Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.

Original A/N: Thanks to MaeSilverpaws1, who is beta-ing this story.

Chapter One Hundred Fifty-Four

Gringotts

Tonks looked into the deaden eyes of Rabastan with complete concentration, her own eyes changing so they matched his exactly. She moved down to his nose, then mouth and so on. Unlike her normal disguises where she got to choose what she would look like and could do any sort of mix matching, this time she had to be exactly the same as this man.

The Order had gotten a lucky break a few nights ago and had come into a face to face confrontation with several Death Eaters, who they had been able to unmask. The Order had been even luckier as one of their numbers had been injured. To top off their good luck one of the Lestrange Brothers had been with them. Tonks was now trying to copy the Death Eaters features, having already learned, to the best of her capability, his mannerisms. She tried to ignore the fact that Remus was still arguing with anyone that would listen that their plan was too risky, especially as two days had pasted since they had taken Rabastan prisoner and questions were bound to be asked. The worst of this was when Remus had pulled her aside an hour ago:

"Dora, this is an unacceptable risk," Remus had hissed.

"No it isn't Remus," Tonks said hotly, knowing that he wouldn't be acting like a mad man right now if anyone else was taking this mission. She hated how over protective he was. She was a bloody Auror after all. "If we don't get into the vault we will never be able to destroy Voldemort. It has to be done and I'm the one that can to do it!"

"Someone could use the Polyjuice Potion." he stated.

"We've already had this conversation," Tonks said through gritted teeth. "The goblins have been known to test whether someone is taking the potions. They have this water fall thingy …"

"Waterfall thingy … yeah that description fills me with confidence," Remus growled.

"My metamorphmagus abilities will not be affected by that," Tonks said. "I don't put on a disguise when I change, I actually change. I have to …"

"The goblins will only use that if they believe the person isn't who they say they are," Remus said stubbornly. "Besides, that's not the part that I'm worried about. You can't just walk in there as Rabastan and expect no one to notice you …"

"We've been through that part, too," Tonks said. "Snape told us the way to get to the goblins. How the Death Eaters have been getting to the goblins to access their gold since they have broken out of Azkaban."

"Which means the Death Eaters might have informed the goblins that Rabastan is missing …"

"Come on, why would the Death Eaters do that," Tonks rolled her eyes as Remus seemed to be grasping at straws then and when he was about to open his month to argue she added, "and even if they have, that takes us back to the metamorphmagus things. They won't be able to prove I'm not him. We have gotten all the information we need out of him so that I can convince them I'm who I same I am …"

"Dora please, don't go," Remus said giving up the fight as his shoulders slouched. "I have this horrible feeling that I'm never going to see you again."

"Remus," Tonks sighed pinching the bridge of her nose, angry and yet moved by his words at the same time. "I'm not just going to sit on the side lines …"

"I'm not asking you to," Remus said, "but this mission … you'll be all alone and you have no idea what would happen to you if you're caught. The goblins can be even more vicious than the Death Eaters … and you can bet they will be particularly vicious to someone trying to steal from them."

"Do you think what you're feeling now is any different than what I felt while you were talking to the werewolves?" Tonks asked him instead of thinking about what he was saying. She did know what he said was true and having her thoughts linger on that will only make it harder for her to succeed. "There are plenty of vicious werewolves … and if you meet Greyback … I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to kill you because you're still …"

"Human," Remus said as she had search for the right word.

"All werewolves are still human," Tonks said, "and I don't care what anyone else says. But some have lost their humanity. You haven't and you never will."

Remus couldn't help but smile at her forceful defensive of him (even while she was arguing with him). "It's not the same thing though. I am a werewolf, so I had a certain amount of protection even if the rest of my kind don't like that I retain my humanity. The goblins aren't going to show you …"

"Remus," Tonks groaned. "I was only pointing out that I was worried about you. I felt sick to my stomach every time you left. I always wondered if it was the last time I was going to see you."

"So now it's my turn," Remus grimaced. "And I just have to deal with it."

"Yes," Tonks said, knowing he wasn't going to deal with it any better than she had, but they couldn't change what had to happen. She had to go on this mission alone and there was nothing he could say or do to change that.

"You better come back or I'll never forgive you!" Remus growled and then pulled her into a hard kiss that she returned; and for only that moment she let her own worries engulf her and took comfort from having Remus's arms around her.

With that memory was still strong in her head giving her the extra incentive to accomplish her mission, Tonks stood up and looked into the mirror. She couldn't see anything of herself in the reflection, and she thought she had mimicked Rabastan perfectly.

