Disclaimer: the same as the last chapters.

Chapter 58

Severus Snape, Harry Potter, and Draco Malfoy stepped inside a fairly large vault. But it was not the size of it that baffled them. They were taken aback by how meticulously the whole place was arranged. Closest to the vault entrance hung an ordinary muggle mirror. Beside it both muggle currencies and magical knuts were arranged in separate boxes and in between them a large ledger book was lodged in. Tentatively Snape picked it up and flipped through. There were thorough notes made of both money taken away and money added. He smirked because Hermione was intelligent enough to use the mirror trick. He turned to find Griphook standing near the doorway hesitant to step further inside.

"Mr. Griphook is everything alright?"

The goblin jerked his head up and stammered, "No, nothing, of course, not, I mean everything is just fine," staking his head, he looked at the bound book on the Headmaster's hand and asked, " What were you asking, Headmaster?"

Snape arched his brow taking into account how uncomfortable the goblin looked in his own establishment. Instead of making the man more uncomfortable, he genuinely wanted to know," What was the nature of Miss Hermione Granger's financial dealings?"

Swallowing hard the Goblin studied all the three wizards now staring back at him with interest. Drumming his fingers over his waistcoat button he explained," Well, you need to understand that Hermione...maybe we should talk about it more privately. Just for now, it is safe to say, Miss Granger wanted total autonomy of her vault. We were allowed to scan through whatever she was bringing to deposit here, but she insisted on an agreement to be drawn where the goblins would give their word, they won't set foot inside this vault."

Snape continued staring at the agitated goblin, whose eyes were roaming all about the confined space, taking in its details as if, for the first time, he had set foot inside it. At length he mentioned," Very well, I will hold you on to that promise."

Harry was not as amazed as the rest of them. On the contrary he was rather quite proud. He declared, "That is typical of Hermione. Arranging everything systematically." The ghost of Knight Homeh, the Fox reappeared startling all of them and said making a grotesque face,, "I feel sorry for you Mr. Potter you had to struggle under her sassiness for so long." The man who defeated Voldemort twice tried to come back with a retort when the ghost turned to Draco and smiled, "I get it, It was truly easy for you to tease them." Winking at the blonde man who was quite amused he vanished.

Snape shuddered when he noticed two large Hogwarts trunks placed one beside the other pushed against the left-hand sidewall. Harry too had noticed them and exclaimed "That's Hermione's truck" and Snape muttered, "and the other the older worn out one belongs to both of your mother's." Right next to them was a small table on which a muggle safe was kept.

Out of curiosity, Griphook walked over and touched it, but the very next moment jumped back yelping. Homeh reappeared once again and warned," You vowed not to poke your nose into Miss's personal affairs."

Having spent so many years training himself as a spy and living half his life as a double agent, Snape's acute power of observation kicked in. "This is a Gringotts vault, but it is systematically arranged by a single person, a person who values the importance of information and who was working as an undercover Horcrux hunter herself…" looking around He continued to watch the other two young men studying the contents around with interest.

Harry had walked up to the small table and was studying the safe for some time. He kept his hands away from it but said, "Sir, this is not an ordinary muggle safe."

Draco, who had been peering into bundles of parchments, too had turned and informed, "These are her school essays. As far as I can see, she had kept each and every one of the homework we had ever written!"Nodding at his godson, Snape walked up to the muggle looking safe and tapped at it with his wand. Surprising both Harry and Griphook, the small black box started vibrating. Exchanging calculated looks with the others in the room, the headmaster tentatively touched it with his hand. Nothing happened for a few seconds. Then as he was about to move his hand away, he felt a small pin juts out of the keyhole of an ordinary-looking lock and pricked his skin. He had every reason to be alarmed by it but right then the lid clicked open and slammed backward.

Looking sideways, the Headmaster noticed Potter studying both his pricked finger and the box with knitted brows. All of them had gathered around and together, they looked inside. There are fake passports, identity cards, driving licenses. And among them, there is a single turquoise bead that could have been a part of a necklace. Inquisitively Snape picked that up with the help of his hovering spell.

Still studying its detailed carvings he realized there were too many things here, and all of them couldn't look through the whole thing quickly enough. Draco exclaimed from the other end of the room, where he was still looking into a metal box,"Fucking, Merlin's crappy pants, What the hell…!" They had all dashed together to be by his side. Homeh from somewhere above their shoulders chuckled, "Told you, she hoards books." Indeed, It was like a miniature library inside the commonplace industrial portable tools metal box, equipped with a chair, a table, and a lantern. Amazed and rather proud, Snape had turned to Griphook who was mumbling under his breath, "marvelous, unbelievably marvelous."

But before he could bring the bank manager's attention back to him, the goblin had fished out an envelope from the depths of his pocket and handed it over to the taller man. Looking up he said,'' You can't stay here much longer, I believe you would wish to shift these to someplace safe and away from the public eye. That envelope contains the papers of Prince Manor. I have it prepared for both Estella and you. If you wish I will arrange for all of this to be shifted to the Manor right now. It is in Whitmore away from London. Quite secluded from both the muggle township nearby and you can be certain non magical folk don't reside within a hundred miles from the property. Even the old pureblood families don't remember much of it. It is truly safe."

Snape offered him a nod. He had been wondering about the goblin's true intention, even now, so he asked the odd question that was troubling him, " You seem to love her a lot. May I ask why?"

The goblin looked down on his shoes and brought out his pocket watch. He removed it from the fob chain and handed it over the Snape. "Open it Headmaster." All three wizards looked inside. The metal flap contained a small photo of a mother and a small baby. Griphook murmured," My young wife Roseline and my two weeks old girl Estella. I lost them when our cabin house was attacked by a hoard of dragons. Sadly, I lived because I was away collecting food supplies from the forest. I have rebuilt the cabin house and I stay there over the weekends just to feel close to home. That is where Lily Evans appeared all of a sudden, asking for help. She was quite wounded and believed Death Eaters were after her. She was right, the moment I helped her cross over the protection wards, a masked man with blonde hair apparated. But my wards knocked him senseless. I had to obliviate him... Hermione in so many ways is just like I imagined my baby girl would be. "

"You see, Headmaster, I might be shrewd and cunning, I might make use of people to achieve my own desires. But I am not as selfish as I pretend to be. I might have forced Lily down a path that many would oppose. But at the end of the day Red Lady had turned into a threat strong enough to cause the Dark Lord to worry. Imagine an unwed young mother alone and afraid for her own life. No, your Lily was not afraid, no so much, because we trained her well. And your Daughter," chuckling," She wouldn't even think twice before making you pay for your own crimes. Lily had a soft heart, but Estella has a terrifying vindictive streak, not a girl to mess with, never desire to be in her book of wrongs!"

When the goblin paused to breath, the former spy had his eyes still trained at him. Griphook knew the only reason Snape was still not inside his head flipping through his racing thoughts was because his knowledge of Legilimency was linked to wizards and witches. So he took a plunge and thought to himself, standing right in front of the Headmaster and his sons of sorts, 'The crimes of my ancestors have taken away too much from me. The least I can do to bring your family together, for I surely can't get back mine, Severus Snape.'