Before I knew it, the final week of school before the Christmas break was upon me. It was a rare reprieve from getting homework every day, with most of the professors electing to let their students spend the classes simply hanging out. Professor Ronen even held a small party in his last Charms class of the week, complete with candy and these strange tubes called Wizard Crackers. The massive boom they made when you opened them hurt my ears, but I was intrigued by the large assortment of random gifts they could hold inside.
Wednesday evening during dinner, Professor Weasley rattled off the names of those who would be spending the holiday at the castle - it turned out to be quite a few people, and the vast majority of them, as I'd heard through the grapevine, were attending the Hogsmeade Christmas Eve Gala. There was myself and Sebastian, obviously (Fig had offered to return us to his home in London for the holiday if I'd wanted, but he seemed happy to hear that I had a date lined up), then Natty and Poppy, and Ominis... after those names had been called, I stopped caring and tuned the rest out.
Of course, however... the lack of any teaching or learning going on this week bored me to tears. It had driven me nearly insane by the end of Wednesday, so after eating I went straight to my Room and began brewing the most complex potion there was in my textbook. It felt so good chopping and crushing up reagents and carefully measuring liquids to pour into the cauldron.
It took a long while to brew, though. I was already bored again after waiting a half hour, with an hour and a half to go. I put some music on while I waited, and sang along quietly.
I absolutely didn't miss spontaneously breaking out into song and dance, like in Equestria. Truth be told... I never really liked my singing voice much. It always sounded too deep and husky and slightly offkey, nor could I hold a note for very long... not at all what such a lovely vision of beauty like myself should sound like. Suddenly being forced to sing along with others close by was always embarrassing, it was perhaps my one and only flaw.
But here, in the sanctity and privacy of my own Room, I couldn't help myself. One of my favorite songs began to play; using my wand as a microphone, I stood up, cleared my throat and took a deep breath.
"...Can you tell? Does it show? I'm alone in a city of ghosts, awaaaaake to the howl of silence." I improvised my dance moves, trying to appear mysterious, dark and gothic. "What is left when you're not around? I don't know where to go... Shake the pain, break away, leave it all behind. With a hint of dawn, I'm already gone!" As I got to the chorus I took an exaggerated step forward and belted out the words.
"Staring with empty eyes, looking right through me... Physically void of life, nervous like zombies-" I paused for a moment, waving my wand to pause the phonograph as well. Zombies weren't really much of a thing in this world - only known to wizardkind, and only found in one area of the North American continent.
Inferi, however... well, Muggles had no idea, but wizards knew what those were. I unpaused the phonograph.
"...Nervous like Inferi... When all you cared for is the fire, you'll end up blinded by the light... I'm the only one alive in the dead of night!"
Yea, this was sounding great! My voice wasn't cracking at all like usual! Now for the profound verse.
"You and me, I was you, it's so faded that this much is true: We were slaaaaated for greatness someday." A sly, sexy grin as I ran my fingers through my hair. "And with death to outrun, we were shining as bright as the sun... it was uuuuus and the endless highway." I put more effort into my choreography for the second bridge and chorus, sliding and posing powerfully.
"I'm the ooooonly one alive in the dead of night!" I finished the song by slinking down to the floor, looking anguished and mopey, imagining the ending echoing effects and lights fading away, throngs of adoring fans clamoring around the stage.
"Ha... eat your heart out, Britneigh Spurs," I smirked to myself, hearing the wild applause my performance surely would've received.
What I did not expect to hear was slow, sarcastic clapping.
Thoroughly ripped out of my fantasy, I sat straight up to see Sebastian in the doorway, an open tin of candy in the crook of his arm. His mouth was just barely holding back laughter.
I wanted to curl up under a rock and die.
"Bravo," he drawled, grinning. "Is this part of that curse on your homeland where everyone breaks out into song and dance at random?"
I said nothing. Instead, I grabbed the closest book I wasn't using in my magic and hurled it at his face. He dodged it easily and sank to the floor, laughing uncontrollably yet not spilling any of his candy.
"How much of that did you hear?!" I finally shouted, feeling my face grow hotter than the surface of the sun.
