Nagini as Horcrux

[nicholas dean]

No: HPFGUIDX 139216

I don't think Nagini is a Horcrux. There's a mistake in what 
Dumbledore says about the creation of the final Horcrux; 'After an 
interval of some years, however, he used Nagini to kill an old Muggle 
man...' (Frank Bryce, as described at the beginning of GOF). In fact, 
this is not what happened; the text states clearly that Voldemort 
himself killed Frank. Also; it was a spur-of-the-moment thing because 
Frank intruded on Voldemort at the Riddle House; can one 
retrospectively use a murder to create a Horcrux? seems to me that it 
is the kind of thing where the whole process is tied in together. 
Also; Voldemort is supposed to use significant deaths to create his 
Horcruxes; you can't call Bryce's death that.

Dumbledore mentions that using Nagini as a Horcrux isn't a good idea 
because a snake is a sentient creature; however, Voldemort himself 
gives an even better reason for not doing it (in GoF again) when he 
describes his life after trying to kill Harry, when he existed purely 
in spirit form 'I sometimes inhabited animals, snakes, of course, 
being my preference; but I was little better off inside them than as 
pure spirit....my possession of them shortened their lives; none of 
them lasted long...' Would Voldemort really choose a creature that 
could die as a place to keep part of his soul?

Cheers,
Nicholas