Chapter Playlist:
Lose Your Soul : Dead Man's Bones
*Die Alone : Finneas*
Fuel to Fire : Agnes Obel
Divenire : Ludovico Einaudi
Harry moved slowly through the vault, careful to not touch any of the overflowing towers of gold and jewels, the absurd amount clearly far more than one person could ever dream of spending in a lifetime It seemed to stretch far deeper than he thought possible, the only vaults he had ever been in weren't even half this size.
The longer time seemed to stretch without a hint of a result for their efforts, the usual feeling of doubt crept in... the feeling that haunted him for as long as he could remember and seemed to intensify until it was all that he could feel when he believed he lost Hermione—
The feeling that told him he wouldn't succeed, and that when he failed more people would die...
People would die and it would be his failures that caused so much suffering—
Just as the feeling started to feel heavy enough to suffocate him he felt the humming of dark magic gloss his fingertips. Stopping abruptly in his path, he felt Theo bump into the back of him.
"Oof— the fuck?"
"It's here."
"Perfect. Where?"
"I don't know." Harry grimaced, turning to face him as he tried to place where the humming of dark magic was coming from.
"Brilliant. So I was correct to assume there was absolutely no reason for you to stop so abruptly?" Theo mumbled as he walked past him to continue deeper into the vault... now a few paces away he glanced back at Harry, "Any hint as to what I should be on the look out for?"
"Something small, something valuable most likely…" Harry paused and started after Theo, then moving quickly past him as the flickering of something within one of the tall masses of riches caught his eye. "Possibly something to do with either Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff—"
Harry sighed as he finally found the source of the flickering, only to find a necklace full of rubies glittering from his wand light. The object held no traces of dark magic.
"Finding anything in here is going to be impossible—" He turned around in a circle, realizing that he was talking to himself. "Theo?"
He hurried through the vault, stepping over large chests full of random trinkets, stumbling slightly, just missing a tower of leaning gold bricks. He stopped abruptly as he finally caught up to Theo. He was standing with his back straight, arms folded over his chest, a wicked smirk forming on his lips; the usual flare of anarchy dancing wildly within his emerald stare.
The sight infuriated Harry for more than one reason; one, because they really didn't have time for it, but mostly because he couldn't seem to silent the fluttering in his chest as he stalked closer to him… the darkness of the vault, with only their wands for light illuminated shadows across his features, intensifying the curve of his lips and the sharpness of his cheekbones, creating a very distracting image that Harry desperately wanted to have take the time to savor; because when he thought about it— and he spent so much time trying not to— he regretted never spending this much time around the exasperating human before him.
Harry lifted an impatient brow. "Well? If you've found something— out with it…"
"You said Hufflepuff, right?"
"Yes."
Theo stepped aside, nodding his chin upward as he cast a charm around the light tipping from his wand and it began rising into the air, stopping only when it hovered near the ceiling. Harry followed the motion to the top of a leaning pile of rubbish, his eyes landing on the small golden cup, the buzz of dark magic practically curling around it and flowing towards them; and for the first time in months Harry felt the faint warming sensation that he was unstoppable again— like he was where he was meant to be in that exact moment.
He hadn't felt that feeling since before he believed Hermione to be dead— when Dumbledore's task for him didn't seem impossible and he would stop at nothing to see it through... but it was there again, bubbling beneath the surface, lighting something within him… something he thought to be dead, never to be revived again.
He forgot how wonderfully dizzying it felt, the adrenaline that pumped through his veins knowing they were one step closer to destroying Voldemort— one step closer to never watching someone die for him again— one step closer to getting justice for every person he lost— one step closer to the end—
As his gaze dropped from the cup to find Theo smiling at him, truly smiling, Harry was filled with a swelling sense of euphoria… wondering if Theo would mind reminding him of this feeling everyday for the rest of their short lives.
He doesn't ask.
"You're brilliant."
A bright, unfiltered laugh escaped him as he unthinkingly flung himself towards Theo, framing his face in his hands, pressing his lips against his firmly. Theo clearly hadn't been expecting it and Harry's lips caught teeth as much as lips, but it hardly mattered as he only lingered for the span of a short breath, determined to pull away before he could consider what he had just done.
Getting lost in the ache of his ribs as his heart swelled within his chest, he purposely avoided Theo's confused state of rapid blinking as he seemed to still be processing the moment, then hurried towards the entrance of the vault.
"Hermione! Malfoy! We've found it! Back left, deep in the stacks!" Harry shouted then moment he saw the blur of brown curls and blond hair around a stack of gold, and turned to return to the cup to find a very still, very confused looking Theo in the same place he left him.
"Harry! You've found it?!" Hermione was by his side in the next moment, Draco directly beside her.
"Theo actually." Harry said, nodding up towards the top of the stacks where the light still hovered.
"Is that—?"
"Hufflepuffs Cup!" Hermione answered Draco before he could finish, a smile stretching across her face as she turned to Harry. "Which means we were right, Harry! That means the next one must have to do with—"
"Ravenclaw—" Harry nodded quickly, another laugh of relief flooding out of him. "We're going to end this 'Mione. I can feel it."
"Let's just focus on getting out of this bloody vault first, yea?" Draco commented, moving towards the stall stack, starring up at the cup and then glanced at Theo, who had still not moved. Harry wasn't even sure if he was breathing. "Alright, mate?"
"Hm?" Theo was still blinking rapidly as he turned to Draco.
"You look…" Draco frowned, lazily waving his hand up and down in front of him, "— disagreeable."
"You know how I get in tight spaces—" Theo quppied, shrugging as he turned his gaze to the cup, "—claustrophobia and whatnot."
Draco considered his friend for a moment, realizing once again he shouldn't press him, choosing to not point out that this vault was almost twice the size of the Slytherin Common Room and Theo was definitely not claustrophobic, as he spent most of his life hiding from his father in tight spaces.
Turning to Hermione and Harry he nodded towards the cup. "I'll climb up and grab it. If I slip, I volunteer Granger to cushion my fall."
Hermione rolled her eyes at him as he shot her a wink.
"Why you?" Harry asked quickly.
"You're still a Half-Blood last I checked, yea?"
"Well, yea—"
"Then if you touch anything in this vault I'm fairly certain your fingers will fall off or your flesh will slowly deteriorate from your self-righteous, intrepid little bones—."
"And you thought now was the best time to mention it, and not— I don't know— before we started searching?"
"I told Granger. Not my fault she didn't pass the message along." Draco said with a shrug and began moving up the pile of gold, ignoring both Hermione and Harry grumbling below him.
As Draco carefully placed one foot on a sturdy ledge and searched out another he wondered why this all felt far too simple. He wanted to believe it was Potter's dumb luck, but he was far to cynical.
First, they made it past the atrium full of Goblins, no problem.
Second, they survived the thieves downfall.
Third, they managed to figure out his mother's puzzle of an entirely new lock to actually get into the vault.
Forth, Theo had miraculously pointed out the one gold trinket in this disastrous mess of gold that they needed to find.
And now, he was inches away from holding a part the Dark Lord's soul and still nothing had gone wrong—
"Oh fuck—"
The sound of Theo's cursing from below made him freeze in his efforts, internally hating himself for hoping for a split second it could be this easy.
The loud roar of the dragon accompanied by the rattling of the torture instrument echoed into the vault, ringing in his ears as he reached for the cup, gripping it tightly in his hand. There was a moment of calm that lasted the length of ten seconds as the dark magic filtered from the cup and across his skin. He quickly shoved the bitterly cold shiver away and glanced down to where the others were waiting on him. His gaze shot over the large piles of gold to see a swarm of guards across the arched entry way, Gunther shouting and pointing at them, though thankfully the dragon was still keeping them from crossing the platform.
"DRACO! WE HAVE TO GO! NOW!"
Rationalizing the fastest way down wasn't necessary the safest, he opted to do it anyway. Draco slid down the gold, trinkets falling all around him as he descended unsteadily until he was crashing forward from the velocity, and Potter mistakenly darted out to lessen the blow, knocking him backwards into another pile of gold. Draco's eyes widened in horror as every piece of gold Potter touched began to multiple.
Harry cursed and flinched away from the piece of gold touching his skin, and Draco knew it was searing his skin as a red welp began to form across his neck.
"What the fuck did you just do?!" Draco shouted, yanking Potter to his feet. "You activated a Gemino Curse you idiotic—"
"Draco! Harry! Come on!" Hermione called out from somewhere up ahead. She and Theo had already begun moving towards the exit, avoiding the multiplying trinkets bouncing around them from all directions. She cried out as one of the pieces scraped over her skin, buring her forearm, inches away from her already tender scar.
