A formal warning: This story will contain abuse, non-con/rape, death, dark themes, it will not contain graphic descriptions of such.
*****And I don't own HP, or the excerpts from the book/movie you see below*****
Also, good news, guys!
I am starting a sequel for this! So, it will follow whoever survives! Yay!
I promised a sequel last time and didn't deliver. I also didn't deliver an ending. I will deliver BOTH!
Remus was surprised the next morning when she didn't argue about having to rest more. She seemed tired, and he wondered if the last few days had taken more of a toll on her than originally thought.
She spent most of the following weeks curled up on the couch against Remus, Teddy in her arms- as usual- alternating between sleeping and sitting there half asleep. Remus felt terrible, and felt even worse when she had to take the antidote and wound up with the extremely high fever again. Teddy apparently noticed it as well, and became fretful, calming down when he was with someone who wasn't so warm.
Remus was always tempted to make her go upstairs to sleep it off, but at least she was resting next to him. He didn't really want to make her get up and go upstairs anyway, he liked having her near. Leo had decided to extend the antidote again after she collapsed a few more times, and decided to keep her on it until the third of May, exactly two months after the attack.
On the final day of April, Sirius, Harry, Ron and Hermione were discussing what they knew, while Kingsley and Alastor had gone to visit other Order members and do another Potterwatch broadcast.
"So, You-Know-Who has the Elder Wand." Harry said. "We didn't find it in time."
"We didn't know where to look." Sirius said.
"It was with Dumbledore." Harry said, tapping his fist on the arm of the chair he was sitting in. "The whole time... he had it."
"If Albus' wand really was the Elder Wand, what's next?" Sirius asked. "An unbeatable wand... Merlin, it won't be easy to defeat You-Know-Who now."
"I know." Harry said, sounding somewhat irritated.
"Harry, you can't be upset." Hermione said gently. "You couldn't have broken into Dumbledore's grave-"
"Maybe we were supposed to figure out the symbol in time to get the wand." Harry said. "We just have to keep going, keep destroying the Horcruxes."
"How are we supposed to do that after you promised the sword to Griphook?" Ron asked.
"You what?" Sirius demanded. "Harry, you can't make deals with goblins."
"We need to get into Gringotts." Harry said. "And Griphook can help us, so I promised him the sword earlier today. He can have it when we're done with the Horcruxes, I'll keep my word."
"Harry, that could be years." Hermione said.
"Either way, I'll keep my word." Harry said. "We just need to figure out how to get into Gringotts."
"We have Polyjuice Potion, not much, but enough for a one person." Hermione said.
"We could brew some more, if you'd be willing to wait a month." Remus said, but Harry shook his head.
"I want to get there as soon as possible. We'll find a way to make it work." He said.
"It's a shame we didn't think of this sooner, then." Sirius said. "With only one person disguised..."
"Like I said, we have no plan to get into Gringotts." Harry said. "I don't know how to get in, what kind of protection-"
"Whose vault do we need?" Sirius asked.
"Bellatrix's?"
Sirius let out a low whistle. "Harry, no offense, but you must be barking mad to want into her vault." He said. "The Lestrange Vault will be heavily protected."
"I know." Harry said frowning. "But I think there's a Horcrux, we need to get in there."
"We have a hair from Bellatrix." Hermione said slowly. "I found it on the clothes I was wearing that night."
"You were also asleep next to Dora, are you sure it's not hers?" Remus asked.
"Is there a way to find out?" Hermione asked.
"I don't think so. The potion I know about only tests relation, it wouldn't tell us." Remus said. "But if you take Polyjuice Potion with that hair in it, you could become her and you've wasted what Polyjuice we had."
"But if she turns into Tonks can't we transfigure her to look like Bellatrix?" Ron asked. "I mean, no offense, but they do look similar-"
Sirius seemed to be thinking, and then nodded. "I don't see why we couldn't." He said. "It may last longer if we do that, actually. And if we have Bellatrix with us..."
"We also have her wand." Harry said.
"We do have a problem, though." Remus said.
"What's that?" Sirius asked.
"None of us have Death Eater robes. Bellatrix won't be very convincing without them." Remus said.
"We'll find something." Sirius said. "Do we know what we're looking for, though?"
"No." Harry admitted. "It could be Hufflepuff's cup, or Ravenclaw's item, which I don't know what that is."
"The diadem." Tonks muttered, and Remus hadn't realised she had woken up.
"The what?" Harry asked.
Tonks lifted her head away from Remus' shoulder. "Ravenclaw had a diadem, it's sort of a crown. Thought to-"
"Enhance wisdom." Hermione said. "Of course! But isn't it-"
"Lost, yeah." Tonks said. "Been lost for... well, no one knows exactly how long."
"Great." Harry muttered.
"That might mean You-Know-Who couldn't find it either." Sirius said. "So, maybe we look for the cup, then. Focus on that for now."
"Poor Hufflepuffs, what have we ever done to deserve the destruction of our cup?" Tonks asked and Remus laughed slightly.
"It's more what You-Know-Who did to the cup, not the fact it's Hufflepuff's cup. If it was Excalibur, I'm sure we'd still destroy it." Sirius said.
"And you think it'll be in her vault?" Tonks asked. "Do you know where her vault is?"
"It's our best bet, a good lead." Sirius said. "Her vault will be near mine. Pureblood families like ours, they'll be well protected, low down. I could go in, claiming to need access to my vault, but-"
"You could be caught, we should continue with the Polyjuice plan." Harry said.
"So, what happens if you can't transfigure Hermione enough to look like Bellatrix?" Tonks asked.
"We think of something new." Sirius said.
"And waste Polyjuice?" Tonks asked.
"I don't really see it being much an issue. Unmorphed, you look strikingly similar to your mother- I can only imagine she would have looked like you do when she was twenty four-"
"Twenty five."
"Whatever." Sirius said. "And now, with the attack and the poison, you look a little more... well, terrible."
"Let's disembowel you with a poison knife, see how you look."
"Anyway, we don't really have a choice, we have to do this." Harry said. "I want to do it tomorrow. In the morning."
"Yeah, but you don't know how to get into Gringotts." Tonks said.
"How do you know that? You were asleep." Remus said.
"I was not sleeping." Tonks said with a scoff. "I have a headache, I was resting my eyes. Anyway, you said you have no plan. Yet, you want to do this tomorrow?"
"Well... yeah." Harry said.
"I'm going to agree with Sirius, you're absolutely barking mad."