Update (2/11): I spoke too soon about "spending this week blogging…"
I've been busy preparing for and attending a big political conference in Washington, DC. Check for updates next week. Granger's article is fascinating, and I can't wait to blog about his other theories.
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I don't remember who told me about John Granger, but I'll always be grateful. I've read mostly all his articles, and his site is where I first read about the "stoppered death" theory. I agree with it wholeheartedly.
A woman named Cathy Liesner from Granger's Barnes and Noble University discussion raised this issue. She theorized that Dumbledore's attempt (and success) to secure the ring horcrux lethally injured him. He called on the Potions Master, Severus Snape, for treatment. In light of what I think the treatment entailed, that's an understatement. Liesner believes that Snape "stoppered" Dumbledore's inevitable death, allowing him more time (a year?) to tutor Harry while trying to get to the bottom of Lord Voldemort's plans.
I wrote about it a few months ago in this post.
I plan to elaborate on the theory, but in this post I want to blog about something that I, much to my chagrin, have never thought about before: the whole cave horcrux deal was a set-up for Dumbledore as a false lead and to kill him with the poisonous phosphorescent green potion.
I think I'm in the minority when I say that R.A.B. is not Regulus Black. I haven't fleshed out my theory yet, but I think the initials stand for more than one wizard. I thought Snape had something to do with it. If he did, however, I don't think he would have sent Dumbledore and Harry on such a dangerous mission to retrieve it…unless he didn't know about Dumbledore's plans or that he's indeed evil. I'm firmly in the Snape-is-good camp, though.
Sirius didn't think too highly of his brother, who was only 19 when he died and presumably wasn't a very good wizard. Based on what I've read, only an accomplished wizard could have retrieved the locket and mixed the potion. The main reason I don't think Regulus is R.A.B. is this: I just don't think JKR would make it so easy.
Let's turn to Granger's theory. In Why Half-Blood Prince is the Best Harry Potter Novel: Stoppered Death, EVIL Slughorn, and What Really Happened, he writes
We know that an accomplished wizard has switched out the Horcrux [Interesting that he uses the word as a proper noun] in the basin and left a faux Horcrux with a note seemingly from Regulus Black as well as an impenetrable emerald green potion that Dumbledore “assumes” he must drink.
If Regulus Black left the faux LV Horcrux necklace in its original spot (not the cave) and Slughorn or Voldemort found it, Slughorn could have created with Voldemort’s help the trap in the Cave, to include the poisoned potion. Slughorn would only then have to fix the Vanishing Cabinet and cue Dumbledore to the Cave adventure (and tell him to be sure to bring a crystal goblet) on the night of the Death Eater invasion of Hogwarts. The trap would then be sprung.
Either Horace tips Dumbledore about the Cave and tells him something about a potion (information he might have through Slug Club” and Slytherin alumni?), or, more likely, Severus Snape is given information by Voldemort that he knows – perhaps even pointedly “allows” – Snape will pass on to Dumbledore.
The article is filled with lots of good stuff, including a list of 20 questions not answered in Half-Blood Prince that Granger attempts to answer in the article. Highly recommended.
Granger believes that on the night of Aragog's funeral, Slughorn was getting ingredients for the cave potion. When Harry runs into him, he comes up with some story about getting greens for the class. When he learns about Aragog's death, he seizes the opportunity to acquire some of the spider's poisonous venom. The venom idea is too coincidental, though, so don't I think it was necessary for the potion.
Most important in all this is who told Dumbledore about the cave.
I'll spend this week blogging about Granger's article. So many theories, so little time. 
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February 6th, 2006 at 11:03 pm
(Oh, no, Blogspot's down…AGAIN!! Guess I'll head on over to LaShawn's and comment….)
I was responding to LaShawn's comment over at Muggle Matters and suddenly I thought that if, contrary to the "evil Sloghorn theory" expressed here, Slughorn was in on it, wouldn't it be the ultimate hat-tip to J.R.R. Tolkien if Sluggo used the spider venom to make a "fake death serum". This would have the same effect of the sting of Shelob suffered by Frodo at the end of "Lord of the Rings". And remember - Slughorn only got the venom by pure luck, but whose luck? Harry's luck. Retrieving the memory wasn't the only thing he was lucky on that night, remember somehing else happened which helped him get together with Ginny. Maybe there were other effects as well.
I think Dumbledore was behind Harry getting the Half-blood Prince potions book. And wouldn't it be ironic if Slughorn, who fancies himself the biggest puppet-master in the wizarding world was himself being manipulated by Dumbledore!
