Carrows and Cups

Harry and Bellatrix were in London making their way into Gringotts. Per the advice of Salazar, they were carrying a large dragonskin bag that Bellatrix had enchanted with an impermeable charm. Harry looked at the crowd, "Do they ever have bank holidays?" He mused, more to himself than his wife.

Bellatrix shook her head, "Not Goblins. Crafty bastards. On their sacred days, they use their prisoners to operate the bank under the watch of the guards." She gestured to a shabbily dressed Goblin at the doorway of an office, "See that one? Those rags identify him as a debt-prisoner. He does the scut work for the bank in order to pay off whatever debt he owes."

Harry looked at the Goblin. He was young, possibly the youngest he'd ever seen. He had short dark hair slicked back in a way that reminded him of a young Draco Malfoy. Thinking of him made Harry think of his old life. Had he prevented anyone else from being born? He didn't think so since he hadn't come across any of the parents of his friends. The spawn of death eaters...I don't know if I'd be sad if they're gone...but do I want that on my conscience? Would they still be bad if their parents weren't death eaters? A lot of them are still in school...if I can stop them from joining Voldemort, maybe I can prevent the next generation from following him...

Left with his thoughts, he ignored Bellatrix as she got a teller to summon a cart for them. He followed her and their attendant to the carts. The ride, as always was stomach churning. Harry and Bellatrix found themselves at the Lestrange Vault in short order though, and Bellatrix handed the key to the Goblin. Inside, was the collected treasures of House Lestrange, Bellatrix walked along, tapping her wand almost lazily at what appeared to Harry to be random places, "There we are..." She said to herself, "The replication charm is disabled, now we can take the Cup."

Harry drew his own wand and watched as the Cup rose and then moved to hover in front of Bellatrix. Bellatrix opened the dragonskin bag and moved it forward, enveloping the cup. "Alright, now we can take it back and deal with it," Harry said as Bellatrix closed up the bag.

"We can, but I think first you and I need to take a brief trip to get that ring Slytherin told you about...If we destroy the Cup, there's no way he won't know that we are aware of his soul anchors." Bellatrix said taking his arm, "Besides, I don't get enough time alone with my husband."

Scene Break

James and Regina were pleased by the first part of their plan. They were currently working together on an assignment for Professor McGonagall. It was a course that James had always enjoyed. Regina, on the other hand, preferred Charms and Potions over Transfiguration. This allowed them to kill two birds with one stone. The first part was that it would genuinely help their grades, the second and for James, the most important part was that it would make Lily jealous.

It was supposed to anyway. The problem lay with the fact that Lily didn't seem to be paying much attention to them. She and Sirius were busy with her own projects. "You see Sirius, it's very simple. The basic law of magical transference means-"

"It means I'm going to fall asleep Lily. I love that you're fascinated by this...I really do. You are the smartest person I know, with the exception of liking me." He said with a little grin, "But I can't study all free period. I haven't pranked anyone in weeks...I'm losing my touch."

"Maybe you could teach me how to prank?" Lily offered, "I don't just study you know. I can be fun.."

"I know you can be fun. You are fun." Sirius said, putting his hand on hers, "How about this; we'll finish this chapter, and then I'll teach you some of the spells we've worked out as Marauders." When she turned her hand to hold his she smiled, "We're second years, we've got five more years to get all the studying we need. We can take some time for fun.."

"That's easy for you to say, Sirius," Lily said, "Your family is rich. You could live in luxury until you're older than the hills and you'd still be rich. I'm muggleborn, I have to work twice as hard as a pure-blood to get a job."

She was right, Sirius knew. The Bagnold administration was not known for being welcoming to Muggle-borns. Her undersecretary, Fudge, he believed he'd heard his grandfather say, was a toady to the pure-blood families. If he ever became Minister, Sirius doubted anything would change. Lily deserved a chance to show the world how brilliant she was.

"So, how much more studying would I need to do in order to get a good enough job to one day be Minister and give you a cushy job?" He asked her, couching his real question in the joking boast. Sirius the Minister for Magic would be able to do a lot more than Sirius the jobless playboy.

Lily frowned, "I don't want a trophy job, Sirius. I want to prove that muggle-borns belong in our world." She moved her hand from his, "Do you really think I would take a 'cushy job' if I didn't deserve it?"

Sirius sighed, "You would deserve it. You are the smartest person I've ever met. You are going to be a witch that changes the world..." He said looking at her, watching as the anger slowly began to fade, "I'm an idiot who just happens to be obscenely wealthy. The system favors people like that..."

"They do," Lily said, a tiny smirk twisting her lip, "But that's why I want to change the system. I want a world where I have a better chance at a job because I'm smarter than you," Here she flicked his nose with her finger, "Not where you have a better chance because your uncle has tea with the Minister."

The pair dissolved into laughter then. From their own table in the library, Regina and James continued to work. James looked over when he heard the giggles from Lily Evans, he turned back and glared at his textbook. "You know Potter," drawled Regina Parkinson, "Making eyes at your textbook won't make it give you answers. The last wizard to fall in love with a book was Dedrik Alston in 1449 who married an illustration of Helga the Red..."

James turned his glare to Regina, "Parkinson, I'm not 'making eyes'. You are not making this plan any easier by sniping at me."

"I'm supposed to find you charming enough that I want to date you. It's rather hard to do when you're glaring at those two. It's not much for my confidence as a witch either.." Regina finished the last part a bit quieter.

James frowned then, "I'm sorry. Maybe we should study somewhere else then. It's still early, how about we go to the Courtyard?" When Regina seemed pensive, James held out his hand, "Come on, you can tell everyone that you made James Potter apologize...that brings the total number of people that made me apologize to one."

