[A/N: Thank you all for the kind wishes regarding my recovery. I'm gradually getting better. Oh, and I need to credit my wife for this chapter title and the next one. They operate as a pair and I thought she had a good idea for the two of them.]
Mrs. Ellison's administrative assistant Jason didn't acknowledge them as they entered the office area. He just kept staring at the computer screen in front of him and periodically moving his mouse back and forth. Harry had heard of mind magics before, but seeing them in action was more than a little disturbing. The door to Mrs. Ellison's office was just past Jason's desk and almost completely closed.
Harry calmly left his British History textbook on the edge of Jason's desk and slipped off his backpack. Hermione took up a position to the right of the door, next to the hinges, while Harry gripped his wand tightly and stood on the other side. At Harry's nod, she took a deep breath and pulled the door open.
"Hello-eeep!" was as far as Hestia got before she realised Harry had come around the side of the door with his wand levelled at her head.
"Hestia?" Harry asked, surprised. The witch was wearing the same sort of long dress Hermione's mother liked and the skin around her eyes was puffy and red, as if she'd been crying.
"How do we know you're really Hestia?" Hermione said as she came in behind him and closed the door. "There's a potion that lets you pretend to be someone else."
Hestia's hands were empty as she placed both of them over her heart. "Merlin! You two are going to be terrifying when you grow up," she said. "Hermione, when we met, Narcissa Malfoy compared you to a crup and your mother made an absolutely brutal comment about Lucius's…proclivities. After Narcissa stormed out, one of the salesgirls said, 'good riddance.'"
"It's her," Hermione said.
Harry lowered his wand. "What's going on?"
"I…don't even know," Hestia said. "We found something awful in 12 Grimmauld Place and brought in a Gringotts cursebreaking team this morning. Sirius swore them to secrecy and we went with them to the bank so they could destroy the object. They did, but they made us wait a long time. Right after the object was destroyed, armed goblins burst in and arrested Sirius. His Gringotts account manager thinks this is a plot by the Malfoy account manager to seize control of the Black fortune, but we can't prove it because the cursebreaking team was sworn to secrecy. Harry, we need you to come to the bank and release them from their oath so they can exonerate Sirius."
"That's horrifying!" Hermione said.
Harry nodded in agreement. "Why did you let them come to the house if they could do something like this?"
"I didn't know they could!" Hestia said. "Executing Sirius like they're threatening to do would start a war. I have no idea why they would risk that. The whole situation really is horrifying." She sighed. "Harry…this might be dangerous. I'll be the first to admit I don't understand what's going on in Gringotts right now. I really do think we can save Sirius, but I can't promise you that the goblins won't kill both of us."
"I don't care," Harry said. "I want to save Sirius."
"Can my parents help?" Hermione asked. "I don't want to see Harry in danger, either, but I don't think we can protect Harry if Sirius is gone."
"I'm afraid not," Hestia said. "Your parents mustn't learn the secret Harry's going to learn in Gringotts until we kill He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named permanently. We can't protect their minds like we can protect yours, and if a Death Eater found out they knew it, they would rip their minds apart for the information."
Hermione blanched.
"Fine," Harry said. "We won't tell them until we kill Old Mouldy." Hermione frowned, but nodded.
"Hermione," Hestia said, "we might need you for this, too, but it's risky. I would normally tell you to stay here, but—"
"Not a chance," Hermione said. "I go where Harry goes."
Harry nodded firmly. "Hermione's a genius and we might need her help."
"I knew you were going to say that," Hestia said. "I shouldn't take her, but I know how she'd feel if I took you by yourself because that's how I'm feeling right now. I can't do that to her." The witch sighed. "Listen to me, please. If we all manage to survive today, which I think we will, when you grow up, you're going to realise how irresponsible and awful I'm being by bringing you to Gringotts. When that happens, please just remember that I'm terrified and I have to choose between letting Sirius die and putting his children at risk and have some pity on me."
"We trust you," Harry said, and Hermione nodded. "We know that sometimes decisions can be hard."
