Chapter 30 - Time for Action
Harry awoke in what the young couple now considered their bedroom in Gryffindor Tower to the wonderful sensation of Hermione being wrapped around him. She had obviously awakened first and appeared to be worried about something. He soon discovered exactly what was troubling his intended.
"Did you have a nightmare? I know they can be triggered by events…"
A gentle kiss stopped Hermione's questions, and somewhat eased her worries, before Harry then chased them away.
"No nightmare could ever compare with what we went through since Friday dinnertime. I'll bet every member of our family who stood helplessly watching you lying on that bed would agree with me too. We got you back though, and I'm never letting you get away again…"
It was now Hermione's turn to gently kiss Harry's worries away. "It would seem like I got the better of the deal."
"I felt the pain you went through when Fawkes healed you. Your screams as Emma cut your face open will live with me forever, I can't agree you got the better of the deal. I just hope Amelia gets the rest of the death eaters behind bars. If she doesn't, we really are all out of options. Your mum and dad will insist we all get out of Britain and we really don't have a reasonable argument against doing that. We'll certainly talk about it as a family during the holidays but the ball really is in the ministry's court over this."
"I know. I was sitting at dinner last night thinking this might be the last time we do this in Hogwarts. While I would be sad to leave, you're right. Unless the ministry deals with the problem, my parents will never agree to any of us coming back here in January."
"I better get you down to see Madam Pomfrey, otherwise she won't let us leave for Christmas…"
With that, both got up to start what could be their last day in Hogwarts.
-oOoOo-
The issue of the Prophet announcing Hermione's recovery was welcomed in the great hall that morning, but not by all. The newspaper's stance on the death eaters who never stood trial was mostly ignored by the majority of the students, one of their own recovering from such a serious and life-threatening injury being far more important, but again not all. There were students in the hall who would be leaving for home today, and not knowing who or what they would find when they got there.
These students were as worried as Harry and Hermione that today might also be their last day in Hogwarts, though their reasons were certainly different. Any death eater trials could see family members shipped off to Azkaban, and that same family fined heavily. It wasn't too hard to imagine their circumstances changing drastically, and very publicly, over the holiday period.
One student who wouldn't be leaving Hogwarts, not even for Christmas, was an interested observer. Draco would be staying with his mother in the castle, he would have the entire holidays to think on why Pansy, Crabbe, Goyle or quite a few other Slytherins might not be returning in the new year. With the amount of changes hitting their world, it was beginning to seem more like a new era would soon be upon them - rather than a new year. Draco would have the holidays to think over that conclusion too.
After Madam Pomfrey had worked her particular magic on what Fawkes left of Hermione's wound, there was no scarring remaining to indicate an attack had ever taken place. They found Dudley sitting with the rest of their friends at breakfast. Knowing they would see most of them at the Longbottom Ball took away any sense of saying goodbye, though both Hermione and Harry made a point of seeking out Fred and George - as well as the other members of the Gryffindor quidditch team. They might be wishing them all the best for the holidays but it actually felt like saying goodbye.
Ginny and Colin were almost in tears just from the fact Luna wasn't having to leave for the express too, or rather because they were and she was spending the holidays with Harry. Neither Harry nor Hermione wanted to think about what state these two would be in if they thought this was the last time they would see their hero/crush.
Petunia and Dudley were actually accompanying the rest of the students out of the main doors, though not boarding the train. After clearing the wards, they would be taking the Dobby express back to Privet Drive. Dudley would need to phone Amanda, trying to explain why he dropped off the face of the planet for a few days, while Petuinia would need to discuss the Dursleys temporarily moving into Grimmauld Place with Vernon.
Sirius then led the three Grangers, Harry, Remus, Susan and Luna to the headmistress' office where they would floo to Grimmauld.
-oOoOo-
When Harry had confessed to having the nightmare where Voldemort returned, and Cedric Diggory had been murdered, Amelia had asked him for a copy of that memory from the future. She'd hoped to one day be in a position to deal with these bastards as they deserved but never expected that day to come so soon.
