All That You Are

Bellatrix makes her way through the brightly lit bank, Narcissa striding behind her a ways with Rodolphus. Harry and Theo hidden underneath the cloak. She approaches the Goblin, accompanying a sneer that she knew that Bellatrix normally had. Thankfully she spent quite a lot of time around the Malfoy’s enough. “Mrs. Lestrange, you know the protocol. Your wand?”

With an exaggerated flourish she deposits the wand onto the counter with a glare, muttering under her breath about the ridiculous need to prove herself. The Goblin ignores her grumbling, disappearing into the back for a moment before reappearing. WIth a grumble he hands the wand back over to Bellatrix. “Apologies, we’ve been keeping an eye out for imposters.” 

Bellatrix raises a single eyebrow at them. “Are you implying that I’m an imposter?” The decibel of her voice is hissed, raised just enough that the goblins eyes widen slightly. 

The Goblin stares back at her before climbing down from the podium. “Of course not, Madam Lestrange. Please, let us escort you to your vault.” Bellatrix sniffed, lifting her chin as she shoved her way to follow the goblin. She didn’t have to turn to see that the rest of them were following her. The Goblin seemed to give them a strange look before slipping off through the bank. When they climbed into the trolley cart, Bellatrix froze slightly, remembering the specific part of the passageway that would reveal them. The winding passageway led all the way up inside of the bank, water glistening off of the rocks that they passed by, the groaning of the cart and light whistling of the breeze had her swallowing as they approached 

Bellatrix flicked her eyes nervously towards Narcissa and Rodulphus as they approached the Thief's Downfall–a Massive Waterfall that she hadn’t taken into consideration up until this point, major oversight on her fault–that would wash away their Polyjuice and enchantments. She swallowed, watching as the massive falling water approached. The cold washed over her, and she felt it to her bones. The Goblin's eyes widened when he flicked his gaze over Hermione and now, Draco perched next to Narcissa. But as he raised his wand with wide eyes she heard the small whisper of a spell from underneath the Invisibility Cloak. Hermione swallowed, flicking her eyes to Draco as she watched the Imperius curse that Harry cast wash over the Goblins face. 

When the cart dumped them into the area leading to the Lestrange vault Hermione’s eyes widened. Off to the side, way back and barely lit by the small filtering of light that there was from the torches she saw the massive figure. The dragon was large, the chains rattling as it shifted in place. White scales shivered and glistened slightly in the light of the torches. When her eyes flicked to the head that lifted slightly, a small gasp escaped her when she clung to the sleeve of Draco’s robes. It was quite possibly blind, its eyes unseeing as it tilted its head into their direction. Scars littered every inch of the exposed scales.

As they approached, the Goblin lifted clankers, making noise as they approached. “What is he doing?” Hermione hissed, watching the half-blind dragon wince as it retreated back further from the entrance of the vault. Draco swallowed, reaching his long fingers to wrap around her wrist. 

“I’ve heard about this, my father told me–the dragon associates the noise with pain. It’s been trained to guard the vaults, and the goblins use those..” he nodded towards the device that the Goblin was using as they maneuvered carefully around the dragon towards the entrance of the vault. “..to train it. To teach it that every time it hears those pain follows.”

“That’s absolutely barbaric–”

“Granger, while I love that big beautiful brain, and heart of yours–not now.”

“We can’t just leave the bloody thing chained up here–”

“--we can, and we have to. I will personally break into this bank all over again after we retrieve this cup if only to avenge your bleeding heart for all things unable to fight for themselves. For now, we have to carry on with what we came to do.” His voice was low as he leaned into her, his grey eyes flicking up towards hers. They were a soft grey in the moonlight and her breath caught slightly. 

She simply nodded, reluctantly turning her head towards the vault as it opened. They all stepped inside and Hermione’s eyes widened. “Merlin.”

Narcissa slapped Harry’s hand as he reached forwards to grab something, the cloak draped over his arm. Hermione reached out to grab it, tucking it into her enchanted bag filled with her arsenal of potions she had been brewing for months. The concealment charm was gone and the beaded purple bag stood out against the black robes that she wore. “Don’t touch anything.” Narcissa hissed, releasing Harry’s hand as she sniffed, glancing around. “Everything you touch will multiply, and then we will be buried alive in here.” 

