In the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's office.
Quirrell's face was deathly pale as he shakily drank down a large jar of unicorn blood in one gulp.
He exhaled a turbid breath, his whole body unable to stop trembling. After a moment, a bit of color returned to his face.
"Knock, knock, knock."
The door was knocked on, which surprised Quirrell greatly. Wasn't it time for the Slytherin versus Hufflepuff match right now?
Who would come looking for him at this hour?
"Open the door," a sharp voice sounded from the back of his head. "That's my little water snake."
Quirrell hurriedly got up to open the door.
Audrey stood at the doorway, her face ashen.
She walked straight into the room, not giving Quirrell a good look at all, and said flatly: "Let my father speak with me."
"Yes, young mistress."
Quirrell quickly unwrapped the scarf around his head, releasing a foul stench that hit her in the face, revealing Voldemort's grotesque face.
"Little water snake, what's wrong with you?"
"Someone made me angry."
"Who? Who dares to provoke my little water snake?"
Quirrell felt a shiver in his heart.
The last time the Dark Lord wanted to punish the Gray family, it had completely hollowed out his body.
He wouldn't have to go and wipe out another entire family now, would he?
His frail little frame couldn't handle it!
"Gringotts."
Voldemort was momentarily speechless. Even at his peak, he only had some influence over Gringotts.
After all, all his followers' gold coins were stored in Gringotts' underground vaults, and even he had his concerns.
"What exactly did those goblins do to make my daughter so angry?"
"What they did to me isn't important," Audrey said flatly. "What's important is that Gringotts is squandering the pure-blood families' wealth. If we don't stop it, when you return, you might be facing a bunch of beggar followers."
Voldemort asked suspiciously: "What exactly is going on?"
Audrey held up a finger. "Make a deal: I'll tell you the whole story, and you give me an exemption from Defense Against the Dark Arts classes."
Even if it was just for a month, that would be great—at least she could rest two more half-days a week.
"Fine, I agree,"
Voldemort said eagerly. He had only courted the pure-blood families because they had money and power. Without Galleons, those dim-witted fools might not even be as useful as half-blood wizards—like himself, like Snape, even Dumbledore was a half-blood.
"Tell me, what exactly happened."
"Gringotts borrowed money from the pure-blood families, nearly emptying their reserves, and took that money to invest in Ukraine."
Voldemort asked puzzled: "Invest? Those goblins are very shrewd; if it's an investment, it's unlikely to go wrong. How can you say they're squandering wealth?"
"Because Ukraine's economy collapsed. Their currency depreciated by 70% in just a few months, meaning those assets are only worth 30% now. If we don't do something, the pure-blood families will lose everything!"
"Impossible, how could goblins make such an irrational move?"
Audrey bluffed: "Nothing's impossible. The Soviet Union dissolved, Ukraine inherited a large part of the Soviet legacy, and had American aid. The situation looked great at the time; no one expected it to collapse so quickly."
Audrey looked at the face growing on the back of Quirrell's head and continued: "But the Ukrainian government just messed up a perfectly good situation. Even as shrewd as goblins are, they couldn't have imagined someone could be that stupid, right?"
Voldemort was furious. In his view, the pure-blood families' money was his money—from that perspective, Audrey truly was his own daughter.
Voldemort roared: "Idiots, are those Muggles all idiots?"
Audrey knew Voldemort had no knowledge of economics. Discussing Gringotts and the Ukrainian situation with him, guiding questions were far less effective than just stating the answer outright:
"Now, the only way is to have those pure-blood families go to Gringotts to terminate the agreements and demand early repayment to stop the losses. At this critical juncture, they shouldn't care about interest anymore—get back whatever they can, or they'll really end up with nothing!"
After Audrey finished speaking, she fanned her hand in front of her nose and turned to leave decisively, as if staying in the room even one second longer would stink her to death.
Audrey's disdain hurt Voldemort deeply. He said coldly:
"Quirrell, you should really wash up properly."
Facing his master's jab, Quirrell could only agree helplessly.
But why am I so smelly? Don't you have any idea, Master?
"Master, do you really want to contact those pure-blood families? Though I don't know how Gringotts offended the young mistress, I feel like she just wants to use you to teach Gringotts a lesson."
"Hmph, fool! Does her motive matter now? The fact that Gringotts is losing money is probably true. If we do nothing, when I recover later, am I really supposed to lead a bunch of beggars against Dumbledore?"
...
...
Audrey lay on the bed, sipping a mouthful of wine, squinting her eyes in contentment.
Edmond's image appeared on the other end of the two-way mirror.
"Audrey, contacting me at this time—did something happen?"
"Edmond, I need you to do two things right now."
"Go ahead."
"First, have Vinda and the others contact their acquaintances in Europe, make them pressure Gringotts for early repayment, on the grounds of worrying that Gringotts won't be able to pay up when due;
Second, find some Squibs working in the Muggle world's financial industry. I want to build our own wizard bank on Gringotts' bones!"
Edmond said in surprise: "This deviates quite a bit from your original plan, doesn't it?"
Audrey snorted coldly: "Gringotts dared to threaten me without knowing their place."
Alright, something that could make their lazy boss take initiative— she must be truly angry.
Speaking of which, the two times she got riled up and mobilized were both because of Gringotts' goblins. If they take down Gringotts, without external stimulation, would Audrey go back to being a salted fish like before?
Though she's still pretty salty now, after all, the busy ones are all them.
"Right, Edmond, contact that Rita Skeeter. I need her to write an article about Gringotts' suspected investment failure."
"Got it."
"Not just the Daily Prophet, contact other major newspapers too... Oh, and don't overlook the small ones, like The Quibbler and such. I'm sure they'd be thrilled to get the insider info we provide."
"The big newspapers probably won't publish unverified news."
Audrey said indifferently: "Give them money, give them enough money! If they still won't agree, buy the newspaper!"
...
...
April 11, 1992.
Gringotts' darkest day.
On this day, wizards swarmed into Gringotts in droves, demanding repayment.
The newspapers were flooded with news; everyone knew Gringotts' investment had failed, with losses over 70%!
Even if it weren't true, this overwhelming media onslaught was enough to convince wizards—Gringotts was done for.
At first, Gringotts refused early repayment on the grounds that "contracts are sacred and inviolable." They firmly believed that as long as they dragged it to May, when Audrey repaid with principal and interest, they could come back to life.
But as Rita Skeeter's editorial in the Daily Prophet, "Gringotts Shamelessly Tears Up Agreements, Demands Borrowers Repay Early and Pay Full Interest," hit the headlines,
Gringotts' goblins were completely stunned.
...
Their doors were torn down by angry wizards and thrown to the ground, the inscribed words now seeming so ironic!
Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed,
For those who take, but do not earn,
(Must pay most dearly in their turn, a massive footprint stamped on this line)
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there.
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]