Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter characters or plots, but I do
however own my original characters, which may or may not be appearing in
abundance in this fic. I am making no money off of this, otherwise it
wouldn't be on here.
The tunnels were dark and wet, dripping water could be heard from every direction. Every once in awhile, a roar could be heard in the distance, and flames could be seen reflecting off puddles.
It was in this tunnel that Harry appeared, merely a fraction of a second after he had disapparated from Hermione's living quarters in Hogwarts. He apparated without the slightest sound, and began moving as silent as a mouse in a Southernly direction down the tunnel. He past many vaults, each one going down in numbers; 301, 299, 297, 295, 293, and further. He walked until he reached into the lower one-hundreds, and then slowed down. He closed his eyes and held his hands out to the sides, so that they were pointed at the vaults on either side of him. He walked another fifty meters, until finally, he felt a tingling sensation in his right hand. He stopped walking, and turned to face the vault he was in front of. The Potter Family Vault was number 25. He stepped up to the door, and ran his hand over the locking mechanism of the door. A barely audible click was heard, and the door raised up into the wall over his head. It created a massive rumbling sound that echoed throughout the cavernous underground vault system of Gringotts.
Harry was quick to cast a silencing charm over the area, but he didn't think it was quick enough, and fully expected company to arrive soon. Stepping into the vault, he conjured a large ball of flame over the palm of his left hand, and held it up. It lit up the room spectacularly, and Harry couldn't help but raise his eyebrows at the accumulated wealth and items contained in the vault. He saw literal treasure chests filling hundreds of cubic meters of space, stacks of galleons and sickles that were taller than he was, and bigger around than Sirius, Remus, and Snape combined. Towards the end of his vision, he could see a library of books and parchments. There was no telling how far back the vault went from there. To his right, he saw several racks of ancient weapons and armor, and what must have been several tons of steel, brass, and other metals, shaped into bars and stacked against the wall. There was an industrial sized forge next to the stacks of metals, and on the other side of it, he saw yet more stacks of metal bars. The light glinted off of these stacks though, and he walked closer to them to get a better look. His eyebrows raised further as he saw that they were stacks of gold, silver, and platinum.
His inspection was cut short several minutes later, as an army of goblin guards came marching up to the still open vault door.
Harry heard them coming long before, and had already placed a magical barrier across the entrance, preventing them from entering. He looked around the vault, wondering what to do with it all. His bag obviously wasn't big enough to hold a thousandth of the room, and once he left, he was sure that the goblins would be able to break his barrier, and confiscate the remaining contents, moving them to a secret and more secure location. There was only one option that he knew of, but was weary of trying it, as he'd never done it before. He had not doubt that he could defeat the goblin guards, but it would be risky for him to try. Goblin magic is different from normal wizards; stronger, harder to predict and defend against. There was a definite chance that he could end up seriously injured, or even killed if he went up head to head with the entire company of them that were currently trying to bring down his barrier at the door. He sighed softly to himself, and decided to take the plunge. He conjured a medium sized chest, lowered it to the floor. He stood over it, and lowered his hands so that his palms were directly above the top of the chest, and then closed his eyes. Magic began pulsing through the vault, and a blue light shot from his hands to the chest. The ceremonial tattoos on his body began glowing fiercly, as he channeled more magic through his body, and into the chest. The chest, by now, was glowing a stunning shade of royal blue, with arcs of electricity shooting out from it, seemingly at random. The light finally stopped, and Harry opened his eyes. Sweat trickled down his brow, and he wiped it off with his sleeve. He cast a quick replicating charm over the chest, and another one appeared next to it. He took this one and shrunk it, then placed it in a pocket of his pants.
He opened the lid of the remaining chest, spread his arms out, and began chanting. After his chant ended, a change took throughout the vault. Reality seemed to shift, and things blurred. The goblins stopped their frantic efforts to break the barrier, and watched in fearful trepidation as a seeming whirlpool effect began occuring. Everything in the room began spinning around the trunk, with the closest items to it being sucked into it. The rest soon followed as it drew close enough. After several seconds, the vault was empty. Harry took one last look around, then waved his hand over the chest, making it float up to waist level. He took it in his hand, and disapparated away.
Harry arrived back in Hermione's sitting room, to face five nervous people. Hermione, Sirius, Remus, Snape, and Tonks stared at him, anxiety showing in their eyes. Harry smiled and lowered the chest to the floor. Motioning to it, he said, "Here's the Potter Vault." And turned to Sirius. "What number is your vault?"
Sirius thought a moment, and replied. "112."
Harry nodded, and disapparated again.
Sirius began pacing, Remus dropped into the nearest chair, Snape calmly sat down and looked at the offending chest that Harry left. Hermione and Tonks left to the kitchen to put on a pot of tea. This continued for several minutes, until there was a knock at the door. Everyone jumped, in surprise, and Hermione ran into the sitting room, followed closely by Tonks.
"Miss Granger?" It was Dumbledore.
Snape's eyes widened, and he began frantically whispering, "He can't find me here, he'll suspect something." Hermione nodded, and went to the door. "Yes, Professor?"
"May I come in?" Dumbledore asked.
At this, Snape set into a full blown panic and leaped out of his chair.
"Just a minute, Professor." Hermione replied, trying to control her voice. She went back to the others, and found them whispering heatedly.
"Harry will be back any minute, we have to stall Dumbledore!" It was Sirius. Remus and Tonks nodded, while Snape was looking around for an escape route.
"Albus will suspect something if I'm seen with all of you. The Order of the Lion has to remain secret, we can not take any chances at it being compromised." Snape hissed.
