Some enchantment on the entirety, combined with the sight of the large double doors to the Grand Overseer's Chamber, evoked this profound sense of longing, of grief too long denied, of exclusion, it almost made you weep at the magnitude of it; and that was before ever learning the truth behind the feeling. It had done precisely that the first time he'd been here on the day his father was promoted from teller to account manager and he'd embarrassed himself in front of the Grand Overseer at the time when he was still a child, though the great goblin had smiled at him knowingly then.
All promotions were done here, it was a naturally humbling place, making you feel connected to the Grief of the People and know your place in alleviating that grief was minuscule, no matter what you did. There was no place for humility or grief today though; Barchoke tried to steel himself as he walked forward, his steps ringing on the cold stone floor. Humility would get him killed if he didn't stand his ground and grief would be compounded as Secretary Trixie would be left destitute and Hammerhand stripped of his compensation and thrown Below to be harried and abused before "wandering" into the dragon pits at feeding time.
He wasn't a child anymore, he reminded himself; he was Overseer Barchoke of Gringotts Bank!
The great wooden doors opened easily with a push, the sound of their movement cutting off conversation in the great chamber within. The great stone meeting hall was uncommonly dark, its windows drawn; an unexpected change to offset the Ministry onlookers who were sure to be attempting to discover why the bank had been closed in the middle of a business day. It made the polished black table dominating the center of the room gleam ever more brightly in the flickering firelight.
Barchoke glanced around and saw immediately that everyone was in attendance. 'Director' Fillast was to one side, communicating in whispers to his ever silent brother Braglast, the Dodgy Deals "supervisor" unbound by the same illegality reporting stricture as everyone else, and with Overseer Lognot who was in charge of Confidential. 'The Little Minister,' Overseer Bankor, was on the other side of the room speaking to 'The Human,' Overseer Barnabas Marsh, the puffed up pureblood in charge of the Hogwarts Accounting Department. Pudgy Overseer Slaggran of Personal Accounts and Overseer Alkrat of Corporate Accounts had been standing by the door, though they cut off their conversation and moved to their seats as soon as he entered.
Only Overseer Gutripper and Grand Overseer Largrot were already seated; Gutripper as if poised to strike while the not-so-Grand-as-he-is-rotund Largrot had already fallen asleep in his chair. The scarlet and gold draped guards positioned on both sides of the doorway saluted the slumbering Grand Overseer and departed, closing the doors behind them. The double doors were barely closed, and scarcely half their number seated before it began.
Gutripper's dagger flashed and embedded a third of the way to its hilt into the polished stone table, causing the obese Grand Overseer to snort himself awake as the irate security goblin stared daggers at Barchoke. It was commonly known that goblin steel took in that which made it stronger - at least the elder blades did somehow - but less well known was how the blades they forged even today gouged through solid stone. The Overseer for Hereditary Accounts violently pushed aside the childish wish to have been one of the lucky few already seated as the first accusation flew.
"What gives you the right to order my Enforcers about?" the lean stern-faced goblin demanded.
Barchoke forced himself to stare directly into the Security Overseer's mismatched eyes. While his left was a foggy-white orb with a pink blob in the center - no doubt blinded in one of the many matters of vengeance that kept him occupied Below, if the vicious scar that crossed it was anything to go by - the other blazed red with barely constrained hate. Barchoke found he liked the odd red coloration much better in the goblin's rumored and estranged son, Auditor Axegrind, though it could be the fact he outranked the auditor that helped with that.
"Your Enforcers?" Barchoke asked as he made his way to his chair, directly opposite Gutripper at the end of the table closest the doors. Custom might dictate the topic at hand must be dealt with once the table'd been gouged but it didn't mean he couldn't get further away from the overly aggressive goblin, and thankfully the table was rather wide at their end. There were more gouge marks around Gutripper than all the other overseers combined.
"Was the entire bank relocated to Down Below without my knowledge?" Barchoke asked with a confidence he didn't feel. "And here I thought Up Above they were called Guards ." A few of his companions taking their seats chuckled, giving him strength to continue. "I needn't have to remind you that just because you train them in the old ways doesn't mean they're your own personal army. Anyone from a cart operator up can call upon a guard at need, and that's precisely what I've done."
