Chapter 12
"You're sure this one is hers?" Ron asked as Hermione held a hair up into the light. It was dark and clearly came from a curly head, but that could also apply to Rebecca and not just Bellatrix. "How can you know?"
"I'm positive." Hermione looked him over. Ron had a beard on from the Beard-Berry, and his hair had been lightened to a brown-blond colour with a Colour-Comb. He had assumed to role of a foreign Death Eater, to flank 'Bellatrix' as she went to visit her vault. On her other side was another new Death Eater, one with similar lightened hair and other disguise methods. Rebecca squirmed uncomfortably in the outfit they had put her in.
"You don't have to do it, you know." Rebecca spoke quietly, turning her back to Ron and Harry. "I can do it and you can be...whoever this is supposed to be."
"I can do it." Hermione steeled herself and dropped the hair into the potion. She had been certain the hair was Bellatrix's, but now she was doubting herself slightly. Worst case, this would be the second time in her life she had transformed into a Potter.
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Ron scratched at his face, grunting in discomfort. Facial hair did not amaze him as it had when it first sprouted for the disguise. "This is horrible."
"It's part of being a man." Fred said, puffing his chest out and showing off the stubble he had begun to accumulate.
Harry looked up cheekily. "Is it really part of 'being a man' if you're keeping it for a girl?"
Fred narrowed his eyes at Harry. "Yes." George sniggered and grabbed Cedric's hand, swinging it between them as they walked into the kitchen. Fred scowled. "Don't know what you're laughing about. You've shaved, what--twice? Ever?"
Cedric pulled George into a hug and rolled his eyes at Fred over his shoulder. "C'mon," Cedric murmured. "You know he's only worried because they're leaving."
"I know, but he's such an arse about it."
Fred leaned against the counter beside them. "I'm sorry, George." Fred hadn't meant for it to come out, not really.
"I'll have you know I have, in fact, shaved more than twice!" George retorted and stuck his tongue out at Fred. He and Cedric moved away from Fred, George still not letting the barb go.
Harry grabbed Fred's shoulder and looked up at him. "Remember that nothing's stopped us yet, okay?" Harry glanced over his shoulder where Sirius and Remus were speaking with Arthur and Molly. "Don't let anything ruin this time you're with them."
"You're right." Fred saw Harry in a new light, a more mature light.
"Naturally."
The light of maturity dimmed.
Footsteps echoed outside the room, a copy of Bellatrix Lestrange walking in with Rebecca's Death Eater disguise beside her.
Fred stood, surrounded by the family that he would be moving with to another safe house. He grabbed Rebecca's hands tightly. "All's well that ends well."
"Aren't we supposed to say that at, you know, the end?" Rebecca asked. She grinned up at him and Fred could see exactly how it would have looked had the face not been disguised.
"Figured I'd beat you to it."
Griphook stepped forward, reaching his hand up for them to join with his. Rebecca spoke strongly, "Everything will end well, we'll be together soon enough. All of us."
"We know." Arthur tightened his hold on Molly, keeping his heartache from his voice.
"We have all the faith in the world in the four of you." Sirius' eyes shone with tears he wouldn't let fall.
Rebecca let her hand fall the last distance to Griphook's and he apparated them to Knockturn Alley.
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The rest of the morning at Shell Cottage was spent packing and gathering bags, everyone shouldering their packs before standing in the same spots where the other four had disapparated from hours earlier.
Fred stopped in front of Draco and held his hand out, "Take care of yourself, Draco."
Draco took the handshake. "You, too." He wasn't allowed to know where they were going, but Draco didn't blame their security measures. Safety wasn't something to trifle with, not in the name of newly formed trust. Draco didn't feel a trace of bitterness at the exclusion and withholding of information, he had dug this hole himself. Draco was just thankful that he didn't lie at the bottom of one.
"Ready, Fred?" George asked as Cedric stepped between them and put an arm between both twin's arms.
"Ready, George." Fred responded as he had countless times before and they apparated away. With a quick succession of pops and cracks, only Bill, Fleur, and Draco stood in the much-emptier room.
