Breakfast was quiet, everyone was stuck in their own thoughts, concentrating on the plan. Thinking about what they had to do, what part they would play.
Hermione dressed in the clothes that had been transfigured from pieces of cloth and Draco glamoured and transfigured her enough, so she looked like the ditzy girl she had been the previous day.
"Merlin, you look like you could be some muggle hotel heiress" Andromeda said as they stood in the living room ready to leave.
"Parfait" she said in perfect French as Harry entered the room with his cloak.
"Ready?" Harry asked, frowning at Hermione's short skirt.
Hermione and Draco nodded as they stepped into the floo.
Before she knew it, Hermione and Draco were walking down Diagon Alley, Hermione's hand in the crook of Draco's arm, in the direction of the bank, followed carefully by an invisible Harry.
They entered the bank without a fuss and waited their turn in silence. When Draco was beckoned forward, Hermione stumbled after him with a giggle and stood back slightly.
"Do you have your key, mister Malfoy?" the goblin asked.
"I do" he answered, looking to Hermione.
"Pourquoi me regardes-tu" (why are you looking at me), she asked Draco.
"Tu as la clé mon amour" (you have the key my love) he said, glancing down into her ample cleavage.
Hermione smiled and giggled, part of the show, as she reached down and felt around for the key.
"je suis désolé" she apologised, before pulling out the small key and handing it to the goblin, who just looked on with disinterest.
"Your wand will need to be measured" the goblin said.
"I would expect no less" Draco said, placing his wand on an odd set of scales.
When everything checked out and the goblin handed back the key and the wand, Hermione and Draco followed his associate to the lower level of underground carts, where they began the journey deep into the maze of vaults.
Draco looked around as they sped up, eyeing the surroundings and shaking his head. Hermione felt Harry shuffle beside her and a whisper of 'confundus' before the cart lept off the track and the four of the plummeted to the ground, far below.
Hermione felt the air grow colder as it rushed past her face with the speed of her fall. She tried to hold her short skirt in place, without much success before she gave up and blasted a rather generous cushioning charm at the ground below.
The goblin, who appeared very confused, got up without a care and began walking off. Hermione saw Harry remove his cloak and start following.
"You should leave that on" she said.
"It doesn't matter anymore; someone knows something is wrong. That's why we went the long way and were dumped off the track" Draco said as he helped Hermione up from the cold damp floor.
"What do we do?" she asked, looking between Draco and Harry.
"Stick to the plan, follow the Goblin to the vault and get what we came here for. We won't have another chance" Draco said.
Hermione simply nodded as the three of them headed in the direction of the Goblin. It was all well and good to access the vault and get the cup, but what about after that? How on earth were they ging to get out?
"It's only a few floors above where we are" Draco said.
Hermione looked up and saw hundreds of levels of vaults. She hoped that when Draco said a few, that he meant a few. They arrived at a steep staircase, which extended further than Hermione could see, both up and down, with what appeared to be pathways at various places for different levels. The stairs themselves seemed like they were made out of dirt and mud in places and every now and then, Hermione had to yank her very inappropriate heels out from the grime.
After what felt like forever, they came to level eight hundred, and left the stairs.
"That was not a few" she huffed as they hurried down a corridor.
They made their way, in silence past dozens of vaults, some of which had names on them, most were unnamed, just marked with a family crest or a number.
"Potter, yours is on this floor too" Draco said.
"Mine's much higher, I've been there a few times" Harry said.
"Your parents vault? It would be. The original Potter vault is down here" Draco said, turning a corner and pointing to vault number 871. Harry abandoned the search for the Malfoy vault and stood before the Potter crest in awe. He had no idea that there could be another vault in his name. No one, not Dumbledore, not Sirius, not Lupin had ever mentioned it.
"Let's get the cup and then see if we can get in" Draco said, turning back, grabbing Harry by the shirt sleeve and heading to vault number 899.
The door to the Malfoy vault was more intricate than most of the others. Hermione had noticed that this floor was dedicated to some of the more extreme families, but it was quite clear that the Malfoys were the most extreme of them all. It made her suddenly realise that Draco existed within a line of wizards who had done things one exact way for millennia, and if they were to be together, to get married and have children, that way would end with her. It left an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Draco turned his key in the lock and struck his wand along a small slit in the middle of the door, which resulted in a click as the door unlocked. The Goblin that Harry had confounded was standing by in a daze and Hermione wondered if Harry had perhaps gone too far with the confundus charm.
"It will wear off, I promise" Draco said, seeing her look of concern as he kissed her temple and entered the vault. There were towers and towers of galleons that piled up deep into the vault that Hermione could not see the rear wall of. There were shelves of, what appeared to be rare jewels, crystals, all kinds of gems, stones and diamonds. There were books upon books in shelves and framed items which she couldn't even begin to describe. There were stacks of wooden crates that seemed like they had been there for hundreds of years and more goblin made weapons than she could count.
