Chapter 20: 28th July 1991, Sunday: Part 8

Back in the foyer, the family was reunited with a mixture of nervous and confident expressions spread among them. Ellie didn't appear to have embraced the goblin race in George's absence, she was still stealing timid glances at the guards standing on either side of the silver doors. Amanda was controlling herself better than her daughter, but it was obvious she felt some relief once Dominic had returned. The look both of the girls gave George made him feel like he must have just returned from certain death. What did they think those goblins were going to do to them in there, eat them?

Amanda talked to Dominic whilst Ellie was in tow, "is everything alright?"

Dominic pulled out a key from his jacket and handed it to his wife, "that's one of two vault keys. They said it only works with my bloodline for now but I'll change that soon."

"So you managed to open an account. Did you get any of those gold coins?"

Dominic shook his head, "not yet. We have to head to this place called Carkitt Market. Mr Lupin can show us the way. Ain't that right, Remus?"

Dominic turned to Remus and saw that he was staring out into nothingness with a blank look on his face. The shock of what had happened inside must have relapsed. George wondered if the five million was the final straw, could Remus be about to have a nervous breakdown. It was about time too, the werewolf had been taking all the Linwood's weirdness far too well up to this point.

Dominic gave Remus a firm pat on the back, "are you still with us, Remus?"

Remus' eyes suddenly locked onto Dominic, "five million galleons? five... million galleons?"

"Is there a problem?"

Remus brought a hand to his head and covered his tired eyes, "do you have any idea how much money that is?"

Dominic nodded his head calmly, "if what you said in the car about pound-to-galleon conversion rates is correct then... yes, I guess I do. Is something the matter?"

Remus lowered his arm and smiled self-deprecatingly, "nope... everything's fine. I mean... it's only five million galleons after all. No big deal."

Dominic gave the defeated werewolf another reassuring pat on the shoulder, "great. Then let's go to Carkitt Market and get this boring matter dealt with once and for all."

"Wait a second, what's this about five million galee.. whatevers?", Amanda butted in.

Dominic rubbed his bald head and seemed a bit troubled, "well... I might have gone a little over our budget. But it's for a good reason, you'll see."

"How much over, darling?", Amanda asked through gritted teeth.

Oh, that wasn't good. On the rare occasions when George's foster mother would get angry with his foster father, she would always call him darling. This meant Dominic was walking on very thin ice. This wasn't good news for George as well since he might be about to lose his monumentally large cash cow. There was a big difference between being rich and being filthy rich in the wizarding world. If the money Dominic invested in Gringotts bank passed a certain threshold, like five million galleons for example, then the goblins would do everything in their power to keep it a secret.

The goblins might have their own prejudices and agendas, but there was one thing they valued over all else... money. Now George wasn't calling the magical race out for being greedy, he would never be so narrow-minded. The truth was far more depressing than that. Just like all the other intelligent races, goblins don't have much influence in the magical world. They had rebelled multiple times and lost on every occasion, and now they live as second-class citizens. But, the one thing they held over the humans was the wizarding currency. Gold was where they maintain their pride as a people and power over the Ministry.

Gringotts decide who is eligible for a loan and who can own a vault, that's how the goblins can control the world around them. It might be subtle but it was enough to cement them in wizarding society forever. Not even the likes of Voldemort could completely get rid of them now. Clients like Dominic, who had enough money to rig an election for the next Minister of Magic, are priceless assets which had to be protected. His money was useless to them if he died because of some pompous pure-blood feeling a little jealous. George felt confident that the goblins would keep Dominic's wealth a secret as long as they could, just like they had done for Nicolas Flamel.

"I'll use the money in Cape town to cover it. We're going to be fine, I'll sort this out", Dominic reassured.

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Amanda didn't look convinced, "okay then. We'll talk about this later."

And with that, the conversation came to an abrupt end. George had anticipated a heated argument over Dominic's ego costing them millions, but nothing of the sort happened. It must have been something to do with Cape town. George knew that it was the capital of South Africa and Matthew lived there when he wasn't sailing around the seven oceans. Other than that, George was in the dark. At least he now knew that his foster parents had a metric ton of cash there as well, that fact might be worth remembering.

All of the Linwood's eyes fell back on Remus, none of them knew where they were going except him. He was the tour guide after all, who better to lead them to Carkitt Market?

Remus wiped the sweat off his brow one last time and readjusted his tie, "erh... yes, Carkitt Market. I haven't been there in a while, but I still know the way. It should only be a ten-minute walk... I think. If you could all follow after me."

