Hey guys! As always, sorry for these long waits! College is here and all! Everything's been so chaotic! But I hope this chapter was worth the wait. Plus it's a longer chapter...if that knowledge helps.
Here we go….
"They have been informed of our coming." Griphook announced from Harry's back.
"Ya think?" I snapped at him in a whisper, earning myself the stink eye from the goblin. "'Mione, you are doing great. Stay pissed and don't break character no matter what."
The fake Bellatrix let out a deep breath as she climbed the stairs with Ron-or henchman number one-hot on her heels. Hermione stomped up to the nearest guard.
"What is the meaning of this?" She demanded to know.
"Good girl." I whispered from behind her.
"Just standard procedure, ma'am." The guard paused. "Would it be a terrible inconvenience if I asked to see your wand?"
Hermione froze slightly.
"Oh, shit." I whispered to Harry. "She's drowning. She's drowning…what are we gonna do?"
He put his hand up to silence me and tell me to just go with it for a bit longer. I zipped my lip and prayed to Merlin that would could, by divine intervention it seemed, we would make it through this damn bank.
"Yes, in fact, it would be considering that spineless, mudblood girlfriend of Potter's stole it." She spat at the man.
I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at her. Damn, she could, surprisingly, be a bitch when she wanted to be. I smiled as she continued on.
The guard stared at her a moment, as if deciding if she were the real Bellatrix or not. I was pretty sure all five of us were holding our collective breath as the man in blue stood contemplating what to do. He finally turned to his nearest coworker to see what his thoughts on that matter were.
"I don't like to be kept waiting." Hermione's voice was cold and spot on with LeStrange's. "Am I going to be allowed in my vault or are we going to have a problem?"
The men gave each other one final look before nodding. "My apologizes, Madame LeStrange. We were just taking precautions, as instructed, by you, in fact." The man waved his arm towards the door, allowing Hermione and Red to walk ahead of him into the Bank. Harry, Griphook, and I followed the man quietly.
"Yes, well I did not think taking precautions would mean resorting to complete morons questioning my every move…honestly…" The words were venom and at that moment I had never been more proud of Hermione.
"I think you have been rubbing off on her." Harry teased quietly behind me.
I shot him a look, telling him not to push it, before turning back to see what would happen next. They walked up to the tall, main desk, stopping in front of a rather grim-looking goblin.
Okay, so I know there is no such thing as a happy looking goblin but couldn't they look a little…I don't know, sweeter? They were really creepy and I was semi-worried that, if found under the cloak, they would eat the skin off our faces. Yuck.
"Madam LeStrange would like to access her vault" The guard announced, causing the head goblin to look up.
The creature tilted his head at Hermione, causing a second wave of doubt to be cast over the entire bank. "Has Madam LeStrange her key?" I saw the hard exterior of Hermione's face falter slightly as her eyes went to Ron and then to invisible us. I silent look of help held strong in her eyes.
"Shit, he's not buying this either…what are we going to do?" I whispered back to Harry and Griphook.
The black-haired boy behind me thought for a moment before putting his mouth close to my ear. "Walk over to that head goblin. We are going to have to enchant him."
I nodded before maneuvering us over to the side of the tall desk. I saw Harry raise his wand and point it at the goblin. In the lowest whisper imaginable, I heard him utter one word that I thought would never come to his lips. "Imperio."
The next instant, the goblin sighed contently and smiled. "Never mind, Miss LeStrange, for you this will not be necessary. If you'd please follow me, I shall take you down there myself."
Bellatrix's-or Hermione's, whoever-expression went confused for a fraction of a second before she nodded. "Finally, someone who is not a complete idiot." She allowed a glare back at the guard before following the goblin to the large interior doors that lead to the vaults. Red went ahead of Hermione, holding the door open for her, and keeping it open for ten seconds longer than necessary to allow Harry, Griphook, and I in as inconspicuously as possible before he entered and closed the door behind him.