Just then, Harry apparated back into the room, looking haggard and war torn. His clothes were ripped to shreds, and he had several burns across his torso and arms. Blood was seeping from several deep cuts, and the hair on the right side of his head was singed, as well as his right ear.
"Harry?" Sirius yelled. The others in the room whinced and looked at the door, where Dumbledore was still waiting.
"Sirius?" Dumbledore asked from the other side of the door. Harry looked at the door and look of comprehension came to him, as he looked back to the frightened expressions on everyone else's faces. He took Snape's arm, and cast an illusion charm over the both of them.
Harry looked at Hermione and the others, even though they couldn't see him. "Get rid of him." He hissed, not unlike Snape, then pulled Snape into Hermione's bedroom, closing the door behind him. Tonks took her opportunity, and darted into the kitchen, settling herself into a comfortable alibi of making tea.
Hermione banished the two extra chairs back into the kitchen, and looked to make sure there was no evidence of Harry or Snape being there, then opened the door for Dumbledore. Dumbledore walked in, nodding to Hermione, Sirius, and Remus.
"Hello, Albus." Sirius greeted neutrally. He'd lost much of his faith in the man when he refused to support Harry during the trial, but he couldn't break all bonds of fellowship, the fight was too important for that. Instead, he'd spent months trying to forgive Dumbledore, to see things from his position, and understand his reaction. He was slowly starting to come around to being somewhat friendly again, but wasn't quite there yet.
Dumbledore sighed. "I was just coming to see if any of you needed anything, in this time of mourning."
"We're fine, thank you." Hermione answered.
Dumbledore surveyed the room; Remus was sitting in a chair, cradling his head in his hands, while Sirius was doing much the same. Hermione looked rather nervous, and kept glancing about, as if she was looking for something, and trying to be secretive about it. Dumbledore passed it off as grief, and the strange actions and emotions it causes, and let it go. He seemed to remember something, and looked at Sirius strangely. "Did I hear you yell out Harry's name?"
Sirius jerked up, and looked panicked for a split second, something that did not pass unseen by Dumbledore. "I dozed off and a had a dream about him...I thought that he was here, and I called his name." He managed to look embarassed, as if he was telling the truth. Dumbledore looked at him a for a few seconds, before nodding.
"Well, if any of you need anything, you know where to reach me." Dumbledore said, then turned to leave the room, "Oh, Miss Granger," He turned back to her, "Have you seen Severus in the past couple hours?" He asked.
Hermione shook her head no. Dumbledore nodded again, "Well, if you see him, let him know that I am looking for him, please?" Hermione nodded, and Dumbledore gave a reassuring smile and left the room, pulling the door closed behind him.
She waited a few seconds, until she heard his footsteps turn the corner to head down the stairs, then breathed a sigh of relief. "Harry, you can come out now." She called softly.
A few seconds later, Harry and Snape reappeared, and Tonks came back into the room from the kitchen.
"He knows, or at least suspects something." Snape stated matter of factly.
The others in the room turned to stare at him. "What makes you think that?" Remus asked.
"I've been working closer to that man than any of the rest of you for well over twenty years. I know how he talks. The way he paused before speaking was a sure indication that he saw something. Or heard." He added the last part, while looking pointedly at Tonks, whom was famous for knocking things over.
"Hey now," Tonks began indignantly. "I'll have you know that I remained perfectly silent while he was here."
Hermione nodded her agreement. "Nobody made any noise."
"Then it was something else." Snape was insistant that something tipped Dumbledore off.
"Blood." Harry simply stated. Everyone turned to look at him. "What?" They chorused, which made Harry chuckle lightly. "Blood," He repeated, while waving his hand to the carpet next to him. Sure enough, there were several spots of blood on it. "It must've dripped from me when I apparated in. Dumbledore would've spotted it."
Snape cursed under his breath, and cast a quick cleaning charm over the blood spots. They disappeared, and the carpet looked as good as new. "You should clean yourself up, Potter."
At this simple statement, the other four converged on Harry like moths to a flame, each of them asking questions as to what happened, and if he was okay.
Harry fended them off by raising his hands, and took a couple steps backwards. "Please, quiet down so I can explain what happened." This shut everyone up, and they stood looking at him in attention. "Good," He began, then paused. He summoned a chair from the kitchen, and lowered himself into it, then continued. "The first time that I apparated into the tunnels under Gringotts to get to my family vault, a small army of goblin guards made their way to attack me. I had set up a barrier around the doorway of the vault, so they couldn't get in. I was safe, then gathered up the contents of the vault, and returned here. Unfortunately, by the time that I apparated back there, they'd brought in several more companies of guards, and a couple of dragons. I wasn't expecting this, and was nearly cooked as soon as I appeared. I was able to get a shield up, just barely. Some of the flame still got me, hence the right side of my head, but for the most part, I was unharmed. I banished the dragon back down the tunnel a couple hundred meters, and ran for Sirius' vault. I was attacked by a squad of guards, and another dragon right before I got there. That's where I got the cuts. I dodged most of their bolts and spears, and my shield got the rest, but the dragon was a bit more difficult; It wouldn't cease it's attack on me long enough for me to lower my shield and attack back. I used some of my new found powers and pushed all of the goblins down the tunnel, then faced the dragon. I turned quick enough to notice that it was Horntail, and that its horn was swinging right at my chest. I caught it right as the horns gouged into me. Was close to being killed there. But anyway, I blew the dragon back into the other dragon which was approaching me again, they collided and went down in a heap, I made my way into the vault, cast a barrier, got Sirius' vault, and here I am." He took a shrunk down version of the chest from his pocket and enlarged it, then levitated it down to the floor.
Silence reigned for the next few seconds, as his audience processed the information he had given them. Remus cleared his throat, and looked closely at Harry. "So, you beat two dragons, and a host of Gringotts guards."
