Harry Horcrux redux :)

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 155109

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "fuzztail2001" <bbernard1945 at ...> wrote:

Bill:
 
> I've been following this discussion for some time and I think we have
> been told, way back in book 2, that Harry is actually a Horcrux,
> although created accidentally.
> 
> Review the scene when Harry has returned from the Chamber of Secrets
> and he an Professor Dumbledore are sitting in Professor McGonagall's
> office. This is on pages 332-3 of the U.S. edition.
> 
> Harry has remarked the Tom Riddle (from the diary) has said that they
> show certain similarities. Harry begins to question this, but then,
> remembering that he was almost sorted into Slytherin House, pauses.
> Professor Dumbledore replies: "...Unless I'm much mistaken, he
> transferred some of his own powers to you the night he gave you that
> scar. Not something he intended to do, I'm sure..."
> 
> "Voldemort put a bit of himself in me?" Harry said, thunderstruck.
> 
> "It certainly seems so."
> 
> Note that Harry did not repeat back what DD said, but said something
> different. DD does not correct him, but affirms his interpretation.

Geoff:
I still believe that this transfer could happen without a Horcrux being 
involved.

>From the point of the story, I still stand with the "Harry is not a Horcrux" 
view.

I apologise for reperating previous posts but to save time, I am quoting 
parts two previous mesages I wrote on this topic:

In post 139937 dated 10/09/05, I wrote:

But what of Harry? Why do I not believe that he is a Horcrux? Because 
I believe that it flies in the face of Dumbledore's now famous comment:
"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our 
abilities." (COS "Dobby's Reward" p.245 UK edition)

It has been observed by many contributors to the group that JKR makes 
much of choice. Dumbledore again makes the matter clear: "Remember, 
if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what 
is right and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was 
good and kind and brave because he strayed across the path of Lord 
Voldemort" (GOF "The Beginning" p.628 UK edition).

If Harry is indeed a Horcrux than we know that he will have to die in 
order for Voldemort to be destroyed once and for all. He could make 
the choice of running away and hiding; the alternative is to face 
Voldemort knowing that he will go down with him. And that places him
on a hiding to nothing. He has got no real choice in that eventuality. OK, 
in the real world, that situation occurs. As the anniversary of 11th 
September is almost on us, I remember that some of our US friends 
were faced with that choice when they opted to tackle the terrorists 
on the fourth plane and brought it down. But I do believe that the way 
in which Jo Rowling has constructed her story has encouraged folk of 
all ages and for Harry not to emerge relatively unscathed from a final 
encounter would undo the integrity of the themes in the eyes of many 
people. What I have written are obviously subjective, personal views and 
not everyone will agree with me but I shall be deeply disappointed if 
Harry failed to reach the end of Book 7.

And again, in message 140343 on 17/09/05:
I believe that if Harry is a Horcrux with a soul fragment inside him, this 
would be a plot device which would create problems and possible 
paradoxes within the Potterverse which Jo Rowling has crafted.

One of the points which has often been made about the Harry Potter 
world is that choice is paramount to the action. The pivotal statement 
is probably the oft-quoted one made by Dumbledore in Book 2: "It is 
our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our 
abilities." (COS "Dobby's Reward" p.245 UK edition)

Harry has made choices – sometimes consciously, sometimes not – 
which have guided him towards the side of light, of compassion and 
acceptance of the need to be prepared to tackle Voldemort. Tom Riddle, 
on the other hand, has set his mind to becoming powerful and has 
chosen evil and selfish ways of doing it. Others, such as Snape and 
more recently Draco, are making choices which are rather ambivalent 
leaving us still uncertain about where their final loyalties will lie. I feel 
that this possibly reflects Jo Rowling's views on Christianity. The 
Christian faith is a faith of choices. No one is a Christian by birth or 
privilege but by choice. But, if Harry is a Horcrux, this ability to choose 
is being seriously eroded and there then seems to be an argument for 
those who take the Calvinistic view of predestination.

Let us therefore consider the various scenarios which might emerge if 
Harry is indeed "encasing" a piece of You-Know-Who's soul. If he is, 
then it would seem that, in order to kill Voldemort, he will have to 
sacrifice himself to do it. If he chooses to walk away from the situation 
and decides to ignore the prophecy, then he is condemning the Wizarding 
World to a likely takeover by the Death Eaters. Even then, his security would 
not be guaranteed because Voldemort would still feel unsafe as long as 
Harry was around so our hero would spend his time in hiding, looking 
over his shoulder all the time and knowing that he had left his friends 
to the tender mercy of the Dark side.

But we do know from Book 6 that he is deciding to face up to Voldemort. 
Ginny says "I knew this would happen in the end. I knew you wouldn't be 
happy unless you were hunting Voldemort." And for Harry himself, 
`Moving felt much more bearable than sitting still: just as setting out as 
soon as possible to track down the Horcruxes and kill Voldemort would 
feel better than waiting to do it.'
(HBP "The White Tomb" p.603 UK edition)

However, this is where our paradoxes begin to raise their heads. Harry 
arrives for a stand-off with the Dark Lord having dealt with all the other 
Horcruxes. I can see three scenarios here, all of which present problems 
if Harry is a Horcrux.

Number one. Harry apparently kills Voldemort. The last remnant of soul 
in him is destroyed but – there is still a piece of soul in Harry. What happens? 
Does Voldemort become disembodied again? What happens if you have a 
piece of soul but it is not within you? Does he become an empty shell like 
a soul-sucked Dementor victim? Or would he be able in some disembodied 
way to seize on the piece in Harry? I am reminded of the Lord of the Rings 
here when Gandalf says that, if the Ring is thrown into Mount Doom, Sauron 
would not die but fall so far that the possibility of him arising again could 
not even be imagined. Would that happen here and Voldemort become 
almost a ghost figure? Presumably, as per the words of the prophecy, 
Harry would have vanquished him, but what of the future?

Number two. Voldemort kills Harry. this is the worst case scenario because 
it would leave Voldemort as the victor in possession of the tattered remnants 
of his soul and with no viable opposition to him. A new Dark age would 
descend upon the Wizarding world.

Number three. This I consider to have a low probability. They fire spells at 
each other and kill other simultaneously and both soul fragments are 
destroyed. The last time they did something like this, we saw the Priori 
Incantatem effect. If, as I imagine, they are still using the "brother wands", 
Dumbledore says that "they will not work properly against each other.." 
(GOF "The Parting of the Ways" p.605 UK edition). So, unless the spells do 
not "collide" there is a very low likelihood of them killing each other.

My feeling is, that for the purposes of the plot, scenario two seems to be 
unlikely. I cannot see Jo Rowling, having brought us so far along the way, 
allowing Voldemort to win by a flick of the wand.

Scenario one provides an unsatisfying resolution to the problem of really 
vanquishing him and scenario three hints at a rerun of the GOF event which 
would leave the fulfilment of the prophecy unresolved.

So, for better or for worse, I'm sticking with the Harry-is-not-a-Horcrux 
camp as I feel that, within our fictional universe, JKR needs to show that 
the choices, the efforts, the sacrifices of those whose have stood alongside 
Harry, and those who have taught him to use his gifts have not worked in 
vain. This is not the real world, it is fantasy and we need a satisfying closure.