"And don't you dare slack off. There's a real battle-axe of a goblin in charge at Gringotts, and you absolutely cannot let her catch you!" The goblin secretary's face was dead serious. After that stern reminder, his expression softened slightly. "Although the work is tough, the pay is decent. If you save diligently, you might be able to afford a place in the city center in a few years."
"Um, if I may ask…"
Draco Malfoy ignored the secretary's empty promises. "Exactly how 'tough' is this 'tough'?"
"You only get weekends off, and you work eight-hour days starting at 8 AM, with a two-hour lunch break until 6 PM." The secretary didn't bother sugarcoating it, figuring they'd find out soon enough. "Spring, winter, and summer holidays are shorter, depending on the situation. They might only be half the length of what those human wizards get… Oh, and there are no year-end bonuses."
With that, the goblin secretary, as if he had something incredibly urgent, turned and left the break room, closing the door firmly behind him.
Bang.
"…"
Draco Malfoy and Tom Riddle stared in silence at the closed iron door. They exchanged a glance, both with displeasure in their eyes.
"They're inhuman!"
Draco Malfoy walked over to one of the empty iron beds and sat down, patting the cold metal. "No wonder they say goblins are greedy; they're treating us like animals!"
"Alright, Malfoy." Although they had changed their identities, the other goblins didn't recognize them anyway, so they kept using their usual names. They only became slightly more reserved around the goblin manager and others who knew their false identities as "Carrick" and "Loken."
Tom Riddle didn't seem bothered by what the goblin secretary had said. "We weren't planning on staying here anyway, so it doesn't matter."
"I know, but I'm still furious! How dare these dwarves treat me like this?" Draco Malfoy said angrily. "Eight hours a day? Only two hours for lunch? Only one day off a week? And they're even cutting our vacation time in half?! They're not treating me like a human being!"
"Yeah, the workload is a bit heavy," Tom Riddle agreed. "But it can't be as bad as you say, right? Surely there are other places with even worse conditions?"
"Absolutely not! There's no place in the wizarding world as outrageous as this!" Draco Malfoy was clearly extremely dissatisfied with Gringotts. "Not even the Muggles treat their workers this badly!"
"There probably is. After all, the world is full of wonders."
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! How could something so awful exist! There's absolutely no way such a place could exist!"
"That's true…"
Seeing that Tom Riddle agreed, Draco Malfoy grew even more enthusiastic. "Once the young master takes over Gringotts, we wizards will be in charge. Then he can give them two days off a week—no! Three days off a week! With rotating shifts, they should be able to manage." After all, the wizarding population wasn't that large.
"And what about year-end bonuses? How can they expect those goblins to work if they're not rewarded? The young master isn't short of money!" Draco Malfoy did have a bit of business sense. Gringotts, as the wizarding world's only bank, how could they be short of money if they controlled it!
"Alright, Malfoy, do you remember what we're here for?" Tom Riddle waved his hand, indicating Malfoy could save his rant for later. It was time to get down to business.
"Right, Scarface, where do you think what we're looking for is?" Draco Malfoy lay back on the iron bed, seemingly finding it uncomfortable, and then sat up again. "How about we sneak into the bank manager's office later?"
Tom Riddle was about to protest, because they would be too easily discovered. But then he thought, they were here to uncover the secrets hidden by the goblins; even if they didn't go now, they'd eventually have to explore those places.
So… let's do it!
Although the impetuous Tom Riddle thought a bit more than his equally impetuous friend Draco Malfoy, that was about it. He was still reckless; he'd just have to make do!
"Alright!"
Draco Malfoy was eager to get started. "Shall we go now, Scarface?"
Tom Riddle pondered for a moment. If the newcomers wandered around during their break, the other goblins might become suspicious. But saying they still had some questions and needed to speak to their superiors was a good excuse. It was perfectly normal to accidentally end up in the bank manager's office because you can't find your superior's room, right? Thinking this through, Tom Riddle gave himself a mental thumbs up for his "cleverness." "Okay! Let's go now!"
...
Click.
Tom Riddle opened the door to the break room, cautiously peeking out to observe the surroundings. It was lunch break, and there weren't many goblins about. Seeing no one around, Tom Riddle quietly slipped out, with Draco Malfoy following closely behind.
"Scarface, why are we sneaking around?" Draco Malfoy frowned slightly. "Wouldn't it be better to just go straight there? This looks like we're doing something wrong."
"…" Of course we are! We're doing something wrong!
Tom Riddle rolled his eyes. "What do you know? If we can avoid being detected, that's always best." Honestly, he'd rather use a Disillusionment Charm to get there, but Gringotts had spells that detected Disillusionment Charms; using one would be suicide.
...
Tables, chairs, carts, decorative potted plants… Luckily, although goblins were short, they liked things big. It was convenient for the two old goblins to hide. But there weren't many goblins around; hiding made it seem like they had some strange hobby.
"Strange, why aren't there any goblins here?" Tom Riddle wondered. "Do all goblins adhere to lunch break rules like this?" He hadn't considered that perhaps the other goblins simply didn't dare break the established rules, including not wandering around outside during lunch break. However, this only applied to ordinary employees; the upper echelons naturally didn't have to follow them, but Gringotts didn't have that many upper echelons either.
Just as Tom Riddle was completely baffled, Draco Malfoy seemed to have discovered something. His eyes widened, and he immediately opened the classically-styled door to a room with intricately carved and gilded patterns, pulling Tom Riddle inside before locking the door behind him.
The room was cluttered with miscellaneous items, resembling a storage room. As for why even the storage rooms had such elaborate doors, it was simply Gringotts' love for gold. All the doors, including those to the toilets, were the same style - nothing surprising.
Feeling bewildered and annoyed, "Malfoy, what are you doing…"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
At that moment, there was a knock on the door, followed by a voice asking, "Who's in there?"
"…"
Okay, now he understood why his good friend had done this.
Tom Riddle felt utterly helpless. What was this? They hadn't found a single thing, and they'd already been discovered?
Bang bang bang! Click…
"Who's in there? Come out now!"
The voice sounded like the secretary from before. His tone was rather displeased as he tried to open the door, but it was locked from the inside.
"What to do, what to do…" Draco Malfoy was getting anxious.
Tom Riddle was equally annoyed by Draco Malfoy's anxiety, but suddenly a thought flashed through his mind, and he immediately feigned surprise. "Malfoy, do you remember what he said about our relationship?"
"What relationship?" Draco Malfoy paused, clearly not understanding.
"Tsk, no time to explain!" Hearing the increasingly urgent knocking outside, Tom Riddle urged, "Never mind that, just shout out twice!"
---