Dumbledore's Army and the Year of Darkness

Chapter 9: A Different World

"What do you mean you won't change our money?" Neville gestured furiously at the sign above the window. "It says right there you change money!"

"Money." The plump, elderly man behind the counter crossed his arms, thrusting his little round chin out stubbornly. "Dollars, Yen, Marks, Francs, Yuan, what-have-you. Not trinkets."

"Listen, my dear man," Ernie was making every effort to keep his tone reasonable, but the strain still showed. "Surely, even if you are not familiar with the precise currency, you do still recognize gold when you see it."

He shook his head, pushing the pile of wizarding money back at them. "I recognize four teenagers who are up to something a lot faster."

Susan and Hannah exchanged a look, then Hannah leaned forward across the counter with a smile as sweet as Honeydukes. "Okay," she purred, "So maybe we are up to something a teensy bit naughty. We're on our way up to Scotland so our friends can elope, and we're in an awful hurry, so I'd be really grateful if you'd be an absolute darling and help us out. Pretty please?"

The beady little eyes softened. "Young love, eh?"

Hannah giggled. "Exactly."

"No deal." All the softness vanished, and the man's face set as he shook his head again with immovable finality. "Whatever you've nicked from Mummy and Daddy's coin collection, you can go somewhere else to fence it. Now get out of here before I call someone."

Neville sighed. "I really hate to do this, but you're not giving me a lot of choices." He drew his wand and waved it in the man's face. "Confundus!"

The moneychanger gave a little jerk, then blinked several times, removing his small, rimless spectacles and rubbing them on his shirttail before replacing them and staring at the four as if he had never seen them in his life. "May I help you?"

Ernie shot a grateful look at Neville, then pushed the pile of coins across the counter again. "We need to change these for Mug—er, for pounds sterling, if you please."

He picked up one of the saucer-sized gold coins and tilted it to the light, staring quizzically at the figure of Gringott the Great standing astride a vanquished dragon. "And these are...?"

"It's a Gallus. They're each worth a hundred Galleons, which are each worth..." Neville closed his eyes for a moment, trying to remember the sign on the exchange booth near the entrance to Diagon Alley. "Five pounds. So those are five hundred pounds each, and we've given you ten, so that's five thousand, minus your one-percent exchange fee, which would make it four thousand, nine hundred fifty."

Still looking befuddled, the moneychanger nodded slowly as he took the coins, then opened a drawer and began to withdraw a stack of brightly colored parchment slips. "Yes..." he said slowly, "I suppose that's exactly how it would work out, isn't it?" He lay the piles on the counter, counting them out as he did so. "So that's one, two, three, four thousand, five hundred, six, seven, eight, nine, and twenty, forty... fifty. Pleasure doing business with you."

"Thanks!" Ernie scooped up the Muggle money and folded it hastily into the pocket of his robes, hurrying off before the charm had a chance to fade. As soon as they were a safe distance away, he stopped, pulling out the thick wad and separating it into four piles. "I hope this is enough," he frowned, and Neville shook his head.

"Ernie, you just dropped ten of a coin that most wizards never even deal with, and you scarcely blinked! Hell, you could buy a Nimbus 2005 with that kind of gold! It's got to be plenty, no matter what prices are like in the Muggle world." Neville stared down at the stack of notes he now held, restraining the impulse to examine them with too much curiosity. They had to try and pass as Muggles now, and they would certainly not be fascinated by their own currency. Carefully folding them, he pushed them into the deepest pocket of his trousers.