"Let us be bold.

Let us be brave.

Let us be together,"

- Brad Henry

After Remus left, stayed in the garden, clutching the picture of her Godson. Is this what Sirius had felt like after James and Lily had asked him to be Godfather? Had he sat alone, thinking about how irresponsible he was? Had he considered the fact that he might not even live to see his God Children's first birthday? Had he thought about the fact should James and Lily die, he would be responsible for a child.

Why Remus had thought that she and Harry would be good Godparents, she had no idea. Neither of them could look after themselves, never mind a baby. Lydia had never even met a baby before. She shuddered at the thought of having to possibly babysit for Remus and Tonks one day.

"He's sweet,"

Lydia turned around as George slowly sat next to her, looking at the picture of Teddy.

"Yeah," Lydia said, "sweet,"

They were silent for a while. Lydia couldn't take her eyes off Teddy. She could never imagine having a child of her own, not when the world was the way it was...

Lydia snorted, "Poor kid. Imagine being brought up by a Marauder and Nymphadora Tonks and having me as Harry as your Godparents,"

"In a different world, you would have been brought up by all four Marauders. Imagine that," George said quietly.

Lydia smiled. Poor Professor McGonagall would probably have retired before having to teach two children who had been exposed to the Marauders for birth. She wondered how much more trouble she and Harry would have gotten in and whether the castle would still be standing.

"George, do you think I'm evil?" Lydia asked before she could stop herself.

"Come again?"

"It's just - I don't know. When we were on the run, we overheard Dirk Cresswell and Ted Tonks speaking and...it's stupid, but he was talking about dad dying and the..you know, that Death Eater," Lydia glanced over at him. He looked awkward. They had never actually spoken about anything that had happened after James had been killed, "and he said he thinks there's something up with me,"

"I think there's something up with you,"

"What?"

"Full disclosure, I think it's really weird that when you sleep, you hog the whole bed. Like, I just don't understand how someone so small can take up so much room. You know you've kicked me out of bed on three separate occasions?" George said, "Also, sticking your wand in your bun? So strange. I had to hex so many people in school because they kept on pointing out that it just messed your hair up even more. And I'm only saying this because I love you, they made a very good point,"

"George, I'm being serious-"

"So am I! You're really strange,"

"George," Lydia said.

He smiled at her. "I don't think you're evil, Lyds. You've just had a bit of a shit life and so you've been put in situations that the rest of us never have been,"

"Yeah but that Snatcher-"

"-had just killed your dad," George said firmly, "He would have done worse to you,"

"I don't know about that," Lydia said.

"Lyds, if you were evil, I'm sure Dumbledore would have cottoned onto it and done something about it," George said.

"Snape-"

"Was working for You-Know-Who, he had a lot of protection. You're not working for You-Know-Who, are you?" George asked, "Are you? Because if you are, it is a deal breaker,"

Lydia laughed and rolled her eyes, "I'm obviously not working for You-Know-Who,"

"Just making sure,"

They next morning, Lydia, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Griphook woke up earlier than anyone else. Ron told Bill and Fleur to not see them off and they grudgingly obliged. When Harry nudged her awake, she turned over to see George awake, which would only make this entire thing worse.

"Are you going to do something stupid today?" He asked quietly.

"No," she said, "We're going to go and do something really stupid today,"

"Brilliant," he muttered.

She kissed him quickly, "go back to sleep,"

In the kitchen, Hermione and Harry were stood on opposite sides of the kitchen, glaring at each other. It was half past four in the morning and the last thing that Lydia wanted was to have to break up an argument between Harry and Hermione. Draco was stood eating a bowl of cereal, very much looking like he wanted the ground to swallow him.

"He would help, Hermione!" Harry said earnestly.

"He would bring unwanted attention," Hermione said exasperatedly.

"I bring unwanted attention," Harry pointed out, "Namely the attention of the Dark Lord,"

Hermione rolled her eyes and turned to look at Lydia, "What do you think? Should we bring him?"

"Harry? Definitely not, he's annoying," she said lightly.

