...
Five minutes later, the two of them arrived at Gringotts Wizarding Bank in Diagon Alley.
"I need to go to the Black Family vault." Sirius said, pulling out a key and handing it over.
The goblin sitting behind the counter took the key, examined it carefully, then smiled and said:
"Welco, Mr. Black."
"Cut the chatter." Sirius waved his hand impatiently. "If everything’s fine, just hurry up and take us there."
"As you wish..."
Another goblin walked over and led them into that familiar passageway.
"You’d better brace yourself, Kael, this is anything but a pleasant trip." Sirius grumbled as he climbed into the cart. "I really don’t get why Gringotts can’t just let you into the vaults with just the key."
"The key alone isn’t safe enough," the goblin leading them said.
Once Kael got in as well, the cart shot off with them inside, racing through the True Waterfall and the area with the Fire Dragon, then continued on for quite a while.
The number of vault doors on either side dwindled, the light grew dimr and dimr, and after who-knows-how-long — just as Sirius looked like he was about to be sick — the cart finally ca to a stop.
At this point, they could only see a single vault door in front of them.
The goblin jumped off the cart first, used the key and a bunch of complicated moves, and finally opened the vault.
The mont the vault door opened, the dim corridor seed to be washed in gold.
Kael couldn’t even begin to count how many Galleons were piled inside — heaps of gemstones in every color, flashy suits of armor and swords scattered around the floor as if they were junk.
Sirius strode in, carelessly kicking a gem-encrusted mirror out of the way. His gaze passed over the mountains of Galleons and finally landed on sothing at the very top of the pile — a torch being used as a light source.
The fla wasn’t big, but it was incredibly steady...
Kael recognized it instantly. This was exactly the Gubraithian Fire he’d been searching for.
He’d suspected ever since coming to Diagon Alley that it would turn up in the Black Family vault?
Gubraithian Fire was an extrely rare type of magic fla. Whether under water, atop snowy mountains, or locked inside a fully sealed vault, it never went out. It was the perfect status symbol for an ancient pure-blood family like the Blacks.
"Well? Is that what you ca here for?" Sirius asked.
"That’s right." Kael nodded. "It’s definitely Gubraithian Fire."
"Take it, then..." Sirius gave his wand a twirl, preparing to remove it.
But there was a Stickfast Hex on the torch — it couldn’t be moved. Sirius even looked like he was about to blow up the vault wall, not caring one bit about security issues.
Of course, a Gringotts vault wasn’t sothing you could destroy with just any old charm.
In the end, the goblin who’d co with them couldn’t take it anymore. Scowling, he snapped his fingers and personally helped Sirius remove the torch.
"I’ll give it back after we deal with the Dentors," Kael said.
"Are you kidding ?" Sirius broke out at once. "I never take back anything I’ve given away — especially if you’re using it to fight Dentors...
"I was tornted by those things for twelve years; I’ve been wanting to get rid of them for ages... Too bad I’ve got other things to handle."
"It’s yours!" he waved grandly. "And hey, everything in here — if you want it, take it. Oh, except for the deed to the Black family house — that place is still useful."
The Black family house was No. 12 Grimmauld Place, but with a goblin listening in, he couldn’t ntion the exact address.
"No need, just Gubraithian Fire is enough..." Kael swept a glance at the mountain of gold, then suddenly froze as if sothing had occurred to him. He asked:
"Sirius, are you really serious about going after the Dentors?"
"I dream about it," Sirius replied without a second thought.
No surprise there — anyone who’s been to Azkaban wants the Dentors dead.
"I have an idea..." Kael, in a low voice, explained his plan for bounty hunting, "The only problem now is that the Ministry of Magic is short on funds. If soone is willing to donate, I’m sure Fudge won’t say no — and you’ll get another publicity boost."
"Galleons aren’t a problem..." Sirius mulled it over for a bit. He didn’t agree right away, but asked, "But have you thought about what happens if the people hunting Dentors can’t put out Fiendfyre... If you let that stuff keep burning, it’s even more dangerous than Dentors."
"Don’t worry, if they want to claim the bounty, they’ll have to figure out how to put out the Fiendfyre." Kael shook a bottle he had with him.
"What’s that?" Sirius asked, puzzled.
"Ash left behind by Dentors — also serves as proof."
Kael said, "Only if they bring this can they exchange for the bounty galleons. If the Fiendfyre hasn’t been put out, they won’t be able to get it.
"Plus, I’ve already checked. The Auror Office has magic items specifically for detecting Fiendfyre — as soon as it gets out of control, they’ll get an alert and know exactly where it is."
"Besides that, the Dentors’ hoods can be proof as well. Both items have that sa icy-cold, unnatural feel — a built-in security mark, basically. Ordinary wizards can’t fake them."
"If that’s the case..." Sirius didn’t hesitate this ti. "I’ll put up three thousand—no, five thousand Galleons."
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