Why Were Harry's Parents SO Rich? - Harry Potter Explained

Welcome to Harry Potter Theory. Today we’re discussing HOW on earth Harry Potter's parents amassed such an incredible amount of wealth. How is it that Harry’s vault was absolutely bursting at the seams from galleons when the vault of an entire family (the Weasley’s) had but just one single galleon.
We’re also going to be looking at why Rowling made the decision to make Harry as wealthy as he was.
When the Philosopher’s Stone was first released- we got our first look into the contents of Harry’s vault (vault 687) when Hagrid escorts him to Gringotts:
Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out, and as it cleared, Harry gasped. Inside were mounds of gold coins. Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze Knuts.
"All yours," smiled Hagrid.
And from the first time I read that passage, I became fascinated with Harry’s immense fortune. How did he get it? How much was there? And what did these immense stacks of gold coins look like?
Fortunately, this scene was brought to life on-screen in the release of the Philosopher’s Stone in 2001- and it allowed us to finally witness, with our own eyes, exactly what Harry would have seen when he first stepped foot in vault 687.
I’d also like to point out that this scene was preceded by Harry asking:
“But, Hagrid, how am I to pay for all this? I haven't any money.”
Oh, Harry.
So again I ask- WHERE ON EARTH did Harry’s parents (who were just 21 years old when they died) get all of this gold to leave for Harry?
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[@HarryPotterTheory]

Thanks for watching folks! What video next? Leave a comment down below! ALSO check out my 3 latest videos: This DARK Theory Completely Flips Harry Potter's Ending: kzbin.info/www/bejne/i4mle2p3isaChK8 The Most POWERFUL Witch Nobody Talks About: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jGaspYKHj9dgfpY The WORST Harry Potter Fan Theories of 2022: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mIW3qHhmotSbgac

[@JackieBrown7]

A Hogwarts legacy playthrough!

[@JohnSuave]

Theories about stories that could be made next for film or television!

[@ethand071]

More What If videos

[@jaggershaw6111]

Are you going to play Hogwarts Legacy? If so are you going to do videos on it?

[@xxpyroxx1670]

why didnt they just use the spell on it where if it gets moved it doubles. like how the gold things all multiplied when they had to break into the bank to find the horcrux

[@MrMitchbow]

I love how the Weasleys never ever ask Harry for anything despite one of the first things Ron learned about him was that he was immensely rich and irresponsible

[@raiden1425]

they would refuse his charity everytime pretty much, and he knew that.

[@lore00star]

weasleys are simple and great people. They don't need anything more they have, that is why they're so good with others

[@musclesglasses5790]

Duh, because they're friends.

[@lore00star]

@@DC-ih5xb he kinda was actually but not in a bad way, i think in the books you can see it better while in the movies he's a bit too serious imo.

[@Excitegaming0]

@@lore00stare’s as irresponsible as any 11 year old rich kid with money at his disposal

[@PinkManGuy]

"You didn't think your parents left you with nothing, didja?" "Yes. I did. Hagrid, I've been living under a staircase for ELEVEN YEARS."

[@garushkahn5857]

i understand that it was part of the story but god damn... they just let him rot there. no fkn help at all. not even some nice little things. seriously .. i did never understod why he aint cool with drako.. ^^ (yeah he dissed his first friend he knew for some hours) but god damn.. i would be so pissed xD they just let him fkn rot 11 years under a fkn staircase xD

[@Lulu-bell1973]

@@garushkahn5857 You should read the books, they were excellent. You would understand the story a lot better if you did😊

[@StarGeezerTim]

Additionally Sirius named Harry as his sole beneficiary in his Will. After he died the vast Black estate went to Harry. One would presume this not only included 12 Grimmauld Place and it's contents, but also any cash or items held within the Black's family vaults at Gringotts. Suffice to say, Harry and his family never had to worry about financial solvency.

[@fr0stb1ght34]

Don't need to presume it. Dumbledore tells Harry that exact thing in book six when he goes to pick Harry up at his aunt and uncles. Dumbledore tells Harry that Sirius adds a considerable amount of gold to his account. And that he also inherited #12 Grimuld place. But that the only way to know for sure was to give Kreacher the house elf an order.

[@Swearengen1980]

@@fr0stb1ght34 That tidbit would have been nice to have glossed over in the movie for a few seconds. I think movie only fans were wondering why Harry could order Kreacher around in Deathly Hallows after insulting Hermoine.

[@sharky6404]

@@Swearengen1980 Well, I think some adults can figure out a godfather with no other family, but his godchild, would probably leave his inheritance to said godchild. They did a really horrible job explaining certain details such as house elves and other such magical world building factors.

[@Swearengen1980]

​@@sharky6404 Adults, yes. I was thinking more about the young ones. My tween would absolutely ask why Harry can boss around Kreacher, but not give inheritance a second thought. Little kids wouldn't think twice about either. Although I don't think a movie viewer can blindly assume Harry inherited much from Sirius because in the movie he was portrayed as having been blackballed by the family with his face being blasted from the family tree. Logical deduction from that is that he was also eliminated from the family inheritance.

[@masterpython]

@@Swearengen1980 Your family can hate you but unless they have the lawyers write you out of the will and specify where everything is going you are still next of kin.

[@ihaveacar]

He also gets the invisibility cloak, which presumably has been passed from eldest son to eldest son to eldest son through the generations going back to one of the most powerful wizards of all time nearly 1000 years ago. Usually family fortunes, titles, land, etc.. also goes to the eldest and I'd assume the branch of the family coming from the "wisest" of the Deathly Hallow creators probably weren't poor through the ages.

[@kindlin]

This, I think, is the best answer for this video. Everything else is just specifics. I really do rather enjoy this series. Maybe I'll start a reread sometime...

[@kadaltokek3953]

Umm most likely the biggest portion of possessions goes to eldest children and the youngest children inherited immense of fortune as well, it wasn't just as big as the eldest children

[@alezy7645]

I think there were more than one invisibility cloak, the were extremly rare but there wasn't only one.

[@ihaveacar]

​@@alezy7645 There are none that are even close to as good as Harry's and the enchantment on others doesn't last long. This is mentioned a bunch of times. Harry's is perfect invisibility, even magic can't see through it.

[@kindlin]

@@ihaveacar Besides Moody's eye, apparently. Whatever charm that eye has needs to be replicated... And I know Ron says all that about the typical cloaks, but I did get the impression that there were other really good cloaks out there, too.

[@barbiquearea]

If I recall the Potters also married into the Black family twice in their linage, and they were rich AF. Since it was the Potter men who took brides from this extremely wealthy clan, I don't think its out of the question that the Blacks may have given the Potters a large dowry for both marriages.

[@Rachel-xu4br]

Technically it's also possible that the Blacks married the Potters due to their wealth rather than the other way around. Both families are rich and powerful, but we have to remember this was a time that often daughters were often pushed by parents to marry someone of the same, or higher status as them. While there is no denying there were financial benefits, the main reason why it happened not once, but twice was mainly due to those particular characters being insistent on staying with only purebloods. All pureblood families have some form of inbreeding in their line.

[@elephant35e]

Where in their linage did the Potters marry into the Black family?

[@N7Biotic]

@@elephant35e Charlus Potter married Dorea Black (who's grandfather was Phineas Nigellus Black). Not sure what the relationship of Charlus Potter was to James. But Charlus was the great uncle of Sirius Black.

[@Rachel-xu4br]

@@elephant35e Off the top of my head the only one that comes to mind is Charlus Potter and Dorea Black. On Pottermore even though it mentions only Harry's direct line, on the actual Black tree it shows Charlus Potter on it showing there are more than one Potter line that exists. It all started with seven lines originally (7 is a repeated number in HP in general). Edit: Oop someone already explained for me.

[@lordvika2526]

Dont forget that the Potter invented Skele-Grow and Sleep Easies Hair Potion.

[@sumanaghosh7949]

You have done your research for sure. There are couple of points to add: Harry's godfather was Sirius Black who was very rich and besides leaving him with a house, he also left him money. It was revealed in Book 5 end. Also Harry was a descendant of Ignotus Peverell as it was revealed in Book 7. That's how he got his invisibility cloak. Although there is no direct reference to Ignotus 's wealth but he was a famous person.

[@JordanIdk]

I think it provides a great contrast with Ron. Harry has ridiculous amounts of money, but no family. Ron has a huge family, but no money. Both kinda desire what the other has, it does a great job of showing both sides of wealth.

[@basillah7650]

Even if rich having a huge family would eat up the money fast anyways.

[@justaformer11b95]

Both are wealthy in their own way.

[@keithkahler1327]

@@basillah7650 well if the members of the family obtained well paying jobs to offset the expenditure than maybe it could work

[@FizzyPinepple]

@@basillah7650 Assuming everyone would just be NEETs not earning anything

[@justinnguyen3906]

@@basillah7650 If they would be able to use up all their money, then they were never considered wealthy in the first place. If a big family is considered wealthy, just assume they have enough money to remain wealthy.

[@Satchel456]

I never realized Harry's parents were only 21 when they died. The actors they used for Harry's parents in the movie were definitely older than 21.

[@helene4397]

Because Alan Rickman was too old to be Snape. Snape died when he was 37-38 years old.

[@spencerhulcy727]

Same with Snape, Sirius, Lupin, and Pettigrew. They all graduated Hogwarts the same year but their actors were all much older than their characters' ages.

[@crapball34]

War does things to people

[@carlosfuentes9574]

Makes you wonder how old the Dursleys were

[@meemee0-1]

@@carlosfuentes9574assuming petunia is a few years older than lily, she would be in her mid 30s in the first book.

[@adambrowning8777]

I always assumed that with the death of Voldemort by the Boy who lived, that wizards and witches from all over sent whatever they could to the Potter vault to support the newly orphaned Harry. Never occurred to me that he was heir to the first pharmaceutical company of the Wizarding world.

[@cfrandre8319]

😄😄😄 Bright AND funny! Goodonyer.

[@cfrandre8319]

I wonder what the magical equivalent of a GoFundMe would be? I imagine the magical hospital had some kind of charitable fund for treatment of squibs and klutzes who, like Mundungus Fletcher, were less than solvent, had unreliable magical skills, and lived on the edges between the light and dark. The whole magical economy is an interesting puzzle.

[@LastKnight0727]

I just figured it was wizard world's version of life insurance along with compounding interest rate spell(similar to the Gemini spell in Bellatrix's vault), hence the green smoke. I assumed the smoke was the spell coming undone with the opening of the door. Then the spell is then redone after a withdrawal or deposit is performed.

[@drakke125Channel]

The concept of GoFundMe and donating to family on such a large scale is a bit foreign even from those early to late 1900s. To us it seems like the most sensible thing to do, but I tell you, IT IS NOT. The whole charity thing got blown up and embraced to play to people's emotions.

[@snerdterguson]

Not necessarily charity. He was viewed as a hero. People don't know how, but they believed Harry to somehow be responsible for the, what they thought at the time was, the end of Voldemort. They may see it more as paying a debt. On another note, hilariously, when I type Voldemort, auto correct changed it to, "Golden off" but there is no issue typing Dumbledore. I can only assume it is auto correct trying to prevent me saying Vol... He who must not be named.

[@donngu]

I’m currently reading this series aloud to my daughter, who just loves every second of it. I think Harry’s wealth serves a deeper storytelling purpose. It contrasts with the Weasleys’ wealth of love. Although Harry gains his wealth when he learns the truth about himself, it doesn’t bring him joy. Instead, being loved and accepted by the Weasleys fills a void and brings him true happiness. We’re currently up to the Goblet of Fire, and I felt that the Weasleys showing up for him in place of his ‘family’ was a reflection of this theme. Additionally, Harry only seems to use his money for school expenses and to make his friends happy by buying things for them.

[@DivineKnight_115]

What’s funny is the potters are all famous master potion makers. Lily though married into the potter family was a very gifted potion maker to the degree that she was on top of Slughorns favorites list. Another tragedy from both her and James’ deaths is that we won’t ever get to see what genius products they could’ve invented adding even more to the family fortune.

[@TheEvertw]

In spite of Harry's short foray into Auroring, and Ginny's into sports, I'd love for them to prove Snape wrong by making some inventions of their own...

[@DaleHammersIII]

This is actually a good point I'd never thought of.

[@Galiant2010]

Imagine if the reason Harry survived the killing curse is because of a potion that James and Lily created together and gave to him as a last ditch effort to help save him when they learned that they were on Voldemort's hit-list. A potion made with pure love as an unintentional ingredient. A potion that never became public knowledge because of their deaths.

[@cfrandre8319]

@@Galiant2010 Good thought.

[@drakke125Channel]

Um, Lily is not a 'potter' by blood, she's a muggleborn like Hermione. Though Hermione is a lowkey mary sue who knows how to live and think like wizard better than anyone else despite never been in the culture, just be simply 'reading a book'. That is pure nonsense and bad writing. First time I heard of potters being good at potions though.

[@barrettbritt]

I always thought Harry’s wealth was a really strong juxtaposition between the life Harry knew and then the new wizarding world. Since he had so little (both in terms of money and belongings as whole) with the Dursley’s, his unknown wealth added a lot to the change between his muggle life and his life as a wizard when I read the books for the first time

[@Real_MisterSir]

I've always seen it as the fact that Harry has such enormous wealth just fingertips away, helps establish him as a genuine person of integrity who solves his own issues and doesn't take shortcuts to gain advantages - it helps create that crevasse between him and Malfoy, where Malfoy is the polar opposite, he has wealth just like Harry, and he has his father's influence, and he uses it actively whenever anything goes slightly against him. This contrast solidifies Harry and why he's in Gryffindor, why he acts how he does, why he is who he is. He grew up with nothing, and has learned to live without the need of easy problem-solvers such as family wealth. He doesn't take the easy way out, even if it is perfectly accessible to him at all times.

[@DaleHammersIII]

Malfoy has significantly more wealth than Harry will ever have. It's made clear in the books their family made their wealth through not so legal ways. Thats why in Harry's vault there were piles of coins, in Bellatrix's there were mountains. The Malfoy's are one of the richest families in the wizarding world. At least in England.

[@Real_MisterSir]

@@DaleHammersIII That's not the point. Malfoy also has parents. Point is, many of the actual personal struggles and opportunities they have to overcome/pursue, can be easily solved with the wealth they both possess. When Draco gets things that aid him, like his high-spec broom, it's mainly because he represents the Malfoy name and thus he gets the best equipment to do so. On the other hand, whenever Harry gets anything it's because the people around him genuinely care for him and he has earned their affection through his inner worth, not his inherited wealth. Draco is a stark contrast, and I just feel like the fact that they're both immensely wealthy and well within the top 0.1% goes a long way to help establish this difference between them. Draco boasts of his family name, wealth, and influence. Harry seemingly forgets he even has money -despite having more than enough to live luxuriously for the rest of his life.

[@marcellkovacs5452]

This is also how I thought about it. He’s a rich kid who’s down to earth and never flaunts his wealth. Malfoy takes every opportunity to flaunt it. It’s funny how bad Rowling’s actual explanation is in comparison.

[@MyVanir]

@@Real_MisterSir The reason Harry isn't constantly aware of it is that he doesn't really get to use it - he knows it as a fact, but he doesn't experience it. Meanwhile Draco grew up surrounded by it.

