Repost of KITTENS & RAINBOWS, part I (TBAY intro)

[mightymaus75]

No: HPFGUIDX 128476

This theory was originally published in messages #78982 #79691 and 
#83445. Since then a lot of bits and pieces have been added to it, 
and now with the new book about to be released I thought it was time 
for a repost. If you don't like TBAY just skip past the fishes. If 
you don't know what TBAY is go read the Fantastic Posts archives.


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It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents – except at 
occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind 
which swept up the streets, rattling along the housetops, and 
fiercely agitating... actually no it wasn't. It was a bright sunny 
day. Sometimes the weather just isn't as dramatic as you had hoped it 
would be. 

The KITTENS & RAINBOWS (Key Is The Transferred Essence Now Seeking 
Reunion. Affection Is Not Beyond Obsessive Wicked Sorcerer.) had come 
into the harbour that morning and now lay moored at one of the wooden 
docks. In front of the ship captain Maus was busy setting up a small 
vending stall. The stall was filled entirely with hand-knitted 
sweaters, each one different from the next, but all of them decorated 
with the most strange combinations of rainbows and playful kittens 
imaginable. As he was doing this a small crowd of people was starting 
to gather around the stall.
 
"So why do all these sweaters have kittens and rainbows on them", 
asked a man at the front of the crowd who was holding up a 
particularly ghastly sweater.

"Everybody likes kittens don't they, everybody likes rainbows don't 
they, don't you like kittens?", captain Maus didn't seem to be 
entirely sure about this.

"Yes, but why are they on every sweater", a women to the left of the 
man holding the sweater asked.

"It is the name of the theory", captain Maus said and he nudged his 
head towards the name painted in large letters on the massive black 
ship behind him. There was of course a perfectly good reason why the 
theory was named KITTENS & RAINBOWS, and most of the inhabitants of 
Theory Bay knew better than to ask what it was. 

"Is it about kittens and rainbows?", the woman persisted. 

"Not exactly."  

"It is not about kittens and rainbows?" 

"Not as such, no."

"Why is the name of the theory kittens and rainbows then?" 

"It is to distract people from what the theory is really about", he 
finally admitted. He was looking around to see if anyone else might 
want to buy a sweater.

"So... what are the kittens and the rainbows meant to distract us 
from?", she didn't seem to want to let this go. And now that it was 
becoming very clear that no one else was going to buy a sweater he 
gave in. 

"The theory really is about how Harry will die a horrible bloody 
death at the hands of Voldemort." The crowd as one man drew back from 
the stall. 

For some reason people always seemed get upset when he told them that 
Voldemort was going to kill Harry. There had in fact been a short 
period of time where he had tried to sell hand-knitted sweaters 
showing Voldemort killing Harry, a lot of people had gotten upset and 
he had never managed to sell a single sweater - there may have been a 
connection with the large amount of red wool he had used. So now he 
sold sweaters with kittens and rainbows on them. So far the marketing 
ploy did not seem to be working.  

Just when that seemed to be it, the silence was broken by an old 
woman at the back of the crowd clearing her throat.

"How do you know Voldemort is going to kill Harry?", she asked. 

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"Harry did the best he could, trying to ignore the stabbing pains in 
his forehead, which had been bothering him ever since his trip into 
the forest." / "Harry was rubbing his forehead. 'I wish I knew what 
this means!' he burst out angrily. 'My scar keeps hurting – it's 
happened before, but never as often as this.'" – [PS/SS]

In PS/SS something very strange is going on with the pain in Harry's 
scar. Harry's scar hurts during the start-of-term feast. Then from 
the start-of-term feast until a week before final exams Harry's scar 
doesn't hurt; for a period of almost nine months there isn't even the 
slightest hint of pain from Harry's scar. Harry encounters 
Quirrellmort in the Forbidden Forest and suddenly Harry's scar starts 
hurting all the time; for a period of a week there is no end to the 
pain coming from Harry's scar. So why doesn't Harry's scar hurt like 
that in the months before his encounter with Quirrellmort? The way 
Harry's scar behaves in PS/SS doesn't seem very much like the 
behaviour of a scar which is supposed to hurt whenever Voldemort is 
nearby or feeling particularly upset about something, it seems more 
like the behaviour of a scar which until the encounter with 
Quirrellmort simply did not realise Voldemort was hidden nearby - a 
scar which is actually aware of what goes on around it. I believe 
that is because Harry's scar is aware of what goes on around it. 

