Why.. was there a goblin trying to steal their portraits?

Alice had been looking for food, as usual, not for a little thieving creature was taking pictures off the walls. And it seemed like nearby Hufflepuffs had already noticed, because Ella was there, too. "Is that was he's doing? Cleaning? Do you need help, little goblin person?" It seemed a bit short for reaching all of them, and she could lift it, if it wanted. They were here for making things neater, right? Helping Hogwarts with tidying up and stuff?

She knew what he was, her grandmother had taken her to the bank enough times. But.. why was he there? Goblins didn't clean. "I think those things are supposed to stay on the wall." She gave the creature curious looks as it worked, eyeing the bag. Was she supposed to, like, intervene?

Looks for her fellow captain. This was weird.

Erik was finishing up his notes on his lesson when he heard a commotion outside his office, somewhere on the first corridor. It sounded like a number of voices crying out in anger. Vot was going on? A brawl?

He peeked his head out into the corridor and frowned, noticing a few students clustered around the portraits at the end. After locking up his office and securing the many, many layers of wards around it, he strolled down that way to see what was amiss.

"Vot's going on?" the tall blonde man asked quietly, popping up just behind the Gryffindor quidditch captain. He spotted what looked like a goblin getting to work moving a portrait, for whatever reason, and raised his eyebrows.

"What's this?" he repeated, only in Gobbledegook this time, for the goblin's benefit. To the human students, it probably just sounded like a bunch of gibberish in a rasping sound. A bit like a cat hacking up a furball.

General Von Blatan had been snoozing after a particularly late night with the other military comrades on the seventh floor when he was jolted awake. He hadn't felt that sensation since they'd moved him from the Library...

"W-what? WHAT?! What is this? Unhand me you fiend!" The general drew his sword and began to wave it around on his portrait.

He looked to his left and saw that Sally-Mae was already missing. Probably in that sack the Goblin had.

"What's going on over there General?" Elizabeth the girl sitting in the field of her portrait was used to the old man shouting about things but it seemed to be a real warning this time.

She eyed the Professor, students, and the goblin wearily.

Ella was just eyeing the little goblin. Respectfully, of course. Could you even eye someone respectfully? Shrug. Either way, something fishy was going on here and Ella Bishop didn't like it. Her Nancy Drew senses were tingling, okay?

And then there was Hulk. Ella gave her fellow Captain a look that said: Dude. Idon'tevenknow. And watched as she talked to the goblin. "I agree. I think you need to leave those portraits where they are. What if they get broken in that bag of yours?" Then they'd be ruined and ruining school property was wrong. It just was.

BLINK!

The dude. The scary dude. Well. He wasn't scary exactly but there was definitely something a little odd about him. He reminded Ella of one of the villains in her mystery novels...only thing he was missing was a curly mustache. Y'know, for curly mustache evil stroking purposes. Duh. Anyways... "Erm...we were wondering the same thing, Sir." Ahem. Did he SEE the goblin with the bag? DID HE? And did HULK see HIM and how he had just snuck up out of no where? DID SHE?

Real life adventure happening, people.

And...

The portraits were up now too?

Oh Merlin.

Was that a goblin? Or was it an elf? Maybe it was one that the dark wizard Santa Claus had employed to INFILTRATE the school. Alice considered this as a possibility, and also the probability of Santa hiring goblins as well as elves, while she waited for an answer. It seemed feasible, didn't it? She thought it a totally plausible answer, plus, seeing as Santa was dark and all, he would likely-

.. who was that guy?

Alice might have stared for a second or two at the new professor.. because.. well.. hewasawfullygoodlookingandstuff. Ahem. She cleared her throat a little and continued casually staring at his pretty face for a second or two, before her vision and comments from Selina and the man she was seeing in front of her right now all clicked into place. Was that.. was it really..?

Bond. James Bond.

It WAS. James Bond had come to save them all, and she was totally convinced that everything was under control now. "Professor Bon- I mean, I don't know your name, professor, but, um.. uh.." Alice stammered a little, and then blushed, and then blushed more. She wasn't supposed to BLOW HIS COVER, okay? MI6 would totally hate her, and Selina would be disappointed, and that would be bad. "Um.. the.. creature is.. uh.. taking the portraits down and putting them in.. um.. that.. bag.. thing."

She didn't even notice the portraits. Faces were distracting. Could she have his autograph?

One portrait down, soon another. This would take a while. But what had to be done, had to be done.

Tumplin did let herself be distracted from her work at the sound of a voice. One that seemed quite unsure of what to say. And when the girl finally got her sentence out, well, Tumplin couldn't look at her any longer. However, in a sweet voice she replied, "Oh no, that won't be necessary, dear. Thank you." And another portrait was slipped into the bag. They weren't being taken to be cleaned anyway.