I took a deep breath as we emerged from under the cloak and clamored into one of the carts. "Damn, Hermione, you's a bitch." I joked. The girl didn't smile back, it was all to obvious just how much those last ten minutes stressed her out to the point of exhaustion.
Hermione, Griphook, and the other Goblin-still silent and smiling under the power of the curse-climbed into the front while Harry, Red, and I sat on the back…where there were no seats. I hated this stupid rollercoaster ride enough as it was, seeing as you could not even see the floor of this deep, dark cave, and I shook ever so slightly as I sat between Harry and Ron.
My eyes drifted over to the Weasley who gave me a reassuring nod before putting one of his hands over my shoulders to secure himself against Hermione's seat. After that, I felt Harry's arm wrap around my waist to secure his arm to the other seat up front; both boys were acting as a seat belt for me and I loved them for that.
"Alright, let's do this." Harry said. "Take us down, Griphook."
"Hold on tight." The goblin announced as he began twisting knobs to get us going.
Oh, he didn't need to tell me to hold on tight; my knuckles were already white by the time we got in motion. We were thrown down the twists and turns as the cart flew across the tracks. Every once in a while Hermione would gasp as we approached a large drop; I simply closed my eyes and tried to think about something else…puppies. Puppies were cute…especially those fluffy little ones that women liked to carry around in their purses…but then they could be snobby puppies that don't want anything to do with you…I hate stuck up dogs they are so-
"Griphook, what's that up ahead!" Harry screamed over the rush of the wind.
My eyes flew open just in time to see us coming across a waterfall. Griphook started turning knobs and pulling levers and we started skidding to a stop; unfortunately, we weren't lucky enough to avoid being completely drenched.
We came to a halt on the opposite side of the waterfall, pausing to take a deep breath after that insane ride we had just lived through. Just when I thought this could not get any worse, a little alarm started rising from the cart, screaming loud enough to force me to cover my sensitive vampire ears.
The next instant, the cart flipped. All of us started falling, falling, and falling down the endless cavern, screaming at the top of our lungs. So, we were plunging to our deaths…that's cool, right? Yeah, no. Stupid mission. Stupid bank. Stupid waterfall.
I managed to control my eyesight for a second, seeing that our group was nearing the ground. At the last second, I could see Hermione pull her wand, as did I.
I pointed it towards the ground. "Mobilicorpus!"
A second later, I heard Hermione scream the same spell. We were a foot above the ground, and I thought maybe the spell hadn't worked, until I felt my self freeze six inches from the ground before falling the rest of the way with a light thump right on my nose.
We all laid there on the rocky terrene for a moment, catching our breath and allowing our nerves to settle down. Harry was the first one to stand up. "Everyone okay?"
Various mumbled 'yeah's' came from the surrounding space as Harry came over to me and grabbed my arm to help me up. "You all right?" He asked.
I smiled up at him. "Honey, I am indestructible I'm fine." I winkled before grabbing his hand and turning about to the rest of the group.
At the sight of Hermione-looking like Hermione-my eyebrows wrinkled up. "What the-?"
"Hermione, you look like…you." Red said, pulling off the fake beard and mustache.
"It's the waterfall." Gripphook brushed off his pants as he spoke. "It breaks all enchantments."
The other goblin began to rise then, seemingly normal and mean again. "What-? What are you four doing here! You cannot be down here! You-"
"Imperio." Harry enchanted him once more; the goblin smiled and closed his mouth.
"Way to use an Unforgivable Curse, mate."
"Ron, I had to. It's not like it's hurting him or anything." Harry told him as he replaces his wand in his pocket.
"Let's just get going, shall we? That alarm must have triggered some kind of guards to come down here." Hermione said before turning to Griphook. "Lead the way, if you please."
Griphook snarled at the four of us before turning around and walking right into a cave. We traveled a ways down the tunnel before we emerged in into another large cavern. "This way." Griphook waved us all on to this Coliseum-like building carved out of the rock walls.
As we neared, the sound of heavy breathing reached my ears…it was coming from something big, something really big.
"What's in there?" I asked.
"A dragon."
