When Maca took Mr. Parkinson back to the Leaky Cauldron, he found that the guards at the door were no longer Harry and Neville. Needless to say, Kingsley must have returned and taken them both to Buckingham Palace to meet the Queen.
Now, the people guarding both sides of the door have been replaced by a team of supporters from the International Federation of Wizards.
"Thanks for your hard work."
When Maka saw them nodding and smiling at her, she also said a friendly hello, and then led Mr. Parkinson who was following him into the bar.
"Huh? Maka? Didn't you say you might not have time to come over in a short time?"
As soon as he walked in, Lupine, who was still sitting behind the bar, immediately raised his head and glanced towards the door. Immediately afterwards, he lowered his head again and continued to sort out various changes in the situation according to the latest information.
"Oh, I'm just passing by this time..."
As Maka spoke, she and Parkinson walked toward the back door, and paused briefly when they passed the bar.
"By the way, what's the situation at Gringotts now? Is it still open?"
He still remembers the time when he forced his way into the underground vault of Darkling Pavilion! If the goblins from Gringotts were to show up like this... To be honest, it would be hard for him to open the vault door again.
After all, compared to Darkling Pavilion in the black market, Gringotts is officially the only designated wizard bank in the UK. God knows how many wizards rent or even directly purchase vaults here
As long as the goblins in Gringotts didn't rebel like they did back then, if Maka dared to break in today, the outcome would be obvious.
Of course, if there is a suitable reason... you still have to do it.
"Gringotts?"
After hearing this, Lu Ping finally stopped what he was doing, turned around and picked up a small pile of separated materials from the table at the back.
"I haven't paid attention to the situation inside Diagon Alley, but since there is no urgent report, it should be nothing serious-"
While talking, he quickly found several records about Diagon Alley and then took a rough look at them.
"Well, it's still serving the outside world, but... you know, obviously no one will go at this time. Rather than taking out valuable things and hiding them yourself, it's safer to leave them in the vault."
At least that's true for the average wizard trapped in London.
"As long as it's still open... Oh, by the way, has she ever come down?"
While asking, Maka pointed towards the ceiling - he was naturally asking about Delphi. But when Lu Ping heard this, he quickly shook his head.
"If she didn't jump out of the window and leave, I guess not."
"Really? Well...if she hasn't come down by the time I come back, then I'll go up and have a look."
After Maka said that, she immediately waved to Lupin and led Mr. Parkinson, who didn't say anything from beginning to end, straight to the backyard.
…
In the British wizarding world, there is a not-so-pleasant saying - "If you don't need to go to Ollivanders, then you may just be an incompetent squib; but if you haven't even been to Gringotts, then You must be an inferior Muggle."
Yes, discrimination is certainly not a good thing. But this sentence also happens to show that there are two places in the British magical world that almost all wizards have been to.
One of them is naturally Ollivander's Wand Shop, because every wizard needs a handy wand; and the other place is Gringotts Wizarding Bank, which is supervised by the Ministry of Magic and controlled by goblins.
In the mist, Maka and Mr. Parkinson hurriedly walked through the streets. At present, the refugees have been arranged in batches to several more secret locations. The tents with the traceless stretching spell are undoubtedly excellent temporary residences.
So Maka walked all the way to the white stone steps of Gringotts and only encountered two groups of wizards patrolling the street. The whole street seemed quite empty.
"Speaking of which, it seems like I haven't been here for a long time."
Looking at the two shiny bronze doors on the steps, Maka couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic - it had been a long time since he had brought enough gold Galleons with him. Only the deposit receipts and handling fee receipts that are sent regularly every month will let him know how much his assets have grown.
It must be said that Snape's original description of potions was quite correct. Even though Maka's level was far from top-notch, the bottles of potions still created considerable wealth for him.
And... yes, even most of Maka's property is also stored here in Gringotts.
"Let's go!"
It's a long story, but in fact he only stayed at the foot of the stone steps for a few seconds, and soon he waved Mr. Parkinson to the bronze door.
It can be seen that at this time, there are four goblins wearing scarlet gold-inlaid uniforms lined up on both sides. They are also holding an alchemical metal rod that is a bit taller than their height - it is naturally black. Magic detector.