"Allez, Draco." Fleur spoke after a moment, squeezing Bill's hand before stepping away. "Je voudrais un moment en Français." (Come Draco, I need a moment in French.)
Draco jumped, his mind racing as he called on the language he hadn't used actively since he was a small child. "Ouais? Je viens." (Yeah? I'm coming.)
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"How do I look?" Hermione asked Rebecca, bringing Rebecca's attention away from the dark corner just inside Knockturn alley they had apparated to. "Still good?"
"Good is one way to put it." Rebecca said.
"More like still terrifying." Ron added. "Still got the sword?"
Griphook looked up at Ron with a hint of a sneer. "It's still in the bag, where you put it."
"Remember your roles." Harry spoke over any potential argument. "Griphook, get us past the guards and into the vault and the sword is yours."
Rebecca looked over her shoulder at the sound of someone approaching, a tugging at her temple like something was being forgotten but no time at hand to think about what it could have been. The approaching noise came from a man, thin and in a coat far too large for him.
"M-madam Lestrange." He bowed his head in front of Hermione, his voice quivering ever so slightly.
"Good morning." Hermione answered. The man halted a moment, before hurrying along. He was too afraid Bellatrix's good mood would fade and he would pay.
"Good morning?" Griphook hissed from beside Harry. "Good morning?! You are Bellatrix Lestrange, not some dewy-eyed schoolgirl!"
"Easy!" Rebecca snapped, putting herself between the goblin and Hemione.
"If she gives us away," Griphook said. "We might as well use that sword to cut our own throats. Understand?"
Hermione shook her hands out, collecting herself. "He's right. That was stupid." She took a deep breath. "I'm ready."
Harry gave Hermione a once over, trying to see if she showed any signs of not being able to do this. Seeing only a determined set of eyes looking back at him, Harry crouched so that Griphook could climb onto his back and pulled the Invisibility Cloak over them both.
Gringotts was empty of other patrons, a fact all of them were deeply appreciative of. Bellatrix-Hermione led the way, with Rebecca and Ron as Death Eaters trailing as her guards. Harry and Griphook stayed close enough behind Rebecca to not miss any conversation that may happen as they neared the main desk.
As the number of Goblins staring at her mounted, Hermione's ankle stumbled in the gaudy heels Fleur had added to the outfit made at their descriptions of Bellatrix. Ron scowled and followed behind, hoping his glare would dare anyone who had seen it to take note of it.
Hermione sauntered down the long walkway, ignoring the fleeting glances of the calculating goblins on either side. "Ahem?" She cleared her throat.
The head goblin didn't move, only continued with his addition. Rebecca glanced at the back of Hermione's head and then turned her gaze back up to the goblin continuing to ignore Bellatrix Lestrange.
"I wish to enter my vault." Hermione announced, still not entirely encompassing Bellatrix's aura.
The goblin lifted his quill for the first time, still not raising his eyes. "Identification?"
Hermione hesitated, but set her jaw and added an edge to her voice. "I hardly think that'll be necessary."
The goblin looked up at last, scrambling to his feet and lowering his head in a slight bow. "Madam Lestrange."
Hermione was grateful that the others were still behind her, she tried to contort her face into a sneer of superiority. "I don't like to be kept waiting!" The goblin moved faster, turning and leaving his desk to get his higher-up.
"They know." Griphook hissed in Harry's ear, holding on tighter. "They know she's an imposter. They've been warned!"
Ron glanced over his shoulder, sensing trouble brewing behind the desk. A security guard stepped away from his post, also sensing an incident about to occur. Ron jerked back to face the front, praying that those of their group hidden were close enough to hear him. "Harry? What do we do?" His whispers were shuddery and his breathing was speeding up.
The goblin who had at first ignored Bellatrix returned with another goblin. The higher goblin's name tag read Bogrod, and he looked at Hermione with a little less fear in his eyes. "Madam Lestrange, would you mind presenting your wand?"
Hermione narrowed her eyes at the new goblin. "And why should I do that?" Her voice grew shrill.
