It was the next day when Ginny realized that she had left the Green Dragon without paying for her many drinks or for the staying the night. Not sure she could find the pub again, Ginny headed to Gringotts Wizarding Bank. She walked up to a goblin. “I would like to put money into someone else’s account.”
“Someone else’s account?” the goblin asked Ginny, looking at her suspiciously.
“Yes. You see, a couple of nights ago I stayed at a pub. I left in a rush. I was in such a rush that I forgot to pay.” The goblin snorted, as thought he didn’t believe that it was an accident that Ginny hadn’t paid. Ignoring the goblin, Ginny continued, saying, “Well, I feel bad about it, and I would like the give the owner his proper payment.”
“Sure, you do, miss.” The goblin still didn’t believe Ginny. “I’ll try to help you out anyways. Tell me the name of this pub’s owner and I’ll look him up. See if he actually owns a pub.”
“Alright. His name was Blenkinsop Waterbut.”
The goblin pulled out a large book from underneath his desk. On the white cover, the words “Account Numbers” were written in large black letters.
“Let’s see,” the goblin muttered under his breath. “A, A, A, B, B, B, B, C, C, C, C, C, C, C, D, D, D, E, E, E, E, E, F, F, F, F, G, G, G, G, G, G, H, H, H, I, I, I, I J, J, J, J, K, K, K, K, L, L, L, L, L, M, M, N, N, O, P, Q, R, R, R, R, R, R, S, S, S, S, S, S, S, T, T, T, T, T, T, U, V, here we are, W. Walton, Warbuche, Washington, Weasley. Wait, Washington to Weasley.” The goblin looked up from his book. “I’m sorry miss,” he began. “But there seems to be no one with the last name Waterbut.”
“That’s strange, what if he just doesn’t have an account?” Ginny asked.
“Impossible,” replied the goblin. “Every family has an account, it’s part of our magic.”
“Maybe I gave you his name wrong. Can you look up the pub?”
“Certainly.” The goblin put the Account Numbers book away, and pulled out another large, white book. This one said “Businesses” in the same type of black letters. “The pub’s name?” the goblin asked Ginny, opening the cover.
“The Green Dragon.”
This time, the goblin flipped through the pages silently. Once again, he looked up at Ginny. “That doesn’t exist either,” he informed Ginny.
“And I suppose that it’s part of your magic that every business has an account?” Ginny’s voice had a bit of an edge to it now.
“Yes it is,” replied the goblin.
“Thanks for your help,” Ginny said, sarcastically. She left the building feeling very strange. While walking down the cobblestone streets of Diagon Alley, she wondered why neither Blenkinsop Waterbut nor The Green Dragon seemed to exist. I’ll just go give him his money in person, Ginny decided.
She started walking towards where she thought The Green Dragon was. She walked around for almost an hour, to no avail. Finally, Ginny decided that she must be in the wrong place and walk back to her house. From there, she set off again, hoping that she was going the right way. She was. After about only another ten minutes, Ginny found the bench she had sat on when she first found The Green Dragon. She crossed the street, but there was no building. There wasn’t even a pile of rubble. “It was here, I know it!” Ginny said to herself. She began scouring the area for any hint of the building or its occupants that had been there just one day ago. Another hour passed, and Ginny found nothing. Discouraged and confused, she set off.
Deciding not to trust the goblin from Gringotts, she decided to check the records at the Ministry of Magic for Blenkinsop Waterbut or The Green Dragon. Not sure where they were, she decided to ask her father.
“Dad?” Ginny stuck her head around a door into a small office. It was nicer than Mr. Weasley’s old Muggle Artifacts office, but not much bigger.
“Ginny!” A surprised Mr. Weasley embraced his only daughter with a hug. “How are you? Where were you the other night?”
“I’m fine, Dad. As for where I was the other night, I was hoping that you’d be able to help. I need to look in the record room.”
Mr. Weasley looked at Ginny. “What are you up to?” he asked.
“I, er, forgot to pay last night. I’m trying to pay the owner back, but I can’t find the pub.”
Mr. Weasley sighed. “It’s on the bottom floor, next to Courtroom Ten. But, you didn’t hear it from me.”
Ginny smiled. “Thanks, Dad.”
Ginny hurried to the lift, and went down as far as it went. Turning right at the door to the Department of Mysteries, she went down the stairs, and to the door at the end of the hall, labeled “Records”. Fortunately for Ginny, the door wasn’t locked, nor did it creak when she pushed it open.
The room she found herself standing in was very vast. Every square inch of the walls was covered with wooden cabinets. Each cabinet had a label in the center reading things like “Hogwarts to Hufflepuff, Helga”, or “Quidditch to Riddikulus”. Deciding to look for Blenkinsop Waterbut first, Ginny walked past many, many, many cabinets. She passed “Acromantula to America”, “Dragons to Dugbog”, and even “Polka to Potter, Harry”. Finally she came across “Water to Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes”. He’ll be in here, Ginny realized. She opened the drawer. “Water, Water balloon, Wave.” Ginny stopped muttering. He should be between Water balloon and Wave. Beginning to fear for her sanity, Ginny ran to drawer “Fur to Green Plants.” Alas, there was no Green Dragon to be found.
Numb, Ginny left the records room and apparated to The Burrow. She had flopped down on her bed to worry, when she felt something in her pocket prick her leg. “Ouch!” she exclaimed. She dug in her pocket to find the culprit, which she found and extracted from her pocket. It was a key. A key with a three engraved on it.