"Hmm …" Moody said looking her over, his magical eye peering even deeper into her than just the surface. "You should be acceptable."

"Thanks for the high praise Mad-Eye!" Tonks made a face looking at his reflection in the mirror. There I am, she thought as she could see her own characteristics in the grim man's face.

"You need to stay in character!" Moody reprimanded. "But your voice seems to be passable too."

"Of course it's passable," Tonks said haughtily, doing as Moody had advised her and getting into character.

"Well, now is as good as time as any to get this mission started," Moody said, "Remember everything I taught you and stay on your toes. Remember that the goblins are suspicious and clever … don't underestimate …"

"Yes, yes mother, I know," Tonks rolled her eyes at him.

"Stay in character!" Moody growled again.

"I will," Tonks said seriously, not saying how much it meant to her that Moody was worried about her.

Tonks flooed into the Leaky Cauldron wearing a black cloak with the hood up and covering her face. She also had a mask on that made her look like a hag if anyone was curious enough to look too closely at her. She noted that Tom, the bartender, watched her as she walked past but didn't try to talk to her. She made her way quickly to the entrance of Diagon Alley and walked purposely and with a steady no nonsense stride to Gringotts. Once inside the bank, she turned to the right instead of going to any of the usual lines for wizards. Walking through a door she saw that there was more tellers and two more doors, one saying Goblins and the other saying Creatures. She went through the door saying creatures, and was relieved that no other customers were there.

"What do you want?" was the greeting she got from the lone goblin teller that was in that room. She would guess this wasn't the most prestigious job for a goblin and wondered if that would make this goblin more cross than normal.

"Access to my most ancient vault," Tonks responded haughtily and the goblin looked up from his ledger and looked at her closely.

"There are no ancient vaults for hags," he snapped.

"No one notices a hag, no one stops one," Tonks said; the goblin nodded his head and pointed at the wall across from them.

She walked to the wall, making sure that she was heading to the exact area he was pointing to before resting her hand on it. Her hand went through so she keep walking, turning around behind her to see a door she just passed through, even though it couldn't be seen from the public side, was now sliding close. Well now there was no returning, she thought grimly.

"Who am I speaking with," a new goblin asked and she turned her attention back to him.

Tonks took off her hood and mask, and looked at the goblin as if the creature was far below her. "I wish to get into the Lestranges' vault."

"Yes I understand but …" the goblin said impatiently.

"Rabastan Lestrange …" she said briskly and added so lowly that no one could hear her or the goblin could read her lips "… vault."

The goblin nodded, looking down at his parchment seeming to be pleased. Tonks felt relieved, Snape had warned her there was a charm in the room she was in now that would make it so the goblins could tell when someone was lying. That was why the goblin had wanted her to say the name.

"Do you wish to take Galleons here, or would you like to go to your vault," the goblin asked.

If she hadn't been warned about this, Tonks probably would have been very shock that the goblins made this offer. They don't normally let people get money directly from the teller, preferring to take the wizard to their vault themselves. However, for speed and convincing they had allowed that in this room, for a generous fee of course.

"I will go to the vault myself," Tonks answered, using 'the' instead of 'my' and hoping that the goblin didn't find that suspicious.

"Very well," the goblin said and waited patiently for a few moments until another goblin came into the room. "Take him to the Lestrange vault. Take the Clankers."

"Yes sir," the new goblin said, and then lead Tonks to the cart.

The cart ride was no worse than it normal was, though it did take a lot longer, twisting and turning so much that she had no idea where she was. She saw the waterfall seconds before she was soaked by the water and falling from the cart towards the surface. She pulled out Rabastan's wand and casted a quick spell to soften her landing, making sure that the goblin wouldn't have the same landing.

As she stood up she wiped her face and ran her hands through her hair, the fastest way to see that the façade was still intact and her metamorphmagus had worked as well as everyone hoped it would. She was just able to keep her relieved sign in as she realize that she still looked like Rabastan before she turned on the goblin that seem to be in some pain. Though she didn't really care for goblins she felt bad that she couldn't have helped him have a better landing, but no Death Eater would have done so.

"What do you think you were doing?!" Tonks growled at the goblin, lifting him off the ground and pointing her wand at him. "That waterfall nearly killed me! Answer now or I will kill you …"

The goblin grabbed the arm that Tonks was holding him with and dug his figure nails into her wrist, making her let go.

Tonks cursed loudly at the pain (no need to act there) though she still pointed her wand at the goblin.

