Chapter 3: The Vault
The room was brightly lit, the man standing next to the fireplace hated acting like some stereotypical villain. The walls were a welcoming shade of blue, the furniture a mix of gold and blue harkening back to his days in Ravenclaw. A strong healthy fire in the fireplace kept the room comfortably warm and several lamps hanging from the walls gave the room a welcoming feel. There was even a tea tray with biscuits set up on the coffee table in the center of the room. The fire flared green a moment before a young blonde haired man stepped through.
"Mr. Malfoy," the man greeted extending his hand.
"My lord," Draco Malfoy said mistaking the man's intentions and bending down to kiss the back of his hand.
The man pulled his hand back sharply a look of disbelief on his face. "You need not kiss my hand like some simpering buffoon," he said harshly. "I see your previous lord had you trained well."
Malfoy's face reddened slightly, "I'm sorry my lord, the Dark Lord expected a certain standard from his subjects."
"Maybe if he had been training you in combat instead of making you cower like a fool he would have won," the man said with a look of disgust on his face. "Please sit, there's tea and biscuits if you wish."
Draco looked slightly surprised by the courtesy and grabbed a biscuit as he sat down, "Thank you my lord I haven't had a chance to eat today."
"I'm sure you haven't. What happened at the Tomb?" the man questioned, gazing intently at Draco.
"The girl arrived, just like you said she would and broke through the wards around the Tomb," Draco answered. "She fell in a pit on her way in and broke her wrist."
"I assume you left her there?" the man said. "Gringotts will dispatch a team to find her tomorrow or the day after so she should be fine." Draco shifted uncomfortably in his seat drawing a sharp look from the man, "Unless you didn't leave her there?"
"No! I would have left her there, I swear my lord!" Draco said quickly. "B-But someone else had been following her and he helped her out of the pit."
"Who?" the man asked, knowing from the look on Draco's face he wouldn't like the answer.
"H-Harry Potter sir."
The man was silent for several long seconds, his face not betraying what he was thinking. This made Draco even more nervous as by the end of the war the mention of Harry's name to Voldemort was enough to ensure a long round of torture. The man's quiet calculations were unnerving when compared to the emotional rage of Voldemort. To Draco's surprise the man reached forward picking up a biscuit and chewing on it thoughtfully.
"My sources thought he was busy with the Tomb of Onhomet in Algeria," the man mused thoughtfully. "His connection within Gringotts must be higher than I thought for him to have learned of the Tomb already," he said taking another bite of the biscuit. "I assume he rescued the girl?"
"Yes my lord," Draco answered.
"Of course he did, a predictable hero," the man muttered. "Did they find anything in the central chamber?"
"It was empty my lord."
"Good, I thought it would be but I just needed to be sure," the man said before noticing the look on Draco's face. "Yes? I have told you that I do not torture those who bring me bad news," he said impatiently.
"Sorry my lord, but they did find one thing," Draco said hesitating before the man impatiently motioned for him to continue. "A journal belonging to one of Grindelwald's lieutenants."
The man's eyes widening and the corner of his lips turning down slightly were the only indication of his displeasure at this news, "And?"
"I-I followed them to London where they met the mudblood Granger to translate it from German," Draco said, wondering if the room had indeed just gotten colder or if it was simply his own nerves. "The journal had the location of Grindelwald's Vault in it, Potter and Weasley are leaving for Germany in the morning."
"Damn," the man muttered a deep frown now marring his regal features. "Did you get the location as well?"
"I heard the location sir, the invisibility cloak you gave me allowed me to get close enough," Draco said. "I don't know where it is, b-but I could find out!"
"You had better find out then. Grab some of your remaining friends and get to the Vault," the man said. "I don't care how but make sure neither of them leave the Vault alive. There are several books I want but the rest of the treasure is yours. I'm sure that will help replenish your depleted fortune."
"If half the rumors are true it will be more than enough my lord, thank you!" Draco said. "I swear Potter and Weasley won't leave that vault alive," he said already moving towards the fireplace.
"They had better not," the man said calmly as Draco disappeared into the flames.
Harry shifted nervously in his seat. Before they arrived in Germany he had to tell Ginny who he really was because the second she met Sirius she would know. He didn't want her finding out that way, but years of keeping his real identity hidden had left him extremely nervous. Ginny had been quiet most of the flight, seemingly enraptured by the in flight movie which coincidentally involved a female Tomb Raider.
"Ginny can I talk to you for a second?" Harry asked gently, getting her attention.
"Finally ready to talk about whatever has made you so nervous?" Ginny asked with a smile.
"What? How?" Harry asked, thrown off by how she had known he was nervous.
"Six older brothers, you get good at reading people," Ginny said. "Plus you haven't stopped fidgeting for the last hour and it's clearly not because you're afraid of flying."
"Right," Harry said, making a conscious effort to stop his leg bouncing. "You see the thing is, my Godfather is going to be waiting for us at the airport in Berlin. I didn't tell you the whole truth of who I am," he paused not sure how to continue.
"You're Harry Potter," Ginny said simply, the edge of her lips twitching as she held back her triumphant smile as Harry's mouth dropped open.