"Well, didn't exactly beat the two dragons...just pushed them back far enough for me to get to safety in the vault." Harry corrected him.
"I stand corrected." Remus cracked a smile.
"Just what in the hell were you doing fighting dragons?" Sirius heatedly asked. Hermione nodded her agreement, Tonks as well. Snape remained expressionless.
"I was getting your fucking vault, Sirius. I'm not a little kid anymore, I can make up my own damn mind for when I want to put myself in danger!" Harry replied just as heatedly.
"You are going to get yourself killed, and you've not even been out of Azkaban for one day!" Sirius yelled back.
"I am not going to die!" Harry was standing up, nose to nose with Sirius now. Remus quickly moved between the two and cast a silencing charm over the room.
"Both of you knock it off, now is not the time or place. Hogwarts has eyes and ears everywhere," Remus pushed Harry back into his chair, and did the same with Sirius. "We have no idea who can be listening at any given time. The chances of ears turned to this room are slim, what with everything else that's going on in the castle, but the possibility is still there."
Snape took this opportunity to speak up, "Potter, the way you say it, it sounds like you got all of the contents of both your family, and Black's family vaults. I've not seen the contents of either, but the rumors of their capacity is legendary. The Black Family Vault has been the subject of much discussion over the years, in Voldemort's inner circle. They've been looking to break Gringotts for nearly a decade to get to it." He trailed off as Harry smiled a knowing smile.
"I did get everything." He grinned.
"Impossible. Those two trunks you have are not nearly big enough, even with the strongest enlarging charm. Unless the rumors of their wealth are unfounded." Snape replied, looking at Sirius.
"The spell I used is unknown to any of you, unknown in fact, to just about everyone alive for the past several thousand years. It took almost all of my energy to charm the first chest, then I just replicated it for the second one."
Sirius looked stunned. He'd been in his family vault before, and knew how much stuff was in it. "You got everything?"
Harry nodded. "Right down to the last knut, and the last misshaped chain link."
"Where are you going to put everything?" Hermione asked the question that was on everyone's mind.
Harry looked thoughtful, and rubbed his fingers up and down his jawline. "It can't be in Hogwarts. I know of a place, but it's pretty far away."
"How far?" Sirius asked.
"Off the West coast of Isle of Man." Harry replied, still looking thoughtful.
"Peel Castle?" Hermione asked, with a surprised look.
"No, no, but close to it. Back around the time Hogwarts was founded, the Vikings were raiding that part of the British Isles, and had many wizards allied with them. A castle was built on a tiny island a couple miles off the shore of St. Patrick's Isle, it served as a magical fort to Peel Castle, to assist in the defense against enemy wizards. The Viking wizards eventually conquered it and took up arms there themselves. They remained for a few decades, before being called off to fight in another war. They placed anti-muggle wards around the castle and island, and left. It's been abandoned and forgotten ever since." Harry finished his short history lesson, and summoned a map of the British Isles from a shelf over the fire place.
"I've never seen mention of it in any history books." Hermione said, with an air of doubt in her voice.
"Of course not," Harry replied. "The Viking wizards would've taken measures to keep the fortress a secret, as it was their own little base of power."
"How do you know of it then?" Snape asked suspiciously.
Harry smirked. "I know a lot of things. Anyway. Trust me, it's there."
"Do you know what condition it's in?" Hermione asked.
Harry shrugged. "I don't know. Probably not too bad, as I'm sure protective wards were placed on it as well as anti-muggle wards. The Viking wizards wouldn't have wanted to return to a broken down castle. That wouldn't make a very good fortress." He added with a wink.
"How could we get to this castle?" Remus asked.
"A portkey would be the easiest and quickest way."
Everyone looked sceptical at this. "We don't even know if it's safe, Harry." Sirius said.
Harry shrugged again. "Then I'll go there by myself and check it out."
"No, Harry! You are done putting yourself in danger for today!" Sirius began to raise his voice again, vehemently protesting.
Harry sighed and glared at Sirius. "I'll be back within an hour." He said that, and disapparated.
Harry arrived almost immediately later, on the edge of a rough cliff that went straight down a hundred feet to the crashing ocean. Harry quickly gained his precarious balance and leaped forward, away from the cliff edge. He gathered his wits and looked ahead. The castle wasn't huge by any stretch of the imagination, and was definitely not even close to comparison in size to Hogwarts. It looked to be about six floors high around the exterior walls, and had a turret in the middle that rose another two floors. In each direction of the compass, walls extended out from the main part of the castle by about twenty meters, and at the end of each, a turret rose. The entrance to the castle was between the South and East walls, and was framed by two more smaller turrets. The entrance was a ten foot high, six foot wide oak double door set, that opened inwards. In front of it, a very sturdy looking metal gate stood, blocking the way to the doors. It could be raised and lowered from above, and had four inch thick bars criss crossing every two feet in each direction, from top to bottom. Harry walked up to the gate, "Wingardium leviosa." He muttered, waving his hand at the metal gate. It rose very slowly, as if straining against him. He ducked under it, and pushed the double oak doors open, and entered what he presumed to be the entrance hall. The floor was made of polished stone, and felt very smooth. The hall went about twenty meters forward from the door, until it reached another set of double doors. The ceiling was a good four meters high, and the hall was about six meters wide. Alcoves set in the walls made Harry suspect that the hall was used as another means of defense, should intruders break through the gates. Harry waved his hand towards a chandelier overhead, and the candles still contained in it lit up, illuminating the hall. It was spartan, without any needless decorations. About what could be expected for a fort built when the area was constantly under siege.
