Whom did Voldy possess before Quirrell?

[snow15145]

No: HPFGUIDX 125733


Neri:

Whom did Voldy possess before Quirrell?

Here's a sentence that Quirrell!Mort says in the end of SS/PS, which
has some interesting implications I failed to notice before:

SS/PS, Ch. 17 p. 293 US:
"See what I have become?" the face said. "Mere shadow and vapour... I
have form only when I can share another's body... but there have
always been those willing to let me into their hearts and minds...

"Willing"? Hearts and minds"? This doesn't sound like some small
animals and snakes. So whom did Voldy possess before Quirrell and was
that before or during the time he was vapor? Note the "those" and
"always". We're likely talking here about several people during a long
time. Reminds you of "they, who knew the steps I took, long ago, to
guard myself against mortal death?" (GoF, Ch. 33, p.648 US). It's the
DEs that Voldy is talking about here.
>snipped<

Snow:

Sounds more like who possessed Tom Riddle! "See what I have become?" 
the face said
not Voldemort said. This being or entity is only alive 
when he shares another person's body but he has always found willing 
participants like, possibly, Tom Riddle. 

Tom was looking to defeat death in any way that he possibly could. If 
Tom had been confronted with an entity that had an immortality factor 
but needed to share a human life form, Tom would have been more than 
happy to concede to its demands of sharing his own body. When the two 
became one Tom opted for a new name that would be more fitting of the 
most powerful evil overlord and adopted Lord Voldemort as this new 
identity.  Diary!Tom speaks of Lord Voldemort in a third party 
reference as though Voldemort was an entirely different person so I 
would therefore assume that the possession or fusion had not yet 
fully taken place when Tom was sixteen. 

This scenario does fit well, I think, especially when Dumbledore in 
the MOM directs his comments to Tom as if he were making an attempt 
to appeal to the person that is trapped inside this being who calls 
himself Voldemort. At one point in the MOM scene right before 
Voldemort attempts his possession of Harry, he is described as 
a "faceless figure shimmering and indistinct". Even Bella thought 
that Voldemort had vanished or was destroyed when she bellowed for 
him. This was the exact moment that this faceless figure known as 
Voldemort attempted to possess Harry. Harry felt as though he was 
locked in the coils of the creature. Harry doesn't recognize any 
distinctness to Tom Riddle during this possession but that of a 
snake. There was one other time that Harry experienced himself as a 
snake and that was when Voldemort possessed the snake that attacked 
Arthur. 

Why was Vapormort only left with the power of possession at Godric's 
Hollow? My answer would be that who ever possessed Tom Riddle, and 
had the power of possession to do so, was left as vapor, as he had 
been before he joined with Tom Riddle because the body he inhabited 
was gone. Go back to the beginning statement where the face said that 
he is "mere shadow and vapor" without a body to possess. This 
Vapormort is a possessed entity in itself. This is why Voldemort was 
left with only one power, the one that belonged to the entity who 
shared his spirit when Tom's body was destroyed at Godric's Hollow. 

Voldemort claims that he took several measures to assure his 
immortality. It is not just the fact that Tom Riddle fused with this 
possessing entity but also other factors, which allowed the Tom 
Riddle portion of Voldemort to adhere to and stay somewhat alive with 
the possessed entity when Tom's physical body was destroyed. This 
duel immortality precaution on Tom's part allowed Tom to stay as 
alive as the entity that merged with him.  

Now who could this possessed entity be, Salazar is a good runner up 
firstly because he is a parcelmouth. The second factor is the dark 
mark insignia that portraits the basilisk protruding from the mouth 
of the statue of Salazar in the Chamber. What more fitting emblem to 
mark your followers with but an insignia that portraits Salazar 
Slytherin if Tom did in fact fuse with Salazar. Also, remember what 
Diary!Tom had said to Harry in the Chamber; Voldemort is my past, 
present and future. This statement supports the theory because as 
Diary!Tom he was sixteen and Voldemort would be representative of his 
connection or fusion with Salazar; Salazar is his past, at the 
present he is under his tutelage to become the future Lord 
Voldemort.   

As far as who he may have possessed at an earlier date other than Tom 
Riddle, I would speculate that it was the Dumbledore defeated 
Grindlewald, which would tie in with the reasoning of Dumbledore's 
apprehension to kill Voldemort in the MOM. When Dumbledore attempted 
to thwart Voldemort in this scene, he was left with a "faceless 
figure shimmering and indistinct" entity that attempted possession of 
Harry. De se vie for Dumbledore who had fought Grindlewald and 
vanquished him
but vanquished him to what?  Dumbledore was afraid 
when this scene happened because he knew that this entity, above the 
screams of Bella and Harry's relief that Voldemort had gone, was very 
much alive and needy of another body to continue his vile efforts. 
This is the reason Dumbledore did not want to attempt to destroy 
Voldemort; all that would come of it would be to unleash the entity, 
again. Voldemort's shared status with Harry will be his downfall 
because the beast must be killed from within and Harry has the means 
to do this because of his connection with Voldemort. 

It's just how I see it. 

Snow