Chapter 31-The Hunt

The Order had established that there were at least six horcruxes, three had already been destroyed that left at least three unaccounted for. It seemed they were objects of significance either to Riddle or to the Wizarding World at large, the question was where were they?

Hermione had established that many had been given to trusted followers for safe keeping. Hence Lucius had been in precession of Riddle's diary, it was likely that Bellatrix had a horcrux too. But where had she put it? Hermione's best guess was in her Vault but she was dead and the vault was tied to Black family blood. The goblins would not release the vault for a year and a day then, if an heir did not come forward in that time to claim it the contents, they would go to the ministry. The only other known Black heirs were Draco's mother, his aunt, his cousin and of course Draco himself. The slight problem being Draco was supposedly dead and his mother, aunt and cousin were all in hiding. The vault required Black blood to open it- that bit Draco could do but how did they get into Gringott's in the first place? He couldn't just stroll through the front door without giving away their deepest secret.

"You have to be insane Draco," his mother told him, "you can't break into Gringott's"

"Oh we can mother," he told her, "breaking in will not be a problem, getting back out, well that will be entirely another order of difficulty."

"Then what do you intend to do?" his mother questioned.

"I honestly have no idea," Draco confessed.

Hermione was struggling to sleep, constant stress and being constantly on her guard was beginning to take its toll. She paced the halls of Malfoy Manor looking for something to ease the stress. She had tried the library but she could not settle her mind to focus on reading anything. She was anxious about Harry and Draco, anxious about her own roll in Voldemort's cohorts, anxious about finding an ally she could trust. She begged Merlin that Harry and Draco would find the horcruxes quickly. She was tortured by the prospect of having to really murder someone to maintain her cover. She didn't think she could do it.

Snapping out of her reverie she found herself in an unfamiliar corridor on the far side of the Manor. Turning to try and make her way back her eyes spotted a familiar name; 'Draco'. The elegantly carved nameplate marked what must be Draco's room. The desire to be near him or some part of him called out to her frantic soul and she put out her hand caressing the door handle, wondering how many times his hands had touched it. Slowly she turned the handle and entered the unlit room. 'Lumos' she said, light flooded the room and Hermione gasped.

Draco's room was everything she might have expected for a pureblood prince, it was cavernous in proportions. The drapes were deep purple silk, the huge bed, with its deep feather quilt and soft down pillows looked like a fairy tale prince must have slept there without a care, blissfully embraced in the arms of Morpheus. The room was like a shrine to the man she loved. His racing broom was mounted above the elegant fireplace. Bookcases groaned with the weight of his books, not unlike those of Hermione herself. There was a seating area, a book, unfinished and with its pages still marked by the absent reader, sat beside a leather wingback chair. Hermione wondered how many times Draco had sat there and read. There was a small collection of miniature quidditch players, Hermione suspected they had been a childhood toy but they were like new. They spoke of the fact that, despite his enormous wealth, Draco had been a careful child who had looked after his toys. It made sense to her now that she knew him better, now that she knew he had a heart.

To Hermione's right there was another set of double doors which she assumed led to an en suite. She opened them cautiously trying to make no sound. Intrinsically she knew she could not be caught here but she couldn't resist exploring further and taking the risk. The doors opened onto a dressing room, it was lined with rails of beautifully tailored dress robes, crisp well cut shirts and the smell…it brought forward the intensity of her longing for him, his scent, not his cologne but the essence of Draco Malfoy hung heavily in the air. Although everything was clean and laundered the scent of him was there, she knew it and it soothed her. She reached out for a green Slytherin quidditch shirt his name emblazoned across the back in bold silver script; 'Malfoy'. She considered stealing it away so she could sleep with it next to her heart but she dare not. instead Hermione contented herself with lifting it to her face so she could breathe that fragrance of him. She closed her eyes willing the smell to calm her and then she froze. There was a barely perceptible creek of the floor behind her.

Quickly gathering her power to her she spun to confront the 'intruder'.

Trust Potter to be in possession of one of the deathly hallows, Draco thought as they slowly crept across the lobby of Gringott's. It all made sense now how the Boy-Who-Lived never seemed to get caught after curfew whilst they had been at Hogwarts though he had quite clearly been out of bed at all hours. The cloak was a bit too small, they had supplemented it with disillusionment charms and notice me not spells just in case. It would never do for a toe or a heel to suddenly materialise from thin air.

They made slow progress but they could not afford to collide with any of the customers or employees. Then they had to wait until a customer needed to access their vault moving swiftly to get into the elevator before the doors closed. Finally they made it to Bellatrix's vault.

"Just pray this works," he said dragging a blade across his palm to raise droplets of blood, "and then that we can find it."

"if it's there I will know," Harry told him as a matter of fact

"How will you know?" Draco asked the hair prickled at his neck at Harry's absolute certainty.

"I can feel them," Harry told him.

Somewhere at the back of Draco's mind alarm bells rang, this meant something important but he couldn't quite recall what it was. Shaking off his feeling of unease Draco stepped forward and squeezed his hand above the lock, four large drops of blood fell on to the mechanism.

Nothing happened.

"Oh Shit," Draco cursed not expecting this. Harry looked like he might be about to hyperventilate and then there was a sudden whining sound.

Author's note

Who has caught Hermione in Draco's room? Will Harry and Draco get out of Gringott's?

You will have to wait and see. Please review feedback is much appreciated.