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Riphook stilled in shock as he turned to stare at his newly identified seller. The story of Wests was infamous in Gringotts. How over the years, little by little, the Wests had pulled out their money from their vaults and transferred it into another one overseas. In the history of the British Isles, where their bank had been the singular option with no alternatives, an account like Wests pulling all of their money out had never happened — the only times an account left Gringotts was when they didn't have enough money to maintain their account and pay for Gringotts services, such was never the case for Wests, it was as far as that.
It was a black spot in their history. They were the human's entire banking industry, and even if the human's never allowed them wands, they couldn't take the banking away from goblins — it irked the humans much, but there was nothing they could do about it — ironclad contracts had been inked more than a millennium ago, and even without that, the humans couldn't deny their excellent services.
".. . West, you say."
"Yes, Quinn West."
"I see. Let's proceed to the meeting room."
Riphook looked at the exit he was going to take before he knew who Quinn was — it led to a lower-grade meeting room, that room was, of course, out of the question now, even if Gringotts saw minimal business from Wests, they couldn't treat them like any other random that person that walked in the bank.
Moreover, this was an opportunity. Riphook glanced at Quinn from the corner of his eyes. Walking beside him was a younger member of the West family, and young meant future — if he could somehow form a good relation with this child, that could see Gringotts get more business from Wests in the future, and as a bonus, he would get recognition and praise for making it happen.
'Time to hammer the gold into galleons,' he thought and chose another exit, this one leading to one of Gringotts fancier meeting rooms that they used to entertain their high-profile clientele.
"If you'd wait in here, I'd be back in a bit with our appraiser and Bloodpike," Riphook opened the door to the meeting room.
Quinn smiled at the goblin as Riphook closed the door behind him. He turned back, and instead of the typical meeting room, the room was more of a lounge setting. There was a gilded chandelier illuminating the room with a fully-stocked bar, beautiful paintings on the walls, luxurious furniture — the entire room glimmered with posh in its every corner.
He sat down on a very comfortable sofa and looked at the room. "They sure are going all out," he said with a chuckle in his voice, "and here I thought they would be upset with me. Well, I am bringing them a part of their history and culture."
Quinn took out the velvet coin case with the old galleon. Instead of melting down the old, outdated galleon into a gold brick that would sit in a bank vault, selling it to the goblins for its historical value was much more beneficial.
As he set down the case on the low-table in front of him, the door to the meeting lounge opened.
Quinn looked up at the door and asked with a slightly tilted head, "Who might you be?" The girl, no the young woman, standing by the door wasn't the goblin he was expecting.
"Good morning," the woman stepped forward with a cultivated grace, "my name is Thalice."
"Hello, Thalice. My name is Quinn. It's nice to meet you, but I'm confused as to why you are here."
Thalice smiled, revealing her perfect pearly white behind her rosy lips, "Teller Riphook told me to come here to keep you company while he goes fetch your vault manager."
"How nice of him."
Thalice smiled before pointing at the bar in the room. "Would you like to drink something? The bar is stocked with all kinds of beverages, even some goblin drinks if you'd like to try them. I recommend that you do give them a try — they're a different taste from what we have in our pubs and shelves."
Quinn shook his head with a polite smile, "Thank you for the offer, but I'm not feeling to drink something right now, maybe some other time."
Thalice nodded understandingly, walked over to the sofa set, and sat right next to Quinn, bringing over a pleasant scent of tastefully sprayed perfume with notes of citrus over a woody vanilla along with a floral tone that he couldn't make out.
"So Quinn, tell me about yourself."
"Hmm, something about myself.. . I like magic. Would you like to see some?"
"I would love to, but it wouldn't be wise to draw your wand in the goblin grounds. It goes against both Gringotts' rules and the treaty terms," said the Gringotts employee, her meticulously maintained brows furrowing.
"It's alright," said Quinn, mischief flashing in his eyes, "I don't need my wand to perform this magic; I don't even need to cast a spell. It's a special sort of magic, completely safe and not in violation of any treaty agreements."