With Voldemort himself naming Crabbe, Goyle, Nott and Avery in that memory from the future, Amelia had a definite starting point. Her aurors had dragged their stunned carcasses out of their beds, all four raids taking place simultaneously at two in the morning. Any family present was also arrested and brought into the ministry, though more to stop the news of these arrests getting out before the four death eaters could be questioned under truth serum. This resulted in her aurors pulling off another set of raids around five a.m.
One of the names that kept getting mentioned disgusted Amelia, hence why she was standing outside a rather bleak looking house on the edge of the Yorkshire Moors. Cornelius giving her carte blanche to deal with this problem allowed Amelia to unleash her aurors on the real enemies of their country, the death eaters. She also agreed with Sirius and Harry's actions of increasing the bounty on Snape's head, freeing those same aurors to get on with the far more important job they were currently carrying out.
It was with a deep sense of pride in her aurors that Amelia watched them blast their way into the death eater's house. Knowing their target lived alone, and the number of times he had been confirmed as a death eater, meant there was no ambiguity here - or holding back. That their target was also a respected ministerial worker was what sickened her the most. With followers of this madman at the very heart of their government, and restrictions placed on what aurors could do in what effectively had been combat situations, was it any wonder they almost lost the last time.
With the all clear given by the lead auror, Amelia entered the house to find a bound and bleeding Walden Macnair lying on his own floor. He was more angry than afraid, and used Amelia as a lightning rod for that anger.
"Bones, you're finished at the ministry..."
"Shove it up your arse, Macnair. You have no idea how many of your death eater colleagues tried to feed me the same shit. Once we got some truth serum into them however, they were soon singing a different tune. Quite a few of those death eaters mentioned your name as being a fellow death eater, while under truth serum too. Here's how your Sunday is now gonna play out. You have a date with a ministry cell, and a pressing appointment for a veritaserum interrogation. By the time I'm ready to sit down and eat dinner with my family tonight, your sorry arse will be sentenced to spend the rest of your life in Azkaban. Now, tell me again how I'm finished?"
Macnair was left speechless. A nod from Amelia saw two of her aurors activate their portkey and take the prisoner away to the cell she'd promised him. It was only moments later however one of her aurors searching the property called for her to witness something that left Amelia glad she hadn't eaten anything in ages. The young auror throwing up on the carpet wasn't so lucky, nor would anyone who saw this ever blame him.
"It would seem it wasn't just dangerous creatures Macnair executed. Some of those fingers and ears look small enough to have belonged to children."
While nodding in agreement with her auror, Amelia was fighting to get her mind back into gear so this could be dealt with professionally - rather than emotionally. "No one touches this until we can get an investigation team here. We haven't anywhere near this number of missing people on our files so most, if not all of these 'trophies', must have been muggles. We might be able to close some of their files for them, but not before this bastard gets questioned and then the veil."
Witnessing the evidence of what could only be classed as atrocities Macnair must have carried out just hardened Amelia's heart, and convinced her more than ever this was the right course of action to take. She would persuade Cornelius he should be at Macnair's questioning, since Walden worked for the ministry. If what this supposed respectable citizen had been up to was even half as bad as Amelia suspected, Cornelius too would be convinced they were doing the right thing - really the only thing a respectable government could do.
-oOoOo-
After reading about the attack on the second year Gryffindor, Hermione Granger, at Hogwarts, there was a horde of anxious parents waiting to greet their children as they came off the express in London. While all were relieved their children weren't the ones attacked, that an attack was even possible - and their children had more than likely witnessed it - had the majority of those parents petitioning the Ministry of Magic to deal with the situation.
On all of platform nine and three-quarters, you would be hard pushed to find a more concerned parent than Molly Weasley. As she got her hands on each of her five children who had just exited the express, they found themselves being hugged to within an inch of their lives. Being back in her mother's embrace proved too much for Ginny as her emotions poured out with her tears.
"There, Ginny, you'll be home soon and everyone's alright. Your friends are fine..."
This just increased the rate of Ginny's tears before Molly finally got an explanation between her daughter's sobs. "It will never be alright again. While Hermione was injured I had an argument with Luna about Harry. Luna must have told Harry and Hermione because they've both looked at me differently since Hermione was cured. Luna's now spending Christmas with them, which will only make things worse. I don't know if I want to go back to Hogwarts..."
