“Hedwig! Oi, Hedwig,” Harry said to the sleepy owl. Judging by the bones at the bottom of her cage, it was clear that Hedwig had a good night of hunting and was looking forward to some sleep. “C’mon, you can rest as much as you want after you get back. This is important.”
She turned her large amber eyes towards him, hooted, and climbed onto Harry’s outstretched arm. “Okay, now this is for Tonks,” Harry told her while trying to tie the magically sealed letter to her leg. “And make sure that nobody else is around when you give it to her.”
After Harry opened the window, Hedwig put pressure on his arm, and then took off into the air. As he watched the snowy owl fade into a speck in the rising sun, Harry hoped that it wouldn’t take long to catch Tonks alone.
But that task should be easier than what Harry had to go through when he told the members of the D.A. to head home. They all wanted to stick around to make sure their effort didn’t go to waste, but he assured them that he’d tell them all through the Galleons. And those that got hurt would need their sleep.
They aren’t the only ones, Harry thought while failing to stifle a yawn. But sleep would have to wait until after he got into the vault. Before he was tempted to lie down on his bed to rest his eyes, Harry left the room and proceeded to the basement kitchen. There he found Hermione and Ron having breakfast together.
“So,” Ron started off after pushing a plate of eggs towards Harry, “d’you reckon the replacement Aurors are doing something about our little mess yet? Hermione thinks so, but my guess is that they’re too peeved to even speak right now.”
“Who cares?” Harry responded. “Just as long as nobody gets in trouble, and we get into that vault.”
“You should take into account the possibility that we won’t get in today,” said Hermione, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “Tonks is most likely swamped back at the Ministry to find time to get to the Dempsher mansion. Not only that, we have to arrange something with Bill so that we don’t look suspicious as we enter a vault that doesn’t belong to any of us.”
“Always the downer, aren’t you?” Ron said before inserting toast into his mouth.
“Well if I am shouldn’t that mean that I’m a downer that means ‘the world’ to you?” she retorted with a small grin.
“But that doesn’t mean you can’t be a bit more optimistic,” said Ron, only slightly fazed. “The sooner that damn Horcrux is destroyed, the sooner Voldemort is vulnerable, the sooner he’s gone.”
“That all may be true, Ron, but even if we do get it today then it’ll still take a while to actually destroy the Horcrux.”
Harry rolled his eyes as Ron began to retaliate, and concentrated on breakfast. The rest of the morning was a blur of anticipation for Harry, so much so that he kept to the drawing room looking out the window hoping to see Tonks appear. Ron and Hermione got over their spat and were now resting comfortably on one of the sofas.
His mind then kept on wondering over to the vault that they would eventually have to visit, and with it the poem on the silver front doors of Gringotts also appeared. Even though Harry assumed that the Ministry wouldn’t keep an eye on Dempsher’s vault, there was still the problem of the goblins. The only people that could enter a Gringotts vault were the owner or a goblin, and neither worked to Harry’s advantage.
He could put Dempsher under the Imperius Curse, but he was supposed to be in Azkaban. His wife probably had access but she was most likely being watched by the Ministry after what had just happened. Security at Gringotts was too tight to even consider the possibility of controlling a goblin. So, Harry would have to depend on Bill.
All of a sudden, out of the corner of his eye, Harry caught a glimpse of something white shoot past the window. “Hedwig!” he gasped, causing Ron and Hermione to jerk up in attention. He ran out of the room with the two of them just behind, and went upstairs.
In his room Harry saw the snowy owl standing outside the window that she flew out of only six hours ago. She had an envelope in her beak, which he took after letting her back in. Her job completed, Hedwig flew up to her cage without even asking for a reward.
Harry tore open the envelope, and to his delight withdrew a tiny golden key similar to his own. There was no note, but Harry would wonder about that later. He, Ron, and Hermione all just stood there gazing at the key, and then at each other.
“To Gringotts?” Ron finally suggested.
And without another word, the three of them bolted downstairs, left the house, and Disapparated to Diagon Alley. Its decrepit state didn’t bother Harry since soon enough it should be bustling with happy shoppers, who didn’t have to worry about death. They went up the front steps of the wizard bank, were bowed in by the goblins at the polished bronzed door, and once they got through the silver ones they came to a complete stop.
