Is part of what Voldemort accidentally gave to Harry the “magic” of being the heir of Slytherin? There is something in the balance of having 3 Voldemort items (diary, ring, locket) with destroyed Horcruxes on one side and horcruxes of the other 3 founder’s items on the other.

I see a sort of association grid:

Earth Hufflepuff Yellow/Black Cup
Air Ravenclaw Blue/Canary ??Ravenclaw’s something??
Fire Gryffendor Red/Gold Snake?
Water Slytherin Green/Silver Locket Underground Lake

You see that I assume the water association with Slytherin and the locket was reflected in the location – a lake, in a cave, at the ocean. What do I think this means for the final volume of the series? I’m going to let my guesses take over here.

The locket: I gues I buy the “locket is at Grimmauld Place” thinking and believe Harry will realize this and return to the house he inherited form Sirius. I expect this to happen sometime after school has resumed at Hogwarts because of the following plot elements I expect to play into it. RAB, as many many before me have speculated, is Regulus Black, and, to paraphrase what I’ve read – I can’t remember where now – that he penetrated the lakes protection similarly to Dumbledore with Harry as a helper – he took Kreacher as his helper – Kreacher who didn’t register as a wizard in the boat the same way Harry didn’t register. Regulus then compelled Kreacher to drink the noxious potion so he could retrieve the locket. Someone – Ron, Harry or Hermione, will think of RAB being Regulus and Harry will summon Kreacher and learn this story (or perhaps he will learn legilimancy and use it as DD did in his search). Learning what happened, he will want to know about the locket, which Kreacher will have squirreled away. Unless mundungus stole it. hehehe

I don’t think this is the first one we will see however, I believe that will either be the air or earth horcrux.

The air horcrux, the something of Ravenclaw’s whatever it is (for some reason, lots of folk seem to gravitate towards it being a tiara). Just as the water horcrux was hidden in the middle of a body of water – I expect the air horcrux will be hidden in – the air, either at a remote mountain peak (I think this is the more likely possibility) or in an enchanted floating place (how fun would that be?). In either case, Harry will need to use his broom flying/quidditch skills to make it through this trial. I also expect that this horcrux will turn out to be guarded by (a) dragon(s). Not the baby, we saw in book one, which prefigures bth the one in book 4 and the one I postulate in book 7, not the mother dragon, powerful and dangerous though she is, but an ancient, uber powerful grand stallion of a dragon (what are boy dragons anyway?). Will Harry have help? I think he will – from not only Ron and Hermione, but also from Charlie Weasley, Viktor Krum (flyer extraordinaire) and perhaps from some others.

The earth horcrux – Helga Hufflepuff’s Cup, is associated, by virtue of its earth element, with wealth, a clue that leads me to think this one is hidden – well not qutie in plain sight, but perhaps somewhere we have heard of so often and haven’t given too much consideration – Gringott’s Wizarding Bank. As Hagrid says, “nowhere better to keep something saf than Gringott’s, except for perhaps Hogwarts, because you’d have to be crazy to try to steal something from it. We know from book 1 that Voldemort somehow has access to the Gringott’s underworld – I don’t begin to speculate – but I think this is where the goblin I mentioned believing will come into the story (in the Magical Friends post) makes his appearance. Besides Ron and Hermione, who else might help Harry – I’m drawn to the goblin, Bill Weasley (Gringott’s insider), and – yes – I think he makes a return – Ludo Bagman (his yellow and black striped Wasps uniform is too obviously Hufflepuffy for me to ignore).

Assuming these three are plausible, that leaves the Snake Nagini – Snake/Slytherin should be tied to water but I think Harry is likely to encounter Nagini and voldemort at the same time, in the final battle near the end of the book. Fire will appear as a set piece or an environment for the last of all battles we will see in the series. I’m not sure I beleive it will happen at Hogwarts, as lots of folks sugest, but I do think it will be a battle royale with ust about every good guy we’ve ever met and lots of fair to middlin ones as well in a rolling 3-5 chapter festival of spellwork winnowing down from a big crowd to a select few, which will include besides Harry, Ron and Hermione, the other 3 scrappy fighters – Luna, Ginny and Neville, an assortment of Order of the Phoenix members and – at the last – Fawkes who will replace Hedwig (after Voldemort has killed her) as Harry’s pet and emblem, symbol of his new role as rightful leader of the Order of the Phoenix.

