Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and Whatnot

We all climbed in. It was very cramped in the back, Hermione and I were practically on Ron and Harry’s laps. The cart started to move, and picked up speed quickly. I noticed Travers trying to wriggle himself into a crack in the wall as we hurtled past, and I tried not to laugh. We kept going deeper and deeper into the vaults. Suddenly, we took a sharp turn and saw a waterfall only seconds in front of us.

“No!” Griphook shouted, but there was no braking.

We flew through it, water drenching us and flipping the cart, which threw us out of it. Hermione shrieked and then I felt weightless, and we all floated softly to the ground.

“C-Cushioning Charm” Hermione said, as Ron helped her to her feet.

I stood up quickly, looking down at myself. We were all ourselves again, soaking wet, but completely ourselves. I checked to make sure I still had my bag. It did, afterall, have half of our belongings.

“The Thief’s Downfall!” said Griphook. “It washes away all enchantment, all magical concealment! They know there are impostors in Gringotts, they have set off defenses against us!”

Bogrod was just getting to his feet, and he looked bewildered. The waterfall must’ve lifted the Imperius Curse.

“We need him,” said Griphook, “we cannot enter the vault without a Gringotts goblin. And we need the Clankers!”

“Imperio!” Harry said again, his voice echoing.

“Harry, I think I hear people coming!” said Hermione.

She pointed Bellatrix’s wand at the waterfall and cried, “Protego!”

“Good thinking,” said Harry. “Lead the way, Griphook!”

“How are we going to get out again?” asked Ron as we hurried after the goblins.

“We wing it” I said.

“Griphook, how much farther?” Harry asked.

“Not far, Harry Potter, not far…”

We turned a corner and stopped dead. There was an enormous dragon chained to the ground in front of us. It was guarding about four of the deepest vaults. The dragon didn’t look very healthy, though, it seemed as if it’d been in here a while.

When it noticed us, it roared so loud the rocks around us trembled, and then it spit a stream of fire that caused us to run back up the passageway.

“It is partially blind,” said Griphook, “but even more savage for that. However, we have the means to control it. It has learned what to expect when the Clankers come. Give them to me”

Ron handed him the bag and he pulled out a number of metal instruments that made a loud, ringing noise when he shook them. He handed us each one.

“You know what to do” Griphook said. “It will expect pain when it hears the noise: It will retreat, and Bogrod must place his palm upon the door of the vault”

We went around the corner again, shaking the Clankers. The dragon let out another roar, then retreated away from the approaching sound. As we got nearer, I noticed the scars across its face, probably made by a sword. I felt bad for it, being cooped up here and tortured in that way. Harry made Bogrod press his hand to the door and it melted away to reveal a cavelike room just full of golden coins and goblets, armor, skins of strange creatures, potions in jewled flasks, and also, I noticed, a human skull still wearing a crown.

“Search, fast!” said Harry, and we all hurried inside.

We didn’t know exactly which Horcrux was in here, but Harry had explained what Hufflepuff’s cup looked like, so hopefully it was that one. There was a clunk from behind us and we were submerged in darkness. The door had resealed, and we were now stuck in the vault.

“No matter, Bogrod will be able to release us!” said Griphook. “Light your wands, can’t you? And hurry, we have very little time!”

“Lumos!”

We held our wands up, trying to cast the most light as possible.

“Harry could this be - ? Aargh!”

Hermione screamed in pain and we all glanced over at her quickly. She dropped a jewled goblet, but as it fell, it became about twenty or so goblets, so when they landed, it was impossible to tell the original.

“It burned me!” she said, sucking on her fingers.

“They have added Gemino and Flagrante Curses!” said Griphook. “Everything you touch will burn and multiply, but the copies are worthless – and if you continue to handle the treasure, you will eventually be crushed to death by the weight of expanding gold!”

“Okay, don’t touch anything!” said Harry desperately.

However, just as he said it, Ron accidentally bumped one of the fallen goblets with his foot and it burst into twenty more while he hopped around on one foot, part of his shoe burned away.

“Stand still, don’t move!” said Hermione.

