It's just a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

Chapter 201 The Lestrange House Vault

Griphook looked at the man in front of him, and he knew that he belonged to the worst kind of wizard from the appearance alone, so he insisted.

"The vault of the Lestrange family is very special. It is one of the oldest families. If you want to get something from it, it is not enough to have a key. You must prove your identity to us."

Sherlock, dressed as a gloomy wizard, had long been prepared for this, but the coldness on his face not only did not diminish, but became more dissatisfied.

He took out the badge-shaped small metal box from his pocket, and threw it towards Griphook very impolitely.

Griphook reached out to catch the small box, instead of researching it himself, he went to the counter and found a goblin with gold-rimmed glasses.

"Crest of the family, of the Lestranges."

The old goblin who looked extremely old stretched out his hand to take the badge from him, took off the glasses on his face, picked up a pair of monocle from the side, put it on his face and looked carefully at the badge box stand up.

It was not long before the old goblin returned the locket to Griphook.

"It's genuine, but the style is a bit old. I remember that before the Lestrange family was all captured in Azkaban, they seemed to have customized a batch of new badges."

Griphook looked back at Sherlock who was standing three meters away, looking impatiently at the ceiling of the Gringotts hall, and then deliberately lowered his voice and asked.

"Then this one might be someone left behind by the Lestrange family? Does he comply with the rules?"

The old goblin put on his gold-rimmed glasses again, and cast a veiled glance at Sherlock.

"You don't care if he complies with the rules or not. Now the people in that family are imprisoned in Azkaban. Before squatting in the cell, no one of them told us how to deal with the vault. Just follow the rules , as long as it is confirmed that he is from the Lestrange family, even if there is an accident, it has nothing to do with us."

Griphook nodded, took the badge box, and when he was about to go back to find Sherlock, the old goblin suddenly reminded him in a low voice.

"Be careful when taking him there. The premise that it has nothing to do with us is to confirm his identity."

Griphook paused, then returned to Sherlock calmly, and returned the badge box to him, with a professional smile on his face again.

"Ah, I kept you waiting for a long time, sir. There is no problem with your badge. My name is Griphook. I don't know what your name is?"

"John Lestrange."

Sherlock took the box from him, raised his head proudly, and snorted coldly, as if looking at people with his nostrils.

"Mr. Lestrange, I will take you to your family vault."

Griphook dismissed it with a laugh.

The wizards of big families, especially pure blood families, are basically like this, and the more they are like this, the happier the goblins are.

Big families are also their big customers.

For an approachable pure-blood family like the Weasleys, no matter how friendly they are, the goblin will not show a good face to them.

Even if the treasury is overturned and you can't find half a piece of gold, no matter how good your attitude is, can you eat it as a meal?

Griphook led Sherlock towards a door in the hall wall.

He pushed open the tall double doors, behind which was an underground tunnel like a mine.

The surrounding walls were uneven and rough, and after Sherlock and Griphook walked in, the door behind them closed by itself, and the torches on the walls lit up one by one, illuminating the underground tunnel.

Griphook whistled into the depths of the tunnel, and then there was a rumbling sound from far to near, and a small cart drove up from the tunnel by itself.

Sherlock and Griphook sat up together, and the small cart suddenly started, quickly leading them underground.

Along the way, Griphook didn't intend to talk to Sherlock, and there was only the sound of "huhu" around them.

The underground tunnels of Gringotts are intricate. They have already passed no less than 20 forked intersections, but they still keep going down, with no intention of stopping.

Sherlock maintained his indifference on his face, but he had already started to mutter in his heart.

How deep these goblins have dug, going down like this, who knows if they have dug through the earth's crust?
Just as he was mumbling mentally, there was a sound of rushing water coming from the front. He squinted his eyes and raised his head, and suddenly saw a waterfall blocking the tunnel and hanging from the top of the passage.

Anti-thief waterfall!

One of the most important protective measures in the depths of Gringotts, the vaults behind this waterfall are treasures that have existed since the beginning of Gringotts' creation.