In CoS Dumbledore tells Harry that Voldemort unintentionally 
transferred some of his own powers to Harry the night he gave Harry 
his scar. I don't think that is all Voldemort transferred to Harry 
that night. I think Voldemort in fact transferred a part of his mind 
to Harry. Harry's scar marks the place where this separated part of 
Voldemort's mind dug its way into Harry's head. This explains the 
strange behaviour of Harry's scar in PS/SS. Until the encounter with 
Quirrellmort the separated part of Voldemort's mind had not realised 
Voldemort was hidden nearby. This explains the strange connection 
between Harry and Voldemort. It is the two separate parts of 
Voldemort's mind that share a strong connection. This explains why 
Harry's scar always hurts when the connection with Voldemort is 
active. It is the part of Voldemort's mind underneath Harry's scar 
that is connected to Voldemort. And this explains why Harry's scar 
always hurts when Voldmort is nearby. The part of Voldemort's mind 
inside Harry desperately wants to return to the rest of Voldemort.(1) 

In this first post I will try to show that there is a separated part 
of Voldemort's mind inside Harry. The best way to do that is to show 
how this separated part of Voldemort's mind has been trying to 
influence Harry over the past fifteen years.


*Harry's early childhood*
The separated part of Voldemort's mind already was trying to 
influence Harry when Harry was still living with the Dursleys. When 
Harry was very small the separated part of Voldemort's mind talked to 
Harry: 

"Harry couldn't explain, even to himself, why he didn't just throw 
Riddle's diary away. The fact was that even though he knew the diary 
was blank, he kept absentmindedly picking it up and turning the 
pages, as though it were a story he wanted to finish. And while Harry 
was sure he had never heard the name T. M. Riddle before, it still 
seemed to mean something to him, almost as though Riddle was a friend 
he'd had when he was very small, and had half-forgotten. But this was 
absurd. He'd never had friends before Hogwarts, Dudley had made sure 
of that." - [CoS]

It could not have been the anagram that made the name seem familiar, 
at that point in the story Harry didn't know Riddle's full name was 
Tom Marvolo Riddle. But it could have been the separated part of 
Voldemort's mind talking to Harry. That explains how Harry could have 
had a friend without Dudley knowing about it. That also explains why 
Harry's friend called himself Tom Riddle. While everyone else ignored 
Harry the separated part of Voldemort's mind talked to Harry. The 
separated part of Voldemort's mind became Harry's only childhood 
friend. And then the separated part of Voldemort's mind just stopped 
talking to Harry. Perhaps Harry's mind became too powerful, slowly 
forcing it into a dormant state, or perhaps more likely it made a 
tactical decision to stop talking to Harry.


*Harry's first and second year at Hogwarts*
When Harry several years later is accepted into Hogwarts the 
separated part of Voldemort's mind resurfaces. In Harry's first two 
years at Hogwarts the separated part of Voldemort's mind tries to get 
Harry to transfer to Slytherin. Harry's first night at Hogwarts Harry 
is told by the Sorting Hat that he would do well in Slytherin. That 
night the separated part of Voldemort's mind talks to Harry in his 
sleep: 

"He was wearing Professor Quirrell's turban, which kept talking to 
him, telling him he must transfer to Slytherin at once, because it 
was his destiny. Harry told the turban he didn't want to be in 
Slytherin; it got heavier and heavier; he tried to pull it off but it 
tightened painfully - and there was Malfoy, laughing at him as he 
struggled with it - then Malfoy turned into the hook-nosed teacher, 
Snape, whose laugh became high and cold - there was a burst of green 
light and Harry woke, sweating and shaking." – [PS/SS]

In his dream Harry is wearing Professor Quirrell's turban; we later 
find out that hidden underneath Professor Quirrell's turban was 
Voldemort. Which suggests that, like Professor Quirrell, there is a 
part of Voldemort's mind inside Harry. The turban is constantly 
talking to Harry, telling him he must transfer to Slytherin, and then 
the weight of the turban starts to suffocate Harry. Which suggests 
that the part of Voldemort inside Harry was trying to influence Harry 
in his sleep. Then in Harry's second year the separated part of 
Voldemort's mind again tries to get Harry to transfer to Slytherin. 
When Harry is lying on his bed after the duelling club the separated 
part of Voldemort's mind talks to Harry: 

"But I'm in Gryffindor, Harry thought. The Sorting Hat wouldn't have 
put me in here if I had Slytherin blood... Ah, said a nasty little 
voice in his brain, but the Sorting Hat wanted to put you in 
Slytherin, don't you remember?" – [CoS] 

