Flamel Castle.
The underground secret chamber.
Krell, Old Beckman, Madam Flamel, Emily, and a large group of wizards dressed in black combat gear were all standing there with solemn faces.
And at their center, Link, clad in a long black robe, was staring at the huge blueprint of Gringotts' structure in front of him.
Of course, this wasn't the original architectural plan.
The very first design drawings of Gringotts had long since been destroyed by the goblins, and even the designers who had drawn them back then had already turned to dust with the passage of time.
The drawing in front of them now was something the hunters under Old Barty had pieced together during the past few months, sneaking into the underground vaults of Gringotts again and again under the pretense of making withdrawals.
A blueprint reconstructed this way naturally wouldn't contain anything like a "goblin secret treasure vault," but at the very least, all the structures visible on the surface had been included.
And for now, that was enough.
Tapping lightly a few times on the Lestrange vault, which had already been marked red on the blueprint, Link slowly curled his lips into a smile.
In the past few days, he had stayed in Flamel Castle, spending an extremely pleasant time with Madam Flamel and the others.
Doing so was quite necessary, because Link expected that it would become very rare for the family to enjoy such peaceful and happy times together again.
And another reason for doing this was that Link had decided to use a relatively gentle method to infiltrate Gringotts.
This would reduce a great deal of trouble and losses.
After all, Gringotts could be said to be the economic core of Europe. Its existence was extremely important.
And the wizarding world was not the Muggle world.
If one tried to attack it head-on by copying Muggle methods of robbing a bank, then Link estimated that within ten minutes Gringotts could gather more than a hundred goblins whose combat strength would not be inferior to an average adult wizard.
At the same time, the Aurors and Hit Wizards from the Ministry of Magic would receive the report within five minutes, and within fifteen minutes at most they would have assembled and arrived at Gringotts via the Floo Network or Apparition.
This would undoubtedly raise the difficulty of infiltrating Gringotts to a hellish level.
Therefore, using normal withdrawal procedures to get people into the underground first had become the best infiltration method.
As long as they killed and silenced people quickly enough, this would at least buy them an extra twenty minutes.
And while Link was enjoying holiday time with his family, Krell and Old Beckman had also been putting all their effort into making this plan work.
One had to know that, in order to reduce risk, Gringotts did limit the number of people allowed into the underground vaults at any given time.
Especially now, during the Christmas holidays.
The vault withdrawal slots for each day were almost completely full, and one had to book them in advance.
This made Krell and Old Beckman's job extremely difficult.
Because they not only needed to reserve spots for the same day and same time slot, but those spots also had to be applied for using fake identities.
Luckily, what the Flamel family had the least shortage of right now was Galleons.
With Krell secretly applying the power of money, they had finally managed to buy out all of today's withdrawal slots for the underground vaults.
Ding!
A gold coin flicked from Link's finger spun a few times in the air and finally fell back into his hand.
The ring of numbers along the edge of the coin had already changed to today's date the day before yesterday.
'Newlan and the others should have received the message by now, right?'
Thinking this, Link took a deep breath, turned around, and smiled as he said to the others, "Everyone, are you ready?"
BOOM!
The dozens of wizards struck their right fists against their left chests in unison, the gathered sound exploding in the chamber like thunder.
None of them spoke, yet they had given the best possible answer.
Sitting at the front of the crowd, Krell wore a smug expression.
He glanced at Old Beckman cheerfully, his eyes full of teasing, this whole set of actions had been trained by him over the past few days.
Of course, the reason it looked so impressive had a lot to do with the fact that, due to the limited number of slots, he had picked only the most elite hunters.
Old Beckman didn't even bother looking at him, deliberately turning his head away to hide the disdain in his eyes.
To him, hunters were nothing.
The Saints under his command were few in number, and each one of them was already old, but every single one had fought their way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
If a real fight broke out, he was convinced that the Saints could slaughter these flashy hunters to the last in a short time.
