Dumbledore's hand / horcruxes

[rachel]

No: HPFGUIDX 134738

Hi!  I hope this has not recently been posted - I have looked through but I
may have missed something.

I am intrigued by Dumbledore's withered and black hand in HBP and I am sure
that there is more to this than meets the eye.  In the latter part of the
book Harry asks Dumbledore about his hand and is never given a straight
answer, in fact the book closes without a reasonable explanation of why it
happened.  We do know that Snape tended to the hand (and may therefore know
all about the hunt for the horcruxes) - could this be linked to the reason
Dumbledore sacrifices himself at the end.  Is it possible that when the
vessel for part of Voldermort's soul (the ring) is destroyed that the soul
fragment found a new host in the headmaster's hand, causing it to die and
decay?  This would mean that he had a reason to choose death, and a reason
to ask Snape to be the one who commits the deed.  After all, apart from
Voldie, only Harry, Dumbledore and Snape appear to know anything about the
Horcruxes.

Okay - it's a bit far fetched - but any thoughts?


Rachel x