Gringotts and Accounts

Harry turned to the two remaining goblins. "Next?"

Griphook pulled a self-inking quill and a thick folder from his briefcase and handed them to Warclaw. The elder goblin opened the folder and prepared to take notes.

"First," Harry began, "I would like to know where the Hogwarts vaults stand."

Warclaw looked at the notes in the file. "Given the confession by Mister Dumbledore yesterday, we did an exhaustive audit of the Dumbledore, Hogwarts, Founder, and Potter accounts. Account managers are currently finishing the audits for the Longbottoms and other accounts."

"We found no wrongdoing in the four Founders vaults; Dumbledore was unable to access them and it looks like no heirs have done so for several generations. Unfortunately we did find problems with the Hogwarts vaults. There have been a number of withdrawals over the last forty years, and especially in the last twenty years, that cannot be traced to valid school expenses."

Warclaw shuffled his notes and continued. "Tracking these withdrawals, we found funding for the Order of the Phoenix, bribes paid to several members of the Ministry and Wizengamot, and several personal purchases."

"If you don't mind me asking, how were you able to track these?" Madam Bones asked.

Warclaw grinned toothily. "That's a Gringotts secret."

The Minister frowned, and Harry stepped in, hoping to avoid any ill feelings. "Suffice to say, Madam Minister, that Gringotts have the ability to track every galleon they make. It is a power rarely used, but it comes in quite handy for cases of forgery and embezzlement. If they are stating that they have traced the purchases, then they have irrefutable proof."

Again the goblins regarded Harry in surprise. His goblin tutor in the past had explained to Harry about the magical serial runes on each galleon, and the spells that could track a galleon's passage through every vault it entered. It was a closely guarded secret, as the goblins felt that the more who knew, the more who might figure out a way to counter their tracking methods.

The Minister seemed satisfied with Harry's vague explanation, so he nodded at the goblins to continue. Warclaw resumed his report. "The monies taken by Dumbledore for his own purposes have been reclaimed from his vaults and returned to the Hogwarts vaults. Reparations have also been made to the Potter vault. We are in the process of reclaiming those monies paid as bribes to others."

"However, there is another matter for concern. In the course of the audit, Gringotts examined the tuition rolls for every student over the past forty years. Tuition is the main source of income for the Hogwarts account, followed closely by investments and then interest."

Harry nodded. The Hogwarts fund had been created by the founders, with a huge starting balance to invest and collect interest from. Tuition was supposed to adjust over the years, intended to just cover the yearly expenses on the school and, if possible, add a little to the balance. The idea was that the years would ebb and flow, but overall the vault would slowly grow, and that the students would never face a tuition so high they could not study at the school.

Warclaw pulled out a long parchment from his folder. "We have found numerous examples of students paying partial tuition, or tuition being waived entirely."

Frowning, Harry attempted to remember what he had been taught about the Hogwarts finances. "I thought there was a discount for families with a certain number of students?"

"There is," Warclaw confirmed. "Families with three or more children attending Hogwarts at one time may apply for assistance. Families with four or more children attending Hogwarts may also apply for assistance, even if the children do not all overlap. However, the maximum assistance is half of the tuition per child. Most of these discounts are for more than fifty percent, and many of them have fewer than three children attending Hogwarts. Some who do qualify for the multi-child discount are getting an extreme discount, far beyond the maximum."

"Some of these families also received money from Dumbledore, so it appears that he was using tuition discounts as another form of bribery. In another disturbing trend, in the past twenty years, many muggleborn students have been overcharged on their tuition."

"What?" Harry had not suspected that.

"It appears that either the Muggleborns were being vetted, and those with more affluent parents were charged more," Warclaw explained, "or all Muggleborns were charged a higher tuition, and then those who were unable to pay were 'discounted' down to the regular rate. No Muggleborns are receiving the multiple child discount."

Harry barely controlled his anger. "We're very lucky Hermione isn't here right now," he tried to joke. "None of us would want to experience her reaction to this discrimination."

Suddenly, another thought occurred to Harry. "Is it possible that there are muggleborn students qualified for Hogwarts who are not attending because they could not afford it without a steeper discount? Or ones who have transferred back to Muggle school after starting?"

Madam Bones looked sick at the thought of Muggleborn children still having accidental magic problems as their powers grew. "I can assure you that the Ministry will look into that immediately," she assured Harry.

"Gringotts will also investigate this," Warclaw promised.

"Thank you." Harry said. "In the meantime, I want the list of all tuition discrepancies. I also want an accounting of their family's financial status. Nothing confidential, of course, just the same overview I would be entitled to if considering them for a discount. For those cases from a considerable time ago, I want both the current financial status as well as their status at the time of the discount."

"Of course, Lord Slytherin," Warclaw said, quickly taking notes.

"I also want the applications for financial aid, if any were filed. Also the applications, if any, that were rejected by Dumbledore. We will go over all of these with the guidelines for discounting and make our judgements. We will then either request reimbursement for unqualified discounts, or offer refunds for those overcharged."

"Do you intend to press charges?" The Minister asked.

"That depends," Harry declared. "If the families accepted the discount in good faith, then we will leave them be. However, if they were engaged in the same kind of back room shenanigans as Dumbledore, then we'll ask you to throw the book at them!"

"Very well," Madam Bones said, appearing pleased with his restraint for those who were mislead by Dumbledore. The goblins appeared pleased as well, though for the opposite reason. Those found guilty of financial misdeeds would have to pay the goblins heavily.