Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
Chapter 8: Adventure in Gringotts
His next objective was Gringotts, but he decided to first make a quick stop at the Leaky Cauldron to gather some supplies as well as get some well-deserved rest.
He wasn't really worried about the food going bad. After spending so much time in this frozen world, Harry had learned that food never gets spoiled. You could leave an uncooked steak on top of a table for a month, and it would still be fresh. It would still have no taste, but it would be a fresh tasteless steak at least.
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Once he felt ready to part, Harry left the tavern and made his way to the gobling back, only stopping for a bit at the quiddit shop and checking what supplies he could get on a future visit.
"I thought I had gotten used to it by now, but seeing this place without a single goblin in sight is so bizarre," Harry said as he walked through the gates of the bank.
He still remembers vividly the first time he came in here, accompanied by Hagrid. Seeing that angry goblin peeking down at him from his desk was not something he could ever forget.
Harry jumped behind the counter and started to explore the insides of Gringotts that were usually forbidden for any non-goblin to step into.
There were mostly offices, some bedrooms, and a big kitchen.
"Where would they put the smithy?" Harry wondered.
There were some signs hanging from the walls, but everything was written in some strange language that he assumed was the gobling tongue.
Unfortunately, they didn't teach that at school, so he had no idea what they said.
Harry had been told that the goblins had a huge forging area where they created the coins used by wizards and where they also made all of their artifacts.
But after exploring the entire place, Harry came to a grim realization.
"It must be underground…"
The boy had only been there once, during his visit with Hagrid. But he remembers it well enough to know how complex those corridors are. One wrong turn and you may never see the light of day again.
"Well, I don't have much of a choice. Good thing I already got supplies."
He went to the entrance to the vault system and hopped into one of the mine carts. There was only one lever, so he moved it and the cart began to move.
Harry didn't know where to stop, so he just kept going and going until he reached the deepest parts of the mine system after a long time.
Once he got out of the cart, he was feeling very sick. After recovering a little, Harry inspected the place a bit more.
He could immediately tell that this section of the underground was very different from the vaults area. Unlike the cave-like structure from the upper levels, this one had properly carved, smooth stone walls.
"What is this place?..."
The whole area was well illuminated, and soon enough, Harry found himself in an empty but huge circular area. As he went deeper, he spotted some colossal chains secured to one of the walls; at the end of the chains was a huge gorget. It seemed like it was designed to keep a very big animal secured in place.
"A dragon..." He recalled Ron telling him that the goblins kept several dragons to guard the most important vaults.
At the time, Harry thought that his friend was just making things up, but now...
"For once...I'm glad the animals are also gone. I'd rather not face another dragon in my lifetime." Harry said with a sense of great relief.
He walked past the circular area and found a small corridor. After walking through it, Harry found himself in another huge chamber, but this one was very different.
The chamber was breathtakingly beautiful. The decorations reminded Harry of the ancient palaces depicted in his history books.
"This must be the entrance to the goblin kingdom."
Harry was sure that this was the place where he would find the smithy.
The goblin city was a lot bigger than he expected. It was divided into four distinctive sections: the living quarters, the industrial area, the recreation area, and the royal quarters.
Harry found all of the materials and tools he needed in the industrial area.
He also found a huge library at the recreation area and took a lot of books that looked to be about smithing. Unfortunately, they were written in goblin tongue, but he may be able to learn enough to read them.
He doesn't really need to learn how to create the goblin steel, just to shape it.
By the end of his trip, the expanded space inside his briefcase was almost full of things. But Harry was happy to be done with his task, and it was finally time to return to Hogwarts.
"All that is left is to leave this place and go back to the surface. How bad can that be?" Harry said to himself.
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One month later.
A very battered-looking Harry was leaving Gringotts.
"I swear. I'm never coming back here if I can help it…"
Describing Gringotts' mines as a labyrinth was an understatement. It was easy to get in, but almost impossible to leave. Many of the tunnels ended in a dead end, and the others would divide into many more tunnels, making it impossible to keep track of where you were or where to go.
It was just by trial and error that Harry had managed to find the exit. Had the goblins been there, they would have had a million chances to hunt him down.
After that traumatic experience, Harry decided to rest for the day at the Leaky Cauldron and have something to eat, since he had exhausted his plentiful supplies in the mines days before.
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