Harry Potter and the Power of the Past
Disclaimer: All JKR's, not mine.
Summary: This is a complete AU- Harry Potter is a 21-year-old wizard, who's on top of the world. He's rich, in love, and loved by all, but his life is turned upside down as a spiral of events leads to the ultimate battle between good and evil. Can Harry lead the fight for the light, but yet manage to keep his life together?
A/N: Thanks for the reviews everybody. Oh, and review again!
S/N: Sorry for the long wait, but here it is and its just the beginning of a few chapters that will take this story on a roller coaster.
S/N 2: Uh-oh, what's going to happen? Did Kylie unwittingly cause trouble for Harry in a previous chapter? I've been setting up the ending for this chapter for a long, long time.
Chapter 33: With a Huff and a Puff, I'll Steal the Cup Now
"I found it, Harry." Bill Weasley exclaimed, coming down into the basement of 12 Grimmauld Place the next morning. Harry was sitting at the far end of the table, drinking a mug of hot tea as he read the Daily Prophet, but he did not immediately respond to Bill's pronouncement. "I searched through the records and found out that Tom Riddle's vault number is 864. Coincidentally, McGonagall's vault is near his at number 858."
"864? That's deeper than I thought it would be." Harry looked up from his paper, staring at Bill with his intense green gaze; a plan was formulating in his mind, one that he hoped would allow him to get through this unscathed. "I'm going to need Minerva to go to her vault to get me down there." He muttered to himself, seemingly forgetting there were people in the room. "We walk in together, me under a disillusionment charm, she goes down to her vault and then leaves, while I stay…then I head over to vault 864, break in, and hope to Merlin I can get out after."
"What?" George squeaked in surprise, turning his attention to Harry. "You never told us you were going into Gringotts to rob the damn thing!"
"Why else would I ask for Lord Voldemort's own personal vault?" Harry questioned, rhetorically, ignoring their shivers at the mention of Voldemort's name. Most members of the Order had still not overcome their fear of the name Voldemort, a fact that surprised Harry because all of them were so brave and courageous. While the rest of the occupants had look of surprise and fear on their faces, Sirius stood off to the side and smiled, knowing that for Harry to be crazy enough to try and break into Gringotts that the cup of Hufflepuff must have been in there. He knew that no matter what he said, Harry would not change his mind, so instead of fighting or arguing, he decided to say silent and help if and when he was asked.
"Tom Riddle is the Dark Lord?" Bill Weasley replied, shaking off Harry's use of the Dark Lord's name. He was still filled with fear every time he heard it, remembering the days of his childhood when he would lay in his bed, wondering if his father would make it back to the Burrow from work that night or if the Death Eaters had killed him. "You're out of your gourd, Potter." He muttered, thinking that Harry was crazy for even thinking about trying to break in.
"It can't be done, Harry." Hermione scolded, always the knowledgeable one. "The goblins take great pride in their security."
Harry chuckled at their ignorance, taking another sip out of his mug—he had a nervous but confident demeanor about him. "Oh, but it already has happened before, Hermione, as Professor Quirrell did it ten years ago when we were just entering our first year at Hogwarts. The vault he broke into, however, was already emptied, but I'm hoping the one I'm going in for won't be."
"Quirrell?" Hermione gasped, remembering hearing about the break-in when she first found out that she was a witch and had entered her rightful place in the world. It had been all over the headlines, and before now, she thought it went unsolved. "He was the one who did that?"
"Yes," Harry confirmed. "He was tutored through it by Voldemort, but still…someone did break into Gringotts." Harry then rose from his seat and grabbed his ebony wand that was on the table, preparing himself to leave. The wand was his natural wand that he had used since he was eleven years old, not the Elder Wand as he rarely ever took it out of his workshop; that was his ace in the hole, and as such, he would not reveal that he had it just yet. There would come a time where he would use it, but he knew that that time would not be coming for a few more weeks. "I'm going to go and do a little reconnaissance work, one of you make sure that Minerva is here tomorrow morning around nine o'clock, okay?" They all nodded hesitantly. "Oh, and make sure this stays between us five, okay? I don't want people to know about this." He walked up the stairs, leaving the foursome alone. They each looked at one another wearily, before shaking their heads and going back to their work; Hermione left the house soon after, having a fourth year transfiguration class that was to start in just a half an hour.