"It's the bank's policy." Harry and Griphook crept up the steps to the desk and then continued around it. "I'm sure you understand, given the current climate."
"No." Hermione's voice was nearing a shout. "I most certainly do not understand."
"I'm afraid I must insist." Bogrod smiled at Hermione, thinking he had caught whoever this was in a trap.
Harry had to go stretch forward to get his wand close enough to the goblin, and with Griphook on his back, the Invisibility Cloak raised just enough for Ron to see the bottom of his shoes momentarily. "Imperio!"
Harry was back on the same level as the others before anyone besides Ron noticed the odd sight. Rebecca stared up at Bogrod, hoping that Harry had been able to do something. Bogrod inhaled a deep breath and fell under Harry's will.
"Very well, Madam Lestrange." The first goblin looked at Bogrod sharply in surprise. "If you will follow me."
Griphook slid down Harry's back and clambered onto the seat of the minecart Bogrod brought them to while Harry situated the incapacitated goblin's body at the back. Rebecca and Ron stepped in behind Hermione, their nerves climbing as they seemed to be getting away with breaking into one of the most secure locations in all of the Wizarding world.
The track curved and dropped, the minecart raced in the darkness with only the torch attached to the front to cut through the darkness. Rebecca's disguised hair blew in the wind and she wished for a moment that she was experiencing this in her own, unmodified body. This was the closest she had felt to being on a broom in months and there was a welcome rush of familiar excitement at the feeling.
Ahead, a waterfall thundered over the tracks. Harry leaned to Griphook's shoulder. "What is that?" Griphook tried to engage the brakes and the shrieking nearly covered Harry's questions. "Griphook?"
This was farther down than any of them had ever gone in Gringotts. They had never passed a waterfall before. The track turned and dropped before turning sharply back on itself to go directly under the waterfall's path.
They all gasped as the water washed over them, startlingly cold and ominous. The brakes Griphook had been fighting with finally locked on and they jerked to an abrupt stop. Hermione looked down at herself and found that her body was entirely that which was her own again.
A flap that none of them had noticed before opened at the front of the cart. A metal pole jerked out snappily and a lantern expanded at the end. Harry's face was illuminated by the slowly starting to flash light when the first alarms broke out. Then, the cart's bottom folded out. The feeling was exhilarating for a moment, complete weightlessness, then the realisation that they were entering a free fall turned everything they felt into complete terror. Their screams were ripped from their mouths by the rushing wind and the rocky embankment of the seemingly-endless ravine grew closer and closer.
Hermione splayed her arms and legs out, keeping her body as still as possible to stop her spinning descent. "Arresto momentum!" She shouted, halting their imminent arrival at death's door with mere inches to spare. The spell was severed as the momentum of their fall did, and they all hit the ground with a cacophony of grunts.
"Thanks, Hermione." Ron groaned.
"Well done, Hermione." Harry pushed himself to his feet.
Rebecca crawled to over the damp rocks, grabbing Hermione's arm tightly. "I love you." Rebecca and Hermione stood together, both doing quick counts of everyone and how they fared. The wound on Rebecca's shoulder throbbed, but not more so than it had--she hoped it wasn't bleeding.
Hermione looked down at herself and checked her watch. "We look like us again! It wasn't time!"
Ron nodded. He had noticed how he reverted back to himself without any disguises when they passed under the waterfall, but being evicted from the cart must have kept the others from noticing.
Hermione wished she was in her own clothes as she realised how revealing the Bellatrix garb was. She dug through the bag that was now at her hip again, reaching into her elbow to rummage around for Rebecca's glasses.
Rebecca slid them on over her nose instantly, smiling. "I know I already said it, but I really do love you."
Griphook staggered behind Harry, his joints aching with the turn their break-in had taken. "The Thief's Downfall. Washes away all enchantments. Can be deadly."
Ron scratched at his back-to-bare cheek. "You don't say." He looked at Bogrod, who was looking at them all with a growing-clarity. "Just out of interest, is there any other way out of here?"