“Bloody hell,” Ron said with his eyes wide open in the amazement, and Harry couldn’t blame him for the main hall was filled to its capacity. All around them witches and wizards were being pocked and prodded by goblins with security devices. People that made it to the counters were complaining about such secure measures when all they wanted was to make a simple withdrawal or deposit.
“Oh dear,” Hermione sighed, getting on the balls of her feet to get a better grasp of the situation. Harry felt someone bump into him from behind. He looked to see that a few more people had joined the enormous queue. “Well, it looks like we’ll just have to wait.” She made to stand at what she thought was the beginning of the line.
Ron snorted. “As if.” He then grabbed Hermione’s hand as he started to push his way forward, and Hermione just grabbed a hand full to Harry’s sleeves to drag him along.
His tall stature made it easier for Ron to force himself, Hermione, and Harry though the numerous annoyed people. Many goblins came forward with angry looks to try to stop them, but couldn’t keep up as they pushed on. Hermione made attempts to apologize to them, and tried to scold Ron at the same time for his thoughtless actions. But Harry also noticed that she seemed slightly amused.
“Next,” a goblin called from the counter.
“Oi!” Ron shouted, raising a hand and moving toward him.
“You must get in the back of the line!” the goblin said nastily.
“Ron Weasley here to see my brother, Bill Weasley,” he said authoritatively. “Now, it’s an emergency.”
The goblin looked him up and down over his pointed nose. “Do you have proof of who you are?”
Ron arched an eyebrow, and pulled on his red bangs. “There’s a slight family resemblance between us, don’t you think?”
“Polyjuice Potion,” the goblin immediately retorted.
“In which case I’d have some form of identification to help fool you. Get my brother so he could ask me a question that only I would know.”
He just stared at Ron for a second before calling over another goblin. “Get Weasley out here.” The second goblin then disappeared behind one of the hundreds of doors behind the counters. Five minutes later Bill came out the same door looking surprised at the sight of them.
“What did Mum call you when you were five?” he immediately asked.
“What!” Ron said looking horrified. “C’mon, Bill, no ask something else, please.”
“Just answer the question,” Bill said impatiently.
“Yeah, Ron, answer the question,” Hermione said with a smile.
Ron went red around the ears, and put a hand over his face in embarrassment. “’My”my little Ronnie Bonnie’,” he grumbled just over the chattering in the main hall. Harry and Hermione hid their laughter, but Bill looked convinced
“Let’s go to my office,” he said.
“Make sure they wear these,” the goblin said, giving him three golden button pins.
“Yeah, sure,” leading the way back through the door. They ended up in a handsome marble corridor that seemed cut from the same stone as the main hall. “And that’ll teach you to come unannounced.”
“You knew it was me?” said Ron.
“’Course I knew, especially after the way you reacted.”
“Then why did you make me answer the question?” he asked through his teeth.
“You’re reaction alone wouldn’t have been good enough for the goblins anyway, so get over it.” He turned his head around to look at them. “So what brings you here?”
“We’ll explain in your office,” Harry said quietly.
A few minutes later they arrived at Bill’s office. It was much larger than Mr. Weasley’s at the Ministry, and had a window and a large filing cabinet resting comfortably against the wall. Bill leaned against his desk, and eyes them suspiciously.
“So why are you all here?”
Harry got out his wand, and pointed it at the door. “Muffliato. Sorry, can’t risk being over heard.” With his other hand he took out the key. “We need to get into vault nine hundred and sixty five.”
“What for? And how did you get that key?” he asked in confusion. “None of you own that vault.”
“Please, Bill, we really need to get what’s inside,” Harry pleaded. “We’ll explain another time.”
But Bill went over to the filing cabinet, and pulled open a drawer. He fingered through the papers until he pulled one out. “Let’s see…that vault belongs to”” Bill stopped as he just stared at the file in his hands. “Henry Dempsher.” He looked up at them in astonishment. “Why in the world d’you need to get into Dempsher’s vault? Not only that, how did you get the key in the first”?” He stopped once more.
“What were you three up to last night?” Bill asked slowly, putting away the file.
