Room of Requirement -- Horcrux

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 148186

Gwen wrote:
<snip>
As for the necklace Horcrux, I'm more inclined to believe the heavy  
 locket at Grimmauld Place is the Slytherin necklace - but if so, I'm
  a little disappointed that everyone could find the locket, inspect
it, try and fail to open it, and through all of that not realize that
it had Slytherin's mark on it.

Carol responds:
I don't find it odd at all since they were sorting through various
Dark trinkets and knew nothing of Horcruxes at the time. The fact that
the locket had Slytherin's mark on it doesn't seem out of place to me
at all in a house where everything from the door knocker to the
chandeliers is in the shape of a serpent. The Blacks may not be
descended from Salazar Slytherin, but they have strong connections
with his house. Phineas Nigellus Black, former headmaster of Hogwarts,
dresses in Slytherin colors and was most likely the Slytherin HOH (and
Potions master ;-) ) before becoming headmaster. Most of the Blacks,
Sirius and possibly Andromeda excepted, were sorted into Slytherin
House and hold a pureblood ethic similar to Salazar Slytherin's own. I
don't think anyone gave a second thought to the presence of a locket
with a Slytherin symbol on it. It was in keeping with all the other
reminders of the Blacks as Dark wizards with strongly held Slytherin
values. 

The fact that the locket could not be opened may have marked it as
something dangerous to be gotten rid of, but I don't see why anyone
present--Mrs. Weasley, Bill, Lupin, or Sirius Black--would have
noticed it particularly, mixed as it was among all the other Dark
artifacts and not given any special protection that would call
attention to it. (Obviously Mr. and Mrs. Black had no idea what it was
or where their dead son had obtained it or they would not have left it
on a shelf along with a box of wartcap powder.) Mundungus, who IIRC
was also present, probably noticed both the Slytherin symbol and the
quality of the gold and saw the locket as having market value in
Knockturn Alley, but he wouldn't have suspected its true nature and
had (not very admirable) reasons for keeping any suspicions that it
had belonged to Slytherin himself out of the conversation. (Besides, a
*locket* is a rather odd possession for a Dark *wizard*, isn't it? If
Slytherin had been a witch, they might have been more likely to
connect it with him. As it is, it's just another Dark artifact with a
snake marking to be discarded as soon as possible.)

Now if Snape had been present, it might have been a different story.
He, I think, would have suspected a direct link to Salazar Slytherin,
especially if he witnessed Regulus's death, even if he did not yet
know about the Horcruxes (and, being Snape and trusted by DD, I think
he did). But JKR has carefully made him absent from the scene, and no
one present would have had any reason to see anything special in the
locket.

It does strike me as strange that the locket is made of gold given
what appears to be the Slytherin affinity for silver ("Is this real
silver, mate?"), which also makes me wonder if Dung was a Slytherin in
his youth.

Carol, positing Mundungus Fletcher, Madame Rosmerta, Sturgis Podmore,
and Portrait!Phineas as candidates for ESE! if we really must have a
surprise traitor or spy in Book 7 (and, no, I don't seriously believe
that any of them is a traitor)