INTERVENTION

VII.

THE GRINGOTTS BANK HEIST

THEN.

A WITCH, A WIZARD and a Hunter appeared out of thin air on the streets of Godric's Hollow. They'd been on the road for the past few days, having not apparated straight there, as Bobby had insisted on stopping for supplies, re-establishing his old Hunters network in England, and connecting with some old friends. Hermione and Ron had to act as Bobby's niece and nephew during this time, and hide all evidence of them being what they were. They'd only just managed to escape detection, but Bobby had managed to assure his old friends to be on the lookout for Sam and Dean.

After the third day, they had finally arrived in Godric's Hollow. The place where it all started. "Bloody hell!" Ron couldn't help but exclaim, and not for the first time that evening. "What happened here?"

"We're too late," Bobby observed, taking in the destruction before them. Godric's Hollow laid in ruins, devastated by an attack that they did not know happened. "We should have got here sooner. It's my fault."

"No," Hermione said. "We had no idea that it was going to happen."

"Of course we did, kid," Bobby said, looking at her. "If this Harry is everything you say he is, then he won't have gone five minutes without attracting some sort of trouble. And with Dean and Sam with him, the chances of them running into a trap is about tenfold. Come on, you idjits. Don't just stand there – there might be some people left behind."

"Civilians?" Hermione asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Or worse," Bobby said, with a warning gesture, loading his shotgun. "We'll start at this end and scour the place."

"Hey," Ron said, from slightly further away from both Bobby and Hermione. "I heard screaming. In that house there."

He gestured to a building overlooking them. "Could be a trap," Bobby said, once the screams became louder. "Weasley, Granger, you take the back door. I'll go in the front. Soon as you see any trouble, get the hell out of there. We don't know what we're dealing with."

"Yeah, we do," Ron insisted. "Death Eaters."

"Death Eaters?" Bobby frowned. "Well, kid. I'll do you a bet. I get ten bucks if it's a demon, you get ten bucks if it's one of yours."

"What are bucks?" Ron asked, raising an eyebrow curiously.

"American slang for Dollars," provided Hermione. "Muggle currency. I'd say ten dollars is about equal to five Galleons."

Ron smiled, for the first time since he'd left Harry. "You might just have a deal, Bobby Singer."

NOW.

THEY ENTERED DIAGON Alley under the cover of darkness. All were wearing wigs – Harry was underneath his Invisibility Cloak , Castiel was now a red-head and Sam and Dean both had long, black hair that looked surprisingly natural on them. It was only Ruby who didn't have a disguise, but she was still wearing a cloak that covered her face.

"Whoa," Dean couldn't help but exclaim once the bricks moved away, revealing the main magical community of London. "This place rocks. Can we go to the candy shop after we're done here?"

There were several confused glances from the few beggars and raving lunatics, no doubt unfamiliar with the American accent. However, when Dean showed them his wand, they were silenced. It wasn't exactly Dean's wand per say, as he was a muggle – but if anything could be proved by their experience with the wizarding community, it was that they were stupid, and this was actually a normal stick that Harry had enlarged to make it resemble a wand.

"Good to know you still have your priorities, Dean," Ruby said, "And I'd be quiet if I were you. You're practically screaming American muggle to them."

"Oi. Where do you think you're going!" A Death Eater, Nott, had stopped them, clearly recognising that something was wrong.

"We're from America," explained Sam, sticking to his cover story. "There are several in our country who are sympathetic to your Dark Lord, and have come over to inspect his new rule for ourselves."

"Yankees, hey?" Not asked, with a smile, glancing at Sam. "What's your name?"

Dean quickly interrupted, before Sam could say anything. "I'm Mulder, this is Scully."

Sam rolled his eyes, as Nott continued, "Very well, Mulder. What do you wish to see?"

"Gringotts Bank," Sam said, speaking for Dean. "We uh, want to make a sizeable investment and we wanted to know if we were putting our money in the right hands."

"Excellent!" Nott smiled, with a haunting grin. "I have business to attend to so I won't be able to stay around. However, if you need any help, ask a Death Eater standing guard. There'll be able to sanction a Goblin to your needs and put together a vault for you. I shall inform my Master of your arrival, if you wish. Anybody sympathetic to the cause will receive certain benefits during their time in England, as long as you are... ahem, of the appropriate blood status."

