55

Not Your Blood...

00000

Daphne and Sirius apparated outside the Gringotts' building. They could already spot the smoke coming from the part where Voldemort and his death eaters had been sighted. The place had suffered damages, of that Sirius was sure, which is why he and Daphne could see the smoke from where they were.

The streets were devoid of people. All the shops were closed and little noise seemed to be coming from inside the bank's atrium when an auror noticed the two.

"Sirius?" said the pink-haired auror as she walked up to them. She was surprised to see him there, not to mention with a young girl. Out of habit, she forgot to ask why he was here and instead raised a brow quietly asking him what he was doing with the girl.

"Tonks? What are you doing here?" Sirius asked in response to her question.

"You know her?" asked Daphne.

"I do," Sirius said. "Daphne, this is Nymphadora Tonks, junior auror and my cousin."

Daphne nodded looking at the woman. She seemed somewhat young to be an auror but the Slytherin wasn't judging that. She was, in fact, somewhat intrigued by her pink hair which had changed colour when Sirius had introduced the woman.

"Tonks, this is Daphne Greengrass," Sirius said.

"Greengrass?" Nymphadora said sounding surprised before she blinked a few times and extended her hand forward for a shake. "Hello, Daphne. Call me Dora. Nice to meet you." Daphne shook her hand and nodded once before Dora looked at her cousin again. "I am sorry but the whole alley is under lockdown since the incident. I'll have to ask you to leave."

"I can see people inside Gringotts," Sirius said. "Listen, we wouldn't be here if it wasn't important. Could you please let this slide?"

Tonks looked at them before huffing. "If my seniors knew they'd have me clean the entire DMLE floor," she said before pausing for a moment and then continuing. "Fine, go. Just remember that it was Callahan that met you guys, not me."

Sirius smirked. "Still bothering that poor soul?" he said.

"He reported me to boss lady," Tonks said sounding annoyed. "Now go."

"Thanks," Daphne said. Tonks looked at her before the Slytherin and Sirius walked into Gringotts. The auror looked around making sure no one had seen them.

Inside, there were very few people. That was probably for the best as the two could finish their work quickly. Daphne showed her vault key to the teller who used it to confirm her identity. The two then headed for the elevator which took them to the mine carts' section. From there they took one of the carts and headed for the vaults' section. Once at the vault, Daphne and Sirius got off. She then put her hand on the blood seal on the vault door. However, nothing happened.

Confused, she tried again but it didn't work. She started to panic when Sirius came beside her. "What's the problem?" he asked.

"It won't open," said Daphne sounding desperate. She then put her hand on the seal again but like before nothing happened. "Why won't it open?!"

"Hey, hey, hey...calm down," Sirius said putting his hands on her shoulders. "Take a deep breath." He did the same so she could follow him. Daphne did and felt a little calm. "Good, now, let's try again." He said turning to face the vault door. There weren't any key holes, as was typical of vaults that had blood seal on them. "How did you open it the last time you were here?" he asked.

"I didn't," Daphne said. "My parents did. I haven't opened the vault door on my own before."

"Hmm, that's weird," Sirius said to himself as he wondered why the door won't open to Daphne's touch when they heard a mine cart come and stop at their location. On it were four goblin guards, looking all scary and dangerous. Sirius immediately put himself in between them and Daphne. "What's happening?" he asked trying to remain polite. He knew goblins didn't take it very well when people didn't talk to them properly, especially the ones like these. They were clearly security.

The goblins said nothing and one of them fired a spell towards Daphne and Sirius. The two got hit before Sirius could do anything and fell on the floor unconscious.

00000

At Hogwarts, McGonagall relieved her students after she finished searching their belongings for anything suspicious, as per Dumbledore's instructions. Once she left the common room Hermione went over to Neville.

"Where is Harry?" she asked.

Neville took her to the corner before applying a privacy charm around them. "He took Daphne and Astoria to their home," he said.

"Is everything alright?" asked Hermione.

"Everything is fine," said Neville. "It's just that with Voldemort making a public appearance, it won't be safe for the sisters to be in Hogwarts until things cooled down a little." He didn't tell her the truth because he didn't know if he could. He didn't want to do anything that wouldn't later be approved by Harry or Daphne because of what was going on with the latter's parents.

"What do we do in the meantime?" Hermione asked.

Neville took a look around. The students' faces carried expressions of worry, fear and nervousness. "We're sitting ducks," he said in a low tone.

"What?" Hermione said as she didn't hear him first time.

"Now that everyone knows that Voldemort is still alive, there's no telling when he will attack Hogwarts," he said. "Granted that this won't be the first place that he will try to take control of but it is definitely going to be on his list of priorities, at least after he takes over the ministry and possibly Gringotts – two of the major power-houses of Magical Britain. And after that when he shows up here, who knows what he and his death eaters will do to the students. Killing us would be them being merciful on us."

"Neville, what are you talking about?" Hermione said.

He remained quiet for a few seconds before taking in a deep breath and then sighed. "There's no denying it now," he said. "The students need to be prepared for what is coming. While we aren't as skilled as the student from Beauxbatons or Durmstrang, but whatever we already knew, Umbridge made sure to make us forget all of that. None of the students in this castle has cast even a simple disarming spell in months. It's safe to say that some of them have even forgotten the wand-movement for that spell." He then paused before looking around.

"Then what are you suggesting?" asked Hermione.