"H-How?" was all he managed once he got over his shock.
"It really wasn't all that hard to figure out," Ginny said. "Evans was your mum's maiden name, my parents were friends and I double checked when I went home last night," she said ticking off one finger. "You're only covering your scar with a concealment spell and you took off your glasses, not much of a disguise," she ticked off another finger with a smirk. "And this one was only really something my family would know but you called your godfather Padfoot. My twin brothers had the Marauders Map while at Hogwarts and actually passed it on to me when they graduated. While they were working for the Order of the Phoenix they met Sirius Black and he explained the whole Marauders thing to them," she finished ticking off another finger.
Harry stared at her for a second in surprise his mouth hanging open. "You're brilliant," he finally said, a hint of awe in his voice.
"I know," she said smugly, leaning back in her seat.
"You really have the Map?" Harry asked.
"Yep, it's at home with my old school things," Ginny said, "I was planning on giving it to my daughter one day."
"Sirius used to tell me stories about all the things he and his friends did with that Map," Harry said. "I spent so much time planning how I would sneak into Filch's office and get it back once I went to Hogwarts," he said with a sad smile on his face. "I even searched Filch's office one of the times I had to go to Hogwarts, but I guess by then you had it."
"If you want you can have it," Ginny said.
"No it's yours now. Besides it wouldn't do me much good, I don't plan on going to Hogwarts anytime soon," Harry said.
"Harry," Ginny began hesitantly, "why didn't you go to Hogwarts?"
Harry sighed and looked out the window over Ginny's shoulder. "Sirius found out that Dumbledore was planning on hiding a powerful magical artifact there called the Philosopher's Stone," he said. "It was a stone that could grant immortality and of course Voldemort would go after it. So Sirius caught wind of this and was furious that Dumbledore would put me and the school at risk like that. We left for America that night."
"I don't remember hearing anything about that," Ginny said.
"Dumbledore hid the stone elsewhere to try and convince Sirius to bring me back but it didn't work," Harry said with a smile. "Sirius can be extremely stubborn when he wants."
Ginny looked ready to ask another question but was interrupted by the flight attendant announcing that they would be landing soon.
"There's so many people," Ginny said as the two worked their way through the central terminal of the airport. "How are you going to find Sirius?"
"I'm sure Sirius will find us," Harry answered.
"HARRY!" A voice boomed nearby causing several people to turn towards the source. "HARRY OVER HERE!"
Harry sighed quietly and turned towards his godfather who was jumping up and down excitedly waving his hands in the air. "At least he looks like himself," he whispered to Ginny, "once he met me polyjuiced as an underwear model in a very skimpy outfit."
Sirius continued to wave his arms excitedly while generally making a fool of himself until Harry and Ginny were directly in front of him. "It's about time you got here, I've been waiting for almost ten minutes," Sirius complained while inspecting Harry carefully from head to toe. "Good to see you made it out of the Tomb in one piece."
"I'm fine Sirius," Harry answered giving the man a long suffering look.
"I'll be the judge of that," Sirius said still searching Harry for some hidden injury. "Who's the bird by the way?" he asked his eyes flicking cautiously to Ginny.
"Sirius Black this is Ginny Weasley. Ginny, my godfather Sirius," Harry said.
"Weasley?" Sirius asked his eyes flicking to her red hair before taking in her freckles. "You sure know how to pick them Harry, you know she has like twelve older brothers right?"
"Six and I'm tougher than all of them so he should be more worried about me," Ginny said staring Sirius down her fists set firmly on her hips.
"Blimey looks just like her mum," Sirius muttered. "I think I'm gonna like you Ms. Weasley. Finally someone to keep Harry in line."
"Oy!" Harry said indignantly. "It's not like I'm some criminal! And I don't need a minder."
"Of course you don't Harry," Sirius said teasingly before extending his arm to Ginny. "Could you be a dear and get the bags?" he asked as Ginny wound her arm through his.
"Yeah no problem," Harry answered while glaring at Sirius' back.
Sirius led them through the airport and out into the parking lot before stopping behind a gleaming new yellow Lamborghini Diablo. Harry eyed the car longingly before glancing warily at Sirius, "I'm afraid to ask how much this set us back."
"Not much at all it's a rental we have it for at least 3 days," Sirius answered tossing the keys to Harry. "Besides this is Germany one of the few countries where you can actually let this baby drive like she was meant to."
"Alright," Harry said running his hand along the edge of the car, "you did notice there's three of us and this is a two person car?"
"Right!" Sirius said as he began digging in his coat pocket. "Well originally I planned on the two of us ditching your Gringott's minder and getting to the Vault on our own," he said as he gave Ginny an apologetic smile while she glared at him. "However, after meeting the charming Ms. Weasley I've scrapped that plan and instead the two of you can take the car. I have this!" he shouted triumphantly as he pulled a small toy motorcycle from his pocket.
"A toy motorcycle?" Ginny asked doubtfully.
"A toy!?" Sirius shouted. "This my dear is no simple toy!" Placing the tiny motorcycle on the ground Sirius stepped back and looking around cautiously pulled his wand from his pocket and bent down to tap the bike lightly.
