"Hmm…determination…and a lust for vengeance. You truly are a Black Herakles", Arcturus said with a pleased nod. "But no one said you had to do this alone, I've lost my cousin, my son, two of my grandsons and several others of the family due to the Dark Lord's ambitions. I am just as hungry for vengeance as you, and as you said…a Black Always pays his debts".
A silence hung in the air before Herakles leant forward eagerly. "Tell me grandfather- ", he said as he handed over a piece of parchment that held the current calculations for his future enchanted trunk. "- what do you know about trunks? And more specifically how to enchant them"?
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Herakles shuffled slightly as Arcturus stared him down, the full weight of the eighty-three-year old's gaze attempting to convey how stupid he was, so the sudden smack across his face, and Arcturus then grabbing his head in self-pity was quite a shock.
"Ouch", Herakles yelped as his hand went up to massage his smarting cheek.
"Filthy fucking muggles", Arcturus mumbled to himself as he massaged the side of his head. "You still think like a muggle boy", he offered as an explanation.
Herakles blinked slightly. "What do you mean"?
Arcturus straightened slightly and then pointed his hand to the notes Herakles had spent several painstaking hours to make. "That little toy of yours, a good idea, but there are far better ways to do this".
Herakles blushed slightly, in both embarrassment and indignation, he had after all spent a LONG time on this, and had researched avenues to doing what needed to be done.
Arcturus must have recognised the conflict brewing within him as he continued to speak. "How do you think wizards transport goods and the like hmm? Ever witch or wizard in the merchant business have access to special cargo crates, each one capable of holding enough that you could fill the great hall of Hogwarts and more".
Herakles nodded, he knew of this of course, but the secrets behind those cargo crates were held very close to the chest of the International Merchants Guild, so not available to an underage wizard who did not even have the key to his own trust vault yet, explaining this to his great grandfather however caused Arcturus to break out into laughter.
"Tell me young Herakles, are you aware of how the Blacks achieved their fortune?"
This caused Herakles ears to perk up figuratively speaking. "I have yet to be told Grandfather", he said.
Arcturus grinned slightly. "It started shortly after the Spanish discovered and settled the new world. One of our ancestors Marcellus Black sailed with the muggle Columbus and jumped ship as it were on the first island in the Caribbean they landed on. As soon as the muggles left he started to layer the island in wards, wards that have been added to and improved by generations since from our family. From this island, until the mid-eighteen hundreds we Blacks took our toll in the Caribbean, memory charms were more than enough to point the blame onto muggle pirates, eight out of ten acts of piracy since the fifteen hundreds were made by our family and retainers in our service…the Spanish treasure fleets that sank or 'disappeared' in 1622, 1715 1733 and 1750, all done by us, with a small pittance left behind to fool the muggles into thinking it was natural disasters".
Herakles was dumbfounded, he knew of course that the Black family was filthy rich, but he never expected it to be of the results of piracy.
"We did of course not restrict ourselves to piracy", Arcturus said with a grin. "We were also consummate smugglers and made a killing by selling lots of stolen merchandise with our own trade ships…even made a lot of gold with insurance frauds. Insure the ships and then make sure that they were 'taken' by pirates".
"That…that's…wow", Herakles stuttered, who knew that the Blacks had more between their ears than Pureblood dogma and an affinity for Dark Magic. "How does this help us though"? he asked.
"Well, due to our past business we still have a good three dozen of those crates lying about".
A shark like grin stretched across Herakles' face. "Then what are we waiting for"?
Arcturus let out an identical grin as he glanced at the grandfather clock in the corner that read just shy of 1 AM. "Nothing, as soon as Kreacher can get the transport crates we are good to go".
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A shy hour later Herakles, Arcturus and Kreacher stood outside the Malfoy vaults in Gringotts. Herakles and Arcturus hid their features with a simple balaclava and black robes, while Kreacher was sporting an impressive (although fake) black beard that made him look like a three foot version of Hagrid.
"This is no good Herakles", Arcturus said as he ran his wand across the immense gilded door. "It would take hours to remove these defences, and while Kreacher can get us through, the goblins would be notified instantly".
"Oh yes", Herakles said as he hefted a crowbar in his hands and jammed it into one of the door hinges. "The doors have been enchanted by the best goblin smiths and cursebreakers alike, they are practically unbeatable".
"So how do you propose to do this then"? Arcturus sniped as he inspected the crowbar with a curious glance.
"By thinking like a muggle", Herakles grinned as he stepped back and jabbed with his wand, causing the unbreakable crowbar to jerk, and the heavy gilded door jerked up and off its half-pin barrel hinges. The sudden increase of weight as the lock was now the only thing supporting the weight of the door caused the lock to shatter and the entire door fell forward and landed with a soft 'thump' at the cushioned floor.
Arcturus stood silent with his mouth and eyes wide open in shock before a terrifying grin stretched across his weathered face, and with a bark of laughter that reminded Herakles of Sirius, the Patriarch of the Black Family walked into the vault of his biggest political rival, quickly followed by Herakles and Kreacher.
"Woah", Herakles uttered as he stared about the vault. The Lestrange vault that he, Ron and Hermione had broken into was paltry in comparison to this. Shelves upon shelves of goblin forged artefacts, immense stacks of books or scrolls, and enough gold and silver to fill the Burrow, and apparently the Blacks had even more. "We're rich…we're filthy fucking rich", Herakles muttered to himself.
