Your eyes are trained to the rough waves outside of the cottage. A steaming cup of tea in your hand. Bill and Fleur are nice enough to give you a room to stay in their home.
You've wanted to go search for Theo immediately, but Fleur forced you to have a shower. You felt grimy and dirty and just gross and once out of the shower were you glad she did so. That's what being stuck in a basement for half a year does to you.
Once you've finally seen yourself in the mirror for the first time in months, a gasp left you. You've lost weight and a lot of it. It has made the scars over your body more prominent. Your hair is matted and nasty, sticking out at odd angles. But the worst is the word traitor carved into your collarbone.
So... that is what Bellatrix did to you? Dear Merlin. It makes you want to puke. The fact that you've physically been permanently damaged by her makes your airways tighten up. Fleur has helped you through one or two nightly panic attacks. Salazar bless her.
Said woman comes over to you with a bowl filled with steaming porridge. "Eat up", she says gently, "you need to strengthen."
With a smile, you take the bowl. "Thank you. Not just for the food, but also for letting me stay here."
Fleur joins you staring out of the window. You slowly eat the porridge to not upset your stomach. You hesitate for a moment, not sure if you're in a position to ask for anything. "Do you maybe know... if- where Theodore is? Theodore Nott."
She looks over her shoulder towards Bill, who's washing up some dishes at the sink. They seem to silently communicate towards one another, leaving you out of their discussion.
"He's staying at Grimmault Place", says Bill after a pleasing look from Fleur. "But that was before he was sent to mainland Europe on Shacklebolt's orders."
A cold plunge envelops your body. He's... gone? Fighting a war that your generation has no reason to be involved in?
You feel a soft hand on your shoulder. Fleur gives you a sympathetic smile as she holds up a handkerchief. Only then do you realise that tears run in two streaks down your cheeks. You sniff and turn around, hiding away from them.
"Is there... is there any news about him?", you croak out, doing your best to get your emotions under control.
But you get the message when Bill stays silent. You nod wordlessly and turn around. You walk out the door and towards the sea. You drop to a sitting position and bury your toes in the sand.
The smell of the sea and the sand brings back memories of easier times. A time when you still had to watch out and take care of each other, it was far before the torture and heartbreak.
Someone drops down next to you silently, their hands playing with something. You glance to your side, but Hermione keeps on staring in front of her. In her hands a wand. Your wand. It got taken before you were forced into the cellar.
"Are you alright?", you ask softly, your tired eyes raking over her body. You wonder what Bellatrix has done to her.
The girl nods before looking at you. "Are you alright?"
"I will be. I just... I need to- I don't know what I will do now. What are you guy's next move?" You pull your knees to your chin, burying your face.
Hermione hesitates for a moment. She lays the wand in front of you in the sand. But you feel no desire to touch it.
"We think there is a Horcrux in the Lestrange family vault at Gringotts."
You stiffen. "How are you attempting to get in?" Logistically, there is no way that the three of them pass the goblins at the bank. They have to one, identify themselves with a wand that belongs to the Lestrange family. And two, they're public enemy number one.
"We've got her wand and a hair."
"Pollyjuice potion? That's your plan? How are you going to bypass the endless counter-spell measures?"
She looks helplessly behind you. You turn around and see Ron and Harry standing at the cottage. Then it clicks. "You're asking for my help."
"I'm sorry, (Y/n). We wouldn't be asking if it wasn't necessary."
A deep sigh leaves your lips. "Fine", you let out. "But I first need to let Sirius know that I am okay."
Grabbing your wand, you fire off a couple of spells into the sand to test if it is actually your wand. And if your magic still works after all this time.
Once that's done, you conjure a piece of paper and a pen. You pen a quick letter to Sirius about what happened and that you're okay. You also ask to let Teddy know that you're alive and kicking once he comes back. You give the letter to Bill and Fleur's owl and watch it fly away with the letter.
"So...", you ask, turning around to the Golden Trio, "what's the plan?"
"This is the most reckless plan I've ever heard", you grumble lowly as you walk between Hermione — who's Polijuiced to look like Bellatrix — and a slightly edgier Ron than normal. Your Dark Mark is in full display with the dress you're wearing and you hate it. Harry is somewhere with Griphook under the invisibility cloak.
Hermione stumbles a few times over her heels as you all approach the front desk. You clench your teeth and sneer at the goblins that look up from their work. Pretty much what the Dark Lord's Heir should do, in your opinion.
It's very quiet in the lobby when Hermione clears her throat. But no reaction from the goblin. "I wish to enter my vault."
You cringe internally at how un-Bellatrix Lestrange she sounds. You should have taken the roll.
"Identification?", says the goblin uninterested.
The unsure look in Hermione's eyes makes you speak up. You step in front of her and glare at the goblin. "I hardly think that'll be necessary", you sneer.
The little man looks up from his work as he recognizes your voice. "Madam Lestrange. Mrs Nott." He stands up straight before turning around.
"I don't like to be kept waiting." Hermione calls after the goblin as she folds her arms in front of her chest.
"They know", whispers Griphook. "They know she's an imposter. They've been warned."
You share a look with Ron, who looks ready to pass out when guards approach your group from multiple points.
The goblin returns with another one. "Madam Lestrange, would you mind presenting your wand?", asks the other goblin.
"And why should I do that?" She's getting better at pretending to be Bellatrix, with the way she holds herself.
The way the goblin speaks to Hermione gives the impression that he's speaking to a child. "It's the bank's policy. I'm sure you understand given the current climate."
