Interlude: The Ministry Delegation

Ambrosius Basilikos Black was a Junior Attache to the Goblin Liason Office and had been assigned to the delegation heading to meet with King Ragnuk the Twelfth of the Goblin Nation. Unfortunately for him, Ambrosius Black had neither the reputation nor the authority to gainsay Undersecretary Umbridge on her various plans for the delegation. It didn't fill him with confidence that the Undersecretary seemed to be constantly dismissive of both the Goblins and himself during the planning sessions.

Of course, Ambrosius wouldn't have ever been the Undersecretary's favorite person. As the youngest and only surviving son of Honorious Basilikos Black, that would have been the case even if he hadn't worked for the Goblin Liason Office, a department the Undersecretary felt should be abolished, as she felt that that Wizards shouldn't fraternize with Goblins at all. This was down to Ambrosius' Blood Status.

You see, his father had married a Muggleborn Witch named Edith Allcock in the fifties after he had returned from a long series of travels. That had gotten him disowned by his cousin, the head of the Family, Artcurus Black, as well as his own father, who had been on his deathbed due to complications arising from Dragon Pox at the time, for being a blood traitor. It also made Ambrosius a Half-Blood, something that the Undersecretary seemed to despise about him. Accordingly, all of Ambrosius' concerns about the Undersecretary's Plans for the meeting were brushed aside with condescension. He had to try anyway, for the record, if for no other reason.

"The Goblins are a proud people, treating them like you're planning will only cause the talks to break down, Undersecretary." Protested Ambrosius.

"Codswallop. These filthy little creatures should be grateful we're doing this at all. I don't see any reason why we should treat them with Kid's Gloves, especially since they're threatening the peace of Decent Witches and Wizards over the actions of some criminal." Scoffed Madame Umbridge.

"Undersecretary, it could lead to war." Warned Ambrosius.

"So? The Goblins Rebel every hundred years or so. We've never failed to squash such revolts before, why would we fail to do so now? If they want to overreach themselves again, why shouldn't we oblige them? Perhaps with Minister Fudge in charge of the War, we can finally subjugate them once and for all." Sneered Madame Umbridge.

"We would be caught in the opening moments of such a war, Undersecretary." Pointed out Ambrosius.

"I have every confidence that Auror Travers and his security detail will be able to fight off the Goblins should they attack us. After all, how difficult could it be to handle them? They aren't even capable of magic. One might think that the Goblin Liason Office sent a coward to advise the delegation from the way you talk. I would be very careful about spreading such defeatist attitudes were I you. You may well find your career stalled indefinitely." Threatened Madame Umbridge.

"Very well, Undersecretary. I will say no more on the matter. I do want it on record that I protested, however." Acquiesced Ambrosius.

"Noted. Have a care, however, that record cuts both ways. Once we are successful here, you may well come to regret your objections." Cautioned Madame Umbridge.

Privately, Ambrosius doubted he would regret his objections. The Undersecretary seemed to be of the false impression that just because the Goblins did not have any wands or staves, as they were forbidden by treaty from carrying them, that they could not utilize magic. Perhaps the Undersecretary simply thought that because Goblin Silver Weapons were rarely sold to Wizards, that the Goblins did not have sufficient stockpiles for their own use as foci for casting? Perhaps it was simple arrogance and bigotry on Madame Umbridge's Part. Either way, it was a false assumption.

Even putting aside the fact that most Goblin Magic had more in common with Enchantment, Potions, Arithmancy, Runes, and Alchemy than it did with charms or defence, Goblins were perfectly capable of using the fruits of their labor at crafting to cast a select number of wizarding spells through. That was one of the reasons that very few Goblin Silver blades ever left their underground halls to find their way into Wizarding Hands. If it was known they had the capability to bypass the Wand Ban in large numbers, the Ministry would attempt to stamp out any hint of their autonomy by force.

Even Ranrok's Rebellion only made limited use of such weapons, keeping up the illusion that they were rare in favor of working with Dark Wizarding Allies and abusing Ancient Magic. In fact, the last time that Goblin Silver Weapons had been in widespread use was the Goblin Rebellion of Seventeen-Ten to Seventeen-Fifteen, when Diagon Alley had been overrun along with a large number of Wizarding Settlements. The Ministry had lost the majority of England and been forced to relocate to Hogsmeade before the tide had turned at the Battles of Montrose in Angus and Woodcroft in Gloucestershire. To think that the Goblins weren't a threat was the height of negligence.

