I thought for sure that taking the Hufflepuff cup would be a straightforward affair the moment the Wizengamot judged in my favor.
Instead, the goblins with deep-seated sneers and growing annoyance were ferrying six of us down to the vaults of the Lestrange family.
Tonks, Limm, and I made sense. Sadly, Dumbledore did, too. But Lucius Malfoy talked to both Bellatrix and Rabastan after the hearing and immediately went to Gringotts after to insist that he would be present as the family's proxy. Amelia Bones had someone spy on the interaction between the three Death Eaters and immediately followed the man. The spy didn't hear what they discussed but observed the ferocity of their discussion. So, she insisted being there as an observer since Malfoy didn't adhere to the ruling.
"You look troubled. Didn't you get what you wanted?" Ted Tonks asked in a quiet voice as Bones and Dumbledore were silently discussing something on the other end of the cart during the ride down.
"I detest having an audience," I answered with frustration tinging my voice.
I was a Lord now. My mother would very likely be declared a war hero at the next hearing and receive an Order of Merlin. I got what I wanted by being allowed to loot the Lestrange vaults...
But Dumbledore was here. Bones and Malfoy wouldn't enter these vaults with me, but Dumbledore probably would.
"Vault 588, personal vault of Rabastan Lestrange," one of three goblins read from a ledger he brought with him.
Reluctantly, I stood up from the cart and entered the vault as the goblin opened it.
"I'll count every galleon as a single item," Malfoy threatened with a sneer as he watched me check the few tables and shelves in the vault room from the large entrance.
"He will receive a lump sum of 150 galleons for the lineage appraisal anyway. Getting more money is not Lord Gamp's interest," Tonks answered his reluctant brother-in-law with a neutral expression as he stood next to the goblin with the ledger to discuss the next vaults to visit.
I ignored them both and looked through the vault with my Eagle Vision active. There were quite a few magical items inside, even an old Comet 110 broom in good condition. It should have been the broom my father used during his Hogwarts studies. But... other than that, I only found a few items that were likely trophies he looted during the war.
Nothing that caught my interest.
While shaking my head, I exited the vault, and we made our way to the next.
The vault of Rudolphus was equally as disappointing, though there were quite a few more dark or cursed items here that made Dumbledore look around with a deep frown. Only when we entered the third vault, the Lestrange main vault, did he speak up.
"Is your mother's life truly only worth trinkets like these, Talion?" He asked with disappointment tinging his voice.
"Her life was worth more than the entire Lestrange family, in my opinion. But why are you disappointed, headmaster? This is just symbolic. Is this not preferable to me seeking out another blood feud?" I asked as I kept my voice and face neutral. Because if I didn't, I'd ask him why my mother's life and her wishes were worth so little to him.
Looking around with the old asshole looking over my shoulder, I found something I could actually use in the main vault. Two pensieves were sitting inside the center of the vault... those were actually worth a huge sum of money and notoriously lacked a market. Only truly ancient and wealthy families had one.
And now, I did, too.
Floating one over to the entrance with a wave of my wand, I gently placed it at my lawyer's feet and said, "First item."
I saw Amelia narrow her eyes, and Malfoy naturally didn't hold back as he mocked, "Really? An upstart little orphan like you needs a pensieve? Or did you just take it because it looked expensive?"
"I'd like my children to see just how stupid your son is so that they can learn before embarrassing me like your runt," I countered and walked back inside.
I probably should have turned back at that because I heard Limm and Tonks stifle laughs as Bones gasped in offense for Malfoy, who went red as a tomato.
Dumbledore had a deep frown on his face as he watched me enter the vault again and followed me even closer. At more than one point, I noticed he wanted to speak up, but I didn't bother looking in his direction as I continued my search to give him the excuse.
Eventually, I narrowed my search down to a few books and an enchanted mirror. I saw Dumbledore frown quite deeply as I looked through those books because they were all books that were too dark to be in the main library in case the Lestrange estate was ever searched by the ministry.
Well, and a few books neither of the Lestrange brothers bothered to sort after taking them from other magicals during their Death Eater raids. I even found three family Grimoires, chief of which belonged to the wiped out British Sayre family, and decided to take those three Grimoires and the mirror. That brought my total to five items thus far.
Those darker magic tomes held no real allure to me. I already had plenty through Walden Macnair's little library, and I had no desire to become a dark lord anytime soon. Especially not with Dumbledore looking over my shoulders.
Why learn a slightly different curse to melt someone's skin when I already knew a curse like that, I inwardly argued. I preferred instant killing with a knife... plus, I was still allowed inside the Black library. They had plenty of darker tomes inside, like the one with the mind reaping Legilimency spell I was going to use on the soul shards of Voldemort.
