'Intriguing...' muttered Lilith, distracting Harry from the sudden influx of sights.
'What?' Harry mentally questioned his companion who had been oddly silent recently.
There was a momentary silence in his mind before Lilith responded. 'As we went through the portal behind us, there was a strong peak in black magic, that faded the moment we finished transiting. Additionally it seems we're outside of normal space-time, we're inside a magical pocket that's bigger on the inside than the outside.'
'It's also almost undetectable from the outside as well,' Lilith mentioned a moment later thoughtfully, 'I've never seen anything like this.'
'So... Impressive?' Harry asked curiously, he knew she had a far higher bar for impressive magical stunts. If it caught her attention it was likely to be something rare or powerful.
'Very...' Lilith responded wryly as she extended her presence further down Diagon Alley, probing and sampling the various magical elements around, 'the rest of the magic however seems much more mundane.'
Harry ran his green cat slit eyes over the rows of shops with their bright magical displays, signs declaring strange magical items prices and equal bizzare customers that swarmed around the shops, practically filling the alley. One shop had a stacks of cauldrons lying outside it whilst another had a bunch of boys eagerly looking at... a broomstick? A soft hoot caught his attention to a shop with a huge selection of various owls, the sign above proudly proclaiming 'Eeylops Owl Emporium – Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown and Snowy'.
"Yep, them are owls. One of the best pets yeh can get, they can deliver mail for yeh. Dead useful." Hagrid explained knowledgeably as he caught where Harry was looking, "Come on Harry, Gotta get to Gringotts. Yeh'll need some money if yer to buy yer school supplies."
"What's Gringotts?" Harry asked confused, looking up at the giant next to him as they began walking down the crowded street. To be honest, it wasn't as bad as it seemed since the combination of Hagrid's sheer size and Harry's aura meant they had a comfortable space around them.
"Blimey, I didn't tell yeh about Gringotts?" Hagrid asked as he looked down to Harry, only to see the shake of Harry's head. "Sorry, Harry. Well Gringotts is the Wizarding Bank."
Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Wizards have a bank?"
Hagrid laughed, a large booming laugh that echoed down the alley and gathered them more than a few stare. "Cause wizards a bank, Harry. Yeh didn't think that they just hide all their money at home?" He questioned amused before shaking his big shaggy head, "Gringotts is the wizard bank. Run by goblins it is."
"Goblins?" Harry questioned, not hugely surprised and he had a feeling that he'd meet a number of other fantasy creatures that weren't so fantasy. "You mean goblins as in short, green... things?"
"Yeah, mean buggers when they want to be. Never mess with a goblin Harry. Thats why Gringotts is the safest place in the world – 'cept maybe Hogwarts. As a matter of fact, I gotta visit Gringotts anyway. Fer Dumbledore. Hogwarts business," Hagrid drew himself up proudly, "He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer him. Fetchin' you – getting things from Gringotts – knows he can trust me, see"
'Not one to boast much is he?' Lilith mused coolly inside his mind as they walked along side Hagrid.
'Seems he really respects this Dumbledore character' Harry thought back, 'It's probably something similar to how people boast about knowing celebrates or something'
"Ah, 'ere we are, Gringotts," Hagrid announced standing outside a large snow-white building that dwarfed all the other building's around it. The doors where huge burnished bronze doors and standing besides them were two strange creatures that Harry assumed were goblins, different from the mythological ones by their facial hair and long fingers.
"That's a goblin," Hagrid said quietly as they walked up the snow white steps of the building to the huge bronze doors which were opened by the two goblins who bowed as the pair walked past. Beyond that door was yet another door, this time silver with an inscription written on it.
Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed,
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn,
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there.
"Like I said, yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it," said Hagrid.
Lilith shifted restlessly on Harry's shoulder, he was about what was up when her bemused voice entered his head. ' I wonder, I wonder... Has anyone ever tried stealing the doors?' Lilith wondered malicious bemusement as she noted the large variety of nasty spells covering the doors.
Harry rolled his eyes at that and followed Hagrid deeper yet into the bank. ' If you must, do so when my life is not in jeopardy'
' As if yo... ' Lilith's sentence was suddenly cut off and her body on his shoulder suddenly froze. She chuckled inside his head a few moments later as her body began moving again. ' Amusing!' she declared, excitement clear in her voice, ' Forget seeking the treasures beneath these floors, I'm going seek the DRAGONS! Hehe... such fun to play with even if they seem to be dumb creatures '
Lilith paused in mock thought, ' Then again, all dragons are savage animals. So not much difference.'
'Lilith...' Harry tried to put a warning tone in his voice to discourage her from whatever it was she was planning on doing. He doubted it would work since she never paid any attention when he had tried to stop her before and so was somewhat surprised plus suspicious when she calmed down inside his head without even a protest. Great, now he'd probably cemented the idea into her deranged little head.
Harry stepped up to the counter along with Hagrid with a sense of paranoia hanging over him, the bird on his shoulder acting like an innocent albeit highly trained raven.