Some further notes on people in their archetype – the colors and elements I’ve named above lead me to assign archetypes to a lot of characters – after re-readeing the books too many times. I’ll include that as an annex here. I want to emphasize that I believe a lot of people are sorted into houses which are different from their archetypes, but their archetype shows through. (I don’t mean for this to be exhaustive but it focuses on the characters I’ve been thinking appear in the horcrux battles)

Gryffendor, Red/Gold, Fire: Ron Weasley, Viktor Krum, Ginny Weasley, Hagrid, Fawkes
Ravenclaw, Blue/Canary, Air: Hermione Granger, Fleur DeLaCouer, Firenze, Fred and George Weasley, Madeye Moody
Hufflepuff, Yellow/Black, Earth: Neville Longbottom, Ludo Bagman, Molly Weasley
Slytherin, Green/Silver, Water: Harry Potter, Luna Lovegood, Dobby

How’s that for some crazy thinking?

1. Alexandra Says:
   October 16th, 2006 at 12:47 pm eMmm… I’ve already stated numerous times how I don’t think Nagini could be an Horcrux. Moreover, I see snakes tied to either earth or water (which would bring us back to Slytherin), certaintly not fire.I do love how you imagined the locket story to evolve, though: Kreacher would indeed be the optimal helper of RAB in his Horcrux-stealing expedition. And do we know if the house elf was that weird at the time of RAB? Sirius seems to treat him as if he always was a weirdo, but he could simply hate Kreacher for what he represents: the last remaining living testimony if how much he despised his family. Kreacher’s mind might very well have been fumbled by the awful potion DD drank in the cave: Dumbledore was seriously under after drinking it and he’s the greatest wizard of his time, the potion might have been fatal to other beings…

   I also like the Gingotts possibility.

2. Horcrux Citizen Says:
   October 16th, 2006 at 2:31 pm eThanks for adding your thoughts Alexandra – do you have a notion of what the fire/Gryffendor (or other) horcrux might be?
3. ch Says:
   October 25th, 2006 at 5:08 pm e2 horcruxes are destroyed
   1 is believed to be nagini that will be killed by harry
   another is the locket taken by regulus and kreacher and residing somewhere in the house of black
   the cup of hufflepuff is hidden some place. some of my ideas include room of requirement or hufflepuff desendants(z.smith? bones?) can sense it somehow.
   this leaves an object from ravenclaw. luna’s mom died in an “accidental” explosion durring her experiments. sounds too much like the the end of Mrs. smith of hafflepuff. my guess is voldemort was behind the death of luna’s mom and luna will tell harry something like. i recall my mom was kinda impartial to such and such object but we couldn’t find it after she died.
4. Horcrux City » For the Record Says:
   March 22nd, 2007 at 5:28 pm e[…] First – elements. In an earlier post I’ve already described elements, houses and color associations. To recap: element house color tarot suit prime elemental association (tarot suit meaning) Fire Gryffendor Red/Gold Swords Power Water Slytherin Green/Silver Cups Love Earth Hufflepuff Black/Yellow Coins (pentacles) Fortune/Wealth Air Ravenclaw Blue/brown Wands(clubs/sticks) Wisdom […]
5. Chris Says:
   April 20th, 2007 at 10:56 am eJust talking about elements representing each horcrux/house; swords are forged in fire, well at least old ones will have been…
6. Horcrux Citizen Says:
   April 20th, 2007 at 12:57 pm eIt is a good point, and the sword would fit the general “needs all elements” feel for completion in the final book – just as all elements were run through in books 1 and 4, not to mention that it would match the tarot suit (see the tarot post).
7. Chris Says:
   April 21st, 2007 at 9:33 am eSorry, what is that about the elements present in other books? Im new to this site =DAlso, I have heard of theorys saying Harry could be a horcrux… Any thoughts?
8. Horcrux Citizen Says:
   April 21st, 2007 at 1:17 pm eSorry, I didn’t mean to be confusing – besides this post, you’ll find more elaboration in these other two:Harry Potter Tarot and Elements Connection

   Horcruxes and Elements

9. Chris Says:
   June 5th, 2007 at 12:13 pm eJust read the 5th and 6th books again… when they are clearing out 12 Grimauld place, they find an old locket, and throw it away… unless Kreacher stowed it away with the other possessions, or gave it to narcissa or her sister when he left the house in the 5th book…
10. Horcrux Citizen Says:
    June 6th, 2007 at 3:55 pm eThe Grimauld Place locket is often mentioned together with RAB as Regulus Black – based on a JKR quote soon after book 6 was released – something to the effect that one of the horcruxes had been mentioned in the books and careful re-readers would probably find it. I’ll be as excited to learn the answer as you are.
11. Chris Says:
    June 7th, 2007 at 11:54 am eYeah.Im still intrigued by the thought that Gryfindors sword could be one though…

    … but if it was Dumbledore would have known this, and he would have told Harry.

