In the silence that followed McGonagall's slap-down, Padma grabbed Hermione's arm to get her attention. "You knew?"
She could only nod by way of a reply, Harry had turned his attention back to Dumbledore and Hermione didn't want to miss anything.
"I thank you for providing me with this choice headmaster, it's rather an easy one to make. You see I was very happy at my goblin school and never wanted to attend Hogwarts in the first place, it was my father who urged me to come here. I shall now be able to return home and tell him I tried my best but was neither welcome nor wanted."
The Hermione Granger who'd left Crawley that morning would probably have placed being expelled from school marginally below being killed in her list of catastrophic things that could happen to her. This Hermione Granger though had travelled to a different country and a whole other world had opened up for her. This Hermione Granger now had a best friend and was not about to lose him. Ignoring Harry's repeated claims that he could handle himself, she shot out her seat and rushed to his side.
"Hermione?"
"If you're leaving, then I'm going too." Draco Malfoy was seething with anger. He'd made a big play to establish who was the king pin amongst the first years and now looked like a complete fool. Harry Potter had kept his silence, standing there and deliberately letting him dig a deeper hole for himself. Draco had never been so humiliated in his life. His father's instructions were to befriend the boy and then attempt to convert him to their way of thinking, you didn't need to be a genius to see that would never work now.
His anger led to him loudly opening his mouth when he probably shouldn't have, his voice clearly discernible over the hubbub Harry's proposed leaving was causing. "Goblins and another mudblood? Just when we thought the once proud Potter name couldn't sink any lower!"
Harry left Hermione standing there beside a still shocked McGonagall and purposefully walked toward Malfoy.
The blond Slytherin was supremely confident. He was amongst his own house with his godfather sitting at the staff table. He was also certain he could take whatever verbal mutterings Potter came up with and turn them back against him. Draco nonchalantly stood to meet the advancing Potter but was totally unprepared for what happened next.
Harry walked right up to Malfoy and his hand was a blur as it powerfully backhanded him across the mouth, throwing Draco back onto the Slytherin table.
"You are a disgusting example of what inbreeding can cause, I challenge you to an honour duel."
Albus had been shocked at the boy's refusal to attend Hogwarts, nearly as much as his verbal assault on Minerva. He'd let this situation develop to see if it could be turned to his advantage, the headmaster seized the opportunity that presented itself here.
"Just how do you intend to fight a duel Harry, when you consider yourself a goblin and Mr Malfoy is clearly a wizard? You are aware the law prohibits goblins from using wands?" "Had I been allowed to attend Hogwarts, you would have found I'm well versed in both wizard and goblin law. Perhaps if you had studied our laws more you would not have been barred from doing business with Gringotts for the last decade. Then again, you don't appear to pay too much attention to wizarding law either, they just allow you to get away with it."
You could be forgiven for thinking that the occupants of the great hall were all shocked out, given what had happened before. This revelation though drew loud gasps of astonishment, almost exclusively amongst those old enough to understand what being barred from Gringotts entailed. They had no way of knowing that the night was still young and there was a lot more to come.
"I am quite prepared to duel Mr Malfoy here while he uses his wand, I have my own weapon."
Harry withdrew a custom-made blade from his sleeve. It had a beautifully carved Hungarian Horntail fang as its handle with a razor sharp stiletto style goblin-forged blade protruding at least six inches from the grip. Even in the great hall's candlelit atmosphere, the blade seemed to capture whatever light was available and reflect back just how deadly a weapon this was. The knife's overall appearance greatly resembled that of a stylised wand.
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that Harry..." Harry now verbally cut across Dumbledore too. "You actually left me no other option, the entire school faculty sat there and let this moron get away with publicly insulting me and my family."
Severus Snape was acutely aware of his godson's abilities, or lack of. Draco being defeated in a duel his first evening in Hogwarts would destroy the boy's credibility. He was forced to take action. "Mr Malfoy, ten points from Slytherin."
Draco would have loved to rant against the injustice of that punishment, the silk hankie now held against his mouth in an attempt to halt the flow of blood prevented him from doing so.
Harry gave a slight bow to the professor. "My honour is satisfied, though my curiosity is not. Was the ten points a punishment for the slight on my birth parents, my goblin father or Miss Granger's circumstances of birth?" Harry didn't expect an answer and wasn't disappointed.
"As I suspected, a combined total for all three. C'mon Hermione, time to get out of here. That piece of filth publicly calls you the foulest name imaginable and gets docked three points for it, and that only after I threaten to cut him to pieces."
He offered Hermione his arm as the pair headed for the door.
Filius Flitwick suddenly found a lot of things becoming clearer for him. He'd felt slightly ostracised by the goblin community for years now and couldn't figure out what he'd done to deserve it. These occurrences were beginning to make sense since discovering Dumbledore was barred from Gringotts. Albus was his boss, therefore he was tainted with the headmaster's crime by simple association. It was time to make inroads into repairing his goblin relationships, starting with calling this young boy by his proper name. "Harry Crow, Son of Barchoke, can I enquire how you intend to travel home?"
Harry turned and this time his bow was much deeper, it also was done with genuine respect. "Well met Master Flitwick, our director actually named me Old Crow but you weren't to know that. My father calls me Harry Crow so I won't forget my other roots. My father is a wise goblin who also provided me with a portkey home, I will activate it as soon as we clear the Hogwarts wards. I promise on my honour to see Miss Granger safely home."
"Well met Old Crow, Child of James and Lily, Son of Barchoke, Prophesied One."
Hermione had her hand on Harry's arm and felt him stiffen at that, he didn't give any other sign though. They both turned to see it was the sorting hat that had spoken those words, but the old hat was just getting started.
"Your father is indeed a wise goblin Harry Crow, he knows you must come to Hogwarts to fulfil your destiny. Hogwarts is prepared to welcome you, and grant all that welcome entails."