Chapter XI: Birthday Wishes
"Are you sure?" Hermione asked, chewing the inside of her mouth nervously.
"I'm pretty sure." Draco nodded, then narrowed his eyes. "Hermione, Bellatrix is dead. You don't have to worry about going into her vault."
"I know." Hermione looked down at her hands. "I'm still a little scared though."
"I told you. She can't get to you anymore." Draco patted her hand reassuringly and Hermione smiled at him. Harry raised an eyebrow to himself.
"What if she like, haunts her vault or something?" Hermione looked around nervously, before Harry suddenly burst into peels of laughter. Hermione scowled.
"Harry James Potter, it is not funny." She slapped him upside the head.
"Ow!" Harry rubbed his head. "I'm sorry but the idea of Bellatrix prowling around outside her vault is kinda funny."
"How are we going to get into her vault? Surely only Bellatrix can get into her vault? And she's dead."
"And it's not like she would of willingly opened her vault for us and handed over the cup even if she was alive." Draco pointed out.
"We're going to have to break into Gringotts." Harry grimaced at the idea.
"Harry are you mad?" Hermione stared at him. Harry mentally prepared himself for one of Hermione's lengthy lectures. "Do you realise how hard it would be to break into Gringotts?"
"I realise that Hermione I do, but what other choice do we have?" Harry took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes tiredly. "It's not like Draco can just walk in there and request to open his dead aunt's vault, who may I remind you, was the one who killed her."
"You don't need to remind me." Draco narrowed his eyes distastefully.
"Sorry." Harry mumbled.
"I could-"
"No you can't Draco. The whole of the Wizarding World is out looking for you. On both sides." Hermione said sternly.
"Fine." Draco huffed and folded his arms. "But I'm telling you – breaking into Gringotts is not an option."
Hermione threw her hands up in exasperation and huffed loudly.
"Well then, what idea do you have?"
"I never said I had an idea." Draco blinked at her and Hermione had the sudden urge to slap him again like she had in third year.
"Hermione – how about Polyjuice potion?" Harry piped up suddenly, a nasty idea forming in his mind.
"It takes months to brew."
"But we already have some, remember?" Harry said, pointing his wand to Hermione's bag and saying; "Accio Polyjuice potion."
Five small vials came zooming out of the bag and into Harry's lap.
"Who are we going to disguise ourselves as?" Hermione asked as she stared at the vials. Harry swallowed the lump in his throat.
"You could be Bellatrix." Harry whispered. Draco suddenly jumped up from the sofa as Hermione's mouth fell open.
"No way. There is no way in hell-"
"Draco, hush." Hermione waved him quiet with her hand. "Harry, it's a good idea but we can't. The Wizarding World knows that she's dead."
"This is not going to work." Harry groaned and flung a vial across the tent frustratedly, where it smashed on the floor.
"Well done Harry." Hermione scolded sarcastically as she pointed her wand at the mess on the floor; "Reparo."
"Wait a minute." Draco suddenly said, something shifting in the back of his mind. He started to pace the room excitedly.
"What?"
"What's the date today Hermione?" He asked, looking at her with wonderful shiny eyes.
"It's June the 3rd. Why?"
"Because Bellatrix told me that her vault would be open for me on June 5, my birthday, and that there would be something for me in there. We can get whatever it was she wanted me to have and the cup at the same time!"
"Again, Draco, you can't just walk into Gringotts."
"Try me."
Draco and Hermione stared at each other, each challenging the other. Harry looked from one to the other and smirked.
"Draco this is far too dangerous. Harry, tell him."
"I-" Harry started but was suddenly and surprisingly interrupted by Ron, who had eventually decided to join in the conversation.
"I think he's right. Let him go in there and if they kill him, oh well, at least he tried." Ron stared at Draco with anger in his eyes.
