Chapter 28

[Guest]

[kbmum]

I'm using the chapter number for this thread so there are no spoilers in the title, but I'd like to discuss the the message in the locket.

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The message inside the locket reads:

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.A.B.

Which character has those initials?  We don't know his middle name, but could it be Regulus Black?  His middle name might have been Alphard.

If it is Regulus, the next step is to figure out whether he had time to destroy the Horcrux before he was killed.  In chapter 6, Lupin mentioned that Regulus died only a few days after he deserted Voldemort.  If he didn't destroy it, there are some possibilities:

1) It's hidden somewhere in 12 Grimmauld Place.
2) It's one of the items that Mundungus stole.

My guess is that it's one of the nasty objects that's still in the house.

[Morningangel-Iola]

Yeah someone else mentioned Sirius brother, so he deserted LV did he I didn't remember that. Oh coudl by then, therefore may be very important that Harry inherited GP

Here's were the other forum I go to discusses this (all heads together )

http://s4.invisionfree.com/Regency_House_Party/index.php?showtopic=465&st=0&

[kbmum]

The first time Regulus was mentioned was in OOTP, when Harry and Sirius were looking at tapestry of the Black family tree.  I've been wondering whether the item was squirrelled away by Kreatcher (although he probably wouldn't have known what it was) and is in his sleeping area near the kitchen.

[Morningangel-Iola]

The trouble is it could be anywhere and did he manage to destroy it?

[kbmum]

I don't think it's been destroyed.  If it were, there would be no way to know.  Harry could spend the rest of his life hunting for an object which no longer exists, while Voldemort continues to wreak havoc.

[Morningangel-Iola]

Thats the point you coudl search for ever for something thats already been destroyed

[samwise16]

regulus has been mentioned elsewhere too and it sounds about right, how did dumbledore get the ring by the way? did it say i can't remember 

[kbmum]

He found it in the ruins of the Gaunt house.

[siriusdogstar]

Quote from OOTP - p.108 UK children's edition.

During the clear-out at 12 Grimauld Place:

There was a musical box that emitted a faintly sinister, tinkling tune when wound, and they all found themselves becoming curiously weak and sleepy, until Ginny had the sense to slam the lid shut; a heavy locket none of them could open; a number of ancient seals.....etc." 

Could this be the one?  If so, I bet Kreacher has it!

[Morningangel-Iola]

Oh thats sounds quite likely

[ferdinand_the_yak]

I think that Regulus is a good candidate. One problem I had was that Regulus by Sirius' description was quite a weak willed character, he diddn't even deserve to be killed by Voldemort (a special 'honour', we know) - do you reckon that he would have been powerful/strong willed enough to get the real Horcrux and get past the Inferi?

But then again, Sirius was rarely complimentary of anyone

[kbmum]

That's all true, but it doesn't appear that Sirius had much, if any, contact with his brother.  Maybe Regulus' reasons for leaving the Death Eaters gave him enough backbone to find the Horcrux in the cave.  How he (or whoever R.A.B. might be) did it, when it took both Dumbledore and Harry working together (and Dumbledore's remark that one person couldn't do it), is the big mystery.

[ferdinand_the_yak]

Dumbledore's way might not have been the best way, perhaps R.A.B was close enough to Voldemort to be able to get the information from him, not that Voldemort would have told him, but some other way. Perhaps the method was something that a non-DE could not do, like they had to have the Mark to perform it. But I doubt many could have penetrated that defence, only the more powerful wizards, if that.

I take it that we are assuming R.A.B was a DE? No-one else calls Voldemort the 'Dark Lord' - Harry pointed that out to Snape in his Occlumency lessons.

[kbmum]

Both Sirius (in OOTP) and Lupin (in HBP) said that Regulus was a Death Eater.  As for R.A.B., I thought along the same lines as you -- that the reference to the Dark Lord meant the writer was a DE.

[Sharon]

The other possiblity is that RAB swapped the pendant before it was placed in the Goblet.  We have no idea how long it had been there; maybe Voldemort only started hidding them / creating more once he heard the prophecy.  He might have asked a trusted DE to place the pendant there for him, believing they would not know it's significance.

[siriusdogstar]

Of course, Regulus could have been Voldi's assistant when he planted the pendant.  Then, with some swift sleight of hand, he could have swapped the two pendants.  If the liquid had gone in first and RAB had been carrying the pendant, it wouldn't have been so difficult.  Once in, the green liquid would have obscured any detail.

This poses another question - did he manage to destroy it before he died?

I can't remember if Sirius went into detail about how his brother died.  Did he?

[Sharon]

This poses another question - did he manage to destroy it before he died?

Or did Voldemort find out what he had done and this is why he killed him?

[allender]

Quote from OOTP - p.108 UK children's edition.

During the clear-out at 12 Grimauld Place:

There was a musical box that emitted a faintly sinister, tinkling tune when wound, and they all found themselves becoming curiously weak and sleepy, until Ginny had the sense to slam the lid shut; a heavy locket none of them could open; a number of ancient seals.....etc." 

Could this be the one?  If so, I bet Kreacher has it!

I bet Mundungus nicked it, and that's the reason for that particular plot thread. I suspect that might give some danger to Mr Weasley in his new job.

[kbmum]

The second part of the Leaky Cauldron/Mugglenet interview has confirmed that R.A.B. is Regulus.

By the way, MA is Melissa from TLC, and ES is Emerson from Mugglenet.

MA: Can we figure out who he is, from what we know so far?

[Note: JKR has adopted slightly evil look here]

JKR: Do you have a theory?

MA: We've come up with Regulus Black.

JKR: Have you now?

MA: Uh-oh.

[Laughter.]

JKR: Well, I think that would be, um, a fine guess.

MA: And perhaps, being Sirius’s brother, he had another mirror –

JKR: [drums fingers on soda can]

MA: Does he have the other mirror, or Sirius’s mirror —

JKR: I have no comment at all on that mirror. That mirror is not on the table. [Laughter from all; Jo's is maniacal.]

Then...

ES: What's one question you wished to be asked and what would be the answer to that question?

JKR: Um — [long pause] — such a good question. What do I wish I could be asked? [Pause.] Today, just today, July the 16th, I was really hoping someone would ask me about R.A.B., and you did it. Just today, because I think that is — well, I hoped that people would.

MA: Is there more we should ask about him?

JKR: There are things you will deduce on further readings, I think — well you two definitely will, for sure — that, yeah, I was really hoping that R.A.B. would come out.

MA: Forgive me if I'm remembering incorrectly, but was Regulus the one who was murdered by Voldemort —

JKR: Well Sirius said he wouldn't have been because he wasn't important enough, remember?

MA: But that doesn’t have to be true, if [R.A.B.] is writing Voldemort a personal note.

JKR: That doesn't necessarily show that Voldemort killed him, personally, but Sirius himself suspected that Regulus got in a little too deep. Like Draco. He was attracted to it, but the reality of what it meant was way too much to handle.

[rns91294]

She says it is a fine guess, but does not exactly confirm it.  I like the idea though.