"Not sure, but what I did catch was certainly entertaining!" he guffawed. "The great and terrible Sunset Shimmer, putting on quite a show!" I couldn't see myself in any of the mirrors from where I was sitting, but I imagined my face- ...my entire body was as red as the scarlet tapestries on the walls.
"Sebastian... I swear to every single god that exists in this world, if you ever even breathe a word of this to anyone, I will end you," I seethed, too humiliated and enraged to even scowl.
"I w-won't... I won't tell..." he snickered, struggling to pick himself off the ground. "Merlin's beard, that was incredible to witness."
Him offering me half of his candy wasn't quite enough to get me to forget about this embarrassment, this slight against my psyche... I'd have to get him back eventually. We might be friends, but even he's not immune to my wrath!
~
On Friday morning, I received a rather rough-looking letter from an owl during breakfast. When I opened it, it took me a few seconds to realize just who had sent it - part of me had written off ever hearing from Lodgok again, but sure enough, the content inside could only have come from him.
While brief, the letter was asking for quite a bit to happen between now and tonight: Lodgok wanted to meet after 9pm, at the entrance to a goblin mine at the southeastern end of Hogwarts Valley (to which he helpfully included a map). He wrote that the two of us needed some idea of what Ranrok was plotting, as he had failed to make nice with him by handing over that helmet. He knew there had been vastly-increased activity at this particular mine, so a careless Loyalist might've left plans sitting out somewhere. However, as his loyalty was already being questioned, he couldn't be seen anywhere near this mine... which was where I came in.
There was an additional hiccup to this plan, though... Lodgok wanted me to find someone who could speak - or at least read Gobbledegook to bring along. It seemed he wanted to keep this as much of a secret as possible, so we wouldn't be taking the plans with us. This proved... troublesome.
First I tried asking Sebastian if he was up for an adventure, but it turned out he wouldn't actually be available at all tonight. After I'd told him we'd be attending the Gala, he'd managed to convince Ominis to attend as well, and tonight they were both going into the village to be fitted for their suits.
Not to mention he didn't know a word of Gobbledegook. It was apparently extremely difficult to learn, and especially since his sister had been cursed by them he had no desire to.
Next I asked Fig... while he had some advice to offer when it came to stealth, he also had no knowledge of Gobbledegook. He did offer to come along, but thought better of it when reminded of Lodgok's tenuous trust in most wizards. Instead he would await my return so he could research whatever I happened to find.
I groaned to myself when I realized exactly whose help it turned out I would need. Sweet Celestia, was he annoying... but if there was ever a good time to take advantage of his obvious simping on me, then it was now. The real question was: how was I going to get him to go without revealing the reason why?
Well, the nerd loved his stargazing... that was probably as good a reason as any. It took me a little while to track him down, but eventually I found him coming down from the Astronomy Tower with a couple of other classmates. He froze uncomfortably upon seeing me, as though he couldn't believe his good fortune.
"Hey, Amit..." I paused for a moment to swallow down a pang of revulsion, hoping he didn't notice. "Uh, I... found one of those Astronomy Tables that Professor Shah mentioned ages ago. I was wondering if-"
"Say no more, Sunset," Amit shook his head with a wide grin. "I would be happy to accompany you! Where is this table you found?" I showed him the map, taking care to obscure the notes about the goblin mine with my thumb. "Ah, I see... well, tonight is supposed to be perfectly clear, and there is no time like the present! Would you like to meet me there at around... say, 10pm?"
"Yea, that sounds great," I nodded.
"Marvelous! I shall see you then," he beamed as he turned away, he and his friends tittering in excitement as they left. Well, that's that problem solved... now to make it through the night without giving in and strangling him...
~
At the same time, I was both anxious for night to fall so I could meet with Lodgok, and dreading having to spend an hour or two with Amit for company. Around 9pm I quietly left the castle, got on my broom and traveled to the spot marked on my map. I was landing in the middle of a goblin camp about twenty minutes later.
The goblin mine overlooked the entirety of southern Hogwarts Valley, with Irondale to the left and Keenbridge to the right, both hamlets hundreds of feet below. The camp outside of the mine had been completely deserted - perhaps all of the goblins ate and slept inside the mine for warmth and shelter, as there were no tents or other accommodations I could see. Thankfully, Amit hadn't arrived yet.