“Why is that important?” Ron asked trying to sound innocent.
“Because I dropped by headquarters this morning for anything new. It seems that Henry Dempsher was kidnapped from the Ministry last night.”
“Bill, we can explain,” Hermione said hurriedly. “But we can’t right now, we just need your help. You’re the only one that has a chance of getting us to that vault.”
“Do you have any idea how much trouble I could get in if I helped?”
“I swear to you, if there was any other alternative then we’d do that instead,” Harry argued vigorously. “We wouldn’t be asking you to put your job on the line unless it was really important!”
Ron whipped out his wand. “Look, Bill, the question we could be asking you is if whether or not you can get us in, not if you will. The Imperius Curse can be useful since it’ll help us get what we want, and it’ll get you off the hook. Win-win.” Harry hated himself for privately agreeing, but if it had to be done then so be it.
“But that doesn’t matter because you will not use a curse that’ll get you a life sentence in Azkaban,” Hermione clarified, grabbing Ron’s wand hand.
“You’re looking for a Horcrux, aren’t you?” Bill said looking at the wand. “No way you’ll go so far for anything else.
Harry took out his wand too. “Sorry, Bill, but that’s right.”
“Harry!” Hermione groaned.
“Don’t worry, I’ll help.”
Sighing in relief, Harry stowed his wand. “Thanks.”
“So what’s the plan?” Ron asked jubilantly.
Hermione gave him an exasperated look. “Ron, this is going to take a lot of planning. Bill just can’t pull a””
Bill put up a hand to silence her. “One that the goblins won’t like even if we aren’t caught,” he said in thought, answering Ron’s question. “The three of you are just lucky they gave me access to the carts so that they wouldn’t have to take everywhere.”
“So what do we do?” Harry asked.
Bill tossed him one of the gold button pins the goblin at the counter gave him. “This is a visitors pass, so when we go through the corridors you won’t receive unwanted attention.” He paused for a second and shifted his view to Ron and Hermione. “You two won’t need one because you’ll be the distraction while Harry and I sneak into the caves.”
“What? We want to go with Harry,” Ron protested.
“Well too bad. If you want my help then you have to do exactly as I say.”
“It’s true,” agreed Harry.
Bill checked his watch. “Okay, there should be a good number of goblins in their break room right about now eating. Head out now, and I’ll leave with Harry soon after.”
“Fine, what do we do?” asked Ron.
“Use your imagination,” Bill answered, waving them away. “Take a right out the door, and you should see some signs in English pointing you in the right direction.”
“C’mon, ‘Ronnie Bonnie’,” Hermione said, guiding him out the door.
“Please don’t call me that,” Ron groaned.
There was an awkward second of silence before Bill asked, “How long have”?”
“Comes and goes,” said Harry.
Another minute passed when an aggressive knocking came from outside. Harry put on his button pin, and Bill opened the door to find an annoyed goblin looking up at him.
“Why on earth are you not keeping your guests under control?” he asked.
“What are you talking about, Jagfort?”
“You know very well what I’m talking about!” Jagfort rebuffed. “Your brother and his woman are defacing our lounge. Not only that, they are not wearing their designated visitors badges.”
“But I was sure I pointed them towards the one reserved for humans.”
“It doesn’t matter where you told them to go, Weasley. What matters now is where they are and the rules they are breaking,” said Jagfort. “We would deal with their bothersome presence on our own, but we are allowing you the courtesy of taking care of it.”
“Thank you,” said Bill with a slight bow. “I’m truly sorry, all I asked them to get was a muffin. C’mon, Harry.” Harry nodded and followed him out the door leaving behind Jagfor the goblin.
“’Defacing’? What could they be doing? Usually they’d be a little more specific,” Bill told Harry in an undertone as they made down the corridor.
“Dunno,” Harry answered, not wanting to think about it. They passed a few adjacent hallways that were filled with more jabbering goblins about what was happening in the lounge. Eventually Harry saw a sign pointing to the goblin lounge, and saw the only reason it was in English was because it had “No Humans” in the margins.
The sign told them to go right, but Bill took a left into a deserted corridor. The two of them didn’t go too far before Bill stopped along a bit of wall on their left just before another corridor. Harry and Bill looked around the corner to see a lone stone door at then end with nobody in front of it.
