I gently laid Dobby on the grass and grabbed Harry and Ron. Hermione was unconscious on the couch inside and Luna was helping Ollivander into a room.

Harry and Ron walked back outside with me and we dug a deep whole to bury Dobby in. None of us spoke.

Once Dobby was properly buried with a makeshift tombstone, we reentered the cottage, falling into the available beds or couches and sleeping immediately.

~~~

I awoke to something poking me in the back. I sat up slowly, feeling around the couch for whatever had touched me, and I found a wand.

The wand was familiar and it wasn't long before I realised it was Draco's. I must have put it in my pocket after he gave it to me.

Suddenly wide awake, I stood up, stretching. Harry was pacing on the other side of the room.

"Did you sleep at all?" I asked.

"Not much," he answered, stopping. "We need to talk to Griphook and Ollivander."

I followed Harry upstairs and into Griphook's room. He was sitting on the bed, looking out the open window.

"We need your help," Harry announced, sitting down on a chair. "I knew I recognised you. You helped us as Gringotts six years ago, right?"

"Yes, Potter. What do you need me for?"

"We need to break into Bellatrix's vault."

I coughed. "What?"

"I'll explain later," he said. "So, can you help us?"

"I will help you, but on one condition: The Sword of Gryffindor."

"No!" said Harry. He had grabbed it before leaving the manor.

"Then I am afraid," Griphook said, "we do not have a deal."

Harry sighed and left the room, turning to find Ollivander's room.

"What do we need in Bellatrix's vault?"

"She said something yesterday that made me believe that she's hiding something important there. Maybe Hufflepuff's cup?"

"That makes sense," I said. "Maybe you should just give Griphook the sword? He can help is get the cup."

"He can't have the sword! We need it."

"I know, but he's our best bet."

Harry ignored me and opened the door to Ollivander's room.

"Oh," he croaked, "hello."

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"Yes, yes," the wandmaker said, his voice quiet and hoarse. "They just had us locked up for so long, with no food or anything. . . ."

"We have some things to ask you," Harry said, changing the subject. "First, can you identify these wands?"

Harry handed a wand to him and I gave him Draco's.

Olivander took Harry's first, turning it slightly in his fingers. "Walnut and dragon heartstring," he said. "Twelve-and-three-quarter inches. Unyielding. This wand belongs to Bellatrix Lestrange." He gave the wand back and examined Draco's. "Hawthorn and unicorn hair. Ten inches precisely. Reasonably springy. This was the wand of Draco Malfoy."

"Was?" I asked. "Isn't it still his?"

"Perhaps not. If you took it—"

"He gave it to me."

"—then it may be yours. He willingly gave up his wand, so its allegiance most likely changed."

"Why did he give you his wand?" Harry asked.

I shrugged, just as sure as him. I grabbed the wand back and pocketed it.

~~~

I jumped as Bellatrix walked behind me, smiling. "Are you ready to get out of here?" Hermione said happily.

Hermione used the last of the Polyjuice Potion to change into Bellatrix so that we could get into her vault at Gringotts.

She turned to Ron, giving him a beard and changing his hair colour to brown. Hermione did the same to me, and my hair grew and grew until it reached past my waist. It was thin and red, and I sighed, knowing how useless it would be if we needed to make a quick escape. I didn't look like myself, though, and that was what mattered. Harry looked different too, his hair now blonde and his eyes hazel.

Griphook hopped into Harry's back and we Disapparated into Diagon Alley. Harry, Griphook, and I hid under the Invisibility Cloak while Ron and Hermione walked ahead.

"Hello, Madam Lestrange," a man said, walking past us.

"Good morning," said Hermione kindly.

"Hermione! Have you met Bellatrix? You have to be mean!" Ron hissed.

"Right, sorry."

We entered Gringotts, Harry and I under the cloak. "I would like to see my vault," Hermione demanded.

"Bellatrix Lestrange?"

