Scribe! Art thou going to post the chapter tonight? Thy previous chapter was too brief.

Augh! Gwendolena! What are you doing here?

Consuming popcorn.

Where the fu—

That is no way to comport thyself in the presence of a lady!

Fine. Where on Earth did you get popcorn?

Thy trash can. 'Tis dead now.

But…nevermind. More important question: what are you doing here? You passed on!

Indeed. So, prithee, imagine my surprise when I found myself in thy world again.

I'm pretty d…um…surprised, myself. Any idea why you're stuck here?

I fear I've grown attached to my many-times great-nephew and those he hath chosen—and who hath chosen him—as his family. The Beyond calls unto me, but I wish to see what comes to pass for them.

Oh. Just so you know, I have no idea where this story is going or how long it's going to take.

Then we shalt find out together. Just so thou knowest, I have the highest of standards in literature.

Really? Because nothing about your search history screams "high standards" to me.

Churl. I knowest whereon thou layest thine head at night. Prithee post the chapter before I wax most wroth.

Fine, fine. Don't do anything rash. One of my wife's cousins got wroth with some wax and the results were pretty ugly.

Wait, what…never thou mindst. I wish not to know.

If kings in the Dark Ages had conference rooms, Harry was pretty sure they would have looked like this. The huge rectangular room was hewn from the same polished bedrock and lit by not just those sconces, but by two huge rock crystal chandeliers with at least thirty candles each. Below the chandeliers was a long conference table carved from what appeared to be a single slab of black granite, around which sat several goblins in pinstripe suits, all of whom were shouting at each other in that guttural language of theirs. At the head of the table sat another goblin in a pinstripe suit with shiny steel pauldrons armoring his shoulders, resting his long, pointy nose on interlaced fingers as he watched the debate unfolding before him.

Conversation died down as they entered the room, and Harry and Hermione instinctively moved closer to one another as attention, spiteful and keen, settled upon them. One of the nearer goblins stood up and sneered in Rustynail's face.

"What business do humans have in a Gringotts Senior Officers meeting?" it asked, poking him in the chest.

Rustynail caught the thing's finger and bent, applying pressure straight toward the wrist and forcing the other goblin back and to his knees. "Because they have valuable information, Senior Account Manager Heartpoke," Rustynail told him. "Are you going to deny that to the Director?"

"Enough," the goblin at the head of the table said, his voice dry with just a hint of amusement. "Rustynail is doubtless aware of the fate that would await him were he merely conducting a human tour group into my boardroom. Cease your prattle and allow him to provide whatever valuable information he thinks he has…or condemn himself to death."

Rustynail nodded and released his antagonist. The other goblin rose to his feet, glowering, and stepped back.

"The cursebreakers hired by Lord Black have been released from their vows," Rustynail said. "They have information that I believe will both exonerate Lord Black and be of interest to the Director."

Heartpoke scoffed. "They're going to keel over dead, you mean. Lord Black's heir is Draco Malfoy, not that muggleborn runt."

"Lord Black made Harry Potter his heir as one of his first acts after he fled Azkaban," Rustynail replied. "I was present for that and I saw the Vow lift from the cursebreakers earlier."

"That's impossible!" Heartpoke said. "Why didn't you inform us?"

"Gringotts provides the utmost confidentiality to its clients," Rustynail said blandly, as if reciting an advertising slogan. Heartpoke's face went red with rage, but the other goblin continued calmly. "Kidneyprod, Toesmash, please tell us all what really happened at Lord Black's London manor."

The two cursebreakers nodded and stepped forward. "Director Ragnok, Senior Account Managers, it is an honour to address you," Kidneyprod said. "At ten o'clock this morning, we arrived at Lord Black's manor at 12 Grimmauld Place. He and freelance cursebreaker Hestia Jones were present and directed us to one of the guest bedrooms. Lord Black explained that they'd found something extremely Dark in his late younger brother's bedroom, but moved it to the guest bedroom for detailed analysis."

