Goblin Auction Ⅲ

Through the dark twisting passageways underneath Gringotts, there was a rather strange figure standing in front of a vault, a costumed individual in a plague doctor costume. There was a flat, brimmed hat, a black leather beak-like mask with glass over the eyeholes, and a full-body leather black coat with matching gloves.

Rowan stood in deep thought in a tunnel just around the bend from a gigantic dragon that barred access to four or five of some of the deepest vaults in the place. The beast's scales had turned pale and begun to turn flaky from its long incarceration under the ground; its eyes were milkily pink; both rear legs bore heavy cuffs from which chains led to enormous pegs driven deep into the rock floor. Its great spiked wings folded close to its body and would have filled the chamber if it spread them. And when it turned its ugly head to smell her, it roared with a noise that made the rocks tremble, opened its mouth, and spat out a jet of fire that would have sent anyone else running back except that Rowan was just safely out of reach.

Riddle was once more to thank for her current advantageous situation. After absorbing the new energy after his death, she found that her world mapscape had once more evolved. The biggest change was that the number of times she could teleport had dramatically increased. And that as long as she stood in a building the entire building's blueprint would be automatically added to her mind map. Though she couldn't see the dangers, traps, or any individual inside the building, she could still see every single corridor and room perfectly listed on the map. And boy did Gringotts have some secrets that she best not ever think about out loud.

Rowan's present dilemma wasn't on how to get into the vault as all she had to do was teleport inside, but rather if she would survive doing so. She wasn't immortal by any means nor impervious to poisons and other traps. But then again, when Potter and his gang got in and nothing happened to them. Yet then again, Potter had outrageous luck and the goblin teller, Bogrod had opened the door to the vault. It was highly likely that any sort of trap in place would at present be disarmed.

After debating it for a while, Rowan decided to risk it and teleported inside. Holding her breath, she remained perfectly still as she held her breath ready to teleport away. Not sensing anything, she softly whispered, "Lumos," as the entire area lit up by her wand. Still not moving from where she landed, she eyed the cave crammed from floor to ceiling with golden coins and goblets, silver armor, the skins of strange creatures- some with long spines, others with dropping wings – potions in jeweled flasks, and a skull wearing a crown.

Suddenly feeling the urge of a quick shopping spree, Rowan slowly picked up a coin from the floor and waited for something to happen. Nothing did. Perhaps, all the bobby traps were contingent on someone trying to force themselves inside. But as her teleportation bypassed all of that, nothing bad occurred. Still, she wasn't about to take any chances and hurriedly dropped the gold coin. She didn't dare take any of the gold as just maybe the Gemino and Flagrante Curses were already in place or at least had been when Potter broke in.

However, the other items should be safe. Waving her wand, Rowan swiftly shrunk all the rare potion ingredients into palm-sized items and tossed them into her pouch gathering every single potion that she could see. As were any single book that she spotted of interest to her. However, knowing that time was of the essence, she stopped and returned to quickly search for the coveted cup.

Raising her wand high, Rowan searched for the tattle-tell signs of the cup's location. A shelf is full of goblin-made helmets and shields. Her heart skipped at seeing a little golden cup that seemed to sparkle all on its own. The cup that had once belonged to Helga Hufflepuff had passed down to Hepzibah Smith to only be stolen by good old Tom.

Knowing better than to touch the bloody thing with her bare hands, Rowan carefully makes her way over as though she was playing some sort of yoga-like game where one places their hands-on feet on colored spots. Leaping onto the shelf, her arms shake as she mutters something about taking up parkour again. Climbing up with her wand in her hand, she takes a pair of tongs from her pouch with the other and carefully clamps them around the Horcrux, before clinging to the shelf with only her legs as her leg muscles screamed at supporting her full weight. With her arm and muscles in white, hot pain, she slowly lowers the cup to the ground before climbing back down herself.

Feeling some sweat slowly dripping down her face inside the mask, Rowan doesn't dare remove the mask lest anything else occur. Reaching into her pouch, she removes a vial filled with a milky white substance. With care, she uncorks the vial, before pouring it all over the golden cup. An ear-splitting scream can suddenly be heard as she clamps her hands over her ears and stumbles back against the shelf. The cup melts right before her eyes as a black-like thing floats out, before vanishing into gray dust.

Pointing her wand at the Horcrux remains, Rowan casts the disintegration curse accidentally vanishing some of the objects around it. Not one to feel bad, she instantly teleports away near vault #713. Suddenly hearing voices, she instantly turns off the light at the end of her wand and waits to hear if it's goblins. However, all she could hear were male wizard voices. And an arrogant voice that she had heard before that of Corban Yaxley.

Suddenly, Rowan begins to tremble as she grits her teeth as cold sweat begins to pour through her body. The backlash was coming now out of all times. Unable to stand still, she weakly leaned against the wall to try to outlast the shaking. However, the problem was that if she was stuck down her, what were the goblins going to do when they found her missing upstairs?