Not receiving the reaction he had anticipated - Johann narrowed his eyes and stared in confusion at Gabrielle's expression which rapidly changed. Was she … offended? Hurt? Dismayed? Annoyed? He was grappling with reading emotions.

To his surprise - and his envy, given he would probably have been fired on the spot for such an action - Gabrielle asked for a moment of the Minister and Holmes, and shut the door on them. When she turned back, Johann had returned to his frown and stare from his position on the end of the sofa.

He glanced at her hands which had motioned to reach for his. He remained rather stiff - internally he was berating himself for being so off the mark through this whole assignment, from overstepping himself with the Minister, to being put in the side room, to Gabrielle not receiving his words well.

"I know you're a translator; you're one of the very best that the department's ever had…"

"One of?" Johann uttered quietly, but it didn't need a response, she was speaking the truth, even if he wanted to be the best they had ever had, bar none.

"… What I had meant in my choice of words was this: What happened that it went so downward that she brought me here with you? You… didn't offend her, did you?"

The two stared at each other a moment and Johann wet his lips, having not taken a breath.

"No, not unless she was offended by the fact I relayed that the goblins wish to reclaim all the coins they have created since the year dot, as they are not owned by wizard-kind, and will do so by magical means beyond our control if they do not have their demands met. No, i think she took the fact I implied that the Ministry could be crippled, and that she'd be the most unpopular Minister since Thicknesse when British witches and wizards are bankrupt very well."

He let out what remained of the breath he'd been holding and swallowed audibly, voice quieter and demeour changing from the fierce approach from before to something lost an altogether reminiscent of his childhood.

"She's going to obliviate me before I leave this room. I'm not senior enough to hold such news up here. Why did you have to send me?" He hissed, glancing past her to the door. 

There was precisely one person that Persepolis imagined she would allow to shut the door on her in this office, and that was Gabrielle Murray.  And even then, on a day like today, her old friend was pushing it.  She stood there a moment, next to Maurice - impeccable, perfect Maurice. 

"He's blabbing," she said whether she actually knew or not - she couldn't hear a word.  "I knew it. He's a blabbermouth." 

She wasn't livid, just annoyed.  She'd planned to bring Murray in on this, of course, but this little meeting of theirs wasn't instilling any sense of confidence that the linguist knew how to keep his tongue in his head. 

"Blast the meal," she said pouting, not meaning it.  "And send for Mr. Zamperia.  Thank you, Maurice."

Persepolis smiled at him, always grateful for his constantcy.  But as soon as he turned to carry out her wishes, she moved and laid a hand on his arm to pause him.

"No.  Cancel the Obliviator.  For now."

With that, Persepolis Zephyr re-entered her own sitting room, turning the knob slowly and letting herself in smoothly. She found Gabrielle and Mr. Storm with their heads together, Mr. Storm looking looking sulky and scared out of his wits.  This was not the moment to panic and so she hoped Mr. Storm could keep it together.  This, of course, she knew she could count on Gabrielle for.

"Good to see you, Gabrielle," she said with more cheer than necessary.  "You're so kind to come up.  I'm going to assume Mr. Storm has kept his promise and hasn't yet begun to fill you in on the grim business that's come up today."  She shot Storm a snide glare.  She turned back to Gabrielle.

"The document that came from Gringotts, our Mr. Storm here found that it was another ultimatum, this one more severe than any before it.  I have reason to believe they fully intend to follow through on their threat and would, given the chance, attempt to confiscate all currency."

She remained standing for the moment, looking over the only other two people in the whole world who knew of these heinous plans.  Soon, she was sure, more would be included in the circle, but for the moment? It was these three against the wave. 

Why did she have to send him? Why...did...

Her chest ached, knowing that her heart was pricked for his inquiry and the look in his eyes. Fighting back a whimper and recoiling briefly from Johann's words, Gabrielle took his hands and squeezed them. "It's because I put my utmost faith in you when I brought you on. That even as you bore the name that brought my family grief when losing my aunt, I saw potential. And because of your name, you're still family and families such as the Murrays believe in second chances."

