The Hogwarts Emerald

Chapter 660 Massacre
Gringotts Wizarding Bank is known as "one of the safest places in the wizarding world", where wizards store their money and other valuables in heavily guarded vaults located miles underground.

In 1865, the Ministry of Magic agreed to allow goblins full control of the bank, handing over the financial power of the wizarding world to the goblins, who had run it for centuries.

Only goblins know where those winding underground passages lead to, and where there are magic and creatures to prevent illegal intrusion.

Since the founding of Gringotts, many thieves have coveted the wealth hidden here, trying to get rich overnight by bypassing the layers of security inside the bank. However, the goblins will protect the wealth in the vault at all costs, and thieves who break in here will receive extremely severe punishment.

For those thieves who attempt to seize wealth that does not belong to them, failing and falling into the hands of goblins is actually the best outcome.

In the long history of Gringotts, there have only been two cases of successful break-ins.

One time was Quirinus Quirrell, he didn't steal anything, the Philosopher's Stone was taken out by Hagrid in advance; another time was Ada and the twins, they successfully took the golden cup from Lestrange's vault.

Maybe it was really a bad year. After Quirrell in 1991, Ada and the twins in 1992, Gringotts welcomed another uninvited guest in 1997 - Voldemort.

Voldemort, dressed in a black robe, traveled through the corridors several miles deep underground, and in front of him was a bank goblin clerk who led the way for him. Without the goblin to lead the way, even Voldemort would get lost in the maze-like underground.

In the darkness, the goblin led the way tremblingly in front. Whenever he walked slower, Voldemort behind him would punish him.

Under Voldemort's death threat, the goblin could only shake his hands to force back the guarding fire dragon and bring the Dark Lord to the Lestrange family's underground vault.

The Lestrange family vault is one of the most heavily guarded vaults in Gringotts. Not only is it guarded by a ferocious fire dragon, but even the vault door is a mechanism to prevent thieves.

If there is no goblin to open the door, the thief will be sucked into the door and trapped once he touches the door. The goblins of Gringotts clean these anti-theft magic doors about once every ten years.

After the goblin opened the vault door, he stood aside respectfully with his head down and his hands hanging, hoping that the Dark Lord would spare his life in view of his cooperation.

Voldemort stood at the door of the vault, trying to sense his own Horcrux. Even though his soul was unstable due to too many fragments, he could still sense the Horcrux at such a close distance.

However, Hufflepuff's golden cup had long been destroyed, so how could Voldemort sense it?

Voldemort's body shook slightly. If he had blood pressure, any brand of blood pressure monitor would be blown up by his soaring blood pressure.

Although he knew that another Horcrux was lost, Voldemort was unwilling to admit it. He kicked the goblin into the vault and followed him in.

The poor goblin landed on a pile of gold and treasures, and his shrill screams were immediately heard from the vault.

The treasures here were all cast under the fire spell and the replication spell. The goblin was burned red all over by the fire spell, and the replicated treasures were about to drown him.

Voldemort didn't care about the goblin's life or death, and his scarlet eyes swept around the vault.

Whether it was the eyes or the soul resonance, Voldemort did not find the small golden cup. Even if he was unwilling to believe it, Voldemort had to admit that he had lost another Horcrux.

Being able to enter Gringotts and Lestrange's vault as quietly as himself, it was clear who had taken the gold cup.

Anger and panic once again lingered in Voldemort's heart. Before sneaking into Gringotts, he had been to the Gaunt House, where the magic circle protecting the Horcruxes had been completely destroyed, leaving only a dilapidated old house.

The locket in the cave, the ring in the old house of Gaunt, and the gold cup in Gringotts, the three Horcruxes are not where they should be. The three Horcruxes were taken away by three people respectively - Regulus Black, Albus Dumbledore, and Esmeralda Drizzt.

Do they know more? Voldemort asked himself again and again.

Voldemort was unwilling to believe that anyone other than himself could find the deepest secrets of Hogwarts and the hidden room.

But the anxiety and fear in his heart told him: they had found it. They found the room and the Ravenclaw diadem hidden inside.

Just like Voldemort would never believe that what he considered to be "the deepest buried secret of Hogwarts" was known by every house-elf in the school.

Harry was able to find the Room of Requirement with the help of Dobby the house-elf.

There were a series of crackling sounds in the vault, and the hot replicas covered the ground. The air in the lungs was scorching hot, and the whole vault was like a burning furnace.

Voldemort turned and walked out of the vault. The goblin who led him had already been burned to death by the hot gold.

There was no way back, and Voldemort could not tell where these dark corridors led to, but he still had a way to leave here. Voldemort, who had fallen into madness, walked towards the dragon trapped in chains and released the pale-skinned dragon.

The dragon was unaware of its freedom, but when Voldemort's spell struck its tail, the dragon let out a roar of pain and flapped its wings to lift its huge body off the ground.

Finally, the dragon realized that the chains binding him were gone!

The dragon opened its mouth and spewed out flames, blasting the tunnel open, causing the roof to shatter and collapse. The dragon used brute force to claw and dig its way out.

With the dragon leading the way, Voldemort easily left the vault deep underground.

The dragon broke through the corridor and entered the marble hall. Voldemort below it raised his wand and unleashed tremendous power, directly opening a large hole in the roof of Gringotts.

As if yearning for the sky, the dragon spewed out deadly flames in the hall, then spread its wings and flew into the vast sky. Voldemort stood in the hall, looking at everyone present with indifference.

When the smoke and dust caused by the dragon dissipated, the goblins and security personnel of Gringotts could see clearly who was standing beside the deep pit. No explanation was needed, everyone knew that it was Voldemort!

The goblins didn't hesitate, they turned and ran, scrambling to escape. The wizards were also fleeing, even the people responsible for bank security were fleeing, and only a handful of Aurors were left.

These Aurors were stationed at Gringotts by the Ministry of Magic. If they were not watching, I believe the goblins would ignore the Ministry of Magic's orders and allow the Death Eaters to enter and leave Gringotts openly.

However, Voldemort would not let any of the fleeing wizards and goblins, or the Aurors who stayed behind to resist, escape alive.

Voldemort was furious and needed to vent his anger. What better way to vent his anger than killing?
With the wand raised high, the ceiling of the hallway fell straight down, hitting the people who were crowded in the hallway and trying to escape. What made people even more desperate was that the metal door of Gringotts was also closed, and the metal hinges on the door turned into a big snake as thick as a bucket, hissing and spitting out tongues.

Green lights came on, and the Aurors guarding Gringotts began to fall. Voldemort was unstoppable, and no one could stop his attack. Soon, the marble hall was filled with corpses, both wizards and goblins.

This was a massacre, a massacre to prove that Voldemort was still extremely powerful.

(End of this chapter)