Homecoming from Hogwarts

The surface of the thick mithril badge is made of gold melted to form the pattern of the Slytherin family crest, but the core of the emblem, the winding 'S' with a snake trunk, is embellished with pure emeralds. In addition, the side outline of the crest is engraved with fairy-style patterns.

The moment he saw the family emblem, the old goblin Bogrod's eyes widened. It was obvious that he saw something that Amosta did not recognize.

"No doubt, no doubt--"

Bogrod took the family emblem handed to him by Amosta with both hands. His slender fingers first touched the patterns on the side. His solemn eyes fell on those patterns through his reading glasses, and he muttered in shock.

"This thing is obviously made by a goblin. It is very old and has a long history. If I remember correctly, Mr. Brian, the goblin clan to which these patterns belonged has long disappeared in the long river of history. Moreover, this emblem obviously belongs to... Where did you get this, Mr. Brian?"

"Shouldn't this question fall into the category of things that must be answered?"

Amosta asked calmly,

"Well, is it what I thought it was?"

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Brain, I can't answer you right away—"

Bogrod's eyes flickered, and after hesitating for a moment, he bowed to Amosta.
"The history of this thing is beyond my imagination. I have to look up some information, which will take some time."

"It doesn't matter,"

Amosta raised his hand to indicate that he didn't mind.
"I can wait here, but please hurry up. Besides, I don't want too many people to see it."

"Of course, I'll keep it a secret for you."

After saying that, the old goblin asked a young goblin to lead Amosta and Amelia to the reception room to rest, while he himself walked hurriedly into the area not open to the public with a vigorous pace.

Amosta did not touch the sherry brought by the goblins, but looked with interest at the introduction of the heads of the British Gringotts branch in the past hanging on the wall of the reception room. Turning around, he saw Amelia sitting on the sofa with a restrained expression, so he smiled slightly and said,

"The emblem is the Slytherin family crest."

"Slytherin?"

A sense of being trusted surged in Amelia's heart. She opened her eyes wide and asked,

"Is it Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts?"

"That's right--
"Amosta nodded slightly.
"Perhaps you have heard about the uproar over the Chamber of Secrets at Hogwarts in the past two years?"

"You captured a basilisk in that Chamber of Secrets, supposedly left behind by Salazar Slytherin himself!"

Amelia said quickly,
"I've read reports that this is a school legend at Hogwarts. Slytherin left the Chamber of Secrets in order to... uh, eliminate the young wizards of Muggle descent in the school?"

"In fact, the truth is different from this, but that's another story,"

Amosta did not elaborate.
"At that time, I handed the basilisk over to the Ministry of Magic, but they couldn't deal with it, so they handed it over to Newt Scamander. When I went to New York this time, Newt told me that he found this badge when he was treating the basilisk's bad teeth and he thought I might be able to use it."

The story of Salazar Slytherin leaving a family crest in the fangs of his 'pet', which fell into the hands of Amos Tower Blaine after a thousand years, sounds really legendary!
Of course, this matter would not be so simple, but Amelia had no intention of prying into all of Amosta's secrets, and after hearing this, she was already satisfied.

In fact, the waiting time was not as long as Amostas had imagined. Half an hour later, Bogrod walked into the reception room with Amostas's badge and a large dusty booklet.

"How is the result?"

There was a hint of expectation in Amosta's tone.

"Is this badge the key to the Slytherin family's vault?" As Amosta and Amelia watched, the old goblin Bogrod slowly shook his head.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Brian. According to records, Salazar Slytherin had used up all the wealth in the Slytherin family vault a thousand years ago to support the operation of Hogwarts. That vault has been recovered by us goblins and handed over to other wizards for use, and this badge--"

Bogrod let the large book in his hand float in front of Amostas. Under the protection of magic, the well-preserved book flipped through several pages. Finally, a pattern on the paper that was the same as the badge caught Amostas' eyes.

"So to say?"

Amosta's eyes narrowed.

"You guessed correctly. This badge is indeed the key to an ancient vault."

Bogrod nodded carefully.
"Not the Slytherin family vault, Mr. Blaine, but the vault of Salazar Slytherin himself!"

Salazar Slytherin's personal vault
Even Amosta's heart skipped a beat after hearing this.

"So--"

Amosta's expression became solemn.

"Am I, the holder of this family crest, qualified to open the vault of Salazar Slytherin himself?"

Bogrod nodded, and stood on tiptoe, extending a long finger to point at a series of patterns below the family crest on the booklet. These patterns were in the same style as the patterns on the side outline of the family crest, but the specific patterns were not the same.
"Look, Mr. Blaine--"

Bogrod's fingertips passed over the patterns.
"Generally speaking, after the owner of the vault passes away, the ownership of the vault first belongs to the heirs designated in the wizard's will. If the wizard does not leave a will, the vault will be handed over to the descendants of his family. If there are none, it will belong to the Ministry of Magic, but there are some special cases."

"For example?"

"For example, this private vault that has been sealed for a thousand years belongs to Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts."

Bogrod said respectfully,

"The Slytherin family vault will automatically belong to the next heir of the Slytherin family after the death of Salazar Slytherin himself.

His own vault has an agreement with Gringotts. Only when someone comes to Gringotts with the token in hand, he will automatically become the owner of the vault. Before that, neither we goblins nor the Ministry of Magic have the right to open the vault. So, no matter what Salazar Slytherin left in his vault, those things... should still be there, because according to records, no one has ever brought this family emblem to Gringotts in the past thousand years. "

Staring at the badge in his hand, Amosta fell into a long silence.

It has to be said that compared to the way Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff left messages for themselves, Slytherin's method was indeed safe, but it seemed nothing new.

This seems to be different from the style of Salazar Slytherin himself. This great founder is described in various documents as a proud and talented pure-blood wizard who is unwilling to be inferior to others.

But not much thought was put into the way the revelation was left to Amosta.

Moreover, Amosta had met three of the four founders of Hogwarts so far, but the founder of the school he came from had been reluctant to show up.

Even after thousands of years, Amosta could vaguely feel the rejection of himself by the legend standing at the top of time?

I'm afraid this is not just because he is of pure Muggle descent and does not conform to Salazar Slytherin's aesthetics, or in other words, in Salazar Slytherin's eyes, he may not even be as good as Muggle-born wizards.

Because the four giants knew that they came from outer space, and Salazar Slytherin might have the idea of ​​sending people from outside the realm to enter this world in an attempt to spy on the secrets of magic.

(End of this chapter)