"Lydia..." Hermione said, smiling lightly, "I mean Malfoy,"

"You both make good points," Lydia said carefully, "He would probably bring unwanted attention but at this point, all of us do. But, he's also a powerful wizard. We need all the help we can get,"

At this point, Ron walked into the kitchen and glared at Draco.

"Did Hermione react in the way I said she would?" Ron asked Harry who just nodded.

Ron sighed, "Told you, mate, it's a bad idea,"

"I think we should take him," Lydia said, "We can just disguise him like we are with Ron. There's only enough Polyjuice Potion left for me and you, isn't there?"

Hermione nodded, "Fine,"

"If it wasn't so early in the morning, I'd argue with you," Ron said.

They left the house very quickly, careful not to wake Dean and Luna up. Hermione was already wearing Bellatrix's robes and looked very odd in them. She handed Lydia a goblet of Polyjuice Potion, containing the hair of a muggle that Hermione found. It turned a light pink colour but still somehow managed to look very unappetising.

"Have I ever mentioned how much I hate Polyjuice Potion?" Lydia asked.

"Five times this morning," Hermione said, "drink up," she turned to Ron and began to move her wand over his face, muttering spells underneath her breath. His nose grew larger and his eyebrows bushier. His freckles dissolved into nothingness to be replaced with three long scars. Lydia thought he looked like Bill until Hermione waved her wand again and his hair turned from its usual red to as dark as Harry and Lydia's.

"How do I look?" Ron asked, turning to Harry.

"Not my type, but you'll do," Harry said.

Ron looked mildly offended, "What do you mean I'm not your type?"

"Not now, Ron," Lydia sighed.

"Do I look like your type?"

He looked so hurt that Lydia felt obliged to say that he was. Hermione beckoned Draco over to her and began to transform his face. By the time she was finished, Lydia was unable to recognise him. His hair was light brown and fell to his shoulders. His skin had some colour to it and his face was a lot fuller than usual.

"If you say he's your type, I'm never speaking to you again," Ron muttered to Harry.

"That only makes me want to say he's my type more," Harry said.

Hermione rolled her eyes at the two of them and took the other goblet of Polyjuice Potion and quickly drank it, a disgusted look on her face. Seconds later, Bellatrix Lestrange was stood before them, and, had she not known it was Hermione, Lydia's first instinct would have been to hex her.

"How do I look?" Hermione asked in Bellatrix's voice.

"Terrible," Lydia said, "but in the best way,"

Griphook walked over to them, "let's get this over and done with, then,"

Harry bent down and allowed Griphook to climb onto his back. Lydia threw the Invisibility Cloak over them and walked around them, making sure that she could see them. When she was sure that no feet could be seen, they joined hands and Apparated to outside of the Leaky Cauldron.

Inside, the pub was nearly deserted. The landlord, Tom, stood behind the bar, cleaning glasses. A group of people having a whispered conversation in the corner of the room took one look at Hermione and retreated back into the shadows, and out of sight. Lydia kept her head down, worried that people would somehow recognise her through he disguise.

"Madam Lestrange," murmured Tom, bowing his head slightly as Hermione walked past.

"Good morning," said Hermione and as she did so, Lydia saw Tom give her a funny look.

"You're being too nice," Lydia whispered in Hermione's ear, "she'd never say that,"

"OK, OK!" Hermione said.

Out in the tiny backyard, Hermione took out Bellatrix's wand and tapped a brick on the wall. At once, it began to spin and whirl, opening an entrance into Diagon Alley. It was quiet. The shops were not due to open for hours and there was barely anyone about. Anyone who was, hurried past them, their heads bent low. It looked completely different to the Diagon Alley that Lydia had once known and loved.

Automatically, Lydia turned her head in the direction of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. The once vibrant shop was now deserted and colourless, and looked as though it had wilted along with the shops around it. She turned away from it and followed Hermione up the narrow, cobbled street, peering into streets as she did. Most shops were now dedicated to the Dark Arts and posters of her and Harry glared down at them as she passed, with the occasional pictures of Ron and Hermione.

