Gringotts

"Right, that's a goblin," Hagrid said calmly in a low voice as they walked toward the figure up the white stone steps.

The goblin stood about a head shorter than Harry. He had a dark, intelligent-looking face and a pointed beard, and Harry noticed that his hands and feet were unusually long.

When they entered, the goblin bowed to them. Beyond him stood a second door of silver, with the following words engraved on its two panels:

Enter, stranger.

But beware the fate of greed.

Those who take without earning shall suffer the harshest punishment.

So if you seek to take wealth from our underground vaults that never belonged to you, thief, you have been warned: beware lest you summon not wealth, but retribution.

"If you ask me, anyone who wants to rob a bank has to be mad," Hagrid said.

But Harry still robbed one in his seventh year, Tierra silently thought.

Two goblins bowed to them and led them into a tall marble hall. About a hundred goblins sat on high stools behind a row of long counters. Some weighed coins with bronze scales, while others examined gemstones through eyepieces and scribbled entries into large ledgers. Countless doors led off in different directions, and many goblins guided visitors through them. Hagrid and Harry walked toward the counter.

"Good morning," Hagrid greeted an idle goblin.

"We'd like to withdraw some money from Harry Potter's vault, and collect Tierra Wu's student loan."

"Your key and proof from Hogwarts," the goblin said rather haughtily.

"Yes, yes, I remember bringing them. Um... where did I put them?" Hagrid rummaged through the deep pockets of his leather coat, then emptied everything onto the counter. He accidentally scattered a handful of moldy dog biscuits across the goblin's ledger. The goblin wrinkled his nose. Harry watched the goblin to the right weighing a pile of rubies as large as glowing coals.

"Aha, found them," Hagrid finally said. He picked out a tiny key and a small sheet of letter paper, then handed them to the goblin.

"This should be in order," the goblin said after reading the letter carefully. Then he picked up the key and examined it closely.

"I've also got a letter from Professor Dumbledore," Hagrid said solemnly after gathering all the scattered clutter back into his pockets. He pulled out another letter from the breast pocket of his leather coat. "It's about the thing in Vault 713."

Though Hagrid had spoken very quietly, Tierra caught it sharply. At the same time, he gave the object in his coat pocket a squeeze.

The goblin carefully examined the letter.

"Very well." He returned the letter to Hagrid, then counted out a hundred Galleons from beneath the counter and placed them heavily into a dark brown leather pouch. Next, he drew a line across the letter Hagrid had handed over first, then gave the pouch of one hundred Galleons and the letter to Tierra.

Tierra accepted the pouch and letter, seeing seven columns of Hogwarts assessment comments regarding the student loan.

The column representing the first year had just been crossed out by the goblin in exchange for one hundred Galleons.

"You may return to collect your student loan six more times," the goblin at the counter said. "If you have Muggle currency, we can exchange it for Galleons as well, but you may only exchange up to one hundred Galleons each year."

"Mm, all right, Mr. Goblin. Please exchange one hundred Galleons for me," Tierra said. He took out that stack of Pound sterling from his leather pouch, counted out five hundred pounds, and handed them to the goblin.

"There is also a one percent handling fee," the goblin's shrill voice added.

Tierra had no choice but to pull out another five pounds and hand them over.

Only after receiving the five pounds did the goblin count out another hundred Galleons for Tierra.

"All right, you're finished here. I'll have someone take you to the two underground vaults. Griphook!"

Griphook was another goblin. Hagrid, Harry, and Tierra followed Griphook out of the hall through one of the doors.

"What's this child coming along for?" Griphook fixed Tierra with a sharp stare. "You can wait here."

"Um, I... I wanted to... I wanted to come along and see the wizarding bank vaults. Is that all right, Harry?" Tierra said, seemingly startled by Griphook and stammering slightly.

Tierra knew that as long as Harry spoke up, it would not matter how much the goblin objected.

"He's with us. Do you have a problem with that, Griphook?" Hagrid stepped between Griphook and Tierra, adding sarcastically, "He's a Hogwarts student. Don't tell me you're afraid a student like him will rob your bank?"

Harry nodded along as well.

Seeing that both Hagrid and Harry insisted, Griphook said nothing more. He turned and continued leading the three of them deeper into Gringotts.

Griphook and Tierra did not know each other at all, much less have any personal grudge. Goblins simply instinctively disliked anyone who took gold coins from their hands.

It was in their nature, like greedy spiders.

"What's the 'thing' in Vault 713?" Harry asked.

"I can't tell you that," Hagrid said mysteriously. "It's top secret. It concerns Hogwarts. Dumbledore only gave it to me because he trusts me. It's my job, and I can't tell you about it."

Griphook opened a door for them. Harry had expected to see more marble, but he was surprised. Before them lay a narrow stone passage, brightly lit by burning torches. The passage sloped steeply downward, and a small railway ran below. Griphook whistled, and a little cart came hurtling toward them along the tracks. They climbed aboard, though Hagrid had quite a struggle squeezing his much-larger-than-average body into the cramped mine cart.

Then they set off.

At first, they sped through winding, maze-like tunnels. Harry tried to remember the route they took: left turn, right turn, right turn, left turn, a fork in the middle, then right, then left—he could not remember any of it. The clattering cart seemed to have a mind of its own and knew the way without Griphook needing to drive it.

The freezing air howled past them. Even with his glasses on, Harry felt his face sting from the wind. Tierra had it even worse, squeezing his eyes shut and clutching Hagrid's thick arm tightly. It was as thrilling as the roller coasters from his previous life, except the safety measures this time were laughably poor.

After twisting left and right for a while, they finally came to a stop.

The moment the mine cart stopped, Tierra nearly threw up, but he forced it back down. Pale-faced, he followed Griphook to an iron door.

Griphook unlocked it. Thick green smoke billowed out from inside. When it dispersed, Harry gasped. Within lay heaps of gold coins, bars of silver, and mountains of Bronze Knuts.

"It's all yours," Hagrid said with a smile.

All of it was Harry's! Tierra stared until his eyes went wide with envy.

Harry did too.

Hagrid and Tierra helped Harry fill bags with Galleons.

Harry even wanted to give Tierra a handful on the spot.

But Tierra refused outright.