A short, shadowy figure stepped out from behind some scaffolding. I whipped around and saw that it was Lodgok, and lowered my wand.
"Lodgok... good to finally see you again," I greeted.
"Same to you, Sunset," the elderly goblin replied. "I apologize it took me this long to find a lead... unfortunately, presenting Ranrok with the Helmet of Urtkot did not have the effect I'd hoped. Because he knew the details surrounding its plunder, he presumed I'd had help from a witch or wizard in retrieving it."
"Well, I mean... you couldn't get it yourself. None of them could. I don't know what he was expecting," I shrugged.
"I'm afraid we do not have the luxury of rational expectation when it comes to Ranrok," he sighed. "Damn Bragbor and his blasted journals..."
"Who's Bragbor?" my head tilted.
"An ancestor of Ranrok's... renowned metalworker. If we are to work together, I suppose I must tell you more."
"Please do. This sounds quite pertinent," I nodded. Lodgok nodded as well.
"Not long ago, Ranrok sent me to collect a recently-unearthed set of Bragbor's journals. They described 'repositories' that Bragbor had been commissioned to build for a group of witches and wizards."
"Repositories, huh?" Pushing aside the suspicion that arose when I'd heard him admit that Ranrok had asked him personally to do something for him, I instead focused on the latter half of his tale.
"Large, magically-fortified receptacles crafted from goblin metal," Lodgok explained. "Ranrok recruited others to help me locate the repositories... we were to search anywhere that was connected to the five names mentioned in the journals: Rackham, Fitzgerald, Bakar, Morganach and Rookwood. We began our search at Rookwood Castle," he pointed towards Feldcroft in the distance, just barely visible on the horizon behind a mountain.
"Is... that so..." I blinked, trying not to betray my innermost thoughts. So that's how Ranrok knows about the Keepers and the ancient magic... "...And why does Ranrok care so much about these repositories?" I asked carefully; I wondered just how much he - and Lodgok - knew.
"He cares about what they contain," he answered plainly. "For centuries, wizards have refused to share their magical knowledge with goblins... your kind will not even let us carry wands. Thus, many goblins, myself included, have spent our lives mistrusting wizardkind."
And yet you guys run the biggest wizarding bank in the country...
"Ranrok was convinced that the repositories contained a magical power that wizards wanted to keep for themselves. He was- is determined to take it for goblinkind, but he's-" Lodgok cut himself off, his ears twitched as I heard footsteps crunching through the snow. We turned towards the noise; Amit had finally shown up... earlier than even I had expected, the simpy weirdo.
"There you are, Sunset! I've been flying around for a while trying to locate either you or this Astronomy Table you speak of- ...Oh! A goblin!" his face lit up in surprise.
"Amit... this is Lodgok," I introduced with a gesture. "Lodgok, Amit." Lodgok stared at Amit, seemingly unimpressed.
"...You speak Gobbledegook?" he asked.
"Yes, I do!" Amit then proceeded to make a series of grotesque noises, sounding something like a cross between a sick Breezie and a dragon with its mouth full of sour candy. Lodgok's eyes narrowed as his mouth hung open in disgust.
"Ugh, enough! Please do not tell me that was meant to be Gobbledegook," he groaned. Amit's mouth screwed shut in nervous shock.
"I, uh... W-Well, yes. Perhaps my pronunciation was a bit off... I imagine certain dialects differ-"
"Pronunciation is not the issue... I barely recognized that as language!"
"Well, we don't need him to speak it, just read it," I grimaced, although inwardly I wanted to laugh. Figures he couldn't actually speak the language correctly... a book couldn't exactly teach you tone or inflection.
"We... do? Are we not here to do some stargazing?" Amit tilted his head in confusion.
"Nope. New plan - my buddy here says there's goblin blueprints inside that mine. He can't go inside for reasons, and I can't read Gobbledegook. That's where you come in," I grinned devilishly.
"Oh... well, u-uh... o-of course! How exciting!" He tried to put on a brave face, but I could already see him shivering in terror at the mere prospect of heading inside. "I mean, well... might this be dangerous?"
