Mischief Managed | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 05

James and Jenna didn't want to waste any time and couldn't wait to go and explore all the different shops to buy their Hogwarts robes, wands, cauldrons, and books. But of course they first had to pay a visit to their parents' vault at Gringotts to get some money.

They soon reached a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors a goblin stood, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold.

      Jenna wasn't sure if she liked the way goblins looked at witches and wizards, as though their eyes were somehow filled with hatred. So she quickly got closer to her parents and held her father's hand, trying not to make eye contact with the goblin.

Once they passed the grim looking goblin, they were faced with a second pair of doors, which were silver this time, with words engraved upon them that said,

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.

Even those words seemed scary to Jenna. But when she glanced sideways at James, he seemed quite unbothered by the goblins. So she cleared her throat and tried to look tougher, though she kept on holding her father's hand, just in case.

     A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and so they walked into a vast marble hall. James and Jenna looked around them in awe as they entered the magnificent building, seeing as they had never accompanied their parents into the Wizarding bank.

Inside, 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. The place had many doors inside it and a great chandelier was hung above them on the high ceiling.

James and Jenna quickened their pace to catch up with their parents as they walked up toward a counter where a goblin was sitting. At their sight, the goblin put down his quill and fixed his narrow eyes on them.

"Mr. and Mrs Potter," said the goblin with a little bow of his head, "what can I do for you?"

"We wanted to take some money out of our vault," said Mrs. Potter.

"And the key?" The goblin raised a brow at them, and so Mr. Potter dug into his robe's pocket, taking out a golden key.

"There you go," said Mr. Potter, handing the key to the goblin.

"Very well." The goblin nodded after examining the key carefully. He then turned his head and called out another goblin to come over. "Bogrod!"

Jenna looked over and saw another goblin walking toward them. He was even shorter than she was and had a serious expression upon his wrinkled face. Bogrod took the golden key and led the Potters through one of the doors inside the hall.

They were in a narrow stone passageway lit with flaming torches. It sloped steeply downward and there were little railway tracks on the floor. With that, Bogrod whistled and a small cart came hurtling up the tracks toward them.

James and Jenna looked sideways at each other with mischievous grins on their faces as they got into the cart before their parents and soon the cart started on, grabbing speed with each passing second.

Usually the others would grab on tight to the cart and shut their eyes close in fear. Some even vomited along the way. But that wasn't the case for the Potter twins. In fact, they seemed to be enjoying the ride way too much.

They squealed happily each time the cart made a sharp turn and threw their arms up in the air whenever it went downward. But they soon bad to stop when the goblin glared at them from over his shoulder.

At last the cart came to a stop at the depths of the underground. The Potter's family vault was one of the highly protected ones down there. Although the biggest surprise was when the goblin threw in their key and opened their vault, only to reveal mountains of gold Galleons, piled up on one another.

Other than the family money that Fleamont and Euphemia Potter had inherited, Feamont had also been a great Potioneer and had invented a successful hair product called the Sleekeazy's Hair Potion in his younger years, which had brought them many gold.

Once the door to their huge vault was opened, Mrs. Potter went forward and then took out a little bag, pocketing enough gold for both James and Jenna's school supplies.

James and Jenna could hardly hold their excitement back as they left the Wizarding bank and went back through the alley. They both had their lists out, looking through them.

"Ooh, can we buy our wands first?" Jenna asked enthusiastically, with excitement glimmering in her eyes.

"Actually I think it would be better if we got your robes first," Mrs. Potter suggested. "They will take some while to get ready. So we can go and get your measurements, and while they get your robes ready, we'll go and buy your other stuff. How's that?"

"Yeah, all right." James shrugged and so they made their way toward Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions with their mother, while Fleamont had seen a colleague from work and had stayed behind to chat.

Once they entered the shop, a witch came forward with a kind smile on her face. And once they told her that they wanted to get their first robes to Hogwarts, the witch led them to the back of the shop for the measurements.

"Kids, do you think you'll be all right here on your own?" Mrs. Potter asked them. "Your father's seen one of our trainees from work; Kingsley. I better go and say hi."

"We'll be fine, Mum." Jenna nodded at her reassuringly with a smile and so Mrs. Potter payed the owner in advance, walking out of the shop.

Jenna's measurements were done sooner than James, because he kept moving each time a needle neared him, ruining the whole thing. Jenna certainly didn't have the patience to stay behind for him, when she could be out in the alley, exploring the shops and looking at different spell books.

"You can't leave me here!" James retorted as a witch was trying pin needles over the right places on his robe while he stood on a stool.

"Can't do that, J.P. I think I saw a curse book in the window of a shop back there," Jenna said with a grin. "I wanna check it out."

But when James tried to protest again, he accidentally moved and a needle went into his skin. "Ouch!"

Chuckling, Jenna took the opportunity and made her way toward the robe shop's door. But the moment she wanted to step outside, James let out another yelp, causing her to get distracted and bump into someone who was about to enter the shop.

"Ouch! Watch it!" Jenna retorted, frowning.

  "You watch it," said the boy she had bumped into, who looked to be around her age. But Jenna ignored him and just stepped out of the shop as he watched her leave.

Although the boy was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard his mother call upon him sharply, "Hurry up!"

So the boy just grimaced, saying in a bitter whisper, "Coming, Mother," before following her into the robe shop.