Second Author's note: this is a re-upload since this chapter seems to have gone AWOL…
A/N: And now the battle is beginning. Hold on tight, my faithful readers, it's going to be a crazy ride! Thanks to all of you who have stuck with this, and a special thanks to those who have been faithfully leaving a review for me. Join the club! Membership is free, and you get a reply to your review, guaranteed! Limited time offer, so don't delay! And now, on to the show!
Since there seems to be no expiry date on the ownership of these characters, I will just have to continue to play with them here!
Chapter 50
Reading of the Will
**Earlier**
"Something's wrong…"
"No!" Ginny cried. "I didn't tell him! We have to find him!"
"What?" Ron asked, dropping his fork before his first bite at the sound of his sister's fear.
"I was so angry at him," Ginny said, looking around frantically. "This is my fault."
"Ginny, what have you done?" Hermione asked, standing up. Her fear was squeezing her heart, making her chest hurt.
Suddenly there was a loud crash and Hermione whirled to look at the head table. Several of the teachers had collapsed. She saw Hagrid stagger to his feet and stumble backwards before sitting heavily on the floor. Hermione gaped at them in shock.
"There's going to be an attack on the Ministry," she heard Ginny sob, and turned to face her.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so sorry. I should have said something sooner…"
I think we have our own problems," Ron said as he stood up.
Hermione looked around as she saw students collapsing all over the Great Hall, and her heart lurched again. Harry had been right…
****** ****** ****** ******
Harry met up with Neville in the Atrium of the Ministry. After a quick wand check, they headed for the lift.
"I need to do a side trip first," Harry said as they got into the empty waiting car. "I need to go to the Department of Mysteries."
"What for?" Neville asked.
Harry pulled the feather out of his pocket and held it up.
"Mr. Ollivander is here," he explained.
"Is that one of Fawkes' feathers?" Neville asked.
"No, it came from another Phoenix. This is a wand feather. It's to be used as the magical core for a wand."
Harry ran his hand along the edge of the feather, and he could feel the magic responding to his touch.
"Wow," Neville said in awe.
They arrived at the ninth floor and Harry felt a chill settle over him as he remembered the last time he was here. They moved down the hallway in silence, and entered the rotating room. As soon as the door closed, the revolving walls began to move.
"Room of Enchantment," Harry said.
The walls slowed until one door was directly in front of them. Harry moved forward and tried the door. It was locked. He took the feather and slowly and carefully put the tip of it in the keyhole and gave it a little wiggle. With a `click' the door unlocked and he pushed it open.
They found themselves in a room bathed in soft light with a bookshelf along one wall. There were five pedestals in the center of the room, each one holding an object. Harry could hear soothing music coming from somewhere, and he felt himself relax. Neville looked around the room in awe as Harry walked up to the first pedestal. There was a bottle with a stopper sitting in the middle of it, with a small plate hanging on a chain from the neck. Neville came up beside him and read the plate.
"Love Potion Number Nine. Huh. I didn't know that really existed," he said.
Harry moved to the next pedestal, which had a set of bow and arrows on it.
"Cupid's Bow and Arrows," he read.
"Don't touch it," Neville said. "That's dangerous magic."
"Juliette's Knife," Harry read on the next sign. "I didn't know she was a witch. That's not what I studied in school before Hogwarts."
"She was very emotional," Neville said. "Gran said she was foolish to fall in love with a muggle."
Harry smiled as he moved to the next pedestal.
"Amoura's Pendant," Harry read. "Who's Amoura?"
"No idea," Neville said. "I think that's where the music is coming from though."
Harry nodded; mesmerized by the way the red ruby caught the soft light. Neville had moved off to look at the books.
Harry moved to the last pedestal. There was an empty ring box sitting on it. Harry wondered what had been in it, and where it was now. He wandered back to the pendant, and stood staring at it, allowing the music to wash over him.
"So, where do you think Mr. Ollivander is?" Neville asked, breaking Harry's train of thought.
He reluctantly moved away from the pendant, but it felt like it was calling him.
"I don't know," Harry said as he scanned the room. There was only one door in and out of this room.
"Hey, Harry, take a look! There's a whole shelf of books about phoenixes," Neville said.
Harry looked at the titles, and realized Neville was right. He studied them for a moment, and then took the feather and ran it along the spines of the books. Neville jumped as the entire shelf began to move, revealing a second room behind it. Harry stepped through it, into a very comfortable looking flat. There was a workstation off to one side, near what appeared to be a window. Hunched over in a chair with his back to the two friends, was Mr. Ollivander.
"I have been waiting for you, Mr. Potter," he said without even looking up.
Harry moved towards the table as Mr. Ollivander spun around on his stool and held out his hand. Wordlessly, Harry placed the feather in his hand, and Mr.Ollivander closed his eyes, running his fingers up and down the feather.