"A what?" Ron asked as we stopped at the mouth of the building. I peaked around the Weasley to see a dragon lying down, seemingly asleep.
"We have to get passed that?" Harry asked.
"Don't worry. He's blind." Griphook reached down into a box that set at the entrance and took out two things that looking like two cowbells tied together. He kept one for himself and gave the other to Red. "It's been trained to feel pain when he hears this noise. He won't come near us, don't you worry."
He began shaking the thing, creating a noise that made my ears ring in pain, as he started walking along the wall. Red looked at the thing for a second before copying his motion. I covered my ears, trying my best to escape the sound, as Hermione, Harry, and I followed the two. We circled the large dragon-that was cowering on the opposite side of the room-until we came to another archway that led to a low hall lined with vaults.
The noise stopped and the dragon calmed down. I uncovered my ears as we started down the hall. Harry grabbed my hand, forcing me to look over at him and smile, reassuring him that I was still all right. Sure, the loud noises were a pain in the ass but I wouldn't die front it.
We walked the remaining way until Griphook stopped in front of a particularly large vault door. The grumpy goblin-which, he really shouldn't be considering it was our asses on the line and not his-grabbed the bank worker's hand and pressed it to the vault door.
A series of locks could be heard clicking and clanking within the door until finally it swung open. We all took a step forward to see inside the dark cavern.
"Bloody hell." The words fell out of Ron's mouth as he gazed at the bright and shiny objects; everything was dripping with gold, diamonds, and other gems.
The goblin moved aside to allow us into the vault; we all stepped inside and stared of at the beautiful artifacts for a moment before Harry's voice broke the trance.
"We have to find the horcrux. Spread out and look for it."
That was what we did. Each of us took a pile and began examining it, trying to find the thing-which we weren't even sure what it was-without disturbing the vault to avoid leaving traces of us there.
I honestly thought we weren't going to find it. I mean, how are you supposed to find something when you don't know what it is? But, just then, I heard something.
I wasn't sure what it was exactly. It just whispered…hissed at me.
"Do you guys here that?" I asked.
Hermione and Red both wrinkled their foreheads at me and shook their heads. My eyes then turned to Harry to see that he was nodding.
"Parseltongue." He informed me.
"But I can't speak Parseltongue." I explained.
"Yes, you can." Hermione interjected, causing me to turn back to look at her. "Don't you remember in Godric's Hollow? How the snake spoke to you and your thought it was just English? You must be able to because of Voldemort, as well."
I looked from her to Harry then back again. "That's whack."
The girl squinted at me as if I had gone nuts. "That's what-?"
"Don't worry about that now. Where is that sound coming from? Allie?" Harry prompted.
I strained my ears a little more, hearing the hissing sound call to me once more. Just then another noise filled the air; it was a clink followed by a clank. The noise continued, growing louder, and I turned to see gold and silver objects multiplying and growing.
"The room's enchanted. Everything you touch will expand until the entire room is filled." Griphook explained as he grabbed his fellow goblin and inched toward the door.
I stumbled back, trying to avoid the growing mound in front of me when-me, being me-I tripped over my own feet and fell into a pile of crap behind me. Instantly, I felt the pile grow from under me but not only was it multiplying…
"What the hell! Ouch! It burns you too!" I screamed as I scrambled off the growing hill. The next second the pile fell on top of me and I instantly smelt a faint sickly sweet smell: yeah, that would be my flesh burning thank you very much.
I stood up, throwing the burning objects out of my way. My eyes turned to Hermione and Red, both of whom looked panic-stricken.
"Stop moving!" Harry shouted. A second later we all stood silently in the waist high sea of burning treasure.
Instantly, I hear the hissing come to my ears again. I turned around to see a gold goblet standing alone of a high shelf; my eyes squinted up some more and I was to identify the crest of Hufflepuff branded on it's side.
"Guys, I found it." I nodded my head in the direction of the cup to show them where it was. "'Mione, toss me the sword."
