Chapter 10:The Inner Vault
"Oh thank Merlin!"
Beth slowly woke up to feel Balboa purring contentedly on her chest. She looked up to see Hestia sitting next to her.
"You're finally awake!" She said, relieved.
"Huh?" Was the only word Beth could manage to get out of her mouth. She felt exhausted, as if she'd just run miles and miles uphill.
Hestia rolled her eyes. "You collapsed after leading that thing out to the Death Eaters. The whole school is talking about it! What was that thing?"
Beth slowly remembered the battle. "How long was I asleep?"
"Half a day at least!" Hestia said. "I finally talked Madame Pomfrey into letting me come and sit with you and only because I'm studying to be a Mediwizard. Even Dumbledore couldn't talk her into letting Jonquil or Helen or Abby in to see you."
"Dumbledore," Beth said slowly. "The Death Eaters?"
"The lizard thing took care of them, and what was that thing, Beth?" Hestia was staring at her. "Where did it come from?"
"It's some kind of fire lizard." Beth yawned. "I found it underneath the school when I was…" she cut herself off before she relieved anything. "When I noticed Draco slipping into a secret tunnel. I followed him and found it. I told Dumbledore and he said he thought they used to use them to heat the school." Balboa yawned and rolled over, sticking his paws into the air.
Hestia looked like she wanted to ask a question but merely sat silent for a long time. "What's going on?" She asked finally. "I mean, you've been meeting with the Headmaster almost every night this past week and then Death Eaters show up here…" She trailed off, waiting for an explanation.
Beth stared back at her, trying her best not to look nervous. Dumbledore had told her not to share with anyone the fact that they were searching for the Relics since rumors were quick to travel. It had been hard not to talk to her friends about it. Balboa rolled back over onto his stomach and stared into her eyes.
"It's about my animagus training." Beth said slowly. "Headmaster Dumbledore is very good at Transfiguration. He's giving me extra lessons to supplement ones that Professor McGonagall is giving me." It was a lie, another one, but Beth felt like she didn't have a choice. Maybe once everything was over Dumbledore would let her explain things to her friends.
Hestia nodded, looking relieved. "I'm just glad you're not mixed up in anything. You know how Jonquil gets, she's been listening to Luna again and she's gotten worried that you're mixed up in something with the Death Eaters and You-Know-Who."
Beth chuckled. "Jonquil has managed to get everyone else worked up?"
"It was easy after the Death Eater attack." Hestia said sternly. "I should go and see if Dumbledore still wants to talk with you. He wanted to know when you woke up." She got up and walked towards the door of the infirmary.
Beth stroked Balboa absently wondering once again about the room with the fake relics.
"It's good to see that you are awake, Beth." Dumbledore's soft voice startled her and she turned to see Dumbledore taking Hestia's seat next to her bed. "It was a rather interesting idea to turn the fire lizard on the Death Eaters." He said with a grave little smile.
Beth managed a tiny smile. "Where they… did they?" She stammered, suddenly worried at the rather serious expression that Dumbledore was wearing.
"They didn't get past the front door." Dumbledore said. "However I have confirmed today something that I had expected all along. I'm sure you suspect that the Relics have significant power and not just from the fact that a few of them might be Horcruxes. I had suspected that Voldemort was attempting to gather them because they contained such powerful magic." He paused long enough to adjust his glasses. "I have discovered, as I both feared and expected, that all four of the Relics must be in the same place to cast a very powerful spell."
"Isn't that good news?" Beth asked, suddenly less weary than she was a moment ago. "It means You-Know-Who can't cast the spell!"
"Yes, but neither can we, and as far as our sources tell us Voldemort is in possession of at least two of the Relics. Salizar's locket and Helga's chalice."
"I don't think he has, at least…" Beth realized she'd spoken too quickly. She hadn't meant to tell Dumbledore that she'd tried to enter the Vault but from the inquisitive look on Dumbledore's face she wasn't going to get away without telling him the rest of what she had been about to say. "I entered at least part of the vault and there are fake relics there. I noticed a few were missing…"
"I had suspected that you would not wait." Dumbledore said with a smile. "Fake relics you say?"
"Yeah, there's a long table that's laid out with things and they're all just old things transfigured to look like the relics. There's Godric's sword, only it's just an old fencing rapier, and there are chalices for every single Founder and I'm sure they're all just old wooden cups that were transfigured."
Dumbledore looked thoughtful. "That is indeed good news, although if the things that Voldemort managed to steal were counterfeit his spells would not have worked on them and he would've been trying to attain the real thing as quickly as possible." He turned to look at one of the paintings. "You said you'd only entered part of the vault?"
Beth described the other door to him and her suspicion that only an owl would be able to open the door.
"But the letters we have make note that there are several smaller vaults within each of the Founders' and that Salizar wished to have his own key to his vault." Dumbledore noted. "I have a suspicion that he may have used Parseltounge to seal his vault."
