"I am going to tell you one last time, Mr. Weasley," Griphook said very slowly as he tried to keep his temper in check. "There has been no mistake. The money in your vault is exactly what it should be."

"But that's impossible," Arthur said pleading his case as he had on several other occasions. "I kept very careful records. The amount in that vault is certainly not what it should be. I haven't come close to earning that much money since I've been working for the ministry."

"I made the deposit into your account myself, Mr. Weasley," Griphook said.

"Then you must have put it into the wrong vault or something," Arthur said.

"I assure you that there was no mistake," Griphook said keeping his anger at the insult from his voice. "I followed the instructions exactly as they were given to me."

"You don't understand," Arthur said desperately. "I've already asked Fred and George if they were the ones that made the deposit. They said they were trying to figure out a mysterious deposit into their own account."

"I made several transactions on the behalf of my client
that day," Griphook said.

"But my son is supposed to be getting married soon," Arthur said. "Until I get this whole mess straightened out, I can't tell him how much I can spend on his wedding."

"Spend it all for all I care, Mr. Weasley," Griphook said. "It all belongs to you. I don't know why you can't just accept that. Good day."

Griphook walked away and left Arthur with his hand on his forehead. He didn't know how he could make them understand that a mistake had been made.

Professor McGonagal walked through the portrait hole early on the morning that the house cup was to be awarded. She was shocked to see that her entire house was jammed into the common room at once, and seemed to be in the middle of some kind of meeting.

"I'm sorry," McGonagal said to the group as they stopped speaking as soon as they saw her. "I didn't mean to interrupt, but I need to borrow Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger for a moment."

"You already know how I was going to vote, Harry," Ron said as he began to walk toward McGonagal. "Just vote for me if I'm not back yet."

"Same for me, Harry," Hermione said as she joined Ron.

"What was that all about?" McGonagal asked as they walked back to the portrait hole.

"Sorry, Professor," Ron said. "Just a bit of student business."

"I see," McGonagal said suspiciously.

The three of them walked out of the portrait hole to find Molly Weasley with a worried look on her face.

"Mum," Ron said. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry, Ron," Molly said as she gave him a hug. "I just have to tell you something. I just couldn't bring myself to put it into an owl message."

"What is it?" Ron asked concerned. "What's happened?"

"Oh, no," Molly said. "It's nothing like that. Everyone is fine. It's just… Well, there's a problem at Gringotts that we've been trying to get straightened out."

Molly explained the problem to them as best as she could before a thoughtful Hermione said, "Wait a minute. When was the first time you noticed the account was wrong?"

"Just shortly after the New Year," Molly said wondering why it might make a difference.

"Wait here," Hermione said. "If my suspicions are correct, I think I might know someone who can shed some light on all of this."

Hermione turned and walked back into the common room. A short while later, Hermione returned with Ginny following close behind.

"Hermione told me about what brought you here, mum," Ginny said with a smile. "You would know that I would have the most honest parents in the country. Anyone else would have accepted the money and never said another word about it."

"Do you know something about it, Ginny?" Molly asked.

"You have to promise you won't make a big fuss about it," Ginny said. "It's the last thing he needs right now."

"Who?" Molly asked.

"I was right," Hermione said. "It was Harry wasn't it?"

"Yes," Ginny said. "It was part of his inheritance that he gave away."

"But we can't…" Molly began.

"He wants you to have it," Ginny said. "Don't worry. He still has plenty, believe me. Besides, he wouldn't take it back now even if you tried."

"Fred and George, too?" Molly asked as tears came to her eyes.

"Yes," Ginny said. "And Percy, Charlie, Bill, Ron, Hermione, Neville..."

"Oh, Ginny," Molly said as tears ran from her eyes. "If you don't marry Harry you'll go down in history as the craziest witch of your age."

"Don't worry," Ginny said with a smile. "I have every intention of marrying him the first chance I get."

