While goblins at Gringotts were genuinely hideous, Victor never judged people by their appearance.
In Earth Land, there were plenty of strangely shaped people; Ichiya was one of them, and if he hadn't been constantly bothering Erza, Victor would have been able to resist punching him. Furthermore, as a wizard of Fairy Tail, the word "fairy" itself held a special meaning for Victor.
But now, as Victor looked at the goblins with their long noses, pointy ears, and wrinkled faces, he felt a sense of disgust. It wasn't that they were ugly; their greedy and arrogant aura was truly repulsive.
This was one of the few times Victor had felt such extreme discomfort toward a species. The last time was during a mission in Earth Land, where he encountered lewd apes that would forcibly mate with any living creature, regardless of gender.
After walking through the marble hall, Professor McGonagall led Victor to a semi-circular counter. The counter was crisscrossed with golden railings, leaving only a small window where a goblin was counting Galleons with its wrinkled fingers.
"Mr. Dreyar would like to exchange some Galleons," Professor McGonagall said, walking forward. She didn't even bother with a simple greeting like "hello," which showed that she didn't have a high opinion of the goblins either.
It was a good thing that the goblins were short, but the counters they had set up were anything but. An average-height human have to crane their neck to look at them.
The goblin at the counter looked up, sized up Professor McGonagall and Victor, and then slowly replied, "Ah, that's fine. May Mr. Dreyar please show me his acceptance letter?" It then propped itself up on the counter and slowly peeked its head through the window.
Victor took his letter from his pocket and handed it to Professor McGonagall, who passed it to the goblin.
"Everything looks in order," the goblin said, opening the letter, glancing at it, and nodding. "For every five pounds, you can exchange for one Galleon, or seventeen Sickles, or twenty-nine Knuts."
"So, Mr. Dreyar, how much would you like to exchange?"
"I'd like to exchange all of this!" Victor said grandly, pulling out a wad of cash worth ten thousand pounds. This was not only the money Wilson had given him, but also his own money. "And these too, please." He also took out a large pile of gold jewelry. He had no idea what to do with them otherwise!
In fact, Victor had stolen all this money himself.
In a society where capitalism reigned supreme, London was rife with gangs that sold drugs, trafficked women and children, and illegally traded weapons. They would do anything for a profit, and breaking the law was normal for them.
These heinous criminals had nothing to do with Victor until one day after he had regained his memories, Aliya came home and told him that the son of a gang leader was trying to get her to be his girlfriend.
This enraged Victor. These guys think they're invincible because their families are rich and powerful? They think they've defied the natural order?
So, on the second night after Aliya told him the story, Victor single-handedly stormed the gang leader's hideout, stealing all the cash, gold, and jewelry, which were worth tens of millions of pounds, and then dumped all the evidence of their crimes at the police station and a newspaper agency.
A few days later, the gang had completely vanished from London, and the guy who had threatened Aliya was sent to a fencing club.
The reason Victor had taken Wilson's money was twofold: first, he didn't want to explain where his own money had come from, which would be difficult to do; second, he had no moral qualms about taking it, as he could easily help Wilson catch a few more criminals later and get a reward of tens of thousands of pounds.
"All right, sir, please wait a moment." The goblin didn't react much to the pounds, but when Victor took out all the gold jewelry, its eyes immediately lit up.
The goblin carefully took the pounds and gold jewelry, as if afraid to lose even a gram of gold, then turned and walked away from the counter.
Professor McGonagall looked at Victor with surprise, wondering how the young wizard was carrying so much heavy gold jewelry on him.
After a short wait, the goblin reappeared at the counter. The pounds and gold were gone, and in their place was a red cloth bag.
"Mr. Dreyar, the pounds and gold together have been exchanged for 4,621 Galleons, 10 Sickles, and 6 Knuts." The goblin said, handing the bag to Victor. It was clearly a bag enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm; otherwise, it would have been unable to hold so much money.
Victor took the bag and jiggled it in his hand. The Galleons inside clinked, and it felt heavy.
"Well, Mr. Dreyar, we must be going to our next stop now." Now that the Galleons had been exchanged, Professor McGonagall immediately urged Victor to leave. It was clear she hated being in Gringotts.
"Mr. Dreyar, there is one thing you must be particularly careful about: do not trust goblins. Their greed is unimaginable," Professor McGonagall said sternly as they walked out of Gringotts. "Also, I am grateful for your parents' warm reception, but it has caused me to be late for my next appointment. So, from here on, you will have to prepare for school on your own."
"I assume you remember the list that was attached to the acceptance letter, so, Mr. Dreyar, can you manage on your own?" Professor McGonagall asked, lowering her head slightly and giving him a scrutinizing look.
"No problem! Thank you, Professor McGonagall. I can handle things from here on out," Victor replied with a smile. Now that he had the Galleons, he could handle everything himself. If something was too hard, he could always just throw money at the problem.
"Very well. I will see you at Hogwarts. It has been a pleasure being your teacher, Mr. Dreyar."
"And it has been a pleasure being your student, Professor McGonagall."
Professor McGonagall nodded and, without another word, turned and left.
"So, first things first, I should go and buy a wand, shouldn't I?" Victor decided to get his own wand after watching Professor McGonagall walk away.
He had always been very curious about the wands in the Harry Potter world. Even though he didn't actually need a wand to cast magic, he immediately made his way to Ollivanders.
He arrived at Ollivanders and saw that the golden paint on the shop sign had peeled off, but he could still make out the words: Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.
Victor had deep doubts about this claim. He wondered if there were people in Britain in 382 B.C. And even if there were, they would have probably still been living in a primitive state.
He pushed open the shop door, and the sound of a bell broke the silence inside.
The entire shop was filled with boxes of wands. Besides the boxes, there was a wooden counter with a few old oil lamps burning on it. He looked down and saw a quill writing something on a piece of parchment under the dim light of the oil lamps. Behind the counter, a movable wooden ladder had been set up by Mr. Ollivander so he could reach the wands on the higher shelves.
Victor looked around but didn't see Mr. Ollivander. He looked at the ladder and felt a bit confused. Couldn't he just use magic to get the wands from the higher shelves? Why bother with a ladder?
"Mr. Ollivander, are you here?" Victor called out loudly into the shop.
"I am indeed, sir." A faint voice came from behind him, causing all the hairs on Victor's body to stand up.