"That means You-Know-Who could have his relics!" Beth said mournfully.
"I do believe that at one time he was in possession of Slytherin's locket." Dumbledore nodded slowly.
"At one time?" Beth said catching the words.
"Yes," Dumbledore mused. "I am not so sure that he is still in possession of the genuine relic. I cannot be sure of this but I have my suspicions."
Beth thought about it for a few moments. "We have to get into those vaults!" She said, setting her jaw into a determined line.
"Yes, we do." Dumbledore agreed. "I suggest once you are released from Madame Pomfrey's care that we meet to discuss when we shall enter the vault."
"We'll need an owl." Beth said automatically. "I don't think we can get into that inner vault without an owl."
"We shall see," Dumbledore mused, "In the meantime, Beth, I would like you to think about your transformation."
"My animagus transformation?" Beth said in a startled voice, she had almost forgotten that Dumbledore knew. "But Headmaster…"
"I would you to be prepared for anything that might be in those vaults." Dumbledore said simply. "I wouldn't practice it here, simply think about it and try to remember what caused you to make the change in the first place."
Beth agreed and Dumbledore departed. Hestia came back into the room and told her that Madame Pomfrey had agreed to let her leave the infirmary tomorrow afternoon provided that she got enough sleep. So Hestia tucked Beth into her blankets, told her not to worry about homework because Jonquil and Helen were making sure to keep copies of all their notes and then left her alone.
Beth spent most of the night trying to recall what had happened that day in the cave outside Hogsmede. She could only remember panicking and the strange sensation that she was shrinking. Eventually her exhaustion got the better of her and she fell fast asleep.
Beth left the infirmary the next afternoon and spent most of the free time it afforded her trying to catch up with the work she had missed. Jonquil and Helen were very helpful, giving her ideas and topics for her essay in Potions and a crash course in two new charms. Abby leant a hand in doing a bit of the research for Beth's Potions essay and then agreeing to allow Beth to interpret her tea leaves.
That night Beth went to dinner with her friends and was immediately bombarded with questions, congratulations and awed stares. Hestia made a valiant effort to allow Beth to eat her dinner in peace but it only partially worked.
By the time she left the Great Hall, Beth felt like she had explained the fire lizard a hundred times. She left out the part about seeing Draco sneak down into a secret passage. She wasn't sure why but she was sure that if she told about one so easily found everyone would try to locate it or even search out others. Beth was sure she didn't want to know about many more forgotten secrets in the old castle, especially ones that would make Hagrid ecstatic.
She wondered idly for a few moments as she walked towards Dumbledore's office if Hagrid had named the fire lizard yet. Dumbledore met her at the entrance to his office and with a letter in hand they walked together to the Owlrey.
"I have asked for the loan of a very intelligent owl." Dumbledore assured her as they climbed the long stairway up to the Owlery.
They entered together and Beth looked up, searching for the scratched brick. The sun was setting and many of the owls were flying through the wide open windows to start hunting. A snowy owl flew down and landed near Dumbledore. Beth thought it looked familiar and a moment later she realized that this was Hedwig, Harry Potter's owl.
"Here we are." Dumbledore said happily as he tucked the scroll into his robe. "We shall need your help, Hedwig, I hope Harry has spoken with you about this."
Hedwig blinked her amber eyes and made an understanding noise.
"Excellent." Dumbledore smiled over at Beth. "Lead the way, Miss Burke."
Beth was still searching the walls wondering if the marked brick was too high for her to see. She finally spotted what she thought was the correct brick behind one rather fat tawny. "Up there." She said, wishing for several moments that she could remember what she did in order to transform herself into a bird. "The scratched brick." She pointed.
Dumbledore looked up and pointed his wand at the brick, it glowed as if it had been tapped and then a brick at Beth's waist level began to glow as new scratches appeared on its surface.
"I see," Dumbledore said, assisting Beth to press the bricks that were too high to reach. Finally the door appeared, only this time it opened at level with Beth's chest. This amused Dumbledore greatly and they both hoisted themselves through the door and into the dark cobwebby tunnel.
Hedwig flapped her wings and made several annoyed noises from where she had perched on Dumbledore's shoulder. Beth walked forward with confidence and arrived at the first door. She waited for Dumbledore to read the inscriptions.
"Ahh, I see, very clever." He said with admiration as he reached up with his wand and touched the correct words. Beth opened her mouth but then closed it with a snap.
"Of course he knows," she thought, "He's been Headmaster here for ages!" She had wanted to impress him by opening the door so she hurried into the room and picked up one of the fake relics that sat on the long table. "These are the fakes." She said tapping one with her wand, revealing a locket to be a tarnished silver chain.
Dumbledore took the chain from her and studied it carefully before placing it back down and watching the spell take effect once again. "Interesting." He murmured looking up and down the table. "However there are too many different of each relic, one would assume that some of them are fake."