Arriving at the apparation point of Diagon Alley, Harry slowly walked out of the side alley and turned left, heading straight towards the building known as Gringotts. Unlike they normally would, his eyes never shifted around at the different shops and stores, nor did he smile at the eclectic mix of witches and wizards who scurried about, instead his attention was locked solely on the large, white goblin-run bank that hovered majestically in the distance in front of him. He liked the feeling of purpose that he carried in these situations—it gave him clarity of mind and allowed him to focus better. An Auror waved to him as he passed, but with his mind fully on his mission, he did not see it and he unintentionally snubbed the Auror, who cursed Harry out underneath his breath as Harry continued to walk.
"Young and foolhardy." The gray-haired old man whispered, coming up behind Harry as he walked through Diagon Alley. He was seemingly heading towards Gringotts himself, though Harry knew not what business he had there. "Arrogant, too, maybe? Thinking you can actually break into the wizard's bank."
Harry's eyes flicked over to the cloaked wizard, but he continued on his path; his lips pursed in concentration. "Like you actually could?" Harry rebutted, anger briefly overcoming him and making him overlook the fact that the old man impossibly knew what he was doing when only four other people in the world did. "Listen, can you at least help me, rather than ridicule me?"
The man stayed silent for a moment, internally reviewing what Harry had asked. Then, with a sigh, he said, "Use the Finxisional charm when breaking into the vault." Right after he finished his sentence, he veered off into Knockturn Alley and Harry went up the steps and opened the door to Gringotts. Finxisional charm, Harry questioned in his mind, having never heard of the charm, I wonder what that is.
After entering the building, he waited for a goblin to become available, and then headed down to his own vault with the intention of seeing if he could feel the charms and curses that were cast upon it. He stepped out of the cart when it stopped, and inconspicuously waved his wand underneath his cloak, testing out the wards that were around the vault: there were a lot, which made him cringe in apprehension. He watched the goblin run his stumpy finger over the door, and due to the spells that he had previously performed, he could feel the wards disappearing—slowly retreating back before being enveloped by the other magicks of Gringotts. He reached into his vault and grabbed a few galleons, trying to keep up the appearance of normalcy, rather than doing anything that would cause the goblins to be suspecting.
Ten minutes later found Harry out of Gringotts and perusing the shelves of 'Flourish and Blotts,' searching for a book about goblin magic. After his search ended in futility, he left the store and headed towards the apparation point, knowing who he would need to go in order to learn more about goblins than he knew: Dirk Cresswell, Goblin Liaison for the Ministry. He threw a look to the old man, who stood leaning against the entrance to the Leaky Cauldron, staring at Harry through his hooded cloak. With a slight shake of his head, the old man wished Harry good luck, then turned and entered the pub, presumably to get a drink. Harry on the other hand apparated to the Ministry of Magic, hoping Cresswell was still in his office and had not already left for the day.
Like a man on a mission, Harry rushed towards the Beasts and Beings division of the Department of the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures in Ministry, smiling and waving to the people he knew, but keeping a brisk pace. He gave a dark look to Walden Macnair, a wizard long suspected of being a Death Eater within the Ministry—who, in return, just gave an arrogant smirk, as if he was untouchable. Shaking his head as Macnair walked away, Harry entered the main office of the Department, and smiled as he bumped into Amos Diggory, Cedric's father. "Ah, Harry, how are you, my boy?"
"I'm grand, Amos, how are you?" Harry replied distractedly, hoping that the conversation did not go long. It wasn't that he didn't like Amos, for he did, it was just a matter of prudence.
"Fine, fine. Just going over to meet with my Cedric for dinner, says he has something special to talk to me and his mother about." Amos smiled, giddy at the prospect of seeing his son: Amos loved Cedric more than anything in the world, and showed his pride for him on his sleeve everyday of his life. "What are you doing all the way down here in my neck of the woods?"
"Just coming to deliver something to a friend." Harry lied, patting his pocket as if the item he supposedly needed to deliver was in there. He took a step closer to Amos and put his hand on the man's shoulder, giving him a large grin. "Say hello to Cedric and your wife for me, will you? We'll have to get together soon; I miss Mrs. Diggory's cooking, you know."
"I'm sure you'll be too busy, Harry, but I'll give my wife your regards." Amos replied, giving Harry's arm a squeeze. Then, without saying another word, he took a step around Harry and left the office, leaving Harry to his own devices.
