Crouch Jr.
escaped Barty Crouch Sr.’s pursuit with Winky, and he indeed discovered that his father had concealed his escape.
“He never loved me; he only loved his position.”
“Just you wait.
The Dark Lord will return, and when that happens, I will make him regret it.”
“My master, I will do everything for you.
I will become your most loyal servant.”
Crouch Jr.
kept himself hidden, yet he muttered incessantly to Winky.
Winky stayed by his side to take care of him, bringing him the latest news.
And he now needed a new wand.
“Young Master, let’s go back.
Those are Dementors; how can you trust the words of a Dementor?” Winky knelt on the ground, her face full of pleading, but she dared not look at Crouch Jr.’s face.
“That is the will of the great Dark Lord.
Do you believe I won’t kill you?” Crouch Jr.
looked impatient.
“I need to kill a wizard.
I need a wand.
Winky, go and bring me a wand.”
Crouch Jr.
wore a ferocious expression—he needed a wand; otherwise, how could he help the Dark Lord complete his plan?
“There is a wizard living alone nearby.” Winky trembled as she revealed her discovery.
Often, incompetent wizards struggled to detect a House-elf, and House-elfs were something only truly established pure-blood families had the qualification and capability to keep.
“Very good, Winky.” Crouch Jr.
became amiable, changing his expression faster than turning a page.
“My Winky, go and bring back a wand for me.”
Winky could not refuse.
On the other side, as Elara gradually mastered “Reducto,” she found progressing to more advanced spells quite difficult.
Clearly, her current body was still too young.
And compared to wizards, although the initial level of a mage was relatively low, Elara still favored this direction.
Although wizards possessed heaven-defying magic like the Time-Turner, it could basically be considered lost.
Modern wizards had still lost too much.
Elara suspected that much precious knowledge was essentially held in the hands of people like Dumbledore—allowing some precious knowledge to be lost for the sake of safety and so-called love.
Why could wizards only hide from Muggles?
A large part of it was because wizards were too protective of their own traditions.
Elara recorded her thoughts; for safety, she wrote them in Chinese, which would likely prevent any meddlesome individuals from figuring anything out.
She even interspersed it with Classical Chinese, so even if Dumbledore came, he wouldn’t be able to understand it.
Elara decided to prioritize one important magic in her studies.
There were about two months left until the start of school.
She had to learn Occlumency before then.
Not just to prevent potential snooping from Dumbledore—caution is never a mistake—but also to guard against that Sorting Hat which liked to put things on people’s heads, that tattered hat suspected of possessing Legilimency or something similar.
Elara fantasized for a moment: that thing was at least a legendary item; she wondered how much money it could fetch.
Also, there was the possibility of her being exposed or interrogated.
In short, she had to learn Occlumency now.
This was an extremely advanced technique and should be considered a specialty.
Before mastering it, she would not have direct contact with Dumbledore.
And the current Dumbledore would not abuse this ability—which was a real benefit for someone like her with so many secrets.
After Crouch was attacked, Kingsley, who had been busy outside, was naturally recalled to prioritize the interests of Ministry of Magic officials and pure-blood families.
Kingsley sat gloomily in front of Tom without saying a word.
“Uncle Kingsley, long time no see.” Elara sat happily next to Kingsley.
Kingsley also forced a smile: “Long time no see, Elara.
How has your magic learning been lately?”
Elara pointed at Kingsley’s clothes: “Scourgify.” The grime stuck to Kingsley’s hands was instantly cleaned.
Kingsley encouraged her: “Very good, this is truly useful magic.”
“Uncle Kingsley doesn’t look very happy.”
“A bit.
You should have heard the recent news.”
Elara also whispered: “It seems a high-ranking official from the Ministry of Magic was attacked, but it looks like they escaped a disaster.”
“It’s not that simple; I feel there must be something wrong.
But I have no leads at all.
Forget it, I won’t talk about this with you.
What I really need to tell you is—” Kingsley carefully weighed his words, “anyway, there are only a few days left.
When the time comes, Dementors will arrive at Hogwarts to patrol.
You must be extra careful; those monsters don’t reason.”
“Dementors?
I don’t think I’ve seen them in ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’.”
“Very good, it seems you have been reading seriously during this time.
You should have also seen those hollowed-out humanoid spirits from afar—those monsters standing three meters tall, the despair radiating from them can even freeze the surroundings.
In short, such things are neither beasts nor humans.
Do not make contact with them yourself; you don’t have the ability to resist them right now.
Theoretically, the school should teach you, but let’s not even talk about the Defense Against the Dark Arts Class class at Hogwarts.
If I have time, I’ll find a moment to teach you a few tricks.”
“Understood.”
“That’s good.
I have some free time today; let me take you to exchange some money, and by the way, I’ll take you to get a Kneazle breeding license.”
“Okay, Uncle Kingsley.”
Kingsley took Elara into Gringotts.
The towering building that stood out from the crowd, the gleaming bronze doors, and a figure wearing a scarlet uniform trimmed with gold.
Walking along the white stone steps into this place that looked extraordinary.
The second silver door had these words written on it: Enter, stranger, but take heed, of what the outcome of insatiable greed will be.
To only take and not work for it, you will surely receive the harshest punishment.
