Oliver Twist meets Harry Potter

Gringotts. Defin'ly Gringotts.

Basically, it was weird. Hagrid brought out this pink umbrella, tapped a few bricks an'- oh yeah, 'e told me to write down which bricks 'e tapped. It was: from the rubbish bin, three up, two across. I think.

After they've been tapped, the bricks move 'emselves round in a funny way. I know it don't sound all that interestin', but the next bit was fab. The next bit was Diagon Alley.

Yer know, I thought Diagon Alley would be pretty good, but it wasn't. It was so much better. Everywhere ya looked, there was bright colours jumpin' out atcha. If ya wanna know 'bout underfoot, it was all cobbles an' bumps. Little witches an' wizards, some younger than Luna, were chasin' each other 'bout the place, shriekin' their tiny 'eads off. Me an' Oliver just stared. I dunno 'bout wot I looked like, but Oliver looked over-awed. All the shops were unique to each other, an' even better, they were unique in unique ways. Wow, I reckon that's a world record! I bet nobody's ever used the word unique thrice in a sentence afore.

But back to Diagon Alley. It was truly magical. But then, that's not really a surprise, is it? There was a shop wot 'ad movin' scissors on it, yer know, openin' an' closin', a shop where lots o' owls were hootin' away, an' right at the end was the king o' the street. Some people call me that, yer know. But this one wasn't a dashin' boy with a top 'at like meself, oh no. This was a tall, marble buildin', a sort o' dirty white, really. In the centre, was a set o' dark wood doors. The columns that seemed to 'old it up, were all crooked an' stuff. Above the doors, it said in gold writin':

Gringotts Bank

Gringotts. Mmm-hhhh. That's wot it said. Then I heard Oliver's voice from behind me.

"Is Gringotts the same as a muggle bank, Hagrid?"

Yer could tell 'e 'ad lots o' questions, so I decided to 'elp 'im out. "Wot's the wizardin' currency?"

"What kind of security do they use?"

"Can we 'ave our own bank accounts?"

"Who runs the bank?"

"Can mine be the best?" All through this, Hagrid was lookin' at us, 'xpectantly, clearly waitin' for us to calm down. Once we 'ad, he answered all the questions we threw at 'im.

"Good questions boys, an' 'opefully the answers will be satisfactory. Gringotts isn't quite the same as muggle banks, it's sort of that with a twist. Get it, Oliver? Oliver Twist!"

"Great, Hagrid. Carry on," replied Oliver.

"The wizardin' currency is bronze knuts, silver sickles, an' gold galleons. There are twenty-nine knuts in a sickle, an' seventeen sickles to a galleon. The security, well, there are rumours that the vaults where yer keep yer money, some o' them are guarded by dragons."

Well, with that, I 'ad no choice but to interrupt, did I? "DRAGONS?! Wow, Hagrid, can my vault be guarded by a dragon, can it, can it, can it, can it, can it?!"

"I highly doubt it Jack, it's only a rumour, remember. Anyway, yer will 'ave yer own accounts, it'll just take a while to set up. The creatures wot run the bank are goblins. I wouldn't call 'em trustworthy, anythin' but that, but they'll keep yer money safe for yer, don't worry. As for your final question Jack, if yer believe yours is the best, it will be the best. Now let's get the money out o' the way, come on."

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Hagrid was right. Gettin' the vaults sorted out took ages, an' it was so borin'. I guess Gringotts did look pretty nice on the inside, but, to be honest, it was all a bit too fancy-pants for meself. In fact, I fell asleep for  a while, until Hagrid shook me awake. It was time to see our vaults.

=-D Yo! Gonna be quick, just the usual, love ya! <3