As Hermione stood in awe, Draco rushed to the rear of the vault and out of sight. It was frightening to stand there all alone with a confused Goblin, but she stuck to the plan that had her stand guard in the doorway.
It felt like forever before there was a crash of what sounded like metal objects hitting the floor, followed by a commotion and a lot of yelling from the rear of the vault. She widened her eyes to see but could only make out two small glowing orbs that indicated the ends of Harry and Draco's wands.
Hurried footsteps headed her way and she almost collapsed in relief when Draco and Harry appeared from the darkness.
"Did you get it?" she asked them.
Harry held up a goblet looking cup that was emblazoned with the Hufflepuff crest.
"This is it, I can feel it" he said before tucking it inside his jacket.
Draco held in his hands three half-filled rucksacks, that he quickly began filling with galleons, tossing one to Harry and filling the other two himself.
"Draco, I'm not sure about taking all this gold" she said, feeling like it was stealing.
"This all belongs to me anyway, and one day, if I'm lucky, it will belong to you too" he said, pulling her close and kissing her on the temple. She took the rucksacks from them and shoved them deep inside the small handbag she had placed an undetectable extension charm on, and looked to Draco who appeared stunned.
"Where did they just go?" he asked.
She just smiled at him and tapped her handbag, before taking him by the hand and exiting the vault.
They made their way back to the Potter vault without saying a word. Draco seemed to know what he was doing, because he pulled a blade from a holder on his belt and held out his hand.
"You need to cut me?" Harry asked.
"Just need a few drops of blood. You don't have a key, do you? "Draco asked, receiving a head shake from Harry, who held out his palm.
Hermione cringed as Draco drew the blade across his skin, opening the flesh.
Harry winced but didn't complain as the blood seeped out. Draco took Harry's palm and pressed it against the keyhole and instructed Harry to enter his wand the similar way to what Draco had done at ahis own vault.
With a loud click, the vault door opened, and Harry stood back in amazement as lanterns turned on and an enormous round room was revealed.
"Hang on, if all you needed was some of my blood, why did we go to your place to get your key?" Hermione asked.
"Malfoy's are paranoid. They removed the blood charm from the vault centuries ago just in case someone came along and tried to impersonate an heir. I wasn't a hundred per cent sure that this would work, but the Potter's are notorious for being trusting... and, well here's proof" Draco said as they stepped inside.
On one side there was a large family tree, similar to the Black family tree. Hermione hurried over and saw Harry's name listed at the bottom as the most recent Potter, as well as his parents above him and what looked to be a sibling with a cross through it.
"Harry… you had a sibling?" Hermione asked, looking at the family tree.
"I… maybe I didn't know" he said, looking at the dates.
"Date of death is the same as your parents, but there is no date of birth" she said quietly.
"Your mother must have been pregnant" Draco said, looking around and taking very little notice of the family tree.
"Harry… I'm so sorry" Hermione said.
Harry quickly wiped at his eyes and turned away, shrugging his shoulders.
"It is what it is, there's nothing we can do now is there?" he asked, looking around.
There was nowhere near the amount of gold in this vault than there was in Draco's vault, but there was more here than anyone could or would spend in several lifetimes.
"Wow Potter, you're rich. The Weasleys could live for decades off this" Draco said with a laugh.
Hermione just frowned at him and continued looking around.
On the walls, there were various photos, framed artifacts, shelves of jewels and other random things, but the thing that caught Hermione's eye most, was a framed picture of something that was labelled 'Potter Manor'.
"Harry, it says here that there is a manor for the Potter estate" she said.
Harry and Draco came over to have a look and Draco read the writing that appeared to be in Latin.
"It says 'when the Potter heir reveals his blood, something, something, something, the manor will show itself and all of its inhabitants'. There's vague directions too" he said.
"A manor? Inhabitants?" Harry asked, confused as he looked around.
"Some older families will ward their homestead in their blood when their family line is in danger so no one will ransack their possessions and kill their elves. Seems like your… great grandparents… have hidden the manor plus…. 3 elves" Draco said.
"Great... Trusting when it comes to loads of gold and possessions but hides their estate in a blood curse? How do I find it?" he asked.
"From here it looks like its southwest, probably close to Plymouth" Draco said, tilting his head to look sideways at the writing.
"Ok, this is great and all, but now that we have the cup and we've seen this interesting place, can we go?" Hermione asked as she backed herself back to the door.
"Good idea" Harry said, taking a few items off some nearby shelves.
"I like that one Potter, good choice" Hermione heard Draco say, without seeing what they were talking about.
Outside of the vault, things were far more chaotic. There was a rumbling sound coming from below and the sound of yelling from above. Hermione looked to both boys and back to the Goblin, who was still wandering around dazed.
"Is there another way out of here?" She asked the goblin.
