Chapter Seventeen

                                    

                                          
They didn't know where they were going but none of them cared. They just needed to get out of that house. Ron had had his doubts about whether or not Draco was telling them the truth but Hermione convinced him that they would rather be safe than sorry. 
                          
They kept running until they were far enough from the house that they felt safe. Or at least safer. 
                          
"Where are we going to go?" Hermione asked the question that they were all thinking.
                          
"Bill, and Bill and Fleur's house. I'm sure he'd let us stay," Ron said still out of breath. 
                          
They all agreed that it that would be a good place to stay, not for long but long enough that they could figure out a plan for the Horcruxes. Harry wondered if Draco would be able to find them there, he did say he would help them. 
                          
Bill and Fleur's cottage stood alone on a cliff overlooking the sea, its walls embedded with shells and whitewashed... Wherever Harry went inside the tiny cottage or its garden, he could hear the constant ebb and flow of the sea, like the breathing of some great, slumbering creature. He spent much of the next few days making excuses to escape the crowded cottage, craving the cliff-top view of open sky and wide, empty sea, and the feel of cold, salty wind on his face.
                          
They had not heard from Draco and Ron had started to doubt that he would even help them at all. Harry got angry whenever Ron doubted Draco, he trusted him and no matter how many times he told his friend this he scoffed. 

                          
It was the day that they had started planning how they were going to get the locket from Umbridge that Draco's owl had returned, a package in his beak. Harry took the package from the bird who then proceeded to nip and Harry's fingers.
                          
"Let me alone you foul bird, and tell Draco thank you," Harry Said. He thought about sending a note back to him but it was too late, the eagle owl was gone. 
                          
He gathered Ron and Hermione to open the package. Inside was the Slytherin locket. They stared at in it amazement. How had he gotten it? 
                          
Harry unfolded the note that was attached to it and began to read, "Dear Harry, you have no idea what trouble getting this blasted thing was. Umbridge hardly let it out of her sight. But, nonetheless, there you have it. Destroy it. I am not sure how but I'm sure Hermione can figure it out. On top of that, I have word of the next Horcrux. Helga Hufflepuff's cup. It's kept in the Lestrange family vault at Gringotts. I will be of no help to you with this one, you can't expect me to go breaking into a place like that. Not when the ministry is paying closer attention to me, I think Umbridge suspects me. That's not all, I also know about another Horcrux, it's located at Hogwarts, Rowena Ravenclaws Diadem. It's in the room of requirement. I saw it there while working on my plan to let the death eaters into the castle about, which I don't think you know about... Anyway, I wish you good luck."
                          
He signed his name and that was the end of it. Harry had a small sense of pride about it, he had told Ron to trust Draco and he had come through after all. 
                          
"Well, we've got the locket now." Harry wanted to boast but he held back, "Now all we have to do is break into Gringotts."
                          
"Oh yes, because that will be so easy," Hermione said. "We don't even know which vault is the Lestrange family vault."
                          
"You know how to make Polyjuice and I have my Invisibility cloak, It will be no problem," Harry said. 
                          
And with that, they became planning. 
                          
By the end of the day, they had somewhat of an idea of how they were going to do it. Harry and Ron would under the cloak, while Hermione would be disguised as Bellatrix. They had not started the potion for they did not have hair. Harry thought about asking Draco for it but he did not know if sending him an owl was a good idea. He didn't want him to get caught. 
                          
In the end, Hermione told him to just take the chance, They needed to get into Gringotts as soon as possible. So Harry sent Bill's owl with a letter, they thought it would be best to give him as much wrong information as possible, just in case the owl got intercepted. 
                          
When they were satisfied they sent the owl and waited for a response. It wasn't much longer than a day before Draco's owl came back with a response. 
                          
"Dear Harry, This will be the last owl I send you. I feel as if my father is getting suspicious. But I got you the hair you wanted. I can't believe I actually did that for you, we will never speak of this again."
                          
And, sure enough, Bellatrix's hair was attached in another envelope. He handed it over to Hermione to start the potion right away. 
                          
He silently thanked Draco, he had gone through so much trouble to help him and for that he was grateful. He didn't know what would happen after the war but he hoped for the best with Draco. 
                          
They had gotten everything ready the next day, they had gone through the plan several times until they all had it memorized. They could not afford any mistakes. 
                          
They apparated to Gringotts, ready for just about anything. 
                          
With Hermione as Bellatrix and Harry and Ron under the Invisibility cloak, they entered the bank where they ran into their first problem. They didn't have the key to the vault. 
                          
"I don't have my key," Hermione told the goblin. 
                          
"Then you cannot enter the vault,"
                          
Harry thought quickly, "Imperio," Harry muttered, his wand pointed at the goblin from under the cloke. 
                          
He watched the goblin become more relaxed, his facial feature dropping. 
                          
"Come this way, Miss Lestrange," The goblin said jumping from his stool and leading them to the tunnel. 
                          
With no other problems, they collected the cup. They got back into the cart and went back up to the entrance. Harry used the Imperius curse again on the goblin when it started to look like he was coming back to his senses. 
                          
They left the bank with the cup under the cloak. Hermione started to change back just in time, her hair was back to normal by the time they got outside. 
                          
"I didn't think that would work," she said. They had apparated back to the cottage and placed the cup on the kitchen table. 
                          
"Neither did I, but it did and we have the Horcrux. Now we need to destroy it and get back to Hogwarts for the Diadem," Harry said.
                          
They were on their way to killing Voldemort.