15 Aug 2025
London, England
Gringotts Wizarding Bank

› They entered the bank as if it were a palace, or a castle — it was too big for a building, they thought, as they were not used to anything higher than a two-story house.

› The ugliest creatures were sitting in rows to both sides of the central hallway. Archibald saw a lot of different fish faces, truly hideous. These were by far the ugliest he had ever seen in his life. But before that, a realization came that there were non-wizards and then there were wizards. It did not even occur to him that if the magic existed in their world (he still couldn’t grasp it fully), then it was quite possible for various creatures to exist. Leprechauns? Fairies? What if all those childhood fairy tales were not fairy tales at all? He shuddered at the mere thought of that. And what then? His eyes widened to the size of the lamps that were lit near each goblin’s desk. Vampires? Werewolves? Okay, that was getting ridiculous, so he stopped going into that rabbit hole, and returned to reality with… goblins.

› It also turned out that pounds were not the currency to purchase things. Actually, in this magic world, their money was of no value. They had to exchange them for the magical sort.

› Quietly and quite nervously, they neared a smiling, but still looking extremely hostile, creature. The goblin waved at them, inviting to come closer, and looked as pleased as his withered, wrinkled face allowed it. He must have been at least 100 years old, or something. But with the shrill and high-pitched voice, he sounded like a 10-year-old girl.

› “I presume, you are those muggles I was informed about? Here to exchange your muggle money for goblin gold?” he said in a weird-sounding manner, still looking hostile and welcoming at the same time.

› They did not have a clue. They did not have a clue what the name he called them was, or how to answer the question he asked. Did they need goblin gold or some other magic money?

› “Ach, we honestly dinnae ken… We wis told tae exchange at least this amount tae buy aw the necessary supplies for the schuil,” "Eh, we honestly don't know... We were told to exchange at least this amount to buy all the necessary supplies for the school." Duncan, his father, answered and put a bundle of pounds onto the desk, then stepped away from the goblin, who suddenly bent over his desk to have a look at the three of them. It seemed it took him several long seconds to process the accent, as he stood there frozen, and then quickly snatched the money bundle.

› “Understood. Aye, this is feasible. However, you will be required to establish an account with our institution for the safekeeping of your coin. Therefore, complete this document,” he answered, while shuffling around his desk, and then finally sliding a piece of parchment-like paper with decently drawn lines and almost calligraphic writing. It was definitely not printed.

› His father took the paper, quickly looked through and turned to his wife and his son, looking both puzzled and disbelieving.

› “This is aff yer heid,” "This if off your head," he shook his head, and then turned to the goblin: “Hae ye got a pen, please?” "Do you have a pen, please?"

› The goblin’s eyes narrowed, and he pointed at a quill and an ink bottle lying on the side of the desk. Archibald and his parents exchanged glances in a genuine surprise. The goblin rolled his eyes and sighed, hiding behind the desk and trying to find something in the drawer. After a minute of loud rummaging through his desk's contents, he retrieved a regular pen. Though it looked like a very expensive pen, probably made of marble or something, it was what they had expected all along.

› “Ach, brilliant, thanks a lot,” Duncan merrily answered taking the pen from goblin’s hands, and started to fill out the form hastily. Archibald could feel the haste in his writing, as he sensed his father's sincere lack of desire to stay among goblins any longer.

› The goblin (whose name was Krognok as his badge said), with their money in his hands, disappeared behind the large metal door in the opposite wall. But he returned faster than his father completed the form. As the magical agreement was finished and signed, the goblin snapped his fingers and then hit it with a massive stamp. Then, to their surprise(it won’t stop, really), he showed two papers to them, even though his father signed only one.

› “Here is your duplicate of the accord,” he put the paper in front of them, “And here are your Galleons,” he pushed a neat column of gold towards them, “Sickles, and Knuts,” silver and a sort of bronze or copper piles followed, “precisely rendered according to the current exchange rate”.

› Another exchange of looks among the Learmonth family. Archibald quickly looked around at other desks and the money that the goblins were counting — it was all just coins. It seemed the magical world did not operate with paper banknotes. So these must have been real gold, silver, and bronze then… Not bad, not bad at all.

› Father looked at his wallet, opened it, looked at the pile of coins, and put the wallet back into his suitcase. Then opened another section and just swept the coins into it, every coin clunking against each other with a loud noise. It caused sudden silence and looks from both customers and goblins alike. The air was so tense that it seemed within the next seconds the goblins might draw daggers or something and all run at them and kill them. But they just shook their heads and continued doing whatever business they had.

› “Apologies, I didnae mean tae bother ye,”"Sorry, did not plan to disturb you," he spoke to the audience, but they did not pay any attention to him any more, so he turned back to Krognok: “And much obliged for yer service, sir.”"And thank you very much for your service, sir."

› The goblin just nodded and gave them a short smile. As his job was done, his face just retained its hostility, and nothing of the past politeness remained. It was clear they had the best opportunity to leave the place as soon as possible. And so they did.