I certainly have no rights to Harry Potter, but this won't stop me writing this story. However, you probably already know this. As it is my specialty, and as in my other big stories, this shows how things go if something went different right at the beginning. Please note that I'm not a fan of bashing and also don't expect the two main pairings to differ from canon. However, the path to them certainly will be quite different. I also want to try and subvert certain plots and things that became common in the fandom over the years.
Please note that due to the constant technical troubles of the site, the story is now also being published at AO3. The story will update every second Saturday until the story is done.
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Chapter 85: Hyperinflation
Three days had passed since the announcement of the Prime Minister, and as expected for the moment things had become more chaotic due to people now knowing what was going on. Pandora's box already had been opened anyway, so it was best to get over with it and then try to get things back into order. Everyone knew it would be a hard path and nothing would be easy.
After all, this was a massive time of change and there was bound to be lots of anger - they were already seeing it swelling, now that part of the wonder had run its course. Some magical countries were trying their hardest to isolate themselves, but draconian decrees and laws tended to create lots of resistance. Other magical countries were trying to find a better way for the future, now that the old way was utterly shattered.
No one knew how the future would look like, but the hiding game now was becoming increasingly difficult the more everyone learned about the hidden magical world. The authorities of the United Kingdom and of Ireland accepted that many would smear them in history books as the destroyers of the old system, since after what happened with the fall of the Ministry, there was no going back anyway.
While this was going on, a meeting was being held between members of the Order of the Phoenix and MI-X in central London.
"I'm still wondering why I'm included in this meeting," Charlie wondered while everyone was walking to their seats.
"Trust me, it will make sense soon," Bill told his brother. "By the way, how did Margaret take the news that you knew about this for years?"
"Surprisingly well, actually. She said it was not my secret to reveal and that it wasn't anything that would question my trust in her. It's not like with you however, since you revealed that to Fleur on your own terms," Charlie told his older brother. "And good for Percy that Penelope realized she was being unfair to him."
Meanwhile, Mr. Clifton was relaying an interesting piece of news.
"Yes, as dangerous as the dementor attack on the school was, it had one positive side-effect. With those monsters being destroyed for good, it has freed up considerable resources that were bound to hunting them. It's allowing us considerably more operational freedom," Mr. Clifton told McGonagall.
"At least something good has come out of that near-disaster..." McGonagall siad with a sigh, still having nightmares about that day. "That day had nearly ended in a horrific tragedy."
Mr. Clifton knew that was all too true. "More proof we need to end this madness as soon as possible."
Finally, everyone was sitting down and the meeting officially started.
"Mr. Weasley, considering you requested my presence, this is about the Lestrange vault at Gringotts, correct?" Mr. Clifton asked Bill right away, also waving his hand at the other people at the table, which did include McGonagall, Sirius and Mr. Morden.
"Indeed, we did. It was not easy, since goblins in general are very mistrustful people, but we were able to gain some information about the Lestrange vault." Bill remembered how they had to do so indirectly, since he knew direct questions would have led to them getting fired. "We were able to determine the location of the Lestrange vault in relation to the vaults bordering it. That's when we discovered we have no less than three problems."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Somehow I already expected this would not be easy."
"The first problem is that it's so deep in the goblin tunnels, that only a goblin can lead you there safely. The second problem is, that due to its nature only a goblin can open it, which we know they won't. And finally, the door to that vault is guarded by a dragon."
Charlie for his part all of a sudden looked alarmed, now understanding why his brother wanted him to be present. "Please tell me you are joking! A dragon so deep under the surface..."
"I'm not joking and I better don't tell what they did to that dragon to make it follow their orders." Bill knew he better not add any details, considering how distressed his brother already looked. "Then there is the problem of actually getting into the vault... until we noticed the vault right next to it, sharing a wall."
"Can't be one of mine. I closed all of my vaults months ago, as did all Black-related vaults," Sirius said, knowing that due to remembering how pale the goblins had become when he'd told them those news.
"No, it's actually the Potter family main vault," Bill told them.
"Well, I know there is only some money left in that one. We were busy with transferring most of it. But I visited the vault once with James shortly after we were done with school, and there was no dragon next to it. Bellatrix must have ordered one to be placed there once she put the cup into the vault," Sirius concluded.
Mr. Clifton looked thoughtful at the information. "Mr. Black, can you reach the Potter vault?"
"Before Harry became an adult? Yes. However, now that Harry is of age, while I can come along, it needs to be Harry in person for that particular vault. But even then, that wouldn't be of much use to us, right?"
"I do not think so. Since both vaults are sharing a wall and we can guess all the security is on the door and against magic..." Mr. Clifton thought aloud.
McGonagall had an idea what the man was thinking. "You are thinking about forcing entrance through the wall? Sorry, but Gringotts security is rather fast-acting. You would never have enough time to implement the plan."
"Not if Gringotts is thrown into utter chaos - and I mean more than they already are," Mr. Morden said for his superior, having understood what this was about.
That finally made the penny drop what MI-X was planning.
"You mean your Operation Floodgate, don't you?" Bill of course was informed of that, like everyone else in the room. "You plan to go forward with it then?"
"Indeed, we do," Mr. Clifton confirmed. "The resulting chaos at Gringotts will be so great that we could pull a plan off. However, we do need your group's support not only for trying to minimize the damage this is doing to ordinary people, but also for finding the best path of doing this. Ah yes, and we need Mr. Potter's help in this one..."
Charlie groaned when hearing that final point. "Hearing what the bank is doing to a dragon is bad enough, but just wait until Ginny hears what we want Harry to be involved in..."
"They are very protective of each other." That simple statement from Sirius showed that it was not Harry, but Ginny who would need convincing. Her brothers knew that Ginny, when truly angry, could be scarier than a dragon.
"Eh... Mr. Weasley," Mr. Clifton told Bill. "Perhaps it would be better if you and your wife put in your resignations, since Gringotts soon will no longer be a suitable employer,"
Bill sighed, knowing how true that was. "Fleur and me had already thought that would happen sooner or later."
...December 5th...
While things at Gringotts already had been bad before - even before the collapse of the Ministry - it seemed that their fortunes now had turned entirely against them. Over the past days the pace at which money was flowing into the bank had increased dramatically. It was a bad thing because the two main sources were private people who wanted to get rid of their Galleons by exchanging them into Pound Sterling, and businesses who were making huge sales due to people wanting to get rid of their cash and thus wanted to get all those Galleons being exchanged into Pound Sterling.
Galleons and smaller coins were flowing into the bank at an increased rate while next to none flowed back into the economy. In mere days the value of a Galleon had dropped significantly - from an already quite diminished value - only increasing the vicious circle. All of those factors had turned Gringotts into a madhouse.
By this point the goblins had already been forced to reduce the times at which the bank counters were open, since otherwise the tellers would have been unable to keep up with their vastly increased workload, which also was not helping their mood in the slightest. The sheer amount of coins flowing into the bank forced them to actually use wheelbarrows to move the sheer mass of coins to the vaults.