".. . If you say so," said Thalia, giving Quinn a silent look, doubtful if such magic existed.
Quinn reached into his pockets and took out a pattern-engraved silver card case gifted to him by Marcus. "All I need are a deck of playing cards," Quinn grinned, swiping the case open to reveal a deck with crimson-and-gold backs.
Thalice watched as the cards moved under the skillful movements of Quinn's digits. "Wow~," she said with fascination, clapping lightly.
"Alright, I'm going to spring the cards from one hand to the other," he pressed the cards slightly, and they shot to his other hand. "I want you to stop me at a point in the middle — any point you desire — and I'll stop for you to pick the top card, understood?"
Thalice nodded.
"Excellent, tell me to stop," he started the spring flourish.
"Stop!"
Quinn stopped and presented the split deck in his lower hand, "Good, now take the card, don't show it to me, but memorize it — suit and all. Done? Perfect, now place it back. Yeah, just like that." He shuffled the cards a bit before hiding the deck between his palms. "Now, do you think I know what your card is — know that I'm not using any magic, and this deck is as standard as it gets."
"No, you wouldn't know what my card is," she said, looking at Quinn with an amused smile.
"Wouldn't be impressed if I pick out a card from the deck and it turns out to be the one you chose?"
"Very."
"And that's what I'm going to do," he removed the deck from his palm and began looking through it, and somewhere in the middle, a smile appeared on his face, and he discreetly pushed a card up with his pinky, making it stand out from the other cards, and pulled out a gasp from his audience.
"I'm assuming this your card."
"Yes! This is my card!" Thalice grabbed Quinn's hand along with the deck, pulling them close to her. "How did you do that?! You must've used some magic; there's no other way," she looked up from the cards and leaned closer, "how did you do it?"
Quinn softly smiled, "A magician never reveals his secret, miss. It's against our sacred code."
"Aww, can you tell me, please~? I won't tell anyone else, I promise."
"My apologies, but I can't. But, how about I interest you in another one?"
Thalice let go of Quinn's hand, "Yes, please," her eyes shining like an excited child.
"Alright, I will again ask of you to choose a card from the deck." Quinn spread the cards in a fan with the cards facing Thalice for her to choose, who picked a card and looked at it before putting the card back as per Quinn's instructions.
"Now, I'm going to spread and shuffle them all over the table, just to make sure that I wasn't cheating in any way." Quinn laid the deck over the table and thoroughly shuffled with his palms. "How about just to be more thorough, you also give it a good shuffle?"
Thalice leaned ahead, her silver necklace dangling from her exposed neck and slightly low-cut top.
"Good, now, pay attention to my hands to ensure that I'm not using any trickery." She nodded, and her eyes remained trained on Quinn's hand that hovered the mat of cards.
Quinn suddenly placed a finger on a card, "I feel it; this is your card. I'm sure of it." He lightly flicked the card's edge to flip it over and reveal an ace of diamonds.
"No, that isn't my card!" Thalice bounced in her spot, clapping her hands. "Haha, you're wrong —" Her voice died when she looked up from the cards to Quinn and saw a queen of hearts loosely hanging off an edge from Quinn's lips.
"Really," he grinned, "a pity that I was wrong. Maybe, I'm not worthy of the beautiful craft of magic."
"How.. . when.. . that's not possible," said Thalice.
"It's magic, my dear; everything's possible," said Quinn, mysteriously before continuing, "You have beautiful eyes, Thalice."
Thalice found herself staring into the pair of stone-grey eyes, and even though they were an uncommon color, there was something else in there that she couldn't look away.
The door to the lounge opened, and whatever it was broke as Thalice realized she was staring unknowingly. She turned to the door and saw three goblins — the third goblin made her eyes widen. She looked back at Quinn, who opened his card case for the cards to stack themselves neatly in a deck before packing themselves into the case.
"Mr. West," said one of the goblins, dressed in clothes better than Riphook, "my name is Bloodpike; I'm your vault manager."
