Emerging from the bull ring, young intern Cutty was due for a break but first he needed to find Mr. Parata. His hours at school were changing randomly and he wanted to know if they could work something out. Also, he wanted to get into things. Like a fight club. But with wands. And not at all open to the public.

Settling into the premier Wizarding Bank in the entire world was no small feat, and honestly, Elsdon felt a bit over his head. It was so BUSY here, nothing like home, really. The people here didn't seem to get his sense of humour so well, and the Goblins? Yeahhhhhhh humour didn't work on them at all, even when he so kindly translated his punchlines into Gobbledegook. Usually the reaction he got from that was some commentary on his accent.

The Goblins in New Zealand were FAR more laid back.

....

..... okay. Okay. They were slightly more laid back, but it was still enough that you'd notice.

Anyway. Lunchtime? Best part of the day. With a copy of the Gringotts Financial Times under one arm, Elsdon was heading to the door.

The new management was distinct from any other wizard Cutty had met before. A man whose accent spoke for him in literal and figurative senses much like Cutty himself. And also like the boy, Elsdon was a man who was also of a blended background. And if that didn't separate him enough the man also saw it in his heart to joke with Goblinkind. Cutty swore he heard Zarleg laugh uproariously in her stern expression and silence. That meant she was impressed. The Gobs, they hid it well but he knew they liked it deep down based on his interactions.

"Ayeh, Mr. Parata?" He called out to the new bossman. "Can I talk ter yer for a bit? It's about me hours."

Oh huh?

"Yip. That's me." Elsdon answered, not bothering to adjust the young guy's pronunciation. It would do.

"Your hours?" Uhhhh. "Sure.... who are you though? I don't really have names to faces figured out yet."

He should get onto that, probably. In actual fact to a degree he was better with goblin faces. Sad but true. Hopefully his lunch break wouldn't be postponed too long though, he was a hungus today.

Cutty loved it when people asked his name mostly because that meant that it was entirely up to him as to whether or not they remembered it. Something about having the ball in one's court thrilled that little monkey in a man's suit beyond all measure. He could tell him anything. Morped Wolfrey. Davis Salmult. Tackery Null. Hampus Luck. Anything. Just for the hijinx of it all.

"Cutty Mordaunt, sir. I wehrk on the trade floor." Honest approach? Ho hum. At least we were established. "Me skewel hours will be changing soon and contingent with m'employment here at Gringotts Wizarding Bank I'm ter keep op with me classes. I'll need Thursdays off."

That...... Elsdon was pretty sure, was not English. He figured out that the Cutty Mordaunt part was probably the boy's name, but other than that, Elsdon kind of mouthed a sotto voce repetition of the sounds, trying to fit the vowels to his own understanding, because honestly, what was this about operating on turkeys? On thursdays?

Weyrrrrrkkk? Werrrk. WERK. Work!!!

Skuuuuuuwell. Skooooowal. Skooooool. School!

turkey op? Turk eeeop. Tur. Key. Op.

Nope still not getting anywhere there. But generally the gist was this Cutty fella worked on the trade floor (good, because that was the best area to be working in Elsdon's non-biased opinion), he went to school and needed Thursdays off to learn how to operate on turkeys...? That last part Elsdon couldn't quite figure what had to do with working at Gringotts but each to their own.

"Sure. Sweet as. Thursdays. No worries. Can you stick something in writing on my desk? That would be epic."

Blimey.

That was weird.


The mouthing thing Cutty observed for a shy moment as he informed his new boss of his new school hours. The monkey-like young man felt the corners of his mouth tugging...and tugging ever upward. And he fought them. FOUGHT them to keep from giving way to a complete laugh for he found this trait as well as his own perplexedness at it very interesting. What did it mean?

He was wearing a mellow grin by the time the Bossman had told him to leave him a note. "Yeh. Yeh, alright. I'll leave yer an epic note."

Just how Cutty would interpret epic would be anyone's guess. But a note was going to happen.

.... uh.... just a regular note would be fine? Elsdon had a fleeting moment of wondering if he was going to come back to a note written in some fancy script, maybe with its words scrolling and/or dancing across the page (which in this imagining was scented), with a fanfare accompanying it. That would be a little too epic. The note itself did not need to be epic. Just leaving a note, would be, in the tradition of his very kiwi usage of unnecessary hyperbole, epic, in the sense of a good thing™.

"Right. Well... I'm gonna go eat my lunch now." They were done, weren't they? Maybe? "You can join me if you want."

Just to be polite.

A very faint, very small crack in the floor appears near the far wall. Barely visible. You might not even notice it.

Its probably nothing.

They weren't the mirror shoes, but they were pretty close. Shiny black affairs with brightly coloured soles and heels that made a soft clicking as the thin, dark-haired youth crossed the polished floors of the bank.

