"What do you know of the Deathly Hallows?" Harry asked Mr Ollivander, curiosity written all over his face.
I frowned, and looked to Ron and Hermione. "The Deathly Hallows? As in the children's story...?"
Hermione nodded at me and then looked back to Harry. "We'll explain later," Ron muttered in reply, eager to hear Mr Ollivander's response. The old man gulped and rubbed his brow, thinking hard before he answered. "It is rumoured that there are three; the Elder Wand; the Cloak of Invisibility, to hide you from your enemies; and the Resurrection Stone, to bring back loved ones from the dead. Together, they make one the master of death.
"But few truly believe that such objects exist," he added quickly, upon seeing the glint in Harry's eyes. "Do you?" Harry asked him quickly, before he could change the topic. "Do you believe they exist, sir?"
Mr Ollivander flicked his eyes between us, uncertainty written on his features. "Well," he stammered, "I see no reason to put stock into an old wives tale."
"You're lying," Harry retorted. Mr Ollivander's uneasy smile diminished as Harry continued warily. "You know one exists. You told him about it. You told him about the Elder Wand, and where he could go looking for it."
Mr Ollivander looked at Harry in horror, the guilt filling his eyes as he gulped and shut his eyes for a moment, calming himself before starting to speak again. "He tortured me..." he stammered, drifting off as if he couldn't bear to relive the experience in any greater detail. Guilt filled me as I wondered if it had been one of my potions that had caused him such pain, or that it had happened up at Malfoy Manor, with Draco and I such close proximity and so happy.
"Besides, I only conveyed rumours," he continued, staring at the floor so that he wouldn't have to meet Harry's gaze. "There's... there's no telling whether he'll find it."
Harry sighed deeply as his lip quivered slightly. "He has found it, sir."
Mr Ollivander looked up slowly, terror filling his eyes as he realised what he had done. I tried to recall my memories of the Elder Wand from my childhood; the tales of Beedle the Bard having been my favourite book as a child. I had many memories of Ron, Ginny and I all climbing into Mum and Dad's bed, burying ourselves beneath the covers as Mum took a seat at the foot of the bed and began to read. Before long, Fred, George, Charlie, Bill and even Percy would come in too and climb into bed, and together we would all cuddle and listen for hours to Mum reading until she decided it was time for us younger ones to go to bed. But still, despite the many readings, I couldn't remember many details about this infamous 'Elder Wand.' I could barely remember the story it was from, although three brothers did ring a bell.
"We'll let you rest, Sir," Harry muttered to Mr Ollivander, standing up and rejoining Ron, Hermione and I.
"He's after you, Mr Potter," Mr Ollivander called after us. Harry stopped and looked over his shoulder, listening as Mr Ollivander sighed and continued. "If it's true, what you say, and he has the Elder Wand, I'm afraid you really don't stand a chance."
Hermione glowered at Mr Ollivander. I tugged at Harry's sleeve and pulled him gently after me. But Harry stood still and, as calm and collected as I had ever heard him, replied "I suppose I'll have to kill him before he finds me, then."
With that, Harry Potter stormed out.
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"So what's going on then? All of this about the Elder Wand?" I asked as I mixed a batch of polyjuice potion. The others were sat around the kitchen watching as I worked, Hermione taking notes on how to speed up the brewing process and Ron chopping through an apple.
Harry ran a hand through his thick dark hair and sighed. "Dumbledore left Hermione a copy of this book, called the 'Tales of Beedle the Bard.' Do you know it?"
I nodded as I threw a dash of lacewings into the brew. "Of course, Mum used to read it to Ron, Ginny and I when we were children. It's the wizarding equivalent of a tale fairy."
"Fairy tale," Hermione corrected as she continued to scribble.
"Well, you know how Luna's father, Mr Lovegood was wearing that symbol at the wedding, of the triangle with a circle and a line inside?" I thought hard; it had been many months since Bill's wedding and a lot had happened, but eventually I recalled what Harry was talking about and nodded. "Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?"
Quickly, Hermione recounted the Tale of Three Brothers as I worked, and once she had finished it I nodded in recognition. "So this pendant that Luna's father was wearing, symbolises the Deathly Hallows?"
