Chapter 28: The Gringotts break in and getting to Hogwarts
Lily stood up to check Harry and James turned to Hermione.
"Speaking of the Malfoy's. What did Bellatrix do to you?" He asked. "Don't give me that look," He added when Hermione feigned innocence. "We got distracted by the horcrux but there is no way Bella played nice when questioning you. Hermione groaned inwardly. She bit her lip before responding.
"She used the cruciatus curse a lot." She mumbled.
"Yeah, she always was a bit too happy to use that curse." Sirius scowled. Everyone else was looking both angry and apprehensive. "Anything else?" Hermione's hand unconsciously moved to her right arm as she responded.
"Just curse happy." She tried for a smile but Sirius had spotted her arm movement.
"What happened to your arm then?" He asked.
"Just a cut." She said, suddenly having more sympathy for Harry when he had been hiding the scars Umbridge gave him. Remus raised an eyebrow and Sirius made a grab for her, which Hermione was too slow to dodge. Pushing up her sleeve he gasped in horror. The word mudblood was still clear against her skin. Sirius dropped her arm and ran out of the room. He could be heard throwing up in the kitchen. Looking stunned, James took her arm and his face went red with anger.
"That BITCH!" He yelled. The professors, who had been chatting in the corner, whipped around and saw what caused the commotion. McGonagall's hand flew to her mouth and Dumbledore's eyes grew hard. Flitwick became muttering viciously under his breath. Then Lily came flying down the stairs with Harry in her arms, looking wild.
"What on earth…" She started but then trailed off seeing Hermione's arm. She gaped for a minute and then clutched Harry tighter unable to take her gaze of the offending word.
"That sick, twisted, vile…" Remus' voice died out as he ran out of words bad enough to describe Bellatrix.
"I'm going to kill her." Sirius said in a low voice, coming back into the room. "I don't care what the future says, she will die by my hand." The disgust and horror had been replaced by a cold, hard fury.
"Oh Sirius." Hermione sighed, pulling him into a hug.
"We should be comforting you Hermione, not the other way around." James said thickly through clenched teeth.
"It's already happened to me. I'm not over it exactly," Hermione didn't want to admit she still had nightmares about what had happened in Malfoy Manor. "But to me it happened a long time ago and I've dealt with it. You've just discovered it."
"That's not the point." His face went slightly green again.
"There is nothing we can do about it now." Hermione reminded them.
"You should have let me accompany you." Remus said sadly.
"No Remus. For one thing Greyback was there, and they would probably have killed you on sight. And Tonks needed you." Hermione told him firmly.
"She's right Rem. I don't think you would have survived long enough to help." James told him, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Do you want a bit more time or shall we carry on with the story?" Hermione asked tentatively, pushing her sleeve back down and hiding the offensive word.
"Let's just get on with it." James sighed, looking around. Everyone nodded. He sat down on the loveseat with Lily and Harry. Remus remained on the chair, Sirius and Hermione sat next to each other on the couch. The Professors hadn't moved from the chairs they had conjured for themselves. Sirius took Hermione's hand as everyone turned to her.
"Well once we arrived, Harry dug a grave for Dobby while Ron took me inside." The mood, which was already sour and angry, took another downturn at the reminder of Dobby. "Once he was done, Harry, Ron, Luna and Dean had a little memorial service."
"That's nice of them." Lily smiled weakly.
"The least that elf deserved. He is definitely a hero." James said.
"Inside we were talking about the Weasley's having to move to their aunt Muriel under the Fidelius charm to be safer. It was planned to send Ollivander and Griphook there too. Harry wanted to talk to them both first. All three of us went up to see Griphook first."
"Be very careful when dealing with goblins." Sirius warned. Hermione suppressed a grimace.
"Griphook called him odd for burying Dobby and rescuing Griphook himself."
"Yeah, most wizards wouldn't have bothered. Sad but true." Remus sighed. James and Sirius threw him sorrowful looks.
"Griphook was unwilling because Harry wanted to break into Gringotts." There was a ringing silence at this.
"He...what?" James asked weakly.
"My godson is insane." Sirius said, looking over at the baby.
"Takes after his godfather then." Remus grinned. "I can't believe he would even attempt that. Why would he?"
"When Bellatrix was...questioning me," Everybody flinched and scowled. "She kept asking what else we had stolen besides the sword from her vault. Harry thought Voldemort may have given her a horcrux to hide there."
"I suppose that is a reasonable reason for breaking in. It's going to take a lot of planning though." James looked thoughtful.
Lily saw silent. She did not want her son breaking into Gringotts for several reasons but couldn't deny it was necessary.
"You will definitely need Griphook though." Remus sighed.
"Griphook agreed to sleep on his decision and tell us the next morning. After we left, Harry explained that Voldemort would have hidden one there because he would have seen the place when he first went to Diagon Alley, and probably envied anyone with a key. He saw it a s symbol of really belonging to the magical world."