He heard it by it's squeak & then he felt it. The slight brush of one foot against another and Cutty Mordaunt looked down to survey the damage. He spotted the small scoff mark & took out his wand silently casting a cleaning charm at it. When he was done moved his foot slightly behind him, holding his toe to the surface of the floor and frowning slightly when he noticed the line still present in the reflection of his shoe. But no...Wayo! It wasn't on his shoe. It was in the floor itself. Dragon damage? Only Beverly would know. He continued on his way toward the trading floor.

Aurora held her father's hand as she walked through the door of Gringott's. She liked the goblins, they were always nice to her, even though they were sometimes gruff with father or grandfather.

As she stepped up to the counter to get the money she would need for buying her supplies for school, she took the key out of her father's hand and spoke to the goblin herself.

"Hello there," she said, smiling up at the goblin. "I'm starting at Hogwarts soon and I've come to buy my things. I need to make a withdrawal, please."

Tex looked the young girl over. Ah, yes. It was that time of year. The time of the year where the human children will be swarming the bank asking for money for their schooling.

She held her hand our for the girl's key. "I'll need your name and key." she said. "You may then follow me to your vault."

"Aurora Ravendel," she answered as she pulled the key out of her pocket and handed it over.

Goblins really were very nice, she thought to herself. She really didn't know why they had such a bad reputation. Her father, for one, was looking at the nice goblin most suspiciously.

But she happily followed him to the door leading to the vaults. Her father followed them, looking surly.

Dorian had made the appointment to meet with Mister Parata early last week, and ever since, he had been dreading his visit to Gringotts. He was not new to this whole moving all his money between banks rigmarole since this was his fourth time moving. Maybe fifth? He had lost track after all these years. However, he was dreading this moment because the last few times he had to move banks, it had been a headache that required two Tylenol once he got home.

Maybe he had gotten stuck with terrible people? If that's the case, he was hoping whoever this Elsdon Parata person was that he would be much better than his previous bankers.

He stepped into the main hall, looking around, before heading to one of the service desks. "I'm looking for a Mister Elsdon Parata?" He hoped he pronounced that name right.

He wasn't late. In point of fact, Elsdon had been here all day. Just not right in this exact particular, waiting for an appointment, spot. He'd been having mad chats with a pair of goblins who seemed to think that economic change was in the ~air,~ but could only chalk it up to a goblin sixth (or seventh, since arguably their sixth sense was to do with their metal working) sense. Elsdon wasn't completely sure they weren't messing with him. At any rate, it was good entertainment that he could count as work-related so he felt no guilt about not focusing too hard on the rolls and rolls of parchment that he had to review.

"That's me! Elsdon is me!" A wave over the heads of the bustling goblins and the man took a few great strides across the hall to reach the gentleman looking for him. "Nice to meet ya, mate. Elsdon Parata. Lets head to my office and see if we can get you sorted out."

Dorian's eyes quickly shot over to the loud voice in the room, and the person that voice belonged to was the man he had an appointment with. Just like every normal person, he had painted an image in his head of the man he was to meet, and as always, his image was nothing like what the man actually looked like. He had expected a younger person, but it was a relief to know that he was not. He hoped this meant the man had experience.

"The pleasure is all mine," he responded. Really, it was. He was not saying that because of his Southern hospitality. "Dorian O'Neill." He felt the need to introduce himself, even though he was sure Elsdon knew his name since, you know, he had an appointment and all. His name had to be on some piece of parchment. "I sure hope we can gets things sorted out painlessly." And hopefully it would be all sorted out today because not having easy access to his money was a no-go for him.

Zoryn Spinnet had many talents (a self-proclaimed fact). One of them included getting what she wanted and what she wanted was to finally step foot outside of her house for the first time all summer. All you do is let one bludger loose inside the house and then you're grounded for the rest of your life, who knew!?! Cruel and unusual punishment, honestly. Anyway, she had actually been trying to weasel her way out ALL summer, but it wasn't until she found out that there was a possibility that THE Levi Kenning (aka her FUTURE HUSBAND) may be working at Gringotts Bank this summer.

A motive.

That's all it took for Zoryn Spinnet to work some magic (figuratively, as she was still underage) and school supplies served as the perfect alibi. Of course, getting her parents to agree to let her go into Gringotts on her own was another feat entirely, but she was good at what she did.

Which also meant that no one had stopped her as she waltzed her way down the bank and right up to a service desk. When Zoryn Spinnet had her mind set, there was no way anyone could change it. She was going to see Levi Kenning today. It was a fact.

The Gryffindor CLEARED HER THROAT. Helllooooooooooooooo???? WHERE IS LEVI!!!

......"So just remember your phone won't work around here, too much magical interference messing with stuff." Elsdon Parata reminded his nephew as they walked out of the corridor where his office was located. "You can handle getting yours and your sister's school books yourself, right mate? My smoko is over in a half a tic." He surveyed the fifteen year old in front of him. "Stick with that list thing they sent... there should be enough money to cover it."


_

Wiremu had his hands shoved in his pockets, his fingertips worrying at the money pouch he'd been given - which was weird enough by the way, a drawstring bag thing when the civilized world had been using zippers for about a billion years.

