Chapter 37: 37 The Next Big Thing

It was Christmas morning and Maisie, the Surrey Community Librarian, had been quite lonely the last few months. Her favorite little man had been shipped off to a boarding school in September and she sorely missed his messy hair, his bright green eyes, and his devotion to both her and the library.

She had been quite flattered when the little darling had confessed his love for her, apparently she was his first, so she had given the boy a thrill by giving him a peck on the lips, which was also his first. Of course, she shared in the thrill, because her tingling lips had been quite the surprise.

Maisie secretly admitted to herself that after finding out his true nature, the truth about his home life and not his reputation that everyone assumed was horrible, her heart had opened up just enough to let him snuggle in there.

She didn't bake homemade bread for just anyone or let random children hug her or hold her hand while in the library. The tea times they shared were some of the best in her memory as well, since their discussions were always entertaining and Harry had somehow kept up with her. That wasn't really surprising, considering how much the both of them read.

Maisie let out a sigh and sat back in her large overstuffed chair and took a sip of her morning tea. Her own children had grown and moved away years ago, which left her with nothing to do. Deciding to take the librarian job had been the best decision she had ever made. It was time consuming, she met interesting people, she she stayed on top of current events and book releases. Her bibliophile mindset was satisfied and happy.

A knock on her front door gave Maisie a bit of a start, which made her chuckle, and she put her tea down and went to the door to answer it. When she opened it, her mouth dropped open.

Right there in front of her was the boy she was sorely missing!

Harry stood in front of four ornate chairs, a nice dining room table, two end tables, two rolled up rugs, a coffee table, and two nightstands. “Happy Christmas, Maisie!” He exclaimed and waved at the furniture. “Do you think we can get Mrs. Hansen from next door to help bring these inside? I got them just for you because you liked that old chair in the storeroom so much.”

Maisie blinked her eyes several times before she let out a sob and stepped out of the door and swept the boy into her arms. Tears formed in her eyes as she hugged him and held him close. Her own children hadn't given her anything except token gifts and this boy had shown up out of the blue with thousands of dollars worth of furniture for her.

“It's okay.” Harry said and hugged her and pat her back. “I could never forget my very first love.”

Maisie let out another sob and they stayed there on the porch and held each other for quite some time. She never questioned why she never felt cold, despite it being the middle of winter. All she could think about was the boy that had made this the best Christmas she had ever had.

Mrs. Hansen had come over and even though she looked as old as Maisie, she had no trouble moving the heavy furniture. It was why Harry had suggested her coming over to help. When they were done, the three of them shared tea, homemade bread, and some of Harry's homemade cookies.

It was the best Christmas morning that Maisie had enjoyed in a very long time.

Harry promised to visit whenever he could, even though he lived somewhere else now. Maisie hugged him so tightly that he thought he might have left an impression and he joked about it. It made her laugh and she gave him a normal hug.

“Don't worry, Maisie. I'll see you again.” Harry said and handed her an envelope. “I can never thank you enough for being there for me when I needed you.”

“Harry, you were there when I needed you, too.” Maisie said.

Harry beamed a smile at her. “I'm so happy that my first kiss wasn't wasted!”

Maisie blushed a little and laughed. “Get out of here, you cheeky little blighter!”

Harry laughed and opened her front door. “Happy Christmas, Maisie.”

“Happy Christmas, Harry.” Maisie said and stood at her door and watched her favorite little man walk down the driveway and down the street until he was out of sight. She closed the door and looked at the envelope in her hand. She wasn't sure what it could be and opened the sealed top.

She was surprised to see a copy of her monthly bank statement. She pulled it out, not understanding how Harry could have gotten it, until she read it all the way through. She felt faint and leaned against her front door for a good ten minutes before her brain rebooted and started working again.

That can't be right. There was no way it could be true. Maisie thought as she read the total in her bank account. So many zeroes!

A quick call to the automated answering service of the bank confirmed that 3,000,000 pounds had been deposited into her account as a bequeathment and that all taxes had been paid. Maisie hung up and shook her head. It was too unbelievable to be true.

There was no way that young man... Maisie stopped that thought as she remembered his home life. It started to make sense to her now. They kept him down and treated him horribly, just so they could steal his inheritance when he was older. Instead, they ended up dead and he now had all of that money for himself.

And gave a pile of it to her.

Maisie picked up the phone to call him and give the money back, and froze, because Harry hadn't given her his new phone number. The only one she knew was for his dead relatives and that had been disconnected two months ago.

