Hermione pt.2

Miles was chatting with Bill as they were walking down the stairs when suddenly he saw a figure fall next to him. Out of pure instinct, Miles caught the person who was just about to crash down the stairs as he pulled the person up.

The girl still shocked looked back at the person who saved her. Being so close to one another, she could only see his eyes, those golden pair of eyes that shined with brilliance.

"Are you okay?" Bill asked but the girl just nodded her eyes still not leaving Miles.

Miles knew where this was going as he had met plenty of muggles before. Muggles had a tendency to annoy people which he didn't realize they had before,

'Is your hair bleached?'

'Is it natural?'

'Are you wearing colored contacts?'

These questions were the least annoying ones among the many they asked. Looking at the girl's clothes, Miles knew she was a muggle so he wanted to avoid all the unnecessary questioning. Luckily, the girl's parents called her as they came towards her.

"Hermione, are you okay?" Emma asked, "You should be careful."

"I am fine." Hermione shook her head, "It was thanks to h--"

Just as he turned to say thanks, she realized the boy was gone. She looked around but couldn't find him, it was as if he had just vanished in thin air.

"Are you alright?" Dan asked with concern, "Is there something wrong?"

"Nothing." Hermione shook her head, "Let's go."

"We need to go Gringotts first." Emma said, "Your dad just realized that he had forgotten to bring the Galleons we had exchanged last time."

"Gringotts, then."

―==(oIo)==―

Bill and Miles apparated away as they reached a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, was a Goblin.

"Why did we have to apparate?" Bill asked in confusion, "It's too rude to just leave without warning."

"I realize that now but I didn't want to bother with questions she might have about my appearances," Miles said.

"You didn't see the wand in her hands, did you? She was a witch and looking at her she might be a first-year at best." Bill said, "It might be awkward for you to face her in the future."

"Sigh! Let's not worry about that for now." Miles said as he looked at the building, "It's been a long time since I was here."

The goblin was about a head shorter than Miles. Like any other Goblins, he had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and, very long fingers and feet. He bowed as they walked inside. Now they were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them:

Enter, stranger, but take heed

Of what awaits the sin of greed,

For those who take, but do not earn,

Must pay most dearly in their turn.

So if you seek beneath our floors

A treasure that was never yours,

Thief, you have been warned, beware

Of finding more than treasure there

"I forgot that the ones in Britain were cockier than the rest." Miles said rolling his eyes, "I wonder how all of them can be from the same community and be so different at the same time."

"That's Goblins for you." Bill said, "The only thing they all have in common is their love of wealth."

A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and they were in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses.

There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing people in and out of these. Miles and Bill made for the counter.

"Morning," said Bill to a free goblin as he patted Miles head, "We have come to take some money out of this lad's account."

"Do you have a key, sir?"

Miles knocked off Bill's hand as he unpinned the badge of Eye of Horus, "Miles Rakepick." he said showing it to the Goblin.

"That seems to be in order." The Goblin looked at it carefully and nodded, "Welcome back, Mr. Rakepick."

Miles nodded not paying attention to all the formalities as the Goblins always did so due to his mother. The Goblin laughed in a weird way, "It seems you are busy. I will have someone take you down to your vaults, right away. Griphook!"

Griphook was yet another goblin.

"I'll stay here," Bill said as Miles followed Griphook towards one of the doors leading off the hall.

Griphook held the door open for him. Miles looked around the narrow stone passageway lit with flaming torches. It sloped steeply downward and there were little railway tracks on the floor. Griphook whistled and a small cart came hurtling up the tracks toward them. He climbed in along with Griphook -- and were off.

"You know its much better in the US, these things." Miles said but Griphook ignored him all the way.

At first, they just hurtled through a maze of twisting passages. Then left, right, right, left, middle fork, right, left. The enchanted cart moved on its own way as Griphook and Miles just sat there awkwardly not talking with one another at all. After a couple of minutes, they finally reached their destination.

Miles got off the cart as he stretched around. He then went towards his vault as he placed the eye of Horus right in the gap at the center of the vault which fit perfectly. The Vault made a weird mechanic sound as it slowly opened.

Miles went in looking around the treasure-filled place with satisfaction. There was enough treasure in the vault to make even the richest wizard look poor as having a family full of curse-breakers meant lots of treasures they had kept around for safe-keeping.

Though Miles had never met his grandparents as they had passed away long before he was adopted, he knew they were both curse-breakers. And according to Patricia, the Rakepick family were the ones that started the tradition of curse-breakers in the first place.

His ancestors were treasure hunters long before anyone but collecting Treasures wasn't enough as they didn't really have a place to sell these treasures to, they needed a reliable source to sell to avoid being robbed. But Luckily they were friends with the goblin chief at the time and to help each other out they created the system of cures-breakers.

The curse- breakers traveled around the world in search of treasures and the Goblins bought it from them with a guarantee of keeping their privacy safe(as long as they wanted) and giving them the best price for their items.

Miles walked around a picked up a couple of Galleons, some sickles and knot as well when his eyes caught something else. A dagger in its Ivory sheath.

He picked up the dagger taking it out from its sheath but he was quite disappointed as the dagger was an ornamental one and gold at that. Not caring about it much, he threw the dagger away and pulled a dagger from within his robe, the one that aunt Natasha gave him.

The Dagger was really strong and hadn't lost its sharpness and its beauty even once after all these years. Miles was unsure about it when he first got it but the dagger had come in handy in a lot of difficult situations and he had grown quite fond of it now.

Since he like this new sheath that came with a belt better, he threw his old one away and carried the dagger in the new one putting it on. Satisfied, with the way the dagger fit with the sheath he went out of the vault reminding himself to send a letter to aunt Natasha that he was back in London.