Molly was at a loss with what to say next until Arthur took over. Ginny then found herself being enveloped by the safest pair of arms in the world, her father's. His calm and steady voice got through to Ginny in a way her mother just couldn't manage.
"Hey, I'm willing to bet that Harry and Hermione weren't just looking at my favourite daughter differently. One way or another, that attack inside Hogwarts will change our country. The Minister has been getting bombarded all day with owls from parents demanding he keep their children safe while they are attending Hogwarts, at least a couple of those were sent by your mother. Harry has never hidden the fact he has other options to Britain and Hogwarts, or that his first concern is the safety of his family..."
Arthur found himself being interrupted by his twin sons.
"Bloody hell, Fred, that would explain it. We knew something was off but couldn't put our finger on it."
"I think you're right. That wasn't just have a good holiday, they were saying goodbye..."
This had Ginny's sobs returning with a vengeance and her father's arms holding her tighter. "The Minister knows this too, and won't want to lose Hogwarts most famous couple, or three of the castle's favourite professors. Rumours are all over the ministry that he's taken action, what's happening over there would seem to confirm that."
The Weasleys joined the growing number of families watching as aurors were rounding up specific children, children whose parents were conspicuous by their absence. That every one of those children was a pureblood, and all from the darker families, did not go unnoticed either.
Thinking he now had the problem well in hand, Arthur then proceeded to put his foot right in it. "Harry and Hermione will be dealing with so much at the moment, a tiff between you and Luna probably won't even make their list of concerns."
Hearing the truth in her father's words had the opposite effect on Ginny than everyone expected. Instead of taking heart from the fact Harry probably hadn't fallen out with her, she was now looking at the situation from a totally different angle. Little Ginny Weasley was so inconsequential to Harry Potter that she didn't rate him bothering about what she said or did. She thought having him and Hermione angry at her was better than that option. A now inconsolable Ginny was led from the platform by her parents.
Since some of the purebloods being escorted by the aurors were also crying, this meant that the Weasley drama passed mostly unnoticed by the rest of the people on the platform.
Molly had a fair idea what had brought on her daughter's tears but could not support Ginny's jealousy in this matter. Luna had suffered since Mia's passing, Xeno not being fit to raise dandelions - far less a daughter. Having met a lot of the people Luna would be spending Christmas with, Molly was delighted the little blonde would be assured of having a happy Christmas - probably for the first time since losing her mother.
-oOoOo-
As a clearly knackered Amelia sat at the dinner table in Grimmauld Place, trying to negotiate the minefield of what she could actually say about the ministerial goings-on since the last time she'd seen everyone here, it was Luna who interrupted.
"Madam Bones, my father is a journalist. I'm quite used to being asked to leave the room when he's meeting with someone. If you need me to leave, just say so - I won't be offended or upset."
Susan's arm draped over Luna's shoulder as she comforted their friend. "Like you, Luna, I'm used to my Aunt Amelia not being able to tell me much about what she does. I can't remember the last time I saw her as tired as she is tonight though, and her hesitation will be to make sure that tiredness doesn't see her saying something that none of us are supposed to know. Aunt, just give us what will be in the Prophet tomorrow - and then get to bed."
It was a tired smile that Amelia graced them with, she hadn't had much to smile about today. It would take a few nightcaps, and holding Sirius in bed, before there would be any chance of sleep claiming her tonight. Barbaric didn't come close to describing some of the atrocities these animals had committed - all in the name of serving their dark master.
"Susan's right everyone, I am really tired." Looking at Harry, that tired smile made another appearance. "Acting on very reliable information the ministry had received, we began rounding up death eaters and questioning them using truth serum. Those questions brought us more names so we've been very busy. The questioning will also see every single one of those bastards spending the rest of their lives in Azkaban, if they don't receive a more severe penalty than that. I could easily justify calling for the death penalty in over half of the cases, that is a decision we'll need to make when we're thinking more clearly."
"You got all of them?" An emotional Emma may have asked the question but they were all hanging on Amelia's answer.
