Shiny Solo

Late Summer, 2020

Her parents had already explained to the eleven year old that she mustn’t complain about the oddities and confusion surrounding magic and whether or not it actually existed. After all, they were going to be in one of those places where only wixes were supposed to go. Lea had to be respectful to the staff helping them around this unusual place.

It seemed, though, that her parents hadn’t needed to say any of that. The girl seemed to freeze the moment she saw the person, only offering the smallest of waves as a greeting. This behavior was quite unusual coming from the girl who was always so energetic when greeting neighbors and friends. Here, however, she stuck close to her parents’ sides, darting quick glances at all the store fronts and people around.

One of the first places they went, though, was Gringotts. As a family of muggles (and a muggleborn now), the currency they currently had was pounds. Apparently, this wasn’t all that useful within the wizarding world. It seemed odd to Lea- why did they need their own currency? They could’ve just as easily have used pounds like the rest of them. These thoughts weren’t said aloud, instead simply watching the bank through brown eyes.

She blinked, quickly glancing up at her father. In her hands were 35 British pounds, neatly folded. “Here, exchange it for gell-eons.” The eleven year old froze for a minute, before nodding slightly and racing into the bank. The brown-haired girl quickly weaved between people, gasping softly as she glanced at the building. The people here were... unusual- she instantly felt bad about the thought, but never before had she seen (what she would later know as) a goblin before.

“Umm... I’d l-like to exchange this- for galley-ons?” The word still didn’t sound right, but she placed the money onto the desk, having to get on to her tippy toes to reach far enough. It seemed they had dealt with this often enough, expertly counting up the British pounds and exchanging it for 7 bright golden coins. “There ya go,” he spoke, shifting the coins closer towards her. Small hands quickly snatched them up, eyes wide as she examined the shiny surface of one of the galleons. She quickly ran outside, finding her parents waiting patiently. Lea ran over and tugged on the edge of her parents’ shirts to show them the interesting currency.

“Look at it- it’s so shiny!” A grin tugged at her face, eyes filled with curiosity and wonder.