Gringotts Revisited

A/N: A rather long note this time, but I've a few things to say. To start with, a little explanation as to why this chapter is so tardy. It's a rather odd coincidence, to say the least. The day that I finished the first draft of this chapter, both of my betas got snowed in at Buffalo. Neither one is from Buffalo, mind you, just a wild coincidence. They are now both safe and sound (and warm) at home. Thank goodness! So add that to my busy life and you will understand why this chapter took so long to post. I'm hoping to get back in the swing of things, and post more regularly, every 1-2 weeks.

Speaking of my betas, Vaughn and WolfMoonshadow, have I mentioned lately that they are beta goddesses? I was happy to wait for them to escape Buffalo, because I couldn't imagine posting without them.

Special thanks to alert readers, Casey and Scribbler714, for finding two oopsies in the last chapter. Thanks bunches! My alert readers rock! Hey, two little oopsies in what I think was my longest chapter so far. Not bad at all. I told you that you would have to have sharp eyes to catch anything that my intrepid betas missed! Also, a big shout out to Tree Faery, who found a superfluous word back in chapter 19. Thanks for the head's up! I don't need JKR's herd of editors; I've got my bevy of alert readers! :D

So now, on with the show.

Disclaimer: They are not mine; I only take them out to play.

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So long as man is protected by madness-he functions-and flourishes.

-Emile M. Cioran b.1911

That night, Hermione slept badly. Though she'd waited patiently for Severus to get his new potion ingredients sorted and stored, she had then insisted that the stubborn man get some much needed sleep. When she leaned down to kiss him goodnight, Severus deftly tipped her into his bed again and snogged her until her toes curled. That had not made it easy for Hermione to relax and fall asleep herself, though she wasn't exactly complaining.

Not two hours after she finally slipped into a light doze, Hermione woke to find Severus standing in her bedroom staring at her. She had told him a hundred times that such behavior was inappropriate, but she still woke to find him haunting her bedroom more nights than not. He never did anything to disturb her; he never touched her when she was asleep or tried to talk to her. His mere presence seemed enough to wake her. Shooing him out of her bedroom, Hermione slid back into an uneasy sleep.

The next time Hermione woke, she was not able to immediately determine what had awakened her. Then she felt the slight trembling that passed through the house in a wave. As she pondered this, she heard a muffled boom and the house quavered again. Hermione could think of only one thing that would cause such a disturbance. Quickly climbing out of bed, she threw a dressing gown around her shoulders and headed for the basement.

Arriving at the lab door, Hermione soon found that it was locked and warded against intrusion. When five minutes of frantic spellwork did nothing to open the door, Hermione had to resort to less magical methods.

Banging loudly on the door, she shouted at the top of her lungs. "Severus! You open this door this instant! If you think for one moment that locking this door so that you can blow your fool head off is appropriate behavior, then you've got another thing coming! Open this door, you daft git!"

As Hermione lifted her hand to pound on the door again, it opened. The sight that met her eyes might have been comical if Hermione hadn't been so worried. There stood Severus, covered head to toe in black soot. His hair was in wild disarray and there was a paler patch of skin around his eyes where he had wiped at them with his soot covered sleeve.

"My work is very important, trollop," he said firmly but calmly, as if nothing whatsoever was amiss. "I simply can't have you interrupting me at all times of the day." Turning his head to address the lab behind him, he said sharply, "House-whore, get that cleaned up and we'll try it again."

Still gaping at him in astonishment, Hermione finally found her voice. "Severus, are you all right?"

"I am perfectly fine, trollop," he said, brushing ineffectually at the front of his shirt. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Why wouldn't you be?" Hermione practically shouted. "You've blown up the lab!"

"As you can see," Severus began, opening the door to the lab slightly wider, "the lab is perfectly fine, other than needing a good cleaning, and so am I. I confess that I am quite confounded as to why you feel the need to cause such a fuss."

"I hardly think it's surprising," she snapped. "I think that any woman would cause a fuss if the man she loved was busily trying to blast his fool head off!"

For a moment, something in Severus' eyes softened at her words, but he was soon all business once again. "Little trollop, I am experimenting. Things explode," he said, waving his hand as if that statement explained everything. "Now you be a good little trollop and leave me to my work."

Patting her fondly on the arm, Severus eased her away from the doorway and then calmly shut the door in her face. Hermione stood for some time staring at that closed door. Finally, she turned and started up the stairs.

"Go ahead," she muttered peevishly, "blow yourself to bits. See if I care."

Eventually, despite the occasional tremor in the house, Hermione managed to fall into a fretful sleep. Her alarm woke her far too early, and after ascertaining that Severus was indeed still alive, she managed a quick cup of tea before heading out to Gringotts.

Today, Gringotts looked even more imposing than it had the day before. The day was warm but overcast, and the odd angles of the goblin bank seemed to loom even more ominously than usual. After the usual number of goblins had bowed her through, Hermione made her way to the large desk where people made inquiries.