'Little goblin person'? Silly little girl person. "No thank you." Again, not cleaning here, students. Sorry.

"I'm sorry, but they must come down." Truly, Tumplin was sorry.

And yet another voice drifted towards her. This of an adult, clearly.

One speaking her native tongue. "I'm simply doing my job," she answered in plain English. No need for secrets among the youngsters. They were here first, after all. And asked more or less the same question.

The portraits themselves were ignored. She forced herself to pay them no mind. It would only make her job harder, otherwise.

Soon General Von Blatan and Elizabeth were both in the bag with Sally-Mae and a few others.

"Don't worry, Miss. The portraits will be just fine," she patiently answered.

...There went another portrait.

"It's 'goblin', dear. I am a goblin." Other than that, the girl was entirely accurate in her description of events. It saved Tumplin from having to voice this aloud.

Jory had been talking to Gwen when he noticed something strange. He stared. WHAT? A goblin stealing the portraits? Or one to be sure.

"Excuse me!'' Jory called. "But why are you taking that portrait?'' Yes, why why why?

But then he heard the Goblin say the Portrait will be fine. But why was she taking it in the first place?

Erik's blue orbs flicked from one female student to the other, noticing that oddly, the Gryffindor was stuttering in his presence. He had never had issues speaking with Gryffindors before, not even ones who played Quidditch. He recognised this one on the spot. She was their captain, and was also related to Clark, from the Board.

Yes, Erik knew things. He did not yet know why the goblin was removing the portraits, however, as it was refusing to answer any questions.

"Pardon me," he said smoothly, taking a step closer to the creature and away from the red-faced little girls, "but vot exactly is your job? You are removing vhe portraits...for vot reason?"

Couldn't the goblin at least stifle them before she tossed them into her carpet bag? They were rather noisy, you know.

Better than what...? At this point, Gwen was considering just mumbling a ‘never mind’, but that would make Jory think she’s just weird. Or weirder, better said. ‘Just other nicknames that I got’ Mhm. ‘Like Tangerine or Ice Princess’ There. He could laugh now. Even though she had tried to protest and say that the latter nickname was not even matching, it only proved to be kind of accurate.

Mehhh.

Gwen took another chocolate frog from the bag for herself and started unwrapping the small box. Taking out the chocolate frog, she glimpsed at the card. ‘I’ve collected so many of these in my first year’, she said and shook her head a bit. Tsk. Now which firstie wasn’t collecting the cards? Heh.

His next question made Gwen sigh. ‘No, I haven’t’ And she really needed to talk to her best friend. ‘Have you?’ Please say yes... The seventh year hoped that Jory had heard from Ari.

.................................................. .....................................


Gwen was waiting for a reply from the Hufflepuff, so she didn’t really pay attention to what was going on around her. She thought she had spotted someone walking closer to one of the portraits. Hmm. Was it a first year? Gwen didn’t know, but she didn’t mind to look at the person.

Mehhh. Whatever.

Probably not important.


Turning back to Jory, the seventh year wanted to add something, but then she heard the portraits say something. She then eyed the people who had just appeared. Other students... A Professor...

And a goblin.

O__________________o

Just... what was going on?

Where did the goblin intend to take the portraits? And more importantly WHY?! ‘You can’t just take the portraits’ Weren’t those the school’s property?

Jory did some more staring at Gwen. "Tangerine?'' he asked. That one didn't think suited her. But Ice Princess. Now that suited her. He started to grin. He really wanted to laugh. Like really loudly. But that would be rude. So all he said was, "The last one suits you.'' Yes, it did. "Especially when it was first year.'' He never forgot his first impression that Gwen didn't like him.

The Puffer looked at his card. He had so much that he had quite lost his enthusiasm about them. "I've got Harry Potter,'' he said. "You want the card?'' He still collected and had loads of Harry cards.

"No, I haven't,'' the final year replied, without emotion. He was tired of it. He hardly saw or heard from Ari and now it hardly bothered him. He supposed she was too busy with something else.

.................................................. ...........

Jory looked at Gwen, eyebrows raised. "Why is she doing that?'' he muttered again. The goblin already stole the jewels from three House Points Hourglasses. What would she possibly want with Portraits?

WHAT. WAS. THIS?

Who was this person and what had they done with her Hulk? Her love germ believing, Orge-instigating, Hulk. The blonde just watched as her friend eyed Professor Moves-too-smoothly like he was an ice cream sundae covered with gummy worms. She didn’t get it, either. This man was no Professor Handsome-face Williamson. This man was no Alec Summers either. Nope... His hair wasn’t even anything compared to Dylish’s. Shrug. His face was sort of pretty in a way, she supposed.

Hulk was missing her looks because of said staring too, y’know. Where was Anya and their grappling hook? This was a Spyventure opportunity and she wouldn’t miss her looks. Well unless Jake was around but still. They had hand gestures too! They could use those, yeah?