The vaults the bank was using for the coins that were returned to the bank were filling at an alarming rate, even forcing the repurposing of now empty former customer vaults to store the sheer volume of coins. On the other hand, the number of gold bars held by the bank was steadily decreasing, them having to be used to buy more Pound Sterling from the Bank of England.
In all the chaos, the goblins were beginning to become increasingly lax in order to still get the job done. They were not even doing any closer checks on the serial numbers on the coins anymore, thus not even noticing that many coins had numbers that were entirely made up. And the scary thing was... they knew it would become even worse over the coming days.
Other people were also adapting.
"Kind of sad that we are closing our shop, even if that's only temporarily," Angelina said while looking over the empty sales floor of the joke shop. "Though, kind of a wonder the shop was never attacked."
"Yes, and if we learned anything, it's to never challenge fate," George told his girlfriend, then looked around. "Is everything gone, Fred?" he then called to the back room.
Fred emerged moments later. "Yep, all our shop inventory is now at a safe place, as is our private stuff." He then looked around. "We were running this for just one and a half years, but it felt longer..."
They had already started the process months ago, but with the fall of the Ministry, they had officially closed their shop temporarily, got rid of their remaining magical currency and got all their inventory into safe storage. They were now ready to sit out the coming economic crash and then come back. They knew this was the only way to get through this.
"Both of you shouldn't feel too down. After all, you know we will be back in business soon enough," Angelina reminded them with a risen fist of determination.
They both had noticed the 'we' that was without any doubt leaving Angelina's mouth. It made George very lucky to have such a wonderful girl as his partner. "You know, I really don't deserve you."
Fred no longer rolled his eyes when watching them have a small snog. He simply had gotten used to the fact that his twin now was leading a different life from him. They were still close, but seeing this reminded him that he should honestly invest more time into dating once the war was done and over with.
After all, seeing what those two had, he wanted something similar as well.
Somewhere else it also was a temporary parting of ways.
"I had honestly never thought this day would come, but once again history surprises me," Mr. Shark mused while he was watching the offices being cleaned out. "I have to admit I'm a bit surprised. Despite you being one of my most important clients, I had not expected you would feel the need to inform me this thoroughly."
Sirius gave the man a knowing look. "You've went way beyond what anyone else in your position would have done, so it was the right thing to warn you to better pack up now before the economy and currency crash entirely. Though I had no idea you would move your entire business, employees included."
"I won't ask how you know those things; that after all is surely highly confidential. But perhaps I can still represent you in legal matters in the future?" Seeing Sirius arch an eyebrow, Mr. Shark added "I don't advertise it, but I worked really hard to also get all the needed credentials on the non-magical side."
Now Sirius knew why he years ago had mad a good choice with this man taking care of his legal matters. "You know, I think there will more fruitful years ahead of us..."
For some, this meant changing gears.
"Xeno, you are serious about this?" Pandora asked her husband while keeping an eye on the playing Selene.
"Yes, dear. As much as people think I'm just a publisher of an esoteric magazine, I am a businessman as well. Otherwise, the Quibbler would have gone under years ago. And my business-sense tells me I have to expand my readership," Xenophilius told his wife.
"And you read all of this to... analyze the market?" she asked, pointing at several magazines on the table.
"Indeed, but I also have the advantage of planning to be the first magical publication to enter a new market; a market that is hungry for all kind of interesting tidbits about magic. Oh, it will be a wild time, but everyone has to find their niche where they can flourish." He actually looked excited.
Pandora couldn't help but to feel proud of her husband. "Can I help you with that?"
Xenophilius chuckled. "Ah, got you hooked now? If I want to enter a new market, I seriously have to change gears. Sadly, I doubt many people would be interested in complicated conspiracies or animals I'm trying to prove do exist. One has to start small after all."
Pandora knew, like herself her husband had some interesting views. However, he most certainly knew how to ensure the prosperity of his publication.
Others however were not adapting as well.
"What do mean with that?!" Magda Parkinson snarled, barely holding down her panic, while her husband Fabius looked pale.
The man who had given them the news hoped that his employers wouldn't go crazy. "The massive glut of galleons being thrown into the economy and clogging up their vaults is devaluing the Galleon fast. Your fortune is shrinking at an ever increasing rate."
"Impossible, we have millions!" Mr. Parkinson shouted, despair leading to anger.
"Yes, but with each hour a galleon is worth less and soon enough they will be reduced to the material worth only... which is not much considering the goblins only use a little gold for each coin," the man explained.
"You are fired! Get out!" Mrs. Parkinson screamed.
The man left the house as fast as he could, but didn't feel bad about just having lost his job, since his salary by now was worthless anyway. Unlike his employers, he had been smart enough to see the coming storm and moved his own cash into something secure.
Now that he was fired anyway, he gave a rat's ass what would happen to his ex-employers.
o
"Harry, I've never before heard of a plan where so much can go wrong!" Ginny told her boyfriend into the face after he had finally told her what was occupying so much of his time recently. "I'm down and ready to give Sirius a piece of my mind!"
"Gin-Gin, don't you dare to take the high ground!" her brother reminded her. "I very well remember a number of harebrained or dangerous plans you went along with eagerly. Also, for not liking being treated like that yourself, you are emulating Mum quite a lot right now."
Being called out like that, Ginny realized she indeed was sounding a lot like her mother. Taking some deep breaths, she calmed herself. "Ron, we agreed you never again use that nickname... Still, Harry, that plan is downright suicidal."
Harry for his part had delayed telling them of the plans regarding the cup - plans that he had a crucial part in - until Sirius had given him a friendly reminder that keeping secrets from your friends - and especially your girlfriend - was a very bad idea. Thus, after several days he had caved and told them. The aftermath of him revealing the plan had gotten him into his current position.
"If it helps, it was not my plan," Harry defended himself.
"Harry, that is not exactly helping, you know?" Hermione reminded her friend.
"It still is insane," Ginny said, making no secret of how she felt about it. "I get that Sirius and you visit your main vault so that a goblin opens it for you. But then using something that is keyed to a portkey to get in the team, subdue the goblin, blow a hole through the wall and then get out by another portkey? There is so much than can go wrong."
"Oh, don't forget that dragon in front of the vault," Neville reminded everyone.
Ron gave his friend an annoyed look. "Mate, not helpful."
"Well, that is the cherry on top," Ginny said with a groan. "An awful lot is banking on everything being in so much chaos they don't notice what you are doing until you are gone already."
"To be fair, I made all those points as well," Harry defended himself. "They told me that this already was the best they managed to come up with. The whole thing is difficult enough after all. It's not like the goblins would ever help us; they would rather watch the world go up in flames."
While one could think Harry had just been racist, that was not the case and they all knew it. He had simply stated a fact; the goblins indeed would never help a wizard, since they were way too full of themselves to even consider it. Talking with the centaurs had been very enlightening, in that many of the sentient magical races couldn't stand the goblins, due to not only their highly racist culture, but also due to the goblins seeing themselves as the center of the world and expecting everyone else to dance to their rules and then get offended if they didn't.
"To think that when I first heard of it, I thought it simply was wizards thinking of them as inferior creatures," Hermione said, remembering how naive she had been about such issues.