"If you curse me you will not get out of this place," the goblin stated, clearly scared but trying to act as if he wasn't. "That was to prevent anyone from stealing from you, or any of the other high security, vaults."

"That's never happened in the past," Tonks said narrowing her eyes at the goblin.

"In the past you were not an escape prisoner from Azkaban," the goblin said. "We always err on the side of caution. The Thief's Downfall is one of our secrets that will never leave Gringotts."

Tonks knew he had a point. Bill had known about this waterfall, but hadn't been able to say a word about it, give a memory or write down anything about it. He had been able to nod his head when someone else had mentioned this protection, which was the only way she figured out, that Bill knew. It was actually Kreacher that had given this piece of information, having gone with the Black family decades ago and not bound by the same magic that prevented the wizards from talking.

"Here," the goblin said with no other explanation or signs of care and handed her a metal instrument that made a noise that sounded like miniature hammers on anvils.

Good lord, Tonks thought as they turned the corner and was faced with the dragon. A very vicious scary looking dragon. Though at the same time it looked battered and beaten and she could think of the many curses Charlie would have said right now if he was looking at the beast.

Once it was gone, the goblin walked to a vault and put his hand on the door, and it melted away, revealing the riches inside. She scanned the vault, looking for the cup. She was glad that Dumbledore had shown her the memory of the cup, because there were several goblets, cups and other objects that she might have chosen from. Tonks eyes widen when she spotted it and her heart pounded in her chest. This was the part of the mission that she was most worried about. There was no getting past the Gemino and Flagrante charms on the objects in this vault. She wasn't sure if her metamorphmagus ability would work and once she tried there was no going back.

So she had decided to take the much more risky choice (according to Remus), a choice that was just as likely to get her caught, but would assure that her mission was a success.

She pulled out the basilisk fang and walked towards the cup. A sudden rush of dread filled her, she wished she could have the sword of Gryffindor as it would have been easier to reach the cup with it, but not being a Gryffindor she couldn't wield the sword properly. She was sure that she wasn't going to get away with this. Maybe it would be better to just pick up the cup … maybe her ability would be enough … Or maybe she should just leave … that would be better. What was the point of doing this anyway? It's not like Dumbledore had told her how this would help … nor had Remus, even though she knew he knew the reason. Why should she risk her life when they didn't even trust her with the whole truth? Maybe Remus didn't actually care about her or he wouldn't have let her go on this mission …

What the hell! Tonks gasped in her head. Where did those thoughts come from? They're definitely not mine."

She looked at the cup, whatever it was, whatever it meant; it clearly had some kind of power. It did not want to be destroyed. But she didn't give a damn what it wanted, she wasn't going to fail her mission. She took the last few steps forwards glad that Rabastan was tall enough to reach it without her having to touch anything and stabbed the cup.

"What are you doing?" the goblin asked looking scandalized and suspicious. "You destroyed a treasure … do you have any idea how old that cup …?"

"Silence!" Tonks turned and roared at the goblin. "Your opinion means little to me."

"The technique … the beauty … lost …" the goblin said, looking sadder than she ever imagined a goblin able to look.

"It had to be destroyed," Tonks said coldly, "I'm done."

The sadness left the goblin and it was replaced by rage as it looked like he would have loved to attack her. She raised her wand and nodded for him to go. With his eyes on the wand he moved. She only just realized that he wasn't making the noise from the Clanker in time to move away from the foot of the dragon that nearly landed on her. When she glared at the goblin it looked at her smugly.

"Accio Clanker," she said, having a feeling that goblin might not use it until after she been killed. She caught the instrument and shook it, the dragon roar and as it escaped its claw caught her in the shoulder. She fell to the ground hard and heard the patter of feet as the goblins ran away. She picked herself up, pain shooting through her shoulder but it didn't matter. Time was running out, if he got too far away she would be trapped in the maze forever. She reached for her wand and thought about the tripping curse. Her heart leaped as she heard the thumb that signaled that the goblin had fallen.

She walked over to the spot and pointed her wand to the goblins chest. She waved her wand and a flash of light engulfed the goblin but nothing happened. "Try that again and every bone in your body will be crushed!"

"You'll never get out of here if you do that!"

"Clearly you don't want me out of here either way," Tonks said. "Now if I don't make it out … neither will you."

The goblin snarled at her and she hoped that he couldn't tell she was bluffing. It was a long moment as the goblin seemed to calculate his options; clearly the destruction of the cup had been very important to the goblin if he was risking his own life. Then he turned around and walked away. She followed and was pleased to see there was a cart in front of them.