And the goblin was really polite, wasn’t she? Like she kept calling Ella ‘dear’ which reminded the blonde of her grandmother although her gran looked nothing like a goblin thank merlin. The blonde’s eyes widened considerably as the goblin added even more portraits to her bag, turning her attention to the Professor dude. He should probably do something NOWish, yeah?

And Jory and...was that Gwen? Well they were here now too and it seemed that the one thing everyone had in common was they wanted answers. Unfortunately for them, the goblin was being pretty vague.

The blonde casually stepped closer when she saw the Professor walk over to the goblin. This was only so she could eavesdrop just happen to be close enough to over hear what was being said. She had Hulk’s hand now too, y’know, so she could listen in as well. They were only trying to help save the portraits, yeah? This wasn't considered being nosy. Not at all.

"It's my job," Tumplin answered yet another nosy child. You know, they really were hindering her job here.

She sighed. They finally hit the question in a way where she had to tell them. "I'm from Gringotts. We were sent to take back a few items Hogwarts doesn't rightfully own." Was that good enough for him? For all of them?

"Now if you'll excuse me..." Tumplin was only doing her job, see? And they were making it rather difficult. There were many more portraits to collect. Did they see all the portraits?

"Actually, Miss, I can. Excuse me." She hurried her pace, treating the portraits less kindly and simply snatching them off the wall and dropping them into her bag. She just wanted to get it over with, get out of here, and stop being interrogated.

Christmas huffed and said "Whatever Nashville you have just broken my heart and believe me i am going to do something to do you for breaking up with me and be warned i am not someone to be messed with" Christmas ran off back to her common room she was so ready to cry and she was so going to plan on getting Nashville back for breaking up with her

Ah, so it was a Gringotts goblin. "Fine by me," Erik murmured, again in gobbledegook. He stepped to the side and allowed the goblin to continue her work, not making any move to stop her. If it was her job, then it was her job.

He didn't feel bad for Hogwarts falling apart. In fact...he'd just lean against the wall here and watch. Erik folded his arms and did just that.

Jory stared. "How could this possibly be your job?'' Jory asked and not caring at all that the Goblin looked at him with like he was botheration or something. Because he didn't mind being bothersome.

Jory looked around. There was that ministry man. Erik Vinteren, if he recalled correctly. "Er... Professor?'' he called uncertainly. The man was just leaning against the wall and not attempting to stop the goblin. "Can't you do something?''

‘Yeah. You know Selena had this thing with giving everyone fruit nicknames’ She had been shocked when the former Slytherin called her Tangerine. Pft. Silly nickname. After mentioning the other nickname she just GLARED at the Hufflepuff. Pft. It suited her?

Haha. Very funny.

‘You can laugh now’ And thank Zeke for that.

‘Oh come on...’, she started saying, though she was obviously not mad. ‘... I wasn’t-‘ PAUSE. ‘...that bad’ Well, she actually was. But Gwen just thought that she hadn’t changed much since her first year. So yeah. Jory probably thought she was still really rude.

‘Umm... no, thanks’, the seventh year said. She had a box full of cards and she had no idea what to do with them, anyway. She then drew her attention to the chocolate frog card she was holding. ‘Merlin’ Nice.
. . .
Even though it was hard to believe, the goblin was actually quite nice and polite. It almost made Gwen make up her mind not to meddle anymore. ALMOST. ‘But... all of them?’ She made a pause to look at the portraits. ‘Are you taking all the portraits ?’

Seriously?

Blink. Blink. Staaaaaaaare.

‘Surely there is something that can be done...?’, Gwen started saying. He was a Professor. He should CARE about what was going on at Hogwarts.

Oh, yes. Jory had heard about Selena and the fruity nicknames. "Tangerine's a nice one,'' he said. "What?'' he asked, innocently. The other nickname? Well, he was just being honest.

"Well, no, not that bad,'' the Puffer agreed. "You did make me feel like I was always a bother.'' Where was the honesty coming from? He had never told her any of this nor had he ever intended to tell her. Oh well... friends could be honest, right?

"So, whats's the latest? Oh by the way, did you try out for Quidditch?'' Jory asked. He remembered Gwen saying she would. Or hadn't it been her? He talked to so many people about Quidditch that he tend to get confused sometimes.

Couldn't he do something, though? Sure, Erik could attack the unarmed, seemingly harmless goblin that was only following through with her orders. Sure, he could cast some sort of permanent sticking charm on the portraits so her work would be a lot more difficult. Sure, he could do something.

The difference was that he didn't want to do anything about this little incident.

"I vink vhe best thing to do, here," Erik addressed the two concerned students eyeing him, "vould be to leave vhe goblin to her work and stay out ov her way. She has a job to do. To keep her from doing it vould not only be rude, but could also cost her her livelihood." Besides, who cared if the castle was missing a few old portraits?