A number of ragged people sat huddled in doorways, insisting that they were really wizards and asking for gold. It took everything in Lydia to not try and help them. When they saw Hermione, however, they seemed to melt into the darkness of the doorways; drawing hoods over their faces or turning their back on her completely. Lydia had never quite understood the power that Bellatrix Lestrange had over people until now.

One man suddenly launched himself at Hermione, "MY CHILDREN!" He bellowed, "WHERE ARE THEY? YOU KNOW! YOU KNOW!"

"I-I," Hermione stammered.

The man lunged at her, his hands outstretched and going for her throat but there was a bang and a burst of red light and he was thrown backwards onto the ground, unconscious. Lydia spun around to see Draco stood there, his wand outstretched with a look of shock on his face as he stared at the man on the ground.

"Thank-you," Hermione said timidly, massaging her neck.

"Let's keep going," Lydia said.

Their entrance into Diagon Alley could not have been more conspicuous if they tried. Lydia was just moments away from suggesting that they leave and come back another day with a different plan, but before she could talk to anyone, someone cried out from behind them.

"Why, Madam Lestrange!"

Lydia whirled around. A tall, thin wizard was striding towards them. The sleeves of his robes slipped down slightly, revealing a Dark Mark burned there. Lydia tried to disguise the fear that was on her face and looked away from him.

"Travers," Draco breathed in her ear.

Pretending to cough, Lydia leaned over to Hermione and whispered his name in her ear.

"Travers," Hermione said, her voice shaking slightly, "how are you?"

"Well, I confess I am surprised to see you out and about, Bellatrix,"

"Really? Why?" Hermione asked.

"Well," Travers looked awkward for a moment, "I did hear at the inhabitants of Malfoy Manor where confined to the house after the escape of the Potter's and your nephews betrayal,"

Hermione drew herself up to her fullest height and said, in a way that was very reminiscent of the real Bellatrix, "The Dark Lord forgives those who have served him most faithful in the past. Perhaps your credit is not as good with him as mine is, Travers,"

Though the Death Eater looked offended, he did look less suspicious and Lydia willed herself to calm down. He glanced over at Lydia, Ron and Draco, frowning slightly.

"Forgive me, but I do not recognise these three,"

"This is Dragomir Despard," Hermione said, indicating Ron, "Alexandre Clermont-"

"Bonjour," Draco said in a fantastic French accent that actually made Lydia raise her eyebrows at him.

"-and Amalia Tewksbury," she pointed at Lydia who nodded quickly, "they're foreign wizards but very sympathetic with the Dark Lord's regime,"

They had decided on fake identities before they left, and it was only now that Hermione had said them out loud to another person that Lydia realised how terrible they really were.

Travers, however, did not seem to pick up on this and turned back to Hermione, "So, what brings you and your, ah, sympathetic friends to Diagon Alley this morning?"

"Gringotts," Hermione replied.

"Why, me too!" Travers exclaimed and Hermione had no choice but to fall into step with him.

Lydia, Draco and Ron followed behind and she could only assume that Harry and Griphook was behind them. They slowly walked up the steps of Gringotts Bank. Two wizards stood on either side of the door, holding what Lydia recognised to be Probity Probes. She smiled at the memory of Mr Filch once prodding George so hard with one, that he woke up the next day with a bruise on his arm.

Behind her, Lydia heard Harry murmur, "Confundo," twice.

Unnoticed by Travers, he carried onto into Gringotts and Hermione, her long black hair rippling in the breeze behind her, followed him. She was almost through the doors when one one of the Wizards stopped her.

"One moment, Madam," he said, walking towards her and raising his Probe.

"But you've just done that!" Hermione said indignantly.

"You checked them all, Marius," the other one said in a slightly dazed voice.

Hermione swept past them with Ron at her side and Lydia and Draco rushed up the steps. Lydia chanced a glance behind her and looked at the two wizards, they both still looked very confused and were scratching their heads.

As though Hagrid was stood next to her, Lydia heard his voice loud and clear as she walked over the threshold of the bank, "Like I said, yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it,". And there was no doubt about it, they were all completely mad. If eleven year old Lydia had known that at the age of seventeen, she would come back with Harry, two unlikely friends and someone she had grown to hate at school to rob it...well, she wouldn't even know how she would react to it for she couldn't quite react to it now.