“Just look around!” said Harry. “Remember, the cup’s small and gold, it’s got a badger engraved on it, two handles – otherwise see if you can spot Ravenclaw’s symbol anywhere, the eagle – “

We pointed our wands in every direction, trying not to touch anything as we turned slowly. However, that was nearly impossible. I accidentally nudged a golden tiara and Harry sent a shower of fake Galleons onto the floor and now there was hardly anywhere to put our feet, the heat rose up in waves, giving the feeling of being in a giant furnace. Harry was raising his wand, looking higher, up at the shelves, until –

“It’s there, it’s up there!”

We all pointed our wands up, to see the goblet shining as if in a spotlight.

“And how the hell are we going to get up there without touching anything?” asked Ron.

“Accio Cup!” cried Hermione.

She had apparently forgotten what Griphook had told us earlier.

“No use, no use!” said the goblin.

“Then what do we do?” Harry glared at him. “If you want the sword, Griphook, then you’ll have to help us more than – wait! Can I touch stuff with the sword? Hermione, give it here!”

She rummaged through her bag until carefully pulling it out. Harry grabbed it and touched the tip to something nearby, and it did not multiply.

“If I can just poke the sword through a handle” he said, “but how am I going to get up there?”

The shelf was out of reach for all of us, even Ron who was the tallest. Sweat was running down our faces from the heat waves and we could now hear clanking getting closer on the other side of the door. We were trapped now.

“Hermione,” Harry said, “I’ve got to get up there, we’ve got to get rid of it – “

She raised her wand, pointing it at Harry and whispered, “Levicorpus”

Harry was lifted into the air by his ankle, but he hit a suit of armor on his way up, causing burning replicas to fall towards us. They burned us as me, Ron, Hermione, and the two goblins were thrown into other objects. I could hear their screams of pain mixing with mine. There was now nowhere to stand without being burned, we were half-buried in the scalding treasures.

“Impervius!” Hermione and I both yelled, trying to protect ourselves and the others.

Struggling to keep ourselves and the goblins above the burning metal, we lost a grip on Griphook, and he disappeared beneath the growing mass, all except for his fingers. I didn’t see what happened next, but I heard Harry yelling something about the sword and the cup.

The clanking was right on the other side of the door, it would be too late.

The door opened, and we were then sliding down the mountain of growing, scorching treasures. At that point, I was barely aware of the pain because I was frantically trying to think how we could get out of this one.

“Thieves! Thieves! Help! Thieves!” it was Griphook shouting, he was now in the midst of the goblins outside the door, who just accepted him, and he was brandishing the sword.

“Stupefy!” Harry yelled, and we joined in because it really seemed that the only way out was through them.

The dragon roared and spit more fire, over the goblins, making the wizards behind them turn and flee back up the passageway.

I heard loud bangs and turned to see Harry running towards the dragon, which looked as if it had just been released, but didn’t know it yet.

“This way!” Harry yelled.

“Harry – Harry – what are you doing?” Hermione cried.

I didn’t wait for the answer, if we could escape on a dragon, I was all for it. I made a dash towards the beast as Harry was climbing on. He reached down a hand and helped me up, I reached back for Hermione, and Ron climbed on behind her.

Not even a second later, it realized it was free and reared up, roaring. We held on as tight as possible, but the scales were hard and jagged. It spread open its wings, knocking over the army of goblins below. Then, it lifted into the air. We flattened ourselves on its back, but scraped against the ceiling anyways.

“We’ll never get out, it’s too big!” I heard Hermione yell.

However, the dragon roared again, opening its mouth and spitting fire, which blasted the tunnel and crumbled the walls. It was clawing and trying to fight its way out. I decided it needed a little help, and started using all the blasting and digging spells I could think of. The others joined in, and we got closer to the top, I think the dragon could sense freedom. It was thrashing and breathing fire, until finally, we burst through the marble floor of the bank’s hall. Goblins and wizards alike shrieked and ran for cover, but the dragon paid them no mind and continued crashing through the doors into Diagon Alley where it took off into the sky.