Ron nodded with his apple and messily scribbled it on a piece of paper in front of me. "The Elder Wand," he murmured through chomping, pointing to the long central line, "the Invisibilty Cloak" he added as he pointed to the triangle, "and the Resurrection Stone."
I felt a glimmer of something within me at the mention of this stone. If we were to find it, I could speak to Charlie, Cedric, Millicent, my father. Everybody I loved who had died, I could tell them I was sorry, and let them know how much I missed them. I wanted the stone more than I had ever wanted anything in my entire existence, and staying calm so not to let the others catch on was difficult. "So if the Dark Lord has the Elder Wand, and you have the Invisibility Cloak, where's the Resurrection Stone?"
They all shrugged. "Who knows, but it doesn't really matter. What we need to focus on is destroying the remaining horcruxes before the Dark Lord catches us, and then I should be able to take him down," Harry replied.
I nodded in agreement, although I couldn't stop thinking about the stone. Here was a chance for me to see Charlie, my father, Cedric and Millicent again. I needed to see them, and so even though Harry had tossed it to the bottom of his list of things to do, I found myself moving it to the top of mine.
I stirred the potion three times as the others watched in awe, and then with a sigh, I looked up.
"It's done."
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Given my close affinity to Bellatrix Lestrange and knowledge of her family and personality, we all decided that I should play her part. Ron and Hermione were to take the form of two Death Eaters they had scuffled with and snatched some hair from whilst we were at Malfoy Manor, and Harry and Griphook would hide under the Invisibility Cloak.
I split the potion into three portions and dressed in the hideous black robes that Fleur had found in the bottom of an old wardrobe belonging to my aunt before she moved away. But however disgusting the robes looked, they were perfect for Bellatrix.
Ron and Hermione dressed in some old black robes Hermione had in her mysterious beaded handbag, and after saying goodbye to Bill and Fleur, we met in the living room of Shell Cottage.
Hermione held up the hair she had snatched from Bellatrix Lestrange, and stared intently at it. "Are you sure that's hers?" Ron asked carefully, he too staring at the dark, curling hair. Hermione nodded slightly. "Positive," she replied.
She pursed her lips, and I slowly held out my vial of polyjuice potion. Hermione looked at me and nodded, before dropping the hair into the liquid. I took a deep breath, waving my wand over the liquid to complete the potion, before carrying it outside. I didn't want them to watch me endure what was most likely going to be a horrendous transformation, given how vile Bellatrix's life essence must be. I was glad in that instant as I headed down the beach that the flask I meant to drink it from was opaque, so at least I couldn't see how vile it looked and be dissuaded.
I found a patch a few hundred yards along from the house, hidden in the sand dunes, and took care not to get any sand on my dress. It would only raise suspicion, since Bellatrix Lestrange hardly seemed like the type to enjoy getting a tan on the sand in between slaughtering muggle-borns.
With a deep breathe, I uncorked the flask and with a moment of pause, I downed the vile liquid in one.
It was awful; by far the worst batch of polyjuice potion I had ever tasted. Compared to the relatively docile golden liquid that Harry's had been, this was horrific. I gagged and retched as my insides fought to throw it back up, but my head refused. I had to keep this down, otherwise it would be wasted. My head and my body fought with each other and I fell onto the grass, clasping at my throat. Hurry up, please hurry up, I begged the potion, waiting to feel a tingling sensation as the effects of the potion began to work. Then, finally, they did. I felt myself grow and my nose and chin elongate, my feet grow in my boots and my already curly hair turning into black and grey ringlets. My fingers became long and gnarled, the fingernails long enough to scratch somebody's eyes out. How typical of Bellatrix.
Eventually the tingling stopped and I staggered to my feet, shivering as I looked down at my hands. I didn't want to see my reflection; call me shallow, but for the first time in my life, I was ugly.
When I was certain that I had recovered, I began to trudge up the beach, practicing Bellatrix's walk as I went. By the time I was back at the house, it seemed as if I had perfected it, the arrogant air she always surrounded herself with only too easy to replicate when you had been forced to spend as much time with the witch as I had.