Seeing the two elders "jealously competing," Link didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
He shook his head with a smile and then turned his gaze to Madam Flamel and Emily nearby.
Although she hid it well, a trace of worry still lay deep in Madam Flamel's eyes.
"Is it time to leave?" she asked with a smile when she saw Link look over.
"Yes, Mother," Link replied. "But don't worry. We're fully prepared. This time we're guaranteed to win!"
"Then I'll have Little Button make tonight's dinner even richer. Once you all come back, we'll celebrate Christmas Eve together."
As she said this and saw Link nod, her smile deepened.
But soon her gaze shifted to Emily, and she could no longer hide the worry on her face.
She reached out to smooth a strand of messy hair beside Emily's brow and said, "Emily, I think you don't need to go, do you? After all, this isn't an outing."
Emily smiled and pressed Madam Flamel's hand against her cheek.
"I can't hide behind Link for my whole life, can I?"
Madam Flamel froze, about to say that there was nothing wrong with that.
Having a man who loves you and is willing to shield you from the wind and rain for a lifetime was one of the greatest blessings for a woman.
But she couldn't bring herself to say it.
Because she suddenly realized, she herself didn't fit that idea at all.
After her husband died and her son became dull, she had supported the entire Flamel family alone, and in just a few short years pulled them out of the brink of being carved up by the great powers, making the family stronger than ever.
And Emily had admired her since she was young, imitating her words, her actions, her bearing, her way of handling things…
How could a girl like that be content with simply being a little woman who stayed home to tend to her husband and raise children?
At this moment, Madam Flamel suddenly understood.
Her mindset had changed so drastically mostly because Link had finally lived up to expectations.
That instinctively pulled her back into the role of a traditional "little woman."
When Krell easily skipped over her to hand the power of the family directly to Link, there had been no shortage of her own hints and encouragement behind it.
She was never truly a career-strong woman; the strength she had shown before had only been because a mother had no choice.
After so many years, she was already tired of that ruthless world of power struggles.
But Emily was different.
Emily didn't have to be like her.
Madam Flamel gave a relieved smile.
"Then, Little Emily, just do as you wish. I will always support you and Link."
Emily's eyes shimmered with faint tears as she nodded hard.
Link, a short distance away, was speechless.
Emily being able to become the dominant figure of Slytherin despite coming from an outsider family like the Victorias was already proof of her outstanding magical talent.
And Link never hid his own training; he often let her freely read rare tomes like the Slytherin Grimoires, and sometimes even personally guided her.
So Emily was already very strong.
At least not weaker than a trainee Auror who had just graduated from Hogwarts.
The reason she seemed weaker usually was entirely because she had no chance to show anything while standing next to Link.
With strength like that, plus the hunters and Saints protecting her, the danger she faced in this mission was really not high.
There was absolutely no need to act like they were parting forever.
But speechless or not, Link still didn't interrupt the two of them. Only after they hugged and cried for quite a while did he finally snap his fingers.
Everyone pulled out a vial of Polyjuice Potion from the tactical belts at their waists and downed it in one gulp.
Under the effect of the potion, they all began transforming rapidly.
The neat formation gradually became messy as their heights and builds shifted.
"Well then, let's go!"
BOOM!
Another resounding chest-pounding salute echoed through the chamber.
Then came a string of crackling Apparition blasts.
Watching everyone turn into blurred afterimages and vanish, Emily finally let go of Madam Flamel, took Link's arm, and the two bowed to her together.
Link then drew his wand.
"Side-Along Apparition!"
A suffocating wave of darkness swept over them.
A few seconds later, Link and Emily, already transformed by the Polyjuice Potion, appeared on Charing Cross Road.
The Christmas atmosphere on this Muggle street was already strong.
A huge Christmas tree had been planted on the traffic island, wrapped round with colorful lights, with piles of empty gift boxes placed underneath. Farther away, faint Christmas music drifted through the air.