"We have one suspect who got wind of what we were up to and fled, there is one other who was abroad at the time. Warrants have been issued for their arrest, we think we got everyone else. They are all going down, Emma, or they can find a new Head of the D.M.L.E. and we're off to Black Island. Every single member of my department was involved in this unprecedented operation. Any kind of cover-up would have to see my entire department sacked. The public would never stand for all the ministry aurors being sacked, and they'd bring down any Minister of Magic who even attempted it."
Sirius quickly agreed with his bride-to-be, adding his own take on the situation. "Today we took a giant leap forward in dealing with our death eater problem. With your lessons at Hogwarts having such a positive effect on the students of all blood denominations, I don't think I've ever been as optimistic about our society's chances of reaching the twenty-first century."
The entire family knew there would be a serious discussion happening soon to try and plan out their future. Hearing that news from Amelia and Sirius left staying in Britain on the table, not something any of them were confident of since Hermione had been attacked.
With their meeting at Gringotts scheduled for tomorrow, Harry and Hermione had always intended to call on Professor Dumbledore later. He offered to aid them any way he could, and they needed his experience to help them achieve what they needed from this meeting tomorrow. Looking at Susan and Luna, Harry also had something else he needed to ask Albus about.
When, in the middle of those discussions, Dobby appeared with news from the Hogwarts elves, their optimism crept up another couple of notches.
As to maintain the fiction that Harry and Hermione were sleeping in separate rooms, Susan and Luna were sharing a bedroom in Grimmauld. Both young witches were too excited to sleep. Tomorrow, while Sirius escorted their friends to Gringotts, Emma, Dan and Remus were planning on taking them shopping in muggle London. They had things called mobile phones that would allow Hermione to contact them when their business in the bank was finished, and they left the Leaky Cauldron. They would then get together for lunch, followed by more shopping. Neither could think of anything more exciting than that, not knowing their friends were currently planning to make this the best Christmas they ever had.
-oOoOo-
Severus recognised Rowle right off, and assumed the other three people with him were just local hired muscle. It would seem his grumbling stomach had just saved Severus' life because, even if he'd managed to fight these attackers off, that fight would bring the magical authorities down on them. Being captured by either group meant his life was forfeit.
Since spotting Rowle amongst the group outside of the seedy hostel he'd been holed up in, Severus was too close to turn and walk away - not without attracting attention to himself.
All four glanced at the old balding man who shuffled toward them. Severus' use of firewhisky as cologne, and the bottle of cheap gut-rot sticking out the top of his paper sack containing food, saw his disguise pass muster. They all ignored him after that initial glance and went back to planning their attack.
Maintaining the speed of his slow shuffle as he passed them was extremely difficult, especially when hearing that they weren't too bothered if their target was alive at the end of this - just recognisable.
Rowle being here practically confirmed for Severus that the British Ministry must have eventually cracked down on the death eaters. He wondered if this was about the reward, or Rowle looking for a bargaining chip with the Ministry. Knowing some of the crimes Thorfinn had committed in the name of the Dark Lord, Severus thought Rowle was delusional. Bones was a hard bitch at the best of times, with absolutely no mercy for death eaters. Rowle could turn up at her office with Severus Snape's head on a stick, Bones would still ensure Thorfinn spent the rest of his life in Azkaban.
The only chance for Severus, for any of them really, was the return of the dark lord. Only under his powerful protection would anyone bearing a dark mark be safe. It would seem the little time Severus thought he had was long gone.
Thanks to spending the last decade working under Dumbledore, Severus was probably now the world's most knowledgeable wizard on all things associated with the dark lord, Tom Marvelo Riddle - aka Lord Voldemort. He would have to put that knowledge to good use - post haste. He needed to first find his master, quickly followed by returning him to a body. Only then could Severus relax, as much as anyone could relax around his master.
Shuffling around the first corner he came to, Severus then sped up until he was far enough away to disapparate without arousing anyone's suspicion.
-oOoOo-
Sitting inside Gringotts while waiting on their meeting starting, Sirius had a suspicion these two were up to something. Both had their game faces on but he detected the slight confident smirk lurking in the background. Helping a shattered Ami had been his priority last night, trusting these two to handle their meeting with Albus on their own. These two still smirking while being shown into a rather plush Gringotts office had Sirius reconsidering his earlier choices. This actually felt like these two were about to pull a prank, certainly not something you wanted to do to a goblin. He hoped that was the very first thing Albus had managed to get across to this pair of jokers.