Reaching the others, I admired my handiwork in masking Ron and Hermione, who looked exactly like two of the Death Eaters I had seen regularly at Malfoy Manor. I stopped in front of them and saw their eyes go wide in their heads - I must be the perfect clone of Bellatrix too.
"Well," I hissed, "how do I look?"
"Hideous," Ron retorted, amusement clear in his tone. I shot him a glare and jumped slightly in his direction, making him flinch. It was as if he thought I was actually Bellatrix.
"You can give that to Hermione to hold, alright Griphook?" Harry told the goblin who had appeared behind me. Griphook sauntered over to Hermione who produced her beaded bag from beneath her cloak, and opened it up so that the goblin could store Godric Gryffindor's sword within it.
I looked down at Dobby's grave, around which we had gathered, and added another name to the list of people I had to avenge. It was grower long by the day at the moment, and I hated the thought that it was going to get any bigger.
Ron held out his hand, which Hermione took. Harry laid his hand on top of hers, and then I placed my horrid Bellatrix-fingers on top of his. We all looked to the goblin, who was stepping towards us with what looked like doubt in his eyes. He was so certain that we were going to fail, that Gringotts was impenetrable.
Well I terribly wanted to prove him wrong.
"We're relying on you Griphook," Harry hissed at the goblin. "If you get us past the guards and into the vault, the sword is yours."
The goblin hesitated, studying Harry's words before he tentatively reached out and placed his hand on top of ours. Then, with a crack, Ron apparated us away from the warm beach at Shell Cottage.
We tumbled through nothingness for a few moments in the way one does whilst apparating; feeling as if our bodies were being tugged this way one moment and then the other way the next. It was a struggle to hold onto each other, but we did, and after what must have been only a few seconds after departing the beach, we landed in a dark corner of what I quickly realised was Knockturn Alley.
I steadied myself for a moment in the shadows, taking a deep breath as I got into character. I ran a hand through my scraggly curls and stood up a little straighter, preparing myself to saunter in the way that Bellatrix did. Then, I stepped out of the shadows and stared at the scene in front of me.
Diagon Alley had become derelict and was all but abandoned nowadays, every last shop having been shut down in the six months since I had last visited. I cast a mournful look towards Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, the windows and doors of which were bored up and with sign reading that the Weasley twins were still making deliveries by owl. I smirked to myself as I imagined Fred and George sending out parcel after parcel of products, trying to control a swarm of owls who were acting as their postmen.
"Madame Lestrange," a passing man in black robes said. I went to say good morning but stopped myself, adjusting myself so a sneer appeared on my (or rather Bellatrix's) ugly features. The man seemed to gulp and then hurried off as quickly as he had appeared, and when he was gone I turned back to the others and quirked my eyebrow triumphantly.
"Okay," Harry said, crouching down so Griphook could jump on his back. "Let's do it."
When Griphook was in place, Ron and Hermione hurried to help them throw the Invisibility Cloak over them, hiding them from view. Harry had to crouch now in a way that he hadn't when he had first received the cloak at 11, since he had grown a lot over the years and the clothes that had once drowned him as a child were too small. When the hem of the cloak trailed along the ground and not a hint of the boy beneath could be seen, we nodded at each other, and then stepped out of the protection of the alleyway and into Diagon Alley.
I sauntered up to Gringotts, looking at Ron expectantly as I paused at the door. It took him a few moments to react, but then he pushed the door open and held it for me. I felt a brush against my leg as Harry rushed through first. I had to admit it, Ron was playing his part of a Death Eater low in the Dark Lord's ranks well - he looked positively terrified of me.
Or perhaps he actually was.
My heels clacked against the floor loudly as I entered the building, Hermione and Ron trailing behind me like dogs behind their master. I shot a glare at a goblin hiding behind his stacks of golden galleons and sniffed as he returned to cowering.
I lifted my head haughtily, making my eyes wide and malevolent as Bellatrix did, and walked slowly to frighten the goblins. The sound of my shoes against the marble flooring was the only sound in the magnificent room that had always amazed me as a child, apart from the clinking as the goblins weighed and sorted through the coins.
I looked about the room with an air of arrogance, noticing that there were a lot of guards. Had somebody warned them?
