About the Horcrux Series
If you haven't heard of Harry Potter, allow me to refer you to a different set of caches: GC2RAD6, GC2TQQP, GC2Z6KE.
This series of caches centers on the final major plot arc in J.K. Rowling's best-selling novels, as Harry and his friends try to locate magical items known as "horcruxes" in order to defeat the evil Lord Voldemort. In this cache-based retelling of the story, however, the seven horcruxes are hidden around central Maryland, and it is up to you to find them!
Knowledge of the Harry Potter story may help you pick up on a few subtle hints here and there (and make the theme more fun!), but is not necessary to solve the puzzle.
Unlike Harry, your assistance is required to just find the horcrux, not to destroy it. Do not subject the cache containers to basilisk venom, fiendfyre, or any other manner of harm.
The seven horcruxes in this series can be found in any order. Look for a secret clue in each cache you may be able to use to defeat the Dark Lord himself in a final cache. Good luck and have fun!
Diary | Ring | Locket | Cup | Diadem | Boy | Snake | Final
"Sorry, but what is a diadem?" asked Ron.
"It's a kind of crown ... Ravenclaw's was supposed to have magical properties, enhance the wisdom of the wearer."
Thinking back on the last two horcruxes, the Locket was woven into a tale of cunning and questionable morality, fitting for a relic of Salazar Slytherin. Similarly, the quest for Hufflepuff's Cup required hard work and perseverance. As you begin your hunt for the Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw, founder of a House known for wit and intellect, you shudder to think of the mental test that stands before you.
"And ... and the diadem?"
"It remained where I had hidden it when I heard the Baron blundering through the forest toward me. Concealed inside a hollow tree."
"A hollow tree?" ... "What tree? Where was this?"
"A forest in Albania Maryland. A lonely place I thought was far beyond my mother's reach."
Apparently the Gray Lady knew of a previous location, but that hardly seems helpful. You and your friends have racked your brains, and eventually reach the conclusion that the only person that knows anything about the diadem's current whereabouts is Lord Voldemort himself. Unfortunately, even if you could get to He-who-must-not-be-named and make it out alive, he won't tell you anything.
Or will he?
That's when the revelation hits you... Tom Riddle's diary! Through the first horcrux that you found, you may still be able to communicate with the fragment of Voldemort's soul that he trapped in the book. Granted, the basilisk fang you plunged into the diary lends some doubt about how well Riddle will be able to communicate at this point. You aren't exactly thrilled with the idea of having to converse with the arrogant adolescent, either. For such a fearsome figure, he sure can act like a child.
Still, teenage Tom is said to be Voldemort's "past, present, and future," and has proven to be aware of much more than just his memories from that age. If you can come at him from a few different angles and just get two or three truly relevant responses out of him, you hope that you can piece the location together from there. It's worth a shot.
You settle behind a desk at the library, with the diary in front of you and a wealth of other resources just a quick google away, and prepare to match wits with the Dark Lord.
You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.
[Cache not at listed coordinates. Solve puzzle to determine the actual location of the cache. Quotations taken from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling]