"Get it!" Harry yelled as the sword began to sink beneath the growing gold and silver. I tried to crawl through the burning gold but I couldn't move. The entire bottom half of my body was blistering from the searing metal, and my top half was quickly becoming the same way. Griphook clambered around on Harry's shoulders, leaning towards the sword, trying to reach it with his short arms. He was too far away, he wouldn't make it. The gold had reached my shoulders by now, and I was beginning to feel faint from the extreme heat of it. Griphook stretched for the gold once more, still inches too far away. He took a deep breath, and then lunged. Griphook seized the hilt of the sword and swung it high out of Harry's reach. The tiny golden cup, skewered by the handle on the sword's blade was flung into the air. The goblin astride him, Harry dived and caught it, and held on, even while countless Hufflepuff cups burst from his fist, raining down upon him as the entrance of the vault opened up again. We suddenly found ourselves sliding uncontrollably on an expanding avalanche of fiery gold and silver that bore us out of the vault.
I was buried underneath the searing metal, unable to see where the others were and fighting to resurface. I yelled spell after spell, attempting to free myself when strong arms enveloped me and pulled me up.
"Stupefy!" I could hear Harry and Ron yelling as I resurfaced from underneath the burning metal, being pulled up by George. Hundreds of goblin stood in front of us, all bearing daggers.
The tethered dragon let out a roar, and a gush of flame flew over the goblins. Harry got a wild look in his eye and pointed his wand at the dragon. "Relashio!" He bellowed, and the cuffs broke.
"This way!" Harry yelled, and still shooting Stunning Spells at the advancing goblins, he sprinted toward the blind dragon. I shot a quick look at George who nodded his head. I turned back towards Harry and ran forward, realizing what he was thinking with a sinking stomach. He was going to have us fly out of here on a dragon. I could barely get on a broom let alone something as big and uncontrollable as a dragon!
"Come on Hermione!" George said, tugging my arm and pulling me up onto the dragon. I tensed up, unable to make myself relax. George grabbed my waist and pulled me to him, holding me tight in his arms. It would have been nice if I hadn't been so worried.
With a roar the dragon reared. I dug my knees into his side, cringing as he stretched his wings. He gave them a hard shake, and then he lunged forward, thinking only of getting out of the prison that had held him for so long. He tore at the tunnel with his sharp claws, but it wasn't working, he wouldn't get through soon enough. I screwed up my courage and pointed my wand at the tunnels mouth. I shot a spell at it that caused the mouth of the tunnel to explode, giving the dragon more than enough room to climb out from under the bank. He charged forward, climbing out to Diagon alley before he staggered forward and stretched his wing. He pumped them twice before he soared up into the air. I slammed my eyes shut, shaking with fear as we flew higher. I heard a roar of anger from below, and then a scream from someone. George tightened his grip around my waist, and then I only heard the rushing of the wind.
We had escaped on a dragon.
{}o{}o{}
"When do you think he's going to land?" Ron yelled out over the roar of the rushing wind. We'd been flying for what felt like hours, and I'd kept my eyes closed most of the trip. George had kept his arms wrapped tightly around me, helping me feel as though I was somewhat safe.
"Do you think he'll actually land?" Harry asked, sounding worried.
"He has to land, Dragon's can't fly forever. Besides, he's probably hungry!" George yelled to them, his voice helped calm me. I forced my eyes open and looked around, surprised to find that I could actually see the ground beneath us. Granted, it was it was at least a thousand meters beneath us, but I could still see it.
We flew for a few more minutes in silence, all trying not to focus on the unpleasantness of flying on a dragon. It was extremely uncomfortable, his sides were painfully hot and we'd already burned off a lot of our clothing in Bellatrix's vault so there wasn't much left to protect us from the heat. Harry was sitting in front of me, so I was having to hold onto his waist, which was getting kind of awkward because my arms were falling asleep. Add the fact that the wind was whipping our hair in our face and freezing the part of your body that wasn't touching the dragon, and you got a ride that was anything but fun. George probably had it worse though, he had my bushy long hair hitting him in the face- I only had to deal with Harry's slightly longer than usual hair.
I moved my head slightly, trying to get another glimpse of the ground.
"Are we getting lower?" I asked, noticing that the ground seemed a little closer than it had been. "I mean, I know I haven't had my eyes open for long, but we're definitely lower than we were."