"No that's stupid Ron-"
"Hermione, I didn't ask for your opinion-"
"Stop it. Get over what she said to you, Weasley." Draco spat at him cruelly, and Ron lunged for Draco. Harry pulled Ron off Draco, who had succeeded in punching Draco in the nose.
"You bastard!" Draco yelled as Hermione brandished her wand at his nose and fixed it in a jiffy.
"If you two don't stop behaving like a pair of childish brats-"
"He started it."
Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Listen to me. All of you." Hermione said sternly. "We're going to need the aid of a Goblin, as only Goblins can touch the vault doors."
"Griphook. He can pay us back for saving him." Harry said.
"Okay, well we're also going to need disguises."
"I'm telling you, Hermione you should just disguise yourself as Bellatrix and Draco can walk in with her, and if anyone asks, you just say it was a cover story."
"That's hardly going to go down well."
"It's our best shot." Harry pointed out and Hermione sighed.
"No, I'm not letting you do this Hermione."
"Draco, please. I have to do this, we all do. It's the only way."
"Hermione-"
"Please." Hermione begged him and Draco rolled his eyes. "I don't like this anymore than you do but we have to do it this way."
"You had better know what you are doing, Hermione."
"I'll search for Bellatrix's hair on my coat and put it in one of these vials." Hermione picked up a vial and handed it to Draco. "Hold that."
Hermione ran off to retrieve her coat, leaving Draco and Harry staring at each other.
"I'm surprised Hermione's going with this, after she just told us she's scared of Bellatrix."
"Hermione is very determined to bring down Voldemort. She'll do whatever it takes." Harry glanced over at Hermione who was busy picking off various hairs off her coat with her tweezers.
"I don't blame her." Draco muttered. "Potter, you sure this is going to work?"
"I hope so." Harry sighed. "I doubt our cover story will but we're just going to have to work with it."
"Potter, if someone doubts it, use the Imperius curse."
"I will never-"
"You've got to use the Unforgivables if you want this to work." Draco pointed out and tousled his hair with his hand. "You've got to mean them, Potter."
"Don't breathe a word about this to Hermione." Harry warned as Hermione came walking back over.
"Okay I got three different kind of hairs." Hermione said, showing Draco them who wrinkled his nose. "Identify your aunt's."
"It's a bit obvious it's the long curly black one." Draco said as he pointed to it. Hermione put it in the vial that Draco was holding and stoppered it.
"I'll keep this safe." Hermione deposited it all back in the beaded bag. "Are you going to use your invisibility cloak Harry?"
"I had a better idea, actually." Harry shifted nervously on the sofa. "I thought maybe me and Ron could disguise as Death Eaters."
Hermione shook her head violently as Ron made a disgusting sound.
"There is no way I'm going to let you-" Hermione started but Harry cut her off.
"You have no choice. You'll pose more of a threat if you have Death Eaters with you." Harry said. "And we can make it look like we're holding Griphook hostage, that way no one will oppose us."
"Are you serious Harry? This is terribly risky."
"I know." Harry said as he lay down on the sofa, tiredly.
"Maybe we should go to bed." Hermione said as she made her way to her bed. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight." Draco and Harry chorused while Ron remained silent.
xxx
"Happy Birthday!" Hermione and Harry yelled the second that Draco woke up on the morning of June 5th. Draco groaned and rolled over.
"Couldn't you have waited another two hours to tell me that?" Draco yawned. Hermione beamed.
"Nope! It's your birthday silly, you need to get up so we can make you a birthday breakfast of waffles." Hermione practically jumped up and down with excitement. "You do like waffles, don't you?"
"I love waffles. With maple syrup." Draco said as Hermione grabbed his hand and pulled him out of bed. Draco rolled out in nothing but his boxers. Hermione suddenly looked flustered as she tried her hardest not to look at his toned bare chest. Harry couldn't hold it in any longer – he burst out laughing much to Hermione's embarrassment.
"I'll go make the waffles." Hermione ran off to the kitchen. Harry grinned at Draco and flung him a jumper.