"Nice to meet you, Bloodpike," said Quinn. "I can't believe that in the six years my vault has been here, this is the first time we have met."
"Indeed, your transactions mostly come from order cheques," said Bloodpike, "I have only seen your signatures over hundreds of cheque leaves, but no you."
"Well, better late than never," said Quinn.
As Quinn was talking with Bloodpike, Riphook was communicating wordlessly with Thalice. He looked at her and silently asked a question, but Thalice shook her head with a silent sigh, making Riphook frown.
"Mr. West," said Riphook, "let me introduce to you the appraiser, Bogrod." The appraiser nodded but didn't say anything.
Quinn nodded back, but he had noticed Thalice's change in expression. He glanced at Riphook, and he had to say that the teller was trying hard for this. Quinn had seen the peculiarities in the human Gringotts employee — she was too flirtatious, the subtle touches, how she had sat right beside him when everywhere else was wide empty. And when he had peeked into Thalice's mind, he knew that his guesses were correct — she was hired by Gringotts to flirt with clients to make them more impressionable and agreeable during the deals. Every act of her was to put the advantage to Gringotts' side — even when she suggested a drink, she was trying to get him tipsy using the extremely high-alcohol content in the goblin drinks. But all Thalice got from her probing was that Quinn liked magic.
The three goblins sat opposite Quinn, with Thalice leaving the room. Quinn gave the coin case to Bogrod, who took out a loupe (special magnifying glass) and started to observe the coin with his other hand constantly fiddling with the coin.
The ancient goblin spoke in an old voice, "This is a genuine galleon.. . the spell is old, different from what we use today, but the magic is surely goblin brand and from Gringotts." He looked up at Quinn and nodded, "this coin is indeed a thousand-year-old."
"That's great," said Quinn.
"How much do you want for this, child?" asked Bogrod.
"Fifty thousand galleons," said Quinn.
Bogrod shook his head, "Too much. Gringotts can give you thirty-thousand at most."
"I'll come down to forty-five, but not any lower; how about it?"
Bogrod refused his counter price, "I can move up to thirty-two, but not a knut more."
Quinn went silent and stared at Bogrod. He was dressed in simple clothing, but they were clearly better than even Bloodpike's. The other two goblins hadn't spoken a word as Bogrod negotiated on his own. He was clearly someone very important and in a higher position in Gringotts.
"I won't go below forty," said Quinn, "if I don't get my price here, I can always put the coin to auction, and I'm sure some goblins in the goblin nation would be very happy to take it off my hand."
Bogrod's sharp eyes stared at Quinn. 'Wests,' he thought. Gringotts was one of the biggest banks in the magical world, with many countries where they had a monopoly over the banking sector just like they had in the British Isles, which was their home base — the first Gringotts to ever exist. So it was a disgrace on their reputation when that very branch had lost the biggest client they had and that too without them knowing.
"Okay," he said, "I agree on forty thousand galleons." He wanted to refuse and tell the child that he could try his luck in the auctions, but this was about their history, and the coin should righteously belong with Gringotts and not in some individual's showcase.
"Good," smiled Quinn, reached into his pockets, and took out two more coin cases, "would you like to buy a sickle and knut? I have them right here."
The three goblins froze in their seats, staring at the two coin cases as Quinn opened them and showed an ancient sickle and knut sitting in the boxes.
"I want forty more for each — a total of eighty thousand. No negotiation, take it or leave it," said Quinn. While the Architect's vault was all gold and jewels, there were quite a few sickles and knuts lying around.
".. . We will take it," said Bogrod, sighing.
"Excellent, hundred and twenty thousand galleons, not bad for a day, not bad at all. It was good doing business with Gringotts," said Quinn.
"Thank you for returning this to us," said Bogrod. He wasn't bothered by the money that had exchanged hands — for Gringotts, it was that much of a big deal, but getting the coins was a significant event.