"Yeah, I think he's going down!" Harry exclaimed. His voice was extremely excited, and I was with him, I couldn't wait to get off this bloody dragon.
"Is that a good thing though?" Ron asked sounding unsure. What did he mean, was it a good think? Didn't he want to get off of it? Wait, how exactly were we getting off of it? We couldn't very well wait for it to land, it would realize we were a close, easy to kill snack.
"Yeah, we have to get off eventually." George answered, scooting around on the dragon behind me.
"How exactly are you suggesting we get off this dragon?" I asked, turning slightly so that I could look at him. He was smiling, his eyes were closed and he had his head thrown back. He looked like he was enjoying this, heck, loving this. Wow, that was so weird, I was scared out of my mind, and he was having the time of his life.
"Jump." He replied, opening his eyes and staring at me with a huge toothy grin. I found myself smiling in return, my fear fading away some. Then I realized what he said.
"Excuse me?"
"Jump, when he gets lower to the ground, we jump off. You can do that cushion charm again." He said, still smiling brightly.
"That should work. Might want to get ready guys." Harry said. I turned around and looked where we were. We were flying over a lake, and it was close enough that I could see the reflection on the dragons belly, I could make out the individual scales.
"One, two, three, JUMP!" He yelled. I pushed off from the dragons back and fell into the lake with a painful slam. I sunk into the lakes depth before I kicked my legs and swam back to the surface. I broke through the water and took a deep breath, coughing as the water filled my mouth. I spit it back out and tilted my head back, taking in another deep breath. My legs were throbbing from the abrupt landing in the water. I looked around and saw everyone surfacing around me. I stroked my arms and swam forward, heading for the opposite shore, Harry, Ron, and George right behind me. The lake thinned out extremely fast, and then we had to fight our way through the mud and reeds. We finally reached the shore and fell onto the sandy grass. I was shivering in the cold air but so extremely grateful to not be on that dragon anymore.
George crawled up beside me, laying down next to me and letting out a breathless laugh. Harry and Ron collapsed beside him and we all just stayed still for a moment, just regaining our breath. Once we had our breaths back we sat up, facing each other with small smiles.
"We actually got out." George said, a grin tugging his lips up. "That has to be the coolest bank robbery ever."
"I would not care to repeat it though." I said shuddering. Now that I was no longer flying on the dragon I could look back on it with a little bit less fear. It could have been fun if I didn't hate flying so much.
"So," Ron said after a moment. "Now what. We're back to square one, we have a Horcrux, but no way to destroy it."
"Yeah." Harry said thoughtfully. He opened his mouth to speak again, but his face contorted in pain and he let out a scream. His hand flew to his forehead, clutching his scar as he bent over. His eyes snapped shut before they reopened, red instead of green. I was up and by his side in a second. I wrapped my arms around him and tried to hold him still as he thrashed around, Ron moved to help me, pinning Harry's arms down. George leapt up behind me and started to circle us, casting the protective spells we had all memorized.
Harry grew rigid in my arms before falling limp against me.
What did you say to me?" His voice was high and cold, not at all like Harry's natural voice, it was one I had never actually heard in person, but would recognize anywhere.
"Say it again!" He snarled, his voice dangerously quiet. What was going on, what was he seeing? "Say it again!" He snapped again. I looked up and caught Ron's eyes, he looked just as worried and unsure as I felt. George sat down beside me, wrapping a loose arm around my shoulders while he laid his other hand on Harry's shoulder.
"Impostors? What impostors? I thought Gringotts had ways of revealing impostors? Who were they?" Harry asked, his voice still unnatural. I sucked in a breath and felt myself grow pale. Voldemort knew, he knew we had broken in and he would know it was us in a matter of seconds. He'd know what we had taken, what we were doing! We had to find the last three Horcruxes fast!
"And they took?" he said, his voice rising, he sounded scared. Voldemort was scared, though it was awful that he knew what we had done, the fact that he actually could get scared thrilled me. "Tell me! What did they take?"
He stopped thrashing around and grew alarmingly still and quiet. His eyes remained a vibrant red, and his hands remained clenched.
