When the potion was finally ready, the group awoke early to enact their plan. Sarah spooned some potion into two glasses, took out a pair of vials, and poured a few strands of hair from each into one of them. She and Jacob drank. There was an uncomfortable moment as they coughed and wretched, their skin bubbling up as Sarah shrank and Jacob filled out and became broader. After a moment, the Spellman parents stood before them.
"Alright, let's move," said Jacob, his voice deeper than before. He placed such a good disillusionment charm on the others that Barnaby couldn't see them at all. He made sure to follow closely behind Sarah as she and Jacob led them down to the pub.
The only people downstairs were Tom the barman, busy behind his bar cleaning out glasses, and two warlocks whispering in a corner.
Tom looked up, surprised to see them.
"Mr. and Mrs. Spellman," he said, "I didn't hear you come in."
"Morning Tom, just passing through," said Jacob.
"How are you, Donna?" Tom asked Sarah. "It's been a while since I've seen you."
"Fine, thank you," said Sarah. "Eager to get our shopping done."
Tom held up his hands. "Don't let me keep you, then. Be careful out there. There's some dangerous folks about today."
They nodded to Tom, then crossed the floor to the alley, Barnaby and the others right behind them.
Jacob tapped his wand on the correct brick, and the wall opened up to reveal Diagon Alley. Barnaby still wasn't used to seeing it like this, even after a month of walking along it. Most of the shops were boarded up, and those that weren't were focused on the Dark Arts. The street held none of the happy bustle of activity and color it used to. It was dark and dirty. Every few feet there was another wandless--a person who claimed to be a wizard but didn't have the heritage to prove it--begging for gold.
They were even fewer patrons than usual at this early hour, and they ran into no obstacles, apart from a Wandless that lay in the middle of the street, a bloody bandage over his eye.
"What do you reckon happened to him?" Barnaby whispered.
"He annoyed the wrong person," said Merula. "Now, shush."
They passed a bordered up Ollivander's, a closed Florean Fortescue's, and the jewelry store where Barnaby had bought Sarah's ring, also closed. Barnaby wondered where the ring was now, if it had fallen from his pocket and lay on the floor at his old apartment, or if his parents had found it and destroyed it along with his old wand.
Once they had arrived at the white marble building, Barnaby and Elena moved to the left and Merula to the right. There were guards in front of the large, bronze doors--each with a probity probe in hand. They were to detect magical concealment.
"Hullo," said the guard on the left with a cheery wave of his probe. "Have a lovely time!"
Merula cast a spell to make a galleon appear at the guard's feet.
"Oh, my lucky day!"
As he bent over to pick it up, Sarah and Jacob walked in, and Barnaby and the others slipped quickly after them.
"That was a bit odd," said Merula, once they were safely through the other two sets of doors and in the bank's main lobby. "I think that bloke had already been confunded."
"Mine as well," said Elena.
"Maybe they just haven't had their morning coffee yet," offered Barnaby, though he was just as confused as the others.
"Keep going," muttered Jacob, his lips barely moving as he guided Sarah to the closest available goblin.
Barnaby followed closely, looking about for any signs of trouble, as Jacob had instructed, though he wasn't sure what signs there would be.
"Donna and Markus Spellman to make a withdrawal," said Jacob.
"And your key?"
Barnaby looked around at the lobby in confusion. Any other time he'd visited the bank at this hour, the goblins were all taking advantage of the few patrons to count their gold greedily. The few wizard guards were sat around talking or sipping tea; many of them not at their posts yet. But now, everyone seemed on high alert, watching he patrons with suspicion. Barnaby's eyes drifted to the doors that led to the vaults--and his stomach dropped.
He reached behind him, grabbing some invisible arm.
"What?" Merula hissed in his ear.
"Bellatrix Lestrange is here."
"You're joking."
"I'm not. I just saw her go to through to her vault."
"Then we have to leave, right?" whispered Elena, the fear evident in her voice.
"Of course we leave, there's no way we can rob her vault while she's in it," said Merula.
Barnaby jumped. While they'd been talking, the goblin had gotten down from his chair and began to lead Jacob and Sarah across the lobby.
"Hurry," he whispered to the others, then followed after the siblings, making sure not to bump into any patrons along the way. He just managed to catch up to Jacob and whisper the distressing news in his ear as they stepped through the doors.
The goblin summoned a cart and Jacob took out his wand. "Imperio." A blissful look crept across the goblin's face. "Everyone in."
They all climbed in, then zoomed downward at break-neck speed. They stopped in front of vault 423.
"Hang on," said Sarah. "This is our vault. What are we doing?"
"Bellatrix is here!" said Barnaby. "I saw her go to her vault just before us."