[@Timboyxxx]

Wouldn't be surprised if Dumbledore didn't count on Harry's upbringing under the Dursleys to ultimately humble and build what Dumbledore found to be one of the most important aspect to his character and contrast to Voldemort. Perfectly opposing everything Voldemort stood for.

[@mayamartin7359]

This adds so much richness to Snape’s backstory and I wish that was covered here! - Lily was talented with potions and married into a potions fortune (another commenter mentioned that any or all of that might’ve motivated Snape to get good with them) - so Severus not only lost the girl to the rich boy, but also ended up teaching the relevant subject in school, and then Harry comes along - he knew this kid may well have been the next Potter ingenue and he’d have the chance to help nurture Lily’s boy in that, but he still chose to put him down and keep Harry’s family history secret from him.

[@MuttonTheDragon]

What’s more is that Fleamont made the Sleakeasy’s Hair Potion! Snape didn’t use it out of spite for the Potters, so his hair remained greasy AF!

[@kashmirandal6282]

@@MuttonTheDragon lol

[@homesteadgamer1257]

Snape's disdain for Harry had been a ruse all along, remember? It was the decoy that made Voldemort's followers believe Snape was still loyal, but Snape hadn't been since Lily's death. It was mentioned in the book, but I think via descriptions (showing not telling) that it was easier for Snape to pretend to hate Harry because Harry looked like James Potter, but because Harry had Lily's eyes it was hard for him.

[@falliscoming6256]

@@homesteadgamer1257 I hate how people really took this and ran with it. Snape was the best at Occlumency, meaning he could hide his thoughts. He said he felt Voldy would look into his mind and didn't want him to see him showing Harry favoritism. Mind you, he could have blamed his actions on Dumbledore. What was Snape's excuse for being a dick to everybody else? Why wasn't he afraid of Voldy seeing him conspiring against him with Dumbledore? The fact that Charlie and Bill had low opinions of Snapes long before Harry set foot in Hogwarts says a lot. The fact that Snape knew Sirus was innocent yet still wanted him to receive the Dementor's kiss. Him leaking that Remus was a werewolf and getting him fired. Snape stopped verbally abusing Harry after he saw into Harry's mind, and not before. Snap literally gave zero fucks if Harry died as long as Lily lived. We know this because he asked not one person, but two to only save Lily.

[@LeCharles07]

Harry's first class with Snape gives a whole different feel when you realize he's essentially berating Harry because Harry's disconnected from the Potter family legacy.

[@drakke125Channel]

Snape didn't bully him because Harry was disconnected with his Potter family legacy, but more of a grudge against the 'men' in Potter family because if James was bad, so is his sons. Snape is one of those people who didn't give a damn about Harry's past or what he's been through, nor was Harry's sad childhood even public knowledge till Fourth Year, albeit it was a glimpse.

[@jordanwardle11]

Probably because if lily had not been with James, she would have been alive with Snape. But since James is dead, he takes it out on harry

[@alexandreaanderson514]

@@drakke125Channel Actually Snape was just jealous of Harry's dad.

[@MyVanir]

@@alexandreaanderson514 He was jealous of James, but with Harry, it was a mixture of resentment and a twisted sort of affection - he was the son of the man who made his youth utterly garbage and married the girl he loved, but he was also Lily's son, which transferred a degree of protectiveness onto him. IIRC Dumbledore even outright says that Snape's decisions were, more than anything, directed by his desire to protect Harry - even though he immensely disliked him as a person.

[@cferracini]

I know it isnt that but it would be fun if it were true

[@UndeadAaronGames]

For 21 years old Harry's parents sure look 40, not being ageist, I just think it was an unusual casting choice.

[@aightm8]

21 was an unusual age choice. The movie change was good

[@anonymous38741]

there's nothing unusual about having a baby at 21

[@dellcoc]

The bigger question is why Harry constantly forgot that he was rich throughout the series. His money could have helped them numerous times (especially Ron).

[@DaleHammersIII]

Because he only had access to it while at school and he grew up with nothing, so its not a direction his mind automatically goes. Sorta out of sight, out of mind.

[@Bballfan1992]

Harry did offer to help pay for things, but the Weasleys always declined. Harry remembered he had money, but he also didn’t live like it because he couldn’t always access it. He was always at Hogwarts, or his relatives for 90% of the year. Not many chances to go to the bank. And sadly, Gringotts did not have debit cards lol

[@williamho1976]

@@Bballfan1992 Or credit cards. Otherwise Harry should have a Gringotts Black Card!

[@laurfincher8137]

being raised by the Dursley's Harry was a slave and he also saw how wealth ruined his cousin. Greedy mean brat. The Dursley's were spoiling their child and they would lick the boots of others to get higher up... so having wealth looked ugly to Harry.

[@MISTAKEWASMADE4live]

He would offer to pay for the Weasleys expenses, but they would refuse I think it's even highlighted in the Chamber of Secrets, they won't accept his cash.

[@monikerkinakin6943]

I think by making Harry rich, Rowling made an unintentional expansion of his character. It showed his incorruptible personality. While other kids would have changed the way they acted if they knew they were the heir to a fortune (i.e. Malfoy), Harry remained good natured.

[@CRACKERJACK439]

So you're telling me that Harry, who was not the best with potions, was the heir to the wizard equivalent of a pharmaceutical company? Why does this make me love it more?

[@DaleHammersIII]

Harry wasnt really that bad at potions, Snape just made him not want the classes. Hard to do well in a class with a teach you hate and it be reciprocated.

[@DraconisX86]

Harry was actually really good with potions. In the sorcerers stone, he solves Snape's potion puzzle by himself. Even though Snape doesn't like Harry, he is still forced to give him an Excellent on the exams.

[@abdullahimran4624]

@@DraconisX86 hermione solved the logic riddle

[@jameskuyper]

Harry was good enough at potions that, when he no longer had Snape as his teacher, he was able to take full advantage of his good luck in finding the half-blood prince's potion book. It's ironic that they were actually the same person. Harry could have learned so much from Snape if Snape hadn't let his hatred of James Potter get in the way.

[@AdeptKing]

To be fair it didn’t help that his teacher was Snape who practically hates him (if he didn’t then he sure acted like it)because of his dad.

[@narikdragonheart2688]

"Rowling used harry as an extension of herself and her future desires" ...so she used magic to make herself rich through those books...cool 😎

[@donovanberserk4993]

Based

[@tankdogization]

It’s interesting to think about how little Harry had to worry about after defeating Voldemort. Wealth came from his parents and Sirius. Property in the Wizard World was passed down from Sirius as well. All at 17 years old.

[@katholmes7112]

Well, the one thing the books never addressed after the war that always bugged me is PTSD. I guarantee you every single person, but especially the children raised to be soldiers had it. No way we're their lives perfect.

[@ginjaedgy49]

@@katholmes7112 perhaps one day we'll get a sequel, perhaps 20 years from the last harry potter film to account for the actors age. how they deal with what happened in their youth and possibly bringing in a new age of harry potter shows with the main characters kids

[@kokofan50]

@@katholmes7112 most people don’t develop PTSD even after a traumatic experience like the war.

[@cfrandre8319]

@@kokofan50 You’d be surprised how many people around the world have PTSD...

[@kokofan50]

@@cfrandre8319 no, I wouldn’t. Traumatic events happen all the time, but most people are able to process them. If helps if you have a strong social network and encouraged to be resilient rather than focusing on the trauma. The English speaking world has been especially good at the latter.

[@MrAsh1989]

Because they only had ONE kid instead of TWELVE

[@TheEvertw]

I love this bit in the Potter backstory. Makes one wonder if James taunted Snape with being the child of a successful potion master, and how that could have motivated Snape to double-down on potions. Oh, lovely speculations...

[@drakke125Channel]

honestly a lot of the 'backstory' and rowling writing are stuff I find to be rather skeptical of, a lot of it was prob just added much later given how poorly setup the mechanics of magic was at the start. Things like wandless and incantation-less magic hasn't really been sufficiently or fully explained yet, at least from what I've seen so far but there's always a chance there's 'new lore' I may have missed, but this stuff we're learning are outside of the main school year books.

[@briananthony4044]

@@drakke125Channel I would think that wands and incantations help to focus and amplify the magic, but a powerful experienced witch or wizard can do without both as the magical ability resides within the person, not the wand. Elves can do magic without such assistance.

[@GatoMichito]

I miss the old Kanye

[@himynamelscolin]

Crazy that Harry’s ancestor ended up saving him from beyond the grave in more than one way!!

[@sarahlynn4721]

Most of the Death Eaters were members of the Scared 28, and I've always wondered if maybe some of Harry's fortune came from fines and restitution payments that the Death Eaters had to pay the Ministry as part of their sentencing terms. I'm not sure how advanced the Wizarding government would be with that type of thing, but they could have taken a percentage of each payment and put it in Harry's account? Or divided it up among the other victims? And Lucius Malfoy probably paid off the Ministry so he wouldn't be sent to Azkaban, along with his claim that he was under the imperius curse...Maybe others did that as well and the Ministry took portions of those to go to Voldemort's victims as well?

[@HarryPotterTheory]

I like your train of thought here!

[@AwesomeGingersFtw]

Harry isn’t the only person who lost loved ones though, what about Molly? She lost her brothers and a son.. does she not deserve “fines and restitution payments” too? There’s likely many more who’d, at least in my opinion, be more deserving of it than Harry. The Death Eaters who were from the Sacred 28 would have nothing left quicker than you can say Quidditch if they had to make payments to all of the families they wronged 🤷‍♂️

[@sarahlynn4721]

@@AwesomeGingersFtw Yes, I definitely agree. That's why I added "Or divided it up among the other victims" and said that maybe the Death Eaters who didn't get into trouble paid off the Ministry and portions of those payoffs were divided among Voldemort's victims. I focused more of the Harry aspect of it because that was the video topic, but I 100% agree with you that all the victims would deserve to be included in this. 😊 When I initially thought of this, the Lestranges and Barty Crouch, Jr. paying restitution to Neville's family is who came to my mind first, because being tortured to the point that you don't know who you are or who your son is seems like it would be worse than death. And the torture they endure to get to that point? I can't even imagine. They definitely deserve something, and I would certainly hope that someone besides the Longbottom family is paying for their lifelong stay and care in the Janus Thickey Ward. I'm not sure if other families would accept any payments though. I think alot of them would look at it as "dirty Death Eater money" and not want to accept it. I feel like Molly (as a former Prewett), and the rest of the Weasleys are a very proud family and would consider accepting money from the government (or anyone) to be charity, even if they were payments of restitution for their loss and suffering. They're poor, but proud. I know in the books when Harry gave Fred and George his Twiwizard winnings he had to tell them to take it as a an investment for them to open up their joke shop. I always picture the old families as having more money than they know what to do with. Generations upon generations just hoarding money and making shady business deals and bribing people to aquire more money and investing it...maybe I've just read too many fan fics though 🤷🏻‍♀️ I mean, Lucius Malfoy has pet peacocks wandering around! To me, that's a ridiculously rich person thing. I don't necessarily think they'd have to do individual payments to each family (because yeah, that would be a lot of money!), unless they directly affected said family (the Lestranges torturing the Longbottoms, for example). I can't remember how much restitution my friends grandmother got from a robbery. I know it was a few thousand dollars from each person involved though. It would be reasonable to think that they could charge each family member involved a percentage of their assets and divide it up among the victims...depending on how much money each person has in their legal account vs how much they have hidden away, it might not add up to much! 😹

[@AwesomeGingersFtw]

@@sarahlynn4721 yeah I thought of Neville too seeing as he had to grow up with his parents not even knowing who he is, can’t even begin to imagine what that would be like. I just don’t see how it’d realistically be enforced and even if it was, as you quite rightly pointed out, many of the families wouldn’t want the money anyway seeing as it’s coming from Death Eaters. There’s absolutely no way in hell Molly would take a penny from Lucius for example even if it was to be revealed he was part of the group that attacked her brothers. She’d rather justice be served and he rots in Azkaban. That’s not to say that no one would take restitution payments but I just feel like the Death Eaters, more specifically any who had family wealth, caused too much grief to far too many people for them to feasibly pay them back without it resulting in it being a pittance due to the amount of people they wronged. Maybe a one time overall “fine” type thing based on the severity of their crimes to be paid to the ministry for them to then disperse to services such as St.Mungo’s? Idk. Paying the surviving family members just doesn’t seem like it’d work out all that well to me given that there’d likely be a *lot* of them.

[@danayneal4409]

@@sarahlynn4721 I bet the wizarding insurance documents look very different from our muggle ones. 😂

[@JoshuaKirtley]

I also like the fact that Harry was raised to have next to nothing to his name. Even living in the cupboard under the stairs. So we get to see Harry had parents who loved him, magical powers and great wealth, all the things he didn't have before. But for all the gold he had and all the things he could buy with it, it never changed him. It allowed him to buy the things he needed, but beyond that, money wasn't important to him. It's presence or absence in the life of a classmate or other any other person he met didn't affect his opinion of them, just the way they treated himself and others.

[@drakke125Channel]

Exactly. To Harry, what was more important was he used whatever resources including money to get what he wanted, but he only did that when it applied to his friends like the Weasleys. He did not spend massive gold for himself, only when he's being thoughtful to others with buying the cart of snacks/sweets on the Hogwarts Express and the winning Triwizard money to the Weasley twins. Outside of that, he hasn't been seen doing any wasteful spending. Anyone can easily see Harry actually values his friendships with others far more than material things, this is especially the case with growing up with an abusive family and without his blood parents, to the point where McGonagall was almost his second aunt/mother (just a little bit). However that would have been inappropriate and out of place. Harry also did not discriminate people based on their Houses. The Cursed Child garbage of a book made him out to be a stereotypical racist white man (according to toxic woke people), in which he took issue with his son we see in the end of the last book and movie, asking about being placed in Slytherin. in Contrast with Cursed child, Harry in original books/movies had no qualms and felt pride if his son went to Slytherin because he found beaming respect for Severus Snape. That says a lot about Harry's character. Not to mention Harry got along well with Slughorn, and probably had normal conversations with at least one or two other Slytherin students he came across throughout his school life.

[@keithkahler1327]

@@drakke125Channel I mean the tri-wizard winnings could justly be Investing in his friends business venture

[@barbiquearea]

On top of the royalties he would have received from his grandfather's potion recipe, I imagine the Potter fortune might have been put into a trust with a respected trustee put in charge of properly investing this money to grow the fortune so that Harry would have a tidy nest egg once he enters the Wizarding World.

[@firesideshats]

Don't think it works like that champ lol

[@Haseo92]

@@firesideshats Maybe, but seeing how the Goblins are, it wouldn't surprise me if they were investing some of that money and giving back a little of their ROI(like every bank does)

[@kenzashenna]

Also donations for wee Harry must have flown in from people saddened by their heroic death!

[@TianarTruegard]

Does money sitting in wizard banks earn interest? It would have been sitting in Gringot's for like 10-15 years or so? Plenty of time for interest to acrue.

[@SheoGotSomeCheese]

Maybe Voldemort had a bounty on his head?

[@jigganumber03]

The way Rolling manifested her wealth through Harry literally brought a tear to my eye, the mind truly is a powerful force ✨

[@alen3ever]

One more thing @HarryPotterTheory, one thing you have forgotten to add is the fact that since Harry was also the heir to Sirius Black, he inherited all of his wealth as well. In the sixth book, Dumbuldore informs Harry of this. Sirius, being from the infamous Black family did have a lot of inherited wealth even though he could not use it for most of his adult life.

