Chapter 54 Down to Business

Harry's POV

After they made their way out of the Ministry, Harry and Sirius went back to the Shack. They made sure to get some pictures of the all the fun they had there. They just had to figure out how to get them developed, maybe that Creevey kid could do it. Sitting on one of the couches, they began to go over the fight the next day with Remus.

"Harry, do you think you're ready for you fight tomorrow?" the werewolf asked skeptically. He wasn't as confident as the teen seemed to be. From when he taught Harry, he knew the boy was mediocre at best. Sure, he was able to conjure a Patronus, and his skills in DADA were good, but he wouldn't be allowed a wand, and he had no memory of any of the spell he had been taught. Lupin only hoped that Harry was as proficient in magic as he appeared.

"No, but I should be by then," Harry answered, taking a sip of the hot cocoa Winky had left on the table.

"How are you going to do that?" Sirius asked, swiping the biscuit from Remus' hand.

"I'm going to meditate," the teen said, with a wicked grin. Which was true, when they were done with their talk he was going to go into his dreamscape and see if the Enterprises' log had any of his memories from his fights with the basilisk and that Voldy guy. They might let him know the muscle memory of his body, since he had no clue. Since he had been back, he had relied on his magic to fight his battles. He didn't want to do that with the goblin, he wanted to have some fun. A bit of sport to get his body moving.

"Meditate?" Sirius asked with a disbelieving voice. "How is meditation going to help you? That can't teach you to fight." He was getting worried that Harry's amnesia was making him more reckless that he had been previously. Remus had told him how headstrong the boy was last year in learning the Patronus, and how he had snuck into the village when there was supposed to be a mass murderer around. But the teen had been cautious then, now he just ran headfirst into confrontations that could be deadly. Sirius wasn't sure how to handle this. Little did the poor man know how wrong he was. Harry had always run into situations that could kill him.

"Yeah, I've been doing some reading on spells and it's given me ideas on what to do. There are loads of things that I would have never thought to use my magic for," Harry said without a care in the world.

"Harry," Remus said, sitting forward a bit and putting on his teacher face, "I think you need to take this a bit more serious. There are lots of ways that goblins can kill you without magic. And there are many ways you could be hurt without dying. That goblin, from what you tell me, wants your blood, and he will do everything he can to get it."

"Haven't you two been around lately, my magic will protect me from great harm. I can call the fight if he's too strong for me to take care of. Relax, guys, I got this."

"Let's practice dodging a bit, that might make me feel better," Sirius said, standing and pulling his chair to the edge of the room.

"Alright, worrywart, if it'll make you feel better, we can do that," Harry conceded with a sigh as he put down his empty cup, stood and waved his hand to move the rest of the furniture.

They spent a good two hours throwing wandless stunners at one another, to which the adults fell more than Harry. This did make them feel better. It was only after the gang showed up that they stopped. Then they spent a relaxing couple of hours laughing at the plight of the Ministry. They threw a few more ideas for the grand prank around and soon enough parted and went to bed. Where Harry spent a week with Worf, getting his arse kicked.

Amelia's POV

It was just before noon the next day and things had calmed down at the Ministry. More and more people figured out what set off the pranks and were now avoiding the areas that they could, though there still a few bawdy songs, and the gossip was rapid. Still, it had lessened some. It would take many, many years to dispel the one on the courtroom, and by then another would be placed by a 'concerned' citizen, and if they happened to be related to Harry, well that was a coincidence of course. Not that Amelia minded all the chaos, it was relaxing and sometimes downright funny to see the 'good' people of the Ministry run around trying to undo it all. At least now that she had put the fear of Merlin in them that she wasn't personally going to do anything about it.

The Head of the DMLE had quite few memos on her desk, which started showing up yesterday, on changing a few laws and adding more tolerant ones. Alastor had told her that there was an honesty spell on that level and she was glad to see that it effected a great many of the highbrows. Now, they were doing what they were paid for instead of just hanging around doing nothing and getting paid for it. She had heard that quite a few had spoken of retiring and letting younger people take their place. She'd have to see what happened from there.

Since the slots for Chief Warlock, Minster, and one Department Head were all vacant, the Wizengamot was taking its time filling those positions. With talk of war on the horizon, they wanted to make sure that they were filled correctly. With the curse on the courtrooms they were doing it the right way, and actually listening to nominees, so they could vote for what was the good of the people. Until then a few of the members were holding the positions open but could do little without the agreement of the governing body. With the tournament in town they were cautious on filling Bartemius' office. The Weasley kid might have taken it, had he not insulted the Headmistress of Beauxbatons. It wasn't intentional, but it did show he was not ready for any sort of Head position.

