Chapter 867 - Approach Ⅱ (1/2)

A dense fog lays over Diagon Alley, the majority of the shops are closed as many owners had retired for the night to enjoy a spiced pint of ale or a glass of wine, sherry, and even Ogden's Finest Firewhiskey. A few shops are still open with late-night shoppers especially Knockturn Alley, it was alive and bustling despite the late hour for Knockturn Alley truly did come alive at night, unlike its counterpart Diagon Alley.

Despite the dense mist, the rough outline of the towering white building in the distance can still be seen, Gringotts Bank. The air is humid causing the burnished bronze bank doors to glisten. The regular goblin guards in uniforms of scarlet and gold with a feathered cap plumage are missing from the front as it is after-hours. Beyond the bronze doors lay a second set of silver goblin forged doors with the cautionary words to every visitor that entered the domain of the goblins.

Enter, stranger, but take heed

Of what awaits the sin of greed,

For those who take, but do not earn,

Must pay most dearly in their turn.

So, if you seek beneath our floors

A treasure that was never yours,

Of finding more than treasure here.

The large bank's lobby that is typically filled with goblin clerks sitting on high stools behind goblins is empty. Standing in the large lobby are dozens of hags nervously whispering and clutching their brooms in hand. The very elderly, those pregnant or with young children, or not yet fully grown hags were excluded from the dangerous affair.

Most of the hag's present were members of the Society for the Reformation of Hags, but there were a couple who were foreign hags, who had come to aid their cousins and fellow hag sisters. Gathered at the forefront is the Hag council. The middle-aged witch and head of the society Melanctha Nutcombe wore thick robes for protection, (a descendant of Honoria Nutcombe). At her side, stand the elderly hag named Perpetua Miscercorida, (a descendant of Cordelia Misericordia). And lastly, Indira Grymm, a great beauty with flawless skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as dark as ebony. She was an enchanting witch with a luscious body, (and a descendant of Malodora Grymm, the evil Queen and stepmother ironically on which the tale of Snow White is based on).