"Harry really understands him doesn't he?" Lily asked softly. The marauders looked ill and angry at that suggestion.
"After having Voldemort in his head for so many years, and the lessons Dumbledore gave him last year, yeah, Harry did understand him. And they were both half-bloods who knew nothing of the wizarding world until they turned 11."
James and Lily flinched at the last part. Sirius linked his fingers with Hermione as much for his own support as hers.
"Ollivander said he couldn't fix Harry's wand, but Harry had wrestled Draco's wand off him so he could use that. Ron had taken Pettigrew's wand and we also had Bellatrix's."
"Bin the piece of sh…"
"Black!" Lily scolded.
"Ollivander had also never heard of what Harry's wand did to the wand Voldemort borrowed when we took Harry from Privet Drive for the last time. He then told us Voldemort was searching for the Elder wand. He told us that Gregorovitch had it. It was then stolen by Grindelwald. From there well…" Hermione looked over at Dumbledore. Everyone followed her gaze.
"Albus! You have it?" McGonagall gasped. He nodded, withdrawing the wand from his pocket looking slightly hesitant.
"As we realised this Harry had a vision of Voldemort finding the wand in Dumbledore's tomb." Everyone groaned except Dumbledore who was looking thoughtful. "Thankfully next morning Griphook agreed to help us. In exchange for Gryffindor's sword."
"You can't give him that!" Sirius yelped. "You need it to destroy horcruxes."
"We decided to tell him he could have it after he helped us getting into the vault, but avoid telling him exactly when."
"Nice." James grinned.
"Griphook will see through that. You should always be careful with goblins." Sirius argued.
"We didn't exactly have many other options." Hermione sighed. "So we began planning. We had enough polyjuice potion for one person. We just needed a proper plan."
"So it can all go to hell and you plan on your feet?" Sirius asked with a wry grin.
"Don't say that." Lily muttered.
"Soon Ollivander was moved to Muriel's. One night Remus came to visit," Hermione looked over at him grinning. "Tonks had had the baby." Everyone cheered.
"Moony is a dad!" James cried happily.
"He was a little boy called Teddy Remus Lupin. A metamorphmagus like his mother. Remus asked Harry to be his godfather."
"Aww. That's sweet of you Moony." James grinned. Sirius had gotten up and was slapping Remus on the back.
"Congrats old buddy." He cheered. Remus was grinning widely.
"I have a son." He whispered.
"Congratulations Mr Lupin." Dumbledore smiled.
"Thank you sir." After a few more minutes of celebration, Hermione decided it was time to carry on.
"After Remus left, Bill warned Harry about dealing with goblins. We had a plan in place. Bellatrix had left a hair on my jumper so I was going to use the Polyjuice potion. We had her wand so it would be convincing."
"No. They would have warned the goblins you stole her wand. If they see it they will know it's you." Remus groaned.
"The next morning, I took the potion. I did a bit of transfiguration on Ron to make him look different. Harry and Griphook would be under the invisibility cloak. Once we arrived in Diagon Alley we bumped into Travers another Death eater."
"Oh wonderful. Not even in Gringotts and you've got problems." Sirius muttered.
"He said that the people in Malfoy Manor had been confined to the house but I told him Voldemort forgives those who served him faithfully. Thankfully that made him less suspicious."
"Quick thinking." Remus smiled approvingly.
"He accompanied us to Gringotts. The goblins had indeed be warned of an intruder but a quick imperius curse from Harry took care of everything. One on the counter goblin and one on Travers."
"He used that curse?" James asked in disgust.
"It was necessary. Harry didn't like doing it anymore than you like the idea of him doing it." Hermione sighed.
"I wish there was a better way." James muttered.
"Don't we all?" Lily said.
"We made it into the carts and then went through the waterfall that removes all enchantments. All was going ok until we met the dragon."
"Dragon?" Lily spluttered.
"Yeah, they have a couple guarding the really old vaults. There is one near my family one." James told her. She gaped at him, open-mouthed.
"We got into the vault and found Hufflepuff's cup. However curses had been put on all the stuff. We only just made it out. Griphook took the sword before we could destroy the cup. Loads of goblins were coming and Griphook was shouting about thieves."
"That little treacherous moron." Sirius spat.
"Never make deals with goblins." Remus groaned.
"How on earth are you going to get out of there?" McGonagall asked, looking worried.
"Harry decided to ride the dragon out of there. We clambered on, released it and flew away."
"So, let's get this straight, you broke into Gringotts; broke into the Lestrange's vault; found a horcrux; got betrayed by a goblin, and escaped on a dragon?" Sirius asked half in awe and half in amusement. Hermione nodded.
"You. Are. Amazing!" James cried grinning wildly.
"I don't believe how much luck you guys had. You have the extremes of both good and bad." Remus shook his head in astonishment.
"We flew for a while and when the dragon began losing height we jumped off into a lake. Once we made it to dry land we were discussing what to do when Harry had a vision. Voldemort knew that we had broken into Gringotts and what we had taken. He now knew what we were doing."