Harry continued onto the Goblin Liaison office, which was just a little ways down the hall. As he neared the door to Cresswell's office, it opened on its own and a yellow paper airplane flew out, which then zoomed through the air and out of the department, entering the lifts on the other side of the hall. Giving the wooden door a slight knock, he gave the secretary, Abigail Tulsey, a warm smile, hoping to get in and out without any sort of problems. "Hello, Ms. Tulsey."
"Mr. Potter," Abigail replied from under her glasses. She was a pleasant witch, with blonde haired that was wrapped in a bun and violet eyes. She was a little bit older than Harry was, having graduated Hogwarts two years before Harry entered, but she was still relatively young considering the longer lifespan of wizarding folk. "I hope I'm not under arrest or anything. After all, isn't that what you big, bad Hitwizards do? Arrest people?" She inquired, twirling her eagle feather quill in her hand suggestively.
"Only to those who need arresting." Harry grinned, inching into the office. Then, looking to Dirk's door, he said, "Is Mr. Cresswell in?"
"Yes," Abigail nodded, looking down at her schedule. She ran a finger over the list of things to do for the day and nodded, saying, "He's free for the next hour if you need to talk to him."
"I do, thank you." Harry replied, heading towards the door. "Can I just go in or…" Seeing her nod, he smiled and knocked on the wooden door. Hearing a muffled 'come in,' he turned the knob and took a step into the office, closing the door behind him with a soft click. "Mr. Cresswell, how are you?"
"Ah, Harry Potter." Dirk Cresswell said, rising from his desk to shake Harry's hand. "Is there something that you needed? Its not every day a member of the Hitwizard squad comes down here, especially in these dark, dark times. I hope my brother did everything to your specifications on your home, I made sure he worked to the best of his ability on that project."
"Yes, well," Harry frowned, taking the offered seat in front of the desk. "He did extremely well, I thank you for that. I had a few questions about goblin magic, though, and I thought who better to answer those questions than you?"
"Is something the matter with a goblin, or is this strictly personal?" Dirk questioned, hoping a goblin hadn't done something wrong; that would be a lot of work and a lot of forms to fill out for him.
"Personal." Harry supplied, knowing just what it was Dirk was thinking; he didn't need his legilimency skills for that. "I was wondering, in terms of power, which is stronger: a house elf's or a goblin's? Would goblin magic even recognize a house elf?" He questioned, wondering if Zeali would be able to help him out in anyway.
"Between you and me," Dirk whispered, leaning forward in his chair. "The goblins look at house elves as a lower life form, so no to your question. I doubt a goblin ward would pick up a house elf, to be honest. I might be wrong about that, the goblins aren't exactly open to having a wizard ask those kinds of questions. As for which is stronger, well, that's a much tougher question since magic is just magic. Its how we use it that decides how strong something is or not—what I mean to say is that all magic is equal, whether it comes from an elf, a wizard, a goblin, a vampire, etc. What matters, however, are the social constructs that are put around it. Take house elves, for example: most wizards look down on them, and as a result their magic is thought upon as weaker and inferior, but in truth it is the same as a wizards and in some ways might be even better because we ignore it so often."
Harry nodded, soaking all the information in. Dirk wasn't saying anything he didn't already know or believe in, for Dumbledore had lectured him many times about the nature of magic over the years. "And do you know any specific spells that work the best on goblin magic?"
Dirk uncomfortably shifted in his seat, looking at Harry pointedly. "Weak spells help." He acknowledged after a slight pause, still a little weary by Harry's question. "Since they only prepare themselves for the most powerful of wizards to attack them, they completely forget to protect themselves from the weaker wizards or witches. When it comes down to it, Harry, goblins are very arrogant creatures; just as arrogant as we are in their eyes, though they would never admit it."
Harry nodded, smiled, and rose to his feet. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Cresswell, you were a big help."
"Not a problem, not a problem." Dirk replied, looking up at Harry. His eyes went wide, however, as Harry pulled his ebony wand out on him, holding it a few inches from his face. "What the…"
"I'm sorry, but no one must know that I was here." Harry said, frowning, sincerely sorry for what he was about to do. "Obliviate!" As the spell hit, Dirk's eyes glazed over, and he completely forgot the last hour and Harry's presence in his office. Harry turned around and walked to the door, exiting into receptionist office quickly. "Ms. Tulsey," He asked, giving her another warm smile, gripping his wand underneath his cloak. "Does anyone else know besides you and Mr. Cresswell that I was here today? Did you tell anyone while I was meeting with Dirk?"
