Curse of the Serpent
He pointed at a cemented-in handprint on the wall and said, "Do it." I was clueless. I walked towards the print and placed my own hand against it. The wall began to ripple and bend, like an illusion. The handprint grew smaller to match my own hand, and then suddenly, the wall moved aside and split. A new vault had appeared. It was black marble, with golden '1709' written across the top. Right in the center was a golden keyhole. Clawfinger stepped to it and put n the key. The black stone began to swirl around. Suddenly, the keyhole began to grow, and the stone, vanish. When it finally stopped twirling, the stone was gone. I stepped inside and turned round and round, taking in my family's true wealth. There were stacks of Galleons, Sickles and Knuts, heaps of jewels, tons of magical objects, and thousands of other items.
I looked around and my eyes chanced upon a bag. I picked it up, and looked inside. Strangely, it was empty, but it was HUGE. It seemed to be able to fit an elephant! Then it dawned on me. It had an Undetectable Extension Charm on it! This would come in handy. I began throwing in Galleons, Sickles and Knuts. As I brushed in the last I thought I would need, I uncovered a strange book. I picked it up, and began flipping through. What I saw amazed me. The very first page said,
The Complete Spell Index
All Spells known to magic kind are contained are contained within these pages, both good and bad.
I flipped to the next page, and was astonished to find that it wasn't a lie:
'A' Spells:
Accio (Summoning Charm)
Ak-ee-oh
Description: This charm summons an object to the caster, potentially over a significant distance.
As I flipped through the other pages, I saw spells like, 'Confundo' and, 'Deletrius'. Then, as I flipped back through, I found why the writer included bad in the definition,
Crucio (Cruciatus Curse) KREW-see-oh Description: Inflicts unbearable pain on the recipient of the curse. The effects of the curse depend upon the desires and emotions of the character – to produce the "excruciating" pain implied by the name, one must desire to cause pain purely for its own sake or for fulfillment. I slammed the book shut, but decided against throwing it away. Instead, I put it in my pack. I memorized the Accio Charm just in case. It would be useful for summoning things back out of the bag, in case the current charm wore off. Looking around, I decided I had enough. I returned to the door and stepped out of the now-giant keyhole. Clawfinger pointed at the cart, so I went and sat down. Then he raised his hand into the air and made a grabbing motion. Instantly, the door began to swirl inward again, although much faster. Within ten seconds, it was sealed as normal again. The key flew into the Goblin's hand, and the walls once again shifted closed. Clawfinger sat back in his seat, and hit the 'Home' button. The cart shot off again. Finally, I closed the door to Gringott's behind me. I decided that I wanted an Owl, so I pulled out my map and headed towards Eeylops Owl Emporium. I stepped inside and nearly ran into a boy. He was incredibly skinny with short blond hair. He had a rotten sneer on his face as he carried a grey Barn Owl. "Oh, hello," he said, "you going to Hogwarts too?" I nodded and said, "Yeah, I'm Alex Stone." "I'm Severus Malfoy, but everyone calls me Sean. I guess I'll see you on the train." As he walked off, I knew in my gut that I didn't like him. Shrugging off the feeling, I walked inside. The man inside was rather short with long, greasy brown hair. His face was gaunt and pale, obviously from being in this dark shop for too long. "Hello, I am Eeylop the Third. You know what I deal in. Take a look around, and I'll tell you the price." I began searching around for a good owl. Beneath every cage was a magically lit card that had the level of speed and endurance, the quality of breeding, and the type of owl. Finally I came upon a Great Horned Owl. I didn't even bother looking at the speed and stuff, I just said, "I want her." I paid out the money and left, holding my new owl. After an hour, I had everything but a wand. I was at the entrance to Ollivander's. I opened the door and stepped in. A man stood inside, the same Olivander from Harry Potter's time. "Ah, Alexander Stone. I wondered when I would be seeing you. Here for your first wand, I suppose?" "Yes, sir." I said. He went to one of the long shelves and pulled off a box. "Ash, 11 inches, dragon heartstring." He handed it to me. I swished it and a dozen boxes flew off a shelf. He snatched out of my hand and put it back in the box. With a wave of his hand, all of the boxes returned to their shelves. For about an hour, I tried a ton of wands, until he said, "Willow, 12 inches, Phoenix Feather." As I waved it, a tingling sensation traveled up my arm, and the room brightened to a pleasant degree. "There's the one. Seven Galleons." I paid out and received my new wand. Nonchalantly I twirled the wand between my fingers as I walked out of the shop. I began my way back down the street to the Leaky Cauldron, when I ran into a girl. She had brown eyes and hair, a slightly freckled face, and was wearing the Hogwarts everyday robes. "Hi." I said. "Hello, I'm Amelia." "I'm Alex. Guess you're going to Hogwarts too?" "Yeah. Hope I'm in Gryffindor. What kind of wand you get?" "Willow, 12 inch, Phoenix feather." "Cool, mine's Willow as well, but 11 ½ and Unicorn Hair." "Well, see you next week." "Yep, bye."