Chapter 5 – Goblins
Romana shouldn't have been too surprised to find everyone else inside Shell Cottage already wide awake. Bill was sitting at the kitchen table nursing a large cup of coffee whilst Fleur busiest herself preparing breakfast. The newlywed Weasley's were surprised when the back door burst open though, both of them quickly reaching for their wands and pointing them directly at the new arrivals, "Hermione, you scared the life out of us", Bill sighed, lowering his wand back to the table.
"I apologise Bill", Romana nodded, "but I've something important to discuss with the boys, I guess I got a little overexcited".
"Can it not wait", Fleur asked gently. Romana never noticed the previous day but her accent seemed much less prominent than on previous occasions. Either the French witch had been practicing or the translation circuit on her TARDIS was fully operational. That could be useful when speaking with the Goblins of Gringotts, "At least have some coffee, you've been outside for hours and Luna", she turned on her fellow blonde, "you should be in bed resting".
Luna smiled vacantly at the Frenchwoman, "The universe inside Romana's box was calling to me", she stated with a completely straight face.
To their credit neither Bill nor Fleur batted an eyelid at the bizarre words that came out of Luna's mouth. Romana though scratched the back of her head nervously. Luna was incredibly insightful, too insightful for the common witch or wizard who simply passed off her ramblings as mild insanity. She did briefly wonder if there was some alien blood somewhere in the Lovegood line but investigating that would have to wait for another day, "Actually I will have some coffee Fleur", the Time Lady said quickly in an attempt to divert attention from the blonde Ravenclaw. "Why don't you go back to Romana's box Luna, just don't press too many buttons".
"Oh thank you", Luna practically beams, "Iris and I will be able to continue our conversation from earlier". Romana resisted the urge to gape at the blonde as she skipped out the door. She had absolutely no idea who Iris was, although she suspected Luna was referring to the sentient presence at the core of her TARDIS. No ordinary human should've been able to do that. If she ever decided to follow in the Doctor's footsteps and take a human companion, Luna Lovegood would definitely be considered.
"I do worry about that girl sometimes", Bill sighed, "she hasn't been right since her mother passed away".
"And who is this Romana person that she was talking about?" Fleur asked her husband before turning towards Romana, "you really shouldn't indulge her like that", the blonde scolded.
The Time Lady though merely shrugged, "She's not doing any harm, in fact I think you're grossly underestimating her". She took a quick sip of her coffee, "Not bad, not a patch on Integratie Seven though, the beans really mature under their twin suns".
"Integratie Seven, never heard of it", Bill frowned, "is that a Muggle thing?"
Romana cursed her slip, she was going to have to watch that in the future, "Er, yeah", she quickly mumbled, "Harry and Ron still upstairs?" the Time Lady didn't wait for an answer and quickly hurried upstairs, coffee cup in hand.
"Ever get the feeling you're missing something?" Bill asked his wife once Romana had left the room.
Fleur nodded, "There's definitely something different about Hermione but I can't quite put my finger on it".
Scrambling up the stairs as quickly as she could, Romana soon heard some voices from the smallest bedroom at the rear of the cottage. She identified them quickly as Harry, Ron and the Goblin Griphook who had also been rescued from Malfoy Manor. Romana had learned a little bit about the indigenous species on Earth at the Academy. Obviously most of the topic covered Humans with a little bit about Silurians throw in.
One species that didn't appear on the list at the Time Lord Academy was Goblins. Thinking back over Hermione's magical education, several magical species were mentioned like Chimera's and Dragons. Unicorns were listed as mythical creatures that likely existed as a short lived mutation from horses but died out fairly quickly.
Goblins though were not native to the magical world like wizards believed, there weren't even native to Earth. The Goblin home world had been rich in precious metals like gold, silver and platinum. Unfortunately the natural greed of Goblins had seen their planet drained of its natural resources. What little was left was fought over bitterly by the surviving Goblins until few were left. The Time Lords knew they had fled their planet but never knew where they had ended up, until now.
