LV & room of requirement

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 187222

---  Susan Curcio <susanfullin at ...> wrote:
>
> Tried to find this question answered, haven't had any luck:
> 
> When LV found the room of requirement, how could he have thought only he knew of it, with the thousands of things already hidden in it?
> Great reading, all these discussions!
> Susan
> 
> 

bboyminn:

Remember that Tom Riddle went to Hogwart's and indeed did find more of its secrets than any other students; consider the 'Chamber of Secrets'. 

I think on one hand, it was sheer arrogance. He believed the room sense his immense magical power and reveal itself to him. He, the greatest wizard of all, has learned another of Hogwarts secrets. 

Now, when he actually went into the room, it became clear the centuries of 'someone or other' has been hiding junk there. 

So, it wasn't so much that he believed no one else knew of the room, but more the fact that Hogwarts has given him what he needed when he needed it. In his mind, it was Hogwarts working with him to fulfill his destiny. 

The second part, is that the room with centuries of what was clearly forgotten junk, was the prefect place to hide his object. It was probably clear to him that people added stuff to the room, but never removed anything. It wasn't a storage space, it was a dumping ground. 

So, the room gave him the prefect hiding place, just when he needed it, and what better place to hide a valuable object than in a room full of wasted junk. In a sense, to hide in an immense crowd was the perfect cover. 

So, I don't think he believed that no one knew about the room, just that in all his many years at Hogwarts and with all his other discoveries, he had never heard a hint of the room. Partly because he never considered that the insignificant House Elves might know something he didn't. 

Still, despite all the junk in the room, there had never been a hint of it from anyone else. No student had ever discovered it by accident. There were no rumors of it. No legends of the great secret magic room.  Remember that even Dumbledore only had the vaguest notion of the room.

Now clearly students did discover it, Fred and George used it once. Filch used it occasionally. But each discovered nothing of interest. Fred and George found a bog-standard broom closet. Filch merely found cleaning supplies when he needed them.  

So, no one discovered the greater purpose of the room, beyond Voldemort and Harry. 

So, here is a secondary questions. What did they do with the room after the great battle with Voldemort? Did they leave it alone for other people to discover? Did they cover the entrance with iron bars, so that even if a student were to discover it, they couldn't get in?

steve/bboyminn