Hermione allowed Travers to step in front of her under the pretext of explaining the features of the hall to Lydia, Ron and Draco. And then, she stepped forward to a goblin and cleared her throat.

"M-Madam Lestrange!" He said, obviously startled, "Dear me! How may I help you today?"

"I wish to enter my vault," said Hermione.

The goblin seemed to recoil a little. Lydia glanced around the vast hall and seemed that most goblins had stopped working to look at them. It suddenly occurred to Lydia that what Draco had done might have been common knowledge amongst everyone, and not just the Death Eaters.

"You have...identification?" The goblin asked.

"Identification? I have never been asked for identification before!" Hermione said.

"Your wand, will do," the goblin said.

They knew. Voldemort must have informed the Gringotts goblins that an imposter might try and break into Gringotts and that Bellatrix no longer had her wand. If Hermione handed her wand over now, it would be game over for them...and Lydia could do nothing but watch as Hermione, hand shaking slightly, handed the wand over.

"Ah," the Goblin said, "yes, I see you have had a new wand made!"

"A new wand?" Travers asked, striding over to them, "But how could you have done? Which wand maker did you use?"

Lydia felt something brush against her and she was sure it was Harry hurrying over to Travers. He seemed to freeze for a moment and then a look of calmness spread over his face and he began to nod serenely.

"Yes, I see," he said, looking down at the wand, "yes, very handsome. And is it working well? I always think wands require a little breaking in, don't you?"

Hermione looked shocked but managed to go along with it. Lydia noticed the effects of the Imperius Curse and was mentally praising Harry for his quick thinking. If that had been Lydia under the cloak, she probably would have just cursed everyone and made the entire situation ten times worse.

Amazingly, everything went to plan and the goblin slid smartly off his chair and lead them into the rough stone passageways that lead to the vaults. When the door closed with a bang behind them, Harry whipped off the Invisibility Cloak. Neither the goblin nor Travers seemed surprised to see Harry Potter suddenly in their midst, and Lydia thought that Harry had done quite a good job with the Imperius Curse.

"They're imperiused," Harry quickly explained to Ron and Hermione who looked confused, "I don't know if I did it strong enough though. I kind of panicked,"

"We're in trouble, though," Lydia said, "they suspect something's going on,"

"What do we do?" Ron asked, 'get out whilst we can and think of a better plan?"

"We've gotten this far," Harry said, "I reckon we might as well get going. Also, we have no idea what's happening out there," he nodded towards the rest of the bank.

"He's right," Draco said quietly, "There's no point in giving up now,"

"Good!" said Griphook, making Lydia jump. She had forgotten that he was there, "We need Bogrod to control the cart. I no longer have the authority to do so...but there will be no room for the wizard,"

Harry pointed his wand at Travers, "Imperio!" He turned and set off along the dark track at a fast pace.

"What'd you make him do?" Ron asked.

"Hide," said Harry. He pointed his wand at Bogrod. The goblin whistled and a little cart came trundling along the tracks towards them.

They piled in quickly. Lydia was sure that she could hear shouting behind them in the rest of the bank but it did not matter as the cart took off at once and Lydia could no longer hear anything over the sounds of the cart rattling on the track. The more Lydia thought about the plan, the more stupid it seemed. They could have just pretended to go to another vault and then had the goblin take them to Bellatrix's...

It was too late to go back now, though as they were deeper into Gringotts than Lydia had ever been. She heard the sounds of rushing water just ahead of her and looked up to see a waterfall pounding over the tracks. "NO!" Griphook shouted, but it was too late.

As the water poured over them, she felt the cart lurch forward and her body suddenly became weightless as she was thrown the air, vaguely aware of the others flying besides her. Closing her eyes before the impact, Lydia heard Hermione shriek something and suddenly, she felt herself fall slowly to the ground and landed painlessly on the floor.

"C-Cushioning Charm," Hermione spluttered, "I remembered Dumbledore using it on Harry after that Quidditch Match in third year..."

