"Hello, Mr. Murphy. How may I help you?"
At Gringotts bank, Murphy had only just walked into the hall when a Goblin at the side came over. "Do you need me to call Manager Locke for you?"
The Goblin Locke was now one of the few major figures in Gringotts Britain, and the story of how he had risen to power had long since spread widely among the Goblins.
Murphy glanced at him. "You're... Gambri?"
"Gambri is at Counter Ten. I'm Gold Buckle, sir."
"Oh, sorry, Gold Buckle. Remembering what you all look like really is a little difficult for wizards."
"Of course, of course, sir."
"I'm going to my vault to withdraw some money. Send someone to take me there."
"Which vault's funds are you intending to withdraw, sir?"
Murphy now had several vaults. One was the Darkholme family's Vault 1743, which had basically only been used at first for officially exchanging gold. Later, several more vaults had been added, some of them used for bulk payment settlements for the Supreme Potion Store, Wizard Security Store, and other shops—this was a business Locke had suggested Gringotts expand into after becoming manager.
For these bulk payment settlements and account reconciliations, Gringotts could collect handling fees, and so it had earned quite a few Galleons, causing Locke's prestige in the bank to grow by the day.
"Vault 891, then."
Murphy chose one with an earlier number, the closest to the target, Vault 713.
"Very well. Please follow me."
The Goblin Gold Buckle led Murphy onto the roller-coaster cart, and they descended all the way.
As soon as he got on and entered the underground, feathers began falling one by one from Murphy's back. Before long, several hundred feathers had drifted down from him, and when the cart left, those feathers suddenly