The next day, everyone had showered, got some food. They felt like themselves again. Now they needed to speak to Griphook and find out about what was inside of Bellatrix's Vault.

"Ready?" Harry asked.

"As we'll ever be." Ron sighed.

"Let's go." Parker knocked on the door.

"Come in."

The Herd walked in, closing the door behind them. Griphook was sat in a chair by the window, turned away from the Herd.

"How are you feeling, sir?" Hermione asked.

"Better than before." Griphook told her, not turning to face them.

"Well, you probably won't remember since it was so long ago-" Harry began.

"I showed you to your vault the first time you came to Gringotts." Griphook interjected,"Even amongt goblins, you're the famous Harry Potter."

"Yes... I suppose so." Harry sighed.

"You buried the elf." Griphool clasped his hands.

"It was the least we could do." Parker spoke up.

"And you brought me here. Unusual, isn't it?" Griphook asked before he gestured to the sword,"How'd you come across that sword?"

"It's complicated." Ron sighed.

"Why does my mother believe this should be in her vault?" Parker asked.

"It's complicated." Griphook shrugged.

"The sword presented itself to us at a time of need. We didn't steal it." Ron scoffed.

"There is a sword in Madame Lestrange's Vault identical to this one... But it's a fake." Griphook informed them,"It was placed there this past summer."

"She never suspected it being fake?" Parker raised a brow

"The replica is very convincing. Only a goblin could tell that this is the real Sword of Gryffindor." Griphook explained

"So who placed it there?" Hermione piped in.

"A Hogwarts Professor." Griphook told them,"Although I believe he is now Headmaster."

"Snape." Parker looked over at him.

"But why would Snape put a fake sword in Bellatrix's Vault?" Ron asked.

"To trick her." Erica crossed her arms.

"Well, we need to get into her vault." Parker shrugged.

"There are more than a few curious things in Gringotts." Griphook told her

"So tell us the dangers."

"It's impossible." Griphook shook his hesd.

"Alone, yes. But with you? No." Erica pointed.

"Who said I'd help?" Griphook blew a raspberry.

"I did." Erica muttered.

"I have gold, lots of it." Harry told Griphook.

Griphook looked over at the sword,"That's my prize. I want that, not gold."

"Hey- Don't we need that to destroy horcruxes?" Ron raised a brow.

"We don't exactly need it." Parker shrugged.

"There are other ways to destroy horcruxes but not many. Its your choice, Harry." Hermione shook her head.

Harry sighed,"You can have it."

"Oh! Oh! I have an idea for how we can get in." Erica raised her hand.

"Yeah?" Parker looked at her.

"Hear me out... What if you pretended to be Bellatrix so we could get inside?" Erica suggested.

Parker blinked,"I look nothing like my mum."

"Well, you're younger and prettier." Erica told her,"But... If you curled your hair then I reckon you'd look pretty similar."

Parker looked in the mirror,"I kinda see it."

"And hey, you have her wand." Ron reminded her,"All you need to do is curl your hair and change your clothes."

With that, the Herd left Griphook's room to plan their infiltration of Gringotts.

"One or two of you guys might need to come with me. She never travels alone."

"I volunteer." Erica hummed.

"I'll come too." Ron nodded.

"And I'll take Griphook and Hermione with me under the invisibility cloak." Harry added.

"Come on Ron, let's go play dress up." Erica pulled him into another room

"Dress up." Ron rolled his eyes.

"This should be fun." Hermione chuckled as the pair disappeared behind the door.

"I need to find a black dress." Parked nodded.

"I'll help you with your hair." Hermione told her.

"Thanks Mione." Parker smiled.

"No problem, now come on." Hermione lead Parker into a different room.

After twenty minutes or so, everyone walked out their rooms. Ron first.

"You really got a beard." Harry laughed, walking up to him.

"Erica said it would make me look older and more scary." Ron sighed

"Well, I guess it does." Harry nodded as Erica walked out.

Despite the outfit, she looked just like her regular self... Until she stopped smiling.

"Oh, never let Erica be mean." Hermione shook her head.

"I don't look that different, do I? Is it the hair?" Erica turned to Ron.

"No it's... Your smile. You look very angry."

"But I'm not angry."

"But you look it."

"I promise I'm not." Erica hugged Ron's side.

"Thanks." Ron sighed.

Parker was next, walking out with her hair curled and wearing a long, black dress.

"See? You look good." Hermione assured her.

"This corset is tight." Parker groaned.

"If we're quick with this, you won't have to deal with it for too long." Ron shook his head.

Parker nodded,"Everyone ready?"

"I think so." Harry sighed.

*********************************

Soon enough they were all walking down the streets of Diagon Alley. It was cold and damp, practically empty.

"It's weird, isn't it? Seeing this place so... Abandoned?" Erica whispered.

"Remember when we were all eleven? Shopping here?" Parker sighed.

"And now you look like one of the most feared Death Eaters and the only people left are giving you looks." Ron shook his head.

"True." Parker nodded slowly, putting on an act as they walked in.

The group walked up the goblin at the front podium, the one who would give her the key. Parker gave a small cough to attract the goblin although the goblin continued with his paperwork.

"I wish to enter my vault." Parker cleared her throat.

"Identification?" The goblin asked, still looking at his papers.

"You dare ask me for my identification?" Parker scoffed.

The goblin then looked down, noticing her,"Madame Lestrange."

"Yes? I don't like to be kept waiting, goblin." Parker crossed her arms.

"They know she's an imposter, they've been warned." Griphook muttered.

"Madame Lestrange, could you present your wand?" The other goblin asked.

"Of course." Parker held up her mother's wand.

Erica noticed a security guard starting to approach and she slid her wand out of her sleeve.

"Why must this be shown?" Parker pulled it back down.

"Oh, it is just our new policy with all that's going on." The goblin answered.

"Imperio." Erica muttered under her breath.

The goblin then looked back at Parker, blinking a few times,"Very well Madame Lestrange. If you'd follow me."

Soon enough, the group was in the cart, speeding down the rickety rails.

"How did I do?" Parker turned to the others.

"Very well." Harry told her.

"Thank you." Parker gave a small bow.

"Add using an Unforgivable Curse to my list of things I did while on the run." Erica joked.

"Wait- Oh my god, Erica." Parker smiled.

"What? They were onto you." Erica shrugged.

"No, your hair." Parker pointed.

"My hair? Oh- Yeah, I cut it before I got to the Manor." Erica hummed.

"It's so cute, I love it."

"Aw, thanks! It was a bit of a rushed job but I really like it."

"You cut your hair?" Ron turned.

"Thanks for noticing." Erica sighed.

"Sorry." Ron shook his head.

"We can't go through water, right?" Hermione turned back to them.

"I don't think so, why?" Harry asked.

"Griphook?" Hermione looked at him,"The track is getting close to the water-"

Before they could react, the cart stopped suddenly and they were thrown from the cart.

"Arresto Momentum!" Hermione shouted so just before the others could hit the ground they hovered before finally hitting it.

"That... That was horrible." Erica shook her now wet hair.

"My curls are gone." Parker sighed, her hair going back to waves.

"And my beard's gone." Ron felt his face.

"Good, I don't want to imagine you like that again." Harry sighed.

"It wasn't a good look, sorry." Erica shook her head.

That's when the goblin they cursed noticed them,"What are you all doing down here? Thieves! I m-"

"Imperio." Erica sighed, cursing him again.

The goblin went back to the smiling daze he was in before.

"He's kinda cute." Parker hummed.

"I like him better like this." Erica shrugged before they all heard something... A roar.

"Oh, that doesn't sound good." Ron gulped.

Griphook lead them towards the sound, towards the vault, where a large, white dragon was.

"You've got a Ukrainian Ironbelly down here?" Erica a turned to Griphook.

"For safety." Griphook gave a small shrug.

"Poor thing." Erica shook her head.

Griphook grabbed an object, shaking it which created a loud noise, the dragon walking backwards.

"It's trained to expect pain whenever it hears the noise." Griphook explained.

"That's barbaric. It's hurting it." Parker looked at him.

Erica shook her head as they traversed the room, the dragon backed into a corner.

"Poor creature.." Parker held Erica's hand.

The group then ended up in front of the vault. Griphook held the other goblin's hand against the door, opening and unlocking it. The door locked behind them after they walked in and inside was dark so everyone used Lumos to light up the room.

The room was neatly piled up high with galleons and other golden objects.

"Blimey, how do we find the horcrux in here?" Ron sighed.

"Accio horcrux?" Hermione tried, although nothing happened.

"Hermione, you're probably the smartest person in this room... And you tried accio horcrux?" Parker held her head.

"That kind of magic won't work in here." Griphook stated bluntly.

"Well Harry, do you feel it?" Ron patted his back.

Harry scanned the room, trying to sense where the horcrux was. That was when Hermione brushed against something, causing it to multiply.

"We have a problem." Parker cursed as that object then multiplied as it touched another.

"That's it, up there!" Harry pointed to a golden cup,"Toss me the sword."

"You better hurry because- Ow!" Erica flinched back after an cup hit her, it burned

"Everyone try not to move!" Hermione tried her best not to move after throwing Harry the sword.

The Herd tried to remain as still as possible as the gold piled up. Sword in hand, Harry began climbing the gold mountains to reach the cup

"Hurry mate!" Ron cursed.

"Trying my best here-" Harry grabbed the cup, but fell right into the gold and dropped it.

