Possessing the possessor, not Horcrux!Harry (Was: Speculating on Voldemort's con

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 142385

Lucianam wrote:
<snip>
> Well, the way I see it, things like a conscience, morals, fair 
> judgment, a sense of compassion, etc., they'd all fall into 
> the 'soul' category, wouldn't them? Rather than into 'mind' (I'm 
> using the 'body, mind and soul' idea here).
> 
> So yes, I guess it's possible Voldemort's conscience has been 
> mutilated too, along with the rest of his soul. I think he no longer 
> has anything that resembles a conscience.  Only we haven't had any 
> indication that Voldemort's soul has been neatly split into 
> specific, identifiable parts as a conscience would be (for example, 
> his conscience going into the ring, his compassion going into the 
> diary, his morals into Nagini, etc). I suppose all these good 
> qualities are mixed together and he gradually lost them as he'd grew 
> more and more evil - or, as JKR put it, less and less human. 
> 
> About a piece of Voldemort's soul having been 'inserted' in Harry 
> that night in GH - well, that'd be the Harry is a horcrux theory, 
> right? (or Harry's scar is a horcrux, I'm not sure)
><snip>
> That would mean, if ever that bit of soul re-enters Voldemort's 
> body, Voldemort would be forced to, in a sense, to see things from 
> Harry's POV also. Maybe even be able to feel things from Harry's POV?
> 
> I wonder if there's a way of getting that bit of soul off Harry 
> without killing him - if he is a horcrux, he'll have to be 
> destroyed. 
> 
> Well, anyway it's not a sure thing there's a bit of Voldemort's 
> soul in Harry (though I like that theory). Maybe all Voldemort 
> transfered to Harry in Godric's Hollow was some of his magical 
> power?  
> 
> 
> Lucianam, now seriously (no pun!) worried Harry's gonna snuff it


Carol responds:

I don't think that the soul bits have distinctive properties.
Voldemort's soul is simply his the immmortal part of him that would
pass through the Veil if he died. Encasing pieces of his soul in
Horcruxes prevents that from happening even if the mortal portion of
him--his body--is destroyed. (I'm oversimplifying, I realize, but the
whole point of a Horcrux is earthly immortality as opposed to
afterlife beyond the Veil.)

I'm one of those who believes that you can't create a Horcrux
accidentally. It requires a complex spell to encase a soul portion in
a (preferably) solid object--certainly not a human body subject to
death and putrification. (The diary, originally created for another
purpose, is an exception, as is Nagini, if she's a Horcrux, but I
don't want to discuss that here.)

I see absolutely no reason why Harry should be a Horcrux, and
consequently, no reason for Harry to sacrifice himself to save the WW.
All he needs is some way to use the power of Love to destroy
Voldemort. The Prophecy suggests that Voldemort himself has given
Harry the power to vanquish him. It does not suggest that Harry has in
any way *become* Voldemort or that they share a soul.

Your last sentence comes close to providing the alternative reading
that I think best explains what really happened at Godric's Hollow.
It's not Voldemort's damaged soul, or part of it, that was transferred
to Harry. As Dumbledore says in HBP, LV retained that part of himself
in his vaporized state. It's what kept him "alive" until he could
obtain a body to encase his mutilated Selfhood, the primary soul that
kept him "alive" and the memories, powers, and personality that
distinguished him from all other wizards. Nor was it his power
(singular) in the sense of the magical strength that made his
"greatness" possible. He retained that as well, but needed a body in
order to wield it.

What he (apparently) transferred to Harry, as we're told by Dumbledore
in CoS, is some of his *powers* (plural) in the sense of the magical
abilities that Harry now shares with LV (LV has "mark[ed Harry] as his
equal" by accidentally giving him exactly those powers that
differentiate Voldemort from other wizards). Of course, Harry would
have had *some* powers simply by virtue of being a wizard rather than
a Muggle--the ability to perform magic using a wand, for example--and
he seems to have inherited his father's skills at flying and playing
Quidditch. But clearly his ability to speak Parseltongue is not part
of this genetic magical inheritance: that specific power (magical
ability) is acquired from Voldemort--not a part of Voldemort's soul,
which is the immortal part of him that would pass through the Veil
after death, but a part of Voldemort's genetic inheritance from *his*
parents, and, ultimately, from Salazar Slytherin.

What other distinctive powers does Voldemort possess that could have
been passed to Harry at Godric's Hollow? Legilimency, which Harry has
acquired to some degree through the scar connection but seems unable
to control or master, is one possibility. But we haven't seen Harry
deliberately attempting to use Legilimency and I'm not sure that he
can. (Casting a Protego that deflects Snape's Legilimency spell onto
its caster is not Legilimency but something akin to DADA, and willing
Snape to read his mind isn't the same as reading Snape's mind). Maybe
Legilimency will play a part in his defeat of Voldemort, or maybe it
won't. I think it's already played its role; Voldemort is now using
Occlumency against Harry.

But what about the one power that remained to Voldemort after he was
vaporized, the one power he could wield without a wand? Suppose that
Harry has acquired the power of Possession along with the ability to
speak Parseltongue (and perhaps a bit of Legilimency)?

We know that Voldemort can no longer possess Harry, but what if Harry
possesses Voldemort? What better way for the Love Harry supposedly
represents to enter Voldemort's mind, destroying him through the
"ancient magic" he despises? And how fitting for Harry to turn
Voldemort's own powers against him without stooping to casting an
Unforgiveable Curse.

And instead of being a passive instrument of destruction who must
himself be destroyed, Harry can actively wield the power of possession
as no one else in the WW can.

Carol, hoping that this idea provides a viable alternative to Harry
the Horcrux