Ginny raised an eyebrow in mild curiosity as the motorcycle began to shift and expand until it dominated the pavement in front of her. Sirius pulled a used rag from his pocket and started polishing the chrome handlebars lovingly. Harry rolled his eyes at his godfather's antics while Ginny giggled.
"So I'll take this lovely combination of muggle engineering and magical ingenuity while you two have a leisurely drive in the car," Sirius said conjuring a helmet from thin air as he threw one leg over the bike. "Which way are we heading by the by?"
"South," Harry answered. "We actually should have flown into Munich but I didn't realize until we were already in the air. It will probably be a seven hour drive to get there," he finished as he pulled out the map and laid it on the hood of the car.
"Well in that case how about a bit of race?" Sirius asked, his eyes narrowing in a challenge.
"I don't kno-"
"You're on!" Ginny cut him off. "Last one there buys the first round."
"Done," Sirius said shaking her hand.
"Fine but no flying!" Harry warned as he slid into the driver's seat. The car roared to life as Ginny slid in beside him, looking around the car curiously. "Buckle up," he said pointing towards the seat belt next to her shoulder. Once Ginny had her buckle in place Harry pulled the car slowly out of the spot and maneuvered slowly through the parking lot.
"I thought this was supposed to be a race?" Ginny asked impatiently.
"It's a seven hour long race and driving fast in a parking lot is just asking to cause an accident. Don't worry once we're on the open highway we'll leave Sirius in the dust," Harry explained, slamming on the brakes as a man on a cellphone cut him off.
"Moron!" Ginny yelled at the man. "He should watch where he's going!" she continued as Harry hid a smirk.
Several hours later Harry's prediction proved true and they had indeed left Sirius far behind them once they had gotten to the highway. Ginny was surprised to find that the muggle automobile was extremely fast and luckily Harry was an accomplished driver as he weaved through traffic with little difficulty. For the most part the two had kept their topic of conversation light and friendly or about what they might encounter in the Vault, but Harry could see that Ginny had things she was desperate to ask.
"You can ask the questions you've been holding back," he finally said, "if I don't want to answer one I'll let you know." Harry kept his eyes on the road as they hit a patch of traffic but he could feel Ginny studying him from her seat next to him and prepared to answer the questions that people always asked.
"Where in America did you live?" she asked and Harry decided she must be easing into the bigger questions.
"We moved around a bit, but mostly in the northern states, Massachusetts, New York, Illinois, Oregon for a few months," he answered truthfully. "I think Oregon was my favorite."
"Moving around like that must have made it hard to make friends," Ginny stated, a hint of sympathy in her voice.
"It was," he answered slowly, "I didn't have many friends. There were a few people once I went to school, but I wasn't actually in school that long, only two years."
"You only went for two years?" Ginny asked in surprise.
"When we moved Sirius and our friend Remus home schooled me for two years, then finally let me go to regular school," Harry reminisced. "Of course I was only there for two years before a Death Eater found us and managed to kidnap me for a ritual to bring Voldemort back. After that I was stuck in homeschooling again."
"How did you escape V-Voldemort?" Ginny asked only stumbling slightly on the name.
"That time, Sirius, Remus, and some friends of Sirius' from the auror department managed to find me," Harry answered.
"So the articles in the paper about you dating an American super model and going on constant vacations to exotic clothes optional locations aren't true?" Ginny asked with a completely straight face.
Harry laughed loudly at the image, "No that's all complete rubbish. I do go to exotic locations for work but most of the time my clothing stays on."
"Most of the time?" Ginny asked with an impish grin.
"Well some of those desert tombs can get quite hot," he answered.
"I suddenly wish we were heading for a desert tomb," Ginny muttered and Harry glanced over at her with a smirk.
"Maybe next time Ms. Weasley."
"A girl can dream," she said with a smile as she made a show of looking Harry over. "Speaking of next time how did you get involved with the ICW and their branch of Curse Breaking?"
"Actually the six other guys and myself in the branch prefer Treasure Hunters over Curse Breakers," Harry said. "Makes us seem much more macho don't you think?"
Ginny thought it over silently for a moment before nodding, "I suppose it does. But why the ICW? Why not Gringotts?"
"I was being partially honest yesterday, I do it for the money and the adventure. The ICW lets me keep anything I find in a tomb on the agreement that any magical artifacts are returned to them. Depending on the artifact I'll sometimes get a nice finders fee as well," he answered.
"I thought the Potter family was moderately wealthy, you don't strike me as the greedy sort," Ginny pressed a slight frown on her face.
"My parents did leave me a sizable amount of money and Sirius isn't exactly poor either," Harry conceded, "but the hospital doesn't pay for itself. We have a few donors but without funding from the Ministry, Sirius and I would have run out money by now. So I took up Treasure Hunting, and luckily I'm very good at it. My first two tombs had enough gold in them to keep the hospital funded for years." Harry glanced at Ginny to find her studying him with a strange look on her face, "What?"
Careful to avoid his arms while he steered Ginny leaned over and kissed him lightly on the cheek, "You're an amazing person Harry Potter."