"I suggest you put that on before Hermione burns a hole in your chest." Draco flushed and pulled the jumper over his head.
"I'm expecting gifts you know ." Draco smirked.
"Well, in our current predicament, all you're going to get today is a cup that is filled to the brim with Voldemort."
"Lovely." Draco joked, still flinching at Voldemort's name.
"Okay so I've made you some waffles with maple syrup and some toast." Hermione looked down at the plate and grimaced. "Sorry, we don't seem to have a wide selection of breakfast foods."
"It's perfect Hermione, thanks." Draco said as he stabbed the waffles with a fork and shovelled half of it in his mouth.
"You want anything Harry?" Hermione asked as she picked up a slice of her own toast. Harry shook his head and poured himself a coffee.
"Where's Weasley?" Draco asked, swallowing his forkful of waffle before putting another in his mouth.
"He's outside. Trying to make a Death Eater mask." Draco snorted.
"I hope he's doing so magically."
"Yeah, he's trying to fashion some hats into one."
"But Ron's hopeless at Transfiguration." Hermione protested, sitting down opposite Harry.
"As a matter of fact, I have managed to transform two hats into perfect Death Eater masks." Ron said as he sat down at the table with a triumphant look on his face. He placed the masks on the table.
"Wow." Hermione said as she examined them.
"Always the tone of surprise." Ron said, smiling slightly at Hermione.
"What's suddenly got you cheerful?" Harry asked.
"The thought of McGonagall giving me an 'Outstanding' for this work." Ron grinned.
"Can you please remove them off the table? They're putting me off my delicious waffles." Draco said, eyeing the mask with contempt. Ron scowled as he removed them. Hermione blushed at the compliment of her cooking.
"So, let's run over the plans for this morning." Hermione said as Harry groaned into his coffee. "We'll arrive at Gringotts at exactly 9.45, as Bellatrix and Draco with their two Death Eaters, which is you and Ron and we'll have Griphook, our hostage." Hermione looked around for approval, Harry being the only one to nod.
"I need to call Kreacher, see if he'll go to the burrow and get Griphook." Harry said.
"Okay, you do that then and I'll figure out how on Earth we're going to actually grant access to the vault, being Bellatrix isn't enough."
"I have her wand." Draco said, much to Hermione's surprise. "I pocketed it when I killed her. It's in my robes." Draco removed himself from the table and fished around in his coat pocket.
"Kreacher!" Harry yelled and heard the distant crack of a house elf. Harry exited the tent and breached the wards.
"Kreacher, I need you to go the Burrow and find Griphook, the Goblin. I need you to bring him here, okay?"
"Kreacher doesn't like Goblins, sir."
"Do it." Harry ordered and Kreacher bowed, disapparating.
"Here's her wand." Draco placed it on the table.
"You have her wand?" Harry asked as he re-entered the tent. Draco nodded.
"I'm going to fashion mine and Harry's robes to Death Eater ones." Ron mumbled as he left the tent with his masks.
"I'm going to wait outside for Kreacher and Griphook." Harry said. "Happy Birthday mate." Harry clapped Draco on the shoulder before he followed Ron, leaving Draco and Hermione at the table.
"Thank you for breakfast." Draco said after an awkward pause. Hermione smiled.
"You're welcome. It's the least I could do. We don't have a cake or anything.." Hermione suddenly brightened. "Maybe I could pick you one up at Diagon Alley."
Draco laughed.
"Yeah, because Bellatrix buying a birthday cake for her nephew isn't going to look odd." Draco smirked at the thought. Hermione giggled.
"Well, I'm off to shower." Hermione stood up from the table and hesitated.
"Happy Birthday Draco." Hermione kissed him gently on the cheek, before moving off into the bathroom.
Draco took a sip of Hermione's tea with a smile.
Happy Birthday Draco! A little dedication seeing as how it's Draco's birthday today! x