"The world is more complicated. Just because group A looks down on group B doesn't mean that group B can't be just as bad, or even worse," Luna said sagely, having thought a lot about such issues. "But that nonetheless does leave us with the problem of Harry willingly getting into a highly dangerous situation."
"She's right about that, mate. Just having one escape plan in form of a portkey is rather risky," Ron agreed with Luna, having looked at it from all sides.
"But I can't imagine us getting out the normal way. Besides the fact it's a labyrinth down there, there will be hordes of goblins wanting our heads," Harry reminded everyone of the elephant in the room.
"Goblins are nothing to joke about. They can be very deadly in battle," Hermione added, remembering some of the things she had read about the goblin rebellions. "Fighting your way out wouldn't work."
Harry sighed, feeling that they were now running in circles. "Honestly, they already looked at it from all sides. If they can't find anything they can add, then how could we? I'm honestly out of ideas."
"Then perhaps a little thinking outside of the box is needed," Luna said while cleaning her glasses, which was a tic of hers when she was seriously thinking.
Harry knew that the blonde girl was very insightful at the most unexpected of times, and once you looked past her personality quirks she actually had good ideas - as lot as it wasn't about her pet projects. "You sound like you just have hatched an idea."
"I can honestly not claim having come up with it. I did remember an article Daddy published in the Quibbler several years ago about the preserve in Wales offering dragon riding lessons," Luna explained while putting her glasses back on.
"You mean the one where Charlie wrote your father a really scathing letter and he had to apologize in the next issue for even suggesting such an insanely dangerous and stupid idea?" Ginny asked her oldest friend, remembering said incident all too well.
Luna blushed a little at Ginny's snarky reminder of those events. Where in the past she would have felt insulted on behalf of her father, she now knew better than to blindly defend everything he wrote. Xenophilius could have encouraged downright suicidal behavior with that and Charlie had had every right to be angry. That several people actually had tried to sneak into the preserve after reading the article, wanting to try their luck anyway, proved how dangerous such claims could be.
"Yes... that one. It will only be for an emergency, but if the need is really that great..." Luna didn't continue.
Neville paled a bit at what his girlfriend was suggesting. "Luna, you are honestly suggesting...?"
Harry also knew what Luna was suggesting. "Luna, to be honest it's a coin toss what would be more dangerous; a horde of enraged goblins or a massive dragon. Both are not very appealing prospects."
"That may be, but if the need is truly great, wouldn't it be better to at least attempt an alternative instead of fighting a hopeless battle?" Luna explained to her friend.
"The idea is utterly bonkers. However, should it really come to the worst, then what is there to lose?" Ron asked everyone. "To be honest, we really should ask Charlie about this."
They knew the idea was utterly insane and Ginny was trying hard to find a counterpoint. However, in the end even she had to admit that should it come to either certain death at goblin hands or a remote chance that utilizing the dragon could work, then the dragon actually offered the higher chance of survival.
...Gringotts, December 10th...
Approaching Gringotts through an otherwise frighteningly silent Diagon Alley where most of the shops by now were closed and deserted, Harry and Sirius were being confronted with a sight that Harry had once seen in historic photographs of bank runs. People were being in a crowd wanting to get into the bank. Only, unlike other banking runs, this one was about people getting their money to the bank, instead of removing it from the bank.
"Man, should I feel bad for them?" Harry wondered.
"You better not. I know that by this point those mostly are business owners who are trying to rescue the money that is being funneled into getting the remaining things that can be bought in this collapsing economy. They already have lots of real currency from earlier. The small people have gotten rid of their cash already," Sirius explained to Harry.
"OK, but the wait will be highly annoying. And I mean, not only for us," Harry said, knowing this would take a while. "Let's hope nothing goes wrong. Though I have a feeling I'm going to regret those words."
Knowing your luck... Sirius would not say that aloud of course, but he had learned long ago to never tempt fate.
Then there was a long wait unit they finally managed to get through the doors, the guards looking overworked and less alert than normal.
The inside of the bank was very different from the normally orderly business taking place, it instead more resembled a madhouse. All customers in the big marble all were highly nervous, especially when looking around. The goblins clearly were trying to keep all of the teller desks open, but several of them were closed anyway, buried under small mountains of coins which mere months ago would have been a massive fortune, but now had very much sunk to their bare material worth.
The actually open desks didn't look much better. Goblins were actually shoveling coins onto wheelbarrows to get them transported away and the goblins at the desks looked horrified whenever the next customer dumped a huge amount of coins onto their desk to exchange it for non-magical money. Truth to be told, all of the goblins looked horribly overworked and were more busy with somehow trying to process the flood of coins.
It honestly looked like Gringotts was choking on its own coins - though Harry and Sirius knew that a huge amount of coins were counterfeits made by highly efficient minting machines.
Kind of scary how utterly destructive a money flood can be, Harry thought while they waited in a line.
It took them quite a while before finally they were next at the teller desk. "Yes, yes?!" asked the very much overworked goblin at the desk, who almost seemed to drown in all the coins around him.
"Harry Potter. I need to go to my main family vault. My godfather is coming along," Harry told the goblin, then held up the key to show that he was serious about this.
"You are not dumping anymore money onto us?" The goblin sounded like he had just encountered his most favorite customer. "Gibbins! Those two need to go to the Potter family vault!" he then called to another goblin. It was kind of interesting to see how much protocol had broken down in the middle of such a bank crisis.
Said Gibbins quickly led them to a cart. "Sirius Black, eh? It was a dark day in the history of Gringotts when the Black vaults were closed," Gibbins said with barely hidden disgust, making no secret he somehow held Sirius partly responsible for what was happening to Gringotts.
Both men tried to ignore his barely held-down hostility as well as him riding the cart at excessive speed in a passive-aggressive way to 'punish' them. What Harry did notice was them going into the deeper parts of the tunnels. Then, finally, they had reached the platform which held their goal. According to Bill, there were three vaults on this platform, and the Lestrange vault was the middle one of the three.
However, what was drawing their sight were not the three mighty vault doors, but the huge being guarding them. It indeed was a dragon and Harry finally realized how big dragons could become, since the only dragon he ever before had seen in person was Norberta when she was freshly hatched. This however was an adult dragon and it was huge and looked highly dangerous.
It however also looked pitiful. The dragon was shackled to the floor and the horrible smell told both men that the dragon was forced to basically live in its own waste, never having left this place ever since being placed here. Countless old injuries - perhaps even from its youngest days - were all over its scaly hide and the dragon's eyes looked injured as well and it seemed half-blind, more using its nose and ears to sense that someone was present.
Harry then saw Gibbins take out a strange contraption and use it to make a loud, metallic sound which made the angry dragon suddenly cower away in fear. It took him a moment before Harry made the connection that it was like the reaction of a dog who was being threatened to be beaten up again; as if the dragon was conditioned to expect pain when hearing that strange sound.
And they claim wizards are bastards... Harry thought after seeing the tortured creature.
Gibbins for his part no longer gave any attention to the dragon and removed the seal on the Potter main vault. The door swinging open, it was clear that most of the vault already was cleared out, all of the family heirlooms and other objects gone, leaving only the money, of which over half was already gone as well. Still, what was left was still enough to look like the vacation home of Scrooge McDuck.
