Hermione on Holiday
Chapter 4 Gelt and Guilt at Gringotts
Hermione stood in the area behind the Leaky Cauldron and tapped the brick wall in the prescribed way.
Her parents had refused to spring for the idea of renting a polo pony for several days. Paying for a ride on an ordinary horse on Saturday afternoon was one thing, but now Hermione needed a specially trained horse, and days of practice, and her parents thought it too much. It wasn't that they were broke or stingy; they just thought it was too big an expenditure "just to impress a boy you won't see after autumn comes" as her mother had said.
At an earlier stage in life, Hermione might have given in. But she had been exposed to the Weasley twins for five years, and had actually gone into opposition against Umbridge, and had learnt to be a little rebellious. Plus, though she would not admit it to herself, the polo project gave her an excuse to put off deciding what to do about a Muggle education.
A relative had bequeathed her some investments a few years ago, but Hermione had promised not to touch them except for emergencies. But there was a third alternative. Harry had come into a lot of Galleons a year ago as a reward for winning the Tri-Wizard competition. Although he had given the bulk of it to the Weasley twins, for their planned magic shop, he had also given portions to Hermione and Ron. Those portions were in Gringotts.
The wall finally opened to let Hermione into Diagon Alley.
The sight of the Alley was startling. When she had first come here five years ago, she had felt like Alice in Wonderland: shop after shop of literally magical merchandise. Now many of the stores had gone downhill, some to the point of closing. Ollivanders was vacant, as Ron had warned her. It was a good thing that she had rescued her wand last Saturday.
The best sign of life was some distance from the entrance: Fred and George were fixing up a vacant store, obviously intending to open their magic shop there. One of the twins – Hermione couldn't tell which one, even after all these years- was standing outside. He smiled and waved, walking towards her. He probably wouldn't even mind her confusion, since impersonating each other was one of their favourite pranks.
"Hullo, Hermione, what brings you here?" asked Fred or George.
"I'm on my way to Gringotts, but I also hoped that you could help me with a bit of magic."
"You need help with magic? The world is coming to an end!"
"It's not that I can't do it." She took two polo balls out of her pocket. "I want to be able to summon these over and over, but I can't use Accio, because it would be Underage Magic. And after what happened to Harry last year at the Wizangemot--"
"In other words, you want to break the spirit of the law while observing the letter," observed the twin.
"Um--"
"Glad to be of help. By embodying the magic charm in the ball, to be triggered when you utter the proper phrase, you won't set off the Trace."
"Yes."
"I'll hex them so that they will show up whenever you say, 'I wish I had some balls.' "
Hermione giggled. "Could we pick a different phrase?"
"Ah, you got the double entendre. Ron usually doesn't. All right, just say 'Boomerang Ball'." He tapped the balls with his wand.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome. What're the balls for, may I ask?"
"There's a game called polo, sort of like Quidditch. You ride a horse, waving a mallet, and try to hit a ball into a goal. But I've got to practice on my own some, and I don't want to use up all my time chasing after balls."
"I thought Muggles didn't ride horses anymore. They prefer machines."
"It's sport. How often do you ride a broomstick to work?"
"Touche. Well, good luck playing with your balls, and remember to come back when we open the shop."
"I will. So you're not coming back to Hogwarts? Umbridge is gone, after all."
"Nah, it's time to do something different."
They parted, and Hermione continued to the bank.
The interior of the bank was as solemn as usual, but did not show the depressing decay that she had found in the rest of Diagon Alley. After all, individual shops could come and go, but the goblins of Gringotts performed an irreplaceable service, and did so without abusing it. The bank would prosper when nothing else would.
In the grand central hall, she went up to a goblin teller. "I'd like to make a withdrawal."
The Goblin seemed to grimace at the word "withdrawal", though it was hard to tell the difference. "How much, madam?"
Hermione presented the estimate she had gotten from the stables. "This much, and it has to be in pounds. Do I have to go down to the vault?" She disliked riding the transport cart; although underground, it rushed over even deeper areas, and created another problem with acrophobia.
"Not when we're converting currency, madam. We'll remove an equivalent amount from your vault."
Good thing Goblins are trustworthy, thought Hermione. I'd hate to have an unwatched banker misuse my money. "Thank you."
So she had charmed polo balls for practice, and money to pay for the more expensive items. Hermione left the bank feeling very pleased.
The summer sun had gotten hot, and Hermione withdrew into a shady niche in the outside wall to cool off for a moment. She heard an odd noise from a couple feet away and below her, and looked.
An elf was beating its head against the wall.
It looked cartoonish at first, but Hermione knew the elf could feel pain as much as humans. "Stop! Stop! AS A HUMAN, I order you to stop!"
The last phrase did it.
"What the hell were you doing?" demanded Hermione.
"I am punishing myself for losing my master's money, madam. I dropped it somewhere in the vicinity."
"Couldn't you Accio it?"
"I am not allowed to summon my master's money, madam."
"Even when – oh hell. Wait a moment." She went down on her knees and searched, glad that she was wearing jeans instead of an awkward robe. "Here it is, it fell in a crack. Mission accomplished. There's no reason to punish yourself."
"Not now, madam. Thank you."
Not now. No, not ever. Why should an elf feel guilty because his master is too lazy to do his own transactions, as she just did? Hermione had tried to fight the elvish servitude two years ago, but had to give up. Fighting Umbridge had become more urgent, and of course there was Voldemort to worry about. But this was an evil not connected with Voldemort, and it had not gone away just because Hermione's attention had. Now she was forcibly reminded of it, just when she had spent a lot of money on personal pleasure.
Last summer, after getting rid of her overenthusiastic boyfriend, Hermione had retreated to her room and read up on Muggle British history, a subject that got little attention at Hogwarts. She had read that British Muggles had abolished slavery two centuries ago, under the leadership of William Wilberforce, a Quaker reformer, and John Newton, a former slave-ship captain who had suffered a crisis of conscience. The two had probably been inspired by the French philosopher Voltaire. But that had all happened in the 1700s, and the wizard world was completely out of the loop by then. The International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy had been passed in the 1690s, severing most connections between wizards and Muggles.
Ron, so sensible and kind-hearted a boy in other respects, didn't understand why elf slavery outraged her. Harry and Dumbledore seemed to understand, but they were pre-occupied, understandably, with Voldemort. What other wizards would? Maybe Sirius, Lupin, and Hagrid, the wizards who had suffered injustice. And Sirius was dead.
Once she was grown up and they got rid of Voldemort, Hermione resolved, she would try to do something about it. It would have to be her, the bridge between the Muggle and wizard worlds. The wizard world would need her insights. Some day, they had to learn from Muggles.
But for the moment, she was still a kid and there was nothing she could do – except settle her bum in a saddle and play some polo with a nice Muggle boy.
TO BE CONTINUED.
(AUTHOR'S NOTE: The emergency fund I mentioned was what Hermione cashed in at the begining of DEADLY HALLOWS to pay for necessities while in hiding. I couldn't remember exactly how Hermione had identified it, exceot that it was in the Muggle World)