The entrance to Gringotts faced Diagon Alley directly, with a white stone passage leading toward a pair of gleaming bronze doors. Beside those doors stood a goblin dressed in a scarlet-and-gold uniform.
Leo stared at him for half a second longer than necessary.
So this was a goblin.
In person, goblins looked even stranger than they had on screen. They were short, sharp-featured, long-fingered, and unpleasantly intense, like bankers designed by someone who hated both bankers and customers equally.
"Oh, dear Professor McGonagall," the goblin at the door said in a high, sharp voice. "Gringotts welcomes your arrival."
His eyes flicked briefly toward Leo and his parents. The glance was quick, but the disdain in it was impossible to miss.
McGonagall's smile remained calm and professional.
"I've brought a new student to exchange Muggle money for Galleons. He'll need supplies for Hogwarts."
The goblin bowed stiffly and led them inside.
After passing through the bronze doors, they entered an inner hall. Ahead stood another set of doors, this time made of silver, with words engraved across them.
Enter, stranger, but take heedOf what awaits the sin of greed.For those who take, but do not earn,Must pay most dearly in return.So if you seek beneath our floorsA treasure that was never yours,Thief, you have been warned.Beware not wealth, but wrath reborn.
Stoke and Rose read the inscription quietly. When they finished, they exchanged a look, both wearing the same faint discomfort.
Leo noticed it too.
The warning itself was dramatic enough, but the goblin's earlier expression made the whole place feel far less impressive. First impressions mattered. Whether in friendship or business, one bad look could ruin everything before the conversation even began.
Leo immediately made a decision.
He needed storage magic.
A magical pouch, a suitcase, anything with an Undetectable Extension Charm would do. In every fantasy story he had read in his previous life, what self-respecting protagonist didn't own some kind of storage item?
As a reincarnated person, he had standards to maintain. More importantly, he had no interest in leaving his future money in goblin hands if he could avoid it.
If he had to keep money somewhere, he would much rather keep it in his own pocket.
"Professor McGonagall," Leo asked, tilting his head with a carefully innocent expression, "are there small bags here that can hold lots of things?"
McGonagall looked down at him in mild surprise. Then understanding flashed through her eyes.
"You're very quick, Mr. Nicholas. Yes, there are magical bags and containers enchanted with the Undetectable Extension Charm. You should be able to purchase one after exchanging your money."
Her tone remained composed, but Leo suspected she had noticed the goblin's attitude as well.
The four of them continued through the marble hall.
Inside, Gringotts was far larger than it had appeared from outside. Hundreds of goblins sat on high stools behind long counters. Some weighed coins on tiny scales, while others examined gemstones through monocles or scribbled in enormous ledgers.
Stoke and Rose couldn't hide their amazement.
Leo was impressed too.
This was clearly another effect of spatial magic. If Gringotts could be this much larger inside than outside, then Hogwarts' Great Hall was probably only the beginning of what wizarding architecture could do.
They soon stopped before a counter.
Stoke removed a small satchel from his shoulder and looked at the uniformed goblin behind the desk.
For a moment, man and goblin silently stared at each other.
Then the goblin's nose twitched.
He had smelled wealth.
"Good morning, sir," the goblin said, his sharp voice becoming noticeably more respectful. "Are you here to exchange currency? The current rate is five pounds to one Galleon."
"Yes," Stoke replied. "Exchange everything in this bag, please."
He placed several thick stacks of pound notes on the counter. Then he added a ruby and two gold bars, each weighing two hundred and fifty grams.
The goblin's eyes nearly shone.
Greed practically poured out of him.
"Of course, esteemed sir. Right away."
His long fingers swept the items from the counter with remarkable speed.
In less than five minutes, the goblin returned with a pile of gleaming Galleons, silver Sickles, and bronze Knuts.
Stoke glanced at the small mountain of coins and immediately frowned.
"Also, I'll need one of those small bags that can hold more than it looks like. This is far too much to carry by hand."
The goblin looked briefly toward Professor McGonagall, then reached below the counter and pulled out a small leather pouch about the size of a waist bag. He poured the coins into it and, without hesitation, deducted several dozen Galleons as payment.
Leo silently watched the entire transaction.
Five stacks of hundred-pound notes became five thousand Galleons. The two gold bars exchanged for more than three thousand Galleons, and the ruby alone brought in ten thousand.
In the end, they received eighteen thousand Galleons, one thousand seven hundred Sickles, and nine hundred eighty-six Knuts.
It wasn't quite the legendary Potter fortune, with gold piled high enough to form miniature hills, but it was still an enormous amount of money. At least for an ordinary wizarding household, it absolutely counted as wealthy.
With the exchange complete, Leo left Gringotts holding his parents' hands while Professor McGonagall walked beside them.
Just as they neared the exit, he noticed two blond figures emerging from a small side door.