Quickly, the girl dug around in her little beaded bag until she pulled of the silver sword of Gryffindor and tossed it over to me. I caught it easily and turned, creating more objects to multiply and burn the living crap outta me. I tried to reach it, using the sword as a claw of sorts but I was still coming up short.
"I gotta climb." I told them.
"Allie, your burns-" I turned my head to look back at Red and glare at him for even suggesting that I couldn't do this because I'm a vampire.
Once he shut up my eyes went to Harry who wore the same pained and worried expression. "Yeah, it's gonna hurt, but it would hurt any of us. I'm the one who will heal from this a hell of a lot faster. When I start moving it's going to get worse in here. Try to make it to the door as I go this way."
Harry just nodded. I took a deep breath.
Here we go.
Without thinking, I jumped, pulling my feet from the quick sand of treasure, and started climbing the white-hot pile. The smell of by burning flesh filled my lungs as I trudged deeper and deeper, sinking as I fought to climb up.
I was almost there, the goblet within three feet, when I heard Hermione scream.
I paused for a second to look back but it was enough time for the treasures to completely swallow me. I took a few deep breaths, allowing myself to adjust to the heat before trying to overcome it. Vaguely, I heard someone call out my name and I instantly felt myself pull through the pile of stuff.
I tried my best to crawl farther up but it was no use; my legs were completely crushed under the mound of heavy gold. The treasure was growing around me but I could not think of that now; I had to block everything out and concentrate on getting that damn horcrux.
With all my strength, I pulled my hand-the one that gripped the sword with white knuckles-and reached as far as I could. After a try or two…or three, I managed to ring the sword right through the handle of the goblet. The next second I felt myself being absorbed by the growing mound once more
"Allie!" This time I knew the voice to be Harry's but I didn't answer.
Because I was burning. Paralyzed by the oh-so familiar smell of sickeningly sweet flesh…the smell that had been burned into my memory since I was a baby…watching the bodies of my family burn in small piles around the Cullen yard…
I didn't know how long I had just sat there, burning, before I felt myself being pulled down by the ankle. My ankle emerged followed by the rest of my body before Harry lifted me to my feet and grabbed me around the waist with one of his hands and pulled my face up look at him with the other.
"I'm okay." I told him breathlessly, earning only a nod as we fought our way to the door.
"Gripphook! Open the door!" Harry yelled.
"Give me the sword first!" The goblin yelled.
Harry didn't even hesitate as he took the sword from my hand and tossed it at Griphook. I looked down to make sure I still had the goblet of Hufflepuff clutched in my hand: I did.
Griphook easily caught the sword and smiled, backing closer to the door. "I said that I would get you four into the vault." He paused to put his friend's hand against the door. "I never said anything about getting you out."
The door opened and that little shit backed out, dragging the other goblin with him, and started to close it again.
"That little bastard!" I shouted, looking around to find Hermione and Red.
"Get to the door. NOW! Hermione!" Harry shouted at the person closest.
Hermione only nodded quickly before running-or, really, it was kind of wading-to the door. I didn't think she was honestly going to make it. She just seemed to far and the door seemed to be closing too fast. But, thank Merlin, she managed to get there. She tried to hold it open but it was still closing.
"I can't slow this down! Hurry!" She yelled as she tried with all her might.
Red was the next to the door, helping her keep it open while we still rushed over there.
It seemed like forever but we made it with not a second to spare. I pushed Hermione through to the outside of the vault and Red and Harry followed us. We all collapsed on the floor just as the vault sealed it's self once more.
The four of us stayed on the ground, just breathing, for several seconds.
"Well, hell." I finally breathed out as I stood up. "That damn elf is gonna get it."
"Allie, he's a goblin." Hermione told me as she stood too.
"Does it look like I give a shit? Either way, he's gonna die."
I vampire ran to the ledge, looking down at the small arena that held the dragon; the two goblins were almost out.
"Griphook!" I heard Harry yell from over my shoulder.
The goblin turned only to salute us before walking out of the structure all together.
