7 Goblin Gift

Cross walked into the kitchen and the House-Elves working in there immediately fell to their knees. Cross looked the kitchen and noticed that only House-Elves worked in there. Cross spread his strings out everywhere and checked ever nook and cranny of the kitchen before saying in Elven "Why are you putting potions in the food."

The elves coughed out blood and pleaded fearfully "We were ordered, your Highness!" Cross nodded and continued "From now on, you will make potion free food and mark the plates with this symbol." he drew a circle with a line through it before adding "Only to Slytherin and only enough for a few people with notice me not charms on the plates."

Cross looked around the kitchen and said coldly "In addition, speaking about our meeting and my identity will be treated as treason of the highest order decreed in Elven Law! Spread the word to the other House-Elves. If I hear so much as a peep about this to anyone, including your master. I will not be forgiving. Is that understood?"

The House-Elves fearfully nodded, Cross didn't want any chances and waved his hand in the air as he said in Elven "Cleanse!" a green aura sprinkled down on the House-Elves and cleared them from any Ligilimency placed on them.

Cross spread out his fingers and spoke in Elven as his eyes gained a golden hue "Hear my words as Law! The conditions have been met, descend! Seal of the Divine Tree!" the green aura turned golden and sprinkled down on the elves, turning into little hidden 'Tree' insignias behind their ears.

Cross returned to normal and spoke coldly "You know the consequences of treason." before teleporting out of the kitchen, stunning the elves.

Cross reappeared outside and went back to reading his book as he walked to the dining hall, as if nothing happened. He covered his tracks very well and searched for every possible hidden device, so far he hadn't found one. He was sure there were none on him, so his movements were in the clear.

Again, Cross was sure that he was okay now, but he couldn't be sure about the future. Hence he was preparing before having limited movement placed on him. He couldn't just teleport everywhere and after he was limited he wouldn't be able to teleport period.

Cross walked into the dining hall with his attention on the book, but his strings were constantly spread out searching everything for him. To the normal eye, he looked like a regular nerd. If someone was able to see the strings they would indeed be shocked. The strings were everywhere and constantly expanding.

Despite the fact that Cross wasn't paying attention to where he was going, he could feel everything in front of him.

A kid sneered at him and stuck their foot out, Cross jumped over it and flexed his finger without even looking. The kid's pants exploded to pieces, leaving his lower half naked. Everybody around him started pointing and laughing hysterically.

Cross didn't pay attention to the fly that decided to bother him today, and walked to a table before reading by himself as he searched for a plate with the insignia on it. He found one and flicked his finger, summoning it over. He had to say, the House Elves were extremely efficient at their tasks. It had not even been 10 minutes and some one the plates already had the insignias on them.

As Cross ate and read the dining hall slowly filled up, even Harry and his friends walked in. As well as Daphne and her friends along with Draco and his goons.

Hermione, Daphne, and Draco walked over to Cross and sat down.

Cross was holding a book in one hand and eating with the other. He looked up and saw Daphne and Draco but he was surprised that Hermione was there too. He looked at her and touched her head, noticing that one of the uses of his barrier was broken while the 2nd use was waning. It seemed like the potion's effects were negated as well and didn't use much of the barrier's second block.

Hermione pushed his hand away and said "Why are you away touching my head?" Cross smirked and said "Because you're cute." Hermione blushed and buried her face in her books. Cross went back to a straight face and glanced at Daphne and Draco, who were looking at him weirdly.

Cross rolled his eyes and went back to reading his book and eating.

Daphne whispered "You like her?" Cross shook his head and said "I put a barrier on her mind, it has 3 uses and the first was already used, the second use is constantly negating the effects of the potions in the food. I was checking it."

Daphne said "Ohhhh." feeling relieved. Draco just ignored them and ate, feeling that it was impossible for Cross to randomly like a girl. Daphne had told him yesterday that Cross only liked interesting things, this mugblood was as normal as it got.

Harry and Ron walked over and said "Hermione why are you sitting with Slytherin?" Hermione looked up and said "Why not? They didn't do anything to us." Cross looked up at Harry and Ron and narrowed his eyes, looking at their facial expressions very carefully.