Shaking herself out of those thoughts, she cast a tempus. It was almost time for the 'big' meeting to take place. So, she went to the box, gave the password, and waited for the queen.

"What?" the tiny being asked, quite put out that they had been trapped in a box for days. Her children had had nothing to do, and more and more discontent was being heard. sometimes she hated this new life. It was so much easier when they were mindless bugs. All her children did what they were born to do, and there was not talks of a Coup d'état. A word she learned from many of the Black portraits as they reminisced on the times they had talked of overthrowing the government. She was putting a great deal of hope in this treaty.

"It's almost time for the meeting. Are you ready?" Amelia asked kindly. She too was hoping that this went well, and she could get these new spies in place. She knew Alastor was as well. His magic eye rarely left the box when he was in the office.

"Why wouldn't I be? It's not like there's anything to do in here," the queen stated blandly, not showing how nervous she really was. She was going to make sure that they were not subservient to the wizards. They were not house elves and would not be treated as such. There was going to be a part in there that stated that they could leave at any time. She would make it a private ruling that the wizards were not the boss of them, but allies.

"Well, hopefully we will get you to your new home soon. Any idea when the new queen will be mature enough to start her own colony? We can add it to the treaty if we know," the Head of the DMLE asked, wanting to get everything straighten out in one go.

"It will take a few weeks," the queen said, sitting on the edge of the box, crossing her two legs and folding all four arms, wings hanging at her sides and down her back. "We grow fast and only live for a few years. By that time, there should be a new queen for this colony, and the other one will have started to lay queen eggs as well." She paused and got a contemplative look on her face. "However, we do seem to be living longer now that we can think beyond eating and biting. So, there is a chance that we can live to ten to twenty years. I am fifteen years old, and the queen I've laid is not my successor. It is something I am going to have to study," she said, tapping the finger of her upper right hand on her chin, while the fingers of her lower left hand drummed her left knee.

"Does that mean the spot is hereditary?" Bones asked, wanting to know. She did make note of the longer life span. It might be something to address in the treaty.

"I lay all the eggs for the colony. When the colony gets too big, I lay a queen egg, or when it is close to time for me to die. Only the queens can lay eggs, so everyone it technically related," she explained.

"Oh, I didn't know that. So, your like bees?" Amelia wondered aloud.

"I have not heard of bees," the confused queen said. "We were trapped in that house for years, but if they follow that pattern, then more than likely."

"Can you read?" was the question she had asked herself many times.

"No," was the quick answer. "Since we are short lived, there is really no time or reason to learn. At least there wasn't. Now though, perhaps we do have the life span to learn," she said thoughtfully. That would be a great boon. It would give her children something to do when not busy with whatever they hashed out today.

"How will you know what the treaty says? Or that we are telling the truth?"

"I can smell a lie," she answered, glaring at the much larger person. As if challenging her to test that theory.

"Good, that will make you invaluable. There's a question I've been meaning to ask, what do you eat?" They had to know, since it was part of the agreement. She really hoped it was something she could buy in a pet shop.

"Cloth mostly, though there are times we feast on worms. Nothing fills your tummy like a large delicious worm. Silkworms, preferably," she said dreamily, rubbing all four hands on said tummy. Then she pulled herself together and looked stoic again. Silkworms were something they only ate once every few months or so, but when they did, it was delightful.

It was about that time that Amelia's secretary buzzed that Alastor Moody and Rachel Middleton were here. She told her to let them enter and motioned the queen to join her at the desk. The tiny being flew over and perched on an inkwell and waited with an air of superior anxiety. Which is to say, she was excited, but not showing it much. Her wings quivered, and her hands were in fist, but she sat still as a stone and her face was like granite. She was going to do what was best for her children, and if they wizards didn't play fair, they would figure out a way to get out of that box and show them the error of their ways.

Middleton and Moody entered the room and took the seats in front of the desk. The female lawyer took out a sheath of paper and a dicta-quill. "Well, first of all let me introduce myself. I am Rachel Middleton, I work with Waters, Stone and Breeze LLC. We are here today to see if we can reach an agreement with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the doxy colony. I understand this will be between only these two parties and not the Ministry as whole?" she stated, setting up her quill to take notes.

"That is correct. The treaty will be for the reigning queens, and the Head of the DMLE," Bones concurred.

"Lovely. Let's get started, shall we?" Middleton said with a charming smile.

"Sure," Moody grumbled. He hated cheerful people. They threw his game off, most of the time. It was hard to know what they were thinking, since they smiled at everything.

