Horcruxes 401 (Was Re: LV's Offence of the Dark Arts - OODA 301)

[Goddlefrood]

No: HPFGUIDX 170366

> Mike:

<Large Snip>

> I think LV was right in his speculation, that loose soul 
> piece he had just made tried to bond with or possess Harry. 
> But Harry's soul was too strong, has too much of the power 
> the Dark Lord knows not - Love - and Harry's soul could not 
> be possessed by LV's soul piece. But there the soul piece 
> remains to this day, within Harry. Whether captured by 
> Harry's soul or simply residing behind Harry's scar, it 
> cannot go beyond the veil, so it does the next best thing 
> and finds a host body. But is most definitely not destroyed.

> But I don't think Harry has to be killed for this soul piece 
> to be released. It wasn't encased with the Horcrux encasing 
> spell, so it is only bound to this earth by the other Horcruxed 
> soul pieces of LV.
 
> Any questions, see me after class :D

Goddlefrood:

Well, as you mention it, there was just one question. I wonder 
if you have considered it? Basically, in my considered opinion 
the end Horcrux involves a three step process.

What I propose to do today is proffer an explanation of why Lord 
Voldemort said: "I, who have gone further than anybody along the 
path that leads to immortality. You know my goal - to conquer 
death. And now, I was tested, and it appeared that one or more 
of my experiments had worked ... for I had not been killed, 
though the curse should have done it." (p. 566 - The Death 
Eaters - GoF - Bloomsbury hardback edition)

Hm, typing that out made me realise I had got at least one of 
the recent WOMBAT test questions wrong, in that there are two 
documented cases of a person surviving a killing curse. One is 
Harry, the other Lord Voldemort, although his testimony might 
be less than credible.

Be that as it may, here is the Horcrux process 401, part of 
the Masters course that will shortly be available from Horace 
Slughorn productions. What follows is reasonable inference 
from what we have in canon.

The first step of the Horcrux process, as noted by Severus Snape 
in Mike's primer course on Horcruxes, is to kill someone in cold 
blood with the clear intent to do so. The second step, which 
is implied from Lord Voldemort's above words is to prepare a 
vessel to store the soul fragment. Oh, indeed, the vessel in 
which the soul fragment is to be kept must, IMO, have some 
preparation. Hence the experimentation. It seems reasonable to 
suggest, as I hereby do, that the experiments LV was talking 
about in the above quote were his experiments to prepare the 
several vessels in which he was to place a soul fragment. Each 
time he did this by a dissimilar methodology.

That he did this preparation of the vessel in diverse ways 
should be clear enough, even from what we do know of the 
Horcrux creating process. The Diary Horcrux acted in its 
own way and I believe the other Horcruxes will too. Each 
of the remaining Horcruxes will be destroyed in a different 
manner and be found to have differing enchantments or bindings 
on them.

The Ring Horcrux accounted for by Dumbledore, based on the 
little he described of its destruction, was very unlike the 
Diary. That the remaining 4, or possibly 3, will each cause 
their own problems and have unalike enchantments is something 
I would expect. A locket has a compartment, a cup arguably has 
not, a living Horcrux container would be different again and 
the other as yet undetermined Horcrux will also have its own 
idiosyncracies. None will have the same protections, as far 
as this reader is concerned.

A little idea occurred to me recently, partially linked to the 
Deluxe Scholastic cover. It is that if Harry and Co. visit a 
treasure vault then it will be one guarded by a dragon, only 
one though. This can be extrapolated from what we have heard 
as a rumour regarding Gringotts Bank from all the way back in 
PS / SS. Hagrid, iirc, tells Harry that there are reports of 
dragons at Gringotts. Part of the process of accessing the 
vault would include getting past a dragon. If that is the 
case then the same dragon may assist in furthering their quest 
and be the one artistically depicted on the said Deluxe Cover. 
It will also have been guarding a Horcrux.

Back then to the Horcrux process. The third step, as correctly 
stated in Mike's primer course, is the transferral of the rent 
soul fragment to the vessel to contain it and its sealing.

Neither of the latter two steps are present in the instance 
of Harry, therefore, it is easy to conclude that he is not 
a Horcrux and nor is his scar.

On this idea of the soul fragment being trapped in a non-
Horcrux Harry, whether behind, in or with a lead to his 
scar, I would say simply that in the situation where there 
is nothing to keep the split soul piece in place, as there 
is with a Horcrux once done in the correct manner, then 
there is no anchor. In my opinion it would be so far removed 
from any of the existing exterior soul legends that it is 
extremely unlikely. Not necessarily impossible, just highly 
improbable. Mind you, there has been a considerable divergence 
already. The usual story goes that the soul is wholly exterior 
to the body and thus the body itself can not be destroyed until 
the soul has been found and destroyed first. In LV's case he 
has a resident soul piece, as far as we have been told, and his 
original body has been destroyed.

JKR has most likely read "The Golden Bough" by Sir James 
George Frazer. Chapter 66 of that is entitled "The External 
Soul in Folk-Tales". It runs through many, if not almost all, 
of the legends involving wizards, ogres and many and varied 
others who had an exterior soul often inside an animal 
ultimately. The work is available on line at Bartlebys, 
the chapter is quite short and it is recommended reading 
for all wishing to theorise on Horcruxes. Here is a direct 
link to it:

http://www.bartleby.com/196/166.html

Chapter 67 of the same work may also be found to be of value.

I do have a further prediction on Horcruxes, which is that one 
of the remaining ones will be found at Azkaban. This is due to 
the link between the number seven, Lord Voldemort and the seven 
steps to be taken to find the soul of Koschei the Deathless. 
The soul of Koschei was kept in an island called Buyan, which 
may or may not equate to the island of Rugen in the Baltic sea. 
In other words I would not be surprised if the island upon which 
Azkaban is located is adjacent to the Baltic Sea, which itself 
is not unadjacent to the north of the North Sea.

Goddlefrood, preparing if he's wrong on Harry and the soul piece 
to locate and eat the Sorting Hat.