"We teach them," Neville said. "It won't be easy though, considering Voldemort's return and how little inter-house unity we have here at Hogwarts."

"But we have to," Hermione said. Neville looked at her and saw the determined look on her face. "Harry is the best at defence spells in our year. He can teach us and the junior years. Also, the sixth and seventh year students can help teach us what we don't know. Everyone will cooperate."

Neville smiled sadly. "Are you sure they will?" he asked.

Hermione chewed her lower lip as she thought about something before nodding her head. "I'll make sure of it," she said.

00000

Daphne opened her eyes and found herself staring at a wet cave-like ceiling when she heard Sirius' voice.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he came beside her.

"What happened?" she asked sitting up.

"I don't know," Sirius said. "They knocked us out before I could do anything. And then I woke up here."

"Is this a prison?" Daphne asked looking at the jail-like metal door in front of them.

"It's a Gringotts holding cell," Sirius said. "Those who break the bank's rules are put here."

"Rules? What rules did we break?" asked Daphne when they saw a few goblin guards coming their way. She stood up as did Sirius. Daphne recognised the goblin that was behind the guards. She walked up to the gate as that goblin came and stood in front of her. "Ragnok, what is going on?" she asked.

Sirius realised she must know the goblin so he didn't say anything. From his attire, the goblin looked like a vault manager, probably for the Greengrass family.

Ragnok, the goblin, signalled one of the guards who opened the gate. He then bowed his head towards Daphne. "Madame Greengrass, I am sorry for the misunderstanding," Ragnok said.

"What misunderstanding?" asked Daphne.

The goblin stood straight. "It's best if we talk in private," he said before glancing at Sirius.

"He's with me," Daphne said. Ragnok nodded.

Ten minutes later they were in the goblin's office. "Why were we apprehended? What is going on?" Daphne asked.

"Before I answer that, may I ask what you are doing here without your parents?" Ragnok said.

"What does that has to do with anything?" Daphne asked before she thought of something. "Do you think I am an imposter?"

"No, I do not," said the goblin. "It's just that you have never been here on your own before, especially with everything that happened today. That is why I asked where your parents were. It is important that you tell me."

"Why?" asked Daphne. "What aren't you telling me?"

The goblin seemed to hesitate so Sirius spoke up. "We have taken a great risk coming here, as you know," he said. "It's better that you tell us what is going on. Does this have anything to do with why the blood seal didn't recognise Daphne?"

"Answer him, Ragnok," Daphne said. "My parents' lives are in danger."

That took the goblin by surprise. "Wha...What happened to Lord and Lady Greengrass?"

"Tell us why your guards apprehended us and I'll tell you," Daphne said. "The longer we delay this, the more dangerous it gets for my parents. You wanted to know why they aren't here, right? Well, there you go. My parents have been missing since yesterday. I came here to get the locator for the traces that they have on them so we can know where they are. But the vault door wasn't opening and before I could understand what was going on, the guards apprehended us."

Ragnok looked at her for a moment before sighing. He knew he wasn't going to like this but it seemed that there was nothing he could do. "The blood seal didn't open for you because you don't have Greengrass blood," Ragnok said.

00000

At Malfoy Manor, everyone was trying to recover from what had happened, especially Voldemort. The fact that someone had force-apparated him and a bunch of his death eaters through heavily layered anti-apparition and protection wards had him shocked. Of everything, Voldemort knew that this was probably done by the same person who had stolen his snake and ring and that made this person very powerful. He knew that, because in the brief moment when he was being force-apparated, he had tried to touch this person's magic with his own just so he could get an idea as to who it was. He couldn't, though. But what he did find was this mystery person's magical prowess and an unidentifiable aura around that magic which he couldn't understand.

However, he didn't have time to think on it even though he wanted to. The world now knew that he was alive. It had happened sooner than he would like it to which had put him in a precarious situation. He was still half-way in gathering a big enough army and because of the complete prophecy being revealed to him, he had slowed down on that front, something which he now regretted. He knew he had to hurry and while that made things risky for him, he knew he had no other choice.

Killing Harry came first now.

"Lucius!" Voldemort shouted and the Malfoy patriarch walked into the room the next second, as if he was outside the door waiting to be summoned. He knelt down on his knee in front of the dark wizard. "Gather everyone. We can't waste anymore time."

Lucius nodded, immediately knowing that his dark lord wanted him to recruit as much death eaters as possible.

"Where are Draco and the others with finding my crown?" Voldemort asked.

"I am sure that we would have heard something if they had found it by now," Lucius said. "Forgive me for saying this, my lord, but it's not an easy task that you have given them. That diadem is said to be lost for a reason."

Voldemort nodded. After he had made use for the diadem he had hidden it in the secret chamber. However, when he had gone to retrieve it before he was to graduate Hogwarts, he found that the diadem had been missing. He had looked everywhere he could. He even used the link that he had with the diadem but to no avail. He could sense it, but he couldn't figure out where it was. He had searched every nook and cranny of the castle but had failed to find the diadem. Finally, he had decided to let it be as it was probably better – and safer – that way. If someone else found it then it could be dangerous for him so maybe this was for the best.

However, Voldemort now needed it as he had become paranoid after losing his snake and ring. He would feel better if he had the remaining of his anchors under his personal protection.

"If they find it," he said, "tell them to not wait till winter holidays and come here at once. Inform Severus to make arrangements for that."

Lucius nodded as he slowly stood up. "I will, my lord," he said before leaving the room.

00000

Thanks for reading...