Beth hadn't thought of that and she felt her shoulders sag a bit. "I hadn't thought of that." She admitted.
"Oh and I doubt any regular thieves would pause to give it much thought." Dumbledore assured her. "But you spoke of an inner vault?"
Beth brightened. "Yes!" She said and hurried over to the back wall where the four seals were engraved. She cleared the dust away and studied it hard for the first time. She was hoping to find the magical seals intact and unbroken, it would mean that You-Know-Who hadn't managed to get his hands on some of the relics after all. She felt her heart sink, as she stared at Salizar's seal. There was a carving there of what she was sure was supposed to be two snakes intertwined, but one of them was missing, as if it had crawled out it's place and when she looked down she noticed that it had curled itself around what looked like a carved door handle.
"Oh dear," Dumbledore was staring at the seal as well and he seemed to have come to the same conclusion as Beth. He tapped on the seal and the snake reared its head and hissed but Dumbledore tapped the snake and it shrank back and the door swung open. It revealed a tiny room with a small empty pedestal.
"He's got it." Beth said. She had never felt so disappointed. She watched as the door closed and the snake shifted a bit but remained around the handle. She quickly turned away and looked at the other seals. They all seemed to be intact. She felt a surge of joy and triumph. "But he didn't manage any of the others!"
"Hmmm," Dumbledore stared hard and then reached out his wand and tapped gently on Godric's seal. There was a sound of moving stone and then the door swung open. Beth took a startled step back before she stared into an empty vault. She felt her heart sink again but Dumbledore smiled. "It seems Godric's vault was never locked."
"Because his things are in your office!" Beth said, catching on quickly as the stone door swung shut again.
Dumbledore nodded and tapped Helga's seal. There was the sound of shifting stone again and Beth felt her heart sink once again but Helga's door didn't swing open, instead Beth heard a strange sound coming from the other side of the room. She turned and noticed that the door that had entered from was guarded on both side by two stone owls.
The eyes of the two stone owls were glowing red and their heads turned to fix upon the two of them. "Headmaster!" She cried, clasping her wand tightly.
Dumbledore whirled as the eyes glowed brighter. Beth tried to think quickly of something she could do, some shield she could conjure but instead she had the sudden feeling that she was shrinking and a moment later she was rising above the owls' line of sight. For a split second she was exhilarated; she had managed to transform again! Then just as quickly as the feeling had come it was replaced by fear – the Headmaster couldn't change into a bird, he would be caught in the owls' fire.
Beth gave a keen trilling cry of dismay. There was the sound of grinding stone and Helga's door opened, Dumbledore slipped inside and at once the eyes of the two owls dimmed and faded until they were unobtrusive stone once more. It had all happened so fast Beth could hardly think of exactly how she managed to transform.
Beth flew down and suddenly she felt like she was stretching. A few seconds later she landed in an undignified heap on the floor.
"Headmaster!" She called breathlessly as she entered the small stone chamber.
Dumbledore gave her a proud smile. "Very good!" He said, patting her shoulder. "I shall offer you my deepest congratulations."
"Thank you." Beth said in a small uncertain voice. "I panicked." She admitted.
"The important thing is not what you felt but what you did. You did solve our mystery, one that Hedwig would've been able to solve as well." The snowy owl was sitting on the table outside the small chamber, hooting impatiently. "It appears that a bird's call is the only way to open the Vaults." He looked at the stone pedestal in the center of the room. "And it appears that Voldemort may have indeed been fooled by one of the relics."
Beth looked at the pedestal. She was expecting to see a gold cup engraved with Helga Hufflepuff's seal but instead she saw a large shield with two large Hs in the center surrounded by a badger with yellow diamond eyes.
"A shield?" Beth murmured, staring hard at it.
Dumbledore was already examining it closely. "This is indeed Helga Hufflepuff's," he said sounding amazed. "So it appears that Voldemort did not manage to steal that relic after all."
"That means he only has one!" Beth said triumphantly.
"We must check the other vault first." Dumbledore said, stepping out of Helga's. Beth followed quickly and the door closed behind them. "Say something for us, will you, Hedwig?" Dumbledore said as he tapped Rowena's seal. Hedwig gave a tired hoot and the door swung open with a flourish.
In the center of this room, which had a rather odd shape and strange out-juttings in the walls, was another pedestal on which sat a bronze cup engraved with a large pair of Rs and an eagle with blue sapphire eyes. Dumbledore entered and made a quick inspection.
"Yes, it appears you are correct, Beth," he said stepping out again and allowing the vault to seal itself again. "We are in possession of three of the relics."
"Shouldn't we take them?" Beth asked, wishing to open the doors and look at them again. She was ecstatic. All but one of the relics was here, in Hogwarts, safe in their hands.
"No, they are safest here. If he was unable to get them before he will be unable to get them now." Dumbledore said firmly. "We are still missing Salizar's locket and we must find it."