Roses and Riots | f. weasley

Chapter 74: The Message

A/N: Hello! Wishing you all happy holidays and a wonderful new year!! Thank you for your continued support! Shit is going to Hit The Fan in this long ass chapter. xx

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"You buried the elf."

Griphook the goblin said it so matter-of-factly from his chair in one of the spare bedrooms, that the rest of them in the room could barely register his words.

Harry, who had been looking out the window, turned back around and nodded, "yes."

"And brought me here," Griphook continued, considering Harry carefully. "You are...a very unusual wizard."

Emilia glanced over at Ron and Hermione who lingered by the door, and then looked back to Griphook, her thoughts travelling back to when she'd first seen the goblin.

Bellatrix had tortured her within an inch of her life, had carved letters into her arm, kicked her until her ribs cracked and blood coated her tongue, and her only respite was when the dark witch had turned her attention instead to Griphook, interrogating him about the authenticity of the sword.

As though reading her mind, the goblin's small black eyes flickered to her, and it was then that Emilia realised that her hands were shaking at her sides, so she crossed her arms across her chest and met his gaze with as neutral an expression as she could manage.

Griphook looked back to Harry, and then folded his hands, pointing vaguely in the direction of the sword, which rested against the wall behind Harry.

"How did you come by this sword?" he asked.

Harry's gaze flicked to Emilia and then back to Griphook, "I didn't."

Griphook turned his cool gaze back to Emilia, "then it was you. And yet you didn't tell Madam Lestrange. Even while she was slowly killing you."

Emilia felt a chill going down her spine, as if her very nerves were reacting to the reminder of the pain that had been inflicted on her again and again by the Cruciatus Curse.

She cleared her throat, "of course I didn't tell her."

"Unusual, very unusual," Griphook pondered aloud, his black eyes slowly flicking between her and Harry.

"Clearly runs in the family," Emilia muttered.

"So," Griphook tilted his head suspiciously, "how did it come to be in your possession?"

Emilia stared back at him, shrugging slightly, feigning nonchalance she certainly did not feel, "it's complicated. Why did Bellatrix Lestrange think it should be in her vault at Gringotts?"

He narrowed his eyes, "it's complicated."

Emilia straightened up, uncrossing her arms and settling her gaze on Griphook, "the sword presented itself in a time of need, it wasn't stolen from a vault at Gringotts, nor was it stolen at all for that matter."

Griphook considered her carefully, then looked at Harry, "there is a sword in Madam Lestrange's vault identical to this one, but it is a fake. It was placed there this past summer."

"And she never suspected it was a fake?" Harry asked.

"The replica is very convincing," Griphook said adamantly, "only a goblin would recognise that this is the true sword of Gryffindor."

"Who placed the fake sword in the vault then?" Emilia questioned, trying to make sense of it all.

"A Hogwarts professor. As I understand it, he's now headmaster."

They knew from Remus that Ginny had briefly stayed with her parents before returning to Hogwarts after the Easter break, and had filled everyone in on what had been going on at the school, and how it had fallen into the hands of Death Eaters.