Chapter 12

Hgrid grinned at mine and Harry's amazement. We stepped through the archway. I looked quickly over my shoulder and saw the archway shrink instantly back into solid wall.

The sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop. Cauldrons – All Sizes – Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver – Self-Stirring – Collapsible, said a sign hanging over them.

"Yeah, you'll both be needin' one," said Hagrid, "but we gotta get yer money first."

Harry turned his head in every direction as he walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping. A plump woman outside an Apothecary was shaking her head as they passed, saying, "Dragon liver, seventeen Sickles an ounce, they're mad…."

A low, soft hooting came from a dark shop with a sign saying Eeylops Owl Emporium – Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown, and Snowy.

Several boys of about mine and Harry's age had their noses pressed against a window with broomsticks in it. "Look," Harry heard one of them say, "the new Nimbus Two Thousand, fastest ever" There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Harry and I had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon... At this point my surprise was far from faked as I too, like Harry, was turning my head an dlookign at every single thing.

"Gringotts," said Hagrid.

They had reached a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, was a Goblin.

A real life Goblin, I was practically shaking with excitement.

As we walked up the white stone steps, agoblin that was about a head shorter than Harry and I walked past. He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and, as I noticed and would quietly point out to Harry later, had very long fingers and feet. Now we were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them:

Enter, stranger, but take heed

Of what awaits the sin of greed,

For those who take, but do not earn,

Must pay most dearly in their turn.

So if you seek beneath our floors

A treasure that was never yours,

Thief, you have been warned, beware

Of finding more than treasure there.

"Yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it," said Hagrid.

A pair of goblins bowed us through the silver doors and they were in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses. There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing people in and out of these.

"Morning," said Hagrid to a free goblin. "We've come ter take some money outta Mr. Harry Potter and Mr. Sirius Charlus Potter's safe."

"You have the key, sir?" asked the Goblin.

"Got it here somewhere," said Hagrid, and he started emptying his pockets on the counter, scattering a handful of mouldy dog biscuits over the goblin's book of numbers. The goblin wrinkled his nose. While Harry watched the goblin on their right weighing a pile of rubies as big as glowing coals, I was inspecting the Gallions that was son the free goblins desk.

The wizarding currency of Great Britain consists of three different coins; in decreasing order of value, they are: Galleon, Sickle, and Knut. They are gold, silver, and bronze, respectively. There are 17 Sickles in a Galleon, and 29 Knuts in a Sickle, meaning there are 493 Knuts in a Galleon. Around the edge of each coin is a series of numerals which represent a serial number belonging to the Goblin that cast the coin.

"Got it," said Hagrid at last, holding up a tiny golden key.

The goblin looked closely at it.

"That seems to be in order." he said

"An' I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore," said Hagrid importantly, throwing out his chest. "It's about the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen."

The goblin read the letter carefully, his eyes meticulously inspecting the letter.

"Very well," he said, handing it back to Hagrid, "I will have someone take you down to both vaults. Griphook!"

Griphook was yet another goblin. Once Hagrid had crammed all the dog biscuits back inside his pockets, we all followed Griphook toward one of the doors leading off the hall.

"What's the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen?" Harry asked.

"Can't tell yeh that, Harry" said Hagrid mysteriously. "Very secret. Hogwarts business. Dumbledore's trusted me. More'n my job's worth ter tell yeh that"

Griphook held the door open for them. Harry, who may have been expected more marble, looked surprised. They were in a narrow stone passageway lit with flaming torches. It sloped steeply downward and there were little railway tracks on the floor. Griphook whistled and a small cart came hurtling up the track toward them. They climbed in – Hagrid with some difficulty – and were off.

At first they just hurtled through a maze of twisting passages. As Harry tried to remember the direction, I was looking over the side of the cart and down bellow.

The rattling cart seemed to know its own way, because Griphook wasn't steering.

When I finally looked up, my eyes stung as the cold air rushed past me, but I kept them wide open. Once, I thought he saw a burst of fire at the edge of a passage and twisted around to see if it was a dragon, but too late, as we plunged even deeper, passing an underground lake where huge stalactites and stalagmites grew from the ceiling and floor.

I looked over to Harry who, like me, was looking around in amazement, but as I looked over to Hagrid, I saw he was looking very green.

When the cart stopped at last beside a small door in the passage wall, Hagrid got out and had to lean against the wall to stop his knees from trembling.

Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out, and as it cleared, Harry and I gasped. Inside were mounds of gold coins. Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze Knuts.

"That's all fer both of ya" smiled Hagrid as he finally regained his calm.

All Ours, it was incredible. The Dursleys couldn't have known about this or they'd have had it from him faster than blinking. How often had they complained how much we cost them to keep? And all the time there had been a small fortune belonging to them, buried deep under London, in magical vault, guarded by Goblins and if they got lost and I was lucky enough, they would be eaten by the dragon.

Hagrid helped Harry and I pile some of it into a bag each, me taking a little more than Harry, I had big plans for this small pile of Gold I had in my little pouch.

"The gold ones are Galleons," Hagrid explained. "Seventeen silver Sickles, the silver ones, to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts, the Bronze one, to a Sickle, it's easy enough. Right, that should be enough fer a couple o' terms, we'll keep the rest safe for yeh." He turned to Griphook. "Vault seven hundred and thirteen now, please, and can we go more slowly?" asked Hagrid, probably dreading going back on the cart.

"One speed only," said Griphook with a sadistic little smirk.

They were going even deeper now and gathering speed. The air became colder and colder as they hurtled round tight corners.

Then we arrived at the vault where the Stone was located.

Vault seven hundred and thirteen had no keyhole.

"Stand back," said Griphook importantly. He stroked the door gently with one of his long fingers and it simple melted away.

"If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped in there," said Griphook, half explaining, half warning us.

"How often do you check to see if anyone's inside?" I asked.

"About once every ten years," Griphook said with another sadistic grin.

As Griphook opened the vault, Harry sighed, probably releaved that there was no dead body in there.

Hagrid quickly went and collected the stone.

"Come on, back in this infernal cart, and don't talk to me on the way back, it's best if I keep me mouth shut," said Hagrid.

One wild cart ride later they stood blinking in the sunlight outside Gringotts.