Dumbledore's hand / horcruxes

[wickywackywoo2001]

No: HPFGUIDX 134746

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "rachel" <rachel.evans14 at b...>
wrote:

> 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. 

I'm also interested in hearing more about this hand - despite the
promises to tell more throughout the book, Dumbledore never does quite
explain what happened.  Also, does anyone know for sure WHICH hand it
was?  At first I assumed that it was Dumbledore's non-wand hand (for
convenience's sake, I just mentally call that "his left hand", though
I've no idea if he's left- or right-handed).  Since he was able to use
his wand, I assumed his regular hand was undamaged.  But the first
time Harry sees him, he says that Dumbledore pulls out his wand
quickly (to move the sofa in the Dursleys' living room), and then, "As
he replaced his wand in his pocket, Harry saw that his hand was
blackened and shrivelled; it looked as though his flesh had been
burned away."  That sounds as if it's his "right" hand, or wand-hand
that was damaged.  At this point, though, it still seems to be
functional - he can hold a wand, at least.

Wanda (no pun intended - that's really my name!)