Harry Potter and the Missing Horcruxes

Voldemort's worst fear is death. So what better way to cheat death then to divide your soul up so that you can never die? That's exactly what Voldemort does and by splitting his soul into seven pieces he puts a piece of himself into six different objects. In order for Harry to do what he was born for, vanquish the Dark Lord, he must find all of the Horcruxes before finally facing and defeating his nemesis.

The Horcruxes we know about are the diary from Chamber of Secrets, the ring of Slytherin, the locket of Slytherin, the cup of Helga Hufflepuff and Voldemort's snake, Nagini. The two we don't know about is something that belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw and something that belonged to Godric Gryffindor. The last two are pure speculation on Dumbledore's part but he is seldom far off the mark.

The diary has been destroyed. Harry destroyed it in the Chamber of Secrets, vanquishing the teenage memory of Tom Riddle that Voldemort placed in the diary. Dumbledore found the ring of Slytherin in a shack that belonged to Tom Riddle's ancestors and destroyed it. Those are the only two Horcruxes that we know for sure have been destroyed. Nagini is not hidden at all - she's right out in the open but always at Voldemort's side. The locket - well that's a different story.

Voldemort hid the Slytherin locket Horcrux in a cave but it was protected by powerful enchantments and terrifying creatures but before Harry and Dumbledore get there to retrieve it someone else has been there. They find a note inside the locket that says the real Horcrux was taken with the intent to destroy it by R.A.B. Who R.A.B. remains a mystery but it's likely to be Regulus Black, a one time Death Eater who defected and was then killed. It's possible he got his hands on the locket and destroyed it before his untimely death but it's also possible that while he did retrieve it, he didn't have a chance to destroy it. A locket is found at Grimmauld Place, Regulus' home, and that is probably the very locket Harry should be looking for.

Harry doesn't have many leads on the whereabouts of the cup of Hufflepuff and the other two Horcruxes identities remain a mystery as does their location. Voldemort probably wasn't willing to trust another of his Death Eaters with a piece of his soul again since it was Lucius Malfoy who botched the delivery of the diary Horcrux in Chamber of Secrets. He was given the diary but no orders to use it. He didn't even know what it was. When Voldemort disappeared Lucius acted on his own and it ended in the destruction of the Horcrux. Voldemort chose meaningful places for his Horcruxes so it's possible Harry will have to learn more about him in order to find them. Without his mentor, Dumbledore, to help him Harry will have a tough road ahead of him. What we know is he has this final book to find them, destroy them and then fulfill the prophecy by killing the Dark Lord.