See If I Care

~3~

"Yeah. It's so colourful. There's swirls and streams of it, and patches of more concentrated magic, and it's just everywhere," Alex said, looking at Remus with their head tilted slightly in confusion; they had thought that everyone could see magic.

"You can see magic," Remus said in shocked realisation.

"Can't everyone?" they asked curiously. "I tried to find information about it in the Potter library and in books that I ordered, but there was no mentions of it, so I just assumed it was something everyone could do." Remus took a deep breath and shook his head as he sighed.

"No cub, everyone can't see magic. It's an incredibly rare skill, something that only occurs once or twice every hundred years. And there wouldn't be much information on it. The only other magical skill that is as rare as it is Parseltongue. Metamorphmaguses, born Legilimens, and born Occlumens are more common than those who can see magic," Remus explained. Alex stared at him in surprise, knowing how rare Metamorphmaguses, born Legilimens, and born Occlumens were, and also in slight confusion, not knowing what Parseltongue was, having not come across the term in their reading.

"Oh. What's Parseltongue?" they asked. Remus shook his head in amusement at their ability to always want to learn.

"Parseltongue is the language of snakes. Anyone who can speak Parseltongue is known as a Parselmouth and use Parseltongue to talk to snakes. It's seen as a Dark ability these days," he explained.

"So, I shouldn't tell people that I can talk to snakes as well?" they asked. Remus' mouth fell open slightly before it snapped shut and he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Of course, you speak Parseltongue as well. Anyway, yes, I would advise keeping it a secret, as people would automatically assume that you're Dark if they know. Voldemort gave the ability a bad name, since he was the only well known Parselmouth in Britain for the last century, and definitely last known Parselmouth in Britain in a couple of decades," Remus said. He ran a hand through his hair, a habit that he had picked up from Sirius and James years ago and hadn't managed to get rid of.

"Ok, those two revelations aside. Let's get to Gringotts," Remus said, leading the way to the large white marble building at the end of the alley. Alex followed him, trying not to let their excitement show; they had read that goblins ran Gringotts and was hoping to be able to practice their Gobbledygook, something they hadn't had a chance to do before; hopefully, they wouldn't butcher the language too much or accidentally insult any of the goblins.

They walked up the marble steps that led up to the building, slowing down at the bronze doors which were opened by two goblins wearing gold and crimson uniforms, one standing on each side of the door. The two goblins bowed to them as they passed, a gesture that Alex repeated; it was simply polite, plus, they remembered that traditional greetings and gestures were a big part of goblin culture. Remus noticed Alex's bow and hastily copied their action before the two of them continued walking. The next set of doors were silver and had another two goblins standing beside them. Alex paused for a moment to read the poem engraved on the doors before bowing to the two goblins and proceeding through the doors, Remus copying them once again.

They entered the vast marble hall and Remus led Alex to one of the lines before a goblin teller, where they both waited patiently for their turn; something that many of the wixen around them seemed to struggle with. As they waited, Alex allowed their eyes to drift around, taking in the magics that made up the hall and the protections around it. It was truly amazing how many different magics were woven together throughout the large space.

As the two of them moved further up the line, Alex turned their attention to the interactions going on around them between the wixen and the goblins. They were shocked to see the ignorance, disgust, and blatant disrespect being shown by the wixen towards the goblins throughout the hall. The goblins were a proud race with a long history of master crafters and incredible warriors and should be respected. Plus, this was the race that protected all the money in the British wixen world; they could cause a monetary shortage should they grow annoyed at any of the wixen.