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"Shopping" Dawn squealed as she jumped on Buffy's bed.
"Whassat?" Buffy mumbled not sure if she had heard right.
"Shopping sleepy. Get up so we can go."
"What time is it?"
"Just get up." Dawn bounced up and down forcing Buffy to open her eyes. In a move Dawn had no defence against Buffy was suddenly pinning her younger sister to the bed tickling her into hysterics.
"That's for waking me up…hang on, rewind… did you say shopping?" Buffy's brain had finally registered what was happening about a minute after her reflexes kicked in. Dawn nodded only slightly exasperated with Buffy who immediately jumped off the bed and threw Dawn out her room. "I am so changing that password" she muttered heading for the wardrobe.
Unbelievably soon Buffy emerged from the portrait hole dressed warmly in jeans and a ¾ length padded, waterproof coat.
"Buffy why are you wearing that coat?"
"Duh England rain much."
"Buffy it's summer look out of the window." Dawn shook her head as her older sister pouted at being wrong.
"It could rain later." Dawn stared at Buffy and the older girl turned and stomped back to her room in mock annoyance to change.
A few minutes later both girls were greeted by Dumbledore and Giles in the Great Hall, Buffy now wearing a red and white summer dress.
"Sleep well?" Giles enquired relieved to see a smile on his slayer's face.
"Not bad" Buffy replied amazed that what she was saying was true. That had been one of the best night sleeps she'd had in a while. They sat down at the top table where they had eaten dinner and just as Buffy reached for a piece of toast a few owls flew overhead. Looking up Buffy saw that there was no ceiling to the hall, instead the owls were flying against a blue sky with only the faintest whisps of white clouds. "Uh Giles why is there no roof?" Giles looked faintly surprised at Buffy's question.
"Of course there is Buffy, why on earth would you ask that?" Dawn looked upwards to see what was going on.
"Woah" Giles she's right you know. There is so not a ceiling there."
"It's bewitched" Giles said with an air of someone explaining something that every moron on the planet should know. "It reflects the sky outside, did you not notice it last night?" From the blank faces infront of him Giles assumed no and with a slight clucking sound resumed his breakfast whilst reading a newspaper that had been delivered moments before.
A short while later the three of them were standing once again by the fireplace in Dumbledore's office. They had reluctantly agreed to using floo powder again and Buffy was more than slightly nervous about where they would all end up.
"Do you have your list of equipment Dawn?" Giles asked for the third time and Dawn waved the piece of parchment in his face.
"Geez loosen up Giles" Buffy said looking none too relaxed herself. "Diagon Alley right?"
Giles nodded and began cleaning his glasses rapidly on his jacket as Buffy was whisked away by the emerald fire. This time all went well and they met in a cozy looking pub. Giles and Dawn looked at Buffy who had somehow remained immaculate and then down at themselves in disgust. Giles once again began cleaning his glasses vigorously as Dawn brushed soot off herself.
"Giles where are we?" Dawn was becoming quite suspicious of wizarding pubs but Giles seemed to be familiar with this one.
"The Leaky Cauldron. It's a well known place." Giles was as usual, ready with answers.
"Really?" Buffy wrinkled her nose. "This is the social hangout? No wonder Brits left and came to America."
"Right right." Giles muttered distractedly scanning the room. "Ah Tom could you let us through please."
"Course Mr Giles" a wizened old man wheezed as he shuffled over to the trio. "This way." He led them to a brick wall and tapped one of the bricks with his wand. Infront of their eyes the wall rearranged itself and an archway materialised.
"Welcome to Diagon Alley" Giles announced as they stepped through into the bustling street. "first stop Gringotts" he continued apparently unfazed by the bizarre sights and sounds.
"Mandrake root five sickles"
"Dragon hide 3 galleons a yard"
"Pewter cauldrons 15 galleons." Were just some of the unfamiliar calls that reached Buffy's ears. There seemed to be cloaks everywhere and some 'people' that definitely weren't human. Buffy's 'spider sense' was tingling but not as if vampires were close by just with the feeling of great power and mysticism all around.
Just as Dawn had said the sun was shining brilliantly as they headed towards the impressive marble premises of Gringotts bank.
"Buffy you will meet goblins in Gringotts please do not upset them, they are not evil but may turn nasty if threatened." Giles knew the nature of magical creatures including his slayer.
"So no swords to throats stuff then. Shame."
Dawn gasped as they entered the banking chamber and even Buffy stared very hard at the massively long hall with counters manned by ugly creatures she assumed were goblins, down the sides. As Giles led them to a free counter they saw gold being weighed out, jewels being examined and notes being taken in huge ledgers.
"Excuse me" Giles said to an unoccupied goblin. "We need to visit vaults 913 and 1042 please."
"You have the keys?" Giles extracted two tiny keys from his pocket and the goblin examined them carefully. "These seem to be in order. Very well I will have someone take you to both vaults immediately. Griphook."
A second goblin who Buffy assumed was Griphook led the trio to a rickety cart at the far end of the room. With some trepidation Buffy climbed in between Dawn and Giles who looked fairly nervous. A split second later Buffy knew why as the cart careered down stone passageways at a breakneck speed. Dawn seemed to be enjoying the ride but Giles was turning greener by the second. After what felt like an awful lot longer than it really was the cart shuddered to a halt outside a small door labelled 913.
"This is my stop." Giles said and clambered slowly out of the cart. He walked unsteadily to the door and soon came out again clutching a leather bag. "Can we please go a little slower?" he asked Griphook but the goblin replied
"One speed only."
"I knew he'd say that" Giles muttered settling into the cart once again and closing his eyes. At a door labelled 1042 the cart stopped again and Giles motioned for Buffy and Dawn to get out. He opened the door with the second key and synchronised gasps came from the sister's mouths as they saw the piles of gold, silver and bronze inside. "Yes I thought that might be your reaction." Giles said still shakily.
"It's ours?" Dawn asked not quite daring to believe it.
"Every last knut" Giles confirmed leaning against a stone wall for support. "Your ancestors were apparently very well off and since nobody else has claimed to own the money it's yours."
"Wicked" Dawn exclaimed but Buffy looked thoughtful.
"What's a knut?" She asked wondering just how much money was actually there.
"Knuts are the little bronze ones." Giles explained. "29 knuts to a sickle and 17 sickles to a galleon. It's quite simple really."
"In dollars that would be?"
"There's enough money here to keep even you fully clothed for a good few years." Giles replied with just the hint of sarcasm in his voice displaying his lack of understanding of the need for so many clothes. Buffy chose to ignore this inference and merely responded "Ok then" before stuffing coins into the leather bag on the floor. Several minutes and another crazy cart ride later they were back in the sunshine.