Clues
14The muttering at the Quidditch match
During Harry’s first match, Snape looks as if he is cursing the broom. The book later shows he was holding Quirrell’s jinx back.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
The diary that writes back
Tom Riddle’s diary possesses Ginny and opens the Chamber. Years later it is the pattern for every other Horcrux: a hiding place for a piece of a soul, destroyed only by something that ruins it beyond repair.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets · Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The rat who slept in Ron’s bed
Ron’s rat Scabbers is Peter Pettigrew. The rat has been hiding in the Weasley family since he faked his death and left Sirius to Azkaban.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
The professor who drinks from a flask
The Alastor Moody who teaches fourth year is Barty Crouch Jr, kept alive by Polyjuice. The flask, the paranoia, and the way he steers Harry through the Tournament are the disguise.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
The cabinet that vanishes what you put in it
A vanishing cabinet in Borgin and Burkes has a partner at Hogwarts. Draco spends a year mending that pair so Death Eaters can walk into the castle.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets · Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix · Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The mirror Sirius gives Harry
Sirius gives Harry a two-way mirror and tells him to use it if he needs him. Harry does not open it in time. A shard of it is how Aberforth watches him in the last book.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix · Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
The ring that withers Dumbledore’s hand
The Gaunt ring is both a Horcrux and the Resurrection Stone. Dumbledore finds it, puts it on, and the curse in it kills him on a delay. Harry only learns the second identity at the end.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince · Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
The locket nobody could open
Slytherin’s locket passes through a cave, through Regulus and Kreacher, through Grimmauld Place, and through Umbridge’s neck before Ron destroys it. The note signed R.A.B. is the middle of that trail, not the start.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix · Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince · Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
The diadem on the bust
Rowena Ravenclaw’s diadem is a Horcrux sitting in the Room of Requirement. Harry has already used it as a marker for his Potions book, without knowing what it was.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince · Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
The cup in the Lestrange vault
Hepzibah Smith shows Tom Riddle Helga Hufflepuff’s cup. He kills her for it. The cup spends the last book in Bellatrix’s vault, and Hermione destroys it with a basilisk fang.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince · Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
The snake who is a Horcrux
Nagini is not only Voldemort’s companion. She carries a piece of his soul, which is why Neville has to kill her before Voldemort can be finished.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire · Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince · Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
The scar as a Horcrux
Harry’s scar, his Parseltongue, and the nights he sees through Voldemort’s eyes are one fact: a piece of Voldemort’s soul attached itself to him when the killing curse rebounded.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone · Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets · Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix · Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
The Snitch Dumbledore leaves Harry
The first Snitch Harry ever caught is returned to him in Dumbledore’s will. It opens only in his mouth, at the close, and the Resurrection Stone is inside.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone · Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
The cloak that does not wear out
Harry’s invisibility cloak is a family object from his father, and in the last book it is named as the cloak of the Deathly Hallows. Readers still disagree about whether that identity was fixed when the cloak first appeared.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone · Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows