Kreacher was a mix of excited and nervous when he and Regulus woke Saturday evening. Excited because he enjoyed the prospect of attempting something new and seeing what he could accomplish, but nervous that he'd fail miserably somehow and right before Regulus's eyes to make it even worse.
"I'm excited," Regulus said as they dressed.
As often was the case, of course his feelings on the matter mirrored Kreacher's. Well in this case half of Kreacher's.
"Kreacher?"
So distracted was he within himself that Kreacher hadn't even realized that he never replied to Regulus. He blinked, turning to give the one he loved most in the world a quick distracted smile.
"Oh yes, so is Kreacher...very excited."
"Is anything the matter," Regulus asked, a worried frown coming over his features as he paused to study Kreacher.
Kreacher shrugged.
"No...Just...Kreacher hopes he will be able to make something interesting come of this. He..."
Kreacher's hands desperately twisted at the hem of his bright green velvet tunic nearly of their own accord. He didn't enjoy feeling uncomfortable, and somehow talking about feeling uncomfortable was even more bloody uncomfortable!
"He isn't at all certain that he can do anything with earth magic. He is not at all certain that he can help to construct anything at Gringotts, and he is not at all certain that he won't make a mess of it instead because he does not know what he is doing."
Admitting this was indeed uncomfortable, but somehow a relief as well, because he was admitting it to Regulus who always understood him and always managed to make everything alright. At least back in the old days before it all went to hell with Voldemort, but now there was no Voldemort.
"Oh that doesn't matter. It's only an experiment, and either way we gain information," Regulus assured, bending to scoop Kreacher into his arms for a tight embrace.
"It isn't at all about success or failure. It is about discovery and no matter what happens tonight, we walk away from Gringotts with more information than we had. So what if elf magic doesn't construct things or work with earth? It just sends us in another direction of exploration. That is all."
Kreacher felt himself relaxing against Regulus at those words. Nodding he smiled, glad he'd shared his concerns. Regulus always knew the right things to say.
"Kreacher will still make Griphook lend him books for his attempt though," the elf decided.
"He still wishes to see Griphook's library."
He felt his lips curving into a satisfied smile of expectation at the very thought and Regulus chuckled.
"That's my Kreacher."
When they arrived at Gringotts, Griphook was waiting for them in the lobby as promised.
"Let's get the library over with, as you may be too tired to care after trying your hand at hollowing out stone down below," Griphook said, nodding at them in way of greeting.
Kreacher, who had begun to feel just a bit nervous again, brightened with excitement at the prospect of Griphook's library.
"Kreacher is ready," he said, not bothering in the slightest to hide his eagerness.
Griphook nodded. Let's go then."
He moved to stand nearly between Kreacher and Regulus, placing a hand on each of their forearms, and apparated them suddenly into a library.
"I'd invite you into my parlor for tea first, but the ceiling is too low for Regulus to be comfortable not to mention vampires don't drink tea."
"So you obviously don't need the carts to get around," Regulus stated.
"I always wondered if you had anti-apparating blocks to keep criminals from escaping with stolen money."
Griphook nodded.
"Indeed. You can't apparate in and out of here or even from floor to floor, but we can."
"Can elves," Regulus asked.
The alertly curious look on his face was absolutely beautiful to Kreacher. How he'd missed seeing that lively avid interest in his Regulus's blue eyes. All too often after his return he was deeply melancholic or worse, so now Kreacher found himself drinking in the moment, savoring it as he once had food. This was nearly like a moment trapped in time, a moment with the Regulus who hadn't yet had his heart broken by life.
"No," Griphook said.
"Not even elves can apparate in and out of Gringotts. Unlike Hogwarts, it is truly the safest place on earth," the goblin cackled.
"Or at least it has the tightest security!"
"It's indeed impressive," Regulus complimented.
"I had no idea there was a way to block elf apparation."
"It's all about the magical signature," Griphook explained.
"It's putting the signature on the spell that only ones with (THIS) can get in and out and everyone else is blocked. In the case of Gringotts the magical signature is goblin. Even the humans who work here have to be manually let in and out by us and they must use the carts to move about floors."
"That's logical," Regulus said with an appreciative nod.
"It's nothing personal against the elves, mind," Griphook said, turning to Kreacher.
"Just their rubbish masters could order them to come and steal money."
"I certainly wouldn't put that at all past some wizards," Regulus said with a nod.
"But wizarding families with elves are already rich," Kreacher objected.
"Why would they bother?"
"Many reasons," Griphook said.
"They could always get richer. Or they could wish to weaken a rival by robbing them of their wealth."
Kreacher nodded. He'd never considered it, but yes, if given the opportunity, he could certainly imagine wizards stealing from one another even if they didn't need the money, simply to lay a rival low.
"I can't believe we're standing here chattering when the two of you should be plundering my books," Griphook said.
Rolling his eyes heavenward, the goblin clutched dramatically at his chest.
"It's beginning to frighten me. Look at the books!"
Regulus and Kreacher chuckled, automatically linking hands as they moved to approach the first bookshelf nearest the door. Starting at the beginning and remaining methodical meant they wouldn't accidentally overlook anything.
"We had to take the rare opportunity to learn Gringott's secrets," Regulus explained with a chuckle.
"You are among the few non-goblins now aware, so don't go spreading the word or else," Griphook said.
"Of course not," Kreacher assured, raising up on his toes to scan the titles of a shelf just over his head.
