Death Breath, the Debt Collector. (PJO/HP XC)

Chapter Two: Diagon Alley

It's earlier than Monday, but later than Saturday. My bad. I wrote this at 2am, hopefully there are no spelling/grammatic errors. 

Chapter Two: Diagon Alley

He had only one place in mind-his vault at Gringotts. Hectate had shown it to him, so it wouldn't be that hard for him to reappear there. 

He wasn't counting on any protections, however. He was more than halfway there, he knew, and he could almost feel solid ground, then it fell out from under him, and he fell to the ground. He had arrived. 

Not in Gringotts, but right outside it. A tall white building with mock-Greek colums, that looks ready to fall over, loomed in front of him. He turned around and took measure of his surroundings. 'This must be Diagon Alley', Nico thought. In the envelope Hectate had given him some tips on where everthing was. Diagon Alley was like the strip-mall of the wizarding world. 

Nico dug in his bag for his vault key, and opened the door into Gringotts, passing some little person on the way and ignoring a weird poem written on the doors. However, as he walked in he realized the man in the front wasn't a little person. Needless to say, he was a little suprised at the Goblins. His hand twitched to his black sword hanging by his hip, and he realized he should probably conceal that if he didn't want to leave anybody feeling scared of him already. He concentrated on finding it with his mind, as the Stygian Iron was a metal of the underworld, he could sense it. He snapped his fingers, and the sword melted into shadows. 

He strode forward, the goblins ignoring him as he walked past. He stopped when he reached the goblin facing the door, who he assumed would be the one in charge. 

"Excuse me, I'd like to access my vault, please." He hoped the 'please' would be enough.

The goblin looked at him, and said, "Key, please." Nico set it on the table seperating them. The little monster hoped off the desk chair, and led the way behind the row of goblins working. "Follow me, Mr. di Angelo." 

Nico wondered how they knew his name, as that always led him into trouble with monsters. But he shrugged it off. This was a bank, it was official, it was safe. 

Nico followed the goblin through a dark tunnel, then they got into a cart. The lack of seatbelts troubled Nico for a moment, then he decided not to worry about it. That worked, until the cart shot off and Nico saw absolutley nothing below him except a huge cavern. 

A roar echoed distantly, and he asked the goblin what had made that noise. "Some patrons choose to have their vaults guarded by dragons." His nasley voice explained. Nico just nodded. 

When the cart stopped in front of a long line of doors, they both hoped out, and the goblin inserted the key into a hole that hadn't been there before. The door swung open, and Nico's face turned a hue of gold as the coins reflected back at him. He opened his duffle bag, still slung across his shoulder, and grabbed a napsac he had in mind just for this. He grabbed a couple handfuls of the bigger, gold ones, a handful of silver and another of the bronze. He hoped it would be enough, he had no clue what the exchange rate was. 

After the winding trip out of Gringotts, Nico decided to drop off his duffle bag somewhere. The school term wouldn't start for another five days, so Nico decided he had better check into a hotel. And since he had only wizard money, he should find one here. 

He walked over to a man with dark skin and a flowing purple robe. "Excuse me, is there an inn anywhere near?" The man looked him up and down, then said with a deep voice, "The entrence into Diagon Alley itself was an inn. The Leaky Couldron. Come, I will show you." Nico was suprised at this man's friendliness. He shrugged and let the man lead him.