I still own nothing ! It all belongs to J.K.R J

Chapter 3

"Right, so first stop's Gringots," Harry muttered as he and Hermione were walking through muggle London towards the leaky cauldron.

Mione had introduced Harry to her parents as a young wizard who lived in the area that McGonagall had sent over to answer some of Hermione's questions and help her adjust to this dramatic turn her life had quite suddenly taken. Mr. and Mrs. Granger had accepted this turn of events with grateful smiles in Harry's direction, and had allowed the two children to go out for a walk to have a chance to talk things out.

"Take all the time you need dears," had been Mrs. Granger's parting words as she handed Hermione some money that we were to use for sandwiches for lunch.

They chatted amiably throughout the walk, reminiscing of old times and trying to remember in detail the events of the upcoming year. As they slipped into Diagon alley after an elderly which (they themselves had no wands yet, and had only realized that they would have to wait for someone to let them in when they reached the stone wall that blocked their path), Harry was mentally making a list of everything they'd need and trying to sort out what they could get now and what would be better to wait for to do with Hagrid, or in Hermione's case, with her parents later on in the week.

"No wands yet," Mione moaned regretfully as they passed Olivanders, and Harry realized with a pang he should let Hagrid buy him Hedwig.

"I'm going to buy Croockshanks as soon as my parents take me here," she continued, "I'm not waiting until third year again to get that cat!" Harry grinned, knowing that Hermione had a similar bond with Croockshanks as he did with Hedwig. They were, at least in their opinion, no ordinary pets.

Moving into Gringots, Harry was careful to steer them over to Griphooks' desk, waiting until he had finished dealing with a rather foul smelling black-haired wizard. He approached cautiously at a signal, Hermione trailing slightly behind and glancing almost continuously downwards. Harry knew that she was thinking of their wild ride on the dragon that most certainly was already trapped down there, and Harry had a random hope that she wouldn't redo the SPEW episode now that she had a better understanding of house-elves. A slight cough from Griphook jerked his attention back to the matter at hand, and he said softly but firmly, "I'd like to see my vaults."

Griphook raised an eyebrow, and I had to imagine how ridiculous this would seem from his perspective; two slight eleven-year olds behaving like they were 25, demanding to see heaps of treasure lying deep beneath the bank, and I mentally sighed.

"And you would be…?" inquired the goblin.

"Harry James Potter." He probably suspects pollyjuice, Harry reflected wryly as the goblin studied him carefully and made him drop a small sample of his blood onto a sheet besides his signature. After all, that's what I'd be inclined to think.

"And does Mr. Potter have his key?"

Ah. The key.

Hermione stepped forward and placed an exact copy she'd conjured up earlier from memory, down to using the same metallic blend with a little extra rust for dramatic effect. Mentally, he brushed a thought against her occlumency shields. 'I'm dead serious Mione; what would I do without you?'

'At the moment?' she thought back, grinning slyly at Harry, 'Not too much.'

All the nerves in his body tensed in that instant, as Griphooks long lanky fingers grasped the metallic key. Hermione's breath was coming in quiet; quick gasps as she failed to smother her jogging heart. This was their first gamble, and although after having given it a huge amount of thought and gone over every little detail they could think of and every possible reaction Griphook could have; goblins are, have been and will always be notoriously unpredictable.

As Griphook brought the key up to eye level, Harry caught a quick glimpse of his dark orbs widening in shock before a well-practiced mask slammed into place, freezing his features into giving away not the slightest hint of emotion. The change from his earlier demeanor was almost imperceptible, but Harry had been looking for it and let out an inaudible groan.

He knew.

It had been too much to hope for that he simply wouldn't have noticed the difference, right? But perhaps it was better this way. Griphook had, after all, turned out to be a valuable ally before hand and if they managed to get him on their side sooner this time he could prove to be a valuable asset once again. However, if they screwed this up…

"Well then, follow me," the goblins raspy voice snapped Harry out of his worries, turning his head in slight surprise to follow Griphook. Perhaps they were being led somewhere private for the inevitable interrogation as to why they had an almost exact copy of Harry's Gringots key instead of the original.

But Griphook instead led them towards the cart and drove down through the tunnels to Harry's trust vault. Inserting the key into the lock, it turned and opened – the only surprise noticeable on Griphooks features was a barely raised left eyebrow. Harry was perplexed as too his lack of reaction and thankfully Hermione, ever practical, took out two bottomless moneybags and began scooping in piles of gallons for both Harry and herself. There was a time when she would have argued about taking what was rightfully only Harry's, but that protest had been squished long ago when she'd voiced her discomfort to Harry as he pulled her into his arms and simply told her that, 'what's mine, is ours'. She'd broke into tears at that – it had been a particularly stressful day; just after her first failed attempt to send them back.

Her eyes locked with Harry's as she finished shoving in all the money they needed, and he motioned her to climb back beside him into the cart. She was fidgeting slightly, twirling one of her long, bushy locks between her fingers, tugging at it slightly in her anxiety. Why was Griphook simply doing, well, … nothing?

They'd reached the top of the bank, and Harry was helping a slightly green Mione down from the cart when Griphook turned around, locking his eyes into Harrys.

"Mr. Potter," the goblin said softly, " I do not know why, nor how for that matter, you have come today with an almost exact unauthorized duplicate instead of your original key. As this key was successful today at opening your vault, it has become the dominant key and the other has been dissolved, as it is no longer needed. Do not loose this one."

With that, he turned on his heel and disappeared into one of the back rooms leaving his two stunned clients standing there, stranded in the middle of the large room until their feet began moving them towards the exit.

'Damn unpredictable Goblins!' Hermione's thoughts brushed against Harry's and he couldn't help the laughter that bubbled out of his mouth as they quickly scrambled down the Gringots stairs and back into the relative shelter of the ever-milling crowd of witches and wizards in Diagon Alley.