Chương 17: Gringotts And Dragons
Kragkor
Chaos. That was the word who would perfectly describe what Kragkor was watching when discretely moving toward the wizard bank of Gringotts, which was good for what the Master had in mind. Apparently, many wizards and witches, feared that Voldemort had finally manage to rise to the top and feared he would take their possessions away for his own evil purposes. The result was of course, a world of commotion inside the bank, in where many wealthy families were trying to secure their most valuable possessions or like the Malfoy family, their hidden dark legacy they were not willing to give to the Dark Lord.
Not all rich families, especially those with an ancient history, devoted themselves to Voldemort. Most of those families have already in their possession some dark magical objects that could bring the world to their knees. They just lacked the desire to do so or find it too troublesome. Just like the ancestors of Master Draco, managing the play off-stage, was way easier and less complicated while having all the benefits easily handle to their perfect hands.
In such a state of pandemonium, their task fitted what the Master had expected, just perfectly. No one would find odd that a group of 'Death Eaters' would suddenly arrive to increase the turmoil, but the contrary. They were expecting something like that to happen in any moment, which explained the rush to secure their wealth, before it could be stolen from either Voldemort himself or any other unscrupulous or ambitious Death Eater who want more that what he have. Kragkor smiled, oh so mischievously and with flick of his finger he signal the others elves to go in as much unnoticed as they could, then he disappeared from the glorious chaos to go back to his waiting Master.
Draco
"Draco, are you sure you can still keep up with this? Your hand is shaking a bit." Hermione asked him with worry in her voice. He had been going through a lot of bad stuff that was simply amazing he was still standing. It was true that she had given him something for the pain before leaving, but he must be exhausted by now.
"I will not lie to you, I'm honestly almost completely drain of energy. The living stone really took a toll on me, I can feel it in every step I take to move forward. Still, this is something I have to do, regardless of how tired I am. Besides, we all are in the same boat, as I'm sure Harry and you are also tired as well. While I was sick, you have very little rest while taking care of me." He looked at her trough the holes of his white mask and squeezed her hand in reassurance. "Don't worry, I will hold for a bit longer. When this is all over, I can rest for as long as I need." Although he couldn't see her face, he had a feeling she smiled.
Just then, Kragkor came back with a beaming smile, he haven't seen since he was a kid. In a way it was a bit creepy, yet he felt relived as he was sure that such a smile only meant that the conditions were just right and they have the perfect opportunity to do their task.
"Master, it's good to go." Kragkor said, while the others looked a bit nervous.
"Alright then. Harry, be careful when inside. We will be unable to see where you are, while hiding under the cloak of invisibility. You will have to give us a sign when you manage to charm the goblin." Draco instructed.
"Don't worry, I will let you know." Harry said from somewhere close to Hermione's right.
"We will keep the goblins as much distracted as we can, but they may discover you halfway. There are many spells that protects the vaults, so you need to be on your guard at all times. You may even face a dragon, deep down, it's a blind one that react to noise, but is still a full dragon, beware of it. It had been kept chained for far too long, so it's a bit… cranky." Bill warned them.
"Just great, another dragon to add at our list of huge problems…" Harry whispered and Hermione tried to get a hold on him, but failed, as her hand had grasped only the air, a few inches from his shoulder.
"You are not alone this time Harry… we can handle a blind dragon." She said with conviction, which involuntary make him smile.
"Sure we can, Hermione… sure we can…" He repeated.
"Then let's go. No matter what, we must leave with the cup in our possession or not leave at all." Draco said and they headed to their destination, Death Eaters way (sending curses left and right with careful aim). Draco broke the door with a mild blasting spell and he enter the bank with the confidence of someone who had experience in terrorizing people. For a second, the persons inside the bank stood still, somewhere between shock and horror and although it lasted for just a second, it was long enough for him to rise his dark marked hand, who could clearly be distinguish with the light coming from the chandeliers and then it all begin.
"For the glory of Lord Voldemort, all of you should bow to him!" Draco yelled, not minding the small shivers some of the students have when openly naming Voldemort's name. Although he had explained that the trace in the name didn't worked on marked Death Eaters, as they were expected to fully name him, it was still a bit unnerving hear him yell it so openly. Only he was able to say his name outside the guards of his home, which prevented the trace. Still, the shivers looked to others as excitement, which only increased the panic.
