Correct, the Mount Horai reference was from an old manga called Ranma 1/2.
I'm glad you're all enjoying the multi-crossover story. I'm sure you've noticed that my story's in the regular HP section of website and not the crossover section. Truth is, there are so many crossover elements that I couldn't just put it in the HP/Fairy Tail section, considering it barely has anything to do with Fairy Tail aside from the fact that Harry became a Lightning Dragonslayer.
And, for those who say my story is too serious, I say: have you read "The Wizard of the Kaleidoscope?" It's the most depressing atmosphere I've ever had the displeasure to read. The magic system was great, the fighting was fairly good, but the atmosphere made me speed read the thing instead of taking it slow.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any other fandom I manage to squeeze in this story.
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Lightning Dragon's Roar
A Harry Potter Fanfiction
By Zero Rewind
© 2015
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Chapter 51: Gringotts
I ended up screwing around at Grimmauld Place for seven more days.
From the glorious battlefields of Chivalry: Medieval Warfare, to a few shooter games Sirius had downloaded, and then I tried playing a game called Defense of the Ancients 2 (DotA 2). It was a difficult game to grasp, as I had found it much more difficult to play than League of Legends.
But, after the initial few horrific losses, I managed to find a character I was skilled with, and the ownage began.
Many people had raged those nights.
All the while, I maintained a few short conversations with my cousin, Dudley. Mostly, he was glad I was still alive and well.
He said that his family had moved to Manchester at the behest of Dumbledore, as soon as the wizards couldn't find me after the events of Temen Ni Gru. He had even funded their trip from his own coffers in order to lessen their stress in any way he could.
The old man never ceased to surprise me with his thoroughness.
I supposed it made sense, though; I came from both Lily and James. While James' family was all dead, Lily's family still lived, so there would always be a chance of them birthing another possible rival to Voldemort's power.
In fact, it sounded exactly like something Voldemort would do, if he couldn't get at me. Dudley was fairly angry at the turn of events, since it meant he had to cut contact with his girlfriend.
However, through some strange turn of fate, it turned out that the girl in question had come into an inheritance of her own in the tens of millions, so she moved to the same location as the Dursleys, establishing herself next door.
An action of that magnitude needed a suitable response.
I settled with "nice."
It seemed to irritate Dudley enough. At least he was happy, though. I resolved to visit my cousin when this was all over. Maybe we could just sit back, relax for a while.
Another mystery that was solved; Hedwig was actually living with the Dursleys, now. Dudley had asked if I wanted my owl back, but I figured now was not the time for reunions.
I loved Hedwig, don't get me wrong, but an owl would not help me much in a fight, aside from acting as a temporary shield.
The thought of the snowy white owl taking a Killing Curse to protect me came to mind.
No, that was something I definitely wished to avoid.
Aside from that, the rest of my time was spent sparring against Daphne, in an attempt to get her used to her new powers. Erebus had somehow upgraded her affinity with wind, so that she could manipulate the element without the need for a wand.
That meant, her attempts at attack and defense were no longer constrained by the time it took for her to move her wand in the necessary patterns.
All it took was an effort of will, and the results were fantastic.
She was far from being a master of the element of Air, but, after a few days of feverish practice on her part, I figured she could get in a fight with Rudra the Storm and snag a win; and that's just from a few days of practice under her belt.
Granted, she had been learning to wield the element of Air with her wand for the past few months, so it was only understandable that this change only made her that much stronger.
We had another serious spar after that; I won't bore you with the details, but she had actually forced me to use my Lightning Dragon's Heavenward Halberd, a move I kept for the strongest of shields.
More than once, I rejoiced in the fact that Balthazar's scales saved my butt from her expertly thrown blades of wind.
I managed to win, in the end, but this time she was not as upset, considering the heavily worn state I was in at the end.
It was a great fight.
"One day, I'll be on top in our spars, Harry." Daphne had said at the end of that fight.