Draco helped Lydia to her feet and she shrieked when she looked at his face for he looked like himself again. She spun around and saw that both Hermione and Ron's disguises had gone away, and assumed that she no longer looked like Amalia Tewksbury.

"The Thief's Downfall!" Griphook said, clambering to his feet, "it washes away all enchantments and magical concealments. They know something is happening and have set all defences against us,"

Harry turned round to Bogrod and quickly pointed his wand at him, "Imperio!"

"This was a terrible plan. Can I say that?" Lydia asked, looking around at them all.

"Yes, well, we're here now," Harry muttered. He looked up suddenly and Lydia knew why, she could hear the sounds of footsteps running over to them.

Before anyone could do anything, Draco had stepped forward and pointed his wand upwards, "Protego!" He turned around and looked at their shocked faces, "They won't be able to get to us,"

"Good thinking," Hermione said, looking genuinely shocked, "How far now, Griphook?"

"Not far now, not far now..." Griphook said, "this way,"

They turned a corner and saw something that Lydia knew would be there, it still was not prepared for. The dragon lay curled up on the ground, protecting four or five of the deepest and oldest vaults in the bank. It's scales had turned pale from the lack of sunlight and its eyes were milky and pink. It was chained to the ground by its rear legs, both of which were bleeding a raw.

Lydia's immediate reaction was to draw her wand on it, but the closer she looked at it, the more depressing it became. Great beasts like this weren't meant to be held up underground.

"It's partially blind," said Griphook, "but even more savage for that. We have learned how to control it though," he pointed at a bag close to Ron, "hand them out. They're called Clankers. The dragon is trained to expect pain when he hears them,"

"That's awful," Hermione said, but Griphook either did not hear or did not care about the dragon enough to answer. He began to shake the Clanker and the Dragon immediately began to cower under his wings.

"Quick," Griphook said, pointing at one of the vaults, "Get Bogrod to put his hand on the door of the vault, that will open it,"

Harry turned his wand on Griphook and they hurried forward. The Lestrange vault was bigger than any that Lydia had ever been in before. It was stacked high with gold and silver that glinted in the light of the lanterns that hung from the ceiling. She suddenly felt very overwhelmed looking at it all and wondered if destroying everything was their best bet.

"Remember, it's the Cup we need to find. It has Hufflepuffs symbol on it," Harry said quickly, looking around, "it's here...it must be...,"

The five of them stood in the room, looking around. The more Lydia looked, the more everything seemed to blend together. After a few minutes, it was just like one giant ball of gold and silver.

"There!" Draco cried, pointing into the top corner of the vault.

Lydia turned around too quickly and accidentally touched a goblet next to her. "Ouch!" Her hand began to burn and from the goblet, more identical copies of it appeared, "what's going on?"

"Don't touch anything!" Hermione said quickly, but just as she said it, Ron touched a silver plate and that too multiplied.

"Shit!" He exclaimed, staring down at his hand, "ah, Merlin!"

"How are we going to get it without touching anything?" Harry asked, desperately looking around.

"The - ouch! - the sword!" Lydia yelled. A rush of silver plates and caused Draco to fall into an entire shelf of gold and they all came crashing down onto her, "Harry, hurry!" She yelled, as she felt her skin begin to blister.

"Levicorpus!" Hermione said, pointing to Harry.

Hoisted into the air by his ankle, Harry took the sword of Hermione and put it through the handle of the cup, picking it up. Thankfully, it did not multiply.

"Liberacorpus!" Harry said, and he fell back to the floor again, the sword dropping out of his hand. He jumped to his feet, burns on his face, and spun around, "the sword! Where is it? It has the cup on it!"

Griphook saw it before they did and lunged towards it. Evidently, he had not trusted them to give the sword to him when they had gotten out of here. He grabbed it, and as he did so, the cup was flung through the air. Lydia dived forward and caught it in her hand, screaming as it multiplied and began to burn her skin.

Ron's hand closed around her arm and pulled her up. Griphook was already out of the vault and, clutching the sword to his chest, he ran through the chamber outside screaming, "Thieves! Thieves! Help! Help!"