"Do you plan to return those grimoires to their rightful owners?" Dumbledore asked 'casually'.
If he had the authority, he would have taken those grimoires himself. For study, of course. Old family grimoires held plenty of hidden knowledge - a wealth of generational wisdom and unexpected discoveries.
"If there are still Lowes, Blishwicks, and Sayres alive, sure. Well, the latter should still have another branch in MACUSA at the very least," I answered with a shrug.
I didn't even know what these books held in terms of knowledge or if I could even read them. The Gamp grimoire I got from my great aunt Bella Farley was enchanted to have blank pages for anybody who didn't have Gamp blood. I didn't know how easy or hard it would be for others to break such an enchantment without deleting the content inside those grimoires.
But I wouldn't just gift them back either if I didn't find out how. These were tokens I could exchange for favors with the right people, I hoped.
"I see," the headmaster mumbled thoughtfully.
I only had two more items I could take, so I walked out of the main vault under the loathing looks of Malfoy and the unamused stare of Bones. It seemed my comment about Draco Malfoy somehow offended both.
"Three more vaults to go," one goblin declared, clearly uninterested in our disputes. "Quickly now, you already dawdled enough. Time is money."
The next two vaults were inconsequential. One belonged to the mad great-aunt of my father, who was still alive. The other belonged to someone who had been married off to a pureblood family in France. Both only held some sentimental items and measly sums of money. The rest of the older vaults were folded back into the family main vault once the deaths of their earlier owners were confirmed. A premium service that old families like the Lestrange paid no small amount of money for.
But saved for last, we entered Bellatrix' vault, and I saw Dumbledore, Bones, and Malfoy tense up a little.
Clearly, they were all invested to find what I would take from this vault. I didn't doubt that Lucius had been informed by Bellatrix in the end when she realised what was at stake... and it seemed Dumbledore was suspicious at the very least.
And... Bones seemed to suspect something, too.
I ignored them all and entered the vault.
It was littered with curious items. Clearly, Bellatrix had enjoyed looting trophies during the war. I even saw a bunch of shrunken elf heads that reminded me of the decor Grimmauld Place had in canon.
Some looked old, but some were clearly - well, not fresh. But they were less old for sure. In my mind, I figured she had likely killed a few loyal house elves during the war and continued the sick Black family tradition of using elf heads as decoration.
Looking around, I found the Hufflepuff cup quite quickly. Just like the diadem, it was golden in my Eagle Vision and sat quite prominently on top of a mountain of discarded curios.
Silently, I put on my basilisk hide glove I got from Isobel for my birthday and floated the cup down without triggering the duplication charm of any items on this mountain of trash that had appeared in the books and movies. Without saying anything, I put the cup in a magically insulated box that I had paid quite a bit of money for and held it tightly on my person when Dumbledore was busy looking through the books in the vault that were carelessly piled on one side. I tried to hide without arousing suspicion as I took the cup by standing slightly out of sight of the entrance, but I couldn't be sure who saw what.
As long as they didn't ask, I should have gotten away with taking the horcrux... though in the end, Malfoy would know I took an item that Voldemort had entrusted Bellatrix. I banked on the fact that Malfoy thought the dark lord was still dead and that he didn't know of the true importance of the horcrux. Just like in canon when he discarded one for a childish grudge.
I thought nothing else would catch my attention and intended to take a single galleon to finish my seven item quota - but I found another thing golden in my vision. Another book.
Dumbledore didn't get to see the cup or me taking it, I hoped, but I decided to put up a show anyway.
"Finally," I mumbled under my breath as I beheld the gigantic tome almost as big as my torso.
'Alchemy Studies Through The Ages: A Complete Compendium, by Argo Pyrites'
I intended to make Dumbledore think I was interested in something as trivial but sensational as alchemy. It was still too early for me to take it as a post O.W.L. elective under him, so he couldn't use it as an excuse to teach me. Books like this were rare enough to be seen as treasures on the level of family heirlooms if they were created by reputable masters of the craft.
And, last year, Harry and I pulled Pyrites out of chocolate frog box in the form of those trading cards. Argo Pyrites was a descedant from a Greek magical family with roots going back to the times of Plato and Sokrates. In fact, the card said they might even be a family founded by Archimedes, one of the biggest scholars and wizards of his time... in this world.
This book should be quite good if it appeared golden in my vision.
Plus, one of my mum's notebooks mentioned that Selena Macnair had been interested in alchemy, specifically poisons and research for permanent transmutation. I could claim without lying that Selena put me on the path to find a book like that in the vast coffers of the Lestrange family.
"I'm done," I said after walking out of the Lestrange vault.
