Chapter Text
in which it takes a thief to catch a thief
Portree, Scotland, Summer 1881
“That one isn’t yours, is she?”
“Was it really that obvious?” the man on the sofa chuckles. “Nae, she may not look anything special, but she stands out among us ginger folk. Not that me bairns notice, children are beautifully unassumin’ like that. What did you say your name was?”
“I didn’t.”
“Well, never ye mind. We get odd folk like you round here pretty often.”
“Is that so?”
“That’s right. Lora, take yer sisters and yer brother upstairs now, will ye? There’s a good lass. Now, as for you stranger,” the man says, leaning back and tapping the tips of his fingers together. “I’ll be honest with ye, I don’t like the looks of ye. So yes, we get plenty of odd folk like you round here, asking questions about her, wanting ter know if she’s an odd child, sometimes claiming to be relatives. Ye might’ve thought I was unassuming, too, but that’s where yer wrong. And she may be a changeling, but she’s our changeling. If ye want to do her harm, you’ll have ter come through me first.”
“Perhaps I will, if you would really endanger your own children for this girl’s sake. Perhaps you should reconsider. After all, she does not really belong here.”
“Don’ be absurd,” the man’s wife pipes in, from where she is rocking her smallest babe by the fireplace. “My Franklin’s the best shot round these parts. She’s just as much our bairn as the ones I ha’ birthed.”
“You wouldn’t live to regret it. But fortunately for you, I am not here for the girl. I only wondered if your neighbors ever gave you a journal for safekeeping before their… unfortunate demise.”
“Journal?” The man squints suspiciously. “Nae, I don’t know what yer talkin’ about.”
“Are you absolutely certain?”
“Indeed I am. I wouldn’t play with me bairns’ lives over some journal. Now, I think you had best be going, stranger.”
Jung-Soon Tae
“Rosalinde, if you ever call yourself useless again, I’ll hex you,” Black swears. “This is exactly why we need you here. This is bloody genius.”
Rosalinde flushes, but just says, “We don’t have much time. My contact can’t stay in Hogsmeade for long, for fear of being spotted, but I’ve arranged a meeting with him in the Hog’s Head.”
“I just need to change clothes really fast,” Kitty says. “I don’t want to attract too much attention.”
She’s wearing a gorgeous pink dress with lace embroidered with roses, much more elaborate than her usual evening dress. I wonder what the occasion was, but Rosalinde says, “I’m sorry Kitty, but there isn’t time.”
“I need to get my hat,” Black says.
“She just said there isn’t time. It’s not that big of a deal,” I protest. “It’s just the Hog’s Head.”
“I’m not leaving the castle without my hat,” she stiffly repeats, turning on her heel and marching out of the room. “I’ll meet you at the front gates.”
“Oh, come on!”
Rosalinde bites her lip. “Tae, her family is really, really strict about that kind of thing. She’d be in a lot of trouble if it got back to her father.”
“That’s stupid. How is getting a lecture from a greasy goatee worse than risking missing our window?”
“I don’t think it would just be a lecture, Tae,” Professor Fig says quietly. “Why don’t you three head down to the front gates? She’ll be quick.”
“You’re not coming?” Kitty asks.
“Unfortunately, I have a class to teach.”
Professor Fig’s fourth-year students eye us curiously as we pass through his classroom on the way out. Black meets us at the front gate with a well-decorated hat. I hope that was worth it.
“Can you tell us more about your contact, Rosalinde?” she asks.
Rosalinde nods. “He’s friends with Sirona Ryan, the barkeeper of the Three Broomsticks. She connected us a few years back, and we’ve been friends ever since. I ran into him in Hogsmeade today, we had a conversation, and I discovered that he wants to stop Ranrok just as much as we do. His name is Lodgok.”
“A goblin,” Black says.
“Yes,” Rosalinde confirms.
“You should probably try to avoid saying too much, Kitty, in case you accidentally offend him,” Black says.
“Hey, Kitty’s not the one who goes around offending people,” I protest. “Last time I checked, that was you.”
Black rolls her eyes. “I know every single way you can possibly offend a goblin, which is the surest way to avoid doing so. I’d have to be trying to offend him.”
“She’s right, I don’t know very much about goblins,” Kitty says amiably. “And I do have a habit of accidental rudeness. I’ll let you lot handle it.”
“Well, Rosalinde is going to do the most talking, since she already has a connection with this goblin,” Black says.
We arrive at the Hog’s head and spot the goblin sitting in a shadowy corner. As discreetly as we can, the four of us squeeze into a booth to join him. Rosalinde quietly greets him, murmuring, “Good evening, Lodgok.”
He has crooked features, pointed ears, and sharp teeth like most goblins, but there’s a softness in his eyes that I like. He glances around at all of us, then, looks directly at Kitty, and says, “You’re the student he’s after.”
“I- I am,” Kitty replies, startled.
“We need to know what he and his loyalists are up to, so we can stay a step ahead,” Rosalinde says.
“Let’s say I did know,” Lodgok replies. “Why should I trust you?”
“Sirona trusts me,” Rosalinde replies. “And we both know our interests are aligned.”
“I trust you enough, Miss Peverell. But I do not know these two. And what about you, Miss Black? Your family has caused plenty of suffering for my kind. How am I to know that I will be treated fairly in this arrangement?”