Harry used his magic to push open the doors in front of him, revealing what was most likely the dining hall. It was in the shape of a half circle, with the flat end being by the entrance hall doors, and the arc of the room extending all the way out to the exterior walls of the castle. Walls were on either side of the doorway that Harry now stood in, extending also the exterior walls. Two doors were on either side of the entrance hall, and Harry, after opening one of them, discovered them to be stairways to the upper floors. He looked further down the walls, and noticed more doors leading to more rooms. He made his way to the right, and opened one of the other doors, seeing several racks inside holding ancient weapons and armor, not unlike what he saw in the Potter Vault. He pointed his fingers at the frame above the door, and burned the word 'Armoury' into it. He then charmed the letters to glow white. He continued checking the other rooms in the floor, burning names into the door frames if they were important enough to be remembered.
"It's been fifty-eight minutes. Where can he be?" Hermione stated, more than asked as she paced agitatedly through her living quarters.
"Relax, Miss Granger. Potter still has two minutes." Snape calmly spoke, lifting his head from a conversation with Remus, Sirius and Tonks about Death Eater strength.
Just as he said this, Harry stepped out of Hermione's bedroom.
"Harry!" Hermione shrieked, running to him and throwing her arms around him. "We were worried sick about you! You almost missed your deadline for coming back."
"Please, Miss Granger," Snape spoke, with his eyebrow cocked near his hair line. "You were the one worried sick...we decided nearly half an hour ago that Potter can take care of himself."
Hermione glared at Snape, then decided to ignore him, and turn back to Harry who was trying to disentangle himself from Hermione's clutching grasp. "What happened? Is the castle there?"
Harry finally managed to step back from Hermione, and move everyone into his field of vision so that they could all hear him clearly. "Yes, it's there. Apparating is out of the question; There's some very old and complicated anti-apparation wards that sit you right on the edge of a cliff that features a one hundred foot drop to a rocky death in the ocean. I will either have to modify the wards to accept you, or I'll create some secure portkeys. The castle is in perfect condition, and large enough to hold a few companies of soldiers. The main body of the castle is about fifty meters long, and fifty meters wide. Six floors are above ground, and an additional four are below ground. The bottom levels contain dungeons, catacombs, a couple torture chambers and a crafting room, which was no doubt used to construct weapons and armor. My family's forge should fit in there nicely..." He trailed off, thinking.
"Why would there be any need for muggle weapons there?" Sirius asked. Remus, and Hermione raised their eyebrows at him, and gave him a scolding look, however it was Harry that answered.
"Swords and other pointed weapons were used as focus points for some warrior wizards millenia ago, before wands came into wide use. They were still used rather commonly until about eight centuries ago."
"Why not just conjure them, then?" Sirius asked again, earning more disapproving looks from Remus and Hermione, both of whom obviously knew the answer and thought Sirius should as well.
"Conjured weapons and armor aren't as durable or strong as they are when handcrafted. Handcrafted chainmail armor, topped with handcrafted platemail armor and imbued with the correct protection charms can be strong enough to stop a held Cruciatus curse for as long as thirty seconds. Conjured armor will barely last five seconds, if at all. Likewise, a handcrafted sword with a magical core can be just as potent as a wand, and even more so in melee situations when you can use it to stab and cut. The wand took over in popularity when the majority of wizards finally began to stop warring amongst themselves, and they wanted something lighter, smaller and less bulky than a sword to carry around." Harry ended his explanation, and earned proud nods and smiles from Hermione and Remus.
Sirius nodded, confirming that he understand what Harry was talking about. "Sounds like we should be adopting the sword and shield again."
"My thoughts exactly," Harry grinned. "There was a large forge in my vault, and several tons of different kinds of metal, as well as several weapons and armor racks, stacked full of items we can use. There also happens to be a handy little armory in the castle, that contains some left over equipment that the wizards probably didn't have room to take with them when they left."
Sirius grinned as well, growing happier and happier with the prospect of new armaments to hit the Death Eaters with.
"What about the security of the castle?" Snape asked.
Harry had no hesitation when replying, "The wards are incredibly strong, as I wasn't able to apparate through them at all. The Viking wizards must have been incredibly strong, probably even including a few High Sorcerors. They must have spent months, maybe even years bulking up the strength of their wards and barriers. I'm happy to say that the castle is nearly impenetrable in a surprise attack. It would have to take a seige of several thousand wizards, and probably a week or more of time to bring the wards down. Nobody can apparate in, and nobody can portkey in. There's no floo access, and the island is completely surrounded by very rough ocean swells. No sea based landings can succeed, as it's a straight up and down cliff all the way around the island. No beach at all. Whoever it was that bulked up the terrain defenses, my guess is the Vikings, were going for absolute sureity that nobody could attack them and win. Turrets are on four sides of the castle, overlooking the ocean and grounds. There are some other defensive wards surrounding the castle, but I haven't looked too closely at them to see what they are."
Snape looked impressed, as did everyone else. "Could we move the headquarters of the Order of the Lion there?"
"Most likely. There's a large meeting hall on the fifth floor, complete with a table that looks to seat about sixty people. Barracks on the second and sixth floors will probably hold a total of about a hundred and fifty people. Several other smaller room can be used for a variety of things, and nobody knows the location of it. So yes, I believe it would be a good possibility for the headquarters."
Hermione looked quite excited at this, "Finally, we can move our headquarters out of Tonks' basement." She laughed at Tonks' expression of mock hurt feelings.
"What's wrong with my basement?" She asked, causing everyone to laugh.
Harry was meanwhile busying himself with the construction of a portkey. "Okay. We're ready to go. I modified the portkey wards before coming back, they'll only entry from a portkey created with my magical signature." He held out the portkey, a small glass bottle. Everyone reached to take hold of it, and Harry triggered it. All six people felt the familiar tug behind their navals, and disappeared from Hogwarts.