"We need to get inside a Gringotts vault", she heard Harry say to Griphook. Romana rolled her eyes, no doubt this was the beginning of a crazy, poorly thought about plan which relied mostly on luck than actual planning.
Deciding to stop this plan in its tracks, Romana pushed the door open and quietly stepped inside, "Romana", Ron said in surprise, "we thought you were outside".
"I was", the Time Lady replied coolly, "tell me Ronald, were you going to include me in this plan of yours?" She watched as Harry and Ron exchanged nervous glances at each other, "I see", Romana continued, taking their nervousness to mean they planned to do this alone. She calmly took another swig of coffee before leaning casually against the wall, "Please, explain this plan of yours".
Harry and Ron had a slient conversation, deciding between them who was going to explain the plan to the irritated Time Lady. "Polyjuice", the dark haired wizard blurted out, "Ron was going to us the potion and the wand you acquired from Bellatrix Lestrange to sneak into her vault".
Romana nodded carefully, it was a pretty sound plan with one glaring omission, "And who's going to take the Polyjuice?" Once again Harry and Ron stared blankly at the brunette, making it clear they hoped she would be the one to take the potion. "Small problem with that boys, what makes you think the potion will work? Aren't you forgetting that I'm not human, there's no telling what effects Polyjuice potion will have on me".
"Couldn't we just try, you know, one quick swig to see?" Harry asked in hope.
"Not without thorough testing", Romana snorted, "I'm deathly allergic to aspirin and intolerant of other human medicines. I'm not trying a bit of magical potion and hoping for the best". She then spotted the sword of Gryffindor sitting idly in the corner, "Good thing one of us has a plan", the Time Lady stated and walked over to the sword.
The blade was exactly as she remembered from Hermione's memories, polished Goblin silver with rubies in the hilt. She tested the blades weight and giving it a quick swing, deciding quickly that it was perfectly balanced, "The perfect sword", she declared, "not just for the absolute novice like me but also for the most experienced swordsman".
"Theft, stolen from its rightful owners", she heard the raspy voice of Griphook the Goblin spit out from the armchair he was sitting in. The Goblin's chair was facing away from the trio but despite this, he was still able to pick her voice, "Hermione Granger, vault 817. I remember the day you first came into Gringotts".
Romana smiled to herself and still with the sword in hand, she slowly crossed the bedroom floor and settled into the other armchair which was positioned opposite Griphook, "Theft's a rather strong word Griphook", she began, a dangerous smirk plastered on her face, "since the materials used to make this sword are not from your native world, some might say you stolen this from the humans".
It wasn't often that a Goblin was surprised so it gave Romana a strong sense of satisfaction to see the stunned expression on Griphook's face. That look soon turned into the more familiar Goblin snarl, "I have no idea what you're talking about".
"Tell me Griphook, do your history books still contain the legend of Goblaynia, the home world of the Goblins?" Romana asked.
"Home world?" Harry picked up on the wording of Romana's question, "are you trying to tell us that Goblins are actually aliens?"
"Of course Harry", Romana answered casually, "natural scavengers, miners and of course, extremely greedy, Goblins mined their home planet of Goblaynia almost out of existence". She turned her glare on Griphook, "Is this ringing any bells Griphook?"
The Goblin stared blankly by the Time Lady could tell that he was rattled, "Slander, filthy slander", he spat defensively.
Romana sighed, she knew this wouldn't be easy but she wasn't expecting Griphook to show this much resistance. Maybe a change of tactics was needed, "You're very fortunate I'm not informing the Shadow Proclamation of your crimes", she hissed in perfect Gobbledygook, "unauthorised settlement on a Class Five planet, I wonder what the punishment for that is".
"You can't", Griphook cried in a panic, "he promised us that we would not be punished for our crimes".
"Who promised you this Griphook?" Romana asked out of curiosity.
The Goblin regained his composure, straightening out his pyjamas, "After the last Goblin uprising he negotiated peace between the Goblins and the wizarding community". He leaned a little closer and whispered with a reverent hush, "Legend called him the Sainted Physician".