Harry’s eyes widened and his brows furrowed as he glanced around the vault. They searched as carefully as they could for the cup, an occasional item being multiplied as they brushed up against it, or moved to the side. It wasn’t until Theo made a yelping noise that Hermione turned towards the clatter. There, up on the shelf she caught what he was staring at. “Is that it?” 

Draco nodded, stepping forwards, flicking his wand as he attempted to Accio the cup to him. Hermione hastily threw her hand out, trying to drop his wand but it was too late. A dozen or so cups flew towards him and they ducked, attempting to avoid the onslaught of cups. Some of them crashed into Hermione and Draco, multiplying as they bounced and sprung around their feet. Draco cursed, pushing her closer to the door as it slowly started to fill with objects. “No, Draco! The cup!” Her eyes flitted frantically towards the cup now on the verge of being covered by the rapidly multiplying cups and trinkets within the vault that kept touching them. It was never ending. Draco stared back over at her, his eyes intense. 

“Go to the door, Hermione.” His voice was pleading, and she didn’t get a chance to argue when he pushed her forwards, towards two hands that pulled her hastily towards the door. Her eyes locked onto Draco who was also shoving Narcissa towards Theo who pulled her along towards the door. She fought against Harry’s grasp, watching in horror at the rapidly multiplying items in the vault when Draco turned towards the cup, climbing through wades of things that only multiplied more at his touch. Her heart pounded furiously when she lost sight of his head of blonde hair. Harry slipped his arm around her waist, anticipating her running straight back into there after him. Narcissa was being held similarly by Theo, although he looked a lot more terrified to be holding the matriarch witch. Her brown eyes immediately met Narcissa’s brilliant blue and she was sure that the panic in their depths matched her own. 

It felt like forever until Draco came stumbling out of the vault, cups and all sorts of bobbles sliding out behind him as he took a gasping breath. Narcissa lurched forwards, her arms wrapping around his tall frame as his hand clasped onto the gold cup dangling from his fingertips. Hermione lifted her gaze to his that locked on hers over his mothers shoulder. She sucked in a shaky breath, closing her eyes briefly before they snapped open at the sound of footsteps coming rapidly towards them. Her eyes snapped towards them, seeing the Goblins running towards them. Hermione swallowed before reaching and grabbing Narcissa’s hand and doing the one thing that she was sure would have placed her in Gryffindor. 

She ran straight to the edge of the cliff that hung just over where the dragon had retreated. 

“Trust me, Narcissa.” She whispered and the witch clung tightly to her hand as she spun, throwing out a few non lethal spells to the Goblins behind them. She caught Draco’s eye and smirked, before turning and hurtling off the edge, her hand releasing Narcissa’s. She landed roughly onto the back of the dragon, gripping tightly as she looked up above her to the rest of the group that was staring down at her in awe. Theo shook his head before smirking and jumping quickly. 

Narcissa shook her head, eyes wide before turning towards Draco and saying something. Draco stepped forwards just as his mother jumped from the edge of the cliff, floating down with a featherlight charm and Hermione smiled. Even in a dire situation the woman held herself with an air of danger, but still managed to represent the regal woman that she was. She held back a snort when she saw Draco and Harry share a glance. Harry gave a crooked smirk before the both of them jumped onto the back of the dragon as well. It was a tight fit, all of them squished together as Hermione flicked Bombarda’s at the dragon's chains, releasing it. It seemed to be confused for a moment, contemplating between fighting until its head tilted up. She watched as it caught sight of the dome at the top, small light barely filtering through to the bottom of where they were. 

Hermione smiled, and she leaned forwards, her hands brushing over the scales of the dragon underneath her. She watched in amazement–blocking out the sound of the Goblins and the people behind her fighting–eyes focused solely on the beautiful white scaled beast underneath her. Its head tipped upwards, wings unfurling as it tested them. A flap, a stuttered start as it crashed into the side of the walls, she gripped onto it tighter. Her breath catching as the ascended. It was terrifying and exhilarating all at the same time. The dragon learned how to fly with its eyes that it could barely see from staying trained and fixed on the dome of light above them. She didn’t even bother to cover her face as they approached the glass, instead tipping her head down towards the scaled beast's back. Sunlight erupted across her skin, glass shattering all around them as they broke through. The dragon seemed to shiver as it landed briefly on the top of the bank's bricks. His long wings unfurled as a burst of fire erupted from its throat. She laughed, a brilliant laugh as the dragon flapped its wings again and took off into the air. They oared, flying steadily through the air. It was a long time that they all stayed on the back of the dragon before Theo leaned into her, his voice over her shoulder. 