"Hello," she said politely to the elderly goblin at the desk. "I'm here to see Bill Weasley. Is he available?"

"Who may I say is asking after him?"

"Hermione Granger."

"Let me check," the goblin said with a rather creepy smile that was probably meant to be reassuring. Stifling a shudder as the old goblin looked her carefully up and down, she watched him make his way to a nearby wall.

On the wall was arranged a large number of oddly shaped things that looked like handles with a curved funnel at both ends. When the goblin chose one and put it to his ear, Hermione realized that they were rather like Muggle telephones, though they had no wires connecting them to anything. The goblin spoke into one for a moment, hung it back on the wall, and returned to the desk.

"Young Weasley will be with you in a moment," he said, giving Hermione another one of his creepy smiles.

"Thank you, sir. You're very kind," Hermione managed to murmur in reply.

It was a blessedly short period of time before Bill popped out of one of the many doors in the large room and greeted Hermione with a warm hug.

"Hermione! What a pleasant surprise!" he said cheerfully. "What brings you here today?"

"Well, I have a question for you regarding the research that I've been working on," she said vaguely, mindful of the many ears that could be listening to their conversation.

"Ah, yes, your research. I'd be happy to help you in any way that I can."

"Is now a good time?" she asked. "I could come back later if you're busy."

"Your timing couldn't be better, Hermione. I was just slogging through some dreadfully boring paperwork about an old dig we've been working on in India. Believe me, I could use the break."

Taking her arm, Bill led Hermione into the maze of offices that connected to the main room by a labyrinth of corridors. Hermione understood why the goblin at the desk had called Bill to meet her; she never would have found his office on her own. The office they entered was terribly small. Though the room contained only a small desk, an extra chair, and a large filing cabinet, Hermione and Bill had to maneuver carefully before they were both seated.

Looking around the room in obvious discomfort, Hermione tried to keep her tone light as she asked, "Have you done something to annoy the goblins, Bill?"

"What? Oh! The office! Smaller than my dad's at the Ministry, isn't it?" he asked, chuckling. "No, I'm not being punished. In fact, this is one of their larger offices, and they've given it to me because I'm such a whopping great brute."

"Of course," Hermione said with a sheepish grin. "I wouldn't have thought of it that way. Goblins need a lot less space than wizards. Can't they augment the size magically?"

"They've considered it, but Gringotts is literally covered in protective magic. If they use a spell to enlarge the room, it can cause hell with the wards. They've been looking into knocking out a couple walls to make this office bigger, but it's only in the planning stages. Goblins are very cautious; they won't move a stone until they've looked at the problem six ways from Sunday. Now, what did you want to ask me about? You can be candid here--as cautious as the little buggers are, they don't go about spying on the people who work for them."

"Well, you know about the item I'm trying to destroy," Hermione began, bumping her elbow on the corner of Bill's desk as she tried to rummage in her purse in the cramped room. Finding the parchment, she handed it to Bill. "I've some information that I've been assured will help me do just that, but--as you can see--it's written in Gobbledegook."

"You've come to the right place then," Bill said with a smile as he began to unroll the parchment. "I've been reading Gobbledegook since I was thirteen."

As Bill began to look over the scroll, his smile faded away and he turned so pale that all the freckles on his face stood out like leaves on the snow. Quickly re-rolling the parchment, he thrust it back into Hermione's hands.

"Put it away!"

"But, Bill..."

"Put it away, Hermione! And don't take it out again, not here!"

"But I need your help! You know how important..."

"And I will help you, but not here. Now put that scroll away!"

The confusion clear in her expression, Hermione reluctantly put the scroll back into her bag. Once it was safely tucked away, Bill abruptly relaxed, though he was still more pale than normal. Running a hand over his eyes and then shaking his head as if to clear it, Bill looked at Hermione with a very serious expression on his normally cheerful face.

"The goblins may be serious about privacy, and they have no reason to spy on me. I am a well respected worker here, despite the fact that I'm not a goblin, and that's saying something. However, if they caught either of us in possession of that scroll, there would be very little I could do to protect us. And that is all I will say on the matter while we are within Gringotts' walls."

"All right, Bill. If you say so. Is it really so dangerous?"

"It is. That scroll has a type of magic on it that the goblins have kept secret for centuries. Wizards aren't supposed to know that it even exists. I only know of it because I've been working closely with them for so long."

Getting quickly to his feet, Bill then helped Hermione out of her chair and steered her towards the door.

"We'll talk more later. Right now, there is something that I want you to see. Come with me and follow my lead, all right?"

"Whatever you want," Hermione replied as Bill led her through the snarl of corridors until they arrived at another office.

Knocking politely on the jamb of the open door, Bill addressed the middle-aged goblin within. "Swarf, are you busy? There's something that I was hoping you could help me with, but it isn't important."

