Harry not a Horcrux

[Neri]

No: HPFGUIDX 161115

> > Carol responds:
> > <snip> I don't believe that it's possible to create an
> > accidental Horcrux because a spell is needed to encase the soul 
> bit...
> 
> Dungrollin:
> 
> I've just had an idea about this perennial question of how to 
> accidentally make a Horcrux (and sorry to all you who are sick of 
it). 
> And I'm posting it immediately, which means either it's been done a 
> million times over, or there's something seriously wrong with it - 
I'm 
> sure that either or both will be brought to my attention, <g>.
> <snip>

Neri:
I don't remember anyone suggesting something quite like this, and I 
think it could work. But I also think that if JKR wants to make Harry 
carry a Voldy soul bit, she has simpler options.

Currently I tend to Snow's version, according to which no Horcrux 
encasing spell, intended or unintended, took place in GH at all. I 
think this is probably the simplest solution. According to this 
version, when Voldemort lost his body, his soul piece that was ripped 
because of Lily's murder simply drifted and entered the body of baby 
Harry via the open gash on his forehead. There's no need for an 
encasing spell at all. We know from the Ginny/Diary story that these 
soul bits can think and act for themselves, and that they have the 
ability to possess people, to give their powers to these people, and 
to make them forget things. This version would also give JKR a 
complete freedom in plotting Book 7, because she can decide if such a 
soul bit would act as a Horcrux or not, and whether it's removable 
and how, according to what she plans for Harry.

Generally, JKR has never let small technical details of magic stand 
in her way to a good story. For example, if anyone here understands 
how Dumbledore's trick of hiding the Stone in the Mirror of Erised 
really worked, please explain it to me. Slowly. With diagrams. I 
doubt very much that in the last book JKR is suddenly going to start 
working out all the small details. Nobody can tell her that the 
creation of an unintentional Horcrux (or the unintended transfer of a 
soul bit without an encasing spell) could or couldn't happen at GH. 
If she wants it to happen then it happened. So the minor technical 
difficulties here are not very important, although it can be fun (or 
annoying, depends) to try working them out ourselves. The really 
important questions about the Horcrux!Harry theory is: Is it 
thematic? Does it explain the current mysteries? Does it make for a 
good story and a good resolution of the series? To all these my 
personal answer is a resounding YES, so I'm not worried about the 
mechanics of it more than I'm worried about the mechanics of the 
Stone in the Mirror of Erised.

What I do like about Snow's version is that it suggests that the 
Voldy soul bit isn't really stuck inside Harry. There was no encasing 
spell. So the soul bit stays inside Harry because it *wants* to be 
there. It doesn't want to return to Voldy. After all, it was under 
the effect of Lily's love protection for many years. This would 
explain why Harry remembered T.M. Riddle as an old childhood friend 
that he'd half forgotten. It would explain why the soul bit doesn't 
appear to cause Harry any harm. On the contrary, it appears to help 
Harry. It seems to have told Harry how to destroy the Diary Horcrux. 
But the main reason I like it is the thematic reason: it means that 
for Harry the key is to find Tom inside himself.

Also, remember JKR promised us that we'll find out what was the 
terrible thing that Dudley remembered when he was attacked by the 
dementors? My guess is that little Dudley once pushed little Harry 
too far and was horribly punished by the soul bit. Which is probably 
how Harry is going to find out in Book 7. Or maybe Petunia will let 
out that when Harry was little he had an imaginary friend named 
Tom... 


Neri