His Little Helper

[potioncat]

Magda: 
> What if Regulus changed the locket (or had it changed) with the 
fake 
> one before LV ever took it into the cave? It seems highly unlikely 
> that the liquid protection over the locket had ever been removed 
and 
> replaced. Dumbledore seems to think that it would have taken two 
> wizards to do what Harry and he had done. That would leave me with 
> the suspicion that the undetected locket switch occurred before it 
> was placed in the Pencieve-like-bowl by LV. 
> 


Potioncat:
Yes, we agree, the horcrux wasn't stolen from the cave it was 
switiched "before" placement in the basin; and there was enough time 
for RAB to write a note to put into the fake horcrux. The real 
horcrux was never in the cave. That means that LV didn't put it in 
the basin himself; he would have known the locket was fake. The plan 
must have been for someone else to take the horcrux to the cave and 
put it in the basin.

Now, I would imagine LV has everything ready to go. Once the horcrux 
was put in the basin, the different spells could be "turned on". 
There wasn't any problem getting to the basin, and nothing had to be 
drank. Just go to the middle of the lake, put the horcrux in the 
basin, come out. Turn on the security system. 

So RAB could have been the one to take it and he may even have come 
out alive. Or LV could have been a fan of Pirate stories; once the 
treasure was hidden, the men who hid it were killed. Perhaps as soon 
as the fake horcrux dropped into the basin, the curses were 
activated. In that case, RAB is in the lake.

So I think the switch happened before placement, the real horcrux was 
hidden by RAB before hand. He or she must have had time to go 
somewhere before going to the cave OR he/she gave it to someone 
before going to the cave. This also means RAB must have known what 
the horcrux looked like ahead of time, to have something ready to 
switch.

But at any rate, it seems LV does not yet know about the switch.
Kathy W.