I was so happy to see him that I forgot to ask how to get a hold of him! Maisie thought in dismay. She stared at her bank statement and wandered back into her sitting room and sat down.

Without even thinking about it, Maisie reached for the new end table at her side and picked up a tea cup and took a sip of the still piping hot tea. She let out a contented sigh and sat back to enjoy more delicious tea as she thought about that generous boy. She would never realize that she hadn't made any tea and still had it to drink.

*

“What do you mean all of our bills and loans are paid off?” Sanjay Patil asked the Gringotts Bank goblin representative that had made a personal visit to their home. They never visited. Ever.

“Here is the documentation.” The goblin said and handed the shocked man a folder with the paperwork inside. “You wizards are very weird to celebrate the death of a Christian religious icon by giving gifts to each other.”

Mati Patil leaned into her husband and looked at the folder as he flipped through the pages. Both their mortgage and their business loans had been paid in full. They also now owned the building they had been renting for the last ten years. The deed was in the paperwork, too.

“How is this possible?” Sanjay asked, his voice full of disbelief.

“I didn't ask.” The goblin said and started to turn away. “Have a good day, wizard.”

“Please wait!” Mati gasped and the goblin turned back. “Why are you visiting personally and didn't just send an owl?”

The goblin smiled a tooth bearing grin. “When a prodigious client offers a thousand galleons and the rights to remove a fang from a 60 foot basilisk, I had to fight twenty-six other goblins for this job.”

Both parents had their jaws almost fall off at the goblin's words.

“As I said, wizards are weird to offer presents this time of year, especially to the Nation.” The goblin said and walked off into the snow. “The battle will be glorious when we face the creature tonight! Ha hahaha!”

The Patils stood in the doorway for quite some time before they shut the door. Surprisingly, they could still hear traces of the goblin's cackling laughter.

*

“Is everyone ready for this?” Harry asked and looked at the head goblin.

“We were born ready, wizard.” The goblin said and the other twenty six goblins growled.

“Remember what I said. You can't look it in the eyes, because you'll die.” Harry said and didn't tell them exactly how he had found that out. He had been arrogant and tried to talk to the basilisk when he first approached it inside a Hidden (Raid) Dungeon located in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. The creature had promised to not kill him and would cover its own eyes, only to discover that the thing had lied and Harry immediately dropped dead.

Thankfully, Harry was ejected from the dungeon and landed back into the girl's bathroom. He sacrificed one of Voldemort's soul pieces to revive himself and decided that he wasn't going to try that again. No, he would need a lot of help and he knew exactly where to get it.

It took a bit of research for him to find out what 'raid' meant when concerning a dungeon and it was pretty damn broken. He could invite as many temporary players as he wanted, except the dungeon could only be completed once and it was done. He also couldn't upgrade anyone, because they weren't technically a part of his party.

“We will fight and we will die with honor.” One of the others said and they all drew their swords to clack them against their shields.

Harry nodded. “Your names will be sung for generations about this battle!”

The goblins cheered and readied themselves.

“I ask your permission to cast defensive spells and protections on you and your armor.” Harry said and the goblins grumbled. They huddled together and there was a lot of grunting and more grumbling.

“We agree, as long as it doesn't stop us from fighting.” The head goblin said.

Harry chuckled and started casting. “Reflection curses on your chest and body armor.” He said and asked them to hold out their shields. “Permanent bludgeoning hexes on your shields.” He said and that got them all grumbling happily. “And Eversharp and Piercing curses on your blades.”

The hungry growling made the goblins sound fierce and they all looked deadly.

“All right, everyone grab on to someone.” Harry said and they all did so. He knew they all assumed they would be using a portkey to get to where the creature was and they all bent their legs slightly for the trip. He held in his laugh as he let his magic flow out to cover them and the goblins all looked shocked.

A very loud crack like thunder later, and the group was in the large anteroom where thousands of creature skeletons were underfoot. Harry had already started the dungeon before picking the goblins up, thanks to Kreacher showing him that he could leave a dungeon whenever he wanted, as long as there was someone else present to keep the dungeon active, which was Kreacher this time.

“Spread out! The vermin are free kills! Explore all the attached tunnels! Meet at the chamber door!” The head goblin exclaimed and raised his sword.

“RAHHH!” The goblins yelled and they split up to do just that. The sounds of fighting happened almost right away and the goblins were having an absolute ball.

“You're not going?” Harry asked him.

