Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter; I'm just borrowing some stuff.
Chapter Three
When Ellie got into bed that night, she didn't know how she could sleep. She had had such an exciting day.
When she and Mrs. Manning had arrived on the train in London, they walked through some streets until they came to an old looking pub. Mrs. Manning walked in and straight through until she came to a door leading outside into a small yard that contained some dustbins and not much else. There was another family, a man, a woman and a boy, standing in front of them though, facing a wall. The woman turned her head to them when she heard them coming out.
"Oh hello!" she said cheerfully. She looked down at Ellie.
"First year at Hogwarts too?" she asked in a kind voice to Ellie. Ellie nodded. She liked the look of this woman.
The woman laughed lightly and pointed to the boy.
"Jamie too," she said. Jamie gave Ellie a cheeky grin and said hello. Ellie liked the look of him too, and said hello back while the adults exchanged pleasantries.
"Ah, here we go," said the man, who had been introduced as "Mark Logan", and Ellie stared in amazement. A hole had appeared in the wall, and it was getting bigger and bigger until it was big enough for everyone to walk through. The Logan family waved goodbye as they walked off in one direction, and Mrs. Manning pulled Ellie in another direction.
"Now, first things first we'll need money. Muggle money won't do. Now, where is Gringotts again?"
A few minutes later and Ellie found herself and Mrs. Manning standing outside a huge white building. Standing at the door was a small, funny looking creature.
"Goblin," whispered Mrs. Manning to Ellie. "Awful creatures. Very good with money though," Mrs. Manning continued in a low voice as they walked up the steps to the door.
"Good morning!" Mrs. Manning said loudly and cheerfully to the goblin as they passed through the door. The goblin bowed to them. They found another door in front of them with two more bowing goblins. When they passed through these doors, after another cheery "Good morning to you!" from Mrs. Manning they found themselves standing in a large hall. There were goblins everywhere. Mrs. Manning looked mildly disgusted, but quickly masked this by plastering a very fake but pleasant smile on her face. Mrs. Manning steered Ellie towards a counter.
"Good morning!" Mrs. Manning said, in the same cheery tone she had used before. "We are here to make a withdrawal from Miss Eleanora Winterbourne's safe," she said, putting a lot of emphasis on Winterbourne, as if she expected the goblin to be impressed by the name. The goblin did not seem to care.
"Do you have the key, Miss?" the goblin asked.
"Of course!" replied Mrs. Manning, fishing a small golden key out of her handbag.
The goblin stared at the key for a moment, and then nodded. He called another goblin over and muttered to him quickly. The other goblin nodded.
"Follow me," the new goblin said. Mrs. Manning and Ellie walked after him, Ellie looking from left to right in wonder at all the strange sights in this funny bank.
A few minutes later and they were all in a cart, hurtling through a maze of passages. Mrs. Manning tapped the goblin on the shoulder and asked if they could slow down.
"Sorry, one speed only," said the goblin.
Mrs. Manning sat back, looking very green in the face. Ellie thought this cart-ride was amazing. She was almost sorry when they whooshed to a stop. Mrs. Manning got out a little unsteadily. She had to hold on to Ellie's arm for support.
"Dear, oh dear," she muttered under her breath, and fanned herself with her handbag.
A small door was set into the wall. The goblin asked for the key, and Mrs. Manning gave it to him with a shaky hand. The goblin opened the door and stepped back. Mrs. Manning stepped inside and Ellie gingerly followed. When she saw the contents of the room, her eyes nearly fell out of her head.
Piled high, almost floor to ceiling, were mounds upon mounds of gold coins. There was also a pile of silver coins in a corner, and Ellie saw a patch of bronze in another corner.
"Is this all mine?" asked Ellie breathlessly.
"Oh yes. I told you the Winterbournes were a very prestigious family. You are all that is left and therefore all their wealth belongs to you," said Mrs. Manning. She began to scoop up a handful of coins and gestured to Ellie to open her bag.
"Here we go, this should do," she said, dumping the coins in her bag and walking towards the door.
"Wait!" Ellie called. Mrs. Manning turned around.
"Mrs. Manning, I had no idea! If I had known, I would have given you money to help pay for my keep. You've always talked about what a burden it is to have to pay for my food and clothes and things. Here," Ellie said, and began to scoop up more coins.
Mrs. Manning went red in the face.
"No dear, there's, ah, no need! Happy to do it you know!" she said, trying to stop Ellie from giving her a handful of gold coins.
The goblin, who had been waiting outside the door, scoffed.
"She already gets a pile of Galleons every month for your keep," the goblin said.
Ellie looked confused, and Mrs. Manning turned quickly and tried to shush the goblin. The goblin only smirked back.
"I've transferred them a couple of times myself. Likes to have the Galleons converted to Muggle money," the goblin continued.
Mrs. Manning laughed nervously, as Ellie looked at her, horrified.
"You mean all this time you've been paid to look after me, and you've been making me feel guilty because I thought you spent your own money on me?" Ellie asked incredulously.
Mrs. Manning laughed nervously again.
"Now child, let's not worry about it," she said, attempting to smile.
