Chapter 17: Clan Chief
A/N: Just a note that I posted the previous chapter late last Friday afternoon…many of you might not have seen it before it got quickly bumped from the site's homepage.
Disclaimer: Not my characters, no money being made, etc., etc.
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Tuesday June 5 (Day 5)
The following morning's trip to the bank provided Harry, Hermione and Ron with one more opportunity to plot and strategize from the backseat of the Bentley.
They started with a discussion on the previous night's battle between Aurors and Death Eaters. Tonks had visited Privet Drive about an hour after the attack; having decided it best to stay silent on muggle surveillance capabilities, they had to feign ignorance of the operation and its results. She did have some information that they hadn't gleaned from the video feeds. It turned out that Death Eater assault on the Granger household had been something of a father/son affair, with Crabbe, Goyle and their fathers comprising half of the raiding party. While the interrogations hadn't yet been completed, Harry and Ron were quite certain what the two Slytherin students would have done to Hermione had they been successful in capturing her and their parents. Hermione seemed rather calm over that point, commenting that it was too bad that the Malfoys hadn't been there as well.
Tonks had informed them that the Aurors that had entered the house immediately after the battle were a moving company of sorts; they'd shrunk and lightened as much of the furniture, wardrobes and other household items as they could in the limited time they had and hauled it away in large bags. Not knowing where Hermione's parents were now staying, the Auror Department was storing what they'd recovered until Hermione could give them a forwarding address. Tonks agreed with Hermione and Harry when they decided it best if the Granger's location was kept from the Ministry - there was no way to know who might pass that information along to the wrong people.
Wally's wizardry then became the topic of discussion. The fact that he had the ability to direct the location of a spy satellite's cameras had been nothing short of amazing to Hermione, even in the face of Wally's self-deprecating modesty. It turned out that one of the few surveillance satellites owned and operated by the British Secret Service had been dedicated to combating terrorism and terrorist threats. It had been previously deployed over Afghanistan, but the London tube bombings the year before (not to mention Voldemort's attacks) had forced the government to rethink its view on potential threats to its citizenry. The satellite was now at MI-5 and MI-5 ¾'s command pretty much whenever they needed it.
The post-battle video analysis had forced them to disclose Tonks's metamorph skills; there was no other way for them to reconcile the screen capture of Hermione's face at the battlescene with her contemporaneous presence at Number Five. They weren't surprised to learn that Brian had already guessed as much, after Tonks had mimicked Hermione at Number Four a few days past.
Wally had spent a bit of time right after the battle digitally manipulating and enhancing the images of both the Aurors and the Death Eaters. The three had been amazed at how well the computer software was able to create headshots of the wizards, both good and bad. They had been even more amazed when Wally then matched the mugshots against those stored in his database. It turned out that three of the Death Eaters had profiles that matched those taken by security videos and other recording devices present during previous attacks on muggles. Wally also identified four of the Aurors involved in the attack as having been present at King's Cross the previous Friday. He laughed when Ron had asked how they'd manage to take pictures at the train station; the Ministry of Magic's request for the muggles to close off the entrance to Platform 9 ¾ to outside eyes all but announced the fact that there'd be a high proportion of wizards and witches amongst the faces captured by the Station's security cameras.
The fact that they'd been allowed to see Wally work his computer magic was something they all had noted. Ron's suggestion that the muggle security men had been too dense to realize what they were revealing was shot down fairly quickly by Hermione. She said it was much more likely that MI-5 ¾ wanted the Trio to know what they were capable of doing, and what they knew of the magical world. Whether this was to advertise how they might help the Trio, or assure them that the knowledge was gained independently of anything the three might have let slip was unknown.
Hermione stated that the muggle satellite images might have helped them more than Wally might have imagined. She reviewed what they saw on the satellite feed, and did a backseat physics lesson on electro-magnetic radiation (her knowledge bolstered by a quick read of one of Dudley's unused textbooks the night before). She expected Ron to have been completely befuddled by the notion that heat was related to colors, and that muggle technology existed that could translate infrared radiation into something within the visible spectrum. He displayed, however, a surprisingly good level of understanding that (much to Hermione's chagrin) he attributed to his time spent on the Xbox (specifically, the night vision goggles used by his terrorist-hunting Special Forces alter ego).
The fact that anti-apparition wards had created dark spots on the infrared image was most intriguing to Hermione, and something she (rather sheepishly) noted she didn't fully understand. It might have been that the magic within the ward had disrupted the ability of the satellite to image that portion of its field of view. But if the attack had been in day time, they should have been able to see "through" the magic, given the fact that anti-apparition wards are transparent within the visible range of light.