"Morning," said Hagrid to the first free goblin along the counter. "We've come ter take some money outta Mr Harry Potter's safe."
"You have his key, sir?" the goblin asked, blinking up at the large man and then turning to look at Harry himself before it looked back at Hagrid.
"Wait, I have a vault? With money of my own?" Harry asked surprised, "How come I never heard of this? I thought I was getting some money off the school funds or something..."
The Goblin looked up surprised by the barrage of questions that interrupted its usual routine and peered closely at Harry through it glasses before its eyes flickered up onto the raven which rested on his shoulders.
' Oh you can see me can't you little goblin... ' Lilith whispered predator like into Harry's mind, ' I don't scare or bother you though. Hmmm... '
The goblin's gaze stayed there for a long moment although it made no sign of actually realizing what the raven was before it slowly returned its gaze to Harry's face. "I'm afraid I can not release that information sir without proof of your identification," the goblin stated in a authoritarian tone, "if you have the key?" he asked in a way that said the key was suitable identification.
"Right," Hagrid exclaimed as the pairs eyes focused on him and he started patting down his pockets, removing the occasional thing. The goblin wrinkled his nose as Hagrid dropped a packet of battered sausages and moldy biscuits across its book of numbers. "Ah, got it!" Hagrid exclaimed at last, holding the tiny key up.
The goblin peered closely at the key with its glasses before nodding. "That seems to be in order."
"So about the vault?" Harry asked curiously, he had never owned a bank account of any description especially not a magical one.
The goblins long fingers brushed the moldy biscuits and sausages off his book before tapping it once hard with his finger, the writing on the book faded out and new writing appeared in its place. "Ah..." murmured the goblin as he flicked through the pages, "the vault your key opens was created by your parents, Mr James Potter and Mrs Lily Potter, in your name, Mr Harry Potter, as a fund for when you went to Hogwarts, school of witchcraft and wizardry," the goblin gave a little sneer at the name, "vault contains four thousand galleons, twenty five thousand five hundred silver sickles and thirty four thousand five hundred and ten bronze knuts."
Harry gapped, "That... sounds... like an awful lot of money," he said weakly, feeling a little faint. He doubted the Dursleys knew he had this sort of money behind him or they'd have stolen it all long ago.
The goblin raised an eyebrow and steeped its long fingers together, "Twenty seven thousand, eight hundred and fifty pounds at current exchange rate," the goblin offered helpfully.
' You know Harry, that's the funds your parents left for your education. Who knows what other funds you have access to? Hmmm?' Lilith purred silkily into his mind, Harry could tell that she was enjoying this.
Harry's mouth dried, "Ar-Are there any more vaults I have access to?... I mean... did my parents have any vaults of their own?" Harry asked nervously.
The goblin tilted his head at him before he reached over to grab a sheet of parchment and lay it in front of him along with a needle. "This is a magically enchanted piece of parchment, place a drop of your blood on the paper and it will reveal all the Gringott vaults attached to your name," explained the goblin disinterestedly.
"'Ere Harry, I'm not sure yer supposed ter be doing this. Dumbledore did say ter get yeh 'nough money to get yer school stuff," Hagrid spoke up having silent watched the whole interaction and now worried about Harry messing about with his finances, he didn't want the boy to end up spending all his money.
"I just want to find out if my parents left me anything, is that so wrong?" Harry pleaded, staring at Hagrid with great big pupp... er... kitty eyes that shone brightly. Even though none human eyes would creep some people out, they had the desired effect on Hagrid.
'Devious...' Lilith mentally smirked, ruffling her feathers, ' I like it '
"W-Well I.. er... All right, but yer not ter be taking anything out. Dumbledore's orders. Yep," Hagrid stated, nodded his head as he tried to reassert his authority.
Harry hugged the larger man, "Thank you, Hagrid!"
"Erm.. well... yea'.." The giant stuttered embarrassed, "best get on with it then."
Harry nodded and stepped away, pricking his finger on the needle and letting a few drops of blood drop down on the piece of parchment where they were absorbed. He didn't have to wait long for the results as three lines of text appeared on the piece of parchment. The goblin picked up the sheet of parchment and looked it over for a moment.
"Hmmm... yes," murmured the goblin, "it seems Mr Harry Potter that you have three accounts in your name. The first is your school fund, of which you already know about and has a withdrawal limit of five hundred galleons per year. The second is the Potter family vault which contains one hundred and sixty thousand galleons, four thousand nine hundred and seventy seven silvear sickles and zero bronze knuts. Thats the six hundred fifty seven thousand, three hundred twenty one pounds at current exchange rate. The account also contains a variety of other items including books and jewelry, however most is unlisted. As the last surviving member of the Potter family you will gain access to that vault when you come of age at your seventeenth birthday."
