Chapter Seven – Under the Hill
or we visit Gringotts
By this time we've reached the bank and I looked up to read the poem the goblins wrote above the doors. It was as cool as ever.
"That is so cool!" I said to Snape as we walked past the doors and into the bank. I could see he was restraining himself from rolling his eyes and I grinned.
When we walked past the goblins that were probably guarding the doors, I made sure to smile at them both and nod my head respectfully, even if I probably shouldn't seeing as I wasn't supposed to know what they were.
But I was not going to be like most of the Wizarding World that ignored non-humans and ostracized them. No, I was probably going to get myself killed by advocating for their rights... and if I was right and the Potter family was as old as I thought it was (seeing as Harry was descended from the Peverells) then I figured that I might have a seat (or more) on the Wizengamot. Or hoped I did. Oh how many fanfictions I've read on this topic.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'm sure I'll be able to ask the goblin that was managing my account about it tomorrow about all of it. Might even ask if it was possible to see who my ancestors were. I was curious about my mother's side of the family (if you don't count Petunia). There were also fanfictions that theorized that muggle-born wizards and witches were descendants of squibs that were cast out into the muggle world by the pure-blooded bigots and I wanted to see if there was any truth to those theories. I was really excited for tomorrow's visit to the bank.
I noticed that Snape and both goblins gave me a weird look and I gave Snape a weird look back. I pretended I didn't know why he was looking at me like that.
In the end, he just sighed and led me further into the bank and towards the first free goblin he saw.
"We would like to make a withdrawal from the vault of one Adaline Potter," he said and produced a golden key from one of his pockets. The goblin in front of us took the key and checked it, then called for – you will never guess who – Griphook.
He led us to the door that led to the vaults and we sat down in the cart, Snape beside me. I then noticed that we were still holding hands.
That was really nice of him. I'm sure he must have been feeling uncomfortable about this touchy-feely stuff, but he still did it to make me feel better. I promised myself that I would do something for him later to show him how much I appreciated it.
The cart-ride started and I was indeed reminded of a roller-coaster, only underground. The speed wasn't as fast as the roller-coasters I was on, so I wasn't as frightened as I could have been. Not wearing glasses and being afraid they would be yanked off my face also helped.
I didn't try to memorize the way to my vault, seeing as it was no use trying to do so, and just let the air muss my hair. I really needed to get me a hair-band.
The cart-ride stopped and Griphook stepped off first, followed by Snape and I. He unlocked the door to my vault and stepped aside to let us do what we wanted.
I was left staring at the mountain of money in the vault.
"This is supposed to be only my trust vault?" I murmured to myself. Snape ignored me as he went forward and started filling a pouch with the glittering coins.
"The golden ones are Galleons," he started explaining as he showed me each coin in turn. "Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon, and twenty-nine bronze Knuts to a Sickle."
I already knew that, but made sure to look at the coins in his hands carefully and listen to his explanation.
"What about muggle money?" I asked. "What's the conversion rate?"
I needed to know how much money I could convert to muggle money so I could buy myself some muggle stuff.
Snape gave me a searching look and I silently pointed to my old and threadbare dress and stockings, and he nodded sharply, then went and took some more coins out of the vault.
"Five Pounds to a Galleon," Griphook answered that question.
"Thank you, sir," I replied to him with a grateful smile and a nod of my head. I received another weird look in return but didn't bother trying to decipher that one either.
That done, we sat back inside the cart and let Griphook bring us back to the surface. I thanked him again after he opened the doors to the main bank and let us through first, and followed Snape outside. I took a deep breath of fresh air and looked up at the professor, waiting to see where he took us next.