Toesmash picked up the story. "My initial thought was that an inexperienced human cursebreaker was simply out of her depth, but I was mistaken. Our analysis was unable to identify the nature of the artefact, so we brought it back to Gringotts to examine with some of the more powerful tools available there. We determined it was a horcrux and demanded that Lord Black allow us to destroy it immediately."

Hestia gasped, as did several of the senior account managers. The only reaction from Director Ragnok was that his eyes narrowed, which somehow worried Harry even more. Goblins like Heartpoke reminded him of bullies like Dudley, and he'd seen Dudley back down from bigger kids when they were little. Director Ragnok, though, made him feel like he was in the room with a predator that saw bigger creatures as merely larger sources of food.

"Lord Black demurred," Kidneyprod said. "He—"

"Ah hah!" Heartpoke shouted. "Lord Black knew and—"

"Shut your dung-filled mouth," Kidneyprod said.

Heartpoke's face turned bright red again. "You dare speak—"

"You're a soon-to-be-dead moron with a flobberworm for both a brain and a todger," Kidneyprod said, "so yes, I do dare. If you have a problem, then challenge me so I can gut you like a mooncalf and get back to what I was talking about."

Heartpoke gulped and remained silent.

"Anyway," Kidneyprod continued, "He asked us if we could use this horcrux to find others. I was horrified that there might be others, but Lord Black was certain there must be at least one more shard of Voldemort's soul out there. Unfortunately, we were unable to do so, and Lord Black had just agreed to the destruction of the item when he was detained."

Director Ragnok's grin widened. "How interesting. Thank you for the additional information, Cursebreakers. That changes a few things."

"But…but…don't tell me you believe the human, Director," Heartpoke said. "He may have just been using that one to throw off our suspicion of how he placed another in Bellatrix's vault."

"Then why," Hermione asked pointedly, "would he have destroyed a third…horcrux…did you call it?"

Hestia paled as all of the goblins turned to stare at Hermione, but the girl didn't waver under the attention.

"Yes," Ragnok said. "A horcrux. Why do you believe Lord Black destroyed another one?"

"Because I saw him do so." Hermione spoke as if she were giving a particularly simple answer in Maths Class.

"Elaborate," Ragnok said.

"You can't believe—" Heartpoke began.

"I am the Director." Ragnok didn't remove his stare from Hermione as he spoke. "I can do whatever I want. If you have a problem, challenge me. Otherwise, stop wasting my time. Now, elaborate, human."

"Almost two years ago," Hermione said, "Harry's scar started to really hurt him. It got worse and eventually black smoke poured out of it and formed into a wraith. Sirius broke into our house—we didn't know him yet—and imprisoned it with the Protego Anima spell until the wraith disintegrated. Kidneyprod described a horcrux as a soul shard and it sounded like some soul magic Sirius described to us recently, so I think there may have been a horcrux in Harry, too."

Toesmash was the first to overcome his surprise enough to speak. "That dragon-licker made a horcrux out of a living being? That's stupid even for a wizard!"

"It may not have been intentional," another, older goblin said. He sat next to Ragnok and wore a simple charcoal grey suit.

Ragnok turned to him. "What do you mean, Senior Account Manager Handflenser?"

"Remember the circumstances of that night," Handflenser said. "Voldemort had planned to murder the child, so he may have prepared to make a horcrux out of something else. The Potters clearly disrupted his plans somehow and a destabilised piece of his soul ended up on their son."

"That's quite possible." Ragnok reached into a pocket of his jacket and withdrew a rough-hewn piece of crimson crystal. "This is a Truthstone. Hold it in your hands, child, and repeat what you told us. It will glow if you tell us the truth."

Hermione nodded and stepped forward to take the crystal, but Ragnok lifted it just out of her reach. "Do you not wish," he asked her, "to know what it does if you lie?"

