Bab 13: 13 - Gringotts II
{Diagon Alley, London}
{14th August 1989}
Eleven days since their first visit, Camilla, Chloe, and Matteo were going back to Gringotts.
Well... they were technically going to Gringotts with three more– Charlotte, Amelia, and Regulus– but they didn't count, not when they weren't making there presence known. One of them was unconscious, one was... practically unconscious, and one was just clothes.
Just an object to be worn, a tool to be used.
"How's the cramming going?" Matteo asked Camilla, smiling slightly.
"Ughhhh..." she groaned. "It's fucking awful."
"Is it really that bad?" Chloe asked.
"You–! You don't get to ask me that, you lazy cock-slut," Camilla berated, just quiet enough so no-one nearby could hear. "You bailed out because they seemed pointless... and, well, I guess they're kinda pointless..." Camilla trailed off, frustrated.
And Camilla was right– only a few hours into their studies, Chloe quit, not bothering to get a magical degree of any sort. Not seeing the point in wasting so much of her time, time that could be better spent serving Matteo.
But Camilla, she wanted to be a Hogwarts teacher... so she has to take all of her OWLs, as well as all of her NEWTs.
Cramming 7 years of studies into just a few scant weeks.
It was only doable because of a number of spells that Matteo himself crafted– those being Inform, Comprehend, Examine, and Analyze– but that didn't mean that Camilla wasn't swamped. No, she barely had time for this Gringotts meeting, neck deep in studying magic that was pointless to her.
She was just glad that she Matteo had so many loyal, devoted maids that she could dump her House duties onto for a while.
Yes, Matteo could've waved a hand, and she'd instantly be a teacher... but despite her newfound depravity, Camilla was still a teacher at heart. She didn't want to cheat her way into a school, not when teaching had been her dream– IS her dream.
Even if that meant a few months of suffering.
Sure, Camilla quit teaching after becoming Matteo's... but that was only because she had needed a break, and well, she had the time for it. Since she was immortal now.
"Speaking of cramming," Camilla smiled, "I thought that you'd take your time with that snakegirl, but she's already wrapped around your finger..."
"Not to mention that she now reeks of Matty's musk," Chloe said longingly.
"Well, that too."
"I was going to wait a bit," Matteo said, before grinning, "but Nagini made the offer herself– offering her mind, body, and soul to me of her own volition."
Camilla eyes widened slightly, realizing the implications. That Nagini was already devoted to Matteo entirely, maybe even more so than some of his maids. Not that any of his women would ever willingly betray him.
Matteo looked up at the slanted, marble pillars.
"Looks like we've arrived."
***
{Gringotts, Miles Underground}
{14th August 1989}
<Alright, whenever you're ready,> Matteo's voice echoed in their minds.
Camilla tensed, and so did Chloe.
Whilst they had come to Gringotts for their Vault, under the pretense of keeping up appearances... their had been one more point to their trip. To sneak into the Lestrange Vault and steal the Hufflepuff Cup, one of Voldemort's Horcruxes, all without anyone knowing.
It was easier said than done.
And while Matteo could do it easily, Camilla and Chloe wanted to prove themselves.
In an instant, both Camilla and Chloe turned invisible, before leaping off the minecart and running along the rails at a breakneck pace, towards the Lestrange Vault.
Cutthroat, the goblin that they were once again with, should've notice this... if it wasn't for two perfect light illusions taking their places, just a millisecond after they vanished. They were perfect replicas, controlled down to each individual light particle.
A feat that demonstrated Matteo's frightening level of control over his own mana, only possible because of Mastery.
"Do the minecarts add to the security?" the light illusion of Camilla asked, so indistinguishable from the real her that not even Matteo could tell the difference, not without relying on his mana sensing capabilities.
"It does a lot," Cutthroat answered. He gestured to his control center. "This lever, right here, can only be operated by a goblin, and only a Gringotts licensed goblin at that. Anyone else touches it, we all go overboard."
"Fascinating," not-Camilla replied.
'This requires a fuckton of concentration...' Matteo furrowed his brow, a single bead of sweat forming on it. He grinned. 'But every second I do this, my control increases, my affinity with light increases, and my efficiency increases.'
That didn't mean he wanted Camilla and Chloe to take their time, though.