"I'll wait outside until you are done," Gibbins then said.
Both men stepped into the vault and saw that Gibbins was being busy with keeping an eye on the dragon, no longer giving them any kind of attention, even yawning from being tired. That would prove to be a great error on his part, especially since the dragon again getting louder was proving to be the perfect cover. Harry again looked at his vault key, then tapped it with his wand.
It took only a few short moments, before five men appeared in the vault with no sound at all, like always with portkeys. Four of them were the strike team from MI-X, carrying their equipment as well as weapons - though those men also were capable of magic - while the fifth person was no one else than Charlie Weasley. The strike team wasted no time to sneak up on the goblin, and...
"Heaaammmppphhh-" Four to one they quickly overwhelmed and gagged him, before tying him up to neutralize him.
"He won't interfere, but time is now of essence," one of the men said. "We used the portkey as soon as you activated the beacon connected to it." He then looked to the wall separating the two vaults "Kind of bizarre that they put so much security into the door, but the walls have only weak protections against magic. Nothing a good shaped charge can't blast through. Let's move, men!"
The strike team right away unpacked their equipment, using heavy-duty Gunnings drills to prepare the wall for the explosive charge.
Charlie meanwhile looked a the dragon. "An Ukrainian Ironbelly. I didn't want to believe it, but looking at it now... How could they do such horrible thing to the poor guy? These injuries start right from only days after him hatching."
"I know, the idea is sick. It's like torturing dogs to make them highly aggressive while also making them so afraid of you they will never attack you." Harry then gave the strange contraption to Charlie. "He used that to make the dragon cower away."
"That's what I thought. They conditioned him by making that specific sound before hurting him. And by the looks of of it, they did so for years." Charlie gave the bound goblin a hurt look. "However as much as there is fear, should he be freed, there will be two instincts guiding him. Getting back to the surface... and an endless hatred of goblins and the wish to take revenge."
"Take cover, we are about to blow through the wall!" one of the men called and they did as told.
-BRAAAOOOOOOOOMM- The whole cave seemed to shake with the force of the explosion and for a moment they feared the ceiling could come down, but it held. The dragon looked highly alert again as well, searching for the source of the noise.
There still was a thick dust cloud in the vault, but the result was still clearly visible. A hole of over a meter in diameter had been blown through the wall, allowing access to the Lestrange vault. "I gave everyone a picture of what the cup looks like, so let's get through and search for it. If you find it, don't touch it. In fact, don't touch anything! Now let's hurry!"
They knew the explosion would surely attract unwanted attention, so they quickly got to the other side.
Where the Potter vault was empty, the Lestrange vault was full; filled with not only money but also countless other things that the Lestranges seemed to value. As interesting as that looked, it made the search more difficult
They looked as quick as they could, until Harry spotted something on a higher shelf and quickly compared it to the picture as well as the memory in which he had seen the cup. Part of him couldn't believe they finally had found it. "There is the damn thing!"
"Don't touch it, Harry!" Sirius warned. "We have no idea what kind of surprise Tommy-Boy did with that one!"
Sirius then was given a telescoping gripping claw and quickly took hold of the cup with it. Nothing happened, meaning the protection had to be on skin contact. Sirius then carefully put the golden cup into a prepared lead box, which he in turn gave to Harry after closing it.
"We managed it without problem, now for our way out..." Sirius was reaching for the portkey back to base, but it slipped through his hand and landed in a big pile of coins. "Damn it..." He reached for it, but his fingers did brush against the coins, and... "OW!"
They gasped when Sirius pulled back his hand as if burnt, and indeed the coins suddenly glowed with an unnatural heat. Surprisingly, not a single coin was melting - something which couldn't be said of the portkey, as it burst into flames from the heat before melting into slag. That had been their way of this hole, which of course was very bad news.
"Oh shit..." Harry groaned, knowing that fate had decided to bitchslap them right now.
"Sir, that was our ticket out of here," one of the specialists said in complete disbelief.
Sirius knew he had screwed up and that their easy way out of this place was no longer possible. "All right... Change of plans. I had no idea we actually would do this hare-brained idea. Charlie, I hope you know what you are doing."
"I hope that for all our sake as well." In all his years handling dragons, this would be the single most dangerous thing he'd ever done.
However, when they were getting through the hole, things only got worse. "Sound the alarm, sound the alarm! Intruders! Thieves!" the goblin shouted and they heard someone running away.
"That little twerp must have freed himself somehow," Harry cursed, feeling this was getting worse by the moment.
They had to hurry because they already heard a crowd approaching through the tunnel, which included the clanging sound meant to make the dragon cower in fear, which he did, looking like he was expecting untold horrors. Ironically, that also allowed them to get close to the dragon without getting hurt.
"There they are!"
Yep, Gibbins had returned together with a small horde of goblins he must have assembled from anyone he could reach in such a short time. That still was almost fifty goblins, and they looked utterly murderous, brandishing various weapons while constantly making the dragon cower with that damn sound. They looked ready to skin them alive.
"You take care of the dragon, we take care of this!" the most senior of the strike team called to them, while he and his men drew their weapons, knowing that against goblins conventional weapons were better than magic.
The goblin horde used that moment to attack. "Raahhhrrghhh!" -BLAM- That was one goblin getting a shotgun blast directly into the gut. He was blasted back violently into the others, who were showered in his blood. That unexpected development made them hesitate for a moment, and then gunfire erupted.
This has gone to hell really fast, Harry thought while they worked to cut the shackles off the dragon.
The goblins had used metal hardened against magic, but the three of them were making progress to get the damn things off. Harry simply didn't look to where the strike team was shooting at the goblins to hold them at bay, knowing those four were professionals who knew what they were doing. That, and it had to be a bloodbath.
Harry then noticed one goblin having sneaked up from the side, being about to attack an unsuspecting Sirius. He reacted fast. "Stupefy!"
Sirius only now noticed when seeing the goblin being blasted back by the stunner. "Crap! Thanks, Harry! Otherwise I would have gotten a blade into my guts."
They hastily continued to cut through the shackles with spells, until finally... -clang- That was the final shackle finally falling off. "Fall back!" Harry called, remembering all too well the insane plan that had been hatched on Luna's idea.
Of course the goblins realized that the intruders were retreating behind and then onto the back of the dragon and more clanging sounds filled the air. However, the dragon by this point noticed that he no longer was bound, that he could after many years again move freely, and that caused two instincts to come to the front. One was the yearning for the freedom of the skies. The other... was bitter revenge on the creatures that tormented him.
And right now his ears and nose detected a lot of them close by. So he took a deep breath...
-wooooosshhh- From the back of the dragon, his passengers watched in somewhat horrified fascination how the jet of flames incinerated many goblins, the survivors trying to run for their lives in a blind panic.
The dragon used that moment to slowly get into motion as well, still somewhat slow due to the years of inactivity. He downright trampled onto several goblins while his powerful tail smashed against the walls. The ceiling, already weakened by the explosion, finally collapsed behind them, burying the remaining goblins under tons of rock.
"Does he know where he is going?!" Harry asked Charlie, hoping they would not regret this.