She stopped, hand still outstretched, and thought for a moment. "I'm curious, of course," she said, "but I didn't want to waste any time exonerating Sirius." She thought for another moment, then smiled, showing her teeth. "When I'm done, could you give it to Senior Account Manager Heartpoke and ask him if he's deceived you today?"

All of the goblins stared at her, gobsmacked…except Ragnok, who burst out laughing. "The heart of a goblin beats in this witch!" he said. "It will be done." He paused for a moment and, without even looking at Heartpoke, cut him off as he opened his mouth to speak. "Shut up, Heartpoke."

The other goblin closed his mouth and slumped back in his chair as Hermione took the stone and retold her story. It glowed a dull, throbbing crimson the whole time, as if beating with her heart.

"That," Ragnok said as he reclaimed the Truthstone, "settles that. Now, Heartpoke, it's your turn."

With a grimace, Heartpoke took the stone. "I have told you nothing but the truth today, Director," he said.

The Truthstone flashed in his hand and the goblin's skin began to smoke. The goblins next to him edged away, but Heartpoke merely sat there, gritting his teeth and holding the stone.

"You surprised me," Ragnok said. "I expected you to challenge me rather than submit to the stone."

"I couldn't let a witchling show me up," Heartpoke said through gritted teeth, "and I knew the stone would grant me a quicker death than you would."

"Wise," Ragnok said as even more of Heartpoke's skin began to blacken. "Wiser still not to deceive us like this, but nevertheless an end worthy of a goblin."

Heartpoke opened his mouth in a soundless scream before his entire body simultaneously ignited. Hestia and Harry gasped, while Hermione stood there, her fists clenched, watching silently. Her jaw was set, but Harry knew that was what she did when she was trying not to react to something. He'd seen her do the same thing when bullies called her names in class.

About thirty seconds later, all that remained of Heartpoke was ash. Ragnok reached onto the line of ash on the table where Heartpoke's right arm had been and pulled the stone from it, blew some ash off of it, and put it back into his pocket.

"Does that," he asked Hermione, "answer your question?"

"Yes, it does," Hermione replied. Harry was pretty sure he was the only one in the room who knew her well enough to hear the waver in her voice. "Thank you, Director."

"You are welcome, witch." Ragnok gestured to one of his guards. "Fetch Lord Black, unshackle him, and return his wand."

The goblin bowed and hurried out of the room.

Ragnok turned to the cursebreakers. "Do either of you know Cursemaster Sgiandubh?"

Toesmash nodded.

"Excellent," Ragnok said. "Bring him here."

Sirius ended up arriving before the Cursemaster, looking angry but no worse for the wear. Before he could do more than glare at Hestia, Harry and Hermione lunged at him and hugged him tightly.

"We were so worried!" Hermione said. Harry didn't trust his voice right then so he didn't say anything at all.

"Neither of you should be here," Sirius said, gently rubbing their backs as he spoke.

"Don't care," Harry said, and Hermione added, "Me neither."

A wheezy voice spoke up from behind them. "So Lord Black is innocent in this matter? Then why in the Deeps did you call me here, Director? I was working on a better way to detect soul shards because apparently some idiot had one in their vault."

"That's exactly why," Ragnok said. "Cursemaster Sgiandugh, this is Sirius, the current Lord Black." He gave the Cursemaster a quick summary of the day's events, concluding with, "I suspect Lord Black is deeply upset with us right now, and I thought we should explain to him why we were willing to start a war just now in the hopes that he will choose not to start one."

Sgiandubh shrugged. "As you wish, Director, but he couldn't start one if he was dead, either."

Sirius tensed, but Ragnok just sighed. "What about all of the witnesses who saw him enter the bank?"

"They couldn't talk if they were dead, either."

"And the witnesses who saw them enter the bank?"

Sgiandubh grinned toothily. "Also couldn't talk if they were dead."

"At some point," Ragnok said, "killing that many witnesses becomes indistinguishable from war, which I'm trying to avoid."

