Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 5 Buy, buy, buy

Come in, stranger, but be careful.

【What will happen if you are greedy】

[Just ask for it, get something for nothing]

【You will be punished severely】

So if you want to take it from our underground vault,

【A wealth that never belongs to you】

Thief, you have been warned.

【Be careful, it may bring bad consequences instead of treasure】

Sherlock turned his gaze away from the words.

It can be seen that this wizard bank is very confident in its security measures.

how to say?

That's what every bank thinks until it encounters a surprise.

Sherlock thought as he observed the tall marble hall in front of him.

As a result, after just a little consideration, several loopholes were discovered.

If there were no magic, if he was given one night, he would definitely be able to make this bank appear in the news.

Shocking! Bank money disappears, mysterious man bypasses security and leaves calmly

This is not an uncommon incident, just like the financial bond theft that occurred in London a year ago.

The Bank of England's response at the time was classic.

In the first stage, claim that nothing happened.

The second stage is saying maybe something is happening but we shouldn’t take action.

Stage three, saying maybe we should take action, but we can’t do anything.

Stage 4: Maybe we could have done something at the time, but it’s too late now.

The Wizarding Bank is also a good example to learn from.

It's just that Sherlock now knows that magic exists in this world.

It is better not to act rashly until you fully understand this unfamiliar concept.

When they arrived at the counter, an idle fairy was led over by the fairy who had led the way earlier to handle the exchange business for the three people.

The exchange rate between Galleons and British Pounds is not fixed, today it is 1:5.

This is somewhat surprising.

Remember, it was 1991 and the British pound was still very strong.

In this case, the value of a Galleon is five times that of a British pound, which is quite impressive.

Fortunately, what Mrs. Holmes worried about did not happen.

Because they brought enough money.

Enough to exchange for nearly a thousand Galleons.

However, just as they were about to exchange, an accident occurred.

There is actually a limit on the exchange of British pounds for wizarding world currency!

Sherlock was a little surprised when he heard the news, but he was soon relieved.

In the non-magical world, there are also limits on exchanging domestic currency for foreign currency.

The main purpose is to prevent excessive capital flow.

Excessive capital flow, especially the influx of short-term capital, can trigger sharp fluctuations in financial markets.

Especially in certain specific economic situations, such as economic downturn or increased volatility in financial markets, if there is no constraint on foreign exchange management, it will lead to large-scale capital flight.

This will then lead to a series of problems such as devaluation of the domestic currency and chaos in the financial market. In more serious cases, it may even trigger a financial crisis.

Therefore, in order to maintain foreign exchange reserves, protect the domestic economy, and maintain order in the financial market, the country has restrictions on the amount of foreign currency that ordinary citizens can exchange each year.

Once this limit is exceeded, no foreign currency can be exchanged that year.

Since the magical world has its own independent currency system, it is understandable that there is a limit on the exchange of magical currency... Bullshit!

It would make sense if restrictions were placed on everyone.

But according to the goblin, wizards from non-wizarding families could only redeem a maximum of 128 Galleons per year. As for the limit for purely wizarding families, the goblin didn't specify it, but Sherlock knew from observation that the amount was far more than 128 Galleons.

It's even safe to assume that there are no restrictions on how much a wizarding family can exchange for Galleons.

What else could he say?

It's just about treating people differently!

However, with his meticulous observation skills, Sherlock still found other ways from the other party's business table.

The 128 Galleon limit appears to apply only to British pounds.

So he asked again.

Sure enough, Gringotts was also buying gold, jewelry, antiques, etc.

In other words, although you can only exchange pounds for a maximum of 128 Galleons, you can still exchange them for valuable items such as gold.

Sherlock's eyes suddenly lit up.

He suddenly discovered that he had found a new way to dispose of the stolen goods for the criminals in London.

Gringotts, the holy land of money laundering!
That's assuming they can get here.

Although the goblin being questioned looked impatient, under Sherlock's questioning, the other party still provided a piece of information:
128 Galleons is more than enough to buy all the necessary items for a new wizard to go to school.

After all, apart from these things, studying at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is purely compulsory education, with food and accommodation provided and no fees required.

This is consistent with the non-magical world.

In the UK, compulsory education begins when students enter kindergarten at the age of five and continues until they complete secondary education at the age of 17.

At this stage, children of school age must attend school and all parents must send their children to school.

Students will enjoy fully free state benefits, with the state covering necessary tuition, books and essential supplies.

At the age of 11, children finish primary school and enter secondary education.

So apart from this shopping expense before school starts every year, in theory there is no need for any additional expenses.

Finally, after paying 640 pounds to exchange for the maximum amount of Galleons, Sherlock and his parents left Gringotts.

Mrs. Holmes seemed a little depressed until a long time after leaving Gringotts.

She was deeply influenced by the idea of ​​"poor at home, rich on the road", and even began to consider whether to go home first and exchange the gold here for Galleons to prevent her son from suffering in faraway Scotland.

Sherlock stopped her from thinking this in time.

"Go shopping first, and if you really don't have enough money, then use this method."

Mrs. Holmes agreed to Sherlock's proposal.

Next comes the shopping phase.

According to the requirements of the admission list, Sherlock bought a large number of textbooks, as well as crucibles, scales, telescopes and other items for magic courses.

At this time, Sherlock found that the words of the Gringotts goblin were a bit exaggerated.

128 Galleons was just enough to buy the things on the admission list, but definitely not more than enough.

Judging from the prices of the items he had already purchased, three sets of plain work robes cost 20 Galleons, a telescope cost 10 Galleons, and a feather pen for writing cost 1 Galleon.

The most outrageous thing is that a brand new textbook costs 9 Galleons.

Is knowledge of the magical world so expensive?

This incident made Mrs. Holmes, who was already unhappy, even more unhappy.

Because of this, she firmly rejected Sherlock's idea of ​​buying second-hand textbooks.

Sherlock couldn't help feeling helpless about this.

He is a typical pragmatist.

In his opinion, there is actually no difference between second-hand textbooks and new textbooks, but the price is one-third of the latter.

This is bloody money, okay?
If it were up to him, he would definitely choose a second-hand textbook.

Unfortunately, my mother didn't agree.

In addition to the specified list of books, Sherlock also purchased several additional books.

For example, "Important Magical Events of the 20th Century" and "The Rise and Fall of Black Magic" can help him further understand the magical world.

There is also a best-selling work by an author named Bear Grylls - "The 10 Best Ways to Survive in Extreme Conditions".

(End of this chapter)