"Are you absolutely sure?" asked Jacob, his eyes wide but fierce.
"'Course I am, I'd recognize her anywhere. She was with two wizards and another goblin."
"Can it be a coincidence that she'd come to her vault the same day as us?" asked Sarah, her mother's face pale.
"It can be bad luck, which I'm not surprised at us having at all," said Merula.
"We'll have to go back, won't we?" said Elena again.
Jacob thought for a minute. "No, we might not have another chance at this. We'll just wait here for a bit. Give her a chance to come and go. Then, we'll go down to her vault."
"What if she's coming to get the horcrux thingy out?" asked Barnaby.
"Why would she?" asked Sarah. "Surely, this is the safest place for it."
"Unless," said Jacob slowly, "someone tipped her off that we'd be trying to steal it."
"I know what you are thinking," said Elena, "I've done nothing of the kind. If I tried to make contact with the Death Eaters, they would kill me. You have no threat of me conversing with them."
"What about you, Lee?" asked Jacob. "You sure they haven't been rooting in your head this whole time?"
"No! I mean, yes! I mean, I don't think so..."
"Stop it, Jacob," said Sarah. "We'll only get out of this mess alive if we trust each other and work together. We'll just wait until Bellatrix has left, like you said."
"How long do you think that'll be?" asked Merula.
Nobody answered.
They group waited in silence in the cart for what felt like hours before it started moving again.
"You sure it's been long enough?" Sarah asked, then, "Wait, aren't we going the wrong way? Bellatrix's vault will be down, not up."
"I'm not doing it!" said Jacob, panicked. The goblin was trying to steer the cart, but it was having no effect. "The cart's doing this on its own!"
The whizzed upward, back toward the lobby.
"What'll we do?" asked Merula.
"Just wait until we know for sure what's going on!"
They arrived back at the doors. Nearly a dozen goblins were gathered in the doorway, along with three wizard guards.
"What's going on?" Jacob asked, as soon as the cart had slowed.
"Apologies, Sir," said the nearest goblin, moving to help Sarah from the cart. "We've received warning that there are impostors at the bank, and we have to clear out the vaults for security."
"Impostors?" questioned Jacob, but no one seemed to mind him. Barnaby clambered out of the cart as quietly as he could and followed as the Spellmans were led back into the lobby, doing his best not to bump into anyone in the crowded doorway. The imperiused goblin followed after them.
Another goblin intercepted them in the lobby and ushered them towards the main doors.
"What's this about impostors?" Jacob asked, sounding nearly as confused as Barnaby felt. If the goblins knew they were impostors, why were they letting them leave?
"Nothing to worry about, Sir. We'll have them rounded up in a moment. Sorry for the inconvenience, and we'll see you back another--"
Everyone staggered as the floor shook and rumbled.
"Close the doors!" someone yelled, and the wizards used their wands to swing the large doors to the vaults shut.
The floor continued to vibrate beneath them. Barnaby swore he heard the sound of a dragon's muffled roar.
"We better move," said Jacob, but then the doors ahead of them were closed too, a pair of thoroughly panicked goblins blocking their way.
Several people shrieked as the other doors, the ones leading to the vaults, shook and bent under the weight of something banging into them repeatedly--something large. This time, Barnaby definitely heard a deep, dragonous roar, and flames shot through the cracks in the doors as they began to melt and crumble away.
Barnaby grabbed Sarah and dragged her to the edge of the room, behind the goblin's desks. There were more panicked cries as the doors weakened.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The doors flew off their hinges and a dragon's head emerged. Barnaby watched, horrorstruck, as the giant, gray creature clawed its way into the lobby. Three people were astride the dragon, but Barnaby couldn't pay much attention to them.
Wizards began firing spells at the dragon, but they merely bounced off its thick hide. Barnaby cast a shield charm in front of him and Sarah, and the great beast surged forward, clearing a path with a torrent of flames. It filled the entire lobby with its massive, curled wings, but it didn't hesitate as it made for the exit, batting away the front doors as if they were made of cardboard.
Goblins screeched in fury and took off after it, but it was too late. The dragon was gone. Several goblins lay in bloodied or burned heaps on the ground, taken down by the dragon's rampage.
"We'll all be killed!" one of the remaining goblins screeched. "He's going to kill us all!"
It occurred to Barnaby that now would be a good time to leave. He grabbed Sarah's hand.
"Where are the others?" she whispered frantically. "Where's Jacob?"
Barnaby spotted them in a corner. They were also creeping towards the doors.
"There," said Barnaby, forgetting she couldn't see where he was pointing. "Let's go."
