Horcrux cave
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The Horcrux cave was the cave where Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter traveled to in the spring of 1997, in search of Salazar Slytherin's Locket, which was one of Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes. It was a seaside cave located somewhere in Britain.
[edit] Early History
Before he became Lord Voldemort, Tom Marvolo Riddle once visited this cave, with his orphanage. During the trip he had terrorized fellow orphans Amy Benson and Dennis Bishop in this cave.
[edit] Horcrux hiding place
Voldemort later decided to use this cave as a location for one of his Horcruxes (Salazar Slytherin's Locket). Upon storing the locket in the cave, Voldemort set up a large number of complex enchantments, designed to keep others out but still allow him access to the Horcrux, should he desire to visit or remove it.
- He placed a spell on the cave so that it was impossible to Apparate inside it (though ineffective against house-elf magic, as Voldemort underestimated them).
- A smaller entrance was made: a door which required a blood sacrifice to open. According to Dumbledore, this was due to a common misconception by Voldemort that physical pain would weaken a person entering the chamber.
- An Inferi-infested lake separated the entrance of the cave from the Horcrux. Any attempt to use a Summoning Charm to get the Horcrux would cause an Inferi to leap out of the water to block the spell's effect. If the water is disturbed, the Inferi would emerge and attempt to drag the intruder into the water to drown, where they would become Inferi upon death. The Inferi would be frightened off by warmth and light.
- The Horcrux was placed on an island in the middle of the lake. To get there, one had to find an invisible boat anchored to the cavern wall. The boat was enchanted so that only one wizard of age could be transported in it. This once again shows Voldemort's ignorance, as he did not expect any underage wizard would attempt such feats.
- The Horcrux itself was in a basin filled with a potion that could not be touched, vanished, transfigured, or charmed; the only way to dispose of it was to drink it. Once drunk, though, it caused the drinker to see "terrible things", experience almost unbearable burning in one's insides, and induced dehydration. If the drinker still had strength left after consuming the potion, he would be unable to drink water that did not come from the lake; upon disturbing the water an army of Inferi would rise from the lake and attempt to kill him.
Despite all of these defences, Harry and Dumbledore successfully retrieved a fake version of Slytherin’s locket planted by Regulus Black and the house-elf Kreacher, who also passed the defences, and switched the real locket with the fake one, though Regulus fell to the Inferi Lake before he could escape and became one of the Inferi of the lake.
[edit] Appearances
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (First appearance)
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film) (First appearance)
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Appears in vision(s))
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I (Appears in vision(s))
