AN: Thank you to my loyal readers.

Read and Review Please!

Chapter Forty Eight: Optimistic Strategy.


"Good, you're all here." Hermione smiled from her bed. Draco looked at the slightly stunned expressions on Pansy, Blaise, and Harry's faces. With her adjusted hearing, Hermione could distinguish footsteps and was more aware of her surroundings, something that didn't cease to amazing everyone. But it was no longer surprising to Draco, he spent so much time with her now that her new abilities were merely a part of her, "We need to talk."

"What's wrong, Hermione?" Harry asked, taking up the available chair by her bedside. Blaise and Pansy positioned themselves on the other side, looking confused, while Draco leaned against the foot of the bed, watching her carefully.

"Nothing is wrong, Harry." She nodded in his direction, as if to reassure him, "But we need to plan our next move."

"Our next move?" Draco frowned at her, wondering what ridiculously Gryffindor scheme Granger had planned this time.

"Yes, ours. We need everyone to be involved, if we are to succeed." Hermione looked like a queen giving orders and Draco nearly chuckled at the comparison. Her new disabilities had only made her more bossy, not that she could have possibly been more so than during her years at Hogwarts, "For the sake of Blaise and Pansy, I must explain we're hunting horcruxes to win this war. By eliminating all the horcruxes, we can finally defeat him."

"So, that's why you were brought to Malfoy Manor? You were caught while hunting these horcruxes?" Draco asked curiously.

"Yes. Harry, Ron, and I had snuck out to hunt another horcrux down." She admitted, "We didn't anticipate the Snatchers."

"Obviously." He drawled and he was sure she was glaring at him from under her mutilated eyelids.

"Anyway, we think we may have located another. But we need your help retrieving it." Hermione turned to the other Slytherins, "It's in the deepest depths of Gringotts, where many pureblood vaults are located. Specifically, we're looking for Bellatrix's vault."

"Surely you realise that's going to be impossible." Pansy pointed out, "Gringotts is the safest place in Wizarding England; you won't be able to get in without being caught."

"No, we won't, unless we have help." Hermione agreed, "You and Blaise aren't known Death Eaters and I'm positive your defection won't have been noted. However, Malfoy will be being hunted."

"So, how do you suppose we do this then, if I am such a liability?" Malfoy frowned, attempting to follow her mind pattern.

"You won't be going with them." Folding her hands in her lap, she looked straight at him, "But we need your knowledge of Gringotts and your Aunt's vault to help us plan."

"I've never been in her vault. But it will be well protected." He admitted, "I'd imagine it is located near Mother's vault, which is guarded by a dragon."

"A dragon?" Harry's eyebrows shot up, looking worriedly at Hermione.

"Yes, a dragon." Draco repeated, rolling his eyes at the other boy's reaction, "Many of the pureblood vaults are protected by dragons, its common practice. But they're passable if you ring the bells. They are trained to expect pain when the bells are rang, so they move away from you when you ring it."

"That's barbaric!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Regardless, it's how the vaults are protected." He reasoned, "But you're going to struggle to even reach there, because they won't make it passed the Goblins."

"They will." She assured him, "We're going to use polyjuice potion to gain access to her vault."

"And transfigure into who, may I ask?" Scoffing, Draco crossed his arms in disbelief. This plan was exactly as he thought it would be; highly optimistic, ignorant of the danger, and foolhardy. While Granger may be the brains of the Golden Trio, she still possessed the ridiculous Gryffindor tendency to underestimate the threat of the situation.

"Bellatrix." Hermione replied, swallowing hard, "I have a few of her hairs from my jumper from when she tortured me." Her tone tried to sound detached, but everyone could hear the slight tremor in her voice as she spoke.

"How of Merlin's earth did you get those?"

"I asked Harry to search my clothes, before Mrs Weasley washed them. You never know when they may be useful." He wanted to applaud her forward thinking, but he couldn't reconcile her ingenuity with her reckless planning. To impersonate one of the most dangerous Death Eaters was asking for trouble, "Pansy will be using the potion to help us gain access to the vault." Pansy's cheeks flushed to a sickly white, but she nodded in agreement. Blaise subtly placed a hand on her back, silently asking if she was happy to do it. She brushed his hand off in reply, focusing on Granger's plan, "Blaise will go with you, as a Death Eater, while Harry takes the invisibility cloak with Griphook."

"Griphook? You've made a deal with a Goblin?" Draco shook his head, "Goblins are not to be trusted."

"Yet, we trust them with our financial safety." Hermione retorted simply, "Harry and Ron have already made the deal with Griphook. He will help them get into Gringotts and to Bellatrix's vault."

"You're an idiot for trusting a Goblin. He's just as likely to stab you in the back."

"Goblins keep their word." She pointed out sternly, "I trust he will help you get into the vault."

"What exactly was the deal?" Turning to Harry, Draco glared down at him.

"He promised to get us into Bellatrix's vault." Harry scowled defensively, rising to his feet.

"Then let's hope he will get you out too." Draco replied darkly, "You're stupid to think this will work."

"It will work." Hermione snapped, "This plan will work Draco. Now, both of you, stop glaring at one another like testosterone fuelled animals."

"When do we leave?" Pansy asked quietly, trying to defuse the tension.

"You'll go tomorrow. There's polyjuice potion already made in the cupboard, Pansy, you'll need to take it hourly while at the bank. You'll all leave when Lavender has given birth, taking advantage of when everyone else will be distracted by the babies' arrival. No one else is to know about this, not even Ron." She added to Harry, "You know he'll want to help and he needs to be with Lavender now."

"Okay." Harry nodded.

"Be ready to go at a moment's notice, we only get one shot at this." Hermione warned, "If you're caught, we'll never get the horcrux. Lupin was furious enough last time." With that, everyone left to make their preparations, leaving Draco and Hermione alone in the Infirmary. Hermione leaned back into her pillow and sighed, looking worriedly at the ceiling.

"It's a stroke of genius using Lavender's labour to cover their escape." Draco admitted, "But they'll never get into her vault."

"They will. They have to." She murmured, stress lines etched between her eyebrows, "This war will come to its climax soon and we have to have the best chance of defeating him, once and for all." Turning to him, she sighed, "Or we'll all die trying."