Chapter 44

Recalling that Agil wasn't around and would probably never have the chance to appraise any of the weapons being openly carried by the goblin guards in the bank sent another wave of grief through Harry and he almost tripped over his feet when the tears he was holding back by sheer willpower clouded his vision. It took him several minutes to get his emotions under control and once he did it was to find himself being steered down a rough tunnel to a mining cart by the professor who in turn was being led by a goblin.

If not for his inner turmoil, Harry might have appreciated the cart ride since it was the closest thing to an amusement park ride he'd ever been on. At the end of the ride, he was more than a little confused when Professor Sinistra had given him a push into the vault the goblin had opened. The woman simply told him that it was his job to collect the money he would need to buy his supplies and that it wasn't appropriate for her to enter his vault without permission. That, of course, raised the question of how and when he'd been given a vault and why there was already so much wealth tucked inside of it when he hadn't earned any money in the new game as far as he knew.

He opened his mouth to ask those questions only to recall that the professor had asked him to hold his questions until they were finished. Sighing, Harry walked up to the nearest pile of gold, silver and bronze coins and watched as they briefly shimmered before vanishing as his Inventory collected the money. He missed the gaping expression on the goblin escort's face as he opened the Menu to confirm receipt of the money in his Inventory and noted that the form of currency used in this game had not been defined and added that question to the list of questions he needed to ask the woman. Hoping the several thousand coins he'd picked up would be enough to purchase all of his supplies; Harry backed away from the remaining piles and exited the vault.

On their way back up to the lobby of the bank, Harry caught the goblin eyeing him with an unreadable expression several times and when he recalled Professor Sinistra's warnings about the goblins being unpleasant and quick to cause trouble over any insult, he shifted nervously. He worried that he might have offended the creature somehow and prayed that it was something that could be smoothed over. Recalling that Professor Sinistra had also said that gold and treasure were one of the only weaknesses that goblins had, Harry opened his Inventory and withdrew a single gold coin (still uncertain of how much it was worth) and offered the coin to the goblin once they climbed out of the cart along with a murmured thank you for his services.

Professor Sinistra bustled him out of the bank at that point, leaving behind a very confused and suspicious goblin as no wizard had ever tipped a goblin for the cart ride before (though a number of muggleborns often thanked them thinking that they'd fall over backwards for treating them with common courtesy). The goblin would then immediately dash off to see one of the managers to give his report on the strangeness that surrounded the Boy-Who-Lived. Outside of the bank, Harry was being led down the steps by an exasperated Sinistra.

"I thought I told you not to cause trouble?"

"I wasn't trying to cause trouble, the goblin was giving me funny looks and you said their weakness was gold so I gave him a piece of gold in the hopes that whatever I'd done to offend him wouldn't get me in trouble. How was I supposed to know that I wasn't supposed to do that? I never received a guide book for this stupid game so I'm walking blind here and if you want me to follow the rules, I first need to know those rules. You also told me to save my questions until we were done."

"This is not a game, child, this is life and you are going to get yourself killed or incarcerated if you don't learn to think before you act. In the mean time, ask your questions and I will do my best to answer them for you."

"Why did I already have a vault at the bank? Where did the money inside of it come from? What kind of currency are the coins supposed to be and how much are they worth? What can I expect to pay for the supplies I need and do I need to return to the bank to withdraw more money if I didn't take out enough?"

"The vault and a good portion of the money previously belonged to your parents and as their only child it now belongs to you. Some of the money was also awarded to you by the Ministry for your defeat of You-Know-Who as a child and the rest was left to you by a handful of witches and wizards upon their deaths because they'd had no remaining family and wished to give you their thanks for what you had done the night your parents died."

"Wizarding money is made up of gold galleons, silver sickles, and bronze knuts; one galleon is equal to seventeen sickles, one sickle is equal to twenty-nine knuts, and for reference one galleon is roughly equal to five pounds sterling. The total cost of your supplies should fall somewhere between thirty and fifty galleons at most, unless you waste money on useless frivolities. And yes, you will need to return to the bank if you wish to withdraw more funds."

By the time the professor finished answering Harry's questions, they'd reached their first store; a luggage store in order to purchase a trunk. Harry disliked the idea of having to carry around a trunk and had immediately questioned the store clerk about Bags of Holding instead since his Inventory was currently limited in space and mostly full with the Items that had been brought over with him from SAO. Learning that the new game had a bag with near unlimited space and no weight limits was enough to interest Harry and he readily purchased a messenger bag made from dragon hide that was a deep copper in color, lined inside with heavy canvas, and spelled with what the clerk called an Undetectable Expansion Charm, a Feather Weight Charm, and an Anti-theft Charm.

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