Invisible

F O U R

"Don't worry about that," Hagrid assures, standing up and scratching his head.

"D'yeh think yer parents didn't leave yeh anything?"

"But if their house was destroyed--"

"They didn' keep their gold in the house, boy! Nah, first stop fer us is Gringotts. Wizards' bank. Have a sausage, they're not bad cold - an' wake up yer sister. Also, I wouldn' say no teh a bit o' yer birthday cake, neither."

"Wizards have banks?"

"Just the one. Gringotts. Run by goblins."

Harry accidentally drops the bit of sausage he was holding onto Lily's face. She stirs, but, unsurprisingly, doesn't wake up.

"Goblins?"

"Yeah - so yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it, I'll tell yeh that. Never mess with goblins, Harry. Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want to keep safe - 'cept maybe Hogwarts. As a matter o' fact, I gotta visit Gringotts anyway. Fer Dumbledore. Hogwarts business." Hagrid draws himself up proudly.

"He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer him. Fetchin' you two - gettin' things from Gringotts - knows he can trust me, see."

Harry finishes his sausage and wakes Lily up. She's so sleepy, she doesn't even notice Hagrid picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder. He looks at Harry who was packing their things.

"Got everythin'? Come on, then."

Harry follows Hagrid out onto the rock. The sky is quite clear now and the sea gleams in the sunlight. The boat Uncle Vernon had hired is still there, with a lot of water in the bottom after the storm.

"How did you get here?" Harry asks, looking around for another boat.

"Flew," Hagrid answers.

"Flew?"

"Yeah, but we'll go back in this. Not s'posed ter use magic now I've got yeh."

They settle down in the boat, Harry still staring at Hagrid, trying to imagine him flying. He watches as the giant accidentally drops his sister into the boat, fearful he might've hurt her, but she still doesn't wake up.

"Seems a shame ter row, though," Hagrid says, giving Harry another of his sideways looks.

"If I was ter, er, speed things up a bit, would yeh mind not mentionin' it at Hogwarts?"

"Of course not," Harry says, eager to see more magic.

Hagrid pulls out the pink umbrella again, taps it twice on the side of the boat, and they speed off towards land.

"Why would you be mad to try and rob Gringotts?" Harry asks.

"Spells - enchantments," Hagrid explains, unfolding his newspaper as he speaks.

"They say there's dragons guardin' the high-security vaults. And then yeh gotta find yer way - Gringotts is hundreds of miles under London, see. Deep under the Underground. Yeh'd die of hunger tryin' ter get out, even if yeh did manage ter get yer hands on summat."

Harry sits and thinks about this while Hagrid reads his newspaper, the Daily Prophet. Harry learned from Uncle Vernon that people like to be left alone while they do this, but it's very difficult, he's never had so many questions in his life. He's sure that if his sister was showing any sign of life, she'd be asking questions too.

"Ministry o' Magic messin' things up as usual," Hagrid mutters, turning the page.

"There's a Ministry of Magic?" Harry asks before he could stop himself.