94 Diagon Alley

Is it a delusion," cried Ron after a long silence, "or are we really falling? "

Harry looked down and saw the dark green mountains and lakes, gleaming with copper in the setting sun. He squinted and looked down the side of the dragon, and the scene on the ground seemed to be getting bigger and showing more details. He suspected that the dragon felt the presence of the lake because of the reflection of the sun.

The dragon flew lower and lower, circling and descending in a large circle, seemingly aimed at a smaller lake.

"Listen, we'll jump when it flies lower!" Harry greeted his two companions, "Jump straight into the water before it senses us!"

They agreed, Hermione's voice saying yes a little weakly. Now Harry could see the dragon's broad yellow belly swaying in the water.

"Jump!"

He slid down the side of the dragon, his feet falling vertically towards the lake. The process of falling into the water was more violent than he imagined, and he hit the surface hard, like a stone falling into a cold green world full of reeds. He kicked his legs and swam to the lake, came to the surface, gasping for breath, and saw large circles of ripples spreading from where Ron and Hermione had fallen. The dragon didn't seem to notice, it was already fifty feet away, swooping down to the lake to drink from its scarred snout. Ron and Hermione emerged from the depths of the lake, spitting and breathing heavily. The dragon continued to fly, flapping its wings violently, and finally came to rest on the distant shore of the lake.

Harry, Ron and Hermione swam hard to the other side of it. The lake didn't seem to be deep, and it quickly changed from swimming to struggling through reeds and silt. At last they slumped down on the slippery grass, panting, drenched and exhausted.

Hermione collapsed, coughing and shaking. Harry struggled to his feet, despite wishing to lie down happily for a while, drew his wand, and began casting his usual protective spell around them.

After finishing, he returned to his two companions. It was the first time he had looked at them closely since escaping from the vault. Ron and Hermione had red, swollen burns all over their faces and arms, and their clothes were scorched in many places. They were rubbing the white fresh essence on countless wounds, frowning in pain. Hermione handed Harry the medicine bottle and pulled out the three bottles of pumpkin juice and clean robes she had brought from the Shell Cottage. The three of them changed their clothes and started drinking pumpkin juice.

"I said, on the good side," Ron said finally, as he sat watching the skin on his hands grow back, "we got the Horcruxes. The bad side is—"

"—lost the sword," Harry said through gritted teeth, dripping white essence through the burnt hole in his jeans to the swollen scald.

"Lost the sword," repeated Ron, "that deceitful little rascal..."

Harry took the Horcrux fragment from the pocket of his wet jacket he had just taken off, and placed it on the grass in front of him. A few shards gleamed in the sunlight, and Ron and Hermione, who were sipping their pumpkin juice, were attracted.

"At least you moved fast enough to get rid of the sword before it was snatched," said Ron, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Thanks to Mad-Eye and Cedric, they're literally—Hermione, what's the name of the Muggle-saving wizard who fell from the sky?"

"I think you meant an angel." Hermione rolled her eyes and took a sip of pumpkin juice.

"That's the word." Ron nodded in satisfaction, "but how did they find us?"

"Bill told them." Harry replied, looking away from the horcrux fragment that caused him pain, "He knows we made a deal with Griphook, and He used to work at Gringotts. I had a hunch he probably guessed our plan before we set off."

Ron shrugged, "Hope the two of them can escape."

"They will. That's the most powerful Auror at the Ministry of Magic and his apprentice," Hermione said, comforting herself. But for a few minutes, they all fell silent, worried about the powerful backup of the Order of the Phoenix.

Hermione glanced across the lake, where the dragon was still drinking, and she broke the silence. "What about it, you say?" she asked. "Will it be okay?"

"You talk like Hagrid," said Ron. "It's a dragon, Hermione, and it takes care of itself. It's us who need to worry."

"What do you mean?"

"Ah, I don't know how to put it to you," said Ron, "I think those guys may have found out that we broke into Gringotts."

