Weighed & Measured {HP}

3. diagon alley

"Goblins?" Harry repeated as they started down the alley. "And what's this place called, anyway?"

"Diagon Alley," Snape said promptly. "There's also Knockturn Alley, but you aren't to go down there. It's dangerous, especially for you. And the goblins are in charge of the bank, that white building at the end of the alley. And don't stare," he said sternly.

"I won't."

Harry kept turning his head as they walked, though he made sure to keep close to Professor Snape. There were about a thousand different shops - to buy potions ingredients, robes, even flying broomsticks, and more. His eyes were wide, and he could barely contain his excitement.

Finally, they reached a tall marble building, and climbed the steps. As they passed through a set of doors, Harry got his first glimpse of a goblin. He - or at least, Harry thought it was a he - was short, with pale, wrinkled skin, and long pointed ears. Harry made sure not to stare.

On the second pair of doors, silver this time, words were engraved. Harry slowed down enough to read 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.

He frowned slightly. The goblins must take thievery very seriously, then, he thought, if they put a warning like that on their doors.

There were quite a few humans inside the bank, but there were several free goblins, and Professor Snape led Harry up to one of them.

"Good afternoon," he said, with stiff politeness. "Mr. Harry Potter would like to withdraw some money from his vault."

"His key?" the goblin said shortly. Professor Snape reached into his robes and pulled out a small golden key, which the goblin looked at closely.

"Very good," he said. "Someone will escort you to the vault. Griphook!" he called out.

Another goblin appeared. He might be younger than the one behind the counter, though Harry found it difficult to tell.

"Follow me, please," he said, and lead them to the back of the huge room, through a door, to a stone corridor lit by bright torches. The goblin whistled, and a cart rolled into view.

The three of them climbed in - Griphook first, then Harry, and finally Professor Snape - and they were off, hurtling down the tracks and taking sharp turns. Harry couldn't help but grin, imagining that it was what a rollercoaster must be like. He glanced up at Snape, but the professor wore the same sour expression as he had before.

Perhaps he was used to it.

After a while, the cart slowed down, and finally stopped. Harry thought they must be miles below London, and he wondered how anyone found their way around the complicated maze of tracks.

There was a small pathway next to the cart, and a door set into the wood. Professor Snape, Harry, and Griphook exited the car, and Snape handed the goblin the golden key.

Griphook opened the door, and Harry gasped.

It was full of gold, silver, and bronze coins. It must be worth more money than he had ever imagined.