"It was my pleasure. I know the importance of historical artifacts, so I'm glad that these coins have made it back their way to goblin nation."
Bogrod nodded, took the coins in his hands, and silently began observing them. It was the indication that his job was done here.
From there, Bloodpike took over, "The galleons will be deposited to your vaults, Mr. West —"
"Ah, please don't do that," said Quinn, "I will be taking the galleons with me, and now that you have brought it up, I would like to talk about the reason for the meeting with you.
"My vault will be transitioning to be solely under my name."
When his vault had been set up before his first year at Hogwarts, the vault was a joint account between Quinn and Ms. Rosey (because she handled that portion of finances), and she would deposit a set amount every month in Quinn's account as part of his allowance.
But after getting the Architect's wealth, Quinn had decided to stop taking an allowance from his family. Another step to his independence. He had an argument with his grandfather about his decision — Quinn didn't want the money while George wanted to continue the allowance.
Quinn argued the case that he had his royalties and his newly gained wealth; as such, he didn't need an allowance. While George remained adamant that Quinn was still in school and it was his(George's) responsibility to support him till the day Quinn was ready, which according to George, was at least not before Quinn's apprenticeship with Alan D. Baddeley, and if Quinn was thinking right, George would continue to keep him on an allowance if he took more apprenticeships after the first one — which Quinn had given thought to.
After an hour of back-and-forth, the grandson-grandfather came to a mutual decision.
Quinn wouldn't get a monthly allowance, just like Lia, who had also stopped taking an allowance when she graduated and got a job — but Quinn, like his sister, was going to gain a trust fund in his name, which would be regularly added with funds and those regularly added funds would grow through investments handled by a team of West-employed fund managers.
These trust funds were for the two siblings. So if one day they required emergency money, they could look there and take it out without needing to ask anyone, including George. Which, in essence, was still an allowance, but with extra steps. George West, much like his grandchildren, was prideful and stubborn.
"The monthly deposits will be stopping from the month of September. Furthermore, I'm going to impose a twenty thousand galleon limit on the vault, and every time the money in the vault exceeds, I'd like to be informed," said Quinn before taking out an envelope. "These are my instructions that I want to be applied on my vault when it changes ownership on the first of September."
Bloodpike took the envelope and pocketed it. He was going to look at it later. He was a vault manager who handled high-level accounts; this account was nowhere near his usual level, but because it was a West account, it had been assigned to him, and he had taken it. He wondered if this account would ever do something for him, but looking from Quinn's spoken instructions, he was planning to restrict his wealth in Gringotts — just like his family.
"Understood," he said, "I'll make these changes accordingly."
"Thank you," said Quinn and looked at Bogrod. There was another reason he had come here today, and initially, he was going to discuss the other matter with Bloodpike, but seeing that Bogrod was of a much higher authority, he was going to deal with him.
"Mr. Bogrod," said Quinn, "I have another matter I would like to discuss with you."
Bogrod looked up from the coins. "Yes? What is it?" he asked, feeling happy about his gains today.
"I want to talk to you about this," Quinn handed the goblin a slip of paper, "it's only for your eyes."
Bogrod took the slip and unfolded the slip, and there was a single word on it. "Leave us alone," said the old goblin, in a deeper voice for a goblin.
Riphook and Bloodpike stared at Bogrod, stupefied at the sudden order, but followed it nevertheless, leaving him with Quinn.
"What would prompt you to bring this up?" asked Bogrod, his voice somber. He turned the slip and showed Quinn the word he had written.
Horcrux
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Quinn West - MC - Gold, Silver, Bronze.. . I have them all.
Riphook - Goblin Teller - Looking for an opportunity to rise up the ladder.
Bloodpike - Goblin Vault Manager - High-profile banker.
Bogrod - Goblin Higher-Up - About to converse with "Quinn."
Thalice - Gringotts Employee - Got too mesmerized by magic to properly do her job.
FictionOnlyReader - Author - This finally felt like a "me" chapter after such a long time. This was very satisfying to write.
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