Jack & Gringotts

After we had all agreed Gringotts would be the most logical place to look for the necklace, we had a huge argument about who would go. All of the oldest wanted to go, claiming they were the most knowledgeable and able to defend themselves, while the youngest wanted to go as well, saying they never got to do anything, and it wasn't like they were complete idiots; they knew how to fight and would do a good job as well.

As it turned out, we ended up taking everyone.

All eleven of us packed into Farley's magic car, which flew... when provoked enough.

"It was a present from Mrs. Weasley," he boasted, referring to the eldest of the Weasley clan, "Knowing how interested I was in Muggle affairs, she gave it to me for my 15th birthday, saying it had been Mr. Weasley's some time ago."

Remembering a story I had once heard tell of, I said, "Didn't Mr. Weasley's car disappear into a forest of some sort?"

"Yes, but that was a different car. This one is newer, and a lot better." He slapped the hood of the car, and the windshield wiper broke and slid down the hood to the ground. We all stifled a laugh as he glared at us before fixing it with his wand. "Well – it runs, which is all that matters."

With an enlargement charm, the eleven of us all managed to squeeze in comfortably, with Klaus and I fitting in the front passenger seat together and everyone else in the back. Farley seated himself in the driver's seat and turned around to look at them all seated in the back.

"Everyone ready?"

"Yes," they all chimed.

"Alright, then! Off we go!" He fumbled with the keys for a moment before getting the engine turned on. He flipped a switch and we rose into the air unsteadily. I held onto Klaus for dear life, and we looked at each other with a hint of fear in our eyes, hoping we hadn't made a wrong decision by having Farley drive us.

"Yes. Then." He pulled a knob on the dashboard and everything disappeared, including us. A few of the kids let out a shrill shrieks, not expecting it. I clung to the invisible Klaus tightly as the car started to move slowly upward and forward.

"We're really moving now!" Farley yelled as we started to pick up speed. Within a moment we were zooming along the clouds, passing out of our neighborhood within seconds.

Suddenly I felt a hand tug on my shirt, almost near my chest, and then brush my breast suddenly.

"Sorry," Klaus said beside me, "I can't see anything, you know." I could tell from his tone it hadn't been accidental at all.

"A likely story," I teased.

He shrugged, our shoulders bumping, and I could tell he had a stupid grin on his face.

We made it to London in a little under an hour, but it took us much longer to just find a safe place to park. Farley couldn't decide on a place where no Muggles... or wizards, for that matter, would see us, but we finally decided upon an abandoned street a few blocks away from Gringotts.

We landed roughly, bumping all of our heads on the roof in the process. Farley, however, seemed extremely pleased with himself as we got out.

"What a ride, eh?" he said, once more patting the car on the roof, as if it was a small boy deserving praise instead of a clunky old car that had barely made it to its destination.

"Oh, yeah, what a ride," Klaus said sarcastically, rubbing his neck as he stretched.

Farley narrowed his eyes at Klaus, realizing he was being made fun of. "Let's get going, shall we?"

We hurried along the deserted streets until we got to the bank.

Gringotts had stood empty for years. After the Ministry Massacre, everyone had rushed to empty their life savings out of their vaults, and then it had been abandoned. It stood desolate, a reminder of the magic community's former glory.

The once splendid structure had degenerated into a forlorn-looking, crummy edifice, where only the bravest would venture on a dare from one of their so-called friends.

The street outside was teeming with all variety of creepy citizens, mostly wizards broken, drunk, and stoned. There were even goblins around, the creatures that had once run the place, but even they seemed afraid of it, frightened of what might lurk inside.

We managed to find a somewhat decent-looking fellow and persuade him to accompany us inside... after a small amount of money changed hands. He introduced himself as Jack, and we told him we were looking for vault one-sixty-nine, and he immediately led us to a magic underground cart that would take us there.

"Get in," he commanded. He rubbed at his nose, which suggested a cocaine problem. I made a face at our choice of cart-riding buddy, but we all followed his order anyway, even though the cart was barely big enough to hold all of us.

He hopped in after us and pulled a lever. The cart shot forward in the dark, and I let out a scream as we dipped and dropped on the small metal track.

Jack lit a lantern and held it above our heads, smiling at me with what few teeth he had left.

"You're a pretty little thing–" He said, reaching out a hand to touch my face.

I shuddered and pulled away. Klaus glared at him disdainfully before pushing Jack's hand away.

"She's not interested, thanks."

"What a cheeky little boyfriend you've got there!" he said, glaring at Klaus and reaching out to slap his face. Klaus turned his head and slapped Jack's hand away, a warning that he shouldn't mess with us.

"He's not my boyfriend," I replied, "But I'd take him over you any day." I glanced at the rest of the people in the boat. "Hell, I'd take Annabelle over you."