Ron yelped and snatched his hand back from Harry, his hand blistering before my eye. "What the hell?" He murmured staring at his hands in shock. I moved my eyes from his hands to where he had been holding Harry. His robe pocket was glowing. I stared at uncomprehendingly for a moment before I realized what it meant. The Horcrux, it was glowing because it probably sensed Voldemort, we needed to move it before it seriously hurt Harry. I reached over Harry's still body and grasped his robe, pulling it off his limp shoulders as I hurried to remove it. I tossed it in front of us, about a meter away, still close enough to grab, but not near enough to actually damage any of us. Harry twitched in my hold before he closed his red eyes.
He grew rigid for a moment and then relaxed, slowly opening his eyes, they were a beautiful emerald again.
"He knows." He said, his voice low and even and so wonderfully Harry again. "He knows and He's going to check where the others are, and the last one," he was already on his feet,"
"What?" I asked, feeling confused, like I was missing a piece to an important puzzle.
"He knows we broke in, he's going to check on the other Horcruxes. He's seriously angry, and scared too, he can't understand how we knew, and now he's going to check the others are safe, the ring first. He things the Hogwarts one is safest, because Snape's there, because it'll be so hard not to be seen getting in. I think he'll check that one last, but he could still be there within hours -"
I had to agree with Voldemort, how would we get into Hogwarts? It was going to be heavily guarded, and everyone in it would know what Harry looked like. Not to mention that they'd all be searching for him and there wouldn't be any means of getting in. The passeges would all be blocked or watched.
"Did you see where in Hogwarts it is?" Ron asked, now scrambling to his feet too.
"No, he was concentrating on warning Snape, he didn't think about exactly where it is -"
"Wait, wait!" I yelped, standing up and grabbing Ron's arm. He was holding the Horcrux and Harry was pulling back out the invisibility cloak. "We can't just go, we haven't got a plan, we need to -"
"We need to get going," Harry said in a no discussion manner. "Can you imagine what he's going to do once he realizes the ring and the locket are gone? What if he moves the Hogwarts Horcrux, decides it isn't safe enough?"
"But how are we going to get in?" I asked, feeling panicked.
"We'll go to Hogsmeade," Harry stated, "and try to work something out once we see what the protection around the school's like. Get under the Cloak, Hermione, I want to stick together this time."
"But we don't really fit -"
"It'll be dark, no one's going to notice our feet."
"No they won't." George said, stepping forward. "We can just stoop. Well, Ron can, anyways." He grinned at Ron and put something shiny in his robe pocket and pulled his cloak out of my bag. "I sent a message to Fred and Ange to meet us there. They just got finished with a Potterwatch, apparently our escape is already legendary."
"Is that how he found out?" Harry asked, his eyes wide and worried.
"No," George said, shaking his head. "We've rigged it so that anyone who has a Dark Mark can't hear it. Sort of reverse of the barrier thing they put up during the battle at the astronomy tower last year." George explained.
"Yes, they did it as a precaution. Even though You-Know-Who doesn't have a Dark Mark I highly doubt he'd be listening to Potterwatch." I said, stepping up to Harry, George right behind me.
"So, Hogsmeade?" Ron asked, stepping up next to me and Harry.
"Yep."
We wrapped the cloaks around our shoulder and huddled together. I apparated us to the middle of Hogsmeade. It was depressingly dark and all the storefronts were locked up, the only place that even looked open was the Three Broomsticks. I didn't have long to concentrate on what was and wasn't open though, the minute we appeared a loud, screeching wail sounded all through the streets. We'd just set off some sort of alarm. The door of the Three Broomsticks burst open and at least a dozen Death Eaters ran out into the street, their wands raised and aimed. We all froze, hunched over. Ron and I reached for our wands on instinct, but Harry stopped Ron and George stopped me. He was right, we couldn't move or we'd give away our position, our feet were still showing.
A Death Eater rasied his wand, and the horrid scream stopped. I took a deep breath, forcing my mind to clear and started thinking of escape roots. "Accio Cloak!" roared one of the Death Eaters Harry seized the cloak, but it made no attempt to escape. The Summoning Charm had notworked on it.
"Not under your wrapper, then, Potter?" The Deathe Eater yelled maliciously. "Spread now. He's here." He finished, turning towards his companions. They spread out, running towards us. We backed up as quickly as we could, praying that they wouldn't notice us. They ran by us, missing us by mere inches. We waited quietly in the streets, watching them disappear around a corner with a relieved air.
"We should just leave!" I whispered, trembling slightly. That had been far to close. "Let's disapparate now."
"Great idea," Ron said quietly, but before we could say anything else the Death Eaters started yelling again.
