[HPforGrownups] Re: Harry a Horcrux?

[Kathryn Jones]

No: HPFGUIDX 153484

justcarol67 wrote:

> Can you tell me where you found the idea that the Horcrux spell must
> be performed *before* the murder?

   KJ writes:
    I have never considered that a spell would be performed prior to a 
murder in order to make a horcrux. This has been an idea that has 
cropped up time to time over the past year, and I hate to attribute it 
because it may have been my own misunderstanding of another poster.

> Apparently a Horcrux is created by a spell placed on an object *after*
> a murder is committed. AFWK, there is no statute of limitations on the
> amount of time that can pass between the murder and the creation of
> the Horcrux, and apparently LV can somehow choose the murder that is
> used to create the Horcrux.

   KJ:
     That interests me as well.  How can he commit multiple murders and 
still be able to pick which murder, which soul split, and which horcrux 
holder go together?????
> 
> But the idea I've seen on this list that the object has to be present
> at the murder scene seems false. It's possible, of course, that Tom
> stole the ring before he killed his father and wore it when he
> committed the murder, but he certainly could not have put a
> Horcrux-creating spell on it first. More likely, it was a magpielike
> souvenir of the murders, not to mention that it was his "rightful"
> possession as the Heir of Slytherin.

   KJ:
    I agree completely with this timing. Tom might not have made his 
first horcrux until well after he left Hogwarts. He "disappeared" for 
about 10 years, and on his return to apply for a job at Hogwarts, he 
showed only a few signs of damage. It has been suggested by others that 
Harry may find some object at GH that was meant to be made into a 
horcrux, but I find that very unlikely as well.

> To return to the topic, I think that the diary was created with
> Myrtle's murder (significant because it was the first), but the diary
> was not present at the murder, and it certainly was not a previously
> prepared Horcrux for the same reason that the ring wasn't: he didn't
> know how to make one.

   KJ:
    While I agree whole-heartedly with your timing, I have a hard time 
recognizing the death of Myrtle as a murder. I don't think that Tom 
released the basilisk with the specific intention of killing people, 
that is just what basilisks do apparently. I don't suppose that Tom 
concerned himself about it, but I don't think that it would cause a 
split in his soul unless it was malicious and meant. I also don't think 
that he would find Myrtle of sufficient importance to use that murder as 
the basis for a horcrux. I have seen a few hardy posters attempt to come 
up with sufficiently important people to match to the horcruxes, but I 
find either too many murders or not enough significant murders.

> Carol, well aware of the unanswered questions related to Horcruxes but
> not wanting to bring them up here

  KJ, especially appreciative of posts that agree with me, there being 
so few of them