After passing through the last grove of oak trees deep within the Forbidden Forest, their trunks tangled in glowing vines, the damp smell of rotting leaves suddenly faded. In its place came a fragrance reminiscent of dried lavender.
The soft humus beneath their feet gradually gave way to hard blue-gray stone. Rather than possessing the rough texture of naturally formed rock, its surface felt smooth and rounded, as though it had been polished by running water for countless years.
The entrance to the ancient magical ruins the goblins were searching for was concealed behind an outward-jutting cliff face. Dark green lichen covered the rock, and only when the wind blew from a particular direction would the growth lift slightly, revealing a circular stone door embedded beneath it.
The door stood roughly twice the height of a person. A ring of intricate starburst patterns had been carved around its edge, with a thin layer of gray-white powder settled inside every groove.
Pushing it open required none of the effort they had expected. Instead, it felt like pressing through a sheet of water-soaked silk.
The passage beyond was narrower than expected, barely wide enough for one person to squeeze through sideways. At the end of the passage stood a large, partially collapsed stone chamber.
The goblins' shadows stretched beneath the dim glow of the enchanted lamps they carried. Every step they took produced a sharp tap as their boots struck the stone floor, the sound echoing clearly through the empty chamber.
The elderly goblin leading them, Grek, crouched beside a stone platform and ran his fingertips over the worn edge. His coarse nails scraped through the dust accumulated inside the grooves of an astronomical diagram.
"This is it?" he asked in the naturally raspy voice of a goblin. "The magical disturbance we detected outside the Forbidden Forest last week came from this crumbling ruin?"
"There's no mistake." Lina, a goblin with a short silver-white braid, raised the bronze detector in her hand. The runes across its surface flashed in response to the magical energy filling the chamber.
"Look at the frequency of these fluctuations. They correspond perfectly with the ancient protective magic recorded in the Gringotts archives.
"Potter's Invisibility Cloak is one of the three Deathly Hallows, a treasure said to conceal its wearer even from Death himself. Considering how powerful Harry Potter is, what else besides a ruin filled with lingering ancient magical traps could have caused it to disappear without a trace?"
As soon as she finished speaking, the young goblin Keir walked over to a corner of the chamber and kicked at a pile of broken stone slabs.
"But this ruin looks ready to collapse." He frowned and poked one of the dark markings on the wall. "The entire place is almost completely destroyed. Could the magic remaining here truly have transported the Invisibility Cloak to some unknown location? More importantly, can we really use these remnants to determine where it was sent?"
Grek straightened and answered in a grave voice, "These ruins were once the site of a battle between the legendary goblin Ranrok and that terrifying young witch. Although the witch absorbed the reservoir of ancient magic that once existed here, a considerable amount of energy still remains.
"Look at these magical patterns. Every one of them represents some form of transportation. Harry Potter must have accidentally discovered these ruins and attempted to explore them, only to come into conflict with the ancient guardians. During the battle, the Invisibility Cloak was lost and carried away by teleportation magic.
"Heh, that foolish Harry Potter probably never imagined that the wizarding world still contained ancient magic more powerful than anything practiced today.
"No matter how powerful he may be, he could not have reacted in time to an unexpected phenomenon he knew nothing about. That must be how he lost the Invisibility Cloak.
"As long as we locate the cloak's destination before anyone else and claim it for ourselves, we can use it to obtain the power of Death and restore the glory of goblinkind!
"Of course, you both know that our true goal is not to start another war with wizardkind. We are far too weak. If we launched another rebellion, every goblin might be slaughtered.
"We only want to use the power of Death to create an independent world where we can live in peace, free from wizard control and the laws that deny us even the right to wield wands."
The other two goblins nodded solemnly. They had no desire to take revenge on wizardkind. All they wanted was the chance to live quietly and independently.
During the last war between goblins and wizards, their people had included many goblins capable of wielding powerful ancient magic, yet they had still been defeated.
Who knew what kind of power modern witches and wizards possessed? Even if the goblins obtained the power of Death, could they truly win?
Everything remained uncertain, and they could not afford to take that risk.
Before long, the three of them entered another stone chamber. The magical patterns here were far better preserved.
Upon seeing them, Grek crouched and stared intently at the complex network of runes covering the floor. The lines emitted a faint blue glow.
He gently traced the patterns with his rough fingers, feeling the lingering magical fluctuations within them as though he were communicating with the ancient magic itself.
"These markings are anything but ordinary," Grek said hoarsely, his aged voice carrying a calm weight. "The power contained within them is older and stronger than even the most sophisticated protective enchantments we have encountered in the deepest vaults of Gringotts."
Keir froze for a moment. "No wonder. If these defenses are even stronger than those protecting Gringotts, perhaps Harry Potter really was unable to resist them."
As a goblin, Keir knew exactly how powerful the defenses inside Gringotts were. The enchantments guarding its deepest vaults were especially formidable, possessing enough destructive force to wipe out an entire city.
Without defenses of that caliber, wizardkind would never have permitted the goblins to manage Gringotts.
Even after being granted that responsibility, however, the goblins had no right to claim the wealth they guarded. They were merely custodians, not owners.
They received only a paltry payment for their work, while the Ministry of Magic collected most of the bank's revenue.
Lina stood nearby, holding an intricate magical detector. The runes on its surface flickered erratically, resonating with the light of the patterns across the floor.
She carefully studied the readings and stared at them in surprise.
"Grek, the fluctuations produced by these markings are highly unusual. They resemble the teleportation magic we've studied before, but they're far more complex.
"It appears that when the Invisibility Cloak entered this chamber, its magic disturbed the power lingering here. That instantly activated the ancient spellwork and created an extremely powerful teleportation array."
Keir paced around the chamber, occasionally stopping to examine the equally mysterious markings carved into the walls.
"But a teleportation array should possess clearly defined points of origin and destination. These markings are so chaotic. How are we supposed to determine where the Invisibility Cloak was sent?" His voice carried a trace of anxiety.
Grek did not immediately answer. Instead, he reached into the leather pouch hanging from his waist and removed a crystal that emitted a soft silver glow.
It was a magical artifact unique to goblinkind, capable of heightening its user's sensitivity to magical fluctuations.
He gently placed the crystal where the patterns were most densely concentrated and murmured an incantation, activating its power.
The crystal immediately erupted with brilliant light. A radiant beam shot from its center and wound its way along the magical patterns, following their paths as though drawing a map.
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