Horcrux hunting

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 153145

bboyminn wrote:
<snip> 
> My read is that Dumbledore was injured by a SEPARATE Protective
Curse that was placed on the Ring to prevent anyone from /getting/ the
Ring and releasing the soul-bit. 
> 
> I readily admit that we don't now how Horcruxes are destroyed in the
> sense that we don't know what is required to release the Soul-Bit,
and we further don't fully know the repercussion of releasing a
Soul-Bit. But we do have some examples to draw from.
> 
> Harry and the Diary-
> 
> This was a Memory/Horcrux combination that was /meant/ to be found
and used, so naturally it doesn't have a load of extrenal protections
> placed on it. When Harry destroyed, or significantly damaged, the
> object that held the Soul-Bit, that Soul-Bit was released from the
object.
> 
> Harry, the Cave, and the Locket-
> 
> Here we clearly see the Voldemort has placed many enchantments,
> obsticals, and dangers between the entrance to the cave and the
> Locket. These are all dangerous things that we do not see guarding
the Diary. And, indeed that are dangerous and deadly; the interferi,
the Green Potion, injuring oneself to open the gate, etc...
> 
> Dumbledore and the Ring -
> 
> We don't get the detail of what Dumbledore did to release the Soul
> from the Ring, but we do see that the Ring is damaged. With a degree
> of speculation, we can assume that that damage was all that was
> necessary to release the soul bit. But, just as the Locket had many
> protection and enchantments protecting it, we can reasonably assume
> that it to was protected. 
> 
> Now the two circumstances are different. The Locket hidden in a
secret cave is the perfect place for a long complex set of wizardly
and magical challenges to be face by anyone seeking the locket. But
the Ring was buried at the Gaunt farm, near a passing muggle road, and
> that is not the place for magic boats, countless dead bodies, and a
> glowing-green pedestal and bowl. That is all much to obvious for an
> area frequented by muggles. So, Voldemort chose a completely
different method of protecting the Ring. He chose to curse the Ring to
injure any one who found it and tried to destroy it. There may have
been an assortment of dark enchantments protecting the Ring, but the
ultimate Dark Curse, was to kill a person who attempted to destroy the
Horcrux.
<snip>
> 
> So, my central point is that Dumbledore was most likely injured by
one of the external protections guarding the Ring and not simply by
the process of releasing the Soul-Bit, or by reversing the Horcrux spell. 
> 
> Still, we really don't know clearly how you destroy a Horcrux. Hints
> seem to indicate that if you damage the object the soul will be
> released. Harry's experience with the Diary seems to indicate that
> that's all their is to it, but Dumbledore's experience with the Ring
> hints that it might not be quite that easy. <snip>


Carol responds:
Essentially, I agree with you, and I think that the difference between
hiding a Horcrux in a Muggle-inhabited area and hiding it in a
cliffside cave is important.

However, I suspect that the ring was the second Horcrux (after the
diary), made by my calculations before the murder of Hepzibah Smith,
and that the later Horcruxes (the ones whose creation blurred his
features) had more sophisticated protections. The diary, as you say,
was intended to be interactive, so it had no protections. It lured the
reader into yielding up first his (her) will and then his soul or life
force. I very much doubt that any other Horcrux works in quite that way.

The ring was magically concealed and yet easy enough for a skilled
wizard like DD to discover, but breaking it open, destroying it and
releasing the soul bit, also released the curse that crawled up DD's
wand arm and would have killed him had it not been for Snape's "timely
action" (probably something similar to the way he prevented the cursed
necklace from killing Katie). Unfortunately, DD never got around to
telling Harry the "thrilling tale," so our knowledge is limited.
Still, it seems to me that in this case, the curse was released at the
same time as the soul bit and was intended to kill the person who
destroyed the Horcrux, almost certainly to prevent his doing the same
with the remaining Horcruxes.

The locket was protected, as you indicate, in a more sophisticated
way, intended to keep the would-be destroyer from reaching it in the
first place and to kill him if he did, via either the potion or the
Inferi. (I don't believe DD's explanation that LV would have wanted to
know who was trying to steal the Horcrux before that person died; that
seems implausible and is, IMO, intended to reassure Harry that it's
okay to administer the poison to DD.) Those protections, IMO, are
intended to insure that the person stealing the Horcrux never makes it
out of the cave. If he survives the potion, he'll crave water and be
killed by the Inferi. He won't have the opportunity to destroy the
stolen Horcrux even if he has the strength.

But the locket, assuming that it's the one in 12 GP (and we've already
had the fake locket; we don't need another one), has at least one
additional protection: it can't be opened. Like the ring, it will,
IMO, have to be broken open to release the soul bit, and I would be
very surprised if it doesn't release a curse in the process. I don't
think that Harry has either the skill to break open a locket sealed by
Dark magic or any acquired immunity to Voldemort's curses. He'll need
someone else to do it. (My vote is Bill, who will die in the process,
or, less plausibly because I don't see how it could be made to work,
be saved by Snape.)

At any rate, I don't think that LV knows when a Horcrux is destroyed.
I think that the soul bits, being indestructible and immortal, enter
the portal of Death to await the rest of Voldemort's soul. (He is not
really alive now, merely "surviving" by unnatural means that
destroying the Horcruxes, and perhaps possessing him in the end, will
undo.)

I agree that the protections for each Horcrux will be different, but I
think that, except for Nagini, all of the later Horcruxes (cup,
locket, and Ravenclaw object) will most likely involve a deadly curse
like the one on the ring Horcrux that attacks the person who releases
the soul bit. And I don't think Harry can destroy, or even find, most
of the Horcruxes by himself. He will need help from others (the Order,
Ron and Hermione, possibly Luna and Neville at some point, certainly
Snape if he's DDM). I expect him to confront Voldemort alone as he's
done in all the other books, but he's going to need help along the way.

Whatever the case, I agree that destroying the other Horcruxes isn't
going to be nearly as easy as stabbing a diary with a poisoned fang.

Carol