"Dragons know instinctively where the surface is. I'm more concerned how much anger he has amassed due to trauma," Charlie said, then look ahead, watching the dragon destroy anything it his path. "Wands out! Let's help free the path."
"I hope the dragon won't mind having passengers," one of the specialists said with worry.
"I don't think he's even noticing, and even if he does, his priorities are very different right now," Charlie said.
They then became busy with blasting obstacles out of the way which would otherwise hinder the dragon on his path, while the dragon himself seemed to gain steam the longer he was moving, ripping apart the tracks on his path, while his tail caused more cave-ins behind them. There even was a cart full of goblins approaching them, before derailing and smashing against a distant wall, turning its passengers into bloody paste.
They didn't know who long in took, but Sirius spotted light at the end. "The cart station in the bank. Anchor yourselves, this will get rough!"
In the bank, an alarm had gone off minutes earlier and the goblins had thrown out all and any customers - sometimes literally - before slamming the gate shut. There was lots of confusion what was going on inside the tunnels, since no news were arriving, and it felt that there was a faint earthquake that was steadily getting stronger. The goblins were bracing for whatever was coming, and...
-crrrraaccc- In a huge dust cloud the back wall exploded, revealing the massive body of one of their guard dragons, which must have broken free. Fear gripped many of the goblins when being confronted by the enraged beast. The dragon for his part smelled countless of the horrible tormentors and took a very deep breath, before releasing a jet of flame that was the hottest it had ever created.
Those goblins caught in it were instantly burnt to ashes, while the radiant heat caused many others as well as the furnishment in the hall to burst into flames. The small mountains of coins directly in the path of the flame jet melted down to molten metal, spreading like a small flood and setting the whole building on fire. The dragon's wings ripped off the big chandeliers, causing them to crash down into the hall. It then made a run for the huge entrance gate.
The massive gates were blasted away like they were nothing, downright demolishing the buildings they flew into. The dragon roared when feeling the open skies and his freedom, then he took off.
"Charlie, please tell me you know what you are doing!" Sirius called against the wind, seeing the sprawl of London beneath, knowing this would all land in the news.
"I can steer him into the right direction! Trust me! But better call ahead so that they are ready!" Charlie called, before starting to do his thing, knowing the gentle nudges needed to make the dragon fly in a certain direction.
Harry for his put pulled out the communication mirror, fastened to his arm with a strap, and quickly called the other end. "Margaret, come in!"
The picture of Charlie's wife did appear, Sirius having lent her his mirror in case the insane plan had to be used. "Harry? Oh no, does that mean...?"
"We got out! But we are on the back of a really big dragon. Charlie is steering it, but get ready!" Harry knew that despite them having gotten out of the bank, they still needed to safely get off the dragon.
o
"Huuughh!" the goblin cried out when he was thrown to the floor. Being one of the higher-ups of Gringotts, he had not expected to suddenly be kidnapped in the middle of them trying to get some order into the disaster which had hit them.
The bag over his head was then pulled off and any form of angry protest died when seeing that he was directly confronted with Lord Voldemort himself. While goblins hated wizards with a passion, being confronted with a highly dangerous psychopath all on his own caused the completely understandable reaction of utter terror in the goblin.
"Lord Voldemort is not patient. Talk now, what exactly happened in the bank?"
The goblin knew to better talk or his life would be forfeit. "An alarm went off that there was a serious situation in the tunnels near the high-security vaults. Minutes later it became clear that one of our guard dragons has gotten loose and was rampaging its way to the surface when it broke through the walls. ... It... it utterly decimated most that were in the bank and reduced the whole building to a ruin."
Voldemort's red eyes narrowed at that babbling. "What about the vaults?!"
"We don't know what happened down there. Everyone who was close to those vaults is dead, as are most who witnessed the dragon in the bank! The tunnels around the high-security vaults have all collapsed and it will take weeks to dig through the rubble!"
"So the vaults can not be accessed?!" Voldemort clearly disliked that turn of events.
"N-no... And it wouldn't matter, Gringotts is finished. The currency... has utterly collapsed and is almost worthless... Your wealth is..." He didn't manage to finish when being hit by a green beam of death.
Voldemort was angry, since Bellatrix had told him exactly where she had stored one of his anchors - though she herself had no idea of its true worth. Now the vault containing it was utterly inaccessible for the foreseeable future, especially considering that those greedy sub-creatures now would surely try to loot the vaults after no longer seeing any reason to not do so.
That will be their undoing, he thought darkly when imagining them trying to steal the cup.
His mood recently had taken a dark turn due to multiple factors. Among them was Draco and Pansy deserting his ranks. He had no idea how they had done it - getting rid of their marks - apart from possibly cutting their own arms off. Their actions didn't speak well for their parents at all. Narcissa had taken a serious hit in the process and the Parkinsons only saved themselves by complete self-submission - though that was not too different from how they normally acted around him.
However, there was something else that now needed his attention. "Barty! We can forget any kind of monetary wealth of our followers! Learn how many hard assets they have!"
"Right away, my Lord!" Barty said, before making haste, knowing that the utter collapse of the monetary system would be a massive burden on them.
Voldemort took one last look at the dead goblin, before ordering to some followers "Remove that. I have no wish for Nagini to eat dirty trash."
...some hours later...
"We are closing in on the preserve... Finally, I don't think any of us can hold on for much longer," Charlie said while pointing ahead.
It had taken several hours of Charlie constantly nudging the dragon into the correct direction - a feat made more difficult by the dragon not flying in anything that could be called a straight line - but finally they had reached Wales and were closing in on the dragon preserve. Now came the hard part in making the dragon land, and that depended entirely on the ground crew.
They were damn sure the sight of a grown dragon - now that such things no longer can be hidden - had caused some serious panic and that they would hear about that from the government, but there after all had been little choice in the matter. They were already counting their lucky stars that any kind of air traffic must have been re-directed to stay far away from them.
On the ground meanwhile, everyone was waiting.
They had done their best to prepare luring the stray dragon to the ground inside the preserve. There were several dead cows, with the blood all around them, lying right next to a reasonably sized pond to act as bait for the dragon, who from they were being told had to be quite hungry and thirsty. Like every living being, dragons got tunnel vision once those needs hadn't been met for a while.
They were all preparing for the worst, since a mistreated dragon could become unpredictable if things go utterly wrong.
Margaret was scanning the sky closely, since after all her husband and the father of their daughter was on said dragon among others. Scanning the sky was not made easier by the fact that due to the time of the year, it already was starting to get dark. She had thought from the start that the idea was insane and now could only hope for the best.
I swear, should this end well, I'll kiss Charlie senseless right away, drag him to our bedroom next and then ride him until we are both sore, she promised to herself, feeling she would really need that.
She then noticed something against the sky. "There they come! Amplify the smell and direct it in their direction!" she called to the other dragon handlers.
The dragon for his part, already exhausted, moments later smelled fresh meat. Starved as he was, he quickly dived down to where the smell was coming from and landed next to the tasty food and convenient water source to still his thirst. He didn't even notice his passengers - which he still was unaware of - climbing off while he was busy with stilling his hunger. Nor did he notice the handles discreetly applying the measures that would ensure he wouldn't leave his new, though way better, home.
