Chapter 4
He lands with a stumble, feeling dizzy, but it passes pretty quickly leaving him feeling like he hadn’t slept the night before. He shakes it off, hoping he’d feel a little better by the time he needs to leave and makes his way into the pub. It’s almost empty since it’s still pretty early in the morning and he easily makes his way to the bar.
“Excuse me?” he calls to the man wiping the counter.
He peers down at him with surprise.
“What’re you doing here alone lad? Where are your parents?”
Right, he’s a child.
“Dad dropped me off for mum, but forgot to let me into the alley!” he tries.
The man softens a little at the excuse.
“I’ll let you through. We don’t want your ma to worry.”
“Thank you!” he calls as the man leads him out back.
He watches the pattern he taps onto the bricks, carefully memorising it, before he’s distracted as the wall opens before him. Diagon Alley is amazing.
“There you go lad. You’ll be able to find your mum from here?”
“Yes! Thank you!” he calls, quickly moving to make his way through the alley.
First stop, Gringotts!
&&&
He stares up at the goblin above him, waiting for him to speak. Finally, after what feels like hours, the goblin leans forward to peer down at him.
“Yes?” he drawls.
“Hello!” Lee chirps. “First, I was wondering if you could exchange pounds for galleons?”
“Eight sickles.”
So… it costs eight sickles I’m guessing?
“How many pounds make a galleon?”
“Five.”
He has no idea how expensive anything is here, so that doesn’t exactly help. He hands the goblin the fifty, a twenty, a ten and four five pound notes. Twenty Galleons, or a little under thanks to the fee, should be enough, right? The goblin takes the money with a sneer, handing back a small bag of coins.
“Also…” Lee hesitates, should he? “I have some… information I think the goblin nation would like to know, but I can’t speak about it in public.”
He eyes the others in the room before turning back to the goblin, who barely even looks curious.
“Gargrat will take you,” the goblin sneers, head turning to gesture at a goblin standing by a door behind him.
“Thank you,” he really hopes that fan fiction doesn’t fail him now. “May your vaults overflow.”
He gives a sharp grin at that.
“May your enemies fall before you,” he replies, quickly turning back to what he was doing before.
Lee gives a near silent sigh of relief as he moves to follow Gargrat through the now open door. Gargrat leads him through winding corridors he has no hope of remembering, before stopping at a door exactly the same as all the others and turning to him.
“Wait here,” he grunts, going inside and slamming the door.
Well, ok then.
He takes another look around, he found it creepy even when he wasn’t alone, it’s so much worse now. He holds back a flinch as the door is thrown open again revealing Gargrat.
“Furlock will see you now,” and with that he’s gone, making his way back to the front room, he guesses.
Lee takes a deep breath, steadying himself, before making his way inside. There’s a goblin behind a large wooden desk, writing something with a quill and ignoring his presence. Lee stands and waits, now knowing goblin etiquette and not wanting to offend.
“Sit,” the goblin finally grunts after a few minutes of standing.
“Thank you,” he says, sitting in the uncomfortable chair in front of Furlocks desk. “I’m Lee Dursley and I came across some information I thought you should know.” Furlock grunts. Taking that as permission to continue, he does, “Do you know what a horcrux is?”
Furlock stiffens, wide eyes darting up to him.
“I do, what is it you think we should know?”
“There’s a horcrux at this bank.”
“What?!” he snarls. “Wait here.”
Lee sits frozen, as Furlock marches past him looking furious. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. He fidgets as he waits, getting more and more anxious as time passes. Finally the door opens again and Furlock enters, stepping to the side to let another goblin past.
“Furlock tells me you know of a horcrux within our bank?”
“Yes, I do,” he answers, it taking everything in him to keep his voice steady. “A golden cup in Bellatrix Lestranges vault.”
The goblin waves a hand, making Fulock hurry out, as he makes his way to sit at the desk.
“And how exactly did you come across this information?” he asks once he’s seated.
Lee straightens a little.
“That I cannot tell you.”
The goblin hums, his eyes narrowing.
“Oh? And if I want to know?” he sneers.
“Then you should gain my trust.” He blinks, startled. “I would have no reason to tell you unless you were willing to help me with my goals and I don’t want help from anyone I don’t trust.”
“You want me to gain your trust and help you with your goals, just for some information?”
Lee grins.
“Yup.”
The goblin cackles.
“We’ll see,” he grins. “My name is Ullor, ask for me whenever you return.”
“Thank you Ullor, My name is Lee Dursley, may your vaults overflow,” that one seemed to work earlier.
Ullors grin widens.
“May your enemies perish,” he replies, just as the door is once again opened.
Furlock enters holding a bag as far from himself as he can.
“He was correct. It is a horcrux,” he snarls.
“Give it to Mr Dursley,” Ullor replies and he startles as the bag is dropped into his lap. “The bag has an extension charm on it and has runes stitched on it to keep any magic of any kind from escaping. It will not affect you while it is inside.”
“You’re not going to destroy it?” Lee asks, hiding his panic.
“We deal in wizards' money, not their souls. Though I suppose you should be rewarded with something else for bringing our attention to it.”
Ullor raises a brow at him and he can’t help but to feel like this is some kind of test… but if they’re offering…
“I’d like to open an account,” he pulls 200 pounds out from his pocket leaving only 23 pounds left. “Could you invest my money for me? You would get a percentage of the profits of course.”
“How much?” Ullor asks.
“Five percent.”
“Twenty.”
“Eight.”
“Fifteen.”
“Ten.”
“Deal.”
He blinks, surprised that actually worked, before grinning back.
“Deal.”