After bowing in greeting to the goblin holding this meeting, and accepting the offered seating, Harry got straight to the point.
"We are here today to offer the hand of friendship to our goblin neighbours. At the very least I'm hoping that we share a common enemy, the self-proclaimed Dark Lord, Voldemort. The muggles have a saying, 'the enemy of mine enemy is my friend'. It is the hope of achieving at least this understanding that sees us sitting here today. I have information on how Voldemort cheated death that we're willing to share, along with a tried and trusted method of how to end this bastard once and for all. By sheer good fortune I am able to offer you, and anyone else you need to see this, a demonstration of just how mad and evil this sick bastard is by destroying one of the items he made to anchor himself to this world."
They didn't know if shocking a goblin into silence was a good thing or not. Sirius wasn't much help either. His wide-eyed stare of panic confirmed he had put the pieces of information together, but there was no indication of whether he approved of their tactics or not on his face.
In the end, Harry was left with no choice but to push on with their chosen course of action. "While I'm happy for this demonstration to take place anywhere you wish, with whoever you want witnessing this, I must insist the item never leaves our sight until its evil taint is destroyed. After that, you are more than welcome to have the item examined by anyone you wish."
The goblin sitting there knew at once this was way above his authority, this would have to go to the very top. Luckily, the necessary goblins were already gathered - awaiting to hear what this meeting produced. He had only a couple of questions before he would need to take this matter to those gathered superiors.
"This tainted object you speak of, the taint is from the dark one?"
Harry's 'yes' saw the goblin getting visibly angry. "You brought such a vile thing into our bank?"
"No, and we won't bring it here without your permission. Our friend, Dobby, is awaiting our call. He will then bring the object from its current location inside Hogwarts to wherever you decide upon. We didn't want this thing in our home either."
With a nod of understanding and appreciation, the goblin excused himself for a few minutes. This was Sirius' cue to start getting some answers.
"The Hogwarts elves found one?"
Hermione had sat quietly, letting Harry deal with the goblins. She could answer Sirius' questions though. "The express probably hadn't left Hogsmeade before the Hogwarts elves turned their attention to searching the castle for this. Dobby popped in with the news last night, while we were talking with Dumbledore too. Albus thought offering the goblins the chance to witness one of these being destroyed would get them onside and searching death eater vaults for any more of these. You saw that goblin's reaction when he thought we'd brought this one into the bank..."
At that, the goblin in question returned. It would seem their meeting was being moved to another room. This was a much larger and grander room, more like a conference suite, and they certainly needed the extra space for the eight goblins who were waiting on them. They recognised some of the goblins here who had been at Dumbledore's funeral, Ragnok introduced himself as the person in charge before inviting them to sit and continue their tale.
Harry started by stating an opinion. "I would just like to say that these things are as abhorrent to us as they seem to be to you. Dumbledore, my intended and I have been on a mission to destroy each and every one of these that we could find. I will show my trust in our goblin friends by revealing it was one of these items that killed Dumbledore. The dark one has placed protections on these items he created, it caught Dumbledore unawares. Once the trap had been sprung, Albus knew taking time to destroy the dark one's taint would cost him any chance of saving himself. You were at his funeral so you know what choice he made. Along with the item that cost Albus his life, we have also already destroyed another two - prior to today's discovery. This one, discovered hidden inside the castle by the Hogwarts elves, will be the fourth of this madman's items we will destroy..."
The entire room clearly understood what was being talked about here, though Albus had cautioned them against using the word horcrux unless it was uttered by a goblin first.
Staring at Harry, Ragnok cut straight to the chase. "You requested this meeting, you obviously require something from Gringotts. Spit it out and let's see what we are dealing with."
"As I said, we have been hunting these abominations for a while - Dumbledore a lot longer before including us. Our search revealed the dark one had trusted a loyal follower with one of his disgusting 'treasures'. It has been found, destroyed, and Lucius Malfoy will die in Azkaban. It left us with the questions, if one follower was trusted - why not two? Also, where do witches and wizards think the safest place in Britain is to store their treasure?"
