Snape, Horcruxes and Priori Incantatem

[vividscribbler]

No: HPFGUIDX 133206

I feel all jittery...I've got a theory!

I read about Horcruxes, and the first thing that I wondered how one 
is created. Is it a spell, as most assume? Or perhaps a potion?

Dumbledore says on page 506, chatper 23, of HBP (US):
"I am sure he was intending to make his final Horcrux with your 
death. 
As we know, he failed. After an interval of some yeras, however, he 
used Nagini to kill an old Muggle man, and it might then have 
occured to him to turn her into his last Horcrux."

There has been wide speculation about a living being as Horcrux, and 
I for one believe that Nagini is indeed a Horcrux. Having his last 
Horcrux as his pet would give him an excuse to keep on near him at 
all times. Even if all rest were destroyed, he could keep constant 
tabs on at least on Horcrux, and rest assured in his immortality.

This also established a timeline. He must have created a Horcrux 
after his fall of the 1980's but before his ressurection. We can 
therefore assume two things: 

1)Wormtail must know about the Horcruxes, because Voldemort was 
pretty much reliant on him at that point. (Perhaps why he's keeping 
him so heavily guarded, so he can't spill what he knows? In that 
instance, though, why not just off him and let everybody involved 
sleep better)
2)If it took a spell to create a Horcrux, then we would find it in 
GOF, durning the Priori Incantatem spell.

So that's where I went next. 

In ch 34, pages 665-666 of GOF, the first spells we see come out in 
this order:

1) Screams of pain (crucio)
2) Shade of Wormtail's hand
3) Screams of pain (crucio)
4) Cedric Diggory
5) Still more screams (crucio)
6) Frank Bryce
7) Bertha Jorkins

After this, in some order, Lily and James emerge from his wand. So 
we can reasonably infer that
1) Voldemort was using HIS OWN wand for spellcrafting by this time
2) If it were a spell, we would have seen its echo here. From this 
we can reasonably deduce that it DOES NOT take a spell to create a 
Horcrux.

However, in ch 23, page 498 of HBP (US), Slughorn says to Tom Riddle:
"...Killing rips the soul apart. The wizard intent upon creating a 
Horcrux would use the damage to his advantage: He would encase the 
torn portion-"
"Encase? But how-?"
"There is a spell, do not ask me, I don't know!"There is a spell, do 
not ask me, I don't know!"

So now we're left we a couple of options:
1) JKR simply forgot to include this spell
2) Slughorn, frightened at what Riddle is asking, lies 
3) Slughorn is mistaken

In case 1, fair enough, we have no need to further need to explore 
this. 

I find case two rather difficult to believe, because he seemed 
genuinely rattled at this point, and it would be difficult lie 
effectively in a state like that. He seemed to be exactly where 
Riddle wanted him; too rattled to lie, too ashamed to tell. That 
instance leaves me with a question though. What would lead Riddle to 
believe that Slughorn knows anything of Horcruxes in the first 
place? To dedicate so much effort into extracting the information 
from him, he must have had a fairly good idea of it. Was this 
information perhaps passed on to Slughorn by another star student?

Case 3 seems unlikely as well. Slughorn, here, would have to be a 
reliable narrator for both Riddle and Dumbledore to rely so heavily 
on his information. If she were going to contradict this 
information, I believe she would have done it in this book, although 
we will undoubtably learn more about it in the next novel.

Where does this take me? All sorts of unlikely places where all 
sorts of unlikely but interesting theories reside. Just thought I'd 
throw this facinating tidbit out there to see what all you can come 
up with. Another Flint? Or something more?

Viv