Hogwarts: This professor is too Muggle

He contributed all his film remuneration to the family expenses and did not keep any for himself, so he was favored by his mother and his status was even slightly higher than Ginny. George and Fred had to avoid him for the past two months.

"It's nothing..."

Melvin said a few words of comfort and finally got rid of the sensitive witch housewife. He hurriedly said goodbye to them and walked into Gringotts.

I was thinking about how to get Arthur into the Magic Mirror Club.

With the development of the market in Budapest and Romania, the shadow mirrors can be distributed to wizard taverns around the world. The finished products are in short supply. Wright has been a little busy recently. Arthur may lack theoretical knowledge, but he can definitely be a skilled production worker.

I vaguely remember that flying car, which had survived the destruction of the Whomping Willow and the Forbidden Forest animals, and was still able to be pulled out and run later.

"He's gentle and reliable, and the quality of his products is guaranteed..."

Melvin muttered thoughtfully, planning to ask Arthur what year he was born next time they met, and whether he was an ox or a horse.

……

Marble steps led to two bronze doors with a metallic sheen. Goblins in scarlet and gold-studded uniforms lined either side. Entering the first door led to an inner hall. Further inside was a second silver-cast door with a few lines of text engraved on it:

"Come in, stranger

But beware of the consequences of greed

Asking blindly and getting something for nothing

You will definitely receive the most severe punishment..."

Legend has it that the Magic Bank was established long before the fall of the Fairy Kingdom and has been recruiting wizard staff since the 16th century. In addition to savings, exchange and insurance services, this institution also controls the minting and issuance of wizard currency.

"Gringotts..."

Melvin continued to walk in, but did not see the third door made of gold. Instead, he saw a marble hall with a ceiling nearly ten meters high. Hundreds of goblins in uniforms were standing on high stools behind a long counter.

These goblins were similar in build to Pukki, but shorter than Professor Flitwick, with swollen, long fingers that looked like acromegaly, yet their arms were very slender.

Coins were weighed on a copper scale, gems were examined through an eyepiece, entries were made in a ledger, and there was a goblin guiding customers in and out of a small door at the back, where it was unclear where it led.

Melvin withdrew his gaze, found a free goblin, and knocked on the counter: "I want to open an underground vault."

The goblin looked up and took a quick look around. Noticing his Muggle-style attire, he wrinkled his nose and said in a shrill, sharp voice, "Yes, sir. What kind of vault do you require?"

Underground vaults vary in size and security levels.

Shallow vaults are smaller and less protected, while the largest and best-protected vaults deep underground belong to a few of the oldest wizarding families.

"The highest security level, deepest underground."

"Sir, I don't know what you want to store..."

The goblin gently advised, "For normal wizards, an ordinary outer vault is sufficient. Gringotts' security is very reliable. There has never been... only one lapse before."

There will be more later...

Melvin smiled slightly, took out a small linen bag, and threw it on the counter with a dull sound.

The goblin's expression shifted slightly. Based on his experience as a senior counter salesperson, he judged that this was a cloth bag transformed by a traceless stretching spell. This kind of thing itself represented wealth. He untied the cloth bag with his thick and long fingers, vaguely glimpsing several galleons piled up into a small mountain. His eyes suddenly lit up.

As for the dark magic item next to it that exudes an ominous and dangerous aura, it is just common among Gringotts customers.

"Sir, I'll have someone handle your business right away." The goblin at the counter spoke with much more enthusiasm and politeness. He turned and called over another goblin, "Griphook! Griphook! Bring this person..."

"Melvin Levant." Melvin added with a smile.

"Take this Mr. Levent and open up a vault of the highest standard!"

The goblin named Griphook looked almost exactly like the other goblins, except for the different styles of uniforms. Melvin couldn't see any difference. He nodded in greeting and followed it into a small door.

Behind the door was a narrow corridor with burning torches stuck in the cracks of the stones on both sides. At the end of the corridor extended a railway that looked like a pit. The carts parked on it looked like old-fashioned coal trucks, dirty and simple in shape.

