Mr. & Mrs. Slytherin

Chapter 65: Gringotts

Aurora's POV

I don't think I've ever clung to Draco's arm harder than I am right now. 

Clearly seeing my father was more taxing on him than it was on me because I had to grab him as soon as we saw Atlas look through the front window of this store.

"Draco stop!" I whispered a yell into his ear.

"This is not the time. Not here." I said as Draco watched a pair of seemingly innocent shoppers pass by the storefront.

"You know Atlas doesn't care who he has to kill, and these people don't deserve that." I persuaded him to stand down.

It took him a few seconds, but he listened to what I was saying and finally settled back down, his jaw still clenched so hard I thought he might chip his teeth.

"We need to get out of here." My mother said, restless beside me.

"We can't leave yet." I said, shaking my head.

"We still have to get the sword into Gringotts." Draco said standing from his hiding place on the ground.

"Let's find Daniella." I said standing with him.

"Mum, stay here and make sure he doesn't come back this way." I placed a hand on her shoulder, and she nodded.

With Draco's hand at the small of my back we moved towards the exit again.

"You okay, love?" He asked quietly.

I nodded, cocking an eyebrow at him.

"It's just the first time you've gotten so dizzy apparating in a while." He said.

"Right." I understood.

"Alright let's do this." I said looking in the direction of where Atlas disappeared once I slightly pushed the door open.

I didn't see him or any of his goons, so I pushed the door the rest of the way open, and we started back the way we came. 

I kept my head down and moving quickly in case my father wanted to rear his ugly head again, but Draco's head was on a swivel, constantly looking back towards Bourgin and Bourke's.

I finally could let out a sigh of relief when we walked up the front steps to Gringott's bank but we couldn't enter yet. Daniella had yet to come back with the sword.

Nevertheless, we had the entryway of the bank to shield us from anyone on the lookout for us here.

"There she is." Draco pointed out Daniella leaving the store.

I watched him roll his tongue in his mouth to whistle sharply at her. Her head jerked in our direction, and she quickly put her head down and head towards us.

When she reached us, she didn't say a word but set the bag containing the sword at our feet.

"My mother is in the clothing shop three doors before Bourgin and Bourke's. Meet her there." I said quietly as I picked up the bag without lending so much as a glance in her direction.

"Your bag." Draco mumbled when he picked up the bag from our feet.

I pulled the drawstring and held it open as he crammed the entire paper bag into it.

"We'll get it out in the vault." He said and I nodded.

He opened the bank door for me, and I lead us inside.

There was an absurd number of guards inside the bank, more than I'd ever seen. 

But that wasn't the most shocking part, the most shocking part was all of the guards having their Dark Marks out on display.

Times really have changed.

"Do we need to show them our tattoos or something?" I whispered and snorted a small laugh.

"They know who we are." Draco said.

I realized he was right when I noticed every guard, I made eye contact with bowing their heads as a greeting to us.

"We're dark family royalty. Did you forget, love?" He asked, one of his famous smirks growing across his face.

This was the first time, probably since our wedding, I've seen him really act like himself fully. Living with the Dark Lord isn't an easy task, and it has taken its tole on both of us.

We reached the front desk of the bank, and the goblin raised his head to look at us and instantly cleared his throat.

"Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy!" He said. "What a surprise."

"Hello." I said coolly but friendly- we do have an image to uphold here.

"What can we do for you?" He asked.

He tried to act happy, as if he were thrilled to see us but in actuality he was in fear for his life. I wish we could tell him that we meant him no harm, but we couldn't do that.

"We need to enter my aunt Bellatrix's vault." Draco snapped. "Bellatrix Lestrange?"

" Ah yes, the one and only. But, without her present?" He asked. "That isn't exactly a normal circumstance around here."

"Should I summon my aunt here then?" Draco asked. "Or maybe someone else?"

He pulled the sleeve of his shirt up revealing the dark ink of his tattoo. The goblin understood instantly what he was implying.

"That won't be necessary. We know the authenticity of your lineage." He nodded slowly and another goblin appeared at his side.

"Allow me to escort you." He said.

We followed him to the tam and then Draco helped me onto it, and we zoomed off through the depth of the bank.

We finally came to a stop after about ten minutes. The goblin opened the vault and we stepped inside.

"Can you give me and my wife a few minutes? We won't be long." Draco asked, but it wasn't a question.

"As you wish, Mr. Malfoy." He said and left to wait in the tram car.

 "Do you see the sword?" He asked stepping farther into the vault.

I slowly studied the vault, making my way around the filled walls until I saw a glimmer of red. The glimmer belonged to the handle of a sword.

"There." I said and pointed it out.

Draco saw it too and pulled out the fake from my bag, leaving the bag and wrapping inside.

He quickly made the swap while I pulled the cup out of my bag.

"Make sure it isn't too concealed." I told him.

He flicked his wand, and the cup flew to a shelf up high but not out of sight.

"Alright, let's get out of here." Draco said and we went back out to find the goblin still waiting in the tram car.

Once we got out of Gringotts we made a B-line back to the store where my mother and Daniella were hidden.

They looked like they had seen a ghost when we walked back in.

"Oh, thank Merlin." My mother said.

"What happened?" Draco asked.

"Atlas left about 15 minutes ago." Daniella told us.

"I was so scared he found you both." My mother said.

"No, we're fine. We're fine." I assured her.

"We do need to get out of here though." Draco urged us. "We can only get lucky so many times, I think."

We all grabbed each other's hands and disapparated to my childhood house- where Daniella is meant to hide out until we can get Dustin there.

A/N: Thank you sweet angels for 100k reads!! My birthday is tomorrow so logging onto here and seeing those three numbers was such a good present to me!!

I hope you all love this chapter. Each chapter now is inching closer and closer to The Battle of Hogwarts!! Tell me what you think is going to happen!!

All my love, Rik