Lesson Six: The History of Gringotts Wizarding Bank
Partway down Diagon Alley, near its intersection with Knockturn Alley, stands an imposing snow-white marble building: Gringott’s Wizarding. It is the place where British witches and wizards store their money and other valuables, in vaults miles below ground. The vaults are heavily guarded. The centuries-old bank is run by goblins, and they alone know the secrets of the twisting underground passages and the enchantments (and creatures!) in place to defend against intruders. The goblins have a code that forbids them to speak of the bank's secrets, and would consider it "base treachery" to break any part of that code.
From Diagon Alley, a set of white stairs leads up to a set of burnished bronze doors. The doors are flanked by a goblin in a uniform of scarlet and gold, though during war time the goblin was replaced instead by two wizards with Probity Probes. This is the entrance to Gringott’s, and it leads into a small entrance hall and another set of doors. Engraved on these silver doors are the words:
Of what awaits the sin of greed,
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn.
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there.
(Citation: Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone)
Though these doors - again, flanked by goblins - is a vast marble hall with, by Harry's a hundred or more goblins sitting at counters. Leading off the hall are many doors and it is through at least one (and probably more) of these that customers access the vaults.
In contrast to the grand marble of the entryway and the main hall, the passageways to the vaults are stone and dimly lit with flaming torches. They slope down to a track, upon which run little carts controlled by the goblins. These carts take visitors deep beneath the surface of the earth, through a maze of winding passages, to the vaults. The carts only go one speed - fast - which makes Hagrid a little queasy and prevents its occupants from getting a good look at their surroundings, and seem to run on a vast, complex, interconnected series of tracks that allow them to move to and between any vaults.
The vaults themselves vary in size and security. The largest, most well protected vaults belong to the oldest wizarding families and lie deepest beneath the surface. Those vaults closer to the surface seem to be smaller and have fewer security precautions surrounding them - they use keys, for example, rather than requiring the touch of a goblin to gain access
The rules around who is allowed to access vaults seem odd. We've seen wizards asked for identification or a key to be allowed access, yet some wizars are able to gain access to other vaults. Perhaps there is a charm forcing the wizard to give the gold to its rightful owner. That would be nice…
There are many rumors that surround the subject of Gringott’s security. The most popular of these would be that Gringott’s is guarded by dragons. This we cannot prove however I can say that I haven’t seen any dragons on my visits to Gringott’s. There are many other security measures on Gringott’s vaults as well. Firstly, keys are required for lower-security vaults and for higher security vaults a goblin must touch the door to allow access. When thieves break in, the “Thief Downfall” is activated meaning a waterfall washes away all enchantments and magical concealments and the carts throw themselves off the tracks. Some vaults have Gemino and Flagrante Curses added to them, meaning that everything a thief touches will burn them and multiply, eventually scalding and crushing them to death. In times of war, additional security precautions are taken such as wizards with Probity Probes replace the goblins outside the front door. Also, during times of war warnings are sent to the Gringott’s goblins, informing them of wizards who might try to break into specific vaults. As you can see, Gringott’s has very tight security.
We only know of two Gringott’s break-ins, though it's likely there have been more throughout history. The first happened on July 31, 1991, when Quirinius Quirrell (ordered to do so by Voldemort) broke into vault 713 in search of the Philosopher's Stone. However, nothing was stolen, as the vault was emptied earlier that same day.
The second break-in was much more successful, and happened in May 1998. Hermione used Polyjuice Potion to disguise herself as Bellatrix Lestrange, and despite immediately arousing goblin suspicions, she, Harry, Ron, and Griphook used an invisibility cloak, Confundus Charms, Imperius Curses, and Stunners to great effect, stealing Hufflepuff's cup from the Lestrange vault and escaping on the back of a dragon, leaving the bank in ruins.