The following Wednesday, Ginny woke after a refreshing sleep. She was looking forward to going to Diagon Alley to get her things for school. She'd been there before, but this time it would be her turn to get them, her turn to feel part of the magical world. All her family were already involved with magic; all six of her brothers, and her parents – obviously.
Four of her brothers were still at school – Percy was about to leave, Ron had just started and Fred and George had grades that made them look like they hadn't been there for long. Her other two brothers already had jobs. She hadn't seen Charlie in a while due to the fact that he worked in Romania with dragons and didn't get much time off work. When her parents had visited at Christmas, she had been left behind with her horrible aunt Muriel. As for her other brother, Bill, he was also in a different country, Egypt. He was working in the tombs for Gringotts. She didn't see him often either. Her mother stayed at home looking after the house (keeping it spotless) and her father worked at the Ministry.
Yet, before this day, Ginny did not know any magic and hadn't even been trusted to do anything – charms or incantations. She was the last one and her day had finally arrived, so when she went downstairs to see that nobody else was awake, she was feeling quite impatient. She wanted to leave as soon as possible, but that would still have to wait another few hours.
After making herself a double portion of toast, she got dressed and searched the living room for her equipment list. When she had found it, she looked down at the list again, wondering how on Earth they would be able to afford it all. There was so much stuff they needed that year – much more than in previous years – especially the book list, and these books were by Gilderoy Lockhart, so they were bound to be expensive.
While she waited for the rest of her family to awaken from their deep slumbers, she took a quiet walk outside. It was a sunny day and the air was quite breezy. There was not a cloud in the sky – In Ginny's opinion it was a great day for a trip out and a day she knew she would remember.
A couple of hours later, she finally heard the drone of her family making their way through breakfast at the table, and the slow thudding of footsteps as her brothers made their way slowly down the stairs. When she heard her mother call her name, she decided to make her way in.
She arrived back at the house with the scent of bacon in the air. Although she had already eaten that morning, she wouldn't mind a bacon sandwich. She walked into the kitchen to find her family around the table with the clattering of their cutlery on the table. She immediately spotted Harry and made sure she sat on the opposite side of the table to him.
"Where have you been?" her mother asked.
"Just outside," Ginny answered, "I woke up early."
Her mother narrowed her eyes and looked at her in an interrogating way, "OK, do you want something to eat?"
"Yeah, sure," Ginny asked avoiding her mother's eyes. She sat down at the table as her plate was quickly piled with sandwiches and a bottle of brown sauce was given to her. Her family knew exactly how she liked them.
She quickly finished eating her second helping of breakfast and then followed everyone else into the sitting room where they were all gathered around the fireplace, Harry with a confused expression. Her mother took a flowerpot off the mantelpiece and looked inside.
"There's not much left dear," she said to Mr Weasley, "We better pick some up while we're in Diagon Alley."
Mr Weasley nodded and turned towards Harry, "You first Harry," He smiled.
Harry looked dumbstruck. He didn't know how to travel by floo powder, which should've been obvious to them in the first place.
"DAD! Harry's never travelled by floo powder before," Ron said.
"Oh. Sorry Harry," Mr Weasley said, "Why don't you show him how then, Ron?"
Ron nodded in agreement, stepped towards the fireplace, took some of the powder out of the flowerpot and stepped into the fire. He dropped the powder in the fireplace, shouted "Diagon Alley," and in a flash of green flames and a loud Whooshing noise he disappeared.
It looked simple enough to Ginny and as some of the other members of her family demonstrated to, she couldn't help but look at Harry sympathetically. He caught sight of her and she turned away blushing.
When she turned round, Harry was standing in the fireplace. As he stood there, he shouted "Diagon Alley" and also disappeared. However, much to everyone else's sadness, it sounded more like he had said "Diagonally". He could be anywhere.
With worried looks in their faces, the rest of the family made their way to Diagon Alley. Mr Weasley thought that Harry would have probably gone only one grate too far.
Within a few minutes, Ginny was standing in the Leaky Cauldron, the entrance to Diagon Alley and a popular inn for the Wizarding Population. She was so excited that it was almost her turn to take part in the Wizarding activities, but she knew that she would have to wait. They would have to find Harry first.
"Now, we'll have to split up to look for Harry," Mrs Weasley said, "Me and your dad will go down Knockturn Alley. NOBODY ELSE MUST GO THERE."
Every year she said something about Knockturn Alley. She didn't trust her twins; they were always up to something.
