Meet Griphook:

Diagon Alley 2008:

I had wanted to stay at Hogwarts and continue interviewing those there, but I received a letter from an unexpected source, Griphook the director of Gringotts in Diagon Alley far below London. She, yes she wanted to meet with me, I of course knew about the real Griphook and knew she was part of a powerful clan and had brought great honor to them as she worked her way up to the post she held now. I headed to Gringotts and found myself outside Gringotts itself.

Now the thing to know about goblins is that they are not human anything. While Flitwick really is very short, he is fully human and was bestowed the honor of half goblin for helping the goblin nation out in a very deadly and honorable way. Goblins are to human eyes strange to say the least. They stand on average just under five feet tall and have drab green scaly skin with limp white hair, and all adults do have fangs. They have yellow eyes and really are not the type of people one would really want to mess with. They were a noble race of beings, good, a bit greedy (much like humans) but good people.

There had been a time that they would have fit right into Tolkien's world as the evil Orcs for Orcs is what they were and goblins too. They had been as awful and blood thirsty and everything mean and horrible, just as the old tales stated. Yet fifteen hundred years ago they changed, they gave up their evil ways and turned from murder and all sorts of horrible things to bankers and, when needed fighters for the side of good. In the magical world now goblin meant good and someone you could trust (though that depended on whom you spoke to) though as bankers they were in it for the money the same as everyone else. Though they made sure to be as honest as they could of course.

Gringotts is built deep underground like all of the district of Diagon Alley. Diagon Alley looks like a Roman town with tall stucco buildings built straight next to each other and on a grid. No crooked streets here, though not terribly wide as it was all foot traffic here. A thousand people lived comfortably down here and if one did not know one would think that one was above ground as there was an artificial sky above that mirrored London above. Gringotts was made of pure marble, and looked crooked but this was due to it being built straight as a ruler as it were. I walked up to the gold doors and saw two guards in full silver plate armor with long spears and with blue surcoats with a golden dragon on the front.

Entering the bank I found myself in a beautiful space that felt like a bank. I spoke to the guard at a desk and handed my card over and in short order was taken back to an office where Griphook waited. She was clad in a long blue over gown with short sleeves with tiny golden dragons on it that fell to her ankles, she had a gown under this of gold with white flowers. A leather belt with white gold flowers on it was at her waist and her hair was tied up in a bun. She had golden slippers on her feet and bid me welcome to a combination modern and medieval with beautiful oak furniture and colorful tapestries on the walls with a camera system on the walls and computer on the desk.

"Please, have a seat." Griphook said, her voice was soft and pleasant, and made her features easier to look at, goblins no matter how good they are now still unnerve me and really should not, as they swore to follow the good path. "I am glad you could come, I have traveled much and wanted to meet you, I am shall you say a fan."

"Well I do write the truth and do all I can to not be biased." I replied.

"Very good, we love the books though it is laughable that any could think that our bank could be broken into and a dragon ride out. We do use dragons of a sort, but they are cave dwellers as it is and love their job to guard, they cannot fly as you know."

"I do, but Voldemort did try to break into the bank, how did he get away?" I asked.

"He didn't fully, let me explain." Griphook replied.

January 1986, Gringotts Bank:

Griphook was furious, how darea dark lord try to enter her bank as he had? He had broken so many treaties if she had not known that he was a dark lord she could declare war on the humans. As it was all she could do was let him escape for now, well let him think he had. While physically he had escaped, anything he had in the bank was now the bank's and Griphook gladly took charge of the vaults that one Tom Marvolo had acquired and were his. Griphook was in her office working on paperwork when a goblin clad in the teller's uniform of brown three piece suit came in and bowed to her.

"My lady director." He said, "we have found something evil."

"Oh?" Griphook asked, "what is it?"

"A Horcrux my lady director." He replied.

"I see and who's is it?" Griphook asked.

"The dark lord who calls himself Voldemort."

"I see, well, bring in the curse breakers." She commanded.

