Killing is not necessarily murder and to defeat is not the same thing as to

[Miles]

No: HPFGUIDX 157200

zeroirregardless wrote:
> And the defining
> characteristic of "human" is "possessing a soul."

Miles:
This definition is from... ? As far as I can see, you conjured it out of
nowhere, right? ;)
One necessary element of being a human being is the possession of a mortal
body. Otherwise Ghosts would be "human beings" - but they are not, since
they are dead. So, having a soul is only one characteristic of being human.

zeroirregardless wrote:
> Does "possessing
> one-seventh of a soul" count?
> If it does, Harry's destruction of the diary, and with it
> memory-Riddle, would already make him a killer.

Miles:
Neither Ghosts nor Horcruxes are human beings, because they have no mortal
body.

zeroirregardless wrote:
> But memory-Riddle
> apparently doesn't count, for example, Harry saw him expire but still
> could not see thestrals. Voldemort possesses no more of a soul than
> the diary did.

Miles:
Diary!Tom was not alive, so he couldn't die. The part of Voldemorts soul
that was enclosed in the diary was not destroyed, it was set free.


zeroirregardless wrote:
>     I can believe that making a horcrux means making yourself no
> longer human.

Miles:
Now, the main moral institution in the books seems to see this differently.
For example, he always addresses Voldemort by his old first name Tom, the
name of the boy he once invited to Hogwarts.

LV does not want to be the old mortal Tom Riddle, but Dumbledore reminds him
that he is both - Tom Riddle, and mortal. And a human being, albeit changed
and "thinned out" during the process of Horcrux making.

Miles, who doubts very much that JKR will let Harry kill any human being,
not even the Evil Overlord