Gringotts.
A slightly peculiar VIP room.
It's peculiar because, unlike most banks' VIP rooms, there is a circular platform raised by a step in the center of the room.
At this moment, a goblin with a dark complexion was waving his slender arms, urgently and shrilly urging the attendants beside him.
"Tea, biscuits, are they ready? Hurry, hurry, hurry, time is money... oh dear, they're here!"
With a distortion of light, two figures, one tall and one short, appeared on the circular platform.
"Honorable Mr. Dumbledore, welcome to Gringotts, is there anything we can do for you?"
The goblin bowed deeply, his pointed beard almost touching the floor.
As the most powerful wizard of this era and the headmaster of Hogwarts, Dumbledore is undoubtedly one of the wealthiest individuals in the wizarding world in terms of personal wealth. (Although many people suspect that a large portion of his wealth came from the spoils of war after defeating Grindelwald.)
For the goblins, the most direct feeling is that almost every time Dumbledore visits Gringotts, it means another lucrative contract.
"Perhaps you will be disappointed this time, the customer is not me."
Dumbledore placed the old cloth bag in his hand on a metal tray to the side and shrugged.
"Please trouble this Miss Elena Kaslana to exchange some currency so that she can purchase the necessary supplies for school later."
Through the message conveyed by Professor McGonagall and his own observations, Dumbledore did not mention anything about orphan sponsorship again, pointed to Elena, who was still looking around the small round platform, and explained to the goblin.
"Just a currency exchange? You don't plan to take a look at the vault?"
The goblin's voice became more and more rapid and shrill, and Elena noticed that its two slender hands were tightly intertwined, obviously exceptionally tangled.
"No, just an exchange." Dumbledore shook his head with a smile.
After receiving Dumbledore's reply, the goblin's excited face almost collapsed instantly—you should know that he paid a high price to win this opportunity to receive Dumbledore.
He originally thought that he could earn a good commission, just like his previous colleagues.
The goblin carefully looked at the little witch in front of him, who looked about ten years old, and showed a smile that was uglier than crying.
"Um, okay. I'm Garivex... Miss Elena, please follow me over here."
However, as the top salesperson of the only bank in the magical world, Vicks quickly adjusted his mentality.
With an impeccable posture, Vicks bowed and led the two into a tall marble hall.
This was an extraordinarily noisy space, with about a hundred goblins sitting on high stools behind a row of long counters. Some were weighing coins with bronze scales, others were examining gemstones with magnifying glasses, while hastily registering in large ledgers.
There were countless doors in the hall, leading to different places. Many goblins were guiding people in and out of these doors, and Elena's group came out of one of them.
With the appearance of Dumbledore, the noisy sounds in the entire hall gradually disappeared.
Everyone turned their heads in silence, as if they had been magically frozen, staring blankly at the silver-bearded old wizard who was walking through the hall.
Sensing the surrounding gazes, Vicks proudly puffed out his chest and led the two to an empty counter.
Then, under the goblin behind the counter's apprehensive and excited gaze, the goblin Vicks cleared his throat, stepped aside to reveal the silver-haired little loli behind him, and said softly.
"Ahem, buddy, please help this little girl exchange some Galleons..."
"Just exchanging Galleons?"
The goblin behind the counter showed a strange smile, glanced at Vicks, who looked a little embarrassed, suddenly let out a snort, turned his head and shouted sharply at the neighboring counter.
"Guess what kind of big deal the shrewd Garivex bid for this time, helping one of Dumbledore's students exchange currency, hahahaha—"
"Oh my goodness, the future trade prince is indeed different from what we thought."
"You scared me, looking at his expression, I almost thought Vicks had negotiated a 100,000 Galleon deal, hahaha~"
As if someone suddenly pressed the play button, the surrounding goblins showed amused expressions and let out a series of mocking laughter.
The people in the hall also shifted their gazes and resumed their respective affairs. Although some were surprised that Dumbledore would personally bring a new student to Diagon Alley, exchanging currency was indeed not worth paying attention to.
"Are you going to continue processing business or not? If you can't work, then hurry up and resign, don't affect the reputation of Gringotts."
Hearing the surrounding ridicule, Vicks also felt a little embarrassed. His dark face became a little annoyed, and his slender fingers tapped hard on the wooden table.
"Process, process, process... of course I will handle the business that the shrewd Vicks has instructed with care."
"According to the contract signed between Gringotts and human wizards, during their time at school, young wizards have an annual exchange limit of the equivalent of 10,000 Galleons."
The goblin behind the counter shook his head, looking at the small Elena with a playful look, and the corners of his mouth curved.
"May I ask, Miss, how much money do you want to exchange?"
"Huh? Exchange limit?"
Elena, who was looking at the next counter with great interest, turned her head and blinked her eyes in confusion—this point does not seem to have been mentioned in the original work.
"Of course, you don't think that Muggle currency can be exchanged for Galleons without limit, do you?"
The goblin filed its nails and said slowly, with a condescending arrogance.
"How can the Muggle's paper money be compared with the noble Galleons. Galleons can be easily exchanged for all currencies in the Muggle world."
Able to exchange all currencies? A vague thought flashed through Elena's mind in an instant.
She seemed to have forgotten something very important! But, what exactly was it...
Just as the little loli was racking her brains, a series of strange tongue-twisting sounds came from the next counter, attracting her attention.
"Oh, davarish, daknyemozhtweches..."
Several burly male wizards with full beards were also exchanging Galleons. At this time, they seemed to be arguing with each other about how much to exchange.
The extremely characteristic pronunciation, as well as the sturdy Nordic barbarian appearance, made Elena instantly realize where they came from.
"They're actually wizards from Russia? The goblins at Gringotts are quite good at foreign languages."
Elena curiously looked at the goblin at the next counter, who also spoke fluent Russian, and exclaimed.
"Russia? No, they are Soviet wizards, a rather vast wizarding nation. Alright, let's exchange the Galleons as soon as possible and go shopping in Diagon Alley."
Dumbledore patted the silver-haired little loli's head, who was looking around like a curious baby, and said helplessly.
"Wait! Professor Dumbledore, what did you just say?!"
The silver-haired little loli turned her head abruptly and asked Dumbledore, her silver hair fluttering due to the violent movement.
"Let's exchange Galleons quickly and then go buy..."
Dumbledore was startled and repeated subconsciously.
"No, no, the sentence before that!"
Elena shook her head quickly.
"...Soviet wizards?"
Dumbledore's blue eyes were full of confusion, and he answered somewhat uncertainly.
That's it! Not Russia, but the Soviet Union.
A bolt of lightning instantly flashed through the girl's brain, and she instantly realized that she had almost missed the most shocking era in human history.
It is now July 31, 1991, and on December 25 this year, the most shocking event in human history will occur—the dissolution of the Soviet Union!
In the short years that followed, financial capital would plunder all the wealth accumulated by the entire Soviet people over the past sixty-nine years in an extremely brutal manner.
Because of the lack of qualifications to enter the arena, Elena had never paid too much attention to this matter before, but, if it is the magical world...
Bang!
Elena slammed her hands heavily on the wooden table in front of her, making a loud noise, her eyes looking forward with some fire, her voice hoarse and trembling because of being too excited.
"Does Gringotts provide Ruble exchange services?!"
In the face of the coming era, witnessing and participating in it is the right way to open up the world!
Human civilization can never be truly cut off.
————
Welcome everyone to the first volume of A Bite of Hogwarts - Collapse and Beginning.
The first volume, officially begins. All the pieces are in place, as I promised, this will not be another Harry Potter walkthrough game, this is another world.
Finally, please vote for recommendations!