“Thought so,” said Bill, going towards it freely. “They may have given me the chance to get Ron and Hermione under control, but the nearest security goblin still left his post to watch over them incase things got too out of hand.” He then started to examine the stone door, which Harry noticed was covered in runes and it had no handle.
He started to wish that Hermione were with them to translate when Bill said, “What cycle are we in?” Bill took out a pocket watch, the kind that Harry had once seen Dumbledore use. And like Dumbledore, it must have made sense to him.
“Okay, here we go.” He then tapped the stone door in seven different places causing some of the runes to light up. Then to Harry astonishment the door slid upwards to make an entrance into a dingy cavern. Bill then ran in with Harry at his heels as the doors closed again. “The pattern that opens the door coincides with the lunar calendar,” he said grimly. “Only a curse breaker or goblin can do what I did, and no goblin enters the caves from this entrance unauthorized.”
“So they’ll know it was you?” Harry asked worriedly.
“They’ll definitely suspect it seeing as my guests are causing a disturbance not too far from here.”
“Bill, I’m sorry that””
“Make it up to me by getting rid of You-Know-Who,” he said, reaching the railway tracks with a lone cart waiting for them. Bill and Harry climbed in, and then the cart started to hurtle forward. The cart made its usual sharp turns and sudden dips with the cold wind biting at Harry’s face.
Harry didn’t see do Bill doing anything to drive the cart expect just sit still, though he did seem to be concentrating rather hard. And if Bill were telling the cart where to go without the use of his hands, what would have impressed more was how Bill knew where to go. Unlike his first trip into the vaults, Harry made no effort to memorize the routes he was taking.
Then they stopped in front of a passageway with a vault door that was bigger than Harry’s, but it looked far less secure than the one that kept the Stone. Harry and Bill got out of the cart, and Harry took out the key.
Bill took it a little apprehensively as he stuck it in the keyhole and turned. “Never stole from this place,” he said as green smoke issued out from the interior of the vault. His expression didn’t change when in front of them were mounds of gold and silver even bigger than Harry’s. There was armor, goblets, and all kinds of jewelry that were encrusted with fabulous diamonds and emeralds. Harry was beginning to wonder how they would sort through all the treasure to find the locket. “And I hope I won’t have to again.”
“You do that,” said Harry starting forward, but Bill stopped him.
“This isn’t the most secure vault we have, Harry, but that doesn’t mean the goblins left it unprotected.” Bill waved his wand, and said in a resounding voice, “Eximo forca!” All at once the path between the mounds of treasure collapsed into a seemingly bottomless pit, dozens of small knives shot down from the ceiling, the left and right walls spewed out searing flames, and with amazing speed Bill scooped up one of the knives and plunged it deep into the ground behind them. Less than a second later the door to the vault began to close on them but the knife stopped it. For extra measure Bill stuck a few more in the vault doors path before saying, “We haven’t got much time. Move!”
Without thinking, Harry jumped onto the nearest pile of gold, and began to climb to the top. He tried to keep his balance as gold coins slipped beneath his feet, and then met Bill at the top of treasure mound. Where is it? Harry asked himself as he looked around the vault.
“All right, this is Salazar’s Slytherin’s locket we’re talking about,” said Harry in thought. “Dempsher will want to give it a place of honor.”
“Like over there,” Bill said in awe, quickly making his way back down the pile of gold and heading towards the back of the vault. Harry looked up to where he was going, and was stunned to see what seemed like ancient relics. He followed Bill over more mounds and jumped over crevices. Thankfully, their destination still had a floor. “That bastard.”
Bill started to carefully examine a gold statue of a man with a bird’s head. “How in the hell did Dempsher sneak all this into the country?” he asked in outrage. That’s when Harry noticed that there were far more things that had to be from Egyptian origin: sarcophaguses, headdresses, and jewelry. Clearly Dempsher’s tastes stretched outside of England.
“But you’re a Curse-Breaker, shouldn’t have you known about all this?” asked Harry.