And as these extremely important gateways to the treasury, the water that falls down from the Anti-Thief Waterfall naturally cannot be just ordinary water.

Any wizard who wants to enter the deepest vaults must be "washed" by this waterfall.

It will wash away all magical effects and magical camouflage from visitors, and when it finds a problem, it will throw the intruder out of the tunnel, and Gringotts will immediately get news of someone breaking in illegally.

Anti-thief waterfall is equivalent to a super-large curse that is in effect all the time.

According to legend, it can even remove some of the effects of the Unforgivable Curse (Harry used the Imperius Curse to control the goblins, and after passing through this waterfall, the Imperius Curse was lifted).

Seeing the waterfall, the trolley continued to move at an unabated speed, and Griph, who was sitting in front of the trolley, turned around and stared at Sherlock intently.

Sherlock's face was calm, and he didn't show the slightest nervousness about the waterfall.

The small trolley quickly passed through the anti-thief waterfall, and the slightly cold water poured on Sherlock and Griphook. The small trolley was not thrown off the track, and there was no change on Sherlock.

Griphook's eyes on Sherlock gradually relaxed, and his tense fingers also eased.

Sherlock drew out his wand annoyedly, and used a spell to dry his wet robes.

"Is this how Gringotts treats clients?"

"This is a necessary means of protection, sir." Griphook said neither humble nor overbearing, "In order to protect your treasure, we must be extra careful."

"But Gringotts has been broken into." Sherlock sneered.

He was talking about Quirrell breaking into Gringotts when Harry was in his first year.

Griphook didn't make much excuse for this, but just said it loudly.

"But he didn't take anything away, just a thief who returned empty-handed!"

Sherlock just sneered and didn't make a sound.

At that time, Hagrid took away the Philosopher's Stone according to Dumbledore's instructions, otherwise, whether Quirrell returned empty-handed in the end, or two.

After passing the Anti-thief Waterfall, the authenticity of his identity has been greatly improved. At least Griphook is not as suspicious of him now as he was at the beginning.

And the method of fooling the Anti-thief Waterfall is actually very simple.

Sherlock did not use any magical disguise on his body, and the face he was facing now was not conjured by magic or drinking any potion.

It's just a human skin mask I got from a Muggle.

The anti-thief waterfall can wash away the magic, but Sherlock didn't use any magic means.

Anyway, he doesn't need to pretend to be a specific person, as long as it's not his own face, he can do anything else, so the restriction on disguise is very low.

Before planning to come to Gringotts, Sherlock also asked Dumbledore about all the details of Gringotts' internal defenses, especially confirming that this waterfall is ineffective against Muggle things.

After all, even wizards may not be able to see these arrogant goblins, so how could they be able to see those Muggles?
After passing through the waterfall, Griphook took out a battered pouch, took out a metal device from it, and handed it to Sherlock.

"Jingle pad, shake it and it will click, and you'll know right away when to use it."

Not long after his words fell, a deafening roar echoed in the tunnel.

In front of the innermost four or five vaults, a giant beast blocked their way.

That's a giant dragon!
The dragon's scales have become pale and loose due to being confinement underground for so long, its eyes are cloudy pink, and its hind legs are heavily shackled with thick chains that drive deep into the stone. giant pile of ground.

Its huge spiked wings are gathered on both sides of its body, and if it is unfolded, it will fill the entire basement.

The dragon turned its ugly head towards them, let out a roar that made the stones tremble, opened its mouth wide, aimed at Griphook and Sherlock who were driving, and spewed out a burst of fire.

Griphook demonstrated to Sherlock, shaking the metal device called "jingle piece" in his hand.

There was a sound like a small hammer hitting an anvil, and Sherlock did the same, shaking the thing in his hand.

The sound was deadly poison to the dragon, and it backed away with a howl, making way for the tunnel.

After getting close, Sherlock noticed the scars on the face of the old dragon.

It was obviously tamed here forcibly by the goblins, and the so-called "jingle film" was a precursor to punishing it. Looking at its old appearance, I don't know how long it has been imprisoned here.

