Harry Potter and the Sympathy of Souls

VI) "The Horcrux Hunt"

PART TWO: DREAMS

"So, what's the plan?" Harry asked, sitting down at the table with Nicolas and Perenelle. "I almost lost hope when I saw where the latest horcrux is hidden, so I was really relieved when you called to tell me that you have a plan for getting at it. I guess if anyone could do it, it would be you two."

"Well, our use of the word plan may not have been entirely accurate." Nicolas confessed.

"Nicolas and I have a slight disagreement over the best way to break into Gringotts, so a more accurate term may be plans- in the plural."

"You can be the tiebreaker, Harry." Nicolas decided, "Perenelle will tell you her plan, and then I'll tell you mine, and you can decide which you like the best."

Harry nodded hesitantly, though he was unsure if he was qualified to be the decision maker in the subject of robbing banks.

"Now, let me start by updating you on the progress we've made so far. We have visited the bank recently as belligerent customers, concerned for the security of their vault. After all, the only vault ever successfully broken into at Gringotts belonged to us. It would be perfectly reasonable for us to begin worrying for the security of our money.

"Our first order of business was discovering how Voldemort had succeeded in breaking into Gringotts, since we hoped we could copy the method. It seemed silly to invent the wheel when someone had already done it successfully before us. The goblins are very non cooperative usually, but when we brought up the fact that a vault of ours was broken into before, and began listing the reasons we were scared for the safety of our money at Gringotts, they became rather less recalcitrant to help us than they would be otherwise."

"Nicolas is being very delicate with his phrasing, Harry" Perenelle interrupted, "The truth was that I threw a tantrum of epic proportions. I shouted about what a disgraceful and unprofessional establishment Gringotts is, and threatened to sue Gringotts as well as the whole goblin race for failing to guard my vault properly."

"It was really impressive!" Nicolas told Harry, "The goblins always make sure to put the meanest and ugliest goblin they can find in customer service, and Rockwart was about three times Perenelle's girth, and he was carrying an ax on him, but after Perenelle shouted for a bit, he started grumbling about getting the point, and there being no need to shout, and gave us the information we wanted. Which, actually, turned out to be completely useless in retrospect."

"Not completely!" Perenelle hurriedly interjected, "While Voldemort's method of breaking in involved some red lines I am unwilling to cross, such as the Imperius Curse, it did give me an idea: A strong enough Confundus hex could serve as a substitute for a limited amount of time."

Nicolas rolled his eyes. "I've said it before, but I'll say it again for Harry's benefit: If the Confundus worked on goblins, there would have been far more than one successful break in at Gringotts. Anyone could confund the goblin into thinking they were a Malfoy, and would be let into what is probably the most loaded vault in all of Gringotts!"

"Stop biasing Harry against my plan before he's even heard it!" Perenelle complained, "Give him a chance to hear everything first."

"Alright then." Nicolas replied, "After that, I insisted on our vault being transferred to a higher security location. We had a standard vault before, but I demanded one that would, in addition, be protected by a dragon, as well as a few other security measures that they will activate should they suspect a break-in attempt. Germino and Flagrante Curses, as well as something called The Thief's Downfall. Now, this would place the vault at the deepest part of the bank. The Lestrange vault should be in the immediate area, since there aren't many vaults there. Few people are paranoid enough about theft to keep their money in that part of the bank. Having a vault there is basically like having your money stolen anyways, since there's no other word for the prices the goblins charge for those locations than daylight robbery. And we don't really have a Philosopher's Stone, you know, so our money isn't unlimited- but I digress. The point of the move was that finding the Lestrange vault with our new vault as a starting point shouldn't be too difficult."