Mr. Ollivander was baffled. "You mean to say, you don't have a wand?"
Gael Depp spread his hands. "You know, this world is large. Wizards in some places simply don't use wands, and I was previously stationed at Uagadou in Africa."
"That is true. They certainly don't use wands at Uagadou," Ollivander nodded. "However, wands are items controlled by the Ministry of Magic. If you are not registered with the Ministry, or cannot provide a valid guarantee, I cannot sell a wand to you."
Professor Depp was prepared. He held out his hand, and a document appeared in it.
"This is a certificate from Albus Dumbledore," he said. "He vouches for me, guaranteeing that the wand I am about to purchase will not be used for any illicit purposes."
"Alright, alright," Mr. Ollivander read the words on the document with some difficulty. "This is indeed Professor Dumbledore's handwriting..."
He thought for a moment. "In that case, to prove that what you say is true, please demonstrate some wandless magic for me. I have been curious about it for a long time but have never had the chance to visit Africa."
Audrey blinked her marvelous, curious eyes. 'Professor Depp was stationed in Africa?'
'Who is he kidding!'
'Skin as pale as a vampire, an accent mixing Danish and German... he doesn't look like someone who has spent years on the African savanna at all.'
She was very curious how this old fellow would fool Ollivander.
She watched as Professor Depp clapped his hands together.
"Lumos!"
A dazzling white light burst from his fingertips.
He clapped his hands together again.
"Incendio!"
A blazing fire ignited in his palm.
He clapped his hands once more.
"Expecto Patronum!"
A silvery-white phoenix appeared in the wand shop. It flew around Professor Depp, singing a beautiful song.
"Incomparable!" Ollivander exclaimed. "This skill is truly impressive."
Professor Depp dismissed the magic and asked with a smile, "So, can you sell me a wand now?"
"Of course, of course!"
After some selection and switching, a fourteen-inch wand of aspen, with a phoenix tail feather core, chose him.
Professor Depp was surprised to have been chosen by a phoenix feather core, but it only made him tilt his head slightly.
"That will be forty-three Galleons in total."
A young wizard's first wand was subsidized by the Ministry, which was why it was a cheap 7 Galleons.
After leaving the wand shop, Depp was about to take Audrey away when two wizards walked toward them.
One of them was saying, "Selenis is too heavy-handed. The Sidds family just passively resisted her orders a little. They didn't even voice their dissatisfaction openly. On what grounds were they expelled from the family?"
The other said, "But you have to admit, under her leadership, our family has gotten better year after year."
'Selenis... they're talking about the Gray family!'
Having run into them, she couldn't just miss this. Audrey made a gesture to Professor Depp and followed them.
Depp just smiled and didn't stop her.
He had always believed that a moderate number of enemies, of appropriate strength, was the best catalyst for a wizard's growth.
The first Gray clansman agreed, "That's true. Who would have thought, five years ago, our family was still drowning in massive debt, on the verge of collapsing!"
"Tell me about it! But as long as the traitor Bode and that little beast Hydrus aren't found, we'll never have a day of peace!"
"Yeah, last month the Highland family was massacred, all their valuables plundered. They say the killing method looked a lot like Bode's. To avoid panic, Selenis didn't make it public, only saying it was the work of a passing dark wizard."
"He has no source of income, so he can only resort to robbing his former kinsmen."
"We'd better be careful. No matter what, we have to admit, Bode's strength is formidable."
"You're right, we must be careful. Let's hurry to Gringotts and deposit the money! We'll head straight home after completing the mission."
"Home might not be safe."
"Then what do you suggest?"
"Why don't we pool our money and buy a house, as a safe house for us?"
"..."
Listening to the Grays discuss how to better hide from Bode, Audrey followed them to Gringotts.
Professor Depp smiled and patted her on the shoulder. "How about it? Seeing your enemy's family again, any thoughts?"
Audrey shook her head. "What thoughts could I have? Just eavesdropping on their conversation."
"Well, you're done listening now. If you don't have any thoughts, shall we head back?"
Audrey's eyes darted. "No rush, Professor." She looked through the main doors into Gringotts. The two Grays had already entered the inner area and begun the deposit process. "You paid for my wand just now. I have to pay you back."
She smiled, just like a little fox. "Don't be fooled by my appearance. I still have some savings in my vault."
Depp nodded. As the "young miss" of the Lestrange family, it was normal for the girl to have her own vault.
"Just wait for me a moment. I'll be right back."
"Fine. We'll meet at the Leaky Cauldron afterward."
"Okay!"
...
...
Audrey found her old acquaintance, Puzzi.
"Puzzi, I'm here to make a deposit."
Puzzi the banker looked up, saw the unfamiliar face, and asked in surprise, "Do we know each other?"
"I'm Audrey Astley."
Puzzi certainly remembered the name Audrey Astley, owner of Vault 870, a certified little rich girl.
But the face of the little girl in his memory didn't match the girl before him at all.
Audrey took out the vault key and dangled it. "I signed up for the service that only requires the key for transactions."
"Alright!"
The face not matching was a small issue. She was right; as long as the key was correct, it was fine.
The two got into the cart and sped off toward the deep vaults.
The Thief's Downfall didn't work on Metamorphmagi, so just like before, when Audrey passed through the waterfall, her disguise was completely unaffected.
Passing by the Gray family's Vault 833, Audrey happened to see the two Grays closing their vault door and walking toward their cart.
'Good, they've finished their deposit.'
Arriving at Vault 870, Audrey, just as she had five years ago, asked Puzzi to close the vault door. This, at least, made Puzzi connect the girl before him with the little girl from five years ago.
'Maybe she used a hair dye? Or maybe she's just grown up, as girls change eighteen times between childhood and womanhood?'
While Puzzi was lost in thought, Audrey changed back into Hydrus, activated her house-elf constitution, and with a pop, disappeared from the vault.
The reason she didn't just Apparate in from the outside, as she had before, was because last time it had been evening, and Gringotts was already closed, so the chance of being discovered was small.
But this time, it was during business hours. Apparating rashly onto the cart tracks might mean colliding with a moving cart!
The Grays had already deposited their gold and left.
Before her, Galleons were piled into a small mountain.
For five years, all the profits from the Lestrange family assets had gone to the Grays.
At least 100,000 Galleons had accumulated.
If other pure-blood families hadn't also been eying this juicy piece of Lestrange pie, forcing the Grays to concede many benefits, this amount would have been even larger.
Hydrus didn't need money.
She really didn't need money.
She had only run into the Grays by chance today, which reminded her of all the things the Gray family had done to her.
Adhering to the principle of "no time like the present," since she'd run into them, she might as well fleece them before leaving!
Was this a lot of money?
Converted to pounds at the exchange rate, it was a mere £500,000.
If one considered the purchasing power of Galleons, its value wouldn't exceed one million pounds.
One million pounds? Our Miss Audrey Astley could earn that just by saying a few words and flashing a cute smile. If that didn't work, she'd just say a few more words and smile a few more times. How hard could it be?
'So, really, Gray family... what are you all fighting and dying for?'
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]