Harry wondered about his invisibility cloak, and whether its properties would help Hermione's problem solving. He noted that there were two ways of the magic working…it could either change the person wearing it, or change the way that people looking at the cloaked person perceived it. Hermione rather excitedly mentioned the goofy glasses that her parents wore at the train station…that was a clear case of magic that affected the viewer, rather than the object being viewed.
Harry said that his cloak had to work the same way…it wasn't as if his body shifted to a different plane of existence when he wore the cloak (they all brought up instances over the years when they'd been bumped into while cloaked). He then wondered whether the cloak worked just with visible light, or whether it affected the infrared as well. Ron stated that the easiest way to find out was to get their hands on some night-vision goggles and do the experiment themselves. When Hermione asked where they'd be able to find that kind of equipment Ron replied that if Brian and MI-5 ¾ weren't able or willing to provide them that they could just buy some on the internet. Much to Harry's amusement, Ron was rather evasive when Hermione asked Ron pointedly how he knew about the internet, and what websites he might have visited during this "research."
Ron tried to get out of providing an answer by asking Hermione what difference it made whether night vision goggles would reveal invisible objects. He guessed that the goggles would go haywire as soon as it got anywhere close to the cloak, just like the cameras that had been set up in the Granger's house. Hermione responded with a scenario that left Ron and Harry rather dumbstruck. If anti-apparition wards consistently created black circles on infrared satellite images, then the muggle government, if it chose to, might be able to identify the exact location of every single magical structure or area protected by those kinds of wards. Harry was quick to catch on how that could help them find Voldemort (anti apparition wards set up at the Riddle mansion, perhaps?), but he voiced that idea just as they pulled up to Prescott's, so the point was left for later.
Brian was once again tasked with babysitting Petunia; a colleague was there to mind the car while the five of them walked up the wide marble stairs and into the bank. As instructed, they told a receptionist that they had a meeting with a Mr. Nigel Nilbog; the Trio was promptly led by a guard towards an elevator bank while Brian and Petunia took seats within the lobby.
After a short trip several floors down beneath the main level they were shown to a rather austere conference room and introduced to a Mr. Jenkins, whose business card indicated was the Bank's president. Mr. Jenkins showed them a side table with tea and coffee service; they'd just returned to their seats when a rather small door opened from the wall opposite and Headmistress McGonagall entered the room, followed by three goblins. They'd half-expected to see the Headmistress; Tonks had conveyed for them word of the meeting time and place (although they imagined she would have met them on their side of that door). Harry recognized one of the goblins as Griphook, who'd taken him on his very first roller-coaster ride to his Gringott's vault. His eyes went wide when they were introduced to the other two goblins; Griphook was accompanied by no less than Ragnok, Goblin Clan Chief, and Earchewer, his clan champion.
Given the amount of material covered, the first part of their meeting went surprisingly fast. The human bank president did most of the talking, explaining that Prescott's had been a goblin-owned muggle bank for over two centuries (the Trio didn't bother asking him for his muggle identification card, considering the fact that he didn't bat an eye when the goblins showed up as proof enough). The bank was the main conduit for money exchanges between pounds sterling and galleons; whether they knew it or not, most Gringott's patrons also had accounts at Prescott's. Griphook then passed out six rather thick portfolios; four to Harry, and one each to Ron and Hermione. Each portfolio contained an inventory of a vault, any associated muggle bank accounts, and investments both (muggle and wizard-related).
Ron and Hermione were rather shocked when they looked at their individual net worths. Griphook explained that their vault contents reflected the disposition of Albus Dumbledore's estate. Their former Headmaster had, as a result of his partnership with Nicolas Flamel and other shrewd investments, been one of the richest wizards in Britain. Not wishing that the use of Harry's money (or their willingness to accept it) become an issue for either Ron or Hermione, Albus had bequeathed to each of them the sum of one hundred thousand galleons, as well as a few personal mementos; Hermione had been given all of Dumbledore's books, research notes and journals, while Ron had been given the former Headmaster's entire collection of chocolate frog cards. Each, of course, thought themselves the richer.