"Not at all," I lied straight to his face. "We'll be in and out before you know it."
"Good luck," Lodgok waved before sliding behind a crate to get out of sight. "I await your return."
Once we couldn't see him anymore I shrugged and casually made my way towards the mine's entrance. All they had for security was an enchanted metal door, with a single glass eyeball the size of a watermelon staring down at us at the very top. While I figured that the conventional way to get it to open up was to be Disillusioned while fiddling with the mechanisms, a simple Bombarda proved just as effective, if not more efficient.
"A-Ah... S-Shouldn't we be a little more cautious about this? And perhaps more respectful of things that do not belong to us?" Amit stuttered behind me, where he couldn't see me rolling my eyes.
"Cautious, schmautious... just keep quiet and follow me," I grumbled as I ducked through the door's remains. Moonlight streamed in from an open crevice in the ceiling, drowned out by the glow from what appeared to be tube-shaped lightbulbs encased in metal sockets hammered into the walls and connected by both wires and gas lines. As we traveled further into the tunnel, more and more signs of goblin engineering became obvious, and Amit seemed to forget his fear and glanced around in wonder.
"Books so rarely prepare one for reality... a real goblin mine... it's even grander than I expected!" he squealed with glee. Presently the tunnel ended in a room full of pipes connected to one of those boilers, which all led towards what appeared to be a sort of elevator lift. A quick Incendio relit the boiler's fire, and steam hissed from the lift as it shuddered at being activated. "Look at this lift... impressive workmanship for so simple a device!"
"Well, you realize it's simple, at least," I sighed as I stepped onto it. Amit quickly hopped on as I pulled the only lever I could see within the lift's interior, the doors sliding closed a moment later. It descended rather quietly... I estimated we had gone maybe two hundred feet into the mountain by the time it stopped.
"I still can't believe we're inside a real goblin mine...!" he continued to gush as we exited the elevator and began walking down the mine's halls. "I've read about mines like this, but seeing one is something else altogether! I feel like a character from one of the adventure books I read during the summer holidays!"
"Are you gonna be like this the entire time?" I winced at him. "I thought you wanted to be cautious."
"Sorry," he snapped his mouth shut. However, as we entered a large room movement caught our eyes. A trio of goblins were standing guard in front of a closed door, and as I raised my wand in preparation to attack, he gasped. "Wait! A-Are you really going to attack them?!"
I lowered my wand with a grunt. "Yea? They wouldn't hesitate to try to kill either of us... they hate wizards."
"But... b-but they haven't done anything! They're just standing there... innocently!" he argued. I resisted the urge to slap my own forehead.
"Alright... and what do you suggest we do to move forward?" I groused.
"Anything can be solved with diplomacy!" Amit puffed out his chest. "I shall simply explain that we'd like to join them, and we can sneak in and acquire their plans that way!"
I blinked a few times before indulging my urge. You... cannot possibly... be this dumb...
"...You know what? Fine. Go talk to them."
Amit grinned and confidently strode out from the tunnel towards the goblins. He stumbled a bit when they immediately took up their weapons and pointed them at him, but to his credit he kept going until he was only a few feet away from their leader.
"Ah... and to what do we owe the pleasure of this intrusion?" he snarled, his eyes narrow.
"So far from the castle... shouldn't you be in bed by now?" another goblin taunted.
"Not to mention you came alone... not too bright, are yeh?" the third one sneered as his spear came within inches of poking Amit in the chest. He chuckled nervously before clearing his throat and adopting the boldest possible expression he could... which had more holes in it than a Potions colander.
"Now, now, my good fellows... I am not here to cause any trouble!" And then Amit began making those noises again...
I felt like I was watching Barnabas the Barmy teaching trolls to dance ballet right in front of me. Unsurprisingly, the goblins stared at Amit incredulously before recoiling, two of them laughing while their leader gasped with rage.
"You said what about my mother?!" he shouted, raising his axe high. Amit meeped in fear as he fumbled for his wand; just as the axe came swinging down I Accioed him out of harm's way, then with a flick of my wand I Transfigured the weapon into an anvil. It fell and crushed the goblin's arm beneath its weight, and he howled in pain.
