[HPforGrownups] Slytherin's Horcrux (was:Hogwarts Houses Unite!)

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 163742

> Jen:
Oh! Maybe that's what you are saying?  Why wasn't the will enough, why did 
JKR go to the trouble of introducing the whole bit about the house being 
charmed to pass to a pure-blood?

Magpie:
Exactly!

It just struck me in retrospect as possibly one of those tricky things that 
JKR does. She never uses a type of magic without introducing it earlier in a 
neutral context. For instance, there's no reason for Arthur to receive a 
call via the fireplace before the kids leave for school in GoF. He receives 
one so that we can see that type of thing before Harry actually speaks to 
Sirius via the fire. The Portkey is also introduced as the way they get to 
the QWC, and then later it's the device by which Harry and Cedric are taken.

If Dumbledore himself hadn't introduced the idea that maybe there's a charm 
on all this stuff that prevents it from being inherited by anyone not a 
Black, we would have no reason to doubt that the will wasn't enough. 
Dumbledore could still have brought Kreacher to the Dursleys as part of his 
inheritence. It would be completely in character for Harry to go into denial 
about Kreacher right then--to say he doesn't want him, that Kreacher is no 
elf of his. That could prompt Dumbledore to tell Harry to give an order to 
prove to Harry that Kreacher is his, and there's no getting around it, if 
she really wants to demonstrate that for us.

So I just wound up wondering if the introduction of a charm based on blood 
wasn't actually there for a purpose all its own instead of just being a 
reason to get Kreacher there and make Harry give him an order. Because as is 
it's introduced as a problem but goes nowhere--it turns out there is no such 
charm on the inheritence, as proved by Kreacher's having to obey Harry. It's 
maybe not big enough to be Chekov's gun, but maybe it's a Chekovian squirt 
gun.:-) Maybe, I thought, that scene is also preparing us for a time when 
there *will* be such a charm, and this was a place for JKR to introduce it 
neutrally before it becomes a plot point. It just kind of pinged me as a 
possible one of those.

I think I've just gotten used to being on the lookout for those because it's 
part of what makes JKR's plots so satisfying on re-read. (I've been 
re-reading PS and it's really fun seeing a lot of things foreshadowed 
there--Harry just looked up Dittany in his herbs book.:-)

Jen: This seems like a very real possibility, more than a fanfic idea 
because of the way the Blacks have been depicted so far.  This would also 
open a scenario of who could reach the Horcrux first, Draco or Bella?  Both 
would be capable of opening the locket, as would Narcissa.  There might be a 
chance to learn more about the family dynamics with such a plot.

Magpie:
Right--it just seems like a great device to force all sorts of connections 
and get us information. Harry's sworn he would never work with Draco, so 
he's kind of doomed himself to needing him somehow it seems to me.:-) It's a 
conflict set up for six books. Plus I admit I love the whole history of the 
rise and fall of the House of Black, and it seems to really cry out for some 
resolution that brings together all these threads.

Magpie:
>(We don't know what all Regulus might have been trying to do with> the 
>locket himself. Perhaps in his last hours he thought of Sirius> and hoped 
>he could destroy it while Voldemort himself would be
> unable to open it.)

Jen:  This idea really appeals to me given how many fighting siblings there 
are in the series!  The idea that Regulus & Sirius had a little more between 
them is a nice one, even if unfortunately they never got
to tell each other in person.  I definitely got the sense from the way 
Sirius talked that he had some affection for Regulus, but he couldn't 
forgive Regulus joining the DE's or his pure-blood bias.

Magpie:
It appeals to me too--I'd never thought of it before writing that post. I 
defintely felt when Sirius talked about his family in OotP that he wouldn't 
be so angry if there wasn't some real pain there for him, and I could easily 
see him covering up real feelings for his little brother with his sarcastic 
attitude. Iirc, he calls Regulus an idiot, and that could imply his being 
angry at him falling for the rhetoric, like a victim rather than a villain.

-m