Nagini as Horcrux (Was: The Last Horcrux Still Unmade)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 146499

"theadimail" 
> There are certain inconsistencies, it seems to me, in Dumbledore's
theory about seven horcruxes. The greatest is his idea that Voldemort
already has seven horcruxes. He may still be one horcrux short and
still be looking for the Gryffindor object to turn it into  a horcrux. 
> There is no evidence that he has turned Nagini into a horcrux and
that too, after the murder of a foul muggle, if the whole theory of
making horcruxes is to make them after a particularly important murder. 
><snip> If Voldemorte had turned  Nagingi into a horcrux after Frank's
murder, there should have been some signifact fallout to his state.
But there is none. He is still in that child-like state till Harry is
kidnapped later in the novel. So what gives? <snip>
>    

Carol responds:
As Ch3 pointed out, it's six Horcruxes total, with the last soul piece
remaining in Voldemort. Not that it matters. Even with Nagini as a
Horcrux, there's still one Horcrux unaccounted for. (It could be the
tiara in the RoM, the wand in Ollivander's window, or, heaven forfend,
Harry the Horcrux.) But if Nagini is not a Horcrux, we have not one
but two Horcruxes unaccounted for if Dumbledore is right about the
number, and Slughorn's memory seems to indicate that he is. So let's
look at the evidence for Nagini as Horcrux without considering that
particular argument.

I agree that LV would not have used Frank Bryce's murder to turn
Nagini into a Horcrux, and not merely because Frank was insignificant.
 Voldie was concerned at that time with getting another body, not with
obtaining immortality, which he already *had* (as long as even one
Horcrux remains intact) or he wouldn't have been able to survive the
deflected AK at Godric's Hollow. But eternal life on earth isn't much
use if you have to be carried around in the arms of a servant who
loathes and fears you (and is himself subject to mortality).

But what about the possibility that Nagini became a Horcrux *before*
Godric's Hollow, so that when Voldemort returned to England ca. 1970
and started gathering followers, he felt invincible because he already
had all his Horcruxes? (Later, when he heard part of the Prophecy, he
would have started hiding and protecting most of the Horcruxes and
trying to destroy the Prophecy boy, but that's another story.)

>From the little we learn about Horcruxes in HBP, they don't affect
Voldie's power. He has his peculiar abilities, ranging from wandless
magic and Legilimency to Parseltongue and possession, from a very
early age, and he can manipulate Basilisks and cast Avada Kedavras at
sixteen. He creates the diary and ring Horcruxes before he kills
Hepzibah Smith at about age twenty. The Horcruxes don't affect his
powers, which remain consistent (until he's vaporized and bodiless).
What they affect is his appearance. We can see a change in him even in
the interview with Hepzibah Smith. He's thinner and paler, but oddly
still handsome. In the DADA interview, at which time he probably has
made at least the locket and cup Horcruxes in addition to the diary
and the ring, his features are blurred, but he doesn't yet look like
the Voldemort that Harry has encountered. *He isn't yet snakelike.* 

But when he returns to England later and begins recruiting followers,
he's unrecognizable, as Dumbledore tells us early on. When we see his
face in SS/PS sticking out of Quirrell's head in SS/PS, its definitely
snakelike, suggesting that he was snakelike before he was vaporized.
The features of the terrible fetuslike baby!mort are also snakelike;
moreover, it is "born" from a potion made from Nagini's venom and
unicorn blood (IIRC). It is nurtured on her "milk" (venom). And the
resurrected Voldemort, restored to a body apparently identical to his
old one, is again snakelike. 

That this snakelike face is that of the Voldemort the DEs knew in VW1
is evident from their reactions in the graveyard. They fear his
punishment for their disloyalty, they kiss the hems of his robes, they
"crave" his pardon and the story of his miraculous restoration, but
they are not at all surprised or horrified by his appearance. For the
younger ones, at least, he has always been snakelike. And for the
older ones like Nott, he has been snakelike for so long that they have
almost forgotten the handsome Tom Riddle who was their schoolmate.

Later we see that LV's affinity with Nagini goes beyond being able to
communicate with her and promise her the corpses of his victims; he
can possess her without shortening her lifespan. And she doesn't seem
to have rebelled against him despite being deprived of both Wormtail
and Harry. But I don't think that's all the evidence Dumbledore has to
go on to deduce that Nagini is indeed a Horcrux.

For me, and perhaps for DD, it's Voldie's snakelike features and his
ability not only to drink her venom but to thrive on it, to require it
as an essential ingredient in creating the rudimentary body that
enables him to hold a wand while he waits for Harry's blood in GoF,
which convinces me that Nagini is a Horcrux, and was already a Horcrux
before Voldie's return to England.

If Nagini is not a Horcrux, how can we account for Voldemort's
snakelike features and his use of Nagini's venom to create and sustain
the fetuslike baby!mort? There's more to Voldemort's relationship with
Nagini than Parseltongue and a pet snake.

Carol