Though it was early in the holiday morning, the streets were full of people.
Muggles wrapped tightly in their coats bustled back and forth, most with shopping bags in hand, their faces glowing with cheerful smiles.
Compared to that, the area in front of the Leaky Cauldron was much quieter.
Under the influence of the Muggle-Repelling Charm, no one paid any attention to the little pub. Even those who walked near would unconsciously walk around it.
Link rubbed at the small mustache that had appeared on his face from the transformation. With Emily laughing teasingly beside him, he pushed open the Leaky Cauldron's door.
A wave of warm air mixed with smoke and food aromas rushed out.
The Leaky Cauldron was also bustling.
Countless oddly dressed wizards were stepping out of the fireplace one after another.
Link and Emily even spotted several students they had seen at Hogwarts.
Tom, the toothless, hunched old owner, was cheerfully greeting customers behind the bar or turning the meat in the pan so the aroma spread better.
Most of the wizards coming in were doing their Diagon Alley shopping, and to them, the Leaky Cauldron was just a transit point.
Right after stepping out of the fireplace, they almost immediately left again.
Still, under Tom's warm greeting, quite a few wizards who hadn't had breakfast stayed behind.
"Hey! Handsome sir, and this beautiful lady, come have a cup of hot cocoa to warm yourselves up! In this damn weather it's absolutely the best treat!"
Seeing Link and Emily come in, Tom greeted them just as enthusiastically.
Emily didn't respond at all, she simply covered her nose in disgust.
There was no such thing as "no smoking in public places" in the wizarding world, and what she hated most was the lingering indoor smell of smoke. What made it worse was that here the smoke smell mixed with the scent of food, turning even more nauseating.
Link understood Emily's feelings perfectly, so he only shook his head at Tom and hurried out.
Tom wasn't offended.
He had seen many noble folk dressed as finely as Link and Emily. People like that never ate anything in his shabby little pub.
In fact, Link and Emily's simple refusal and departure were already polite; if it were the Malfoy father and son, they would probably throw a few nasty comments first.
Thinking so, Tom shook his head and cheerfully greeted the next customer.
Meanwhile, Link and Emily followed the crowd into the Leaky Cauldron's backyard.
The passage in the wall was already open, and once the crowd surged through, an even livelier Diagon Alley than during school-shopping season appeared before them.
The streets were packed. Although it was only just opening time for the shops, one store already had a line stretching so far that its end couldn't be seen, winding along both sides of the street.
Emily rose on her toes, checking the sign of the shop.
On the gigantic signboard were the words, Quality Quidditch Supplies.
Emily instantly lost all interest. She had zero fondness for such a rough sport.
Link, however, understood at once.
Quidditch, as a national-level sport, was what little boys liked most.
Christmas Eve was coming soon, so things like Quaffles, Bludgers, broomsticks, or Quidditch beginner kits naturally became the best gifts parents could buy for their children.
And not only Quality Quidditch Supplies, continuing forward, the two saw even more shops with long lines outside.
Eeylops Owl Emporium, Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, and Flourish and Blotts went without saying.
Those shops were Diagon Alley classics.
Every young wizard had to come here for school supplies, and Christmas was no exception.
Of course, there was also the joke shop, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.
That was every mischievous child's favorite.
Surprisingly, Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour had an extremely long line as well.
Eating ice cream in the dead of winter, ridiculous.
Link and Emily observed the shop front for a while and finally discovered that it was because Fortescue had introduced a new Christmas-flavored ice cream.
The two of them had business to attend to, so they didn't buy any, but judging from the reactions of those who did, the ice cream seemed to be spicy.
Everyone who ate it involuntarily breathed out a dragon-shaped plume of magical fire afterward.
The promotional effect was absolutely maxed out, no wonder so many people were lining up.
Smacking their lips, Link and Emily finally joined the flow of wizards who had come to Diagon Alley this morning and headed toward Gringotts.