They hadn't gone too far when they turned to the left entrance. The goblin led the way. And when Callie faced left, she gasped.
A white-skinned dragon guarded the vaults. She had expected it thanks to watching the last movie and yet... she couldn't help but be terrified and amazed at the sight of the mythical being.
How often could a girl like she see a real dragon? And oh, Merlin, it was big! Humongous big! Too big that they wouldn't be enough for its dinner.
The thought sent a chill through Callie's spine.
"I shouldn't be surprised. But I am," Sirius gasped, seeing the creature too.
James followed suit and had the same reaction as them.
"How do we get past the dragon?" Regulus whispered.
Callie looked around. Where's the box- Aha! The wooden box beside her. She scoured the dress catching up on her feet and went for it. Inside. There are bells made out of what seemed to be tin cans. She took the out and gave one to Sirius who was the nearest.
"The dragon's trained to expect pain when it hears the noise," she explained.
"They tortured it?" James asked in disbelief.
Callie looked at him with pain and pity for the poor creature. "Yes." It was barely audible.
Sirius and Regulus looked away. How often could someone relate to a dragon? Getting scared just by hearing a specific noise because you'd for sure expect pain the next seconds.
But Callie didn't see that for she began walking across to it. And they rather not let her see it.
The dragon saw them. Its long, bony arms stretched, showing its height further. The chains around its neck clang as it moved. It yelled out a roar seeing the trespassers. Fire came out of its mouth that made the intruders step back in fear of being roasted.
But Callie rang the bell first. Sirius followed.
"I'm sorry," she yelled to the dragon, genuinely feeling sorry for making it undergo a trauma response. She hated herself for doing that. Yet Callie reminded herself she must.
The dragon buckled and stepped away from them. It cried pleas as though it was speaking and asking them to stop.
Both she and the creature felt relieved when they got to the door of the vault. They both didn't have to suffer guilt and fear respectively.
She turned to the goblin, putting down the bell. "Open the vault." Her authority as Bellatrix had disappeared. But the authority of a courageous lady trying to prevent the devastating chapter of the life of her beloved people was present.
Without a question, the goblin walked to the vault and opened it. He pressed his hand to the metal door. It opened with a loud growl.
She gaped at the sight of the pile of gold. Callie had never seen a such mountain of gold in her whole life. What her family had was probably only a bucket worth of all this gold.
But the men she was with did not even bat an eye. They were born with that wealth that it did not come as a surprise anymore.
Shaking the amazement, Callie walked inside. Helga Hufflepuff's cup should be inside.
When the five of them were inside, the door shut.
Callie cast Lumos and the tip of her wand lit up. The three boys did the same and began looking around.
The arrangements of gold and other valuable items were not too familiar to her. Some items weren't in the movie and weren't there too. When she looked up where she expected the cup would be located, it wasn't there.
Her heart beat quite hard for a second. If the cup wasn't there right then, she would have no idea where it was located. It wasn't stated anywhere where Voldemort hid the Hufflepuff founder's possession except that vault.
She had nothing to navigate it. Only Harry could because of his soul connection to Voldemort.
"What does the cup look like?" James asked, turning his head around as if a stag that he was.
Callie picked up her phone and scrolled through her gallery. She had an image of it. Once she found the image of the collection of Horcruxes, she zoomed into the cup and showed it to the boys.
"Like that."
And they dispersed to look around.
The vault wasn't too big for them to wander around. Albeit there were one too many items inside hindering them from a faster search.
Callie even had to squint to see if the goblet she saw was the cup or not. It wasn't.
"Callie, is this it?" James raised a cup.
Her eyes lit up at the sight of it. It's here! she thought in relief. "Y-yes! Yes, James, that's it-" She hit the nearby golden goblet. As soon as it met the ground, it doubled. Then the doubles doubled again. And again. And again. And again.
Oh no.
"Flagrante and Gemino charm," Sirius whispered yet audible enough for them to hear.
"We have to get out!" But Callie's feet were stuck where she stood.
The goblet hit the candle stand so it began doubling too. Then it hit another item. And another. Then another! They kept doubling that they were trapping her!
"Callie?!" Regulus called as though asking her to take the leap and get to them where it was safer. But every rich of the Lestranges are blocking the way!