Harry frowned and Ron directly expressed hatred for all things Slytherin. Carl, on Cross' shoulder, got annoyed by Ron's voice and jumped at Ron, snarling as he flew through the air. He got into Ron's shirt and started to run around and bit him in several places.

Cross covered his face with his book and chuckled silently. Draco laughed and slapped the table as he watched, cheering for the Honey Badger. Harry and Hermione looked concerned and Cross said "Carl. Enough."

The little Honey Badger jumped out and strutted across the table arrogantly as if he was king of the world. Cross kept a straight face and slapped Carl in the head, throwing him back to his shoulder then going back to reading as if nothing happened.

Ron got up and was terrified as he said "Bloody mean bugger ain't he?" Carl bared his fangs again and Ron yelped, Cross tapped his fork on the plate and Carl immediately stopped. Cross said "He usually doesn't attack, but he doesn't like rats. Perhaps he smelled your pet rat on you and was looking for it."

Ron rubbed his body and said "I'll say. Scabbers is in his cage." Cross looked at him deeply and said "Is that so..." before becoming disinterested as ending the conversation saying "Maybe he got out." before ignoring the rest and focusing on the book.

Whether the rat was the source of everything, he didn't know. But he did know the rat was a prime suspect, whatever if the rat didn't bother him, he didn't care.

Hermione felt something was off but Ron scratched his cheek saying "Anyway, Hermione these guys are bad guys. Come eat with us somewhere else. You won't get attacked by a crazy Badger there." Hermione looked at Cross, from the books on Occlumency she had been reading she realized this pointy eared boy was much smarter than he led on to be.

Occlumency granted her a photographic memory. Everything she ever read or saw was stored in her brain, she knew he was the same. But the thing she couldn't understand was why he was keeping quiet about everything and staying low-key. She felt like it was her job to find out.

In the end she left with Ron and Harry after their insistence, feeling mildly annoyed by Ron's whining.

Cross watched them leave and stood up, going to the first class of the day. Daphne and Draco were coincidentally in the same class and followed along. Cross said "Are your robes enchanted with tracker protection?" they both nodded and Cross turned the corner, spreading out his strings looking for every possible hidden trap.

Finding nothing, Cross put his hands on Draco and Daphne's head, cleansing and putting up and 'Nature's Protection' on both of them. They both felt refreshed and Cross walked away saying "Welcome to the protection agency." Daphne smiled slightly at his joke and noticed he became a lot colder when they got to Hogwarts, almost never joking like he did before.

Draco was confused and said "What's that?!" as he ran after them.

They made their way to class and Daphne explained that Cross made a joke but also wondered how many other people he protected, Cross answered that he did the same to two other people. He didn't know where Nymphadora was but Hermione was one of them.

After hearing what Cross told Daphne about Hermione's barrier, he got serious. He didn't believe it before but now he could clearly feel the barrier in his head, if one of the uses dropped then there was a serious problem. Especially that her second use was blocking the food, he became alarmed and felt that he was indeed being more aggressive than usual.

After the 'Cleanse' from Cross, he felt much better. Cross shared with them the insignia for safe food but kept the details to himself. They really didn't have to know, plus if even he was eating them then the food was safe.

Cross walked into class and saw there was just a cat sitting on the table. He could easily see through the disguise but he ignored it and sat down in his assigned seat. Daphne and Draco took their seats and said "Where's the professor?" Draco shrugged and turned to Cross, who glared at him dangerously.

Draco ate his words and didn't say anything, realizing something must be wrong.

Cross put Carl on the table and started reading again after saying "Don't move." Carl did a military salute and laid on the table before falling asleep. Cross ignored him and focused on his book, trying to master the language as fast as possible.

The cat hopped on Cross' desk and sauntered around on it, pressing on Carl and looking at Cross curiously. Cross ignored her and kept reading, he reached out his hand and pressed Carl down on the desk, making sure he wouldn't move as he read.

