Gringotts Vaults

"Got 'em." Hagrid said, pulling things out of his pockets.

First he pulled out two dormice and placed them on the counter, then he pulled out a Puffskein, and finally, after searching for a long time, he let out a sigh of relief.

"Found it." Hagrid held up a tiny golden key.

The Goblin took the key, examined it carefully, and handed it back to Hagrid.

"That should be all right."

"I also have a handwritten letter from Professor Dumbledore." Hagrid said casually, taking a crumpled letter from his pocket: "It's about 'that thing' in Vault 713."

Harry knew Hagrid was talking about something confidential, but Hagrid's voice was simply too loud, so even if he didn't want to listen, he still heard that line about 'that thing in Vault 713'.

What was this, plotting out loud? Harry didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

The Goblin took Hagrid's letter, carefully checked the magical seal on it, read through it in detail, and nodded, saying: "Very well, I'll have someone take you there—Griphook!"

Accompanied by the Goblin's shout, a short Goblin in formal attire came over to the two of them.

"All right, let's go." Hagrid patted Harry's shoulder, signaling him to follow: "I'll take you to get your money first, and then we'll take care of business."

"Hey, your animals." The Goblin at the counter called out loudly.

Only then did Hagrid remember his little animals on the desk. He walked back, stuffed the dormice and Puffskein, which were still in a daze, back into his large pocket, and then turned around to stride after Griphook.

Harry and Hagrid followed Griphook, who was walking ahead, got into a cart, and headed all the way toward the vaults.

The cart sped along the tracks so fast that the cold air whistled past, and Harry felt his eyes stinging from the wind.

Glancing left and right to see that neither Hagrid nor Griphook was paying attention to him, he cast a small Shield Charm in front of his face, trying to block the biting cold wind.

"Hagrid, do you think we actually have money at home?" Harry asked with some concern.

"Don't worry, Harry." Hagrid said to Harry: "You're actually worried about whether your family has money, haha, if James knew, he'd definitely—"

Before he finished speaking, the cart screeched to a halt.

"Here." Griphook said in a strictly businesslike tone.

Hagrid stepped forward and unlocked the vault with the key—

"Whoa..."

Harry was dazzled by the gold coins piled almost like a mountain inside the vault. Did he really have such a small fortune hidden deep beneath London?

For no particular reason, he thought of the pretty girl with pale blonde hair he had met on the train in his first year.

The girl was extremely arrogant, carrying the temper of a young lady, always showing off her father to others, always mocking his poverty, and tirelessly trying to recruit him as her lackey.

Especially that summer of his second year...

"Oh? What are you doing here? Buying second-hand robes?"

Outside Flourish and Blotts, Cassandra Malfoy looked at the cautious Harry with a haughty expression, lifting her chin.

Harry didn't mind the girl's mockery; after all, compared to the Dursley family, the way she spoke was already quite gentle.

"Yeah." Harry smiled at the blonde girl, "Do you have any here that you've worn?"

Hearing Harry's words, a look of disgust appeared in the girl's gray eyes, and she turned and left Flourish and Blotts.

That very afternoon, he received two old Slytherin robes—

"Harry, Harry?"

Only then did Harry snap out of it. He looked up at Hagrid, who said cheerfully, "See? I didn't lie to you, your family left you a substantial amount of money."

"Yeah." Harry truly had never seen so much money either, and he thought to himself in a daze, does this mean he was richer than the Malfoy family now?

"These gold coins are called Galleons, the silver ones are Sickles, and the copper ones are Knuts." Hagrid explained carefully to Harry: "Seventeen Sickles are worth a Galleon, and twenty-nine Knuts are worth a Sickle—how's that, simple enough, right?"

While talking, Hagrid helped Harry stuff money into his pocket.

Simple enough?

No matter how many times it happened, Harry wanted to complain about the currency of the Wizarding World.

When could the Wizarding World learn from Muggles and reform its currency decimal system? Even an old-fashioned stick-in-the-mud like Britain had abolished its original system back in 1971.

"All right, that should be enough for your two terms, I'll keep the rest for you." Hagrid stuffed a full pocket of coins for Harry, then turned to Griphook and said: "Now take us to Vault 713, but would you mind making the cart go a bit slower?"

"There is only one speed for the cart." Griphook replied very formally.

Hagrid spread his hands toward Harry, indicating there was nothing he could do.

Harry didn't really mind, seeing as he had the Mini Shield Charm.

There was no keyhole on the door of Vault 713, which Harry noticed immediately.

"Stand back." Griphook said solemnly. He extended a long finger and gently tapped the door, and the door actually vanished bit by bit.

"Don't anyone else ever do this except Gringotts goblins." Griphook warned: "Unless you want to be sucked into the door and never come out again—"

Such a super-secure underground vault would definitely hold extremely precious items, Harry thought, watching Griphook and Hagrid walk inside, and emerge from within a moment later.

Almost instantly, Harry felt a rich aura of Ancient Magic wafting from inside Hagrid's coat.

He regretted it a little now; if he had known, he should have followed them in to take a look, to see what on earth that thing was.

Ancient Magic was rather eccentric, as you could only sense magical auras before the age of fifteen and couldn't actually wield Ancient Magic yet.

And his intuition told him that as long as he had that thing's help, age would no longer be an issue.

"What was that?" Harry asked with interest, trying his best to act like an eleven-year-old boy.

"Oh, no, Harry, I can't tell you that." Hagrid said hurriedly: "This is a task Headmaster Dumbledore gave me, to deliver it to Hog—well, he strictly demanded that I keep it secret, so even for you, I cannot say. Please forgive me."

"It's fine." Harry nodded understandingly. Since it was a secret, he couldn't force Hagrid to speak.

After all, in his heart, this tall, big, and honest Hagrid had already become his friend.

He had also caught what Hagrid hadn't finished saying earlier.

Since it was going to be delivered to Hogwarts, it meant that thing wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, and there would be no harm in studying it after school started.