"Hello there," he murmured. "Yes, yes, you will be great."
Harry watched in amazement, as the feather seemed to come alive.
"Tsk. Such vanity," Mr. Ollivander said. "Know your place."
The feather quivered once more and became still. Mr. Ollivander looked up at Harry.
"Give me one hour," he said, and turned his back on the boys.
Harry and Neville headed for the door, when Harry stopped.
"Sir, how are we to get back in without the feather?"
Mr. Ollivander sighed irritably and got up from his workbench. He went into another room, and they could hear him rummaging around and muttering about "interruptions". He came out a moment later and handed Harry a key on a chain, shapes like a feather.
"Try not to lose it, will you?" he said before ignoring them once again.
The two boys left, and as they past through the Room of Enchantment, Harry walked slowly by the pendant again. There was something about it…
"Lets go, Harry," Neville said. "I don't want to be late."
They headed back towards the elevator and punched the button for the fourth floor. After arriving, they walked down the hall between the many cubicles until they came to a door marked "Goblin Liaison Office", and underneath that, "Gringott's". They knocked, and a goblin opened the door and bade them to enter.
"Mr. Sandhill will see you in a moment," he said. "Please take a seat."
Harry and Neville sat in front of the biggest desk Harry had ever seen. On the wall behind it were several pictures of a large man posing and shaking hands with a variety of people, some that Harry recognized as being famous or in a position of power. Harry got the sense that this was a man who thought very highly of himself.
"Hey, Neville," Harry whispered. "Did you know that a man with a very large desk is trying to make up for his other shortcomings?"
Neville looked at him in confusion, while Harry heard a snort from the desk in the corner. He turned to see the goblin give him a big smile. Neville started to laugh as he got the joke. Just then Sandhill walked in, so he turned it into a sputtering cough as the large man moved around behind his desk. He seemed to carry an air of importance about him, as he glanced disdainfully at the goblin in the corner. He took a moment to smooth down handlebar mustache, and Harry almost burst out laughing as he watched him preen in the small mirror he had on his desk. He picked up his papers and scanned them before looking up at Harry and Neville. He plastered a large, and to Harry's way of thinking, fake smile on his face and extended his hand to Neville.
"You must be Neville Longbottom," he said. "I am Reginald Sandhill, the Third."
Neville shook the proffered hand.
"Hello, and this is my friend-"
"Yes, yes, we all know who he is, don't we?" Sandhill sniffed.
Harry had stood up with Neville and put his handout, but at Sanhill's cold response, he let it drop and he sat back down, crossing his arms across his chest as he did so. He was here for Neville's sake, so he held his anger in check. He heard a mutter from the desk in the corner, and looked to see the goblin looking disdainfully at Sandhill. Neville looked worriedly between Harry and Sandhill, but with a miniscule shake of Harry's head, he sat back down without a word.
"Longbottom…Longbottom…" he said as he rifled through a stack of papers. "Ah! Here we are. Augusta Longbottom. Lovely woman. My condolences to you."
Neville nodded his thanks as Sandhill went back to his reading.
"Yes, well, everything seems in order. You always need to check, you know," Sandhill said.
Harry rolled his eyes. Either this man knew nothing about goblin banking, or he just liked to make himself feel important.
"Your grandmother left most of her worldly possessions to you, including the Villa in the South of France. I have the key to her vault, number six hundred and twenty-one, and the parchment describing its contents. There is a lump sum of money that has been given to her brother, Algie Longbottom, and a trust account is set up for the care of Alice and Frank Longbottom at St. Mungo's. Now then," he said as he passed the parchment to Neville, "All I need is your signature, and we can get that key for you. Then you can be on your way."
Neville looked at the parchment, and then up at Sandhill.
"All of this…is mine?" he asked.
"Yes," Sandhill said.
Neville looked at the parchment again, and then signed it before handing it back.
"Excellent," Sandhill said as he handed Neville a copy. "If you would like to wait for just a moment, I shall retrieve your key."
As Neville read he parchment, Harry watched Sandhill leave the room.
"Why wouldn't he already have the key? He knew you were coming," Harry asked.
Neville shrugged, distracted by the numbers on the parchment. "Maybe they keep them locked away."
They sat quietly; the only sound was the scratching of the quill on the parchment by the goblin in the corner. After about five minutes, Harry got up and began to pace around the office. He was suddenly feeling quite trapped. He was on the far side of the room when the door opened and Sandhill entered. He watched as the man saw Harry's empty chair, scanned the room, and then seemed to relax as he realized that they were both still there. Just before the door closed, Harry caught a glimpse of two wizards standing outside the door, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.
Harry slowly reached down and unsnapped his invisipouch and glanced inside as Sandhill made his way over to the goblin's desk. While Sandhill's back was turned, he palmed the small round object he was looking for, while pulling out his wand with his other hand.
