Why Voldemort didn't die / what will happen

[ccampboyle]

No: HPFGUIDX 132405

Well, here goes my first post since shortly after OotP came out.

It seems that LV must have transferred more than just some powers to
Harry. When Harry first reads Tom Riddle's name on the back of the
diary in CoS, it seems familiar to him. Some of LV's memories must
have also been transferred to Harry. Might those memories (both in
Harry and in the diary)give Voldemort a toe-hold on life? 

Furthermore, we know, from CoS, that a memory, under the right
circumstances, can come back to life by drawing on the life energy of
someone else, e.g. Tom drawing on Ginny. 

Several other pieces of information:

- The use of Harry's finger to bring back LV brought a gleam to DD's eye.

- Harry can project himself into LV (although he doesn't yet seem to
be able to control this as well as LV can control his projection into
Harry).

- LV fears death more than anything, and wizards who fear death may
choose to become a ghost.

- Harry has reached the point where many of those he most cares about,
and wishes to be reunited with, have died.

What if LV dies while Harry is projecting himself into him? Would
Harry be able to overcome LVs fear, and cause him to "go on", thus
saving the WW from a ghost-Voldemort, and reuniting him with those he
loves? What, then, happens to Harry's body, since Harry was projecting
himself into LV? Would Harry's consciousness return to it, or, rather,
would Tom Riddle's memory live on in Harry's body? A Tom Riddle who
now has the experience of Harry's life, and of being loved? Would this
 new Tom Riddle be a "saved" Tom Riddle? Thus we would have a
bittersweet ending, in which Harry saves the WW, saves Tom Riddle, and
 is reunited with his loved ones? (I can just hear the howls from
parents who think the outcome endorses teen suicide -- well, JKR never
did claim to be writing a children's series.)

It seems like a riff on Lord of the Rings, where Gandalf would like to
see Smeagol saved, in much the same way that I think DD would like to
see Tom saved, as is indicated by his insistence on calling him Tom
when he speaks to him.) In this version, Harry, like Frodo, saves the
day, but not himself, yet he also saves Tom, something Frodo didn't do
for Gollum, although he tried. Somehow, though, I think Tom will also
have to make a choice, since, as DD says, we are known by our choices
-- even if Harry does have a "saving people thing."

Cathy (who is hung up on unified theories that explain everything)