She waited until everyone had gained a respectful distance from the still eating dragon, before Margaret pulled her husband into a crushing hug while silencing him with her mouth.
She still didn't let go of him when their lips separated. "Damn it, never do anything like that ever again!"
"That was a complete exception..." Charlie stopped when seeing the look his wife was giving him. "All right, never again do something as dumb as that."
"I'll hold you to that..." Margaret then gave him an intense look. "As soon as we are done, I'll drag you into our bedroom, soundproof it and then..."
"Suddenly I'm glad Ron was not part of this. He probably would have died from embarrassment watching this," Harry remarked.
"Wait and see..." Sirius told Harry with a knowing look.
Harry wondered what that was about.
o
Harry understood what it was about when they entered the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts and was almost knocked over by a redheaded missile named Ginny. She clearly gave a crap about there being an audience while doing the same thing to Harry that Margaret had done to Charlie. And she was not alone due to Diane also being present and having her husband in the same position.
Both females clearly didn't care that they did have an audience. Ron simply looked away, not wanting to take a closer look at what his sister was doing with Harry.
Diane was releasing Sirius first. "Damn, this is really taxing on my nerves. It's one thing that you go onto dangerous mission, I accepted that, but messing up your escape so that you have to ride a full-grown dragon to Wales?!"
"We never planned to have it become that dangerous..." Sirius tried to defend himself.
"Look, I'm not accusing you of anything. I only wish all of this would be over." She then took a deep breath. "Ohhh, I don't remember pregnancy hormones being this bad the first time around."
Ginny meanwhile was done as well. "Harry, how comes that any time you are part of something like that, things get worse? Was that some kind of karmic punishment for not having us involved?"
"I honestly don't know." Ginny's closeness was finally allowing him to become less tense. "Without Luna's idea..."
Ginny knew what Harry meant. "Once I'm done with you, I'm going to hug her to death for her saving your necks."
The was a small feminine squeak and looking past Ginny's head, Harry noticed Harry having moved behind Neville. "Eh, maybe a normal hug will be enough?"
"I hate to interrupt, but there is a serious issue that needs to be dealt with first."
That came from McGonagall, while Dumbledore was still sitting behind his desk, knowing that he was in a room full of people who didn't have the best opinion of him. Thankfully, things now went back on track with Harry putting the lead box onto the floor before Sirius opened it and used the tongs to fish the cup out of the box before setting it onto the floor.
"No idea what kind of protection Tommy-Boy put onto this one, but it's not triggered by proximity, so it must be touch. Is it the real one?" Sirius questioned. He knew of those present Diane had no idea what exactly this was about and he knew there would be questions later from the look she was giving him.
"Look, I know this probably is a secret thing. I'll do you a favor and wait downstairs. But I want some kind of explanation later," Diane finally decided before leaving the office.
Now that she was gone, Dumbledore got up and took a closer look at the cup.
"Now, I honestly hope it's what we were looking for, since otherwise I'll suffer from a screaming fit," Sirius said, which was understandable considering what they had gone through to get the damn thing.
"This will only take some moments..." It took him some time, not only for a visual inspection but also for some magical checks, before Dumbledore looked up. "It is the real cup of Hufflepuff and Tom indeed has put a part of himself into it. It also does have a touch-based defense."
"Well, then let's get rid of it!" Ron honestly didn't want to be close to a part of Voldemort's soul for any longer than necessary.
Walking over to the secure cabinet, Dumbledore pulled the sword of Gryffindor out of it. "Who shall do the deed?" he then asked.
Everyone looked at each other, before Ginny stepped forward. "I'll do it. I was constantly worried for Harry while he was getting that thing, so smashing it would be a great help for me."
No one said anything while Ginny was given the sword. Holding up the sword, she looked down onto the cup. "I'll be happy once you are finally out of our lives!" She then slammed the blade down onto the cup, cleanly cutting it in two,
"Screeeeeee!" A shrill scream erupted from the destroyed cup and Ginny's trouser legs got sprayed with black residue. Unlike with other horcruxes, there was no outside defense, so clearly the defenses had been touch only.
"Yuck!" Ginny said when looking at her sullied trousers, her feminine sensibilities shining through.
"Here..." Hermione did a quick cleaning charm and the stuff came off, falling down into a puddle on the floor.
"We are now four down, meaning only two are left. Though, actually getting to those will be the difficult part," McGonagall thought aloud, knowing how difficult the final two would be. "Albus, what are you doing there?"
"Something for the future of the school..." Dumbledore said, collecting the pieces of the cup before putting them onto his desk. He then looked through the secure cabinet and took out two more items and put them next to the cup. Slytherin's locket and Ravenclaw's diadem. "Now, what you all will see has to be kept confidential."
Dumbledore took out his wand and cast a Reparo spell onto all three items. The Six by this point already had an idea what would happen, but Sirius and McGonagall were astonished when all three items, which clearly were beyond magical repair since that had been needed to destroy the soul pieces, put themselves back together until they again looked to be in pristine condition.
Dumbledore checked quickly. "No traces of Tom in them. They are clean."
"Albus, how did you do that?" McGonagall asked, still in disbelief that Dumbledore had been able to break a fundamental magical law like that.
"My wand... is very special. It's power is such that it can fix the unfixable. That also was how many years ago I put Hagrid's wand back together after it had been snapped unjustly. Please keep that to yourselves however." Dumbledore then put the sword next to the three other treasures. "All of the Founders' treasures united for the first time in many centuries."
They understood the symbolical meaning of such a thing. "Too bad we have to keep it secret for the time being, since otherwise Tom would know right away we are onto him. Though maybe we can rub it under his non-existent nose when the time is right," Harry commented.
"That's all good, but has anyone in the meantime come up with a plan how to take care of the final two horcruxes?" Neville asked the obvious question.
"Since Tom is insisting on wearing the ring at all times, you can only destroy it when you finally confront him. There is little chance of getting it off his person," Dumbledore explained.
"Great, of course things have to be difficult..." Harry grumbled, feeling that nothing was easy.
"As for Nagini, I already have made a plan which soon enough will come to fruition. Please don't ask me for details at this point, but I can assure you, that none of you will be in any way involved in it," Dumbeldore explained further. "I know what to do... A good way to close the book on my time as Headmaster."
That sounded rather ominous, but they didn't ask any further.
Looking to the exit, Sirius sighed. "Now I have to explain this all to Diane without making it sound outlandish."
...December 13th, 10 Downing Street...
Downing Street in these days was resembling more a crisis and war headquarters than a regular seat of government. It seemed that there was a never ending supply of problems for them to deal with. A problem such as the one Blair was right now discussing with Bertie Ahern, the Prime Minister of Ireland, on the phone.
"You understand of course, that those developments are putting me into a very difficult position," Ahern said over the phone.
"You are not alone in that regard, Mr. Ahern," Blair told him, looking every bit as alarmed as he thought the other man had to look. "It's putting at risk all the effort we have put into finally pacifying Northern Ireland. That very well could blow up in my face as well."
