Hogwarts Raven's Claw

Chapter 200: Re-entering Gringotts (Dog Meat Tycoon's Reward Plus)
At the station, Mike said goodbye to Penelope and set out for the Leaky Cauldron alone with his suitcase.

At that time, London was one of the largest metropolises in the world and was already very modern. The transportation system was very good, and buses, subways and taxis were all available, so even if Mike had no one to pick him up, he could still find the Leaky Cauldron by himself.

Standing in the busy King's Cross Station, Mike walked out of the majestic station without much hesitation, hailed a taxi, told the driver the place name, and sat in the back seat.

At that time, London taxis were still a black model similar to classic cars. This type of taxi, called Black Cab, was born in 1948. Like taxis in later generations, this type of taxi was equipped with an odometer and could be called at any time.

In fact, black taxis were not mainstream in London at that time. Because the price of this type of taxi was too expensive and the number was very small, and the drivers often overcharged people, people preferred to use a type of taxi called Mini Cab.

This type of minicab requires you to call the taxi company, tell them your departure and destination, and they will directly quote you a price. If you can accept it, the taxi company will send a car to pick you up.

The advantage of this type of car is that it is available at any time and the price is much cheaper than that of a black taxi. If you are not satisfied with the price quoted by a taxi company, you can even negotiate with other companies to get a lower quote.

Of course, a guy like Mike who is not short of money would naturally not choose this method, so when he saw a black taxi parked on the roadside near the station waiting for business, he got in directly.

Mike, who only carried a small suitcase, arrived at his destination easily and comfortably. After paying a total of thirty pounds for the fare and tip, he got out of the car with the driver's respectful farewell and walked into the Leaky Cauldron.

I came to the Leaky Cauldron again after a year, and the people drinking and chatting here haven't changed much.

Mike even saw several people who were watching the show when he had a conflict with that rude pure-blood wizard here. However, although Mike still remembered them today, they no longer remembered Mike.

It’s not that their memory is too bad. In fact, wizards’ memory is much better than that of ordinary people. It’s just that Mike’s development speed in this year is so fast that both his temperament and appearance are completely different from two years ago.

After sighing a few times, Mike did not have much contact with the people in the bar. He went straight to the backyard and entered Diagon Alley through the passage in the wall.

Since today is the summer vacation at Hogwarts, Diagon Alley is much busier than usual. Many students have been stuck in school for a whole year, and after the vacation, they directly bring their families to Diagon Alley for shopping. Their parents will try their best to meet all their children's requests, of course, except for students who did poorly on the exams.

Therefore, the most popular shops in Diagon Alley today are not the Flourish and Blotts Bookstore and the Ink and Change Stationery Store, which were the most popular before school started, but the Hopping and Playful Magic Joke Shop and the Quidditch Boutique, which specialize in selling all kinds of weird prank props. Of course, Madam Primpynell's Beauty and Potion Shop, Madam Malkin's Robe Shop, and the Extraordinary Clothing Shop, which specializes in all kinds of high-end clothing, are also doing quite well. After all, the money of women and children is always the easiest to make in this world. Children may come here only once in a while because they have to go to school, but women are different. They will come as long as they have money.

The purpose of Mike's trip was completely different from those children of the same age, so he did not stop in front of those shops, but walked along the cobblestone path to Gringotts.

Looking at the towering white building and the gleaming bronze door, Mike's heart was touched and he stopped involuntarily.

Two years ago, when he first came to the wizarding world, he was just a poor Muggle student. Unexpectedly, when he returned to the old place just two years later, he had become a powerful wizard.

The goblin guard standing by the bronze door, wearing a scarlet uniform inlaid with gold, glanced sideways at the young man who was standing in front of him and watching Gringotts, with the contempt in his eyes not concealed at all.

He had seen many people like Mike, most of whom were poor people from Muggle families. They would never even look at such people.

This does not mean that this goblin guard is also a blood-discriminator. In fact, all goblins treat people equally when it comes to bloodline and even race. The only type of people they discriminate against are paupers.

In other words, if you are rich enough, even if you have just killed their entire family, they will still cling to you and want to recognize you as their godfather.

This is the goblin, a creature that is so greedy that it has no bottom line.

Mike exhaled lightly, came back to his senses and slowly walked into Gringotts.

Although the goblin guard despised Mike, his excellent professionalism made him bow to Mike and open the door behind him.

After all, even if they are paupers, as long as they come to Gringotts to do business, it can bring them benefits. Although the money is a little less, it is still money, isn't it?
The goblin guard opened the silver door engraved with warning statements, and what appeared in front of Mike was a spacious hall with many counters. There were about a hundred goblins busy receiving visiting guests at the counters.

Some of them were scribbling in ledgers larger than themselves, some were weighing gold on scales, and others were identifying gems with magic eyepieces.

Mike found a counter and sat down. The goblin opposite him immediately stopped what he was doing and offered his cheap greeting enthusiastically with his signature fake smile.

"Good afternoon, sir. What can I do for you?"

"I want to save money." Mike said lightly as he placed the suitcase in his hand on the counter in front of him.

The goblin who received Mike had a slight flash of contempt in his eyes after seeing Mike's suitcase. Based on its years of work experience, a young wizard of Mike's age could not take out many gold Galleons at all, and Mike's suitcase made it even more certain of this. After all, such a small suitcase could not hold many gold Galleons at all.

But after Mike opened the suitcase, the goblin could no longer maintain the smirk on his face, because in front of him appeared a dozen bags of Traceless Stretching Spell.

The goblin naturally knew the price of the Traceless Stretching Spell Bag, so its attitude immediately became much more sincere, rubbing its hands and asking in a somewhat obscene manner:

"Sir, how many gold galleons would you like to deposit?"

