The Rise of White : From Ash to Magic

Chapter 9

TINA'S POV:

Diagon Alley was even more way more fascinating than described in the books or movies. Seriously, my head swung around so much it thought would break.

Somehow I managed to convince mom to let me go to Diagon Alley alone and that was no easy feat to accomplish either. I told about her needing money for the transaction and showed her a letter from the Ministry of Magic which spoke of the wizarding monetary system.

FLASHBACK

"Right, so the currency here consists of coins. Gold, Silver and Bronze," I told Mom.

"Won't there be trouble in the financial structure then?" Mom questioned weakly.

"Ah, there is an authorization too. It is usually Goblins who make the coins, and they have special serial numbers engraved on each coin, hence it can't just be made by magic. It would not be valid" I said.

"Goblins?" Mom squeaked as she gripped my hand. I sighed. "They are quite intelligent creatures but they are treated like less than animals by wizards just because of the way they look. Sure they're not the friendliest of creatures but that's because of the way they're treated by wizards and witches" I said in a sad tone.

"Anyways... The gold coins are called Galleons. The silver ones are called Sickles and the small bronze ones are called Knuts. There are seventeen Sickles in a Galleon and twenty nine Knuts in a Sickle, so there are 493 Knuts in one Galleon" reciting the stuff I had read on the net during 'that time'.

"I've heard that a thousand Galleons are worth $250,000 ..." I trailed off. "So in Pound Sterling, it would be...?" I was never good at math and doing such a huge calculation in my head was trouble and not to mention I don't recollect how much US Dollars was a Pound during this time period.

"180,618 Pounds and 75 Pence" Mom said.

I stared at her amazed. I was impressed with her math skills. It was cool.

END OF FLASHBACK

I snapped out of the memory and started towards Flourish and Blotts. A plump woman outside an Apothecary was shaking her head as I passed, saying, "Dragon liver, sixteen sickles an ounce, they're mad..." I smiled at that.

I let out a soft squeal as I pushed past the crowd to get a look at the Nimbus Two Thousand on display in a shop window.

'Of course it won't stay in that position long. Once the Nimbus Two Thousand and One comes out. And then the Firebolt' I thought.

I finally reached the bookshop and a small bell sound echoed through the shop when I entered. I pushed down the urge to take out and read every book I found interesting, which was basically the whole shop, and headed strait for the Goblin section. After reading the book titles, row by row I found what I was looking for 'Pureblood and Creature Etiquette' I opened the hard-cover silver book and read through the index and then opened the age to Goblin Etiquette.

"Although the goblins are magical creatures, they are treated as less than animals by the wizarding community. But goblins are still expected to manage and care for the finances of wizards and witches, as mentioned in the treaty, after they're defeat against wizards in the Goblin Wars of 1612. There once was a time before the War where the goblins and wizards had a polite way of greeting each other. In present times most witches and wizards have forgotten the old form of greeting, but the goblins still follow this custom to this day even if they do not speak the words of greeting.

The greeting required both goblin and wizard to bow to each other and the person who initiated the conversation to say the word 'May your gold flow forever through your halls ______' and was returned with 'And may your enemies tremble before your name _______.' After the conversation is over the greeting requested the wizard/goblin who ended the conversation by repeating the words 'May your gold flow forever through your halls _______' and again replied with 'And may your enemies tremble before your name ______.'