Read Online Harry Potter 01 - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by authors_sort - Free Book Online Page A

Knuts,’ said Hagrid sleepily.
    ‘Knuts?’
    ‘The little bronze ones.’
    Harry counted out five little bronze coins and the owl held out its leg so he could put the money into a small leather pouch tied to it. Then it flew off through the open window.
    Hagrid yawned loudly, sat up and stretched.
    ‘Best be off, Harry, lots ter do today, gotta get up ter London an’ buy all yer stuff fer school.’
    Harry was turning over the wizard coins and looking at them. He had just thought of something which made him feel as though the happy balloon inside him had got a puncture.
    ‘Um – Hagrid?’
    ‘Mm?’ said Hagrid, who was pulling on his huge boots.
    ‘I haven’t got any money – and you heard Uncle Vernon last night – he won’t pay for me to go and learn magic. ‘
    ‘Don’t worry about that,’ said Hagrid, standing up and scratching his head. ‘D’yeh think yer parents didn’t leave yeh anything?’
    ‘But if their house was destroyed –’
    ‘They didn’ keep their gold in the house, boy! Nah, first stop fer us is Gringotts. Wizards’ bank. Have a sausage, they’re not bad cold – an’ I wouldn’ say no teh a bit o’ yer birthday cake, neither.’
    ‘Wizards have banks? ’
    ‘Just the one. Gringotts. Run by goblins.’
    Harry dropped the bit of sausage he was holding.
    ‘Goblins?’
    ‘Yeah – so yeh’d be mad ter try an’ rob it, I’ll tell yeh that. Never mess with goblins, Harry. Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want ter keep safe – ’cept maybe Hogwarts. As a matter o’ fact, I gotta visit Gringotts anyway. Fer Dumbledore. Hogwarts business.’ Hagrid drew himself up proudly. ‘He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer him. Fetchin’ you – gettin’ things from Gringotts – knows he can trust me, see.
    ‘Got everythin’? Come on, then.’
    Harry followed Hagrid out on to the rock. The sky was quite clear now and the sea gleamed in the sunlight. The boat Uncle Vernon had hired was still there, with a lot of water in the bottom after the storm.
    ‘How did you get here?’ Harry asked, looking around for another boat.
    ‘Flew,’ said Hagrid.
    ‘Flew?’
    ‘Yeah – but we’ll go back in this. Not s’pposed ter use magic now I’ve got yeh.’
    They settled down in the boat, Harry still staring at Hagrid, trying to imagine him flying.
    ‘Seems a shame ter row, though,’ said Hagrid, giving Harry another of his sideways looks. ‘If I was ter – er – speed things up a bit, would yeh mind not mentionin’ it at Hogwarts?’
    ‘Of course not,’ said Harry, eager to see more magic. Hagrid pulled out the pink umbrella again, tapped it twice on the side of the boat and they sped off towards land.
    ‘Why would you be mad to try and rob Gringotts?’ Harry asked.
    ‘Spells – enchantments,’ said Hagrid, unfolding his newspaper as he spoke. ‘They say there’s dragons guardin’ the high-security vaults. And then yeh gotta find yer way – Gringotts is hundreds of miles under London, see. Deep under the Underground. Yeh’d die of hunger tryin’ ter get out, even if yeh did manage ter get yer hands on summat.’
    Harry sat and thought about this while Hagrid read his newspaper, the Daily Prophet . Harry had learnt from Uncle Vernon that people liked to be left alone while they did this, but it was very difficult, he’d never had so many questions in his life.
    ‘Ministry o’ Magic messin’ things up as usual,’ Hagrid muttered, turning the page.
    ‘There’s a Ministry of Magic?’ Harry asked, before he could stop himself.
    ‘’Course,’ said Hagrid. ‘They wanted Dumbledore fer Minister, o’ course, but he’d never leave Hogwarts, so old Cornelius Fudge got the job. Bungler if ever there was one. So he pelts Dumbledore with owls every morning, askin’ fer advice.’
    ‘But what does a Ministry of Magic do? ’
    ‘Well, their main job is to keep it from the Muggles that there’s still witches an’ wizards up an’