Barchoke chose to address the other Overseers as he concluded on this topic. "Provided this council hasn't secretly voted to strip itself of the power in the last week and a half, I fail to see how I've done anything wrong in this regard."
The overly-large Largrot gave an indeterminate grunt and an underhanded wave, spelling the end of the issue, so unless Gutripper had a plan where murdering them all, declaring himself King, and going on a murderous rampage didn't end with the Ministry counter-attacking and devastating the entire People he had no choice but to withdraw his dagger and his complaint.
While the half-blind Overseer did withdraw the dagger he still kept it ready to gouge again, though that was common with him, as was the stare he gave the one who defied him. Barchoke wished it hadn't been directed at him though, it was rather unnerving.
"You took one of my delivery boys - I mean curse breakers - and have him play delivery boy," Overseer Alkrat quickly stammered; his darker skin, odd manner of speech, and funny little mustache marking him out as the strangest amongst them, human included.
"Why-why-why you do this?" The only foreign goblin ever to make it so high in management, he seemed to take it in stride that he'd never be Grand Overseer, even if he had somehow managed to boost the efficiency of Overseas Exploitation by three hundred percent.
"Curse Breaker Weasley was not recalled, reassigned, or commandeered," Barchoke said patiently, glad to have the distraction for once since it allowed him time to get his thoughts in order. "He was merely on-hand and asked to facilitate a remote deposit and withdrawal delivery involving his childhood home. Who better to do it than a person who once lived there?"
"I did not say it is wrong," Alkrat held his hands up in front of him as he shied away from his previous question. "I just say it is odd. Do you not think it is odd?" he asked no one in particular, "I think it is odd," he answered himself quickly and tried to pretend he'd never spoken at all in his life.
"Why are we here?" the human asked with an air of boredom, as if he too might fall asleep the next time Largrot nodded off if they didn't get to the point of the meeting soon.
"Yes, why-why-why am I here? It is the daytime," Alkrat asked, happy to join in on someone else's question. "Why am I not in Cairo?"
"And why is the building closed?" Overseer Slaggran asked, waving his pudgy fingers at him. Once known as 'the stellar teller,' the now-unremarkable Slaggran was well on his way to becoming another Largrot, though not by becoming Grand Overseer; they already had one fat incompetent leader, they weren't going to replace him with another. "We don't make money with a closed building," he wheezed.
"Gringotts bylaws clearly dictate," Barchoke firmly stated, "that Overseers may only meet in council once the bank has been closed and all Overseers must be recalled when a Breach is discovered which rises to the level of an Existential Threat."
Reactions to this bombshell were about what Barchoke predicted: the proper Overseers were shocked, the human and foreigner confused, Gutripper had a rictus snarl, and Largrot had fallen asleep again. Only Supervisor Braglast showed no reaction, but he never did. Barchoke wondered if torturing the tiny goblin would even get a word out of him.
Gutripper's dagger flashed, embedding into the table again as Barchoke willed himself not to jump. Immediately he tried to calm himself by calculating just how many more table gouges the overzealous Enforcer had left to make before the table around him crumbled completely.
"Existential Threats are tantamount to a declaration of war," the vicious goblin declared. "No Breach has ever risen to that level and I resent the implication my guards," Gutripper sneered, "are negligent in their duties, ill-equipped, or unable to counter any threat they may encounter!"
Barchoke's insides churned, he felt like he was going to puke - or die - 'No! Not today. '
"I have no doubts about the competency or capabilities of your guards, Overseer Gutripper," Barchoke said with a smile just on the formal side of panic. "They have always performed admirably and bring honor to Gringotts and are a credit the People and your training."
The compliment seemed to throw the unruly goblin.
"I-," Little Minister Bankor started to say before halting, with a gesture to Gutripper's dagger still in the table. Clearly he was loathe to tread on toes or formality while there was still a hint of an unfinished question. And while the issue was still unresolved, Barchoke had done that by design; he only wondered if Gutripper would allow him his dramatic effect.
Overseer Gutripper glanced to the Little Minister, then back to him. The eternally perturbed Enforcer might not know how he was being played, but he knew that he was. For a second time his dagger was removed from the hard stone table and Barchoke had no doubt it would be in his skull next if he didn't handle this correctly.
Bankor cleared his throat before speaking.
.....
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