Sherlock was not Hagrid, and he didn't have much sympathy for these big guys. He just stared at the old dragon for a while, and then turned his attention back to his eyes.

They had come to the door of the vault of the Lestrange house.

"Give me the key, sir," said Griphook.

Sherlock took the brass key out of a pocket alone, and handed it to Griphook.

There is no keyhole on the door of the vault, and it looks like the key is superfluous.

But pull ring didn't intend to insert the key into any secret hole, but stretched out the hand holding the key, and gently touched the door.

In an instant, the door of the vault disappeared, and the hole could be seen filled from floor to ceiling with gold coins and goblets, silver armor, and the furs of various exotic animals with spines or wings, packed in vases potion, and a skull still wearing its crown.

Sherlock, whose body tensed up until Griphook took the key, finally breathed a sigh of relief at this moment.

His key came from Rabastan, who died 17 years ago. Who knows if the Lestrange family later discovered the disappearance of his family badge and treasure house key.

So the only risky bet on this trip to Gringotts was just now.

Sherlock was betting that Bella and Rodolphus did not know where Rabastan hid the key, and did not change the way to open the treasure room afterwards.

And now, he was obviously betting right.

This is also his good luck, because if according to the original plot, after Voldemort made a comeback and took control of the Ministry of Magic, Bella did change the way to open the treasure house and discard the family key.

Looking at the magnificent treasure house in front of him, Sherlock didn't think about it so much, and walked in directly.

Griphook bowed and stood aside, respecting the client's privacy, and had no intention of going in with Sherlock.

The Lestrange house's vault is huge, at least five times the size of Sherlock's own Gringotts vault, enough to host a football match in it.

Looking around, there are resplendent and resplendent everywhere. The ceiling of the treasure house is equipped with lighting lamps, and the stream of light reflected by those priceless treasures makes people feel dizzy for a while.

This is the accumulation of the oldest pure-blood family!
With the property stored in this vault, it is no exaggeration to say that you can buy half of Diagon Alley!
But Sherlock was not fascinated by the wealth enough to make people lose their minds. When he walked half a meter in front of the treasure pile that could be called a golden mountain, he stopped steadily.

When he approached, he could clearly feel a burst of burning heat.

There are also special protections on these treasures!
Except for the blood of the real Lestrange family, any outsider who comes into contact with any of these treasures will trigger the copying curse and the fire curse on it.

The Blazing Curse doesn't need much explanation, but the Copying Curse will instantly create countless identical but worthless copies of the original, overwhelming the thieves.

Those replicas will also carry the effects of the Duplication Curse and the Fire Curse. With just one touch, these priceless treasures will turn into countless hot "branding irons", repeating the spell until the thief is burned to death!
Of course, Gringotts will not spread these things to the outside world, and the owners of those vaults will not disclose the protection measures to the outside world.

But Albus Dumbledore, who also came from an ancient wizard family, was well-informed and knowledgeable, and naturally knew the various protection measures here, and Sherlock had done enough homework from him before coming here.

Gringotts claims that no one can steal anything from it.

In the end, this is nothing more than a big talk. A wizard with mediocre abilities really can't do it, but for people like Dumbledore and Riddle, sneaking into Gringotts to steal things is not much more troublesome than drinking water and eating.

Even if Voldemort has lost all his power and possessed Quirrell, he can come and go here freely.

This is also the reason why Sherlock wanted to confess to Dumbledore about the discovery of the Horcrux. If he alone did not have prior knowledge of these internal measures, then even with the vault key, he would not be able to get to this point.

Concentrating his thoughts, Sherlock didn't stop at the treasures, but quickly browsed the gold mountains.

He doesn't yet know what the Horcrux is hidden in this vault, but Sherlock has no worries about how to find it.

Not long after, he was on a shelf near the ceiling and saw a cup that was reflecting golden light under the light!
The little gold cup has two handles, and a vivid little badger is engraved on the body of the cup looking back from the grass.

And at the same time when he was in contact with the golden cup, he felt a slight burning sensation in his left arm!

(End of this chapter)