"See? They're not in the mood for diplomacy," I shook my head as I effortlessly took control of the other two goblins' weapons while they struggled to realize what was happening. The spear went through one goblin's throat while his shortswords impaled the other goblin through the bottom of his ribcage and out his right armpit. They fell over into the rapidly-growing pool of blood at their feet, their leader staring behind him in shock.
He looked back at me just in time to see me flick the anvil from the ground into his chin. The impact very nearly tore his head off.
"That... was a little more than I'm used to..." Amit whimpered, eyes painfully wide as he watched the leader's body crumple to the floor.
"And that was just a taste of what you're gonna see... better get used to it," I smirked before tearing the door off its hinges and tossing it aside. It seemed to lead into the goblin's living quarters - my hunch had been correct.
Immediately to my right was another group of goblins huddled around a cooking fire, a pot of something simmering away on top. My magic propelled the stew within into their faces, the liquid like napalm while the vegetables were Transfigured into Chomping Cabbage-esque creatures that gnawed at their eyes. More goblins to my left hurriedly stumbled out of their beds and groped sleepily for their weapons, only to find themselves restrained, choked and strangled by their own bedsheets, and smothered by their own pillows forcing themselves into their mouths. Their screams alerted even more goblins from side rooms, to which I simply picked up all the tableware I could see in one graceful sweep, and sent them hurling into the attackers with the speed of artillery fire. Even I found myself quite surprised at how much damage a wooden spoon could do to a goblin's chest cavity.
Finally, the room fell silent. I poked around at a laid-back pace, going through nightstand drawers and chests of belongings. Meanwhile, my companion stared at me in utter fear.
"W-Was that really necessary?! A-Any of that?!"
"Eh, I probably could've killed them all quicker," I shrugged as I thumbed through a stack of papers full of diagrams. Maybe these were the plans Lodgok had mentioned? "Here... what's this say?" Amit took the stack of paper and flipped through them, humming thoughtfully.
"Fascinating to see Gobbledegook written in a goblin hand... the flourishes are extraordinary!"
"We're not here for samples of their handwriting... what is it?"
"A schematic... they're building something. I can't quite make it out... curious."
"Wait... you can't read it?" I turned back towards him, glaring.
"W-Well... there are quite a few d-difficult words to read in this text... very e-esoteric in nature," he stammered. "N-Not to worry... I will get to the b-bottom of what they've been building down here." I simply shot him a look that made him shiver, then resumed my search. When I hadn't been able to find any other schematics, I began down another short tunnel that seemed to lead to the next area.
Now I found myself inside what appeared to be a massive workshop. There were forges lining the walls where glowing-hot pieces of metal were being worked by enchanted tools, and smelters purifying and forming ingots for manufacturing usage. To the right was a huge waterwheel turning in a subterranean stream, which helped to power an assortment of other blacksmithing tools as more goblins supervised.
Oh, this would be fun.
First I cast Aguamenti into the smelters, quickly followed by a Protego as the molten metal inside exploded from the water's sudden evaporation, coating the nearby goblins in heavy liquid agony. While they screamed I picked up as many of the tools and glowing pieces of metal as I could in my magic and sent them flying around the room in a maelstrom of chaos, slamming into their bodies and causing an assortment of wounds from bruises and burns to concussions to fatalities. A couple of the goblins that had only gotten a bit of molten metal on them managed to drag themselves towards the stream, to which I pushed them in with a Depulso and watched as they got munched by the waterwheel. A savory, yet sickening smell soon began wafting from the nearby steam boilers.
"Oh... this really is too much..." Amit whined, holding his abdomen. He looked as though he was going to be sick.
"You need to get out more if this is enough to rattle you," I quipped as I lazily searched the workshop. Eventually I found another stack of papers on top of a desk, and called my companion over. He seemed to recover slightly as he read through the pages.
"Another schematic... If I'm translating this correctly, and I think that I am... they're building something rather large. But what?"
"Large, huh? How big are we talking?" I asked.
"This mine is too small for whatever it is," he replied. "I hope there are more schematics to find, we cannot return to Lodgok empty-'headed'."
...