Unfortunately, Auror Runcible Travers and his security team were somebody in the Minister's Office's Favorites, which also meant that Madame Umbridge, as Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, had a lot of misplaced confidence in them. Mind you, Runcible was no slouch, but he certainly wasn't the sort of Auror who could take on a Force of Goblins in their own territory and win. Meanwhile, the less said about the Aurors that made up his team, the better.

For starters, someone had decided to slot Aloysius Crabbe in as Travers' second-in-command. While not as slow as his cousin, Lord Crabbe, Aloysius wouldn't be winning any awards for flexibility or innovative tactics and was downright rigid in his strategies. He'd been said to be an extremely orthodox auror, though he had the right family connections to get assigned to this detail. And he was the best that Travers had to work with. The others were a mix of political appointees and fresh from the Academy Rookies.

At the same time, the other member of the delegation proper, aside from Ambrosius himself and Madame Umbridge, was someone that had no business being here, save that he was one of Dumbledore's supporters. Arthur Weasley was a Senior Clerk at the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office and was up for Old Man Stokes' position as head of the Office after Stokes had died of Old Age over the Winter Holidays. Ambrosius could still not really see why he had been chosen, except that it was likely that Arthur Weasley would tell Dumbledore everything that went down.

That might be a good thing, though. At the very least, Dumbledore could use his influence and position as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot to try and ameliorate the complete dog's breakfast that Undersecretary Umbridge was likely to make of the negotiations. Besides, who knew which supporters of Dumbledore were members of that Militia he had put together during the War with You-Know-Who? If the Goblins decided to attack them because of the Undersecreatry's disrespect, Arthur Weasley might just be able to pull his weight in the fighting after all.

Ambrosius had no idea how right he would wind up being. . .

XXXX

The Goblin Nation was underground. Mind you, so were the Vaults of Gringotts Bank, but there was a major difference between what the Goblins allowed Wizards to see and what they reserved for themselves and a select few Diplomatic Visitors. The difference was striking, as the Guards, in their full armor of Enchanted Goblin Silver escorted the Wizarding Delegation to King Ragnuk into their hidden, underground, Kingdom.

Firstly, the delegation had been taken down to the bottom level of Gringotts Vaults via the Mine Carts. That had been as expected, rough hewn caverns and walkways over crevasses, the walls of which were lined with vaults carved out of the very stone. It wasn't until they passed through an area that had been warded well enough that Ambrosius' back teeth tingled when they passed through the wards, and which had a full patrol of eight Goblin Guards in full armor with their sigil-scribed halberds that most of the delegation had cottoned onto something being different. By the time they had, they were already at the gates.

A massive, circular, metal gate inscribed with sigils and brimming with wards and enchantments sat in an alcove in the living rock. Two Goblin Guards in Armor with sigil-scribed halberds stood watch over the gate, which glowed with greenish energy emanating from the sigils. As a member of the Goblin Liason Office, Ambrosius had been warned not to touch the gate until the Goblin Guards inserted the Key. Any attempt to do so would result in the immediate liquification of your hand, as the green glow turned out to be a strongly acidic mist produced by the Wards. Only the Goblins' armor was specially enchanted to counter such protection. There was a reason that the majority of the gate was made of enchanted alchemical bronze rather than the more famous Goblin Silver, after all.

Eventually, after a stacatto conversation in the Goblin Language, which Wizards had given the insulting appelation of Gobbledegook, but which to Goblins was merely Rezhrin, or The Speech, a Goblin in similar Alchemical Bronze Armor appeared and inserted an Alchemical Bronze Key. Ambrosius couldn't claim to be completely fluent in Rezhrin, his speech and comprehension were more akin to that of a child or young teenager than a fully-grown adult, but he caught the words for delegation and acceptable being exchanged. As the Alchemical Bronze Key opened the gate, which retracted into the living rock as if a boulder had been rolled away, their Escort turned to address them.

"You are about to enter the Lands of my People. Follow me and do not deviate from the path, or it will mean war." Insisted the Goblin Guard.

"Do not lecture me, I have the full Authority of the Ministry of Magic behind me." Scowled Undersecretary Umbridge, her scowl and her facial features reminding Ambrosius of nothing so much as a squatting, indignant, toad.

"That may be so, but you are a guest here. It would be unfortunate if you were to forget that. For you, at least." Scowled the Goblin Guard.

"Spare us your threats. Some of us have heard them all before." Scoffed Runcible Travers, rolling his eyes. With his gaunt face and spectacles, however, the motion looked more comical than anything else.

"Yeah, call us when you've had a Dragon breathing fire at you from a dozen yards out." Added the disheveled, stocky, form of Aloysius Crabbe.

"I'm sure our Guide merely meant to warn us. There's no need to get hostile." Tried Arthur Weasley, the ginger man attempting to make peace.

