Courage

-1-

OTHER EQUIPMENT
1 wand
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set of glass or crystal phials
1 telescope set
1 brass scales

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

"Come on, Gringott's is right over here," told Remus, leading his daughter towards a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, was a goblin. Layla always loved visiting Gringott's to see the goblins. She thought they were adorable, but the goblins hated when Layla called them that.

The goblin by the door was about a head shorter than Harry. He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and very long fingers and feet. He bowed as Layla and Remus walked inside. Now they were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them:

Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed,
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn.
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there.

"Hey, that's catchy," Layla giggled childishly as she read the rhyme. She never acted so giddy but she was beyond excited to go to Hogwarts, even if her first day was all the way in nine months.

"It sure is," Remus chuckled at his daughter. A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and they were in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses. There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing people in and out of these. Layla and Remus made for the counter.

"Good morning, Sparkmack," Remus greeted the goblin, who looked up.

"Ah, Mr Lupin. Good day."

"My daughter here would like to take some money out of the seperate vault I set up for her last year," Remus placed a hand on his daughter's shoulder.

"You have her key, sir?"

"Yes, I do," said Remus, and he pulled out a small golden key, placing it on the counter. "Here you go." The goblin, Sparkmack, looked at it closely.

"That seems to be in order. I will have Someone take you both down to young miss Lupin's vault. Griphook!"

Griphook was yet another goblin. Layla and Remus followed Griphook toward one of the doors leading off the hall.

Griphook held the door open for them. They were in a narrow stone passageway lit with flaming torches. It sloped steeply downward and there were little railway tracks on the floor. Griphook whistled and a small cart came hurtling up the tracks toward them. They climbed in and were off.

At first they just hurtled through a maze of twisting passages. Left, right, right, left, middle fork, right, left. The rattling cart seemed to know its own way, because Griphook wasn't steering.

Layla's eyes stung as the cold air rushed past them, but she kept them wide open. They plunged even deeper, passing an underground lake where huge stalactites and stalagmites grew from the ceiling and floor.

The cart stopped at last beside a small door in the passage wall, and they climbed out. Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out, and as it cleared, Layla smiled at the inside contents. Inside were mounds of gold coins. Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze Knuts.