"Oh, uh, thank you," Harry answered, his cheeks flushing slightly and an odd tingling sensation lingering on the spot she had kissed him. After that the two slipped into a comfortable silence for a while before Harry realized that Ginny had fallen asleep.
The city of Berchtesgaden has been around for hundreds of years. Built into the slopes of the Bavarian Alps and preserved almost flawlessly the city harkens back to a simpler time while also embracing the shadows of its past. During World War II the city became a hub for the Nazi Party as Hitler maintained a house and retreat just outside the city. While the Soviet's claimed Berlin at the end of the war the Allies made due with Berchtesgaden and the Eagle's Nest, Hitler's mountaintop retreat.
After the war the town slowly recovered and over time developed into a tourist location. Hitler's former home was demolished and rebuilt as a hotel while the Eagle's Nest was turned into a restaurant and beer garden accessible by either tour bus or two hour hike up the mountain. The town itself catered to both historical tourists with a World War II museum and winter sports enthusiasts with nearby ski resorts. Harry pulled into a parking lot behind a large inn just off the main street of the town. He and Ginny had pulled their bags from the trunk of the car when Sirius roared into the parking lot.
"Damn," he said as he hopped off the bike, "I thought I had you when I used the boost near Munich."
"Maybe if the boost could last longer than a minute, but unfortunately our car had the ability to maintain it's speed," Harry gloated joyfully. "That means the first round is on you."
"Yeah I know," Sirius said waving Harry off, "you two go get the rooms I'm going to shrink my baby and then I'll meet you in the bar."
As Harry and Ginny entered the inn he slipped his wand out and flicked it quickly casting a spell on the both of them as they approached the desk. Ginny felt the magic hit her but by the time she glanced at Harry he already had his wand back in his pocket and hidden from view.
"Hello! How can I help you today?" the young woman behind the desk asked as the two approached.
"We'd like two rooms please, one with two beds and one single," Harry answered and the woman nodded before turning towards the computer partially hidden by the desk.
"She speaks english very well," Ginny whispered quietly while giving Harry an accusing look.
"Translator spell," he whispered back as the woman turned back towards them.
"Both rooms are upstairs to the left, room 202 and 203. Right across from one another," the woman said handing Harry the keys as he pulled out a wad of muggle money. "Is there anything else I can help you with this evening?"
"Is there any place we can get some maps of the local trails? We were planning on hiking tomorrow and wanted to plan our route," Harry said.
"There's a stand with local tourist information by the door to the pub, a map of local hiking trails is in the top row," the woman said pointing towards the far side of the room.
"Thank you very much," Harry said as he grabbed his bag and led Ginny towards the stairs. "You can have the single room while Sirius and I bunk together," he said handing her one of the keys as they reached the top of the stairs. "I'll meet you in the pub in ten minutes?" Harry said as he pushed open the door to his and Sirius' room.
"Sounds good to me," Ginny said as she disappeared into her own room.
Later that night the three were gathered around a table in the back of the pub with a map of local trails spread out before them. The pub itself was only moderately crowded with a group of locals cheering on a football match and a small group of tourists looking through various brochures. Their table was far enough away no one would really hear them, but Harry still made a point to put up some simple privacy charms. A platter of chips sat between Harry and Ginny while all three had a round of beer courtesy of Sirius.
"According to the map most hikers leave from here," Harry said pointing at the map, "and follow this trail up the mountain to the Eagle's Nest," he continued trailing his finger along a red line winding up the mountain. "From what I can tell the Vault is most likely located over here," he said pointing to a heavily forested part of the mountain with no trails going near it, "it's a ways off the main trail but shouldn't be too hard to reach."
"I'm sure you will have plenty of fun trekking all over the mountain looking for this place," Sirius said in amusement.
"You're not coming?" Ginny asked.
"No, I don't know much about curse breaking," Sirius said, "I'm mostly logistics and emergency backup. I'm much better suited for enjoying the beautiful local scenery," he added as he winked at the young woman from the desk who had entered the pub with some coworkers.
"You're a pig," Ginny said, not angrily but as if stating a fact.
"Yeah, but you get used to it," Harry said before Sirius could answer. Sirius glared at him before taking a swig of his beer and returning his attention to the young woman who was now glancing at Sirius every few minutes. "I think we can sleep in a little tomorrow, probably hit the mountain around ten."
"That will be nice, I was up before dawn yesterday and today," Ginny answered with a relieved smile.
"I'll leave you two to finish planning," Sirius said rising from his chair, "I'm going to go indulge in some local culture."
Ginny and Harry watched as he moved smoothly to the bar as if to order another drink before bumping into the young woman seemingly by accident. It was clear from the look on her face that she knew it wasn't an accident at all but quickly enough Sirius had her smiling and laughing at a joke.
"She can't be much older then us," Ginny said, a hint of disgust in her voice as Sirius leaned in pretending not to hear what the woman was saying over the noise of the small crowd.
"Age isn't something Sirius notices," Harry said before cringing at what he'd said. "I mean he's just as likely to flirt with that girl as he is her grandmother. It just depends on his mood."
Ginny looked at him curiously for a moment, "And you? Do you have a certain type or just anyone you meet in a pub?"
