ESTRANGED • The Final Installment

Fourteen

Griphook guided us along, shoving our dreamy goblin aid as we went. Ron stayed at the front of our pact and I stayed at the back, terrified to be caught. That feeling of "my parents are going to kill me if they find out" scorched my chest and I really didn't know why. They would kill me regardless.

The roaring sound had changed into a distant groaning but the further we walked, the louder the sound grew. We came to a slow stop at an entrance and I moved to see what was going on. Griphook bent down and grabbed something from a box as a dragon lay before us, huffing and groaning.

He was huge but boy... was he beautiful.

"Bloody hell," Ron gasped as Griphook handed him a device. "That's a Ukraninan Ironbelly."

The poor creature was chained, wrapped continuously without mercy. The shackles on its ankles look way too tight and it was obvious where the chains had done damage on his neck. The poor thing was a prisoner and for what?

Griphook grabbed another device from the box and that's when the Ironbelly noticed us. He let out a small puff of fire just as Griphook began to shake what was in his hand. It had an awful bell but the dragon seemed to hate it more than me. He backed away, whining and groaning as Ron began to shake his as well. Griphook guided us around the dragon to another hallway and we all kept our backs to the wall.

"It's been trained to expect pain when it hears the noise." He explained.

"That's barbaric." Hermione said.

Harry moved past Griphook and I quickly followed, catching the dreamy goblin as he tripped on the staircase.

Harry climbed the stairs slowly. Griphook and Ron stopped using the shakers and Griphook was quick to join us as dreamy stopped at the door. Griphook shoved the goblin's hand against the first door we stood at and it groaned before opening.

The dragon roared and Harry quickly slipped in first before the rest of us followed. The door shut hard behind us, sending us into the dark and we all turned to watch it latch behind us.

"Stuck in auntie's vault." I sighed, pulling out my wand and casting Lumos. "Wonderful."

The room was silent. I looked around, staying at the back as my friends took a few steps forward to search the dark. Bellatrix had many shiny things in her vault. Cauldrons, plates, chalice's, glass. She had many of the same things and if I didn't grow up in Malfoy Manor, I wouldn't know many of it was actually fake. It made her look rich but most of it was family heirlooms. Why she had them, I didn't know.

"Accio Horcrux." Hermione casted.

Nothing happened.

"You're seriously not trying that one again are you?" Ron asked her.

"That kind of magic won't work in here." Griphook told us.

"He's right." I shivered slightly. There was a horrible feeling throughout the room. "Bellatrix is a dark witch. Insane, but extremely dark. Nothing about the magic in here is simple."

"So what do we do?" Hermione asked.

I nodded towards Harry. "It's Harry who has to find it."

"Is it in here Harry? Can you feel anything?" Ron asked.

He nodded softly, hardly noticeable in the low light. I glanced around, getting more and more uncomfortable as we stood there. That alarm sounded too long ago, the guards would know where we were soon.

Hermione gasped and jumped back as she knocked something off a table. It hit the floor and multiplied, then multiplied again.

"That's it! Up there!" Harry called.