Arcturus just laughed as he expanded one of the crates he'd stashed in his pocket, and with a wave of his wand all the coins started to flow through the air as some strange mix of a snake and flowing water. "Kreacher, get everything else in another crate", Arcturus ordered Kreacher who eagerly complied.
If any Goblins had ridden past them they would have been very curious about the three distinct tones of hysterical laughter. Of course, late as it was there were no Goblins riding past them, and the two wizards and one demented house elf were allowed to do their work in peace. One after the other, the vaults of so called 'imperiused' followers of the Dark Lord were emptied, leaving nothing more than a small card that read 'in the name of justice, the people thank you for your contribution to the victims of the war fund, at least we left you two knuts to rub together', and true enough, below each card laid a pair of bronze knuts.
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Massive Gringotts Break-in. Gringotts and pardoned Death Eaters in an uproar!
Last night a daring robbery took place. Through the use of unknown magic that has left the goblins and curse breakers alike baffled, an unknown amount of thieves penetrated deep into the depths of the goblin tunnels and forcibly entered and emptied the vaults of sixteen families, leaving said families destitute of coin.
"We will find the ones responsible for this and make sure that they never see the light of day again", said an enraged goblin spokesperson to the Daily Prophet reporter who tried to ascertain what had happened today.
Unconfirmed reports tell the tale that it was a band of vigilante thieves who have lost loved ones to Death Eater attacks in the war.
Abraxus Malfoy whose own son was held under the imperius curse by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was one of the victims of last night's robbery.
"Not only was my son held under the imperius curse by that monster, but now our entire fortune has been stolen. Can you believe, with the goblins refusing to compensate us for our loss I've had to sell two of my family homes, is this justice"? an enraged Abraxus Malfoy commented to the Daily Prophet as he stormed out of Gringotts this morning.
Will the thieves be caught? We at the Daily Prophet and the rest of the Wizarding World want to know.
Special Correspondent
Rita Skeeter.
Arcturus smiled as he put down the paper, having read it out load at the breakfast table. Walburga, Irma and his wife Melania were all smiling, while Cassiopeia was shaking uncontrollably as she tried to restrain her mirth.
"I wonder how long it will take until Abraxus comes to us with beggars cup in hand", Cassiopeia cackled, causing Arcturus to smirk.
"I spoke with poor Abraxus earlier today, told him that if was in need of funds I could always float him a loan at…reasonable interest of course. He wasn't pleased I can tell you", the members of the Black family seated around the table laughed again.
"So what happens now"? Ted asked curiously.
"Now we get the goblins off our backs", Arcturus said. "In three days we will meet clandestinely in a safe spot where a deal will be struck, getting the goblins off our backs, and shutting down the investigation before it can even begin".
A few eyes widened around the table, Herakles' included, getting the goblins to back off had not been part of his plan. "How"? Andromeda asked.
"Very simple, in return for shutting down the investigation, I will be providing the goblins with every goblin forged artefact we found in the vaults, furthermore a quarter of the coin we took will be divided between the families who suffered losses to the death eaters, with the goblins receiving a percentage of course".
Walburga wrinkled her nose. "Why would we give away anything"?
"Because", Arcturus started. "We have no need of the goblin items, and the goblins covet them more than anything. And as for the money, it will hurt the Malfoys and their ilk more that their victims get some of the money than to just know it has been stolen. Everyone will know that the sudden influx of money to the families in question is restitution for their losses in the war, but no one will be able to prove anything, and as such will be unable to confiscate the gold…just imagine the faces of Abraxus and Lucius when they find out that Arthur Weasley is living in comfort on their gold…" Arcturus closed his eyes as he drank in the image in his mind.
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True to form, the meeting had gone very well, the goblins had been extremely hostile at first, but had quickly realised that the deal was to their advantage and had agreed to the terms laid out. A few days after the deal was finalized almost a hundred families were informed that in reparation for their losses during the war, eleven thousand galleons had been deposited to their accounts, while had been awarded a full one hundred thousand from an anonymous donator.
Abraxus Malfoy had been the first, quickly joined by the fifteen other family heads that had been robbed to demand the money returned to them as it was obvious the gold in question had once belonged to them. Regrettably, no matter how much they implored, pleaded, and even threatened, Minister Bagnold coldly informed them that there was nothing that could be done, the money was an anonymous donation and could not be traced.
Abraxus at least had common sense enough to quit while he was still ahead, content to simply rage in the sanctity of his home, more than once hitting his son Lucius with the cruciatus rightfully blaming Lucius for his sudden loss of gold, He even went so far as to force both Lucius and Narcissa to get a job in order to support the family (he himself was obviously above such things). To Lucius' shame he was forced to tend the bar at the Leaky Cauldron during the night as no one else were willing to employ a former Death Eater (and most people doubted the 'former' part) while Narcissa was earning more than four times the amount as a stylist for Gladrags.
A family that was not as fortunate was the Nott's. Former Wizengamot member and Head of the family, Julius Nott was arrested and sentenced to three months to Azkaban for pulling a wand and threatening the Minister in his rage, while his son Thaddeus who had before his arrest been in line for a cushy job in the Minister's Office been demoted to a job in the janitorial department.