No-" Griphook's answer was interrupted by Bogrod's fury.
"What the devil are you doing down here?! Thieves! When you have up the keys, you gave up-"
"Imperio." Ron cast boredly. The goblin wavered a moment before returning to his dazed attitude from before.
The echoing of a monstrous roar from the cavern beyond ended their conversation.
"That doesn't sound good." Rebecca looked down the narrow walkway that led towards whatever was making the noise. "Shall we have a look?"
Harry didn't have time to argue or agree, she was already walking away. Rebecca's wand was in hand and ready for if they needed it in a moment's notice, but she walked so each step had a purpose. The steep edge of the little path forced her pace slow, but that meant that the others were also moving with the caution she was. They couldn't see the bottom of the ravine, and the next fall could prove more fatal than the first.
The path opened up into a circular, open-air room with a massive, hulking shape in the centre. A big, white dragon lay curled in a ball. Chains were wrapped around its throat and its skin was mottled with welts, cuts, bruises, countless injuries.
"Bloody hell." Ron breathed in disbelief. "That's a Ukrainian Iron-Belly!"
Griphook picked up bells from the box at on the floor and handed one to Harry, motioning for him to shake it side to side as he was. The dragon reared up on its hind feet, a small burst of flame shot from its mouth as its home was intruded in. Rebecca noticed how one of the dragon's eyes was cloudy and mauled.
"Shake it, boy!" Griphook commanded when Harry lagged to follow behind.
The room was filled with a ringing from one end of the noisemakers and a whirring from the other.
"It's been trained to expect pain when it hears the noise."
The dragon cowered away from them; one of the strongest, most regal creatures of the animal kingdom reduced to a trembling, terrified huddle.
"That's barbaric." Hermione said as they crept around the edge of the round room. "Utterly barbaric."
The dragon whimpered as they grew closer, cries escaping from it that Rebecca heard echoing throughout her entire being. The dragon was nothing more than a prisoner, nothing more than whom she had once been.
In the hall the room opened into, Griphook walked Bogrod in front of him. He steered the lead goblin's hand towards the door in front of them before pushing them further in and closing the door behind them. The first of the dragon's flames kissed the exterior of the door, but not before the vault door shut entirely.
Rebecca followed the others' example, raising her illuminated wand to survey their surroundings.
Gold, silver, rubies, gemstones. Jewelry, portraits, vases, works of art. The Lestrange vault was filled from floor to ceiling with treasures of every kind, of every worth.
"Blimey." Ron whispered. How could one family own so much when others owned so little? He wasn't even thinking of himself or his family, they had always made do with what they had. But what about those worse off than them? What about the kids who went to bed hungry and knew they would wake up without anything to fix it? What about the families that couldn't heat their houses in the winter? What about-
"Don't touch anything." Rebecca interrupted his ethical thoughts. "We already know she's batshite mental, let's not find out what she's done to protect her riches."
Hermione spoke into the room. "Accio horcrux!"
"That kind of magic won't work here." Griphook spoke from where he and Bogrod stood near the door.
Harry went off to the left, Rebecca wandering to the right. Both were looking with their eyes, but also searching within for the feelings that would tell them if a horcrux was near.
"Is it in here?" Ron called after them. "Can you feel anything?"
Rebecca nodded. The humming filled her ears, just like when it was her turn to wear the locket of Salazar Slytherin. Harry joined her, the signs of the horcrux strongest down her path. "Is taht it, you think?" She asked Harry softly.
Harry grabbed her hand and held his wand higher, illuminating the tower of goblets and cups in front of them. At the very top, there was a cup unlike any other in the vault. "Yes, I do. That's Helga Hufflepuff's cup."
Hermione gasped as her arm brushed against a golden bowl, a clatter ringing out through the vault. Rebecca and Harry turned around and watched in horror as the bowl hit the ground and began to multiply. At first, only one of two jumped out of the original. Then there were dozens shooting around the floor. Ron stepped away from the bowls nearing his feet and knocked a silver plate and golden cup, more and more dishes began to swarm teh ground.