We reached the clerk at the top of the room, and I bit my lip impatiently, tapping my foot as I waited for the head goblin to notice me. "Ahem," I cleared my throat indignantly, raising my eyebrows at him as he didn't stop writing. Did this goblin have a death wish?
"I wish to enter my vault," I sneered, doing my best impersonation of Bellatrix's scratchy voice. The goblin still didn't look up from his work, but instead muttered "identification."
"I hardly think that will be necessary!" I hissed.
The goblin looked up and dropped his quill, straightening up as he stared at me. "Madam Lestrange!" he exclaimed.
I twitched my nose and bared my teeth into a growl, something that I had noticed Bellatrix do on several occasions when she meant to intimidate people. It worked, because the goblin backed away, and then turned to disappear behind his podium.
"I don't like to be kept waiting!" I barked, drawing the whole attention of the room. Oh well, Bellatrix wouldn't care - she never was one to cower from attention.
Suddenly, I heard a whisper in my ear. "They know," Griphook said. "They know you're an imposter. They've been warned!"
Ron glanced over his shoulder and cursed as he saw a guard approaching us from the back of room, slowly so not to cause any alarm and alert us that we were about to be attacked.
"Harry?" Ron whispered to our friend, who was thankfully nowhere to be seen but no doubt was there. "What do we do Harry?"
In keeping with my character, I looked over my shoulder and shot him a glare. "I've told you to be quiet a thousand times, Champley, you know how your voice annoys me. If you talk one more time, I will rip out your tongue, is that understood?" Ron's eyes went wide with shook, but he nodded quickly in reply, keeping the act up. "Yes Madam Lestrange, sorry Madam Lestrange," he replied hurriedly.
On top of the podium, the goblin returned with whom must be his supervisor, since he looked older and his suit was considerably finer. There was a glittering silver badge on his jacket that read his name - 'Bogrod.'
"Madam Lestrange, would you mind presenting your wand?" Bogrod asked. I thought carefully - presenting Bellatrix's wand would be openly confessing that we were imposters, since Bellatrix would have informed them that her wand had been stolen. But handing over my own wand would be signing my own death warrant.
I scowled in horror. "And why should I do that?" I retorted, daring him to challenge with my/Bellatrix's eyes.
"It's the banks policy!" the goblin explained. "I'm sure you understand given the current climate!"
"No!" I snapped back, growling slightly as I enunciated my next words. "I most certainly do not understand! Can you believe this fool, Champley, questioning me? I expect that the Dark Lord would be very eager to punish anyone who would question his most loyal follower!"
Bogrod gulped but nevertheless stood his ground. I had to admire his resolve, if my palms were not sweating from the thought of being captured. "I'm afraid I must insist," he replied.
I snarled and stood my ground, waiting for a few crucial moments. Then I heard it, the whisper of "imperio!" as Harry used one of the Three Unforgivable Curses on the goblin. To my relief, it brought him under our control immediately, as he sniffed and sighed deeply, a wistful smile settling on his blank face.
"I refuse," I added quickly.
"Very well, Madam Lestrange. If you will follow me."
Bogrod climbed down the podium and stopped in front of us. I cast a glance over my shoulder and saw the guard retreating back to his place, and then looked back at the goblin waiting patiently for me to follow. With a triumphant smirk, I followed Bogrod, my heels clacking against the floor once more, and barked for 'Champley' and 'Beetlemark' to hurry up.
We followed Bogrod down to where we were supposed to climb into one of the carriages, and watched as he dismissed the driver, saying that Madam Lestrange was a very important person and only he had authorisation to deal in her affairs. The driver disappeared dumbfounded, and we all climbed into the carriage and began to speed off. When the coast was clear, Harry removed the Invisibility Cloak and handed it to Hermione to store in her bag. Griphook took the control as Bogrod sat back, oblivious to what was going on.
