The Potters

The Magical Side of London

"Best be off you two," Hagrid said to the two sleepy twins who were groggily sitting up and stretching. "Lots ter do today. Gotta get up ter London an' buy all yer stuff fer school."

Lilly got up and went to hand Hagrid his coat back, except she couldn't quite lift it high enough for Hagrid to notice. It wasn't till he spun around to get his boots from beside the couch that Hagrid noticed Lilly struggling to lift the coat and grabbed it from her. He easily swung the coat up and over his back before shoving his arms through the coat sleeves.

Harry had a question. "Um, Hagrid? We haven't got any money, I mean, look at our clothes -"

"And you heard Uncle Vernon last night," Lilly added. "He won't pay for us to go and learn magic." Learn magic, she thought giddily. She just couldn't believe it. She was magical. She was a witch, just like her mom. Her mom was a witch. Her mind was swimming with all the new information that she had just learned the night before. Then the painful realization hit her, her parents were dead. More than that, her parents were murdered. She bit her lip.

"Don't you two worry about that," Hagrid said, pulling on his huge boots. "D'yeh really think yer parents didn't leave yeh anything?"

"But, if their house was destroyed -" started Harry.

"They didn't keep their gold in the house, boy! Nah, first stop fer us is Gringotts. Wizards' bank."

"Wizards have banks?" Lilly asked, astonished.

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

"Goblins?" Harry's jaw dropped.

"Yeah - so yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it. I'll tell yeh that. Never mess with goblins, you two. 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 - gettin' things from Gringotts - knows he can trust me, see. Got everything? Come on then."

Hagrid helped Harry and Lilly back into the boat that they had come to the island in to begin with. "Now - since I've got you two with me, I'm not s'posed to do magic anymore, but erm - if you promise not to say anything, I could always -"

"Yes!" Lilly almost yelled. "Yes, go ahead Hagrid. I want to see you do magic."

"Oh, alright then," Hagrid said happily. Harry wasn't arguing either.

Hagrid pulled out his umbrella after he had gotten in the boat, which was now floating dangerously low in the water, almost low enough for water to begin to seep in, and tapped the boat twice. It sped off toward the shore.

Harry sat admiring the now blue sky. He was so happy when he had woken up this morning that this all wasn't a dream. A big giant man really had broken into his shack and told him he was a wizard. 

Lilly watched as Hagrid unfolded his newspaper called The Daily Prophet, and tried to hold herself back from asking more questions. Her Uncle Vernon had taught her it was rude to interrupt people while they were reading their newspaper, but she had so many questions.

"Why would you be mad to rob Gringotts?" Lilly asked, despite her better intentions.

"Spells - enchantments," Hagrid said. He seemed unbothered so Lilly allowed herself to breathe again. "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'.