"Why does Griphook have a parlor whose ceiling is too low for Master Regulus, but a library with shelves taller than those at Hogwarts," he wondered peevishly.
It just seemed rather inconvenient.
"Because I have no use for high ceilings in my private apartments, but we all need more books than we can ever read," the goblin retorted, a small smile playing around the corners of his mouth.
"Now that is entirely reasonable," Regulus said firmly.
Kreacher nodded. When put that way, there could never be enough books.
Griphook moved to an armchair where he relaxed with a newspaper while Regulus and Kreacher spent the next hour carefully inspecting each shelf of books. When they were finished, Kreacher held three in his arms that he wished to borrow. The first was on magical geometry, the second was all about magical ley lines and the third was a text on blending magical signatures.
Kreacher felt he already did this with Blaise and Gellert when it came to mixing wizard and elf magic in their enchantments, but this book seemed to speak of blending even with the natural signatures of nature, and he found himself intrigued. Approaching Griphook, he showed him the three books he'd chosen. Smiling, the goblin nodded.
"Indeed fitting choices for you. Leave them there on the table and I'll get them before you leave to return to Grimmauld."
Kreacher nodded, murmuring his thanks as he did as Griphook suggested.
"Now we shall proceed down to where the construction is happening. Just watch first, and I'll explain what's being done. Then feel free to ask any questions you'd like. I'll introduce you around, then and we'll see what ideas you have. Is this acceptable?"
Kreacher felt himself relaxing at the way Griphook was approaching the situation. He nodded eagerly, giving the goblin a quick smile.
"That is perfect."
He reached for Regulus's hand as Griphook apparated them back to the lobby where they got into a cart that Griphook drove. They spun down several floors, and as they did the sounds of banging and scraping grew progressively louder. The cavern in which they finally stopped was far more brightly lit than those they'd driven through to reach it and Kreacher found himself shielding his eyes. Master Regulus had once mentioned that extremely bright light may annoy vampiric eyes, but Kreacher hadn't encountered such until now. Ah well, he supposed there was a first time for everything.
Griphook hopped down from the cart, leaving Kreacher and Regulus to follow a bit more sedately.
"They're using picks to hollow out the stone there to form rooms. They're quite long picks, sharpened by spells to cut through stone as if it's butter. Then the hammering is to shape out the rooms, you know," he explained, gesturing expressively as he spoke, fists symbolizing hammers with long arm jabs representing the picks.
Kreacher nodded thoughtfully.
"Kreacher believes he understands. Shall we go closer? He'd like a better look."
Griphook nodded, and obligingly led them closer to where the small group of ten or so goblins was working. Kreacher felt his mind narrowing to a sharp focus as he studied not only what was being done, but the flavor of the magic being used to do it.
The job was being accomplished logically enough, he supposed, but there ought to be a far faster way.
"Kreacher would try now," he told Griphook.
Griphook moved forward, shouting to the others to stop.
"As you can see, my friends are here. This is Kreacher, and his...friend Regulus Black. Kreacher has agreed to help us so that he may expand his own magical skills as I have mentioned previously."
The gathered goblins lowered picks and hammers as they turned to nod to Kreacher and Regulus who both politely nodded back.
"Where does the excess stone go when hollowing out the room," Kreacher asked.
"We have to haul it out when enough is sliced away," one of the pick wielding goblins answered.
"What if Kreacher shrunk it down to a smaller amount. It would be far easier to carry as well as out of Kreacher's way. Is this permissible?"
The goblins exchanged what Kreacher took for oddly incredulous looks, but they nodded.
"Kreacher needs to see a design plan so he'll know how the room should look including size."
Griphook nodded and another goblin produced a large sheet of parchment which he presented to Kreacher. He took several moments to study it while everyone waited in polite silence. That was good. Kreacher very much appreciated polite silence when he was trying to focus.
As he considered how this could be done, he felt his excitement rising to a nearly heady level. it nearly felt too easy. His hand tightened on Regulus's for courage as he focused on the wall where the goblins had been working. A deep neat rectangle nearly as long as Kreacher's body had been chipped out, giving him a clear foundation with which to work.
Focusing on the stone wall behind the hollowed out rectangle that was the beginning of a new room, he apparated all but the outer edges away by shrinking the stone down to a tiny cube. The sound of air filling the empty space was resounding, echoing in the huge cavern. To Kreacher's delight, it caused all of the goblins to give startled shouts. Even Griphook nearly jumped out of his skin, and Kreacher chuckled happily.
They now stood before the new room Kreacher had created. The walls were perfectly polished stone, and instead of dusty rubble to be dragged away, a tiny block of stone lay in the middle of the floor.
"What does Griphook think," Kreacher found himself asking nervously.
"That...that was...well that was great," Griphook said.
"Very...very great."
"How did you do that," a goblin clutching a double handed hammer asked in excited awe.
"Kreacher is good with amounts, as he used to cook quite a lot, so he just guessed how far back the room should reach according to this floor plan you showed him. He hollowed out the stone much in the way he'd boil an egg, only, he shrunk the middle rather than actually boiling it."
The goblins exchanged glances all round, nodding sagely.
"That's it, then," the one with the hammer said, giving Kreacher a grin.
"None of us cook worth anything!"
"Of course the same concept can be reached without cooking," Regulus interjected politely, but Kreacher smirked, glad to have one up on goblins.
"Perhaps not, Master Regulus," he murmured.
"Perhaps not."