The Dark Lord's Pet Princess

73. Teaming Up

Larissa was right about Voldemort being angry.
He was furious when he arrived at the manor and found that Harry had escaped.
While searching the dungeon they also found that Harry had taken the other prisoners with him, which added to Voldemort's rage. Peter's body was also down there, as he had been strangled to death by his own hand. Everyone theorised that he had helped Harry escape, before his own hand turned on him for betraying Voldemort.
Although Larissa was sad, as she would miss Peter, she was also jealous of him, as his suffering had come to an end and hers had not.
Voldemort had taken his anger out on those left behind at the manor.
He had murdered all the Snatchers and tortured the death eaters, including Larissa, who hadn't managed to escape his wrath.

Bellatrix didn't tell Voldemort that there was a chance someone had broken into her vault, because she was too afraid that he would react badly, especially since he was already in a foul mood.
And since Larissa didn't want Voldemort to move his Horcrux somewhere else, she didn't mention it either.
Once Voldemort had finished punishing his death eaters, he told them that they were confined to the manor until he said otherwise.
Larissa of course had no intention of following this rule, even though she was sure it applied to her as well.
She had important things to do, so she wasn't going to allow herself to get locked inside Malfoy manor again.

"It hurts" winced Draco.
Larissa was patching Draco up in the study, and applying numerous different creams to his open wounds and burn marks on his skin.
"Stop complaining, I've nearly finished" replied Larissa, as she dabbed more cream onto the burn on Draco's neck.
Draco winced again, but didn't say anything else.
"The cream will help the wounds heal and take away the pain over time, even if it does sting a bit going on" continued Larissa.
"You should put some on yourself, to heal your own wounds" insisted Draco.
"Don't worry about me, I've been in worse pain than this".

Draco dunked his fingers in the cream before dabbing them onto the burn on Larissa's cheek.
"Thanks little dragon" smiled Larissa.
"You should have healed yourself before me" replied Draco.
"I wanted to make sure you were alright first. My own pain doesn't bother me" reassured Larissa.
"You really are very brave then. You barely flinched earlier when he was hurting us"
"The dark lord always hurts me, so what we just experienced wasn't all that bad, at least from my point of view"
"I wish I was as tough as you"
"And I pray that you never have to become that tough... I want you to know Draco, that I will do anything to protect you. So even if you don't understand why I'm doing something, just know that I have your best interests at heart".

****
Once she had healed Draco, Larissa apparated to the outskirts of Tinworth and began searching for Shell Cottage, so that she could talk to Harry.
Eventually she found the boy kneeling in the sand, beside a small headstone.
"Harry" Larissa called out.
Harry spun around and stood to his feet as Larissa approached him.
"You made it out then" Harry said quietly.
"Yep, just about. All the residents at the manor are under house arrest. I'm the only one brave enough to sneak out" replied Larissa.

"What happened to your face?" Asked Harry.
"Let's just say that the dark lord was not very happy when he found out you'd escaped, so he took his anger out on us. I had to heal myself and Draco before coming here to meet you" answered Larissa.
"But, you're O.K?"
"I've suffered far worse at his hands. This was nothing. What about all of you lot? Are you all alright?"
"Dobby died. Bellatrix got him with her knife"
"Oh, Harry I'm so sorry"
"He died a free elf, protecting those he cared about".

A tear rolled down Harry's cheek and he made no attempt to wipe it away.
"Apart from Dobby, is everyone else O.K?" Questioned Larissa.
"Yeah. Hermione's a bit shaken up, and she has a cut on her neck, but she'll be fine. The goblins legs were also crushed by the chandelier, but he'll make a full recovery" replied Harry.
"Thats good... Anyway, I came here to talk to you about the Horcruxes. How far have you got?" Quizzed Larissa.
"We managed to find and destroy Slytherin's locket"
"Excellent. Any others?"
"No".

"Never mind, I think I might know where another one is" revealed Larissa.
"Me too. I think there's one in the Lestrange vault" admitted Harry.
"I think you're right. I questioned Bella, and she said that the dark lord gave her something to hide in there a long time ago. So, I'm almost certain that there is a Horcrux in the vault. But breaking into Gringotts is not going to be easy. Quirrell managed to break in, but the vault in question was empty at the time, and this was ages ago. The security around Gringotts now is very intense".

"Don't worry, I have a plan. I convinced Griphook the goblin to help get us in. We also have one of Bellatrix's hairs, so we can use Polyjuice to turn into her and we have her wand as well" informed Harry.
"I want to help. I'm sick of hiding all the time. I am prepared to do whatever it takes to take the dark lord down. Besides, you might need my help to get into Bella's vault. I am a skilled witch, who's not afraid of getting her hands dirty, so you might need someone like me on your side" replied Larissa.

"What if he discovers you helped us?" Asked Harry.
"I honestly don't care anymore. I don't think me being near him is good for anyone any more, because he's never going to tell me where the other Horcruxes are. And since he's stopped trusting me, I might as well officially join your side" sighed Larissa.

"Well, Ron and Hermione might not like it, but I would be glad to have you with us" announced Harry.
"Good. Together, I'm sure that we can succeed. We shouldn't rush into anything though. This mission will need to be planned perfectly over the next few days" admitted Larissa.
"Don't worry, I don't plan on doing this for at least a week. I want everyone to have recovered first, so that we are at our strongest"
"Good idea. Now, lets get inside out of this cold sea breeze and start planning the most reckless mission ever".