"No," She shook her head, gasping as Harry said obliviate, wiping out her memories of the past hour. As the glaze from the spell retreated, Harry was already gone, and for all they knew, he was never there in the first place.
Pulling his hood over his head, Harry walked out of the apparation point of Knockturn Alley and entered Borgin and Burkes; it's dank and dark atmosphere immediately flooded his senses. His eyes roamed over the many items and contraptions, though his hand never grazed over any, knowing that some of these things were dangerous and could potentially kill him. Two warlocks were up at the counter, paying for their selections, allowing Harry some privacy as Borgin was collecting their galleons. As he was losing hope in finding the one thing that he needed, his eyes came to a golden chalice that was ingrained with black diamonds. It wasn't an exact match to the chalice that he desired, but it was believable enough and had certain properties that could mimic Hufflepuff's cup better than anything else could. He grabbed the chalice and then turned and looked for a silver headpiece; it didn't need to be a tiara, he just needed something that he could transfigure. After a few minutes of looking, a silver headband was what he decided upon, and taking both of his items up to the counter, he gave a grunt to Borgin.
"Twenty galleons, seven sickles." Borgin barked out in his oily voice, running a wand over the two items and releasing the anti-theft charms. Borgin was a greasy-haired, stooping man who, contrary to popular belief, was a proud proprietor, albeit a rude one. He wasn't evil, nor did he willingly let objects that were meant to kill inside his shop: a dark wizard, maybe, but not that bad or on a comparable level to a Death Eater. He did, however, believe in blood purity, but did not throw muggleborns or halfbloods out of his shop like Caractacus Burke was well known to do.
"That cheap?" Harry questioned, surprised by the frugal price. Before entering the store, he had thought he would be throwing down a few hundred galleons for them, since most of the stuff within Borgin and Burkes was incredibly overpriced; in addition to his hatred of mudbloods, Caractacus Burke was not known for his generosity, either. In fact, Caractacus Burke was so ruthless of a businessman that he was voted the worst shop owner in the Daily Prophet's annual poll for the last fifteen years.
Borgin looked up at Harry, squinting his eyes to see through the shadow across Harry's face that his hood created. "Potter," He whispered, recognizing that voice anywhere. Harry, along with Draco Malfoy, had been one of his best customers over the last few years, always coming to buy a new dark arts book or some odd thing every couple of months. Of course, it wasn't the quantity of the items Harry bought that made him one of Borgin's most cherished customers, but the quality; he always got something in the hundreds of galleons price range. "Why all the secrecy? Your secrets have always been and will always be safe with me."
"It's the Dark Lord." Harry replied, tilting his head to the side. He gripped his wand under his cloak, using his left hand to place twenty-one galleons on the counter and then took the bag that held his items from Borgin gratefully. "I'm sorry." He said, pointing his wand between Borgin's eyes. "Obliviate," he whispered, and then quickly after added, "Legilimens." He not only erased Borgin's memory of Harry buying the chalice and the headband, but also changed them to show a vampire purchasing them instead, just so no one would be able to question their disappearance.
Immediately, Harry went back to his home and straight to one of his hidden rooms that only Tonks knew about, intent on planning for the coming day. He reached for one of his ward books, one that Dumbledore had given him after he had graduated Hogwarts, and flipped open to the index, looking for the Finxisional charm. The book's pages turned on their own, by magic, speeding past wards and opening charms, before they abruptly stopped on a page that had writing only in the middle of it. It read in black ink and cursive writing, "Finxisional charm: disenchants various forms of key related magic. Used mainly on goblin locks, it allows the user's wand to take on the characteristics of the 'key' that unlocks a lock. It will not work on most human locking curses and jinxes."
Harry cocked an eyebrow, surprised by what it said. "Convenient," he muttered to himself, wondering if this would make his time in the bank easier or not. After all, the goblins surely knew about the charm as well, and as such, would take the proper precautions to protect the vaults against it.