The Time Lady muttered that name under her breath until suddenly the penny dropped. She leaned back in her chair with a broad grin on her face, "Doctor", she chuckled, "who else".
"You know this man?" Griphook asked, "no Goblin saw him before nor has seen him since he disappeared in his magical box. This man has entered Goblin fokelore for his generosity and kindness".
"That man is my best friend", Romana said as she leaned forward again, "and for a time I was also his leader, not that he actually followed by orders but that's a story for another day", she added with a resigned snort.
"Then you too are from the stars", Griphook replied with a reverent tone, "whatever you need my Lady, it shall be yours but please do not summon the Shadow Proclamation".
Romana smiled warmly at the Goblin, "Continue with the peace the Doctor negotiated and you we won't have any problems". She stood up from her seat, "Rest up Griphook, we will return you to the Goblin Nation later today". She placed the sword carefully back in the corner of the room before called out to the two wizards, "Come along you two, let's leave Griphook in peace".
Reluctantly Harry and Ron followed after the Time Lady, eventually congregating on the landing outside, "What was that all about?" Harry asked, "Alien Goblins, your Doctor friend? How is this possibility going to get us into the Lestrange vault".
"Oh Harry, you think outside the box so often that you sometimes forget to look inside that box", Romana replied with a gentle chuckle.
"Now you're speaking in riddles, brilliant just what we need", Ron snorted, "and when were you going to tell us that Goblins are actually aliens?"
"I forgot about it until Luna jogged my memory", Romana shrugged, drawing a glare from the wizards, "oh don't look at me like that, I've got four hundred years of information up here", she pointed at her head, "forgive me for forgetting the odd thing once in a while".
Harry stepped between the alien woman and Ron, "Alright enough you two, I guess your bickering wasn't unique to Hermione and Ron". Ron backed away looking a little embarrassed whereas Romana just stared coolly at the dark haired wizard, "Tell us your plan then Romana".
"Simple, we walk into Gringott and ask for the Horcrux", she shrugged.
The boys stood passively and waited for her to continue but it soon became apparent that this was the extent of her plan, "And you criticised our plan", Harry snorted.
"It's not as daft as it sounds", Romana began, "technically the Goblins are inhabiting this planet illegally, one call to the Shadow Proclamation and they'll be served with an eviction notice".
"You keep mentioning the Shadow Proclamation like we're supposed to know who they are", Ron grumbled, "care to enlighten us?"
"Now you know what it's like for us when you bring up a wizarding thing", Romana shot back. A quick warning glare from Harry soon silenced her complaint, "Think of the Shadow Proclamation like an intergalactic Police force. One call to them will bring the full might of the law down on them".
Ron nodded in acknowledgement but Harry though didn't look too convinced, "The Goblins aren't known for playing nice, what if they don't listen to reason?"
Romana paused, she hadn't actually considered that the Goblins wouldn't be reasonable. She had seen Griphook react in horror to the threat of the Shadow Proclamation, it stood to reason that the other Goblins wouldn't react in the same way, "Then I'll ask a little bit nicer", she attempted to reassure the wizards, "now I'd better get back to my TARDIS, who knows what Luna's done to my ship". She galloped down the stairs, hoping that the blonde hasn't blown a hole in the universe in the few minutes that she had been left alone.
A/N – Goblins are aliens, dunno where in my head that came from. I continue to be overwhelmed by the popularity of this story so thank you for everyone who's followed it so far or added it to their favourites. A couple of common questions keep coming up in reviews so I'll address those now:
Will the Doctor feature in this story? – Yes but probably not under the final battle is done. I want to establish Romana as someone who can "be the Doctor", for want of a better term. As to which Time Lord will show up...you'll have to carry on reading.
Will xxx be Romana's companion? – Short answer is I haven't decided what to do after the final battle is done. My original plan was to end it there but the popularity of the story is making me think again. Keep sending the good vibes and the more I'll I suppose but I'm open to any companion/pairing right now.