Harry raced up the stair to the room he was sharing with Ron. When he got there, he closed the door behind him, sat on his bed, and ripped open the envelope.

Inside, there was a key. Nothing else. Just a small, silver key. It was very simple with no identifying marks on it.

Harry stared at the little key in his hand for about five minutes. He then examined the envelope very closely to make sure he had not missed a note or message. He went so far as to check that there were no messages that had been erased or written in invisible ink.

There was nothing else.

At first, Harry felt very disappointed. He had thought that maybe, just maybe, there had been a letter from his parents inside. He had hoped that his parents had written a letter to him and left it with his aunt for safe keeping. But that was not the case.

But then, Harry realized that the key was a great thing to receive. The key had to open something. Just what that something was, well, Harry did not know. The key was not any kind he recognized.

It was at that moment that Mrs. Weasley called him downstairs for lunch. Harry stood up and placed the key in his pocket.

Harry walked down the stairs slowly and went into the kitchen. Ginny was there, as was Ron, Hermione and Bill. Mrs. Weasley walked in a moment later carrying a large platter of sandwiches. As Harry sat down to eat, Ginny asked him,

"What was in the envelope? A letter from your parents?" She looked at him with a look of great curiousity on her face.

Harry answered her, "No, it was a key. But I don't know what the key is for." He pulled the key out of his pocket and passed it to her. The others in the room did not seem surprised by Ginny's question, so he knew that she had told them all about their visit and the mysterious envelope. Ginny examined the key, but she did not know what it was either. Ron and Hermione did the same, but they didn't have a clue.

It wasn't until Bill saw the key that some light was shed on the mystery.

"The key is a key to a vault in Gringotts. The reason you don't recognize it is because they stopped using these types of keys about 18 years ago. After that, every time someone came in with one of those keys, they were replaced with the small golden ones we use now. There are very few keys like this left. If you have this key, Harry, then the vault it opens has not been unlocked in at least eighteen years. Do you have any idea what could be in there?" Bill asked.

Harry shook his head as he took the key back. He had thought that everything his parents had left him was in his vault.

The group finished lunch, speculating what could be in the vault. They came up with some crazy ideas, but none of them made any sense.

"I guess we will just have to go to Gringotts and find out what's in it." Harry finally said. Immeadiately, Hermione, Ron and Ginny volunteered to accompany him. Harry decided that this was a good idea.

After lunch, the four aparated to the Leaky Cauldron. Tom, the old man behind the bar, welcomed them enthusiastically. They said a quick hello and went to the back of the pub.

Harry took out his wand to tap the bricks, but hesitated. He remembered when he first entered the archway with Hagrid. It was one week short of the seven year anniversary.

Taking a deep breath, Harry tapped the bricks and watched as they turned and twisted into an archway. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny walked into Diagon Alley and what they found amazed them.

The shops were exactly the same as they were years ago, before the war. Harry, Ron, and Hermione remembered what the street had looked like a mere two months before. The streets had been deserted and homeless people were living there. Now, stores were lit and people were chatting away, showing each other their purchases.

When a couple spotted Harry entering Diagon Alley, they ran up to him and bombarded him with questions. Other shoppers soon did the same, trying to shake his hand or just to say hello. Needless to say, Harry was very embarrassed.

The four raced down the street. Harry noticed that, though everything looked great, there were some very subtle changes. Fortesque's Ice Cream Shoppe had a black ribbon in the window. Olivander'e wand makers was still open, but Olivander was not the one running it. The person running it was...

Luna.

Harry, Hermione, Ron adn Ginny quickly stepped into the old store and saw Luna sitting behind the desk. She looked up when the bell rang and smiled when she saw who the customers were. She got up quickly adn hugged each of them.

"Luna, when did you start working for Olivander?" asked Ginny excitedly.

"I started about two weeks after the battle. Olivander still makes the wands, but I sell them. He comes into the shop once in a while, but mostly stays in his workshop." Luna answered, still grinning.

The friends couldn't talk more because a customer holding a broken wand walked into the store. They said a quick farewell and continued on their way.

The four finally reached Gringotts. Before they entered the bank, Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at each other.

They had broken into this bank. They would be in serious trouble. With a couple deep breathes, they entered the bank.

The minute they entered, lights started flashing and sirens sounded. The other patrons that were gettng ready to enter their vaults or were on their way out stopped dead in their tracks and stared at the newcomers who had set this chaos in motion.

Goblins cornered Harry, Ron and Hermione against the now locked doors. Ginny was thrown into the gathering crowd. The head goblin walked up to the trio.

"You three are being charged with breaking into Gringotts and stealing what does not belong to you." Without another word, three goblins led the trio into an office off the main hall. They sat in chairs placed in front of a large, maple desk. The goblin sitting there stared them down for a moment, then began an interogation.

"You three broke into this institution. Do you have anything to say?"

"Yes," Hermione answered, "We broke in, but it was necessary if Voldemort was to be destroyed." She then went to explain why, but somehow managed to hide the fact that the cup had been a Horcrux. Harry and Ron were lost. They sat there and tried to figure what Hermione was saying, but could not understand how involving Statue 29 and 48 could help. Hermione finished her explanation and sat back, looking very pleased with herself.

Harry and Ron stared at her with a mix of admiration and awe. Little did they know that Hermione had gone to Bill for advice on how to get them out of the situation. Harry and Ron thought she was brilliant.

The Goblin seemed to understand everything she said and was somehow forced to release them. He let them go with a very sour look on his face.

"Thank goodness. These guys are staring at me and it was starting to creep me out." Ginny exclaimed when the trio left the office. She had insisted on waiting for them and was forced to sit on a bench by the door of the office. Security goblins were stationed outside the office so they had been watching her the entire time.

"Hermione is brilliant. She got us out of the whole situation. I am not sure how, but it was brilliant!" Answered Ron. Little did he know that Ginny knew that Hermione had gone to Bill for advice. She just smiled and congratulated Hermione.

Now that everything was settled, it was time to see what was in the mysterious vault. The four approached a counter and the goblin sitting there looked up.

When Harry handed him the key and asked to go to the vault, he looked very surprised. He examined the key very closely and found no identifying marks on it. Only when he performed some kind of goblin magic did he find a number hidden on the key. He asked the four to follow him and led them to where the carts were.

After a very, very, very long trip down to the depths of Gringotts, they slowed down and stopped infront of a vault, number 1091. It looked very old and very dusty.

The goblin, who had never revealed his name, stepped out of the cart and inserted the key in the key hole.

The door swung open and a plume of stagnant air and dust flew out at them. After a round of coughing, the contents of the vault were revealed.


Cliffhanger!! Muah ha ha!! What is in the vault? You have to keep reading to find out.

I will stop virtually yelling for reviews. I finally got some more!! Yeah for the reviewers!!

But please, let's feep it up. Review.

Thanks to the 39!! people who put me on their storyalert!! 39!! I was freaking out.

I still do not own these characters. If I suddenly owned them, you would know.

Thanks for reading!!

Defying Gravity