"But you're already on top in bed. Isn't that enough?" I groused, and she had punched me in response, followed by fucking me for hours, with her on top.
The woman was insatiable; it was pretty scary actually.
It was also more than a little arousing, to be sure, but frightening nonetheless.
Remus had also spent half his days here (the other half most likely banging Tonks), attempting to communicate with the beast within him.
Unsurprisingly, he barely got anything done. But, when it seemed evident that he was going to quit, Moony managed to make contact with the beast.
I don't know what happened exactly, but the man seemed perturbed by what he had found. Remus had said the beast attempted to attack him as soon as he made contact.
Erebus said that it was normal; the feral monster had been caged for at least three decades without any sort of contact with others aside from the full moon nights.
The sentient blade then stressed the importance of maintaining a kind air, and being very patient with the wild beast.
Remus had nodded, something hopeful shining in his eyes. The idea that he could be the first to achieve such a harmony with the creature within him sounded amazing, and he vowed that he would teach other Loup-garous this method of control if he ever managed it, himself.
All in all, my week-off was well spent, I decided as I lay in bed, Daphne lightly snoring off to the side. It was a little annoying to listen to, at first, but I had grown a little used to it in the past few days.
I lightly shifted my weight away from her, and exited the confines of our shared bed without waking her. I went through my morning routine, before heading to the empty kitchen, and fixing some eggs, bacon and toa— wait, no the toast was going bad, to the garbage with you!
Some time later, Daphne trudged into the kitchen, wearing her red silk pajamas and rubbing the sand out of her eyes. She yawned.
"Good morning." I smiled as I piled all of the eggs on a huge plate, the bacon on another. "The toast went bad, so no bread, sadly."
"Check the pantry." Sirius said, coming into the kitchen as well, looking well rested. "There should be some pita bread, there."
Pita bread?
"What's pita bread?" I asked, before going into the pantry and searching.
"I see." I pulled out the bag and examined the bread within. "Some kind of flat-bread?"
"Yeah. Try it out. I quite liked it, to be honest." Sirius smiled.
I shrugged, and placed the bread on the table, each of us grabbing a seat in the process. We dug in. The bread was nice; I still preferred regular loaves of bread, but that was more because I was used to it than anything else.
"It's not bad." I commented, grabbing at the eggs with the bread. "I like how it lets you eat with your hands."
"I know!" Sirius grinned. "I got it from this Middle Eastern place the other day. Try everything at least once, right?"
"Not a bad way to do things." Daphne said, still yawning.
"How'd you like it?" Sirius asked curiously, turning to the honey blond haired girl.
"It's bread." She deadpanned, as if it answered the question… which it sort of did.
"Fair enough."
The rest of the meal was conducted with silence. I could feel some tension building in the air. I had to leave today, and I didn't know how to broach the subject.
So I kept quiet until the end of breakfast, before opening my mouth.
Sirius beat me to it.
"Harry." Sirius said. "I'm glad you took the time to rest your mind. I know it hasn't been easy for you, what with all that's happened to you in the past few weeks. So, I just want you to know I'm glad you've done this."
I closed my mouth, opened it again, and closed it again.
"I thought you'd be upset that I was just slacking off." I finally said.
"Slacking off from what?" Sirius scoffed. "This isn't your fight. I want you to remember that, Harry. You can do whatever you want. If you choose to back out, and hide in a faraway place, I would be right there with you."
It sort of was my fight, but Sirius didn't know about the prophecy. Still, his support made me smile.
Daphne kept quiet, looking a little shocked at Sirius' admission.
"And I know that." I replied gently. "But, that's the easy way out. Leaving now would mean that all of this was for nothing; that Dumbledore kept the Dursleys— no, the world— safe, and died for nothing. I have to finish it, or I will never be free of this."
There was a long silence.
"I understand." Sirius said. "What do you want me to do?"
I smiled, and went around the table to give my Godfather a quick clap on the shoulder.