"Yeah nah, I get sticking with the list but what about if I get hungry or whatever?" Important question really, Will got hungry all the time if he was honest with himself, something his uncle was only just starting to learn, and he didn't really know what the general cost of things were in the Alley, or even in London proper if he was being honest. It sucked having to try and convert three times over, from New Zealand dollars, to British Pounds, and to Galleons. "Its dumb as that you fullas don't just use muggle money like we do back home." He pointed out. "The coins here are real inconvenient." And the maths involved in converting them was the dumbest thing he'd ever heard of.

_

"Yeah, they're a bit old fashioned here." Elsdon agreed, but did dig into his pockets and grab a few more galleons, which he gave over to Wiremu. "Oh and I guess be back here around five. That's when I knock off."


_

Wiremu put the extra galleons into the dumb pouch, which at least had an extension charm on it (but was still dumb), and shoved it back in his pocket.

"Yip. Okay, Uncle. mā te wā, then." Yeah, he would see him later, not much choice on that. He turned away as his uncle went back down the corridor and almost ran straight into some short girl that Will could almost swear had literal stars in her eyes for some weird reason. Banks weren't that exciting were they? Not even goblin ones.

"Oh, Sorry." He had to do a kind of weird side-step dance move to avoid the collision, but he managed it because yeah boi, Wiremu was like lightning on these feet. Like quicksilver. And ah... yeah anyways. Shopping. He had some to do. Time to kill. All of that. Also, this girl looked lost. "You lost?" Just checking.

The Gryffindor began tapping her foot rather impatiently. How come no one was taking her seriously around here?! And where the heck was Levi Kenning?????? Zoryn was quickly growing absolutely exasperated, which made it increasingly difficult to keep herself looking all-composed. If Levi Kenning walked by, she had to look nice 'n happy to see him, y'know? Plus, being annoyed gave you premature wrinkles and Zoryn planned to look 23 up until the day she died.

So unfortunately, this strange mix of annoyance, excited anticipation, and some strange lustful thing that her eyes were doing probably added together to send some really strange signals to the outside world.

Which is perhaps why the strange kid who almost ran into her stopped to ask. Either way, Zoryn Spinnet was offended. "No, I'm not lost!" she gave him a look. It was very hard to act like a professional when your dignity was being questioned. "I'm just looking for someone super important." So... not him.

Wiremu roughed up his mass of hair and frowned a bit. "Yeah well, I was just asking. Don't get your undies in a twist." Just saying. Because seemed like she had a real big twist going on right now. Bunching hard out. Getting offended over nothing. Man. Hopefully that wasn't the way chicks here normally were. That would be dumb.

"Someone important." He repeated. Probably not his uncle. That would be weird. And anyway his uncle Elsdon wasn't that important. "What, some goblin or something?" There were heaps of them. Anyway, whatever. Didn't matter to him.He sucked his teeth at her. "Have fun with that then." And.... yeah he was going. Because this old bank place was boring as. "So yeah. Excuse me."

No offense, but it was kind of hard to concentrate on what this guy was saying when she was so perplexed with how he was saying it. How come his voice sounded so funny? “My undies aren’t in a twist!” Fyi. That would be SUPER uncomfortable and embarrassing seeing as she was here to see her future husband. She didn’t need Levi seeing her with a supreme wedgie, so rest assured her undies were NOT twisted!

“Mhm,” she nodded proudly. Only important people needed to see important people, so clearly this was something to be prideful about… Zoryn thought so anyhow. It was also a known fact. “Ew, a globlin?” she crinkled her nose. No offense to any of the goblins that were working nearby, but she wouldn’t marry any of them if her life depended on it. Just saying. “Uh, no. M’actually looking for someone who works here. He’s really handsome and not a goblin.” Important, necessary information.

“Wait!” He was leaving!? Not that she really cared, but it was so awful standing around by herself as Zoryns were social creatures. Plus, she had paid [i[some[/i[ attention to him before he had almost knocked right into her and insulted her entire being with a stupid question. ”Who was that old guy you were talking to before? Do you think he knows where Levi Kenning is?” Because yes, she was persistent.

Banks. She had always had a love hate relationship with the places. It was odd to let someone else have access and control over her hard earned money, but it wasn’t exactly safe to keep her entire life's savings in a box under the bed. Not that it would fit into a box anymore.

Putting her polite face on, Lucy stepped up to the counter, new vault registration form in hand, and waited to be helped. The unease in the air around her was already weighing on her nerves and she hoped to make this trip as painless as possible. Plus, she really needed to get back to the Leaky before the late afternoon rush.

Tex, one of the teller goblins, motioned the next person in line forward to the counter. Judging by the paperwork in the woman's hands, she was here to open a new vault.

Before she had a chance to get lost in a daydream, it was her turn. Lucy smiled at the goblin and made her way towards the counter, papers in hand. "Good day, I'm here to open a new vault. Would you be able to assist me with that?" She hoped the answer was yes. She wasn't an impatient person in general, but David was alone back at the Leaky and being in the bank made her feel uneasy. The sooner she could put the financial business behind her, the better.