In the current period, Gringotts' defense standards are definitely much higher than in the past. Usually, there is usually only one goblin guard standing aside and watching.
"Wait a moment, you two. You need to be inspected before you can enter today - please stand a little farther away from each other and cooperate with the next security check."
The content of what the goblin said was very polite, but the typical goblin temper still made the words sound quite cold.
"Oh, of course."
Maka listened and immediately took a step to the side. She even opened her arms very consciously and let the long golden stick sweep all over her body.
He obviously has a lot of black magic objects on his body, and the soul magic and soul rules he studies actually fall into the category of so-called "black magic". But as long as the fluctuations of magic power that are constantly escaping are restrained, it will be difficult to detect any abnormality from him, no matter how accurate the alchemy detection tool is.
As for Mr. Parkinson next to Namaka... Judging from his courage, he is probably insulated from black magic in his life.
"Okay, thank you both for your cooperation, please come in!"
At the goblin's sharp voice, the bronze door slowly opened a little, and Maka and Mr. Parkinson were put in together.
The office hall of Gringotts is still the same... well, at least the furnishings are still the same. There are various tools placed on the long straight table. Stacks of account books are stacked in an orderly manner. Some automatic writing quills are still recording something silently.
But what is different from usual is that the high stools behind the long tables on both sides are mostly empty. Only a few goblins in the deepest part of the hall are still here, listlessly doing some unnecessary work.
It seems that like Darkling Pavilion, the goblins in Gringotts have long been prepared to avoid disasters, and even most of the employees have evacuated.
Fortunately, the chief goblin in the lobby behind the counter at the end and several of his assistants were still sitting there, and they were not missing like most of the goblins.
"Mr. Parkinson."
As soon as she arrived at the tall counter of the Chief Fairy, Maka immediately stretched out her hand to signal.
"Ah! Okay."
Mr. Parkinson hurriedly pushed up his glasses, carefully took out a silk bag from his arms, then opened the silk handkerchief and handed a golden engraved key wrapped inside to the chief elf behind the counter.
"Devin Parkinson, No. 8—"
"Please wait a moment, Mr. Parkinson." The chief goblin interrupted unceremoniously, "Due to special circumstances these days, if you need to enter the underground vault, please hand over your wand for inspection..."
As he spoke, he looked at Maka again, but then he pushed down the glasses on the bridge of his nose like Mr. Parkinson just now, and carefully checked Maka's face.
"Oh, is it...Mr. Macca McClain?"
Although it could be seen that the chief elf was a little hesitant, he finally coughed dryly and said:
"... I'm sorry. If there are any companions, please hand over your wand for inspection... just in case. I hope you can understand."
"No problem, no problem, just hurry up... We're in a bit of a hurry!" Maka nodded and took out the staff and handed it over, "Yes, I know it's a bit special, but trust me, it's It's a good 'magic wand'."
The goblin took the wand from Maka's hand, which was nearly twice as long as his height. He didn't even have the spare hand to take the wand that Parkinson handed over, so he had to ask his assistant to take it over. .
Then, I saw his slightly greedy gaze lingering on the staff, tapping here and there, almost chewing it with his teeth.
After a long while, he murmured as if sighing:
"Basilisk horn... This must be the horn of a basilisk, and it's a very old one... Oh, it's so extravagant, someone would actually use such a precious thing to make the body of a wand..."
It has to be said that goblins have a very precise and vicious eye for treasures. This is the first time that the material of Maka's staff has been accurately stated by others.
"Is it okay?"
Although only a few minutes had passed, Maka felt that she had waited long enough, and saw him suddenly reaching out and tapping the counter in front of her to urge him.
"Ah! Y-yes... no problem."
When the chief elf heard Maka speak, he hurriedly raised his staff and placed it on the test scale next to him, and then reluctantly handed the staff back to Maka's hand.
"So-"
"Vault No. 83."
After Mr. Parkinson took his wand back, he immediately handed over his vault key again. But as soon as he heard him report the vault number, the hand that the chief elf had just extended stopped.
"No. 83? Uh... I'm sorry. To ensure absolute safety, no large vaults with numbers below 100 will be opened today - this is an order from the president of the bank."