[HPforGrownups] Re: Harry Horcrux redux :)

[Kathryn Jones]

No: HPFGUIDX 155110

Geoff Bannister 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).

   KJ writes:

      I think that this argument points even more to the fact that 
Harry's choice is key to the destruction of Voldemorte.  If he is indeed 
packing around a piece of V's soul, he will make the choice of walking 
away and living, knowing that Voldemorte will return some day, or making 
the choice to end the last remains of Voldemorte along with himself to 
protect the WW. DD points out that the right choice makes him "good, and 
kind, and brave". The wrong choice is apparently the easy choice.

snip
  Geoff:
> 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?

   KJ writes:

      I think that your are right here. I can't see JKR forcing Harry to 
kill Voldemorte.  She has shown us that Harry can not kill Sirius even 
when that was his intention, she has gone to great lengths to 
demonstrate that his wand will not work against Voldemorte's wand, and 
that he can not be possessed, which leaves Harry's mind clear for 
whatever choice he makes. If he walks away, Voldemorte will still exist 
in some form and may well return.
> 
> 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.

  KJ:

    We know that this isn't going to happen because evil must lose in 
the end and somehow Voldemorte must be defeated. Harry is the only one 
with the power to make it so.
> 
> 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.

   KJ writes:

     You are forgetting about the third person who JKR has put into 
place right beside Voldemorte in a position of trust. I suspect that 
Snape will perform the coup de grace on Voldemorte which may allow time 
for Harry to finally understand what Snape's true purpose was. Snape may 
or may not be in a position to assist Harry with his choice.