"That's it!" Harry cried over his shoulder, stepping forward to climb the tower to the cup.
"They've added the Gemino curse." Griphook and Bogrod still stood at the door, avoiding the bulk of the dishes.
"Give me the sword!" Rebecca shouted over the din of colliding metal. Harry was scrambling up the pile as Hermione winced and sent the sword flying through the air. Rebecca reached up and connected her palm with the pummel, turning back and giving Harry the sword as he continued to climb.
Harry slowed as everything he touched sprang out more obstacles to climb, wobbling dangerously before regaining a semblance of his balance and lurching forward once again.
Ron waded through the goods that were now up to he and Hermione's waist, wanting to help those near the horcrux however he could.
"Stop moving!" Hermione ordered, staring ahead as Harry got closer and closer to the cup. Rebecca froze as Harry was now buried by various multiplications from the vault. One tense, breath-catching moment later, Harry burst out from where he had been hidden. He crawled over the cups and goblets, the silver and gold, and snatched the cup away.
Griphook moved faster than any of them had seen yet, plucking the cup from Harry's hand and holding it out of his reach. Griphook stood with the horcrux blocking their exit.
"The cup for the sword." The goblin demanded.
"We had a deal, Griphook!" Harry showered.
"The cup for the sword!" Griphook repeated, taunting them with the cup.
Harry flipped the sword around and thrust it at Griphook, jabbing him with the handle roughly. Griphook threw the cup over Harry and Rebecca leapt to snatch it out of the air before it sailed over her head into the ever-growing treasures.
Griphook sneered at Harry. "I said I'd get you in. I didn't say anything about getting you out."
Ron reached Rebecca and grabbed her wrist tightly, keeping it in his grasp as the vault's contents forced their feet off the ground.
Griphook put Bogrod's hand up to the door and unlocked it once more, stepping into the hallway with a wave of multiplying riches pouring out behind him. Harry looked over his shoulder, the others were guided towards the door by the movement of items.
Harry crawled out and rolled down the few stairs now covered in gold bars and other objects. He hit the ground and broke into a run, trying to run towards the room with the dragon before Griphook could escape too far. Harry screamed after the two goblins, raising his wand over the guardrail at the top of the last set of stairs to the dragon. The thunder of the others footsteps sounded around him.
"Thieves!" Griphook shouted at the dragon, initiating the defense training the beast had been instilled with. "Thieves!" Bogrod wandered away from Griphook's side, waving at the dragon as one would wave at an infant. The Imperius curse was still strongly holding his mind.
"Bastard!" Rebecca cursed, putting her wand into her other hand and letting her injured arm be cradled against her chest. Forcing her way through an ocean of sharp objects had been far from what her shoulder was ready for and it throbbed with her heartbeat.
"At least we've still got Bogrod." Ron said, stepping forward as the dragon reared again.
Hermione averted her eyes as Bogrod was engulfed in the inferno the dragon loosed from its maw.
"What were you saying?" Rebecca asked drily.
"That's unfortunate." Ron amended, glancing at her and seeing the sheen of sweat and pallor of her cheeks. "You alright?"
"Fine." Rebecca pulled him to the side as the first bout of security guards came into the dragon's rooms and started flying curses at them. Hermione brought Harry with her off to the other side, pressing her back to the wall. "Ideas anyone?" Rebecca shouted to the other half of their group.
"She's the brilliant one!" Ron shouted back, trying to be heard over the explosions and shouts. "She'll come up with something!"
Hermione shook her head. "I've got something...but it's mad!" She lunged forward and and flung her wand at the stone where the railing between them and the dragon was. "Reducto!" The railing crumbled away and Hermione headed towards the newly-made opening.
Rebecca watched in awe as Hermione took a running start towards the dragon's room and launched herself through the air, hooking her arm around one of the spines on the back of dragon's neck. They would be escaping the depths of Gringotts on dragon back.
Rebecca soared through the air like Hermione had and hit the dragon's body with a thump. Ron and Harry followed behind, with Ron getting the highest of the three. He reached down and pulled the twins up until they had stronger grips.
