CHAPDISC: DH36, THE FLAW IN THE PLAN

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 185260

Carol earlier:
> > But it wasn't the soul piece from the scar, which DD informs Harry
was totally destroyed. It's the thing Voldemort will become if he 
doesn't feel remorse (as Harry informs him before the final duel). JKR
confirmed this interpretation in an interview.
> 
> jkoney65:
> It may be what JKR said, but that still doesn't make sense to me.
How could Voldemort's soul be there (whether in his head or not). It
makes more sense to me that the part that was removed from Harry was
also on its final journey and was also trapped there with Harry. So 
he saw a reflection of what Voldemort's soul had become. <big snip>
> 
Carol responds:
All I know is that Dumbledore makes it clear that the thing is *not*
the wholly destroyed soul fragment, which is not on a journey
anywhere. It doesn't exist. 

Harry asks, "So the part of his soul that was in me [pause, snip
narration] has it gone?"

DD responds, "Oh, yes! Yes, he destroyed it. Your soul is whole, and
completely your own, Harry."

"But, then [Harry points to the thing under the bench], what is that,
Professor?"

"Something that is beyond either or our help."

While DD doesn't openly say that it's Voldemort's soul, it clearly
*isn't* the destroyed soul bit. And later Harry makes clear that it
*is* what Voldie will become, i.e., his fragmented soul.

We know that Voldemort, like Harry, is unconscious, possibly feared
dead, at the same time Harry is. Both are lying unmoving on the grass
for an unspecified time, however long it takes in "real time" for
Harry to have his conversation with LV (perhaps only seconds, but long
enough for the DEs to become concerned). Apparently, LV and Harry were
still tied to each other by the drop of blood at that point, so
instead of standing over Harry's body, laughing triumphantly, as you'd
expect, Voldemort falls to the ground along with Harry. The indication
is that the same thing has happened to both of them, only we can't be
sure whether Voldie is aware of what has happened. He doesn't seem to
have heard (or processed) the conversation between Harry and DD. he
would have been aware, I think, only of his own suffering, and
probably as he wakes he recalls only pain that he dismisses from his
recollection. (If he remembered his journey into his private hell,
he'd be more willing to consider remorse as an alternative, I think.)

To repeat, Harry says, "I've seen what you'll become," not "I've seen
what happened to part of your soul." The soul bit itself has been
destroyed. The resemblance of the creature under the bench to the
horrible baby in the graveyard in GoF is also unmistakeable. This
"baby" is even more helpless; it can't speak or order anyone around.
It can only suffer and whimper. It's stunted because Voldemort's soul
has never grown, never experienced love or honor or peace or truth;
it's maimed because Voldemort has committed many murders, fragmenting
his soul, and actually removed seven of those soul pieces (one
accidentally), The "baby" is what's left. I seriously doubt that there
were seven babies, all waiting to rejoin the eighth when LV finally
dies. There's only one baby, who (mentally) made the journey along
with Harry, but perhaps doesn't even know it. The Harry who goes to
King's Cross is Harry's soul. It stands to reason that the Voldie who
goes to King's Cross is *Voldie's* soul.

Now, what would have happened to Voldie had Harry not returned? I'm
not sure. It's possible that he would have remained unconscious and
the moment Nagini was killed, he would have died and his soul remained
in King's Cross. I think it's more likely that the moment Harry chose
to "go on," he would have recovered, thinking himself triumphant. When
Nagini died, he would have become mortal, and when he died, killed by
an AK from a distance (say) while he was arrogantly fighting three
people at once, it would have returned there.

You're free to read the scene against what both the text and JKR
herself say, but then you're stuck with eight babies under various
benches in King's Cross. (For the record, a lot of things JKR says
don't make sense to me, so I sympathize with you there. However, in
this case, her interpretation fits the text.)


> jkoney65:
> I don't think that you are evil enough 

Carol responds:
Oh, dear. There goes my reputation as the Wicked Witch of the West! :-)

jkoney65:
(or perhaps it's a male trait) but the next dark wizard is going to go
after Harry at some point. It may be a sports phrase but to be the
best you have to beat the best.

Carol responds:

Maybe. But Harry would be utterly stupid to use the Elder Wand to
fight them because that would only fan the flame--and one Dark Wizard
could kill him from behind while he fought another. The whole idea is
to keep the wand inactive and inaccessible. And, as an Auror, he's
going to be facing Dark Wizards, anyway, whether he's the master of
the Elder Wand or not.

Jkoney65: 
>  The only way to be the best (greater than Voldemort) is to kill the
one who beat Voldemort. An example would be the legend of Wild Bill
Hickock.

Carol responds:
Oh, I'm familiar with that mentality, but I don't see any Dark Wizards
of either Lucius Malfoy's generation or Harry's who have either the
courage or the skill to face Harry, the one who beat Voldemort
(through luck and love and the Elder Wand). With all the DEs killed or
safely in a more secure Azkaban, he really won't have much work. A
Dark Wizard of the caliber of Voldemort or Grindelwald doesn't come
along very often. Harry will do just fine with his trusty holly wand,
with which he has formed a bond and which was ideally suited to him
from the beginning. (Think of the symbolic significance of the holly
wood and the Phoenix feather core, both symbols of resurrection. The
master of that wand isn't going to be gunned down by some thug. Not
that Harry is immortal, but he's already got a wand that suits the
wizard who defeated Voldemort perfectly.)

Ironically, Voldemort's own yew wand was also perfectly suited to him.
The only thing it couldn't do was defeat Harry's holly wand. It would
have had no qualms about killing an unarmed Harry and would have
performed just fine against Draco's wand in the final confrontation.
(Harry might still have succeeded in disarming LV if he was quick
enough, but the AK would not have backfired against his caster.) Poor,
deluded Voldemort should have kept the wand that chose him!

Carol, still smiling over "not evil enough"
>