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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 57)

I also agree that R.A.B. is most likely Regulus Black, though I like the theory of it being Amelia Bones. As for whether or not Regulus is now . People have been pointing to the fact that the house passed to Harry's possession after Sirius d, which would not be possible if Regulus was still alive (the house would pass to Regulus as "Black family tradition decreed that the house was handed down the direct line, to the next male with the name of Black" HBP p. 50). However, Dumbledore also states that Sirius left Harry the house in his . So it may be possible that this overrides the "tradition" of the previous Black family members and therefore Regulus may still be alive and in hiding. Of course its also totally possible that he is as as Dumbledore appears to be. Only 6 more days till we find out for sure!

Posted by Megan from Boston, MA on July 14, 2007 10:19 PM

We are left at the end of Harry and the Half-Blood Prince with the following clue:

"To the Dark Lord
I know I be long before you read this
but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret.
I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can.
I face in the hope that when you meet your match,
you be mortal once more.
R. A. B."

By reaching the following conclusions, I can definitely say that R.A.B is actually REGULUS BLACK, Sirius�s younger brother:-

1. His note addresses the Dark Lord a term used by Eater's. Regulus was a Eater who turned on Voldemort and was eventually destroyed by him or his followers.

2. The Eaters knew about the Horcruxes as Voldemort said in the graveyard in GOF to his Eaters: "And I asked myself, but how could they have believed I would not rise again? They, who knew the steps I took, long ago, to guard myself against mortal ?"

3. Regulus's middle name could be Alphard - named after his uncle. Other wizard characters are named after same gender family names like Harry James Potter and Tom Marvolo Riddle.

4. A locket that nobody could open was found at 12 Grimmauld Place and was discarded. It can be that Regulus had hidden the locket in the house of Black. It is thought either Kreacher took it with other items (Horcruxes) or perhaps Mundungus stole it.

5. Regulus removed the Horcrux with Kreacher who being an elf with limited magical powers was able to join Regulus in the one-wizard boat, but two people were required to drink the poison liquid. Regulus wrote "I" have stolen the real Horcrux, because he didn't respect his accomplice as an elf enough to be credit him.

Posted by Riddhi Takyar from New Delhi on July 15, 2007 07:40 AM

Interesting that Mundungus Fletcher was not seen in the latest movie... The family tree was, however, as was Kreacher which supprised me after a distinct lack of Dobby and Winky in the movies, save film 2.

I would be supprised if the mystery RAB was not already mentioned in the the books and also the films which filters the possibilities further...

Posted by Dave Allonby from Manchester, UK on July 15, 2007 07:57 AM

What if Regulus was not ed by a Eater. The act of destroying the horcrux in the locket may have done it. Remember Dumbledore's hand. Dumbledore was a more experienced wizard than Regulus, and he was lucky not to have d when he destroyed the horcrux in the ring. Regulus whould have made Kreacher take a vow of silence and return with the "" locket to Grummald Place. Beside drinking the original potion in the basin, seeing one of his masters ed would really have sent Kreacher over the edge. Harry needs to have a talk with Kreacher to find out what he really knows as secrets, since Harry is his master now.

Posted by Anonymous on July 15, 2007 2:23 PM

Everyone speaks of 'hiding' the locket. As long as the locket exists, it serves it's purpose for Voldemort, wherever it resides. I would think Regulus would have sought to destroy the horcrux posthaste, before it got lost again.

Posted by ch from fort collins, co on July 15, 2007 2:30 PM

I think if the horcrux had been destroyed, assuming the locket found at Grimmauld place is THE locket, they would have been able to open it. Because they were unable to open it I think Regulus had no time to destroy the horcrux before he was ed.

Posted by Joe from England on July 15, 2007 4:28 PM

I think that R.A.B. is definitely Regulus Black, and I think he is not one of the bad guys. In his note, he obviously hoped that when Voldy met his match, he would be mortal, which means he would if someone tried to him. I bet that the real locket is destroyed, so there are only three horcruxes to go. But the real question for me is, why did R.A.B. put a fake locket at the bottom of the bowl? Why didn't he just say that it was destroyed?