He then gathered a magically expanded bag, which was able to hold more than the outside dimensions seemed to allow: it was small and slightly furry. The bag was a mokeskin, with charms placed on it that prevented anyone other than the owner from getting into it—they were rare and hard to come by. He moved about the room, gathering everything that he thought he would need and placed them on the work desk. Then, in the mokeskin bag, he placed the chalice he had bought just hours ago, a shrunken broom, and his invisibility cloak. The silver headband that he had bought along with the chalice sat next to the Diadem of Ravenclaw, untouched since Harry had put it there when he first got back from Knockturn Alley. He stared at it for a brief moment, knowing that it was his secondary plan if Hagrid was unable to get Acromantula venom for him, though he hoped it would not come to that. Rubbing his forehead, trying to think of anything else he would need to do or get, he flicked his wand at the wall and turned off all the lights. He left the room and headed towards his bedroom, where Tonks was getting ready for bed, with the hopes of getting a good night's sleep.
An hour later found Harry and Nymphadora lying close to each other in their bed, still awake. Nymphadora was biting her lip in worry, having heard what Harry's plan was just moments before. "Are you sure it is there, Harry? Do you realize what would happen to you if you were caught?"
"I won't get caught, Nymphie." Harry soothed, kissing her head. "And no, I'm not sure, but what if it is?" He sighed, bringing her closer to him. "I can't think of any other place where it would be, Nymphie. Honestly, if its not there, I don't know what I'm going to do. It is the last place I can look, and quite frankly, if its not there then we are in a lot of trouble."
The next morning, a confident Harry Potter waited in the study of Grimmauld place for Minerva McGonagall to floo in from Hogwarts. Tonks, Bill, George, Sirius, and Hermione all sat with him, each glancing at the young wizard with a nervousness that he himself wasn't showing. They all believed that what he was about to do was suicide, and if he did survive, he would surely get caught; since, after all, breaking in and out of Gringotts successfully was all but impossible. Finally, as the silence became too much, Bill said, "I could go with you, you know. I have experience with some of the curses that are on the vaults."
"No," Harry shook his head, flicking his eyes over to the redheaded wizard. "We can't have you get caught; we need someone inside Gringotts. I go alone." The flames in the fireplace erupted green, and out stumbled Minerva, looking older than she had ever looked before; being Headmistress of Hogwarts was obviously getting to her. "Ah, Minerva." Harry said, rising to his feet to greet the witch.
"Potter," McGonagall replied, curtly. Underneath her eyes were saggy bags, which added to her already haggard appearance, showing to the world just how tired she was. "What is it that I have to do? Hermione told me you needed me to go to my vault for Order business."
Harry bit his lip, having rehearsed what he was going to say throughout breakfast that morning. "Yes, I am meeting a goblin down in the vault tubes, but I can't be seen…secrecy is needed, he relayed to me. And the only vault that we know of near where he wanted to meet was yours, so I asked Hermione to ask you. All you need to do is walk into Gringotts naturally, go to your vault, take a few galleons out of it, and then leave. I'll simply be following you all the while, and when you get off of the cart to go to your vault, I will as well, except I won't get back on and you will. I'll be, of course, under a disillusionment charm so no one will see me." He raised his wand, and tapped his head, allowing the cool feeling of the charm to overtake him.
Unlike most disillusionment charms, this one allowed Harry to go completely unseen, as if he was wearing an invisibility cloak but without the hassle of needing to secure the cloak on him or the risk of having a part of his body left uncovered. Dumbledore had taught it to Harry, and it was so powerful that Harry only knew of two people who could do it: Voldemort and himself. It wasn't only a difficult spell to perform, but it also took more magical energy than most people had or could muster. In addition to the disillusionment charm, he also performed a few spells to make sure his shoes did not echo off of the stone ground and no other noise emanated from him, preventing anyone from hearing him as well. Overall, he focused a lot of attention on keeping himself hidden, making sure that if he were to be caught, it would be by a ward trapping him, not by someone spying him.
"Shall we then, Potter?" McGonagall said, looking at the space Harry was just occupying. The spell was good, she admitted, immediately noticing that she couldn't even see an outline of Harry like you normally could with a wizard who was under a disillusionment spell.