All three laughed and laughed out of control. Harry was a little dizzy with hunger and his ribs ached, but he laughed until his throat hurt as he lay on the grass and under the reddish sky.

"Then what shall we do?" said Hermione at last, hiccupping seriousness. "He'll know, won't he? You-Know-Who will know that we know his Horcrux!"

"Maybe they'll be too scared to tell him?" Ron said with a fluke. "Maybe they'll cover up—"

The sky, the smell of the lake, and Ron's voice suddenly disappeared: the pain pierced into Harry's head like a sword. He was standing in a dimly lit room, with wizards forming a semicircle facing him, a small, trembling figure kneeling on the floor at his feet.

"What did you say?" His voice was high and cold, but anger and fear burned inside. The only thing he's afraid of - but that can't be true, he can't figure out how...

The goblin was trembling, not daring to face the red eyes that were high above.

"Say it again!" muttered Voldemort, "Say it again!"

"Lord-Master," the goblin stammered, her black eyes wide and full of fear, "Lord-Master... we try- try to stop- stop them... risk- Impostor, master...break-break-in-Lestrange's Gold-Vault..."

"Impostors? What imposters? I thought Gringotts had a way to identify imposters, didn't I? Who were they?"

“Yes… yes… male-boy Bo-Potter and two-two accomplices…”

"So they took something?" he said, his voice getting higher and higher, and a terrible premonition seized him. "Tell me! What did they take?"

"One...a little gold-little gold cup, Lord-Master..."

Screams of anger and disbelief left him as if from a stranger. He's mad, irritated, it can't be true, it can't be, no one knows! How could the boy find out his secret?

The Elder Wand slammed down from the air, green light spurted out, and the kneeling goblin rolled to the ground, dead. The watching wizards fled in terror. Bellatrix and Lucius Malfoy rushed to the door, leaving the others behind. His wand slashed again and again, and those who didn't escape were killed, not one left, because they brought him the news, because of the golden cup—

Standing alone among the dead, he was furious. Everything appeared before his eyes: his treasures, his guards, his hope of immortality—the diary had been destroyed, the golden cup had been stolen. What if, what if, what else did the boy know? Will he know? Has he started? Has he found more? Is Dumbledore the root of all this? Dumbledore, the old man was always suspicious of him; Dumbledore, the old man had been killed at his command, even his wand; but the old man was in the contemptible underworld, through the boy Get revenge, that boy—

But if the boy destroyed one of his Horcruxes, he, the Dark Lord Voldemort, would have known, would have felt it? He was the greatest wizard in the world; he was the most powerful; he killed Dumbledore and many other nameless rats. How could he, the Dark Lord, Voldemort, not know if he—himself, the most important and precious self—was attacked, damaged?

Yes, he didn't feel it when the diary was destroyed, but he always thought it was because he was inferior to a ghost at the time and didn't have a body to feel it... No, the others were definitely safe... The rest The Horcrux must be intact...

But he knew, he had to be sure... He paced the house, kicking the goblin's corpse aside, burning and blurred images in his boiling mind: lake, hut , Hogwarts—

His furious mind calmed down a little: how could the boy know he hid the ring in Gaunt's hut? No one ever knew he was related to the Gaunts, he kept the relationship a secret, and the murder investigation never led to him: the ring was sure to be safe.

How could the boy, or whoever, possibly know about the cave or penetrate its protection? The idea of ​​the locket being stolen is ridiculous...

As for the school, he is the only one who knows where he hides the Horcrux at Hogwarts, because he alone has probed the deepest secrets of Hogwarts...

And Nagini, who must now stay by his side, under his protection at all times, no longer sent to execute orders...

But in order to be infallible, completely infallible, he must return to every hiding place, he must fortify the protection of every Horcrux... This task, like the search for the Elder Wand, must be done by him alone...

Which one should he see first? Which is the most dangerous? A familiar unease flashed in his mind. Dumbledore knew his middle name... Maybe Dumbledore connected him to the Gaunt family... Maybe the old Gaunt house was the most unsafe place to hide, it was the first place he went...

Lake