The Forgotten Twin

Chapter 5

Delilah woke early the next morning.

She opened her eyes and remembered what had happened. She grinned.

The hut was full of sunlight, the storm was over, Hagrid himself was asleep on the collapsed sofa.

There was suddenly a loud tapping noise.

She went and opened the window. An owl swooped in and dropped the newspaper on top of Hagrid, who didn't wake up. The owl then fluttered onto the floor and began to attack Hagrid's coat.

"Don't do that."

Delilah tried to wave the owl out of the way, but it snapped its beak fiercely at her and carried on savaging the coat.

"Hagrid!" said Delilah loudly. "There's an owl."

Harry sat up, rubbed his eyes and yawned.

"Pay him," Hagrid grunted into the sofa.

"What?"

"He wants payin' fer deliverin' the paper. Look in the pockets."

Hagrid's coat seemed to be made of nothing but pockets — bunches of keys, slug pellets, balls of string, peppermint humbugs, teabags... finally, Delilah pulled out a handful of strange-looking coins.

"Give him five Knuts," said Hagrid sleepily.

"Which ones are those?"

"The little bronze ones."

Delilah counted out five little bronze coins, and the owl held out his leg so she could put the money into a small leather pouch tied to it. Then he flew off through the open window.

Hagrid yawned loudly, sat up, and stretched.

"Best be off, lots ter do today, gotta get up ter London an' buy all yer stuff fer school."

Harry came over to investigate the wizard coins. Delilah realized something that made the happy balloon inside her puncture.

"Hagrid? We haven't got any money — and you heard Uncle Vernon last night... he won't pay for us to go and learn magic."

"Don't worry about that," said Hagrid, standing up and scratching his head. "D'yeh think yer parents didn't leave yeh anything?"

"But if their house was destroyed —" Harry said.

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

"Wizards have banks?"

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

Harry dropped the bit of sausage he was holding.

Delilah however looked ecstatic. "They're real? That's fascinating, what other creatures are real that muggles put off as myths? Mermaids? Unicorns? Dragons?"

Hagrid chuckled. "All of them are real, bu' mermaids are different than the myths say."

"But goblins run Gringotts?!" Harry interrupted.

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

"Got everythin'? Come on, then."

They followed Hagrid out onto the rock. The sky was quite clear now and the sea gleamed in the sunlight. The boat Uncle Vernon had hired was still there, with a lot of water in the bottom after the storm.