Ron awoke the next Sunday with sunlight on his face again. He blinked and checked the time. 8 am. The boy sleepily got dressed, and he kept thinking that something was going to happen today. But he couldn't remember what. As he pulled on a pair of jeans, the redhead could hear Bill and Percy walk downstairs, Mr Weasley Apparating, and everybody saying good morning to each other. The eleven year old grinned at his reflection before running downstairs with a large smile on his face as the memory of last week came back to him.
He had gotten his own Hogwarts Letter. Fred and George had of course joked around and tried to prank him, but then mum also told Percy to give Ron his rat, Scabbers. Mrs Weasley had then said that they'll go to Diagon Alley next week… and then it clicked. Of course! Today was the day they would go to Diagon Alley! Ron grinned wider than before as he walked into the dining room and said, "Morning, mum!" brightly, before sitting down on his chair, waiting for breakfast.
As Ginny walked downstairs, said good morning and sat down next to Ron, the redhead boy remembered his previous visits to Diagon Alley – he had to go along when they bought stuff for his older siblings, but Mrs Weasley had always refused to buy him anything. Now, finally, they would be buying his own school things. As the eleven-year-old nibbled on the edge of his pancakes, he remembered the narrow but long street of Diagon Alley and all the little shops crammed into it. How wonderful would it be to go there again.
Around 10 minutes later, Fred and George walked downstairs with the usual cheery grins on their faces. They jumped the last three steps before running to the table and grabbing two seats opposite Ron. Mrs Weasley handed both of them their breakfast, before wiping her hands on a napkin and saying briskly to the table, "Right, you all should finish breakfast in half-an-hour, and then we'll use the Floo Powder to go to Diagon Alley. Hopefully, we'll return in the afternoon, and then all of you will have time to do your plans. Any questions?" Nobody said anything, except Ginny, who piped up, "Mum, will you get me some Chocolate Frogs?" Mrs Weasley sighed, and shook her head. Ginny began to eat her pancakes looking rather disappointed.
Half an hour later, once everyone had finished their breakfast and all the dishes had been cleaned, the Weasley family all cluttered together in front of the fireplace. "Right, Bill, you first," said Mrs Weasley, and Bill walked into the fireplace. He took a handful of the green Floo Powder, and said clearly, "Diagon Alley!" His voice echoed through the room for a moment, then the fire twisted and Bill was gone. Percy did the same as Bill, coughing a little as the ashes from the fire reached his nose, then said, "Diagon Alley," as well. Percy, too, disappeared in the flames once more. Next up was Fred, and he cleared his throat before saying "Diagon Alley," and disappearing once more.
Finally, there was only Mrs Weasley, Ginny, and Ron left. Mrs Weasley gestured for Ron to go ahead, and he did so. Clutching a handful of the Floo Powder, he threw it into the flames (which turned green) and walked ahead. The boy yelled, "Diagon Alley!" as loud as he could. In fact, it was so loud that when his voice echoed through the walls, Ginny jumped and walked a step away. Ron grinned, and that was the last sight of the Burrow he'd see that morning, as the flames twisted with him. He'd travelled by Floo Powder before, but the experience was still nauseating. First, the redhead felt that he was being sucked into a large, thin drain. Then the flames were spinning unimaginably fast; the boy felt slightly sick. It was so fast that he couldn't even open his eyes. Then it felt like cold hands were slapping his face. But finally, it all was over, and Ron fell out of the Diagon Alley fireplace, sweating. He barely had time to get up before Ginny and Mrs Weasley appeared behind him. Ginny hugged her mother tightly, and Ron knew why; she hated travelling by Floo Powder.
Once the Weasley family had cluttered together once more, Mrs Weasley had scolded Fred and George for trying to go down Knockturn Alley, everybody was in a good mood, and they were all itching to buy something. So, Bill leading the way, all of them walked over to Gringotts, the one and only Wizarding Bank. They passed a chocolate shop, and Ginny squealed, tugged at her mother's robe, and pointed to it. Mrs Weasley said, "Ginny, I already told you, no. Anyway, we need to get our money first." Ginny stopped tugging, and looked as disappointed as she had at breakfast. As they walked towards the large bank at the very end of the street, Ron gazed in awe at all the different shops in this wonderful street.
There was a large bookshop with glass windows, the name 'Flourish and Blotts' written on the top. There was a much smaller shop painted wooden brown, and Ron could just make out the words 'Potion Ingredients' written in miniscule size on the top. Then there was a stall which sold cauldrons. Suddenly, the clouds parted, and rays of glorious golden sunlight fell onto the crowd. Ron flinched; the shop he had been looking at was right in the direction of the sun. Turning the other way, the redhead caught sight of Eeylops Owl Emporium – which seemed to be full of screeching birds. Right in front of it, there was the shop Quality Quidditch Supplies; apparently, the new Nimbus 2000 had made it to the crowd.
Ron gazed at it for a couple of moments before realising that Gringotts was already there in front of him. It was a tall, white building, white large bronze doors. Standing beside the enormous gates, wearing a uniform of red and gold, there was a goblin. He had very long fingers and feet, and was more than a head shorter than Ron. As Bill pushed the doors open, the goblin bowed. This time, they were facing another set of doors, now silver. Words were engraved upon them, and it looked as though it had been done in a goblin's handwriting:
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.
Ron gulped. He definitely would never break into Gringotts. Even this poem was frightening. But still, he had no time to be scared, as another pair of goblins bowed to them – Bill had just pushed these gates open. It revealed a vast marble hall. It was half as big as the Burrow, thought Ron, looking at it in awe. On either side of the entrance, there were two long tables, on which more than a hundred goblins sat. They either talked to a customer, weighed coins on brass scales, examined precious stones or scribbled down something that looked like a foreign language on a piece of paper. Some goblins were showing people the door to their destination, others were showing them out. The Weasley family walked to a free goblin.
