A/N: OKAY, PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS THE LAST TIME I'M UPDATING HERE, AND I'M ONLY DOING SO TODAY BECAUSE I DON'T THINK PEOPLE HAVE REALISED I DON'T POST HERE ANYMORE given that I keep getting new notifications of follows and favourites.

I only post on AO3 these days, under the same username, and if you want to read the... eight other chapters I've long posted that follow this one, head over there.

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CHAPTER 30: APEP - SERPENT OF CHAOS

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The group stumbled over the tracks and back down the side of the small outcrop of rock the vault was situated on, back onto the lower area they'd come up from earlier and out of sight of the torches. Once there, they checked each other, and Ryou double-checked the backpack on his back was still intact after what had happened in the vault, and checking that the Hand of Glory was still inside. In relief, he realised the small burn holes in the pack weren't large enough for anything to slip out, and he turned back to join the others at the edge of the ledge, where they had a clear view over the top of the vault and the tracks that passed in front of it.

They fell silent, and ducked lower, as the clacking sound grew louder, and several carts became visible up the tracks.

The carts pulled to a stop in front of the wide-open vault, and the goblins inside them disembarked. They were talking in angry Gobbledygook to each other, and two of them started setting up some sort of perimeter around the vault, while the others went inside.

"What do we do?" Harry whispered to the group.

"I have an idea," Ryou whispered back, regretting the plan even as he said the words, "If we can get to their carts, we can steal one of them and use it to get back out."

"How are we going to do that?" Harry hissed back.

Ron spoke up slowly, "I can use my Deluminator to kill the lights to buy us time, but they'll know we're here the moment I do."

"Whoa, wait!" Marik whispered back urgently, "What about the dragon? Are we just going to leave it locked up down here? I thought we were going to try and help!"

"We all want to, but that doesn't seem realistic right now," Hermione hushed him quickly, shaking her head.

Marik looked unhappy at this but fell silent, moving further back into the dark, away from the ledge and closer to Graghorn, who'd been dragged with them once more.

The two goblins who'd set up the perimeter up above were now starting a sweep of the area.

"They already know we're here – we must have tripped some alarm when… I set off the trap, or when we destroyed the vault," Ryou responded, "We need some sort of distraction."

"Look – we can move around the edge of the ledge until we're close to the carts. There's not much of a distance to run from over there," Hermione pointed, "If we wait to kill the lights when we're right there we can climb in and get it started before they realise what's happening."

Ryou nodded, "I see. Yes – I can keep an eye out using my Hand of Glory. To make sure everyone gets in okay and to start it up."

"I would say we should use my cloak, but we definitely won't all fit under it," Harry added deprecatingly, "What about that Ka thing of yours Bakura?"

Ryou shook his head, anxiety rearing at the thought, "I'd rather not risk summoning Diabound down here if we have a better option. I doubt he'd be able to hide all five- six of us at once either. I could probably shroud us in Shadows somewhat, make us less visible at least, but I've never done that with so many people before, I don't know if it'll work. Maybe with Marik's help?"

"If we use the cloak to just cover our heads while we're moving it'll keep us from being spotted from above, and also let us keep an eye on them as well at the same time, and it's better than nothing," Hermione piped up.

"Oh, yeah," Harry nodded, "That makes sense – that could work."

He pulled the invisibility cloak out and they all shuffled close so that he could pull it over all of them.

"Okay, let's get moving," Harry whispered, forcing them back into action.

"Wait!" Ryou hissed back as he looked around, "Where's Marik?"

They looked around in confusion.

"He was right here a second ago, wasn't he?" Ron said.

A long moment later, Marik reappeared from around the corner, from deeper into the darkness, "Sorry, I was just getting rid of Graghorn. I'm hoping he'll give us a bit of a distraction when we need it."

"Oh!" Hermione said nodding thoughtfully, "That's good thinking."

Painfully slowly, so as to avoid making too much noise and to prevent dislodging the cloak, they made their way around the edge of the ledge. Pausing twice as one of the goblins came too close, but they quickly started moving again as the two goblins keeping watch moved down the opposite end, climbing down to the lower section they were on from the far side.

Eventually, they reached the point opposite the carts.

"They're as far away as they're probably going to get from us," Harry murmured, peering over the top at the lights of the distant lanterns and surrounding the vault.

Ryou shuffled to the front, gnarled hand of glory in his bandaged grip, "Okay, on three you kill the lights Ron, and then we run for it."

Ron nodded, Deluminator out.

"One."

They shifted into positon.

"Two."

They focused, memorising the short route the needed to take for when the lights died.

"Three!"

Ron dropped the world into complete darkness.

They could hear the exclamations of surprise from behind them as they legged it. Reaching the front cart they toppled into it, elbows and knees hitting the hard metal at awkward angles in the dark. Ryou scanned the group over, as the only person with any visibility, making sure they were all inside the same cart and all actually inside the cart, before he reached forward and moved to activate the cart the way he'd seen Graghorn do it before. He fumbled with the strange steering mechanisms until he felt it activate. Pushing the stick forward, the cart lurched and started moving back up the tracks slowly.

The goblins clearly figured out something was up at the clacking sound starting up again, and the sound of running footsteps headed in their direction in spite of the cover of darkness.

"Oh no…" Ryou strained out, pushing the stick forward as far as it could go.

The cart lurched again and started picking up speed.

Suddenly, a pained shriek cut through the air, only to be cut off sharply, a desperate roar echoed throughout the cavern in return, stopping the goblins crowding around the remaining carts dead in their tracks.

"Ah," came the muffled voice of Marik, squashed underneath several limbs near the bottom of the cart, "That'll be Graghorn with our distraction."

The group carefully started rearranging themselves more comfortably as they gained distance. Once Ron was able to see over the edge of the cart, he raised the Deluminator again and released the lights.

