Why 4 Horcruxes left, and not 3??

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 142235

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "ronnie" <remuslupin73 at h...> wrote:
>
> > bboyminn wrote:
> 
> > You can kill a thousand times, and those thousand pieces of broken
> > soul are still part of you. ... Not only do you damage part of
> > your soul in the act of murder, but you lose part of your soul in 
> > the creation of the Horcrux, and in losing, becoming separated 
> > from, part of your soul, you lose a degree of your humanity. 
> 
> 
> expectopatronnie: 
>  
> I don't understand it that way: IMO when you kill you're ripping 
> your soul, and not merely damaging it. The ripped pieces evaporate 
> into thin air, unless you encase them with a horcrux. I really 
> don't think the actual making of the Horcrux increases the damage 
> to your soul
> 
> E.

bboyminn:

Well, I can't actually say you are wrong, but I think there is
circumstantial evidents that contradicts your position.

For example, consider Slughorn's memory in which he tells Riddle about
the Horcruxes. In that memory, it seems to be after Tom killed Gaunt
and the Riddle family. Note he has the Gaunt/Slytherin ring on his
finger, but he doesn't really know about Horcruxes yet. If he has
killed his parents and torn his soul, how much time does he have
before the torn pieces of soul 'evaporate into thin air'?

To imply that the soul-pieces 'evaporate into thin air' implies that
they are gone relatively quickly. It's difficult to say how much time
it took Tom to create each individual Horcruxes (re: time between
murder and creation), but it seems clear that it took him a
significant amount time to create the original Diary Horcrux.

Also, we must to some extent blend real-life with fictional life. If a
person commits murder and that tears his soul, and that soul piece is
lost, then from a religious sense, can that murderer never be
redeemed? From a Christian perspective, even the worst of us is
capable of achieving salvation, but how is salvation possible if you
have lost part of your soul? Again, I know that's not proof, but it is
a least an indicator. 

So far in JKR's Wizard World, we have only one thing that /seems/ to
destroy the soul, and that is the Dementors. Of course, I can't really
say that with absolute certainty. In general though, the soul is eternal. 

While I know I can't offer definitive proof and am equally sure that
without proof I will never sway your opinion, I am convinced that
Killing tears the soul, but that torn damaged soul stays with the
murderer. I do, personally, believe that given substantial amounts of
time the soul is capable of repairing itself. While given decades of
time and a substantial change of heart, the soul may, to some extent,
heal itself, it will always be scarred and damaged by the action of
murder. 

I know I haven't offerred anything remotely close to proof here, in
fact, hardly more than a bit of philosophy, but the timing of a
soul-piece that evaporates into thin air just seems to critial and
short. I'd much rather believe it hangs around either to attempt to
heal, or to be given up as a Horcrux.

For what it's worth.

Steve/bboyminn