We twisted and turned at an alarming rate, climbing higher and then suddenly dropping as we tore through the deep caverns in which one could find the Gringotts vaults. I looked to Hermione and saw that even as a Death Eater, she was a shade of green and had clamped her eyes tightly shut. I reached across and squeezed her hand supportively; Hermione opened her eyes a little and then jumped out of her skin when she saw me, or rather Bellatrix smiling at her. "It's only me, Hermione," I said in my own voice. She nodded, as if she had forgotten all about the plan and the polyjuice potion, and then returned to clamping her eyes shut and holding her breath as we plummeted once again.
We span around the corner, and suddenly below us we saw a grand waterfall, of which the water seemed to glimmer with the magic inside it. "What is that, Griphook?" Harry screamed, his eyes doubling beneath his round glasses as the goblin slammed on the brakes and tried to stop us from following the curve downwards and then passing through the waterfall. But it was no use - the spray from the waterfall had made the tracks slick and wet, and no matter how hard the goblin tried, the brakes wouldn't take hold.
"Griphook!" Harry exclaimed, clutching onto the carriage to brace himself as we sped ever closer to the ominous waterfall. I looked at Ron in alarm and the figure I knew my brother was inside reached out and took my hand, the pair of us clutching onto each other for dear life. I took a deep breath as sparks flew from the brakes all too late, and we sped through the waterfall, getting drenched in the process.
I panted deeply, water dripping from my long hair which - as I looked - had returned to my normal chestnut brown curls. We all looked at each other in horror as an alarm rose from the front of the carriage and began to exude flashing orange light, screeching out and announcing our position to all who would hear. And as if that was bad enough, suddenly all the seats in the carriage gave out and we were falling to the ground hundreds of feet below at a thousand miles per hour.
I barely had time to scream as we fell, fumbling uselessly in my robes for my wand. The hard stone ground sped every closer and we - the four wizards and two goblins - were soon about to be squashed. I shut my eyes and braced myself as we got closer, Draco's image filling my mind. I couldn't die yet, I hadn't had the chance to properly say goodbye to Draco. I could feel the metal of my engagement ring against my finger and the warmth of the Malfoy Locket buried beneath my clothes and against my heart. Now would be a good time to make an appearance, I silently asked the supposedly great magic within, but nothing happened. I squinted my eyes tightly closed, and then prepared myself for the end.
"Arresto momentum!" Hermione screamed, and all of a sudden I came to a halt. I opened my eyes just in time to see all six of us hovering a foot above the ground, and then for us to come down again with a thud. I groaned loudly, rolling over onto my back and hauling myself slowly to my feet.
"Well done Hermione," Harry commended Hermione, who was too busy grimacing and dragging herself upright to thank him. In the distance, I could still hear the carriage screaming, and found myself wondering how long it would be before the guards arrived. We had to work quickly, otherwise all could be lost.
"Oh no you look like you again!" Harry exclaimed as he looked at me. I looked down at my hands and saw that they had returned to their normal, petite size, and couldn't help but smile. The soaking wet robes drowned me now - Bellatrix being a few sizes taller than I - but that couldn't be helped. We had bigger things to worry about.
Griphook staggered forward and looked up at the waterfall. "The Thief's Downfall," he commented, "washes away any enchantments. Can be deadly."
Ron shot him a venomous look and narrowed his eyes. "You don't say?" he retorted sarcastically, although it seemed as if it was lost on the goblin, who stared back at him in confusion. "Just out of interest, is there any other way out of here?" Ron asked him. The goblin shook his head. "No."
Ron looked next to me. "Have you got any leftover polyjuice potion?" I shook my head and rubbed my elbow, which was throbbing painfully. "We used it all. Besides, we don't have any hair to use - even if we had taken some of our hair whilst we were under the polyjuice potion, it wouldn't have worked, since it's technically still our own hair, just with the properties changed..."
"Save us the potions lesson, Li!" Ron barked back at me. I felt my eyes go wide in surprise, Ron rarely stood up to me, but nevertheless I shut up. Now obviously wasn't the time.
"What the devil are all you doing down here?" Bogrod exclaimed, Harry's Imperius Curse having worn off. We all stared at him dumbly, watching as rage grew inside the small goblin. "Thieves!" he declared, snarling at each of us until his gaze settled on Griphook. "When you gave up your keys, you..."
