Potion in the Cave: Did Bellatrix hide it there?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 145831

Gopal wrote: 
> I have seen many emails that mention the potion in the
> cave is Voldemort's potion/ memories/ dark magic. How
> is Harry to continue in the quest for the horcrux?
> 
> We can think of two different possibilities on the
> cave horcrux.
> 
> 1) Voldemort placed the horcrux there himself (seems
> like the kinda thing LV would do). R.A.B found out the
> location and took the horcrux much like Dumbledore-Harry.
> 
> 2) Voldemort asked R.A.B to put the horcrux in the
> cave and R.A.B did everything else but put the horcrux
> there.
> 
> In either case, LV would not know the horcrux to be
> missing unless a) he checked the cave or b) someone
> with R.A.B spilled the beans.
> 
> In scenario 1), the potion would be filled by R.A.B
> with the intent to 'kill'/damage LV and was not meant
> for Dumbledore-Harry. This is again because the potion
> did not fill itself after Dumbledore consumed it. If
> it was RAB's potion then it would be 100% poisonous
> and going by AD's reaction it probably was.
> 
> In scenario 2), the potion can be LV's dark magic.
> Given that horcrux is a precious thing to LV, lesser
> probability that 2) would be true. 
<snip>

Carol responds:
I don't quite follow your logic. Voldemort would have no reason to
remove his own Horcrux unless he thought it was in danger of being
discovered. The potion (which I agree is a kind of poisoned memory,
appropriately colored a venomous green like Nagini and the blinding
flash of an AK) would be there as a deterrent to anyone (not
specifically Dumbledore) who got past the other magical protections
(with the water and the Inferi as further protections against anyone
who succeeded in removing from the pensievelike bowl) to prevent it
from being taken from the cave once it was retrieved. If, as most of
us suspect, the locket we glimpsed at 12 GP in OoP is the real
Horcrux, there's at least one remaining protection: It's sealed shut.
There may be a curse like the one on the ring to punish the person who
destroys it as well. Given all that, I see no reason to doubt that
either Voldemort or someone he trusted (Bellatrix?) placed the locket
in the cave along with the protective potion/poisoned memory. The
person doing so would be in no danger since he or she would be hiding
and protecting the Horcrux, not trying to retrieve it or use it. (It
doesn't need to be "used": as long as it exists and has not been
opened, it serves its purpose, which is to guarantee LV's immortality
by keeping a portion of LV's soul safely hidden outside his body.)

The locket could have been placed in the cave by Voldemort himself
soon after it was made (after the murder of Hepzibah Smith but before
LV applied for the DADA position). Or it could have been moved from
its original hiding place after LV heard the Prophecy and sensed
danger to himself for the first time since his return. It could have
been placed there by Voldemort himself or by one of his few trusted
followers, surely not R.A.B. if R.A.B. is Regulus (a kid younger than
Severus Snape, who was about twenty at the time of the Prophecy).
Since R.A.B. was able to find it, I'm guessing that it was someone
other than LV, say one of the second-generation DEs like Bellatrix
("In the past he has trusted me with his most precious--"), following
LV's instructions. (Dumbledore recognizes the Inferi and the blood
"sacrifice" necessary for entering the cave as reflecting Voldemort's
"style" of magical protection, his own fear of death attributed to any
would-be Horcrux thieves.)

I very much doubt that it was R.A.B.'s potion specifically intended
for LV, or that LV knew the Horcrux had been taken. The note was there
in case he or his henchmen tried to move it again. (R.A.B. probably
didn't know that the "pensieve" would refill itself when he placed the
fake Horcrux in it, but he would guess that LV would know how to undo
or bypass his own magic if it did.) R.A.B. (Regulus?) wasn't trying to
poison LV; he was taunting him ("Ha!ha! I've discovered your secret
and you're mortal now.") The problem with this thinking is that R.A.B.
didn't have the opportunity (or, apparently, the ability) to destroy
the Horcrux, and, in any case, it was only one of six.

I don't think your list includes all the possibilities. Here's an
alternative scenario for people to shoot down:

After hearing the Prophecy and realizing that the mere existence of
his Horcruxes is not sufficient to guarantee his immortality,
Voldemort assigns the fanatically loyal Bellatrix the task of hiding
his locket, giving her the exact location of the cave and directions
to follow in hiding it and providing her with the potion/memory to
place in the pensievelike bowl, which for the sake of simplicity we'll
assume is already in the cave. To impress on her the importance of her
mission, he actually entrusts Bellatrix with the secret that it's a
Horcrux (though not that it's one of six). Bellatrix, feeling both
honored by this assignment but afraid that she can't do it alone (and
well aware of the consequences of failure), borrows her dear aunt's
devoted house-elf, Kreacher (whom we know to be devoted to "Miss
Bellatrix"), to help her with her task. (Regulus overhears this
request.) Trusting entirely to Kreacher's loyalty and not crediting
him with intelligence equal to a human's, she lets slip that the thing
she's hiding is a Horcrux.

Already having been Crucio'd for refusing to torture or kill a Muggle
(or some similar assignment) and knowing that his days are numbered,
Regulus is determined to defy Voldemort by thwarting Bellatrix's
mission. He questions Kreacher about his excursion and discovers that
Bellatrix has hidden a locket in a cave and that she refers to the
locket as a Horcrux. After discovering what a Horcrux is (if he
doesn't know already), Regulus writes the note to LV, buys a locket
superficially similar to the one Kreacher describes, and then orders
Kreacher to take him to the cave. The boat takes them both across to
the island, not sensing the presence of Kreacher (as other posters
have already speculated). Regulus orders Kreacher to drink the
poisoned memory/potion (which addles his brains permanently),
substitutes the locket with the note inside for the Horcrux, and
returns home with the Horcrux, which he, being barely a fully
qualified wizard and not particularly skilled at curse-breaking, is
unable to open and consequently destroy. A short time later, he defies
the DEs by refusing to perform an Unforgiveable Curse (or whatever)
and is murdered, perhaps by his own dear cousin Bellatrix. Meanwhile,
the pensievelike bowl, sensing a locket inside it and unable to detect
the substitution, fills up again, renewing its magical protection for
the fake Horcrux, and the real Horcrux remains in 12 GP until Sirius
tries to throw it out and its retrieved by Kreacher (or Mundungus
steals it).

This scenario (I'm not calling it a theory yet) would explain how
Bellatrix knew that LV wasn't dead when he was vaporized at Godric's
Hollow and how Regulus could know about the locket Horcrux and where
to find it. It also ties in with Kreacher's devotion to Bellatrix,
with her words to Snape about being trusted with LV's "most precious"
secrets or missions, and with Kreacher's all-too-evident insanity.

Holes in the theory, anybody? Or improvements, if you like it but see
a flaw or two (like the pensievelike bowl already being in the cave)?

Carol, hoping that someone will see it as at least plausible