***
{Lestrange Vault}
{4th August 1989}
Standing in front of the High Security Lestrange Vault, Camilla and Chloe looked at the Vault door, and then each other.
"Break, Weave, or Key?" Chloe whispered.
When it came for enchantments and protections, especially powerful ones, the options for getting past them was limited. Matty-Magic allowed them some leeway, allowing them to literally cast whatever they could think of, but the point still stood.
They could try breaking through the enchantments– but since this was supposed to be a stealth mission, that was a terrible idea. That left them with either weaving through, delaying the alarms, and then quickly erasing any traces they leave behind, or... they get in the way they're supposed to, or at least, the way the protections think they're supposed to.
Using a 'key.'
'Analyze,' Camilla thought, making a swiping motion with her hand.
Her eyes widened. 'That's... that's it?'
"What's wrong?" Chloe asked, slightly worried.
Camilla just used Inform.
For the fabled High Security Vaults of Gringotts, the most secure bank in Magical Britain... all you needed to open a Vault was the hand of an approved goblin. That, or a Vault Key, would get you into any Vault you wanted.
Besides that, there were a dozen alarm and alert spells, as well as a dragon, but it paled in comparison to their training.
These were supposed to be the defenses of the greatest bank in the country.
Chloe's eyes widened.
"It's so..."
"Simple," Camilla finished for her, her disbelief just as apparent.
Scry gave Camilla the location of several nearby goblins, and after locating one on a cart by himself, they nabbed him right off of it, hurrying straight back to the Vault. The goblin panicked and tried to call for help, but a hasty Silence shut him right up.
Camilla then forced the goblin's hand up against the Vault, and after it opened, she casted Memory Wipe and Sleep on him. Camilla dumped him outside the Vault to be collected and casted aside later.
Then they peered into the Lestrange Vault.
A significant amount of gold looked back.
Unimpressed, Camilla immediately spotted the Horcrux on an upper most shelf– the magic coming off of it vile, repulsive. She didn't even want to use Analyze on it, not wanting to know in the slightest how something so horrific was made.
Magic had its costs, so the more miraculous, the more costly it was. Most of the time this cost was paid in talent, time, ingredients, and effort... but sometimes, when those currencies weren't able to reach the result they were looking for, the cost was paid in sacrifice.
Camilla opted for Examine instead, not wanting to know more than necessary about the abomination of an artifact before her.
"Temporary duplication, heat increase... both touched based..." she muttered. "These are supposed to be the protections of the the Dark Lord?"
"Um, can I at least do something?" Chloe asked, her disappointment also showing. Matteo's words from before the start of the 'heist' were starting to make sense.
"Well, uh, both of you going might be too, erm... just don't get your hopes up."
Camilla sighed. "Let's just get this over with."
***
{Gringotts, Miles Underground}
{14th August 1989}
"We'll be arriving at your Vault in just a few minutes," Cutthroat assured, "but first, let's show you why these Vaults are High Security."
Pulling up on an empty cavern, adorned by rows and rows of Vaults, stacked on top of each other going down a seemingly endless ravine... the rails of the cart started to tremble.
Then they heard it.
"rrrggrrRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
The roar reverberated through the chasm, the voice itself exerting pressure, carrying the weight of the roarer's magic and will.
The roar of a dragon.
"Woah," not-Camilla muttered, faking disbelief. Matteo's brow furrowed further.
"Woah indeed," Cutthroat grinned. "Quite the rare breed, a Ukrainian Ironbelly. One of the biggest breeds of dragon in the world, if not the biggest. At least nowadays. She also tends to be a bit feisty... but that's just more protection for your coffers, ain't it?"
"That is true," not-Camilla answered.
Big, white, and scarred, the dragon came into view. From what Matteo knew about Harry Potter, it's dragons weren't 'true dragons.' They couldn't speak, they couldn't cast magic, and they weren't all that smarter than the average lizard. Or at least, that was what was shown in the source material.
For this dragon, well, Matteo could tell. She was intelligent.
Scared, depressed, and all but given up on life... the decrepit dragon was a husk of what it represented, of what it was supposed to be. She was someone that was desperately in need of saving.
'And who doesn't want a dragon?'