"I've never been great at flirting or dating, and one night stands definitely aren't for me," Harry replied truthfully. "But I suppose wounded red headed damsels trapped in tombs are rather rare to come by."
Ginny rolled her eyes at him as he reached for a chip. "You're right, you're not very good at the whole flirting thing," she said as she snatched the chip from between his fingers.
"Hey!" Harry replied indignantly as he tried to grab the chip back from her.
Neither noticed as Sirius glanced back at them from across the room and a triumphant smile appeared on his face.
"Harry! I found something!"
Pushing through the thick underbrush of the untraveled forest Harry uttered a quiet curse as his foot caught on root. Ginny seemed to have an easier time pushing her way through the underbrush and had managed to get ahead of him. Finally he pushed through a bush and found himself on the edge of a small clearing around a cave opening. To the left of the cave entrance the familiar symbol of the Deathly Hallows was carved into the rock face.
"This is it," Harry said quietly his eyes fixed on the symbol.
"Are you sure?" Ginny asked cautiously stepping towards the cave entrance her wand out and casting revealing charms.
"That's the symbol Grindelwald's forces used," he said pointing towards the symbol. "This is most likely his Vault."
"I'm not detecting any spells or traps," Ginny said as she made her way to the cave entrance.
"I didn't think we would, any protection charms placed out here might interfere with the Fidelius or at the least leave a magical signature for Curse Breakers to hone in on," Harry said as he ran one hand over the symbol of the Deathly Hallows, his other hand drifting towards his pocket where his invisibility cloak was hidden. Memories of the Resurrection Stone and Elder Wand popping into his head, the thrill of power when he possessed them returning almost like it had never left.
"Harry?" Ginny's voice pulled him from his memories and his gaze snapped up to meet her concerned eyes. "Are you ok?"
He shook his head, banishing the last vestiges of those memories before giving Ginny an apologetic smile, "Sorry this just brought back some memories from the fight against Voldemort."
Ginny nodded in understanding but didn't question him further realizing he didn't want to talk about it. Instead she turned back towards the cave entrance and cautiously began to edge her way into the cave, repeating her process from the tomb of casting a detection spell every few feet. Harry followed closely behind her casting a different more powerful detection charm every so often while carefully studying the cavern walls. They were about ten meters into the cave when one of Harry's spells lit up a section of wall a few feet in front of them. Slowly the two edged their way to the glowing section of wall and began to study the runes that had appeared.
"I don't recognize this sequence," Ginny said after several minutes, "it looks like a transfiguration spell, but there's also misdirection charms, an entire layer of defensive spells, and it looks like a timer charm to reset the whole thing."
While Ginny pointed to the various runes she recognized Harry studied the runes she hadn't identified. "It's a Daedalus Charm!" he finally said in surprise.
Ginny's brow furrowed in thought before she finally shook her head, "I've never heard of a Daedalus Charm, what does it do?"
"I've only ever seen it mentioned in books, the time and dedication to cast it must have taken months," Harry said, carefully highlighting several of the runes with his wand. "It's from an ancient Greek wizard and basically if we tripped this rune it would have turned the rest of the tunnel from here to the Vault into a labyrinth that would take us days or even weeks to navigate. The likelihood is that we would die in the maze without ever finding our way out."
"That's pleasant," Ginny muttered, "there must be a way to bypass it. How would Grindelwald and his followers have gotten through without triggering it?"
"I wonder…" Harry said thoughtfully as he began to work his way through the runes carefully once again. "Dark Lords really do have no ingenuity," he finally said after highlighting a specific set of runes with his wand.
"What is it?"
"It's a similar set of runes that Voldemort used to keep out anyone not bearing the Dark Mark, I learned how to bypass these runes when I was sixteen," Harry answered and began to work on the runes adding a few his own and erasing another. "I can change the bypass pattern from only people bearing Grindelwald's permission to anyone."
It took several minutes but eventually Harry sat back on his heels carefully studying his work, checking to make sure he hadn't missed anything that would trigger the trap. Satisfied with his work he stood up and taking a deep breath stepped past the rune. After several seconds he released the breath he had been holding, glad to see that his trick had worked, before turning and offering a hand to Ginny who was still crouched on the floor ready to pull him back should the trap activate.
"Good work," she said already casting more detection charms over the tunnel in front of them.
"Thanks," he answered, acutely aware of the fact that she hadn't let go of his hand as they began to move further into the tunnel.
The tunnel ended up being longer than either would have expected but after the Daedalus Charm the defenses were rather sparse allowing the two to take turns breaking those that were present. Both agreed that Grindelwald must have thought the Fidelius and Daedalus Charm to be impassable, but still kept their guard up as they approached what they hoped was the end of the tunnel.
Half a kilometer in the tunnel finally opened up into a pitch black cavern that the light from Harry and Ginny's wands could barely illuminate. At the edge of the circle of light cast by their wands they could just make out the shadowed shapes of various objects and even the reflective glint of metal.
"Is that a light switch?" Ginny asked drawing Harry's attention to wall near the tunnel where a large switch was bolted to the wall with several thick wires extending upwards into the darkness.
