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Who is R.A.B. and where is Slytherin's Locket?

by David Haber

In the dramatic climax of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore and Harry recover a locket from Voldemort's secret cave. Only after Dumbledore "dies" does Harry open the locket and find the note from R.A.B. But who is R.A.B., and where is the locket now?

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Reader Comments: (Page 54)

I think RAB might be for "rufus and bertie", it states at the beginning of book 6 that they hunted nogtails together. Even though I submit this, I still belive that regulus is the most likely person to fit the initials. By the way, what exactly is a nogtail?

Posted by Oscar from IL on July 1, 2007 1:16 PM

My bet is Slughorn had something to do with RAB stealing the locket...Slughorn was potions master at Hogwarts but Snape joined the staff as potions master in 1981 I think (using dates from the Harry Potter lexicon - assuming he started at the beginning of the school year...he might have started earlier...but definitely some time between overhearing the prophecy in late 1979/early 1980 and September 1981) This implies that Slughorn must have left around the same time. Did he just retire or was there some other reason? Regulus left Hogwarts in June 1979. He s around the time Harry was born (July 1981) and he had taken the horcrux by then... I think he knew about the prophecy (from the wording of the note.."when you meet your match" not IF you meet your match) in which case he stole the horcrux between Oct 1979 and July 1980. Slughorn leaves Hogwarts around this time. We don't know what he does in the intervening years but he then goes into hiding pretty smartly after Voldemort returns (he says to Harry that he's been in hiding a year at the beginning of HBP) so he definitely doesn't want the eaters to find him....and so must have reason to think that they might come looking for him.
Perhaps he was the one who leaked the secret about Voldemort's interest in horcruxes? Or perhaps he had something to do with an antidote to the potion in the cave? All speculation...but there's definitely something suspicious about Slughorn...did Dumbledore want him to stay at Hogwarts to protect him? What has he got to hide?

Posted by Joe from England on July 3, 2007 4:40 PM

I just read an editorial, that said Tonks probably inherited her metamorphagus ability from a past family member. The writer suggested it may've been her mother, Andromeda. I've 2 ideas regarding RAB.
Firstly (a bit of a stretch) could it be R. Andromeda Black? I was thinking R could stand for something other than a name.
Secondly, if Tonks did indeed inherit her metamorphagus ability genetically, are there others in the Black family? Perhaps Regulus also had the ability, perhaps not as good, and did not in fact , but simply changed. Although Dumbledore only mentions hiding Draco witness protection style in the US HBP, JKR still thought of this and wrote it, perhaps she edited it out as she thought it would give too much away?

Posted by mmc from sa, australia on July 4, 2007 10:27 PM

Wouldn't Sirius or Tonks have mentioned it if Regulus was a metamorphmagus? It would be a hard thing to hide when growing up.

Posted by Joe from England on July 6, 2007 04:50 AM

How could Regulus be alive if Kreature fell into Harry's possession as Dumbledore proved in HBP? If Regulus were alive he would own 12 Grimmauld Place and Kreature. Also, it couldn't have been Regulus and his uncle who stole the horcrux because Dumbledore tells Harry that only one wizard of age can cross in the boat at one time. Regulus was ed after leaving Hogwarts so it stands to reason that he was of age when he visited the cave. This is all, of course, assuming that R.A.B. is Regulus (which I believe he is).

Posted by Ari from Cincinnati, Ohio on July 6, 2007 10:18 AM

ari: regulus could have told kreature to obey anybody so thats how kreature could obey harry. also, regulus or whoever he was with in the cave could be an anigmus and thats how they could get into the boat.

Posted by david from gryffindor house on July 6, 2007 1:33 PM

Maybe Regulus could have told Kreature to obey anyone...but he wouldn't obey Tonks...and also...doesn't get around the question of the enchantments on 12 Grimmauld Place...I think Regulus is definitely .

Posted by Joe from England on July 7, 2007 03:15 AM

I don't think Regulus is still alive, I think he was ed after he stole the locket, as told in the letter in the fake locket. We don't know when he d, and when the locket was stolen, so it could be possible. And I think Kreacher has the locket, commanded by Regulus to keep it and never to give it to the Dark Lord.

Posted by Mirte from Gouda, Holland on July 7, 2007 09:16 AM

Here is my take on what happened:
Regulus took Kreacher along years ago to get the locket. How he found out about it I don't know, but from his note he thought it was the only Horcrux. He forced Kreacher to drink the potion. Then he took Kreacher and the locket home.
Regulus was hunted down and ed. Years passed. The house became the HQ for the Order. The locket is mentioned briefly during the cleaning of the house as "a heavy gold locket none of them could open." The following year, it was stolen by Mundungus Fletcher and sold. This explains the reason for that scene, because right now it doesn't seem to have much of a purpose, and JKR writes nothing without a purpose. We do not currently know who bought the locket, but there are a few guesses.
1. Borgin and Burkes
2. Belatrix Lestrange, who would buy it or still it seeing it as Black property and therefore her own.
3. The Malfoys? (very iffy, but they do like gold and silver)

Posted by Connor K from Rigby, ID on July 7, 2007 9:02 PM

Does anyone think the Dumbledore is a metamorph and transformed into Aberforth? I mean, no one really talks about Aberforth and only Dumbledore has ever mentioned him so it might be a complete trick. Aberforth might not even exist!

Posted by Alex from St. Catharines on July 8, 2007 11:07 AM

Alex: apparently, Aberforth is the bartender at Hog's Head. That means he's always there at opening times. It would be very difficult for Dumbledore to be visible at Hog's Head all day long and fulfill his headmaster's duty.

Besides that, I think Dumbledore is a metapmorph and that Filch doesn't exist, Dumbledore and Filch being in fact the same person. I can find a lot of reasons for that and although it seems farfetched, no reason to make it impossible.

Posted by herve from strasbourg on July 9, 2007 01:16 AM

R. and B. stand for Regulus Black. In the 5th Book while they're cleaning out everything in Sirius' house they find a locket that no one can open.

Also i've been reading some of these comments about Aberforth. Dumbledore says something somewhere about knowing the barman in the Hog's Head really well...and Harry says he looks very familiar.

And about Snape ing Dumbledore. I dont think it was an imperius. I just got done re-reading the 6th book and it says that Snape and Dumbledore had argued about something. Snape said he didnt want to do something and Dumbledore told him he had to and that there was no choice. So im guessing that he knew Snape was going to have to him.

And Dumbledore can still talk to them all seeing as how his portraits in the headmaster/headmistress' office. If all the others can talk so can his.

Posted by Lyssa from Oklahoma on July 9, 2007 04:49 AM

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