12. Horcrux Citizen Says:
    June 11th, 2007 at 2:35 pm eI’m not so sure Chris, Dumbledore says something to the effect that Voldemort learned more of Hogwarts secrets than just about any other students – but generally, I’m not inclined to think it will turn out that Gryfendor’s sword is a horcrux, maybe a 1 in 8 chance would be my thinking.On the other hand, the cover art that has been released makes me much more confident that I’m on the right track – the most recent – the box art from the US “deluxe” edition has the trio riding a dragon, and the British edition cover art has been widely interpreted as being a Gringotts vault.

    I’m getting awfully excited about the release. I was planning on pacing myself through the six books one more time – I spent from maybe late March till recently slowly going through the first 4 books, but halfway through five I started acting like it was the first time I read them – hardly wanting to put them down, pushing through very quickly.

13. Chris Says:
    June 12th, 2007 at 4:32 am eHaha, yeah. I have just read through the last to, in reverse order.If it is a horcrux though, and has not been destroyed, surely Harry would not have been able to wheild it and destroy the basilisk? I know it is an inanimate object, but I think it still seems strange. I also wonder though, were did Dumbledore actually get the sword? What interest in it could he possibly have?
14. Horcrux Citizen Says:
    June 12th, 2007 at 9:27 am eGood question, but first a comment about the notion that Harry wouldn’t be able to wield it – why not? He was able to hold the diary without harm. I think the curse from the ring came not from touching it, but from the “magic” required to destroy the “horcrux essense” of the object and thereby the fragment of Voldemort’s soul contained.But on how Dumbledore came upon the sword and his interest, several thoughts occur. One is that the Potter’s (or Dumbledore) are Gryfendor’s descendents – they did live, after all, in Godric’s Hollow – perhaps that is James’ family home. Perhaps Voldemort knew the sword was there and intended that it be the horcrux vessel the night he killed James and Lilly. Another thought is that perhaps it had been kept in the hogwarts headmaster’s office from ancient times.
15. Chris Says:
    June 12th, 2007 at 12:35 pm eYeah, but on the note of the diary, Voldemorts soul possessed Ginny. I know it was because she put her emotions into it etc… but I would expect more from the sword…
16. Chris Says:
    July 24th, 2007 at 5:17 am eYES!I knew the sword wasn’t a horcrux ;]

    But that tiara, really was missleading introducing the new one, when it was in the room of requirment all along….

17. Horcrux Citizen Says:
    July 24th, 2007 at 3:53 pm eRight on Chris. Overall, I have to say I’m happy with my hit rate here. Definitely wrong on some counts but right enough times to make me happy. =)
18. Chris Says:
    July 25th, 2007 at 5:19 am eHaha, yeah. And going with the whole elements thing… Ravenclaws tower was the highest tower, and the Huppelpuff cup was right down in a vault… wonder if that was intentional??
19. Horcrux Citizen Says:
    July 25th, 2007 at 2:17 pm eI hadn’t thought about ravenclaw tower, but I have to think it was. How would I ever get JKR to answer that question?
20. Chris Says:
    July 31st, 2007 at 6:29 pm eHmmmm, well apparently an encyclopedia is coming out with everything in it, including stuff that didnt make it into the books…(I have so many questions, which i THOUGHT would have been answered in the last book)…
21. John Says:
    August 7th, 2007 at 11:31 pm eI would have sworn that Gryffindor tower was tallest!But, yeah. I was sure that Gryffindor’s sword wasn’t a horcrux.
22. Chris Says:
    August 20th, 2007 at 6:24 pm eRavenclaw is the tallest cos int that where they do astronomy??xx
23. John Says:
    December 9th, 2007 at 5:58 pm eRavenclaw is the tallest cos int that where they do astronomy??xx

    Uhh no. They do astronomy on the Astronomy Tower, funnily enough…

24. Horcrux Citizen Says:
    September 21st, 2008 at 9:58 pm eIn order to close the comments, I’m going to paste all the comments in the post body, I hate to do it but this post generates some 300+ spam comments daily.

I saw this on MuggleNet once and it really got me thinking…..JKRowling came up with the four Houses with a specific element in mind. (This is true, she really did do this, not a theory)
Gryffindor – Fire
Slytherin – Water
Hufflepuff – Earth
Ravenclaw – Wind

Considering that for the Horcruxes we have the piece in Voldy himself, the diary, the ring, the cup, the locket, nagini, and something of Ravenclaws’ (Yes Ravenclaw! Not something of Gryffindors cause Gryffindor already has a sword and if he gets the Horcurx too than Ravenclaw is left with nothing.)

Alrighty, so we have Slytherin’s Locket, and Sly’s element is water. And the location where the locket was hidden was very watery. In the cave, the blood tribute, the ocean, the lake, the potion.

therefore, it is believable that voldy hid Huffy’s Cup and Raven’s item in locations haveing to do with their respective elements, earth and wind.