Griphook walked in front, climbed onto the cart, and introduced in a shrill voice:

"Mr. Lewynter, before we open the vault, I must inform you of some precautions. Gringotts is dedicated to serving our customers. The items stored in the vault will be protected to prevent any theft, leaks, robbery, or vandalism. Even if the Ministry of Magic wants to inspect the vault, the consent of the person concerned is required..."

The chattering sound was mixed with the clattering of wheels across the railroad.

It seems to be introducing Gringotts' comprehensive services, but there are only three key points: deposit, inheritance rights, and duration.

To open a vault of the highest level, a deposit is required, and the deeper underground the vault is, the larger the deposit;

The vault is designed to inherit by blood relatives and keys by default. If neither is available, the question of duration arises.

Under normal circumstances, Gringotts offers free access to items. For long-term inactive vaults, the goblins will maintain them for periods ranging from tens to hundreds of years, depending on the deposit amount. Beyond this time limit, Gringotts will periodically open the vaults and deduct the value of the items stored there.

The right of interpretation of the value assessment belongs to Gringotts.

This group of goblins also knows that they cannot go too far, and generally will not empty other people's vaults in just three to five years.

Melvin nodded thoughtfully. Gringotts' service was quite considerate. At least until Voldemort's resurrection, the gold cup in Bellatrix Lestrange's vault had not been taken out to pay off the debt.

The cart sped forward along the maze-like corridor, winding and twisting, with cold air whistling past, passing by a dim rock area, a moist underground lake, and then a roaring waterfall.

"This is the anti-thief waterfall. It can wash away all spells and magical disguises! When it detects someone with bad intentions sneaking in, it will overturn the cart!"

Griphook screamed his introductions as they began to cross the waterfall, the goblin waiter turning to stare at the customer as the icy water cascaded down, leaving a shallow layer of water in the cart.

"That means we passed the test, right?"

Melvin asked in a deadpan voice, perfectly suited to the annoyance of a customer being doused with water.

"Yes, sir!"

Griphook also breathed a sigh of relief and quickly cast a spell to clean his wet robes.

Ever since Vault 713 was robbed, the goblins at Gringotts in Diagon Alley have been punished. From then on, all new visitors have to go through the thief waterfall. It happens to be the beginning of the school year, and the goblins are afraid that another accident will happen.

However, where the goblin couldn't see, the back and pockets of this newcomer who entered the underground for the first time were dry, as if not even a drop of water had touched them.

The rest of the journey was smooth sailing.

"I'm sorry, sir. Gringotts will make compensation." Griphook snapped his fingers, and a warm and comfortable breeze lingered around the cart, and the moisture gradually evaporated.

Melvin nodded slightly, and in half a minute, they had reached the deepest vault area underground.

At the end of the narrow railway, an old fire dragon lay there, its scales faded, pale and loose, as withered and dead as maple leaves, the nictitating membrane on the surface of its eyeballs dried up and shriveled, its pupils cloudy, its hind legs and wings imprisoned by heavy shackles, and the other end deeply embedded under a stone pile.

"This is the highest-level vault area."

Griphook didn't even look at the dragon as he led Melvin inside. "So there's a Sphinx guarding here. Its eyes can discern lies and see the truth, but it's too old. The last attack on Vault 713 forced it to retire, and the new Sphinx hasn't been trained yet."

Melvin looked at the several vaults around him. There were no obvious signs on them, so he couldn't tell which one belonged to the Lestrange family.

Griphook seemed to notice his curiosity and answered in advance, "I'm sorry, sir, for privacy reasons, we can't disclose client information."

Chapter 118 Opening the Diary

"The underground vault has a magic door made of a special clay. Only certified goblins can knock it open. Anyone else who touches the magic door will be sucked in and trapped in the wall. For vaults that haven't been used for a long time, we check them every ten years to see if there are any thieves' bodies trapped inside.

"Storage items can also be subjected to duplication and fire spells. If a thief touches the property, it will burn and replicate endlessly. If the thief persists, he will eventually be crushed and scalded to death."

