There was no way they had established enough trust with the I.C.W. to get anyone there to sign anything binding on such short notice, so something guaranteed to give everyone pause would be needed to get things done. But what?
If they all hadn't been huddled up together none of them might have noticed, but just then a small square section of the solid marble floor popped up and scooted to the side. Out of what appeared to be a solid vertical shaft climbed Braglast, the Supervisor of Dodgy Deals. And as soon as he pried his little legs out he dropped the section back in place where it melted back into the rest of the floor without a hint of a disturbance.
"How in Gotts name does he do that?" Barchoke asked the goblin's brother, Fillast.
Rather than answer, Fillast pointed to his brother who was still sitting on the floor. Out of his pocket the silent goblin took out a small bit of metal and presented it to him.
'What am I supposed to do with a child's toy?' Barchoke wondered, debating whether the silent goblin had lost his mind.
It was a Warboar, or what passed for it nowadays. A little metal pig with wings and a place to mount a little goblin warrior on its back, though this one was obviously missing. As failed ideas go it was one of the Halfwit's better ones, and one he was actually starting to carry through with before the Humbling, if you believed what those records said, but it wasn't like they could ride into battle on the back of a-
He looked over to Overseer Gutripper.
"I've got an idea."
...
Hermione had an odd, almost pained, look on her face as she made her way back to him.
"You sure you don't mind, Harry?" Percy asked.
"What? Oh, no. You can borrow them," he said to the oddly enthused Prefect. "I haven't even looked at them yet."
"Then I'll be careful with them," the boy said pompously, "I know how some people can be about their books." Percy's eyes darted to Penelope who was standing beside him, who promptly smacked his shoulder.
"Just because I don't want your gigantic thumbs smearing my notes doesn't make me fussy," Percy's girlfriend chided.
"Well, if you didn't write them in your books-," the older boy said as they started to walk away.
"They're my books, my notes, and I'll write them where it's convenient," Penelope said with finality.
Harry couldn't tell if they were poking fun at each other or were really having a spat. He pushed it aside though as Hermione joined him looking troubled.
"Are you alright?" Harry asked.
"No, I think my brain is numb," she replied, giving her forehead a little massage.
"You haven't been near any goblins, have you?" he asked, remembering the odd feeling from the questioning they had the day before.
"Harry, the last thing I need right now is someone else speaking in non sequiturs."
"What?" Harry asked, not even knowing what that meant.
"I took the chance on making a new friend," Hermione explained. "But this girl, at times I don't know if she's daft or deep. In the end it was just… tiring."
Harry sympathized; his attempt didn't go so well either. While it wasn't exactly the same, Katie Bell was kind of the same way. She might sit there like a bump on a log during the bleary-eyed early morning Quidditch team meetings but once the sun was high in the sky her energy had her all over the place. The only one who seemed to be able to keep up was the new kid, Colin Creevey, who was excited about everything.
"Then why'd you stay over there so long?" he asked, knowing that if he hadn't begged off to stay behind with the blissfully sedate Weasleys he'd be back in the Alley looking at the Nimbus 2001 again with the other two still yammering away like Barchoke and Lichfield on a busy day.
"First the crazy-eyed woman from the bookshop came in," his girlfriend explained, "and I was already feeling kind of sorry for Luna, but then it got even worse-"
"Wait, Luna?" he asked. "As in Luna Lovegood?"
"You know her?" Hermione asked, looking somewhat concerned.
"She was Ginny's friend," he replied, an idea forming in his head before it was violently shoved aside. "Hang on, is she a Hopeful?"
Hermione froze a bit and seemed uncertain as to what to say.
"Possibly?" she replied, obviously in the tricky position of not wanting to lie but not necessarily wanting to tell him the whole truth.
.....
Want to read ahead. Then Join my P@treon 60+ exclusive chapters that are waiting for you.
Free members can get 2 advanced chapters FOR FREE.
Link: ptreon.com/Lotus_Lover
Join Right Now