It didn't take very long to find the bank; it was by far the largest building. I walked inside and looked around. It was amazing, beautiful really, but what really caught my attention was the things behind the desks, little goblin looking things. I shook my head and made my way up to a free one. "Hi, umm I have this key but I don't know…"
"Please hand me the key and I will take you to your vault miss Delacour". Again, with the Miss Delacour? Who was this person? I'd have to find out. "Smith" I corrected.
The goblin grinned knowingly. "Of course, miss Smith". He then hoped of his stool and walked away through a door at the other side of the bank. I followed him through the door and into little carts. I was excited I'd never been on one on of these, but was sure that these were nothing like the ones they had at the fair. These carts went at brake neck speeds, until suddenly it stopped, I had to hold on to make sure I didn't fall out on impact.
The little goblin then got out and walked over to a huge iron door "key please" he said in his less then human voice. Quickly I reached into my pocket and handed him the key. In about two seconds the door was open and my mouth was hanging open again. It was filled with gold, silver and bronze coins. But theses didn't look anything like normal money, how was I supposed to use this? As if reading my mind, the goblin said "This money can only be used in the wizard world, if you would like to buy clothes and things outside you will have to get it exchanged".
He then handed me two small bags, which I took and started filling them with the strange coins, one bag I would buy my wizard things, and the other I would exchanged to normal money so I could buy clothes, this was my chance to start a new life and, now that I could wear what I liked without being scared it would just attract unwanted attention, I was not going to start that life in rags.
After I had exchanged my money I decided to get some proper clothes before exploring more. I walked through the barrier again, and out the Leaky Cauldron into normal London. By the time I had finished shopping, for clothes, make-up, shampoo and everything, one money bag was considerably lighter, although I had about 15 extra bags to carry. Once I made it back to The Leaky Cauldron I hired a room and went to get changed.
After having a long shower, I decided on a pair of skinny legged hipsters, a red tank top and a pair of black pointy boots over the jeans. I didn't bother with much makeup just a bit of clear lip gloss, eyeliner and mascara, because I simply didn't need much. I was so excited to be able to wear what I liked and not have to worry about it, that I skipped back down stairs, and followed Tom again, as he re-opened the gate after showing me how to do it and assuring me that, once I get my wand, I could open it myself.
It was 6:00pm by the time I got back; laden with all the school equipment, not to mention 3 bulging bags full of books, I had taken all the letters and bought every book I had missed out on, not to mention several others that had interested me. Once I had put all school stuff into my new school trunk (amazingly it had all fit although it was much too small on the outside), I decided to go read my new books out in the parlour.
I spent the days up until the 31st of July, exploring Diagon Alley, and reading my books. I had soon finished all of them, including the ones for this year. I had even started practicing the spells in the workbooks, and, much to my delight, was exceedingly good at it, it only ever took me one try to prefect every spell in my books. Tom seemed to find this both amusing and extremely fascinating, and would often spend the nights watching and sometimes helping me (not that I needed it of coarse but it was nice all the same).