Chapter 27 Discussion / Why LV is bad / How TMR found the CoS / Cup Soul Bit

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 184186

Pippin wrote:
> 
> Um, touching the fangs isn't dangerous. Harry pulled one out of his
arm and used it to stab the diary with no ill effects.  The venom,
OTOH, can destroy any magical container it touches, except one.
Hermione was carrying it the only way she could, in the only container
that could safely hold it: a basilisk fang. 
> 
> And since basilisk venom destroys even the most powerful magical
container, (that's what a horcrux *is*), it should certainly have
disposed of the shield around Nagini. Whether it would then still have
the capacity to kill the snake herself, I am not sure, which would be
a good reason for having another fang, or two or three -- why leave
them in the chamber for Voldemort? <snip>

Carol responds:

The problem I have with your reasoning is that Basilisk venom,
according to Hermione, is "so destructive that [a] Horcrux can't
repair itself." It's also ""dangerous to carry around with you" (DH
Am. ed. 104). When Harry picked up the basilisk fang to stab the
diary, he had Fawkes with him. He had just been cured of a deadly
wound with that same fang and could have been cured again if he
accidentally touched the venom. But Ron and Hermione were carrying the
fangs loose in their arms. If the venom, destructive enough to destroy
a Horcrux, had touched their skin, especially if they had even a tiny
cut on their hands (quite likely given their recent escape on the
dragon), they would have died (unless the RoR could provide Phoenix
tears). Hermione's statement that Basilisk venom and all the other
means of destroying Horcruxes are extremely dangerous to carry around
is suddenly forgotten, and they're carrying these deadly fangs as if
they were bananas. I'm not at all sure that a Basilisk fang, out of
which the venom can drip, is a safe container. The venom certainly
comes out when the fang stabs something. What if they were to drop one
on their foot? The fangs are "long and thin as sabers" (CoS Am. ed.
318), and one sinks deep into Harry's arm above the elbow as easily as
if he were made of paper. I wouldn't scoop up a handful of sabers even
if they weren't envenomed. I'd put the sabers/fangs in some sort of
container, and I'd take only as many as I needed, which would be one
(for the tiara). They don't know about Nagini's magic bubble yet, and
it's unlikely that they could kill Nagini with a Basilisk fang. I
suspect that they were planning to AK her and hope for the best.

As for not leaving the fangs in the chamber for Voldemort, I suppose
that's a good point, but they don't mention it. In any case, their
concern is the existing Horcruxes and defeating Voldemort, not what
Voldemort will do if he wins the battle. They're not planning to let
that happen.

Carol, who still thinks it's out of character for Hermione not to take
precautions in carrying something as dangerous as Basilisk fangs