The next instant, several guards rounded the corner and began shooting spells at us, the thieves. I pushed Harry out of the way as two guards shot spells in our direction. We both ran back to Hermione and Ron as the bricks around us began to explode and crumble because of the spells; clearly, they were taught to kill intruders on the spot.
"So? Now what?" Red asked as he inched forward to take a look before scooting back as I spell came close.
We all stayed quiet, the only sound to be heard was spells hitting the walls around us, until Hermione finally spoke. "I have an idea. It's bloody mad but it might work."
I turned to look at her and into her mind. "You are suicidal!" I exclaimed as I realized just what she had in mind.
"And you aren't!" She yelled back, earning herself a pause before a shrug from me.
"Yeah, okay. I guess you're right. I'm in." It doesn't take too much to convince me when the facts are so overwhelming: we were screwed and we needed to get out of there or else we would fucking die.
"Wait, guys, what's going on?" Harry asked.
Hermione and I ignored his words. "On the count of three?" I asked Hermione, she nodded her agreement and pointed her wand in the direction of our escape.
"Girls?" Red's words were very worried but still ignored by the two of us.
"One." I started.
"Two."
"Three!"
At the last word Hermione shot a silent spell at the chain that kept the dragon trapped in this pit. The next instant Hermione and I ran at full force toward the beast and grabbed onto the spikes that ran along his spine. We adjusted ourselves so that we were covered by the dragon's flesh from unfriendly fire and looked back at the boys who, strangely, were just standing there staring at us.
"Well, are you coming or not?" I shouted over the noise.
The two exchanged a glance as if to silently say that us girls were completely mental before running at full force also and lunging onto the dragon's back. Harry and Red landed slightly in front of Hermione and behind me. I didn't particularly like taking the lead on a pissed off dragon but, hey, it's the luck of the draw, I guess.
"Now what!" Red asked again.
I turned around to see Hermione pointing her wand at the dragon's tail and shoot a silent spell at it. The dragon cried out in pain before rearing upwards; I saw a light very high above us and realized then that the dragon did too. Within five seconds, he had taken flight and began his accent to the surface.
We flew higher and higher, the cool ground air rushing past our faces and causing my eyes to water. The next thing I knew we were close to the light and then ever closer…and then breaking through the floor of the main room in Gringotts.
The dragon thrashed around, causing mayhem to erupt and debris to fly, until he finally looked up again and saw the clear blue sky above us.
Abandoning thoughts of the panicked goblins running around his feet, trying to avoid getting themselves killed, the dragon once again thrust himself, and us, unfortunately, up toward the domed glass ceiling. I ducked to cover my eyes from the inevitably shattered glass that was about to rain down on us at the same time I heard Hermione let out a light yelp of fright.
I clasped my eyes closed tightly as I heard the crash from the contact of the dragon with the ceiling; once the deafening noise subsided I looked up to see that we were in the air…very high in the air as we flew over Diagon Alley.
"Aw, hell." I grumbled before I closed my eyes again and began counting.
Damn, I hate to fly.
I don't know how long we had been in the air-I was trying not to think about it and everyone left me to my own devices so I wouldn't freak out even more-before I heard Harry call out. "It's flying lower."
I pulled my eyes up from the crock of my arm and dared a peak over the side of the dragon. Yeah, we were still about a hundred feet over the ground. I closed my eyes again. "Somehow that does not make me feel better."
"No, really. We are getting lower. He must be getting tired." Ron added.
"We have to get off then." Hermione explained. "If we get close enough to the ground we have to jump or else we could be up here forever."
I dared another peak and noted that we were still at least seventy-five feet from the ground. "Yeah, I'll take my chances up here. Thanks."
"Love, look at me." Harry prompted.
I tried to pry my eyes from the ground but couldn't. I saw now that we were approaching a lake.
"Allie." He tried my name this time and I was able to look away from the drop and into his green eyes. He smiled slightly at me. "It'll be okay. Don't be afraid."
I stayed connected to his eyes and felt as he slid his hand up further towards me and entwined our fingers. The tension I was feeling eased up a bit as I smiled back at him.