We all assume that this little voice Harry hears inside his head was 
his inner doubt, but this little voice Harry hears inside his head 
could also have been the separated part of Voldemort's mind talking 
to Harry for the first time since his early childhood.(2)   


*Harry's third year at Hogwarts*
In Harry's third year the separated part of Voldemort's mind tries to 
get Harry to kill Sirius. After sneaking of to Hogsmeade Harry finds 
out that it was because of Sirius' betrayal that his parents are no 
longer alive. When Harry is lying in bed that night the separated 
part of Voldemort puts a number of images into Harry's head: 

"A hatred such as he had never known before was coursing through 
Harry like poison. He could see Black laughing at him through the 
darkness, as though somebody had pasted the picture from the album 
over his eyes. He watched, as though somebody was playing him a piece 
of film, Sirius Black blasting Peter Pettigrew (who resembled Neville 
Longbottom) into a thousand pieces. He could hear (though he had no 
idea what Black's voice might sound like) a low, excited mutter. 'It 
has happened, my Lord... the Potters have made me their Secret-
Keeper...' And then came another voice, laughing shrilly, the same 
laugh that Harry heard inside his head whenever the Dementors drew 
near..." – [PoA]

Twice the images inside Harry's head are described as though someone 
was deliberately showing him these things. And then Harry can also 
hear Sirius' voice, even though he has never heard Sirius speak 
before. The separated part of Voldemort's mind was putting on a 
little show for Harry. The separated part of Voldemort's mind was 
using Harry's anger to get him to avenge his parents' deaths. And 
Harry actually gets a chance to kill Sirius when later that year he 
comes face to face with Sirius in the Shrieking Shack. Then just as 
Harry has his wand pointed at Sirius, the separated part of 
Voldemort's mind talks to Harry:  

"Black made a startled movement that almost dislodged Crookshanks; 
Harry gripped his wand convulsively - Do it now! said a voice in his 
head - but the footsteps were thundering up the stairs and Harry 
still hadn't done it." – [PoA]

Again Harry hears a voice inside his head and this time the voice 
Harry hears inside his head certainly was not his inner doubt. Again 
the separated part of Voldemort's mind talks to Harry.


*Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts*
In Harry's fourth year the separated part of Voldemort's mind tries 
to keep Sirius away from Harry. When Harry's scar hurts at the start 
of the year, Harry decides to write a letter to Sirius. But when 
Sirius then replies that he's coming back to Britain, Harry becomes 
worried about Sirius' safety. That night the separated part of 
Voldemort's mind talks to Harry in his sleep:  

"Early next morning, Harry woke with a plan fully formed in his mind, 
as though his sleeping brain had been working on it all night. He got 
up, dressed in the pale dawn light, left the dormitory without waking 
Ron, and went back down to the deserted common room. Here he took a 
piece of parchment from the table upon which his Divination homework 
still lay and wrote the following letter:

Dear Sirius,
I reckon I just imagined my scar hurting, I was half asleep when I 
wrote to you last time. There's no point coming back, everything's 
fine here. Don't worry about me, my head feels completely normal. 
Harry" – [GoF]
 
The fact that the idea to write to Sirius arrived fully formed in 
Harry's mind after his sleeping brain working had been working on it 
all night is very suspicious. It suggests that the separated part of 
Voldemort's mind again tried to influence Harry in his sleep. Harry 
was genuinely concerned for Sirius' safety, the separated part of 
Voldemort's mind used that concern to get Harry to write to Sirius.  


*Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts*
And then in Harry's fifth year Harry is suddenly behaving not at all 
like the Harry we have come to know and love. At the same time the 
separated part of Voldemort's mind talks to Harry more than any of 
the previous years:

"But if he had remembered... if he had thought about it... what would 
he have expected? Not this, said a small and truthful voice inside 
his head." – [OotP] (3)

"He had been so sure his parents were wonderful people that he had 
never had the slightest difficulty in disbelieving the aspersions 
Snape cast on his father's character. Hadn't people like Hagrid and 
Sirius told Harry how wonderful his father had been? (Yeah, well, 
look what Sirius was like himself, said a nagging voice inside 
Harry's head... he was as bad, wasn't he?)" – [OotP] 

"Harry was listening hard for the slightest sound of movement, but 
Sirius might be gagged now, or else unconscious... or, said an 
unbidden voice inside his head, he might already be dead..." – [OotP]

"Nothing happened. The frustrated face looking back out of the mirror 
was still, definitely, his own... Sirius didn't have his mirror on 
him when he went through the archway, said a small voice in Harry's 
head. That's why it's not working... Harry remained quite still for a 
moment, then hurled the mirror back into the trunk where it 
shattered." – [OotP]

I don't think it is a coincidence that in a year where Harry is 
suddenly behaving very differently, Harry is hearing more voices 
inside his head than ever. Harry shouts at his friends, Harry quickly 
becomes angry at his friends, Harry at times completely shuts his 
friends out. In Harry's fifth year the separated part of Voldemort's 
mind has been trying to alienate Harry from his friends. The 
separated part of Voldemort's mind has been using Harry's own fears 
and doubts to make him question the motives and loyalty of his 
friends. 