"Our mother and father both came from pureblood families," Sam said, and selected a family that they had been preparing alibis for on the ride over, so if any of the Death Eaters were to ask questions, they would get authentic results. "We're from the Harvelle family."

"Harvelle family?" Nott said with a warm, fake smile. "Good to hear. I trust your friends are of the appropriate blood status as well."

"Would we have brought them here if they weren't?" Dean asked.

"I see your point."

"We can arrange a meeting with the Dark Lord at a later date," Ruby cut in. " Right now our schedule is busy, but if you want to arrange a meeting..."

"I understand," Nott said. "Then I must bid farewell. Make sure you use your stay in London to the best of your abilities, because I fear that the Dark Lord plans on closing the borders soon. Bad for business, but can be understood. We don't want those that disobey us seeking aid overseas."

And with that, he departed, leaving Ruby, Dean, Castiel, Sam and an invisible Harry in his wake. "What a jerk," Dean exclaimed once he was out of earshot. "Nice work, Sammy."

"Seriously, Dean. Mulder and Scully, again?"

"I do not understand the significance of these two aliases," Castiel said. "But come, we must continue. We are here."

"Enter stranger, but take heed," Dean read aloud, and after completing the words emblazoned above the Gringotts door, commented, "Wow. What a bunch of uptight assholes. Seriously, that's just screaming for people to try and rob their bank. Y'know, as a test. To do the impossible, sort of thing."

Harry remembered the first time he had come here, all those years ago. It seemed like a lifetime, young and innocent. A very different Harry Potter had walked through these doors, full of wonder, yet to make any real friend his own age. Now though, he was far more matured, and with the Winchesters, Castiel and a renegade Demon on his side, things were getting interesting.

"So, we need a Goblin," Dean said, as they entered the foyer. From where they were they could see countless of the creatures, busy at work regardless of the fact that the world had changed around them. "Damn, they're ugly little fuckers."

"Dean, we have a job to do, try not to insult them," this came from Sam. Once they made their way over to a Goblin who was not tending to a customer, Sam spoke, as politely as he could, given his knowledge of Goblin culture that he had learnt from Harry's books. "Uh, Hi. I was wondering if I could have a word in private? I am an American who has recently moved to England and was wondering if I would be able to transfer funds to Gringotts Bank."

"Very well," The Goblin said. "We will go to Room 105. Follow me. You are?"

"Scully Harvelle," Sam said, with a glare at Dean, who snickered.

The Goblin lead the way into the back room, and it wasn't long before they reached their intended destination of Room 105. Once the door was closed, and they were alone, the Goblin said, "Right. I will have to administrate the appropriate security checks first to prove that you are who you say you are..."

"Ruby, now!" Sam directed at her attention, and Harry watched in awe as he encountered his first experience of demonic possession. Black smoke poured out of the black-haired girl who Ruby had been occupying as she crumpled to the floor in an unconscious heap.

"Demon," The Goblin realised, suddenly, his face changing from normalcy to as scared as one of his kind could possibly look. With a glare at Dean and Sam, he only had time to say one sentence before Ruby overtook him, "What have you done?"

Once the black smoke was gone, the Goblin's eyes flashed an unnervingly dark colour. "Hello boys," Ruby the Goblin said, glancing across at Castiel, Dean and Sam. "Let's go rob a bank."

THEN.

HERMIONE AND RON made their way into the house, towards the sound of the screaming. Hermione lead the way, wand at the ready, as they made their way through the back door. A quick Lumos had ignited the dark interior of the household, and it was clear that there had been a fight in the building recently.

Hermione came across a Kitchen. It was clearly muggle in origin, demonstrating all the materials found in your typical household. Nothing too fancy and neither was it missing any of the obvious daily functions. However, it was a wreck – an upturned table that had a meal already in place was lying in the centre of the room, which doubled up as an eating quarters.

The screaming could be heard seconds later, and this time they knew where it was coming from for sure. "Upstairs," Hermione said, with a whisper, as they made their way into the hallway, Ron bringing up the rear.