“No, I am saving my strength and cunning for the final battle.” The head goblin said.

Harry nodded and he walked at a slow pace as they went through the main tunnel. They approached the shed skin and it was about 40 feet long. The goblin growled and held his shield and sword tightly. Harry stored the skin after they passed it, which was two of them he had now. He thought it was quite neat that he could harvest things like that from a normal dungeon as many times as he wanted.

Since this was a Raid Dungeon, he would have to die without finishing it to spawn it again. One shed skin was not worth it. Having 26 goblins clearing the place out gave him a ton of free loot, though.

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Half an hour later, they had gathered in front of the chamber entrance. Harry liberally passed around energizing potions, minor wound potions, and antivenom and poison potions. He offered to cast repair on their items and they refused. Battle damage was a point of pride and not to be erased.

“This is it. Remember, there are several hundred normal snakes and a hundred magical snakes to kill first, then the statue's mouth will open and the basilisk will appear.” Harry reminded them.

The goblins all growled and clanged their swords on their shields.

Harry nodded and looked at the chamber door and hissed. “~Open!~”

The animated snakes flowed around the door and made several clanking sounds as it unlocked. It swung open and the goblins charged in without a second thought. Five minutes later, the place was cleared out, except for one solitary snake that one of the goblins brought over to the head goblin.

“Take up your positions and don't look at the thing's eyes!” The head goblin growled and they other goblins scattered.

“Last chance for a disillusionment charm.” Harry said and faded away from sight.

“If I die, I want my brethren to see my valour.” The head goblin said and moved off to his own spot.

Harry chuckled and dropped a partially slaughtered cow in the middle of the chamber before he ran over to the statue and quickly climbed up to sit on Salazar Slytherin's nose. “In position.” He said and poured a scent masking potion over himself.

“Prepare for battle!” The head goblin said and he and the other goblins did the same thing. Soon, none of them had any trace of smell and the goblin held up the last snake. “For the glory of the Nation!”

“RAHH!” The goblins roared in response and then everything fell deathly silent.

The last snake was beheaded and tossed aside by the head goblin. It landed and converted into skin, potion ingredients, and silver sickles, before everything disappeared.

The statue's mouth dropped open and everyone looked away from it until the slithering sound reached the end of the chamber. It was safe to look then, because the head of the giant snake was busy consuming the free meal it had been given. As soon as they saw the thing lift its head to try and swallow, all of the goblins attacked at once.

Twenty-seven piercing blades sliced into the giant snake's sides and it let out screams of agony. It started to thrash around to get the blades out, only to cause itself much more damage as the Eversharp blades sliced its flesh like hot knives through butter. Multiple goblins yelled in pain as they were thrown around like toys from the powerful creature's movements.

Various limbs were broken and the goblins that could, ignored the pain and went back to the creature to retrieve their blades. The basilisk reared its head back as the goblins sliced it up some more on the left side. It turned towards the left to glare at whatever had hurt it and to bite it if it could.

A very brave goblin sacrificed himself as he lunged at the thing's face and plunged his blade into the creature's left eye, essentially blocking its sight and then removing the threat. The goblin's lifeless body dropped to the floor and then disappeared before it could be crushed by the frantic giant snake.

Everyone ran and took cover as the thing thrashed around even more, because it was half blinded and couldn't smell its attackers. Other goblins helped their fellows with broken legs to get out of the way.

Harry didn't move until the creature started to turn towards the statue he sat on. He leapt out of the way and landed on the floor on the right of the statue and raised his wand as he targeted the sword and not the basilisk, because the skin of the creature was normally spell resistant.

“Glacius Maxima!” Harry yelled and the overcharged spell hit the sword and injected the glacial ice directly into the giant snake's brain. Ice covered the entire head and a huge ice spike spurted out through the remaining eye, which was the only soft exit the ice could take.

The snake seemed to slow down, as if it didn't know it was dead yet, and seemed to look around without eyes.

“Finish it!” The head goblin shouted and his sword was the first to pierce the snake's underside near the neck. The snake flinched and knocked the goblin aside and he bounced once and landed several feet away, stunned.

Soon, all of the other mobile goblins had their blades slashing at the snake and it only thrashed a little before the head goblin was back and yanked his blade out of the neck and plunged it back in. Four other goblins joined him and they sawed and sawed across the thing's neck.

“Wizard Bones, you have the honor.” The head goblin said when all the flesh had been cut and exposed the snake's spine. The creature was still breathing, however.

