Destroying the horcruxes (The cave potion and soul pieces )

[saraquel_omphale]

No: HPFGUIDX 141204

>Valky wrote:
>At the very least we
>know for sure that most intruders of the cave will have certainly 
>died after the potion was drunk, so whatever information Voldemort 
>intended
>to get from them, he already securely had before the surface of the
>water was broken. The torturous potion was definitely a tool as well
>as a weapon. It becomes interesting when we consider that the 
>previous
>intruder R.A.B. must also have drunk some of, or all of, that potion
>too. What traces of that person were left behind in the cave, we re
>aware via Dumbledore that there is definitely a recording of RAB's
>intentions somewhere in the cave, is the potion our only option or 
>is there somewhere else that it might be recorded? Did RAB drink 
>the water?

>Jen wrote: 
>So you think whatever information Voldemort gleaned from the
>potion-drinker would stay in the cave? The only thing blocking me on
>this idea is how Dumbledore seems to see only Voldemort's traces in
>the cave. You're saying he saw traces of R.A.B. as well? 

Saraquel:
I'm in the process of trying to list all the options for the cave, 
but my time is rather limited at the moment, so don't watch this 
space too hard!  However, I think these two quotes get to the heart 
of the problems about the cave.  Is the potion Voldemort's? Has 
anyone else been in the cave since Voldemort set it up, and if so 
who?  Having said that, I want to comment on Valky's questions. 

If we assume that the potion has a magical quality that refills 
itself after it has been drunk, then the potion is Vodemort's.  We 
know from DD's experience that the potion either prompts the drinker 
to remember/experience something of their own, OR they relive a 
memory that is stored in the potion.

If we now assume that DD was right about what Voldemort would want 
to know – i.e. why they were there – then what DD experienced was 
the reason why the previous thief of the horcrux,( who drank the 
potion before DD) was there. I know this is convoluted, but 
hopefully you are still with me.

It makes sense, that Voldemort would store the reason why the person 
was there in the refillable potion.  He could then drink it – 
presumably he takes the antidote with him – and discover at his 
leisure, how/why his defences were breached.

The unfortunate drinker of the potion, according to Voldemort's 
original plan, becomes an inferi or is simply killed by the inferi.

If that is what happens, then DD is party to the motivations of the 
previous potion drinker – either RAB or RAB's accomplice.  I have a 
lurking suspicion which will not go away, however hard I try, which 
puts Snape in the cave.  This has so many implications and must 
surely give us OFH!Snape, unless the whole cave incident is a 
training exercise for Harry.  

OK, at this point, I can quite understand if you tune out – but I 
just want to take this scenario a little further. If they are 
Snape's memories, then DD has possibly learned something more about 
Snape's motivations than he knew before.  His urgency to see Snape 
and only Snape when they get back to Hogwarts, could also include DD 
wanting to ask him a few questions about what he has found out by 
drinking the potion and it could be at the bottom of his pleading 
voice on the tower – a sort of, why didn't you tell me, Snape?

Saraquel