[HPforGrownups] Living Beings as Horcruxes (was: Re: Harry Potter: A Horcrux)

[Peggy Wilkins]

No: HPFGUIDX 150879

On 4/11/06, Elisabet <kkersey at swbell.net> wrote:

Elisabet:
> Just a tiny bit of Peggy's post:
> > I began wondering about living beings as Horcruxes as soon as I
> > started wondering what happened to Voldemort's split soul when he
> > became Vapormort.  When he came up to kill Harry, his soul was
> > already split; then he was ripped from his body.  What became of the
> > torn portion, anything at all?
[snip]
> > It's provocative to speculate that if it lay abandoned, someone may
> > have found it and "done something" with it.

[Peggy then proposes Dumbledore may have stowed it inside Snape with
Snape's agreement.]

> Elisabet:
> I find the idea that Dumbledore might have installed a Voldybit into
> another human being a little, er, shocking, to tell the truth. And I
> doubt that DD was at Godric's Hollow himself anyway.

Peggy:
Many people find it difficult to imagine that Dumbledore would ever do
any Dark Magic.  At the beginning of SS/PS, McGonagall declares
Dumbledore "too noble" to use it, and many like to run with that as a
defining characteristic of Dumbledore.  I am not so sure; I can well
imagine him using it under circumstances where it is not strictly
"evil" and where it may be of practical or strategic use.  In support
of this, I offer Professor Binns' account of the legend of the Chamber
of Secrets as he describes how all the great headmasters and
headmistresses of Hogwarts have searched for the Chamber but failed to
find or open it.  When Parvati Patil objects that Dark Magic would be
required to open the Chamber, Professor Binns replies:

"Just because a wizard *doesn't* use Dark Magic doesn't mean he
*can't* ... I repeat, if the likes of Dumbledore--"  (CoS, US
paperback p.151)

Unfortunately he trails off, and I take it that he meant to continue
with something to the effect of "couldn't locate or open the Chamber".
 Combined with the word "can't" in his statement above, the
implication is that Dumbledore used every means at his disposal, very
likely including Dark Magic if and when appropriate.  It is because of
this passage that I am willing to consider Dumbledore creating a
Horcrux for strategic use.  That it is a Horcrux made with someone
else's soul piece (Voldemort's, that is) makes it more believable:
Dumbledore doesn't need to commit evil/murder to make this Horcrux, he
would merely be using Voldemort's already split off soul piece to his
own advantage.

As for Dumbledore not being at Godric's Hollow, unfortunately we don't
know whether he was there or not.  My personal feeling is that I can't
imagine that he didn't want to investigate the site firsthand; I think
it is eminently reasonable that he would have gone there for that
purpose, and it seems also possible that this activity could take up a
good deal of time on that day that is otherwise unaccounted for (the
missing day).

One of the things I most want in Book 7 is to find out who was at
Godric's Hollow when, and exactly what happened there...

Elisabet:
> But what if *Snape* was the one that found and retrieved the stray bit
> of Voldemort's soul? [snip]

Peggy:
Also a very interesting possibility.  The only reason I consider that
speculation less likely than Dumbledore having done such a thing is
that I have no context for knowing that Snape could have had any
experience with soul pieces/Horcruxes.  On second thought, he could
have had some experience in his relationship with Voldemort; so
perhaps this is more likely than I had considered.

Elisabet:
> What I like best about this theory, :-) , is that I can bring in one
> of my own pet ideas, that DD does not himself know why he trusts
> Snape: he has removed and stored that memory safely out of his head
> (and out of Snape's as well, I presume). Leaving it available for
> Harry to find and experience via penseive in the seventh book, of course.

Peggy:
Interesting idea.  Along similar lines, another way to handle this
situation would be to perform the Fidelius Charm.  The secret would be
worded something like, "A piece of Voldemort's soul is concealed
inside Severus Snape".  Imagine that Harry (as a one-year-old!) has
been made the secret keeper.  Having been so young at the time, he
wouldn't have understood the secret and probably wouldn't remember
anything about it.  (Is this possible with Fidelius?)  Now neither
Dumbledore nor Snape can reveal the location of the soul piece; and
Harry may be able to remember the secret at some point.

Since this secret must be concealed from Voldemort, it offers another
reason that Harry should study Occlumency with Snape.  (What if
Voldemort ran across the secret in Harry's memory, even if Harry
himself was unaware it was there?)  I thought it was very interesting
that in OOTP at Harry's first Occlumency lesson, when Harry is asking
Snape why he has to learn Occlumency, it says:

    Snape eyed Harry, tracing his mouth with one long, thin finger as
he did so.  (p. 531, US hardcover)

Then Harry asks, "But why does Professor Dumbledore want to stop it?"
(referring to the connection between his thoughts and Voldemort's
thoughts).  Again, the narrative refers to Snape "still tracing his
mouth with his finger".

Doesn't it seem as if this physical motion Snape is making with his
finger is directly symbolic of his lips being "sealed"?  Perhaps he
cannot directly speak about it because it is a secret protected by
Fidelius.

--
Peggy Wilkins
enlil65 at gmail.com