Chapter 19: 28th July 1991, Sunday: Part 7

The goblin and George both looked equally surprised by Dominic's abrupt change of heart. The way his foster father had been talking sounded like he wasn't too happy with the 'shared vault' scam. George had concurred with Dominic, from his perspective, the benefits of using Gringotts over any other muggle bank seemed nonexistent. If security was all Gringotts was offering then George would have taken his money elsewhere. But now, his foster father didn't seem to mind these colossal disadvantages for some unknown reason.

Dominic then reached over and plucked an engraved quill from the teller's desk, "you don't mind if I sign with this, do you?"

The goblin shook his head, "no problem at all sir."

Dominic's smile widened as he said, "good", before raising the parchment and giving it one last cursory read.

Just before the quill touched the parchment, Dominic paused and looked back up at the goblin.

"There's just one more thing I would like to clarify. If you could indulge me Mr..."

"Just Bogrod, sir. And yes, ask away", the goblin responded.

Dominic held up the parchment and pointed at a line halfway down the page, "now then, Bogrod. I've read here that I'm not able to visit my shared vault in person. Is that because other tenants' belongings are inside?"

Bogrod nodded, "yes sir. It's a security measure to ensure the safety of your fellow tenant's property as well as your own."

"As I expected. But, what if I'm the only shareholder in my particular vault? Could I visit it then?", Dominic inquired.

An even more confused expression formed on the goblin's face, "and why would sir ever be the only shareholder? I can guarantee that all Gringott's shared vaults are currently occupied by at least one other tenant."

Dominic tapped the quill against his chin, "well... what if my account was enough to fill an entire vault? Hypothetically speaking that is."

A golden coin fell from between Bogrods' fingers as Dominic's implication settled in, "sir, our largest shared vault can hold over a million galleons. There shouldn't..."

"Please... indulge me", Dominic interrupted.

Bogrod gulped, "Hypothetically speaking... yes, a tenant could have direct access if their wealth was the sole occupant of the vault. But…"

"All done, here you go", Dominic cheerfully said while handing the parchment and quill back to Bogrod.

The goblin wearily received the parchment and appeared happy to see Dominic's signature at the bottom of the paper. George didn't blame Bogrod for being happy, he basically just secured eighty galleons every year for doing almost nothing. That was a fee a lot of poor wizard families, such as Remus and the Weasleys, could not afford. It must have been some sort of scheme to deter muggles from investing in the wizarding world's economy. Maybe Dominic just had so much money that eighty galleons felt like loose change to him.

The Linwood's financial situation was a grey area in George's knowledge. Amanda and Dominic didn't like talking about money any more than their dodgy past. He knew they were wealthy exclusively due to their spending habits, nothing was off the table. The food they ate, to the clothes they wore were of the highest quality, nothing but the best. Dominic bought rare classic cars every other week and kept them in a massive barn next to the house. George had only been in his foster father's man shack a few times, but from what he had seen, it had been converted into a massive state-of-the-art workshop.

Amanda was even worse for spending. The family would travel all the time and eat at some of the most luxurious restaurants. George was always shocked to see the staff treat them like royalty and often they would dine in a wing exclusively reserved for them. It was only after he listened to a conversation between the waiters did he realise that Amanda owned the restaurant. And it wasn't just one, he had overheard a similar talk between restaurant staff in over a dozen establishments all around the world. Those businesses had to be worth tens of millions at least.

Even his foster family's relatives seemed just as rich. George was pretty sure that Dominic's brother owned an entire cruise liner company. He had only met Matthew once on a cruise across the pacific ocean, but it didn't take long for him to see that his 'uncle' was some sort of multi-millionaire philanthropist. Matthew had been more than generous on that holiday. He had given George and Ellie a credit card each and said to buy whatever we liked on the ship. His step-sister must have spent over five grand in a toy store on the first day and they were on that ship for over two weeks. Matthew didn't care about their excessive spending in the slightest, if anything, he encouraged them to go wild.

In summary, George wasn't worried about money. Even if he needed to buy one hundred Nimbus 2000s, his foster parents would most likely buy them for him. Frankly, he could not think of something they couldn't buy him if he asked for it nicely. That being said, all this talk of 'hypothetically' filling a vault with over a million galleons was too much. That amount of gold would surely put the Linwoods as one of the richest families in the wizarding world. If Dominic really planned on doing this, the attention he could bring upon himself would be unprecedented.

George doubted that rich wizarding families like the Malfoys would like a filthy muggle family exceeding their fortune. There would be some form of repercussion, hopefully Dominic was already aware of this. The last thing George needed whilst he was preparing to leave for Hogwarts was some rivalry with the upper echelons of wizard society. Having someone like Draco breathing down his neck because he was a muggle-born would already be bad enough. Regardless, matters of money were out of his hands. There was only so much he could do to steer his foster parents on the right path.