The door swung opened (thankfully, she thought) to reveal the Minister and hound-badger (if that were even possible, she added). "I assure you, Minister, that Mr. Storm's errors this day do not mean that he is ignorant enough to break your words spoken in secrecy," Gabrielle defended for Johann, not as a cousin but a colleague, "and rest assured, Mr. Holmes' tone quite said it all. (Her eyes tilted his briefly, leaving Maurice slightly unfazed) My presence was requested and so, here I am at your wish."

She wasn't keen in battling Persepolis over the fact that Johann was a bit impulsive in addition the goblin problems that were beginning to filter in. Again. "They mean to bankrupt us, though? After all this time? How pitiful that wizard and goblin cannot look past the deadly siren's call of coin, cup, plate, sword, and greed. Is there truly no certainity we can compromise or at least, find allies to aid us?"

A snort became a feigned cough from the aide and Gabrielle shot Holmes a darkened glare, leading to him dismissing himself to go with his original plans to get an update on their meal. Once dismissed of his own accord, Gabrielle eyed her friend. "He meant no harm, save speaking his mind and if that is but a crime, my friend, colleague and classmate, then we let the mind perish...and bring dishonour upon ourselves and for me, the lessons Albus Dumbledore taught us about banding with one another."

As he suspected, the Minister did not let the door stay closed for long. He had been surprised Gabrielle had shut it at all.

"I'm going to assume Mr Storm has kept his promise and hasn't yet begun to fill you in on the grim business…" Johann swallowed and averted his eyes from them both.

Gabrielle, somewhat unsurprisingly came to his defence, though a few months back, he doubted she would have so readily.

"… Is there truly no certainty we can compromise or at least, find allies to aid us?"

"Perhaps I might be permitted to formally translate matters, Mmes, before we get ahead of ourselves." Johann suggested, ever so slightly more hesitant than he had been, considering he now had two senior Ministry officers in the room.

"… as I have already." He added a little more humbly, and gestured with open palms to suggest he meant no harm, and only wished to help. In truth, he itched to translate matters properly, in the hope he might yet save his mind from level three's finest.

"May I?" He gestured to the other room where the papers were, and made to get up to fetch them.

Gabrielle was charming as ever, enjoying being the sole smile in a room of anxiety.  It was that lovely grin that stood between Zephyr and Storm like a mighty bulwark. But Gabrielle's reaffirmed confidence in Johann  Storm, inspired Persepolis to trust him once more.

"Thank you," she responded to Storm's offer to fetch the document, and released him with a nod.

"But you must know this is why I need you, Gabrielle," she said and took a seat.  "We must find a way to secure our economy in the event Gringotts acts against us. And I have reason to believe that this isn't a job for Levels Two or Four.  Not yet, at least."

The goblins so resented the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical creatures, and Level Two so resented having to deal with Gringotts.  It wasn't a proper match.  It was a last straw.

"We'll need a reckoning from your Department regarding the detailed ramifications of losing currency - highest levels of confidentiality. What it would mean for us locally and our interests trading abroad.  I'd like to know exactly the disaster I intend to avoid."

She sighed.

"That and it may be time to consider giving some ground."  She didn't know exactly what that would mean, nor did she think she'd be making the decision alone.  But Gringotts was only escalating and they seemed to have finally reached their limit on delays, paperwork, and bureaucracy - the Ministry's finest weapons.

"Giving ground to whom? The goblins? Forgive me if I sound partially shocked, stunned even, but have we not given them ground before? They wish to put our good name to desolate waste. I'm not keen in us being caught with more than just trousers down." Gabrielle's brow was furrowed about the entire situation, not to mention still stung by Johann's anger directed towards his cousin.

