Question from a new member

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 190540


> Nikkalmati
> 
> I have had some worries over the movements of the Sword too.  Where was it between Godric's time and Harry's? DD seemed to know about it.  Was it kept in the Headmaster's office all that time? 

Pippin:
It was in the Headmaster's office. Dumbledore, who knew that Voldemort was collecting relics of The Founders, believed that Voldemort had meant to steal it when he first returned to Hogwarts and applied for the DADA job. He expected that Voldemort would seize the sword if he ever got the power to do so. 

I don't know if Voldemort realized that the sword would destroy a horcrux. But Voldemort knew he still had enemies at the school. He wouldn't have wanted to leave them a weapon in any case. I'd expect him to know about the enchantments on the sword, which were not a secret (see below). He must have believed that the magic of the Gringotts vaults, which obviously don't allow their contents to be removed by magic, would be strong enough to keep the sword inside. Possibly Griphook believed that also. 

Scrimgeour says that the sword belongs to Hogwarts, and may present itself to any worthy Gryffindor. He does not treat this information as if it were secret, so I think it was known to most experts on ancient magic, goblins included. Those goblins more pragmatic and less fanatical than Griphook probably treated the sword as a lost cause. As long as it was enchanted it would eventually revert to  Gryffindor hands regardless of who claimed it.
 

The sword would be worth more valued as a relic of Godric Gryffindor than as a decorated sword, and its value as a relic would be drastically diminished if enchantments cast by Godric Gryffindor himself were removed from it. So the goblins could have got it back only by destroying the very thing that made it so valuable, unless they wanted to make a political statement and didn't care about its value in gold. I suspect few goblins are as fanatical as that, though maybe Griphook was. 

I think JKR had the case of the Elgin Marbles in mind. Greece would really, really like to have them back. But only a few fanatics  would go to war for them.

The goblins do not like getting involved in quarrels between wizards, which is doubtless why they allow people declared outlaws by the WW to access their vaults. It's not their job to enforce wizard law.

Pippin