DH Divination II

The Horcruxes

I’m going to trust Dumbledore, mostly because I don’t really see a legitimate reason to disagree with him, and also because he’s awesome. That means that there are six horcruxes, two of which have been destroyed, and one of which I believe the wheeabouts are known (see below). The remaining horcruxes must be artifacts with significant historical grandeur (e.g. Founder’s items), and must be hidden in places of personal significance to Voldemort/Riddle. We’re not going to be dealing with Harry or his scar as a Horcrux: Dumbledore didn’t believe this to be the case, and the mechanics for it are shaky, especially when there is better support in the books for Dumbledore’s suppositions.

The Diary (Created circa December 1943. Destroyed May 1993)
Destroyed by Harry in CoS. I don’t think it’s going play an important role in DH. It is interesting to note, however, that Harry doesn’t really have a lot of trouble dehorcruxifying the diary (he just stabs it with the fang), whereas Dumbledore’s hand is destroyed when he dehorcruxifies the ring.

The Ring (Probably created before December of 1944. Destroyed June/July 1996)
Destroyed by Dumbledore in HBP. It’s not going to be important in DH.

The Locket (Probably created in 1947, the year it was stolen. Possibly
destroyed by R.A.B. in 1979)
The first (possibly) undestroyed horcrux is the one we know the most about. Retrieved by “R.A.B.” from the cave at the end of HBP, who replaced it with the fake containing this note (HBP, Ch. 28, pg, 609, US Hardcover):

To the Dark Lord
I know I will be dead long before you read this
But I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret.
I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can.
I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more. ~R.AB.

I think R.A.B. is probably Regulus Black—Sirius’ brother who joined the Death Eaters, before apparently getting cold feet and breaking ranks, eventually being tracked down and killed by his former compatriots. The A possibly stands for Astracus, the name of Regulus and Sirius’ grandfather

I also think we’ve seen the Locket before, in #12 Grimmauld Place (this supports the Regulus theory), when Harry and Co. are cleaning out the house in OotP: “They found an unpleasant looking silver instrument…a musical box that emitted a faintly sinister tune…a heavy locket that none of them could open..”(OotP, Ch. 6, pg 108 British Hardcover).

Next, I think that the locket is among the things sold by Mundungus Fletcher to the barman of the Hog’s Head in Hogsmeade early in HBP:
“The street was not very busy…the exceptions were two men a little ahead of them. One was very tall and thin…Harry recognized the barman who worked in the other Hogsmeade pub, the Hog’s Head. As Harry, Ron and Hermione drew closer, the barman drew his cloak more tightly around his neck and walked away..”(HBP, Ch. 12, pg 245, US Hardcover). More tightly around his neck, as if to hide what he was wearing there? I think so.

A page on is the confirmation that the seller, Mundungus, is selling Black family heirlooms from Grimmauld place. (Harry speaking): “You took that from Sirius’ house!”(HBP, 246).

I just think that this is far too coincidental and suspicious, when you consider the fact that this barman is in fact Dumbledore’s brother Aberforth. The proof for that:

The first time we hear about Aberforth is in GoF. (Dumbledore speaking):
“My own brother, Aberforth, was prosecuted for practicing inappropriate charms on a goat.” (GoF, Ch. 24, pg 454, US Hardcover).

This is seemingly insignificant, but then we see Aberforth again in OotP, the first time in Moody’s picture of the original Order, but much more significantly at the recruitment meeting for Dumbledore’s Army, which takes place in the Hog’s Head:

“The Hog’s Head…smelled strongly of something that might have been goats.” (OotP, 299), and then “the barman sidled towards them out of the back room. He was a grumpy looking old man with a great deal of long grey hair and beard. He was tall and thin and looked vaguely familiar to Harry.” (OotP, 300). He is familiar, of course, because he looks like Dumbledore.

Finally, a piece of evidence in HBP, from the scene in which Voldemort asks Dumbledore for the Defense Against the Dark Arts Job (Voldemort speaking—Dumbledore has just revealed that he knows about the Death Eaters Voldemort has waiting for him in Hogsmeade):

“You are as omniscient as ever, Dumbledore.”
“Oh no, merely friendly with the local barman,” said Dumbledore lightly. (HBP, Ch. 20, pg 445)

This theory was subsequently confirmed by Rowling in an interview:

Q: Why is the barman of the Hog’s Head vaguely familiar to Harry? Is he Dumbledore’s brother?

A: Why do you think that it is Aberforth? [Questioner: Various clues. He smells of goats and he looks a bit like Dumbledore]. I was quite proud of that clue…. well yes, obviously {he is}.

Now, I’m not sure whether or not Aberforth recognized the locket as a horcrux, or if he just knew it to be a valuable old artifact, but either way, everything points to him making Harry’s Horcrux search easier.