Time passed quickly

The rest of the class filled in and Hermione's seat was actually next to Cross. Cross didn't care at all but Hermione was happy, feeling like she might be able to get his secrets from him. Obviously not, Cross barely even felt like she was more than a stranger to him. Which was something Hermione didn't know.

Harry and Ron were running late and when they finally ran into the room they sighed in relief as they didn't see the teacher. Ron said "Thank god. McGonagall would have killed us." Hermione shook her head at them and Cross ignored everything as usual.

The cat jumped off the teacher's desk and transformed into McGonagall. Ron and Harry were shocked, Ron said "Bloody hell! That was amazing!" the class looked astounded and Cross rolled his eyes as he kept reading while McGonagall chided Ron and Harry.

The time passed and Cross was in his second class, Potion Making.

Cross was still reading when the door flew open and a teacher draped in black robes stormed in saying "There will be no foolish wand waving or silly incantations in this class. As such, I don't expect much of you to appreciate the subtle science and the exact art that is potion making, however for those select few that posses the predisposition..."

His gaze lingered on the Slytherin kids as he continued "I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death.... Then again, maybe some of you have come to Hogwarts in possession in abilities so formidable that you feel confident enough to not pay attention!"

He raised his voice by the end of it and threw a piece of chalk at Cross, while looking at Harry. The man walked forward and said "Mr. Potter... Our new celebrity.."

Cross caught the chalk and put it down while reading. Obviously this teacher had a grudge against Harry, and that was none of his business. The teacher turned to Cross, who was still ignoring him and said "Do you know the answers to my questions, Mr. Greengrass?"

Cross looked up and said "Draught of the Living Death, A goat's stomach, and they're on the same plant." before going back to his book. The teacher was surprised and said "That's correct." before going into further detail and explaining to the rest of the class.

The bell rang shortly after and Cross collected his books, holding them under his arm as he walked out of the class with his eyes glued to the pages of his book.

Daphne waved her hand in front of his face and said "What are you reading anyway? You haven't put it down the whole day!" Cross said "Parseltongue." he showed her the pages and she couldn't even read a little bit, it was a thick book too but Cross was around 30% through it.

Daphne was confused and said "Why are you learning Parseltongue? You want to talk to snakes?" Cross answered "The founder of Slytherin spoke Parseltongue, it might be good to learn it. I have nothing else to do anyway." Daphne nodded and Hermione was coincidentally near him and overheard his conversation, she had a thoughtful look on her face.

Cross and Daphne walked to the small lunch room and sat down. Cross hook his finger and all the plates with the insignia flew over, landing in front of him. Daphne and Draco started eating, Hermione also joined them and ate from the plates Cross brought over, thinking they were much better than the others. Making her think again.

Cross was eating when he heard an explosion, he looked up and saw a kid with a face covered in soot. He went back to his book, uninterested in whatever the kid was trying to do.

Suddenly a bunch of owls flew in and started dropping packages in front of the students.

Two packages fell in front of Cross, one was a box and the other was a letter. Daphne also got a letter.

Cross opened the letter and smiled slightly. It was from Astoria saying that she had unfortunately not grown up over night and couldn't come play with him at Hogwarts. He could imagine her bitter and sad face as she wrote the letter, he laughed softly and put the letter in his storage bag before opening the box.

Hermione was stunned, Cross laughed! It was not somethings he had seen him do before. Then she went back to thinking about the implications.

Cross opened the box and smirked at the letter that it came with. It was in Elven from Ragnok. It basically said 'How's that school? Probably not as good as my Goblin palace! I even have plenty of women here, you should have stayed! Anyway, I sent you a gift. I forgot to give it to you before.'

Cross opened the box and there was a glass cylinder with a blue-ish metal bottom and the top of the cylinder was rounded shut in a dome-like way with a ornate glass tear drop shape on the top.

Cross knew what it was for and looked at the letter again, reading 'By the way! It works in your bag!" Cross took out the egg and put it in the glass container, the bottom started glowing slightly and Cross put the whole thing away.

Daphne smiled at the letter from Astoria that basically said she missed her but she missed Cross more. By the time she finished the letter, her face was completely black. She looked over and saw Cross already reading again with a blank face and felt her eyes twitch.