"I think it might be," Harry answered in confusion as he approached the switch casting several detection spells on it. When it revealed nothing dangerous about the switch he shrugged his shoulders and using both hands flipped the switch upwards.
Deep in the cavern there was sputtering cough as an old generator tried to start and then roared to life. Above them there was a hum and clicking noise as lights on the ceiling flickered to life illuminating the cavern which was much larger than either of them had realized. Stretching back almost half a kilometer and about forty meters wide the cavern was split into five sections by huge shelves stretching towards the back of the cavern. Banners on the cavern wall proudly showed the Deathly Hallows symbol and Nazi swastika. The shelves themselves were filled with items, books, weapons, large boxes, and hundreds of other items that neither Ginny or Harry could identify from their location.
"Wow," Ginny whispered quietly her eyes wide as she tried to take in the wealth of artifacts before her.
"Yeah. Wow," Harry agreed his eyes glued to one object prominently displayed in front of the center shelf. "Is that what I think it is?" he asked pointing towards a boulder about waist height with a jeweled sword hilt sticking out of the top.
"Excalibur?" Ginny breathed her feet already moving towards the stone. Harry followed her his eyes glued to probably the most legendary sword in history.
"I never actually thought it was real," Harry breathed as they stopped before the stone and glanced from one another to the sword. Carved into the rock next to the sword was a single line, "Whoso Pulleth Out This Sword of this Stone, is Rightwise King Born of All England," he read reverently his fingers tracing the words. "Ladies first," he said with a grin stepping back to allow Ginny a shot at the sword.
Harry looked on as Ginny looked nervously from the sword to him before taking a deep breath and stepping up to the stone placing both hands on the hilt and one foot against the stone and tugging as hard as she could. The sword remained completely motionless as Ginny pulled uselessly against it. After several seconds of trying she sagged slightly, huffing in disappointment as she stepped away from the stone allowing Harry to try.
Harry stepped up taking a similar position to Ginny's and carefully wrapped his hands around the hilt. A warm feeling moved from his hands up his arms to his chest reminding him of the welcome feeling when he gripped his wand and he glanced at Ginny wondering if she had felt this as well. Taking a deep breath he tightened his grip and pulled with all his might. The sword didn't budge. He tried once more with similar results before letting the handle go and looking at Ginny with a shrug.
"I guess neither of us is the Rightwise King or Queen Born of All England," he joked leaning against the rock.
"Well thank Merlin for that," an arrogant voice called from the cavern entrance.
At the entrance to the cavern five people had appeared, the center one a blonde man with oily hair and a sneer on his face was flanked by two hulking figures their faces hidden by black hoods. Bookending these three was a medium height hooded woman, black hair pouring out of the hood of her cloak and another average looking man, his face also hidden under a black hood. It took Harry a moment to place a name to the blond man's face but Ginny was quicker.
"Malfoy!" she hissed, "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here for the treasure of course," Malfoy sneered as his companions began to spread out in a half circle around Harry and Ginny. "I suppose it will also mean having to kill both of you."
"I doubt it," Harry said his wand already in his hand, noticing that Ginny had hers out as well and pointed at Malfoy.
"Our Lord promised us all the treasure if we kill you and I could use a new summer home," Malfoy said before launching a curse at Harry.
Harry conjured a shield to block the first round of attacks, barely requiring any strength to keep it up. While he kept them protected with his shield Ginny fired two blasting hexes towards the group. The first hit the ground in front of one of the large men knocking him backwards off his feet, while the second shattered a hastily conjured shield from the woman and sent her flying backwards into the rock wall with a loud crack. A stunner from Ginny kept the large man down and the woman showed no sign of moving anytime soon.
With two of their number taken out in seconds the other three momentarily stopped their barrage allowing Ginny and Harry to move apart, Harry engaging the remain two cloaked men while Ginny began a furious duel with Malfoy. Harry had no time to worry about Ginny as the smaller man began throwing hexes and curses at him as rapidly as he could. Harry dodged most but was forced to conjure a shield against some preventing him from counter attacking. While the smaller man engaged him the larger one gave up using his wand and instead charged Harry with a roar.
Harry dodged the man's first punch and managed to grab his forearm using his own momentum to flip him onto his back. His distraction cost him as one of the smaller man's cutting curses slipped past his shield and sliced his back open. With a howl of pain Harry kicked the large man in the face hoping to knock him out and turned back to the smaller man. Five spells left Harry's wand quickly and silently the first three bouncing harmlessly off the man shield while the fourth broke through the shield staggering the man backwards and the fifth disarmed him and sent him spinning backwards into the wall.
Turning back to his final opponent Harry found him back on his feet, a broken nose the only evidence of Harry's work. Before Harry could utter a spell the large mans fist found Harry's stomach doubling him over as all the air rushed from his lungs and his wand fell from his hand rolling away. Given no time to counterattack Harry found two large hands wrapped around his throat as he was lifted off his feet and his air supply cut off. Struggling uselessly in the large mans grip the edge of Harry's vision began to turn black as his body ran out of air. In one final desperate act he kicked hard at where he hoped the man's crotch was and was rewards with a groan of pain as the two hands let him drop to the floor where he gasped desperately for air.