A couple of final notes: If Regulus was the one who stole the locket, we have to ask who was with him (someone had to drink the potion, or help Regulus drink it). I think the best answer here is Kreacher: Regulus would not have had a problem forcing a house-elf to drink the potion. This would also perhaps explain some of Kreacher’s insanity, and also provides a neat explanation for how the locket was saved from Sirius’ purge of the house—Kreacher saved it, knowing its importance. Also, we don’t know whether or not Regulus was able to destroy the locket as a Horcrux before he was tracked down. I think that the fact that nobody can open it points towards him being unable to destroy it. If that’s the case, I think that Harry’s Parseltongue abilities will be the key to unlocking and finishing it.


D. Hufflepuff’s Cup (Again, probably created in 1947. Still hidden)
The first of the truly lost Horcruxes. Stolen by Riddle, working at the time for Borgin and Burke’s, from Hepzibah Smith, descendant of Helga Hufflepuff, and, I think, a relative of Zacharias, the irritating Hufflepuff member of the D.A who shares her surname.

I think that it is most likely buried, given Hufflepuff’s earthy associations (their mascot is a badger, their Head is the Herbology Professor, etc). Also given Dumbledore’s hiding place requisites, I think a good place to start looking would be the country fields in which Riddle first discovered he was a Parselmouth. We learn about this from Dumbledore’s memory of his first visit to young Riddle in the orphanage. (Riddle Speaking):

“I can speak to snakes. I found out when we’ve been to the country on trips—they find me, they whisper to me.” (HBP, Ch. 13, pg. 274).

This ability would come to be of great import to him both as a reminder of his connection with Salazar Slytherin, and as the key to the Chamber of Secrets.
I think that Nifflers (the treasure-finding, burrowing creatures we meet in OotP) would really be a great way for them to find a buried cup. I’m not sure how they would deal with any enchantments guarding it, however. It’s possible that they could be magically immune to such protections.


E. Mystery Horcrux: Something of Ravenclaw’s (Date of theft/creation unknown)
Again, if Dumbledore says that there is no Grffyindor relic other than the sword, and that the sword is not a horcrux, then I’m inclined to believe him. That means that the final artifact Horcrux belonged to Ravenclaw. I’m of two minds here.

My first inclination was that the item was Ravenclaw’s wand, and that we had seen it before: in Ollivander’s shop window:

“A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window.” (SS, Ch. 5 pg 82, US Hardcover). Purple is of course Ravenclaw’s color.

Coupled with Ollivander’s mysterious disappearance at the beginning of HBP, it’s a plausible working theory, but there are some difficulties. First, if the wand has been on display in Ollivander’s shop window, its not exactly been hidden, has it? Did Ollivander find it after it had been hidden? If so, how? Ollivander is a very old wizard of unknown magical prowess…would he really be able to find the wandcrux and beat whatever was protecting it? Maybe, but I’m not sure, and I’d be surprised if, of the six Horcruxes, two were discovered by characters not named Harry or Dumbledore. And if Ollivander didn’t find it, how did it end up in his window?

Additionally, there is a different but equally good explanation for Ollivander’s disappearance: Voldemort has ordered him to make a new wand; a wand with which he will be able to duel Harry without worrying about Priori Incantatem.

The second possibility I see then for the Ravenclaw Horcrux is a broom. This jives well with Ravenclaw’s air association (macot=raven); indeed the dates are such that Ravenclaw could have even invented flying brooms (invented in 943, right around the time of Hogwarts’ founding). If the horcrux is a broom, I think the likely hiding place is Riddle’s old wardrobe in the orphanage, in which he hid his bullying souvenirs and which Dumbledore sets on fire to prove to Riddle that he is a wizard.


F. Nagini
Created after Voldemort’s failure to gain the Sorcerer’s stone, possibly by the murder of Frank Bryce. She’ll need to be the last horcrux destroyed, given her proximity to Voldemort. She may also be the easiest to destroy in a strange sense; she won’t be guarded by the complex enchantments as the other Horcruxes are.

She is also interesting in the context of the horcrux she replaced. What I mean by this is that Dumbledore is convinced that the sixth horcrux (now Nagini) was supposed to have been made using the Harry’s murder. Dumbledore speaking:

“He seems to have reserved the process of making Horcruxes for particularly significant deaths…He believed that in killing you, he was destroying the danger the prophecy had outlined. He believed he was making himself invincible. I am sure that he was intending to make his final Horcrux with your death.” (HBP, Ch. 26, pg. 506).

But what then was the intended artifact? Had Voldemort obtained an object of Gryffindors? If not, he was certainly confident that he could retain one shortly after the murder. I think the implications of this are that Dumbledore did not possess Gryffindor’s sword at the time of the Potter’s murder; if he had, Voldemort would not have been confident of being able to convert it. The Potters may have had it: they were both Gryffindors, and were living in Godric’s Hollow. But if that is the case, how did they get it? Was it a Potter family heirloom? James’ family was definitely an old enough wizarding family to have plausibly been descendants of the founder. Or did they somehow find it, or earn it, like Harry later would in the Chamber? And if Voldemort was not intending to use the sword, then is there another artifact floating out there, unknown and unused?

That’s it for the Horcruxes, as the seventh shred of Voldemort’s soul is housed within himself.