This one-shot was written for: Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges - Birthday Fic Exchange's Fanfiction, School of Imagination and Creativity - Business Studies - Assessment 1 - Currency: Character (Dudley Dursley)
Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter series, all rights go to J.K. Rowling.
Weird coins, strange creatures
"Dad, are you sure that we don't need Harry's help?" a young blonde girl asked and her father looked at her.
"Your Daddy knows what he is doing, Olivia," a woman, who resembled the little girl very much with her heart-shaped face and big baby blue eyes, said with a smile. The girl, Olivia nodded happily.
"Daddy is smart," a little girl, no more than five said and smiled at her older sister. She was the exact copy of her older sister, only she was six years younger.
"Then we need to exchange our money," Olive said enthusiastically and pointed to the white marble building. Her mother nodded with a smile and followed her daughter. Her father sighed and closed his eyes for a moment before he went after them.
"I did a lot of research," Olivia said happily when even her father reached the marble building. "I know everything about the money I'm going to use," she said and she started looking through her bag. She had a triumphal smile on her face when she found what she was looking for.
"Look at it, Mom, Dad," she said, but she gave to her father.
"What is it, Dudley?" his wife asked the man who had a frown on his face.
"One Galleon is seventeen Sickles and one Sickle is twenty-nine Knuts," he read up and Olivia nodded enthusiastically.
"I want nut!" Rosemary Olivia's little sister said enthusiastically and her father had an amused look while Olivia rolled her eyes.
"Knut, Rosie. Knut," she said and she enthusiastically ran up to the entrance.
Dudley Dursley was used to strange happenings. After all he grew up with his cousin, who was nothing but strange. Still, when he noticed the creature in the door he was sure he was hallucinating.
"Goblin," Olive chatted happily and Rosie chuckled. Dudley looked at his wife, Amelia who nodded politely and didn't seem shocked at all. After they went through the bronze door they arrived to a silver one. Dudley didn't even try to read the words on it; he just quickly opened it, even when he heard his daughter's complaining who was reading the poem on it.
The hall was made of marble and those creatures (goblins he reminded himself) were sitting at long counters.
"Dud, I will wait here with Rose. You should change some money with Olive," his wife told Dudley who was still standing at the same place and fixing his eyes on the goblins. He shook himself and nodded to his wife. The enthusiastic eleven-year-old led him to a pretty scary-looking goblin.
"Good morning. I would like to exchange some money," he said slightly quietly, but the goblin heard him and looked up.
"How much muggle money would you like to exchange?" the goblin looked into Dudley's eyes and the muggle shivered.
"Hundred and fifty pounds," he said and gave the envelope containing the money with shaking hands to the strange creature. The goblin nodded after he looked through the banknotes.
"One Galleon is exactly £4.93 at the moment," the goblin stated and Olivia nodded enthusiastically while Dudley was a bit embarrassed and confused. He just didn't understand why they couldn't just use pound as every normal person.
"So, that's exactly 30 Galleons, 7 Sickles and 7 Knuts," the goblin said and Dudley looked at the creature like it was some sort of wonder. The muggle had no idea how the hell that weird-looking thing could tell that without any sort of calculation. If he was right it should have been a complicated task as the wizarding currency wasn't in decimal system.
"Ho-how?" That was all he could ask and the goblin looked at him in pity.
"I'm not sure what you mean, sir," the goblin said and he gave a bag full of money to Dudley who was pretty surprised when he first grabbed it and it was very heavy. When he looked into the bag Dudley nearly dropped.
"Th-This must be a mistake. It's full of gold," he stated and Olivia raised her eyebrows.
"Daddy, galleons are made of gold," she stated and the goblin nodded emotionlessly. Dudley picked out a golden coin and frowned. It was big and heavy with a dragon on it and it was full of ornate writing. He was sure that it was worth more than five pounds, but he didn't mention it. He didn't want to look even more stupid.
"I assume that the young lady will start her schooling in September. I would suggest making a vault for her here," the goblin said in its creepy voice and Dudley was eager to say no, but one pleading look from his daughter stopped him.
"I would like to open a vault," he said shakily and the creature nodded. Dudley looked at his daughter who beamed at him. Her blue eyes were shining with joy.
"Name?" the goblin asked and he wrote in some type of paper which Dudley assumed was parchment.
"Dursley," he stated and the goblin nodded and started writing. At first the question seemed pretty normal, like how much money can his daughter take out at once or her date of birth but then there were some really weird questions Dudley had no idea why the goblin needed to ask like in what country Olivia would like to live when she was off age.
"We are ready," the goblin announced and tossed a big golden key to Dudley, who wasn't even surprised anymore.
"Daddy! Can we see my vault now?" Olivia pleaded and fixed her big baby blue eyes on Dudley, but he had already enough about banks and wizarding currency.
"We need to buy your things, sweetie." Amelia saved the day as always. The four of them left the marble building and Dudley sighed. However, he seemed to forget that they haven't left the Wizarding Street, only the bank.
When he heard from the salesman that the books would be five Galleons, ten Sickles and three Knuts he was close to breaking down.
"Daddy, let me help you," Olivia said enthusiastically and Dudley smiled at her. The young blonde girl grabbed the money and easily paid. Dudley smiled fondly at his daughter and when he looked at the golden, silver and bronze coins the only thing he thought of was that maybe the wizarding world was crazy but it was worth if his daughter was happy.
Maybe he will never understand those stupid coins, but he was there for his daughter when she needed him. He always going to be there for her he decided.