Posted by Emily Davis from Santa Fe, New Mexico on July 15, 2007 5:07 PM

I don't think Regulus is R.A.B. Why would Regulus try to the Dark Lord if he was one of his supporters? Was he a Eater just so he could get information about the Dark Lord's plans? If so, did the Dark Lord find out and him for it? But then again, Regulus is a member of the Black family, and he wasn't burned off the tree. So he probably was a loyal supporter to the Dark Lord.

Posted by Alisa from MI on July 15, 2007 7:50 PM

I don't have the book in front of me, but Sirius, amoung others, told Harry that Regulus was a supporter of Voldy, but Regulus panicked when Voldemort asked him to do something. I'm wondering if Voldemort had told him to Sirius.

I believe R.A.B. faked his and is still alive and working with the Order as Mundungus, except that Sirius seemed quite matter-of-fact about it when he told Harry. (While they were looking at the tapestry.) If anyone would know, it ought to be Sirius.

Posted by ch from ft. collins, co on July 16, 2007 1:51 PM

My feeling is that Regulus turned against Voldemort because he found out Voldemort was a half-blood...going against the whole Black family belief system...interesting that Bellatrix Lestrange's remark to Harry in the Department of Mysteries ("you dare to say his name...you filthy halfblood) or words to that effect, features in the movie.

Posted by Joe from England on July 16, 2007 2:29 PM

I have wondered about the name " Eater". Are Eaters somehow involved in the making of a horcrux. Do they desire to emulate Voldemort, and make their own horcrux?
Is Voldemort the ultimate and original Eater?
I wonder if Bella, apparently Voldemort's current favorite, knows of his horcruxes.
RAB could have witnessed the making of the locket horcrux, or played some role in making it, and thus knew the secret. We don't know enough about his involvement with the Eaters to judge his motives or abilities. All we know of him comes from some casual comments by Sirius, who, for his own protection, might have been kept in the dark by Regulus.
We don't know why the making of a horcrux is considered so evil that any reference to it has been removed from Hogwarts.
If Regulus was involved in making Voldemort's locket horcrux, maybe the process was so evil, it opened his eyes to what he had let himself in for. So he turned from the Eaters, not knowing of the other horcruxes, and tried to atone for his part in the evilness.
I can't think of a reason that he would replace the locket with a fake one, but it is a great story telling device -- Harry now knows what was supposed to be in the basin in the cave.

Posted by Patty from Qiuncy MA on July 16, 2007 4:31 PM

I think that it MIGHT be Regulus. I just read all 57 pages of comments and in one someone said that in GoF it says that the bloody baron is a Gaunt. so far in my rereading of that book i havent found it. the closest i found was a description of the Bloody Baron mentioning gaunt as a describing word. if anyone knows, let me know please. Furthermore, has anyone besides me wondered if maybe harry is a desendent of Griffindor? wasnt James a pure-blood? and in the first book when at the mirror of erised doesnt it mention something about an old man? that part just jumped at me and since then i have been wondering how that is. is it possible that harry is related to Dumbledore? Also as i lay in bed reading GoB last night i came across a mentioning of the Lovegoods. this suprised me since the fifth book is really the only introduction of them. so if we went by JK introducing important people a book before they come into play then i would say it is regulus. Because at the same part they mention Boderick Bode, who we meet in OotF. if anyone wants to know where that last bit is its when the Weaslys and Hp and Hermione meet up with Cedrick and Amos Diggory on the way to the world cup. I, however, am not so sure about the idea that Kreature was the one to accompony the Regulus, or that mudungus is regulus. i think that maybe regulus was accomponied by a fellow eater gone good (i.e. Karkaroff) one of them being animangus, and when Regulus d from the potion he hid the locket and karkaroff then went to azkaban. also there was a comment by patty from Quincy, Mass. very enlightening comment btw. and i think that she was ont he right track. We know of only one artifact of Griffindors the sword. but, isnt it believed that the hat was also his? i remember that from one of the books though im not sure which. so how did a sword fit in a hat and stay in a hat when the hat is used once a year? i think that is the BEST place to hide a horcrux, and i dont think it too farfetched that riddle found the sword and managed to get a horcrux in the sword. since the hat is magical, isnt it likely that it hide the magic of the horcrux? we know of Hufflepuffs cup, and slytherins locket. but could he have found a wand of Ravenclaws? it is very possible.

Posted by garth from Wisconsin on July 16, 2007 9:44 PM

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