How Was This Not Meeting an Old Friend Far from Home?

"As you wish, honored wizard. Please follow me." After taking the key, the goblin slowly hopped down from his high stool, went around the counter, and led Kane to a room at the far edge of Gringotts, one with a rather imposing door.

"How much of your property do you plan to deposit initially?" the goblin asked.

"Let's make it a round number—one thousand Galleons. Besides that, I have some loose change. Keep half and exchange the other half for pounds. There's no limit on exchanging Galleons for pounds, right?" Kane followed the goblin into the room. Unlike the splendor outside, the inside was merely an internal bank station.

Exposed rails, gyroscope mine carts that had not been properly maintained, and densely packed control levers made the room seem rather slapdash. It was practically a different world from the outside.

"Of course not, wizard. No one would refuse to trade paper for gold." After speaking, the goblin walked behind a number-drawing machine resembling a triple-reel lottery device. "Would you like to draw a number yourself, or choose one? I cannot praise the efficiency of selecting one, since the number you choose may already be in use."

"973?" Kane casually gave a string of numbers. He had no special preference for a vault number, but if he did not come up with one at random, would the goblin not have wasted all those words?

Unexpectedly, the goblin pressed three buttons on the other side of the machine, then let out a surprised cry. "Then, wizard, shall we visit the Dumbledore family vault first, or activate your vault first?"

"Let's open mine first. If there's anything in Dumbledore's vault, I'll just stuff it in my pockets."

As Kane spoke, he boarded the gyroscope mine cart in the center of the room with