Chapter 733: Giants’ Customs (Patreon)
Content
"Thank you, I'll have some coffee to refresh!" said Evan, walking over. "Hagrid, what's in your hand?"
"Oh, this is a Goblin-made battle helmet. It’s indestructible … beautiful, isn't it?" said Hagrid, handing the exquisite green helmet to Evan. “I think the giants will like it. I’m very confident about it."
Evan looked down at the inscription on the helmet in his hand. It was an ancient inscription: People can control their own destiny. If we are controlled by others, the fault is not in fate but in ourselves!
That sentence sounded familiar, shouldn't this helmet be…
"The Crown of Destiny!" said Sirius softly. "It is said that it once belonged to King Arthur and was a legendary magical item of historical value that Merlin guided him to get. Of course, this one is just an imitation, but it is still valuable. The Crown of Destiny and the sword of the king have long been hidden by the goblins, and some say it is in the deepest part of Gringotts."
The goblins were very skilled metalworkers, and they made almost all the well-known weapons and equipment.
But the greedy goblins had a very nasty habit. They believed that goblin-made items rightfully belonged to them. Humans had to pay a very high price only to rent these items from them.
After the death of the users, they would recycle these weapons and equipment so that they would never appear again.
If Gryffindor hadn’t played a trick and enchanted his sword, so that it would let itself be pulled out of the Sorting Hat whenever a true Gryffindor needed it, it would have probably disappeared long ago, just like all the legendary magical items that have disappeared in history, becoming goblin’s collection.
"Dumbledore attaches great importance to the giants, and he took out valuable collections from his own and Hogwarts’ underground vaults," said Hagrid, rummaging through the pile of objects. "The giants will be interested in them if we use them properly."
Evan and Sirius also began to help him sort them out. Among the pile of gifts, they also found Gubraithian Fire.
The light blue flame was burning quietly, and seemed to have no temperature.
Gubraithian Fire was an everlasting fire that would never go out, no matter what. For Alchemy and Potions, Gubraithian Fire was simply the best configuration and its price was also high.
Evan wondered what the giants would do with it, roast wild boar? Or use it as a candle?
It was a pity to give it to the giants, but it could make them feel the existence of magic clearly.
Next, Evan found a great roll of dragon skin, which had been removed from a dragon tens of feet.
The hides of the dragon had strong defense. To get a complete and unspoiled dragon skin, dozens of wizards needed to use Avada Kedavra on the dragon or kill it with very rare poison. Then, the most skilled craftsmen would spend more than three months to completely peel off the dragon skin.
The whole process was very troublesome, and seemed pointless. No equipment could use such a large dragon skin.
No one would do besides the pure-blood wizard families who needed to show their glory and show off their wealth with a complete dragon skin.
This dragon skin should be something from Hogwarts Treasury, which was certainly not in Dumbledore's private collection.
In addition, there were many Alchemy props and other magical items in this pile of presents, all rare treasures.
Although Dumbledore could not promise more to the giants, he hoped to make them feel his sincerity from the presents.
In fact, if Evan was a giant, he would also be excited in the face of this pile of gifts like a hill.
Now it was up to Voldemort and the Death Eaters to come up with something. That was a process of competition between the two sides.
"By the way, what are we going to do with these gifts, and how to communicate with the giants?" Evan asked.
"We’ll do what Dumbledore told us to do, which is to give the most precious present to the Gurg that is the chief of the giants and express our sincerity,” said Hagrid. “After finding the giants, we’ll have to hold our gift up high and keep our eyes on the Gurg and ignore the others. They will understand our intention and won't attack us. The rest of the stuff will be secretly given to the other giants, and don’t let the Gurg find out.”
"Okay, how can we know which one is the Gurg?" said Evan, remembering some customs about the giants that Hermione helped him learn. He knew that the leader had a high status in the giant tribe, and the other giants had to obey his orders.
"No problem. Just look for the biggest, the ugliest, and the laziest giant. He must be the Gurg."
"Giants are very aggressive, and only the strongest are eligible to be leaders," Sirius followed. "They don't use magic and they’re not very smart, so they are generally the biggest and the strongest."
A ridiculous scene appeared in Evan’s mind. He saw himself and the others bowing in front of an ugly giant like a mountain, offering gifts to him, and the giant gave them a rude growl.
"Dumbledore told us not to rush, but to take it very slow. We must take our time and bring some good things every day to make a good impression," said Hagrid. “I’m in charge of taking the gift to the Gurg so they can all see it. Evan, you put the gifts to the other giants in your bag and then secretly take it out."
"Why don't we give all the gifts at once?"
"That's not okay. It would be terrible to do that. Creatures like giants; you can't talk too much with them at one time. Otherwise they will kill you directly just to simplify things. You have to come slowly and communicate slowly with them. "
"Make them understand that we have more things to give them and make them have a sense of expectation, so that they can cooperate with us," Sirius said. "These are all the experiences accumulated by Dumbledore's previous dealings with the giants. You’ll never find them in books."
Indeed, Evan didn’t find any specific ways to deal with the giants in books.
"This is a good experience. Not all wizards have the opportunity to contact the giants, let alone actually walk into a giant tribe. Unfortunately, Harry and the others can't follow. This is something they can’t learn in school," said Hagrid, putting the last box away, "Okay, Evan, any other questions?"
"Only one. Who of you understands the language of giants?"
"Neither of us, but it doesn't matter. When the giants raged in Britain in the past, many of them learned English. They even married human witches and wizards and gave birth to children, like …" Hagrid hesitated before continuing, "Like my mother Fridwulfa … maybe she’s still alive."