"Whether we had to or not," Bankor cut in again, "the Ministry isn't going to like the I.C.W. operating on what it considers their soil or having to go by our list of recommendations-"
"They're going to strike back at us for making them look weak," Gutripper mused, his good eye darting around as he made his bloody calculations for any Guard deployments he may have to make.
"An actual strike by Aurors or Hit Wizards is highly unlikely," the Little Minister said, making placating gestures to the lean and scarred Enforcer. "-Though we should be prepared just in case. Anything they try would most likely be regulatory-based, not acting on our suggestions and the like."
"Which-which-which would be the disaster for everyone," Alkrat interjected in his funny little accent. "Surely they must see."
"We need more leverage," Barchoke said finally. "We need some way of saying it doesn't matter if they don't like it, they have to listen when we speak."
"Good luck finding it," Slaggran wheezed morosely.
After a moment a thought occurred to him.
"What do you mean, 'what it considers their soil'?" he asked Overseer Bankor.
"The Ministry claims all of England, Scotland, Wales, and the northern bit of Ireland as its sovereign domain," Bankor shrugged as if it were obvious.
"It can't claim us," Gutripper said with a glint in his eye.
"The treaties between us all reinforce our autonomy, as long as we follow their banking and creature laws," Barchoke stated the obvious.
"Yes, which applies to Gringotts and Below," Bankor agreed, "but I naturally assumed they'd be extending their claim to Flamel's Compound after the raid."
"Gah!" Barchoke gasped, not quite sure if he actually said it or not. "We'd be losing six hundred years of investment into the place; we can't let them take it."
"You want to claim land?" Director Fillast asked astonished. "Real, above ground, land?"
"The what is the problem?" the foreign goblin asked, gaze darting about looking for someone who'd explain it to him.
"No goblin's claimed land for a thousand years," Gutripper said, looking at him like he'd risen above himself. "Even the land this bank was built upon was gifted to us."
"I want us to claim everything we may have a right to," Barchoke said, knowing he was now in it so deep the only way out was to keep punching through. "-And everything we don't have a right to, we should claim that as well. That's the only way for us to get even half of what we want."
"But how're we gonna stop them from taking it?" Slaggran asked.
"Bankor," he said, pointing to the goblin in question, "you've gotten on well with these I.C.W. types. We need from them an international acknowledgement that the Compound is now - and has always been - outside the jurisdictions of England, Scotland, and the modern Ministry of Magic."
"That's going to be a big job," the Little Minister moaned. "Surely Marsh might get on better with those wizarding types? And there might be an issue with who might have had claim to it before we put Flamel there. Some parchment or other might be lying around in some archive somewhere."
"That's the Ministry's problem, not ours," Barchoke rebutted. "And even then we can raise issue with how genuine that is. And I don't want Marsh or any other human anywhere near this if we can help it; their loyalties would be split. I'm prepared to accept an acknowledgement that for the last six hundred years the island, Compound, and everything derived from the opportunities we gave Flamel are ours because we are the ones who negotiated the deal and paid to maintain it."
"Humans always demand a price though," Slaggran wheezed, his stomach beginning to rumble. "They can never just give us what's ours."
That was certainly true; the human refusal to see how they had a right to anything was at the root of virtually every conflict between the two peoples.
"Those Continental types like knowledge more than the Ministry types do, don't they?" he asked Bankor.
"There are several wizarding institutions said to be quite highly regarded-"
"-Then they're going to be interested in everything that Stonemaker's been up to, interested in, or doodled on a scrap of paper over the last six hundred years," Barchoke cut back in. "And we're not just talking about the Stone, we don't know what's been going on there. We guarantee them the ability to study whatever Flamel might have come up with in return for their agreement the Compound and all the intellectual rights are ours, then we can move forward to discuss royalties on any new devices made, finance offers to make them-"
"It'd be using their own greed against them," Fillast said approvingly. "They'd have to agree to give us what we definitely want just for the hope of getting what they might want, and if there is anything there we might just recoup our losses for having Flamel there in the first place. It's genius."
"Better to barter with part of what you might get than to stubbornly continue to claim everything you used to have but will never get again," he said with a smile.
"But that still doesn't mean the Ministry will even bother looking at an agreement," Slaggran huffed, ever the optimist. "And that's provided we even get one, and provided the I.C.W. doesn't just take what they want or strike a better deal with the Ministry. So how are we gonna make anyone live up to their word?"
.....
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