Therefore, if you wish to take from our underground vaults a wealth that never belonged to you, thief, you have been warned; beware that what you summon is not treasure, but retribution.
“This is one of the safest places.” Kingsley introduced it as such.
“Then won’t this place be robbed?”
A goblin responsible for guarding the door bowed and said arrogantly: “No one has ever been able to take a single gold coin from the goblins here.”
“Gringotts is the safest place in the world, except for Hogwarts.
If you want to rob Gringotts, you’re simply insane—the underground is bottomless, full of traps, dragons, and all sorts of curses.” The goblin at the door mocked with a sense of superiority.
Is that really so?
Elara knew that ever since Quirrell first broke into Gringotts, this so-called “safest place” had become a joke.
And Elara was just trying some things out in advance, to get both break-ins over with at once.
Better a short pain than a long one.
“Then will that Azkaban escapee also come to rob Gringotts?” Elara asked in a naive tone, while carefully observing all the goblins.
Further inside was a tall marble hall, where hundreds of goblins sat on high stools behind long counters, weighing coins with copper scales, examining gemstones with loupes, and recording in large ledgers.
Behind the counters were countless doors leading to the underground vaults.
Elara chatted idly with the goblin guiding them at the entrance, directly annoying the goblin who was already cold towards wizards, but Kingsley behind them was unhurried, watching Elara’s curious look at everything.
Elara patiently heard that name: “Griphook!”
That was a goblin with a small stature, a pair of black eyes, a pointed nose, and a pointed beard—a proud goblin, a greedy goblin.
Elara took advantage of the moment Griphook had just returned behind the counter and went straight with Kingsley to sit in front of him.
“What business do you have?” Griphook asked expressionlessly.
“I need to exchange pounds for Galleons.” Elara stated her purpose, placing the stack of 50-pound notes on the table, totaling 1000 pounds.
“By the way, what time do you get off work?
Where do you goblins go after work?
Why can I never see you?”
“The exchange rate for Galleons to pounds is usually 1:5.
For an exchange of 1000 pounds, the rate is 1:8.” Griphook, with a hint of impatience, still explained everything clearly.
“How come the more you exchange, the lower the exchange rate becomes?” Elara was somewhat dissatisfied.
Griphook indifferently stated: “If you don’t accept it, you don’t have to exchange.”
Kingsley was also exchanging for the first time, and he also frowned while listening to these ins and outs.
“Can it be exchanged for more?
Can’t it all be at a 1:5 ratio?” Kingsley asked cautiously.
“No.
Gringotts is the only designated official institution in the wizarding world.
All rights of interpretation belong to us; we maintain the economic balance of the British wizarding world.
Auror!
If you need a 1:5 exchange rate, it is limited to amounts under 500 pounds.” Griphook, with a sarcastic tone, still explained it to Kingsley.
“How about we just exchange 500 pounds?
I think 100 Galleons should be enough.” Kingsley was helpless and persuaded Elara, wanting to stop her from arguing further.
“If Muggles were allowed to exchange for Galleons at will, then the wealth of wizards would soon be worthless.” Griphook said deliberately.
“This is a benefit for new students.
By next year, you’ll only be able to exchange a maximum of 300 pounds.”
“Fine, then exchange it all.” Elara didn’t care; she would consider the missing money as a mental compensation fee for the goblins.
“By the way, what time do you get off work?”
After seeing Elara’s business was settled, Kingsley began to chat with a colleague nearby.
“Charm Person.” Elara stared fixedly at Griphook while filling out extremely complicated forms.
Griphook, who didn’t have a good temper either, looked up and glared back.
Then, Griphook’s movements became somewhat slow, and his originally sharp and resentful eyes became soft.
Without a doubt, he was charmed.
As for Griphook giving Elara a friendly look, Kingsley just assumed that who wouldn’t like a young witch cub?
Especially a little girl with 18 Charisma like Elara?
Subsequently, Elara asked a few harmless questions, and Griphook gradually dissolved his hostility, beginning to speak without reservation about some issues.
Such as the place where goblins lived was right under Gringotts, the specific time they got off work, his specific shift, other entrances and exits of Gringotts, and counter rules.
He even secretly complained to Elara about the stinginess of his supervisor.
Until their supervisor actually arrived and urged the slacking Griphook, Elara reluctantly followed Kingsley away.
The duration of the Charm was limited, although she wasn’t worried that this goblin would report it—he would only suspect that he had lost his mind.
They would meet again very soon.
125 Galleons—even under such a Charm, she couldn’t get the other party to give a few more coins.
“It looks like you got along well with that goblin?
I thought those goblins would give you a hard time.” Kingsley sighed.
“How would they give me a hard time?”
“Anyway, they always have ways to make things difficult for us, like saying paperwork is incomplete; sometimes it’s really annoying.” Kingsley complained.
“Do you need me to return that money from Hogwarts?” Elara asked suddenly.
Kingsley said it wasn’t necessary; the school governors were paying for it anyway.
Elara looked at the closed door behind her.
A closed system, a goblin bank—the wizarding world was truly a makeshift operation.
However, those things were not urgent; there was important business to attend to right now.
Elara had obtained the information she wanted, and with a smile, she said to Kingsley: “Uncle Kingsley, after we go back, let’s take Fafnir to get a breeding license.”
It might not seem tempting right now but who knows what the future holds?
“And If you’re enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!”