Hufflepuff – As we know the Bones family is a long line of Hufflepuffs, and I have to double check my facts on this, but Amelia Bones is dead and I believe the last descendant is Susan Bones at Hogwarts with Harry. And since the Bones’s are such a huge line of Huffy’s it is believable that the cup is buried in the grave/earth of Amelia or another Bones relative. Likely protected by things like living trees and attacking roots, kinda like the maze in GoF. Maybe Susan Bones will hold the key to getting it.
Also, it is clearly stated that Voldy killed Amelia Bones HIMSELF. Now why would he risk coming out of hiding for this particular person? Maybe he knew that one of the last members of such a strong Hufflepuff ancestry would be able to retrieve the Hufflepuff Horcrux or maybe she knew something about it and Voldy had to make sure she was silenced.

Another theory is Zacharius Smith, a Hufflepuff at school with Harry, is theorized to be related to Hepzaba Smith, who is a direct descendant of Helga Hufflepuff. Therefore he could be related to Hufflepuff, so maybe he holds the key to retrieving the cup.

Ravenclaw – Element is wind. therefore it is very likely that her horcrux will be hidden in the sky. Protected by things such as that. Shouldnt be too hard for harry teh great flyer to get it down.
But what exactly is Ravenclaw’s Horcrux. I think it will either be her wand or a tiara. The wand has the attributes of her element, wind, being swished and flicked around. But Im leaning towards the tiara because the Grey Lady, the Raven House Ghost, is described as wearing a tiara. Also, in HBP Mrs. Weasley tells Fleur she can wear her great aunts old tiara for the wedding. and lastly, in HBP when harry is hiding the Potions book in the Room of Requierement, he hids it in a wardrobe and puts a bust on top and a tiara on top of the bust.

Well, these are just my opinions mixed in with MuggleNet.

To which I replied:

very well thought out and farther than I have gone in the houses-elements line. Fleur and the tiara fits with Jason’s thinking, which links her with Hufflepuff and Krum with Ravenclaw, which also makes a lot of sense with your wind analogy (maybe air is a better word, but I won’t argue).

What trips me up is this – water is the element of – LOVE. It’s main symbol – the moon – Is Luna Lovegood the true slytherin elemental archetype?

To summarize some of the most important disclosures to which we are made privy in Chamber of secrets:

• The Item is placed in the safekeeping of Lucius Malfoy
• The Item and the purpose to which Lucius wants to use it is known to his servant, Dobby
• The part of Tom Riddle’s consciousness (later we learn, his soul) contained within the item is capable of acting independently and of resuscitating itself
• Riddle’s consciousness in the diary knows his enemies, both those he knows in his youth (Hagrid, Dumbledore), and those he encounters as a somewhat more limited, Horcrux sustained consciousness (Harry, Fawkes)

How do these disclosures fit with where the story may be going? It is a widely circulated speculation that the RAB who wrote a note to the Dark Lord, found in the fake Slytherin locket, is another death eater – Regulus Black, Sirius’ brother. Having his own underlings, who fear their master, subvert and wreck Voldemort’s plans for immortality, would create a sharp contrast between their own unreliability and the simple devotion of Harry Potter’s allies. Another sharp contrast is that Voldemort selects his underlings, while Harry not only doesn’t select hsi allies, but often finds them frustrating, as well as underestimating their abilities (ex. Book 5 – Order of the Phoenix “If he could have chosen any members of the D.A. in addition to himself, Ron and Hermione to join him in the attempt to rescue Sirius, he would not have picked Ginny, Neville, or Luna.”), to say nothing of their strong devotion to him.

The Horcrux’s destruction: we, like Harry, do not receive an account of the destruction of the Horcrux aspect of Marvelo’s ring, but do see, with both, that it is not necessary to destroy the object in order to destroy the enchantment, and the part of voldemort’s soul preserved thereby. We do see, that Voldemort unwittingly provides the magical tools necessary to accomplish the destruction of the enchantment in his attempts to kill Harry Potter. Here again, I will be surprised if we do not see the parallel feature in book 7. He is too evil to not sow the seeds of his own destruction. And anyway, it would not make for such good reading if he failed to satisfy us that way.

Further contrasts we may expect to see, based on the spurious assumptions growing out of my reading of Book 2 in its significance as foreshadowing the climactic conclusion of the series. Just as Voldemort’s underlings let him down (fail to meet his impossibly high expectations?), one of them (Bellatrix perhaps?) will be undermined by his/her servant. The independent action of the bit of soul in one/more horcrux(es) may have the unintended consequence of its destruction. More? You tell Me!