Still. There was work to be done. "I agree to this: Let Mr. Storm translate with the understanding what he does is under strict confidence and should he break his silence, there will be severe consequences pending from me. As for the rest of my department, I'll look into what you've requested, but might I suggest (she dreaded in thought of it all considering who she was thinking to suggest) bringing in a wizard representative from Gringotts? Someone who can work with you, Minister, and I alone? I'd recommend Wolfgang Storm. He's excellent with the coin as he is with his sharp mind (not to mention sharp tongue, her brain concurred). He may be of some benefit to us. If not him, then someone of your choosing, yes?"

Permission was granted, so Johann hopped up quietly from the sofa and circled round the back to the doors, slipping back into the Minister's office properly, gathering them up from where he'd been sat before her desk, and carefully trying to locate any others on her desk.

Meanwhile the two witches continued to talk, and he kept listening, though his eyes and hands were engaged with the paperwork.

"We'll need a reckoning from your Department regarding the detailed ramifications of losing currency… …  That and it may be time to consider giving some ground."

"Giving ground to whom? The goblins? Forgive me if I sound partially shocked, stunned even, but have we not given them ground before? …"

He was approaching the door between the two rooms again as it appeared Gabrielle disagreed with the Minister. Merlin's trousers, his direct superior was feeling brave today! First shutting the door on Zephyr and now disagreeing with her? Whatever Gabrielle was drinking, he'd have to have a couple of pints, it might help.

Much as he would have liked to have chipped in to their conversation, he didn't much dare given the roasting he'd already had. For all his big-headed ways, this was the British Minister for Magic and the Head of the Department of International Magical Co-operation discussing the future of a magical Britain where goblins held their currency at ransom. He was just a lowly linguist.

"I agree to this: Let Mr. Storm translate with the understanding what he does is under strict confidence and should he break his silence, there will be severe consequences pending from me."

He took a seat again the other side of Gabrielle, putting her between him an the Minister, and drew out a quill and parchment which he placed on the low table between them all, sorting through the pages of gobbledegook until he could order them as they were meant to be.

"Of course Ms Murray, Minister." He obliged, the quill back in hand, and he had begun to scribble his translations onto fresh parchment, lips occasionally curling to sound out the odd word and check back through the English for clarity. 

"… might I suggest bringing in a wizard representative from Gringotts?" Gabrielle suggested, which seemed reasonable, though there were also Goblin 'experts' within the Ministry. At this time however, the loyalty of any wizard who worked with goblins lay was as ever unclear, they might even have the Gringotts employees on side, after all, what wizard would want to deal with a goblin uprising in their own bank? Johann's quill continued to scratch across parchment, and his eyes did not lift from the page. Had he not been continuing to listen, he'd have slipped into flow and worked considerably quicker, but he never knew when the next demand might land. 

"… I'd recommend Wolfgang Storm. He's excellent with the coin as he is with his sharp mind." Johann stopped, his head bowing a moment and then looking up in genuine surprise at Gabrielle, not that she could see - focused on the Minister it seemed at that second - "He may be of some benefit to us. If not him, then someone of your choosing, yes?"

He hadn't seen that suggestion coming, to say the least. His father, Wolfgang, did not work for Gringotts, but one of their competitors[1]. He was a potential outside source of information, would certainly not be likely to conspire with goblins, so perhaps impartial. Still, he knew Gabrielle didn't particularly like his father as a person, but it had not escaped her knowledge, nor the wider wizarding financial community that the terse wizard had not got to his senior position without intellect.

If she called him in, Johann thought, he'd strongly advise both his seniors that an unbreakable bond would be essential so that the information didn't leak. Whereas Johann might speak it with well-meaning intent to assist a situation, his father would use such knowledge for political and financial gain.

It didn't help that they were not on good terms at all at since the whole engagement to Hannah, to the point that they hadn't spoken at all. What he'd seen of news from home were from letters and the foreign newspapers.

He softly interjected, his mind had shot through the connections.

"I'm sure the Minister has her own advisors on these things," he blinked slowly, lowering his head ever so slightly towards the Minister in respectful appreciation before continuing swiftly, "though if you suspect Gringotts could be in cahoots with the goblins here, he would be a more objective, impartial source of advice. Confidentiality could be secured by vow," Johann uttered quietly.