Hermione turned her attention to the dragon's chain and held her wand up. "Relashio!"
The dragon immediately sensed the loss of the taut prison it had always known. It turned around in a full circle, something it had never been able to do before. Rebecca had not known just how much they would be jostled on dragon back and she could feel her shoulder begin to bleed and spark with agony.
The dragon sent another plume of fire at the goblins and security guards before turning its head to the ceiling and smelling deeply. The dragon smelt freedom.
It began a slow, jerky climb up the rocks with intermittent roars. Harry pushed Rebecca's head lower as a cart with more guards and goblins tore down the tracks, all casting spells and enacting defenses against the dragon and the four of them. The dragon let out its mightiest roar yet, shaking the rocks around and above them, before linking its claws around the track and ripping it away. The most recent wave of Gringotts defenders spiralled away into the shadows with screams the abruptly cut off moments after they disappeared from sight.
Upstairs, the goblins in the main room paused their calculations as the chandelier above them rattled and the tinkling of the many diamonds interrupted their sums. The dragon burst through the iron grates separating the vaults of Gringotts with the building above. The goblins scurried away, screaming and leaving the gold they had been counting to the fate they themselves would not remain for.
Ron blinked in the brightness of the world above, unable to imagine how the dragon felt.
Gringotts' main entrance underwent a wave of heat and flame as the dragon let loose its anger, severing the final shred of hold the goblins had over it. The dragon climbed higher still, using its head to knock off the chandelier and smash through the glass dome that kept it from an unfettered view of the sky. Both actions sent showers of shrapnel over the riders.
Ron let go with one arm and put it around Rebecca, grabbing the spine on the other side of her to keep her on tighter. He could feel the heat seeping from her wound, soaking into his sleeve.
The dragon clambered onto the roof and loosened it wings to fly. But it didn't move beyond the roof.
"What's he waiting for?" Harry shouted.
"I don't know!" Hermione shouted back, looking around wildly. A dragon escaping from Gringotts would not go unnoticed by the Death Eaters. They needed to get out of there. She winced and hated the only way she could think of the inspiring the dragon into motion. "Reducto!" A tiny spark left the end of her wand and the dragon let out a growl of pain. It was the motivation it needed. The dragon lunged forward and began to flap its wings sloppily. It bobbed up and down, finding a rhythm in this unfamiliar activity, and took a row of chimney tops out with its feet to launch itself higher into the air.
Ron grabbed their hands on the spike central to them all with a big smile directed at Hermione. "I said she'd come up with something, didn't I?"
Hermione nodded and caught her breath. They watched over the edge of the dragon as London faded from view below.
Rebecca put her feet on the dragon's shoulder to try and take some of the struggle of holding herself up from her aching shoulder. She knew what she wanted to do before their time with the dragon was through. Running through a list of spells she thought would help, she settled on one variation in particular. "Visus reparo." She added another layer to the repair to the dragon's sight. "Visus reditus."
The dragon turned its head and looked at them with a now-cleared eye, studying those on its back a moment before turning back to the space ahead. Hermione studied Rebecca a long moment. "That was kind of you."
"Someone once told me that sight is very important." Rebecca gave her a wry smile, the pain from her shoulder clear even though she tried to hide it.
Harry looked around, the dragon's flight much faster now that its vision was repaired. "We're dropping!" He grabbed Hermione's wrist, gesturing to their new altitude. "We've been tolerated up here, but on the ground..."
"When should we go?" Ron looked around at the water that was under them. "How do we get down?"
Rebecca twisted to look below them and sent a bolt of lightning through her shoulder. She grit her teeth. Harry said something to Hermione that was carried away in the wind, but Hermione heard enough to spring into action. She opened her bag at her side and held her wand up to it, summoning the box Fred, George, and Cedric had given their efforts.
Rebecca nodded, understanding what Hermione had in mind without needing more of an explanation. She took the packet of Instant Apparation from Hermione's palm and held it tightly. You cannot apparate when falling, too easy to forget a piece of you up in the air. The packet would work, it had to. The alternative was jumping into the water around the island ahead and swimming like the rest of them.
