Splitting One's Soul

Gringotts

You arrived at Gringotts just in time, Tom was standing at the top of the stairs to the crooked marble building, right above it the sky was pink and orange, dark clouds hung low. His robes were closed up to his throat to shield him from the wind, his expression bored, no doubt displeased by having to wait in the cold weather.

His expression changed when you came up next to him, giving you a wry smile.

"Our seller should be here any second," he said.

"Good morning to you too," you replied.

"Sorry, business habits. Good morning."

"I'm just teasing you."

His gaze drifted behind you and he took a step aside to greet a small man coming up the stairs, you turned to do the same and he introduced himself as Mr. Cygnet. Without exchanging any further pleasantries, the man walked past you into the building, big chandeliers illuminated the countless cobwebs hanging from them, left and right goblins were doing paperwork, the sound of stamps slamming down onto parchments was filling the air. At the end of the aisle was a podium with a goblin perched over a book.

"Excuse me?," Mr. Cygnet said as he stepped up to the podium.

The goblin merely grunted and looked down over the brim of his glasses, the man presented his key to him and then another goblin came up from behind the podium, beckoning for the three of you to follow him down some steps. It was a spiral staircase leading deeper and deeper into the ground, soon the marble walls turned into raw stone, the air was humid and cold and at the end of the stairs was a platform leading to a wagon on rails. It was just big enough to hold four people and you climbed in after the goblin.

"Hold on tight," Tom said leaning over to you.

The ride was much faster and shakier than you had remembered from the last time you had been here, rushing past countless vault doors in stone on one side, caves, rocks and waterfalls on the other and you could have sworn at some point the roar you heard far below came from some beast. Dragons, it was rumored.

And then the wagon stopped abruptly in front of a vault, both Mr. Cygnet and the goblin announced that they had arrived and with shaky legs you hoisted yourself out of the wagon, Tom gave you a hand to assist you by pulling you up onto the platform.

Meanwhile the goblin had already unlocked the vault and Mr. Cygnet led both of you inside.

Your footsteps echoed off the stony walls when you entered, the vault was almost empty except for a wooden chest in the far corner, a Crushing Cabinet leaning against the wall and something in the middle of the vault covered by a velvet blanket. The man stepped up to the chest and opened it, inside were various vials and coins. Tom got closer, peering over his shoulder into the chest, lips pressed into a thin line.

"This is an assortment of rare poisons and fake coins," the man explained.

"Fake coins," Tom repeated blankly. "What am I supposed to do with fake coins?"

"They might be good for..."

"No, they are good for nothing," he interrupted Mr. Cygnet.

You felt a bit sorry for him but Tom did what he had to do as a business man, better to be upfront about not wanting something than waste time on things that would lead nowhere anyways.

"What poisons are they?"

The man knelt down and took out one vial with a black liquid.

"This." He made a pause, looking at Tom intently. "This is a Death potion. I have three vials of them."