"Wow," Hermione breathed, taking in the view. It truly was beautiful. Though Diagon Alley was certainly a sight, Le Chemin de Traverse was simply gorgeous.
"I know," Ron grinned. "But we have to get money from our vault first."
Leaving Mr. and Mrs. Granger behind to explore, Hermione and Ron headed in direction of Gringotts. This Gringotts wasn't any different from the one back home, Hermione decided, after she got out of the death cart. Apparently, goblins everywhere felt the need to make their clients want to regurgitate their breakfasts.
"By the way, Ron, when did you even open an account here?" she asked after she was certain that she wouldn't throw up on anyone.
"When Harry and I started the company. We had it turned into Wizarding currency, and we've got accounts with many different banks."
"Oh."
A minute later, the goblin had opened the vault, and piles upon piles of gold Galleons, silver Sickles, and bronze Knuts were visible.
"If this is only part of the money, how much do you have?!" Hermione whispered, alarmed. "And, what's more is the fact that you kept this from me!"
"You don't really want to know how much we've got. Also, I didn't tell you because -"
"Because you didn't trust me! You thought that if I knew you had money, I would stay purely for that. Is that what you think of me?"
"No!" Ron defended. "Of course not!"
"Then why keep this all a secret from me? What was the point of that? When we got married, I promised to love you 'for richer, for poorer', and I meant every word of it! Why didn't you tell me?"
Ron sighed, and noticed that the goblin that had escorted them had already gotten back into the cart, so as to give them privacy. "Look, it wasn't meant to be a secret. I.. just never got around to telling you."
"Never got around to telling me? We've been married for over a year, and we've been together for much longer than that! That's not why, so just tell me, why don't you?"
Glancing back at the goblin, Ron said firmly, "Hermione, this is not the time for this argument. I'll tell you all of it when we get back to the hotel, okay? I promise."
"You're damn right you're going to tell me everything. Or I'll make those birds from sixth year seem pleasant." she said, shoving a finger in his chest.
"I promise. I honestly don't feel like being pecked to death. Now, we have to get back to your parents, and it does take a bit to exchange this for Muggle money. Start filling up," Ron instructed as he handed her a pouch.
Hermione angrily snatched the pouch, and shoveled a few coins into it. With a few moments, the bag was full, and just as she was about to hand it to her husband, she noticed that its contents had moved down a bit. Holding it at eye level, the bag didn't seem any different, but there definitely was more space to put more coins in. Suddenly, comprehension dawned upon her.
"There's an Undetectable Extension Charm on this?" she asked, holding the pouch up in his face.
"Yeah, they sell these pouches in a store somewhere here. I bought a couple last time, so we wouldn't have to lug around 15 of these. They're specially made so that if you've got to take out large amounts of money, it's not a hassle. Kind of like Muggle credim cards, really."
Despite her anger, Hermione giggled, and corrected him. "Credit cards. With a 't', not an 'm'."
"Muggles have the strangest things."
"Oh, no," Hermione laughed. "I'm not getting stuck in this conversation again."
"So you forgive me, then?" Ron asked with a charming smile on his face.
His wife pretended to think about it, and she tapped her chin with a finger. "Hm.. I don't know. I'm willing to make a deal with you."
"I'm listening."
"I'm willing to... forget this incident, if you tell me everything once we're back in the suite -"
"Great! Deal!" Ron exclaimed, holding his hand out for a handshake to seal the deal.
Hermione smirked, and lowered his arm. "I'm not done. And, the catch is.. anytime that I'm stuck in the company of one of my horrible relatives, you have to come rescue me, and make small talk with them for 10 minutes."
Ron gasped. "You wouldn't."
"I would. So, deal or not?"
Grudgingly, he held his hand out once more, but this time, she shook on it. They got back into the cart, where the goblin gave Ron a strange, knowing smile, before starting the cart again.
Once they exited the death trap, the couple headed over to front desk, where they proceeded to change the money into Muggle currency. After half an hour, they left the bank, Euros in hand instead of Galleons.
"I told Mum and Dad to meet us by the ice cream parlor, and it's only a few shops down from here," Hermione said, stowing the money away.
"Alright," Ron agreed. Honestly, he wanted to stop by the Quidditch store, but he really did not want to get into another argument with Hermione. He knew that he'd lose anyways.
With that, they made their way to the ice cream parlor. The outside was small, and simple. It had a simple door front, with the name of the parlor on the window in block letters. It wasn't as grand as they'd expected, but they didn't really care. After all, ice cream is ice cream.
However, they got a huge shock when they opened the door. Instead of being a quaint interior, it was ginormous, much bigger than you'd have thought. It certainly seemed too large to be the inside of a shop like the ice cream parlor they'd seen before.
"Bloody hell," Ron murmured in awe. Hermione, herself, was too immersed in the beauty of the store, and wasn't even concerned about his... colorful language.
"It's probably magically enlarged, like your dad's old car," Hermione said, shaking herself out of her stupor.
Before Ron could respond, a voice called out, "Hermione! Over here, darling!"
They both looked in the direction of the voice, and saw Hermione's parents sitting at a booth with ice cream cones.
Walking over to them, Hermione asked, "When did you get here?"
"We got to the ice cream parlor at 10:30, but before that, we explored the other shops. Your father picked up a few trinkets, by the way," her mum explained, and then pointed to Mr. Granger who was clutching a few small bags with many different colors.
"Wait, what time is it?" Hermione asked in a panicky voice. "Are we late?"
"Calm down, Hermione, it's only 10:45," Ron said, eyes on the watch that he had received for his 17th birthday.
Hermione took a deep breath, and decided that perhaps ice cream before lunch wasn't a bad idea. At least, that way, she could claim that her appetite had suddenly left her, so she wouldn't have to dine with her horrendous family.
She made a beeline for the counter, with Ron right behind her. As the parlor was mostly empty, They didn't have to wait in line for very long. There was a man in Auror robes, who purchased a cotton candy flavor, and was happily licking away at his cone as he walked out of the store.
At this sight, Hermione and Ron both giggled, having never seen an Auror act so lighthearted. In fact, laughter like that was overdue, and both were so immersed in it, that they didn't notice when the cashier cleared his throat, and called "Next."
However, when they did realize that it was their turn, both blushed beet red, and walked forward quickly. Hermione chose a vanilla sundae, with a maraschino cherry on top, and hot fudge drizzled atop that.
Ron, however, decided to go a rather childish route. He chose a marshmallow flavored ice cream, and made sure that there were extra sprinkles on it.
"Ron, that's ridiculous, why would you douse your ice cream in sprinkles?" Hermione asked, once the cashier was out of earshot.
"Oi! I'll have you know that it's quite delicious!" To prove this point, he took a large bite out of the top of his ice cream, but grimaced when the cold hit his teeth.
Hermione giggled as Ron used his free hand to clutch at his head, as he moaned, "Brain freeze.."
The two quickly made it back to Mr. and Mrs. Granger, and joined them in the booth. Unsurprisingly, Ron was the first one to finish his ice cream, five minutes later. Soon enough, though, they all completed their treats, and decided to head to the store where they were supposed to meet the rest of the Grangers.
Time to go and listen to fat cows insult me, I guess, Hermione thought, with a grimace on her face. She grabbed her mother's arm, and quickly left with a 'pop'.