*Summary*
Over the last five years the separated part of Voldemort's mind has 
tried to get Harry to transfer to Slytherin, tried to get Harry to 
kill someone, and tried to get Harry to distance himself from the 
people he trusts most. It seems very clear what the separated part of 
Voldemort's mind has been trying to do, the separated part of 
Voldemort's mind has been trying to get Harry to follow in its 
footsteps. 

-Maus





(1) This is what Dumbledore is talking about when he's muttering to 
himself after the snake attack on Arthur Weasley:  

"'Naturally, naturally,' murmured Dumbledore apparently to himself, 
still observing the stream of smoke without the slightest sign of 
surprise. 'But in essence divided?' Harry could make neither head nor 
tail of this question. The smoke serpent, however, split itself 
instantly into two snakes, both coiling and undulating in the dark 
air." 

Dumbledore is talking about the essence of Voldemort, Voldemort's 
mind. The snakes represent the separate parts of Voldemort's mind, 
which share a bond but at the same time have been living completely 
separate lives for the past fifteen years. One part trapped inside 
Harry watching him grow up, the other forced to go into exile waiting 
for his followers to finally come looking for him. 

(2) Or possibly the second time the separated part of Voldemort's 
mind talked to Harry since his early childhood, there is also this 
incident at the end of PS/SS:

"Quirrell screamed and tried to throw Harry off - the pain in Harry's 
head was building - he couldn't see - he could only hear Quirrell's 
terrible shrieks and Voldemort's yells of, 'KILL HIM! KILL HIM!' and 
other voices, maybe in Harry's own head, crying, 'Harry! Harry!'" – 
[PS/SS]

One of these voices almost certainly is Dumbledore coming just in 
time to pull Harry away from Professor Quirrell. The fact that Harry 
was not sure if the voices were coming from outside his own head 
suggests that the other voice was coming from inside his head.  

(3) Harry then goes on to have an entire conversation with the voice 
inside his head:   

"But if he had remembered... if he had thought about it... what would 
he have expected? 
Not this, said a small and truthful voice inside his head. 
Harry screwed up his face and buried it in his hands. He could not 
lie to himself; if he had known the prefect badge was on its way, he 
would have expected it to come to him, not Ron. Did this make him as 
arrogant as Draco Malfoy? Did he think himself superior to everyone 
else? Did he really believe he was better than Ron? 
No, said the small voice defiantly.
Was that true? Harry wondered, anxiously probing his own feelings.
I'm better at Quidditch, said the voice. But I'm not better at 
anything else.
That was definitely true, Harry thought; he was no better than Ron in 
lessons. But what about outside lessons? What about those adventures 
he, Ron and Hermione had had together since starting at Hogwarts, 
often risking much worse than expulsion?
Well, Ron and Hermione were with me most of the time, said the voice 
in Harry's head.
Not all the time, though, Harry argued with himself. They didn't 
fight Quirrell with me. They didn't take on Riddle and the Basilisk. 
They didn't get rid of all those Dementors the night Sirius escaped. 
They weren't in that graveyard with me, the night Voldemort 
returned... And the same feeling of ill-usage that had overwhelmed 
him on the night he had arrived rose again. I've definitely done 
more, Harry thought indignantly. I've done more than either of them!
But maybe, said the small voice fairly, maybe Dumbledore doesn't 
choose prefects because they've got themselves into a load of 
dangerous situations... maybe he chooses them for other reasons... 
Ron must have something you don't...
Harry opened his eyes and stared through his fingers at the 
wardrobe's clawed feet, remembering what. Fred had said: 'No one in 
their right mind would make Ron a prefect...' Harry gave a small 
snort of laughter. A second later he felt sickened with himself." – 
[OotP]

It is not really clear what the separated part of Voldemort's mind is 
trying to do here. Perhaps it was trying to make Harry envious of 
Ron's prefect badge, or perhaps it was using reverse psychology to 
make Harry doubt Dumbledore's faith in him. Whatever it was trying to 
do, it certainly is not a good sign when you start having entire 
conversations with the voices inside your head.