Dumbledore and Harry's Adventures

Fun With Wards

Harry and Albus walked into the largest hut, followed by Bill Weasley.

Sirius, upon confirming that he didn't need to be present for the meeting with Supervisor Deathspear and that Harry was perfectly safe, had transformed into his dog form and dove into the pool. His dog paddling amusing half of the pool's occupants and irritating the other half. Remus grumbled about keeping an eye on Sirius and followed his friend. Though, Remus's grumbles would have been more believable if he had not transfigured his clothes into a modest pair of swim trunks.

As Harry looked around the hut, he saw five wizards, two witches, and a dozen goblins (Harry was unable to differentiate between their sexes) who were all collected around various tables and studying various maps, books, and parchments.

"Supervisor Deathspear..." spoke Bill. A slim goblin looked up from a parchment covered in a series of numbers and figures that Harry could not comprehend.

"Ah... Albus" spoke Deathspear in a cultured English accent. "I see you have finally brought your new pupil to teach him the only profession worth knowing. Mister Potter, it is an honor to meet you."

Harry smiled in response. "It is an honor to meet you as well, Supervisor Deathspear. I look forward to learning all about wards... and..." Harry looked over at Albus with a smirk, and then looked back at the goblin. He then pulled up his months' old memory, and precisely spoke a phrase in Gobbledegook.

Deathspear along with the goblins and a couple humans all chuckled in response.

"Well," spoke Deathspear. "If you're going to memorize any phrase in my language, you could do much worse then telling me that goblins are awesome."

Albus's eyes twinkled in delight at Harry.

"However," Deathspear spoke in a suddenly serious tone. "I understand that you are in possession of the Sword of Gryffindor. Might I see it?"

Harry frowned in confusion. Looking up, he saw Albus's expression become stern as he pulled the sword out of one of his shrunken trunks. He handed Harry the sword. Harry awkwardly held the sword by the hilt as its blade pointed at the ceiling. Deathspear walked over and examined the sword without touching it.

"Remarkable... Jones, look at this craftmanship. Do you see how that edge is still honed? THAT is what Heartgnash was trying to describe to you when you asked for ways to distinguish Goblin-made blades from Human-made blades when searching a tomb."

A witch who appeared to be in her twenties had come over to peer at the sword closely. She started to reach out her hand to touch the edge when Deathspear knocked it away. Jones looked over at Deathspear, with a startled expression.

"Jones, what did you think you were doing?"

Jones appeared confused. "I was just going to test the sharpness."

Deathspear sighed in frustration. "Ignoring that is not yours to touch, would you do that with a sword you found in a tomb?"

Jones paled in response. "Of course not! I wouldn't know if it was poisoned or cursed or would set off a trap... I see! I'm sorry Supervisor Deathspear."

Deathspear's head simply shook in annoyance. "Heartgnash! I think Jones needs to be run through the basic training... again."

One of the goblins in the room spoke up. "Yes, Supervisor Deathspear!" Harry then heard the goblin mutter softly about how it would be nice to go a month without running someone through basic training.

Deathspear ignored the muttering and looked back at the witch. "For your information, Jones, this blade has recently been used to kill a basilisk and has been soaked in its venom. What does that tell you?"