"Oh!" Sgiandubh said. "There's your problem."

"Can someone remind me why we haven't thrown him to the dragon yet?" Ragnok asked.

"Because," Handflenser said, "he would give the dragon indigestion, and a dyspeptic dragon is the last thing we want."

"Besides," Sgiandubh added, "I'm your favourite uncle on your mam's side."

"You killed the rest of her brothers," Ragnok said.

Sgiandubh waved off Ragnok's comment. "They were arseholes who had it coming."

"Just explain to the humans," Ragnok said through gritted teeth, "why we would take extreme offence to having a horcrux in the bank for an extended period of time."

"Of course, Director!" Sgiandubh said with what appeared to be the precise amount of enthusiasm calibrated to infuriate Ragnok even more, then turned to the humans.

"Magical humans like yourselves are able to interact with the magic in the world around us," he said, "but you're not creatures of pure magic like veela, house elves, or us. That means that, should this world's magic ever die, you would continue to survive as muggles, while the rest of us would cease to exist. Magic gives us great gifts, but we're completely dependent upon it as a result. It suffuses our very beings, so a place like this where so many of us live is automatically one of the most magical places on the entire planet."

He gestured vaguely down, presumably in the direction of the vaults. "Into that mixture some damn fool threw a horcrux, also known as a soul shard."

"Or a phylactery?" Hermione asked.

"Technically, the phylactery is what the soul shard is bound into, but otherwise very good," Sgiandubh told her. She started smiling, but stopped when he continued, "Now shut up! I'm still talking."

Harry decided it was convenient that goblins lived a long life, because he was going to get Sgiandubh for that when he was old enough to do so and survive. He liked that Hermione paid attention and asked questions.

Sgiandugh continued, "Where was I…right, so these soul shards are obviously too small to be whole souls, but so is the soul that contains them. Both of those voids, if you will, attract the attention of the nameless things that live in interplanar space. Those innominate ones use the voids as a way to worm themselves into our plane and gorge on any souls or magic they can find in the limited range of their senses. Fortunately, their senses are designed for use in the interplanar nothingness, so our world overwhelms them. Normally, the unnamed ones…"

He paused. "I caught your raised eyebrows there, human girl. Yes, I do keep changing the name. I've come closer than I'd like to the undesignated things, so I try to mix up the way I refer to them whenever possible just to be on the safe side. Anyway, they would normally seek out the soul from which the soul shard was carved first, as that would be a larger 'lure' to them, if you will. However, by stashing a horcrux inside of Gringotts, Voldemort may have hoped that the magic suffusing this place would amplify its attraction to the undefined things and lure them here, instead, where they would first consume the horcrux and subsequently the rest of us. That's why we must take soul shards so seriously. Placing one here is essentially attempted genocide, and it wouldn't be the first time a Black has tried to end us all. It might not even be the second. Alright, I'll now take questions."

Sirius glared at him. "You were going to kill me without any evidence I had anything to do with it because you thought I was like my ancestors?"

"I mean, I did nearly kill your father during Ranrok's Rising," Sgiandubh said. "I thought you held a grudge."

"Ranrok's…that was my great-great-grandfather!" Sirius said. "I'm Sirius III Black, not Sirius II."

"Oh…well…how can you blame me if your family is the one reusing names?" Sgiandubh asked. "You all look the same to me, anyway."

"That's enough," Ragnok said. "Cursemaster Sgiandubh, I appreciate the information, but get out of here before you start another war."

"Fine," Sgiandubh grumbled.

"Wait!" Hermione raised her hand. "What can we do to attract the unnamed things to Voldemort's spirit before he manages to find a body?"

"Good question. I've never had occasion to lure one before, but I'm going to research it." He cocked his head at her. "When you graduate Hogwarts, I'd consider you for a research assistant."

Handflenser, Rustynail, and several of the other senior account managers gasped. Even Ragnok raised his eyebrows.

