Lestrange Vault

Although the dance was over, the students' enthusiasm remained undiminished. Even after returning to the common room, they continued to discuss it instead of going back to sleep.

This resulted in everyone getting up very late the day after Christmas. When Kyle went to have breakfast, there were hardly any people in the huge Great Hall.

"Kyle, you're here." Sirius walked in from outside, grinning. "I was just thinking of going to the Hufflepuff common room to find you."

"Looking for me?" Kyle asked. "What's wrong?"

"Have you forgotten...?" Sirius looked around and said in a voice only Kyle could hear, "The vault key from the holidays..."

Upon hearing this, Kyle couldn't help but stand up from his seat.

"So, you can go to Gringotts now?"

"It could have been done a long time ago," Sirius said. "Otherwise, where do you think I got the money to buy the Firebolt from?"

"But you had to go to school before, and I had other things to do, but now I happen to have some free time..."

Of course, it can also be at the end of the school year, if you have other plans for the Christmas holidays."

"No, you can now," Kyle said immediately. "But there's a problem: may I leave the castle?"

"In principle, it's not possible," Sirius said, "Unless we can get the principal's permission."

"Then what are we waiting for..." Kyle quickly stuffed the remaining bread from the plate into his mouth and headed to the Headmaster's Office on the Seventh Floor with Sirius.

"You want to leave the school?" Dumbledore was slightly surprised by their arrival.

"Yes, Headmaster Dumbledore." Sirius looked at Olympe Maxime and Karkaroff in the office and said in a very casual tone, "I have prepared a special Christmas present that I can't deliver to the school, so I wanted to take him to see it."

Dumbledore hesitated, "But these are special times. Kyle is involved in the Triwizard Tournament, and many eyes are on him..."

"We're going to Diagon Alley," Sirius said. "It's safe there."

"That's right," Kyle added.

"Just going to Diagon Alley ..." Dumbledore hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Alright, I agree..."

"But how are you going to get there? The train left yesterday and won't come back until the holiday is over."

"A train?" Sirius's face showed obvious disgust. "Those things are too slow. I had enough of them when I was in school. We're going to Hogsmeade to borrow the fireplace with Three Broomsticks."

"If that's the case, there's no need for an extra trip." Dumbledore pointed a finger toward the fireplace in his office.

In the blink of an eye, the flames inside turned green.

"Hogwarts is also connected to the Floo Network?" Sirius asked in surprise.

"It's usually closed, but opening it for a few hours temporarily is fine," Dumbledore said. "How about five hours, or maybe longer?"

"That should be enough. We should be back before lunchtime," Sirius said, leading Kyle over.

As the two disappeared from the office, a slight change appeared on the faces of both Olympe Maxime and Karkaroff.

Before the Second Task began, Kyle, Champion, suddenly left Hogwarts... This unusual behavior seemed very abnormal to them.

And the gift couldn't even be delivered to the castle... That's a rather flimsy excuse. Do they really think everyone else is stupid?

"Olympe ..." Karkaroff couldn't help but ask, "In Beauxbatons, can students who stay on campus leave so easily?"

"Of course not," Madame Maxime said. "Unless they didn't sign the list of students allowed to stay on campus in the first place, they are not allowed to leave campus, even during holidays."

"Hogwarts is the same," Dumbledore a smile. "However, this time is a special case. Kyle did Professor Black a great favor during the holidays, and he probably wants to express his gratitude."

"Alright, let's ignore them. Where were we? Oh, right, regarding the Champion ' scoring criteria for the Second Task, I think..."

Faced with Dumbledore's deliberate attempt to change the subject, Olympe Maxime and Karkaroff became even more certain that Kyle's trip was definitely related to the Triwizard Tournament.

Thinking of this, the two looked at Dumbledore with slightly different expressions.

I can't believe it! Hogwarts, despite being the home team, is resorting to underhanded tactics... Ugh, how shameless!

Dumbledore, however, paid no attention and continued to calmly state his opinion.

On the other side.

After leaving the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron, Kyle and Sirius went straight to the backyard.

Since it was early morning, right after Christmas, the bar was empty except for Old Tom wiping a row of empty glasses behind the bar.

"Kyle, and Black?" he greeted them with a smile. "Would you like something to drink?"

"No, Tom, maybe next time." Sirius shook his head.

The two then entered Diagon Alley through the entrance and proceeded to Gringotts.

Looking at the gleaming bronze gate from before the New Year, Sirius asked, "Did you get the key?"

"Of course, I always carry it with me." Kyle reached into his leather bag, took out a golden key, and handed it over.

