Victoria stepped out of a very large fireplace at the end of the long entryway in Gringotts. There were a few creases in her dress as a result of her travels with Floo Powder, and she smoothed them down with hands that she had to will herself to keep still. She was so excited to be back in the wizarding world, back in Gringotts, that she stood staring at the inside of the snowy white building. She watched the hustle and bustle of witches and wizards with their Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts. She was awed all over again, seeing women and men in long, flowing robes of multiple different colors; and a smile played over her rosebud lips as she watched the small goblins handle precious things of all sorts with their long fingers.
She was so caught up in the moment that she had forgotten to move out of the way of the fireplace. Albert ended up coming through the large marble archway directly behind her, and without realizing she was there, took a step forward. Albert's foot got tangled in Victoria's skirts and he began to fall forward. He tried to grab onto Victoria's dress to steady himself, only she was still trying to figure out what had happened. The result was a very large fall, in which Victoria and Albert tumbled over each other multiple times, and a very loud squeel from Victoria.
Standing up very carefully and trying to retain her dignity after causing such a scene, Victoria looked about the room, and found every pair of eyes resting on her, human and goblin both. She blushed a very deep crimson, and tried to smile an apology, finding only that she was unable to smile in her embarassment. Albert was still on the floor, his knees up, arms resting on them, sitting in a casual position as if nothing had happened. He acted as if he was there simply for his own pleasure. Victoria cast her eyes down at the floor. She had no desire to see everyone stare at her.
When things had settled down again, or so it sounded by the regular shuffling of feet, clanking of metal on metal and such things, Albert spoke up. "So Vic, are you going to help me up, or are you just going to stand there?"
Still heartily embarassed and ashamed, Victoria snapped back, "Get up yourself."
"Well now," Albert said, using a reasonable tone, "that's no way to treat a friend." He pushed himself up off the ground to stand next to Victoria. "Right then. Cheer up. No need to worry, nobody will remember. Well, you need to exchange that Muggle money you've got there for some real money and I need to head down to my vault to pick up some money of my own."
"All right," she responded.
Albert took her hand and pulled her over to the counter, since she still looked like she wasn't ready to move. A goblin with a particularly swarthy face sat there, counting Galleons. The goblin was seemingly caught up in his counting, and didn't notice their presence, so Albert spoke up. "Good afternoon, sir."
The goblin looked up, his eyes narrowing. "Yes?"
"This lady here needs to exchange Muggle money for wizard money, and I've a need to access my vault. The name's Albert Logan," he said, pushing Victoria up to the counter. He then pulled out the key to his vault and set it near the goblin's long fingers.
Victoria handed her bag of Muggle gold over to the goblin, who snatched it away from her and poured it out onto the counter. He counted it carefully, examining each piece closely, and when he was satisfied pushed all the coins back into the bag and set it under the counter. He came back up with a bagful of Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts. "This for Hogwarts?" he asked.
"Yes, it most certainly is."
"You're lucky, it should be just enough for all your books and things." Victoria refrained from rolling her eyes. She knew very well it was "just enough". That was a result of careful planning. The goblin continued, "Now for the vault." He picked the key up, examining it as carefully as he had the Muggle money. "Looks to be in good shape. Follow me."
The goblin lead them through one of the many doorways leading to the vaults. The goblin then whistled, and a small cart came speeding down the tracks on the floor. All three of them got in and sat down, the goblin perched on the front of the cart. They went speeding along, and Victoria found that her mood improved as the cool air flowed past her face. She shut her eyes, enjoying the ride and smiling the whole way. Albert watched her, glad to see her mood was improving significantly. All too soon, the ride was over, and the goblin shouted out, "Vault 426!" He stepped out of the cart and opened the door to Albert's vault. Albert stepped inside, opened up a rather large money bag, and began to pile quite a few coins into it, many of them golden Galleons. Victoria couldn't help but watch in envy as Albert stood in front of all those riches. She sighed, not nearly satisfied with her own family's wealth, but it would have to do.
When Albert was done filling up his bag, he stepped back into the cart and sat down, taking his sweet time. He smiled at the goblin, who was now glaring because of the delay. Once Albert was settled, the cart took off in the direction it had come down from. Within moments it was slowing down. At the end of the ride, the goblin pulled sharply on the brake lever, causing the cart to jolt. Victoria slid of her seat and landed on the bottom of cart. Somehow from there she slid down onto the ground just next to it. Albert stepped off next to her - apparantly his balance had been better - and bent over, putting a hand under her elbow and hoisting her up with apparant ease.
Once standing, Victoria dusted off her behind, trying to look behind her to see if her dress was still in good shape. Albert, still standing next to her, took a peak over her shoulder. "Looks fine to me," he drawled. He smiled, while Victoria's mouth twisted into a frown.
"Very funny, Albert," she said, giving him a playful slap on the face. Indeed, it was quite funny considering she had to reach up to do so.
The two walked out together, being careful to be extremely quiet and not trip over anything on the way. Victoria had had enough falls for one day. They made their way through the bank, and to the door leading outside. Victoria squinted against the bright sunlight, her eyes used to dark, torch-lit passageways. Finding squinting was not enough, she put a hand over her eyes and concentrated on walking down the steps without a mishap. Albert was one step ahead of her, humming to himself. Victoria found it a pleasant tune, and much better than his annoying habit of whistling all the time, and simply listened.
Victoria and Albert stopped first in the Apothecary. Victoria needed to pick up some more belladona, bicorn horn, boomslang skin, fluxweed, and lacewing flies. Albert had stopped at the Apothecary about a month ago, so he said, and needed no more supplies. So the two stepped outside into the sunlight once more.
Scanning through Albert's list, Victoria saw one thing she hadn't planned on buying. "Dress robes?" she asked. "What on earth would we need dress robes for? They've never been on our list of supplies in the past..."
Albert shrugged. "Some school function or something, I suppose."
"But I haven't the money for dress robes! I still need to pick up all my books, and I've got just barely enough for that. I won't even have any money left over to buy ice cream when we meet up with Kathrine!"
"Don't worry. I'll buy them for you." Victoria glared at him, her eyes sharp. Albert caught on quickly. "Of course you'll have to pay me back," he amended. "I'm not that generous."
Victoria gave a short nod at this, though she wasn't nearly satisfied, and felt upset at letting Albert pay for her. She started walking down the street to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, setting a quick pace. Albert had been staring at a display of the new broom called the Comet, and didn't realize Victoria had started walking. "How about that broom, Vic? Isn't it a beauty?" When he got no response, he turned around to find her halfway down the street already. "Vic! Wait for me!" He jogged to catch up to her. Upon reaching her, he put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "Hold on, I need a rest."
"That couldn't have been a thousand paces, Albert." She folded her arms. "You can't possibly be that tired. And besides, it's most certainly not my fault if you're unaware of people around you." She shrugged, detatching his hand from her shoulder, and continued walking down the street. After passing by a few more shops, including Eeylops Owl Emporium, where she had bought Hercules, she entered Madam Malkin's. Albert, being very careful not to lose her again, was one step behind her.