"I'll be coming back for you," Matteo mouthed. She let out a huff.
It wasn't much longer before they arrived at Vault 763, the newly-claimed Brooke Vault.
"We're here," Cutthroat said, guiding Matteo and his two illusions towards the ancient, yet sturdy door embedded in the cavern wall. Cutthroat then gestured toward the ritual circle embedded into the ground, just in front of their Vault's entrance. "Now you'll just need to present your blood once more, Lady Brooke."
"No, I'll do it," Matteo answered.
"...Well, if Lady Brooke as no objections..." Cutthroat trailed off.
"I don't."
'Whew,' Matteo thought inwardly, 'that could've been a little troublesome.'
***
{Gringotts, Miles Underground}
{14th August 1989}
Leaning off the side of a cavern wall, right above one of the higher minecart tracks, both Camilla and Chloe were waiting in silence.
Hufflepuff Cup acquired, Voldemort's soul piece destroyed.
Waiting for Matteo and Cutthroat to pass them by on their way out, so the two of them could sneak right back into their illusion's places, no one being the wiser.
"This fucking sucks," Chloe grumbed.
"Yeah..." Camilla agreed.
Matteo had told them that they'd be disappointed, but they didn't listen. Well, they did listen, for they would never ignore their deity, but they thought he was saying just that because, well, he was Matteo. Stronger, faster, smarter, better than everyone and everything. It was only natural for him to find Magical Britain disappointing.
But they failed to realize that being the greatest at everything also made him the greatest teacher, making it possible for him to turn lazy, albeit devoted cock-sluts into expert magical and martial combatants, ones that were strong enough to be feared.
Strong enough to turn breaking and entering into the fabled Gringotts Vaults, a task thought to be practically impossible, a worthy challenge... into a chore.
'Worst of all,' Camilla frowned, 'we didn't even get to prove ourselves to Matteo.'
"They're here," Chloe whispered.
The two of them, both still invisible, leapt off the wall and right onto the minecart– a quick Silence casted by Chloe muffled any and all sound their arrival would've made. Then they both slipped into the poses of there counterparts, overlapping themselves with their illusions, and with a single thought from Matteo... they were back.
One Vault raided, a goblin knocked out and left outside another, and no one had any idea as to what had happened.
And even if they had suspicions... Camilla, Chloe, and Matteo had the perfect alibi.
"With such a generous donation, feel free to drop by whenever you desire," Cutthroat chuckled, satisfied with how much his 'client' had deposited. "The Brookes may very well be one of the largest first-time donators at Gringotts."
Before Camilla could so much as glance at Matteo, she was given an answer.
<840,000 Galleons.>
She had to fight to keep her eyes from widening.
"Well, I saw no reason not to," Camilla supplied. "While having all of our Legacy at Brooke Manor has worked for centuries, it doesn't hurt to safeguard some of our capital in what is the greatest bank in Magical Britain."
"Very true, very true," Cutthroat readily agreed.
It was a few minutes later when they reached the surface, task completed. Leaving Gringotts nearly a million Galleons lighter, and a Horcrux heavier. It was a lot more uneventful then Camilla had been hoping for, but all's well that ends well. Now she just had to go back to the manor, and continue studying...
"Alright, you guys have fun," Matteo said.
"Going somewhere?" Camilla asked, unaware that her master had other plans today.
"Oh, I'm not actually here," not-Matteo waved his hand, and the light illusion flickered, proving his point, "I'm still a couple miles underground."
Chloe stiffened. "Did we mess up?"
Not-Matteo rolled his eyes, "no, you didn't mess up. I'd 'assure' you that you didn't but I'm not going to do that through..." he gestured at himself, "this. No, I'm still underground because there was something that caught my eye."
"The dragon?" asked Camilla, not sure.
With Invisible and Stealth, Camilla and Chloe had effortlessly slipped past it– making the dragon feel more like a set piece than an actual defense. Not to mention that, as far as Camilla was concerned, it definitely wasn't the prettiest dragon.
"Yeah, the dragon," Matteo sighed, understanding Camilla's unenthusiasm.
'But even if it's old, decrepit, scarred, and littered with other issues... it's still a dragon.'
***
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The next chapter, Vienna, releases April 8th, 10:00 AM (MDT)
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Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone