A Tale of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Chapter One; The Scarlet Engine

      Diagon Alley had not truly changed in all of its years. All of the buildings were the original ones, and the street layout was dared not messed with. Of course the shops themselves change to meet the wizarding communities needs, and the colors are far from what they once were even just a few years ago.
     Diagon Alley was relatively busy, however no where near the rush of just a few days ago. New and returning Hogwarts students always filled the alley to a brim due to last minute shopping. If it was possible for students to be here today they most likely would be. But across Great Britain, young witches and wizards were waking up to nerves and excitement. For today was the day they went off to Hogwarts.
      Down in the depths of Gringotts, two such children were facing a fault filled only with books. Many of the books were neatly arranged on the numerous bookcases lining the vault walls and center, others were hazardously piled on the floor. There was nothing else within the vault. Nothing but a trove of ancient knowledge, only accesible by the rite of blood. Not even the  goblins could enter this vault. One of the children, a young boy, was browsing the right side of the vault. He held several books and was searching for the final one to bring with him to Hogwarts. The other child, a young girl, was still figuring out if she wanted to focus on potions or offensive magic.
       "Hades," she whispered, "should I bring potions or offensive magic books?"

      "Do both"

      "I'd much rather-"

      "I'm bringing both spell crafting and defense books, Lena. Do both. Neither one of us can focus on a single branch of magic. You know that."

       The girl sighed before nodding. She quickly grabbed six books from the numerous ones that surrounded her. The boy finally grabbed his last title, before walking out of the vault, the girl following right behind him.
       The two nodded at the goblin waiting for them, and quietly made their way to the cart. The ride back up to the surface was quiet and quick. As the cart came to a stop, Lena turned to the goblin.
      "Would it be okay for my brother and myself to use magic, in order to unshrink our trunks and re-shrink them. We would rather have these books safely away in their compartments before we go out into the public. We would've done it down in our vault, but many of those books are sensitive to magic, and we know it would've been rude of us to do so".

      The goblin blinked once, then twice, the only indication of his surprise. "Of course young heirs. Just please do it where I can see both of you."

      Both of them nodded before pulling their trunks out of their pockets. They sat down, and as one, the two clearly stated the needed spell. Silently they put the books from the vault away and closed their trunks. And then as one again, said the spell to shrink their trunks.
     The two stood up, then bowed deeply to the goblin. "It was a pleasure seeing  and working with you as always Sharptongue. May your gold prosper and flow" Lena said.

      "And to as well young heirs, Gringotts well always be opened to you two. May your enemies fall at your feet" Sharptongue replied while bowing back to the two.

     Silently the three returned to the entrance chamber of Gringotts. Sharptongue moved over to the head teller at the time, in order to inform him that he permitted and watched the two use magic within their halls. The exchange barely lasted a few seconds, before the two goblins turned and watched the two children walk out of Gringotts, both thanking Lady Magic that those two were Goblin friends.

      Outside, the two children dropped their emotionless masks and broke out into grins. The girl lifted her arms up and leaned backwards, cracking her back.
     "Come on Lena, I want to quickly go to Madame Malkins before we head to Kings Cross."
      "Hold on, you've got an owl and your familiar. I want to stop at the one pet shop down that one side street. I'll meet you at the leaky cauldron, in say, fifteen minutes?"