Horcruxes
written by Sayan Sanyal
This book belongs to the willing.....
Last Updated
05/31/21
Chapters
10
Reads
1,181
Greed and Hepzibah's Cupcrux
Chapter 5
If, unlike Tom Riddle's diary, Peverell's ring has powers in its own right, might not the same be said of other treasured artefacts like Gryffindor's sword or Slytherin's locket, which are both Hogwarts Founders' items? It is possible that all the items of the Hogwarts Founders have magical power of some kind. Helga Hufflepuff chose loyal and hard working students for her house. Therefore, Hufflepuff's cup, a third Hogwarts founder's item, with "all sorts of powers' 32 might well be a much sought-after Cup of Plenty, the magical powers of which prosper the efforts of the holder. Meaning that even a very greedy owner, such as Hepzibah Smith, would always have sufficient income to enjoy the necessities of life.
Hepzibah Smith, the third Horcrux victim, owns a house-elf, lives comfortably, and has a collection of many artefacts, which she bought and sold through Borgin and Burke's where Merope's son had started work. But Hepzibah is so greedy for more prestigious treasures that she is willing to pay a fortune for another Founder's item, Slytherin's locket, however unethically the greedy Caractacus Burke made this item available to her. Now the Locket accompanies Hufflepuff's cup in her collection.
Hepzibah liked keeping her treasures safe, without investigating too closely what each trophy might do, let alone put it to good use. Instead, she would hoard them in boxes and cupboards. She then trotted them out to show visitors, such as the personably polite sales assistant, bearing a flattering bouquet of flowers, whose "greedy expression was curiously mirrored" 33 on her own face when they admired Hufflepuff's cup together. Surely she reflects greed clearly with such actions, but it was a mistake for Hepzibah to show Slytherin's locket to Tom Riddle Jnr., Slytherin's last remaining descendant.
Hepzibah was gleeful that she inherited the cup, even though other relatives descended from Helga Hufflepuff might also have claimed it. The money Hepzibah paid to satisfy her greed for an additional founder's item might have enabled Caractacus Burke to retire on the profits he made. Who then was greediest? Hepzibah for hoarding these treasures for herself? Or Voldemort, who killed Hepzibah with rat poison, inadvertently administered by her house-elf Hokey, in a mean return for the hospitality Hepzibah showed him. He then stole, not only the locket, but also the cup and then turned Hepzibah's own rightful possession into the Cupcrux.
At some stage, Voldemort entrusts this Cupcrux to Bellatrix. She keeps it in an enchanted Gringott's vault in its deepest bowels among her treasure hoard. The trio's successful extraction of this ill-gotten gain from Gringotts is assisted by the goblin Griphook, who greedily but erroneously claims as his price Gryffindor's Sword because it was originally goblin-made, whatever the money Godric Gryffindor originally paid for it. Despite Gringotts reputation for being impregnable and the dire warning about greed on its threshold,34 the trio succeeds.
When she started school at Hogwarts, Hermione had been greedy for the sort of academic success and recognition which would impress her parents. But throughout the series, Hermione tempers her greed to be the dux of the class, by recognising other priorities and by becoming an indispensable friend to Harry and Ron. Hermione also shows true generosity of heart when she campaigns to set free oppressed house-elves, sacrifices skiing holidays, or gets her parents to forget she exists, when she sends them to safety in Australia so she is free to help Harry to fight Voldemort.
According to Ron, it is only fair that the normally temperate Hermione, who often advises restraint and caution, is the most suitable person to destroy the Cupcrux. The relationship between the theft performed by Lord Voldemort, the temperate Hermione, the Cup of Plenty itself, and even the Gringotts vault it was held in, suggests Hepzibah's true significance as the murdered but greedy victim. When he killed her, Voldemort's own bit of soul was torn off by jaws of greed to complete the Cupcrux theme.
Hepzibah Smith, the third Horcrux victim, owns a house-elf, lives comfortably, and has a collection of many artefacts, which she bought and sold through Borgin and Burke's where Merope's son had started work. But Hepzibah is so greedy for more prestigious treasures that she is willing to pay a fortune for another Founder's item, Slytherin's locket, however unethically the greedy Caractacus Burke made this item available to her. Now the Locket accompanies Hufflepuff's cup in her collection.
Hepzibah liked keeping her treasures safe, without investigating too closely what each trophy might do, let alone put it to good use. Instead, she would hoard them in boxes and cupboards. She then trotted them out to show visitors, such as the personably polite sales assistant, bearing a flattering bouquet of flowers, whose "greedy expression was curiously mirrored" 33 on her own face when they admired Hufflepuff's cup together. Surely she reflects greed clearly with such actions, but it was a mistake for Hepzibah to show Slytherin's locket to Tom Riddle Jnr., Slytherin's last remaining descendant.
Hepzibah was gleeful that she inherited the cup, even though other relatives descended from Helga Hufflepuff might also have claimed it. The money Hepzibah paid to satisfy her greed for an additional founder's item might have enabled Caractacus Burke to retire on the profits he made. Who then was greediest? Hepzibah for hoarding these treasures for herself? Or Voldemort, who killed Hepzibah with rat poison, inadvertently administered by her house-elf Hokey, in a mean return for the hospitality Hepzibah showed him. He then stole, not only the locket, but also the cup and then turned Hepzibah's own rightful possession into the Cupcrux.
At some stage, Voldemort entrusts this Cupcrux to Bellatrix. She keeps it in an enchanted Gringott's vault in its deepest bowels among her treasure hoard. The trio's successful extraction of this ill-gotten gain from Gringotts is assisted by the goblin Griphook, who greedily but erroneously claims as his price Gryffindor's Sword because it was originally goblin-made, whatever the money Godric Gryffindor originally paid for it. Despite Gringotts reputation for being impregnable and the dire warning about greed on its threshold,34 the trio succeeds.
When she started school at Hogwarts, Hermione had been greedy for the sort of academic success and recognition which would impress her parents. But throughout the series, Hermione tempers her greed to be the dux of the class, by recognising other priorities and by becoming an indispensable friend to Harry and Ron. Hermione also shows true generosity of heart when she campaigns to set free oppressed house-elves, sacrifices skiing holidays, or gets her parents to forget she exists, when she sends them to safety in Australia so she is free to help Harry to fight Voldemort.
According to Ron, it is only fair that the normally temperate Hermione, who often advises restraint and caution, is the most suitable person to destroy the Cupcrux. The relationship between the theft performed by Lord Voldemort, the temperate Hermione, the Cup of Plenty itself, and even the Gringotts vault it was held in, suggests Hepzibah's true significance as the murdered but greedy victim. When he killed her, Voldemort's own bit of soul was torn off by jaws of greed to complete the Cupcrux theme.
