," Alex said. "Mister Stokes, your people are in a war you're just finding out about. You also have a number of citizens in your country that will start demanding their voices be heard. They've been secretive for obvious reasons, but that time is coming to an end. The problems are going to be legion, but better to get a head's up about the challenges now instead of being slapped in the face later."

"Well, you've certainly got our attention," he conceded. Agent Anthony Stokes looked at him for a long moment. Then he glanced at Ceraine sitting in the corner who hadn't said a word. "Both of you are very dangerous people," he said.

"So are you, Mister Stokes," Ceraine said, mischievously.

Shaking his head, he asked, "if I were so dangerous, why did you allow me to keep my weapon?"

Harris returned the stare he was getting from the agent. "Everyone in this room had weapons on their person. If everybody at the meeting was weaponized, why should we have taken your gun away? That would be unfair for you to be unarmed in light of that, don't you think?"

"…Quite."

"Well Mister Harris, what do you get from this?"

Anthony didn't expect an answer. Surprisingly, he got one.

"To put it bluntly, I don't want this world to go down the drain. Great Britain is at a boiling point. And you're the tip of the spear. The world is about to change," Alex told him. "What happens here will be the blueprint for the rest of the world. Your government has to start preparing," Alex said. "There are three issues that you need to address. The first is, and this is in no particular order, the Statute of Secrecy.

"And what is that?" interrupted Stokes. "It was mentioned but I would like some clarification."

Alex nodded. "The statute of Secrecy is a law instituted in the late 17th century. Originally, this law was meant to protect non-magicals and keep the existence of magic a secret from the no-mages.

"They believe if normal people discovered the existence of magic, then they would do anything to get it. That included the torture and murder of magicals, specifically witches and wizards. Putting it bluntly, they were afraid for their lives. It's understandable when you think about it."

"Yes, and how did they enforce this law?"

"Using non-lethal methods, they use spells that can erase memories."

"I don't like the sound of that," Stokes said. It was easy to see where this was going. "They started abusing this statute, didn't they?"

Again, Alex nodded. "When this statute was conceived, it was considered more as a set of guides rather than a rigid law. Now every witch and wizard can justify wiping memories to any non-magical if they even think that a normal has seen magic. Normally the magical police force was allowed to do this. But there is significant abuse and the Aurors, their police force, look the other way and that is one of the reasons why your witnesses have no recollection of the terrorist actions.

"The Inheritors are using it to cover their tracks and keep a low profile. Furthermore, your own agents are being selectively wiped and are unable to recall important details. Recall drugs and hypnotism does not work. Naturally, this places you at an extreme disadvantage."

"Naturally," Stoked said. He was very displeased at that. After a moment: "There has to be some way to negate these memory wipes."

"Yes, there is, and it can be prevented by magical and scientific methods which brings up another problem. The Wizarding Magical world, especially in Britain and Europe, is so isolated that they have little knowledge of the advances that we have made in the various sciences. There are certain technologies that can effectively counter the specific energy used to wipe memory. The magic in this world is basically manipulation of a specific kind of energy. It doesn't originate from a supernatural source, although those sources do exist. The problem arises not so much from the wizarding world but from the Inheritors. They understand science and are wary of it. They know it's potential and as you've heard, are taking steps to minimize it."

"You are referring to certain television programming and the unusual failure rate of major scientific projects around the world."

Again, he paused while putting things together. "I assume that the suppression of religious programing and supernatural programming is part of this plot."

"Very good. I do need to give you some background information first. The wizarding world is very backwards when it comes to understanding science and technologies that have nothing to do with magic. The reason for this is that magic replaces almost all the instrumentation that non-wizards take for granted. They've been doing this for a very long time and have tendencies to reject things that are new or different. Their culture, with some exceptions, is stuck in the late 18th to the late 19th century. A lot of their rules and regulation place them in the 17th. They have little or nothing to do with the so-called muggle world. Wizarding Britain assumes they are at the pinnacle of magic and technology. The word muggle is the name applied to non-magicals and is as derogatory as it sounds. Most wizards and witches consider muggles primitive barbarians, barely above animals. The American wizards are better informed, more technically aware, and more open mindedness, but not by much. With the British–to give you an idea. Most of them don't know that we have powered flight. They assume we still get around in balloons."

"Wait! How is that even possible? Planes fly overhead all the time! How could they not see them?"

TBC