"Not a chance." Sirius placed a hand protectively on Hermione's shoulder. "He hates humans."

"That's not entirely accurate, Lord Black," Ragnok said. "Cursemaster Sgiandubh, what do you think of centaurs?"

"Puffed-up arseholes who pretend to be seers by speaking incomprehensibly and shoehorning whatever happens next into an interpretation of what they said," Sgiandubh replied.

"Veela?" Ragok asked.

"Overgrown flaming parrots who think they're special because they can beguile humans, which would be absolutely adorable hubris were they not all so damn ugly."

"Goblins?"

"A bunch of whiny little tunnel rats who think an ability to perform basic arithmetic operations on gold coins means they're automatically better than everyone else."

"Do you see what I'm getting at?" Ragnok asked Sirius. "That he would even consider the child as an employee is an incredible honour."

"I'm afraid," Hermione said archly, " I'm likely to have my hands full helping Harry, but I'd be happy to assist Cursemaster Sgiandubh if he runs across any intractable problems and finds himself in need of advice."

A few goblin jaws dropped in the room, but Sgiandubh merely burst out laughing. "Well played, child! I would take offence, but I've made fun of cursebreakers for walking into far less obvious traps than the one I just stumbled over, so I'll just take my medicine. I'll instruct Rustynail to contact you if I discover anything interesting about how to suck Voldemort's soul into aeons of pure torment."

Hermione curtseyed. "Thank you."

Ragnok stared at the doorway after Sgiandubh departed. "That was…unexpected. In many, many ways. In any case, though, I hope that explanation shed some light on our actions, Lord Black. From our perspective, all of our lives were threatened, so we responded in kind. Now that we understand that wasn't the case, we see no reason for further hostilities and would like to make you an offer to ensure this whole incident is forgotten. Rustynail, what is the status of the horcruxes the cursebreaking team found and the rest of Bellatrix Black Lestrange's dower vault?"

"They destroyed both with basilisk venom," Rustynail said. "All artefacts in that vault have also been destroyed, just to be safe, and the gold is being melted down and recast into galleons."

"Excellent," Ragnok said. "Replace the gold in the vault and take no overt action against Voldemort's supporters yet. However, mark the vault of each convicted and in Azkaban as that of an Enemy of the Goblin Nation. If they are released from Azkaban under due process of law, remove that mark. If they break out, kill them if they enter the bank and dispose of the body."

"Interesting plan," Hestia said. "You can continue to lure them into the bank to dispose of while simultaneously having plausible deniability if the Death Eaters succeed in seizing the government in the future."

"Humans have come up with a great many reasons to slaughter goblins over the centuries," Ragnok said. "I would like to avoid adding any more."

"It seems to me," Harry said, "that wouldn't matter."

Sirius and Hestia looked at him with surprise, but Hermione got a small smile on her face and shot him a look he could only describe as "proud."

"What do you mean?" Ragnok asked.

"Old Mouldy already tried to kill all of you long before he won any war," Harry said. "I expect his next attempt will be a lot more direct if he takes control of the Ministry, and I'm not sure how much 'plausible deniability' matters to someone who's already tried to exterminate you for no reason."

Ragnok drew his lips back to show his teeth. "Just what would you have us do, boy?"

"Well, I'm going to try my hardest to put that arsehole in the ground permanently," Harry said. "I can't make you try your hardest to help me with my fight, but I don't expect I'll be around to help you with yours if I fail."

"And you think we would need your help?" Ragnok sneered.

Sirius subtly shifted to position himself more between Harry and the goblins at the table, but Harry did his best to ignore the tension and respond casually. "Yes, I do, for one reason: you were happy to talk about killing Sirius when you thought he was the culprit, but now that you know it was Old Mouldy, all I hear you talking about is 'plausible deniability.' You remind me of the bullies in our Year 2 classroom back in Surrey. They talked big around people their own age, but they got real quiet whenever a Year 4 kid showed up."

