[HPforGrownups] Sirius' Money Vault?

[Monika Huebner]

No: HPFGUIDX 18251

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Amber [mailto:reanna20 at yahoo.com]

> Heigh-ho, I've just thought of something! Sirius sent Harry the
> Firebolt, right? In POA, it says:
> 
> "Crookshanks took the order to the Owl Office for me. I used your name
> but told them to take the gold from my own Gringotts vault." (POA, pg
> 433)

This is another interesting difference between the US and the UK version,
because the UK version mentions the number of his vault:

"I used your name but told them to take the gold from Gringotts vault
number seven hundred and eleven - my own." (p. 466, Bloomsbury
paperback, and it is also in the audio version read by Stephen Fry.)

I know that this has been discussed before, but I still think there's a
reason why JKR mentions the number of the vault. We know that vault
number 713 (the one from which Hagrid took the philosopher's stone)
is a high security vault. I have been told before that the vaults at Gringotts
might not be numbered in an "ordinary" way, but I still believe that
vault no. 711 is a high security vault, too.

> Now why would the goblins in Gringotts allow someone besides the owner
> of the money to access their money? Sure, Sirius probably sent his key
> to his vault, but wouldn't someone question why Harry Potter would have
> the key? Wouldn't someone at Gringotts make the connection that it was
> actually Sirius who sent the order? I mean, considering the security
> that Gringotts is supposed to have, it seems rather odd that nobody
> would find any of this strange or halt the payment.
> 
> Or maybe I'm just questioning this too closely. Am I the only one who
> finds this fishy?

No, you aren't. But I believe (as someone else has pointed out) that
the goblins have a mentality similar to Swiss bankers. They don't
care if you are a wanted criminal as long as you have the key or the
password. What I find fishy is the key for Sirius' vault. Where did he
keep it while he was in Azkaban? IMO you don't need a key to open
vault no. 711, this should be one of those vaults that can only be
opened by a goblin like vault no. 713. And anyone who would try to
break into it would get trapped. So IMO Sirius only had to give the
goblins his password to open the vault (or whatever authorization
you need to open a high security vault, Hagrid had a letter from
Dumbledore to access vault no. 713). After twelve years this makes
a lot more sense to me than to have him sending the key to the
goblins. It also raises the interesting question what he keeps in this
vault apart from his gold.

Just my two knuts.

Monika

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