Great, I think. She didn’t even have to say anything, her presence alone was enough to offend him. Me too, Lodgok, me too. But Black just smiles coolly, replying, “You and I both know this rebellion would never have started if goblinkind was treated with the respect they deserve. Unlike the rest of my family, I would like to see that change.”
“Well said,” Lodgok replies. “That is no excuse for Ranrok’s deeds, but it is certainly why he has found so many willing to take up his cause. I know of something that may help us both- a way to get Ranrok to confide his plans to me.”
“We’re listening.”
“Years ago, a heinous witch stole a sacred goblin relic. Rumor has it that it now rests in her sarcophagus, in a tomb accessible only by wizardkind. Ranrok and I had a… a falling out, a while back. The relic could well repair the chasm between us.”
“Very well then. We shall retrieve the relic, and you promise to share Ranrok’s plans with us?” Rosalinde asks
“We will have to trust each other; I, that you will not abscond with the relic, and you, that I will share what I learn. The witch’s tomb is not far from here. I will show you the way, and then you can gather what supplies you need before going inside.”
Black casts a charm around our group to make us less noticeable as we leave the Hog’s Head and slip through an alleyway toward the hills surrounding the Hogsmeade area. We follow Lodgok up a grassy slope, and Rosalinde asks, “What precisely is this relic we’re to retrieve?”
“A valuable heirloom known as the helmet of Urtkot,” Lodgok explains. “The witch considered herself a collector, and purchased the helmet as trinket! She cared not what pain she caused the goblins.”
“Goblins believe that the rightful owner of any object is its maker, not its purchaser,” Rosalinde explains, for Kitty’s sake. “Wizardkind sees things differently, so it is a wonder we ever get along, but my Grandfather believed it was important to respect goblin traditions. In his will, he instructed several goblin-crafted items to be returned to their makers.”
“The differences between our kind are myriad, but not always insurmountable,” Lodgok agrees, smiling. “Which is why I find myself traveling with you today. Here it is- the witch’s tomb.”
“Dreadful looking place,” Kitty comments, shuddering.
“Well, I wish you luck retrieving the helmet. As wand-carriers, you should have an advantage. I will be in a private room in the Three Broomsticks, ask simply Sirona Ryan for your mutual friend. Before I leave you, do you have any questions?”
“It seems that Ranrok and Rookwood are working together, do you have any idea why that might be?” I ask.
“I have heard this: when the dark hearted conspire, they seldom make their full intentions clear to each other. I can only speculate, but I imagine that their alliance is uneasy and quite fragile. Let us hope ours is less so.”
“Thank you, Lodgok. We’ll come find you when we have the helmet,” Rosalinde promises. “Alright, we should head back to the castle to change before meeting up here and going in. We can all apparate back to the front gate, at least.”
Black takes Kitty’s arm and we all apparate as close as we can to the castle. Heading back inside, I tell Kitty, “I actually have an outfit ready for you, if you’d like to wear it.”
“Oh! I’d love to!”
She follows me down and waits outside the Hufflepuff common room entrance while I get it and retrieve what I’ve made for her- a light grey patterned blouse, a loose skirt that should allow good mobility, a protective corset made of thick leather with an outer layer of pink wool for style and comfort, and a white jacket.
“Tae! It’s amazing!” she says, delighted. “It’s so fashionable, and the skirt looks really comfortable. It should be plenty modest with my quidditch boots.”
“I thought so, too,” I reply, pleased. “I’m also working on-”
“Kitty! I’ve been looking for you.”
“Sebastian!” Kitty squeals, as Sallow comes around the corner. “How was class?”
“It was good, but Regina wasn’t even there. She totally ditched. I could have ditched, too, and hung out with you,” he says, pulling her into a hug.
“Actually… I ended up being busy too,” She admits sheepishly.
“Wait a minute,” he says, connecting the dots. “You went somewhere with her, didn’t you?”
“Maybe…”
“One of these days, you’re going to have to tell me what you found in the library. Anyways, do you want to play gobstones? Or chess maybe? Or we can do homework, I’m up for anything.”
“I kind of have to go somewhere,” Kitty tells him, sounding regretful.
“I see. I don’t suppose there’s any chance I can come with you?” he sighs. “Well, you better stay safe. That looks like the kind of thing you’d wear to get into danger.”
“In and out of danger, hopefully,” I add, grinning.
“Tae made this,” Kitty tells him.
“Neat,” Sallow replies, acknowledging my presence for a split second before turning his focus back to Kitty. “I bet you’ll look really cute in it. But you had better come back safely.”
“Don’t worry, Bash, between Tae and Regina, I’ll be perfectly safe. Right, Tae?”
“That’s right.”
He puts his arm around her as they walk off toward their own common room. They must be going out together now. I hadn’t heard about it yet, but I’m also not surprised. Everyone could tell it was going to happen sooner or later.
I head up to my dormitory and change into a thick pair of woolen trousers and black vest, grab my outdoor coat and hat, and head back to the witch’s tomb to meet up with my friends- Well, they’re not all my friends. Rosalinde and Kitty are. What do I call our little group?
I’m the first to arrive at the witch’s tomb, then Rosalinde, then Black. Rosalinde is still in all mourning, and Black, unfortunately, looks spectacular as usual. Apparently she has plenty of sturdy duelling clothes along with all her evening gowns. She’s dressed in dark grey and teal, with a wool cape and pointed hat. She eyes Kitty, who is once again the only one without a hat, and says, “At least you’re not wearing trousers.”
Kitty just grins. “Shall we go inside?”