"Crikey," Draco Malfoy said, as Snape carefully inserted one of Ron's red hairs into the vial of Polyjuice.

Hermione shook her head, "Bloody. Ron's pureblood, not that you'd know it, of course."

Draco nodded at this, appreciating Hermione's tone.

Harry couldn't help but pitch in, "Ron's generally quieter than you'd expect. Particularly if Bill starts teasing him about leaving Hermione all by her lonesome."

Hermione said, smoothly, "And if he's not being quiet, he's generally scrabbling with me."

Draco Malfoy asked, almost softly, "Know-it-all?"

Hermione said, "No, that's a Malfoy term."

Harry almost couldn't help getting sucked in, "Books and more books. Try more Quiddich on the pitch."

Draco nodded softly, as Snape watched the interplay.

Draco's change was slow and smooth - obviously Snape had adultered the potion. He grew four inches, somehow thinned up (he was already skinny), and his meticulously tailored robes now fit with an inch of him to spare on all sides. "Are the robes okay?" Draco asked nervously.

Snape snorted, "Goblins won't care about robes, and even his brother will only see regulation School Robes."

"Good Luck," said Albus Dumbledore, which everyone ignored for various reasons. Snape, because he did not see the point in luck. Draco, because he was too busy worrying about looking 'right' (which was to say, not as himself at all). Hermione, because it did not require a response, unlike a goodbye, and Potter, who was too busy mourning a fragile friendship severing sometime in the near future.

Snape flooed first, coming out not at Gringotts but a bit farther down Diagon, in a pub. Then Hermione and "Ron" flooed in, stepping to the sides. Snape faced away from the floo, which was probably why Potter wound up falling directly into Snape. "Whoops." Potter said.

"Precisely why we did not floo directly." Snape said, having managed to stand like a rock even after Potter had face planted into his lower back.

"Take point, Potter," Snape rapped, as they left the pub (which had been full of interested spectators, ensuring that this would be a public nuisance of a day). Malfoy directed a questioning glance at Snape - all the moreso when both the 'muggleborn' seemed to take it in stride. "To the right, Mister Weasley." Draco knew that to be a courtesy afforded him. Ron Weasley never warranted the title Mister, not from Severus Snape, Head of House Slytherin.

So they walked to Gringotts, Potter in the middle, Granger on the left, Weasley on the right, and Snape in the rear. Draco could feel whenever Snape's attention seemed to wander - he didn't appear to be paying much attention, which relieved Draco. Snape was paying attention to threats, not to them.

Still Snape drew close as they approached Gringotts, where a company of goblins met them, surrounded them. Potter was careful not to pull his wand, and the attentions of the customers were drawn to the curious escort, and even moreso to whom they escorted. Harry Potter, the golden trio. And Severus Snape, rumored Death Eater, and hound of Dumbledore's.*

As they climbed the stairs, Harry found another opening inside Gringotts, like a trapdoor half raised, letting them see deep under the ground, where there was a cavern. Under the trapdoor were stairs, and on each stair stood two goblins.

Harry Potter swallowed uneasily, and walked down the stairs. Granger and Weasley flanked him. Snape took the rear, a sneer on his lips.

[a/n: Snape's not sneering at the goblins. He's sneering at the gawkers.

Hound of Dumbledore is a reference to Cuchulain.

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