Chapter 637: Banking Reform (Edited)

Tom and Minister Bones were in no hurry to leave. They had more to do, such as calming the increasingly restless wizards.

"Don't worry, everyone will get their money!" Bones amplified her voice with a spell and shouted at the top of her lungs.

With the backing of the Minister of Magic, the present wizards were somewhat calmed down. They knew the Ministry was on their side. If Gringotts refused to allow them to withdraw their money, they would have to ask their wands if they agreed. This wasn't as simple as organizing a wrestling tournament for people's entertainment.

Ultimately, the reason why the wizards weren't in a state of panic was that the Ministry of Magic wasn't bending over backward. In the original timeline, the year Voldemort controlled the Ministry of Magic was the first since 1865 that wizards took control of Gringotts from the goblins, and it apparently didn't cause any chaos. But unfortunately, after Harry and the others defeated Voldemort, they returned Gringotts to the goblins.

Due to the seriousness of the situation, many Ministry of Magic officials were present, including the usually inactive Percy Weasley. In no time, they held a brief meeting and made a decision: learn from the Muggle bank and assign numbers to wizards who arrived to withdraw their money.

The spirits of the wizards were successfully placated. They were no longer anxious but formed an orderly line to receive numbers from Ministry of Magic officials and queue outside Gringotts.

As more and more wizards arrived at the scene, the line in front of Gringotts turned into an endless dragon, stretching from the door of Gringotts to the back yard of the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley.

Where there are people, there are opportunities. Many enterprising street vendors smelling opportunities began appearing alongside the line of wizards, selling various treats and beverages, and some even offered sleeping bags and tents.

This was understandable, as counting money was no easy task, and late-arriving wizards would likely have to wait one or even several days.

Seeing the orderly queue, Bones also showed a genuine smile. So much had happened that day that she felt a bit overwhelmed, so solving one of the problems was a great satisfaction.

While Minister Bones was contentedly looking at the crowd, Tom approached her and said, "Minister, this is actually a great opportunity, an opportunity for Gringotts to come back under wizard control."

Bones was intrigued by his words and looked at Tom with her mask on, eager to hear his unique ideas.

"It's evident that Gringotts' reputation is ruined, and wizards no longer want to keep their money here. However, the banking institution is irreplaceable..."

"Do you mean that the Ministry of Magic could seize this opportunity to establish its own bank? Indeed, the Ministry has that credibility..." Bones was inspired by Tom's words.

Tom felt a bit overwhelmed by Bones' blind trust and quickly stopped her, "It's not about establishing a new bank; wizards can't handle that."

It wasn't unfounded modesty. A group of people who hadn't studied mathematics after the age of eleven could hardly manage finances. If they could correctly calculate exchange rates between Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts, it would already be a noteworthy achievement in mathematics. Wizards' attitude towards mathematics was reflected in their high failure rates in Arithmantic Divination: they avoided mathematics like the plague.

So the idea was to maintain the basic structure of Gringotts and allow wizards to take control at the top. Voldemort had used this approach with rather good results. Tom had no intention of changing it because, in the current situation, wizards couldn't completely get rid of the goblins, and the goblins had lost the foundation to establish their own nation. Both had to depend on each other.

"The Ministry of Magic can seize this opportunity to settle in Gringotts, join the goblin council, oversee their actions, and also gain the right to mint Galleons. We can also use this opportunity to regain control from the goblins," Tom explained. For him, even if wizards only dealt with signing documents, it would be better than the current situation where they were doing nothing.

"Besides that, we really need to send some young wizards who have recently graduated into the Muggle world to study finance. Otherwise, events like today will happen again sooner or later. We can establish a new department within the Ministry of Magic, called the Department of Magical Finance or the Department of Magical Financial Regulation," Tom said to Bones with seriousness.

The recently graduated young wizards are around seventeen or eighteen years old, just the age to enter university. What if they don't have enough qualifications to get into university? That wouldn't be a problem; many universities in Europe and America only require you to pay the tuition to be admitted. The Ministry of Magic could easily withdraw a large sum of money and donate it to a university, such as Stanford or the London School of Economics, to secure some study places. As for graduating... well, that's left to praying to Merlin.

To avoid further provoking the goblins, Tom didn't mention more radical reform plans. If he wanted to humiliate the goblins, he could order Gringotts to change its name to Wringotts or something similar, but there was no need to do that. Gaining an edge in a short-term argument wouldn't provide real benefits.

Upon hearing Tom's banking reform plan, Bones lit up and saw a clear path forward. What excited her most was that if this reform succeeded, she would become as great and historic a Minister of Magic as Ottaline Gambol. Minister Gambol's achievements included the creation of the Hogwarts Express, and hers would be carrying out the reform of Gringotts, returning financial power to wizards, and fulfilling the long-held wish of wizards for centuries.

With such an achievement, wouldn't it be excessive to classify her as one of the greatest Ministers of Magic of the 20th or 21st century?

Bones got excited; in her eyes, this white building didn't look like a bank anymore but a monument that counted her future achievements.

While Minister Bones lost herself in her vision of a bright future, Tom floated away. He needed to return to Hogwarts and deliver Voldemort's Horcrux, Hufflepuff's Cup, to Dumbledore.

Once that matter was resolved, he would return to Grimmauld Place 12 to retrieve the locket. With that, he would accomplish two rare feats in the wizarding world: collecting the Three Deathly Hallows and collecting the four artifacts of Hogwarts founders.

Thinking about this, Tom's mood improved a bit. The fog that had been over his mind seemed to have cleared.

Tom's feet touched the pavement, and he returned to the familiar streets of Hogsmeade. It was already evening, the sun setting on the horizon, bathing everything in a golden glow, as if it had sprinkled everything with gold dust.

In the first moment he touched the ground, he saw Dumbledore and Hermione standing together.