Finding the Cave

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 136562

".....for many years I have made it my business to discover as much 
as I can about Voldemort's past life. I have traveled widely, 
visiting those places he once knew." (chap. 23, p. 504)

I'm still puzzled how someone could locate the cave before 
Dumbledore. There were only a handful of people who knew about the 
existence of the cave, all presumed to be Muggles, except for 
Voldemort and Dumbledore. Quite a few wizards knew Voldemort was 
once the schoolboy Tom Riddle, including Dumbledore, Slughorn, 
Lucius, Borgin (?) and a handful of DE's who apparently went to 
school with Riddle. But only Dumbledore and Headmaster Dippet seem 
to know that Tom Riddle was a half-blood raised in an orphanage. The 
others, including Slughorn, assumed a more prestigious heritage or 
accepted the Heir of Slytherin link.

As far as we know, no one in the WW besides Dumbledore bothered to 
investigate Riddle's past in such depth. Or to put all the pieces of 
the puzzle together to understand the significance of the cave.

"...but I believe it to be hidden in a cave on the coast many miles 
from here, a cave I have been trying to locate for a very long time: 
the cave in which Tom Riddle once terrorized two children from his 
orphange on their annual trip; you remember?" (chap. 25, p. 547).

"Trying to locate for a very long time..." In the chapter on 
Horcruxes, Dumbeldore said he'd been visiting the places 
Voldemort 'once knew', searching for magical concealment. The most 
likely first place was the Riddle House. There must have been no 
signs of concealment at the old Riddle House, so Dumbledore moved on 
to the Gaunt shack. His theory about multiple Horcruxes was proven 
true when he found the ring. Likely at that point, Dumbledore began 
to speculate about how many Horcruxes Voldemort actually made and 
where they would be hidden. Also around this time, Dumbledore 
decided to lure Slughorn back to Hogwarts, hoping to retrieve the 
missing memory. He must suspect somewhere in Slughorn's conversation 
with Riddle is a tip-off about the number of Horcruxes Voldemort 
hoped to make.

The next stop would likely be the orphange, which was either long 
gone or showed no signs of magical concealment. Dumbledore then 
remembered the cave. Mrs. Cole would be retired from the orphange 
and probably dead, but maybe after watching the memory of his own 
visit to meet Tom, Dumbledore decided to track down Amy Benson 
and/or Dennis Bishop for the information. They would undoubtedly be 
the last surviving witnesses to the location of the cave.

Whew--that's a lot of tracking down and conjecture! Both on 
Dumbledore's part and mine ;). But I think it's very clear *no one* 
else went to all that trouble. In fact, there are very few plausible 
explanations for how RAB located the cave.

1) One possibility batted around: Voldemort took someone with him to 
the cave, either when he placed the Horcrux or to check up on it. 
Now that we know how Voldemort operates, and his psychological 
profile, the only way I can see this happening is if Voldemort 
killed the person right afterward. That doesn't help us <g>. Unless 
the person slips info about the cave to another DE before dying. 
Somehow I picture Voldy would AK right outside the cave, though.

2) One of the children Riddle took to the cave turned out to be a 
witch or wizard, was adopted out after Tom and probably went to a 
different wizarding school. As to how Amy (most likely her, given 
RAB) learned about the Horcruxes, we have no idea, but she would at 
least know the location of the cave.

3) Someone very sly is near Voldemort, but not loyal to him. This 
person knows nothing about Riddle's origins, but one day stumbles 
across the location of the cave. Maybe Voldemort is giving one of 
his ill-advised speeches and tells more information than he should. 
This one seems possible, but the person hearing about the cave would 
still have to locate it, dismantle the protections, etc. A very 
cunning wizard or witch. That type of DE seems few and far between.

Voldemort does have an Achilles heel--he enjoys talking too much 
about his lavish plans and garnering praise for them. That's the 
only reason I can see for anyone finding out about the cave, let 
alone locating it. Unlike the diary, the locket is in a completely 
remote place with mutiple protections on it. This is likely one 
Horcrux Voldemort formed later in life, after refining his magical 
skills. The diary wasn't protected well, and the ring was protected 
by only a curse (a bad one, but still, Dumbledore was able to wander 
around the Gaunt house and find the ring, so there were no 
protections on the house).

Please help! I still can't make sense of this part of the mystery.

Jen