Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter, not me. All characters and plot that are in her books are hers.
Chapter Seven - Diagon Alley
IMPORTANT AUTHOR"S NOTE: This is the last chapter (even though it's only a half of one) I am posting for this story. I've decided that it's gotten a little out of hand and I POSTED A REWRITE. Updates will come much quicker until I'm caught up! Chapters 1-3 are already up. See my profile for more details!
Memories - Italics and Bold
Thoughts - Italics
Hermione - now Hermione Riddle stood in front of vault seven hundred and nineteen, awestruck.
"This is all mine?"
The goblin, Gringock, his name was, replied with a curt, "Yes." The new voice, however, replied:
You haven't ssseen the Ssssslytherin one yet. Vault One.
Hello, Tom. Hermione replied, having (somewhat) gotten used to Tom speaking to her in her head on the way down to the Riddle Vault.
Or the Gaunt one. Tom reminded, his tone becoming a bit sharper, as if speaking of a cat that just bit him.
So how much should I bring? Hermione pondered.
Ask for a connector pouch. Tom replied, It's connected to your vaults, so you can take out whatever amount you want.
Hermione nodded, and turned to the goblin.
"I'd like a connector pouch." She said.
The goblin reached into a pouch that he carried on his belt and drew out another pouch.
"That'd be twenty gallons."
Hermione reached into the vault, pulling our twenty of the gold coins and handing them to the goblin. The goblin then gave her the pouch, which she held at her side.
Tom? Hermione thought.
Get a moleskin pouch to put it in later.
"Would you like to see your other vaults now?"
Hermione gave the goblin a wicked grin and nodded.
The Gaunt vault was filled with a lesser amount of coins than the Riddle one, and there were no magical artifacts, so Hermione simply left it as it was. The Slytherin vault, on the other hand…
*Open.* Hermione said, and the vault door to vault one swung open. She stepped inside, leaving the goblin behind.
You first have to pass a number of tests put forth my Salazar himself. Tom had warned.
And she did. A blood test, logic puzzles, speaking to a giant snake engraving on a wall, and more occured before a door - the real door to the vault - swung open.
Then, you must pass one final test: Salazar's wand must accept you. The consequences for any who are not worthy…
Death. Hermione had supplied.
You are worthy. Tom reassured, so Hermione opened the ancient looking case to see a magnificent wand.
The wood was about thirteen inches long. The wood was a dark brown wood that gave a dark, majestic, and powerful aura. On the bottom of the wand there was an engraving of a snake. The whole wand was alluring, in a way. Hermione stretched her hand out and grasped it.
There was a flash of darkness. When it faded, Hermione saw the wand in her hand, and knew it had accepted her. She shared some sort of connection with it. If she hadn't known that wizards were wizards, and not Jedi, she would have thought that it was a generator of the force. Or perhaps a really strong conductor.
Thirteen inches, snakewood, and a basilisk horn core. Tom supplied.
*Mine.*
After looking around at the books, Hermione decided it would be suspicious if she spent the whole of two hours down in her vault, so she left with a sorrowful glance. She also put the wand back in the case, but only after Tom reassured her multiple times that she would be able to get it through the connector pouch and Professor Vector and Potter would suspect to much and ask to many questions.
"Find everything alright?" Professor Vector asked as Hermione emerged from the bank, blinking to reakust to the sunlight.
"Yes." Hermione replied, ignoring Potter, who was at the professor's side.
Harry Potter.
What? Hermione thought back to Tom, confused at the interest in his voice.
I never thought he would be… so short. Tom said, hesitating after be.
Hermione snorted (in her head, if you can imagine that) at Tom before turning her attention back to the real world.
"Might as well get your uniform first," said Professor Vector, pointing to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, "I have some unfinished business at Gringotts, so I'm going to trust you can handle yourselves for a few minutes."
She said this with a severe look.
"Yes, Professor." Potter and Hermione said at the same time. Professor Vector escorted them to the front door before they split ways.
Entering the shop, Hermione spotted Madam Malkin, who was a squat, witch dressed in mauve.
"Hogwarts, dear?" she said, when Potter started to speak, "Got the lot here - another young man being fitted up just now, in fact. "
They were shown to the back of the shop, where a boy with a pale, pointed face was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes.
That's Draco Malfoy, son of Lucius Malfoy. If you want good political allies - Tom started.
Got it. He's my friend. Hermione thought back, cutting him off.
Hermione stepped up onto the stool beside the boy, leaving the stool farther away for Potter, and allowed an assistant to slip a long robe over her head. The assistant began to pin it to the right length.
"Hello," Draco Malfoy said, "Hogwarts, too?"
"Yes," replied Hermione, allowing him to continue.
"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," Draco said in a bored, drawling voice, "Then I'm going to drag them off to took at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."
Hermione was strongly reminded of Dudley.
Are you sure about this, Tom? Hermione asked, He seems like a snot.
It's just a mask he's been trained to use in certain circumstances. Tom replied, He doesn't know who you are yet.
"Have you got your own broom?" Draco went on.
"No," Hermione said, "But I plan on getting one. I'm going to wait for next year, however. The probability Nimbus is going to bring out a better broom is high."
Thank goodness Tom had told her what Quidditch was beforehand.
"Do you play Quidditch?" Draco asked, looking interested.
"Not yet, but I may next year, so I can be on the team." Hermione replied curtly.
"I do - Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. Do you know what house you'll be in yet?"
"Ah, that would be telling." Hermione said with a smirk, Draco peered at her, seeing her in a different light at that statement...
A/N: To be continued in Hermione Granger and the Twisted Fate rewrite!