Chapter 278: Worth the Trip
"Oh, Harry — oh, dear — you could have ended up anywhere!"
Mrs. Weasley, breathless and harried, pulled a large clothes brush from her bag and began vigorously whisking the soot off Harry's shoulders.
Mr. Weasley took Harry's glasses, gave them a quick tap with his wand, and handed them back. They looked as good as new.
Harry looked at the faces surrounding him. The concern written on them was plain to see... none of these wizards were cross with him for causing trouble. Sometimes, the days since he'd escaped Privet Drive felt like a wonderful, impossible dream.
"Sean — dear boy, how wonderful to see you!"
Mrs. Weasley's eyebrows shot up in delight the moment she spotted Sean standing nearby.
"Come along, then, my dears. We must get to the bank for some Galleons."
She spoke with an unusual amount of confidence, as if having a vault full of gold was a newfound luxury she intended to enjoy. Grabbing Harry with her left hand and Sean with her right, she led the charge into the bustling crowd.
Ron, feeling somewhat "forsaken," shrugged and turned to Hermione and Justin.
"Mum's always better to outsiders. Though it is a bit weird—I've never seen them so keen to get to the vaults."
Sean allowed himself to be pulled along. Mrs. Weasley had always treated him with a peculiar, maternal warmth, and she spent the walk badgering him about how his summer holidays had been.
Mr. Weasley followed behind with a gentle, distracted smile, nodding habitually until he nearly collided with Hermione's parents.
The Grangers were standing awkwardly by the long marble counter that spanned the great hall of Gringotts, waiting for Hermione to introduce them.
"Ah, I see! Mr. and Mrs. Granger! You're Muggles!"
Mr. Weasley beamed with delight. "We simply must have a drink together! What's that you've got there? Oh, you're changing Muggle currency. Molly, look!"
He pointed excitedly at the ten-pound note Mr. Granger was holding.
Soon, several goblins appeared to escort the different parties to their respective vaults. The group had to split up for a while. The Weasleys took Harry with them, while Hermione hurried off to help her parents navigate the exchange of Pounds for Galleons.
That left Sean and Justin.
"Shall we go together, Sean?" Justin asked. He had apparently come to make a withdrawal on his own.
"Sure," Sean agreed.
The ride in the small cart, hurtling along the miniature tracks through the bank's subterranean passages, was as exhilarating as ever. The wind whipped past their faces as they plunged into the depths.
When they reached a particular cavern, Justin's vault door swung open, and the sight nearly blinded Sean.
The vault was packed with every conceivable magical material—some necessary, some clearly just for show—and literal mounds of glittering Galleons.
"My father isn't entirely sold on the Wizarding World, and neither is my mother. But luckily, they're very supportive," Justin said with a grin. His collar was perfectly crisp, a testament to Mrs. Finch-Fletchley's meticulous ironing.
Sean glanced at Justin. So the gold in his school trunk was only a tiny fraction?
He knew there were limits on how many Pounds one could exchange for Galleons, which meant the Finch-Fletchleys were likely depositing raw gold or family jewels to circumvent the Ministry's caps.
The world of the truly wealthy was still a bit beyond Sean's imagination.
"Blimey... Sean..."
When they arrived at Sean's vault and the door creaked open, Justin's mouth fell open so wide a Doxey could have flown in.
Justin's sharp eye for value allowed him to estimate the sheer volume of gold within, and the realization stunned him.
Did he rob Gringotts? No, that would have been too much work.
It was at that moment that Justin began to truly grasp the terrifying wealth-generating power of a top-tier Alchemy Master.
After leaving Gringotts, the group reunited and headed straight for Flourish and Blotts.
"I've no idea where Mum and Dad got the money for our supplies this year," Ron said, still sounding like he couldn't believe his luck. "Aside from a few second-hand books with some useful notes in them, we've got five full sets of Lockhart's books! Even Ginny's got new robes and a proper wand..."
"Doesn't Mr. Weasley work at the Ministry?" Harry asked, confused.
"Harry, the Ministry isn't a charity," Ron whispered. Hermione and Justin listened in with curiosity.
They reached the bookstore only to find a massive, shoving crowd trying to get inside. A giant banner was stretched across the upper windows:
MENTOR TO THE SAGE?
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH MASTER FLORA OLIVIA TERRA ON SALE NOW
Below it, a slightly smaller banner read:
GILDEROY LOCKHART
SIGNING COPIES OF HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY
MAGICAL ME
TODAY 12:30 PM — 4:30 PM
"Mentor to the Sage? I haven't heard anything about this," Hermione said, looking baffled.
"Maybe because we don't live in the Wizarding World full-time?" Justin suggested with a smile.
The banners had clearly been up for a while, as the newspapers and magazines featuring the interview were already sold out. Occasionally, a wizard could be heard sighing with satisfaction:
"That Alchemy Sage is so young... and a Hogwarts student, to boot! Merlin's beard, I graduated far too early."
A young witch whispered to the shy wizard beside her.
"Yes... though, technically, we graduated five years ago," the wizard replied after a long silence.
The witch shot him a furious look and stomped away. He looked miserable as he scrambled to catch up.
Hermione seemed to sympathize with the witch's frustration. "What a dunderhead."
Justin nodded in agreement, while Harry and Ron looked on with blank expressions.
"You two as well!" Hermione huffed.
However, Hermione's irritation was quickly forgotten as her attention shifted to Gilderoy Lockhart. The bookstore was surrounded by witches of Mrs. Weasley's age, all looking equally enamored.
A tired-looking wizard stood at the door, shouting, "Ladies, please! Quietly, now... no pushing... mind the books..."
Sean was swept along in the middle of the group as they squeezed through the gap. A long, winding queue snaked from the front door all the way to the back of the shop, where Gilderoy Lockhart was seated.
They each grabbed a copy of Break with a Banshee and sneaked into the line where the Weasleys and Grangers were already waiting.
"Oh, there you are! Good," Mrs. Weasley said. She was breathing heavily, constantly patting her hair into place. "It's a shame we missed the magazines, but we'll get to see Mr. Lockhart in just a moment..."
Finally, they caught sight of the man himself.
He was seated behind a table, surrounded by large posters of his own face—all of which were winking at the crowd and flashing teeth of a blinding, brilliant white.
The real Lockhart was wearing robes of forget-me-not blue that perfectly matched his eyes. A pointed wizard's hat was perched jauntily atop his wavy blonde hair.
"Yes, everyone, you won't find this trip was in vain," Lockhart called out with a dazzling smile. "The two biggest events in the Wizarding World today both happen to involve me—"
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