The tunnels were dark and wet, dripping water could be heard from every direction. Every once in awhile, a roar could be heard in the distance, and flames could be seen reflecting off puddles.
It was in this tunnel that Harry appeared, merely a fraction of a second after he had disapparated from Hermione's living quarters in Hogwarts. He apparated without the slightest sound, and began moving as silent as a mouse in a Southernly direction down the tunnel. He past many vaults, each one going down in numbers; 301, 299, 297, 295, 293, and further. He walked until he reached into the lower one-hundreds, and then slowed down. He closed his eyes and held his hands out to the sides, so that they were pointed at the vaults on either side of him. He walked another fifty meters, until finally, he felt a tingling sensation in his right hand. He stopped walking, and turned to face the vault he was in front of. The Potter Family Vault was number 25. He stepped up to the door, and ran his hand over the locking mechanism of the door. A barely audible click was heard, and the door raised up into the wall over his head. It created a massive rumbling sound that echoed throughout the cavernous underground vault system of Gringotts.
Harry was quick to cast a silencing charm over the area, but he didn't think it was quick enough, and fully expected company to arrive soon. Stepping into the vault, he conjured a large ball of flame over the palm of his left hand, and held it up. It lit up the room spectacularly, and Harry couldn't help but raise his eyebrows at the accumulated wealth and items contained in the vault. He saw literal treasure chests filling hundreds of cubic meters of space, stacks of galleons and sickles that were taller than he was, and bigger around than Sirius, Remus, and Snape combined. Towards the end of his vision, he could see a library of books and parchments. There was no telling how far back the vault went from there. To his right, he saw several racks of ancient weapons and armor, and what must have been several tons of steel, brass, and other metals, shaped into bars and stacked against the wall. There was an industrial sized forge next to the stacks of metals, and on the other side of it, he saw yet more stacks of metal bars. The light glinted off of these stacks though, and he walked closer to them to get a better look. His eyebrows raised further as he saw that they were stacks of gold, silver, and platinum.
His inspection was cut short several minutes later, as an army of goblin guards came marching up to the still open vault door.
Harry heard them coming long before, and had already placed a magical barrier across the entrance, preventing them from entering. He looked around the vault, wondering what to do with it all. His bag obviously wasn't big enough to hold a thousandth of the room, and once he left, he was sure that the goblins would be able to break his barrier, and confiscate the remaining contents, moving them to a secret and more secure location. There was only one option that he knew of, but was weary of trying it, as he'd never done it before. He had not doubt that he could defeat the goblin guards, but it would be risky for him to try. Goblin magic is different from normal wizards; stronger, harder to predict and defend against. There was a definite chance that he could end up seriously injured, or even killed if he went up head to head with the entire company of them that were currently trying to bring down his barrier at the door. He sighed softly to himself, and decided to take the plunge. He conjured a medium sized chest, lowered it to the floor. He stood over it, and lowered his hands so that his palms were directly above the top of the chest, and then closed his eyes. Magic began pulsing through the vault, and a blue light shot from his hands to the chest. The ceremonial tattoos on his body began glowing fiercly, as he channeled more magic through his body, and into the chest. The chest, by now, was glowing a stunning shade of royal blue, with arcs of electricity shooting out from it, seemingly at random. The light finally stopped, and Harry opened his eyes. Sweat trickled down his brow, and he wiped it off with his sleeve. He cast a quick replicating charm over the chest, and another one appeared next to it. He took this one and shrunk it, then placed it in a pocket of his pants.
He opened the lid of the remaining chest, spread his arms out, and began chanting. After his chant ended, a change took throughout the vault. Reality seemed to shift, and things blurred. The goblins stopped their frantic efforts to break the barrier, and watched in fearful trepidation as a seeming whirlpool effect began occuring. Everything in the room began spinning around the trunk, with the closest items to it being sucked into it. The rest soon followed as it drew close enough. After several seconds, the vault was empty. Harry took one last look around, then waved his hand over the chest, making it float up to waist level. He took it in his hand, and disapparated away.
Harry arrived back in Hermione's sitting room, to face five nervous people. Hermione, Sirius, Remus, Snape, and Tonks stared at him, anxiety showing in their eyes. Harry smiled and lowered the chest to the floor. Motioning to it, he said, "Here's the Potter Vault." And turned to Sirius. "What number is your vault?"
Sirius thought a moment, and replied. "112."
Harry nodded, and disapparated again.
Sirius began pacing, Remus dropped into the nearest chair, Snape calmly sat down and looked at the offending chest that Harry left. Hermione and Tonks left to the kitchen to put on a pot of tea. This continued for several minutes, until there was a knock at the door. Everyone jumped, in surprise, and Hermione ran into the sitting room, followed closely by Tonks.
"Miss Granger?" It was Dumbledore.
Snape's eyes widened, and he began frantically whispering, "He can't find me here, he'll suspect something." Hermione nodded, and went to the door. "Yes, Professor?"
"May I come in?" Dumbledore asked.
At this, Snape set into a full blown panic and leaped out of his chair.
"Just a minute, Professor." Hermione replied, trying to control her voice. She went back to the others, and found them whispering heatedly.
"Harry will be back any minute, we have to stall Dumbledore!" It was Sirius. Remus and Tonks nodded, while Snape was looking around for an escape route.
"Albus will suspect something if I'm seen with all of you. The Order of the Lion has to remain secret, we can not take any chances at it being compromised." Snape hissed.
Just then, Harry apparated back into the room, looking haggard and war torn. His clothes were ripped to shreds, and he had several burns across his torso and arms. Blood was seeping from several deep cuts, and the hair on the right side of his head was singed, as well as his right ear.