Had he chucked a hand grenade amongst those listening goblins, Harry didn't think he could have gotten a more extreme reaction. They were up on their feet, some with blades already in their hands. Ragnok had guessed this was why they were visiting Gringotts before the trio had entered and took control of the room with a deep roar. The other goblins now silenced, he once more directed his attention at Harry.
"Can I assume you wish us to search suspected death eater vaults?"
Having been advised to be as truthful as possible, Harry also followed Ragnok's words and spat it all out. There could be no room for misunderstandings here.
"You will have read I am the one prophesied to face Voldemort. Hearing that has the Ministry of Magic dealing with all the death eaters who slipped through the cracks. In this room alone, there are now more goblins who know how Voldemort survived than there are those inside the ministry. I stand ready to face Voldemort but we all know he can't be killed while any of these vile things still exist. I have already faced him twice, defeating him and yet his spirit has escaped intact both times We all need him dead to get on with our lives, I am asking for goblin help to achieve this..."
A couple of growled questions from behind Ragnok saw the goblin leader nod and translate what was asked into English. "We would like to see your proof, and your method of destruction, before we deliberate on our decision. Can the destruction take place in this room?"
The size of this room made it far preferable than the original office they had been shown into so Harry nodded his agreement "Our elven friends from Hogwarts have informed us the object is a diadem, one that has a very strong compulsion charm to entice anyone who comes near to put it on. Hermione has the strongest occlumency shields and will drop some basilisk venom on..."
"The hell she will - I'll do it."
Turning, Harry faced down his godfather. "Sirius, you show Amelia the respect she deserves every time she leaves for work. Hermione taught me occlumency, she's far better at this than me. The three of us will be keeping a very close eye on her."
Addressing Ragnok once more, Harry again made sure there could be no misunderstandings here. "Sir, no one can approach my intended while she is performing this very dangerous task. Keeping a safe distance away while the item is destroyed is also advisable for everyone in this room. You will all clearly see the taint leave the item and are welcome to study it as much as you wish once it has been destroyed. Had Albus taken support with him that day, it would be him standing here making this request."
Understanding exactly what was being said, anyone approaching the witch would be neutralised, it was Ragnok's turn to nod in agreement. "Lord Potter, you have our permission to proceed."
With Sirius hovering behind him, Harry faced his intended and held both Hermione's hands as she centred herself. A few moments later, Hermione indicated she was ready. Dobby appeared and levitated the diadem onto the end of the massive table nearest Hermione. He then handed her dragon skin gauntlets that came up past her elbows before holding out the small vial of basilisk venom.
Everyone in the room could feel the evil force this thing was radiating, though its attack was soon concentrated on Hermione. She faltered after taking the full effect of the horcrux probing her defences, only for Harry's hands on her shoulders to give her the confidence and strength she needed to complete this task. With Harry behind her, Sirius and Dobby on either side, Hermione knew she could do this.
Her hand hardly shook and the first drop landed on the diadem's centre stone. Hermione was about to try another drop when tiny cracks began to appear on the large gemstone, that was Harry's cue to pull her back from there. Sirius and Dobby then stood in front of the young couple, all the while the four were retreating as far away from the object as the room allowed.
The goblin contingent mirrored their actions and watched with horrified fascination as black smoke started seeping from the gem. The noise began almost as a low hum, one that soon escalated to screaming as more of the black smoke escaped and formed a mouth. It wasn't until there was enough smoke leeched out to form eyes too that this dark apparition became somewhat sentient, at least sentient enough to start hurling threats and curses at all those witnessing its destruction.
"Fools, I will kill all of you for this. I am Lord Voldemort, the most feared dark lord in history. People fear to say my name..."
"Hey Tom. I'm not frightened, and you're full of shit. Do us all a favour and try dying with some dignity, instead of letting everyone see the rabid animal you've become."
"Who dares say that name?"
An angry Harry had pushed past Sirius to face this thing, though not going close enough to be in any danger. "I dare! I'm Harry Potter, the wizard prophesied to put an end to you once and for all."
"That's not possible, you're a mere boy..."