"I'd ask you in, but I don't think that you will fit," the goblin joked with gruff good humor. After straightening the papers that he had been reading, Swarf stepped out into the corridor so that Bill could introduce Hermione properly. The pleasantries taken care of, Swarf got straight down to business. "I'm not doing anything time sensitive today, young Weasley. What can I help you with?"

"Well, my friend here has been seriously thinking about curse-breaking as a career. Between you and me, I think that she'd be right good at it. I thought that we might show her a few of the vaults. It's never too early to start recruiting a good curse-breaker, after all."

"Very true. There aren't many in the business worthy of Gringotts' time, and that's the truth. If you think that she would be an asset to the company, then I expect she's worth looking into."

Though Swarf had greeted Hermione with polite disinterest, he now studied her with much more care. Used to the careful scrutiny of goblins, Hermione endured Swarf's perusal with good grace.

"She got eleven O.W.L.s at Hogwarts," Bill mentioned off-handedly.

"Eleven, did you say?" Turning towards Hermione, Swarf addressed her directly for the first time. "Most impressive, young lady, most impressive. I can see why young Weasley wants Gringotts to get first crack at you, should you decide to become a curse-breaker."

"I've always been very interested in curse-breaking," Hermione said smoothly. "And Bill seems very content with his work for Gringotts. Naturally, having a friend who works here has had an influence on my career plans."

"Now then, young Weasley, you thought we might show your friend a few of the more impressive vaults? Excellent idea! We do have some extraordinary vaults hidden under the building. A small tour would be a splendid way to increase your young lady's interest in Gringotts. Come along, then. No time like the present."

Before she knew it, Hermione was trapped in a little mining car and speeding through the countless tunnels of the goblins' underworld. They toured several vaults, and Hermione might have thought them very impressive indeed if she hadn't been so nauseated from the ride. Through it all, Hermione was confused about why Bill had talked Swarf into the tour in the first place, and what it could possibly have to do with the scroll hidden in her bag.

At last, the small group arrived at what would be their final stop on the whirlwind tour--vault seven hundred and thirteen. Before they disembarked from the cart, Bill gave Hermione's hand a sharp squeeze and looked at her intently. This vault must be what Bill had wanted her to see, but why?

"This," explained Swarf, "is one of our more secure vaults. Normally I would not open it without good reason--not even to impress a potential employee--but it is empty at the moment, so there's no harm."

"How do you know that this vault is empty?" Hermione asked.

"No one can get into a vault such as this without the aid of a goblin, not even the vault owner. We once had a break-in of this very vault, and it puzzled us greatly until we realized the thief had used dark magic to get a goblin to aid him. Nasty business, it was," Swarf said, shaking his head. "We have added precautions to keep that from happening again."

"Running a bank such as this must be difficult work," Hermione said.

"Difficult, yes," the goblin agreed, "but very satisfying, all the same."

There was no keyhole on the large door before them, and Swarf produced no key to open it. Approaching the door, he stroked down the wood with one impossibly long finger. As he finished the gesture, the door melted away into nothingness. Another gesture of his long-fingered hand, and the door re-appeared.

"My goodness!" Hermione said, impressed. "What would happen if I tried to open it that way?"

"Try it and see," Swarf replied, giving her a slightly nasty grin that showed off his pointed teeth.

When Hermione hesitated, Bill reassured her. "Go ahead and try it," he said with a chuckle. "You'll be safe enough with Swarf here to retrieve you."

Not liking the sound of that word, "retrieve," Hermione nevertheless walked up to the door and dutifully stroked one finger down its rough wooden grain. As soon as she touched the door, a tingly feeling began in her stomach. With a whoosh of air displacement, Hermione found herself surrounded by darkness. Before she had time to become truly frightened, the door behind her vanished once more. Squinting in the dim light, Hermione realized that she had been transported inside of the empty vault. She was quick to step through the doorway and rejoin Swarf and Bill in the lighted tunnel.

"Brave as well as intelligent," mumbled Swarf to himself. "Young Weasley, I think your friend would make a fine addition to the staff. "What was your name again, young lady?"

"Hermione. Hermione Granger."

"Well, Miss Granger, when you are ready to apply for employment, come to see me. There's no need for you to study curse-breaking first, we prefer to train our employees ourselves. We would be happy to offer you a standard apprenticeship at the usual rates."

"Thank you, sir. I shall have to finish my schooling first," she lied, "then I would be most happy to talk to you."

The tour at an end, Swarf returned Bill and Hermione to the first floor of Gringotts, and Bill then escorted Hermione through the door to the street.

"I've got to get back to my desk, but I'll come by Grimmauld Place after work. We've got to talk, but we mustn't talk here."

"Why did you want me to see that vault?"

"Later. I'll answer all of your questions later, I promise. I'll be at the house around seven, is that all right?"

"That's fine," Hermione said with an impatient sigh. "Harry's got a 'knock first' ward up, so you can't come straight in. Apparate to the porch and one of us will let you in."

While Bill made his way back into Gringotts, Hermione turned to head for home. She had hoped that the day would bring her some answers. So far it had only brought her more questions.