A/N: Thank you Psychonerd 5 for the review.
Disclaimer: I do not and do not believe I will ever own Harry Potter or The Phantom of the Opera, although I wish I did because I would be rich!
Chapter 8
Dingdong's
After departing from the train station, Raoul became confused. Shagrid walked him through London, but nothing seemed at all like a wizard's world. Bookshops, record shops, hamburger restaurants, nothing unusual. Was this all just a joke?
That's what he was convinced until Shagrid pointed out a gourmet restaurant not far away. "The famous Impermeable Cauldron!"
The restaurant sparkled and was a wonder to look at; it was a glass structure with different colored shards on its exterior. The unusual thing was that although it stuck out among everything, most people didn't notice it. They concentrated more on the two pizza places next to it. Despite the unusual fact, Shagrid and Raoul made their way inside.
The interior was just as beautiful. Flower pots hung from the ceilings along with large, crystal chandeliers. Men and women dressed in very fancy clothes sat at the polished tables and large chairs with shining silverware. It was obviously a fancy place, especially after taking a glance at the specials board at the entrance;
Soup of the day: French Onion for thirty scallions.
Other specials: Three course meal - includes desert, main course, and an appetizer for fifty scallions.
Roast beef for sixty scallions.
Raoul was confused by the money. Scallions? Wasn't that a green onion, not a coin? Anyway, whatever it was, it sounded expensive. "Shagrid, what are scallions? Surely you don't pay with onions!"
"No, no, no! It's wizard money. I'll explain later," Shagrid replied in a soft voice. As he said this, people began to look up at him. One of the waiters - a man with well-combed dark hair, dressed in a fancy suit - obviously knew Shagrid well. "Welcome back, my friend! Have a seat."
"Sorry, can't. On Hogwarts business," he responded. Soon enough, though, everyone's attention turned away from Shagrid.
"Oh my gosh!" one man exclaimed. "It's Raoul de Chagny!"
People began leaving their seats and running up to him, shaking hands. Raoul wasn't so sure about how to act. He had never received so much publicity before. Before long, a short, startled looking man with a turban wrapped around his head walked up to him.
"Hullo, Professor Squirrel. Raoul, this is Professor Squirrel. He'll be one of yer teachers at Hogwarts," Shagrid introduced.
"H-hello R-Raoul. I-it's good to m-meet you," Squirrel stammered.
"What sort of magic do you teach?" Raoul asked.
"D-defense Against the D-dark arts. I-it's a g-good s-subject. I-I'm sure you will a-agree."
"I'm sure I will, once I learn some." After this statement, Raoul felt a tug on his arm. It was Shagrid. "Come on, we've got to go!"
Raoul ran after Shagrid as Squirrel stammered goodbye. "So, are we in Diagonal Alley yet?"
"No," Shagrid replied, walking toward a brick wall not far away. "But we will be soon." Once they reached the wall, he began to count the bricks, then tapped his wand on one of them. "Four up, ten across. All right!"
Before long, the brick wall seemed to be vanishing, and they were being warped to a completely new place. It was like London - many shops and restaurants - but yet different. The shops looked more like places a wizard would go; wand shops and cauldron shops for example. It was also crowded with many people.
"This, this is Diagonal Alley," Shagrid explained. "Now, first of all, we need your money. We'll be heading to Dingdong's for that." They continued to walk for another quarter of a mile, but Raoul couldn't have cared less about the walk. He was intrigued by the different items in the shop windows. They passed a pet shop, and did not see dogs and fish, but owls. They passed a potions shop, a cauldron shop, a wand shop, but the one Raoul was most interested in was the broomstick shop. He heard a teenaged boy say, "Look, it's the Cumulus Two-Million! The fastest model yet!" He had seen a long broomstick with its name on its handle in the window, and assumed that was what the boy was speaking of. After overhearing, he wondered how a broomstick could have different speeds, and how could you fly one?
It was not long before they reached Dingdong's. It was a small, black building, and as they reached the entrance they saw -
"A goblin," Shagrid told Raoul, who was looking at the little creature curiously. When they reached the front desk, they saw yet another goblin.
"We'd like to go into Mr. Raoul de Chagny's safe to retrieve some money. I've got his key right here," Shagrid told the goblin as he searched in his overcoat pockets. After pulling a key out, he placed it on the desk. "An' I also have a letter from Professor Dumbledore. Yeh know, Hogwarts business an' stuff," he continued on, taking a letter from his pocket and handing it to the goblin.
"Gripbook, would you mind taking these two down to vault seven-hundred-fourteen for the you-know-what and vault eight-hundred-sixteen," the goblin called to yet another goblin who was passing and worked at the bank. He was handed the key, and Gripbook lead Shagrid and Raoul to a small cart, which they got in.
"What's in vault seven-hundred-fourteen?" Raoul asked as they got in.
"Could never tell yeh that, even if yeh offer'd me the world!" Shagrid responded. "Very secret."
After Shagrid ended, the cart began to zoom through many passageways, plunking deeper and deeper. It was only a matter of minutes before they reached a vault at which the cart stopped at. Gripbook opened the vault, and Raoul gaped at the sight as he exited the cart; it was filled with coins.
"I'm rich!" he exclaimed.
"Yes you are," Shagrid responded. "Now, the gold ones are Scallions, and there are seventeen Silver Hoes to a Scallion, twenty-nine Almonds to a Hoe."
At first, this seemed confusing, but Raoul was convinced he'd learn it soon enough. This wasn't about to bother him now, though. He had just discovered he had a ton of money that he never knew about! He and Shagrid began to stuff a good chunk of the money into a sack. Even though they took a good deal of the coins, there was still at least three quarters of the vault still full.
Once finished, the two got back into the cart, and they were off for vault seven-hundred-fourteen. It didn't take too long to get there, but partly because they were traveling at breakneck speed.
Gripbook got out of the cart this time. He touched the vault door and it vanished.
"If anyone else did that, they'd be sucked into a black hole in outer space," Shagrid told Raoul. "That meter inside, it tells how many people did so."
Raoul was relieved to see it read 0. "How often do you check?"
"Once every thirty years," Gripbook told him as he retrieved a small bag from the vault. He then got back in the cart and handed the bag to Shagrid as the vault's door appeared again.
"Now, it's time to go school shopping!" Shagrid said, his voice increasing volume as the cart sped up, retracing the path it took.
