When Hydrus woke again, she found herself lying in her own little bed.
'When did I get back?'
Jinhu sat obediently at the head of the bed. Seeing her awake, it "meowed" at her, then jumped to the door and meowed again.
"Are you asking me to open the door?"
Hydrus rolled out of bed.
"Jinhu, can't you open the door yourself?"
Grumbling aside, Hydrus still walked toward the door.
The wounds from Bode's attack had all been healed, leaving only a slight soreness.
'But who saved me?'
Holding this question in her mind, she walked to the door, transforming into Audrey. She pressed a small button hidden in her collar, and her tattered clothes automatically repaired themselves, returning to their original state.
The door was locked. No wonder Jinhu couldn't get out.
Hydrus pushed the door open, only to find that Rick wasn't home.
It was already 6:30 in the evening.
A note was held down on the dining table, on which was written:
"Audrey, Mr. Waterman invited me to a reception. Seeing as you were still asleep, I didn't call you. I might be back late. You'll have to sort out dinner for yourself."
Audrey smiled. Cooking was impossible. How could Audrey, in the late stages of terminal laziness, possibly cook?
When she first arrived at this home, her obedient appearance had all been an act.
Just like a cat meeting its adoptive owner: ten minutes of good behavior, twenty years of bliss.
"Jinhu! Let's go! We're eating out!"
...
...
Inside the Leaky Cauldron.
Wizards drank, played chess, and played cards. It was noisy and the atmosphere was lively.
Hydrus hid in a corner with a steak and a butterbeer.
Jinhu sat squatting on the table. In front of it was a plate of food identical to Hydrus's.
There was also a serving of fried fish fillets that Hydrus had specially ordered for it, which it hadn't even touched. This annoyed Hydrus greatly; it looked like she'd have to take it back for Rick to eat.
Hydrus ate while pondering her future course of action against the Gray family.
She had suffered such a huge loss; she absolutely couldn't just let it go.
But Bode Gray's strength was too great, far beyond what she could currently contend with.
'What should I do?'
The conversation from the next table caught Hydrus's attention.
"Did you hear? The Gray family's transport carriage was robbed again!"
"Which Gray family?"
"The one attached to the Lestranges! The one that used a Confundus Charm to bribe a Ministry official three months ago!"
"Hahaha, that idiotic family. Tell me what happened!"
"Three months ago, the Gray family's four carriages transporting Galleons were said to have been attacked by a dragon, and all the Galleons were lost."
"I know about that. They even tried to claim compensation from the Carriage Station. The Carriage Station is Ministry property, how could they possibly compensate them?"
"Just today, their transport carriage was robbed again. They supposedly lost tens of thousands of Galleons, but this time, the Ministry has to pay up whether it wants to or not."
"Why?"
"Because a few days ago, the Malfoy, Greengrass, Avery, and Flint families' carriages were all robbed!"
"Who did it? Who's that brave?"
"No idea. Anyway, these families put pressure on the Ministry together. The Ministry had no choice but to compensate them. Compensating one is the same as compensating a group. I heard the Gray family also received seventeen thousand Galleons in compensation as a result."
"Does the Ministry have that much money?"
"Of course not. I heard the Ministry pawned off several precious magical items from the Department of Mysteries' collection to Gringotts."
"Minister Bagnold must be furious!"
"You bet! Not only did they pay out money, but it also ruined the Carriage Station's reputation. There probably won't be many big families willing to use carriages for transport anymore!"
Hydrus listened quietly.
First, her robbery attempt today hadn't succeeded, so who robbed the Gray family?
Second, there weren't many wizards capable of robbing a Thestral-drawn carriage. Coincidentally, Bode Gray was one of them. So, was it possible that Bode was the one who robbed those pure-blood families?
'A thief crying "thief," then using the power of the major families to claim back his so-called "losses."'
'This logic is sound.'
But regardless of the truth, Hydrus knew one thing: the Gray family had money again today.
Hearing the wizards at the next table discussing the Gray family, wizards from other tables immediately joined in.
"Let me tell you, this Gray family is very interesting."
"Oh, do you have some news?"
"Of course. My aunt's cousin's older male cousin has some business dealings with the Gray family. I heard that the theft from their Gringotts vault, it was an inside job by their own financial manager!"
"What? How does this family keep having such embarrassing things happen!"
"I know, right? In their early years, they followed the dark wizard Grindelwald. What kind of good people can they be?
Now that financial manager is locked in their family dungeon, being tortured every day. But that person is tough-mouthed, still insisting she didn't steal it!"
"It's a woman?"
"Yes, I think her name is Selanis, or Selenis, or something. Who knows if she's been tortured with the Cruciatus Curse."
"The Gray family wouldn't dare use an Unforgivable Curse, would they?"
"Wouldn't dare? These big families put on one face in public and another in private. How would you know?"
"..."
'An inside job?'
Hydrus's eyes suddenly lit up.
'If the Gray family has determined the vault theft was an inside job, does this mean their vault is currently undefended?'
'This seems like another good opportunity to make a haul!'
A few tens of thousands of Galleons would be the perfect compensation for the Gray family injuring her today.
