Chapter 9
"So this is my inheritance?" I asked with a certain… tremor of awe and excitement in my voice, looking at the wrinkled little banker with predatory features and a long sharp nose—who, despite his appearance, was behaving relatively politely toward the young wizard in front of him.
"That is correct, Mr. Potter. More precisely, this is your child vault, which James Potter opened nearly eleven years ago, putting what are now your funds to work," the goblin replied in a formal tone, while continuing to irritate my magical sensitivity. There were many sources of all kinds of magic in this bank, but goblins… Are they even wizards? They felt more like strange Squibs, like our unpleasant neighbor, than anything else.
"My father… put the money to work?" Even those odd sensations from being near the goblin did not stop me from asking what mattered right now… I more or less understood what the little creature meant, but it was still worth clarifying. Especially since Minerva was calmly letting me indulge a bit of curiosity.
"Indeed. To be specific, the funds were placed under a floating interest rate. If the young wizard wishes, the bank can provide you with statements of all financial operations connected to this vault… for four Knuts," the banker bared his teeth, making McGonagall press her lips together in faint displeasure.
"That… would be very useful," I decided, since thanks to the Bulgarian's lectures I had a rough sense of what money was worth in the magical world. Even if the statement would cost me about as much as a solid lunch at a decent café, it was still worth it. Especially considering… the sheer scale of the gold piled in my vault.
"Mr. Potter, are you sure you should be spending your parents' money on something like that?" the Deputy Headmistress suddenly stepped into the conversation, and her… restrained interest in the matter made my paranoia flare. After all, the key to my vault had been in her hands until recently… or perhaps in Dumbledore's, who, if memory from my old life served, could look rather ambiguous on screen.
"Is there some sort of problem?" I frowned, making my confusion clear in response to her displeasure. "I should at least have a rough idea of how much money I have… and how well its 'growth' actually works in this bank."
"That is, without doubt, true… But Gringotts usually requires about an hour to prepare a full statement. And we do not have much free time. Do not forget, Mr. Potter, you still have a whole list of important purchases ahead of you," the older witch said sternly, apparently thinking that such a… cheap trick would cool my interest.
"It will take about two hours, but no one has the right to keep you in the bank. Once ordered, the statement of the account's status and history may be collected at any time within the next six months," the goblin confirmed, catching my look and slightly easing my concern.
"If the only issue is not wanting to waste extra time on something outside the required program… then I can actually understand McGonagall. I never liked staying late at work either," I thought distantly. Despite that, I still ordered the papers and insisted to Minerva that we could quickly drop by the bank again after all the shopping.
That arrangement more or less satisfied the strict professor, though at first she kept twisting her mouth. In the end, to request the statement I also had to fill out a special application form, which could be a real challenge for an ordinary eleven-year-old boy, simply because of the difficulty of writing English quickly and neatly.
I ran into some problems too, since I had never written anything with a quill before, so my first attempt to deal with "magical handwriting" was quite the ordeal… But in the end I at least understood why it was necessary. While I wrote, the quill—completely ordinary in appearance and according to all my senses—somehow drew a few drops of magic out of me, which would apparently be used as a kind of signature. They never even asked me to sign by hand.
Magic, pure and simple… But I was satisfied with the work done and allowed McGonagall to hurry me along to the rest of the purchases. Nothing critical, especially since we went first for a student trunk with expanded space, potion ingredients, new cauldrons, special scales, telescopes and star charts for Astronomy, protective gloves for Herbology, and ordinary robes… along with which I also made sure to buy a few sets of everyday clothes.
The Dursleys did sometimes buy me new clothes, but most of my wardrobe still consisted of Dudley's old things. Vernon and Petunia were far too unwilling to spend money on clothing for me every half year, or even more often. I was growing, like almost every boy my age, quite quickly—sometimes changing shoes twice in a single season.
"Luckily, the school uniform, according to the shopkeeper, can adjust itself to a wizard's body… within fairly narrow limits, but even if I grow another ten centimeters this year, nothing terrible should happen," I smiled a little awkwardly, sensing that McGonagall had finally calmed down completely after my little stunt at the bank… and just in time.