"Yeah, just one second." Harry said from his spot next to Tonks, having moved over to her invisibly. He ran a hand along her cheek, and she leaned into the touch, closing her eyes. The fear that was inside of her for Harry's safety was almost unbearable, and if she wasn't an Auror who stared death in the face almost everyday, she would probably crumble under that fear. "I'll be back, don't worry." He whispered, and then in a louder voice, he said, "Ready when you are. When we apparate to Diagon Alley, just walk to Gringotts normally, I'll be behind you the whole way."
McGonagall nodded and disapparated out to the apparation point of Diagon Alley with a loud crack. "See you all soon." Harry said, before he too disapparated, appearing right next to McGonagall a second later. "I'm here." He whispered, letting her know that she could go.
"Be careful, Potter, if the other goblins catch you, you're as good as dead." She muttered, walking into the main lane of Diagon Alley and heading straight for Gringotts. Harry kept pace with her, taking extra care to not bump into anyone; out of the corner of his eye he could see the old man watching McGonagall from afar, clearly knowing that Harry was going in today. A minute passed, and before she stepped into the building, she said, "Good luck." She threw open the large bank doors, making sure it was of a wide enough berth to allow Harry through as well, and strolled into the building. Walking straight to a free goblin that was counting a few jewels and the like up on his bench, she said, "I would like to see my vault, please."
"Key please." The goblin, one named Traknud, replied, looking down at Minerva with a hint of disgust. Minerva fiddled through the pockets of her robes, taking out a brass key a few seconds later and handing it over to the goblin. Traknud ran a clawed finger over it, saying a spell—which Harry made an effort to hear—which made three numbers appear in gold writing on the shaft of the key. "858, let's go." Traknud garbled, jumping down from his desk and walking to the lifts that would speed them down into the vault chambers. The goblin stepped on first, and then, slowly as to make sure Harry had enough time, McGonagall pulled herself on, as well. Harry tapped McGonagall's shoulder to show that he was on, too, and then got down on his knees, making sure he was hidden.
Traknud looked at the place Harry was crouching, having sensed something, but shrugged it off, as he didn't see anything. With a great jolt, the cart sped away, weaving in and out of the different turns until they came to an abrupt halt, stopping in front of a large, metal vault, with the number '858' sprawled above it. "McGonagall vault." Traknud called out, stepping off the cart and limping over to the door. He stuck the key into a small slot, moved his hand up to the middle of the vault, and ran a finger down the center of it, saying, "If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried this, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped in there." As he finished, the door seemed to melt away, revealing a heap of gold galleons, silver knuts, and bronze sickles, as well as various other items that were fastened to the walls or were hanging on shelves.
Harry shivered at what Traknud said as he stepped off the cart, not wanting that to happen to him; though he did take precautions to make sure that if it did happen, he had a way out. He looked over to the vault directly to the right of Minerva's and saw that it was '859', and then began to walk that way, knowing 864 couldn't be that far off. The walkway was thin and narrow, barely wide enough to fit a goblin, let alone a grown wizard. A few times Harry almost fell into the cart railway, but luckily he managed to regain his balance before he did. As he passed 862, he heard a great roar from a dragon, and he could have sworn he saw a searing river of flames protrude from an alcove a few hundred feet away, but it could have been his mind playing tricks on him. Then, with a great rise of excitement in his belly, he stepped in front of 864: Tom Riddle's vault.
He looked each and every way, making sure that no one was coming or knew of his presence; carts whizzed and turned down the tubes, but none came his way. Taking out his wand and the small mokeskin bag that was in his pocket, he prepared himself for what was to come—it was do or die time, there was no backing out now, his only options were getting into the vault and getting out safely or death. Taking a deep breath, he muttered a spell and threw himself headlong into his plan. He twirled his wand, saying, "Claudo Revelio", and closed his eyes, concentrating on the wards and curses that would appear to him. Oh, Merlin, what have I got myself into, he thought to himself as he opened his eyes, having seen only about half of the curses on the vault.
"Alohomora." Harry recited, wondering if Dirk was right in thinking easy spells would work. Unfortunately, as Harry had expected, the spell didn't work. "Aperio." Harry recited, and gave a smile of surprised when he heard a soft click, though the door was still closed. Must have been the lock that is opened by the key, he thought to himself.