He blasted the center chandelier, calculating that the damage done from the impact was in fact minimum, as there was no one directly below it, nor close enough to cause serious harm to anyone and the result was instantaneous. Someone yelled Death Eaters and a lot of more screaming followed. Behind him, the others follow his example and begin their own destruction, always making sure no one was seriously injured in the process. Of course, they had to avoid spells as well, as some people stood to fight back, as well as the goblins who wanted to protect the bank. Still, unnoticed to most, the infiltrated house elves were causing their own damage as they clear the way for Harry, while redirection spells that could potentially harm any of the students who volunteer or someone else.
Bill Weasley knew better than anyone how the goblins worked when in emergencies, so it was easier for him to sabotage their efforts to secure the bank. In the middle of exchanging spells and running, avoiding blasted wood from the counters and other things, he watched as Hermione and Draco suddenly disappeared behind a counter after a particular heavy blast and never rise again. He worry at first, fearing they were seriously injured, but soon enough he watched with some amusement as a certain goblin headed for the door that lead underground in a kind of daze and he knew that Harry has succeeded in his task, taking both Hermione and Draco down with him. It would take a few minutes to reach the vaults and then brake in, so he was determine to give them as much time as he could, before retreating back to the mansion with the help of the hidden elves, still protecting them. He was more than glad to have their alliance, otherwise their mission would had been harder to accomplish.
"Good luck guys…" He whispered and focus on his task. He had to admit that the whole bunch were something else and he could not help but to admire the determination of the youngsters that have taken the fate of the world in their shoulders, risking everything in the process and he was proud. Very proud of each one of them, including his little sister and Ron.
Harry
After covering both Hermione and Draco with his cloak of invisibility when they throw themselves to the floor to avoid a blasting spell, somehow they have manage to reach the underground entrance in one piece, although both Draco and Hermione had a few wounds here and there that were bleeding, fortunately, none of them were near serious. Kragkor was unable to go with them as the underground caves seems to have an enchantment they could not cross, yet he assure Draco they will reunite with him as soon as they were out, because of the tracing they had put in him.
The goblin he enchanted seems oblivious of anything else but to the orders he gave him to take them down to the Lestrange vault and so they begin to travel down the dark caves at a frightening speed. Just when they thought everything was going well and that for once, something was going according to plan, they passed a waterfall that drenched them all to the core and everything fell apart from there on. They stooped just a bit further from the waterfall and an alarm went off with a penetrating noise, taking them by surprise.
Suddenly they found themselves in a free fall, hundreds of meters from the dark stone floor. Harry yelled his heart out unable to do anything else and so did Draco, yet Hermione kept herself focus on the one spell that would save their lives, unlike her brand new screaming boyfriend and her best friend. She pointed her wand at the floor and yelled Aresto Momentum, the very same spell Dumbledore used to slow down Harry when he fell from his broom in the Quidditch match against the Hufflepuff's. They all slowed speed, suddenly halting a few meters from the floor and landing not so gently over it, yet not strong enough to be injured.
None of them moved for a moment as they all processed with the rush of adrenaline, what had just happen. They panted for air for a second and Harry almost hugged Hermione for her quick thinking, but decide against it. They were so close to die and yet panic was the only thing inside his head as they fell and he guessed it was the same for Draco who looked as pale as a ghost. Unlike him, Draco however, didn't hesitate to come closer to Hermione, who was now sat in the cold floor of the dark cave and took her face on his hands giving her a kiss full in the mouth.
"Oh you beautiful fearless, smart girl, I'm so glad to have you…" Then he laughed almost hysterically, making the rest follow his example. It had been a very close call, if it wasn't for Hermione, keeping herself calm enough to quickly act. It wasn't that she didn't felt fear while falling, but that the very thought of dying, kept her with a clear mind, focus on survival. She had been acting of survival instincts for a while now and she was just glad to have acted as such.
"That was too close… Thanks Hermione…" Harry whisper after his heart begin to bit more normally inside his chest.
"Let's not do that again anytime soon…" Draco whisper back, as he looked up.
"Agree… what happen? What went wrong?" Harry asked, still a bit confuse of how they end up falling in a blink of an eye.
"They had active the security spells against thieves…" Draco answer, passing a hand through his wet hair to move the long bangs out of the way. He had to admit that it was getting longer these days and harder to keep it in check.
"Who are you? Why are you down here? Thieves!" The goblin yelled and Harry wasted no time in cursing him again.
