CHAPTER 2
They walked toward the building and read the inscription carved into the white stone above the door: GRINGOTTS BANK. As they walked up the steps, the goblin guard at the door opened it for them with a nod.
"Thank you," said Clara as they walked through the first door and found themselves standing before a pair of silver doors with writing engraved upon them. Clara read, "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."
"Well, I'll have to keep that in mind," the Doctor said as another pair of goblins opened the door and they walked through.
What they saw was beyond anything they could have imagined. They were at the head of a very long aisle surrounded on each side by very tall desks, each with a goblin sitting at it. Some were counting stacks of gold, some were weighing precious stones, and some were helping customers in bright robes.
There was a desk to their left that had a sign that read "Information" on it. The Doctor confidently strode up to it with Clara trailing behind him, holding his psychic paper in front of him.
"I need to speak to whomever is in charge here," he commanded.
The goblin at the information desk looked up at him, shrewdly inspected the card, then looked back at the Doctor.
"Another Ministry inspection, eh?" he muttered as he looked behind the Doctor at Clara. "Please wait one moment."
The goblin stood up from his desk and walked through a door behind him. While he was gone, Clara looked at the Doctor.
"This looks like London, but no London I've ever seen," she said. "Is this London sometime in the past?"
"Yes, well, not exactly. The readings I took in the TARDIS said we were pretty much right in the middle of London the same day we left," explained the Doctor. "I have to be honest, though. This is no London I've ever seen, either."
Clara's eyes widened in mock surprise as she teased, "The Doctor doesn't know what's going on? I am aghast!"
The Doctor looked around distractedly, "Well, I'm not particularly fond of it myself." The Doctor stopped looking around and looked directly at Clara. "I'm not used to not knowing what's going on. But there is something about this place that seems familiar. I just can't put my finger on it."
As the Doctor was speaking, the door that the goblin had gone through opened again and the goblin walked through with an even more gruesome looking goblin who must have been the manager.
The manager inspected the two outsiders and croaked, "I am Granok, the manager of Gringott's. How may I help you?"
The Doctor held out his psychic paper and responded, "I am the Doctor and this is my associate, Clara. We have been alerted to a security concern and have been sent to review your security protocols."
Granok's eyes narrowed suspiciously and his face grew even more sour. "Psychic paper, eh?" he sighed. "Well, we've been expecting you. Follow me."
He turned and went back through the door with the Doctor and Clara following with blank looks on their faces. He led them into an enormous, windowless office with a large mahogany desk. The desk was covered with papers, coins, and jewels and there was another door at the back of the room. The walls were lined with shelves that were stocked with books, scales, measuring devices, and various other tools. Granok pointed them toward two plush, leather chairs sitting in front of the desk.
As the Doctor and Clara sank into the chairs, Granok turned to them.
"Now would you mind telling me who you really are and why you're here?"
The Doctor looked at Clara and shrugged.
"Well, like I said," said the Doctor, "I'm the Doctor…"
"I know who you are, Doctor," Granok interrupted. "What I don't know is how you found us and why you are here."
"Well, why shouldn't I be here?" the Doctor retorted incredulously.
At that moment, the other door to the office swung open and a tall, wiry man with a long grey beard walked into the office. He was wearing an emerald green robe with jeweled accents on it. He had very intelligent eyes that seemed to penetrate the Doctor and Clara as he appraised them.
"You shouldn't be here, Doctor, because you weren't supposed to be able to find us," the new entrant explained.
"But here I am," quipped the Doctor. "So perhaps it would be best to tell me where I am and why I should not have been able to find you."
The man considered the two of them for a moment before turning to Granok. Granok simply shrugged.
"I, good Doctor, am Wilson Upshot. And I am a wizard," explained Upshot. "You are currently sitting in Gringott's, the wizard's bank in Diagon Alley."
"And where is Diagon Alley?" asked Clara.
"Why, it is in the middle of London, Miss Oswald."
Clara started, "How do you know my name?"
"You still haven't explained why I should not have been able to find you. Perhaps you could illuminate us?" pressed the Doctor before Upshot could answer.
Upshot sighed deeply before proceeding. "You weren't supposed to find us, Doctor, because we are supposed to be hidden. Yes, even from a Time Lord and even from a TARDIS."
Clara spun in her seat toward the Doctor with a look of shock on her face. The Doctor, however, remained calm and cool.
"So you know about the TARDIS and you know that I'm a Time Lord?" he asked.
"But of course, Doctor," Upshot said with a smile. "After all, so am I."