"I want you to find Neville Longbottom." I said shortly. "And I want you to retake Hogwarts for me."
"…Not exactly what I'd expected." Sirius answered.
"Why Neville?" Daphne asked. "What's so special about him?"
"You know how you have power over the wind, now?" I asked.
She nodded.
"Well, Neville's had power over the Earth ever since he was a child." I informed her, shocking the girl. "Full, uncontested control of the Earth."
"…You're saying he's the Iron Rock?" Daphne asked after some thought.
"Yes."
"I had suspected as much." Sirius nodded. "While your family has been known to play with the element of Lightning, Harry, I knew that the Longbottoms also played with the Earth. I had suspicions about the boy— especially after what happened to his grandmother— but there was no definitive proof."
I absorbed that information. "Tell him that I'm here, and that we'll join you all when I finish my mission. Make Hogwarts your top priority. Don't kill Snape."
"Why Hogwarts?" Sirius asked, grimacing at the mention of Severus Snape.
"Aside from the fact that the place is a fortress?" I asked in amusement. "Erebus has informed me that one of the items I need is in there, and I need you all to secure the castle for me. It shouldn't be too hard, right? With your power and Neville's, you should be able to defeat the Death Eaters within."
"Yeah, a simple matter." Sirius scoffed, before nodding. "I'll get it done. Just don't expect it to be quick."
"Take all the time you need, Sirius."
From Erebus' information, I surmised that the Cup of Hufflepuff was smack dab in the middle of Gringotts, so grabbing that was likely going to suck.
Aside from that, there was the Diadem of Ravenclaw in the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts. Erebus did not know what the last Horcrux was, but I could guess at it, easily enough.
There was a reason I had seen through the eyes of Nagini, that night at the Ministry in which Arthur Weasley was almost killed. It was because Voldemort had made the snake into another one of his Horcruxes.
This meant that I had to get in Gringotts and destroy the Horcrux in Bellatrix Lestrange's vault— learning that she was the one holding the Horcrux made me glad I didn't kill her when we had first met.
Still, after that, I would have to get into Hogwarts, and head to the Room of Requirement before destroying the Diadem.
Then, when I faced Voldemort, I would kill Nagini.
It was almost too easy.
I felt stupid, having prepared so much food and water. I had enough perishables to last me at least a couple of months, if I played my cards right; but, honestly, it felt like the hunt for these Horcruxes would take a few days, compared to the few months I had originally prepared for.
Oh, well.
You could never be too prepared, I guess.
I went to my room, and got dressed in my combat gear, with the addition of a plain looking grey cloak on top to hide my features. Daphne joined me, a little bit later, and we left the room together. Sirius was waiting.
"You want me to see you off?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah." I answered. "I still don't know how to Apparate, so could you take us to the Leaky Cauldron?"
"Yeah, sure." Sirius smiled. "Grab my shoulder."
So, we did. Having gone through a few Apparitions with both Dumbledore and Sirius in the past, I was ready for the sensation of being squeezed through an extremely narrow tube.
Our surroundings shifted into an alleyway near the street leading to a familiar looking pub/inn. Charring Cross Road, the name was.
It had slipped my mind, for a moment.
"Thanks." I said, giving Sirius a nod.
"Take care!" Daphne gave the man a hug, as I shook his hand.
"You, too. I'll get onto finding Frank's boy." Sirius said, before Apparating away with a soft pop, leaving us in the silence of the alleyway. People passed by, giving us strange glances as they did so.
I figured it must have been the cloaks we were wearing.
Daphne and I crossed the street, before slowly entering the Leaky Cauldron. It was dark and shabby as I had remembered to be, years ago, when I had escaped from the Dursleys after inflating dear Aunt Marge.
Though, despite its shabbiness, the pub's atmosphere used to liven the place up. No such luck, now; all of the wizards and witches sat in chairs tensely, watching over their shoulders every few seconds, taking quick, large sips of their drinks, and wolfing down food as fast as they can manage, before hurriedly leaving.