"Harry?" Sirius yelled. The others in the room whinced and looked at the door, where Dumbledore was still waiting.
"Sirius?" Dumbledore asked from the other side of the door. Harry looked at the door and look of comprehension came to him, as he looked back to the frightened expressions on everyone else's faces. He took Snape's arm, and cast an illusion charm over the both of them.
Harry looked at Hermione and the others, even though they couldn't see him. "Get rid of him." He hissed, not unlike Snape, then pulled Snape into Hermione's bedroom, closing the door behind him. Tonks took her opportunity, and darted into the kitchen, settling herself into a comfortable alibi of making tea.
Hermione banished the two extra chairs back into the kitchen, and looked to make sure there was no evidence of Harry or Snape being there, then opened the door for Dumbledore. Dumbledore walked in, nodding to Hermione, Sirius, and Remus.
"Hello, Albus." Sirius greeted neutrally. He'd lost much of his faith in the man when he refused to support Harry during the trial, but he couldn't break all bonds of fellowship, the fight was too important for that. Instead, he'd spent months trying to forgive Dumbledore, to see things from his position, and understand his reaction. He was slowly starting to come around to being somewhat friendly again, but wasn't quite there yet.
Dumbledore sighed. "I was just coming to see if any of you needed anything, in this time of mourning."
"We're fine, thank you." Hermione answered.
Dumbledore surveyed the room; Remus was sitting in a chair, cradling his head in his hands, while Sirius was doing much the same. Hermione looked rather nervous, and kept glancing about, as if she was looking for something, and trying to be secretive about it. Dumbledore passed it off as grief, and the strange actions and emotions it causes, and let it go. He seemed to remember something, and looked at Sirius strangely. "Did I hear you yell out Harry's name?"
Sirius jerked up, and looked panicked for a split second, something that did not pass unseen by Dumbledore. "I dozed off and a had a dream about him...I thought that he was here, and I called his name." He managed to look embarassed, as if he was telling the truth. Dumbledore looked at him a for a few seconds, before nodding.
"Well, if any of you need anything, you know where to reach me." Dumbledore said, then turned to leave the room, "Oh, Miss Granger," He turned back to her, "Have you seen Severus in the past couple hours?" He asked.
Hermione shook her head no. Dumbledore nodded again, "Well, if you see him, let him know that I am looking for him, please?" Hermione nodded, and Dumbledore gave a reassuring smile and left the room, pulling the door closed behind him.
She waited a few seconds, until she heard his footsteps turn the corner to head down the stairs, then breathed a sigh of relief. "Harry, you can come out now." She called softly.
A few seconds later, Harry and Snape reappeared, and Tonks came back into the room from the kitchen.
"He knows, or at least suspects something." Snape stated matter of factly.
The others in the room turned to stare at him. "What makes you think that?" Remus asked.
"I've been working closer to that man than any of the rest of you for well over twenty years. I know how he talks. The way he paused before speaking was a sure indication that he saw something. Or heard." He added the last part, while looking pointedly at Tonks, whom was famous for knocking things over.
"Hey now," Tonks began indignantly. "I'll have you know that I remained perfectly silent while he was here."
Hermione nodded her agreement. "Nobody made any noise."
"Then it was something else." Snape was insistant that something tipped Dumbledore off.
"Blood." Harry simply stated. Everyone turned to look at him. "What?" They chorused, which made Harry chuckle lightly. "Blood," He repeated, while waving his hand to the carpet next to him. Sure enough, there were several spots of blood on it. "It must've dripped from me when I apparated in. Dumbledore would've spotted it."
Snape cursed under his breath, and cast a quick cleaning charm over the blood spots. They disappeared, and the carpet looked as good as new. "You should clean yourself up, Potter."
At this simple statement, the other four converged on Harry like moths to a flame, each of them asking questions as to what happened, and if he was okay.
Harry fended them off by raising his hands, and took a couple steps backwards. "Please, quiet down so I can explain what happened." This shut everyone up, and they stood looking at him in attention. "Good," He began, then paused. He summoned a chair from the kitchen, and lowered himself into it, then continued. "The first time that I apparated into the tunnels under Gringotts to get to my family vault, a small army of goblin guards made their way to attack me. I had set up a barrier around the doorway of the vault, so they couldn't get in. I was safe, then gathered up the contents of the vault, and returned here. Unfortunately, by the time that I apparated back there, they'd brought in several more companies of guards, and a couple of dragons. I wasn't expecting this, and was nearly cooked as soon as I appeared. I was able to get a shield up, just barely. Some of the flame still got me, hence the right side of my head, but for the most part, I was unharmed. I banished the dragon back down the tunnel a couple hundred meters, and ran for Sirius' vault. I was attacked by a squad of guards, and another dragon right before I got there. That's where I got the cuts. I dodged most of their bolts and spears, and my shield got the rest, but the dragon was a bit more difficult; It wouldn't cease it's attack on me long enough for me to lower my shield and attack back. I used some of my new found powers and pushed all of the goblins down the tunnel, then faced the dragon. I turned quick enough to notice that it was Horntail, and that its horn was swinging right at my chest. I caught it right as the horns gouged into me. Was close to being killed there. But anyway, I blew the dragon back into the other dragon which was approaching me again, they collided and went down in a heap, I made my way into the vault, cast a barrier, got Sirius' vault, and here I am." He took a shrunk down version of the chest from his pocket and enlarged it, then levitated it down to the floor.
Silence reigned for the next few seconds, as his audience processed the information he had given them. Remus cleared his throat, and looked closely at Harry. "So, you beat two dragons, and a host of Gringotts guards."