"Good morning," said Mrs Weasley briskly, as Bill fumbled around in his bag for the key, "We're here to withdraw some money from the Weasley Vault." The goblin looked up from his piece of paper and turned to look at Mrs Weasley. "You have your key?" he asked. Just then, Bill retrieved the small silver key for their vault and pushed it over to the goblin, who inspected it closely for several moments. At last, he said, "Alright," and handed it back to Bill, who immediately shoved it back into the bag. The goblin continued, "I will call somebody to take you to your vault. Bogrod!" Called the goblin, and another goblin named Bogrod walked forward, and gestured for the Weasley family to follow him into a door leading away from the large hall.
As they all obediently followed Bogrod away from the hall, Ron was slightly surprised to see that instead of more marble, there was a narrow stone passage, only lit by flaming torches. It was almost like a roller coaster, thought the redhead, as his blue eyes slowly followed the path of the passageway, which was leading downwards. There seemes to be railway tracks on the floor. Bogrod whistled loudly – the sound hit Ron like a train in the eerie silence, and so he only winced slightly – and a medium-sized cart slowly made its way using the railway tracks towards them. Slowly, Mrs Weasley, Bill and Ginny climbed on to the front, and Fred, George, Ron and Percy got seated in the back. Once they were all ready – and a bit cramped, sure, but what could you do with seven family members? – Bogrod snapped his fingers and the cart suddenly hurtled forwards at a great speed.
Along the way came forks. Sometimes they would take the right one, sometimes the middle one, and sometimes the left one. Sometimes the turns would be very sharp, and sometimes very slow. But nevertheless, it was a shockingly fast ride; Ginny kept clutching Mrs Weasley, Percy announced that he might be sick halfway through the ride, and Ron had closed his eyes as to not look at the depth below. It certainly was very frightening. Bill, however, had been here loads of times, and he was acting as though the cart was a cruise ship. Fred and George were joking around amongst themselves. And all this was not to mention the cold air that stung their eyes, it was going at so much speed.
This meant that it was definitely a relief when the cart came to an abrupt stop near the Weasley's vault. Ginny leant against the wall and closed her eyes, breathing very deeply. Percy didn't do anything, though he did look slightly green in the face. After they had all recovered, Bogrod walked next to the vault and held is hand out. "Key, please," he said. Bill sighed, rummaged in his bag again for the key, and after a few moments, handed it over. Bogrod took it silently, and placed it in the small lock that was on the Weasley's vault. He turned it, to reveal a man-sized vault. It could very well fit a lot of money inside it, but at the time, there was only a small pile of Knuts in one corner, just a couple of Galleons in the middle, and a slightly bigger heap of Sickles. The Weasleys really were poor, however much Ron didn't like to admit it.
Once Mrs Weasley had taken more than half of the vault's belongings and shoved them into her money bag, the family clambered back into the small cart, Bogrod waiting for them. "Try to go slower this time," said Bill, as he was climbing in last, "My sister Ginny could be sick." Bogrod nodded, and the journey back began. It was just like the first, except this time, it was getting warmer by the time, as they were not going deeper anymore. As they finally arrived back into the hall, and walked out of the Gringotts doors, it was to find that sunlight had gone once more and the day was cloudy again. "Right," said Mrs Weasley, dusting dust off her robe, "Where should we go first?"
Ron, Fred and George immediately said, "Quality Quidditch Supplies!" Ginny, meanwhile, squealed, "Icecream shop!" Mrs Weasley thought for a moment, before beginning again briskly, "Right. Bill and Percy, you take Ron, I'll take Fred, George and Ginny. Meet us back at Florean Fortescue's Icecream Parlour in one hour. Here's your money –"– she took half of the money in her bag and handed it to Bill, who immediately shoved it in his pocket. "– have fun!" Mrs Weasley, the twins, and Ginny immediately set off in the other direction, leaving Bill, Percy and Ron to themselves. Ron groaned in his mind – he really wanted to go with Fred and George. But of course, there was nothing he could do now.
"Right, Ron," said Bill, turning to look at the other boy, "Let's buy your school supplies first, then we can go to the Quidditch shop." And so they did. First off, they went to Flourish and Blotts, the book shop. Bill and Ron bought Ron's school books in the second hand pile on the back, while Percy roamed the 'cheap' section looking for interesting books. Then, the three popped inside a cauldron shop, where Ron bought a pewter cauldron (again, second hand). After that, they went into a small stall which sold quills, and both Ron and Percy got a couple, along with some spare parchment and some ink. Then they went into another shop where they bought Ron a telescope for Astronomy, followed by a set of brass scales. This, of course, meant that they had hardly any money left, and so they couldn't afford Ron a wand or robes. Ron wasn't disheartened about this; it gave him more time to gaze at the new brooms in Quality Quidditch Supplies.
Finally, the three walked into the Quidditch shop, and Ron immediately pressed his nose against the glass case. He couldn't believe it! That was most certainly the new Nimbus 2000, and it was rumoured to be the fastest broom ever. But first-years weren't allowed brooms, and Ron's family could hardly afford it. But still, it was a long time until Ron agreed to walk away from the shop. At the ice cream parlour, there was another surprise awaiting them. Apparently, Mrs Weasley had saved some money to be able to afford six rather small chocolate ice cream. When Ginny asked her mother why there weren't seven, she said that Mrs Weasley herself wouldn't have one. Once the family had gobbled down their treat, it was time to go back to the Burrow. Today had been a fun-filled day, thought Ron. Diagon Alley was even better when you got something for yourself.