OOPS: Voldemort's ghostly future?

[stardreams04]

No: HPFGUIDX 64428

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Catherine Boyle" 
<ccampboyle at a...> wrote:

> It strikes me that if Voldemort has always thought there is nothing 
worse than death, and that if it is the fear of death that makes 
someone become a ghost,
> that LV will become a ghost if Harry kills him. I'm not sure how 
much of an improvement this would be.

Me:
That is a really interesting theory. When I read the discussion with 
Nearly Headless Nick at the end, my first thought was that there had 
to be some extra significance to it beyond the fact that we learn 
Sirius won't become a ghost. Especially coupled with Voldemort's 
declaration that there is nothing worse than death...

Reading this post brought another question to mind. When Lord 
Voldemort was defeated by Harry the first time, did he become a 
ghost? Certainly his will and magical powers kept him clinging to 
this plane of existence. However, because he had somehow modified his 
soul with the Dark Arts, Voldemort was able to rebuild a body for his 
ghost to inhabit. In the books we are only told that Voldemort's 
power broke that fateful Halloween and that he fled as a barely 
living spirit. 

In any case, it seems like a distinct possibilty that Voldemort could 
become a ghost and reincarnate AGAIN if he is not killed properly.
 
> -- if Harry *chose* to walk through the veil, 
> 
> -- then he might be able to carry Tom Riddle through with him to 
the other side despite Tom's fear of death.

Me:
In Shayla's Fall of Childhood fic (best fanfic on the net - read it 
if you have not yet!), Harry learns that Avada Kedavra acts like a 
magical "scythe" that severs a person's soul from his body with no 
possibility of becoming a ghost. Personally, I always felt there was 
a nice logic to this, because there obviously must be many curses 
people can use to kill others - spells that stop people's hearts, 
burst organs, stop breathing (think of that purple slash of light 
that struck Hermione). Yet why is only Avada Kedavra classfied as an 
Unforgivable? From the examination of the Riddles' bodies we learn 
that the curse does no physical damage. The only way it CAN kill, 
therefore, is by forcibly ejecting the soul from the body. Perhaps if 
Harry uses AK on Voldemort (instead of having LV's curse merely 
rebound on himself) then Voldemort would truly die.

On the other hand, I don't really know if JKR would want Harry to be 
able to cast such a dark curse. There would be a certain poetic 
justice to it, but I'm not sure if it would harmonize with the image 
of Harry as a GOOD hero. I'm starting to believe more and more that 
Harry is going to be dead by the end of Book 7 - certainly walking 
through the veil would accomplish that.