[@DaleHammersIII]

Sirius didnt really have the Black fortune though, his money was from a rich uncle and self made. While he added a good chunk to it, Sirius himself wasnt terribly rich compared to the rest of the Blacks.

[@Bballfan1992]

@@DaleHammersIII we never actually know what happened to the Black fortune. We do know they were rich, and I’m sure some dowry was paid out to Malfoy and Lestrange for Narcissa and Bellatrix. But everyone else is dead, and what they did isn’t known. We don’t know if the Black vault, like Grimmauld, stayed to the next male, which was Sirius after his brother died. It’s wholly possible the main Black fault stayed in the family, most like patriarchal, and was ultimately left to Harry. Dromeda was cast out completely, and as a woman, it’s most likely she would not have received anything. It would be interesting to find out where the whole Black fortune went.

[@cfrandre8319]

@@Bballfan1992 Andromeda was an outcast from the Black family but wasn’t there a dotty but wealthy old aunt somewhere, who kept Tonks and her mother relatively comfortable (they could never show they were all right) after Ted Tonks died? And Andromeda raised Tonks and Lupin’s son after they died...

[@Bballfan1992]

@@cfrandre8319 I’m not sure. I don’t remember reading about an old aunt helping Andy, so I can’t say for sure. Definitely possible. But yeah, Andy definitely lost any access to the Black vault. Their way of life was very Victorian era, with patriarchal succession. I’m sure it was supposed to go to Regulus, but ended up with Sirius as I don’t think any Black family leader would let old tradition die that hard, and give it all away to strangers, or give it to another family through marriage and let the Black fortune disappear after all the generations of wealth added to it.

[@drakke125Channel]

Wasn't Black disowned from the family? Can you seriously still own property that would normally be passed down to you when your face/name is stricken from family tree record??? How did people miss this????

[@chloekhamxox]

I love the accuracy of “The Potterer” becoming “Potter” over time, very accurate of last names changing over time explaining last names like “Smith”.

[@grendel7716]

Not sure if Pottermore expanded on it but considering how many families were wiped out during Voldemort's rise, it's possible he inherited from several extended family members. Not to mention it would've gathered interest over a decade if that's how gringotts works

[@blackmoon8459]

Given that it’s a sealed vault, and not a “fictional concept that exists only as a number in a ledger” I suspect Gringots doesn’t do interest. Just super secure storage.

[@WombatDave]

@@blackmoon8459 Gringots has to make money somewhere, even if only enough to pay their employees. Most likely they would have something like a CD, where a wizard invests a sum of money for a fixed amount of time, and cannot withdraw that money. Gringots can then loan that money out at interest, and when the CD reaches maturity they the deposit the principle plus some of the interest earned back into the investor's vault.

[@MISTAKEWASMADE4live]

@@WombatDave I think Goblins just enjoy, sort of feed off the wealth of Gringotts.

[@ame1861]

This must be one of my favourite videos you've ever made. Absolutely loved it!

[@larryroberts3598]

Plus, Sirius left him a considerable amount of gold as well

[@TianarTruegard]

I still think Sirius should have been kept alive in the books / movies so Harry had at least SOME living family in the wizarding world.

[@katholmes7112]

Harry has a lot of living relatives. He's literally related to every pureblood family, even the Weasleys long before he married Ginny. Arthur's mother was a Black. He's a second cousin or something to Draco. He's related to Neville. He's related to Andromeda Tom's even before becoming Teddy's godfather. Heck, if we knew who Dean Thomas's biological father was he might be related to Dean.

[@DaleHammersIII]

@@TianarTruegard The Weasleys are just as much family as Sirius. Harry technically wasnt related to Sirius either. JK at first was going to kill Mr. Weasley, but decided Harry needed him as a proper father figure. Sirius would be many things to Harry, but a father figure he was incapable of being. In Sirius's head, Harry was nothing more than a replacement for James.

[@cfrandre8319]

@@TianarTruegard Ikr?

[@cfrandre8319]

@@katholmes7112 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@Immortal-Headcase]

Fleamont Potter was said to have quadrupled the family's wealth by inventing Sleekeazy’s Hair Potion and selling the company at a vast profit when he retired. So the Potters had a Potion company, then made a fortune selling it.

[@Luxychi]

If there were death insurance in the wizarding world, I think Harry would also benefit from that. Especially since this was war, I believe a lot of families would purchase death insurance for their loved ones in case something ever happens to them.

[@TheHomerowKeys]

Now I just imagine Harry filing an AD&D claim to the Ministry after Voldemort is dead again. And then a convoluted process of ministry claim analysts trying to confirm the destruction of all horcruxes and the finality of Voldemort's death and researching his parents "apparent loss of life and/or limb" in the process and details of said claims between the time of his parents' deaths and him finally filing the claim after he's old enough and Voldemort is dead. Basically, I'm just imagining Harry dealing with insurance in the wizarding world, which has to be bonkers. "Mr. Potter, we have only received the coroner's report for one, James Potter. Please send an owl with a notarized coroner's report from the district of Godric's Hollow for one, Lily Potter, dated 1 November 1981, immediately. Please also include all documents and postage relayed after said reapportionment of your estate after the inheritance of House Black but prior to your coming of age at 17 to determine your total estate at the time of the event filed which we have determined to be a period of 16 years. Kindly, The Department of Overt Pedantry and Incredibly-Precise Completion Ministry of Magic London, England"

[@pompe221]

I was thinking that too. Plus James would have inherited his parents' wealth. And on top of that, if wizard banking is like muggle banking, there's 11 years of compounding interest because nobody's making any withdrawals until Harry goes to Hogwarts.

[@9791ben]

Yes, this! As soon as Voldemort starts hunting me, I sign up for term life insurance.

[@Likexner]

Or maybe because it was war, the insurance companies wouldnt insure them.

[@greatstonedragon6440]

I think his wealth is also a nice contrast with his life with the Dursleys. He has all this wealth in the wizard world and it does him no good when home for the summers where he basically has nothing to call his own(not even a bedroom in the first book).

[@jwatrous4473]

The pepperup potion was used in Chamber of Secrets too. Ginny took a dose after Percy urged her, due to her looking pale. Also I think it's revealed in The Sorcerer's Stone that Fleamont and Harry share knobbly knees lol

[@Piketom1]

This video touches on one of my favorite things in the Harry Potter universe: Genealogy. The importance of family history and the way they explore it is just so interesting.

[@katholmes7112]

I haven't watched yet, but I'll make my guess now and see if I'm right. The Potters invented several potions. James's father invented the Sleek Easy hair potion. And his ancestor from way back invented a couple. I can't remember all the names but one was skele-grow.

[@NickBurns-ey6od]

Sleek ezy And theres one more

[@katherinemurphy2762]

It's ironic that Harry's grandfather invented Sleekeazy, and that Harry had unruly dark hair. 😆

[@i.marchand4655]

@@katherinemurphy2762 Not ironic at all, maybe. Since Harry and his dad both had unruly hair, you can bet that Fleamont had the same issue. So of course he created a potion for it. He may have even forced James to use it (when James was at home, anyway).

[@Bryam-kq2nh]

Great video, I just rewatched the first film in a long time and just realized how odd it is to know Harry is extremely wealthy, though never uses it to his advantage. I always felt the concept of money to be bizarre in the wizarding world.

[@raiderjohnthemadbomber8666]

The irony is that Harry apparently, is not so gifted in the art of potions. His cheif success was achieved by using Snapes "recipes ", not his own.

[@redking8970]

He's not bad though. If snape hadn't made him lose interest, he would probably somewhat aced the class.

[@robinschmalbrock5357]

If Snape had treated him as Lily's son in general instead of just times of danger (I blame James' face) the result during potion classes would have always been what it finally became in year 6.