"If you haff questions in the morning, I suggest you take them up vith the Headmistress. Good night." Erik gave the other students a cordial nod and then disappeared down the hall, headed back to his office now that the commotion was over.

Reading a comic and walking around the floor, Veronica was avoiding homework again. It's not like she had much to catch up on. Mostly just her muggle studies and divination she needed to work on soon. But she didn't find either of those subjects too hard so it wouldn't be difficult for her to finish. Roni saw some people passed by but was too tuned into her little world that she hadn't noticed all the portraits around her. Sure she had heard some mumbling but she thought it was just people passing by her.

No big deal.

Roni never really talked to the potraits, nor did she really have a reason to. She just liked when they would blurt out stories and sayings at anyone who walked by.

Ryan was convinced that whenever he was in need of Chris or Tag, they couldn't be found. And when he had no need of them, they appeared randomly and annoyed the heck out of him. Well, mostly Tag but he loved the little leprechaun all the same. Even though he didn't like to admit it. Cough.

Sliding his hands in his pockets, he started whistling a tune as he strolled the corridor. Coming around a bend, he noticed the person coming towards him. Grinning to himself, he stopped.

"Hey there," he said easily, making eye contact with the girl. Merlin, he hadn't seen her in over a year and now she just appears out of nowhere? Weird. She looked a little different, too. Hmm.

"It's Roni, right?" He asked, running a hand through his precious curls, which she disliked so much.

Roni was nearing the end of her comic; with a few panels left, when someone said hi to her. She stopped, holding up her index finger to them as quickly finished her story. Now she'd have to wait another month for the next issue and it was more stressing to her than classwork and homework combined. Closing the comic, she looked at the person in front of her and raised an eyebrow.

Curls!

"Hi," she greeted him back with a small smile. It's been a while since they've seen each other and Curls still hadn't gotten that haircut she wanted. Boo.

"Can't fully remember my name, Curls?" she chuckled. Well, at least her had remembered the short version of her name. The only person who used her real name was her mom; when she was in trouble or something. "Ryan, right? It's been a long time since I've seen you. I see you still haven't gotten your haircut," Because she knew he never was but it was fun to tease him for it.

He rolled his eyes when she held up her finger, wanting him to wait until she was done reading whatever it was that she was reading. Finally, she spoke.

"Oh, I know your name," he said with a smirk, leaning against the wall behind him. "I just thought you preferred the nickname. It's how you introduced yourself to me, anyway." Which was true. Although, he didn't think Veronica was a bad name or anything.

"Glad to see you remember mine," he replied with a nod at his name. It HAD been a long time, but they'd already established that. "I don't need a haircut, Roni. My hair's perfect," he scoffed, smoothing out his curls.

Nerida strolled through the first floor sending glances up at the portraits before stopping, didn't the professor say the golden ratio could be found on portraits, and these were portraits and they had faces and the golden ratio was on there. A lot of the portraits were missing so she had to strain to look until she finally found one, she sighed. It sure would be prettier if the portraits were still in their rightful spots.

She continued walking happy that she found another example of the golden ratio, this time in a face of a sad looking woman in a portrait.

Kace decided to explore the corridors for a bit. He was really keen on checking out the portrait gallery. He wanted to see the talking portraits Belle told him about. As he made his way through it, he saw some of them and he wasn't making eye contact. He didn't want to be called out on or anything.

He was waiting to meet Tobias here. They were sure to have an awesome time exploring the castle together in their free time.

Tobias was totally lost. The castle was huge and there were so many staircases and it was hard to remember what floor you were on. The biggest building he'd ever been in was his old school, and that was nowhere NEAR as big as Hogwarts.

But he and Kace had decided to go exploring in the castle, and Tobias thought that seemed like a pretty good idea, because he was nearing the end of his first year and STILL getting lost on the way to classes.

Eventually, the tiny Hufflepuff turned into the corridor he was sure he was supposed to be in. It was a memorable place because the portraits had interested Tobias greatly. Now, however, as he made his way down the corridor, Tobias couldn't help but notice that there weren't a lot of portraits here. Instead, there were blank patches of wall, and it was clear from the way the patches of wall were pretty much immaculately clean in contrast to the rest of the filthy brickwork that Tobias DID have the right place, and that it was the portraits that had been moved. There were still some, but not as many as last time he'd been here.

Before he could take too long to dwell on that fact, Tobias' ever-wandering attention was caught by a family figure down the corridor. He sped his pace to a jog and grinned as he caught up with his friend. "Hi Kace," Tobias greeted. "Hope I didn't keep you waiting too long. I keep getting lost."

Probably didn't help that Tobias was constantly getting distracted even as he walked around the castle.