"Get the cup to safety! James get out!" she yelled, figuring out where to step next but the items just kept multiplying.
"Callie, come on!" Regulus yelled in desperation as James almost slipped to exit the vault.
She tried to take a step but everything just kept dividing whenever even just the tip of her boots touched the items. They were a lot that they're starting to flood the place.
"Callie! Just step on them! We have to go!" Sirius yelled too. They all would get trapped inside. They couldn't afford that. At least Callie. She had the greatest power in that world, her knowledge. So it was their utmost priority to keep her safe.
"Just come here!" Regulus yelled, stretching his hand to reach for her. He and his brother kept getting above the multiplying items. But the girl kept her eyes on the goblets below her feet, trying to get on top of them but only ending up sinking.
"I can't!"
"Run!"
Her eyes widened. She tried to lift her feet once more to get on top of the goblets. But it wouldn't move. No. Oh no. They were on her tighs.
"I'm stuck!" If panic hadn't settled in, it did now. Callie didn't feel it for she was busy getting away from the dividing goblets. But then, her body settled and so did her mind. "I'm stuck! I can't- I can't walk! Help!" she cried. Tears began filling her eyes as she tried to resist the force stopping her to move.
And Regulus threw everything away. With all his might, he rose from the plates and goblets and candlesticks on his feet. He sprinted towards Callie. His outstretched arms reached for her hands. But the flood was on her hip.
"Get me out of here, Reg!" she cried, tears dropping one by one. Her legs were cramped. She could hardly breathe even if her nose was on her face and not on her legs.
Regulus tried to lift her up but she only moved an inch. The items were catching up on his ankle so he had to step up. And in return, they reached Callie's waist.
Sirius came to the aid. He took another arm of Callie's and lifted her with all his force. But her limbs would fall off first before she could get out.
"We have to lessen the flood," said Sirius.
So they began digging. The older back ran to the door, slipping in the process. "James!" he called and began throwing everything outside. James had managed to open the door. He appeared with the cup in his hand. "Help! Callie's stuck. We've got to empty this room!"
James nodded. He did not take away the cup but only used his other hand to drive out the multiple identical items. He even used his legs to kick out anything that stuck.
But it was no use. Instead, it all kept dividing even more. And when they looked inside, Callie was chest-deep in the flood.
"I can't breathe," she told Regulus. She would've cried but with suffocation, she could only let the tears out. The dress was making things worse other than the thousands of items pressing in every direction to her body.
"Callie! Callie! Listen to me!" Regulus called.
Her eyes fixed on his with her chest rising and falling, gasping for every air she could. Then she saw them. For the first time in her stay in that world, she saw his eyes. They were grey. Beautiful metallic grey. She thought she saw a hint of green and blue there. Or maybe she was just hallucinating due to suffocation.
There was something strange, though, in his eyes. There seemed to be a layer of water on them. And when he blinked, the water thinned and a bead fell to his pale cheek.
Was he crying?
No, he couldn't be.
"Don't move," she could make out he said. "The more we move, the more you drown. But I need you to breathe for me. Can you do that?"
"Yes," she whispered weakly.
Regulus nodded but stiffed his body. He guided her breathing. Though with every inhale and exhale, everything around her multiplied. And Callie grew anxious.
"No, no, no. Just look at me. Breathe."
She did as he told her. Callie kept her eyes on him. He wasn't tearing up anymore. The trail of his teardrop was nowhere to be found too.
"There."
Callie found herself with all her senses. Her eyes, her ears, her nose, her skin. She could feel everything now. But the panic went away.
"Now, when I told you so, I'll pull you up and we'll run outside. But I need your help. You have to help me lift you, do you understand?"
She nodded. "Yes."
"Okay." He breathed in. And then out. "Up!"
Regulus lifted Callie up and so she pulled herself up too. With a loud grunt from both of them, she finally rose from the flood of treasures. Her feet felt the breeze of the air. Although because of the force they both exerted, Regulus fell on his back and Callie on top of him. His arms were around her but they got no time to spare. The treasures kept dividing and multiplying again thanks to their movements.