"What's inside the box?" Malfoy asked in apprehension and sheer dislike.
One arm holding the enormous book, the other clutching the box with the horcrux inside, I was about to quip, 'The key to false immortality.'
But Dumbledore was here, and I suspected he already had an inkling that Voldemort had created such items. Slughorn was already in the school. Them interacting early could mean that the previous head of House Slytherin had spilled the tea early to confirm the headmaster's theory.
"A fancy drinking cup. Always wanted to drink in style," I said with a small smile. Lying about what it was sadly wasn't possible. Dumbledore held the Elder Wand, and according to Lara and Heimdall, it was part of Excalibur, and no lie could escape the wielder of Excalibur. I didn't want the headmaster to get suspicious and inspect the item.
It was fine that Malfoy knew. He was here. He already suspected that I would take it, whatever 'it' was after Bellatrix likely alerted the man. And I planned to deal with Voldemort anyway. If the dark lord managed to ressurect, I was on his list of kills regardless of whether or not I had one of his horcruxes. My mother had, after all, betrayed his cause and humiliated the man by managing to escape and give birth to me before dying.
Bones kept a close eye on Malfoy and confirmed that I had taken something of high importance from the vault when the man's expression turned a turn for the worse. It seemed the blonde asshole's Occlumency crumbled a little, thinking about the wrath he could incur for failing to stop the 'theft' had the dark lord still been alive.
"May I inspect the item to make sure you did not involuntarily pick up a cursed object?" Bones asked after dragging me away from the small group outside the vault.
"Well, of course not, Madam Bones," I answered in an icy tone. "In fact, I find it inappropriate already that both you and Malfoy are here. The public part of this whole charade was meant to be the Wizengamot trial where I distance myself from my father."
Bones grit her teeth a little and picked out the monocle she had on from her eye to wipe it gently with the sleeves of her robes.
"I don't mean you any harm, Talion. I didn't mean-"
I stopped her from saying anything more by holding up my hand.
"Please don't address me with such familiarity, Madam Bones. You and your niece have made it quite clear that we are not that close," I instructed and walked back to my lawyers.
Now, finally, all those people could fuck off from whence they came and I would get to visit the Gamp family vault alone.
Sadly, Dumbledore wasn't finished meddling and decided to stick around to 'talk with Ted, to clear the air', but he stared at the box unblinkingly almost the entire ride up.
[POV Amelia Bones inside the Gringotts vault depths]
The cart we came down in detached into two parts. Malfoy and I were going to be sent up, but Dumbledore pretended to still need something with Talion's lawyer and followed the group in the direction of the Gamp family vault.
"Quite the distasteful cur, is he not?" Malfoy asked as he watched where my eyeline fell.
"He is twice the wizard you will ever be, Lord Malfoy," I answered while still distracted.
The tone of voice Talion chose to rebuff me earlier cut deep. I remember when Ted told me in my office that I had seen to it that Talion was all alone... I could see it now that I did unrepairable damage to our relationship by acting the way I did. I hoped at the conclusion of it all that he could see why I did it. Selena deserved better than having her son detest me - even if at the moment it was well earned.
And today, I did it again. I didn't follow through asking Dumbledore about his knowledge of Selena's death. I made him hate me more today... if only my case didn't need me to be seen as someone sympathizing with the Light side.
Damn those hypocritical ingrates for allying with the Dark behind closed curtains for those shady deals.
I heard Malfoy scoff as we both were urged to sit in the cart that would take us back to the surface.
"What was in the box?" I asked again, this time Lucius Malfoy.
"Something he had no right to take," Malfoy cryptically answered, and I could only assume he answered at all to make me drop the topic.
But that was enough for me to figure out that it either belonged to the Black family or that it was important to the Death Eaters. Both made sense since Lucius' wife was a Black witch and since I knew of the importance of Bellatrix among their ranks, among his ranks. Something the dark lord personally gave his right hand.
That made the most sense, thinking it over.
But... how did Talion know about it? How was he able to figure out its importance and take it from thousands of items in half a dozen vaults? It seemed to me now that he did all of this just to get to that one item in Bellatrix' vault.
Was he friendly with a seer? Was he a seer himself? No, Selena's family didn't have seer's blood, and I didn't recall any in the Lestrange family either.
"I find it curious that you had the time to observe me during this charade. I would have thought it more likely that you would deal with that unsavory business Lord Gamp pointed out earlier with one of your aurors," Malfoy mockingly pointed out as he spat Talion's new title in derision.
Ah, Auror Gruff. I never liked the man, and it seemed I was right to do so.
Shacklebolt was tasked with putting the man in an interrogation cell to get to the bottom of Talion's accusation.