As might be expected, Harry's finances were a little more complex. Each of the four portfolios were associated with a specific vault within Gringott's. The first covered the vault he'd had access to since his First Year at Hogwarts; Harry was rather surprised to see just how much money was within it. Griphook noted that the balance reflected not just the remainder of the "school" money left by his parents, but the money that had been bequeathed by Sirius. All of those funds were available for his immediate use. The second portfolio described the contents of the Potter family vault, which he'd gain access to upon his seventeenth birthday. The vault contained not only a large amount of gold, but two pages worth of itemized magical items, which McGonagall explained were either Potter family heirlooms or the salvageable contents from their house at Godric's Hollow. The Headmistress then added that while Dumbledore hadn't left Harry any money, he had been bequeathed the pensieve, as well as all of the Headmaster's bottled memories. She passed them to Harry in two small boxes, which he handled as if they were the most priceless artifacts imaginable.
When Harry opened the third and forth portfolios he found single pieces of parchment within each that didn't provide an inventory, but rather noted that Harry held a disputed or unresolved interest in the vault contents. One was associated with the Black family estate; apparently there were investments and other financial holdings that weren't directly owned by Sirius, but rather, by the Estate. While Sirius had been the last Black by name, there were still a few surviving members of the Black family through maternal bloodlines (including, McGonagall noted, Nymphadora Tonks and Draco Malfoy), and the disposition of this portion of the Black family fortune was currently under review by the Wizengamot. A resolution was expected sometime in the next decade. Harry found the last portfolio by far the most interesting and terrifying; the vault was described as belonging to Lord Gryffindor. When Harry asked the goblins how they knew he might have an interest in Godric Gryffindor's estate, Griphook smiled, and suggested the sword that Harry had stashed in the rucksack by his side was proof enough.
The Headmistress then identified a final sum to be under Harry's limited control. Dumbledore had specific that the bulk of his estate (more than thirty million galleons) be placed in a trust for the defense and support of Hogwarts. The trust, which had been established prior to his death, identified Harry as its executor, with the power to spend any or all of the funds for that purpose.
When Hermione asked about establishing pound sterling accounts at Prescott's, the bank president handed each of them an envelope that contained account information and debit cards, which they could use to draw against their accounts. Griphook further explained that each of the portfolios were charmed to facilitate transfers between their Prescott and Gringott accounts; they merely needed to touch their balance sheets with their wands and drag numbers from one account to the other. Similarly, their wands could be used to write down a new location on the ledger, and funds (or items) could be dragged with their wands from their vault to that spot. If that new location was, say, their residence, said cash (or item) would be delivered directly to them.
Harry, who was looking over the inventory of his personal vault, asked if he could do a test run. The Headmistress objected to his underage wand use, which made the goblins all laugh; the use of their magical items were untraceable by any Ministry magic. Harry then used his wand to write "Number Four, Privet Drive, Little Whinging" on his balance sheet, and dragged a single item from his vault to that written address.
At that point Clan Chief Ragnok spoke his first words of the meeting, stating that with the financial issues dealt with that it was time for important issues to be discussed.
"Issues more important than finances?" Harry asked with a slight grin.
"Indeed," Ragnok replied. "We wish to speak with you alone, Harry Potter."
The bank president was already gathering his things, and the Headmistress stood and asked if he would show her to a secure apparition point. Harry, however, blanched at the idea of asking Ron and Hermione to leave.
"I do not wish to offend, Clan Chief Ragnok," he replied, "but you should know that anything you say to me in private I would share with them later. I trust them with my life."
"Then they are of your Clan?" Ragnok asked.
Harry turned towards Ron and Hermione and got the answer he was looking for just from their eyes. "Yes," he said, "Ron is my champion, while Hermione is, erm…"
"I am Clan Chief Potter's consort," Hermione said with authority.
That comment earned her some sharp glances and intakes of breath from both Ron and the Headmistress (who had almost been out the door). From Harry she got eyes full of wonder and breath that was a tad ragged.
"Hell of a way for Ron to find out," Harry thought to himself.
"Very well, then, Clan Chief Potter," Ragnok said. "I wish to speak with you of alliances and the future of our Clans."
"I would be honored to hear your thoughts on these matters, Clan Chief Ragnok.," Harry replied, with all of the diplomacy he could muster.
"As you are no doubt aware," Ragnok began, "your champion's older brother has spent a fair bit of time trying to convince me to side with those who fight Voldemort. It is only because Bill Weasley has been such a trustworthy Gringott's employee, and that he spoke on behalf of Albus Dumbledore, that he didn't suffer the fate of the Ministry representative that made that very same request."
"What happened to the Ministry's representative?" Ron asked.