After a brief pause, Bogrod picked up a green stamp and slammed it down on the parchment. He then folded the paper and placed it on one side of his desk before pulling two keys out of his breast pocket. They were large in the goblin's hands and appeared to be made out of copper.

Bogrod stood back up and handed them over to Dominic, "your identity and these keys will both be necessary to have access to your assets in your shared fault. Do not lose them under any circumstances."

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The goblin then looked down at George, "a wand can also be used as a substitute to a key in the future if young sir was to acquire one."

That look Bogrod gave George was a little uncomfortable, the goblin could tell that he wasn't already carrying a wand at a glance. It seemed that a goblin's eyes could see more than just wealth, perhaps George's vision wasn't so unique after all.

"What if someone stole these keys? Would they have access to my vault as well", Dominic asked while inspecting the unusual keys.

Bogrod didn't look impressed by Dominic's bluntness, "were it so simple to steal from Gringotts Bank, then thieves would be our main clientele."

He then gestured with a bent finger at the keys, "those keys are enchanted to only function whilst either a Gringotts goblin or those who share your bloodline is holding them. Only your close descendants will have access to your shared vault, I trust that won't be a problem."

Dominic pointed at George, "my son is adopted, he doesn't share my bloodline. Neither does my daughter or my wife. How will they have access in my absence?"

"They won't sir, that's the Gringotts policy. Perhaps your son should prioritise the requisition of his wand as soon as possible", Bogrod said with dwindling patience.

"Now that matter is settled, does sir desire to make a deposit into your new account? Items other than currency can be placed inside the vault, but there is limited space.

That's unless sir has a million galleons to store, then I'm sure an exception could be made", the goblin asked snarkily while Dominic pocketed the keys.

Dominic patted his pocket before saying, "since you asked so nicely... I wish to exchange Pound for Galleon, and I want the exchanged Galleon to be directly stored in the Vault."

The goblin's face twisted in repressed anger as if he had just been rudely asked to kiss Dominic's boots. The anxious look on Remus's face implied that was yet again another bad thing to ask. Maybe goblins thought that muggle money was so inferior to their own currency that they found the idea of exchanging it abhorrent. Still, money exchange had to be a service they offered since muggle-borns needed some way to purchase their school equipment.

"We do not conduct muggle money exchanges at this location. You may go to our branch at Carkitt Market for those services.

I'll remind you, that if you do not deposit eighty galleons into your account within the next forty-eight-hour period, this signed agreement will be void. You will have to return both keys or risk being fined.

If there is nothing else. Good day, sir", the goblins' patience seemed to have all dried up as he immediately went back to counting the galleons on his table.

After seeing this discourteous behaviour from Bogrod, Dominic appeared to be entertained as he chuckled quietly to himself. Now that wasn't normal, George's foster father did not laugh at anything. He is one of those people who could watch a stand-up comedian and fully enjoy the performance without revealing so much as a smile. George knew this 'chuckle' had to be part of an act, there was no other explanation.

Dominic went on to say nonchalantly, "so if I understand correctly... if I want to exchange my worthless muggle money into... something around... five million galleons? Then I will have to make my way over to this Carkitt Market you speak of."

The entire bank went completely silent once the words left Dominic's mouth. The clinking of coins and scratching of quills stopped on all of the desks, the crates full of jewels ceased to be pulled. Dogrod looked like he had been frozen in time, his small arms remained still in the midst of calibrating the scales.

Dominic stroked his chin before nodding to himself, "I guess that makes sense. Well then, I better be on my way. Thank you for your time, Bogrod. I'll be getting out of your hair", Dominic said in a similar condescending manner to the way the goblin had been addressing him prior.

Dominic didn't wait for a response to his outrageous claim. Instead, he turned around and started to leave the bank. George and Remus however were left behind in shock at what they had just heard. Five million galleons was a huge amount of money that most wizards and witches could only dream of ever possessing. That figure had well and truly blown the roof off what George had predicted his foster father would invest. Why would Dominic risk handing over so much money to a bank he barely knew anything about? Could the goblin's attitude to Dominic have perhaps encouraged him to go overboard?

No matter the reason, George was feeling over the moon. He was so happy with this unexpected occurrence that he could weep. This abundance in cash was going to make solving future problems much easier provided Dominic followed through with his claim. George looked over at Remus and saw the werewolf was still reeling in shock. Even a tiny fraction of that money would be enough to buy Remus enough wolfsbane potion for the rest of his life, imagining five million gold coins had probably sent his head spinning.

With a big smile, George reached over and tugged on Remus's sleeve, "Mr Lupin, shouldn't we be leaving? My father is getting away."

That seemed to be enough to break Remus out of his dazed state. After he had regained his composure, the two of them caught up to Dominic and pushed the silver doors open. George looked over his shoulder and saw all of the bank tellers looking in their direction, even the head goblin was watching them leave. A smirk leaked onto George's face as he thought about the sheer amount of money Bogrod would have just lost in commission. That careless mistake should serve as a good lesson. Never disrespect the Linwoods.

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