Did Voldemort make use of a Horcrux already?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 165546

Inge wrote:
>
> <snip> I'm wondering if maybe Voldemort already used one of the 6 
> Horcruxes which he created. <snip>

Carol responds:
As I understand it, a wizard who makes a Horcrux (or multiple
Horcruxes) doesn't *use* the Horcrux, per se. Its mere existence
"anchors" his soul to the earth, which is presumably why most of
Voldie's Horcruxes are made of imperishable gold, well-hidden, and
protected by curses.

The diary, which (IMO) already had a memory in it before it became a
Horcrux, was a powerful magical object in its own right, designed to
release the Basilisk and "continue Salazar Slytherin's noble work."

If "using" a Horcrux involved providing himself with a new body like
the one he would have had if Diary!Tom had succeeded in using Ginny's
soul to give himself a new body, Voldemort would not have been
vaporozed at Godric's Hollow. As it is, the multiple Horcruxes merely
kept his own mutilated soul from passing beyond the Veil when he was
struck by the deflected Avada Kedavra. If Harry tries to kill him
(assuming that he can't find some better way to destroy LV) while LV
has even one Horcrux, the process will just start over again. That's
why all the Horcruxes have to be destroyed--to make Voldemort mortal.

Carol, still wondering what would have happened if Diary!Tom had
encountered Vapormort