"Yes?"

"Let me see your wand to verify."

Hermione handed the goblin at the desk Bellatrix's wand and sighed. "Follow me."

Griphook took over and put us in a cart. We sped down the cavern, racing along the tracks. A large waterfall appeared in front of us.

"Griphook, what is that?" I asked.

"Theif's Downfall," he answered as we crashed into the falling water.

The cart flew off of the track as we got drenched, but Hermione's quick thinking saved us from crashing to the hard floor. We landed on a soft cushion and I looked around. To my horror, I saw Hermione was no longer Bellatrix.

"That waterfall, Theif's Downfall, washes away all magical enchantments," Griphook explained.

"Well, what do we do now?" Ron asked.

"We walk."

We began walking down the rocky path. A loud roar echoed throughout the chamber.

"What was that?"

"The dragon is up ahead."

We approached the dragon, who was extremely pale with large scars running down his face, arms, legs, wings, and stomach.

"Grab one of those." Griphook pointed at a bucket with weird noisemakers. "The dragon expects pain with the noise."

"That's terrible!" Hermione exclaimed.

The goblin ignored our comment and began shaking the noisemakers. We slowly got past the dragon and to the vault.

We were so close.

Griphook put in the key and unlocked the door. We dashed in but halted, looking around at the room filled with junk and jewels of all sorts.

"Where is it?" Ron asked.

"Look for a cup with Hufflepuff's symbol on it, and if you can find a Ravenclaw symbol too, that's great," Harry explained, looking around.

"Accio cup!" Hermione tried without avail.

"Hey, Harry, is this is?" Ron held up a cup. "Ow!" He dropped it as it multiplied. "It burned me!"

"The Lestrange's have put many protections on their vault, that jinx one of them. It multiplies an object at any touch," Griphook said calmly.

"Be careful what you touch, guys," I warned. "Don't grab something unless you're sure it's the goblet."

"Ow!" Hermione cried. "My wrist brushed this, sorry."

Millions of coins began raining from the top of the vault.

"There!" Hermione yelled over the sound of clanging metal. "Up there, Y/n, do you see it?"

"Oh, yeah!" I looked up at the cup.

"I can't reach it," Harry said.

"Here, use the sword!" Ron handed Harry the sword of Gryffindor.

Harry reached up and grabbed the handle with the tip of the sword. He started climbing down, holding the goblet cautiously. He accidentally touched something and things began multiplying left and right, quickly flooding the room.

"Run!" I shouted.

Harry grabbed the cup and Griphook grabbed the sword. We all fled from the vault, but I heard footsteps approaching fast. Someone was coming.

"How do we get out of here?" I asked, looking around.

"I have a crazy idea!" Hermione yelled, running toward the dragon.

"Hermione!" Ron yelled as we ran after her. "Are you insane?"

"Quite possible, yes!" Hermione jumped onto the dragon's back, followed by me, Harry, and Ron.

Hermione pointed her wand at the Dragon's chain's and it broke free. We flew upwards, breaking through rock with the help of a few spells. The dragon broke the ceiling and we flew into the sky.

I smiled as the wind blew into my face. "That was pretty epic."

"No kidding!" Harry said happily.

Slowly, we fell silent, overwhelmed by our combined feelings of exhaustion, adrenaline, and disbelief.

"Harry, when are we getting off?" asked Hermione after at least two hours of silence. The sun was setting, at eye level with us.

"Um, we're approaching a lake, how about we jump there?" he answered.

"Three, two, one!" I said and we jumped into the lake, leaving the dragon flying freely.

The fall was longer than we expected. We hit the water with a splash.

A pain worse than the freezing water raked through my neck, making me write as I tried to swim to the surface.

Voldemort was angry.

No, he was more than angry. He was ready to kill anyone who did so much as breathed.

"First, I'll check the shack," Voldemort said. "Then the cave, then Hogwarts. I need to find the Horcruxes!" he screamed.

