Further thoughts: I loved the negotiations with Dobby & Winky as well as the dispatch of Kreacher; he earned what he got but I thought it proper of Harry to honor his loyalty to his mistress.
The dealings with the goblins were nicely handled, especially the most grievous charge against Griphook, that he took the money he was responsible for out of a profitable investment plan and earned as little with it as he could; I can see that as a quite heinous crime among the goblins. I like your depiction of the goblins, much as you advised another author, a combination of the best of the Klingons and the Ferengi.
It'll be interesting to see just how much damage that discussion with Andromeda Tonks does. The obvious, of course, is what's going to come out of Harry's discussions with the lawyers, especially if Dumbles has been interfering to prevent them from talking with him earlier. That'll just dig the hole a bit deeper. What I'm wondering about is how that discussion will affect Andromeda's attitude and behavior toward Dumbledore and how the change will be evaluated by others. I can just see her, Augusta Longbottom, and Amelia Bones sitting down and discussing "The Dumbledore Problem" before dealing with demoting him anywhere and everywhere they can. Under the right circumstances, he'd be lucky to remain Headmaster, let alone the remainder of his titles. I think that'd be the best revenge in some ways, remove him from his power and his glory and leave him to live by himself without visitors, syncophants, or minions. Of course, what would happen to Severus Snape in the course of this is something else, most likely something quite unpleasant for that unpleasant wizard.
Author's response
The elves: As I explained in chapter 4, they need the bond to remain healthy...and Harry is a soft touch where Dobby is concerned.
Kreacher: While he couldn't help being bound to such lunatics, he did make the choice to betray Sirius. He's also an unacceptable security risk. Being as he's attached to Harry, as chattel, he can go anywhere Harry is, and while he is bound, both his actions in OotP and Dobby's in CoS, indicate to me that house-elves are far less constrained than most wizards think.
Goblins: Yeah,I had to come up with a crime so heinous it would open their eyes. They are a warrior race, but they've been relegated to controlling wizarding Britain's monetary supply.(Which is really a stupid idea. See: the art of War, by Sun-Tzu.)
Since they are in charge of the wizarding world's banking, what better way than to intentionally fail to make them money. Since the gold is drawing interest, they aren't making any money from investment percentages. (Hurt the bank, you hurt the clan. Hurt the clan and you hurt your family.)
This will also count against Dumbledore, as Griphook was operating on his orders.
Augusta, Andromeda, Amelia and Harry's new solicitor Carolyn, are going to prove to Dumbledore to be as irritating as a tropical disease. Dumbledore uses the laws to get what he wants, but he's never come up against a truly competent attorney before.
They will be sitting and discussing that very problem, but it's going to take time. Since he's so politically and culturally powerful, what I intend, is to begin to whittle away his support before handing him an anvil. As much as I would love to chuck him into Azkaban, I can't, for three very good reasons. First is the 'Old man's mistakes' line he loves to use, second is that everybody in Britain sees him as infallible, and third...will be shown several chapters down the line.
Don't worry about Snivellus. I have something very very unpleasant set in store for him!
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
(Sorry!)
Alorkin