They were scared; frightened even.
I didn't blame them. How many times had Voldemort's cronies attacked public places such as this, with no consequence?
I felt Daphne's arm link with mine, and my anger faded.
We had a mission.
I passed through the pub, nodding respectfully to Tom the bartender, before going to the archway that led to Diagon Alley.
I pulled my wand out, and tapped the necessary bricks; three up, two across. The wall parted, revealing the Alley behind it.
I did a double take.
Gone was the exuberance, the light. People hurried to shops, minding not to bump into others, lest they provoke their anger. The workers kept their heads low, their eyes down as wizards and witches passed by their stores.
I shook my head, before hurrying towards Gringotts Bank. I passed by that stupid poem they kept to dissuade thieves from trying to get past their defenses— I might be breaking that law soon enough.
We dodged and skirted around anyone that seemed remotely suspicious, before spotting a band of patrolling Death Eaters. Daphne and I kept our heads down; backing away from the foul wizards, in what I hoped was a sufficiently fearful response.
The Death Eater patrol passed by us without incident, save a few half-hearted leers in Daphne's direction. I watched them until they turned a corner, before we moved to the Bank, our steps quickening with every second.
Breaking into Gringotts might be bad enough; I didn't wish to eviscerate a bunch of Death Eaters right outside the place. It would grab way too much attention, and that was something I definitely did not need right now.
Daphne entered the Bank, with me following her closely. The Goblin-run Bank was just as I remembered it the last time I had been here. Various goblin tellers sat on their high chairs, rifling through documents, gold, silver, diamonds and the like. I could hear a wizard snarling angry words at one of the apathetic creatures.
Said wizard was… I would say "escorted out" is the polite term in this situation, considering his escort consisted of two heavily armed and armored Goblins. I went to the same teller that had the wizard escorted out.
"What is it?" The Goblin said in annoyance.
"Hello." I greeted, unsure if there were any honorifics with which to speak to a Goblin. In the end, I figured it didn't matter. "I would like to speak with whoever ranks the highest in this particular Gringotts Branch."
"What for?" The Goblin continued rudely. "If it is a monetary issue, I am able to deal with it, myself."
"It's not about money." I said quickly, quietly. "It's about something infinitely more important."
"More important than money?" The Goblin scoffed. "I do not believe I will call the Gringotts Bank manager to satisfy some young wizard's request, Mr…?"
"Harry Potter." I almost snarled out. "You might remember me from the time I forced the Devil King Mundus back into Hell."
Here, the Goblin shut his trap, and really looked at me. "You have proof of your identity?"
"I have my key. Other than that, we can do that stupid test that confirms my identity." I smiled, flashing him my Gringotts key. Sirius had held onto it while I was away between realms. It was nice of him.
The Goblin grabbed the key, examining it carefully, before he barked out a few orders at a nearby guard.
"We will see if the Branch Manager has any time for you today, Mr. Potter." The Goblin stayed quiet. A few minutes passed; Daphne and I busied ourselves by watching the comings and goings of wizards and witches.
The Goblins took great pleasure in making their lives as miserable as they could manage. Every question was vaguely answered in the slowest way possible, without actually conveying any falsehoods.
It was positively evil.
"Mr. Potter." Another Goblin called from my left. I turned to see a familiar face.
"Griphook. I haven't seen you since I was eleven years old." I greeted.
"I don't remember meeting you." The Goblin, Griphook said. "You humans all look the same to me."
Wow, okay. Reverse racism, right there.
"I don't know, I think Hagrid and I look pretty different." I quipped, but the joke was lost on the Goblin. "So, can you take us to whoever's running this place?"
"Yes." Griphook answered shortly, looking a little annoyed with me. "Follow me."
The sour Goblin led the way past a few armed guards, into a long, sinuous hallway, before we reached what seemed to be a large set of doors.