Once the family followed the uncertain werewolf out of the bank, they were back to pushing through the busy cobbled road of Diagon Alley. There were even more wizards and witches than before and none of them could care less about their fellow pedestrians. They just stood there blocking the way, there was no other choice than to shove past them. After passing a large gathering of annoying children admiring a broom in a shop window, the Linwoods went down a narrow alleyway illuminated with colourful lights. Thankfully, this path was much quieter than the main road, giving them chance to catch their breath.

It took another five minutes of walking down a winding passageway before they reached a glowing sign reading 'WELCOME TO CARKITT MARKET'. The first thought George had when he stepped foot onto the market's floor was, 'this is more like it'. The sheer amount of space was night and day compared to Diagon Alley, there was easily over four times as much room to walk around. Everywhere George looked was more modern and in a better condition than its cramp and decrepit equivalent. The shops were generally smaller, but there were more of them to compensate. In general, this place looked like Diagon Alley mark two.

The positives didn't end there, Carkitt Market had far more to offer. There were several colourful iron pillars scattered around the periphery of the market, which supported a massive canopy made from steel and glass panels. This meant the consumers didn't have to worry about the weather. From this canopy hung large lanterns which would presumably turn on at night. Maybe some of these shops were open twenty-four hours a day, yet another plus. Even the floor was an improvement. There were no more uneven cobbled paths to stub your toe on, just smooth stone flags from this point onwards. It was official, George liked this market way more than Diagon Alley. That made it all the worst that he hadn't heard of this place before.

George had personally no recollection of this market which was odd considering how detailed his foresight was. For the first time since he had lived with his patron, a magical place looked utterly foreign to him. Why didn't he know about Carkitt market and yet knew bucket loads of useless information about Diagon Alley? Regardless of the reason for his selective memory, he was prepared for this possibility. Nobody was omniscient and pretending he was would only result in an inflated ego and a quick death. George was well aware of his limitations, he had no plan of overstepping his given role.

His power to see the future wasn't going to last forever anyway. George's existence wasn't present in his memories which meant every action he made would alter the future. The more changes he made, the less he could accurately predict. Even relatively small deviations could have massive consequences as time passed. Dominic putting five million galleons into Gringotts could be one such example. George presumed that his hindsight would be almost completely useless within a few months, a year if he was extra careful. All he could do was make the most of it whilst it lasted and get the job done.

Meanwhile, Remus stood still while looking around aimlessly. He didn't appear to be too familiar with his surroundings. Knowing the route to Carkitt Market must have been his limit, he clearly had never needed to buy anything from here before. It was Dominic who first spotted a grey building on their left labelled 'Gringotts Money Exchange'.

"There it is, just as Bogrod had said", Dominic declared whilst pointing at the building in question.

Ellie looked up at her father, "who's Bogrod?"

"Just a friendly goblin we met in the bank", Dominic answered while walking ahead of the family.

The Gringotts Money Exchange appeared a lot less flashy than Gringotts Bank. George was getting 'Scrooge and Marley' firm vibes off this building, it was the antithesis of no expense spared. Considering how much money Gringotts had to play with, they had clearly given the exchange next to zero investment. The fake gold lettering was peeling off and the windows looked like they hadn't been cleaned in over a decade. Even the short and narrow pillars outside the building were made out of stone instead of marble.

Nevertheless, Dominic entered the exchange without giving the building's underwhelming exterior a second glance. The rest of the family along with Remus followed behind whilst keeping their heads on a swivel. Just like the exterior, the interior was significantly smaller than the bank with barely enough room to fit two desks sandwiched together. Once George was inside the exchange, his attention was stolen by the two members of staff. They weren't goblins, but instead humans working on worn-out wooden desks. George had assumed that there would be goblin staff considering how xenophobic they could be.

The two humans behind the desk were both trolling through head-high piles of paperwork. They had been so busy that they hadn't even noticed the family enter. The massive bags under their bloodshot eyes suggested this amount of filing wasn't uncommon, this was worker exploitation if ever George had seen it. He could just barely see that they were wearing suits and ties just like Dominic's, not as expensive but similar in design. This was unusual since that outfit seemed synonymous with muggles around these parts, could they be muggle-born as well? It would make sense to hire wizards with muggle experience to run a muggle currency exchange after all.

Seeing that his presence had gone unnoticed, Dominic tapped his knuckles against one of the desks. The two overworked members of staff's heads shot up in surprise like meerkats spotting a predator. One of them appeared to be a man in his late 30s with greasy hair and a comb-over. The other was a lot younger, probably still in his teens, with long black hair tied back in a ponytail. Their initial expressions suggested that they weren't happy to be receiving visitors.

Dominic pulled out a key from his pocket and declared, "good afternoon, gentlemen. I am Dominic Linwood, and I would like to make a deposit. Now then, which one of you two is going to make that happen?"

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