“Next!” the teller ordered in a reedy voice.


Shaken from a mental tally of prospective individuals with sufficiently corrupt moral standing to conduct the sort of wedding ritual he had in mind, Snape nudged Adoxa gently, guiding her with a hand on the small of her back toward the teller.


Swallowing hard, Adoxa requested, “I would see my vault.”


“Name?” the goblin squeaked, peering at her suspiciously over half-moon spectacles.


“I've my key,” she responded, thrusting it into his line of vision.


“Your name, Miss?” the teller reiterated impatiently.


Snape, in his most imposing tone, stated, “My fiancee recently lost her father. She has come to claim an inheritance. Can you not see that she is distressed?”


The teller trained his beady eyes on Snape and, in a high-pitched voice, replied, “I don't care if You-Know-Who himself killed her da before her eyes. I need a name! That's Gringotts' policy!”


Adoxa clenched her jaw with irritation, hoping that their theory would prove correct. “Flourish!” she spat, more forcefully than she had intended, garnering a distasteful glance from the patron at the next teller window.


The young goblin snatched the key from her palm and opened his ledger, comparing the number engraved on it with his records.


Pocketing the key, he nodded. “This way.”


They followed the goblin into the bowels of Gringotts, travelling down dank stone corridors, their eyes adjusting to flickering torchlight.


Eventually, the goblin leading the way with short, harried strides, they arrived. Removing the key from a pocket in his waistcoat, the teller opened the solid, metal door and stepped back, allowing the pair unfettered access.


Adoxa passed through the doorway first, nearly collapsing to her knees in shock. Snape rushed in after her, stopping abruptly at the sight.


There were books! Everywhere! Stacked haphazardly on the floor, lining shelves along the wall, bursting forth from boxes and paper sacks.


Adoxa turned to Snape, her eyes wide with amazement. “Severus!” she gasped. Look!”


He scanned the room, practised self-control tempering his reaction. “This will do,” he called back to the goblin. “I shall see to it that these volumes are transported accordingly.”


Snape waited while the goblin cleared the vault's Anti-Apparition wards and then drew his wand, waving it about the room with a flourish of which Professor Flitwick himself would approve.


“Evanesco!” he intoned and the books vanished into thin air, leaving only a smoky mist behind.


Adoxa furrowed her brow. “Where did you send them?” she asked quietly.


Snape shot her an angry glance in reply.


Turning on his heels, he quit the vault, confronting the goblin on the way out. “I would see my own holdings as well. Vault number 394.”


“As you wish,” the puzzled goblin replied.


Travelling out from the labyrinth that was Gringotts, the trio arrived at Snape's personal vault.


Snape withdrew a key from his pocket and handed it to the goblin who, in turn, opened the vault. It was indeed small—his holdings meagre compared to those of Flourish's hidden book collection.


Striding into the vault, Snape pulled Adoxa to his side. “Should I fall, remember this vault. What little I have will be yours.”


“It won't come to that.” She smiled confidently, scanning the vault. It was sparsely populated by a few short stacks of books and crates, in addition to a carefully sorted pile of wizard gold.


Scooping up a handful of galleons, Snape pocketed the coins and grabbed Adoxa's hand. “We are finished here,” he stated.


Marching out of the vault, he snatched both keys from the goblin's hand and made haste toward the upper level of Gringotts.


“Sir … wait …” the goblin called, running after them, but Snape and Adoxa ignored him. They suspected that they had found what they sought, but only a careful inspection of the tomes in a more secure location, beyond prying goblin eyes, would reveal the truth.


Adoxa and Snape retraced their steps through the corridors, arriving finally at the main level of Gringotts. Once they were clear of the entrance's powerful wards, they Disapparated.