In the room was a small table with four wooden chairs. There were swords and axes along the wall and stuffed heads of magical creatures. 'Was that a werewolf?' the dogman thought, hoping it really wasn't. It takes a skilled hunter to kill a one of those in that form. There was the same warning that was written on the entrance on the back wall. The fugitive knew that if they could get away with it, there would be human heads decorating those walls. Goblins really didn't like thieves.
"Tell me, Black, how did you defeat the Thief's Downfall?" Snarlfist asked as he pulled a wicked looking blade from his belt. He started to clean his long black fingernails and glared menacingly at the man.
"I didn't do it, someone else did," Sirius quickly defended himself, holding up his hands in surrender. Then he felt the tug of the promise he had made, and lied, "I can't tell you more, I'm under oath." He worried that he might have to break his promise. He was sure Harry would understand if it was to save his life.
Snarlfist snarled and slammed his knife on the table, disappointed that he wouldn't get torture anyone− today. Trying to get information for someone under a vow was pointless. They usually died before telling anything. He sat on one side of the table, and then waved his spindly hand to the chair opposite. "Tell me what you can, and we will see about seeing Shockhorn. I want an oath that you will not use this new magic to rob Gringotts." His toothy grin didn't make Sirius feel any more comfortable, though he didn't show it.
"I can't tell much, but from what I understand, they actually turned me into my younger self, and changed my hair and eyes. This is not a glamor as much as it is a transfiguration or morphing," he said as he sat, making sure to not mention Harry's name.
"Hmmm, do you mind if I study it? We don't want people to be able to come into the bank in such a disguise," the tiny being asked, rubbing his pointed beard in thought. It was imperative that this magic be known to the goblin nation. The Downfall was supposed to be foolproof; being able to trick it was bad for business.
Black thought about it for a second as his eyes roamed the heads on the walls. He firmly nodded his consent, thinking it would do no harm.
The goblin waved his hand in front of the human's body to try and get a feel for the magic. His brow furrowed as he concentrated on what he was seeing. There was a great deal of raw magic involved in this 'glamor', but he couldn't see an actual spell used. He narrowed his eyes as something clicked in his head. The other person wasn't using spells, he was doing intent magic. Much like his own people did. There was little that could be done to reverse it, only the caster could. However, it can be detected by wards, if they were retuned to human intent magic. He had enough to give to the warders.
He nodded and stopped the spell. "Your oath," he said, picking up the knife once more and twirling it in his hands. There would be an oath, or this man would not leave this room alive.
"I, Sirius Orion Black, do solemnly swear that I am not here to rob Gringotts, and will not in the future. Furthermore, I will never tell anyone outside of Gringotts about this magic, unless they take a similar vow," the dogman recited firmly, making sure to add that loophole, and holding up his stolen wand. A dim light flared and sunk into his body, binding him to that oath and the promise he had made Harry.
"I will take you to Shockhorn now," Snarlfist stated, getting up from his chair and replacing his blade on his belt.
Sirius subtly wiped his brow; that was close. He had no idea what they did with thieves, and he never wanted to find out. His eyes went to the head of the werewolf once again, and he shuddered.
They made their way to another set of doors that led to a long hall lined with more doors, which the disguised man had walked many times before. They came to a stop in front of a door that had the Black crest on it.
Snarlfist knocked, and then entered. "Mr. Black is here to see you. Be warned, he is under a disguise, but he passed the blood test."
"The Thief's Downfall?" the old goblin behind the desk asked, tapping his knotty finger on the desk and wondering how a glamored human made it this far into the bank alive. The medium sized room looked like any other business office. The walls were lined with books and scrolls, and a large metal and wooden desk sat against the back wall with two matching, red cushioned chairs set in front of it.
"This is a new form of magic, and it fooled the Downfall," Snarlfist said blandly. "I have studied it, and it will soon be incorporated into the wards," he assured the older goblin.
"Very well, show him in."
Snarlfist waved the young looking man in, and Sirius took a seat on one of the chairs in front of the large desk. "Shockhorn," he greeted with more confidence, at least he knew this goblin.
"Black," the goblin returned as he waved his hand to see this new magic. He too was impressed. "I have to say that is a fine bit of magic. Tell me how you accomplished such a feat." He leaned forward on his desk, his hands folded over some important looking documents.
"All I can tell you is that it was someone else, and they are the only person who can break it. I've already given an oath that I will not rob Gringotts— ever. All I wanted was some money to play with," the poor man whinged, really put out that his glamor would cause so much trouble.
"Oh, Mr. Black, you have much more to do, now that you can come freely to the bank," Shockhorn said with faux sweetness as he got up and went to one of the bookshelves. He pulled down a tome that was almost as large as him, and carried it to the desk. He thumped it down in front of the fugitive and smiled a toothy smile and said, "Let's get your accounts in order, shall we?"
Sirius, who just wanted to get his leg over, groaned and banged his head on the very large book. "Shite." He wasn't going to be picking up any women today.
Harry's POV
The kids had been studying for about an hour, when Harry remembered something. "Hermione, tell me why the word 'Polyjuice' jiggles my memories," he said questioningly.
She looked up from her DADA book, and got a thoughtful look on her face. "Oh, well, you see, we sort of used it in our second year. It's a potion that lets you mimic someone else, if you add their… essence. Like hair or fingernails," she quickly reiterated at the disgusted look on our hero's face. "Bad choice of words, sorry. Anyway, it takes forever to brew. You and Ron were convinced that Malfoy was the Heir of Slytherin, and wanted to catch him talking about it. You boys took the potion, I think you were Crabbe, and the two of you snuck into their common room," she hedged in a whisper, making Harry lean over the table to hear her. She didn't want to tell that she had been stuck as a hybrid cat person for two weeks. "You did find out that he didn't know anything," she added.
"Ewww, really, I drank that shite?" he inquired with grimace on his face as he did a full body shudder. He still didn't remember, but if he was getting nudges there was hope.
"Well, the whole school was sure it was you that was petrifying people, even though you were friends with me. They were shunning you and running away in the halls. You just wanted to get the attention off of yourself," she explained, not even reprimanding his language. See she could learn.
"What were the teachers doing about it?" he asked blandly, pretty much sure of the answer.
"Well, nothing really," she stuttered, not wanting to give him more reason to hate and distrust the staff, but she didn't want to lie to him either. "However, I think they were unsure as to if it was you or not," she finished, hoping that would ward off his anger.
Harry scoffed, "Typical," and went back to his reading. One more nail in that coffin. They were quiet after that and soon it as time for dinner. So they all put their books away and settled to talk of non-important things.
Harry looked to the Staff Table and brought up his map to cover his right lens. He read the names of the teachers and wondered why Bartemius Crouch Jr. was teaching, and what he taught. He was also confused as to why the man looked older than his father. He remembered Senior telling him he had to compete in the stupid tournament. With the discussion he just had, there was a chance that this guy was an imposter, but he didn't want to accuse anyone of anything without proof. He was just about to ask a few questions, when his proximity ward went into Yellow Alert. There was an adult coming.
Sirius' POV
Hours later, Sirius finally stumbled from the bank to a mostly empty Alley. He cursed the goblins with every fiber of his being. He rubbed his aching right hand, and wandered down the street to the Leaky Cauldron. He went to the alley behind it, and Apparated to the outskirts of the Shrieking Shack. He was far too tired to pick up a bird. He somehow made it to the bed he was using, and waved off Winky when she asked if he wanted dinner. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow. He dreamed of goblins coming after him with rubber hoses, and beating Harry's name out of him. No, poor Sirius had not had a good day.
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