"My champion lived up to his name."
"Oh."
"With Dumbledore's passing to the next plane of existence, we asked Bill Weasley for whom he now spoke on behalf of…and he chose you," Ragnok said, "thereby reconfirming our opinion of the soundness of his judgement."
"Your words are too kind, Clan Chief," Harry said.
"But not too overblown," the goblin replied. "We have no faith in the ability of the Ministry of Magic to protect its own, much less the rest of the magical realm. You, on the other hand…well, let's just say that the goblins see their interests and their future closely tied to yours and your Clan."
"I am honored, Clan Chief," Harry replied. "I would value your counsel on how I might act to preserve those interests."
"A wizard asking for a goblin's advice?" the Clan Chief's champion blurted out. "It must be some trick."
"Hold your tongue, Earchewer," the goblin chief said sharply. "His humility only supports our assessment, and planned course of action."
The goblin then turned towards the Trio. "You have entered into an alliance with the muggles in your battle against the Dark Wizard," he simply said. "Now, no need to deny this fact," he said, as Harry's face turned a bit white, "it was strategically a wise move. Had you not done so I may have been courting favor with the Prince myself."
"I am sorry, Ragnok," Harry said, "but we had hoped to keep my relationship with the muggles quiet, for now. Might I ask how you knew?"
Griphook smiled. "Last Friday you were authorized to use the bank card owned by the Prince of Wales…did you notice the name of the bank that issued that card?"
"Prescott's," Harry said, with a nod of comprehension.
"The Royal family has one of the larger vaults beneath Gringott's," the goblin said. "Not as big as yours, of course, but most of their wealth is managed by the Bank of England."
"Why would you consider a muggle-goblin alliance?" Ron asked.
"Self-preservation," the Chief replied simply. "Voldemort…the Ministry of Magic and their kind…they all underestimate the powers of the muggle clans even more than they underestimate goblins. We have envisioned a future under the Dark Mark and it is, quite simply, disastrous."
"Haven't Voldemort and his kind have be courting goblin favor, promising power and playing on injustices both past and present?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, Consort Granger, they have," Ragnok replied. "But the Death Eaters foolishly believe that should they gain power that the muggles would leave them alone, or perhaps be too ignorant to even notice the difference. Do you believe that likely?"
"No," Hermione replied. "They will not stand for the killing of muggle-born wizards and the muggle hunting that no doubt would follow Voldemort's success…and if they don't already have the means to destroy Voldemort, they certainly have the will and resources to acquire those means in short order."
"We agree," Ragnok said, "and fear greatly the consequences of that battle. At best it would destroy much of the wizarding economy, and at worst…well, at this point in time goblins enjoy a certain amount of economic leverage over wizard humans. We have nothing close to that leverage and control over muggle humans, and expect that the war against Voldemort would also bring an attack against our clans and other magical sentients."
"That is a dark vision of our futures, Clan Chief Ragnok, and one that I would like to prevent," said Harry. He thought for a moment. "Your decision to even consider a goblin-human alliance must have been controversial within the Goblin Nation."
"That, Clan Chief Potter, is a slight understatement," Ragnok replied with a chuckle. There are some who can not see beyond the dishonorable actions of the Ministry, and their continued protection of Bagman the Thief."
"Would your position be strengthened if the money he stole from the Goblins was repaid?" Harry asked. "Depending on the actual amount, I might be in a position to help."
"While you do have funds sufficient to cover our losses," Ragnok replied, "this has grown to much more than a simple reconciling of bank accounts. Any government that harbors a known thief can not be trusted…even if you brought me Bagman's head on a spike that would not change."
"I understand, Clan Chief," Harry said. "Perhaps, then, we will look at ways of changing the Ministry's position on this matter."
"That would be most helpful, Clan Chief Potter." He stood up. "We have given you much to consider, I am afraid. Perhaps we should meet again soon?"
"We would enjoy just such a meeting," Harry said, as he stood and shook each of the goblin's hands. Earchewer then went to Ron and (after a close physical appraisal) shook the hand of his counterpart. Griphook in turn approached Hermione.
"I believe that congratulations are in order, Consort Granger," he said quietly, and with a slight smile. "We were unaware of your position within Clan Potter…you have chosen wisely."
"Thank you, Griphook," Hermione replied, "and yes, I believe I have."
She glanced over at Ron, who was watching her with a frighteningly cool expression.
Hermione did not look forward to their next conversation within the back of the Bentley.