"Ready?" Harry shouted, looking down at the water. The affirmatives were shouted back and then they fell.
Rebecca watched the others disappear into the depths and shuddered at the thought. She stayed on the dragon a moment longer, waiting until the island was underneath them and tossing the apparation pellet.
"Thank you for saving us." Rebecca rubbed the dragon's neck. "Enjoy your freedom. Romania will have others of your kind, and safety, when you need it."
It was different than apparating yourself, using the packet. Rebecca felt the tug behind her navel as she entered the apparation plane, but she didn't have to visualise where she wanted to go. The packet steered her along.
Rebecca opened her eyes when she was back on solid ground and only saw the landscape for a fleeting moment. Voldemort reached through the distance between he and the Potter twins and took hold of their minds, forcing them to witness his rage in Gringotts. Voldemort struck down security guards and goblins alike, screaming all the while.
Harry breached the surface of the water and Rebecca curled into herself on the stones of the island. The waves of hatred and fury washed over her and Harry, Voldemort's fury. He knew what they were doing now. He knew they were hunting horcruxes. Harry and Rebecca could feel how the knowledge of their actions sent sheer terror through Voldemort's core.
Flashes came now: The locket of Salazar Slytherin. The cup of Helga Hufflepuff. The ring of Merope Gaunt. The diary of Tom Riddle. Hogwarts came into view, the castle clear in the Scottish wilderness around. A flicker of Ravenclaw's banner came into view before being wiped away. As soon as the connection had been made, it was severed.
Rebecca pushed herself to her feet, her wand in her good hand and her other arm cradled against her middle. She tried to help the others onto the rocky shore, making sure they were okay besides the frigid temperature of the water.
Harry forced Rebecca's chin up, scanning her carefully to make sure she had returned wholly after the connection. "Did you see that, too?" Water dripped down his face, but in his eyes it was Harry.
Rebecca nodded and stepped away from them, taking off her jumper as carefully as possible so that they could dry at least their faces.
"See what?" Hermione asked, digging through the bag for changes of clothes for them and thankful she had made it waterproof.
"He knows." Rebecca answered for them. "You-Know-Who, he knows we broke into Gringotts and what we took."
Harry ran a hand through his hair angrily, no idea coming to him as to where they needed to go next. "He knows we're hunting horcruxes." He began to pace, needing to move.
"How do you know?" Hermione asked as she followed. "You let him in? You can't do that!"
"We can't always help it, Hermione." Rebecca tried to remain calm in the face of the accusation. "We-maybe we can. I don't know."
"Never mind!" Ron interrupted. "What happened? What did he show you?" He came up behind Rebecca and made her stop, wanting to change her bandage and survey the damage that her wound had taken in their peril. He was worried, the white fabric was dark with shades of blood that had dried and blood that continued to bleed.
Harry continued to pace and spoke while Ron triaged Rebecca. "He's angry. And scared, too. He knows if we find and destroy all of the horcruxes..."
"We'll be able to kill him." Rebecca finished. She grit her teeth once more as Ron told her to brace herself. "Fucking hell!" She hissed and turned away from Ron. He had applied the salve to the open wound and it burnt as if he had stabbed it with Bellatrix's knife again. When the pain faded enough to face more, she returned to him. The pain in her shoulder was breaking limits; it made her want to cry, the throbbing forcing its way into tremors down her arm. Ron finished applying the salve with quiet apologies and replaced the soiled bandage with a fresh one.
Rebecca took a deep breath and met Ron's eyes, taking the hug he offered. "Thank you."
"Are you okay?" Ron asked. "Really oka-"
"Fine, Ron." Rebecca eased into the long-sleeved shirt and jacket Hermione had packed. "Really. It will be fine. Don't worry about me, worry about where we're going."
"Where are we going?" Hermione asked as she finished changing into her own dry clothes.
"Hogwarts." Harry answered. "There's a horcrux at Hogwarts."
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