"Oh, Minerva! Back again? The usual, then? First-year textbook set?" the bookseller greeted us cheerfully and warmly in the bookshop I had been trying to reach for so long… I had even tried to send Krusho here once, promising him all the pocket money I had saved up in exchange for more magical literature… but that had not worked out.
"Good afternoon, William. We need the standard set," my escort nodded politely to the rather stout man, clearly intending to deal with this shop the same way she had handled every other one. Minerva seemed to know every wizard and shopkeeper on this street, which let her handle my purchases at maximum speed. Even so, we had already spent a good deal of time on all these errands…
"Um, Professor… may I look around a bit?" I asked quietly, not even trying to hide the interest, excitement, and impatience in my voice. "What if I find something interesting…"
"Well… go ahead, Mr. Potter," McGonagall hesitated, but still nodded, taking advantage of the fact that the bookseller had already disappeared into the back. She clearly still did not want to draw attention by saying my surname too loudly. "Just remember that Hogwarts has its own library, and almost everything in this shop will be available to you at school as well."
"All right, I won't take much," I smiled, though in truth I had a very specific plan and even a list of books I wanted to buy… And I would rather not remember how reluctantly the Bulgarian had answered my questions on the subject. The bastard had sensed that I was trying to trick him into delivering new books to me… and it hadn't worked. But now that list was extremely useful.
Still, out of the eight textbooks and spell collections I wanted, I only found five, fully understanding that directly asking the shopkeeper for specific titles in my current situation would be far too… obvious. Questions that precise would reveal to my escort that I understood more than I should about the magical world.
"Well, this should be enough for now," I smiled, handing my little stack of books to the shopkeeper… Though the Head of Gryffindor still checked my selection, looking slightly surprised by two books on household magic, but she did not dwell on it. I think the volume titled Foundations of Transfiguration by Bark pleased her in some way…
So, after paying for my extra purchases—almost as much as I had paid for all the other required books combined—I left yet another magical shop, feeling fatigue start to creep over me… Until then, I had kept myself energized by having a clear goal in the bookshop. But once my plan was more or less successfully carried out, exhaustion from nearly three hours of walking between scattered shops all across Diagon Alley came crashing down with unexpected force.
"Are you all right, Mr. Potter?" McGonagall seemed to notice the change in my mood at once and stepped closer with mild concern. "Tired of pulling the trunk?"
"Something like that," I let out a long breath, not even trying to force a cheerful expression. "All these errands are exhausting…"
"I can understand," the witch gave me a thin smile, a hint of awkwardness on her face… as she cast some kind of charm on my luggage, making the school trunk feel even lighter. Though it had never been especially heavy. If the cobblestones in the magical world were a bit smoother, even I, an eleven-year-old boy, could have dragged it around all day without trouble. "But do not worry. We only have two shops left on the agenda."
"A wand and… sorry, I don't remember there being anything else on the list," I frowned, never having had any issues with memory. Even in my previous life, I had been surprised by how people forgot recent conversations, or how many university students struggled with the simple memorization of some non-core subject…
In this life, my memory was even better. I could picture even the small details from the Hogwarts letter I had read several times as if it were right in front of my eyes… Which was why I did not understand what second shop McGonagall meant. According to the list, the only thing left was buying a wand.
"It was not on the list, but… every student at Hogwarts is allowed to have a personal pet. Usually cats, toads, or owls, but sometimes the school permits something more exotic," my future Transfiguration professor returned to her improvised lecture. "And you, Mr. Potter, will certainly benefit from having your own pet. Ideally, a personal post owl, which, believe my experience, can make any correspondence between wizards much easier."
"I see… But I already have a cat. And I think I can convince Dudley and my relatives to let him come with me to school," I hesitated, understanding that an owl really could be useful, but also… "Can I bring two pets to Hogwarts?"
"Normally that is not encouraged, but one extra cat will certainly not be a great problem," Minerva answered easily, making me nod thoughtfully… In my past life, I had cared for both a cat and a pug at the same time. I suspected I even missed those days and my pets, so I would not object to buying an owl. Especially if it truly replaced a normal mailman in the magical world…