"Are you calling us cowards?" Ragnok's voice was calm now, and Harry realised he was on thin ice.

"No," Harry said. "You haven't done anything cowardly yet and I think your plan to deal with Death Eaters is actually really clever, at least for the moment. There's probably going to come a time when you'll have to pick a side for keeps, though, and I suppose that's when we'll know what you really are."

"Do not think to dictate my choices to me, wizard," Ragnok said.

Harry took Hermione's hand in his. "My best friend and I don't have a choice at all," he said. "Old Mouldy's coming for us. If you still think you have a different choice, then…" he trailed off and shrugged. "I don't know what to tell you."

A harsh, snickering laugh sounded from just around the doors into the conference room and Ragnok sighed. "Gods below damn it, Sgiandubh. Why are you still here?"

"What's wrong?" the old goblin asked as he stepped back into the doorway. "The little brat's got you and you know it."

Hermione squeezed Harry's hand a little tighter at the word "brat."

"What's wrong is that I neither want to start a war nor get caught in the middle of a wizarding war!" Ragnok said. "Why can you not get that through your brittle old skull?"

"Probably because Voldebastard already started the war," Sgiandubh said. "The only good death for a goblin is dying with your blade buried in the chest of one wizard as you spit in the eye of the witch cursing you. The things without names don't give you that sort of dignity."

"Fine. Then you're going to be one of the ones I assign to help that wizard when he comes calling."

"Good." Sgiandubh grinned, showing his teeth. "I don't mind helping a human if it means I get to kill a wizard who tried to exterminate us. We need to cull a few of them periodically to remind the rest why they fear us."

Ragnok sighed. "You and that human deserve one another. All of you, get out of my sight before I forget why I don't want to execute you."

As Harry hurried away with Hestia, Sirius, and Hermione, the last thing he heard from the room was Sgiandubh's harsh, snickering laugh.

As soon as everyone was safely in Sirius's flat (via the floo at the Leaky Cauldron), he knelt in front of Harry and Hermione and pulled them into a tight hug. Hestia stood next to them, looking down at the floor and away from Sirius.

"I'm so sor—" she began.

"Just go," Sirius said.

Hestia burst into tears and turned toward the floo, but Harry ducked out of Sirius's embrace and grabbed the edge of her robes. "No," he said.

"Harry…" Sirius's tone had an edge to it.

"We begged her to take us," Harry said. "I won't let you yell at her for doing what we asked."

"You're children!" Sirius said. "She never should have brought you into it in the first place because you'd make exactly that sort of stupid decision!"

"I couldn't just let you die!" Harry shot back.

"I promised your parents that I'd look after you," Sirius said. "If that means I die, then I die."

Hermione pushed out of his embrace so she could stare him in the eyes. "Then you've learnt nothing at all, have you?"

"What are you—"

She grabbed him by the lapels. "He doesn't need you dying for him, you bloody plonker! He needs you to live! The legal fiction that you're his primary caregiver is the only reason my parents have been allowed to keep him. With you gone, someone else like Albus Dumbledore will swoop back in to collect him and try to get control of his influence and money. We can't protect him without you and he might be abused and I might never see him again and—"

Hermione's outburst was so unexpected and violent that Sirius was basically allowing her to shake him like a rag doll. After a moment, though, Harry recognised the signs of Hermione starting to panic and lunged at her from behind, pinning her arms in a hug. "It's OK, it's OK," he repeated. "I'm here and Sirius is fine and nobody is going anywhere, even Hestia."

She spun around and hugged him back while burying her head into his neck, which was hard because she was a little taller than he was. "It nearly wasn't OK," she said shakily.

"I know, but it is now, thanks especially to you," Harry said. "You did a great job dealing with the goblins. I don't think many humans impress them."

"And I know most humans don't manipulate them as well as you did," Hermione said. "You dealt with Ragnok magnificently."