I turned towards Amit in disgust. "...Really? Was that supposed to be a joke?" All he had to offer me was a gormless grin - I sighed deeply as I blew apart another door and passed through into another workshop.
If the last workshop had been unusually large, then this one was quite simply excessive. Thinking about the shapes of the bits of metal I'd seen, the last workshop might've been crafting nuts, bolts and screws, whereas judging by the size of the smelter and molds this one was producing huge sheets and tubes of metal. A quick estimate told me that the circumference of the largest tube the metal would form was larger than that of Hogwarts' own Astronomy Tower.
A shiver ran down my spine. Just what in the hell was Ranrok building? Screw stealth, clearing the place out and halting production entirely was clearly the way to proceed here.
This time I closed my eyes in focus as I poured magic into the molten metal, forming it into a facsimile of a phoenix. It rose from the glowing mass with a guttural, gurgling cry, the goblins supervising the machine running around and panicking at the mere sight of it. Then it took flight, each flap of its wings sending drops of burning-hot metal raining down on the unfortunate enemies... even worse for them, the metal partially hardened in midair into jagged spikes, seemingly exploding like miniature frag grenades as they pierced into their flesh. While I kept Amit and myself safe underneath my Protego, while he squeezed his eyes shut and covered his ears to drown out the screams, I subtly summoned up ancient magic from deep within my soul, and fired an orb of purple light at the molten phoenix. It exploded in a downpour of radiant yellow, and as it coated every goblin in the room a quickly-cast Glacius hardened the shells in an instant.
Amit opened his eyes to see the room filled with tens of metal statues of goblins shrieking in terror, screaming in agony, crawling and oozing and partially melted into the floor.
"H-How... How do you sleep at night?!" he wailed at the top of his lungs.
"With your mom. Now quit your whining and come read this," I gestured plainly at the master blacksmith's desk, where yet another stack of papers lay. Unlike the others, this one had a clear picture of what the schematics were meant to create: something that resembled a cylindrical tank fixed to the front of an automobile, with three thick discs covered with studs on one end. The discs were arranged so that whatever the tank drove into, they would chew right through and crumble it to pieces. At this point I didn't really need Amit to read it for me, but... might as well let him serve his purpose.
"...This is not good. T-They're building enormous drills, b-bigger than this mine could contain," he fumbled for words. I paused for a moment, thinking about the implications.
Giant drills... probably for finding more ancient magic. So there must be more of it underground somewhere...
"...C-Can we leave now?" Amit whimpered. "I-I don't think I can handle w-what you do to these poor goblins next." As my back was turned to him I grinned smugly to myself... this purposely-elaborate display of my magical prowess would ensure that this little worm of a boy would never bother me again.
"Just one more thing..."
~
Amit came screaming out of the entrance to the mine, in more ways than one - the ground quaked beneath my feet as I jogged after him. I may not have liked the guy much, but I wouldn't have let him get buried alive inside the mine after casting Bombarda on all its support beams and weak points. A few moments later the mine's entrance caved in, the entire mountain seemingly sinking in on itself by a hundred feet or so. Another hundred feet away, Amit flinched as I moved towards him.
"Oh, come on... that wasn't so bad, was it?"
"YOU'RE INSANE! YOU'RE A MONSTER!" he shrieked in pure, unadulterated terror, his legs shaking far too much for him to move another inch. A chuckle breezed past my lips as I closed the distance between us, my face hovering inches away from his as I lowered my voice to nearly a whisper.
"And now that you've seen what I can do to an entire mine's worth of goblins... imagine, if you ever invoke my wrath... what I can do to you."
Amit froze. After a few moments had passed I lurched forward, snapping my teeth - it broke the hold his body had over him. He let out a loud screech as he stumbled away and desperately clawed into his pocket dimension for his broom, dropping several school supplies and personal items before finally pulling it out and rocketing away.
Moments later, I heard someone clearing their throat. Looking down at the noise, I jumped slightly to see that Lodgok was standing beside me. "Well, I-I don't suppose there is any risk of me being seen anymore, so..."
"Yea, no. They're all toast," I shook my head with a smirk before letting it fall away. "They're building giant drills. Ranrok's searching for those repositories, and seems to think they're underground."
