The Adventures of Artemis Hexley

THE BONDS WE BREAK • Chapter 3: The Clankers

Artemis had not returned to Britain even once in the four months since she had finished the training programme with Gringotts Bank. She had considered returning in the summer, but with the Weasleys visiting in July and a business trip arranged to London in September, it seemed a waste of time and money booking time off and a Portkey in the interim.

It did mean that she was in for a busy week between visiting the Weasleys in Devon; her Great-Aunt and uncle in Dorset; her schoolfriends; her friend Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Auror; and Madam Rosmerta, the landlady of the Three Broomsticks inn, who had on several occasions taken Artemis in as if she were family. Not to mention the time she would have to spend working, the reason she was coming back this particular week rather than any other.

There were six curse-breakers in Artemis' - technically Bill's - team, and when they arrived at Gringotts, they were greeted by the new Head Curse-Breaker, Merc O'Callahan.

Artemis struggled to hide her distaste as O'Callahan led the team through the main floor of the bank. O'Callahan had been one of three mentors in charge of the training programme during Artemis' first two years at Gringotts, and of those three, he had been the one she worked with the most, and enjoyed working with the least.

Brash, unsympathetic, and even more money-orientated than the goblins, he had made a point of asserting himself as an expert in all things pertaining to curse-breaking, and had despised Artemis from the moment he met her - a feeling that was entirely mutual. Artemis found it hard to stomach the idea of him being Head Curse-Breaker, but she couldn't say that she was surprised that O'Callahan had pushed his way up to the top of the chain of command.

She was glad to have Bill for company as the team climbed into the pair of goblin-driven carts that would take them down to the underbelly of the bank, where they would be sifting through some incredible valuable and ancient documents that contained vital information pertaining to the next catacomb they had to investigate.

"The vault in question belongs to the descendants  of the Dark Wizard Al'Arwah, who built the catacombs you will be exploring. His plans for the catacombs are stored inside," O'Callahan told them, his authoritative and distinctly arrogant voice echoing in the tunnel the carts were hurling down. "The family are paying a great deal of money to have the catacombs excavated, it's important that you do a good job of it. This contract is invaluable."

Artemis wanted to ask exactly how much of the money would be going to O'Callahan himself, but Bill shot her a warning glance and she said nothing, just glowered at the back of her boss' head for the rest of the journey down to the lowest levels of the bank.

The vaults here were privately owned by some of the wealthiest and most influential wizarding families in the world. Artemis had visited many vaults at Gringotts, but today would be the first time she had ever ventured so far into the bank's depths. If it weren't for the presence of O'Callahan, she would have been excited about it. As it was, she couldn't wait for the ordeal to be over.

As the cart journeyed lower and lower underground, the tunnel grew darker, and the smell of burning seemed to linger in the air. At the very end of the cart track, the tunnel opened up into a large atrium, and the Curse-Breakers all clambered out of their carts. The goblins driving did the same, each of them pulling a set of metal dumbbells from a leather bag.

"What are those?" Artemis asked Bill under her breath, much preferring to hear the answer from him than O'Callahan.

"Clankers," Bill whispered back to her, an apprehensive look on his face as he looked from the metal objects to the atrium. "Type of Goblin instrument, they make a really loud noise."

"Why?"

Bill opened his mouth, but before he could reply, there was a deafening roar from the atrium. Artemis' eyes widened. She recognised that sound.