Harry Potter: Beyond Good and Evil in the Wizarding World-Chapter 22 - 19: Gringotts Bank

Chapter 19

London. Charing Cross Road. The Leaky Cauldron.

The moment Severus walked through the door, he went straight to the bar. A stooped man in dark clothes stood behind it, polishing a glass with a white cloth in the methodical way of someone who had been doing it for decades.

"How much for a room for two nights?"

"A Galleon. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are four Sickles on top of that," the man answered without looking up. Then seven gold coins appeared on the counter, and he did look up. He set down the glass, smiled briskly, and produced a key. "Room twenty-nine. Dinner in two hours."

"Good." Severus took the key but did not go upstairs. He left through the back door into Diagon Alley instead, pausing for just a moment as he stepped out. There is something familiar about that man. I cannot quite place it.

A few minutes later he was standing in front of a vast white building that dwarfed every shop around it.

"Gringotts Bank." He read the name above the massive bronze doors. Trusting goblins with your money. What has the world come to. Though I suppose after a basilisk living under a school full of children, this should not really surprise me.

The goblins of his old world had been something else entirely: savage, driven entirely by instinct, fit for nothing but destruction. The concept of one of them running a bank would have been genuinely absurd. But this was not his world, and he made himself set the comparison aside.

He passed a small creature near the entrance, all enormous ears and long nose and limbs slightly too large for its body, and pushed through into a marble hall where work was in full swing. Goblins behind tall counters, every one of them in a business suit, every one of them completely absorbed in whatever was in front of them. The hall filled with the rustle of pages and the irregular stamp of feet.

Severus did not approach any of the counters. He went directly to the goblin in the centre who looked oldest, and therefore most likely to be in charge.

"I want access to Eileen Prince’s vault."

"Hm?" The goblin squinted up at him. "Only the vault’s owner may—"

"I am her son. And I have the key."

The goblin leaned forward and produced a golden cup, setting it on the counter with the air of someone who had made this gesture many times before. "A drop of blood to confirm the relationship." He pulled out a small vial containing a single existing drop. "If it confirms, and since the owner is deceased, you inherit access as next of kin. If you lied, the fine is one thousand Galleons." Something brightened in his eyes at the mention of gold, and he tipped the vial into the cup of water with a small, satisfied sound.

Severus cut his finger and let a drop fall in without comment.

Nothing happened for a few seconds. The smile on the goblin’s face edged wider. Then the water began to glow, and the two drops of blood slowly moved toward each other and merged.

"The key," the goblin said, noticeably less cheerful.

They descended into a gloomy dungeon lit by torches, climbed into a cart, and shot through a maze of corridors and vaults at a speed that was difficult to describe as anything other than reckless. Within minutes they reached a cavern behind a slightly rusted steel door. Severus handed over the key. The goblin worked it with some effort, and the door ground open to reveal a modest pile of gold coins.

Roughly six thousand Galleons.

"When did my mother last come here?"

"Twenty-three years and six months ago."

So. pride. Severus shook his head, pulled out a small bag, and transferred every coin into it under the goblin’s increasingly pained expression. If the real Snape were standing here, he probably would not touch a single coin. But I am not him, and I will put it to use.

When he emerged from the bank, the goblins’ displeasure was visible on every face he passed. They looked at him the way people look at someone who has done something unforgivable in a sacred place. Even the goblin at the entrance could not bring himself to acknowledge Severus, and settled instead for a contemptuous hiss as he went by.

How do they stay in business with service like this? Even the most disreputable bar in my world treats paying customers like royalty, if only to make sure they come back. Severus shook his head. Though to be fair, there is no competition. If he remembered correctly, this was the only bank in the country. Their arrogance made its own kind of sense, and Ministry recognition only helped.

He stopped thinking about it and turned toward a fairly large two-storey building a short distance away. Its windows were boarded over and a sign hung on the door: "For Sale."

The moment he stepped inside, the damage hit him. Broken tables and chairs. Shattered plates and bottles across the floor. Unflattering drawings on the walls. Stains on the wood and wallpaper and a stale smell that had worked itself into everything.

"Hello, young man." A middle-aged wizard with a tired face came down from the second floor. "Looking to buy?"

"Possibly. I would like to hear the price first."

"Four thousand seven hundred Galleons. That is as low as I will go. I am already practically giving it away. One Reparo charm and the furniture is as good as new."

"I will take it, but I want to understand the situation first. A building this size, this close to the centre of Diagon Alley, at this price." Severus let the observation hang in the air, watching the faint embarrassment cross the man’s face. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"We are leaving the country. It is too dangerous here now." The wizard sat heavily on the one undamaged chair in the room. "I am Muggle-born. My wife is a half-blood, and she is pregnant. If it were not for the war, we would not be selling any of this. But I need them safe."

"I understand. I am sorry for doubting you."

"It is fine. I would be cautious too, in your position."

"I will give you five thousand. I would offer more, but every Galleon counts at the moment." Severus said it with a small apologetic smile.

"Thank you. That is more than enough." The wizard reached into a small wallet and produced three sheets of parchment covered in shimmering text. "Shall we go to Gringotts?"

"No need." Severus pointed at one of the fallen tables and cast Reparo, restoring it cleanly under the wizard’s surprised look. Then he pulled out a smaller pouch, tapped it twice, and Galleons flew out in a bright arc, landing on the table in neat stacks of two hundred. In under a minute, five thousand coins sat there, gleaming.

"I was just at the bank."

"I see." The wizard nodded slowly. "I take it this is your first time handling a transaction like this?"

"It is. But I have read enough to know I would like to see the real documents, not whatever these are." He nodded at the shimmering parchment.

"Of course. We will still need to visit Gringotts for those, I am afraid." The wizard looked a little sheepish.

Severus allowed himself a dry smile. "I have a feeling that if I walk back in there now, they will show me out with wet rags."

"Something wrong?"

"Nothing. Let us go."

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