When Sandhill turned around, he had his wand out and pointed directly at Neville.
"Now, Mr. Potter," he said. "I think you need to hand over your wand."
Harry hesitated a moment, before reluctantly handing his wand to Sandhill.
"Thank-you. If you leave yours in your pocket, you may keep it, Mr. Longbottom. I would prefer it this way, as I am generally not a violent man," he smirked as he waved Harry to come over and sit down. "You, Cadhook, move over with these two."
Cadhook's eyes widened, and then he scowled at Sandhill.
"Now, goblin, or I shall have you dismissed from the Board of Goblins at Gringott's. I might do it anyways, since you've caused me nothing but trouble. My calculations have always been close," he muttered.
"I didn't take you to be a Death Eater," Harry said.
"What? Heaven's no! I work for Scrimgeour. Scrimgeour's man, through and through," he said as he winked at Harry.
"Oh, and don't you worry, Mr. Longbottom, you still get your inheritance, as well as a large reward for turning over Mr. Potter here," he said.
"I didn't-" Neville said, wide-eyed.
"It's okay, Neville," Harry said. "This was something Mr. Sandhill cooked up, isn't it?"
I'm glad to see you recognize brilliance when you see it," Sandhill said as he puffed out his chest. "I just suggested to Rufus that we use this opportunity to our advantage. You're here, so why not arrange for you to…meet with You-Know-Who and solve this whole dilemma for good?"
"In other words, sacrifice me for the good of the Wizarding World?" Harry said sarcastically.
"Well, we all do what is needed for the good of our world," Sandhill said.
"You're delusional," Neville said.
"I beg your pardon?" Sandhill said.
"If you think that handing Harry over to Lord Voldemort will put a stop to all this, you're crazy," Neville said.
"You really shouldn't use his name like that in public. You never know who is listening," Sandhill shuddered as he moved around to his desk.
"It can't hurt to try," he said. "Ah, your key, Mr. Longbottom,"
He threw the key at Neville, who caught it in mid-air.
"Now then, you're free to go, Mr. Longbottom, but you two will have to stay here. I think I shall tell them that you interfered. Then I can ship you out as well," he said as he pointed his wand at Cadhook.
"I don't think so," Harry said, and he tossed the small ball he was holding at Sandhill. The man watched as it landed on the desk and exploded, creating a smoke cloud that surrounded him. He froze instantly.
Neville sat, his mouth wide open, in shock.
"What was that?" he asked.
"Petrificus Totalus bomb," Harry said, grabbing his wand from Sandhill. "Come on, we don't have much time. We need to figure a way out of here."
"I can be of service," Cadhook said. "Follow me, please,"
He moved towards the bookshelf and pulled out one of the books down low, which opened a door into a passageway.
"Wait," Harry said.
He went back to where Sandhill was standing and looked him in the eyes.
"Obliviate!" he said, and a dreamy look slid over Sandhill's features. "You thought I had come, but you were mistaken. Neville came with someone else, so your plan didn't work. You gave Neville the key and he and his friend left. Cadhook escorted them down to the Atrium. You have paperwork to finish."
Harry hurried to catch up with the others. They followed Cadhook down the passage and emerged through a hidden panel behind a potted plant at the end of he alcove near the lifts. The doors closest to them opened, and a flurry of memos made their way down the hall. Harry, Neville and Cadhook quickly entered, and the lift made its way back to the Atrium.
"I will take my leave here," Cadhook said. "I need to report back to Gringott's. Thank-you Harry Potter, you are indeed a great wizard. We do not involve ourselves with the trivial pursuits of wizards; however, we will not support the dark. You will always be welcome at Gringott's" Cadhook bowed and then hurried to the nearest floo.
"Good place to have friends," Neville said.
"Yeah. Look, Neville, I need to go back and see Mr. Ollivander. Do you want to wait here?"
"Harry Potter! Stop where you are!"
Harry and Neville turned to see Scrimgeour and the two wizards that Harry had seen outside Sandhill's door, hurrying towards them.
"Great," muttered Harry.
Just as Scrimgeour stopped in front of Harry, Several explosions blew out from the fireplace floos.
As the dust began to settle, and people ran screaming for cover, Harry could see several Death Eaters emerging from the floos. They began chanting and raising their arms.
"Patefacio Obfirmo,"* they chanted three times, and then clapped their hands together.
Alarms began to sound, causing even more panic.
"The ward is down! We're under attack!" someone screamed, and the two wizards accompanying Scrimgeour ran towards the confusion, wands drawn. Scrimgeour spun around to see who was coming, and Harry scanned the seemingly endless number of Death Eaters that were arriving. There was only one thing on his mind. Where was Voldemort?
*Unlock the Ward
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