[@DaleHammersIII]

I also think he did poorly because of Snape, not because he was bad at potions.

[@adamb2619]

Rowling made Harry rich for a reason. No matter what the amount of money, Family was always the riches that one should treasure.

[@Jay_76]

I don't think the Potter's vault was as full as the films would like us to believe. In Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry is contemplating getting a Firebolt but, he realizes that he would have to empty his vault to buy it and decides it's not worth it. This could be because the Firebolt was _INCREDIBLY_ expensive but, I always read it as Harry having enough money to live comfortably, but not enough to be rich.

[@delfinenteddyson9865]

Isn't he also pondering on his living cost when he stays a bit longer in the The Leaky Cauldron? I allways thought that he had alot of money for a child, but only because he never needed to care about living expenses

[@joseHernandez-mg1us]

In reality, Harry had no way of knowing because the price was only given when the buyer asked and Harry, without having the facts, pessimistically assumed that it would cost him most of his money without having any real proof.

[@saphirebandit93]

I wonder, I think it was ever brought up in the books, but it'd make sense if that was just a specific vault Harry had access to at the time. I wouldn't be surprised if most of it was held back in another vault(s) until he came of age.

[@joelclifton6312]

It's my thought that she also wrote Harry as rich to show, as one example of many, Harry's generous nature (his first act when finding out that he was rich was to buy all the goodies on the train and share it with his new friends), his inherent integrity and resistance to corruption, and lack of desire for power, which is an extremely important part of why Harry eventually defeats Voldemort.

[@crimediverspodcast1301]

What I have always wondered is what happened to Harrys Grandparents. His parents died at 21 years old, so its very unusual for people that age to have both their parents gone.

[@DaleHammersIII]

Not with a rampaging dark wizard killing everyone.

[@crimediverspodcast1301]

@@DaleHammersIII yeah thats true, never thought about that. would have been nice for it to have been mentioned though lol

[@Shesmiles99]

It also makes me wonder about his grandparent's siblings (if they have any) and their kids which could've been around Harry's parents ages. It's hard to believe that Petunia is the only other relative he has out there🤔 but for the sake of the book and plot it makes sense, plus Petunia is the closest blood relative to him

[@OK-hi5ym]

And they were alive when James was at Hogwarts because Sirius mentions spending the summer holidays at the Potter’s because he hated being at home.

[@MyVanir]

I imagine that they were one of the casualties of Voldy's rampage.

[@collegedegree8506]

I know Hagred says his parents left him the money but I’d like to think that everyone in the wizarding world started donating to the Harry Potter fund after defeating Voldemort.

[@ToddMa09]

I just figured if you're fighting against the greatest dark wizard ever, you take out a big time life insurance policy 😂

[@gerstelb]

I have a weird pet theory of my own: In a lot of headcanons, names mean something in the magical world: e.g., The Bones family got their name from either necromancy or divination (reading the future by “throwing bones), the Greengrass family might have specialized in herbology, etc. And because words and names have power in magic, this would give a family a bit of a boost in that particular area. This would be the actual reason why everyone assumes magical talents like being good at potions or being an Auror can get passed on - it’s not genes, it’s family magic. So what happens with the Potters, when we find out that the name is not based on ceramics but in “pottering about?” Their family magic “potters about” as well: Linifred of Stinchcombe and Fleamont were genius potioneers, but James and Harry have no particular talent for it (Harry can follow superior recipes in HBP, but he doesn’t know why they’re bettter); James is a Transfiguration expert and Harry is a whiz at DADA (with some talent at Charms as well). Note that Fleamont didn’t name his hair potion after himself or his family; he called it Sleekeasy’s and sold the potion to some business. This would imply that Fleamont never expected his son to go into potions like he did. So the Potters amass a large fortune over the years, but they don’t have an outsized reputation, because they don’t have a “family business.”

[@BlueRazor69]

Harry’s grandfather Fleamont invented wizard hair gel. It turned a huge profit for the family. Hermione used it to get ready for the Yule Ball.

[@fizzy_buzz]

5:43

[@omkar8692]

Yep that's all I got from the very long video

[@thompsonbeavers9300]

That wizard life insurance hit different

[@dahveed284]

It makes perfect sense once you consider where Rowling was financially when she wrote the first book.

[@LawrenceHanson2]

Isn't it revealed in book 7 that his lineage came from one of the 3 ancient families that had the deathly hallows? If his lineage came from ancient ties, it stands to reason that so did the family fortune. Being wealthy like that I'm sure would have made young James as arrogant as it did to young Draco. Which was evidenced in Snapes memory. That's where I always thought it came from.

[@shoshanafox727]

Exactly. They had the cloak of invisibility.

[@troll1321]

That would only be a speculation as we don't know what exactly was inherited by the Potters when they married the Peverells. And this would have been early 12th century when the families were just starting out. Just because you are strong ≠ rich as we see with The Weaselys. The Peverell and Potter lines merged in the 12th Century to 13th Century through the marriage of IoIanth Peverell and Hardwin Potter. IoIanth was the eldest granddaughter of Ignotus Peverell who originally owned the invisibility cloak. By IoIanth's time, the male Peverell line had died out, so she inherited the cloak. She did have other younger siblings however, so whatever money she had inherited would have been significantly smaller than if she was an only child. Hardwin Potter was the son of Linfred of Stinchcombe, The Potter Patriarch. Linfred would be the one to kickstart the family's fortune through his invention of Skelegrow and Pepper Up Potions. However, do note that whatever fortune Linfred had was split up into 7 portions as he had 7 children. Hardwin only received 1/7th of the wealth as far as we know. It is noted that The Potter's wealth did not become significant (they were rich but not enormously rich) until Fleamont Potter's time as mentioned in the video when he quadrupled the family fortune through the creation of the sleekeazy hair potion. During his retirement, he went on to sell the company producing Sleekeazy so we are left unsure if Fleamont and his descendants will continue receiving royalties for its sale.

[@troll1321]

James Potter was unruly and arrogant not because he was rich but more likely because he was an only child. Fleamont and his wife Euphemia had James when they were extremely advanced in age. They had given up hope in conceiving a child and Fleamont was retired by the time Euphemia had James. If anything, they must have spoiled him as their little miracle.

[@LawrenceHanson2]

@@troll1321 where is the information about James' parents/childhood coming from? Please list a reference material.

[@troll1321]

@@LawrenceHanson2 Quite Literally The Website Owned by Warner Bros and Authorized by J.K Rowling to publish information regarding the Wizarding World and Harry Potter Lore. It was once known as Pottermore which is now known as HarryPotter.😅 Is that reputable enough of a source for you? Or is the Author's words not reputable enough?

[@dreadfulspiller8766]

The question that really needs to be answered is how Hagrid's dad hooked up with a giantess. Did he transfigure her into a human woman because I can't see how or why a wizard would want to hook up with a giant. Also how did they fix nearly headless Nick after he saw the basilisk?

[@1COMIXMAN]

Maybe he used engorgio spell on his junk.

[@dreadfulspiller8766]

@@1COMIXMAN Yeah maybe.

[@josephcowan6779]

I think it's easy to forget also that the first few Harry Potter books were targeted toward a younger audience. The first book is very much an escapist fantasty; an ordinary seeming boy that has nothing finds out he can do magic, is famous/important, gets to live in a castle, has piles of gold etc. The appeal of that story to a young audience is irresistible. So the wealth functions as another "wow, wouldn't that be awesome!"

[@Pumpkin0_0]

I remember watching the first movie when it came out back then. I hadn't read the books and I didn't know any other details, so when the movie initially revealed that Harry's parents had left him a fortune, I immediately wondered what they did to become that wealthy. This to say that that's the reason why I clicked on this video as soon as it appeared on my recommended. lol

[@stormywaters]

This is my first video of yours and I just have to say...this was a really fantastic video! New subscriber!