The pain was gone as quickly as it had come. I emerged from the water, gasping for air, and started swimming toward the bank.

I fell onto the grassy land and laid down, exhaustion coming over me like a weighted blanket. I just wanted to stay there and sleep, but we had to get to Hogwarts.

Harry spoke first. "The next Horcrux is at Hogwarts."

"What? Really?" Hermione asked, sitting with us.

"Yeah. We need to hurry, though, he's going to go searching for his Horcruxes."

Without having to explain a plan, we Disapparated together, appearing in Hogsmeade. A high-pitched alarm began going off.

"They're here, they've got to be!" someone yelled.

We started running as dementors flew toward us.

"Expecto Patronum!" Harry and I yelled.

The silver stag burst from his wand, running next to my Patronus as they warded off the dementors.

"That's them! Down there!" a Death Eater screamed.

"Pst! Now, come in here!" a voice said, waving us toward The Hog's Head. We ran into the pub. "Upstairs!" he whispered, and we did as told again.

"Hey, shut up!" the man yelled at the Death Eaters running down the street. "Some of us are tryna sleep!"

After a quick conversation with the Death Eaters, the barman walked upstairs to us. He had a long white beard and blue eyes, just like Dumbledore did.

"You're Aberforth Dumbledore," Hermione said as he handed us butterbeer and bread.

"Right you are."

We ate the bread and drank the butterbeer. "Thanks," I said.

"Alright, you children need to flee, get away from Hogwarts," said Aberforth.

"We can't," I answered.

"We have a job to do, Dumbledore gave it to us," Harry finished.

Aberforth scoffed. "And how is this job? Easy, a piece of cake?"

"No, but—"

"How can you trust Dumbledore?"

"He gave us all the information we need!"

We argued for a bit, until Aberforth said, "Hm, Ariana, you know what to do," to a painting on the wall.

"Ariana?" Hermione asked. "Like your sister?"

Ariana was walking deeper into her painting, getting smaller and smaller.

Aberforth smiled sadly. "Yeah. While she goes to fetch your friends, there's something I need to show you. Miss Potter, come with me, please."

I followed the man into another room where someone was sitting at a desk, reading a book.

"Star!" I yelled, running toward my friend.

She turned around excitedly, hugging me as soon as she could.

"What happened? Why are you here? Did you leave the manor?" I asked.

"I couldn't take it anymore," she answered as we walked back into the main room, "so I left. I did in the forest and random shops at first, but Mr Aberforth found me and brought me here. I want to help you fight the Dark Lord."

"Why is she here?" Harry asked aggressively.

"She left the manor to help us."

"How do you know she's not a spy?"

"She wouldn't do that. Right, Star?"

She nodded. "Of course not."

Harry seemed somewhat satisfied as Ariana came back, followed by a Gryffindor I slightly recognised.

"Neville!" Hermine said, surprised.

"Hello," he said.

"Your face!" Harry exclaimed.

Neville had bruises on his face. "Don't worry, Seamus has it worse."

He got out of the painting and helped us in.

"Where does the painting lead?" I asked,

"Hogwarts, of course," said Neville, leading the way. "Snape made sure all the secret passageways were closed, but this one opened up."

"How did you get your bruises?" Hermione asked.

"They're making us practice the Cruciatus Curse. On first years!" Neville answered. "I refused and got detention with the Carrows. Crabbe and Goyle sure do enjoy it, though."

"That's terrible!" Ron grunted.

We exited the other side of the hallway, into the Room of Requirement.

"Guys!" Neville called. "I brought news!"

"Is it actual news, Neville?" Seamus asked, turning around.

"It's them!" someone yelled.

I looked around at the room. On one wall, each of the Hogwarts Houses had a banner. Hammocks hung in random places for people to sleep on.

"Alright!" Ginny yelled. "Let's go kick Voldemort's arse!"