I rolled my eyes and grabbed my wand from within my robes. "Imperio!" I shouted, remembering the lessons in casting the Three Unforgivable Curses I had been forced to take at Malfoy Manor with a shiver. As usual it worked, and the goblin's rage melted away, replaced only by a vague, absent-minded smile.
Suddenly there was a loud roar nearby, and Hermione jumped next to me. Ron - being Ron - looked around us and smiled half-heartedly. "That doesn't sound good," he murmured, looking in the direction from which the sound had come. With apprehension about what would lie around the corner in the pit of our stomachs, we all raised our wands and began to creep towards the tunnel in which we could find Bellatrix Lestrange's vault, moving slowly so not to startle whatever beast waited inside.
Upon reaching the end of the tunnel, Ron went first, peering around and examining the surroundings. Then he beckoned for the rest of us to look too, and I gasped in horror at what I saw.
A great dragon, larger than any I had ever seen, was sprawled on the floor of the entrance to the vault, with heavy chains around it's neck and body, pinning it's wings to it's sides. The chains had dug deep into it's neck and body, leaving red, bloody wounds that no doubt caused the creature a great deal of pain. It rested with it's head curled up into it's body, as if it were too beaten and broken to fight any longer. I clenched my fists looking at it, Charlie filling my mind and how horrified he would be if he knew that Gringotts were treating a creature he adored in such a terrible way. I could see him now, writing letter after letter to all of his Dragonologist friends and telling them what he had seen, and together they would cause such a ruckus that Gringotts wouldn't have known what had hit them.
But Charlie was dead.
"Bloody hell," Ron exclaimed, watching the spectacular 60ft long beast with the same fascination that Charlie would have. "That's the Ukranian Ironbelly!" Ron spun around to me, his smile of admiration wide on his face. "Li, what would Charlie think if he saw this? He's never seen a Ukranian Ironbelly - he told me!"
I forced a half-hearted smile for my brother, who then turned back to staring at the dragon. "Here," Griphook said, handing me a strange rattle like object. He proceeded to hand one to Ron and then kept one for himself, before stepping out and starting to rattle it. A horrid grating noise filled the room and the dragon's ears perked up, the beast lifting it's huge head and spouting a little burst of fire before he heard the sound properly and began to cower backwards. Ron joined in, making the sound louder and in time with Griphook's, and then finally I did too.
"It's been trained to expect pain when it hears the noise," Griphook shouted as the six of us began to creep around the edge of the room, not wanting to antagonise the beast too much. In his dreamy state, Bogrod strolled as if he was going for a wander in the park without a care in the world. Bellatrix had been right when she'd told me that the Imperius Curse really did turn men into mushrooms.
"That's barbaric," Hermione hissed at Griphook. The goblin didn't reply as we all continued to creep around the room, the dragon whimpering in fear. I looked at Hermione's face, which contorted as the dragon cried out again, and remembered her SPEW campaign for house-elf welfare in our fourth year - Hermione truly despised abuse to animals for than anything else.
We reached the corner of the room where there were a few flights of metal stairs, and placed the rattles down into another box as we came out of range of the Ironbelly's fire. Hermione cast a regretful look back the creature before Harry pulled her along and the Ironbelly became out of her sight.
Griphook led us up the stairs, the rest of us hurrying to keep up for fear of being left behind. Upon reaching the top and the old metal doorway to the Lestrange vault, he grabbed Bogrod's hand and pressed his palm against the cold metal. The goblin sighed as a shiver of magic rushed over the door, and the metal began to clank as the hundreds of locks undid and the door creaked open. Wasting no time, Harry rushed in with his wand raised and ready to attack. Quickly Ron and Hermione followed, and I shot Griphook a glare before I entered too. The goblin looked shifty, as if he were planning something, and I didn't like it one bit.
But still, he'd kept his promise and got us down to the vault. I nodded at him instead, hoping that him thinking we had faith in him would make him feel guilty and stop him from doing whatever he was about to do. Then, I stepped inside, with Griphook and Bogrod close behind me, and the door slammed shut.
We were in.
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Please if you haven't already, check out my new story Hardly a Lady! I'm very proud of the idea and think that it's some of my best writing, so I'd love it if you would check it out!
Thank you again!