A Bite of Hogwarts - chapter 39

Diagon Alley.

6 am London time.

The first rays of the morning sun penetrated through the thin fog, creating a scene of mottled light and shadow on the stone street.

It would be another one or two hours until the empty street began to slowly liven up.

Behind the closed bronze doors of Gringotts, an arduous negotiation that had lasted the entire night had just finished.

“Lady Kaslana, perhaps you could think about it again. If some of the funds for Hogwarts are kept at Gringotts, we could even make a concession on the commission.”

A wrinkled goblin elder rubbed his palms as he fawningly smiled, hoping to change Alina’s mind.

At this time, Alina was standing together with Gally Wix and Andy Serkis in front of a large mountain of Galleons and earnestly counting them. The counting magic of goblins made the process much easier than had initially been imagined.

“There’s no need to say anymore. The entirety of the loan must be kept at Hogwarts. This is one of the foundations of the entire contract.”

Alina firmly refused, too lazy to even turn her head as she continued to count the gold with the two goblins.

While this Hogwarts mortgage loan seemed to have all kinds of clauses and bylaws, if one tossed aside all the flowery language, there were only four core ideas.

[The entirety of the funds loaned must be delivered into the custody of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.]

[The currency in which the loan is issued and repaid in is the Muggle currency of the ruble.]

[At the time of the loan’s disbursement, Gringotts must do its utmost to convert the rubles to Galleons. (According to the agreement, any insufficiency can be compensated with US dollars according to the current exchange rate)]

[The contents of this contract are hidden from Muggles. Wizards should use a revealing charm to read it.]

Compared to those countless vile people of the business world in her last life, Alina thought that the goblins were rather simple and unsophisticated.

Other than a small discrepancy when it came to adding up the interest and the commissions, and some word games attempted with the flowery language, there were not too many malicious clauses or traps deliberately placed in the contract.

For this reason, Alina had resorted to particularly simple and crude methods, using more than half of what she remembered about mortgage loans and contracts from her experiences in the business world in her last life.

Another effect of this was that the halo of mystery and wisdom that surrounded Dumbledore for these goblins became even more dazzling.

“Our apologies. As time was short, we were only able to gather four hundred million Galleons and one hundred and fifty million US dollars. For the rest, we had to use British pounds, for a total of seven hundred thirty million…”

Gally Wix wiped the sweat on his forehead, glancing at Alina as he cautiously explained. His hands were trembling as he spoke.

“Mm, I understand. There’s no need to keep reading. Once we get to Hogwarts, there will naturally be someone there to review your numbers.”

Alina waved her hand and cut off Gally Wix, then glanced behind her.

One hundred uniformed goblins were waiting, each of them holding a small bag. She knew that these were all bags on which the Undetectable Extension Charm had been applied.

“Right, one last, tiny question. Does Gringotts have a shareholding system?”

Alina blinked her eyes and asked the elder goblin next to her a strange question.

“Of course! Goblins aren’t some primitive, lower-class species. We only believe in contracts and Galleons,” the elder goblin swiftly replied.

“So that’s how it is. I understand.”

Alina nodded and said no more. Glancing at the dazzling amount of wealth in front of her, she took in a deep breath.

“Let’s start the delivery now. Destination: Hogwarts Castle’s entrance gate.”

…

Hogwarts.

The skies of the Scottish highlands brightened somewhat later, and there was still a hazy blue hue to it.

Hu~ha~

Wearing blue pajamas, Dumbledore suddenly bolted upright in his bed, panting for breath. For some reason, he had suddenly felt strange stuffiness in his chest.

Turning his head to the wall clock, Dumbledore saw that it wasn’t even six-thirty yet.

“I must be getting old…I’m not like I was in my youth.”

Dumbledore joked to himself. If Madam Pomfrey down in the hospital wing learned of what he was saying, she would have definitely grumbled that he was getting worried over nothing.

Tock, tock, tock.

A rhythmic tapping came from his window.

Dumbledore looked over and saw a small fist-sized owl standing at the window and beating it with his wings. A small letter had been tied to its leg.

Wasn’t this Alina’s owl called Wicca? Why did it seem so anxious? Had something happened?

The old man’s face froze as he got up and opened the window. Once the small owl was inside, he took the letter from its leg.

Dumbledore walked to his bed, put on his spectacles, and began to softly read the letter out loud.