"We should be going… who knows what else had been trigger…" Draco said, while he stood.
"Yeah…" Hermione said, taking Draco's hand in hers. He was still shaking a little, so she just wanted to make sure he was still holding on.
Soon, they were on their way to the vaults again, although more alert of sudden spells. Luckily for them, their walk toward the vaults was clear of more traps until they reached a wider area in wish a huge white dragon was chained. Hermione pressed a bit closer to Draco, while Harry sighed. Why it has to be a dragon of all things? He barely survived the last encounter with one of them and he had a broom to fly away from it at that time. Right now, they were grounded, exhausted, wet and with a chaos above their heads with no way to go back up.
The goblin took a bell from a corner and the sound of it make the dragon mad, yet give them a safe pass toward their goal as it retreated away from the noise. They walked behind the gobbling while giving the dragon nervous glances. None of them wanted to face the dragon, even if it was a blind one. Harry focus in the path ahead of him and was glad to leave the dragon behind, as they stood in front of a huge door that looked quite old and intimidating.
"Open the vault." Harry order the goblin and he comply. They watched at the mechanism keeping the door securely close, lose itself and the door open. Harry expected to see quite a lot of dark artifacts everywhere, yet the Lestrange's vault was surprisingly… normal. Of course, it was full of gold and valuable things, but it didn't looked remarkably scary, as he expected.
"Make sure not to touch anything. It's all enchanted to multiply by touch. Hermione, take the sword out, so Harry can use it to safely take the cup." Draco urged once inside the vault of his aunt and as Hermione summon the sword from inside her enchanted bag, Harry took a better look around. They were not sure of which cup was the one they were looking for, as there were so many of them all around. Still, Harry's sight rested on a particular one at a farther corner of the vault.
He took his glasses off and replace them with the ones Draco had given him, the one that could see trough spells and find the one they were looking was exactly the one that had attract his attention, just seconds before. He could see the dark smoke like figure of Tom Riddle smirking at him, with a lot of malice coming out from him in waves.
"That one…" Harry pointed at the cup, switching his glasses once more and taking the sword Hermione handle to him. They carefully approached the shelf in were the cup was placed at the very top and just when Harry was about to reach it with the tip of the sword, a loud crashing noise make them all look back.
To their horror, the goblin that was still dazed by the Imperio curse had accidently stumble with something in a nearby table, sending it to the floor in were the object begin to multiply, making other things multiply as well at a frightening speed.
"Damn it! Harry take the cup and let's get out of here!" Harry turned again to reach the cup, when pain hit him hard. It was a burning sensation coming from the sea of multiplying objects.
"Draco!" Hermione yelled trying to reach him as the door closed behind the goblin that regained full control of himself in the middle of the chaos, trapping them inside.
"Bloody hell!" Harry yelled as he tried to keep the cup up, without touching it. "Hermione!" He yelled, yet there was nothing she could do to blast a heavy enchanted door. They will be crushed by the mass of objects way before she could even make a small crack on the door. Draco ignored the burning all over his lower half and pointed his wand at the door, as the mass of things was reaching his thorax. Although he was not too pleased with casting dark magical spells that could drain him faster than he should aloud, the situation called for the one he learned from Bellatrix Lestrange herself, when he first became a Death Eater by force more than by choice and she had train Goyle, Crabbe and him in the dark arts.
"Infenda Verkum!" He yelled and the thick door was blasted away by a no less than shocking shot of insanely intense hot black flames, which extinguish shortly after Draco yelled another spell at them. Hermione had to dig her way to Draco, as right after, the boy struggle to stay on his feet's. Still, they manage to get out, while safely retrieving the cup that Hermione secured back in her bag.
"Draco, are you okay?" She asked worriedly, when he fell to his knees once out.
"Not really… but I will… it takes a lot… of magic… casting that… and extinguish it… right after casting it. It's a cursed flame… very dangerous… It consume whatever it touches to nothingness…" And true enough, were it should be the thick heavy door, there was only ashes now. Hermione was more than impressed, yet she didn't have the time to ask about such a powerful dangerous spell, as a blasting spell almost hit them. It seemed that the goblin asked for reinforcement once he lock them in.
They retreated to behind a wall, but there was no way out. If they go back a bit more, then they will be at the mercy of the dragon, who was now quite mad with the extra noise. Harry and Hermione fight back for a bit, yet they knew they needed to get out, not only because they could get killed, but also because failing was not an option they were willing to accept. Hermione looked back and saw the enraged dragon. It had its back to them and suddenly an insane idea crossed her mind. Desperate times called for desperate measure, after all.
