Lily, Voldemort, AK and the atomic bomb analogy

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 144647

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "redeyedwings" 
<redeyedwings at y...> wrote:
 
ReW:
> This is interesting. I don't have my books to hand, but I'd like 
> to throw a wrench in here, possibly anyway:
> 
> A soul splits when its owner kills a human being (irregardless of 
> horcrux-making intent), right? I'm pretty sure this is true. But 
> what about when the AK is used to kill something else ... I don't 
> know, maybe, a spider?
> 
> IIRC, and remember I have no books in front of me, does Harry not 
hear the rushing sound when Fake!Moody kills the spider in front 
> of the class?
> 
> If so, by that logic, Fake!Moody's soul was sundered by the 
> killing of a little arachnoid. Something seems wrong. Of course, 
> it could be me, and it could be that the rushing sound we only 
> hear when a human is killed .... but we need someone to quote the 
> relevant canon, and as I'm stuck at work, it ain't gonna be me....

Geoff:
'Moody raised his wand and Harry felt a sudden thrill of foreboding.
"Avada Kedavra!" Moody roared.
There was a flash of blinding green light and a rushing sound as 
though a vast, invisible something was soaring through the air - 
instantaneously the spider rolled over onto its back, unmarked, but 
unmistakeably dead.'
(GOF "The Unforgiveable Curses" pp.190-191 UK edition)

but....

'(Tom Riddle speaking)
"How do you split your soul?"
"Well," said Slughorn uncomfortably, "you must understand that the 
soul is supposed to remain intact and whole. Splitting it is an act 
of violation, it is against nature."
"But how do you do it?"
"By an act of evil - the supreme act of evil. By committing 
murder..."'
(HBP "Horcruxes" p.465 UK edition)

I hope I am not offending any arachnophiles, but I do not think that 
killing a spider is considered to be a "supreme act of evil".....