The cemetery was eerie to say the least. I'd never liked being near them, not since the Triwizard Tournament and what had happened after grabbing the cup, but I choked down my agitation and helped find Harry's parents' graves. Hermione found them, though I had become curious with a grave that had the same symbol as the one in her book, the one shaped like a triangular eye. I found it curious that it would show up here, and after studying the headstone for a while longer, I then joined Harry and Hermione to pay my respects to the Potters. It brought to mind the moment where Harry's wand had met Voldemort's, and how Lily and James had both appeared as some kind of apparitions before Lily had spoken to me.
Look after my boy for me. Watch over him.
Glancing at Harry, I wondered if part of my reasons for trying to look out for him the way I did was to respect Lily's final wish. She'd died to protect him, and after she'd asked me to watch over him, I had taken her request rather seriously. I mean, he really was family to me. I loved him a great deal, and Harry had also admitted that he thought of me like a sister as I'd overheard him talking to Hermione and Ron about it before now. It made me happy, so with a soft smile, I created two bunches of flowers with my wand and put them down alongside Harry's, resting my hand on top of Lily's grave. "Glad to finally meet you, godmother." I murmured to her before then pulling back.
We stayed for a little while before then continuing our search for Bathilda Bagshot's house, as Hermione had reasoned that it was possible that Dumbledore had given the sword to her for Harry to collect since they'd known each other. I was more wary of our surroundings, and becoming aware that we were being watched, I made them all press on in order to get away from the graveyard. My instincts were telling me that we should leave immediately, but Harry was determined to stay and try to find the sword, but when came upon his house, it was like he was lost in a trance.
It remained exactly as it had been seventeen years ago, partially collapsed from where the killing curse had rebounded, left that way in order to commemorate the Potters' deaths and the violence that had occurred here all those years ago. When Harry touched the gate, it lit up with a sign explaining what had happened to the house and why it had been left the way it was, as well as dozens of signatures and messages left for Harry from people who had come to visit the resting place of the Potters. Harry thought it was brilliant, finally giving a broad smile to read the messages, but before I could suggest that we continued our search, we were approached by a hunched figure which immediately set me on edge.
Something was off about this woman. I couldn't quite explain it, but it was purely instinctive and I found myself growling at her unwittingly, warning her not to come too close as she had beckoned to us to follow her despite the fact that we were underneath the Invisibility Cloak. "How does she know?" Hermione whispered worriedly, gripping onto Harry and me tightly.
"Are you Bathilda?" Harry finally asked her and the ancient looking woman nodded her head before beckoning once more for us to follow. Everything inside me screamed to get out of there, but Harry was already following after her, forcing Hermione and myself to go with him if we were to remain under the cloak. The house she brought us to was similar to her. Old and musty. Thick layers of dust covered every surface as I quickly scanned the room, waving my wand to search for any other signs of life, but it was completely empty save for us.
Despite my warnings and Hermione saying repeatedly that she wasn't sure about all this, Harry insisted that everything was fine as he watched Bathilda Bagshot with hope, telling us that he had known Bathilda was a little off her rocker. A sharp sound came from the other room, something akin to a hiss which made Hermione jump and grasp my arm as I bared my teeth, the lioness in me stirring as I almost dropped onto all fours and shifted out of natural primal instincts but Harry assured us that everything was okay. We believed him, more because of the fact we wanted to believe that the sword of Godric Gryffindor was here as well rather than the possibility that this was all a ruse.
After a few minutes where I had continued looking around for anything that looked like a sword, Harry had begun to ask Bathilda the identity of a blonde haired man in a photograph he'd found, but she was exceedingly unhelpful since she didn't seem to be inclined to talk or even make any kind of sound whatsoever. "Harry, what are you doing?"
"This picture, Hermione, it's the thief, the thief that stole from Gregorovitch! Please, who is this?" Harry returned to Bathilda as I leaned over to get a good look at the person, but unfortunately didn't have a clue as to who it was.
"Why did you ask us to come with you, Mrs – Miss – Bagshot? Was there something you wanted to tell us?" Completely ignoring Hermione, Bathilda remained focused on Harry and started to make gestures that he wanted him to go upstairs with her, though when Hermione and I attempted to follow, she made another hissing sound to which Harry informed us that she wanted him to go alone. All the more unsettled, I refrained from giving a deep sigh because I wasn't all that inclined to breathe in the smell of this place. It reeked like someone had died in here months ago, and the body was yet to be removed.
I froze. The smell, the dust, the strange woman, the absent, almost dead look in her eye, the fact that she couldn't talk but hiss…my instincts were now screaming at me, and Dumbledore's message suddenly burst to the forefront of my mind. Trust your instincts. Danger. That's what I sensed. Drawing my wand from my sleeve, I then pointed it up at the ceiling to shout. "HARRY!" There was a thud from upstairs, the floorboards creaking as I heard the sound of intense hissing and Harry crying out in alarm. Making a motion with my wand, I collapsed the ceiling and brought the floor downwards, forcing Hermione back to find Harry being wrapped up in the coils of a gigantic python, the body of Bathilda Bagshot falling under the debris.
"Harry!" Hermione shrieked and quickly went for her wand as I aimed a spell at the snake's head, trying to force it to let go of Harry. It hissed then struck, large fangs aiming to sink into flesh but Hermione and I both dove out of the way in time as I then struck with another spell, trying to cut off it's head but the spell seemed to just bounce off it, slashing through the wall instead. Nothing we threw at it seemed to do the trick as Harry gasped for air, managed to get free as he yelled to us in warning.
"He's coming! He's coming!" We didn't need to ask who. Hermione released a blasting curse as I transfigured a chair into a huge boulder and dropped it onto the snake's head, causing it to hiss and writhe uncontrollably, forcing me to leap over the snapping motion of its tail as I grabbed hold of Hermione and Harry both by the scruffs of their coats and blasted an opening out of the wall straight into the street, getting them outside and as I felt a cold prickle at the back of my neck, I turned on the spot to catch a glimpse of Voldemort's screaming face of fury before we all disappeared from sight.