"Oh no, you're trapped down here" the goblin replied with a sadistic smile.
"No, that's not true, I know there is another way out. A secret passage. It leads to an underground railway" she said.
"I know of no such thing" he said.
"Here" Draco handed the goblin two large Goblin made artifacts, that seemed to pull the goblin out of its daze.
"Thieves! Imposters!" The goblin yelled.
"Shhh, please, take these and help us get out of here. There will be more when you show us the exit" Hermione said, pushing the artifacts towards the Goblin.
"Why should I help you?" he asked, backing away from the trio.
"Because we're going to kill you know who. We're going to end this war. This is Harry Potter. He is the chosen one. He will put a stop to all of this" Hermione begged.
"Goblin's care nothing for wizarding troubles" he said.
"But you do care for gold and valuables. You do care for goblin made artifacts that have been taken over the years" Draco said.
The goblin just looked at Draco.
"When the war is over, the Lestrange vault will be handed over to me as the remaining heir. I know you know what is in there. If you help us escape, I give you my word, that I will return everything to its rightful place" Draco said.
The goblin seemed to contemplate this for a while, before nodding its head and heading off at a run.
The sounds around them, from above and below felt like they were getting louder, closer, more desperate. They climbed ten sets of stairs before levelling, branching out and running along side vaults in the 700s.
When they arrived at vault 777, the Goblin stopped and looked to the three of them, clutching the two artifacts close, before running its finger down a slot in the middle of the door.
"You will never speak of this exit again. I will hold you to your word, wizard" he said, before pulling the door open and revealing a small passage-way.
"Thank you" Hermione said, feeling grateful that this elf would put itself at risk like this to help them.
"Come on, its not doing this for us, it's doing this out of pure greed. There are more things in that vault than you could ever imagine and most of it is Goblin made" Draco said.
"So it belongs to them anyway?" She asked, following Draco down the passageway with Harry behind her.
"Yes and no. Many years ago, there was a goblin who traded goblin made possessions for a potion that he was told would make him a wizard. The potion didn't work but the wizard who traded the items, kept them and fled. So you could say they were bartered objects" Draco said.
"Or you could say the wizard gave him a dodgy potion and stole those things" Hermione said, angry that a wizard could be so cruel.
"Little from column a little from column b" Draco said, reaching back and taking her hand.
"Do you know where this will lead us to?" Harry asked.
"No idea. I didn't even know it existed" Draco said.
"I think… It leads to an underground subway; I just don't know which. I heard stories but I never imagined them to be true" Hermione said.
They walked what felt like forever, before they heard sounds of life. The rumbling of a train, the muttering of voices, the sounds of the world going by.
When they came to a door, Draco carefully pulled it open and looked out, turning back and looking to the others with a smile.
"It's Euston Square Station" Hermione said as they stepped out of what appeared, on the outside, to be a utility room.
"We need to hurry" Harry said, heading for the exit.
"You're right, we can't be seen and you can't just disappear under the cloak" Hermione said.
They made their way through the crowds and out onto the street. It was a busy day with people rushing around, just going about their day. They had no idea how dire their mere existence was.
They eventually found a secluded alley and Hermione disapparated them back to Grimmauld Place.
They were met by Ron, Tonks, Lupin and Andromeda, who questioned them endlessly about what happened. The gold was put in a common area so it could be used by anyone who needed it and the group took the cup to the cellar, where Draco refused to even glance at the cell where he lived for months. The cup fought for its life, calling out every person who was present and taunting them. It berated Ron for losing Hermione to his enemy and all but called Hermione a slag. It called Draco out for being a traitor and told Harry that there was far more to all of this than he knew. The cup's final blow was to tell Lupin and Tonks that their son would be an orphan before this war was over.
No one believed a word the cup had spewed, but that night, the inhabitants of Grimmauld Place spent their time alone, contemplating the future, that felt like it was drawing nearer to a crescendo.
AN - Hi readers, I have reached the point where I have written to so far. So now I am uploading as I write. My avid followers will notice that I have actually done grammar and typo edits to this fic, which may be why my actual content has suffered? Who knows? Usually my stories are filled with annoying typos and words that are words but don't belong because Word is shit at recognising that stuff and I don't spent almost as much time as I should, proof reading my stuff before I upload... Anyway, I am listening to the feedback, both positive and negative. Unfortunately I don't us Betas. Just not for me. I also know there may be weird dialogue because I change things around and might not be reading ahead enough? **Shrug**. Anyway, I have plans for the battle, I have plans for H&D and I have plans for Harry. Undecided about Ron and his happily ever after. We'll see. Don't know how or where it will end yet either. I do have done dot points at least ;-) Hope you're still with me. This has gone way beyond my initial idea which was Draco begging Hermione to remember their love from inside his cell. I do have another idea which I might start throwing together after I finish this. We'll see. Sorry for this extra long AN. And sorry for the short chapters of late.