Bill put on a thoughtful look. “So…that’s why it seems my rounds never make it this part of the caves. I’ll bet anything that Dempsher somehow paid off the goblins to keep me away from here.” He smiled mischievously. “Dempsher may already have a lifetime sentence for passing information to the Death Eaters, but I’m making sure he pays for this too.”
Harry sighed. “That’s all well and good but can we get back to the Horcrux now?”
It seemed as if Bill was pulled out of a trance. “What? Oh, yeah, let’s go.”
They stayed at the back of the vault looking around all of the ancient treasures. Harry then spotted a locket with a snake in the shape of an S on the front hanging on the wall. “There!” Harry yelled excitedly, making to go grab it.
“Harry, no!” Bill exclaimed.
It was too late. Harry moved the locket from its place, and instantly it felt as if the floor was removed from under him and he plunged downwards. He threw his arms up, and came to sudden stop. “Damn, I should have warned you that simply entering the vault won’t set off all the traps. And whatever happens, don’t drop the locket.”
Harry gripped the locket tighter in his left hand. “I still have”ouch!” It felt as if spikes erupted all around the locket penetrating Harry’s hand. Still he held on. When Bill pulled him back was back on solid ground, Harry put down the still smooth locket and checked his hand. His palm and fingers were pockmarked with red blotches.
“That’ll come off,” Bill assured him. “But keep that hand hidden until you get out of the bank. Otherwise, the goblins will know for sure we stole from here."
But Harry didn’t care about that. All that mattered now was that he had the last Horcrux. As soon as it was destroyed then Voldemort could be killed.
An awful scraping sound came from the entrance. “The door!” Harry and Bill shouted in unison. Harry picked up the Horcrux, sprinted with Bill back to the entrance while jumping over the crevices and scaling the mounds of gold.
“Come on!” Bill yelled terror. He then launched himself from the first pile of gold as the knives in the vault door’s way began to bend. Harry jumped through the threshold before it slammed shut completely, and tumbled right next to Bill.
The two of them caught their breath for a minute before Harry said, “Let’s not keep Ron and Hermione waiting.”
“Good thinking,” agreed Bill, heaving himself up and getting into the cart. Harry stuck the locket in his pocket, climbed in the cart, and it started to make its way back to the surface.
They ended up back where they started from, and began to make their way up the passageway to the stone door. No sooner had they reentered the marble corridor did a livid and scratchy voice hollered, “WEASLEY!”
Harry quickly put his left hand with the Horcrux, and his right ready to pull out his wand. He and Bill both turned around to face the peeved goblin coming towards them.
“What were you thinking taking an unauthorized trip into the mines?” he demanded.
“I was just giving Harry here a tour, Grolder” Bill lied, doing his best to put on an innocent face. “Wants to become a Curse-Breaker, you see.”
“That is no excuse. And also explain his two friends?” Grolder the goblin hissed. “And how come you didn’t quell their inappropriate manner when you were told to?”
“I didn’t get the message,” Bill lied again.
Grolder eyed him with intense dislike. “Jagfort told me he passed on the order successfully.” His face snapped towards Harry. “What are you hiding?”
“Nothing,” Harry said so nervously that it caused the hand holding the Horcrux to jerk.
That didn’t escape the goblin’s eyes. With amazing speed he forced the pockmarked hand out of his pocket along with the locket. “You dare steal from us! So it was you who caused the security disturbance we received. And you helped him!” he said to Bill.
Harry had no choice. He took back his hand, kicked the goblin away, and pulled out his wand. “Stupefy!” The jet of red light hit the goblin in the center of his chest to knock him unconscious.
“Looks like our escape isn’t going to be clean after all,” Bill said in dismay.
“No,” Harry disagreed, pointing his wand at Bill, “mine isn’t. Incase you forgot you were under the Imperius Curse. Stupefy!” Before Bill could react the Stunner hit him and he fell to the ground.
Not waiting another second, Harry dashed off down the corridor in search of Ron and Hermione. The halls were filled with goblins going one way or another without knowing that Harry hurt one of their own. They all kept talking about the security breach they just had at vault nine hundred and sixty five.
Harry followed the signs towards the goblin break room, but when arrived neither Ron nor Hermione were to be found. If Harry had to guess then the two of them were driven out of the bank unharmed. But he couldn’t take that chance and went on to search the rest of the corridors.