"Oh no!" Sirius cried.
"He decided to check on the Gaunt house first and then the lake so we had a bit of time. Harry also saw that he thought the Hogwarts one was safest along with Nagini, his snake."
"So Harry was right all along. Again. There was one at Hogwarts." James sighed.
"Yeah, that'll be easy. Harry Potter wandering back into Hogwarts with greasy git as headmaster." Sirius snorted.
"How exactly were you planning on getting in?" Lily asked.
"We didn't exactly plan. Harry decided we had to go there and then. We changed into dry clothes, put the cloak on and disapparated to Hogsmeade. Sadly they put up a caterwauling charm so we were detected."
"Just wonderful." Lily scowled.
"That's what we thought too." Hermione smiled. "They tried to summon the cloak but it didn't work. We tried to disapparate but they had set up anti apparition wards so we were stuck. Dementors were coming."
"How the hell did you get out of this one?" James asked looking pale.
"If you let me continue you will find out." Hermione teased, sticking her tongue out. Sirius laughed and James blushed. "We retreated down a side street and Harry had to cast a patronus."
"No. You or Ron should have done it. His patronus is too noticeable." Remus groaned.
"Thankfully someone opened a door and told us to go inside."
"And you trusted them?" Lily asked, incredulous.
"It was them or Death Eaters." Hermione reminded her. She nodded but still looked worried. The person who saved us told the Death Eaters that it was his patronus, a goat, they had seen. He yelled at them and they finally backed away. When he came back we saw it was the barman of the Hog's Head." Dumbledore looked up with interest. His brother hadn't spoken to him in years. At least he was helping Harry.
"Aberforth?" McGonagall asked with a raised eyebrow. Hermione nodded.
"It turned out he had got Sirius' two way mirror off Mundungus Fletcher and had been keeping an eye on us. He had sent Dobby to us in Malfoy Manor. He gave us some food and then we told him we had to get to Hogwarts. He told us a little bit about his history." Dumbledore sighed. He knew his brother would never forgive him, nor did he expect him to. "He wasn't very happy about it but in the end he sent us through a secret passageway behind a portrait in his pub."
"There isn't a secret passage to Hogwarts through the Hog's Head?" James frowned.
"There wasn't, but one got created."
"Huh? Hogwarts can create it's own passages?" Sirius asked. "Cool!"
"Neville came out of the passage and he looked terrible. He asked if we had really broken into Gringotts and escaped on a dragon which we confirmed. He told us the Carrows had been making them practise the cruciatus curse on people who have earned detentions." The marauders were all pale and angry. Lily starting crying quietly.
"What?" Thundered McGonagall.
"No!" Gasped Flitwick. There was a gathering aura around Dumbledore whose eyes were cold and hard.
"Neville and the rest of the DA had been fighting them but the torture forced them to do more underground stuff. In the end they went after Neville's gran to try and stop him but she got away and told him she was proud of him."
"I cannot believe the world is coming to this." Lily sobbed.
"He took us up the passage that came out in the room of requirement. It seemed like the whole DA had been camped out there. It was too dangerous for them to return to normal school. They explained that they had been living there because of the danger, the passageway had opened up so they could get food from the pub."
"That's so cool." James exclaimed, looking excitedly at Sirius. "Not the danger, just that the school can create its own passageways."
"Well everyone seemed to expect that Harry had come back to lead a fight. We had to tell them we were looking for something from Ravenclaw. While we were talking a load more people appeared like Luna, Lee Jordan and the Weasley twins who brought Ginny. Cho Change also came and suggested the lost Diadem. It was decided that Luna would take Harry to the Ravenclaw common room to start the search."
"It won't be there. Voldemort wouldn't have hidden it in such an obvious place." Sirius pointed out.
"We knew that, but it was the only place we could think of to even begin." Hermione sighed.
"There is a statue of the diadem in the common room so it will give you an idea what you are looking for." Lily said. "My friend was in Ravenclaw."
"Meanwhile. Ron had the idea that we could go to the Chamber of Secrets to get a Basilisk fang so we could destroy the horcruxes. So we went to the bathroom, Ron managed to speak parseltongue, saying Harry talked in his sleep, and I destroyed the cup."
"Awesome. So that only leaves the diadem and the snake." Sirius cheered.
"Getting the snake will be hard." Remus sighed.
"Such a downer Moody." James complained.
"Harry and Luna got into the Ravenclaw common room without difficulty but as soon as they arrived they were found by a Carrow who summoned Voldemort."
"No!" Gasped Lily.
"How did he get seen? He has the invisibility cloak." James asked.
"He had come out from under it to get a better look at the statue." Hermione explained.
"Idiot." Sirius groaned.
(A/N I had to split this chapter into two so there is one more chapter after this. Then onto the sequel. And for all those of my wonderful fans who also like Divergent, please check out my story 'The Value of Bravery' which is a EricxTris story)