Sapphire (Lazuli Book #3) - Harry Potter Fan Fiction (Draco Malfoy)

Chapter Eighteen

The heavy door of Bellatrix Lestrange's vault slammed behind us, trapping Ron, Hermione, Harry, Griphook, Bogrod and I inside.

The vault was dark, almost pitch black, and yet even in the dark I could see the glimmer of the treasures which the Lestrange family had collected over the years. "Lumos," I murmured, the tip of my wand lighting up faithfully and giving me a better view of the expansive vault, which was larger than any vault I'd ever entered. Everywhere you looked were signs of the Lestrange family's wealth, from the mountains of galleons, the old silver armour, the solid gold candlesticks and ancient tapestries to the stack of large, blood-red rubies that covered an entire table.

"Blimey," Ron breathed under his breath, lifting his own wand to look around the room. For two people who had been brought up with only just enough money for our basic needs, someone having as much wealth as this at their disposal was unimaginable.

Harry was not distracted by the immense fortune that sat around us, stepping forward and scanning the room. I dare not breathe, worried that a single breath might distract Harry from whatever he was doing. I knew that he was searching for the horcrux, and trying to connect with it, but he had never cared to explain in further detail how he would know which of these fine objects was the horcrux, although I expected that was because he didn't actually know himself. He could just tell, although the magic and reasoning behind it was as blank to him as it was to the rest of us.

Ron, Hermione and I followed his lead, each of us searching for ourselves even though we could have walked past the horcrux and not known. "Accio horcrux," Hermione tried, although nothing happened. Ron looked over his shoulder and gave her a sympathetic look. "You're seriously not trying that one again, are you?" he muttered. Hermione sighed.

"That kind of magic won't work in here," Griphook hissed suddenly. The three of us looked at him - he looked as uneasy in the Lestrange vault as we did. 

I turned back and watched as Harry had drawn ahead, and then I crept after him, my eyes squinted as I searched for the slightest hint that there might be somebody hiding within the jewels. It would be the perfect time for Bellatrix to attack us - in a locked room surrounded by objects that she had no doubt enchanted to attack any who didn't share her blood. I scowled for a moment as I realised that I would most likely be safe - I was a Black after all - but I couldn't kill her and help the others. So I watched carefully, ready to attack.

"Is it in here, Harry?" Ron asked desperately, Harry's silence making us grow more and more nervous. "Can you feel anything?" Ron added.

Surely Harry would have noticed it by now? Had we really broken into the most secure place in the entire Wizarding World, snuck past a dragon and then entered the vault of the most bloodthirsty and psychotic woman I had ever met, just to come out empty handed?

Then, Harry nodded slightly, stopping suddenly and turning his head slowly to his left, and then back again. Then, he looked up, his body seeming to tense as if he could hear something that we couldn't. I followed his gaze, and it settled when Harry's did, on a small, golden cup at the top of a pile of treasure. 

This was it, this was the horcrux.

Suddenly, Hermione gasped as she stumbled, not looking where she was going, and a golden bracelet fell off of the table next to her and clattered loudly onto the floor. We watched in horror as the bracelet rattled and then burst into two, with another two splitting from that, each duplicate duplicating itself again and again. "It's the Gemino curse!" I shouted, pushing Hermione back so that she didn't touch anything else. "It burned me, when I touched it," she whimpered, holding her hand to her chest. I looked at it and saw a hot red burn had appeared, her skin scalded and blistered.