“Hey Mi, we might want to find somewhere to…you know…jump off. Before we somehow land with a terrified and angry dragon, Merlin knows where.” Hermione paused nodding. It wasn’t until a little bit later that the opportunity presented itself to them. The dragon dipped down over a large body of water, his talons dragging through the water and Hermione leaned back yelling. “Everybody jump!!” 

She was the last one to hit the water, sinking quickly as the cold water soaked into her bones. The weight of her robes weighed her down slightly and she took a choked gasp inwards before quickly kicking until her face broke through the water. She blinked bleary eyes open as she gasped, locking onto slate grey moving quickly across the water towards her. Draco’s arms came to wrap around her waist, pulling her towards the shore. “Reckless, absolutely reckless you are. You mad woman. Jump onto the back of a dragon she says, jump into the bloody water. Merlin woman, if this doesn’t show that I would follow you anywhere–onto the back of a dragon–I don’t know what would.” 

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They had camped for the night, Hermione making wards that even impressed Narcissa–although the tent didn’t. Her face scrunched slightly, a small shiver running through her before stepping through the tent. Harry and Theo followed, glancing around at the sleeping arrangements. “The girls can have the room, and the beds. I will transfigure something out here.”

“Agreed.” Harry nodded, leaving the two small rooms in the tent and heading towards the tiny kitchen area. It was a rather large tent, magically enlarged and thankfully given to them by Ron before they left. It briefly reminded her of the tent that they had used at the Quidditch World Cup. Narcissa sniffed and made her way into one of the bedrooms, and she felt a small silencing ward settle around her room, the magic bristling across her skin gently. Hermione turned towards the entrance of the room only to find Draco staring at her. 

“I can transfigure something out there if you want. It’s rather small in here and you need to sleep–”

“Absolutely not.”

“Granger–”

“--you’re sleeping in here with me–”

“--you need to rest, Granger.”

“I am aware but I promise that neither of us will get any sleep sleeping in separate rooms.” His eyes flashed as she raised her chin defiantly at him. Slowly, he lifted his wand casting a heavy silencing charm that made her shiver. He took a step towards her. 

“You were reckless today.”

“And you weren’t?”

He raised an accusatory brow. “You jumped onto the back of a dragon, Granger.”

“You shoved me out of a vault and dove right in headfirst.” 

“You jumped off the edge of a cliff–”

“--don’t be dramatic, Malfoy. It wasn’t a cliff.” She sniffed

“A cliff.” He glared at her. “Onto the back of a bloody dragon–”

“--the same dragon that needed to be freed anyways, and mind you, the same dragon that flew us to freedom.”

“Ah, yes the freedom that came from jumping off of said dragon into a large body of water.”

“We are alive, aren’t we?” Draco was standing right in front of her now, hand tilting her chin up to catch her whiskey colored eyes with his. 

“When are you going to stop being reckless?”

“Probably never.”

He studied her face, something flickering across his features before he let out a breath that ghosted across her face. The blond fringe flicked across his forehead as he shook his head. She fought the urge to brush it back. “You’re going to be the death of me, riding dragons.”

“I certainly hope not.”

He raised a brow. “Certainly hope not what?”

“That it won’t be the last time that I ride a dragon, of course.”

“Pardon?” He looked affronted.

She smirked wickedly at him, before pursing her lips in thought. “Oh I’m sorry, was I not clear that I have ridden dragons before?”

“When in Salazar’s name have you ridden a dragon before?” His grey eyes were wide with slight panic and she smiled at him, leaning in to whisper into his ear. 

“And here I thought that you were named after a dragon, Draco.”

His breath caught, but it wasn’t until his hands tightened on her waist did she laugh.