"Regardless, this argument gets us nowhere. We will follow you." Spoke up Ambrosius, nodding to the Guard.

"See that you do." Bit out the Goblin Guard.

Then the Delegation was through the Gates of the Goblin Kingdom and passing into the Underground Kingdom of the Goblins. It was a stark contrast to the rough-hewn vaults of the lower levels of Gringotts. Here, everything was built to exacting specifications, towers and domes rising up from multiple levels of underground terraces, lit by silvery lights produced by Goblin Enchantment. Down below, an underground river snaked through a deep, narrow, valley, as boats of metal ferried cargo and passengers up and down the river, while Goblins fished or harvested mushrooms along the mossy riverbank. It was all very polished and quite unlike what everyone had come to expect of the Goblins.

As the delegation was led along roads cut into cliffsides and carried over bridges, they marvelled at the structures of expertly-cut stone and the various enchantments on display. At the tiled plazas and Goblin-made lamps, at the domed buildings and enchanted metal boats. At least Ambrosius did, and Arthur Weasley seemed to be doing likewise. Not so Undersecretary Umbridge or the two commanders of the small, six-man, Auror Detachment. While Runcible Travers only had a small frown on his face and Aloysius Crabbe kept looking from left to right as if expecting an attack to come, both were otherwise silent. This was not the case for Undersecretary Umbridge.

"I see that you have clearly done well for yourselves running the bank. Perhaps in the near future, the Ministry will seek to revisit those treaties." She taunted.

It was likely meant as a show of power, with Undersecretary Umbridge wanting to claw back some control after being taken aback by the sheer scale of the Goblin Kingdom. It only served to cause their Guide to grind his teeth at her presumption. Ambrosius had to wince at that, and by the looks of things, Arthur Weasley also realized that things were clearly not going well already from the look in his eye. Perhaps Ambrosius had sold the Man short earlier? Arthur Weasley clearly at least had the common sense that some of their delegation was lacking.

Eventually, they were ushered into one of the larger buildings containing a large domed hall of smooth blue marble and a raised dias in an alcove on one end of the hall. Blue goblin lights lit up the dome, revealing Guards in alcoves along the walls wearing silvery armor and holding sigil-scribed halberds of Goblin Silver. On the dias sat a throne of Goblin Silver, spun purple spider silk cushions, and Sapphires. Upon that throne sat King Ragnuk the Twelfth.

The King of the Goblin Nation was young, a lot younger than most Goblins in positions of authority. Instead of his hair having gone gray or wispy white with age, as most Senior Goblins that worked in Gringotts had, Ragnuk's hair still retained its youthful color, a dark auburn. This was matched by his voluminous beard, facial hair in Goblin Society being the province of Warriors. This was matched by the full suit of Goblin Silver Armor that he wore, lined with sigils and powerfully enchanted. At his hip was sheathed a sword, likewise radiating power. Ambrosius took all this in and realized that King Ragnuk was no one to be trifled with. Unfortunately, it seemed that Undersecretary Umbridge was less impressed.

"I welcome you to my Kingdom and Hall, Delegates from the Wizarding Ministry of Magic. I, King Ragnuk the Twelfth, bid you stay a while, that we might discuss matters of mutual import." Intoned King Ragnuk, formally.

"Yes, well, by the power vested in me by the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fidge, Order of Merlin First Class, I, Madame Delores Umbridge, Undersecretary to the Minister and Head of the Ministry Delegation to the Goblin Nation, hereby demand that you stand down your troops and cease your baseless accusations and pointless threats. We have the culprit who broke into Gringotts now, and there is no need for this little tantrum to grow even more out of control." Announced Madame Umbridge.

Ambrosius winced at that and looked over to Arthur Weasley. The Ginger Man nodded at Ambrosius and beckoned him closer as Madame Umbridge and King Ragnuk began bickering over terms. The Goblin Guards lining the Alcoves were clearly quite tense, shifting their grips on their Halberds. Ambrosius made his way over, hoping that Arthur had a plan prepared to get them out of here, and Arthur nodded at him as he approached.

"Ambrosius. Ordinarily, I would love to take a moment to sightsee here. Other cultures are fascinating, and the Goblins get far fewer visitors at most. Something tells me that Madame Umbridge is making us too unwelcome for that." Opined Arthur Weasley, softly.

"Tell me that Dumbledore sent you with a plan to get us out of here. Things are tense, and Umbridge's language and the combative nature of the negotiations clearly aren't doing us any favors." Murmured Ambrosius.

"What makes you think I am in contact with Dumbledore?" Questioned Arthur lowly.

"Please, Arthur. Don't insult me. Did he send you with one or not?" Queried Ambrosius, under his breath.