[To the honored, kind, mighty, benevolent, never-angry…Professor Dumbledore:

When you read this letter, your cute Alina will have already arrived at the entrance gates to Hogwarts.

With me are three hundred fifty goblins from Gringotts and a fortune worth around seven hundred fifty million galleons.

Given how much there is, I advise you to bring all the house-elves in the school with you to take stock of it.

Of course, you can rest at ease. This money is entirely legal, and Hogwarts has complete control over how it is spent. No matter what, this money must be taken into Hogwarts!

These funds come from a mortgage loan I took from Gringotts. The collateral for this loan is the property deed for the land owned by Salazar Slytherin’s family, which is also the deed for Hogwarts Castle.

When you read, you absolutely must not be angry. This will be bad for your body and will not solve anything. I can explain it.

——Your loyal and cute Alina Kaslana.]

Beneath the letter was the loan contract signed between Gringotts and Alina, a dazzling magic seal stamped upon it.

Guh!

Dumbledore immediately felt his vision go dark, a twisting sensation coming from his stomach. It was like someone had cast the Torture Curse on him.

He finally realized what that ill foreboding that had harried him the entire day yesterday had been. He should have never let such a terrifying girl like Alina get in contact with the avaricious goblins of Gringotts.

Gugugu~

As if sensing that something was wrong with Dumbledore, Food Reserve curiously raised its head and beat its wings at Dumbledore, pushing its small against his fingers.

Right, now was not the time to stand in a daze. There was still a terrifying amount of wealth piled up outside the school gates.

Dumbledore came back to his senses and pointed his wand at his throat—[Sonorus]

“All house-elves of Hogwarts, please come with me and gather at the castle gates.”

A flame flashed in the room, and Dumbledore looked over at the Phoenix and nodded. “Fawkes, if you would please.”

…

In the vacant land outside the Hogwarts gates, a small mountain of Galleons had begun to form. At the base of the golden mountain were several hundred bricks made of British pound notes or US dollars.

“So, how much longer do we have to wait? Why hasn’t Mister Dumbledore come out yet?”

Andy Serkis anxiously pinched his fingers as he stared at the closed gates and shrilly said.

Ever since they had left Gringotts, each passing second was as torturous as a great calamity for him and all the other goblins. Their faces were taut with tension, and all of them wished that Dumbledore would come out soon.

“Relax, it will be soon. After all, Professor Dumbledore still needs to gather…”

Alina attempted to soothe the panicked goblins as much as she could while mentally reciting to herself, “It’s just movie props behind me, movie props!”

Pop.

There was a crisp crack in the air; a short figure appeared on the castle drawbridge.

Even more, pops could be heard, like firecrackers going off.

One house-elf after another appeared in front of the Hogwarts entrance gates.

“Alina Kaslana!”

In a flash of dazzling flame, Dumbledore appeared, dressed in dark blue pajamas decorated with stars and moons.

Dumbledore’s azure eyes were seething with anger, and on his left hand, a silver vow chain was flashing.

“Ah, Professor Dumbledore, you’re here.”

Upon seeing the silver-bearded figure, Alina relaxed. Showing the back of her left hand to Dumbledore, she weakly waved it.

The moment Dumbledore appeared, the energy that had supported her until now had begun to rapidly fade away.

“I completed one of my vows early. This is Hogwarts’ past, present, and future.”

Alina pointed behind her and tiredly smiled. “Let’s bring it into the castle, and then you can listen to my explanation…”

Thump.

Before the girl could finish, intense fatigue consumed her mind, her vision went dark, and the small body swayed and dropped to the ground.

“Alina?!”

“Miss Kaslana?!”

Dumbledore’s face paled, and he swung the wand in his right hand, summoning the unconscious girl to his chest, where he cautiously examined her.

“Whew~ Fortunately, she’s just too tired and has fallen asleep.”

The old man sighed in relief. He pensively glanced at the girl’s clean left hand for a moment before ordering a nearby house-elf, “Take Alina back to the dorms to rest.”

As for the current situation…

Dumbledore looked up at the small mountain of Galleons, the corners of his eyes subtly twitching.

“Ahem, it seems that the deal went smoothly.”

Dumbledore lightly coughed. He took the contract that Alina had sent and quickly scanned over it, then his face turned serious, and he spoke in a tone that revealed no surprise.

“So then, good goblins, let’s begin to take stock. It seems that this will not be an easy job.”

Regardless of what had happened, there was no problem with first transporting these Galleons into Hogwarts.