Hestia rose from her chair and embraced the two of them. "Thank you. Harry, can you call Dobby?"
He nodded and said, "Dobby?"
The little elf popped onto Mrs. Ellison's desk wearing a Rolling Stones t-shirt that came down to his knees and, for some reason, a cravat. "How can Dobby help Young Master?"
"Dobby," Hestia said, "can you take Harry and Hermione to the floo room of 12 Grimmauld Place?"
"Dobby can do that right away!" the elf said.
"Thank you. Please do so. I'll apparate myself there."
"Master's Kind Friend has been added to the wards?" Dobby asked.
Hestia blushed for some reason. "Yes. Sirius added me yesterday."
"Yay!" Dobby threw his arms around her knees and gave her a quick hug. "Dobby is looking forward to making yous lots of breakfasts from now on."
"Oh, Merlin." Hestia's blush deepened. "Please just take the children there, Dobby."
The elf nodded and reached out his hands to Harry and Hermione. As soon as they grasped them, the world disappeared around them and, after a short time feeling like their bodies were being inverted and squeezed out via their navels, they arrived in a room with walls of dark old mahogany and studded with the heads of animals Harry had never even heard of.
Hestia appeared a few yards away with a sharp crack. "Thank you, Dobby. I'll take it from here."
Dobby nodded and disappeared with another soft pop.
Hestia walked over to the floo, tossed in a bit of powder, said, "Gringotts private reception area," and stuck her head in. A minute later, she pulled it back out of the fire. "We're ready. Hermione, are you sure you won't stay?"
"Definitely," Hermione said.
"Very well." Hestia took a deep breath, tossed a bit of the powder into the fire, and said, "Gringotts private reception area."
When the flames turned green, she gestured to Harry and Hermione. "You two will have to go first," Hestia said. "I'm the only one of us whom they authorised to open the floo connection, so I have to go last."
Harry and Hermione looked at each other. Harry shrugged, so Hermione set her jaw and marched into the flames.
Hestia waited a moment before tossing in more powder and saying the destination again. Once the flames were green, Harry stepped in. As usual, a series of fireplaces whirled past him…though he had to wonder if he was the one whirling and they were all standing still. He definitely came out of the Gringotts fireplace still spinning and ended up falling over a still-prone Hermione.
"That is…not promising," a thin and reedy voice said.
Hestia stepped gracefully out of the floo a moment later and helped Harry climb off of Hermione, then got her to her feet, as well. Her muggle dress had turned into witch's robes, so Harry thought she must have transfigured it after they left.
They found themselves in a room roughly fifteen feet wide by ten feet deep, with one solid bronze door on the wall opposite the floo. The walls were thickly layered sedimentary rock polished smooth, and two short, pale-skinned creatures stood guard at the door, armoured in gleaming silver and carrying poleaxes in their long, spindly fingers. Another such creature stood between them, but this one wore a pinstriped three-piece suit and a monocle. It pulled out a pocket watch wrought of iridescent silver.
"It's about time," he said brusquely.
"It took some time to secure the children without breaking the Statute," Hestia said. "Do you have any updates on Sirius, Senior Account Manager Rustynail?"
"The argument still raged in the Boardroom the last time I checked," Rustynail said. "In my experience of such arguments, they are unlikely to be done yet, but I cannot promise you that Lord Black still lives."
"No…" Harry whispered. Hermione took his hand and squeezed it tightly.
Hestia's eyes shone with tears, but she kept them out of her voice. "Then we still have hope. Can you take us to the cursebreakers?"
"Yes, they're in my office." Rustynail spun around and touched a needle sticking out from the bronze door. After a moment, it swung open. "Security measure," he said without turning around. "Only goblin blood freely given can open that door."
Harry raised his eyebrows. A door that would only open with blood? Harry still wasn't clear on the concept of "Metal" that some of his classmates liked, but he was pretty sure that qualified as Very Metal.