"The sad thing is, in principle representatives of the Irish magical community approaching me to ensure that magical matters of Ireland are to be decided in Ireland rather than from London is a good thing," Ahern summarized the problem.
"Indeed, the problem comes from the fact that those representatives speak for the magical community of all of Ireland, and they want those matters for the entire island being decided in Dublin. They are entirely ignoring the division of the island," Blair continued, laying bare the glaring problem.
"Yes, and it stems from the fact that while the Republic gained independence, the Ministry of Magic in London kept an iron grip onto the entire island, acting like those facts don't matter to them. And now we have the mess," Ahern finished the summary of the problem.
"What a mess..." Blair sighed.
The problem truly was threatening to seriously endanger the peace process in Northern Ireland. Even when the Republic of Ireland became independent after World War I, the Ministry in London had kept all of Magical Ireland under its control. Now that the Ministry had collapsed, the wizards of Ireland of course wanted to have their political center in Dublin, but since the magical community had never been politically divided on the island, it meant that suddenly all of the magical community wanted that, disregarding the fact of Northern Ireland being part of the United Kingdom.
That had the potential to get ugly really fast, since the wizards of Ireland would never accept any kind of partition, while allowing them to do as they are planning would not only undermine the national sovereignty of the UK, but also potentially make the conflict in Northern Ireland ten times more ugly than it already was. Unless someone with magic in Northern Ireland was a Unionist, they felt little loyalty to the UK and the crown.
"As soon as the terrorist crisis is solved, this need to be our top priority. We have to defuse this bomb, before it goes off," Ahern said, sounding tired. "I'll keep you informed, though I worry the wizards of Ireland have limited patience."
"Thank you, Mr. Ahern. I won't allow all our hard work be destroyed due to that, We will stay in contact," Blair agreed.
Hanging up the phone, the Prime Minister let out a loud sigh of frustration, feeling that this new and massive problem had come at the worst of all times. It wasn't like he was suffering from a lack of serious problems after all.
His secretary that moment opened the door. "Sir, Mr. Urqhardt, Ms. Bones and Mr. Shacklebolt are here to see you."
"Send them in. I'm already expecting them," Blair said, sitting up a bit straighter.
Moments later three people entered. Mr Urqhardt would give him a report on what was left of the economy of the magical side as well as the end result of their monetary warfare against Gringotts. Bones was working hard to make herself useful, especially since she had known the old system inside-out. Shacklebolt meanwhile would give updates from how the Order's efforts. The man had been quite eager to act as connection between the Order and Downing Street after being made aware how parts of the Order had been working with MI-X for an already extended time.
"I was expecting both of you. You first, Mr. Urqhardt. How do things look at the economic front?" Blair asked after all three of them had made themselves comfortable in some comfortable seats.
"To put it frankly, while the war and the collapse of the Ministry had already severely damaged the economy of Magical Britain, the utter collapse of the monetary system due to Gringotts becoming dysfunctional after the hyperinflation we caused resulted in a cessation of almost all economic activity. It honestly has to be rebuilt from the ground up," Urqhardt reported, looking himself a bit scared how complete the collapse was.
"And what does the Bank of England say in regards to the currency?" Blair asked further.
"The coins have been reduced to their pure material worth. Compared to their former buying power, that is very little, due to the coins mostly being made with ordinary metal that is then thinly coated with copper, silver or gold respectively. Through the exchange, the BoE has gained significant gold reserves - much more than what was needed to produce our fake coins - and the gold actually is worth more than the Pound Sterling Gringotts exchanged it for," Urqhardt reported further.
"So little economic activity due to their currency essentially having little worth anymore, compared to before?" Blair asked.
"Unsurprisingly, what little economic activity there now is, is done in Pound Sterling. After all, enough of those have flooded in to replace the failing currency." Urqhardt then looked a bit thoughtful. "Sir, to be frank, once the rebuilding does start, it will be quite the task to integrate their side into the economic machine."
"I know, but there is little other choice. At least it is comparatively small. I don't envy the German Chancellor, whose government had to integrate a bankrupt country of sixteen million people. Compared to that, our problem will be peanuts." Blair knew too well of the massive economic problems caused by German re-unification.
"Kind of an irony, considering how closely Germany's own magical community is integrated into the greater economy," Urqhardt remarked.
"I still find it kind of an irony that the goblins had planned to destroy the economy, only for the collapsing economy instead pulling them into the abyss as well," Madam Bones remarked, having little compassion for them after hearing what they had planned.
"Yes. I myself was surprised how they had played the long game," Shacklebolt agreed.
"We will go in detail over this when the Economic Development Committee meets the next time." Blair then turned to Bones. "Madam Bones, I know the situation is not optimal for you..."
"No, it was my decision to blow the Statute of Secrecy to pieces, thus causing you countless problems. The least I can do now is helping in any way I can," she said firmly while adjusting her monocle. "Rallying those from the Ministry who are beyond suspicion to work for your government is difficult, but wiorth it."
"Indeed, and I can not thank you enough. Though, the Order most certainly has helped as well with the structures it erected and we have access to." Blair then turned to the final member of the group. "You actually are a remarkable man, Mr. Shacklebolt. Sadly, our meetings are not under ideal conditions."
"This is none of your fault. Sometimes, fate deals us dirty. Nonetheless, I have some news to convey," Shacklebolt said, having adapted to the new circumstances quite well. "Speaking of Gringotts, I can give the news that the goblins abandoned the bank and retreated underground. There is no doubt they will try another rebellion, thinking their enemies now are weak."
Blair could only shake his head. "Trying the same action over and over again while expecting a different outcome was said to be a sign of insanity. They are way too proud for their own good and insist that 100% of their demands are to be fulfilled. Any violence from their side will be put down swiftly."
"Yes, it's a shame that I know for sure they will squander this huge chance to improve their position through diplomacy and instead do the same old dance again. They sadly are that predictable." Shacklebolt then changed topic. "I do bring some news from the front. The Death Eaters have changed tactic, now that the Ministry is no more."
"And what tactic would that be?" The Prime Minister had the feeling he wouldn't like the news.
"At first it seemed personal, since the homes of the families of some of his most important enemies got attacked. However, we did observe a change of tactic after your announcement to the nation. Attacks against magical targets have ceased almost entirely. Instead..."
Blair held up a hand. "Wait... We did register a steady uptick on civilian targets over the past two weeks. Are you going to tell me they are now concentrating on a general terror campaign?"
"I fear so. We speculate that you revealing Voldemort's true identity to the nation and declaring him public enemy number one did not sit well with him. You can expect a whole wave of atrocities, since to them, people without magic are little more than cattle they can kill for their own amusement," Shacklebolt confirmed.
"They are fanatics. In their mind they are doing nothing wrong," Bones added, remembering some chilling statements from Death Eaters in the courtroom when it came to their crimes against non-magicals.
"Great... Wonderful..." Blair looked ready to rip some of his hair out. "We already are striking back where we can, but it is made difficult due to all the protective spells those people are using. We know which families are up to the neck in it, but their houses are next to impossible to find."
"Yes, magic can make that task highly frustrating. However, there always are ways around that." Shacklebolt then scratched his chin. "Such spells of concealment , even if they mess with our memories and senses to make a direct attack impossible, still do have their weaknesses and if one gets creative..."