[@alecstronach]

I always assumed Rowling made Harry rich as it was such a contrast to his old life, where he had nothing. Figured since all Harry ever wanted was a better life, and since his wish came true, that the wealth was just another thing to turn Harry's life around for him. That being said, I really really wish for a mysterious man to take me to a goblin bank with loads of money saved for me from my very much alive parents... I'm still here, guess that stuff only happens in books

[@patryk_lewandowskiabc]

My take on this is Harry learning about being a wizard just adds to the confusion. Surely, he's happy, because finally there is an explanation to some weird things he's been experiencing for the past years, but he's got tons of things to worry about. Dursleys do not support him one bit (they hate him actually), he's totally unfamiliar with what the wizarding world is actually like, he is afraid of what will happen with him at this new weird school, he might as well still be afraid that all this is just some mean, sophisticated joke playing out on him. So I guess, Rowling just wanted to take that money factor out of the equation for the little guy. Also, kind of funny when Harry becomes the youngest seeker, the school (if I remember correctly - probably McGonagall and Dumbledore pull some budget strings) goes out of its way to buy him a brand new, just released, model of exclusive broom. Talk about privilege - and Harry is one of the few children at school that could actually afford it himself. And Ron, three books later, has to suffer the shame of wearing some worn down, broke-ass retro robe for the ball - "I can buy you a new one, mate, I got you, it's the least I can do."

[@KPhilly_]

I like to think Harry’s wealth serves his character traits. He has a lot of money but never uses it to flaunt frivolously and make himself superior to others, similar to the Malfoys. He only used it for his school needs and to help others. Additionally, I think it further highlights what Harry truly values over anything. Although he has all the money he’ll ever need, I believe he’d trade it all for his parents back. Love, family and friendship is was seems to bring Harry true fulfillment in life

[@Ashock88]

Wonderful video yet again. I like that J.K. did it because she was just starting out. Dream big everyone!

[@GreenFalcon926]

I know right. It's crazy that she was poor, depressed and a single mother. Now she's one of the wealthest authors of all time and a household name known worldwide. Just goes to show what can happen.

[@EpicDestroyer23]

Am I the only one on this channel that would enjoy hearing HP Theory do a reading of all of the books

[@boggytrails]

The Potters are tied up to some of the oldest wizarding families over generations. Given the oldest son seems to have always gotten the invisibility cloak, one can assume he consistently got a good dose of the money too. 😉

[@colin1818]

The Australian Embassy in London really did serve as a great "Gringotts" for the movie. Excellent choice.

[@5thGenNativeTexan]

I was wondering if this was a real narrator or automated.. I got my answer at 00:50 with "Heaps of little bronze KA-NUTS".. lol

[@samn6498]

"please use door KA-NOB"

[@rasheeqahmed1208]

If patent system exists in the wizarding world, it stands to reason Weasley family won't have to worry about money for several generations due to Fred & George.

[@rickd8174]

I'm glad that J K Rowling got the financial success for her and her children. She created a world that we all can enjoy and deserves every single Knut.

[@Hits191]

💯 despite what the rabid feminist and lgbt people say

[@sterlingdennett]

In the books, we learn that Harry's grandfather on his father's side, one Fleamont Potter, invented what came to be known as Sleekeasy's Hair Potion, which Hermione used to tame her locks for the Yule Ball in year 4. Instead of producing, marketing, and selling the potion himself, he sold the recipe to the Sleekeasy company, for a VERY tidy sum. We also learn the Potter family was somewhat well-off even BEFORE Fleamont sold his recipe, which only added to their (admittedly minor) wealth.

[@troll1321]

He didn't sell the potion to the company. It is noted on the official page that the company was his. After retiring, he sold the company for a sum.

[@kaspar_1982]

Harry couldn't buy Ron a new wand ? this always bothered me.

[@homesteadgamer1257]

Yeah that always bothered me too. He gave away his Goblet of Fire winnings without a thought that allowed Fred and George to start up a shop. He couldn't have spared, like 12 galleons or so for a new wand for his bff?

[@lordravenscrag]

Ron would have been embarrassed

[@kaspar_1982]

@@lordravenscrag even the rich Harry wasn't embarrassed when he received 2 of the fastest brooms in the wizarding world. then i would have done what my father did when he knew his frugal and stubborn depression era parents wouldn't accept a new television, he told them he won it. 🙂

[@LordFalconsword]

I think this leaves out a huge component - the deathly hallows. James Potter inherited the greatest invisibility cloak ever. It only stands to reason it was 'used' a few times in the past to generate a few stacks of galleons.

[@svenlauke1190]

I want to know why harry had absolutely NO relatives at all except the Dursleys

[@kr46428]

Technically he did have distant relatives from the Potter side, but in order to renew the protection of his mother's sacrifice, he needed to stay with his mother's relatives (i.e., Aunt Petunia) and call it "home". Although Petunia is likely to have very distant relatives, I would not be surprised if the magical protection was only strong enough to protect Harry if he stayed with a close relative.

[@homesteadgamer1257]

Petunia was also super vain and married an equally super vain man. If any of Dursley's family wasn't wealthy or was a little quirky, they'd both be quick to disown them. It's unlikely Dudly would ever known about any other family except Aunt Marge.

[@lazytommy0]

I wonder if snape knew about the potter history of potions? Makes sense given snapes route through teaching during harrys time at hogwarts. Snape knew that harry needed protection against voldemort so he was a dark arts instructor. But he was also a potions teacher. Maybe snape wanted to see if harry had a gift for potions like his family did.

[@mlpfanboy1701]

6:49 so they developed a go fund me for him?

[@joshuas.8142]

I never really thought Harry was that rich, he mentioned several times having to be careful of his spending lest he exhaust his funds before finishing school. He also believed buying a Firebolt would have emptied his vault in one go, so I feel like his family's savings was more typical of a middle-class family.

[@dsbennett]

Skip the first 2:15 minutes of repeat blab to get to the answer.

[@fizzy_buzz]

Thank you, brother 😭🙏

[@LongShaynx]

It's so weird slughorn never mentioned Harry's lineage then, considering it would have seemed Harry had some of the family talent

[@MysticalJessica]

This was great! Everyone is like why doesn't Harry give money to Ron's family and I am like didn't he marry into their family?! His money is their money! ...besides they wouldn't accept it like that!

[@genohall2235]

Plus Fred & George were Loaded

[@ryankuniyoshi96825]

I like the second idea. Wizards and witches donated money to the potter family.

[@AZREDFERN]

Sooo… Potter is basically big pharma

[@homesteadgamer1257]

wow, that hit different. Damn. Yeah, he was lol.

[@Essman614]

I think the most interesting excerpt here is about how the potterer had no shortage of magical plants and healing salves, but the common folk were non the wiser. Which I mean if I strolled through a time traveler's garden I'd probably just think oh what nice lovely plants you have.

[@mikeygilmour4635]

His parents were only 21!?!?! Wtf!

[@FuzzyFoot58]

If I had been in Harrys place, I would give the Weasleys half of that fortune. They became his real family and I wouldnt be able to let them struggle as much as they did with a clean conscience.

[@alienflorina]

Ironically Harry coming from a family of great potion makers and yet he was so bad at potions in school. But I guess the teacher makes the student, right?

[@josepinto4451]

Harry was not a brilliant potion maker like Lily, but he was never a bad one either. Harry exams grades where always reasonable good and there where several instances during the series where he would brew a good potion only for Snape to either give him an underseved low grade or just blantly sabotage it. This made Harry hate the class, because he new there was no point in making an effort. If Harry had a proper teacher from the start he would probably be just below Hermione in the class.