"Jinhu, take your time eating. I have to take care of something."
Hydrus stood up with a grin, walked into the washroom, swiped a washbasin, and turned to leave the Leaky Cauldron.
"Zzt!"
When she reappeared, she was standing on the mine cart tracks deep underground at Gringotts. She was currently at the "Thief's Downfall" waterfall. The water from this waterfall was said to be magical, capable of washing away all enchantments.
Taking out the washbasin, she collected a large basinful of water.
Why collect water?
'What if everything I heard today was just information planted by Bode?'
'Who knows if this is his trap to lure in an enemy!'
Their family had the ability to place a "Tracking Charm" on Galleons. After everything that had happened, Hydrus didn't dare to just waltz in and steal their Galleons.
Today's encounter made her realize that Bode Gray was a cunning old fox. When playing against him, she couldn't be too cautious!
"Zzt!"
Vault 833. Ah, a familiar place!
'Whoa! This is much more impressive than last time!'
Galleons were piled into a small mountain. A quick glance estimated it was definitely no less than forty thousand.
Of these forty thousand Galleons, seventeen thousand were from the Ministry's compensation, and seven thousand were from this quarter's income. That only added up to twenty-four thousand.
So where did the remaining sixteen thousand come from?
'No need to think. It's most likely from the Malfoys, Greengrasses, and those other big families...'
'What a piece of work, that Bode Gray. What methods!'
'He robbed the big families, scammed the Ministry, and managed to extract himself from it all.'
Because his family was the first to be hit and had become a laughingstock over it, no one would suspect them.
'Impressive, truly impressive!'
'I'm awed, truly awed!'
"Splash!" Hydrus poured the entire basin of water onto the Galleons.
Water splashed everywhere, and a magical glow immediately flared up, like a short-circuiting wire, letting off faint electric sparks.
'It really was cursed!'
Hydrus felt fortunate for her brilliant decision. She had almost fallen for that old bastard Bode's trick again!
Bode Gray's thinking was probably to set a trap, whether a rabbit was caught or not.
It didn't matter if an outsider stole it or if Selenis stole it; casting a tracking charm didn't cost him any effort!
'But now, no matter how cunning you are, you still ended up drinking my foot-washing water!'
'Take it, take it, take it all!!'
'Hahaha, over fifty thousand Galleons! This is enough for me to lay low until the final battle!'
Hydrus looked at the empty vault, which contained nothing but stalactites, and her mood was ecstatic.
She decided to give Rick and Jinhu a feast tonight!
...
...
Bode Gray Apparated to the entrance of the Leaky Cauldron and strode inside. This dump was as noisy as ever. A group of wizards was chatting, another group was playing cards, and a cat had occupied a whole table by itself, elegantly eating steak.
But this had nothing to do with him. Just moments ago, the tracking charms he had placed on the Galleons in the Gringotts vault had all failed!
He had to find out what was going on!
Though in his seventies, he ran with the force of a tiger.
He wore a mask over half of his face. Hydrus's heavy punch was like dark magic; it couldn't be healed!
He grumbled inwardly, 'Why isn't there a Floo Network in Diagon Alley!'
He entered Gringotts. Comparing the key, confirming his identity—even though Bode Gray was dying of anxiety, these procedures had to be followed.
Sitting in the mine cart, he couldn't stop bouncing his legs, drawing an annoyed look from the goblin banker.
But this Mr. Gray was a major client. The goblin didn't dare to be negligent. He heard that Mr. Gray had deposited over forty thousand Galleons in a single day!
His colleague who handled the deposit had been stunned!
The security doors were unlocked one by one. In the past, he had always felt this design gave a strong sense of security, but at this moment, Bode felt, 'Who the f\*ck designed this? It's so tedious!'
'Efficiency! Where is the efficiency?'
The vault door finally opened.
The scene inside the vault was finally revealed.
The goblin banker froze. Bode Gray also froze.
He, a powerful wizard, was now like an elderly Muggle who had lost his job and still had a large family to feed. Tears streamed down his face, and he fell to his knees.
"Who?"
"Who was it?"
"WHO WAS IT?"
Like a man-eating tiger, he leaped up, his eyes turning bloodshot. He frantically searched the vault for magical echoes.
However, Hydrus's movements had been too fast.
Bode also couldn't get here in the first instance. This delay of more than ten minutes meant there were no residual echoes left in the vault.
Last quarter, he had survived the crisis by selling off the Lestrange family's collection at low prices. What about this quarter?
He thought he could use a few tricks to get rich in one go, but...
'Do I have to go out and rob a few more times?'
...
...
Regardless of Bode Gray's anguish, Audrey was currently frolicking in her room.
Galleons covered the entire bed. She was rolling around in them.
"Clink, swish!"
"Hahaha, haha!"
"Swish, swish!"
"Hahahaha, ha!"
Jinhu sat on the windowsill, watching its little mistress's manic episode, and shook its head helplessly.
No longer paying attention to her craziness, the tabby cat looked up at the moon outside the window.
The new moon had just passed. A thin crescent peeked out from behind the dark clouds.
The moon was new.
And so were the people.
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]