The Prime Minister hoped this was a good sign.
...in the safe house, December 17th...
By this time it was not unusual for the three pairs of the Six to share a bed. hat however was not just for their adult activities, but also due to the fact that all of what what was going on around them made them want some closeness which would allow them to sleep better. This also allowed them to have surprisingly deep conversations before they would drift off to sleep.
Such as during this evening.
"You know, Harry, recently I got the feeling that things are shifting to our favor, even though a lot of bad things have happened," Ginny told Harry while they both tried to find sleep.
"I understand that. Magical Britain collapsing and the secrecy being broken... But in turn Tommy now has lots of new enemies and we are close to cutting his nuts off," Harry replied, his last point playing at there only being two horcruxes left.
"Quite crass of you, Harry," Ginny remarked. "Though, I wonder a bit what we will do once this all is over and we did get additional non-magical education. You know, I honestly had plans to go into professional Quidditch, but now I doubt that will be a thing in our country for quite some time."
"Any plans for that case? Something you are planning to fall back on?" Harry for his part knew he still would go into law enforcement, and that having magic would make him sought-after.
"Promise me you won't laugh. Well, I'm thinking about getting into child care," Ginny admitted.
Harry indeed did not laugh, but he was a bit surprised. "You want to become a kindergartener? That's actually a respectable job, though it does not exactly fit with the image you project to the outside."
"Look... don't spread that around, since Mum would feel it's a late victory, but being around multiple young children over the past years did make me realize I have a nurturing side. I know, doesn't really fit with Ginny the big tomboy, who still will get lots of room, but then I look at Diane and know it's possible," Ginny explained.
"You did a really good job in hiding that, since I had no idea..." Harry was reminded of the fact that people were not one-dimensional caricatures that only could have one defining trait. "Also, it's still years in the future, so perhaps you find something else you like?"
"Maybe. We're young and plans can change once we know better. Still, not that I'm planning to go soft. I'm honestly thinking about trying out rugby once we have the time," Ginny reminded her boyfriend.
Harry chuckled when imagining it. "The poor blokes you play against. You might not look like it, but you can be very nasty when you want to be."
"Also..." Ginny hesitated for a moment. "I felt that kind of job choice would be good practice for when I have some of my own..."
Realizing what hs girlfriend meant, Harry held onto her hand until they both fell asleep.
At the same time Ron and Hermione had a different conversation in bed.
"It's still a bit weird to think how different things will be once this all is over," Ron thought aloud while he and Hermioned laid on their sides, facing each other. "Also, while it did become better, I still am a bit disturbed that I'm now a bloodied fighter but am not more bothered about it than I actually am."
"Remember how I felt when I caused that Death Eater to fall to his death? I think all the horrible things happening around us are having a negative effect on us, so that we feel it less to protect ourselves." Hermione honestly felt worried about that and knew they needed help after the war.
"Makes you wonder how people in my parents' age group managed during the last war. I guess they tried not to show..." Ron honestly wondered if that was how they themselves would deal with it.
"Not a healthy way to deal with such things," Hermione thought aloud.
Ron grimaced when remembering something. "Well, I did spot Mum a number of times looking at a picture of her brothers, looking ready to burst into tears. They both died in the last war and I have no memory of them."
"Did your father fight in the last war?" Hermione wondered, since Arthur Weasley never spoke about it.
"I honestly wonder about that myself, since Dad never talks about it." Ron remembered his father being very closed-up about the matter. "However, since he is part of the old crowd and after what I've seen when he fought at the Burrow... Makes me wonder what Dad doesn't want to tell us."
"Maybe we are better off not knowing." Hermione did remember some of the stuff her paternal grandfather had told her about World War II, and even the retelling had been scary.
If Ron were to be honest, there were numerous things about his parents he didn't know about, and he honestly didn't want to stick his nose into it. "Well... You know, all of this makes it really hard to think about the future. I kind of envy my brothers, they had it easy in that regard... even Percy."
"I also wonder..." Hermione then sighed. "Let's get some sleep for now."
"Good idea... Good thing we'll all get through in one piece..." Ron said while starting to drift off.
Had she been more awake, Hermione might have worried that it was too early to say so.
Meanwhile, Neville and Luna were in a bit unusual position in bed.
"Isn't that a bit uncomfortable for you?" Neville wondered when seeing the position his girlfriend was taking in the bed. "Also, won't your pillow smell terribly after your feet had been on in for a while?"
"Oh, I didn't think about that," Luna realized, her current position being with her feet on her pillow while her head was at the feet end of the bed. "I was reading about this sleeping position in a Scandinavian children's book."
Neville arched an eyebrow, wondering what kind of children's book she had been reading. "Well, it doesn't work and I would rather have you up here with me."
"That is a strong point..." Luna shifted around until she was back in the correct orientation for bed. "Yes, this is much more pleasant."
Neville knew his girlfriend had some interesting character traits. While others would see her as somewhat weird, to him it was part of the package that made her the wonderful girl he was in love with. "Luna, can I ask you something?"
"Didn't you just do so?" She then giggled. "All right, how can I help?"
Neville took her hand. "Luna, I know you try to be strong for the other and act like you are taking everything in stride. But I know that's not the case. Can I help you so that you won't keep it all inside?"
Luna didn't say anything at first, then sudden she rolled over to him and held close while letting out a cry of relief. "I really don't deserve you... I might look calm most of the time... But inside I'm hurting like everyone..."
Holding his girlfriend close while she let out pent-up emotions, Neville knew that Luna would always have some troubles with this. She had come a long way from when he had first met her, but she herself had admitted that her brain was in some ways wired differently from others. It didn't make her any less of a wonderful person, but on the emotional sector she would always struggle with some things that others did without even thinking about it.
He also knew that he would be there for her so that she would not have to carry that burden alone.
to be continued...
Next Episode:
"Heavy Losses"
Notes:
Here the notes.
Besides getting the ball rolling in the MI-X meeting, I also used it to give some more information what else is going on. Considering how much is happening, there after all is no way I can show all of it.
I like showing what other people are doing while the main plot comes along. I also bet you didn't expect to see Mr. Shark one more time. When seeing the Parkinsons, I will mention again in the story that they escaped bigger trouble due to Pansy by crawling at Voldemort's feet.
I felt Ginny of course would not be pleased with Harry getting into a seriously dangerous situation. He had been in too many of those already. And Luna's interesting ideas are about to prove highly important.
First we see how Diagon Alley is basically dead. Then a very realistic depiction of a bank breaking down. And then things go to shit... They do get the cup, but then Sirius has butterfingers and they have to go the hard route. How do you think the whole sequence was described? And of course Tom is pissed about it.
I always found it doubtful in canon that the dragon flew to Hogwarts of all places, so I made a better explanation where it's going. One cup down... And Dumbledore then repairs the treasures. All who guessed that one now get confirmation.
Of course Blair sees the huge mess all of this is causing - stuff that is not touched upon often. And in the end, talking in bed. The story Luna is alluding to is of course Pippi Longstocking.
But beware the title of the next chapter...