"We know you are here, Potter, and there's no getting away! We'll find you!"
"They were ready for us," Harry whispered, a wild look in his eye, he looked like he felt trapped. "They set up that spell to tell them we'd come. He must have told them to expect us!"
"What about dementors?" called another Death Eater. "Let'em have free rein, they'd find him quick enough!"
I started to shake, terror gripping me. Not dementors, we couldn't fight them without giving ourselves away! I backed up a step, not thinking, and George grabbed me, wrapping his arms around me and holding me tight.
"The Dark Lord wants Potter dead by no hands but his - "
" 'an dementors won't kill him! The Dark Lord wants Potter's life, nor his soul. He'll be easier to kill if he's been Kissed first!"
There were noises of agreement. I heard a strange noise, and then I felt the cold chill that came with the prescense of dementors.
"Harry!" I squeaked, a crazy idea occurring to me. "Animagus!" he looked at me uncomprehendingly for a moment, and then his eyes lit up and he nodded his head eagerly. It was a small chance, but it was a chance. Sirius had managed to escape the dementors by turning to his form, maybe it would work with us. "George, you can hide in my fur, it's longer than Ron's. Harry, you'll have to fly above us, we head for the Hogs Head. Ron, stick with me, act like you're interested in me. Okay, now!" I gripped my wand and focused on the spell I had finally mastered, after the weird shrinking feeling I opened my eyes to find everything had turned gray. My purse was lying in front of me and all of our wands were on the ground. I grabbed them in my mouth and stuffed them in the bag, along with the cloak. I pulled the strings tight and then stuck my head through the handles. It hung around my neck like a collar.
I knelt my head next to George and let him climb up on my back he clung to my side and burrowed under my poofy hair. Harry flapped his wings and rose into the air, flying above us and heading towards the Hogs Head Inn.
I trotted forward, opening my mouth and letting my tongue hang out. I tried my best to look doggish as I followed Harry, fighting back a cringe as the dementors drew near us. Ron was right behind us, and I could feel George's nose nuzzling my side, it tickled and I had to fight the urge to laugh. That actually surprised me. I never would have imagined I could almost smile by a dementor. Sirius was right, they didn't understand animal emotions as well and they couldn't attack us as well because of it. The Death Eaters were nowhere to be seen, and now we were only feet away from the Hogs Head Inn. Harry landed in front of the inn door and pecked at it with his beak, glancing around the alley wildly.
The door opened in front of him and a tall dark shadow appeared in the entrance. He looked down at the frantic owl and then over at me and Ron. He tilted his head for a moment but then he saw the scar mark on Harry's head. A look of comprehension dawned on his face and he stepped aside, allowing us in.
"Upstairs! Quick and be quiet!" I nodded my head, running up the rickety wooden staircase as fast as I could. George clung onto me tightly, making a chattering noise that I had no idea how to interrupt. Harry flew ahead of us, stopping when he reached another closed door. I ran up to it and stood on my hindlegs, I was too short to open it, my paws wouldn't reach it! Ron nudged me aside and stood up on his hind legs, he moved his paws and clawed at the door knob, after a moment he managed to twist it open. We dashed into the room before finally stopping in the middle of the room, panting and trembling with nerves.
We were in a sitting room of some sorts. There was a rugged carpet in the middle of the floor, a rickety couch, two rusty chairs, and a small fireplace over which a single large oil painting of a blonde girl hung. I sat down, letting George off my side, and pawed the bag off my neck. I nudged it open with my nose and then stuck my head in. I pulled the invisibility cloak back out and laid it down before holding the corner up with my mouth and letting Ron, Harry, and George crawl underneath it. Once they were hidden I crawled under, laying on the other side of Harry and George. Ron was on their other side, so the two of us were blocking the two of them in. George was still chattering worriedly, but I couldn't understand him.
"What?" I asked, but it came out as a whine. Ron shook his head and whimpered, and I could understand him.
"He's worried."
I shook my head in annoyance. "I can tell." I said back to him. "Why?"
"I don't know."
I turned back to George and laid my muzzle down next to him. He scampered up to my face and laid his paws on my noise, looking into my eyes before signing. He pointed to himself and then his missing ear. He did it over and over, trying to tell me something. Him and his ear, what could it mean?
Fred!
Oh my god, he told Fred and Angelina to meet us here. They were going to apparate here, right into a pack of dementors and Death Eaters!