"He did. I have a portkey that should take us to his office at Hogwarts, even through the Goblins' Wards." Confirmed Arthur quietly, not bothering to hide that he was Dumbledore's Man any further.

"I'll just stick by you for now, then, shall I?" Asked Ambrosius in a low tone of voice.

"Probably for the best." Muttered Arthur.

Ambrosius wasn't a fan of trusting in someone else's plans, mind you. However, he had no choice this time, and if he was being honest about things, there were worse people to entrust planning to than Albus Dumbledore. The Man was a Veteran and Victor of two major Wizarding Wars, after all. He had to know what he was doing, or else he'd have been dead a long time ago. Ambrosius and Arthur would wait for King Ragnuk to reach his breaking point with Undersecretary Umbridge and just have to hope that Dumbledore's Special Portkey worked.

That breaking point came two hours later, after a series of increasingly vitriolic demands and counters. Undersecretary Umbridge's language may have needled King Ragnuk, it was disrespectful of him, his position as Goblin King, and the Goblins as a whole. However, it wasn't helped by the insistence that the Goblins pay the Ministry Reparations for how their recent belligerent stance had affected the Markets in Wizarding Britain. It was an outrageous demand that was clearly something that Fudge had put in to line his and his allies' pockets by skimming off reparations money. King Ragnuk kept categorically denying this point of negotiation, which led to Undersecretary Umbridge becoming more and more vitriolic as time dragged on.

"Perhaps if you won't budge, the Ministry will have to revisit the Treaties Granting the Goblin Nation Autonomy under the law in exchange for financial expertise. Frankly, you people have clearly had it all your own way for too long if this is the sort of grasping overreach you are trying to pull. What else can one expect from Goblins, though? It is simply in your nature to be Barbarians!" Threatened Madame Umbridge, eventually.

"That is enough! I have tolerated your disrespect for the sake of maintaining peace between our peoples, but now you go too far! You wish to threaten our sovereignty? To rob my people of our Treaty-Given Freedom? Very well, I will show you what it is like to lose your freedom!" Snarled King Ragnuk.

As one, the Goblin Guards that had previously been standing in the alcoves along the walls advanced, taking coordinated steps forward in lockstep, sigil-scribed Goblin Silver Halberds at the ready. There were at least twenty of them in the room, not counting King Ragnuk himself. Over twice the numbers of the Delegation. Undersecretary Umbridge's eyes widened comically at that, as the ring of Goblin-Silver Weaponry tightened on the delegation. Apparently, she had never considered that this would be the outcome of her bigotry and belligerence.

"You can't! This will mean War!" Protested Madame Umbridge.

"So be it! It will be war then!" Snapped King Ragnuk.

"Auror Travers! Do your duty!" Spat Madame Umbridge.

Almost immediately, the spells began flying as Runcible Travers' Auror Contingent began attacking the Goblin Guards. Madame Umbridge tried to apparate back to the Ministry, only to find the Goblin's Wards wouldn't allow her to. Instead, she fell back behind a barrier she transfigured out of the stone floor. Notably, the Aurors were not using stunners on the Goblins, but actually deadly spells. Unfortunately for them, it would take more than one or two spells to get through enchanted Goblin Silver Armor.

For his part, Ambrosius stuck to playing things defensively, conjuring ropes to bind Goblins with Incarcerous and putting up Shields when attacked by spellfire channeled through a Goblin Silver Halberd. Arthur Weasley did much the same, and together, the pair incapacitated five Goblins who sought to take them into custody, fighting back-to-back like something out of a play. Eventually, the Goblins realized that the Auror Contingent were the biggest threat and began laying down fire with their Halberds to force them into cover. That was when they rolled out one of their equalizers.

It looked sort of like the Cannons that the Muggles used to use around the time that the Statute of Secrecy had been enacted, except the Mouth of the cannon was worked into the shape of a snarling Dragon's Head and scribed with runes. Inside the maw, the skirling, molten-orange flames of Fiendfyre were just barely restrained by the Goblin-Made Enchantment. Ambrosius recognized exactly what that was, a Goblin Dragonmaw Projector, one of the many enchanted war machines the Goblins could use in a full-blown war with Wizardkind that would equalize the power disparity of any engagement.

Dragonmaw Projectors had supposedly been reverse-engineered from a similar design that had been uncovered after Gringotts Cursebreakers delved into some ancient Chinese Ruins dating to the Early Tang Dynasty. Supposedly, the Court Wizards of the First Tang Emperor had constructed a similar device to break the remnants of the Sui Dynasty and had been buried with the schematics back before the Chinese had been forced to enact a Statute of their own after contact with the Portuguese in the Sixteenth Century.

