Lestrange Vault

"...a cavelike opening crammed from floor to ceiling with golden coins and goblets, silver armour, the skins of strange creatures – some with long spines, other with drooping wings – potions in jeweled flasks, and a skull still wearing a crown."

- Description

This vault at Gringotts Wizarding Bank in London, England belongs to the Lestranges, a very old pure-blood family. In addition to containing large amounts of gold, Galleons, and treasure, it was the hiding place of Helga Hufflepuff's Cup, one of Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes. It was robbed in 1998 by Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley with the assistance of former Gringotts employee Griphook. It is unknown what happened to the vault and the Lestrange fortune after Voldemort's fall, or if the fortune even survived the dragon's rampage during the robbery, as no known members of the Lestrange family survived without going to Azkaban.

This vault contained great treasures, crammed from the floor to ceiling with gold coins, silver armour, skins of great creatures with long spines and drooping wings, potions in jewelled flasks and a skull donning a crown.

The most prominent of its contents were the Cup of Helga Hufflepuff, which was turned into a horcrux by Voldemort, and the fake Sword of Gryffindor. Voldemort chose this vault as his horcrux's hiding place due to the fact that since his childhood, he envied the wizards who owned a vault (as he himself did not due to his orphan-status). As a result, along with his once high-regard for the Lestranges and knowing Gringotts' high security measures, he entrusted the Lestranges with the cup as well as the sword.

Security Measures
In order to reach this vault, one must be escorted by an employee of Gringotts on a cart, which passes through the Thief's Downfall. A dragon guards the door and will only shrink back at the sound of a goblin's clankers, in anticipation of being painfully punished. With the touch of the employee, the door will open. For this vault, it required the goblin employee to put his entire palm on the door, rather than just a finger, to open it.

Inside, all the treasure has been cursed with Geminio and Flagrante. Thus, everything is hot to the touch and will replicate at a rapid rate if touched, until the potential thief is buried and burned. These replicates are identical in appearance, but has no monetary value whatsoever.

The high security of this vault suggests that it is even deeper underground than Vault 713, which also had to be accessed by cart and by a goblin employee, but did not have any kind of creature guarding it.

Robbery
Around Easter of 1998, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger were captured by Snatchers and brought to Malfoy Manor. There, Bellatrix Lestrange panicked at the sight of Godric Gryffindor's Sword among their possessions, as she had believed the sword to be in her Gringotts vault, along with another item Voldemort had given to her. Thus, after the trio escaped the Manor, they planned to break into Gringotts in order to steal the item from the Lestrange. Gringotts was warned that imposters might try to get in and had extra security precautions taken.

In spite of this, on 1 May, 1998 Harry, Hermione, and Ron were able to break into the vault with the assistance of goblin and former Gringotts employee Griphook. They obtained Helga Hufflepuff's Cup and escaped on the back of the dragon that had been guarding the vault door.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2