Killing tears the soul apart redux. WAS: Re: Snape's penance?

[lagattalucianese]

No: HPFGUIDX 139698

>  
> Now I'll add a question for debate. If Harry destroys all Voldy's
> horcruxes (with or without help), then he ends up killing Voldy
> (in self defense of course), where does that leave what's left of
> Voldy's soul? Would a soul in such a reduced state be able  to
> get beyond the veil, or whatever? Is this what Dumbledore meant
> when he told Voldemort that there are worse fates than death? 
>  
> Julie 
>  
What I am puzzled about is how the horcruxes work divisionwise. Can 
Voldemort control how much of his soul goes into the horcrux du jour? 
It sounds like not; Dumbledore says that *murder* rips the soul, so he 
would be left with whatever pieces of whatever size the killing 
bestows upon him. If the ripping proceeds along the lines of 
mathematical division, putting half of the soul he has left into the 
horcrux, he would end up with an arrangement like so:

  http://www.katmac.cncdsl.com/horcrux.GIF

Which leaves him with about 1/64th of a soul left when he faces Harry 
in the final battle, assuming Harry, etc., has found and destroyed all 
the horcruxes before he can recover them and reabsorb whatever 
fraction of a soul each of them contains. And Harry and Dumbledore and 
R.A.B. have managed to destroy the horcruxes that contain the largest 
fractions of soul. I should think that would leave Voldemort rather 
depleted, to say the least, when he has to confront Harry.

--Gatta