Griphook dived forward quickly, grabbing the cup with a smirk.

"We had a deal, Griphook." Harry called to him.

"The cup for the sword." Griphook stated.

Harry quickly passed the sword to Griphook as the group was now practically swimming in gold.

"Well, I said I'd get you all in. I never said I'd get you out." Griphook hummed, grabbing the goblin and walked out.

The Herd struggled inside the vault for a few minutes more before somehow forcing open the door and running out.

"Oh my god." Parker let out a breath.

The Herd ran up to a metal fence barricade and watched as the bewitched goblin was swallowed up by the dragons fire.

"Oh... That's not good." Ron sighed.

Thats when other goblins began to sling spells at the Herd.

"Do we ever get a break?" Ron cursed as they ran behind a wall.

Erica shook her head as she rolled up her sleeves,"I... I have a plan."

"Be careful." Parker warned.

"Cover me." Erica then ran off.

Parker quickly threw a spell at the goblins, Erica making her way towards the dragon. Erica hopped the fence and jumped, landing on the back of the dragon. The dragon roared, shooting fire towards the goblins.

"Guys, come on!" Erica called to them, holding onto the dragon's back.

"This is something new." Hermione sighed as they ran over.

"I'm just going off of what Charlie taught me." Erica shook her head.

"Hopefully that's been a lot, right?" Harry asked.

"He taught me everything I know." Erica nodded before she fired a spell, breaking the chain that kept the dragon trapped.

The dragon then looked up, flying through the oncoming cart and flew out the roof. Once outside, the dragon crawled across the roof and began to fly. Not very well, mind you, but flying nonetheless.

"Good boy." Erica gently patted the dragon.

"How long do you think it's been since he's saw real light?" Parker looked at Erica.

"Years.. Decades" Erica sighed,"But I've always wanted to ride a dragon."

"You've never ridden one before now?" Hermione looked at her.

"Charlie always said they were too dangerous." Erica shrugged.

"At least you haven't killed us yet."

"Shut up."

Hermione gave a small laugh. The dragon flew for a few hours before he began to slow down, lowering to the water beneath them.

"Uh guys, we're dropping." Harry pointed out.

"What?" Parker opened her eyes.

"Right, on three, we jump." Hermione shook her head.

"One.. Two.. Three!" Ron shouted.

With that, the group jumped down into the water below. They swam towards the shore as the dragon flew off.

"I've encountered too much water today." Parker gasped as she swam to the shore.

"He knows." Harry shook his head as he stood up,"You-know-who. He knows that we broke into Gringotts and that we're hunting horcruxes."

"What? Why would he know?" Hermione began getting new clothes out her bag.

"I saw it."

"You let him in?" Parker turned,"Harry, you can't be doing that."

"Well- I can't always help it. Or maybe I can, I don't know." Harry sighed.

"We need to find the rest of the horcruxes." Parker shook her head as Hermione handed them all fresh clothes.

"It's at Hogwarts." Harry told her.

"You saw it?" Ron asked.

"I saw the castle and... Rowena Ravenclaw. It must have something to do with her so we need to go to the Castle." Harry sighed.

"We can't, we need to plan and figure this out." Hermione shook her head.

"Mione, have any of our plans actually worked?" Erica asked as she pulled on a beige jumper,"We plan, we get there and all hell breaks loose."

"She has a point." Parker nodded, tying up her hair.

"Well, we can't just walk through the front door with Snape as Headmaster." Ron crossed his arms.

"But in Hogsmeade there are secret passageways, like in Honeydukes." Erica reminded him.

"I'm sure they'd have watches on the passageways so we'd need to be quick." Hermione sighed.

"It's fine, I know pretty much every way about that castle."

"We should start going." Ron nodded.

"Right, who wants to apparate?" Erica asked.

"I will." Parker raised her hand, holding them out afterwards.

The group joined hands and soon, they were in a very foggy Hogsmeade. However, upon arrival, there was a horrible screech. An alarm.

"We've been detected already?" Ron muttered, putting his hood up as they walked.

"It seems so." Hermione nodded as dementors began to fly at the group.

"Come on." Parker turned down an alley.

They all ran but the dementors were closing in, leaving Harry with no choice but to send them away with his patronus.

"This is a dead end!" Hermione cursed.

The Herd thought they were goners, trapped behind a locked gate... Until they were pulled inside a building, The Hog's Head.

"You're all bloody fools." The man sighed as he sat down inside,"You have no idea how dangerous it is."

Harry stared at the man,"You're Aberforth, Dumbledore's brother. You're the man I've been seeing. You sent Dobby."

"That is correct. I haven't been hearing from him though, is he alright?" Aberforth raised a brow.

Parker looked over,"He died... Saving us."

"Shame that." Aberforth sighed before he got up, walking to another room,"I'll get you something to drink."

