The Smiths must still have the Hufflepuff Cup

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 156513

Carol wrote:
> > I don't see how the Smith family could still have the cup since
Voldemort stole both it and the locket to turn them into Horcruxes
after he murdered Hepzibah (and framed poor Hokey).
> 
> Abergoat responds:
> But that is the question isn't it? Hepzibah clearly says her family
would be furious if they knew she was showing it to Tom and she
explicitly states that they cannot wait to get their hands on it. This
seems it imply either Tom ran around modifying Smith family members'
memories so they wouldn't remember it at all (seems dangerous...what
if one of them proves resistant? And how does Voldemort figure out who
they are?) or Tom went the simpler route and left the cup in the
family's possession.
> 
> I could be wrong, but it is a serious plot hole otherwise.
> 
> Abergoat
>

Carol responds:
I don't see that at all. Tom would simply take the cup, turn it into a
Horcrux somewhere far from Hepzibah's house where he wouldn't be
caught, and hide it, as he apparently did with the locket at roughly
the same time and the ring somewhat earlier. Having murdered to obtain
the cup, do you really think he'd return it to the family it
rightfully belonged to or turn it into a Horcrux and leave it there
for them to find? We know that he quit his job and left on his travels
right after the Smith murder. I very much doubt that he want around
looking for Smith family members to give it to or modifying their
memories. I think he his the Horcruxes to make sure that no one, Smith
family member or not, would find them. 

BTW, he may have re-hidden the Horcruxes around the time he heard the
Prophecy to make them still more secure, as he thought--otherwise, I
don't see how Regulus Black could have found out about the locket
(which I think he entrusted to Bellatrix). Also, he gave the diary to
Lucius at about that time. It would be hard to re-hide the cup if it
were in the hands of the Smith family. I think it's surrounded by
magical protections similar to those that protected the ring, if not
quite as elaborate as those that protected the Slytherin locket.

Carol, who doesn't see a plot hole if LV steals and hides the cup as
he does the locket but sees a serious inconsistency in
characterization if LV leaves his precious Hufflepuff Horcrux in the
hands of the greedy Smith family