In essence divided?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 154367

Geoff:
> Might I yet again drag up a thread from the archives....
> 
> Way back in the halcyon pre-HBP days, before Horcruxes, (sigh), I
started 
> a thread called "The Smoke Serpent".
> 
> This was message 79231 and some of the replies along the thread 
> might be relevant to or of interest to the current line of thinking.
>
Carol responds:
Thanks for dredging up that thread, Geoff. I still think that the
smoke serpent represents Nagini, who is "in essence divided" between
herself and Voldemort while he's possessing her (though she seems to
tolerate possession better than other animals, much less human hosts
like Harry and Quirrell, which may indicate that she's a Horcrux). I'm
indebted to one of the posters in the thread you cited, Corinth, for
pointing out that the division of the smoke serpents shows that
Voldemort and Nagini are separate entities--he's not a snake Animagus
or performing human Transfiguration on himself--so Voldemort can
possess animals (and presumably people) even when he has a body of his
own, a point clarified by Snape in the Occlumency lessons (Harry could
see from the snake's POV because LV was possessing the snake). This
ability becomes important later when LV tries to possess Harry at the
MoM. Since Harry acquired some of Voldemort's powers at Godric's
Hollow, perhaps he acquired the power of possession as well and that's
the secret to his defeat of Voldemort? (Of course, Voldemort seems to
possess Harry bodily, by which I mean that his entire self enters
Harry in some monstrous serpentine form, which perhaps is also what he
did to Nagini, who would find it considerably less intolerable for
various reasons. If Harry can possess Voldemort, would he need to do
so bodily, or could he leave his body behind to reenter when Voldemort
was defeated by Love? Which takes us back to the Veil scenario, where
I can't go right now, or heaven forfend, Harry crying out "Kill us!"
to Snape. . . .)

Didn't mean to go here. The process of association, you know. What I
meant to say is, it seems clear (to me) that "in essence divided"
refers to Nagini and Voldemort, whether or not she's a Horcrux (and I
think she is). But what I want to know is what Dumbledore was looking
for in the first place when he consulted that silver instrument. When
the smoke serpent came out, he said, "Naturally, naturally." "But in
essence divided?" was a question, answered by the instrument when the
smoke serpent divided into two. But what does "Naturally, naturally" mean?

One last point, tangentially related: If Nagini is a Horcrux, she's
one that Harry is uniquely fitted to destroy given his knowledge of
Parseltongue and his previous use of the Sword of Gryffindor, which I
hope will come to his aid again. No need for knowledge of
curse-breaking in this instance. Harry can do it without help from
Snape or Bill Weasley or any other adult wizard (or witch). So that
leaves only three (the locket, the cup and the tiara or wand or
whatever the Ravenclaw Horcrux is) that require outside help (Bill's
for the locket and Snape's for the other two? Or Bill's for both
locket and tiara, nicely disposed of after his wedding so that Harry
can get on with his Snape hunting, and Snape for the cup Horcrux? Once
Snape has destroyed the fifth Horcrux, he could advise Harry on how to
destroy Nagini and Voldemort. Assuming, of course, that he knows about
the Horcruxes, as I think he must.)

Carol, hoping that Harry will destroy Voldemort through possession and
that he can do so without dying himself