Gold
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Gold.
Gold was all that Lily could see as the heavy iron vault door opened and the goblin stepped back. Mounds and piles of gold bars and coins, littered here and there with silver and bronze disks, covered the cavernous vault. Jewelled chalices, priceless oil paintings, marble busts, and tapestries lined the edges of the room and the longer Lily looked into the vault, the more she found.
"This can't possibly be all yours?" she breathed out as James squeezed her hand comfortingly.
"It isn't, it's my family's," he said nonchalantly before letting go of her hand and striding into the vault.
Lily had always been aware that her boyfriend was wealthy. It wasn't because he wore obscenely expensive clothing or robes, but it was in the little things that she had noticed. Like the fact that he never seemed to think twice about paying for the endless rounds of butterbeer for her and their friends on every Hogsmeade visit. Or the fact that every year he'd show up with brand new Quidditch robes and the latest broomstick. And even the fact that, whenever the topic of money came up - particularly someone's lack or shortage of it - James was the first to offer help and brush it off.
She was aware that his father was a famous potioneer, but she had never truly considered that being a successful potioneer meant that you could be afforded to give your family a more than comfortable upbringing.
"Hey Lil?" James yelled out, his voice echoing from the vault. "Do you have a wallet or something? I'd put it in my pocket, but it's got a hole in it." He shrugged sheepishly.
Lily snorted, how ironic that a boy as wealthy as James could have holes in his pockets.
"Give me a second!" Lily opened her little bag and rummaged around for her wallet. With a triumphant grin, Lily pulled out the embroidered silk pouch - a gift from her mother - and handed it over to his outstretched hand.
James muttered his thanks, and without another moment's wait began pocketing shiny gold galleons into her little pouch. Lily blushed as she thought of the measly knuts being buried underneath all the gold. Once her pouch was bursting to the seams, James shut the clasp and Lily worried that the pouch would rip at the seams.
"I think that should be enough for today," James muttered, probably to himself, as he exited the vault. Lily's chest tightened at the casual way he said it. The gold that he had collected was probably more than Lily had ever received in the seven years since she'd been welcomed into the magical world. And yet, here her boyfriend was, acting like it barely made a dint in his fortune.
The goblin, who looked as if he'd rather be anywhere else than with two teenagers, locked the vault and led them towards the old brass cart that would take them back to the surface. The ride was silent as the cart wound its' way around the multitude of tight bends and curves. To her side, Lily could make out that James was speaking to her, but she was in such a flurry of thoughts that she couldn't bring herself to listen to him properly. Somehow, in the span of ten minutes, Lily felt like she had shrunk five inches.
Lily was just a girl from Cokeworth; a notoriously poor town just a few miles out of Liverpool. Her father had been a factory worker at the tinnery for most of his life, and her mother was a seamstress. She came from a humble background, but her parents had worked hard to make sure that she and Petunia never went without.
Before she had left for Hogwarts, Lily had always worn Petunia's hand-me-down school uniforms and her mother would mend the holes and tears that it had until it was irreparable. She had learnt to make her allowance last weeks, and always bought her books secondhand. She wasn't ashamed of her position in life, but seeing James be so careless with money made her feel, for the first time in their relationship, like she wasn't enough.
Gringotts was slowly filling with all manner of witches and wizards when they reached the surface. Hands entwined and fingers linked, Lily and James walked out of the bank. She couldn't ignore the fact that her bag was suddenly a few pounds - and galleons - heavier after their detour to the Potter vault. Not noticing where they were going, Lily frowned as James pulled them to the side of the white marble staircase to Gringotts. His face was troubled, and Lily faked a smile for him as he let go of her hands and shoved them in his pockets.
"It's a bit much isn't it?" he said quietly, his eyes trained on his beaten Converse kicks.
Lily had been expecting a poorly delivered explanation for his family's wealth, but his shame was unexpected. He had nothing to be ashamed of, least of all his family's fortune.
