What is Nagini?

[ecaplan_52556]

No: HPFGUIDX 157117

> Carol:
> But what would be his [Harry's] reason for killing her [Nagini]
> if she's not a Horcrux? What if he kills her thinking she's a
> Horcrux and there's really another Horcrux left that he doesn't
> know about?

Eddie:
This leads me to an interesting tangent: how does
Dumbledore/Harry/anybody *KNOW* for certain when they've destroyed a
Horcrux?  If RAB hadn't left a message in the wrong!locket, would
Harry have known he had the wrong one?

We saw the memory image of Tom Riddle dissolve when Harry destroyed
the diary in COS.  We saw Dumbledore's blackened hand that Dumbledore
says is the price that had to be paid for the destruction of the ring
Horcrux.  But what other verification is there?  For example, does
Harry feel any relief when these pieces of Voldemort's soul were
destroyed?  Did his scar tingle happily?

Eddie, who wonders too much about the mechanics of magic in fictional
youth literature.