However, Ginny was busy fantasising about what it would be like if she found Harry. She was twelve years old, but had a really dirty mind. She didn't care what her mother was saying; she cared more about what she would do to Harry if she found him by himself in some dark empty alley somewhere. There would be a lot of…
"GINNY!" somebody shouted, "Stop daydreaming and come with me"
It was Percy. Ginny knew what was going to be in store for her from that moment on; a lot more boredom while walking around bookshops or learning about things that she would never need to know. She knew that they wouldn't even get round to buying her school things for another few hours. Typical.
After half an hour of prowling through book shops and dusty bars, a silvery weasel appeared at Percy's legs. Ginny was surprised and confused at this, for she had never seen a weasel before, let alone this colour and acting like this.
"We've found Harry. Meet us at Gringotts" it said with her father's voice.
Ginny sighed in relief – it hadn't taken as long as she had expected – and it was now her turn to get her things. Following Percy back to Gringotts, she looked at the variety of shops around her – book shops, pet shops, apothecaries and then finally she saw the large white building that she knew as Gringotts, the wizarding bank.
As she looked up at the building she saw a group of people huddled outside. It was made up of her family and three other people – a young girl about Ron's age and what looked like her parents. Ginny could tell from where she was standing that this girl was muggleborn – mainly because of the way her parent's were dressed.
She and Percy approached the group and Mrs Weasley's face turned.
"Fantastic – we can finally go inside before he faints because of the excitement," she pointed at her husband who was looking at the muggles with interest. With that prospect in mine, she grabbed her husband's arm and dragged him up the stone steps towards the bank. Ginny and the rest of their children followed them, while Mr Weasley waved goodbye to the muggles; and Harry and Ron told Hermione (Ginny had guessed that it was probably her) that they would see her in a little while.
They went in through the first pair of bronze doors (which Ginny knew so well) and faced the next pair of doors. They were silver in colour and had engraved on them:
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.
But Ginny didn't even glance at this plaque; she knew it off by heart. After all her years of visiting there, she knew what it read and didn't need a reminder of its warning. They walked through these doors and into the marble hall set before them with long counters running down the right side of the hall. On the left side of the hall, many goblins could be seen transporting their customers through a number of different doors, way too many to count.
A goblin immediately greeted them, "Welcome Back Weasley Family!"
He recognised them easily and was eager to help; until he noticed Harry in the background.
"Oh yes!" Mrs Weasley said, "This is Harry's second time here, he would like to visit his vault too!"
"Of course," The Goblin said bowing, "So we will be visiting vaults 320 and 175?"
"That's perfect," said Mr Weasley.
"Then we shall be on our way," the goblin replied as he led them to one of the many doors. The door they entered the dungeons through was polished silver and had "ﻙﻩﻝﷲ!" engraved on it. It must have been written in Goblin because none of the Weasley family was able to work out what it meant.
They clambered into two joined carts – as one was not big enough for them all – and they immediately lurched forward, directed by the Goblin. Not very far in, they arrived at the Weasley's vault, number 175. Ginny's mother climbed out of the vault, put the key in the lock and scraped around it to get all the money she could. Within seconds, they were on their way again, down to Harry's vault.
When Harry got out of the cart, he looked rather awkward and tried to block the view of his vault, but was unsuccessful. As soon as the door to vault 320 opened, a green cloud of smoke appeared and the gold, silver and bronze could be seen very visibly. It definitely contained more than the Weasley's vault. When he had filled his money bag, he got back in and they made their way back to the surface, when Ginny began to start feeling sick.
They reached the surface just in time, for Ginny to run to the nearest toilets and be sick. She hated travelling in Gringotts' carts but knew that she would have to get used to it soon enough. When she returned to the hall, her mother grabbed her hand.
"It's your turn now, darling," she said.
Ginny felt like jumping for joy – this was such a big step in her life; although it didn't mean as much to everyone else, it meant a lot to her. As the rest of her family left the hall, she was dragged towards the busiest end of the street where all the main shops were.
"Let's get your wand first," Mrs Weasley said as she dragged Ginny towards a building named "Ollivanders"
Together they entered the shop,
R&R Please: Changed a bit of the story line from the COS here, but it doesn't matter that much. Thanks for reading – JamesPotter1992
Don't forget to check back soon!
Edits:
Looking For Harry
My Story – Ginny looks for Harry with Percy
COS – Mr and Mrs Weasley go with Ginny
Gringotts Vaults
My Story – Vault Numbers Given
HP – No Vault Numbers for Harry's and the Weasley's Vaults