If an Albanian peasant suits Ravenclaw's diadem then why does a Muggle tramp's murder suit Slytherin's locket? Recall that Voldemort's maternal relatives, who considered themselves to be the pure-blood betters of the Riddles, lived no better than tramps. When he visited the Riddle House, Voldemort could draw envious comparisons between it and his mother's home. And surely Voldemort was thinking about destitute and depressed Merope Gaunt in association with her locket, as well as his own Muggle orphanage background, whilst envying wealthy pure-blood wizards like Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange49 or Hepzibah Smith.

In making the Locketcrux, did Voldemort kill the first Muggle tramp he met after he took the locket from Hepzibah, or was it a more destitute and depressed tramp he met later? The locket is arguably the object he prizes above all, and was in his possession long before he made Kreacher drink the poisonous green potion in the cave.50 Maybe the locket's story even expresses the rancorous loss Voldemort feels because of his mother, since by killing his father Voldemort avenged the shabby treatment she received. The locket was to change hands repeatedly. Did the Muggle tramp also hold it for a while, forcing Voldemort to take it back? Perhaps, much as Hepzibah had unwarily dangled the locket in front of Voldemort, himself, Voldemort disdainfully flaunted this locket in front of the tramp's envious gaze before dispatching him in cold contempt.

Hepzibah Smith mentioned that the locket has "all kinds of powers attributed to it' 51 but what were they? Since Salazar Slytherin was known for his emphasis on pure blood, did the locket endow respect, popularity or social status? Or could the locket have endowed suitable opportunities for its owner? What benefit did Merope get from wearing the locket when she yearned for Tom Riddle Snr., so handsome that her dying wish for her newborn son is that he will resemble his father?52 Merely wearing Slytherin's locket does not seem to secure Merope her eventual husband's regard, nor would it stop her being cheated by Caractacus Burke.

Morfin highlights how Tom Riddle would have preferred Cecilia to Merope, jeering: " ˜Darling', he called her. So he wouldn't have you, anyway." 53 Nobody knows how poor Merope must have felt when Tom Riddle and Cecilia rode by, and it is not hard to imagine that Merope dreamed of being in Cecilia's shoes, rather than living with her two obnoxiously bad-tempered menfolk with their anti-Muggle agenda. No doubt Merope envied Cecilia intensely because she had the looks, the clothes, the background and the attention that Merope craved. No wonder then that Merope slipped love potion into Tom Riddle Snr.'s drink, fearing that he would never notice her otherwise. And Merope's feelings of rejection and envy would certainly be akin to the feelings of the Muggle tramp killed to make the Locketcrux, by her bitterly envious son.

Certainly the insidiously depressing effects of the Locketcrux on other bearers suggests some sort of psychological link between how people think others see them and how closely they resemble Slytherin's self-interested world view of a low-status and powerless Muggle tramp. Regulus left a fake locket in the basin, before the Inferi killed him54 because he resented the mistreatment visited on his family's house-elf by envious Voldemort who had commandeered Kreacher to drink poisonous green potion. Did the continuing presence of the real Locketcrux subtly affect Sirius, cooped up in Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, by causing him to envy Snape's freedom and long for the carefree days before he went to Azkaban? By contrast, Dolores Umbridge, who rejoices in high rank and cruel domination of others, suffers no ill effects from wearing the Locketcrux, which she falsely uses to boost her claims to pure-blooded kinship with the Death Eater, Selwyn.

The trio do notice how the Locketcrux affects them, as they take turns in wearing it. They begin to doubt each other, Harry's leadership in particular, even though he, too, is affected by hunger and their other difficulties. Unlike Umbridge, Harry is unable to cast a Patronus whilst wearing the Locketcrux. Eventually the locket, playing on Ron's own envy, causes Ron to leave them. As the least independent of the trio, Ron lacks confidence about how he compares to his family, to Hermione, or to famous Harry Potter.

When, with the Sword of Gryffindor, Ron destroys the self-interested Locketcrux, he is not only contritely seeking Hermione and Harry's mercy and forgiveness, he is also courageously facing down his envy of Harry to show concern for others. And, having returned to rescue Harry from being strangled by the Locketcrux, he not only proves a worthy Gryffindor, but also starts to become the sort of adult worthy of the lady he loves. For the Locketcrux revenants echo Voldemort's attitude to life, so eaten up by invidious comparisons, so desperate for preferential treatment as a small child, that now he rejects love, in a sour grapes reaction, scornfully rejecting weakness, and unable to trust anyone. Surely envy connects a Muggle tramp with envious Voldemort, himself, the locket's protection of the toxic green potion, which arouses in the drinker terrifying memories, and with Ron, the destroyer of the Locketcrux. And surely envy, and the twisted view of life it promotes, is a strong enough emotion to tear completely an already torn piece of soul.