A minute later he turned left at a fork, and from behind he heard someone yell, “Impedimenta!” Harry and the surrounding goblins dove out of the way causing the spell to hit a large vase. Harry turned ready to fight, and to his astonishment he saw Bethany facing him with a smirk.
“What the”? B””
“Incarcerous!”
“Protego!” The conjured ropes veered off and tied themselves around a goblin. “How did you know we’d be here? And why d’you want to fight?” It then hit Harry, and he scowled at her. Bethany proved herself to be a good ally in the Order but she was also part of the Ministry. And the only reason that she was here must be because Tonks was caught. That also must mean… “Where are Ron and Hermione, B”?”
“Reducto!”
“Protego!” Harry yelled. The Blasting Charm bounced off and destroyed part of the wall. He quickly moved to his left, pointed, and shouted, “Stupefy!”
Bethany easily blocked it with a Shield Charm from her right wand, and swiftly pulled out a second wand with her left. “Expelliarmus!”
Harry couldn’t react fast enough, his wand was blasted away, and Bethany caught. “Damn it, this is all working towards getting rid of Voldemort,” Harry pleaded. “You have to understand, B””
“Petrificus totalus!”
Harry’s limbs snapped together, and he painfully fell facing the ceiling. Bethany came up and stood over him shaking her head. “How you pulled last night’s fiasco off, I don’t know, Potter. But I guess it doesn’t matter anymore, does it?”
“Move aside, move aside!” Harry heard just before Grolder the goblin came into view and looked down at him. He was disheveled from being hit by the Stunning Spell but that didn’t take away from mad gleam in his eyes. “Just so you know I still think Weasley was part of your plan to steal from our bank, but seeing as you Stunned him too I’m forced to act otherwise.” The goblin then reached into Harry’s pocket. “But it doesn’t matter as long as this is put back.”
“I don’t think so,” said Bethany, snatching the locket away.
“That is the property of the owner of vault nine hundred and sixty five!” Grolder snarled.
“It’s evidence,” she backfired. “Without this the Ministry can’t prosecute Potter for stealing from your precious bank. Is that what you want?”
The goblin inhaled and exhaled heavily. “Very well, but I shall expect this back. What is your name?”
“Betty Comely,” she answered. If Harry could move his face it’d be in confusion. “So, why don’t you let me take him in, and you can get things around here back to normal. It’s enough of a madhouse out there.” She put Harry’s wand and her extra wand in her robes, and waved her original at Harry. He felt himself being lifted up from the ground, and was guided away by her.
“Well?” he heard Grolder’s fading voice say to the other goblins. “What are you all standing around for? Get back to work!”
Bethany didn’t say anything to him as she walked or even looked down at him. The most she paid attention to him was when she tossed something over his face just before he heard the noises of hundreds of annoyed people. They were back in the main hall.
The entire time he could only think about what could have possibly have happened to Ron, Hermione, and Tonks. There was no way it was coincidence that she was in the back corridors of Gringotts at the same time he was, especially after what happened the previous night. And even if it were then she would have no reason to attack Harry unless she knew. And if she knew then the only way she could have found out was through Tonks after she sent the key. He figured that the only reason Bethany used a fake name was to keep the goblins off her back.
Harry heard large doors opening and felt fresh air. They had made it outside and Bethany was now guiding him down the front steps. After a little while of walking Harry heard her use a Blasting Charm on something, and continue forward. All of a sudden he fell to the ground.
“We’re in Florean Fortescue’s in case you’re wondering,” she said, taking off the rag that was covering Harry’s face. Bethany grabbed the neck of Harry’s shirt, and heaved him into a standing position. She maintained her grip on him, turned, and the two of them Apparated.
After the blackness was gone, Harry landed in what he recognized as the alley near headquarters. Bethany chuckled at him, flicked her wand, and Harry was free.
“What just happened?” he asked in utter bewilderment.
“Nothing short of a miracle,” she answered, offering a hand to help him up.
Harry Potter and the Secret Spell by Phoenix 86
Chapter Notes: sorry...another long update. hopefully the next won't take as long.