Draco growled as he felt the gold begin to rise over his ankles and he quickly shoved through it, knowing if they didn't get out now the guards really wouldn't matter because they would suffocate under the weight of it all— Potter and Hermione, burning in agony all the while.
Well, fuck all, that was not happening if Draco could help it—
Forcing Potter forward, and happily ignoring his grunts of pain, Draco focused on Hermione's small frame. She flinched away from the falling items and he felt a pang of relief flood him as Theo pulled her nearer to him, blocking what he could as they shoved forward.
The gold was still rising, almost to mid thigh now, and it was becoming increasingly more difficult to move forward. Draco looked up to see Hermione and Theo safely on the other side of the vault. She threw up a shield to keep the trinkets from flooding out as Theo held off the incoming visitors, with the help of the dragon of course... brilliantly, Theo summoned the instrument from Gunther's small hands, but not without sending him a firm middle finger in the process.
It was then that Draco began to calculate how little possibility they had to make it out of the vault in time for all of them to get away. With every shove forward, more and more trinkets bounced off of Potter's skin.
"You can't keep moving! It's only going to keep rising!" He shouted over at Potter, who was trying very hard not to let any of the gold trinkets graze his skin with little success, it was rising to their chests now. Draco stopped, gripping Potter's wrist to make him do the same.
"The fuck are you—"
Before Potter could finish his sentence he felt Draco's hand digging through the rising pile, stopping once it landed on his thigh. The look in Draco's eyes were deadly as he snarled at Harry.
"If we fucking survive this, Potter, I swear to fuck I will murder you if you tell anyone I did this."
"Did wha— HEY! WATCH IT!" Harry's eyes widened as he felt Draco's hand fumbling up his thigh, across his waist and began digging into his pocket.
"Not a fucking word, Potter!" Draco growled as he pulled the invisibility cloak above them and fanned it out across the rising trinkets. With every ounce of strength he had left in him, Draco struggled against the pile until his body was three fourths of the way out and turned back towards Potter, reaching for his hand, and yanking him forward. It took several tugs, both of them sinking as much as they were rising, the cloak at least keeping the gold from burning him as they fumbled towards the entrance. After what felt like a lifetime of drowning they finally made it to Hermione's shield. She dropped it long enough for them to push through and they fell in a heap on the floor, heavy breaths and panting wildly as he and Harry hurriedly struggled to force the vault's doors shut.
Hermione dropped her arms then, staggering backwards, but catching herself before she fell from the exhaustion of the spell. Both her and Harry collecting a new set of red lashes where their skin was exposed to the gold.
"Don't mind me. I'm just fighting off a dozen wizards and dodging a ring of blazing fire. No rush— but, uh— FUCK— PROTEGO!" Theo shouted over his shoulder, "—Dragon's filleted like ten guards already and I'm pretty positive that we're next— the invisible barrier was dropped like five minutes ago and— INCOMING!—" Theo shouted across the platform to the guards, wincing as one of them tried to run past the dragon, only to be caught in a burst of flames moments later. "Ohh— that's gotta hurt."
"Are you okay?" Hermione asked, frantically checking on both Harry and Draco at once.
With a quick nod, Draco hurried to help Theo, tossing a round of hexes across the platform as Theo tossed a shield around them. They switched tactics and Draco shouted over to him, "See any other ways out?"
"None that don't involve one of us dying!" Theo shouted back, shoving Draco out of the way to block the stinger hurdling towards his head.
"Strange isn't it?" Hermione said to Harry as they jogged to join them.
"What is?" Harry asked breathless, tossing a stunner, hitting one of the guards directly in the chest.
"Being saved by Draco Malfoy." She said with a grin, ducking out of the way of a hex that just missed her curls by an inch, and despite the growing tension, Harry laughed.
"Any ideas, oh brilliant one?" Theo called over his shoulder to Hermione.
Hermione glanced around the platform, her eyes landing on the chains of the dragon. She and Harry shared a knowing nod and he began tossing stunning spells furiously, helping her clear a safe path to get an aim on the chains.
"We've got one—" Harry shouted, "—but it's mad!"
Draco threw up a quick shield as a curse whirled towards them, inches away from hitting Theo's shoulder. "We're all ears, Potter!"
"Just follow my lead." He responded.
Draco did not like the sound of that. Before he could respond he realized that Harry was no longer standing next to him. Fucking Gryffindors—
"RELASHIO!"