Below them, the lights reappeared, illuminating the group of goblins just in time for them to see the large scaled creature clamber up the side of the ledge, desperate claws gouging into the hard surface as it was drawn close by the light.

The dragon screamed at them. The goblins screamed back in horror and tried to scatter. The sickly dragon lurched forward towards them, Ron turned away sharply at the scene that was occurring.

"Oh god…" Hermione whispered in horror.

"What? What's happening?" Ryou asked, trying to keep his focus on steering the rapidly moving cart.

"Revenge," Marik said, sounding much too cheerful, given the situation, "We won't have to worry about them coming after us now either."

"You sent Graghorn to free the dragon?" Harry yelled over the rushing wind.

Marik shrugged, "Seemed like a good distraction. And the dragon should have a fighting chance to make his way out too now as well."

Another scream cut through the air and Marik flinched, "I… wasn't actually expecting this though."

"What did you think would happen?" Ron asked incredulous.

"I don't know, to scare them a bit? I thought Goblins could use magic, why didn't they hide or try to protect themselves more?" Marik said, unease starting to show on his face.

The screams vanished into the distance beneath them as they raced up and away from the horrors below.

"I don't think they got much of a chance," Harry said soberly, "That dragon was… pretty desperate."

They fell silent.

"Um," Ryou spoke up as the silence settled over them, "Does anyone mind helping me with driving this thing? I don't actually really know what I'm doing."

He didn't mention the real reason why he wanted to stop being the one to steer. He could feel his hands bleeding into the wrappings covering them from the force of the friction extruded by the steering stick as it reopening his blistered hands painfully.

Hermione shoved her way through to the front of the tightly packed cart and took over, her face still pale from the shock of what had happened to the goblins below. Ryou breathed a sigh of relief. His hands going numb with white cold the moment he let go. He flexed his left hand despite the blistering pain that shot through him as he did so, trying to make the tingling nerves calm down.

"Once we're back at the entrance, we're going to need to get out again," Hermione said tensely, "I don't know what we'll be looking at when we get there. But they know something's happened, so we have to be prepared for conflict, so that we can avoid it."

"I could possibly use Diabound to sneak us out, but I don't think I can hide more than four people all together," Ryou added hesitantly.

He really didn't want to risk his Ka in what could end up being a direct conflict he realised. Maybe he'd learnt his lesson from last time. He realised that other than that time he'd left his house behind to escape the Death Eaters, he hadn't summoned his Ka once since. He didn't know if it was out of fear, after he'd almost died facing that snake, or if it was thanks to Marik being there. The stabilising influence of having a friend near making him less inclined to take life and death risks with his soul in that way.

"We'll see what we're up against," Harry said, "If necessary we can stop the cart just before the exit and we can split up to get out, half with you and half under the cloak."

The way up was surprisingly uneventful, and this time they passed through Thief's Downfall unbothered, the water deflected by Ron and Harry working together while Hermione focused on controlling the cart. Ryou had let them do the work, giving his poor hands a rest. And he wasn't too keen on getting blood on his cards for no reason, he thought to himself, looking at the staining bandages in the dim light.

Suddenly there was another roar. The group watched in shock and amazement as the sickly dragon flew up and passed them, with its weak wings pushing it up with desperation. Ryou couldn't help but wonder if the dragon would have stopped to attack them as well if it had the strength to spare.

With another roar, the dragon swooped ahead of them and out of sight onward.

All too soon the light of the exit shone ahead of them, and Hermione slowed the cart to a crawl.

"Oh wow…"

The doors leading to the main Gringotts floor was destroyed, completely torn off its hinges. Large claw marks dug into the ancient wood and wrought metal.

There didn't seem to be anyone around.

"Well," Ron said numbly, "I guess the dragon got out at least."

"It doesn't look like there's anyone around," Hermione murmured, peering forward "The dragon coming through might have caused the bank to evacuate."

Slowly, they ground to a stop and they emptied out of the cart and onto the tracks with cramped unsteady legs. Carefully they made their way down the final stretch until they reached the destroyed doors.

Peering around, Ryou stepped forward ahead of the others, and saw the empty bank, desks and papers scattered across the floor, large gouges left by large claws marked the floors. The main doors leading out were ripped off and splintering across the steps.

"Okay," Ryou said quietly, turning back to the others, "I think the coast is clea—"

A red stream of light caught him and he crumpled over, collapsing on the debris covered floor.

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"Bakura!" Marik yelled, racing forward to catch his friend before he hit the ground. In his rush he missed the spell streaming towards him the next second.

Harry, Ron and Hermione drew their wands, ready for action.

Action that never came, as hidden throughout the destroyed bank front, goblins and wizards appeared, surrounding them quickly and cutting off all exit in an instant.

"Well, well, well, well…" A harsh feminine voice spoke mockingly, "I receive a floo call about someone attempting to break into my vault and look at what I've found! Just look at who I've caught. Undesirable Number One himself! And friends!"

Bellatrix cackled scornfully at them, "My lucky day indeed. My Lord will be ever so pleased!"

She glanced to one of the men with her, "Subdue the rest of them and tie them up!"

The man responded by flinging a stunner towards Harry.

Harry acted quickly, " Protego!"

The spell racing towards him was stopped, and Harry's eyes widened when he felt himself lose consciousness regardless. Managing to turn slightly before he lost all thought he caught sight of another man behind them he hadn't noticed before, his wand raised.

He could hear the yelling and distant spells going off beside him as his friends continued to fight, for all the good it would do them.

They were caught.

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A/N: Again, a reminder that there are another 8 chapters already on Archive Of Our Own. Because here on FFN it will likely stay on this cliffhanger forever ¯\_(ツ)_/¯