Harry's POV

Harry, Sirius and Albert Waters walked into the bank, it was time for the grand fight. Harry was relaxed and excited at the same time. His last couple of nights/weeks, being thrown around by the Klingon in his head had helped him get a handle on hand to hand combat. He knew that that might not let him win, but it was good to know he wouldn't break a bone if he was thrown around. Not that he was going to let the bugger get close to him if he could help it, but there it was.

Once again alarms went off the second they stepped foot in the bank, since Sirius was still glamored. And once again they were surrounded by goblins. Only this time they were all sneering at him. He wondered how much money they put on this fight. Sirius had told him they gambled quite a lot and that they were good at it. He smiled maliciously at them, they didn't know him well enough to make the correct odds.

"Hey, Sirius, are you going to place a bet?" he asked his godfather as they were being escorted through the bank. This time he went willingly.

"Yeah, I think I will," the glamored man said, "You don't mind if I bet on the other guy, right?" Sirius asked playfully, earning a smack on the head for his trouble.

"Arsehole," was the grumpy comeback.

"All kidding aside, Harry, you need to keep your wits about you in there. Goblins have a magic like yours and they've been using it longer. Just make sure you don't do anything stupid okay?" his godfather said with a great deal of concern. He couldn't get it through the boy's head that he was only fourteen years old and not some battle harden warrior. Sure, the kid had fought before, but he didn't remember it all. He had only been told he was brave and won all his fights, so now Harry thought is was invincible.

"Alright, I'll pay attention," Harry answered, rolling his eyes since this was the millionth time he had been told that. He wasn't worried if he won or lost. It wasn't as if this fight defined the rest of his life. He just wanted that blasted goblin to realize that he wasn't some kid to be pushed around. Besides, he was starting to remember all the things he had done since he started the magic school. He was pretty badass, if he did say so himself.

They got to the room that the fight was going to take place and went through the door. The whole place was set up like an arena, with a circle of tiered seats, which were filled to capacity, and an empty space in the middle. He could feel the wards that protected the audience as he made his way to the center. Once there, he ambled over to the king and Snarlfist, who were waiting for him in the middle.

Sirius sat on the sidelines with Waters. They would watch from there, and hope all went well. When it was done, they would negotiate the contract for Harry's employment. Waters was a bit excited to be there, it was new to him and he hadn't had this much fun since he went head to head that that Umbridge person over a muggleborn's right to have a wand. Merlin, he was glad that toad was dead.

"Glad to see you didn't chicken out, wizard. I'll show you to respect goblins," Snarlfist growled as the young wizard approached.

"Fuck off, moron," was Harry's answer.

"Save it for the fight," Ragnuk said, standing between the two. "This is not a fight to the death, nor is it a fight to first blood. This will last until one of you cannot fight anymore, or the time is called. You will be able to use wandless magic, fists, and conjured weapons only. Since we have a business to run, the time limit for this fight is a half an hour. Whoever is standing within that time, or whoever has the most hits, will be the winner," he stated the rules to each of them. "Once this fight is over, that is the end of your issue. There will be no retaliation, be it you, your family, or your friends. There will be no rematch, unless it is a tie. This is to decide who will garner more respect between you. A battle of alphas, if you will. When the drums starts, you will begin." With that the three parted and Harry went back to Sirius and Waters.

"That's easy enough," the teen said as he stretched a bit.

"Harry, please be careful out there. That guy hates you for some reason," the worried man pleaded. "This isn't a game…" he started.

"Actually, it sorta is," Harry interrupted. "There is no real wager on this. Only one guy's wounded pride. I am not going to take it seriously," he finished, pulling up his leg behind his back giving it a good pull.

"Fine, but I get to say, 'I told you so' when they cart you out of here," his godfather grumbled, sitting next to Waters, who was waiting patiently.

The drums started, and Harry went to the fight area. Snarlfist met him there and the two circled each other. They did this five times, weighing each other with their eyes. Each found the other lacking. Suddenly the goblin darted forward and conjured a knife, which he used to slash at the human's shoulder. A golden dome flared, and the knife was reflected, making them both jump back.

The audience booed and were calling the teen various names of a coward.

Sirius perked up, he had forgotten Harry's defensive system. Maybe his godson wouldn't get hurt after all.

"What is the meaning of this, coward? How can you fight fairly if no one can touch you, weakling?" he growled, snarling at the young human, spitting mad. He would have his taste of blood from this boy, one way or another.

"Wait, sorry, hold on. I'll disable that," Harry said sheepishly and quickly thought to Picard, 'Captain, you need to drop the defense system to 10%, so I can fight this guy. Only use the shields if I'm in deadly danger.'

'Understood,' came the voice in his head.