"Come on!" Draco called to them, "their going to be here soon!"

Now waist deep in burning hot treasure, they fought through it, desperate to get to the door. Lydia held the cup over her head, terrified of losing it in the vault. Finally, with one final push, Lydia fell out of the vault and onto the hard, cold floor outside. But her relief at feeling something cold was temporary as a horde of goblins made their way over to them.

Draco was the first out of them all to get back up, "Stupefy!" As quickly as possible, Lydia, Harry, Ron and Hermione joined in, sending stunning spells into the crowd of goblins. Wizard guards seemed to appear out of nowhere and sent stunning spells straight back and Lydia could see no way out of this. She glanced to the side of her and watched as Draco sent stunning spell after stunning spell at the crowd advancing on them. She never would have thought that she would have died with Draco Malfoy at her side.

"DOWN!" Ron yelled, kicking her to the ground as the dragon let out an almighty roar and bellowed fire over their heads

"We don't have to die!" Lydia yelled, suddenly coming to a realisation.

"What?" Draco said.

"We don't have to die!" she repeated, "come on! Follow me!"

She grabbed Hermione and pushed her up off the ground, beckoning for the boys to follow her. It was probably the most ridiculous idea that she had ever come up, and was definitely a sign of complete madness, but there was no other way out. Hiding behind the dragon who had not realised they were there, she pointed her wand at the cuffs that bound it to the ground.

"Relashio!" The cuffs broke with a loud bang and Harry was the first to realise what she was doing.

"Brilliant!" He yelled at her, "absolutely brilliant!"

"Lydia, what are you-?" Hermione called.

"Get up! Come on!" She yelled, shoving Draco and Ron towards the dragon, "ON! NOW!"

They clambered onto the dragon quickly and seconds later, it realised that it was untethered. It gave a great roar and then reared, stretching it's great wings and taking flight. It clawed away at the ceiling, but it wasn't getting very far. Already, the remaining guards and goblins on the first were pulling themselves back together and shooting spells at them.

"Defodio!" Hermione yelled, "come on! It's a gouging spell! Quick!"

The others quickly joined in and within minutes, they had carved a passageway big enough for the dragon. It gave another great roar and flew upwards, perhaps able to smell the freedom it had so longed for. And, at last, by the force of the dragons strength and their combined spells, they had made it into the marble hallway, scattering the goblins and wizards that were still there.

Lydia clung onto Hermione as the dragon forced itself out of the metal doors and into the sky above Diagon Alley. In front of her, she could hear Hermione quietly sobbing and she suddenly remembered that Hermione had a massive fear of flying. Behind her, Ron was swearing over and over again and there might have been a few times when he threatened to kill Lydia for making them do this.

Finally, after what felt like hours, the dragon dipped suddenly and Lydia looked over the edge of it. They were flying over water and Harry seemed to be on the same wavelength as her.

"JUMP!" Harry yelled.

"What?" Hermione yelled back but he had already gone over the sid of the dragon and splashed into the water below.

Knowing Hermione would rather stay on the dragon for the rest of her life than jump from such a height, Lydia grabbed her around the middle and ignoring her cries of protest, Lydia dragged her off the dragon with her and they splashed into the water. Her robes weighing her down for a moment, Lydia thrashed around and kicked her legs, breaking the surface and looking around for the others. She did a quick headcount and was thankful to see that everyone was still with them.

They swam to the edge of the water and

staggered out of the water, coughing and spluttering. Ron took one look at them and burst into laughter. It took a moment, but then they were suddenly all laughing, tears streaming down their faces.

"We just broke out of Gringotts," Ron gasped, clutching his side, "on a dragon!" He turned to Malfoy and clapped him on the back, "we might not be best mates, but you just helped us a lot so...thanks,"

Draco looked shocked but was spared from answering from Harry crying out in pain. Lydia rushed over to him and stopped him from falling over.

"What is it? Harry, what's going on?" Lydia asked, "Harry!"

"He knows," he said, "he knows we're looking for the Horcruxes. Ones the snake and the other is at Hogwarts,"

"I'm guessing we're going back to school then," Lydia said.