"When are we going to bail out?" Red asked.
Harry's smile grew a little bigger. "Now!"
The next thing I know, he jumps from the dragon, tugging me along with him. I screamed as we freefell into the dark water, plunging deeply into the frigid abyss.
I felt Harry's arm go around my waist as he began to drag both of us back up to the surface. I held onto his shoulder as I helped push to the surface with the other hand, as well. My head broke the barrier and we both took air into our lungs; Harry was out of breath but me, not really needing much anymore, breathed normally as I glared at him.
Once he was breathing semi-normally, I started splashing him in the face. "Thanks for the warning, you ass!" Okay, so I wasn't really mad at him, I was more scared shitless than anything.
Harry took my retaliation for a moment before encircling his arm around my waist once more and pulled my close to his chest. He cupped my cheek with his other hand and pulled my lips to his.
I was momentarily frozen, not quite believing that we were truly back together. After a second, I put both my arms around his neck and kissed him back with the same ferocity. The kiss lasted longer than it should have and by the time we broke apart Hermione and Ron were already almost to shore.
I smiled back at my boy and placed my forehead against his. "You can't do that every time you piss me off, Harry James Potter."
He chuckled as he looked down into my eyes. "No, I can't because then we were be kissing all the time…" He paused. "Then again, that wouldn't be too bad, would it?"
It was my turn to laugh. I propelled myself back from him slightly and splashed him again. "Come on." I called as I began to swim toward shore.
By the time Harry and I got there, Hermione was already rummaging around in her beaded bag for new clothes and blankets. She handed the boys each a new shirt and sweater and gave me a blanket as I stripped off my wet jacket and sweatshirt.
I wrapped the blanket around me as she did the same.
We stood around silently for a moment, checking our breath, before, suddenly; Harry dropped to the ground and held tightly to his forehead and lightening scar.
"Harry, what's the matter?" Hermione asked as she crotched beside him. I came to rest in front of him and place my hands on his knees and Ron next to me.
The next second something really funky happened…I blacked out, just like I had in our fifth year. The last time Harry collapsed like this. I felt myself falling backwards before being caught-whether it was by the ground or Red I didn't know.
I felt like I passed out but I still was awake in a strange half-consciousness. My vision was gone, as if someone had stolen it and I just stayed still, hoping it would end soon. Why did this happen? Why did Harry get a vision and I got a blank picture? It must have had something to do with my vampire ability. Perhaps it was just second nature for m to block out other people's minds by now and I just didn't even have to work at it to avoid seeing inside of Voldemort's head. But I did speak to snakes…ugh, whatever.
Then, just as quickly as it came, I felt myself come to in Red's arms. I blinked up at the Weasley and nodded to him. "Thanks for not letting me hit the ground."
He nodded too. "Anytime."
We both then looked over at Harry who was on all fours on the ground, Hermione absently rubbed his back with one hand and supported some of his weight with the other. He finally looked up at the three of us. "He knows. He knows we are after the horcruxes."
"Of course he does, that little bastard knows everything." I murmured.
"That's not true." Harry said, shaking his head. "He doesn't know about your wand, Allie, and he doesn't know that I saw what another horcrux is."
"You saw it? What is it?" Hermione asked.
"I'm not sure." He answered, earning wrinkled foreheads from the three of us. "But I know it has something to do with Ravenclaw house."
My eyes flinted from him to Hermione, both of us didn't need to think long to know what this meant. "We have to go back to Hogwarts, don't we?" She asked.
Harry sighed then nodded. "And we have to go quickly before he can."
With a little help from Ron, I stood up then. "What the hell are we waiting for then? Let's do this."
Harry shook his head. "Not yet. We all need to get patched up and rest." He looked me up and down, causing my eyes to check out all the burn marks on my clothes and skin. I looked at my friends to notice that they were in about the same rough shape as I was. "But tomorrow." He continued. "We will leave for Hogwarts tomorrow. It's time to end this."
Okay, I hope you liked it! If inspired, please leave a review and tell me what you think! Thanks for reading and your patience!