"Wait here. I will inform the Branch Manager of your arrival, and he will call for you." Griphook said, before slightly opening the door, and entering.
"What's with the long-ass, boring protocol?" I asked lightly, making a few the guards bristle in anger, behind me.
Not like I gave a fuck.
The large doors opened, revealing Griphook, and a wizened old Goblin flanked by several others, who were clad in strange armors.
"Welcome." The old Goblin wheezed. "It is a pleasure to meet the one who saved our Realm from the forces of Mundus' armies of Hell. I am Ragnok, the manager of this Branch of Gringotts. How may we assist you, Mr. Potter?"
"Right. Nice to meet you." I said curtly. "I'm sure we could exchange pleasant talk for the next fifteen minutes before I die of boredom on the inside. So I'll cut straight to the chase, if you don't mind."
"Not at all. In fact, it is a quality we Goblins appreciate."
"Okay." I said. "I want access to Bellatrix Lestrange's vault to destroy an artifact holding part of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's soul."
Silence.
"This information." Ragnok said, giving me a steady look of suspicion. "You are sure of its authenticity?"
"Absolutely."
"I see." Ragnok continued. "And why should I allow this? For all I know, it could simply be a lie so you would gain access to one of our precious vaults."
"Oh, come off it." I said. "We both know I'm richer than ninety percent of the people in this entire Bank."
"Be that as it may." Ragnok cut in without missing a beat. "We simply cannot allow you access to another customer's vault."
I was getting irritated.
"Does it not matter to you that there's a soul anchor in your bank?" I almost yelled at the Goblin.
"It is irrelevant. We have held items of questionable nature since the creation of this Bank." Ragnok said with an air of finality. "Allowing you access to another customer's vault would ruin the good name of the Bank, and we would no longer have customers willing to do business."
I was ready to impale the Goblin with the dark blade at my side. But, Daphne stopped me.
"That is a wrong assumption." Daphne interjected before things could devolve into a shouting contest.
"How so, Ms…?" Ragnok asked.
"Daphne Greengrass." She gave the Goblin a nod of her head.
"A pleasure. Please, proceed with your explanation." Ragnok said, relaxing in his chair. "My assumption is wrong, you said?"
"Yes."
"Why is that, then?" Ragnok scrutinized the woman carefully.
"Well, it's basic logic." Daphne started. "The people are currently suffering under the tyranny of the Dark Lord. If I am right, so are you."
"We are not—"
"I'm aware of your immense pride, Gringotts Branch Manager Ragnok." Daphne cut him off. "I understand that your people are a strong, warrior-like race. But, over the past few months, I have seen the exploits of the Dark Lord. He has hunted down humans and humanoids alike, either luring them to his cause, or torturing them to insanity if they refused."
Ragnok kept quiet, looking really tense.
He nodded for her to proceed.
"You're trying to protect your people." Daphne continued. "I understand that. But, think about this; what will the Wizarding population think if they see that you're openly defying the Dark Lord in their defense?"
"But we are not defending them." Ragnok automatically denied.
"It does not matter. They will see you as their saviors by virtue of simply fighting back against their abusers." Daphne smirked. "Business will thrive even better than it would have been, prior to the wars."
"And." She added as the final nail to the coffin. "If they learn that you freely offered your aid to Harry Potter, all the better for you, is it not?"
There was a long silence, before the aged leader of the Gringotts Bank sighed, sinking into his chair.
"Very well. I shall grant you this request." Ragnok said. "Griphook! Escort these two wizards to the vault of Bellatrix Lestrange."
"But, sir!" Griphook tried to protest.
"Do it! Or it's your head." Ragnok threatened, spittle coming out of his mouth.
"As you wish, Master Ragnok." Griphook snarled, before leading the way outside. We followed him outside, saying a quick thanks to the leader of the Bank.
That was light-years ahead of anything I could have imagined.
To be honest, my plan was something along the lines of:
Attempt to negotiate.
