Gringotts
Grian laid on the floor, his eyes tightly shut, okay, he thought, I had a weird dream last night, I dreamt a giant named Keralis came into the house, not to mention striping down the front door, and told me I am a wizard,
When I wake up, I'll find myself under the cupboard as usual.
A light tapping noise echoed across the room.
And that's my Aunt telling me to wake up.
Grian opened his eyes and looked around, an owl was at the window, holding a piece of newspaper of some sort under its claws.
Grian scrambled over to the window when Keralis mumbled, 'Give 'em two sickles.'
'Sickles?' Grian asked, imagining paying for a piece of newspaper with silver farming tools.
'The silver coins.'
Grian hurried over to Keralis' large coat and dug his hands into one of its pockets, pulling out a handful of coins, bronze, gold, and ah, silver.
Grian held out his hand with the two silver coins to the bird, and the owl snatched up the coins with his beak and dropped the newspaper, before spreading its wings and taking flight.
Keralis woke with a grunt. 'Thanks,' he groaned, taking the newspaper from Grian. 'We better get going, we 'ave a long day ahead o' ourselves.'
Minutes later, Grian found himself at the curb of Privet Drive, with Keralis, who was holding the piece of newspaper.
'Ready?' Keralis asked, 'Yeh first Magical Experience.'
With that, Keralis thrusted out his enormous right hand.
There was a big bang and a flash of light which caused Grian to shut his eyes, when he opened them again, a purple, triple-decked bus had parked itself in front of them.
A shabby young lad wearing a purple coat walked out, ‘Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for wizards and witches, I am your conductor, Wels Knight.’
Keralis pushed Grian into the bus, and took a seat.
‘Where are you heading?’ Knight asked.
‘Diagon Alley.’ Replied Keralis.
‘That’ll be Eleven Sickles.’
Keralis dug his hands into his enormous pockets, and counted twenty-two Sickles and handed it to the young man.
‘Alright, off we go!’
The bus, suddenly, lurched forward, and it rattled up and down the streets they pass, the bus conductor eyed Grian with interest, and asked, ‘On your way to buy stuff for the school year?’ Grian just nodded. Suddenly, Knight frowned, pointing at Grian’s forehead, ‘Hey, what’s that?’ and before they knew it, they had arrived in London, in front of a pub named ‘The Leaky Cauldron’.
‘C’mon Grian, this way.’ Keralis pushed open the bar doors.
‘Ah, Keralis! The usual?’ The barman called.
‘Unfortunately, not today, Pete, escortin’ ol’ Grian for his shopping for school.’
‘Grian… Grian Dreamslayer?’
Grian shifted uncomfortably in his shoes.
‘Merlin’s beard! Grian Dreamslayer! Visiting my Bar! My bar! This is the best day of my life!’
Pete grabbed Grian’s hands and shook it vigorously. Grian couldn’t respond apart from showing a shocked expression. Grian’s hand was passed around for another 15 minutes before Keralis said loudly, ‘Okay okay, tha’s enough!’
Keralis gripped Grian’s shoulders, and they went into the little yard behind the bar, with nothing but a brick wall. Keralis drew his pink umbrella, and tapped the brick three up and two across the trash bin, when he did, Grian’s jaws dropped.
Brick by brick, the wall slowly parted and forming an archway, and behind the newly formed brick archway, is an alley filled to the brim with old-fashioned shops and people wearing all sorts of hats and robes.
Keralis grinned.
‘Welcome, Grian, to Diagon Alley.’
The alley, was way bigger than Grian imagined, a wild variety of colours, painted all over varying stores, Quality Quidditch Supplies, Eeylops Owl Emporium, SSundee’s Ice Cream Palour, but Keralis guided Grian all the way over to a large wobbly quartz building, engraved on the white wall, wrote,
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.
Keralis looked at Grian, ‘Gringotts is the safest place in the world, apart from Hogwarts, I gues’.’
Keralis guided him to the counter the furthest in the hall, where a goblin is sitting.
‘Hi, Mr. Grian Dreamslayer would like to visit his vault.’ Keralis said loudly.
The goblin looked up slowly, eyed Grian once, and asked, ‘And does Mr. Grian Dreamslayer have his key?’
‘Um,’ Keralis’ face turned slightly pink, ‘One sec.’
And he dug his hand into his many pockets, and pulled out the most random things and dumped it on the goblin’s table, soggy dog food, a crumpled letter, and a packet of crackers.
‘Ah! ‘ere it is!’ Keralis pulled out a little key, and handed it to the goblin, ‘And,’ he leaned in mysteriously, picking up the crumpled letter, ‘I have a letter from Professor Dumbledore, about the you-know-what in vault 713.’
The goblin looked at him for a second, before saying, ‘Very well, Sparklez!’
A goblin walked forward, and lead Keralis and Grian into the back and down the stairs, until they enter a cave system, and a minecart came rolling into sight.
Sparklez gestured them to enter the cart, and without warning, the cart shot forward.
Grian’s face instantly turned white, and he glanced around, the stalactites and stalagmites are zooming past their heads, Keralis, sitting next to Grian, behind his long beard, Grian can see a shade off green, only Sparklez, who most definitely had experience already going into the mines, didn’t feel a thing.
Just when Grian got comfortable with the speed, the cart, without warning yet again, came to a sudden and sharp halt, stopping in front of an old vault door with a small keyhole in it.
Sparklez hopped off the cart with ease, and took out the key that Keralis gave him, inserted it into the keyhole, and the door moved open. Grian’s mouth fell open.
Inside the large vault were piles of golden coins, a mound of silver and a small stack of bronze ones.
‘All yours.’ Keralis grinned.
If the Innits had known that Grian’s parents owned a huge amount of money, a hundred feet below London, they would have reaped them all in a heartbeat.
Keralis took out a small leather pouch, and filled it with a scoop of golden coins, tightened it and handed it to Grian.
’17 Sickles is a Galleon, and 29 Knuts is a Sickle, got it? Alright,’ Keralis winced, ‘We gotta get back on that ruddy cart,’ Keralis turned to Sparklez, ‘Vault 713 now, please.’
The ride was as bumpy as the last one, but having rode the cart once, Grian is slightly better at handling the speed, but his stomach still did a backflip when the cart came to a halt.
Vault 713 had no keyholes, Sparklez walked up to the door and simply placed his hand over the handle of the door, within seconds, the door melted away.
Grian craned his neck, wondering what must be kept so secretly? What treasure does it bear?
When the door fully melted away, a small package, looking suspiciously like a rock, appeared. Keralis quickly went over and carefully stashed it in his coat.
‘Hogwarts business.’ He patted his chest proudly, ‘Dumbledore won’ trust anyone else with it.’