LV's plan (was: DD's plan)

[Mike]

No: HPFGUIDX 189188

> Pippin:
> 
> <snip>
> 
>   It's logical to think that Harry, with the soul bit inside him,
> will have some affinities with Voldemort which might help him to
> find a horcrux, which Dumbledore had so far failed to do. The
> horcrux will be guarded with spells so lethal that just getting to
> it will be a challenge. <snip>

Mike:

I see what you're saying, Pippin, about Harry joining the Horcrux hunting team, and I agree. Harry, having the soul bit inside him (which I think DD realized was the case almost immediately after seeing the lightning shaped wound on infant Harry), was a logical choice.

But, let's look at LV's Horcrux defenses, shall we? Were they really all that?

1. The Diary - well,... he intended that to fall into some unsuspecting souls hands, and to have that person use it. So putting any defenses on that would be counter-productive.

2. The Ring - YES, good job there. It took someone of Dumbledore's caliber to retrieve it. And it took someone of DD's knowledge of him to even find it. Bad luck having DD against him, wasn't it?

3. The Locket - BIG YES. It took all of the above and more. It took a second being that wouldn't register in the boat. In the case of Regulus, who after all retrieved it first, it took someone willing to die to get it. That's generally considered to be a fair deterrent.

4. The Cup - Hmm,... I'm thinking not so good there. All LV did was give it to Bella to hide. Bella, sticking it in her vault and adding that burning, reproducing spell, did only an OK job, IMHO. Granted, it took a Gringotts goblin just to open the vault, but that doesn't seem to be such a big deterrent any more, does it? If Harry and company managed to retrieve it, I don't consider it that well protected.

5. The Tiara - Sorry, no dice on this one. All LV counted on was it being hidden in a room that was semi-hard to get into and in amongst a bunch of other junk. As near as I can determine, there were no protective spells on it otherwise.

6. Nagini - OK, she was with him almost all the time, and she could communicate with him through some telepathic means (at great distance it appears - Nagini at Bathilda's place and LV at heaven knows where). But, he did send Nagini out on missions, witness the Batilda caper. If Harry had possessed Gryffindor's sword at that time, Nagini might have lost her head a few chapters earlier. It was only after the other 5 were gone did LV seriously protect Nagini. Well,... sorta. He did let her get a little too close to Neville, didn't he?

Scorecard time: 
On 2 he gets an A+, excellent hiding and defenses.

On 2 he gets an F, poor hiding and no defenses. Yeah, one was intentional, but still...

On 1 he gets a C-, he left everything up to a subordinant, a fanatical one, but he did nothing himself. And she didn't do so well on either the hiding or the defenses.

On the last, Nagini, I'm giving him a B-. She was not hidden any more than he was hidden, but that was pretty good at times. She had only her inherrent self-defenses, but when she was with him she was pretty darn well protected. Yet still, she was sent out on missions, she was his infiltration device at the Ministry in OotP, she had the Bathilda mission, and where was she while LV was flying all over creation looking for the Big Stick? She wasn't with him then, was she?

Overall, I give LV a C+ on his defense of the Horcruxes plan. Granted, it took having a DD out there to ruin his plan, but that was a reality that he was all too aware of.

~Mike