[@simonbionary11010]

He was not bad at potions.... He recieved an "Exceeds Expectations" on his OWL exam which is the 2nd highest grade you can get.

[@alanlawson4180]

Going back a few decades, Dorothy L Sayers, the famous crime writer, made her hero - Lord Peter Wimsey - wealthy for the same reason. Her view was that if she was hungry and cold, she'd write a story where he was enjoying sumptuous food and wines. Worked for her too!

[@farkmuckerzerg634]

Maybe James went into the Room of Requirement while thinking about how Lily was pregnant and how he needed to do something to provide for his soon to be family. The room of requirement hooked him up with some galleons

[@MAE_Nerd_Out]

I always thought people gave money to “The Boy Who Lived” baby. Then it was all kept for him until he got older. This is really interesting.

[@macwelch8599]

What if James Potter’s side of the family adopted Harry?

[@kaouther333]

Ded

[@katholmes7112]

Literally Mac, Harry was related to EVERYONE in the wizarding world and never should have been raised by the Dursleys. This was Dumbledore wanting total control over Harry and had nothing to do with Lily's sacrifice. In fact I have a theory that I believe I can prove that the sacrificial love didn't actually exist but Dumbledore said it did so Harry'd be under his thumb.

[@N7Biotic]

James Potter was born when his parent's were actually a bit older and was a only child. So this means that pretty much his relatives were deceased before he was born, or died when he was growing up. His parent's died probably before Harry was born I believe. Harry was literally the only living person left on his dad's side, after James and Lily died.

[@macwelch8599]

@@katholmes7112 interesting

[@robertdeffenbaugh9004]

@@kaouther333 Well not exactly like James’s Dad was raised by his Uncle Charlus Potter And Aunt Dorea Black.

[@charlesp8134]

The reason why Harry is so rich can be wrapped up in one word ROYALTIES. Harry's forefathers developed common potions that are present in most wizarding households [(1) Pepper Up Potion (cure for the common cold), 2) Skele-Grow (potion to regrow bones), and 3) Sleekeasy's Hair Potion (hair straightening potion).)] This would theoretically leave Harry with an endless supply of gold. When you think about it this makes sense because James did not not work for a living and was able to support his family on his inheritance.

[@troll1321]

I don't think he is receiving royalties. The company producing sleekeazy was sold off by fleamont when he retired, around the time he had James Potter with his Wife. Sleekeazy and the sale of the company did help quadruple the family fortune however and the Potters were not lavish or extravagent so it stands to reason that much of the fortune remained untouch, was inherited by James who died shortly after, and then sat in the vault for 11 years. Dumbledore had access to it for 11 years so if anything it would have been Dumbledore who was investing it for Harry or the Goblins through the order of Dumbledore that the money would be gaining interest. Otherwise I don't think the Potters get royalties.

[@danielkennedy8355]

Funny that Harry Potter is rich because his family is a strong potion making family. And Harry is just not good at potions.

[@shaneharun9571]

He isnt terrible but he is no genius like his ancestors in potions

[@bennitori4]

@@shaneharun9571 I'm sure the fact that he hated his potion teacher for a pretty long time didn't help his lack of natural aptitude.

[@lbell9695]

He achieved an 'E' in his Potion OWLs which showcases that despite setbacks (Snape, lack of passion for the subject, not studying) he performed above-average. This is what he achieved in Transfiguration, Charms and Herbology as well. And I remember McGonagall saying she was pleased with Harry's Transfiguration OWL, which means getting an E is an achievement. I wouldn't say that he wasn't good at Potions as a result.

[@Soul_Biscuit]

5:58 that moment you realize Victor Crum really needs a new barber 😂

[@bobbytheitguy4289]

A better question might be: why did the wizarding community have their own currency. Why didn't they just use muggle currency? I have my own theory, but would like to hear yours.

[@firelordOzai3]

Because: reasons. Using muggle money on that scale for “off the books” transactions and maintain secrecy would have been impossible. They would have had to integrate into the muggle economy completely and allow the central bank to steer monetary policy for the wizarding world (which they would have to understand) as well as the muggle world. They would also have had to find ways for the money to circulate back because they would issue currency but wizards transact with each other and don’t buy muggle goods (think phones and computers) and services, if they didn’t do that prices would keep going down in the muggle world (relative to the money becoming more scarce and therefore more valuable) people would produce less delay big purchases and unemployment would be out of control, it would have been very tricky. Also imagine being a wizard and borrowing money for a £5000 flying broomstick😂😂😂. They wizarding world Is very behind when it comes to science and technology and banking is based on advanced algorithms and computation . No wizarding bank could compete with muggle banks when it comes to arbitrage, risk management etc

[@Veritas-invenitur]

The muggle’s were hated by half of the wizarding world. Hated to the degree that countless wars had broken out over the years concerning going to war against them. So, a change in currency would not be possible. Also, magic can replicate/duplicate non-magical objects. Wizard currency must be magical as poor/broke wizards exist.

[@bobbytheitguy4289]

​ @John Adams You've got half my theory correct in that wizards could probably replicate muggle money. But what's to prevent them from replicating muggle money and then converting them to wizard money at a wizarding bank? After all, the book does mention that there is a currency exchange between the two currencies.....

[@Veritas-invenitur]

@@bobbytheitguy4289 Perhaps the Wizarding banks and only the Wizarding banks can detect duplicated currencies? That would fit as goblins are known to be able to detect counterfeits. The goblin topic does bring up another angle of why the Wizarding world has a separate currency. If the wizards choose to adopt human currency, the goblins would loose their purpose and rebel again.

[@bobbytheitguy4289]

@@Veritas-invenitur Bingo...That's my theory. Wizard currency cannot be counterfeited because goblins can detect fakes, as Griphook said about the Sword of Gryffindor

[@PixiiBomb]

Harrys parents died when they were 21, and I never understood why the Casting Director chose to cast 40 year olds to portray Lily and James

[@Rampagedd]

His parents were 21 when they died?! Wow the films always gave the impression of 30s to me 😅

[@homesteadgamer1257]

hah that more's like 40 than 30, even.

[@dakotafrazier2985]

Why would it be donation and not like a wizard life insurance policy? I mean it makes sense as Voldemort was arguably at the height of his power when he killed the Potter's. Meaning a wizard life insurance business would make a lot of money from people scared of Voldemort. Including Lily and James

[@jameskuyper]

It's interesting, given that her own poverty was why Rowling made Harry rich, that Harry ended up doing the same for her.

[@Lords1997]

I’m pretty sure the Potter fortune simply accumulated interest over time. Let alone the mentioned royalties from potion sales.

[@kayleptwomoons1007]

21 years old? With that hairline? 1:32

[@homesteadgamer1257]

yeah, everyone in the movies was way older than they should have been, except Dumbledore and the actual kids.

[@lharchmage6908]

My take was James Potter was from an old family They had a house. Insurance good jobs So a decent inheritance was a given.

[@TheNotoriousCheeto]

I don't know about those royalties; in our world, things like trademarks, patents, and copyrights expire. What I AM curious about, though, is whether Gingotts paid interest on savings accounts, allowed for certificates of deposit, and so on. Were they the kind of bank that provided incentives for you to bank with them, or were they more like this sketchy banks that will hide your money from the government but you have to pay them to even have an account? It seems suspiciously like Gringotts has no competition and thus no need to offer incentives,, and goblins are not known for their generosity, so I am leaning towards the latter.

[@V10C3]

I also believe theres a possibility that Snape could be a partial reason for Harries wealth. Snape took it upon himself to look after Harry and keep him safe so when he heard of the news of Harrys parents death he made some money for Harry could explain some of the silver and bronze, I doubt that Snape would be able to add much to the stack but I believe he made enough for Harry to be able to afford uniforms and various other things hed need.

[@mlfpv7025]

I’m just gonna say this now 0:25 wizard gofundMe