Harry made himself visible and walked over to him as he waved his wand at the sword in the basilisk's eye to heat it up and melted the ice. “I'll use Backslasher's blade. If it wasn't for his brave sacrifice, we could have all died.”

The goblins looked both surprised and pleased.

Harry summoned the blade to his hand and slammed it into the exposed spine. With a mighty twist and a crack sound, the severed head of the basilisk popped off and the body barely twitched. A minute later, the creature stopped breathing and died for good.

The goblins yelled and cheered at the successful kill.

Harry handed the blade to the head goblin, who bowed and accepted the final blow weapon. He used it to pry one of the fangs out of the skull, and held both up into the air.

The goblins cheered once more.

“Don't be surprised by this.” Harry said and waved a hand by the body of the basilisk and it dissolved away and left thirty tons of prime snake meat, two tons of prime and very expensive potions ingredients, twenty gallons of the most potent venom in existence, a 60 foot roll of perfect basilisk skin, a huge pile of galleons, and a perfectly preserved basilisk head with fake eyes.

The goblins stared at the wizard as that happened and then growled when everything disappeared.

“We split the spoils when we leave the dungeon.” Harry said and the head goblin nodded. He went to each of the goblins and used spells to immobilize broken legs and arms and gave them pain relief potions and minor wound healing potions.

When Harry was done, everyone was technically mobile as the other goblins helped the ones with broken legs.

“Follow me, brave warriors.” Harry said and slowly led them out of the chamber.

“Where is Backslasher's body?” One of the other goblins asked. “His family will want him returned.”

“It's waiting for us at the entrance.” Harry said and took the quickest way back to where he had popped them into the dungeon. He transfigured the slide down into stairs and waved for them to follow.

The goblins made note of all the interconnecting pipes and then stared at the very large bathroom they came out inside.

“I temporarily enlarged it for this purpose.” Harry said and used the drop down menu and closed the dungeon. The sink closed behind the goblins and locked into place, then the threatening darkness faded away and the room returned to normal lighting.

“Backslasher!” The same goblin said and knelt by his fallen comrade. “Our father will be very proud of you, brother.”

Harry knelt by him as well and put a hand on the other goblin. “He faced Death on his own terms and Death welcomed him as an old friend.”

The goblin grinned at him and nodded.

“Everyone grab on to someone.” Harry said and they all shuffled together and clasped each other's arms and Harry touched the body. A loud crack of thunder later, they were back inside the Gringotts staging area. The goblins were immediately swarmed by goblin healers and family members.

“I see most of you are alive.” A growling voice said from the doorway and all of the goblins stood straight and bowed, even the ones with broken legs.

“Director Grindstone.” The head goblin said and stepped forward, bent a knee, and held out both the sword and the fang. “The deathblow sword and the trophy.”

The bank's director growled and took the sword and carefully took the fang. “You give up such treasures?”

“For the Nation.” All of the goblins said and took a knee.

“You agreed to this, wizard?” Grindstone asked.

“Backslasher sacrificed himself to give us a prime opportunity to end the battle with a minimum loss of life. I used his sword to finish it and had already offered Ragnok the trophy before we entered the beast's lair.” Harry said and the director looked surprised. “I think an even split to the spoils is fair.”

All of the goblins gasped at that, because no one just offered so much without any negotiations!

Fifteen tons of prime snake meat, one ton of prime and very expensive potions ingredients, ten gallons of the most potent venom in existence, a 30 foot roll of perfect basilisk skin, and a pile of galleons appeared.

“The wizard is insane.” One of the healer goblins whispered into the silence.

Harry held in his laugh at that and kept a serious tone in his voice. “Because of the unexpected loss and quite fortunate sacrifice of Backslasher, I offer the Nation this in honor of him.”

The perfectly preserved basilisk head with fake eyes appeared and all of the goblins stared at it.

“Are you insane?” The director of the bank asked.

“No, I removed the horcrux in my head and I've never felt better.” Harry said and all of them hissed angrily. “I took care of all the others Voldemort made, too.”

The goblins stared at him and didn't move or speak.

“I have to wait for Voldemort's spirit to return to Britain before I can claim it.” Harry said and wasn't surprised that they didn't say anything. “If I find any other dungeons I need help with...”

“You WILL come to us for it!” Director Grindstone nearly shouted.

Harry chuckled and bowed. “Director.” He looked at the goblins around him. “Brave warriors.”

“Insane wizard.” All of the goblins said in response.

Harry laughed, waved, and apparated away.

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