"Can you run, Draco? Just a few meters should do…" Hermione asked while Harry wonder what was on her mind.
"As if I had another choice. Where to? There is no scape…"
"We have a way out, just follow my lead." She said while running right toward the back of the white dragon. Both Draco and Harry cursed under their breath in shock when they saw her climb the dragons back as it was the most natural thing to do in the world.
"All be damn, she is far too reckless sometimes. Both of them actually…" Harry whisper just before following her example, right after her and Draco. As soon as Harry was sat, Hermione blasted the chain that kept the dragon grounded.
"Fly away! You are free now!" She yelled and miraculously enough, the dragon did just that and it worked its way up, sending flames here and there in his fury. Soon, they came atop an open cave and the dragon open its wings to fly to freedom, taking them with him.
"I hate to say it Draco, but I don't envy you at all… Make sure to never piss off Hermione again or she will definitely skin you alive, she is fearless…" Harry said humorously.
"I heard that Harry!" He flinched, yet Draco laughed.
"That I'm still alive after insulting her so many times is nothing short of a miracle…" Draco agree.
"I heard that Draco!" She yelled looking back at him with a kind of intensity that spoke him to the core.
"I promise Hermione to be nothing but completely devoted to whatever you wish of me from here on…" He smiled weakly.
"We'll see… hey, don't dare to fall, okay?" She demanded, hoping he will hold on for a bit longer before completely faint in exhaustion.
"Don't worry, I will not let you down until is all over… somehow…" He added and she smiled back at him.
"Good, we are almost reaching the end…" The end, the end, the end… Harry repeated inside his head. The end in which he was going to be killed by Voldemort. He shudder at the thought and wonder what will feel like to die by a curse. Will it hurt or he would die without feeling anything? What would happen next? Will he revive as Draco suggested?
"Harry, you okay?" Draco asked, while looking back at him.
"Yeah, just thinking…" He said.
"Don't think too much of it. I'm quite positive you will have your happy ending with your girlfriend." He said and Harry felt a bit better.
"I hope so… What about you and Hermione?" He asked curiously.
"Us too, if the lady luck stay with us for a bit longer." He smiled and could only imagine what kind of future they could have after the war. They felt silent for what seems like hours until the dragon descended close enough over a lake, for them to jump in. The water was freezing cold, yet it remained them that they were still alive. They swan to the shore and let themselves rest over it for a few minutes before making the attempt to move again.
"We did it guys… Oh God, we just did it! We got the Horcrux!" She said laughing, coming closer to Draco and planting a fast kiss over his cold lips, then disheveling his blond hair, that was still falling at the side of his face.
"Yeah, you were awesome Hermione, but please, let's not ride at the back of any dragon ever again…" He said, letting her help him stand up. She laughed.
"Please Hermione, I agree with Draco for once. No more dragons indeed…" Harry repeated, standing up too.
"You are a bunch of scardy cats." She accused them while smiling.
"Well, I am a Slytherin and we are not known for bravery…" He said planting a light kiss on her wet forehead.
"I wonder if the sorting hat will put you back in Slytherin as you are now." She said while looking for dry clothes for them to change inside her bag.
"Sure it will, it's in my blood, the same way Gryffindor is in the both of you. Now, we should reunite with the others in Hogwarts. Kragkor!" He yelled and soon, the small elf was in front of him once more.
"Yes, Master?" The elf asked.
"Did everything went well with the others? Is everyone safe?" He asked while changing his shirt for a black, dry one. He also put on a black jacket on top of it.
"Oh yes Master, everything went well and no one was seriously hurt. We keep them safe Master, as you instruct us. We are kind of having fun, Master. Helping others while not doing home shores." Draco laughed.
"I bet you are indeed having fun. Go back and tell the others that we should regroup with the ones at Hogwarts. We will meet at the Hog's Head, then we will go inside the castle and end this war for good."
"Of course, Master. We should meet again soon. Stay safe until then…" And he disappeared. Soon after they too disappeared to meet their final struggle to change their fate for good. He only hoped that everything turn out for the best this time around, as they don't have any other chance to change things back.
AN: Thanks for reading this far. I know it's a long story full of grammatical errors, but it was made with love.
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