Gringotts

A few days later, one morning before they left, Snape watched Eileen pry up a slightly loose floorboard in the sitting room and use magic to dig a deep hole beneath it.

"Not this one..." she muttered, poking at the dirt and rubble scattered across the floor with her wand. "Reparo."

She repeated the process seven times before finally finding a small golden key, slightly tarnished, beneath the floorboards. After cleaning it up a little, she tucked it into her robes.

Seeing this, Snape no longer held much hope for the vault.

"Come on, let's go."

After Eileen Side-Along Apparated him to the entrance of the Leaky Cauldron, Snape gasped for breath and took quite a while to recover.

"Are you all right?" Eileen asked, looking down at him with concern. "You need time to get used to that feeling."

"I'm fine," Snape said, patting his ears. "Let's go in."

Then they passed through the pub and entered Diagon Alley.

This was Snape's first time entering the snow-white building that towered over the other shops in Diagon Alley.

When they reached the long counter, Eileen tapped on its surface and said to an idle Goblin before them:

"Hello, we'd like to withdraw some things from the Prince Family vault."

After carefully examining the small golden key Eileen handed over, the Goblin nodded.

"No problem. I'll find someone to take you to this underground vault. Ragnok!"

Ragnok?

What a coincidence.

Snape could not help staring intently at the dark-skinned, long-fingered Goblin walking toward them.

"Wizard, I don't like the way you're looking at me."

Ragnok glared at Snape with his slanted black eyes.

Snape quickly looked away.

He did not remember this Goblin as having a particularly forgiving temperament. There was no need to anger Ragnok before they had seen the vault and returned from underground.

Ragnok led the two of them out of the hall, through a heavy iron door, and into a narrow stone passage.

"Whoosh—"

Ragnok let out a sharp whistle.

A little cart thundered toward them along the tracks.

Once they had both climbed aboard, Ragnok shoved a lever forward, and the cart immediately started moving.

A freezing current of air howled against their faces.

Soon, they traveled through twisting passageways and reached deep underground.

After they sped past an underground lake whose ceiling was covered in enormous stalactites and stalagmites, the cart finally slowed and stopped before a door.

Ragnok got out, inserted the key into the lock, and pressed his hand against the door.

The vault door vanished, revealing an opening.

Snape craned his neck to peer inside.

The moment he did, he sucked in a sharp breath.

Inside the door lay piles of gold coins like small mountains.

On shelves in the surrounding corners sat potions in glass jars, dried herbs, thick books, and several rolls of parchment.

"You call this 'there should be some gold inside'?"

Snape turned to Eileen, signaling for her to take a look too.

The sight clearly exceeded Eileen's expectations as well. Her mouth fell slightly open, and she blinked hard, but no sound came out.

Snape let out a long breath.

"I think we won't have to work for the rest of our lives."

After filling two bags with Galleons, they took the cart and raced all the way back to the surface.

"Next, let's go buy a few things."

Eileen looked at the wrist exposed beneath Snape's robe sleeve and the old sneakers his hem failed to cover.

"You need a few new robes. We can also buy some books for next term in advance."

"It's fine. Let's wait until my O.W.L. results come out. Besides, there's nothing wrong with old textbooks. I've made plenty of notes in some of them."

Before stepping out through Gringotts's front doors, Snape hesitated and said:

"Wait... let's exchange some Muggle money... Um... I want to buy some Muggle-made clothes and daily necessities."

"Daily necessities?" Eileen asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Like shampoo..."

Snape knew that answer sounded strange enough, since Wizards had far better options.

Sure enough, Eileen voiced her question.

"Then why not buy Sleekeazy's?"

"I don't like the smell," Snape answered stiffly, then added, "It makes me feel a little sick."

"Then buy some for me too."

As she spoke, Eileen stuffed a bag into Snape's hand.

"Buy whatever you want for yourself."

After buying new robes at Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, they each held a scoop of ice cream from Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour and slowly wandered over to the Quality Quidditch Supplies, which was almost packed with people.

Over the heads of a group of children, Snape saw an exquisite, imposing broomstick in the shop window.

A sign beside the broom was written in elegant lettering: "Nimbus 1500—Experience the thrill of high-speed flight! Aerodynamic design, premium birch handle, polished with pure magic, balancing speed and precision. Accelerates from rest to 60 miles per hour in ten seconds, with a top speed of 107 miles per hour. Your finest companion on the pitch!"

"No, I don't want that." Noticing Eileen's questioning look, Snape quickly swallowed a mouthful of ice cream. "I don't play Quidditch."

When they got home, Snape dug out the old set of Gobstones from his trunk and brought it downstairs, placing it on the wooden table.

"Want to play a few rounds? I remember reading in the Daily Prophet at the Hogwarts Library that you used to be captain of the school Gobstones team."

"I haven't touched this in a long time."

Eileen's hand rose unconsciously, her rough fingertips stroking a small, round Gobstone.

"Come on. It's not like we have anything better to do."

Snape sat down on the other side of the table.

"Why were there so many things in the Prince vault?"

One of the stones he flicked missed its target, trembling fearfully on the playing board.

"Uncle Charon couldn't possibly have saved up all that..."

Eileen struck the trembling stone precisely. Her own stone triumphantly sprayed a stream of foul-smelling liquid into Snape's face.

"Maybe our ancestors used to be rich."

"Pah—pah! What is that smell?!"

Snape wiped the slime from his face in one swipe.

"But it really is surprising. Thinking back on how we used to live, I can't help feeling like we suffered for no reason."

Before long, an unpleasant smell wafted from all over his body.

Helplessly, he raised both hands.

"Let's call it here for today. I surrender."

After cleaning himself up and returning to the sitting room, Snape suddenly realized that Eileen did not seem to need to keep living here.

"Mom, why don't you move somewhere else?

"Tinworth in Cornwall, Upper Flagley in Yorkshire, Ottery St Catchpole in Devon... Anywhere would do. How about moving somewhere where Wizarding families are gathered?"

"Mm... that should be possible." Eileen hesitated before saying, "After a while, I'll go see whether there's any suitable land or house available."

"Fine. Just write and tell me after you move." As Snape spoke, he dashed out the door again. "I'm going to buy you an owl!"

"But how are you getting there—"

"The Knight Bus!"