Whose Vanishing Cabinets?

[Ceridwen]

No: HPFGUIDX 149124

Peggy:
> Does he have a motivation for using a Vanishing Cabinet from inside
> Hogwarts?  I think he does: he is a Squib!  A Vanishing Cabinet 
would
> allow him to effectively apparate without requiring him to be able 
to
> apparate: something that could be very useful for him. (You can't
> apparate from inside Hogwarts anyway.)  So we could now ask, if he
> bought a pair of Vanishing Cabinets and moved one inside Hogwarts,
> where would he put the other one?  It's useless to put the second 
one
> inside Hogwarts, because he's already there.  

Ceridwen:
Actually, it would even help him out in Hogwarts.  He has to go all 
over a castle that has several different areas, the towers, where he 
would have to go back downstairs to go back upstairs, and he's 
getting on in years.  I don't know if Squibs have the same long life 
as wizards, but any way you look at it, it would certainly save him 
steps.

Peggy:
> Most other possible
> locations would put the cabinet in danger of discovery or 
destruction
> from people running across it and wondering why it was there.  

Ceridwen:
That would depend on where he put it.  He might store it with a WW 
friend - another Squib, perhaps, or family.  Which would make sense 
as well, for holidays.

Peggy:
> Where
> would it be safe?  The clear answer: leave the second one inside
> Borgin and Burkes, where he bought it from.  It could be marked as 
not
> for sale, and he could pay Mr. Borgin a rental fee for storing it 
for
> him.  Now he can go to Borgin and Burkes easily anytime he wants,
> without being able to apparate, and without being seen entering the
> store or going into Knockturn Alley.  I can imagine a Squib would 
have
> many uses for Dark objects of the type one could buy from Borgin and
> Burkes.  This gives him free access anytime he wants.

Ceridwen:
Leaving it in either Diagon Alley or Knockturn Alley would make 
sense, yes, since I imagine Filch needs to do shopping now and then, 
not just personal, but for the things he needs to do his job.  I 
suppose he could owl, I haven't seen where Squibs can't use owls.  
They differ from Muggles in that they're part of the WW.

There's one problem.  When Draco is talking to Borgin, HBP, US, p. 
125, Borgin asks Draco,  "Perhaps you'd like to take it now?"  Draco 
responds on p. 126 that he wouldn't, but that Borgin should not sell 
it.  So it does not belong to Filch, unless he has authorized B&B to 
act as his agent if a high enough offer came through.  Which I doubt, 
it if is so useful to Filch to have it at B&B.

But, that brings up another question.  Dumbledore, in the passage you 
cite, asked about there being another vanishing cabinet.  Why would 
anyone want a single vanishing cabinet and not a pair?  Why would 
someone want to stick their things into a cabinet that will disappear 
them to Merlin-knows-where?  I can think of all sorts of ideas for a 
pair to be bought by friends, lovers, and conspirators.  But nothing 
is coming to mind for someone buying one alone when they won't know 
where their stuff is coming out.  And, Dumbledore should have known 
that, unless he assumed that the other cabinet was destroyed or 
otherwise missing.

And, who did own the pair to begin with?

Ceridwen.