Sirius took the key and walked straight into Gringotts.

In the spacious marble hall, about a hundred Goblin sat behind a long counter, some weighing coins on scales, others examining gems with eyepieces.

They came to the front, where a Goblin sat, hastily making some notes in a large ledger.

"Ahem..." Sirius cleared his throat and said, "We need to go to Bellatrix Lestrange's vault."

Upon hearing the noise, the Goblin opposite raised her head and said in a shrill voice:

"You don't seem to be Miss Lestrange."

"I'm her... cousin." Sirius curled his lip, as if he'd just eaten a disgusting Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.

She asked me to help her get something.

The Goblin glanced at Sirius, then seemed to realize something, "Ah, yes, you can indeed meet."

"So... Mr. Black, did you bring your keys?"

"Oh, here it is." Sirius tossed the keys onto the table. "She gave them to me; this must be one."

The Goblin picked up the key and examined it closely.

"That's right..." he said. "Mr. Black, I must remind you that you can only take one item from the vault at most."

"I know better than you," Sirius said impatiently. "I don't even want to look at that trash."

"Very good," he said. "I'll have someone take you to the underground vault. Griphook."

Griphook, another Goblin, led Sirius and Kyle out of the hall through a door behind the counter and into a narrow stone corridor.

A small cart was parked nearby, and they got in and set off.

The location of Gringotts ' vault was practically a maze; they sped along the winding passageways in a small cart for about twenty minutes.

Sirius's face grew increasingly pale; he covered his mouth with his hand, as if he might vomit at any moment.

Kyle didn't feel anything, except that the wind was a bit chilly.

To reiterate, compared to Phoenix's Apparition, this is like a child's rocking horse—utterly pathetic.

As it grew darker, the stroller moved even faster.

They crossed a waterfall, their clothes soaked, and they shivered from the cold wind.

But there was no other way; without passing the Thief's Downfall, the Griphook couldn't carry them any further.

About ten minutes later, Kyle heard a mournful dragon roar.

The voice was very weak, and there was not a trace of the arrogance that a Dragon should have.

"This is Gringotts ' highest level of defense," Griphook said proudly. "The Dragon will make any thief who covets the gold here pay the price."

Kyle looked at him calmly, his face expressionless.

At this moment, the cart finally came to a stop on a mountain stream.

A creature with the body of a lion and the face of a human blocked their way.

Sphinxes are Fantastic Beasts that serve as guardians, solving riddles and crosswords, so they are often used by wizards to protect valuable items and secret places.

Newt had one in his chest, but since there wasn't much gold or silver in it, he set his Mooncalf... Every time Newt went to collect the fertilizer produced by the Mooncalf, he had to spend a long time fighting it.

Griphook was the first to come down. He went up and said something, and the Sphinx returned to its shadowy form dejectedly.

"Come here quickly." Griphook waved. Kyle and Sirius immediately followed.

There was only one vault in the mountain stream. Griphook, take the key, hold it to your palm, and then place your hand on the door.

Kyle watched the Goblin's movements with curiosity.

"Anyone who does this except us Goblin will get sucked into the door and trapped inside." Griphook looked over and grinned maliciously.

"Can you hurry up?" Sirius said irritably. "Stop talking nonsense."

"As you wish."

As soon as the Griphook was pulled, the tightly closed vault door slowly disappeared.

For a moment, Kyle thought someone had turned on the lights; the golden light was so dazzling it made his eyes water.

He saw a mountain of gold nearly ten feet high, the pelts of various strange animals, Potions in a treasure bottle, and a skull wearing a crown...

"Hurry up," Sirius said, "Grab what we need, and let's leave."

"Okay," Kyle said, looking at the Griphook. "Can I go in? Are there any special protective spells inside?"

"There are Fire-Making Spell and Gemino Curse," Griphook said, "But you have the key, so these spells are temporarily off, and the door won't reopen until it's closed. If you're worried, I can do it for you."

"No need." Kyle walked in, deliberately kicking a Galleon at his feet.

The gold coin was kicked far away, finally landing with a clatter on another Galleon, never splitting into two throughout the process.

Kyle was relieved and went inside, with Griphook following closely behind, seemingly wary of him taking anything extra.

Kyle didn't care; although the gold here was tempting, he had something more important...

The vault was quite large and contained many items. Kyle wandered around inside for five minutes before finally looking up by chance and finding what he was looking for.

On a raised stone platform at the very top of the vault, there was a small golden cup with a lifelike badger carved on it and two ear-like handles on the side.