Griphook came to a vault without any signs, raised his hand and pressed it against the metal door, whose material was unknown, and knocked twice.

The dusty green rust peeled off layer by layer, revealing some vague reliefs. Melvin carefully identified them for a moment and confirmed that they were not any familiar runes.

It should be the casting technique of the Fairy Kingdom.

The vault opened with a bang, revealing a color of iron blue mixed with dust. The air inside and outside circulated, and a cold, dry, rusty smell hit me in the face, like a concrete floor on a rainy day. The walls and dome looked solid and heavy, and it was impossible to tell what material they were made of. Some faint remnants of alchemical runes glowed.

It was a fairly spacious space, about the same size as the main hall of Hogwarts Great Hall, but not as large as the storage room in the Room of Requirement.

"Don't you want to clean up?" Melvin turned and asked.

"Leave it to me, sir." Griphook bowed slightly.

The room was spacious and free of clutter, and the dust wasn't too bad. There weren't any cobwebs or spiders, so a large area could be cleared out very quickly with just a few snaps of the fingers.

While the goblin staff was cleaning, Melvin looked around at the walls and the vault door. They were made of a mixture of obsidian and fine iron, with some strange powders mixed into the mortar. It looked very reliable, and he wondered how many spells it could withstand.

Melvin glanced at the goblin staff from the corner of his eye. The vault cleaning was almost finished. "Do we need to register the items we're storing for the first time?"

"Yes, sir!"

Griphook's shrill voice echoed in the empty room. As he cleaned the last area, he answered the customer's questions. "Please rest assured. This is for a longer-term cooperation. Gringotts only keeps a list as a precaution. We won't investigate the origins of the collection. Ordinary goblins, not even managers, can't access the files."

"Really... I'm planning to store these things. Can you help me count them?"

Melvin tossed the linen bag over, and the pile of Galleons made a crisp sound. "Also, I'm a little worried about the protection of these walls. Can I try to attack them?"

"This one……"

It's just a test from a young wizard, there shouldn't be any problems...right?

There was a scale in Griphook's heart, with light hesitation on one side and heavy Galleons on the other. The needle tilted towards the latter without any suspense: "Well, Gringotts has an obligation to eliminate the doubts of its customers."

“Great service.”

Melvin smiled and murmured in praise, before he finished speaking, he threw a thick beam of magic light at the wall.

【Thunderbolt Explosion】

There was a loud rumbling sound like the collapse of heaven and earth, as if the floor of the vault was shaking slightly. The lamps and torches swayed, illuminating the vault with dim shadows.

"..."

Pull the ring was a little dumbfounded, with his mouth wide open and a dull expression. He looked at the wall with the shallow pit, and then at the young customer, as if the spell was not cast on the wall, but on him.

Even when the fire dragon exhaled its dragon breath at full strength, there was no such noise.

"It's really strong, isn't it?" Melvin asked in an admiring tone.

Griphook came back to his senses, covered his face and wailed, "It's over, it's over... my performance for this month is completely ruined!"

"Don't say that, Griphook... You've shown me the reliable protection of Gringotts. If that can dispel my last bit of concern, I'm willing to pay the maximum deposit." Melvin advised patiently, like an excellent professor who patiently guides students in class.

Griphook looked up at him and murmured, "One last concern?"

Melvin nodded solemnly, "The experiment just now proved that the vault can withstand explosive spells, but I'm still a little worried about whether it can withstand cutting and penetrating spells."

"..."

"If the last doubts can be dispelled, Gringotts will gain a loyal customer. This is all thanks to you, Griphook. Perhaps when I leave later, I should convey your sincere service to your manager."

Griphook looked at the shallow pit with a bitter face, thinking about the possibility of being promoted to sit at the counter, and gritted his teeth and agreed: "Okay, this is the last time."

"You will be promoted to manager sooner or later!"

Melvin offered heartfelt praise, then turned back to face the shallow pit and cast the spell again.