7 Horcruxes - Shock & outrage!!

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 144842

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "scamjunk22" <latha272 at i...> 
wrote:
>
> Geoff provided this quote:
> > '"But now, Harry, armed with this information, the crucial memory 
> > you have succeeded in procuring for us, we are closer to the 
secret 
> > of finishing Lord Voldemort than anyone has ever been before. You 
> > heard him, Harry: 'Wouldn't it be better, make you stronger, to 
> > have your soul in more pieces... isn't seven the most powerfully 
> > magical number...' /Isn't seven the most powerfully magical 
> > number./ Yes, I think the idea of a seven-part soul would greatly 
> > appeal to Lord Voldemort."
> > "He made /seven/ Horcruxes?" said Harry, horror-struck, while 
> > several of the portraits on the walls made similar noises of 
shock 
> > and outrage. "But they could be anywhere in the world - hidden - 
> > buried or invisible -"'
> > (ibid. p.470)
 
scam:
> Now this is part of another thread that was discussing the number 
of 
> horcruxes and their after-causes, but this particular reply sent 
> my mind spinning!! I remember that at the end of HBP, Mcgonagall 
*asks* HP for info on what he and DD were doing that night and any 
other info that DD might have shared with him (? is the second 
assumption right? I think I need to read those last few pages all 
over again... I might as well not do it as I can't read DD's death 
all over again!!). 
> 
> In OotP, the portraits tell that it is their bounden duty to serve 
the present Headmaster (or headmistress in this case), so couldn't it 
be possible that McGonagall would know for sure about the 7 horcruxes 
thing??  That is, if she asks them for the info, she can get it. HP 
is DDM, but the portraits are there to serve her now. Wouldn't DD's 
portrait itself not tell her all she wants to know? Why ask HP and 
then be angry with him for not telling????

Geoff:
(1) It may not have occurred to her to consult the portraits since 
she was asking Harry who was standing directly and she may well not 
be thinking straight at that moment due to her distress.

(2) Althought she went straight to Dumbledore's office because 
"...apparently she was now Headmistress... so the room behind the 
gargoyle was now hers..." (HBP "The Phoenix Lament" p.683 UK 
edition), I wonder whether some form of official confirmation of her 
status would need to be made before the portraits could be 
approached. In a real world UK situation, if a Headteacher died or 
was not available for some other reason, the Deputy Head might be 
appointed as Acting Head pending inviting applicants to take over (or 
pending confirmation by the governors which might happen in a Public 
School scenario).