Succeed.
In case I don't succeed, take what I want and kill everything in my path.
This seemed like the better alternative, all things considered.
We were accompanied by a squad of guards who were armed to the teeth; likely there to keep us from taking more than the item we seek. I was fine with that, as long as we destroyed Hufflepuff's Cup.
Daphne and I made sure to sit in the back of the cart leading us to Lestrange's vault. As cooperative as these Goblins might be, I didn't know if they would suddenly decide to attack me. Ragnok definitely sounded sincere, but that was just one Goblin.
The cart passed by a rather fierce looking dragon that eyed me the second I passed by it.
Next to the gigantic beast, stood a platoon of warriors, who were readying their bows and arrows, while another Goblin was egging the dragon on; he wanted to sic it on us.
The dragon obliged, belching out intense flame at the cart, arrows flying from the enemy Goblins' bows all the while.
I stifled a curse before attempting to defend against the onslaught. The arrows were disintegrated by the release of Lightning, but the fire was only slowed. Lightning wasn't exactly the best counter to flame, seeing as they were simply energies that weren't quite on the same wavelength.
I began to draw Erebus, hoping to use the Darkness to counteract the flames, much as I did against Clark's heat vision, but I feared it was too late. We were going to suffer damage.
The fire suddenly died out meters from our position. What the hell?
"An impressive use of your powers over Air." Erebus praised.
"Thanks." Daphne said from my right. She had stopped the flames of the dragon with her wind magic?
Ah, it made sense. Yes, she probably created a vacuum of some— my line of thought was interrupted as another hail of arrows flew to us. The cart suddenly stopped, with the arrows flying harmlessly past us.
Looks like the archers hadn't calculated their trajectories right.
No matter. We quickly disembarked from the cart, ready to fight.
"You betray us?" Daphne immediately asked the Goblins that were with us.
"No." Griphook looked angry. "This was inevitable. If you knew of the massive discord that has been plaguing our people for the past few months, you would have known to keep away from this place. The vault of Bellatrix Lestrange is to your right."
"You're saying that this is a Goblin civil war?"
"Yes, and I'm afraid that—" Griphook stiffened, hearing the sounds of the earth itself shifting. He cursed.
"What was that?" I asked quickly.
"Gringotts Bank is in lockdown." Griphook answered automatically. "It has begun."
Griphook barked out a few orders, and one of the armed Goblins went to the vault, pressing his hand to the door before rejoining with his fellows.
It melted away, revealing a cave-like chamber crammed with golden coins, artifacts of various cultures and places, armor, the skins of weird creatures.
I could see potions off to the side, but that wasn't what I was looking for.
"We don't have much time, Potter." Griphook snarled from behind me. I turned to see that he was the only one there with me and Daphne.
Judging by the faint sound of blades clashing and the roars of the dragon, I figured they were trying to buy us time.
"Erebus, can you see it?" I asked, pulling out the powerful Devil Arm.
"Yes." The blade almost purred out, excited for another meal.
"Okay then." I pointed the blade at the pile of gold. "DARK STREAM!"
"What are you doing!? The deal was to retrieve the item!" Griphook snarled, but Daphne kept him at bay for me as more liquid power erupted from Erebus, engulfing the entire contents of the vault and leaving nothing behind. I faintly heard the telltale shriek of a Horcrux—having dealt with three of them, at this point, I figured I could use the term "telltale"— and knew that my job was done.
"What have you done?" Griphook whispered.
"The deal." I ended the Dark Stream and sheathed my blade. "Was to destroy the artifact. Now it's time we get out."
"Get out?" The Goblin known as Griphook jeered at me. "There is no way out until this dispute amongst our people is settled. You humans and your incessant bragging! I am doomed!"
"Yeah, yeah." I said, heading towards the fighting with a disgruntled racist Goblin and my girlfriend in tow.
"But, if there is any consolation in this." Griphook said. "At least you'll die with me."