But maybe Slughorn is in league with Draco. I just remembered that Draco makes an attempt to suck up to Slughorn at the party he crashes and Snape drags him out.
February 6th, 2006 at 11:24 pm
Rialb has a good entry where we started discussing ol' Sluggo in the comments.
February 7th, 2006 at 8:28 am
What is Muggle Matters?
LaShawn! Last night my professor in Theology II okayed me doing a cristological and soteriological (sp?) critique of the Harry Potter books for my final project this quarter!
i've got my work cut out for me!
February 7th, 2006 at 8:30 am
Oh and I've had another thought recently. Harry's been very proud of his "I'm a Dumbledore man through and through" — but how can he be, really, when he isn't ready to accept Dumbledore's judgement even when he doesn't himself know the reason behind it?
I think that, like our trust in God, in the next book Harry is going to discover we don't always know everything, but sometimes we have to trust the judgement of those we claim to trust in regardless.
February 7th, 2006 at 10:42 am
Great news about your assignment, MBR. Gosh, that's sounds like fun. If I can be of assistance (sources, links), let me know.
John Granger talks about the "Dumbledore's man" idea, too. In Book 7, I believe Harry will become more Dumbledore-like. Sound familiar?
February 9th, 2006 at 1:13 pm
Dumbledore learned about the existence of the cave on the day that he went to visit Tom Riddle at the orphanage. Deciding on the importance of the cave and finding the correct cave on the coast are different matters.
April 19th, 2006 at 1:57 am
Yeah, to continue on what Joseph had to say, he knew about the cave from the orphanage woman who loved to pound back shots of vodka. And he was, of course, an extremely powerful wizard who "knew Tom Riddle's style." First, who's to say he didn't return to the orphanage on one of his vacations from hogwarts and use his prodigious abilities as a legilimens to extract the approximate location of the cave from that woman, or from the kids whom Voldemort tortured themselves? And even if he didn't, he wouldn't have TOO much area to cover, and being as near to omniscient as he was, could have sensed or otherwise spotted something so riddled (yes, that's right, it's a bad pun) with magic as that cave. Just remember that we don't know a tenth of Dumbledore's abilities, and that flashes and bangs are signs of incompetance rather than skill, and that the real wizards play it by feel.
Of course this is to say nothing of the role Slughorn played. I think that Dumbledore would have been EXTREMELY suspicious if Slughorn somehow knew the location of a place that was highly important in Voldemort's youth, and that it contained a Horcrux (of course, no matter what his allegiance, it's safe to presume that horace knows that there are six/seven horcruxes out there containing portions of voldemort's soul, but certainly not where voldemort is likely to store them)
And as for voldemort telling snape anything about horcruxes…it's highly unlikely. There is nothing more important in the world to him than his links to immortality, and he cannot chance it, because as any third grader knows: the more people who know your secret, the more likely it is to fall into the wrong hands. Now there is always the possibility that voldemort was just like "yo snape, tell dumblydoofus to go to this cave. tell him that i told you it was a totally important place and not to let anyone near it." or something like that. And in that way Dumbledore was lured to the cave. But, the thing that throws me about that possibility is that, if I were Voldemort, and I had just completely set up my arch-nemesis (the only one who's anywhere near as good as me and even cocky me knows it), I'm pretty sure I wouldn't leave a locket with a piece of parchment that says "Dear Dark Lord, I figured out your secret. How does THAT feel, son? Signed, some weird configuration of initials that not even dumbledore can decipher." No that's just not voldemort's way. I know personally my piece of parchment at the bottom of that potion would have said "hahahahahhaha i just KILLED YOU! how does that feel? oh, and this locket? yeah, it's something i got from the diamond district. you like it? nope, not slytherin's. Signed, LORD FREAKIN VOLDEMORT (aka the guy who just BEAT YOU)" Yeah he's definitely more the rub-it-in-your-face kinda guy. Especially since there's no point toying with dumbledore anymore after he's already killed him, you know? He gains nothing by not rubbing dumblydore's nose in it.
Thus I believe that the cave was not a set up, and I believe that RAB returned it to (its original? like, did the cave start off this way, or did he change it around slightly? hmmm…) magic-laden state AND left that parchment in there so that Voldemort and Voldemort alone could return to it. Basically, RAB just wanted to rub it in the face of Voldemort, the way that I theorize Voldemort would have wanted to do if he had set up Dumbledore.