Ellie shook her head, disgusted. She dropped the handful of coins on to the floor and walked past Mrs. Manning and out of the room. Mrs. Manning followed and got back into the cart. When the goblin got back in after locking the door he made to hand the key to Mrs. Manning, but Ellie snatched it quickly.
"I think I had better take this," she said, glaring at Mrs. Manning. Mrs. Manning looked flustered. The goblin continued to smirk.
Once back outside in the sunlight, Mrs. Manning seemed a lot more polite, Ellie thought. She kept asking her nicely (although through somewhat gritted teeth now and then) what she wanted to do next, and didn't drag her by the arm as she usually did. After a couple of hours, Ellie had gotten everything she needed for Hogwarts. Mrs. Manning suggested getting a burger somewhere in London before they went home. Ellie could tell Mrs. Manning was trying to appease her, but she agreed. It was rare that Mrs. Manning would allow junk food of any sort.
Mrs. Manning had not said much on the train journey home, and Ellie had been quiet too, thinking about Hogwarts. She couldn't wait to put on her new robes (that's what those gown things were called!) and try out her wand. Mrs. Manning had told her sternly that she could not use her wand outside of Hogwarts. Ellie had been disappointed to hear this – there was still five whole weeks before term started! That seemed like forever.
Now Ellie was lying in her bed, these thoughts swirling around her head and she was wide-awake. She sat up suddenly, remembering something from yesterday. The diary she had found and the letters, she had not looked at them yet! It was something to do since she couldn't get to sleep.
Ellie slipped out of her bed and padded over to the wardrobe. She fished out the diary and the letters and then went back and plopped down on her bed. She tried to open the diary first, but to her dismay, she found it was locked. Perhaps there was a key in that old chest. Dare she go upstairs to find out? It seemed scary to go wandering about the attic in the middle of the night, but also very thrilling. She tiptoed to her door and opened it slowly. She peaked her head out and listened for Mrs. Manning. She heard a familiar snore coming from the room across the landing, signalling that Mrs. Manning was fast asleep. She debated what to do next. It would be dark in the attic and she didn't know if there was a light switch up there. She hadn't seen one yesterday anyway. She'd need a torch. She had a cheap toy one somewhere in the toy chest in her room so she went to go and find it.
It was slow work, as Ellie had to quietly empty out the toys until she found what she was looking for. Luckily, the torch still worked when Ellie tried it. Ellie felt very excited now. This was a real adventure!
She crept out of her room quietly and walked towards the staircase. She tiptoed up, holding her breath whenever a stair creaked. Mrs. Manning appeared to be a sound sleeper however, and didn't stir. Across the second landing and up the next stairs and Ellie had made it! The small beam from her torch cast a pale glow on whatever lay in front of it. Ellie thought it made everything seem eerie and mysterious. It was also quite scary.
Ellie found the chest from yesterday and began to rummage through it. She looked for a good five minutes, before reluctantly concluding that the key to the diary was not in the chest. Now what? Ellie swept the torch around her, but all she could see were sheets which, in the pale light, looked like ghosts. She jumped at first, and then laughed at herself for being so silly. Suddenly she heard a loud screech right in her ear and something brushed past her hair. Ellie froze for a second in fright, and then took to her heels and scrambled to the stairs. She shot down the first staircase and then across the landing to the next staircase. She tripped halfway down the second staircase and tumbled down to the bottom of the stairs. She was aware she'd probably woken up Mrs. Manning with the racket she had just made so she tore into her room, knocked off the light and leapt into bed. She was only just in time as she heard the floor in Mrs. Manning's room creaking. A moment later and she made out a head looking in her door. She crammed her eyes shut and pretended to be asleep, although her heart was pounding so fast that she was sure Mrs. Manning would guess she was really awake.
Mrs. Manning however was convinced that Ellie was asleep. What was that noise that woke her up then? A sudden terrifying thought struck her. Could it be burglars? Mrs. Manning froze in the middle of the landing, not sure what to do next. To her horror, she heard a padding sound on the carpet, as if someone was walking towards her. Something rubbed up against her legs and she shrieked. Then she heard a familiar sound, purring. It was just the cat!
"Oh dear," Mrs. Manning thought, her knees suddenly feeling very weak. "I'm too old for all of this."
Satisfied that the cat had probably caused the noise she had heard, she went back to her room and got back into bed. At least she hadn't woken up Eleanora, she thought to herself. She felt rather foolish. Fancy being scared of a cat!
Ellie had heard Mrs. Manning shriek, and instinctively she'd leapt out of bed and rushed to the door, but she stopped when she got there as she could make out the cat in the moonlight, rubbing herself against Mrs. Manning's legs. Phew! Mrs. Manning went back to her room, and Ellie closed her door softly and went back to her bed. Mrs. Manning probably thought it was the cat that had made the noise. But what had made the noise she had heard in the attic. That definitely wasn't any cat. Cat's don't' screech like that. Something had brushed her hair too. Ellie shuddered thinking about it again. Ellie puzzled over it for a long time, until she fell asleep. She couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation though. She was sure of one thing though, she would never go up to that attic in the middle of the night again!