"Sir, who gave you this mirror?" Parker pointed.

"A man named Mundungus sold it tol me." Aberforth told her, walking back with the tray of drinks.

"Well, he had no right, it was-" Harry began.

"Sirius Black's, I'm aware." Aberforth told him.

Since they had left the cottage, they hadn't had anything to drink or eat so they downed the drinks.

"Do you hear much from everyone at the Order?" Hermione asked.

"Sometimes I do... Not so much though." Aberforth gave a small shrug.

Erica's eyes then landed on the portrait of a young girl in a blue dress,"Aberforth, who is that?"

"That was my little sister." Aberforth looked towards her as Arianna walked off.

"Was?"

Aberforth sighed,"At... The age of six, Ariana was attacked by some muggle boys when she was practicing underage magic. Ever since that day her magical abilities were uncontrollable... When she was fourteen, she died when she was accidently struck by a curse."

"Oh, I'm sorry for bringing it up." Erica shook her head.

"Don't be." Aberforth assured her.

Aberforth then got up, leaving the room as Arianna began returning to her spot in the portrait although... Someone was following her.

"Who's that?" Parker sat up.

The portrait then swung open and... It was Neville! He was bruised and looked tired but he was alive.

"Neville, you look.." Parker trailed off.

"Like hell, I reckon." Neville chuckled,"This is nothing, Seamus is worse."

"You're alive!" Erica ran up to Neville and kissed him with no hesitation.

Neville took a second but he slowly kissed back before pulling away.

"Damn Erica." Ron chuckled.

"What? I... Well, I missed him." Erica hugged Neville.

"I missed you too." Neville hugged her back tightly.

"Have you been careful?"

"As careful as I can be."

"Good." Erica slowly let him go, although she held onto his hand.

"Who else is okay?" Parker walked forward.

"We all are, don't worry."

Parker nodded slowly.

"This will take us to Hogwarts?" Ron looked down the passage

"It will, come on." Neville nodded, starting to lead them through the passageway.

They all began to follow Neville through the passageways after saying their thanks to Aberforth.

"Parker, should I make a big entrance?" Erica asked.

"Would you like to?" Parker hummed.

"Very much so."

Parker nodded,"Go on then."

"Yes!" Erica clapped before she jumped through the portrait,"We didn't die!"

"Oh my god." Everyone smiled, clapping as the Herd walked through.

"Oh... I wasn't really expecting that." Erica blinked.

"What did you expect?" Dean chuckled.

"I don't know- Parker, look! People are actually happy to see us."

Parker smiled and held onto Erica, her eyes scanning through the crowd as Ginny kissed Harry.

Erica gasped and grabbed onto Ron, "She went and kissed him- Before even coming over to say hi to me?"

Ginny laughed and pulled away,"I'm sorry, Erica."

"You should be."

"Come here." Ginny ran over and hugged her.

Erica hugged onto Ginny tightly, relieved that her younger sister was alright. Parker looked through the crowd, before her eyes found Blaise and she quickly ran to him.

"Parker." Blaise grinned at the sight of her.

Parker quickly grabbed onto Blaise and hugged him.

Blaise hugged back, holding her close,"I'm glad you're alright."

"Me? I was worried about you." Parker closed her eyes.

"You've been missing for a year, Parker." Blaise reminded her.

"I've been fine." Parker waved him off.

"Fine?"

"Ish."

Blaise sighed and pulled her closer to him.

"So what's the plan?" Neville asked.

"Okay, there's something we need to find. It's inside the castle and it'll help us defeat You-know-who." Harry explained.

"Okay, so what is it?" Seamus tilted his head.

"We... Don't know." Harry admitted.

"... Do you know where it is?" Dean asked.

"We don't know that either." Ron shook his head.

"Aren't we helpful?" Erica sighed.

"Does anyone have any knowledge? Anything that might help us?" Hermione asked around.

"Well, there's Rowena Ravenclaw's lost diadem." Luna spoke up.

Everyone turned their attention to Luna.

"The Lost Diadem of Ravenclaw? Hasn't anyone heard of it?" Luna looked around.

"Yes but Luna... It's been lost for centuries. No one alive has saw it." Cho sighed.

"Why is she still here?" Parker mouthed to Erica.

"Be nice." Erica mouthed back.

"Excuse me, can somebody tell me what a bloody diadem is?" Ron crossed his arms.

"Like a tiara." Parker hummed.

"Yeah! A little, sparkly crown thingie." Erica nodded.

Lavender then ran in,"Snape knows Harry was seen in Hogsmeade. He wants us all to the Great Hall "

"Brilliant." Harry sighed.

"We need a plan now." Parker turned.

"It's fine, we work great under pressure." Erica sighed.

"Okay, let's be quick." Hermione nodded.