Rolling onto his back he found the man already struggling back to his feet one hand gingerly cupping himself and a look of pure rage on his face. Harry had no idea where his wand had gone in the struggle but he doubted he'd have time to find it before the man was on him again and he had no strength left to fight off the gorilla sized man. Fate was on his side though as a purple curse flew over his prone form and hit the man directly in the face. He had never seen someone take a shredding curse to the face and dearly hoped he never would again. Using the stone to help him claw his way back to his feet he saw Malfoy shoot an exploding hex at Ginny's feet sending her flying backwards where she landed hard against the cavern wall her wand rolling from her fingers.
Over his life Harry had seen many people cast the Killing Curse and all but one of them had something in common. Before casting the Killing Curse a person's face would contort in a look of pure hatred and rage as they summoned all of their negative feelings in order to successfully cast the curse itself. This momentary pause had saved his life on more than one occasion, but now he stood completely unarmed and too far away to do anything as Draco Malfoy gave Ginny this look of pure hatred and lifted his wand.
"Avada-" Malfoy screeched.
The world around Harry slowed down as his right hand felt around desperately for something, anything, to throw at Malfoy to try and stop or delay the spell he knew was coming. His eyes never leaving Malfoy, Harry's hand made contact with something metallic and he launched the object between Malfoy and Ginny praying that just maybe the object would take the killing blow meant for her. Time still moving slowly Harry had time to register the jeweled hilt his hand pulled into his field of vision followed by the gleaming silver blade that left his hand and flipped end over end cutting through the air towards the spot between Malfoy and Ginny.
"-Kedavra!" Malfoy finished and the green spell left his wand streaking towards Ginny as a whistling noise filled the air. The Killing Curse reflected off the silver blade of Excalibur directly back at Malfoy so quickly that when his own curse struck him in the face he died with a look of triumph still on his face.
Excalibur ended up buried to the hilt in the cavern wall as Malfoy's lifeless body hit the floor with a loud thud in the suddenly quiet room. Harry could only look from his hand, to the sword, to Malfoy's body completely dumbfounded as his brain tried to process everything that had happened. Ginny seemed to be in a similar state of shock her gaze locked on Malfoy's corpse in confusion as she tried to process how she wasn't dead.
Harry was the first to move, his mind catching up to the present and reminding him that three enemies were still in the room and not restrained. He found his wand a few feet from where he was standing and quickly conjured ropes to tie up the three hooded people with Malfoy who were still alive. Then he walked over to Ginny who seemed on the edge of a panic attack. Taking in her appearance, she was very pale making a small cut on her cheek stand out even more, a deeper gash ran up her arm and the bottom hem of her robes were burned and still smoldering in one spot.
"Are you ok Ginny?" Harry asked kneeling down beside her and placing a hand on her shoulder.
This seemed to snap Ginny out of her stupor as she looked up at Harry in surprise before leaping forward hugging him tightly. "You saved my life!" she said her arms around his neck tightening making him wince. "Are you alright?" she asked pulling back and examining him.
"I'm fine," he answered quickly earning him a glare. "I have a small cut on my back and my neck's a little sore from when the big guy was choking me but I'm fine. Are you alright?" he asked again, this time gingerly reaching for her wounded arm.
Ginny looked down at the wound wincing as she realized for the first time she had been cut. "It hurts, but I don't think it's that deep," she said as she retrieved her wand and cast a basic healing charm on the wound. "Harry you pulled Excalibur from the stone," Ginny said in awe as she walked towards where the sword was buried in the wall.
"I guess I did," Harry said putting a hand on the sword's hilt. "I was really only trying to find something to block the curse and save you," he added as he gave the sword a light tug and easily pulled it from the wall.
"I guess this makes you King of All England," Ginny said with an amused smile, "My Liege," she added.
"I think we can keep that part to ourselves, the current Queen is doing fine," Harry said. "We should probably contact Sirius, there's an ICW office in Munich that can send people to help us start cataloging all of this stuff and set up more security."
"Gringott's has a branch in Berlin as well and if we're splitting this evenly they'll want to help catalog everything," Ginny said.
"Of course," Harry said, "but nothing leaves this cavern without our express permission and everything goes through us."
"Agreed," Ginny said with a happy smile.
"Are you ready to be the most famous Curse Breaker of the century Ms. Weasley?" Harry asked looking back towards the room filled with treasure.
"With your name attached we'll be front page of the prophet for a month," she said teasingly.
"I don't usually like being in the paper but sharing it with you probably won't be too bad," Harry said seriously, squeezing her hand.
The pub normally quiet on a weekday night was filled with rowdy patrons dressed in strange clothing. All of them talking loudly and happily about an amazing find, one for the record books, one that would put the two Treasure Hunters in the history books.
The two people in question were seated at table in the back smiling politely as everyone in the bar continued to come over to shake their hands, offer congratulations, and buy them another round. Sirius had come by every few minutes to check on them, a girl on each arm, and his face red from dancing and drinking.
Ginny and Harry neither wanting the spotlight but knowing they couldn't avoid it forever sat together bearing it as well as they could. Quiet comments, shared smiles and knowing looks getting them through the night as a photographer approached them for the third time requesting a photo for the paper, never specifying which paper.