"What are you talking about?" she asked for the sake of asking, knowing full well what James was alluding to.
"That." He waved towards the imposing marble building above them. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable or anything, I should've just gone down by myself."
"Are you really apologising for being rich?" The words escaped her mouth before she could stop them, and Lily flinched at the look that crossed James' eyes. "I mean, I knew you were rich already James."
James looked up from his shoes, his eyes disbelieving and skeptical. "You mean my parents."
"No, you," Lily said, stepping closer to him and taking his hands in hers. "I just, I didn't realise how wealthy you really are."
Lily shifted on her feet and was again made aware of the heaviness of the purse that was in her bag. She had never had so much money on her before, and she was quick to admit that it was terrifyingly unfamiliar territory for her. It was another differentiating factor in their relationship, another possible cause for conflict between them; and it highlighted yet again that they were two people from two entirely different worlds.
She was a Muggleborn, he was a Pureblood. She grew up in a small three-bedder in Cokeworth, a poor industrial town just out of Liverpool; while he grew up in a seaside manor in Dorset with a trio of house-elves at his beck and call. She grew up in an environment where being thrifty and frugal was necessary, whilst he needn't cast a look at the price tag before buying anything.
Perhaps their love was doomed, perhaps it was the universe's way of showing them that they didn't belong together. But if there was one thing that Lily and James could be relied upon, it was that they rarely paid heed to limitations and the whimsy of fate.
"It doesn't bother you does it?" James said, his hands squeezing hers. "Because if it does, I can...I dunno, change?"
"It's not that, it's just that…"Lily paused. She wasn't ashamed of her upbringing, far from it. But she was afraid of being seen as some charity case. Of being seen as someone to pity. She didn't need pity, she didn't want it. Least of all from her boyfriend. "I'm not, I just mean that my family isn't wealthy like yours is. Far from it actually."
"So?" he asked innocently. Like he didn't understand why she was bringing it up at all. "I must be a pretty shit boyfriend if you think that I'd care about that."
"No of course I know you don't care about it! I'm just saying that…" What exactly was she trying to say? "I'm just saying that I dunno, I feel like a bit of a ponce for being so blindsided by just how rich you are. I mean I should've known. I should've figured it out," Lily stopped herself and forced her voice to calm down. She didn't want to be hysterical. "I mean, what do you even do with that much money?"
James smiled and tightened his hold on her hands, pulling her closer to him until their shoes were touching and she could smell the treacle tart that he'd had earlier in his breath, "I dunno, live comfortably? Spoil your mates and your girlfriend? Buy an obscene amount of Quidditch paraphernalia? Waste it on Zonkos products?"
Lily snorted at the last two points he made and James chuckled as he placed a delicate kiss on her forehead. His cheeks were rosy and his hair stuck out from all directions underneath his worn corduroy sports cap. He certainly didn't look like someone who had ridiculous amounts of gold stashed in a vault beneath their feet. For goodness sake, he had wound tape around the bridge of his glasses to keep them from breaking. And despite Lily's fears, he still looked at her like she was his equal, unfazed by her admission that her family wasn't well off.
"I've never seen so much gold before," Lily admitted, "and you had so many paintings, and statues, and other treasures in there."
James shrugged casually, "Family trinkets and heirlooms, I'm actually not sure what's in that vault, I only ever get a couple of galleons at a time."
"But James, where did it all come from?"
He breathed out and furrowed his eyebrows as he lead Lily away from Gringotts and down Diagon Alley. They had arrived before the shops had open and Lily watched as people bustled in and out of the stores, buying their Christmas presents.
"I dunno really, a lot of it is from my dad and his potions I guess. He worked his arse off. The other stuff is from other family members I suppose. My grandfather was really into art and travel, so that's where most of the paintings and statues come from. The rest of it...I have no bloody idea where it comes from."