Later that evening, everyone gathered in the Great Hall for their last dinner at Hogwarts before the end of the year. They were also waiting for the awarding of the house cup. It was no secret to anyone which house was going to win it. Gryffindor was so far in the lead that no one had a prayer of catching them. The Gryffindor flags had already been hung throughout the Great Hall.

Professor Dumbledore stood from his chair as the students hushed themselves, and he said, "It is with great sadness that we end another year here at Hogwarts. Though we, as a school, have struggled through many challenges, we have come out in the end a bit stronger, and a bit wiser for it. It is a year in which I have never been more proud of the effort put forth by both the students and the teachers. I can guarantee you that the sorting hat has never been happier about the level of cooperation seen between the houses this year. I hope that you will be able to carry that over into the next school year.

"Something we will not have, after today, will be our beloved Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Professor Bane will return to his school in America where I am sure he was sorely missed during this school year. I'm sure you will all join me in my belief that he will also be sorely missed here at Hogwarts."

The students all rose to their feet and gave Professor Bane a standing ovation. Indeed he would be missed. Those who were not graduating knew that they were likely to end up with yet another teacher who would turn the class back into drudgery.

"Now, I believe it is time to award the house cup," Dumbledore said. "In forth place, Hufflepuff with an astounding 500 points. Well done Hufflepuff. If I am not mistaken, that is the highest number of points your house has ever achieved since the school was created."

The Hufflepuffs couldn't have been happier as everyone in the Hall clapped to acknowledge their accomplishment.

"In third place," Dumbledore began, "Ravenclaw, with five hundred and seventy five points. Another record I do believe."

Once again the Great Hall erupted in enthusiastic clapping.

"In second place," Dumbledore said, "Slytherin, with six hundred and twenty seven points."

After the clapping died away, everyone waited to hear what they all knew would be a huge number of points for Gryffindor.

"And in first place," Dumbledore began, "and winners of this year's house cup, Gryffindor with an all time record point total of nine hundred and sixteen points."

Everyone around the Great Hall began to celebrate for the Gryffindor record. It only took a few seconds for that celebration to die away as everyone noticed that the Gryffindor table sat very still and did not celebrate. A hush fell over the Great Hall as everyone tried to figure out what the problem was.

"I thought you would all be excited about your fantastic win," Dumbledore said looking over his glasses at the Gryffindor table.

Harry rose from his seat and said, "There is something I would like to say, Professor."

"By all means, Harry," Dumbledore said as he sat back down.

Harry walked up to the teachers' table before he turned and looked back out at the students and said, "This is my last year here at Hogwarts. That holds true for many of us here today. Next year, there will be more first years to take our place. I just hope that they have as great a time here as I have. This school has really been like a home of me, as I know it has been for many others. Gryffindor has won the house cup every year that I've been here. In every other year, we, as a house, took great pride in our hard fought victories. This year though, we have a different feeling. We have a feeling that we were part of something bigger than our own house. For a good portion of the year, we were able to lay aside our differences with the other houses, and work together for a common goal. Therefore, after having met as a house and taken a vote, Gryffindor house has decided to relinquish the house cup in favor of something we find more suitable."

Whispered conversations erupted all around the Great Hall until Harry waved his hand and silenced them all once again. Above their heads, the Gryffindor flags were joined by those of each of the other houses.

Harry turned to look back to Professor Dumbledore as he said, "Professor, we sit before you as a unified house. Therefore, we believe the one point total now stands at two thousand six hundred and eighteen. That, I'm sure, is a record that no one will ever break."

Dumbledore rose from his seat once again with a smile as he said, "I stand corrected. This year the house cup is awarded to Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, and Gryffindor!"

The cheer that rose from the Great Hall that night was not likely to be matched any time soon. From that point on, it was a celebration that went on well into the night. One of the most interesting things for the students was that after they left the Great Hall, students began running tours of their common rooms for students from other houses. It was technically against the rules, but the house cup had already been awarded. The teachers couldn't deduct points from them for it. At least for one night, the house boundaries ceased to exist.