Chapter 171 – Dumbledore’s Plan
Inside the Order's headquarters, Dumbledore stood before his office's window, watching the sunset, facing towards the west as the sun's last rays painted the sky orange and purple. Nature's beauty and constantly changing colors were reflected on the snow-covered landscape, turning the scenery pure and free of the destruction these lands had experienced in the past decade. Although his face remained calm, his eyes were distant, hiding the anger he was experiencing deep within, only peeking through a little, like the sun did at that moment.
He couldn't help it; since the new year had started, worse and worse news was being put on his table. It started with the new flier that appeared, then the fact that by New Year's Eve, it was confirmed that three of their, albeit only middle-ranking, informants had disappeared. The only positive side was that Snape also contacted him, informing Dumbledore that the same happened to the Death Eaters. They were even worse off because they had multiple conscripted, young wizards who jumped onto the sudden opportunity, disappearing, some reappearing in America, a place where none of their factions had any influence. Not yet, that is.
"Where do you get the money from, old friend?" He asked himself, raising one, slightly shaking hand and stroking his long beard. This shouldn't be possible to keep up for long, yet there were already enough galleons spent that even he felt a bit apprehensive. Who knows what those people revealed to them. "Anguine... you raised a dangerous son."
Turning around, his eyes landed on the silvery sword displayed on the wall above his fireplace. He was just about to use a spell to ignite the fire when his hand stopped mid-casting, eyes transfixed on Gryffindor's famed weapon.
"The goblins... Gringotts!"
With a hasty step, he hurried to his drawer, pulled out the Invisibility Cloak, put it on, and with one look into a mirror, seeing his reflection disappear, he apparated straight onto the steps of Gringotts within Diagon Alley.
The bank was already closed, the streets empty, and many of the shops boarded up, having gone out of business years ago. For a brief moment, he couldn't help but stop, observe how much it all had changed, and know that many were at their breaking points. Everyone was looking for a way out, and if the Anguine kids started providing one, people would take it.
"We can't lose our support, the people, or we lose the war..." he thought, turning away and heading directly into the bank. The protections put on the front door proved no difficulty for him to bypass, slipping through solid matter like a specter.
Using another spell hidden under the Invisibility Cloak, he ensured that none of his steps had any echo while he was hurriedly walking through the main chamber, watching the empty booths and teller stands.
"Where are the goblins?"
Even if the bank was closed, it shouldn't be empty. He understood that many of these banks were having troubles in the past years, unable to let their customers access their own vaults. Something was going on, and nobody could uncover what, but Dumbledore never believed it to be connected to the Anguines. Or to Grindelwald. Nobody should have that type of sway over them, and he knew his old friend also lacked any real bargaining chips. Did that change? He did believe it now.