No sooner had the last of the smoke leeched from the gem to fully form the head than it began collapsing in on itself. Sirius then pulled Harry back as Dobby formed a magical shield around the smoke and diadem. The explosion when it came actually knocked Dobby onto his bum, while his shield had protected everyone else. The table and diadem weren't so lucky however. It appeared as if a four foot bite had been taken out of the table while the diadem was now a twisted and mangled wreck.
As Dobby was getting back to his feet, Harry had his arms wrapped around Hermione. Sirius though was very angry that she had been put in danger. "Dan will flay you alive for this, then Emma will kill you off. What were you thinking?"
"I was thinking this was something Hermione needed to do, more for herself than anything else..." Harry was then interrupted by his intended.
"Sirius, this was my idea. Harry took some persuading, and we decided not to try convincing the rest of the family. We were on a time limit, this had to be done today. It was dealt with, we're all still here, and I promise not to do it again. Dobby, are you alright?"
"Dobby is fine, though a nap would be good."
Hermione knelt and kissed the top of his head. "Go home and have Darla take care of you." He waited until Hermione had given him back the gauntlets and the little venom they had remaining before Dobby popped away.
The goblin contingent had of course been having their own very heated discussions on what they had just witnessed. One of them had the remains of the diadem held at the end of a pikestaff, none of them wanted to go closer than that to this item. It would appear though their discussions were now over, with Ragnok approaching the trio and bowing.
"Lord Potter, Miss Granger, it would seem the Ministry of Magic were correct in recognising your bravery. Thank you for ridding the world of that disgusting taint, I feel dirty just having witnessed that. The only way to cleanse that dirty feeling will be to ensure there are none of these monstrosities hidden away in our bank. You have my word that a search of our vaults is now a top priority, and any found will be destroyed using the method Miss Granger so ably demonstrated. We will contact you as soon as there is any news. Anyone stupid enough to have brought such an item into our bank will see all their possessions confiscated - let them complain to your ministry about it if they wish."
A pleased Harry quickly agreed with that judgement, and he didn't think the ministry would become involved. "Sir, any vault that contains one of these, their owner will in all probability not be in a position to complain about your actions. Thanks to the ministry taking action, they will be in Azkaban - or dead."
This had the remaining goblins banging what was left of the table to show they supported that last outcome.
The trio had barely left the steps of Gringotts when Hermione spun into Harry's arms and the clearly jubilant couple kissed in celebration.
Sirius though still wasn't happy, and let his displeasure out to play. "What the hell were you thinking of in there."
His displeasure crashing against Hermione's happiness however was simply a no-contest, the wide grin she was wearing a clear signal of which emotion had won. She started them walking again before explaining to Sirius what they had just pulled off.
"Going to your island would allow us to live, but not live our lives the way we want to. Our only hope of being able to do that was getting the goblins on board, unless you fancy trying to break into Gringotts and robbing some vaults? Vaults that we don't even know who they might belong to, far less where they are."
"What my wonderful girl is trying to say is we spent last night with Albus and Dobby, going over every move we made in there today. Albus said goblins like a show, we gave them one. We even considered Fawkes flaming in with the diadem but needed Dobby there…"
"Dobby kinda insisted he was going to be there, whether we asked Fawkes or not. He is rather protective of us…"
"After that night in Hogwarts, he won't let Hermione out of his sight. Yes we took a risk, but it was a calculated one. Albus told us the goblins value honesty, courage and honour, we gave them all three today. Ragnok went from growling at us to spit out why we were there to bowing and calling us by our titles. The goblins will now hopefully find what we think is the last piece of the puzzle, leaving the bastard mortal. Next time we put him down, he stays down."
Seeing this side of his godson had Sirius asking a question. "Are you okay with that, Harry?"
He tried to explain his view on the matter to Sirius. "When you have a rabid dog, there really is only one option. It's incurable, so has to be put down before it can infect anything else. Do you think Voldemort can be rehabilitated?"
Looking at his godson as if he was crazy saw Harry smiling back at Sirius. "Let's go and have some lunch with our family, then shop for a few Christmas presents for our wonderful ladies. The New Year is now looking a whole lot better than it was just a few days ago, so let's all celebrate that."
Hermione was already on Harry's arm, Sirius offering the witch his too saw the three of them heading for the Leaky Cauldron - and then muggle London.