So Callie stood up and helped Regulus too. Hand in hand they ran for the exit. The exit was closing with the mountain of goblets and gold bars and plates and whatnot. James and Sirius were trying their best to keep it open yet the best that they could do was not move so as to not multiply the items further. And they were right to do so.
Within the small gap, Regulus and Callie slid. James and Sirius immediately waited to assist. And when they fell, they prevented the two from falling to the dragon.
The four were panting with their heads and clothes ragged. But they did not take notice of their appearance.
Callie turned to James who assisted her. "The cup?" she asked, wary.
"It's safe." James showed the golden cup much to Callie's relief.
But the challenge didn't end there.
"Thieves!" A voice rang as they walked down the stairs.
They all looked down only to see Gringgots guards pointing their wands towards them. And the next thing they knew, white lights were hitting them.
"Hide!" Sirius's voice rang louder.
James pulled Callie to the nearby pillar and so did Sirius to his brother.
The guards kept shooting at them yet thanks to their shields, they weren't hurt. But that also meant there was no way to get out of there unharmed.
"James! How many?!" Sirius yelled through the spells being shot at them.
"Nine? Ten? Around that number!"
"We're outnumbered!" Regulus yelled, wielding his wand though it was deemed useless as they might get caught eventually.
"No! We can fight them!" Sirius insisted.
"Not at this rate, we can't!" James disagreed. "There's more of them than we can take on! We can't risk either of us!"
"But we've got to get out!" Sirius reasoned.
"And we will!" Callie finally spoke. All heads turned to her. She looked at them yet squinted when a spell hit the pillar she was hiding at. "Do you trust me?!"
"Do you bloody think we'll break into Gringgots with you if not?!" Sirius yelled.
"Reducto!" She pointed her wand at the wood fence preventing anything from falling and it exploded causing smoke to come out and cover them. Callie used that to go by the stairs. Gathering momentum, she ran and leapt towards the dragon.
"Callie!" "No! No!" Yells from the three boys erupted yet she paid no mind.
Her hand aimed for the spine and that was where they landed. She gripped tight onto it and hid on the dragon's side.
The boys' hearts would've been gone by then. The attacks and Callie's stunt were sure great ingredients for a heart attack. But she was safe and that was enough to calm them at the very least.
"Come on! We have to go!"
Even though hesitating, the three boys leapt. Regulus was the first to go, and then James, and Sirius followed suit. All of them held to the dragon's thorny spine as it wiggle left and right.
"Relashio!" Callie yelled as she pointed her wand to the chain preventing the dragon from fleeing the bank.
It roared and stood on its feet. Callie almost fell if only she did not hold fast and had Regulus holding her back. As it cried out hatred towards the guards, fire came out of its mouth. Then it began climbing up. No one dared to fire any spell towards the dragon. They would rather not anger a free creature that had been bound in that dungeon for years.
After further climbing, it reached the top of the bank. The dragon burned everything it set gaze upon. Including innocent goblins.
Through the glass roof of the bank, it broke free. Then the dragon took its flight, its freedom to the skies and roared happily.
Callie smiled as she heard it. Her hand reached for its neck and caressed it as if caressing a dog. "You're free," she whispered to it.
It roared again and tried to look back at her as though it was talking to her. She only smiled wider as it flew.
"There they are!" James yelled, pointing below where he saw Remus and Peter waiting.
But even other wizards in Diagon Alley were watching the incredible phenomenon. The Griggots' dragon flew free as the facility crumbled into dust. What a sight.
And as though the dragon understood them, it flew down in the direction James pointed at.
"At three, we let go!" Sirius yelled. He saw them all nod so he looked straight and calculated in his eyes the time to count. "One... two... three!"
They all let go and fell to the ground with a thud, rolling around. The dragon soar higher so everyone's eyes were on it. But Remus and Peter quickly got them to their feet and pulled them to the side of an alley.
But Callie's eyes remained on the dragon. It kept soaring upward and upward and upward. Until it dived down. And for a moment, she thought it looked at her and nodded. Maybe it did. So she nodded back. And finally, the walls of a shop hindered her from seeing the white dragon.
°°°
A/N: We're at 31k+ reads?! You guys are really amazing beyond words! Thank you so much, I can't express it enough in words! But just thank you!
Have a very great day or night!