Locket swapped, Regulus dead (Was Re: The Locket Horcrux - When Was It Swapped?)

[Goddlefrood]

No: HPFGUIDX 165737

> Mike, started off:
> A theory that I've long held to, which I know has been stated in 
many forms before, is that the locket Horcrux never made it to the 
cave in the first place.

Goddlefrood: 

I too have seen several variants on this theme and have certainly 
given them plenty of thought.  It certainly would make a great deal 
of sense and I agree with Mike's theory on the whole, but with a 
major reservation. Now where did I put that whetstone?

> Mike again:
> Why replace the locket in the basin indeed. As you (Pippin earlier) 
said: 1) there's no point, it's not going to fool LV and I can't see 
Reggie being that bent as to have a driving need to taunt Voldemort, 
and 2) there *is* a need to substitute a fake one if he swapped it 
out on cousin Bella before she made her deposit. Yep, this cinches it 
for me too.

Goddlefrood:

This was certainly a compelling reason for beginning to give this 
theory of the pre-basin switch some credence in the first place. 
There is a minor problem with it, but I'm prepared to overlook it in 
the interests of support. I will, however, set it out.

Basically it is reasonable to suppose that LV had created all bar one 
(definitely) or possibly two (if the theory is to hold) of his 
Horcruxes before he applied for the DADA position in the late 1950s. 
At that point Reggie was probably not yet born and Bella would have 
been no more than six or seven. If my supposition is correct then I 
find it difficult to take it that LV would move his Horcruxes around, 
which he would have had to have done for the purposes of Bellatrix 
and, hence, Reggie getting hands on the one in the locket.

Apologies here for snipping the greater part of a well worked out 
piece.

> > Pippin earlier:
> > RAB wouldn't have had to count on his transfiguration (of the 
locket) being good enough to fool Voldemort himself, <SNIP> 
 Of 
course if Bella is the one who did the hiding, so much the better, 
and Voldemort never saw the fake at all.

> Mike:
> Also, as I've postulated before, I can easily see Bella showing up 
at her Aunt Wolfburga's house and bragging about what an honour that 
the Dark Lord bestowed upon her, making her responsible for hiding 
one of his Horc... oops, I'm not suppose to tell you that. <SNIP> 
 
But as long as Bella was fooled up until the time she dropped the 
locket into the basin, it all makes sense.

Goddlefrood:

Yes, very much the Bellatrix we know and love. We're coming to the 
part where the ax is out.

> Mike:

> But what I like better is that the Metamorphmagus gene runs in the 
Black family. And Tonks isn't the only one. We've all been wondering 
why JKR introduced us to the concept without taking it somewhere. 
Maybe Reggie is where. Maybe Reggie is out there right now, disguised 
as someone else, and doing Dumbledore's bidding. If Reggie has taken 
up the Horcrux hunt from a long time ago, maybe Harry doesn't have 
that many to find and destroy after all.

Goddlefrood:

If only this could be true. I am certainly in agreement that it is 
probable that another Horcrux is no longer active, possibly even two, 
unfortunately I can not agree that Reggie is the one going around to 
neutralise and / or destroy it / them. Here's why, reaching for the 
trusty books (Bloomsbury Hardback editions):

In OotP we find, during Sirius's spiel about Reggie, the following 
(page 104 – The Noble and Ancient House of Black):

"Sirius jabbed a finger at the very bottom of the tree, at the 
name `Regulus Black'. A date of death (some fifteen years previously) 
followed the date of birth."

The tapestry clinches this for me. The dates of birth and death of 
Black family members are recorded. Walpurga's date of death is noted 
as 1985. I propose that the tapestry, being itself magical, records 
the deaths of the family as they come up, and this would be the case 
even if no one is around to tell the tapestry. Somewhat similar to 
the Marauder's Map "The Map never lies". In that circumstance Regulus 
is sadly deceased and this poster would certainly have liked to meet 
him. Alas I don't believe we will other than from another source 
telling stories of him.

The other small matter that reinforced me in the view that Reggie is 
deceased is the sequence of events in HBP (Wills and Won'ts – p. 54):

"
'Black family tradition decreed that the house was handed down the 
direct line, to the next male with the name Black. Sirius was the 
very last of the line as his younger brother, Regulus, predeceased 
him and both were childless'
"

Shortly after this Kreacher obeys Harry so proving (not entirely 
conclusively, but pretty well) that there are no other direct 
descendents surviving.

> Mike:

> Of course this beggars the question, why did DD take Harry to the 
cave if he already knew there was no Horcrux there? 

Goddlefrood:

What follows this part I agree with, excepting the reference to 
Reggie being alive.

> Mike:
> And it keeps DH from becoming a wall-to-wall Horcrux hunt, not 
something anybody would want.

Goddlefrood:

Not unless DH exceeds in length War and Peace to name but one and 
certainly not something I would like to see, although inevitably a 
large part of DH will be about the Horcrux hunt.

Goddlefrood who, to conclude, likes the substitution of the Horcrux 
part but can't agree that Regulus is alive, even if he secretly would 
like to. FWIW