Klaus held back a laugh and Jack glared at me as Annabelle looked over at me to see what the commotion was all about.

Jack, clearly agitated, spoke no more until we reached vault one-sixty-nine. As I stepped out of the cart, the land underneath me seemed to shake.

"How far underground are we?" I questioned.

He spit out of the side of his mouth. "'Bout six kilometers below the surface."

Maverick whistled and Penelope gasped audibly.

Jack looked at her, one eyebrow raised.

She stuttered as she responded, "I – that's a long way."

He nodded swiftly and led the short way from the cart to where the vault was located. He made a sweeping gesture towards it, and all of us looked at it hesitantly.

I voiced what we were all were thinking. "Do you have the key to get in?"

He looked at me like I had three heads.

"Are you crazy? Why in the name of Godric would I have a key?"

"How are we supposed to get in there?" Kimberly asked, looking concerned.

"Damned if I know!" he shouted, quite irritated. "I was paid to take you down here, not open your damn vault for you!" He spit on the ground again and turned back to the cart to wait for us. He crossed his arms over his chest and sat there, staring at me blankly.

Farley rolled his eyes and sighed. "So how are we supposed to get in there?"

"Wouldn't the metal be rusted after all these years?" Princeton dared ask.

Jack snorted from over by the cart. "Doubt it. And there were curses placed by the goblins on those vaults, so that whoever should touch them will be sucked inside and not found for quite a while. But now that's it not maintained – obviously there wouldn't be any checking if anyone was inside, now would there?" He sniggered, as if he had told some enormously funny joke.

Tally pushed Maverick forward and he stumbled, almost falling into the metal door.

"Try and open it," Kimberly said.

"With what? I'm not going to touch it!" He put his hands on his hips and glared at all of us. He looked around and found nearby a lead pipe, covered in some sticky substance that none of us wanted to think about. He picked it up with a look of distaste and slowly made his way over to the foreboding door.

With a cry, he flung the pipe at the door and jumped backward. We were all surprised to find the pipe wasn't sucked in. On the contrary, it hit the door firmly with a loud clanging noise and fell to the ground, as if it was a normal door.

Maverick picked up the pipe, finding it still intact, and this time touched the door with it in hand. He still wasn't sucked in.

With everyone holding their breaths, he reached out with the slightest tip of his finger and touched the door. We all gasped as he did so, but to our relief, he didn't disappear. He stood there as solidly as ever, a frown on his handsome face.

"Well, that makes things a lot easier!" Klaus said happily beside me. He walked up, completely unafraid, and pushed on the door with both hands. It didn't budge. "I suppose the goblin magic wore off over the years... " he said, more to himself than to us.

"So how are we supposed to open it?" Annabelle asked pessimistically.

"We're going to knock it down," he declared emphatically.

* * * * *

That's how we found ourselves, all eleven of us, as well as Klaus' helpful persuasion of employing Jack, pushing against the metal door with all our might. And as luck would have it, after several minutes of all our weight against it, the entire door gave away, collapsing to the ground beyond the doorframe. We all peered in anxiously to see what treasures awaited us.

It was empty.

"How could this be?" Klaus cried, throwing his hands up in anger. "The necklace was supposed to be in here!"

Farley stood smugly waiting by the cart, his arms folded over his chest, watching the rest of us with a superior expression, as if he knew all along that there would be nothing there.

"What if someone got it before us?" Greg asked, his voice barely above a whisper for fear some unseen force would hear us. I understand the tension you're trying to convey, but they probably just made a whole lot of noise breaking down a metal door, so perhaps this should be re-phrased.

"I don't think so. Maybe it wasn't ever in there to begin with. Maybe that was a decoy of some sort."

Klaus went off into a rant about how he was never wrong, but I was distracted by Humphrey nudging my side.

"Can I see the piece of paper?" he asked out of the side of his mouth.

I nodded and quietly handed it to him. He took it from me and examined it thoroughly.

"– And now we've wasted all this time, and for nothing. I'm so disappointed in – "

"Hey, wait!" Humphrey said, interrupting Klaus' painfully boring monologue. "Might you have all had it upside-down?"

Klaus and I went to Humphrey's side to see the slip of paper. He showed us the 'one-sixty-nine' side, and then turned it around so it read, 'six-ninety-one'.

Klaus and I looked at each other. It was painstakingly obvious that we had just read it wrong.

"Er – alright, back in the cart, we're going to vault six-ninety-one. We all hopped back in the cart; Annabelle and Farley grumbling about wild goose chases all the while.

We made it to vault six-ninety-one in no time and used the same procedure as before. Maverick brought along his lead pipe, touched the door, and it didn't suck him in, so we once again used our weight as our friend and managed to crush the door, knocking it to the floor.

Only this time we were very much excited to find a special necklace lying on a pedestal just inside the door.