Purple sparks burst along with the sound of a loud 'crack' echoing around the arched platform, and the Dragon's chain blasting into pieces. Draco froze long enough to realize it had been Hermione's wand that had freed the beast.
"On three!" Harry shouted.
Hermione glanced over her shoulder, "Hop on right after us!"
As she turned around and cast another stunner at the guards closing in on them, Draco and Theo shared a quick glance and then watched as the two flung themselves through the air. Draco felt his heart stop as Hermione hardly latched onto the dragons raised spines in time, but Potter's hand was there to pull her up to safety a moment later.
A string of hexes were being whirled his way and he was grateful Theo was quick to block them so he could collect himself from the minor heart attack he was most definitely having.
Draco heard Theo shout "Fuck it!" and the next thing he knew all three of them were hanging on tightly to the beasts spines, but before he could even think to join them a gust of red light latched onto his shoulder, knocking him backwards into the vaults doors.
"Draco!" Hermione called to him.
He could feel the jinx seeping into his skin, but easily ignored the pain and blood as his survival instincts seemed to pump into overdrive. Shoving himself to his feet, he watched as the dragon began to turn it's body, slowly beginning to climb upwards, blocking the guards from aiming at him.
He steadied his nerves, feeling all to certain that he wouldn't make the jump as the dragon's back was now vertical, instead of horizontal. As he readied himself to jump he concentrated on the open spines near Theo and started sprinting forward and launched himself off the ledge—
There was a brief irrational thought that occurred to him while he suspended in the air— fire from the dragon swirling around them and jinxes and hexes buzzing all around, the thought that: if he were to die, well, attempting to jump on the back of a dragon to escape a highly secure vault would be a pretty fucking interesting way to go out— a story worth telling, he hadn't really ever had one of those before—
His body slammed into the Dragon's rough skin, but as he reached for the spine, the silky texture slipped through his finger tips and he felt himself falling downward as he frantically reached for something, anything to grip onto—
Then someone's hands curling around his forearm stopped him suddenly, he grunted out something unintelligible as the pain from the earlier jinx shocked through his body, feeling as if his arm would rip from its hinge if he hung like this for another moment. Gritting through the pain he glanced up to see Potter using all his strength to pull him up, with whatever was left within him he shoved himself up as best he could—
He felt a jolt of fire slash through his shoulder again as the dragon began to move quickly upward as it realized it was no longer chained down. The blood covering his arm continued to make it impossible for Potter to keep his grip and he felt himself slipping again; his feet dangling and body thrashing against the dragon's side. Just as he thought he would fall, another set of hands wrapped around his arm and was quickly yanked him up just in time for the dragon to level out as it came to a pause, perching on the roof and stretching its wings.
"Fuck, Draco— you mother fucker! Heightening the drama's my thing, not yours! Leave the near death experiences to me next time, yea? "
Theo.
He felt himself smile despite his arm feeling practically useless.
Hermione and Theo were on the other side of the dragons spines, holding on tightly, a set of ropes around them both. Hermione quickly lifted her wand to conjure another rope, tossing it to Harry, who quickly began to wrap it as well as he could around Draco's torso, and around one of the dragon's spines.
Things started to become a bit hazy for Draco after that. He thought the dragon was about to take flight then, but really he couldn't be certain.
He saw red and black flashes behind his eye-lids, struggling to lift them. Then a bright light flashed as his body shifted into a different position. He managed to open his eyes and instantly began frowning as he realized he was tucked under the arm of Harry bleeding Potter— his stupid, atrocious hair blowing in every direction— glasses slightly skewed on his ridiculous face.
They were probably flying now. Draco wanted to vomit.
"Not a fucking word, Malfoy." Potter smirked down at him as he noticed him glaring up at him. "We're even now."
Draco rolled his head to the side to see Hermione through the gap in one of the dragon's spines, her and Theo both in a similar position as the world spun entirely too fast behind them. The brightness of the sun forced his eyes away, and he dipped his head again to see Potter still smirking at him. His lips twitched lazily as his eyes fluttered shut, unable to feel the searing pain he was sure would demand his attention the moment his adrenaline wore off.
"Fuck you, Potter."
The sound of Harry's laugh was the last thing he remembered hearing as they continued through the sky, higher and higher into the bright sky on the back of a fucking dragon—
Fucking Gryffindors—
A/N: WHAAAAAAAT back to back updates? This is a short one, but I didn't want to leave you guys in suspense!