DH reread CH 6-7

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 186387

Carol earlier: 
> > All in all, I'd say that Scrimgeour was right. The Sword of Gryffindor does not belong to Dumbledore or to Harry (or Ron or Neville, both of whom later earn the right to wield it--once). It belongs, in a sense, to all Gryffindors and will present itself under the right conditions to the Gryffindor of its own choosing (with or without the aid of the Sorting Hat). Surely, Dumbledore knew that--and knew that Scrimgeour or whoever proved the will would not allow it to be given away. He did, however, wish Harry to know that he would need the Sword of Gryffindor in his quest to destroy the Horcruxes. How better to do that than to "bequeath" it to Harry in his will? As Pippin says, willing the sword to Harry (without actually giving it to him) let Harry know that he would need the sword without letting anyone else (specifically Scrimgeour or whichever Ministry official read the will) know why Harry needed it.
> > 
> >>
> jkoney:
> The only problem I have with this line of thinking is when is the sword no longer Harry's? Does it happen immediately after he slays the basilisk?
> 
> Since it doesn't disappear, I would argue that it is Harry's until some other Gryffendor needs it. At that point it would vanish and go to the new person.

Carol responds:

As I didn't realize when I wrote this post, Phineas Nigellus provides the answer in "The Goblin's Revenge." The Sword never belongs to either Harry or Dumbledore (or to any other "worthy Gryffindor" who earns the right to use it). It belongs to Hogwarts.

Phineas accuses Ginny, Neville, and Luna of "thieving from the headmaster." Harry protests angrily that the sword doesn't belong to Snape. Phineas retorts, "It belongs to Professor Snape's school" (DH Am. ed. 302). IOW, the sword belongs to Hogwarts and the current headmaster, whether Snape or DD, is its guardian. (I think that Scrimgeour also would have said that the sword belongs to Hogwarts had he not been interrupted.)

After Harry uses the Sword, he doesn't keep it or even consider the possibility of keeping. He puts the sword, the Sorting Hat, and the ruined diary on McGonagall's desk (CoS Am. ed. 332). Although DD later hands him the sword so he can see the name engraved on it (333), Harry doesn't take it with him when he leaves the office. Instead, he leaves it, along with the Sorting Hat, with DD, who had guarded it before Harry used it and continues to guard it afterwards (and later uses it himself, though as I've tried to establish in earlier posts, being a "worthy Gryffindor"--a Gryffindor worthy of using the sword under "conditions of need and valor"--does not make him its owner).

Carol, who suspects that Godric Gryffindor willed the sword to Hogwarts and that both Scrimgeour and Dumbledore are aware that he did so