The Waves of Time and Death

His hands wouldn't stop sweating. His heart was beating so fast he was sure even a deaf man could hear. I can't believe I'm doing this, he thought in exasperation. 

It'll work, it'll work,it'll work; he kept repeating it to himself in his head, trying to subdue his anxiety.

"Calm down! You're going to bring attention to where we are", his companion hissed. 

He pretends not to hear, otherwise, the answer he might give wouldn't be a nice one.

His boyfriend, yes boyfriend, holds his left hand, trying to help him relax. He watches as the boy brings his hand to his lips, leaving small kisses on his knuckles. 

"I'm sorry. I just can't stop thinking about what could go wrong", he whispers, closing his eyes.

"Hey, it's okay. We're in this together, remember? I won't let anything bad happen to you."

He gives his lover's hand a squeeze, a sign of confirmation. The corner of his mouth lifts, not being able to keep a bad mood when he's so close to the man he is falling in love with.

They resume their walking, trying to find a good victim. This is so wrong... but also slightly exciting, he thinks to himself.

He can tell his boyfriend found the target by the way he's looking at a specific goblin. The old goblin is perfect, he thinks. The creatures' hierarchy won't allow others to scrutiny the soon-to-be Imperius'd goblin even if he's perambulating through the bank.

The urge to cast the curse comes to him, itching to be proactive, but as soon as the feeling comes it goes. He knows that his Imperius is strong, but they need more than strength to guarantee their success. They need perfection.

As much as it pains him, he knows he's not perfect at it. Going around the senior members of the wizanding elite as if he's been there since the beginning? He can do that with his mouth shut. Throw insults in a way that sounds like a compliment? Ha! He was born to do it. Cast a curse at a creature he really doesn't have much knowledge of? Yeah, Harry can take care of it.

They walk towards the goblin, steps muffled by a charm. Closer... closer... closer. Now!

"Imperio", Hedwyn whispers, almost impossible to hear. 

The goblin stops, Regulus' breath halts. Harry's brows furrow; he's concentrating hard. The old goblin starts to walk again, Regulus breaths again.

"Okay. We just need to stay close to him. Oh...and ignore the dragon."

"Excuse me?"

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"You were not joking. Why in Merlin's name is there a dragon in here?!",  Regulus lets an ear-piercing shriek worthy of Walburga. 

Harry almost stumbles over a rock in surprise.

"Regulus Black!" he hisses. Eyes blazing under his wet red hair. He then turns back to the goblin, walking towards the sleeping dragon. An also wet Regulus follows close behind.

Whoever made the Thief's Downfall was definitely on Regulus' list of mortal enemies now. How Harry was able to go around Gringotts' protection he didn't know, but Death's interference was not far from impossible.

A blue light goes towards the dragon, and it takes him a second to realise it came from Harry's wand. 

"What was that for?" he curiously asks.

"A spell to keep him asleep. Last time what I had to do to get past him didn't sit well with me."

He only nodded, knowing that whatever it was made Harry very upset. He hates harming magical creatures above all. He's so kind to those in need; Grandfather will love him, he thinks, grinning to himself.

So lost in his own thoughts of pride for having a man like Hedwyn Peverell to be by his side and call him his, Regulus didn't realise they were already in front of Bellatrix Lestrange's vault.

"...Being quite difficult last time."

That brought him back to reality, blushing because of his distraction, he looked around, realising they were at their destination.

Harry raised an eyebrow at his partner's suddenly odd behaviour but opted to remain quiet.

"When we get inside remember you can't touch anything. The Germino Curse almost killed me last time and I'm not feeling like giving it a second try", he told his boyfriend.

"Having only one curse on your things sounds so... lesser. One would think Bella would be more nasty with the protections on her vault."

Hedwyn shrugged "She probably couldn't be bothered". Then he turned to the goblin, the creature started to move towards the vault door. He doesn't need to give the command out loud, Regulus realises, not having paid attention to it before.

The goblin put his hand on the door, and after a few seconds, there was a click sound. The door opened. 

The three of them got inside the vault, careful to not touch anything.

The vault was much like in his own time, Harry was thinking. Bellatrix probably didn't have time to put anything here before going to Azkaban. 

Both men's eyes went straight to the golden cup that was at the top of a shelf filled with jewellery and galleons. 

He draws his wand, pointing it to Hufflepuff's Cup. Wingardium Leviosa, he says calmly. The Cup levitates slowly towards them, careful to not touch anything else.

Harry takes a small box from his robes, opening it as Regulus levitates the Cup towards it.

He drops the spell, and Hufflepuff's Cup falls inside the box. Harry closes it and hides it inside his robes.

Hedwyn grins at him, making Regulus raise an eyebrow. "Wanna get out in style?"

"I'm going to regret this but sure", he says, taking the hand Harry offers him.

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The grounds trembles. The noise in the room seizes. The shaking starts; goblins screaming from below the floor can be heard.

The floor explodes; screams can be heard on all sides. Dust goes up, but as soon as it comes it goes. A giant shape appears, white as milk.

