Room of Requirement and Hidden Horcruxes

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 167130

Jay Winokur wrote:
> 
> JKR provides lists of oblects as they are observed by the hero as he
runs through the aisles of the RoR.  I would be surprised if the only
purpose for this detail was to supply dramatic weight for this
particular scene.  Instead, I interpreted that valuable objects, such
as horcruxes. have been hidden in plain sight in the RoR.  These
objects will be identified by Harry or another visitor, perhaps in the
course of retrieving the potions book, as described above.
> 
> If we carefully read this scene we see two objects that are
particularly interesting: a tiara and a bloodstained ax.  <snip>
> Which, if any, of these relics will prove important in DH?  <snip>

Carol responds:

While I do think it's possible that the RoR holds a Horcrux or two, I
wonder whether Harry could just walk by the room and silently repeat
three times: "I need help finding the Horcruxes." Would the RoR
provide him that help, or would it refuse to open for him as it did
when he was trying to find out what Draco Malfoy was up to?

That aside, the scene you're describing is very important to the plot
of HBP itself. Ironically, Harry is standing in the very room, or very
version of the room, that Draco Malfoy has been using, the one Harry
has been trying to get into but couldn't find the right words for. One
of those unobtrusive little details, seemingly just part of the
description like the five-legged skeleton and (IMO, the bloody ax) is
the Vanishing Cabinet that Draco is trying to repair. Harry walks
right by it with no idea that it's the broken object that Draco has
been working on all year. So near and yet so far!

Just one of many clues hidden in plain sight (another is the little
girl who drops the scales) that Harry sees yet doesn't see.

Carol, for whom the bloody ax suggested Macnair, the would-be
executioner in PoA who turns out (no surprise) to be a DE