The subtle changes in the fairy's expression just now naturally did not escape Mike's eyes, so he did not answer the fairy's question, but pretended to think for a while, and then said lightly:

"I can't remember either. You can count them yourself."

Hearing the sound, the goblin with greed in his eyes could no longer suppress his inner desire. He pounced on the bags impatiently, opened one bag after another, and began to count the gold Galleons inside.

Since the currency of the wizarding world has its own magic for counting quantity, the goblin did not spend too much time counting the gold coins that Mike brought this time.

"Sir, you need a vault!" the goblin shouted in a shrill voice, "A total of 35,643 gold galleons, enough for a second-level vault. If you agree, I will provide you with a vault for free, free of charge!"

The goblin did not explain to Mike what the secondary vault was, because it thought that anyone who could own such a large fortune would definitely know what the secondary vault was. In fact, its guess was quite correct. Due to his occupational disease, Mike had done an in-depth study of Gringotts when he first came to the wizarding world. His current understanding of Gringotts was not only richer than those goblins who worked in Gringotts every day, but it was definitely higher than the average level of the wizarding world.

Gringotts' vaults are divided into three levels, and the security levels of these vaults vary according to the levels.

The first-level vault is dedicated to serving those ancient families and has the highest security level.

There are no so-called keyholes on the doors of these vaults. There is only one way to open them, and that is for a goblin to knock on the door using a special method. And each vault has its own unique knocking password. These passwords are strictly confidential and only known to a few high-level goblins.

At the same time, these vaults are protected by special guards, who are fire dragons and sphinxes enslaved by the goblins.

Unlike in the movies, there is more than one dragon under Gringotts. No one knows the exact number of dragons Gringotts has, but what is certain is that the number of these dragons must be above double digits.

There is no need to explain much about the fire dragon. The Sphinx is a magical creature from Egypt. It has the body of a lion and the face of a man. It loves to give people riddles. If you can't answer them, it will eat you.

When British wizards were rating magical creatures around the world, they classified this mythical creature as a beast because it eats people.

Due to its characteristics, it is often captured and used as guard of secret rooms or treasure houses.

In the Harry Potter movies that Mike had seen in his previous life, these creatures did not appear in the scene where Harry and others sneaked into Gringotts. That was because the Sphinx was a mythical beast in the minds of the Egyptians and had a very high status. If it were broadcast rashly, it would inevitably affect the box office of the Harry Potter movies in Egypt.

The Sphinx in reality is so miserable. It is used as a watchdog by wizards, and many of them are beaten, scolded, or even killed.

Back to the topic, the security level of the second-level vault is much weaker than that of the first-level vault. It is still opened with conventional keys and door locks. Although it is also within the protection range of the fire dragon and the Sphinx, it is on the edge.

It is conceivable that if there is any accident in Gringotts, these vaults will definitely be much more dangerous than the first-level vaults.

The third-level vault is the vault with the lowest security level.

It is not protected by dragons or sphinxes, and can only be opened with a key.

The second-level vault is specially prepared by Gringotts for customers with savings of more than 10,000 Galleons, and the lower limit of the third-level vault is 1,000 Galleons. As for those customers with savings of less than 1,000 Galleons, there is no exclusive vault at all, and their money is stored in the public vault.

Then some people will ask, why does the Weasley family have their own vault when they are so poor in the original book?

In fact, the reason is very simple. Although the Weasley family is poor, they are also one of the 28 Sacred Families and have a very high status, so it is not surprising that they have a vault. After all, their ancestors were once rich, but they are just in decline now.

The goblin's voice was very loud, so it attracted the attention of other goblins and wizards who were doing business nearby.

These people were originally a little dissatisfied with the goblin's loud voice, but when it reported the amount of money Mike carried, their eyes looking at Mike immediately changed from dissatisfaction to surprise.

Under the gaze of everyone, Mike closed his suitcase again and gestured expressionlessly, indicating that the fairy should lead the way.

The goblin immediately understood what he meant, lowered his head and quickly wrote something on the account book in front of him. After a moment, he tore off a piece of parchment, loudly called a goblin named Griphook, and handed the parchment to him.

"Sir, please come over here. I will take you to choose a vault." Griphook glanced at the parchment quickly, and then said flatteringly, "Do you have a number between 600 and 700 that you like? If so, you can mention it. If the vault is empty, I can take you to have a look first."

"I don't have a favorite number here, as long as it's not 666."

"Okay sir, please follow me."

Upon hearing this, Griphook bowed deeply to Mike, and then began to lead the way respectfully.

It had very good etiquette, making half a body space to let Mike walk in the middle. This made it easy for others to tell at a glance that Mike walking at the back was the real person, while the pull ring in front was just a guide.

It was not until the two men disappeared at the entrance of the vault that the wizards who were doing business in the hall began to talk.

"Who is that blond young man? He has 30,000 gold galleons!"

"I don't know, maybe he's the young master of some big family."

At this time, a young wizard in old clothes suddenly joined the conversation and said in a firm tone: "You are all wrong. He must be a Muggle-born wizard. Didn't you hear him just say that he doesn't want vault number 666? 666 is a very unlucky number in the Muggle world, so most Muggles don't like it."

"Who are you kidding? How can a Mudblood have more than 30,000 Galleons?"

"Yeah, if you want to cheat, you have to make a draft first!"

Everyone made a sarcastic remark, but no one noticed that when the young wizard in old clothes heard the word "Mudblood", his hands, which were placed under the counter and invisible to others, clenched into fists.

He wasn't lying, because he was also a Muggle-born wizard.

Boss Xu, you said that you have the money to reward me, so you might as well treat me to a barbecue. Wouldn’t a 200 yuan barbecue be delicious?

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(End of this chapter)