"No", you growl, "we most certainly do not understand. I won't imagine the Dark Lord be very pleased to hear when his Heir and most trusted follower are denied access." At this point, you're giving the others time to think up a plan. And you hope it comes soon.
Softly, from next to the goblin you hear Harry whisper out, "Imperio", before the goblin's face changes. He sniffs deeply as a smile forms on his face.
"Very well, Madam Lestrange. If you will follow me."
The five you get lead to a minecart that sets off at high speed. Griphook steers the cart while the other goblin sits in the back, high as a kite.
"What is that, Griphook?", questions Harry as you pass over a waterfall that splashes down on the tracks below. "Griphook!", he inquires as the goblin tries to break but the cart doesn't seem to work.
You brace yourself for the water to hit you. Once you've passed under it Hermione is Hermione again and the cart has come to a screeching halt. A red light pops up before an alarm shrieks. Suddenly, the bottom of the cart slides from under you and you all plunge into the darkness below.
Hermione thinks quick on her feet as she casts a spell which seems to stop you just short of the ground. The spell releases you and you let out a grunt as you still drop pretty harshly on the ground.
You clamber up, looking around. "Oh no, you look like you again", you point out at Hermione.
"The Thief's Downfall. Washes away all enchantments. Can be deadly", explains Griphook
Ron makes a snide remark but acts quick as the other goblin wakes up from his Imperio haze. You want to make a remark that while you are the Dark Lord's daughter, you haven't used the forbidden curses voluntarily, unlike the Golden Trio.
But now is not the place nor the time for that.
As you approach the vault, a low rumbling and growling comes from within. A pit forms in your stomach as you recognise what that means. You've heard your aunt and uncle talk about an extreme security measure before when returning from fetching you money for school. But you never believed it to be true. Until today.
White as snow and wrapped in rusty chains, a dragon lies in front of the entrance to the vault. Scars and wounds decorate the skin of the dragon. It nurses his paw with pitiful whines.
"Bloody hell, that's a Ukrainian Ironbelly." Ron looks in amazement towards the poor dragon.
A pit from in your stomach as Griphook hands out rattles. When he starts to shake the rattles, the Ukrainian Ironbelly flinches away.
"It's been trained to expect pain when it hears the noise."
"That's barbaric!" You huff out angrily.
"It's effective", quips Griphook back as your group easily bypasses the dragon to the vault. He lays the hand of the other goblin on the door and it opens.
Everywhere you look inside is silver and gold. On every table, wall, or even every inch of the floor; leaving just enough room to walk around. Holding up your lightened wand, you realise all this is yours. Bellatrix and Rodolphus don't have children of their own. So as Bellatrix' only daughter, it's yours. Or will it go to Rodolphus' brother?
"Accio Horcrux", Hermione calls out, but nothing happens.
Ron turns towards her. "You're not trying that one again, are you?"
But you know it's here. It's in the vault because you feel it. It calls to you.
"Is it in here, Harry? Can you feel anything?"
"Yes", both you and Harry reply, looking at each other.
You look around, your eyes drawn to a certain point of the vault. "It's there", you point out. Up high, you hear it whisper to you to come and get it. To touch it. It makes your skin crawl. The golden cup gleams evilly at you.
Hermione gasps as she accidentally bumps against a table. A cup topples over and starts to multiply. Of course, the Lestarnges are not that stupid to not put a curse in the vault.
"Give me the sword."
Hermione pulls out a sword from her beaded bag and throws it at Harry. Since when does that fit in there?
As cups and plates and trophies multiply around you, Harry scales the growing pile of gold. The room starts to fill with objects as everyone struggles.
"Stop moving!", you call out and the room stops filling. Only Harry's pile is still growing until he snatches the cup. He bursts out of the pile, but the cup flies from his hands. Into that of Griphook.
"We've had a deal, Griphook."
The goblin in question holds out his hand. "The cup for the sword."
Reluctantly, Harry throws the sword at Griphook, who in turn throws the cup towards you. You catch it and it sizzles in your hand. Your head twitches harshly.
A mean gleam takes over Griphook's features. "I said I'd get you in. I didn't say anything about getting you out." He opens the door and the cursed riches pile out.
The four of you stumble out and watch how Griphook escapes and the other goblin gets burned to a crisp.
Guards fire blasting curses at you and you hide behind the pillars. "We can't just stand here! Who's got an idea?", yells Hermione above the blastst.
"You're the brilliant one!", argues Ron back.
You shake your head. "I've got an idea. But it's mad. Reducto." You fire the spell at the railing and it flies off. You run back before launching yourself on the dragon's back. The others follow you and grip tightly to the spikes on the back of the dragon.
"Relashio." The chain that holds the dragon snaps. It fires another blast towards the guards before it looks up. You follow its gaze and see your way out. The dragon climbs its way up, destroying a train track in its wake and sending a bunch of guards into the depts.
Bursting through the floor of the lobby, the dragon breathes fire around itself. Finally, it makes its way through the roof and sits like a gigantic pigeon on the roof, catching its breath.
Hermione fires a spell at its tail and the dragon flies off. You soar through the sky, getting a wonderful look over London.
You don't know for how long you've been staying put before the four of you drop down into a lake.
You feel it. His anger. Voldemort knows that Harry's been destroying Horcruxes. It's all-consuming. Searing. Red hot. He knows you've escaped the Manor. He knows you've betrayed him. And he is outraged.