"Downstairs is clear," Bobby said, appearing from the Living Room – almost startling them. His shotgun was raised, but there hadn't been anything fired – or at least, as far as Hermione could tell, so there had been nobody inside. "Do you have a spell that could test for human prescience?"

Hermione nodded, and brought out her wand. Pointing at the ceiling above, she whispered, "Homenum Revelio."

After a moments silence, Bobby said, "Well?"

"Three humans," Hermione said. "Upstairs."

"Well, makes a change from the cellar," Bobby remarked. "Does your spell only detect humans, or other species as well?"

"Humans only."

"Well, we might have a bit of a problem there," Ron breathed suddenly, realising something, looking through the hallway at the kitchen behind them.

"What?" Bobby shot the ginger-haired teenager a look.

"There were only three plates on the floor in the table," Ron said. "I counted. There's enough food there for three people."

"Ron's right," Hermione said. "That must mean..."

"Whoever's holding them hostage isn't human," Bobby finished for Hermione.

NOW.

"CAN I RECORD you?" Dean asked, joking to the Ruby as they made their way away from the vault. "In the non creepiest way ever, of course. Just... Ruby. You. Demon bitch as a Goblin. This shit's never going to get old."

"Shut up, Dean. I can just as easily posses you," Ruby warned, causing Dean to flinch slightly, but still finding it comical that Ruby was several feet smaller than him.

"This is the last time you shall posses a body with a live occupant," Castiel warned,

"Right, killjoy," Ruby said. "Anyway, game faces on people, I'm taking you to the tracks."

"The tracks?" Dean asked, glancing down at the Goblin who was leading the way.

"The vaults are buried deep underground," clarified Harry, who was still invisible – causing Dean to jump slightly when he started talking from next to him. "We go on carts to these vaults. Like that film you made me watch – Indiana Jones. Only at one speed. Fast."

"Awesome," Dean said, "Look at this, Sammy. I'm going to ride in an honest-to-god mining cart. The ten year old me is practically jumping for joy right now."

Sam rolled his eyes. "They aren't technically mining carts, Dean."

"Stop ruining my childhood!"

Ruby's eyebrows shot up, glancing at Dean. "Your childhood ambition was to ride a mining cart?"

"It was a good movie," insisted Dean, as they crossed to the tracks. Thankfully, they seemed to be nobody else getting into the carts. "We're going to have to take two carts. I seriously hope this is awesome as it looks."

Harry wondered how Dean could possibly be excited for something like this, but had to remind himself that this was the first time he had ever encountered one. It wasn't long before Dean, like an over-excited child, claimed, "I want to go first."

"Yeah," Ruby said, in her Goblin form. "You can go first; Sam and Castiel can go in that one. I'll ride with the kid which will give me room to operate them both."

"Very well. We are all in agreement," Castiel said, after everyone responded with the affirmative,

"Well, this went well," Dean said, once they had all climbed into their seats. "Now comes the fun part."

As if on cue, several Death Eaters burst into the room, waving wands and shouting loudly, Goblins in tow. "Oops", Ruby said, kicking the carts into gear. "I think somebody may have noticed my dead body."

Dean yanked a pistol out of where it had been concealed, having to avoid larger weapons due to their size. Harry was no longer invisible, having removed the Cloak before climbing into the track – so he was now trying to hide his face from the Death Eaters at the same time as shooting spells. "Get us the hell out of here!"

Ruby nodded, and a few seconds later, the carts roared into life.

It was gametime.

FINAL NOTES:

A reviewer asked how Bobby knows about Horcruxes, and it will be explained later on (However, I can give you a hint - Voldemort wasn't the only person who ever used Horcruxes. He may have been the only person to have used the number that he did, however). I originally planned on fitting the whole heist in one chapter, hence the title, but it spiralled out too large and then I was inspired to write a chase scene on the carts, figuring that Dean would have seen Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom – and the idea from there, so why the hell not?

NEXT TIME: Chapter 8: The Mine Cart Chase

As Bobby, Ron and Hermione attempt to negotiate a high-stakes hostage situation, there is a fully blown chase going on in Gringotts' Bank! Team Free Will must navigate the designs of Gringotts Bank, and avoid not only the Death Eaters, but also the dragons.