Hestia shook her head. "That was an awfully risky approach to the situation, though. I wish he hadn't done that."

"It wasn't as risky as you think," Hermione said. "Harry was right; they were acting like bullies. And he's gotten very good at dealing with bullies, especially since I forbade him from starting fights with them anymore after he got beaten up."

"There were two of them and I gave them bloody noses, too," Harry said, possibly a touch petulantly.

"Yes, you did, but I don't like seeing you hurt, either." She looked over at Sirius. "That was before you started keeping an eye on us at school in your dog form."

Sirius was still kneeling there, mouth slightly open, and it took him a moment to respond. "I hadn't thought of it like that," he said.

Harry was mildly annoyed that Sirius had missed the intervening conversation, but that meant he'd also missed the part about Harry losing that fight, so it probably came out in the wash.

"We knew it might be risky," Hermione said, "but it was worth it. We love you, Sirius, and we need you, too."

Hestia shuddered. "It wasn't nearly as risky until you demanded to hold a bloody truthstone!"

"You let her hold a truthstone?" Sirius paled.

"I didn't know what it was!" Hestia said. "I nearly had a heart attack when I saw what it did to the other goblin."

"I wasn't going to lie, regardless, so I knew I'd be safe," Hermione said.

"That was incredibly dangerous," Sirius said. "Which goblin tried to use it?"

"Hermione got Ragnok to make the Malfoy Account Manager hold the stone," Harry said. "He burnt alive for lying about you. It was wicked."

Sirius stared at her. "Bloody hell, child."

"He shouldn't have lied to the Director and tried to kill you," Hermione said. "Everything that happened subsequently was his fault."

"You…you knew that might happen?" Hestia asked.

"I had a hunch it wouldn't be good," Hermione said, "and when Ragnok tried to scare me, I saw the perfect opportunity to further undermine the goblin who tried to hurt Sirius."

"We've known for years that people would try to hurt us," Harry added, "so we've been training to hurt them back. Hermione's just cleverer about it than I am."

"I understand why her parents were so mad at me now," Sirius said. "What have I done to your childhoods?"

Harry shrugged as he released Hermione from his embrace. "A normal childhood might have been nice. A non-abusive childhood would have been nice, too. So would growing up with my Mum and Dad without a chunk of Mouldy's soul infesting my head. I didn't get any of those, though. Instead, I got Hermione and you, and I'm not giving you up for anything. If I have to fight, then I'm going to fight."

Sirius broke down into tears and pulled Harry and Hermione back into a hug. They stayed for awhile before Harry pushed away and gestured at a teary Hestia. "I think you should apologise to Hestia," he told Sirius. "She knew you were going to be angry and she got us anyway because of how much she cares about you. You're lucky to have someone like her in your life and you ought to be nicer to her."

Hermione furrowed her brows. "Harry…"

"I'm just repairing things, not pushing them," Harry said.

"She's still his employee," Hermione said reproachfully.

Hestia coughed gently. "Um…that was the last artefact in the last room of the house, and I was doing that as a bonus for Sirius. He stopped paying me as of a few days ago."

"Really?" Harry grinned.

"Yes," Sirius said as he rose to his feet. "We thought that was…um…important context for something we wanted to tell you in person." He looked at Hestia and raised his eyebrows. "Do we still…have something to tell them?"

She smiled. "We do."

"I'm glad," Sirius said. "Also, I'm sorry. Harry's right that I owe you an apology."

"Apology accepted," she replied. "I'm still not sure I deserve one, though. I knew I was putting Harry and Hermione in some danger and I did it anyway."

"You definitely deserve one," Harry said.

Hermione nodded. "Especially because of the guardianship situation. Now what were you going to tell us?"

Hestia blushed. "We…um…have decided to try dating now that I'm no longer working for him."

"Great!" Harry held out his hand and Hermione high-fived it.

"That was…um…not the reaction I expected," Sirius said.

