**Spoilers Lord Voldemorts Request **

[gbogbo]

If I were a betting man I would put money on the brass knocker to Dumbledore’s office being a relic also.

In fact if you were asked to describe Dumbledore’s office door, when lined up with other doors, you might describe it as the “Griffin Door.” The knocker would be the “Griffin Door Knocker.” We do know how JKR likes to play with words. As with many of JKR’s clues the Griffin door knocker was introduced early in the series, CoS, received one mention in GoF (just as a brass knocker), but received at three mentions in OotP and one mention (just as a brass knocker) in HBP.

BRILLIANT!!!!

Wow, Glumbumble, that is genius. Exactly the sort of "hiding in plain sight" that we should expect. I had been thinking of Tom Riddle's silver cup, but the brass knocker makes more sense.

The mention that the sword is the only "known" artifact of Godric Griffindor's is just too much of a tease.

It is now notable that both of the memories revealed in "Lord Voldemort's Request" begin with references to doorbells and door knockers:

Memory 1:
"A tinkling doorbell rang and both mistress and elf jumped."

Memory 2:
"The younger Dumbledore seemed to be waiting for something, and sure enough, moments after their arrival, there was a knock on the door and he said 'Enter.'"

...AND NOW THE TWITCH HAS MEANING!!!

"Voldemort stood up ...

For a second, Harry was on the verge of shouting a pointless warning: He was sure that Voldemort's hand had twitched toward his pocket and his wand; but then the moment had passed, Voldemort had turned away, the door was closing, and he was gone."

This scene must have taken place just at the door as Voldemort stood up to depart. It could make sensing that Voldemort was, in fact, making a horcrux of the knocker at that moment!

 

[Alz]

I think that Dumbledore is right that Tom did not expect to get a teaching post at the school and, indeed, he was not attending an interview. Although Dumbledore knew that Tom would be calling and may have guessed that Tom might wish to discuss the job we read;



Dumbledore and Tom had not met to discuss the DADA post.

I think that Tom wished to discuss the option of teaching at Hogwarts mainly to learn how much Dumbledore knew about the things he, Tom, had been doing. I am sure that he would have liked to return to Hogwarts not only because of the opportunities of finding relics of the founders but also for finding places to hide relics once they had been made into Horcruxes but he knew it was unlikely.
Hagrid told Harry that there was no safer place than Gringots, except Hogwarts, and for someone who additionally could open the Chamber of Secrets it would be difficult to find somewhere safer.
If I were to consider any creature that we have been introduced to in the series that I would feel safe in making into a Horcrux it would have been the Basilisk, well before CoS that is.
As, perhaps, the most prominent Gryffindor we have be told of Dumbledore was the most likely to have a Gryffindor relic in his possession.
In terms of relics of Godric Gryffindor, Dumbledore says that there was only one known, the sword, but we also know of the sorting hat, which JKR has said is not a Horcrux.
If I were a betting man I would put money on the brass knocker to Dumbledore’s office being a relic also.

In fact if you were asked to describe Dumbledore’s office door, when lined up with other doors, you might describe it as the “Griffin Door.” The knocker would be the “Griffin Door Knocker.” We do know how JKR likes to play with words. As with many of JKR’s clues the Griffin door knocker was introduced early in the series, CoS, received one mention in GoF (just as a brass knocker), but received at three mentions in OotP and one mention (just as a brass knocker) in HBP.

Have to agree with the last poster - that is a fantastic observation!
That is just the kind of clue JKR would drop and then tease us with!
Even if it isnt right - still pretty cool word play!

 

[Ravenclaw]

I have been toying with the theory that Tom visited Hogwarts (on the false pretenses of requesting a job) for two reasons...

#1: I believe that he planted a (if not more than one) horcrux in the school for Safe Keeping - Haggarid tells Harry in Book #1 (when refering to storing money/stones at Gringots) No safer place than Gringots, except perhaps Hogwarts.

#2: I also think that Tom was "feeling Dumbledore out" to see how much he knew or suspected about what he was up to and to perhaps see if he could try to bully or intimidate Dumbledore in some way...measuring him up to see how big of an obstacle DD was going to be to LV as he started to "take over".

 

[serophis]

Alright, stay with me here...We know that Riddle said he would not be able to reopen the Chamber while in school; it would be too suspicious. We also know from the existence of the Diary and Gaunt ring that he knew how to make Horcruxes, and we know that he had committed a good deal of murders by then.

I feel that his original intention was to get the job, so as to eventually reopen the Chamber, and hide a Horcrux inside. Who knows what it was; think of it: according to Book 3, someone (can't remember who) says that Harry was probably the only parseltongue other than Tom that had been in Hogwarts since Salazar Slytherin, and that was centruies ago (not to mention, the only reason Harry is a parseltongue is as a direct result of Voldemort being one as well, so it isn't even as common as two every millenium). It could be centuries before someone else with the ability to open the Chamber came along--and even if they did, who's to say they're going to go around the castle randomly speaking Parseltongue to the bathroom faucets? The Horcrux could be safely concealed forever.

But when Voldemort knew he wouldn't be able to teach in Hogwarts, he knew this plan was off the table. He was no match for Dumbledore at that time, and he knew it. He also knew that Dumbledore kept his eye on Tom very closely, making sneaking in just about impossible.

So instead, Voldemort placed a horcrux in the most obvious place. Want something to stay hidden? Put it right in front of people so they'll never expect it. Remember when Tom's hand twitched in DD's office after being turned down the job, as if reaching for his wand? We know that LV is very fond of doing powerful magic without wands...his orders to "Tell the Truth!" and the like were done very effectively before he had ever held a wand.

But wouldn't Dumbledore, who sees the smallest trace of magic, sense something was up? Not by reading LV's mind...As good of a Legimens as LV was, DD would have to be specifically searching for something to figure out what was going on. And as far as traces...Not only did the Diary stay hidden in the castle during the entire 1992-93 school year without Dumbledore noticing; Dumbledore also went into the cave in search of the Locket, and even before being weakened by the potion, looked right at a suspected Horcrux and had no idea that it was a fake. I don't think that Horcruxes are easily detectable, and I think that's what makes them so difficult to find.

I think that we can't dismiss the fact that the Sword may be a Horcrux. Dumbledore dismissed it so fast we never had a chance to ask ourselves whether it might be or not. It was a candidate in our minds as we read, and suddenly, before we started to really contemplate whether or not the sword might be a Horcrux, DD immediately puts our fears at ease saying that it could not possibly be a horcrux. But from the Diary and the Locket, we know very clearly that Dumbledore isn't as good at detecting Horcruxes as he thinks.