A team of human, goblin, dwarf and elf (not brownies true elves similar to those in lore with very long lives but not immortal) came together lead by the youngest curse breaker master in centuries. One William Weatherby was his name the eldest son of Arthur and Molly Weatherby. He was tall with long curly red hair he kept tied back and clad in dragonskin, boots trousers, waistcoat and duster all in brown with a green button up shirt under the waistcoat. He had pouches at his waist and a satchel over his shoulder, his blue eyes were filled with light of youth. Despite his youth he was very much able to tackle what was here.

He needed the team as even one Horcrux was not something one wanted to tackle on their own. One would assume the unspeakable would tackle this but they were too busy with other things and besides they did not need the temptation one of these could cause them, or something like that. So it was a young curse breaker named William Weasley would examine the Horcrux with his team and find out a grave and shocking thing. Something that really put this dark lord on a level of stupidity that rivaled anything else. He sat back from his examination and sighed. The dark idiot had made more than one, and what he did not know is that when one made more than one each was connected to each other. It would be very easy to find the other ones and destroy them now. It seemed the madness and lack of intelligence had struck one Tom Marvolo from the Gaunt line. Even being the son of a muggle had not spared him from that.

"Seven." Bill said to Griphook.

"Ah, and you can find and destroy them?" She asked.

"Harry can, I find them, he flies them to Kilauea, has to have a bit of a journey and Italy is too close to toss them in. Kilauea will not mind and will love to destroy the evil things." Bill replied.

"And he gets to see Hawaii, very well, find them and have him take a trip halfway round the world." Griphook said.

Bill grinned and after bowing headed out to collect the Horcruxes. Griphook took a seat at her Macintosh computer. This was a marvel of magic and mundane technology, and, it worked far better in the magical world at this time. All goblin banks had them and they were very secure for what needed to be done. Griphook got on a secure online account and sent several secure messages out.

Gringotts 2008:

That is quite the tale, we knew Harry destroyed the evil things but not how. That he flew to Hawaii to get rid of them was impressive but then a volcano would work best, even Tolkien knew that much in his fictional world. Griphook finished her tale and ordered tea. I was not much into drinking tea and was surprised that when it came there was hot chocolate for me in place of the tea that everyone seemed to drink over here.

"You did your research on me." I said sipping the dark chocolate drink, "I am impressed."

"Well, we once were an evil and horrible people." Griphook said, "we have to make up for that."

"Trolls still are, though mundane have these dolls they call trolls that are far too cute, small and nice to be trolls." I replied, "I nearly got eaten by one when I was a child. Good thing my uncle had grenades."

"That is good." Griphook said grinning. "But yes, Mr. Fleamont-Black did destroy those evil things and went on an adventure to do so."

"Good, good I am glad to hear that, the books were amazing but I knew he had finished off the dark lord by the end of his fifth year."

"That he did, and had a great time in his sixth and seventh." Griphook replied, "have you any more questions?"

'Yes, who is your tailor?" I asked, "your gown is beautiful."

"Thank you," she replied, "I use Coco Chanel."

"I was not aware that brand had a magical side." I replied.

"Oh it does, dear madam Coco was a mage herself, not a strong one but she was a mage, it came in useful during WWII, she was part of the resistance and helped save many lives, the Nazis never suspected her." Griphook said. "Tell them I sent you, they will take good care of you."

I liked Griphook, she was enjoyable to talk with and so unlike the goblins in the book. Then again JK Rowling did not know how goblins were in the modern world. No longer were they were blood thirsty evil fiends of ages past. Oh they would stand up for their rights but they were not evil or dark as in days past. I found it amusing that JK Rowling would have so many names right but other details not so right. But then she had created a world of her own that did mirror Harry Fleamont-Blacks though not as closely as one would have thought. Goblins and Griphook for example. I headed back to Hogwarts as I hoped to be able to stay there for a time and interview more people. That and learn if Harry Fleamont-Black had figured out how to surf in England.

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Yes I had to make Goblins the good guys here. Yes I turned Griphook into a female and had her in charge of the bank. Why not? I wanted Goblins to look more like well Goblins that most think of, green skinned with fangs. As with everything in this story, technology and magic work just fine together. Oh and yes, using a volcano is perfect and yes I think having Harry learn now to surf would be fun while he is in Hawaii.