"Right," Harry said to the goblin with a nod, "Sorry about that. Let's try again, shall we?" He took the fighting stance once more and they circled each other again.

This time Harry took the first step, moving his hand in a grabbing motion, he caught the goblin in the stomach, and tossed him over his shoulder.

The goblin landed on his feet and jabbed the boy's kidney with quick fists.

"Ow, dammit that hurt, you little bugger," the teen protested, whirling around and conjuring a good-sized rock, which he then threw at his opponent, who effortlessly dodged it.

Snarlfist circled his right hand in the air and many blunt projectiles appeared, like oversized squashed up bullets. Smirking viciously, he swished his hand forward and directed the weapons to the human. They rained down on Harry with quite a force. Not enough to kill, but he would feel it in the morning.

"Shite," Harry said, darting back and forth so he wouldn't be hit. He conjured a round shield to deflect what he could. His arm bouncing with the impacts. A few glanced off him, and he knew he would have bruises later. One had hit the side of his head, making him shake it to clear the fuzzies. There was a trickle of blood slowly running down the side of his face.

The goblins in the audience cheered and money was exchanged. First blood had been drawn.

Sirius was openly worried, his hands wrung, and his face was tense.

Waters wasn't quite as concerned, he knew the goblin would only wound his client. It was the kid's fault for picking a fight. Besides, he'd sue the hell out of the bank should Potter die.

"Fuck this shite," our hero said to himself, standing and turning towards his opponent, dispersing his shield. He then conjured a bat'leth, which is a double-sided scimitar type weapon with a curved blade, four points, two at the end and two further in, and three leather wrapped handholds on the back. Worf had drilled him on the basics, so he was fairly certain he could hold his own. He grabbed the two outer handholds, lowered himself a bit to be at level with the smaller being, like the Klingon had taught him, and said, "Let's dance."

Snarlfist grinned at the turn of events and conjured his own weapons, one long hooked blade, and a short sword. "Let's," he said.

And the two met in the middle clashing blades, both trying to find an opening. They danced around each other, both drawing blood with shallow cuts on arms and legs. Jumping a twirling, they fought. Worf giving Harry instructions in his head, correcting him on stance and movement. Then the goblin made a quick parry and got under Harry's defense, getting him in the side.

The noise in the arena rose as the onlookers cheered and more money changed hands.

"Harry!" he heard Sirius yell.

Harry leaped back and held the bat'leth in front of him as a shield, twirling it with his magic so nothing could get past it. He glanced down, pulled his shirt open at the slice and saw it was a nasty wound, but nonfatal. The cut was deep, but the blood flowed sluggishly. He grabbed the bat'leth once more and snarled. "Arsehole, that was fucked up. I'm done playing now." He then moved forward and swung the weapon with all his might, catching the gloating goblin in the shoulder, rendering his left arm useless, and causing him to drop the hooked blade.

The audience booed at this turn of events, while Sirius and Albert cheered.

"You'll pay for that, human," Snarlfist said, lifting his sword in his right hand, adjusting his stance to compensate and darting towards Harry.

They danced a while more, both landing blows and drawing blood. A quick strike here, a long draw there, drawing more and more blood. Soon both fighters started getting tired. Their aims became sluggish and missed more times than not.

Snarlfist, for all he was of warrior race, had spent years behind a desk and was not as up to shape as he should have been. Banking was not doing the goblins any good when it came to fighting. They still had the instinct, but not the stamina. Something that was going to be rectified after this fight. It showed them that they had become lax.

Both the contenders met in the middle, metal met metal as they each tried to force the other down. Harry's height gave him and advantage, but Snarlfist's strength was just as potent. Back and forth they went in a final volley to end the fight. Neither giving up.

Just as they were about to go for the 'kill', they heard a voice call, "Halt."

The audience booed, except for Sirius who had spent the last thirty minutes on the edge of his seat, ready to jump in if he had to. No, his godfather sighed with relief that it was over.

"What the fuck? This was just getting interesting," Harry said, moving away from Snarlfist, who did the same. Both were in terrible condition, each sported some nasty wounds. The goblin's left arm still hung at his side, and he had a bad cut on his chest and right arm. While Harry was still nursing his side and had a large cut on his right leg, making it hard to stand. Both were covered in blood, but none of it seems fatal. At least nothing a healer couldn't handle, if treated soon.

"Time is up," Ragnuk stated, getting between them.

"That fucking sucks," the teen said, swaying a bit on his feet, seeing the goblin do the same. They had both suffered blood loss, and it looked like it was catching up to them.

"Nevertheless, this fight is over," was the terse reply.

"Oh, okay. Who won?" Harry asked and then promptly passed out.