A Taste of Magic

Chapter 77: 77th Course - Familiar Territory

"Hey, who are you?!"

Harry looked up from his cleaning. "Oh hello there," he smiled at the gobsmacked goblin staring at him. "I'm Harry, nice to meet you." He held his hands up, covered in suds and water. "I'd offer my hand to shake but don't think you'd want to right now."

"What? No, I mean, what?" The goblin shook her head. "No, never mind that, who are you and what are you doing here?!"

"I'm Harry," Harry repeated and went back to scrubbing. "And I'm cleaning. Normally I use cleaning charms but I know Chef prefers a hand wash to finish up the surfaces."

Before the goblin could answer, the door to Gringotts Main Kitchen One opened and a few others of the Crew walked in.

"Hey, we have a humie in here!" the first goblin shouted, waving her arms wildly.

"Poittor! Good to see you," Flynt grinned, making the first goblin's jaw drop to the floor. "We were wondering when you were coming back."

"Last day of school was just yesterday," Harry grinned back. He dunked his hand into a bucket to wash the suds off and dried it on a towel hanging from his apron before shaking Flynt's hand enthusiastically. Amythyst and Hacker hugged him too.

"Oh, this one's Pinny," Flynt said, pointing at the goblin whose jaw was still hanging open. "Short for pin bone."

"Technically it's not," Hacker snickered.

"Why are you all not freaking out that there is a humie in here?!" Pinny shouted.

"Because he's Poittor," Flynt said, shrugging. "He's part of the Crew."

"WHAT?!"

"Yeah, he worked here last year and he earned his place," Amythyst said. "Also, he understands Gobbledegook. Right Harry?"

"Understand good, getting better talking," Harry said slowly.

"Hey not bad," Hacker grinned. "Guess we gotta watch what we say around you now."

"You never did before," Harry smiled and the three original Crew laughed and Pinny looked back and forth at them, her eyes large.

"You didn't get rusty while on vacation, did you?" Hacker teased.

"He was at school, not vacation," Amythyst snorted.

"I don't think so," Harry laughed. "I learned some new recipes too. Well you tried the mapo tofu but I learned some Bulgarian and French dishes."

"Neat," Flynt said. "Can't wait to try them."

The doors banged open again and more of the Crew appeared. They exclaimed happily seeing Harry and walked over to him, chatting away. Then Diglin appeared and immediately the kitchen fell silent and they lined up respectfully. Diglin took them all in at a glance and nodded at approval at the gleaming table tops. "Potter," he greeted. "Glad to see you still know how to clean."

"Still know how to peel too," Harry said, making the crew laugh and Diglin smile.

"Thought you'd sleep in a bit and arrive later," Diglin said.