Suddenly, there was a pulse from the door, and he swished his wand quickly, reciting a counter spell as a jinx began to take effect. He gave a sigh of relief as he felt that curse fall apart, preventing it from hurting him or doing any damage to the environment around him. For the next five minutes, he whipped his wand about, canceling all the curses, wards, and gates that he knew how to, understanding that he needed to hurry if he was going to get out without being seen. Then, feeling the last ward break down, he bit his lip, and said, "Finxisionux." His wand tip glowed a dull brown, and he dragged it down the center of the vault, hearing click after click from behind the golden door. His joy went away when he was halfway through, however, as a black lightning bolt-like beam shot out from the door, hitting him on the right side of his stomach, just an inch below his ribs.
His eyes went wide as the pain from the bolt took effect, and he quickly removed his wand from the vault door to take action against the curse. His wand twirled around the blackened wound, which would eventually spread up and down his body quickly, stopping it from becoming larger than the softball size it already was; it had burned straight through his clothes and into his skin. Knowing how close he was to his prize and forgetting about the pain that was becoming more and more excruciating by the second, he whispered "Expositiumodo," a more powerful 'Aperio' charm, and grinned roughly as the vault door melted away—the pain of the curse was making his breathing slow and painful as his magic rigorously tried to fight back the curse that was overcoming his midsection.
Inside the vault was a single risen platform, with a small, leather box resting on the top of it. With one hand gripping his wound, his eyes shifted each everyway down the cart tubes, and upon seeing that it was okay to go, Harry took a step into the vault. As soon as the sole of his shoe touched the dirtied metal floor, a burning sensation erupted within his foot, and he immediately jumped back onto the stone walkway. "Flagrante Curse," He mumbled in agony, as the pain from his cursed side started to muddle his thoughts. Staring at the box, he contemplated on what to do: he was so close, so near to it that he could almost feel the Horcrux from where he was standing. Doubting it would work, he said, "Accio box," and as he previously thought, nothing happened. Then, with a swish and a flick of his wand, he muttered, "Wingardium Leviosa." Again, nothing happened.
He had to hurry, he knew, because his spells would only keep the curse that had infected him sedated for a little while longer. Plus, he had been there for ten minutes, and he doubted the carts that began to whiz by him would continue to leave him unnoticed. Finally, deciding on a course of action, he threw out his ebony wand and said "Ascendare," which, surprisingly, threw the box up into the air. Then, adding quickly, he whispered "Arresto Momentum," which managed to stop the box's decent to the point where it was moving at an almost standstill pace. "Carpe Rectratum," Harry murmured, watching as the box flew towards him.
No one ever thinks to protect their things against magicks that aren't as popular as the better-known spells, he thought to himself; though, of course, the spells he had used weren't known to most wizards and witches as it was. He grabbed the leather box when it was just an arm's length away, knowing that if Voldemort were to curse the outside of the box, then he too would fall victim to it. Inside the box, however, was a different story, and Harry doubted there wasn't something nasty waiting for him to open it. He took a deep breath, trying to contain both his excitement and his agonizing pain, but all it did was make it worse.
Pointing his wand directly at the leather box, he said, "Finite Mora Incantatem," which would hopefully undo the curses and jinxes that were inside. Deciding to take a chance, he opened the box with a simple "Cistem Aperio" charm, which was almost the same as the normal Aperio charm, except it directed the magic to a specific target; the target in this case being 'Cistem,' also known as a box. With a golden glow, the box slowly opened, revealing a small, golden goblet with two finely wrought handles, and an engraving of a black badger.
"Hufflepuff's cup," Harry said to himself in slurred speech; his mind felt as if it were on fire, and he knew that his lungs were being infected by the curse and he was not getting enough oxygen. Reaching into the bag that was in his pocket and taking out the gold cup that he had bought at Borgin and Burkes the day before, he transfigured it to be an exact replica of Hufflepuff's cup, which Harry hoped would be able to trick the goblins into thinking that nothing was stolen if they ever checked. He could use the Gemino Curse, which would duplicate Hufflepuff's cup, but goblins knew the difference between a duplicate and the real thing just by looking at it. By doing it this way, he hoped that they wouldn't see any noticeable differences at first glance and instead it would take a lengthy inspection in order to realize that it was not the original.
