Math Question: Horcruxes

[whtwitch91]

No: HPFGUIDX 152804

pforpavati said:
<This explains why a great wizard like DD had to sacrifice the whole 
of hiis hand while destroying the ring. It must have been the first 
horcrux.  The locket can be the second and the diary may have been 
among the last...>

You may be on to something here.  I have always assumed that 
Voldemort made the horcruxes in the order in which he acquired 
them.  He had the diary first, the ring second, the cup and locket 
next.  He put his sixteen year old self in the diary.  But that may 
have been a different spell than the one that actually created the 
horcruxes.  We do  have a tip off in the books.  When Harry first 
sees him in the pensieve as a boy and later as an adult Voldemort 
shows no sign of deterioration in his face. A ten year period passes 
before Voldemort again shows up in DD's office to apply for a job. 
Then the physical deterioation shows.  "His face was burned, 
blurred..."  He hasn't yet reached the total deterioration that is 
evident from the time only his head shows when he was attached to 
the back of Quirrel's head. I think that no horcruxes were made 
until that ten year period when he disappeared from sight and went 
on a search for the darkest of spells. That's whn he found out how 
to do it.

We know that he made at least one more after he rose to power 
because his appearance changed.  What we don't know is whether his 
appearance changed from the time he went to Godric's Hollow to the 
time he reappeared with Quirrel.  That would answer the burning 
question of whether Harry himself is a horcrux. But this does answer 
the question about the snake.  From the time of Quirrel to the time 
in OotP his appearance did not degrade: he did not make a horcrux in 
the snake. At least up to that point.  And what reason would he have 
at this point to do it?

There are a number of interesting little facets of information 
contained in the books surrounding this issue and we can only  
conjecture about their meaning. Jo may never resolve them.  Another 
issue this brings up is whether Voldemort himself knows Harry is a 
horcrux (if, that is, Harry is indeed a horcrux.  Does he have 
access to a mirror?  Would he have the cold nerve to look in it and 
not throw up?  Perhaps he likes the look.  Speculate!

All my opinion, of course.
Sue