James pulled them into a store that Lily had never noticed before. The walls and shelves were stacked full of antique jewellery, artefacts, books and bric-a-brac. No doubt James could buy the entire contents of the store and still have more than enough to sustain him for ten lifetimes. She let go of his hand and inspected a bejewelled jewellery box with a dragonfly on the top.
"Are all purebloods rich like your family?" Lily had always wondered if it wealth was a pureblood trait. She knew that Sirius was wealthy too, and he was a pureblood. Neither he nor James ever seemed to worry much when it came to money, seemingly spending it when they fancied.
"Definitely not," he said, eyes trained on a ratty looking signed quaffle on a shelf above him. "Some are, like Sirius' family and the Malfoys," James' nose scrunched up as he mentioned both families, "but most are just comfortable I guess. I've never really considered my family as rich."
Lily scoffed at him and allowed herself a little giggle, "You're joking aren't you? James did you see the same vault that I did or what?"
"No I mean, I know we're wealthy, but Merlin Lily, I still wear the same pair of Converse because I can't bear to replace something that still does the job." As if to prove his point, he lifted his foot and showed her his beaten up pair of shoes. The laces were brown from dirt, and the soles were scuffed, but they were still perfectly usable. "You don't think I'm a prat for being rich do you?"
"I do think you're a prat," Lily said, and James' smile faltered. "But it's not because you're rich. You've just always been a prat to be honest. And I reckon you'd be one even without the money."
James roared with laughter at her admission and Lily smiled apologetically at the old witch with a disgruntled glare on her face behind the till. All her life Lily had thought that being rich made you an insufferable prat, that it made you turn into someone who looked down on other people and sneered at people for not being as wealthy as you. But as she joined in the laughter with James, she figured that perhaps that didn't have to be the case all the time.
After James paid for the ratty signed quaffle he had been admiring earlier, they left the shop and headed for the tea house down next to Madam Malkins.
"James?" He hummed his reply. "Can we put some sort of spending limit on all gifts given to one another from now on?"
He had the grace to look affronted at her and shook his head, "That's just cruel."
"Come off it, would you do it, for me?" she pleaded.
"Lily, I'll change everything about myself to make you happy, but I won't agree to that. If there's one thing I like doing with my money, it's spending it on my mates and you." Lily couldn't quite find the words to argue with him on that. And she couldn't deny that it was incredibly sweet of him to do that. "Anyway, it's too late, I've already bought your birthday present."
"God, it's not something ridiculous like a hippogriff is it?"
"Merlin no, who do you think I am?" he said, mocking concern. "Besides, as if a hippogriff would fit in a gift bag."
Lily hid her smile and shoved him, almost knocking him into an elderly wizard.
"I'm serious though, if you get me anything expensive I'm not going to accept it. I'll just give it right back, I mean it."
"Yeah yeah alright, duly noted," he said, saluting to her with a grin on his face.
Lily had a feeling he'd conveniently forget to remember what she'd asked but as they walked into the warmth of the tea shop, she couldn't really bring herself to care all that much.
James Potter was rich, a pureblood, and an idiot. But people were all fools in love, and Lily was the biggest one of all.
"D'you know, I've just realised something."
"What's that?" Lily replied as she perused the menu.
"Since you're so against me lavishing you with gifts, I can safely assume that you aren't shagging me for my money."
The couple next to them, middle-aged and clearly deep in conversation stopped mid-sentence and looked at James and Lily with looks of amused shock on their faces. Lily blushed and kicked James under the table, smiling sardonically when he hissed in pain and glared at her.
"You wish I'd shag you, Potter."
"Definitely not what you were saying last night, Evans," he replied with a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows.
"Insufferable rich ponce," she spat back playfully, enjoying the way that James was staring at her.
"Love you too babe," he teased. Knowing full well how much she hated that term.
But despite her better judgement, she did love him. Even if he was a rich ponce with too much money than he could be trusted with.