Regina glowered but the glare was spoiled as she smiled, "Alright Potter. Come on." She took his hand and led him out of the Library. They missed two smirking Gryffindors watching them leave.

"She made him apologize." Fabian noted, marking a spot on his parchment, "That's a galleon to me."

Gideon pulled his coinpurse out and handed him a coin, "Yes. But it was an apology before the first kiss. So my bet holds and that's three sickles to me." He grinned as his brother pulled out his own purse and made the change.

Scene Break

Appearing at the shack, Bellatrix and Harry found themselves standing there looking at it. Neither one really wanted to go inside first, but they knew they needed to. Casting a quick scanning charm Bellatrix nudged Harry, "Nothing except the ring. Riddle didn't even put a repulsion ward up. Probably didn't think anyone would come here."

Harry nodded, "Remember, I have to touch the ring. I'm his Heir, so the corruption curse won't affect me." He made his way to the door, wand drawn, Bellatrix close behind him. Inside, the shack reeked of spoiled milk and moldy wood. Various stains of unknown origin covered the floor. Most notably dark specks of some liquid covered a particularly battered broken bed.

Bellatrix wrinkled her nose in distaste, looking at the crude scrawl above it, "Whoever this 'Merope' was, someone enjoyed making them bleed..." She touched the bed for a moment before turning back to him, "The Gaunt's, from what the rumors say where a particularly inbred bunch. Breeding 'true' until they lost most of their magic... Pure-bloods need to marry into other families if they want to stay pure and also cast spells."

Harry was only half listening to his wife, instead, he was casting a detection charm leading him likewise to the bed of Merope Gaunt. There, under the bed was a small box. Harry reached for it and Bellatrix swatted his hand, "Don't touch it. Not unless you know it's what we are looking for." Her tone was harsher than she intended, and she looked down for a second, "Please."

Harry took her hand and squeezed it, "I will be careful. I promise." He cast another charm on the box and then nodded, "That's it." He picked up the box and opened it, inside sat a heavy and ornate looking ring. A large emerald sat at the center, inside the mouth of a silver snake.

"Maeve's scorn. It's the Ring of Slytherin." Bellatrix said in a reverent near whisper, her hand went out to touch the ring, but this time it was Harry who swatted her.

"No! Only I can touch it." He said to her, "Open the bag and I'll put it inside." Bellatrix opened the bag and Harry placed both the box and the Ring inside with the Cup. "Right, we'll take them to the Chamber and dispose of them." He said as Bellatrix closed the bag, "Hopefully between these two and the Locket, there aren't anymore."

Scene Break

Narcissa found herself leaving the Library later than she had intended. The break was coming up and she wanted to leave with everything prepared. She was so lost in thought that she failed to notice two of her fellow seventh-year Slytherins watching her. Alecto and Amycus Carrow were not, by any stretch of the imagination, good people. Amycus was already a proficient muggle-baiter, thanks to a stolen wand. His sister, Alecto, had a habit of taking her rage out on attractive muggle women.

Normally, they stayed away from their fellow pure-bloods, but Narcissa had done something earlier in the day that they decided needed to be dealt with. She had beaten Alecto's results on the latest Potions exam. Alecto knew the perfect way to deal with someone she didn't already like. Especially not someone considered the most beautiful witch of their year.

Narcissa didn't hear the stunning spell until it was nearly too late. She twisted her body and brought her wand up casting the protego shield she had mocked Harry for drilling into the students just a few months ago. The Carrows?! She thought as she sent a stunner towards Alecto.

Alecto wasn't as fast as Narcissa, the thicker bodied witch dropped as the red light made its impact against her body. Amycus seeing his sister fall began to cast more curses. Narcissa took note as one purple spell collided with the wall and began to eat away at the rock, This is more than simple assault. That was lethal! She thought, sending another disarming spell towards the standing Carrow. Amycus dodged it and then sent a cutting curse that struck Narcissa, slicing into her cheek. She hissed in pain, feeling blood trickle down her face when she remembered a curse Great Aunt Cassiopeia had taught the Black sisters, "Duc Haranae!" she shouted as a blue light hit Amycus.

At first, Amycus was cocky. The spell had hit but it hadn't done anything. Then he coughed, spitting up a tiny amount of white sand. Then he began to choke. Each grain of sand was multiplying inside of him. He felt it settling in his stomach, distending it. Narcissa canceled the curse once he dropped his wand, his fist too stiff to hold it. "I need a House Elf!" Narcissa called out. With a pop, an Elf appeared at her side, "Get Professor Slughorn and Headmaster Dumbledore immediately!" She said to the tiny being who vanished again.

It was Albus who arrived first on the scene, "Miss Black, what is this?" He asked her, waving his wand and, as painlessly as he was able, summoning the sand from Amycus.

"Headmaster, Amycus and Alecto attacked me. I stuck to non-lethal spells until Amycus sent an acidic curse at me." Narcissa said, "I used the sand creation curse my great aunt taught us and halted it once he was no longer a threat." She offered her wand to Albus who took it carefully.

Albus silently caused the wand to reveal its spells, "I see. You are correct Miss Black. Stunning and disarming spells, interspersed with a protego. Here is your wand, when Professor Slughorn arrives, he and I will check the spells of Mr and Miss Carrow. Provided everything is as you say, and I have strong reason to believe that you are being truthful as you are not the type of student to attack others for fun, they will be leaving Hogwarts in the care of one of the Hogsmeade Aurors." He took note of the blood on her face and robe, with a quick swish of his wand the blood was gone, "Please go and see Madam Pomfrey. She will need to tend to the cut so that it doesn't scar."