"I fear you are correct," he nodded solemnly. "Other than Rookwood Castle, however, I do not know where else he plans to search." While considering all that I'd learned in the past hour or so, a thought suddenly bubbled into the forefront of my mind... and it made an excellent point.
"You know... if you don't like wizards or wizardkind, then why are you helping me?" Lodgok opened his mouth to reply, but no sound came out. He closed it again after a few moments, a pensive expression on his face. Suddenly I felt a wave of mixed emotions radiating from within him.
"I expected Rookwood Castle to be deserted when I arrived to begin my search... so I was surprised to find a witch there... who had set up some sort of improvised research site," he spoke hesitantly, almost painfully. "She was... studying something so intently that she almost didn't notice me. When she looked up, I thought she would react with fear, or disdain... but instead she did something that I will never forget," he paused as he turned away to gaze out upon the starlit valley, his voice growing shaky. "...Without a moment's hesitation, she smiled... and asked me to sit with her. She told me that she was a researcher, and showed me a small, oddly-shaped container with a strange symbol on it-"
I stifled a gasp. Somehow, Lodgok was talking about Miriam, Fig's late wife! And the Portkey container that started this whole mess!
"She was certain it was made of goblin metal but was unable to open it... She wanted to work together. The reverence with which she talked of goblins and their intelligence and skill, it caught me entirely off guard. I had never been treated with such respect by a witch or wizard... so, to my surprise, I let her study the container if she would allow me to search the castle on my own. We parted ways with her promising to share what she'd learned..." he trailed off wistfully. It was a moment before he reclaimed his train of thought. "More of Ranrok's recruits arrived and we began to dig, eventually locating the first repository. Ranrok was thrilled with our discovery... but furious when I told him about Miriam... berated me for trusting a witch. When I heard she had been killed..."
"...You think Ranrok had her killed," I frowned. Lodgok turned towards me, anguish and uncertainty in his eyes.
"...I don't want to believe it, but... I don't know," he admitted. "After that, something shifted in me... I had seen how the power from the repositories was transforming Ranrok, transforming all of them... I could no longer remain a part of it." He fell silent, staring off into the distance.
"I see... thank you for telling me this," I offered. "That really explains quite a bit." The elderly goblin's face grew serious, almost guilt-ridden.
"I tell you all of this so that you understand what is at stake. Ranrok never found all of Bragbor's journals, but the ones he did find suggest that Bragbor at some point built a repository far greater in size than the one beneath Rookwood Castle."
Even bigger than that one?! At the same time, my mind salivated at the thought of so much power... and shuddered at the thought of Ranrok taking it all for himself.
"What you've discovered here tonight worries me deeply... If Ranrok learns of the location of that repository, I fear we shall be destined for a great war," Lodgok swallowed. I looked over to him and nodded in agreement - if he did manage to get to that source of ancient magic before I did... even I might not be strong enough to take him down at that point. "...I will find out what he knows. Watch for my owl."
And with those final words, I watched as Lodgok toddled off a short distance before an Apparating crack filled the air. As soon as he left, I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding in.
So Ranrok had a distant relative that made repositories to hold ancient magic for the Keepers... he'd already found one, but there was at least one more that was even bigger than that one had been...
...This wouldn't do. This ancient magic was mine, damn it. My promised power, my birthright, what I have been studying and striving and fighting for years to attain... I'll bet he can't even see the stuff! I had to hope that he never found that last journal, that it had been left out somewhere to rot and decay into nothing, so I could beat him to it.
But what about the magic he'd already taken from the Rookwood repository? Was it... possible to take it back? That was mine too, after all... the little cabbage bastard had clearly stolen it from me.
I had lots to think about now. I'd have to ask Fig if he'd ever heard about a Bragbor, maybe there was something to be gained in researching a supposedly-famous goblin metalworker.
And I gotta tell Sebastian about this, too, I mused as I prepared to teleport back to Hogwarts. But Fig wasn't really doing anything important for the next few weeks, whereas both Seb and I were gonna be busy...
...
...
...
Eh... I can wait a day or two to tell him. Right now, I have a gala and a holiday to plan for.