𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐆 𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃 ━━
✧˖*. | ❝You look wonderful.❞ | ✧˖*.
Sally, a member of the Hex Girls, was completely besotted with Hermione. She loved talking to her and slowly inching her hand toward her hand to intertwine them. She enjoyed being able to...
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"But I'm not trying to get myself any treasure. I'm not trying to take anything for personal gain. Can you believe that?" Harry asked Griphook.
He looked slantwise at Harry, and the lightning scar on Harry's forehead prickled, but he ignored it, refusing to acknowledge its pain or its invitation.
"If there was a wizard of whom I would believe that they did not seek personal gain, it would be you, Harry Potter. Goblins and elves are not used to the protection or the respect that you have shown this night. Not from wand-carriers," Griphook said.
"Wand-carriers," repeated Harry.
"The right to carry a wand has long been contested between wizards and goblins," Griphook added.
"Well, goblins can do magic without wands," Ron retorted.
"That is immaterial! Wizards refuse to share the secrets of wandlore with other magical beings. They deny us the possibility of extending our powers!"
"Well, goblins won't share any of their magic either," Ron retorted. "You won't tell us how to make swords and armor the way you do. Goblins know how to work metal in a way wizard never - "
"It doesn't matter," Harry interrupted, noting Griphook's rising color. "This isn't about wizards versus goblins or any other sort of magical creature - "
Griphook gave a nasty laugh. "But it is. It is about precisely that! As the Dark Lord becomes ever more powerful, your race is set still more firmly above mine! Gringotts falls under Wizarding rule, house-elves are slaughtered and who amongst the wand-carriers protests?"
"We do!" Hermione exclaimed. "We protest! And I'm hunted quite as much as any goblin or elf, Griphook! I'm a Mud-Blood!"
"Hermione, don't degrade yourself as such."
"I'm not," she said. "Mud-Blood, and proud of it. I've got no higher position under this new order than you have, Griphook! It was me they chose to torture, back at the Malfoys. Did you know that it was Harry who set Dobby free?" she asked. "You can't want You-Know-Who defeated more than we do, Griphook!"
Sally wrapped her arm around Hermione's waist. "All we ask for is your help. Anything you have to say is noteworthy."
"What do you seek within the Lestranges' vault?" he asked abruptly. "The sword that lies inside it is a fake. This is the real one." He looked from one to the other of them. "I think that you already know this. You asked me to lie for you back there."
"But the fake sword isn't the only thing in that vault, is it? Perhaps you've seen the other things in there?" Harry asked.
Griphook twisted his beard around his finger again. "It is against our code to speak of the secrets of Gringotts. We are the guardians of fabulous treasures. We have a duty to the objects placed in our care, which were, so often, wrought by our fingers." He stroked the sword, and his black eyes roamed around the room. "So young to be fighting so many."
"Will you help us?" Harry asked. "We haven't got a hope of breaking in without a goblin's help. You're our one chance."
"I shall...think about it," Griphook decided.
"But - "
Hermione nudged Ron in the ribs to shut him up.
"Thank you," said Harry.
Griphook bowed his great domed head in acknowledgment, then flexed his short legs. "I think," he said, settling himself ostentatiously upon Bill and Fleur's bed, "that the Skele-Gro has finished its work. I may be able to sleep at last. Forgive me..."
"Yeah, of course," said Harry, but before leaving the room, he leaned forward and took the sword of Gryffindor from beside the goblin.
Griphook did not protest, but Harry thought he saw resentment in the goblin's eyes as he closed the door upon him.
"Little git," whispered Ron.
"He's enjoying keeping us hanging, Harry," whispered Hermione, pulling them both away from the door, into the middle of the still-dark landing. "Are you saying what I think you're saying? Are you saying there's a Horcrux in the Lestranges' vault?"
"Yes," Harry said. "Bellatrix was terrified when she thought we'd been in there. She was beside herself. Why? What did she think we'd seen? What else did she think we might have taken? Something she was petrified You-Know-Who would find out about."