The muggle patrons would probably have to be obliviated several times before the end of the night but the team of German aurors who had been stationed in the town to keep order between the ICW and Gringotts had turned a blind eye to the blatant disregard of the secrecy act, simply moving to have private words with various patrons and pub staff when they began voicing unwanted questions.
"So Harry what's your plan now?" Ginny asked after Sirius had come by for the sixth time trying to convince the two to dance.
"And let Gringott's best and brightest new Curse Breaker steal my next find right out from under me?" Harry asked playfully. "Not a chance Weasley."
Ginny gave an exaggerated sigh, "Fine I guess I'll go and find my own tomb to explore."
"But," Harry started, "I was thinking of taking some time off and going to London. If the goblins initial tallies are right I've made more than enough gold to keep the hospital running for years and maybe finally launch my next idea."
"Oh and what's your next idea?" Ginny asked.
"I'm going to open a magical orphanage."
Ginny looked at him thoughtfully for a moment mulling the idea over in her head, "I think that's a wonderful idea Harry."
"Thank you," he said running a nervous hand through his hair, "I was wondering, since you told Colin you'd go to visit his brother, I was uh wondering if you'd like to come with me when I visit the hospital?"
"I'd love to Harry," she answered quickly, impulsively taking his hand under the table.
"Great!" Harry said a little too loudly, "Maybe afterwards we could get dinner together?"
"Sounds like a date," she said with a happy smile.
"Great," he said again happily. "Oh before I forget!" He exclaimed reaching over to pull a small brown parcel from his bag while still keeping his other hand entangled with Ginny's. "This is for Hermione, I figured it would be a good apology for erasing her memory. Just tell her when she's finished to donate it to someone who will appreciate it."
"What is it?" Ginny asked turning the small package around in her hands.
"Merlin's personal journal."
"How did you get this!?" Ginny gasped in shock.
"I found it while cataloging the Vault, I figured Hermione would love to be the first person to study it so I grabbed it for her as a reward for her help in finding the tomb. Do you not think she'll like it?" Harry asked suddenly unsure of himself.
"Are you kidding? Hermione will be over the moon about this!" Ginny said excitedly as she moved to stash the package in her bag. "That was very thoughtful of you Harry."
"Thanks, tell her that I would personally suggest donating it to Hogwarts library when she's done reading it," he said.
"I'll make sure to let her know."
FIND OF THE CENTURY!
The words were sprawled across the cover of the Daily Prophet over a picture of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley standing side by side in front of shelves filled with treasure reaching back into the cavern behind them. The paper was a week old but every day there was a new headline about the treasures being found within Grindelwald's Vault. The paper itself lasted only a second as the flames into which it had been thrown caught hold of the edges and burned it to ashes just as the fire itself turned green and flared. A well built man in a large tan trench coat stepped from the flames into the nicely appointed living room, his eyes meeting those of the regal grey haired man already seated in the nearby dark blue wingback chair.
"You summoned me my lord?" the man asked bowing courteously.
"Dawlish, I trust you've heard of what's happening in Germany?" the grey haired man asked.
"Yes," he answered letting his tone ask the question he wanted to voice.
"Malfoy and one of his cronies are dead and the remaining three are being extradited to the British Ministry tomorrow for questioning," the man stated leaning forward in his chair. "I need you to ensure they know nothing of Malfoy's connection to me and if they do, silence them."
"It will be done my lord," Dawlish stated. "Is there anything else you require of me?"
"Not now, I first need to find out the true extent of the damage done in Germany before I can plan my next move. Hopefully the objects I require from the vault will be delivered to me by the goblins before they know what it is they have found," The grey haired man said as he steepled his fingers and leaned back in thought. "You may return to work," he said offhandedly waving Dawlish towards the fireplace.
"Enjoy your night Lord York," Dawlish said before vanishing in a swirl of green flames.
As the flames from the fire once again died down leaving the room in dancing shadows Lord York idly traced the tattoo on his arm. A tattoo that had been there for over sixty years, placed by Grindelwald himself when a younger Lord York knelt before him and swore fealty to the Dark Lord. The tattoo signifying Grindelwald's power and his deepest desire, but while his former master had been obsessed with the Deathly Hallows, York had seen the greater threat.
The threat he had sacrificed everything to protect the magical world from.
The threat Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley were dangerously close to uncovering.
And so ends Act 1 of Harry Potter Treasure Hunter.
I'd like to thank everyone for their kind reviews and the multitude of story follows I received. I also apologize for the long wait between this chapter and the last but you can blame a perfect storm of work, the holidays, and Fallout 4. Also I realized when writing it that the first scene of this chapter really should be at the end of the last chapter, it's been bothering me since I wrote that scene last month.
I hope the next chapter can be up by at least the end of the month if not sooner, but I'm having problems finding a "villain" for Act 2 while the now revealed Lord York continues to pull strings in the back ground.
Please let me know what you think of everything and if you enjoy it (or hate it)(also I know the generator in the cavern would most likely not work after 60 years of no maintenance but uh... magic?)