Harry Potter is not a Horcrux

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 164583

Carol responds:
> JKR merely needs to introduce an explanation for how Harry acquired
> some of Voldemort's *powers.* Nothing has been said by DD or anyone
> else to indicate that his scar includes a bit of Voldemort's *soul.*
<snip>
> It's no less likely that powers, which are intangible, could enter
> Harry's forehead through the cut (which must have been caused by the
> spell bursting outward since an AK doesn't cause a mark or wound)
> than that a floating soul bit, also intangible, could do so. 

Jen: Not less likely, just not that different.  We know Voldemort put 
a 'bit of himself' in Harry, that 'neither can live while the other 
survives' and that the key to Voldemort's ultimate defeat is 
destroying 'bits' of himself.  At the very least we are looking at a 
really tremendous red herring!  

The hows and whys, the mechanics of an accidental horcrux or a 
transfer of powers, seem impossible to predict.  Since neither one 
has ever happened in the history of the WW (or we simply don't know 
in the case of an accidental Horcrux), her limitation is the 
boundaries of her own imagination and a very few bits of canon in 
each case.  I would argue she's not even constrained by the mechanics 
of her own spellcasting if she doesn't choose to be, the premise for 
the whole series is based on an unprecendented event! 

Carol:
> I've also postulated that since blood has magical properties,
> whether its wizards' blood or dragon's blood or unicorn blood, that
> Voldie's powers could have entered Harry's open wound through a 
> drop of blood, surely at least as plausible as a bit of intangible 
> soul entering him without possessing him (we know he isn't 
> possessed) and without a spell (absurdly) preparing the child LV is
> trying to kill to become a Horcrux.

Jen: I find that plausible.  If a soul bit could get past Lily's 
protection then the powers could make it in just as easily.  And this 
would fit in with the significance of blood in the series.  I can't 
remember now, does it say anywhere if there was time between LV 
killing Lily and attempting to kill Harry?  I'm assuming if he went 
to GH to prepare his final Horcrux he had time to prepare the 
container before murdering Harry (unless there's canon saying Lily's 
murder and Harry's attempted one happened in quick sucession).

Carol: 
> As for the complications I was speaking of, I'm talking about the
> stand off. How can Harry kill Voldemort or otherwise destroy him if 
> he or his scar is a Horcrux anchoring Voldie's soul to the earth? 
> We'd have Vapormort all over again. And if Voldemort killed Harry,
> inadvertently destroying one of his Horcruxes, how could Dead!Harry
> kill him? They AK each other? I don't think Harry will use AK as his
> weapon. They fall off Reichenbach Falls together?

Jen: I don't see this as a problem that can't be adequately explained 
with the power of magic.  People have proposed everything from 
removing the soul bit from the scar only to the soul bit dying in the 
locked room because it can't withstand the power to...I can't 
remember all the proposals.  The diary and the ring are the only 
evidence we have and both containers still exist after the soul bit 
died even if both are 'wounded'.  The only reason the containers 
aren't completely intact is the method of soul disposal.  So the real 
question seems to be how to destroy the soul piece in a way that 
doesn't mortally wound the container (which sounds easier if the soul 
piece is in the scar only).

Carol:
> I think that Harry will defeat Voldemort through the power of Love
> (his willingness to sacrifice himself, not necessarily meaning that
> he will actually die) and through another power peculiar to 
> Voldemort that he acquired at GH, the power of possession. (Please 
> refer to my previous posts on this topic if you're interested.)

Jen: I've read your theory and find the idea of Harry using 
possession to be a moral problem and harmful to his power.  Unlike 
Parseltoungue, we have no evidence that the 'good or the great' use 
possession.  It's supposed to be heinous, taking away free will even 
more completely than the Imperius and Harry will be using the darkest 
of magic if he possesses Voldemort.  If you don't like the idea of 
Harry using an AK, why is possession a better option?  Both are 
weapons of dark magic.

> Carol:
> Anyway, those are my reasons for not believing that Harry is a
> Horcrux, nor will I believe it until and unless I read it in DH, at
> which time I'll ask Alla for her recipe for crow ;-)

Jen: I don't like Harry as a Horcrux even though I understand why so 
many people have come to this conclusion.  I'd rather see something 
like Voldemort transferring the last of his *good* powers to Harry 
(whatever those might be), marking Harry as something akin to his 
equal-yet-opposite.  He's the only irredeemably evil character in the 
series which means there's absolutely no good left in him now.  
Whatever the solution is, I hope it's not a dratted soul piece.  

Jen