Fees for Harry

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 179373

lizzyben wrote:
> <snip> And I haven't found an answer for my original question - how
did DD end up w/the Potter's key in the first place? He wasn't the
heir, or the guardian. So, I'm not sure DD had any right to get money
out of the bank vault in the first place. 

Carol responds:
We don't know that he had no right to take money out of the vault.
After all, both Bill Weasley and Molly Weasley took money from Harry's
vault to pay for his books, and that's what Dumbledore was doing:
taking money to pay for Harry's books, robes, cauldron and other
school supplies. Possibly the Potters authorized DD to take money from
the vault to take care of Harry in the event of their deaths. It's not
as if he was taking it to spend on himself or the school. Evidently,
all that's required is the key and a note authorizing the withdrawal.
[Hagrid presented such a note from DD along with the key to Harry's
vault, so possibly Molly and Bill also had such a note. *Crookshanks*
delivered a note authorizing a withdrawal from Sirius Black's vault,
IIRC. Based on the location (two vaults down from the vault that had
the Philosopher's Stone), it was probably a high-security vault that
didn't require a key.]

At any rate, *someone* needed to get into Harry's vault to allow him
access to his own money. If DD hadn't had the key (either given/lent
to him, perhaps at the time he was lent the Invisibility Cloak, or
found in the partially ruined house at Godric's Hollow), Harry would
have been dependent like Tom Riddle on charity money--absurd since all
that money was his by right. Essentially, DD did whatever was required
to give *Harry* or those acting in his interest access to Harry's
money. It was never used for any purpose except school supplies and
pocket money for Harry. DD didn't buy brooms for the Gryffindor team
or pay teachers' salaries with it, after all. Nor, as you say, did he
pay the Dursleys to take care of Harry using Harry's money or any
other source of funding. He must have been counting on Petunia's
suppressed love for her sister combined with self-interest (keep Harry
safe and the protective charm will protect your family, too).

Carol, who thinks that without Dumbledore's "interference," Harry
would not have reached his second birthday, with or without Sirius
Black, who was also in danger from the DEs