"You've both been pretty obvious about it," Hermione said. "Even Harry noticed."

"Oi!" Harry said.

She fixed him with a glare.

"I'm not that bad," he said weakly.

Hestia laughed merrily. "I don't know how you managed to inherit that trait from Sirius, Harry, but you absolutely did."

"I am at least 95% sure he got that from James," Sirius said, "and not from the Blood Adoption ritual I did for him."

Harry shrugged. "As long as I don't get your fleas."

"Oi!" Sirius glared at him.

Hermione lunged at Harry and Sirius and pulled them into a tight hug. "I don't believe we nearly lost this today," she said. "Neither of you are allowed to do anything risky again."

"Um…" Harry looked past Hermione's bushy hair at Sirius, who shrugged.

The girl sighed. "Fine, just not without me. And Hestia." She released the arm she had around Sirius long enough to gesture to Hestia. "Come on. If I'm holding all of you, then I know you're safe."

Hestia smiled and wrapped her arms around Sirius, allowing Hermione to put an arm around her waist.

"There we go," Hermione said. "Now nobody move ever again."

"This is my life now, isn't it?" Hestia asked. "I feel lucky, overwhelmed, and slightly terrified."

"That about sums it up," Sirius said.

"Stay up tonight" Hermione had whispered to him while they were brushing their teeth, so the stroke of midnight found Harry in bed reading The Demon Lord of Karanda under the covers with a pocket torch. He doubted he would have slept that night, anyway. After getting home, they told Hermione's parents the barest outline of the truth, just enough to explain getting pulled from class, accepted a mild scolding for not telling them where they were going, and left it at that. Harry felt bad that they couldn't tell Hermione's parents anything, but it was safer that way.

A minute or so later, a light tapping came at his door. Hermione was there when he opened it, wearing a flannel nightgown and a sombre expression. He nodded to her, backlit only by starlight and streetlamps filtering in through his window, and followed her down the hall and stairs into the living room.

Only when they were curled up in each other's arms on the chesterfield did Hermione finally speak. "Am I a monster, Harry?" she asked.

"Wait, what?" Harry replied. "You're the best person I know. How could you be a monster?"

"I set that goblin up to die with a smile on my face," she said, "and when he did, I felt mostly satisfaction."

"You did feel more than that, though," Harry said. "You were hiding it from Ragnok, but I could tell you were upset."

"I was, a little," Hermione allowed, "but not as much as I probably should have been."

"You don't have to meet some imaginary emotional level," Harry said. "You feel how you feel."

"But does how I feel make me a monster? I set him up to die, I'd do it again, and I may have to do it again one day, and I just felt a little bad about it."

Harry sighed. "From my perspective, the real monster is the one who tried to wreck our family because he wanted more money. That makes you a monster hunter, and I suspect the world has way more monsters in it than monster hunters."

"I suspect you're right," Hermione said. "That's depressing."

"Yeah." Harry was quiet for awhile before speaking again. "Do you see why I didn't want to be…who I am? I'm probably going to spend my whole life hunting even worse monsters."

"You don't have to." Hermione's voice wavered a little, as if her words sounded hollow even to her.

"If I don't, then nobody will," Harry said. "I can't imagine the world will be worth living in if we're the only non-monsters left."

"I can't imagine it would, either," Hermione said. "I'm sorry, Harry. You shouldn't have to do this."

"I guess somebody does, though," Harry said. "It's not fair that it's me, but I suppose it's not unfair, either. It just is."

"I guess so." Hermione snuggled closer. "I'm scared you'll be hurt."

"I'm scared I won't be good enough," Harry replied.

"You will be," Hermione said firmly. "Old Mouldy's not going to know what hit him when he meets you again, and neither is anyone else who goes up against you."

Harry nodded. "I can't wait to get to Hogwarts where we can really train."

"And study a whole new library," Hermione added.

"That, too." Harry had to smile at her enthusiasm.