Regardless, seeing that here was not a good sign. They had two options, surrender or flee, because there was no way their small group could stand up to something like that. Fortunately, Ambrosius and Arthur had a way out that Umbridge and her ilk didn't.

"Arthur! Time to go!" Insisted Ambrosius.

"Right, grab hold of my shoulder." Nodded Arthur.

Ambrosius did so, casting one last protego to block a spell flung their way by one of the Guards' Halberds as Arthur reached into his robes and produced what appeared to be a Muggle One-Pound Coin. As Ambrosius watched the Dragonmaw Projector be pointed at the now dome barrier that Madame Umbridge and the remaining Aurors had transfigured out of the blue stone of the floor, he felt the tug in his tummy as the magic of the Portkey took hold.

The last sight he saw was of fiendfyre spewing out from the Dragonmaw Projector to melt a hole in the stone barrier, opening the way for Umbridge and company's capture. . .

XXXX

The Failure of the Umbridge Delegation could have led to an all-out war between Wizards and Goblins. Indeed, it very nearly did, had Ambrosius and Arthur Weasley not managed to escape via a specially constructed portkey to warn Dumbledore. The Chief Warlock immediately took control of the situation to negotiate the release of the Captured Aurors and Madame Umbridge. All were alive, though four of the Aurors would require time in Saint Mungo's to heal from the short but brutal battle. They had horrific burns from the Dragonmaw Projector, though thankfully, Dumbledore had managed to negotiate to purchase specially formulated burn salves from the Goblins which could heal burns from the normally permanent Fiendfyre Flames.

In the end, the British Ministry had to not only buy those salves at inflated prices from the Goblins but also hand over Quirinius Quirrel to face Goblin Justice, pay a large indemnity of eighteen million Galleons to the Goblin Nation, and formally reaffirm their commitment to Goblin Autonomy under the terms of their treaty with the Goblin Nation. It was a humiliating defeat and one that caused no small amount of agitation on both sides of the table.

For the Ministry, many were discontent with Dumbledore, as Lucius Malfoy and others spun the situation as the Chief Warlock of the Witengamot caving to the demands of the Goblins. This allowed Lucius Malfoy and his cadre of former Death Eaters, previously in the Wilderness in terms of Official Ministry Power, to regain their seats on the Witengamot and positions in the Ministry. For the Goblins, some of the more hotheaded warriors and chieftains believed King Ragnuk didn't push hard enough for concessions and that they should either have their legal ability to carry wands and staves returned to them or they should be at war.

It seemed that while this negotiation had averted War for now between Wizards and Goblins, it had set the stage for a much larger conflict down the line, as neither side was satisfied with it, which was causing both sides political issues. Only time would tell, of course, but all signs pointed toward trouble because of this. For his part, Ambrosius was just glad to have avoided captivity, and that wasn't the only silver lining of this entire ordeal either.

No, for her utter bottling of the delegation to the Goblin Nation, Madame Umbridge had been removed from her position as Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic. She had been demoted to the position of Undersecretary to the Head of the Improper Use of Magic Office, a position far less prestigious than that of Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic.

And that, Ambrosius figured, could only be a good thing. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we see how things with the Goblins played out. Of course, Umbridge Bottled the Delegation. She hates Non-Wizards and even campaigned against the Rights of Merfolk in canon. Fudge's directive to push for reparations so he, Lucius Malfoy, and a few others could skim off the top of them to line their own pockets combined with Umbridge's Bigotry to lead to a major diplomatic incident. Dumbledore only managed to avert all-out war by effectively giving King Ragnuk whatever he asked for, which is causing political problems both in Wizarding Britain and the Goblin Nation.

For one thing, Lucius Malfoy and company are out of the Wilderness slightly earlier than they were in canon. It took until Chamber of Secrets for them to start getting back into politics in a major official way after the War in canon. Here, they'll have an extra seven months to plot and scheme. Meanwhile, there will now be disaffected Goblins looking to even the score that can be recruited by Voldemort down the line since some of the hotheads in the Goblin Nation think King Ragnuk didn't go far enough.

Notably, I based the reparations paid for the attack on Goblin Sovereignty by Umbridge and her aurors on the Reparations paid by Bulgaria, the littlest Central Power, to the Entente in World War One. They had to pay roughly ninety million Pounds as reparations, which at five Pounds to the Galleon is eighteen million Galleons.

At any rate, the next chapter will be a return to Blaise's POV as he preps for his run on the Overgrown Greenhouse to acquire metamorphing mandragoras. I'll also have images up before then.

Stay tuned. . .