"With respect." He added quietly to Gabrielle, nervously, hoping he had at least helped to explain some possible reasoning for her suggestion, even if within he was hoping to Merlin that it wouldn't come to that. It would not only make his father's day to be summoned by the British Minister, but to advise on what to do with Gringotts, would be all the Christmases had come together. The only thing that would make the wizard happier would be to see Johann marry a pretty young witch and have several intelligent, Durmstrang-educated children, and that was never going to happen.

He quickly averted his eyes to the parchment and continued to work, hoping he'd be able to remember that he had missed breakfast after Zephyr's obliviators had done with him later.

1.	Chrysopoeia

Gabrielle had always enjoyed a debate and she herself seemed to be short on 'giving ground' to what seemed to Persepolis clear dictates of what she wanted.  Zephyr took most of Gabrielle's measured nonsense in stride, however, and considered it a moment to consider other possibilities as presented from a trusted friend.

The reckoning of the financial record would be done, and the document translated.  Storm could be trusted, she felt sure now.  However, mention of another Storm?  Johann Storm seemed to know of whom Gabrielle was speaking, and enough so to begin advising her again unbidden.  Perhaps he was taking lead from his boss.

"I don't know of a Wolfgang Storm, and so I'd prefer to vet him personally before entrusting anything to him.  How is he affiliated?  I presume you know him, Other Mr Storm?"

She might regret giving the translator leave to speak, but she wanted his opinion he seemed to be holding back. She'd rather hear it now than be taken by surprise later, whatever it is he seemed to know.

Engaging an agent of Gringotts seemed a reasonable course of action, but she'd done that before.  A cursbreaker called Riazel Cohen, and she'd been distinctly uncooperative.  It wouldn't be clear to Persepolis how the loyalties of her colleagues would fall when it came to an all out brawl between Gringotts and the Ministry.  But if this New Mr Storm was an outside suggestion? Worth considering even more.

"… how is he affiliated? I presume you know him, other Mr Storm?"

His eyes sprang from the parchment on being addressed, quite in surprise. He had assumed the Minister would immediately dismiss the notion. To be honest he would rather have preferred that.

"He is my father, Minister. He is a senior officer of the European wizarding bank, Chrysopoeia." Johann offered, suddenly timid to speak, now that he did not want to offer encouragement for involving more of his family.

"He oversees the finances of Durmstrang, amongst others. He is not affiliated with Gringotts, Minister, but has worked with goblins for many years."

He offered in expansion, and lowered his eyes uncomfortably, wishing only to return to his translations. The honour of a summon from the Minister had rather lost its shine.

Satisfied with the response, and looking for whatever insight they could garner, Zephyr said, "arrange it, then.  Get him in here, and do gather three references and a dossier.  Discreetly."

Things were beginning to fall into order, a plan forming.  Harker was going to collect a financial report.  Discreetly.  Storm the Younger would translate the entire document.  Discreetly.  And they were going to call upon an outside expert.  Discreetly.

It would be thrilling if it wasn't so dire.  She paused and regarded the two in her private parlor, a room where a great many grim and dooming decisions had had to be made, the gravity of past catastrophes and threats.   And now it had come to her.  And she'd wanted it.  And now she intended to keep it. 

She'd sooner Apparate into the depth of the ocean than be the Minister who let the nation fall. 

"Thank you both.  I expect your reports imminently."

Despite his lack of enthusiasm at the suggestion, the Minister decided it was worthy to pursue. This was undoubtedly Gabrielle's opinion with its high value, rather than anything else, but Johann would not dare to speak out now. He was rather convinced there was an obliviator waiting for him round the corner.

They were ushered away, uttering thanks and graces to the Minister. Johann was shown to a room on the first floor, Holmes wisely deciding not to let the younger wizard return to the fifth floor where he might manage to let slip this most secret request. His books and references on the language were brought up, excuses made of meetings and visitors, no attention drawn.

It would be a long, solitary day, doing the Minister's bidding, but the British wizarding nation depended on it.

End