The goblin returned to its book and flipped through a few pages before turning to face Harry again with sneer. "The last remaining vault was gifted to you by your godfather, one Sirius Black. Vault contents include ten thousand galleons, one rubber chicken and a charmed inflatable sheep," the goblin wrinkled his nose, "this is also unavailable until you come of age at seventeen."
The goblin steeped his long fingers again and awaited Harry's response.
"Who is Sirius Black?" Harry asked confused as to why someone would give him so much money and such... weird items, "why would he give me this?"
"It's is not my job to speculate on wizarding society young master," the goblin commented carefully as he narrowed his eyes, "I have told you all I know about this matter."
Harry turned to face his giant companion who was looking distinctly unhappy all of a sudden. "Hagrid?" he asked as an open ended question.
"Bad blood. Bad blood, the lot of 'em. Yeh just forget about Sirius Black, no good never came from asking about people in Azkaban, Mark my words," Hagrid stated angry faced and firm in his belief.
Harry frowned and asked the obvious question, "Azkaban?"
Hagrid face became stormy, "I shouldn't have said that... I should not have said that..." he mutters angry with himself.
The goblin coughed, "Well, now if that is all, I'll have someone show you to the vaults."
Hagrid suddenly looked up as if he'd only just remembered something.
"Ah! I've also got a letter from Professor Dumbledore," said Hagrid importantly, throwing out his chest. "It's about the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen."
Lilith could sense a peak of annoyance from the goblin as it took the letter off Hagrid and read it through carefully, the annoyance abating as it got further through the letter until it handed the letter back to Hagrid. "Very well," it said, now actually knowing what the giant was actually going on about, "I've have someone take you down to both vaults."
What followed was a hair raising race through the tunnels located beneath the bank, it became immediately obvious what the goblins meant by treasure beneath their floors. The vaults had to be miles beneath London and the ride down was a wild one, so much so that Hagrid was looking somewhat worse for the wear. When flying through the tunnels, they narrowly missed getting fried by a dragon as their cart zoomed passed it, Lilith's accuracy was somewhat greater than the dragons and not limited by pesky things such as physical location. One blast of scalding pain later and the result was one rampaging dragon crashing through the vaults above them somewhere as its handlers tried to control the beast with little luck.
Interesting, there goblin guide seemed somewhat uninterested by the commotion caused and even seemed somewhat irritated.
"Wizards insisting on dragon for protection... protection... ha! More damage..." The goblin quietly grumbled under his breath as the cart rolled to a stop and the goblin got out, heading towards a vault.
"Key please," asked the goblin holding his hand out waiting for the key which Hagrid dropped into his hand. The goblin then turned around, inserted the key and with a deft twist opened the vault door. A huge cloud of green smoke came billowing out and as it cleared Harry's eyes were assaulted by many shiny things. It was one thing to be told how much money you had in your vault but it was an entirely different thing to see it for yourself, four thousand galleons looked awe inspiring in person.
"All yours," smiled Hagrid.
"Its... its incredible," Harry breathed as his eyes trailed over it.
"Well yeh better grab some," Hagrid told him, "The gold ones are galleons, seventeen silver sickles to a galleon and twenty-nine knuts to a sickle. Its easy enough."
'Easy for who?' Harry thought a bit disgruntled as he shoved some into a bag.
'Well obviously not you, ' Lilith thought back in a smug way as Harry shoved a last handful into the bag, her attention was predominately taken by scouting out all the vaults. She was planning which vaults she would hit in her grand robbery, it would be glorious... hundreds of vaults robbed, security helpless before her and on her way out... she'd nick those shiny silver doors. Her raven body's eyes gleamed at the thought, the sheer bedlam such an event would cause in this small little world.
After Harry had finished filling his bag, they got back in the cart and one heart stopping trip later arrived outside another vault, this time much deeper in the depths of Gringotts.
"Stand back please!" the goblin announced importantly, checking to see if everyone was out of the way before stroking the door with one finger. The door just melted away.
"If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped in there," the goblin explained at Harry's look.
"How often do you check to see if anyone's inside?" Harry couldn't help but ask.
"About once every ten years," the goblin replied with a rather nasty grin.
Lilith chuckled cruelly into his mind as something caught her attention, 'I think they're going to check these vaults in the next three or four years. They should probably check the one behind us first…'
Harry frowned, turning to look behind him to find out what on earth she was talking about. The sight of another vault door was all he needed to make sense of her words and he paled at the implications. Lilith snorted softly, Harry was still to soft on some things. How was she going to show him how to have a good time if a little human death upset him?
Harry shuddered almost as if sensing her thoughts, turning back towards the vault Hagrid had walked into just in time to see him stuff something into his coat pocket. 'I wonder what that was?' He thought loudly wanting to get Lilith's attention.
' Just some weak and useless magical transformation item,' Lilith replied dismissively, not really seeing why such an item was in a high security vault, ' I've got better magical junk if you want some... '
Harry hmmm'd his interest as he followed Hagrid back to the cart and up to the surface.