Sirius and Vaults

[sevenhundredandthirteen]

No: HPFGUIDX 96245

Carolyn wrote:
> It is vault number 711, and mentioned in the letter Sirius sends 
> Harry which he receives on the Hogwart's Express. P.315 in my UK 
> edition. Its quite curious that he gives Harry his vault number, 
now 
> that we are having this discussion. Would you give your bank 
account 
> number or PIN number to your godson, however much you like him ?
> 
> Another sneaky one from JKR perhaps - is Harry going to need that 
> number at some later date, and suddenly has to hunt out the 
letter ?

Well, vault 713 is the vault the Philosopher's Stone is kept in. 
Firstly this suggests that there needn't even be a vault key to open 
the door and that a Gringotts Goblin merely has to stroke it to open 
it (assuming that the high security vaults are kept in the same 
area). That eliminates the problem of Crookshanks carrying a key in 
an envelope. A letter seems to be enough for anyone to open a high 
security vault- Dumbledore sends Hagrid with a letter to open vault 
713 and that is enough.

But, Sirius's vault number also raises the question of why Sirius 
owns a high security vault in the first place. I would think it more 
likely that he and James Potter would get side-by-side vaults when 
they finishes Hogwarts together. However, if vault 711 is not 
Sirius's personal vault, but the Black Family's Vault, then the high 
security is completely understandable- look at Grimmauld Place! 
Every security measure known to wizard kind! (Actually, that makes 
me wonder whether the Balck Family would even need a Gringotts 
Vault...) Anyway, if 711 is the Black's then maybe 713 really 
belongs to another pure-blood family. After all, does Dumbledore 
really own Vault 713? Does it belong to Hogwarts? We don't actually 
know what's in the letter Hagrid presents to Gringotts, only that 
Dumbledore gave it to him. It could conceivably be from anyone.

~<(Laurasia)>~