"Well, didn't exactly beat the two dragons...just pushed them back far enough for me to get to safety in the vault." Harry corrected him.
"I stand corrected." Remus cracked a smile.
"Just what in the hell were you doing fighting dragons?" Sirius heatedly asked. Hermione nodded her agreement, Tonks as well. Snape remained expressionless.
"I was getting your fucking vault, Sirius. I'm not a little kid anymore, I can make up my own damn mind for when I want to put myself in danger!" Harry replied just as heatedly.
"You are going to get yourself killed, and you've not even been out of Azkaban for one day!" Sirius yelled back.
"I am not going to die!" Harry was standing up, nose to nose with Sirius now. Remus quickly moved between the two and cast a silencing charm over the room.
"Both of you knock it off, now is not the time or place. Hogwarts has eyes and ears everywhere," Remus pushed Harry back into his chair, and did the same with Sirius. "We have no idea who can be listening at any given time. The chances of ears turned to this room are slim, what with everything else that's going on in the castle, but the possibility is still there."
Snape took this opportunity to speak up, "Potter, the way you say it, it sounds like you got all of the contents of both your family, and Black's family vaults. I've not seen the contents of either, but the rumors of their capacity is legendary. The Black Family Vault has been the subject of much discussion over the years, in Voldemort's inner circle. They've been looking to break Gringotts for nearly a decade to get to it." He trailed off as Harry smiled a knowing smile.
"I did get everything." He grinned.
"Impossible. Those two trunks you have are not nearly big enough, even with the strongest enlarging charm. Unless the rumors of their wealth are unfounded." Snape replied, looking at Sirius.
"The spell I used is unknown to any of you, unknown in fact, to just about everyone alive for the past several thousand years. It took almost all of my energy to charm the first chest, then I just replicated it for the second one."
Sirius looked stunned. He'd been in his family vault before, and knew how much stuff was in it. "You got everything?"
Harry nodded. "Right down to the last knut, and the last misshaped chain link."
"Where are you going to put everything?" Hermione asked the question that was on everyone's mind.
Harry looked thoughtful, and rubbed his fingers up and down his jawline. "It can't be in Hogwarts. I know of a place, but it's pretty far away."
"How far?" Sirius asked.
"Off the West coast of Isle of Man." Harry replied, still looking thoughtful.
"Peel Castle?" Hermione asked, with a surprised look.
"No, no, but close to it. Back around the time Hogwarts was founded, the Vikings were raiding that part of the British Isles, and had many wizards allied with them. A castle was built on a tiny island a couple miles off the shore of St. Patrick's Isle, it served as a magical fort to Peel Castle, to assist in the defense against enemy wizards. The Viking wizards eventually conquered it and took up arms there themselves. They remained for a few decades, before being called off to fight in another war. They placed anti-muggle wards around the castle and island, and left. It's been abandoned and forgotten ever since." Harry finished his short history lesson, and summoned a map of the British Isles from a shelf over the fire place.
"I've never seen mention of it in any history books." Hermione said, with an air of doubt in her voice.
"Of course not," Harry replied. "The Viking wizards would've taken measures to keep the fortress a secret, as it was their own little base of power."
"How do you know of it then?" Snape asked suspiciously.
Harry smirked. "I know a lot of things. Anyway. Trust me, it's there."
"Do you know what condition it's in?" Hermione asked.
Harry shrugged. "I don't know. Probably not too bad, as I'm sure protective wards were placed on it as well as anti-muggle wards. The Viking wizards wouldn't have wanted to return to a broken down castle. That wouldn't make a very good fortress." He added with a wink.
"How could we get to this castle?" Remus asked.
"A portkey would be the easiest and quickest way."
Everyone looked sceptical at this. "We don't even know if it's safe, Harry." Sirius said.
Harry shrugged again. "Then I'll go there by myself and check it out."
"No, Harry! You are done putting yourself in danger for today!" Sirius began to raise his voice again, vehemently protesting.
Harry sighed and glared at Sirius. "I'll be back within an hour." He said that, and disapparated.
Harry arrived almost immediately later, on the edge of a rough cliff that went straight down a hundred feet to the crashing ocean. Harry quickly gained his precarious balance and leaped forward, away from the cliff edge. He gathered his wits and looked ahead. The castle wasn't huge by any stretch of the imagination, and was definitely not even close to comparison in size to Hogwarts. It looked to be about six floors high around the exterior walls, and had a turret in the middle that rose another two floors. In each direction of the compass, walls extended out from the main part of the castle by about twenty meters, and at the end of each, a turret rose. The entrance to the castle was between the South and East walls, and was framed by two more smaller turrets. The entrance was a ten foot high, six foot wide oak double door set, that opened inwards. In front of it, a very sturdy looking metal gate stood, blocking the way to the doors. It could be raised and lowered from above, and had four inch thick bars criss crossing every two feet in each direction, from top to bottom. Harry walked up to the gate, "Wingardium leviosa." He muttered, waving his hand at the metal gate. It rose very slowly, as if straining against him. He ducked under it, and pushed the double oak doors open, and entered what he presumed to be the entrance hall. The floor was made of polished stone, and felt very smooth. The hall went about twenty meters forward from the door, until it reached another set of double doors. The ceiling was a good four meters high, and the hall was about six meters wide. Alcoves set in the walls made Harry suspect that the hall was used as another means of defense, should intruders break through the gates. Harry waved his hand towards a chandelier overhead, and the candles still contained in it lit up, illuminating the hall. It was spartan, without any needless decorations. About what could be expected for a fort built when the area was constantly under siege.