He tentatively reached for the real Hufflepuff goblet, took its golden handles, and gently picked it up. A wave of happiness over took him as he rushed to put the transfigured cup in the place the real one was occupying just seconds before. Throwing the real cup into the bag, he removed his shrunken broom and invisibility cloak from it, and placed it on the ground next to him—he stuffed the bag back into his pocket after he was done with it, tucking it away and making sure that he didn't leave anything behind. He resealed the leather box, now with a fake cup inside, and held it in his right hand. "Ladewasi," He said, hoping to levitate the box back onto its pedestal. As with the spells he used to get the box in the first place, the Wasi spell was one that would move an item wherever you directed it; and it too wasn't well known, being outshined by the more common Banishing and Levitation charms that were taught to Hogwarts students. Slowly the box flew over to the platform, landing on it without a sound, almost in the exact same spot it was before. As he turned to finish off his work, his vision blurred and he stumbled a bit, but managed to stay standing. Knowing that he didn't have much time, he pointed his wand towards the golden vault door, which was protruding from the wall slightly, and said "Finite," and it closed in on itself in response, blocking view of all from the contents that laid inside.
Just as he turned to prepare himself for departure, his cursed side roared out in pain: every move that he made felt as if a thousand hot knives were stabbing him; every breath that he took felt like it was concrete he was inhaling and not oxygen. He staggered forward once again, and if he didn't brace himself against the wall, he would have fallen down to the stone floor. He knew what was happening to him, but he could not think of anyway to stop it; his mind and judgment were cloudy, and his thought processes were degenerating minute by minute. If he didn't leave soon, he knew that the curse would make him into a stuttering buffoon and he would eventually pass out, he just didn't know when that would come.
Running his wand over his broom, it grew to its normal size and levitated up to waist level. He grabbed his invisibility cloak and wrapped it tightly around the broom, knowing that even though the disillusionment charm that was placed on him allowed him not to be seen, the broom still could be. Jumping onto his now invisible broom, he flew forward towards the exit, passing close to a four hundred vaults before he stopped in front of a random one. Then, with the pain of his curse preventing him from thinking clearly, he pointed his wand towards vault number 223 and said, "Reducto." He watched as the curse sailed towards the metal and just before it hit, the wards around the door contracted and absorbed the curse, sounding a sonic wail around the bank.
Flying as fast as he possibly could, he left the vault tubes, accomplishing both his mission of getting a Horcrux of Voldemort and of alerting the goblins. He then entered the vast marble hall of Gringotts, and gave a small cough in satisfaction when he saw that the goblins were rushing about, gathering their arms to face the intruder who dared try and rob them; the various witches and wizards inside the bank looked around, confusedly, having not experienced or witnessed anything like that ever before. Leaning forward, he pointed his wand towards the door and they flew open, granting him access to the outside. As he neared the doors, a golden light began to emit from the halls, sealing all the exits, but unfortunately for them, Harry had just made it out.
Once he was outside, he flew high up into the air, reaching the clouds, before descending down to the ground and landing in an abandoned alleyway. Grabbing his side, his magic having been finally overpowered by curse, he apparated to Grimmauld Place and appeared in the living room that Tonks, George and Bill Weasley, Hermione, and Sirius were sitting in, waiting for him to arrive back home. They all jumped when he appeared, noticing his pale complexion, saggy eyes, and the large black wound he was gripping on the side of his abdomen. "My workshop…gold vial…Condicto Cocktail," he whispered, before falling forward onto the floor, passing out unconscious and on the verge of death.
AN: I told you the condicto cocktail would come back. Here is the etymology for the spells of my own invention-
Claudo Revelio: Claudo, which is confine in Latin, and Revelio, which means reveal in Latin. It basically reveals all fences, gates, and wards in a given area, just as Homenum revelio reveals humans.
Finxisional Charm: The spell is activated by holding the wand up to the ward and saying "Finxisionux." It comes from Finxi, which is Latin meaning, "to touch," and Vision, which as you know is English and means, "to see." What it means is that the ward sees the touch of the wand as the same as it would the key that actually opens the door, and the wand mimics the effects the key would have.
Expositiumodo: Expositus, which is Latin for open, and Modo, which is also Latin and means now. It does exactly what it says; it opens the door/gate/whatever right then.
Ladewasi: Lade, German for box, and Vas y, which is French and means "go there." There was a spell called Wasi in the books that Lupin used to get gum out of a key hole, which I thought was cool, so I took it and enhanced it to be a much more powerful spell that can be shaped to move things that the people desire it to, such as a box or a book, etc.