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At first they just hurtled through a maze of twisting passages. Harry |
tried to remember, left, right, right, left, middle fork, right, left, |
but it was impossible. The rattling cart seemed to know its own way, |
because Griphook wasn't steering. |
Harry's eyes stung as the cold air rushed past them, but he kept them |
wide open. Once, he thought he saw a burst of fire at the end of a |
passage and twisted around to see if it was a dragon, but too late - - |
they plunged even deeper, passing an underground lake where huge |
stalactites and stalagmites grew from the ceiling and floor. |
I never know," Harry called to Hagrid over the noise of the cart, |
"what's the difference between a stalagmite and a stalactite?" |
"Stalagmite's got an 'm' in it," said Hagrid. "An' don' ask me questions |
just now, I think I'm gonna be sick." |
He did look very green, and when the cart stopped at last beside a small |
door in the passage wall, Hagrid got out and had to lean against the |
wall to stop his knees from trembling. |
Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out, and |
as it cleared, Harry gasped. Inside were mounds of gold coins. Columns |
of silver. Heaps of little bronze Knuts. |
"All yours," smiled Hagrid. |
All Harry's -- it was incredible. The Dursleys couldn't have known about |
this or they'd have had it from him faster than blinking. How often had |
they complained how much Harry cost them to keep? And all the time there |
had been a small fortune belonging to him, buried deep under London. |
Hagrid helped Harry pile some of it into a bag. |
"The gold ones are Galleons," he explained. "Seventeen silver Sickles to |
a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle, it's easy enough. Right, |
that should be enough fer a couple o' terms, we'll keep the rest safe |
for yeh." He turned to Griphook. "Vault seven hundred and thirteen now, |
please, and can we go more slowly?" |
"One speed only," said Griphook. |
They were going even deeper now and gathering speed. The air became |
colder and colder as they hurtled round tight corners. They went |
rattling over an underground ravine, and Harry leaned over the side to |
try to see what was down at the dark bottom, but Hagrid groaned and |
pulled him back by the scruff of his neck. |
Vault seven hundred and thirteen had no keyhole. |
"Stand back," said Griphook importantly. He stroked the door gently with |
one of his long fingers and it simply melted away. |
"If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through |
the door and trapped in there," said Griphook. |
"How often do you check to see if anyone's inside?" Harry asked. |
"About once every ten years," said Griphook with a rather nasty grin. |
Something really extraordinary had to be inside this top security vault, |
Harry was sure, and he leaned forward eagerly, expecting to see fabulous |
jewels at the very least -- but at first he thought it was empty. Then |
he noticed a grubby little package wrapped up in brown paper lying on |
the floor. Hagrid picked it up and tucked it deep inside his coat. Harry |
longed to know what it was, but knew better than to ask. |
"Come on, back in this infernal cart, and don't talk to me on the way |
back, it's best if I keep me mouth shut," said Hagrid. |
One wild cart ride later they stood blinking in the sunlight outside |
Gringotts. Harry didn't know where to run first now that he had a bag |
full of money. He didn't have to know how many Galleons there were to a |
pound to know that he was holding more money than he'd had in his whole |
life -- more money than even Dudley had ever had. |
"Might as well get yer uniform," said Hagrid, nodding toward Madam |
Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. "Listen, Harry, would yeh mind if I |
slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them |
Gringotts carts." He did still look a bit sick, so Harry entered Madam |
Malkin's shop alone, feeling nervous. |
Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve. |
"Hogwarts, clear?" she said, when Harry started to speak. "Got the lot |
here -- another young man being fitted up just now, in fact. " |
In the back of the shop, a boy with a pale, pointed face was standing on |
a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes. Madam |
Malkin stood Harry on a stool next to him) slipped a long robe over his |
head, and began to pin it to the right length. |
"Hello," said the boy, "Hogwarts, too?" |
"Yes," said Harry. |
"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street |
looking at wands," said the boy. He had a bored, drawling voice. "Then |
I'm going to drag them off to took at racing brooms. I don't see why |
first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting |
me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow." |
Harry was strongly reminded of Dudley. |
"Have you got your own broom?" the boy went on. |
"No," said Harry. |
"Play Quidditch at all?" |
"No," Harry said again, wondering what on earth Quidditch could be. |
"I do -- Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my |
house, and I must say, I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?" |
"No," said Harry, feeling more stupid by the minute. |
"Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know |
I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been -- imagine being in |
Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" "Mmm," said Harry, wishing |
he could say something a bit more interesting. |
"I say, look at that man!" said the boy suddenly, nodding toward the |
front window. Hagrid was standing there, grinning at Harry and pointing |
at two large ice creams to show he couldn't come in. |
"That's Hagrid," said Harry, pleased to know something the boy didn't. |
"He works at Hogwarts." |
"Oh," said the boy, "I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't |
he?" |
"He's the gamekeeper," said Harry. He was liking the boy less and less |
every second. |
"Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of savage -- lives in a hut on the |
school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic, |
and ends up setting fire to his bed." |
"I think he's brilliant," said Harry coldly. |
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