Harry used his magic to push open the doors in front of him, revealing what was most likely the dining hall. It was in the shape of a half circle, with the flat end being by the entrance hall doors, and the arc of the room extending all the way out to the exterior walls of the castle. Walls were on either side of the doorway that Harry now stood in, extending also the exterior walls. Two doors were on either side of the entrance hall, and Harry, after opening one of them, discovered them to be stairways to the upper floors. He looked further down the walls, and noticed more doors leading to more rooms. He made his way to the right, and opened one of the other doors, seeing several racks inside holding ancient weapons and armor, not unlike what he saw in the Potter Vault. He pointed his fingers at the frame above the door, and burned the word 'Armoury' into it. He then charmed the letters to glow white. He continued checking the other rooms in the floor, burning names into the door frames if they were important enough to be remembered.
"It's been fifty-eight minutes. Where can he be?" Hermione stated, more than asked as she paced agitatedly through her living quarters.
"Relax, Miss Granger. Potter still has two minutes." Snape calmly spoke, lifting his head from a conversation with Remus, Sirius and Tonks about Death Eater strength.
Just as he said this, Harry stepped out of Hermione's bedroom.
"Harry!" Hermione shrieked, running to him and throwing her arms around him. "We were worried sick about you! You almost missed your deadline for coming back."
"Please, Miss Granger," Snape spoke, with his eyebrow cocked near his hair line. "You were the one worried sick...we decided nearly half an hour ago that Potter can take care of himself."
Hermione glared at Snape, then decided to ignore him, and turn back to Harry who was trying to disentangle himself from Hermione's clutching grasp. "What happened? Is the castle there?"
Harry finally managed to step back from Hermione, and move everyone into his field of vision so that they could all hear him clearly. "Yes, it's there. Apparating is out of the question; There's some very old and complicated anti-apparation wards that sit you right on the edge of a cliff that features a one hundred foot drop to a rocky death in the ocean. I will either have to modify the wards to accept you, or I'll create some secure portkeys. The castle is in perfect condition, and large enough to hold a few companies of soldiers. The main body of the castle is about fifty meters long, and fifty meters wide. Six floors are above ground, and an additional four are below ground. The bottom levels contain dungeons, catacombs, a couple torture chambers and a crafting room, which was no doubt used to construct weapons and armor. My family's forge should fit in there nicely..." He trailed off, thinking.
"Why would there be any need for muggle weapons there?" Sirius asked. Remus, and Hermione raised their eyebrows at him, and gave him a scolding look, however it was Harry that answered.
"Swords and other pointed weapons were used as focus points for some warrior wizards millenia ago, before wands came into wide use. They were still used rather commonly until about eight centuries ago."
"Why not just conjure them, then?" Sirius asked again, earning more disapproving looks from Remus and Hermione, both of whom obviously knew the answer and thought Sirius should as well.
"Conjured weapons and armor aren't as durable or strong as they are when handcrafted. Handcrafted chainmail armor, topped with handcrafted platemail armor and imbued with the correct protection charms can be strong enough to stop a held Cruciatus curse for as long as thirty seconds. Conjured armor will barely last five seconds, if at all. Likewise, a handcrafted sword with a magical core can be just as potent as a wand, and even more so in melee situations when you can use it to stab and cut. The wand took over in popularity when the majority of wizards finally began to stop warring amongst themselves, and they wanted something lighter, smaller and less bulky than a sword to carry around." Harry ended his explanation, and earned proud nods and smiles from Hermione and Remus.
Sirius nodded, confirming that he understand what Harry was talking about. "Sounds like we should be adopting the sword and shield again."
"My thoughts exactly," Harry grinned. "There was a large forge in my vault, and several tons of different kinds of metal, as well as several weapons and armor racks, stacked full of items we can use. There also happens to be a handy little armory in the castle, that contains some left over equipment that the wizards probably didn't have room to take with them when they left."
Sirius grinned as well, growing happier and happier with the prospect of new armaments to hit the Death Eaters with.
"What about the security of the castle?" Snape asked.
Harry had no hesitation when replying, "The wards are incredibly strong, as I wasn't able to apparate through them at all. The Viking wizards must have been incredibly strong, probably even including a few High Sorcerors. They must have spent months, maybe even years bulking up the strength of their wards and barriers. I'm happy to say that the castle is nearly impenetrable in a surprise attack. It would have to take a seige of several thousand wizards, and probably a week or more of time to bring the wards down. Nobody can apparate in, and nobody can portkey in. There's no floo access, and the island is completely surrounded by very rough ocean swells. No sea based landings can succeed, as it's a straight up and down cliff all the way around the island. No beach at all. Whoever it was that bulked up the terrain defenses, my guess is the Vikings, were going for absolute sureity that nobody could attack them and win. Turrets are on four sides of the castle, overlooking the ocean and grounds. There are some other defensive wards surrounding the castle, but I haven't looked too closely at them to see what they are."
Snape looked impressed, as did everyone else. "Could we move the headquarters of the Order of the Lion there?"
"Most likely. There's a large meeting hall on the fifth floor, complete with a table that looks to seat about sixty people. Barracks on the second and sixth floors will probably hold a total of about a hundred and fifty people. Several other smaller room can be used for a variety of things, and nobody knows the location of it. So yes, I believe it would be a good possibility for the headquarters."
Hermione looked quite excited at this, "Finally, we can move our headquarters out of Tonks' basement." She laughed at Tonks' expression of mock hurt feelings.
"What's wrong with my basement?" She asked, causing everyone to laugh.
Harry was meanwhile busying himself with the construction of a portkey. "Okay. We're ready to go. I modified the portkey wards before coming back, they'll only entry from a portkey created with my magical signature." He held out the portkey, a small glass bottle. Everyone reached to take hold of it, and Harry triggered it. All six people felt the familiar tug behind their navals, and disappeared from Hogwarts.