One tall.
One small.
A goblin followed behind them.
Leo recognized them almost immediately.
The Malfoys.
For a brief second, he remembered the later events involving Harry Potter's visit to Gringotts and the danger hidden beneath this very bank. Then he mentally shook the thought away.
What did that have to do with him?
For now, he was simply here to shop.
Outside Gringotts, Diagon Alley bustled with life. Leo took a deep breath, and for some reason, the air seemed to smell faintly of money.
Magical items were expensive.
Very expensive.
No wonder wizards cared so much about inheritance.
"Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas, Mr. Nicholas," Professor McGonagall said, turning toward them. "You may begin purchasing the items on the school list. I have a matter to attend to, so I'll meet you later at Ollivanders."
Stoke and Rose thanked her politely.
McGonagall nodded, then disappeared gracefully into the crowd.
The moment she was gone, Stoke's eyes lit up like a child's.
"Darling, did you see those clothes moving in the window earlier? Let's buy robes first."
Rose instantly became just as excited.
"Yes. Let's go quickly."
Then, as if to express that excitement, she reached down and pinched Leo's cheek.
"Mum," Leo mumbled through a squashed face, "let go. I need my face for school."
Rose finally released him with a laugh.
The three of them quickly reached a shop with a sign reading Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and pushed open the door.
A plump witch dressed in purple immediately greeted them with a warm smile.
"Hello, sir, madam, and dear young wizard. Here for Hogwarts uniforms?"
"Yes," Stoke replied. "Our son needs school robes."
Rose had already abandoned them and drifted toward the rows of fabric and display robes like a warrior entering battle.
Madam Malkin saw this and smiled knowingly. Women understood each other. No explanation was needed.
"Come here, young man," she said kindly. "Let's take your measurements first. Hogwarts uniforms are made properly."
With a wave of her wand, a measuring tape sprang to life and wrapped itself around Leo. It measured his shoulders, arms, waist, and legs while he stood there trying not to flinch.
Rose's excitement didn't last as long as expected.
After browsing for a while, she seemed to lose interest. Compared to modern fashion, the robes looked old-fashioned and overly formal. As a stylish lawyer used to tailored suits and sharp coats, she was clearly more curious about the magical fabric than the designs themselves.
Soon, the Nicholas family walked out with several sets of Hogwarts robes for different seasons.
The shopping list was still long, and carrying everything by hand quickly became annoying.
Stoke glanced at the robes, then at the pouch of money, then at the street ahead.
"We need something better to carry all this."
Leo immediately pointed toward a nearby shop.
Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment.
The moment they entered, all three of them stopped.
The shop was filled with strange magical objects. Brass instruments spun in midair. Glass orbs glowed softly on shelves. Quills scratched across parchment by themselves, as if invisible hands controlled them.
Rose's attention locked onto one quill in particular.
"Darling, look at that pen. It's writing on its own. If I bought one for work, would I never have to take notes again?"
Stoke stared at it for a moment.
The expression on his face said he was already imagining his own paperwork vanishing forever.
A shop assistant quickly appeared from behind the counter.
"Madam has excellent taste," he said with a professional smile. "That is a Quick-Quotes Quill. It records speech quickly and conveniently."
Leo looked at the quill with deep suspicion.
He remembered Rita Skeeter.
Convenient, yes.
Reliable, absolutely not.
Still, his parents were fascinated.
With the assistant's help, they purchased several required items from the list, including a brass scale and a set of glass and crystal phials for Potions.
Then the assistant began introducing ordinary school trunks and suitcases.
Leo's gaze shifted to a row of hand-held cases displayed nearby. Unlike the regular trunks, these were marked as magical items.
His heart immediately moved.
"Sir," Leo asked, pointing at one of them, "are those magical too? They look like ordinary suitcases."
The assistant smiled.
"Sharp eyes, young man. Yes, they are magical. That one may look like a small suitcase, but its interior space is roughly sixteen cubic metres. It was enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm."
Leo made his decision instantly.
"I'll take it."
He didn't even hesitate.
It wasn't anywhere close to Newt Scamander's legendary case, the one that could hold entire habitats and magical creatures, but it was more than enough for a first-year student. Sixteen cubic metres was already extremely useful.
After paying, Leo placed the robes, phials, brass scale, and other equipment into the enchanted suitcase. The twenty-inch case swallowed everything easily, yet remained light enough to carry.
Wonderful.
This was exactly the kind of magic he wanted.
After leaving Wiseacre's, the Nicholas family continued their shopping trip.
They bought textbooks from the bookstore on the northern side of the alley, then cauldrons and potion ingredients from shops farther west. Finally, they entered Eeylops Owl Emporium and purchased a majestic eagle owl that looked proud enough to have noble blood.
By the time they finished, Leo's suitcase held nearly everything on the Hogwarts list.