But he stopped in his tracks. Jacob leaned against a pillar to hide as four figures stepped into the hall. Barnaby spotted Bellatrix Lestrange again, but it was the figure striding in front of her that he stared at.
Lord Voldemort strode across the lobby, using his hand to magically remove the debris and bodies from his path. He strode up to one of the goblins, the one that had screamed in panic.
"What has happened here?" said Voldemort, his voice a calm hiss, but Barnaby could sense the rage in it.
Leave. We need to leave.
He tugged Sarah's hand, and the two of them slowly made their way toward the end of the hall. Barnaby saw that Jacob had already disappeared.
"Madam Lestrange's vault," the goblin whimpered, his voice echoing through the silent room, "has been robbed, my Lord."
Barnaby forced himself not to turn and look, to focus on the door as they edged toward it.
"What did you say to me?" said Voldemort, more loudly.
Get out, thought Barnaby. He pushed Sarah to walk in front of him, so he could act as a shield if the killing curse came their way. Get out get out get out--
"Say it again!" he heard Voldemort say. How were the doors still so far away? "Say it again!"
The goblin's voice shook so violently, Barnaby hardly understood him.
"M-my Lord, m-my Lord...we t-tried t-to st-stop them...im-impostors, my Lord...broke - broke into the - into the Lestranges' v-vault..."
"Impostors? What impostors? I thought Gringotts had ways of dealing with impostors? Who were they?"
Nearly there, we're nearly there, thought Barnaby. He pushed Sarah gently. She had slowed to listen about the impostors. It doesn't matter, he thought. We just need to get away before he sees you.
"It was...it was... the P-Potter b-boy and t-two accomplices..."
"And they took?" Voldemort's voice had risen to a shrill yell. Barnaby knew enough Dark Wizards to know what was coming soon. He pushed at Sarah rather hard; she'd stopped moving completely. "Tell me! What did they take?"
"A...a s-small golden c-cup m-my Lord..."
Voldemort screamed, and Barnaby pushed Sarah so hard she stumbled and nearly fell.
"Go!"
More screams followed, and Barnaby saw flashes of green light reflecting off the walls. He followed closely behind Sarah as the wizards and goblins in the bank ran for their lives, away from the fury of Lord Voldemort.
They made it out, and Barnaby grabbed Sarah's hand as they ran on. Barnaby glanced behind him. Bellatrix and the other Death Eaters were among the first to escape the bank, flashes of green shining through its windows.
Sarah pulled him to the side to let the Death Eaters pass first. She held tightly to his hand and turned herself invisible, before they ran after the Death Eaters. They arrived at the Leaky Cauldron just after Bellatrix and the others.
"What the--?" bellowed Tom, but they ignored him and jumped into the fireplace to disappear through the floo network. Sarah and Barnaby, meanwhile, crept back up to their room.
Sarah hesitated before twisting the door handle, then knocked instead.
"Is that you two?" they heard Merula say.
"Yes."
"Prove it."
"If we were the Death Eaters, you'd already be dead?"
"...Fair enough."
The door swung open, and they stepped inside. Jacob gave a little moan and rose from his seat on the bed to pull Sarah into a hug.
"I was worried they'd got you."
"He's killing so many people." She was shaking violently. "So many people, and we did nothing. We ran."
"There was nothing you could do," said Jacob quickly, rubbing her back. "He can't be killed. You did what you had to do to live another day, so we could take him down another. He won't get away with all those deaths."
"Where's Barnaby?" asked Elena.
"Here." He waved his wand so the disillusionment charm vanished.
They all stared at another as the adrenaline wore off and the shock kicked in. Elena sat on the floor and stared at the wall. Merula began to pace back and forth.
"What do we do now?" she asked. "Get the hell out of here, right?"
"Uh, right," said Jacob. "I just don't understand. So there were impostors at Gringotts? Besides us, I mean."
"It was Harry Potter," said Sarah. She pulled away to look at her brother. "Jacob, Harry Potter robbed Bellatrix's vault. He stole a cup from it. Do you know what that means?"
Jacob shook his head.
"Harry Potter knows about the horcrux. He got to it before we could. He knows how to kill You-Know-Who!"
"Do you think that's what he's been doing this whole time?" asked Barnaby. "Looking for the horcrux, like we have?"
"Only with more success, apparently," said Merula.
"Yes, that must be it!" said Sarah. "We've got to find him, see if we can help him."
"First thing's first," said Jacob. "Let's get out of here, before they lock this place down. If we survive the rest of the day, then we can talk about finding Harry Potter."
A/N: Again, the dialogue between Voldemort and the goblin in this chapter are quotes from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. They are Rowling's words, not mine.)