Rustynail led Harry, Hermione, and Hestia (the latter bringing up the rear) through a bewildering maze of passages carved of the same polished grey sedimentary bedrock, all lit by torches in sconces every few yards that burned without ash or smoke. Doors periodically interrupted the corridor, some of thin steel, some of plain bronze, and some of more ornate bronze or even pure copper. He eventually stopped in front of a door wrought of ornate copper and pressed his hand onto another needle. The door swung open at his touch and they followed him into the room.
"Welcome to my office," Rustynail said. "Take a seat and I'll have the cursebreaking team brought in." He leaned over and spoke a guttural language into a carved horn of some sort.
The only seats available were on dark granite benches that lined the back wall of the office. They weren't at all comfortable, but that seemed to be a theme there. The desk, bookshelves, and even Rustynail's throne-like desk chair were all made of that same dark granite. Harry had a feeling the goblins were making some sort of statement with all of the metal and stone, maybe that they were tough enough not to need anything comfortable or trying to prove they had no need of products from the surface like wood or cushions.
Harry felt like they'd gotten their point across and wished they would at least have put some cloth on the benches. The solid rock was cold. Hermione scooted closer to him and he put his arm around her, doing his best to share body heat.
"What's going on?" Hermione asked as she snuggled into him. "Where's Sirius?"
"It's my fault," Hestia said. "We brought cursebreakers into 12 Grimmauld Place to deal with a Dark Artefact and bound them to secrecy. Sirius wanted to make me the other person who could release them from that vow, but I insisted that honour should belong to you as his heir. One of them must have taken advantage of that."
Rustynail glowered. "Indeed. After they analysed the Dark Artefact here, they summoned Lord Black to Gringotts to discuss it. Before he arrived, one of the cursebreakers seems to have gone straight to Senior Account Manager Heartpoke, who manages the Malfoy accounts. Although the cursebreaker was forbidden from telling him what he found, he somehow induced him to have other cursebreakers examine all of the Black Family vaults. Something similarly Dark was found in Bellatrix Black Lestrange's dower vault, which meant Lord Black was blamed for it. While Lord Black was being briefed on what the cursebreakers found, he was taken into custody. The cursebreakers' testimony would go a long way toward exonerating him, but they can't speak until freed from their vow. Lord Black is currently—"
Rustynail was interrupted by a pair of goblins wearing leather trench coats who hurried into the room, stood in front of his desk, and brought their left fists over their right breasts in some form of salute.
Rustynail nodded to them. "Kidneyprod, Toesmash. Your punctuality is commendable. Where is Grimeaxe?"
"We're not sure," Kidneyprod said. "He was following us here, but when I looked behind me about two corridors before I got to your office, he was gone."
"Well," Rustynail said, "I suppose we know who sold us out to the Malfoy account manager, then."
"Indeed," Kidneyprod said. "Without access to Lord Black, though…"
"I have his heir." Rustynail gestured to Harry.
Kidneyprod and Toesmash spun around and regarded Harry. "Excellent," Kidneyprod said. "You must release us, Heir Black."
"I release you both from your vow." Harry wasn't sure what to say, but that seemed like a good idea.
A bit of golden mist rose from both of their right hands and vanished into nothingness.
"Excellent." Rustynail rose to his feet. "We have to hurry to the Executive Boardroom. If Lord Black lives, you'll both be rewarded handsomely."
Rustynail hurried out the door, his unusual coterie of cursebreakers (goblin and human) and children hot on his heels. His door slammed shut so closely on Hermione's heels that she nearly stumbled, but Harry somehow managed to react fast enough to catch her and keep her on her feet.
They dashed through a bewildering maze of passages and staircases for several minutes, leaving all of the humans winded by the time they came to an arched doorway with a group of half a dozen of the armoured goblins barring their way.
"Do not draw your wands in this room," Rustynail said. "If you do, you will die."
Harry and Hermione shared a terrified look and grabbed each other's hands. Hestia swallowed hard and nodded. Together, they entered the room.