A deafening roar makes the people inside the bank cry; Diagon Alley outside stops.

No one has time to react as the dome of Gringotts caves in. No one makes a sound, too shocked by what they are seeing.

A giant white dragon emerges from the bank's ceiling. Another roar makes every witness shake in fear.

The dragon flaps its wings as if trying to relearn how to use them. 

The beast leaps into the air. Wings flapping more confidently this time.

Every witch, wizard and creature in the alley watches as the dragon flies higher and higher. Further and further away from them. 

What nobody sees are the two wizards, under a Disillusionment Charm, on the beats' back. One of them grinning like a madman and the other with fear in his grey eyes.

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ASSAULT ON GRINGOTTS:

RESPONSIBLES YET TO BE FOUND

A smirk came to his face. Days after their invasion of Bellatrix's vault nobody was aware of what had been stolen. The speculation was that a goblin set the dragon free, for Merlin knows what reason. 

People are so dumb, Harry couldn't help but think. 

Fortunately, the goblins didn't say which dragon was freed so Bellatrix would remain unaware of what happened at her vault. 

Hedwyn let himself relax in his seat. 

He was having breakfast with Regulus. The other boy is still a bit sleepy. Harry thought he looked beautiful all dishevelled; the always combed black locks were now messy, and his pyjama's shirt had some buttons open.

"What is it?", the boy asked, after seeing his boyfriend staring at him.

"You're so beautiful", he said with a big smile on his face.

Regulus blushed and muttered something under his breath. Harry thought it just made him look cuter.

Looking back at him Regulus asked, "Are we doing something today?"

In the days after the robbery both men stayed at Gwynt Keep; reading to each other, kissing, enjoying their deserved moment of peace.

"I wanted to go through the ritual again with you."

Regulus straightened his back, more awake now than before.

"Why though? The Arithmancy equations were all correct. Unless you think I made a mistake?", he narrows his eyes at his boyfriend as he asks; daring the other boy to doubt him.

Harry puts his hands up and shakes his head. "No, Reggie. I was talking about the sacrifice we will need for the ritual. Soul Magic isn't Light by far, so you know what kind of sacrifice we'll need."

Regulus' hands tighten on his cutlery. Yes, of course, he knew about it, but it didn't mean he wanted to think about it.

"A magical soul...", he says slowly, as if trying to make sure his mouth didn't betray his brain. He shivered.

Soul Magic was incredibly dangerous and often required a living sacrifice.

"Yes... I know it's uncomfortable to talk about but you know it's necessary, right?", Regulus nodded. "Good. We have to decide who we'll use. I can't be a Muggle, unfortunately, so we are working with fewer possibilities here."

"Why don't we use Dumbledore?", he said before he could even think.

Harry laughed, bringing his hands to his face to hide his amusement; and failing miserable at it.

Regulus smiled at his boyfriend's behaviour while shaking his head.

Then the idea came to him. The perfect person to use. Someone so disliked, even by his own family, that nobody would mind if he went missing. A man so vile he made Bellatrix tolerable. 

"Dolohov", said while standing up. "He's perfect, Harry!"

"Antonin Dolohov? Why him?"

Regulus was restless, walking from one side to the other. The thought of cleaning the world of someone like Dolohov brings him ecstasy.

"Antonin is hated even by other Death Eaters. He's repulsive. No Death Eater gets close to him during a raid. The things he does to people... I've never personally seen it, but even just hearing about them makes me sick. He's sadistic, even more than my cousin; some say even more than the Dark Lord", Regulus shacks his head as he speaks, trying to suppress memories of what people told him about Dolohov. "Merlin, he's own family despises him. They think he brings them shame and are disgusted by him."

Harry puts his hands together; brows furrowed. "Thinking about it, it does make sense."

Regulus smiles so hard it hurts. He gets closer to Harry and leaves a peck on his boyfriend's lips. 

"I knew you'd see I was right", he says with a smirk.

Hedwyn rolls his eyes playfully at his boyfriend. "Yeah. Whatever you say, darling."

They laugh at Harry's sarcastic jab. 

The laugh stops when a black owl surges through the window. It drops a letter in front of Harry and flies right out.

Lifting an eyebrow he casts a few charms at the letter. It's clear.

He picks up the letter and opens it.

  Peverell,

the potion to counter the other one is done. 

S.S.

The letter is short and concise. Typical, Harry thinks.

He then shows the letter to Regulus. The other boy reads the letter, and his mood visibly plummets. Hedwyn gets up and goes towards his boyfriend, hugging the other boy tight.

"You don't have to go, Reggie. I can't do it alone", he says calmly while caressing his partner's hair.

The other man shakes his head and lifts it up to look at Harry in the eyes. "No, it's too dangerous", he brings a hand to Harry's face and kisses him. Retreating he says "We do everything tougher, remember? I would never let you go there alone."

Harry hugs him tighter and leaves a kiss on Regulus' cheek.

"We do it together."